I also had latkes (at a friend’s house) – delicious. I really paid attention to how he made them so I can repeat it at home – (just grate potatoes, add matzoh meal and eggs.)

Plant something: (sprouting lentils and mung beans in the kitchen)

Harvest something: lots of greens, (michili, asian mustards, mizuna, kale, turnip greens, collard, parsley, arugula,), some turnips, daikon, beets, misoto rose radish (green outside and red inside), and burdock

Preserve something: sauerkraut/kimchi . I’ve been making it in 1/2 gallon wide-mouth jar with a vapor lock. There is a little ceramic cup that holds it under the surface. Because of vapor lock , there is no need to skim so it is easy to make. I use mixed greens with daikon or other radish (misoto is beautiful red) and onion and spices. I layer it with 3 T salt and then pound it before packing into the jar.

Waste Not: I helped with the food preparation for a Tibetan feast. We are enjoying the leftovers. There was leftover rice that I made into rice soup (congee) and also a breakfast rice porridge with egg – like a very rich golden yellow custard.

Want Not: A big bag of oats is waiting for me at the local store. Oats and lentils are my main staples. I can eat oats for breakfast and lentils for dinner – supplemented with garden vegetables.

Eat the food: My first year growing burdock – it is delicious! I’ve been grating it or thin slicing (in grater) and adding to miso soup. I like it much better than the burdock that I buy at the health food store. You can use it like carrots.
Also, Daikon soup (Tibetan recipe). Lots of greens and roots. I am enjoying eating more roots (potatoes and sweet potatoes, turnips, etc) – instead of rice and grains at every meal.

Build community food systems: I’ve been talking with friends about sauerkraut and the joys of fermenting vegetables. I am beginning to talk to others about combining seed orders. I want to start ordering the larger sizes of seed packets (it is more cost efficient).

Plant something: Just all types of sprouts – we have grown grains in the past in the garden for experiments in quantities really just enough for sprouting

Harvest: Spouts; we’ve been appreciating them, but the chickens go crazy for them! Eggs – such nice thick shelled eggs, I wasn’t expecting the shells to be so sturdy as I’ve not had home grown eggs since I was a kid on the farm

Preserve: Lots of dried apples from the apples going wrinkly – really tasty!

Waste not: We’re pledging to continue to reduce food waste and so I can’t point to anything specific, but I’m just eating more leftovers and things (my hubby has always been great about this, I get “fatigue” too easily)

Want not: Can’t think of anything specific – donation to Salvation Army…want not for other people??

Eat! WW bread with home ground flour (recipe from Independence Days, worked great); tons of homemade homegrown (HH) grape jelly; acorn squash to die for; one last spinach salad; baked potatoes; frozen veggies; curry with our potatoes, favas, etc (recipe also from ID) the list goes on…this is the first year we’ve really noticed the reduction in grocery bills and trips to the store as a result of our new way of eating, took some time, but wow!

Community Food systems: nothing really

We still have an iced up pump and are bringing water from the creek to the poultry.

Plant something: Yer kiddin’, right?

Harvest something: Bok choi, broccoli, kale

Preserve something: Ummm, nope.

Waste Not: Old maps make good gift wrapping. Paper grocery bags make good “brown paper parcels.”

Want Not: Now moving things from the Cold Room into the crock pots almost daily.

Eat the food: Rotation: bean day, potato day, squash day,stir-fry day. Though we did not grow the rice or wheat, we feel fairly well home-fed.

Build community food systems – Gave as gifts four “naming opportunities” in the Grassroots Garden” — you get your name on a new raised bed, and a DVD with a slide show of all that goes on there. A project of the Master Gardeners and Food for Lane County on land belonging to the Episcopal church, it teaches gardening to hundreds of volunteers and many youth groups and raises thousands of pounds of produce for the community food bank. Oh, and gave away two copies of A Nation of Farmers and one of Independence Days!

Planted: Summer savory, pole beans, bush beans, basil, mizuna, squash, pumpkin.

Harvested: Salsify seed (for the Seed Exchange), mizuna seed, peppermint, lemon verbena, kohlrabi, brocoflour, cabbage, globe artichokes, fava beens, first bush beans, peas, chard, shallots, leeks, strawberries, eggs.

Preserved: Made Crunchy’s Vanilla Amaretto Strawberry jam for Christmas presents. Yummy! My first go at water bath canning……most satisfying to hear all the lids go pop. If raspberries get to be cheap enough I might try the Raspberry White Chocolate jam too. The limoncello is also ready to be bottled for Christmas presents, I’m just a bit stuck for suitable bottles.

Waste not/want not: Still making vegetable stock out of the gone to seed leeks and stray bits and pieces. Used some in a beef stew last night and it was good. Managed to get several Christmas presents secondhand, and a number are going to be homemade so that has helped the budget.
Also managed to get my hands on a second hand preserving pan (canning kettle). New ones only come in the gourmet foody price range here and I can’t afford the $300+ they charge for them. Can’t find a jar rack anywhere though, they’re only being sold as package deals with the aforementioned $300 pans. Might have to get some wire and make my own.
Donated some food to the foodbank Christmas appeal.
Stocked up on sugar since it is on special and needed for the preserving season.

Gave up on getting a room mate for the spare room and moved the ever expanding jar collection and preserving equipment in there. Also going to move the computer in there so I have somewhere to study where I can shut the door and not have to listen to the teenager’s thrash metal

Harvested: nothing this week.

Preserved: my DH started a batch of sauerkraut from 5 pounds of organic cabbage.

Waste not: hauled a used laser printer from one friend who is giving it away to another friend who can use it.

Want not: started grinding wheat berries into flour for homemade bread, using hand-operated grain grinder.

Build community food systems: visited a grocery store that is now owned by a group of Missouri farmers, to see what they stock that is local. Answer: not much at this time of year, but did get eggs and cheese produced in-state. Also bought a ham and a couple dozen eggs from the rancher in the next county over from us.

Eat the food: bread made from home-ground flour; it really does taste better. Stir-fries made using radish greens and other stored produce from the garden. Finally used the last of the refrigerated ancho peppers from the garden, now can get started on the supply in the freezer. Ate one of the stored butternut squash, excellent!