Rain and rain and more rain

Ah yes, the rain! Feels like we’re all growing a thin layer of mold. I thought about taking pictures of the mushrooms and strange molds and particularly the Caca de Luna, Fuligo Septica or (not to be gross, but) "Dog Vomit Mold" which is loving all the wet mulch and raised beds at our house. But, I really didn't have the stomach for it. Nice!

A few quick snaps I took between raindrops...

The marguerite daisys have begun to bloom. These are called "Kelway"



And these antique black violas seem to have self-seeded below the hanging basket from last year. Love these!




And we did manage a few things between the showers. So here's our IDC update for the week.

Plant Something:
Planted carrots, turnips, beets and onions round two. Planted some perrenials. Transplanted borage.

Harvest Something:
More strawberries…although the rain is turning most of them into moldy mess, the first of the raspberries, lettuce and peas.

Preserve Something:
Froze strawberries and raspberries (saving up the raspberries to make cordial)

Waste Not:
Used cheese whey for bread and pancake dough. Started two hot compost bins. Made berry picking buckets out of milk jugs for two handed picking.

Want Not:
Found some french soda bottles with rubber ring tops for cordial making. Scored a new baby wrap and baby sling as well as a very nice diaper bag at the local thrift store.

Build Community Food Systems:
Bought eggs and greens from the local farm. Loaned “In Defense of Food” to a friend.

Eat the Food:
Strawberry rhubarb pie, oh yeah! Made sourdough bread and sourdough pancakes. Lots of fresh peas, and salads.

Happy Summer!

Enjoying the sweetness

We are well into the midst of our first official strawberry season. Last year we had to pinch off all of the blossoms to ensure good root development. This year we are reaping the harvest. 1 to 2 pints of delicious berries a day!!! for the past 11 days. whoohoo!

Here's the haul from just one evening. Two pints before we tossed them in the big strainer for a quick shower.



Then some got capped and cut up and ready on a tray for a quick freeze before bagging in the freezer.



And the rest of the bounty, slightly macerated with a potato masher, topping some home-made sweet biscuits and crowned with home-made whipped cream slightly sweetened with maple syrup. Simply heavenly!



And fast on their heels, the quickly ripening raspberries.


I'm reading up on cordial making (the alcoholic "American" kind as well as the non-alcoholic British/Australian versions. I'm also preparing myself to dip my toe into the jam-making arena. Nervous and filled with trepidation...but almost ready to take the plunge.

And our update for the IDC, we've had a busy week, with much rain. Here's what we've managed this week...

Plant Something:
Planted broccoli, kale, cabbage, marigolds, transplanted hosta away from the workshop to help the drainage and ant situation around the workshop. Brought out eggplant, pepper and basil seedlings to harden off in makeshift cold frame.

Harvest Something:
1 to 2 pints of strawberries a day, peas, lettuce and herbs.

Preserve Something:
Froze strawberries

Waste Not:
Read up on using more of our discarded paper for composting instead of recycling. Planning the location for a new hot compost pile.

Preparation and Storage:
Did the big shop for the month. Added to the long term food storage, more legumes, applesauce, seasonings. Moved some vases and china around in the basement to double our basement pantry storage.

Build Community Food Systems:
Located a great listing of all the farmer's markets in our state to post on our company's green page. This will go along with an article encouraging people to buy locally and eat fresh! Communicated with a local farmer about providing the entertainment at their fall harvest festival. Whoohoo!

Eat the Food:
Had MORE fresh strawberry shortcake with whole wheat sweet biscuits and organic cream. Still delicious! Had fresh salad mix from the local farm under our grilled salmon. Made a fritatta with fresh farm eggs, braising greens and shredded raw milk cheese. Heavenly. Made my first successful batch of yogurt. Drained some for Quark cheese.

A few tentative stitches

Now that my finger is officially on the mend (no more bandages). I couldn't resist the urge to get out a knitting project and see what I can do. Hmmm, this is going to be a challenge. With weakness and hyper-sensitivity in my middle finger as well as a desire to put less stress on that joint. I'm realizing that I'm going to have to teach myself a new way to knit. I did 8 rows on this baby sweater this morning and it was painstakingly slow and a bit tweaky. Ah, well...a new challenge!

this little sweater is a pattern that I've xeroxed too many times and no longer know the origin. It's a simple thing that you knit flat with some nice garter edges and sew up the sides. If you are recognizing the green main color, it is the leftover Berkshire by Valley Yarns from my hoodie, thrown in with a few bits of Malabrigo in other greens (vaa and lettuce) since I didn't have enough of any one of these yarns. It's looking great so far in an alternating stripe. Now if I can only get my knitting mojo back I'll be in business.

