Saturdays: Amherst: Wheelhouse Farm Truck

This post is about two months overdue -- apologies to the reader and to the Wheelhouse gang.  It's late enough that perhaps you read the article featuring the new farm truck in the Amherst Bulletin at the end of May, and perhaps you have already made a special visit to the Amherst Farmers Market.  I know that article interested me, and the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend found Mr. Madley and me waiting in line for a farm-fresh breakfast arepa.  And then I had to go back again.


The Wheelhouse Farm Truck delivers hot, fresh, locally sourced gluten-free arepas for breakfast and lunch at the Amherst Farmers Marker -- an arepa being a cornmeal pocket sandwich.  Take a look at the photo below for a listing of some of their amazing offerings.

In case you couldn't yet tell, I am a fan.  My go-to arepa happens to be the spinach pesto and braised greens (no sausage) -- delicious!  Hot and melty and gooey on the inside, hot and crispy on the outside, full of local goodness throughout.

If you haven't gone to the AFM to get your arepa already, what are you waiting for?  There's another Saturday coming up in just a few days, so there's no need to delay any further!

The Wheelhouse truck was funded through a Kickstarter -- and I'd like to thank those who contributed -- you did a good thing!

A Short Visit to Clarkdale Fruit Farms

I've been reading about Clarkdale Fruit Farms on the CISA website for some time now, and they were one of the farms featured in the PBS special "A Long Row in Fertile Ground," which you should watch, if you haven't done so already -- it's about farms and farming in the Connecticut River Valley.
Anyway, last week I finally took a trip to north Deerfield to check out Clarkdale.  This is what I found:

A beautiful, hilly countryside with fruit trees as far as the eye could see.
The season was at a lower point when I went -- midseason for peaches and the bare beginnings of apples.  Nevertheless, I can't visit a fruit farm without purchasing fruit.  So I did.  (More than a week later, there are now many more varieties of apples available, as well as peaches and pears.)

Peaches, apples, and plums.  Yum.

Duchess apples, which I had never tried before, are supposed to be good for pies.  So I took a bag home and made gluten-free Dutch apple pie.

Quite delicious (and the apples held their form quite well).

Clarkdale Fruit Farm produces more than 100 varieties of apples, peaches, plums, cherries, pears, and grapes -- it's amazing!  They have a farm stand and offer pick-your-own apples after Labor Day.  So many fabulous fruits; I wish I lived a little closer to take advantage of all they have to offer. 

Mount Warner Explodes!

Before I get into the meat of this post, I will admit that I used a sensational headline to grab your attention.  Mont Warner isn't exploding with lava or ash rock or little chocolate and marshmallow candies.  Rather, it's exploding with excitement and new activity.

The preserved area of Mount Warner consists of 2000 contiguous acres of land held by multiple conservation groups and individuals.  The Massachusetts Trustees of Reservations has stewardship of the Mount Warner Reservation, 159 acres dedicated for "passive recreation" (i.e. hiking, walking, skiing, mountain biking, etcetera -- no motorized vehicles or hunting).  A public meeting at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum last night gave interested residents the opportunity to share information and exchange ideas.

 

The Trustees shared their goals to "Protect, Steward, Excite"; to protect the numerous historic and natural resources on Mount Warner, including 5 stone/brick-lined artesian wells, vernal pools, Lou's rock, native birds and plants, and beautiful vistas (for a Mount Warner resource inventory created by students at UMass, visit this link); to steward the land by building new sustainable trails, marking & mapping them (there's a new 2-mile trail nearly completed!), creating a parking lot,  and managing invasives; to excite by partnering with local colleges, vineyards, orchards, farms, conservation groups, naturalists, and community and creating programs.

It was a great meeting with lots of ideas shared and discussed -- and it was a great way to meet neighbours and other outdoor enthusiasts!

