Blintzes

Need something easy and fabulous for breakfast to celebrate the new year?    You have to try some blintzes! 

Blintzes are a glorified pancake - or crepe, if you will.

We certainly will.   We love these.

Love them, I tell you.   With the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.    My 'I hate breakfast' kid will eat four of them.   FOUR.   This is nothing short of miraculous. 

Here's a great recipe for crepes from allrecipes.com.    Make them very thin so they'll be easy to fold up.    To turn the crepes into blintzes, you fill them with a sweet cheesy mixture and then fold them up and cook them again. 

Blintz Filling
www.rurification.com

• 1 package cream cheese, 8 oz  or 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
• splash of vanilla
• optional 2 Tablespoons marmalade

Combine all ingredients well.   Put a spoonful of cream filling in a crepe, then fold the sides over or roll them up.   Fold the open ends up toward the center and then gently put the filled crepe back in a skillet to brown a bit more.   Gently turn over and brown the top.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.   Serve with generous amounts of marmalade or jam.

Tip:  Have two skillets going - one for the crepes and one for the blintzes.   You only need small skillets.  You do not need special pans.  


Want the recipe for Orange Marmalade and a whole lot of other terrific jam recipes?   Check out my ebook:  A Simple Jar of Jam  at www.rurification.etsy.com.   You can preview the book by clicking the link on the sidebar.  Every purchase helps support this site.  Thank you!

Winter Frost

Sun through the frost

One of the prettiest things about a southern Indiana winter is the frost.  



Lily especially loves the frost and will get up and go out at dawn with the camera to record it before it melts away.    These are her latest pics.

Echinacea

Sycamore leaf

Turkey tail fungus

Leaf curl

Sycamore leaves

Euell Gibbons

Yeah, I know it dates me.    Euell used to be a big name way back in the 19.....uh....ahem.

Way back when.

Here's his bio from Wiki.

He wrote a series of back to nature type books called, Stalking the ......  [fill in the blank], plus a couple of others: 

Stalking the Wild Asparagus (1962)
Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop (1964)
Stalking the Healthful Herbs (1966)
Stalking the Good Life (1966)
Beachcomber's Handbook (1967)
A Wild Way To Eat (1967) for the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School
Stalking the Faraway Places (1973)

Here's where you can get  his books

I learn a lot every time I pick up one of these books.   They are marvelous collections of lore and how-to.    Look for them - open one up and read through a section.    They're fun!

If you're looking for a gift for someone who's into self sufficiency, I highly recommend these books.  

Waffles with Natural Yeast

It's been a really big week.  You totally deserve waffles this weekend.  

Make them.   Make them soon.

Soon!   They're easier than you think.

I get up a couple of hours earlier than everyone else in the house.    I make the batter for these as soon as I get up, then I let it sit for a couple of hours and do its thing until everyone else starts to stir.  Perfect waffles every time!

Waffles with Natural Yeast
www.rurification.com

• 1 1/2 cups natural yeast [or whatever is left when you feed your start]
• 1 1/2 cups hot milk
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tb sugar
• 2 Tb oil
• spices if you want them:   1/2 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg or cardamom

My natural yeast start loves hot liquids, so I heat the milk in the microwave until it is steaming all the way through.    Mix all ingredients together well.   Let it sit and rise for a couple of hours before you make your waffles.    Makes 7 waffles. 

Tip:   You can thin this batter and make pancakes.

Tip:  My yeast likes a HOT pan to get the best rise.   Make sure your griddle or waffle iron is good and hot before you start. 

Tip:   Put jam on your waffles!   The photo shows plum jam and white nectarine jam on the waffles together.   Mmmmm.  

Round Bales

This is what happens to our round bales after they're left for a year or so, or if it's been really, really wet.    These are this year's bales that got really, really wet when hurricane Isaac blew through in September.   Now they've sprouted.     Rural chia pet.

They make me smile.

Concrete

A lot of folks think that concrete and cement are the same thing.   It's not and it's important to know the difference.  

We poured concrete for our footers.  Concrete is a mix of sand, gravel, cement and water - often with other additives.   Concrete contains  cement.

Cement doesn't contain concrete.

Now you know.

There are a lot of different recipes for concrete.  The Romans had some interesting ones.  From the wiki:

 "'Concrete additives have been used since Roman and Egyptian times, when it was discovered that adding volcanic ash to the mix allowed it to set under water. Similarly, the Romans knew that adding horse hair made concrete less liable to crack while it hardened and adding blood made it more frost-resistant. '

I kind of don't want to know how they figured out the blood thing.

Anyway.

When the truck comes to pour your concrete, they have a mix of the dry stuff in one tank and water in another tank.   They mix it after they get to you.    This way they can change the mix according to what the different parts of the pour need. 

We needed thick stuff for the steps in our footer.  We needed thinner stuff for the tops to move it from one place to another. They measure concrete thickness by 'slump'.   The wiki explains it in detail.

