Sprouts!

Coming soon to a plate at my table.

For the most part, the seed that was started on January 26, 2012 has sprouted. A few are slow to show, like Strawberry Spinach, which I had no luck with last year. I thought all of my spinach would be a no-show but just this morning (February 1, 2012) I could see strong green arches working their way out of the soil. Besides strawberry Spinach the only seed I am still waiting on is Iceburg Lettuce. The only lettuce Jason enjoys is Iceburg. The mini iceburg, Tennisball, has sprouted. For Jason’s sake, I hope it is a true mini iceburg with the taste and crunch he loves.

Just starting to get a little bit leggy.

I do not use gro-lights or heat pads. There is always a battle to make sure the sprouts get enough light to prevent stretching out, known as “getting leggy”. Leggy plants put too much infant energy into finding enough light to feed the plant in the next stage of their life. A leggy plant becomes weak. They dry out quickly, bend over and die in the wind or just run out of steam before they can produce real leaves. My babies are skirting the edge.

Back deck baby nursery just before sunrise.

Everyday I run the tray out to the back deck for light. Every night I bring them back in to protect them from frost. I am a garden girl who really does not have much of a life so moving the tray in and out is not irritating. Sort of breaks up the day of my small world. Even on an overcast day in the Pacific North-west there is more light outside than in the brightest south-east facing window.

Almost time to plant Peas and Fava Beans

February 1, 2012; We have a full 9 hours and 32 minutes of daylight in Everett (from sunrise at 7:36 AM to Sunset at 5:08 PM). All rain all day but the pressure is fixen to change tonight, cold overnight and dry days (not to be confused with sunny, it will still be overcast) for the next 48 hours. The groundhog might see his shadow. 48/32 F.

Starting a few seeds in January

It is not that I dislike buying trays of vegetable starts in early Spring. I actually love doing that. I am not sure if I will have enough money this spring to choose between a tray of spicy, seductive Mesclun Mix or cream for Ray’s coffee. Since I have the seed and it is such a pretty day today, I started a whole flat of salad greens…… and reds and yellows. I am just a bit worried that they will get all leggy on me, but I have to try.

Did you see the boots at the end of the video? Suddenly I remembered I had them out in the trailer. I use them clam digging. Now I am ready to use them in the snow (except that the snow is almost gone)

Duel purpose boots....clam digging and snow chores

You can see the video on my utube channel

The Chicken Master in the Snow

Think hard before you get chickens. No matter what the weather, someone has to go out and take care of them. It is worth it but there are days that you might wish you just bought a dozen eggs at the market instead of a few hens from the feed store. Still, I love having them……and Ray! Thanks Ray.

Housekeeping

The Table: We found it at Value Village. There were 4 chairs but one was broken. Chairs are easy to find.

I sold my big table last summer. We were hoping to get enough money from a garage sale to buy a new (used) car after losing the Honda to a thief. It was not meant to be. Allstate does not consider stolen cars mayhem. Even with full coverage we did not get enough to replace a similar car. Then the Washer and Dryer quit. New elements were not doing the job in the old oven AND the transmission in the Suburban needed expensive repairs. No car, no table, no money. Balancing plates in our laps in front of the TV worked while everyone was working different shifts. I’ve missed sitting down at the table for a meal. I have not been this excited about a simple piece of furniture for a long time.

A perfect fit.

Chris talked about making a table for me. I hope he still does. But talking with him forced me to think about something I wanted to avoid. I do not like to think about what I do not have, only what I do have. Being content comes from the inside. Anytime I feel like something is missing, like meals at a table, I start seeing what I do not have instead of the abundant blessings showered upon me already.

I thought that a round table would be perfect (not very good at the content thing am I) because the dining area light is round. Chris drew up plans for a table top very much like this one. The legs on his were his own pattern that was nearly genius.

Some of the framed pictures from Robe Valley and my old Roll Top Desk

My old desk: The first furniture I ever bought was a roll top desk. It has been sitting in Chris’ room since moving to Everett. So were plastic bins of pictures. He brought them all out shortly before Christmas. After re-arranging the sitting room for a TV Ray bought the house for Channukah I was able to fit the desk and many of the pictures in a nice clutter. See all those blank spaces on the wall?

