Free-style Gardening

A few years ago I did a whole series of posts where I walked you through my gardening season. It started when I planted the seeds for cabbages and kohlrabi inside and ended with the first frost in the fall. I explained all about the seed-starting equipment I use, the grow lights in the bathroom, the milk jugs and rocks I use outside when I transplant the seedlings . . .

So where am I in that process this year? 

I have three tomato seedlings. 

In February, A. and I finally planted the garlic that should have been planted in October. I planted some arugula and lettuce seeds outside that have sprouted. I put some cabbage seeds directly in the ground a few weeks ago in the hopes that they'll just germinate out there and I can put the milk jug greenhouses over them without having to do any transplanting.

While my family was gone last week, I filled a couple of containers with potting soil and stuck in about a dozen basil seeds and a few dozen tomato seeds. I put those behind the woodstove to germinate, and now the tiny tomato seedlings are on the liquor cabinet by the window. Since it's pretty late already, I'm thinking I can transplant those seedlings out when they're still quite small if they go under the milk jugs.

Basically, I'm trying to avoid having to set up the whole light thing in the bathroom, which means a lot fewer plants in the house. 

It will probably also mean a lot fewer plants in the garden, but given the past few years of grasshopper depredation, our ongoing drought, and the overly warm temperatures this winter that are making me think we're going to have a hot summer, I'll probably want a lot fewer plants in the garden.

Gardening is different every year, so we'll see how it goes.

Snapshots: Daffodils!

Let's start with the most exciting thing, shall we?

Yay!

Too bad it's supposed to be twenty degrees tonight. 

So much for the apricots. Happens every year.

The day after my family left on their trip to Tucson, the sprayer on the faucet broke. It got stuck on and sprayed all the way across the kitchen. 

I needed to mop the floor anyway.

I spent some time looking at how everything was connected and thinking maybe I could just disconnect the sprayer to re-engage the faucet. But I thought I'd better check first to see if doing that would just flood under the sink. So I called A.

He just loves to get calls like that when he's away.

He confirmed that I would have a bigger problem on my hands if I just disconnected the sprayer. So I didn't. Instead, I cut the head off of the sprayer, used a clamp to keep the tube from sliding through the hole, and used that as my faucet until A. got home to fix it.

A bit splashy, but it worked surprisingly well.

We actually had another sprayer on hand already, which A. installed the day after he got home. Not without difficulty, of course, because there's always something, but he triumphed in the end.

All better.

One of Poppy's classmates had a birthday party yesterday that I took her to. It included an obstacle course in which the participants carried a small Nerf gun with them to shoot at various targets. It was kind of like a biathlon, I guess.

The last obstacle.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Solo Soup and Salad

Friday 

Short version: Soup for me, Spanish tortilla on the road

Long version: Every member of my family left this day for a road trip to Tucson to visit family. I stayed home to take care of the animals. Until they got home on Wednesday, I was only feeding myself.

So!

I had a container of chickpea soup in the freezer that I took out to thaw. It was meatless, so this night I ate it just as it was for my Lenten Friday dinner.

The texture of the potatoes and carrots after freezing wasn't great, but it was fine.

A. was planning on camping this night, so for them, I made a Spanish tortilla--minus the bacon I usually add--that could either be heated in their campfire or eaten cold if they couldn't have a fire. 

Saturday

Short version: Sausage-y soup for me, my mom's food on the road

Long version: I had enough of the soup left to have some more for dinner, and this time I added the last link of Italian sausage from dinner Thursday. 

It was better with the addition of sausage. Unsurprisingly.

A. and the kids reached Tucson this day. They stayed with my parents, and my mom made them brisket and mashed potatoes. Probably a salad, too, since there's usually salad at my parents' house. And ice cream cake, because it was my dad's birthday. I wasn't there to celebrate with him, but my gift of four rowdy children and one tired husband arrived right on time. Happy birthday, Dad!

Sunday

Short version: Vodka and popcorn for me, Chinese buffet on the road

Long version: I had a delayed lunch this day that meant I was not all that hungry at dinnertime. So I just had a vodka and seltzer and some popcorn for my dinner.

Unless you are or have ever been the primary cook for a very hungry household, you cannot appreciate how freeing it feels to decide to have just this for dinner.

A. brought the children to a Chinese buffet for dinner this night. He described it as "an intense" experience. Everyone except Poppy had at least four plates of food. Buffets are definitely the way to go for our voracious crew.

