Independence Days Update: Strawberry Solstice
Sharon June 22nd, 2009
Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup. – Wendell Berry
We spent the longest day yesterday picking strawberries, which was delightful. The four kids helped to their varying capacities, and it took significantly less than an hour for us to pick 16 quarts of Strawberries. Besides the ones that will be eaten, these will be jam and dried berries – our first big harvest mostly gotten eaten straight.
Our home strawberry harvest is pretty limited this year – last year’s sheep pasturing in my garden (we had no choice) pretty much took out the strawberry patch, so while I’ve replanted, this year, the harvest is small, so we go to our favorite pick your own fruit place, Bohringers, in Middleburgh, NY for preserving quantities. It is one of the most stunningly lovely farms I’ve ever visiter, in the flats of the Schoharie Valley, which fed the American Revolution in its day. The soils are good and the hills that surround the valley (we live up on one of them) rise up above it.
The rain that was predicted held off until mid-afternoon, so there were a goodly number of people out berrying, mostly older folks, many of whom knew each other and clearly were pleased by the chance to chat, discuss recipes and baseball and ideas for using up these berries, and direct young grandchildren in the art of picking. It was lovely to overhear people discussing jam recipes and how many mason jars they have. The only sad part was how few of the folks, even on a Sunday afternoon, were young.
A few years ago, I wrote a post about picky eating that began with strawberry picking, and observed that really, only Simon of all my children seriously did any actual work at picking. But what a difference two years makes – Simon filled 3 quarts in 45 minutes, Isaiah nearly 2, and even Asher and Eli filled most of a quart basket, with only moderate scavenging out of it. Bohringers makes its own ice cream from its own fruit, and the reward for disciplined work is an ice-cream cone, and the right to debate whether raspberry or peach, strawberry or blueberry is better, so this is a powerful incentive.
Historically speaking, berrying is children’s work, or the work of adults on a celebratory day like Father’s Day/Solstice. Light enough to be pleasurable, with plenty of opportunities for self-indulgence by eating, wandering off to collect rocks or chase toads, it is one of those borderline play/work activities that is of real and serious use, and yet not too terribly onerous, like watching animals in fields near home, tending younger siblings, etc… Thus, children were given the merits of work, while also integrating in play and imagination. We will need more of that in times to come.
Beyond berrying, we also stopped at the local animal shelter, and managed to not adopt any more cats, even though there were plenty that needed homes. We stopped to visit a 1 year old Great Pyrenees/Golden Retriever mix. He’s a beautiful dog, and we liked him a lot, but are not sure he’s the dog for us – and someone else may have first dibs. I hate to say it, but I think we’re going to find a breeder and buy an LGD or LGD cross puppy – we’ve simply had no luck finding a suitable dog through either breed rescue or shelters, and we’ve tried quite a number of times. The problem is that we are looking for something truly specific – a farm/family dog, and I think that achieving that mix is going to involve having a dog from the right lines grow up with us. If anyone knows a good breeder in the Northeast, we’re somewhat flexible about which LGD breed, although we’re leaning towards Pyrs, Anatolians or Tibetan Mastiffs.
Ok, on to the update:
Planted something – Not a bleeding thing, actually. We’ve had so much rain that I haven’t been out to the garden at all. I’ve weeded a fair bit, but this week there’s nothing to report here – although I should start the next crop of greens and kale indoors – perhaps today.
Harvested something: Strawberries, obviously. Rhubarb, beets, mustard greens, bok choy, chard, very small carrots, peas (snap, snow and shelling), valerian root, elecampane root, milk, eggs, peonies, sorrel, chinese cabbage, lettuce, edible flowers, chives, mint.
Preserved something: Dried strawberries, strawberry syrup (to be mixed with seltzer on special occasions), dried valerian root (ugh, smells like dirty socks, of course), elecampane root, froze beaten eggs.
Waste Not: Turned the drawers of our old crib into instant raised beds by knocking out the bottom and filling with compost. Turned broken cinder blocks into drainage for raised herb bed for mediterranean herbs getting grumpy because all it does is rain. Canned up the last turkey from last year into soup and meat. Scavenged some really big industrial sized cans to be used for making a bigger rocket stove. Experimented with brine pickling the thick stems of nettles and lambsquarters – results not yet apparent.
Want Not/Preps: Nothing, really. Oh, wait, I did buy organic dried cranberries and pears, since they were on sale at my bulk supplier, and add them to storage.
