Wine and Cheese Tasting

Thanks to a friend, a very small group gathered at a mountain rental cabin near the Blue Ridge Parkway for the weekend before Thanksgiving and an early Thanksgiving Dinner. Almost everyone there (except me and maybe one other person) will get to have another Thanksgiving Dinner on the "proper" day with Family, but since I basically live alone, I appreciated being able to share in the traditional "turkey day meal" with friends, and Giving Thanks for all we have.

It was a great time away from home and everyone brought great food... in fact, an abundance of foods! I may post about all the foods if others send me photos they took, but for now, here's our Saturday adventure...

We loaded ourselves into a couple of cars and went over to the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday to both a winery and a cidery I've wanted to visit for 2-3 years. The Château Morrisette wine tasting was really quite lovely, and very entertaining thanks to our bartender. Other than the omission of any palate cleansers for 12 different wines (including 2 ice wines), it was both professional and great fun.

One wine I would normally have never tried actually surprised me by being quite tasty; it was made from Scuppernongs, aka Fox Grapes. I generally shun sweetish wines but this was nicely complex rather than sickeningly sweet. (The winery gave us the glasses with their name etched on them that we used for tasting and several of our group bought multiple bottles of wines to take home, so their excellent presentation and marketing paid off!)

The Foggy Ridge Cidery (hard ciders) tasting was disappointing. Being just 3 miles down the Parkway from Château Morrisette, they probably need to do a better job of marketing at the cidery site itself if they continue to be on the "tour". You never know just who may drop in for a taste!

It was the same cost to taste 5 hard ciders as 12 wines from Château Morrisette, but the cider samples were barely a teaspoonful and the bartender was not fully educated on the products (at least not on the fortified ciders, nor did she present how any of the ciders could be served or used in recipes)... also she was not very personable. I will excuse her as she may have been having a bad day from many tastings earlier, but if that's the case they should have a back-up plan.

I did like the Pippin Black, a brandy-fortified cider made with Arkansas Black apples and Newtown Pippins.

The Thos. Jefferson / American style cider was tart but not dry, but I liked the English-style cider better as it was dry and not too tart. I wouldn't even taste the sweet cider one. The fresh raw cider I bought and fermented last fall was too sweet for my taste after it fermented, even with no sugar added. To be fair, that fresh cider I bought was made from eating apples whereas good hard cider is a mix, but other than sweet, it was good. I just don't like sweet drinks as a rule. (We didn't get a cidery glass etched with their name to keep, either.)

 

Once back at the cabin, we had our own private cheese tasting with wines everyone had brought along for the weekend. All three of my homemade cheeses (gorgonzola, farmhouse cheddar and a young Caerphilly) were well-received, plus we had about 8-10 imported cheeses our friends had ordered online.

I have to brag a tiny bit and say I finally made an edible blue cheese... the gorgonzola dolce shown above, which the blue cheese lovers deemed a success. (Remember I had to toss out my first 3 attempts at making a blue cheese?)

The imported cheese varieties (which I had helped choose from a short list of cheese specials) were tasty and interesting but not great, excepting the very stinky and well past it's prime Tomme Crayeuse we had to re-wrap quickly... but the selections didn't contain any cheese that I think any of us would particularly order again except possibly the 2 year old Avonlea Extra Sharp raw milk Cheddar from Canada (very dry/crumbly almost like Parmesan because of the age, but would be lovely grated on certain dishes). 

I guess it's my fault for not knowing the vendor who is not a cheesemonger... nor did I know anything of the creameries/artisans for each cheese. I take full responsibility since several were cheese types I wanted to try in case I wanted to try to make one.

One of the imported cheeses was a Welsh Caerphilly [cheddar], and VERY different from the ones I've made so far. It was a lot softer, creamier and not as traditionally salty; it was rather more like an American mild cheddar. But at leasdt now I know I need to work on "creamier" in general when I make more cheese.

 

As a surprise gift for me personally, our organizer had ordered a wedge of Rogue River Blue straight from the Creamery because I had said rather emphatically I wanted to try it sometime. (Is that a great friend or what??) I put it out to share along with the other cheese, and everyone who liked blues raved over it. If you like blues at all, you really need to try this cheese sometime when you have a special occasion; IT IS OUTSTANDING!!! No wonder it won Best in Show in combined American, Canadian and Mexican competitions for 2 of the last 3 years.

Mmmmm, good! Bacon Jam!

For several years I've been reading about Bacon Jam all over a slew of blogs, and I finally decided to make some to see what all the fuss was about. Well, let me tell you it's one of the tastiest things I've had in years!!!

My kitchen had the most enticing smells coming from it for several hours as I was making this recipe, and it will surpass anything you can buy in a jar. YUM!

I tripled the recipe, using 3 pounds of thick-sliced applewood smoked but uncured bacon, cut into 1" pieces and fried until just curling at the edges. You want them still soft in the middle. Remove the bacon and drain.

Then leave just a tablespoon (or 3 tablespoons since I tripled the recipe) of bacon fat in the pan, add the brown sugar and sliced onions. Cook over low heat until the onions are slightly caramelized.

Add the spices, cook for about 5 minutes, then add the liquid ingredients and the bacon. Cook at a low simmer for a couple of hours, until somewhat thickened. Cool it enough to handle and then run the cooked "stew" through a food processor until it is the consistency you like. After 2.5 hours, mine was still on the thinish side, so after I processed it to a jam consistency, I added a half a tablespoon of Knox gelatin dissolved in a bit of water... then heated it up for the gelatin to "set" before putting it in jars to refrigerate.

