Recipe: Saffron & Crimini Mushroom Pasta

Saffron & Crimini Mushroom Pasta

This creamy pasta is very rich and makes a great meal when served with a light side salad.  

Saffron & Crimini Mushroom Pasta
(I based this meal on a recipe for Crab Fettucine with Wild Mushrooms, served at Baked Alaska in Astoria, OR.  Since I didn't have any crab meat on hand, it ended up being a vegetarian dish!).

Ingredients

12 oz. pasta

4 tablespoons butter
8 oz. crimini mushrooms (from this week's box)

2 cloves garlic, minced (from a previous week's box)

1 cup white wine

1/2 cup heavy cream

Saffron (a pinch or two)

Salt & pepper

-Cook pasta.

-Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat.  

-Saute the mushrooms until brown (around 10 minutes) and season them with salt & pepper.

-Add the garlic.

-Stir in the white wine and a pinch of saffron.  Reduce the wine by half.

-Add the cream and blend with the wine mixture.

-Serve over pasta.  

CSA: Late Spring Session (Week 3); mama pig outside!

Arabia is enjoying her new pig pen...

Now that the piglets are older, we have moved their mama, Arabia, out into the field.  She has been absolutely loving the tall grass and has been rooting around in her pen (pigs are great at aerating soil).  Her piglets will be heading out to their pen soon, too!

Tomorrow (Wednesday, May 15) is Week 3 of our Late Spring Session - I'm always excited to see cilantro appear!  Most people are fairly polarized in their opinions about cilantro, and according to some studies, there may actually be a genetic factor involved in that preference.  

This is what you can expect to see in Week 3's box:

Late Spring Session, Week 3: Box Contents

Spinach

Carrots

Cilantro

Apples

Eggs

Braising Mix

Red Chard

Crimini Mushrooms

Romaine Lettuce

Dandelion (Regular Shares only)

May Day Celebration

Going around the May Pole

We were fortunate to have gorgeous, sunny weather on Saturday for our May Day celebration!  At noon, all of the kiddos grabbed streamers on the May Pole and walked around it while Farmer David sang "Old MacDonald" and other classic farm tunes while he strummed a guitar.  The kids always have so much fun wrapping the May Pole in these colorful streamers!  

Visitors got to enjoy hay rides around the farm

Before and after the May Pole celebration, Farmer David took groups on hay-wagon tours of the farm.  We also had seed-planting set up - kiddos could plant bean seeds and take them home!  Our scavenger hunt was also popular this year, and we find that it's a great way for children to get familiarized with the various plants & animals on the farm.

Happy May Day!

Farmer Micah was super excited to go outside in the morning and find that colorful streamers had sprung up from the May Pole. :)  It's such a fun tradition.

All in all, it was a fantastic and joyful day, and we're truly thankful that we had so many wonderful friends of the farm here to celebrate the coming of spring with us.  

Eggs in a Nest - braising mix recipe

Braising mix becomes a familiar item to folks in the Pacific Northwest who are eating locally, and I always love finding new ways to serve it.  Here's a gorgeous and wholesome braising mix breakfast that was put together by CSA members Heather & Ross!

Eggs in a Nest
(adapted from a recipe in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle)

Ingredients from the share box:
Eggs

Braising Greens

Garlic

Extra ingredients:
Coconut oil
Cranberries
Walnuts
Splash of balsamic
Top with some grated Drunken Goat cheese

CSA: Late Spring Session (Week 1); animal update; tomatoes

Kohlrabi starts

Our Late Spring Session began on Wednesday, May 1st.  If you're interested in joining for the remainder of the season, you can receive a prorated share cost!  Also, if you'd like to come out to visit the farm, our May Day celebration on Saturday, May 4th would be a great opportunity.

Dandelion greens are nutritious and super yummy, though they tend to be rather bitter, especially for kiddos.  I've found that putting the greens in mashed potatoes or even scrambled eggs helps Micah to eat them, since their bitter flavor is balanced out a bit.

Late Spring Session, Week 1: Box Contents

Eggs
Beets
Garlic
Apples
Chard
Braising Mix
Spinach
Asparagus and Dandelion greens for Regular shares only
Bok choi for Three Quarter shares only 

Turkey chicks!

We brought home five peeping turkey chicks today!  They're currently staying warm under a heat lamp in the duck shed but will be out and about in no time.

The ducklings have continued to grow like crazy and are already outside...