Build Community Food Systems: Offered to teach workshops to low-income folks on how to build up food storage through adult education program - awaiting answer, did a bunch of radio interviews for ANOF.
Eat the Food: Discovered that lightly sweetened strawberry juice mixed with seltzer is considered an amazing treat by my children. Made fresh spring rolls filled with every imaginable green and herb – were readily devoured.
How about y’all?
Sharon
- Independence Days Challenge
- Comments(31)
From St. Louis, MO, where 2.9″ of rain was immediately followed by highs in the mid 90s and high humidity levels, prompting first a heat advisory and now an excessive heat warning. Yes, we turned the AC on, for the first time this year.
Planted: popcorn, zucchini. Now I can only hope they will germinate. Heat wave conditions are tough on seeds.
Harvested: bok choy, kale, collards, purple scallions, lots of lettuce, raspberries, bulb fennel, dill, parsley, calendula flowers, nasturtium flowers. Probably something else I don’t remember.
Preserved: dried the calendula flowers. Started a chaste berry tincture from the remaining purchased chaste berries. Removed the berries from last year’s chaste berry harvest, so they’ll be ready to tincture later on. DH bottled the spearmint wine he started earlier. He also started a new batch of beer.
Waste not: made a gallon of solar green tea. Otherwise the standard household practices. The AC is set to 78 to keep the electric use minimized.
Want not/preps: nothing outside of the usual.
Build community food systems: nothing this week.
Eat the food: I took one of my homegrown salads to a potluck lunch at our Zen center; it was well-liked. The nasturtium flowers decorating the top were very popular, and I got, and answered, questions on how to grow them. We continue to work our way through the June greens glut via lots of salads and stir-fries.
Plant:
Nothing this week, but the dill and basil seeds I planted weeks ago are finally starting to grow.
Harvest:
basil, cucumbers, dill, eggplant, eggs (well … one egg), onions, oregano, parsley, peas (200+ lbs.), squash, tomatoes, wild blackberries, zucchini
Preserve:
corn (frozen), cucumbers (pickled), peas (canned), zucchini (frozen, dehydrated)
Waste Not:
I started using a bowl to catch rinse water while doing dishes and watering my herbs with it.
Veggie trimmings that would normally go to compost are now going to feed our new chickens. I’m also finding which weeds from the garden they’ll eat, by trial & error.
I haven’t used the dryer once since I installed the clothesline.
My 4 y/o & 2 y/o girls have begun turning off the TV/lights when they leave the room and the water while they’re brushing their teeth – without prompting! We’ve been talking a lot about energy usage and not being wasteful, as I’m petrified to see what our power bill will be this month. It’s been in the 90’s/100’s for 2 weeks and even at night is in the 80’s; we don’t usually see that until August. It’s been hard, but I’ve held firm: thermostat is set no lower than 79, and usually is on 80-81. Regardless, it’s running nearly non-stop.
Normal recycling stuff.
Prepare/Store:
Added more home-preserved veggies to winter stores.
Ordered a bucket of brown rice through the co-op.
Used the (manual) grain mill for the first time; YIKES, that was hard work!
Our neighbor gave us a couple of chickens; she wanted us to take a rooster, too, but hasn’t been able to catch it yet. I was shocked when my husband (NOT an admirer of chickens) mentioned that we really needed 3 more laying hens, plus a rooster if the neighbors don’t come through.
Bought bulk spices for pickling from the local HFS for a tiny fraction of what we were paying at the grocery store.
Community Food System:
Invited some friends to come pick peas, as we have WAAAY more than we can manage. On a related note, DH & I shelled peas every time we sat down, as did my mom/dad, bro/SIL. All the shelled peas will be canned by mom and divvied up amongst us. I’m really proud of our combined efforts in the “community” garden.
Shared homemade muffins with daycare provider/kids.
Eat the Food:
Squash, squash and more squash, plus peas, corn, and herbs from the garden.
Potato salad made with fresh dill – wildly successful!
Baked bread using freshly-ground flour (and flour from storage), muffins from homemade mix, cookies from storage.
Beans, pasta from storage.
1. Plant something – Walking onions self-planting.
2. Harvest something – Elephant garlic, onions, peas, kale, chard, lettuce, spinach, turnip greens, strawberries, basil, chives. One chicken. Pie cherries. have been tying up toatoes, laying down mulch, turning compost, setting bean poles and watering, more than harvesting.