I suppose you could can it in a pressure canner, but frankly I think it will be eaten in short order so I just refrigerated it.

Here is the basic recipe I used; the only changes were to add some finely chopped crystalized ginger, and to reduce the hot sauce and chile powders a bit. It still has a 'bite' but not an eye-burning bite. Oh, since I was tripling the recipe, I cut down on the apple cider vinegar, starting with ¼ cup and then adding more to taste as it cooked down. (You can always add more but you cannot take it out once it's added.) I ended up with a nice sweet/sour balance.

Ingredients
1 pound thick-cut applewood smoked bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large sweet onion, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch fresh grated nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
½ teaspoon dry chipotle powder [I used ancho which isn't as hot but it's what I had]
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ cup strong brewed coffee
¼ cup apple cider vinegar

½ cup good quality bourbon
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon hot sauce

Recipe Steps
In a Dutch oven or large skillet cook the bacon over medium high heat until it begins to crisp up at the edges - the pieces should still be soft in the center. Drain on paper towels and retain one tablespoon of bacon grease in the pan.

Lower the heat to medium low and cook the onion and brown sugar until soft and caramelized (20 minutes or more).

Add the garlic and spices and cook for 5 more minutes.

Add the liquid ingredients and the bacon to the pan. At medium heat, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and barely simmer for about 2 hours. Check every 30 minutes to make sure that the mixture does not dry out. If it does, just add a few tablespoons water. The final mixture should be moist and sticky.

Let cool slightly and add to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it reaches the consistency you like - slightly chunky to showcase the bacon or smoother.

Make 1½ cups.

Recipe source: kayb @ eGullet

ps, this is my second attempt. The first time I used a Smithfield hickory smoked, thick-cut bacon without cooking a piece of the bacon first to check the taste. It was terrible tasting, and I should have known better. What a waste of money and ingredients! Usually I make my own bacon, but sometimes I'll buy bacon at a natural foods store if I don't have access to fresh pork belly to make my own bacon.

pps... I'll be out of pocket and able to approve comments until the morning of Nov. 21

Yes, Troubles do come in 3's

I recently posted that we had 2 "troubles" days apart... First was the septic system, and the 2nd was the water heater quitting.

Yesterday was the 3rd. I found my beloved cat Alice dead in the bushes just across the bridge. She loved to hunt at night and the last several nights have been warm for this time of the year, so I wasn't worried when she didn't come in for the night 2 nights ago. When she didn't come for breakfast nor supper yesterday, and didn't answer when I called, I started to really worry.

Yesterday morning I hunted all the cubbyholes around the property... all the sheds, under the house and in the barn. I even drove down to the Animal Control compound which is just 3-4 miles down the road. Nada.

My sister's dog sniffed Alice's body out early in the afternoon. It appears she may have been hit by a car in the night (they drive like fools on this country road) and was trying to get home when she gave out. I buried her out behind the barn in what has become the Pet Cemetery. My old fat cat Baz would have been buried there, except the creek waters rose and carried her away before I could retrieve her. (She was pretty decomposed and I had gone for gloves, a sack and a BIG shovel.) Four weeks ago we buried my sister's housecat in the new Pet Cemetery. He died of kidney failure, and now Alice will keep him company.

I had Alice exactly 1 year and 13 days; she was my birthday present last November. She spooked easily when she was a young kitten, and was growing out of it. Alice had become very affectionate, and talked to me all the time. 

My older cat Shug chose to stay inside the last 2 days, and hasn't eaten much, so I think she knows something has happened to Alice. Shug and Alice tolerated each other, but I wouldn't say they were friends. I love Shug, but nothing like I loved my Alice.

ps... I'll be out of pocket and able to approve comments until the morning of Nov. 21

My Septic Worries Are Over, Kinda

After weeks of agonizing on my part about my work I've been doing towards a new garden spot and the unknown septic system location, a "Committee" from the County Health Department and the Environmental Services Department converged on my house last week with copies of the 26 year old septic permit, old satellite photos of our place, plus a couple of resident neighbors with long memories showed up, and the lone septic tank pumper I called, we finally located the septic tank. It's 90 feet from the area we thought... it's under an addition to the front of the house and the front porch! (Actually it's mostly under my living room.)

However (and fortuitously) the very corner of the tank that has the lid is just barely outside the footers / concrete block foundation for the addition, so all I had to do for pumping access was tear off the front steps. Plus, the tank and leach field were found to be in good working order! 

The Distribution box is 2' under a nearby Hosta bed, and most of the leach field is in the front yard and partially under one raised flower bed I built 5 years ago. However, the far end of the leach field trenches run about 15 feet into the huge area I just sheet-mulched for a new garden bed... The good news is the whole flatish area above the new bed (and where I thought the leach field was) is now available for more garden extension and even a couple of shade trees next year.

About half of the 9 truckloads of mulch and woodchips I put over what is now known to be the far end of the leach field will need to be moved, and one huge overgrown shrub in the front yard will have to go. But all in all, it's not nearly as bad as it could have been. 

What might have been $6,000-$9,000 for a whole new system will end up costing around $1500 to fix (including material for new front steps which I will build in a few days) and that includes my guess of $1,000 for some heavy equipment to dig out a series of shallow bog ponds for future greywater filtering, along with some terracing on the hillside behind the house for surface water management.

