Step 1: Cut it & Bind it into Shocks. First, the oats are cut with a "reaper binder." It ties a bundle of oats together into what's called a shock (featured on the right). Next, a group of farmers go through the field and arrange the shocks into a pyramid shape. They take the last one and fan it out to make a "cap." The cap protects the shocks below from rain.

Depending on the weather and the crop, oats may sit for up to 3 weeks before threshing. Wheat might only be a week or two. Both are dependent on hot, dry weather.

After the oats have cured in the field, it's time for all the neighbors in the "threshing ring" to gather. The threshing ring is just a group of neighboring farmers who all share in each other's work and share a common piece of equipment. In this case, they all care for a common machine - the thresher. It's an antique and quite a delicate piece of equipment.

The men go from farm to farm on different days and help with the thrashing. For example, my neighbor has about 6 acres of oats. He'll have about 8 to 10 men helping bring the shocks in from the field.

The threshing machine uses heavy paddles to knock the seeds from the seed head. The straw is sent through a chopper with a fan below it. The seeds fall down through the air while the straw is blown up and out of the machine.

A conveyor belt brings the oats out the back and dumps them into a wagon. To the right you'll find a photo of the finished product.

Once complete, an acre of oats might yield 40 to 50 bushels of seed.

It's funny to think this way, but a horse isn't too much different than a tractor. The harder I work the tractor, the more fuel it takes. Same goes for a working horse.

Farmers using Belgians and Percheron draft horses for work need to feed more oats than the occasional for for buggy transportation.

The big draft horses usually weigh in over 2,000 pounds each. In fact, this past weekend was an event called "Horse Progress Days." The center attraction - a 3,700 pound Belgian draft horse. These horses are very powerful, but they also have the diet to match.

During working times, a scoop in the morning and a scoop in the evening will satisfy a big draft horse, in addition to quality hay. A standard half gallon feed scoop of oats is about 4 lbs. So the big horses will easily consume 40 to 50 pounds of oats per week, meaning over 1 ton per year!

With a bushel of oats weighing in at 32 pounds, you can see where 50 bushel per acre means that you can hardly feed 1 horse per acre of oats!

Some projects get put on the backburner and this was one of them. Last fall we took a blend of hot peppers - cayenne + habanero + jalapeno - and created a mash. It's been fermenting for a few months and once the ferment was complete, we blended it with cider vinegar, brown sugar, and salt for a delicious spicy pepper paste.

I've had this on everything this week from eggs to potatoes in the morning and with a pork chop for dinner. I like spicy foods and this has a nice balance of heat & flavor (not too overpowering, but a nice kick of heat).

Keep in the refrigerator -- this is a fermented product that needs to be stored in the refrigerator.

Find this product in the "Canned Goods" category in the online shop.

One simple trick to being a good Fresh Forker is to cook your beans immediately. Properly prepared dried beans require patience. But when done correctly, they are versatile, healthy, and delicious.

Here are the basics ingredients:

Required: beans and water

Optional: celery, onion, carrot, and bay leaves, or veggie stock

The bare bones basic approach is:

1) Sort through the beans and remove any broken ones or debris.

2) Rinse the beans.

3) Soak the beans overnight in cold water in the refrigerator.

4) Drain the beans and place in a stockpot. Cover with water by at least an inch. Bring to a simmer and let them very gently boil until tender, maybe 3 hours or more.

For full bean cooking details, see Chef Parker's PHD in Bean Cookery here.

While I don't have an Instapot, it is similar to a pressure cooker. At home, I simply put my soaked beans into the pressure cooker with carrots, onion, celery, and a tablespoon of oil. The oil is supposed to help control foam ups.

I cover the beans with about an inch of water and put the lid on the pressure cooker.

I bring the pressure cooker up to temp over medium high heat until it starts whistling. I then reduce the heat to medium to maintain the steam and set a timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, simply turn off the heat and wait until the pressure has reduced and take off the lid. This takes about a half hour or so.

The beans are usually done just right every time.

Once you have cooked the whole package, portion them out and freeze immediately in smaller portions. Now you have beans that can be pulled from the freezer for dinner and thawed quickly in boiling water.

For more recipes, visit our archive at https://freshforkmarket.com/recipes/