Basically, to test thickness, the concrete is packed into a cone.  The cone is turned upside down and taken off the concrete - sand castle style.    Then they measure how much the concrete slumps.   Thick stuff won't slump much.  Thinner stuff with more water in it slumps a lot.  In the US, they measure by inches.  

The lower the number, the thicker the concrete.  Thicker concrete is stronger, but it's hard to finish smoothly.   Thicker concrete is also hard to move along.   If you need to move it along, you need thinner concrete.

We used 4" slump in our steps and 6-7" slump for the rest.

Here are a few things we learned:

1.  For changes in elevation/level in your pour use 4" slump.

2.  For concrete you need to move along the form to get to the other side, use 6-7" slump.  

3.  If you build a plywood chute to move concrete in, get it wet before you start.   Dry plywood really holds the concrete in place.   Once the chute is wet, the concrete moves nicely along.

4.  Garden rakes are great tools for working with concrete.   Narrow rakes are better.   For the foundation we might need to use hoes because the foundation will only be 8" wide.

5.  2x4s are your friends.   We used them to smooth and level and to put our feet on when we were poised over the wet concrete.

6.  Wear gloves and clothes you don't mind getting really really dirty.  A lot of it will wash up, but some might not. 

7.  A good attitude and good communication skills make the job a lot easier.  Seriously - this is the most important thing you can bring to any construction job. 

Pretty

Rural Redneck Poetry

If you're reading this, then you are either 1. gathering up your courage to face the ravening hoards,  or  2. you've survived the holiday and you are putting off cleaning up the mess or 3. you are hiding from the relatives.

I don't blame you.   In fact, I think you deserve a massage and a four course meal at the fanciest restaurant in town.    Unfortunately, I have no way of giving you either a massage or a four course dinner of any kind.    So instead I opted for poetry.

Because seriously, nothing says 'I survived the holiday without killing Crazy Aunt Sally or maiming my children' quite like a sonnet.  

Yep, a sonnet.

A rural redneck sonnet.

Disclosure:   If you're new to the blog, you need to know that I am no poet.   Seriously.   I am fully aware of this.

Which is totally liberating, because since I have neither the desire nor the ability to write decent poetry, I can write whatever kind of poetry I want instead.    And I do.   Here is some of my previous Rural Redneck Poetry.   It includes both a haiku and a limerick - I'm diverse that way.  The Dead of Winter.   It's not for the faint of heart, just warning you.  

Feel free to leave some of your own rural redneck poetry in the comments - whatever kind you want.   It'll kill some time while the kids are running around the house having a Nerf war and the in-laws are discussing both religion and politics.   If someone asks what you've been doing you can say that you were reading and composing poetry.    They'll be impressed.    Or fear you.   You're good either way.


Rurification Sonnet #1

I am no rural Shakespeare; that's for sure!
No poet's soul have I. I lack the skill
of lilting verse, vocabulary pure.
Poetic metaphors I often kill.
Like vermin in the house, I plan and trap
and execute my words until they scan.
They scuttle out, unpleasant as the tap
of little claws and teeth upon a pan
of last night's cake.  My talents lie elsewhere
in hives and holes and beds of sand and soil.
My seeds and shovels are the tools I care
For most, not words. Not words! Words want true toil.
They’re too much work.  Plus - words that flow like honey
are pleasing, yes, but will they earn me money?

The End.  In case you were wondering. 

The Official 2013 Planting List

Here's a list of the seeds I've got for our 2013 veg garden.

Notes:  Seeds come from BC=Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, unless indicated.  I've listed the exact variety of each plant, where I know it.  There are some that I've lost or never knew.   I saved some of my own seed from 2012 and I've noted which of our own seeds we're trying this year.  

Beans 

• Fava Beans - Broad Windsor
• Red Chinese long beans - Got original seed from BC.  Now I use our saved seed from 2012.
• Green Chinese long beans - Got original seed from BC.  Now I use our saved seed from 2012.
• Dragon Tongue [our saved seed from 2012] 

Beet

•  Detroit Dark Red - this is my first year trying beets.  Wish me luck!

Cucumber

• Telegraph
• de Bourbonne [tiny ones]

Eggplant

• Japanese Pickling:  Very heat tolerant!
• Florida Market Eggplant

Fennel:  Di Firenze

Flowers:  zinnia (liliput), calendula [and probably some cosmos.  I love cosmos.]

Greens:  Siamese Dragon Stir Fry Mix

Herbs, Annual:

• Basil, Genovese. Water seeds daily until they sprout.
• Basil, Lettuce Leaf..  Water seeds daily until they sprout.
• Cilantro, Slo Bolt.  Got original seed from BC.  Now I use our saved seed from 2012.

