Autumn Haze

I love Autumn. The dusty, musty smell of the soil winding down in the garden for the year. The low slung golden light filtering through leafy trees just beginning to give in to the inevitable lack of light that will turn their trusses into a fiery crown. Falling to the ground, their beauty spent, their leaves will nourish the next flush of  green with the warming of days next spring.

The early morning garden had started shrouded in fog. I now look across this little farm where the holly hocks stand guard at the garden gate the setting sun  turning their blossoms into little panes of stained glass more beautiful than any church window. Beneath them between the lavender and the rosemary I can see divots in the soil where the chickens spent the afternoon happily tossing dust a foot or more into the air as they took a languorous dust bath. I make a mental note to repair them. For what purpose I don't know. They will only be at their happy destruction again tomorrow. I don't mind. I love having animals that are so obviously happy and healthy. I call the masses home with a "chook chook chook" and lock them safely into their run. They seem to  visibly relax once tucked inside, searching for bits of food or just resting in a corner, waiting for the sun to tell them it is time to go to bed.

Picking up my basket I head for the garden to see what the days offerings will be. Tomatoes perhaps.  Green tomatoes for sure but I'm not quite ready to give up on the possibility of a late flush of ripe tomatoes and another Caprese Salad (recipe follows) before cold weather takes these little beauties. If there are enough I can dehydrate them for using on pizza in the dead of winter. Yum! Summer in January!

Zucchini would be great too. I discovered that my family will eat all the
zucchini I can grow when I make baked Zucchini Fries. (Recipe to follow) I see spots of orange peeking out from under giant prickly leaves and make another mental note to write in my garden book to plant more pumpkins next year. They are so much fun and a versatile calorie dense vegi that stores amazingly well if not allowed to get too cold.

Green beans dangle from tangled vines and I pick the garden's offering. Pencil thin and straight french fillets and big fat Blue Lake beans. There is also tender wax beans and a collection of long purple beans. They will turn a deep green when steamed but it is always fun to bring a basket of multicolored beans into the kitchen. Boring vegis are not in our repertoire of daily fare at this time of year. The beets I planted in August look gorgeous with their ruby colored stems glowing in the setting sun and the ferny foliage of new carrots as a backdrop. They will be a tasty dish this winter. The beets need thinning in order to have room to become beets so the "culled" leafy greens will  be dinner tomorrow. I leave them until then.

Walking back toward the gate I spot some small pear shaped tomatoes hiding under the skirts of a protective branch. I pick one and pop it into my mouth enjoying the sweet acidic explosion on my tongue. I haven't any lettuce or greens big enough to make a salad but decide a small bowl of plain naked tomatoes would be just the ticket. Better than a candy dish without the guilt.  

Picking up my basket I trudge toward the house with my booty wondering if we will get tired of green beans before they are done for the season and if they will taste nearly as good when I use the frozen beans that I have put by.
In the kitchen I pour the beans into a large bowl to sort into beans for dinner and beans for pickling. Shining jars of peaches have cooled and sealed on the counter and are waiting to be labeled and added to the growing larder in the pantry. Partly ripened tomatoes are covering every available surface including an extra table that I have set up specifically for that purpose. Not trusting the weather I brought in all the tomatoes except the Pear and the Pacino's to ripen in the house. This year I am going to beat the blight to the harvest. I place these tomatoes into a zip bag as they ripen and place them in the freezer to be turned into sauce later. The smell of blackberry jam is still heavy in the air and reminds me of my mothers late summer kitchen. All this is a lot of work now but so easy this winter when I need a jar of something to round out a meal and I don't even have to go to the grocery store. I take the peaches out to the pantry and admire the colored jewels preserved in gleaming jars.

 I'm tired after the days work but it is a happy contented tired. The kind that means you will fall asleep tonight and sleep clear through until morning and wake up ready to do it all over again. Perhaps tomorrow I will try making green tomato relish right after putting out eggs and a few bags of green beans for my customers that make the long trek down our dusty driveway. It's fun to share the harvest and see the appreciation on other peoples faces. My only regret about the waning summer is that I didn't find the time to use the hammock set up in the front yard. So tomorrow morning I will make it a point to enjoy a steaming cup of coffee on the front porch and admire the turning of the season before starting my day.

Baked Zucchini Fries

Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Grated Parmesan cheese
Seasoned salt
Zucchini
Olive oil or egg whites (depending on your diet egg whites can be used in place of oil)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil
Combine bread crumbs, cheese, and seasoned salt in a pie plate. 

Cut the zucchini in half length wise and remove seeds. Slice into 1/2 x 1/2 x 4 inch pieces and place in a large bowl. Drizzle oil over the zucchini and quickly toss with your hands. (Zucchini absorbs the oil)

(Or beat egg whites just until frothy and toss with zucchini).

Press zucchini into crumbs gently shaking off excess and place onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven until the fries are golden and tender about 15 minutes. (I find that a convection oven makes them even crisper.)

Serve with catsup, sweet chili sauce, or just plain.



