NW Farms & Food

RECIPE
These easy-to-prepare chips are a fun way to munch on nutrition-packed kale.

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RECIPE
The flavor of leeks and onion make this a tasty, warming soup for a cold day.

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The tough economy has spurred not only front and back yard vegetable plots, but gardening ingenuity. Hungering for fresh homegrown produce, and determined to have it earlier (or later) in the season than ever, resourceful gardeners have come up with low-cost and no-cost ways to extend the growing season.
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RECIPE

This recipe brings together two autumn favorites—pumpkin and apples—in a deliciously spiced bread.

Moist and flavorful, this sweet bread can be made with canned pumpkin and almost any kind of apple. To capture the flavors of the season even more, try using a fresh pie pumpkin (sugar pumpkin). Just bake, scrape out the pumpkin’s flesh, and puree it in a food processor.


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When most people think about farms, they picture vegetable stands, rows of crops, fresh produce and grazing animals. These days, they might add something new to that picture: fine art. A surprising number of artists are living and creating their art in rural places. Whether life in the country draws them to create their art, or their creativity draws them to find quiet, natural spaces, the rhythms and patterns of the country life around them almost invariably influence their work.

The Beauty of Lightning

For Don Anderson, whose dramatic metal sculptures grace the lawn at Applewood Farm Studios in the Cascade foothills, nature is a dynamic catalyst. Anderson derives his abstract images by observing fractals and recurring energy themes like wind, heat and waves.
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Gardeners who save seed, or grow and harvest grains, know that separating seeds from their pods or husks can be a time-consuming job. While large industrial growers use machines to thresh and winnow seed crops, home seed savers can look to a number of simpler tools to accomplish the task. Once cleaned, seeds stored in moisture-proof containers can last for several years.

Here are a few devices for separating seeds from debris and chaff:
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RECIPE

Bison landjaeger, sweet Walla Walla onions and bell peppers give this easy-to-prepare pizza a smoky, spicy flavor.

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Are insects bugging the plants in your garden? If so, chances are your garden doesn’t have enough insects. Although, gardeners worry about the destruction these tiny foragers can do to plants, most of the insects you find in cultivated spaces are either helpful to the garden, or do no harm.
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It may seem too simple, but the simplicity is what makes it. Fresh from the garden, baby salad greens are incomparably tender and succulent. Bellingham food personality and cookbook author, Mary Ellen Carter, prepares baby lettuce salad virtually as is. “When it’s this good, you don’t need to do anything with it,” she says. “You’re messing with perfection!”

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When you think of a potatoes, you probably picture brown-skinned russets, the ubiquitous French fry and baking spuds. Because they are so prevalent (and uniformly predictable), we’ve come to think of all “potatoes” as tasting like russets. Think again! The Northwest has a colorful range of flavorful, texture-rich potatoes. Here is a guide to a few of the many varieties:

Red Potatoes – Chieftain, Red Pontiac, Red Lasoda
True to their name, red potatoes have smooth reddish skin and white flesh. Reds are generally round and waxy, with a firm texture. They have less starch than russets or whites. Good in soups, potato salads, boiled, steamed, sauteed, roasted, and scalloped/au gratin.

Yellow Potatoes – Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn, German Butterball
Yellow potatoes have golden flesh and skin, with a buttery flavor. These versatile potatoes are good boiled, mashed, steamed, baked, roasted or French fried.
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