Backyard Chili Bloggin

Final Harvest Followed by Ground Freezing Temps - Hello Winter

2012-01-20T02:59:00.000-08:00

Central Pennsylvania winters are truly unpredictable. Some years we have snow cover from November to March (seldom), other winters are near snowless. This year is no different. A freak snowstorm on October 29 dumped several inches that melted rather quickly. Today is the first we saw a blanket of snow since that time. Tonight the prediction is 3-5 inches. Which leads me to what's going on garden-wise during that time? As suspected, not much since I don't have winter hoop houses (on my wish list). I harvested the last of my carrots just after Christmas when forecasters were calling for ground-freezing temperatures. I got 6 pounds worth. Since then, it's been cold and everything that was harvestable up until Christmas is now finished. I was picking bits and pieces of swiss chard, kale, and spinach until about a week ago. The attention now shifts to cooking and seed starting the next two months. I'll try to post tips on using harvests from the freezer and other odd and end winter gardening thoughts. I do this all in-between another endeavor I started besides helping my elderly parents: training for a couple ultra hikes/runs this summer. I signed up for 4 hikes ranging from the shorter 7 miler in March to the queen hike in September of full marathon length - 26 miles. The hikes are all on rough, rocky, central Pennsylvania terrain. April's hike is 16 miles with non-stop mountainous views of what they call the Central Pennsylvanian Grand Canyon. Since I'm retired now, I have the time to garden AND hike AND care for my parents. The hiking and gardening are my therapy. Bring on spring and summer!

Mom's Rice Pudding - Jill's "Healthy" Version of Mom's Rice Pudding

2012-01-20T01:59:00.000-08:00

My mom is known for her rice pudding. Here's the recipe:

1 cup River Rice (medium grain rice)
1 quart water
pinch salt
2 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cans evaporated milk
Cinnamon

Wash rice until all starch is removed. Add water and pinch of salt. Simmer until rice is done. Remove from stove; add butter and vanilla; stir. Take sugar and eggs; beat well. Add 1 can evaporated milk and beat. Repeat with the other can of milk. Add rice slowly; stir well. Cook on stove until boiling. Remove and sprinkle with cinnamon.

And here's how I made it dairy and sugar free. It turned out delicious.

1 cup River Rice (medium grain rice)
1 quart water
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
10 tablespoons agave nectar
2 eggs (local or your own, of course)
2 cans (14 oz) coconut milk (full fat)
Cinnamon

Cook same as above. You can adjust the agave nectar to your tastes. 10 tablespoons was the right amount for my sweet tooth.

The First 2012 Seed Order is In

2011-12-24T04:49:00.000-08:00

Fedco Seeds now has my first seed order of the year. I say first because I've never been finished with just one order of seeds and I was using up a gift card so I had to limit my purchase to a certain amount. You'll notice a big hole in the list -- peppers and tomatoes -- probably the two most popular plants grown by gardeners far and wide. Perusing the seed box, I found 7 varieties of tomato seeds and 5 pepper varieties. Needless to say, there was no need to order tomatoes or peppers this year. Here's what's on order for 2012:

Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean

Cannellini Bean

Spring Treat Yellow Sweet Corn

Early Frosty Shell Pea

Oregon Giant Snow Pea

Early Wonder Tall Top Beet

Perpetual Spinach or Leaf Beet

Arcadia Broccoli

Kale Mix

Zefa Fino Fennel

Needing Advice on Sweet Corn Varieties

2011-12-18T05:18:00.000-08:00

My 2012 garden plans include a huge patch of sweet corn to freeze. My luck with sweet corn has been less than favorable and I could use some advice on the best varieties to grow. In the three times I tried, only one was successful and I can't recall the variety I grew that year, although I know it was a hybrid. Last year I grew an heirloom variety that produced tiny ears and very few of them. It seemed like a waste of time and effort for the little amount of corn I got. Two years ago I grew another heirloom variety that also grew it's own disease and I don't recall getting any ears out of that crop. Could I please, please get suggestions from my friends? Please post a comment on your successful sweet corn varieties.

Taking a Break - Enjoying the Beauty

2011-12-11T02:09:00.000-08:00

This is the time of year us northerners sit back, relax, and start daydreaming of spring and getting our fingers dirty again. The temperature is currently 19 degrees (Fahrenheit). The ground is frozen and not too much is going on in the backyard in terms of food production. My FEDCO seed catalog is close-at-hand and dozens of pages are already turned down as I peruse the catalog in the warmth of my cozy little house. Now that the leaves are down, mother nature is making another showing for us -- bird nests. Yesterday, hubby and I found this very-coolly-constructed nest in a sugar maple tree near our house. It's a nest I never saw before. Bird nests are interesting to look at and figure out what breed of bird constructed them. Through the years, common nests we found near our house are the stick nests of mockingbirds, the grass nests of eastern bluebirds, the horsehair nests of the house finch, the feathery cavity nest of a sparrow, the mud nest of a robin and also swallows make mud nests, and the beautiful hanging nest of a Baltimore oriole. The nest in this picture, we believe, is a red-eyed vireo - a unique, new find for us. I can't say I've ever spotted this type of bird on our property, so I'm doubly excited about the find. One nest eludes me -- the hummingbird. Hummingbirds frequent our property spring after spring, yet I never saw one of these compact, tiny nests. I'm sure mother nature will share one of these with me some day too. We're looking forward to that day.

Revisiting My 1994 Gardening "Roots"

2011-11-27T03:36:00.000-08:00

Years ago, the local Newspaper, "Patriot-News", ran an annual gardening contest focusing on different types of gardens. One year was vegetables, another was perennials, and in 1994 it was herbs. I entered that year, and out of 51 entries, I placed second. Here's the article on the 2nd place winner.

Herbal landscape, backyard culinary garden runners-up

An herbal landscape overlooking the Mahantango Mountains and a neatly trimmed backyard culinary garden in the middle of Harrisburg won second and third place in this year's Patriot-News "How Does Your Garden Grow?" contest. Jill Wiest of Lykens Township won the $50 second prize for the landscaping job she did on her two-year-old home deep in the countryside of northern Dauphin County. While Wiest's 1-acre landscaping shows that herbs can be just as ornamental as the flowers and shrubs that most homeowners plant, Hanyok's garden shows that it doesn't take a lot of space in which to grow a great garden. The Patriot News eighth annual gardening contest this year focused on herb gardening, which has been flourishing like an upnotted mint plant these past two years. Out of 51 entries received, screening judges.... narrowed the field to six finalists. Those finalists gardens were visited in Mid-July. What the judges especially liked about Wiest's garden was how she followed the natural contour of the land in designing the beds. Rather than digging a rectangle at the base of bank, for example, Wiest wrapped one large kidney-shaped bed along the bank, added a stone bench at the bottom center of the bed, and lined the whole thing in brick. "She's blended her beds beautifully in the surrounding landscape", the judges said. It didn't hurt that Wiest's back yard also overlooks the Mahantango Mountains and valley, offering a spectacular backdrop to the gardens. (There's also a vegetable garden, a "fragrance garden" of scented herbs off the patio, and a rose/herb/flower garden in addition to the main kidney-shaped herb garden.) The judges also were impressed that Wiest did all of her landscaping in less than two years. She and her husband moved to the site and built a Victorian-style house on 7 acres that was carved out of her father's 70-acre farm. "I've grown marigolds before, but these are my first gardens." says Wiest. "I've always loved antique roses, and that's originally what I wanted to put in. But when I was reading about roses, I kept reading about how herbs make such good companions for them" That got Wiest interested in herbs, and before she knew it, she was reading herb books and making weekly trips to Fisher's Greenhouse in nearby Gratz to buy every kind of herb in the place. Besides the main herb bed and the fragrance garden, about three quarters of the rest of the property's landscaping is done in herbs. "I didn't want the traditional evergreens and flowers that everybody has", says Wiest. "I wanted something different." Instead of boxwoods and junipers, for example, the front of her house features foot-tall compact plants of germander (blooming purple) flanked by furry lamb's ears, several groups of lavender, a bank of sedum and several antique roses (which tecnically are considered herbs). In all, Wiest is using 35 different herbs in her foundation plants. The kidney-shaped bed has 42 herb varieties, including two banks of grey santolina ( a bushy gray herb with fern like foliage that can be clipped in a low hedge), several russian sage plants (tall, frilly foliage with bluish-purple flower spikes), and a bank of thyme. "She was careful to plant low plants in the front and taller ones in the back", said the judges. "She very obviously gave this a lot of thought and has a eye for design". Wiest's fragrance garden is planted in a circular bed off the brick patio, which was entered through a white wooden arbor planted with climbing roses. In the fragrance garden are scented geraniums, lemon thyme, and lavender. "I like herbs because they're mostly perennials, in most cases they're care-free and there are so many of them, Wiest says. "And they are not that expensive either."

And that my friends, started my journey to Master Gardening and the obsession I have today for growing and preserving things. The remainder of the article was about the third place winner and runners-up. Needless to say, 18 years later, few of these plants remain and the design is long gone, overtaken by other priorities and life in general. Retirement is giving me the opportunity to get it back again and it feels pretty darn good.

Drying Apples

2011-11-26T03:28:00.000-08:00

Our local farmer's market had a good deal on a bushel of local seconds apples: $5 for the whole bushel. It was a deal too good to pass up. We're not big applesauce eaters and some of the apples seemed less-than-crisp, so in the dehydrator they go. We never dried apples before, but as a kid, my mother always had dried apples and I loved them. Hubby wasn't sure if he'd like them either, but I think he's ok with them -- especially knowing no apples will be wasted this way. The dehydrator handbook instructed me to slice the apples 3/8 inch thick. It also said to core the apples, but I did an easier method and sliced through the core and picked the seeds out. Much less waste that way. I was thrilled with the results. Two quarts of dried apple rings are sitting on the pantry shelf.

November 25 Garden in Central Pennsylvania

2011-11-25T02:12:00.000-08:00

November has been exceptionally mild with temperatures hovering in the mid-fifties all month. The mercury hit the low-sixties a couple times and the warm days have me still in the garden. Food-wise, we're still eating salads made of spinach, carrots, onions, radishes, radicchio with some chard and kale thrown in, and there are a handful of red beets still trying to grow (doubt that they will amount to much at this point). Work-wise, there's always something to do. Today or tomorrow, I plan to finish up a project that's been about two years overdue: the herb garden overhaul. I started to leave it go last year when mother took ill and now is the first chance I had to get digging. It's a grassy mess. I feel like I'm digging up the hay field by hand - literally. A variety of switch grass has found its way from the field (only 10 feet from the herb garden) and covered about 1/4 of the approximately 700 square-foot garden. It's difficult to dig up, but the end is in sight. The grass roots entangled themselves in any remaining herbs which meant they too had to be dug up, de-grassed, then replanted. This was the first of the beds I put in when we moved here 20 years ago. At the time, it placed second in a local herb garden contest. Out of 80ish entries, this garden and the herbs surrounding my house caught the judges attention for the variety of plants I used and the aesthetic appeal. I had plants like silver wormwood, santolina, germander and one of my favorites that I've since completely pulled because it takes over, silver queen (makes beautiful wreaths). I had the traditional herbs too like tansy, lavender, and rosemary. All in all, there must have over 60 varieties of all kinds of herbs everywhere around the house. I just love them. At the time, I used very few herbs in cooking. Today, the herb garden overhaul will be mostly edibles and a handful of varieties that attract beneficial insects. Here's the rundown of the planned final herbs come spring. This list may change.

Bulb fennel
Parsley
Thyme
Rosemary
Sage
Oregano
Chives
Purple and green basil
Lemon Verbena (maybe - don't really use this too much but I love the scent)
Some sort of mint (there are dozens of varieties - I plan to plant a variety to dry and drink over the winter as tea).
Dill
Tansy (for beneficial insects)
Bronze fennel (for beneficial insects)
Garlic Chives (for beneficial insects)
St. John's Wort (good ground cover - and the flowers attract bees)
Wormwood (for beneficial insects)
Loveage
Sunflowers (for the bees and birds)
Sweet Annie (for the beneficial insects)
Purple oregano (for the beneficial insects)
Russian Sage (for beneficial insects)
Rue (for beneficial insects and bees)

Thinking Through Thankfulness

2011-11-23T01:49:00.000-08:00

There isn't a morning that goes by that I don't look at the sky and say thanks. The world around us is magical, beautiful. Everything in it is amazing. Yes, everything. Including the mud wasps making their homes on the side of my bricks and the feral cat trying to stay cozy in the weeds of the wild flower meadow where the songbirds are picking on the seed heads of summer's finished growth. Those poor birds have no idea what's lurking under them. It's all magnificent. I say this to thank my family too for putting up with my food "interests" all these years. I can't say it's been easy, but I trudge on with these peculiarities (to them) wondering if the day will ever come that someone in my family will grasp my food ways and join me. Hubby is coming very close and I'm proud of him. He's eating much less meat these days and has always steered away from cheese. The holidays are difficult for me every year and this year seems harder. Maybe it's because I've been "fighting" it all these years and for some reason, this year, I'm tired. But I won't give in, and will not dine on the traditional holiday turkey. I continue to feel sorry for the birds and for the treatment they endure in commercial agriculture production. My family has learned of the turkey industry through me, but I'm told "I must have fell off the high chair when I was a baby." They are farmers, meat eaters. I'd rather not have a dead bird carcass in my kitchen, but I love my family. Hubby, especially, I love dearly. His economical thoughts go straight to the $.74 a pound birds and my thoughts go to how that poor bird was raised and tortured during it's short existence. I convinced hubby to allow me to purchase a free-range bird one year, but I never lived the $54.00 price tag down. And now being retired, he found the cheap birds especially attractive. I can make a lentil loaf with mushroom gravy for a fraction of the cost of that cheap bird. But I'm outnumbered. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas, the inexpensive (and subsequently tortured) dead bird will prevail in our home and my hubby and family will engage in festive frolicking and food consumption. They will be happy. I continue to be thankful.

Thank you Farm Sanctuary for saving turkeys.
Thank you Ellen DeGeneres for asking people to adopt a turkey rather than eat one.
Thank you facebook friend Amy Vegan-Decker for your wonderful posts on saving animals

Hummus - "Rick's Recipe"

2011-11-22T01:05:00.000-08:00

Hubby took a liking to a variety of spicy pepper hummus the local Walmart sold; but, like most mass-produced supermarket products, one day they stopped carrying it. So what did hubby do? He devised his own recipe. The part I always had trouble with was blending the ingredients together to get the smooth consistency without purchasing yet another electric gadget to clutter up the kitchen. With a little research on that there world-wide-web, I found the answer - an immersion blender. And it works beautifully. Here's the recipe and here are the pictures of the results.

Rick's Hummus

1 can chick peas, drained (but keep 1/4 cup liquid)
1/4 chick pea liquid
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons Tahini
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oregano
1/2 tablespoon crushed red peppers
1 tablespoon diced japaleno peppers
1/4 teaspoon pepper (we love cracked peppercorns ground in a coffee grinder)

Mix in a tall container with an immersion blender.
Nutrition: 1/4 cup: Calories-170, Protein- 4 grams, Iron-6% of RDA, Carbs-9grams, fat-13 grams, Calcium -2% of RDA, fiber - 3 grams.

1/4 cup: Calories-170, Protein- 4 grams, Iron-6% of RDA, Carbs-9grams, fat-13 grams, Calcium -2% of RDA, fiber - 3 grams.

