phesant phun...

We have a pheasant that we are raising for a fall feast and recently there has been a daily conversation between Phill the pheasant and a second pheasant in the near by field ... whaww whaww back and forth .. then this afternoon I went out on the porch and Phill the pheasant's phriend had come by for a visit!!! : ) it was pretty cute they where just hangin' out ...

the chicken or the egg...

I just got off the phone with John at Navarra restaurant in Portland. We plan on going this Friday to eat so I'll be giving a full report of our meal this weekend... but the exciting news is John has committed to all the eggs I can give him. He's totally committed to buying his food from small local sources ... John gets his produce from a csa (47th avenue farms) .. yeah john!

He was open to pay the "real cost" of the good stuff and to staying flexible to when the good stuff is good and ready! As far as a small farmer is concerned I'd say he's the perfect customer... we hope to be able to provide him a truly great product as we hone our pasture poultry...

We also my provide him with pork and beef when the time comes more on that when and if it happens.. we'll have to get our cows first : ) .... for now we will be happily sending our eggs to Portland... some fun facts I just sent to John...



- the hens are free range and have organic feed to supliment their diet
- they have never been given any antibiotics etc. I bought them as "certified organic" chicks and they have always been kept that way
- they live around the "chicken bus" - they get locked in the bus only after dark to protect them from predators
- other than that they are on grass and always have plenty of fresh water
- the chicken bus was made with 90% recycled or re-purposed materials
- the chicken bus by design is self cleaning with a mesh bottom and tons of ventilation - clean house = healthy girls
- the eggs will travel to the winery with my husband on his commute and then Maggie (who works there too) will bring them home with her to Portland. (so for what it's worth these eggs didn't cost our planet any extra fuel to transport)





... remember the "real cost" of food is not the sticker price it's the cost to our planet and our body ...

Food and Friends

These are mostly just fun photos ... we went to our friend Tads house the other day for a pig roast .. (Tad makes Ransom wines and if you haven't tried them DO!) we brought eggs from our girls .. Brian deviled them and I decorated them : ) ... I was all about taking photos this week. Just had to post the pig and the bounty...






PS this is NOT one of our pigs there has been some confusion ...
see link below (this is a 30ish lb pig) Ours where more like 240lb see entires below.



These next photos are of last nights dinner I was enjoying taking photo's of the pizza as it was happening...

Pork Report

Just wanted to say Thanks again to the pork buyers - we've gotten some pretty great feedback from Maggie and Michael and Kurt and Natalie - who have all been doing their own curing and smoking with great success - congrats on the charcuterie guys : )

summer bounty - and a farewell to will

For the last 6 weeks Will Engelman has been at Big table Farm. Will is my 16 year old nephew. Will was a great help, he worked on cutting scotch broom, moving goats, making cardboard and compost sandwiches for the "permaculture system" in the garden, suckering trees, and helping us clear out and dis mantle for re-use and recycle about 20 odd dairy panels from the old barn. He helped Brian with chopping and chipping a big old tree and tons of other projects...

Will brought a willing and open mind to the farm and I think we all grew a lot working together. Thanks Will for being "game" especially with us still being "baby farmers" and figuring out so much for the first time. (he also fattened up our dog who promptly fell in love with him)



Brian and will spent the last days he was here getting his truck road worthy : ) a bit of welding was required on the bed and gas tank but I think they got it dialed in .... and all put back together just in time for Ken to come out...





We enjoyed a whirl wind visit with Ken and then Father and son got into Will's truck and headed east - back home!! safe travels guys!!



In other news the blackberrys have been ripening in in full force. I've been out picking hoping to get a good stash for smoothies and tarts this winter : ) ...

I did learn thought during the process of picking not to leave ones colander unattended...

I was pickling blackberries while watering my fruit trees on Saturday and put down a HUGE full colander of blackberries on the ground to mark where I stopped picking along the hedge while I moved the hose...




well I was gone like 2 minutes and Mr. chief decided that colander had his name all over it!!! I was mortified about 1/2 hour of picking devoured!!! hummm that darn horse : )


he did leave a little....