Herbs, Perennial [planted several years ago]

• Lavender
• Thyme
• Sage
• Horehound
• Chives
• Anise Hyssop
• Hyssop
• Chamomile [self sows]
• Alpine Strawberries
• Clary Sage
• Winter savory
• Lemon balm
• Sorrel

Leek:  Autumn Giant Leek

Melon

• Charentais [cantaloupe]
• Uzbek Sweetness Melon

Onions

• Egyptian walking onions 
• Local starts:  red and yellow 

Parsnip:  Half Long Guernsey Parsnip  [First try at parsnips.]

Peas

• Sugar Snap:   Hardy and prolific.  Heat tolerant. 

Peppers -We're shooting for sweeter, meatier peppers this year.

• Golden Marconi
• Red Marconi
• Ozark Giant
• Quadrato D'Asti Rosso
  

Potatoes:  Kennebec.   From May's [local]

Radish:

• rat's tail.  Delicious!!  Fun, very prolific.  Heat tolerant.  
• Early Scarlet Globe - the regular red kind

Rutabaga: Laurentian Rutabaga  [First time with rutabagas]

Sweet potatoes:  Georgia Jet.  From Bloomingfood's

Squash, Summer

• Zucchino Rampicante - No new seed this year, so we'll try planting last year's seed and keep our fingers crossed.
• Golden Marbre Scallop [pattypan]
• Lemon Squash
• Castata Romanesco [zucch type]:  Early set of fruit. Light.  Striped.  First one, June 30.

Squash, Winter

• Australian Butter
• Black Futsu
• Greek Sweet Red
• Golden hubbard
• Honey Boat Delicata
• Musquee De Provence
• Queensland Blue
• Rouge Vif D'Etampes

Strawberries

• June bearing [from May's]
• Ever bearing  [from May's]

Tomato

• Amana Orange Tomato
• Amish Paste: 
• Brave General Tomato
• Black Cherry Tomato
• Hillbilly [Flame]

Yule Bread

Annual repost --


This bread is a traditional Danish Christmas braided bread. It’s easier than it sounds and delicious with hot chocolate on Christmas morning…and afternoon…and evening…and after the kids go to bed.


K2 spends the entire time I make it trying to steal bits of dough and then begging me to let her eat a loaf [in its entirety, by herself] as soon as it comes out of the oven.

As. Soon. As.

This year, I put my refusals to music.   Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

No! You can't. eat. some!   I told you no, told you no. No you really can't. [Even if you whine.] You cannot. have. any bread, any bread, No you really can't.  [Tears won't work on me.]
...

Et cetera.

OK.   It was probably more entertaining in person.

Anyway.

I got this recipe years ago from a good friend who's mom is from Denmark, and her Yule Bread is an art.  They kindly gave me the recipe.   Thank you!  My family will be eternally grateful.

Eternally.

Yule Bread
www.rurification.com

• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 4 cups milk
• 1 1/3 cups sugar 
• 3 Tbsp yeast
• 2 1/2 tsp cardamom [the fresher, the better]
• 2 tsp salt
• 10-12 Cups flour

Optional Glaze:

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp water

Directions:
Melt butter. Add milk. Warm to body temperature.   The butter will be good and hot by the time it has melted and when you add the milk to it, the butter will raise the temp of the milk to just exactly what you need. 

While the butter is melting, in a very large bowl mix sugar, salt and cardamom.

Soften yeast with a large spoon full of the sugar mixture and some of the warm milk.

Add yeast and milk/butter to the rest of the sugar mix in the very large bowl. Stir well.

Add flour a cup at a time.  Start with a whisk so that the flour gets incorporated quickly.   As the dough gets thicker, use a spoon instead and incorporate the flour with a rolling motion.  When it's too hard to roll with a spoon, use your hands to roll it.  Be gentle with the dough.  Handle it as little as possible so that it will stay tender.


Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rise 1 hour.  

Divide dough into 8 balls.   Start by dividing it in half, then each of those two in half, then each of those four in half.   You'll get lovely balls of about the same size.  

Divide each of those into 3 smaller balls. Let rest. (Dividing takes some time, so by the time you’re done dividing everything, the first set has rested long enough.)  Cover as many as you can with the damp cloth you used to cover the dough during the first rise. 

Make a 15″ rope from each of the 3 small balls. Braid and tuck the ends under.   Put them on a greased cookie sheet.   It'll take 2 sheets.   

Let rise 30 minutes.   Start the timer when you've filled your first sheet.

Optional glaze: Beat egg with 1 tsp water and brush on loaves.   Confession:   I never put the glaze on.   I'm way too lazy.

Bake until golden blonde on greased sheet at 325 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

If you didn't use the glaze, then brush melted butter all over the tops of the loaves as soon as they come out of the over. [Translation:  Take the paper off one end of a stick of butter and rub it on the hot bread.   The butter melts immediately and you don't have to wash a brush.]

Cool loaves on parchment paper.  

