Recipe Odds and Ends

The old Genuine Faux Farm website (may it rest in pieces) was - as it is with so many things - always a work in progress.  The recipe section being one of those things that got attention whenever our customers started asking more questions about how to use certain items that would show up in our CSA shares.  

Over time, we accumulated a fair number of recipes.  And, depending on our available time, we tried to put them out there.  But, not every veggie got the same love as other veggies.  Perhaps, someday, we'll share more of the recipes that are hiding out in old CSA emails, or old brochures... or wherever they are hiding.  But, for now, we're just trying to put the contents of the website here - so they are available to you.

Enjoy!

Carmelized Carrots

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
2 lb. whole small carrots, peeled, tops on, and halved lengthwise
¼ t salt
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/8 t cayenne pepper
Snipped Italian (flat leaf) parsley

Preparation
In an extra-large skillet cook carrots, cut sides down, in hot oil. Sprinkle with salt. Cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Uncover. Turn carrots, add garlic. Cover and continue cooking for 10 minutes more or until carrots are tender and both sides are golden brown. During cooking, gently shake skillet occasionally to prevent carrots from sticking. Transfer carrots to serving plate, cover and keep warm.

Add cream and cayenne pepper to skillet. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; boil gently uncovered for 2 to 4 minutes until cream is slightly thickened. Pour over carrots. Serve immediately.

Makes 8 (1/2 cup) servings

Harvest Squash and Apple Soup

• 1 med onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1 small carrot, sliced (1/3 cup)
• 1 3/4 cups apple cider or apple juice
• 1 tsp chicken bouillon granules
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp white pepper

Cook onion & carrot in cider covered for 12 minutes (or until very tender). Do not drain. Stir in other ingredients.

• 2 cups acorn or butternut squash, cooked & mashed
• 1 cup milk

Transfer cider mixture to blender bowl. Add squash. Cover and blend until smooth. Place mixture in saucepan. Stir in milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes (until flavors blend - stir periodically).

Optional - add sour cream and chives to top each serving.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

1 pound Brussel Sprouts, cleaned
2-3 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Place brussel sprouts in a baking dish (I use a 9" square glass pan). Sprinkle olive oil over the sprouts and toss to coat.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 400F for 20 min, stir and bake another 10-15 min. until they are tender all the way through. Sprouts will be slightly crispy on the outside and tender inside.
As an option, add half as many carrots as sprouts, increase oil and bake.

Tossed Salad with Creamy Parmesan Dressing

3 cups torn leaf lettuce
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 medium red or yellow sweet pepper (cut into 3/4" pieces)
1 cup red/yellow baby pear tomatoes or cherry tomatoes (halved)

1/3 cup dairy sour cream
1/4 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1 to 2 tablespoons milk - as needed for desired consistency

Combine first 4 ingredients in large salad bowl. Stir remaining ingredients together in small mixing bowl. Pour this dressing over the salad and toss lightly to coat. Serves four.

Tossed Lettuce and Herb Salad

• 2 cups mild lettuce, chopped
• 1 tsp finely chopped oregano
• 1 tsp finely chopped tarragon
• 1 tsp finely chopped marjoram
• 1 tsp finely chopped chive
• 1 tsp chopped winter onions (or green onions)

Mix ingredients together. Serve with light balsamic vinegar dressing. Adjust spices to your taste. 

Leek Soup

• 1 cup light cream
• 1/4 cup flour

Mix together until flour is blended in

• 3 or 4 cups chicken broth/stock
• 8 small to medium leeks diced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbs oregano/marjoram leaves (more or less to taste)
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 cups fresh chopped mushrooms

Cook the above together for 15-20 minutes until leeks and mushrooms are soft.

Combine with cream/flour mixture while still on heat. Stir until lightly boiling. Serve warm.

Potato Cakes with Zucchini and Onion

Combine 3 cups grated zucchini & 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt in a colander. Let drain for 5 minutes, then wring dry in a kitchen towel.

Stir together:

• 3 cups Russet potatoes (grated)
• 1/2 cup onion (grated)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a nonstick skillet over med-low heat. Drop potato mixture in oil (1/4 cup at a time). Flatten to 1 inch thick. Saute cakes until potatoes are cooked (about 5 minutes per side). Fry in batches, using additional oil as needed.

Makes 12 cakes.

Always More To Learn - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to the entry of Postal History Sunday for April 10, 2022.  PHS is hosted every week on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog.  Everyone is welcome here, regardless of the level of knowledge and expertise you might have in postal history.  Take a moment and enjoy where this one goes.  And, remember, if something doesn't make sense, if you have questions, or if you believe I've gone and made a mistake, I welcome your responses!

 Why did this letter take so long to get where it was going?

If you read last week's Postal History Sunday, you might recognize this particular item.  In that post, I provided some information and omitted other parts of the story for a very good reason.  

Oh, you want to know the reason?  Well, I didn't know about these things when I wrote about them last - or I wasn't certain about them.  But, the funny thing about doing some research on an item, it always seems like you find more information AFTER you think you've come to a stopping point. Then, you have to decide what to do about it.  This time around, I decided to share what I've learned with all of you!

The piece of mail shown above is actually a smaller envelope pasted onto a larger envelope.  The smaller envelope has a total of 15 sen in postage applied to it, which pays for the triple rate (5 sen per 15 grams from Jan 1881 - Sep 30, 1897).  That means the larger envelope must have carried enough so the whole package weighed more than 30 grams and no more than 45 grams.  To put that into perspective, a single A4 sized sheet of modern printer paper weighs about 5 grams.  Sadly, the contents are no longer with this item, so we'll never know what was sent from Yokohama to Iowa.

