A Brekky To Remember

Have you ever had a breakfast that stuck with you until dinner? If not, the kind folks at Farm Kitchen can help you out. We took some friends there a few weekends ago.

What's for breakfast?

Seriously? Thick. Cut. Bacon. I had been dreaming about that all week long. It was well worth the wait. The five of us did not hesitate to order nearly everything on the menu. This place serves food in an a la cart style. Menus get passed around while you stand in (the long) line to get in, you tell the nice lady what you want, she rings you up, you sit and wait for the feast to begin.

We're so hungry we're all looking at pictures of thick cut bacon on iPhones.

And then you get inside and they tempt you with more baked goodies! Honestly, resistance was futile.

After breakfast, the misty farm grounds beckoned. We went for a stroll through the garden.

Farm Kitchen mostly does catering and events, but once a month they open their doors for a Saturday breakfast. Ordering is simple; there's really only one thing on the menu. Come hungry. The portions are generous, and the food is divine.

After you're done, smell the lavender, take pictures of the baby lettuce and spinach plants, and wander down to find the horses.

The acreage Farm Kitchen sits on is leased to a local farmer, and everything they serve is locally sourced or made by hand in their own kitchen.

The next Saturday Breakfast will be on September 4th. The menu is as follows...

Fresh Basil & Tomato Egg Scramble, Roasted Potatoes & Bakers Choice Pastry

Pastries of the Day

Yummy Orange Rolls

Marionberry Kuchen

Hollis's Original 8-Grain Pullaparts

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut Cookies

Banana Walnut Bread

It's difficult to drive back to the city after seeing something so beautiful as Farm Kitchen. If you're out on the Kitsap or Olympic Peninsulas anytime soon, look them up.

Walkies at Work

What exactly does a city farmer do when she can't farm? I'm sure you've all wondered this from time to time, but it's clear that our little urban acreage can't be sustained without the day job. When I'm away from the chickens and the veggies, I spend my time in a fancy office building in downtown Seattle. I won't bore you with the details (plus we currently have a policy against blogging about work), but the highlights of my day are fair game!

Do you get to ride a train or bus to your destinations? Five days a week I roll down the hill to the Everett Station to catch the Sounder train into town. The route follows the coastline of Puget Sound, one of the largest etuaries in North America. Mornings are a great time to spot wildlife. Common sights are great blue herons, bald eagles, and frolicking harbor seals. From my cozy seat by the window, I can watch the clouds drift over the Olympic mountain range, ferries trekking between islands and peninsulas, and the occasional nude body on the beach... The ride home isn't nearly as entertaining, but it's a great time to study, read, or nap. And, as far as carbon footprints go, trains give you the most bang for your diesel buck.

(If you squint, you can see a bald eagle flying in the left side of this photo.)

(Yes indeed. Shipwrecks. There are at least five wrecked ships all in this one little area. Private property. No trespassing.)

Once I'm at work, I look for any excuse to get up and away from my desk. Morning and afternoon walkies are just the thing!

I head down to the waterfront first. This is one of the great perks of working in Seattle. Ferries from Coleman Dock depart to Vashon Island, Bainbridge Island, Bremerton, and Victoria, BC. This place is busy all day long.

The viaduct, a massive structure of concrete built on (you guessed it) sand, is on its last legs. It'll soon be torn down to make way for a chunnel *under* the waterfront. Highway 99 carries heavy loads of commuting traffic, so this city will be thrown into chaos once the final stage of demolition and construction begins. Until then, this famous icon of Seattle provides one of the best views of the downtown waterfront that you can get at 50 mph.

Behind and underneath the viaduct is the edge of Pioneer Square, one of Seattle's oldest neighborhoods. Brick and ivy are tangled as far as the eye can see. This is a great place to find a pint of beer, shop for retro toys, get a tattoo, see the Underground Tour, or buy a Utilikilt. I love old architecture.

Occidental Park is paved in a latticework of old and new brick, and it sports totem poles and other art throughout the year. In the summer, there are lunchtime concerts here and elsewhere in the city. Art shops abound, as do coffee shops. Could it be Seattle without?

