Hi Friends,
After the coldest winter we've seen in decades, spring has finally come to Tennessee. All around The Farm people are venturing out into the gardens, anxious to get some food going. At my house we've planted lettuce. Our peas have started to come up and the broccoli is also off to a nice start under grow lights.

By the end of April I should have my two books in hand and ready for shipment. I will be starting my promotional tour with an appearance at the Mother Earth News Fair in Asheville, North Carolina, where I will be speaking at 12 noon on Saturday, April 12.

I also have plans to speak at the Mother Earth News Fairs in Seven Springs, PA which runs September 12-14, and at the fair in Topeka, KS, October 25-26. I am excited for the opportunity to spread the message of community and sustainable living to like-minded folks around the country. If you come to see me at any of these fairs please be sure to introduce yourself.

Peace,

Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com

Homegrown Chili

I love spicy food, and one reason I like chili so much is that I can incorporate so many different foods I've put up from the garden, starting with my various types of dried beans, canned tomatoes, frozen corn, carrots, along with onion and garlic.

I start with 2 cups of dry beans in the pressure cooker.

Sauté one large onion and 2-3 cloves of garlic. You want to start with just the onions, adding the garlic a minute or two later. Garlic browns faster than onions and will scorch if added at the same time. I can also either sauté some sliced green pepper, or add some dehydrated pepper from the garden later.

Next I add 1 quart of canned, pureed tomatoes and 1/2 cup frozen corn.

To save time, I slice one or two carrots and boil them in a separate pot until soft, so that they are already cooked when I add them to the chili.

Add the cooked beans and enough of the bean water from the pressure cooker to make a broth.

Add 1 TBS chili powder, 1 tsp cumin and salt to taste. Use more chili if you like it spicy.

Simmer for a while, then remove 1 cup of liquid. Add 1 TBS of corn starch, stir until all the lumps have dissolved, and then add this back to the pot, Heat will thicken the mixture, turning it into a thick chili gravy.

Where I am from in Kentucky, it's not chili until you add a bit of cooked spaghetti.! Don't forget the corn bread!

Squash Soup Revisited

I had someone ask about the recipe for my delicious squash soup, featuring the Seminole squash, also known as the Seminole pumpkin.

As you can see in the image to the right, their appearance can vary from the fat tear drop to the traditional pumpkin shape.

Named after its origins with the Native people of Florida, these squash are naturally resistant to bugs like the vine borer and squash beetle and quite prolific. It has been no problem for me to grow enough to feed our family all winter, bring soup to community pot lucks, and feed 20 to 80 people during my workshops and conferences.

They store very well. I lost only about 2 or 3 to rot from about 40 I had stored in our basement through the winter.

We have been ordering our seed from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, a company in Virginia which specializes in varieties acclimated to the southeast, although they serve customers all across the country. They are a worker run cooperative, with some varieties of seed grown for them by the Twin Oaks and Acorn Communities.

We might be able to save our own seeds, as I have had some volunteers come up. However I am always concerned that the seeds could easily have been crossed pollinated from squash being grown in other gardens near ours.

The Seminole squash are also incredibly rich in flavor. This was reinforced recently when I made a pot of soup from some standard orange pumpkins that I also grew last summer for Halloween jack-o-lanterns. The pumpkin soup just seemed to lack flavor, so to compensate I added a second can of coconut milk, doubled the amount of ginger, and for a little extra kick put in some curry powder.

A tablespoon of freshly shredded or pureed ginger can liven up many different dishes.

A week later, I made the same soup, this time with the Seminole squash. I only needed 1 can of coconut milk, a little ginger, and we could not believe the difference. Creamy, rich, so delicious!

Check out the entire recipe along with step by step instructions and pictures by visiting my page on my GreenLife Retreats web site. You'll find this and many other recipes featured throughout the years in my newsletters there.

Thanks as always for your time and attention!

Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com