Months of Growing

Peas on hemp twine.  5/19/2013

The bed of greens:  spinach, chard, beets, and kale.  5/30/2013

Matt looking over the broccoli and cauliflower with the bed of greens behind him and the potato patch at the very rear.  6/6/2013

The first broccoli of the year.  6/6/2013

Row of carrots and a few strands of persistent grass.  This is in one of the beds we Matt just dug this year and had previously been lawn.  6/6/2013

Peas are filling out in their pods and will expect to start eating them on the weekend.  6/9/2013

Broccoli plants are huge and in the center is the start of a head of broccoli which we ate with dinner this week.   6/9/2013

Spinach, a little haggard from the hail storm.   6/9/2013

Swiss chard in a bed of freshly sifted compost.  6/9/2013

Matt between the cauliflower and broccoli bed and the bed of greens shortly after covering the bed of greens with compost.  6/9/2013

Checking for leaf-miners in the bed of greens.  6/9/2013

Standing in the sunshine in the midst of the potato patch.  6/9/2013

Pinching off the bolting flower heads in the bed of greens.  6/11/2013

The bed of greens, many of the spinach bolting due to the heat.  6/17/2013

A garden overview.  6/17/2013

Bye, Bye Hot Tub....

...Hello Patio!!!!!

Our house had a hot tub on the patio when we moved in.  It certainly wasn't a factor in our consideration of buying the house, but well, it was just there.  I have always liked soaking in hot tubs.  I have a bad back.  And it was there.  So, we thought we'd try it out for a year and see how we liked it and how expensive it was to run and so on.

We did enjoy the pleasure of it and it did seem to help me sleep better despite my back.  But, as it turned out it was more expensive than we felt it was really worth--no matter how much we liked it.

I don't mind paying for luxury items.  Sometimes its nice to treat yourself to something that is not about necessity and only about enjoyment.  Like that raw cashew cheesecake we bought a couple weeks ago.  It was absurdly priced at $5 a slice, but it was so yummy that it was worth every moment and mouthful of enjoyment.  That is money spent wisely on luxury, I think.  It was actively enjoyed the whole time we owned/used it.   The hot tub was the opposite of that.  We were paying for electricity to heat it (not to mention wasting energy) and (much to the contradiction of my natural lifestyle) buying chemicals to treat it 24/7 when we only used it for, at most, twenty minutes a day.  And in the end we didn't even use it every day.  That is not money well spent, in my opinion.  I'd rather buy more concert tickets with that money!  Or more cheesecake, for that matter!

And as the straw that broke the camel's back the darn thing started to leak (and the leak was only getting worse and worse) and fixing said leak was going to be pricey and hard to do because of its location.  

Did I mention the hot tub is also nearly two decades old?  

It was just time for the hot tub to make its final exit.

But there was no way it could be removed from the yard without taking down at least part of two fences--if we left it in one piece that is.  So, Matt borrowed his brother's sledgehammer and went to town on it with sheer force and determination that I found amazing.

See, I have to admit that when he took the first swing and only a small chunk of fiberglass broke off I thought, "This is going to be impossible!"

But, after all these years living and working with Matt I should have known better.

Matt is a machine.  And like a machine he was not to be discouraged.  A little more than three hours later we were stacking manageable chunks of hot tub on a tarp in the garage (where it sat for a day until we could borrow a pick-up [Thanks, Roger & Sharon] to haul it to the landfill.)  We recycled what we could, but, regretfully, most of it was junk.

I wish we could have done....something....with it.  Anything.  We talked about trying to use it as some sort of raised bed.  But decided it would be both ugly as far as raised beds go and take a tremendous amount of soil --that we don't have-- to fill it.  And we would have had to take down the privacy fence around the patio.  We talked about giving it away, but in addition to the difficulty of removing it intact there was the fact that sometimes garbage is just garbage and a broken, twenty year old hot tub with mouse-eaten foam insulation, a mold-ridden cover, and inefficient heating system, regretfully, was just that.  Garbage.  I console myself with the fact that its not like we buy wasteful landfill-claiming junk like this in our normal day-to-day life.  It is just one more relic of the previous owner's lifestyle that we are having to deal with.  It is what it is.  But, it was painful to be responsible for so much waste.  

It is absolutely not painful to have that behemoth finally off of our patio though.  Oh, its so nice.  Nicer than I could have imagined it would be.  You know what we discovered?!  We actually have a pretty big patio to enjoy now.  Who knew?!  It was being hidden by the hulking, humming, gurgling, energy-sucking hot tub all this time.

And we've made good use of it already.  Breakfast and dinner every day have been enjoyed out of doors.  Fires have been built every night.  Two nights ago we had Casey over for dinner and drinks by the fire on the patio!  It was fabulous!  Both Matt and I feel we are going to get much more use out of the patio in this configuration than we did when it was the hot tub spot.  It makes much more sense for us.

