Green and Growing! Summer is here!

As I said in earlier posts, we got a later start this year.  But cooler temps and lots of rain and helped everything really take off.  This past weekend I picked the ingredients of the basket.  One week earlier I picked the turnips and the garlic in top photos.  The yellow cucumbers are organic white pickling cucumbers.  I made 8 quarts of pickles this past weekend and 4 jars of plum jam from our plum tree.
We have covered all the paths in between our growing rows with plastic mulch that was free from Steve's work.  Giant sheets of woven plastic are used to cover lumber when being shipped.  These make great ground cover and we have plenty.
My favorite summer salad has been my Mediterranean Watermelon Salad.  Recipe is below.
Mediterranean Watermelon Salad
1 small watermelon, cut flesh into 1/2 in bite-sized chunks (about 6 cups)
2 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
2 tbsp. Olive oil
3 oz. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves (chiffonier)
Place all ingredients in a large glass or plastic bowl, toss and season with salt and pepper to taste. Done! Chill and serve!

Roasted Baby Turnips and Beets
I usually can't wait until my turnips or beets are huge.  As soon as they start peeking out of the soil I have to pick them.  I made a pot roast a week ago, as it was unseasonably cool and here's what I did.
In a Dutch oven, laid  the piece of chuck or arm roast on the bottom of the pan that was smeared with olive oil, sliced two onions and laid them on top of the meat, then after scrubbing the entire turnip and beet (with greens attached) I lay them over the onions, then sprinkle one packet of dry onion soup mix over the top, pour  1/2 cup red wine and 1/2 cup beef broth in pan, cover and roast for 1 hour at 400 degrees, or 15 minutes in a pressure cooker.  Pull our pan and let sit for 10 minutes.  Fabulous!
You can add potatoes and make a whole meal, but we like to add more veggies and less starch.

A Spring French Feast

 Its Spring and I have an itch to cook up a storm.  We invited a couple of our friends over, who appreciate worldly flavors and cuisines.  First we started with Endive stuffed with Marinated Goat Cheese.  I marinated the goat chees with olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper.  Below is the fish course.  Baked Salmon with Green Goddess Sauce, which was made with Tarragon, Chives, Parsley, Horseradish and a bit of mayo.  The fresh herbs and horseradish really made that sauce pop! A delight in the mouth.

 I served  radishes and baby endives braised in garlic and white wine on the side of the fish.  If you have never tried them braised, try it.  I would suggest just picked fresh radishes, organic of course, then slice them down the center.  Braised in the wine takes away the bitter taste in the greens and gives them a buttery smoky flavor.

 For the main entre I served Coq Au Vin, which is the classic Stewed chicken in red wine.  It was outstanding.  But the best was my  Crème Brulee, I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it because they were gorgeous!  Sunny yellow with perfectly charred sugar on top with raspberries on the side.  Fantastic experiment.  I never made it with duck eggs before.  And I also made a quiche with fresh spinach, bacon and Gruyere, just to have for quick bites.  I make one about every two weeks.  Quiche is great fro breakfast or a quick lunch at work.

Planted and Waiting for Rain

A busy two weekends and we got everything planted.  What a better way to celebrate Mother's Day Weekend but digging in the dirt until exhaustion, then talking on the phone with my sons.  In the photo above we have tomatoes in the back with a few cucumber seeds on the row to the left, vine spinach, fennel and more cucumbers in the foreground.

 In the photo above, we have potatoes planted, (yes, its late this year) and bush and pole beans.  To the far right you see our uncovered hoop house.  The boxes under there were planted in March, so the beautiful veggies in the basket are from there.  Strawberries are ripening as well.  We are harvesting about 1 1/2 lbs. of asparagus every two days.  Radishes, spinach and mustard greens have been yielding well.  The mustard greens we have been using in salad, but I have so much I will cook some as well. I have one bunch of Swiss Chard growing from a stub of a plant from two years ago.  It still has not died and I just picked about 8 beautiful big leaves from it yesterday.  I call it my Super Veggie!

All hens and ducks are happily laying.  We have 7 female ducks laying eggs everyday.  I would have as many chicken eggs each day but a black snake has moved in under the floor of the coop and keeps eating my chicken eggs.  Steve will cover all the holes in the floor and lower walls to make it more difficult for the snake to get in.  I have my pitch fork handy if I see him again!

A Busy And Blessed Easter Weekend!

Friday started the weekend with a trip up north to Legg's Peafowl Farm.  What a glorious morning for a drive.  I picked up Steve's birthday present, a female Indigo Blue Peahen, just a year old, to be a bride for our Peekachoo!  Peekachoo was not too please to be put in a pen with anyone, female or not.  But their honeymoon suite that Steve built is 20 feet by 12 feet for their outside area, which is plenty for a few months.  They need to stay together during the spring and early summer, as this is the mating season and the female would take off looking for a male to mate with.  Peekachoo will be old enough to mate with her next year.  Right now we have to keep the female accustomed to us and our farm.  By the end of July she will be able to cruise the grounds with Peekachoo.  The two peafowl from next door come to visit everyday.  Their female is quite interested in looking at the birds in their pen and the male just struts around and calls out constantly. Its pretty noisy!