Ducklings in their movable pen

They weren't huddling together for warmth in this picture - they're still awfully shy whenever someone steps into their pen, so they all cluster together in a corner.  All of the ducklings are doing well, and they have a small pool to practice swimming in.

Tomatoes in a greenhouse

 Several of our greenhouses are full of growing tomato plants.  I'm particularly excited about Green Zebras - these are my absolute favorite tomatoes, and I found myself eating them like apples last summer.

CSA: Early Spring Session (Week 6); Late Spring sign-ups; May Day

Sorry for posting the box contents a bit late this week! :)

Wednesday, April 24 was the sixth and final week of our Early Spring Session this year.  Thanks so much to all of you who joined us!

The Late Spring Session will begin this coming Wednesday, May 1st!  If you'd like to join us for this session, please submit your application before Tuesday, April 30.

May Pole

Also, we will be having our annual May Day celebration on Saturday, May 4!  Hay rides start at 11 am, and the May Pole will begin at noon.  More information is posted on our blog.  Please come join us as we celebrate the warmth of spring!

Early Spring Session, Week 6: Box Contents
Radishes
Broccoli
Carrots
Yellow Onions
Bunched Arugula
Kale
Apples (Fujis and Granny Smiths)
Braising Mix

CSA: Early Spring Session (Week 5)

Rutabagas

Thanks so much for your patience with this late Box Contents post!  

One of my favorite items in Week 5's box was rutabaga, which, like its strange cousin kohlrabi, is a cross between the cabbage and the turnip.  

Here's some interesting info featured in From Asparagus to Zucchini, which is a fantastic cookbook produced by the Madison Area CSA Coalition (we sell this in our market during the Summer Session; if you'd like to purchase a copy during the Early or Late Spring Sessions, let me know and we'll put one in your box!):

The rutabaga appeared suddenly in the middle of the 17th century and first became popular in Sweden.  In fact, rutabaga comes from the Swedish rotabagge, meaning 'baggy root.'  Rutabagas are also commonly referred to as Swedes or Swedish turnips.  They were among the first vegetables grown by colonists in America as they began farming the untilled land, because the large roots helped break up poor soils. [...] Rutabaga is high in carbohydrates, vitamins A and C, and some minerals, particularly calcium.  Rutabagas belong to a handful of cruciferous vegetables believed to be effective in cancer prevention as well.

Also, I'd like to remind everyone that next Wednesday (April 24th) marks the sixth and final week of the Early Spring Session.  The Late Spring Session begins on Wednesday, May 1st - if you're planning to join us for that session, please send in your application (if you haven't already done so)!

Early Spring Session, Week 5: Box Contents

Cauliflower
Braising Mix
Watercress
Collards
Lettuce
Fennel
Apples
Eggs
Leeks
Rutabaga
Garlic

Planting tomatoes, pruning apple trees, and visiting ducklings

Apple blossoms

We were thankful to have a lovely spring morning here today, especially after the crazy weather we had this weekend!  The crew is nearly finished pruning the apple trees, and the orchard looks so beautiful and vibrant.

Farmers David & Matt readying the greenhouse for planting tomatoes

I'm super excited to say that we'll be planting tomatoes this afternoon!  In the morning, Farmers David and Matt worked on preparing the first greenhouse for planting.  As the tomato plants grow, they'll be pruned to encourage vertical growth; the orange twine hanging from the ceiling of the greenhouse will be let down for support of the plants as they get taller.

Farmer Micah practices petting ducklings with one finger (with help from Farmer Wendy!)

The ducklings are still doing well and are so cute...  When kiddos visit with the small, fragile animals, we always teach them to pet with only their pointer fingers.

Ducklings

Ducklings have hatched!

The last farm babies appeared this weekend - our ducklings hatched!  These fuzzballs are the offspring of our Indian Runner ducks that patrol the side of our propagation house for slugs - they're very effective slug-hunters.

Unlike most ducks, Indian Runners stand upright and quickly scuttle rather than waddle - they're so much fun to watch. :)  The ducklings' mother is Sensei, a shy, brown duck; Sensei is accompanied by three drakes, or male ducks.

Pruning in the apple orchard

On Friday morning, before the rain hit us, we managed to make some more progress in the apple orchard.  Pruning the trees takes a lot of time, and, as you can see by looking at the pruned trees on the right side of this photo, we take quite a bit of growth off.  This will help the trees to produce a greater amount of fruit later in the season.

