Tulips

Each fall we plant tulips for the following spring. Our first year we planted 2000 bulbs and that spring had such success we planted 4000 the following fall. In the following spring we sold every tulip and could have sold more so again we doubled our planting to 8000 bulbs. This pattern continued and so last fall we planted 36,000 bulbs. It's a big job but with a lot of prep work and some organization we can do it in less than three days.

Tulip bulbs ready for planting.

After the last delivery of the season we clean out the green houses and dig trenches down their entire length. The trenches are three feet wide, six inches deep and about 100 feet long. Space is very limited in a green houses so the trenches must be dug by hand, for the past few years we have been fortunate to have a much younger employee to do this task.

Roger planting bulbs. Kohl reading the next pit with fresh soil.

The tulips are shipped from Holland to a port in the northwest and then trucked to us. As soon as the bulbs arrive and are unloaded we start planting. Now the real physical work begins--it is not hard, just very uncomfortable. We climb into the pits and set the bulbs into the soil about a half an inch apart in row upon row. The bulbs come in crates of 500; I can plant a crate in about fifteen minutes, but I am the fastest bulb setter on this farm.

RT, the maestro, in the tulip pit.

After the pits are filled with tulip bulbs they are covered with a layer of soil and top coat of sand. When the entire row is planted we lay lines of drip tape and give them a good watering.

KT and Miguel planting crates of bulbs.

We are fortunate to have good friends that enjoy grubbing around on their hands and knees for hours at a time, which is asking a lot as we are all over fifty! Kath has been on the tulips crew for years and is our number one non-employee. (There have been times when we could not have operated with out her--thanks again honey.)

Kath, our number one non-employee and dear friend

After the tulips are planted we put the farm to bed and things really wind down. The first day of February we fire up the heat in the green house and wait for the tulips to emerge. In six weeks the tulips are ready for delivery.

My Sprinter loaded and ready to go!

"As a Complement to Wine"

Risotto

First of all a huge thank you to everyone that joined me for my initial series of cooking classes. Grazie, grazie, mille grazie! I am sorry to have to call a brief hiatus but if you continue to cook with me through this blog I think I can be helpful and keep you inspired. As we move deeper and deeper into the farming season I have less and less time in the kitchen but we still need to eat and I keep a bountiful garden so I will post new ideas and recipes. As always I am posting the recipes from our risotto class.

The "pasta mafia", my adopted Italian mammas would roll their eyes and cover their heads with their aprons if they ever read this recipe! They would scold and tut, and cry"mamma mia" until they tried it and then, even though it breaks with all tradition I think they would love it. It is simple and delicious and I have never met an Italian yet that wasted anything, so I think they would appreciate the economy of time and effort. Whip up a batch of this risotto and while it is in the oven finishing you can enjoy a glass of wine with your loved ones--now that's Italian!

Baked Mushroom Risotto

2 Tbs EVOO

1 sm. Onion, finely diced

1 c. Arborio rice

½ c. dry white wine

2 ½ c. chicken stock, warmed to the boiling point

½ c. cream

2 Tbs butter

2 Tbs EVOO

8 oz. assorted mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

Pinch of thyme

1 bay leaf

¼ - ½ c. dry white wine

1 Tbs truffle oil (truffle oil is totally optional)

½ c. Parmesan, freshly grated

2-3 Tbs Italian parsley, freshly minced

Preheat oven 425.

Film the bottom of a large stock pot with a tight fitting lid with EVOO. Sauté the onion until it is soft and translucent, taking care not to let it brown. Add the rice and stir to coat all the grains with oil, keep cooking and stirring until the grains become translucent. Add the wine and stir, cook until the wine is almost completely absorbed. Add 2 c. of the stock and stir, heat to the boiling point. At this point cover the pot and slip it into the oven. Bake for 12-15 min.

While the rice is cooking film the bottom of a large sauté pan with 2 Tbs EVOO and 1 Tbs of the butter. Add the mushrooms and a bit of salt and sauté over med. high heat. When the mushrooms have softened and browned a bit add the thyme and bay leaf, cook a bit more and deglaze the pan with ¼ c. wine. Continue cooking until the wine is nearly absorbed then add the stock. Heat the pan just to a high simmer lowering the heat just before the boiling point. Add the truffle oil and hold this pan at a low, low simmer.

Check the rice, it should be “al dente”, soft but with a firm middle. When it is al dente remove the stock pot from the oven. Add the warm mushroom mixture, 1 Tbs butter, cream and Parmesan and stir, adjusting the liquid level as needed. (Risotto is perfect when the rice is al dente nestled in a silky sauce.) Serve immediately in warm bowl finished with fresh parsley.

Since we were exploring the Italian side of rice I opened class with some grown-up rice crispy treats. (Actually I have been dying to make this recipe but was afraid to have an entire batch in the house for very long--they are lethal!) Another classic Italian recipe transforming simple ingredients into a rich and exciting treat--that's Italian, no?

Browned Butter Rice Crispy Treats

1 stick butter

10 oz. marshmallows

1/4 t. coarse salt

6 cups crispy rice cereal

1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Melt the butter in a large heavy bottomed pan over medium low heat. The butter will foam and bubble and then start to turn brown and smell nutty. (This is the only tricky part, do not leave the stove, butter can burn quickly and then you must start over.) Stir occasionally and keep an eye on the butter. As soon as it is golden and fragrant turn off the heat and add the marshmallows. When the marshmallows are melted gradually stir in the cereal, sprinkling in a bit of salt and a few chocolate chips with each turn of the spoon until everything is incorporated.

