For Better or Worsted

The "S" Word

2011-11-15T12:33:00.001-08:00

Around here there's a four-letter word beginning with S that sends everyone into a tizzy. No, it's not that word. It's S-N-O-W.

People from east of the mountains laugh at news stories of western Washingtoners slipping  and sliding our way around our streets. But we actually have cause for panic. Snow events are relatively rare around here, so even though most of the state's population is on this side of the mountains, most of the equipment to deal with snow is on that side of the mountains. For example, Yakima County has 32 plows in the unincorporated county servicing a population of around 89,000. Where I live, there are 33 snow plows serving a population of over 300,000.  So as you see, we don't get much coverage when it does snow.

So I find the best thing to do is watch the weather reports, and stock up on supplies to get us through until the snow melts.  Which is what I'll be doing this week, as there's a threat of snow on Friday and Saturday.  Mr. E claims that the "S-word" must be threatened three times before it actually does snow. Personally, I'm not taking any chances. If I'm ready, it doesn't snow, if I'm not, it does.

You see, it's not that I can't drive in the snow, it's that there are so many idiots in huge trucks where I live that think that 4WD means go 50 in a 35 zone on a steep hill.  I like my car, and I don't want (another) idiot totalling it. So I'll stay home, thank you, and do my running around on Thursday.

2011-11-10T14:01:00.001-08:00

The weather is gorgeous right now. It's about 60 degrees and sunny, crystal blue skies. It's days like this that make me absolutely love fall.

Today I'm wrangling Thing 2 into helping me bring in the rest of the apples. I took a turn around the garden just now, to see what's left to harvest. It looks like a deer ate a bunch of my carrots, based on the hoof prints in the carrot bed. There are quite a few holes where the carrots should be. There are beets that need to be harvested/eaten. I need to find some recipes to use them up creatively, since my family seems to have an aversion to beets. Not that they've had them that much, and when they're snuck into something, like a salad, they say "Mmm. What's this stuff?" Anyway, the good apples need to come in, the bad ones composted. I should've done it sooner, since we had this good stretch of weather, and it would've been best to get a fall coat of fungicide on the trees. Well, I'll be ready for the next day of dry weather.

Other things in the garden include scallions. They'll survive the winter, and it's nice to not have to pay a buck every time I want a few scallions in something. I also have some parsnips. They didn't really get going until the fall rains came. I'm not sure if that's because they were too close to the apple tree, or if that's just how they grow. Next time we have beef stew, one will get tossed in the pot. The fall planting of spinach was a disaster. It just didn't grow.

I'm going to get a soil test done early next year. Frankly, I'm tired of things not growing, so it's time to figure out what's going on.

Cleaning House

2011-11-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

I know that spring is the traditional time for cleaning your house, and in the days of heating with fireplaces and coal, it made a lot of sense. The amount of dust made by our wood stove is enough to drive me nuts, and it's not running all the time. By the time spring arrived, I'll bet the interior of the house was in need of a major wash.

These days, with central heating and vacuum cleaners, I find that our house rather needs a cleaning in the fall. During the spring and summer, I'm too busy outside in the garden to bother much with keeping the house super clean. With the kids back in school, and the hectic end-of-summer racing around over, it's time to clean up and clear out. Friends are more likely to want to be inside, rather than out on the patio, so it's time to get the dustcloths out!

The other day I cleaned out our big freezer. Boy did it need it. I tried to do a minor cleaning out of old food a few months earlier when my in-laws freezer died, and they brought some stuff to keep in my freezer. But this time I really got down the the bottom of the shelves, finding really old blueberries, and beef stew meat with freezer burn. I used to try to use an inventory list, but inevitably I couldn't find that last package of hamburger.

I'm doing better, I think, to simply keep things in designated spots. The top shelf, for instance has blueberries, bread and cheese. I will not put these items on any other shelf, and since they stack nicely, it's easy to see how much I have left. Other things don't stack nicely, like big bags of chicken breasts, but I find that they will stand up on their side on the bottom shelf. Then it's more like books on a library shelf.

I'm also not stocking too much of anything anymore. If it's more than a couple of months' worth, it'll either get lost, or have yukky freezer burn (if it's meat). DH swears the taste of chicken is off fairly quickly, so I'm not buying too much of that at a time.

How do you keep your frozen food in rotation? Do you prefer spring or fall cleaning? Or somewhere in between?

Baking season

2011-11-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

I tend to think of seasons in terms of food. There's soup season, salad season, apple season, strawberry season. Right now it's baking season. After not using the oven much all summer, I'm ready to make breads, pies, cakes, cookies, and roast meats and veggies. After a stormy week, I was in need for a little sunshine in the form of coconut macaroons. Mmmmm. I'm not quite into holiday cookie and gingerbread season, but I'm getting there.

Oh, last night hubby and I went out to Brouwer's, and I had the yummiest hard cider - Ace Pumpkin Cider. It doesn't taste like pumpkin, more like a mulled sweet cider, with a hint of fizz. I wish I could find some bottled somewhere.... Looks like it was hugely popular, and they're planning on making lots more next year. That's a good thing! Someday I'd like to try homebrew hard cider. We certainly have enough apples for it.

What's your favorite food season?

2011-11-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

I came across this recipe at a grocery store. It was really yummy, although the original recipe was a bit spicy for my family (and we really like spicy food). I think the key is to adjust the amount of red pepper flakes to taste, because the amount of heat in curry powder can vary wildly. I have very hot curry powder, so the combination of it and 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes was too much. I'm giving the amount here as half that.

Curried Winter Squash with Apples

2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups winter squash, peeled and cubed
1-1/2 cups diced onion
1 baking apple (Granny Smith, Johnagold, etc.)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter

Mix together curry powder, salt and red pepper flakes in a large bowl. Mix in squash, onion, apple and olive oil. Pour into a large shallow baking dish. Roast at 375F for 40 minutes. Mix in butter, and roast 5 minutes more.

Cold

2011-11-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

Our first frost arrived yesterday morning. It was a couple of weeks late this year and was very light. Oftentimes it's in the mid 20s during trick-or-treating, but we barely managed 30 this time around. Tonight colder weather is supposed to move in, dropping the snow levels in the mountains, and "winter" will settle in.

For fun, I'll check the DOT cameras for the weather in the mountains. What's the snow level like? Is it at Stevens Pass (4000 ft) level? Snoqualmie (3000 ft)? Or below that? I also can tell based on where the snow line is on the mountains out east how low the snow level is, once it's below 3000 feet. Or, checking the Doppler radar with snow or rain/snow mix color enhancement is fun, too. Hi, my name is Kristi, and I'm a weather geek. It's been 45 minutes since my last weather fix.

I cleaned out the furnace filters as I do the first of every month. I hope for a warmish day because I have to run them through the dishwasher, and of course the furnace isn't on during that time. Last December our furnace gave out completely. We took advantage of the tax credit and had a high-efficiency model installed. I find it interesting that our gas usage hasn't dropped a bit, considering that our old model was only 80% efficient. I need to have it tuned up in December, so I think I'm going to ask some pointed questions when they show up.

Tonight we're having Buttermilk Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, and curried apples and squash for dinner. Comfort food for a cold day. DH is going to stand in the rain at the soccer game, and I'll bet he'll be chilled and soaked through when he comes home tonight. He might opt for leftover Gulaschsuppe (goulash soup) instead. Both heat up well.

I'm conserving wood for our stove right now. I haven't found a source for firewood yet this year. I need to hurry up, because we only have enough for a couple of weeks, less if the power's out.

How do you stay warm?

2011-11-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been just about a year since I last posted to this blog. I've truly missed writing. It's one of those things that I need to schedule into my day (along with everything else). So what's new? Well, I've had a few successes, some failures, some plans come to fruition, and others that were hopelessly overoptimistic. So, the usual, I guess.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 grew like weeds this last year. I purchased the first "men's department" clothing for Thing 2 the other day. I think Thing 1 is mostly done growing. At almost 6'3", I certainly hope he is, because otherwise finding clothes will be even more tricky than it already is. Jeans in 31-34s? How about a dress shirt for 15-37? You get the idea. We don't need "Big and Tall", we need "Scrawny and Tall".

I am currently making Thing 1 a nice, it-better-last-you-for-ten-years-so-you-better-take-care-of-it sweater. I actually had it finished, or so I thought, but the sleeves were too tight once I sewed it up. The pattern was a bottom-up body, but top-down sleeves, and it just didn't fit right. So I frogged the sleeves, and am reknitting them bottom up. I have one done, and about six inches (of 23) on the other finished. The sleeves should attach to the sweater better as well. The odd thing is, I made the same pattern in a smaller size for him several years ago, and it worked out fine. Strange.

I didn't weigh out all of the produce from our house this year. Spring was extremely cold and wet, and I was so disappointed by June, that I just didn't bother. There simply wasn't much to harvest. The mice got into the few potatoes and carrots that I had, and the early beets, spinach, and lettuce simply didn't grow. The rabbits totalled the peas. With the exception of the cherry tomatoes, which were a full month late to harvest, I had maybe a half dozen tomatoes off of a dozen plants. Talk about dismay. I managed one butternut squash from my plants, and some small oddly-shaped acorn squash. Strangely enough, the cucumbers did relatively well, and I pickled many quarts.

I did manage to can several quarts of applesauce. Enough to get the family through the winter and into strawberry season, I hope. I also purchased two boxes of peaches, and canned those as well. 22 quarts should hopefully be enough. I was hoping to buy a couple boxes of pears as well, but didn't see any at the time. Nor was I smart enough to buy out the only guy I found that sold pie cherries this year. I did make lots of strawberry jam and some pizza sauce, though again from purchased fruit, and I'm now trying my hand at making mustard.

I'm still making my own sandwich bread, and occasionally fresh pasta and spaetzle. I found a new to-die-for recipe for an apple batter cake, and an easy BBQ pork sandwich recipe that I'll share soon. It's a good thing the rabbits have disappeared, because I was seriously thinking hasenpfeffer might be on our table this fall.

I guess that's it for today. Back soon to add more.

Warm Weather

2010-11-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

You know the weather's whacky when it's November and you are washing the car in a short sleeve T-shirt.

It's actually been warmer the last two days (72 today, 75 yesterday) than it was during many days this summer. I'm trying to get in as much yard work as possible right now....

Drying Bay Leaves

2010-10-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Bay leaves are the one herb that I harvest in October. All other herbs are at their peak in May or June, and sometimes I'll take a second cutting, but no later than August.

Bay leaves, on the other hand, are best taken in the fall. It gives the plant all summer to size up its leaves. Otherwise, the small new leaves curl up while drying, and are fairly tasteless.

Yesterday was pleasant - it wasn't raining at least - so I clipped a few branches on our monster bay tree. I washed off some scale insects that were clinging to a few leaves, and hung them in the kitchen to dry. They take a while to dry nicely, but not as long as basil. I don't bother trying to keep the leaves perfectly flat. They don't curl up that badly, and once dry, I either keep them in a glass jar, or generally, just leave them hanging in my kitchen, waiting for me to pluck a leaf for soup. The color of the stuff you buy at the store looks like mine after they've been dead for a year. Hmmm. Makes you wonder how long the store-bought have been around.

I've had an interesting time growing bay leaves (Laurus nobilis). Many years ago, a friend had a small tree that she gave to me to keep while they moved from a house into an apartment. A year later, the tree moved with us to our new home, and I planted it on the south side of our house. It's partially shaded, which seems to give it a compact, brached habit.

When we put the herb garden in, I planted two more trees thinking that my friend would be moving into a house again soon. These trees, planted in full sun, grew very fast, reaching eight feet tall in just a few years. The branches were long, and perfect for making wreaths. What a pretty way to display my bay leaves! I rank it right up there with garlic braids. My friend's tree also grew quite tall, and when they finally moved into a house, the tree was twelve feet tall! There was no way we could move it, so I guess it's mine now. It's now about 20 feet tall. Did I say it had a compact habit?

Unfortunately, a few years ago we had an extremely cold winter. Every so often we get a cold blast out of Canada. It hit zero degrees here with a brisk north wind. The two newer plants weren't protected from the wind, and didn't have the house to keep them warm. Both trees died. My friend's tree, although cold-damaged, survived. The next years' growth was stunted, but it's come back quite well.

So, the bay leaves are drying away to add flavor to another winter's worth of soups. Based on the amount of time they're warning us about the winter we're supposed to have, it's probably a good thing I'm drying lots.

Planting Garlic

2010-09-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

I took advantage of the warm (77!), sunny day and planted my garlic. Since it's supposed to be a cold winter, and the rest of September seemed like October, it was probably a good time to plant.

While researching garlic bulb spacing, I ran across this site by Colorado State University which shows a study on bulb spacing and irrigation. They say that six-inch bulb spacing is the way to go, rather than the three-to-four inch spacing that I've been using. While I've been getting okay bulbs, I'd prefer larger ones.

So I spaced the bulbs six inches apart in "rows" eight inches apart across my four-foot beds. I had Thing 2 help set the bulbs, only having to rescue a few that were upside-down.

I spent a good portion of the day weeding out one of the herb beds and cleaning up around the front of the house. Mr. E trimmed a tree and sheared the hedges, so our house looks a little more cared-for. He also cut me some muchly needed kindling. Tomorrow is supposed to be cool and wet, and I think a fire in the wood stove would be nice.

Thing 2 and I looked to see if the squirrels left us any filberts from our tree. Usually there are quite a few left on the ground for us. This year, however, I couldn't find a single one. Not one! It makes me wonder if this is a sign of the kind of winter we're going to be having....

First Day of Fall

2010-09-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

The first day of fall 2010 finds me in the kitchen. It's a dreary day, drizzle with a high of only 55 degrees here. I had to turn the heat on, or face a very grumpy Thing 2. Even with the heat on, he's cold. "Put a sweatshirt on," I say, and hear a grumble in response. I wish we could have at least had a warm fall to make up for our lackluster summer.

I'm in the process of preserving as much as possible right now. I have about 60 pounds of apples to deal with at the moment. I haven't even had the time to weigh them all, and so have only been doing it as I use them.

Today I dried about eight pounds of apples. Eight pounds fills my dehydrator trays, which in turn fill one one-gallon ziploc bag once dry. I dried another eight pounds a couple of days ago, and will do another two or more batches this week. Thing 2 loves to have them in oatmeal, and prefers eating dried apples to fresh.

I peel, core and slice them on my contraption that's used for such purposes. It takes under an hour to fill the trays, and another six hours before they're dry. Then, into a ziploc they go, as much air squeezed out as possible, and they stay in pretty good shape for months in the pantry.

I was going to order Clear Jel from Amazon, but they were sold out already, and I have no clue where to find it around here. I wish I had some to can apple pie filling. If anyone in the Seattle area knows of a place that carries it, let me know! I'm thinking applesauce this weekend at any rate.

