Canning

I went with a friend last Monday to walmart for the tiny 4 oz. jars that were $7.49. My first canning excursion was applesauce. They talk about the risk of eating canned food but not about the risk of preparing it. I had to first convert a four pint recipe to a two pint recipe that measured ingredients in pounds. (risk: math induced headache.) Not having a scale or fully reading the recipe lead to a lot of mistakes but one that was actually helpful. I made too little applesauce and forgot the sugar in the first try, luckily I didn't read the instructions so when I went to water bath the cans I didn't seal them with the screw tops which meant I could fix the first batch of applesauce, by opening the cans. I fixed them and then tried to clean up with out watching what I was doing and lightly burnt all my finger tips while trying to pour out the boiling water.

Too much bounty

I have shitake mushrooms, cucumbers, green beans. It's not much food in the scheme of things but for me with already having tomato soup, and pesto bread, and cheese it's way too much so today is looking for uses of my ingredients. I love the textures and tastes of everything even if I'm not hungry. The vibrant greens and reds make me feel happy and warm to my toes with some sort of safety that nobody and nothing else gives, cause nobody wants too.

Sequel to the pepper poppers.

I had to make planters for those extra plants, I had no money to buy planters, no dirt, and no space in my garden for them. I did though have left over chicken wire, folded and kept dog food bags, compost, leaves, and the highly disliked hay I bought for my rabbit. I molded the chicken wire into a bed frame, using pliers I took the cut ends of the individual triangles, and wrapped them together so the bed maintained it's shape. Dog food bags have a strong weave, that makes them good for lining planters with even when you put small holes in them for water drainage they don't leak soil. I flipped them white side out and stapled three bags to the frame. Then slid the tip of a knife between the weave to make small drainage holes along the whole planter. Then the compost, leaves, and hay was evenly mixed and poured into the beds. Finally, my peppers were placed into their new back aching home. Yippee for creativity, and internet ideas.

Peppers, peppers, peppers, peppers, peppers, peppers, peppers, tomatoes.

There is a reason I annoyed even myself with that title. I hate peppers but decided to see if I could get some to grow from seed for my mother and step-father. Hours of peeling, drying and dabbing later, I have  hundreds of round things in a blank seed packet, well that was late fall which in New Hampshire, means the seeds got stored for months. At the end of that time on Memorial day I opened all my seed packets and  some of the peppers had already started roots, and others had molded, opps really should have left them out to dry but my family tosses everything to do with my garden wherever is most convenient for them including the trash. Anyway I took the plants that had already started to grow and put the seeds in a five gallon bucket, at the end of July there was still no plants, so I bought a mostly grown plant. Two days later I have six extra pepper plants in my bucket, and I DON'T EVEN LIKE PEPPERS! Why couldn't I have six extra tomatoes?

Learning Local

I have been going every Thursday to the Henniker Farmer's Market. The problem with going there is I'm now realising exactly when vegetables are in season. That means I should stop considering zucchini a fall gourd like pumpkins, and thinking they are better for the environment to eat than lettuce in the winter. Though I love them as a wonderful summer treat, thanks Ash for letting me barter rhubarb jelly for a single serving size zucchini.

StoneFalls Gardens

Today, my mother and I went garden shopping at StoneFalls Gardens. At 184 Stonefalls, Rd., Henniker, NH, it's this rather large, meandering patch of land. They sell manure, annuals, perenials, specifically tomatoes, trees,  and some rather strong smelling ornamental sage. We bought black velvet petunias, English thyme, Astilbes, sage, a pre-mixed hanging plant, purple petunias, and some feathery looking plant without a tag. Well, Mom covered the 58 dollar bill, I went out and visited the Norwegian Dwarf goats, they have tucked back in an indoor/ out door enclosure. They were adorable, only one of the four wanted human company instead of hoping I had food. The little dark goat, fell asleep with his head in my hand. I didn't notice so when I shifted to leave, his head fell out my hand, and he bunked his little nose on the ground. I felt so bad, that I went searching for some fresh grass to give him.

Patience

It takes seven days for me to retrieve, fill out, and return a job application that's only fifteen minutes from my house. It takes three to five days for me convince my parents to drive five minutes to get rabbit food that I buy with my own money. It has taken five months to get 6 hours driving practice, and 6 months to not finish driver's ed. People keep counseling patience, well at this rate I'll be burying my parents before I take my first steps. How patient am I supposed to be?

Welcome, Ms. Bumble bee

Welcome Ms. Bumble bee,
To my humble garden
That I've weeded, mulched,
And set out sixteen kinds of flowers in,
I've made my muscles scream for you,
So buzz around and mind your own business,
so I can do mine, as a result of yours.
Damn it you stung me,
So go take your last moments
In the garden of someone less appreciative of you.