Monday

Short version: Salad for me, hold the lettuce

Long version: I had made chicken stock a few days previously, using the bones from the chicken we had before everyone left. The meat I pulled from those bones went into my salad, which didn't actually have any lettuce in it because I was too lazy to wash and dry any. Instead I just put in cucumber, pickled onions, bell pepper, and some pickled beets I found when I cleaned out the refrigerator.

I did take a picture of this, but it turned out very blurry. Probably for the best. It was a very ugly salad.

I do have a rare mid-week picture of my refrigerator, though, because I cleaned it this day.

Not how it usually looks.

I'm not sure what my family ate this night. I think my mom said something about Mexican food.

Tuesday

Short version: Hamburger patty, squash

Long version: I found a few storebought, pre-made hamburger patties in the back of the small freezer that had been in there since A. bought them for hunting a few months ago. I cooked two of them this day. One was my lunch, and one was my dinner. The squash was the last bit from the two big squash I cooked and pureed for the freezer a few days previously.

This always makes a huge mess.

I had left about a cup of pureed squash in the refrigerator, which I had this night with a little butter and maple syrup.

I have no idea what my family ate this night. They were on the road home and stopped at a motel for the night.

Wednesday

Short version: Meatloaf, roasted potato cubes, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: This was the meal I welcomed the travelers home with. A very straightforward Mom kind of dinner.

Thursday

Short version: Sausage and Spanish tortilla, raw cucumber or carrots, disgusting pie

Long version: The travelers brought home quite a bit of the Spanish tortilla I had sent with them. It had been kept cold, but still needed to be used promptly. I didn't think it would be popular just by itself, so I added some fried pork sausage to it.

The boys had this in burritos. The others ate it just as is.

I had been to town this day with one boy. He saw a display of pies in the grocery store there and asked if he could get one of the small ones. They were only five dollars, so I said he could. He chose some kind of chocolate creme thing. I knew it would be disgusting, as indeed it was. The kids ate it, but they did note that it wasn't much like the pies I make.

I should hope not.

Refrigerator check:

Back to refrigerator Jenga.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

Making the Grade

It's school progress-report time! These are viewed with varying levels of interest by my children. The boys mostly don't care, although all of them do very well in school, so they don't have much to worry about.  

Poppy, however, is VERY interested in her progress reports and report cards. This is the first year that she's had actual grades, and she scrutinizes them carefully*.

Her latest progress report apparently inspired her to grade me, which was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.

Not too shabby.

So obviously my strengths are cooking and gardining. (Yes, with an "i." It's like Anne with an "e.") I do pretty well with caring, getting them to bed, and the woodstove. Cleaning needs a little work--I have to agree with that one--but the overall score is good.

I've never once been tardy. Go me. 

I'm not entirely sure what all those excused absences are. Maybe when I was gone at basketball games and so forth? I do know what the one unexcused absence was: That one night by myself at the hotel is obviously inexcusable. 

If I can get through this motherhood gig with an overall score of 99, though, I will take it.

*She also has absolutely nothing to worry about with her grades, which makes this a pleasurable activity for her rather than an anxious one.

Snapshots: Paw Prints

I got some eggs from my friend, and Poppy was delighted with the tiny egg included.

"It's a baby egg! It's so cute! Can I eat it?" She did.

The trees and plants are confused by our very warm winter and think it's spring.

The apricot tree is in full bloom.

And two tulips are open. (Ignore my finger. I had to take this very quickly before Jasper could see me leaning over and lick my face.)

Despite the warmer days, we have not yet given up on the woodstove for the season.

Which means kindling splitting continues apace.

Remember all those tumbleweeds? They have now commenced blowing around. I actually drove through a little tumbleweed twister on my way to the village this week.

All those things that look like spots on my windshield are tumbleweeds.

We've lived in this house for almost eight years now, and I just noticed these cat paw prints in some concrete around the base of the house.

I bet this cat was displeased at the state of its paws after this.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Fish, Chicken, Pork, Beef

Friday 

Short version: Fish sticks, mashed potatoes with cheese, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I bought some fish sticks for Lent, which is the only time I do buy them. They were just Great Value ones, which are fine as long as you definitely do NOT follow the instructions for baking on the bag. Baking these for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees would result in some seriously floppy, nasty fish sticks.

I baked them for at least 45 minutes at 450 degrees. They could even been in longer, but everyone was hungry and they got crispy enough that they weren't gross.

I made tartar sauce for the fish sticks, because everyone in my family prefers that to ketchup. I kind of use this recipe, but I never have capers and I use bottled lemon juice.