Pantry Shelves

2010-09-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

The problem with canning my own produce is that I wind up with a lot of it. I want that strawberry jam to last a year, so I put up several half-pint jars. And then there's chutneys, apple butter, apple pear butter, pickle relish, and mint jelly. And also many quarts of applesauce, peaches and pears. By September and October, by pantry is getting nice and full. The shelves are all loaded with summer's bounty.

Yesterday, while in the kitchen, I heard a strange popping sound. Just one loud "pop" followed by another several hours later. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. At one point I looked at our wall-mounted pantry shelves, and although they didn't look quite right, I couldn't see anything really wrong with them. I did think "I really need to re-adjust the shelves and get nicer brackets." I guess the pantry agreed with me.

While I was picking up Thing 1 from soccer last evening, the whole set of shelves ripped itself from the wall anchors and crashed to the floor.

Amazingly, only one jar of mint jelly broke. But you can imagine the state of my kitchen right now, as I have all the stuff from over 50 square feet of shelving strewn about the kitchen and dining room. I guess I really did need to clean it out. I just wasn't planning on doing it RIGHT NOW.

Palm Zipper

2010-09-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

I picked up the Palm Zipper by Chef'n in a kitchen store in Ashland, Oregon this summer. Thing 1 just got his braces on, and would not be able to eat corn on the cob for the next two years. (What? No sweet corn? Inconceivable!) And after he's done with braces, Thing 2 will be in the same boat.

I've tried using various methods to get corn off the cob so I could freeze it. I've used the corn cutter that looks like a giant bobby pin with a circle of steel in the middle of it - the cobs never really fit correctly, especially the really fat ones. I've tried cutting it off the cob with a knife, which results in lots of half-kernals, kernals with the tops sliced off, etc. Not to mention the fact that I always feel like one of my fingers is in danger of getting sliced. I needed something better.

So last night I tried the Palm Zipper for the first time (yeah, the corn is that late this year). Woo-hoo! I love it! The thing is wicked sharp. It slices through the corn like a hot knife through butter. Given my history with sharp objects, I didn't hold the ear in the palm of my hand, but set one end on a plate, and held it upright with a corn holder on the other end. Zip zip zip. It only takes off two rows at a time, and could maybe be a little bit deeper, but full kernals came right off the cob with very little waste. I also like the fact that it's nice and small - no big mandolin-style set-up. It's a keeper in my book.

Back Again

2010-08-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone! I'm still alive. Spring was hectic, and summer even worse. Now that things have calmed down, I finally have the time and energy to write.

The garden was a major disappointment this year. The spring was too cold and wet, the summer was cloudy except for a couple of spurts of hot weather (when we were on vacation, no less). I didn't put Kozy-Koates on my tomatoes, so the first ones are just now getting ripe. The strawberries are still a mass of weeds. Half of the things I wanted to plant, didn't get in the ground.

The cabbages that I started under lights early this year bolted, as did the broccoli. The lettuce nearly died when I transplanted it. The lettuce that self-sowed did much better overall. The cherries had a late frost, so I didn't get any. Even my apple trees are not doing so well, many having succumbed to a fungus.

Now the weather powers-that-be say that we're in for a La Nina winter, which means that nothing will overwinter here without serious protection. September is supposed to be way colder than normal, and October wetter than normal (read "floods"). It's supposed to rain at the end of the week, so I'm going to put something over the tomatoes to help keep them warm and dry (so they don't get late blight).

In lieu of garden fruit and veggies, I've been trying to find u-pick and local food. The boys and I picked 14 pounds of blueberries and several pounds of raspberries. I bought 20 pounds of peaches at a farmer's market and canned several quarts. I'll make a trip down in the valley for pickling cukes, corn to freeze, and whatever other veggies I can find.

I'll still get another batch of lettuce, spinach, radishes and scallions planted for the year, and maybe some arugula and mache. I'm not hoping for anything beyond that, though. I'll be stocking up on supplies this year as La Nina has lately meant two weeks of snow, or I can't get across the valley to the grocery store due to flooded roads. I've already started stocking up on my son's medications, canned tomatoes and beans, although an inventory is probably in order.

Hmm. Nice to core-dump. Back with more (accomplishments this time) soon.

April Can Jam - Mint Jelly

2010-04-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

April's Can Jam was herbs, and since the only herbs really going here are the chives and mint (and what the heck can you can with chives in it?), I needed to find something to do with mint. Besides mojitos. Which is normally what I make with my mint, in my Mexican pot, called "the Mojito Pot". And even though I was totally aghast at using up all my mint, and had to find more at the store (but, hey! I managed to find organic AND local (like 13.3 miles local!) mint) all I can say is:

Mmmm. Ymmmm. Smack, smack. Mmmm.

I just pulled my first (and it will not be my last!) batch of mint jelly out of the canner. I have never tasted anything like it! I'm totally blissing out here.

Mmmm. Golden jars of minty goodness.

The recipe, from Ball Complete book of Home Preserving

Mint Jelly (makes 4 half-pints)

1-1/2 cups fresh mint leaves, packed
2-1/4 Cups water
2 T lemon juice
3-1/2 Cups sugar
One packet liquid pectin

Prepare jars, canner, and lids. Wash, dry, and chop the mint fine.

Combine mint and water in a small saucepan. Bring to boil. Turn off heat and cover, letting it steep for 10 minutes. Strain through a jelly bag.

In a large saucepan, mix 1-3/4 Cup minty liquid with lemon juice and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. When boiling so hard, you can't stir it down, add pectin and boil hard one minute. Remove from heat.

Skim scum, pour into jars leaving 1/4" headspace, process 10 minutes.

Out Sick

2010-03-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I've been sick all week, so unfortunately, no alliums canned, jammed, or otherwise preserved. Next month, for sure! I'm wondering if the food-of-the-month for April will be rhubarb?

I managed a short stroll around the garden today. You can almost feel the energy in the fruit trees, pent up all winter, ready to burst into blossom. Many will probably erupt late next week.

Today is gorgeous, tomorrow is supposed to be near 70 degrees, then back to our normal 50s and showery. And back to bed for me.

Everything's Sprouting!

2010-03-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a busy one in the garden. We had one last warm weekend before the weather turned last night to what is to be normal or below-normal temperatures this week. Good for the lean snowpack in the mountains that gives most of our area its' fresh water, but not so hot for puttering around the yard.

The cabbages and onions that I started in February went out into their final places this weekend. Ten Golden Acre cabbages in the two or three leaf stage went into one bed, while twenty row feet (five rows across a four-foot wide bed) of tiny onions went into another. I could've waited until April to put out the onions, but I'm so forgetful about turning off the lights at night indoors, that I'm afraid that they're going to get too long of a daylength and bulb up too early. So they went outside in their little cell-packs pretty early, and since they seemed to be happy like that, I figured that planting them now would be okay, too.

Most of the seeds I started are up now. Only the peppers and Oregon Cherry tomato have yet to show. I've never grown peppers before, so I'm not sure how long they take, and the Oregon Cherry was slow last year, so I'm not surprised that they're not up yet. The lights in the garage are pretty full, and I'll need to move the broccoli outside fairly soon to make room for the rest.

The peas I planted outside February 20th are starting to poke their heads above the soil. I don't expect them to go much further until after the weather warms back up after this week. The 6-10 day and 8-14 day forecasts show above normal temperatures, so this cold period looks to be pretty brief. Hopefully the radishes and lettuces that I sowed outdoors will finally make an appearance....

In good news, my new computer will finally get here on Wednesday. This will be the last Dell computer we ever buy. The customer service and delays are not acceptable. I won't go into more, or my blood pressure will go through the roof again. At least I'll be able to post photos again soon!

Planting Catch-Up

2010-03-01T20:47:00.001-08:00

I am by nature a list-maker. I make lists for shopping, daily to-do lists, yearly to-do lists, lists of seeds, lists of chores, lists of gardening tasks - you get the picture.

And one thing I do every year to ensure that I succession plant, is to make a list of what I want to plant when in the veggie garden. I've made elaborate ones based on "planting by the moon", and simple plant-something-once-a-month timetables. Invariably, I fall behind. Sometimes it's weather related, sometimes a vacation is scheduled right at the time I want to get something in the ground. Mostly it's because I'm better at planning than execution.

Over the last two days, I managed to get caught up. Yesterday I planted my tomatoes and basil in small pots for starting indoors, and potted up the cabbages. Today I added broccoli and sweet peppers to the pots germinating on top of the fridge. Outside, I sowed some lettuce and radish since the soil temperature is 45 degrees. I also transplanted my lettuce sown in January, and also a number of volunteer lettuces. Frankly, the volunteers looked in better shape, if a little bit smaller than the lettuce that got to live its early days in my garage.

I'm now off the hook for a couple of weeks as far as planting seeds goes. I'll just be dealing with the huge numbers of tomatoes, broccoli, basil and peppers once they emerge.

The weather looks to be warm and relatively dry the next couple of weeks, so I'll need to get going on the strawberry and herb beds. The purple flowering plums are in full bloom already, and the pears won't be far behind.

Peas Planted

2010-02-21T10:23:00.000-08:00

Unlike most of the nation, the weather here has been exceptionally fine. I finally got the last of the veggie beds cleared of winter weeds yesterday, and in digging around in the dirt, I realized that the soil was warm and not soggy.

What the hey? Warm soil in February? Even though we had frost last night, we've had sunny days, almost 60 degree weather, and most importantly, no rain for quite a while. So the soil was dry enough and warm enough to plant. And although I'm not thinking tomatoes or even lettuce just yet, it's fine pea-planting weather.

So yesterday I scratched a 24 foot double row for the peas, scratched bone meal in the bottom of the furrows, and planted my Maestro seeds. Then I tamped it down, and an amazing thing happened - I actually put up the pea fence! I NEVER do it at planting time and I ALWAYS get it in too late and wind up damaging the poor peas, or try to rig up some other system that never works. Woo-hoo for me!

Now, lettuces can be planted quite early, and I actually have a gazillion volunteers where the lettuce was last year, so I know it's warm enough for germination. However, they're not exactly growing speedily, despite the warm weather. I think there's just not enough daylight for growth yet, which makes them susceptible to slugs right now. Maybe next week when I plant out the lettuce I started indoors, I'll try a little trial sowing of lettuce outdoors. If the weather holds.

Tigress' Can Jam - Carrots in February

2010-02-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

So here it is, February, and the Can Jam Challenge has thrown carrots at us this month. So the decision I faced was "sweet or pickled?" Looking into my pantry, I saw a gazillion jars of sweets, and only one jar of pickles. AND I'll be making more sweets (strawberry jam) before I'll make more pickle (cucumbers). First decision made - it was going to be pickled.

Pouring over all my recipe books, I discovered that most of the recipes for pickled carrots also had other veggies that certainly aren't in season right now, especially cauliflower and cucumbers. So what was a person to do?

Then I came across a recipe for pickled carrots and daikon radish. Hey! we're on to something here! Asiany flavor and colorful, it's just what we need. So, from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving,

Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickle

3 C water
3 C white vinegar
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp grated gingerroot
2 lbs carrots, julienned 2 in x 1/8 in *
2 lbs daikon radish, julienned 2 in x 1/8 in

Recipe says it makes 6 pints, mine made 7 pints

In a large non-reactive pot (at least 4.5 qts, I think), combine water, vinegar, sugar, and gingerroot. Bring to a boil. Add the veggies and stir for a minute. Remove from heat.

At this point, if you want to, you can add a star anise to your jars. Very pretty, but since I'd rather lick my shoes rather than taste anything even remotely licorice-y, I left it out.

Fill hot PINT jars with veggies up to a generous 1/2 inch headspace, fill with pickle liquid up to 1/2 inch headspace, remove air bubbles, wipe rims, put lid on, screwbands on, the ususal deal.

Process in boiling water for 10 minutes, remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes before removing from canner.

* Warning: julienning this many carrots took me almost an hour. The daikon went fast, but the carrots took forever. The book recommends using a mandoline, but after almost taking off a chunk of my thumb last year with one, I wasn't about to use it for such fine work. Also, they say that you can go up to 1/4 inch on the size of the carrots, but I think that's way too big.

It'll take 4-6 weeks for the veggies to pickle. Then I'll serve them with stir-fries and Thai food. If the pre-pickled tasting is anything to go by, these are going to be incredible!

I will post a photo when I get my new computer (which has now been pushed back to March 1. Thanks, Dell.) because you really need to see the bright, cheery color and stark contrast of the carrots and daikon.

Why So Quiet?

2010-02-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

Why has it been so quiet on the blog? My computer crashed again, this time fatally. As it was about eight years old, I guess it was time for a new one. So the only computer I currently have access to is Thing 1's, and he doesn't like giving it up for long. I've been able to check my email, and that's about it. My new one arrives the 24th, so until then, it'll be pretty quiet around here.

I just picked up some carrots and daikon for the Can Jam, and will be posting that soon, albeit without photos. Lettuce, cabbage, onions all started and under lights. Well, the onions aren't under lights - they have yet to emerge so are still sitting on top of the refrigerator. Almost finished with clearing out the last veggie bed. This is a good thing as the shotweed is starting to flower. It's been so warm, I keep considering planting the peas. Then I remember a saying (no idea where I heard it) that goes something like "There is nothing more I fear than a farmer in shirtsleeves in Februeer," which reminds me that we can get frigid blasts in late February and early March.

Last night we had yummy Penn Cove mussels for dinner, and all the shells will be crushed and used for slow-release calcium in the veggie beds. I used a first cutting of chives on the mussels - such a harbinger of spring! Thing 2, who loves chives on his potatoes, was very excited to see me bring some in from the herb garden.

On the things-to-do-this-week list: Bloodmeal on the garlic and chives, finish weeding the veggie beds and clean out the strawberry bed, start more lettuce indoors, carrot and daikon pickle, try and get to the perennial bed out front.

Warm January

2010-01-20T11:02:00.000-08:00

What a difference El Nino makes! This date last year we had a high of about 43 degrees, right now it's sunny and already over 50 degrees!

In fact the weather has been so good this January, I've been able to get half of my veggie beds cleared of weeds already. And the weather reports indicate that I'll be able to finish the job this week. Usually, we'll have a good week in February, when I'll try to get it all done before the shot-weed flowers. I'll put in hours a day, and my back and arms will ache for a week. This year, hopefully I'll get all the beds weeded out before shot weed becomes an issue. The extended run of sun (or at least warm, dry weather) is allowing me to tackle the job in small increments, a half hour or hour a day.

I've also been able to get some exercise in. Last year's Bloomsday made me realize that I'm too old and out of shape to try and do it cold. So I started at the beginning of the month walking 15 minutes a day, and added 10% each week. If I keep it up, I'll be doing about an hour a day two weeks before Bloomsday.