"Mom's Pie Crust," Courtesy Whitegrass Cafe in WV

2011-11-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

Cooking was never my forte' until Whitegrass Cafe entered into my life.  Whitegrass Cafe is a small restaurant in West Virginia that creates the most delectable dishes I've ever encountered. The tiny cross-country ski resort packs them in all winter long and the Cafe sells out every weekend. Reservations must be made weeks in advance.   The Cafe published two cookbooks and today I found the perfect pie crust recipe from Whitegrass Flavor, the most recent of the two cookbooks. Hubby tried his hand at making pie crust a couple weeks ago using his mother's recipe with mediocre results. Today, he was happy to see the Whitegrass pie crust success. The consistency of the crust was smooth and it rolled nicely. The real test was folding the crust in half and laying it in the pan without any tears or stretching. It worked like a charm.  Cost savings making our own crust vs buying ready-made crusts is about 70%. That's significant.  I'm now "Crusty" the crust maker and hubby is "Creamy" the custard filling maker. We're such a team. Here's the recipe

Mom's Pie Crust
(Makes one crust)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
2 1/2 tablespoon butter, cold
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

My mom uses all shortening, but I use half butter and shortening. Some say that lard makes a good crust. You will have to work with it and see which you like best. This recipe may seem overwhelming, but you can get hooked on making pie crust from scratch, I did. MBG (Marybeth Gwyer)

Place flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add shortening, blend with a pastry cutter, or by cutting in opposite directions with two knives.  Blend in butter until you have coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces. Or you can use a food processor to mix the dough. Pulse gently for 1 second at a time, don't over mix.

In the bowl, sprinkle one tablespoon of water over different parts of mixture. Toss quickly with a fork until particles stick together when pressed gently. Use only enough water to make the particles cling together (Jill used 3 tablespoons). Dough should not be wet or slippery. Form into ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. Dough can be frozen for later use.

Remove dough from fridge, let set 5 minutes. To roll roll out dough, scatter a little flour and sugar over your work surface. Flour the rolling pin as well. Flatten dough ball and gently begin to roll out from center to all directions. Turn dough as needed and sprinkle more flour and sugar as needed. You may have to cut and paste areas to make a round shape. Roll to about 1/8 inch thin.

Fold circle in half, gently, then quartered. Pick up and lay in pie pan.  Unfold gently. Trim, leaving 3/4 inch overhanging. Tuck that under and pinch around the trim for an edge.

To bake an empty crust, first refrigerate about 30 minutes. Cover the shell with foil and line it with 1/2 cup dried beans. This will keep it from puffing up. Bank in preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. then gently remove foil and beans. Bank an additional 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool.

A Little Bit of Thyme

2011-11-15T02:59:00.000-08:00

Thyme is a "woody" perennial herb coming in hundreds of shapes, colors, and sizes. It grows flat and fuzzy to full and lush; it spreads, creeps and blooms with beautiful dainty pink flowers the bees love. I've grown about a dozen varieties over the years with the creeping thymes such as wooly thyme, elfin thyme, and caraway thyme taking top honors in my garden as the most visual (at one point in time, I grew herbs strictly for aesthetics in the garden and seldom used them in cooking). Today, I have one faithful variety I use for drying and cooking, "french thyme" (Thymus Vulgaris). I previously wrote about drying thyme at this link.

After about three years, thyme plants grow leggy and "woody" at the base. You get long stems with a cluster of leaves at the end. This is the signal for you to work your magic and create new plants. It's very simple and there are two methods. Often times, the end of the branch will start to attach itself at a new location and roots will form. If you see visible roots, you can snip the stem off at the base and plant that new plant elsewhere keeping it moist until it roots and starts growing. If the long stems have not yet grown roots, you can simply bend the stem into the ground next to the plant, cover it with dirt, and new roots will grow starting a new plant. this is a method called layering and is described more fully in the below link. That new plant can be transplanted in a few weeks/months. Mother Earth News did a wonderful article several years back about Thyme. You can read it here. I still enjoy running my fingers through the many scents of thyme at a nursery. It's astounding how caraway thyme really smells like caraway seed, or lemon thyme is so lemony. Enjoy your thyme!

Being Neighborly

2011-11-12T02:43:00.000-08:00

Part of my quest for organic, clean and frugal living is staying local as much as possible. It makes sense to support local merchants and drive little. After all, that's how it all began 70-80 years ago - on the farm and countryside. I'm working towards getting more back to the farm lifestyle of years ago - not much different than how the Amish live today. Luckily, visiting my parents is only a short, 5-minute walk through the horsefield which keeps it truly close-to-home. With them both aging a bit (mother is 74, father is 81), I'm thrilled to lend a hand as much as I can. Mom, a Type 1 diabetic (only 5% of all diabetics have Type 1 which is when your body isn't able to produce insulin), has had numerous health issues - especially the past year -- which leaves her limited in her abilities. Yesterday was a beautifully breezy day for hanging out the wash and that's what mother had on the agenda for me along with washing a couple windows I felt could use a shining. She had me rearrange a couple things on the high shelves in her corner cabinet and in the process gave me a beautiful old dish she said she didn't ever use and didn't want it anymore. I cook for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner each year for my family and the dish will come in handy for serving vegetables. I joked with mother I don't have to serve the mashed potates in a mixing bowl anymore. Low and behold, I come to find out the dish actually has some history to it and the markings on the underside of the dish are a registry code. Patented on April 4, 1867, it's called white ironstone and the company that made it is Elsmore & Forster and the china type is Tunstall. The design on the bowl is post-civil war and many felt the idea for the design was conceived with the end of the war in mind showing a lone star at the top of the wreath in the design. Mom loved the story to the dish and had no idea of the history. I'm thrilled to have a new serving bowl, and a good neighbor!

Another Use of Butternut Squash - The Seeds

2011-11-11T03:27:00.000-08:00

We love butternut squash and have been growing it for years. You'll see my many posts and pictures from years past if you search for butternut squash (here's a sample). This year, now having the time to do more in the kitchen (thanks retirement!), I finally experimented with saving the squash seeds. Thanks to Mother Earth News (instructions and recipes in the link), the first roasting occurred and it was a huge success. The process was quite simple:

Scoop seeds out of squash into a colander (the norm when roasting squash)
Rinse the seeds removing all pulp
Spread on a paper-towel on a plate in a single layer to allow to dry for 2-3 days in warm place
Roast!
Note: no need to hull the squash seeds. Some folks find pumpkin seed hulls tough and inedible. The squash seeds are lighter and edible.

I roasted mine in a fry pan following the Mother Earth News Spicy recipe. I warmed the olive oil, spread the seeds in a single layer, then sprinkled with cayenne pepper, paprika, salt and pepper. The results didn't last very long as hubby and I gobbled them down quickly. Well, to be honest, mostly I did the gobbling. Another batch is being fried up today. The part I like most is the nutrition in squash seeds:

1 cup seeds: 285 calories, 12grams of protein, 12% of your RDA of iron, 34g Carbs, 12g Fat, 4% of your calcium. Of course, add about 120 calories for the oil they are roasted in. This is still tremendously good nutrition.

I'll never compost another squash seed again.

Babysitting Amish Baby "Michael"

2011-11-08T01:07:00.000-08:00

It was only for five minutes, but I was thrilled to have the opportunity to watch Michael while Marianne ran to the chicken coup to pick eggs on Friday. It gave me a moment to reflect on Amish lifestyle and maybe apply some of their ways in my life. Baby Michael was lying on the floor under the swing, just as happy as could be. I talked and smiled at him and he smiled right back -- what a happy kid, I thought. The living room was set up for practicality. The couch, love seat, and chairs were all pushed flat against the outside walls with the window light shining in over the backs of the seats/chairs. There was a bookcase with several children's books. On the other side of the kitchen was the sewing nook with supplies and fabric. In the middle of the house was the wood stove that likely kept the entire house warm. The house was functional with a purpose. The kitchen/great room/sewing nook had linoleum on the floor and the living room had a hardwood floor with an area rug in the center. Nothing fancy. A plaque with the Lord's prayer was on the wall, but that was about it in terms of decoration. No pictures, no family photos, no wreaths or dried/silk arrangements. I liked it! I thought how easy it would be to clean. I imagined not worrying about how something looks: Do these curtains match? Does the rug match close enough to the couch? What sense does it make to waste time and money on making something match or stylish. It doesn't. My blue-plaid 80's couch and love seat are going to be around for many, many more years and I don't care much what people think of it -- it's saving me about $1,000. At one point I wanted a new couch pretty bad because of the dated, 80's country look of it, but my mind has now changed and its a perfect couch -- you can sit on it and their ain't no torn or worn corners anywhere. What else do you need? Why spend money to keep up with what's in style this season. In my mind (now), its clearly a waste of money,and spending five minutes with Michael solidified those thoughts. I'm very grateful to have many classic, hand-me-down pieces of furniture that will never go out of style. I guess I always had a little practicality in me after all.

Winterizing Your Carrots and Beets

2011-11-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here in Central Pennsylvania (technically Zone 5 where I'm at), the temps can dip as low as single digits in the coldest winter months but surprisingly, beets, carrots, and other root crops will survive and you can harvest them all winter with just a little protection. If you expect to harvest your crops before the ground freezes, all they need is a little straw mulch at ground level to protect the tops of the roots sticking out. If you want to harvest all winter, all you really need to do is cover with a foot-thick layer of straw keeping the greens exposed so they can keep growing. When there's snow all around and you move the mulch, you'll be delighted to pull out a fresh carrot in the dead of winter. Here's a good link from Organic Gardening that may be helpful. Enjoy!

Going Without, Cutting Back, and Changing MY Attitude for "Stuff"

2011-11-02T03:07:00.000-07:00

My mother loves Vanity Fair Outlets in Reading, Pennsylvania. They are 100-year old clothing factory buildings that once employed hundreds of Americans. Jobs now long-gone to overseas production of goods, the big old buildings now house the same brands once made there, but at a huge discount. The name brand mother goes for is Lee and Wrangler jeans. She was thrilled with her bargains: i.e., $8.97 for blue jeans plus a 10% discount for senior citizens on Tuesday. Hubby even took a couple pair at that price for new jeans. Me? Read on.

Now retired and having a much better understanding of money, frugal living, and the world around us, my attitude has changed dramatically about shopping. There was a day I wouldn't think twice about dropping $100 on a leather purse or boots. Yesterday, I looked at a $29.99 wallet and felt bad for the animal that died for it. I saw racks and racks of "useless items made by foreigners for dumb Americans to buy" as a book I once read put it. There were stores full of plastic toys, wrapping paper and ribbon, perfume, fancy shoes, boots, purses, blue jeans, underwear, luggage, socks, and kids clothing. And the prices were very, very affordable. A sign of the times, I'm sure.

My thoughts go to the Amish when shopping these days. They are the masters of practical, useful products. Their thoughts are repair, reuse, or recycle. They shop second-hand stores for used items and discount stores for low-prices. They will fix, mend, or repair something until it absolutely cannot be used anymore. In my head, I put an Amish person in the aisles of Vanity Fair and I couldn't imagine them buying one item of anything at the Vanity Fair Outlets -- not one single item. So neither did I. I came home with money in my pockets and empty bags. It was a good day -- for all of us!

"I like when they dye their hair grey."

2011-10-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

My new-found local bargain store is called Hoover's Discount Grocery on St. Johns Road, outside of Berrysburg, Pennsylvania. They sell bulk quantities, expired or near-expired products, and seconds. Yes, the prices are incredible on some of their products. It's run by Amish and the majority of shoppers are Amish. Today, it was pretty full of Amish shoppers. Standing in the narrow aisle checking out the black beans with barely butt room between me and the elder Amish man pushing the cart that his wife was filling, I hear in a bold voice, "I like when they dye their hair grey." I couldn't help my big grin when I turned to answer, "I like it too!" And he says, "so does my wife." It made my week, month, and year. What a classic line! I'll never forget the moment. (In case you don't know me, I'm very grey and never dyed my hair -- we joke I paid a lot of money to have my hair streaked grey!).

My Dad and His Childhood Chicken Story

2011-10-18T04:25:00.000-07:00

Somewhere around 1940, a little boy in the small town of Gratz, Pennsylvania, was sent to the backyard by his mom to "go get a chicken for supper." Everyone in Gratz had backyards full of vegetables, chickens, and a pig to eventually slaughter as a neighborhood project. This is how folks lived and thrived in smalltown USA before industrial agriculture. They grew and raised all their food. If the bill at the grocery store was more than $10 a week, Dad wasn't happy. That bill was for a family of 8. So little boy Donnie went to the chicken pen to catch a chicken for dinner. They all gathered around him as though it was time for their feeding. You see, little Donnie cared for the birds and they grew fond of his handsful of feed everyday. Little Donnie caught one of his flock, and with ax in hand and mom's orders in his head, he hesitated. He listened to his chicken cackle, hung his head, and let her go. He couldn't do it. He went back to the house and his mom said, "where's the chicken?" And little Donnie said, "I couldn't catch one." His mother mumbled some Pennsylvania dutch, calling him dumb. I'm glad little Donnie was dumb and never killed a chicken. And I'm more glad his 81 year old brain remembered the story and told me about it last night, on my birthday. I loved it. Of course he mumbled the exact same words in Pennsylvania dutch that his mom mumbled, but I'm sorry to say I never learned the language and couldn't repeat. Thanks for the story dad!

Gearing up for Full-time Food Production

2011-10-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

In two weeks, my daily two-hour round trip commute to Harrisburg City in Pennsylvania, to my full-time job as a government manager, will come to an end. I retire on October 28. Years ago when I first started reading about going green, homesteading, living off the grid, and using less resources, I dreamt of the day I wouldn’t have to commute to work. The day is here. My daily commute will be by foot to the backyard to prep the gardens to grow our food. This is the part of retirement that gets me the most excited. I’m the type that likes many activities and I don’t always ‘stick” with one. Being a triathlete is a good example. From 2004 to 2008, I swam, biked, and ran my little heart out all the way to a world competition. A bike accident put a quick halt to that short-term endeavor. Through the years I’ve picked up and put down probably 15 or so hobbies and interests. But through all of them, one thing stuck: gardening of some sort. For twenty-two years, I’ve tossed together horse manure, straw, kitchen scraps, and grass clippings to feed my food. As a kid I helped my mom harvest and preserve which instilled the canning notion in my brain. I’m a farmer at heart. It’s in my blood and I can’t put it aside like other hobbies. To know I will now be able to garden every single day for the rest of my life is an awe-inspiring feeling. To know not only can I grow it, but I’ll now have the time to preserve it and eat it in the middle of the winter, is equally awesome. I’m excited to grow, preserve and eat my own food on a full-time basis. Warm up the stove... let's get cooking!

Summertime Whitegrass Love

2011-08-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

Our favorite winter destination, Whitegrass in West Virginia, cooks up some fabulous dishes and puts many of those delectable recipes into two cookbooks. Both have prominent, permanent spots in my kitchen. Today, I share "Betsy's Tomato Salad" from the first cookbook, "Whitegrass Cafe, Cross Country Cooking." This salad is scrumptous with any tomato, onions, herbs or vinegar. But make it with heirloom Black Krim tomatoes, sweet spanish onions, homegrown herbs, and purple basil vinegar and it's through-the-roof incredibly good. Enjoy!

3-4 ripe summer tomatoes, sliced (I used Black Krim)
1 thin sliced sweet onion ( my choice is sweet Spanish)
1/4 tsp. dried basil (purple ruffles - dried last winter)
1/4 tsp dried oregano (Greek oregano - dried last winter)
1/4 tsp. dried dill (dried last winter)
1/4 tsp. dried chives (I used fresh for this - that's all I had)
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. red wine vinegar or lemon juice (purple basil vinegar, made last year)
2 Tbs. Olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp. black pepper

Start a layer of tomatoes in a shallow glass pan. Then add a sprinkle of seasonings (and sugar) over the top. Make a marinade by mixing vinegar, olive oil, garlic and pepper. Sprinkle a little marinade over the tomatoes. Then add a laery of onion. Continue the layering process, cover and chill for 2 hours before serving. The juices and marinade create the most wonderful flavor. Makes 4-6 servings.

A summertime delight from our friend, Betsy Reed, Owner of Canaan Realty.