And since I'm all about all things green today. Here are some new pictures from the garden. We picked some of these sweet yellow peas to have aside our fritatta last night. Very yummy!




The bush beans that Michael planting are loving this weather!



I can't resist the eye-popping color of these petunias. They make me smile everytime I see them.



And here's our IDC Update for the week, lest you think that we were quietly sitting and knitting the week away.

Plant Something:
Planted tomatoes, peppers and eggplants from seedlings started indoors, direct seeded butternut squash

Harvest Something:
5 pints of strawberries…all eaten as fast as we could pick them, as well as all the lettuce that was big enough to cut.

Preserve Something:
Made veggie broth from ends, scraps and peelings and froze in ice-cube trays for quick usability.

Waste Not:
Cleaned out the fridge, made a huge pot of lamb broth with the lamb bones we had in the freezer. See veggie broth above.

Preparation and Storage:
Found some large “cookie cans” in the closet, perfect for mouse-proof storage in the basement pantry.

Build Community Food Systems:
Received some extra squash and cucumber seedlings from a neighbor, left them so home-made rhubarb coffee cake by way of thanks.


Eat the Food:
Had fresh strawberry shortcake with whole wheat sweet biscuits and organic cream MANY times this week. So delicious! Fresh picked lettuce on the home made gyro sandwiches. Attempted to make yogurt. Made ricotta instead. Used whey to lacto-ferment some wheat flour for apricot pecan quick bread. Baked 4 mini loaves and 6 muffins, some for immediate use and some for the chest freezer.

Happy early summer!

Some baking and the latest Independence Days Challenge Update

I came home from the farm on Saturday loaded down with fresh eggs and greens and a nice big bunch of rhubarb. We only got a small yield from our plants this year since they are still young. So, I thought I'd take advantage of the local bounty to get a little more of this delicious tangy vegetable. (Treated as a fruit in this household).

Armed with a great recipe from Farmer's Almanac for rhubarb cake, I undertook some afternoon baking. I healthied it up with a few substitutions, organic whole wheat flour, sucanat and honey instead of sugar and made a double batch to get four mini loaves (one pictured above) as well as a dozen muffins. Really tasty!

Since the oven was on, I took advantage of the heat and energy and threw in a couple of loaves of honey banana bread, to use up our seven smooshiest bananas. Now the freezer is backed with goodies and we're set for a little while.




So far, we've only gotten a few ripe strawberries, but any day now there'll be a nice big harvest so I'm getting my shortcake mojo on for sometime in the next week. Can't wait!!!



Meanwhile here's our update for the IDC for this week:

Plant Something:
Planted eggplant, squash, and cucumber seedlings and direct seeded some sunflowers and nasturtiums

Harvest Something:
Picked the first few strawberries and a little lettuce and oregano.

Preserve Something:
Put up some oregano for drying, froze some rhubarb from the local farm.


Reduce Waste:
Attended a lecture regarding the local watershed, water conservation and restoration of the local river. Attended a river blessing for the Concord River.


Preparation and Storage:
Purchased some bulk dehydrated black beans and whole wheat biscuit mix both organic from maryjanesfarm.com for food storage.


Build Community Food Systems:
Shared four bean salad and home baked banana bread at a luncheon before the River blessing. Bought fresh eggs, greens and rhubarb from the local farm.

Eat the Food:
Baked rhubarb coffee cake and muffins, some to eat now, some to share and some to freeze for a rainy day, baked banana bread with whole wheat flower, local honey and lots of old bananas to share at a luncheon and freeze for later. Made from storage, more four bean salad and some delicious spaghetti sauce with dried mushrooms and fresh herbs from the garden.

Hope you're having a good week!

A chilly week, a few blooms and an update

It's been chilly few days here, cool and rainy. I'm finding it hard to come up with the perfect work wardrobe for cool spring days. But, the plants seem to be loving it. I'm happy to see that the Wee Willie heirloom pinks I seeded last year are coming back. And we added a few more perennials to the bed, some indigo and mauve columbine, some coreopsis and more sea pinks. It should add some nice color and attract lots of beneficial insects to the garden.

