Comfort me!

Winter is back. My schedule is full. My to-do list is a mile long. I need some comfort food! I have already blog-whined about the serious shortage of snacks and desserts in my life. So I decided to check the fridge and the internet for something that might comfort me. Found it!

It's custard! Made from fresh brown eggs from the farmers market, local honey, and goat's milk - all legal ingredients for me!

Kay's Honey Custard

4 eggs
1 1/2 C goat milk
1/2 C honey
scrapings from 1/2 a vanilla bean
pinch of salt
cinnamon for sprinkling

Beat the eggs. Add milk and honey to the eggs in the top of a double boiler. (I sat my small pan in a larger pan of water.) Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Add the salt and vanilla scrapings. Taste. Yum! Pour into custard cups and sprinkle with cinnamon. Chill. Indulge!

Make yourself some custard, and come back to see what's popping up in my yard.

And . . .

Look! It's my first asparagus spear!

I hope we all feel better now!

Awakenings

Earth Hour comes before Earth Day. The whole world goes dark for an hour to bring attention to earthly issues - like power consumption, and the resulting global warming.




I decided to spend Earth Hour enjoying a candlelight dinner. It was yummy! I rather liked the darkness and the quiet. The auto flash on my camera kicked on, so my photo doesn't quite convey the warm ambience.

It was nice to have one quiet hour. Since the temperatue hit 70 a couple of weeks ago, I've been behind on everything. Every Spring feels this way. The gardens, the upcoming chickens, the worm farms, my future crops in the basement greenhouse . . . they all need work. During the growing season, I never get done with my chores. Don't get me wrong - I love summertime! I love growing vegetables! But once the season starts, it takes off like Tony Stewart. Okay, maybe Jimmy Johnson. (Sorry, Tony! Win one for the hometown fans!)

I've made some progress since my last post. I've gathered most of the materials I need for my chicken coop and yard. My radishes and lettuce are popping up in the very first garden. The tomato plants in the basement greenhouse are outgrowing their little pots. I own the peat moss I'll add to the potato patch. I've won a few small battles against the fruit flies that seem to like the kitchen scraps I'm feeding the worms and night crawlers. I'm learning!

Rewards of the season abound! Here's one, er, two:

Look closely. It's like a seek n find picture. There are two small frogs between the rocks! One is in the water. They're shy. This is as close as I could get.

On the Last Day of Winter

It's cold again. A cold front passed through last night, bringing a temporary end to my twice-yearly seasonal wardrobe crisis. I can wear my heavy jeans and ski socks again, after several warm days of digging around for long forgotten lightweight clothing.

Tomorrow I will celebrate the equinox with its promise of new beginnings.

In the spirit of the season, I decided to test drive a new product. Living Harvest Hemp Oil is a naturally gluten free oil. I've had some reactions to olive oil that I suspect was cut with soy oil, so I've been using mostly canola oil. Hemp oil is a nutty flavored finishing oil that offers a wealth of healthy Omega 3 and Omega 6. After talking with Living Harvest, I trust that their oil contains no fillers. And the Omegas might help revive my winter skin!


To appreciate its flavor, I decided to drizzle it on some sauteed halibut that my brother caught on a fishing trip to Alaska. And I invited my mom over for dinner. She'd had a heart procedure earlier in the week, and was feeling good enough for a field trip. (*Note: She had a baffling heart attack last Fall. Previous tests failed to illuminate the cause. The problem was found and fixed. We're jubilant!)


I seasoned my saute pan with some spring onions. Then sauteed the halibut with just a little salt and some of Penzey's shallot salt. Topped it with a drizzle of hemp oil and fresh green onions. The hemp oil added a delightful nutty flavor. It was a fine compliment to the fish. I think this oil would work well in a spinach pesto, which would also be great on halibut. And my spinach seedlings will soon offer me some big savoy leaves to work with. I look forward to trying this oil with some of my spring crops.

Springtime is fickle. Warm yesterday. Cold today. Sun and rain and strong winds. It's an entertaining season for weather radar (my favorite show!)

I've been busy laying the framework for my gardens. I've spent a lot of quality time hauling unmentionables to the compost bin. The little sprouts in the basement greenhouse are starting to look like real vegetable plants. And I planted radish, lettuce and snow pea seeds in the garden over my spring break! It was great to get my hands into the dirt again. It's been a long winter!

My flower gardens have started without any help from me. I love that! Here's a taste of Spring beauty at Kay's Leaning Tree Farm:










Hope you enjoy your first tastes of Spring! It starts tomorrow!

Spring-ing into action!

I spent my Winter relaxing and planning for Spring. At long last, Spring feels imminent. And I realized I have a really long to-do list. Worm farms, chicken preparations and the basement greenhouse all needed attention. Good thing I'm on Spring Break!