For those that don't know what a  Caprese Salad is here are some directions. (my youngest calls this leaves and cheese)

Caprese Salad

Fresh garden tomatoes sliced about 1/4 inch
Fresh basil leaves
Fresh Mozzarella cheese slice about 1/8th to 1/4 inch
Your favorite olive oil and vinegar type salad dressing. (ceasar works)

Alternate tomatoes, leaves, and cheese in a circle around the edge of a plate piling left overs in the middle to make an attractive display. Drizzle with dressing. Let marinade for at least 15 minutes before serving. You can also drizzle a thin line of balsamic vinegar along the salad.

Self Sufficiency is......

....Not blowing your hard earned cash on a $6 bottled salad dressing.

We love salads. Ceasar, coleslaw, poppy seed fruit salad, garden salad, potato, pasta, Caprese, Spinach salad with bacon, you name it. What I don't like is spending upwards of $6 for a bottle of salad dressing. Oh ya sometimes I find dressing on sale for $2.50 or so and I would stock up. That was the case a few months back when I found the mans garden french on sale. I bought 3 or 4 bottles of it. Then one day when I was idly hanging out in the kitchen waiting for something I read the ingredients. High fructose corn syrup was bad enough and almost all dressings contain xanthan gum which is used as a thickener. I can almost live with that since you only use a little on a salad. Right? However when I got to propylene glycol red flags went up. I'm feeding this stuff to my family???? NOT! How many of you have seen this ingredient in different foods and casually wondered what it was only to go on your merry way? I  looked it up. It has many uses. It is said the "acute oral toxicity of propylene glycol is very low" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol It is also used as an anti -freeze component in newer vehicles and a de-icer at airports. Propylene glycol is made from propylene oxide, a colorless volatile liquid use in the manufacturing of  plastics.  So yes! I want to feed this to my family! Bring it on!

Why is it used? It keeps the ingredients in salad dressing in suspension or mixed up so the oil and vinegar doesn't separate. Well excuse me but I think I am quite capable of shaking a bottle. I might work off a calorie or two doing that. Because I prefer to feed my family simply healthy food, as opposed to chemicals, and because spending $6 on a bottle of salad dressing really irks me I am on a mission to learn to make all the salad dressings that we use. Mostly that is french, thousand Island, Ceasar, and poppy seed dressing to name a few. In addition I am going to share them with you. So tonight we had a wedge salad with blue cheese vinaigrette. I really like blue cheese but I think I prefer a blue cheese dressing that is creamier than the vinaigrette. Too much vinegar in this recipe. The recipe said I could use white or champagne vinegar and I used white because that is what I had. Next time I will try the champagne. For those of you who like vinaigrette here is the recipe.

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white or champagne vinegar
1/4 tsp. Balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (or tsp. dried)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese.

Put in a blender or food processor and blend.
The salad itself was a wedge of iceberg lettuce (I almost never buy this) with cucumber slices, red onion tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles, and toasted pecans sprinkled on top. I will do this with romaine next time.

My personal favorite and one that my family really likes is this Ceasar dressing. Toss with a basic romaine lettuce, croutons, and grated Parmesan cheese.

Caesar Salad Dressing

 2 small garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. anchovy paste or mashed up canned anchovy

2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice (or bottled)

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 hard boiled egg, mashed yolk only

1 cup mayonnaise

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

¼ tsp. sea salt or kosher salt

¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

In a medium bowl whisk together the garlic, anchovy, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, egg and Worcestershire sauce. Add the mayonnaise, Parmesan, salt and pepper and whisk until well combined. Taste and adjust to your liking.  

Now before you go eeew anchovy. Take a look at your bottle of Worcestershire sauce. It's made with anchovy. Believe me you wont really know it's there and it is only a teaspoon. You can use the canned anchovy in oil (last forever in the fridge) just mash it up or a tube of anchovy paste from the store. (Sounds inviting doesn't it?)

Traditionally Ceasar Salad dressing is made with a raw egg and used immediately so because I wasn't sure how long raw egg would last in a dressing stored in the fridge I decided to use a hard boiled egg yolk. Worked great. This dressing was such a hit that we eat it as a dip with romaine lettuce pieces.

Once you have a collection of salad dressing recipes it is a snap to make them. Most of the ingredients are already in your pantry. Vinegars, oils, herbs etc. If you add a few other condiments you will find making these are easy and you can do it way in advance and put them in pretty bottles like these. Or you can do what I did the first time I made honey mustard dressing and just use the plastic mustard bottle that was empty after I got done with it. No red neck in me. LOL!

Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

1/3 cup honey

1/8 cup Dijon mustard (or more to taste)

¼ cup white wine vinegar or cider vinegar (I used cider)

2 Tbsp.  lemon juice

1 minced garlic clove

½ cup vegetable oil

Combine first 5 ingredients in a blender. While blending, gradually add oil in a steady stream until smooth and creamy.  Store in refrigerator. Use this one on any garden salad or let your kids dip chicken pieces in it. We don't need no McDonalds. 

I am going to estimate that these salad dressings cost me $1 on average to make and they taste better than store bought. You could say they are more convenient because you don't have to make a special trip to the store when you find out at the last minute that you are out of dressing and your mother in law just arrived for dinner. Impress the old bat instead.

