January
January 1, 2010
“It all started with arugula…” my husband, Stewart likes to say when asked how he got into farming. His mother, Regina had returned from Europe in the early 90’s yearning for the hot, flavorful green she had enjoyed while on her trip. She found a small seed company and ordered a few packets and planted arugula in and amongst her flowerbeds. The result was a bumper crop of greens that she washed and bagged and gave to friends. When she still had some left over, she asked her friend Ellen March if she could sell her arugula outside the Tubac Market. Regina ordered more “European” greens and recruited her son to build some raised beds in the backyard. I think Stewart was looking for an excuse to get back to the farm. He had followed me to Tucson while I went to the University of Arizona and had been working with a film studio in town. We were a young couple, just starting out and making big decisions, planning our future. Originally Stewart wanted to get into the film or sound industry. His father, grandfathers and great grandfathers had been monumental figures in the Hollywood film business so this seemed like a logical choice for Stewart. Every weekend, however, after my last class finished on Friday, I would cycle back to our apartment in the Tucson barrio where Stewart would fire up our V. W. van (often a very time consuming task and one calling for the crossing of fingers…) and we would head back down to the farm. This was where Stewart wanted to be and, with the lure of the country and horses and a very fun family to visit, it was also where I wanted to be.
December
December 1, 2009
This is the time of year when the weather reminds us why we live in Southern Arizona. Evenings are cold enough for a cozy fire while afternoons are warm enough for t-shirts. It is also the time of year when things slow down at the Agua Linda Farm and my family can take a breath and enjoy the fringe benefits of farm life. For my kids, and me this means horses.
November
November 1, 2009
I would like to dedicate this month’s journal to all the people who have helped us on the farm all year and during our Fall Festival.
PUMPKINS!
October 1, 2009
Agua Linda Farm Fall Festival. Weekends in October. Saturdays and Sundays 10am-5pm. Movie Nights Fridays Oct. 16, 23, 30 It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown by the pumpkin patch! Hayrides, music, petting zoo, farm raised burgers, hay maze, farm store, you-pick veggies, pony rides, pumpkin patch and more! $7/car admission. Opening weekend only – FREE ADMISSION, Oct 3&4 more info at www.AguaLindaFarm.net I-19 to Exit 42, Take East Frontage Road south.
September
September 1, 2009
Much time has been spent the last few weeks with hoes in hand, or on hands and knees weeding in the vegetable garden and the pumpkin patch. Though we miss the summer rains, the poor monsoon has helped to keep eager weeds at bay and I feel guilty for appreciating the drought. Larger weeds come up easier after a good irrigation and Stewart and I have been getting very intimate with the mud in the fields. Usually, I love the country girl in me. I am not afraid to get dirty and smelly. When I head out the door in the morning I often look like a bag-lady in my favorite sweat stained hat with a torn light-weight long sleeve shirt still crusted with yesterday’s mud, mismatched gloves and chlorophyll knees on my khaki work pants. I feel practical, smart – ready for the day. I have never claimed to be real tough or strong, but I know how to work hard and efficiently. Usually, I feel proud of my grubby self – that is until it’s time to go out into the real world, or certain folks come to the farm for a visit.
My Kids On The Farm
July 1, 2009
This summer marks the 10-year anniversary of the adoption of our two wonderful kids, Desarae and Jesse. They were 2 and 4 years old when they came into our lives. People who know us say that our kids are very lucky to have us. Both are full of energy and needed the space and activity that a farm provides. The truth is, we are the lucky ones. Stewart tells of the first day they came to visit before the adoption. His father, Arthur Loew had died a couple of years before and Stewart felt that the life and energy of the farm had died with him. “When Desarae came bouncing out of that car, it was like she was being born into the family and the place came alive again.” Des, squealing in delight, ran from animal to animal while her little brother slept in his car-seat. Stewart and I had recently been told that we would not be able to have kids the old fashioned way. Suddenly, what had seemed like a curse became a blessing as we opened our hearts to two children who needed a mom and dad.
June 2009
June 1, 2009
Is including locally grown food in your diet important to you? The “buy local” trend is growing and more Americans are frequenting farmers markets, joining CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) and looking for “local” sections in grocery stores and on menus.
May 2009
May 1, 2009
Farmers are like artists. We are passionate about the work we do. Our canvas is the land, our medium is the plants we tend and instead of paint brushes, our tools are tractors, hoes, shovels and muscle. The landscape is like a painting that begins each season as a rough draft in the mind of the farmer who considers the best place to seed each crop. There are many considerations when creating the composition of this painting. Unlike the artist’s blank canvas, however, a farmer begins with a dynamic, living surface. My husband, Stewart, knows this land well and has shown me how there are sections that are sandy and not suitable for many crops. He knows where, long ago, a wash ran through a field as evidenced by a wide, rocky band of earth, near which he has unearthed matates and manos left by artisans of the past. Only the farmer with an intimate connection to his land knows the subtle slopes, climbs and dips of his canvas that dictate the flow of water. Crops that are heavy nitrogen feeders like corn, need to be planted where previously nitrogen fixing plants, like legumes grew, or, even better, these crops can be seeded alongside each other, working symbiotically to feed one another while one crop provides a natural trellis for the other. In considering the composition of the gardens, the farmer must recall what grew there before so as not to deplete the soil. Perhaps a hedge of sorgam should grow along the perimeter to buffer hungry deer from the vegetable garden. To make harvesting easier, alley-ways should be carved into the ground alongside heavy crops like melons, squash and pumpkins. Vegetables planted for customers to pick like beans, squash and cucumbers should be seeded as close to the farm stand as possible as should flowers which, in our case, double as a “butterfly garden” for kindergarten students here for field trips.
