Happy Earth Day: Celebrate by Supporting Local Food in the Great Falls Area!

Happy Earth Day! To celebrate, we planted hundreds of trees today to build the shelterbelt along the South side of the vegetable garden.

And, today also kicks off a great promotion with 2J's Fresh Market in Great Falls in which the market is giving away farm shares from Prairie Heritage Farm and our friends at Groundworks Farm up the road. To enter, you need to "like" 2J's Facebook page and comment on the picture announcing the contest.

2J's has been a big supporter of what we do. In general, they do a lot to help promote local food in the Great(er) Falls area, but they also buy and sell quite a few of our veggies.

This year, we're planning to produce even more for the market. We will be at the store on Friday afternoon to sample a few of our favorite dishes and talk to people about local agriculture and Community Supported Agriculture farm shares. Come by and say hello if you're in the neighborhood.

And, now, in other news from the farm.

We have pigs. (Thanks to the pork operation over at Groundworks. Hoo boy. They raise some good pastured pork.)

And sheep.

 And sheep with baby lambs.

And  on the grains front, we've started working with this ahhh-maze-ing coffee shop in Great Falls, The Crooked Tree. They've been experimenting with some of our flour and will be using some of our veggies this season as well in their baked goods.

And we've been doing some experimenting on our own. Sonora Heritage Wheat makes super good whole-wheat tortillas. It's truly incredible how different something can taste when you use fresh, high-quality ingredients. (I detest flour tortillas normally.) We're thinking of calling these Willa's Tortillas. (See what I did there?)

Farro Recipe: Prairie Farrotto

The last two weekends, we've been offering tastings of our favorite ancient grain: Farro. As I've mentioned before, our Prairie Farro is quite versatile. It's great in soups, salads or as hot cereal. It's a big, nutty, flavorful grain that feels hearty and healthy. 

Lately, I've been making quite a bit of "Farrotto" -- like risotto, only with Farro. The trick here is to pre-cook the Farro a little to open up the grain and get it ready to absorb all the goodness in which you're about to simmer it. (Our Prairie Farro takes a little longer to cook because it's the whole grain. Most other Farro or Emmer you might find in stores is cracked or pearled, which is fine if you want to shave off a little cooking time, but pearling does strip away some of the nutrients and fiber and flavor of the grain. We're big proponents of eating truly whole grains so we everything is there to do as nature intended it to do, so our grains are always whole.)

Here's a favorite version, but feel free to play around with spices, etc. 

Prairie Farrotto

1 cup Prairie Farro (Email us at farmer -at- prairieheritagefarm.com to order some. We ship!)

1 Tbs olive oil

2 cloves garlic

½ onion, chopped

1 Stalk celery

1 medium carrot

1 cup broth

½ c dry white wine

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp dried sage (or basil or whatever strikes your fancy)

Parmesean cheese (for the top)

Fresh parsley (for the top)

1. In large pot, boil Prairie Farro for 45 minutes to an hour, until tender and chewy. Drain. (I boil our Farro like you would pasta – in lots of water and then drained.)

2. In heavy-bottomed large saucepan or pot, saute onions and garlic in olive oil until softened.
3. Add celery and carrots and saute until glistening.
4. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and sage.
5. Add Farro and stir, gently sauteeing the grain until shiny.
6. Add wine, broth and bay leaves and turn heat down to a low simmer.
7. Simmer for about 30 minutes to an hour, adding more broth and stirring as needed if grain gets dry.
8. Serve hot and sprinkled with good, strong Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

Local Montana Farro: A Star Rising

Let's talk about farro for a moment.

Farro seed, still in the hull.

 Farro is a big, nutty wheat that's great for salads, soups, risottos and the like. It makes pretty great pasta too.


The stuff we grow and sell -- Prairie Farro -- is an ancient wheat from the Fertile Crescent that dates back to nearly 20,000 years ago. The grain has been discovered in archeological digs and in ancient tombs and is believed to have developed from crosses between wild grasses. It was likely harvested in the wild before people began to select the best plants for cultivation. Farro, known also as Emmer, is often sold pearled, so it has less bran on the kernel.We leave ours completely intact, so nothing has been removed from the kernel that would compromise any of the nutrients the grain has to offer. Its nutritional profile is similar to modern wheat except it is higher in protein, iron, phosphorus, zinc, and copper. It is a versatile grain that can be used in breads, crackers, and salads.

Farro's star is rising, let me tell you. Of all our grains, it's the one people spot on our market table, run over and say, "I've been looking for this!"

The New York Times loves it, Saveur.com loves it, Gourmet loves it, even everyday Rachael Ray loves it.

Our first farro crop, 2009.

Since we started growing and selling it four years ago (btw, not to brag or anything, but Prairie Heritage Farm is one of the only local producers of farro in Montana. We sell direct to customers through our grain CSA farm share, at farmers markets and by special order. We ship too! Email farmer@prairieheritagefarm.com), I've been mostly using farro in soups and cold salads (like this one) and the occasional risotto (or, farrotto), but in the lastT few months, I've started exploring warm farro salads, especially with greens (because it seems like there is no. end. to the greens piling up in our house right now.)

My favorites so far have been this recipe and this recipe.

But I combined them to make this winner:

Warm Prairie Farro Salad With Baby Beets, Blue Cheese and Greens

1 to 1 ½ cup farro (not pearled)

1 bunch mustard greens (or arugula would work here too), chopped (2-3 cups)

1 bunch baby beets with greens

½ wedge blue or cambozola cheese

½ cup walnuts

Dressing:

3 Tbs red wine, apple cider or balsamic vinegar

½ cup olive oil

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp maple syrup

1. Rinse farro well. Add farro to pan with 2 cups water (for one cup, 2 cups water. For 1 ½ cups, 3 cups water.) Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2. While the farro is simmering, separate the baby beets – cutting off the beet part, scrubbing and placing in a shallow pan (you're going to simmer them a little, just to soften.)
3. Chop the beet greens a long with the mustard greens. (We used Mizuna, btw, but I think you could sub chard or kale here too.)
4. Mix up the dressing and in a separate bowl, crumble the cheese and add in the walnuts. (You'll use the cheese/walnut mixture to top the salad at the very last minute.)
5. Once beets are simmered (about 5-7 minutes) to your liking, add to large bowl with greens.
6. Drain the cooked farro and add directly to the bowl of greens and beets. You want to just slightly wilt the greens with the heat of the farro. Stir quickly until the greens are soften as you like them.
7. Fold in the dressing.
8. Once the salad has cooled a little, top with the cheese/nut mixture and serve.