Of Wind and Beans and Beauty

The Open Gate Farm

Camano Island, WA

October 29, 2009

Of Wind and Beans and Beauty and Learning at The Open Gate Farm

Dear Friends of the Farm:

The report from the Hoop House is that it still is waiting for a good windstorm. This last one we thought was a dandy. Wind speeds of 38 MPH seemed pretty good. Went out in the morning to see what the wind had done and found a grape still on the vine but with no skin. You would have thought that a wind strong enough to blow the skin off a grape would have gotten the Hoop House’s attention. Naw…it’s still there in all its Conestoga wagon glory, waiting for a real blast.

Well, the best thing to do with a mistake is to admit it, ask for forgiveness, and press on. For several years we have raised a bean and thought it to be a “Cranberry Bean”. Our son got the seeds from Seed Savers Exchange and gave us a handful. After visiting the Seed Savers Exchange web site and chatting with them on the telephone, we’ve determined we made a mistake. They are not Cranberry Beans. They are "Lina Sisco's Egg Beans". These beans were brought to Missouri by covered wagon in the 1880s by Lina Sisco’s grandmother. Lina was one of the six original members of Seed Savers Exchange, which was founded in 1975. The only difference (which I am in discussions with SSE about) is that mine are a pole variety and theirs are a bush variety. So please forgive us and let us press on toward the bright and beany future together.

Tall or short…at the end of the day we are going to package these prolific babies up and sell the seeds for your planting pleasure next Spring! This may be the launch product of The Open Gate Farm Seed Company! Stay tuned for as the winter wears on and plans get plotted and dreams get designed, there may be more of this sort of thing. We just need to get the right name on the envelope for these maroon, white and tan beans first.

Have you been able to slow down lately and see the beauty around us? The sky, the sun, the moon and stars, the little flowers whose bright colors attract the bees? It is incredible! What a gift we have been given to see so much and to learn. If you come by the stand, take a long look at the grapes and see how the dusty “bloom” on the fruit is thinner where the fruit attaches to the stem and how the deep colors come through there.

Or grab an apple from the basket and look at the pattern of reds and greens and yellows and shades and blendings. Why is one apple red and another green? What is the purpose of all those little spots on an apple anyhow? And the McIntosh on my desk from our tree has a lovely layer of pure yellow behind the red skin. And then there is that other one whose inside is whiter than a Hollywood actress’ teeth but has lovely threads of red running symmetrically from stem to flower end.

In these hard times for our country, when we sense powerful forces of good and evil struggling in a battle in which the common man is the casualty, it may be helpful to slow down and look. Look at the red apple in your hand, at a yellow leaf on the ground, at the deep brown earth which gives us life. Pause in the pain and look at the life and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be a better person for it. And the gratitude and wonder you launch may last you a long time and carry you more easily over these waves of discontent and disorder we all are facing.

There are many ways to respond to these trying times. Eating locally is one, for it helps to tie us into a community in new and stronger ways which can anchor us when doubts want to run us on the reef of despair. Another is to learn something new. It is odd that when we learn more about anything, we gain resiliency to handle the ups and downs of life.

It is in this spirit that recently 4 families who home school their children have asked us to teach them how to farm. Remember, gardening is for your pleasure, farming is so we can feed others and make a living doing so. Others have told me they have friends who would love to do so as well as soon as we announce a class.

Overwhelmed? Naw, not us chipmunks! We’re startled someone thinks we know anything, but hey, we’ll give this a go too! We’re breaking it into bite sized chunks of fun. Three groups…smaller people (aka “primary”), larger people (aka “secondary”), then adults. But if a whole family wants to do this together and will ante up the bucks, we’ll certainly consider that as well.

One afternoon a month for 6 months. The curriculum is rapidly falling into place and will cover everything from soils to marketing, from finances to finding a good place to farm. At the end of the class, the attendees will have gotten a good overview of the reality and the reasons to become a farmer. They will have learned it is not always easy but it is always interesting if approached with open eyes and a mind of inquiry. They will have considered what might be done to feed the nation in a post carbon world…you know, the one without petroleum which some think is not far over the horizon.

And bonus points to anyone who actually raises something and sells it! That is the other side of the bonus you get when you come to a stand such as ours. They will have put their hands in the soil and found peace and place. Their customers will have found better food at a great price and supported the local economy. Everyone will be the richer for it.

While the pricing for the classes is not finished, it is for the grapes and apples and pie pumpkins and cornstalks and lettuce and squash and arugula and more which will be on the stand this Saturday. Come by!

Come by and don’t hesitate to tell us what you think we should teach about farming. What would you like to see in a class? For after all, we are persuaded by personal experience that a couple of middle aged chipmunks can have a great life on 2 acres on a little island in the big Puget Sound. Maybe you will be too!

