Summer Workshops at Erda Gardens

June 29, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm

Friends at Biodynamic CSA, Erda Gardens, are hosting some cool summer workshops. Here is their schedule. There website is www.erdagardens.org

Erda Gardens CSA members can take any of our homesteading workshops at a discount. Our regular fee is $15 the day of or $12 in advance. Erda Gardens discount prices is $10.  See our workshop schedule at www.sunstoneherbs.com/workshops

ERDA GARDENS WORKSHOPS

  • Wednesday, July1 6:00 PM  PESTO- Making pesto with bountiful fresh basil.  Followed by a pasta and veggie supper.  Led by Penina Ballen, Pesto lover.  Please RSVP by Monday, June 29, 344 – 7810.
  • Saturday, July 11 1 – 3 PM  The History of Food: from our Ape Ancestors to the Present.  Throughout history, food revolutions include the use of fire, domestication of animals, then plants,migration, colonization,  and the Industrial Revolution.  We will explore our emotional, cultural.and personal experiences with food.  Led by Greg Gould, foodologist.  Please RSVP to 344-7810.
  • Sunday, July 12,  6-8 PM  Intro to Biodynamics, with our farmers Jimmy and Spiral  location- Sanchez farm
  • Sunday, July 19 1 – 3 PM. Intro to Permaculture with Michael Reed. Location- Blake farm
  • Monday, July 20, 6- 8 PM  Biodynamic Farming Series: Cosmic Rythms and working with the Calendar, led by farmers Jimmy and Spiral.  Location- Blake farm
  • Sunday, July 28, 10:00 AM – noon HERBS, Medicine Making with Dr. Rasa at the Blake Farm.

Garlic Harvest

June 28, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm

Here are some photos are our first garlic harvest of the season. This is a softneck garlic variety called Inchelium Red. We purchased beautiful seed stock from Jesse Daves of Amyo Farms here in New Mexico and were rewarded with gorgeous large bulbs. Note the garlic leaves are quite brown. For braiding, it would have been better to harvest the garlic several weeks ago when there are at least four green leaves left, but life gets in the way, and the garlic is still delicious. It just won’t braid as nicely.

Next week we will start harvesting the hardneck garlic varieties from seed stock we brought from New York. We didn’t manage to save very much seed stock from last year since most of the garlic was covered with a dumptruck load of compost at the community farm where we were growing. We will keep all of our hardneck varieties for replanting this year. If you have room to plant garlic in your garden, buy your seed stock now at your local farmers’ market. Store it in a cool, dry place until late September or October (depending on your climate). Plant the individual cloves and enjoy your harvest the following June or July. Hardneck varieties are generally harvested later than the softneck. If you’re not sure which type you have, the hardneck will grow a scape with a bulbil at the top. The softneck won’t have the scape. – Jen

Jen hangs the garlic to cure under our front porch.

Jen hangs the garlic to cure under our front porch.

Eggs for Sale

June 7, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm

Enjoy the incomparable taste of eggs grown from a backyard flock. These are no anemic store bought eggs. Our happy hens freely range with our goats, dining on grains, goat milk, bugs and weeds so their yolks are deep yellow to orange. The eggshells range in color from dark brown to pale pink. Gorgeous! $3.50 per dozen.  Email us at orders@sunstoneherbs.com

Eggs for Sale

Eggs for Sale

Favorite Rooster Recipes

May 26, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm

Every now and then, a rooster must be dispatched from the farm. Often I’ll see ads for free roosters to a good home –not to be eaten, but the likelihood of finding a home that does not involve a freezer or cock-fighting setup is slim. Putting the rooster in the stew pot is a time-honored way of living sustainably on the land, making use of all our resources.

Here are some of my favorite recipes, but you can use any chicken stew recipe. Your rooster will have so much more flavor than a grocery store chicken, organic or not, that you will finally understand why many old-timers (my 96 year old grandmother included) or foreigners complain that our chicken is tasteless.

The first think you have to do is age your rooster after you butcher. If you cook your rooster right away, it will be tough, tough, tough, no matter how long you stew. The meat will be chewier than grocery store chicken which is so flabby you can cut it with a fork, but remember this bird has been running around your yard, chasing off hawks and finding grubs for your hens. To age your bird, let the meat rest in the refrigerator for two to four days. I usually wait two or three days. Aging it in a bring also helps. If you only have 24 hours to age the bird, then definitely age it in a brine, or wine, or buttermilk, depending on your recipe.

Notice how dark orange the fat is on our rooster which has spent its life running around outdoors, eating grass, bugs and other good stuff.

Notice how dark yellow the fat is on these roosters which spent their lives running around outdoors, eating grass, bugs and other good stuff.

