Welcome to Summer! | Sequatchie Cove Farm

Welcome to summer (almost)! I wrote this about a week ago when I came home from the market and am just now sending it out. This is what happens when the heat comes upon me- things move a little slower than normal if I don’t have the kiddie pool in the backyard full of ice water..

The market this week was wonderful as usual and there were more people shopping than ever. It started out looking (and even pretending) like it was going to rain. That did not stop anyone from either coming to set up their stand or to shop. I love that first rush of people- the ones who seem like they have been sitting in their cars like vultures waiting for the strawberries and chard to hit the table so they can swoop down and buy them all up. Everyone has a list in hand and are sure they will be able to get everything they need because they are the FIRST ones there. And the next hour was nice with people socializing and sharing and milling about sampling pesto and swapping lettuce stories. There are so many people who are enthusiastic about the food they eat and want to share it with all their friends. I love seeing new faces at the market- especially those new faces who look like they’ve just heard the most exciting news ever- ‘this is here EVERY Wednesday?! And it’s JUST food and farmers?! .’

My body has been almost literally starved from the past winter months and now my kitchen, fridge, freezer, and cabinets are chock-full with a little (and sometimes a LOT) of everything that is in season. And since my roommates and I have totally different schedules I don’t even have that many people to feed. I end up actually cooking supper about three times a week and eating leftovers.

(I developed this problem when I lived (and grew up) at Sequatchie Cove and cooked for ten or so (very hardworking and hungry) people a day where now it is literally impossible to cook a meal for two, let alone one, people. What? You can’t eat a whole head of lettuce, three bunches of kale, two bunches of beets, and a cup of rice and lentils cooked with fennel bulb and garlic scapes by yourself? What have you been DOING all day? Don’t you know it’s haying season?)

So anyway, I end up eating slaw, an egg, leftover pilaf, and a HUGE salad all by my lonesome more often than I’d like. But my Greenlife shopping has slowed down to coffee (I certainly won’t live without that- I don’t care how many tomatoes are on the vine), toilet paper, sugar for my various jams and ginger ales I’ve been cooking up, and some yogurt to eat with my strawberries for breakfast (and other luxuries such as potato chips (something else I’m not quite willing to live without), avocados, flour, and fresh squeezed orange juice). Glory be! Of course there are staples like beans and rice that I buy but the further I get into summer the more I just rely simply what is in season. Which means I have to have a LOT of it. Because I don’t just cook supper I also freeze, ferment, and can for those dark cold months in the not so distant future.

I (and I know the rest of yall are too) jumping for joy with having a cucumber from Crabtree (or even jalapenos if you are lucky enough to be in the Island’s CSA) to toss in my bag along with kale from Williams Island, a nice fresh copy of Wild Fermentation that Breann from Clover Wreath had for sale this week (I really like that addition to the market- it is becoming so WHOLE- you can get plants, vegetables, bread, honey, meat, and even BOOKS that will tell you how to use every bit of your new loot) and TADA!- chicken from River Ridge Farm. Now maybe David will be able to sleep at night without hearing me beg incessantly for chicken. at least for a few weeks. (I am SO excited about this- maybe because I’M exhausted from hearing my boyfriend beg incessantly (of COURSE he is not allowed to eat any chicken he doesn’t know- at least not to my knowledge. He can do whatever he wants when he’s not around me but Fire and Brimstones if I hear about it)). It is so sweet and small and I plan on roasting it whole with a little wreath of garlic scapes (after I rub it down with some rosemary from the yard and salt). I also got a stewing hen which gets me just as excited because I can make delicate and delicious chicken broth and then use the meat for those things I love but would NEVER make with a young tender chicken like salad or pot pie.

And now. down to the business I like the most- talking about my kimchee. I am sure that yall have been waiting so anxiously to hear whether snap peas ferment well. And I am here to tell you in person that WELL is not a good enough word. FABULOUS might work in a pinch. Especially when it is combined with fabulous kohlrabi, fennel, and nappa cabbage from Signal Mountain Farm and the last of the amazing garlic scapes from Williams Island, and crisp crunchy radishes from Sequatchie Cove and sweet wee beets from Clover Wreath. I am now plotting a turnip/black radish extravaganza ferment from William’s Island.