But, that does beg the question - how did this piece of mail get from Yokohama to Iowa?  That's something we kind of glossed over in the prior Postal History Sunday.

Let's start by telling you about the markings that are on this piece of postal history.

On the front:

• Yokohama, Meiji Japan Jan 10, 1894
• via: San Francisco

On the back:

• San Francisco Feb 27
• Elkdader, Iowa Mar 3 
• and one more marking that is unreadable

You are now seeing one of the reasons I found this item interesting - that sure was a long time for this letter to get from point A to point B.  Especially when the OTHER item that was in last week's PHS only took fifteen days to get from Yokohama to San Francisco.  This one took 48 days.

I smell a story of some kind - but what?  Could it be a ship wreck?  Or maybe it got caught in a storm?

Well, I was able to find this advertisement from late in 1894, which shows us the TYPICAL schedule expected for the steamships of the Occidental & Oriental Steamship Company during that year.  A departure from Yokohama on November 9 would make a stop at Honolulu (Nov 19) and then get to San Francisco on November 26.

This lines up nicely for the February 27 arrival in San Francisco if we were looking at a departure around February 9.  But, the item in question has a January 10 postmark.  Still, we at least understand part of the reason this might have been delayed, it may have gone on a trip that included Honolulu on its route.  That added a couple of days to the length of travel.

Working from the other side, I started looking for ship departures that carried mail FROM Yokohama on or a bit after January 10.  I found this clipping in the Japan Weekly Mail (a newspaper) for Jan 20, 1894.  

The very first line is for the Belgic, a ship with the Occidental and Oriental Line that was scheduled to carry the mail back to San Francisco.  It's January 13th date should have had it arriving on the West Coast in late January.  All things being equal, I would have expected the letter to be on board this ship.  But, the February 27th San Francisco date tells us otherwise, because there is no record of the Belgic having a delay on its trip in January.

But, look at the last entry shown above.  The Oceanic departed Yokohama for Hong Kong.  It was also an Occidental and Oriental Line ship and it also carried mail.  Is it possible, for whatever reason, that this letter was put on board this ship, instead of the Belgic?

the Oceanic by William Lionel Wyllie, 1895

Well folks, it turns out that this is EXACTLY what happened.  The mailbag containing this letter was placed on the Oceanic as it went to Hong Kong and the dates are nearly a perfect match for what we see on the table for the Occidental & Oriental advertisement.

depart Yokohama Jan 14 and arrive at Hong Kong Jan 22

depart Hong Kong and arrive at Yokohama about Feb 3, leaving for San Francisco the next day - again according to the Japan Weekly Mail.

Then we have a mid February stop at Honolulu.  This matches up pretty well with the February 27th postmark for San Francisco.

If you are interested in the details of the story for the Oceanic, you can take a look at this site.  The ship was originally built for use in the trans-Atlantic trade for the White Star Line, but she was chartered by the Occidental & Oriental Line for the Pacific crossing in 1875.  It was returned to the White Star Line in 1895 for refitting, but it was discovered that it would take too much work and was not economical to complete all of the repairs, so it was scrapped the next year (1896).

Ü is UE

What you see is the feature cover from this Postal History Sunday in January of this year.  In that post, my focus was on the transit of this item (and others) through the border town of Bingen.  As is often the case when I use different pieces of postal history to illustrate a particular point, I often will avoid cluttering things up with too much detail.  Or, perhaps, I just don't dig any deeper than what I need at the time for the purpose of the article.  But that certainly does not mean I will cease to explore more when I have the motivation to do so.

This 1866 folded letter has 24 kreuzer in postage stamps affixed, which paid for a double rate letter from the Thurn and Taxis system to the Netherlands (12 kr per loth from Jan 1, 1864 to Dec 31, 1867).  The postage breakdown between the two postal systems is clearly shown with the "16/8" in ink at the bottom left.  Sixteen kreuzer stayed with Thurn & Taxis and 8 kreuzer was passed to Holland.

The back of this folded letter included a transit mark for Bingen and a receiver marking for Amsterdam.  The problem was, I could not figure out the origin for this letter.

If you are not entirely familiar with a language or the geography of a region, it can be very difficult to try to decipher when much of it is hard to read in a postmark.  This was certainly true for this particular marking.  I used online maps and I tried searching for town names in and around Hesse that ended in "edesheim."  I looked at maps from the 1850s, 60s and 70s.  I used graphics tools to try and get a better view of the letters at the beginning of the name.

Then I finally asked some German postal historians who are friends of mine and got an answer almost immediately.  Why didn't I do that sooner?

The town name is "Ruedesheim," which would typically be shown as "Rüdesheim" in maps.  It is located just across the Rhine River in the Duchy of Nassau.  And I couldn't figure it out because I did not realize that "ü" could also be represented as "ue."

Well, ok.  I might not have figured it out EVEN if I knew that.  

It's a nice reminder to me that there is a good reason my German friends sometimes ask me to help them figure out a postmark from the United States.  I am familiar with the naming patterns, geography and postal markings of my own country.  It's just faster for me to decipher.  Just like this German postmark was easier for those who specialize in that area or who live in that country. 

Once I understood WHERE this letter started, other things started making sense.  Like the docket on the inside of the letter.

The docket actually reads Dilthey, Sahl & Company,  a wine business established in 1859.  As a matter of fact, the area around Rüdesheim is well known for its wines even today.  

