Squash Soups

This is my first recipe post. Until now, I've been posting how to eat nutritiously and how small family farms are integral for freshly picked and quality grown goods. "Winter me, summer me" with these great soups!
Summer Squash, Zucchini Soup
Newly inspired by the discovery of zucchini soup. Why is it such a great discovery? Soups are a great way to eat. The nutritional value of zucchini is minor but a fair amount in the dark green skin. Summer squash is abundant and needs lots of ways to be cooked. The water content is high, so soup is a natural recipe and you do not have to add stock. No cream and yet this is one of the creamiest soups I've ever had, partially because of the butter but also because the vegetable purees so nicely! Don't skip the butter but you can be versatile with everything else. Click on the link/title above to see the utube video presentation.

Zucchini, sponge inner and seeds removed, chopped with skins on
Onion - 3 per zucchini, or one large Spanish onion
Garlic - 3 cloves per zucchini
Butter and Olive oil to saute onions and garlic
Large handful of Herb of choice (mint, parsley, or basil)

Start in sauce pan by sauteing onions and garlic in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Half way through this process you can add water to cover to prevent browning. Than add zucchini and simmer until cooked. Add a good amount of salt. Add herb and steep in hot liquid for one minute or two. Puree everything in blender, food processor, or hand blender. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, or chill. This soup is great hot or cold.

Winter Squash, Pumpkin Soup
Onion, Garlic saute in Butter and Olive oil, same as above
Apples and Pumpkin steamed or boiled in Spring water which will be the veggie stock
Fresh Ginger - chopped small, and tumeric and other Morroccan spices, Saffron, Paprika, Cumin, Cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
The photo on your left is th marina di chioggia heirloom that I grew and photographed. One of the thickest of the pumpkins.
Please contact me for all you squash needs for best prices.

Ambrosia Farms - a work in progress...

Ambrosia Farms - a work in progress...
Preserving small farms by selecting a diverse supply of mostly heirloom fruits and vegetables, caring for heritage breeds, foraging and instructing on wild foods, managing the land to preserve optimum ecosystems, and dedicating space to wildlife, sharing innovations on value-added products, and collectively sharing support and struggles to endure and enjoy life!

Thank you for choosing our Farm community - the best value for your health - optimum nutrients and environmental awareness! We'll grow nutritiously together, treat animals humanely...long term care for our families and community!

Healthy Lifestyles

Healthy Lifestyles
I always begin the day with a fresh outlook on how to become more physically fit. For me, this means walking the hound dogs, riding the horses, goat walking, and planting or picking vegetables and wild greens and fruit - all in a day. But of course, I have the luxury of time. When I take on major projects, like planting
5,000 tomato plants - minutes are crunched. But mostly I've learned that less is more.

Read this article when you get a chance from AARP. After I read it, I was amazed at how closely this resembles the philosophy and lifestyle that I have developed over the years. Living on a farm naturally opens the door for easy living and hard outdoor labor, both seem to really compliment and feed off of each other.

Here is the list taken right from the article of AARP Magazine, sept/oct 2009:
click on the link above to get to the original.

Graze on greens More than 150 varieties of wild greens -more than ten times the level of antioxidants in red wine.

Sip herbal teas Steeping wild mint, chamomile, or other herbs in hot water is a lifelong, daily ritual. Many teas lower blood pressure, which decreases the risk of heart disease and dementia.

Throw out your watch Ikarians don't worry about time. Work gets done when it gets done. This attitude lowers stress, which reduces the risk of everything from arthritis to wrinkles.

Nap daily afternoon siesta-science shows that a regular 30-minute nap decreases the risk of heart attack.

Walk where you're going every trip out of the house is a mini workout.

Phone a friend family and village support have been key to survival. Strong social connections are proven to lower depression, mortality, and even weight.

Drink goat's milk Most Ikarians over 90 have drunk goat's milk their whole lives. It is rich in a blood-pressure-lowering hormone called tryptophan as well as antibacterial compounds.

Maintain a Mediterranean diet Around the world, people who most faithfully stick to this region's diet—a regimen high in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, olive oil, and fish—outlive people who don't by about six years. The Ikarian version features more potatoes than grains (because they grew better in the mountains) and more meat than fish (because the sea was a day's journey away).

Enjoy some Greek honey The local honey contains antibacterial, anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties. (Unfortunately, the health benefits of Ikarian honey do not extend to American honey, as far as we know.)

Open the olive oil Ikaria's consumption of olive oil is among the world's highest. Residents drizzle antioxidant-rich extra-virgin oil over food after cooking, which preserves healthful properties in the oil that heat destroys.

