Two Small Farms

goat
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.


puppy
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Today is the first day of the veggie box from our CSA. If you've never connected yourself to a local food grower, I highly recommend it. It's good for your tummy, the land, the farmer, the kids — and, sometimes you get to bottle feed a baby goat.

On a different vegetable note:
One of my goals this summer is to make home-canned vegetable soup. I've had a pressure canner for years and I've always been afraid of it. I've lost the directions, so it's even scarier. It's like these.

And, thanks to Julia for the photos. I don't get many photos of me with the kids, goat or otherwise.

ROOTS

autumn2001
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.


Roots
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.


Future Farmer
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

ROOTS For Reading*
Once upon a time I worked on a very fun project, called ROOT, with my friends over at Mariquita Farm. It featured Andy's writings about life as it relates to food and growing food — he's a farmer with a philosophy major. Each issue was 18 pages and included a seasonal recipe or two. I had the unique pleasure of complete artistic control; from choosing the paper (yummy French paper and a cool sparkle paper that I forget the name of), to creating the illustrations, it was all me. I also got to employ a couple friends to take photos and make images — Blaize helped edit it. We even had a testimonial from Susie Bright. ROOT fulfilled my longtime dream of collaborative creative work amongst friends. We did one issue per season for four seasons.

ROOTS For Dinner
My favorite way to use up the leftover roots from my Two Small Farms CSA box, including the ones my family doesn't like, is to dice them up small; toss them with olive oil, salt, and an herb or two; and roast them at high heat until they're caramelized bits of perfection. I think I got the idea from this book. It's a great way to get turnips and beets into people who think they don't like them.

ROOTS For Fashion
I'm horrible with laundry and/or bibs, so we have a lot of stains around here. I remember seeing a cool stain cover up over at Little Green's Flickr. So, in anticipation of dressing my baby for today's harvest festival I did a root version of stain management.

*I'm sure Julia still has copies of ROOT that she would love to sell. You can contact her at julia[at]mariquita[dot]com.

Toes & Jams

Two days of

berry picking

with Bitter Betty.


I told you

I don't bathe

frequently.


Sorry

I was such

a grump,

Beth.

Week in Review: June 17-24

Week in Review: June 17-24
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

This is a week late, but that's how life is these days — for me and many others — I guess. Highlights of the week were: going to a powwow with Sara & Aurora; H olallieberry picking with Becky & Blaize; a birthday party at Wilder; C learning how to feed himself; and an exciting, but not scary, visit to our street by the firetruck.

Showing Off My Talented Friends

I've got some talented friends who are doing fun things, so I wanted to share them here:

Bitter Betty
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Bitter Betty:
Bethany will be at this craft show up in Sacramento on Saturday, May 5th. She's also got a New Vintage Wardrobe thing going on where she and others are sewing from vintage patterns and/or fabric and posting photos at Flickr. Bethany stages elaborate photo shoots to feature her latest fashion creations, including this video that she made with her 11-year-old son.

Work of Bridget Henry
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Multi-artist Studio Sale in Santa Cruz:
I know two of the four gals doing this home show on Sunday, May 6th. Bridget Henry makes wonderful reductive woodblock prints — a very interesting technique, if you've never seen it. I love her imagery, sort of magical mysticism-ish. Felicia Gilman, one of the vendors from that craft fair I co-hosted, sews one-of-a-kind vinyl wallets that are super cool. If you are in town you should definitly check it out.

Octophrost
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Futuregirl:
Alice is now selling her extra cute octopus pattern (a.k.a. Octophrost: Santa of the Sea) online as a PDF. It's only $5, a deal anyway you slice it. Her illustrations are top notch and the octo guys and gals work up really cute. Add your softie to the octopus garden over at Flickr.

My Friend Blaize
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

St. Blaize:
Recently voted Best Independent Docent, Blaize gives super secret staircase tours around Santa Cruz. It's a great way to get some exercise, local history, and Blaize Facts™ at the same time. Keep an eye on the Santa Cruz Free Skool calendar for future tours.

Turnips
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Mariquita Farm:
Andy and Julia are part of a two-family farm co-op that provides weekly boxes of vegetables to subscribers through their CSA. I've had the pleasure of being a subscriber for many years and love it. Their distribution includes Monterey Bay area, Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Andy is a great writer, as well, and keeps a weekly e-newsletter, which is also posted to his blog.