Farmer John's Cookbook

When I was a newlywed, I set about learning to cook. If I found a cookbook I liked, I cooked almost every recipe in it. I cooked through my college boarding house Big Haus Cookbook, a Hershey’s chocolate cookbook, Salsas That Cook, and Healthy Foods. Before I had multiple children, I would spend easily an hour and a half preparing dinner: sweet potato galettes, stuffed grape leaves, mushroom risotto, chicken-broccoli crepes, steamed dumplings!

With an ever-growing family, my time in the kitchen became limited, as did the palette I had to work with. Little people don’t tend to enjoy spicy or exotic food. So I began to cook without recipes some of the time. Most dinners could be prepared in half an hour, using minimal pans.

Yesterday, though, I received a cookbook (courtesy of my wonderful mother-in-law Cheri): Farmer John’s Cookbook. I looked up “radishes,” because our radish harvest is just about done. And my mouth started watering. Over radishes! I eagerly awaited the new day.

So this morning I went to pick whatever radishes I could find. I sliced some thinly and put them on buttered bread with salt: canapés! I sautéed the radishes in butter, then added the greens. Pressed some lemon juice on, added salt and pepper—delicious! I did the same thing with turnip greens.



Then I took the turnips, peeled and shredded them. Also an apple: peeled and shredded. Pressed lemon juice, added olive oil, salt, pepper, and some raisins. Not too bad!

I haven’t cooked something from a cookbook in many, many months. Perhaps not in all of 2009, the year of house showings, moving, and kitchenless living. Cooking things today from a real cookbook, a gourmet vegetable cookbook, felt like a return to normal life, in a way.



And if you want a way to prepare YOUR daikon radish (see photo above!) or regular radish, your chard or your kale, I’d highly recommend this book!

Other fun things about today: Phil and I sat in the sheep paddock and just watched them. They have settled down, so that if the ewes do not love the babies, they tolerate them and no longer flee.

We also went down to the “bottom land” (the flat land around our creek). Phil used his machete to hack out a path through the denuded brush. It’s actually possible to see the forest now that the leaves have fallen from the trees and the brush, and we were thrilled to see about four acres of potential grazing land. It will need to be cleared, then seeded to grass, legumes, and herbs, but wow! Four acres would more than double the land we currently have cleared.

I found a persimmon on the ground during the hike. About the size of an apricot, with similar orange flesh and six flat seeds, the first lick was delicious. Then my mouth felt like all the moisture was gone—I think that was the astringency coming out. As I looked to find more, I realized they were growing at the tops of many trees: 80 to 100 feet up. Ah, well.

P.S. A quick note about the Babydolls. We took the three lambs born in spring 2009 home yesterday. They are too young to be bred this year. Breeder Michelle put her ram, Starbucks, in with the three ewes yesterday afternoon, so he will, Lord willing, breed all three. The sheep have 18-day cycles, I believe; in 2009, she had one lamb born on May 1st and one born two and a half weeks later. Clearly, the late ewe missed her breeding opportunity by about a day.

My plan is to pick up the three bred ewes in December. All three ewes could potentially have twins: that is what I am praying for. We are pleased that we will have lambing and kidding in January and February, then a few months hiatus before the Babydoll babies come sometime in April.

Oh, and Phil’s arm remains somewhat swollen, but is definitely on the mend. Thankfully, we had no red line heading to the heart, so we avoided a trip to the hospital!