Why am I starting with only 15 minutes? Last year I really wasn't all that well, and I've come to realize that I'm in really lousy shape. If I try to do 30 minutes right off the bat, it's too much, body parts start to hurt and I quit after a couple of weeks. So right now I'm establishing a habit. I told myself that anyone can walk for 15 minutes, it won't totally kill me or use up so much time during the day. Now I'm up to 18 minutes, and will do 20 minutes starting Friday.

So far, so good. January has become the month to get my self and my veggie garden in shape.

Tigress' Can Jam - Jamuary

2010-01-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

Yea! I completed my first Can Jam!

January's produce-of-the-month was citrus. Any citrus. I've never canned citrus before, and wasn't certain what to make. I've always loved the taste of marmalade, but added a little twist, adding dried chilis for some kick. I thought pouring it over some goat or cream cheese would make a great snack or appetizer, and I love the idea of being able to whip out some marmalade and crackers from the pantry, cheese from the fridge, and voila, aren't I the good hostess?

I used a recipe from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, Orange Chili Marmalade.

Orange Chili Marmalade

2-1/4 lbs oranges, seeded and thinly sliced*
grated zest and juice of one lemon
6 cups water
6 dried New Mexico chili peppers
9 cups granulated sugar

Bring to a boil over high heat, oranges, lemon juice and zest, and water. Boil gently for 40 minutes, stir occasionally. Add chili peppers, partially cover and boil gently 30 minutes**, stir occasionally. Discard peppers.

Boil over med-high heat, stirring constantly. Gradually add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, keeping it at a boil. Boil hard, stir occasionally, until gel stage, about 15-20 minutes.

Ladle into hot jars, 1/4 inch headspace. Process 10 minutes after coming to a boil in the canner. Turn off heat, remove lid and wait 5 minutes before removing from canner. Made nine half-pints.

* I sliced the oranges by hand, and the peel was really too large, even with my best effort. Next time I'll either use a food processor or mandoline to slice the oranges, and then chop the rind into smaller pieces.

** I wouldn't go over about 40 minutes here, or the peppers will fall apart, and you'll wind up with peppers in your marmalade.

As far as being local, organic, etc., citrus doesn't grow around here at all, so at minimum, my Cara Cara oranges came from over 800 miles away in California, and the lemon from further than that. Both were organic, however. My sugar came from Paraguay, organic and fair trade. I had a heck of a time finding any of the peppers listed in the original recipe (dried habeneros, Colorado or New Mexico peppers). New Mexico peppers were the only ones I could find, organic or not (they're not).

As far as taste goes, I think it needs about a month to "meld". It tastes uber sugary right now, with not a lot of orange flavor in the jam, but the peel is very orangey. I would've wished for a bit more pepper flavor, too, but maybe that'll come through as the sugary taste wanes and the orange strengthens.

The 2010 Garden Begins

2010-01-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

I sowed the first seeds of my 2010 garden today. Three varieties of lettuce: Salad Bowl, Red Sails, and Black Seeded Simpson. I simply sowed them in some potting mix in 4" pots, and put them on top of the refrigerator, covered in plastic wrap. These three lettuces make up the backbone of my lettuce crop, and always do well for me no matter the weather. I'll plant them out mid-March.

I was hoping to start onions today, too, but haven't gotten my seed order in yet. I keep waffling back and forth on a number of vegetables, and need to get my catalogs to my neighbor to see what he wants this year. I still have a little time before I need to plant the onions, but the sooner the better.

It felt good to get the garden started. Pots on my refrigerator are a great harbinger of spring.

A storm is barrelling in off the coast tonight. After a very soggy and windy day tomorrow and Tuesday, I think it's supposed to dry out for a while. Hopefully I'll have a chance then to weed out the veggie beds and do some cleanup of the front yard perennial beds.

Gifts Given

2009-12-26T21:23:00.000-08:00

I didn't want to spoil anything by showing you what I've been knitting, as they were Christmas presents. Not that the people I gave these to actually know that I have a blog, but there you are. So first up, I made my MIL a scarf using this pattern. I'm not certain about the yarn name, but it's a mohair blend.

Then I made this for my mom using Shulana pacolana, which is a wool/alpaca blend. Nice and soft, bulky weight, and knit up fast using Misti Chunky Ribs & Ruffles Scarf pattern.

And since I had leftover yarn, having bought two balls of the pacolana, I made Mom a Fidget, which I think turned out rather cute with silver buttons.

Jammin'

2009-12-22T12:44:00.000-08:00

I've been looking for a challenge to do this upcoming year. It's been tough, because this is the first challenge I'm trying, and it needed to be something that I thought I could do fairly easily, and have plenty of time to accomplish it. It needed to incorporate something I already can do somewhat, not be a total burden on my family, and be interesting enough for me to want to do it each month.

I've thought about doing Not-so Urban Hennery's Dark Days Challenge, but unless my garden is up to snuff for the winter, finding local food means driving into the city once a week, which doesn't seem like the right idea. I've thought about doing some of Crunchy Chicken's challenges, but they seem more family-oriented, and my family is already whining at me to turn up the heat when it's set to 68 degrees.

So when I saw Tigress' Can Jam, I was pretty sure that was the one for me. But I waited, and thought it over, and finally made the decision today, which was a good thing since today was the cut-off date.

So here I go! Ready for my first challenge (may it not be my last!)

Recouping

2009-11-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

I had some minor surgery on Friday (the 13th!) and sat on my derriere all weekend. Although I'm doing fine, I seem to tire out easy, so I'm taking things slowly, and doing things that I don't have to be up running around for long periods of time. So I'm catching up on the laundry, baking and pureeing my pumpkins, and the in between resting time is spent knitting a lacy scarf for someone for Xmas (three people come to mind).

I'm baking the sugar pumpkins in a 350 degree oven for an hour, as 45 minutes doesn't seem to cut it. It seems that one of my plants wasn't truly a sugar pumpkin, although from the outside it looked like it. The pumpkin flesh wasn't dark orange like the others, nor did it have the same texture or smell. So I chucked it, since I didn't like the taste of it anyway. It was almost cucumbery. yuk.

The scarf I'm making is from
http://www.knittingonthenet.com/patterns/scarflacekm.htm (sorry about that! Blogger is messing up and the link isn't showing). I'm using some leftover fuzzy white stuff (mohair?) that I was going to make my mom a moebius scarf with, but I didn't have nearly enough. I've since lost the name of the yarn. The pattern goes really quickly, and I should have it done soon. I'll post pics soon!

Stocking Up

2009-11-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

The pantry is bulging, and Mr. E is complaining. It's fall, and I'm stocking up.

Pasta seems to be at its least expensive in the fall, and as we go through quite a bit, I buy a lot (ergo Mr. E's complaint "Do we own stock in a pasta company or something?"). Fall is also a great time to buy baking ingredients and spices, as the stores have their holiday sales on. My store had spices 50% off recently, which is the only time I even THINK about buying saffron. If there's going to be a shortage of rice or flour, these recently have happened early in the year, so it's good to stock up on those now as well.

I'm not just stocking up on food, but cleaning supplies, medicine, and paper products. Cold and flu season is here (obviously) and so tissues and cold medicine are in high demand. My local shops have buy-one-get-one-free sales on cold medicine in the fall, or I buy in bulk at Costco. I hate having to make a special run to the store for medicine when I'm not feeling well. I also always keep a backup jug of laundry soap and dishwasher detergent so I never run out.

As I'm buying things, I'm looking at what I still have a lot of or never used. I'll be taking a trip to the local food pantry with a whole lot of canned corn. I haven't used it, and don't foresee using it, so it's better to donate it before its expiration date. This will free up some space, as well, and get things off the floor of the garage and onto shelving (which will make for a happier hubby, and reduce my buying duplicates because I can't find what I'm looking for.)

I also (finally) got our firewood. I'll never wait this late again. The wood, although not green, had definitely been heavily rained on, and is a pain to try and get started. Next year, I'll get it in early September at the latest. For now, I'll have to bring in a load to dry indoors for a day or two so it's start-able.

I'm still looking for kindling. The previous owners left a ton, and it took us eight years to go through it all. Now we're out, and I'm really curious where they got it from. It looks like mill ends or bits of cedar shakes. I'm keeping my eyes open for opportunities to stock up on that as well.

What to do With Apples - Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal

2009-10-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

So you gotta be thinking "What is she going to do with all those apples?" Aside from pies, crisps, and all manner of fattening desserts, I dehydrated about 1/3 of my harvest. I can still rehydrate and make pies or applesauce, but I just don't need to do it RIGHT NOW.

One of Thing 2's favorites, besides preferring dried apples to fresh ones, is Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal. Yes, you can buy it instant, but it's so much better this way:

Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup water
3 dehydrated apple rings, cut up
dash salt
dash cinnamon
pat butter

Then I put it in the microwave for 2-1/2 minutes and add a tablespoon of brown sugar. Fall comfort food.

Frost and Apples

2009-10-10T11:02:00.001-07:00

After Apple Picking

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still.
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples; I am drowsing off.
I cannot shake the shimmer from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the water-trough,
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and reappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
And I keep hearing from the cellar-bin
That rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking; I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall,
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised, or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Robert Frost

A frost was expected last night (and it came: 26.4 degrees), so the boys and I scrambled to get everything out of the garden. Thing 1 took care of all the squash and overripe cucumbers, Thing 2 stripped all the beans from the bean vines. And I set about getting all the apples off the last apple tree.

I ran across the above poem after Googling "apples" and "frost" (I wasn't sure if the apples could take any frost, and I'm still not sure), and I laughed at how appropriate it is. I realize that it's been analyzed this way and that, but I truly can see it for what it is: a poem written after carefully picking apples for hours and hours, and rather sick of it, at that.

I brought in 99 POUNDS of apples from the last tree. That was after picking 33 pounds from it already. That's more than I got from all four trees last year together! Thankfully, it's the keeper variety, so they all went into the shed until I've dealt with all the other apples in the house.

So with that, 30 pounds of squash, and 5 pounds of cukes, I have actually SURPASSED my goal of 350 pounds of food! I'm now at 404 pounds with a few carrots and beans yet to weigh. So 237 pounds was apples, but there were still 167 pounds of other fruit and veg. I'm hoping to expand on the "other" and literally "cut back" on the apples next year.

I'm definitely pruning back the apples. The trees were so overloaded, the branches were bending to the ground. We're not allowed to transport apples across county lines here because of the apple maggot. And, of course, all my friends live in another county. So here they stay unless I make goodies out of them. As for the rest, they're either in the garage (squash) or awaiting me to do something with them. I'm going to try The Victory Garden Cookbook's senfgurken recipe for the cukes, since I hate to see them going to waste.

I'm Baaaaack!

2009-10-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hey there. I'll bet you've been wondering where the heck I've been. Well, August was more than a little crazy, but fun. September was spent catching up.

We spent our yearly trip up in Canada, hanging out at a cabin next to a lake. The boys went horseback riding, and did some swimming. Unfortunately, due to the wildfire danger, we weren't allowed campfires, but we did manage a BBQ. We spend the same week up there each year, as do the other families, and it is so fun watching all the kids grow. My eldest was literally getting chased by the girls this year. I guess I don't need to worry about him yet as he's still running away. :-)

We were home for four days and then left for two weeks in France. We spent a week in Paris seeing all the sights, then drove south to Provence for a week with my in-laws. Provence is so much slower than Paris, it was a little hard adjusting. The food there was spectacular, though, and we ate our way through a lot of escargot, cheese and olives.

So, basically, my garden fell apart during the high season of August. My neighbor took care of the watering needs, but he had his own tomatoes and needed none of mine, so they rotted on the vine. The pears were ready, and he took almost all of them - there were two very ripe ones left for me. They are so yummy! So August's harvest was only about 5 lbs and a lot went to waste. Unfortunately, I didn't have my neighbor weigh what he took, so I couldn't add it to my harvest total. I'm guessing he took about 10 pounds of pears?

We came back in early September, and what a load of work I had before me! The rest of the boys' school supplies needed to be purchased, and I had trees full of apples waiting very impatiently for me. The garden was in dire need of help. So I hit the ground running, pulling out the food dehydrator and baking like crazy.

I have decided that four semi-dwarf apple trees are really too much for my family of four. At least at this time. Either that, or I need to rent a cider press. I've brought in 118 pounds of apples so far, and I still have another tree to go. AND it was one of the tree's "off" years. This last tree is a "keeper" variety, so I'll try to wrap and store the better-looking apples in the shed to see how they do. The bugs seem to dislike this tree's fruit, but unfortunately, it's not scab-resistant.

So I'm about to surpass last year's harvest total of 255 pounds. I don't think I'm going to make my goal of 350 pounds, but I probably will be within 25 pounds of it. I'm upset that I didn't get anything in for fall and winter except the garlic. I'll just need to get my rear in gear next year if I'm to make an even higher goal. What do you think? 400 pounds?

Garlic

2009-08-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

I love braiding garlic. It takes something that would otherwise look like this:

And turning it into this:

Not all garlic is braidable. My top photo is of the variety "Music," which is a hardneck garlic. The stiff shaft that runs in the center of the head makes it not conducive to braiding. The second photo is of Inchelium Red, a softneck variety. I clean the heads, chop off the roots, and lay them in the shade until the necks are pliable. Then I follow these instructions. The braids last for months without unravelling, and doesn't it look so much prettier?

Pickles in Progress

2009-08-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

I made a batch of refrigerator pickles with my first "large" harvest of cukes last Friday. I don't have a crock (yet), and I don't grow enough to merit a whole crockful of pickles (yet).

Three pounds of cukes is just enough for five pint jars of dill refrigerator pickles, though! Instead of putting the cukes in brine in a crock, you pour hot brine over the cukes in a large bowl, let them sit until they're room temp, and then put them in pint jars. The recipe, from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving said to let them sit in the fridge for two weeks. That's the hardest part of the recipe.... I tried one on Monday, and it was pretty close. Still a little salty, but the cuke was nice and crispy and full of dilly, vinegary yumminess. Can I wait until August 14th to eat them? I don't think so.

Now, what to do with the next batch of cukes....

July Harvest Tally

2009-08-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

For the month of July, here's what was taken from my garden:

11.2 lbs cherries
9.3 lbs peas
6.7 lbs hardneck garlic
5.2 lbs softneck garlic
5.2 lbs strawberries
3.9 lbs pickling cucumbers
2.6 lbs lettuce
1.5 lbs cabbage
1.6 lbs onions
1.1 lbs tomatoes
0.1 lbs basil

for a total of 48.4 lbs of food for the month. This is a little (0.6 lb) less than last year. However, last year I had planted lots of potatoes, and had brought in 25 lbs of them during the month of July. So I'm very pleased with the fact that I was able to make up for all those potatoes!

