Pasta, pasta, everywhere...

Posting late tonight after looo-hoooong day rolling and cutting pasta and kneading pizza dough. But I'm pleased with the outcome....


Tomorrow we get to offer to MFM-ians 4 different types of pasta: Kamut fettuccine, Kamut tagliolini (small spaghetti), and, after surveying the herb garden for what's in abundance, we'll have cilantro fettuccine, and lemon chive fettuccine.


All is ready for tomorrow's market. One last thing to do: sleep. Doze a little, then say "hello" to 5am. See you soon.... - Davy

Lots o'eggs and a little about our pasta...

Some highlights from our day...



We used 6 dozen eggs (thank you little red hens) in our Kamut pasta dough today! It takes 2 eggs for every pound of pasta. Yep. Not your ordinary dried-pasta-in-a-box. This pasta is much higher in protein!

Have we told you how healthy (and delicious...really, just wait 'til you taste it) our pasta is? First of all, we use organic khorasan. Khorasan is related to wheat. But it's older than the wheat that is commonly used today. It's an "ancient grain" and is speculated to have been the grain that Joseph, of the Old Testament, stored up in Egypt. Compared to most wheat, it's higher in protein (about 17% as compared to 9-14%) as well as most every other nutrient. It's somewhat yellow tinted, almost the color of cornmeal, and has a hint of butter flavor. (What's often sold is the branded khorasan called Kamut, like ours. You can learn more about this brand of khorasan at www.kamut.com ).

Okay, so we take this great grain and we mill it...fresh flavor, all the nutrients...and we add our fresh FunderFarm eggs! We have a lot of pretty red hens that roam our 5+ acres chasing bugs, eating seeds, and taking dust baths. Davy and all 3 of my boys head out every morning to let them out of their little house. And every evening they gather the eggs and, after the hens have gone back to roost, we close the door to keep them safe from nighttime predators. We have a good bit of woodlands around our home which protects them from hawks during the day and provides lots of leaves to scratch and discover bugs under. So anyway (can you tell I like our hens?), back to the pasta. We add a touch of olive oil and water to the egg and flour and knead it up. We store this in the fridge to relax overnight. Stayed tuned. Tomorrow we will return. It will be time to roll, cut, and package!!

Oh! And we also welcomed help in the flour & mixes "packaging department" from our neighbors and friends. We loved having their help today!

~Laura

Running the mill!

The daily grind! =) Davy milled LOTS of flour today! ....soft white wheat, hard white wheat, hard red wheat, spelt, kamut, oat, and rye...organic grains. And we mixed up some of these flours with spices and organic sugar for convenient baking mixes. (The best part of mixing the batches is the aroma when you open the spice jars!) This week, we'll have some of our favorites like pancake, blueberry muffin, strawberry muffin, and cobbler and we're also bringing a new hearty, healthy mix....granola muffin...with cranberries, pecans, sunflower seeds, flaxseed, and oats!



Today he also rolled and stuffed our new handmade ravioli pasta with 5 cheeses...yes, 5! Ricotta, Fontina, Gruyere, Gouda, and Parmesan along with some fresh pepper. And well, you know, there were a couple of "mess ups" where the dough didn't close just right and we just HAD to eat them (taste testers and leftover eater-uppers, that's our job in this family business, the kids and I) and mmmmm.... We love it! Stamp of approval. This means you'll have two Ravioli options this Saturday at MFM: 5 Cheese Ravioli or Spinach & Cheese Ravioli (made with organically grown spinach right here at FunderFarm). We have 17 lbs available this week...17 boxes. Don't miss them!

~Laura

Off to a good start...

We've been wanting a FunderFarm blog for a while. Tonight we decided to do something about it. :) We've been very busy. The first Memphis Farmer's Market is this Saturday. We worked on our new signs today. I was not short on good help...

Pasta is our new "thang" this year, made with our freshly ground flour (from organic grains) and our very own farm fresh, free-range eggs (from our very, very freely ranging red hens). This morning we harvested 4 lbs of beautiful, dark green spinach and mixed it with ricotta & parmesan cheeses, freshly ground pepper, & sea salt. Then we rolled out whole grain pasta dough made from organic Kamut & fresh eggs. All that came together, resulting in glorious spinach & cheese ravioli, available to you this Saturday! They have been sampled and have been heartily approved. :) Try some and give us your thoughts.

Tomorrow's creation: Five cheese ravioli and milling & mixing flours & baking mixes.