Grocery List Seed Planning

My seed shopping, swapping, and saving for 2010 is mostly done. Now I get to look over the piles and plans to figure out what I might have overlooked, and I find the best way to do this is with a grocery list. Every year the garden gets bigger, a little more well cared for, and less and less food makes it to the compost pile as waste. We love canning pickles, jam, and chutney, but freezing food is our number one priority. By noticing what I still end up buying at the store every winter, I have a chance to try and cross something off that list for next year.

Here are the items I still seem to buy:
Vegetable broth (although I froze 16 pints)
Fire roasted canned tomatoes (how do I replicate this taste?)
Tomato paste
Cilantro
Thyme
Popcorn
Rice
Ginger
Apple Cider (& ac vinegar)
Onions
Parsnips
Celery

• rice - I have a continuously wet spot in our yard that has promptly killed everything I've tried to place there, and I have a dream that someday it will be a sweet, tiny rice paddy. I've done enough research to know the obstacles, like needing lots of sun, warm water flowing through, and (in Vermont) making sure that you've planted the proper variety. Unlike the long grain rices grown in California (which is what you'll find for sale on the web) Vermont 's climate is best suited for the short grain, stickier rice, Oryza sativa var. japonica. To begin Project Rice Paddy, I plan to just set the plants out in 5 gallon buckets to make sure that there is in fact enough sunlight - I can just move them around if need be. A Vermont couple has had great trial results via a SARE grant , and host lectures where they hand out plants - I hope to hear them speak at the NOFA VT Winter Conference (probably no plant handouts in March, though.) However, my boss/friend is heading to Japan in a couple of weeks , and she and I are on a mission to locate some seeds for her to return with. Can't wait, as this is really at the top of my 2010 geeky gardening list - please, leave any knowledge you have in the comment section...
• ginger - I love to put ginger in soups and more recently stirfrys, and it's a mainstay in our carrot juice concoctions. Unfortunately, we can't grow the the heat - loving tuber that we buy in the store, but we can grow Wild Canadian Ginger, Asarum canadense. It's a pretty plant, but I've heard that it can be poisonous to certain people in certain quantities. Juicing is all about maximum potency - sounds like an experiment!

today's carrot/apple/ginger/lime juice

• fresh herbs/indoor garden - this 2010 mandate has been set: all herbs will be potted. This way, I can bring them in to extend their seasons, carry them into the hoophouse when freak weather is threatening, and if I put them on bleachers in front of the chicken coop, maybe they'll provide a refreshing scent. The real trouble is that to bring plants inside our house means that someone should probably install some windows. We've been living with a window-less second floor for 2 years, just staring up at the framing and spray foam. So, huge south facing windows could mean an indoor garden, lowered heating costs, and maybe something interesting to look at!
• parsnips & celeriac: I buy parsnips and celery all the time to put in soups (lentil is a house favorite.) I've been so busy staggering and rotating that I totally missed out on some long season crops. Parsnips are 130 days, and it's not uncommon to plant them in June and harvest them the following spring. While celery is only 80 days, it is not a lasting crop here, and therefore a waste of my time. Lately I've been buying local celeriac instead of California celery, and it's been fantastic to cook with. We've had it in soups, roasted, pureed, and even sliced raw in potato salad and I'm a fan. Celeriac is 110 days and can be stored. So here's the plan: I'm converting a large part of my 2010 outdoor garden to long season crops - leeks, carrots, celeriac, brussel sprouts, parsnips, etc... 

Riki's grilled tomatoes from the freezer

As far as everything else is concerned, most of it is about planting more and freezing more. Before I finished writing this post, someone gave me a bag of their own frozen fire roasted tomatoes - grilled on the bbq, duh. Popcorn will be a first for us, as will tomato paste (we've made ketchup, though.) And I'm hoping that apple cider turns into a neighborhood affair - seems like a good plan to me.

Do you plan your seed shopping with your grocery list? What do you buy that you could grow instead?

Industrial Food Freezer, Anyone? Anyone?

