More photos below. . .
Tuesday, August 16
Sunday, August 14
Easy Summer Pasta Recipe: Linguine or Bowties with Cherry Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, and Sun Dried Tomato Artichoke Pesto
A simple and delicious way to celebrate summer's bounty (recipe here)
Despite planting several different varieties at several different times, this isn't turning out to be The Year of the Tomato in my kitchen garden.
At least I have the ravenous, tomato loving blister beetles under control, thanks to my trusty food grade diatomaceous earth. (You can read more about the many ways we use this wonderful stuff—which is 100% organic and totally safe for people, pets, and the environment—around the farm, house, and garden here.)
My beloved Arkansas Traveler tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, and I'm hopeful that the first sorry specimens are just a fluke, and this heat and humidity tolerant, crack and disease resistant pink heirloom will perform as well as it has in previous years. (I list more of my favorite heirloom tomatoes to grow here.)
In the meantime, the three volunteer cherry tomato plants I allowed to stay in my new little perennial bed now cover over 100 square feet of garden space (I think the perennials are still in there somewhere), and I've been picking lots of tiny red, pink, and orange tomatoes every day.
Sometimes I think we'd starve if it weren't for the volunteer vegetables.
The gazpacho and homemade tomato vegetable juice I've been craving all summer will have to wait, and I don't think I'll be needing my Seven Second Tomato Glut Solution anytime soon.
But the basil is also going gangbusters, which means it's time to feast on Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, and Sun Dried Tomato & Artichoke Pesto!
But the basil is also going gangbusters, which means it's time to feast on Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, and Sun Dried Tomato & Artichoke Pesto!
Adding fresh tomatoes to the pesto made it even better (recipe here)
Two summers ago I discovered this dish and lived on it for most of a month. I even ate it for breakfast. While mixing up the third or fourth batch of quick and easy pesto, I took a cue from my favorite basil pesto recipe and added some fresh tomatoes to the mix. Yum. This version is a little thinner than the original, with more tomato flavor and fewer calories.
Both versions, which also taste great spread on hunks of crusty bread (either plain or mixed with cream cheese and more romano), are hard to stop eating.
Are there cherry tomatoes in your garden this year? What's your favorite way to enjoy them?
© FarmgirlFare.com, getting redder and riper all the time.
Saturday, August 13
Saturday Night Dose of Cute: Day is Done
The lambs have been fed and everyone is safe. . .
More photos below. . .
Thursday, August 11
Recipe: Easy Blueberry Bonanza Breakfast Bars with an Oat Crust and Streusel Topping
Celebrate blueberry season with this anytime sweet treat (recipe here)
I never heard from my local blueberry supplier this year, so I don't know if the harvest was too small to cover all his customers or I somehow got knocked off The List. Either way, once again I didn't get my annual five gallons of berries.
Feeling and craving blue, on a recent St. Louis shopping trip I splurged on a couple of pounds of fat organic blueberries, with a pan of these Blueberry Bonanza Breakfast Bars specifically in mind—and then I ended up eating all the blueberries either straight out of hand or blended into breakfast smoothies (yogurt, milk, whey protein powder, fresh or frozen fruit, this amazing raw honey, and ice). I should have bought more berries.
I originally wrote about these scrumptious bars—which can be made with fresh or frozen berries and don't have to be eaten for breakfast—back in 2006, and they've become one of my most popular recipes. Don't let the three separate layers scare you away; they come together quickly and you only need to dirty up two mixing bowls.
If you don't have quite enough blueberries left, you could try the Just Peachy version or the Apple Blueberry version, which call for just two cups of blueberries each. Or use your imagination and what you have on hand ; other readers have reported delicious success using blackberries, frozen cranberries, stewed apricots, and raspberries.
Enjoy!
© FarmgirlFare.com, where almost everything tastes better topped with streusel—and I'm slowly but surely adding printer friendly versions to all my archived recipes, including this one.
Wednesday, August 10
Tuesday, August 9
Tuesday Dose of Cute: Random Lamb Snaps 2
Yesterday we started planning the upcoming fall breeding season, and today I found a whole flock of unshared lamb pics in my files. How about a little look back at last spring's lambing season cute?
More photos below. . .
Sunday, August 7
Friday, August 5
Recipe Ideas: Wondering What To Do with Purple Basil?
First harvest of the season on 6/28: a pound of Red Rubin basil from three plants.
Four years ago I grew my first purple basil—and had no idea what to do with it. And then I turned it into pesto. Wow. Except for the fact that purple basil doesn't look as pretty as the green in many dishes, and makes a rather oddly colored pesto, I would probably quit growing the green stuff altogether.