Besides, if you do come by, we will all learn something.

Happy Hoeing,

Jon and Elaine the ever wondering farmers, Snickers the digging dog, Mystery the hearth ornament cat, Jerry and Harley and their girls who chase grapes when they can, Parson Dudley Brown, DD, Quackers, Cheese, and Margaret, the rain dancing ducks, all of whom live at…

The Open Gate Farm

269 Russell Road,

Camano Island, WA 98282

360-387-4449

Email: tsgjon@aol.com

Blog: www.theopengatefarm.blogspot.com/

Website: http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M19128

Open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to dusk until September 19 or so. Or by appointment if you call 360-387-4449 first.

We have pie pumpkins. About 20 or so of them! They will be on the stand this weekend again, but in the interest of sustainability and education and permaculture, here is a link to a great web site with a recipe for making a real pie from them... http://www.pickyourown.org/pumpkinpie.php

God and Manure

God and manure have a lot in common. Some folks want nothing to do with it...yuck! Others will use it judiciuously, picking and choosing when and where and how to apply it to produce the results they want. And then some of us embrace it heartily, can't live without it and spread it around all over the place trusting it will be useful where ever it lands.

Well, we have gotten the big box down in back filled to the top and covered. That manure will sit until February or March when we'll spread it in the parts of the garden where we'll be growing all the produce which might touch it...beets, lettuce, etc. The taller crops can have fresher stuff without the risk of contamination. Then we will refill the bin for another application later in the year to recharge the soil after a couple cycles of plants have enjoyed it.

The principle is, of course, that you have to put in if you are going to take out. Just like relationships!

And here is a picture of our source of all manure! The pile is about 20 feet high with the extractor on top. We go as often as we can and they give us all we want free! Our 450 friends there who produce 50# / day each are still chugging along and making us all the happier for it!

Hoop House Happiness

Technical difficulties on loading the pictures onto my laptop. Stay tuned! And believe!

The hoop house has withstood 20 mile per hour winds with only one end on. Got the other built and on this evening, so now we are ready for the storms of winter...well...except for hail, I suppose.

How It Happens at The Open Gate Farm

And here is the latest newsletter that just went out today!


The Open Gate Farm
Camano Island, WA
August 24, 2009
How it Happens at The Open Gate Farm!

Dear Friends of the Farm:

Looked out the kitchen window this morning and there it was. Just past the raspberries looms a huge structure. White pipes bent in an arc and covered in thick plastic, our new hoop house is almost done. And we could not have done it alone.

Saturday about 40 folks we’ve known over the years…friends from the early 1980’s when we arrived in Kirkland who now live across the island in Madrona…friends from about all the churches we’ve attended in the last 25 years…friends from up the road and from down nearby lanes…friends from the produce stand…all showed up and helped us celebrate our coming of age by building a house for our plants and our future. It was very cool and a tip of the hat and a big hug of thanks to each of them. And the food they brought was pretty good too!

If you are curious, go visit our blog and there will be pictures galore from that sunny Saturday on the Island where laughter ruled and doubts were dispelled. And then when you come to visit the stand in the weeks remaining of the season, wander on down and see what it is all about. In a nutshell, we now have a 10’ x 20’ greenhouse, 9 feet tall (for growing tall plants) which will both extend the growing season for produce planted in the ground as well as provide benches and so forth for starting seedlings in the Spring.

Another dream come true at The Open Gate Farm. But you know, the real dream of Saturday was not the hoop house. It was the people. We could not have built that house alone, and that underlines that life cannot be lived alone. We must live in community to live completely. We must weave ourselves out of our isolation into the fabric of live with others, for together we can become far more than ever we could in solitude.

One person who has woven themselves into all our lives this summer has been our intern, Kathryn Norris. She arrived in May, eager and ready for learning and doing and living a great farmer’s life. She has done all that and more. She has rototilled and hoed and planted and transplanted and weeded by hand on her hands and knees and hustled up to the produce stand to meet and greet and answer questions and so also woven herself into the lives of you, our customers and friends.

You have eaten her breads, you have fed her “Snickers Snacks” to your dogs, you have teased her and laughed with her and you have accepted her. And that is what we are all about here at The Open Gate Farm. We are about encountering life and embracing it. We are about making memories for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren. We are about caring for each other, for our ducks and chickens, our cat and dog. And we are about accepting each other as the unique person God made us to be and we all are the richer for doing so. We are the richer for setting aside any differences and celebrating the things we hold in common.

And we hold in common the good things of this earth, of this land, of these small fields. We hold in common the appreciation for healthy foods and happy homes, for all that contributes to keeping us whole. Whether it is Kathryn’s Molassas Oatmeal bread or the tender lettuces or the beautiful beans, it is in that finding of wholeness that we find our true selves.

