Welcome back!

   Well, that was a long break from posting.  In the interim a lot has gone on.  We stopped the CSA, had another child, moved into microgreen production, and started selling direct to restaurants.  We are breaking in new land at the moment to expand our volume.  Most of our production is greens right now.  As the spring moves other items will be added.  I am looking forward to another season here at Silbaugh Family Farms, and hope you will join us in enjoying the fresh veggies grown on the Enumclaw plateau.

   Our plans for the future farming here are many.  We will be selling at Seattle farmers markets, continuing to develop our restaurant and chef relationships, and working at restarting our CSA for a winter greens season.  We anticipate putting up some new poly-tunnels for winter green production.  We will also add indoor grown shoots as well.  We have been growing shoots for our own use for a couple years now, and they are quite tasty.  We enjoy the sunflower and pea shoots together very much, they make a wonderful fresh and local produced salad when little will grow outdoors.  The mix sells for $15 a pound, so pick some up and enjoy!

  Have a great day, and thanks!

Joseph

Hiking last summer at Rattlesnake Ridge

Little Break

Things got pretty busy for a while.  Sick kids, going through seed catalogs and getting orders together, planning the space out for planting, and life in general.  There will be more updates on the toms as  we get them planted and watch them grow into adult life, pictures, taste updates, etc.

   What else will we be planting?  LOTS!  I am still going through all the lettuce and green types trying to get orders for those together so we can send them out as well.  I will be planting Cos, Arugula, Swiss Chard, Butterhead, Mesclun, Romain, Victoria, and more.

  We currently have chickens, but will be buying more to add to our flock.  We are looking into getting Araucana chickens because of the lovely blue and green eggs they lay.  We will also be buying meat chickens for sale, so if you would like to get an order in let us know!  The sale price will be $4.50 per pound for our pasture raised beauties.  We will be doing on farm processing, and because of regulations all chickens must be picked up on the farm.  No selling at the farmers markets, which is too bad really.  If it is safe to sell the processed chickens on the farm, why can we not take the same chickens to the market?  Just another of the thousands of regulations that tie our hands in how we live our lives.  I would prefer a more live and let live method, fewer regulations and let the consumer make their own choices about where their food comes from.

I Heart Tomatoes!

   There is nothing like the taste of a freshly picked, fully ripened tomato.  It is one of my favorite things to eat right in the field.  There is simply no comparing a fresh tomato to what you can buy in the store.
   First off the store tomato is picked well before it has ripened so that it can survive its' hundreds of miles of transporting without spoiling.  A fresh tomato, mere hours off of the vine has a much different taste.  While a tomato continues to ripen once picked, its' sugars do not develop as well as they do left to ripen on the vine.  So the fruit loses some of that luscious sweetness, and never fully develops the complexity and depth of taste that make it such a gratifying and delicious taste experience.
   Another thing to consider is the type of tomato that the stores sell has been selected for qualities other than having a great taste.  It keeps well, doesn't bruise despite being handled roughly, and looks uniform.  When tomatoes are selected for qualities that reflect how they taste in your mouth you do not grow the same types.  You look for a fruit that fills your mouth with something that isn't bland and wooden, but gives you that complex dance between the sweetness and the taste we identify as tomato, earthy and piquant.

   To thoroughly celebrate the wide range and variety of visual and taste sensations that can be achieved by the tomato we will be growing 15 different varieties so our farm partners(you) can fully explore what this fruit has to offer.  I will introduce you to them a few at a time over the following days.  Today we will examine the Cherokee Purple, the Green Zebra, and the Pineapple.

    The Cherokee Purple is an heirloom tomato, which means it is an older variety that has not been used in mass production farming.  This variety is said to be over 100 years old and was grown by the Cherokee Indians, which is the tribe I belong to.  The color, as you can see, has a dark purple undertone that spreads through the red.  It is a sweet tomato, with a rich, smokey overtone that many really enjoy.  It is frequently voted as one of the most tasty tomatoes around.  Watch for this one to ripen from the end of June throughout the summer, because you won't want to miss tasting this beauty.

   The Green Zebra is a a very intense tomato experience, sweet with a slightly tart aftertaste that many enjoy.  The coloring make this tomato stand out.  Yellow tops sliding down to green bottoms, like someone poured paint on the top and it dripped down the sides, very pretty.  This is another one you just have to try, you will enjoy the experience.  This one first ripens around the same time as the Cherokee Purple.

   This one is called the Pineapple tomato.  You can tell why by looking at its golden coloring.  It has a very nice taste, with a low acid and fruity flavor that compliments is smooth texture in your mouth.  This one is a very large tomato weighing in at over two pounds sometimes.  This one first ripens a little later than the other two, but it is worth the wait!  Try these beauties when we get to the farmers market, you will not regret the decision.

Our First Farm!

Our field and the pasture next to it during a winter freeze.

 
   We will soon be breaking ground on our two acres of planned vegetable and fruit.  We have allowed the field to fallow the past year, letting the soil rest from the previous work it has done as grazing land.  The first thing we will do is to get the land plowed up and then disced so that the soil is as weed free and ready as possible when we lay down our first transplants and seeds.  We are in the midst of ordering our varieties for the coming season.  We are planning on 15 different tomato types, 3 cucumber types, several beans, peas, garlic, potatoes, herbs, lettuces, strawberries, raspberries, eggplant, and many others.  It is an exciting time, the buildup to spring has begun and soon it will feel like there is never enough time in the day to get everything done!