Remembering Our Ancestors at Harvest Time

Second Annual 

Song of the Ancestors Poetry and Potluck

at the Art Farm

October 26th 7PM to 9PM

Remembering
Our Friends and Family
Who have preceded us in Death.
and
Celebrating
the Gift of Life
on this Sacred Earth

This will be a sweet ceremonial space for adults and mature teens.

We bring in the harvest on the farm with a potluck and a giant apple pie.

Last year was a heart warming and fun event.

Please bring:
a potluck vegetarian dish,
two poems or quotations that speak to you about your ancestor(s).

Friday October 26th
7PM to 9PM

At The Art Farm
in Battle Ground, WA

Small Donation Requested,
but Not Necessary.

Please let me know if you can come.

PLEASE RSVP
Space is limited
Contact Me for Details

Thanks 
Rick

The Gate to Everywhere

The New Gate of The Rising Moon in our West Field

Crates of this year's produce: squash, pear, onions, garlic, potatoes are stacked only four feet below my feet. My little cabin is filled with the perfume of fresh apples and pears that rest in the root cellar below.  The wash of the Earth's perfume drifts up through the floor boards.

Outside the window, the green round still spins out her song. The garden continues to give and give until the soil sleeps in the November frost.

Out, beyond the wired walls of the garden is the field, mowed and brown. In the middle on the stubble stands a new gate that I built as a prayer. The swinging hinges and the iron latch hold nothing in or out, because there is no fence on its shoulders.

The gate is an echo, a formed door of what we choose every moment we breathe on this earth. It is the entry to being aware and alive in this body and this moment. In the early morning mist I stand at the gate, open it and step on through. Awake and Grateful, mostly.

The suffering of life's transience passes behind me for moments. Ahead is the same brown field I saw before. But I am not the same. I am breathing in the fragrance of bounty, the sacred Earth's honeyed breath, with the sky so lovingly draped around my body.

The gate is only a choice, made moment by moment, to be here without having to do or go or be anything but one person walking in the field.

Even as I write this to you, this idea of our gate into awareness sounds ephemeral and intangible to my mind. But these are only my passing judgments, like a wind or birds flying by.

Throughout the entire farm season I have worried that we would not produce enough food for our farm members, the market or our family. But the Earth gave and gave as I worked and worked. Now the gate swings into another season. I see that the fears of poverty were only passing streamers of a spider's silk.

I simply arrived, every day, and stepped through the gate, into my callings. Then I hoed and harvested, seeded and watered, doing only the work that I could do, the work that was mine alone.

What gate, what way of awareness calls to you today? Are you worried or fretful? There are apples in the cellar. Breathe in. Smell the promise of all the good and wonder that you are. Remember what is yours to do and then release what is not. Then step through and do your particular work, being alive in the field.

Thanks for sharing this first full farm season with me. Please contact me if you wish to be a part of the Moon Bear Farm Co-op next year.

See you in the garden,
Rick

Copyright Richard Sievers, September 2012, All Rights Reserved.

Growing Up In the Garden

Weekly Harvest on the Art Farm

Hello Dear Friends of Moon Bear,

A few things I continue to learn about LIFE from our garden:

- We share this planet (and this plot) with countless other beings. In the garden I am like a god (little g) tending, planting, destroying and harvesting. But in most ways I am just another being, just as dependent on the sun and rains, just playing my particular role.

- Loss happens. Damage happens.  Plants wither unexpectedly and crops fail. Offensive retaliation (like artificial sprays and traps... or violence of any sort) may appear to be the best way to deal with what has hurt us. But this is an illusion. Three measures help with a seemingly sure attack by bugs and fate. One is working with the earth to make the soil rich and loved and vital. The other is to plant and tend as much bounty as possible so the "bad things" cannot overwhelm it. The third is to diversify what you tend.

- Whatever occurs, it's not personal. There is an illusion of ultimate control of weather, deaths, surprise growth, disease and productivity of soil. The earth and sky are going to do what they are going to do. And yet, my actions and attention affect all of these things. My experience and the way I steward my gifts and land seem like the only personal matters.

- I can only take so much from the Earth without letting it rest periodically. This week I did not have enough produce for our market and the CSA. At first I was shocked and embarrassed as I cancelled our table at the Legacy Market. Then I remembered what has transpired this season. The land and I have given all that we can give. So we both rest today, and write to you.

- What we make and nurture is filled with our loving (or non-loving) attention as much as our actions. Just working harder is a dead end when no joy is involved.

