wednesday - shower day! yahoo! i'm starting to offend myself :) it's a hot week out here in hoopa; the sun is intense and the sky is clear and free of clouds. thankfully, there's a little breeze...

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this past weekend, linda and callie and cameron and i went on a girls' trip to redwood national park and had an amazing time. we piled into grady's old tacoma early on saturday morning, packing in our bags and tents and sleeping bags and a crate of freshly-picked peaches and plums. we took highway 96 north through weitchpec and then got the gravely highway 169 and took it west all the way out to orick on the coast. we were kickin' up dust with our four-wheel drive, enjoying the majestic views of the hills and trees hugging the klamath river bed. we did some hiking, napping by the sea, sunset-gazing and, of course, talking...i'm going to miss these ladies when i leave!

a quick update on farm life: we've got two new wwoof'ers: ben and jessica, both youngsters from kansas city. they're a whole lot of fun...a combination of extended solar exposure and a tendancy towards ridiculousness on all of our parts has led to hours and hours of uncontrollable laughing...it helps to find humor in something when you're hoeing in the beating sun, sweat pouring down your face!

i've been adjusting to my new living space in the fruit orchard. i'm habitating a great big tent and i've got electricity wired in there and a futon mattress on which to sleep - rather fancy for camping, i must say. nonetheless, it is a thin sheath of nylon under the peach trees in the cherry orchard, and there is a lot of ripe fruit out there that the creatures of the night loooove. my first night was rough; i felt like i was in an episode of animal planet! growling, snarling, panting...fruit coming off the trees like crazy...i was scared to death, to be blunt. so scared, in fact, that i put my bike light flasher on my butt pocket, strapped on my headlamp, grabbed my pillow and ran screaming into the cabin where i proceeded to sleep on the tiny couch for the night. i am SUCH a city girl! i've since calmed down and learned that although the fox and bear and racoon and skunk may be loitering around my tent while i sleep unprotected, they don't care much for humans as food. i'm actually really loving it now and not looking much forward to sleeping indoors again :)

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the crops we're harvesting on the farm are in constant flux. coming in strong now are: the tomatoes (the heirlooms - pleated zapotec and cherokee purple, the sungold and sweet 100 cherries, the red slicers and the pastes); peaches, santa rosa plums, japanese eggplant, cucumbers (suyo longs, marketmores, and lemons). meanwhile, the squash and beets and carrots and greens are ebbing out until the next succession of each comes in.

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i've been having such a good time in the kitchen, lately. i swear that place has good culinary karma; maybe because so many people have been devotedly cooking fresh and healthful food in there since it was built :) i'll share some of my favorite, seasonal recipes as of late...ingredients that are featured in the recipes should be available at your local farmer's markets right now, so get out there and vote with your fork! you won't regret it :)

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Garlicky Hippie Dust Pesto

don't fear the particulate matter that accents this dee-liteful concoction;

hippie dust (nutritional yeast) can be found at your local health food store

and it's a reliable food source of Vitamin B12!

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1/2 cup walnuts

3 cups packed basil leaves (use fresh basil from the markets if you can!)

4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or more to taste

1/3 cup *hippie dust* (nutritional yeast (and yes, ok, it's optional!))

2 teaspoons lemon juice

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Toast the walnuts a bit (in the oven at 350F or on the stove in a dry pan over medium/high heat). Combine the nuts, the basil, garlic and salt in a food processor and process as you add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream. Add in the hippie dust, if using, and the lemon juice while continuing to process. That's all! The pesto should be a slightly grainy paste, not a puree...serve on sandwiches or over pasta or potatoes...it's a jack-of-all-trades sauce that you'll use all the time. Mmm!

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Peachy Salad

refreshing and unexpected. great for warm summer lunches!

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1 T brown sugar

1 T grated fresh ginger

1 large garlic clove, minced

4 t lime juice

1 t soy sauce

a few shakes of hot sauce

a pinch or two of salt

2 T vegetable oil

1 T sesame oil

peaches (about 5-6 large ones, pitted and sliced)

greens (enough to satiate you - spinach or lettuce or mixed baby greens work well)\

sweetened walnuts*, chopped (see recipe below)

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Put everything but the peaches, greens and nuts into a mason jar, screw on the lid, and shake it all up. Voila! Toss this dressing lightly with the peaches and greens in a large bowl and top with the nuts.

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Sweetened Walnuts: melt about 2 T butter in a skillet; stir in abour 1 cup walnuts and cook over medium heat. Toss in about 2 T sugar and stir it up...continue stirring and sauteeing until the walnuts carmelize. Then, immediately take the nuts off the heat.

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Found Fruit Berry Cake

if you can't walk about your 'hood and find strawberries and blackberries

growing, go get 'em at the market! i can't pass these berries up right

now...they're all along our path to the river...

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6 T unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 cup plus 2 T organic sugar

1 large egg (i get 'em from the hen house at the farm!)

1/2 cup milk

1 t pure vanilla extract

strawberries and blackberries to fit your fancy (i used about 1 cup of each)

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Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 10" pie plate. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. In a separate bowl and with an electric mixer, mix on medium-high speed the butter and 1 cup of sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce the speed to medium-low and mix in the egg, milk and vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the flour mixture. Keep on mixing until the batter is pale yellow and smooth and pretty...like, until you just can't stop yourself from licking the beaters! Transfer the batter to a buttered pie plate (try to say that ten times fast). Hull the strawberries and slice 'em in half and then arrange the fruit on top of the batter, cut sides of the strawberries down, as close as possible. Make a pattern with the fruit or favor chaos; it's all up to you. Just get the fruit on there and make sure there's lots of it. Sprinkle the remaining 2 T of sugar over the berries. Bake the cake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 325F. Bake the cake until it's golden brown and firm to the touch, about one hour. Let it cool in the pie plate on a wire rack, then cut it into wedges and serve. Oh, yummy!!!!