Dancing Onions

2011-08-03T04:26:00.000-07:00

Painting by Pamela Swainson

Each spring for more than 20 years, a portion of Chili’s backyard is reserved solely for onions – lots of onions. I can’t recall ever planting less than 400 plants or onion sets in all those years. To keep the rotation going from year to year, I’d get creative and move the onion patch to interesting locations. They would circle the birdbath, line walkways, and sometimes would be in traditional tidy rows in the garden. My entire family eats onions with everything. They are fried, baked, boiled and sauteed in big pieces, little pieces, and in perfect rings. They are thrown in with soups, stews, meats, eggs, and eaten on sandwiches. Our breath would stink, the house would wreak, and the cellar sometimes has a drip or two of rotting onion if we aren’t careful. But hey, it’s all part of the onion love process we can’t live without. This year, was the first time in 20 years, I think we’ve finally perfected the onion harvest, although I can’t take credit for it. Mom nature cooked up the perfect recipe to grow, harvest, and preserve the optimum onion bounty. The spring started damp and cool – baby onion heaven. The rains went well into June and early July, then suddenly stopped – just about the time the onions were getting ready to finish their growing and were getting a little obese. As most crops were screaming for water, the onions were basking in the sun, shriveling and drying up with delight, letting me know exactly when they were ready for a little shade by hanging their weary, dried up necks. That’s when I helped them out of the ground and settled them in under the shade canopy for some air drying for another two-three weeks. Continuing lack of moisture gave the onions a chance to party a little more, and party they did. They lost their skin, hair, and feet in the process. Last night, I started to put about half of them to sleep in the cool 60ish degree cellar. So far, only three – THREE – were rotted and thrown to the bugs. I emphasize three because most years from ¼ to ½ of the harvest rots. I found choice of variety, choice of sets vs. plants, and weather play a huge factor in perfecting the harvest and reducing the numbers of rots. I found timing the harvesting and watching for dried necks before pulling are critical to preventing rotting necks as a result of pulling too soon and not allowing them to dry completely. I found plants to be better than sets for storage. And I found Yellow Sweet Spanish and Red Zeppelin onions to be the absolute best keepers and flavor enhancers. And Dixondale Farms is my onion plant grower of choice. Each year, I get my order exactly when I want it and there’s usually a few extra plants with each order. And mom nature is the absolute best when she’s hot and sunny come onion harvest time. This year was an exceptional year and the onions are dancing with delight. Thanks mom!

3.5 years Later....

2011-08-03T01:40:00.000-07:00

My very first post on this blog in January of 2008 talked about retiring and I mentioned not having time to garden with exercising so much and commuting two hours a day, "So I buy them (vegetables) for now, and dream of the day I retire and get back into it full time again. Its the top of my priority list of things to do after retirement."

And here it is... past that glorious day I was to retire. BUT, I'm very proud to say the goal has not changed and the garden continues to be top priority after retirement - probably even more so than when first written. And when is the official day? Very soon my friends, soon. When confirmed, you know I'll be blogging about it!

Feeding the Caterpillars

2011-07-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

This beauty will eventually become the beautiful Black Swallowtail butterfly. Every year, I grow bunches of dill, fennel, carrots and parsley and they are all members of the Umbellifarae (parsley) family. I grow them mainly to attract the tachinid flies which keeps the great tomato horn worms under control, but a bonus are these beautiful caterpillars and butterflies. Sometimes its ok to let the caterpillars eat the plants. In this case, eat and enjoy!

The Heat of the Summer

2011-07-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

Central Pennsylvania is under a heat wave the past two weeks and watering the gardens has become a nightly event. Little did I realize how much time mother nature saves me when she throws some drops our way -- at least an hour a night. My decision to NOT train for an October bike race was a wise decision and perfectly timed. The training was to start last week - just about the time the heat wave came and I started watering in the evenings. We are smack dab in the middle of the summer right now and the harvesting and storing has begun. Below is a run down of what's happening in the backyard on a routine basis right now. The harvesting, preparing, and storing will continue until mid or the end of October. Lots of work is ahead.

Onions! I'm pulling them as the tops lay over and have dried for a day or two, then setting them on a drying screen under a covered area to cure (dry some more) for a couple weeks. As more are pulled, others that are "finished" are moved to storage in our 60 degree cellar. I'll use the last of them for the filling for Christmas dinner. Those with thick necks that may rot are cut up, cooked slightly, then froze. When the dry are gone, we dig into the freezer. A perfect year of stored onions.
Spinach! I got lucky this year and all the seeds planted sprouted. What I can't eat fresh, I'm cutting, washing, chopping, and cooking just until wilted, then freezing in 10 oz sizes. Most recipes call for 10 oz of frozen, chopped spinach. I'll be happy to find the spinach in the freezer sometime in January.
Chard! Eating fresh with eggs and also mixing in salads. I may freeze some of this in single servings to cook with eggs this winter.
Tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini - they are all starting to ripen. I made zucchini patties and have been using the other goodies in salads.
Sweet Potatoes! Yup - I already have some and I'm very, very excited to be eating them already. I have 50 plants in the ground that will produce at least 4 or 5 potatoes per plant. I'm gonna have a LOT of sweet potatoes to eat.
Red Potatoes! Yup, they are ready too. Not too many of those, so I'm saving for in recipes and focusing on the sweet potatoes.
Butternut Squash - not ready yet, but there are at least 3 dozen squash growing on the vines. The rabbits (or ground hogs??) were munching on the newly sprouted seeds in the spring, so I planted more seeds in a separate garden and low and behold they ALL kept growing. We're going to have a bumper crop of squash along with the sweet potatoes. We'll be orange this winter!
Volunteers - I have two heirloom tomatoes that seeded themselves and came up this year. "Grandma Cantrell's Red tomato" is ripening beautifully. A handful of sunflowers also came up on their own. Oh, and an heirloom muskmelon (forgot the name) is gonna produce two or three melons.
Parsley - I grow this for my dear old mom. She dried 6 jars already. I'll dry about two.
Basil - I'll dry some of this for winter meals.
Fall and Winter seeds: Planted and being watered every night. We'll have carrots, red beets, radishes, and spinach. The beets and radishes have already sprouted and in this heat need daily attention (water). I'll have to watch them carefully.

Other than that, not much going on.

Can You Really "Live Off the Land?"

2011-07-04T15:15:00.001-07:00

A 30-something, former city-boy asked my parents that question 30 years ago while he was touring their farm for the possibility of renting it. My parents -- both country folk -- snickered under their breath and said, "sure." To an individual that never experienced farming or a garden, it IS a question to be asked. But to a native country, daughter and granddaughter of generations of farming and gardening, it's not even something to think about -- it's just done. Most of us have gotten spoiled in the past 40 or 50 years. Conveniences galore: fast food, pre-packaged food, humongous servings at a restaurant, and super-sweet tasting, luscious ice-cream stands. Why would we go to all the hard work to live off the land? Why raise chickens when you can get eggs for $1.50/dozen and the whole bird for $5 bucks at your local Walmart. Well, our grandparents did it because they had no choice. Money was hard to come by, there simply wasn't plastic bags of already-frozen ready-to-eat meals and there wasn't a grocery store on every corner not to mention the choices were slim-pickens in those stores. But many people today are going back to the land or never left it like the Amish. "Homesteading" is growing in leaps and bounds while others choose to get off the grid and grow their own food for environmental reasons. My husband and I may soon join these ranks. I was planning to disband this blog due to lack of time to update, but now that the possibility is very real that I may become a full-time homesteader in 4 months, (well, my idea of homesteading focuses on the food production, not-so-much the extreme life changes like no refrigerator or using a composting toilet), I'm going to continue posting. Why might we be homesteaders? Early retirement - forced for hubby (awaiting final word coming on Thursday) - by choice for me. Stay tuned and watch for lots of posts on living off the land and early retirement.

Glad to Be Back in the Garden

2011-06-18T13:56:00.001-07:00

Last fall, the thought was I wouldn't have a garden this year with the anticipated training that would consume my time to prepare for the now finished 7-day stage mountain bike race. But alas, you can't keep an organic gardener down - you need a little pleasure mixed in with all that pain so I stuck some seeds and plants in the beds in between rides this spring. My idea of "some" seeds and plants is 400+ onions, 50 sweet potatoes, 13 seed potatoes, 60 broccoli plants for the hog (he ate all of them!) swiss chard, kale (the hog went after this after the broccoli was pulled), butternut squash, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, black krim and russian prince black heirloom tomatoes, roma tomato, early girl tomato, fox heirloom cherry tomato, nardello pepper, bell peppers, cantelope, radiccho and cannelli beans. Now mid-June and home two weeks from the Epic, the spring planting is complete and I expect a full harvest this fall. There was no slacking due to a little bike race! Yesterday and today was spent weeding, mulching, plant-feeding, and planting the final seeds for the summer. I managed to snap a couple shots while doing so.

Milkweed...one of my favorite plants in the garden. Yes - in the garden. It attracts a plethora of beneficial insects and of course the monarch caterpillar (only food it will eat). And did you ever smell a milkweed flower? Heavenly.

And these are the potatoes -- sweet and red.

Love Thy Tomato

2011-06-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, I had the pleasure of trying a variety pack of heirloom tomato seeds. The results were these incredibly sweet, unusual tomatoes that made me realize there's more that meets the tomato-lover's eye and I gave a review of those luscious edibles I grew that year. See it here. Yesterday, I receive a post in Facebook about a new book out called Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. Numerous reviews are already out there that talk about this book and modern industrial agriculture creating a monster that doesn't compare to a "real" tomato. Time gives a good review with an excerpt from the book on modern "slavery" in the tomato fields of Florida. USA Today journalist, Janice Lloyd, interviews the author, Barry Estabrook, who shares his idea of a quality tomato (hint: Brandywine). From that interview the author states: "I visited winter tomato fields in Florida where tomatoes are picked green and sent to warehouses and gassed with ethylene until they acquire the rosy skin tone of a ripe tomato. I also talked to many experts about how flavor has been bred out of them over the years so they can ship easily, maintain a perfect appearance and have a long shelf life." I'll share my own take on the book once received and read (I'm a little old fashioned and just like I enjoy an old-fashioned heirloom tomato, I like a hardcover book with pages to turn. Keep your modern electronics, please!) In the meantime, please read my review of the heirloom tomatoes and head out to your local nursery and buy a couple. The nurseries are good at marking heirlooms appropriately so you can't miss them. There's still time to plant a few and you'll never buy a grocery store tomato again.

And to Think I Wasn't Going to Have A Garden This Year

2011-04-10T12:25:00.001-07:00

The garden was going to wait this year while I train for a 7-day stage mountain bike race, but I couldn't bare the thought of not having certain vegetables I grew to depend on each season. This year more than ever, with the high prices of produce, several plants just had to be planted. You saw the 453-onion patch in an earlier post. Today, I planted 72 broccoli plants, mounded up the sweet potato rows for 50 slips coming in a couple weeks, and dug the potato trench for the Red Norland seed potato Donna's neighbors Andre and Diane so kindly shared. Donna and I will split them in the fall. The spinach is coming up and the kale over-wintered and is coming back. I love spring... I wish I was retired!

Onion and Broccoli Planting Time

2011-04-05T01:20:00.000-07:00

The onion folks sent me WAY too many onions this year. They normally include extras to replace the spindly plants, but this year they doubled my order of 240 plants. What was to be no garden this year is turning out to be bigger than ever. 453 onion plants went in, 28 broccoli plants, and another 40 broccoli plants are waiting in the wings. Spinach, kale, peas and parsley seeds were planted too. So much for not much of a garden!

Spring Planting is Upon Us

2011-03-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

The onions arrived and hubby just had to get his toy out to prepare the garden. My preference is to work a little and dig it by hand, but he just loves playing with his mechanical thingy.

How NOT to be Overwhelmed With Spring Chores

2011-03-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a test. The weather on Saturday was a beautiful spring day in central Pennsylvania, with temps hitting the high 50's and sunshine. It was a day to be out in the garden starting the spring clean-up and prep for planting and growing season. But alas, my time in the garden this spring will be limited due to my bike training schedule for my 7-day stage race that starts on Memorial day. Not to mention, every Saturday morning (sometimes Friday mornings when I have rides scheduled for the weekend) is now dedicated to helping my elderly mother. Needless to say, Saturday was not the day for my garden to get attention. Luckily, because of a book I partially read this winter, I practiced focusing on the living in the moment philosophy and cleared my head and focused. The Karate Kid movie does the same thing -- no thoughts, focus. This weekend I tested it and it works! Saturday was focusing on helping my mom in the morning and a nice long bike ride in the afternoon. I ignored the patches of green herbs screaming under the dried dead stuff to get this scrappy dried stuff off of us so we can grow. Sunday morning was dedicated to the garden but that was the real test. It normally takes me weeks to clean everything up and start planting and every year on that first day, I near kill myself trying to do everything at once. I'm impatient. This year though, there's no room for impatience. Instead, the work is broken down into little chunks with each one getting a priority. That way, you get done what absolutely has to be done and what doesn't, can wait. In my garden, the can-waits are things that don't put food on my table. The ornamental herbs can wait (yes, the little green monsters screaming at me will force themselves through like they've done in the wild for millions of years) and the perennials and roses can wait. The top priority chunk this weekend was prepping the onion and pea patch. I didn't get any horse manure on the garden last fall, so yesterday morning was manure spreading day. It only took 3 tubs and little digging in. Rick will be rototilling it in deeper when the plants arrive and its time to plant. I caught myself not focusing on the priority yesterday and started to whack away at something that wasn't on my priority list for the day. "Jill...stop it. You need to go for a bike ride and this wasn't on your list for today." The bike ride felt great and it helped me focus on the task at hand. So don't be overwhelmed! Take it a chunk at a time, and take your time. There will always be another day, another week, or even another year.

Broccoli Seed Starting #2

2011-03-13T03:14:00.000-07:00

Lesson learned: don't forget about your seeds after you start them or they'll get leggy and start laying over. The same legginess can occur if you don't have plant lights. Right now, my 72 broccoli plants are growing beautifully, but laying over with the weight of every new leaf. In another two weeks, they will be a matted mess that will be difficult to separate when planting time comes. What to do? Absolutely nothing at this point in time. This flat is going to be headed to the garden a little early this year. I'll take a chance letting them in the flat too long to become more tangled, and I'll take a chance planting them a little too soon and a freeze may get them, so in the garden they will go - possibly next weekend. Yes, broccoli can withstand frosts and even a mild freeze or two. These young babies will be planted very deeply to get the stems strong again. They'll go in the ground almost to the leaves. And if these guys pull through and make it, I'll REALLY be over run in broccoli because I just started a second flat of 72 because I was worried about this first flat not making it. I had an extra pack of seeds from two years ago I thought I'd try. If they sprout and grow, I think I may be selling some broccoli this spring.

What To Do With Kale

2011-03-06T05:03:00.000-08:00

Kale is king in my garden. It's cheap to grow from seed right in the ground, you can start it early in the season (my seeds are going in with the sugar peas on St. Patty's day), it tolerates frost, and is super-charged with nutrition even though the flavor is ho-hum in my opinion. There's only so many things you can do with kale to make it a tasty dish. A co-worker of mine had a comical statement, "I thought it was just a decoration on the salad bar. I didn't think people really ate it!" Alas, my friend, yes, you eat kale and its actually good for you too. Kale is a nutritional powerhouse packed with protein, calcium, and a plethora of minerals and vitamins. Nutritional experts hale it as one the top foods to include in any healthy diet -- vegan, vegetarian or meat eaters alike -- although vegan nutritionists really zero in on this nutrient-laced leafy green. Dr. Fuhrman, author of Eat to Live and other healthy eating books, puts it on the very top of his nutritarian pyramid. So how to make it? You can start harvesting it when the leaves are as little as two inches long -- they actually taste better when young and tender. The older and bigger the plants get, the more bitter they become. Soups, soups, and more soups are always a good choice in cooking kale. You can never go wrong including kale in soup because the soup spices and other vegetables nearly always drown out the kale flavor. Two recipes I found palatable beyond soups are Confetti Kale and Kale with Crimini Mushrooms (kale, mushrooms, onions, and a squirt of soy sauce). But today, I tried Crispy Kale. Bingo -- another awesome way to make kale edible. The recipe, courtesy The 30-Minute Vegan:

1 large bunch kale

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt.