Pictures that still need a place.

There are so many more pictures that need a place to be. I’m not sure how we got so many pictures but every one is a treasure.

More goes on inside the house in January than outside. Soups and broth simmer on the stove. The scent of baking bread brightens the dark afternoon. Making our plans now that Ray is out of work gets discussed. Thank you YHVH for the table! There is still a few chores that need to be done outside during the cold, wet winter on an urban farm.

Bertha (in the box) and Lil'bit get a little time to graze before being scooted back into the Easter Basket because I get cold.

Chickens need to be tended everyday no matter what the weather. How do I know? Because I was sick in bed for 8 days and only asked the guys to feed my girls and check their water. I clean their bedding daily. After 8 days it was rank in their cute little house.

Every day I still have to go outside with a shovel to clean up after my dogs. I am SO thankful they are small dogs.

Once a week I still turn the little green compost bins. I am sure I could go longer but I like being outside. Sometime this week, maybe while Ray is out filling out all the forms a man looking for work needs to fill out, I should start some winter-sown seeds, a basket of micro greens and press together some soil cubes to start salad and greens in. I will be mad at myself come March if I skip the last task.

Volunteer Snow Peas and the Fava Beans showing signs of life.

Those fava beans I started in November are already coming up.

Fava Bean video

I am not sure if this is good or bad. I guess I’ll find out this spring. While we still have some money I got my seed orders in. That was fun. It feels like the new year is really here once I do that.

Looking for work......so I keep finding jobs for him to do. Not sure that is what he wants.

Pre Christmas Blogs that are worth another look

Happy Holidays!

I just found the blog “In a village called Segure le Chateau” with a lovely post for Rosemary and Pinenut Brittle. I may have to try this with lavender. Ummm

This is the same recipe I’ve used for years now to make Rum Balls. I really like the pic she took.

The Chanukah Story from the powerful pen of John Parsons at Hebrew for Christians.

Catherine at “A Gardener in Progress” wrote about Winter Sowing in a post titled Happy Winter Solstice! I love winter sowing and was actually seduced into trying it last year because of Catherine’s posts.

Spiced Sugar Cookies

• 2 and 1/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, fluff the flour together the flour and spices. Set the spiced flour aside.

• 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
• 1 and 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

In the bowl of your mixer, whip the butter and sugar until the sugar dissolves (about 5 minutes on medium high). Beat in the egg and vanilla until the butter mixture is fluffy and light lemon colored. Work the spiced flour in. Push about 1/3 of the flour in, let it incorporate into the butter and repeat until all the flour is fully absorbed into the dough.

Chill the dough in the refrigerator or freezer. The dough can be refrigerated over  night or frozen until you are ready  to bake. If you choose to freeze the dough it is convenient to divide it into 4 parts, wrap each part in plastic and freeze. The smaller dough balls will thaw and be ready to shape quicker than a whole ball of dough.

Preheat your oven to 375. Roll out the chilled dough on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place the shapes on a greased cookie sheet. You can re-roll left over bits of dough into the next round of dough.

Bake for  8 to 10 minutes until golden. When the cookies come out of the oven let them sit on the cookie sheet for 1 minute. Remove from cookie sheets to a cooling rack to throughly cool.

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 to 4 teaspoons milk or half & half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 to 4 drops of food dye (optional)

Whisk all the glaze ingredients together. If the glaze seems too thin add up to 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar. If the glaze is too thick (the humidity in the air can be a problem) add a tablespoon at a time of milk or cream. You can divide up the glaze into small bowls before you add the dye if you think you might like more than one color.

To glaze the cooled cookies, hold them gently by the edges and dip into the glaze, giving the cookie a twist as you remove the cookie from the glaze. You could also spoon and spread the glaze on the cookies. Set the cookies, glaze side up, on a cooling rack with paper towels under the rack to catch the drips. The cookies should air dry about 40 minutes. Before the glaze dries you can sprinkle on colored sugar or christmas sprinkles.

