Pears!

Pears are wonderful, but like apples, they are a more fall-like (or near fall) fruit, that usually cannot be grown in Georgia.

But, someone new at work moved into a house with a HUGE pear tree, and the pears are ripe and falling off the tree. So, we went over and I got about a dozen good pears before the skys opened up to an enormous thunderstorm. So, this morning, I canned a half dozen pints of pears, in a syrup made with 4 cups of water, a cup of local honey, and a cup of granulated sugar.

They look pretty, and we will find out how good they taste soon.

Garden Planning and Books

The green beans have died. We're getting a bit of drought in Atlanta this year. The onions died from the summer heat, as they do, and it is August.

I picked up seeds to get a few things lasting through the fall.

On the docket once I do some weeding is: new beans (for a late crop or two - for canning), snow peas, beets, and broccoli, although I haven't had much luck yet.

I've been doing more reading on local living.

A new book just came out, called "Canning for a New Generation" From looking at it at Borders, it seems to have some interesting recipes that are better than most of them that are heavy sugar around a little fruit. I'm going to order it, and the author will be at the Decatur Book Festival. That is one of my favorite free festivals in Atlanta.

The book Plenty is a great read about a couple in British Columbia who decide to eat local for a year. In many ways, it launched a bunch of local food movements. Great read and many of the issues and challenges are universal throughout North America.

I am about halfway done with Farewell, My Subaru. This guy is a little crazy, but the challenges he is facing are interesting, and written in a very humorous demeanor.

Read the books, especially the last two. They really bring light to the thoughts of eating local and the challenges in today's world. Did you know that an average tomato travels 1500 miles to get to your plate. That is further than most people travel. Not to mention that most climates can grow tomatoes at least in the summer.

On one last note, why is it that the stores in Georgia (the Peach State), where the peaches taste the best and are currently in season, have decided to stock peaches from New Jersey, California, and South Carolina?

Muscadine Grapes are wonderful

For those of you that don't realize it, the southeastern US is a bit too hot to grow normal varieties of grapes. Only one variety really does well, the muscadine.

Many wineries have recently popped up throughout Georgia, where they grow mainly muscadines. The flavors of the wine tend to be a little sweeter, but usually taste pretty good. I found muscadines at the Dekalb Farmer's Market a week and a half ago marked 20% off, and with some family coming in town, I thought that I would include them on the traditional fruit tray. The family liked them and I did too, so I bought another bag this week.

I made grape jam with them, and it is amazing. I decided to try a version of a recipe that uses honey instead of sugar, as I thought that these sweeter grapes should take the center stage. Here's the recipe.

Muscadine Jam with Honey, a delicious Southern Jam.

1.5 pounds of muscadine grapes, de-stemmed and de-seeded.
1.5 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 c honey (Use that tupelo honey from Georgia for a great flavor)
1 package Sure Jell for reduced sugar recipes (probably could get by with less than this)

After removing stems and seeds from muscadines, puree them with a food processor. Bring to a simmer and then add the lemon juice, honey, and a dash of salt. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Put in sterile jars and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Now, I am not one to say this often, but I honestly believe that this is the best grape jam ever made by a human. Seriously. My wife almost never likes jam on things and after I made her try a bite, she wanted more for her own piece of bread.

Peaches, take two

Whole Foods can be a great resource for local eating. Sometimes.

The problem is that they can also be renamed "Whole Paycheck". It isn't a sustainable grocery location for us.

BUT -

Every now and then, they have a great sale, and when they do, you luck out.

Lane Orchards partnered and offered peaches at 49cents a pound.

I bout 13.3 pounds of peaches. I made 10 pints of canned peaches, which I will enjoy in the late fall through winter.

That filled the canner, and I still had about 5 pounds left. So...

I made a batch of peach conserves. Here's the recipe - and it is great over french toast made with a baguette, milk, and some local eggs.

Peach Conserves.

