Newsletter #15 and #16
Weekly Newsletter #15 and #16
September 6, 2019
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
― Margaret Mead
Happy Friday Everyone!
This week has been all about putting up the harvest in our household! Food preservation is one very important aspect of our lifestyle as it allows us to store the overflow of bounty from the spring and summer months into the winter when we're growing far less. It also allows us to make large batches of "convenience foods" that we can pull out for easy meals later on. We're all about that simplicity, especially with a toddler! This week alone we've processed marinara sauce, tomato juice, whole tomatoes, salsa, three flavors of pickled beans, pickled hot peppers, applesauce, honey plums, and grape juice! Next week we'll pull out the pressure canner and do soups, dried beans, green beans, corn, chili and tuna. We also have had the dehydrators running nonstop to dry hot peppers and garlic. Once they're finished we grind them down to make powders that we use for seasoning all year long. All three freezers all full which is usually a good indicator that Fall is here (oh, and we harvested our first pumpkin so there's that too!) It's truly the most wonderful time of the year ;)
Are you interested in learning about food preservation? Here are some great resources to get you started! If you're serious about trying to process some of your own vegetables we have some bulk buying options available (specifically green beans, tomatoes, and peppers). Just let us know what you need!
National Center for Home Food Preservation
Oregon State University Extension, Home Food Preservation
Ball and Kerr Canning Resources
Marisa McClellan, Food In Jars
While we've got plenty of tomatoes, beans, and peppers we've been anxiously coaxing the new starts into growth. I'm not exaggerating- we check at least twice a day to see how everything is coming along. There's one bed in particular that we've reseeded at least three times and the squirrels keep digging it up! I've resorted to using row cover to protect the young seedlings to prevent any future delays. Hopefully we'll see some new additions to the shares here soon! I'm looking forward to that corn!
A quick reminder to everyone about the FREE documentary screening of The Local Thirty happening on September 10th. Tickets are going really fast and space is limited so if you plan to attend reserve your seats today! You can get your tickets here:
Local Thirty Documentary Tickets
I also wanted to let you know of an exciting event coming up that will include herbs from our farm! The Portland CSA Coalition is hosting a farm-to-table event on September 22nd that will showcase a variety of CSA farms in the Portland area including vegetable, fruit, flower and meat CSA's. If you're interested in a fun night celebrating local food you can purchase your tickets here:
Farm Feast 2019 Tickets
Your Farmers,
Shannon, Taylor and Juniper Kane
Wild Grown Farm