3. Preserve something – Froze peas, lots of pie cherries, chicken, broth.
4. Reduce waste – Making more compost from knotweed and grass clippings, and beanpoles from knotweed. Save and use duck-pond water (carefully). Freezer containers from saved/cleaned commercial food containers.
5. Preparation and Storage – Hung up some dried mint. Bought extra drip hoses and my next straw garden hat — the one I’ve used for the last decade is finally beginning to crumble — sigh.
6. Build Community Food Systems – selling duck eggs; having people over to harvest excess veggies and talking with them about our yard-to-garden method.
7. Eat the Food – From frozen: plum sauce, pear sauce, peas. From poultry: duck eggs, chicken eggs; fresh chicken liver with eggs and chives. From storage: rolled oats, whole wheat flour, spelt flour, rye flour, sunflower seeds, potatoes, home-dried runner beans. From garden: Elephant garlic, onions, kale, chard, dandelions, peas, lettuce, spinach, chard, fava beans, turnip greens, pie cherries, strawberries, mint, basil, rosemary, marjoram, chives, leeks. But mostly peas. As John Seymour used to say, you can never have enough peas!
We’re expecting some puppies around the end of the week. Would you be interested in a puppy in about 10 weeks in exchange for membership in one of your online classes?
I can send pictures and info on both of the parents later.
Rain. OMG! It’s pouring now. It’s rained for the past four days – straight. I need to do laundry, but it’s raining. I mowed the lawn during a break in the rain on Saturday, but the grass was so wet it clogged my poor little electric mower. I only did the front half of the front lawn. Before I started mowing, my neighbors and I had a fence chat. They asked how my garden was doing (my house blocks the main garden from their view). I said, “About like my lawn,” gesturing to the wildly overgrown expanse of lawn (mostly clover
. While most of the plants are liking the rain, it’s hard to motivate myself to get out in the wet and do anything in the garden. At this point, I’m starting to worry about things like garlic and potatoes rotting before I get the chance to harvest.
Of course, all of this rain has my husband’s mental wheels turning about alternative ways to make electricity
. And he said some things this weekend that just blew me away. I don’t know if it’s the recession/depression, or his crappy job, or something unrelated to either of those, but suddenly he seems very interested in all of this simplifying our lives stuff I’ve been doing for the past few years. I know he’s not totally on board, but he’s so much closer these days. It seems like the transition was almost overnight 
.
My IDC update is on my blog. More of the same, mostly, but I did add a couple of great books to my “collection.”
Wow, Adam, yes do email me the info. Barter is my favorite thing ever!
Sharon
Oh, and it just registered on me that this is probably Ailsa, not Adam, sorry
.
Sharon
Great idea with the crib drawers!
Planted something – Transplanted another of my gingers outdoors for the summer; only one pot left to go! These are my cardamom gingers, which don’t have much of a rhizome but you can use the leaves for cooking.
Harvested something: Strawberries here too — trying to do it every other day, to mostly keep ahead of the little slugs. They’re tiny at least (slugs). I thought of using beer traps but with the rain it seems pointless. Also got in some of those onions L found last week. And some red clover and sourgrass (snacks). The lavendar are going to bloom right soon, so I think I’ll be harvesting that this week, since it’s best dried when they’re buds.
Preserved something: Nope
Waste Not: Used some of my old, not-favorite wool for the spinning lesson (see below).
Want Not/Preps: Gave some fabric I wasn’t going to use to other folks. Boxed up some of my giveaways and pulled out some more fabric to go to the folks making kid clothes — have one more batch of fabric to find before I contact them to arrange getting the fabric to them.
Build Community Food Systems: Uh, just working at the farmers market. Although I did chat with someone new there about the traveling poultry processing facility that one of our newest vendors is using to get them into the business of selling their free-range chickens, and answered a bunch of questions about various parts of the maple sugaring process for folks, including the history of how it got started up again as a local product for sale during WWII (education!). And not food, but the person who was interested in spinning came back and I taught her the basics. We’ll work on it more over the summer I think.
Eat the Food: Mostly strawberries — brought a bunch down to choir practice to share with our friends at the after-practice potluck.
Noshed on some sourgrass and a few red clovers while gathering and weeding. Last year my MIL showed me how to pull the little florets off the clovers and either suck the nectar out of the white end of the blossoms or just bite them off as a little treat.
6/22/09:
Most of our time this week was spent preparing for our Fathers’ Day/June Birthday party extravaganza; the margaritas made with HM arancello were a big hit, along with the grilled vegetables and pineapple! The rest of the weekend we moved bookshelves (and their contents) in a 3-way swap including a new-to-us 7-shelf bookshelf for pantry storage.