My favorite recipes include Coq au Vin, Chicken Paprikash, a Corfu dish Pastisatha (my new favorite), Ajiaco (a delicious Columbian-style chicken stew), and good old boiled chicken to use in pot pies, enchiladas, etc.

I’ll add recipes for all my favorites, but here is the Corfu Rooster recipe to start. I originally found this from Gourmet magazine. A reader requested the recipe after vacationing on Corfu. If you use a grocery store hen, the recipe won’t have the outstanding flavor of a rooster, but it will still be good, and you won’t have to cook it nearly as long. I serve this with mashed or roasted potatoes and steam-sautéed greens. – Jen

Corfu Rooster
Serving size depends on the bird

1 rooster, cut into pieces
7 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoon olive oil or lard
1 tablespoon tomato paste (or use some tomatoes)
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
3 ½ cups water
½ cup dry white wine (or vermouth or other booze)
1 teaspoon sugar

Pat chicken dry.

Stir together cinnamon, salt, pepper and sprinkle over chicken.

Heat oil in a skillet and brown chicken in two batches on all sides, transfer to a plate
meanwhile, stir tomato paste and vinegar.

Add more oil to skillet if necessary and sauté onions till golden; about 6 minutes.

Stir in tomato mixture and simmer 1 minute. Stir in water, wine sugar and simmer uncovered, ~5 minutes.

Add chicken to pot and simmer, covered, until tender (1-3 hours, depending on how tough your rooster is).

Transfer cook chicken to a platter and boil sauce, uncovered, till reduced to about 2 ½ cups (about 10 minutes). Season with salt!

Suntone Herbs Booth at 2009 Local Food Festival

May 7, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm
2009 Local Food Festival

2009 Local Food Festival

Join us on Saturday, May 16th in celebrating food from the ground up at the 2009 Local Food Festival. We’ll have a booth and Jen will be leading a free workshop called The Healing Kitchen which explores how herbs from your kitchen pantry or herb garden can be used as allies in natural healing. Stop by and say hello.

The 2009 Local Food Festival and Field Day is open to the public from 12 noon to 3 pm at the Historic Gutierrez-Hubbell House and Demonstration Farm located at 6029 Isleta Blvd in Albuquerque’s South Valley.

Spring at Sunstone

April 29, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm
This year's garlic.

This year's garlic.

Clouds over my back fence.

Clouds over our back fence.

Piggie!

Piggie!

Yucca blooming

Yucca blooming

Goodbye, Gerry Girl

April 18, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm

Old girl Gerry (named after my aunt Geraldine) died before sunrise this morning. She was the last hen remaining from our original clutch of 25 that we received in the mail from McMurray Hatchery 5 years ago. (Yes, we took her with us cross-country from New York to New Mexico). Over the years she provided us with many delicious eggs and lots of baby chicks who inherited her gentle demeanor. We’ll miss her. -Tree

Jen's brother John took this photo of Gerry last year and won 2nd place in an animal photo contest sponsored by Albuquerque's IQ Magazine.

Jen's brother John took this photo of Gerry last year and won 2nd place in a pet photo contest sponsored by Albuquerque's IQ newspaper. Our cat Vida is in the background.

Gardening for the soul…

April 17, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm

Here is an inspiring segment from Geoff Lawton’s recent DVD – Establishing a Food Forest the Permaculture Way. I am looking forward to watching the DVD in its entirety. For those interested, it is available for purchase from The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia.


Moms Group Visits Sunstone

April 1, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm

Jen and I opened our homestead to the Ebb and Flow Moms group this morning. About 10 moms and their children – all toddlers – visited with our piggies, goats and chickens. The pigs especially loved the attention.

kig

kig21

water

Little Bard loves goat's milk

Everyone got a sip of fresh goat's milk

wilbur

Photos From Last Sunday’s Workshop

March 29, 2009 by sunstoneherbfarm

Jen’s workshop on using permaculture techniques to create a backyard food forest was a success. About 70 people turned out for the event held at La Placita Gardens in Albuquerque’s South Valley. A big thanks to Zoe Wilcox-Edrington of Mother Nature Gardens and Jesse Daves of Garden’s Edge for their assistance with the hands-on demonstrations. Also, thanks to my brother John McElhinney for helping me direct parking. -Tree

Here are some photos:

Jen Prosser leads a talk on using permaculture techniques to create an urban food forest.

Jen leads a discussion on using permaculture techniques to create an urban food forest.

About 70 people turned out for the event.

About 70 people turned out for the event which included a lecture followed by hands-on gardening.

Lots of mulch!

Lots of mulch!

Planting an apple tree.

Planting an apple tree.