....or onions, however you prefer to say it. This year, we've got 'em.
We had to harvest our onions and shallots earlier than planned this year, primarily because we have some very hungry bunnies who have infiltrated our garden and have completely destroyed the carrots, peas, beets and beans, nibbled the potatoes down to a nub and might have claimed our precious onions next. Sure, people say that they won't eat alliums (garlic, onions, chives, etc.), but let me just tell you, these bunnies will! In fact, they slayed my first planting of garlic chives (and my hostas, pineapple sage, parsley) before I replanted them in a very tall pot that they cannot access. I am being undone by 4-ounce fluff balls, and that is annoying.
So today I started processing some of our onions and shallots. Whoa, Nelly! My house smells.... pungent.
Half of the onions are getting chopped and frozen, just under half are being dehydrated for seasoning and soup bases, likewise the shallots. The funk coming out of my dehydrator right now is eye-watering.
Up next, Padron peppers! I don't especially look forward to the resultant air quality that their processing will produce either, but there are bigger issues here - the "spicy hands". If you've ever prepared hot peppers at home, I know you know what I'm talking about. The capsaicin gets on your hands and anything you touch with your hands - eyeballs, nose - not mention when you visit the bathroom. IT IS BAD NEWS.
Gloves are an absolute must to avoid the spicy hands because no amount of soap & water, baking soda, milk, yogurt, vinegar or anything else will completely remove the oils. My hands were so fiery last time I processed Anaheim peppers (which aren't even that dang spicy) that I literally couldn't sleep.
So, learn from my fail and proceed with caution, fellow kitchen garden geeks! Happy harvest!
Showing posts with label putting food by. Show all posts
Showing posts with label putting food by. Show all posts
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
This Week in Harvesting & Homesteading
Billy grew a watermelon! Actually, he grew a few, which is no small feat in Western Washington. The one pictured here is a 4-pound Sugar Baby. We also planted some Yellow Dolls, but have yet to harvest one. Our thrown-together hoop house seems to be the thing that has made the difference. Summers normally just aren't long enough or hot enough around here for watermelon, and we'd all but given up on ever being able to grow them, when... booyah, the hoop house delivered.
NOM!
Or maybe this was just a good year for cucurbits in general? Our cukes have never really produced a meaningful harvest, but this year.... whoa nelly! I've gone off the deep end a little with my pickling this year, most but not all of which has been cucumber pickles. So far I have 2+ gallons done and cooling their heels in the fridge, and just started 1 1/2 more gallons of sour dills fermenting today. The house of Jackson shall have a tangy miasma about it this Winter! ;)
Garlicky sour pickles in progress Day 1
I also processed another 50ish pounds of apples into juice/cider/critter food this week. My cranky shoulder is in a bad way right now from all the chopping, grating and schlepping around of produce, but, you know, I wouldn't have it any other way. Farm Wife 4 Life, yo!
Friday, September 12, 2014
Harvest Time 2014, Part 1
We were very late to pick our apples this year, and so haven't got nearly as much to show for our efforts as we have in years past, but we can chalk up at least one small victory - homemade hard cider.
Nothing warms a homebrew nerd's heart quite like the steady bloop-blooping of the airlock on a carboy of fresh-juiced cider. Some of this is destined to become apple cider vinegar, but at least a few pints will be enjoyed in it's hard form.
I also just harvested some of my breadseed poppies for use in baked goods and as an added exfoliant to our homemade goats milk soaps. This year I grew Elka White Seeded Poppies from Adaptive Seeds in Sweet Home, Oregon. Provided that I'd managed my garden better and not left it to it's own devices this Spring & Summer, I have no doubt that I'd have had a much bigger harvest. Even still, homegrown poppy seeds in any amount is pretty rad in my book.
Nothing warms a homebrew nerd's heart quite like the steady bloop-blooping of the airlock on a carboy of fresh-juiced cider. Some of this is destined to become apple cider vinegar, but at least a few pints will be enjoyed in it's hard form.
I also just harvested some of my breadseed poppies for use in baked goods and as an added exfoliant to our homemade goats milk soaps. This year I grew Elka White Seeded Poppies from Adaptive Seeds in Sweet Home, Oregon. Provided that I'd managed my garden better and not left it to it's own devices this Spring & Summer, I have no doubt that I'd have had a much bigger harvest. Even still, homegrown poppy seeds in any amount is pretty rad in my book.
I still have a lot of a lot of other things to harvest and sock away by one means or another. I've been a lactofermenting fiend this Summer! I already have sour pickles, dilly beans, sauerkraut and fermented ginger carrots done and in the fridge, but the cukes keep rolling in and the 'maters and tomatillos... I've yet to deal with those at all so far.
Harvest Time parts 2, 3, 705, etc., will follow in due course. We're raising half a dozen Muscovy ducks for the freezer this year, with a tentative harvest date of October 1st. Apparently slaughtering ducks is a whole different ballgame from harvesting chickens and turkeys, so I have a lot of research and prep to do before ducky d-day. We also may be harvesting one of this past Spring's wethers for the freezer. It depends, in part on whether or not they sell when the doelings move on.
Harvest Time parts 2, 3, 705, etc., will follow in due course. We're raising half a dozen Muscovy ducks for the freezer this year, with a tentative harvest date of October 1st. Apparently slaughtering ducks is a whole different ballgame from harvesting chickens and turkeys, so I have a lot of research and prep to do before ducky d-day. We also may be harvesting one of this past Spring's wethers for the freezer. It depends, in part on whether or not they sell when the doelings move on.
There is certainly no shortage of things to do in the coming weeks and months, and having been otherwise occupied during the Spring and Summer, I look forward to doing (most of) them.
It's good to be back! :)
It's good to be back! :)
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Sunday, Gutty Sunday
Today seemed like as good a day as any to start the mammoth task that is processing our pumpkins. And so my knife and I got to work, bright and early..ish.