Lay the kale flat in pieces on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 until crispy (10 minutes -- but watch it - it browns and dries quickly). Put in large bowl and drizzle with olive oil, then the yeast and salt. Store at room temp.

Wow.... I almost ate the entire bowl in one sitting. Like eating chips, but healthy chips! It truly was hard to keep my fingers out of the bowl. And yes -- it only took 30 minutes.

And the The 30-Minute Vegan is my latest cookbook this recipe came from (I have WAY too many cookbooks. I'm good for at least 1 a year). So far, the cookbook is 3 for 3 with awesome recipes. First was Tofu Saag (tofu, frozen spinach, and Indian spices), 2nd was Pasta Florentine (whole wheat elbows, spinach, soymilk/nutritional yeast and spices), and now is the Crispy Kale. All were fantastic and yes, quick. I highly recommend this cookbook.

72 Broccoli Babes

2011-03-05T01:39:00.000-08:00

Success. I now have 72, and some to spare, baby broccoli plants clamouring for light. I say clamouring because I forgot about them for 3 days while they were sprouting and they were all reaching desperately for the window when I finally remembered to check them. When I remembered I forgot to check them as we were driving to work on Friday morning (they were started Sunday evening and I checked them once on Monday evening), I thought for sure they'd be dried up. But the greenhouse effect of the cover on the tray really kept them nice and moist and I think by my forgetting and NOT opening the cover to see what was going on actually kept them nice and toastie inside their little greenhouse -- perfect sprouting conditions. They look awesome. The lights have started and they are on their way. I didn't get brussels or cauliflower seeds in time to start them also, so it's just the broccoli plants.

Could Spending More Time in the Backyard Be On The Horizon?

2011-02-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

Yes my friends, hubby and I are talking the R word. We're both a little young, but if push comes to shove at my job and Pennsylvania goes the way of Wisconsin with cutting benefits and salaries for government workers, retirement may be sooner than expected -- like maybe in three months. The other deciding factor is the rising price of gas. Right now, today, it costs us almost $8.00 to drive our 50 mpg car to and from work every day on our 100 mile round trip. That's a little too salty. We've both been saving our pennies like crazy people and got rid of all debt, so we feel confident we'll be ok financially. But the other confidence builder is what I can produce in the back yard and my other frugal plans to save money. Simple things like riding bike to the grocery store, giving up using the dryer, and driving as little as possible will save money. Hubby is giving the go-ahead to plant lots of food to save on the grocery bill. I just ordered onions. Rows and rows of black beans, kidney beans, and white beans are going in the ground in May. The broccoli is started, and the greens will go in sometime in April as will the peas. Sweet potatoes are on tap as is butternut squash. I'll try to freeze as much as I can and use my mom's huge chest freezer if need be. Lots to think about over the next three months. But the main, top priority is starting my spring bike training on March 7 for my 7-day stage mountain bike race the end of May and early June. All else comes in behind the training. The gardening and retirement planning is done on down time from riding bike. There are a bunch of female professional mountain bikers coming to the event I'm entered and I'm honored to be in the mix with them. Without a doubt, riding takes top priority this spring.

Garden 2011 is Happening Because of High Fuel Prices

2011-02-24T12:28:00.001-08:00

Quickly rising fuel prices are going to have an effect on the prices of food at the grocery stores and markets. And it won't be only food -- it'll be everything. As a result, hubby and I discussed how to save $$ and of course the first place I went was the backyard and the food we eat. Hubby "complains" (nicely) that when I start seeds, I use up electricity with the grow lights - about $25 a month with all 8 lights glowing for 14 hours a day. My plan was only to start broccoli plants this year, but I have room under a set of two lights for two flats of seedlings so we started talking about filling up that area. What shall we grow that would 1) save us money at the grocery store, 2) is nutritious, and 3) you can start at the same time as broccoli? The answer? Cauliflower and brussels sprouts. Both are pricey at the grocery store, yet nutritious, fairly easy to grow, and we both love all three. I estimate I can save about $200 just by growing maybe 48 plants of each of these three plants and freezing them (except the broccoli which doesn't freeze well). So on tap for seed starting as soon as I can get the seeds are brussels, cauliflower, and I already have the broccoli seeds. Bring on Spring -- and cost savings!

You Can't Hold a Dedicated Farmer Down

2011-02-09T03:50:00.001-08:00

A year without fresh vegetables from the backyard is like a year without sunshine. It's virtually impossible for a dedicated organic farmer/gardener to go without those tried and true easy-to-grow staples in the backyard to pick for dinner. I really liked Michaux Mayhem's link on their blog, Living the Frugal Life. Kate had a post about a book entitled the Resilient Gardener which is basically about surviving on what you grow, but it gave me an idea about not being so fussy in the garden and spending too much time on certain things. Kate mentions a part of the book that caught my eye which gave me an idea of not working too hard in my own garden:

Even more do I appreciate her frank admission that not everything is worth doing well, or even doing at all. What she terms selective sloppiness appeals to my sensibilities. This is a book that will help you find the sweet spot between maximum productivity and minimum labor. If you want advice on how to make your gardens a beautiful, weed-free show place, this isn't it.

Until last year when my mother became ill, I've always been a neat freak in the backyard. Every weed had to be pulled and row perfectly spaced. There had to be beds of straw or compost between all rows to keep weeds at bay, and even the design had to be aesthetically appealing. No more! This year, I'm just sticking the seeds and plants in the ground paying attention only to crop rotation to keep disease at bay. Obviously, if the weeds start sapping moisture and energy from the vegetables, I'll pull them, but many weeds will now be left to grow to become bad-bug food. I won't have as big a garden either. Here's the plan for now:

Broccoli
Kale
Spinach
One or two tomato plants
3 bell pepper plants
Zucchini
Butternut Squash

Maybe there will be a few more, but this should keep the old girl happy and still riding her bike. Growing to store and harvest can wait until retirement.

Shocker - No Garden in 2011

2010-10-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

It'll be quite some time before there's anymore posts on this blog. I'm giving up the gardening for a year to focus on my other passion -- mountain biking. I entered a 7-day stage race next May 29-June 4 and training for it will consume all my spare time from about Nov 1 until the day of the race. There won't be any time for any gardening next spring. I'm actually looking forward to taking a break from the spring clean-up. I've already started prepping beds this fall so no work will be needed next spring. And there's a bed or two I'm giving back to nature -- the herb garden will become whatever it wants and I may do the same with part of the rose garden. They'll both be there another year if I decide to clean them up again. Enjoy your passion!

A Home for Pheasants

2010-06-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

Pheasants have been experiencing a downturn in population due primarily to the loss of habitat for these beautiful creatures. They like fence rows, tall grass, underbrush, and wild areas -- most which are disappearing quickly to housing developments, removal of trees, and modern farming practices. Today's local Harrisburg Patriot news had an article about Central Pennsylvania becoming Home to First Wild Pheasant Recovery Area. And guess where that might be? You guessed it, in my backyard. I feel SO fortunate to live in the Gratz-Hegins valley area that they consider "wild" enough to try raising these beautiful creatures again. Several years ago, the Game Commission attempted to release sechwan (spelling?) pheasants and farm raised birds with no luck. This time, they are catching wild birds from Montana and South Dakota and releasing them here. I'll snap some shots if I see them and share them with you. What's really nice is there will be no small game hunting in this area designated for the pheasants. I'm thrilled this area was picked. I wonder if they know about our family's 20 acres we leave stand in tall grass for the bobolinks to nest each year? Maybe.

How NOT to Grow Strawberries

2010-06-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Last season was filled with new plantings, new ideas, and new ways to prepare my new crops. You read about them nearly everyday all season long. One of my ventures was 100 strawberry plants going into the ground with hopes that future year's harvest of strawberries will fill my freezer. O.M.G. Little did I realize that this year I'd start turning into a strawberry. My 100 plants started ripening my first day of vacation and 10 days later I had 22 boxes of berries in the freezer and more to come. I'm spending about 2-3 hours a day finding them (I planted them WAY too close together and they are a matted mess and the berries are hiding deep under the debris of crumbled, brown leaves), picking, slicing and freezing. I'm ready to mow them over and start over when I'm retired. So a word to the wise: whatever you do, if you want strawberries, start with about 25, give them a bunch of space, mulch well with straw, and cut off the runners until you are ready to start new plants. I made the mistake of letting the runners root and when 100 plants send runners out and start rooting; the patch becomes crowded way too quickly. I have a mess, stress, and a LOT of work to restore some order to the patch. I'll be digging and tossing probably 100 plants or more. This is one of my biggest blunders to date, and hubby LOVES to remind me about it - every single day. ARGH!

Rest and Relaxation - Backyard Chili Style

2010-05-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is vacation week to plant summer crops, exercise, read, and just plain vegetate for a change. My idea of vacation is NOT to go somewhere and spend the entire time in my backyard and that's exactly what I've done thus far. The corn, zucchini, winter squash, black beans, cannelli beans, tiger-eye beans, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are all planted, fed, and mulched. The kale and spinach is picked and cooked. The strawberries are giving me a run for my money and keeping me hopping with picking them. I picked 2 quarts one day and 3 quarts today. What will the next two weeks hold with ripening berries? Everything is getting watered every other day now that Mom Nature isn't cooperating with some moisture. The balance is 4 hours in the garden (no more) and two hours exercise be it biking, running, kayaking, or whatever else I come up with (I count turning compost as exercise too -- it's a workout!). The rest of the day is for puttering; cleaning, cooking, organizing, sewing or reading. Life is good.

May Day in the Backyard

2010-05-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

The birds were chirping away as the sun rose while I hung the clothes on the line to dry. I heard the birds, but didn't really hear them as I wasn't focused on them. And then it hit me -- that's a boblink's chirp! And so the 1st of May has arrived and along with it, the pleasures of living organically in the country. Last evening, the hummingbird feeder went out and sometime today, tomorrow, or maybe Monday, a hummingbird will make it's debut. The bobolinks and the hummingbirds are like clockwork year after year. The yellow bush to right here is an old Antique yellow rose -- Roberts Yellow Rose -- and supposedly the only yellow antique rose. This year, it's covered in honeybees. To stand next to this bush and hear the buzzing is comforting. Comforting to know not all honeybees have met their demise. Next, was off to "Marianne's" to get eggs. Marianne and her family are Amish and they recently hung out the Fresh Brown Eggs For Sale sign and of course I was all over that. She lives 1/2 mile away from me. When I got to farm, I got chills and nearly started to cry. Many Amish, in my opinion, practice what us English should do more of -- no electricity, no oil consumption via a vehicle, grow their own food, and support local stores. Marianne's farm is perfect. Her garden is huge with peas, onion, raspberries, radishes, turnips and I'm not sure what else was coming up. The chickens were flying and running around in their field with a stray goose that was causing a bit of a ruckus. The jersey cows were making their way out to pasture, only to stop and be a little curious at me looking at them. There were pigs, dogs, birds, and you can tell everything has a function - no waste of anything. Her house was plain and serviceable -- no fancy dancy Home Interior prints hanging around. As I pulled out of the driveway, I thought about someday being more like them. But why not now, I thought? Well, commuting to Harrisburg in a CAR almost 100 miles a day certainly doesn't give me any room to talk about trying to be like them right now. My dear hubby said after we retire I can get chickens! So maybe with the chickens will be the attempt to live more like the Amish. Now how can I get rid of electricity completely??

In Honor of Earth Day - Her Designs Handbags

2010-04-21T04:11:00.000-07:00

Women's handbags are huge business and the majority are NOT animal friendly -- i.e., leather! The other downfall of most purses is where they are made and shipped from -- China. The affordability of a China-made bag simply can't be beat which is why they completely flood the market. And while tradition claims leather as the fabric of choice for a durable, long-lasting bag, it's obviously not a preferred fabric when choosing eco-friendly, animal-friendly handbags. Enter Her Design. I've been shopping for some time for a new handbag when my cheap china-made pleather starting falling apart in less than a year. I knew I didn't want leather, and I knew I didn't want China-made. A search on Vegan Women's Bags made in USA came up with many very cool designer handbags -- at a huge cost. Matt and Natt is very cool, but expensive and when asked where they were made, the answer was "Asia." Then I discovered Her Design by Helen Reigle. What attracted me first to these handbags were the designs -- inspired by nature. They use colors from nature and the styles come from varied eye-catching visions in the environment. "Poppy" is the perfect example. the purse is inspired by the seed head of a poppy flower. Check out their website for very cool designs. The second attraction is the materials used to make the purses. All eco-friendly and with concern for the environment. They use hemp, wool, linen, organic cotton and recycled fibers. The faux leather is a substance that originates from a rubber tree. And lastly, while not made in USA (American wages are simply too high and make the products unaffordable), they DO use coops that practice fair labor in countries such as Mexico and Costa Rica. I'm ok with that (it's not "Asia"). And the prices? Well... some are a little salty, but if you catch the sales, $40-$80 bucks ain't too shabby. I ordered 4 purses and when I received, I was so excited I wanted to use them all at once. Every one was more beautiful and made with TLC than described on the website. The colors are exquisite and the styles are roomy and well-thought out with many pockets, nooks and crannys. Poppy got the first honors for use. Thank you Her Design for incredibly beautiful, eco-friendly purses!

April Update in the Backyard

2010-04-13T04:02:00.000-07:00

First, my apologies for those who have been checking in on any updates and found nothing for over a month. Last year was a true year-in-the-life of an organic garden and I shared many, many tips and tools of the trade. And since the methods of organic gardening change little from year to year, please re-read last year's posts if you are looking for specific info. I added a search box so you can search specific topics. This year, I'll likely do updates only monthly on backyard chilibloggin. I'm focusing on balancing my gardens with my active lifestyle, thus less posts here since last year was the year of many posts. You are welcome to check out my activities at http://www.chilibloggin.blogspot.com/ - there's some interesting stuff in there too if you like mountain biking, trail running, white water kayaking and sometimes racing adventure tris and other interesting races. And now the garden update for April.

Spring clean-up gets harder and harder each year mainly because I simply have too much garden to maintain while working and playing full-time. I'm about 75% finished and everything is getting mulched with horse manure/straw this year to prevent weeds from growing. It may not look attractive, but time will be saved by not having to weed as much with everything covered in straw-mulch. Here's the plantings and seed startings for April:

-- Planting 150 onions after we realized the prices to buy onions has skyrocketed (I was going to not plant onions to cut back a little on how much I plant).
-- Started 68 broccoli plants from seeds in March and they are all now nestled in their growing spot in the garden. They are coming along beautifully.
-- Planted snap pea seeds, carrots, red beets, spinach, kale and radicchio which are all coming up nicely. The leeks seeds will take some time (long season plant).
-- Started bunches of seeds indoors: two kinds of heirloom tomatoes, two peppers (we loved Nardello last year and couldn't wait to start them again), early girl tomatoes, purple stripe eggplant, heirloom melons, and purple basil. All sprouted and are coming along beautifully. The peppers took about 10 days to sprout, and the eggplant is just about ready to pop (takes about 3 weeks according to the seed pack). I have faith on my eggplant this year. Last year was a failure and I had to buy plants which were likely Monsanto seeds (argh!). I'm going to have an overabundance of tomato plants, but since I have space, I think I'm going to plant them all and try to sell them this year to make a little money for a change. Haven't decided that for sure yet.

And the perennial vegetables/fruits are coming along beautifully also -- the asparagus is coming in like crazy (it loved my feeding of pure horse manure a couple weeks ago), the strawberry plants are reviving after a long winter's sleep, the rhubarb is huge, and the herb garden got a massive haircut and is starting to grow again. Spring is a bunch of work, but its so rewarding when finished and you can sit back and truly reap the benefits of your labor. See you in May!

