Feeding the World in the 21st Century

On 1/13/2010, I attended a seminar titled "How willl we feed the world in the 21st Century?" put on through Washington State University (also where I work). One of the presenters is a friend of ours, Russ Zenner. Russ and his wife, Kathy, were one of our farm host guests from our Dinner on the Farm series. There I saw two of our former Dinner on the Farm guests, Kenna Eaton and Carol Spurling both from the Moscow Food Co-op. The guest speakers were comprised of a cattleman who represented the cattle industry, our friend Russ who represented the farming industry, a WSU professor involved in the College of AG and a woman from the Seattle area who represented the largest Food Co-op in the U.S. The audience was able to ask questions of the panelists and it was a good medium in which to be able to share opinions, views and information from each of their perspectives. The audience was made up of students, staff and community members. Kenna, who is the manager of the Moscow Food Co-op commented to me after the event that it was very much
like our Dinner on the Farm event, only on a much larger scale. After this event, a group of us Genesee farmers went on to hear Michael Pollan who is the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma". I'll blog about this next, so to not have this one so long. Plus Mr. Pollan gave me so many more blogs to talk about, so either stay tuned or watch out! =)

On my way home, I was reflecting that those of us in the Ag industry love what we do. It is our passion and mediocrity in our industry is not accepted. Many of us come into farming either by marriage or being born into farming families, but either way, those that stay in this industry have a true passion for it. I saw something called the "Passion Equation" and the formula was simple: Interest + Information = Passion. In order to continue to be profitable within the Ag industry, farmers must be on the continual hunt for ways to do things better, more efficient as well as cost effective so that is where the "information" part of this equation comes into play. What other industry gets so much scrutiny as well as restrictions imposed by people who most likely have never set foot on a farm and have to defend our industry to hostile environmental groups? So yes, we love what we do and are committed to feeding America, as well as the world, with a high quality as well as safe product.

Social Networking & Staying Connected

As I was driving into work today, I was mentally checking off the things I needed to accomplish like updating the WSU's website, posting upcoming meetings on Twitter, getting internal communications out, so on and so forth. It made me think about how social networking is also helping the Ag industry communicate with those who are not involved in farming or ranching, but have an interest. Facebook, Twitter or blogs are excellent ways for us to "tell our story" and put a face on the family farms. I have had people come up and say how much they enjoyed my blog and found it informative when I write about what we are doing on the farm. A couple days ago I ran into one of our guests from our "Dinner on the Farm" series (which I've blogged about too) and she told me that she and husband still talk about their fun evening; plus she is a follower on my blog. Having non Ag people read my blog is one thing, but I have to admit, I was a little intimated when my husband told me my blog had been sent out to the Idaho Grain Producers board members… I thought, will they find it interesting? But then I realized that Ag people are interested in what other Ag people do, we like to stay connected to our fellow colleagues. In fact Marcie Williams, Past President of American Agri Women had emailed me to relate her own humorous "dog cookie" story (i.e. my 12.23.09 blog) so I guess I'll just keep on writing about random topics on farming, our life and whatever pops into in my crazy little brain. But I also welcome suggestions too! =)

To my recipe junkies: Tonight I'll post another yummy recipe called Apple Pie Bread... yummm. Well, my break time is done, off to the murky depths of the website.

Updating the blog @ 7pm

APPLE PIE BREAD

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk
2 teas baking powder
2 eggs
1 teas vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups shredded, pealed apples (about 4 medium)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Streusel nut topping

Preheat oven 350, grease 9/5/3 inch loaf pan. Set aside.
In a bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds, then add in sugar till combined. Add buttermilk, baking powder, eggs & vanilla, mix well. Add flour, salt, mix well. Stir in apples and nuts.

Spoon in batter into loaf pan, spread evenly, then sprinkle STREUSEL NUT TOPPING: in a small bowl combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, 3 TBL flour and cut in 2 TBL butter, stir in 1/3 cup chopped nuts.