A very small representative sample of the punkins-in-waiting.
This year we grew 4 types of pumpkins - the good ol' standard Jack o' Lantern, a pumpkin which is really only good for decoration, Sugar Pie, which is a proper cooking pumpkin, Cinderella, which is pretty and tasty, and Williams Naked Seeded, which is a pepita/oil seed variety.
To my credit, I got through nine pumpkins today. I have two roasted and pureed Sugar Pies in the freezer, a pound of the naked seeds brining overnight before roasting them tomorrow, and a few pounds of the non-naked (dressed?) seeds in the dehydrator for future chicken snackage. Go, me!
On the other hand, nine pumpkins down doesn't amount to much in the long run here. Bill brought in another 125 pounds of pumpkins from the garden today. I'm gonna be busy.
My punkin' helper, Scarlet, calling dibs on the 26-pound Williams for her jack-o-lantern.
One of my Williams Naked Seededs that was sampled by a mouse/vole/varmint of some sort. Luckily these suckers are THICK walled and the little raider was foiled.
My Scarletti-spaghetti helping me sort seeds and guts.
"Mmm... skwash gutz!"
The garden did us pretty proud this year. :)
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Happiness Is...
... a freezer full of homegrown porky goodness!
That's 200-odd pounds of meat, including 17 packages of bacon. This is where the nexus of homesteading nerdess and foodie bliss lies, right here in this little freezer. :)
In our other little chest freezer (holy crap, we need two now!) gently rests our Summer/Fall harvest of veggies and fruits. I feel pretty pleased with our progress this year in raising an ever-increasing percentage of our overall food supply. Besides a little seafood and beef/buffalo now and then for variety, I think that between our eggs, roosters, turkeys, and pork we're nearly set for protein for the coming year.
Whether we undertake the raising and harvesting of another pair of piglets next Spring still remains to be seen. It will depend, in large part, on how this pork tastes, so a lot is riding on tonight's dinner - waffles with pears and whipped cream and a large side of bacon. We'll see what the consensus is on effort vs. reward shortly thereafter. Fingers crossed that we didn't spend 7 months on something that ends up being meh.
Fear not, my friends. The scary-looking pink stuff is just some lard.
That's 200-odd pounds of meat, including 17 packages of bacon. This is where the nexus of homesteading nerdess and foodie bliss lies, right here in this little freezer. :)
In our other little chest freezer (holy crap, we need two now!) gently rests our Summer/Fall harvest of veggies and fruits. I feel pretty pleased with our progress this year in raising an ever-increasing percentage of our overall food supply. Besides a little seafood and beef/buffalo now and then for variety, I think that between our eggs, roosters, turkeys, and pork we're nearly set for protein for the coming year.
Whether we undertake the raising and harvesting of another pair of piglets next Spring still remains to be seen. It will depend, in large part, on how this pork tastes, so a lot is riding on tonight's dinner - waffles with pears and whipped cream and a large side of bacon. We'll see what the consensus is on effort vs. reward shortly thereafter. Fingers crossed that we didn't spend 7 months on something that ends up being meh.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Fall Done Fell
In the space of a week we've gone from humidity, thunderstorms and 80 degree temps to falling leaves and pea soup fog in the mornings. Fall has arrived in Boggy Hollow, and with it, as ever, a nearly-endless list of stuff that needs doing, yesterday.
As a bit of strategery, I am posting my to-do list here in the hope that the threat of an on-the-record public shaming will serve as motivation for me to get my crap together and not, say, take a nap with my puppy.
Hope springs eternal.
Chelle's end of Summer/Fall To-Do list:
*Finish harvesting the garden - tomatoes, tomatillos, basil, lemon balm, garlic chives, runner beans, pumpkins, cylindrical beets, sunflowers, chamomile, calendula, breadseed poppies, Fall raspberries
*Forage - apples, crab apples, pears, walnuts, hazelnuts, hawthorn berries, rose hips, dandelion roots, mushrooms?
*Can/Freeze/Dehydrate - Spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, tomatillo salsa, pumpkin puree, hard cider (apple, pear, hawthorn, etc.), wine (rose hip, hawthorn, raspberry), egg noodles (using beets, basil, etc.), pumpkin ravioli, chamomile, lemon balm and calendula for tea and soapmaking, dandelion roots (for bitters), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, beet chips, beet greens, compound herb butters (basil, lemon balm, garlic chive), Scarlet Runner beans, 3 "surplus" roosters, 2 tom turkeys.
*Ferment - Cider (for ACV), wine, sauerkraut
*Make - At least 2 more batches of soap - one with goat milk and one vegan, re-batch soap trimmings, knit at least 2 dozen more dishcloths and 6 pair of bike helmet earmuffs
*Set up/Organize - The new pantry/storage room shelving - oy. This will probably involve a trip to IKEA, better known in our family as the Yuppie Modular Cattle Chute from Hell. Uff da.
As if that weren't enough, in addition to my regular Mom duties, a friend and I are in the process of starting a new business that entails real estate deals, meetings with bankers, tons of market research, paperwork and spreadsheets out the wazoo and a big, fat, healthy dose of sheer panic. Good times!
So, there you have it. My next 12 weeks, chock-full of farm housewifferey (did I just invent that word?), lava-hot mason jars and self-imposed stress and deadlines. Hold my feet to the fire to get this stuff done, guys and gals, because that nap is looking better with each passing minute.
As a bit of strategery, I am posting my to-do list here in the hope that the threat of an on-the-record public shaming will serve as motivation for me to get my crap together and not, say, take a nap with my puppy.
Hope springs eternal.
