Outside the Snow is Falling!

I'm a sucker for a good snow.  It's just my favorite natural happening.  Though I'm rather partial to a nice sunset too.  We've not had a decent snowfall, or a snowfall at all actually, in a good long while.  A couple of years.  So when we had an ice storm, followed by about an inch of snow, I made the most of it by rushing outside for pictures, and of course, baking.  

I'm telling you in advance, the following recipe is one for you Californians, for you extreme southerners who have access to the forbidden fruit.  I desperately wanted to make these muffins during our snowdays, but bananas aren't local to my neck of the woods.  

So we settled for a good stew.  Not as lovely smelling, but then again, it's the little things that go a long way people!  If all the northerners in the world chose not to eat bananas, we would cut down on so much pollution, the plants might not have enough Carbon Dioxide!  That was a joke.  Don't go outside and start blowing on your plants!

A little restraint, like I said, goes a long way.  While banana muffins are, forgive the pun, ripe, for you Floridians, ye in winter wonderland need to exchange the banana muffins for some apples you saved from fall!

Winter is the time for preserves up north.  When the trees look like this, and the grass is encased by a layer of ice, and the garden looks like Grandmother nature made it a quilt, it's time to pull out those frozen fruits and those canned tomatoes.

Don't be fooled by the green showing through in our garden, the plants are desperately sleeping.  Even our wheelbarrow knows when it's time to call it quits.  This is the time of year when the farmer gets to rest on his laurels.  When his thoughts turn to the food he has stored away in his freezer and his pantry. When the beautifully prepared dinners make him tear because he knows that all the work was worth it.

I seem to write a lot for the folks above the Mason Dixon Line.  So these muffins go out as an ode to my friends below that line, where the bananas are plentiful even during december.

Banana Muffins

Adapted From the Gluten Free Goddess

Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease the muffin pan.

Combine in a large bowl:

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

1/4 cup light olive or coconut oil

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 organic free-range eggs

1/4 teaspoon mild rice vinegar

Whisk together in a separate bowl:

1 1/2 cup flour*

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

a smidgeon of salt and nutmeg

a dash of cinnamon

Add the dry ingredients into the banana mixture and beat or stir until smooth. If the batter looks too thick and dry, add some non-dairy milk such as vanilla hemp or rice milk, a tablespoon at a time, until the batter is smooth- but thicker than cake batter.

Mix in your choice of add-in.  I enjoyed chocolate chips with some combination of nuts!  Walnuts are excellent! 

Instructions: Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups and bake in the center of a preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or so (a wooden pick inserted into the center should emerge clean). (If you cheat and use a smaller pan with 12 cups, check sooner- after 15 to 18 minutes.) Cool the muffins briefly in the pan, on a wire rack; then turn them out of the pan to keep them from getting soggy; continue to cool on a wire rack or serve warm. 

* If you would like gluten free muffins, use the following measurements in place of flour!

1 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup potato starch (not potato flour!)

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

Thanksgiving Reflection

First of all, I apologize for the delay.  All these college applications and various homeworks and all other sorts of things that clog our falls and make us wish for the summer.  At least us school kids.

But there is something very special we often forget when we're relaxing on fall break.  And that is Thanksgiving.  I don't mean we forget in the sense that we neglect the holiday, oh no, we feast and delight with our family on that thursday.

But we feast on CAFO turkey, genetically modified gluten chocked stuffing, cranberries flown in from Wisconsin, mashed potatoes that are borderline carcinogenic, and green beans that miraculously braved the three months from their harvest season to sit on the table in front of a bunch of hungry guests.

We've lost the Thanksgiving Spirit people!  I'm not even talking about the Black Friday rush, which is an entirely different discussion.  I'm talking solely about the food that dresses our table in it's supposedly organic couture.  Our food has become "organic" only in that it harbors Carbon in its genetic makeup.  It is purely artificial otherwise.

