Blog

Posted on

Spring

Okay, it still seems more winter like then spring, especially in the garden. That is why we preserve our parsnips right in the ground where they were growing last summer. Then in March or April, when we are craving something other then cabbage and winter squash there are these sweet yet musky treats. I like them cut like french fries, lightly oiled and salted and roasted in the oven letting some of the juicy sugars caramelize. My web guru told me about trying sublime vanilla parsnips, they sound delicious, pan fried with plenty of butter and finished with vanilla infused rum.

Does anyone have a favorite way to prepare parsnips? Continue reading “Spring”

Posted on

Letter from Quillisascut

To kick this off I am sharing this Letter to Quillisascut from Chef Greg Atkinson well known for his writing about food in the Pacific Northwest.

A Letter From Quillisascut
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Recently I attended a Food Writer’s retreat at Quillisascut Farm School in eastern Washington. Gary Paul Nabhan was the facilitator, and the focus was on writing  from the perspective of promoting a healthier food culture.

For four days, we ate together, cooked together, milked goats, made cheese, harvested produce from the garden and berries from the wild. With few exceptions, everything we ate was produced right there on the farm. We talked, we gathered around the table, drank wine and shared stories. Every day we had a writing assignment, and every night, as the sun went down and the stars came out, we we shared what we had written. Continue reading “Letter from Quillisascut”

Posted on

Quillisascut Love Story

This is an invitation to share your quillisascut love story.  Please share your memories of good times on the farm, hanging out with the goats, weeding the garden or sharing a lively discussion around the table.

Back in nineteen eighty-one, when Rick and I found this piece of land we call Quillisascut Farm, we had no idea what was in store. With the zealousness of youth we pitched our tent, built a corral for our goats, dug a well and made our dreams a reality.
The cemented clay soil called to us to build fertility, the goats answered this call. You sometimes hear someone say “I had a calling” and this is the way of Quillisascut. It is hard to remember what came first, the dream, the desire, the calling. The total sum has been a joyous journey.

Shortly after we purchased the land Rick and I decided it was time to get married. If we could take the step to sign a contract and be in debt for fifteen years (which at that time seemed like forever) we were ready to commit to a lifetime of togetherness. Here is a photo of us taken on the day we were married. It is my one true romance!

It is easy to see our life as a timeline, the months and years go by, our children grow up, but a chunk of land is solid, constant and secure. The soil that grows the vegetables that feed us, the wild grasses that pasture our goats and the cycle of nutrients back to the Earth. The land is always holding us firm and secure. It is my one true romance.

In starting this blog Rick and I are inviting you to share your Quillisascut love story. Let’s see where this journey has been and whom it has touched. Send us your words of wisdom, funny stories, or memories; it can be short and sweet, or an epic poem, a journal entry or a photo that captures the essence of your Quillisascut experience. Email them to me and I will post them to this blog. Yes, the times we have shared together here on Quillisascut Farm, It is my one true romance!