Chelle's end of Summer/Fall To-Do list:
*Finish harvesting the garden - tomatoes, tomatillos, basil, lemon balm, garlic chives, runner beans, pumpkins, cylindrical beets, sunflowers, chamomile, calendula, breadseed poppies, Fall raspberries
*Forage - apples, crab apples, pears, walnuts, hazelnuts, hawthorn berries, rose hips, dandelion roots, mushrooms?
*Can/Freeze/Dehydrate - Spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, tomatillo salsa, pumpkin puree, hard cider (apple, pear, hawthorn, etc.), wine (rose hip, hawthorn, raspberry), egg noodles (using beets, basil, etc.), pumpkin ravioli, chamomile, lemon balm and calendula for tea and soapmaking, dandelion roots (for bitters), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, beet chips, beet greens, compound herb butters (basil, lemon balm, garlic chive), Scarlet Runner beans, 3 "surplus" roosters, 2 tom turkeys.
*Ferment - Cider (for ACV), wine, sauerkraut
*Make - At least 2 more batches of soap - one with goat milk and one vegan, re-batch soap trimmings, knit at least 2 dozen more dishcloths and 6 pair of bike helmet earmuffs
*Set up/Organize - The new pantry/storage room shelving - oy. This will probably involve a trip to IKEA, better known in our family as the Yuppie Modular Cattle Chute from Hell. Uff da.
As if that weren't enough, in addition to my regular Mom duties, a friend and I are in the process of starting a new business that entails real estate deals, meetings with bankers, tons of market research, paperwork and spreadsheets out the wazoo and a big, fat, healthy dose of sheer panic. Good times!
So, there you have it. My next 12 weeks, chock-full of farm housewifferey (did I just invent that word?), lava-hot mason jars and self-imposed stress and deadlines. Hold my feet to the fire to get this stuff done, guys and gals, because that nap is looking better with each passing minute.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Coming Soon...
...after the last wheelbarrow full of tomatoes is canned, the last of our three-roosters-too-many are culled and sent to the stock pot, and I've had a day or two to straight-up veg out on the couch, I'll be posting a long overdue giveaway!
Because I'm still presentlyfreaking out all a-tither over getting a ton of produce picked and put up, I don't yet have my lineup of goodies selected, but don't be surprised to see some jam, salsa, sauce and maybe a knit or two in there. More details and the pics of the goods are forthcoming... soon (I hope.)
Because I'm still presently
This represents a wee sampling of what I'm working on these days. Mercy!
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Putting Up
Our predictably unpredictable end-of-Summer weather here in Western Washington is wigging me out.
One day it's 80's and deep-south humid, the next it's 60 degrees and straight downpour. It's Summer, it's Fall - no wait - it's still Summer. Hows about some hot rain to go with that 90% humidity? My brain has slipped into Fall mode - sleep in, bake bread, wear pjs all day, read, read, read. Meanwhile the copious sweating and 5 pound zucchinis snap me back to my reality - it's the end of Summer push.
I have already put up 50ish pounds of our squash, dozens of pounds of beets, assorted flavors/colors of homemade egg noodles and my puercos will soon be in the freezer as well; we're in no danger of starving. And yet, as tired as I am of picking and processing our produce incessantly, I can't stop. There is a MST of stuff still be done before I can laze about with a clear conscience.
This coming weekend is the 4th (5th?) annual Jam-o-Rama with my homegirl, Jen. Next weekend will be apple juicin' fest, and the week after that, probably tomato sauce and salsa time. I'm kinda tired just thinking about it...
Even if I don't make epic strides each day, as long as I can/dehydrate/freeze something, I feel like I'm making at least a little dent.
One day it's 80's and deep-south humid, the next it's 60 degrees and straight downpour. It's Summer, it's Fall - no wait - it's still Summer. Hows about some hot rain to go with that 90% humidity? My brain has slipped into Fall mode - sleep in, bake bread, wear pjs all day, read, read, read. Meanwhile the copious sweating and 5 pound zucchinis snap me back to my reality - it's the end of Summer push.
I have already put up 50ish pounds of our squash, dozens of pounds of beets, assorted flavors/colors of homemade egg noodles and my puercos will soon be in the freezer as well; we're in no danger of starving. And yet, as tired as I am of picking and processing our produce incessantly, I can't stop. There is a MST of stuff still be done before I can laze about with a clear conscience.
This coming weekend is the 4th (5th?) annual Jam-o-Rama with my homegirl, Jen. Next weekend will be apple juicin' fest, and the week after that, probably tomato sauce and salsa time. I'm kinda tired just thinking about it...
Even if I don't make epic strides each day, as long as I can/dehydrate/freeze something, I feel like I'm making at least a little dent.
"Italian veg" going in the freezer - yellow squash, zucchini, scarlet runner beans and basil.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
August Exhaustion
This morning I woke up to a fiery-hot pain in my shoulder. In fact, my entire right arm feels fit to fall right off. I think I've managed to figure out why...
...I've been knitting. A LOT.
...picking, washing chopping, slicing and grating dozens of pounds of squash.
...cutting and trimming up fifty-bajillion bars of soap.
...hand wrapping and labeling those same fifty-bajillion bars of soap.
Yes, my house is in ruins right now, but aren't my knits and soaps purty?! That 40ish pounds of squash that I put into the freezer last night is a different kind of purty. I feel very pleased with my level of productivity, but madre, my arm! :\
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Squirrellin'
I'm really, really enjoying my Winter's rest this year. I'm in a post-bazaar, post-holiday, pre-Spring-freakout land of unscheduled bliss. Knitting what I want, as fast or slow as I want = heaven.
I'm also doing a lot more reading since I'm not on a production knitting regimen. Presently, my reading list is mostly made up of farm research material - garden layout, info on organically raising honeybees and pig pen design - I'm a real wild card!
