Food Archives - Page 14 of 20

Bought the Farm, Now What?

Have you ever had a vision so big, you didn’t know what to think?

Have you ever had a dream so big it was nearly impossible to conceive? Something that you really wanted but others looked at you funny when you talked about it?

This is where we found ourselves in 2002. Looking for a piece of land we could call our own. A place to do as we wished, no covenants to drive the structure of our dwelling, no close neighbors watching every move.

Finally we found it. A neglected five acre and a half acre rectangle. The house had burned years before leaving a weed filled pit. The old garage housed ragged appliances, broken glass, mice and who knows what else. The land came complete with a leaning two seater outhouse.

But the barn sang a different song. Hand hewn beams pegged together. Leaning a bit and in poor repair, it held promise. Could this be rehabilitated? Converted into a home? We dreamed large. Until we found the dry-rot and termites. The barn salvage is a story for another time.

So there we stood. Looking at this wild property wondering with excitement what possessed us to have this vision. The first step was obvious. Get rid of the junk. So we cleaned and mowed and hauled and picked up trash.

In 2008, the time was right to begin building. A two story yellow farmhouse sprang up and we moved in. Now we had more time to devote to gardens and landscaping and food. The land has transformed under our stewardship.

Our vision has grown and evolved since those early days. We find ourselves part of the growing movement to know the provenance of our food. Expanding the gardens to produce not only food for ourselves but enough to start a business.

Now our goal is to keep improving, expanding and moving toward the vision of being as self-sufficient as possible. Our focus is on food. Wholesome natural food that doesn’t come with a long list of chemical ingredients.

The plan also includes honeybees. As the honeybee population has been threatened, we have joined the preservation effort. These valuable insects pollinate many garden plants thereby increasing yields. We harvest honey and use the wax by-product to create skin creams and lip balms. It is a symbiotic relationship that benefits both us and the bees.

Here on our blog and throughout the Five Feline Farm business, you will find us promoting good food and fine products. We share tips, pointers, recipes, ideas and the occasional fail. We also hope to encourage you, our followers and fans, to reach for your own vision whether it be food, honeybees or something entirely different.

You can find Five Feline Farm on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you haven’t picked up your copy of Wisdom of the Bees, you can get that free when you sign up for our email list.

Healthy Food Choices

Everyone wants to be healthy these days. But with all the hype, it’s hard to know what to do.

The labels abound: Non GMO, Organic, Naturally Grown, Clean Eating. What do these mean? How can you make an informed choice? What are we thinking at Five Feline Farm?

Let’s take the labels one at a time as we see it.

Non GMO (Genetically Modified Organism)

Scientists have genetically modified some of our food crops to enhance production. Corn and soybeans are primary cash crops in the Midwest. These have been modified to make them “Roundup Ready”.

What does that mean?

It means the plant is modified at the gene level in such a way that it can be sprayed with the herbicide Roundup and not be affected. Otherwise Roundup kills any plant matter it touches.

Brown. Dead.

Not these corn and beans. These can survive being sprayed with this lethal poison.

Of course, Monsanto, the maker of Roundup would have us believe that the modifications and subsequent spraying are safe for human consumption.

It doesn’t stop with corn and soybeans. Many of our food crops also contain GMO’s.

Organic

Organic food has a special designation and oversight. There are strict standards that must be adhered to if one is going to label a food organic. This also comes at a cost. Organic food producers must meet these regulations and pay fees to label their food organic.

Organic simply means nothing artificial has been done to the seed, plant, soil, water, or fertilizer.

Naturally Grown

This is what we do at Five Feline Farm. We use non GMO seed. There are only natural (read compost) amendments to the soil. Any pesticides are house-made from natural ingredients.

We’re ok with misshapen fruits and vegetables.

Although not organic, we think it’s pretty close.

Clean Eating

This seems to be a relatively new term. The most basic definition is to consume only whole foods that would have been recognized by the generation before World War II. Foods that are not processed from an unrelated substance. Ingredients that can be read and pronounced by a middle schooler.

Prior to WW II and the dawn of the information age, life moved at a slower pace. Families took time to come together over a meal and share their day. People in rural areas grew a lot of their own food, “putting it up” or “putting it by” to get through the cold winter months. City folks shopped at local grocers. Large multi-line stores were non-existent.

