Zucchini & Pesto Sandwiches

I just love having our own home grown produce! This past weekend we happened on another easy & delicious way to enjoy our zucchinis. We ate these sandwiches with some broiled purple cabbage from a friend's garden and it was a very satisfying meal! Here's the recipes:

PESTO
1/2 cup Basil
1/3 cup Pine Nuts
1 - 2 cloves Garlic
1/4 cup Oil
1/2 tsp. Chicken Style Seasoning (you can also use a vegetarian chicken bouillon cube to taste)
2 Tbs. Water

Blend in blender or food processor.


BREADED ZUCCHINI
Fresh zucchini
Batter for dipping them in prior to breading (I used a vegan mayonnaise - my favorite is Vegenaise - mixed with some non-dairy milk)
Breading Mixture:
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Onion Powder
2 Tbs. Cornmeal
2 Tbs. Flour (I used oat flour to make it wheat free, but you could use regular flour)

Slice zucchini into rounds about 1/4" - 1/2" thick depending on personal preference. Dip in "batter" & then cover in breading mixture. You can either fry them with a little oil on the stove top, or you can bake them in the oven on a lightly oiled pan so they won't stick, baking till they're golden on one side & then flipping them & baking the other side till it's golden as well.

We served them on bread with pesto & sliced tomatoes, though they're delicious plain too :)

Enjoy!

A Slippin' & a Slidin'

The past few weeks we’ve been getting so much rain! The road out to our place has been closed a couple of times already for repair as the dirt under the pavement has literally washed away underneath it in some places, causing the pavement to cave in, and, for some unfortunate drivers like ourselves, to fall through with it! (It’s a rather startling experience to be driving along on what seems like solid pavement & collapse through the road...) Fortunately, for us, our son, Charles, & son-in-law, Andy, were able to come & rescue us from our plight with our tractor and without any damages to our truck.

The rain has been good for the field crops though – it’s a mass of green out in the fields, such a stark contrast to the desert brown. But as can be expected, it’s not just our lovely crops that are growing – it seems that the rain has called forth from the dusty earth a whole bunch of unwanted weeds, which has required drastic measures to be taken in taming them down.

It’s a big job for a little farm, but the other day we had a surprise weed crew show up – it was Dr. Timothy Crews & his AgroEcology class from the University of Prescott who came down for a tour of the farm.

They were an awesome group, and you could tell that they were all passionate about farming. While we were out showing them the field crops, they asked if they could help us weed an acre. It took them less than an hour, and the results were a beautifully weeded acre of sweet potatoes! Thanks guys for the help – we enjoyed having you down for the tour & wish you all the best in the rest of your class & your future farming careers!

On being Local…

Ok, I have to admit it IS a great feeling to walk in to any of the 7 whole foods stores here in Arizona & see the great displays that the produce managers make of our produce. I take my hat off to the Whole Foods stores because they are so committed to truly promoting the produce of local farmers. It seems like they are excited to try anything that we grow. I know that often the produce coming out of Mexico or other parts of the states is sometimes cheaper for them, than the local produce. But Whole Foods has always been the leader in the local fevor and their loyalty to supporting us as a local farm is commendable. Trust me, being a small farm just doesn’t give us the scale of operation that a factory farm has and so many of the expenses associated with growing are higher for us. So we truly can’t usually compete with a factory operation.

I know of a tomato operation right here in Arizona that grows and harvests their tomatoes at their plant in Arizona. Then they load them into trucks and ship them to Mexico to pack them. From there the tomatoes get shipped all the way over to brokers in California. Then the brokers in California sell them to mainstream grocery chains here in Arizona. After the glossy red tomatoes arrive back into their home state at the chain’s warehouse, the warehouse divides up the truckload and ships them out to the individual stores. Phew! At that point the produce manager puts them on the shelf with signage promoting them as locally grown. Oh Pleeese! Let’s be truthful… OK, Well, I suppose the sign is true in the sense that the tomatoes were GROWN in Arizona. But didn’t anyone notice the huge distance that the tomatoes traveled to get back into Arizona after leaving not only our state, but our country!? I think every grower, farmer, or operation (whatever label you use) should march in their own armor and be proud of what they do well. For that operation, being local isn’t their identifying characteristic. But rather, they truly can be proud of the remarkable systems and efficiencies they have brought to growing, packing, marketing, and distribution. That IS a stellar accomplishment. Let’s congratulate them for that – but not for being local.

On the other end of the scale is our little farm. We grow it, pick it, and pack it all here on the farm. Then we we use a local delivery company that’s already doing refrigerated deliveries around the state, to deliver it to stores & resorts right here in Arizona. That’s what we call local.

Farmers Markets

We have recently joined some Farmers Markets in the greater Phoenix area! If you're ever nearby one of them, be sure to pop by & see us - we'd love to say hi!

Ahwatukee Farmers Market - Sundays

Twilight Farmers Market - Wednesdays

Carefree Farmers Market - Fridays

Harvest Time

It's an exciting time here on the farm.  It's also a tasty time.  We are finally harvesting all of our outdoor crops of pumpkins, winter squash, zucchini, yellow summer squash, & melons!  This is the first year that we have actually grown field crops - we've had a lot of fun & are planning on doing it again next year.

Keep an eye for the fruits of our crops at your local Whole Foods & AJ's Fine Foods - we hope you'll enjoy them as much as we do.

Earlier this year we made a great technological breakthrough at our home.  Some may think it was a step back, but we thought it was a giant step forward.  We installed a clothesline!   How cool is that?!  I love the smell of wind blown clothes.  And you just can't beat the fresh crunchy crispness of a sun dried bathtowel...  And talk about fast drying - you can practically pull them off the line as fast as you hang them!  Of course it is more work than using the dryer - but between using our air conditioner less & enjoying our now famous clothesline - our electric bill is half as much as it was last year.  It makes me smile.

The journey for changing from hydroponic growing to organic growing involves a lot of work!  Backbreaking work actually...  What a great team we have to work with!   Building raised beds... filling them with local totally plant based organic growing materials... planting the little seeds... It's happening, one wheel barrow load of stuff at a time...  & we are glad for the journey.  I want to share some pics of the steps...   More later!