Blue Skys Flower Farm

A 1 1/3 acre flower, herb, and vegetable farm in Cranston, RI.



When I visited Blue Skys Flower Farm, I got lost, quelle surprise, because the sign said Urban Edge Farm. Hesitantly, I pulled into the driveway and parked. I saw a few unfamiliar faces and asked if they knew where I could find Christina. I had met Christina the previous Thursday at the ungodly hour of 7:30am in Pawtucket, RI because we were both helping put together CSA boxes for local restaurants (more about this in another post). Anyway, none of these women were Christina, so I was confused why they were on her farm. Turns out, it’s not just Blue Skys Flower Farm but seven farms sharing fifty acres owned by the Southside Community Land Trust. During my visit to Blue Skys Flower Farm, I began to learn about the positive benefits of working on a government subsidized farm, how a farm like this works, and how difficult it is to start a farm without the aid of an organization like Southside Community Land Trust.

How Christina started farming as an adult occurred through a series connections surrounding Southside Community Land Trust. The land originally belonged to a farmer named Arthur Ringrose. In his will, he donated it to the Department of the Environment. Eventually, the land then ended up in the hands of Southside Community Land Trust. Southside Community Land Trust allows farmers to rent a few acres of land for a low price through government subsidies. Blue Skys Flower Farm is part of Urban Edge Farm. Seven farmers and two farm stewards share all of the facilities for cost effectiveness. This program allows new farmers to enter the field without facing the financial challenges of building a farm from scratch. Although all of the farmers operate separate farms, they happily work together and support each other. Before farming, Christina was already the Director of Operations for SSCLT, so knew about the Urban Edge Farm, and eventually decided to participate in it. However, this is not the first time Christina has dabbled in farming. At one point, she studied in France. During her time there, she spent a summer on a farm. She fell in love with the taste of freshly picked produce. So, it made sense for her to pursue fresh food with her own farm when the opportunity arose.



Christina believes that without SSCLT, she would not have been able to start the farm, and she is grateful for the government subsidies. When asked if she felt like she had the government’s support, she said that she and the other farmers are just starting to feel it. Recently, she and a few other farmers at Urban Edge each received a grant to build their own greenhouses so that they can expand their operation. She said that the government is beginning to realize how healthy and productive smaller farmers can be, so only recently are farmers participating in this type of farming being rewarded or encouraged by the government. There are some definite pros to working on a government-subsidized farm. Hopefully, these benefits will continue to increase, thus making small-sized farming more appealing and accessible.

As we continued to talk, it became clear how difficult and expensive it is to start a farm without government subsidies. Christina told me that for thirty-seven acres land in RI, it would cost about $600,000. For the specific property she was referring to, the estate came with a barn, but it was not ready for crops. In order to prepare the soil, which consists of removing all of the overgrown plants and weeds, aerating the soil, etc, it could cost over a million dollars. That does not include setting up an irrigation system, about $6,000, land taxes, and building everything else necessary to run a farm. Unless a new farmer inherited the land or had a substantial inheritance, it is nearly impossible to start a farm from the ground up. It seems like the equivalent of a young person fresh out of graduate school trying to buy a worn-down house in San Francisco, CA - in other words, very difficult, impractical, inefficient, and risky.




Even though a dependency on the government develops with this model of farming, its financial and stabilizing benefits seem to outweigh this risk. Programs like Urban Edge Farm allow for people to start farming, and isn’t that what we want-to support and encourage local and sustainable farming? John Kenny, another farmer at Urban Edge and owner of Big Train Farm, expressed positive feelings about this business model and described it as “the most practical way to get a farmer on land with equipment and a reputation.” This program encourages the growth of small farms.

Christina almost solely operates Blue Skys Flowers Farm. Even though Christina has a separate full-time job, she farms for six hours a day! She says that she is constantly planting, seeding, and weeding. She plants about three hundred sunflower seeds a week, and that’s just one species out of twenty that she grows. Generally speaking, she grows a variety of flowers, vegetables, and herbs. In addition to working both in an office and in the fields, she also participates in the Four Friends CSA, sells at farmers’ markets, and works with local restaurants. She can be found on Thursday mornings at the Farm Fresh warehouse dropping of produce for restaurants through the Market Mobile.You can support her farm at the following markets: Pawtuxet Village, Providence Downtown, and Providence RIC.