After a surprisingly rough start this spring (since basil is one of my few never-fail crops), I now have three Red Rubin purple basil plants flourishing in my kitchen garden (although they're not yet flourishing in that post). They've given me over 1½ pounds of beautiful bounty so far, and there's already more that needs to be picked.
For my favorite pesto recipe, along with lots of other ways to use purple basil, check out this post: Growing Purple Basil and What To Do with It, Plus My Purple Basil Pesto Recipe & the Easiest White Bean Appetizer Dip/Spread Ever. I've added printer friendly versions of the recipes, and there are links to all my basil growing posts and favorite basil recipes included, too.
Have you ever grown or purchased purple basil? What do you like to do with it?
© FarmgirlFare.com, where we're deep in the heart of pesto season.
Thursday, August 4
Thursday Dose of Cute: What To Do on a Rainy Day
Not a lot. . .
© FarmgirlFare.com, where, busy or not, we all enjoyed a brief but blissful break from the relentless heat this morning, which was a much more pleasant way to start the day than yesterday's several hour power outage. We even got a half inch of rain, which should really help the fields and the farm as we head right back to blistering tomorrow. Has it cooled off where you're at yet?
Wednesday, August 3
Tuesday, August 2
Tuesday Dose of Cute: A Refreshing Drink
Of cloudy water? Yep.
We've been buying 50 pound bags of food grade diatomaceous earth (which also comes in smaller quantities) for years, and yet we're still finding great new uses for it, like to keep algae from growing in the animals' water. What a time saver. We sprinkle it in everything from the little chicken waterers (just a teaspoon or two) to the 250 gallon tank (a few handfuls) that we use to haul water from the spring out to Donkeyland and the front field.
Diatomaceous earth isn't 'earth,' but the fossilized remains of the microscopic shells created by one celled plants called diatoms. It's a totally natural, very fine powder that looks like glass shards under a microscope but is safe for people, pets, and the environment.
We use it for all sorts of things around the farm, garden, and house, including feeding it to the animals—and lately, ourselves! I finally got around to writing about some of the many things you can do with diatomaceous earth in yesterday's In My Kitchen Garden post, Attack! Using Organic Diatomaceous Earth on Blister Beetles and Other Pests in the Garden and Around the House and Farm.
Even if you're not a gardener, you may want to check it out. I know that discovering diatomaceous earth has really changed and helped our lives. And it thankfully seems to be working on those blasted blister beetles!
Diatomaceous earth has recently become more well known because it's apparently a good way to naturally get rid of bed bugs. If you can't find 100% pure, food grade diatomaceous earth locally, you can order it online.
Do you use diatomaceous earth for anything?
© FarmgirlFare.com, where every little green thing really can make a big difference.
Saturday, July 30
Tuesday, July 26
A Refreshing, Easy, No Cook Summer Recipe: Gazpacho!
Tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, onion, and garlic, oh my. (recipe here)
The tomatoes in my kitchen garden got a late start this year, so the only ones that have ripened so far are some sweet little volunteer cherries (three cheers for volunteers!). But as soon as all the bigger tomatoes out there turn red, I'll be mixing up a batch of my favorite quick and easy gazpacho.
Packed with nutrients and full of flavor, this low fat chilled vegetable soup is the perfect thing to keep in the fridge during sweltering summer days when nobody feels much like eating, let alone cooking. There's no need to blanch, peel, seed, or force anything through a sieve, and all of the vegetable goodness ends up right in your bowl.
If you've never had gazpacho—which some people refer to as liquid salad—I urge you to give it a try, even if, like me, you're not a big fan of cold soups. My version is basically a thick juice, which can be sipped rather than slurped—and easily made thinner—if desired. A celery stick and splash of vodka are optional.
Since I've recently gone crazy for Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (and I'm not usually a hot sauce fan), this year's gazpacho will likely be liberally doused with it.
This gazpacho will fill you up without weighing you down, and it just might be the most refreshing way I've found to beat the heat—except for a big scoop of ice cream of course. But that would be for dessert.
How do you like to make gazpacho?
© FarmgirlFare.com, always vine-ripened, usually worth the wait.
Monday, July 25
Saturday, July 23
Saturday Dose of Cute: Slow Speed Ahead
The farm is full of turtles this time of year.
So we have satellite Internet connection, and for some mysterious reason it's now downloading at just .05 mbps instead of the 'up to 1.5' mbps our special pro (read high dollar) rate says we should get. That's extremely slow. Like too slow to do pretty much anything online.
Since we were already planning to relocate the satellite dish to the new house, we're going to skip a special service call for this problem and just go ahead and move it. But that won't happen until the brand new, already broken air-conditioning system over there is back up and running, which will probably be at least another week because we're waiting on an out of stock part.
