admine9519, Author at Morning Song Farm - Page 27 of 44

Jan 10
0

Candied Kumquats

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This is such a simple recipe, and the results are amazing. Even if you disdain fresh kumquats, this concoction is worth a try.

Ingredients:

1 pound of kumquats or so, cut in half and seeds flicked out.

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon of a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves

In saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil. Boil for 3 or 4 minutes, which will thicken the sugar mixture to a syrup. Add fruit and spices. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Use slotted spoon to remove kumquats from the mixture. Continue to cook the syrup to about half what you started with, then pour over fruit, jar and refrigerate.
Jan 10
0

Kumquat Salsa

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Adapted from simplyrecipes.com

2 cups chopped and cleaned, thinly sliced kumquats (seeds removed)

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Dash of Tabasco

Pinch of salt to taste

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
Jan 10
0

Kumquat Carrot Salad

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One bunch of carrots, peeled and grated
4 green onions, chopped
3 tablespoons minced cilantro
16 kumquats, quartered lengthwise and seeds removed
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon grated lime peel
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
8 large lettuce leaves

Directions:
Mix carrots, green onions, cilantro and kumquats in bowl.
Combine vinegar, lime peel, mustard and paprika, and then wisk in oil.
Season vinegar mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour mixture over carrot/kumquats. Toss to coat evenly, and chill for at least two hours.
Spoon salad into lettuce leaves and serve.

Jan 10
0

Kumquat Breakfast Bread

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This is a little heavy, I think it’s best sliced thick and toasted.
1 cup of kumquat puree: Halve fruit, and flick out the seeds. I use a Cuisinart or my Vitamix to puree.
3/4 cup of honey
2 Tbs. oil
2 eggs
1 Tbs vanilla
1 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour (I buy the whole grain and Vitamix the flour as needed. Like coffee, flour is best when freshly ground.)
1 cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup flaxseed meal. (I buy the whole seed and Vitamix. It’s super easy!
1 Tbs. baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 Tbs. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups of chopped nuts and dried fruit like raisons, persimmons, etc.)

Directions:
Put all dry ingredients into a mixer, mix thoroughly. And then add wet ingredients. Combine well, add fruit and nuts. Use a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes. Don’t over cook.

Jan 10
0

Harvest Ticket January 10-11 2012 Page One

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Greetings!
I didn’t post last week’s harvest ticket. It seems that computer issues are the bane of my existence, and every now and then I’m dead in the water with an issue that I can’t figure out in a timely manner. I’ve had a virus for months that repeated trips to the tech guy in nearby Temecula hasn’t solved. I’ve given up and actually BOUGHT A NEW COMPUTER, rather than continue to suffer.
Anyway, now that I’ve vented, on to farm issues. This week we’re finally beginning our kumquat harvest. Yeah! As I’ve said before, we usually start harvesting in time for Thanksgiving’s cranberry/kumquat recipes but not this year, by a mile. So the fruit is beautiful, and I think sweeter than past years’. Although popping a few in your mouth as a snack isn’t a terrible notion, to truly experience what a kumquat can be, requires heating. Like quince, the rich, complex flavor of the kumquat isn’t realized until it’s been cooked. So give it a chance! See separate recipes below.
We’re finishing up our persimmons, I don’t think we’ll have any next week. They’re ripening on the tree now, and the ones you receive will need to be consumed promptly. They’re best like this, but have poor shelf life. I’d love to hear if anyone tried drying them. Please share your experience if you did!
Our amazing sprouts are still taking two weeks to sprout, though moved to the greenhouse. So this week’s boxes have none, next week’s will. We’re working on making a greenhouse inside the greenhouse in hopes of creating a micro climate that will allow us to produce sprouts on a weekly basis while we wait for Spring to arrive.
We probably have enough macadamias to begin cracking out next week; or at least I think so. And we’ll begin our Hass avocado harvest next week, too. Don’t get your guac recipes out, though; because in the very first part of the California avo season, it takes a minimum of 10 days off the tree before the fruit is ripened. Most Hass in the grocery stores (and ahem…in the farmers’ markets for that matter) is from South of the border.
Dec 27
0

