Large dramatic specimen plant used as a celery substitute in pickling, salad dressings, stir fries, stews and roasts. We often freeze some of the tender leaves in water and then use it making stock.  

The Greeks and Romans chewed lovage seeds to aid digestion and legend tells of seeds put into potion to conjure up love spells, an infusion of lovage seeds is said to erase freckles and a lovage herb bath is said to make you more beautiful.  The French call it céleri bâtard, or false celery.  Growing OVER 5 feet tall, once the flower spikes start showing, lovage becomes awfully strong,  using the leaves can be used sparingly in stock.

Lovage Butter
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of minced lovage
Salt & Pepper to taste
Melt the butter in a small pan and add the salt, pepper, and lovage. Heat gently for 3-5 minutes. Serve over vegetables

Lovage Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
12 lovage leaves, minced
2 tablespoons dry white wine
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
salt and black pepper
Melt the butter in a pan with lovage leaves for about 3 minutes. Add the wine and simmer for a minute. Stir in the mustard and season. Use sauce is nice served over pork or chicken.

Lovage Soup  
    4 Tbsp. olive oil
stale bread
    1 bunch lovage leaves, chopped
    1 clove garlic, chopped
    1/2 small bundle of parsley, chopped
    3 oz butter
    2 pints good chicken stock
    2 whole eggs and 1 yolk
Pour the olive oil over the bread and grill until brown. Sweat the lovage, garlic and parsley in butter until wilted. Pour on the stock and simmer for 2 minutes. Beat the eggs with salt and pepper. Place one slice of bread in each warmed bowl. Bring the soup to the boil and slowly pour in the egg, stirring gently to separate the egg into strands. Serve over the grilled bread slices..

I bought a 4th goat yesterday.  She is related to my Lily, Lyla and Lola, and her name is Lily.  Lily 2 for now.  Spencer, my rent-a-buck, has completed his job, but I will miss his spunk.  He does these flying leaps and twists you wouldn’t believe, and can usually be seen balancing on top of a 3 foot stump in their pasture.  Yes, he stinks, but it is a fine stink compared with most.  I still walk the deer trails with the herd, and adore my Saanens.  I may try crossing with a Nigerian Dwarf buck in the fall though, just to do something different.

I am getting over 20 chicken eggs a day; mostly green with some brown.  The ducks finally starting laying their big white and green eggs.  The geese are getting noisy and bicker more as they approach breeding season.  My quiet Emdens aren’t so quiet anymore, and my African male is nearly intolerable at times.  They range far and wide through the deep snow, and have taken to sleeping in the greenhouse.  I love watching the Muscovies fly past our windows from their pen up to the top of the barn or garden gate.  The Cayugas and Swedes are irrepressibly happy, waddling with great purpose to nowhere in particular.

I am psyching myself up for maple syrup season.  It seems to be a bigger ordeal every year, but we keep getting better at it too.  Gardening seems such a long way off with all this snow, and I am enjoying my downtime while it lasts.  I love seasons.

The Fifth Season

When you eat out on Tuesday, March 2nd, you’ll be helping to feed others in our community.
 
A portion of the day’s sales from the following restaurants will be used to help fund scholarships to offer low-income families a season’s worth of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Atticus Coffee & Gifts 222 North Howard
Hill’s Restaurant 401 West Main Ave.
Neato Burrito 1001 W. 25th Ave
The Scoop 827 West 1st Avenue

St. Margaret’s Shelter in collaboration with Spokane Tilth, is sponsoring the Share the Harvest event on Tuesday, March 2nd. Participating restaurants will donate a portion of their sales towards scholarships helping limited-income Spokane residents purchase a season’s worth of fresh fruits and vegetables from Vinegar Flats Community Garden. This event gives community members the opportunity to support our CSA program and area restaurants, including: Atticus, the Scoop, Neato Burrito and Hills Restaurant. A list of participating restaurants and their locations can be found HERE.

Spokane Tilth’s Inland Northwest Community Supported Agriculture Association (INCSAA) will administer the money raised in the form of scholarships to limited-income seniors and households. These scholarships will reduce the cost of weekly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) produce boxes, providing produce for the duration of the growing season.

In the CSA model, customers purchase a share of the harvest from a producer, which comes in the form of regular installments across the duration of a growing season. On a weekly basis, a collection of food will be available for pick up or delivery. CSA farms supply up to 22 weeks of fresh fruits and vegetables to their members each year. Memberships at CSA farms encourage healthy food choices and support local Spokane farmers and the Spokane economy.

