Growing Fenugreek/Methi Seeds

Gardening has never really been about my personal need for food. In Ohio, during gardening season, fresh produce has always been widely available and affordable. My food supply has never  been compromised and for this I am very thankful. Rather gardening has always been more about digging in the dirt, feeling the sunshine, and watching new life begin.

My adventures in gardening have included growing unique items such as quinoa and sesame seeds. This year I am expanding my visions to a few unusual items as well. Today I bring Fenugreek to your attention.
On a whim, which is the best way to live, I threw a few of my Methi Seeds into some water. Unsure if the seeds would sprout because they were roasted and I had read roasted seeds do not sprout. In the beginning this was more out of curiosity. The experiment proved to be a success and quickly there were tiny white tails emerging from the dish of water and seeds.  Sprout they did!
With a tin foil loaf pan and a few cups of potting soil, the experiment continued. I filled the foil pan with potting soil, dumped the sprouted seeds along with the water onto the soil. After spinkling with about an inch more soil I sat the pan in my window sill and went about life. Within a few days I was rewarded with new, green, little sprouts!

I store my seeds in a clear jar

This is how the seeds arrive via mail

Experience has taught me never to count on things we believe to be a sure thing. With fingers crossed, kisses to heaven and lots of hope, the plan is to be harvesting tender little Fenugreek leaves, Leaves to cook with, dry and enjoy for the next few months. As of now, I only have the beginnings of something. Something new, exciting and promising. I'll keep you updated. For now, here's what's growing!

How I use Methi Seeds in my cooking...

• Nice hot cast iron skillet
• Add a little ghee or oil
• Toss in 1 tablespoon of Methi Seeds (remember I cook for one so you might want to increase, in fact you can adjust everything in portions to suit your needs)
• Toss in 1 tablespoon of Cumin Seeds
• Toss in 1 tablespoon of Mustard Seeds
• Cook for a few minutes until aromatic
• Add one large sliced onion and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes until tender and translucent adding a small amount of water if needed
• Add two diced tomatoes and cook until a nice thick paste, the time will vary depending on how juicy your tomatoes are in the beginning. If you have tomato paste on hand you can add a dollop just to make this a little richer.
• Grate 1 garlic clove and a tiny piece of fresh ginger into the mix
• Cook to incorporate all of the deliciousness
• Add 1/2 teaspoon of Garam Masala
• Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt ( taste and see if you would like more salt)
• Add a few pinches of Turmeric or up to 1/2 teaspoon
• Stir and cook a little while to create this delicious base for your vegetables
• Now... I will chuck in carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes or a combination of all or just one. It's cooking on the fly with what I have on hand.
• Add about 2 cups of water to cook the vegies
• After the vegetables are tender, add a handful or two or three of fresh baby spinach leaves cooking until tender.
• Finish with a little heavy cream and you have the best, most delicious dinner. 

I order my Fenugreek seeds online but if you have an Indian Grocery Store near you by all means shop in person. The other spices mentioned are readily available online or in a local grocery store. 

Soon I will have tender green Fenugreek leaves to add to my cooking repotoire.

Life goals...grow fresh Curry Leaves and Cumin.....

On another note. I solely container garden these days. To date, I have onions. peas and lettuce sprouting.

Tunnel vision from the outsider's screen

Grief makes us cognitively impaired. Mid July of this year, my Mom past away due to dementia. The grieving process thus far has made me care less about my mental sharpness and more concerned with my own inner dialogue. I'm temporarily impaired with the swirls of grief.
 Of course, if you have dementia in your family tree, as you age, you start to analyze and over criticize any forgotten task or lost name. It could become debilitating if left to run amuck.

 With my grief, hours turn into days.
 While I've been busy with the tasks at hand, there's always this program running in the background.

The main operating system of my brain is carrying out the daily tasks. Barely noticeable to the observer would be the internal errors my brain is experiencing as I maneuver through my grief.

 It's not sadness exactly, not yet.

 It's as if a short circuit has occurred internally and I'm only partially present. There are silhouettes and ghosts and scents and echos. Running in the background.

 Ohio was devoid of rain for quite some time this summer. I think the intensity of heat and humidity made the matters of Mom's death worse. Being held up in the air conditioning for days on end left my garden to suffer a little. It left me to suffer too because without the release of stress among the plants and weeds, I just sat and stewed.

For more than ten days my poor little garden never saw my shadow or a rain drop or a watering can. Thankfully, quinoa doesn't care about the water and just kept right on growing, tall and triumphant. This lanky tall plant requires less than an inch of a rain during it's growth.

My quinoa is becoming a stunning shade of pink. It's nearly mid August and this crop has been a source of amusement for me all summer long.


 The pepper plants have under produced, except for those jalapenos. I swear, those things must be straight from the hallows of hell because those hot little suckers grow and hang heavy with fruit. As I toiled about the tasks of death and sorrow for those ten days. The garden continued to live.