3-4 pounds of fresh, ripe peaches, skinned, sliced, and pitted.
1 cup of golden raisins (or if you prefer, regular raisins; or a mixture if you realize while making it you don't have enough golden raisins; oops)
1.25 cups sugar.
0.75 cups lemon juice
1.5 tbsp cinnamon

Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes. When it thickens and has a more gel-like texture in the syrup and the peach slices are small.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Makes about 4-5 8-ounce jars.

Serve over french toast for a wonderful breakfast.

An entirely local dinner.

OK, been busy lately, and that means I forget or procrastinate on the blog. This was a few weeks ago.

Dinner was:

Fresh made bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes, and onions from the garden. A little sea salt, fresh basil and oregano, and garlic for seasoning.

That went on top of a baguette that was locally made (although not with local flour) at the Dekalb Farmer's Market. I also picked up fresh made pasta there.

On the side were summer squash that were breaded and baked and a homemade pesto made with that garden basil for the pasta.

An interesting link about local produce.

At least in Georgia, if all residents ate $10 of local produce per week, it would mean billions in local economy.

Check this link out.

Cheers!

Peaches, tasty peaches

I am finally taking the time to post what I made with that huge box of peaches from last weekend.

First off, while I enjoyed Gardner Farms, I would do something differently when/if I go back for peaches. They essentially poured the peaches from the picking bucket into the box. I would move them myself next time. They moved them so fast that most of them got at least a little bruise which caused ~25% of them to mold before I got to them. If I had placed them in the box myself, individually rather than by pouring them, I think the number would be closer to 5%.

Anyways, I proceeded to make peach salsa. Unfortunately, I could not find the recipe I used last year. Most peach salsa recipes are for a peach base, whereas the one I used last year was about half tomato and half peach based. With that in mind, I made my own recipe and then proceeded to pressure can it. It could probably be done with a boiling water bath, but this ensured that it would be ok. Here is my recipe:

Peach Salsa

8 cups pureed peaches

8 cups pureed Roma tomatoes

4 large red peppers (pureed)

2 green poblano peppers (pureed)

3 green habanero peppers (pureed)

6 tbsp local honey - in Georgia, my favorite is Tupelo honey.

1.5 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp granulated garlic

1 tbsp cayenne pepper (dehydrated and made from last year's garden)

1 cup vinegar (half white, half apple cider)

3 bunches of cilantro

1/2 cup sugar

Puree all things that begin large, and stir together. Cook together until it is the consistency of a thinner salsa. Pressure can in pint jars at 15 lbs pressure for 15 minutes. This made 11 pints for me. Cooking down more/less will change the amount you get.

A note on the tupelo honey, from wisegeek.com

Tupelo honey includes table and baking grades of honey made from the blossoms of the tupelo gum tree, nyssa aquatica. Thetupelo gum tree grows in flooded forest areas in states such as Florida, Louisiana, Georgia and Virginia as well as along the Mississippi River, but tupelo honey is mainly only produced commercially in areas along the Choctawhatchee, Apalachicola and Ochlockonee rivers. Tupelo honey made from the white tupelo gum tree, nyssa ogeche, is top quality table honey and is valued for its uniquely delicious flavor and its inability to granulate.

We bought some local Tupelo honey a few years back at a festival from a local honey producer. It is amazing in its taste and flavor, and we haven't bought much else in the last few years. This will be something that we will miss when we leave the south.

I also made peach Barbecue Sauce. I used the recipe in the Big Book of Canning/Preserving, and it is the only recipe online that I could find. It made about 5 pints and came out a little spicy. I think my homemade cayenne spice gives more kick than most store bought cayenne.

Today, I picked up some Georgia Peaches (and more tupelo honey!) at the Farmer's Market, and a pie is in the oven. I'm taking it with me to share tonight at a thing for work. I'm sure we will all enjoy it.

I'm back, and just in time for the good stuff!