Saturday

Short version: Chicken, pork, and rice casserole, strawberry yogurt

Long version: I took out a big bag of chicken leg quarters to thaw and used two of the legs to make this casserole. I just simmered them in water with red chile peppers and onion until I could pull off the meat and there was chicken broth. I used the broth to cook the rice. The peppers and onion were pureed and put back with the shredded chicken, plus a can of black beans and frozen corn Then I mixed all of that with the rice and added spices, sour cream, and shredded cheddar cheese. At the last minute, I found about a cup of the burrito pork in the refrigerator and threw that in there, too.

Very much a throw-it-together sort of thing, but it worked out.

I had made strawberry jam and more yogurt this day, so everyone got themselves some of that after dinner.

Sunday

Short version: Trout, leftover pork, rice, green salad with vinaigrette, chocolate pudding with cream

Long version: A. went fishing with three of the children and they caught a big rainbow trout. They got home in time to have it for dinner. It was baked whole and mostly plain, with salt and parsley in the cavity, and then I made a lemon juice and olive oil dressing to pour over it after A. boned it out.

Boning in progress.

I had enough chicken-y rice that I had left out of the previous night's casserole for everyone to have it, and then I also fried the last of the pork shoulder to make the meal filling enough for all.

The pudding also helped to fill everyone up.

Monday

Short version: Greek chicken, garlic bread and hummus, carrot sticks, baked apples with cream

Long version: The majority of the bag of chicken leg quarters I had thawed was what we had this night. I used the rest of the lemon and olive oil to marinate the separated thighs and drumsticks, then baked those until they were done and browned them some under the broiler.

I had made the garlic bread the day before when I was baking bread. The hummus was some from a giant batch that I had frozen awhile ago. And the only reason I made baked apples was because the oven was on for awhile for the chicken anyway, so I figured I might as well dump a couple of jars of canned apples in a dish and bake those with more spices and maple syrup.

That was a good call.

Tuesday

Short version: Chicken and potatoes or leftover chicken and rice casserole, raw radishes or bell peppers

Long version: There were four pieces of chicken left. I stripped the meat from those, chopped it up, and fried it with some nuked potatoes, plus spices and frozen corn, before I left to take Poppy to First Communion class. When I got home, I re-heated that with grated cheddar cheese. 

Exceptionally ugly food.

Some had that, some had the casserole.

Wednesday

Short version: Salisbury steaks with milk and onion gravy, mashed potatoes, frozen peas, strawberry yogurt

Long version: Definitely time for a break from chicken and pork. The hungry boys were overjoyed to see large mounds of ground beef and gravy on their plates.

They didn't eat so much that they weren't able to find room for strawberry yogurt after dinner, though. That strawberry jam I made did not last very long.

Thursday

Short version: Sausages, cornbread, raw radishes and bell peppers

Long version: I cooked one package of sweet Italian sausage and one of jalapeno/cheddar, and then there were two Salisbury steaks left for the child who doesn't care for sausage.

The cornbread recipe I use calls for 2.5 cups of corn flour. I usually use about half masa and half cornmeal. This time, I had almost 2 cups left in the bag of masa. I wanted to use that up, so I only used a little cornmeal. This made a much softer cornbread. I thought it was good, but it was not popular with my family. Oh well.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

Here We Go Again

Last spring, about this time, A. came home with a pack of collard green seedlings for me. There were nine seedlings in the six-cell pack. I planted all of them.

We got quite a bit of rain early in the growing season, which made them grow very quickly.

Even though the grasshoppers got after them, they couldn't kill the collards. The plants were already pretty big, and the grasshoppers ate the bigger leaves towards the outside, leaving the new growth in the center that kept the plant going.

I cut greens for months, sharing them with anyone who wanted them. The cold that made the grasshoppers go away didn't phase the collard greens. They kept growing into the new year, even more luxuriantly without grasshoppers gnawing at them.

When we had our very cold spell, I harvested the rest of the collard leaves, but I left a few of the stalks in the garden. I wanted to see what would happen.

Well . . .

Can't keep a good plant down.

That's the one where I left the smallest leaves in the center. It's growing quite quickly from that center. The other stalks where I pulled the whole head off are actually sprouting new leaves along the stems. 

It appears that collards, like carrots, have a two-year life cycle, meaning that these plants should produce flowers and seeds this year. It remains to be seen if the leaves that are growing will be good to eat, or too bitter to bother with, but it's been fun to watch their resurgence.