- Perhaps my most vital task as a gardener is that of observer and witness. These fruits, grains and veggies are living essences. As such they deserve to be seen for who they are.

- A great adventure can transpire in a hundred foot square patch of dirt. The whole world lives there.

- Everything is a gift from Creator through the Earth.

- Finally, there is a season for everything and a pattern: prepare, sow, tend, harvest, rest, repeat.
Thank you for reading theses musings. I hope the garden that you tend is bringing lessons of beauty and wisdom as you witness it for what it is.

Moon Bear CSA Members: Yes, tomatoes are here. Finally. Many shapes and sizes. And entirely unlike the pasty wannabes in the grocery store. Tomatillos are here too. Sounds like salsa. We have another round of blueberries coming. The corn is only a week away. We'll see most of you at the birthday party on Thursday.

See you in the garden.

Rick

Copyright Rick Sievers, August 2012, All rights reserved.

Recipes: Kale Chips and Turnips!

 Beautiful Turnips 

Don't know what to do with turnips? This is my favorite way to eat them. It's simple and you can freeze the leftovers for later.

Turnip Smash

3 medium turnips, peeled and cubed
 1 large russet or red potato, cubed or 2 pounds of carrots sliced or 1/2 of both.
salt and pepper to taste
¼ or so of  cup milk of choice
1-2 Tbsp butter

Place turnips and potatoes in saucepan and add cold water just enough to cover. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook at a simmer until tender, about 15-20 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Drain the water. Add milk and butter and mash with a potato masher or food processor. Adjust amounts of milk and butter to taste and consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Baked Kale Chips

1 bunch kale – curly works best

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sea salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Allow to cool.

Recipes: Yellow or Green or Purple Beans

These 2 colorful bean recipes come from 101 Cookbooks. We had this one for dinner last night.  I used all 3 colors and  left out the crème fraîche. It was delicious!

Feisty Green Beans

Use a white wine that you'd want to drink after opening. And for those of you looking to speed things up, you don't need to slice the green beans, but it was a good call, the sauce gets into all the nooks and crevices.

I am loving these tri-colored beauties!

1 pound green beans, thinly sliced
1/2 cup / 2.5 oz / 70g golden raisins
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
3 bay leaves
1/3 cup / 80 ml white wine
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
scant 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
6 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup / 120 ml crème fraîche or sour cream
1/4 cup / 3/4 oz / 20g sliced almonds, toasted
1/3 cup / one handful of finely chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the green beans in a pot of well-salted boiling water for about a minute, just long enough that they lose their raw edge. Drain and dunk in ice-cold water to stop the cooking. Drain again and set aside.

In a small bowl cover the raisins with scalding hot water for five minutes, drain and set aside.

Heat your largest skillet over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil, garlic, onion, and bay leaves. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the onions and garlic start to brown just a bit. Add the wine and cook until it has mostly evaporated. Carefully remove the bay leaves. Stir in the paprika, cumin, coriander, curry powder, salt, crushed red pepper flakes. Stir in the tofu and raisins and cook until heated through, a minute or so. Add the butter and green beans and stir until the butter has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the crème fraiche, then most of the almonds and most of the cilantro. Taste and add more salt and some pepper if you like. Serve topped with any remaining almonds and cilantro.

Serves 4 to 6.

Inspired by a recipe in Anna Getty's Anna Getty's Easy Green Organic, to be published by Chronicle Books, 2010.

Prep time: 30 min - Cook time: 15 min

Yellow Bean Salad

I make this salad with yellow runner beans, but you can certainly make it with green beans! Also, if you tend to like a bit more heat, leave (all or some of) the veins and seeds in the chile pepper.

1 pound / 16 oz yellow runner beans

1 serrano chile, stemmed and seeded
5 green onions, green parts trimmed & reserved
a big handful of cilantro
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 cup coconut milk, well mixed

1- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste

2 big handfuls / 1/2 cup toasted pepitas
1 1/2 cups tiny pan-fried tofu cubes, optional
basil flower garnish, optional

Cut the beans into 1-inch segments on a deep bias. Cook in a pot of well-salted water for just 30 seconds, drain, and run under cold water to stop cooking. Drain, and aggressively shake off as much water as possible. Set aside.

To make the dressing, pulse the chile, onions, cilantro, garlic, salt, and sunflower oil into a paste with a food processor. Pulse in the coconut milk in two additions, before adding the lemon juice to taste, a half tablespoon at a time.