I will do a follow up blog with recipes for Thousand Island, (super easy) Garden French, and  Poppy seed dressing for a green salad with fruit. That's the one the kids can't get enough of. I have to use my biggest bowl when I make that salad.

http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/10/clever-chicks-blog-hop-6.html

Recipes and Pictures...As promised

So today was just one of those days when nothing gets done on your list because you are too busy doing other stuff that isn't on the list. I found a good deal on local asparagus yesterday and bought a few pounds. I love pickled asparagus in the middle of winter. I use it on salads, or in relish trays, and (ahem!) Bloody Mary's. You know the kind that are loaded with horseradish and Tabasco? A definite staple in the dead of winter. So today I pickled and canned the stuff using a recipe I got for pickled beans from Andree'. She made the best dilly beans ever, loaded with garlic, dill, and red pepper. I just use the same recipe for the asparagus but with dried dill and dill seed. Worked great last year. I also discovered that I had enough rhubarb ready in the garden so I made a rhubarb pie. This link will take you to the post with that recipe. 

If you are interested in the pickle recipe just send me a request. I am glad to share. In the mean time here is the promised recipe for the bread that I will be using to teach a class in a series of sustainability classes next week.

Light Oat Bread

1¼ cup warm water

1½ tsp. yeast

2 Tbsp. Brown sugar

2 Tbsp. butter melted and cooled

1 tsp. salt (preferably not iodized)

½ cup rolled oats

3 cups all-purpose flour pre-measured in separate container.

Place water in a pre-warmed mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast on water and let set about 2 minutes. Add sugar and let sit an additional 2 minutes. Add cooled, melted butter, salt, and oats. Let sit another minute. Give a quick stir or start your mixer if using one using a dough hook. Begin adding your pre-measured flour one cup at a time. Mix until all flour is incorporated.

By Hand: Turn out onto a floured board and kneaded until smooth and elastic adding more flour 1 tablespoon at a time if needed. When dough is at right consistency, let rest while you wash, dry, and grease the bowl. Place ball of dough upside down in bowl and turn to coat all sides with grease.

By mixer: Add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time until dough pulls cleanly away from bottom and sides of bowl. Prepare a pottery type bowl by warming with hot water. Dump out water, dry, and grease bowl. Place ball of dough upside down in bowl and turn to coat all sides with grease.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap or clean dry dish towel and place in warm spot to rise until double in size. (Approx. 2 hours)

Grease a standard loaf pan. Gently press dough with fingers. Remove from bowl and reshape into loaf or rolls. Cover and let rise once more. (About 1 hour) Dough should roundly fill pan but not deflate when lightly pressed with finger.  

At this point you can sprinkle a few oats on top or brush with an egg wash (for a shiny finish) and sprinkle with a few oats.

Egg wash: Lightly beat one egg with a spoonful of water. Lightly brush the top of the bread dough with the wash using a pastry brush.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.  About 30-35 minutes.

Tip: This recipe can be doubled for two loaves!

Tip: Shape rolls, let rise about a hour and bake 20 min. 

Happy baking!

The Ultimate Prepping Tool

The man surprised me with this. He has surprised me with little gifts before. Flowers, candy, the usual stuff. I was never that excited about flowers that were going to die and candy that would make me fat but I always appreciated them. I think he has finally figured out that I get excited about weird stuff like this. YA! buy me a new bird or a pressure cooker, or a great book or take me for a ride on the Harley. THAT I can relate to. Now I know his idea of the ultimate prepping tool is a motor home but that is a lot more money than a cooker and now that the kids are older we don't use that as often. So we sold ours. We will probably buy another smaller one for our selves since we like to go and we will be able to use it on what ever property we end up with after selling this one. But that will be after the girls leave for college.

I was going to can chicken soup this weekend but the directions are so confusing that I think I will look for a cook book that is a little more helpful than the manual that came with it. Braeburn apples are on deep discount at the store this week and my kids will only eat home made chunky apple sauce so I will probably start with that. Maybe even make some pie filling. What I really wanted it for was to can salmon. I have salmon in the freezer that we haven't eaten and I would like to get it out of there. It is an All American pressure cooker/canner (made and manufactured in the US) so anyone with any tips, please leave me a comment.

Speaking of new birds here is an update on the geese. The second batch of eggs were also not fertile. As I suspected both the duck boy and the goose boys are done for the year. Although the duck will occasionally perform. So both my girl geese are still trying to sit on the nest. I have done everything I can think of to discourage them but as soon as I open their gate at night they go right back and they spend the day walking around the fence line trying to figure out how to get back in to the non-existent eggs. Being the chump I am I felt sorry for them so the other day after the man had gone to work I crept down to the feed store knowing they were getting a new shipment of ducks that morning. I thought I would get some Black Cayugas because I really loved the one I had years ago. The hatchery had only sent one in their order and she was tiny. My intent was to put them under the geese but she was so small I was afraid she would get hurt or worse. So I got two Rouen because they were bigger and two more Khaki Campbell (because they are exceptional egg layers) and took them home. I tried putting them under the girls. The ladies were willing but those little ducks kept popping out from under and would have none of it. I tried until the little bugs got cold and finally decided I was going to have to raise them.

Rouen are stripped 

click to enlarge

So meet Lola and the crew. She is absolutely ADORABLE! The rest are just cute. For those who don't know what a Rouen is it is a mallard derivative and looks a lot like a mallard. I don't know what I am going to do with them yet but will probably sell them or just find them good homes since they will be pets.

