Musings from the Junque Pile - Book Review

I just finished a book that I've been wanting to read for a long, long time. Starting Over by Jackie Clay. I doubt you'll find it on Amazon, though I haven't looked. Someone might be selling a used copy of it there.  Jackie Clay is a writer and contributor of one of my favorite mags: Backwoods Home Magazine. If you haven't checked it out, and are interested in sustainable living, please do so! BHM has taught DaHubster and I many ways to cut our budget, get us started on being prepared for emergencies, and how to enjoy more while living with less. Definitely worth a looksee.

But back to Jackie. She writes articles for the magazine, mostly about her trials and successes in living on a homestead in northern Minnesota. She helped build her own home, gardens like a fiend, and cans her own veggies and meat. She keeps goats and horses, took care of her ailing elderly parents, raised at least 3 sons, lost a husband, and faced a battle with cancer. She is a miracle. Through it all, her message is, "do what you can, taking small steps if you have to." It's a very inspirational book. I don't know that I can aspire to *be* Jackie Clay, but I can marvel at her, and want to do my best to if not follow in her footsteps, take my baby steps behind her.

Jackie Clay also writes an advice column and blog: Ask Jackie Clay. Her knowledge of canning and gardening is immense, and the advice she gives is both wise and kindhearted. I love to read her stories, and I thought you might, too.

You can buy her book at the BHM website at: http://www.backwoodshome.com/store/files/srg02.html

Musings from the Junque Pile

Happy Sunday! Happy Independence Day Eve! (???)

What a difference a day makes. The humid has ramped down, and it's a balmy 70 degrees this morning at the micro-mini ranch. A day when one might want to fling open the windows and let the breeze in. Well, maybe. I have to see how much the temps will climb later today. LOL

It seems that my weekends have become reversed. Saturdays are the days one usually try to get their cleaning and errand running done, with Sunday being the traditional "day of rest." I find that the older I get, the more Saturdays have become the day of relaxing and unwinding after the week of work struggles and drama. Sundays then become the frenzy of cleaning and cooking for the week.

I'm not saying I was a complete bum yesterday, but I will admit to a nap in the afternoon.

This being a three day weekend (YAY!), I don't feel as rushed as I would normally. However, if I want to relax and have some fun, today's the day for doing, if you know what I mean. I have a living room full of animal hair encrusted furniture that if they don't get vacuumed in the immediate future, will soon animate themselves and start shedding on their own. And probably begging for food.

I really need to take down the bird feeders, wash and refill them. Or I'm going to start losing some of my favorite birdie customers.

Weeding is always needing to be done out on the back 40 (that's inches folk - it's a micro-mini ranch for a reason). And I really REALLY need to move some of my colder weather crops (lettuce, spinach, sugar snap peas, etc) into a shadier location so that they don't die in the upcoming heat of summer.

And I need to come up with breakfasts and lunches for the week. If I don't, we will be sneaking off the fast food joints, and spending money that we don't have to fill the void.

I'm not complaining, but I am listing some of this stuff as a way to keep me honest. Everyone gets into a "I don't wanna do it" mood occasionally, and lets things slide. I've been there for awhile now - just doing the minimum to keep going, or "keep up appearances." I need to boot myself in the behind and get on top of things. Besides, I'm not such a psycho hose beast when the house is relatively clean, there's good food in the fridge, and more growing outside, and the place looks less like a tornado hit it (technically, it was more of a heavy duty windstorm that hit a few days ago, but unfortunately, I can't blame the weather for my lack of tidying, can I?...yes, I can.)

All right, then. Someone needs to come hide my Kindle, and yell at me if they see me playing games or posting delicious recipes that I find on Face Book.

 K?

Junque Yard & Junque Food

Hot and muggy. Wow what a change from the cold, rainy spring. I'm giving all kinds of props to DaHubster, who fixed our AC this past week. The man is a mechanical genius.  I can sweat it outside for a bit while I write this on my laptop (any spelling errors are due to the fact that I can't see the monitor outside), and then go inside and cool off. Then sweat some more as I start cleaning.

