What didn't work

So here's a hard look at the some of my less than productive efforts:

1. The goats- Despite my lofty declarations of a future filled with goat cheese and goat's milk soap, I produced nothing. The problem? As they say in the real estate world, Location..Location...Location. As I live in the city(no backyard goats allowed), driving several miles a day to milk a goat ain't gonna happen.

2. Growing eggplant didn't produce more than 2 small fruits. The miniature pomegranate died, and the mini blueberry plant has yet to do much of anything.

3. Home made bath soaps- Lots of fun, but too time consuming for me to do very often.

4. Our rabbits- We certainly aren't going to eat them, but we don't really have time to play with them. They just sit there creating fertilizer all day. Which I suppose isn't entirely a bad thing.......

Live and learn what works for you. Lackluster results give us valuable information that we can use to our advantage.

Never give up, always try something new. And don't forget to have fun!
love,
-EJ

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Revisited

It's been more than a year since I read Barbara Kingsolver's book. It details a year of their lives spent growing and raising their own food. Anything they couldn't produce themselves they obtained from local farmers.

While I admit such a stringent endeavor isn't for everyone, I still recommend the book. It is honest, thoughtful, and at times, quite funny.

In our family's journey , we have made some great discoveries, achieved some exciting goals, and experienced some failures as well.

Below, some things that worked well:

1. Gardening- Now that we are getting the hang of it, the results are considerable. The food coming out of our garden is far superior to anything at the store.

2. Canning- Although still a relative beginner, I am really getting comfortable with the process. We achieved our goal this year of canning enough produce to line several shelves in our pantry.

3. "Make-your-own" - Laundry detergent, non-chemical household cleaners, candles, soaps, etc. My hubby is so hooked on our homemade firestarters it's a drag when we run out.

4. Whole foods- It can be hard to get excited about adding more beans, brown rice, and other whole grains to your diet. The good news is, they are delicious. The trick is finding good recipes. Search the internet and you'll find many innovative cooks have done the work for you.

5. Juicing- I admit I'm not in love with the prep time for this, but it is so worth it. Nothing compares to fresh juice. And I'm hooked on the instant "rush" I feel after downing a glass of fresh carrot juice first thing in the morning.

6. Foraging- This year we did a lot better at 'cashing in' on our natural Oregon resources. The cupboard is full of blackberry jam, we have blackberries in the freezer as well. We also have several quart size ziploc bags full of sauteed Chanterelle mushrooms in the freezer. Dried porcini are in the cupboard as well.

Next time I post, I will admit to things that didn't work out to well for us. But for now, I thought I'd just leave you with the positive. :)

Peace and love,
Ellen

Too much of a good thing?

I love late summer. Fruits and vegetables are so plentiful it's easy to get carried away. Often I find that I've purchased or grown too much of something and don't know what to do with it. Good intentions lead me to believe I really will can all 10 pounds of beans and Pickle three bags of cucumbers in one day. Then I don't. Panic and guilt set in. What to do? Read on......

Triage your projects, so to speak. If you have raspberries, corn and peas to deal with all at once, chances are your in over your head. Sure you wanted to can them all, but that's not look like a reasonable goal right now. If you just can't live without raspberry jam, deal with that first. You'll be glad you did. If your crunched for time after that, try freezing your corn and putting your peas in to the dehydrator. Or the other way around. Whatever works. Below are some specific suggestions:

Peas: These are best frozen. Peas are the one vegetable that even professional chefs tend to use from the freezer. They don't keep long fresh and tend to get mushy when you can them. Alternatively , pop them into your dehydrator. They'll be great for soups later.

Green beans: Can them, freeze them, dehydrate them. Use small tender beans for making 'dilly beans'. Large thick green beans are better for canning as they don't turn to mush as easily.

Corn: Freezing is great, canning is fine, dehydrating is easy and convenient. For something special, try making corn relish.

Tomatoes: Canning or dehydrating is best. Dehydrated tomato slices are delicious snacks, are great in pastas, and go well in salad dressings as well as casseroles.

Zucchini and yellow squash: These are a toughie. They won't taste very good after being frozen and aren't very tempting canned either. But there are some tasty exceptions: try zucchini jam, zucchini pickles, or freeze grated zucchini for cake or breads. Also, dehydrate the slices for use in winter soups.

Carrots: Who doesn't love carrots? They are so versatile! Again, you can freeze them, can them, or dehydrate them for soups. They adapt well to all types of storage.

Blueberries: Freeze for use in pies or baked goods. Blueberries make excellent jam and if you want to try something different, they be dehydrated to use in granola, pancakes, muffins, or just snacking.

Blackberries: My husband's favorite jam is blackberry! Around here they grow wild everywhere. Free Food, yay!! Take advantage and freeze as many as you can to make pies.

Apples: In the fall, I can't seem to make applesauce fast enough to put some away for winter. The kids eat it as fast as I make it. Which is good because it's very healthy and easy to make. For a fantastic snack, dip apple slices in sugar before dehydrating. Or leave the sugar out for healthier eating. Try pureeing apples to make fruit leather in your dehydrator. And finally, make some apple pies ahead of time and freeze them to bake later on.

*When you open your cupboards/freezer and see all the good the good things you've stored for winter it's a very good feeling. Best of luck in your endeavors. If you have questions, email me at edibleoregon@rocketmail.com

-E

planting asparagus, making soaps

A couple of weeks ago I did two things:

* Plant asparagus
*Make home made soap

Since my camera was non-compliant I couldn't share the pics, but they are here now.

The soaps:

The star shaped soaps were made by re- batching. We grated up bars of Ivory, added color, milk and wheat germ for softening properties and scent. They look pretty good.