At the moment, I'm mildly obsessed with learning every last thing I can about pig nutrition. I want to take advantage of the food waste streams available around us, like imperfect produce from farmers markets and grocery stores, and bakery outlet surplus, and possibly other food sources - foraged fruits/nuts/greens/grains/etc., that are considered sub-par for us humans, and possibly restaurant trimmings/leavings, within limits. I'm so jazzed about the possibility of raising some fantastic pork on a shoestring budget that I've gone slightly manic in my research and information gathering stage. I was up 'til 5 am googling "organic pig diet formulation". I may need help...
As my facebook friends now know well, every few months I land a bread windfall from one of our local bakery outlets. Look at what $20 can get you -
This is about 20% more than I usually get for my $20. They had quite a bit extra following the holidays. This was a really nice quality batch too, not a lot of donuts or garlic bread, which are both pretty useless to us in terms of critter food unless we want our eggs and milk to taste like deep fried onions. :P
Obviously, this is way more than our 17 (or so) chickens and 9 goats could handle, so we give some away to fellow farming friends, freeze some and dehydrate some. I have about 50 pounds worth of dehydrated bread and buns already, which I'll sock away for a rainy day for the goats' goatmeal or for eventually using for pig slops. I've had my dehydrator going 24/7 since I brought this haul home, and I feel like I still haven't made much of a dent. I must work faster than the mold can!
I'm also looking forward to using the packaging to make more "plarn" for my knitting experiments. At a minimum, I plan to wring every last penny out of this $20 investment and keep a few hundred pounds of plastic-encased organic material from ending up in a landfill. The fabulous goats milk, eggs and home raised pork will take a little more time to be realized, but the legwork I'm doing now will pay off deliciously...eventually.
I'm also doing a lot more reading since I'm not on a production knitting regimen. Presently, my reading list is mostly made up of farm research material - garden layout, info on organically raising honeybees and pig pen design - I'm a real wild card!
At the moment, I'm mildly obsessed with learning every last thing I can about pig nutrition. I want to take advantage of the food waste streams available around us, like imperfect produce from farmers markets and grocery stores, and bakery outlet surplus, and possibly other food sources - foraged fruits/nuts/greens/grains/etc., that are considered sub-par for us humans, and possibly restaurant trimmings/leavings, within limits. I'm so jazzed about the possibility of raising some fantastic pork on a shoestring budget that I've gone slightly manic in my research and information gathering stage. I was up 'til 5 am googling "organic pig diet formulation". I may need help...
As my facebook friends now know well, every few months I land a bread windfall from one of our local bakery outlets. Look at what $20 can get you -
This is about 20% more than I usually get for my $20. They had quite a bit extra following the holidays. This was a really nice quality batch too, not a lot of donuts or garlic bread, which are both pretty useless to us in terms of critter food unless we want our eggs and milk to taste like deep fried onions. :P
Obviously, this is way more than our 17 (or so) chickens and 9 goats could handle, so we give some away to fellow farming friends, freeze some and dehydrate some. I have about 50 pounds worth of dehydrated bread and buns already, which I'll sock away for a rainy day for the goats' goatmeal or for eventually using for pig slops. I've had my dehydrator going 24/7 since I brought this haul home, and I feel like I still haven't made much of a dent. I must work faster than the mold can!
I'm also looking forward to using the packaging to make more "plarn" for my knitting experiments. At a minimum, I plan to wring every last penny out of this $20 investment and keep a few hundred pounds of plastic-encased organic material from ending up in a landfill. The fabulous goats milk, eggs and home raised pork will take a little more time to be realized, but the legwork I'm doing now will pay off deliciously...eventually.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Can-o-rama, the Second Act
My homegirls and I started an informal monthly food preservation-fest last Fall that we dubbed The Bitchin' Kitchen Collective. I think we met maybe three times last year, before scheduling conflicts, Holidays and general chaos tore our little gathering asunder.
I'm bringingsexy jammin' back.
Yesterday, my girl Kristin and I had a little fiesta de salsa. The 25 pounds of free tomatillos that I was able to get via Craigslist were our launching point. She and I both hunted around for a good salsa verde recipe that could be made with the hot water bath canning method, and settled on this one, with just a few minor tweaks. Our bounty of tomatillos meant that we had enough veg to make eleven batches worth of salsa. Dios mio! Times like these are when it is especially handy to have a hubby who is into home brewing and willing to share his giant brewpot and propane burner with you. I also owe my guy some serious props for being willing to shuttle jars back and forth from the kitchen to the water bath canner bubbling away on the covered porch because a) it was raining, and b) he had to bob and weave past two very excited and curious Great Pyrenees both ways. Canning is not for sissies!
Our efforts yielded 10 pints and 36 half pints of salsa, over the course of a 7 hour-long, mellow Sunday spent with one of my bestest girls, drinking wine and shooting the breeze. Life is pretty darn good. :)
Next up - more jam and jelly and probably a little wine as well, made with apples, pears, rose hips, hawthorn, rowan berries, and whatever else we might forage or stumble upon.
I'm bringing
Yesterday, my girl Kristin and I had a little fiesta de salsa. The 25 pounds of free tomatillos that I was able to get via Craigslist were our launching point. She and I both hunted around for a good salsa verde recipe that could be made with the hot water bath canning method, and settled on this one, with just a few minor tweaks. Our bounty of tomatillos meant that we had enough veg to make eleven batches worth of salsa. Dios mio! Times like these are when it is especially handy to have a hubby who is into home brewing and willing to share his giant brewpot and propane burner with you. I also owe my guy some serious props for being willing to shuttle jars back and forth from the kitchen to the water bath canner bubbling away on the covered porch because a) it was raining, and b) he had to bob and weave past two very excited and curious Great Pyrenees both ways. Canning is not for sissies!
Our efforts yielded 10 pints and 36 half pints of salsa, over the course of a 7 hour-long, mellow Sunday spent with one of my bestest girls, drinking wine and shooting the breeze. Life is pretty darn good. :)
Next up - more jam and jelly and probably a little wine as well, made with apples, pears, rose hips, hawthorn, rowan berries, and whatever else we might forage or stumble upon.
