Monthly Archives: February 2010

Gardening Giveaway Winner!

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Annette Cottrell| Leave a comment

We have a winner – according to www.random.org it’s number 15.

KnitMomma – please email me at annettecottrell(at)yahoo.com so I can get you your package and make sure I have the right size gloves for you.

Be watching either later this week or early next for a new gardening giveaway geared towards kids. I’m hoping to kick start a garden which I’ll choose fail safe and fun seeds for – something exciting for spring, summer and fall and easy to grow in a small space with full sun in at least one corner of the gardening space.

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing and generous thanks to Uprising Organics for donating the seeds!

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Vietnamese Carrot and Parsnip Pickles

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Annette Cottrell| 8 Comments

This month Tigress’ challenge for the Can Jam is carrots. I recently harvested a bed of overwintered Purple Dragon and Scarlet Nantaise carrots and Javelin parsnips. Since I have a whole other bed to harvest still it was nice to use up the last of that bed we ate from all fall in this challenge so I can move on. It’s almost time to plant new carrots anyway!

I did have to buy the ginger for this but in another month I’ll be buying my hardy ginger start from Rockridge Orchard which will be nice. Ginger is one of those things I love but it only grows in tropical climates. There is a vendor in the summer at the farmer’s market who sells fresh ginger grown during summer temps in his hothouse in Eastern Washington which I should have pickled. Next year, right?

The hardy ginger is not the same plant, which is why it grows in Seattle. Instead of harvesting the roots you use the leaves to flavor things. I’m hoping between dried ground ginger, fresh leaves part of the year and pickled ginger root I won’t be buying any more imported or Hawaiian ginger root.

These pickles come together quickly and only require a 10 minute water bath. In fact, almost all the labor is in the peeling. The original recipe called for julienning them which would make this more of a condiment than a pickle. We like pickles around here so I cut them into sticks for munching straight out of the jar. I imagine they’ll be nice in school lunches for Pickle Man or diced into Loki salmon or St. Jude tuna sandwiches.

Vietnamese Carrot Pickles (adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving)
Makes 6 pint jars

3 cups Rockridge Orchard apple cider vinegar
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups organic sugar
2 teaspoons grated ginger root
2 pounds cut carrots
2 pounds cut daikon radishes or parsnips
1 small hot pepper or pinch crushed dried red pepper (optional)

Sterilize jars and lids.

In a large stainless steel pan combine the vinegar, water, sugar and ginger root. Bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves.

Add the cut vegetables and cook for 1 minute.

Pack the vegetables into the jars and fill not above 1/2 inch from the top of the jar.

Ladle the hot liquid into the jars to 1/2 inch from the top of the jar.

Wipe the jar rims, place the lids on and screw on the bands until fingertip tight.

Place the jars in a water bath canner, completely covering the tops with water. Bring the water to a boil and process the jars for 10 minutes.

You will be able to eat these within a few hours but the flavor improves after a few weeks.

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Posted in Carrots, Tigress Can Jam Challenge

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Dark Days Week 13

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Annette Cottrell| 4 Comments

Week 13 of dark days and the end of week 4 of being sick. I’m beginning to think I may try to find a doctor but I’m still stubbornly resisting.

As a result of that and my preoccupation with starting and sorting seeds we’ve eaten a lot of breakfasts for dinner, more take out but I did manage to make a few all local meals.

This is what happens when you ignore a huge pot of chili on the stove in order to start your seeds. Can you say “intervention”? Step away from the seeds and cook mom. Luckily I was able to pour off all but the bottom inch and salvage it.

This was made with kidney beans grown in Dufur, OR, Casade Range grass fed beef and Italian sausage which I made from our Akyla Farms pig. I also used home canned, home grown tomatoes and local merlot.

Vietnamese Pickled Carrots & Parsnips from our overwintered garden as part of the Can Jam challenge.

More chocolate pudding. Because who doesn’t love that? Made with Dungeness milk and backyard eggs. Using my Jedi mind powers ** you don’t need to know about the non-local chocolate chips**

Cheesy farro rissoto and oven fried chicken. The farro is from Bluebird, Golden Glen cream, Beechers aged cheddar, purple sprouting broccoli, kale and carrots from the garden, chicken from Pastured Sensations soaked in home clabbered buttermilk and AP flour from Azure Standard in Dufur, OR. That’s my beet/carrot/cabbage/apple juice that even Pickle Man likes. I just don’t tell him that there was anything green in it.

