The Neglected Garden

Today I planted my first seeds for the summer garden.  I have three new Bio Domes from Park's and I bought 2 extra planting trays and plugs for each.  I have  3: 60 cell blocks and 3: 18 cell whopper blocks.  For years I've used *saved planting trays*.  Some years I used plastic clam shells from produce purchases, egg cartons, meat trays and yogurt cups...nothing wrong with that...I'm all into re-use, but now I grow or raise my own...no trays, egg cartons or yogurt cups.  The three seasons I've used the cell trays the farmers use for tomato transplant production...hundreds of cells and hundreds of trays, now the local farmers are re-using them due to the high cost of replacements...pretty hard for me to get my hands on them (I still have a couple dozen from my son's tomato operation).   This year I decided to buy nice new Bio Domes.  I've wanted a couple ever since they were first advertised...so clean, shiny, and perfect.  This year I just have to neaten up and stream-line my gardening routine...at least until school ends for the summer.  Great excuse to invest in the Bio Domes.  I planted one Dome today.  Bright Lights Chard, Fordhook Chard, Iceberg, Romaine, Butter Lettuce, Purple Tomatillo, and 9 varieties of tomatoes...3 plants each (please don't let me plant more).  I placed the Dome on a heating pad and I was good to go. 

I felt pretty good about getting a few seeds planted so I went out to spend some time in the garden.  The poor thing has been so neglected since I started my job in August (I've only watered 4 or 5 times!).  I did plant some broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale in October...the chickens got into them constantly.  I did finally cover the beds with bird netting after trying everything else to keep the hens out.  I should clip their wings, but that's an all day job and I just don't have the energy.  I was pretty sure I had lost all of my transplants to the hens...but as you can see, some things did survive and despite my indifference it looks like we'll be enjoying fresh veggies from the garden soon.

I didn't plant the lettuces...all volunteer...wonderful!

The chard looks bad, but the celeriac next to it is beautiful.  I believe it will be the base for my Dark Day Challenge vegetarian meal...what do you think?

Keeping Warm On A Rainy Day

I'm so grateful for the rain...but it's so cold!  I don't like it cold and I'm not too crazy about the heat...I'm a 72 degree kinda' gal!  In the summer I have the cabin and pool to escape the heat...in the Winter I have the pressure canner and my Excalibur dehydrator...yep...that's the answer!  It amazes me the amount of heat they throw off...nice and toasty!

Today I'm canning bean...lots of beans....dry beans:  Small Reds, Large Red Kidney, Small Whites (Navy) and a new one for me: Peruano or Canary Beans.  What's really great is all the beans we use are grown here in the county and several of the varieties are grown by my husband and son!  I can garbanzo, pinto, black eyes, cranberry, pinks and black turtle beans, too.  Love where I live...beans and rice everywhere I look!

I'm also drying diced carrots and celery.  I throw diced dehydrated celery, carrots, onions, shallots, leeks, parsley and tomatoes in just about every crock pot main dish I make (I usually crock pot twice a week). I keep the veggie mix in a cute one gallon jar right next to my crock pots! I also add a 1/4 of my diced veggie mix to my meat loaf and meat balls...along with a cup of shredded zucchini!

ALERT: I started this entry on January 22...and after putting the lid on the pressure canner I noted steam coming out along the lid line-up.  Had to let the pressure cooker cool then opened it up, pulled the seal (new in November) and noted it had started to fray!  I've had this canner for over 35 years and have replaced the seal every year...NEVER have I had a seal/O-Ring fail. SO...Bean canning was put on hold.  I ordered the seals from another company and will start over with the beans later this week.  I did get the veggies dehydrated.

Seed Give Away

Here's a link to a great seed give away: Common Sense Homesteading...take a minute to browse the blog...it's one of my favorites.

Taking Care of Food Waste One Step At A Time

We have too much food waste at the Elementary School...garbage cans full of uneaten foods.  It makes me sick.  I was told that once the food is *purchased* and in the cafeteria it cannot be re-used.  Now I'm pretty sure that's bull****.  Someone has misunderstood what they have read and it's been passed on year-after-year (lots of that going on around here).  So I did some checking and there are plenty of programs for re-using school waste...homeless shelters, food banks, Senior meal programs...but, until I take the time to prepare a written proposal with all of my back-up documentation nothing is going to happen.  Another summer project for me.  In the meantime...I dumpster dive.  Yep, the Lunch Lady is also the Queen of the School Cafeteria Dumpster.

Dumpster-Diver-Diva Fruit Leather

A Milk Crate of Cinnamon Applesauce Cups
(yes, folks I've lifted another crate)

Five Sauces Per Sheet



Sharing...with Friends

We are finally getting some much needed rain...and lots of it!  I had to water the garden several times in the last few weeks and we were irrigating the orchards...unheard of in January!  Thank goodness for the rains! 