I will be teaching a class at the end of the month for an organization that is putting together classes on old fashion life skills for people that want to be more self sufficient so I am teaching "Basic bread and cheese making." Because I have been asked for another recipe from a reader I will include the recipe in my next blog.  Here is the picture.

Sneaky Holidays

All right. I'll admit it. I like fruitcake. Good fruitcake that is. Not that sticky candy fruit mess you buy at the local drug store that comes in a can or cellophane wrap. REAL fruitcake. I've heard all the jokes but I just have to believe that if you don't like fruitcake it is because you have never had a real one. My brother use to send me a fruit cake made by monks in some Abby that was good. It was expensive and never lasted long enough.  And I have received a fruitcake from a company in Texas that was good enough to cause me to gain 5 ugly pounds. But last year my brother and I made a white fruit cake that was the best I've ever tasted. I can't take credit for it because he found the recipe on allrecipes.com. We had a blast making it together mostly because we doubled the recipe (our eyes were as big as our stomachs) and the cakes were oozing butter. Two pounds of butter to be exact. I don't recommend doubling a fruitcake recipe unless you have made it before and know what you are getting into. So this year (yesterday as a matter of fact) I dug out an almost Christmas CD, gathered the ingredients together and went for it. The fruit had been sitting the whole day before soaking up orange juice and a little triple sec so I was ready. The actual cake part was easy enough to put together. Mixing it by hand requires some muscle because you can't use a mixer on something that contains that much fruit and nuts. It turned out great and today I wrapped it up in cheesecloth soaked in a half pint of brandy and wrapped the whole thing tightly in foil. This is gonna be great!! My youngest doesn't like the taste of liquor in her cake and fortunately this recipe makes enough to fill a tube pan and a bread pan. So the small fruitcake is wrapped in cheesecloth soaked in apple cider just for her. I will let the flavors meld together a couple days and put that one in the fridge since it doesn't have the "preservatives" on it. Ya, alcohol is a preservative. Maybe that's why people get pickled when they drink. So if the spirit strikes ya here is the recipe.

 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/white-fruit-cake/detail.aspx If you don't like fruit cake try this white one. Make sure you get good quality fruits too. You may have to go to a food co-op or specialty shop to get the fruit but its worth it. Then make sure you wrap it in cheese cloth soaked in your choice of liquor, wrap tightly in foil or plastic wrap and place it in a cool place to age. You can add more liquor every week or so. So try it. A white fruit cake is so different from a dark one. 

Busy days

I seem to have gotten very busy since my last post. Trying to get the garden in, raising geese and ducks, raising new chicks, dealing with broody hens, a graduating senior, two birthdays, and the work here is coming fast and furious. I'm working on the garden between rain and wind storms and temperatures that are 10 degrees below normal. The potatoes are up and need to be mounded. I am still tilling and re-tilling and pulling out the stupid grass that keeps re-sprouting.  I have some lettuce in and some peas. I am also bushwhacking nettles, and what I believe are cow slips, (a big leafy wet plant) in my spare time. I simply refuse to let them take over the area we cleared last summer.

One of the new chicks developed a scissor beak as it grew and I know a "real" farmer would have given it a good whack and been done with it. However this little girl is as sweet as can be and I am a sucker for a Charlie Brown anything. Because I am concerned that she isn't able to get enough to eat I have been making her a wet mash from chick starter and water three times a day. That seems to be working and now when I come out of the house she comes running across the yard to look up at me and ask "where's the food?" She follows me, hopping up on the table and then on me while I am making her mash. She is fearless. Everyone that sees this comical little bird thinks she is cute.

In the mean time I have 4 other birds that have decided to go broody. Two silkies (of course) a bantam light Brahma and a black astrolorpe. I think I have cured the bantam and I am working on the black one. However both Silkies want desperately to be moms. So I bought 4 more chicks. Two for each hen. The black Silkie is a natural mother and didn't mind being moved from her original nest to a dog carrier on the table and instantly tucked each Buff Orpington chick under her. The white Silkie was a little more difficult. She wasn't about to give up the original nest and had a fit so I moved her to a carrier after dark and let her settle in over night before adding the chicks. She is now a good mother of two silver laced Wyandots. The chicks are giving her a hard time since they want to explore their nest and she wants them under her wing. I don't think I will ever brood chicks under a lamp again. Giving that job to the hens is great.

Now the man thinks I'm nuts and I have too many animals. Isn't he the one that was saying I needed more layers to keep up with the demand for my eggs? Since I still don't have housing for my geese I guess I better not push my luck.

The geese and ducks are now 9 weeks old and fully feathered so they are staying outside at night in a predator resistant enclosure. That makes my job a little easier because I don't have to clean up the coup after them every morning. The fenced pasture is up and usable for now and handy to have during the day when they need to be out but I am anxious to get it finished with a real gate and nest houses built. I love my geese and one in particular seems to like me. My youngest named him Sebastian. He likes to be on my lap and gives be goose hugs around my neck. Ok. So I am nuts.