Friday, October 12, 2012
The Weekend Loometh
Maybe loometh is too dark a word? The weekend... cometh aggressively(eth)? Let's just say we're packing a whole bunch of homesteady-type activities into the next 48 hours.
On Saturday - We're trying our first batch of homemade goats milk soap. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect recipe. I'm leaning toward something creamsicle-ish with sweet orange oil and vanilla beans. We'll see if chemistry is my friend!
Also on Saturday, we'll be planting a few trees and medicinal perennials - Beaked Hazel (nut), Echinacea, Yarrow and a few others. I scored big at a closeout sale on water-wise plants. Not that a shortage of water has ever been a problem here (this is Boggy Hollow), but plants that don't mind a little accidental neglect on my part will most definitely do better in the long run.
Lastly, we plan to list 3 or 4 of our goats for sale this weekend, which could translate to the unparallelled joy that is wrangling disgruntled goats during an epic downpour. Yay?
Sunday, it's salsa-jam 2012. My girl Kristin and I scored 25 pounds of free, perfectly ripe tomatillos via craigslist, so we're going to devote the day to making enough salsa verde to feed a small army.
Spending the day chopping, stirring and jarring up salsa may not sound like hard work, but after 8 or 10 hours of salsa fest, me and my good friend, giant jug o' red wine, would beg to differ.
Here's to a rainy, drainy, productive weekend!
On Saturday - We're trying our first batch of homemade goats milk soap. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect recipe. I'm leaning toward something creamsicle-ish with sweet orange oil and vanilla beans. We'll see if chemistry is my friend!
Also on Saturday, we'll be planting a few trees and medicinal perennials - Beaked Hazel (nut), Echinacea, Yarrow and a few others. I scored big at a closeout sale on water-wise plants. Not that a shortage of water has ever been a problem here (this is Boggy Hollow), but plants that don't mind a little accidental neglect on my part will most definitely do better in the long run.
Lastly, we plan to list 3 or 4 of our goats for sale this weekend, which could translate to the unparallelled joy that is wrangling disgruntled goats during an epic downpour. Yay?
Sunday, it's salsa-jam 2012. My girl Kristin and I scored 25 pounds of free, perfectly ripe tomatillos via craigslist, so we're going to devote the day to making enough salsa verde to feed a small army.
Free tomatillos. Thanks, Kathy!
Spending the day chopping, stirring and jarring up salsa may not sound like hard work, but after 8 or 10 hours of salsa fest, me and my good friend, giant jug o' red wine, would beg to differ.
Here's to a rainy, drainy, productive weekend!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
How to Use Up a Lemon
Although we aren't super hardcore about it, our family tries to eat both locally and in season, as much as is possible.
When you live by Mother Nature's clock as we try to, you have to move fast to get your fill of what is ripe and ready while the getting is good, and, if you're lucky, manage to sock away a little extra for an upcoming rainy day via freezing, drying or canning.
Right now in the Pacific Northwest, we're well into our apple, blackberry, salmon and end-of-the-garden frenzies. Sun up to sun down is filled with food saving chores - harvesting, foraging, juicing, canning, dehydrating, smoking... you get the idea. Apple fatigue is setting in big time. But - and I have to remind myself of this occasionally - if I use what I have now, carefully and completely, then I probably won't need to purchase anything apple-y in the coming year. And if I can apply this attitude to a food that springs forth from my front yard with or without my help, then I certainly could and should apply the same rule to "exotic" foods that have taken a long boat ride (or series of truck rides) to get here to me. A prime example of this sort of rarefied foodstuff is my beloved Meyer lemon.
Up here in the maritime PNW, citrus doesn't grow, ever, at all. Therefore it must be shipped in, usually from California or Florida. So for us, buying citrus is a bit of a splurge both in terms of cost per fruit and the number of food miles racked up to bring it to our neck of the woods. As a result, I attempt to eke every last bit of sunshiney goodness out of every lemon, lime and orange that I buy. This is how I use up a lemon.
The peel:
I usually zest or grate the peel before cutting into the fruit to eat or juice. The zest can then either be used immediately, dried or frozen. Use a pinch here and there as needed to add zing to custards, sauces and vinaigrettes.
Once in a great while, instead of zesting the peel, I'll candy it.
Remove the spent pulp and the pith, reserving both.
Put the trimmed, sliced peel in a sauce pan and blanch at a simmer for 45 minutes. Drain peels and replace water with fresh water. Add an equal measure of sugar to make a simple syrup. Bring to a roil, then reduce to a simmer and let "poach" for about 45 minutes.
Let cool, then drain peel, reserving syrup. Air dry candied peels for 30 minutes, then "shake & bake" them in a bag with granulated sugar.
Lemony goodness!
The Pith:
The pith is arguably the most useless part of a lemon. It's spongy and bitter tasting - yuck. I've found just one use for the pith besides the compost heap - the garbage disposal.
That pith and pulp that you saved from the last step? Put it down your disposal while running some hot water to give your kitchen a burst of lemony freshness. I also think that the citric acid helps clean and break down greasy build up in your disposal and drain, but maybe that's just wishful thinking. ;)
The Pulp/Juice:
Whether you're eating the fruit by the slice or segment, or simply juicing it, odds are this is why you bought the fruit in the first place and already have grand plans for it. Nevertheless, I'll share a few of my favorite uses with you.
Soon to be blackberry lemonade!
Blackberry Lemonade
serves 4
*Juice of 5 lemons, diluted with an equal amount of water
*Simple syrup, made from 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar
*1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries
Put fresh squeezed juice and water into a pitcher, set aside. Simmer 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar together over medium to medium low heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture has reduced and thickened to the consistency of a thin syrup. Let cool.