Broccoli Babies and Spring Chores

2010-03-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

The only thing growing at the moment is broccoli seedlings. I was pleasantly surprised this week when the snow melted and I took a day off to do a little gardening and found red beets in the compost pile! I pulled small ones last fall that didn't materialize and threw them on the compost pile and low and behold, they grew over the winter. It was a delightful dinner surprise. The asparagus patch was cleaned up and the raspberry canes were trimmed back. I'm hoping to be off a day this week to start cleaning up dead stuff. Let the games begin!

Weed Killer Castrates Male Frogs

2010-03-09T09:42:00.001-08:00

Could man be working on a population control device without realizing it??? Check out this article in CNN.com about about a popular weed killer in the Midwest castrating male frogs and turning one in 10 into females. All the more reason to give up the chemicals.

Just Released - Organic Manifesto

2010-03-05T03:59:00.000-08:00

It was just ordered and I can't wait to read it. Maria Rodale, the 3rd generation of organic gurus in the Rodale family, just published her version of why organic is important - the Organic Manifesto. She brings organics into the modern world of today and pulls together all that we already know about pesticides, farming practices and GM foods and lays it out in a difference perspective. From the Rodale website:

Rodale was founded on the belief that organic gardening is the key to better health both for us and for the planet, and never has this message been more urgent. Now Maria Rodale, CEO and Chairman of Rodale Inc., sheds new light on the state of 21st-century farming. She examines the unholy alliances that have formed between the chemical companies that produce fertilizer and genetically altered seeds, the agricultural educational system that is virtually subsidized by those same companies, and the government agencies in thrall to powerful lobbyists, all of which perpetuate dangerous farming practices and deliberate misconceptions about organic farming and foods. Interviews with government officials, doctors, scientists, and farmers from coast to coast bolster her position that chemical-free farming may be the single most effective tool we have to protect our environment and, even more important, our health.

We should lean towards more organic and Maria tells us why. Chemicals are killing us and the environment. Thanks Maria! I can't wait to read it and re-enforce my beliefs.

Locally Made Spirits

2010-02-27T02:47:00.001-08:00

Pennsylvania is blessed with local producers of all kinds - meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables, wine, and even potato vodka made with PA potatoes. A friend of mine introduced me to another unique and locally produced product -- ROOT. From the producers website, its the original root beer -- what root beer used to be before they took out the alcohol. I can't wait to try it 'cause as a kid, my aboslute favorite drink in the world was a root beer float. And yes, it's made completely from organic products. Be warned though --its $40 bucks a bottle. It's a fairly new product and not widely available, but spread the word and it will be!

Kale Sprouts! In February

2010-02-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

About two weeks ago, we had a nice 50-degree day and I was messing around with my makeshift greenhouse and thought I'd throw a couple kale seeds in there to see what would happen. Today, I cleared off the snow and pulled up a window to see what was going on and low and behold, there were kale sprouts! I was shocked. They got a good drink and I'll just bet I'll be eating kale in about a month. Kale loves cold weather. The temp under the storm windows on a sunny day is about 50 -- perfect growing temps for kale. Fun stuff.

Sustainable Farming vs Agribusiness

2010-02-10T11:17:00.000-08:00

Rodale recently issued an interesting article on the U.S. Farm Bureau Declaring War on Sustainable Farming calling advocates for sustainable farms "extremists." You gotta click on the link and read the article. Rodale makes excellent points and of course encourage you to continue shopping organic and local.

The Balancing Act for 2010

2010-01-27T03:28:00.001-08:00

This year will be the year of balancing. Gardens, riding bike, kayaking with hubby, trail running, painting the front porch (its a Victorian gingerbread porch -- how stupid was that!), trail work on my local bike club trails, blogging (it's going to virtually disappear) and holding down that full-time job that takes two hours commute time out of the day. Last year was the year of the organic garden and it consumed the majority of my time, leaving the biking/paddling/running on the wayside and squeezed in when I wasn't planting/weeding/harvesting/cooking. This year, I want to try to balance them all. You've seen the reduction in blog posts - it may get even less. And the garden planning includes a reduction in what-to-grow to make more time for exercise. I have two guides for what to grow and what not to grow: what does hubby eat (or not eat); and what is least important to grow that I can get at a farmer's market that doesn't need to be organic. Onions are the first thing that is crossed off the list of things to grow. They typically are not sprayed and are the lowest in pesticides. And hubby never eats the tomatoes. So I'm drastically reducing the tomato crop. Maybe I'll only do a plant or two of heirlooms. Other things are getting crossed off the list too - green beans, potatoes, and maybe some of the greens. Balancing should be easy, right? I am a LIBRA aferall. I'll figure it out.

The Goods Getting Delivered

2010-01-18T08:41:00.001-08:00

I feel like I'm the luckiest organic gardener in the entire world! To have fresh horse manure delivered to my door step is an incredibly happy time. My work recently had a motivational speaker talk about team building and a couple other things, one being getting stressed out and don't let it happen. He went around the room asking what de-stresses us. Of course I said exercise; but I really should have said is, "everyone here knows I ride bike, run, kayak and do a lot of things outdoors. What you guys DON'T know, is I love to play in horse shit and find IT to be very relaxing and enjoyable." Yup, horse shit is very high on my list of pleasures. What it does to the garden and the plants that grow in it is phenomenal. What it does to me physically when I start tossing it, turning it, and hauling it is also pretty darn cool. I couldn't live without horse manure. Even when dear-old dad ain't around any more, I plan to go get it myself at the local horse track where several horses are stalled. It's truly a gardeners gold.

Enjoying the Winter Break

2010-01-11T03:12:00.000-08:00

There's not much going on garden-wise right now other than I'm planning to start some leeks in the next week or two. Hubby and I just spent the weekend in Canaan Valley, West Virginia enjoying their 30+ inches of snow on the ground. It was fabulous. Pennsylvania winters can't come remotely close to these guys. We ski at a cross-country destination, Whitegrass. It's the best.

2010 Seed List for Chili's Backyard

2010-01-01T11:11:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day was perfect to sit back, peruse all the seed catalogs, take left-over seed inventory (ditch the hybrids and old seed), and decide what seeds to order and from what catalog. I narrowed the choices of catalogs down to Fedco (last year's winner), Seeds of Change, High Mowing Seeds and my newest catalog, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. My primary reason for these four was to focus on non GMO seeds. Yes, organic was initially a factor, but after seeing that certified organic seeds are more expensive and since I don't have a certified organic CFA or reason to make sure the seeds are organic (other than they must be non-GMO), I opted for non-organics and focus on non-GMO. Thus, Baker Creek Heirloom won the order. Every seed in their catalog is non-hybrid, non-GMO, non-treated and non-patented. They do not buy seed from Monsanto-owned Seminis. They boycott all gene-altering companies. In other words, I'm getting "pure" seed that I can save from year to year if I don't use the entire pack. Since I went over-board last year, the seed list was minimal this year since I could use most of my seeds from last year. So here's the order:

Broccoli - Waltham
Corn - Ture Gold Sweet
Eggplant - Pandora Striped
Melon (Cantaloupe) - Schoon's hardshell
Red Pepper - Quadrato D'asti Rosso
Radish - Saxa 2
Squash - Sweet Dumpling (single serving size - good for stuffing)
Red Tomato - Granny Cantrell German Red
Cherry Tomato - Fox Cherry

And Zinnias and Sunflowers to attract beneficial insects. I'll do a post on heirlooms in the future. Heirlooms are unique plants worthy of a post all their own. What's up next? Leeks. I'm starting those seeds in the next two weeks.

Takepart.com

2009-12-30T04:05:00.000-08:00

Food, Inc., the movie, encourages viewers to "take part" in helping build a sustainable, healthy environment. They direct viewers to a website, called Take Part and oh what a website it is. It covers everything and anything related to our environment and provides a number of areas that you as a consumer, teacher, parent, advocate, business-owner -- whatever it is, -- can be a part of changing our world in an effort to prevent the environment from growing worse. You can even become an "eco-snoop" if you want. I clicked on the Issues button and went to food, which led me to organic vs local and a plethora of other subjects relating to organic food. There's a good article on buying local vs buying organic (bottom line - buy both and seek out local organics). I'll be reading for a couple weeks on this one. Very, very informative website. Many of the pages link to Treehugger.com and many of the organic articles come out of Rodale.

Still Harvesting Carrots and Spinach

2009-12-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

Spinach, carrots, and radicchio along with numerous other crops were planted in August specifically for winter growing under glass. The plants grew as planned to maturity until the first official freeze about 6 weeks ago. About three weeks ago, I checked on things and thought for sure it was all gone. It was wilted and lying over. I mumbled to hubby that was a failed experiment. Last week, I thought I'd dig up some carrots to see what was there. Low and behold I harvested carrots. And today, I picked a beautiful batch of spinach and the last two heads of radicchio (small, but edible). I was thrilled to say the least. Root crops seem to fair the best, so that's the thought for next year... carrots, beets, turnips, and possibly a couple potatoes or sweet potatoes. It's obvious plants will "appear" dead in sub-freezing temps, but the varieties hardy to winter freezing like spinach and chard will bounce back. This is an interesting experiment I'm sure to attempt again next year.

Is Growing Dried Beans Worth It?

2009-12-20T02:37:00.000-08:00

This is the first season I ever grew dried beans. My thought last winter was I wanted to grow as much of my own organic food as I could. It had to be enough that I could "survive" off of the food I grow and preserve from the back yard; thus, dried beans are a staple. I planted three rows of dried beans -- black, white cannelli, and tiger (like a kidney with a cute little stripe). I also had Kidney beans to plant, but ran out of space so they'll wait until next year (I won't waste the seed). Growing was easy -- all beans are easy to grow. Harvesting was questionable. I read that you can just leave the pods on the plant until they are dry. I clearly left them on too long because the tiger beans nearly all started to resprout (wet season) so I only got about a cup of tiger beans. The remainder I picked and left sit in a basket in their pods until this winter to start shelling. Thanksgiving weekend marked the first bean-pod shelling session. The cannelli beans were up first. After the sprouted seeds and rotted seeds were ditched, I ended up with about 5 cups of dried beans. The black beans were a little more tolerable of the wet conditions and didn't resprout as much. Nearly 8 cups was the final tally of the negros frigoles. I spent about 12 hours total shelling these 12 cups of beans. Each pack of seeds cost approx $1.50 for two ounces. It costs about $4.00 to buy a pound of organic dried beans. So. The final verdict -- are they worth growing? If you are looking strictly at cost. Yes - it's obvious my $1.50 investment paid for itself tenfold or more. Count in my time to shell the beans? Absolutely not. Factor in the energy consumption to soak and cook those dried beans (vs buying a can of already cooked organic beans?) not sure on that one. Hubby claims they aren't worth the electricity to cook them - let the cost of the electric come out of someone else's pockets (but ultimately, we'd pay more for canned beans). I think I'd have to do more analysis on that one. In the long run, I think the bottom line is cost savings for organics so YES, I believe it's worth it and I'm growing them again next year. I'll need to come up with a better way to cook them to save electricity consumption. If only I had a woodstove....

Moving to the Country

2009-12-20T02:02:00.000-08:00

Last evening on the world news, 6 upper middle class families from New Jersey were interviewed and asked how they are coping with the downturn in the economy. All lived on the same street, had kids, and all had one or the other spouse lose a job and the families are struggling to make ends meet. I found it interesting that two of the six commented how they found themselves doing what their grandparents used to do to be more frugal. Interesting (we should ALL be living a little more like grandma and grandpa!). Today, I find this interesting article on MSN from a writer for the Wall Street Journal about the younger generation moving to the country and learning to live off the land. While urban and suburban properties aren't really growing in sales, rural properties have seen an increase in value. I do believe the trend has started and is catching on -- more and more folks are realizing there's something to be said for rural life, gardening, homesteading, etc. Maybe, just maybe, with a little luck, the next generation will have a better environment to live in. Keep coming to the country kids! You're doing the right thing.

New Heirloom Seed Catalog

2009-12-17T04:04:00.000-08:00

December is the month we all get inundated with seed catalogs and to be honest, 90% of them end up in recycling unless they have organic, heirloom, or seed savers as sources somewhere on the cover or inside. I shared a review last year on which seeds companies are the best to choose from so you don’t end up unknowingly buying into supporting genetically modified seed production given 50% of all seeds are produced by a handful of seed giants (that produce genetically modified seeds and hybrids). Last evening, I received a catalog from a seed company I read about online, but never had the pleasure of perusing a catalog. http://www.rareseeds.com/, a.k.a. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds puts together a glossy, informative, educational catalog: “All our seed is non-hybrid non-GMO, non-treated and non-patented. We do not buy seed from Monsanto-owned Seminis. We boycott all gene-altering companies. We work with a network of about 50 small farmers, gardeners, and seed growers to bring you the best selection of seeds available.” I was totally impressed. The owner, Jere Gettle, started the company 12 years ago at the ripe age of 17. It’s grown from 550 catalogs that first year in 1998 to 250,000 catalogs this year. One of the items that caught my attention from Baker was an “Heirloom Package.” It’s a tin of seeds that are packaged to last 4-10 years if kept cool and dry. Talk about money savings! For a tiny garden like mine (yes kids, my garden IS small compared to some), I could invest $55.00 and have fresh, organic produce for the next 10 years. That’s a deal in my eyes. Although, last year I bought SO much I already have plenty to keep me going for a couple more years. There’s one important uniqueness about this catalog – they are ALL heirlooms. If you are unfamiliar with heirloom varieties of produce, read here what they are. Heirlooms are not hybridized or GMO seeds. They are original "pure" seeds of plants without any cross pollination from other varieties. Watch for a post on heirloom seeds vs hybridized seeds in the future. There IS a significant difference between the two in many different ways. It amazes me to see the varieties of heirlooms becoming more available. For instance, Baker Creek lists 47 different kinds of eggplant! I had no idea there were that many kinds of eggplant. Astounding. Of course I have to try a couple. And that's one of the really cool thing about heirlooms - finding out what the plant is like. Two years ago, I discovered heirloom peach tomatoes and have been talking about them since. And you thought gardening was just about sticking a seed in the ground and watching it grow! Keep gardening.

King Corn, The Documentary

2009-12-16T12:15:00.001-08:00

Awesome! If you have the chance to get or borrow the DVD, it's worth the watch. See the trailer here. It's all about how we are made of corn - literally! One of the "stars" of the movie has a hair analysis done and the carbon in his body is derived mostly from corn. He had corn hair. And the corn comes from corn by-products in over 60% of our food. Either as preservatives, sweeteners, or flavor enhancers of some sort. The movie is funny, educational, and of course, thought-provoking about what you put in your mouth.

A Sustainable, Organic Advocacy Legend in Our Backyard

2009-12-12T02:34:00.000-08:00

Little did I know yesterday when I was having lunch at the White Dog Cafe I was eating at the restaurant that was started by a legend, Judy Wicks. I've read and heard oodles about the White Dog Cafe and another business trip to Philadelphia gave me the opportunity to witness first hand the cafe known for serving organic and local food. My Sun-dried tomato and hummus sandwich on multi grain bread was served with fresh organic greens drizzled lightly with vinaigrette. It was truly delightful. But what I didn't know was the history of the gal who started the Cafe and her incredible life achievements for building communities through volunteerism, promoting local sustainable foods, and advocating organic and fair trade products. The woman has a list of awards, appearances, and recognitions a mile long for her life-long accomplishments in entrepreneurism (she started a bunch of businesses, one of which is today's well-known Urban Outfitters), socialism, local sustainability, etc. She's written dozens of articles on local living economies. Her and/or the cafe have been featured in all the popular media spots - Wall Street Journal, Oprah, Inc. Magazine, CNN, New York Times, Newsweek and so on. She's a legend, and from Philadelphia -- our backyard. I'd say Pennsylvania is on the map for local sustainability and organics and has been for years. We live in an awesome state for supporting local organics and farms. Make sure you do! (or grow your own!)

