The Urban Farmer’s Almanac

Since we moved into our new homestead in May we didn’t get many things into the ground until mid-way through the growing season.   That combined with the suspicious lack of a summer this year in Seattle means that some of our vegetables didn’t get a chance to really ripen.  This is most true of our tomato plants, which actually bore a great deal but had no red ones to speak of.  When we pulled them up to prepare our beds for the winter I began to investigate ways to use green tomatoes. I assumed the thrifty farmer’s wives of yore had come up with some brilliant ideas. I decided to try a green tomato relish, which turned out ok , but not so great I wanted pints of it laying around. (is it just me or do many old fashion recipes use way too much sugar?  Maybe people had a stronger sweet tooth in the past.)  Since I didn’t want the crop to rot and since our house was beginning to be invested with fruit flies I just chopped them, ran them through a food processor and cooked them down into a sauce, which I then froze in

The completed sauce all ready for the freezer

sandwich size bags.  It turned out surprisingly well.  We used it for our pizza sauce last week and I thought it was great.  Its not as sweet as red tomato sauce, which added nicely to the pizza.  I now think we should have enough sauce for the winter, as long as we restrain ourselves from making pizza every night.

If there is one trait that characterizes Alicia and I it is decisive. Just last week our first flock (of 2) chickens met a violent end. Rather than dwell on it too much, this weekend, having the rare use of a car, I hit up Craigslist and found a few people selling off their extra chickens before the winter.

The first pair came from a family in Bothell with, I have to say, the McMansion of chicken houses. It was deluxe. I felt kind of bad for the two chickens we got from them; they’ve definitely taken a step down the socio-economic ladder.

The second pair were from a guy who up until the recent economic crisis was running a farm and hatching chicks. He had a couple nice chicken tractors in his back yard up in Everett, and had some good advice on taking care of the chickens. He grew up on a farm in Montana, so I kept my mouth shut and tried not to make a fool of myself (I certainly didn’t let on that a racoon or some other treacherous urban predator had gotten to our last flock of hens).

Hannah was excited to meet her new friends (”Daddy got new chickens!”) and she helped put sawdust in their coop, since she’s the only one who fits in there.

Jared and Kris were out last weekend and they did a little mushroom foraging (as Jared is wont to do whenever he happens to be near a patch of trees). We’ve gone together quite a few times, and I wanted a few of their chantrelles for some omlettes or pizza or whatever. The beauty of the barter economy is that everyone wins — they got some fresh-pressed apple cider, I got a pile of wild chantrelle mushrooms, and nobody spent any money in the process.

Leaves, coffee grounds, and burlap bags -- hopefully the ingredients to a well-fed garden next spring.

I’ve mentioned a few times that we’re preparing the gardens for the winter these days. It is a process with a few steps, starting with some basic hunting and gathering. It starts down at Caffe Vita, the local hipster coffeeshop / roaster, who are glad to part with the burlap sacks their unroasted beans come in. (At least when the baristas know what I’m talking about). Another stop is Starbucks, where they conveniently bag up “Grounds for Your Garden.” You don’t even have to feel bad about not buying anything because it’s right by the front door. Then it’s down the street with my rake and a garbage can to do an anonymous good deed by raking up someone’s leaves from the street (and benefit by getting good mulch for my garden, especially since our plum tree is holding on to it’s leaves a little longer this year.)

I’ve been putting down a pretty thick layer of leaves over the dirt, then sprinkling on a bag of coffee grounds, and then covering it up with the burlap. Toss on a couple rocks or bricks to keep it in place for the winter, and you’re set to go. I don’t know if I should do anything else, like mix it all in to the top layer of soil, so I’m just going to let it be unless anyone has any ideas.

Its 11:00 at night and I am avoiding bedtime by blogging.  Two points of general interest occurred to me:

1. I just noticed that Hannah is listed as an administrator on our blog. I asked Dan what her job on the farm is that would justify such a privilege and he said chief worm harvester, which is exactly right.  Anytime Dan is working in the yard Hannah thinks he is “finding worms” and she demands to help.  She either wants to dig for worms or chase the chickens, so I encourage the worm finding to give our poor chickens a break.

2. A chicken jumped on my head tonight when I was putting them to sleep and I COULD NOT get it off. I had a pizza in the oven and a child on the counter and thought I would just run out and pop the chickens in their coop and then finish dinner.  However one of the chickens (the supposed “nice breed”) would not go in and instead held on to my hair for dear life.  I honestly thought I was going to have to go inside with this animal on my head to get the pizza out of the oven.  Luckily I managed to shake her off into the coop without losing an eye, patch of hair or my tolerance for these animals.  I might have to tell them the tale of white chicken’s fate to put some fear into them.