The turkey that is native to North America, so unique that Benjamin Franklin wanted to make it our national bird, now cannot reproduce without human aid.  We literally put the sperm and egg together for the turkey.  Quite sad really.  We have changed the turkey's body so completely that "wild turkeys" are now endangered.  There are even heritage preservation groups that work for the disbursement of wild turkeys onto farms.  The more that heritage turkeys are raised, the more that the CAFO turkey is no longer the dominant species.  SAVE THE WILD TURKEY!

Ok.  That's my plug for the turkey.

Now onto the cranberries, the sparkle on the table.  They are LOVELY!  Really, I am not bad mouthing these spherical beauties at all.  Book them a show at the Moulin Rouge, and they'd bring people from miles around.  Especially since they too are native to North America, so it would be a traveling show from abroad.  We down here in the south, do not have the climate for growing cranberries locally.  A shame, I am in full agreement.  The first meal served by the pilgrims was in the north people, a cooler climate than many possess.

So here's a thought.  Don't eat cranberries.  Eat what the native americans and the settlers would have eaten years ago, had they lived where you do.  Support your local farmers and by giving them your business.  Give thanks that there are local farmers, a dying breed, as they grow the healthiest food for the human body!

And speaking of healthy, or should I say healthful (my grandmother likes to correct me), the mashed potatoes you probably obtained from an industrial source, those are so soaked with pesticides that make their way into the earth because of gravity that it's a wonder we're not growing a third eye as you read this!  Root vegetables are very important to purchase "organically" without pesticides and ideally from a source you trust because they are very easily contaminated.  Or grow your own and save them!  Potatoes require very little work.

Lastly, but not least in any way, those delicious green beans.  I have a few recipes that I will share eventually about green beans, but probably in June.  Or maybe August.  When they're in season.  Green beans were not eaten at that first Thanksgiving people.  They just couldn't have been.  Unless they were pickled.  If your served green beans were pickled, then by all means skip this paragraph.  Otherwise, watch your seasons people.

Now I don't mean to be all debbi-downer with you all!  Really, I adore Thanksgiving and what it stands for.  I just think we could do better with our food.  Next year give thanks to your body by feeding it with healthful, non-pesticidic, free-range, in season food!  It's really not that hard people!  And the more you do it, the cheaper it becomes and the better you feel!

Ode to Peter and his Pumpkins

It was a bright and sunny day... Beautiful and blu skied, buttery with sun and chilly with breeze.  In other words, it was the perfect sort of saturday morning to be in the pumpkin patch picking pumpkins.  If only I had been named Peter.  Alas, Pierce will have to do.  

A poem, ahem:

Pierce picked pumpkins in the pumpkin patch

pink, purple, pastel, plus plum

pretty, plump, plus pickable--PERFECT!

So, not going to win any awards... But a nice ode to Peter and his pickled peppers I think.  

I dragged my best friend out of bed in the morning to take her with me, because as we all know, pumpkin picking is a plural activity.  We belong to a coop past Leesburg that allows for u-pick strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and of course pumpkins per season of course.  

When we arrived (after really delightful and excellent driving on my part if I do say so myself, though we started with about a quarter tank of gas...) we were greeted by a field of corn and a backdrop of mountains.  It was utterly picturesque, with, I kid you not, not a single cloud in the sky.  There were many families with little children squawking and laughing and making joyous noise, and it took us about a second to realize that we were the only teenagers there.  Maybe that should say something... But really folks!  Even teenagers could get their tushes out of bed for this! 

Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to take a hayride... But we did get the chance to choose a wagon and march ourselves down to the swath of pumpkin patch!  It was reminiscent of a December holiday... 

Before being allowed to make the pumpkin trek, my mother had made me promise--as she was suppling the money and the car--that I come back with two (note the number) pumpkins of the huge and oddly shaped variety.  

Well.  We came home with various shapes, sizes and colors.  Eleven to be exact.

Yes, eleven.  With forty bucks to spare!  It was a miracle on the order of loaves and fishes!  But then again, pumpkin-picking season is when miracles happen right?  Or am I thinking of that December time again...?

I felt like a five year old again, toting my red wagon around!  The last time I sat in a red wagon, I weighed less than that white pumpkin, and my mother dumped me out on my head... It explains so much.  