The veggies are finally starting to grow. The poor tomatoes have finally started to leaf out and I spy a few blossoms! The pepper plants all have blossoms or teeny tiny little baby peppers on them. It always cracks me up, the first little peppers on a plant that never looks big I  enough to support any weight. But the more you pick, and the hotter it gets, the more it grows. I love growing peppers.

The pumpkin "patch," a laughable term, as the pumpkins are squeezed into the corner of one raised bed. They are supposed to take up a huge amount of room, but I don't have the space, but I wanted my own sugar pumpkins for baking this year. I put them next to a fence, and will encourage them to grow up by adding a trellis. You can net the fruit so that it will grow supported and not drag down the vine. Keep your fingers crossed that that little experiment succeeds. These little guys have grown about 4 inches in the last week.

The potatoes have also grown. DaMan lobbed several inches of straw on top of them last weekend, and we feared that we over did it, and the straw would smother them. NOPE! They are growing up fine through the straw.

The strawberries are in the middle of their productive period. I've picked two bowls of these wonderful berries, and we've been eating them straight out of the garden. I've never enough to make my own jams. Instead I buy quarts from the farmer's garden to make jams. Occasionally, I get enough to make a strawberry shortcake, though I mainly just like them for picking and eating. Honestly, if there's nothing more perfect than an exactly ripe strawberry, I don't know what it is.

The raspberries continue on their journey. Staking them up was the idea I'd had in ages. it's going to be so much easier to pick them this year than last.

The loofa experiment is progressing slowly. The seeds have sprouted, and there are close to a dozen or so seedlings popping up in their container. I need to trellis them as I will the pumpkins. Scrubbies here we come!

The sugar snap peas are nearing their end. I'll plant another round in August for a fall crop. Love me some sugar snaps! BTW, I made 2 pints of that pickled sugar snap pea recipe that I talked about last week. AND THE ARE FABULOUS!!! I added a touch more red pepper flakes than the recipe called for, and they are wicked spicy, tangy with with the vinegar and other spices. So very good. You should try them.

I noticed that we do have peaches this year. Last year we had a bumper crop, and made peach preserves until we were sick of it. I'm told that peaches don't produce heavy quantities every year. I guess they are a lazy tree.  This is also an older tree, how old, I have no idea, it came with the house. But we've lived here for four years, and have only had 2 big years. I counted 6 peaches other night. They are slightly larger than olives at this point. We'll see how many others are hiding in there.

OK, its getting too hot out here, I'm going back inside...  :)

Junque Yard

I've been remiss in posting photos lately. It's not pure laziness...there just hasn't been much to show. Once the spring bulbs blew their wad (metaphorically speaking, of course), there's a lull in which the loverly Siberian Irises usually do their thing. I had a large cluster of them, that I split up into several smaller clusters and dispersed around my garden bed, but they did a poor showing this year. Just a couple of scraggly blossoms. I don't know if it was crappy weather we had, or if they are still recovering from the replanting, but there's plenty of green growth on them. They will come back next year.

Anyway, with the warmer temps the Asiatic Lilies have started strutting their stuff. I have some that have been in that bed for 2-3 years, and I planted 6 more early this spring.  The nursery I bought them from unduly forced them, and some attempted to bloom early, hardly waiting until they'd poked their heads out of the ground. Ah well, next year those guys will be phenom.  However, the rest are making their showing now, and what I show they are!

Sometimes, my camera phone does good!

Don't mind my toes peeking in at the bottom.

An awesome looking white and peach colored one that's being blocked by some black-eyed Susan's who won't appear until later this summer.

Seriously, does it get any better than this???

You know, I have no idea what this is. My uncle gave me a hunk of it, and said it was easy to grow. He was right! It's pretty too, but the flowers are at their peak in the mornings. I'll snap another of them when they are really looking pretty.

And in the herb garden, the Sage is blooming like nobody's business!