You Gotta Know Where Your Chicken Comes From

2009-12-09T07:34:00.001-08:00

Hubby and I get into chicken arguments ALL the time -- he prefers the cheap chicken wrapped in plastic and styrofoam containers (for him, it's all about the mighty dollar!) while I will only buy the organic and free range birds from local farmers (and I buy very little because of hubby complaining about me spending too much money!). Maybe today's article from Rodale, Supermarket chickens Tainted With Bacteria, will finally make him see the light. Rick has been a huge fan of Perdue chicken for many years, and even their chickens tested 56% tainted. That's a significant percentage of contamination. Tyson, one of the largest chicken producers, had 80% tainted. The article goes on to mention this bacteria is killed during cooking, but can still be transmitted during the preparation process. All the more reason to BUY ORGANIC and/or from your local farmer. Or, don't eat meat! I'll opt for the later.

Buying Local at the Reading Terminal

2009-12-05T00:51:00.000-08:00

My work had me in Philadelphia on Friday, and I couldn't help but take advantage of the time there to see the infamous Reading Terminal. Of all the things to see in Philadelphia, I head straight to the Reading Terminal when my work is done and didn't see a single site EXCEPT the Terminal. I've read about it numerous times in many books, magazines, and on websites and it IS everything its cracked up to be. Farm to Philly is probably the one site that had me convinced to hit the Farmer's Market. Yes, I was impressed. Stand upon stand of fresh produce and meats -- much of it local and some organic. There were numerous other eating stands, seafood, beverages, bakeries, etc., but my focus was the local stuff (although I simply couldn't refuse the millet muffin at the Metropolitan artisan bakery stand -- OMG). My boss is from Philadelphia, and she commented how Philadelphians are thrilled to have these stands and the availability of the food to them. But she also commented how nice it must be to be where I'm from and have the same food grown in my backyard. It was exhilarating to pick up a bag of organic spelt berries from Small Valley Milling (7 miles from my home) at the Fair Food Farmstand in the Terminal. You can't imagine the satisfaction in witnessing the connection first hand of Farm to Philly. Having seen the spelt fields and sharing the stories of going to the farm to buy the spelt flour, and now seeing the berries on the shelf in a market in Philly was very, very cool. Besides the spelt, the one notable product I must comment on was the Red Bourbon Turkey from Griggstown Quail Farm and Market. The Red Bourbon is a breed of turkey that was popular in the 30's and 40's, but fell to decline after the introduction of the now well-known, white commercial turkeys. The Red Bourbon is known as a heritage turkey because of the rarity of finding these breeds. I was thrilled to see one in the freezer case at the market and probably would have bought it if I didn't have to drag a friggin' turkey home on the train. Hubby would have absolutely hit the roof on the price tag -- $127.00. That's not unusual for rare, heritage turkeys. If I had the Reading Terminal in my backyard, I'd be eating free-range meat, but I'd probably be broke in the process. It was an exciting day.

Local Wine - Benigna's Creek

2009-11-29T01:04:00.000-08:00

"We put Klingerstown on the map." Those were the words out of the mouth of the owner of Benigna's Creek Winery and Vineyard at last evening's lighting of the vineyard Holiday celebration. On Thanksgiving, we started talking about the local winery and on a whim, my mom, brother, sister-in-law, and Rick decided to check it out last evening. Boy were we in for a total shock. Klingerstown is a very tiny town in Northumberland county with a population of about 300. It's nestled in Mahantango Valley, with rolling farmland all around it. It's very rural, few stores and little industry. This area is clearly off the beaten path and seldom sees much traffic. It's about 5 miles from our homes. When we started up the hill to the winery, all of our mouths dropped. There were cones in the road to slow traffic (its a back road!), fire trucks set up in neighboring fields with portable lighting for the overflow, maybe 4-5 huge tents set up (about as big as you can get a tent), people everywhere along with lines and crowds. There were three horse-drawn wagons taking folks on tours of the lighted vineyards and that particular line was the longest. We were astounded at the magnitude of this event -- maybe 1,000 people? My mom thought maybe more. I estimate the owners had to recruit about 100 people to work at the event to serve folks. The event was totally free -- free admission, free food (cakes, cookies, chips, snacks, hot dogs), and free taste testing of local wine but you had to wait at least 15 minutes to break through the crowd to get to the stand to taste it. Once you tasted it, you then moved to another line to wait to buy bottles of wine -- another 15-20 minute wait. And boy were people buying. They were leaving with cases of it. Some weren't leaving -- they'd buy, then go sit in a tent and open it and drink it. Rick was getting a kick out of some of the half-drunk folks staggering around. And the wine? Well, we love it. But then again, we aren't big wine drinkers, so we can't be the true judges. Benigna's wine has been winning Pennsylvania awards (their most prize-winning, Sunshine, was completely sold out), so I guess its good. And it's local! Support local businesses.

Food, Inc. Available Now on DVD

2009-11-21T03:13:00.000-08:00

Food, Inc. is a well-made documentary on the down-side of agribusiness and has been running in local theatres throughout the spring and summer. My friend, Donna, and her husband have seen it in Carlisle and it's the type of movie that makes you want to just scream at people to stop eating packaged foods and meat in tidy Styrofoam containers covered in plastic from the grocery store. The fast food industry is probably the biggest propoent of agribusiness and we all know what fast food really does for us. I was uber-pleased to see it's now on DVD... And of course being frugal with shipping costs, I had to add King Korn to the order. King Korn features Michael Pollan and its about two guys tracing corn and where it ends up. Corn is in nearly every packaged product you can think of in some form; either as preservative, a sweetener, or as some other substance thought to enhance the packaged product. Did you know only 10% of all corn grown in the US is actually eaten as corn, the vegetable? The remainder is ground up for god knows what, or fed to the animals that end up in those tidy Styrofoam, plastic-covered packages in the grocery store. Let's help educate folks... order your copies of Food, Inc. and King Korn today and spread the good food word.

Time for Thyme

2009-11-14T18:30:00.000-08:00

It's easy to take some plants for granted and not pay much attention to them until suddenly you realize you can't live without them. Thyme is the perfect example. I noticed today my thyme jar was near empty and when I went to the storage area -- none! And there are some herbs that are so easy to grow that when I run out, I can't possibly bring myself to buy it. Luckily, with the warm November we've been having, there was still "thyme" to harvest some and dry it. Thyme is a perennial herb that you plant once and you'll have it for years. But don't be surprised when you are ready to buy a plant, to find dozens of varieties. I've grown lemon, elf, variegated, vulgaris french (this is the cooking thyme), wooly, caraway, and silver. And from what I read, these are only a few of 100 varieties of thyme. I started growing it mainly for its looks and not the culinary uses for which thyme is famous for. Wooly thyme grows flat and yes, it's "wooly" with a grey, soft surface -- like petting a cat. Silver thyme is just what it says, a silver plant that contrasted nicely with other herbs. Elf thyme makes a beautiful small ornamental to stick in between plants to add some contrast. It has tiny leaves; thus "elf." And caraway thyme is also a creeper that made a nice edging plant. Thymes are wonderful herbs to have in the garden. Planted in a row, they can be trimmed into tiny little hedges which look lovely as a border. Left to bloom, they attract honey bees who enjoy the nectar. While they are perennial, they aren't long-lasting perennials. Thyme usually lasts about 5 years before needing replaced. Drying it is super simple like most herbs. At this time of the year though, my 110 drying room (top of garage) isn't warm enough, so the drying is done in my make-shift drying area above the refrigerator. Just cut your stems, lay them flat, and let them go until dry -- about two weeks will work. Sage was another herb that I recently ran short and dried the same way. Remove the leaves from the stem, and jar. Finally, some thyme.

It's Seed Catalog Time

2009-11-07T01:16:00.001-08:00

The first seed catalog of the season has arrived -- High Mowing Organic Seeds. Most years, the little kid-at-Christmas comes out and I get uber excited with the arrival of that first catalog. That's not the case this year after overdoing it a bit this past season and growing weary of constantly spending time in the garden. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore picking dinner and now that it's colder, hitting the storage bins/shelves and eating what I grew (not to mention fretting in the grocery and farmer's market aisles over the lack of organic produce). But my time needs to be more shared between garden work and playtime, so the garden will be a little smaller next year, thus less seeds to order. But there might be a pack or two I simply must have -- like spinach and carrots -- or maybe some cherry tomatoes or heirloom peach tomatoes. And I believe I have to give some new varieties of winter squash a try -- like acorn. I have plenty of butternut squash seeds left over from last year. The nice thing about the organic seeds from both Fedco and High Mowing Organic Seeds is they'll keep if you don't use the whole pack in one year, and I have a good bit from last year. They are good quality, non-GMO seeds that last for several years. And non GMO Is what its all about. Remember, be careful where you get your seeds because over half of the seed market (2005 statistics - can't find more recent data) is controlled by the top 10 seed companies, including Monsanto, the GMO giant. Fedco and High Mowing Organic Seeds are two good starts. Seeds of Change is another good one and many others are out there. Lots of local folks are starting their own organic seed exchanges - those are good sources too. So next season is about to begin. Winter is the perfect time to plan the garden for next year.

Fall Garden - Not Much Left

2009-11-01T16:06:00.001-08:00

The sleeping bed for winter where the tomatoes, potatoes, beans, eggplant, and butternut squash were growing this summer. Swiss Chard and spinach. These will survive a couple more light frosts. I initially was going to cover this entire row for the winter, but have since changed my mind. Just not sure I plan to eat swiss chard all winter (I'm not crazy over it).

This is raddicchio ready to cover for the winter. It too will survive some light frosts; but come a hard freeze, a storm window will go over the straw bales.

My pride and joy to eat all winter -- carrots and spinach. This spot is in a south location with the brick wall protecting it. Once it freezes, I'll cover it with storm windows and if all goes as planned, I'll be eating fresh carrots and spinach all winter.

Kale! Yuk. But I can't pull it 'cause its SO nutritious. One of the top 10 super foods in the world.

Putting Gardens to Sleep for Winter

2009-11-01T01:47:00.001-07:00

Fall garden clean-up to prepare for winter is much easier than spring prep. Just pull and cover. Well, maybe it's not quite that simple, but it really is a piece of cake compared to the spring time chores. I'm going to focus only on the vegetable gardens.

Pull and compost all spent vegetable plants that will not survive winter. Make sure you get every bit of debris - sometimes disease hangs out in what is left behind (i.e., tomato blight).
Weed the beds.
Mulch or plant a cover crop. I found cover crops to be cumbersome. You need a good-sized patch and easy access with a rototiller to turn it back under in the spring. That was the part that was hard for us -- rototilling it back under. Experts claim cover crops are tremendous soil builders and I don't doubt them. My preference for soil building is a thick layer of mulch with compost and horse manure.
There are many other types of mulch to use and you can find a nice list here. The idea of mulch is to keep weeds at bay and more importantly, prevent soil erosion over the winter. Depending on the mulch you use, you'll feed your soil well over the winter also.
Enjoy winter's rest. I know I will!

Really, that's all that's to it. The important thing is to do it. If you don't, by spring you'll have an amazing crop of weeds in the soil that isn't dried out and parched from winter's freeze-drying process. There are some excellent cold-hardy weeds out there that will love taking hold and growing in you mulchless garden.

Using Organic Coconut Oil for Cooking (Frying)

2009-10-28T03:30:00.001-07:00

I know, I know, it certainly isn't local, is it?! But neither is olive oil, nor any of the other plant-based "good" oils used in cooking. My food focus this year is healthy, organic vegan (90%), thus, no butters used in cooking. But what oils to use? There's so much hype about olive and canola oil - oils in general - you don't know what to believe anymore. I've used olive oil for many years, and recently I'm finding it's not all its cracked up to be when it comes to the heating process. Many oils are broken down during heating and lose their beneficial properties and nutrition. Here's an excellent article on cooking oils from the Best Natural Foods website. My latest cookbook, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, uses coconut oil nearly exclusively in everything. They believe olive oil is bad for your health as does Dr. Joel Furhman of Eat to Live. I think olive and flax oils are just fine -- when not heated. But for cooking and frying? Enter organic coconut oil. I thought I'd give the Skinny Bitch's recommendation a try and pick up some organic coconut oil -- direct from Fiji. (No, I didn't GO to Fiji.) OMG. I can't stop frying things in it. First, I made a broccoli stir-fry which turned out heavenly. The smell of coconut oil cooking is delightful, not be mention the hint of coconut flavoring in the food - yummy (if you like coconut). Next, was toasted sliced almonds. OMG (again!). Very, very tasty almonds with a hint of coconut flavor. I believe the bitches might know what they are talking about on this one. I'm hooked on coconut oil for frying and cooking and would recommend it to anyone. Remember though, it needs to be organic and cold-pressed. Here's a site with some good prices. Here's another good article on the benefits of organic coconut oil.

"Local" Organics - The Locals Ain't Buying It

2009-10-18T01:34:00.000-07:00

For the past year I've been on a high horse seeking out local "organic" food. I'd like to consider local being my immediate "valley" of approximately a 25 mile radius in the Lykens and Hegins valleys; but for a wanna-be vegan, that's near impossible when you live in rural Pennsylvania with a bumper crop of meat and potato eating Pennsylvania Dutch who really like growing things in Miracle Gro. So I expanded my "local" to a 100 mile radius. Several stores I found to carry organic foods are either not carrying organics any longer, or are just shutting their doors. Most recently, Natural Acres closed their doors. I can't say I'm surprised at this one because their prices were way, way out of line for organics. $3.95 for a dozen organic eggs? $8.00/lb for organic chicken? The entire farm is for sale -- 500 organic acres. Boy if I was wealthy I'd be sticking this farm in my back pocket and growing organic food and selling it CHEAP to compete with conventional food. One of my other weekly visits is Nude Food at the Broad Street Farmers Market in Harrisburg. They too have slowly been downsizing over the past two-three years and more recently they stopped restocking their shelves. When I asked when the next shipment of raw nuts was expected, I was told, "Pam is slowly closing down." Drat! Another one biting the dust. Last winter, I inquired at yet another local bulk food store as to when they will be stocking their organic shelves and they also said, "we're rethinking the organic food section and will not carry as much." Prior to that, the local Weis store completely eliminated their entire organic section AND another store cut their organic section in half (BG's in Millersburg). It's SO disappointing, but understandable - people simply aren't paying the prices. The most recent edition of Organic Matters (Pennsylvania Certified Organic's quarterly newsletter) has an editorial about organic milk losing steam -- folks are struggling financially and when they see a wall of choices of milk, they are going to pick the cheap one and let the organic milk sit. Hubby said the same thing and it certainly makes sense. BUT, I continue to believe that organic food does NOT have to be higher priced than conventional. I continue to believe its cheaper to raise a grass fed cow than a feed lot cow. Organic advocates will argue that point until the cows come home, but there's absolutely no reason a consumer should be denied better health with organics just because of the higher price. Health wise (and isn't that what its really all about?), it's not fair. So my garden will have to continue even though I really wanted to downsize next year. There's just some things to important to eat organically that simply aren't available locally (all the vegetables!).

Clean Food and Skinny Bitch in the Kitch Book Reviews

2009-10-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

My extremely thoughtful boss got me not one, but two vegan cookbooks for my birthday. The first is Clean Food by Terry Walters. It's laid out like my favorite cookbook, Simply in Season, by the season so you know what to eat by what's growing in Spring, Summer, Fall, or even Winter. Not sure what make with your bumper crop of spinach? Open the index to Spinach, and you'll have a list of recipes to choose from. I love a cookbook not only indexed by the type of food, but by season. Cooking in season, having a full-course organic garden in the backyard (and preserved organic food from the backyard for the winter!), and being a 90% vegan makes this a perfect gift. The other cookbook is Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. This book is part of a series of Skinny Bitch books written by two whimsical writers who just so happen to have been models. The original best seller, Skinny Bitch, basically exposes the food industry and what you eat -- nothing new there. They go on to talk about the benefits of vegan eating which is what Skinny Bitch in the Kitch is all about. Some of the recipes are little long, but the shorter ones make up for them. Word to the wise, don't get it if you have something against cussing. These girls LOVE to cuss (thus, the title?!) and I find it amusing and adds interest to the book. I can't wait to read Skinny Bitch -- my boss promised she'd share hers with me when she's done. She too says she is about to go vegan after reading about all the crap out there people are consuming (and getting fat in the process). I must say, I now think of eating corn every time I see doughnuts, or tasty cakes, or any other processed food with high fructose corn syrup. Thank god for Erik Schlosser and Michael Pollan, and now, the Skinny Bitch girls.