Chez Panisse's Chocolate Ice Cream

One of the major disagreements I ever had with my roommate/best-friend/soul mate was over the ice cream machine I bought our first year in college. After she told me it was a waste of money, I was determined to prove her wrong and quickly gained the freshman fifteen in the last couple months of that year. We used the ice cream maker for everything. If you have an ice cream maker, or want to be daring and follow the freezing instructions from the New York Times' Tiny Kitchen, this recipe is the most chocolatey, rich, smoothe, do-not-read-any-further-if-you're-on-a-diet delicious ice cream around. It is from the cook book Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey R. Shere. We served it with a really light dinner of Venetian Carrots and BLUE Salad (recipes to come!) so that we had enough room for dessert.


Tools:
Ice Cream Maker

Ingredients:
6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate broken up into small pieces.
1 cup of non-fat milk (Rhody Fresh)
2 cups of half and half (Rhody Fresh)
6 egg yolks (save the whites for meringues!)
1/2 cup of white sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 pinch of salt

Directions:
1. To melt the chocolate, make your own double boiler. Fill a semi- large saucepan with about 2 inches of water. Put a smaller saucepan on top of the larger saucepan. The water should not touch the small saucepan. Turn on the stove, and heat up both until the water starts to boil. When the water boils, put the chocolate in a smaller saucepan, turn off the heat, and cover with a lid. Stir after about 3 minutes. The chocolate should melt. If it seems to thick, feel free to add in about 1 tablespoon of butter. It melts a lot easier than expected; I promise.
2. In a medium sized sauté pan, add the three cups of milk and sugar. Cook over a small-medium flame until it starts to boil. Stir occassionally.
3. In a small heat-tolerant bowl, mix together the egg yolks.
4. When the milk mixture starts to bubble, in two-three rounds add a bit of the mixture into the eggs and stir well. Then pour everything back into the sauté pan and stir constantly until a custard forms. You know a custard forms because the back of your stirring utensil will get a coat on it, slid your finger down the back of the spoon and the line should stay. Add the one teaspoon of vanilla and the pinch of salt and remove from heat.
5. Slowly pour the custard into the chocolate. Pour in a little bit, mix super well, and then pour in a little bit more. Continue until the entire custard has been well mixed into the chocolate.
6. Let stand for 15 minutes.
7. Refridgerate for at least 30 minutes or until the mixture is fairly cool.
8. Follow your ice cream maker's directions and enjoy!

It is now acceptable to have Caprese Salad for Dinner: Chilled Pasta with Fresh Basil, Mozzarella Cheese, Roasted Eggplant, and Julienne Tomatoes.

Chilled Pasta with Fresh Basil, Mozzarella Cheese, Roasted Eggplant, and Julienne Tomatoes.
Photography by Benner!

I have yet to meet someone who does not like caprese salad. The problem is that on hot days, which by the way appear endless in RI, it is not exactly acceptable nor fiscally possible to afford the dish for every meal. This is a recipe that Benner and I made as a way to make caprese salad a full, refreshing meal by bulking up the traditional caprese salad with rigatoni pasta and roasted eggplant!!

Ingredients:

2 Small Japanese Eggplants (Wishing Stone Farm)
1 Medium sized Tomato (Hill Orchards) or (Wishing Stone Farm)
1 Handful of freshly picked Basil
1 Large Mozarella Ball (Narragansett Creamery)
1 Pound of (Rigatoni) pasta.
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

1.Preheat the oven to 380. Wash and slice the eggplant into 1/4 thick circles. Then slice the circles in half. Put a pot of salted boiling water on the stove. When boiled, pour in the pasta, cook until al dente, drain, place in a boil with a little bit of olive oil, stir, and put aside.
2. Over medium heat, put enough oil in a pan so that there is more than just a thin film of oil on the pan, enough for stir frying the eggplant. Saute the eggplant until soft. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper to your liking.
3. Spread the eggplant out on a cookie sheet and put in the oven for about 7 minutes. Since the eggplant probably looks a little soggy, we put it in the oven so that it was a more sturdy looking.
4. Chop the tomato and mozarella into small pieces. Tear up the basil in to small pieces and mix this in too. Put these in the bowl that has pasta in it. When the eggplant is finished, put it into the pasta as well. Mix and enjoy immediately or after refridgeration.

