Bounty! Friends! The Sea!

I pulled up the second half of my potatoes in the backyard and this time we got some Yukon Golds! I also harvested the two largest raddichio heads and some yellow beans.



And for dinner that same night I made some baked potatoes with bacon, dill and garlic. Quite possibly a match made in heaven.



Other good things that have happened recently: Michael Hanes and Jen Brown came to visit! Mike was here for a conference so Jen decided she'd come along and visit us as well. While they were here we went to the sea and my, oh my, it was such a beautiful day!












While walking along the beach we found this fantastic shack that someone had built for people to hang out in. It was at least two years old and had been written all over. There were plenty of "Chris was here" type of things and amusing anecdotes. Someone had also left a glass jar full of paper scraps and pens for people to write on while hanging out at the shack.










View from the shack.



After we hung out there for a while Mike went for a swim in the ICE. COLD. NORTHWESTERN. PACIFIC.







On our way to the beach we stopped and picked up this large seedpod/fruit that was growing wild. Then a couple days after it being on my shelf it opened up and looked like this!



Then Mike went off to the conference and we literally never saw him again. That week Jen, Clara and I hung out together walking around Alberta and then made dinner together.




We had blackberry-glazed salmon with farm mixed-vegetables and a side of quinoa.



Jen, Joel and I all went to the farm co-op and got an awesome load: carrots, spinach and lettuce, summer squash, blackberries, logan berries, onions and elephant garlic!




That night we made hamburgers and more mixed farm veggies, yum!





Then Jen and Mike went home and life went back to normal, sort of. We had family dinner with our housemates last tuesday.





And then we told them we were moving to Philadelphia in October!

Farm Produce

After the mildest summer weather I have ever experienced the farm has started to produce something other than greens (which surprisingly get old after four months, weird). And it is a cause for celebration! This is our most recent haul. Currants, logan berries, beets, zucchini, lettuce and young scapes (the curly heads of unflowered garlic).






And then a couple days after this photo I got some more (gigantic) beets and the carrots were ready to pull up. They are called Dragon Carrots which have a beautiful dark purple outside and an orange center. And totally delicious.




With all the currants Joel made currant jelly and Cumberland sauce (which uses currant jelly).







Joel also made some delicious berry corn muffins, yum!




Recently we had pea soup made with farmers market hamhocks, farm garlic and carrots and grocery store peas. Mostly local and completely delicious.

Last week I pulled up some of our potatoes in the backyard and they were All Blues.



And with the All Blues I made this wonderful dinner: all blue mashed potatoes with farm dill, tuna with a mushroom and dill cream sauce, and baked asparagus.



A couple days ago I made quinoa pasta with farm vegetables and herbs and a lemon-butter sauce. Unfortunately that didn't get photographed, oh well. That same night we went over to my friend Carli's for pie and cards on the front porch -- summer is here! The pie was made with farm logan berries, blueberries and marionberries. I will definitely miss the berries of Oregon when we do eventually move away. They are not only prolific but also succulent and delicious. I am very happy that they grow so well here.

And I'll wrap up with a couple animals. We'll start with the less fuzzy: slugs! This is a leopard slug that was about six inches long. Accompanied by some slug that I have idea what it is. But there are a lot of them in Oregon.







And end with the more fuzzy: Orson!