Want to get involved in protecting, improving, and enjoying the Mount Warner area?  Come to the Opening Celebration and talk to Josh, the reservation superintendent, who may be forming a property committee; join the Friends of Lake Warner and participate in their activities (water chestnut pull at 9:00 on August 4, bring a canoe or kayak if you have one); or, just get out into the hills -- you can hike, bike, bird-watch, rock-climb, cross-country ski, and more!  Whenever you go, please remember to USE, ENJOY, RESPECT.



As previously stated, the meeting was held at the PPH Museum, which hosts small shows of various artists (I believe there were three artists represented last night).  The colourful the work of Jane Thurber was a great backdrop for the meeting.

The New Year Arrived, the Last Year Gone

I have been feeling a bit guilty about not writing for so long, but with a new child in the house and the starting up again of school, I just couldn't force myself to sit at the computer and blog.  But now it's a new year, and at the very least I should recap a little of the last few months.

Scenes from the Kitchen Garden's ChiliFest:

My own harvest pictures (isn't that corn amazing?!)

All Hallow's:

And a few lovely autumnal scenes, graciously provided by Mr Madley:

I just love where we live -- isn't it a beautiful place?!

I feel I must make mention of the devastating fire that took out a plaza on Rt 9.  There has been much media coverage, and I hope you have taken the opportunity to donate to a relief fund.

And so the new year begins.  I have great plans for the garden and have already begun mapping it and looking through the seed catalog (hulless oats, hard soup beans, flour corn included in the anticipated plantings).  I plan on purchasing and raising a few chickens this spring, but in the meantime need to construct their coop.  I'm sure there will be plenty of information and pictures forthcoming on both of those pursuits.

Enjoy the snow that may be on the way, and keep yourselves warms in the upcoming arctic temps.
Happy New Year!

Burger Fest!

Barstow's Burger Fest --

Be there & enjoy the taste of summer!

Barstow's Anniversary Party

In case you're looking for a great way to spend the day tomorrow, here's an idea to get you started:

 

The ice cream is delicious, the cows are mighty, and farm tour is interesting and informative -- a highly recommended event for the family!

Local Grain CSAs

Yesterday was the pickup day for my local grain csa out of Wheatberry Bakery in Amherst -- and what delights there were!  Arapahoe red winter wheat, red llamas red winter wheat, emmer, spelt, barley, pinto beans, black turtle beans (I love their name), mandan bride corn, nothstine dent corn, plymouth flint corn, and popcorn (on the cob). 

The corn all needs to dry for another couple of months, so it is remaining in its paper bags until February (when I'll do another post to highlight those beauties), but I packed the grains and beans in mason jars for long-term storage.

After packing up my 1/2 share, I ground (with my hand-crank mill) 3 cups of arapahoe wheat for bread baking, and for the first time ever I made whole wheat bread that is strictly whole wheat -- no white flour at all.  Local wheat, local honey, local milk... all kneaded together to make some delicious bread -- soft, flavourful, with a good crumb and super nutrition.
I'm looking forward to much baking, yummy hot cereals, sprouting, and then more baking.

I've never done a grain share before, but I certainly hope to do one again.  Having only 1-2 pickup dates is extremely convenient, and supporting a different kind of local agriculture makes me feel like I'm helping Valley farming remain sustainable.  Plus, it's all so tasty!
The Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA is one of two local grain CSAs that I've discovered in the Valley; the other is the White Oak Farm CSA. (White Oak Farm CSA often sells at the Amherst Farmer's Market and, I've heard, sometimes shows up at the winter market, also.)

Know of another grain share or have opinions about one?  Please feel free to comment below!

Chilifest 2012!

For a wider glimpse into The Kitchen Garden on Rocky Hill Road, take a look at the visit I made in June or visit their website.

Grains & Fresh Flours

I've been a fan of and fed on fresh-milled grain products since I was just a tot.  My mother had a big stone-grind Magic Mill that she used every week to grind whole wheat flour for the bread she made.  (She also added that whole wheat flour to brownies and cookies, which gave them a super-delicious nutty flavour.)  I never gave much thought to having a mill myself until I recently remembered how satisfying bread making can be and got into a huge bread-baking kick.  Then I discovered and joined a local grain share (I have since discovered another, and they sell at the Amherst farmer's market sometimes), and my search for a mill began. (I've also been reading a lot of homesteading blogs, and I suppose they may have influenced me a little, too.)