Now my mind is a whirl with vision of what to do with the space.  Its pretty sparse at the moment--a folding table, dime-a-dozen plastic monobloc chairs, and a free-standing outdoor fire place.  We'll have to get a proper outdoor table now.  And I am thinking of making a bunting.  I'd been meaning to replace the prayer flags that had flown along the patio until the were torn to shreds in a strong wind earlier this year.  I think buntings are fun and I certainly have enough scrap fabric to make it happen.  I also learned that Matt had no idea what a "bunting" was.  Or rather he knew what they were, but not that they had a name.  

I don't think this demolition project will be a decision that we regret.  I will just go back to enjoying the heck out of every moment that I am hot tubing during my infrequent hotel stays.   That works and make much more sense for me.

Matt was funny the next day though.  He said something like, "Gee, after all that you know what a guy could use for his sore muscles?!  A soak in a hot tub!"  But, we decided we'll just sit by the fire instead.

Spinach Tofu Quiche

Months ago my friends, David and Michelle, made me my very first quiche.  It was super yummy, all loaded with spinach on a light, flaky, wonderful crust.  It was certainly not a traditional quiche as it used crumbled tofu instead of eggs.  So, voila!--vegan quiche.  

See, as I mentioned, I never liked the flavor or texture of eggs growing up.  So I never in my early life ate any quiche.  Then as a young adult the horrors of factory farms scared me off eggs altogether.  Within the next year though we will be adding a few chickens to our household (well, the backyard, but you know what  mean) and so I will get to find out how this vegan quiche stands up to the eggy real-deal.   So, I can't really compare at the moment, but like I always say....as long as it tastes good it works for me!

I am sure that I will grow to like eggs more as an adult.   I hope so anyways.  I am quite confident that I can train myself to like anything so I don't really think it will be a problem though.  Also, I hear these backyard fresh eggs will blow away any store-bought egg any day.  Maybe its just what I've been waiting for!  Sooner or later I will get to find out about that personally, too.  I look forward to it.  

In the meantime, Matt and I have discovered that this tofu quiche is an easy way to preserve the overload of spinach we have coming in from the garden at the moment.  I love freezer meals.  I think its brilliant to have scrumptious dinners all ready to go.  You know, sometimes a person wants to eat like a queen, but lacks the ambition to make that happen!  I suppose that could be the time to call in for a pizza or head out to a restaurant, but hitting up the freezer is so much cheaper, not to mention healthier!

Here is our take on the originally linked recipe.

Spinach Tofu Quiche
Crust:
1 1/2 C white flour
1 t sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/3 C shortening
1/4 C cold water (+ an additional 2 T, if needed)
2 t apple cider vinegar

Put dry ingredients into food processor.
Add shortening and process until it forms fine crumbs.
Combine water and vinegar and drizzle into the processor while it is still running until it forms a dough.  
Chill dough if time permits as it makes it easier to roll out.  But, its not required.
Roll out to desired thickness.  
Drape over pie pan and trim excess.
Pinch crust edge.
Fill as below.

Filling: 1 lb firm tofu, crumbled
1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 lb fresh spinach, washed, stemmed, and chopped fine
2 T olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 T garlic, minced
1/4 C homemade veg stock or a glob of veg boullion concentrate
2 t dried Italian seasoning
pinch of cayenne
1/2 t paprika
1 1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Process cashews in food processor until it forms fine crumbs.

Add tofu and nutritional yeast and process until creamy, set aside.

Add oil to a large pot and turn heat to medium/high heat.Saute onion for about 5 minutes.

Add garlic and continue sauteing until fragrant.

Add stock, herbs, cayenne, paprika, salt, and pepper

Add spinach and saute until the spinach is completely wilted

In a large bowl combine the tofu mixture and spinach mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

 If the filling seems too stiff and thick, add a couple of tablespoons of soy milk.  Alternately add flour a tablespoon at a time if it doesn't firm up enough to hold a shape.

Add the filling to the crust and spread evenly and smoothly. 
Dust with nutritional yeast.

Bake for 10 minutes to set pie crust then turn temperature down to 375 degrees and bake for 25 to 35 minutes more until crust is golden brown  (just use the lower heat the whole time if baking a frozen quiche)

Cool on a rack for 5 minutes before serving

Matt has also played around with the spices in some pleasing ways, like the fennel-sage seasoned breakfast quiche we had over the weekend.  It seems to be a pretty flexible recipe in that regard.

Home

We bought our house pretty fast.  We'd only been looking for three or four months and had only been in a dozen or so houses.  But, when we walked into our home it just felt like the right one.

And then we both went through a short period of was-this-really-the-right-decision mode.  Not buyers regret, but perhaps buyer's apprehension is a more apt term.  In retrospect I think this would have happened regardless of the home we bought simply because we're first time home buyers and its a pretty weighty decision to have made.  And things in a home go wrong--like when the dishwasher started leaking through the the ceiling in the basement one month in.  It was just the stress or responsibility of home-ownership we were feeling, I think.

And now that we've been here for more than a year and are really starting to make it our own we are just so pleased with the home that we have chosen.  Things are coming together.  Its a perfect Matt and Beth house, really.  Well, I don't think any house is every really perfect, but you know what I mean. 

