Boot Camp!

Here’s the latest in Fahrmeier Farm Fashion. This boot is a part of our Spring 2011 line. We like it because it’s versatile for indoor and outdoor usage. It comes in black and only black…which is fine because everyone knows that black goes with everything!

So here’s what really happened... Real life work happens on real life farms like ours. Yesterday, Bret and Ron were fixing a broken waterline. Everything went well in fixing the line until after that job was complete. Bret was doing some watering in the greenhouse when he noticed the pressure was a little low. He headed up to the winery production facility to check to make sure all the water was turned back on and working at the appropriate levels. As he jumped into one of the pits his foot slipped on a piece of misplaced PVC pipe. Sending him flying in the air like a scene from the movie “Home Alone” and leaving him with a severe sprain and this cool looking boot that he gets to sport for a couple weeks. The good news is that you can’t keep a good man down and time is ticking to get the rest of the seeds planted for our growing season.

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During the winter we get to experiment in the kitchen a lot more than in the busy summers. Plus cooking is one our favorite ways to spend time together as a family. Whether it’s a meal for two or 10, spending time in the kitchen means valuable time. A couple weeks ago we hosted a going away dinner for a close family friend of ours, Justin, who actually left today for basic training for the United States Army. When planning this special dinner, I wanted to make something familiar yet special and this recipe certainly did the trick! Plus there comes a point in time during the winter months that you just can’t handle cooking ANOTHER pot of soup. We like it but there is such a thing of too much of a good thing.

Being the “foodie’s” that we tend to be, I saw this recipe being prepared on the Food Network by none other than the super dreamy, bongo playing Matthew McConaughey. Yes, someone that has a more complicated last name than Fahrmeier! It’s called JKL Pork Loin- JKL standing for Just Keep Livin’. I made a few amendments to suit our taste buds and it turned out really tasty! Check it out below and make it for a special dinner soon. It truly was a snap to make and the lack of leftovers was a sure sign of a new family favorite too.

Thanks to Justin and the all of the other service men and women for making the choice to defend our freedoms! Also, here's a pic of the loin heading into the oven. We were so eager to eat it when it came out that we forgot to take and after photo too.

JKL Pork Loin… Fahrmeier Style

Ingredients

• 5 cloves garlic (or a little more… I did)
• 3 teaspoons coarse sea salt, divided
• 3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I added a ½ teaspoon-we like spice!)
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (add this to the rub mixture)
• 1 (3-pound) pork loin roast, trussed
• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 zucchini, cut into 8 half-moon pieces
• 2 summer squash, cut into 8 half-moon pieces
• 2 carrots, washed and cut into 8 pieces
• 3 tomatoes, quartered (we aren’t fans of roasted tomatoes and they aren’t very tasty this time of year so I added ¼ cup tomato paste to the pesto to mix in with the veggies)
• 2 medium red potatoes, quartered
• 1 cup store-bought pesto
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil (olive oil is king in our home)
• 1/2 cup white wine, plus more if needed (make sure it’s dry white)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock, plus more if needed
• 3 tablespoons butter

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
In a mortar and pestle or a small food processor, combine the garlic, 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt, 2 teaspoons black pepper, cayenne, rosemary, olive oil and sugar and pound together until a thick paste forms. Rub evenly over the pork roast.
Remove the V-rack from a large roasting pan and fill the pan with the prepared vegetables. Add in the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, pesto, oil, wine, and chicken stock. Toss together with your hands to combine evenly.
Return the V-rack to the roasting pan, centered over the vegetables, place the pork roast on top, and place in the oven.
Cook for 30 minutes at 425 degrees F, and then lower to 325 degrees F for 1 hour, turning the pork roast over after 30 minutes to brown the other side. Baste with the juices from the roasting pan 2 to 3 times throughout the hour. Remove from the oven when the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F. Place on a cutting board, tent lightly with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
Remove the vegetables to a large serving platter and tent with foil to keep warm. Place the roasting pan on the stove over medium-high heat and bring the pan juices to a boil, whisking. Add more wine and chicken stock, if needed, and reduce until slightly thickened, 5 minutes. Whisk in the butter and adjust seasoning, to taste.
Slice the pork thinly on a slight bias and serve with the jus and vegetables.

