Spring Is In The Air

April 2012

Royal Chantenay Carrots
French Breakfast Radishes

Scarlet Runner Beans
Royal Burgundy Beans
Dow Gauk Beans

Purple Broccoli

Chocolate Cherry Tomato
Stupice Tomato

Bloomsdale Savoy Spinach
Mesclun Mix
Tom Thumb Butterhead Lettuce

Detroit Supreme Beet
Bright Lights Swiss Chard

I have been daydreaming about my garden since the end of December and this is all I have come up with so far, but then the season is just starting.

Give Thanks

It is that time of year again and to remember all the sappy things that I am thankful for. 

I am thankful for Tillamook Huckleberry Ice Cream. I am thankful for casino buffets and antacid. I am thankful for clean socks and flannel pajama bottoms. I am thankful for fresh eggs, goat cheese and pita crackers. I am thankful for cheap red wine and brandy. I am thankful for Hitachi magic wands. I am thankful for the sound of children laughing in the schoolyard down the block. I am thankful for Netflix and Redbox. I am thankful for lazy Saturdays. I am thankful for good friends who feed me. I am thankful for growlers of beer. I am thankful for korean stores, liquer stores and my favourite coffee cart. I am thankful for friends that tell bad jokes. I am thankful for walks on beaches and camping under starry nights. I am thankful for long drives in the country and a cute boyfriend. I am thankful for hot water bottles. I am thankful for chocolate milk. I am thankful for short commutes to work. I am thankful for wool socks fresh out of the dryer. I am thankful for knitting needles. I am thankful for beautiful cookbooks. I am thankful for hot water and indoor plumbing. I am thankful for camping hatchets and tent patches. I am thankful for games of cribbage and checkers. I am thankful for an unsolicited smile. I am thankful for silly loud neighbors. I am thankful for delivery. I am thankful for an odd mix of a family. I am thankful for a niece and nephew that always make me proud. I am thankful that I don't always act as jaded as I think I am. I am thankful that even though I deal with idiots all day it hasn't rubbed off on me too much. I am thankful for wellies and a good rain coat. I am thankful for hot chocolate and a good book on a rainy night. I am thankful that I still have friends that I have know for about 25 years (that's a quarter century you know) I am thankful for stinky cheese, sweet figs and over-ripe persimmons. I am thankful for a good punchbowl of sangria (until the next morning at least). I am thankful for bus buddies who have become good friends. I am thankful for the smile I got from a little girl carrying her sun parasol on the same day as I was. I am thankful for the Vespa repair manual. I am thankful for cute frocks and high heels. I am thankful for musical theatre and symphonies. I am thankful for Voodoo Doughnuts everytime I go through Portland. I am thankful that I know how to get out of a car without showing off all my bits to total strangers EVEN when I am wearing a super short skirt. I am thankful for potatos from my garden. I am thankful for the kindness of strangers. I am thankful for dirty martinis and morning after pho. I am thankful for those nights I sleep uninterupted by my brain. I am thankful for a good schvitz. I am thankful for a bra that lifts AND separates. 

Mostly, I am thankful for all of you.

Autumnal Blues

In the autumn and winter there is a lot less to do in the garden. Maybe sow some cover crops or keep an eye on your winter crops like kale, garlic and broccoli, but otherwise work is much reduced. This is the time to actually enjoy the fruits of your spring, summer and fall labours.  The garden should be mulched and you should have got your winter and over wintering veggies in the ground, like garlic and shallots. Kale should be planted as well as broccoli.

Right now is the time to begin canning/freezing/pickling like a mad person. All the tomatoes you have should be dried, canned or frozen. You should be making and canning apple pie filling and apple sauce. You should be making and canning pumpkin and squash soups. It is time to prepare for the yearly apocalypse called winter. I stole my mother's dehydrator so I am planning on buying some apples in bulk and making apple chips for snacking.

You have to decide if you want to allow your chickens a rest for the winter. Over winter as the sun sinks lower earlier, chickens naturally produce less eggs. Usually you will get half the yield you would during spring and summer months. You can force production by added unnatural light, even just a light bulb in there coop a few extra hours a day will cause them to lay more during the winter months. I personally don't mind getting only four eggs a day as opposed to eight for a few months, but for those who might need the eggs this is a viable option.

In Seattle, our autumn starts in October, right now the rains have started and it's very quiet outside. I like this time of year. I break out the knitting and cookbooks and just enjoy the whole sensation of being home. The boyfriend and I cuddle up and get lazy.

As I write this I have an apply pie in the oven.

Dutch Apple Pie

Ten cups of tart apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1-1/2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 - 9in pie crust

Mix apples with sugar and spices, put in pie crust, cover with the other pie crust  and cut vent slits. Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees then lower to 350 degrees and back for another 30-40 minutes.

Easiepeasie!