So, here I am. Less than a month from the day that I became parent-less. I sit, in the air conditioning  shelling my dried lentils.
 Brown lentils.
 From my backyard.
Oh, how I love them. Most are still hanging on the vines waiting for me to pick them. My uncle who is 76 years old told me that back in the day beans during this stage of growth and drying were called
"leather britches" I'm not sure if that was just a family expression or a regional term. I rather like it though!

Before they were leather britches, the lush plants of June looked like this. Brown lentils in their tangled glory.

We picked our corn. Small ears.Without the use of pesticides or miracle growing additives the plants still produced. No, not the humongous ears with giant kernels, like at the grocery store. Just small  ears of pure simple corn.

My chickpea plants are brown. It's time to harvest. That's the thing about planting a crop I've never grown before. I'm clueless. I watched the pods turn from a hard, fuzzy, green crop into something that is ready to shell.

The first time I peaked into one of the pods, I was certain something had gone terribly wrong. Did the seed company mislabel the package? Did a garden gnome stroll into my yard and pull a horrible prank?
 These are not chickpeas, or so I thought!
In my despair of grief, I had wandered out to the garden in hopes of finding some sort of order. Something of normal and right.
 A balance in the cosmos.
 A key stroke of familiar.
 So I plucked a still fuzzy green chickpea pod.
 Busted it open.
What I saw was wrong, completely wrong. I had no idea there were so many varieties of garbanzo beans.
 I expected to see the creamy white, fully rounded chickpeas, you know, like the ones in the cans from the grocery store. Instead I found small little green odd shaped looking things. These are Desi chickpeas.
Nonetheless the plants have turned brown, as they should.
Super food from the backyard.

For now, I miss the little old woman in the nursing home. Denial maybe, I just do not feel as if I'm mourning the loss of my mother. The person whom my Mom had become is the person I have lost. Dementia changed her in many ways. As her dementia progressed, the mother daughter relationship changed. She had begun to call me Mommy. Prior to the extreme changes, she said " I don't feel much like a Mom" That's when my grief process began for the woman whom I had known as my mother. She was gone. She knew this. It's a relationship that is never replaced, for good or bad, this is one person who knew me and had memories of me, from the beginning. Before I even knew who I was, she did. That was fading. And now is totally gone.

My one place of solitude throughout life has always been in the garden. Dirt therapy. Pulling weeds, tidying rows, and turning over the soil. Pure silent therapy.

Thankfully we've seen a break from the heat and humidity. Our weekend has been filled with rain. As I process the endless tangle of emotions, the leather britches and weeds will remain true and reliable.

Our wonderful little blue cream tomatoes. Mister nurtured the plants from seed. We were skeptical in the beginning that any of the plants would make it, let alone produce their golden and purple and blueish tomatoes. Yet, they did produce. An abundance of sweet uniquely flavored fruit.

Rows are emptying in the garden as we harvest the plants. I'm considering which winter crops to put in the ground. Cooler autumn weather brings the chance for peas, sounds like an ideal way to escape into a healthy inner dialogue. Turning over the dirt and coming to terms with the aftermath of Mom's dementia.




**Bill Perry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe wrote "What's The Frequency Kenneth?" shout out for the lyrics used in the title of this post.

June in Ohio

Cooler evenings and the sound of a box fan in the window takes me back to childhood. Clearly I remember lying in bed as a child and watching the shadows dance across my bedroom wall as the train sped by interrupting the street lights glow momentarily between box cars. The sound is still comforting to me. In the stillness then, snuggling further under the blanket to ward off the chill of night air, then sneaking out of bed and whispering into the fan blades, only to hear my own voice become broken and scattered into the dark. How remarkable and precious to be carried away off into a time when I was me, a different me, like a black and white movie version of me.

During my childhood there were gardens, pigs, cows, coon hunting, chickens and clothes hanging on the line. The inner workings of a household which formed very much of the me I am today.
For so many years of my adult life I've identified myself as a mother of 4 children. Having had my first child at the young age of 20, I left behind childhood quickly. For the first time since becoming a mother, I'm learning to let go. Coming face to face with myself as I watch my aging mother struggle with dementia brings a greater sense of self, it's playing a role in my own understanding of what I need for me. Finding the black and white sometimes sepia version of me. Cutting the apron strings to my children to discover what's next.

My imaginary world as a child always had me being instructive. From cooking with the bubbles in the bathtub in my imaginary childhood cooking show or lining up blades of grass as if they were rows of corn in the vacant dirt between our two houses. I've always lived this life. Never really wanting more than to share with others about cooking, baking, and gardening. Not in a professional money earning capacity. Just a sharing of ideas and excitement for doing what I love.

This June evening in Ohio, it's cool. The central air is off and the box fan whirs away in the window. I sit back and look over the photographs I've snapped throughout this week. Of course, I come here to share them with you, the world, anyone who cares to know. My own children are grown and well on their way to grown. Their childhood imagination worlds are theirs for keeping. To this, I can only hope they find healthy creative outlets to share and grow from those ideals.

I'm happy to report in this modern day, real, non imagination life of mine, the quinoa has survived and appears to be thriving. Early in the growing process I struggled with thinning the plants. The seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company were exceptional and certainly every seed must have came up because I thinned them several times. Never knowing which plant to sacrifice. None of them seemed insignificant to me. I tried transplanting a few of the tender, thinned out plants with no success. Slow growers they were from beginning to now.

