Monthly Archives: August 2007

Hey, it’s not just me here on this farm. There’s a certain monkey man who helps make this operation run smoothly. Especially when it comes to our lovely car, the Slop Bucket, which fetches all the dumpster goodies for the pigs. As you can imagine, Mr. Bill’s hands get pretty dirty fixing this mighty vehicle. Luckily, he has a secret beauty ingredient: honey and sugar. First you pour on a dab of honey, then sprinkle sugar, and rub vigorously. Works like a charm–and no nasty chemicals on his skin (well, except for the oil and brake cleaner that got in before he washed).

The pigs escaped yesterday for a ten minute run of the neighborhood. I heard a commotion, walked downstairs and encountered one of the monks (in full robes) holding a street cone in order to get the piggers back in their stall. A neighbor, newly arrived from Puerto Rico, held a stick, and everyone was laughing, but serious at the same time. The hogs thought this was great fun. I finally lured them back with a bag of bread. The monk spoke pig–he was making some very detailed snorting noises. Afterward, he told me (as a vegetarian Buddhist monk must): “They want to be free.” Have I mentioned how much I love our street?
The plan is to have them slaughtered in Dixon by a nice lady named Sylvia in early September. I’m hoping I’ll get to watch and learn for next year. Then I’ll bring the carcass and offal to Berkeley, where my salumi-maestro will show me the proper way to butcher a pig. He said it’ll take two days to do the deconstruction. His payment? Just a leg to make proscuitto. As you can see from this photo–the leg needs to get bigger.

Other farm news: a new batch of baby bunnies! Born to our third female who hasn’t had babes yet. Looks like 5 in all.

Dumpster score of the week (don’t worry Papa, it’s for the hogs!): 6 boxes of persimmon heirloom tomatoes, and the same quantity of Italian white figs.

This summer has been all about processing large quantities of raw materials. This past weekend William and I went plum picking. Near our friend Jennifer’s house in Oakland, there’s an elephant heart plum tree filled with fruit. EHs aren’t good eating out of hand plums, so at first I was not psyched. I dehydrated a batch and they were terrible–weirdly rubbery. On a fluke, I cooked a few down, and suddenly had the best fruit in the world in my hands. Two buckets worth. First I stewed about 30 quart jars. In their own juice, they reduce down to a mindblowingly good sweet-tart sauce the color of claret. Then I made a plum coffeecake–oh lordy, sweet dough meets tart, melting plum. Then I finished off the buckets by making about 24 pint jars of plum jam. My thumb hurts from pulling pits, and my fingers are very stained (just like my sister’s blackberried digits).

If you’ve got an extra moment, here’s a profile I wrote for SFgate.com, published online today:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/08/06/moneytales.DTL

Here are some photos of my attempts to “put up” some alcohol.
-Wine. The grapes were picked last fall, in Redwood Valley in Mendocino County. My friend Jennifer arranged the picking–we were allowed to glean from Coturri vineyards in exchange for 5 gallons of biodiesel. After stomping the grapes with our feet and decanting the liquid, they’ve been bubbling away in carboys for the past 8 months. On July 4, we racked it. Unfortunately, it’s quite sweet and kind of horrible tasting. The year before we used Merlot grapes, and the wine was actually very drinkable. This season it was sangiovese. My solution? Sangria baby. It makes a great fruity chilled wine. Since I have 25 bottles, I’ll probably use the rest for cooking, vinegar, and maybe some mulled wine in the winter months.

-Bitters. Here’s a photo of nocino-making. It’s just green walnuts, some cinnamon sticks, honey (in my case, some use sugar or maple syrup) and a jar of vodka. It won’t be ready until the winter months, either.
-Mead. In the next few days I’m going over to my friend John White’s house to rack up the mead (honey beer) we made almost a year ago.
Looks like I’ll be set in the liquor department.

Oh man, I miss the ducks and the geese. They really made the garden feel alive. Now it’s just one of my crazy black chickens and a bee hive. The survivor duck is doing pretty well for having a chunk of his butt removed. I’m getting all James Herriot with him–cleaning the wound, hand-feeding him food and water. The good thing is he’s eating corn and lettuce. He’s hanging with the rabbits, which he bites at if they get too close. He’s rightfully mad at mammals, me included.

BTW, yesterday I kind of binged. I met a friend for lunch and ate mussels, clams, and scallops. Later coffee with a different friend. Then Pakastani food at Shalimar in SF. Lordy. Today I’m back to eating from the garden: cuc, beet, and onion salad (but today, with the exotic spice called pepper) and a plate of pasta with tomatoes, garlic, and basil from the garden with some duck.

Hey, email me anytime: novellacarpenter (at) yahoo.com

Only two hours left for my “epic”, month-long experiment in surviving on food grown and raised only on my mini-farm in urban Oakland. My BF and I went to Berkeley Bowl and I bought a few items in anticipation of tomorrow, when I can eat some store bought crap. Here’s what I got:
-whole milk
-half and half
-durum spaghetti
-bag of corn chips
I got sort of spaced out at Berkeley Bowl–so many dizzying options. But I rejected most of them. I went to buy walnuts, and I remembered, like a girl recalling her first lover, the farmer who sells walnuts on Fridays. Same with the butter. It’s great to know I don’t ‘need’ to buy anything.
My mom wanted to know if I felt more healthy after doing this. I have to say yes. Being off coffee for a month is good no matter what. Sorry if this is TMI but I didn’t have cramps this month at all. I’ve decided to only drink coffee as a treat. For my morning bev, it’s lapsong souchong all the way! Also, I lost a bit of fat on my arms and hips, so I’m feeling kinda buff. I can’t wait, though, to have enough to eat so I can take long bike rides without starting to fade.
Tomorrow I’m meeting an editor for lunch. That word, lunch, is just luscious.
Okay, I’m babbling. Starting the next post, it’s back to photos of the farm animals, and less about me. Whew! Thanks for joining me–and rabbit rabbit!

P.S. I have a story in today’s salon.com: http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2007/08/01/black_panthers/
I guess I made one mistake: the Alice Water’s Edible Schoolyard is at MLK elementary, not Malcolm X. Sorry, I went on a tour of Malcolm X elementary’s schoolyard a few years ago, so I thought that was the garden. It is a nice space with a cob tool shed and lovely veggies.