Everything was going according to plan until...

It wouldn't be life on the farm if we didn't have a few setbacks every once in a while. After all, it is just like I said- LIFE ON THE FARM! We can only plan so much.
For example, we laid field tile back in early December to help us increase our growing abilities in our tunnels, we cleaned up in and around our packing shed, replaced a water line, ordered seeds and planted them in the greenhouse too.
All was going as planned until yesterday when the hot water heater in our greenhouse decided to hibernate...for the rest of its life. Without the heater our seedlings won't grow which in turn won't allow us to have an early crop of fresh vegetables or a crop at all for that matter.
The cool thing about being farmers is that we are used to ever changing situations and making the best of what we have at hand. After trying to bring the old heater back to life, we made the decision to replace the heater so we could get back on track.
With that, tonight the seedlings are tucked away in warmer conditions so they can continue to grow into healthy vegetables to enjoy and sell to our customers. If you're interested in trying our vegetables I might suggest that you purchase a CSA share from our farm. Its a great way to try the variety of crops we grow. Here's a link to the information.

Baby It's Cold Outside... Better Start Planning for CSA's!

Well we survived another hectic holiday season and it's time to start preparing for our Spring planting schedule.
Last year was our first year of selling CSA shares. Oh what a learning experience that was but while we were learning we also had a lot of fun getting to know our cool customers so we decided to offer it again this year.
For those of you who aren't familiar with a CSA, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it's an great way to buy local, fresh fruits and vegetables from farmers directly.
We enjoy the program because it gives us the chance to get to know our customers and it allows us to educate more people about what we are passionate about... Agriculture. The Local Harvest website is an excellent resource to help you find a farmer in your area. Of course if you live in the greater Kansas City area we'd love for you to consider purchasing a CSA from us!

Here is a link to our 2011 contract if you're interested. Cheers to a great New Year ahead!

Now I lay me down to sleep...

We’re just doing a little “bed time” prayer around here. While we enjoy having a break in the winter, it’s always kind of bittersweet to take the high tunnels down in the fall. By the end of the week, all tunnels will be “put to bed” for the winter, all crops will be taken out, the soil will be worked and cover crops will be planted. Since it’s close to Thanksgiving, we always like to remember the things we are thankful for this time of year. Thankful for a bountiful crop, our great customers, the hard working field laborers and our strong able bodies, that by the way really need a good message right now... Here are a couple shots of the empty tunnels. At least we've had beautiful weather to work outside in. Oh how we’ll miss those tomatoes!

Have Pumpkins, Will Cook!

Fall is one of our favorite times of the year here. It means one, that we survived another growing season (praise the Lord!) two, we can slow down a little from the long last few months and three, it’s getting cooler outside so it’s time to bake and cook! Let’s face it, there’s nothing better than a house filled with the aroma of fresh baked goodies.

Halloween marks the end of pumpkin season for us and in usual Fahrmeier tradition; we must try a new different recipe using our bounty of produce. We made a stew in one of our pumpkins and used other homegrown ingredients for the stew. While at first I admit, I thought it was going to be a pain. Much to my surprise and Bret’s pleasure it was lots of fun and the end result was very delightful! We shared this pumpkin stew treat with family and needless to say, they were impressed! We found that the pumpkin adds creaminess to the stew and to boot it didn’t add any extra fat. Give it a shot, especially if you have left over pumpkins that need to be put to use. I added some thyme and a little extra garlic to our stew. Here’s a shot of the beauty baking in our oven- thank you GE for baking it to perfection!

