Actually Hen-Of-the-Neighborhood-Woods. My mycologist neighbor came by today with a paper bag. In October, after a rain storm, I know exactly what’s in it: mushrooms! It was a gorgeous chicken-of-the-woods, so fresh and soft it was still almost entirely white that new creamy white (compare to last year’s). I fried it in some olive oil …
Category Archives: food (growing, cooking, preserving)
Apples Apples
A friend was at a farm stand and called to see if I wanted apples. Do I! A bushel, please! I got all McIntosh. They were utility apples but they all looked impeccable to me! I’m dehydrating 1 peck (1/4 bushel), which takes about 6 hours. I just finished canning 1 peck in apple sauce. …
Earth Oven, Phase 4: Thermal Mass
The Earth Oven series: foundation base hearth thermal mass first drying fire and door arch insulating layer and chimney Patching up, and first pizza! Today we worked on the oven again. Rain threatened but never materialized. It made for a warm, overcast day, just perfect for some more or less hard outdoor work. First we …
Earth Oven, Phase 3: the Hearth
The Earth Oven series: foundation base hearth thermal mass first drying fire and door arch insulating layer and chimney Patching up, and first pizza! So far, none of the Earth Oven preparations, the foundation and the base, have had nothing to do with heat. Which is, of course, what the oven is all about. Heat becomes …
A Field, Friends, and Work!
As gardeners we often don’t get to work in a field.  It’s a different thing altogether to work in a field than in a garden. There is all that space, sky, sun. You walk from one end to the next (diagonally, so as to get the most out of it) and throughout the soil is soft and …
Last Potato Harvest
Almost a bucket full of potatoes. 5.5 lbs of Red Marias and 14 lbs of Salem from one bed (22 feet). That’s similar to the potato bed up front, of earlies, which yielded 12 lbs from 16 feet. Also some last squashes, cherry tomatoes, cukes and some errant onions. What’s left is kale, chard, a …
Earth Oven, Phase 2: the Base
The Earth Oven series: foundation base hearth thermal mass first drying fire and door arch insulating layer and chimney Patching up, and first pizza! Wow, third blog post today! Be sure to scroll down! Today we finished Phase 2 of the Earth Oven works, the Base. (Yes, we had a busy day today.) For Phase …
Earth Oven, Phase 1: The Foundation
The Earth Oven series: foundation base hearth thermal mass first drying fire and door arch insulating layer and chimney Patching up, and first pizza! For our wedding anniversary DH took the day off so we could start building our earth oven. Yes, that was our anniversary present to one another. People tell us we’re the …
Putting Up for Winter
Here’s a little post I’ll return to from time to time to add what I’ve put up. There’s already a lot of frozen beans and carrots stashed away, so I’m started in medias res here. August 22: sauced Freecycled apples. Result: apple sauce: 8 pints August 24: sauced more Freecycled apples with the tribe (read here). …
Local Lunch and other Food
Pickling summer squash into a relish, using this recipe (which is not an endorsement, just a record so that, if we do like it, I know how I prepared it – {UPDATE: After tasting it, I DO endorse it}), CSA squashes, zucchinis and green peppers colonizing my fridge and homegrown onions. (for the record: I …