Press into the bottom of a 9 in. x 13 in. pan, let cool and then BEWARE! This is so good.

First Delivery

Loaded with tulips, hyacinth, pussy willow and twigs I made the first delivery of the season. It was a beautiful drive across the Arco desert--low skies, frosted buttes and mountain ranges deep in snow.

The climb through Craters of the Moon was a bit scary due to a fresh coat of sleet on the roads but the view was spectacular. The entire area like an enormous Dalmatian pack--the hills white rolling mounds flecked with black.

Surprised at the lack of snow from Picabo to Hailey I was blown away by the foot of new snow in Ketchum--it was as if I had been swept back two months into winter. After slogging all over town I treated myself to a fantastic lunch at Despos--grilled chicken in a chipotle tomatillo sauce.

I ran ahead of the weather all the way home, driving through snow, sleet, rain and of course, wind all across the desert!

Feminism

I just had a piece, Female, accepted into an exhibit to celebrate Women's History at the Transition Gallery on the Idaho State University campus. The show, Forgotten Feminisms: History and Response to Pop Culture, is a collection of multi-media works that portray feminine responses to cultural stereotypes. It is a beautiful and thought provoking show that asks many more questions than it answers. As part of our entries each artist was asked to give some insight on each of their pieces.

Female (inside view)

Female

This piece is about feminine metamorphosis. The imagery suggests an effulgent fecundity shifting in overlapping layers with the passage of time. Cyclical phases of fullness, creativity, beauty and wisdom ebbing and flowing each day, each season, each year. An aging female’s ideals of body image from pop culture are replaced with feminine archetypes—women rich in health, beauty and wisdom. Childhood tales of wise women, female folklore and old wives' tales laying long in dormancy surprisingly surface, spread wing and take flight—laying eggs and sowing seed for the next cycle.

Female (outside view)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We first traveled to Ireland in 1990 and so enchanted with the place we took a year off and lived there in 1994. We rented a bungalow just off Bantry Bay, County Cork in a small town called Glengarriff, just across the harbor from Maureen O'Hara's, you know, the movie star...John Wayne, "The Quiet Man", "McCintock".


When it wasn't raining it was glorious--wild crashing waves, deep green oak woods, charming cottages, darling pubs within crawling distance and warm friendly people. Unfortunately Ireland was experiencing the wettest year on record, I felt like Mrs. Noah after forty days and nights of "pissing" rain (that's an Irish expression I adopted). I completely understand why the birth rate and alcoholism rate is so high! But we made the best of it and enjoyed fantastic beer, the best tea, butter and cream ever and amazing salmon and mussels caught daily in the bay. We were befriended by amazing people, many who were very good in the kitchen. I helped out at a friend's B&B and gathered her best recipes. You have never had brown bread, as soda bread is called there, or true Irish scones until you have visited the west of Ireland.

As my bit of Irish cheer I share this recipe for soda bread collected from a very dear woman, who was both mother and friend. It is best eaten as soon as it is cool enough to cut, but will be lovely all day. Naturally it is very nice the second day, especially toasted, but mind the toasting as it is quite crumbly. Put any left over loaves in plastic bags and pop them into the freezer.

Irish Soda Bread

3 c. whole wheat flour

½ c. cracked wheat (if you do not have this, substitute whole wheat flour)

1 ½ c. flour

½ c. rolled oats (oatmeal)

1 tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

3 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450

Mix dry ingredients well. Add buttermilk and stir until a sticky dough is formed. Put it out on a floured surface and knead a bit. Shape into 3 loaves, cutting a cross on each. Place loaves on an oiled baking sheet or into loaf pans.

Bake 15 min. at 450. Reduce oven temperature to 375 and bake another 15 min., or until loaves sound hollow when tapped.

Spring at Last

We spotted a robin Sunday morning along the river, yesterday there was a robin just out the kitchen window on the pergola, today I watched robins play in the puddles all day. The cats are happy to get out and play. It must be spring.

The tulips in the greenhouse have been slowly blooming for a couple of weeks and we have been cutting a few bunches everyday. Saturday we woke to sunshine and the first real warmth of the season and harvested four hundred tulips! My long respite is over and I start deliveries Monday.


We ordered from a new supplier and have some beautiful new tulip varieties, including these gorgeous White Parrot tulips.


We are experimenting with a new way of planting some of the tulips and hyacinths. Rather than planting directly in the ground, the bulbs are planted in crates, covered with a soil and sand mixture and left on top of the soil in the greenhouse.

The hyacinths look and smell fantastic and we are able to easily harvest the flowers with bulbs intact.

Freshly harvested hyacinths--dreamy colors, heavenly scents!

Cooking Classes--Session III

“As a Complement to Wine”

Risotto

Please mark you calendars for the third class in our cooking series, Thursday, March 24, 7 pm. We will make risotto. If you have never had risotto it is a real treat made from Italian short grain rice. This dish is creamy and rich and super easy to make. I will demonstrate two different versions—Creamy Mushroom Risotto, traditionally rich in butter and cream and can also be finished with truffle oil. Risotto Primavera, a lighter fresher spring risotto features asparagus, zucchini, peas and spinach.

Asparagus, zucchini, peas, spinach and chives--fresh tasting and green--Risotto Primavera