Our oldest graduates from high school so we have announcements to get out, pictures to pick up, parties to plan and registration for college. She is in running start this year which means she did her high school senior year and college freshman year at the same time so she will be going into college as a sophomore next fall studying marine biology. Right now she is in crunch mode to get everything done.

Our youngest has her sweet 16 coming up first week of June. That is a special birthday so I am trying to decide what to do about it. We have a tradition of giving our girls a real ring on their 16th so I have to go shopping. I hate to shop.

The man also has a birthday. He wants heated riding gear for the bike. That means a trip to Olympia about two hours south of here (after the ferry) to visit the company that makes it. We will be taking the car for that. I am not riding that far on his Harley in what will surely be rain.

How about a recipe? This dessert starts out as one batter and separates during baking into fluffy cake hiding a creamy layer of lemon pudding. Try it!

Lemon Pudding Cake

1 Cup granulated sugar divided (3/4 cup and 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. fresh lemon zest
1/2 Cup lemon juice
2 Tbls. butter, melted
2 large egg yolks
3 large egg whites (room temperature)
Confectioners sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Coat eight 4-6 ounce oven proof ramekins or custard cups with cooking spray. Place in a baking dish and heat a kettle of water for a water bath.

Whisk 3/4 cup sugar, flour, and salt in a medium bowl. Add milk, lemon juice and zest, butter and egg yolks. Whisk until smooth.

In a clean glass bowl beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy. Fold the egg whites into the batter (it will be thinner than other cake batter and it's okay if a little lumpy). Evenly divide among the prepared ramekins.
Place the roasting pan of ramekins in the oven and carefully pour in enough boiling water to come almost halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake the pudding cakes until golden brown and the cakes have pulled away slightly from the sides of the ramekins, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve warm or at room temperature.

Little Mother, Big Babies, Cold Spring and Rhubarb

My broody hen is proving to be a terrific mother. She is a Buff Orpington and I love that breed. They are good egg layers, lay well in the dead of winter, and are gentle friendly birds. They do seem to go broody too often for my taste but I just keep taking them off the nest and separating them from any thing that even resembles a nest for a couple of days and they get over it. I find there is a lot of information about brooding chicks artificially and very little about hens that brood chicks naturally. So far I recommend letting a hen raise chicks. You save a bundle in electric bills cuz mom keeps them warm. That 250 watt light has always put a spike in our bill. The mother also takes care of introducing the babies to the rest of the flock. A definite advantage. You do need a separate area that is dry and shielded from the elements where the family wont get bothered by the rest of the flock. I am using a dog crate located in the other half of my coup. I guess the down side of it is the chicks will be less people friendly but I am making a point of handling them to see if that makes a difference. And she lets me because she has been handled by me since she was a chick. Sure she still puffs up like a balloon and even gives me a peck once in awhile but then sometimes she doesn't seem to mind at all. There are a few things you have to do with a hen that is setting tight on a nest. Make sure you get her off the nest once a day to eat, drink, and do a poo and watch to make sure they do because they will try to get right back on.They will set until there is nothing left of them and even if you get them to take a daily break you will

Mom showing babies how to take a
a dust bath. 

find that they lose an alarming amount of weight. Even after the chicks have hatched (or you have slipped chicks under a hen in the dead of night) you have to get her off the nest once a day. She wont leave the nest until she thinks her brood can or will follow. That takes a few days.

So in a previous blog I mentioned that I was going to try sweet potatoes in the garden this year. However, everything I have read about growing them says you have to go to a lot of effort to warm up the soil in northern gardens before hand. This wouldn't be a problem normally except we are having the coldest, wettest spring since 1954. I am having a problem just trying to get the garden ready for peas and lettuce. We even had two days of snow (it didn't stick around long) last week. So maybe next year. I have started tomatoes even though my pessimistic brother says I won't get any of those either. I will prove him wrong unless our "Climate Change" (AKA-global warming) dumps a blizzard on us in July.

My goslings and ducklings are growing inches every day. I now have behemoth birds with downy fur that still can't be turned outside in the cold wet weather. Even though they are big they have no protecting oil coated feathers yet and get easily chilled when wet. It's a good thing they don't jump or perch on the side of their box or they would be out of it a long time ago. This box is at least 2 ft. high and they are still peeking at me over the top. I let them out for a romp and some grass mowing in between showers but it hasn't lasted very long.

One of the things I look forward to in the spring is rhubarb pie. I have a type that is pink all the way through and sweeter than the green kind. I make jam and freeze some of it raw for winter and there is never enough. If you aren't a fan try this recipe. It will change your mind about rhubarb. The secret is the egg. You may need a little more sugar if you are using the green type of Rhubarb.

Rhubarb Pie
4 cups rhubarb, in bite size pieces
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
dash of salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Make a double crust pie pastry from your favorite recipe. Mix sugar, eggs, flour, salt, and cinnamon and toss with rhubarb. Put filling in pie crust and top with second crust or lattice crust. Place pie on a cookie sheet to catch drips. Bake 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake 30-40 minutes or until fruit is tender when tested with a fork. If crust browns too quickly cover lightly with a piece of foil.  This makes a great cobbler too. Just omit crust and use a crumble type topping before baking.

The Frustrated Gardener or (What to do on a snowy day in Spring?)

