This week we enjoyed a visit from the entire Barricklow Clan. Farmer Colin’s parents, brother and his wife and daughters all converged upon the farm for a week of togetherness, good times, and of course, lots of work. Grandma Jeri got trained early in the fine art of salad spinning, while Grandpa Ted and Brother Todd set about fixing all the broken bits of the farmhouse, hinges, doorknobs and plumbing. No job too big or too small for the Barricklows! Farmer Colin finally got that welding lesson from his brother, who gave us a welder thing a year ago that we never learned how to use. Now we know. All of our broken carts and hand trucks and even a plow got some welding fixes. But best of all was the baby, Xochi and all the cousins running amok in summer at the farm.
Those of you who have been long time csa members may be experiencing dejavu as I am, because I basically wrote the same version of the csa news two years ago, the last time the Barricklows were all together here. It makes sense why folks used to have bigger families and stick closer together, as the work feels lighter and the love feels bigger.
In other exciting news this week, many baby birds hatched in our barn!! Barn Swallows, I think. We spotted three nests some time ago, but now we can see the bright bills of the babies smiling down at us, then opening wide with ruckus when mom or dad comes swooping in with a bite. So each nest has three or four babies in it, and both mom and dad bird work hard to feed them all. One time when the kids were up on top of some stuff trying to get a better look, it even seemed like dad bird was giving mom bird the signal not to come in right now, because of the scary human monsters that were too close to the nest. We’ve tried to be less intrusive since then. They are just so adorable, we don’t even care that there is a big pile of bird poop under the nests. We’ll sweep it up, no problem.
Other bird news, the chickens are fattening up nicely. Colin saw a Cooper’s Hawk on top of their pen when he went out to move them one morning. Trying to find a way to snag a snack no doubt. So far, so good, we still have all the fat chickens, and got a good look at a hawk.
This week’s potato is Farmer Colin’s favorite, Red Gold. Pretty red skins over tender rich yellow flesh make it easy to see why. Red Gold roasts particularly well, and mashes nicely. They may not hold together well enough for a potato salad, but the flavor is so rich, you may not mind the smushiness.
This week’s onion is Ailsa Craig, an English heirloom that is perfect for burgers and salads. Read on for an example of Fedco Seed Catalog’s fine descriptive writing. “Also known as Exhibition. The onion made famous by Jason Kafke of Checkerberry Farm in Parkman, ME, one of Common Ground Fair’s 2004 keynoters. He annually produces tons of 1-3 lb. Onions from this variety, achieving production multiples that Wall Street can only dream about. Yields well in excess of 1 lb. Per row foot. This is the onion to grow to enter in the Exhibition Hall of your county fair. The enormous, slightly oval pale straw-colored globes are sweet, mildly pungent and will store a short while. A cross between Danvers Yellow and Cranston’s Excelsior introduced by David Murray in 1887, Ailsa Craig was named after Ailsa Crag, a small steep sided island off the west coast of Scotland.”
You can see why seed catalogs and cookbooks are some of my favorite reading materials.