Working under flourescent lights is a tough job, but escaping for a few minutes helps me relax and focus on the things that really matter: fresh air, a little exercise, and city views that make me smile to call this place a part of my home.

Do you go for walkies when you're at work?

Dust Bathing to Beat the Heat

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. We really do have some hot chicks. Temps have been in the eighties for quite a few days in a row, the AC is on in the bedroom, the dogs are panting, and the chickens are open-beak breathing. Summer has finally arrived. It's time for a cool bath!

Chickens love to dust themselves. If you raise hens, you know exactly what I mean. Our neighbor across the street worried that his three girls didn't have a dusty spot to use, but I warned him that they would make their own if he let them out.

Just look what ours have done! Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a row of cedar trees in this spot. We cut them down about two years ago, and, while we were taking care of the douglas fir in the front yard, we had the stump grinder guy remove the cedar stumps in the backyard, too.

The girls are delighted. The dry, crumbly earth is easy to scratch, fun to peck at, and it makes the BEST dirt bath EVER. The other chickens took off when I came outside with the camera, but Raquel has no shame. She continued to kick up the dirt and made quite a show of herself.

Shake your groove thing, Raquel!

Chickens don't have sweat glands like mammals do. Even dogs and cats can sweat through their paws. When the temperatures climb, chickens breathe through their beaks (a sign of heat stress), frolic in the shade, and take dust baths to cool off.

Doesn't she look refreshed? Dust baths also help keep the bugs away. They're fun to eat, but not so much fun to wear. Dust is a natural flea and mite repellant.

One final fluff to get the dirt out...

The hollows left behind demonstrate just how much fun our girls have in the dirt. And, like our neighbor quickly learned, if you don't give them a dusting spot, they'll make their own.

Welcome to Edison, Washington

After spending some quality time at the Mount Vernon Farmers Market, Aimee and I drove out to Edison, a little town in Skagit County. We wanted to see the home of Breadfarm, our favorite supplier of freshly baked sandwish rolls, baguettes, burger buns, and cinnamon swirl bread. Breadfarm sells their stuff at farmers markets from Everett to Bellingham, but this little shop is where all the action happens.

We had no idea what else Edison had to offer, especially since it has a population of 133, but the tiny downtown core was northwesty adorable!

This was one of two bars in town, both of which were pretty popular for a Saturday morning.

A couple of storefront shops offered local produce and wares. Tweets was one of them, and it sounds like a pretty popular espresso joint.

Is it plum season already?

We didn't get a good shot of it, but Slough Food is also located in Edison. They have a rockin' selection of wines and cheeses, featuring Gothberg Farms goat cheese. Yummy stuff.

Per the directions of one of ladies at Breafarm, we wandered down the road to the Farm to Market Bakery. Does that name sound familiar? Hey, I remember Farm to Market Road!!

Was it worth heading out to Edison? Darn tootin'! Just look at that hefty cinnamon roll from the folks at the Farm to Market Bakery. The icing was to die for, and I'm pretty sure I got stabbed by that fork when I fought Aimee for the last bite.

Skagit County has a lot to offer, so if you're in the area, spend some time with the locals.

Mount Vernon Farmers Market

Exploring the farmers markets in our area is turning out to be more fun than we expected. Last weekend we drove north to visit the Mount Vernon Farmers Market in Skagit County.

Attendance was very good for such a cool, misty Saturday, and no one seemed to mind the clouds.

The Mount Vernon market has a variety of hot foods to choose from. We saw crepes, pancakes, and hot dogs, and I'm pretty sure there was coffee and tea in a few places. Can you go anywhere in this state without seeing coffee?

New potatoes are in, folks! Check out those golden lovelies. The bin below even had a recipe for tater salad.

My mission was to find cauliflower. I haven't had any all season, and I knew this would be my day. White cauliflower is nice, but where was the romanesco and purple stuff?

Nantes carrots, short, fat, and meaty, were everywhere. The onions are getting bigger, too. Aimee recently found a recipe for pickled red onions. Once those bulbs are bigger, we'll be buying a lot of them for storing.

How about that? No spray sweet onions and gorgeous beets. Why did we ever start using pesticides?