When you live on the land, you learn though that there are seasons. There are seasons to the year and to life. And the season of the summer with Kathryn is coming to a close. She is heading on to AFLBS, the Free Lutheran Bible School back in Minneapolis for the winter and this will be her last weekend with us.

We will miss her, and you will too. We all will miss her big smile and her dancing eyes, but most of all, her very large and loving heart. But just as we can look out and see the hoop house that love of friends built, so also we can look within and see the happiness that knowing Kathryn has built in our hearts and that we can carry through the winter ahead.

So when you come by for your last loaf of her lovely breads this weekend, do let her know how much you appreciate all she has done. And while your contrary farmer will try to have some breads in the weeks ahead, we all know they won’t be the same. His gnarly old hands won’t fold the dough and his glaring eyes won’t watch it rise and his tired nose won’t smell the doneness the same as Kathryn has this summer. It will be bread, but it won’t be Kathryn’s.

We’ll have that sweet Italianescher oak leaf lettuce out there alongside those huge Chiogga beets this weekend. We’ll have a few tomatoes that are just coming ripe now hanging out with those tastey Muncher cucumbers. But we’ll all be wistful and wishing it were June again and the summer was ahead of us.

And we’ll all be wondering how we will make it through the Harvest Jubilee on September 19th without our good friend. Oh, we’ll get by, but it would be more fun with her big smile to greet you! But the seasons are changing and life is moving forward and we will too.

Happy Hoeing,

Jon and Elaine the busy farmers, Snickers the snack happy dog, Mystery the lap cat, Jerry and Harley and their girls who are hiding eggs in the bushes, and of course, the ministry team of Parson Dudley Brown, DD, Quackers, Cheese, and Margaret the studious ducks who all live at

The Open Gate Farm
269 Russell Road,
Camano Island, WA 98282
360-387-4449
Email: tsgjon@aol.com
Blog: www.theopengatefarm.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M19128
Open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to dusk until September 19 or so. Or by appointment if you call 360-387-4449 first.

©2009 Internet Millennium Copywriter applies. May be reproduced without further permission if source is acknowledged.

More than fun!

Well, the hoop house is almost finished, thanks to 46 friends who showed up Saturday. We had the site graded (with our old 1951 tractor and box blade), covered with fresh cow manure, and then rototilled a couple three times.

Pictures are on their way...and will be posted soon!

If there is a better way to celebrate turning 60 than creating community and memories with a barn raising, we don't know what it would be!

But now we need to sit down and decide what will go into it. Visions of tall plants dance through our heads along with dreams of a dry place to pot plants for sale at the stand this winter. Hmmm.

Dog Days of Summer

The heat of July has faded into the lazy days of August here at The Open Gate Farm. We have gone from sheltering the lettuce from Summer's inferno to transplanting new baby lettuce plants as fast as we can.

The Harvest Jubilee is coming! September 19th, it will feature about 20 local farms. We are on the tour, of course, and have to make certain we will have something to sell on that crazy day. Our lettuce takes about 60 days to get full size, so these may be a bit small. But given enough warm days and lots of water, there is hope we have not missed the cycle.

Read about starting seeds in worm castings. Aha! We have a green plastic circular compost bin out back where for the last 9 years we have put most all our household wet garbage. Full of red worms, this is full of their castings too! I dug out a couple shovels full and spread it on top of one of the seed beds in the master garden. Absolutely amazing. Normally it takes from 6 to 10 days for lettuce to germinate and show their first baby leaves. I just checked and this latest set in the worm castings did it in 4 days flat.

Now to see if this cuts the time to maturity in half...or just gives them a head start. Stay tuned!

And just to make the day complete, here is a picture of Elaine enjoying quality time in the garden this afternoon.

And if you are wondering what you might see this weekend...



Flowers for sale!




Food for thought...Merlot is on the right.





Butter, Cinnamon, Raisins, Pecans...oh, and a touch of sugar...

So don't be shy! Come on by this weekend!

Snickers on a cooler day...

85 and climbing at The Open Gate Farm

Dear Friends of the Farm:

It’s hot. It’s really hot. The hens have gone on vacation they told us. We see them hanging out around the duck’s swimming pool hoping for swimming lessons but the ducks are hogging the water and won’t come out. It’s hot.

It’s really hot in the kitchen. It’s hot there because our intern, Kathryn, has decided to re-ignite the bread business. She’s gone through the bread books and selected some winning recipes. It must be good because the first person who stopped bought a loaf of the Sweet Land Oatmeal Molasses. And some Fougasse just came out of the oven. Torn apart and dipped in olive oil…excuse me while I got get some more!