Planted: n/a
Harvested: weekly organic veggie box and flowers
Preserved: bought fennel seed and tumeric for lemon chutney; froze cooked collard greens
Reduced Waste: community composting/recycling; saved glass jars and plastics for reuse; froze lemon peels and cooked hamburger and veggie scraps;
Preparation and Storage: 1 pint canning jar; 50%-off Fiskar pinking shears; 7 shelf bookcase for pantry storage; 1000 piece puzzle
Build Community Food Systems: traded cast iron frying pan, wooden puzzles, board books, preschool board games for second pie plate; gifted parents with bag of must-use-it-up Key limes
Eat the Food: Father’s Day lime or strawberry margaritas made with HM arancello (wow!); bean soup, vegetable soup, sausages, bananas; lemon/olive oil salad dressing; coffee beans, potatoes, collards, summer squash, Spanish torte from potatoes, bell peppers, onions, free-range eggs; nectarine cobbler from must-use-it-up fruit; lemon/oil salad dressing
LisaH
great use of the crib drawers. when my dad died last year his dresser was on it’s last legs (no pun intended). i didn’t like the thought of just putting it out on the curb so we took all of the drawers out to the yard and started our first garden. it seemed fitting.
Plant something: sweet potato slips
Harvest something: okra, ichiban eggplant, purple hull peas, taiwan long beans, cucumbers, eggs
Preserve something: froze 12 ears of fresh corn and froze 2 quarts of apple-peach pie filling
Reduce waste: water ornamentals with greywater from laundry room & kitchen. collect neighbor’s lawn clipping for mulch and compost. made powdered laundry soap, stored in canning jar. freecycled the clothes dryer. it’s just sitting there gathering dust. keeping a/c set at 80-82. even so, as mentioned above, it seems to run non-stop.
Preparation and Storage: picked up hurricane tracking map and bottled water.
Build Community Food Systems: talked to yard full of neighbor kids about why we keep ducks, chickens & rabbits (eggs, manure, etc.). promised to let them pick waterlemons when the time comes. kids in turn ran back to mom’s and dad’s to tell them about the “cool stuff” they saw and why rabbit poop isn’t “gross” afterall.
Eat the Food: made mini apple pies with the kids, used parsley from the garden in alfreado sauce, used long beans and eggs in fried rice, sliced cucumbers for dinner, made eggplant in garlic sauce
I am so sick of rain with another week forecast. But all the rain makes for a chaotic backyard wildlife circus during the lulls. In addition to chipmunks leapfrogging birds, squirrels and rabbits, this week brought a hummingbird into my deck top columbine that are still waiting to go into the garden.
Plant: Too much rain. I did weed the spring garden in preparation for the next crop.
Harvest: Fava beans, fava leaves, shelling peas, pea tendrils, mustard garlic, radishes, radish tops, rosemary, thyme, sage.
Preserve: Gutted the last of our living room pumpkins, processed and refrigerated the pulp, saved the seeds for the third generation of our long lasting pumpkins (I hand pollinated this one).
Waste Not: Stirred the compost piles (they seem to be loving this weather); purchased re-purposed rainbarrels (made from mediterranean olive shipping containers); checked up on cellared roots, used the last of the white sweet potatoes, and removed rotting onions from onion bags; started rotating some aseptic packed dairy; started a batch of stock.
Want Not/Prep: Researched and purchased various hardware for rainbarrels; got wheels and some baskets for my new kitchen racks and set up another to replace overloaded shoe/entrance area (what a huge difference having two more flat working surfaces makes in the kitchen).
Community: Shopped the farmer’s market, checked out another local farmer’s market with a much smaller scale and some small-scale organic sellers.
Eat: Ham steak with fresh fava beans cooked with rosemary; beet and turnip greens sauteed with minced rosemary, thyme, and sage (the herbs were leftover from something else we were making that day, the combo turned out to be really good with greens); leftover fava beans and rice; strawberries and cream over biscuits (the last fresh strawberries); blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup (the first blueberries); parsleyed baby red skinned potatoes; roast beets, turnips and sweet potatoes on the grill.
We’ve been rained upon almost non-stop. So mostly it has been about staying dry and watching the weeds take over…but, we did manage a few things.
Plant Something: Transplanted some echinacea and yarrow. Planted out the last of the peppers, eggplant and marigolds. Started an allium nursery area with some sprouted onions.