A long trip to Arizona for work... but I'm back!

So, while I was gone, the first two tomatoes ripened. They are an heirloom variety called 'Striped Cavern'. I stuffed them with sauteed peppers, onions, fresh (from the garden) basil, and corn, baked at 400F for about 10 minutes, and we enjoyed stuffed tomatoes. We served it with rice, broccoli, and italian soysage. Tasty. [Sorry if my one word sentences bother you.]

When I got home, two more yellow squash were ready, with a white scalloped squash not far behind. Another 1/3 of a gallon of green beans... with a new big harvest probably next weekend, when I will likely can a batch. The onions are almost ready to die... it has gotten too hot for them. Dang. So, tomorrow or the next day, I will have to dig them all up, freeze some, use some with the beans or squash, etc. I love onions, even if they are small.

This morning I went to Gardner Farms in Locust Grove, which is less than 40 miles from home. They have a pick your own for peaches, blueberries, and blackberries. Unfortunately, blackberries were getting in season when I left, peaked while I was gone, and are gone from pick your own farms in Georgia now that I am back. But on a happy note, Kroger had a sale on Georgia grown blackberries this week. $1 for 6 ounces of berries. I bought 5 containers, and already made some sugar free jam (same recipe as the strawberry mentioned previously, but using blackberries instead).

I picked peaches (they sell a 4.5 gallon bucket for $12, which is WAY cheap). When I called to see what they had today, they told me it was the last day for pick your own peaches. I then decided to go immediately... so quick I forgot to bring cash. Fortunately, there was an Ingles down the road and I got a fresh Georgia watermelon for $4, with $30 back to get peaches, blueberries, and shop in their little store.

I also picked blueberries. I am not a huge fan of blueberries, and I am not sure why. For me, they have to be the really big juicy ones that are really fresh, or I'm just not at all interested. They were mainly for my sweetheart, and for $4, I got about a quart or so of berries, and as she and I do not like them baked in anything, frozen, or anything but maybe mixed with yogurt, that was more than enough.

They had a little "roadside" stand, where I bought 4 good sized cucumbers ($2), a medium sized eggplant ($1), and a small basket with two bell peppers and a bunch of banana peppers (50 cents). I think that was a great deal for about $20.

So, all in all, this is all the local produce (minus the watermelon) that we have right now...

End of June Garden Update

Wow, lots to update, just on the garden.

1. Carrots. I've thinned them, but there are still a few that are clumping. I pulled one today (smallest of a large clump), and it was 4.5in long! They are growing well. (Somedays, you have to take a measuring tape with you to photograph stuff).

2. Tomatoes. Wow, they are growing great. I had to use bamboo stakes to extend the height of my tomato cages! The tallest, a Red Plum Variety, measures in at 6ft, 1 in. It's the tallest member of our family. The vines all are making green tomatoes, and I hope they will wait to ripen until I get back in town a week from Tuesday.

3.Beans. I think I am close to 1.7gallons of snap beans collected. That's a lot. Maybe I planted too many.

4. Summer Squash. The battle is on, and I am much more on the winning side than I was last year. That's right. Squash bugs. Or, at least what I am calling squash bugs. (I think there are about ten+ kinds of bugs that all do the same thing to squash vines - kill them. Last year, I lost all my vines after only a few squash. This year, I have already harvested that many squash (Did you see my harvest counter to the left?) and the vines are still healthy! I am going out 2-3 times per week, picking off all the bugs I can find, and then killing them with my foot. Spraying water laced with pepper and garlic helps deter them, and this week I started putting small containers with a mixture of 2 tbsp molasses, a splash of cider vinegar, and a pint of water out. It attracts some of them, and then they get stuck in the water. But, we have squash growing!

5. Berries. I have a few berry plants, and my wife and I have been enjoying the occasional fresh raspberry, blackberry, or strawberry. There's never enough at once to make anything, but they taste good. But, since they are young plants, the berries are all small...