The Annual Eat Local Challenge

2009-10-07T04:03:00.001-07:00

October has become the traditional month for the annual Eat Local Challenge. Last year I started 5 days into the challenge and this year it looks like it'll be 7 days into it -- I simply lost track of time and hadn't thought about October being the eat local month. I learned a ton last year taking this challenge -- the biggest lesson being I needed to grow more of my own food. This year I put the task to test and had a bigger-than-ever garden and am grateful I did so and this year's challenge will be a snap. But the garden came at a cost of too many hours in the garden and not enough hours of recreation -- so I need to think through that magic balance of work and play for next year. Overall though, the garden did pay off and I'm ready for winter with jars and bags of my homegrown, preserved produce. I'm proud to say I won't be buying canned tomatoes anytime soon... nor corn from China! Eating local is important for our economy and our environment. If you can, think about getting out of the grocery stores and into the farmer's markets to buy the bulk of your food. You helped the local farmer and yourself.

Interesting Update on the Bees

2009-10-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

Mother Earth News is surpassing Organic Gardening of late with interesting stories. Granted, Organic Gardening's focus is the garden (more below), but Mother Earth News takes it a step further and relates the environment to our homes, including the garden and nearly always has good stories about organic gardening. The latest issue had an update on the honeybee disappearance that stated "the Natural Resources Defense Council is suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency for withholding details about the impact of neonicotinois - a class of widely used pesticides -- on Honey bees and other pollinators. " The article goes on to say, "How would our government respond if one out of every three cows was dying?" What is that telling you? And you'll never guess who the manufacturer of the pesticide is. No, not Monsanto, but an equally powerful pharmaceutical -- Bayer CropScience. They all hold power over government and its unfortunate. You can read the whole story about the bees here. Back to Organic Gardening Magazine. I've seen many transformations of this magazine over the years with each new editor and yet another new editor took the helm. This time, it sounds like they are going to focus on simplicity and community and the first issue with the new editor is likely a good example of what's ahead. There were several nice stories about inner-city gardens and several articles about specific plants -- crop covers and sage. Yes, informative information, but not enough for my use in the backyard. Mother Earth News, on the other hand, had articles on building your own greenhouse (one of my dreams), Eco-friendly houses, apples, garlic, covering your crops to extend the season, the honeybees, and a very interesting story of the top 10 small towns in US - some were sustainable and supported local farming. Mother Earth News gets my vote for providing the most informative, helpful information. Mother is worth the subscription. And have a co-worker to thank for turning me onto the magazine by sharing some of her issues last year with me -- thanks Theresa!

The Backyard is Taking a Back Seat

2009-09-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

Fall is here... and the gardens are slowly going to sleep except for the fall greens. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a mountain biker. This summer saw more garden activity at the sacrifice of me riding for hours on end. But I really miss riding bike, so the gardens are going to take a break for the next month or so as I head out on the bike for some long, endurance riding. I plan to enter a 62-mile race on October 11 called the Ironcross in Michaux State Forest, Pennsylvania. It'll take me about 6-7 hours to finish, and I'll be getting ready for it with long 3-4 hour rides over the next few weeks. So the garden is taking a back seat for while! See you later this fall.

Harvest Time and Fall Crops

2009-09-10T01:49:00.001-07:00

Dried cutting celery ready for storing in jars. The fall and winter greens and broccoli are loving the cooler temps we've been having. I'll likely have broccoli heads the size of basketballs. This is the Arcadia variety I grew in the spring that got huge. The fall crops are usually better.

Another new crop for us -- Chinese Cabbage.

Oh the sweet potatoes -- beautiful! This was my first attempt at sweet tates and they are now part of my annual crops. Very easy to grow from slips - disease free, maintenance free, and easy to harvest and store. Just dig up on a sunny day, let dry for a couple hours, then set in warm, dark location for about a week. They store in a 50-65 degree basement.

What's Going on In The BackYard

2009-09-04T04:27:00.000-07:00

It's early September and the plants are thinking its mid or late September with the cold evenings (50s) we've been having. The raspberries stopped production, the peppers are starting to get that "I'm cold" look, and the winter crops are taking over and growing like I've never seen greens grow. It seems a little early for all this to be happening, but to be honest, I'm glad to see things changing. I'm tired! The prep has begun for the first frost which means a LOT of harvesting and preserving. Here's what's been going on the past month (and why you haven't seen much of me!):

Canned 29 jars of tomatoes - will do about 8 or 9 jars of salsa this weekend.
Started digging up the sweet potatoes, fingerling potatoes, and red potatoes (there's a LOT).
Started shelling dry beans and decided its WAY too time consuming so I'll just pick the whole shells and put them on the top of my garage (warm) and shell them this winter.
Have been drying red raspberries -- got about 4 quarts so far. I used to freeze them but discovered at 135 degrees for 24 hours in the dehydrator, they turn into these absolutely wonderful raspberries crunchies. The flavor is enhanced incredibly. This is probably my thrill of the summer.
Greens, greens, and more greens and been growing like weeks the past 3 weeks. I have collards, spinach, swiss chard (golden - beautiful!), chicory, endive, Chinese cabbage, mustard, Thai lettuce, radicchio, kale and red beets. I have to get straw bales around them to prepare for the winter protection and try to save these beauties into January. Supposedly, it works! This is something new I've wanting to try.
Starting harvesting the butternut squash. Disappointed with the production this year -- the plants got the wilt towards the end and didn't produce as much. But with the sweet potato harvest, its probably a good thing I don't have as many squash.
Froze several bags of cut up peppers.
Canned some fennel and hot peppers at a pressure canning class (and decided pressure canning isn't for me -- too time consuming to "watch" the pot).
Have been drying leaf lettuce like crazy.
And of course cooking up lots of dishes from the backyard harvest with all the fresh vege's -- eggplant, maters, onions, peppers, herbs, greens, etc. You can't imagine how joyful it is grow, pick, and cook your own food from your own backyard. It's truly a delight and if you can, start a garden! You'll never regret it.

Going Off Line for a Spell

2009-08-11T04:16:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from blogging for awhile...feeling stressed and overwhelmed and need to cut some things out.

Not So Great Weekend

2009-08-10T05:24:00.001-07:00

Didn't get much done afterall except freeze 20 bags of corn and cry about rain. The weather guys predicted 7 dry days so I pulled my onions to let them dry in the garden. It rained on them for 12 hours. The wind came through yesterday from thunderstorms and knocked over pepper plants, tomato plants, and much of the corn. I need a new attitude at the moment.

The Backyard This Weekend

2009-08-07T03:40:00.000-07:00

The weekend is going to start a little early 'cause the corn is calling! Today around 1:00pm, starts the official "bulk" harvesting, husking, blanching, cutting, and freezing of sweet corn. The plan is to do about 6 dozen ears -- that will give me a total of 15 quart-size bags for the winter. That's not quite enough for winter storing, but hopefully I'll get another 3 dozen ears froze next week after the rest of it matures. My goal is to have enough to have a bag every two weeks or so for the next 9 months to a year. What else this weekend in the garden?

Weeding!
Take some pics for the Blog
Pull onions to start the curing process (they'll lay in the garden for 3 days to dry, then will be moved to my covered front porch in wire baskets to "cure" for about two weeks -- then I'll store them).
Pick peppers/eggplant - roast with tomatoes and onions
Start pulling spent corn stalks
Turn compost piles
Watch the mommy bluebird feed her babies -- she has a nest in the bluebird house in the garden!
Mow Grass
Weeding!
Watering the kids -- the fall plants are absolutely beautiful right now -- must be the cool temps at night.
Pick kale and other greens - make salad
Thin radicchio, mustard greens, and chinese cabbage - throw in salad
Control the lopes and butternut squash vines (they are growing into the tomatoes, corn, and dry beans!)
Cook up some taters for the week - potato salad? Mashed tates? (yummm)
Weeding!
Water raspberries unless it rains. They are about to start coming in and will need a good shot of water unless we get some rain.
Make hubby chicken corn noodle soup (with the garden sweet corn the Amish neighbor homemade noodles -- yummmm)
Make sure new garden cat Rusty is enjoying himself

Eat To Live Book Review

2009-08-05T03:56:00.000-07:00

My latest read is Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Eat to Live is nothing new. Dr. Joel Fuhrman introduced his “revolutionary” book on HIS vegan diet beliefs based on years of research, studies, and scientific proof in 2003. One of the parts I really liked about this book (besides being able to grow everything I need to eat in my backyard!) is that there are 28 pages of footnotes of medical studies that back Dr. Fuhrman’s research on how a plant based diet is better than animal proteins. The studies he notes are not taken from underground researchers – these are the respected guys like JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association), the New England Journal of Medicine and the American Clinical Nutrition Journal, amongst others. The first couple chapters lay out the research: The American Diet and obesity (he claims 75% obesity in America!), Phytochemicals – Nature’s “Magic” pills, the dark side of animal proteins, and “Are you Dying to Lose Weight?” (“bad” diets (Atkins!). The last part of the book gives a 6-week guaranteed weight loss plan and recipes. He is completely vegan. Several of the blogs I peruse like Fat-Free Vegan and Vegan Lunch-box tout Dr. Fuhrman as one of the best. Yup, I'm gonna try this one now -- I'm back on the vegan bandwagon yet again. I think this is the third time I'm trying. Is the third time really a charm? Allow me to make a disclaimer up front; guaranteed, I'll have some upsets - like Ice Cream! and maybe some PIZZA! To give you an idea of what's in the book, here’s a short blurb from the book. I chose this one because I too for many, many years would say to my hubby, “but I can’t get my calcium if I don’t eat CHEESE and dairy.”

The Best food for bones: Fruits and Vegetables
Green vegetables, beans, tofu, sesame seeds, and even oranges contain lots of usable calcium, without the problems associated with dairy. Keep in mind that you retain the calcium better and just do not needs as much when you don’t consume a diet heavy in animal products and sodium, sugar, and caffeine. Many green vegetables have calcium-absorption rates of over 50 percent, compared with about 32 percent for milk. Additionally, since animal protein induces calcium excretion in the urine, the calcium retention from vegetables in higher. All green vegetables are high in calcium. The American “chicken and pasta” diet style is significantly low in calcium, so adding dairy as a calcium source to this mineral-poor diet makes superficial sense – it is certainly better than no calcium in the diet. However, much more than just calcium is missing. The only reason cow’s milk is considered such an important source of calcium is that the American diet is centered on animal foods, refined grains, and sugar, all of which are devoid of calcium. Any healthy diet containing a reasonable amount of unrefined plant foods will have sufficient calcium without milk. Fruits and vegetables strengthen bones. Researchers have found that those who eat the most fruits and vegetables have denser bones. These researchers concluded that not only are fruits and vegetables rich in potassium, magnesium, calcium and other nutrients essential for bone health, but, because they are alkaline, not acid-producing, they do not induce urinary calcium loss. Green vegetables in particular have a powerful effect on reducing hip fractures, for they are rich not only in calcium but in other nutrients such as vitamin K, which is crucial for bone health.

How are the Winter Vege's Coming Along?

2009-08-03T02:50:00.000-07:00

My first try at growing winter crops is turning out pretty darn good. Mother Nature has really, really been kind to my kids and blessing them with a plethora of moisture; so much so I haven't had to water these seedlings in over a week. It's a very rare mid-summer when you don't have to water seeds. The only problem I had was with the Swiss Chard -- something was chewing them off as quick as they sprouted. Everything else sprouted beautifully and is coming along beautifully: Collard greens, asian mustard, chinese cabbage, thai lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, carrots, radicchio, endive, chicory, red beets, and broccoli. I think I'll stick some turnips in the ground yet and that will be it. Turnip greens are very high in calcium. I was also going to do dandelion and radishes but may not -- just not sure with all the greens I already have growing. The picture below that looks like a big empty space next to the corn? That would the spot where the green beans were that now have baby broccoli growing.

Thank God for the Organic Movement

2009-08-02T02:07:00.000-07:00

It's quite impressive how the organic folks come out of the closet and woodwork in numbers when issues arise that could affect the momentum they've been building over the years. About a week ago, I saw a news blurb on Medical News Today about a UK study that proved there's no nutritional difference between organic and conventional food. I thought, "HUH?!?!" They are SO wrong! That's one of the entire POINTS of organic food -- it IS more nutritional. I figured it was just a crackpot article and study and no one would pay much attention. I especially noted it was bogus when I saw this sentence:

They did not examine the content of contaminants or chemical residues.

Well, it turns out RODALE and the Organic Center BOTH disputed this article wrote the researchers. There were holes all over the article and the study. The study looked at 13 nutrients which in the organic folks opinion, wasn't near enough and didn't include antioxidants which are huge in organic food. The study also did not release everything they found -- only the parts they felt showed similar comparisons, thus there's no difference. Ahhh... working with data...all it takes is a smart person to use the parts they want to use and they can say "here's the proof!" but they don't tell you everything in the data. It's all based on who you're working for and what message you want to get out. So here is the Organic Center's response. And here is Rodale's response. The Organic Center really goes into great detail and even did their own study of the same data and found huge differences. Very interesting read if you have the time (yes, it's long).

Pep Pep Pep Peppers!

2009-07-31T01:20:00.000-07:00

We love them... in all shapes, sizes, and colors. There's even a pepper poster hanging in my rec room of hot peppers. There are other Chileheads around the world too -- some make a living out of it like those at Darn Hot Peppers. Peppers are like tomatoes and there are hundreds of varieties to grow. Of course the most beautiful is the Caribbean red -- not really edible (it's hotter than a habanero - 445,000 on the Scoville scale of hotness - a habanero is about 225,000. Compare both to a jalapeno at 5,000!), but oh-so-gorgeous red. One year I grew habaneros. I had 3 plants. Yes, you hot pepper eaters are going ARGH - what did you do with all those habaneros? You can usually only eat one or two a season -- the heat goes a very, very long way. I drug a grocery bag of habaneros to work for a computer intern who said he loves them. He, and a couple of his friends, make hot sauce. And of course college kids being college kids, one of them drank the whole bottle of hot sauce and ended up in the ER. I felt awful! But it certainly wasn't my fault. So there's been no habaneros since then. Instead, we grow mostly bell peppers the past few years and I always grow cayenne to dry and Rick likes a jalapeno every now and then. the cayennes are super easy to grow, dry easily just by pulling the plant and hanging upside down somewhere. Pull the dried peppers off the plant sometime in November, and start grinding. Hubby helps me grind and we have beautiful, hot peppers for on just about everything. Rick's favorite is to put it on pierogies. Not only does it taste good, it's looks pretty against the light-colored dough. I have a new pepper growing this year that has heat in between a yellow banana pepper and a jalapeno. I cut this one up and put in it a salad and it was just right -- hot, but not too hot to eat. But I can't find the variety name anywhere! Its making me crazy. According to my pepper poster, it's a Chawa. It's a little bigger than a cayenne, almost as big as a chile pepper. And yellowish. Yummy. The bell peppers get frozen, and of course we dry the cayennes. This year I may try pressure canning some of the jalapenos and the Chawas. I'm fairly certain they are the choice produce for my canning class on Aug 22. So be sure to grow bunches of peppers next year - you don't know what you're missing!