They say things come in threes. So if septic was the first, the next day brought the second one: the water heater died. It has been anticipated as it was old, undersized, and only had 1 heating element (which I replaced by myself 4 years ago). I just didn't expect it to happen the day after the septic costs! I'm not looking forward to the third disaster!

I'll be eating from my survival pantry for a while, between money paid out yesterday for the septic work, and then more money for the new water heater to be installed in the morning, plus a few more dollars to fix yet another new water leak we found under the house today. (That makes 6 leaks in 5.5 years; all the hot-cold water supply lines need replacing.)  I'm really glad I have my pantry!

(We haven't even addressed the septic line connecting the 2 bathrooms [under the old trailer portion of the house] which we just found was NEVER properly installed on a slope so it drains correctly. There IS a slope but it actually runs the wrong way. No wonder the bathroom at the other end of the house doesn't drain easily.)

The good news is that I have all winter to re-design a new garden area, and actually a lot more space to play with... so it has all worked out pretty much okay. (And obviously I must have needed the exercise of adding a foot of mulch to a thousand square feet of lawn only to have to move it again.)

ps... I'll be out of pocket and able to approve comments until the morning of Nov. 21

Cushaw for the Best Pumpkin Pies!

Cushaw is a variety of winter squash that makes the very best pumpkin pies! (In fact the canned pumpkin in the grocery stores is either just cushaw, or a mix of various winter squash including cushaw.) Note: I wrote about cushaw last year here, too.

I don't grow my own cushaw anymore, even though they keep very well over the winter in a cool, dry space like a root cellar. Mainly I don't grow them because they are too big for one person to eat, unless I am processing pumpkin for holiday recipes. However, I just picked up a couple of 10-12 pound cushaws at the farmer's market last Saturday for only $3 each. I got over 10+ cups of purée out of just one cushaw, the equivalent of 5 or more jumbo cans of pumpkin ($2.99 here) from the supermarket.

 

I cut them in half, removed the strings and seeds from the cavity, and roasted them cut-side down in a 350ºF oven for about an hour and a half, until the thick neck pierced easily with a fork. (I lightly oiled the baking pan, and added enough water to a depth of almost half an inch... once the pan was in the oven.)

After the baked squash was cool enough to peel, I cubed it and ran it through a food mill. In retrospect, I could have skipped this step as these squash were not stringy at all.

Once puréed, I set some aside (in 2 cup amounts) to freeze for pies, or maybe some Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread.

The rest of the first cushaw I roasted went into the crockpot to spice up and cook down for some Cushaw Butter. Even though I put it in canning jars, I did NOT can it. The USDA now strongly recommends against even pressure canning something extra-thick like pear or pumpkin butter because the heat may not penetrate to the center to guarantee safety.

I used local raw honey as the sweetener, and since honey is antimicrobial, it should keep in the refrigerator for several weeks. (Most of mine will be given away over the next few days.)

While I was roasting the squash, I removed all the good seeds from the stringy innards, discarded the flat immature seeds, and rinsed them well to remove any remaining flesh. Then I soaked the seeds several hours in salted water, getting them ready to roast as snack foods. (Soaking the seeds helps assure the nutmeat inside the shell gets a little salt.)

I dry the seeds after soaking... so the surface is dry enough to coat with olive oil. Lightly oil a cookie sheet, toss the seeds to coat evenly, add some sea salt, and roast in a 325ºF oven until toasted (about 25 minutes, depends on the oven) checking and stirring often after 10 minutes. 

You can add a variety of herbs or spices to the seeds before roasting. Try some ground chili pepper or ground smoked pepper if you like them spicy, or some garden herbs like sage and thyme... or some cinnamon and brown sugar for someone with a sweet tooth. Experiment and be creative!

Roasted pumpkin seeds will keep a couple of weeks stored in an airtight container. Be sure to smell any seeds or nuts before eating those you store, as the oils can go rancid quickly.

All together, my $6 spent on cushaws gave me 12 cups of purée to freeze (will make 6 generous pies or other desserts like pumpkin custard or pumpkin bread), 10 pints of pumpkin butter, and a bowl full of toasted pumpkin seeds. How's that for stretching food dollars? Plus, I know exactly what is in my pumpkin products... no chemical additives, just real food made with love.

Sure Wish I'd Had a Camera

No, not for a funny shot... just a Stupid (on my part) Shot of my truck in the ditch.

I'm back home safely, but only after an eventful Sunday afternoon that included my truck having to be towed out of a deep ditch adjacent to a ravine along a narrow gravel private drive through the woods... where I was going to see an old friend who lives just over the line into the NC mountains. 

Surprised by the first time I've ever seen their gate closed, I tried to back down the slope on a curve. (Yeah, calling ahead would have been smart but I wanted to surprise them.) My back tires are bald, and I have rear wheel drive so I couldn't get a lick of traction, and I just slid farther and farther until I was totally in the ditch sideways and on a tilt... and looking down a loooong deep slope. Scary!

I finally calmed enough to crawl over the groceries and junk now strewn all about in the front seat, and out the upside door (passenger door) to go for help. No cell service that deep in the woods. My friend's grandson came down and tried to pull me out with a chain and his 4WD, and that was scary because I was sure my truck was going to turn over and roll down the mountain with me in it! 

I did finally get towed out... and my truck didn't roll down the mountain either. Shoulda had my camera!

