Garden

Independence Days: Week 31

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Anisa

Plant something – nothing

Harvest something – eggs, tomatoes, kohlrabi, zucchini, eggplant (!), pumpkins.  The chickens are really slowing down with their eggs.  In fact we had to buy some this past week.  😦  I harvested three of our eggplants.  They were a bit on the small side, but I didn’t want to take the chance of them getting a frost without us even getting one.  They were delicious.  There are a few more still out there.  We’re going to let them grow as long as the weather holds out.

Preserve something – dried more tomatoes on the dehydrator, froze some winter squash puree.

Waste Not – compost and recycling, scraps to chickens, etc.

Want Not – nothing.

Build Community Food Systems – started working up a plan for my neighbor’s garden.  After six years of watching us, he’s announced that he’d like a space in his yard (next to our garden) where he’d like to grow corn and potatoes.  He asked for help and we are HAPPY to give it!  Yay!

Eat the Food – made a couple yummy things this week.

Orecchiette with Butternut Squash Cream Sauce

Cook 2 cups orecchiette pasta in salted water until al dente.  In the mean time, saute 1/2 a diced onion in olive oil until soft.  Add 1 tsp dried sage and saute until fragrant.  Drain pasta reserving 2 TBS of the cooking water.  Return the pasta to pot.  Add the onions and 1/2 a butternut squash that has been roasted until tender and smashed slightly to the pot.  Stir in reserved pasta water and about 1/4 cup half and half.  When all is well combined stir in 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.  Serves 2.

Double Chocolate Jalapeno Muffins (pictured above)

So I took the original recipe found here, and substituted three fresh jalapenos that had turned red (therefore a bit sweeter than the green ones).  So delicious!

Categories: Food, Garden, Independence Days, Recipes | Tags: | 3 Comments

Independence Days: Season of Work!

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Anisa

Yes, the harvest season is here, and it feels like we are working non-stop putting up food!  Last week, we made grape jam, finished putting away the peaches, and worked on the yard for a bit.  Rick dug out an area for a new flower bed for me in the back yard, and after we removed all the grass, we were disappointed to find concrete about six inches under the surface of the dirt.  So that turned into a week long project of digging out the concrete, but while it was in progress, H had a great time playing in the piles of dirt.

Thursday, the boys and I went to Berry Patch Farms with a friend who used to be a member of the CSA.  We picked raspberries and had lunch together and talked farms and home schooling.  They did not have strawberries at Berry Patch when we went, so Rick and I took the boys back to pick strawberries on Saturday.  It was cold and rainy, but we had a great time.  H found a toad while we were there and enjoyed carrying it around for a bit before letting it go.

When we got home it was too wet to make jam, so we froze most of the berries, and started in on freezing the plums.  I really wanted plum jam, but it’s been a pretty overcast week so far, so they will have to sit in the freezer until another hot, dry, jam day.  We finally measured out the plums and ended up freezing nearly 70 pounds.  There were probably another ten pounds we ended up tossing to the chickens or composting.  We are hoping to trade some with friends who are making lots of apple sauce this year.  😉

Yesterday at the farm, we were allowed to pick an extra bushel each of peppers and tomatoes.  The tomatoes are destined for the freezer.  We were able to roast the Anaheims, and once peeled, we’ll be set for the winter in the green chile department.  Hooray!  Of course, that means I still have lots of work to do this week.  I hope you can understand why the blog’s be so far behind these days!

Here’s the update:

Plant something – quite a few flowers, a pink pampas grass, but no food..

Harvest something – eggs, tomatoes, zucchini, kohlrabi, cukes, raspberries and strawberries, Anaheim peppers.

Preserve something – 15.25 pints grape jam, the rest of the peaches sliced and frozen (except a few I reserved to eat fresh and some set aside for making preserves with strawberries), strawberries and raspberries in the freezer, a few more gallons of tomatoes in the freezer, 67.5 pounds of plums, some corn and some beans to the freezer as well.  Dehydrated jalapenos.

Waste Not – compost and recycling, scraps to chickens, etc.

Want Not – nothing that I can think of right now.

Categories: Canning and Food Preservation, Chickens, Food, Garden, Independence Days | 3 Comments

Fruit

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Anisa

This weekend was the weekend of fruit.  On Saturday morning we went to Palisade for the second time this summer, and we came home with 319 pounds of peaches.  150 pounds were for friends, and we kept the other half for ourselves.  Then, Sunday morning, before we had even gotten a peach into the freezer, my brother-in-law came by with over 1500 Italian plums.  Thankfully the plums are a bit green, as we didn’t really have much time to mess with the fruit on Sunday.