Learning to Pressure Can

2009-07-29T03:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to PASA (PA Association of Sustained Agriculture) and their newsletters of upcoming events, I learned about a canning class in Carlisle, PA -- about an hour from home. The Kitchen Shoppe is hosting the event and it appears they have numerous "cooking classes" of all types, both hands on and demonstration. Cool stuff. I know how to water bath can (all I've ever known) and dehydrate, but they are going to also address pressure canning of which I'm sorta interested in... but haven't decided for sure I want to drop the $$ for a pressure canner. Maybe this class will help me decide. Two of my friends wanted to learn to can, so Donna is going along (of course we are riding bike too! Yeh!), and I'm not sure about the other yet. It's a hands-on class and we'll take home 4 pints of a canned food. I'm taking tomatoes 'cause they will be in full production mode by August 22. I thought about hot peppers too 'cause I have a new variety of hot pepper growing that is delightful -- not quite as hot as a jalapeno -- but just enough bite to pep dishes up a bit. I forget the variety, I have to look it up. But these guys would be good to can rather than freeze -- I'm tired of freezing things.

Trying to Keep Up

2009-07-28T03:51:00.001-07:00

It's the time of year when gardening and food preservation starts to feel like work and not a therapeutic hobby. I think I'm turning into a green bean. So much so, I'm pulling the plants this weekend simply to be rid of the little monsters. They've been eaten, dried, froze, shared with many friends, neighbors, and family that they are starting to say no more, please! It's like the annual visit of the overwhelming zucchini, but only in the form of green beans. And picking them takes WAY too long -- you can't see them, my back hurts, and there's these nasty giant Japanese beetle looking creatures flying all over the place. Yes, the plants are definitely coming out this weekend after the last picking which I'll keep for the final season green-bean enjoyment. I don't even like green beans! (Well, I sort of do.. but they clearly are not one of my favorites.)

So what else?
Potatoes are ready and someone suggested drying them - so I gotta start that process.
Onions. They are getting ready too. Each year I lose about 1/2 to rotting, so this year I have to attempt to do things differently so about 1/2 will be dried. My dehydrator is going to get it's workout.
Celery. It too needs to get in the drier. It will be easy to dry since it's only the leaves.
Corn. In about a week or two I'm going to have about 200 ears of corn to do something with. I really wanted to can it... but everything I'm reading says corn needs to go in a pressure cooker and I really don't want to invest $300 in a pressure canner just for the corn. I probably would use it for other things down the road, but for now its just the corn. Maybe some other time. My dear mother offered up some freezer space so I'll take advantage of that for the corn.
Tomatoes. Holy Toledo there are tomatoes. I have early girls (eating and canning) and Amish Paste (canning). In about a month I'll be smothered in tomatoes. They will definitely be canned since a hot water bath is sufficient for them. I think I'll be canning every week for about a month. My mom will get her share too and probably make spaghetti sauce.
Butternut Squash. They are forming! And of course the vines are consuming everything in their path.
Cantaloupe. I didn't plant a single seed or buy a single plant and I have melons coming out the wazoo! I throw the seeds and rinds in the compost pile each year and the pile doesn't get hot enough late in the season to kill the seeds. So when I spread the compost back on the garden the following year, melons start sprouting. Love it.
Carrots. The final couple are coming out 'cause the melons need their space.
Fall/Winter Seeds. I planted more! Like I need more planted? Chinese cabbage, mustard and collard greens, Thai lettuce, more spinach and beets (something is eating the beets as they sprout). I planted more 'cause I actually had to buy spinach this past weekend and hated every second of having to buy it.

Phew! And I really wanted to take pictures but Rick always has the camera. I need to get my own camera to share with you the beautiful broccoli babies and quinoa seed heads forming. What visions of grandeur.

Oh, and I found a new "diet" that I really, really like 'cause it fits EXACTLY what I grow in the backyard. More on that coming shortly. I'm sure many of you know about -- Eat To Live by Dr. Fuhrman? It's totally vegan and the part I like most -- SIMPLE. No weird food concoctions or ingredients -- just the basics. Fruit, Vegetables, beans/legumes, and nuts/seeds. He encourages raw vegetables, salads two times a day and very, very easy recipes. No dairy, No meat, No eggs, No grains, No cereals, No breads. I can handle it all except the eggs... I'm having a bunch of difficulty giving up the eggs. More of Eat to Live in another post.

Safir Cutting Celery - What to Do With It Once it Grows

2009-07-25T13:53:00.001-07:00

This year is my first try at cutting celery, a.k.a leaf celery. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I read that cutting celery can be dried and used in soups and stews in the winter. I could find very little on what to do with it once I got it to grow. So today I went on an all out search on cutting celery and found it to be an easy task for drying. Cutting Celery is similar to the herb Lovage, and in the carrot and parsley family. It actually resembles parsley when fully developed. At first, I thought you dried the stalks, but they are spindly and tasteless. I've since found out you dry the leaves, just like parsley. And its used just like parsely in soups/stews. Rather than traditional celery stalks, you throw in the dried leaves for the flavoring. Did I mention the flavor is incredible? Even more so that stalk celery. I'm hooked, and will be drying jars of it. It was a worthwhile seed start, indeed. The variety I grew was "Safir" from Fedco Seeds.

Honeybee Nectar

2009-07-24T03:17:00.001-07:00

There's been articles and interviews on the blight of the honeybee -- why are the populations declining? I'm sure many of you have seen it your own backyards. This year, I kept saying to Rick, "Where are the honeybees? If you see any, let me know." There was concern at first about pollination of fruits and vegetables, but I seem to have a healthy population of small bumblebees that seem to be doing an excellent job. But it didn't take long for the honeybees to show up once the milkweed started blooming. All the blossoms are literally covered with honeybees and I welcomed them with open arms. But that seems to be the only plant they are feeding on. It's odd. So you want honeybees next year? Plant milkweed!

Remembering MoMo

2009-07-23T16:19:00.001-07:00

Well, she's gone - we're certain at this point. It's exactly one week at 4:00 am tomorrow (Friday) morning since we saw our dear one-year old kitten. She was a fun-loving, unique, one-of-a-kind kitty that you come by maybe once or twice in lifetime. I'm writing about her because it was suggested it may help me get over her. Of course I'm crying as I type this. She sat on my shoulder and slept while I sat on my bike trainer; she got up on the roof of the house and was just having a blast running around near the peak of the house and wouldn't dare come down and stop the fun; she ate green beans; she would come running like a dog when I yelled, "here MoMo pussy... come on! clap..clap...clap;" she sat on top of the compost pile playing as I turned the piles nearby; she's lay on my lap and sleep; she'd lay between my legs in bed; she'd jump like a dog when she saw me coming with her food; she jumped on the sink (don't tell hubby, but I'd let her sit there too). I miss her terribly. I have 3 other cats, but none come close to MoMo's personality. There's no closure to what happened to her. She never left the property, so we ruled out her visiting neighbors or getting hit by a car (although I DID check the neighboring fields and roads). The only possibility is mother nature was doing her thing. She was a small, skinny kitty. A hawk or owl could have got her, or a coyote -- all of which we have around here - and she spent a good bit of time exploring. Whatever it was, I'll truly miss you MoMo. Oh, and if you're wondering if I'll get another? No way. I can't bear the pain of losing pets.

Quick Run-down of EVERYTHING Garden Related This Week

2009-07-21T03:55:00.000-07:00

There is SO much going on I'm having some trouble doing posts everyday... so here's a bullet list of the happenings in the Backyard:

Green Beans and Yellow Wax Beans are taking over -- I'm picking, eating, drying, giving away, and cooking them everyday.
Planting Fall crops - Lots of fall/winter seeds went in: Radicchio, spinach, carrot, swiss chard, chicory and endive. Radishes and dandelion will go in Aug 1. The idea is to start the seeds now, get them to maturity when the first frost hits, cover them with cold frames, and harvest all winter. This is my first experience at this... I'll keep you posted.
Watering the seeds I planted above. They need extra nurturing and TLC as the summer heats up. Starting cold weather seeds in the heat of the summer is challenging.
Babying my Arcadia broccoli seeds I started outside. They are adorable! Tiny little baby broccoli sprouts are in a protected area. In about 5-6 weeks I'll transplant them to the garden where the beans are now.
General, constant weeding.
Compost turning - all 5 piles. I found two more snake eggs and these guys were alive. They aren't anymore.
Feeding plants -- hauling finished compost to the plants that are hungry.
Prepping beds where plants are pulled -- I layered compost in the area where the broccoli was. Not sure what I'll put in there yet -- may let it go for the winter.
QUINOA! I'm so excited... you'll get pics of my quinoa growing. It's starting to get seed heads. I gave it a good feeding yesterday.
Fennel! I dug up fennel bulbs and they are awaiting Fennel/Leek butternut squash soup.
Carrots! Digging up, cleaning, slicing up the final batch before they start rotting in the ground.
Potatoes! I discovered this weekend I'm going to be smothered in red potatoes. They are ready and I dug up a couple for in the Clam Chowder. Delicious. Rick really likes them too (he doesn't always like the weird stuff I grow... I guess he's just a meat and potato kinda guy.)
Watercress - my mom has some and I need to get down to pick a bunch.
Drying Celery and Kale.
Constantly yelling and looking for MoMo. She never came home and I'm still calling for her 4 days later. Maybe, just maybe....

Celery Update

2009-07-19T15:47:00.001-07:00

Earlier this year, I talked about starting cutting celery from seed and how hard it was and how long it took. And when I planted it, it took weeks to come around and start growing. This past week, I finally cut some bunches for drying. That was the main reason I grew it -- to cut, dry, and store for winter soups and stews so I didn't have to buy that crap celery in plastic bags at grocery stores. The plants are doing quite well and I'm very pleased with the turn out. The celery can be dried leaves and all and it's extremely tasty -- much more celery-like than store-bought celery.

Missing MoMo

2009-07-18T02:36:00.000-07:00

Do you see that cutie-pie, bean-eating cat in theprevious post? She's missing and I can't stop crying. She never came home Friday night. I combed the fields next to our house calling her to no avail. I'm just another animal-loving, devastated sap that's torn apart. Even the other three cats can't take her fun-loving place. She was like a dog... came running when I called her, sat on my shoulder and slept while I rode the indoor bike (on a trainer), slept between my legs, jumped for food. Like losing a child or parent.

Buy Nothing Challenge - August 2009

2009-07-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

For those of you so inclined, there's a "new" (actually, folks have done this many times) challenge for August called the Buy Nothing Challenge. It's a green thang, and the idea is to break you of your frivolous spending, be more resourceful, and "reuse" or use what you already have. I know I'm guilty of buying things I really don't need, and challenges like these help the bad habits to be broken -- it only takes 20 days to break a habit! So the details are below from the originator, the Crunchy Chicken.

Buy Nothing Challenge 2009
It's been a whole year since the last Buy Nothing Challenge, and hoo boy!, have I fallen off the wagon. With my hubs back to work full-time as of the end of June, I don't feel as financially strapped and so, well, forgive me people, but I have been spending like mad.So, it's time to strap down that wallet and do another round of the Buy Nothing Challenge - the 2009 Edition. Last year I hosted two of these challenges and there were hundreds of people that participated. This year around, people are having more economic challenges of their own, so having a gang of readers pledging together to save money by not spending will hopefully help out your finances.Like last year, here are the guidelines. For the month of August, you can buy:* No new clothes* No new gadgets* No new furniture or housewares* No salon services* No makeup* No tools* No whatever the hell else people buy. This year I'm giving you a couple weeks to prepare, but that doesn't mean that you should go out and spend and hoard in preparation. In fact, I bet that once you sign up for this challenge, most likely you'll start watching what you are spending now. At least, that's what happened for most of the people who participated last year. If you must absolutely acquire something non-edible or not essential to growing your own food or for your survival, then you must borrow, barter, or buy it used. If you end up buying something new that is non-essential, I'll be hosting a weekly Sunday Confessional for you to justify your purchase. So, just think about having to confess to the world what you couldn't hold off on buying. Things that are okay: Necessary items like schools supplies and the like are okay, so don't panic about back-to-school items. Also, items used for canning and food storage are okay so don't worry if you are running low on pectin, mason jars and whatnot. If you have a vacation planned in August, just confess ahead of time accordingly. But that doesn't give you free reign to totally undo your efforts the rest of the month.

A Beany Weekend On Tap

2009-07-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

Boy oh boy do I have beans! My dad's horse manure turned the bean rows into bean jungles. Yesterday my mom came up to pick some beans and saw something moving in the jungle and got scared and left without picking anything. Tonight, I saw a burrow of some sort -- can't be sure what it was, but there was something in there. Couldn't be a rabbit -- there's nothing chewed. Snake??? Maybe a toad. I've had toads as big as softballs. So here's the latest harvest -- lots of beans. I'll be drying many of them; and hubby requested ham, potatoes, and green beans. Do you think I can find local, naturally raised ham? Hope so.

And I have 3 currant bushes I planted years ago, and never really did anything with them. The dark currants (the typically grown currants) are bitter so I never eat them. The white are ok, but the red are fabulous. Currants remind me a little of rhubarb -- nasty by itself, but add sugar and spices and they are luscious. They aren't quite as sour as rhubarb, but getting there. I've been eating the red currants straight off the bush -- they are slightly sweeter than the others.

Beet It

2009-07-11T01:56:00.001-07:00

Red beets aren't a vegetable the majority of folks set out to buy at the farmers market or store - especially not fresh. Maybe in a can, already cooked with no clean-up; but for the most part, you look at a bunch of beets and think what a mess -- what do you even do with them? It's true -- beets are probably one of the messiest dishes to cook, cut up, and even eating has ruby red juice spritzed all over. But the end result is not even near those canned things. The flavor, like all other homegrown produce, is sweet and luscious - not tasteless like in the can. They are super-easy to grow in the spring and fall but skip the summer, they hate the heat. Don't pass up that bunch of beauties the next time you see them. You can even toss the tops in your salad. Here's a Beet 101 lesson, courtesy the best cookbook on earth, Simply in Season, on cooking up a batch of beets along with a lovely recipe for picked beets that keeps in the frig for 6 weeks. What better way to enjoy with those free range eggs.

Cooking beets: Scrub 4 quarts beets. Leave on tails and 2-3 inches of tops. Place beets in tall pot. Add water to halfway up beets. Boil until fork tender - 1-2 hours. Drain and set aside beet juice. Run cold water over beets while sliding off skins with hand - the skins slide very easily, but guaranteed, your hands will be stained. Slice or dice beets as preferred.

3 cups white vinegar
2-1/2 cups brown sugar
2 cups beet juice
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
Combine in a pot, add sliced or diced beets and bring to a boil. Boil 3-5 minutes. Cool. Beets may be kept covered and refrigerated for 4-6 weeks. Or place hot beets and liquid into hot canning jars and seal with sterilized lids and rings. Process either pints or quarts in boiling water bath for 30 minutes. Add hard boiled eggs to mixture as desired, but do not store eggs with beets -- the eggs will not keep as long as the beets. ENJOY!

Offline for a couple Days

2009-07-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

Our computer died at home... so I'll be off-line until Monday. And it may be a little longer until I get pictures up and running again too. I'll keep everyone posted.

Keeping It Reel

2009-07-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I got a cheap reel mower – just to see what it would be like. I used it maybe twice around the house to do a little trimming – definitely nothing major. Last night, the grass was ready to be mowed and when I flicked the switch to turn on the powered riding tractor, nothing. Total deadness. I asked hubby if he knew anything about it and he didn’t. He was baffled too. “Now what?” ” I thought. We aren’t going to be home Wednesday eve and the grass could wait until Thursday, but will the mower be fixed? Probably not. Crap! I spied the reel mower in the corner of the garage with this big shitty grin on its face. “Ok….. it’s time to really test you out.” 1.5 hours later, I was SOOO tired, shaky, dehydrated, and generally totally whooped that I could barely drag the mower back into the garage. Now THAT is a workout! I only did the sections where the grass grows thick and I can see I’ll have to get back to the other sections fairly quickly ‘cause the reel pushes extra hard in longer grass. All in all, I enjoyed it – if I had more time to walk back and forth for a couple hours. This may be my mowing of choice once I retire, but it really eats up precious time when you work, garden, kayak, and ride bike the majority of your waking hours. Excellent workout – and no gas used!

Can You Guess the Flower?

2009-07-07T02:14:00.000-07:00

This is a beaut...but you can guess what it is?? Hubby loves to take close-ups and I never thought this plant would produce such a lovely flower.