2014 April Work-ation

Thanks to all who came out for our 2014 April Work-ation!



The power of many hands helped us prepare 33 beds for planting, dig a new bed for asparagus, haul 13 loads of horse manure, innoculate 40 logs with mushroom spores, build 2 raised flower beds, sink 3 berry fence posts and begin the daunting task of cleaning up our new West field. And thanks, too, to all who helped in the kitchen, with washing up, with picking up rocks and building compost piles.

Please send along photos you wouldn't mind having me post on our site.

Here's to a successful season...

Is Food too Cheap?

It’s not easy getting behind the idea of purposefully making food more expensive.  Industrialized food production, global transportation networks, and the concentration of food distribution into mammoth corporations have made food cheaper than ever in developed countries. 

This can only be a good thing, right?  Particularly for poor people, who have to make every dollar stretch as far as possible.  But with endless articles about the new American farmer movement and the need to build a “sustainable food system”, we have to wonder if food is too cheap to make being a small-scale organic farmer financially sustainable.

China and the Coming Urban Waste Crisis

China is currently undertaking an unprecedented effort to repopulate 250 million people from rural to urban areas, with the goal of creating a “more sustainable” economy driven by urban consumerism rather than large-scale state investments.  Beyond the scale and state-orchestrated nature of this urbanization program, the plan is not particularly surprising: the world’s wealthiest countries are all primarily urban with economies that are driven by domestic consumption.

For the first time in human history, the majority of us live in cities.  One hundred years ago, 2 out of 10 people lived in cities, as of 2010 just over 5 of 10 people live in cities, and it is projected that 7 out of 10 people will live in cities by 2050.  One could say both positive and negative things about this development, but regardless of what you think of urban life, it is undoubtedly here to stay for the near future.

The process of urbanization has largely been caused by the transition from agriculture-based economies to modern economies based on manufacturing, technology, and services.  As farms have become largely mechanized and consolidated into large-scale operations, farmers without work have moved to cities to find new jobs.  This process has repeated itself in developed countries throughout the world.

From an ecological point of view, the urbanization of society presents a real dilemma. Humans need a fair amount of basic resources to survive: adequate food, fresh water, and homes with basic heating and sanitation.  At a Western standard of living, these needs greatly multiply.  Urban areas consist of great concentrations of people living in small geographic spaces.  These concentrations of people cannot produce the resources they need to live from within the area where they live, so they must be brought in from outside of the city. All of these needs must be met with resources and once used all of these resources produce waste.

Why Buying American Could Help Solve Our "E Problems"

What started first -- our addiction to cheap goods or the exodus of American manufacturing jobs overseas?  It’s hard to say, as each feeds the other: the more cheap goods we buy, the poorer we become and the more demand we create for cheap goods.  If left unchanged, this dynamic must inevitably trap a growing number of Americans in a low-wage economy and accelerate our environmental problems (the “E” problems). 

Most of us don’t think about the story behind each thing we buy. This is not surprising, as the story is both complex and it’s often not in the best interest of the producer to tell it to us.  A recent National Public Radio initiative, “The Planet Money T-shirt Project”, attempts to unpack one of these stories by following an order of 25,000 t-shirts from cotton farm to manufacturing to final delivery.  The project goes a long way towards explaining how our current consumer culture supports an unsustainable global economy.  

In a forthright interview, the CEO of Crystal, the Columbian company that makes the women’s Planet Money t-shirts, sums up the operating principles of modern production concisely: 

"There is a saying that is going to sound horrible," Crystal's CEO, Luis Restrepo, told me. "Our industry follows poverty." It's an industry "on roller skates," he said, rolling from Latin America to China, to Bangladesh — wherever costs are lowest.

The garment worker commute in Bangladesh.

Spring's first salad

One of the hardest tasks for me is "thinning."

I've spent many minutes sowing delicate little seeds into our homemade-soil blocks. I read the germination rate on the seed package and sometimes sow extra seeds in each hole to be sure at least one of them germinates. Then we wait, trying to maintain optimum soil temperature and humidity.

And the plants start to come up.

But then that sad day comes when I have to thin the seedlings, when I have to terminate the life of the seemingly weaker plant so that the stronger one can have the space and nutrients to thrive. Those cute, perky little kale and collard green starts look so fresh and so hopeful - but some of them have to go. In previous years it had been so difficult for me to thin that I just didn't do it. And what we ended up with were two spindly seedlings in one tiny space whose dense root systems were ripped apart upon transplant. Not good.