Alright, maybe it isn't really spring but I have been trying to push it. I have even been out in the garden weeding and cleaning it up and just trying to get ready for when I can really do something serious there. So today? What to do? Make paper pots for starting seeds. Really very easy.

First find a can of something with a diameter the size you want to make your pots. It shouldn't be more that about six inches since that would probably be more of a challenge than you want to deal with. In fact if you need six inch pots use the bottom half of a paper half gallon milk container with the top cut off.

 My favorite size can was a can of pineapple. Take one sheet of newspaper and lay it flat on a table. Don't unfold it.  Fold it in half again length wise so it is about 5 inches wide and 30 or so inches long. Take your can and set it on the paper so there is about 1 1/2 inches of paper hanging over the bottom. Roll the paper up jelly roll style around the can until the paper forms a tube. Tape it together to hold it. Fold the overlap over the bottom to form a pot and dampen the paper. Set the can upright and push down on the paper bottom to get a good crease. Now you can either slip the paper pot off the can or leave it on until it drys.  When dry, fill with potting soil and plant your seeds. Make sure you set your pots in a water proof tray so you can water them without ruining your window sills or where ever you have them setting. When your plants are ready for the garden, just plant them paper and all. It will decompose and add to the compost of your soil. You can open up the bottom of the pot if you want to just to give your plant easier access.

So I am sitting here watching the snow come down and thinking maybe I should go start a new jar of sprouts. At this time of year it is the closest thing to having fresh produce as I can think of since I don't have a greenhouse. Simple to do too if you have a wide mouth canning jar. Make sure to sterilize the jar. You can get the sprouting seeds in the bulk food section of many grocery stores or your local food co-op. Soak 1 1/2 Tbls. of seed in water over night. Drain the next day and let them sprout in your window. Just make sure you rinse them 3-4 times a day to keep them healthy to eat. They will take about 5 days to grow. You can get a screened jar lid from your co-op store or just use a paper towel rubber banded to the rim of the jar between rinses to keep dust out. When they have reached good size you will want to dump them into a big bowl of water and skim off the hulls and unsprouted seed.

Maybe next year I can convince the man to build me a greenhouse.

Harbinger Of Spring

Beware the eyes of ...... POTATOES! Yes the spuds in my garage are growing eyes. Looking for fertile ground in which to grow their offspring. I can't wait. The potatoes I got out of the garden last year were the best I have ever tasted and I knew there were no chemicals on them. The farm co-op had potatoes already so I bought mine. Last year I waited and had to take what they had. This year I bought Yukon Gold, Purple Majesty, and Chieftain (buttery gold, purple, and red potatoes respectively). I can taste them already.


Another sign of spring? Apparently the first three months of the year we have a type of  hawk (a small one fortunately) that spends time in this neck of the woods. We had a very close call with one yesterday. I happened to look out of my kitchen window as I so often do to check on my girls, just in time to see a small hawk take down my little 1 1/2 lb. bantam rooster. I don't think I have moved that fast since my kids were tiny and in trouble. I was out the door, across the deck, and to the edge of the property in a flash. That nasty little bird was dragging my poor boy across the ground in an attempt to get his "dinner" away from the screaming, crazy, WILD thing coming at him. It left without its meal and I picked up what I thought was going to be a very dead rooster bleeding and in shock. Needless to say he ended up in the house where I cleaned his wounds and kept him warm until he regained his composure and his balance. He wasn't walking too good. Kept falling on his face. After spreading a towel out we propped him up with rolled towels on one of the kids beds. And carefully fed him water with a medicine dropper. Would you believe that tough little guy was outside bossing his ladies around an hour later? He does have some battle scars though. He is missing quite a few feathers at the base of his tail and his comb and wattles are bruised and bloody. (you can click on the pictures for a closer view) I think I will keep the flock closer to the house for a few months and not let them out of the run unless I am with them in the garden. That will make them mad at me but better than being bird food.

So the last post I was about to make a prime rib roasted in Kosher salt for Candlemas. Well it turned out so yummy that I am doing it for Valentines day. I even got feed back from a parent of one of the kids friends that was here for that meal. Guess she went home raving about it. The next roast is almost twice the size. It is really very easy to do. Especially if you have an oven with a meat probe that keeps track of the internal temperature. My family likes beef rare. So I cook it to an internal temperature of  125 degrees then take it out and let it sit for 20 or 30 minutes with a piece of foil over it and a tea towel. It keeps cooking, sets the juices and comes out perfect. 135 is medium rare. Here is how its done.
Buy a prime rib that has had the bones cut off and re-tied back onto the roast. Set the probe in the roast according to manufactures directions. (If you don't have a probe you will have to use a meat thermometer near the end). Using a pan that is at least 3 to 4 inches deep pour a thick layer (1 to 2 inches) of course Kosher salt (not table salt) and set roast bone side down in it gently seating it into the salt. Pour lots of salt over the roast building up the sides until the meat is completely covered. You can use a little water sprinkled on the salt to help pack the salt on. Just cover the roast kind of like burying your spouse or significant other in the sand. (ha)! Roast at 325 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes per pound or until your thermometer registers the correct temperature.