Posts to come...

I haven't written many good (in my opinion) posts lately. I think all the work I did preparing a new planting spot for next year... which turns out to be over the leach field... really has me in a funk. What the County inspector signed off on isn't what's actually there.

In order not to have to think about starting yet another new garden area in some completely different spot (which now I couldn't even start until spring, thus losing a whole year of planting)... I have been doing more soil nutrition research. Surprisingly, the same nutrients that affect soil also affect out human bodies, and in much the same way.

Several years ago I wrote a series of articles for Davesgarden.com on the various soil nutrients, from the over-used or inappropriately-used NPK, to the common minerals, and then the minor but essential trace minerals. I've learned a lot since then, and when I can sift through all of my notes enough to get a clear picture in my head, I will post it here.

Some good news... there are still folks out there with manners! For several years now, I have lamented that folks driving in the oncoming traffic lane will not dim their bright lights, come Hell or high water. Last night I had to drive home from NC after dark (late because I got my truck in a ditch and had to be towed), and almost every oncoming car dimmed their lights! Often they even dimmed their lights as soon as they saw mine, not waiting until I blinked mine as a signal. There may be Hope for Mankind yet. :)

Meanwhile I am preparing for a weekend cabin stay with friends in less than 2 weeks, and food is on my mind. I'll only be making a few goodies to share (including a couple of easy snacks) which I will post in the next few days as I make them. 

The holidays during November and December will be my Last Hurrah of foods I should not eat, and January will see me back on a more Paleo-type diet (although it wasn't designed as such by my Endocrinologist). I lost a pound a week over 6 months of 2010 eating right for my low thyroid, and had more energy than in the previous 10 years. Since going off that food protocol, I have gained it all back and feel sluggish most of the time. So, it's time for me to get back on track.

Boone: The Mind Wanders...

Last Sunday I drove over to Boone, NC to go to a Natural Foods store, the closest one to me. It was a gorgeous sunny day, 2 lane highway traffic was sparse, and I was merely enjoying the day and the drive.  I used to live in Boone so I know it fairly well. Importantly, my mother and step-father had a home there, as did my Aunt Marion and Uncle Mutt, and Aunt Virginia and Uncle Russ.

My family there have all been dead several years or more, yet as I was approaching Boone along the highway coming from Mountain City, TN yesterday, my mind said, "Why not take the shortcut across Beaver Dam and up Hattie Hill to surprise Aunt Marion?"

It actually felt so real that it was a very strange moment...  things have changed, and people are gone, but the mind sometimes strays into the more pleasant past as though it really was real now.

I would have given a lot for another short visit with Aunt Marion. She was the only college-educated one of my mother's siblings, and although dedicated to her religious beliefs, she was a free spirit in many ways. In the years I lived nearby, I'd call her and ask, "Do you want to go to..." and I'd never even get the designation said before she'd say, "Yes!" It didn't matter if it was a horse show off the mountain where I had a horse entered, or to a fabric store 50 miles away. She just liked to go, and experience whatever was out there in the world beyond Boone.

Save the Leeks

Leeks ready to Blanch

I found myself with some store-bought leeks and then no time to make something tasty with them before they spoil. (They are too expensive to allow to spoil!) My freezer is full, as are the canning shelves... so I decided to dehydrate them. Invariably I will want to use leeks in a dish and not find any available in our local grocery stores. Dehydrating solves the problem of limited storage space, and lets me Save the Leeks.

Eazy-Peazy. Many who dehydrate leeks prefer to slice the leeks in half lengthwise, but I prefer whole rings. Cut off the root end, peel off the outer layer, and slice into 1/4 inch slices. When you get to green, tough outer leaves, remove another layer, and slice up to the next tough leaves.  When you have salvaged all you can, put the slices in cold running water and clean thoroughly.

Leeks are grown planted in a trench and "hilled" as they grow, blanching the stems white. In the growing process, lots of sand/dirt gets trapped in the leeks so they must be rinsed thoroughly (unless you like to eat grit).

First batch chilling

After they are well-rinsed, drop them into a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes to blanch. You may need to do them in several batches to keep the water temp from dropping with the addition of the leeks, depending on quantity of leeks you have. Remove them from boiling water with a slotted spoon and drop immediately in an ice water bath to stop the cooking.

First batch draining

After chilling for 3-4 minutes, I drained mine briefly on paper toweling before distributing on the dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at about 100ºF. How long depends on how thick you sliced them, but easily done in an afternoon.

After Dehydrating

You can rehydrate them for use later in hot water for 15 minutes; mine usually go into a dish with lots of liquid so I add them dry.

I dry mine to the crispy stage, and just store them in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. I check them after 24 hours... if they aren't fully dry, some moisture will appear inside the jar. If so, they go back in the dehydrator for 2 or so more hours.

Hmmmmm... Daylight Saving Time

(This was supposed to post at 2 AM when the law required changing the clocks... but Blogger wouldn't let me. Sorry...)

I wonder if my cats will start nudging me to awaken an hour earlier tomorrow morning? Or, will my garden plants perk up an hour earlier?

Somehow I doubt it. 

I doubt the sun will change its schedule because some bureaucrats made a Law that changed the hour hand on all of the clock faces in the US twice a year, excepting Arizona. There must have been a monetary incentive for them to do so (isn't there always one?), but the logic of it escapes me. Yeah, I do read that it supposedly cuts energy consumption in our homes during summer by something like 1%. Yeah, Right. (But it's been proven wrong even by our own government.)