Last weekend my two gf's and I took a 3 day weekend up at the cabin: we knew it would be our last chance for a while, because of the coming storms.  I did the cooking: Macaroni and Cheese, Corn Pudding (my new favorite comfort food), big pot of chili with beans (made at home and brought up), homemade bread, cherry AND peach cobbler and cinnamon rolls.  I brought fresh eggs, potatoes, sausage and bacon for breakfasts.  I cooked up everything Friday evening when I got to the cabin...then we laid around until Monday...eating, talking, laughing, sleeping and watching BBC Mystery Series of DVD: Poirot, Miss Marple, Midsomer Mystery and Sherlock Holmes.  My friend brought Eat Pray Love and I fell asleep before the darn thing even started!  Saturday night we were ALL asleep by 7:30 p.m.  I kid you not...we had no idea what time it was until one of us got up to use the loo! Of course, she woke us up and said no way...we aren't old ladies!!  We heated some chow, popped in a movie and stayed up until 11 and then went back to bed!  It was soooo cold up at the cabin..we had two electric heaters on, the pellet stove AND the fireplace roaring and we were FREEZING!!  The plan for the summer will be to have the new wood burning cook stove put in and a propane wall heater...the wall heater will be used *JUST IN CASE*.  Because we are a farming operation we get propane at a lower rate, so I think I'll take advantage of that perk. We also are going to need to do some insulating...and window replacements...you could feel the cold coming through the single pane windows...brrrrr!

Chili with Beans Fixin's

Homemade Sausage Added at the Cabin...Yummy

My friend, Paula's citrus and broccoli are looking good...she even got a few avocados off her dad's tree...isn't that something!  I sure hope my little avocado tree gives me some nice fruit in the years to come.  I did get lots of oranges and lemons this year.  It's so wonderful to have friends that share...and to be able to share with them, too.

Quick Corn Pudding

One pint of canned sweet summer corn

One pint of canned sweet creamed summer corn

1/2 cup of butter (melted)

1/4 cup of honey

cup of sour cream

2 eggs: beaten

Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix (or your homemade mix...recipe to follow)

Mix all of the ingredients together well, put in a casserole dish and bake for an hour in a 350 degree oven....YUMMY!

Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix:

2/3 cup all purpose flour

 1/2 cup yellow corn meal

3 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

mix it all together and store in a tight lidded container

To make muffins:

add  2 Tablespoons of oil

1 egg and 1/3 cup of milk

Had to share this photo of my friend Paula fixing the hole left in the roof when the snow knocked down the cook stove chimney last winter...yes she's in her PJ's (it's in the low 20's) and yes, she's a very good friend...what a trooper...someday I'm going to compile a book of all of our adventures over the last 40 years...it would be a best seller I'm sure! 

The Lamb's Here!

The butcher we used for the lambs called and it was time to pick the processed meat up.  Oh boy!  We love lamb!

Yes..that's a George Foreman Grill Right Next to My
Built-In Dacor Grill and Cooktop...I like the Foreman Better

A Little Mint Jelly...Or Peach Chutney...Fresh Shelled Peas and Onions
Steamed Brown Rice with Butter...Down Right Delicious!

Dark Day Chicken and Sorta' Dumplings

I'm not going to whine about being sooo busy, or sooo sick or (fill in the blank)_______that I haven't been able to blog lately...truth is I've been too unorganized and lazy!  I've got tons of posts in draft form that hopefully I'll get *cleaned up* and posted in the coming weeks.  In the meantime I'm being forced (because I said I would) to post my Dark Days Challenge entries.  A couple new twists to the Challenge are: Soups and One Pot Meals,  Valentine's Day Sweets, a Vegetarian Meal and a Breakfast.  So today's entry:

Chicken and Failed Dumplings A' La Lynda Lou

Take a chicken (an ornery old bastard that wouldn't quit bothering the hens) and dress him out.  Throw him in the crockpot and add about 1/2 a cup of dehydrated garden veggie trimmings.  My trimmings include celery, onion, shallots, carrots, parsnips, parsley and leeks.  Add about a quart of chicken stock...the stuff I made last May out of the poor old hens that went menopausal (sure glad I'm not a chicken).  Set the crockpot on low: that's because it's 4:30 a.m. and I have to get off to work to heat up pre-packaged, processed yuck for the little kiddies at the elementary school (seriously folks...I'm slowing changing the menu: jicama, local citrus, salad bar, etc.) and this chicken is going to cook all day.

Mean Old Rooster

Rooster with dehydrated veggies

After getting home from work take the chicken out of the crockpot and pick off all of the meat...nice big chunks...strain out the veggies and pour the chicken lick'r into a Le Creuset Dutch Oven.  Steam a couple fresh dug new potatoes, one of my fresh dug GIANT carrots, celery and a just pulled leek.  Put about a cup of lick'r in a blender add about 3 tablespoons of fresh ground flour and blast it...then pour the mixture into the Dutch oven... Let it thicken, add the steamed veggies and chicken.   Mix up some fresh ground flour, cornmeal, sage, parsley and baking powder with some soured cream... drop big old spoonfuls onto the bubbling pot...put the lid on and after a few minutes you will see/hear the dough running down the sides of the pot!  Take the lid off pop it in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes...your dumplings are now a chicken pot pie crust and it looks like a mess. It takes more than one pot...but oh well: IT'S DELICIOUS!!!!!!

Nice Juicy Chicken







Fresh Veggies From the Winter Garden:
Leeks, shallots, carrot, sage, celery and parsley



Cornmeal Grown by Us and Sold to Ridgecut Grist Mill



Grinding Wheat in My Mill

Mixing up the wheat and cornmeal

Getting the Dumplings Going

Bubbling Goodness

Dumplings...Looks Like Too Much

Oops!  Gonna' Eat It Anyway!

DELICIOUS!



Had Enough Flour Left to Bake a Couple Loaves of Bread