This sounds like a really scary recipe to try especially with such an expensive cut of meat but it is really easy and really yummy. There are a lot of recipes on allrecipes.com/ Just search salt roasted or salt encrusted prime rib. Some cook it longer at a lower temperature and some higher for a shorter time. Some even season the roast before burying it with things such as Lipton onion soup mix. I wont go there but I did season mine with an apple wood smoked salt and some fresh ground pepper. So here are some pics of my roast. YUM!

Make sure you take all the salt off before slicing and serving. Really worth a try so DO IT!
P.S-Did you know you can click on any of these pictures to see them larger? Let me know how yours turns out.
Next post I will be making pots for seed starts. I want a little jump on the tomato season this year.

Candlemas and Sebastapols

Before I get going on this post I just want to thank every one that responded with book and movie titles. I now have a replenished list and more to learn.

Some years ago on one of my BIG birthdays I decided to never have another birthday. Instead, just to appease those who insist on doing something to commemorate this joyous occasion, I found another holiday to take its place. It isn't that I don't appreciate being thought of on that special day. I just refuse to get any older. If you go looking for holidays you can find something listed on nearly everyday of the year. My birthday just happens to be on Candlemas. Now I suppose some of you are asking just what is Candlemas? It is supposed to be a celebration of new beginnings. There are several ways to do this some Christian in origin some tied to agriculture and some the black arts. You can find lots of different explanations on the internet. The one I like the best is Pennsylvania Dutch in origin. This day is the half way mark between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox and in many traditions is considered the beginning of spring. Celebrating the awakening of the ground, new beginnings, germination of seeds, end of winter etc.  It is also where the ground hog tradition came from. I can handle that. Since I am a gardener I like the new beginning thing. According to my brother it is also a time when covens of witches initiate new members. Maybe he's trying to tell me something?  I think I will leave that last one out. To commemorate the occasion you can put candles in the windows, eat pancakes, and start seeds indoors. I put candles in the windows at Christmas time so I just leave them there until the day after Candlemas. Thank you electronic candles. Pancakes made from last years grain harvest are suppose to symbolize the sun and abundant crops or something. My brother is making me a waffle brunch that day and that is close enough to pancakes for me especially since I like waffles better. Since pancakes are suppose to symbolize the sun lets hope his waffles are round.

 Lummi Island geese

My Sebastapol

What I am really excited about is ordering this years birds from a hatchery. I have all the chickens I have room for so I am going to finally get Sebastapol geese. I will most likely get some ducks to fill out the order and my two mallard Khaki Campbells will get some girl friends but the geese are what I really want. I had a pair of them when I lived on Lummi Island. One of them is happily living on a beautiful farm on Lopez Island and I am thankful to them for taking her (and the other three regular geese) in since she had a bad leg. (which miraculously healed overnight when all the other geese on that farm were re-homed). Little faker.... Hate to mention to the man that there may be a honey do in his future. I may need a bigger pen to keep them all safe at night or when I'm not home.

I have decided to order my birds from Metzer Farms this time. They are located in California and have some beautiful birds AND I can order sexed birds! If you are interested use this link.
http://www.metzerfarms.com/SebastopolGeese.cfm?Breed=Sebastopol&BirdType=Goose&ID=SEB&CustID=212097
You may even get John Metzer answering your phone call like I did the other day. Nice to see a business owner that is truly involved and willing to do the same things asked of his workers. I like that.

Sebastapol geese are the gentlest most beautiful things ever. If you want to see some stunning pictures of these geese I highly recommend everyone to see the pictures taken at Cottage Rose Birds and Blossoms. These pictures must have been taken professionally because they are beautiful. Just click on the link here http://www.freewebs.com/cottage_rose_birdsnblossoms/ then click on White Sebastapol in the menu located under the header.

So I have decided also to make my own Candlemas dinner. We will have a prime rib that I have in the freezer (bought on sale) roasted in course ground kosher salt. I've done this once before and the roast was to die for. A restaurant I worked for use to do this and prime rib night was always sold out. Seldom did the employees ever get a taste.

I'm also going to do a new salad. Recipe follows. If the roast turns out I will post that on the next blog along with pictures.

Spinach Salad with Cranberries and Warm Honey Dressing
  1/2 lb. bacon, chopped

baby spinach leaves, washed (about 8 cups)
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/2 cup lightly toasted pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute' bacon until just beginning to crisp. Remove bacon to paper towel to drain. Reserve 1/3 cup of the drippings in the pan.
     Arrange spinach on individual serving plates or put in a serving bowl. Place egg slices over the spinach and sprinkle the cheese, bacon and pecans over the spinach.

Dressing
     Place the pan with the bacon drippings over medium heat and then heat the honey in a microwave oven until melted. Stir the vinegar into the honey then slowly stir the mixture into the bacon drippings. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Immediately pour over arranged salad, garnish with cranberries and serve.

This salad was really yummy. Even the kids ate it.

Ravings of a Mad Woman or (Thanksgiving. Is it becoming a lost art?)