Grow your own garden (or find farmers' markets) Fruits and vegetables eaten soon after picking are higher in compounds that decrease the risk of cancer and heart disease.

Get belief or religion Ikarians observe Greek Orthodox rituals, and regular attendance at religious services (of any kind ) has been linked to longer life spans.


Bake bread The island's sourdough bread is high in complex carbohydrates and may improve glucose metabolism and stave off diabetes.

New Ideas & Culinary Inspiration!

See our links - Noteworthy - off to the right for some new ideas on ideas for diverse healthy ingredients in your diet. Click on these links to view video or articles with new ways to cook mostly fruits & vegetables. Click on blog titles and link to more videos!

Walk around our society and see many obese, morbidly obese, and tired people. Many of our food systems have corrupted our bodies. Sedentary lifestyles induce early onset muscle atrophy.

We suggest you maintain homeostasis by sprinting, focusing on dark leafy greens and local farm products in your diet and always - read the ingredients of all food before you purchase. No synthetic substances are digestable!

These videos on health tips include
1.detox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfBgVStqdxI
2.eating close to mother nature
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9fo3vyf2Rw
3.focus on the outcome you want
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4e1lupvCU8

Heirloom Seeds

Ordering Seeds

Our crops are all heirloom, which are actually cheaper than the hybrid patented variety sold by most seed companies.
http://rareseeds.com/seeds/


Seed Starting

We are lucky - several greenhouses start custom plants for us - seeds of our choice - that means heirloom plants! I think this is more economical and labor saving - we utilize the existing community resources without duplicating products and services.
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/seed-starting?lnc=4ef2dc5bfca40110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=showarchive_tv_show-archive

Harvest

We are "Natural Nutrient" driven - a balanced diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables!!! Our focus is heritage and heirloom, organic, local, & authentic - Sustainable Agriculture! Our harvest is a great bonanza of nutritious heirloom tomatoes, soybeans, aqua duce fava beans, chiogga beets, nero di toscano cabbage, purple of Sicily cauliflower, golden batham corn, lemon cucumbers, blue de solaise leeks, long island cheese and marina di chioggia pumpkin, zucchino rampicante, cocozella di napoli, navet des vertus mart turnips, and more...

The Feeding Frenzy

What I knew about the feeding frenzy - than - began from a painting I saw, named "The Feeding Frenzy".

Today's feeding frenzy represents conglomerates - production of bad food - at the cost of obesity and diabetes - megabucks for overprocessed and artificially cheap commodities.

"People pay as much as 50 percent more for organic food. The modern organic movement in the United States was started by a handful of counterculture farmers looking to grow food using methods that they believed were better for the land and produced healthier food. It was a culture built on purity and trust that emphasized the relationship between the farmer and the customer...Organics has grown from an $11 billion business in the United States in 2001 to one that now generates more than $20 billion in sales, so the stakes for farmers, processors and certifiers can be high. But the agency overseeing the certifying process has long been considered underfunded and understaffed. Critics have called the system dysfunctional. A Maine blueberry farmer who does organic inspections, said agents have an incentive to approve companies that are paying them. Certifiers have a considerable financial interest in keeping their clients going." March 2009 NYTimes

”What can we do to limit the Feeding Frenzy? Be aware of what you eat by visiting the farms and processors that you buy from. Limit consumption of goods and services to real healthful and joyous products and services, like small farm products, spa and massage, artwork and travel. Encourage everyone to support - SMALL farms - by introducing them to a favorite product, and COLLECTIVELY we'll make better CHOICES! We'll grow nutritiously, care for animals humanely...and care enough for you and your family!

Working with Children to Become More Active

Surprisingly, as a farmer in an underserved rural area, I worked more with inner city children than rural youth. I was a youth softball coach for girls and we trained and practiced daily. One of the things that was effective- provide a different activity everyday - this promotes enthusiasm. Kids get bored doing the same thing everyday - who doesn't? Mentoring children is a great gift because it enlightens them to other lifestyles, professions, and opens new worlds to them! Noble pursuits such as healthcare, the arts and agriculture is often overlooked.

The program - Food Works linked here makes so much sense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip3gZ5H7Vj0&feature=channel

Critical is providing physical activity for kids, especially the NON Athletes, farm to school food programs using my Farmers Frozen Food product design, teaching communication, as well as ecology. Last summer, we introduced over 12 rural children to farming, including putting up hay, planting vegetables, mulching, tying up tomato plants, and caring for animals! We are especially proud when they come back the next summer to help...