Green things and ducklings

From the country....

Getting jobs done,

watching things grow,



and bringing home some new members to the livestock family.

Today we visited our local sales barn and purchased 5 ducks for the kids. We picked up 4 Khaki Campbell ducklings and Nate picked out a Black Cayuga duckling. After some research when we got home I found out some interesting features about these breeds. Both varieties are heritage breeds. The Khaki Campbell's are really proficient layers and can lay as many as 300 eggs a year. The Cayuga duck is a breed used for both meat and eggs (although Nate informs us we will NOT be making confit with his duck...) and that the duck starts out laying black eggs which turn white as the bird matures. Both breeds are great foragers, are overall hardy and are tamed easily. When I read that to Nate he jumped with joy and now has plans to hand tame his "Blacky" so that it will follow him around the yard.

This is the start of a little lesson in farming. Nate will help me to take care of the ducklings, possibly breed them next year and sell the eggs at market... and he is super excited!

Gnocchi, where have you been all my life?

From the City...

For some reason, gnocchi has been one of those recipes that totally intimidates me. I've only ever ordered it in restaurants and i've always heard that it's super challenging and finicky to make. We bought some pre made stuff a couple of weeks back and the fact that it didn't need to be refrigerated should have alarmed me, nevertheless I bought it as a quick dinner fix. It was so gross. Think little balls of slimey yuckiness. Seeing as we're cutting back on eating out, I decided to embark on a gnocchi adventure and i'm not gonna lie, I think I rocked it.

Here's a link to the recipe that I used and some pics to follow.

Make it. Do it.

For the Birthday Girl

From the City...

This is the closest to a smile that you're gonna get from this guy!

Hope your birthday is full of millie kisses, cuddles from little boys and a birthday feast from the chef of the house!

Love love love.

xoxoxoxox S, A and baby Theo.

Birthday Brownies

From the City...

So I missed Luc's 4th birthday this year due to the birth of my own little boy so we decided to have a better late than never birthday party here in the city. Mark and Laura stopped in Kensington market and picked up all of the most delicious fix-ins for mexican from The Tortoria and I made a batch of ooey gooey yet crunchy brownies.

This recipe came from Martha, of course, right??? So you can assume that they are extremely heavy and buttery and delicious. Surprisingly, unlike most of Martha's recipe, they don't take three weeks to make. From beginning to end, you can whip these up in about two hours.

I suggest not making these if you're say on maternity leave and home alone during the day...only badthings can come from that.

here's the recipe:

Double Chocolate Brownies:

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into large pieces

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 inch square baking sheet with parchment, leaving a slight overhang on all sides. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler of heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from eat and whisk in sugar. Whisk in eggs, 1 at a time, until combined. Whisk in cocoa and salt. Fold in flour until combined.

2. Pour batter into pan. Bake until set and toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, 35-40 min. Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 min. Lift brownies from pan using parchment. Remove parchment and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool completely. Cut into 9 squares.

Oh and here's a pic of my little tree that I couldn't help but share. I swear this boy get cuter, and crankier, every single day. Already three weeks old, how time flies!

Once Upon An Onion Crop....

From the country... Cippolini onions, bunching onions, pearl onions, shallots, multiplier onions, and yellow onion sets. With names like; Red Creole, Barletta, Red Marble, Borrettana, Ramrod, and Summer Isle. Yep, I LOVE onions. I love sowing the seed, planting the set, plucking them from the soil, and eating them in all their various forms. There is something about growing alliums that makes me weak in the knees but I might have gone a bit overboard on them this year. I have my work cut out for me, not to mention the fact that I have blown the budget on these sharp little devils. I can't wait to see their wispy green hairs break the soil. I can't wait for the first green onion, the first taste of fresh grilled onion, and storage onions nestled in their mesh bag in the pantry. So to my friends and family, I apologize now because come the summer/fall I will definitely have a bad case of onion breath.

Lunch Time!!

From the country...

Left over pork roast (cut up cold), pickled fennel, dilly beans, sliced apple, red fife bread with butta', local greens with a dijon-honey viniagrette and homemade queso fresco cheese crumbled on top.

Yep, this is lunch. This is what is put in front of me after a morning of being out in the greenhouse.

Lucky girl.

Maple Syrup Festival?

From the country...

horse bums in motion

We ventured out today to the Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival. As we wandered through the streets of the nearby small town of Sunderland we saw vendors peddling leather wallets, mini donuts, and knitted things- but very little maple syrup. We enjoyed a ride through town on a horse drawn wagon and ate some crazy yummy candied nuts from here. As we were leaving we spied the lawn tractor pull. Kids pulling a weighted contraption in their suped up lawn tractors down the main street. Rigs like the "Red Rocket", or "Plum Crazy" and "Girls Get It Done Too".

Need I say more...

Small town charm I guess.

Missed the Maple syrup though.

Newest Editions To The Harvest Kitchen Family...

From the country but in the city...

a picture that tells a thousand words...

Happy 4th, To My April Fool.

From the country...

The day started off with breakfast fit for a lil' King, complete with a cup of tea...

and banana cake with chocolate ganache for the dinosaur lover,

...and to top it all off, kite flying with this new gem.

All in a day's work (for a newly turned 4 year old).