Turkeys on Lopez Island

     I like Thanksgiving. My kids like Thanksgiving. It means many things to us. Its a time to share our home with friends and extended family. It's a time to have a lot of people that we care about all in the same place at the same time and to reconnect with old memories and traditions. A time for playing games, watching the Macy's parade in your PJ's and dressing up in something special but comfortable. It's a time to pig out on traditional dishes like cranberries, yams and pumpkin pie (and of course turkey) and the one time of the year where you can wear black olives on all your fingers at once eating them one at a time without anyone yelling at you and being thankful for the freedom to do so. And we all look forward to it.
     So I am getting ready to cook a feast for 14 (maybe more) people this Thanksgiving. It is the first time in 5 years that I have hosted a gathering and I am really looking forward to it. I use to host it every year when I lived closer to my sister and my parents were still alive. So I am cooking, cleaning, and just plain polishing up the house for the big event. I have some people that will be staying the whole weekend and some that have to go home that night. But I am going to have a house full. I just got home from shopping in town for the things I know I can't get here on the island. Most of them are things like new plates because I got rid of my old plates when I moved. They were old and marked up and I knew I would want something else. An area rug, new coffee pot, (mine was ancient and ugly), a new lamp shade, etc. Like I said. Stuff I knew I couldn't get on the island.
     The feast will be filled with the traditional dishes. Mashed potatoes, stuffing, two veggies, corn pudding, fresh baked rolls, fruit salad, cranberry relish and/or sauce, yams, and an assortment of appetizers, relishes, pies and desserts. All made from scratch and fresh. Oh ya, the Turkey too. All 22 pounds of him.
     I went to a grocery store the other day and walked by a display of seasonal fare. Standing there and looking at it I realized most everything that a lot of people buy for Thanksgiving is out of a box or can. Of all the meals you can cook in a year this one shouldn't come out of a can. Standing there and looking at it I realized that the whole meal could possibly be made in an hour or less depending on what you did for a bird. Where's the fun in that! There was stove top stuffing, Potato buds, gravy mix, yams in a can with the obligatory marshmallow cream to go on top. Canned cranberry sauce, brown and serve rolls. And don't forget that "traditional" dish that advertising has brain washed most everyone into believing is mandatory. GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE! Thanks so much Campbells! YUCK! This is my pet peeve of the season. Since when did the pilgrims even see a green bean let alone cream of mushroom soup and onion rings. At the risk of sounding like Charlie Brown I have to have a rant here.
     We the people of the United States already have very few food customs. Why do we let corporations take away what we do have? Throw away those cans of green beans. Grab a bag of real cranberries, throw some sugar and a little orange zest on them and cook them for a few minutes until they resemble the real thing. Do we still own a potato peeler? Toss the marshmallow cream and roast a few yams in the oven with a little olive oil and garlic. Guaranteed to taste better than anything out of a can. And a turkey? Someone told me the other day that they had a tofurkey for Thanksgiving one year. (Turkey shaped tofu) Apparently it was very disappointing.

 I  bought a Foster Farms fresh turkey at Costco. I really wanted a heritage bird this year but the man was afraid I would turn it into a pet before we had a chance to butcher it. (yes I was going to grow my own). I have wanted to raise my own turkey ever since I saw the wild turkeys on Lopez Island wandering through our field. I think they are magnificent. Anyway I wasn't going to get a turkey off island because I didn't want to haul it home but I have never seen a Foster Farms turkey before and I like to support companies that use more humane  ways to raise and slaughter animals. If you can't find or can't afford a heritage bird from a local farmer Foster Farms is the next best thing. http://www.fosterfarms.com/about/index.asp They have local plants that an acquaintance of mine has actually toured and given her stamp of approval and that's saying something. So much for this commercial.
     Something else just recently was brought to my attention that threatens the very fabric of our life style. (OK so I am a drama queen.). A friend of mine has a child in basket ball this year and they have practice on Thanksgiving! Is nothing sacred? Are we teaching our kids that being thankful for all that we have is unimportant? That family time can take a back seat to sports? Good grief! And when I told one of my own kids about it she tried to explain to me that her school basketball team also has practice that day and it is because they have to have so many hours of practice in before they get to play a real game. (or something equally as stupid). Fortunately my friend shares my feelings about the sanctity of certain days and she is blowing off the practice but I really think we are losing something important in our culture.

Clone of a cinnabon, unbaked 

     Some one always ask me for a recipe and here is one of my recent favorites. I made these cinnamon rolls and put them in the freezer to take out for breakfast during Thanksgiving weekend. (I also made a few for a test run this morning) You can find this recipe at http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.aspx?WithTerm=clone%20of%20a%20cinnabon

Ready for freezing

It is a bread machine recipe however I did it in my mix master instead because my bread machine couldn't handle the stiffer dough. Then I let it rise in a greased bowl just like bread. After rising I followed the directions for rolling it out, rising, and baking adding raisins and pecans. For make
ahead Thanksgiving fare I placed the sliced raw rolls on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and froze them. Then I placed them in zip lock bags and put them back in the freezer for later use. To use them take out the night before the morning you want to bake them. Place them in a greased baking pan loosely covered with plastic wrap.Let them rise in a warm spot overnight and bake in the morning. Adding frosting should be optional since they are just as good without it. Yum!

So Thanksgiving also kicks off the Christmas season. My next blog will have pictures of the coup and more recipes and maybe pictures of the silkies wearing little coats.(This weather does not agree with them.) If anyone has a question about this recipe or any other just drop me a line. I will try to answer your question. Have a fun filled Thanksgiving.