Welcome to the mid December Farm Happenings! As promised, we'll start things off with Farmer Brian's recipe tip: Maple Hill Farm rye flour pizza!
¾ cup Maple Hill Farm rye flour, 2 cups all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 package active dry yeast, 1 cup warm water, 2 tablespoons olive oil, caraway seeds to taste (optional)
In a large mixing bowl combine ¾ cup rye flour and ¾ cup all purpose flour, yeast, salt, warm water, and olive oil. Beat for approximately 30 seconds. While continuing to stir add in the remaining flour. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed for 6-8 minutes to create a moderately stiff dough. Cover and rest for 10 minutes. Roll out on pizza stone or pan. Cover and let rise for an additional 45 minutes. Prebake in a 400 degree over for 10 minutes. Don’t forget to poke the dough with a fork to prevent air bubbles. Cover with topping and return to oven until done.
Suggested Bayfield Food toppings: Kim Chi pizza – Spirit Creek Farm kim chi, ground beef, mushrooms, onions
Fall fest - Butternut squash (cubed and pre-baked) with caramelized onions and blue cheese Brian’s Classic Pizza - Spinach lightly sautéed, Fred’s Fancy Feta, bacon, pine nuts toasted
BIG NEWS here at Great Oak Farm: Farmer Ryan and I have FINALLY finished building hoophouse #6! We're really glad to have that project wrapped up before the snow flies. Those large sliding doors are a big bonus, as well as nice straight and tall sidewalls. That way we can work the beds next to the sides without having to worry about bumping our heads on bent pipes, as you can see in the two smaller houses off to the left of the new structure. Hoophouse #6 will be jam packed with more tomatoes and basil early next spring, as well as more spinach for winter harvest next September.
One additional (and much smaller!) farm infrastructure project was also wrapped up this week - we finally have our own walk-in cooler! Until now, we've relied heavily on our Bayfield Foods cooperative cooler, located about 20 minutes away where we farmers meet each week to pack up our produce for your CSA boxes. Originally, this insulated box came with a freezer compressor from a little ice cream shop over in the UP of Michigan. We purchased it way back when we raised a bunch of pastured broiler chickens, and when we changed our focus to veggie production I decided to keep it with the hopes of some day disconnecting the freezer compressor and outfitting it for refrigeration/veggie storage. Well, this past Wednesday, someday happened! And as you can see, it's not set up with a traditional compressor. Instead, it is kept cool with a window AC unit hooked to a nifty contraption called a Cool Bot. The Cool Bot was designed by a farmer-electrical engineer to over-ride the AC compressor controls so it can get cold enough to be used for refrigeration. Much cheaper than the several thousand dollar "regular" cooler compressors (it takes a LOT of cucumbers to pay for that sucker!), this Cool Bot unit only runs a few hundred bucks and can be farmer installed. We farmers wear a lot of different hats - electrician, plumber, carpenter. Plus ear protection most days, and (as you can see below in my farmer selfie with the newly completed hoophouse 6!) coveralls EVERY DAY now that it's cold outside!
On the veggie front, the winter squash supplies are starting to dwindle now, so savor those sweet fruits of fall while you can. The root cellar however is still chocked full of delicious carrots, beautiful beets, and crisp cabbages. We store the carrots and beets in pallet bins with liners to keep the humidity high around the crop. This keeps them from getting floppy in storage so they stay nice and crunchy all winter long. Hard to believe we finished harvesting these carrots back in October. The hoophouse spinach has enjoyed the mild(ish) sunny weather we have had this fall, and is looking fabulous. Below is a picture of the spinach headed out in your veggie CSA boxes this coming week in the very first hoophouse we ever built here. So green, fresh, and sweet!
In addition to enjoying sweet winter spinach, December is a time when we farmers start receiving our seed orders for the coming season. We're still waiting on about half of our order, but it's on the way and should be here before the end of the year. This is also the ONLY time of year where 12 acres of produce can ever fit on part of my kitchen table!
New for 2021 includes more purple, white, and even orange (!) cauliflower as well as several new varieties of peppers, beans, summer cabbages, cherry tomatoes, beets, and a few new kinds of carrots (including a variety from Europe that I have had my eyes on for a while now that gets SUPER SWEET after storage - we're growing that one next summer to store in the cellar for the 2021-22 winter veggie boxes). Most of all however, I am really excited about finally being able to order 10# of our favorite sugar snap pea variety once again. I have mentioned before how sad I have been with the snap pea varieties that have been available the last few years - poor germination, low yields, and just not as sweet as our old stand by! I am already looking forward to getting those early peas in the ground next spring. Fingers crossed for a bountiful pea season next summer - I love those peas.
Finally, we're working on a NEW project here at the farm and I am SUPER excited about it! If you get a veggie box, and all goes according to plan, you might be able to taste some as early as January 2021! Stay tuned... more info next time.
Until then, wishing you and yours a joyful Holiday season ahead. Take good care!
In community,
Farmer Chris
Great Oak Farm
