Our Year in Review
An Apprentice View
What’s In Store for the Future
The Common House is Complete
Squash Recipes
Our Year in Review
By Stacey Denton
This has been a momentous year for the organization White Oak Farm and
for the community which resides at the Farm. In the Spring we finalized
a conservation and agriculture easement with the Southern Oregon Land
Conservancy, and in securing these protections for the forest and farmland
were gifted the title of the property by the Equity Trust, Inc. That
process came to a close just as the Spring daffodils began to flower
in the garden and Jenn McCoy, our new Garden Manager and Children’s
Educator, arrived to take up residence in the white yurt. Jenn jumped
into organizing the CSA program with gusto, and by late Spring we had
13 families signed up to participate. Shortly after Jenn moved to the
farm, Fiona and Rosie, the goats, both delivered sets of healthy triplets.
The community was further enhanced by the arrival of four apprentices,
Tami, Mike, Lee, and Samuel, each of whom brought to the farm previous
skills and familiarity with natural building, community living, gardening,
and/or environmental education. By May the farm was bustling with activities
including hosting school visits, digging and preparing garden beds,
building a strawbale sauna, and enjoying the fruits of our labors through
sharing good food and song.
In June we hosted a Solstice Celebration and had our first party in
the Common House. Many thanks to all whom have had a hand in building
this beautiful structure and special recognition to Taylor Starr for
putting so much of his life energy into this project over the last three
years! Towards the end of that month the farm community received another
big influx of enthusiasm, hard work, and fun through the arrival of
Jim Haim, Katie Holden, and their daughter Macy. In the next six weeks
that followed their landing, White Oak Farm hosted our Farmstay experience
for children, a four day introductory workshop in building with cob,
and our week-long Comprehensive Cottage Construction Course. All of
the farm community (plus some great volunteers: thanks Wendy, Abby,
and Jeff!) were involved with teaching and playing with the Farmstay
kids. Taylor and Jim co-taught the cob workshops and were able to interweave
lots of learning, hands-on building, laughter, and games into the experience.
In July, Sandor Katz came to teach a Fermentation and Wild Foods workshop
at the farm and in August we hosted our fourth annual Day Camp for children
ages 5-7. The Day Camp marked the close of our workshop season but the
apprenticeship program rolled on. Margo, Jeff, and Abram all lent a
hand on garden and natural building projects as short-term apprentices.
The garden produce was abundant and beautiful all season and the CSA
members just picked up their last baskets of food at the end of October.
That marked the close of the farming season and as the apprentices disassembled
their tipis we finished the year with good food, a hot sauna, conversation
in the Common House, and music around the campfire on Halloween.
As I write this the farm has quieted down considerably. Rain is falling
hard and Taylor, Jenn, and I look forward to a restful Winter with the
carrots snug in their beds, the larder full, the home fire burning,
and appreciation in our hearts for all who made White Oak Farm flourish
this last year.
It we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair.
We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business [or buy a
farm], because we’d be too cynical. Well, that’Äôs nonsense. You’Äôve got
to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.
-Annie Dillard
An
Apprenticeship Experience
By Samuel Fox
With garden beds in cover crops and mud walls protected
from the coming weather, the apprentices depart and the farm settles
into a slower rhythm. In April, four of us arrived, from New York, San
Francisco, Portland, and Rhode Island, to learn and work with the land.
Bringing varied experiences in building, agriculture, ecology, and exploring
nature with children, our interests added to the already abundant knowledge
present in the staff at White Oak Farm. Hard work was nothing new to
us, but we would all come to be challenged by the physical demands of
human powered cultivation and learning together the skills of community
living.
The relationship of an apprentice to a skilled worker has roots all
over the world in almost every trade. A growing number of young people
are rediscovering the importance of gaining knowledge and skills of
previous eras. As each new generation becomes further distanced from
the hereditary skill base of their ancestors, often seduced by the conveniences
that promise an end to the rigors of local self-sufficiency, apprenticeship
opportunities become even more important. With our hands in the soil,
we all have the potential to find the genetic memory of our connection
to the land and live a richer, more sustainably oriented life.
In a four day work week, we divided our time between the fertile blessings
of the one acre garden and the constantly evolving array of earthen
structures sprouting up all over the property. Upon arrival some of
us chose to dedicate most of our energy to one focus or the other, though
much depended on day to day tasks throughout the different seasons.
With animals to take care of and common spaces to maintain we all stayed
plenty busy on our days off, sneaking away for weekends here and there.
Often we were true farm rats, not finding a reason to venture into the
outside world. Some of our most cherished moments were lunches made
entirely from home grown ingredients, a daily appreciation of abundance
through hard work.
After three natural building workshops, two week-long children’s camps
and weekly school visits, an overflowing harvest grown on the daily
nurture and attention of relatively few people, I am counting the blessings
and opportunities encountered here. I am grateful to every person who
has contributed to the existence and growth of this place. As a demonstration
of possibility, and a resource for community education, the inspiring
example of this farm affects all those who come here and then those
they are connected to and on and on.
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What’s
in Store For the Future
By Taylor Starr
As the Farm’s fourth season comes to an end with the rains of November
it is time to look ahead to 2007. Next year is going to be a year of
transition and maturation for White Oak Farm. After four seasons focused
on infrastructure development we are finally shifting our focus to maintaining
the many plantings and structures we have already completed, offering
a more diverse plate of workshops and educational and community events,
and branching out into new areas of focus in agriculture and forestry.
