Dark Days Challenge - Week #6

After 2 weeks of Holiday madness, I am back with week #6 of the Dark Days Challenge. As I was planning out the Christmas meals, I realized that my traditional Christmas breakfast would adapt perfectly to the Challenge. Each year I make a breakfast strata for us to enjoy. It is hearty and comforting, yet isn't so filling that you aren't ready to indulge in the main Christmas dinner hours later. I especially like that this is assembled the day before, so on Christmas morning the cook just has to pop it in the oven and isn't in the kitchen missing out on any fun with the rest of the family. I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday Season and that 2010 is filled with peace, joy and many local, delicious meals.

-Breakfast Sausage - 3 Miles/Sweet Briar Farm

-Eggs - 3 Miles/Sweet Briar Farms

-Wheat Bread - 27 Miles/Cottage Grove Farmhouse Bakery

-Milk - 13 Miles/Lochmead Dairy

-Cheddar Cheese - 102 Miles/Tillamook Creamery

-Swiss Cheese - 102 Miles/Tillamook Creamery

Merry Christmas

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past,

courage for the present, hope for the future.

It is a wish fervent wish that every cup may overflow with

blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.

~Agnes M. Pharo~

The Frozen Creek

This last week the temperatures in the Southern Willamette Valley have been well below normal. The week started with lows in the twenties and by Wednesday morning the low was 8 degrees at our house and the high never got above freezing. It is very unusual for us to have temperature this low and for the cold to last as many days as it did. The cold finally broke yesterday around noon and today is much warmer. As I was taking a walk around the property I noticed something in the creek. I quickly realized that the extended period of cold had actually frozen the surface of much of the creek. While some of it has melted in the last 24 hours, much of it is still frozen. I never remember it doing this before. It was quite beautiful !

A hard frost and cold, cold nights

This morning we awoke to yet another hard frost. The temperature has been in the low twenties for the past few nights and the forecasters are calling for low temps in the teens the next few nights. It took until 1 PM today for the fog to burn off and the temperature to rise above freezing. This morning I took a very brisk walk around the property.

Everything was covered in white and my footsteps crunched as I moved along. Nothing missed Jack Frost's touch.

Both birdbaths were frozen solid. Brrrrr!

The Dark Days Challenge - Week #3

I started Thanksgiving morning working out on my treadmill ...and watching the Food Network. Hmm, maybe not the best combination! But Emeril Live was on and Emeril was fixing a Thanksgiving meal for New York Fireman. What really caught my attention was his starter, a Smoked Sausage, Butternut Squash, and Wild Rice Soup. Suddenly my week three meal was set in motion.

  I already had the Butternut Squash from my garden and knew where I could get most of the other ingredients locally. But the challenge for me was the wild rice. I thought I remembered buying a locally grown wild rice once so I began with a search on google. Sure enough, up popped Oregon Jewel. A trip to Cappella market and I had my wild rice. What I learned through my research though, was pretty neat. The rice is grown just outside Brownsville, Oregon on converted conventional farm land. The Willamette Valley clay soil that has challenged home and professional vegetable farmers for generations has proved to be perfect for growing wild rice. The clay soil holds water, which in turn eliminates the need for irrigation. The water keeps the weeds down and eliminates the need for herbicides. Native grasses and trees have returned, growing up next to the paddies. And with the return of this food and shelter the biodiversity of the region has reemerged. In fact, the Audubon Society lists the farm as a birding site. Pretty great stuff! And I haven't even mentioned the fact that we have a great source for a locally grown whole grain.

But back to this weeks meal. I followed Emeril's recipe but cut it in half and eliminated the parsely and corn. I think it would have been great with the addition of corn, but I didn't have any frozen away to use. Next year! So here is my "shopping list" -

- Butternut Squash - O miles/ My garden

-Chicken Stock -92 Miles/ Pacific Foods

-Yellow Onions - 16 Miles/Hey Bayles! Farm

-Wild Rice - 20 Miles/Oregon Jewel

- Linguesa Sausage - 3 Miles/Sweet Briar Farm

-Half-in-half - 13 Miles / Lochmead Dairy

- Exceptions - Oil, Salt & Pepper

The Dark Days Challenge - Week #2

For week #2 of the Dark Days Challenge, "Breakfast for Dinner" was theme. A trip to the last outdoor Farmers Market of the year, a stop at the store, and preserves from the pantry provided everything we needed for a quick and tasty dinner. The menu consisted of eggs ( scrambled or poached) with a sprinkle of cheese on top, bacon, home-fries with onion, and toast with butter and jam. I particularly loved looking at the egg carton with its mix of tan, brown and blue eggs. Beautiful, unique eggs from happy girls.

Eggs - 3 Miles/ Sweet Briar Farm

Bacon - 3 Miles/ Sweet Briar Farms

Fingerling Potatoes - 13 Miles/ Groundworks Organics

Yellow Onion - 13 Miles/ Groundworks Organics

Wheat Bread - 27 Miles/Cottage Grove Farmhouse Bakery

Milk- 13 Miles/ Lochmead Dairy

Tillamook Cheddar - 102 Miles/ Tillamook Cheese

Butter- 102 Miles/ Tillamook County Creamery

Blackberry Jam- O Miles

Exceptions: Oil, Salt, Pepper

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

The Dark Days Challenge - Week #1

This week kicks off the 3rd Annual Dark Days Challenge. Hosted by Laura at the (not so) Urban Hennery, the challenge invites bloggers to cook one meal a week focused on SOLE ( sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients and write about it. Traditionally the definition for local has been a 100 mike radius, though this is more difficult in the Winter. The true object of the challenge is to widen your awareness of in-season local foods and share your triumphs and frustration with the others. Each week a full recap of every one's meals will be posted at the (not so) Urban Hennery. So here we go!

For my first weeks meal I went with a family favorite - stuffed Delicata Squash.I was able to buy everything I needed at the Saturday Farmer's Market. My only exception for the week was corn bread stuffing. I think now that I could have bought loaf of local bread and dried bread crumbs to use, but I didn't have the time or energy this week. A goal for the next time. Ingredients:

-Delicata Squash - 0 Miles, my own garden
-Ground Pork Sausage - 5 Miles, Farmers Market/Sweet Briar Farms
-Onion - 5 Miles, Farmers Market/Hey Bales! Farm
-Egg - 5 Miles, Farmers Market/Sweet Briar Farm
-Corn Bread Stuffing - Non-local

The Arrival of the Seed Savers Exchange Catalog!

Tonight when I got home from work, I was excited to see in my mail pile the 2010 catalog from Seed Savers Exchange. For those of you who are not familiar with the name, Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization based in Decorah, Iowa. Its mission is to to save the world's diverse but endangered garden heritage for future generations. Each year they offer through their catalog hundreds and hundreds of unique fruit & vegetable varieties for the home gardener. The catalog is a visual treat as well as an amazing resource and idea bank. If you are interested in the work of Seed Savers Exchange or would like to receive your own catalog just visit their website. You will be so glad that you did!