Spring weather brings sore backs.

It is finally starting to warm up here, which means there is an enormous amount of work to do.
Todd has been working on getting the gravel out of the lawn and we have both been working on the winter mountain of manure as it thaws. It is a pain but once composted grows the most amazing vegetables and fruit. If only we had a tractor the work would be done in one half hour.
We also removed the weed stalks and tilled the beds we made last year on top of the hill. They are nice raised beds that are 4 ft wide and 24 foot long. We filled one with 16 Jersey King Asparagus plants and then made another bed with some plants I bought a few years ago but never officially planted down around the electrical transformer pole. I don't remember what kind they were. Can't wait for all the fruit plants to start arriving although being 6 months pregnant sometimes all I want to do is nothing.

Making Root Beer - the old fashioned way!!

We are soda addicts. Yes, we admit. But since the goal is to make everything we can at home..or at least have the knowledge to do so I thought we would give root beer making a try. My brother, Josh, has made it several times and we have always enjoyed the flavor in frosty mugs.

I got some root beer extract ( and cola and lemon-lime ) from the Brew Haus. I also thought it would be a good chance to use the glass bottles that have been out in the barn for a year, so i also got a package of caps and a capper. Josh later informed me that he suggested we use plastic bottles so that the glass bottles didn't turn into grenades. So instead we "recycled" some 2-liter plasic bottles.

We made just 2 gallons to practice. Recipe per gallon.

1/4 tsp of yeast dissolved in warm water.

tbsp (15mls) of root beer extract

2 cups of sugar

and quantity sufficient warm water to one gallon.

This made 3 2-liters and 1 about 3/4 full. I don't know if the 3/4 full one will work but we shall try, will probably let it sit out longer.

It needs to sit on the counter for 3-5 days until the plastic containers are bulging with pressure. Then goes to the refrigerator. I think a nice batch of homemade ice cream to go with it will be a nice treat.

Preparing for Spring

Well, I haven't posted for awhile because frankly there isn't much to talk about. It has been a snowy winter and we have basically been in hibernation, fighting colds and sinus infections every other week. The only glimmer of hope that it will be warm and green again is the numerous garden catalogs coming in the mail. The biggest questions of the year are which plants are worthy of garden space, time, and resources.
Tomatoes were tough..there are so many that seem worth trying in the catalogs, but ultimately they are really just repeats. For the last 3 years we have done so many seedlings that somehow the names get washed off the tags and I never can track which plants do the best. I read about using cow ear tag markers so hopefully I can do a little scientific trials regarding which plants are worth keeping. Ultimately, at this point I feel we need a good cherry/grape, a large slicing tomato, and productive roma type. I also like not only a red version of the slicing tomatoes and romas, but yellow as well. We had juliet last year for a grape variety and it was very productive and rather large. Calysta ate her body weight in them and I took tons of bowls to work for everyone to snack on.
Here is the line up from totally tomatoes:
Goliath Original (Todd's dad, Dave, swears by these alone)
Lemon Boy
Big Beef Hybrid
Roman Candle ( a yellow roma)
San Marzano
Saucey
Sugary (grape tomato)
and from the store 4th of July

Peppers:
Northstar
Sweet Goliath

Herbs: Delfino Cilantro
Cauliflower: Snow Crown
Broccoli: Waltham 29
This week getting the 4th of July started and a few Juliets that I can put into containers for a few early bird tomatoes.