Notes:

• You do not have to do 8 loaves.  This is America.  There are no Yule Bread Police.  You can do 4 or 6 or 12.   For smaller loaves to gift, divide the dough into 12 balls.   These loaves are a great little size that fits perfectly into a gift bag for giving away.
• If your cardamom is old, then it's OK to add more - add an extra 1/2 tsp to start with.   The cardamom is the whole reason to make this bread, so don't be stingy with it. 
• One last thing - this dough is sweet and delicious and if you eat too much it will give you painful gas because the yeast will love your inner body temp.  Trust me.  Don't. Eat. The Dough.   Not even a bit, because then you won't be able to stop.  

Pouring a New Footer

Earlier this month, on the last few warm days we had in a row, we finally poured our new footer.

You may recall that we've been digging.

And digging.

And digging.

And then digging some more.   

Footers are a lot of work. 

Once the digging was done, we had to put in the forms so the footer wouldn't fill up the whole hole.

If we were in a place where we actually had drainage, letting the footer fill the whole hole wouldn't be a problem.   But we don't have drainage.  

Southeast end forms

We have clay. 

Which means we have to install drainage.   And if we fill the whole hole with concrete, then we'd have to dig next to it - all the way down! - to put in drainage so that moisture wouldn't collect around the new footer and foundation and cause the same problems we're trying to fix now. 

And let me tell you, we're over the digging.   Over. It.  

West side forms

So,  Eric built forms in the holes to keep the concrete from filling the whole hole, leaving some space on the outside of the footer, so when it's all done, there will be just enough space to backfill with gravel [We love gravel.] and lay some super duper fabulous drainage tiles so that the moisture won't collect around the new footer and foundation and cause the same problems we're trying to fix now.  

Then we called the concrete guys and ordered 13 yards of concrete and George came and looked at the site to see if we could get the trucks close enough to the site to use their chutes.

There was good news and bad news.  

The good news was that we could get close enough in a couple of places.   

The bad news was that we couldn't get close enough in other places.    Which meant hauling concrete by the wheel barrow load to where we needed it. 

I don't know about you, but the idea of hauling six yards of concrete uphill in a wheel barrow just doesn't sound like my idea of fun.  In any universe.

Pulling the concrete down the chute with rakes

So Eric built a super duper concrete chute out of plywood and 2x4s.    And a super duper very tall sawhorse to support the chute as the concrete poured out of the truck's chute onto our chute, then down our chute to the hard-to-reach places in the holes.  

Then we crossed our fingers and prayed a lot that it would work because nobody,  No. Body., wanted to haul six yards of concrete uphill in a wheelbarrow.  

Not even the kids.   Weird, huh.

And guess what.   It totally worked!    The only concrete we had to haul with the wheelbarrow was the last tiny bit of the first load, which had been mixed thick especially for the steps in the footer where it changed levels.    Eric moved only 5 wheel barrow loads to the steps on the other side of the house, with Lily spotting and helping support so that the wheelbarrow and all didn't all pitch in the hole when they dumped.  

The rest was poured with the chute. 

We all helped.   Just so you know, one man, one woman and two teenaged girls can pour a footer if they communicate well and are willing to work hard and fast.   We hit a couple of tricky spots and both times, the driver of the truck [It took 2 loads of concrete to get it all done] hopped out and gave us a quick hand.  [I hope those guys have an extra special holiday!]

Mostly, it went like this:    We'd line up the truck chute with our chute.  When Eric gave the signal, I shouted to the driver to let it come.  Once the concrete hit our chute, K2 and I pulled it down the chute faster with rakes.  Lily and Eric raked it and smoothed it in the forms and let me know when to slow and stop.   I let the driver know when to slow or stop.    When one section was done, we moved the chute to the next section.   When we got to the lowest area, the truck could get up close and dump and that went a lot faster.    Once the east side was done, there was just enough left in the load to do the steps on the west side.  That truck cleaned up and took off.

Eric checks the level in the first section

We had an hour or so between loads.  Eric scrambled to get the rebar laid in the west hole and I scrambled to get the new concrete level before it stiffened up too much to move.    We had just finished when we heard the 2nd truck coming.  

We used mostly 4" slump (more on that in a later post) in the first hole and in the steps on the west side of the house.  Because we had already poured the steps on the west side with the thick stuff, it was pretty well set up by then and we could use 6 or 7" slump in the second load.    It poured a lot faster and set up a lot slower.   
Let me tell you this about working with concrete.   You think dirt is dirty?   It's nothing compared to concrete.   

Concrete is wet and dirty.    And it dries you up so that after a couple of hours you're starting to cough and get chapped.   But you can't stop working because that stuff starts to cure Right Now and you have to get it level Right Now if you want it level.

Smoothing with a 2x4

And we need it level.  So Eric leveled as we poured and then when we had to move the truck to a different area, it was my job to finish leveling, while Eric moved to the next section.