Eating in Season
April 1, 2009
Eating in Season Last week I walked out to the garden to check on the progress of the peas. We have 3 rows of snow peas and two sugar snaps. They are only about eight inches tall and not yet flowering. I am getting anxious. I want to be the first to discover a pea and the first to eat one this season! The familiar bright green leaves and curly tendrils of the pea plants swept me back to harvesting with my sister, Kristin twelve years ago. We had an endless row of beautiful peas ready for harvest the day she came by to visit. Stewart and I had advertised that it was time for “U-Pick” peas with a few flyers around Tubac and Amado then hung a scale from a tree branch in anticipation, but no cars came rolling down our dusty driveway. In a day or so, the peas would be large and starchy. They needed to be harvested that day. When Kristin and I started picking, we hadn’t planned on completing the whole row! But we started giggling and joking and throwing dirt at each other while crawling on our hands and knees, picking and snacking our way down the row. We were using galvanized pails that we filled then dumped into a larger tub and it became a contest to see who could fill their bucket faster. I think we must have picked fifty pounds of peas that day and thus began my first efforts in “preserving the harvest.” I blanched and froze most of those peas and we enjoyed them all year! To be the one to notice and then eat the very first peas, beans, summer squash, etc., earns you bragging rights around here! It reminds me of when I was a kid in Maine bragging about being the first one to take a swim in the lake in late spring. My sisters were soon to follow and we could declare that summer had begun, (despite our shivering bodies and blue lips). To me, snow peas are symbolic of spring at its peak and I like to be the one to announce the arrival of the crop. It isn’t the kind of competitiveness that fosters jealousy; I just want to be the one to share the good news. Crunchy, raw peas with a tasty dip, lightly sautéed peas with butter and a sprinkling of salt, stir-fried peas with rice – YUM! When the first few appear, I struggle to fill a bucket, determined to have them for dinner that night and have enough to divide between our CSA members, but at the first harvest, there is never enough to go around. Then, five days or a week later, there are peas coming out of our eyeballs. The familiar clanging of the legumes hitting the galvanized pails begins and there is plenty to go around. This excitement does wane, however, when two days later, the crop must be harvested again, then again and again. Achy backs and sore hamstrings accompany the buckets to the field and well before pea season has come to a close, I am “over it” and never want to pick another pea in my life, or at least until next April. Eating mostly vegetables that we grow means that we often go without that vegetable when it’s out of season, so we enthusiastically welcome each food back to the table when it arrives. The celebration of the very first tender peas or baby kale or any crop begins right in the field. Squatting down in the garden or the greenhouse to nosh on veggies is a great pleasure of mine. I feel like a grazing animal sampling all the flavors right out of the ground without bothering to wash them first. Today, while snacking in the greenhouse, I marveled at the meaty texture and flavor of the three varieties of kale that we are growing. I changed my mind (again) about which was my favorite. Then I sampled some young sorrel greens that taste surprisingly like citrus! A crunchy white radish, still speckled with soil was a slightly spicy dessert. Lettuce is an example of a crop that is missed terribly during the hot summer when we can’t grow it. Summer seems to call for a cool, crisp salad, but in Southern Arizona, it’s the wrong season. Once and a while we break down and buy a bag of a mix at the grocery store, but we are always disappointed. The leaves lack flavor and have usually started to break down and are slimy before the bag is even open. In the fall, Stewart and I monitor the progress of the lettuce crop, trying to resist harvesting until the leaves are just the right size, then we stir up a dressing and PIG OUT! In the spring, we have a salad with every meal and never tire of it. We know that come about mid May, the greens will turn bitter in the heat and will bolt, or flower. Lettuce is different than most crops in that there is no way to preserve it for the off -season. It doesn’t blanch, freeze or pickle, so when it’s done, it’s truly done! Right now it is “green” season. Lettuce, kale, arugula, spinach, chard, turnip greens, sorrel, Asian greens and beet greens fill the bags of our CSA members and our evening meals. Salads, stir-fry and soup recipes accompany their bags, offering ideas of how to prepare these foods in different ways. By the time “green season” is over, many will be tired of these foods and will be pining for summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers and all the other crops of the next season, but that’s how it goes. Eating local means eating “in season”. It means that you celebrate the first harvests, embracing the foods and the memories they bring like old friends visiting. You celebrate them at the kitchen table but are ready to see most of them go and make way for the next harvests when the season changes. Soon, however, you long for that leafy dish and are wracking your brains to find one more way to cook the zucchini you missed through the winter! If you are trying to eat in season and/or local, preserving the harvest can help add variety to your meals on the off-season. For more information, visit the web site for The National Center For Home Food Preservation at: www.uga.edu/nchfp/ Our next Talk & Tour is Saturday, April 4 at 11am. The farm is open to the public Saturdays, 9am-3pm and Sundays 12-3pm. Take I-19 to Exit 42, go south on East Frontage Road
Smarty-Pants and the Brown Thumb!
March 1, 2009
I have been on jury duty the last couple of weeks in Tucson so I have been very out of touch with the goings-on on the farm. In fact, I went two weeks without even looking in the new greenhouse at the seedlings that recently sprouted. When I finally got over there, I was astonished! Neat rows of kale, boc choy, spinach, turnips, radishes and more are thriving in the greenhouse. After years of witnessing packets of brown, hard, lifeless seeds grow into a variety of edible foods, one would think I would be unimpressed, but the transformation never ceases to amaze me!