Posts by Liz

Eating from the garden (and the orchard!) : week 12

Years ago when I subscribed to an organic vegetable delivery, I learned that it was interesting and fun to plan my meals around the week’s delivery. I’m doing the same this summer and it has resulted again in discovering new ways to use the garden bounty. It is actually easier now with the plethora of food and cooking blogs.

I am not a fan of what odd ingredients can we mix in this week…BUT, then here I am with some unusual – at least to me – combos this week.

Carrots have been in the garden bag for the past several weeks. First there were a few baby carrots. They have been getting bigger but are still wonderfully sweet and flavorful. I have shared some with neighbors and the rest munched as a snack or added to my pasta salad.

This week, though, I remembered a potluck salad of grated carrots, raisins and ??? I looked at a number of recipes and then made a carrot-dried cranberry-chard-walnut mix with a pineapple ginger creamy vinaigrette dressing. Oh boy… I was glad to see in the garden email this morning that there were carrots again this week because this salad was goooodddd!

I paired it with some Copper River Red Sockeye Salmon and raw – fresh from the garden – peas.

Peas…there were still some peas. Fresh peas – so good and sweet.

My recipe searching turned up several variations of sweet pea pesto. You’d think I would have had enough pesto, considering I’ve turned every green thing from the garden into pesto…but no. I took from several recipes and ended up blitzing the peas, lemon juice, sunflower seeds, sunflower oil, parmesan, salt, pepper and garlic. And then… I used that sweet pea pesto on a pizza…

Sweet pea pesto, leftover salmon, Vidalia sweet onion, mozzarella…AND SWEET CHERRIES!

It was so good, I had 3 of the same this past week although the last 2 did not include salmon. The sweet pea pesto and sweet cherries was the bomb!

And last night, Wednesday, August 1…the first full moon in August night…I finished pitting my twenty pounds of cherries purchased last weekend. Some have been blitzed with basil and sugar into syrup and frozen. Some just frozen. Some used on the pizza and some in my cereal and some eaten as a snack. I hope to make either Cherry Preserves or Cherry Marmalade this weekend. The rest I hope are a wonderful surprise treat through the winter.

This Summer has been going well. It got a bit of a late start which is fine with me. Since then, the heat has been moderate and short-lived…broken up by cool spells. Eating from the garden – the research and planning has helped me enjoy a time that is not my favorite.

This morning was cool and beautiful. Bob and I have been having some time together on the front porch as Bear does not like to be out when the sprinklers are going. He has a thing about spraying water…

So, Mr. Bob and I have our quiet time together while Bear takes a morning nap.

The sun rose through a few clouds into a blue, blue sky.

Smile Bob!! Time to start Thursday… well… I think that is his “sit down and drink your coffee and stop pointing that darn camera at me” expression. So, I did. Happy Thursday!

First full moon in August

August, my birthday month, has two full moons this year.

Bear and I went down the road in the Jeep to watch the moonrise.

I watched for the moon to rise while Bear watched the setting sun.

Just after sunset…first full moon in August.

different drummers

A warmish afternoon at 84F.

In the bedroom, it was 71F which is warmish for a beardog.

“These percale sheets are cooler than the flannel for these hot days, but maybe we should consider a higher thread count next time???”

Why did I wait so long???

I don’t know why I waited so long to do container herbs…

These pots…on the front porch…so pretty and they make such a huge difference in how the front porch feels.

I added peppermint and spearmint this weekend. Pay attention to that spearmint!

Oy-vay!!! Crushed spearmint…and ice cubes!!!…in my wine.

I know that if I was a food stylist, I would have plucked a beautiful sprig of spearmint for this photo, but the truth is, that any herb…including spearmint…”leaks” its best flavor when it is crushed.

I.E. – crushed spearmint leaves, a few ice cubes, some Chardonnay = summertime bliss….to me!

And inside??? A sprig of basil, several sprigs of lavendar, a crackle vase from my Grandma Ruthie = heaven on my desk.

The sight, the smell, the taste….why did I wait so long???

Thistle saga

I have spent a fair amount of time whacking thistles this summer. They are extremely prolific!! And the St. John’s Wort. And most of the other weeds classified by the State of Montana as noxious weeds…weeds that by law must be eradicated. For me, it is not just the law, it is thoughtfulness for my cattle ranching neighbors as well as for the health of my woods.

So, I’ve been pulling weeds and whacking thistles. But, this year…the thistles, especially, are out of hand!

Thistles, like most of the noxious weeds have their beauty. They attract butterflies and bumble bees. My first practice shots at getting bokeh were in a small patch of thistles in my woods. As a side note…bokeh and/or depth of field – it is that part of photography that I love most. Depth of field is the one thing that I set my camera for with intent. For me, it is the way to tell a story with a photo. I highly recommend reading, practicing, learning…how to use depth of field. Thus ends today’s sermon :)!

Albino thistle??? I don’t know, but pretty!

Back to the out of hand thing. The thistles…they are out of hand…and they are impossible to pull by hand unless you have steel gloves. Hence my whacking approach.

But…I googled….and I bing-ed and I discovered that whacking them off did little to control them. Thistles have a strong and deep root system. Rats. Now, what???

I hated the thought of a chemical solution, but after some discussion and reading, I decided on RoundUp applied low on the thistles to avoid the seeds that birds, bees and butterflies eat.

I bought a new sprayer.

It has a 3 gallon tank and is mounted on a wheeled frame.

As I was looking up information on the ratio of the RoundUp Pro concentrate to water, I happened on a tidbit of info that sent me away from RoundUp. The original patent was held by Monsanto. I will not knowingly use a Monsanto product.

A week or so earlier, I had read about using vinegar on weeds. I had even dumped the end of a bottle on some driveway weeds and was astonished to see them turn brown overnight. I use a vinegar mix – half distilled white vinegar and half water – as my household cleaner. I spritz it on the floor before damp-dusting with a cloth mop. I clean counters and appliances with it. A spritzer sits in my shower and I spray the shower walls, doors and fixtures as a daily cleaner. I even spritz my head once a week to get rid of hair product build up. I use the same kind of vinegar full strength to clean my coffee and tea pot.

And then I found this article: Vinegar as an Herbicide

So…

The thistles drank Heinz Distilled White Vinegar – straight up – this morning.

So did some of the driveway weeds:

Above was taken mid-afternoon after a morning spray with straight vinegar.

It is hard to tell from this photo, but the thistle leaves have started to brown and curl also.

I have yet to find anything that suggests there is a downside to using vinegar on weeds. Time will tell if this really works, but I’m far happier spraying vinegar than any chemical.