Heat can lead to stress and we don’t like stress around here so yesterday morning, as the temperature streaked to the upper reaches, we hustled up some arches and covers for the lettuce. Now when you come up the hill on Russell Road, you can see all the rows of happy lettuce, parked in their white roofed carports. Those covers lowered the temperature of the soil a good 15 degrees. That has allowed us to put just a head of each variety on the stand (count them…7 different ones!) or we can go to the garden and pick you a fresh one that does not need to go in a wilted lettuce salad.

On a sadder note, we must pass along that our dearly beloved male Indian Runner duck, Chai, is no longer with us. We think it was a wandering raccoon around sunset who did him in. From the huge cloud of feathers, he put up a pretty good tussle, allowing the girls to get away to safety in the chicken house. We miss him a lot. He was a real gentleman and kindness was his middle name. If you know of anyone with a spare male Indian Runner Duck who has impeccable manners, please let us know.

And we have, thanks to the suggestion of a customer, put a table up at the stand for you to set your selections on. Now you don’t have to set your bags on the ground as you continue your selecting of the finest produce we’ve ever raised! Keep those ideas for improvements coming! We can’t think of them all ourselves!

Spinach is now on the stand. Green leaves of health. Just stand there and look at them and you’ll feel the iron and minerals flowing into your body and giving color and tone to your skin that you’ve not seen since high school. O.K. You do have to eat it first. But it’s really tastey raw in a salad or steamed with a hint of vinegar over it. Just like with the beet greens! Lots of them are ready now too. Some even have the baby beets hanging on still so there you get a bonus!

Did you know that chard is a beet without a bottom? A couple years of breeding to get the stalks and leaves like they are, but by golly it’s full of health and strength for you too!

And for the young at heart…we have some Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookies out. We substituted a few things so these taste really healthy too. Virtue and sin in the same bite. It can’t get better than this! At 50 cents each or 3 for a buck, you’ll be seen as virtuous by your family if you show up with a handful for dessert tonight!

Well, time to go find some shade and wait out this heat wave. If you can come over, we’d love to see you. If not, save your pennies until you can so you’ll be able to fill your tables with outstanding organic, certified naturally grown produce, and fresh home made bread that will leave your neighbors impressed, your in-laws jealous, and your family satisfied.

Happy Hoeing,

Jon and Elaine and Mr. Snickers, Mystery the quiet cat, Jerry and Harley and the girls from the egg department, and of course, DD, Quackers, and Cheese the sad but water loving ducks

The Open Gate Farm
269 Russell Road,
Camano Island, WA 98282
360-387-4449
Email: tsgjon@aol.com
Blog: www.theopengatefarm.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M19128
Open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to dusk until September 19 or so. Or by appointment if you call 360-387-4449 first.

©2009 Internet Millennium Copywriter applies. May be reproduced without further permission if source is acknowledged.

What is red?

While cruising through the Pike Place Market yesterday in Seattle, it struck me that the world seems to view lettuce as having only two colors. Green or red. But like so much of commercial food, what is presented is only a shadow of what should be. Their idea of red is really green but with a red tinge to the tips of the leaves.

In Vermont, along about September, the maple and oaks and elms begin to change the colors of their leaves. It starts at the tips as the chlorophyl dies and the minerals which have been there all along reveal their reds and yellows and oranges. But at that stage, we don't refer to them as being red or yellow or orange. We say they have started to change but are not yet in their full glory.

So why do we accept lettuce that has only the tips of the leaves red as being red lettuce? Shouldn't the whole leaf be red? Like the Merlot lettuce we have on the stand now? Or the Rougette de Montpelier? When you come to the garden in the evening and the light is fading, the Merlot has an unearthly glow to it. It sits next to it's green friends and looks like burgundy wax figures. That is red lettuce. The stuff that has a touch of red on the tips of the leaves is not.

Rolling along at the Farm

The Rolls Took a 90 Degree Turn!

Dear Friends of the Farm:

Cinnamon rolls are simple to make. Mix up some dough, roll it out, cover it with butter, sugar, cinnamon, sprinkle on the nuts and raisins, roll it up, cut the log into pieces, put in the baking dish, let rise, bake, frost, and enjoy! Hah! It is simple until you don’t do it all winter and you fire up the oven in the Spring and follow the recipe and they don’t come out right. For some reason, the first batch took over 2 hours to rise and then were still too small. Tweak the yeast and they began to rise faster. But still too small. Until Friday. Then they blossomed into the big, soft, sweet cinnamon rolls of last year.