"In the winter, the afternoon Daylight Saving Time advantage is offset for many people and businesses by the morning's need for more lighting. In spring and fall, the advantage is generally less than one hour. So, the rationale was that Daylight Saving Time saves energy for lighting in all seasons of the year, but it saves least during the four darkest months of winter (November, December, January, and February), when the afternoon advantage is offset by the need for lighting because of late sunrise.

In addition, less electricity was thought to be used because people are home fewer hours during the "longer" days of spring and summer. Most people plan outdoor activities in the extra daylight hours. When people are not at home, they don't turn on the appliances and lights.

Although a 1976 report by the National Bureau of Standards disputed the 1975 U.S. Department of Transportation study, and found that DST-related energy savings were insignificant, the DOT study continued to influence decisions about Daylight Saving Time." (Source)

In the continental US, only Arizona remains on "standard time" all year long. And, IF you have a sundial, how much of the year is it actually accurate???

Wiki says:

"The practice has been both praised and criticized. Adding daylight to afternoons benefits retailing, sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working hours, but causes problems for farming, evening entertainment and other occupations tied to the sun. Its effect on health and crime is less clear. Although an early goal of DST was to reduce evening usage of incandescent lighting, formerly a primary use of electricity, modern heating and cooling usage patterns differ greatly, and research about how DST currently affects energy use is limited or contradictory.

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) concluded in 1975 that DST might reduce the country's electricity usage by 1% during March and April, but the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) reviewed the DOT study in 1976 and found no significant savings."

Health:

Clock shifts disrupt sleep and reduce its efficiency. Effects on seasonal adaptation of the circadian rhythm can be severe and last for weeks. A 2008 study found that although male suicide rates rise in the weeks after the spring transition, the relationship weakened greatly after adjusting for season. A 2008 Swedish study found that heart attacks were significantly more common the first three weekdays after the spring transition, and significantly less common the first weekday after the autumn transition. The government of Kazakhstan  cited health complications due to clock shifts as a reason for abolishing DST in 2005. In March 2011, Dmitri Medvedev, president of Russia, claimed that "stress of changing clocks" were the motivation for Russia to stay in DST all year long. Officials at the time talked about an annual increase in suicides.

So, if it's not really valid energy conservation, what are the reasons we are still subject to "springing forward and falling back"?? Just so some few businesses may possibly make more money in this economic wasteland we find ourselves now living in?

Just my 2¢ worth... my opinion of so many Laws that simply do not make sense.

Row covers as season extenders

Start of the hoops, at the end of the sweet potato bed, and beside some tall asparagus ferns

Every year I think I will put some hoops in the garden and cover them with row covers for season extenders... aka frost protection, but I usually run out of steam first. This year I decided to MAKE it happen, even if it is just one very small bed with a handful of fall plants. I'm mainly doing this as a trial to see what will survive if left in the ground (and for how long), and how much it generally extends my Fall season.

I am moving towards something akin to what Eliot Coleman puts forth in his book, Winter Harvest but not as quickly as I'd like.

What you see above is only the first few hoops in place. They are just some old PVC tubing that I used once on a temporary structure 2 or 3 houses ago. (I'm a packrat and keep everything that might be useful at another time for another project!) The ends are slipped over 18" pieces of rebar driven into the ground. I did have to buy the rebar, and 50 lineal feet of the strongest frost protection fabric, good to down to around 25ºF if I remember correctly. I won't need anywhere near 50 feet this year, though.

I laid out the bed and cut the plastic pipe for the hoops based on the width the supplier said the row cover fabric was, without double-checking the actual width. Turns out he was short (wrong) by 18" but by then the bed was already planted. Re-cutting the pipe to accommodate the fabric width would have left me with pipe that wouldn't bend enough for a hoop shape, so unfortunately I am having to run 2-3 sections of the fabric from side to side rather than one piece end to end.

I haven't figured out the best way to fasten the pieces together without ruining the fabric, so for now I'm using clothespins. I'll have to remedy that before any snowfall!

Hoops tied together at the top; rope is anchored on each end, pulling against the other end

The bed is 6 feet wide, and is planted with Brussels sprouts, purple cauliflower, beets, carrots, kale and spinach. I lost the majority of my seedlings with all the rain from TS Lee in early September, and by then it was too cool to start more. Also, something has eaten the beet stalks and carrot tops down to the ground, so there won't be any beets nor carrots.

I plan to keep the cover on all winter and leave a few things in the ground, just to see how they fare. I'll leave a few carrots (there aren't many to start with), one or two stalks of Brussels sprouts with a few sprouts left on them, and then I will wait until we start getting deep freezing to see what else I want to leave. Since I am not counting on much food production from this quite-late impetus, I'll be okay with what doesn't do well.  

The main thing is that I'm learning.

Update: The best thing to use for attaching overlapping fabric sections are known as garden clips, spring clips, or sometimes called snap clamps. They are cheap (around 50¢ each but shop for the best price) and I have some on order. I could make my own using black poly water pipe, but the big box stores here only carry that pipe in 100 foot rolls. I did buy 10 feet of rigid PVC in a slightly larger size but it's difficult to cut a lengthwise slot without someone holding it down. IfI cut it in 4" sections first, I wouldn't want to get my hands near a whirling blade to cut them!