Ditto on my Lentils. I planted 15 seeds and have 13 plants. I think a Robin bird snacked on a few of the seeds the very same day as I planted them.

 

The chickpeas/garbanzo beans have reared their heads. Every single non-GMO seed is alive and doing fine. Small and fragile still.

No Cumin plants yet. At least I don't think so, I'm struggling with plant identification on the cumin seeds. This is a new crop for me. I planted the seeds in easily identifiable rows, but the weeds wanted a fair shot too. Rather than pull up the wrong thing. I've just let it go to see what happens. I planted more seeds today. In hopes of a better success.

Ditto on my Slo-Bolt Cilantro. Two plantings of the seeds. So far,only two little scraggly looking plants have emerged. Patience....I suppose.

And it wouldn't be real if I didn't remind you of the importance of taking breaks and living life. 

Slow down a minute.

 Have a Biscotti. 

In all of my childhood imaginations I never fathomed photographing food with my telephone. 

I mean, how could I have ever imagined such a thing, right?

Yes, we all know  I'm not talented at photographing food. It's my image though and I didn't stoop to horking some strangers photograph and claiming it as my own. Not perfect, just like me.

 Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti.
 To which all credit goes to my hero and youtube favorite Stephanie Jaworski of Joy of Baking.com

I've baked many of her recipes with never a disappointment. The Fruit and Nut bars are outrageous. I'm providing this link to her recipe for the Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti. 

I baked this biscotti for the entire recommended time allowed, they're dunkers for sure. Perfect for the cool morning air and my sneaking a cup of coffee. I've fallen off the wagon and had a cup or two lately. Shhh, let's not talk about that!

                                                        Our June in Ohio

Quinoa is Up

This Easter day in Ohio we were lucky enough to have beautiful blue skies and temperatures in the upper 70's. Which is pretty outstanding considering snow is not unheard of on Easter, in this neck of the woods.
 We had an average, pretty much okay Easter breakfast. A formality really. Not one of my better days at the stove top. My true mission for the day was to take a cake to my Mom. I baked her a cake which has been her all time favorite Breakfast Bundt Cake since I was a child. We rolled out the door around noon.
Before heading out I strolled back to the garden and found the quinoa had made an appearance just in time for Easter. It made my day actually.

The tiny little red plants have sprung from the tiny little seeds. I hope with my fingers crossed that the plants thrive. As suspected the row is somewhat chaotic. Certainly the thunderstorm on the evening I planted the seeds must have washed them out of their place somewhat. I don't care. Quinoa is growing in my yard. Isn't this fantastic? Further research is needed on the tolerance of cold though. I fear with this ever changing Ohio weather that these tiny little plants could be in for the ride of their life.

Nothing says Happy Easter quite like a daffodil. They make me smile. When I think of the many dynamics that I have had with the human beings in my life, one thing remains honest and true. Plant life.

 I think I've drawn this conclusion before. The real joy of gardening is harvesting or reaping what we have sown. Faith systems often draw a parallel between our human relationships and their outcomes in terms of reaping what we sow, as in if we foster and put forth effort into those relationships then we will surely reap a bountiful harvest. I'm here to tell you people this is not always true. Sometimes we can pour our hearts and souls into those we love and the harvest is meager and disappointing. This Easter my day was filled with the ones I love. My husband, my children, my mother. Surrounded by goodness and love. This has not always been the case.

 In those times, plant life has been the rewards for my nurturing.

I'm thankful the quinoa showed up today. It's a constant reminder of how healthy and rewarding gardening can be in our lives. Right in my yard. There's food growing. Hand sown. Hand grown. It's a pleasing sense of accomplishment.

Happy Easter if you celebrate. Happy March 27th if you don't.

Quinoa

My quinoa seeds arrived from Baker Heirloom Seeds, along with a few other interesting items. The package describes the crop as both edible and ornamental. I'm growing quinoa for the edible side of things. The garden will surely take on a new appearance with what promises to be a beautiful plant as it grows. Double benefit.

 We had a pretty steady rainfall after I planted the tiny seeds. I'm hoping it wasn't enough to wash the seeds away. If the plants come up in a somewhat crooked row then I'm blaming the rain.

The seeds are small. Not as small as carrot seeds, still I planted
slowly to ensure that the seeds stayed in a somewhat tidy row.

On a personal note, one thing which gives this crop a whimsical playful notion is learning that quinoa is related to beets. I'm a huge fan of the television show The Office. Fans of the show know all too well about the antics of Dwight K. Schrute. The proud owner of Schrute's Beet Farm. Of course this fantastic show is no longer in production but, I watch it on Netflix. I never grow tired of the cast of characters. One liners from the show stick with me still to this day. So yeah, there's that tid bit of information. Fact!

The seeds from Bakers are non GMO which makes them near and dear to my heart. I'm not an expert on the subject. I just like plain, ordinary and simple things.

