7-8-10

PSYCHEDELIC PIE

STRAWBERRY COCONUT MINI CAKES

Olympia hosts a farmer's market every Thursday through Sunday, and seeing as we're leaving town tomorrow, we woke up early to get first dibs on everything this morning. Along with high hopes for fruit, we also hoped to find a farmer who would need our help for the second half of July. Good news and bad news: bad news first, no farmers needed our help; but good news, we got a flat of strawberries, a few cherries, apricots, and peaches. We also picked up some arugula, carrots, mushrooms, sunflower shoots, salsa, broccoli rabe, and a few basil leaves which we used to turn into delicious lunch and dinner. At this point, we have visited over 10 farmer's markets throughout the country, and we are astounded and thrilled at the huge resurgence in local food they have created. Years ago, people only bought local food from local markets. Somehow, in the last 40 or so years, corporations have managed to transform the way our society buys and eats food with the introduction of the Supermarket. For better or worse, a new transformation has begun. It's only a matter of time until people realize eating kiwis, pineapples, or peaches in december in cold North America climates isn't sustainable, economically sound, or practical.

We spent the rest of the afternoon baking, relaxing, and playing Monopoly. Jen baked a mixed fruit pie which turned out tasty but way too soupy, and strawberry coconut mini cakes, which apparently are great. It's always nice to have a simple, easy cake recipe that can be spiced up however you want, with whatever fruit is in season.

Tomorrow morning we're heading up to Port Angeles to hop on a ferry to Vancouver Island. We've been invited to an Organic Festival there, and we are excited to check it out and maybe even do a Q & A with anyone who has questions. Even though Canada is so close, we just realized we have to consider several things we haven't thought about since the trip began, including having passports, phone service, and even converters for electrical outlets. We're really excited to explore thoughts on food and agriculture across the border.

7-7-10

NUTTY WATCHES SARDO THROW

INCREDIBLE INGRID

DON'T OVER WATER

THE RAINBOW CONNECTION

LADY IN RED

BRONZE ARROW LETTUCE

PURE SUMMER

STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES

There are still some Little Lebowski Urban Achievers kicking around in Oylmpia and before everyone boarded an airplane to fly and return home, we stopped to play a round of disc golf at a nearby park. There were blackberry bushes alongside several of the holes, and we imagine playing the course again in a month or month and a half would surely be sweeter. It's been a cold and wet spring out on the west coast and crops are delayed, even the wild forgeable kind.

After our friendly game, we made it back to Corey's on Fox Run. Corey has a lovely little garden at his place that we helped tend in the late afternoon after the hottest portion of the day ended. Jordan, an old friend, helped set it up when he was here staying with Corey in the spring. They set up two compost piles, and gardens circling the house. Planted and growing in the backyard beds are onions, carrots, spinach, chard, kale, bronze arrow lettuce, and tomatoes. There are also sugar snap peas, cilantro, mint, and more tomatoes growing in the front yard. Today we helped Corey by turning the compost piles, transplanting chard, sowing basil and bush beans, tying tomato plants, building an addition to the pea trellis system utilizing bamboo, and of course, weeding.

After 6 months of farming, our experience enabled us to help Corey in a number of ways we never would have been able to at the beginning of our trip. Yet despite the lessons we've learned and the experience we've gained, we realize we still have plenty to learn. Corey asked questions about how certain strategies would play out in the fall, and whether certain insects would harm his plants. We were unable to answer all his questions thoroughly and with complete accuracy. But strides in the right direction continue, and we hope after a few more months, with an entire growing season under our belts, we'll be ready to try our hand somewhere on our own land. Trouble is, we don't have land.

7-6-10

DOWNTOWN SEATTLE

PIKE PLACE MARKET

MT. RAINIER

Recovering from the abuse we inflicted on our bodies all weekend long, we were in desperate need of fresh vegetables and fruits. It seemed that all the food we ate all weekend was of the brown/beige color scheme and now we needed a rainbow.

