Wednesday, October 29, 2008

THE FEAST

Aprovecho's harvest festival drew almost 200 people out to the farm. The day ended with an elaborate 100 mile feast- one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

Hope this fall is finding everyone healthy and happy! I wish you all a bountiful harvest.
The C.E.O. and cutest resident of Apro-Raven and myself.

We share this cider press with 3 other families, and it has made the rounds this season! We have pressed 100's of pounds of apples this fall. We just bottled over 100 bottles of hard cider this week! The press by far my favorite piece of machinery.
welcome to Aprovecho...
Kyle and the cider press.
Lili's fermentation workshop

100 mile diet-harvest festival


Volunteers arriving in the morning.

Downtown on Main St. Cottge Grove, OR

more outdoor kitchen

outdoor kitchen..all wood fired.
garden shed above my tent platform...a second home.

By far my most favorite place to be.

greenhouse

Dino kale

Teaching Rosie how to hold a chicken


Rosie and my pops came to OR for a few days to look at colleges for Rosie. They also got to come and hang out at Aprovecho for a bit. It was great to take them around and also have them here for the harvest festival!
This one is of me and Rosie chatting at the mushroom logs.

HOME

This one is for Bridget, who has been waiting for me to post a picture of my tent home. I felt very much like a garden gnome all season, with my little home off to the side of the garden tool shed.

Saturday, October 11, 2008


Rachel Drying tomatoes and plums. There is pretty much a full drier going 24/7, we are preserving something at all times....just one more way in which our days are full of food.

Honor

Abel standing with our 100mile Chili second prize ribbon and award! It should also be said that the sun did come out in the afternoon and it turned into a really nice day.

100 mile diet

List of all the foods we ate over the last month and where they are coming from-

WHAT WE ATE &WHERE IT’S FROM

Cooking Oils-
Butter –Noris Dairy
Beef Tallow- Full Circle Farm
Pork Lard – Sweet Brier Farm

Meats-
Whole Chickens- Brice Creek Croft
Ground Beefalo- Polyrock Ranch
Stew Bones/meat- Deck Family Farms
Duck- Aprovecho

Dairy-
Cow Milk- Polyrock Ranch
Cheese- Willamette Valley Cheese C.O.
Yogurt- Nancy’s

Nuts-
Filberts- Kronke Family Farm
Acorns- Aprovecho

Grains-
Durum Wheat- American Wheat Growers
Red Fife Wheat- American Wheat Growers
Triticale- American Wheat Growers
Rye – American Wheat Growers

Beans-
Kidney- Full Circle Farm
Black- Full Circle Farm
Bumble Bee- Full Circle Farm
Buckskin- Full Circle Farm
Dried Peas- Slo Farm

Fruit-
Cherries- Slo Farms
Apples- Slo Farms & Kizer Creek & Aprovecho
Pears- Slo Farms & Rivers Turn Farm & Avalon Stables & Aprovecho
Plums- Slo Farms
Blueberries- Brewers U pick
Blackberries- Avalon Stables
Rasberries- Rivers Turn
Cantaloupe- Hayhurst Organic Farm and Nursery
Figs- Aprovecho
Grapes- Aprovecho

Vegetables-
Carrots- Wintergreen Farm
Potatoes- Wintergreen & Aprovecho
Onion- Wintergreen & Aprovecho
Beets- Aprovecho
Parsnips- Aprovecho
Tomatoes- Slo Farm & Aprovecho
Cucumbers- Slo Farm & Aprovecho
Peppers- Crossroads Farm & Aprovecho
Eggplant- Aprovecho
Collards- Aprovecho
Swiss Chard- Aprovecho
Kale- Aprovecho
Lettuce- Aprovecho
Cauliflower- Aprovecho
Green and Purple Cabbage- Aprovecho
Green Beans- Aprovecho
Summer Squash- Aprovecho
Winter Squash- Aprovecho
Sweet Peas- Slo Farm
Sweet Corn- Henson’s via Slo Farm
Shitake Mushrooms- Aprovecho
Garlic- Wintergreen Farm
Sweet Potatoes- Aprovecho
Green Beans- Aprovecho