CSA: Early Spring Session (Week 4)

Delicious sorrel!

Week 4's box has a great assortment of produce.  Although technically a vegetable, rhubarb is often considered a fruit because of the way it's used (in pies and so forth) - while we're craving sweet fruit during the winter & early spring months, it's such a relief to have rhubarb appear.  

Mizuna (a peppery Japanese green) is reminiscent of arugula.  Raw, it adds a lot of flavor to salad; it's also great in stir-fries.

The aromatic herb fennel (I love that smell!) is fairly versatile - the bulb can be eaten raw, sauteed, braised, etc.  I'll be posting a great soup recipe that uses fennel later this week.

Sorrel has quickly become one of my favorite herbs - it has a crisp lemony flavor.  To make a quick and easy sauce that's great for poached fish, I just cut out the tough center stem, chop the leaves up, and saute them.  As they cook, the leaves break down into a thick sauce, which can be served as-is on top of cooked fish.  I like to add some cream to the sauteed sorrel.  (In this week's box, a bunch of cut sorrel - freshly harvested here at Jubilee - was packed in a plastic bag.  It looks a bit like spinach, which was loosely packed in a banded-bunch in the box).

Early Spring Session, Week 4: Box Contents
Chard
Mizuna or Red Mustard
Fennel
Rhubarb
Collard Raab
Yellow Onion
Crimini Mushrooms
Sorrel
Granny Smith Apples
Spinach

Lambs & plants

The newest addition to the flock (5 days old in this photo)

On April 4th, an adorable white-fleeced ram was born to Raindrop!  He's really frisky and has been having so much fun scampering through the tall grass and the dandelions.  Since he arrived, we've really been able to see how much the other, older lambs have grown - they look huge in comparison!

Enjoying some fresh grass

We use rotational grazing with our sheep, so their pen moves every so often to cover new ground.  They're currently enjoying the lush grass in our plum orchard, and they seem to particularly enjoy the dandelions.

Although the animals have been keeping us busy, we've also been getting a lot of work done with our veggies...

Farmer Micah inspects the tomato plants. 

We plant our tomato seeds in flat trays and then transplant the seedlings into 4-inch pots.  After they've had some time to sprout in the warm room in the white barn, they're moved over to the propagation house, where they'll grow a bit more before being planted in our greenhouses.

Sprouted peas ready for planting 

Before planting peas, we sprout them - the peas are placed in trays and then covered with damp burlap overnight.  They went into the ground several days ago - so much progress is being made for the Summer Session!

Running to the pasture

This video shows the first half of the herd (the pregnant cows) heading out to pasture for the first time this spring (and Micah provides a bit of narration!):

CSA: Early Spring Session (Week 3)

Although there's nothing particularly out of the ordinary in this week's box (aside from raab), I do want to emphasize how delicious cipollini onions are; they're sweeter than normal onions and are perfect for roasting.

Early Spring Session, Week 3: Box Contents
Eggs
Kale
Granny Smith Apples
Red Cipollini Onions
Red Savoy Cabbage
Beets
Carrots
Broccoli
Raab

The rest of the cows are outside!

The cows loved frolicking through the spring grass in their new pen today.

Since we had a beautiful, sunny day today, we decided to move the rest of the cow herd out of the barn and into the pasture (having already moved the calves outside yesterday).  It's always so much fun to watch the herd leave the barn in the spring - they kick up their heels, roll in the grass and dirt, and run from end to end of their pen.  For being such big animals, they're surprisingly spry!

Running in the pasture

The entire herd was separated into three parts during the winter.  The calves were in the loafing shed, and the rest of the herd was split into the two loafing sides of the new barn: one side consisted of younger heifers and steers, and the other side held a bull and pregnant cows.  Since the herd has been separated for several months, they're in the process of re-ordering their hierarchy - i.e., butting heads and chasing each other.  Once they are reunited with the calves in a few weeks, they'll adjust their hierarchy again.

Enjoying the fresh grass on the west side of the new barn

Because the grass is still quite short, the herd will only stay in this pen until tomorrow.  We practice Managed Intensive Rotational Grazing with our cows: the herd stays in one portion of pasture at a time and is systematically moved to a new section of pasture almost every day.  This method allows grass to recover, increases soil fertility, and mirrors the natural herd migration that exists for large ruminants in the wild (think of bison).  We also use rotational grazing for the sheep and pigs, though they don't need to be moved as often as the cows do.