Why am I boring you with all this? In the superstitious (or crazy) hope that as soon as I publicly explain our predicament, the slow speed will miraculously fix itself, which the tech guy said was actually possible since there seems to be nothing causing it in the first place. Hey, whatever works. And it's definitely cheaper than scheduling a service call.
Maybe this will somehow get that a/c part here sooner, too.
In the meantime, want to see some more turtles?
5/6/06: Spotted in the Backyard
5/12/06: Damn Turtles!
5/27/06: Bear and Cary and Me vs. the Turtles
6/15/06: I See You Looking at Me, Turtle
6/25/06: Weekend Baby Turtle Blogging
6/23/07: Looking for My Strawberries?
9/8/09: Baby Turtle Blogging
6/14/11: It's Turtle Season
© FarmgirlFare.com, where the 'slow moving' is also true for all of us critters dragging around the farm in this insufferable and relentless heat and humidity. There's nothing like watching a bunch of chickens walking around the farmyard panting to make you feel even hotter than you already were. Time for popsicles all around!
Thursday, July 21
Tuesday, July 19
Recipe: Quick and Easy Homemade Lowfat Buttermilk Ranch Dressing and Dip
In the two years I've been making my own lowfat buttermilk ranch dressing, I can probably count the number of days there hasn't been any in the fridge on one hand. It's good stuff to have around.
And it really does make eating your (or your family's) daily dose of vegetables easier, especially during summer when the long awaited celebration of seasonal garden bounty like cherry tomatoes and cucumbers is in full swing. (You can read about growing my favorite gourmet lemon cucumbers from seed here and miniature white cucumbers from seed here. And In My Kitchen Garden readers and I share our favorite varieties of heirloom tomatoes to grow here.)
I know I'm much more inclined to pass up the pretzels and reach for a healthy snack of sweet red pepper strips and carrot sticks if there's homemade dip on hand. Of course it's good with pretzels, too—and potato chips, and tortilla chips, and practically everything except dessert. I've even put ranch dressing on pizza.
You can dress up this recipe with everything from paprika to parsley to parmesan, to a handful of chopped fresh herbs, but what's nice is that you don't have to. After two years, I still like the basic version, which is flavored with onion, garlic, and dill, the best.
No time to cook up a vegetable side dish or toss a salad together for dinner? Just slice up a pretty plate of fresh veggies, add a dish of dip, and you're good to go. I serve this several times a week in summer. The most beautiful addition to the plate? Easy to grow, gorgeous to look at, and great tasting Dragon Langerie bush beans.
To make a thicker dip simply use less buttermilk. Enjoy!
Can't just live on dip? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.
© FarmgirlFare.com, where we dip it, dip it good. (Sorry, couldn't resist. Yep, the song is going through my head now, too.)
Monday, July 18
Monday Dose of Cute: Stampeding Toward the Donkey Treat Bucket?
It sure as sheep looks that way.
Life on this farm revolves around treats. Don't believe me? Just click here and here. (All the people treats are here.)
© FarmgirlFare.com, where it's a lot easier to get the sheep to go where you want them to if they know they're headed toward troughs full of treats—so it's a good thing we bought 400 pounds of them while out and about today.
Sunday, July 17
Sunday Dose of Cute: A Baby Bird (and The Whole Picture)
A wayward little phoebe in the farmyard
Early Friday afternoon I was walking across the farmyard over to the new house (that would be the one with the newly installed air conditioning system that has already temporarily gone kaput) and found a baby bird sitting in the grass.
And then I found a second one. And then I noticed the frantic mother bird swooping around and chirping up a fit.
More photos and The Whole Picture below. . .
Thursday, July 14
Wednesday, July 13
Tuesday, July 12
Tuesday Dose of Cute: Going Vintage Green Again
The newest addition to my well loved and well used vintage quilt collection
Back when I lived in northern California, I spent a number of years as, among other things, a part time antiques and collectibles dealer. I love all kinds of vintage stuff, and the business was a fun way to fund my own slightly-out-of-control collecting habit.
These days I'm mostly on the buying end of things, but no matter which side of the business you're on, there's one important rule to always keep in mind: If you love it, you'd better snatch it up right now, because otherwise it'll probably disappear.
More photos and the rest of the story below. . .
Sunday, July 10
Friday, July 8
Friday Dose of Cute: The Daily Donkey Takes a Vacation
But I don't wanna leave Donkeyland (photo taken 3/22/11)
You brayed (and e-mailed), and we listened. More donkey pictures! you pleaded, and The Daily Donkey, which began back on February 6, quickly became one of the most popular features on Farmgirl Fare. Thanks so much for all your wonderful feedback and support during the past five months.
More below, plus The Daily Donkey 140. . .
Tuesday, July 5
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