The houseplants have never looked better for all the bright sunshine that streams into the living room.  I find myself gazing out the open windows enjoying the freshness of the breeze and watching the antics of the birds and rabbits in the yard often.   Doing the dishes is almost (but not quite) pleasant with the view of the yard and bird feeders out front.  I frequently make a little morning time before work to sew a few stitches on one project or other in my craft room while Matt cooks breakfast.  My yoga practice is accompanied by birdsong that drifts in from the pine trees and I slip off to sleep with the tinkling of the wind chimes from the patio.  The windows permit a delightful cross breeze both north and south as well as east to west.

The veg garden is lush and productive and fills our plates with the freshest, best-tasting produce I've ever had.  Having ditch rights is an amazing blessing making our gardening efforts all the much more cost-effective.  Peonies, roses, tulips, grape hyacinth, pansy, clematis and more bloom to brighten the yard.  The bees are busy moving around in all those flowers doing their pollinator thing.  We'd like to add more flowers to the place as we continue on here.  The trees to the west shade the house from the setting sun which cools the place off nicely in the evening time.  We enjoy a little break now and then swinging in the hammocks under the shade of our pines.

The basement is Matt's ever-enticing oasis on a hot summer day with a coolness that is notably more refreshing with each step as you descend the stairs.  Its also a great place for storing our squash, onions, and assorted home-canned goods with its consistent, cool temperature.  Matt has a workspace in the basement as I have my sewing room upstairs which is perfect because in typical artist style he tends to leave the place a disaster when he is struck by the creative mood.  But it doesn't matter because he is no longer making the mess in the middle of the kitchen!  He has his own room!  Hooray.

I'm so glad we just went with our gut and bought the place straight away.  And so happy to have a home of our own to do with what we see fit.  Like rip up sod and plant peas.  Or tear down dreadful wallpaper.  Or keep laying hens (this one hasn't happened just yet). Or install new electrical outlets just where they are needed.  Or...

To some it may not look like much, but to us....  We are so happy to be home.

Chive Infusions

We are trying out something new in the kitchen-garden arena--herbal infusions.

At the community garden meeting this week one of our fellow gardeners suggested using chive heads to infuse vinegar for use in dressings, sauces, and marinades.  Following up on this idea Matt and I also decided we'd try infusing olive oil as well.    In classic style I read a few variations online and then went home and just decided to wing it.

So I cut and washed the chive blossoms, dumping the wash water right back onto the chive plant out the front door in our herb patch.

I found that 1/4 C was about 10 or so blossoms.

For the oil infusion I used 1 cup olive oil to 1/2 cup blossoms.

For the vinegar infusion I used 2 cups vinegar to a bit more than 3/4 cup blossoms.

Just one day later the vinegar had already take on a fantastic lavender hue and quite the chivey-oniony aroma, too!  It SO pretty!

The olive oil looks pretty much the same at this point.  I've am also at a bit of a loss as to where would be the best place to steep it.  I am not worried about the vinegar going rancid or mouldy or anything, but I am just a tad wary that it might happen to the oil now that I tossed flowers into it and all.  We put it in the fridge at first, but this morning it was so thick I am not sure the chives are appropriately steeping--some were sitting on top of the oil, actually.  So we moved it to the counter for a few days after which point I will move it back to the fridge until we're done using it up.

I am keen to try out these infusions--and plan to this weekend.  Yay!

It is all a grand experiment and time will tell, but I think I could get used to this infusion idea.  I even have a few more ideas in mind already as more herbs become ready to harvest in the garden.

The Garlic Grows

Matt planted 125 cloves of garlic last fall to overwinter and come up in the spring.  They were actually the first little hint of green growing things in our garden to make an appearance in the spring.  The kick off to the outdoor gardening season, in a way, I suppose.

3/30/2013

3/30/2013

We are very excited to be growing garlic again this year.  We didn't plant any in the fall of 2011 for the 2012 season because we knew we planned to move and so wouldn't be there to harvest it.  It was good planning too because we did indeed end up moving in March.  So, after a one season hiatus we're pleased to be at it again and that it seems to be working so well this year.

4/23/2013

We've never grown this much garlic before.  We didn't have the room.  So oh boy, am I pleased that we do now.  See, when I am cooking I put garlic in pretty much anything that is not a dessert.  What can I say....I just think it tastes great in everything!  Roast garlic, spicy garlic toss, garlic breads, garlic green beans, and then there is broccoli which in my mind can only be made palatable by roasting with a heavy application of garlic.  Garlic ranks pretty high on my culinary palate.

Small at first the wee garlic plants steadily grow each day larger and larger, filling the bed as they reach for the sky.  Most are now at least as big around as Matt's thumb, many twice that and quite tall, too.  One row is hardly bigger than a pen, however.  You can definitely tell they are different varieties just by how they are growing, which is pretty interesting.

6/6/2013

6/6/2013

The leaves are still all lush and green so the garlic harvest is still a ways off--we tend to wait until the leaves are about half brown before pulling the plants.

6/9/2013

But, things are looking promising.  My mouth waters in anticipation.