Freedom!

Soon the cows will be losing their shaggy winter coats.  They're so excited to be out in the green grass - it really feels like spring!

The calves are outside!

The calves left their winter abode and headed out to pasture today.

Throughout the rainy winter months, the cows stay sheltered in the barn and the loafing shed, where they eat haylage; the ground is simply too wet for them to be outside during the winter, and the cool weather keeps the grass from growing fast enough to provide sufficient nutrition for them (flooding is also a winter problem, of course).  During this past winter season, the calves (born last summer) were moved into the loafing shed behind the big white barn in order to separate them from the rest of the herd.

Spring has brought a series of warmer, drier days (despite that out-of-the-blue snowstorm), so we were able to move the calves out into the grass today - as you can imagine, they were super excited to taste some fresh grass!

Munching on green grass...

The grass is still quite short, so they'll need to be moved to new pasture once or twice a day for awhile.  The rest of the herd will be heading outside soon.

Piglets with their mama

Arabia's piglets are growing quickly and are becoming more adventurous - they've been leaving their elevated "nursery" area and have been scampering around the rest of the pen, rooting, oinking, and chasing each other.

I know that a lot of folks are excited to see the piglets and lambs in person...we'll be having our annual May Day gathering on Saturday, May 4th this year - hopefully you can come join in the May Pole celebration, greet the animals, and help us to usher in the spring season!  More details will be posted soon, so keep an eye on the blog and be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

Piglets in action!

Here's a short video of the piglets exploring their new home yesterday:

How cute are they?!

CSA: Early Spring Session (Week 2)

Purple sprouting broccoli

For Week 2 of our Early Spring Session, we added purple sprouting broccoli to the Regular Shares - this variety was a bit of an experiment for us, so we are hoping to just try it out in a small quantity this week and get some feedback on it.  Purple sprouting broccoli, which is an old English heirloom variety of broccoli, overwinters and then is ready for harvest in the spring.  The broccoli heads and kale-like leaves add a lot of color and taste to a salad, but there are some delectable recipes posted here in case you'd prefer to cook it. We're curious to hear your opinions on this variety!

We'll be adding recipes to the blog periodically, and if you have one that you'd like to share, we'd love to post it!  Just send us an email with your recipe (and a photo, if possible), as well as a citation for the recipe, if you found it online or in a cookbook.

Early Spring Session, Week 2: Box Contents

Kale
Chard
Braising mix
Granny Smith Apples or Fuji Apples

Leeks

Watercress

Garlic

Crimini Mushrooms

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Purple Sprouting Broccoli (Regular Shares only)

Piglets are here!

Nine wiggly, healthy piglets were born at Jubilee Farm today.

We were so excited to find that Arabia, our sow, gave birth to nine adorable piglets this morning!  Arabia has been very attentive to her little ones, who are busily scampering about and exploring their new home.  

Arabia laying down to nurse her piglets.

Although the piglets mostly resemble their Hereford momma with their red backs and white bellies, they have some adorable little black spots that they inherited from their father, George, who is a 700 lb. Berkshire boar.  The folks down the road at Nature's Last Stand let us borrow George for a bit; both Arabia and George are so sweet and fun to be around.  George is back at his home now, so Arabia and her piglets have their pen all to themselves.

George, the boar with a heart of gold.

Another lamb (a ram this time) was born on Monday, so photos of him will be up soon; we're also expecting ducklings to hatch in mid-April.  This spring is definitely an eventful one so far!

The new barn's grand opening (part 2)

Here's a video of the cows entering their new winter abode back in November 2012 (see my previous post for more photos):

The new barn's grand opening

Cutting the ribbon (west side of the barn)

As I mentioned earlier, we were thrilled to have the new barn completed in November 2012 - it still needs a few finishing touches here and there, but it has been a fantastic shelter for the cows during the rainy winter season.  The cows are still in the barn but should hopefully be out in the fields again soon - for each sunny day we have, the fields get a bit drier and the grass grows taller!

We held our ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 9, 2012, and most of the members of the construction crew and Jubilee's crew - as well as some other folks who have been so significant in the process of getting that barn put up - celebrated with us as we cut the ribbon and ushered the cows inside for the winter.