Yes, We Can! Others Can, Too!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/cansacrossamerica/

Dead Computers and Double Yolks

My computer died on me the other week, a friend's fiance' was able to save some of the most important files but once it gave up that information it went tits up. So I have just been able to get back to posting.

 The chickens are now laying more regularly and I seems to have a range in colour and sizes.

The small, spotted, dark brown eggs are from the Welsumer, the medium light brown eggs are from the Buff Orpingtons and the pink eggs are from the Americaunas.

They are quite lovely, actually. The other evening I looked out the window and mentioned to boyfriend that one of the birds seemed missing. He went out to check their coop and yelled back that he couldn't find her.

I joined him outside and we checked the whole yard. The boyfriend thought she may have been eaten, but I said there wasn't any blood or feathers and that I didn't think anything took her. I looked under the porch and in the neighbors yard and finally I was out in the alley, when the boyfriend started laughing, he had found her hiding in the crotch of a cedar tree!

With fourteen eggs!  One was a bit larger and it contained double yolks, I love when that happens!


I had been wondering why there weren't more eggs and it seems that the chickens were smarter than me when it comes to hide and seek. But they couldn't outsmart the boyfriend.

A batch of eggs goes to my coffee pusher in trade for coffee. Another goes to the neighbor as bribery. Some definitely go into my belly and some more will be turned into pickled eggs by the boyfriend.

And now that I have a fixed computer I can tell you ALL about it! Aren't you excited?!

Zombie Apocalypse!

Cauliflooooowwwwwerrrrrrr....

I am a news junkie. I am a slightly paranoid, apocalyptic minded, survivalist news junkie.

I should not be allowed to read news stories.

In the last week alone, I have read about three earthquakes, a hurricane and a 350 acre wildfire. Although, I do not believe that the world is coming to an end, it causes my imagination to run rampant and I start considering what survival in a "Mad Max" world would need. I just realized that my caching arsenal needs beer making skills...

When I start reading news stories that make it sound as though the world is collapsing, I start reading up on smoking sausage, raising meat rabbits and testing what plants grow best in my garden in the Pacific Northwest. I like being prepared, what can I say? I tend to over prepare. When I invite friends over for a potluck, I still provide more dishes than necessary just in case.

Like I said, I do not believe that there will be a zombie apocalypse. I do not believe that the world is coming to an end. I just like having knowledge that may not be as common as it once was and when the shit goes down, man, I'm prepared!

Maybe I read Laura Ingalls Wilder a little too much as a child. Or watched Little House on the Prairie one too many times(Didja know Jason Bateman was on that show as one of the many adopted Ingalls?)

Do I glorify farm life? Well... maybe a little. I know it is hard work. I know it is long hours with little income. I know that it is what I actually want to do. Do I want to do it during a zombie attack? Not so much. But at least I would have a shovel in my hand most of the time to beat and decapitate the living dead that might tread through my vegetable garden eyeing my cauliflower looking for a human brain.

The CDC has a zombie apocalypse preparedness list which covers the basics of what you would need at initial outbreak but what would you need for sustained long-term survival in a zombified world? Or even if the climate just changes enough that food shortages were to occur in larger areas?

If you are a meat eater, being able to slaughter, butcher and dress your own meat might be a good skill to have if you would like to continue eating meat. Being able to grow and preserve your vegetables by canning is a good skill. Raising your own chickens and rabbits and goats would be good for dairy, eggs and meat. Food foraging and identification skills are good.

Here are a few places that you could start to learn all these skill. Because when the zombies come you want to be prepared!

• Seattle Tilth
• National Center For Home Food Preservation
• Farmstead Meatsmith
• Beer Making Kits
• Beekeeping classes
• Mushroom Identification

There are many classes/courses to be found on basic skill that were common 50-100 years ago and that have been lost because of conveniences of the modern age. But what if those conveniences were not feasible now?

If you are interested in broadening your self-sufficiency horizons, you should be able to find information in the areas you are located or online or even start at your local library.

It is always good to rely on yourself. Especially when the brain eating undead are after you.

Yes! We Can! Blueberry Jam!

Blueberry Jam













 Eight Cups Fresh Ripe Blueberries

 Eight Cups Sugar

 Juice of One Lemon

 Put eight cups of blueberries in large pot with lemon juice and bring to a slow boil. Using a potato masher, squish the blueberries.

 Add the eight cups of sugar, slowly incorporating it all in until it has dissolved completely.


 Boil mixture until thickened. Took about an hour for it to become the consistency that I wanted it to be.

You can check the cooled thickness of the jam by placing a plate in the freezer for about a minute then drop a tablespoon of the jam mixture on the plate and put it back in the freezer for another minute or two.

 Once cooled it should give you a true idea of the thickness of the jam.

Pour the jam into sterilized jam jars and process per your preferred method. You can find more information on canning at the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

 My favourite canning tool is the magnetic rod used to pull the lids and rings out of hot water and to place them on the jars without having to touch them.

I love this thing!








Now to make cream biscuits to have with my jam!