Almond Milk

First of all, I'm lactose intolerant. I'm having difficulty staying lactose free, but I have discovered a delicious way to drink almond milk. A cup of sweetened almond milk has 12 grams of sugar in it, way, way, way too much. So I take a cup of unsweetened almond milk, 1/4 tsp honey (which has 5 grams of sugar), cinnamon to taste, and a tiny sprinkling of chili pepper. Warm the mixture on the stove just enough to mix the honey in well about three minutes. Then I chug it down, with either home-made flat bread and fruit; or from the yard eggs.

I invested 13 dollars in nothing but garden supplies, and plants, into my garden last year. Minus, the water, and rabbit litter I dumped into the soil. Including that I lost money last year because of an immature set of blueberry bushes, and crappy new plot of soil. This year I have sunflower seeds from the rabbit food that Fawn doesn't eat, green bean seeds from the food pantry, cherry tomato seeds as my valentines gift, turnip seeds from the junk draw labeled 2008 all that I didn't have to pay for. I paid for two seed starting greenhouses 5 bucks total, the topsy turvy strawberry planter 3 bucks, the seed starter mix 2 bucks, the garden soil 6 bucks, and finally the strawberries 4 bucks. Let's see if I make back the twenty dollars I invested in food I don't have to buy this year.

Seedlings

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebalou/888745855/

I'm one of those weird people who is either obsessively neat or over the top scatter brained. My seeds are neatly labeled on vibrantly orange sticky notes with the type, date, location bought or collected, and storage process on them. That's my obsessively neat side. I started my seeds inside in a preset gardener's delight humidome with peat pellets. I simply read directions then shoved the seeds to proper depth now my green beans are out growing the round holders and entangling themselves with my tomatoes and I don't know how to fix it because it hailed and sleeted today so that means it's too cold to put them outside. I do have a pot to put them in so they might end up there until it gets warm again. I wanted to use that pot for the cosmos and baby's breathe I planted and actually managed to grow though.

Weeds and worms

I'm celebrating weeds and worms today! I did a previous post on how to improve clay soil into loam. My soil last year was so heavy with clay it didn't grow weeds because without intense help the roots couldn't push through the soil. I spent two weeks turning corn cob which has a lot of little air pockets deep, upto two feet deep into the spaces where my plants would grow. I gathered worms after a storm to put into my garden. I imagined it would take a least two to three years of the intense work, mixing, raking, slowly and carefully irrigating to make my garden a stick plants in the ground, water daily and get vegetables space. This morning I discovered my worms are thriving under the rabbit and guinea pig litter I laid down last fall, and I have a mild weed problem! I'm so happy.

My boyfriend Rob and I helped a female hairy woodpecker who ran into a window two days ago. His wings were folded normally across her back, but she had a small head wound. Rob got gloves and some rags to wrap her in and I got my emergency kit for the bottle of witchhazel in it. The liquid extract you can buy at walgreens in a clear container is good for animal wounds because they can lick it off safely. Anyway we stuck him in flower pot turned open side to a chain link fence so nothing could get to him but he could still breathe. While he warmed up, we hurried to buy chocolate chips for breakfast. Then came home and shifted the flower pot so she could get out he hopped from planter to tomato vine until he reached the top of the fence and then took off like she was playing instead of flying.

Reconsidering food options.

Okay, no morality talk for me. I'm avoiding issues of cruelty in this post and talking straight numbers. Ever heard of Jumbo X Cornish Rock chickens. These are your big chickens that can make a single meal for five people sitting at a table in the US. The chickens reach full size in 40 days approximately which means 9 life cycles from birth to slaughter occur in a year from a single "crop" shed anywhere on the planet. In each of these crop sheds half a million birds die in a rotation from starvation or illness. That's 4,500,000 meals a year not going to people across the world where four out of seven continents have 20% to 100% percent of their population living for under two dollars a day. And yet we allow this waste and stupidity to continue as even more food is wasted because of the ill, not dead animals we slaughter that later contribute to recalls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Percentage_population_living_on_less_than_$2_per_day_2009.png

http://paleodietnews.com/1675/eating-animals-ethically-on-the-paleo-diet/

Scream

I'm told what I want is a damn retirement dream! It's not a business, it's a pipe dream, it's not viable in today's world. Be happy working a part time or full time crap job out of the fucking house, with people I give not a shit about. Work in the noise, the smells, and sights that make me want to bury my head, and flinch. Work through head aches, cramps that put me in the hospital, and asthma. NNNNOOOO! I want to be fucking useful, not someone people make exceptions for! I want to rotate crops, collect my own eggs, create a haven for animals, myself, and most of all be a mother worth her weight in salt. It's not a hobby, or a dream what I want it's a god damn full time difficult, precious business. I want to cook and teach about farm fresh foods. Why the hell, when people say I have to work, is the response to me talking about having a farm fresh restaurant is why do I fucking want this, is it's so much work. "Why won't you change your mind get a couple chickens, a crap job, two kids, and be a lazy, unhappy bitch, who doesn't care until you're sixty, so the rest of us can be proud of you?" Once again NNNNOOOOO!

