Sunday, November 25, 2018

Thanksgiving and first blizzard


I was up early Thanksgiving morning to bake the pumpkin pie. I did some mis en place Wednesday afternoon, and had the pie crust rolled out in and in the pie pan, and the sugars and spices measured and mixed. It was quick work to mix the pumpkin (in truth, it was butternut squash, which has firmer, less watery flesh), eggs, sugar mixture, and condensed milk and pour it in the crust.
The "pumpkin" pie

My next task was to prepare the dressing. I sautéed celery, onions, and mushrooms while the dried bread soaked up chicken stock. I went out to the herb garden only to discover that the rosemary was brown from frost damage. I would have to use dried. Chopping dried rosemary is pretty near impossible. That’s not exactly true. It is possible to chop it; it is not possible to keep it from flying all over the kitchen. About one-third of what I chopped stayed on the cutting board so that I could put it in the dressing. I mixed everything together with two eggs and put it in a casserole. I like crispy dressing.
I made several math errors in my preparation. The worst was that I figured the turkey would take three hours to cook. The recipe said to allow it to rest for an hour. Dinner was planned for 2:00, and somehow I decided I needed to start the turkey at 11:00. 1:00 p.m. -11:00 a.m. does not equal 3 hours, but I didn’t catch on until 12:30, when the turkey was nowhere near 175°F in the thigh. So we would cut down the resting time and eat at 2:30. Oh well.
Turkey after 30 minute rest under foil
Sliced and on the platter
When Hilda and I were discussing vegetables, I mentioned that I loved green bean casserole. Not content to open a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, Hilda looked up a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen that involved fresh green beans and mushrooms, béchamel and real cream. Oh my God, it was delicious! My favorite thing of the whole meal.
Sides: Green bean casserole and dressing, with cranberries in the back
The weather was warm on Friday, and the forecast for Saturday had a possibility of rain. I went down to Jane’s house to help her get the outside decorations up. Her cat likes to chew on cords, and she has not put up a tree in the house since Skippy came to live with her.
The rain came Friday night and was done by Saturday morning. Terry and I went out to cut our tree.
Terry cuts a Frasier fir
We decorated it this afternoon just as the snow began. We are under a blizzard warning until 6:00 tomorrow morning. Predicted accumulations vary from 6” to 12”. Awfully early in the season to be starting with this stuff. Judging from my pounding head and aching shoulder, it’s going to be a bad storm. Another sign of impending old age is when your body forecasts the weather better than the meterologists.
Here comes the first winter storm of the year
For tonight, we are warm and cozy inside with nowhere to go and a beautiful tree to admire.
Our Christmas tree

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Time to relax


With the harvest over and the semester winding down, I had a fun and relaxing weekend. Pat, Nancy, and Jane came for dinner yesterday for a late celebration of Nancy’s birthday. Pat and Nancy picked out their Christmas tree, and Terry cut it down for them. They don’t plan on putting it up for a week or two, but they cut commercial Christmas trees in October! Terry instructed them to put the trunk in a bucket of water and leave it outside until they were ready to decorate.
I noticed yesterday that Bella has now lost her tail. Poor thing. 
Bella without her tail
I expect it was Juanita's fault again. She seems to be the biggest bully. Lupita looks awful, with large bald spots on her chest and back end. I was in the coop one day when Juanita and Lupita were in the corner. Juanita pecked at Lupita, and Lupita just stood there and took it. “Lupita!” I said, “You don’t have to be a victim!”
I also noticed today the Bella was hanging out separate from the group. When I put the carrot peels in today, nearly everyone came a-running. (The only one missing from the photo besides Bella is Rosa Dolores—she must have been in the coop.) Bella approached slowly but was hesitant about coming forward to the treats.
Almost all the chickens enjoying their Sunday carrot peels and celery leaves

I made a loaf of sourdough bread for the Thanksgiving dressing. It might seem like wasted effort, but I like a good robust bread for my dressing. It holds up to all the fluid without becoming mushy. Some people probably like mushy, but I am not among them. The bread is now cut in cubes and drying out.
The loaf of bread destined for the Thanksgiving dressing

The sky cleared up about 10:30. I went for a lovely walk. It was nice to get outside in the sun, even if it was cold. I made sure to wear my blaze orange stocking cap because it is deer season.
The whole family went out to the MCC Concert Band and Choir Concert at 3:00. The band has overgrown the stage at MCC, so the concert was held at Woodstock High School for the second time. At least on this occasion, we knew which entrance to use and also that we needed to get there way early to get one of the very few handicapped parking spots. At the last concert, Terry and I wandered all over the school looking for the auditorium.
We went for an early dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Woodstock. It was a nice afternoon.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