6. Peppers. The bell pepper plants are slowly growing, and maybe starting to show signs of peppers. One of the cayenne pepper plants is amazing. It must have 50 baby peppers on it... yum, spicy goodness.

7. Herbs. Well, the herbs are growing. The large amount of basil I planted seems to be sprouting and doing well. Rosemary, parsley, oregano... They will go well with those tomatoes!

Well, there is bound to be a huge harvest soon. I'll keep you posted!

Bean Sprouts!

First off, I know that the number of posts this week has been higher than it has been in quite a while - things are in season and I am keeping busy. Secondly, I read an interesting article this afternoon. Less than 5% of the U.S.A.'s food economy is local based (defined as within 400 miles). Think about that - on average 95% of the food you consume has traveled more than 400 miles with preservatives and the farmers have to sell their crops for less so that they can keep the farms open. The thought is somewhat disturbing to me, I don't know about you. I love that the food I am blogging about, which may constitute ~25% or more of our diet (at least during the peak months this year) is local - usually within 50-100 miles. The food is fresher and, I think, tastier.

Anyways, the Dekalb Farmer's Market allows us to find some produce that is local - usually it is just something that says it is from 'Georgia'. They are great in that most everything is either labeled from the country it is from, or for U.S. produce, the state it was grown in.

My wife and I love making stir frys, as evidenced in the posts I made about snow peas. We almost always include bean sprouts. We can't really tell the difference between the fresh ones that we buy and the canned ones in the store. Where we can tell the difference is the price. A small can of bean sprouts costs about a dollar and a half. The market sells them for pretty cheap. Enough for a stir fry costs less than 50 cents. So, after a little research, I realized that I could can some bean sprouts (pressure can) for about 1/5 or less than the canned ones from the store. Secondly, the sprouts from the market almost always go bad after two days (at which point sometimes we haven't gotten to make our stir fry).

Well, we bought bean sprouts yesterday at the market. For $2.11, plus the price of the canning lids (<$2), I made 10 pints of bean sprouts (3.5 pounds of sprouts). I can't wait to try them. All that is in them is bean sprouts (packed full while raw), water (boiling when poured over), and 1/2 tsp of sea salt (recommended amount for green beans).

I'll post with a comment on how they taste soon. Hopefully, this weekend, I'll be able to post a garden update, with pictures. I really need to weed the garden.

Cherrypalooza

We went cherry picking. Mercier Orchards (mentioned with strawberries) has cherries. Correction, they have amazingly delicious addicting cherries. If you live in Atlanta, it is worth the drive. Go. Now. Quit reading this and go eat cherries that you pick there - but hurry - they are only doing a Upick on them this weekend. Then, you have to wait until next year, and dream of their delicious cherries that you didn't go pick this year.

They have a 'Golden White' or 'White Gold' - it is amazing and tastes nearly identical to Ranier Cherries. Raniers (and these are great) because they have an essence of cherry flavor without the strength of the normal cherry flavor.

OK, so we picked cherries (obviously). What do you do with nearly 10 pounds of cherries? (It was going to be about half that but then my wife admitted she was actually having fun, and that they were delicious, so she wanted more.)

1. Make Cherry Jam

2. Make Maraschino Cherries

3. Make a Cherry and Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

4. Make Cherry Muffins

The how-to and the break down.

First - buy a cherry pitter. This little kitchen gadget makes doing stuff with cherries quicker, easier, and therefore less stressful and more fun.

1. Make cherry jam following the directions in the Sure-Jell box (pink box for less sugar). Cherry Jam is delicious.

2. Maraschino cherries are difficult. NPR had an article about how to make them and recipes recently. Their recipe for the non-alcoholic ones is very similar to the recipe for 'Cherries in Syrup' from the home preserving book I have. So, I used their recipe, subbing 1/2 cup cherry juice (from running some cherries through a food mill) for the 1/2 cup grape juice they called for, and canned it using the directions for the normal cherry recipe (25 minutes in a boiling water bath). They look pretty, and we may try them tonight.

