8 ozs cream cheese

1/2 cup nonfat yogurt

3 tbsps pinon penny's american pine nuts

 2 tbsps fresh chopped basil'[]

 1 garlic clove (minced)']

 7 ozs feta cheese (crumbled) 

1/3 cup  tomatoes

Grind basil  pine nuts and garlic in food processor, add yogurt and cream cheese, finally feta cheese and tomatoes while pulsing.

Done!

 

This eatery is one of our clients and they purchased several thousand dollars worth of pinon nuts to make pine nut vodka.  One day, perhaps I can see how their facility in New Jersey where the vodka is manufactured.  Better yet, to enjoy a meal at this enchanting establishment. 

 

  We have managed our population of mondarda for seed production over three years.  Now there are easily harvested central populations.  The oil this variety is rather a burgundy, almost cherry and essence is fruity and light compared the fisulosa. The plant is a traditional medicinal tea and seasoning.  We generally distill for oil and floral essence.  The plant is captivatingly beautiful and makes an outstanding Farmer's Market herb and cut flower.  Perfect for any person to buy fresh and dry at home for intended use. Because of its wonderful essence floral arrangement and crafts have another  dynamic element.

There has never been ground disturbance and we managed through providing space for seeding.  All seed is indigenous to this property.  It is not really an important consideration for most people, but something we strive for in native crop management.  We have essentially developed our own "pool" of this plant.  In areas where we manage for mondarda,  there are other co-inhabitants, New Jersey Tea and Yarrow.  Each of the species is native and a production species, web together in natural order. 

 This production system is wild yet managed for harvest and yield.  While we initially did not manage companion species.  The community developed naturally represents three harvests and multiple production opportunities.  Yarrow is often a cultivated companion as it is proven to enhance the oil production in near by plants.  On our farm, it is valued most for the phyto chemical that drives ticks crazy.   The smallest fraction of a drop of oil place upon the skin in front of an embedded tick, drives the tick crazy and it pulls out as quick as it little legs will propel it out of the human body.

New Jersey Tea saved George's health when he had tick fever.  As a result, I will always cherish the species.  It is called New Jersey Tea because, during the Revolutionary War, when black tea imports were unavailable this plant filled the void.  I have often wondered why it is not in cultivation as a "green tea".  The tea is very, very tasty.   We have not had the opportunity over the years to develop our domain, www.wildamericanteas.com</a> but when we do, New Jersey Tea would take center stage.  I make a blend of New Jersey Tea, Lemon Balm, and Chocolate mint that makes people hummm...mmmm! It is a tea blend that creates happy, energitic feelings of productivity and "let's do".  As if that were a vibe needed on this farm. 

The bloom on each of the species takes place at a different time.  This allows for staggered production and drying. It also helps encourage stable populations of pollinators in our forests - we have their  food and plenty of habitat.  This natural  method of forest farming has proven to be productive for all concerned.  I look out from office windown on a forest "farmed"  field of Mondarda teaming with butterflies .  There is no problem with wanting to go to work.  I love my work.  All around us, I see   results - what could possibly be a more joyful expression of  outcome ?

 

A couple months ago, I was afraid that the dropping price of imported pine nut kernels coupled with economic conditions would make hard shell pinon nut kernels priced beyond the market at $65.00 or more a pound. The 2011/2012 season had inshell raw pinon nut coming in with a retail price of anywhere from $29.00 - $39.00 per pound At bargain basement sites like craigslist and etsy one could find pinon nuts for $20 - $25.00 per pound, harvester direct. However, those venders can have poor quality product with lots of blanks as the venders don't have seed cleaning equitment. In the long run, it is just better to buy from a trust source than to purchase from someone selling pinon out of their garage.

Over the weekend, I took a peak see tour of pine nuts on Amazon and other sources. We are RIGHT in the ballpark for high quality pine nuts that are not produced in China. In fact, the price point is also in line with some of the more well reconized pine nut brands that do import from China.

For Example, Diamond Nuts of California - note that is the company name, not the source of the pine nuts. Somewhere on the package it should say product of China. These are $36.00 per pound. Then there is Alessi, which not only imports their pine nuts from China, but every advertising picture I have seen indicates they have poor quality sourcing. Pine nuts with white specks, shrivel kernels, and lots of size variations indicate low quality to people who know pine nuts.

 

On the other end of the spectrium, I found these atThe Shop Agoria, which I would buy in a heartbeat.  When you enlarge the picture you can tell the pine nuts are indeed P. Pinea stone pine of the Mediterianian. They are the real deal. The price point for these beauties, and they will run about $72.00 per pound.  Or the same species from Tuscany is close to $80.00 per pound. 

 

All these pine nuts come half way around the world and if Americans are going to pay that much for an imported pine nut, our price point is actually very, very nice.  It has worked out well for us.  First we offered sampled that were priced in such a way as to discourage anyone from buying in bulks. I wanted enough product for all of our clients to have a try and I gave folks on our mailing list a coupon $5.00 off.  Lots of 1 ozers went out and now, lots of pounds are following.

Sometimes I just worry too much.  Fresh Amerian pinon pine nuts producer director are a bargain this year for the pesto season.  At this rate however, our experiment with shelling New Mexico hard shell pinon will run its course and we will be out long before September.

 

 

Yesterday, I posted to our  mailing lists that pinyon seedlings had exploded at our house.  I had thousands which I wanted to give away.  This was a rousing success!!! I wanted to share some of the results of our postings.