Flowerz. I haz happeh.  :)

Junque Food

On Saturday, I made my weekly sojourn to the Farmer's Market. Oh how I love looking at the bright flowers and veggies all lined up for sale. Unfortunately, the pickings were a little more sparse this week. I believe it was due to a combination of use getting there an hour before it closed, hence, most of the stuff was sold already, and probably due the fact that this is the time of the growing season where there's a slight lull.  The cold weather crops, such as lettuces, spinach, rhubarb, and sugar snap peas are winding down as the weather warms up, and the hot weather crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, plus everything else that takes 90 days or more to grow isn't ready for harvest yet.

I had read about a local artisan breadmaker in a local newsblog. I was hoping for a chance to speak with her, as the article as about her flax seed bread that she makes with no sugar. NO SUGAR? You heard me. No sugar. I had to ask her how she did it, because I was always under the impression that yeast needs fuel to rise. Here's a little secret about me: I'm shy. I hate walking up to people I don't know and engaging in conversation. Well, hate is wee bit strong, but I definitely get heart palpitations. But I really was curious, so I sucked it up and went to go speak to this woman. I really shouldn't have worried. She was bright and welcoming, and instantly offered a sample of her bread - a standard ice breaker. And it was wonderful! crusty on the outside, soft and chewy (but not in the over-processed way of commercial breads) on the inside. I mentioned that I'd seen the write up on her in the local newsblog, and she beamed, and bubbled, and said that she'd gotten quite a response from it.. And so our conversation took off.

I asked her about the no-sugar thing, and she explained that yeast doesn't *need* the sugar for fuel, but sugar does help in making the bread rise faster. She told me how long she lets her bread rise (first rise usually overnight in the fridge), how she prefers to cook it open on a baking stone, and much more. I was in baker heaven.


As you might remember from a previous blog, I make my own bread, but due to time constraints, and the fact that I have a bum wing,, I now make it in a bread machine. I'm seriously contemplating ditching the machine, and going back to the old fashioned way. I've also had very dim success with incorporating wheat and other grains into the bread. Could it be something so simple as hurrying my dough too fast, that led to less than desireable results? Quite possibly. This is stunning to my brain. I can slow it down, and have a better result! I am all about slow! I constantly think I must have been a turtle in a past life. I can do slow! Why don't they tell you these things in the cookbooks???

Da Hubster and discussed the bread making process on the way home from the farmer's market. He and I came up with the conclusion that the addition of sugar (or honey, or whatever is *needed* to feed the yeast) was added in during the course of time to speed things up, and it might possibly be another link in the "make it fast & plentiful* part of society that has contributed to our overweight society. It's certainly feasible. I made a small joke about sugar making the bread diabetic, and he gave a small chuckle, but seriously, folks. It's a metaphor for life...slow things can be better for you. I'm certainly going to continue to plod along, and let the slow food movement continue the right the wrongs I've done to my body over the years.

If you want to know about this wonderful lady I met on Saturday, you can look her up at www.thetravelingchef.org. Or find her on FaceBook at The Traveling Chef.  And if you local to me, you can find Lizz at the Downtown Racine Farmer's Market on Saturdays.

P.S.I also bought about a pound of sugar snap peas. I'm going to try that pickled sugar snap pea recipe I talked about in the last blog post! I'll keep you posted!

Junque Yard

It's a nice Saturday morning. The sun is out (Sun? What's that??) It's a wee bit chilly, but in that temporary way, that you know it's going to warm up later.

As I sit outside with my laptop and cup of coffee, I watch robins stealing bits of the straw that I use as mulch in the veggie gardens. I thought it was too late for nest making, but maybe there is an over-pregnant momma out there yelling at her mate to her some more nesting materials. "Henry, get it NOW."

This week I have been enjoying lettuce, spinach, and my favorite, sugar snap peas. Right off the vine. I have them growing in a container right next to the drive way, and I always pick at least one to munch on as I walk by. Sugar snaps are delicious. And one of those things that the more you pick, the more will grow. Until it gets too hot. Then I move the container out of direct sunlight, in hopes of extending their growing season a bit longer.