We headed back up to Seattle for the day and wandered around the famous Pike Place Market, where craft stalls, purveyors of food and flowers, and tourists abound. Most famous for the fish mongers throwing Alaskan Salmon inches from your nose, spending time in the crowded market is a great way to waste an afternoon. We stopped at Beecher's Cheese Shop where we tasted several varieties of artisinal cheese. We purchased a few small blocks and served them with fresh french baguettes and olives as an appetizer for our dinner. We also purchased: pencil-thin asparagus, onions, garlic, baby carrots, fava beans, sunburst orange cherry tomatoes, romanesco, fresh basil, homemade saffron/porcini/fire roasted red pepper orzo, bing, rainier, and lambert cherries, rhubarb, and a flat of blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Most of the ingredients were local and organic, and all were quite tasty. We prepared the following: orzo with sauteed onions, garlic, fava beans, beet greens, and fresh Parmesan, seasoned with basil and saffron, roasted romanesco, carrots, and asparagus in a lemon-butter-paprika sauce, a fresh salad with home picked greens topped with shredded beets, carrots, tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, and bits of "Oregonzola" and soy/garlic/oil dressing. Dessert, of course, was a fruit crumble with a coconut/rolled oat topping, served with fresh mint.

After a weekend of horrendous food, shopping and making our own food was a huge treat. We're thrilled to have a few more days of access to Corey's kitchen and his CSA box that will arrive tomorrow will no doubt be turned into delicious feasts. Oh, fresh fruits and vegetables, how we love you.

7-4-10

HERO SHOT

THE LITTLE LEWBOWSKI URBAN ACHIEVERS

HUMAN TOTEM POLE

DOUBLE FISTIN

AMERICAN GLADIATORS

MER-MAN

Someone once said the only piece of objective journalism in any newspaper is the box score. Our Syracuse Alumn team, the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers, finished the 2010 Potlach Ultimate Frisbee tournament at 3-5. This put us around 65th place of 100 teams, a poorer showing than two summers ago when we finished 4-4, and in 50th place. But covering an ultimate frisbee tournament in any sort of traditional way in hogwash. And so, here is the angle Hunter S. Thompson might cover the tournament:

Common decency indicates lugging kegs of beer hundreds of yards over ball fields mowed and manicured for children's athletics is reprehensible and inexcusable, but there's nothing more deplorable than following the rules on 4th of July, the commemoration of our great nation's breaking free from the law of England, our once supreme ruler. In our tradition so steeped in vicious rioting and revolting, ultimate frisbee teams looted golf carts, vandalized tents, took advantage of security guards by stealing sophisticated walkie-talkie systems, swallowed strong drink before breakfast, and used drugs in broad daylight in front of perfectly respectable senior citizens and young infants. Feeling hindered and encumbered by the suffocating affect of tight fitting athletic clothing, teams removed their wardrobes and ran naked, with breasts and genitals flopping in the breeze, eliciting wild cheers and applause, instead of the usual disgusted, appalled, and ghastly stares that one might expect anywhere else. Who actually won the tournament? Who knows? And who really cares? The competition on the field was for all intents and purposes meaningless. For the real winners were the men wearing leotards, the women wearing fishnet stocking and metal spikes, the wig wearers and the caped crusaders. The true heros were the inebriated ones, who stayed awake longer than anyone else, and were ready to play the first point in the early AM hours, keeled over, ready to vomit, but saved by the cool mist of sprinkling rain and the warm bubbles of canned beers flowing down their throats.

Anyone who would pay hard earned cash to subject themselves to the tortures of an ultimate frisbee tournament, where one subsists solely on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on bagels and alcoholic liquid meals should have their head examined. Is there a doctor in the house?

7-2-10

LARKIN'S CIRCLE

THIS WEEK'S BOUNTY

Our last day with Larkin completed our visit, as we helped finish packing all the fresh goodies into the CSA boxes and delivered them with him. It was a treat to visit the drop off sites, which is something we've been meaning to do with many of our previous hosts and haven't had an opportunity yet. Larkin delivers boxes to Astoria and Gearhart, both in Oregon, and some locals come to his farm store to pick their boxes up. The roundtrip travel time into Oregon about an hour. One drop off spot was at a church and the other was at someone's house, which we have noticed are two very popular and convenient delivery places for most CSAs.

Some may argue that the transportation involved, specially as it relates to gasoline consumption, with many drop off points is worse for the environment than having one huge commercial farm deliver one massive truck's worth of food from farther away. Do many short drives by several smaller vehicles use less gas than one long drive by one oversized truck? Studies probably can prove both sides of this argument to hold water, but it seems logical for us to believe the local produce, with a shorter distance traveled and less time in boxes and on shelves post-harvest must be fresher, healthier, and tastier.

