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!

Last Day of the Farmer's Market 2009

Today was the last day for 2009 of the outdoor Lane County Farmer's Market. Next Saturday it moves inside the Fairgrounds for the Holidays. For the middle of November, the weather couldn't have been nicer. Clear , sunny but briskly cold. Beth and I ran into Aunt Jayne which was a pleasant surprise. We all had our market baskets and warm jackets on!

The produce mostly reflected the season. Lots of squash, onions, shallots, and brassicas. Leaks were plentiful at most booths but these were the largest to be found.

A popular vendor the last few weeks had been the Rain Forest Mushroom Company out of Eddyville. They were busy selling bags and bags of Chanterelle, Oyster and Lion's Mane Mushrooms.

Nothing says Fall in Oregon like fresh apple cider. We saw many folks walking around, doing their shopping, with a glass of hot cider in their hand.

As I prepare for the upcoming Dark Days Challenge, I stopped at Sweet Briar Farms and stocked up on local bacon, sausage and eggs. It sounds like a breakfast is in my future!

As we were walking the aisles, I spied this huge Hubbard Squash back behind a stall. It's difficult to tell in the picture but I bet it was over 25 pounds. Beth joked you could cook it instead of a turkey at Thanksgiving.

Halloween at the Farmer's Market

This morning Beth and I went to the Farmer's Market. The day looked gray and gloomy, but the rain stayed away and the temperature outside was actually quite mild. Being the last day of October, we expected to see some characters and we weren't disappointed. There were quite a few little children dressed up for the day and one or two adults as well.

We started our day off by stopping for some goodies at Hideaway Bakery. As always their display of artisan loaves were beautiful.

Winter Squash continued to be in abundance at almost every stall.

Another vegetable in peak season were carrots. I loved this display showcasing Orange, Purple, Red and Yellow carrots. You sure wouldn't find that at a conventional grocery store.

This was a display of "Savoy" Cabbage. The delicate veins and ruffles on them were amazing.

New to me were these "Romanesco" Broccoli. They looked like a combination of sea shells and alien creatures. 

I am always excited when a new product arrives at the market. Especially one that is widely available and grown in Oregon but hasn't been available straight from the farmer. Today we discovered this cranberry grower, Scott Rudle. He was selling bags of organic, Oregon Tilth certified berries from Bandon. I was glad to see that he had a steady stream of shoppers supporting his venture.

More Views of Fall

I mentioned earlier how quickly the trees have been loosing their leaves this year. It seems like one day they are in their full glory and then the next day they are bare. Below are two pictures taken of one of our Japanese Maples. The pictures were taken exactly one week apart.

Fall 2009

Today I went on a walk to enjoy the remaining Fall show. Last year, this weekend was the peak of color. This year I would say most trees peaked two weeks ago and many have completely lost their leaves. There are a few exceptions though. One is the above native tree. It is about 2/3rds changed in color and looks beautiful right now. It is the one tree on our property that turns orange in the Fall.

The crab apple that I gave Mom for Mother's day lost all of its leaves this week. It had turned a beautiful shade of red but the show didn't last very long. The next thing I knew it was completely bare with the exception of its lovely red berries. It will be interesting to see if the birds snack on them.

No walk is complete without a buddy to go along with you. Cleo enjoys tromping around the property as much as I do. She particularly likes all the paths that I have mown the last 3 weeks.

Garden Clean Up

I spent a few hours this morning finishing cleaning up the vegetable garden. The tomato plants, beans, squash vines, sunflowers, and cosmos have all been stacked on the compost pile. I raked the soil smooth again and cleaned up any debris that was stuck in the netting. It's now all ready for a long winter's rest.

It's also hard to remember how stuffed it was this summer with healthy, productive plants.