Tricks . . .

This is Jan Blomgrem's favorite week of the year when Halloween is just around the bend and the competition arises to see who can come up with the best tricks. In the past Jan has stashed everything from plastic limbs and severed hands in the old carrot patch to stuffed rats and critters in our bins of unprocessed veggies. The skunk in this picture was part of a season long problem with the real thing lurking around our barns and occationaly getting its hands on a garbage can, so you can probably imagine what we all thought when we walked in on this stuffed little guy. Laughs and kudos to Jan. Thought she didn't get me with this one, I was stunned by the scarecrow in the outhouse who didn't say anything when I knocked. That got everyone! I wish we had a camera to record our faces.

Only days away is our annual costume party and we take it very seriously. No one tells what they are going as and the evening is filled with amazing actors who battle for prizes on best costume and actor. Look for pictures this weekend.

More Salsa!

Salsa making in the morning was not enough! The crew enjoyed a fantastic show at Symphony Space preformed by the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. In other words, another batch of Salsa. There were couples dancing on stage and off as well as some of the big names of Latin Jazz keeping us entertained all night. What an amazing end to our New York Trip! Thank you Prospect Heights for having us!

Canning Workshop

My Saturday morning was spent meeting new city folks and teaching the basics of canning. We set to work preparing onions, peppers, tomatoes, and chiles for a big batch of salsa. Even the elevator in the building smelled like spicy goodness, and I was so grateful to Lynn for hosting us in her beautiful apartment! Everyone got to take home five jars made from Windflower vegetables after going step by step through the process of creating a shelf-stable salsa. We tasted and chatted about the Farm, most of the crew was to answer questions and join the fun.

I learned a little bit about the process of composting in the city and someone was kind enough to take the bag of veggie stuff off to be composted. Big difference from the countryside where I'd never have to think about what to do with a pile of tomato skins and pepper seeds. Thank you to both the old and new faces who came out to join the workshop. We are considering a more frequent canning schedule where I will come down from Windflower and hold a group canning session for a small fee. Everything would be provided and each member would go home with several jars of the product we make. It'd be everything from pickles, chutney and salsa to jams, canned fruits for baking with and mustards.

Can't wait to see more of you next year! Feel free to post any questions you may have about canning or if you'd like a recipe.