The site linked above even provides us with images of some financial documents like this 1867 stock certificate.  Dilthey, Sahl & Co had a tough time paying their creditors in the 1860s.  Happily for them, a good year in 1867 helped convince their creditors to exchange debt for stock ownership in the business.  Apparently, this worked out well enough, with the business continuing until 1967.

image of poster from Europeana

Of course, it was not critical for me to know much information about Dilthey, Sahl & Company.  It was more a matter of curiosity to explore it further.  The value of knowing their name and their business, as far as the postal history of this item is concerned, is that we can connect the sender of the letter to the place name where we believe it originated.  Their existence in Rüdesheim during the 1860s provides further evidence about the postal history item I am exploring.  It helps to confirm that the item is genuine, along with a proper postal rate and route illustrated by the markings.

Thanks for joining me this week.  I hope you have a good remainder of the day and an excellent week to come!

Rooting on the Monarch Butterfly

Both Tammy and I can recall vividly the feeling that we would never see a Bald Eagle in our lifetimes.  As we were growing up, these birds were an extremely rare site and the prognosis for their population was not necessarily good.  And now, in the 2020s, we find that the population in the mainland 48 states is over 300,000 birds.

Tammy and I see these birds regularly in the area where we live.  Sometimes, they even visit the Genuine Faux Farm.  Look carefully and you'll see the bird we have nicknamed Jackie the Ripper.

Let me just say that this bird has a fearsome, hooked beak.  

We don't mind having Jackie around on the farm so much, especially since she tends to take off whenever we come outside.  I suppose we might have reason to be nervous about this bird with our chickens on pasture, but we haven't had a problem yet.  And, as long as the eagle stays leery of being around when we are, things should be fine.

from the Cornell Lab All About Birds site

Whenever I am feeling particularly hopeless about something related to nature, I like to pull out the example of the Bald Eagle.  Somehow, some way, we all came to a general agreement that we did not want the Bald Eagle to disappear.  Then, amazing enough, we made changes and that population is recovering.

Can I dare to hope for the same things with the Western Monarch?

According to various sites, the Monarch population has shown a rebound, of a sort, this past year.  And, rather than report it all here, let me suggest you read this article on the Xerces site.  But, to tease you a bit with the information, here is a graphic from that article.

Is it ok for me to enter this new growing season with the expectation that MAYBE I will see more than a couple of Western Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed plants we allow to grow in the wild spaces of our farm?

I am here to tell you how lonely it can feel on the farm when I walk down the rows of zinnias and I am not greeted by at least a dozen Western Monarchs (or more).  During some of the earlier years on the farm, a several hundred foot row of zinnias would attract DOZENS at any given time.

The past couple of years, a sighting of a single Monarch provided reason for an exclamation from whichever of us would see it first.  

I don't want to experience the hole in my heart that would come if I couldn't expect to see them on our farm in the years to come.  And, neither should you.

Perhaps it is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder - but let's not let it come to that.  I've always appreciated these flying gems, and I hope to have the opportunity to appreciate them for many more years to come.

Eggplant Recipes

Eggplant is not universally loved, so perhaps that's why there are so many options to prepare it - those that love them are hopeful to find ways to get the rest of the world to agree.  But, we're not here to pick on eggplant, we're here to share those options for preparation because, as it turns out, preparation can make a big difference depending on your taste preferences.

There are a number of simple ways to use eggplant.  You can grill it either directly on the grill or in foil pouches - brush with olive oil and your choice of spices. You might decide to bread it - slice, dip in milk (some use eggs instead), dip in bread or cracker crumbs and cook in skillet with non-stick spray or olive oil - cook a few minutes on each side (depending on thickness) until fork goes in easily. You can also stew eggplant and mix them into various soups, stews, etc 

Stuffed Eggplant

• l lb hamburger, cooked and drained
• 1 c cooked rice
• 1/4 c shredded cheese
• 1 med tomato, diced
• 6-8 eggplant (medium to larger)
• salt, pepper and other seasonings to taste

Mix stuffing ingredients and let sit for 5 minutes. Cut off tops of eggplant and remove seed cavity - making a cavity sufficient for stuffing. Stuff hamburger mixture into eggplant. Place eggplant in a greased 9x13" cake pan. Bake at 400 degrees F for 35-45 minutes depending on wall thickness of eggplant..

Substitution: 2.5 c black beans for hamburger.

Note: Stuff some bell peppers or Beaver Dams and have both eggplant and peppers on the menu!

Faux Baba Spread (no nuts or seeds)

• 1-2 eggplant
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp cumin

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Place eggplant on baking sheet, and make holes in the skin with a fork. Roast it for 30 to 40 minutes, turning occasionally, or until soft. Remove from oven, and place into a large bowl of cold water. Remove from water, and peel skin off.  (note, I sometimes skip this step and grill the eggplant)
3. Place eggplant, lemon juice, oil, cumin, cheese, and garlic in an electric blender, and puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a little more oil if texture is too stiff. Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.   Serve with chips or pieces of pita bread, or spread on pieces of toasted French bread.

Rosa Bianca eggplant have a texture similar to Portabello mushrooms

Grilled Eggplant

12 minutes start to finish!

Use any type of eggplant, but Rosa Bianca is especiallygood grilled this way and taste like a portabella mushroom.

Slice eggplant into ½ inch thick rings.
Place in baking pan immediately and toss with olive oil and sea salt to lightly coat.  Add thyme or oregano. Place on a medium hot grill, turn after 5 minutes, then turn again and poke with a fork to see if they are tender.  Some people will sprinkle with parmesan cheese after turning once.