Harvest Something: Strawberries and the first few raspberries (that didn’t get eaten by the birds), lettuce and peas
Preserve Something: Froze strawberries and cheese whey. Located some recipes for making your own pectin, simple jam and cordials.
Waste Not: Started a compostable paper collection spot at home, to keep more stuff out the the cycle. Using whey from cheese-making and yogurt-making in bread for extra flavor and nutrition.
Want Not: Nothing this week.
Build Community Food Systems: Made another very vocal request for more local dairy at the nearest Whole Foods. Hoping with some pressure to get more un-homogenized, low-heat pasturized milk in the store. Shopped for eggs, and greens at the local organic farm.
Eat The Food: Brought home-made calzone for father’s day gathering. Filled with home-made cheese and fresh greens from the farm. Fresh lettuce and peas in our salads. Lots of fresh berries, yum! And some delicious country style ribs from the little farm down the road.
My update is here: http://smallvictoriesgreen.wetpaint.com/page/June+22+09
Pleasantly surprised how much of my food this week was local! Also making a conscientious effort to use materials I’ve put by in useful projects for storage and gardening.
Honestly, I’d stay away from Anatolians for the family part of farm/family. Just my two cents.
I’m joining in for the first time… you can find my post here:
http://supermomnocape.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/independence-day-challenge-joining-in/
Would all of you with unending rain please send some up to Anchorage? All we’ve had in the last two weeks were little spits of the stuff and then when it gets breezy everything dries out so fast. Most of our weather comes out of the southeast from the Gulf of Alaska. All that moisture runs smack into the Chugach mountain range and all we get are cloudy skies. At a permaculture talk last summer, the presenter commented that Anchorage was something like a temperate desert because of the prevailing weather patterns. Since we only get 16″ of rain in the non-winter months, I guess that qualifies us as desert conditions.
Plant Something: Just when I thought I finally had everything planted, the fava beans didn’t come up leaving chunks of empty bed space. Soooo…I planted 28 bush bean starts, six Savoy cabbage starts and four Chinese cabbage starts all purchased from my CSA. I then bought three Himalyan blue poppy plants to fill in some space left after three of the ten prinsepia shrubs I planted last year died over the winter. These will get planted today.
Harvest Something: Lettuce, lambsquarter and rhubarb. And two yellow cherry tomatoes that got set while the plants were still indoors earlier this year.
Preserve Something: Dehydrated lemon rind (I just HAD to make hummus so ended up buying a couple organic lemons). Otherwise too early in the season.
Waste Not: Took every last bit of green matter harvested while doing some very thorough yard maintenance, all the stuff I’d been saving for composting all winter and bunches of leaves and made three compost piles. They’ve shrunk considerably (but none getting above 132 F! Dang it!) and I plan to combine them into one pile to finish composting. Used the compost from last years pile to top dress all the garden beds (after sifting out the rocks and sticks). Also my gardening buddy from upstairs and I salvaged several strawberry plants out of the compost pile that had run amuck in a bed in our community garden that had been pulled up.
Want Not: I brought my chicken wrangler a bunch of egg cartons, a big bag of baked egg shells and some vegie snacks (stems and roots from CSA vegies) for her girls.
Build Community Food Systems: Purchased vegie starts, Himalayan blue poppy plants, some radishes and three loaves of bread from local farmer’s markets. Told a friend about the local CSA that is in competition with Full Circle Farm and she was all excited that the food was coming from local sources and not shipped up from Washington State. I then sent the weblink for her to register. Spent time with my chicken wrangler talking about her meat chicken and egg business while touring her property and visiting all the animals (month old lambs are cuuuuute!). Spent time visiting my friend with Cashmere goats and talking about her potential cashmere business and her hugelkulture experiment and being mightily entertained by 3 day old Matilda (3 day old kids are entirely too cute for words!). While we haven’t talked long on the subject of excess bucklings, we have discussed the potential for informal meat sales and barters.
Eat The Food: Oh, Lordy. I’ve been purposefully using the beans I’ve been storing (I now have a wicked baked beans recipe) as well as other stored and home preserved foods. Made a rhubarb/raspberry/lingonberry/apple/raisin crumble from fresh rhubarb and home dehydrated berries. Marinated beef tenderloin (from the locally raised side of beef I purchased last year) in a marinade using locally produced beer along with Vietnamese chili paste, garlic, onions and naturally fermented shoyu. Just about eaten all the carrots I bought from the CSA and stored all winter. Baked up some potatoes stored over the winter. Been adding dried and frozen vegies to my morning miso soup. Used up all the ground beef and liver from the beef side in the preparation of cat food as well as all the stored winter squash. Since I almost exclusively cook from my pantry, I’m pretty much constantly eat the food.
