2017 Garden 06.01

This winter included rain and wind. Though the snow level in the yard was about average, the raspberries had alot of damage. And winter has left slowly. I was a month late getting them pruned.

Honeycrisp Apple in bloom for the first time!

With help from a good friend, she must be a good friend to be willing to pull the tangled grass roots out of the garden!

Onion plants on top and lettuce below soaker hose.

We are making progress in getting seeds and transplants in the soil.

 New Thyme plant. Smells wonderful and is yummy.

The old had become quite woody.

 Horseradish. I had two in upside down 5 gallon water bottles.

I harvested the front one last fall. A tip of the roots must have been left.

Because a new plant is emerging.

 New Sage plant also. The old was very woody. 

 Transplants ready to go. Mom started: Red Cabbage, 

Broccoli, Kale, Radicchio, Cilantro and some flowers.

Brassica transplants protected with bottles and jugs (bottoms are cut out).

 Rhubarb - already harvested twice.

 Garlic - I've never had garlic make it through the winter before.

The cloves were taken from some a friend grew.

 Both here in the strawberry bed and in the mint bed they are thriving.

I've put the perforated type watering hose in both strawberry beds. 

The strawberries love the gentle watering and it is much easier

to pull weeds from moist soil!

Tomato plants bought as transplants from Azure Standard's Sarah's Starts.

For our short, dry growing season I've found self-watering containers work best.

They are located on the front porch and can be covered easily 

or even brought into the garage at night.

Front Porch Flower/Strawberry Bed - with chives, 

walking onions (these provide green onions as early as March), 

and cilantro that self-seeded from last year.

Busy Day - Tallow Rendering and Cheddar Curds

Tuesday we picked up our meat from the butcher. We had a 22 month old steer butchered. His rail weight was just over 600 pounds. We netted about 350 pounds of meat. With bones and offal there was close to 400 pounds.

I asked them to save the leaf fat. There was 12+ pounds of leaf fat. Today, I chopped it fine and put it in the crock-pot on low. I did this in 3 batches. I ladled the liquid gold into a sterile mason jar by filtering it through a fine mesh strainer hung on the jar funnel. Then would add the next batch of fat. By leaving the jar upside down for 5 - 10 minutes and then turning it right side up the new jar lid will usually seal. These will store well in the basement storage room and will be used for soap, body cream, and cooking.

While letting the fat melt into tallow. I was able to catch up on some housecleaning and make some cheddar curds. The curds are draining and ready to be sliced to cheddar. We enjoy the curds on salad and as snacks. Because you do not take the milk above 100 degrees it is still considered raw. Yum!

Christmas Gift

Just have to brag on one of my daughter-in-laws.

Before Christmas she asked, "What is Dad and yours favorite Bible verse?"

We had to ponder it for a bit.

Because individually, we probably would have picked different verses. 

We settled on the verse in 3 John...

Which she made into this wall-hanging.

We love it.

And thought it was very appropriate to hang above the family picture.

Garden Snow Gauge - Buried

I've been watching the garbage can in the garden to check snow level.

This is regular size garbage can with lid. In the summer I use it to make fertilizer tea. It sits along the fence on the east side of the garden. (Where I can reach it with a garden hose to fill with water.) The "sticks" use see surrounding it are raspberry canes. Many are 5' tall.

January 2

By January 4th. The garbage can was covered with snow; there was just a bump in the snow covering the domed lid.

As of this last snow storm, there isn't even a bump in the snow to show where the lid of the garbage can is.

January 27

We are very thankful for all the snow - it means moisture for the garden and hay fields this Spring and Summer and fewer wild fires in the mountains.

Alpenglow

This winter while driving home from work,

the Alpenglow has been spectacular.

Sometimes golden,

and sometimes pink.

Always a reminder of a loving Creator.

Ready for the Freezer

Tomorrow, we say good-bye to Milkshake. 

He will return in a few weeks all wrapped up and ready to fill the freezer.

Which means during the summer, we were on the "irrigation/sprinkler moving rotation"

and there were Saturday mornings of moving cattle from one pasture to another.

But, we should end up at about $5.00 a pound for grass-fed meat.

The exercise of caring for the critters doesn't hurt us, as we both have "office jobs."

And that is about $3.00 a pound less 

than the cheapest grass-fed meat cuts at the grocery stores around here.

Winter in White

Sunday, before the latest storm really started...

Hello from Wyoming!

Old truck parked behind shop.

Mr. Wonderful used the tractor and snow blower to make a circular path in the back to feed the cows.

This bull and steer raced into the path and danced, kicking up their heals and prancing around

...before settling down to eat.

Snow on window during storm. Notice top of garbage can in garden. It is now completely covered.

I felt like a real Wyoming women digging through this to get to the woodpile.

There is more than a foot of snow on top of the pile, and at the bottom is about two feet.

Mr. Wonderful getting hay for the critters. 

The path he made on Sunday, is now completely blown in with fresh snow.

That Vitamin Movie

Free for the next week.

Chocolate Muffins

Chocolate Muffins - THM friendly
Oven 375°F Yields 6 regular size muffins
Gluten free, sugar free, dairy free option

I don't know if it is the high altitude, my lack of microwave savvy, or what, but the *Muffin in a Mug* recipe from the Trim Healthy Mama book were easy, yet not quite right for us. This is the result after playing with the recipe. It does take a bit longer, but I end up with extra for lunches.

Mix well in mixer bowl:
3 eggs
1 Tbsp butter (or coconut oil to make dairy free)
2 Tbsp coconut oil
3 Tbsp xylitol
15 drops liquid stevia (or equivalent choice of sweetner)
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
6 Tbsp flaxseed meal
3 tbsp water
2 pinches sea salt
1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla

Pulse in:
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp coconut flour

Let rest 1-2 minutes for batter to thicken slightly before filling greased or paper-lined muffin cups. Fill to about 1/4" below top.

Bake at 375° F for about 15 minutes. Muffin should spring back from finger test. If you over-bake muffins they will be dry.

I like to sprinkle a few dark chocolate chips and/or soaked nuts on top before baking.

Garden Update - August 7

Pumpkins - I saved seed from a pumpkin someone gave me last year.

Yukon Chief corn in tassel stage.

Volunteer Borage - the bees love it.

Sweet Peas behind thyme.

Garden Update - July 28 Cold Front

Peppers brought in for the night because of cold front. Anaheim on left, Aruba on right.

Stripped Roman Tomato. The tomatoes in planters were put in the garage because of the cold front.

Actually covering up the plants, helped speed up this tomato turning red.

Garden plants under wraps because of the cold front.

Fermenting Day

It was a cold and wet day. Too cold and wet to work in the garden.

So I majored on some fermented foods.

Draining yogurt for "Greek" yogurt or yogurt cheese.

Yogurt will drip for about 24 hours.

Making a fresh batch of Kombucha. I make 1/2 gallon at a time with a blend of half black and half Red Roobios.
Tea steeps for 10 minutes, then cools.When cool I add the scoby and put a coffee filter over the top, letting it ferment for 10 days.

 

Last year's sauerkraut was about to run out. I used the largest cabbage in the garden - 3 lbs 11 oz. to make about 1/2 gallon sauerkraut. I like my sauerkraut to be crunchy still.

Slice thinly and put in a non-reactive bowl.

Salt sprinkled on.

Ready to set out for up to 3 days. Then in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.