March Newsletter

The Bean
Seasonal Newsletter from Beanhouses
So, here it is the beginning of March all ready. Its hard to believe that the seed orders are in and some of the seed will be in the ground shortly. We will be getting our peas and spinach in the ground soon and not long after that some wheat. Over the winter we made a lot of homemade pasta with our own eggs and thought we should grow wheat so we could use our own flour as well. From homemade pasta we moved onto homemade yogurt. The first batch was a little watery but the rest have been great and approved by all our kids. We have also been successful with cream cheese, butter and laundry detergent. The kids have all helped out and seem to take great pride in knowing that they are able to make these things. Jeremy and Cyrus have been working hard on our new chicken tractors. The Rhode Island Reds that we started last fall should be ready to lay any day now. We have been pleased that our other chickens started laying again in February. Our blue cooler has been out for honor system purchases of Cleo Cluckers for $3.00/dozen. One of the chicken tractors is outfitted with laying boxes for the RI Reds. It looks like a covered wagon and is a place for the chickens to roost at night after they free range all day. The other is a little less fancy for the meat birds. Last fall we raised Cornish Cross chickens for meat. It is the breed of chicken you have been eating since it was created in the sixties . They were pasture fed and moved twice daily to keep them on nice clean grass. The Cornish Cross is raised because it grows fast, which it did, but besides eating grain, it didn't do much else. Then we learned that they are genetically modified so we now have Freedom Rangers, they have been much more active and seem to be enjoying themselves very much. Freedom Rangers are a strain of a French broiler that is a delicacy. They will be 'ready' around April 10th. They will be $5.00/lb again and we will be pre-selling them. We hope to have fresh chicken throughout the summer on a five week schedule. If you order a chicken we will give you a call or email to let you know when they will be ready for pick up. We have a good friend that has been raising Scottish Highland cattle for most of his life. When we go to his house the cows come to the fence for pats or just to see what is going on. Last summer one of the calves were born on another friends birthday. Since then there has been a small movement to save' Lisa Marie'. We had discussed cows before, but never realistically. Lisa Marie seemed like a great place to start. She could be the mother of our herd. But, if we weren't going to eat Lisa Marie we were going to need more cows. So she and two steers were delivered last Sunday and at least one more heifer will be here soon. One is ours and the other two friends bought. We had decided not to name the ones that were going to end up in our freezer. Cleo, our 11 year old daughter, who loves beef has named one 'big mac'. We hope to have meat for our own families in the Fall, although it seems as though there are more interested people than we have beef. In the fields this year we plan on having most of the veggies we had last year. We hope to have more tomatoes for us and less for the deer and the blight. We will be trying some of the veggies on the slow food ark of taste list. We will be growing Japanese Black Triffle again and trying Valencia. Early on we will have spinach and peas, followed shorly by our baby greens mix, otherwise known as ' Cy's Mixed Greens. Then it will be summer squash, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, beans, melons, scallions and leeks. I'm sure I forgot something. We of course will still be growing flowers, dahlias, lilies and sunflowers, bunched or unbunched. For the Fall we have gourds and pumpkins. There has also been some talk of fruit, but we'll see. In January we were able to attend a couple of lectures geared toward localization. Its amazing the tiny amount of money that goes to the farmer and the large amount that goes to shipping and packaging when you buy something that has been shipped across the country. One of the lectures was organized by Farm Fresh RI. It was very well attended and offered alot of encouragement to farmers that people are seeing the need to buy local when they can. They also stressed the importance of continuing to farm, as the average age of the farmer is going up every year. I am proud when I hear my children talk about being farmers when they grow up. I was also star for a day. I was interviewed by the Rhode Show, a local morning TV show and I actually made the cut, not all of what I had to say, but most of it. So as Spring rolls around and you are heading into the big city to do your shopping, take a second look at your list and see if anything is available locally. Remember, know your farmer, know your food. The Allens Jeremy, Polly, Cleo, Cyrus, Olive and Xan Beanhouses 104 South of Commons Road Little Compton, Rhode Island 02837 401.635.4091 bean4444@aol.com Have you Beanhoused? Beanhouses, Inc Anything floraculture 104 South of Common Little Compton, RI 02837