Kerri in AK
getting pretty warm here!
so glad we have a solar powered a/c for brief times in the middle of the day when there is an excess of electricity from the sun. oh and the fans turning over my head. relief!
Harvest something: More, & more mulberries, lemon balm, sage, thyme, fennel, fr. tarragon, garlic chives, lambs quarters, lavender, rosemary, oregano, strawberries,
day lilies, radish greens, potatoes, garlic, blackberries.
Preserve something: only froze mulberries.
Reduced waste:
weeds & food scraps to ducks, worms, & compost piles. Put shade cloth over windows to reduce cooling needed. Harvested & ate radish greens (sorry duckies!). Walked to events instead of driving car.
Preparation and storage:
nada here
Build community food systems:
Served as 2nd facilitator for our twice- monthly Barter Days, will be first facilitator next time. Also participated as a “vendor” there and traded mulberries and herbs for cabbage and eggs.
Enjoy the bounty:
Delicious (and chewy) radish greens sauted in olive oil and garlic, new yukon gold potatoes served naked!
I knew I forgot something … in the harvested category, add basil. In the preserved category, add a batch of sauerkraut my DH is making from locally-grown cabbage, bought through our food co-op.
Now it’s back outside in the heat … heat index over 105 F … gack. But I have stuff to water, and harvest, and I have to mow a little more lawn. Double gack. It’ll be good when the heat breaks a bit.
Too much rain here too. Everything squelches. Even the firewood in the shed has mould growing on it.
Harvested: More mashua, a few jerusalem artichokes, lots of Italian parsley. Used a squash from storage. The variety of squash that I tried which was supposed to store well has not, whereas the bland flavored baseball sized marrows grown from the golden zuchinni look like they’ll keep for years.
Planted: Moved some kale seedlings in between rain showers.
Preserved: Nope, too busy studying for an exam. Made cookies with some of the over ripe persimmons. They’re okay but don’t really taste like persimmon.
Planted – lemon balm, morning glories, beans, chard
Harvested – peas, a few strawberries
Preserved – nothing
Reduce waste – the usual, composting, replacing tissues & paper goods with cloth, bought compostable dish sponge/scrubber; at this weekend’s gathering I avoided the disposable stuff (hostess insisted on two disposable platefuls and I couldn’t stop her, but I dodged another five), brought home recyclables and compostables.
Prep/store – picked up some items for the pantry (wheat & corn flour, baking soda, canned goods)
Community – working with neighbor on a block party that I hope will help with developing a better local food system; praised a neighbor who has expanded her garden
Eat – scapes, strawberries, lamb’s quarter, garlic
We have had a lot of rain also. It is wonderful for letting you keep the AC off and the garden watered.
Harvest: herbs. Had the rosemary and lemon basil on the cooked-in- parchment-paper salmon we made DH for Father’s Day.
No planting this week.
Waste not/want: Taught some solar cooking ideas to a group my brother was teaching about alternative cooking. Got to eat the corn he cooked on coals, have some great yeast rolls from dutch oven cooking, let folks try my zucchini bread done in the SO (from last year’s frozen Zuc–this year’s is not ready yet). Was given some lovely fresh corn for my efforts, which we are enjoying.
Definitely need to take some of your ideas (Sharon and others on this group) and barter more. Thanks for the inspiration.
Plant something: Pouring here too (though we are at the winter solstice) baked bread, started sprouts, made yogurt
Harvest something: greens, parsley, sprouts, mushrooms
Preserve Something: not this week
Prep & Storage: got extra canned pineapple, & new pantry containers
Build Community Food Systems: Tempted my nephew to come to a no-dig gardening course with me – now I have to make sure 9 year-olds are welcome
Reduce Waste: usual composting & recycling
Eat the Food: amazing all-storage-ingredients vegan pineapple upside-down cake, mushroom risotto, salad
My update is here
http://kirbanita.typepad.com/take_joy/2009/06/independence-days-8.html
Still raining here, too—but at least now it’s showers and not steady downpours. Still, my rhubarb and oregano are Not Happy Campers . . .
Rain here too in BC, but only a much needed 30mm or so this week.