Herbs (All from Aprovecho) -
Basil
Parsley
Mint
Thyme
Oregano
Rosemary
Chives
Sage
Epazote
Scallion
Marjoram
Tarragon
Tulsi Basil
Lemon Balm

Other Seasonings-
Dried Dill Seed- Aprovecho
Sea Weed- Pacific Ocean
Dried Peppers- Crossroads Farm
Dried Cinnamon basil- Aprovecho
Salt- Pacific Ocean
Apple Cider Vinegar-Aprovecho
Honey- Hummingbird Whole Sale Distrabution (Cottage Grove)

Leavening Agents-
Sourdough- Aprovecho

COOK-OFF

Aprovecho entered the chili cook-off of Cottage Grove. This was quite the scene, the fire dept entered along with many others in what it turns out is a very competitive contest. These people love thier chili! We entered ours as "100mile chili"- so no chili powder, or other non 100 mile spices. Lili, Kyle, Rachel and Myself rose before sunrise and in the pouring rain to load up the truck with tables, posters, food, propane stoves and headed down town, where Main st. had been roped off for the contest. We were greeted by other hardcore chili makers who were already getting their stuff simmering. We set up and got cooking! Mostly we saw this as an educational opportunity for people, fun and good eating for us! But low and behold, WE WON SECOND PRIZE for our dank chili! YAY! What a highlight, and total conformation to us what our diet is not only postive socially but also super tasty (not that we didnt already know that)!!!!!
Kyle King of Sunflowers....

bobbing for apples


Lili bobbing for apples....it may just be the best and most fun game ever.

bread and butter


Kyle taught a bread making class at the start of the diet. We had no yeast, so we were making sourdough for the duration of the program. This an image of the outdoor kitchen ( all cooking is down on wood fired stoves).

When the sky was still blue...

Its been a few weeks since I have made any posts, but I'm back and have some pictures to share! This is looking up at the community building from the bottom of the garden (before the rains came). Currently, the rain is around most days and it has started to get pretty cold, thank God for wood stoves, warm blankets and whiskey. The fall internship program ends this Sunday. We all have been on the 100 mile diet for a month now, and are feeling great, well fed and happy!

Saturday, August 16, 2008






Summer........

Top of the watershed for sunset, Kyle greets the sun as he simulates flight atop the arch he and Josh constructed.

It should also be noted that these beautiful pictures were taken by Mr. Josh Jedediah Tsvi Hubing-Cooper.

GREEN GARDEN

chillin out, maxin, relaxin all cool...in the garden is where I spend most of my days.

Living Routes Reuion


All four of us (molly, Kyle, Jack, Josh) did A Living Routes program (either Scotland or India) and are now at Aprovecho...how small the world is!

This is the start of the outside classroom being build to the side of the straw bale. We have been holding outside movie nights here the last week (mostly planet earth videos). We took several mattresses out and set up the projector and a sheet. Hands down best movie watching venue ever! We also made some dank popcorn-involving coconut oil, Cinnamon and honey....try it, you wont be let down!

Summer Internship Finale

Yes...two kegs were stored in our spring. They stayed icy cold for our party on Friday which was total blissful chaos. We had a tremendous oatmeal stout and IPA from Ninkasi brewery in Eugene. Oh how delightful summer is!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Me at the top of the watershed