Place the beans in a large bowl with most of the pepitas and tofu cubes (if you're using them). Toss well with a generous amount of the dressing (you'll have plenty of leftover), even so, as I mention up above, this is one of those salads that benefits from over-dressing versus under. Serve in a bowl or platter topped with the remaining pepitas and tofu, and basil flowers if you happen to have them.

Serves 4-6.

Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 10 min

http://www.101cookbooks.com/

Between Sun and Shadow

The power of the Sun is at its zenith.

The Song of the Universe is hovering in the place between shadow and fire.

Her flaming chambered orchestra echoes in my head.

I hear Her in the parched earth.

I know Her voice in the percussion of the sprinkler.

I am Her child, Her lover, Her servant.

~~~

Sing in me, Matron, Virgin, Sister.

Sing in the flashing blue blood of ink.

Sing in the sweat of the labors in the garden.

Sing in the memory of all that is to come.

````

The forecast is for 102 degrees. The garden is bursting past its midlife. Pumpkins have swollen with the color of the sun. The corn waves with rows of silk handkerchiefs. The tree frog slumbers in her shaded forest of rhubarb.

I wish you could be sitting with me, looking out on the bounty. I wish you could witness the earth that has produced nearly eighty bushels of produce so far this year. Ten thousand square feet of compost and root... a microcosm of what the whole earth is for us.

Today, as I take respite from the heat, I contemplate all the blessings that our world so freely gives us. I think of my friends: the sisters I've written with, the brothers I've laughed with, the good people who buy and barter at the market, the beings that inhabit the in between places of dappled shade. Today, I step back and harvest nothing but praise for the garden. I try to see the plants in the garden as family and equals, not just as commodity or food.

May the sun offer you a respite from the hard work of living and evolving. 

May you know your place in the world and feel happy in that knowing.

Moon Bear CSA: Tomatoes are just coming on. All shades of the rainbow are plumping up in the vines. Also, many types of squash and sugar pumpkins are on their way to your home. The boxes will be a little smaller as we crest past the first wave of peak production in the garden. This will give the garden a little breather and allow many of us to catch up with eating the big bounty from last week. Thanks.

See you in the Garden,
Rick

Copyright Rick Sievers, August 2012, ALL Rights Reserved

The American Dream

God, Earth, Spirits, Sun, Rain... 

Bless the people, bless the world, bless my family with the bounty arising from the garden today.

Growing a business is part of the American Dream. Following one's heart callings is also woven into the fabric of our country. May I suggest that being true to your callings and working toward those endeavors with diligence is an act of patriotism. That being different or being kind or being real is like being the fertilizer and water of this country's garden.

I'm reminded of what Stanley Kunitz said about his own life when he was feeling "less than" in the eyes of the world. "I remind myself that to choose to live the life of a poet in the modern superstate is in itself a political action." When he speaks of being a poet, I interpret that to mean any compassionate form of a personal gift you have to give the world.

Last night I tallied the statistics of this first year of a farming business. I counted what I have given as offerings to being an organic farmer. After expenses and adding the benefit of providing my own family with food, I made about .28 cents an hour. Yay, a profit, in our first year. But a hard won profit. Meager in the world's view. But not in mine.

I also tallied some of the gains from being a farmer poet. These were invaluables like connection with people, healthy food, being physically fit, purpose and freedom and having a forum to write. For moments while packing the CSA boxes last week I felt the very visceral tingle of the compassionate spirits all over me. I tasted the sweetness of peas and beets. I saw friends smile when I delivered the boxes. How great is that!

I propose that making a mint (not the plant) is not the American dream. Being yourself while being of service to others, that is the American dream I subscribe to.

For me, being a farmer is about political activism and environmentalism that cuts across party lines. It offers something real and alive in the pantry instead of the dry dead manufactured goods lining our corporate grocery store's shelves. This living produce is possible because of YOU, the ones that believed enough in goodness to invest in the Earth, community and health. Thank you.

I don't think healing in our country is about changing the people in elected office as much as it is about how we build foundations under our longings and callings. One step, one hoe full, one pulled (not sprayed) weed at a time.

Moon Bear CSA: This is the week where your garden is reconfiguring itself. The spring greens are pulling back while the sturdy squash and roots are taking off in the heat. And the tomatoes are coming! The purple and gold and striped and deep red harbingers of high Summer. That's worth celebrating. 

We'll be at Legacy Salmon Creek Farmer's Market from 2:30 'till 7 tomorrow with potatoes, onions, garlic and beets. Come on in for a 25% discount.