Plant something: onions from seed for fall scallions. I’m finding that this challenge really is motivating me to plant.
Harvest: lettuce, spinach, potatoes, dill, parsley, radish, scallions, broccoli, strawberries, baby carrot (just a couple), 4 kinds of mint, red clover heads,
Preserve: grape jelly, strawberry jam labeled “strawberry jam with burned bits and foam” – tastes ok; froze strawberries, spinach; dried 4 kinds mint, red clover
Reduce waste: slugs from slug patrol fed to chicks – very satisfying; first real foray into the world of thrift stores, bought blankets, pillow cases, wine glasses (25 cents each ?!), also, the grapes used for jelly were from the freezer plus the usual – grey water collection, recycle, line dry, use power on off peak times…
Build Community food systems: Nothing really, did exchange strawberries for mincemeat pies with our neighbour – who likes our chickens
Prep and store: cleaned and organized pantry shelves; cleaned and defrosted freezer
Eat: all harvested stuff (except much mint) plus old pear sauce, last year’s carrots and tomatoes in bean casserole
Missed last week because we were away in the lovely, cool mountains. So this is for the past two weeks.
1. Plant something: No, ‘fraid not.
2. Harvest something: Lots of zucchinis, lots of different kinds of tomatoes, lots of cucumbers, my first ever pumpkin, small but perfectly formed, and oh so ORANGE. (I think it was supposed to stay on the vine until the vine died, but Robert picked it while I was away, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him. I think it will be OK). Many Ichiban eggplants which I am afraid are still sitting in the refrigerator looking at me every time I open the door because I am running out of eggplant recipe ideas. (I know, that is sad but honestly, I was never hugely enthusiastic about eggplants, and now I seem to be growing mountains of them). Lots of basil. (Can’t ever get enough of that!)
3. Preserve something: No, not even the eggplants I am afraid. Can one even preserve eggplants? Does anyone know?
4. Reduce waste: Not good here. I feel as though we created more waste than ever during our week in the mountains with the way we cooked and ate, although I tried hard not to. Since being back I have of course done all my usuals, cloth bags, recycling, composting, etc, etc. We got the very last of our window shutters fitted which we have been gradually doing over the course of about 5 years, and I kept the old blinds which will work great I think for shading the chicken coop during the hotter months.
5. Prep and storage: Really not much except planning the chicken coop, and the usual browsing and reading I do constantly.
6. Build community food systems: I took some cucumbers, eggplants, and tomatoes with us up to the mountains, and shared them with people there who seemed to enjoy them. They are only just now starting their veggie growing season up there.
7. Eat the food: Did well here. Have been eating lots of salads with cucumbers, and tomatoes. Ate a few eggplants in another veggie bake thingy, but still have pounds left I am afraid. Added basil to anything I could think of, and have been using zucchinis in bakes, stir frys, and as a side dish. I still have the pumpkin. I need to look at it for a bit longer before I make it into something. The good news is that I have at least six more growing on other vines now!
Still cold and dark down here in the southern hemisphere. I swear I’ll dream wistfully about strawberries tonight.
Planted – was going to be nothing, but in a moment of weakness in the suburban farmers market I got some coriander seedlings. (Plus royal blue potatoes, onion and – accidentally – kale seeds for later.) I don’t like their chances against the frost, but have planted them out in a box with cloches made from juice bottles covering them. Fingers crossed.
Harvested – nope.
Preserved – more apple marmalade. I think we have enough jam now, as the pantry shelf is out of space. What else do people recommend for apples? Can any North Americans explain the point of applesauce?
Reduce Waste – only the usual compost/recycling. Trying to eat from storage with only one person to feed this week, and to run the fridge down in advance of going away next weekend.
Prep and Storage – tidied kitchen (subdivided spices into whole and ground, then alphabetised – yes, my life is thrilling) and laundry (lots of extra space now!).
Community Food Systems – went to suburban farmers market, got some local osso bucco for the freezer; had a visit from neighbours down the road and gave them some quince paste in return for loan of _Dollhouse_, they’ve offered lemons; headed out the door to work on Monday morning to find a bag of jerusalem artichokes left by friends to cook and plant. Next year we are doing 10 litre batches of quince paste, given it seems to be our barter currency!
Eat the food – pumpkin and silverbeet lasagne; french onion-and-carrot soup (surprisingly edible); steak, mushroom and blue cheese pie, baked bread rolls, tomato (canned) and basil (frozen) pasta.
