Freemotion's food journal: Expanding the gardens, pics p 53

[Henrietta23]

I do strain all the icky ugly bits out, though, and restrain it if it sits in the fridge too long and grows more tentacles....

Definitely!

 

[JRmom]

Tentacles??? Really though, what is this stuff?

 

[moolie]

Tentacles??? Really though, what is this stuff?

It's fermented tea. I think it's originally Japanese in origin?

Tentacles is just such a wrong word. But I don't like the taste of the commercial stuff so I have no interest in making my own.

 

[freemotion]

It is a living culture and continues to grow, although refrigerating it slows it way, way down. Its aliveness is a big part of what makes it so good for you. A healthy adult has about 4 lbs of good bacteria.....FOUR POUNDS!!!....in their gut all the time. After antibiotics (which I am on right now ) you can have.....none. Or very few. It can take months to build it back up, unless you give it a boost.

Diet and stress also kill our good bacteria. Kombucha, kefir, and other live, fermented foods help restore and keep the balance that our bodies need to utilize nutrients and eliminate toxins from our bodies. We should be finding ways to support that. This is an easy way.

I also hated kombucha....still do. But if I dilute it with my homemade ginger chai tea concentrate and sweeten it with stevia, I can chug-a-lug it and actually crave it, especially in the summer.

I also cannot stand kefir or yogurt, but there are plenty of ways to disguise both of those wonderful foods so I can get plenty of them into me.

 

[freemotion]

Company dinner tonight!

Started yesterday by calling dh from work in a panic....I'd forgotten to take anything out of the freezer! So I had him put 8 pieces of our pastured chickens in a pot of simmering water and leave it simmering until I got home. Then I put the chicken on a plate to cool while I did chores and milked, then I stripped the meat off and put the bones and skin back in the pot to simmer overnight. Put the meat in the fridge.

This afternoon I strained the broth, made a stew with the chicken meat, carrots, rutabaga, green beans, scallions, garlic, rosemary, sage, parsley, salt, and pepper. Thickened with a little cornstarch and water. I was in a hurry so I put the baking dish in the oven empty and set it to preheat, then I could pour the boiling stew right into the hot pan without worry about breaking it. I topped it with spoonfuls of biscuit dough made with soft white wheat flour, bacon grease, and milk soured with a little ACV (no yogurt, buttermilk, or kefir available today) and other typical biscuit ingredients. Into the oven to brown.

Made two batches of oatmeal cookies (I was out of rolled oats and ran the roller on my mixer while mixing the cookie dough! ), one with raisins and one with chopped Godiva bars.

Cheated and bought an organic baby greens salad mix.

Dinner was amazing and got rave reviews. People love homey, simple foods. Especially me.

 

[freemotion]

Company dinner yesterday was cooked by my dad....we had a New England boiled dinner, with corned beef, potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, and cabbage.

I made Mint Double-Chocolate Chip ice cream for dessert and boy, did that get snarfed down! Made fresh with Mya's milk, 18 egg yolks, sugar and stevia. And homemade peppermint extract from last year's garden. Holy cow.

I am continuing to increase my gardens. I'm behind in the herb garden....need to weed and harvest scallions, harvest rhubarb, thyme, and some sage. Oregano will be ready soon. Need to weed!!!

I got 15-16 asparaugus crowns planted, each in a large hole with about a bushel of compost in each hole. They should be off to a great start. I watered them deeply today since the rain bypassed us in the past few days and the forecast is for a sunny week. I also watered the potatoes (the russets are up!) and the garlic, which was yellow on the leaf tips....hopefully from a frost, and not because the tops are dying. It is my first garlic planting that came up (thanks, FD!) so I'm not sure if it is ok or not.

My onion sets are already up (my plants from seeds were pathetic, so the plan is to use the rest of the seed mid-summer to see if I can get my own sets for next year.)

The strawberries are starting to flower and I need to weed the bed and expand it.

My lone raspberry plant that survived is up and there are some shoots next to the main cane.

My pear tree is blooming and the apples have buds.

I put an ad on craigslist to sell some perennials and someone is coming tonight. The plan is to make enough to buy the plants I need....mostly tomatoes and a few things like parsley. Also, if I get enough moola, I'd like a bunch of impatiens for the shade garden and maybe some marigolds as a trap crop around the gardens.

I need to get some sunflower seeds, too, as I read somewhere (here?) that you can plant them next to your tomatoes and use them as stakes! Gotta try that!

Gotta get the big garden (now fenced and one more gate to finish) turned (cleared of sod, the chickens turn it after I break up the sod) and more compost added so the hens can turn it under in time for planting.

Whew, tired just typing all that! How do we survive spring? Two more pregnant does, too, and soon lots more bottles to give!

 

[Denim Deb]

Don't know where you read about the sunflowers, but that's a great idea! I'll have to try that.

 

[Henrietta23]

I'd read about using sunflowers for beans and peas to grow on, but not tomatoes. Great idea! DS just bought a packet of sunflower seeds while at Home Depot with DH. He wants to grow them because he knows the goats love them. They're not the BOSS type so I don't even know if the goats can eat them. But my boy was thinking SS!

 

[freemotion]

I think I might just get a small bag of BOSS tomorrow. I can plant some and I'd like to feed some to my thinner does. We've had some problems here with the latest batch of hay. I can't wait for alfalfa to be available again!

I sold $20 worth of perennials to a nice man who answered my craigslist ad. So that covers half my tomatoes. I was very generous with him and gave him a lot of plants for his money.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Company dinner yesterday was cooked by my dad....we had a New England boiled dinner, with corned beef, potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, and cabbage.

I made Mint Double-Chocolate Chip ice cream for dessert and boy, did that get snarfed down! Made fresh with Mya's milk, 18 egg yolks, sugar and stevia. And homemade peppermint extract from last year's garden. Holy cow.

I am continuing to increase my gardens. I'm behind in the herb garden....need to weed and harvest scallions, harvest rhubarb, thyme, and some sage. Oregano will be ready soon. Need to weed!!!

I got 15-16 asparaugus crowns planted, each in a large hole with about a bushel of compost in each hole. They should be off to a great start. I watered them deeply today since the rain bypassed us in the past few days and the forecast is for a sunny week. I also watered the potatoes (the russets are up!) and the garlic, which was yellow on the leaf tips....hopefully from a frost, and not because the tops are dying. It is my first garlic planting that came up (thanks, FD!) so I'm not sure if it is ok or not.

My onion sets are already up (my plants from seeds were pathetic, so the plan is to use the rest of the seed mid-summer to see if I can get my own sets for next year.)

The strawberries are starting to flower and I need to weed the bed and expand it.

My lone raspberry plant that survived is up and there are some shoots next to the main cane.

My pear tree is blooming and the apples have buds.

I put an ad on craigslist to sell some perennials and someone is coming tonight. The plan is to make enough to buy the plants I need....mostly tomatoes and a few things like parsley. Also, if I get enough moola, I'd like a bunch of impatiens for the shade garden and maybe some marigolds as a trap crop around the gardens.

I need to get some sunflower seeds, too, as I read somewhere (here?) that you can plant them next to your tomatoes and use them as stakes! Gotta try that!

Gotta get the big garden (now fenced and one more gate to finish) turned (cleared of sod, the chickens turn it after I break up the sod) and more compost added so the hens can turn it under in time for planting.

Whew, tired just typing all that! How do we survive spring? Two more pregnant does, too, and soon lots more bottles to give!

Spring is when we start getting ready for winter again