The opening date for the Bluegrass Farmers’ Market has been set and it’s April 17^th! It feels so far away with all of the snow on the ground but it really isn’t! Yippee, we’re ready to get back to the market! And, yes, I did say “we’re” that means that both of us will be there this year. Guess I’ll be doing the selling and Drew will be manning the grill, kettle, skillet or whatever he happens to be using to create goodies using our seasoning blends and local produce from the market. Have to admit that it will be great having him by my side again…it was kinda lonely without him last year.

Do you remember that little spurt of warmth and sunshine we had the other day? Well, it made think gardening and how much we waste our garden beds each year. Why not utilize them to grow something while I wait for the real summer heat and our basil and tomato plants. So, I went catalog shopping and looked for something that we could grow in the cool spring. Guess what we’ll (hopefully) be bringing to the market this spring? Oriental cabbages!!! Yup, I ordered seeds for baby bok choy and pak choy varieties. I know that we love using them at home so why not grow them ourselves and then sell them at the market. With two ounces worth of luck we’ll have enough for Drew to even use them to cook with at the market. Wish us luck in our growing endeavor cause that means you get to enjoy tasty samples!

Remember to mark your calendars so that you can be sure to join us on opening day of Lexington’s only 100% homegrown/produced farmers market…the Bluegrass Farmers’ Market!

~*~OPENING DAY~*~

April 17^th

3450 Richmond Rd. in the parking lot of

Fast Signs and Pedal the Planet

9 until 2

Free and Easy Parking!!!

Hope to see you there!

Cheese Strata

2 cups (3 slices) bread cubed.

1/2 pound cheddar cheese, shredded.

1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled.  I have also used ham, shrimp, and sausage.

1/4 cup cup butter, melted.

1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced.

3 large eggs.

2 cups of milk.

1 teaspoon dry mustard.

1/4 teaspoon salt.

Place half of the bread cubes in a 1 1/2 quart casserole.  Layer half the cheese, bacon and butter.  Repeat layers and arrange mushrooms on top.  Beat eggs, milk, mustard and salt and pour over the layered mixture.  Set the casserole in a pan of hot water.    Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written.

I’ve been busy.

I believe I’m quite an adaptable kinda person. This works, go with it. This doesn’t, back out, head another direction. This feels good. This feels bad. As time and life goes on, getting better at knowing oneself, and viewing the world around you better, and what it all means to you. Call it maturity, enlightenment, call it life.

Our farm is on a journey; a vision guided in most by me, but via the ideas and experiences of many others, and ultimately, I believe, by the hand of God, as in His love, he has a plan for me. My purpose. And I am on a journey, separate, but intertwined, with the farm, my family, friends, neighbors, all that would choose to be a part of it.

As I go through my day, I am thinking. Not about sex, or the football team, or how I’m going to get even with so and so, or any petty things, but thinking about the vision (okay I think of all those other things too, I just don’t dwell on them). Who am I – what am I here for – how do I make the world a better place, how do I find happiness.

There are three things that are consuming my thoughts.

1. Getting our artisan cheese enterprise going.

2. Permaculture! Or, the refinement of what previous to this I had called, creating paradise here at our farm

3. My training. My mind – and my body.

You can be sure — whoever you are – even if that you is just me – I do this for myself – if anyone cares to come along – great – if not – perfectly okay by me as well. What I write here will be me. Yes, that is a perfectly good sentence. Maybe ‘a reflection of me’ is a better way to say it.

But #3 is where I will be focusing a great deal of energy in the next 60 days – starting March 1st, and running until April 30th.

That’s 60 days – in which I will transform myself, using nutrition primarily from our farm – in the form of raw 100% grass dairy products – yes folks, perfectly legal for me – not for you – and our 100% grass meats.

"transform myself" – from what – to what. The "from what" is a very personal thing indeed – it is physical – it is mental, and has a huge impact on who I am – and how effective in the world I am.

So diet – food – very critically important -

And then – the next tool – is the Gym. In my case, Anytime Fitness, here in Stoughton. Training for an hour to an hour and a half, at least 5 times per week.

I have been training, in the gym, since Jan 3rd. Now, with this goal in mind, this focus, and this focused nutrition, time to see just how ‘intense’ I can be.

I am 45 years old. I am in the prime of my life in many ways. I have those same feelings of body image, and of age, as most my age do, and a recognition that the forgiveness of youth is over. What I could do, get away with, in my 20’s and 30’s: aint happnin now. How I feel about myself – and the energy and strength my body carries – profoundly effects every other aspect in my life. What I’m willing to take on. How I react to things. Everything.

