OK I realize that Cosmo is a dog, not a person, but he's definately a personality around Lida Farm and one who certainly has a role to play.
Cosmo's been with us now six years and knows his place in the operation. He makes an effort to greet most everybody who stops by the farmstand (whether they like dogs or not...I'm still waiting for him to scratch up somebody's car, since he's that friendly). Probably his most important job, however, is fighting rodents and other predators who would do the plants or animals harm. I think he survives mainly on a diet of voles, moles, and gophers in the summer. Also he keeps the airspace clear of any roving birds who may want to eat a chicken and guards the sweet corn from the racoons (although he's not perfect since parts of the sweet corn patch have obviously been ransacked by those thieves of the night). He's also good company too!
My big observation of the week is that farming moves really fast sometimes as evidenced by our losing 33 broilers this week in a matter of hours. On one of our recent scorching days, Maree went down to fill up their water and feeders only to find a bunch of chickens all laying on the ground, some literally belly up, with their tongues hanging out. Some were already dead and we tried for a couple hours to shoot water into those who were hanging on, although we lost some of them too. It was not a good day! And this all happened in the 4 hours we had last watered them. We have lots of insight about where we went wrong, but it just goes to show that you always need to stay on your toes. Reflecting on it, I think we often view farms as idyllic places where ma and pa just plod along doing their chores and not much ever happns, but, in reality, you'd be surprised at the pace...things can move just as fast here as the New York stock exchange.
In the box:
Bodacious Yellow Sweetcorn (maybe some white corn mixed in).
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Green Onions aka Scallions
A small head Romaine (summer lettuce isn't ever pretty).
Yellow Sun Carrots
Some Tomatoes (the dark purple one is called Cherokee Purple...great flavored, so eat fresh, not cooked).
A couple Cucumbers
Quinoa and Fresh Corn with Scallions
From "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone"
3 ears of corn
2 cups vegetable stock or water
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
Salt and Pepper
1 T. butter or canola oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions, including some greens
1/3 cup crumbled feta or grated cheddar
Shuck the corn, slice off the kernels, and set them aside. Reverse your knife and scrape the cobs to get the milk. Bring the stock to a boil in a saucepan; add the quinoa, corn scrapings, and 1/2 t. salt. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Melt the butter in a small skillet, add the scallions and corn kernels, and cook over med-high heat until scallions are bright green, about 3 minutes. Toss them with the quinoa. Season with pepper and serve, garnished with crumbled cheese. Can be used as a side dish or a filling for tomatoes or zucchini.
