A Midsummer's Garden



A lovey rainbow we had a week ago.



Ah, the lazy, hazy days of summer....

We are in that timeframe of summer where things are just on the verge of exploding but haven't quite yet...i.e., canning season....

I haven't shown you the status of the garden recently so let me take you on a little tour....



Corn!



Our midsummer garden is actually going gangbusters this year, thanks in part to mother nature doucing us with rain throughout June and July. The tomatoes are huge and the corn is preparing to ripen where as my neighboring field has not even tasseled yet. (I know, competitive much? :) )



Tomatoes

Out of the three rhubarb plants, two have survived although the pepper plants and the bean plants alas did not fare as well. Out of six pepper plants, I have two left and  they haven't begun to fruit and while I know I planted lots of beans, I haven't found one yet.

The small fruit is a mixed bag. The strawberries really didn't do as well as I had hoped, this being their first year, but the grapes and the raspberries are going strong. I've already canned one quart of gooseberries and hope to get a few more. The blueberries have given only enough for picking while perusing the garden so I'll have to go off-farm for those.



Grapes! For the first time!





Walnuts.. be wary of the wrath of squirrels should
you partake!



The walnut tree is already dropping walnuts which I never seem to get as the squirrels guard them with their lives and warn me anytime I get close. It took ten years to finally realize what those little green golf balls were and I couldn't figure out why there were so many walnut shells in the wood pile. I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes I guess.



Hops



The hops came back and so there will be sleep pillows again and one year I may even try to make beer.

Anyway that is where we stand right now, in a holding pattern. Once the floodgates open, I'll be in the kitchen swearing to my husband, like I've been for the last sixteen years, that I'm not doing this next year.. and he'll smile and say, "You know you will"... and I'll admit, "Yes, I will"...

Happy Gardening!

The Coney Dog.. A Divine Gift from the Meat Gods.....

Ah July.... smack dab in the middle of hamburger and hotdog season...

As a Flint Ex-Pat, there are three things that

MUST be done when I go back to my

birthplace in mid-Michigan and they are:

1. There will be a Halo Burger http://www.haloburger.com/ Deluxe with Olives consumed at some point in the journey. While I can put olives on any hamburger at home, there is just something wonderful about a Bill Thomas Halo Burger. I'm told people from Detriot will even make the trip just for the taste of one.

2. There will be a trip to Frankenmuth and specifically to Bronner's http://www.bronners.com/ to buy yet another ornament I really do not need for my Christmas tree. One of these trips I'm going to take the family to Zehnder's or the Bavarian Inn for the chicken dinner and to see the glockenspiel.

3. But most importantly and perhaps with more frequency, there will be at least one if not more outtings to hunt down that most delicous delicacy that cannot be found in my adopted area, the CONEY DOG!

When I moved to NY 20 odd years ago, I figured I would have no problem getting coney dogs... after all, weren't they named after that famous fun park, Coney Island? But alas, I live on the other side of the state and nothing is even remotly close to the coney dogs of my youth.

What is a coney dog? Well,  lets start by saying what it IS NOT. I've seen a lot of debate on this on the web and it's pretty obvious that may of those responding have never had a true coney dog. A coney dog is not a chili dog. Nor is it a hotdog with hot sauce on it. It is a heavenly coffee based meat concoction that is served atop of a 100% beef (in Flint this must be a Kogel Vienna) hotdog.

Coney dogs typically travel in pairs and the greaser the paper bag, the better the taste. They can be served plain with just mustard (like I like it) or with mustard and onion (like my husband likes it). They are typically very cheap and are excellent end of the night fare when you are a) working  b) coming home from a night out or c) just too lazy to cook.

Living in a state where I cannot seem to get one, I have to make them myself periodically. Today I just had to have one so I'm going to post my grandmother's recipe for coney islands. A restaurant coney will typically have a finer grate on the meat, but other than that, this is pretty dead nuts.

 

CONEY SAUCE

2 Tbsp Oil
3/4-1 lb ground hamburger
1 can (12 oz) corned beef
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 c black coffee

Heat oil in a large skillet and add hamburger. Brown.