I never buy flowers at the markets. I suppose my view of life is too utilitarian.... But those sunflowers were so bright and happy I couldn't resist taking their picture.

Speaking of flowers, the lavender was fragrant and attracted children from all over the market. Lavender is a very popular crop in this part of the state. There are lavender festivals and art events, and some communities earn more from lavender tourism in one month than they do the rest of the year.

From fresh berries to gorgeous pies, how can you say no to local fruit? We picked up a twenty pound box of peaches for $30 from the vendor a few stalls down. Their destiny? Peach and berry crisp, peaches with yogurt, and brandied peaches.

Aha! I found them all! I've never grown cauliflower, but those colors are impossible to resist. I bought one head of romanesco (the green spirals are barely reddish at their tips) and one of the purple. When I steamed the purple, the water below took on that intense color, but the cauliflower buds stayed vibrant!

It's time for bean salads and pretty jars of green and yellow beans to stack in your pantry.

The first pickling cukes have arrived! I didn't get enough from this batch, but there were plenty more at the Everett Farmers Market yesterday. It's time to get pickling.

Hedlin Family Farms is very well known for their tomatoes, but how about those peppers and eggplants? I picked up several of each kind and made an omlette the next morning. Growing heat-loving plants in the Pacific Northwest is a difficult chore, so I'm happy to let family farms do the work for me.

After checking out the market, we stopped in and visited the neighborhood co-op and drove up to Edison for some more farm fun. I'll tell you about that soon. Our first trip to the Mount Vernon Farmers Market will not be our last. When are we going back?

Beef. It's What's for Dinner, Part 1

Eating local is trendy. It's good for the environment and boosts the local economy. Farmers' markets and CSAs bring consumers closer to growers, and big box distributing companies get pushed back to the periphery. We've joined this bandwagon recently, and we're learning how to find local foods to replace our pre-packaged favorites. More of our money goes into the local farmers' markets and the co-op down the street than to Safeway or Costco, and we're doing better at growing more of our own food.

Let's be clear; we are not obsessed. Sure, it's great to purchase local foods as much as possible, but we love chocolate. I love tea. Olive oil is a must, and Aimee couldn't live without orange juice. We have our weaknesses. One of those is steak.

I was a vegetarian for seven years. I wasn't always loyal to the soybean. I ate fish and chicken when I was low on protein, but I stayed clear of beef and pig meats the whole time. It wasn't out of conscientious objection or environmental reasons, it was because my body just couldn't handle some foods well. When you're at the point of putting A-1 steak sauce on tofu, you know it's time to give meat another chance.

Enter the girlfriend who could not survive without steak. She would eat steak every night of the week and be content. She eats steak for breakfast on Christmas day. When we go out, steak is her favorite thing to order. Let's just say, steak has a stable home with us. So where does one find local beef?

A quick google search will get you started on local farms and ranches producting grass-fed beef in your area. We found several, and we decided to buy half a side of beef for our first attempt. On the Lamb Farm in Arlington has been helpful and friendly every step of the way. We ordered our quarter of a cow and a whole lamb back in February, paid a small deposit, and waited. The call came about three weeks ago. Our cow was headed to Del Fox Meats to be cut to our specifications. Three weeks of aging and a lot of butcher paper later, WE HAVE STEAK!

A second chest freezer found a home in the basement. We also installed extra shelving for all the processing of jams and pickles we're doing this year. How much space does 180 pounds of beef take up? How long will it last us? Those are all questions we're trying to answer. We'll keep you posted as we learn.

While I was up north collecting a quarter of a cow, I also stopped in at Eagle Haven Winery and picked up a case of their Pinot Noir (above) and another case of Sangiovese (below). They give a fantastic discount when you buy in bulk! Their bottles of wine range from $20 to $25 a piece, but we spent around $14 per bottle by buying them by the case. The Pinot Noir is grown in their own vineyards. It doesn't get much more local than that.

As we stock up for the fall and winter to come, it's comforting to see that running out of wine will not be a problem we face for a few months at least. And, if all else fails, Aimee is putting together quite the collection of locally based fruit alcohols! We'll tell you more about that in another post.