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.

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