Once brown, drain and return to skillet. Add corned beef and chop up in skillet mixing well with hamburger.

Add coffee and chili powder and work to combine.

Boil a package of 100% beef hotdogs (Kogel Viennas if you can get them), place them in your buns, add coney sauce and dress either with (onions) or without (sans onions).


ENJOY a little taste of my hometown area.....

Jenny's Homefront Strategy



Jenny



Lately, I've had a thing for all things 1940...

It started while watching Eleanor Burn's Strip Quilting show and went on to watching Bomb Girls. What is our current fascination with this generation? I'm not sure.

I think part of what resinates with us, is this was a time when people came together for a common cause and women were, for one of the first times in history, literally called upon by our government to "keep the homefronts running" so our men could concentrate on the war. Women were valued not only for what we could do in the workplace, keeping American industry strong, but for one time in history, for what we could do, and had been doing, in our homes for so long. For once, the value of our work got the spotlight.

Reduce, reuse and recycle were very much common themes that are very familiar to us today. Women were encouraged to be as resourceful as they possibly could in planting victory gardens and finding many new ways of nourshing our families. I seem to recall on the show, The Supersizer's Go... that, directly after the war, people were (at least in Britian) much healthier than they had been in decades.

The beautiful lady in the corner of this blog was my grandmother. She was an inspiration to all that knew her and if you can't tell by the picture a fun person to be around. She was very resourceful, very crafty and truly a women of the modern age. She worked when women didn't work out of the home, she forged her own path and didn't listen to anyone who told her what she was or wasn't. In her honor and because it was her generation, I'm naming this "Jenny's Homefront Strategy".

Jenny's Homefront Strategy

Jenny's Homefront Strategy is all about being resourceful and preparing for the upcoming months ahead when produce prices become higher. It's about canning, couponing, gleaning, trading, drying, crafting and preparation. It's about taking stock of what you have and what your family may need. Like what our grandmothers or mother's may have had to do to make sure that their family got through an uncertain future. Our future is in no way certain in the midst of unemployment, layoffs, rising costs and an uncertain economy. To use a quote from one of my favorite Disney movies:
"Luck favors the prepared".

When we moved out to our farmhouse 15+ years ago, we were a newly married couple that had little savings. I had grown up on a farm so one of my first moves was to begin planting a garden and fruit trees...after all, one can't eat grass. I also discovered that the area we moved to had many farm stands and pick your own options... and that they varied in price. I learned how to can and do everything possible to stretch our meager income. The fruit and plants that I planted didn't always produce what we needed but through the years of trial and error, we finally began being able to rely more and more on what our little "farm" could produce. One of my most cherished memories was when my mother came to my home and stated that I "had a nice little farm here". A farm, my mother recognized my little house as a farm!

So with as much rain as we've had going on in the Northeast this year, it appears we should have a wonderful year for our gardens here on the farm. The cherry tree is still producing (and I'm getting so sick of picking, not to mention becoming a smorgasbord for the mosquitos and biting flies) but I'm counting my blessings as they haven't always been there and going out picking everyday being grateful for the bounty.

So what was the final tally and what did we make with all the cherries?

1. Traded 6 quarts for 6 quarts of strawberries at the local fruit market. 
   
2. Canned 3 quarts of maraschino cherries, five pints cherry jelly, three half pints cherry jelly, two pints of cherry syrup and two half pints of cherry syrup
   (the later being used for "glaze" in fruit salad)
3. Froze three Tupperware containers full of cherries.

   

   2013's Cherry Harvest from ONE TREE

   
4. Took four to work as gifts for people I work with
5. And ... THEY ARE STILL COMING! 



Summer in a Jar!



So what are your strategies for filling the pantry for the winter months? What did your grandmothers do to make sure their families were fed? Do you still have their recipes? What are you planning on "putting up" this summer?

Until next time....



Cherries!!!

Cherries!

What a wonderful word.

Nature's original tree ornaments!

The first harvest of the year is upon us and it is a bit unexpected. Typically strawberries are the first thing I get off my little farm, but this year the cherry tree has exploded in wonderful little cherries.