We have 2 Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd mixes. They are only 4 months old now but they are terrific. One of the dogs is 3/4 Anatolian, 1/4 Great Pyrenees while the other is half and half.
The 3/4 Anatolian, a female, is much more aggressive. If you’re looking for guardian only then based on our experience the Anatolian is better. Our male, the half and half breed, is so gentle. Maybe he’s just young at the moment but I just can’t see him being a great guardian dog by himself. He will follow the female’s lead though and together they’re a formidable match. At 4 months now they’re already taller than most labs and over 60lbs. The male half and half breed is a terrific mix for us because we bring him inside with our kids, both of whom are under 5 yrs old, and he’s just great. He really wants to lay on the couch.
I’m in the middle South and the dogs are mixed here regularly to lessen the extremely long and dense coat of the Pyrenees.
My Independence Days Update is HERE.
How do you make strawberry Juice? Ithe only thing I can think of is put it in the juicer. Would be great to try.
We’ve been in puppy heaven with the arrival of Frank our newest lab so I’ve fallen way behind on posts though happily, not in the garden (though the rain did slow me down there). So here’s about 4 weeks worth of updates (makes me look ever so productive
).
1. Plant something: Beebalm, Rosemary, Hyssop, parsley, oregano, thyme, hot peppers, cumin, sweet sicely, feverfew & lots more flowers. Put in a new perennial garden in an old weed patch between me & the neighbors (the neighbors are pleased).
2. Harvest something: lemon balm, salad, pea shoots, oregano, thyme, chamomile, horehound (for tea for coughs), anise hyssop (for sore throat tea), strawberries, green beans, snow peas, cherries.
3. Preserve something: Dried the above herbs & made strawberry jam, started my first rumtopf (http://www.brewingkb.com/mead/Rum-Pot-467.html), made cherry brandy & canned cherry almond sauce.
4. Waste not: Had the girls shred more accumulated paper for the compost pile. Other than that nothing above & beyond the usual composting, recycling, cloth bags when shopping etc.
5. Preparation and Storage: Continued the great pantry clean-up, organized my local meat order for later this year
6. Build Community Food Systems: Gave plant starts to a friend who is starting her first garden this summer, passed along extra starts to a neighbor. Chatted with another neighbor about learning herbal medicines together. Made monthly food pantry donation.
7. Eat the Food: Homemade quiche made with local eggs, cheese & bacon served with a side of backyard salad, Black bean & cheese quesidillas made with pantry beans, stirfries with local veggies, backyard salad with local steak & local grilled asparagus, local strawberries, asian chicken salad made with local sugar snaps, backyard pea shoots and shredded chicken from the freezer, also, pasta with CSA & garden greens, not to mention lots of homemade yogurt with homemade strawberry jam.
Cheers!
-Nicole
My wee bit late week 8 update is on the blog. We also love fruit syrups with seltzer & ice. I got the idea to make the “pop” from a great cookbook called _World Vegetarian_ by Madhur Jaffries. She doesn’t include the recipe for strawberry syrup (I just sweat the strawberries with sugar for a few hours, cook like jam, puree in food processor and strain, can as in Ball Canning Book), but she does have great sounding ones like Lime & Ginger syrup, sour cherry (will try next week after picking cherries this weekend), Persian rhubarb syrup and fresh Lime syrup (yum!). I plan to try most of them at some point.
Here’s my rather late post:
Plant something: All the garden beds are full, so no space for more planting yet.
Harvest something: shell peas, snow peas, strawberries, red raspberries, lettuce, radishes, chard, dug up one potato plant and got 6 new potatoes, picked cherries at a local orchard.
Preserve something: dried strawberries; dried sweet cherries; froze cherries; froze peas; froze genovese basil; dried tea herbs: sweet woodruff, tulsi basil, rose petals, french sorrel; mint; bee balm, strawberry leaves; raspberry leaves.
Waste not: took many plastic containers saved over time to recycling center that now takes wide-mouth containers and all codes 3 through 7. Mulched around rugosa rose and blueberry bushes with grass clippings.
Prep and Store: made butter for the first time from the raw milk I get weekly; got bad news that my order for 100# of wheat through the local Latter Day Saints church folks isn’t coming because they didn’t have enough orders to fill the truck.
Build Community Food Systems: sent an email to other local gardeners to see who is saving seeds this year and asking what we might do to promote seed swaping.
Eat the Food: strawberries, raspberries (oh, ecstasy!), cherries, lettuce, peas, having new potatoes tonight.