Winter Dreams

Frosty, foggy sunrise at the Toy Box. December 9, 2011

I have my plans. I am full of ideas for next year and beyond at the Toy Box. Not getting in a fall-winter garden for two years in a row is pushing me. The mill Ray works for is shutting down. I am more determined (or is that desperate) to feed us from what we can grow in the yard YHVH has graciously put us in. We talk of rabbits and fish tanks. Of Cherry trees and potatoes, wood stoves and outdoor kitchens. Expanded rain collection systems and hoop houses. At the back of our mind is the knowledge that we might be forced to walk away from all of this, but until that day we will live where we are, knowing the act of our Lord, the display his power that put us here.

Garden Sage 12/9/11

Days before the holidays, garden catalogs are coming. Cook’s sent me last years catalog, apparently to keep me interested until their 2012 wish book (and truly Cook’s is a wish book) comes out. I am coveting a collection of their raspberries. Three each of black, an early red, a late red and a yellow. Jason and I are the only raspberry lovers in my house so why do I need these? I want to put one of each type into a huge pot the way we did with the collection of three from Flower World. But I also want to put a short double row in the ground where my determinant tomatoes are currently set. Vine berries are one of the few plants that do very well in the sorry excuse for soil we have in the Toy Box.

Marion Berries planted spring 2011 on 12-9-11

Last year Ray and I put in Marion Berries and Logan berries after we noticed that the brambles and small wild black berries do exceptionally well just beyond the fence. The small sample of marion and logan from their first summer were wonderful. I have two more vines of each that I want to find a space for in an already crowded garden. We are desperately missing the jam that I did not make this year because of the new glass top stove. While reading about how to use the automatic oven cleaning feature I came across a blurb in our owners manual that promises me that I can use the glass top for canning under careful conditions. Ray still worries, but I am determined to give it a try. Having nothing but applesauce from 2010 in the pantry and only frosty herbs plus a few leaves of kale and chard in the garden is distressing.

Only a few yellow leaves still cling to the apple tree 12-9-1

The multi-apple tree is doing all right, the sweet cherry gave us a taste of her candy. We are still waiting to taste a single pear. The tree that does exceptionally well is the sour cherry. If we are able (trees are so expensive) we want to add two more sour or pie cherry trees. A dwarf orchard is planned for the front garden. The front garden is only partially fenced. Every dog walker in our community lets their dogs (and we think they are huge dogs) come visit our front lawn. That needs to be prevented with good neighbor fencing. We do not like most of the industrial landscape plants in the front garden. We chat about pulling most of that out and replacing them with my lavenders and some herbal flowers such as ecchenicca (purple cone flower), calendula and stinky but useful valerian. Sunflowers too since this garden tends to be soggy.

The last of the Cilantro under the Clouch (chard and parsley)

I can grow some protein in the Toy Box. We have discovered Fava (Broad) Beans and a small cranberry type of bean, treasured on Whidbey Island for years, known as Rockwell that provide some tasty protine. The nuggets give us eggs. Even so, we are talking about rabbits for meat (and poo that is gold in the compost) and a Talipa aquaponics. Ray actually seems jazzed about fish farming. All of it takes money to start.

Grandpa's old wind mill at sunrise

No one ever really knows what a day will bring. YHVH give us the privilege, the delightful hope, of dreaming about what we will do should he allow. We are sharply aware that the future belongs to our Elohim/God. We want to keep the eyes of our hearts on him. He is far more secure than healthy hens or  a pantry full of jelly.  Things can change in the blink of an eye. One day the mill sent the workers home with a letter informing them that the sale of the mill is all but done save for a few details, get your applications in to the new company. The very next day we found out that everything fell apart. 700 people who depend upon their wage from the mill will join the ranks of the unemployed. The temptation to succumb to depression dogged us most of the day.  As individuals and as a couple who have come through so many things before this, we had to stop and remember that our Lord has made one promise to us. He will never forsake us.

December 9, 2011

We choose hope. It is hope, not presumption that keeps us dreaming about what we can do this coming year. It is the lovingkindness of our YHVH in his son Y’shua that causes us to stand firm (rather than proud) on his promise. We do not know where we will be next year, but we know it will be beyond what we are able to dream. We are blessed, that is all we know for sure. God shows us that he favors us again and again. The rest is just details…..details that do not fall apart in negations.