If you want to come along on this journey – great. It will be interesting, it will be personal, it will be revealing. I would like it very much if someone else was inspired – pumped up – changed for the better. I will be, I know it.

Tomorrow I will start this personal journey with where I’ve come from. I continue to believe that every moment of my life has been training – been leading up to – this moment right now. I will share the significant ‘moments’ that have lead me to this point in this journey.

It is time to release the beast. The focus, the animal, the INTENSITY, the rush, the satisfaction and the reward of an intentional life, and the caring for my body and my mind.

Scott Trautman

Going green, or helping the environment out by using few chemicals in gardening is a growing trend. One way to help nature is to cut back on yard and garden chemicals by using natural insecticides.

photo credit: James Jordan

People are either for or against the use of natural insecticides.  These decisions are often decided by circumstances.  How advanced is the insect infestation?  What are you allergic to?  What will harm your plants?  What will be safe to use around your children pets or livestock?  What is available and accessible to you and how fast can you get it?  Do you need to use more than one method of control and removal? And with today’s economy, what is cost effective?

To get the most benefit from natural insecticides, you’ll need to understand the best way to use them.  What will work best for the type of insect you’re trying to control? But even with natural mixes you need to be careful what you mix.  Certain combinations of substances are unsafe or toxic.

One of the biggest benefits of a natural insecticide is that it comes from nature in some form.  That doesn’t mean it’s problem-free.  It just means you’re benefiting the environment by using a safer product that is not full of toxic chemicals.

An example is liquid garlic. Garlic is a natural plant that is grown around the world.  It can be used to keep insects off garden or farm plants. Mix with water and a dash of dish soap and this easy solution will ward off many insects.

Another example is boric acid.  Boric acid is defined as a white crystalline weak acid that contains boron.  Boron is a mineral substance, and minerals are of the earth.

If you use things made with what the earth provides, you benefit and so does the earth, animals and humans.  Natural insecticides are not always the quickest way to solve your insect problem.  And it’s not always less harmful.  That’s why education on your choices is a must.

On-line sites will help you with natural insect mixes and green gardening techniques.  And you will find additional information at your local library or gardening books.

I have used natural insect control for many years. I have noticed the longer I use natural insecticides the less insects I seem to have and the healthier my overall yard is.

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A good-size beginner vegetable garden is 10×16 feet; this is a easy to mange size garden that will still produce plenty of vegetables. You can plant in the normal vegetable garden style, in the ground or you can opt for raised beds or square foot garden techniques.

photo credit: thebittenword.com

A plot this size, planted with the vegetables below, can feed a family of four for one summer. There will also be a little extra for canning and freezing or giving away.

There are vegetables that may yield more than one crop per season. These are beans, beets, carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, rutabagas, spinach and turnips. For the plan below, your rows or raised beds should run north and south to take full advantage of the sun.

Garden plan

Make your garden 11 rows of 10 feet each or use 2 to 3 raised beds. Plant the following vegetables:

Tomatoes — 5 plants staked

Zucchini squash — 4 plants or two of zucchini and tow other squash varieties

Peppers — 6 plants

Cabbage

Bush beans

Beets

Carrots

Chard

Lettuce, leaf, Bibb or a mix variety

Radish

Grow marigolds to discourage rabbits and some insect varieties! Geraniums also discourage some insects and any flower adds beauty to a garden.

Leave 2 feet between bush beans, 1/2 foot between bush beans and lettuce, and 1 foot between all of the rest.

This is a simple easy garden plan. As you garden you can add new vegetables, get rid of others and experiment with different styles of gardening.

I started out using rows, went to square foot gardening to make better use of my space,

Note: If this garden is too large for your needs, you do not have to plant all 11 rows. You can also make the rows shorter. You can choose the veggies that you’d like to grow or add more flowers!

Tip: Radishes planted by the base of a squash plant will deter squash bugs. Radishes also mature quickly so only plants a few seeds at a time.

If you’re interested in planting potatoes, tomatoes and potatoes are not ideal companions and need “distance.” I myself plant them in barrels or bushel baskets so that I can just dump the crop at the end of the season for easy harvesting.

And for the beginning gardener. Read the instructions on the back of the seed packet. It will let you know how long the crop takes to mature, proper spacing and it will help you determine if you can grow two crops in a season.

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I’m Lovin’ It Breakfast Contest.  Win a free copy of Feeding the Whole Family.  Rise, shine and enter! Here’s the scoop.