First Story:

A few years ago, one of our clients wrote a story abou tharvesting pine nuts after World War II in Fraser Park, not far from Los Angeles.  When we sent out our offer of free pinyon trees, one of our most supportive clients offered to make several telephone calls.  That client asked me if I knew of any place near her that historically had pinyon trees and I recalled the Fraser park story.  She called connected us with a wonderful lady in the Sierra Club.  The end result is we are donating 200 trees for restoration of pinyon in Fraser park.

Second story:

A client wrote a wonderful story about his father, which was published in our newsletter.  Dad past away yesterday and the client called today let me know.   In the course, of our conversation he mentioned that he was planting pinyon trees on his land in Idaho.  I said, "Bill, I  am giving them away. I would have been glad to send you some."  He in turn told us of a project he is involved in - restoration of  fire  in Idaho.  He, too, is making calls and we may be doing a restoration there, with the boy scouts planting our seedlings.

Third Story:

A wonderful woman works with Native American Youth at risk.  Her pinyon seedlings did not do too well.  She is taking our pinyon both to work with her group, as well as to share at various events.

We had a WONDERFUL response to this little post in our newsletter.  We were asked for seedlings from Main to Washington.  I don't know how these pinyon seedlings will do in those zones.  I imagine that I will hear as the years go along. 

 

 

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 It's unbelievable how much you can do with just a 1/2 oz of our unique 
air-dried pinyon pine nuts! Here's just one example: organic gluten-free 
pumpkin bread!
 
Ingredients (use all-organic for best results):
 
2 oz of Pinenut.com air-dried pine nuts
 
unsalted butter - 1 stick (1/2 cup)
 eggs (having them from your own chickens does make a difference) - 3
 olive oil - 3 TBSP
 pumpkin (or butternut squash, preferably from your own garden) - 1 1/2 lb
 honey, local, raw, unfiltered - 1 cup
 
brown rice flour - 2 cups
> buckwheat flour - 1 cup
 amaranth flour - 1 cup
 baking soda - 1 tsp
 cinnamon, ground - 2 tsp
> nutmeg, ground - 1 tsp
 ginger, spice, ground - 1 tsp
 sea salt - 1/2 tsp
 
Boil pumpkin (cubes), drain, cool, mash.
 
In a bowl, mix flours, baking soda, salt, and spices.
 
In another bowl whip butter; add eggs - whip; add honey - whip; add 
pumpkin - whip; add dry ingredients - mix thoroughly.
 
Grease baking pans, pour in dough (1" to 1 1/2" thick), sprinkle with 
pine nuts. Bake for 1 hour in an oven at 330 degrees F.
 
The above quantities make 4 loafs like the one in the picture.
 
Dr. Leonid Sharashkin, whom I thank for sharing this picture and recipe, 
says his kids devoured the pine nuts first! Within 20 seconds after the 
photo was taken, all pine nuts were gone! So much for pumpkin bread with 
pine nuts! Next time, he says, he'll take four times more pine nuts (8 
oz) and incorporate them into the dough.
 
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We thought with type of searches we have seen recently that it might be a good time (right before pesto season) to offer a some of our virtual real estate - Apx 1/3 of searches are done via phones making .mobi domains a nice jumping off place for specialized search engines. http://www.wholesalepinenuts.mobi $5,000.00 http://www.organicpinenuts.com (this is a huge one!!) $7,500.00 You are welcome to send an offer for terms or part trade of values that in the ballpark of the listed price.

 

George and I sampled our newest batch of pinon pine nut vodka last night in celebration. We made White Russians with farm fresh, raw goats milk. The pine nut vodka drinking luv monkey is still in the editing room, and was there in spirit as were a long list of pinon forest advocates who have understood the need to change public policy on these lands:

Dr. Ronald Lanner

Dr. Elbert Little

Dr. Rebecca McLain

Dr. Mike Gold -University of Missouri Agroforestry

Dr. Eric Jones

Dr. Kris Johnson

Dr. Patricia DeAngelis

Dusty Moller

Dr. Leo Sharashkin and his wonderful wife Ira

Kate Fite - Western Watersheds - THE ONLY Environmental Group that was interested in pinyon forests when we were facing 120,000 acre conversion in Ely

Those BLM and USFS folks who supported us from behind the curtain -especially those who took the time to share historical prespective of fuels reduction and pinyon. You have been some of my best teachers.

The Pinyon Juniper Partnership,which created a focal point this energy and the opportunity to  bring forward a new paradigm.  The shift has happened, albeit it might still take a couple of years for policy to catch up-it will.

I picked up the phone, to hear a well known voice in the forest products industry say, "Dr. Leo hit it out of the park. He advanced the cause of pinyon and Special Forest Products by decades." I collected myself - not because I could not see this happening - I very much believed in Dr. Sharashkin's tools to transform perception.   Rather - I collected myself to savor - a moment I had waited for a very long time - the time when people championed the pinyon trees.  Leo had introduced a tree they had never seen,  turning  that shrub, that invaisive woodland,into smells, tastes, laughter and delight - food for imagination.   Dr. Leo opened the door to pinyon forest on May 1, 2012 and  a door they came charging through envisioning every tree differently than a hour before.  The way people know the pinon forest had changed forever. 

 It was a  program. May 1, 2012 entitled,  American Pine Nuts:  The Unnoticed TreasureAnd Its 100 Uses   
Leo had been sending me updates from the Smallwood conference and honestly, I hung on the edge of my seat for 24 hours. I danced and lent my energy to the vision we shared, using tools well described in the book, The Power of Luck.  Simple wisdom isn't hard to see, just to express.  May day has so much to offer in rejoicing spirits, of course - there was a wind to our back, Pure Spirit.

 The Power of Luck, which Leo used to help transform the way people see 55 million acres of Southwest Desert Pinyon Forest. It is a powerful testimonial - offered in these words..Happy, Floralia!