Eggplant Parmesan

• 3 T. olive oil
• 2-4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 5 cups chopped tomatoes
• chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• salt & pepper
• 3/4 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan, plus 2 tablespoons for topping
• 1-2 eggs beaten along with 2 tablespoons water or milk
• 2 medium eggplants, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
• 1 cup shredded mozzerella
  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush baking sheet with oil; set aside. In a wide, shallow bowl whisk together eggs with either water or milk. In another bowl combine breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, basil and season with salt and pepper. Dip eggplant slices in egg mixture and then dredge in breadcrumb mixture, coating well; place on baking sheet. Bake until golden brown on bottom for about 20 minutes. Turn slices; continue baking until browned on other side; about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, leave oven temp at 375 degrees.
  
  While eggplant is in the oven, heat oil and saute' garlic, green pepper, and onions. Add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Cook/simmer 30 minutes.
  
  Place eggplant on the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch baking dish that has been brushed with olive oil. Cover the eggplant with the tomato mixture (may need to drain off some of the excess liquid from tomatoes). Sprinkle top with remaining parmesan cheese and mozzerella cheese. Bake about 20-30 minutes until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted. Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

Baba Ghannuj

1 lrg eggplant
1-2 cloves garlic
salt to taste
4 T tahini
1/4 c water
1/4-1/2 c lemon juice (or tomato juice)
parsely or pomengranate seed for garnish
1T olive oil

Eggplant may be baked or grilled over a flame until well done. Preferrably grilled. Peel off skin and place all ingredients in blender and blend well (blend slow) until desired texture (chucky or pasty). Serve as a dip or spread with flat bread.

Baba Ghanouj II

• 1 large eggplant
• 3 tablespoons sesame tahini
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons nonfat yogurt
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
• juice from 2 lemons
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon organic extra virgin olive oil
Cut eggplant in half lengthwise, and place cut side down on a nonstick baking sheet. Prick with a fork; bake at 350°F until soft and wilted, about 20 minutes.
Scoop out pulp into a bowl; add the rest of the ingredients and mash together for a chunky texture or purée in a blender (before adding parsley) for a smooth texture.
Garnish with more parsley, and drizzle with 1 tsp of olive oil. Serve with warm pita bread or crackers.
Stuffed Eggplant
• 6 small/medium eggplant
• 1 pound ground beef, cooked
• 1 cup rice, cooked
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 tsp each salt, garlic powder, marjoram (or other spice)
Cut Eggplant’s top off. Scoop our seeds. Mix ingredients together and add to the hollowed out spot inside each eggplant. Place onto cookie sheet with sides and ½ inch water in the pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, covered.

Pintung Long eggplant are often more tender and less bitter

Eggplant Rollatini with Corn Bread Stuffing

Makes 10 to 12 rolls serving 4 to 6

Ingredients
2 large globe eggplants, about 3 lbs in all
Salt
Corn bread stuffing (recipe follows)
Spaghetti sauce
About ¼ cup olive oil
Chopped marjoram, basil or parsley

Preparation

Slice the eggplant lengthwise no thicker than 1/3 inch or they’ll be difficult to roll later. Sprinkle both sides with salt and let stand an hour (this helps to remove bitterness). Rinse and blot dry. Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing and the sauce if you haven’t already.

Brush the eggplant with oil and grill, bake, fry or broil on both sides until tender. They should be flexible, but if they’re dry looking, don’t worry. Just stack them on top of each other as they finish cooking—the heat will soften them.

Mound about 2 T stuffing at the widest end of each piece, roll into a cylinder, and secure with a toothpick. Place seam side down in a lightly oiled baking dish large enough to hold the eggplant rolls in a single layer. Cover the dish with aluminum foil.

When ready to eat, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake until the eggplant rolls are heated through, about 25 minutes. Spoon a little sauce on each plate and set the rolls on top. Remove the toothpicks and garnish with the chopped herb.

Corn Bread Stuffing
Ingredients
2 T vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 T chopped fresh sage or 1 t dried
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups crumbled corn bread
1 egg
Salt and freshly milled pepper

Preparation
Heat the oil in a medium skillet. Add the onion and herbs and cook over medium heat until soft and lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Mix with the corn bread and egg and season with salt and pepper to taste. Work the mixture together with your hands so that it’s evenly moistened. If it seems dry, add a little water.

Makes about 6 servings

Aubergine with Roasted Garlic

• 1 large eggplant, about 3 pounds
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons roasted garlic, to taste
• 2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups loosely packed basil leaves chopped

Directions

1. Cut the eggplant into 1-inch slices, brush one side lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  
2. Roast in a preheated 400 degree oven until brown, approximately 20 minutes.
3. When cool, scoop the flesh from the skin and process with remaining ingredients until smooth.
4. Correct seasoning.

Can be stored refrigerated for up to one week.

Hints:

Drizzle a little olive oil on the top of a whole head of garlic and cook it with the eggplant to have plenty of roasted garlic available.  

Instructions aside, the last time I made it I chose to chop the basil finely and then simply stir it in the spread after blending the balance of ingredients.

Listada di Gandia is a good show-stopper at the farmers' market

Spicy Eggplant and Green Bean Curry

Makes 4-6 side servings

Could be a vegetarian entrée for two. Just add rice. As is, it makes 4 to 6 servings for a side dish. Look for curry paste and coconut milk in the Asian foods section of the supermarket.