3. This is simply amazing. Easy too. Make one.

4. I made a half batch, which was still 14 muffins.

Cherry Muffins

4 c flour

1 c sugar (or Splenda)

2 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix these ingredients.

1 c melted butter or margarine

1 c milk

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 c cherries

Mix these in separate bowl.

Mix two bowls of ingredients and portion into muffin pans. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

I still have cherries left. I will eat some, probably freeze some, and we'll share some. It was a lot of fun, and these recipes are delicious ways to use cherries.

Remembering my mother's summer favorite - Yellow Squash Muffins

For those of you that read yesterday's post - I harvested my FIRST squash, a medium large size yellow squash. It is perfect, or rather was. :)

My mom was quite a chef and always loved getting fresh produce from the farm. When I was young, she modified some recipes and made yellow squash muffins. They remain one of my favorite muffins that I can easily make at home. Therefore, I made a small batch tonight.

Yellow Squash Muffins

2-3 medium-large sized yellow squash, grated with a cheese grater.

2 eggs (I got mine locally)

1 c melted butter/margarine

1 c sugar (or you can replace with Splenda)

3 c flour

1 tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Combine dry ingredients and make a 'well' in the center. Add squash and other wet ingredients. Mix until all dry ingredients are moist. Put into muffin pans that are either lined with paper liners or sprayed well with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes at 375F.

Eat.

Enjoy.

Repeat all summer.

Garden Harvest this Evening

I just picked a gallon of snap beans (mixture of green, yellow, and purple), half a gallon of snow peas (4th harvest), and the first yellow squash. I also pulled an onion, and I would venture to say that they are about half grown.

YUM!

My wife is making dinner, of which I am told beans are a key player. I still need to take the shells off of the snow peas, as these are a little past their prime, being as it is getting way too hot for them.

Coming soon: What to do when you pick 10 pounds of cherries at the orchard...

Strawberries from Mercier Orchards; Blue Ridge, GA

We took a long weekend this week. Our three year wedding anniversary is coming up, and my sweetie got a long weekend this week, so we went to North Georgia.

Well, on Saturday night, my wife asked if there was anywhere by where we were to go and pick strawberries. We ended up not going a few weeks ago and opted to go later. Well, courtesy of pickyourown.org, I found out that an orchard (that I had heard great things about their products and bakery - Mercier Orchards) had a pick your own strawberry field! Second plus, it would only take 15 minutes to get there from where we were staying. The weather was pretty bad on Sunday (major downpour followed by sunshine, switching every hour), so we opted to go on Monday on our way out of town. Sigh, they only let you pick your own on Saturday and Sunday!!! I feel cheated.

Anyways, they had 1 gallon buckets for $12 or 2 for $20, so we bought two as this was the same price as the ones available with pick your own closer to home. They had a very nice store that has a large selection of souvenirs, jams and jellies, cider available out of season (as they freeze some when it is fresh).

I'm just going to write about some SUGAR FREE* STRAWBERRY JAM that I made tonight.

*You add no sugar to this recipe, but rather use Splenda. Of course, strawberries have naturally occurring sugar in them, but that is a minor technicality.

Needed:

Strawberries

Splenda

The reduced sugar Sure-Jell Pectin (made by Kraft)

Water

Jars, lids, canner, patience

You start by buying strawberries. Obviously, I bought a bunch from Mercier Orchards.

We bought two buckets of strawberries this size. They are delicious.

Cut the tops off of some berries and wash them.

Prepare to can. Get two pots of water. One is smaller, and you use it to boil the jars in order to sanitize them and the lids. The other is your canning pot. While I use a pressure canner for all my canning, pressure isn't necessary for this recipe (and shouldn't be used with strawberries as far as I can tell from all strawberry canning recipes I have found).