Growing quinoa is completely new to me. I hope you will share the adventure with me and read along as I post updates through out the summer. I equally hope if you are an expert on growing this crop that you will feel free to leave me a comment below and share helpful hints and tips. It's not my hope to grow enough quinoa to stock my pantry for the winter. If the crop is plentiful enough to prepare one nice dish for dinner then I will claim victory and call this new adventure a success.

Heirloom Seeds

I'm excited and watching the mailbox. Seeds are on the way to my door from a pretty cool seed company. The Baker Creek Heirloom Rare Seed Company has fascinating choices. Sadly, quite a few items have already sold out. I would have dearly loved to have planted the black tomatoes. Maybe next time around. I did however manage to snag the chickpeas, lentils and cumin seed.

Every seed we've ordered is new to our garden. I have never grown any of these items before. It's sure to be an adventure.

The garden has become as mundane as the kitchen. This past year we neglected our garden in a tragic way. We still harvested a decent amount of food but, it wasn't pretty. Weeds over took and I dare say I felt embarrassed every time I stood over the tiny plot and looked at the overgrown mess. Oh well ,this year we will do better. Boredom with the same old crops. Aside from onions and of course potatoes, this years garden will be as never before.

Just as I am venturing into cooking Indian cuisine, we are also planting companion foods in our garden. I hope I can find a good rocky soil around my house for the lentils to thrive.

I'm tapping my foot and patiently waiting for the package of seeds and spring to arrive!

Peas and Pintos

Peas, let's eat them!

No pinto bean pods yet but the vine is strong and healthy.

The pintos have grown a bit...and check out that onion bed in the background!

Leave the house for a few days and come home to this. Pea pickin' time.

Manure

Asparagus grown in the home garden surely must represent an optimistic attitude of futuristic plans. With a three year wait period until the first harvest, patience and a willingness to deprive yourself of instant gratification comes into play.

I recently read a quote by Abraham Lincoln that went more or less like this...I walk slow, but I never walk back.

Mister and I have talked of planting asparagus in our garden for years. One of these days. This year was finally the year. We purchased one year old plants from a local nursery. Jersey Giant variety, which turns out are all male plants. This is a good thing. I would like to tell you that I knew exactly what I was doing and planned it that way. Fact is, Mister and I found a day to escape what has become our world of madness and found ourselves buying asparagus plants.
The nice guy working at the farm told me how to plant them. I had no idea asparagus plants comes in male and female plants. Male plants produce more yield because there is no energy spent on behalf of the male plant put into flowering. I guess we just lucked out and bought the right variety. I'm thinking 5 plants are probably not enough. In three years we will know for sure, time will tell.

We had an area freshly turned over and ready for a third planting of potatoes. It's about 3 feet wide and 9 feet long. What we did.

• Dug our holes for each plant about 1.5 feet apart and about 8 inches deep. Deep enough to set the asparagus plant slightly below soil level.

• Mixed in manure. I bought the Holy Cow variety. Somehow I find that name hilarious for bagged cow poop.
• Cover the plant gently with poop/soil mixture
• Water well
• This step may not apply to your house. We have a male, collie/lab mix big boy named Tucker who pretty much lifts his leg on anything new in our yard, so we put a short little picket fence around our tender asparagus. Dog pee not friendly... cow poop friendly.

Now we wait.

Mister has a brain tumor. There I said it. I know, just know, he is going to get through this. We have had a wild string of slaps in the face to endure the past 5 months.With the news of my Mom's dementia and coming to live with us, then Mister having a huge issue with his left kidney that has required and needs additional surgery in the past 6 weeks, to getting a phone call on our anniversary from an endocrinologist telling us the results of an MRI. Yep, a brain tumor. Pardon me when I say "fuck" really loud.

Mixed in to this strange brew came some sorta well meaning siblings of my Mom's freaking out that I enlisted the help of a respite care facility while we address serious matters here at our home. Oh yes. Pulled out all of the stops and now Mom doesn't live here anymore. Holy Cow.

So I am going to walk slow, but I will not walk back.

Mister and I are gonna spread that cow shit on our asparagus every year and in 3 years from now we are going to sit back and smile. Because damn it we will have earned it!

I've read asparagus plants like a nice compost tea. Maybe I will brew up a little next year and see what happens.

Since we are on the subject of crap. When the bird crap on your car has that lovely shade of purple mixed in....the berries are ripe on the vine.

Growing Peas

Plant your peas in the early spring. The cooler weather is their friend and I have never had snow hurt my pea plants. Ohio has certainly given the local home gardener plenty of cooler weather this spring. My peas should be happy. I plant my peas 1" deep, about 3" apart in nice tidy little rows. Use a trellis to support the viney tendrils that grow. You will have a harvest in about 55 days.

After harvesting, I wash the peas and give them a quick blanch before zipping them up into a freezer bag. Label your bags with a date as you will most likely never harvest enough peas in one day to fill more than a bag or two. Unless you've planted a ton of plants. Each day as you harvest and freeze you'll want to document what day your vegies were frozen. Obviously the point is to use up the oldest bags first. Frozen peas don't retain the same amount of wonderful crunch as the fresh harvested pea.