     Last night we had a Farmers Market board meeting, minus the only male, which means it was on the lengthy side. Once again we have been contacted about a mobile quick freeze unit which freezes and stores about 1400 lbs of produce and/or value added fruits and veggies. The unit, designed and built in Vermont, has made some tours and has some pretty serious strings attached. For starters it's big - about 11 feet tall and 20 feet long. We would need to house it under cover for 2 years. It must be insured on several levels, including driving and workman's comp. Any prep work and pre-blanching of vegetables must be done in a commercial kitchen that we would provide. Our understanding is that within the state of Vermont,  nobody wants it. Or maybe they do, but they can't assume the responsibility and expense. Out of state offers have come in, and the Agency of Agriculture is giving one final gentle prod, but will then sell the unit.

ice fishing at the Causeway

     We are a small rural community (Grand Isle County.) We have farms, an unemployment issue, and a definite lack of available local food throughout our cold months. A lot of people here buy their groceries at beefed up gas station/convenience stores. A trip to Burlington will get you root vegetables, a scavenger hunt for some local winter greens, and a whole lot of mysterious frozen fruits and vegetables. By this I mean that at the Co-op you can by no-name organic and conventional frozen pineapple, mango, berries, corn, etc.... My first thought was that the store really got to work at the height of each fruit's season, and washed, peeled, and cubed until they could freeze enough to sell us throughout the off months. Brilliant. But, do they really? Or do they just re-parcel already frozen inventory on a weekly basis, right after they unload the truck? The official answer is that they arrive frozen from Woodstock Farms, often times having been grown in Thailand. I think you can also buy the same products in their original branded packaging in the same aisle.

Keeler Bay Variety

      Every year some of our food shelfs turn away a local overabundance of winter squash as they are already inundated with them, and lack the necessary refrigeration space. Rockville Market Farm in Starksboro (where JP & I lived for a several years) has recently made a name for themselves by selling their packaged and frozen winter squash throughout the season. If you don't have a root cellar. winter squash will only make it so far. And it's hard not to appreciate the convenience of having your squash already peeled and cubed for you (unless you're a stuffer.) At a certain point in winter, even die hard 'Buy Local' shoppers are purchasing winter squash from parts unknown. Local frozen squash would be a blessing, as would pureed tomatoes, applesauce, corn, berries and vegetable broth.

Rockville Market Farm Squash

   Here's the situation in a nutshell: just like an individual Zone 3 gardener struggles and fails to preserve the entirety of their explosive harvest for winter, Vermont as a whole is also struggling and (get your tissues) failing. Farmers are far too busy trying to earn their immediate income to focus their efforts on food preservation. Not all farms are able to pay for quality employees, and by this I mean skilled laborers; adults working with the same crops over enough years that they become adept and speedy with that particular harvest. People who you can leave in charge if you have to go away fro the weekend. Without these employees a farm's actions are limited, and food preservation is not at the top of the list.

Blue Heron Farm

     So far, the solutions in place are mostly non-profits; gleaners and donators rather than preservers. I can't pinpoint the moment, but at sometime in my adult life I started to sour towards the concept of non-profits. Why can't communities becoming more self sufficient and healthy be totally into profit? Why do farms have to donate their leftovers instead of sell them? Why can't we buy local frozen produce in the winter, instead of trucked in 'fresh' food? And why can't we create jobs instead of over-stressing our food shelfs? Just so we can pat ourselves on the back and say we're good volunteers? Maybe it's because there is funding available for nonprofit ventures, but not for profit driven business models. I don't know the answer today.

my freezer

     I do know that Vermont is nowhere near able to feed itself. Anyone watching the weather this week and the freezes in the Southeast can see that it's important for all northern states to make some progress in this direction. Seasoned gardeners eventually get the process down by staggering their crops, having harvest parties, and working really long days; communities as a whole need to follow a similar model. I'll be following this issue myself, and will keep you posted on the fate of the Mobile Quick Freeze Unit that could. Or maybe you want it? Anyone? Anyone?

Beehive Maintenance

The hives, like us, are snowed in! Our friends came along to the farm to help us dig them out. I like to keep the entrances clear for ventilation and the all important 'cleansing flights' (bees don't go to the bathroom until it's warm enough to do so outside.) Each of my hives is set up on a screened bottom board in an attempt to control varroa mites. Other then blocking the entrances, snow is actually a positive asset, as it's a great insulator in these cold temperatures.

Here we are pulling in all our gear through the blizzard:

Ernie waited for us so patiently, tethered to a plow. Adam and Christine who own Blue Heron Farm have recently experienced (yet another) dog attack on their organic chicken flock, so we made sure our friends kept their guy tied tight.

Shoveling and listening to the hives. Some were definitely abuzz, but others were harder to hear. I actually don't hear very well, so when I don't hear anything, I don't lose all hope.