I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on a mill and I don't have a large family I'm baking for on a regular basis, so I don't need anything too fancy or large.  Plus, Mr Madley is wheat free, so my mill won't just be about wheat and wheat flour -- I want to be able to make grits and cracked wheat and steel cut oats, quinoa flour and rice flour and corn flour.  My first mill will need to be adaptable.

Since I've been refinishing my kitchen this summer, I have spent a lot of time online researching kitchen items, including grain mills.  I'm still not sure if there's one mill that would satisfy all my desires, but I did purchase a second-hand Victorio hand-crank mill that just arrived.  So excited was I that I tore open the packaging, put it together, and immediately set to grinding any kind of whole grains we had in the house.  I milled 1/4 cup each of brown basmati rice, rolled oats (not the ideal oats to mill by hand), quinoa, toasted buckwheat groats, all on the finest grind available; and then I also ground 1/4 cup buckwheat groats on the coarsest setting for cracked cereal.  You can see the results in the picture below.

Clockwise from the top: coarse-ground buckwheat, buckwheat, brown rice, oat, quinoa.

Even used, I like this mill.  The fine flour seems very fine, and I'm excited that when I purchase oat groats I'll be able to coarse-grind for hot cereal.  It's not super fast, but if I'm only grinding a cup or so, it's easy enough -- plus, I'll get to keep my arms toned.

Anyway, it's all great -- the high flavour and nutrition of freshly-milled local grain.  A loaf of homemade bread with homemade almond-flax butter and peach butter (both of which I learned to make this summer).  Can't get much better than that.  I'm not going to want to grind all my flour by hand, but all in all, it should be a very satisfactory starter mill.

Garden flowers, cracked oatmeal, zucchini bread from fresh-ground oats and quinoa and brown rice (with local zucchini and maple syrup), and peach butter from local peaches.

(1.5 days later: I've already made steel-cut oatmeal, gluten-free pizza crust, gluten-free zucchini bread from hand-milled grains.)

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy!

It's the end of July and we've just finished our third week of the Cape Cod Fish Share.  Mr Madley and I split the fish share with another family who split the Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA with us.  The grain share isn't collected until December, but we are enjoying the fruits of the sea now.

The goal of the fish share is to provide the freshest local fish in a sustainable manner.  Fish is delivered to CSAs/farms in the Valley on Saturdays in Amherst, Easthampton, and Northampton.

On our first week of the fish share, we delighted in monkfish tail -- a soft, sweet fish that we roasted with garlic, salt, and pepper.  This was a first for us and monkfish, but it was delicious; it had a definite similarity to scallops.  Also received were filets of sole, which we have yet to partake of (they're wrapped and frozen).

For our second week, we were delighted with fresh scallops and swordfish.  These we skewered and grilled with local vegetables.  We brushed a Dijon mixture onto the fish for a little extra kick.  Seriously delicious -- one of my favourite fish dinners yet.

 

This weekend we received lobster.  Our split share consisted of 2 lobsters -- just enough for us.  We steamed them up in a steamer pot of sea-salt water.  Unfortunately, we don't have any handy lobster-eating utensils, so we broke out the hammer and pliers; they actually worked pretty well.  We paired the lobster with fresh corn on the cob -- a tasty summer dinner.  We felt like we were on a seaside vacation.

We're looking forward to three more weeks of interesting, yummy fish (don't know what we'll get -- it's almost always a surprise), and we certainly enjoy eating so well on summer Sundays.  You, too, can participate in the Cape Cod fish share -- registration is currently available online for the late-summer share, which is slated to begin in late August.  There is also an autumn share.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to enjoy fish from our eastern shores!