The hot weather has been responsible for the early tomatoes and cukes. Here we say that it's either a "tomato summer" or a "cabbage summer." Last year I didn't get my first tomato until August 22nd, and my first cuke on August 30! Last year was definitely a cabbage summer, and this year a tomato summer.

Looking ahead, I only brought in 30 lbs of produce during the month of August last year. It'll be interesting to see if I can beat that number, as I've been really lax replanting salad greens and getting the autumn garden going - my excuse is that it's been too hot. This week it's finally cooling down, so that excuse is out the window!

Where Have I Been?

2009-08-04T17:20:00.000-07:00

Oooh, between running kids to this camp and that, dealing with garden stuff, it's been too hot to sit at the computer, and generally being under the weather. I'll try to be better about posting.

Bountiful Berries

2009-06-24T20:07:00.001-07:00

We're having a bumper crop of strawberries this year! Already 17 pounds of strawberries picked, and we're only halfway through the June-bearing berries. The pictured berries turned into a batch of strawberry jam, and since Thing 1 and I picked 5-1/2 pounds worth today*, I'm looking at making a second batch tomorrow. I'm also thinking about drying some, freezing some, and maybe making strawberry syrup, if I can find a recipe that doesn't call for corn syrup.

*Oh, yes! The harvest tally is finally growing!

Apple Maggot Traps Up

2009-06-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today I glued the apple maggot traps. It's a sticky job, and I hate it, but darn if they don't catch the bad guys. It took a small output of cash last year for the traps, but there was enough glue for several years, and I only needed to buy the phermone lures this year - about $8 for three. The stuff reeks to high heaven, and I needed to wash my hands several times to get the glue and phermone stuff off my hands. Gloves just don't work. I need to put the socks on the apples soon. They're sizing up really fast....

Curcurbits Planted, and Other Cheesy Topics

2009-06-08T20:46:00.001-07:00

I finally got my cukes and squash transplanted today. I planted some sugar pumpkins, a buttercup squash variety, acorn squash, and some dual-use cukes. It sounds like it shouldn't have taken very long, but of course, in order to plant them I needed to weed out the section (blasted buttercup), make a batch of organic fertilizer.... I'm hoping that transplants will be large enough to fend off the nibbly creatures.

The broccoli all went to seed. I can't seem to time them just right. Not ready, not yet, too late. The cabbages are more forgiving, and are starting to head up. The garlic is forming scapes, and I need to decide whether to stir-fry them, or hang them on the apple trees to fend off the deer that seem to have found them again.

I have yet to get the beans planted, and I better get them in tomorrow, along with a bunch of other stuff. I know, it seems really late, but for whatever reason, the soil around here is very slow to warm up. Rather than "better late than never," around here it's "late or never".

Thing 2 had a chemistry experiment that he and a friend needed to do for school. So my kitchen became a chem lab for an afternoon, and I got to play chemist for the first time in a long while. Part of me misses it, but not for the pay they're making these days. The chemicals they needed I found at a homebrew store, which piqued my interest. Not so much for brewing beer or making wine, but most homebrew stores also carry cheesemaking equipment. I have a kit that I got for Christmas. I think it's time to try it out. Fresh ricotta, anyone?

First Strawberries

2009-06-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the first few strawberries were ripe from the day-neutral variety. I only got a couple of ounces worth, and they were gobbled up in seconds by the guys, but apparently they tasted delicious. I don't care for strawberries myself, and I always get questions like "Well, why do you grow them?" Well, because there are three other people in the house that do like them, and I like strawberry jam, just not raw berries. That and it's WAY more cost-effective to grow them, rather than to buy them, and I know that they're not sprayed with ANYTHING.

Right now I smell like smoke. I didn't spray the apple trees this year, and what a big mistake that was. I went out to check the trees, and I found many tent caterpillar nests among the branches. Man, did they grow fast, because it's only been three days since I was out that way. So I clipped them, and Thing 2 and I built a little fire to kill the pests. Being that the fire was made of apple wood, sage and bay leaves, the smoke smells nice, but I'm smokey all the same.

After loads of rain in early May, we haven't had a drop in weeks, which is unusual for this time of year. While I'm saving on natural gas since there's been no need to use the furnace, I'm using much more water than normal for this time of year. Of course, compared to my neighbors who don't follow the voluntary water restrictions and are watering their lawns EVERY DAY, and letting it run into the street, I'm using hardly any water. There are days that I ask myself "Why do I bother?" but I know, at least, that I'm doing the right thing.

Herban Renewal

2009-06-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

After a few years, some perennial herbs get really woody centers and need some freshening-up.

My sage plants were six feet across, and after this winter, the centers were dead with a ring of green around the outside. The plant had propagated itself by layering, so it was time to dig up the whole thing and replant one of the new, smaller plants.

It wasn't the only one. I can't seem to keep thyme for very long before the same thing happens. I've tried hacking it back hard, like I do for lavender, but it doesn't seem to work. So I have new thyme plants, too.

And then the rosemary died, which isn't unusual. It's marginally hardy here, and I haven't had one that's lasted longer than four years. What was surprising was the horehound died. I'm not replacing it since it's pretty weedy.

Also, the bay trees gave out - The two in the herb garden died back to the ground. Thankfully I have one more which is on the south side of the house and didn't sustain any damage. They were too big for the garden anyway, so those got pulled out as well.

So my herb garden is in need of plants. I've replanted the rosemary and will move the sage to its' proper place soon. I bought more Greek oregano, since I go through all I can dry and then some. I'm waiting to see if the tarragon will survive Thing 2's trashing of it.

I've replanted the thyme with french thyme. I taste-test herbs before I buy, and there was a huge difference between the french and winter thyme. The french has way more flavor. Even Thing 1 said "WOW!" when I had him taste it.

I'm weeding out the spots for the annuals - basil, coriander/cilantro, summer savory, and marjoram - and have all but the marjoram started. I keep forgetting to find seed.

So now is the time to go for broke on new, different herbs. I have lavender, fennel, lemon balm, caraway, borage and horseradish. And the parsley self-seeded, but it's not looking very promising. I may need to buy a couple of plants until some newly sown ones get going.

So what else should I try? Does anyone have recommendations? What can you not live without?

2009-05-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a flurry of activity around here. Spring finally arrived, and with summer just around the corner, I needed to get a lot accomplished in a hurry! Add to it the fact that I ran out of fertilizer materials, and the places that I used to get them don't stock them anymore, lots of kids' projects due, forms filled out for the summer and next year, garden-fu, house-fu, financial-fu, computer-fu, and generally feeling run-down-fu.

Griping aside, the weather has been fantastic. I took these photos this morning:

From the top, we're getting close to strawberries! Mr. E's apple tree went bonkers again this year. I'll have lots of thinning to do. The cherries went bonkers, too, for the first time. I hope the weather is dry enough for them to not get diseased. I love how pears start out up-side-down. I might get 5-6 pounds this year! And the lacy flowers are caraway. I'm looking forward to using my food dehydrator on the seed, as I never get it dry enough to store well.

Cliff Mass - Book vs Blog

2009-05-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

If you haven't figured it out already, I'm a total weather geek. I have my cheap weather station out by the veggie garden, I check three different weather reports at least twice a day (and if there's a storm coming, more than that), and at times I try to figure out what the weather's going to be like at my house.

So when Cliff Mass published his The Weather of the Pacific Northwest, you know I was jumping up and down to get my hands on a copy. And, well, I am rather disappointed.

First of all, the book is set up awkwardly. The figures referred to in the text are often on following pages, so one has turn pages back and forth to reference the figures. This isn't Cliff Mass's fault, but rather the publisher's, and I hope if there are subsequent printings of the book, that this will be addressed.

The book is very repetitive. It's as if he expects everyone to either skip chapters and go straight to the stormy stuff, or have the memory of a gnat. Over and over again, he re-explains the effects of rising and sinking air. Okay, we get it already! Once would have been sufficient, and he could've saved ten pages of the book.

The book covers too large an area. I think of Cliff Mass as a PUGET SOUND forecaster, not a NORTHWEST forecaster. And as such, I would have preferred seeing the book limited to the Puget Sound region. The heat of southern Oregon, the ice storms of Portland, why there's such good wind surfing on the Columbia - these things seem out of place in a book that's 75% about Western Washington.

Lastly, some authors just put me to sleep. I'm not sure why, but they do. I mean, I'm really excited about this topic, I should be reading the book cover to cover without stopping, right? Yet night after night, I would get through a page and a half and fall asleep. The writing is rather dry. Professorial, maybe? His excitement over weather which you hear when he speaks just isn't coming through to me.

HOWEVER

I just love Cliff Mass's blog: Cliff Mass Weather Blog. Here his enthusiasm shines, and I'm reading each word with relish. The things that are going through weather forecasters' heads are there for you to see - and why they screwed up. The topics are always timely - I'm not reading about snowstorms in July, I'm reading about either what just happened, or what's about to happen. Almost experiential learning.

Anyway, I feel I'm learning much more from his blog than his book. I finally found out why there are radar blips when there isn't a cloud in the sky! The figures are right there where you need them, too, and they're better than those in the book. I'm sure I learned something from his book that I didn't get out of a library's textbook on weather, but it's lost on all the minutiae that makes Puget Sound weather so appealing.

Noticing Things

2009-05-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

I am always amazed how people can be so busy that they either don't notice things, or don't stop to do the right thing. I can be guilty of it, too, but today, for whatever reason, I was living in the moment, and aware of all that was around me. The frogs, the rain, the birds, the blackberries blooming their purple-pinkness.

And the water pouring out of the ground by the school gate.

Now, it was impossible to not notice that all this water was pouring onto the walkway. You had to walk through it to get to the gate. About a hundred people did so this morning, and apparently I was the only one to either think "why?" or to do something about it.

Right next to the walkway, water was bubbling up out of the ground, forming the stream that you had to walk through by the gate. It was coming out about as fast as a garden hose turned on three-fourths of the whole way, so not an insignificant amount of water.

Two possible scenarios cropped up in my mind: either this could be a spring, which is kinda cool, or there was a water main break, which is decidedly not cool. Either way, it would need to be dealt with - if a spring, they would need to reroute the water so it would stop washing away the walkway. The reasons for dealing with a water main break are obvious.

I told the office staff, who told the custodian, who called maintenance. They told me I was the only one to mention it, and were puzzled why nobody had mentioned it before. I left the custodian and the maintenance worker to their devices. I'm betting on the water company being there right now.

Croque Monsieur

2009-04-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

To call this the French version of toasted ham and cheese is doing it a disservice. If you've never had one, it's toasted bread, spread with Dijon mustard, a little sliced ham, Gruyere cheese, topped with another slice of lightly toasted bread. Then a white sauce with Parmesan and more Gruyere is slathered over the top, then more Gruyere, and the whole thing is baked and then broiled. I don't want to know the calorie count or fat content.

I had one at Brouers' in Seattle, and it was an eye-opening experience. Since that time, I've been looking for a recipe, unsuccessfully. One day, I was channel surfing, and landed on the Barefoot Contessa, and lo and behold, she was making Croque Monsieur!

I've never tried any of her recipes, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Last night I gave it a shot, and made it with Cream of Tomato soup. I didn't want to just make grilled cheese, I wanted to celebrate the fact that the stitches came out and I could use my thumb again. I like to celebrate by cooking.

Anyway, I have to say, it was incredible! I just wish I hadn't run out of bread. It really put the soup to shame. I think I need to serve it with something more sophisticated than tomato soup; maybe a potato leek? Vichyssoise?

Doh! I gave myself away. I didn't do Meatless Monday last night. I really wanted to celebrate and make Croque Monsieur. Well, it was low-meat, at least.

Up-Pot

2009-04-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

The thumb is forcing me to keep my house and yard-work to a minimum, which is driving me crazy. I can't find any gloves that will fit over the thumb guard, and desperation is about to set in. Not that housework is high on my list, but even my slovenly standards have a limit.

I did get a little done today. I managed to trim the clematis by the front door, pull some weeds, and get rid of a bunch of old pots. I removed the early spring planter, and swept the front walk. It looked so much better!

Thing 2 helped me pot up the tomatoes into 4" pots. He labelled everything and watered the plants in. It was nice to have a helper. There were 16 plants in all. They needed up-potting about a week ago, but at least they're done now.

We had frost last night. It was 28 degrees this morning. The average last frost date for my area is supposedly April 9th, but it's never been as early as that, and I'm giving it a couple more weeks this year before I subject the tomatoes to the chilly weather, even if they're in kozy koats. I think April 20th is a closer average last frost date.

Okay, I can't concentrate. The guys are playing "American Woman" on Rockband, and it's really loud and lousy....

First Blossoms

2009-04-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, the ornamental plums are all out, but it's the pears, cherries and apples that I hold my breath for:

Other things are coming up in the garden:

Peas in the one photo, and chives and caraway in the other.

And more blossoms - it's spring!

Ouch!

2009-04-14T10:00:00.001-07:00

OK, I'm a clutz. I was slicing potatoes using a mandolin, and not using the safety equipment. Three and a half hours in the er, and seven stitches later, my thumb is throbbing.

So now I'm not supposed to use it (typing with one hand, here) for two weeks. No dishes, no gardening, no laundry. I guess it's time for the boys to really chip in around here!

Finishing Tasks

2009-04-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

I am a great one for starting things, but really bad at finishing, as is evidenced by all the unfinished knitting projects in my office. So the last few days I've been really working at finishing up things that really needed to get finished.

So yesterday, I finally (only ten days late) seeded the April 1st lettuce, spinach, and radishes. I don't know why I put it off. The ground was all prepped. It took just a few minutes to fertilize and plant the seeds. Lack of inertia, or activation energy, or something. Wednesday I am due to plant the seeds for the scallions. At least the weather is supposed to be warmer!

I also finished both baby afghans today. I'll toss them into the wash, and Mr. E can give them to the twins' dad at work. They're nice and soft, and I hope they like them!

And, finally, I finished the taxes. Woo-hoo! I'm not sure I'm going to do it anymore. It's getting way too complicated for my wee brain. Now, at least, I can clean up all the paperwork and regain my desk space.

Break-in

2009-04-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

Is it a sign of the times? Or are we just lucky that it hasn't happened to us yet?

My husband occasionally has to park on the street in a not-so-great neighborhood in Seattle. His car is a beater - old, with 200,000+ miles on it (it still gets over 30mpg, though), and as is his wont, he'll drive it into the ground. In this not-so-great neighborhood, his car has been keyed several times, but between the old paint and dents, it hasn't been that big of a deal.