Monday, we ate some of the plums in a plum coffee cake, and then we went to our friend’s home outside of Allenspark.  Mike grilled and we gathered around the fire pit, and had a nice evening with friends (and peach cobbler), watching the smoke from the fire in Boulder county blow over the horizon.

On the way home we stopped outside of Longmont where we could see the fire above Boulder.  My pictures here don’t do it justice, but it was incredible.

Tuesday is farm day for me, when I go and work at the CSA.  I brought home our share, and had barely pulled into the drive when our friend, Rich drove up with twenty plus pounds of concord grapes!  These grapes are our favorite and they were very generous!

So we have a fruit filled week ahead of us.  I had actually planned to pick strawberries and raspberries this week too, but I am putting that off until next week in hopes that I can get somewhat caught up around here before adding more to it!

Here’s the update:

Plant something – nothing.

Harvest something – eggs, tomatoes, zucchini, peaches

Preserve something – three batches of peach preserves, two and a half boxes (approx. 30 lbs) of peaches sliced and frozen, 3½ pounds green beans frozen, 1 gallon bag of tomatoes frozen, 2 batches of carrot soup in the freezer.

Waste Not – compost and recycling, scraps to chickens, etc.  Lots and lots went to the goodwill over the last couple of weeks.

Want Not – nothing that I can think of right now.

Build Community Food Systems – all the fruit trading!  Yum!

Eat the Food – as mentioned, plum cake and peach cobbler.  Also eating all the yummy farm veggies.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  😉

Categories: Canning and Food Preservation, Chickens, Food, Garden, Independence Days, Recommended Reading | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Independence Days: Catching Up

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Anisa

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been playing a bit of catch up and getting a lot of chores done around the house.

On the 21st we drove over to the Western slope to go pick peaches, however our four hour (each way) drive proved to be fruitless – quite literally.  We go to the orchard and they had a sign that said they were all out of peaches.  We were pretty upset, especially since we had called ahead of time to make sure there were peaches there.  They said they should have peaches ripe again at the beginning of September, so we are hoping to get the opportunity to go again.

Since we ended up without any peaches on that Saturday, we now had a free Sunday on our hands (we had planned to be processing 150 pounds of fruit).  I scored two bookcases on freecycle that were perfect for our basement.  So we spent a good part of the weekend cleaning and rearranging and organizing.  Went sent probably four garbage bags of stuff to the Goodwill, and there is probably another bag or two to go.  The room still needs some curtains, the rope around the dart board, and a few little extras here and there, but it’s starting to shape up.

This made space in the basement’s second room to store canned goods, Rick’s tools and my craft supplies.  That room is still in progress, as it needs the door rehung, cabinets mounted to the walls, new paint and some major organization.  You can see a glimpse of it in the dartboard picture – it’s gated off and has a strip of ugly green paint on the doorway.  But we made the biggest leaps towards having a put together basement that we’ve done since we moved in seven years ago.

We decided to break down and begin our backyard fencing project as well.  I picked up the lumber on Sunday and Monday we set posts.  Then throughout the rest of the week, we finished the fence for the chickens – and finally after the last 10 months, took down the temporary chain link we borrowed from the neighbor.  We think it turned out pretty nice.

Thursday, we had someone from the botanic gardens come to look around our place so that we could be entered into Denver’s Chicken Coop Tour in October.  We spent a good chunk of time cleaning the yard and gardens this past week as well.   And we’re excited that we will be a part of the tour.

Here’s the update:

Plant something – divided my hyssop and penstemon, moved some irises and a sedum to better homes so they would no longer be choked by my geranium.

Harvest something – eggs, tomatoes, zucchini, cukes, kohlrabi,

Preserve something – Surprisingly little – only corn in the freezer last week, some peppers to the freezer this week.

Waste Not – compost and recycling, scraps to chickens, etc.

Want Not – shelves for the basement.

Build Community Food Systems – took lots of orders for peaches from friends, registered to participate in the Denver Botanic Gardens Chicken Coop Tour to promote sustainable lifestyles in an urban setting.

Eat the Food – Lots and lots of veggies.  We are getting through nearly everything in a farm share bag.  Lots of cucumbers from the garden.  Broke into the pickled garlic but didn’t love the taste.  The recipe called for sugar but I think the sweet with the garlic is weird.  Bit disappointing, considering we made so much.