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped (or more if you like garlic!)
• 1 tablespoon peeled, chopped ginger (TIP: Ginger is easily peeled with a regular spoon)
• 1 14 to 16 ounce eggplant, peeled, cut into 2 X 1/2 X 1/2-inch sticks
• 8 ounces green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon grated lime peel
• 1 teaspoon Thai green curry paste
• 1 can unsweetened coconut milk
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (use dried in a pinch)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves (when available)

Heat 4 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger; stir 30 seconds. Add eggplant and green beans. Cook until almost tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Cover and cook until completely tender, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer vegetables to bowl.
Add 1 tablespoon oil, lime peel, and curry paste to same skillet; stir 15 seconds. Add coconut milk; bring to boil, whisking until smooth. Return vegetables to skillet; toss until sauce thickens enough to coat vegetables, about 3 minutes. Season with salt. Mix in onions, cilantro, and mint.

Ratatouille

1 lb of yellow onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lb zucchini, chopped
1 lb yellow squash, chopped
Bell peppers, seeds removed, chopped into 1/2 inch square pieces:
--1 lb green bell peppers
--1/2 lb red bell peppers
--1/2 lb yellow bell peppers
1 lb eggplant, 1/2 inch cubes
1 lb fresh ripe tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste
2 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
3/4 cup vegetable stock (or thin tomato juice)
fresh ground pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2.  Using a large oven-proof pan over medium high heat, saute onions in olive oil until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and reduce heat to low.
3.  While the onions and garlic are cooking over low heat, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a another frying pan over high heat. As soon as oil starts to smoke, quickly add enough zucchini cubes all at once to cover the bottom of the pan. Keep on cooking over high heat, stirring, until zucchini is lightly browned on all sides. Remove zucchini cubes, and add them to pan with the onions.
4. Repeat process until all of the zucchini cubes have been cooked. Do the same with the yellow squash. Make sure to add a little olive oil between each new batch. Continue with the bell peppers, then the eggplant cubes, adding the browned vegetables to the onion pan as soon as they are cooked.
5. When all the vegetables (except the tomatoes) are browned and in the pan with the onions, increase theheat to high and stir, making sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add salt to taste, thyme, bay leaf, and rosemary, the vegetable stock, and stir well. Place in oven for one hour.
6. Boil water in a saucepan on stove. Remove stems from tomatoes, and crisscross the bottoms with a knife. Plunge into boiling water for a minute or two, until skin starts to fall away. Rinse in cold water and remove skin. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise, remove seeds, chop coarsely, set aside.
   
7. After the vegetables have been in the oven for an hour, remove from oven, drain vegetables in a colander set over a bowl. Clean browned bits (if any) off bottom of pan with a paper towel. Return any liquid to the pan and reduce to a thick glaze over medium high heat. Keep on adding juices to the pan as they run out of the vegetables into the bowl.
8. When all the juices have been reduced, return vegetables to the heavy pan. At this point the ratatouille should be moist and shiny, with very little liquid. Turn heat off. Add the chopped tomatoes and cover. If serving as a warm side dish, let the ratatouille stand for 10 minutes, just enough to "cook" the tomatoes. The ratatouille can be served at room temperature or refrigerated and reheated the next day.
9. When ready to serve, remove the bay leaf, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

Anti-

The snow came down for a while this past weekend like it wanted to make its own snowballs even before it hit the ground.  After doing the morning chores in the snow, I thought I'd go in and grab the camera.   After all, it really did feel a bit like a snow globe that had been given a vigorous shake.

After taking a few pictures that I thought might turn out pretty nice, I decided to give a try at taking pictures facing the sky... just to see what I could record as the snow fell towards me.

This past weekend pictures of another sort were being taken in Eastern Europe.  Many of them show mass graves.  Others show people with their hands tied behind their backs, dead on the side - or the middle - of the street in Bucha.  And before that is was Myanmar.  And before that, Syria.  And before that....  there are too many before thats in human history.

There is plenty of ugliness in the world to counter the beauty of a heavy snowfall at the farm.  And most of that ugliness is courtesy of humanity.  Apparently, the human race is good at ugly.

And part of it comes from our affinity for being "anti-" whatever someone else might happen to be.  It encourages us to be ugly to those who fit our "anti-" of choice.  Eventually, someone or some group of someones decide there is enough hate built up that people deserve to die and things should be destroyed.  In the process, good people who were not ready to be that ugly, or that "anti-" get a lesson about what it means to hate as they receive a dose of suffering.

Now they are ready to be ugly to those who hurt them.  And they are ready to extend that feeling to anyone associated with those who hurt them as well.

Let's make this a bit more real for all of us.  Bucha is a "town" that would qualify as a "bedroom community" for Kyiv.  Kyiv had a population of 2 to 3 million people.  Bucha had an estimated population around 30,000.  Waverly, Iowa has a population of about a third that size.  Just like Waverly, people live there, work there...  you get the point.

Pick the town you live in and imagine it in the middle of a war zone.  Can you do that?  It can be difficult, I know, because so little of our life in most towns all over the world centers around military pursuits.  The idea that where we are what we do is a place that is worthy of a military operation - where people die, buildings are destroyed and the landscape is altered - is not one we want to think about.

And neither did the people in Bucha. Or, My Lai (Viet Nam).  Or Srebrenica (Bosnia). Or the Sand Creek Massacre.  Or the Congo Free State.  Or, Aleppo (Syria).

Aleppo, Syria - Karem al-Masri - AFP/Getty Images

It only takes moments to tear down that which took decades to build - and I'm referencing people's lives as well as the things that we surround ourselves with.

Do I have an answer for you?  Do I have a solution for this wounded world?

I wish I did.  I just struggle to understand what made all of these instances seem ok to those who perpetrated it in the first place.

