Harvesters plied the land everywhere from Colorado to Wisconsin as we traveled back from New Mexico.

The farmer who rents our land started his harvest on October 19th. Production was good despite a dry summer.

While Lyle was in the field, Michael harvested our rutabagas. They got big while we were gone.

We gleaned about a 5 gallon bucket full of pods in an hour and a half. Lyle efficiently stripped the field, but missed a stray row here and there while working in the dark.

Shelling the beans takes time but is oddly satisfying.

We soaked 2 cups of beans in well water overnight. They go from looking like peas to regular bean shape.

I added a cup and a half of water to a cup of drained beans and then blended into a slurry. 2 cups dry beans grew into 3 and a half cups after soaking.

I recruited my friend Marcie to stir the slurry for half an hour so it didn’t scorch or boil over. Strong work!

After boiling, we strained the slurry through cheese cloth. I used my silicone gloves to wring as much of the soy milk out of the okara (bean solids).

The milk went back into a clean pot and brought back to a simmer. Then I mixed a teaspoon of nigari (magnesium salts) into a cup of warm water and barely stirred it into the hot milk.

Half an hour later we spooned the soy curds into a lined tofu form and put a weight on top. Marcie needed to go home and do chores, so I gave her half the tofu block before I took a photo! It was sweeter than commercial tofu; possibly due to the summer drought.

I made croquettes with the okara using green onions (they sprouted again after the rain!) and carrots from the garden. Sweet Thai chili sauce gave them a lovely zing. This was a lot of work, and there was much more okara than tofu at the end of the day. Okara feels and behaves a lot like ricotta. I may need to experiment with substituting one for the other.