Update 2: I've already learned there are some shortcomings (for me, anyway) in this system. For example: it would be lovely if there were plastic zippers from one side to the other (or maybe just from the ground to the center top along one side) every few feet to make the plants inside more accessible for harvesting.

What to do with Insipid Tomatoes

I read somewhere that the taste of bland or insipid-tasting tomatoes may be improved by dehydrating them. I'm thinking that the quick forced-heated air dehydration probably concentrates the sugars, making them taste sweeter. Since I had already made and canned all the tomato variations I wanted for winter...AND I still had a few non-prime, late tomatoes that generally tend to be less flavorful, I decided to give the suggestion a whirl.

First I dehydrated several trays of just thick-sliced tomatoes with no preparation other than washing and inspecting for bad/soft spots. They were cut about 3/8 of an inch thick, and dried into thin, almost membrane thickness.

Next I took several pounds of tomatoes that I dipped in boiling water to skin, then cut into wedges before dehydrating. Those also dried into thin but crumpled wedges.

The final batch was dipped, skinned, cored and rinsed of all seeds. They dried to thin membranes too.

I didn't take any photos because I was busy with some home renovation projects, but the several pounds of tomatoes processed by each treatment all dried to an almost equal amount, filling a quart jar. The REAL test will be in cooking with them this winter!

Snowstorms and Medical Emergencies

Photo by Marcin Wichary

I have posted often about preparedness, and the current early Fall snowstorm that brought problems and power outages in the N.E. bring it to the forefront once again. (The heavy snow storms of last winter also brought the necessity home. Fortunately my area fared better than many last winter, but it could have just as easily been my town that had deaths because emergency vehicles couldn't navigate the roads.) Those news reports just bring home the importance of preparedness again and again.

Having some emergency food, water, batteries and such should be a given for every household, so I just want to address medical supplies here.

Last night in the kitchen I accidentally dropped a heavy chef's knife, cutting deeply into a toe. I bled like a stuck pig until I could bend my leg into enough of an awkward position to actually see the cut on the very lower outside of my smallest toe, and get it cleaned and bandaged. It didn't really need stitches, and our roads were clear if I had needed to drive to the ER. 

Afyer I stopped the bleeding and was rooting in the medicine cabinet, my thoughts went to my "emergency medical gym-type bag". It has lots more stuff in it than the bathroom medicine cabinet, but I couldn't put my hands on it readily... which makes it totally useless in an emergency.

So my job for tomorrow is to ➀ locate it, ➁ check for what needs replacing and do it, and ➂ put it where it's easy to find.

Tip: When I first assembled that bag, I packed all dry things in plastic baggies taped shut. I figured that if we had some persistent heavy rains, roof damage or flooding, wet bandages and a wet first aid book wouldn't do much good. Now that I have a food vacuum sealer, I plan to re-pack things that need to stay dry in ziplock bags and seal the ziplock bags inside vacuum bags. That way if I have to open a bag, and it's wet all around me, I still have a back-up sealed bag to use when I put things away.

Where are YOUR emergency medical supplies, and are they up to date?

Possessed? Why did I do this?

Today I picked up a hitchhiker on the entry ramp to the interstate. Why? I have no explanation, but it's NOT like me!! 

I passed him with a shrug of apology because ① I never pick up hitchhikers, and ② the front seat of my truck was packed with stuff as usual so there was no room for a passenger had I even wanted one. Then 500 feet past him, I found myself backing down the damn on-ramp, and said if he could stand the cold wind in the open back of the truck, he could ride. He accepted with a "Yes, m'am" and hopped in.

I pulled over at the next rest area to talk to him about where he was headed so I could decide where to let him off. I felt absolutely no fear. He said his name was Mickey... clean-shaven, about 45-50, clean clothes, decent quality clean winter jacket, spanky white but not new tennies, clean jeans, good backpack frame and pack... and a fabric-cased guitar. Going home to Corpus Christi, Texas, if I believe him.

I reckon Jeffrey Dahmer was also clean-cut, but somehow this man got past my radar, and my inner guides just said to back-up and give him a lift. I haven't picked up a hitchhiker (including this one) but maybe 3 times in my whole life... one was a college-girl hiker close to my home (and hers), and the other when I was about 20 was a stranded motorist in the middle of nowhere and I could see his steaming, overheated vehicle. WHAT ever possessed me to pick up THIS man????

"Mickey" would prefer to be dropped off at an interstate exchange where there was fast food nearby, but he also had no money (nor did he ask me for any). It happens that I had just done a tad bit of shopping (end of the month, no-money-left tidbit shopping) and had a small bag of dried fruit that I shared with him. I also had just bought cream for my coffee and had picked up a pint of their new eggnog to try. I gave him some of the dried fruit and the pint bottle of eggnog, and left him at a MickeyD's with the last $3 in my wallet so he could eat from the dollar menu, use the bathroom, and get back to the on-ramp with his thumb out.

It was a strange encounter... and aftermath, and it doesn't feel like I was a chump. I actually feel good about sharing the meager foods I had in the truck, and the few dollars I had in my wallet (which were supposed to last until next Thursday when my SS check comes).

Crop Failure: Sweet Potatoes

Growing sweet potatoes was a valiant first attempt on my part, but in the end: All Hat, No Cattle. The harvest I dug in mid-October was a combination of very large, pest-damaged potatoes, and fingerlings too small to eat.