I saw a recipe for pickled sugar snap peas that I want to try. You can find the recipe here. I doubt that I will get enough from my pot to make a pint (especially with me eating them all the time), but I might have to make a trip to the Farmer's Market and pick up some extra.  The recipe as it is does not call for actual canning, but you can process them, there's enough acid to cook through, especially in pint jars.

The recipe is on the Eat.Repeat blog, and I found it from "Food in Jars" on FaceBook.

http://eatrepeat.blogspot.com/2011/06/sugar-snap-pea-pickles.html

Junque Yard

Good evening...and Happy Belated Solstice!

I am finally starting to see some growth here at the micro-mini ranch, despite the lack of sun and the warmth that generally accompanies it. I have a pot of basil that is doing well. I should have enough to pluck and dry a large batch of leaves on my dehydrator this weekend. Last year I grew basil in a pot and it did really well, that is, until someone (probably a rabbit) chewed the main stalk off at the base one night. I noticed it the next morning, and was just sick about it. I've had trouble growing basil in the past, but finally had felt I'd gotten the knack.

Basil, unlike most herbs, is a little more persnickety in their water requirements. Most herbs you have ignore a bit, make them feel just a wee bit neglected. Then they turn up their oil production and you get all the wonderful scents and flavor you crave. They are woo'ing you, as it were.  Not so the snobbish basil. If basil feels the least bit neglected, it will up and die on me. It wants its soil to be moist almost all the time. It prefers potting soil rather than the clay-packed soil in my yard.

So anyway, I was out one weekend morning last summer, surveying my little green kingdom, and I see that my prize basil has fallen over like I tree in the woods that I wasn't around to hear. Did it make a sound? If it did, I didn't hear it. I will admit that I got a little misty seeing my plant all keeled over, the leaves already looking limp. No pesto. No tossing a few leaves in a soup or a salad. Then I thought, maybe I can dry the leaves and save it that way?  And I did!

I plucked every last beloved leaf off the stalk and gently washed them. Then I laid them in a single layer on several trays of my dehydrator and turned it on.  Within about an hour and half, they were done. I gently crushed the dried leaves into glass container with an airtight lid, and sniffed dramatically one last time.

Over the next few months, I realized what I boon I had made for myself.  Home dried basil is so much more aromatic and flavorful than store bought dried basil. It really needs to be capitalized: its Basil. My spaghetti and pizza sauce become more masterful. Garlic bread became godlike with a sprinkling of my Basil. Pasta salads and even roasted veggies which are NOM to be begin with became MOAR NOM (if you pardon my LOLspeak) with the Basil. In short, I will never buy dried basil again when I can make Basil at home so easily.

And so can you. You don't even need a dehydrator. Go out and buy yourself a basil plant from a farmer's market or local nursery. They should still have some in stock. if not, pick up a packet of basil seeds, and plant in a pot. Keep the soil moist, and in a warm, sunny spot. When the plant starts to get tall and a little bushy, pinch off the first layers of leaves, that causes the plant to become bushier, and less likely to flower. When it starts getting cold, or when you want to harvest and dry your leaves, pluck them off, wash them gently in cool water. Pat dry. Then layer then on some parchment paper set over a cookie sheet in a single layer, if you don't live in a warm humid climate, put them on top of your fridge for a week. They will dry naturally. If you want to speed up the process, put the cookie sheet in your oven set to the lowest temp on the dial. Leave the door open a crack to let most of the heat escape. You don't want to cook your leaves, just speed up the drying process. Check on your leaves every 20 mins or so. Some ovens get too hot for this process, so it's important to check often. You might want to turn off the oven at intervals. The leaves are done when they are dry and crumble easily. Let them cool, and put them in an airtight container.

Now you know what I know about Basil. And it's all thanks to some waskily wabbit.