Spring's first salad

So I've reframed our art of thinning this season for peace of mind: spring's first salad.

Sausage stuffing

That fine-looking 5-lb-capacity sausage stuffer had been staring me in the face for too long. Despite the long winter, we hadn't yet attempted to transform our ground pork into the delicious thing we call sausage. But the time had come... spring was here, the snow was melting, a good friend was in town to join in the festivities, and we had planned an over-the-top stuffed leg-of-lamb dinner for the weekend that called for Mexican-style chorizo.

So 11 pounds of ground pork went through the processor and we mixed up 4 flavorful sausage stuffings: a classic Sicilian-style sausage with fennel seeds; a garlic sausage; a luganega sausage that included freshly grated orange and lemon zest in it; and, of course, the chorizo, which had ancho chile pepper, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, pepper, bay leaf, nutmeg, cinnamon, paprika, cayenne, garlic and salt in it. We got our hands dirty, deep in pork fat and spices. We mastered those natural pig intestine casings (how cool to see them expand under the faucet water as we rinsed them of their salt preservative). We figured out the timing and pressure on the sausage stuffer. And we froze about 50 sausages for the future.

Best of all, we had a delicious dinner in front of the fire, trying each kind, and really appreciating the art of sausage making.

On the first day of spring

On the first day of spring, my true love gave to me a beautiful day to be working outside.

I saw ground for the first time on our vegetable beds. The snow melt from the mountains is now gently trickling down our seasonal streambed. We pruned our fruit trees with a great friend of ours visiting from overseas. We tidied up the greenhouse, anticipating being able to put our tomato, eggplant and pepper starts out there in just a few days. We unloaded the 2000 pounds of organic potting soil we bought from a local farm. We trekked up to the compost pile for the first time in weeks. And back inside the house, we made some delicious homemade sausages (more on that in a later post).










We are officially delayed in our planting now (usually we get the peas in the ground today), but I feel hopeful that it will start soon. We've adapted to the weather and we're anxiously enjoying our last few days of "vacation."

In the greenhouse

We've moved into the greenhouse. Well, the seedlings have moved in (although I might like to, too... it boasts temperatures in the 90s during mid-day with the sun).

This will certainly be a learning curve for us. We're using heat mats to keep soil temperature around 70, but daytime temps can be over 100 degrees and nighttime temps dip to near 32. It's amazing the wide temperature range one structure can produce. So we're using our go-to technique of "hooping up" - we put greenhouse plastic tunnels over the seedlings at night to trap in heat and moisture.

After this week's forecasted snow (?!) passes, we're hoping more spring-like weather will settle in, so water sources can be turned on, the ground starts to thaw and we can get our shovels in the soil.

The season begins

This snow is getting depressing. We've still got a foot of it covering our fields, and today's 48-degree temperature forecast made me smile until I looked at next week's and saw that we will again barely climb above freezing during the day.

But the seeds must start. Our beautiful new greenhouse is just waiting to be put to use - and once nights don't drop too far below 32, we'll be able to move all of our starts out there.

Holy homemade bacon

This is one of those times when you try something and you really, truly know you will never, ever go back to the way it was.

We cured our fresh pork belly last week with sugar, blackstrap molasses, salt and pepper, following this recipe, and just cooked some up this morning. Wow. It was so delicious. We were planning on smoking the slabs, but have decided against it because it is just too darn good. This stuff won't be for sale, friends... we are keeping it for special dinners (like tonight's V-Day homemade pizza-by-the-fire), lazy Sunday mornings, and maybe a lucky Supper Club or two.

Rendering

With 20 pounds of leaf lard in our freezer from our pigs, I decided to render the lard. Leaf lard is, at room temperature, very soft and oily, almost spreadable. But there is still a bit of muscle in there, so it has to be rendered at a low heat to be able to strain out impurities. So I chopped about 3 pounds up, put it in a baking dish, and baked it at 300 for a little less than 2 hours, following a simple "recipe" from Flying Pigs Farm. I strained the lard into ice cube trays for freezing and some into the small mason jar that is ready to use tonight for sauteeing vegetables, making pie crust, roasting potatoes, frying an egg, or for pretty much any other dish you'd use bacon fat in.