With plans yet to be determined for the end of the month, there is a chance we will return to Green Angel Gardens half way through July to help out more. We have been having a very difficult time getting in contact with farmers in Washington so our plans are up in the air. If we return, we will do so happily. If not, we are glad we were here for a short visit and could help and learn. Either way, we are excited for the new adventures that lie ahead.

7-1-10 **VIDEO INCLUDED**

Our visit at Green Angel Gardens has been short but sweet and we will depart tomorrow morning. For our last day of work here, we harvested three types of kale for the CSA boxes that will be delivered tomorrow. Also going in the boxes are: strawberries, zucchini, summer squash, baby bunched carrots, bunched onions, salad greens, a dozen eggs, basil, spearmint, and spinach. Larkin works in conjunction with other local farmers to fill his boxes in order to give his customers a wider array of goodies each week.

After packing CSA boxes, we built a second compost pile next to the one we made the other day. We used the remainder of the Alpaca manure that was donated to Green Angel, combined and layered with hay, bits of plant debris, and a little bit of compost that is ready for the fields. After a few months, it too will be ready. On the topic of decomposition, we worked with the worm castings this morning as well. There is a worm bin outside that kitchen scraps go into. We ripped up and added a bunch of cardboard and newspaper in order to balance the levels of nitrogen and carbon inside. Happy, happy worms in there! And happy, happy plants will soon get their castings. Yum. It seems like having a mixture of amendments and different types of compost improves your soil in ways that one treatment cannot do alone.

Below is a video from the organic beer festival we attended this past weekend. Enjoy.

2010 NORTH AMERICAN ORGANIC BREWERS FESTIVAL

To learn more about Coconut Bliss (which you should, because it is DELICIOUS), check out their blog: http://www.coconutbliss.blogspot.com/

To learn more about Fish Tale Beers, check out their website: http://www.fishbrewing.com/

6-30-10

GREEN ANGEL GARDENS FARM STORE

THE WAR AGAINST SUPERMARKETS

OUR FRONT YARD

SEE THE TALONS?

ALARM CLOCK

The farm we are currently at utilizes the bio-intensive method. The bio-intensive method was developed by John Jeavons, who lives in Willits, California. Larkin lived and worked on Jeavons' farm for a number of years, and Larkin has carried over practices from there to here. Many farms we've wwoofed at have had the bio-intensive bible, How to Grow More Vegetables: And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine, in their library. Coincidentally, we purchased this book used at Powell's Books in Portland the other day. The main principle of this farming method is to plant crops extremely closely together. This method requires less land, water, and fertilizer than all other farming practices. Weeds are suppressed on the bio-intesive farm not because of herbicides or other chemicals but because there is no room for them to grow and no sunlight for them to absorb. Jeavons proposes that if followed properly, one 1,000 square foot circle can produce enough food to feed one person a vegetarian diet for an entire year. This yield is more than 10 times greater than the productivity of an average commercial farm.

Because Larkin is growing more food than he intends to consume, there are also two greenhouses, a geometric dome, and many outdoor row crops. But the heart and soul of Green Angel Gardens is the circle. He refers to it as the "Demonstration Circle." He believes the circle has spiritual and healing powers. In the circle, potatoes and fava beans are the main crops. In addition there are pole beans, garlic, salad greens, peas, and ornamental flowers growing. The beauty of the circle is that certain crops, like fava beans, serve two crucial purposes. The first, is that they are a protein rich food. (So you don't need to be a cannibal.) The second is that the fava bean plants add tremendous quantities of nitrogen and nutrients back into the soil and keep microbial organisms happily alive. The circle grows food both for our bellies and for the compost pile. This dual function is vital.

We spent most of our day weeding inside and outside the circle. And damn it looks good.

**Andy, we found the public transportation to be very user friendly. According to the transportation, the city is broken into zones. There is a square around the downtown area that is completely free and outer zones, or further destinations cost depending on how far you travel. We purchased tickets to zone 2 but nobody ever checked to see if we had a ticket...seems like it might be more on the honor system than anything else. There are trollies, buses, and many bicycle riders throughout the regions of the city. Overall, Portland is very mass transit friendly.**