Yesterday, someone broke into his car. They punched out a small back window and unlocked the car (courteous of them, as it will cost less to replace). They climbed into the front and took the spare change - maybe a couple of bucks, if they were lucky. They left empty-handed other than that (we think). They didn't take the cassette tapes :-). His car has no CD player, and there was no MP3 player, iPod, or the like in the car - usually he listens to books on tape from the library. I bet they doubted that someone could lead such a spartan existence.

The ironic thing is, a couple of weeks ago, we were parking downtown, and I was collecting the spare change out of my car so it wasn't in sight. Mr. E laughed at me, and said that no-one would break into a car for the spare change. I told him of a time when I was at the UW, when someone did to a girl on my floor's car (oddly enough, during the last big downturn of the economy). He laughed it off at the time.

So now his beater is sporting a new duct-taped window. The pride of the neighborhood :-)

Beauty Day, Eh?

2009-04-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

Many years ago, I road-tripped to Edmonton, Alberta with my husband and a couple of friends. It just seemed like the thing to do at the time. We left late on a Friday night - one of the friends was returning from a business trip - and drove all night. We crossed the Canadian border from somewhere in Montana, I think, as a beautifully sunny day dawned.

We stopped for gas and a restroom break just over the border. Another couple also stopped, and the woman greeted us with "Beauty day, eh? What a glorious day to be alive!" At the time, I'm sure I snickered, being young and stupid. She was probably not much older than I am now. The rest of the trip is a blur - we stayed at the West Edmonton Mall, and you could see the curvature of the Earth from our hotel window. But what I remember most is that woman's "Beauty day, eh?"

Today was a "Beauty day." Low 70s, a light wind, blue skies, and snow on the mountains. I am fairly sore from yesterday's exertions, so Mr. E helped turn the rest of the two beds for me. I transplanted the lettuces, cabbages, and broccoli, adding compost and fertilizer, and watering them in with Alaska Fish fertilizer. Oh, and I got my mile-and-a-half in.

Top left: shallots Top right: budding pear Lower left: broccoli seedling Lower right: budding apple

With the warmer weather, all the fruit trees are getting ready to burst forth. Spring is so full of promise! The promise of warmer weather, of ripe fruit, and good, wholesome food.

Time to Get to Work!

2009-04-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

Got lots of work in today! I started with a mile and a half walk. I need to get in shape for Bloomsday! It's a 7.5 mile run/walk event that I do with my "sisters", M and J. J runs, M and I walk. I have a month before it happens, but I was really sedentary this winter, and today's walk really let me know it :-). I'm going to do 1.5 miles every day for five days, then bump it up to two miles for four days, then up to 2.5.... The main thing is that I'll need to do it every day, rain or shine (or snow, or....) No more loafing.

Once it warmed up (below freezing last night), I dug in about two quarts of homemade organic fertilizer into the onion area, twirled it into the soil with a garden fork, raked it out and got the onions in. I have six four-foot rows, each a foot apart, which is too close, I know. I planted the seedlings about four inches apart, so with luck, if the blasted varmints leave them alone, I should have 70+ good-sized onions. That will hopefully last me six to eight months (no counting chickens here....)

Next came the peas. I spread a quart and a half of organic fertilizer along the 25 feet of row that they'll go in, and also added 2-1/2 cups of bone meal. I twirled that in with the garden fork, and then came the laborious process of planting each seed. Thankfully, Thing 1 helped out with the twirling and the planting. Chit-chat makes everything go faster, and we were done pretty quickly. About eight feet, double row of Lincoln peas, and 16 feet of Early Frosty. It'll be interesting to see when they're mature. Did waiting until April mean that I won't have peas until July, like last year?

Unfortunately, the ground was too wet to dig up from all the rain we had on Wednesday and Thursday. So I just weeded out the areas that I still need to plant. That's a pretty full day, anyway. Today finished in the low 60s (degrees), so it'll be good to dig tomorrow.

I made another batch of fertilizer, and need to go find some more components of the mix, as I'm out of just about everything that goes into it.

I'm totally wiped out, so it's a bath and early to bed for me.

Portland Road Trip

2009-04-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

Today was very, very wet. Perfect day to road trip!

We went to Portland, Oregon for the day to visit two of our favorite places - OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), and Powell's Books.

OMSI, if you've never been there, is a lot of fun for adults as well as kids. It's much more hand-on than the Pacific Science Center. You get to move blocks with people-powered cranes, try to build the fastest sailing ship, see who can make the best paper-cup flyer, and investigate acids and bases in the chemistry lab.

There was also a DaVinci exhibit. They built some of his "inventions", but the part I found fascinating was all the research done on the Mona Lisa, and what they think she originally looked like before time took it's toll. Much brighter! She looks jaundiced in comparison.

After that, we visited VooDoo donuts (YUM!) and then we spent some time at Powell's Books. I picked up a copy of Steve Solomon's Gardening When it Counts - Growing Food in Hard Times. Looks like I'll get to peruse it tomorrow since it's so wet, and then Saturday and Sunday will be full of gardening.

This is short - it's been a long day.

Mother Nature Playing April Fool's

2009-04-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

I looked out the window this morning. It is April, right? No foolin', it was snowing.

Not again! Another late spring, two years running. I can handle one year, but two in a row? It's enough to make a gardener cry.

So, no, I didn't get any planting done (it's probably a good thing I didn't), and won't now until Saturday, when it's supposed to dry out and warm up.

My tomatoes are slowly growing in the garage, under lights. It'll be a while before I'll be able to get them outside. It took forever for the cherry tomatoes to emerge. Frankly, I'd given up on them. So now I'll need to thin them to one plant per cell. The first leaves are starting to show on the earlier plants, and it won't be long before they'll need to be moved to four inch pots.

In the meantime, it's still winter, so there's a fire in the wood stove, and I'm working on baby afghan #2 which is now big enough to snuggle under. I really do need to finish it soon....

Starting the Garden

2009-03-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a flat of lettuces, a bunch of onion plants, some cabbages and broccoli, and a gazillion pea seeds waiting (not-so) patiently to get in the ground, and it's been raining and threatening snow. In late March. Again.

So I took this relatively warm (only seven degrees below normal), sunny day to loosen up the soil at least where the onions and peas will go, even though we had almost half an inch of rain yesterday. I did it at the end of the day and only did the pea and onion area because ~~that was all my back could take~~ those were the driest areas. The lettuce area was really soggy, and if it's dry tomorrow, I might try to loosen it up a bit.

I don't own a rototiller. It seems pointless for 400 sq feet. I just use a garden fork, dig in to the hilt, and lift up the soil, letting it fall back into place and breaking up the large clods. I try not to turn it over at all, and I definitely have fewer weeds this year as a result. Tomorrow, if the rain holds off, I'll put an inch or so of compost and some fertilizer on top and mix it into the top six inches of soil, then rake it out and get the peas and onions in.

The thing is, I have so much to get into the ground, I'm going to need to get another 80 square feet prepared by midweek, and we're supposed to get more rain. The weekend looks like it'll be fairly dry, so I guess everything will be another 3-4days late.

People ask me if I've "gotten my garden in." This is a strange concept to me. My garden is never "out". I generally start in March and am constantly planting until October, when the overwintering garlic goes in.

This has several advantages. First, I'm not trying to get all four beds going at once. I'm only trying to get one and a half in now. Secondly, I harvest short-cycle plants like lettuce and radish all summer. Third, in Western Washington, if you waited to put your peas in at the same time as your squash and tomatoes, they'd wither in the heat, if not succomb to pea enation virus. And lastly, I have the opportunity to plant fall crops in the beds that the spring veggies are finished with, without needing extra space.

Here's hoping for warmer, drier weather....

Local - Shades of Gray

2009-03-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Whenever I think of shopping "local," I am always confused by what that really means. On the extreme side, there are the farmers close by, if they have a roadside stand or visit my town's farmers' market. That's the ideal, of course, which is only available to me from July to October.

But beyond that, it becomes a really gray area to me. A locally owned restaurant generally buys all the food and paper products from far away, so how much stays local, really? Is it any more than, say, McDonald's, who pays a few cents more an hour to their staff? Or a trinket shop whose goods are all made in China?

And then, what about locally owned chains, like Top Food/Haggen's? They promote locally produced food. Is it such blasphemy to shop there? Yes, it's a chain, but doesn't the money stay within Western Washington (Bellingham)? After that, you've hit a slippery slope - Starbucks, Fred Meyer, Costco, even Amazon. Although most of what's in those stores doesn't come from my local area, they are at least locally owned.

But then, the franchise owner of the McDonald's would say that he owns his franchise....

Where does one draw the line?

Signs of Spring

2009-03-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Spring is approaching, albeit late. The shotweed is finally flowering. There have been years where it was blooming by mid-February, but this year's been another cold one. The sixth snowiest since 1948? Yikes. The purple flowering plums have a hazy purplish tinge to them, and the pear and apple tree buds are starting to swell. There was a lady bug on one of the apple trees yesterday.

I've been setting out the cabbages, broccoli and lettuces during the day, and bringing them in when the temp hits 40 degrees. Each day I put them out a little earlier and bring them in a little later to get them used to the idea that they're going to have to get cold soon. I always wonder if they get really messed up, since they're colder during the day, and warmer at night as babies, and then they abruptly have to switch.

My onion plants arrived on Monday. I've set them just outside the back door to stay cool and moist, but not freezing. They need to get into the ground, the sooner the better. I spent some time today weeding the veggie bed where they are going to go, and the bit where the lettuces are going to be. If Wednesday or Thursday of next week is nice enough, I'll transplant them then. Still haven't planted the peas. I'll try to get that done on Sunday.

Planting is about to go into high gear! Around April 1st, in go the broccoli, cabbages, and lettuces, and I'll be seeding more lettuce, and radishes and spinach. At mid-month I'll be sowing scallions, and winter squash. And then it gets really crazy!

I also chopped down the bay trees that were nearly killed when it got so cold. There was a little live wood left, but since I have a giant one on the south side of the house which fared much better, I'm (with a lot of help from Mr. E) going to rip these out and put in something not quite so large.

Finally got the tomatoes seeded today. So much for an early start on those. It's difficult to think about planting heat-loving tomatoes when there is so much snow! I'm going to have four Stupice, four Siletz, two Oregon Cherry, and six Oregon Star. I have yet to find a sauce tomato that will ripen in our cool summers. I'm hoping that these Oregonian tomatoes can handle the cold.

Mediterranean Lentil Soup

2009-03-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

I'm on a lentil kick, since I bought a ton online, and now I have to deal with all of them!

There's a restaurant in Bellevue called Mediterranean Kitchen which has the yummiest food in ginormous portions. They always start you with a soup, pita and hummus, and for years they had a spicy lentil soup that was to die for. I've tried looking online, but haven't found one that was remotely close. However, there is one in America's Test Kitchen New Best Recipe that I think is spot on.

Hearty Lentil Soup with Fragrant Spices

3 slices (about 3 ounces) bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped fine
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped medium
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes*
1 bay leaf
1 tsp minces fresh thyme leaves
1 cup (7 oz) lentils, rinsed and picked over
1 tsp salt
Ground Black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
4-1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 cups water
1-1/2 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro

1. Fry the bacon in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp, 3-4 min. Add the onion and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 2 min. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomatoes, bay leaf and thyme; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the lentils, salt, and pepper to taste; cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and cook until the vegetables are softened and the lentils have darkened, 8-10 min.

2. Uncover, increase the heat to high, add the wine, and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken broth and water; bring to a boil, cover partially, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer until the lentils are tender but still hold their shape, 30 to 35 minutes; discard the bay leaf.

3. Use a stick blender to blend soup to your preferred consistency **. Stir in lemon juice and 2 Tbsp cilantro and serve, garnishing with remaining cilantro.

* The original instructions have drained tomatoes, but I didn't bother draining them, and I don't think they need to.

** If you don't have a nifty stick blender, puree 3 cups of soup in a blender until smooth, add it back to the soup, add the lemon juice and heat on med-low for another 5 minutes before adding the cilantro.

Thankfully, I was planning ahead and pulled some carrots for this out of the garden before all the snow and deep-freeze temperatures hit.

Now, if I can just figure out their recipe for lamb swarma....

Last Night's Low...

2009-03-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Got to 16.5 degrees F. Brrrr!!!

Yup, it's Still Winter

2009-03-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

I know that there are 11 more days until spring, but winter is really holding on here. I haven't planted the peas yet, and it looks like it'll still be a while before I can.

Temps are forecast in the upper teens for tonight, so I'm glad I've kept these guys in the garage.

I've had to remove one layer of 2x4s since the plants were practically touching the lights.

I still haven't planted the tomatoes, but will get on it this week. I was kind of hoping that I'd have the lettuce, cabbage and broccoli outdoors a bit by now so there'd be more room, but Mother Nature decided otherwise.

I got hit with a cold last Monday that left me exhausted, so not much was accomplished last week. I did finish one of the baby afghans, and started on the second a couple of days ago. I'll post pix when they're both finished and ready to go.

Yesterday was spent in the kitchen baking cookies, bread, and making a batch of hummus. Today is being spent washing heaps of clothing. Tonight I'm making a new lentil soup recipe. With all the snow, it's going to be a "soup night," as my mother calls it.

Transplant Day

2009-02-28T16:19:00.000-08:00

It's been two weeks since I sowed seeds indoors for the lettuces, broccoli and cabbage. They've been growing really well under the lights and have their first true leaves, so today I transplanted them into larger pots. The cabbages and broccoli went into 4-packs that were 2x2 inches, and the lettuces went into a 72-cell flat. They also got their first dose of half strength fish fertilizer.

I was a bit surprised at the broccoli. I was expecting that the hybrid broccoli would be off to a faster start due to all that "hybrid vigor", but it was the open-pollinated Umpquah that had the biggest root systems and sturdiest plants.

I'm a little worried that the full flat of lettuces won't get enough light, being that the flat is so wide, but I find that lettuces can do with less light than other plants.

Why did I plant a full flat of lettuce? I figure that I'll harvest the babies for salad a couple weeks to a month before they're fully mature. It's not that much more work to do a flat than it is to do a dozen.

I plan to set these outdoors in a couple of weeks, depending on the weather, to let them harden before planting them around the first of April. We're due to get more snow this week, so we'll see how this late winter/early spring progresses.

In the meantime, I'm starting my tomatoes a little early since the lights seem to be such a success. Usually I start them around the 15th of March, but they've been so pale and wimpy I have to set them outside during the day so they get enough light. Even then, they sunburn a bit even under the protection of Kozy-Koats.

WHO Invented the Automobile?

2009-02-24T19:43:00.000-08:00

Just finished watching Obama's speech. The car was invented in the US? Karl Benz is rolling over in his grave.

Is it Spring Yet?

2009-02-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

It sure felt like spring today. It was sunny, over 60 degrees, and you could smell pollen in the air. I opened the windows to the boys' rooms to let in the fresh air, but had to close them too soon since someone decided to burn.