My first day off dawned windy and warm. I'd kicked half the blankets off my bed while I slept. I did not walk directly to the thermostat upon awakening. I dressed in a t-shirt and jeans to head to the Winter Farmers Market. My stuck-to-the-window thermometer was already above 70 degrees. We hit 76 later in the afternoon!

I bought some raw milk cheese, and a big jar of honey. I signed up for a class where I'll make my own rain barrel. The market is a fun gathering spot. I got to visit with lots of friends. And my friend, Larry, loaded up the cast-off fence panels I plan to use for my chicken yard. These are industrial strength fences. I can get me some really big chickens!

Back home, I had some help carrying the fence panels down to the barn. Then I got out the wheelbarrow and moved firewood from the driveway to the bonfire area. The neighbor cut down an big maple that was damaged by the tornado six years ago. He couldn't let go of it in the face of all the other destruction at the time. But it had been dropping branches on both our driveways. I kept the immediately burnable logs.


I took this photo when I had moved about half the logs. It's a really big pile now!


My first crocus blooms greeted me on the path!

I added two more shop lights to my basement greenhouse, and a new shelf. I planted about 200 tomato seeds in plug trays. This year's crops will feature many heirloom varieties, my favorite Sungold orange cherry tomatoes, Juliet small Romas, a flat Amish red, beefsteak types in red and yellow, and a couple of new cluster types.


My early lettuces are ready to share greenhouse space.


I planted broccoli raab for gifts to my garden friends. They are just sprouting their first true leaves. I haven't been able to eat broccoli myself for over a year. I might keep one plant for myself, just to see if I've healed enough to tolerate it. I really miss broccoli and cabbage!

I decided to expand my worm farm to include night crawlers. I ordered 500 of the European variety. They eat a lot and get really big. Yeah, I'm thinking about fishing as much as I'm thinking about compost. So I made two more worm farms and added them to the "worm condos."

Daddy Cat had a bit of Spring Fever. He enjoyed a good roll in the backyard spot that will later hold my pool. I know he's happy when he exposes his white belly.
It looks like Snoopy's Happy Dance for cats!

That recipe I promised

The Nascar racing season is underway! Snack foods required!

I always celebrate the the first race of the season (that's Daytona, for you non-race fans) at Rich's Racin' Party. It's a delightful annual event where Rich (and everyone else) show off their culinary skills. This years buffet featured FIVE deep fried turkeys, fancy mac & cheese, hot chicken queso dip, cheesy potatoes, homemade bread, hot mamas, brownies and cherry cheese blintzes.

And my gluten free Scotch eggs. They took MUCH less time to assemble before I had to make my own sausage and my own bread for breadcrumbs. But the extra effort was worth it! I'm glad to have this gf recipe in my repertoire. They can be a great pitch-in dish for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks.

Scotch eggs

1 doz. large eggs, hard boiled and peeled
2 lbs. ground sausage
2 raw eggs, scrambled
1 t dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 C (about) DRY gf bread crumbs
Canola oil for deep frying

Put a piece of waxed paper on your counter. Grab a handful of sausage a little bigger than your egg and flatten it with another piece of waxed paper.


Wrap it around your egg, so the sausage layer is even.


Scramble your 2 eggs and add dry mustard, salt and pepper. Dip your sausage covered eggs in the raw egg and roll in a small bowl of bread crumbs.



Heat your oil in a pan or deep fryer to 350 degrees. Place a couple of the eggs in the oil. (Note: if you used moist bread crumbs, the oil will boil over.) I cooked my eggs for about 8 minutes, turning to make sure the browning was even. Then I put them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels, and put them in the over (at 350) for about 10 minutes. You can cut one open to see of the sausage is done. You don't want raw sausage next to the egg.


Cut the eggs in quarters for serving. Scotch eggs can be served hot, cold or at room temperature.


I made a dipping sauce for mine with mayonnaise, grainy mustard, cayenne and paprika. It was well received.


And here's the THIRD bloom from my amaryllis! Hey, it's all I've got in February. Maybe in another week or so I'll have some basement greenhouse vegetable sprouts to show you.

Kay's Leaning Tree WORM Farm!

The Red Wigglers arrived in Wednesday's mail! Who knew two thousand worms would fit in my mailbox?! I was looking for a big box on my porch.

I had gathered all my materials, but thought I had a couple more days for construction. So I was drilling holes and putting things together until after midnight on Wednesday. I wore out two power packs on my cordless drill.

Since this is my first worm farming experiment, I wanted to test several types of containers. I have two large farms, and three different smaller ones. I think I have about 800-900 worms in each of the big tubs, and 50-100 in the small ones. I didn't count them, of course. It was a calculated guessing game.