The weather is now fabulous, 50's at night and 70's during the day.  I have begun to plant and over the weekend, I picked my first pound of asparagus from the garden.  The strawberry plants took a beating with the drought but they are slowly coming back.  I see a few blooms starting already.
The cold frame box is yielding spinach as well.  I picked my first 1/2 pound yesterday.

While Steve was building the peafowls honeymoon pen, I was taking care of my least favorite chore, cleaning out the chicken coop.  After such a long and cold winter that coop was really full of poop!  4 hours of shoveling and another hour of placing new hay, it now is beautiful and the girls are very happy.  We are getting 7 to 10 eggs a day from our 11 hens.  That's great considering two of the hens are over 3 years old and don't lay very often anymore.

The pear trees are in full bloom and they look great!  Bees are buzzing and the tiny green shoots of plants are looking good.  Monday after Easter, we had about an inch of rain, which helped fill the pond a bit more.  We need another 6 inches or rain, and  hopefully we'll get enough this spring to really fill the pond to keep it from drying out in the summer.

Since Derek is a converted Jew, we made matzo ball soup, with Spinach & diced chicken in the matzo balls, swimming in a saffron onion broth.  We used the fresh spinach and it was fabulous.
It has become one of our Easter traditions along with Lamb Roast and carrot & sweet potatoes roasted with a molasses & bourbon glaze.  Yummy!

Half way through April and its still cold!

Winter just doesn't want to go away.  We are teased with a few nice warm days of 60 degrees or more then Winter pops up again with 30 degree mornings and wind that just won't quit.
I am longing for a nice long growing season, but this year I have not even gotten my onions and potatoes in the ground yet.  My hoop house, which was not covered for winter yet, has 4 large grow boxes.  There I have tiny starts of mustard greens, spinach, a few turnips, a few cauliflower,  lettuce, beets and spigarella (rapa broccoli greens) and some garlic from the fall planting.  So far they have survived two frosts that recently occurred.
The pear trees and apple trees have beautiful blooms this year.  We are happy to see the abundance of blooms after last year receiving no fruit. Although, just a week ago we had bad thunder storms which produced hail the size of peas that blanketed much of our yard.  Luckily it didn't knock off the blooms.  We were lucky.  This is a tricky weather time which one micro burst can destroy an entire fruit crop.

The top photo is our peacock, who when HE was young, we thought we had a female.  I ordered a male to pick up on Friday April 19th, only to find out we had a male and now I need a female.  So I contacted my breeder, who does have a suitable female and will pick HER up on Friday.  I'll post her photo on the next entry.

I just finished reading one of my favorite blogs "The Chicken Chick" who discussed anomalies in egg production.  I thought I would post a recent occurrence of ours.  My Rhode Island Red, who is one of our original hens has these crazy eggs once in while as she is getting old.  The pale beige eggs is a normal grade A large egg and the brown eggs is the size of a tbsp. Cute huh?  I did not use the tiny egg but when I cracked it open, it did have a tiny yolk.

Its Easter this weekend, hopefully we will have some warmth coming our way! 

Polar Vortex Loosening

 

When you have a raging sinus infection and you have to go out to feed your poultry in the barn and chicken coop at 10 below zero, this is fashionable!  Fur and tissue stuffed up your nose to keep it from running.  However, my peacock keeps trying to pull it out of my nose, so I have to be quick!The animals are SO tired of this freezing weather.  Steve and I want to move to Florida!
I have not started any seeds in the basement yet, nor have I ordered anything for this years garden.  Just can't get motivated when its so cold.  I am concentrating on checking propane prices and strategizing my purchases so I don't go broke before the end of winter.  A huge amount of price gouging is going on around here and the companies know who they are.  Now that the kitchen is done and we are cooking with gas, we are worried that it will be used even faster.  But, we monitor prices and buy when its lower and pray for warmer weather!

Another weekend of work done!

This weekend was a short one for Steve, as he had to work on Saturday.  He arrived late in the evening but got up early on Sunday to get started with the plumbing.  He started mapping his plumbing plan of the island, put all the pieces together, cut all the wholes and by afternoon he installed everything.  He took a break in the afternoon to route a bunch of baseboards and window trim so I could prime and paint it all while he was busy working with plumbing.  He also spay painted the hinges for the island cabinet doors.  We want them to match the pewter pulls.
The dark island cabinets have pewter pulls and hinges and the back cabinets,  that are light have the bronze pulls and hinges.  Details, Details, Details that take a lot of time!
 Sunday was a long day then we had dinner with Derek, grilled chicken breasts, roasted asparagus, salad and a rustic berry galette for dessert.  Derek had arrived Saturday with a load of veggies and salad makings.

Monday was Martin Luther King's birthday and our office was closed, Derek didn't have to work too, so we taped off the pantry cabinet area and he sprayed the inside of the pantry door with Chalk-board paint.  We now have a place for Steve to note what food items he is out of or would like for the next shopping trip.  Derek did a great job and it looks great.

I also gave the island cabinet doors one more coat of poly, since they were a bit beat up with all the counter top work going on. Now everything is uniform and consistent in its finish.  They are ready to hang.

Steve will finish the plumbing this week and do electrical for the island next weekend.  Hopefully we can make our first full dinner in the kitchen for the Super Bowl weekend!  I am not holding my breath however.