The fingerlings were the size of long skinny carrots but they will get tossed in the root cellar with hopes they will last until spring to grow some new slips to plant. (That's now iffy; we had an unexpected hard frost last night, and they were still laying out on the ground.)

Close-up, there was a lot of pest damage which appears to be from voles. Also, a bunch of the potatoes looked like they grew fast, stopped, and then grew again, splitting the skin.

The vines were very thick, affording lots of cover which kept my cats from hunting in the bed. There was so much vine growth that the hilled rows were not even evident, just one huge mound of vines. I didn't see any vole tunnels when I dug, but I was using a fork which would have spilled soil and obscured the tunnels anyway.

You can barely see the SP bed in the right half of this photo, taken mid-September. The bed was 10 feet wide, with 3 hilled rows about 12-14 feet long, but in retrospect the rows were too close together.

I learned a lot by growing sweet potatoes but I'm very disappointed that I have none to eat. Sigh.

Septic Leach Field, and Garden Woes

Damn and Double-Damn!! Seems I've discovered a potential minefield with moving my garden area higher up from the creek, which puts it closer and downhill from our septic tank and leach-field system. Frankly, I hadn't given the septic system any thought until now.

In my process of sheet-mulching a large area for a new garden, last weekend I started also considering the addition of 2-3 small sheet-composted areas nearby as prep for planting a couple of fruit or shade trees in the spring. Now I find that would put the trees smack-dab in the approximate area of either the tank, the leach-field, or both. You are not supposed to plant trees over the septic area because the tree roots can invade and damage the system.

According to everything I read online, eating foods (including tree fruits) grown over a leach field or just downhill from it, could be hazardous to health. That's a very scary thought!

I did find the diagram for the septic system permit in our house closing papers, and it's rather vague about exact location. That hasn't bothered me until now, but in considering what kind of trees to plant, or where to plant vegetables, the location IS of utmost importance. 

The tank hasn't been pumped in years as far as I know, and certainly not in the 5 years we've been here. It needs pumping now, and a pump tanker can't get under our low-clearance covered bridge over the creek. The tanker will have to come across the neighbor's field, and I'll have to take down a section of fence. The tanker also will probably have to drive over the fragile leach field to get to the tank too, unless they have a very long hose.

The other disturbing thing I found out is the expected life of a leach field... which with the best maintenance is around 20-25 years. Years ago most leach firlds used small sections of terra cotta pipe, which have a very long life expectancy if tree roots don't get in them. More recently, most leach fields use cheaper perforated plastic pipe, which can silt up.

Our system was installed in 1986, exactly 25 years ago, and surely has perforated plastic pipe. Not knowing the exact location and extent of the leach area, the huge area where I recently added a foot of compost and berms could be over part of the leach field!

Unfortunately, the only somewhat level area on our property for a veggie garden of any kind is on the side of the house with the septic system. The septic tank appears to be above any potential garden area, so it would all percolate downhill.

I have someone from Environmental Health coming out this week to assess the situation. No doubt I'll then need to hire someone to locate the tank, bring in heavy equipment to dig up the lid, and a tanker to pump it out. We won't be able to even assess the leach field until we can measure the scum layer and the sludge layer inside the tank.

I am NOT a Happy Gardener!

Sheet Composting, Update

The first load of chips, ready to spread over several inches of alfalfa hay on a cardboard base

My effort to build a totally new garden area with new-to-me concepts (based on Gaia's Garden) is making some progress. I may be close to finishing what I can do before the weather is too cold, so it's time for an update.

So far I have spread 12 bales of alfalfa hay, 6 truckloads of chips, 20 pounds of Greensand, 20 pounds of Azomite, about half a 30 gallon garbage-can of biochar... and I'm not yet finished for the year!

Mulch berm with Jerusalem Artichokes and Chard just beyond it. The spent vines on thr trellis back and to the right are Hops. Next year there will be perennial  Hardy Kiwi planted on the trellis.

To better manage rain run-off on my sloping garden, I decided to build a mulch berm on the high side of the garden, and it will have a swale dug parallel to, and just above it. The greywater (just from the washing machine) will run into the swale, but only after it exits 2 planned shallow bog areas with plants that filter the water. The berm will help hold and slowly disperse water from the greywater bogs and the rain runoff from the steep hillside behind the house. 

Since the washing machine water may not always be enough to keep the bog plants wet most of the time, I will probably run one or two of my downspout water-cachement barrels into the bogs, with a valve to control the amount of water in the bogs.

Hugel Edge, partially covered

On the down-slope side of this area is the hugel-edge, which is now partially covered in rough mulch and chips; I ran out of chips and need a 7th load to finish! I managed to scrounge quite a few lengths of partially decomposing logs I found on our lower hillside, plus a few shorter pieces of punky stuff from the firewood pile. It's not as tall or wide as I'd like for the hugel edge, but I will add to it over time.

The Edge will not only absorb water that moves down-slope, it will also be planted with veggies next year. (It will soon get a layer of topsoil over it.) In fact the whole area needs a layer of topsoil... good topsoil, full of microbes... but I'm not counting on finding any. When is the last time you bought topsoil that actually had a worm in it? It's all sterilized dead dirt they sell.

The other thing I really need to do (and possibly cannot this late in the year) is add some Efficient Microbes to my mix. If I cannot, that will get top priority in early spring. There are already some microbes in the mulch/chips I've added, because I have seen some small patches of fungi. It just isn't enough, nor a balance, in my opinion.