One of my favorite breakfasts or lunches – a home made spelt English muffin with Mt. Pleasant gouda and homemade marmalade. We just won’t discuss where the citrus came from since my trees are too young to bear fruit yet. Although I think I may be getting some baby lemons on my indoor Meyer lemon tree. Not counting chickens yet though.

A breakfast of homemade bread (Bluebird hard red wheat and Lentz spelt) with scrambled backyard eggs and homemade breakfast sausage from our Akyla Farms pig and home dried apples. The apples are from Tonnamaker last fall but in a few years we should be getting plenty off our 6 apple trees to keep us in apple sausage.

There you have it. Not very inspirational but there has been a whole lot of snot and coughing and not much sleep in this household. I’m really looking forward to getting better. Sleep might help that out…

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Sowing Schedule

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Annette Cottrell| 11 Comments

I’m getting questions on when things can be planted outside and I know some of you are from other parts of the country so rather than post this in timeline format I’m posting by soil temperature.  I know you can buy special soil thermometers but you can also use a digital meat thermometer and call it good.  Just clean it well before you stick it in your roast next.

These temperatures are the minimum soil temperature the plants require for germination and I’m lumping them in groups.

When the soil is 32 degrees Fahrenheit (if workable) plant these:

  • lettuce
  • onions
  • parsnips
  • spinach

When the soil is 40 degrees Fahrenheit plant these:

  • beets
  • broccoli
  • cabbage
  • carrots
  • celery
  • chard
  • parsley
  • peas
  • radishes
  • turnips

When the soil is 50 degrees Fahrenheit plant these:

  • corn
  • tomatoes* (I will cheat on this with black plastic to warm the soil and a hoop house so these I’ll start sooner since our summers are so short)

When the soil is 60 degrees Fahrenheit plant these:

  • beans
  • cucumbers*
  • melons*
  • peppers*
  • squash*

*All these things are suited to warmer climes so I will be starting the seeds indoors long before the soil reaches these temps.  After hardening off for 1-2 weeks I will plant these out when the soil reaches the right temperature.  If you put the plants into soil cooler than they enjoy they won’t really grow anyway, hence the black plastic & hoop house.

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How Big is Your Orchard?

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Annette Cottrell| 10 Comments

My orchard isn’t big but it is mighty. I have big plans for this formerly useless strip of land between city houses. I expect it to produce enough fruit to feed my family and several others. Where there was lawn there will be food!

I’m planning on creating an intensive orchard here, meaning the fruit trees are all grafted on dwarf fruit stalk so that they can be maintained between 10 and 15 feet tall. I will be trimming judiciously to keep the branches from becoming unruly so that I can fit many varieties in this small space. I’ve got 18 Tulameen raspberries along the drive, 5 sets of asparagus, 3 apple trees, 2 cherry trees, 1 plum tree, 2 soon to arrive sea berry bushes (for Vit C juice,) and grape vine, a Bay Laurel tree which I’ll likely move the shady back yard, an Aronia bush, a tea plant and a fist full of seed packets. I’m also planning to purchase a black pepper plant and a horseradish start.

Right now the groundcover is creeping thyme and pachysandria but that’s not edible so it’s about to start competing with tougher stuff. I’ve chosen large, unruly species that are perrenials or will reseed at will. Sorry neighbors. I may even plant some edible dandelions. Here is my list:

Magentaspreen
Strawberry Spinach (beetberry)
Orach
Claytonia
Garden Purslane
French Sorrel
Malabar Spinach
Amaranth
Arrugula
Marshmallow
Echinacea
Chammomile
Borage
Chickweed
Comfrey
Sunflowers for seed
Cammelina
Vetch

These things will feed us or the chickens and it will be nice not to worry about weeding or sowing them year after year. This makes me giddy, reclaiming useless space and growing so much food on it. The best part about these sorts of plants – they require minimal effort if you set up a drip watering system. The fruit trees need to be pruned in the spring and I’m still reading up on dormant spraying which is done again in the spring/late winter.

Otherwise consider this laid back landscaping. I expect it to be a raucous, sprawling jungle we’ll need to cut through with machetes – but then again that could be the form of harvest. This will truly parallel that overgrown “cottage” style of landscaping. And hopefully the bees and lady bugs will love it too!

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