The key, you see, was to take the 15” x 25” flattened out sheet of dough, covered with butter, smothered in cinnamon and brown sugar, starred with chopped pecans and organic raisins, and roll it not along the 25” dimension, but along the 15” side. The log we sliced into rolls became 12 rolls, not 16 or so and that made all the difference. We took a 90 degree turn and found the big ones again.

So if you were not impressed with the first rolls of the season, be assured we weren’t either! But we think you will be now. They are big, full of sweetness and sin, and the lemon butter icing completes a snack that will fill not only your tummy, but your heart as well. And be assured, we have written the critical changes on the recipe this time!

Lots of new will be at the stand this weekend! The sweet Sucrine Romaine lettuce is ready. They are a solid head of small leafed romaine lettuce which makes a wonderful salad. Break out your favorite Caesar dressing and get ready for some pleasure. The Bibb is ready too and if you are fast, you may be able to get one of the favorites from last year…Canasta Brasiliana. Canasta is a large head of green leaves with red tinged edges that holds in the fridge for weeks and never loses its flavor. As it grows, it begins as a leaf lettuce and when fully mature has a small head in the middle. The best of both worlds!

Radishes! These bright shining balls of red and white are going to be rolling across the stand and into your bags this weekend too! Just like last year, they will be 50 cents per bunch, or 2 bunches for a dollar. Change is available in the green box like last year too. Color has come to the salads at last!

To paraphrase Mayor Daley of Chicago’s comment on voting…come early, come often. The best lettuce is the freshest and that is first thing in the mornings. Once it has sat for a couple hours, these heirloom lettuces can become a bit stressed. To improve your dining pleasure, we have instituted a new rule. If you want a fresher head, we can go to the garden together and get you one. Don’t think you are insulting us by asking (in case we are so busy listening to your stories of winter survival we don’t offer). We want you to have the best and we’ll walk the extra mile to do it. Or in this case, the 200 feet to the garden!

We are delighted that Kathryn Norris has joined us for the summer. This charming young lady has what it takes to become a world class farmer and we are tickled to help her on this journey. She will be greeting you in the stand, giving tours, answering questions, and weeding when you’re not looking. She has already made a great dent in the buttercup population around here. It gives us hope that maybe we’ll win the battle after all! It will be a bittersweet Fall, when she returns to Bible School in Minneapolis. But until then, we’re mighty glad she’s here!

Well, it’s time to let the chickens and ducks out into the rainy morning, then gather the eggs. And Snickers is ready to go give the rabbit who has moved in under the lumber crib out back a lesson in staying out of the garden.

Have a great week and we hope to see you at the stand this weekend, hauling home the finest produce we can produce!

Happy Hoeing,

Jon and Elaine and Professor Snickers, Mystery the curious cat, Jerry and Harley and the girls from the egg department, and of course, Chai, DD, Quackers, and Cheese the rain loving ducks

The Open Gate Farm
269 Russell Road,
Camano Island, WA 98282
360-387-4449
Email: tsgjon@aol.com
Blog: www.theopengatefarm.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M19128
Open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to dusk until September 19 or so. Or by appointment if you call 360-387-4449 first.

©2009 Internet Millennium Copywriter applies. May be reproduced without further permission if source is acknowledged.

Lettuce Stand Together!

The Open Gate Farm
Camano Island, WA
May 13, 2009
Lettuce stand together!

Dear Friends of the Farm:

Thank you one and all for a great opening day weekend! It was bigger and better than last year and a real joy. Make new friends, but keep the old, as they say. And the gathering of old friends and hearing these dear people in the garden talking about trips and cures and healthy foods was a great pleasure as was the warm reception to the lettuce. The red leafed butterheads were particularly favored.

And the new friends! We may see them only once a year when they come up for the art tour on Mother’s Day Weekend, but they too have stories to tell. We sure gave a lot of tours to out of towners who promise to return next year. It is fun to become part of someone’s tradition. And the lettuce left town with them too. Lots of it.

And the lettuce may be going faster. It may have been a mistake, but we sent the Stanwood/Camano News a press release announcing the opening of our produce stand and by golly, they printed it! Uh oh. This could be a long three days! But we can crank out cinnamon rolls pretty fast and other bread stuffs to fill in when we run out of lettuce…or, in the words of that famous French Queen, “Let them eat rhubarb!”.

Finally got the rhubarb weeded and freed from the grasp of the buttercups. Those guys are on the Washington State Department of Agriculture list of noxious weeds. Wouldn’t think so, with their pretty maple leaf shaped leaves and charming bright yellow flowers. But their roots are many and go up to three inches deep, wrapping themselves tightly around the rhubarb crowns and choking the poor dears to death. Only way to get rid of them is to pull them or use chemicals and being Certified Naturally Grown, the latter is out of the question around here. So, dig and wrench, dig and wrench, dig and wrench. Got about a pickup load full of the rascals!

