Prosser Farm

About this time every year, Jackie hosts all of the executive chefs from each restaurant to come visit Prosser Farm. The goal is to bring extra bodies for spring planting as well as team building and bonding (plus it’s really, really fun).

See photos below to see what happened!

Day 1: Seeding and Field Trips

Planting pumpkin seeds

and squash!

Jackie giving a tour of the newly tilled land (thanks to Shawn Iliff!)

Field trip to Crawford Farms. Connie and her husband teach us about asparagus

Crawford chicken coop

Learning about blueberries

Inside the Crawford’s Riesling vines

Field Trip 2: Off to visit Kay & Clay of Chinook Winery!

Clay explains the process of filtering out extra yeast from their Sauvignon Blanc wine—something he and Kay had just worked on that day.

Off to taste some wine!

Jackie and Brock try the latest rose blend.

Time for family meal!

Team collaborative dinner! Brock’s (Dahlia Lounge) hasselbeck potatoes in the foreground. Catering team packed us a corn and asparagus salad and pesto pasta salad, and woodfire-oven-roasted lamb chops and salmon by Adrienne (Seatown & Etta’s) and Desi (Palace Kitchen)!

Post-dinner karaoke and air-saxophone celebration. Take it away Desi!

Day 2: Transplanting peppers

It was 45 degrees and raining!

That’s all for now! Until next year!

Last year, Jackie and Dev conducted a little experiment. They wanted to see if sweet potatoes, naturally a humidity-loving tropical plant, would grow well on Prosser Farm. Not only did it grow well, but they were delicious and the farm enjoyed their fresh-picked sweet potatoes all season long.

They saved a dozen from last year’s crop, wrapped them in burlap and stored them in a cool cellar over winter to keep the potatoes from sprouting.

This spring Jackie and Dev laid the whole sweet potatoes into a bed of soil in a tote and placed it into the greenhouse, keeping the soil constantly moist.

In a couple of weeks, the potatoes sent out sprouts called “slips” and once the slips reached 6” tall, they snapped them off the mother potato and separated them into individual stems. They placed theses slips in a mason jar with water—a bouquet of red-veined leaves cascading into a web of root systems.

The sweet potato in it’s various growing stages, ending in the bouquet of “slips.”

The slips will get transplanted into the ground next week during the upcoming “Chef Plant” (see next blog post for details). The dozen potatoes from last year’s harvest will create 125 plants with each plant producing several pounds of lovely sweet potatoes!

For a fantastic sweet potato gratin recipe, see Herschell’s Steak Rub with Love Sweet Potato Gratin.

This post is dedicated to all things Shawn Iliff, one of our chefs and a wonderful addition to the Prosser Team for the last month.

Shawn marinating flank steak in a delicious green garlic pesto for a Farmhouse Dinner

Shawn has been a line cook at Dahlia Lounge for almost 3 years but is moving to cook at Etta’s in the market! He had a month between moving positions, so he decided to spend it helping out at Prosser Farm.

Shawn attended the farm with a depth of knowledge from his own child-rearing, having grown up on a farm in Portland, Indiana.

At Prosser Farm, he took on the difficult job of clearing and preparing almost 2 acres of land on part of the property that had never been farmed before. The bulk of this included moving tons (literally) of rocks, and then clearing and tilling to prepare the soil for installation of irrigation. This new plot of land will be added into the rotation for next year’s crop, eventually allowing Prosser Farm to produce 1/3 more produce—that’s a huge expansion!

The field before Shawn worked on it.

The field after Shawn worked on it.

This year, Jackie and Dev will put a cover crop and compost over the new land to add nutrients and organic matter.

So here’s to Shawn (and his gopher-chasing dog, Sky)—thank you for your delicious dinners, your warm smile, and your willingness to get dirty!

Last Friday, Dev drove from Prosser Farm to drop off the first Prosser produce of the season at each restaurant. The chefs were like eager school children seeing the school bus on the first day of school!

Crawford Farm Asparagus  was the star of the show, with 750 lbs arriving to our chefs. The chefs are using as much asparagus as they can during their short peak season (only about 3 more weeks left)!

Other arrivals included Nepitella (a cross between mint and oregano), parsley, pea shoots, red Russian kale, green garlic, mint, and garlic chives.

First stop: Serious Pie Westlake—100 lbs of asparagus and parsley for Chef Tony!