People ate local food in that era. Perishable foods would not make the long journey across country or continents. Anything that was shipped a distance was cost prohibitive for the average consumer.

Our Plan

We are into modern retro-food.

Yes, it’s a new term we just made up. Taking advantage of new cooking techniques and the occasional long distance food, most of what we eat is local. Whole foods that Grandma would know. Nothing we can’t pronounce.

We grow and preserve as much as possible here on the Farm. What we do buy gets a thorough label examination. Looking for ingredients we can pronounce or resembles a food more than a lab ingredient. The fewer ingredients the better.

We aren’t perfect in this effort. But each meal and each purchase is an opportunity to make a good decision. In the end we feel better, physically and emotionally.

Your Turn

Join us in this effort to make better food decisions. Take one meal, one food, one day. Whatever works for you.

Eat a whole food. Read labels.

Make one food choice that is closer to the way Grandma used to eat.

Shop local.

Send us a message through email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and let us know what good food decision you made today.

Planning To Plant Garlic

Walk into any decent Italian restaurant and take a deep breath. That warm spicy aroma tingling your nose is quite likely garlic. That incomparable deep flavor that makes Italian dishes sing.

You can bring this into your own kitchen through bulbs of garlic purchased at a box store, but why do that when garlic is so easy to grow?

Now is the time to start planning for your fall planting of garlic. Yes, it is somewhat counter-intuitive, but some plants are designed to spend their winter nestled in the cold earth. Garlic is just such a plant.

There are two basic types of garlic and numbers of varieties within those types. Like any other plant, the specific varieties have different advantages of flavor, storage, etc.

Hard Neck Garlic

These bulbs of garlic are different from the kind you normally find available in the store. The bulb forms a hard center stem that grows up through the bulb to support the leaves. As the bulb is opened, there are typically 6 or 8 cloves of garlic around this center stem. The cloves are full and large. Varieties we grow are: Music, Bogatyr, and German Red.

Soft Neck

This garlic does not form that hard center stem. Softer leaves shoot out of the middle and many cloves form around this center. The outer cloves are reasonably sized with size decreasing as you near the center. Even the outer cloves do not attain the size of the hard neck ones. We grow Inchelium Red

After you receive your garlic bulbs, either through a mail order supplier or somewhere local, don’t peel off the outer papery cover until you are ready to plant. Store the bulbs in a cool, dry place until ready to plant.

At this point you should also plan where you will plant your garlic. Choose a sunny location that is well drained with rich soil. You will need 6-8 inches of space per plant.

This post is the first in a series about home grown garlic. Our next post will cover the characteristics of the garlic varieties we grow. In the meantime, check out this post about how to use garlic bulbils.

Come back for the next installment or sign up for our email list to have these posts delivered to your inbox. You’ll also get a free ebook. How cool is that?

In Defense of Butter

I love butter. Smooth, silky, creamy butter. There is nothing like it to transform pan sauce into a glistening, slightly thick, lip-smackingly rich perfection.

The butter at my house can be found in not one, not two, but three locations.

Butter on the Counter

Softened butter occupies a place of honor on the counter. Kept fresh in a butter keeper, ready to spread at a moment’s notice.

Butter in the Fridge

There are packages of butter awaiting use in the refrigerator, stick by glorious stick.

Butter in the Freezer

And there is always butter in the freezer. Usually purchased 16 or 20 pounds at a time. Butter stores perfectly well in the freezer. I can’t chance running out.

I preserve herbs in butter, making logs of rich herb butter to freeze. Later sliced and added to everything one can imagine. See how that process works in Making Herb Butter.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking.

“Her arteries are so clogged with all that butter fat, there’s no oxygen to her brain.”

“Bet her blood flows thick as frozen butter.”

“Cholesterol must be off the chart.”

The low-fat movement is surely having a stroke about now.

Yes, I use a lot of butter. Along with all the other full fat ingredients.

I’ve stopped using canola oil, shortening, corn oil, butter substitutes, reduced fat milk and cheese. In my opinion these options are not healthy, whole food. Many are GMO laden or composed of unrecognizable ingredients. These are not the food that my grandparents knew and used. I have stocked my kitchen with organic coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, full fat milk and cheese.

And butter. Lots and lots of creamy butter.

By the way, my cholesterol is down.