The other night we had HOT DOGS. I would never have believed it but Justin in the meat department at Greenlife whomped up the best ones EVER with some Sequatchie Cove beef (if they don’t have any in the case then just keep asking for them over and over until they do- that seems to be the best way to get anything done). We had them on a Neidlove’s baguette bun with mustard, cucumber relish from last year, and some of Ashley from Williams Island’s famous pepper jelly from last summer. And I made another potato salad- with the same mustard (also from Ashley), dill, and garlic scapes, and green onions. But this time I mixed things up and added some basil as well. And I made a slaw of broccoli and beets from Sequatchie Cove, fennel bulb from Signal Mountain, kale and zucchini from Williams Island and a dressing of vinegar, salt, and honey from Sale Creek.

Excuse me for the distractions but I just remembered a candle I got from Lou at Sale Creek honey. She started this week making little boxes from calendar pages she’s saved up and you can get one and pick out candles to make your own personalized gift box. I just got a teeny one with a single tea candle made from pure sweet beeswax to give to my roommate because she is my best friend and I appreciate her. That is the best thing about little gifts like that- you can give them all the time to whoever you want and you don’t even have to wait til their birthday or bachlorette party. I also got a jar of honey for my boyfriend but for more ominous reasons. to make strawberry t’ej with. That is an Egyptian honey wine (not traditionally made with strawberries) and it doesn’t sound as good to me as mead does. But I am wary in general of first-time home brewers (I have some very vivid memories of dark-beer stains on the ceiling when I was a young girl and Bill (my father) was experimenting with the art of home-brewery). But sometimes gifts must float other peoples boats and not just your own..

And then on an another note- I got a WONDERFUL email from a certain Cortney Mild who is a work share for Crabtree. She send me two meals she had the past week and both sound spectacular (this word is not an overstatement and I think every meal we eat should be just that). The first was pizza she made with her roommate- it was all intermingled with homemade crust, herbs from her garden, sausage from Sequatchie Cove (to go back off on something else- I think it is really fun to watch the competition as everyone tries to get in on their share of Trea’s link sausage made with Cove pigs- a man today had not gotten his the week before because Bill was talking to another Bill and he felt like he had to wait his turn. I am here to tell you that there is no such turn. You have to pull out your money and act like a true Italian and DEMAND you have your sausage (granted THEY have it in the cooler). That is all the fun in the market- this whole new culture that most markets and countries already have..) Anyway. Cortney was lucky enough to have some of that sausage and put it on her pizza along with pesto from Crabtree basil, shiitake from Sequatchie Cove (shiitake are fickle creatures- hopefully the Island’s logs will start producing soon as well as Sequatchie Cove’s because they certainly come and go as they please- it’s all based on how many squirrels are hungry, the heat, and how often it rains), and zucchini from Crabtree. The next day she had grilled potatoes from Greenlife with Alchemy veggie spice, grilled red cabbage with pats of butter from her milk group (good (grass-fed, un-pasteurized, un-homogenized) milk is hard to find around here and the Tennessee rules are rather strict- it is defiantly legal but you have to TRY to find it if you want to buy it), and dipped them in Tzatziki sauce (a simple yogurt sauce (Greek?) usually served with grilled meat) made of Greek style yogurt (thick yogurt that has most of the liquid drained from it) from Greenlife, Crabtree garlic and cucumbers, and chocolate mint and ‘renegade’ (I assume they made it through the winter) chives from her garden.

I read that and I had two thoughts- the first was YES!- this is how everyone should eat (with a little bit of this local farm, that local grocery, and you very own garden) and the second was- thank you for writing me! I love hearing about everyone’s kitchen times.

She is defiantly not the only person who has written though. It is so fun and interesting to hear from everyone who come from different backgrounds and totally different age groups. I love to see that everyone around me is just as excited about learning and experimenting as I am. Thank yall for writing and I really hope to talk to you at the market.

So. I’m sorry if I sounded scattered, it’s simply the mosquitoes buzzing in my ear. Hopefully I will be more prompt next week telling you what I’ve been up to. (I would LOVE to tell you about the pizza we had the other night (an idea all thanks to Courtney) but that will have to wait- I just want to say that pizza is one of the easiest and funnest ways to use up almost any vegetable you have lying around- the more unusual it sounds the better it tastes. at least with pizza)

See yall soon, and try to stay cool (but remember a good sweat really gets you ready for the glorious things to come)..

Filed under: Local Food Letter on June 21st, 2009 |