See you in the Garden
Rick


Copyright Richard Sievers, August 2012, All Rights Reserved

Recipe: Snap Pea Soup

3 cups sugar snap peas (stems & strings removed)

1 medium potato - chopped

2 cups veggie broth

1 small - medium onion chopped

1 ½ tsp salt

1 Tbsp coconut oil, raw virgin or olive oil

Chives &/or mint

Sauté the onion in oil for a few minutes. Add the broth and potato and simmer until almost tender. Add the peas and simmer a few more minutes until peas are tender-crisp.

Place everything in a high-speed blender, blend at high speed until smooth and creamy. Spice as desired.

Questions, Mantras and Prayers

Today: Our first Farmer's Market of the Season

           At Legacy Hospital, 2211 NE 39th St., Vancouver from 3PM till 7 PM

           Please Come by. We'll be here every Tuesday until the leaves fall.

 ~~~

The garden inventory is high and growing. Today, the first wave of twenty four will sweep through the garden in a harvest for the people. I ask myself these questions:

Have I planted enough?

Have I planned well?

What beds to reseed?

What beds to retire?

These are the questions of life. 

I will just do what I can do, the best I know how. The only path now is between the rows of abundance, pulling what I need for my little acts of service and gratitude.

Instead of listening to the mantra of "It's not enough", I remind myself:

It's up to the plants now.

It's up to the Earth.

My efforts are all growing verdant in the field. 

These are the mantras of any working person.

Today is our first market as Moon Bear.

It's a good day to wield the knife in the tangle of stems.

It's a good day to harvest the bounty.

It's a good day to gently wash the dirt off the roots.

It's a good day to offer what only passed through my hands for a moment in time and space.

These are the prayers of anyone who wants to free.

~~~

To the Moon Bear CSA: We will have your cooler and boxes ready here at the Art Farm, as usual, on Thursday  from 2 PM till Friday at noon. If you want to start picking up boxes at the Legacy Market on Tuesdays, let me know.

See you in the Garden,
Rick

Copyright Richard Sievers, July 2012, All Rights Reserved.

Coming Out of the Cooler

The "New" Moon Bear Cooler

Hello Moon Bears,

We purchased a well loved pastry cooler for the Art Farm. It's new home will be in the Club House (Also pretentiously known as The Studio)). We plan on harvesting fresh veggies and berries every Thursday morning starting July 19th and having them ready for your pickup from the cooler at any time on Thursdays and Friday morning.

I've been considering how food has become so functional and solitary in our world. We had an idea to combine part of the pick up time with a sharing or our community's food.

So, beginning July 19th we will have an ongoing voluntary potluck with the veggies available from the farm every Thursday night from 5:30 to 7. Stove and sink and salad dressings available. This will run through the season into October.

Also look for us in Association with our farm co-op Backyard Bounty at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, 2200 NE 139th Street,on Tuesdays from 3 to 7 p.m., beginning July 17th.

We're in this together. 

Food security and vitality begin within the nucleus of local community.

CSA Members: We'll send an e-mail message to you about the pickup schedule and details of bringing the bounty out the cooler and into your LIFE.

Rick

Recipe: Weekend Glow Kale Salad from Angela Liddon

Greetings friends of Moon Bear!

It was delightful to see some of you out at the farm this weekend for our very first CSA harvest. After seeing all of the beautiful greens I thought I might share one of my favorite go-to recipes. I change this recipe every time I make it depending on what I have on hand. Almost anything goes. I especially love adding dried cranberries, quinoa, beans or apples. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Recipe from: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/06/17/weekend-glow-kale-salad/

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

·         1/2 large head of kale (about 4-6 cups)

·         1 cup finely chopped red onion

·         1/2 red bell pepper

·         1/2-3/4 cup chopped carrot (2 small carrots)

·         1 English cucumber (2 cups chopped halves)

·         1 avocado, chopped

·         1 & 1/4 cup chopped grape tomatoes (or other variety)

·         1/2 cup mixed raisins and Goji berries

·         1/4 cup hemp seed

·         1/3 cup chopped walnuts

·         Dressing: 1 batch of Lightened Up tahini-Lemon Dressing (recipe below)

·         Your desired fresh or dried herbs

 Directions:

1. Chop vegetables and mix in a large mixing bowl. Reserve hemp seed and walnuts for sprinkling on top.

2. Make your Lightened Up tahini-Lemon Dressing in a food processor and process until smooth.

3. Tear the leaves off of the kale and rip into bite-sized pieces. Wash and dry kale leaves.

4. Mix the vegetables, kale leaves, and full batch of dressing (3/4-1 cup) in large bowl until thoroughly combined.

5. Place in fridge to ‘marinate’ for 10-15 minutes. Serves 4. Keeps in fridge in a sealed container for 1 day.

Lightened Up Tahini-Lemon Dressing

Yield: Just under 1 cup of dressing

Ingredients:

·         1/4 cup Tahini

·         2 garlic cloves

·         1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

·         1/4 cup Nutritional yeast or a bit more, to taste

·         2-4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil, to taste

·         1 tsp kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

·         3 tbsp water, or as needed

Directions:

1. In a food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth. Makes just under 1 cup.

Hail Life

Altar in the Sun. The Art Farm garden June 9, 2012

The garden is struggling to arise after two prolonged and powerful hail storms. Squashes are ripped through with stems mangled. Tomatoes bruised. More than half the seedlings have been pulverized. What the storms missed, the starlings picked over in wheeling flocks.

It's difficult to be still and be patient. It's hard not to melt with the sky into agitation. All the hard work and and tender emerging life thrashed. The hopes for service with a CSA and our farm co-op are lying limp on the ground.

But...

The garden doesn't need agitation. 

It doesn't even need feverish work. 

It wants presence and love, like all of us, after being hurt.

So I pause. I build a long neglected altar. Heather brings two statues, of Ganesh and Lakshmi. Seven keys, representing the seven chakras of the world, hang from the mantle. I place new seeds on the little niche. Then I leave the potential for new life and go, walk in the garden. Before I replant, I want to see what's really there, beyond my worries and responsibilities.

In the midst of a mangled squash plant, a new shoot pushes forward. Potatoes seem unphased. Many carrots are present and standing at attention. Life is here! Tenacious life. Remnants survive through the beatings and voracious hunger our world brings in chattering waves. Doing what life does.

Perhaps the sun that filters through the mist will delight the field soon.
Perhaps the storms have returned to their mountain home.
Perhaps I will sit here, with my wife, a while longer, not clinging to what could be or should be.
Perhaps I will continue to thank the survivors and the faithful of the garden clan,
and to contemplate the ruthless wonder of being present and still alive on earth.

-------

It's the next morning. The garden is replanted. All the rows that looked like missing teeth are filled in with seeds hungry to live, hungry to grow, hungry to feed the beauty of the world. The product may be two weeks late, but the vitality and healing are fully present.

-------

To Our Moon Bear CSA Menbers: 

Small boxes will be ready in early July. Specifics next week. It looks like the main harvests and abundance will be in full swing around July 20th. We're still set for a 12 week summer season for produce delivery. I'm waiting to see what the farm does now. All we can do is wait and see. The Earth will have Her way. Thanks for being in this process with us, this cycle of bring bounty to the table.

Rick

Copyright: Richard Sievers, Field of Seven Houses, June 2012

Moon Bear Rising

The West Garden and Orchard at the Art Farm June 2, 2012

Hello Moon Bear CSA Family and Friends,

This is your weekly newsletter about what's growing at the Art Farm. We'll include harvest reports, delivery dates, recipes, soulful events and glimmerings for the coming week. Feel free to contact me if you have feedback or want to contribute to this haphazard editorial endeavor.

We already have three baby golden zucchinis, cosmic purple tomatoes, adolescent sized beets and even a few new potatoes... and lots of young lettuce. I ordered half bushel boxes for our weekly delivery schedule beginning in July. I'm not sure of the dates for first delivery or distribution site yet. I will let you know more as we see your garden unfold.

Finally, the first wave of crops is in the ground and coming forward into the green wide world. I watch the garden from my window. A shiver runs up my back as rain shimmies down the window. Your garden is sown. The water lines set. The compost tilled. Rain and sun will come. The birds and moles and beetles may descend. The wind and hail may rise. Planting has become an act of faith. There is not much to fret over that is within my control now. The land will always be free and sacred on this small farm.

A poem from a man who seems to know that the Spirit of the farm and poetry and social justice are intimately interconnected.

A Standing Ground by Wendell Berry

From his book New Collected Poems, 2012, p.133

However just and anxious I have been
I will stop and step back
from the crowd of those who may agree
with what I say, and be apart.
There is no earthly promise of life or peace
but where the roots branch and weave
their patient silent passages in the dark;
uprooted, I have been furious without an aim.
I am not bound for any public place,
but for ground of my own
where I have planted vines and orchard trees,
and in the heat of the day climbed up
into the healing shadow of the woods.
Better than any argument is to rise at dawn
and pick dew-wet berries in a cup.

Peace

Rick and Heather