I decided to use stack systems to make harvesting my worm castings easier. When the worms have digested all the food and bedding in the bottom layer, I can add another tub or bucket (with holes drilled in the bottom) above it. The worms will migrate up to the new layer for fresh food. Their original tub will contain the rich compost I can add to my gardens, and I won't have to sort out all the worms. I really hope it works!

Here's the largest of the small worm farms. I used recycled 2 gallon buckets. These buckets are delivered to my Butler kitchen a couple of times a month, so I have a stack of them. When nested, there's about 2" of space between the bottoms of the buckets. So that gives me a little air space.


I drilled a line of air holes in the side of the bucket, just below the line where the next bucket will nest.


Then I drilled drip/air holes in the bottom of the second bucket, and air holes in the lid. I used a paint scraper to clean off the drilled holes, so they wouldn't have sharp edges. A file might have worked better, but I don't have one.

The worm homestead was done. Time for food and furnishings. I used shredded newspaper and cardboard and a few crunched leaves for the bottom bedding. I sprayed it down with a mister until everything was about as damp as a wrung out sponge. Then I added a sprinkling of garden soil. Worms need a little grit so their gizzards can work on the food grinding process.

The used food layer included egg shells, coffee grounds, apple peel, potato peel, strawberry tops and mushroom stems. I froze the peels and tops to help break them down. I let them get back to room temperature before adding them to the worm condo.

Welcome to your new home, Red Wigglers! I added the worms on top of the food. Then another layer of newspaper and cardboard bedding, misted and damp.

Not only to I get to generate my own organic compost, but I'm cutting down on the trash I send to the landfill.

Now I have a whole worm neighborhood! I'll move Wormland to the basement eventually. It's in my breakfast room right now. I'm still admiring my work. In about three months, I hope to have some worm castings to make my tomato plants big and strong. In the meantime, any liquid that drips out can be used to fertilize my houseplants.

Speaking of houseplants, this amarylis just bloomed for a second time! I got it for a Christmas present in 2007. It bloomed last year and spent the summer outside. I've never had one last this long and bloom again.

I promise my next post will contain a recipe. I've been eating cave man food for a while. Too dull for most of you. But NASCAR season starts with the Daytona race on Sunday. Rich will be deep frying turkeys and I'm making gluten free Scotch eggs to take along to the party. With racin' underway, Spring can't be far off!


My green onions have sprouted. I'm ready for Spring!

Thyme is on my side

Guess I wasn't the only one waiting for the thaw. These thyme sprigs popped out of the melting snow to greet me.

Darn groundhog! Okay, so we've got six more weeks of winter. I've had a lot of winter in the past 10 days! After the snow day of my last post, I shoveled many sidewalks many times, tended my frozen pond, had some very expensive work done on my minivan, shivered through several sub-zero nights, got six more inches of snow (no snow day, rats!) and took Daddy Cat to the vet for some mouth surgery. He's fine and has already forgiven me.

And . . . I called Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. My 2000 Red Wigglers are on their way! I've made a big worm farm out of three Rubbermaid tubs. This one will stay in my basement. For my own amusement, I think I'll also have a smaller worm farm in the kitchen. I'll build it out of cast-off buckets. Fresh fruit salad is delivered to the sorority house in these buckets. I couldn't bear to throw them out. Now I'm glad I kept them.

The BIG THAW started today. It was probably in the 50's. I had the back door open most of the afternoon. We'll hit 60 degrees next week. Naturally, my thoughts turned to spring.

In Indiana (zone 5) we can plant lettuce in March, providing the ground isn't frozen. Lettuce can endure cold nights that are above freezing. So I dug out my planting plug trays and planted lettuce seeds, spinach seeds and leek seeds. I planted some bunching green onion seeds about a week ago. They've sprouted already. I'll move my little plants outside on warm days as soon as weather permits, bringing them in at night when temps drop below freezing. For sprouting, I use old disposable catering trays with clear lids for my indoor greenhouses. When the plants get bigger, they don't need the lids anymore. I put the trays under shop lights in my basement.

I planted several different lettuces. I found a bibb mix that had red and green varieties. I also planted seeds from a mesclun mix and some Romaine. My favorite red oak leaf is Brunia, so I planted some of that, too. I'm looking forward to salad days!

I'll be placing my order for summer crop seeds soon. I'm still studying my seed catalogs and looking for weird offerings. I'll plant my summer crop seeds in the basement greenhouse over Spring Break in early March.

Then I'll start thinking about potatoes and peas, which can be planted outdoors on Good Friday, weather permitting. That's April 10 this year.

(Melissa - has this banished your winter doldrums? Think Spring!)