Bake 60-65 min or till wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 min, remove from pan, cool completely on wire rack. Wrap & store overnight before slicing. Enjoy

Food, Friends and Reuniting

After posting my last blog regarding my New Year's resolutions, I was reflecting on how food brought good friends back together and how it renewed our commitment to keep getting together on a monthly basis. Let me back up and explain, about 15 years ago 3 other farm wives besides myself (who all married local farmers) gathered to form the Genesee-Uniontown Co-op Queens. We extended this invite to another female friend who wasn't a farm wife, but a welcome addition to our warped group of friends. We called ourselves the "Co-op Queens" as some of us were from Genesee, ID and Uniontown, WA and we all belonged to the local farmer Co-ops through our farming operations. We banded to form an off-the-wall group of wacky women who would show up, usually dressed in one form or another as flamingos, in the annual Johnson, Washington 4^th of July parade. This parade draws around 3,000 people for an impromptu parade in a town that only has 6 houses and a grain elevator. It's fun, crazy and you never know what or who will show up at this parade, but that is a blog for another time. Anyway through kids, off the farm work and in one case, divorce some of us had lost the closeness that we had once shared. It was through a wedding last summer ( for a daughter from our group) that re-united all of the Co-op Queens again. We had gathered at Lezah's house to prepare massive quantities of food for the wedding reception, wherein while working really hard, but laughing like crazy and drinking wine, that we had realized just how far apart we had grown and how much we missed seeing each other on a regular basis. So we pledged to continue to get together, drink wine and have dinner, rotating at one of our homes each month. Sometimes not all of us are able to make it, but it is one event each month that we all try to attend. I feel fortunate to be a part of this fun group of amazing women.

Anyway, back to food - we had some other really good friends over to dinner last night and I used them as guinea pigs on some new recipes. These dear friends don't mind getting experimented on (bless their hearts) with new recipes, so 2 of the 3 recipes were worthy to post and share.

Artichoke Spinach Lasagna

1/2 cup minced oniopn
4 garlic cloves minced
1-3 Tbl olive oil
1 can 14.5 oz vegetable or chicken broth
1 jar (14.5 oz) artichoke hearts in oil, quartered *
1 teas crushed dried rosemary
¼ teas each, ground nutmeg & pepper
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach thawed and squeezed dry
½ cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1 jar (16 oz) garlic Alfredo Parmesan sauce
12 lasagna noodles, cooked per pkg directions
3 cups (12-16 oz) mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup feta cheese
1/8 tsp of each, garlic powder, oregano, parsley flakes and basil

In large sauce pan, sauté onion and garlic in oil for 2-3 min. Stir in broth, rosemary, nutmeg & pepper, bring to a boil. Add artichokes, spinach and mushrooms. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 min. Stir in Alfredo sauce.

Spread 1 cup sauce mixture into greased 9x13 baking dish. Top with 4 noodles and ¾ cup mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers three times. Top with remaining sauce mixture and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with feta cheese, garlic pwdr, parsley and basil.
Cover and bake @350 for 40 min, bake 15 min longer uncovered, let stand about 5 min before cutting.
*Gayle uses the big 65oz marinated artichoke hearts jar found at Costco and measures out 14 oz or about 2cups-
++++++++++++++++

Herb Crusted Pork Roast

1 tsp dijon mustard,1 tsp lemon pepper & 1 tsp salt - mixed together and rubbed on roast.

Combine 1 1/2cups bread crumbs with 1/2 cup parmeasn cheese, 4 tsp dried basil 1 tsp dried thyme and rosemary, 2 tsp minced garlic and press on top of roast. Bake uncovered @ 350 2 to 2 1/4 hr or untiil meat thermometer reads 160. Let stand 10 min, then slice.

New Year’s Resolutions

I always make a New Year's resolution to resolve to get together more with family and friends throughout the upcoming year, lose those extra pounds and try to have more fun instead of working so much. This year I really am committed to making all of the above happen. For starters, I'm well on my way to (finally) be at my perfect weight before my birthday – I'm thinking I have about 10 more pounds to lose before the end of March and it's a do-able goal. I'm energized to begin getting myself more organized which will focus on my home office, my address book, my out of control recipes and the clutter piled into closets. From someone stopping in, it would appear our house is clean and clutter free, but my personal space (as in office and pantry are a true disaster) and it always feels good to just have things orderly, plus it drives me nuts to try to find a recipe that I cut out or wrote on some scrap of paper and then can't find it. Yikes it takes me twice as long to find the recipe or address as it should – so one step at a time. As for making more time to play instead of work, well that will be a daily conscious effort.

For New Year's Eve, we were invited to a dinner party hosted by our friends, Lezah and Barney. We had a wonderful time and the food was over the top. The menu wasn't fancy - spaghetti, green salad (better than most salad bars in town), and garlic bread. It was heaven, plus Lezah had made a German chocolate cake parfait. I ate and ate and ate. Lezah whispered in my ear the she had just made up the recipe for the meatballs as well as her German Chocolate cake parfait that day. This fact didn't surprise me as she was ALWAYS doing that sort of thing in our catering business. The results turned out tasty but it drove me crazy as I'm the kind of person who has to follow a recipe. So of course, I rolled my eyes at her and muttered really???!!, then she giggled and I know she was thinking back to our catering days and the effect her off-the-wall creations had on me. It was the perfect way to end 2009, good friends and good food. Plus we celebrated the incoming year East coast time, which was only 9pm PST, so we were home and in bed at a decent time.