I took the opportunity to weed 16sq ft of herb bed, and get out in the front yard and plant the azaleas. 'Mother's Day' is the variety, and they're supposed to be crimson red. Thing 2 helped water them in, and I think more water wound up on him rather than the plants.

I cleaned up a bit in the area around the azaleas, but I need to wait just a bit longer before I prune back the red hot poker plants. So it still doesn't look so great. I also need to move a rose bush. The flowering currant got much bigger, much faster than I thought it would, and it's smothering the rose bush.

The sedums are starting to bud up, and the flowering currant is about to burst. The chives are a little late, but have about an inch of new growth, as does the garlic. The next time I go outside I need to side-dress the chives, garlic and shallots with blood meal.

The seedlings got their first watering today. It won't be long before I'll need to transplant the lettuces. I can already see the first true leaf starting. The lights seem to be working well. The seedlings are all a nice, deep green, and the Red Sails lettuce is tinged red as it should be.

I'm disappointed with myself that I didn't get any maple spouts for my trees this year, so I wasn't able to get make any maple syrup. One year I used elder twigs, but they had a tendency to clog. The sugar maples are a little too small yet, so I suppose it's for the better that they get another year to grow.

Of Cabbages and Broccoli and Peas

2009-02-20T16:26:00.000-08:00

Even after a relatively dry February, my soil still isn't ready for digging in. After scooping up a handful of soil, squeezing it, tossing it in the air about six inches and letting it hit my hand - I still had a hard, cold ball of soil. And as it's supposed to start raining on Saturday night and be a cold, wet March, it'll be quite a while longer before I'll get the peas in. "Patience is a virtue," my father always says. Sigh.

Good thing I can get my planting fix indoors.

My babies! From the left, cabbage Early Jersey Wakefield, broccoli Tendergreen, broccoli Umpquah, and then two rows of mixed lettuces, Red Sails, Salad Bowl, Forellenschluss, and Black-seeded Simpson. Danish Ballhead cabbage is my fall cabbage (duh) so I won't be planting it quite yet.

I took a tip from Laura at (not so) Urban Hennery, and got some different lights for my cheap-o light set-up in the garage. She uses sunlight bulbs. I'm trying one sunlight, and one plant/aquarium bulb to see how it works out. How cheap-o is my light set-up? I use old 2x4s underneath the flat to prop up the plants, then remove them as the plants get bigger. I planted the babies on Feb. 14th, and they were up and running after 3-4 days on the top of the refrigerator. I have high hopes that this year my started plants won't be quite so spindly, and won't get sunburned quite so easily once they're in the garden.

Why do they call it plant husbandry, anyway? Seems like it should be called plant mothery.

Elsewhere in the garden, I finally, with Thing 1's help, yanked out the three miniature rose bushes that always look like H-E-double toothpicks. Tomorrow I'll clean up the area and put in the five azaleas I have waiting to go in their place.

I'm trying to pace myself in the garden this spring. I have a tendency to go all out and put in eight hours in a day, and then not be able to move for a month. So this year, I'm calling it a day after about an hour. That way I can work a little every day, enjoy it more, and strengthen my muscles gradually.

The Seeds are Here! The Seeds are Here!

2009-02-13T15:49:00.001-08:00

I finally received my order from Fedco. Sounds like they're getting hammered with orders - up 31% this year. Glad to know someone is seeing more business in this economic climate.

Unfortunately, one of my choices was sold out - parsnips of all things. So I'll need to pick some up at the nursery. I'll see what they have of Territorial's, but it looks like I'd better be quick about it, even if I don't plan on planting any until August.

Folks around the blogosphere are beginning their seed-starting. I'll be starting lettuces, broccoli and cabbages this weekend. They'll all go into the garden the first of April.

I found the most excellent containers for starting seeds. Full flats are too huge for the few rows that I start at a time, plus they're unwieldy. So I'm going to use the plastic containers that the pre-washed greens come in. They're just the right size, nice and deep, but not huge, easy to pick up and move, and there's a lid that I can use to keep them covered until germination.

Sowing this weekend:
Cabbage: Early Jersey Wakefield and Danish Ballhead
Broccoli: Umpquah and Tendergreen
Lettuces: Red Sails, Forellenschluss, Salad Bowl, and Black Seeded Simpson

Anticipation and Planning

2009-02-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

I put in my seed orders back in January. My Territorial order arrived promptly, but I'm still waiting on the bulk of my order, which is from Fedco. I think that they may be holding on to my whole order until a couple of backordered things come in. I thought that they'd send out all but the backordered items, but I guess not.

It's still too cold to plant anyway, and will be until March. Even then, the only things going in the ground will be the more cold-hardy stuff like spinach, peas and lettuce. I used to plant my peas in February, but realized that they do just fine, if not better, if planted in March. But for now, the sun is out, and there is a light dusting of snow on the ground - planning days, to be sure.

What? Still planning? Yes. Last night I decided that after all the mapping out I've done, I'm not going to plant potatoes this year. The voles are just too plentiful, and since potatoes seem to be their favorite food, I'm not going to help them out by providing for them. Hopefully over the course of the year their numbers will dwindle to the point that it'll make growing potatoes worthwhile again. Until then I have a whole lot of space to fill.

I brought home The Complete Kitchen Garden by Patrick Bowe from the library this weekend. In it, he claims that 100-150 square feet will be large enough for salads and tomatoes for a four-person family, 200-250 square feet will add beans, onions and fruit, 600 square feet is a "full-sized domestic kitchen garden," and not until your garden is 800 square feet should you look at planting potatoes. I have 400 square feet of vegetable beds, 64 sq ft of strawberries, and about 240 square feet of herb garden. So I guess I don't quite make the 800 square foot limit for potatoes anyway.

Those numbers seem rather small to me, though. I think Steve Solomon said his garden was 3,000 square feet for 3 people, not including row crops, and Rosemary Verey's potager was over 5,000 square feet. I often see the question online "How big does a garden need to be to feed X number of people?" Obviously, geographical situation, fertility and gardener experience will affect the size of a garden, but how about a ballpark estimate? No one wants to give one. This is the best I've been able to find.

More cold and wet is forecast for the week, so it's time to snuggle around the fire with a cup of tea, my plans, and an eraser.

Fruit Tree Care

2009-01-31T13:26:00.000-08:00

Today I pruned the fruit trees. It was sunny and warm (45F), with a light breeze blowing, and so was a good day to get some outdoor chores done.

My trees are a few years old now, and, with the exception of the cherry trees, the form is established. So all I really need to do anymore is clip the growing tips back to about 6", and cut out any crossing branches. It's light work, and Thing 1 came to help pick up all the fallen twigs. We dry them out and use them for kindling.

That accomplished, I took a look around the yard. The herb garden took a major hit with the temps going down to 1F. I definitely lost the rosemary, catnip and fennel (although enough fennel seed fell, so it'll be back next year), probably lost the tarragon and lavendar, and may have lost the bay trees and sage. Ouch.

The mousies have had a hayday under all the snow. They took out some shallots in the veg garden, and there are holes and paths all over the lawn. Any ideas for dealing with voles, I'd love to hear them!

Tuesday's supposed to be warm, so I'll spray the fruit trees with a dormant spray, and hopefully have a chance to weed out one of the veggie beds. I've received the seeds from Territorial, but not those from Fedco. But that's another post....

Bread - Susan's Honey Bran Whole Wheat

2009-01-23T07:33:00.000-08:00

I admit it. I've been really lax over the last couple of months about making my own bread. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to make a loaf, and I was ready to go again. I was really raring when I went to buy a package of hamburger buns. $3.20 for eight buns???!!! And that's on sale?

I've been trying to get the family to eat more whole grains, but they've been rather resistant when it comes to bread. Thing 1 would eat scads of whiter-than-white baguettes every day if given the chance, but if I only had 100% whole wheat in the house, he'd simply stop eating bread altogether. I bought some bread that used a bit of white whole wheat flour, and he didn't seem to notice, so I'm thinking that maybe that's the starting point I should use with him.

And then, recently Laura wrote about Susan's Honey Bran Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, which sounded yummy. I've made Susan's Farmhouse White before, although I had to fiddle with the measurements. Oooh! A whole wheat bread, loaded in fiber, using white whole wheat flour? I had to try it.

It took a bit of searching, but I found some white whole wheat flour. Not local, of course. We live in a state known for wheat, yet the only folks that sell local flour are Stone-Buhr, and it's all-purpose flour. Why is that?

So yesterday I made up a batch of bread. The measurements all worked well if you weighed them. The whole wheat flour measured out to almost 6 cups by volume. Another reason to ditch the measuring cups when making bread.

As you can see, there are only two loaves there, and the recipe makes three. The third loaf didn't last ten minutes out of the oven, as it was dinner time.

Recycled Jeans Quilt

2009-01-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

Ta-Da! I finally finished Thing 2's Recycled Jeans Quilt.
I think it turned out cute. I used the general pattern for a throw from allpeoplequilt.com, but didn't use binding, and instead added a couple of extra rows to make it the right length for my son's loft bed. Then, instead of making a normal pieced top, I did a rag quilt, making the seam allowances show, clipping them, and giving it a "cut-offs" kind of look. I even included a couple of pockets. I didn't quilt it, but rather tied it using DMC embroidery floss. The backing is basic white muslin.

I'm on a project-finishing rampage for a while, trying to find my office/computer/craft/mess room. Now I can at least get my work table and floor clear of all sewing paraphernalia.

Meatless Monday - Thai Red Curry with Tofu

2009-01-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

Mention the word "tofu" around here, and you'll be met with wrinkled noses and sour faces. Undaunted, I pressed forward with a Thai dish from America's Test Kitchen Best 30-Minute recipe. After all, they came up with an awesome tomato soup last week.

The results were, well, mixed. The red curry sauce, although tasty, was not quite right. I'm thinking it's missing something citrusy, kaffir lime leaves maybe? It definitely needed some heat. The vegetables, red pepper and snow peas, came out excellent - crisp-tender, even though the snow peas were frozen. And so we come to the tofu. It was sliced into slabs, breaded and fried, and watching it cook in the skillet reminded me of fried Spam, which, dare I say, I love the taste of, but hate the looks of.

During the last two minutes of cooking the tofu, I'm not sure what happened. I think I may have turned down the heat a bit. At any rate, the tofu suddenly sponged up most of the cooking oil, resulting in tofu that tasted like...cooking oil.

After the tofu comes out, the red curry paste is dropped into the skilled with more oil. I think the pan was too hot at this point, because the paste spat all over the place. And I mean ALL over the place. I hurredly added the coconut milk to help cool down the pan, but egads, what a mess. I was glad I was wearing an apron!

All in all, it was edible, although a bit bland. Mr. E was actually pleasantly pleased with the tofu, Thing 2 ate half of his, Thing 1 managed a bite. The sauce went well with the rice, it just wasn't quite right.

I'd like to try cooking Thai curry again sometime, just with a different recipe. And I am determined to find a way the rest of the family will eat tofu besides a couple of cubes in the bottom of miso soup.

New Purchase

2009-01-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

I made a large purchase. I bought myself a food dehydrator. After watching all the apples go bad and having no real way to dry them out properly, I decided that this would be a good idea (finding it 33% off online helped the decision-making process).

I will still air-dry my herbs, but now I can do apples, onions (if I ever figure out how to grow them well), dried cranberries, cherries, tomatoes, and whatever else I can throw in there. Oooh. Actually, I'll dry caraway seed in it, too. I can never get it dry enough to not mold in the jar.

Anyway, I'm really excited. It arrived today, although I won't be using it until June or July at the earliest. Off to peruse the manual, and dream of all the food I will be preserving this summer and fall!

Meatless Monday - Cream of Tomato Soup

2009-01-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

Posting about Meatless Monday has been a bit of a problem. Since our main meal is at 7:30 at night, by the time I'm done with the dishes, the kids are in bed, and I manage a blog post, it's already Tuesday, and posting about Meatless Monday on Tuesday is a little screwy. So I'm trying out writing the post after the fact, and then posting early on the FOLLOWING Monday. Which is why everything is in past tense. Does that make sense?

For Meatless Monday, we had Cream of Tomato soup that I made following the recipe in America's Test Kitchen's The Best 30-Minute Recipe. I grew up on the stuff in the red and white can, and really haven't liked it since they switched to high fructose corn syrup. It is much too sweet now, and much too runny to work in the recipes that I normally use it in.

But oh, how I loved cream of tomato soup as a kid! We would have it with grilled cheese sands or would dip peanut butter sands in it. Yum! Sometimes instead of in a bowl, we'd have it in a mug, and drink it. Serious comfort food.

This is WAY better. Much more tomato-y. Yes, it takes longer, but still under 30 minutes, and most of the stuff can be found in the pantry.

Cream of Tomato Soup
Serves 6

3 - 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
3C chicken broth*
2 bay leaves
2 T butter
1 onion, minced
1 T brown sugar
1 T tomato paste
salt
2 T flour
1/2 C heavy cream
2 t dry sherry
pinch cayenne

Drain tomatoes really well, reserving juice. Add broth to reserved tomato juice to measure 5 C. Bring broth mixture and bay leaves to boil, covered in large saucepan and set aside (I kept it at low simmer). Meanwhile, melt butter in Dutch oven over high heat. Add tomatoes, onion, brown sugar, tomato paste, and 1/2 t salt, and cook until tomatoes are dry and beginning to brown, 11-13 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 1 min. Slowly stir in broth mixture. Bring to simmer and cook 5 min. Remove bay leaves. Puree soup until smooth**. Stir in cream and sherry. Return to brief simmer, then remove from heat. Season with salt and cayenne to taste.

*Okay, I know. Using chicken broth isn't strictly meatless. You can use vegetable broth if you like. I think of "Meatless" as meaning "no flesh".

** The directions say to put it in the blender in batches. I'm telling you, if you don't already have one, a stick blender is the way to go. I love my stick blender!!! It's not baby-food pureed, but I like finding little bits of onion or tomato bursting with flavor. Works great for making applesauce, too, without all the mess of using a blender or food mill, and then you have to ~~dirty another blasted bowl~~ find a place to put umpty gallons of soup or sauce while you do the next batch. No thanks.

Some day my garden will be at the point where I'm canning oodles of tomatoes, and I'll actually be able to make broths that taste like broth instead of lightly flavored water, and then this will be much more homemade. I'd definitely like to try it with fresh tomatoes. But until then, this is definitely on the winter soup rotation.