My friend and I spent the drive home wondering if mother was going to kill us, as eleven is 9 more than 2.  Yes, I can add.  Though we were delightfully pondering the delicious soups and breads and muffins and all around goodies we were going to make with our frozen pumpkins in the winter.  But that is a story, and a recipe, for a different day.

And so the moral of this story, ladies and gents, is that there is no such thing s too many pumpkins.  And mother is a pumpkin freak too.

Biography of Lettuce

Being a vegetarian until a more sustainable meat source is viable, the majority of my meals comprise of salad in some capacity.  Thus!  A little story about one of my favorite greens. 

There once was a seed.  His name was lettuce, and he was getting tired of waiting around in a dark pocket with other seeds.  He wanted dark, thick, nutrient-rich soil in which to grow.  He wanted a home. 

One day, a light appeared at the top of the pocket, and two long fleshy things reached down and grasped Lettuce and some of his brothers and sisters.  Lettuce was on his way up in the world.  Up, of course, until he was deposited in the damp, brown earth.  

As soon as he was nestled in his new home, Lettuce began to grow.  He stretched up, and up, and up, unfurling as he looked for that light he had seen the moment of his drop from his mother plant, and the moment he had been lifted from the pocket.  Finally, Lettuce poked out of the soil, and took a deep breath of fresh air.  I was a sprout, he was green, and he was ready to see the world 

I suppose you can guess what happens from there, I wouldn't want to completely write a biography, because then I would have to cite it, and that is a pain.  Long story short, Lettuce is plucked and happier than a pig in mud on my plate into my mouth.  

I'm writing this now, at the end of September because we are just planting our fall greens.  I fully recommend getting some seeds in the ground, in pots that you can put outside on your steps that act as ornaments as well as food.  Seriously!  Get on it people!  These lettuces are lovely in more ways than one! 

Composting! Not just for hippies!

It’s an excellent alternative to trash.  It’s called compost.  First, a definition.  Compost is “decayed organic material used as fertilizer.”  It really is just that.  It’s all the vegetable food detritus from your kitchen, all the pulled weeds from your garden, and all the manure you can acquire from local farms.  It’s so much better for your plants than any NPK fertilizer you can find it’s almost laughable. 

When the organic movement started some 20 years ago, there was a distinct outcry against all things artificial—this included fertilizers.  The boycott led to a need for new forms of fertilizer.  Enter compost.  The communes in California would use their food waste along with the weeds that they pulled to make a decaying heap of vegetation that would release their nutrients back to the soil as it decomposed. 

Compost allows for the food to be grown by the soil (the plants take the nutrients), and for the soil (the plants are composted after they’re done growing). 

One of the more common fears about composting is the odor.  It’s a heap of decaying matter, doesn’t it smell?  I promise it doesn’t smell that bad!  Really, as you don’t put any meat-material except eggshells in the heap, it doesn’t take on the pungent rotting smell that is so expected with detritus.  It’s not a trash pile!  It’s a compost.  It does not waft like the garbage trucks. 

I suppose you’re wondering about the how.  There are many different types of compost actually.  My family uses two.  We have one pile that all our food detritus, our plants, and any other organic material is tossed in, and the other is a barrel of organic matter that houses worms.  The worms eat the material, and turn it into loamy soil matter that spreads nicely. 

For those of you looking to start a compost, the easiest manner is to set aside a small area of land, just a square, then ring it with a wire fencing, and toss stuff in it.  Grass clippings make the best start up for compost, as the clippings tend to be rather numerous.  Then keep a bucket on your counter (we have our buckets from berry picking), or a large bowl, and chuck the detritus in there instead of the trash.  Remember though, that meat products do need to be thrown in the garbage, or they attract flies, maggots, and all sorts of nasties that you don’t want to spread on your garden. 

Once you’ve gotten a compost that has been, for lack of a better word, fermenting for a season, it’s ready to be spread on your beds.  If you aren’t totally up for the idea of straight compost on your plants, you can always mix artificial fertilizer with compost.  Some is always better than none!

Also published on The Herndon Environmental Network Blog

Waste not want not!