Web Favorites of the first week of December 2011

Cold, crisp sunrise, December 8, 2011

The “Yarden” made this “Tipsy Turtle Bark” with salted cashews and bourbon, encouraging me to give it a try…..ok.

A newsy post on winter gardening with tips on hoop houses. subsistence Pattern.

From Atlantic Monthly: Can Organic Farming Save the World? No one is asking Agro business to prove that they can but we accept the likes of Monsanto preaching against Organics….without foundation.

Keeper of the Home’s guest writer, “Mindy” gives me “9 Homemade Gift Ideas” some of which I am sure I will be able to do before the Holidays.

From the Urban Homestead, what to do if the flu strikes.

Milkwood is a blog I have just come across. I do love to read books in winter. Here is a list of books that made Eliot Coleman who he is, “The Fertile Dozen“

Other Peoples Posts I liked this last week of November

Good Morning December 1, 2011

Thank you to Kathie at Two Frog Home  for the great idea of posting the posts I have enjoyed this week. These deserve to be shared!

Cathy at “Breathless Expectation” started my Thanksgiving with a beautiful post, “Thanksgiving Bouquet“

from “Two Frog Home” in Montana; If I can find sorghum flour I can make Gluten-Free Chocolate Dipped Mint Cookies for my sister-in-law that I am pretty sure the rest of us will love too! Yeah!

author Ben Hewitt writes of contentment and Wall Street in “The Other 1%”

What to do with K-cups  by Mike the Gardner.

Finally, Jamie Oliver does a veggie Christmas menu that I will do …..during  Chanukkah week.

Dreaming in shades of Tomato

The many colors of tomatoes from The Toy Box. Each of these was harvested in early September when they were bright green.

Since I am from the Pacific North West, I should tell you that the color of tomatos is usually some sort of shinny green. Like most gardeners, I am in denial of my obsession with tomatoes. My family will testify that I plant too many and harvest too few. I am on a quest, I need to do scientific research, I MUST plant many tomatoes until I find the few that excel in my micro climate.

Gardening in Western Washington is a tease for tomato growers. When the weather is nice it seems like we ought to be able to harvest a few red globes. Occasionally we have summers that cause memory loss about our wet cold May, June and Julys that normally keep me in a sweater. Is it just me or were our last two early summers exceptionally cold and wet?

It was during the chilly gardening season of 2010 that I discovered the Siltz Tomato. Siltz is not some tasteless little globe like Oregon Spring or Early Girl. Calm down, I am talking about results from my own garden, your mileage may vary. Siltz is not just one step up from a cherry tomato as so many other early “slicers” seem to be. She was bright red with full tomato flavor and averaged 4 to 6 ounces. One other 2010 discovery was Persimmon, a light orange, persimmon colored tomato. Persimmon is not a heavy producer. It was nearly October before I could taste the fruit from plants started in February but the tomato or two I did harvest were hands down the best I have eaten since learning to love tomatoes from my grandmothers suburban farm in Oak Harbor, Washington.

In 2011 Siltz, Persimmon and a small plum that I have grown for 3 years now, Black Plum Paste, were set into the Toy Box with the other tomatoes I trialed. 2011 was the year I tried every early slicer I could afford from Territorial Seed Company.  All of the new tomatoes were colossal failures. I also tried a large variety of cherry tomatoes. Gold Nugget was the clear winner and will receive an honored place in my garden for years to come.

Honestly, the most important discovery of 2011? Every tomato (except maybe Siltz) needs heat to ripen. The little Black Plum Paste that brags of ripe fruit in 68 days did not have significant ripe fruit any earlier than the Manitoba or Persimmon (80 days) even though the aggressive vine was covered with clusters of green fruit. Cleaning out the garden in mid September brought me to my 2nd happy discovery. The 2011 tomato garden was full of big green tomatoes and large clusters of small tomatoes. My youngest was asking for Fried Green Tomatoes, so I brought them all in to cook up……and then forgot about them. The early green tomatoes rotted in their boxes. The late tomatoes ripened in fragrant shades of pink, red and yellows.

For 2012 I have decided to trial regular full season tomatoes to harvest green in September. The best soup and sauce of the year came from green tomatoes that ripened on the sideboard in my kitchen.