Ingredients
• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 1 cup water
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 large green pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 pumpkin (10 to 12 pounds)

Directions
• In a Dutch oven, brown meat in 2 tablespoons oil. Add water, potatoes, carrots, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Stir in bouillon and tomatoes. Wash pumpkin; cut to 6 to 8 in. circle around top stem. Remove top and set aside; discard seeds and loosen fibers from inside.
• Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan. Spoon stew into pumpkin and replace top. Brush outside of pumpkin with remaining oil. Bake at 325° for 2 hours or just until the pumpkin is tender (do not overbake). Serve stew from pumpkin, scooping out a little pumpkin with each serving. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Well it has been a super summer to say the least. So super that blog updates kind of, well did, come to a halt for over a month… work has continued at the farm as the pumpkins are ready, tomatoes are winding down and grape harvest is in full swing.

We’ve been hosting groups of kindergarten kids from the Kansas City area as well as Richmond and Higginsville to talk to them about where their food comes from. We simply don’t know where teachers get their energy! After corralling the large groups of kiddos for a few days we all need a nap! It’s been a lot of fun having new visitors on the farm though. It’s cool to see the expressions on their faces when they see pumpkins growing in a field or get to pick and eat tomatoes straight from the plant. We tend to take simple things like the fore granted and it reminds us to be thankful for our many blessings we have.

With apple harvest in full swing in our area here’s a yummy and very simple recipe I found on The Pioneer Woman’s website. If you’ve never read her blog before a visit to it is very much worth it! The recipe is for mini apple dumplings and get this, you use Mountain Dew as a part of the sauce. It had to be tried! Here is the link to the recipe. Supper may have to be skipped tonight and we’ll just go onto dessert. That is the best part after all!   

Fahrmeier's Tomato Day 2010

Tomato Day 2010 is this Saturday! There is a small gate fee of only $5 but from 5-7 p.m. you will enjoy tomato tastings, food samples from fabulous area chefs, a buffet dinner that will be out of this world good, games for kids, music, plus beer and wine. Bring your friends and have fun with us! If you’re not familiar with our location, the farm is right off 24 hwy about 2 miles west of Lexington MO. Our buffet dinner will be prepared by Bradley Gilmore, manager of Trezomare Restaurant located at Briarcliff Village in North Kansas City. Here’s what’s will be on it:

Pulled Pork
Spaghetti Squash with a tomato vegetable sauce
Fresh Fruit Salad
Slaw
Potato Salad
Tomato Salad…of course!
Green Beans with Onions

All that for only $10! Along with our excellent buffet we will also have tastings from Yummy’s Choice, The Tasteful Olive, Trezomare Restaurant, No Name Restaurant from Lexington MO, Green Dirt Farm, Chef Renee Kelly, Homemade Fudge and we will have a table featuring our Fahrmeier Farms private labeled products that are amazing.

The music for the night is Brother Bagman from KC…this group alone will be worth the trip!
We hope that you can make it. This event continues to grow year after year and this one promises to be the best yet!

Time? What Time? Summer? What Summer?

The summer is flying by and we can’t believe it’s almost August! So far the month of July has been filled with lots of tomatoes and fresh grown produce, busy market weekends, visitors to the farm, late nights working and did I mention the produce? We’ve been gearing up for our Tomato Day on August 7th and new this week are new solar panels to help improve our energy efficiency. Be looking for those pictures soon! The heirloom tomatoes are beautiful and bountiful as well. Every year we’re amazed at their color and taste. They are truly a treat!

Speaking of treats…because of our long work days, our supper times have moved back considerably in recent weeks as well. The other night after a long day delivering tomatoes and running errands it was obvious that we were in for another late night nosh. We some of our produce in the crisper and I came up with this yummy concoction. It’s not an earth shattering recipe on the difficulty scale but in worked in a pinch and tasted really good with grilled steaks and tomato and mozzarella salad. Give it a whirl! It has 2 of our favorite food groups…Bacon and Butter!
Crisper Fried Corn

4 ears corn- cut off the cob
½ diced green pepper
½ small white onion diced
4 tblsp. Bacon bits (don’t skimp, use the real ones)
2 tblsp. Butter
Add all ingredients to a frying pan and heat until butter is melted and vegetables are warm throughout. Enjoy!