We'll offer some to our pork customers - save money by not having to buy butter, which goes for about $5 per pound for organic unsalted (and, believe me, doesn't cook up savory dishes as flavorfully).

Your not-so-standard Super Bowl fare

So, it was an underwhelming Super Bowl game on Sunday.

But we spiced it up with some non-traditional tastes. Making room in our chest freezers for all of our delicious pork, we thawed out 40 chicken feet and one pig's tail. Think: "buffalo chicken feet" and "brined, braised, broiled tail."

It was a lot of work. Chicken feet: clean, clip off claws, boil for an hour, bake to dry out, deep fry and toss in buffalo chicken sauce. Tail: brine for 24 hours, braise for 3 hours, rest for 8 hours, broil for 30 minutes.

And it didn't taste all that great. But it was so worth the adventure (and the extra square foot of freezer space).

How to put a price on our pigs?

We purchased our piglets from a local farm. They were born to two happy, healthy parents who grew up on that same farm, foraging in Hudson Valley woods, living in spacious huts with access to plenty of sun, shade and water. When the piglets came to our farm, we gave them the same treatment. They had their own house and fresh forest ground to root around in for acorns and insects. They roamed and slept and pranced around all day in our woods. They had fresh water every day. We made mud pits for them in the summer heat so they could cool down. We fed our pigs grain and supplemented it with delicious table scraps that came from our kitchen and yours. When it came time, we brought them to a clean, family-run facility that prides itself on its humane practices and attention to detail.

Now, we have their delicious, carefully-raised meat to share with you. If you’ve only ever eaten pork from a grocery store, you will be utterly shocked by the difference in quality and taste. The meat is redder and flavorful. The fat is melt-in-your-mouth.

We’re a small operation. We were able to keep track of every expense we put into raising our two pigs. The price of our cuts reflects the price it costs small, sustainable growers to raise meat in this country.

The intensive pig farming that happens in the U.S. which raises domestic pigs to slaughter weight indoors in massive structures, on GMO-corn-feed, with antibiotics to encourage growth, and with few, if any, opportunities to be a pig raises animal welfare concerns. This is the standard way that we raise meat to feed our nation. And this is the standard meat that a majority of us feed to our families. Learn more about it and consider trying humanely, sustainably raised meat. You’ll pay more in dollars. But you may decide it’s worth the benefits.

Pork sale!

Good news! Longhaul Farm now has pork available for purchase. You might have seen our happy pigs foraging or roaming through the woods of our farm this past season - this is as local as it gets. All cuts were flash frozen at their peak freshness. Available cuts and pricing are listed below.

We will be “open” to sell pork this Friday, January 31, from 11am to 7pm and Saturday, February 1, from 9am to 2pm. Just come on by.

Enjoy some breakfast sausage patties in the morning… cook up some delicious pulled pork or loin chops for Superbowl Sunday… enjoy a slow Sunday roast… or stock up your freezer for an upcoming party…  and we have delicious recipe ideas to share.

Pork cuts (size of cuts)	$/lb
Loin roast (4-6 lbs)	9
Pork butt roasts, boneless (3-5 lbs)	9
Rib roasts (4-6 lbs)	9
Shoulder roast (5-8 lbs)	9
Ham steaks (1-2 lbs)	9
Pork loin chops (1-3 lbs; packages of 2)	10
Fresh pork belly (1-2 lbs) *	6
Fresh ham (10-12 lbs)	9
Fresh hocks (2-3 lbs)	3
Breakfast sausage, pattie-style (1 lb)	7
Feet (3-4 lbs)	3
Tail (1-2 lbs)	3
Leaf lard or fatback (3-6 lbs)	3
Neck bones (2-4 lbs)	3

Please join our 2014 CSA community!

What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)? In CSA, a farm offers "shares" or memberships to the public. In return for your investment you receive a weekly box of freshly harvested produce throughout the growing season, typically from June to September/October.

What are your member options? We offer two membership options:

(1) Household share membership: Whatever is seasonal and harvestable, we’ll share with you. The weekly box should feed 2-3 vegetarian adults or a family of 3-4 with mixed diets and include a variety of 5-15 items, season and weather-permitting. Household share price: $700.

--> Split shares are also available. For a small farm with limited hands, a ‘split share’ will make harvesting more manageable.  You may split your share with a friend or neighbor. Or, if you’d like to split but don’t have anyone in mind yet to share with, we can do the pairing up for you. People often split shares in two ways: (1) every-other-week pick-ups; or (2) dividing weekly pick-ups with each other. Contact us for more information. Split-share price: $350.

