COMMENCE THE SAVINGS.
The other day while working in the garden, Jesse made a curious discovery….FRUIT on our potatoes! Little green fruit growing above ground! After doing a bit of research, we learned that this is the seed of the potato plant. Since potatoes are generally planted by using….more potatoes….we sort of just assumed that potatoes just come from potatoes that came from other potatoes, and so on. But no! You can start them from seed! So of course we are completely obsessed with this idea and currently have a cup of bubbling, fermenting seeds on our kitchen counter. Each fruit contains multiple seeds... it also looks like a baby tomato (being in the nightshade family, and all) and is quite similar to the process of saving tomato seeds. We are excited about trying this out. Apparently, EACH seed will be its own, specific variety of potato. Amazing!
Along with the potato experiment, we are soon-to-be collecting and saving seeds from the flowering broccoli and overripe, wrinkly peas in the garden. This method not only saves us the money from buying seeds next year, but it helps us to learn more about the entire process of growing, and starts us the path to having our own varieties of vegetables….passed down year after year after year. We are working our way towards having a different kind of family heirloom to share with the future Frost generations.
- Hannah.
BLACKBERRY VINTAGE.
As Hannah pointed out last week, we are knee-deep in a fermentation love affair. That, and it's June...so the garden is getting ready to erupt and we can often be found wielding our primitive tools, trying to beat it back. So if we haven't been posting much, it's because we are little overwhelmed and a bit over-zealous, joyfully digging out new projects like we're kids with a toy chest. And then, we noticed, the blackberries were turning.
We made a lot of wine last year. Pawpaw wine, melon wine, wild berry - you name it, we fermented it. Out of all of those projects, however, there was one wine in particular that stood out above the rest. Nearly indistinguishable from grape wine, and just as complex, was the blackberry wine. In the spirit of that, we made a vow to triple, if not quadruple, our production (if that sounds like a lot, know we only made four bottles last year) the next time blackberry season came around. Well, it's around! So Hannah, Wendell and I have been working overtime to keep the farm afloat and get the blackberries a'bubbling. So far so good! The first batch, which we tossed a pint of blueberries into (because we could), smelled oddly meaty but tasted amazing and we just put it into a carboy this morning. The second batch should start fermentation today. The third batch, we'll pick in a few days and the fourth?!––next week, or here's hoping.- Jesse.
THE BUBBLING FARMSTEAD.
Fermentation has truly taken over our lives - and our kitchen - lately. Jesse has three different wine/beers going….the mulberry, a wild berry, and an oat and honey brew he is experimenting with. I have been trying to spend a full day baking bread each week. We have crocks and mason jars all over the counters, sourdough starters and pickled radishes on top of the fridge, all constantly being stirred and fed and monitored. They become pets of sorts, all needing constant care and nourishment until they are ready to nourish us. We are fueled partly by an attempt to sustain ourselves, partly because of THIS new book, but also out of a curiousity and reverence for this amazing, magical, and ancient practice.
FERMENTATION LOVE.
Recently, Jesse received a package in the mail and I haven’t seen him since. Just kidding (...kind of). The Art of Fermentation is Sandor Katz’s newest book, and Jesse is a little bit obsessed. Sandor is becoming our go-to fermentation guru, also the author of Wild Fermentation and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. I have been informed that we will be having lots of bubbling crocks and pickling concoctions crowding our kitchen this year as Jesse tries some of Sandor’s recipes. The first experiment is underway: fermented radishes and ginger. We will let you know how it turns out!- Hannah.