Tomato, Oh Tomato, How We Love Thee...

Is it weird to write a love poem about tomatoes? Yeah, ok, it is but our season that began in late May is now in full swing! We love them so much that we have a one day festival celebrating them each year. Tomato Day 2010 is scheduled for August 7, 2010. See below for a little bit more information! It’s sure to be a good time.

In more tomato news…simplicity saves time. Time saved is time that gets to be spent with family. So, simple time saving recipes are what we love! I made this yummy salad for the big party we had a few weeks ago. The same party in which “Stella Salad” was created. There are lots of tomato salad recipes out there; this one is just our variation. The centerpiece is our Fahrmeier Red Tomato’s and a few herbs and seasonings that everyone typically has in their cabinet or can be requested in your next CSA delivery. I made this for a large scale crowd so that means I had to go back to the drawing board for closer ingredient measurements. Keep this one handy...the tomato’s are coming!

“Who Doesn’t Love a Fahrmeier Red Tomato Salad?”

3 lb. Fresh Tomato’s– or use different varieties for an added splash of color! (Cut them in eighths)
1/2 C. Feta Cheese (white or yellow cheddar cheese curds, shredded parmesan or cubed Gouda would be really good too)
Dressing:
¾ cup Olive Oil
2 tblsp. Minced Garlic
Small handful of minced fresh basil
½ tsp. Cayenne Pepper (for a little kick of course)
2 tblsp. Celery Salt
2 tblsp. Dried Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste
How to:
With a wire whisk mix all ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl until fully blended and set aside. Place cut tomatoes in a large salad bowl. Take dressing and pour over salad and stir lightly. Let them marinate for an hour or so at room temperature so the flavors will marry. Right before serving top with cheese. We like to eat this at room temperature to get the full tomato flavor. It’s so easy! Enjoy!

Check out these early Heirloom's fresh from our farm garden...

Off and Running!

Wowza! What a great week we had last week. Time flies when you’re having fun and working like crazy people. Last week we stretched ourselves to the limit by going to several different locations to promote the farm and sell our fresh grown produce but it was completely worth it! I mentioned last week that we were heading to Columbia to the Farm to Table Festival on Mizzou’s campus. We met lots of people, reconnected with old friends and the best part is that we had the chance to tell them all about what we do. We were even fortunate enough to have the photo of our booth on the cover of The Missourian newspaper. Check out the photo!
Even through more rain over the past few days, the crops are still growing well. The pumpkins are starting to peep through the soil and we’re looking forward to the tomatos coming in full force. Here are a couple pics of Tomato Berries. They’re a new variety we’re trying out this year. Cute little guys aren’t they? They look like strawberries, a favorite fruit around here, but taste like tomatoes. Tasty!

Ready to Rock!

This is by far one of our favorite times of the year. The past couple week’s we’ve been running 90 to nothing, hence the gap in blogging, and gearing up for what we would call the super bowl of our year otherwise known as PRODUCE SEASON! This is the time of the year of 23 second phone calls about 15 times a day, eating on the run, sweating, suntans and little sleep. While other’s vacation during the summer we’re planting, picking and packing our goods for deliveries and markets. Some days I really feel like we’ve lost our minds but it’s completely worth it. Especially when our customer’s enjoy their first Fahrmeier Farms tomato, make a big batch of salsa using our peppers, onions, tomatoes and herbs or enjoy one of our fresh picked berries.
This week we will be at the Farm to Table event at the University of Missouri- Columbia (MIZ- ZOU! Sorry...had to get that in there!) promoting and selling our veggies and goods. We’re hosting a wedding at the winery at the farm and will be at our usual farmer’s markets in KC this weekend too. It’s so much fun meeting lots of new people and telling them about our farm and what we do.