Add frozen or fresh berries to the cooled simple syrup and muddle/mash a bit. Pour berries and syrup into the pitcher with the lemon juice and water. Taste, adjusting sweetness/tartness ratio to your liking.
Meyer Lemon Drop
Serves one
*1 (generous) shot of "Whipped" vodka
*1 ounce of Meyer lemon simple syrup (byproduct of candying peel)
*Granulated sugar for rimming
Mix vodka and simple syrup thoroughly. Serve either on the rocks or up in a fancy glass with a sugared rim. Sit in a lawn chair and enjoy. ;)
Scrumtrelescent!
A Farmgirl's Friend - Reusable Plastic Mason Jar Lids
You know I'm not plastic's number one fan, but I must admit that these one piece reusable plastic mason jar lids have been incredibly useful around here.
Spicy infused vodka in progress
I especially like these when making things like infused booze or homemade vinegar; things that might react chemically with standard metal lids and rings.
But the reason I'm writing this here piece is not to get you to run out and buy a mess of these lids, but to show you another handy little feature that we stumbled upon while using them.
You can use a dry erase marker to label your jars! We've found that this is a much simpler and cleaner method for keeping track of the what and when of a jar's contents, compared with the old sticky label, which can be a nightmare to remove.
For the record, before figuring out the dry erase thing, we also tried post-it notes to keep track of what was what and when it came in to being. But, post-its won't stick when there's any moisture on the jar or lid, so we would end up with a pile of soggy, misplaced sticky notes and jars full of mystery items.
The way we employ these lids, and the dry-erase "trick" most often, is when storing our goat milk.
Labelled with the date of production and the lassie who produced it.
Nothing groundbreaking here, just another way to take advantage of something that you might already have in your kitchen. ;)
Happy jamming & canning!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
The 4th Annual Jam-o-Rama
Someday I'll work up the courage to try "real" canning. By which I mean, using a pressure canner, rather than just a hot water bath to safely heat and seal my jars. After all, water bath canning limits you to canning higher-acid foods, since it isn't able to reach the intense temperatures that a pressure canner can. I've pressure canned salsa and a few other odds and ends before, but only with my Mom present. She has a dandy old pressure canner, which I happen to be terrified to use alone.
Firstly, because there is a right way and a wrong way to use a pressure canner. I have an inordinate amount of fear that I will miss a step and somehow manage to blow up my kitchen. After footing the bill from my car accident, I'm not sure that my insurance agent would be super keen to learn of my dabbling with super heated liquids encased in immanently breakable glass jars either.
Secondly, I'm not a huge fan of mopping my ceiling. My husband's beer brewing mishaps have seen well to that.
So, I'm primarily a jam kinda gal. In fact, my very good friend Jen and I have a yearly summer canning fest that we've dubbed the Jam-o-Rama.
This year, Jen got a great deal on a case of beautiful, locally grown peaches, so we're making three kinds of peach jam/preserves - Spiced Peach, Raspberry Peach and Earl Grey infused Peach. This jam-o-rama is definitely an all day affair, but sooo worth the trouble.
Our jammin' lasted a full 10+ hours this year, and resulted in a total of 78 jars of gorgeous, delicious jam.
My share of the goods
Spiced Peach, Raspberry Peach and "The Earl"
After four years of hardcore jammin', we gals finally seem to know what we're about. I daresay that "The Earl" is our best effort yet. Alas, because this was our first time trying our heavily modified/improvised recipe, we only made a double batch (as opposed to our usual, quadruple), and therefore ended up with just 9 half pints each. We'll definitely make a bigger batch next year, but after peeling and chopping 30 pounds of fuzzy golden orbs, I think we're all peached out for now.
Still on my to-do list: Blueberry, Hawthorn and Apple and maybe blackberry. We'll see how long this wave of enthusiasm lasts. ;)
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Bread & Butter Pickles
Scarlet and I made these yesterday, per the recipe I found on Brown Eyed Baker. They were so easy! No canning involved, just pack the prepared cukes and sliced onion into a jar, then pour the vinegar/sugar/spice concoction over the top of everything, and forget about it for a while. :)
Tossing the freshly rinsed cucumber slices with the sliced onion, just before jarring it up.
After one day of steeping. Still cucumber-y tasting, but starting to absorb a little of the sweet/sour pickling liquid flavors.
I am disproportionately excited about these simple little pickles. Bread and butter pickles were a mainstay of my youth, and the smell of the vinegar, sugar and spices simmering alone nearly killed me. I want these babies to be ready yesterday.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Cheddar Check-in
I only made the one cheddar, as I had no idea what to expect. Cheese making is a lot like wine making in that you don't really know what you've got or if it's even edible until months or years down the line; making it imprudent to spend a heap of time and raw material on a pursuit that may be all for naught.
Anyways - this one turned out! It's too strong for me and the girls, but Bill has been enjoying it, so come Spring, when our does kid and the milk is flowing again, I'll make another one or even two.
By the way - this cheese was made using Ricki Carroll's Farmhouse Cheddar recipe. Everything was by the numbers except for us using goat milk instead of cow's milk, and my improvised cheese press (I have a real one now) meant that this cheddar didn't get pressed with quite as much weight as was recommended in the recipe.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Bill's Parmesan
This was taken on day #3. It's looking good already, no? Waiting is going to be hard.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Greetings from the Land of L'oeuf
Put up, frozen, and preserved of the season's foody offerings this week so far -
*Spicy Pork Broth, 3 quarts, frozen
*Blackberry Fruit Roll-ups, 5 lbs worth
*Blackberries, 3 pounds, frozen
*Spinach & Goat Feta Pierogi (Pitaha), 45, frozen
*Rose Petals, Bachelor Buttons, Nasturtium and Lavender flowers - dehydrating them like they're going out of style, cuz they are.