Cu"ke"umber Salad

Cucumber Salad

This salad is similar to one that you find in many Asian restaurants. It's absolutely perfect for this hot, east coast weather!!! This recipe is from Amy ...thanks!

Ingredients:

2 seedless cucumbers (or 2 seedy ones with the tough seeds removed), peeled and sliced thin

½ cup rice vinegar or white vinegar

¼ cup canola oil

A little tamari or low salt soy sauce

2-4 Tbsp sugar (use more than you think you should)

¼ tsp salt, more to taste

Lightly toasted black or regular sesame seeds

Optional: a little sesame oil

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except the cukes with a whisk or fork. The sugar won’t entirely dissolve, but that’s OK.

2. Pour dressing over the cukes and let them marinate in the refrigerator for an hour to a day.

Visit to Hill Farm in Foster, RI

A Visit to Hill Farm in Foster, RI


When I drove to Hill Farm, I turned into a driveway where a small path cuts through the forest. Surrounded by vegetation, a small clearing opens up where there are tall native trees are on the right, and there are blueberry bushes to the left. Over to the left, were two little boys and Louis, the owner of Hill Farm, picking blueberries. It was a bit difficult to park because two guinea hens who were very interested in my tires and not very intimidated by my car. The hens roam free at Hill Farm. Once out of the car, there is no evidence that this is actually a farm. The pigs and cows are not in clear view, and there is no scent that gives away their location either. After orienting myself, I started walking back to the blueberries. The two boys came running towards me. They were very excited to show be their newly acquired treasure, tons of blueberries. Welcome to Hill Farm, a beautiful, highly sustainable family farm in Foster, RI.

Louis and Maria Vinagro founded Hill Farm in 2003. Louis grew up on a pig farm and wanted the same experience for his children. So, they bought 14 acres of land and now raise pigs, cows, guinea hens, and chickens in a natural environment. The guinea hens walk around the farm un-caged, and the pigs and cows have rotating pens in the forest. The pigs are not fed anything outside of their natural diet, and since the land is so healthy, the pigs can obtain most of their food through the grass, roots, and vegetation on the forest floor! Louis moves the pens frequently, and he plants seeds in the old pens to make sure that the land remains healthy and fertile. In addition, as the purebred Bershire pigs grow, the size of their pen increases in order to make sure that they always have more then enough room to move around and play.

I was surprised by how happy these pigs were. They ran around playing in the dirt, drinking water, and they would come up to Lou to be pet. In one pen, Louis got inside the pen to wake-up the two- hundred seventy-five pound hogs! Next to the pen for the larger pigs was a fenced off grassy area. Louis explained that that area was where the pigs were during the winter. If he hadn’t told me, I would not have known that this grassy area was muddy a few months ago. He had living proof that when pens were moved frequently, the natural vegetation was able to grow back quickly and healthily.

The Vinagro’s have a similar set up for their fours cows. The cows graze leisurely on a vast fenced-in pasture. These animals are never fed grain, and they happily live off of the grass. Louis smiled saying, “I never mow the lawn!” When the grass gets high, he moves the cows there, and they do the job for him!




The Vinagro family has an admirable relationship with their farm. There is a mutual respect between the family, the animals, and the land. They respect the land, and as a result, the soil remains fertile, and the grass grows back quickly and nutrient rich. They treat their pigs and cows with care, and the animals are genuinely happy, healthy, excited, and curious to interact with people. In addition, Hill Farm is also a member of the Rhode Island Raised Livestock Association, which is a USDA meat- processing facility for local RI farmers; from beginning to end, Hill Farm’s products remains local, small-scale, and sustainable. Hill Farm’s treatment of their animals and the environment pays off too- the farm sustains 50% of the families agrarian needs, and Louis proudly, and accurately, states that the best meal he’s ever had was right here at Hill Farm.