(2) Community share membership: Receive a weekly household share of vegetables (see [1] above), plus anonymously subsidize shares for families who don’t have the means to become members themselves. Community share price: $1,350 ($700 for full share + $650 for subsidized share).

What kinds of vegetables will CSA members receive? Members will receive a variety of seasonal vegetables - here's a tentative list:

Late spring	Summer	Early fall
Arugula	Basil	Brussels sprouts
Beets	Carrots	Cabbage
Bok choy	Cherry tomatoes	Celeriac
Broccoli	Chives	Chinese cabbage
Broccoli raab	Cilantro	Collard greens
Kale	Cucumbers	Kale
Lettuce	Eggplant	Lettuce
Peas	Fennel	Mustard greens
Radishes	Garlic	Parsnips
Spinach	Green beans	Pumpkins
Tatsoi cabbage	Herbs (dill, sage, etc.) Heirloom tomatoes Melon Parsley	Rutabaga Spinach Sweet potatoes Swiss chard
	Peppers (hot and sweet)	Turnips
	Potatoes Scallions Summer squash Swiss chard Tomatillos Tomatoes for canning	Winter squash

When and where are pick-ups? Pick-ups are on the farm on either Tuesday or Friday afternoons (4-6pm), your choice.

Will Longhaul Farm’s CSA be different from other CSAs? We follow a similar model of CSA as most local, organic farms. The main difference between our CSA and others is that our CSA will be small-scale, offering up to 30 memberships per season. That means we can provide more individual attention to you as members and collaborate on ideas for improving the current CSA model. We hope our smallness leads to more flexibility and a more satisfying season for both us and our members.

How you can become a member: Space is limited. Please contact us at longhaulny@gmail.com or (845) 424-6277 to become a member. We offer two payment options: (1) full-pay: pay your membership fee by February 15, 2014 – this option gives us the most freedom as growers because we can rely on early resources throughout the season; or (2) pay in 2 installments: pay half of your membership by February 15, 2014 and the other half by June 1, 2014. If you would like to request additional payment options, just contact us and we will work something out.

Other ways you can participate in Longhaul Farm’s season:

(1) Buy Longhaul Farm naturally grown, pasture-raised meat and eggs:

• Chicken: $6/lb - Reserve your chickens for $15 per bird
• Turkey: $8/lb - Reserve your holiday turkey for $50 per bird
• Pork: pricing depends on cut - Reserve your pork for $50 down
• Eggs: $5/dozen - Available year-round

(2) Join us for our on-farm dining experience that is The Cottage Supper Club: enjoy a multiple course meal dictated by the season. Coming in spring... dates to follow.

(3) We will hold classes on food preserving, food preparation, food waste, gardening skills and other educational issues. There will be a fee for participation in the classes. We are looking forward to these small group gatherings where we can share ideas and learn a skill or two together. We will send out more information regarding 2014 classes in the coming months.

Supporting our neighbors with local, nutritious food and a spirit of community is an important part of Longhaul Farm’s mission that we look forward to fulfilling throughout the year. If you have any questions or would like to join, please be in touch: call us at (845)424-6277, email us at longhaulny@gmail.com, or just do it the old fashioned way and drop by at 69 South Mountain Pass.

The bushel basket

I agree it is a sad fact that our pigs are no longer with us, but I write this post for edification, for others who might have to corral their swine into a vehicle of sorts to transport them to their final destination.

* * * * *

We read in several reliable sources, and listened to the sage advice of experienced livestock farmers, to leave double the time you would expect to load your pigs. So with an 8am appointment at Hilltown Pork on January 2^nd, we spent the evening of our first day of 2014 hanging out in the woods with our two 6-month-old, 300-pound pigs. After rigging up a truck+cap (forgoing the trailer since a snowstorm was predicted for transport-time), we collected our most delicious compost buckets ever to entice the pigs into the truck’s bed. Just Jason and I, we did manage to get our heavier, greedier, not-as-smart pig to follow the slop bucket and Jason into the bed, chowing down on some beef liver that yours truly cooked up just for the occasion. But then, the not-as-smart farmers lost it all when our second pig squealed, freaked out by the sight of the confined space, sensing what was to come, signaling to the other one to break free. And that’s what they did. Broke free. Around 5pm, in the last of the daylight, into the woods, with the electric fence down, and two tired, broken-down farmers silently watching them graze the new ground they found themselves on. What could we do?

