August 27th
August 27th, 2020
Our Vibrant Friends!
I am delighted to announce that all your wildest fantasies are finally coming true.
You’ve asked (no you haven’t, but I know you’ve thought about it) and we’re answering.
VVF CLASS OF 2020 FEATURED FARMER PROFILES are officially a thing. Who are your farmers, really?? You’re about to find ouuuuuut! Spirit fingers!
We kick this season’s collection off with Floral Farming High Priestess Amelia Clements.
2020 marks Amelia’s first season with VVF. A calm and uplifting presence, Amelia is always quick at the ready with a smile, a wry quip served with a wink and a nod, a hard hitting discussion point about the state of our union, or a helpful pondering as to what we could do differently should a procedural snag arise. Amelia moves about her days at the farm meticulously yet swiftly, her experience belying her years. With a background in floral design, hellebore cultivation, and coastal farming in addition to many other lives spent learning, working, and traveling extensively, Amelia brings oodles to our table, delighting us with her presence at VVF a full 5 days a week.
Also, it is important to note that Amelia has recently become engaged to her longtime love BJ, and additionally has just gotten a haircut for the first time since The Great Before and is looking extra fly.
Amelia Clements Fast Facts:
Preferred Pronouns She/Her
VVF Title Cut Flower Production Manager
Hometown Ossining, NY
Star Sign Gemini
Rose:
So, Amelia, here you are, farming hard for this wild yet wonderful VVF Class of 2020. What brought you here?
Amelia:
Love and flowers! I moved to Portland from the southern Oregon coast last November to be with my longtime sweetie. I had been farming veggies and cut flowers on the coast for four years, and I was ready to move on to the next stage in my farming career. I was attracted to VVF because I knew that it had been started by a couple of powerful, badass women and that cut flowers were a significant part of the crop mix. I was ready to bring my flower growing skills to the next level and Kara won me over with her vivacious personality from the first moment of my interview for the job!
R: Love it all. And agreed! Meeting Kara Gilbert is the human equivalent of being dealt a Royal Flush your very first hand at the poker table. So glad to have you with VVF Amelia!
So! As a floral design sister I know we speak the same language. When did you first realize you loved flowers?
A:
We have a story in my family that when I was in first or second grade, I would collect all of the weeds and wildflowers from our yard and make little bouquets out of them. My grandpa, being an enterprising kind of guy, built me a little flower stand and set it up on the side of the road. I sold my little posies for a quarter each to people passing by... and I've been hooked ever since!
R:
Ummmmm YES. I must tell you I too had a floral stand as a child – my hook was buy the lemonade and get a side of flowers! We are so kindred Amelia. High five!
So floral design and farming are very different crafts, and both have their magic and lessons. What is the most unexpected lesson you've learned from farming?
A:
Keep your lower back straight! My first farming mentor really drilled into my head that as farmers, our bodies are our most important tool. There is lots of bending and crouching and holding your body in very awkward positions for long periods of time, and I try my best to remember to keep my back straight to avoid injury.
R:
Absolute truth right there. Engaging that core is essential. Especially when getting low gathering the beans, cukes, padrones! Ahhhhh the bounty.
What is your favorite vegetable we grow here at VVF? a) to eat and b) to harvest?
A:
An impossible question because the answer changes almost weekly! Right now my fave vegetable to eat is definitely eggplant (sliced longways, slathered with olive oil, salted, and broiled until the inside is soft and the edges are caramelized). I love to harvest all of the delicate herbs like basil, cilantro, and shiso.
R:
Hell YES. Agreed the eggplant is everrrrrything right now. BRB, grilling it up.
Ok I’m back.
Care to share what else brings you great joy/passion when you're not slaying the day farmside?
A:
Arranging leftover flowers for friends and strangers and my two new kittens Burton and Basil!
R:
OMG YOUR KITTIES ARE THE DREAMIEST. Their sweetness is what the world needs now!!!
While our palliates are cleansed, let’s get a bit heavy.
Political moment. Imagine you have DT captive and can deliver 10-20 words to him that he's forced to think about alone in an empty room for 24 hours. What do you say?
A:
I'd keep it brief - you have failed and we're coming for your job.
R:
Yep. Pretty much. Here’s majorly hoping we can all get our vote in amid these crazy scary times! Vote early! Keep the faith!
Ok, let’s return to and close with the farm.
Amelia, describe an everyday or particular moment on the farm at VVF as best you can that our community would love to envision with you.
A:
Flower harvest last Tuesday morning. We started with the sun, the fog just starting to lift as we started to cut our first bunches of zinnias, bells of ireland, and nigella. The crew was chatting as we settled into our rhythm, cutting stems, stripping them of leaves, counting, rubber banding, repeat. My fingers were numb at first because of the chilly dew on the blooms, a sure sign that we are in the last days of beautiful summer. As I cut I noticed the light changing around me, the sun rising over our fields. I found four or five bees sleeping sweetly on the blooms, resting until the temperatures warmed enough for them to do their work.
R:
Aren’t we the luckiest?! Such magic.
Love you girl! Thank you for being all you are.
Until next week, with love and gratitude to you and yours,
-- Rosemary Stafford for Vibrant Valley Farm
ROSE’S RECIPE IDEAS OF THE WEEK:
THICK CUT SUMMERTIME SANDWICHES
Ingredients
Your favorite thick cut bacon
Fat slices of heirloom tomato
Slices of lemon cucumbers
Slices of Anaheim peppers
Silky salad
Toasted sourdough
Basil mayo
Salt and Pepper to taste
Edible flora for garnish
Preparation
Chop and admire the glory of your VVF heirloom tomato, lemon cucumber, and Anaheim pepper slices, and plate them up with a surrounding accompaniment of silky salad. Set aside.
Fry up your thick cut bacon slices. If you want to be so bad it’s good, take some of the bacon grease and lightly brush your sourdough slices before toast frying them to crisp. Arrange on a plate and set aside.
Chop and then mix your basil leaves into your preferred mayo and put in a pretty little bowl.
Invite your loved ones to the Thick Cut Summer Sandwich Station and invite them to slather up those fry bread bits with the basil mayo, and get stackin. Extra points for edible flora garnish. Prepare to get marvelously messy!
GRILLED EGGPLANT & PEPPER SPREAD
Ingredients
1 lb of eggplant, cut into ½ inch slices
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced for grilling
1 poblano pepper, as above
1 jalepeno pepper, as above
3 medium sized scallions, chopped
garlic to taste
lemon juice to taste
balsamic vinegar to taste
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
Preheat an outdoor grill for medium high heat and lightly oil the grate
Grill eggplant and peppers until tender, about 20-30 minutes.
Once cooled, chop grilled eggplant and peppers.
In a food processor or blender, pulse eggplant pepper mixture with scallions, garlic, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper until finely chopped and spreadable
Slather on toasted garlic salt baguette slices and garnish with edible flora and parsley. Or employ when fashioning a fried egg sandwich. Or perhaps eat in spoonfuls like a pudding late at night, standing in front of your refrigerator.
GRILLED PEACHES WITH HONEY AND MASCARPONE
Ingredients
Peaches, pitted and halved
Mascarpone cheese
Honey
Butter
Vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Preparation
Heat oven to 350 degrees or outdoor grill to medium low
Halve and pit your peaches, and lightly brush with vegetable oil
Grill peaches until soft, and carmalized, inserting a fork to check for softness
Place grilled peaches in small bowls, and drizzle honey over them. In the pitwell, melt a small slice of butter and a sizeable dollap of mascarpone, and lightly salt to taste.
Serve and delight your eager eaters
Can also be served with well chosen pears!