For 2012 we’re happy to announce the introduction of 8 new grains into our growing repertoire. We’re very excited to try these out and will hopefully be increasing our production of homegrown breads, granola, pasta and of course, beer!

And here they are:

Soft White Wheat, Hard Red Wheat, Oats, Barley, Flax, Millet, Rye & Amaranth

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What does this mean?

Well, essentially it means that we have a slightly warmer and longer growing season as compared to the last time the USDA announced changes to the map way back in 1990, when Michael Bolton, Rod Stewart and Paula Abdul were at the top of the pop charts.

This announcement does come at a time when we can’t help but notice that our garden looks surprisingly different than at this time in previous years. For starters, the ground is not frozen. Due to daily highs remaining in the 40′s, the frost has not had a chance to stick around, which has left many of our plants intact. Trying to grow plants outdoors in Western Mass is typically unheard of, but we still have Brussel sprouts and kale that have not yet been ravaged by old man winter.

Brussel sprouts still sprouting

kale still kaling

Had we known ahead of time, we would have planted out a bunch more winter greens for the taking.

Are you experiencing any unusual mid-winter plant growth that you’d like to share?

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Here’s a shot of him high above our garden:

A zoom-in of the same shot:

Luckily, he has not ‘claimed’ any of our hens (knock on wood). We thank our trusty goats for providing them with protection.

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We sliced these blue potatoes nice and thin to resemble traditional ‘fries’ and expose their beautiful interior color.

We loaded them up with plenty of herbs: rosemary, thyme, parsley and sage, then drizzled with olive oil.

The result was simply delicious. Blue potatoes really have a great flavor on their own, so there’s no need to overload with salt or deep frying.

Got any interesting homegrown finger food recipes we should try?

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our friend poking his head out of the snow

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The Homegrown Food Challenge is a pledge to eat only food that is grown, harvested and preserved from one’s garden for the month of October. We started this annual initiative in 2010 and have watched it gain momentum since the start.

Take a read below, pages 17-24.

Copies of this issue are available for pre-order up until January 10th, so act fast.

Chickpea is a quarterly magazine featuring content from around the vegan community, including writing, discussion, recipes, photography, artwork and stories. You can read their issues for free online or you can purchase high-quality, sustainably printed copies. Bonus: there is ZERO advertising in any of their issues!

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After completing the Homegrown Food Challenge at the end of October, we needed a bit of a break from the blogosphere. It feels good to take some time off from the computer, although we’ve been quite busy in the garden closing things down as we prepare for winter to rapidly set in.

Before the first frost, we had pulled all of our pepper plants and hung them in the barn. I heard that this was the best way to allow them to turn red. After hanging in the barn for a few weeks, we plucked all the pepper and laid them out on our kitchen table to continue the ripening process. With about 90% of the peppers turning red, we knew it was time to make hot sauce.

ripened habanero, jalapeno and ancho poblano peppers getting washed

In total, we used about 100 peppers. A blend of mostly habanero, followed closely by jalapeno with a few ancho poblano to add to the mix.

In addition to the peppers, this recipe calls for:
- 5 large onions
- 15 cloves of garlic
- 6 cups water
- 3 cups white distilled vinegar
- 2.5 tsp salt

Step 1: After cleaning the peppers to remove the stems, cut in half and combine in a pot with the water, onions and garlic. I left the seeds in to give it that extra spicy kick.

Let the ingredients cook in the pot for 20-30 minutes, or until the peppers become soft and the skins peel off.

Next, run the mixture through the food mill into a new pot. The food mill is great for removing the seeds and skin and just pushing the fleshy parts through. If you don’t have a food mill, I would suggest removing the majority (if not all) of the seeds before cooking the peppers and then running this mixture through the food processor.

After you run the entire mixture through, add the vinegar and salt. Cook for another 30 minutes to an hour on medium heat to thicken it up.

To bottle, we just thoroughly cleaned our containers and funneled the hot sauce in. Let the hot sauce sit for two weeks to achieve optimal flavor and store in the refrigerator for many months to come!

Now that we have this made, do you have any recipes we should try it with?

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Ingredients:

• Beets
• Walnuts
• Apple
• Olive oil and vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Wrap each beet in a piece of tin foil and place on a baking sheet in the oven
3. After 50 minutes, test a beet by sliding a fork into it. If the fork does not easily slide in and out, cook for another 10 minutes and test them again until the fork pierces the beet with little to no effort, remove beets from oven
4. Once cool, open the foil, and use a paper towel to rub the skin off.
5. To make the salad, toss the beets with a quarter cup of roasted nuts and drizzle with vinegar and olive oil.
6. To compliment the dish, add fresh sliced apple as a side

I sure hope my beets do better next year, because this is one recipe I would definitely make again. I typically only utilize beets as a side dish, but I have a new found respect for them as the main ingredient to a nice salad. The combination of the sweet roasted beets and nuts reminded me of candied nuts. Very yummy! Thanks again to Cheap Beets for suggesting this recipe.

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As the last of our fresh produce dwindles, we are happy to still be making fresh and exciting new recipes using 100% of our own ingredients. This Homegrown Food Challenge recipe for Eggplant Creole was suggested by the Dainty Dot, who also suggested recipes for Stuffed Poblanos and Pepper Relish.

I had always associated Creole recipes with New Orleans, but was more excited to learn that the style is more specifically influenced by cuisines of the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Asian Indian, Native American, African and of course, the American South.

The last of our yellow brandywine tomatoes.

Well, the month of October is finally over, but the influence of the Homegrown Food Challenge on our eating habits lives on. I’ll be posting a full recap of my experience shortly, so be on the look out for that.

To Download a PDF of this recipe card, click here: Eggplant Creole

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This Homegrown Food Challenge recipe was suggested by Art and Lemons, in addition to their suggested recipe for Homemade Pasta with Butternut Squash and Fried Sage Leaves.

I used fresh kale as well as Swiss chard.

I sprinkled chives and parsley over the eggs for extra flavor.

The walnuts and dressing.

I was laughing at myself for putting black walnuts on my ingredients list. The ones I used were actually harvested 2 years ago, but I never got around to eating them, the main reason for that being that the shells are extremely difficult to crack. For these, I used a table vice and some vice grips, well above the average tools needed for liberating nut meats from their shells. It was a good exercise nonetheless so I at least know what I’m in for next time I want to eat some black walnut. If anybody has a better method of opening them, please share.

To Download a PDF of this recipe card, click here: Walnut Kale Salad with Fried Eggs and Toast

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