The other day, my mother sent me some pictures from her Facebook.  Now, while this doesn't seem like sustainable agriculture, it is absolutely sustainability.  SO!  I'd like to put a plug in for these ideas, especially as we are also attempting to eliminate waste in any way we can.  Please, enjoy, giggle, then ponder, as you digest (no pun intended) the possibilities of these lovely ideas! 

This actually works surprisingly well.  You'd think that a bottle would work better, but with all those hungry people at a barbecue, well, it does wonders.  

I love pancakes.  I am also OCD.  This little invention allows me to cover all my bases, and end up with not only perfectly shaped circular pancakes, but also letter pancakes.  

Just pure genius, this avoiding of waste! 

A decent idea.  I've found that it depends on the bread type.  Some breads need top down, like soft bread.  Those with crusts, go for it! 

It's almost too good to be true!  Now, while you don't get to lick the scoop, this is really the best way I've found to eliminate birthday tears.  

Never again will all the goodies fall out either end and go straight into the trash!  Now we have the ability--dadadada--to eat all of what we cook!

I won serious brownie points with my elders on this one.  Seriously, who likes watery wine? 

When I switched from my preferred holder (scotch tape) to this brilliant beyond brilliant idea, I saved so much plastic, they're erecting a statue for me in the park!  

Now, while this did not apply directly to gardening or agriculture, it applies to waste, which is always an extension of agriculture.  I'll soon talk about the industrial food waste, but for now, take a minute to delight in the simple ways to make that trash can, that compost, and that recycling a little lighter! 

Carrots, Beets, and Deer! Oh My!

Well, they're cute right?  The deer, or some herbivore, pulled a Mr. Rapunzel and stole into our garden to commit thievery.  AND to top it off, the varmint ate only the tops of our root crops.  Our poor beets were half eaten by the time they made it into our kitchen!  Oh well, I suppose it wasn't a tragedy.  We were still able to cook all our harvest.  There are worse things that can befall a garden.  

We ended up boiling our beets, as there wasn't enough of each one to pickle.  My dad calls beets the HFCS-less candy.  My mom calls them delicious.  I don't call them anything; I just eat them.  

This doesn't mean, however, that I don't have words for them!  In fact, I would like to compose a haiku about beets for you.  

Oh beets, you are fine

You make me wish spring lasted 

Forever, oh beets.

Ok, so not my finest.  I save my best poems for my books.  

Since summer has been so cool, we've actually had beets for a good long time into the "hot" months.  It's been lovely!  The flavor actually intensifies with the heat, until, I suppose, it would get too nutty to eat.  We've never let beets go that far (nor have our ruminant friends) so I don't know exactly... 

Each beet is different, just like a person.  Wherever the beet has grown, the soil shapes the taste.  Every vegetable is like wine, nature trumps nurture in the taste department.  Nurture does play a part in the living department though.

While beets are our veggie desert, carrots make up the main course.  There are so many lovely things to do with carrots, from stewed cinnamon carrots to plain dipped in hummus.  Our neighborly herbivores seem to feel the same way.

While our garden enters peak harvest season, I still spout about our spring crops.  They're just that delicious.  Fear not, a plethora of tomato posts are on the way, as well as squash, but as the kitchen gods were against me lsat night, I haven't a tomato recipe for you... I'll share that-ah-explosion with you soon.  

Boiled Beets 

Ingredients 

As many beets as you like

1. Add beets to enough water to cover the tops.  There's no need to wash the beets first, unless you feel there might be pesticide on them.  
2. Bring water to boil, let simmer for 12 minutes.  
3. Peel and serve. 
4. Savor.  

Cinnamon Carrots

Ingredients 

Water

Carrots 

Cinnamon

Nutmeg 

Honey*

1. Add 1/4 cup water to a small saucepan. 
2. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar to the pan to make a syrup, simmer two minutes.
3. Add carrots and let sit for 10-20 minutes depending on how soft you want the carrots. 
4. If you like, you can mash the carrots to make a sweet mash.  

*feel free to use agave nectar, brown sugar, maple syrup