Above is a pic of Bret working the fields and prepping to plant more pumpkins...Yes, it's already time to think about the fall.

It's All About Timing...

As the old saying goes, “If you’re on time you’re late and if you’re early you’re on time”. This is the case with a couple of our crops so far this year. Our red raspberries are growing like wild fire and our early tomatoes are starting to get ripe. Both crops are running about 2 weeks ahead of our schedule which makes our hearts smile!

Timing is everything on the farm and anticipating the wants and needs of our customers is something we work very hard at doing. With some more luck and lots of prayers this dryer weather will allow everything to catch up and jump start their growth.

Watching the plants grow is like dangling candy in front of a baby! It makes us want to eat the produce immediately but is so worth the wait when it’s fresh. We hope everyone enjoyed their first delivery of CSA’s. We appreciate any and all feedback we can get from our guests and customers! Now…back to work! The produce needs us!

Cook Out Time!

Bret and I love lots of things but two of our very favorites is cooking and spending time with our family and friends. When we get to combine the two it’s even better! Over the past four days we’ve had dinner with the Fahrmeier family 3 times, at two of these dinner’s I brought a salad that was literally a brain child made on the fly using the fresh ingredients that we had in our fridge. It was a hit with our family so I thought I would share it with you.
The items are simple but good and it’s an easy recipe to adapt to make your own also. After careful thought about the quantities of the items used (because I usually don’t measure things out when cooking) here is the recipe for what I’ll call the “On the Fly Asparagus Salad”. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! What I like most about it is that it’s using some things that we already have growing on the farm!


“On the Fly Asparagus Salad”

1 lb. Fresh Asparagus break stalks in 2 and blanch until bright green

8 cups Red Leaf Lettuce or your favorite spring mix salad blend

1 half of a Red Onion thin sliced

3 cups Cherry Tomatoes, halved

1 small container of Feta Cheese

Dressing:

¾ cup Olive Oil

¼ cup White Vinegar

1 tblsp. Dijon Mustard

1 tblsp. Minced Garlic

Small handful of minced basil (rosemary and terragon will be good)

Salt and Pepper to taste
How to:

With a wire whisk mix all ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl until fully blended and set aside. Place Asparagus, Lettuce, Onion and Tomatoes in your favorite salad bowl and toss together. Take dressing and pour over salad and toss again. Once all ingredients are coated, top with the feta cheese and serve!

It truly is simple but so tasty. We enjoyed it last night with beef kabobs and a black bean salad.

We're lucky...

Oh farm life! Our crop is flourishing after the rain and all of our high tunnels are repaired after the strong early thunderstorms too. Something else we haven't mentioned is the animals that live on our farm. We tend to take forgranted how lucky we are to have some many wonderful things surrounding us on a daily basis that a lot of people don't have the chance to see.

For example, last week we had a couple guests from the Netherlands tour our farm. Our daily surroundings is something they have never really gotten to experience before. At the time we laughed but then it made me think of how truely fortunate we are here in good ol Lafayette County Missouri! Below are some pics Bret took today while driving around the farm. The animals are enjoying the sunshine as much as we are!

The babies and their mama's are playing in the sun. Notice the one on the left standing on it's back legs to get the first taste of greenery from the tree. These crazy goats will eat ANYTHING!!!

Holy cow...the girls are drying out and soaking up the sun. Wonder if they think the skyline is as pretty as we do?

Here is the view from our back step at the house. This rainbow is going directly over the top of the family farm. It started as a double rainbow but our camera skills weren't fast enough to catch it though. We admired the site for a couple moments then headed back into our house then turned to get one last peak and it was gone! We're hoping the pot of gold is hiding over one of the hills!

School Tours

We love having visitors to the farm. It's important to us to educate as many people that we can about agriculture and where their food comes from. A part of our mission to do that is to host kids from Kansas City area schools. While on the tours the kids get to plant veggies and flowers and get the chance to have a real farm experience. As you can see Ron really likes interacting with the kids too...He probably won't admit it but he's a big softy! Especially when it come's to little one's and dogs. Below he's showing some youngsters how to plant cilantro, one of our favorite herbs!