Kind of a quiet week here with finger recuperation still going on. We did get a chance to visit with a few family members last night over a nice dinner in town. A rare occasion and one that we were glad to be part of!

And once again, thanks to my dear husband, we still managed to get a few things done by way of the Independence Days Challenge (IDC). So, here's our update for the week...

Plant Something:
Planted pole beans, squash, luffas and perennials

Harvest Something:
herbs and a little lettuce

Preserve Something:
not this week

Reduce Waste:
Created a list of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle tips for the office green page. Harvested a load of used printer paper to cut down and use instead of post-its in the office

Preparation and Storage:
Stored a water-proof supply of candles and matches in the basement storage area

Build Community Food Systems:
Working on a "raised bed" team at work to create and maintain an organic garden at work

Eat the Food:
Made a big bowl of 4-bean salad, a great way to use food storage!

Hope you're having a good week!

A few pictures and an update

The last of this year's rhubarb harvest. Just a tease of years to come.


I'm saving it to partner with the first succulent crop of strawberries coming soon!




The first of the crisp mint lettuce is up and beckoning to be included in a spring salad.


The sea pinks by the drive are our first real color besides the luscious bits of green popping up all over.


And the dratted finger. Feeling a bit better than a week ago when I got home from the surgery. Looking forward to a week from now when the bandage comes off. For now, I'm a little limited in the hand-use department, and looking a bit like I'm carrying around a chicken drumstick...but on the mend!



And thanks to my wonderful husband, we still managed to accomplish quite a lot. So, here's our Independence Days Challenge update for the week...

Plant Something:
Planted carrots, onion sets, beets and beans. Transplanted more tomatoes and butternut squash, as well a pepper, eggplant and luffa seedlings to bigger pots.

Harvest Something:
rhubarb

Preserve Something:
not this week.

Reduce Waste:
Repaired a reusable shopping bag.

Preparation and Storage:
Did our big once-a-month shop, Added some additional oatmeal, beans, broth, honey, tomatoes, applesauce and seasonings to the long-term food storage.

Build Community Food Systems:
Talked to a co-worker and sent her some links about food storage for small spaces.

Eat the Food:
Sourdough apricot/pecan bread, liver and onions from the spring lamb we bought, more delicious local farm-fresh eggs.

A little hand-work and the IDC challenge update

So, about my middle finger...lots of joking aside (over-use injury, flipped it too many times...etc), I've got a bit of a cyst and some bone growth on the top joint of my middle finger and tomorrow I'm having it taken care of. Sounds like such a small thing really, but this requires some "getting down in there" kind of work so I'll be operated on in the hospital and needing some time to heal afterwards. This all stems from osteoarthritis. Not a term I was hoping to hear for some years yet. But not a surprise with my family traits and my constant use of my hands.

With the "impressive dressing" I've been promised by my surgeon and limitations at least until the stitches come out. I'm looking at some serious down time for any and all kinds of hand work. Now, while this sounds pretty good when it comes to litter box duty and dish washing, it is a serious bummer for my knitting, sewing, cooking and gardening. So, I've been on a bit of a push over the weekend to catch us up and get us a little ahead.

I've been trying to finish up another little sweater for the Goober and started a batch of bread to last us a week or two.

And here's our list for another week of the Independence Days Challenge:

Plant Something:
Planted potatoes and chard. Weeded, planted MANY shasta daisy divides along our fence line. Planted the annual flowers by the front steps. Transplanted tomato, luffa, butternut squash seedlings to bigger pots.

Harvest Something:
Harvested herbs for drying.

Preserve Something:
Made a batch of power bars and packaged for the freezer.

Reduce Waste:
Made a tote bag out of some fabric scraps and remnants.

Preparation and Storage:
Purchased a few medical supplies to add to our emergency supplies.

Build Community Food Systems:
Bought eggs and meat from a local farmer. Making this a weekly habit.

Eat the Food:
Baked some sour dough flat breads. Very good. They've been added to the regular baking list. Made a few batches of cabbage slaw, one with home-made mayo, yogurt and cider vinegar and the other with dried fruit, olive oil and cider vinegar (no mayo). Both delicious warm weather sides.