New Fruits for the Farm

My mother and I (with kids in tow) took a trip down to Wapello, IA to visit the Red Fern Farm. They specialize in chestnut trees, but also have persimmons, pawpaws, hazelnuts, aronia, and asian pears. I took 2 hours of Tom Wahl's time but I just couldn't help myself. I was in fruit production heaven. He also let us try persimmons (a first for both mom and I) and hazelnuts. The hazelnut was really good but the persimmon i am undecided about. I did the little astringency test of taking a tiny bite and waiting about 15 seconds. I didn't appreciate the dry sand feeling, but did seem to think it had a numbing quality. It reminded me of sucking on a chloroseptic tablet that numbs your throat. It was very sweet and the texture was like a really juicy tomato without all the tiny seeds. I bet it would taste good dried like an apricot. Calysta didn't want to try it. Tom allowed me to bring a few home and I gave one to my dad and husband, Todd. He liked it but I don't think he loved it. All in all as a family we are undecided about persimmons in our lives. This doesn't mean it wouldn't be a valuable addition to the farm as far as a selling fruit.

The hardy kiwi and pawpaws were looking good but weren't ripe yet which was very disappointing to me. I have been staring at these fruits in pictures now for a couple years now and was really anxious to try them. I had read many posts discouraging growing hardy kiwis but after seeing Toms I am anxious to get them going. His were covered in grape to roma tomato sized kiwis. The 2 I bought this year from Gurney died, 1 was just a poor specimen (the roots seems damped off) but the other I killed. It dried out on a weekend when we were gone. I will try again next year.

We made a small purchase of 15 hazelnuts, 2 aronia, 2 korean giant pears, and 1 nijiseiki asian pears, and 3 pawpaw seedlings. It was great to see this plants in action. I had hoped for a medlar as well but Tom didnt think it would do well. So hopefully in a few years I will be posting about all the wonderful things i am going to do with all the new non-traditional fruits.

Low Carb Diet Days are Upon Us

Well the time has come. I am out of excuses and frankly my tubby frame is more then I can handle anymore. I have officially stopped pumping breastmilk and so the fear of losing my milk due to dieting is no longer a valid excuse. So low carb here I/maybe we come.
Why low carb? I don't know, it seems to work for me. I don't like calorie counting. It is exhausting and frankly I do better with an all or none mentality versus the "control" one. Anyone who knows me knows I go overboard with everything. Also low carb seems to suit my body. I have a feeling I am a little insulin resistant or something because eating lots of carbs really wears on me. Some people feel exhausted doing low carb, but I think they might be doing it to excess or not eating enough. I don't completely fall into one low-carb strategy or another (ie atkins or south beach). I don't tend to limit vegetables (potatoes are a starch in my book) and I avoid things that are white unless it is yogurt or sour cream. So ultimately we eat a vegetable and meat for dinners. This includes stir-fry, kabobs, steak, lots of grilled stuff, fish packets, and lots of different entree salads. Dessert is a huge weak spot for me so thank god I recently discovered brownies made from black beans and the old standby's of cheesecake, fruit yogurts, creme brulee, mousse,etc. If it weren't for stevia I would be destined to fail from the start!!

The Fruits ( and Veggies) of Our Labor

Well, it is that time of year where the garden is starting to reward the immense amount of labor we put into it. And best of all...I have cucumbers......lots of them and several varieties....pickle cucumbers, chinese thin, and lemon.....Considering my previous years failure, this is very exciting. Spicy pickles here we come!!!

We also have zucchini and yellow summer squash coming in. Every year I try to find more interesting ways to use it. Yesterday i cubed it and put it in shrimp fried rice. It was really great. I bought a few new cookbooks at Sams club that incorporate zucchini and eggplant for new ideas, mostly ethnic dishes.

I also am getting just a few early small roma tomatoes....just a tease....

Nanking Cherry Bushes

When I got home today, I noticed small red berries all over the nanking cherry bushes. I purchased them from Gurney's when we first moved here about 3 years ago. This is the first year they have fruited. The fruit are suprisingly good. The first few fruits that showed up last week were damaged by a fruit maggot and as you can imagine I was pretty grossed out.

Today the fruits today were much better, no maggots for one and very plump. They were also suprising sweet, but not as sweet as a "sweet cherry". They are about the size of a dime and extremely prolific. I can't wait to have nanking cherry wine in the upcoming years.