Josh and I took a hike to the top of our watershed the other day. So many clear cuts, but the up side to that is how far we are able to see in all directions. we were able to see our little valley and all around it! it was quite a site, really made me even more in awe of this beautiful land, and also saddened by all the clear cutting that takes place here. The summer internship ends at the end of this week and Josh leaves to start school early next week, I am so sad to see everyone leave and to feel the summer coming (slowly) to a close. I will really miss Josh when he goes. But I am also looking forward to this abundant fall season and for our fall internship, four weeks of which will be spend going the 100 mild diet. We had a meeting about it tonight and I am sooooooo excited for it! I cant want to eat nothing but what we can get from within 100 miles of us. It looks like we will be eating lots of veg, fruit, meat and dairy. Beans, grains, oils and spices will be harder to get, but we are creative and I think it will be a really powerful experiment and will help us all become more connected to what we eat. at the end of the program we are hosting a gathering called "eat here now" which well be at the end of our month long diet and a harvest feast! I feel like I am learning so much in the garden and am so inspired by what the people around me are doing to help this earth. I am so positive about how much more there is to learn in the coming months!
Random image of our exploding potato patch! they are all flowering now, I think they should be ready to harvest by September.....I feel like my whole sense of time has changed being here. I measure the time passing by when the vegetables are ready to eat rather than in by clocks or months.

back at aprovecho

Here are friends Lily and Kyle cooking up some lunch in the outdoor kitchen where all our meals are made. The garden is right behind, its so great to pick all the vegetables and salad you want (meals for 30 people everyday) and then just use what you just picked. there is nothing like it! I am blessed to be surrounded by amazing cooks and such creative people who make amazing food ALL the time. There is always somthing good cookin up in the kitchen. All our stoves and ovens are wood powered and outside...I have never eaten better!
This picture was taken on a hike from last weekend on our quest to get to some hidden hotsprings. we made it to this roaring river and found several little hotspring pools along the side. we had to scale some cliffs to get there though and cross an old wire bridge (seen above), it was well worth it though. Josh and I were the only two brave enough to get into the cold river water, but it made the hotsprings that much warmer!
Evan, Aliza and I hung out in Portland last weekend and saw the sassy soulful Sharon Jones play at the Portland zoo. We got a bangin breakfast and then hung out for a while in one of Portland's many rose gardens. really great to see Evan and Aliza, I feel so lucky that they are both here this summer, I feel like I have family really close by! My friends Rachel and Josh from Apro also came for the weekend, it was really great to share the gospel of Sharon Jones with them!
This is from a really nice hike we took to a huge waterfall. This is Rachel and I trying to ID some wild plants. I am working really hard on learning the plant life in Oregon's green green forests. I am so lucky to have some amazing teachers here who know just about everything about plants and their uses.

This was the camp at tayberry. we spent the whole weekend creating additions and more shade, we at the end had about four tents all linked up together. it was a great retreat for shade, naps and snacks.
hanging out with coco the donkey and strawberry the pony......
Josh and I at Tayberry Jam, hanging out during out "work" shift...telling people where to park.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

cherries in all its forms!

cherry madness!!


These were taken during our days of cherry madness. we preserved cherries every way one can.... Juice, mush, pitted, non-pitted, with sugar and without....sooooooo many cherries! I am learning all about canning and food preservation, really cool stuff.

back on the blog wagon...



has been a few weeks since my last "post". Wanted to check in while I am sitting here and thinking about it. Life on the farm in the summer is always busy, full of life, vegetables and love. I had an amazing 23rd birthday, which happened to take place the night of July's full moon and also the first night of Tayberry jam. Thank you to all my friends and family who made it so special. I really could not be happier. I feel so blessed to be where I am and be able to do what I am doing.

First I wanted to post a few from before I left the east coast of Rosie and I at the beach. Rosie just sent these and I love them! (although seeing them made me miss Rosie a whole bunch!!)

Sunday, July 13, 2008

As I entered the gates of the fair, a painted man on stilts shouted at me "hey there red-can I steal a freckle" Shout out to my red2red's out there-Yhaaaa Abby! B Kane!


Aliza and I went to the Oregon Country fair this Friday and had a really magic filled time! The Land was sold to Bob Weir in 1969, who then created the space the fair is held. It is a wooded fairy land with music, art, crafts and costumes....oh the costumes.