Segue
I recently attended a conference on economic opportunities of goods from wooded properties, for which mine certainly qualifies. (19 acres total, 17+ of those are fairly steep woods.) Among the several topics presented were elderberries. See the white fence in the background? I plan a row of elderberries parallel to the fence next year, and maybe even start a coppice of basket willow against the fence itself. I won't be planting enough elderberries to market, but certainly enough elderberries to make elderflower champagne, elderberry wine, elderberry cough/cold syrup, elderberry jelly and juice... and who knows what other uses I will find! The elder row will act somewhat as a buffer to prevailing winds, and some basket willow along the fence should help.

Little Black Box for my New Cheese Vat

Hooray, I now have a means of accurately controlling the cooking temps of curds when making cheese! Some recipes call for increasing the temp of the curds by a mere 1º over a 10 minute span, something my kitchen stove definitely will not do!

As a side benefit, the "vat" will hold twice as much milk (at least 4 gallons) as my biggest pot, which means I can make larger wheels of cheese (which age much better).

The "vat" is a new Oster electric turkey roaster, large enough for a 22 pound bird. It has a fixed pan which will hold water, and a deep removable pan to heat the milk.

PID and Temp. Probe

The "Black Box" my friend Dyson put together for me has a PID temperature control on the outside, connected inside to a solid state relay wired to the temperature probe that inserts into the milk. On the opposite end is a receptacle that accepts the plug from the vat, and a plug to power the whole thing by plugging into the wall.

I bought the electronic components several months ago after reading a similar set-up on the cheese forum, but really had no tools nor know-how to put it together. Dyson came to the rescue!

Instead of wiring the PID directly into the turkey roaster controls (which would have meant taking the roaster apart), he made a separate box for the controls, leaving the roaster fully intact. All I have to do is plug the roaster into the black box, and plug the black box into an electric receptacle. The PID will let me increase curd temp by as little as one degree, something I could never do on a house stove.

So my cheesemaking tools are slowly accumulating! I now have a temperature-controlled aging cave I made from an old refrigerator this past summer, and a small wine cooler "cave" for blues given to me by a friend. Now I need to build a Dutch-style press, and get some decent cheese molds. Of course, a cow would help too.

Hopefully by this time next year I will be making some really good cheese!

Latest Gardening Fashion: Slug Collars!

Split Copper Collar on seedling

Nope, I am NOT putting collars on the slugs, nor am I wearing a collar fashioned out of slugs! I'm making collars to deter slugs in the garden. Slugs are a gardener's problem almost everywhere, and living on the creek, my problems are exacerbated by also having snails who do the same kind of damage.

Years ago I read that slugs will not cross a copper strip because it gives them a jolt, so I bought a roll of 1 inch copper tape to put down on the top edges of my raised beds. It didn't work! 

Recently I read that copper actually IS effective (it was a science experiment), BUT to work, the slugs have to crawl across 3 inches of copper to build up the galvanic action between their slime trail and the copper. THEN it works!

Two weeks ago I ordered a 2 foot piece of 12 inch wide copper from Basic Copper. It wasn't cheap... but it is thick enough (16 mil) to re-use for several gardening seasons... and when it gets too beat-up and out-of-shape to use, I can sell it as scrap copper.  I probably could have used a thinner gauge of copper, but I really want to be able to use them over and over.

 

The first collars (made today) were for larger plants already in the ground, so the copper needed to be split to go around the stem. (I'm going to make all of them that way... it's easier.) I thought about taping the collar split ends together, but that would just give the slugs a place to climb that wasn't copper. In putting them around a plant, I found I could just squeeze the copper "tube" around the stem and the ends would overlap... then I pushed the collar into the ground just enough to hold it in place. 

What I did:
I cut a 4 inch wide strip off the copper sheet, then the first strip into 6" lengths... that gives me collars 4" tall, enough to push the bottom into the soil and still have 3" or more for the slugs to climb. I'm testing it tonight before I cut any more, but I have every confidence the science experiment was correct. I put those first 3 collars on small tender seedlings this afternoon, and will check them in the morning. The only thing I might change is either taller collars so more length can go in the soil for stability, or wider sections to roll into split tubes.

Update:
It Works! I will, however, make them a bit taller and wider just for my own convenience.

The 99 Percent Declaration

I've been watching the growing "Occupy" movement for several weeks with some curiousity, even though there seemed to be no particular agenda. Now a Working Group that includes pro bono lawyers and university students arrested in NYC for their peaceful demonstrations, have drafted The 99% Declaration. 

I will be following this closely because among other things, it addresses the greed prevalent in corporations that affect the laws of this country via political contributions and influence, which means they affect me. (Think BigAg, BigPharma, etc.)

The Working Group wants to draws up a formal petition of grievances voted by to-be-elected representatives of all congressional districts. The US Constitution provides for a petition of a list of grievances to present to the government, but apparently by Constitutional Law only a duly elected body can legitimize a list of demands from the People. Their proposal is only a starting proposal and sample list of just demands on the government, plus how they hope to accomplish it via elected representatives.

Their posted sample proposal includes a fair tax across the board (and cutting ALL tax loopholes), eliminating the contributions (open or hidden) that buy politicians, and a host of other proposals that sound sensible to me, from the War Machine to Health Care and Jobs. 

I encourage you to read the whole declaration... it's short and to the point. Who knows, it may even gain wide-spread support!