We are all a little busy. Mark has end of the year concerts to prepare for. Tristan is finishing up his blacksmithing class and peer leadership meetings. Evan is torn between the construction of train sets indoors and trike riding outside. It is a conundrum, let me tell you;) I am busy with special orders for knitting and filling in at the bookstore while I wait to hear about a start date for my summer farm job. In the meanwhile, boxes are getting filled, a garden gets planted kinda sorta, lists are made...
Planted: Pole Beans, zucchini, cukes
Harvested: lettuce, chive blossoms, spinach, green onions,eggs
Preserved: 3 quarts of spinach. Today it will all be pulled up and I will freeze some more and dehydrate the rest. We use the dehydrated spinach in breads. I will use the frozen for homemade ravioli and soups. 2 pints of chive blossom vinegar.
Eat the food: homemade ravioli using spinach and our own eggs. Local chicken, our own salads, and dinner rolls with dehydrated garlic scape and scallions from last years harvest for a nice herb bread. Yum!
Local food systems: We have not really been very strong with this season. The closest farmer's markets are both about an hour away. Our local farmstand, where I will be working, has not opened for the season yet. But we are managing to get by on much of our own garden gleanings and food storage, with an occasional meat purchase from the feed store.
Waste not:composting, recycling..the usual
Want not: The new house has a cold room and a REALLY old refrigerator;perhaps circa 1960's. Mark had the fridge going this week because he is staying there during the week. Well, the fridge is a big ole' energy hog. While we learn to use the cold room, we thought we would use a small dorm refrigerator. We have a chest freezer for putting food by. So we don't really need a big fridge. I was able to find one through freecycle. Also, the bathtub at the new place is really small, leaky and kinda nasty in a moldy caulking way. When Mark and I were wedded my in-laws asked us what we wanted. We wanted a claw foot tub. Well my father-in-law found one for us and will be delivering it by the end of the month. Best of all it was just sitting in an attic and someone gave it to my Father-in-law. He also has a bunk bed that he is handing down to us.
4 comments:
What do you do with chive blossoms? I've been growing chives for years and just recently harvested the blossoms for vinegar. What else can be done with them?
I make a chive blossom vinegar with them as well. I use the vinegar for homemade salad dressings. they are also an edible flower that can be added to salads or stir fries.
Claw-foot tub - so awesome!
And free is good, right?
I'm glad things are coming together for you guys are the new place, and I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous of your "cold room." I'm hoping we can get something like that going here, because I really (really!) want to lose the fridge this year. If I can't convince my husband to do away with it completely, I'm at least hoping to convince him that a a chest freezer to fridge conversion might be a good solution for us. It's the happy medium between doing without (my preference) and keeping the old clunker (his preference).
Hi. I'm just surfing some of the Independence Days Challengers. I wouldn't have thought to dehydrate spinach, nor especially to use it this way in breads. Great idea. My spinach is all gone, but I wonder if I should try this with swiss chard.
Post a Comment