The 2008 Tally

2009-01-04T15:11:00.000-08:00

So it looks like I managed to get 255 lbs of food from the garden this year. For anyone that's interested, the breakdown goes like this:

Apples - 121.6
Potatoes - 62.4
Tomato - 13.2
Strawberries - 11.2
Peas - 8.8
Cabbage - 6.2
Cukes - 5.1
Corn - 4.9
Soup peas - 3.7
Leeks - 3.4
Carrots - 3.3
Lettuce - 2.9
Garlic - 2.7
Spinach - 1.7
Onions - 1.4
Turnip - 1.3
Pear - 0.6
Radish - 0.4
Scallions - 0.4
Parsley - 0.1

Aside from the apples, the garden was a bit of a disappointment. A very cold spring and summer led to very little corn, no squash at all, and a dismal tomato harvest. This summer is supposed to be warm. Let's hope for a decent spring as well.

I'm not going to grow corn anymore, and let the "experts" in the valley do it for me. Corn takes up too much room for what I get.

I'm going to plant more varieties of squash this year. I've fallen in love with butternut squash ravioli. Butternuts don't do well around here I've heard, but there are other flavorful squash that I'm going to try instead. I'm going to start the squash indoors from now on, as well. I don't have good luck getting it to sprout in the ground.

Eating veggies as they ripen in the garden was a big challenge this year. I need to find more uses for the food I have, preserve more, and take the time to make those veg side dishes.

One reason for the huge apple harvest was my attention to pest control. I'll be at it again this spring, putting socks on the apples. Trapping the mice will be a major challenge this year.

So assuming no major climate disasters, I'm going for 350 pounds of food from the garden in 2009.

Melt-Down

2009-01-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

Shortly after my last post, my hard drive decided to meet an untimely end. We're not sure what happened, but the drive is unreadable and lots of photos from the last two years have been lost. Thing 1 had two English assignments disappear, and Thing 2 lost the project he was working on. Lots of tears here and lessons learned (back up everything! Keep photos safe!)

The snow is still melting here. My friend, M, wanted some sage, but it's looking a bit smooshed under a thin layer of ice. I'm not exactly sure where the carrots are, or even if they're edible anymore. Right now I'm glad I didn't get a whole lot in the ground this fall, because it wouldn't have been able to make it through the last two weeks. We hit a low of 1 degree. I'm not sure that the garlic will make it, either.

Warm weather is supposed to return, so I'll know a little more about how everything fared next week. You never really know, though, what made it through until about May. There will be lots of plant replacement here this year, I'm afraid.

Thinking About Seeds

2008-12-28T22:41:00.000-08:00

I'm pouring over my seed catalogs, trying to decide which varieties to try this year. Last summer was crummy here, and apparently it was in some of the seed-producing regions as well, because many basic varieties, like Walla Walla onions, are not available.

So I'll be trying some new things. My lettuces will continue to be my good-producing Red Sails, Forellenschluss, Black-Seeded Simpson, Buttercrunch, and the to-die-for Salad Bowl. But almost everything else will be different from what I've planted before. Last year I tried a bunch of Fedco's tomatoes, and although it certainly wasn't a tomato summer, I'm not sure I want to try their tomatoes again. I'm not really certain that they're going to do well here, and I don't want to have another crummy tomato harvest again if I can help it.

However, I really like the fact that they're anti-Monsanto and have lots of open pollinated varieties, and want to support that kind of company. So this year I'm getting my squash, cukes, and tomato seed from Territorial, and everything else I'm getting from Fedco.

I've made up my garden plan and a simplified planting schedule, so hopefully I'll be able to keep up better. It's supposed to be a warm summer according to the Climate Prediction Center, which will help the tomatoes and curcurbits, if it actually happens. The only problem is that I'm running into timing constraints with the onions, but I'm sure I can work it all out somehow. If not, maybe Mr. E will dig me another bed.

2008-12-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

Leaving you with a few wintery scenes from our home.

Happy Holidays!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

2008-12-16T09:14:00.000-08:00

8.2 degrees F. (-13 C).

Need I say more?

Of course I do. There was ice on the inside of Thing 1's window this morning. The new thermal shade must be doing its thing. Yikes.

Colder than....

2008-12-15T11:35:00.000-08:00

It got to about 13F here last night. Saturday it snowed somewhere between 1 and 4 inches, depending on where you measured. It took the ground quite a while to freeze so that the snow could stick. We're expecting more snow Tuesday night, although no-one is guessing how much.

Thing 1 walked to school this morning, and although it was a late start day, it was only 15F when he left. I totally bundled him up as if he were going skiing, so he should be fine. He left with a neighbor boy who was wearing much less.

Forty minutes later, I went to the bus stop with Thing 2 and all the other neighborhood kids. By then it was 23 degrees, but an icy north wind cut right through single layers (pants) and stung my cheeks. I hustled home to a warm house and hot tea.

I'm sure the rosemary is shot, and I'm going to cut it down to the ground in hopes that I can dry the needles. It may not work, but it'll be completely brown and useless by spring, so I figure I should get it while I can, and hopefully some good will come of it.

I'm also "should have"-ing. I should have covered the carrots and turnips with leaves. I should have dug some horseradish before the ground froze solid. I should have brought in those last cabbages.

Saturday was spent with friends from Mr. E's work, the brave souls who ventured out in the snow to our neck of the woods. Sunday was spent with Mr. E's friends and their wives (my friends, too). Lots of food and catching up on all the happenings.

Today I'm relaxing, wrapping gifts, and cleaning up the kitchen. Dinner will be all the leftovers, and a fire will be roaring in the wood stove.

Keep warm!

Preparing for Winter

2008-12-11T21:15:00.000-08:00

Gee, I realize that for some of you winter is already here, but this weekend we're to get REALLY chilly. Well, for here, anyway.

The goofy weather of 2008 continues. We've had a really mild fall, with temps not getting much below 28 degrees. Winter is to hit us with a vengence this weekend and into next week, with snow expected Friday night, and temperatures down to 13 degrees by early next week.

So today was, erm, garden cleanup day. I still had some Wall-o-Waters up as an experiment to see how long the tomatoes would last (they didn't), some pea fence up, hoses still attached to the house, and all the soaker hoses on the ground. So I roped Thing 1 into helping me gather all of that mess up and store it. Then I went around the herb garden collecting the pots that were scattered about.

As I was cleaning up the herb garden, I frightened a little frog who was hiding in a rain-filled flat. I'm not sure if he could survive the water freezing solid, but he seemed happy in the water for now, so I left the flat.

Other bits, I got new tires for the car, as mine were balding, and got a bit of shopping done. If we do get snow, transportation grinds to a halt, and so will the Xmas shopping. Monday and Tuesday look clear, but icy, and then we're back to snow for Wed. We're supposed to be hosting a couple of parties this weekend; one for Mr. E's work friends, and one for his buddies he's known since, well, forever (like the 1970s!). We'll see if they happen or not. Mr. E swears that the forecasters have to say it'll snow seven times before it actually does.

The One-Pound Turnip

2008-12-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

I was making beef stew in the crockpot this morning, and ran out to the garden to pull some carrots. I just love being able to do that, even if it was 38 degrees and misty. Anyway, I had planted some turnips in the fall, and forgot to thin them appropriately, so I did about a month ago but figured that the turnip trial was a wash. I decided today to check to see if there were any of a usable size, and what did I find? A monster one-pound turnip!

Egads! It wasn't very pretty, or I might've taken a picture of the giant. But I chopped it up and tossed it into the stew. I love the horseradishy taste of turnips, and they provide minerals, fiber, and some vegetable protein. So I chuck them into soups and stews to stretch out the meat, add a different layer of flavor that potatoes alone would lack.

I don't understand where people got off of eating turnips. My mom never made them. I found out what they were (and that I liked them) from eating Campbell's Alphabet Soup, and reading the label. Turnips, yum, lima beans, yuck. Still don't like lima beans.

Busy Busy

2008-12-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year. With Thanksgiving so late this year, it seems like the holidays are knocking on the door, and I'm not even close to being prepared.

We have a wall of bookcases in the family room, and it had been years since we've had a really good book purge. So Sunday I went through, separated the books into hardback or paperback fiction, nonfiction, kid books and Jane Austen (she deserves a shelf all on her own, don't you think?). Then I alphabetized all the books (not in an OCD way, just the librarian in me coming out) dusted the heck out of everything, and tried to "artfully" get the books back on the shelf without causing the shelves to bend under too much weight. Now I have two grocery sacks of books to go to the used book store after letting friends' kids grab what they want.

Yesterday I tried to get the laundry room straightened out, but didn't manage to. I did finish four loads of laundry, but still need to find homes for outgrown coats, and I have a pile of things that need to go to charity. I did manage to hang the other new curtain in our room, get the lights, wreath and garland up, and some shopping in.

Last night was Meatless Monday, and I made spinach ravioli (Costco) with a butter and parmesan sauce. Quick, simple, filling, and yummy.

Today, I'm off to volunteer at Thing 2's class, then find a new coat that will stand up to Seattle rain and (whenever it gets here) 30 degree temps. I've managed to get a few things picked up for Xmas, but have only one person knocked off the list. Plus we're hosting two parties, one on the 13th, and one on the 14th, so I'm just a little stressed out at the moment.

Gotta find some ho.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T01:00:00.000-08:00

Can Until You Can't

2008-11-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

I guess I still can, but I'm getting a little tired of it going solo.

The latest additions: another four quarts of applesauce and six half-pints of apple preserves. I'll use the apple preserves to make mini-apple tarts for Xmas parties. It's a little too sweet in large quantities. (Note to self: drastically reduce the amount of sugar when using home-grown apples!)

I just made another apple cake today. In my haste to ~~lick the batter from the bowl~~ put the cake in the oven, I forgot to put on the topping before I baked the cake. I took one look at it when the timer went off and thought "what the heck happened to the cake?" Duh, strusel topping! I quickly whipped it up and put it on the cake, turning on the broiler to brown it up. Cake saved.

I figure that ~~since the boys are sick of apples~~ fruit is fairly cheap right now, and since it usually goes up late spring, I'll buy fresh fruit for eating now and save the applesauce for later.

Yes, I still have copious amounts of apples in the fridge and garage, although I'm down to about 10 pounds in the garage and five in the fridge. Unfortunately, few are good for baking. I really need to borrow a dehydrator, or get racks for my oven. Apparently the manufacturer makes special racks (my oven has a special dehydrator setting), but they're not telling where you can get them. Typical.

October Harvest Totals

2008-11-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

Wow! I guess it's been awhile! Life has a funny way of getting in the way of blogging....

So, last month I brought in another 60 lbs of food from the garden bringing the total for the year to 253.4 lbs. Last year, I brought in only 34 lbs during October, and that included all of the carrots and a lot of acorn squash, which didn't grow at all this year. Total for last year, 180 lbs. I was finished harvesting by the end of October, so I'm up over 73 lbs over last year, and there's still food to be tallied.

I have left the carrots in the ground this year, because it seems like the best way to store them for me. All the carrots I pulled last year dessicated in the garage, and the ones I left in the ground, although hairy, were still edible through April. I pulled three for stew the other day, and they were gorgeous, bright orange, without a trace of bitterness.

In fact, there's still quite a bit of food out in the garden. There's a little spinach, some parsnips and turnips, cabbages and the aforementioned carrots. The turnips didn't get thinned, unfortunately, so I'm looking at a lot of greens, without too much root.

We've had a rather warm and wet fall this year. Normally we have a low 20s night or two before Halloween, but not this year. I think we've only made it to 28 degrees. It doesn't really feel like November to me; it's just not cold enough, although it's definitely dark and wet enough.

Planting Garlic

2008-10-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I roped Thing 1 into helping me with the garlic planting. Garlic is easy enough for kids of almost any age to help with. I just plopped the garlic on the ground at the spacing I wanted it planted, and Thing 1 stuck them in the ground and covered them up. We planted about 80 cloves of garlic and 18 cloves of shallots.

I had already cleared the bed last weekend of weeds and stray potatoes, so it was nice and fluffy, waiting for the alliums. I don't put down any fertilizer for them in the fall. I put down quite a bit of rock phosphate when the beds were built, so I'm hoping it's still around. However, this spring I'm going to get a soil test done to see what minerals my soil is missing.

I grow Music and Inchelium Red garlic. Music is a potent hardneck variety, and Inchelium Red is a local-ish heritage softneck variety which is much more mild and sweet - great for roasting and braiding. I've been saving my seed from these two for over five years now.

I'm glad we got the planting done. The weather, which has been dry and sunny most of the month, is supposed to turn back to rainy by the end of the week. There's really so much yardwork yet to do, and I'm spending way too much time on the computer, and not getting the work done. Oh, to be disciplined!

I've been trying to grow shallots here for a few years, with no success. At my old house, they grew like gangbusters in rocky, sandy, infertile soil. Here, on my loamy soil, I'm lucky to get any. Yet still I try. Third time's a charm, right?

Was it a Deer?

2008-10-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

My friend, M, suspects that the apple thief may be a deer. My father also thought so, until I told him that the apples were eight feet up. He's not so sure that our puny deer could reach that high.

I'll hope that it was a deer (M's other guess was a bear, but we don't have them here). However, usually when the deer are around, other things, like the strawberry plants, are munched on as well, and there are usually scat and hoof marks all over the place, and there were none at all.

Yummy scents wafting from the kitchen. I'm making vegetable stock.

Mark Bittman's Miso Soup

2008-10-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

I love miso soup. I love how we cozy up at our local sushi restaurant (it's always freezing in there in the winter), and slurp our miso soup straight from the cup. It warms my stomach, and relaxes me. I could forgo the sushi and just have the soup!

I borrowed Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian from the library, to try and find new ideas for Meatless Monday. Ooooh. A miso soup recipe that didn't look too complicated (none of his recipes look complicated. This is the first one I've tried)! So I ran out to the store that stocks lots of asian foods. I bought kombo (dried kelp), red miso, some scallions, and firm silken tofu. As it looked, the recipe wasn't complicated. You soak the kombu and a little ginger in water for 8 hours, remove them, heat up the "broth" to steaming, and add the miso and tofu. Drop in the scallion, and viola! Miso soup.

For a first crack at it, it was darn good. It was just missing something at the end, one low note (I don't know how foodies describe it). I ran through the list of "add-ons", or variations to the recipe. Mr. E thinks maybe a little garlic. I'm thinking mushroom or seaweed. Bittman's recipe used too much tofu for my taste, so I reduced it a bit. I also tried the cold-soak "broth", but it didn't have quite enough flavor for my liking, so I heated it up a little bit before pulling out the kelp and ginger.

Miso Soup - adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
makes 4 large servings

1 Quart Kombu Dashi (below)
1/3 Cup red miso
6 ounces firm silken tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 Cup minced scallion

Heat the dashi until steaming. It's important that the dashi doesn't boil. Reduce heat to low. Using a whisk, mix 1/2 Cup kombu dashi with the miso in a bowl until smooth. Pour the miso mixture into the pot and add the tofu. Stir a couple of times and let sit for a minute. Add scallion and serve.