Harvest Ticket Dec. 27-28 Page One

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Click on image to enlarge for easier reading. See Page Two below.
So we’re just starting the very earliest part of our avocado harvest. Actually we always start with our pollinators, which did their pollination job this year, but didn’t fruit much. Anyway, there are Fuerte’s and a few very early to appear Hass in the Large shares this week. Actually, the real Hass harvest doesn’t start for a couple more weeks, usually.
Oddly, the macadamia harvest is weeks later than usual. We’re only NOW raking up any quantity worth getting excited about. Normally, by October we are raking away. So, too the kumquats are much later. I have always enjoyed combining kumquats with cranberries for Thanksgiving, indicating that we actually HAVE kumquats in November, which isn’t the case by a milestone this year. I’m guessing late February. So the climate at least on this farm, is changing in a huge way.
You’ll notice the sprouts are back again this week. They take almost 2 weeks to sprout in this cold weather, as opposed to 4 or 5 days. We hired an electrician to bring electricity to our tiny greenhouse, and we’re going to try moving the sprouting operation inside there, in the hopes that the greenhouse environment is so much warmer that we will be able to grow weekly supplies again. This week’s sprouts are an unusual combination of clover, garlic and cress.
Plenty of persimmons right now as we’re mid-harvest. We’re experimenting with drying and if successful, may include dried persimmons later on. We’ll use a dehydrator, but if you’d like to try your oven, here’s a link: www.marthastewart.com/recipe/oven-dried-persimmons-slices
The butternut squash can sit on your counter for quite a while. Baked, and the flesh scooped out, it offers the base for pumpkin pie, a hearty soup, pumpkin bread/muffins and a fine vegan gravy.
Dec 21
0

Save time, Save the Environment

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As a busy farmer, every now and then I come up with a time saving device that I’d like to offer to others for their consideration. Here it is: I’ve given this a lot of thought and I think that matching socks is an expectation foisted upon people by the sock industry and I have decided to no longer be victimized by their oppressive social manipulation. Who made the rule that donning unmatched socks was a social faux pas, anyway? I’ll tell you who! The Sock People, that’s who. And why? Because perfectly good, but unmatched, socks by the boatload are thrown away each and every day, filling up our landfills and our childrens’ environmental futures. Those unnecessarily discarded socks have to be replaced, with the only beneficiary being, you guessed it, the sock people. Oh, there’s more. Have you ever stopped to consider the opportunity cost of all that time you have spent MATCHING socks? I bet you haven’t. Well, I have. And it’s a boatload, there, too. I say, let’s spend our time in productive pursuits, not wasting time matching socks…when doing so fails to benefit the end consumer in any real way. Rise up! Defend yourself against the machinations of the sock industry. Red with White, Flowered with Plaid. Proudly display your solidarity against the sock conspiracy and save your valuable time, your sock budget, and the earth!

Next week: why making beds is a waste of time.

Dec 21
0

Barn Cat Demands Entry

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Okay, so no goats in the house. We’re all on the same page with that. But a cat would be welcome. We’ve had a beautiful feral cat hanging around our packing house for a while, an inport from a local elementary school whose principal asked a member of our crew to take him to our farm as a “mouser.” A few days ago he made his way up to our home, and invited himself inside. He either is a genius, or at some point in his life was an inside cat, because he immediately plopped himself down on my bed and fell asleep. He knows all about cat boxes, we’ve discovered, and hasn’t stopped purring. He’s been here for 3 days now, and the mouse in the house is gone. Since there’s no dead mice pieces lying around, my guess is, his very presence is a deterent, the very best, pest management of all.

At first he refused to venture outside, perhaps fearful that we’d not let him back in if he left. This morning was his first post-home invasion, outdoor excursion. He hung out in the sun, climbed to the top of our patio (photo above) and then returned to his spot in front of our fireplace. The perfect cat, he has found a new home.

On another note, son Frankie thought it would be cool to buy a little catnip for him, and sure enough Cat Man was delighted. that’s him in the photo with a rolled up ball of catnip. I’m wondering if any of our CSA members might enjoy the option of purchasing catnip from our farm?
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