Chat With Women - Welcome to Farm School. Yes Farm School!

This is the first of multi-part article posts about my recent experiences at the Quillisascut Farm School that I recently attended. To hear about more culinary adventures, learn about wine, discover new foods and get the latest news of fun events, take your seat at the table and tune into Table Talk Radio That Tastes Good, on the Chat With Women Network the 2^nd and 4^th Wednesdays each month on KKNW 1150 AM from 8 – 9 a.m. In between shows please visit the blog at www.tabletalkradio.net

After a six-hour drive across the state through rolling wheat fields, my traveling companions and I arrived at our destination in the tiny rural community of Rice, Washington. The crooked wooden sign on the hand-built schoolhouse welcomed us to Farm School.

After settling into our rooms at Quillisascut Farm School, we convened at the long kitchen table and met our schoolmates and hosts. Our gracious hosts were farm owners Rick and Lora Lee Misterly and Culinary Instructor Kären Jurgensen; farm-hands were bread baker, Gianna and Sous Chef, Katie. Schoolmates included food writers, radio personalities and chefs.

The purpose of this farm school gathering raised the question “how do we take what we learn here about food culture and deepen it into a more vibrant, healthy, local, beautiful and on-going thing?” The discussion moved on to “what is the role of a food writer?” You can imagine the depth of this conversation.

“The Worthy Habits of Farm School” were reviewed along with our itinerary for each day. We enjoyed a wonderful variety of Lora Lea’s handcrafted Quillisascut goat cheeses. One platter of was an assortment of surface ripened cheese – crottin, ash log, ash disc, washed rind and blue. The other platter featured Quillisascut Curado, Lavender and Fennel Curado, Cocoa Rubbed Curado along with Quillisascut Farmer, Curry Rubbed Farmer and a Smoked Ricotta. These were served with farm fresh sweet and savory fruit jam-relish and freshly baked bread and crackers.

Next with our “outside” shoes, we took a walking tour of the farm which included a lovely tromp through the goat pen where we met Filbert, part Jersey and the only cow on the property. Running in between our legs, with their eyes fixed on the goats, were two black border collies, Jet and Sedona, and Libby the unmistakable Komondor.

We walked by a number of chicken coops and scooped up some freshly laid eggs. Over in the garden area were walnut and fruit trees, along with rows of greens, kale, potatoes, corn, beans, squash, onions, lettuces, beets and more. We learned about the water wells on the property and how they were discovered by observing certain vegetation and predictions from what farm owner Rick called a “”well witch.”

The female goats that we will milk on Saturday are kept separate from the males, so next we visited the Billy goats and the pigs. Nester, Pickles and Tyrone were covered in mud and chomped away with an occasional glance up. At only three months old, the pigs are about as big as a medium size dog, but by November they will be more than 250 pounds! Also, there were quails, ducks and turkeys, some roaming the land freely and others in their respective pens.

We finished the day with a wonderful dinner at the long community table, using only ingredients from the farm, paired with lively conversation and a few good bottles of wine (of course!), as we took a look forward to the first full day’s plans:

I was careful not to waste any water while brushing my teeth and I remembered only to flush when necessary so as not waste precious well water. Exhausted yet completely exhilarated, I fell into my twin bed in the shared dorm room.
Tomorrow is going to be a full day.

Food & Wine

Welcome to Farm School. Yes Farm School!

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