Grocery store peas fuhgetaboutit. The sugars turns to starch so quickly after being harvested that there really is no comparison to strolling to the outback and harvesting your own. Trust me when the snow is flying, busting out a bag of your garden fresh peas from the freezer will make you smile. Freezing them immediately after harvesting does help with retaining a better tasting pea.

To harvest the pea, go gently. The peas do not have a sturdy root structure and yanking or aggressively picking them will disturb the plant. Just hold the plant in one hand and use your other hand to gently pluck the vegetable from the vine.

 This year my peas were late getting into the ground. The daily average temperatures should not be above 75 degrees or so during the day for the best crop. I have yet to see flowers on my peas so I am probably going to have a less sweet crop this year. We'll see. Maybe they will be just fine.

Growing peas in the home garden is almost like having a flower garden. The foliage in itself has such a dainty lacey look. Then the flowers are equally pretty. I love legumes. I really need to branch out and plant a few exotic varities next year. I might shoot for an autumn/winter harvest and plant something new this fall.

A new recipe has caught my eye. Dilled Chicken Salad with Peas and Asparagus sounds refreshing. Piled high on some Bibb lettuce...this sounds like a plate of heaven right now.

Look the chives (looking scrawny) have a new home once again. I have moved this batch at least 3 times to different homes, and around from garden to garden at each house. These are well traveled.

On a completely different note. Anna got ink. She's a Harry Potter fan. Her unique one of a kind tattoo reflects so many different aspects of who she is as a person. The Womping Willow. The Castles. Dreamer and Realist rolled into one. My second born daughter has become my right hand woman.

Pinto Beans

Look what's popped up!

Pinto Beans have bolted from their seed coat. The thin outer layer shreds off the bean as it sprouts. I can see the coats laying on top of the soil in our pinto bean bed.

We've had some hard pounding rains the last few days. The rains have washed out some of the beans. There they lay all swollen and looking as if a sprout might form. I'm going to leave those beans laying on the surface of the soil to see what happens. I'd like to know if the root structure will be visible when/if the bean should decide to sprout above ground. Don't worry I planted three short rows of beans and the harvest will be plentiful even if a few of the beans are sacrificed due to my evil gardener experiments muwahaha...

Most of the beans, once harvested will be dried and left in the pantry for winter use. In a few short months I should have around 5 lb's of pintos drying and in storage.

My favorite way to prepare pinto beans is a good old fashioned bean soup with ham hocks and carrots (carrots growing in the garden too). A pot of bean soup would never be complete without a cast iron skillet full of cornbread. Yes, that's my favorite way to consume these lovely legumes.

Our second favorite use of pintos is just plain ole' simple refried beans. It's not too late. Pick up a handful of pinto beans and get them growing. The seed for this crop is a second generation from our last batch of beans grown in 2011. You can read about that harvest here. I cannot believe that 3 years have passed since our last planting of these delicious morsels. It's about time I got back out in the dirt.

Planting The Beans
I always soak my beans in water for a few days before planting them. Loosen your soil, make a small impression with your finger about an inch deep and drop the bean down. Cover loosely with soil and wait patiently for about 8 or 9 days and then you'll return to find something of beauty.
This humble little crop will keep me entertained for months.

Grow some beans, it will be great for your soul.
Musical Fruit...

Garden Journaling

Do you journal about your garden? We started a journal a few years back. It's a simple notebook covered in some cool gardening looking paper. Nothing fancy, except for the treasure of information it contains. It's like our own history book.
 Initially, I cut the front from the seed packets and clued them into the pages just for a reference of what type of vegetable and by which seed company etc. were planted. From time to time, I still tape in the seed companies information.
I always include the date we plant, the date we apply any type of pesticide or fertilized. Yes, I am not an organic gardener. I do try to use great discretion on what type and how much artificial chemicals are applied.
Another thing that's nice to include in your journal is the date you harvested your lovely groceries. By keeping track of how long approximately it took your produce arrive, you can plan better the following year if need be. Give or take a week or two of course due to variables like sunshine and rain.
  How much you harvested, and the quality of the produce is a good thing to note. If you are a scrapbook person this is the place in your journal where the photos are your glory shots. A nice wheel barrel harvest of potatoes always makes for a great photo to add. My garden journal is more of a sloppy, and on some pages dirt smudged record of sorts. It is certainly not scrapbook quality.
.
This year the journal  reflects our tidy, 4x4 foot wide, raised, wooden beds. The beginnings of our Garden 2014 has started to take shape. As you all know I love the historical looking gardens at places like Ferry Farm and Monticello. Mister and I have grand ambitions of creating a lovely little space which captures the feel of these places in our humble downtown yard.
For starters, we have 3 small raised beds. It's a little late to get our peas planted but, they are in the ground and we plan to build a cool natural structure for them to climb.The second bed contains onions. Red, yellow and white onions are a must. I normally plant twice as many onions but, we are going low-key this year. The third bed will be devoted to carrots. There's really nothing better than harvesting your own fresh carrots. Store bought carrots just do not compare. Plus, believe it or not the number one blog post here on Columbia Creations is my Carrot Top Tea post. Who knows how many more raised beds that Mister will crank out or if we will just tuck various vegetables in here and there among the flower beds.
 Potatoes are in their own little hills separate from the raised beds. Next to harvesting carrots, nothing beats digging your own taters. Today, we planted red, yukon and white potatoes. This is our first planting, and every 4 weeks we will plant another batch. Yukons are my favorite for mashed potatoes. Red potatoes just cry out for butter and parsley.