Chick Knives

We’re looking forward to another good week at the farm. Saturday we hosted a tour group and KMOS TV. The guys gave a tour of the produce fields and greenhouse then ended in the winery. It’s always good to have visitors at the farm! Here’s a pic of the group in the greenhouse, with Joan in the foreground.

You may be wondering why on earth there is a picture of a dirty pinkish red box knife posted. Weird I know. This little gem actually belongs to me. Or I should say, DID belong to me. We’ve seen many good times together. Ripping up carpet, breaking down boxes and believe it or not, it works great as a can opener as needed in the past couple of weeks, thanks to the breakdown of a certain Kitchen aid can opener….anyway, that’s another story.

I believe Fahrmeier Farms might want to buy stock in the Husky Brand as Bret has lost several within the last few months which leads me to this particular picture. My girly knife is now turned into a “manly” all purpose tool. Its new purpose is cutting black plastic and drip tape in the field along with other farm tasks and I christened it Saturday morning. I’m taking bets that it will never be in my full possession again. The funny thing is that I made fun of the fact that I had a chick knife and now I’m coping with the fact that I will never have sole custody of it again.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Ok, so... oops! It’s been longer than I’d like to update. The week has been crammed with farm, greenhouse, winery and vineyard madness. Plus the head photo taker seems to have been on hiatus. It’s hard to find good help sometimes… The break in the weather has been great for starting to get things done outside as it’s nice not to have to wear 20 layers of clothing to perform a simple task.
The greenhouse continues to look great and is filling up rapidly. Brandon is the point man with Joan by his side making sure every plant is up to par for springtime selling. Bret is the conference guru this week as the time is upon him, he’s focused to get vegetable fields prepped and ready to rock while learning about local foods, policy and networking all at the same time . The tomatoes we grafted last week are still alive and doing well…or as well as a chopped in two plant can do. More tomorrow…hopefully with photos.

As I’ve said before, spring is a very busy time for all of us. My dad has lots of sayings that are “full of wisdom” that as a child I never really understood but now as I’ve gotten older I’m starting to get them. One of my favorites is “I’m busier than a one armed paper hanger.” Politically correct no….is it funny and true? YES! Very much so… Picture that image in your mind right now and try not to laugh.


In an effort to be responsible, knowledgeable growers and business owners we all like to take the opportunity to attend workshops and conferences not only to educate ourselves but others about local foods, growing methods, the agriculture industry, agritourism and our niche in our local and state economy.

Tonight, Bret will be in Higginsville to speak about the benefits of high tunnel production and how we do it on our farm. He’s also planning to attend the Farm, Food and Health Conference in March at the American Royal Pavilion in Kansas City, MO. The conference is about improving local food for our health, economy and communities and how consumers and producers can strengthen their relationships.

By day I work in town and have started moonlighting as a new farm wife as we fix up our new rental home, babysit and potty train our new puppy, Stella and continue the learning curve of all things Fahrmeier. All of these things and try to keep up with the rest of my family while trying not to look a fright all of the time.

Yesterday, Brandon spent some time in Columbia tasting some new grape varietals. Joan and Ron have been doing a few home improvement projects.
All of this plus the regular day to day farm work, greenhouse preparation and produce season planning. Needless to say a good night’s sleep is fast on our tails when our heads hit the pillow at night.

A Case of the Monday's!

So another ice and snow storm passed through the area yesterday leaving everything in a blanket of the white slick stuff...again. Mother nature keeps playing with our emotions and we're tired of it! Don't forget that the deadline to purchase a CSA share is this week so don't miss out on this great opportunity. Above is a photo of some of our heirloom tomato's waiting to be grafted in our farm garden. What an exciting time it's getting to be here at Fahrmeier Farms. Now, no more doom and gloom of winter, bring on the sun...seriously...anytime now will be great.