The pink rectangular soaps were created from scratch. They need to cure for another week before we can use them. I will describe the process more in a future post.

















And now the Asparagus:



First off, let me say that baby asparagus are quite cute. They pop right out of the ground looking exactly as you see them in the store, but in miniature. Asparagus shoots are so difficult to see that at first you fear they didn't work out. But they do, and they are cool!

Check out this cutie: The really interesting part of planting asparagus is what they look like when you bring them home.

Asparagus grows from a mass of grey/brown roots. If you saw it in your garden, you'd likely pull it up and toss it out.

You take this mess of 'medusa hair' and plant it in the soil, taking care to keep it moist. And voila', little shoots emerge shyly from the earth.


After a bit more research, I'll print some tips for anyone who wants to grow their own.

with love,
-E

spring fruits and veggies

Every spring asparagus and strawberries are cheap and plentiful. Take advantage of this tiny window of opportunity and buy all you can! Make strawberry shortcake. Bake your own shortcakes or put the strawberries over slices of pound cake, sponge cake-whatever.

Get brave and buy a flat of strawberries, mason jars and pectin. You'll enjoy the taste of spring every time you eat your own home-made strawberry jam. If the jam doesn't set, it will still make fabulous ice cream topping. Don't you just love a win-win situation?

And then there is asparagus. Don't get me started, I could wax philosophical about asparagus for hours. Steam it and eat it plain. Better yet, go Italian and simply broil it for a few minutes after coating it in a fruity extra-virgin olive oil. Or, my favorite, dip it into the velvety yolk of coddled eggs for breakfast. sigh.....

Tomorrow I'll post a few recipes.

'Night all
-E

Making playdough

A basic recipe:

2 C flour
1 C salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp oil
2 C water
food coloring

Mix all the ingredients except the food coloring into a saucepan and and stir over medium heat until it gathers together and forms a dough. This takes about 5-6 minutes. Cool it and then knead it until it's easy to work with. Separate into balls and add food coloring of your choice.

* I've made this recipe for my kids in the States of Kansas, Virginia, and Oregon. Oregon is the only place it doesn't work so well in. The dough is great for about 1 day and then it gets gooey, even in an airtight container. If you live in an extra-humid environment like ours , you might want to try something else.

Any suggestions?

So what now, Ellen?

I'm so glad you asked! We've planted lots of herb and veggie seeds in little peat pots.

I've also included pics of our homemade fire starter, as mentioned in a previous post. It looks just like my cat's hairballs. Maybe that is why Rex is sniffing it. mmmm, yummy.


Dante' made a sweet and cute cake for Valentine's day so I had to put up a pic of it.

And the pic of Max is just because he's cute.

We are loving life here in Oregon. Hope you all are happy too, no matter where you live.

blessings,
Ellen

The coolest fire starter ever!

For all you closet pyros out there, I got this nifty trick from my sis who learned it in girl scouts. Or was it summer camp? Anyway, here it is :

CHEAP, EFFECTIVE FIRESTARTER

* dryer lint
* egg cartons
* paraffin wax

1. stuff the egg carton with lint.
2. melt paraffin and pour over the lint-filled carton.
3. Cut into individual squares.

directions-light one square to start your kindling. Each square burns about 10-15 minutes. By then, your fire will be going strong.


So how cool is that? Maybe I need a hobby but I seriously get stoked over ways to use things we normally throw away. So that's it. If I get any more gems like this one, I will pass them on to you.

Make your own.............

Laundry soap, dish washer detergent, and all sorts of goodies. This is another easy way to become more self-sufficient, help the environment, and save money. Below is the recipe I first used to make my own laundry detergent:

1 bar of soap (ivory or Fels Naptha are best but I have used just about everything)
1 cup washing soda (I've used regular baking soda to no ill effect)
1 cup borax (found on any store's laundry isle. Look for the name "20 Mule team)

grate the soap, add the soda and borax. Super easy! It only takes 2-3 tablespoons of this to clean a load of laundry.
*Some folks, like my husband, get skin irritation from borax. If this occurs, stop using and try a different recipe without borax like this one from tipnut.com

Recipe #8

2 gallons Water (hot)
1 bar Soap (grated)
2 cups Baking soda (yes baking soda this time–not washing soda)

• Melt grated soap in a saucepan with enough hot water to cover. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring frequently until soap is melted.
• In a large pail, pour 2 gallons hot water. Add melted soap, stir well.
• Then add the baking soda, stir well again.
• Use 1/2 cup per full load, 1 cup per very soiled load.

How about dishwasher detergent that is safer and less "chemical-y" than what your using now?

Basic dishwasher detergent recipe:

What You Need:

• 1 Tablespoon Borax
• 1 Tablespoon baking soda

This is a 'per load' recipe so feel free to make more ahead of time and put it into a container.

*Note: Dishes get cleaner when citric acid is used. You can buy citric acid, or to save time and money , simply empty one packet of lemon kool-aid into the dishwasher with the other ingredients. Only lemon, and only the packet without sugar in them. (use vinegar in your rinse dispenser. It's effective , cheaper, and safer)

Another cool thing about making your own cleaners- you run out of stuff less often. Since I keep a lot of borax, baking soda , and soap around the house, running out doesn't always mean a trip to the store. Just make another batch!

So that is the basic make-your-own rundown. Again a web search will bring you so many options you'll be amazed. Liquid laundry detergent , home made stain remover, and more.

JUST DO IT!! And when you do, for Heaven's sakes would you please tell me about?

love and peace,
-EJ