Speaking of parsley, cilantro, chives, oregano, and sage will for sure make an appearance once again.
Brusel Sprouts will be planted again this year. Last year, my sprout plants had to be removed before coming to their full harvest due to building at 20x40 pole barn on top of the garden. So, yes the garden has been relocated.
It's not our traditional looking garden of days gone by. It will however yield enough nutritious produce to make it worth our while.
I'm still looking for a unique vegetable to grow. We will be growing the following food too but, they're not unique or overly interesting. Useful and tasty though.
Cantaloupe
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Tomatoes
Peppers

Every year, I swear I'm gonna start an asparagus patch. I'm a patient person, but can I wait 3 years for an asparagus crop to be ready for harvesting??
I'm still clinging to the notion of a bountiful blueberry harvest that has yet to come true!

P.S. I will purchase tomato and pepper plants. It's all just to bothersome to watch the tender little seeds sprout and show hopes of growing into a real plant and then wither away. I have never had great success starting either one from seeds.

What are you growing this year?

Red Cabbage

We grew four heads of red cabbage this year. With this recipe I ended up with 4 quarts of Spiced Red Cabbage. The perfect addition to this years canning bounty.

Spiced Red Cabbage 

12 pounds of red cabbage (about 3 large heads)
1/2 cup canning salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mustard seed
1/4 cup mace
1 quarts red wine vinegar
1/4 cup whole cloves
1/4 cup whole allspice
1/4 cup peppercorns
1/4 cup celery seed
2 whole cinnamon sticks

Clean the cabbage by removing the outer leaves and then give it a good wash. Core and thick slice. Layer cabbage in a large bowl with the 1/2 cup canning salt. Cover: let stand for 24 hours.
Rinse, drain on paper towels for 6 hours.

Combine sugar, vinegar, mace and mustard seed in a large saucepot. Tie the remaining whole spices in a spice bag and add to the saucepot. Boil 5 minutes. Remove the spice bag. Pack cabbage into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Ladle hot liquid over cabbage, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two piece caps. Process for 20 minutes in a boiling water canner.

I found the basic idea for this in the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. The changes, I made were:

• I didn't shred my cabbage, my overall quart yield may have been lower as a result but then again maybe not because I had exactly enough vinegar liquid.

• I also reduced the amount of mustard seed used. Canning recipes calling for mustard seed are too generous with the spice, in my opinion. It's a matter of taste, I suppose.

Garden 2013

Growing the same vegetables and herbs year after year gets boring. I like to mix it up a bit and plant something different. This year, marjoram and brussel sprouts are planted in my pathetic little version of a garden. I've never grown either of them before. Almost as an after thought, Mister and I threw a few tomato and pepper plants in the ground a few weeks ago. Then the Ohio frost came and killed them all. I thought, "ahh what the heck, it's okay because we weren't planning on having a garden this year". Then, I saw brussel sprout plants at a plant sale. Next thing I knew, the plastic flat was filled with various plants. Round two of the pepper and tomato plants are in the ground. I bought Greek oregano, marjoram, and French thyme too. Red cabbage, and of course the brussel sprout plants.

Plant sale on the square of our little town.

In all seriousness, I'm skeptical if round two of the tomatoes and peppers will make it. We planted them in soil that is less than ideal. Behind my garden shed, we had a few trees removed. The empty space now holds the salsa making vegetables.The rest of the crops are randomly planted among a flower bed.

Rather than having many flower beds that surround the house and yard, I opted for one big, oddly shaped, peculiar looking bed behind our house. I've built a bed from sand stone found randomly around the property, mixed in some brick here and there and orchestrated the whole mess around an old stump of a tree. The bed looks old timey. I wanted it to look like it has been there for as long as the house has stood. It has a 1923 feel to it, I guess.

Today, I pulled weeds for hours. I enjoy that sort of thing.  We've recently had rain so the soil was soft and the pesky little rascals popped right out of the ground.  It was cool and sunny outside this morning making the whole day rather therapeutic. Digging in the dirt is my favorite past time. I will shovel and haul until my hips ache and my knuckles throb. Yep, getting older kind of stinks in that regard. Weather permitting, I will be back at it again tomorrow despite that fact that I am walking like a cowboy after today's weed pulling extravaganza.

Oh yeah, I forgot, I also planted three hills of sweet potatoes last week. I found a sweet potato in the back of my kitchen pantry with sprouts on it. I chopped it into three sections, hilled up some dirt and stuffed them in the ground. I noticed all three hills have a little sprout sticking up. So, I guess you can call this a garden. No corn, no Yukon golds, no strawberries or zucchini, or broccoli or cauliflower. It's okay, I've grown all of them before.