New beginnings are always exciting to me and I look forward to 2010. Wishing you a very happy new year and feel free to let me know what you really like in the way of the blog.

All my best,

Gayle

Interest in Farming

A few weeks ago we had a nice visit with Anna Brewer, a local artist, whose specialty is cartoons that capture images about farming. Here is one of her drawings and more about her illustrations can be accessed at http://www.frogblog-acartoondiary.blogspot.com/. Joe and I spent the afternoon answering Anna's questions and were in awe of Anna's artistic ability. Her drawings are very detailed and precise as well as accurate. Anna had contacted us after reading about the Dinner on the Farm series last Fall. It was interesting as well as amusing to see our lifestyle put in the form of a cartoon and one more (great) way to give the reader an insight on what farmers do. As we were parting, we invited Anna to our farm anytime so she can ride in the tractors and combines when we are in the field.

Shortly after our visit with Anna we were reading about "FarmVille" being one of the most popular games being played on the internet. People can be virtual farmers and get to plant crops and harvest them and sort of see what we do, all without the financial risk I might add. The article went on to say that people were interested in where their food is grown. It again reconfirms that people are trying to get back to the basics, whether by playing the virtual farming game, drawing about farming or trying to grow their own food on their own plots of land. It's a positive plus for Agriculture and we welcome the interest as it opens up dialogue.

Life on the Farm 12.23.09

Last evening after writing on my blog I was cold so I sat down in front of the fire with a glass of wine and was reading a folksy publication put out by Massey Ferguson call "Farmlife". This little booklet had the usual stuff in it advertising, articles about invasive weeds and fencing but what caught my eye was the article that featured "Maple Farmers" in Quebec, which is the sugar making capital of the world. I read with fascination about how this family taps the trees, how they process the sap and make it into yummy maple syrup. I thought, even though we farm, this is completely different than what we do and very interesting. I enjoyed reading about what maple farmers do and hope the readers of this blog enjoy the items about our farm life too. That is why I added the survey feature on my blog as I want to tailor this to what is of interest to those that read it.

As for the farm activity, Joe was working some in the shop today and changed the oil in his combine. . Joe was explaining that having clean oil in the combine over the winter is better for it and the clean oil doesn't have the bad acids that can corrode bearings. So it's sort of like putting your baby to bed, you want it safe, clean and dry. We also have a special oil burning furnace for heat in the shop that uses the old oil. So it is one more way to be a good steward of the earth.

As for me I decided to give myself permission to stay home and putter in the kitchen. With Christmas music playing I made 3 pies, a French Chocolate Breakfast Cake, a batch of cinnamon rolls and homemade doggie biscuits. When I bake I use every available spot in my kitchen and I'm really messy! I like to think of myself as an enthusiastic baker. So in the midst of my mess, my mom stopped over to visit. I was on the phone when she popped in so as she was waiting for me to conclude my business call, she was looking at all the stuff I had made. When I saw her grab a dog biscuit off the cookie sheet and pop it into her mouth, of course I started giggling. I managed to finish my call before I nearly died laughing. My poor mom who has a sweet tooth a mile wide, was wiping her tongue on her sleeve and gagging. She thought I had made gingerbread squares, only it turned out to be doggie biscuits for our spoiled pooch. I had to assure her nothing yucky was in them in the way of ingredients. She will now forever be wary of what I'm cooking. Things like this always seem to happen to my mom and of course we tease her about it. So this will be one of the latest funny things to add to her list.

Tomorrow the rest of my family will join us for dinner and we will open our gifts, so I still need to get some stuff done- so better finish. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Farmer-ettes

I was reading a newsletter wherein it featured an article from the Wall Street Journal called "Green Acres is the Place to Be". This article talks about people who left their urban life to embrace the rural life with the goal of becoming more sustainable and adopting a more self reliant lifestyle. It was an interesting article and I'm half tempted to google the people they talk about and give them a call to ask about how this change has turned out for them. The article just gives a brief overview noting where they lived then and where they moved to without much info on their day to day lives. Living in rural areas is wonderful for those of us who understand what living in the country entails. So I'm really curious how the "city slickers" cope with country life. I want to ask if living in the country and being self sufficient is really what they envisioned. I'm sure it is harder than they ever thought possible and hopefully the rewards outweigh any hardships they may face.