Incoming! - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to this week's edition of Postal History Sunday (PHS), which I have offered on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog since August of 2020.  PHS is an opportunity for me to share a hobby I enjoy.  My intent is to make what I write here accessible to anyone who might wish to visit.  In other words, you need not be an avid postal historian to participate.  If you just find some of this mildly interesting, but have no desire to dig any deeper than one of these posts, this is for you.  On the other hand, if you are also a postal historian who loves to do your own digging, I try to write in a way that includes plenty that should interest you as well.  These posts are for you too!

Now, before we get started - put on those fuzzy slippers.  Get a favorite beverage.  Make yourself comfortable and let's see if we can all learn something new!

 

I suspect I am like many others who have gone before me in their studies of postal history - I focused first on things that originated in a certain country and learned how it made its way to other destinations.  And, of course, since I was born and live in the United States, that was a natural starting point.  There are numerous advantages (some obvious) that come with this approach.  I have familiarity with the language, monetary system, geography, and the postal service in my own country.  Perhaps less obvious, but still true, is the fact that it will be easier to find resources to help me learn. 

This week, I'm going to take a look at some letter mail that was heading to the United States - hence the title "Incoming!" Some of the same advantages apply.  For example, incoming mail will have at least some of the address panel in English.  I will have a good shot at figuring out WHERE the letter is going too.  But, there is a new level of difficulty because each country of origin may have different money systems and will certainly have different postage stamps and rates.

The first item we will explore today was mailed from Nagasaki, Japan on April 11, 1887 and arrived in Washington, DC on May 6 of the same year.  The grey-blue stamp is denominated at 5 sen, which was the appropriate rate for a simple letter to be mailed from Japan to the US.

You might actually be aware of the Japanese unit of currency, the yen, because it has been one of the most traded currencies on the foreign exchange for years - so it is natural that it would be mentioned periodically in the news.  A yen is divided into 100 sen, just like our dollar is divided into 100 cents.

What you might not know (or perhaps you need a reminder) is that the yen was not the unit of currency prior to 1871.  That means that, at the time this letter was sent, the yen (and the sen) had been in use for only sixteen years.

Sometimes it helps me to put things into perspective by looking at something that feels more familiar.  Above is an 1890 simple letter that was sent from the United States to Japan.  Yes, I know it isn't pretty - but it's what I have.  The postage required was 5 cents and a blue five-cent stamp was used to pay that postage.  It might be tempting to conclude that every nation's postage would correlate just like this one (5 sen, 5 cents).  But, that is not always the case.

For example, here is an 1895 letter from France to the United States.  Applied is a 25 centime postage stamp - which is the correct rate for a simple letter from France to the US.

The Universal Postal Union simplifies mail between nations

If you have been reading PHS for a while, you might remember that I prefer to study postal history items that were mailed prior to 1875.  So, what occurred in the mid 1870s that encouraged me to establish that boundary in my own collecting and study?  The short answer is the General Postal Union.

The Treaty of Bern, signed on October 9 of 1874, set the ground rules for exchanging mail between the twenty-two participating countries.  This signaled the beginning of the end of the bilateral postal conventions (an example is here) that were prevalent in the decades prior.  In fact, the GPU was so popular, many additional countries rapidly applied for admittance.  As a result, it was renamed the Universal Postal Union in 1878 - and the UPU still sets the protocol for mail between nations today.

Postage rates under the UPU were set using the French franc and the metric weight system.  Member countries who did not use these particular units would operate with proper conversion rates.  So, the Japan letter shown above was sent under a rate that was set as 25 centimes per 15 grams between member nations.  Five sen (and five US cents) were equivalent to 25 centimes - which explains how the postage was set.

Of course, I make this all sound so simple, but with the wide range of participants, things are bound to get complicated if you dig in enough.  For now, we're just going to leave it at this and maybe we'll dig in deeper another time!

Another letter from Japan to the US

Here is another letter from Yokohama, Japan, that was sent on January 10, 1894 to Elkader, Iowa.  Since I live in northeast Iowa, it should not take anyone all that long to figure out why this item might have been attractive to me in the first place.  Remember, sometimes the personal connections you might have are enough to encourage you to explore.

This particular item is of interest for other reasons too.  If you look closely, you will find that there are three postage stamps on this piece of mail totaling 13 sen. There is some pre-printed postage with a value of 2 sen.  So, the total postage paid is 15 sen, which means this is a letter that must have weighed more than 30 grams and no more than 45 grams - a triple weight letter.

This is actually two envelopes.  The smaller envelope with the pre-printed 2 sen in postage is glued to a larger envelope that would have been able to carry more content than the smaller envelope.  

The postmark that is found three times on this piece of mail reads "Yokohama Japan Meiji."  This of course begs the question...

What's "Meiji?"

This is part of the reason I enjoy postal history - it encourages me to explore and expand on my knowledge of the world and its history.  While it is true that I recall learning some of the history of Japan in the past, I find that holding an artifact that has a physical connection to that place and time encourages me to dig deeper and seek out greater understanding.  Allow me to summarize some of my learning (and re-learning).

Prince Matsuhito selected the name Meiji (Enlightened Rule), to mark a new era of Japanese history.  The Meiji Restoration (1868 - 1912) was a period of Westernization for Japan and resulted in the end of the shogun-led government.  This provides you with the motivation for the new monetary unit and explains an increase in mail between Japan and the United States and Europe - making it more possible for someone like me to find mail items from that period of time.

There were many foreign business interests in many of the larger Japanese cities, and the Sargent family can be found in newspapers and directories from the 1890s to early 1900s.  N.J. Sargent is listed in the Japan Weekly Mail in 1895 as a participant in water sports and the Literary Society, temporarily serving as secretary in his father’s place.

