Themes and Variations

May went fast.

This is going to be more of a gallery than a blog post. All three Foodshed Challenge days for last month. It’s also a work in progress. I am getting the pictures up here. I will add captions and descriptions as they come to me. I’m too busy finishing getting my big vegetable garden in and keeping the grass from swallowing everything to do much focused thinking about anything else.

Foodshed Challenge Rundown: All food grown/raised/foraged/hunted in stated geographical area excepting imports allowed on Homegrown days (coffee, olive oil, salt, and yeast) + County and State days (chocolate, butter, maple syrup, and spices that do not grow in WA).

Homegrown – May 1

Not much changed in the very local food scene since April. The biggest difference is that I’m doing most of my cooking outdoors on propane instead of indoors on the wood stove. I do not need any heat indoors on sunny days.

Breakfast: Steamed Apple & Rhubarb, Coffee.

Same as April. The rhubarb is fresh instead of frozen.

Morning Snack: Apple Rings, Rhubarb Juice & Horsetail Tea

The apple rings made in the dehydrator a couple months ago are holding up admirably. I am rationing them to last me until there are fresh apples again. I will make more next year. I got the juice out of the bag from the last of the frozen rhubarb, which I thawed to mix in with the apple leather and then strained. It’s rather refreshing that way.

Packed to go for my morning errand driving to a town an hour and a half a way to adopt my first beehive!

Lunch: Micro Greens Salad with Kale Blossoms, Apple

And a little olive oil and salt for dressing.

Micro greens, left to right–arugula, red sorrel, kale flowers, lettuce, kale.

Afternoon Snack: Apple Leather 3.1 (now available with Rhubarb!), Blackberries, Coffee

The apple leather is different from April. Much improved. Third time’s the charm in this case. Parchment paper instead of plastic (round 2) or nothing (round 1) on the dehydrator trays. I made some plain apple and some with the last of the frozen rhubarb, thawed and blended with the apple mash, 2:1 apple : rhubarb. Most fruits I would do 1:1 but the rhubarb has plenty of flavor and needs all the apple sweetness it can get.

Dinner: Black Beans, Sauteed Brassica with Horsetail, Apple Juice

Fruiting stems of horsetail.

The fruiting stalks of field horsetail precede the more recognizable leafy parts and look a fair bit like zombie asparagus. It is hailed as a survival food by foraging experts which means it is a lot of work relative to the calories or not all that appetizing or both. True. Even with a fairly dense stand of horsetail around my blueberry patch which is easy to walk through it took a while to find this many stalks that were full size but not too far gone. Most I left the tops outside as they had already started to brown and were shedding a mess of pollen or spores or whatever it is that horsetail do.

Then you have to pop the segments apart and cut off the conveniently color-coded fibery bits, leaving the crunchy white edible part. They were not unpleasant. They tasted a lot like the ribs of romaine lettuce. I must say I prefer them to celery. Apparently the stalk itself and the tiny sip of water that each hollow segment contains are loaded with minerals. Emergency rehydration, sure. I really hope I am never hungry or bored enough to make a whole meal out of these.

Black bean preparation identical to April, with shallots sauteed in olive oil, a pinch of salt, and sun-dried tomatoes and cilantro for garnish. The greens this time are nonsense brassica (see State Fare dinner) sauteed in olive oil instead of April’s boiled nettles.

The apple juice is rendered from the apply mash. I add half a gallon of water to a gallon bag of apple mash thawed and simmer it for 10-15 minutes and then strain it. The twice-extracted apple mash goes in the compost. The second run juice taste better than kid juice box apple juice though not nearly as good as the first run cider. This year’s apple wine is made from the juice yielded from 3 bags of mash. Last year’s cider-based wine was excellent but it feels like a waste to dilute and filter the fresh cider for winemaking when this option is available and there is *so much* apple mash because it takes so many apples to make cider.


Lewis County Day – May 15

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Coffee

Same breakfast as April county food day. This time the eggs came from Cryptid Creek, my neighbors to the north. I traded a pound of rhubarb for a dozen. I would not be nearly as wealthy if rhubarb were fiat currency as I would be if apples were the reigning legal tender. But just one clump divided two years ago spring is already yielding more rhubarb than I have ever before eaten in a year with a pound or two surplus to trade. Rather exciting.