K2 and I worked together to do the leveling.  Luckily it only needed to be level, not beautiful.   

The bottom section of the east side was easy to level.    There were forms on both sides.  All I had to do was run a 2x4 across the top and make sure it was full, full, full.    Up the rest of the hole, there was a form only on one side.  This means there was nothing on one side to prop the board on to get a level.   Also, nothing to stand on, on that side.  

K2 checks the level.  I'm trying not to fall in.

To be honest, I was afraid I'd fall in head first.   The concrete was so stiff already on the east side that it wasn't a problem.   I laid big boards and plywood on the concrete and floated [rafted] backward as I smoothed.  The west side was wetter, but I had some experience by then.  Once I got in a groove, it worked well and in the end, it's all good and level.  It rained for the next 3 days and there is only one place that's about a 1/4 inch low on one side.  Nothing to fret over. 

It needed to stay above freezing for 7 days to cure right.   It was wet and well above freezing for the next 4 days, then when it got cold, we put some straw and plastic over the footer.   It's in the ground, which kept it warm-ish and the curing process releases some heat, so the blanketing was enough to keep it right for the rest of the 7 days.  

Footer done!   The first truck had arrived at 2pm.  The second left at 6:30pm.   It took a full hour and a half to clean up all the tools, wheel barrows, etc.  We were all done and in the house by 8pm.   Whew!

Foundation next.     Eric will build forms [no digging!] and get things so they'll attach to the bit of old but good foundation in the front.   There will be forms on both sides of the foundation [easy to level during the pour].   We already have the chute, but we might not need it.   There are no steps at the top of the foundation, so we can just pour it in one end and move it along to the other end.   With the four of us and a bit of experience under our belts, we should manage just fine.  It will be heavy work, but not back breaking.  

Now we need warm weather.   We don't want to risk goofy curing because of a serious cold snap, so if we have to wait a couple of months, no problem.    We want this foundation to last.  And last.

Seeds for next year's garden!

I kind of jumped the gun this year.    I already bought the veg seeds for next year - even before I got the catalog in the mail.

Ridiculous, I know.    I couldn't help myself.  

Then the catalog came!   This is the new Baker Creek catalog.  It's beautiful - and everything in it looks delicious.  

It's hard to decide what to get - Hard!, I tell you.   And truthfully, for me it's really a matter of deciding what not to get.

Sigh.

Here's a pic of a few of the things I got for the veg garden next year.  

Because I needed four different kinds of peppers.  And eight different kinds of winter squash.  And five different kinds of tomatoes.

What's on your garden wish list? 

Red Barn

A lot of the barns out here are black - or grey because they've been left entirely unpainted.  

But some of them are red.

Red, red, red. 

This one is not far from us.   A few horses live there and when I stopped to snap the pic, the horses came over to greet us.    I expect that they're fed that way and were probably disappointed that I didn't have a treat for them. 

They were charming and we had a long conversation about the state of the world and the quality of this year's hay.  

Winter Towels

I wanted to weave some winter towels - something not too Christmasy, but with some winter red and green in it.   I used two greens, two reds, a lot of winter white, plus some tan and wound a long warp.   

And then I wove these.

I love them!



8/2 cotton
15 epi as wide as you want.

An 8 yd warp makes 9 towels - enough to give some as gifts and keep a few.  

Freezing Eggs for Long Term Storage

We have chickens and ducks.

They lay eggs.

It's what they do.

In the spring and summer, they lay lots of eggs.

Lots. Of. Eggs.

We have eggs coming out our ears.  

We can't eat that many and we're not really interested in selling them so last summer, I decided to freeze them to see if they'd keep that way.    It totally worked!

First we beat three eggs and measured about how much that made:   3 eggs = 1/2 cup-ish of beaten egg goo.  2 eggs = 1/3 cup-ish.   Ish - because eggs are different sizes.  

Then we cracked a whole lot more eggs and beat them.  

Then we labelled some ziplock type freezer bags clearly so we'd know how many eggs were in a bag.    We did some 3 egg bags and some 2 egg bags.  

Then we measured them into the bags.  [It was messy.]   Make sure they're closed tightly.

Then we stacked the bags so they'd be flat.

Then we froze them.

Freezing was easy, the big question was how they'd work when thawed.

A word about thawing eggs:  do not thaw these things in a microwave - they'll cook.   You don't want that.  

Thaw them in the fridge or maybe in hot water if you need them faster.   

Frozen eggs thaw thick.   [Thounds like I'm lithping.]  What I mean is that when they thaw, the eggs don't get thin and runny - they stay sort of custardy.     It turned out not to be a big deal.    They incorporate just fine in cakes and cookies and even a dutch pancake.  

Bottom line - this was a great way for us to preserve the egg bounty of May and June in the freezer to use now when we're lucky to get a few eggs a week.  

2012 Veg Garden Wrap-Up

Here's a wrap up of the 2012 veg garden production.

