This is a batch of Curious Farm Harvest Kimchi, just before it goes into the crock to ferment.
The dark leaves are tender, young broccoli leaves from this patch in the garden:
The sweet carrots came from here:
The garlic was harvested at Curious Farm a month ago:
This batch of kimchi will be available at the Beaverton Farmers Market in early October. We love sharing the bounty with you.
Really… if you knew how we have neglected the garden this year, you’d be surprised by this haul, too. Thank goodness for September and unexpected harvests.
And many of those cucumbers will be juiced… my new favorite thing: cucumber juice with lemon, ginger, and cayenne. Fresh cayennes, too!
and I love this beautiful garlic — still juicy from its recent harvest. It’s sitting outside in baskets so that it will cure in the sun before I bring it in to store safely.
I am using this home-grown garlic in the new, very concentrated, curious farm chili-garlic-ginger sauce . This sauce is great for eggs, tossing with noodles, basting chicken and seafood, adding a smidgen to your own sauces and dressings.
Live-cultured, curious farm chili-garlic-ginger sauce is full of probiotics, raw goodness, antioxidants, and flavor.
Sometimes I love how beautiful my compost pail looks before I take it out to the pile or to the hens.
Underneath you can see fresh beet trimmings from making a batch of curious farm grown-up beets. on top, you can see how vibrant the beets look after fermenting for curious farm beet kvass.
I’m thrilled (and relieved) to report that one crock of Curious Farm Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut will make it to the Beaverton Farmers Market this Saturday, June 11th. This variety has become a true customer favorite, and many of you have been sad during the last couple of weeks when I’ve been out of it.
This is part of the batch that’s filled with Sweetrock Farm’s delicious leeks that were picked the very morning they went in the crock with the cabbage. It’s unusual for a batch to be ready this soon, but I’ll take the gift because I was worried I’d have to come to the Market this week with no sauerkraut at all! (I keep selling out!)
This batch also is the first batch I was able to begin after being at the Market for a week. Every bit of sauerkraut I’ve brought to the Market in the first five weeks began fermentation before the Market began — before I had any customer feedback at all.
I’m excited that you love this flavor as much as I do. There’s something special about what happens with the leeks and horseradish during the weeks of fermentation. The leeks become even more sweet. The horseradish mellows. If you’re a fan of this flavor, this batch is even better than the last because the Sweetrock Farm leeks were so sweet and fresh. Remember how cold it was in April and the beginning of May? Well, those leeks were loving it and were producing extra sugar to protect themselves from the cold. You’ll taste all that flavor in this batch of sauerkraut.
I’ll post this week’s offerings on the Fresh This Week page tomorrow or Thursday, but count on the Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut being part of the menu.
During the first two Market Saturdays, we sold out of four products. Last Saturday, many of you came back for favorites you discovered the first day of the Market. Yay!
We’re thrilled. We love that your favorite curious farm products are also our favorite products — like the Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut, which is just so lovely and full-flavored. If you’re looking for Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut this Saturday (5/21), come early because we will sell out. The next batch of L-HS will be ready in late June. (Be patient… it will return! All those sweet leeks I showed you need time to relax and get to know the cabbage and horseradish.)
New special sauerkraut flavors are coming down the road. Remember that sauerkraut takes 6 to 8 weeks to ferment. We’re increasing our number of crocks/fermenting capacity here in order to have more batches in process.
We’re excited that many of you are discovering kimchi for the first time. As I hoped, some customers come to the booth and say, “I’ve heard a lot about kimchi, and I’ve always been afraid of it… but I’m curious…” It’s wonderful to watch customers’ faces light up when they try the Mild Spring Kimchi. It has just enough heat (from friendly ginger) to show kimchi-newbies how the taste of a well-made kimchi hits several spots on the palate all at once — including that elusive 5th taste called “umami.” Every batch of our Mild Spring Kimchi is slightly different, depending on what’s fresh from the garden. However, the overall spice profile will be fairly consistent because we want this kimchi to be your… ahem… “gateway” kimchi.
It also is great to hear from kimchi veterans that we’re producing surprisingly good kimchi. “Surprise” is the operating word, it seems. The givers of these compliments expertly navigate a taut bridge over areas of ethnicity and skin color and are so warm and gracious when they tell me how much they enjoy the full flavors in curious farm kimchi. These compliments mean a lot to me. I love making all of the products we offer at the booth, but making kimchi is a joy from beginning to end.
(Some of you also are certain that I’m using fish in the kimchi because the flavors are so deep. Nope. No fish. All of our products are vegan — including the kvass.)
I’m thrilled that you all love the Spicy Radish Kimchi as much as I do. If you missed it last week after we sold out, be assured that I will bring another large batch of it this Saturday (5/21), and today I made yet another batch that should be ready in a couple of weeks. Your interest in spicy varieties of kimchi gives me permission to explore new recipes. I can’t wait to share them with you.
Many of you noticed the sign for Beet Kvass and hoped I was selling pickled beets. This week (5/21), I’ll bring curious farm’s Grown-Up Pickled Beets. Be forewarned: these are not the pickled beets your Grandma made.
Cucumber pickle lovers: there will be pickles. If you’re anxious, do a sun dance, please, because the cucumber plants won’t grow until it’s sunny and warm. I understand your frustration and disappointment. I can’t wait to share curious farm pickles with you.
You can see a menu of what we’ll bring to the Beaverton Farmers Market right here. We’re in spot #15. Remember that you can try a sample of anything and everything we offer each Market day. Our offerings change as the seasons change and as new things become ready in the garden.
To your health!
Today is the Monday after my first Saturday at the Market.
Although I have been working on Curious Farm projects in a concrete way since January 2010 (and have sold vegetables I’ve grown and pickles I’ve made), today felt like the beginning of a new phase in my business. Having survived my first day at the Market, now I must continue on and produce new and favorite products in an ongoing way, and somehow I will have to figure out a rhythm for this.
This morning I went out to Sweetrock Farm, off Old Cornelius Highway in NW Portland, to get some leeks that farmer Diane (and baker extraordinaire) has been keeping in her garden for me. I have harvested most of the leeks at Curious Farm, and Sweetrock Farm has been holding a row of its leeks for my next batch of Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut.
I brought my own gloves and hori hori knife (thinking ahead), but I wore my Keen sandles (not thinking ahead) and sank into the soft soil in her garden while we worked. Sweetrock dirt is different from Curious Farm dirt, which is a cool thing to notice. I noticed it a lot because I sank down to my ankles a couple of times and could feel the dirt spoosh between my toes. It made me really happy.
We also talked about bread and kids and plans and cooking while we worked, and I felt grateful for the connection. Diane is an herbalist, too, and I asked her if she would make a really potent salve to help with the “cabbage elbow” I’m developing as I grate all this cabbage by hand.
On the way home, I thought to myself, “This is my job now! I get to visit farms and learn from these other farmers!”
Sweetrock leeks are squeeky clean, but all leeks require several showers before they’re prepared. I got to the farm at 9:30 am and didn’t finish processing them (just the leeks) until 9:30 pm. 12 intense hours spent loving leeks –smelling the sweetness, admiring their juiciness… this will be an incredible batch of Curious Farm Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut. I’ll let you know when this batch with Sweetrock Farm’s leeks is on the menu at the booth.