tall clover farm

Boz looks concerned. I promise Boz, your dinner time will never be fashionably late.  My pal Annette over at Sustainable Eats (along with a couple of her blogging compadres) started Simple Lives Thursday, a blog hop that shares what others are doing in the realm of agriculture, real food, producing more and consuming less. And since [...]

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Rhubarb-a-Palooza Continues… With current Seattle temperatures visiting degrees reserved for ice fishing and mukluk wearing, should I really be making ice cream? Heck, yes; I scream for ice cream no matter what the forecast. I continue my rhubarb love fest with a recipe for roasted rhubarb vanilla ice cream. It’s surprisingly subtle and not surprisingly, delicious. The original recipe [...]

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In the world of preserves (and pie), spring’s star couple is strawberry and rhubarb. One’s sweet, one’s sour, both show up in the garden or market at the same time, and their textures are different enough to keep the end result interesting. So today my friends, I’m going to share with you how I make strawberry-rhubarb jam–the [...]

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As far as salads go, my favorites are the ones with little or no lettuce. (Hear me out.) I think I’ve had one too many plates of wild greens dressed with good intentions and Calendula petals. I need more. Give me a warm German potato salad or a wilted spinach swimming in bacon drippings and cider vinegar. [...]

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Dinah’s Cheese plates up a delicious debut My friend (and neighbor) Kurt of Kurtwood Farms is a man of many talents. My sister calls his place a fancy farm. Considering he has a hand-built pizza oven, 4-star kitchen and a barn I’d be happy to live in, I can see her point. Having known Kurt for over twenty years, I can also recognize [...]

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I’ve never been a huge fan of rolled oats, that is unless in a cookie, granola bar or apple crisp. (Hmmm, I see a pattern developing.) As a breakfast food, its texture and consistency seem better suited for those wearing bibs awaiting big spoon choo-choos to deliver their slimy cargo post haste. The day I discovered steel coats oats, I was a changed [...]

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  I came across this lemon pie with a twist years ago after reading an article in Saveur magazine: The Shaker Table. The resulting pie was simple, with an authenticity one would expect from anything created by the Shakers. I love the fact that such a spare recipe can have such delicious results–all with the basics of the farm: eggs, [...]

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After a week of record breaking low temperatures outside, I enjoyed some much needed sunshine inside in the form of a handful of fresh  lemons and limes, courtesy of the potted trees in my dining room and study. I’ve been growing citrus trees for about ten years in a climate better suited for ferns than Florida’s finest, and I’m [...]

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This year’s pecans had arrived! There they were in a parcel post wedged in my mailbox like too big a zeppelin in too small a hanger. I was grateful for my mail carrier’s determination to make it fit and in doing so, keeping a trip to the Post Office off of my to-do list.  (I see [...]

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There’s broccoli and there’s sprouting broccoli, a cousin to the bulked-out broc we tend to knock. After some British friends of mine sang its praises, I planted it for the first time last summer. Surprisingly, it overwintered and I harvested it this spring. Two words: tender and delicious. The stalks are pencil thin with little broccoli mop [...]

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Orange You Glad You Made These? Candied orange peels left hanging to dry It’s no secret I hate to throw things out. A spot inspection of my pantry would likely surrender enough yogurt containers to fashion a full-size igloo or satisfy the production needs of a Yoplait plant. And while all that I glean is not gold, [...]

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How to Make a Pumpkin Pie from Scratch Using Fresh Pumpkin I made my first fresh pumpkin pie of the season, entering it in the Vashon Farmers Market annual pumpkin pie contest.  I placed third, an admirable ranking considering the winner was a cheesecake and received bonus points for using homegrown ingredients in addition to pumpkin, i.e., cream, eggs [...]

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