Notes:  Seeds come from BC=Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, unless indicated.  I've listed the exact variety of each plant, where I knew it.  There are some that I've lost or never knew.  I tried saving some of my own seed last year and I've noted which of our own seeds we used this year.  

Beans 

• Red Chinese long beans [our saved seed from 2011] Excellent germination.   I love these beans!   We'll always do these.
• Green Chinese long bean.   These don't like heat.   Did fabulously once the weather cooled late summer and were frost resistant for the first few light frosts.   Definitely a keeper.
• Dragon Tongue [our saved seed from 2011]  Excellent germination.  First beans June 30.
• Blue Lake [our saved seed from 2011]  Excellent germination.

Broccoli:  4 pack from Menard's.   Cabbage worms got them.  Good production, but covered with worms.  Pulled them up and tossed them.

Cabbage:  4 pack from Menard's.  Cabbage worms got them.  Pulled them up.

Carrots:  St Valery.    I grew carrots!    Woo-hoo!     Unfortunately, they were woody and didn't taste very good because of our soil.  No one would eat them.  I won't be doing carrots again.  

Collards:  4 pack from Menard's.  Cabbage worms got them.  Pulled them up.

Cucumber

• Telegraph:   My favorite, smooth skin and long.   Great cukes!   Will do these again.  
• de Bourbonne [tiny ones].  First cuke July 1.   Pick tiny.   Delicious and extremely prolific!  Will do these again. 

Eggplant

• Japanese Pickling [good success 2011]  Very heat tolerant!  These are my favorite.   Will do these again. 
• Rosa Bianca [round, rose pink]  These don't tolerate the very high heat [100 +] that we had.  Water frequently.   Didn't produce much for me, right next to the Japanese Pickling eggplant.   Won't do these again.  

Fennel:  Di Firenze.  I planted these in the middle of the summer and babied them until the heat broke.   They're in the coldframe now and going gangbusters.   Will probably have fennel gratin for Christmas.   YAY!    Will start another batch in the coldframe in January.


Garlic:   Forgot about it.   I planted some in the spring and then just left it all year.    Try to plant this IN THE FALL.    I've planted a bunch from some random garlic from the store.   Came up and is still green.   Hopefully, we'll have a nice harvest next spring.


Greens:   Siamese Dragon Mix from BC.    Great producer in the coldframe all winter long.   Our favorite greens mix. 

Herbs, Annual:

• Basil, dark purple opal. Water seeds daily until they sprout.   Likes fertile soil.  
• Basil, italian.  Water seeds daily until they sprout.   I like the large leaf varieties.    Pick often [Cut just above a pair of leaves].   They'll produce like crazy.    Pinch off flowers. 
• Cilantro, Slo Bolt [our saved seed from 2011, original seed from BC]  Great germination.   I still have it coming up in the cold frame and warm pockets of the raised beds!

Herbs, Perennial [planted several years ago]

• Lavender
• Thyme
• Sage
• Horehound [self sows]
• Chives [self sows]
• Garlic Chives [self sows]
• Anise Hyssop
• Hyssop
• Chamomile [self sows]
• Alpine Strawberries
• Clary Sage [self sows]
• Winter savory
• Lemon balm [self sows]
• Sorrel

Kale :  Ragged Jack?     Planted it in the coldframe last year where it came up then sat at 1 1/2 inches tall for weeks.   Got aphids.   Transplanted outside in Feb and it really took off.  Delicious!

Melon

• watermelon Crimson Sweet.  Seed from Menard's - I got a couple small ones. Enough for K2.   
• muskmelon Kansas.   Unhappy where it's planted.  One leaf.  Produced nothing. 
• muskmelon Sweet Passion:  good success 2011, not so much 2012.  Only got a couple.  Didn't like where it was planted.  

Okra:  Red okra [our saved seed from 2011] Poor germination.  Only 4 sprouted.   When we've bought fresh seed from BC, this was an excellent bearer!

Onions

• 1 bag sets yellow.  Ready to harvest,  July 1
• 1 bag sets red.   From May's.  Ready to harvest, July 1.
• Egyptian walking onions - going like crazy now. 
  

Peas

• Sugar Snap:   Hardy and prolific.  Slightly better than the Mammoth.  Heat tolerant.    Finished June 24.
• Mammoth Melting Sugar:  Hardy and prolific.   Finished June 24.

Peppers

• Pepperoncini - Good bearer!  Hotter than we like.
• Orange Bell - Good!
• Lipstick - Great producer!    Not very fleshy.
• Anaheim - Great producer!  Long, gorgeous, not very meaty.  

Potatoes:  Kennebec.   From May's.    Had poor success with the potato towers.   Will plant them differently next year.  