Kombu Dashi

2 Quarts water
1 piece dried kelp (kombu)
3 nickle-sized slices unpeeled ginger

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Do not boil. As soon as the liquid is about to boil, reduce the heat, and pull out the kelp and the ginger. Use immediately or refrigerate up to two days.

Or, alternatively, you can soak the ingredients using cold water for 6-8 hours, but it didn't give my dashi enough flavor. I wound up heating it up at the end anyway.

That's it. Really simple.

Paging through the book, there are many recipes I'm dying to try before having to return the book. There are so many variations of each recipe, it's hard to write them all down. If I find enough good recipes between now and when I need to return it, I'll probably buy the book.

I really like how the recipes have you cook up a pound of beans, and then use half, and save half for another meal. He does that with rice, too, I think. The "broth" that you make to begin with (kombu dashi) makes enough for two batches of soup, so I have some more in the fridge for my next attempt, maybe tonight.

Apple Thief

2008-10-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what happened - I'll let you decide.

Friday I brought in all but about seven or eight apples from the last tree. A few weren't ready yet, and the rest were too high for me to reach without a ladder. On Sunday, Mr. E took a few of the lower apples, found that the crows had got them, and tossed them into the horse pasture. He said there were still some left. Today I went out to cut some lettuces for dinner, and found a major branch broken, and all of the apples gone!

Now, if it were a rat, raccoon, or the like, there's no way they could've broken that branch. It looks as if someone really wanted those apples, smashing their way into the tree, or a young child climbed up to get at them.

What's disconcerting is that it the tree is way back in my back yard. Which abuts a horse pasture, which abuts another house. There are no roads anywhere nearby that someone could've been driving by and seen them. The only creatures back there at this time of year are horses. I feel like my privacy has been infringed upon.

The only thing I can think of is it was some of the construction crew working on the (illegal) building on the other side of the horse pasture, or the young kids living there. It's a 6,000 square foot mansion. You'd think they could afford apples for their kids.

I'm not so sad about losing the apples - after bringing in 121 pounds of them, I have enough. It's the broken branch and the fact that the person didn't ask. I would've given them the apples - without breaking the branch.

Over 200 Pounds

2008-10-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

No, not me. The amount of food that's come in from the garden so far. Woo hoo.

A Chill in the Air

2008-10-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posting. I've had that "deer in the headlights" feeling the last few days.

And all the crashing coming while I was reading Sharon Astyk's Depletion and Abundance, set me into a period of despair and zoning out. Well, not quite despair, but close. And the feeling was not because of the book; I really enjoyed it. Actually, her book is what kept me from delving into despair.

At any rate, too many thoughts in my head, and none of them coming to any sort of logical... well, anything.

Last night I noticed that the temperature had dropped to 40 degrees, and it was only 8:00. So Thing 1 and I ran outside with some Reemay and a flashlight and covered the tomatoes. It didn't quite get down to freezing, but if I hadn't covered them, I know we would've had frost....

Yesterday, we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 crows in the backyard. It was looking like a scene from "The Birds". I generally don't mind they're coming around. They ate quite a few bugs out of the grass, so I figure they're helping out with pest control. And if they, er, drop anything, I figure it's free fertilizer.

However, when I went to cover the tomatoes last night, I found tomatoes laying all over the place, with definite peck marks in them. So today I'm going to bring in all of those tomatoes - just as soon as the temperature outside warms up a bit.

It was so chilly in the house yesterday, I finally turned on the furnace. I've been trying to acclimatize myself to a cooler house, and when I turned on the furnace to 68, it felt too warm. So I bumped the thermostat down a little.

Although I have many outdoor projects that really need to be worked on, this weekend I'm headed out with my friends M and J for a little girl time. We go for walks, crabbing and "squidding" (jigging. Although the high tide is at something like 3am. I'm not sure that'll be happening this time), work on projects, read, and generally not have to deal with husbands and kids for a weekend. I'll be bringing Mr. E's Other Sock and a crocheted afghan to work on, and a book or two.

Until then, I need to deal with the tomatoes.

September Harvest Totals

2008-10-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

Wow! This last month I felt as though all I did was bring in food, and so I did. During the month of September, I brought in 105.8 pounds of food from my garden!

76.4 lbs apples
5.2 lbs tomatoes
0.8 lbs garlic
15 lbs potatoes
0.7 lbs carrots
4.1 lbs cukes
3.5 lbs cabbage
0.5 lb lettuce
1 ounce dried oregano

Hmmm. That doesn't quite add up. Too much rounding, I think.

Last year I weighed everything in pounds and ounces, and boy, was that a headache to tally up. I was having nightmares about trying to add up pounds, shillings and pennies in a household ledger. So this year, I weigh everything in grams, and then convert it all to pounds.

Fall Knitting

2008-09-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

I had been working all summer on a cotton shell with pretty hem detail. I was worried when I started the project about the size. I was sort of in-between sizes, and since my last project was a little snug, I decided to go for the larger size.

So this weekend I finally get to the point where I can sew it up and try it on. Never mind the fact that I ran out of yarn and still needed to do the finish work. Gaaaack! It was WAY too big. Like, ridiculously so. Oh! The frustration!

So I ripped the whole thing apart, and rewound all the yarn. It was a summer shell, and although it's supposed to hit 80 degrees here today, Fall will return by the end of the week, and it'll be months before I get to wear it anyway.

I'll try and make it again in the spring. It was a cute pattern.

So now it's on to finish some projects that I started over a year ago: Mr. E's other sock and the blue jacket.

Surpassed Last Year!

2008-09-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

I brought in over 30 pounds of apples today (!!!), which brings my total harvest to date at 186 pounds.

Which surpasses last year's 180 pounds.

Yea!

There's no way in heck that I'm going to make my goal of 350 pounds. Hmm. A little overly ambitious, wasn't I? I'll definitely get up over 200, though. I still have an apple tree to harvest, carrots to pull, cabbages.... Maybe 250 pounds? If I'm lucky?

Nevertheless, it's been a good haul. I've run out of places to put apples, and the pantry and freezer are brimming with gardeny goodness.

Makes one feel...content.

Corn Failure

2008-09-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

This year was the first year I tried corn in my garden. Dismal failure! I'm not sure if it was too small of a stand, or if the summer was too cold, or what, but it looks like the corn didn't pollinate at all.

On the one hand, it's a major disappointment (growing corn apparently isn't a genetic trait), on the other, I can get my corn from the local farmers, and it frees up quite a bit of space in my veggie garden for things that I can grow well.

Well, live and learn. What to try next year????

Yup, it's Fall

2008-09-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

Brrrr! 34.4 degrees F (that'd be 1.3 C) this morning, and I had to turn on the furnace, or my kids wouldn't get up. It's off again, hopefully for a while since it's supposed to cloud up which keeps the night-time temps higher.

Meatless Monday - Butternut Squash Ravioli

2008-09-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

I found some butternut squash ravioli at Costco last week, and we had them for dinner for Meatless Monday. They're made by the Monterrey Pasta Company, stuffed with fontina and ricotta cheeses, and made for a very fall-like supper. I tossed them in butter and fresh sage from the garden (as per their instructions), but forgot the salt and pepper, which I think it needed. Anyway, we're having them again tonight because they were so quick and yummy! Add a salad and you're done. My kind of meal.

Spiced Apple Pear Freezer Butter

2008-09-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

In an effort to ~~rid myself of~~ use up apples, I made two batches of Spiced Apple Pear Freezer Butter this morning. I found the recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I love this book! Every recipe that I've tried so far has turned out delicious. It's such a leap of faith to commit several pounds of produce when you have no idea how the finished product will turn out.

The Spiced Apple Pear Freezer Butter is a favorite with my youngest. It's lighter and brighter than traditional apple butter, and the best part is, it took me less than an hour from start to finish per batch, six half-pints each.

Another 12 apples gone, about 40 more sitting on my counter, and I don't want to think about what's waiting on the trees. I don't have a food dehydrator, and although my oven has a drying setting, I don't have the appropriate racks for it. Anyone have an idea for making drying racks? Another "I can't find" - apple corer. I've tried three stores and can't find a single one. What's up with that? I could string apple slices, but need to core the apples somehow.

In other news, fall is here with misty, wet weather. I had a cord of firewood delivered today, and am getting the furnace checked soon. I'm going to try and not turn the heat on for as long as possible, but if it remains cool and wet, I'll wind up turning in on sooner than later, I suppose. Our wood stove heats most of the house, but takes a while to warm up. So it's great for in the afternoon and evening, but won't heat up the house in the morning. I put the flannel sheets on the bed, and it's hard to get up out of them, especially when it's still dark outside.

We had a coyote in the back yard one morning. It was after the mice, and I saw it pounce several times, but to no avail. What happened next was strange. It started going along the ridgeline, as they always do, but now it's blocked by the f***ing left neighbor's fence. So it started up the fenceline towards our house. Now I'm all for the critters staying in the right neighbor's pasture, or down by the woods, but up by the house is not good. So I opened the back door, yelled and clapped my hands. It took off down to the ridgeline and stopped. I guess I know how scarey I am now. About 50 yards scarey. So I let it be, keeping an eye on it. After about ten minutes it suddenly ran pell-mell to the neighbor's pasture, then back and forth along the line of the woods, sometimes chasing its tail, for five minutes, then suddenly dashed into the woods. I don't know if a flea really got it or what, but it was the strangest behavior I've ever seen.

Socks for Apples - Review

2008-09-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

So now that I'm bringing in loads of apples, what about those footies socks I put on them earlier this year?

I am pleased to say that THEY WORKED! Apples with socks had little to no apple maggot or coddling moth damage. My socked apples are looking great.

However, they were a pain in the rear to put on and keep on. Every apple needs a sock, and every sock takes about half a minute to put on.... You get the idea. Time intensive. So I wouldn't recommend it for large trees or large orchards unless you have slave labor or kids. Or are really having problems with maggots and moths.

And once they're on, you have to keep pulling them up as the apples grow, or as the birds try to grab them for their nests.

The socks also act as a sort of sunscreen, so the coloring isn't as deep as the apples without, and if the sock slips so part of it is exposed, you get a little tan line. It doesn't affect the taste of the apple, it's just something to note.

And I didn't have any more problem with earwigs than I normally do.

The only really bad effect was on my non-scab resistant tree. I need to take a more careful look, but it seems like the apples with socks had a higher incidence of scab, possibly because of the increased time that the apples are wet.

This is where you say "where, oh where can I get these wonderful socks?" If you know someone who sells shoes, you might see if you can't snag a box, cheap (or free). Have friends save them for you after trying on shoes. Or Raintree Nursery sells them here, with $4 from the sale of each box going to fruit disease research at WSU Mount Vernon. They're $20 for a box of 300, and you can wash them out in the fall, and reuse them in the spring (no, I don't get anything from them for telling you that).

Socks for apples? Highly recommended!

Apple Butter and Cucumber Relish

2008-09-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my friend J came over to ~~be my kitchen slave~~ learn about canning.

Since I had a plethora of apples, we made a batch of apple butter. Never having made it, I wanted to start right away on it because I kept hearing about how long it takes to cook down. I don't know why, but by the time the apples were mushy, the sauce was so thick, I was afraid to cook it down any more. I'm not sure if these apples were loaded in pectin, or if they were not really juicy, or what. Anyway, it didn't take forever, rather about 20 minutes, and before I knew it, we had incredible, trying not to lick up the spills with my tongue in front of J, apple butter.

I had always suspected that canning was easier with two, and it was. We had quite the dance going with me filling the jars and getting the headspace right, and J getting out the bubbles, wiping the rims, putting on the lids, and then back to me to put the jar in the canner. Of course all the prep went faster, too. J peeled all the apples while I quartered and cored them, and dumped them into the pot.

While the apple butter was bubbling away, J and I started on relish with the four pounds of too-big-for-pickles cukes from the garden. Of course dopey me didn't read that the relish had to sit in salt for four hours. But J was here for all the hard work, which is paring the cukes, and chopping everything up. Note the perfectly uniform pieces of cucumber (J's work) and the sloppily chopped red and green peppers (courtesy of moi). I wound up canning the lot at 8pm, and my wonderful hubby did up all the dishes (thanks, honey)!

So now I need to get the jars of relish to J, although there's really no rush on them since they should probably "pickle" for about a month anyway. If the tastes I had yesterday were any indication, it should turn out great, too. Big thanks to J for coming over and slaving away on a Sunday afternoon!

Apple Time

2008-09-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

My harvest total has rocketed past the 100 lb mark with the digging of the rest of my potatoes, and the oncoming rush of apples. I figure the rodents have stolen/ruined over 10 lbs of spuds, dratted beasties.

To answer sinfonian's question, I have four semi-dwarf apple trees, planted back in 2002. The first to ripen are the Akane apples (shown in the basket), usually in late August for me. The tree is small, and so are the fruit, ranging from 3-4 oz each. They are sweet-tart and juicy. This year I had about 15 lbs from the tree. They're really disease-resistant - no scab to speak of, and the apple maggots, for whatever reason, leave them alone.

Which is not the case with the second tree to ripen, Alkemene (the green apples on the counter). It's a much larger tree, with larger, 4-6oz, very tart fruit, about a week behind Akane. Prolific and scab-resistant, The maggots just love these apples. I'm expecting about 30+lbs from this tree, almost all of which will be made into pies, applesauce, etc.

The third tree to ripen is Dayton, in late September. This has huge apples, some around 12oz. Again, the maggots don't seem to care for them much, and they're scab-resistant. The tree is shorter, wider and less prolific than Alkemene. I'm expecting around 20-25 lbs from this tree.

The last tree to ripen, in early October, is a keeper variety, Melrose. It's the largest tree of the lot, and, unfortunately, the only one not scab resistant. And the scab affects the storage qualities of the apple, so this one will probably end up applesauce or dried. I'll probably have another 25 lbs from this tree.

This is my first year of "big" harvests, and according to various sources, in time I should be getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 pounds of fruit per tree, give or take depending on the size of the tree.

Thanks for the question, sinfonian!

August Harvest Totals

2008-09-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

Another month has come to a close. The late spring and cool summer have certainly affected the garden. At this time last year, I had taken almost 20 pounds of apples from the trees, and at least 3 lbs of tomatoes. This year, nada on both counts. Last year, I had all of my potatoes in. This year I still have another 10+ pounds in the ground. And, due to the busy-ness of the summer, I still haven't gotten my softneck garlic braided and weighed.

Yet, I am still surpassing last year's harvest. Year to date for 2007 - 78.5 lbs. Year to date for 2008 - 87.6 lbs, an overall increase of 11%, but a 30% decrease for the month over last year. Not great, but hopefully the weather will warm so I get some tomatoes, and the apple deluge is about to hit, and it's looking like it's a doozy.