We let them go to bed in their pig hut. That’s what they wanted after all, it was bedtime.

Getting an appointment for slaughter was a difficult task. And the coming days of winter did not promise any easier moving opportunities, with snow cover to come, bad driving conditions, and frigid temperatures forecasted. We knew we had to get them into the truck and upstate on the morning of January 2^nd. So we called three neighbors, who at 8pm that night, agreed to meet us in our fields at 7am the next morning.

I didn’t really sleep that night, having lost my dignity trying to move the pigs to no avail, despite being physically exhausted from the work of pushing such strong, heavy beasts, and running through how I thought the morning’s corral would go. We had the “V” all ready, the corralling boards made up nice with handles and everything, we re-read our reliable sources, called again our experienced farmer friend, and felt confident that using panels to calmly nudge the pigs to their destination and block their sideview so they could go nowhere but forward would take us 5 adults just a few tries, with assured success.

The pigs were still sleeping at 7:05, as daylight just broke. They usually sleep until 8 or 9, but Jason was sure they’d wake up with the second batch of delicious food scraps we brought up. And wake up they did, following him the 200 feet all the way to the narrow path we created that led to the truck after one final left turn at the big maple tree.

But that’s where it ended. The sight of the red truck sent one pig straight into the electric fence, rooting it up but being shocked as he did so. In five seconds, they were both free. Again. Into the woods, with the electric fence down, and five shocked people looking on. We thought we had had them. But my confidence sank after the previous night’s failure. We spent the next hour and a half using the “V”, our panel boards, long sticks, calm voices, patience, petting, prodding, tantalizing buckets of food slop, to lure them back our way. Maybe we’d get just one in again, and that would have been enough for me. Maybe we’d get none in and we’d have to seal the deal on our own farm in the coming days or weeks.

But thank god for youtube. (never though I’d say it…). Frank had done some research the previous night and told us about the bushel-basket-over-the-head trick: when a pig’s head is covered, he wants nothing else but to back out of that bucket. And if you have someone daring enough to keep that bucket on, and another person daring enough to steer the pig backwards by the tail, you might just get your pig to where you want it to go.

So we did. In 2 minutes, Frank and Jason got our big one backed up 200 feet into the truck, taking it but 3 seconds after we slammed the bed door shut to find some more food we left for it to settle down and munch. But could we really get the second? Could we time the door drop perfectly, without scaring the captured one to break free?

Yes, we could. Frank and Jason got the smaller but smarter one backed up 195 feet to the edge of the truck door, Luke and I dropped the bed door and raised the paneling, the pig’s foot slipped under the door and down the stone wall it was propped up on, and Frank and Jason bench-pressed that 300-pound pig into the bed as we slammed that door fast. Pig is magnificently strong, but man can be surprisingly stronger.

Then we were off for upstate. I’ll spare you the rest of the story of the treacherous road conditions and slaughterhouse arrival. But I’ll tell you… throwing food scraps into the “pig bucket” just isn’t the same now.

Lessons learned:

(1)   When corralling your pigs, if you must: listen to the old-time farmer who swears by his bushel baskets.

(2)   You must: learn to do it all yourself, for the honor of eating your meat. Next year on Longhaul… raise, thank, slaughter, butcher, eat.

Greenhouse: Glazed!

Here's Jason, barcapping off the last pane of our greenhouse... a beast of a project now complete (except for a few accoutrements). 

First snow

Borage flowers hanging on

We've got the greenhouse two-thirds glazed and we've put to bed three-quarters of our vegetable beds. But the first snow has fallen, which sends a little sense of urgency our way to finish our tasks before winter sets in. The farm is so peaceful now, with all of our winter greens growing under greenhouse plastic low tunnels. It's quite a sight to see fall kale with absolutely no insects. Some flowers are still holding onto life. Our Brussels sprouts (those that weren't eaten earlier in the season by the groundhog) are really sprouting.

Trailer full of wood chip mulch

But we're still working away -  Seneca helped me mulch the fruit garden this morning, only in exchange for a ride in the trailer.