When I was getting ready to leave Hill Farm, Louis and I started discussing the price of land, as well as everyone’s favorite subject, taxes. I had already been so impressed by Hill Farm’s dedication to sustainability; I thought there must be some sort of government reward. No, taxes on land are extremely expensive, and one of the main forces driving out small family farms. Louis explained to be that it would be impossible for his farm to be their sole source of income. Farms are expensive to start and maintain, and land is limited and expensive in Rhode Island. Even though Hill Farm is treating its land incredibly well, there is not reward for such admirable dedication to the environment. This is important because it has now been brought to my attention that farms like these should be rewarded for their local and sustainable agrarian products and should be treated differently/ taxed differently than their larger competitors.

Lou continues with his dedication towards the environment by also running Full Circle Recycling in Rhode Island. Lou also provides free recycling to the Farm Fresh farmers’ markets. You can find Hill Farm products at these summer farmers' markets in Rhode Island: Fisherman's Memorial State Park, Goddard State Park, Armory Park, and Scituate.

Even though I was a stranger visiting Hill Farm, Lou treated me with great hospitality. As I left, he gave me a huge bag of freshly picked blueberries; “Here, they’re about, an hour old.” Lou said with a slight hint of irony. As I drove home eating, mind you the best blueberries in my life, I began to think that eating locally is the good life- freshly picked food, the ability to shake the hand that feeds me, living fewer than thirty minutes away from my food, and knowing that this little slice of heaven wasn’t hurting the environment either.

Stuffed Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Garlic, and Tomatoes

Stuffed Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Tomatoes, and Garlic
Photography by Benner!

I made this in St. Louis, MO. It essentially tastes like deliciously stuffed bread. The caramelized onions are what really make this recipe stand out. Therefore, although the second way has not been tested yet, I’m providing two ways to go about this recipe. The first way has two layers of focaccia surrounding a layer of onions and tomatoes. The second way has three thinner layers of focaccia and two layers of onions and tomatoes. The second way is a little bit more of an ode to caramelized onions. Once again, I used Savory Baking from the Mediterranean: Focaccias, Flatbreads, Rusks, Tarts, and Other Breads by Anissa Helou as a guide for the ingredients. However, her proportions differ from mine a lot. The original recipe also does not include the stuffing component.


Ingredients:
• 4 ½ teaspoons (2 packages) of active dry yeast
• ½ cup warm water with a ¼ teaspoon of sugar or honey mixed in
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 ¼ teaspoons of sea salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
For Stuffing (Double this if doing the second variation)
• ¾ cup chopped tomato. It’s about 1 large tomato, similar to the size of an heirloom but don’t pay the price of an heirloom just to bake it
• 2 large cloves of garlic finely chopped
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small red onion
• ½ small white/yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons and 1 ½ teaspoons of brown sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons of granulated white sugar
• ¼-1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 dabble (about 3/4 tsp) of molasses
• 1 pinch of red pepper flakes