Next stop: Palace Kitchen & Team Catering!

After 3 totes of asparagus, Chef Dezi at Palace Kitchen finagled Dev into giving him some of the mint headed to Lola…sorry Liam… 

Team Catering got pea vines, red Russian kale and green garlic!

100 lbs of asparagus to Dahlia Lounge and to Serious Pie Virginia. And garlic chives for Chef Dekyi’s beef and bacon Ting Momos!

After dropping off asparagus and (what was left) of the mint at Lola, Team Corner was next! (Team Corner= Etta’s, Rub Shack, and Seatown)

Last not but least! Asparagus to Brave Horse Tavern and Cuoco, and a little bonus of Nepitella and parsley to Chef Matt at Cuoco. 

A needle of asparagus in a haystack of kegs in the Brave Horse Tavern fridge!

Check out the menus (or ask your server) in each restaurant to see which Prosser Farm produce you’re eating each week!

Jackie and Dev are reaching out to neighbor farmers to send some delicious locally-sourced produce to our restaurants.

The most recent “girl next door” is Connie Crawford — asparagus-grower extraordinaire! We will be getting asparagus from her this season, as well as blueberries and sweet corn later on! This Friday, Connie will cut 700 pounds of asparagus in the morning, and we’ll drive it to Seattle so it’s on your plates by dinner time!

Connie bringing asparagus to Dev

Asparagus sprouting on the Crawford Farm

The asparagus in Serious Pie Downtown’s fridge

This is a fatter, sweeter variety that holds up on a grill, and maintains it’s wonderful crunchy texture no matter what you do with it!

Chef Brock at Dahlia Lounge designed an appetizer around these green goddesses:

Grilled asparagus with country ham, fennel pollen aioli, and hazelnuts.

Serious Pie loved them so much they used the asparagus in an appetizer and pizzas!

Woodfire roasted asparagus with green garlic vinaigrette.

Soft eggs, prosciutto cotto, and roasted asparagus. This pizza is on our regular menu right now!

As my mother always says, “hunger is the best spice,” and nothing quite works up an appetite like working in the field all day. Jackie and Dev sent me some mouth-watering pictures from their most recent celebratory family dinner at the farmhouse (I think they’re trying to make me jealous).

Jackie, Dev, Jackie’s dad Jim and his wife Sharon, and visiting line cook, Shawn Iliff all helped pick, place, and perfect the meal. They gathered around their beautiful wood table that always seems to have space for one more. The occasion was Jim and Sharon’s 26th Anniversary! Congratulations Jim and Sharon!

Here are some tantalizing photos of their fabulous farmhouse dinner. Now you can be jealous too!

Jackie stacking potatoes for roasting. In a popover tin? How creative!

Nothing says spring like asparagus! (With salt and butter of course).

Shawn finessing the halibut. He used tarragon from the garden, then finished it with beurre blanc. Simple, French, spring, and delicious!

It’s too bad teleportation hasn’t been perfected as a form of transportation!

The final product: halibut, asparagus, roasted potato stacks, topped with a purple Johnny Jump-up (of the edible pansy family) from the garden!

We’ve spared you photos of the angel food cake with creme anglaise and Jackie’s famous brandied berries. We thought that would be cruel.   

Name: Pisum sativum

Fruit or Veggie?: Botanically, a fruit because the seeds develop from the ovary of a flower

Seeing peas growing on the farm is the surest, happiest harbinger of spring! This year we have planted eight varieties of peas—snow, snap, and shell—and we are experimenting with a crazy blue podded snow pea. 

The seeds in their greenhouse-protected trays. 

We start by layering the wrinkled pea seeds on a bed of soilless growing medium, cover lightly and keep moist. Wait for 2-3 days before they soften, plump up and sprout a “tail.” This “tail” is the root end, which will send out a shoot. Germinating in a greenhouse ensures that all seeds have a head start before having to contend with the possibility of heavy rain and very cool temperatures in the ground. 

Pea “tails”!

Once they have germinated the peas are ready to transplant outside. We seed them thickly as it helps them to support themselves as they climb up the trellis netting.

Maria thickly seeding the sprouted peas.

The pea plants jumping out of the ground three weeks later.

This reusable netting runs the whole length of the 100-foot rows, and provides support for the peas as they  climb upwards.