Recipe w/ collards

Collard greens w/ bacon + pine nuts over linguine

Ingredients: collard greens, shallots, garlic, bacon, pine nuts, hot pepper flakes, white wine, tomatoes, broth or water, parmesan, linguine (or other pasta)

Preparing: Chop the bacon (about 1/2 lb) and cook in heavy-bottomed pan. Remove and drain on paper towel. Toast pine nuts (about 1/4 cup) in the bacon fat. Remove and drain on paper towel. Mince 4-6 shallots and 4-8 cloves of garlic and cook in bacon fat along with a pinch or two of red hot pepper flakes. After the shallots have turned golden, pour in a big splash of white wine and some chopped tomatoes and cook down. Chop about 2-3 pounds of collards (de-stem and chop coarsely). Throw the collards into the pan and stir until slightly wilted but still bright green. Add 1-2 cups broth or water, cover, and let simmer about 15-20 minutes.

Eating: Stir your favorite cooked pasta (we use linguine, fettuccine or bucatini) into the collard sauce. Place in bowls, add bacon pieces and pine nuts, and top with shaved parmesan and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Dish history: We showcased this dish at a special supper on the farm, trying to convert everyone into collard-lovers. I think it worked. This dish is delicious in the summer (sub the chopped tomatoes in the sauce for fresh cherry tomatoes as a garnish) or fall (canned tomatoes work well).

Recipe w/ tomatillos

Roasted tomatillo salsa

Ingredients: tomatillos, garlic, scallions, jalapeno, cilantro, red wine vinegar, salt

Preparing: Clean the tomatillos and leave whole, peel the garlic, de-stem the jalapeno (and de-membrane if you don't like things spicy) and chop the scallions to pieces a few inches long. Put all of these vegetables into a wide-bottomed pan on the stovetop and roast for 10-15 minutes with no oil or water, shaking the pan occasionally (I'm sure grilling would have a similar effect). The veggies should turn brown/black in spots, taking on a deeper, sweeter flavor. Once roasted, throw them all in a food processor, along with some cilantro sprigs, a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar and a pinch or two of salt, depending on your taste. Blend well.

Eating: Serve with tortilla chips. Or spread in a quesadilla or on a taco or other Mexican treat.

Dish history: The end of the season always brings us hundreds of tomatillos that had fallen from the plants during fall bed preparation. They last a long time in the fridge, so you can make fresh batches of this salsa recipe for several weeks into the fall.

Recipe for pickles

Pickles!

Ingredients: fresh vegetables, vinegar, water, sugar, salt, garlic clove, spices

Preparing: Bring to a boil a half vinegar/half water solution with some sugar, salt (I use 1 cup water to 1 cup vinegar to 1 tablespoons sugar to a huge pinch of salt) and some spices (e.g., coriander seeds, bay leaf, red hot pepper flakes, whole cloves, allspice). Meanwhile, clean and cut your fresh vegetables (e.g., radishes, green beans, cauliflower, cucumbers, zucchini, fennel, beets, jalapenos, etc.) to desired pickle size and fill a sterilized jar with them and a garlic clove or two, some herbs (e.g., thyme sprigs, dill, shiso leaves) and more spices, if desired. Once the vinegar solution has boiled, pour it over the vegetables and fill it about 1/4 inch from the top. Seal the jar. You can either store the jars as (a) refrigerator pickles (allow the jars to cool and then leave in the refrigerator for at least a week to pickle nicely) or (b) processed pickles (while the jars are still hot put in a boiling water bath for at least 10 minutes, depending on the size of your jar - or see this website for some basic instructions on canning).

Eating: This is one of our go-to snacks we put out with cocktails.

Dish history: This is based off of an Alice Waters simple recipe. We love radish and jalapeno refrigerator pickles the best.

Recipe w/ ground oats

Oatmeal

Ingredients: oats, water or milk, butter, salt, extra stir-ins (brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, fruit, buttermilk)

Preparing: Melt 2 tbsp. butter. Mix in 1 cup oats w/ 1 tsp. salt. Cook 5-8 minutes. Add 4 cups of water or milk or a combo, bring to a boil and then simmer gently, covered, for about 15-20 minutes. Stir in your favorite additions.

Dish history: Our farmer friend, PJD, grew hull-less oats this season. The oat itself looks quite different from the oats we're used to, resembling farro or wheatberry. So we washed it, dried it, and ground it so you can make a creamy, delicious oatmeal. Thanks to PJD for this recipe.