Categories: Chickens, Food, Garden, Independence Days | 1 Comment

Independence Days: Weeks 20 through 22

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Anisa

We’ve been busy this summer and I’ve not had much time to write about it!

I was privileged to go to a friend’s birth at the very end of July – it turned out to be a long birth and it took me a couple days to recover.  I don’t know how those midwives do it!  Also, we’ve been getting lots of yummy produce from the farm and we’ve been trying not to let any go to waste.

Also we have a lot of veggies coming on from the garden.  Pictured are onions, beets, cucumbers and turnips.

I did make cherry preserves a couple weeks ago with the cherries I got to pick.  Unfortunately I didn’t cook it quite long enough, so it was very thin.  We’ve been using it anyway – we just pretend it’s cherry syrup.  😉

H was getting worn out from going to the farm on Tuesday and then school on Wednesdays, making Thursday really hard every week, so we switched his school day to Tuesday while E and I are at the farm.  He seems to be doing much better with that schedule, which we are all happy about.

Last weekend we went to the Adams County Fair.  Our friend, Richard, got us tickets to the truck pull and a parking pass, and my mom and Manuel had food coupons and a parking pass as well, so they joined us.  We had a GREAT time.  H loved the truck pull with all the noise and the big trucks (though I was cringing terribly from all the black diesel exhaust I was watching needlessly billow into the air – oy!), and we had a blast riding carnival rides, eating yummy carnival food (like the giant brat Rick got) and playing games.  We stayed until past midnight!  It was a fun treat for everyone.

This weekend I gave the bees their second jar of sugar water.  Originally I wasn’t going to supplement our bees at all, but we started getting a little concerned that they might not get enough honey built up for the winter after their late start this spring.  Not sure if we’ll give them more, but hopefully that will help them get a little extra stored for the winter.

We picked a lot of green grapes from the neighbor this weekend, but I’m not sure what to do with them?  Anyone know of a way to preserve green grapes?  Maybe make raisins?

At any rate, here’s the update:

Plant something – Rick planted beets and spinach in the strip by the driveway.

Harvest something – eggs, turnips, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, beets, tomatoes, green seedless grapes from the neighbor across the alley from us!

Preserve something – cherries into cherry preserves; onions hung up in the crawl space; 4 gallon size bags of corn on the cob and nearly two gallons of beans in the freezer; shredded 35 cups of zucchini: froze 30 cups and made five loaves zucchini bread; dried corn husks for making tamales this fall; made and froze double batches of pizza dough, doughnut dough, potato soup (1.5 gallons).

Waste Not – compost and recycling, scraps to chickens, etc.

Want Not – nothing.

Build Community Food Systems – nothing.

Eat the Food – we’ve been grilling pizzas using farm tomatoes, the last of our sausage, and farm basil.  Otherwise, just been enjoying all the yummy summer bounty!

Categories: Beekeeping, Canning and Food Preservation, Childbirth, Food, Garden, Independence Days | 2 Comments

Independence Days: Week 19

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Anisa

The update:

Plant something – nothing planted

Harvest something – eggs, turnips, onions, cucumbers, sour cherries (destined for the dehydrator – and maybe a pie), zucchini.

Preserve something – Finally!  Made 10 quarts and 8 pints of dill pickles, and 7 half-pints of pickled garlic!

Waste Not – compost and recycling, of course, scraps to chickens, etc.  We usually have about half of a bag of trash per week – how’s that for not wasting??

Want Not – I feel like I’m really getting better at this food storage bit – what with the elk and getting things in bulk.  Looking for someone to split a bag of quinoa with…

Build Community Food Systems – my friend took me to pick the cherries this week – a tree at her church was just FULL of them – big and plump.  Can’t believe the birds had not eaten them.

Eat the Food – my favorite thing this week:

Chili-Basil Elk and Broccoli over Coconut Rice

1.25 cups jasmine rice
1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk plus 3/4 cup water
pinch of salt to taste
1-2 TBS olive oil
1 small onion, diced
3-4 green chiles, chopped
1 head of broccoli, chopped
1 big handful of green beans, trimmed (and cut if you like)
1-1.5 lbs thinly sliced elk (can subsitute beef)
2 tsp dried or 3 TBS fresh basil
1 TBS fish sauce
2 TBS plus 2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
1-2 tsp sesame oil
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced

In a medium sauce pan, combine the rice, coconut milk, water and salt.  Cover, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 25 minutes.  Combine the fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic in a small dish and set aside.  Meanwhile, in a wok or large skillet heat oil over high and add onions and green chiles.  Saute for 3-4 minutes, and then add broccoli and green beans.  As soon as the veggies start to brighten in color, add the meat and the basil.  Stir often.  Just before the meat is browned completely and not quite cooked through, add the sauce mixture.  Keep stirring for 30 seconds to a minute, until it is fragrant, the meat is done to your liking and the veggies are bright green, but not over cooked.  Serve in a bowl over the coconut rice.