There are three plants we do not allow here. Buttercup, Scotch Broom, and wild mint. We have found that putting a gallon of vinegar in the hand pump sprayer and hitting the buttercup kills the leaves. We have to make several applications as new ones come on until the roots finally run out of energy. And it seems to be the same with the Scotch Broom. So if you are driving by and you see one of us out with a sprayer, don’t worry. We are not using Roundup or any of the other ugly guys. Just the same vinegar you can put on your Ark lettuce you just bought at the stand. Mint, by the way, we pull easily and put in the trash to get it off the property.

The weather has been cool and rainy these last few days, but that has helped the lettuce hang in there and not bolt. We’ll take a measuring stick out and let you know the results, but some of those speckled Ark butterheads are at least a foot across.

And this is the weekend for the first of the Bibb lettuces! Ate one last week and discovered the core was sweeter than the leaves. So on to the stand it goes to accompany the Ark, Capitan, Bergams, Merlot, and Montpelier.

Made up some rhubarb sauce by taking a stalk, whacking it into pieces, putting a bit of water and sugar in the pot and cooking it on medium and low until it was mush. Poured warm over cold vanilla ice cream, it gave a reward that made all the hours of pulling buttercup worthwhile. And you get to enjoy it without so much as touching a trowel! Still $1.50 / lb and worth twice that.

Swallows, the violet-green variety, have finally moved into the little green roofed “Heidi” style birdhouse our son, Adam, and his wife, Joscelyn, gave us many years ago. Normally the swallow family takes up residence in one of the regular bird houses around the post from this one, but the English Sparrows beat them to those digs this year. Looks like it’s time for the house building to begin again. We like having the swallows with us. They show up each Spring just as the bugs become a bother and to watch them sweep and swoop across the lawn in the evening is to see poetry in motion. And fewer bugs at the end of the evening.

Well, come by when you can, for you won’t bug us. Not even with your questions. There are no silly questions here for we had to ask them ourselves once!

Happy Hoeing,

Jon and Elaine and Snickers the bird watching farm dog, Mystery the curious cat, Jerry and Harley and the girls from the egg department, and of course, Chai, DD, Quackers, and Cheese the bug gobbling ducks

The Open Gate Farm
269 Russell Road,
Camano Island, WA 98282
360-387-4449
Open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to dusk until September 19 or so. Or by appointment if you call 360-387-4449 first.

©2009 Internet Millennium Copywriter applies. May be reproduced without further permission if source is acknowledged.

Opening Day is almost here!

The Open Gate Farm

Camano Island, WA

May 3, 2009

Opening the Stand This Thursday!

Dear Friends of the Farm:

There is something magical about “opening day”. Yesterday was “opening day” of the boating season down in Seattle. Parades of boats chugging past tens of thousands of eager watchers, music, dance, food, port-a-potties…all the elements for excitement and entertainment and exhaustion were present. But when the kiddies are tucked in and the parents collapse, it is generally agreed a good time was had by all and Summer has officially arrived here in the Northwest.

Here on the farm, however, yesterday was spent weeding and planting and digging and watering and running to the store for more paint and supplies and then collapsing at the end of the day. For you see, our “Opening Day” will be this Thursday. For us, this is the day the stand gets launched upon the ocean of hope. It is the day that the lettuce we planted back in January takes center stage and is paraded out for your purchase. It is the day the most tender rhubarb of the season is gently plucked and set out for you to make into sauces, pies, cakes, cookies and for us to run out of fresh eggs from the ladies down in back. It is the day we start giving tours and hear the stories of what you all have done over the winter.

It is also the day before 29 artists here on our little island open their studios to the public for tours. This Mother’s Day Weekend event is well publicized, for which we are grateful, for our little 2 acres is located on a main road for their traffic. So when you come up to see the paintings and pottery, stop in and pick up some Ark or Capitan butterhead lettuce. And some Merlot lettuce to add color and character to your salads. Pick up some rhubarb to make into a sauce to pour over vanilla ice cream. And come walk about the farm, see the new chicken run and meet the ducks who came to live with us over the winter. They want to hear your stories too.

But leave your dogs in the cars. Snickers wants all your attention too.

This Spring, there has been a rising note of anxiety in the agricultural press regarding food safety. We too, are concerned that no one gets sick from eating anything we provide. Toward that end, we have spent time this winter just past studying up on this issue. We’ve never heard of anyone getting sick from our food, but we have changed a few practices here to enhance that level of safety for you.

Bad bugs come from two sources primarily. One is animals (wild ones like deer, especially). The other is cleanliness. We addressed both of these last year and enhanced our security measures this year again.