The Garden is producing some pretty amazing bounty despite the early set backs ...





we recently enjoyed stuffed squash blossoms.. if you've never tried these there amazing! if you don't have a garden you can go early to your farmers market and usually find a small number of them they are fragile and you have to have them fresh but worth the care... I stuff them with ricotta and then bread them of sauté in Olive oil.. ummm : )









the lettuce, chard and broccoli's are still going strong and the cabbage is beautiful! the tomatoes are finally RIPE !!! (yes we really can ripen tomatoes in Oregon .. we are just a bit later in the season ... but watch out as soon as I get a green house JUNE tomatoes baby! : ) we have some fruit set on the eggplants FINALLY and the pumpkins look like they will give us a small crop too!!! and I'm patiently waiting on the potatoes I'm dying to dig but it's still a tiny bit too early yet... although I did dig up all my walla walla sweet onions and garlic .. it's amazing the smell of the soil when you dig up onions and garlic!!! very fun....



Here's to summer and hard work paying off!!

Overflowing in everyway…

It’s Been a very BUSY few weeks hence the hiatus in the blogging…

After Mary and Eoin left, our good friends Angela and Phil visited with Mr. Cameron and their dog Otto it was a super fine visit. They where in great form and Mr. Cameron was a gem! We learned that we need to lock up the chickens when we have 4 legged visitors who haven’t learned about electric fences and chickens…

We also learned that Edward really IS a Guard Lama… Is started when Mr. Otto was so overwhelmed by animals and big open spaces he felt the need to introduce him self to everybody despite electric fencing… When we went up the hill Otto went right over the goat fence in a single bound (he’s a 90 lb wymaraner (sp) and very athletic) Edward who up until now although looks intimidating has never so much as shown a foot stop of aggression. When Otto leapt into his pen with the little goaties Edward turned into the meanest looking creature I’d seen in a long time… I was VERY worried about Otto .. Edward was at full tilt after Otto yelling and stomping all the way … the dog got out of that area so fast and wasn’t going anywhere near that lama again.. it was very impressive and no body got hurt thankfully… and now we know EDWARD means business Edward got a special treat for that performance … he needs to teach chief a little about being courageous…

In addition to Angela and Phill we got a quick visit from Nile and Whitney (the newlyweds: ) congrats again!! And then Steve and Betsy who came up for IPNC which we did get to attend (part in thanks to Mr Berson) Great to see you both and thank you for all the wine and olive oil!! This visit was followed by My Painter Friend Eileen… that was a good shot in the arm between talking about painting we also took a overnight to Brightenbush (thank you Eileen!!) and soaked in the hot tubs and generally relaxed…

In Other News Prosciutto and Pancetta, have transitioned from farm to table. I will miss them and am grateful for their contribution to our table! They where very sweet pigs and they had the best life a pig could have in my opinion and we had them slaughtered here on the farm quickly and humanly. We did have our first chops last night. We did a taste test next to Carlton farms pork and I must say that’s good pork but the pork we-raised is excellent the flavors are so much MORE … It gave us great satisfaction to know that not only did we raise these animals in the best way possible (organic grain at 3x’s the price and pasture and space and loads of scratches), we also have a product that is WAY tastier and better for the body’s that enjoy it.

Special Thanks go to Maggie and Michael, Mr. Matt Berson, and Kurt and Natalie for buying our first pork… This pork is not the cheapest pork but we are doing something bigger than buying cheep feed lot meat here… (I won’t even start : )

The garden despite a hard spring and two broken arms at a critical garden time… with some help during those critical times (thanks Mom, Dad, Joseph, Helga, David and Will) have have managed to harvest peas, broccoli, squash, tomatoes, chard, spinach, potatoes and tons of salads .. the herb garden is also doing us proud… more on the garden in another blog me thinks…

Brian has been working hard in the shop he's re-worked new the new old crawler and now we can safely traverse the big hill and turn both left AND right.. it's the little things... Brian also found an old "busted up" disc in the metal scrap yard so he hauled it home re-welded it got it hooked up to maggie the massie and stared to get the ruts outta the big field behind the barn... wooo hooo it felt like we where maybe starting to tame this wild place .. just a little bit mind you : ) we still have 30 acres of scotch broom... although the new goats are helping .. slowing but surely...

So happy summer … thanks for all the continued support on the arms, they are healing up super fast and now I’m just building strength. I’m able to lift most things I need to around the farm and work in the garden again which is great!!!