Cleaning the entrances and removing the dead bees, below. Each of these hives went into the Fall with  a metal mouse guard, in order to prevent critters from nesting inside. Now that the snow has fallen and everybody has found a spot, the bees are better off with a fully exposed entrance. We did find one mouse guard about 4 feet away from the hive, so we'll see if the bees are hosting any guests in the Spring. This same hive did have a mouse nest last year, but bounced back nicely - what a mess to clean up!

and, here JP is drilling a ventilation hole into one of the hive boxes. Okay, should have been done long ago, but better late than never. Bees can actually maintain really well in low temperatures, but cannot tolerate moisture. Zero ventilation will allow ice to develop, which is a death sentence. I used to just visit the hives around this time and prop the outer cover open with rocks to allow the moisture to escape, but that's a bit risky with animals and wind that could knock the cover off completely.

Now that the hives are shoveled and ventilated it's easy to see how uneven they've become from frost heaves. While this is concerning, it's got nothing on what mud season holds in store. The hives will sink and teeter, and it's pretty scary all around, but that's the deal with the the wet clay on our island.

Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, AND an Honorable Mention! (with recipes...)

Every New Year's Eve (that we can) my friends and I gather for a lingering dinner party and overnight.  Each couple prepares a course to serve, and often times we play parlor games while we wait for whatever's coming next. You know - paper and colored pencils, 60 seconds to draw a combination of whatever 2 animals you pull from a hat, like Rooster/Lobster or Iguana Pig. Lots of fun, especially when you can't draw, as your mind will take over whenever there's a time limit involved, as though your life depends on it. But your life doesn't actually depend on it, unless you're laughing so hard you choke on your food.

This year my course was a savory sorbet, served  in between Gillian's Fried Oyster Salad and Katie's Try, Try Again Cheese Fondue. JP, who always has to work out of town at the most inconvenient times wasn't around to help me work the ice cream maker (which is really the only appliance he has mastered) so while my Carrot-Apple-Lemon sorbet tasted fantastic, the texture was a bit crumbly. Nobody Cared.

The recipe was rather simple - I juiced about 2 cups of carrot juice with 1/6 of an unpeeled lemon and 1/2 an apple. I boiled it on the stovetop with 1/2 cup of sugar (I was too unsure to leave it out) for 2 minutes and then refrigerated the mixture for a couple of hours. I then strained it and processed it in the ice cream maker and put it in the freezer. Pretty easy! Cleaning up the juicer was the worst part, as usual. I'd like to try it again with no sugar at all, or maybe agave syrup.

I also brought roasted garlic, homemade seed bread from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day , as well as pickled beets, preserved apple chutney, and bread and butter pickles all from my garden. These were a big hit. Sadly, the beets are now gone, but I have a 4 x 8 bed of Chioggias in the hoophouse right now that I think I should harvest and pickle, as the tops did not withstand the latest cold snap.

New Year's Eve is also my sister's birthday, and last night was a big one. She turned 40! And while "40 is the new 20" to many, she pointed out that she herself is not Courtney Cox, and 40 feels a bit different to her. Touche! Here is the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake I made her:

I decided to make it just before I went to work in the morning, and used a quick recipe I found this summer; Easy Dark Chocolate Cake . For the frosting, I used a hand mixer to beat a package of cream cheese, a few heaping spoonfuls (3/4 cup-ish) of Marantha No-Stir Organic Peanut Butter (simply life changing,) and about 1/2 cup of whipping cream. After they were well combined, I beat in about 1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar. The other recipes I saw online didn't have the whipping cream, but I thought it made a huge difference. I also noticed that they had extreme differences in the sugar content, but I found the 1 1/2 cups to be on the sweet side (one recipe called for 5 cups!) So, taste as you go... And my sister doesn't like bananas, but I think this cake is screaming for them!

Here is a picture of my friend Katie 'cooking.' She brought a girlish apron, and her cookbook is a blackberry, but even she considers it just a costume. Her cheese fondue is always a "keep'em guessing"theme, and we all love it - can't wait for next year!

and, a tragedy - Gillian's $20 FryBaby deep fried it's own lid, Oops! At least the oysters were safe...

Lastly, I was so happy to wake up this morning and find out that I won an honorable mention for my entry into  Mary Ann of Gardens of the Wild, Wild West 'Why I Garden' Essay Contest  -

Thanks Mary Ann! You can read the winning entries here...

Happy New Year!