Gee, I hope the brussel sprouts live.

Aren't wildflowers just perfect?



Garden Free Sort Of

You will never believe this but, I am only accepting volunteers this year from the plant kingdom. So far, the garden has several carrots growing. The carrots have wintered over. I noticed their tiny little tops poking up through the snow in December. They just sat there. Slowly growing and waiting for the soil to warm. I wondered what they looked like below the ground. I pulled one of them up a few days ago and I will be darned if it wasn't a carrot indeed. No worse for the wear despite having been in the ground for like 7 months now. Are they a freak of nature or what?
 My oregano is thriving like mad. The cilantro has bolted and is going to seed already. And standing all alone in the mix is one lonesome snap dragon.

Can you see the carrots in the background behind the lonely snap dragon?

I would like to sound all holy and tell you that I am practicing soil conservation or something glamorous like that. My excuse could be that I want to let my garden plot heal and bring forth greater fruit next year. Yes, you might like hearing my hippie interpretations of great and wonderful protection of the soil. Truth is, I am planning to utilize my local farmers market for all of my vegetables this summer. I think it will be an adventure to compare and explore the area for the biggest and best produce that local Ohio has to offer.

My luscious herbs didn't get the memo and they are flourishing like mad. Despite the dormant land all around the herb bed, there they are, growing without any help from me.

The oregano needs dividing. One oregano plant is approximately 3 foot in width. This is enough oregano to last a very long time.
One nice thing about the cilantro going to seed already is, well of course the seeds are coriander, but more than that, I will have another round of cilantro soon. Cilantro growth is very similar to raising rabbits. It multiplies and multiplies. Bolt, seeds, drop seeds, plant grows, bolts, seeds, drops seed, plants grow, and on and on.

June should bring me gallons of strawberries. My strawberry rows are not neat and the weeds are plentiful. Yet, still the pretty little white flowers are forming and soon I will be drinking fresh strawberry smoothies.

I see a strawberry rhubarb pie in Mister's furture.

And the gem of it all. My rhubarb is up. Honestly, I had forgotten all about this guy. The plant was a gift from a local orchard last year. I plopped it into the edge of the garden and left it alone. As I knelt down to pull weeds from around the snap dragon, I saw the deep red of the rhubarb struggling to grow through the dandelions. I must admit to being excited at the sight of the rhubarb. Rhubarb research is ahead of me. My knowledge about this plant is limited and I'm really glad it volunteered. I do know how good it tastes in a pie so I will honor this plant and eat it.

I have lemon thyme, chives, sage, and blueberries!

blueberries bushes x2 still growing and thriving

Hopefully, I find the time to fasten a net over the blueberry bushes before the birds have their way with them and devour every little berry. I just opened my last bag of blueberries from the freezer stash. Last year my bushes produced a small harvest. I supplemented my own harvest with local grown fresh blueberries that I washed and froze lickety split. All winter long we have had the best tasting fruit rolling out of the old upright freezer.

Come late June or early July I could decided to plant a few onions and what nots. As of now, my garden of 2012 will be very meager. However, the 'Gardens of Others' category should be seeing plenty of action as I follow local farmers markets.

I hope you will enjoy my posts about the markets offered in Ohio.

Sesame

The little things of life matter so much more when we experience them on a first hand basis. Hey, sesame producers of the world, I say Thank You! I have a new found respect for the labor put forth in growing and especially harvesting this tiny little seed. I will never take that sesame seed bun for granted... ever again!

Harvest is complete.

The journey,
Sesame and Thomas Jefferson
Growing Sesame
Baking with Sesame

It's Happy Garlic Time

October means....It's time to plant the garlic. I plant my garlic about 4 inches apart in rows that are spaced about 10 inches apart. I like to hoe various parts of my garden, so 10 inch spacing works well for weeding. However, if you till every row of your garden then obviously 10 inches is not enough spacing for the machine to plow down through.
I have read about the "no till" philosphy of gardening. I would agree that over use of the roto tiller could compromise the quality of the soil. That's not why I prefer using hand gardening tools. My love of gardening is one of a enjoying a peaceful, alive place to escape. The hoe is silent as I take out the weeds and loosen the soil. The smell of gasoline exhaust floating over the tender plants and the noise of the motor seems absurd to me. I would encourage anyone who raises a garden to read about the idea of hand tilling your beds.
Back to the garlic.
Planting your garlic in the fall means you will have a late spring harvest. All summer long you will have fresh garlic to go along with your herbs. I love seeing the hardy green garlic tops poking through the snow in February and March.
Go to your local store and buy a head of garlic. Head/Clove same thing. Anyways, divide the clove as you would when cooking. Determine what spacing works best for your garden. Make sure your garden soil is well loosened. I love planting in the fall because the decaying Autumn leaves are mulched down into the soil prior to planting the garlic. This creates a wonderful loose composted dirt. Using my forefinger, I poke a hole the depth of my finger and put the garlic into the hole, covering it with the mulched leaves and soil. Plant right side up of course. To determine right side up...look at your clove prior to splitting the individual cloves. The end with the root is the bottom. Top side up please.
One head of garlic now becomes many heads of garlic in the spring.