Last year my little tree didn't even produce enough to make a pie but as you can see, this is not last year!



The view from my front window.



I have one sour cherry tree that I have in my front yard. I love it because not only is it very ornamental, it produces beautiful sour cherries that are fantastic in pies, delicious as a syrup on pancakes or ice cream, an excellent add in for homemade cough syrup and a powerful aid to help with arthritis. This year I plan on making all of these things and more depending on how many cherries we get.

 

This is what we got for just an hour of picking. As you can see my tree is not very large. I recently read in one of my gardening books that a typical cherry tree can typically produce up to 40 lbs of cherries. I'm thinking of getting a second one so I can barter with the local farm market for things I don't grow.



YUM!





From tree to table in less than
two hours.



In my next blog I'll show you what I'm doing with these cherries to get as much as I can out them and put away food for my family. We'll also talk about the Homefront Strategy as I put it into practice for my own family. I hope to inspire you to do the same. A trip to your local pick-your-own is not only a great family experience, it also helps to fill your larder. Take an inventory of what your family enjoys eatting and what they may be willing to try.

When you make your own ingredients, you can have a gourmet meal

that costs pennies!

Cat TV

Time for a true confession....



I'm going to get you.. "Ma-a-a-a-a-a "

As cute as they are, as fun as they are to watch, I feed the birds not for the sake of the birds but rather for the amusement of my furry children.. the cats. My cats are housecats so the closest they come to "hunting" is typically when Mr. Mittens swats off a spool of thread off the table and proceeds to make a force field of almost invisible and uncrossable means. So for the amusement of my three balls of fluff (i.e. our Lords and Masters) I set out a feeder where they can threaten to their hearts content, any who would dare to come close to their domain.

The birds for their role, simply ignore the cats. They fully know that there is no real danger regardless of how much it is threatened... and there are threats. The "Ma-a-a-a-a-a " sounds that I've only heard the cats make when they are "talking to the birds". Today I'm going to give you a simple receipt for making homemade hummingbird nectar.

We've all seen the bright red, not found in nature hummingbird nectar found in the stores. The reality is that we can make the same thing at home without the artificial dye. Essentially it is a simple syrup so what you don't feed the birds, you could always mix in your drink... just saying. It is almost embarrassing how simple this is to make...

Simple Homemade Hummingbird Nectar

1 part sugar
4 parts water

A part can be anything you want it to be as long as you are consistent.

In this case, I used a 1/4 cup measure so it worked out to be, 1/4 cup sugar to 1 cup water.

Pour your sugar and water into a saucepan and heat until sugar is dissolved, stirring frequently.

Take off the burner and allow to cool.

Fill your feeder and let the hummingbirds

know you are open for business!

Spring Cleaning 2, Detox: Taking One's Bitters

The phrase, "Taking One's Bitters" has come to mean facing up to a result which really wasn't the positive outcome you'd been  hoping for. But the concept of taking one's bitters was a reality for our great, great grandparents. After long winters of salted and canned food, the need to detox and prepare the body for spring and summer was a common desire. Certain herbs were taken in the belief that they helped to flush the body of toxins and "sludge" that had built up after a season of processed food and a somewhat sedimentary lifestyle. These herbs were, in general, bitter and ill tasting but were believed to clean out the system. Today, most of these herbs are available in any healthfood store and now, in most grocery stores.

Anytime I feel sluggish or nasty, I pull out one of these herbal teas to drink and after a few days, generally feel pretty good. Again, I'm not a doctor so take at your own risk, but I've never had a problem  with any tea. A secondary note if you are going to drink more tea gleaned from experience: let your tea cool down a bit and sip it with a straw. Weird? Maybe. Tea has tannins and WILL yellow your teeth. White strips will help to counteract that but white strip (peroxide) DOESN'T WORK ON CAPS OR DENTAL WORK. Trust me, I've recently replaced a cap.