Radish:

• Rat's Tail.  Delicious!!  Fun, very prolific.  Heat tolerant.  Fruit [green seed pod] is delicious fresh and dries well to use  in soups all winter.  Self sows.  
• Early Scarlet Globe:   Plant 3 or so inches apart. [I'm talking to you, Robin!]   Great radishes if they're not crowded. 

Sweet potatoes:  Georgia Jet.  From Bloomingfoods.  Great yield.

Squash, Summer  [vulnerable to vine borers here in southern Indiana.]

• Zucchino Rampicante:   Terrific squash!   We left ours until they turned tan.  Delicious!
• Golden Marbre Scallop [pattypan]:  My favorite scalloped pattypan.
• Lemon Squash:   Better than crookneck in my opinion.   Delicious!  
• Castata Romanesco [zucch type]:  Early set of fruit. Light.  Striped.  First one, June 30.   Best zuch we've had here.   Still vulnerable to vine borers, but produced nice squash anyway.  

Squash, Winter

• Baby blue hubbard [try again, BC seed from 2011]:  Didn't come up.
• Golden hubbard:   Good producer!   Delicious squash. 
• Omaha pumpkin [smallish, enlongated]:   Bad seed.  
• butternut Rogosa Violina Gioia:  Never produced.
• Queensland Blue:   Long vines!   Great squash.
• Greek Sweet Red [BC seed from 2011 to try again]:   Very prolific.  Seemed to really take off once the weather cooled off.    Delicious!  One of my favorites.
• Black Futsu [BC seed from 2011 to try again]:  Came up late.   At the very END of the season, started producing cute little squash.   I'm going to try these again 2013. 
• Choctaw Sweet Potato squash  [BC seed from 2011 to try again]:  Didn't come up.

Squash/Melon, Volunteer [These guys showed up and I decided to leave them.  Had no idea what they were until they set fruit.]

• Little white scalloped pumpkin.  Cute!
• Regular round white pumpkin.  Smallish.  Cute!
• Butternut squash:   Got a bunch of nice ones.  
• Mystery winter squash/gourd:  Striped with a few warts.  Turned tan with green spotted stripes.   Weird, but fun.   Not edible.
• Cantaloupe:   Got a little one.

Strawberries

• June bearing [from May's]:   Great producers!
• Ever bearing  [from May's]:   Great producers!

Tomato

• Red Zebra:  set fruit very quickly.  Smaller tomatoes.   Delicious. 
• North Dakota Earliana:   Good.
• Beauty King: set fruit early.   Good. 
• Principe Borghese [grape]: slow to set fruit, but then they took off.   Hundreds of tomatoes until frost.
• Amish Paste: These set fruit first.  Nice meaty tomato that looks like a large roma.   One of our favorites. 
• Pontano Romanesco:   It grew.   Nothing special here this year. 
• Volunteer Mystery Plant #1:  Set lots of fruit.  Irregularly shaped like Sioux from 2011.
• Volunteer Mystery Plant #2:  Lots of fruit.  

Bean Soup with Bacon, Chicken and Pesto

I have been so hungry for soup lately!   Maybe it's the weather, maybe my it's my need for comfort food -  I don't know.  But soup, soup, soup is all I've been thinking about.  

Except for eggnog.   I've been thinking about eggnog.  

Also, fruitcake, which I love, and which probably makes me a freak to most of the English speaking world and, now that I think about it, probably all of the French speaking world.  It's true, though.  I've been thinking about fruitcake.  Please don't stop reading the blog because you know this about me now.

Even though I love fruitcake and eggnog, they only go so far before they leave you quivering on the floor in a sugar induced coma.   I don't know about you, but I just don't have time for a sugar induced coma.  Which is why I've been thinking about soup.

I'm pretty sure that soup prevents sugar induced comas.   Yet another reason to love soup.

I have a great recipe for Clam Chowder that I got from a college roommate [Thanks, Julie!].    I love the Hungarian Mushroom Soup that's in The New Moosewood Cookbook.  I also love Chili.  And Minestrone - without the pasta, so I guess it's not really minestrone, it's sort of an Italian style Vegetable Soup.   Whatever.       But I want more variety in my soups so I picked up a couple of soup books from the library.

I love the library.  There was a Whole Shelf full of soup books at the library - and those were just the ones that weren't checked out.   When they're all in, I bet they have Two Whole Shelves of books about soup.  Maybe even Three.    Which means there's a whole world of soup out there that I've been missing.    

Don't you think?

At any rate, I fell in love with one of the soup books I brought home.   Fell. In. Love.    And since I know you want to know which one it was, I'm going to tell you.  

Ta-DA!     My new favorite cookbook!   Knack Soup Classics: Chowders, Gumbos, Bisques, Broths, Stocks, and Other Delicious Soups

Chowders! Bisques! Gumbos!    Now we're talking.

I love this book.  It's simple and covers all the basics, which means it's a good way to learn how to make your own soups. 

And so I did.