Funny Green Eggplant Soup

My poor mother got told by my sisters that I managed to make eggplant soup pea green. Actually I had made Asparagus Lemon Soup, it was the only vegetarian recipe I found and because I had no broth at all, I needed a soup with a lot of flavor. My yummy work is still in the fridge waiting for me to be like Eric Carmen.

1 pound fresh asparagus

3/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

knife
saucepan with cover
blender
whisk
measuring spoons
measuring cups

Directions
1. Place asparagus and onion in a saucepan with 1/2 cup vegetable broth. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until the vegetables are tender.

2. Reserve a few asparagus tips for garnish. Place remaining vegetable mixture in an electric blender and puree until smooth.

3. Melt butter in the pan that was used for simmering the asparagus and onions. Stir while sprinkling flour, salt, and pepper into the butter. Do not let the flour brown. Allow the mixture to cook only 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth and increase the heat. Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil.

4. Stir the vegetable puree and milk into the saucepan. Whisk yogurt into the mixture, followed by lemon juice. Stir until heated through, then ladle into bowls. Garnish with reserved asparagus tips. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 134 Total Fat: 5.7g Cholesterol: 15mg Powered by ESHA Nutrient Database

Mayonaise

My stepdad bought this wonderful sounding mayonaise with cracked pepper, but it's got so much cracked pepper that you can hardly stand to use it in anything. But I have found some things I like it in. Here's my recipe for this semi awful condiment.

Tuna Fish Melt

1 can water packed tuna fish
1 tablespoon cracked pepper mayo
1 medium tomato
2 slices swiss cheese
2 slices bread
cooking spray

knife
tablespoon
can opener
plate
small frying pan

1. Open and drain tuna fish, give to water to whatever animal is making themselves pesky.
2. Dice tomato so it looks like relish, mix into tuna fish, then mix in mayonaise.
3. Take one slice of swiss cheese and put over each piece of bread so the tuna goes in the middle.
4. Spoon tuna mix onto bread.
5. Spray the frying pan and cook sandwich until bread is light brown and the cheese squeezes out the side.

and because probably no other culture does something so unhealthy to their   serving of omega-threes, I'll say haga chic los dedos.

Baked Eggplant Parmesan -

I have two thoughts for tonight, either I'm really bad at baking eggplant or it's better fried, and I need to stop adding extra calories to my meals, even veggie calories. I took baked eggplant parmesan, and immediately added shredded carrots, extremely diced broccoli, and smattering of frozen spinach to my spaghetti sauce. The recipe said cut the slices of eggplant to a half inch thick, I cut them thinner. Spray both side of the pieces with cooking spray, and coat with bread crumbs. Then bake at 450 f for 30 minutes, remove tray and spread mozzarella cheese, put back in oven for two minutes. Heat your favorite spaghetti sauce on the stove top and serve three slices of eggplant with 1/2 cup of it for each serving.

Burgundy Cream Vegetable Noodles

I usually harp on, try, and enjoy making everything from scratch but I only had fifteen minutes to get dressed, cook, and pack for an overnight. So I used tomato soup as the base for spaghetti sauce, and left over roasted asparagus, and quick cooking egg noodles.

1 can ready to serve Cambell's tomato soup
1 table spoon burgundy wine
1 table spoon cream cheese
chives and parsley to taste

1 1/2 cups egg noodles
roasted vegetables: asparagus, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, spinach
(mix any or all)
olive oil

2 sauce pans
1 tablespoon
sieve
cork screw
1 mixing spoon

1. If your starting with raw vegetables drizzle with olive oil and put in the oven. (or take cooked out of the fridge.)

2.  Pour soup into one of the sauce pans, drop in tablespoon of cream cheese, using same tablespoon pour in the burgundy. Mix in chives, and parsley over low heat.

3. Start at the same time the boiling water. Put in a pinch of salt. When the water starts boiling pour in noodles.

4. Remove vegetables from oven when tender, drain the noodles and mix both with the sauce.

Roasted Mushroom Asparagus Parmesan

Yum, yum, yum, yum, I had asparagus that I needed to cook immediately before it went bad. I'm now obsessed with this nutrient rich fern. Meals should be a slice of Elysium and asparagus, mushrooms, and peppers would bring Hades to the table.

1/2 lb. asparagus

6 button mushrooms

1 1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

4 cups cooked spaghetti
1/4 fresh red pepper
1 tsp. garlic
sweet basil
chives
parsley
pepper
salt
olive oil
flour
shredded mozzarella cheese

knife
fork
sieve
sauce pan

frying pan

glass stove pan

1. Preheat oven to to 450 F.

2. Remove woody stems, chop asparagus into 1'' sections, chop mushrooms and julienne peppers.
3. Mix into glass pan, toss with olive oil and cracked pepper, place in oven for about 30 mins.
4. Set water to boil and leave spaghetti to cook in sauce pan.
5. Blend garlic, basil, chives, and parsley and pour milk over it in frying pan.

6. Turn heat on low, slowly stir in all the parmesan, when warm blend in flour until thick.

7. Drain spaghetti, and plate vegetables, pour cheese.

And have a warmed over heart attack.