On that splendid mid-60’s-and-sunny Saturday morning I drove uphill for 20 minutes to check out the Morton farmer’s market for the first time. Mostly plants for sale. I bought sweet white turnips and bok choy from Vienna Gardens (Silver Creek) and honey from Four Cedars (Glenoma). I hadn’t planned to buy honey again, as I got enough last month from Beeworks in Bellingham, WA to last me until my own bees produce a surplus. But now I have some for Lewis County days.

Lunch: Cold Beet Salad on Greens

Beets (Root Cellar Farm, Onalaska) boiled and cooled. Homegrown lettuce, arugula, and lambs quarters. The latter grows itself and tastes like spinach. Compared to spinach it is drought tolerant and less vulnerable to mice and slugs. Olive oil and a pinch of salt for dressing.

All that salad really need is some fresh chevre and pecans to top it off. If all goes well I should be making homegrown chevre a year from now and my brand new pecan trees should start bearing in 5 or so.

Snack: Bluebarb Smoothie with Apple Mash and Honey

The day before county food day I went to Aldrich, the 3rd-generation blueberry farm in town, and bought a 5 lb bag of frozen blueberries out of a chest freezer in their barn. This will keep me in smoothies and pancake toppings until my own start ripening in late June or early July. My twelve blueberry bushes are all from Aldrich, purchased last April in gallon-sized pots. They appear happy, with several inches of new twig growth and dense clusters of green berries that as of May 15 were about halfway to full size. Now they are almost there and a slight blush of purple is starting to show on the earliest-ripening variety.

It’s fun to think that apples, rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries, and honey are things I will never need to buy again. Also blackberries of course, but that has been true since I moved to WA.

Yet another use for apple mash. I prefer the bluebarb smoothie with yogurt or kefir but this works. Here’s to goat’s milk yogurt next year!

Dinner: Roasted Turnip with Pork and Chanterelles, Braised Turnip Greens

The sweet turnips came from Vienna Gardens in Silver Creek via the Morton farmer’s market. I had never experienced these before I started subscribing to a CSA. There they were in the box! Figure out how to use them! The greens are edible fresh if they are tender enough. I have sometimes made salad out of them. Otherwise they are great lightly cooked. The ribs have just a little crunch to them, reminiscent of chard but less fibery and sweeter. The root part is usually excellent fresh but gets downright buttery when cooked. I roasted these in the toaster oven with a little olive oil, then topped them with shallots sauteed in butter, chanterelles (foraged last fall, steamed and frozen), and browned pork sausage left from the packet I acquired for the making of meatballs on April WA State Food Day.

Turnip greens rinsed and sauteed still damp along with some butter and garlic. Braising (sort of a cross between steaming and sauteeing) helps greens cook down faster while using less fat and reducing the chances of scorching. Stir until the butter is melted and the water starts steaming, cover for a few seconds, repeat. Remove from heat as soon as the greens are wilted and bright green. Ta da!

State Food Day – May 29

Breakfast: Pancake with Steamed Rhubarb and Strawberry, Coffee

Same pancake, different topping. Steamed rhubarb (homegrown, picked fresh) and a strawberry!

Snack #1: Roll with Butter and Blackberry, Apple, Chocolate, and Mint Tea

Pretty much the same snack as April state day. Different tea. Honey wheat roll (saved a few in the freezer from WA State Day in April) topped with blackberries (homegrown) mixed with WA state honey and butter (TJ’s NZ – see below). Mint tea (homegrown), apple (homegrown – 2nd to last fresh one!), Theo Chocolate Sea Salt Dark.

This butter is next level delicious. I have some degree of voluntary synesthesia. It tastes like the light in NZ.

Lunch: Duck Eggs on Salad Mix, Wheat Roll

The duck eggs are from Rylee, a friend on the other side of town. Salad mix from Onalaska via the Centralia farmer’s market. A little olive oil and salt for dressing. Homemade honey wheat roll, butter.

Snack #2: Bluebarb Smoothie

Homegrown fresh rhubarb, frozen blueberries from Aldrich (Mossyrock), Grace Harbor Farms kefir (WA), and honey (WA).

Dinner: Meatballs, Purple Potatoes, Snap Peas

Same meatballs from WA day in April. Pulled from the freezer and warmed in the boiling water with the potatoes (WA via PCC. Fresh snap peas on the side, first of the season for me, from a vendor at the Centralia Market.

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