I fully recognize that some of what makes this accessible to me is the fact that Japan was seeking to interact with the "Civilized World," such as it was, at the time.  Because of that, there was a significant population of English-speakers that supported an English newspaper in Japan.  Hence, I am able to have a window into a part of the world that I would not if all resources were in a language I do not understand.

More to the Story

So, let's go back to our original cover from 1887.  To remind you of what we are looking at I show it above.  This letter was mailed at Nagasaki on April 11 and also shows a Yokohama postmark for April 15.  The back of the cover gives us even more information.

This letter arrived in San Francisco, California on April 30, after which it crossed the country to Washington, D.C..  It was taken out of the mailbag there on May 6 at 3 PM and it went out on a carrier delivery route at 4 PM that same day.

One of the things I like to do is see if I can figure out how a letter crossed the ocean, this time the Pacific Ocean, to get from here to there.  Unfortunately for me, I am more familiar with Atlantic mail sailings prior to 1875.  But, that doesn't mean I can't figure some things out!

During this period of history, mail was carried between the US and Japan by the Pacific Mail Company and the Occidental & Oriental Steamship Company.  This advertisement with a sailing table is in the Travelers Official Guide of the Railway and Steam Navigation Lines for November of 1896.

To make a long story short, I was eventually able to find the departure of the ship from Yokohama on April 15th that would carry this letter to San Francisco.  And for that, I went back to the Japan Weekly Mail.

The Oceanic, a steamship that was part of the Occidental & Oriental Line, departed on April 15, 1887, as reported in the same newspaper we referenced before.  A fifteen-day journey across the Pacific seems to be reasonable based on the sailing dates in the advertisement - so I think I succeeded in finding how this item got to the United States.

But wait!  There's more!

I neglected to point out one more marking on the back of this envelope - mostly because I wanted to have the space to explain what we are seeing here.  The marking reads "U.S.S. Palos Asiatic Squadron."

photo from wikimedia commons

The USS Palos was a tug that was refitted as a warship and sent to the Asiatic Squadron in 1870 - the first U.S. warship to traverse the Suez Canal on August 11 of that year.  Palos was involved in a minor conflict in Korea in May of 1871 and continued to serve, visiting open ocean and river treaty ports until 1891.  In 1892, the Palos, engines no longer able to propel her, was towed to Nagasaki by the USS Marion and was subsequently sold and scrapped.

For those who have interest, a second picture of the Palos can be found here.  And, if you are interested the National Cover Museum maintains a wiki of covers that show postal markings for ships, like the Palos.

And, in case you were interested, the First Sino-Japanese War started in mid-1894, a few months after the second cover to Elkader, Iowa was mailed.  Most of this war was fought on Korean and Manchurian soil.  So, while both of these covers have a loose connection, neither has a direct connection to this major event.

Where did this interest start?

Not surprisingly, it all started with the stamp.  This issue of Japanese stamps is referred to as the Koban issue.  At one point in time, I had many loose stamps of this issue and did not know much about them.  It was thanks to Mack Strathdee that my learning began on this topic several years ago.  Mr. Strathdee continues to host a blog that focuses on the Koban issue of Japan and may be of interest to some who read this PHS entry.  And, if you are interested in the stamps and postal history of Japan, you might start with the ISJP (International Society for Japanese Philately).

The series issued from 1876-1882 are the called "Koban stamps" (小判切手). The 1876 series are called "Old Koban" (旧小判) and the 1888 series are "New Koban" (新小判) series.  The "UPU Kobans" were issued in 1883 and can be found here.  These stamps continued to be issued through 1898.  (This bit of information provided by William Wetherall here.) 

The stamp above would be from the UPU Koban series of 1883.  The other cover from Japan shows a combination of UPU Kobans and New Kobans.

Today, the loose stamps have (mostly) found new homes as I focus on postal history.  So, if you ask me to show you my collection of Koban stamps - you've just seen them!  And I hope you enjoyed the tour. 

Have a great remainder of your day and a great week to come.

It Must Be That Time Again

It's the beginning of the month and an excellent time on the Genuine Faux Farm blog to look at some new and exciting things that just might be happening here in 2022 or look back at some events we have not mentioned thus far on the blog.   Rather than spend lots of time on an introduction this time around, I'd like to get right to it!

GFF Finalist in "Ugly Farm" Competition

Sometimes, you just have to embrace what you have and make the most of it.  When we heard about the Ugly Farm Competition sponsored by the Youth in Urban Communities organization (they work to connect urban youth to rural areas - though we're unsure of the message this particular event might be sending), we looked at each other and said, "Why not?"

We walked around our farm, looking for the worst possible angles from which we could take a picture and I think we found a winner right here!  This area is located in the south side of the Poultry Pavilion and is certainly not the most aesthetically pleasing place we have at the Genuine Faux Farm.  

All competitors were required to send a "portfolio" of three photos and an essay explaining why our farm should win the prize, an all-expense paid trip to somewhere OTHER than the ugly farm where the entrants are currently living.  Ok. I suspect they had limits on what you could choose as a destination, but we thought a free trip might be worth writing a fifty word essay and taking a few pictures.

Unfortunately for our farm, we were disqualified in the finals when Y.U.C. performed a check of social media and internet presence for each of the competitors.  Apparently, they were concerned that each farm should be truly awful in appearance.  We were told our entry was being removed from the competition by virtue of this photo that graces our Facebook page header.

While we couldn't argue with them that this picture is actually quite nice to look at, we were a little miffed that this felt a bit like a bait and switch to us.  I mean, they didn't REALLY mean that our farm should be truly (and completely) ugly did they?  Well, apparently they did.