If my back isn't still dogging me, I'll can some blueberry & blackberry jam next week. I also want to make up some traditional Pitaha, with some gorgeous potatoes that were grown by my friends Gabby & Daeg.
I also need to make another batch of feta, or else drown in milk. Same goes with the eggs. I might just be desperate enough to try freezing some, though that still seems weird to me.
I googled "recipes that use a lot of eggs" and got some interesting results. It seems like the suggestions fall into two categories -
#1 - The Dee-hhuuuurrrrs. Have you thought of making an omelet or some deviled eggs? Dear, simple, simple friend. OF COURSE I'VE THOUGHT OF THAT. The trouble, you see, is that I have six dozen eggs and counting, and if my family somehow did manage to muscle down 72 onion-laced eggs, the air quality in North Olympia would suffer a mighty blow, and no one wants that.
#2 - The "Butterified". Pound cake, custard, mousse. All yummy, and all calling for as much or more butter and sugar than eggs. There has to be a way to make something with these babies that doesn't give us diabetes or coronary artery disease, right?
So I guess that I'm going to make some more egg noodles to freeze, and maybe try drying some as well. We'll have scrambled eggs for breakfast and dinner a few times this week and see what kind of damage we can do to the stockpile. Maybe I can start whipping them at the psycho DB that flies by my house on his Ducati at 120 miles per hour?
Nah, he's not worthy of my juevos, only my seething contempt.
By the by, this evening will make 48 hours since the mega-clutch went into the incubator. I've been candling the eggs nightly, because I'm maniacally curious about their inner goings-on. I can't tell for sure, but I *think* I see some progress in their development. There appears to be a pencil eraser-sized spot of increased density in the middle of several of the yolks. No dead giveaways, like blood vessel development, but I think that might still be a few days out.
Here's a pic I took on day one of our one and only double-yolker in the lot.
I don't know what the odds are of twin chickies making it, but I'll keep candling and keep you informed about any "eggciting" developments. ;)
Sorry about that. I need to get out more.
*Spicy Pork Broth, 3 quarts, frozen
*Blackberry Fruit Roll-ups, 5 lbs worth
*Blackberries, 3 pounds, frozen
*Spinach & Goat Feta Pierogi (Pitaha), 45, frozen
*Rose Petals, Bachelor Buttons, Nasturtium and Lavender flowers - dehydrating them like they're going out of style, cuz they are.
If my back isn't still dogging me, I'll can some blueberry & blackberry jam next week. I also want to make up some traditional Pitaha, with some gorgeous potatoes that were grown by my friends Gabby & Daeg.
I also need to make another batch of feta, or else drown in milk. Same goes with the eggs. I might just be desperate enough to try freezing some, though that still seems weird to me.
I googled "recipes that use a lot of eggs" and got some interesting results. It seems like the suggestions fall into two categories -
#1 - The Dee-hhuuuurrrrs. Have you thought of making an omelet or some deviled eggs? Dear, simple, simple friend. OF COURSE I'VE THOUGHT OF THAT. The trouble, you see, is that I have six dozen eggs and counting, and if my family somehow did manage to muscle down 72 onion-laced eggs, the air quality in North Olympia would suffer a mighty blow, and no one wants that.
#2 - The "Butterified". Pound cake, custard, mousse. All yummy, and all calling for as much or more butter and sugar than eggs. There has to be a way to make something with these babies that doesn't give us diabetes or coronary artery disease, right?
So I guess that I'm going to make some more egg noodles to freeze, and maybe try drying some as well. We'll have scrambled eggs for breakfast and dinner a few times this week and see what kind of damage we can do to the stockpile. Maybe I can start whipping them at the psycho DB that flies by my house on his Ducati at 120 miles per hour?
Nah, he's not worthy of my juevos, only my seething contempt.
By the by, this evening will make 48 hours since the mega-clutch went into the incubator. I've been candling the eggs nightly, because I'm maniacally curious about their inner goings-on. I can't tell for sure, but I *think* I see some progress in their development. There appears to be a pencil eraser-sized spot of increased density in the middle of several of the yolks. No dead giveaways, like blood vessel development, but I think that might still be a few days out.
Here's a pic I took on day one of our one and only double-yolker in the lot.
I don't know what the odds are of twin chickies making it, but I'll keep candling and keep you informed about any "eggciting" developments. ;)
Sorry about that. I need to get out more.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Setting a Feed Budget - A Work in Progress
It's hard to believe it, but it's not quite been a year that we've been goat owners. We've come a long way, baby! Last night's milking was yet another record setter - 72 ounces total from our two milkin' Mamas, Chardy & Fritzen.
In the event that you don't follow the day-to-day deets of our little farm over at The Bog Blog, you may not have been privy to a few goaty change-ups that we've made lately that have increased our milk production and simplified our lives just a smidge.
First of all, all the boys are together at the moment, and in spite of Spike being the devil incarnate, it seems to be working out fairly well.
Secondly, we finally separated the doelings from their Mamas. The wee ones were not at all pleased by the new arrangements, but the Mamas seem to have taken it in stride. The amount of milk we're getting per day has more than doubled since the babies no longer nurse at all. I hadn't thought that they were really nursing all that much anymore anyway, but apparently they were still getting a good bit. The Mamas produce enough milk now that we could actually milk them twice per day, but since we are approaching breeding season and will soon begin to work toward drying them off, we're not going to bother with twice a day milking.
Anyhoo, now that you're up to speed on our ruminant living arrangements, I'll now get back to the original point of this post - feed costs.
The cost of good quality, local hay, alfalfa, minerals and treats adds up. It is not uncommon for us to spend $120 on a hay run, and we buy hay on average 2 times per month. Ouchie. I can assure you that we're not getting $240 worth of dairy products out of our goaties (not that that is the entire point of our having them), which means that the money being spent on them lands under the heading of "pet food". Love them though I do, these goaties are not technically our pets, they are our stock. Stock are supposed to earn their keep. We're not there yet.