We have planted 800 feet in rows of peas, so look for them to show up on our restaurant menus towards the end of May!

“What [on earth] is a winter cover crop?” I asked Jackie on the phone today. Jackie explained that after the last harvest in the fall, they plant rye, clover, and vetch. This trinity helps prevent wind and water erosion during the winter and spring season. After a season’s worth of foot traffic, tilling, and harvesting, this “green manure” helps revitalize the soil structure, adding nutrients, and organic matter back into the ground.

The rye is taking over Prosser Farm! These babies are ready for their haircut.

I asked Dev why they use these specific plants. He said that rye grows tall and big, producing a lot of organic matter that disperses well. Clover and vetch are part of the pea family and produce a lot of nitrogen. Fun fact: plants in the pea family absorb nitrogen from the air, convert it, and then store it into its roots.

Aww isn’t that cute. The rye, clover, and vetch living together side-by-side.

Rye, clover, and vetch work together. The rye provides a stable support for the clover and vetch to attach themselves to as they grow. It is very common for farmers to use winter cover crops, but Jackie and Dev like using this combination because they don’t require a lot of water—perfect for the dessert climate of Prosser. (They haven’t had to water since October!) Other farmers may also use alfalfa. The alfalfa will serve a dual purpose: cover crop over the winter, and feed for cattle in the spring.

They let the cover crop grow 2-3 feet tall. As you can see, these guys have gotten pretty tall and Jackie, Dev, and the Prosser Team are in the process of mowing the tops—this is called “a kill.”

The roots will stay intact. After mowing, they’ll till the soil to speed up the process of working organic matter and nitrogen into the ground—like folding egg whites into your cake batter! Three to four weeks after tilling, the soil will have built up enough healthy little bacteria called “microbes” to begin planting.

Cover cropping is key to organic farming. This keeps down diseases and pests, and keeps the soil healthy and fresh!

Next up: you’ll get a sneak peek of what vegetables are coming to our restaurants this summer!

Chief farmer Jackie, her parents, and Dev attended Lamb camp! Invited by their friend, Martina, a third generation lamb rancher in Prosser, WA, Jackie and Dev got an insider’s look into lambing.

 Martina’s camp houses 5,000 sheep, as well as acres of cattle ranching and orchards. Her brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews work to make this family business thrive. Their sheep graze several pastures and some national parkland around Eastern Washington. For months, Spanish and Peruvian vaqueros move with the herd—it’s cool to think that some traditions haven’t changed!!

 Around early February, thousands(!) of pregnant ewes are moved to the Prosser lamb camp where they are kept in large pens and watched carefully by several roaming workers.

Once an ewe gives birth, her lambs are grabbed up (rather unceremoniously, Jackie added) and moved to a small pen with the mom eagerly trotting along behind. Both mom and baby are monitored to ensure that a bond is made and feeding goes well.

Don’t panic—this lamb isn’t dead! This is how the vaqueros transport the lambs and ewes to their new pen.

Here’s a fun fact: most ewes give birth to twins! Occasionally, a triplet, single, or (sadly) stillborn occurs. Because sheep only have two teats, it is common for one of the triplets to get bullied out and thus not get enough milk to survive. If a triplet or stillborn occurs, the farmers will use two kinds of adoption methods to ensure the survival of the new baby and the happiness of the ewe—a win-win for all!

Wet Adoption: This type of adoption requires careful management and timing. If the lamb is a stillborn, the farmer will keep the ewe pinned down so that she never discovers her biological lamb. The farmer will then cover an orphan or triplet lamb in the birthing fluids. Once the ewe smells the adopted lamb and believes it to be her own, the farmers will release the ewe to bond with her new adopted lamb.

The second kind of adoption is Twinning Adoption, and can be riskier.

If an ewe has already bonded with a lamb but that lamb has died, they will attach the skin of the dead lamb and place it on an orphan or triplet runt lamb (think sweater vest!). This “twin coat” remains on the lamb for 24 hours. If the ewe rejects her new lamb, she will not allow the lamb to drink her milk.

After a few days, the bonded ewes and lambs are slowly moved to larger and larger pens until the whole group is ready for the open pasture. By mid-June and July, the lambs are ready for processing. This process used to occur in Ellensberg, but since that facility closed down several years ago, the lambs are sent by train or truck to Colorado and California to be dressed!

A shout out to Martina for an amazing field trip!