Jars and supplies.

Sure-Jell for a low sugar jam/jelly and Ball Fruit Fresh.

I used some Ball Fruit Fresh (3/4 tsp) when I made this recipe. The lack of sugar turned a triple berry jam (strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries) and a sugar free peach jam that I made last year turn a darker color. While the jam still tastes good, it doesn't look as appealing to the eye. This adds a little Vitamin C to the recipe and doesn't affect the flavor.

So, how to make the jam. You need 3 cups of finely chopped berries. I chopped them with a hand chopper from IKEA ($8) which will work for small amounts of chopping. I hate to use a food processor for these, as it pulverizes the fruit more.

Chopper and the chopped berries. Maybe I spilled a little juice on the counter.

You put the berries, 3/4 cup of water, the 3/4 tsp of the Fruit Fresh (if desired), and the Sure-Jell in a sauce pan and bring it to a rolling boil for 1 minute.

Berries warming up before the one minute boil.

Remove from heat. Add Splenda (either 12 packets or 1/2 cup granulated) and stir.

Put jam into hot jars and put two piece lids on. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. When finished, take jars out and allow to cool overnight. I got 3 8-ounce jars and 4 4-ounce jars from this recipe.

Finished product.

I will post more later about other things I do with these strawberries. They are tasty, and I am sure I will be freezing some. I have started some preserves, which are not sugar free, and I may try some other jams/jellies/ice cream toppings soon. Keep checking back.

Note: The recipe was from the Sure-Jell box and can be found here. Only 5 calories per tablespoon. A sugar free and diet friendly jam. Yum.

Snow Peas!

They have arrived and I have had small harvests for two dinners.

Moral of the story - the Ferry Morse Snow Peas (one packet) is enough to have harvests every 5 or so days for a dinner but in order to have enough for freezing, you would need many more plants. I just don't have enough room for that.

So, we have been having home made stir fry! Yum. My sweetie makes the best stir fry at home that I think I ever have had. Add to that snow peas that are not even 5 minutes off the vine, and it was delicious. She made some before we left on a long weekend (more on that to come soon!) and I ate until my stomach hurt. Should not have done that.

Some pics:

Freshly picked snow peas. First harvest.

Stir Fry my sweetie made, and a snow pea about to get eaten.

I will definitely plant these again. They have a decent yield, and are delicious. Most important thing about peas is that you need to plant them early - I planted these in either late January or early February. I didn't have much luck last year, and I know that the weather that makes it too hot for the plants to live is just around the corner, bringing with it tomatoes, peppers, beans, blackberries, squash, pick your own peaches, etc. Ahh, fresh local food. So good...

coming soon - freshly picked strawberries from North Georgia.

Strawberries!!!

It is officially strawberry season in Georgia. We haven't gone to pick our own yet, but when we went to the Dekalb Farmer's Market last night - they had Georgia Strawberries for $6 per half flat (that's 5 pounds of berries). I bought a half flat. We ate some last night, they were good.

Today I experimented in the kitchen with 4 different recipes involving strawberries. I felt like an Iron Chef on Food Network, on Battle Strawberry, but I didn't do it all in an hour.

First, I made another fruit rollup. It is in the dehydrator right now, and I mixed some strawberry banana V8 Splash in with it. I hope it comes out a little sweeter than the last. The Motts no-sugar-added Apple White Grape Juice made the last one too tart for my wife's taste.

Secondly, I have made a lot of different kinds of fresh salsa over the years. I can make a great tomato salsa, a good pineapple one, and I have also made good peach and tomatilla varieties. So - I decided to make a strawberry salsa. I incorporated a serrano pepper, a thai green chili (cayenne) pepper, some purple cayenne pepper I ground up myself last year, cilantro and strawberries. I think it is good, although it is (not surprisingly) quite sweet. But a sweet vs. spicy battle in the condiment makes it quite tasty.