Anyway, below is an immunity tea receipe that I have from a herbal medicine course I took in 1995. If you take any medication, again, check with your doctor before using herbs. They are medicine and what many medicines are made from. You need to know how they will interact with anything you are taking. A part is any measurement you desire as long as you are consistent. 1/2 cup is 1 part throughout, or 1/4 cup is 1 part throughout.. whatever you deem the quantity you want to make:

IMMUNE SYSTEM TEA

4 parts Pau d'arco (bark)
2 parts Echinacea (root)
1/2 part Goldenseal (root)
1 part Burdock (root)
1/2 part each: dried orange (peel), cinnamon (bark), licorice (root)

Use 4 to 6 tablespoons to a quart.

Bring a quart of cold water and herbs to a simmer, covered. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Strain. Add honey if bitter.

Spring Cleaning... The Spring Detox #1

I'm big into alternative healing and when it comes to Spring Cleaning, I start from the inside out. Obviously you can't be there for other people if you don't take care of yourself first. That being said, today I'm going to talk about a controversial subject that I personally practice at least once a year and that is Ear Candling.

Now, I'm a firm believer in taking care of one's health and that while allopathic doctors are a definite necessity, we don't have to drug ourselves for any and every problem. I'm a firm believer in personal responsibility when it comes to my health. I assess the risks and benefits and for me, I believe ear candling helps loosen the ear wax that we constantly compact in our ear canal every time we shove a cotton swab on a stick in there to clean our ears after our showers. There are many others that claim what we see inside the candle is simply wax...honestly I don't believe that. That being said,  if you choose to do ear candling, I suggest you read the information that is out there and assess the risks and benefits for yourself. Ear candling does present some dangers and if you choose to try it, you do so at your own risk. (Common sense tells you anything with an open flame near your body does.) You know your body better than anyone and it is your choice what to do with it but like anything, you need to be informed and know the dangers prior to engaging in it.

 I am simply presenting the way I do it as I've made the decision that it is right for me.

Ear Candling 101

Equipment:

1 helping assistant to monitor the candle
                      (hopefully not too mocking!)   
1 wetted washcloth
1 pie plate
1 pair of scissors
2 ear candles (one for each ear). These can be found online or at most health food stores.


I personally do not do ear candling when I am currently having issues with my ear. I choose to do it when my ear is not compromised with a ear infection or swimmers ear. Also, I choose to do it in the spring or fall when there is less chance of a windy day that could cause a problem with my ears. You are effectively, cleaning out wax and wax generally has a purpose, just not impacted wax, so I don't want to strip that coating  and then go out in a windstorm when I need that wax to protect my ears. You wouldn't walk outside in the middle of winter without a coat. Don't ear candle and then go out into a windstorm.
                                                                                                      


Cut a hole only slightly bigger than your ear candle.

 

I believe in safety so my first step is to cut a hole in the pie plate big

enough for the "candle" to go through. An "ear candle" is actually

a rolled up cone with one end smaller than the other that you put in

your ear. It is typically made out of waxed linen.

 

I wet a washcloth to
help extinguish the fire
if it comes to close to the ear.



The next step is designed to prevent the candle from getting too close to your ear. You should also have someone around that is monitoring this for you as well but I like to make sure I'm doubly safe. Also, should any ash actually fall, conceivably the wetted washcloth would put it out.



Prepared pie plate with wetted cloth.




I put wetted washcloth around the hole cut in the pie plate like so.







Then I insert my ear candle.

The complete package.

My final step is to find a quiet place to lie down or at least have my head tilted at an angle. The candle is lit and the helper watches it so it doesn't get too close to your head or light your hair on fire! The candle will smoke a bit and with the candle inserted gently in the ear, a gentle vacuum is created. Its a very soothing feeling. I generally hear a bit of a quiet whooshing sound (I think of it like putting a shell to your ear) and some quite pops and snaps. Amazingly it is quite a peaceful feeling even though there is a flame above one's head. When the flame gets as just as close as I feel comfortable with, I remove it from my ear and blow it out. After it cools I inspect the inside. (It's gross so I'll spare you). Today there was about 1/2 inch of wax that was extracted.



Spring cleaning!



I enjoy doing ear candling at least once a year. I've done it for many years and have never had any issues. There are many out there that don't believe in it or state that it is dangerous. I only know that it works for me. Like anything, read up before you try anything. You only have one body. Namaste!