garden & food
Farmers Market Diary 7
The folks at Jacob’s Creamery utilize milk from Lady Lane Farms, a small, 25-cow organic dairy located in Mulino, Oregon. Lady-Lane dairyman, Garry Hansen, raises nothing but pure Jersey cows. Like Noris Dairy (which raises Holsteins cows), Garry grazes his Jersey cows on grass, ensuring the highest quality milk and much higher quality of life for the cows… The vast majority of milk in the Northwest comes from Holstein cows, while Jersey milk typically ends up in cheese and other processed dairy products because of its richer flavor, creamier texture and color, and higher protein content…
Farmers Market Diary 6
Jacobs Creamery is known for their ‘award-winning’ ricotta pies and pudding. At the Hollywood market, they also provide a good selection of fresh handmade cheeses and dairy products, including ricotta, cream cheese, and a hand-churned European style butter… Our ricotta, onion, basil and Shitake pizza was the finest creation we’ve churned out to date. This specific combination is truly delectable, with the Jacobs ricotta providing the most delicious buttery base that any pizza-lover could ever hope for…
Farmers Market Diary 5
The first week of June arrived, marked by our fifth consecutive trip to the Hollywood Farmers Market. For reference, we’re following our new $30 farmers market plan, whereby we venture to the farmers market each week with a pre-set $30 budget that we have to spend –not just a budget that we can spend. Essentially, [...]
Farmers Market Diary 4
So far under the plan, we’ve tended to rely on two farms for the majority of the produce we buy at the market: Sweet Leaf Farms of Junction City, Oregon, and Deep Roots Farms of Albany, Oregon. The mushrooms come from a small grower just west of Banks, Oregon. Both Sweet Leaf and Deep Roots offer very high quality organic produce. Sweet Leaf tends to offer a wider variety of produce, priced a bit higher than other farms…
Farmers Market Diary 3
Saturday, May 23, was our third week under the new $30 farmers market plan. As I outlined in our first post, we’re now venturing to the Hollywood Farmers Market each week with a pre-set $30 budget that we have to spend –not just a budget that we can spend. Guided by this plan, we’re forcing [...]
Farmers Market Diary 2
Last Saturday, May 16, was our second week under the new $30 farmers market plan. As I outlined in our first post, we’re now venturing to the Holly Farmers Market each week with a pre-set $30 budget that we ‘have’ to spend –not just a budget that we ‘can’ spend. In the photo in this post, you’ll see last Saturday’s $30 farmers market haul, which includes…
Garden Diary 8
The weekend of May 15-17 was another very busy and sunny weekend in the Towsey-French garden. We planted 19 onion starts, which were all germinated from seed in our basement this winter; unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, I failed to properly organize them in a manner that I could readily tell which [...]
Garden Diary 7
…I built the Gardenfort floor out of spare 2x4s and a bundle of 1×3 pine slats. After measuring and cutting the wood, I screwed the frame together with deck screws and then used floor-finish nails to attach the slats to the frame… The ‘main event’ for me was carrot planting. First, we made the decision to plant two rows of carrots (11 row feet each), with the first planting preceding the second by a few weeks to help step-out the harvest…
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