Fencing in the garden has eliminated the deer and rabbit salad bar. You will notice it is a tall net fence along Lake Grove. It has been up for over a year and we have not seen it broached yet. The fence on the yard side is lower, and made of wire. But the 2” square openings are too small for even a rabbit. We know because we saw Peter try one evening this week and he left with an empty shopping basket. And we are in the process of installing fencing along Lake Grove Road which will keep the chickens home and stray animals out of the yard as well.

Cleanliness. No matter whether you buy your food from us or up at the store, you must wash it before you eat it. We rinse ours all off here before putting it out for purchase, but that is more for looks than for a guarantee of sanitation. Shiny carrots sell better than muddy ones. If you want to munch a radish on the way home, we suggest you wait. But we are putting in better washing facilities down in the garden, and looking at how to keep the produce hydrated on the stand.

Because many of our items are heirloom, they tend to be tender and fragile and don’t stay crisp and fresh as long as the pesticide grown ones from stores do. This means we don’t pick as much at one time and we need to keep them chilled and sprinkled during the heat of the day. When you think of how often the sprayers go off in the stores which are air conditioned, then you’ll understand why shade and cool breezes are important to our efforts.

One other point of interest may be the manure we use. While it comes from happy cows, it is still cow manure and we use it liberally around here. But this year, we are following the guidelines we found. We built that big composting box for reason. We filled it last fall and monitored the temperature to make sure it spent 3 days at over 170 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the temperature that kills salmonella. Additionally, it sat for over 90 days, the time by which it has been established bad bugs die in compost. Only then does it get spread on the ground and dug in to feed the food we eat.

This is actually a good thing. The composting process takes time because the manure and wood chips and straw rot down and are converted into a form which is far easier for the plant roots to absorb. That is why lettuce fed composted manure will outgrow lettuce grown in fresh manure every time. And time is what this is all about.

We just ran across a note from last year. It seems when we planted some radishes between a couple rows of lettuce, that lettuce grew twice as fast as the ones without radishes by their feet. Don’t know why…but we’re going to trundle out to the garden and see if it works again this year. The “why” may make a good research project for Kathryn, our intern, when she gets here.

Several of our readers do not have high speed internet access. To keep their lives free from the boredom of long downloads, we do not include pictures with these newsletters. However, we have started a blog, thanks to our son, Adam, and his patient tutoring of the old woodchuck. You can visit it at www.theopengatefarm.blogspot.com where there are pictures and more articles. It will not be replacing this newsletter, but augmenting it. You will also find this newsletter there, if you want to pass the blog address along to friends.

Blogging is not, however, high on the list of activities of Snickers, our small farm dog. He has been very busy lately, supervising the work around here. His extraordinary digging skills are evident in the lawn and flower beds which by now should be pretty much rock free. He does like to run past the chickens at top speed and has figured out exactly how close he can come to them so they will be startled but not scream which gets him into trouble. And he is always ready to guide the squirrels back up their tree and point Peter back to his hole in the sun filled grove of trees by the back lane.

It’s been a good winter, a delightful spring, and if you folks come by for a visit, the summer will be excellent. Hope to see you soon!

Happy Hoeing,

Jon and Elaine and Snickers the hustling farm dog, Mystery the sleepy farm cat, Jerry and Harley and the girls from the girl choir, and of course, Chai, DD, Quackers, and Cheese the dog watching ducks

The Open Gate Farm

269 Russell Road,

Camano Island, WA 98282

360-387-4449

Opening Thursday, May 7^th!!!

©2009 Internet Millennium Copywriter applies. May be reproduced without further permission if source is acknowledged. As always, if you no longer wish to receive these periodic notices from The Open Gate Farm, let us know and we will remove your name from our email list. And if someone sent this on to you and you want to add your name, let us know that too!

Follow Your Ducks and Chickens

Follow Your Ducks and Chickens

On our 2 acre farm, we have 22 chickens and 4 ducks who get to wander in the sunlight and in the rain during the day. They gang up by the door to their run in the mornings, ready to rush out to see what God has hidden in the grass and around the rocks for them while they slept. Then, after a full day of work, they return to their coop at night, find their way to their perches and nests and talk with each other about the adventures they’ve had.

Each night, after the sun has set, we go down to their coop to shut the door of protection on them. And once it is shut, we look at them through the wire walls and say aloud, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Thy love stay with me through the night and wake me with the morning light! Amen.”

And each night, while the prayer is said, the chicken chatter fades away and when silence finally falls, Chai, the Daddy duck, gives a soft “quack, quack”. His agreeing “amen”. And all is quiet in the coop.

Are we even as good as a chicken? Going forth in the morning to find the goodness our Good Master has provided and then returning to the roost when our day is done and our time in the light is over? Are we even as good as a chicken to share the good news with those around us as we settle down to rest? And can we be even so good as a duck, that when our Good Master gives us a loving benediction at the end of our day, we hear Him and say an “amen” of agreement?

