After loads of fun educating and hoola hooping at the Garlic and Arts Festival we are filled with fall fun and food(Ella had her face painted as a frog with glasses) and can’t wait to cook a storm of fall goodness and bounty for you!

Our greenhouse is filling with winter hardy greens that will be featured on our menu for the next couple months. From heirloom Sylvetta arugula to mizuna, tatsoi, and french lettuces we are entering our first season of winter hardy greens production inspired by the work of one of our favorite growers Elliot Coleman.  He pioneered the system we are using which involves the selection of cold hardy greens(hardy to 28 degrees) and the use of zero supplemental heat. This technique utilizes the solar gain from a simple “hoop house” structure with the addition of an internal covering of agricultural fabric and in doing so utilizes the heat stored in the soil to keep things from getting “too frozen”. Most folks don’t think of winter as anytime to grow anything let alone a “good time” to grow things but for cold loving salad greens it is the best season and produces the most succulent and sweet salads.Also the new “Roy’s Burger” %100 grass fed and local has been a huge hit. We can hardly cook ‘em fast enough and it suits us just fine so bring it on and come try a “Roy’s” if you haven’t yet…they are every bit as good folks are saying.

Of course with fall comes menu items like Heirloom Squash Soup, Borscht, and a new side salad of Crispy Sauteed Kale with Sesame Seeds. Yum!

Also Our Classic Butternut Squash Brownie with Cream Cheese Frosting is back and some new treats in the works! Stayed tuned and we’ll keep it fired up.

(I am all the way to the bottom right…)

Folks,

The number one threat to the future of human life on this planet has been laid before us on our presidents desk in the form of the proposed Keystone tars sands pipeline. Barack Obama alone will sign off or on. As our lead scientist at NASA, James Hansen says “this would be “”Game Over”" for climate change”. Hansen explains if the tar sands resource is exploited it will put atmospheric carbon over 600ppm. The International Panel on Climate Change has declared 350ppm as a “safe level” and our current “Carbon tab” is unfortunately already at 394ppm. We have been seeing the effects of this already through extreme storms, drought, snow, rising sea levels etc…This doesn’t even touch on the 91 estimated tar sands spills destroying watersheds and ecosystems all across the heartland of our country and the destruction of 740,000 acres of boreal forest underneath which resides the tar!

If this isn’t a global, national, and local emergency nothing is.  This is what the worlds leading scientists have been warning us about for 30 years now. Will America and the rest of the world(particularly those spewing large amounts of carbon) Listen or will we all be the frog in gradually warming water, waiting until it is too late to jump out?

Climate change or global warming as it is known are  not the words we need to describe the actuality.  Climate Chaos or pending global genocide would be more fitting. The current rate of and increases in species extinction is shocking. Our train is coming off the tracks and a cliff is not far ahead. We must act now. I will not leave this environmental atrocity for my children to suffer from without putting up a huge fucking fight. Speak out. Be outraged. talk with your friends and neighbors and call The White House and your congress men and women. This coming year or two is our chance to take a stand and gather our collective power to enact unprecedented change in how humans understand and respect the world in which we depend on for our very survival. I know you are with me and I know you will act. Social and environmental justice are no longer two separate issues. There is no freedom or justice in a world that is dying.

If you haven’t already, please call and e-mail the White House to let them know you vehemently oppose the Trans Canada proposed Keystone tars sands pipeline and you want us off fossil fuels. You want the 100′s of trillions of dollars that have been funneled into oil wars, weapons manufacturers, and big oil interests put back into the clean energy revolution. We need our government to tax these greed mongers instead of subsidizing them with middle class American tax dollars. The time has come to take a stand and gather control to protect the future for our children.  Go to www.tarsandaction.org to learn more and Please call 202-456-1111 to reach the the White house comments line.

Yes Folks…We are talking about beef today.  But not just any beef.

What to do when a good friend raises a miraculously ground breaking cross-breed(Jersey/Dexter) and produces the world’s greatest organic grass fed beef ever?

My first impulse was to hoard it all and eat beef until I  fell over from excessive beef intake.

I must confess that is how it started.  But I love sharing even more than gross over-consumption, and so the next logical step was to begin using Roy’s beef in a way that exemplifies this astoundingly good product at Wheatberry! Come and try the best quarter pounder in the Valley!

Thanks to Roy and his beautiful herd of Jersey and Dexter cows. We ares so blessed this good food.

My Daughter Ella and I have been foraging for wild mushrooms over the last couple months  with great success! in particular we met some really great new friends who have been helping us hunt and gather. Mike and his boys Miles and Calvin.

We are featuring them in some  new specials at the Wheatberry.  Le Porcini is an omelet featuring some beautiful Boletus Bicolor.

These mushrooms are truly some of the world’s finest. They are very closley  related to Boletus Edulis usually called King Bolete, Porcini or Cepe. And equally amazing…

Mike and his boys have been a huge help finding these guys and bringing them to the bakery. Thanks boys!

Just a couple notes  in case this inspires anyone to go mushroom hunting.

-Never eat any mushroom that has not been properly identified using taxonomic key features by someone with appropriate knowledge.