Those were the easy ones. I also made two things that are more complicated - preserves and a cake. The cake looks delicious and is trying my self power. I promised my wife that I wouldn't eat it while she was away at her meeting. We'll take it to a house-warming party this evening.

The recipe is from grouprecipes.com:

1 cup butter

1 3/4 cup sugar

5 egg whites

2 teaspoon strawberry extract

2 cups pureed fresh strawberries

1/2 cup sour cream

3 cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease and flour three 9" cake pans.

In a large mixing bowl,beat sugar and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Add strawberry extract,pureed strawberries,and sour cream. Beat until combined.

In a medium mixing bowl,sift together flour,baking powder,soda,and salt.

Gradually add to butter mixture,beating until combined.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into batter.

Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then turn out onto wire racks.

Cool completely.

I then made a basic glaze (2 tsp warm milk + 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar whisked together) and mixed it with about 6 finely chopped strawberries. I baked it in a bundt pan and put the glaze over top. (took a double batch of the glaze for the bundt cake and two mini bundt cakes - and I only made about 2/3 of the recipe!)

I also got adventurous and decided to make some 'Strawberry Margarita Preserves' from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It tastes good. Of course, strawberries and tequila - who could argue with that?

I won't post that recipe, but it was good. Strawberries and Apples, cooked down and then you add tequila at the end (technically it calls for orange liquor, but we didn't have any, so I subbed tequila for that as well).

That tastes good, especially on a fresh loaf of sourdough bread that my wife made last night.

That's it for now - more to come soon!

Regional Strawberries

Local is great, followed closely by regional. For (Atlanta,) Georgia, regional (instead of local), could mean Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina or Florida. Areas that are somewhat close, but not an hour away.

There was an unusual end to the winter. A late cold snap this year ended up hurting the Florida strawberry crops, delaying them a little while. This was devastating to some Florida farmers, causing the price to harvest the crops to be higher than the resale value! Indeed, one farm opened up for a free pick-your-own day. I wish it was closer.

Publix partnered with some farmers to keep them from tilling the crops over and as a result had a HUGE sale on Florida (regional) strawberries this week. A 32 ounce container was only $2.50. Yes, you read that right. We're planning on going to a strawberry farm (maybe next weekend? - stay tuned) and so we bought a package, with the intention of seeing what we could do with the dehydrator and some strawberries.

Here's my new dehydrator - I bought it on craigslist for $20 about a month ago. Apparently the woman wanted to make freeze dried fruit, and didn't realize this didn't do that... excellent, I win. My old one got fried in an electrical problem at our house last year.

So, here's the two things I did today with my new little toy.

1. You can slice them, keep them in the dehydrator for a while, and once the water is gone, you have a delicious snack. Keep them in a glass jar (they keep better).

Yum - and there's a few more that need a little more time. I'm positive that we'll want more of these after we go strawberry pickin in a week or so.

2. I tried to make fruit rollups! I couldn't get the shapes, like in the ones we had when I was a kid, to work out though. I used a food processor to puree some berries, and then I added some Mott's Apple White Grape Juice (like 3 cap-fulls) to about 15 berries. You pour the mixture on the fruit rollup try (I have 3) and run it for a while...

The mixture peels off and you eat some and put some in a ziploc bag for later...

It's not as pretty as the pre-packaged stuff and it won't last as long. I like it- my wife thinks I need to use the juice that isn't low in sugar next time (maybe it is a little bitter), but it is good. And voila, there's a nice snack for me at work. Yum...

And by the way, not only is strawberry pickin comin up... my strawberry plants in my pot are starting to bloom and look like they will make some fruit, so keep watchin for when I make strawberry jam, freeze some berries, and figure out a good smoothie recipe, and maybe a strawberry pie!

It's Planting Time!

Bandit's partner in crime is, I believe, no longer part of this world. I never knew a rat could eat that much poison.