Happy Autumn Gardening!

History and Extraordinary Coincidence

October 22, 1950 was the date a prior owner of this copy of Mrs. Rorer's Cook book found it suitable to save recipes from a newspaper print. I found this, and many other treasures tucked between the pages of this 1914 copyright book.
The fact this book is 2nd edition is a none issue for me. I hope you have time to settle in and read for a minute or two. Because, this book has a history I want to tell you. The mere fact that it is among my possessions is a story of extraordinary coincidence.
When I made my purchase of this book, I had no information regarding ownership or history. I just thought it was another cool old cook book. The condition has deteriorated very little during the past few years in my ownership. I would describe the book as in poor/restorable condition. My description comes from a complete lack of book restoring knowledge and I would love to learn more about the subject.

One of the first things which stirred my intrique was a manual typewritten recipe. Typed by a Letitia Glenn Biddle. Grandmothers Plum Pudding as was copied by her mother, Mrs. John Glenn; Baltimore, January 1st 1891.

Instantly, the obvious name recognition for me, was the name Glenn. The intrigue lead me to do a quick genealogy search of Senator Astronaut John Glenn. No information surfaced to link this book to that famous Glenn family.
Coincidentally, a program came on the television discussing the "kitchen cabinet" of Andrew Jackson. Nicholas Biddle served as a confidant and adviser to President Andrew Jackson via the kitchen door. This earned the group of men the title of "kitchen cabinet". As far as my research has shown the owner of my cook book was a member of the Nicholas Biddle family. On this particular occassion I was actually glad my television was switched on. This information renewed my interest of the legacy my book could hold.

Mrs. Charles J Biddle 2110 Delancey Place. For certain this woman was interesting, I felt sure.

I have no way of knowing if another owner possessed my book and added the various handwritten and newspaper recipe clippings found inside this treasure. The handwritten recipes are consistent with so many old timey recipes. Instructions are non -existent or vague to say the least.
1 currents
1 raisins
citron
1 lb. bread crumbs
1lb. beef suet
1/2 pint cream
8 brandy
8 eggs
1 nutmeg
What might the ingredient list and unfinished instructions be leading the baker to?

It's likely the insertion of the various clippings contributed to the poor condition of the spine of this book. I have enjoyed finding the little tid-bit charms this book held.

One must wonder what was going on this January 1938 and why was this calendar saved in the pages of my copy of Mrs. Rorer's Cook Book.

I thought it was interesting coincidence to find a January 1938 calendar and a recipe transcribed during January 1891. Letitia Glenn Biddle becomes an increasingly interesting character.

It is well established on the posts of Columbia Creations I have a love for historical places. Philadelphia Pennsylvania is a road trip for me. I have dreamed of making this trip for quite some time. I want to go to Andalusia. Please notice the link inserted and do kindly take a minute to read about this place. I am convinced this place must be a little piece of heaven for my soul. It's time to make that pilgrimage. For those who will not follow the link, it's fair that I should tell you the short story history of this place. The family home of the Biddle's for years is now a museum and desired place to tour. A mansion by no other description. Letitia Glenn Biddle lived here.

If this is your first visit to Columbia Creations you may not be aware of my love to garden. I'm a novice home gardener. Letitia, however was the founder of the 1st Garden Club of Philadelphia. She wrote the by-laws for the Garden Clubs of America in the kitchen of Andalusia. 

I wonder if the newly formed garden club held meetings at Brunch and enjoyed a few recipes from Mrs. Rorer's Cook book. This Ann Pilsbury Breakfast and Brunches pamphlet was found in the collection saved for a some day use.
I would love to have this book restored. My some day travel to Philadelphia may lead me to donate this book back to the Biddle family archives. I'm still feeling a little possesive of a book which would appear tunneled down through time to rest in my hands.
Why have I waited so long to bake or cook any recipe from this group of writings? Good question. I think the story has become more important to me than the recipes. Honestly, I dare not turn the pages too many times searching for the dish I want to make. This book sits flat on a shelf in an armoir waiting to be given the care it rightly deserves.
Letitia Glenn Biddle is interesting to me. I will wander among the grounds of her former home and photograph the sights she surely must have cherished.
If you have any information to share with me about the history of this book, I would love to hear from you.
On a typical bizarre note, it appears etiquette was being over thrown even during the 1950's. The article Rough on Royalty (shown in one of the photos above) tells the story of how Miss Rosina Jones of Romford England had entered a beauty contest and was assaulted by Queenie Swain. Queenie pulled out a lock of her hair and bit her on the ear. Rebellious subjects to say the least.

A peaceful Friday night by the fire reading a few vintage/antique cook books will have to temporarily satisfy my spirit for adventure. I really want to visit Andalusia in the spring. Until then, here I sit writing on October 22, 2011. Will this book inspire someone again, 61 years from now?