1. Stir the yeast and ½ of warm water in a cup and let sit until it starts to foam a bit
2. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Then make a well and pour in the yeast mixture. Slowly bring in the wall of flour/salt into the wet yeast until well combined. If it is too dry, add more warm water. If it is too wet, add a bit more flour. Knead for 16 minutes.
3. Knead the dough into a ball, and then turn the bowl over on top of the dough (like a person in an ingloo) and let it sit for 15 minutes.
4. Knead the dough for 3 minutes. Pour some olive oil into the bowl (about 1 tablespoon) Use the ball of dough to spread the olive oil around the sides of the bowl. With its nice layer of olive oil, put the ball of dough in the bowel, cover it with a kitchen towel, put it in a warm place. Let it rise for one hour or until doubled. This may vary depending on the temperature. In St. Louis, it took thirty minutes to triple in size. In San Francisco, it took two hours.
5. Brush a cooking sheet with olive oil. Remove the dough from the bowl and being to stretch the dough by hand across the cookie sheet. The dough should be no more than ¾ of an inch thick. It should really be more around ¼-1/2 inch. The dough’s thickness should be nowhere near that point where the dough is so thin that it starts to break. You want it to be much thicker than that. Aka. Pizza dough thickness is too thin. If you want the single stuff layer focaccia, option one, the dough can be thicker than the double stuffed type, option two. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise for another 20 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 450°F
7. Chop the onions into about ½ inch slivers.
8. On the stove, in a small sauté pan, heat up 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of olive oil. When heated, add the onions. Toss and let simmer until wilted.
9. Add the sugars and salt, stir, and let cook. Stir occasionally.
10. Add the vinegar. Stir occasionally. (7 minute mark ish)
11. Add the dollop of molasses and continue to stir until the onions begin to caramelize.
12. Add a pinch of red pepper, stir in thoroughly, and remove from flame.
13. Finely chop garlic
14. Dice the tomatoes
Option one. Single stuffed layer:
1. Fold the dough in half.
2. Lift one wing of the dough and pour in the caramelized onions. Spread the caramelized onions, including the liquid, on the bottom layer of focaccia. Sprinkle the tomatoes around it.
3. Begin pressing the two layers of focaccia together. It will sort of resemble a half moon or calzone.
4. Let rise under a damp kitchen towel for 30 minutes to an hour.
5. Using your finger, make indentations of the top layer of focaccia. Sprinkle the garlic on the top layer as well as some good salt. Trickle olive oil around the focaccia.
6. Put in the oven for 12-17 minutes. The bread should be golden. Let cool and eat up!
Option Two. Double stuffed:
1. Divide the dough into thirds.
2. On the bottom layer of dough pour half of the caramelized onions. Spread the caramelized onions, including the liquid, on the bottom layer of focaccia. Sprinkle half of the tomatoes around it.
3. Begin pressing the two layers of focaccia together. It will sort of resemble a half moon or calzone.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the second layer of stuffed focaccia.
5. Let rise under a damp kitchen towel for 30 minutes to an hour.
6. Using your finger, make indentations of the top layer of focaccia. Sprinkle the garlic on the top layer as well as some good salt. Trickle olive oil around the focaccia.
7. Put in the oven for 12-17 minutes. The bread should be golden. Let cool and eat up!

Root Beer Breakfast Bread

Here is a recipe I made up today while I wasn't reading about sustainable agriculture (get excited!).
The ingredients are in bold.

Soda? For Breakfast?!?!? Root Beer Breakfast Bread

1. In a microwave, warm up ½ cup of natural root beer (mine was all natural from Whole Foods so I'd say, aim for something like that).
2. In a small bowl combine & stir 2 packets of rapid rise yeast (4 ½ tsp) and the warm root beer.
3. After giving it a couple minutes to bubble up, add 2/3 cups of flour to the root beer –yeast mix well again.
4. Give with a towel and let rise in a warm area for one hour.
5. Plump 1/3 cup raisins (or more!) in water for 30 minutes
6. Coarsely chop 1/3 cup of walnuts
7. In a large bowl combine about 2.5 cups of flour (more can be added later), and 1.5 teaspoons of salt. Make a well in the center.
8. After an hour, pour the root beer sponge into the flour mixture and start stirring.
9. Add the raisins and walnuts into the dough
10. Have on deck a mixture of 1/4c root beer, a sprinkle (1 tsp ish of brown sugar), and ¼ c of water. Use this mixture if the dough is too dry.
11. Add more flour and the rootbeer/water mixture until the proper bread dough consistency is achieved.
12. Knead for 2-4 minutes.
13. Put the ball of dough underneath a bowl (like turn the bowl upside down over the ball) for 15 minutes
14. Knead for another 2-4 minutes.
15. Shape dough into a baguette and cut shallow slits in the top.
16. Put the uncooked baguette on parchment paper on a baking sheet and let rise in a warm place for two hours with a damp towel over it. My dough rose about 2.5 times in size.
17. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit with a oven proof pan on the lowest rack. You’ll cook the bread on the middle rack
18. Put the baguette in the oven and throw in 4-5 ice cubes* in the pan below. Cook the bread for 35-45 minutes.


*I must credit Anissa Helou's book Savory Baking from the Mediterranean for this tip as well as the yeast-to fluid ratio in the first two steps!!!