Bean Soup with Bacon, Chicken and Pesto
www.rurification.com

• 1/2 lb bacon, cooked until crisp, cooled and crumbled
• 2 T butter or bacon grease
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup carrots, chopped
• a handful of dried rat tail radishes or celery or both
• 2 cans great northern beans
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed [Brown them in the bacon grease!]
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp sugar
• a couple of grinds of black pepper 
• pesto.   Here's how we make our pesto.

Fry the bacon first, then set it aside to cool.    Saute the onion, garlic and carrots in the butter or bacon grease until soft.  Add the remaining ingredients, except the pesto.   Heat through and simmer for an hour.    Serve with a spoon full of pesto stirred in.      Makes 8 servings.

It's really tasty!   Everyone here loved it - even the I Don't Eat Beans kid.   I think the bacon had something to do with that.

If you don't have dried celery or radishes, then use a stalk or two of fresh celery.   Or leave it out.   We never have fresh celery around, so we started buying a big bunch and dehydrating it to use in soups.   Just chop it up and toss it in the dehydrator and dry it until it's crispy.   Store it in a jar or in a bag in the freezer.    

From our small town to the small town of Newtown - 

You have our prayers.

Howling

It's common for us to hear coyotes out here.   From a mile or so away, they sound like a big party of young children shrieking and shouting.

Inside our own little hollow, when they set up a yipping and yelping and yowling and howling, let me tell you, it'll make your hair stand on end.  

And then the dogs join in.  Ours and the neighbors' and the wild ones, groaning and growling and howling right along.

The sound bounces and swirls around our hills like an audible mist - obscuring normal sounds and combining them into unrecognizable facsimiles of what they should be.   It's unearthly. 

Barn

This barn was torn down a few weeks ago. 

My heart breaks a little when these Gray Ladies pass on.

It was her time.  You could see right through her.  Click the pic to see for yourself.

Here's a pic from a year or so ago across a late season bean field.

She was a beauty.

Possums

Possums are almost impossible to kill without a car or a gun.   Which sounds horrible, I know.

It is horrible.  It's horrible when you find one way too close to the chickens.   Or the children.  I've talked about it before.

[shudder]

Eric had to dispatch this one.   We were relieved when Tibby didn't dig it up. 

P.S.   This one was seriously huge.  Huge!   A real-life R.O.U.S.  

Yoho General Store, Solsberry, Indiana

Our local general store is open again!

Yoho's got a makeover this year.  She's beautiful!  

I was only ever in the store twice in my life before the big makeover.  Once in 1994 when we moved out here and needed to grab a bite to eat and once a few years later one icy winter day after I put my car in a ditch just down the hill - before the advent of cell phones - and I needed to use their phone.

Let's just say that the visits were a cultural experience.   It was like stepping back into the 1940s.  It doesn't look like that anymore and I'm a bit sad about it, but it's nice and clean inside, up to code with no holes in the floor.    The staff is friendly and the ice cream is great!

Because the place was so old, a lot of it just had to be removed and replaced from the ground up.   I learned a lot about foundations watching them lift the remaining structure and put in a good foundation.


There was a lot of effort that went into making new doors that looked just like the old ones.  

And there's a new sign. 

And wheelchair ramps.

And a window that opens so you can be outside and order your treats.

And a gas pump!    This is very exciting for those of us who have late night gas or diesel needs but who don't want to drive 20 miles into town to get it.   Rumor has it that you can pump gas 24/7!  

Plus, plus!, we could actually walk the 4 miles to the store in a big emergency and get gas to power our generator if we had to.  

Rural awesomeness!

During the grand opening weekend, they had a display of old yearbooks from the high school that used to be close by. 

This one's from 1946.  

And this one's from 1957.  Love that Jetsons-esque graphic.

They have a bunch of old photos of 'downtown' Solsberry around the store.   I loved them.

Across the street from Yoho used to be a place called Dutch's Cafe.    At the back of this store, there is a wall menu from that cafe.   I don't know if it's original, but it's way cool!

They kept the old potbelly stove that has been in the store forever.   It's no longer in use as a coal stove, but it's got a light in it so it looks like it is.  There are a few little tables and chairs nearby so you can sit and visit and eat a snack. 

They carry plenty of bread/milk/eggs for quick grocery needs, plus snacks and sundries.   Including motor oil if you need some.

There's a deli that serves breakfast and sandwich items and they have great ice cream.

Stop in and say hello!   Pick up one of these Yoho General Store shirts or hats and have your picture taken next to the stove.

It's a fun place to be and a great way to celebrate a local rural treasure.

While you're there, notice the Post Office a couple of doors down.   It's been there forever and delivers to a 70 mile area, to customers in three counties!   Our postmaster and carriers work hard for us.

Yoho General Store
Address:  Highway 43,  downtown, Solsberry, Indiana.
Phone:  (812)  825-7834

Business hours:
Monday - Saturday:  7am -8pm
Sunday:  noon - 6pm