I have been planting the garden. YAY!

I planted some sunflowers that I started from seed in the neighbor's greenhouse. I also planted green, yellow, and burgundy beans (seeds). All of these were bush beans, as pole beans a) go crazy and b) don't taste as good. Then I planted some sweet dumpling squash, a lot of zucchini, yellow squash, and a few scalloped squash that I started in the last two weeks. I also planted some cayenne peppers, heirloom tomatoes, and started planting bell peppers.

So, I would like to send a kudos to the Oakhurst Community Garden. I went to their annual plant sale with my beautiful wife today. I got 5 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, two varieties of peppers, red basil, and two eggplants. I like how all their plants are only $1 or $2. I can't believe that if I go to Lowe's or Home Depot, plant prices surge to $3.50 per plant! And those don't taste as good!

I think I still need more bell pepper plants and jalapenos, but the rest of the garden is set. Only a few more plants to plant, and we are all planted for the summer.

I'll post some pictures in the next few days when it isn't dark as I remember to take pictures.

Big Updates (It's been a while, sorry!)

Update 1:

I caught a varmint in the basement. It was a small female rat who now lives a mile away in a forest-y creek. She no longer eats my plants. My picture did not come out. However, Little Ms Bandit seems to have had a companion. I had the no-kill trap to hopefully catch them, but alas, he (or she) decided that the rat poison looked good, and ate about 6-8 packs of poison. I am sure Little Ms Bandit's partner in crime (the crime being eating my seedlings) is no longer around, but several traps are set to hopefully catch any more critters who eat my pepper plants, flowers, and tomatoes.

While in the pursuit of Bandit, I put clear plastic around the planters of seedlings, making them small greenhouses. Upside: Bandit didn't eat my sprouting tomatoes. Downside: A little bit of white mold growing on the newspaper pots...

Real upside: A lot of baby plants which will hopefully grow quickly so I can put them outside in the garden in a few weeks. I've brought the largest ones inside to get sunlight in the south-side window and stay away from the critters.

Yay, tomatoes growing... it makes me happy.

Update Number 2.

I've began planting things in the garden. I bought a bunch of red onions and sweet onions to plant (a brown lunch bag full) for $2. They are outlining the major perimeter of the garden, in three rows. I have moved the scallions outside to the garden, and planted some more scallion seeds with the row. I've also planted some carrot seed, radish seed, and flax seed. YUM!

The onions, which I planted a few weeks ago are thriving. I saw one that was starting to sprout out of the ground, and so I went to re-plant it this morning (I may have missed it the first time). The roots were over 3 inches long!

Update 3: Berries!

A colleague of mine moved to Chile last year and gave me raspberry and blackberry plants. He told me to keep them outside in pots/ inside with the grow light until spring. I did, and I planted them outside. The raspberries are doing well. The blackberries aren't far behind.

Also, I planted that strawberry pot I blogged about before with those strawberries I got at Lowes or Home Depot. The berries are all doing well, except for one little plant. It should be ok - strawberries spread a lot.

Oh, right - strawberry pots are difficult to maintain because of multiple holes in the side, and it is so deep that it can be hard to water. The solution is to put a PVC pipe, that you drill a lot of holes into the side of, in the middle, and fill it with rocks. The result is a watering tube to keep the center moist.

Update 4 (Random leftover stuff):

I got compost for the whole garden. It is between 1 and two inches thick and at least the onions love it thus far.

The neighbors trimmed their rosemary. I took some trimmings and dried it, and made some of Urbanbreadmachine's Famous Rosemary Bread, and stuck some of the trimmings in some dirt, and they seem to still be alive.

Lastly, the peas sprouted. They are all growing quickly and starting to cling to the trellises. Yay! (And you can also see the blackberries (left) and raspberries (right) in this photo.

That's all for now. I'll try to post a picture of the onions (and my new design for a tomato cage) tomorrow.