Perhaps we should do that tonight. Perhaps we should stretch our wings as we lay in bed and then rest them, listening for the Good Master and agreeing with Him with a quiet “quack, quack”.

The March to Mother's Day Weekend

Rhubarb has always been our strong suit, going into Mother's Day Weekend. Here on Camano Island, the chills of the last frost have faded and the sunlight is pulling leaves and stalks to new heights. Once again we will have 3 and possibly 4 varieties ready. Victoria, the farm garden favorite for flavor, Cherry, the more colorful, Pie Plant, the sweetest yet, and McIntyre, the heirloom from Zilwaukee.

If you look at the pictures below, you will see another addition to the stand for opening day! Lettuce finally got planted in time and now, 80 days later, you will be able to chomp on the finest, healthiest lettuce of your life on Mother's Day Weekend.

Most folks buy one of four kinds of lettuce...head, red leaf, green leaf, and romaine. Here, we don't raise or sell the head lettuce because there is no nutritional value to it. But of the others...oh my! Would you like the really red "Merlot"? or the red tinged "Canasta"? And Bergam's Green is matched with a soft butterhead called "Capitan". Romaine? How about "Sucrine" the sweet or "Osterly" the upright?
Ark Butterhead Merlot Red Leaf Bergam's Green Leaf
It goes on, but for now, feast your eyes on the pictures until you can come by and feast in person at The Open Gate Farm!
Happy Hoeing,
Jon and Elaine Stevens

Back on the hoe again

Spring has finally found hope springing up in the gardens here at The Open Gate Farm. We have, in just this last week, seen the apricot bloom it’s tiny blooms along the branches and the fruitless plums by our bedroom window burst forth in their songs of joy. Elaine’s flowers are finally bringing bright color to the corners of our yard. Yellow, purple, pink…refreshing and encouraging. Vegetables are up and Spring is busting out all over and we’re only 3 weeks late, based on when the forsythia bloomed last year!

In the food department, the rhubarb has little wrinkled leaves and short stalks so tender it seems a strong breeze might break them. The lettuce under glass in the cold frame is at that age of temptation. That is to say, we fight hard the temptation to pick some for our first home grown salad of the year. If we can just hold out for another week or two, one head will feed two of us, rather than two heads feeding only one person! It’s not easy!

And the beets are up! Their little wispy heads are all in a row, green leaves opening to the sky and sun…and rain and frost too…and ready some summer day to become baked and roasted and bbq’d and pickled and just generally enjoyed. Red, white, and gold…it’s going to be a good year for beets it seems.

So this Easter weekend, we have been hard at it in the garden. A bit of weeding, a lot of rototilling, and then the careful transplanting of more lettuce, while the fennel, basil, tomatoes, and all those beautiful plants which will lead to luscious lunches all summer await their turn.

We got the fence up around the garden today too. One chicken did sneak through the gate and when chased, ran to where last year’s hole was. When it was not there, then she really panicked! But slipping through a gap, she raced off to tell the sisters there is no hope of getting any more worms from those lovely rototilled rows. We fixed the gap.

On days like this though, there are always times we pause and look at the impossible long rows to be weeded and wonder, “Why are we doing this? This is crazy! All this shoveling and digging and hauling and sweating and aching all for a head of lettuce we can get up at the store? We must be out of our minds!”.

So we take a break and go lift the glass off the first lettuces we transplanted several weeks ago. The Ark butterheads are already reaching broad hands across their aisles, shaking hands with each other and shading out any weeds. The Capitan is pointing long fingers in every direction, while the Merlot has a most brilliant green at the base of its leaves, hiding behind the deep and luscious burgundy ruffles that bring visual substance to a Springtime salad. But also there is a glow to them. A glow of health, of happiness, of the sheer joy of being alive in this place and at this time.

A glow we look forward to putting on your plates in the summer to come. And a glow you will see on the faces of your family when you put produce from The Open Gate Farm in front of them for dinner.

Have a blessed Easter and remember, we all have so much for which to be grateful!

Happy Hoeing,

Jon and Elaine and Snickers the mellow farm dog, Mystery the thoughtful cat, Jerry and Harley and the girls from the egg factory, and of course, Chai, DD, Quackers, and Cheese the mud hustling ducks

The Open Gate Farm

269 Russell Road,

Camano Island, WA 98282

360-387-4449

Officially closed for the season except by appointment! But May is just around the corner! - We have lots of eggs available if you do want to pop by now!

©2009 Internet Millennium Copywriter applies. May be reproduced without further permission if source is acknowledged.