But there were other things that turned out just fine - like the....

Virtual Barn Tour Selects GFF Barn

The 2022 Virtual Barn Tour has considered numerous old barn sites from the Upper Midwest and the Genuine Faux Farm has been was selected to participate! Very few sites are selected each year and we were told that the number of locations chosen this year was the lowest number yet.  Even so, our barn rose to the top of all the prospective sites!

The Virtual Barn Tour has increased in scope and popularity as the number of old barns remaining on farmsteads have decreased over the past couple of decades.  "Besides," one of the organizers told us in the interview, "people are always keen to pay attention to things that are no longer available to them - and this is no exception."

In order to qualify, a barn must be structurally unsound and it must have been in use at some point after the year 2000.  According to the organizers, it does not matter whether the building was considered sound or not during that period of use.  Barns scored extra points if the remainders of old hay bales and a few broken implements were in or near the structure itself.  Structures had to be at least one hundred years old and evidence of raccoons or woodchucks around the building is a plus.

Fortunately, in this case, our barn was selected before last August's storm took it down the rest of the way.  When informed of this, the Virtual Barn Tour organizers were very supportive and assured us that all was well.  "After all," they said, "this tour encourages people to use their imagination - that's where the 'virtual' part comes in.  It's not like anyone is actually going to be there to walk through the rubble anyway."

Preparing for the Veggie Farmer Games

After a couple of year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, the Veggie Farmer Games, sponsored by several Iowa farming organizations, will once again be held in the state.  For those who are not aware of them, Veggie Farmer Games started in 2010, when a small group of farmers got together to find out who could clean the most garlic cloves and prepare them for planting in a half hour period.  

Since that first gathering, the VFG event has been held at least once a year (twice if enough veggie farmers have the desire and motivation to try again at the end of the year).  Each season, two events are selected, one as the primary event and the other as a back-up event in case weather, or crop failure, should preclude the first choice.

Some of the past activities include the Bare-handed Thistle Carry and the Windy-day Drip Tape Laying Competition.  I think my personal favorite was the Make a Cultivation Tool out of Chewing Gum and Baling Wire Event from a few years ago.

This year, the event is the Nest and Stack Harvest Tray Carry.  Participants will lug ever-increasing numbers of stacked crates from one end of a 100 foot long obstacle course that includes seed trays, bags of vermiculite, and at least one item with wheels.  At the end of the course, the stack of trays must be quickly and efficiently "nested" and placed on a shelf that is ten feet off the ground.  Falling off of the ladder and/or dropping trays during this process results in point deductions - and possibly an injury or two.  But, that doesn't matter - it's the competition that counts!

Let's just say we're working hard to do better after the debacle in 2019 when Rob knocked out his partner in the Cabbage Pick and Toss.  I guess they DID tell me that the toss should be underhand...and preferably thrown at a speed under fifty miles per hour.

Roll of Bed Sheets Finds Use at GFF

I'll bet you didn't know that bed sheet manufacturing companies actually produce bed sheets in continuous rolls that are five thousand feet long.  I'll also bet you didn't know that bed sheet distributors have specialized cutting and hemming machines that they use just prior to packaging them on site.

Well, it turns out that a local bed sheet manufacturing company, whose name we will not divulge for various reasons, periodically has "remnants" that can be picked up in exchange for radishes.  Sensing an opportunity, the Genuine Faux Farm traded last year's radish crop for one of these remnants, figuring we could turn a tidy profit if we just borrowed one of those cutting and hemming machines.

Unfortunately, when we asked about the machines, there was a lot of hemming and hawing.  So, we were left with about four hundred feet of sheet.  Well, we're pretty good at finding uses for things at the farm, so we figure these sheets will perform the time-honored task of protecting tender plants from a late Spring frost.  

What could be better for our plants than to be tucked in with a satin-weave, 400 thread count cover?  I suppose we could give each plant a little pillow.

Sunflowers Persnickity About Hand Washing

Who knew?

Sunflower plants are not fond of humans who have dirty hands.  And, oddly enough, farmers who have been working in the dirt frequently have dirty hands.

How do we know that sunflowers don't like dirty hands?

It turns out that the sunflowers near some of the walkways on our farm demanded that they be allowed to INSPECT our hands each time we walked by.  This was easy for us to ignore when the plants were only a foot or so in height.  But, a sunflower can easily add six inches in height per day during the most rapid growth period.

In short, it doesn't take long before these plants are looking you IN THE EYE.  And, soon after that THEY ARE LOOKING DOWN ON YOU.

Eventually, it gets to the point that you realize a sunflower plant could actually swat you pretty good with some of those big leaves.  One of these plants even threatened to uproot a corn stalk and swing it at me when I tried to walk past after its firm request for a hand-cleanliness inspection.

A sunflower wielding a corn-stalk is surely something to see.

As long as you are at least twenty feet away at the time.

This year, I think we're moving the sunflowers away from our walk ways.  It might have been a nice idea to have those beautiful blooms so near to us as we went about our business.  But, when you have a row of a couple hundred plants and they all want to inspect your hands, you never get anything done.

And...

I guess today is April 1st.  But, you already knew that, didn't you?

Annual April Fool's Posts

• 2021's Post
  
• 2020's Post
  
• 2019's Post
  
• 2018's Post
  
• 2017's Post *only have time to check out one?  this is my favorite of the prior issues*
  
• 2016's Post
• 2015's Post
• 2014's Post
• 2013's Post
• 2012's Post

Have a great April everyone!