The last gardening task


I had no meetings or appointments on Wednesday afternoon last week. I had planned to have Wednesday afternoon off the entire semester, but it has turned out to be a rare occurrence. It was lucky that I did have some time this week. I rushed home to plant the garlic, the last act of the gardening year. Hilda and I were unable to find a time when we could work together. She had a doctor appointment Wednesday afternoon, but I didn’t want to wait for the weekend because it was supposed to be cold. The ground would be frozen.
Terry and Hilda had done all the hard work while I was at school. Terry rototilled, and Hilda put down four strips of landscape cloth to make three rows for garlic. She had also separated the bulbs of garlic and put the individual cloves in separate paper bags by variety. We decided not to replant our own garlic this year, what with all the flooding. It was right muddy when we harvested; we feared that it was harboring fungi.
I ordered three hardneck varieties from the Seed Savers Exchange, Chesnok Red, German Extra Hardy, and Music. When the garlic arrived, I read in the accompanying literature that the softneck varieties are better keepers. Oh well. We were rather late in the game. Most of the softnecks were sold out.
All I had to do was make holes with a dibble and stick the cloves in the ground. The Chesnok Red filled one row. The German Extra Hardy cloves were huge, and there weren’t many of them. I only had enough for half a row. Music filled 2/3 of a row. Well. I wasn’t going to leave rows empty. I went downstairs, got some of the garlic from this year and planted that. We’ll see how that goes.
I spread straw over the rows. Terry helped me put the row cover over, which was good because the day was blustery. When we had the earth staples in, Terry suggested we move some 2x4’s over to weigh down the landscape cloth in between the rows. With the garlic all tucked in and snug in bed, we could breathe the sigh of relief. We are ready for winter.
The garlic, snug under a bed of straw

Good thing, too, because winter arrived Friday morning. I took some pictures before I left for work.
The fifth oak

The apple tree still has its leaves to catch the snow
The pines looking all Currier and Ives
It was 18°F Saturday morning. Winter comes with pluses and minuses. I love settling in to braising, baking, and roasting; breaking out the fuzzy sweatshirts, turtlenecks, and comfy wool sweaters. And then there’s when the wind hurts your face when you step outside. I don’t like that so much. At least we can look forward to Christmas. After that, we just have to hunker down until spring.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

When life gives you apples


Why yes, I am late with my post this week. Stupid router needed to be reset again, and I didn’t have the moral fortitude to do it last night.
Big news for this week--our first True Blue Whiting pullet egg. I think it looks a little bluer than the Americauna egg, don't you? If you use your imagination?
True Blue Whiting egg (left) and Americauna egg (right)
The day after the burn last week, I was back in the kitchen working my way through the apples. Most of the apples were past their prime, but the Pink Ladies ripen last and were still in peak conditions. I made apple-raisin muffins, apple cake (with cream cheese frosting—bonus!), and dried apples. And there were still more apples.
On Saturday, I did my usual stint checking in vendors at the Green Living Expo. There were two significant differences. First, it was not rainy, windy, and cold as bloody hell. It was actually kind of a pleasant morning, for November, mid-40’s, calm, and dry. We even had brief periods of sun. I forgot my hat, but didn't even miss it. The second difference is that my long-time vendor check-in buddy, Pat, was on vacation! Horreur! Instead of being there in person, she loaned me her CERT stop sign. One of our biggest challenges in years past had been getting people to stop to get their check-in packets. Here’s what I rigged up.
Pat's stop sign with Vendor Check-In in the middle of the road to get the vendors' attention

The signage seemed to increase compliance considerably. Our new Director of Urban Agriculture Project, Alissa, filled in for Pat. Here is a selfie she took.
Me and Alissa (who is wearing a hat because she forgot to wear long underpants)

Because I was not worn out and chilled to the bone from check in, I stayed the whole day. I gave a tour of the new science building to a small but interested group at noon. After that, I hung out, helped as needed, and folded up chairs at the end of the day.
I went out for dinner with other members of the organizing committee, and that officially took up the rest of the day.
Back to the apples on Sunday. I made apple-oatmeal crumb coffee cake, apple pancakes, and enough apple-raisin oat bran cereal for my weekday breakfasts. In case you are wondering, my freezer is full of apple-related baked goods.
Still there were apples, both Pink Ladies and some Jonathans that Terry discovered were still holding up. The only thing left to make was applesauce. Applesauce is easy, and once you’ve had homemade, store bought will forever taste watery and insipid. Peel and core the apples. Put the chunks in a big pot.
Step one: peeled, cored apple chunks in a big pot

Add a little water so you don’t burn the ass off the apples on the bottom and heat, stirring occasionally.
Step two: heat and stir

Eventually, the apples will fall apart, and there’s your applesauce.
Step three: apples fall apart

I made a batch of Pink Lady apple sauce and a batch of Jonathan. The Pink Lady was a bit sweet for my taste, while the Jonathan was a little tart. I mixed them together for a perfect blend. It turned out to be four and a half quarts. I froze 6 1-cup portions and three quarts.
There were just enough apples left for Hilda to make a pie on Monday. We finished the pie tonight. Apple-oatmeal crumb coffee cake will emerge from the freezer tomorrow.
I think that’s it. No more produce to put up this season. And there was much rejoicing.