Feeding alley

The center of the barn is the feeding alley, where bales of haylage (fermented grass) or hay (dry grass) are set out for the cattle.  The herd was divided into two parts (based on age, etc.); each part of the herd has a loafing area and eating area, where they have access to the haylage through a panel of stanchions.  Around 275 of the haylage bales that we've fed to the cows this winter were baled from grass here at Jubilee. 

Moo!

The loafing areas in the barn are carpeted with straw every few days.  Rather than removing the old straw and manure, we continually add layers of fresh straw on top of it; this method produces a wonderfully rich manure that will later be spread on our fields.  The cows are an integral part of the fertility of the soil throughout the entire farm.

I should also mention that building this barn in a flood plain was a big challenge - a huge pad of dirt had to be built up and leveled, and then the concrete foundations for the barn could be poured.  The final concrete pour was on August 21, 2012, and Farmer Micah got to put his footprints and a handprint in that last layer. :)  (For more information on flooding concerns in our valley, please visit the Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance).

Snow & seeding

We were surprised to wake up this morning to see snow falling (and sticking to the ground) - I definitely had to stop for a moment and think about what month we were in!  Most of the snow melted away when the sun came out in the late morning.  The ducks didn't seem to mind the weird weather too much (and Micah loved tromping around in the slush & snow, of course).

Mornings like this provide good opportunities to get some seeding done.  Farmers David & Kelsey worked on seeding bok choy and spinach:

Sometimes we use a vacuum seeder to help the process along - it uses suction to arrange the seeds for planting in a 72-cell tray, and it's especially helpful with small seeds.

Farmers Wendy & Kelsey with the vacuum seeder

After the trays have spent some time in our warm room in the barn, they'll move into the propagation house.  Lots of little seedlings are growing in there, and some have already been transplanted into larger trays - it's so exciting to see all of the bounty that the summer will bring!

Rosemary

Newborn lambs

Here's a short video from this morning of the newborn lambs.  My sister-in-law Alina and her two kiddos were able to come greet the lambs today as well, so they have had quite a warm reception so far! :)

CSA: Early Spring Session (Week 1)

kale raab

One of the more unusual items in this week's boxes is kale raab (fresh from Jubilee).  Brassicas like broccoli and kale send up shoots of delicious flower buds when they are going to seed after the winter, and these buds are called "raab."

They're very sweet and are even tasty when added raw to salads.  For a quick lunch today, I just chopped them up and sauteed them with garlic in olive oil.

Early Spring Session Week 1: Box Contents
eggs
broccoli

cauliflower

chard

shallots

beets

apples

carrots

pears

kale raab

Twin lambs on the first day of Spring!

Early this morning, Maya gave birth to an absolutely adorable set of twin lambs - what a perfect way to usher in the Spring season!  

These baby girls are so sweet and have beautiful jet-black wool (their papa is chocolate brown).  Although it was quite rainy out when they arrived, their little family is now tucked safely away underneath the big brown shed to weather out the windstorms and rainstorms.  Both lambs have been nursing and toddling around a bit, and Maya is a very attentive mother.  We're so thrilled by these new additions!

Happy Spring, everyone! :)

"this much and no more"

"In any consideration of agrarianism, this issue of limitation is critical. Agrarian farmers see, accept, and live within their limits. They understand and agree to the proposition that there is 'this much and no more.' Everything that happens on an agrarian farm is determined or conditioned by the understanding that there is only so much land, so much water in the cistern, so much hay in the barn, so much corn in the crib, so much firewood in the shed, so much food in the cellar or freezer, so much strength in the back and arms—and no more. This is the understanding that induces thrift, family coherence, neighborliness, local economies. Within accepted limits, these become necessities. The agrarian sense of abundance comes from the experienced possibility of frugality and renewal within limits."

Wendell Berry: "The Agrarian Standard" 

Welcome!

Our new barn was completed in November 2012, just in time for the cows to head in for the winter.

Welcome to Jubilee Farm's new blog!  We'll be sharing bits and pieces of our day-to-day life on the farm, so be sure to check back for photos, videos, events, recipes, CSA updates, and some agrarian philosophy, of course.

Most of our CSA members don't get to see much of what goes on around the farm during our "off-season" sessions, since we only do deliveries during these colder months.  We're hoping that this blog can help to give you a bit of a taste of life on Jubilee, even when you're not here to pick up your shares and do u-pick.

As you can see in the photo above, we were thrilled to finish our new barn just in time for the cows to head indoors for the wet winter months.  More pictures of the barn will be up soon - but suffice it to say, we're so excited about this new addition!