Our schedule for 2007 is still in the planning stage, so please check
our website in January for a listing of the specific programs and dates.
In the Spring White Oak Farm is looking forward to working with Lomakatsi
Restoration Group of Ashland to complete work on ten acres of our forest
land. Lomakatsi is a non-profit organization that develops and implements
community based ecological restoration projects throughout the Klamath-Siskiyou
bioregion of Oregon and northwestern California. Since 1995 their projects
have assisted in the regeneration, rehabilitation, and restoration of
degraded ecosystems. This work will include thinning of crowded small
diameter trees to reduce fire risks and improve the health of the larger
trees. We will also be decommissioning several old logging roads and
upgrading others to decrease erosion and improve riparian health in
Marble Gulch. As a part of this collaboration with Lomakatsi we also
hope to host a week-long workshop on forest restoration and the use
of restoration by-products (such as small diameter fir poles) in natural
building. Springtime will also see a shift in the Farm’s agricultural
focus. We are planning a diverse garden of vegetables to be grown for
seed production in 2007.
Organically grown seeds of crops such as lettuce, tomatoes, and calendula
will be grown and sold to seed companies throughout the west. We also
have next year’s crop of organic garlic for seed in the ground already.
Next newsletter we’ll let you know how you can plant White Oak Farm
seeds in your own garden next year!
Next season we will also host many of our old favorite programs such
as the six month apprenticeship in organic gardening, natural building
and children’s education; the summer children’s farm camp; school visits
in Spring and Fall; and natural building workshops. Other offerings
still on the drawing board include herbalism classes, seasonal feasts
in the Common House and its surrounding gardens, and visits to local
elementary classes to present a program on salmon-safe farming. Please
check our website for details and see how you can get involved with
the Farm!
The
Common House is Complete!
By Taylor Starr
Everyone who has been involved with the construction of the Common House
at White Oak Farm, from staff and apprentices to board members and donors,
can celebrate. After twenty-eight months of work we have finished construction.
The Common House is a hybrid straw bale, cob and pole structure that
is at the cutting edge of the natural building movement. After another
great summer of workshops and volunteer work the finishing touches have
been added and the building is ready to host workshops, meetings, and
educational events - as well as to support the staff and community at
the Farm. Thanks to all who helped out! Please check out our website
over the winter for updated pictures of this beautiful structure for
yourself.
Winter
Squash Recipes
By Jenn McCoy
Fall and Winter are the seasons of squash. Here are a few recipes to
enliven old favorite winter squashes like delicata, butternut, buttercup,
acorn, or pumpkins. In Fresh from the Garden cook and gardener
Ann Lovejoy writes, ’ÄúHard-shelled winter squash have essential sweetness
that works well in both sweet and savory recipes. The harder the skin,
the longer these squash will keep. In storage, check them periodically
for soft spots. Most often, winter squash are cut in half and seeded,
then baked or steamed. The softened pulp is then scooped out and diced
or mashed for use in a wide variety of recipes, from soups and side
dishes to pies and ice cream’Äù.
| Winter Squash & Mushroom
Soup 2 C boiling water 2 lg. onions, minced 2 tbsp. olive oil 2 cloves garlic, pressed 3 C chopped fresh mushrooms 1 tsp. fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp. dry 1 1/2 tbsp. fresh sage or 2 tsp. dry dash of nutmeg 1/4 C dry sherry 1 tbsp. soy sauce 2 C veggie stock 4 C purˆ©ed cooked winter squash 2 C boiling water salt and pepper to taste optional milk or half & half In soup pot saute onions in oil 5 to 10 minutes or until soft. Add garlic, mushrooms, thyme and sage and saute until mushrooms are soft, about 5-10 minutes more. Stir in nutmeg, sherry and soy sauce. Saute a bit more. Add veggie stock and heat almost to a boil. Stir in squash puree and boiling water. Add salt, pepper and milk. |
Stuffed Winter Squash Ingredient quantities are contingent on how big a squash you’re stuffing One ’Sugar Pie’ or other flavorful cooking pumpkin Crumbled, dried whole-wheat bread (with a little leftover cornbread if you have it)) cooked brown rice in 2-to-1 proportion of bread-to-rice Diced cooked potatoes, with skin Diced raw onion, celery and apple Grated (or chopped) carrots Cut up dried ’sweetmeats’ such as prunes, apricots, raisins and cranberries Salt, pepper, basil, savory and oregano, celery seed and a pinch of sage or rosemary, to taste Several cloves of garlic chopped Vegetable broth melted butter or oil Cut top off squash, in a somewhat jagged shape so the ’lid’ will fit after baking. Scrape out all the strings and seeds from the interior, saving the seeds to toast. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients but the broth and melted butter. Sprinkle ingredients with broth and butter, using your hands to toss, until stuffing is lightly moist to the touch, but not wet. (Add more liquid or bread crumbs if your mixture is too dry or too wet respectively.) Taste for seasoning. Pack stuffing loosely into pumpkin and replace lid. Place stuffed squash in a greased baking pan. A pan with a good rim is necessary, as the squash can exude juices when cooking. Bake for several hours at 300 degrees. Squash is done when it is browned and slightly deflated-looking on the outside, and stuffing is hot all the way through. The stuffed squash is quite fragile when cooked, so use extreme caution if you plan on transferring it from its baking pan to any kind of a serving dish! It is best served right from the pan it was cooked in. |