So constricting the outflow of dough spent on feed and other critter essentials - even just a little - has the potential to put us leaps and bounds closer to our eventual goal of having an affordable, self-sustaining farm set-up. So Bill and I (mostly I) have decided to buckle things down and attempt to grow, forage, glean and trade for as much of our fall and winter critter feed as possible. Here are the angles I'm working right now -
*I've been posting to CraigsList, seeking windfall and slightly damaged/bolted fruits and veggies for critter food, and actually scored a few wheelbarrows full of bruised apples that way.
*I've told all of my friends with gardens that I will gladly accept their buggy, wilted and gone-to-seed produce and repay them in kind with eggs and dairy. Got a nice big bag full of bolted lettuce for the goats & bunzos just the other day.
*I've been picking berries for my family like crazy, and after weeding through them, keeping the weird/mushy ones, leaves, etc. for the critters. I've both fed them to the critters fresh, and started dehydrating some for winter supplements & snacks.
*I've been eyeballing abandoned and unpicked fruit trees and making a mental list of the places I need to hit to forage and glean. I'm wondering if folks would be more apt to let me scoop up their windfalls and/or pick their unwanted fruit if I came a-knocking with some eggs in hand to trade?
That's as far as I've been able to get with this. I wish we could have hayed our own pasture this year, but the layout of our property would make it hard, if not impossible to get a good-sized mower and baler in here. And for maybe 2 acres of harvestable grass, it hardly seems worth it.
I've toyed with the idea of doing the old school scythe & stack with our pasture, but for one thing, we have no idea of what sort of grass we have, or what nutrient content it has, and for another, with as soaking wet as this place gets, there is really no great storage space for great quantities of hay until we get our pole barn built.
So I'm scavenging, bartering and stocking up when and where I can for now. I hope to put together an official critter food budget THAT WE ACTUALLY STICK TO for this coming fall and winter.
What about you? If you can't grow your own animal feed, how do you source it? What do you do to trim costs?
I'd also love to hear how you store and use any produce, grain, etc., that you put up for your animals. I'm pondering trying a homemade rabbit pellet/treat. Are there any good recipes out there for homemade farm animal treats?
In the event that you don't follow the day-to-day deets of our little farm over at The Bog Blog, you may not have been privy to a few goaty change-ups that we've made lately that have increased our milk production and simplified our lives just a smidge.
First of all, all the boys are together at the moment, and in spite of Spike being the devil incarnate, it seems to be working out fairly well.
Secondly, we finally separated the doelings from their Mamas. The wee ones were not at all pleased by the new arrangements, but the Mamas seem to have taken it in stride. The amount of milk we're getting per day has more than doubled since the babies no longer nurse at all. I hadn't thought that they were really nursing all that much anymore anyway, but apparently they were still getting a good bit. The Mamas produce enough milk now that we could actually milk them twice per day, but since we are approaching breeding season and will soon begin to work toward drying them off, we're not going to bother with twice a day milking.
Anyhoo, now that you're up to speed on our ruminant living arrangements, I'll now get back to the original point of this post - feed costs.
The cost of good quality, local hay, alfalfa, minerals and treats adds up. It is not uncommon for us to spend $120 on a hay run, and we buy hay on average 2 times per month. Ouchie. I can assure you that we're not getting $240 worth of dairy products out of our goaties (not that that is the entire point of our having them), which means that the money being spent on them lands under the heading of "pet food". Love them though I do, these goaties are not technically our pets, they are our stock. Stock are supposed to earn their keep. We're not there yet.
So constricting the outflow of dough spent on feed and other critter essentials - even just a little - has the potential to put us leaps and bounds closer to our eventual goal of having an affordable, self-sustaining farm set-up. So Bill and I (mostly I) have decided to buckle things down and attempt to grow, forage, glean and trade for as much of our fall and winter critter feed as possible. Here are the angles I'm working right now -
*I've been posting to CraigsList, seeking windfall and slightly damaged/bolted fruits and veggies for critter food, and actually scored a few wheelbarrows full of bruised apples that way.
*I've told all of my friends with gardens that I will gladly accept their buggy, wilted and gone-to-seed produce and repay them in kind with eggs and dairy. Got a nice big bag full of bolted lettuce for the goats & bunzos just the other day.
*I've been picking berries for my family like crazy, and after weeding through them, keeping the weird/mushy ones, leaves, etc. for the critters. I've both fed them to the critters fresh, and started dehydrating some for winter supplements & snacks.
*I've been eyeballing abandoned and unpicked fruit trees and making a mental list of the places I need to hit to forage and glean. I'm wondering if folks would be more apt to let me scoop up their windfalls and/or pick their unwanted fruit if I came a-knocking with some eggs in hand to trade?
That's as far as I've been able to get with this. I wish we could have hayed our own pasture this year, but the layout of our property would make it hard, if not impossible to get a good-sized mower and baler in here. And for maybe 2 acres of harvestable grass, it hardly seems worth it.
I've toyed with the idea of doing the old school scythe & stack with our pasture, but for one thing, we have no idea of what sort of grass we have, or what nutrient content it has, and for another, with as soaking wet as this place gets, there is really no great storage space for great quantities of hay until we get our pole barn built.
So I'm scavenging, bartering and stocking up when and where I can for now. I hope to put together an official critter food budget THAT WE ACTUALLY STICK TO for this coming fall and winter.
What about you? If you can't grow your own animal feed, how do you source it? What do you do to trim costs?
I'd also love to hear how you store and use any produce, grain, etc., that you put up for your animals. I'm pondering trying a homemade rabbit pellet/treat. Are there any good recipes out there for homemade farm animal treats?
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