-Several people have said to me over the past few days… “isn’t it true that poisonous mushrooms never grow on logs”. That is NOT true.  Galerina Atumnalis are extremely poisonous and grow on logs as well as some others.

Heirloom Tomatoes….Luscious….Wheatberry Farm Grown!

I was interviewed by DC Denison from the Boston Globe about the Grain Share and my upcoming presentation at the Summer NOFA conference/Animal Powered Field Days and the article came out today! Check out the article here.

A Menu bursting with the abundance of Summer…

Fresh Wild Organic Blueberries(from Heath, MA)…and Sidehill Farm Maple Yogurt(Ashfield, MA).

The most succulent and moist chicken from Grass Roots Farm in New Braintree, MA paired our sweet and crisp Shutesbury grown cucumbers with a touch of Cheshire Gardens Lavender Mustard……Whoa…not to mention our own organic greens!!!It gets better…but I’ve got to move on here….

This Salad patch of “Winter Density and “Lolla Rossa” just keeps going. I have cut this one at least ten time since sowing in March.

Lara helped me cultivate the wheat trials this year and helped me get them up on display!

We started by trialing over 50 varieties and have paired it down to about 6 excellent performers. Seed for our trials was obtained from the National Small Grains Collection and represent genetics collected from all over the world. All the wheat we selected to trial were collected between 1890 and 1950 and are known as “Landrace” wheat.

This is an important distinction between the “pureline” wheat varieties that now dominate world wide wheat production. Landrace varieties have a diverse gene pool, giving them greatly enhanced ability to thrive and adapt to a wider variety of conditions. You know the saying…”don’t put all your eggs in one basket”

…Unfortunately that pretty well sums up the majority of current agricultural practices except you amend the phrase to say…”don’t put all your genetically modified eggs in one chemically laden basket”.

We will plant more seed from the harvest this year and expand the quantity to a crop size if all goes  well. Come see the display!

We are fast approaching full on summer goodness! Strawberry cupcakes(pictured above) With vanilla butter cream, Veggie soup loaded with fresh Veggies from The Kitchen Garden,

A new version of the Holy Heifer(Our Chestnut Farm brisket sandwich) with Wheatberry Farm Collards and fresh pickled cukes. Also a season sandwich the “scape-goat” featuring a garlic scape pesto and mixed Wheatberry Farm Greens.

Heirloom tomatoes are hanging heavy and almost ripe in our Shutesbury greenhouse!…Next week they will start rolling in and we’ll have loads of juicy specials like our classic grilled cheese with heirloom tomato, and the heilroom tomato and chevre salad as well as  several new dishes under secret development as we speak.

Kara and Ben took a visit out  to the Grain Fields at Alan Zuchowski’s farm in Hadley….Here’s the story.

The renovation is mostly complete (we re-opened last Thursday)…the Light, the “feng schui”, the space, the new seating(harvested from the farm), the response has all been resounding…and it’s great to have a new and improved space. I’ll post some more photos but truly you have to come see for yourself. We have exciting new seasonal lunch specials and a sweet rhubarb croissant(they go quick so call ahead to reserve or come early!)

Here we are Tuesday morning in the midst of chaos in motion. The walk-in and back counter just moved and we are gearing up to move the front counter to it’s new location.

This was our calming mantra….

A beautiful new reflection

And what better way to commemorate the new space with a harvest from the farm?

Two 65 year old oak tree stumps

De-barking….at this stage in the process we had just barely wrestled these mammoth pieces of wood from Shutesbury and got some awesomely strange looks from the plumbers, electricians and passers-by…like… “nice  stumps?”

Ok….it’s peeled but what’s next?

planing to fit the joints together

Seth came to lend a hand…lots of sanding…here we are smoothing the transition at the joint.

Fortunately our neighbor Kimo stopped by to help with the joining. It took four of us to lift the top onto its bottom and it was a stretch…!

Once it set over night we further bonded the joints with dowels and waited till the end of the day for the next step….

Leveling the top…with a chain saw!

Jim spent the next two days planing, sanding, and finally oiling to bring this project to completion. What can I say…We like a challenge.

If you still haven’t figured out what we are up to this next one should do it for you…

Not too bad eh?

Come sit…come see…come enjoy!

Wow!

Jane and Lara

Our busiest spring ever…our most amazing crew ever…customers as sweet and happy as our treats! It doesn’t get better. except it does…

Next week we will undergo an exciting spring renovation. More seats, more space to roam, all in the same space. We will be closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and We’ll see you on Thursday!

Also…The Kitchen Garden CSA shares are here!…These guys grow outstanding Veggies and we are so glad to have them back for another fantastic season of veggie love. If you’re a member come get your share on Fridays after 12 if  you are not then come and find it featured on our specials menu all season! Starting with a Spring Garlic Grill, Asparugus Rainbow Chard Soup and a  Sweet Rhubard Danish!

Coming soon…The 2011 Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain Share  Season Outlook…it’s gonna be a good one……Stay tuned!

We are cutting our own mixed baby salad greens featuring Sylvetta arugala, Baby Red Russian Kale, and Lolla Rossa Lettuce…The freshest around.

Action in the Wheatberry Farm hoop house…heirloom tomatoes soon!

Pain au chocolate…

Chocolate chunk

Mill your own!

Classic Wheatberry