The next day after putting my project house up for sale, I received a call from a friend inquiring on behalf of an older couple near retirement whose goal was to become more self sufficient, raise chickens and get a dairy cow. How refreshing is that? This couple didn't want to move to Florida and take up golf; rather they were looking to become farmer-ettes and putter around with chickens, a cow and raise their own vegetables. I like the trend that people want to get back to more basics things, then perhaps they will get a feel for what we farmers do only on a larger scale.

End of my “Bucket List Wish”

Yea, my project house is almost complete; it's done enough to put it on the market. Quick re-cap, on October 27^th we purchased the farm ground across from us and a cute 1950's ish house came with the land. So with this purchase I got to cross off a "bucket list wish" which was to get to re-do a house. After about ten gallons of paint or so (I've lost count) the house changed it's appearance.

It is amazing what paint and a few upgrades can do. Those who had seen the house before I worked on it, couldn't believe the changes…. Here's some before and after pictures. This was so much fun, I'm sad to see it end.A new island, new flooring, new sink, paint… a totally new look.

The main bathroom before:

Most of the walls were all white-ish, non descript, so here I've added color to make some of the cool built-ins stand out.

The living room only needed some color and new curtains:

The color scheme for most of the house was milk chocolate and cream with accents of dark brown and blue.

Thanksgiving Eve and cooking

It is 9pm on Thanksgiving eve and I'm in the kitchen cooking for tomorrow. I'm in between what is cooking & what needs to be put together so with a few minutes to spare I'm currently sipping a glass of wine (plus I have Christmas music playing) – life is good. My oldest brother, Doug is hosting Thanksgiving at his house and my job is to bring the strawberry pretzel salad. Hosting Thanksgiving has become his special tradition and it started when he moved into his home just outside of Moscow. Doug's girlfriend, Edie, is really the mastermind of the event, organizing and making sure all is perfect. Later on in the day, we will also have a dinner with Joe's side of the family and it is hosted at Jay & Lisa's. They always put on a great dinner and are wonderful hosts. Joe's sister and her family are visiting from Seattle, so it will be a houseful as well. Lisa has me bringing pumpkin pies and a fruit salad. This holiday is bittersweet, as both my step dad and Joe's dad have serious health issues and realistically this could be our last holiday together with our dads. So we'll eat lots and enjoy the day with both of our families.

Recipe updates!

On my last blog I had posted the pumpkin dip (from memory) but when I checked the recipe I found I had the spices wrong, so here is the correct recipe:

Pumpkin Dip

15 oz canned pumpkin

8 oz softened cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teas cinnamon

½ teas ginger

Beat cream cheese till creamy, blend in pumpkin, sugar and spices. Serve with apples & enjoy!

Turkey with a citrus flavor

Because Joe and I like to have family over, many of the holiday or family events are hosted at our house. I'm almost a complete vegan vegetarian (with the exception of having a fondness for cheese and yogurt) and do not eat meat/poultry/fish, but I am willing to cook it. So when hosting family events so I like to experiment and try new recipes and I have had rave reviews about the following way to prepare a turkey. This recipe has been requested now for a few years so I know my family really likes it and wanted to share it. They tell me is has a nice mild citrus taste and is very moist.

1 turkey

1 orange, lemon, lime –cut into wedges

1 small onion, cut into wedges

½ cup softened butter (no substitutions)

1-2 teas rosemary

½ tsp poultry seasoning

Salt & pepper

Pastry bag

Citrus Turkey

1. Thaw the turkey, rinse, pat dry, salt and pepper the cavity
   
2. In the cavity, insert 1 sliced orange, 1 sliced lemon, 1 sliced lime (no stuffing goes into the cavity) along with the onion
   
3. Mix the butter, rosemary, poultry seasoning, put into a pastry bag – no tip is needed
   
4. Next cut the top of the turkey skin with kitchen scissors and in-between the skin and meat, pipe in the butter mixture- this will melt into the meat, add flavor and help keep the turkey moist
   
5. Oil the outside of the skin w/olive oil
   
6. Bake as you usually like. I usually use a turkey bag and don't baste. Very easy and no mess.
   
7. Once the turkey is done, remove the fruit and serve as usual
   

Also, to my friends at LaBella Hair Salon, here is the recipe you have patiently been waiting for! (This was created by my friend, Lezah)

Peanut butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cup peanut butter

2 cup softened butter

2 cup brown sugar

1 ½ cup white sugar

4 eggs

Mix well. Then add

4 cup flour

2 cup oatmeal

4 teas baking soda

1 teas salt

3 ¾ cup choc chips

Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake approx 10-12 min @ 350 or until lightly brown. Do not over bake.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.