Categories: Canning and Food Preservation, Food, Garden, Independence Days, Recipes, Sustainability | 4 Comments

Independence Days 2010: Week 15

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Anisa

Short one this week.  Have had some other weird issues going on.  Anybody who was in my email address book already knows my email and facebook accounts were hacked while we were on vacation.  Alas, I found out that they also have had other personal information since April, and, well.. it’s getting a bit messy.  Hopefully not too messy, but a pain regardless.

Plant something – we intended to plant quinoa and radishes, but to no avail this week.  Maybe next week, eh?

Harvest something – eggs, spinach, radishes, turnip greens, strawberries (I forgot to mention these last week too),

Preserve something – nada

Waste Not – compost and recycling, of course, scraps to chickens, etc.

Want Not – got a decent price on chicken at the store so we bought a few packs and froze them.

Build Community Food Systems – our friends came over to help us with the bees – not that this is us building the community, but we are participating in it!

Eat the Food – quinoa, turnip greens, radishes, spinach…

Categories: Food, Garden, Independence Days, Sustainability, Urban Homesteading | 1 Comment

Independence Days Week 13-14: Bees, Weeds and Survival

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Anisa

Well this post is a bit tardy, but I wanted to share some exciting things from the last couple of weeks.  At first I wasn’t going to post anything from the week we were on vacation, because, obviously, we didn’t harvest or plant anything.  But then I realized that even though we were across the country, we still made baby steps.  So there are a couple of things there from our trip – woohoo!

The first Sunday of the trip, our friends called saying they had a swarm of bees for us!  They were so kind and put them into our hive while we were gone.  We were sad to miss that, but we are so excited to have bees!  And we’re glad we had the hive all set up and waiting!

After we arrived home, we had a TON of weeds to pull.  It had rained a few times and we  didn’t realize how much weeding we do on the fly.  Just everyday picking a few here and there really keeps us on top of them.  But when we got back, Rick filled a five gallon bucket at least six times with weeds!

Also, after we arrived home, I was having a discussion with a friend who had recently watched “Escaping Suburbia” and was talking about Peak Oil, becoming self sufficient and all of that.  Later that afternoon, as I was walking to the post office, I passed a store called Farris Survival, which up until then, I thought was a camping store.  But since I was walking past (instead of driving) I could see that they had rain barrels in there.  So I decided to look around.

It is not a camping store.  They sell water barrels and water filters and books and bulk beans and grains and grain mills and freeze dried bulk foods, and buckets and Mylar bags and basically everything you would need to survive in the event of apocalypse, government take over, or peak oil except guns.  They didn’t have a wooden barrel (I’ve been looking for one to turn into a smoker), but he did have a lot on information.  All his grains and beans are organic and sold in 25 plus pound bags.  He let H try using the grain mill and sent us home with a big ziplock back full of heirloom red quinoa to try.

Plant something – nothing

Harvest something – eggs, spinach, radishes, weeds galore.  Richard was house/dog/chicken/BEE sitting for us, so he did all the egg harvesting.  There were two full dozen in the fridge when we got home.  And he told us he had made several quiches to take to work and had been eating eggs galore the whole time we were gone.

Preserve something – nothing, however, I bought a few more glass jars (big ones) for the pantry.

Waste Not – compost and recycling, of course, scraps to chickens, etc.

Want Not – bought 6 five pound bags of flour in Tennessee.  The price of organic flour there was INSANE!  $2.50-$3.50 per bag, while here it can get as high as $7.50.  Also, when we got back, the neighbors across the street were having a garage sale, so I bought a big play pen thing with a shade cover – it will be perfect for working at the farm.

Build Community Food Systems – Bob Farris gave us a mess of quinoa.  Most of which we’ll eat, but we’re going to plant some as well.  And now we know of a good resource for lots of other things!

Eat the Food – tomatoes and corn (Rick found more in the freezer), pork, spinach and radishes, eggs.  Peaches in Nashville from the Nashville Farmer’s market.  More to write here next week!  😉

Categories: Beekeeping, Chickens, Food, Garden, Independence Days | Leave a comment

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