End of Season Harvest

Ahhhh... The end of harvest season is here. The last frost hit around the 24th of October here and so on the 30th we got out there, cleaned up shop and then sowed some winter rye. We were a little late out there, but still made out fine. Josh brought home a Honda tiller for us to use--it is perfect. Small, easy to handle and did the job well. We tore up the tomato, pepper and eggplants, the squash vines and green bean bushes, we dug up the small crop of potatoes and the large crop of beets. I did end up with a few buttercup squash (as pictured), despite the long hard battle with a ground hog that took up residence under our shed (it was a long, hard love/hate relationship with he and I that ended badly). Other than the winter squash we got about 15 lbs of beets, 5 pounds of potatoes and a handful of random peppers that were hanging on for dear life. The white squash that you see are volunteers from patty pans we grew last year. Think patty pans on steroids. They are more round and huge, but still tender.

The large squash you're seeing was not one of mine, rather from my mom's garden. I'm fairly certain is an Amish Crookneck, but its kind of funny--for years she's been growing these and eating them as summer squash when they are young and very green. This is the first year she let them go to seed and realized they were actually a winter squash! My mom's gardening technique is... very liberal. She basically plants things as nature would have intended--everywhere and in no specific order so it is easy to see how this happened.

Squash squash squash...PIE!!!

I love winter squash. I love it halved and cooked with a tab of butter and a bit of honey. I like it cubed and stir fried with winter greens or tossed in curry or added to stew. I love it pureed into a creamy soup or julienned into a salad. I could eat it cooked with nothing but a spoon (and I have). My husband is less interested in it, however. That is until I cooked a butternut squash the only way I knew he would definitely eat it... in a pie! So I threw together a recipe using ingredients I had on hand (which wasn't much considering a trip to the market was much needed). It was custardy and not-too-sweet and he loved it.

Here it is:

I'll give you the recipe and then explain what I would do to change it:

2 cups cooked butternut squash
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3 eggs
1 frozen pie crust

First of all--the frozen pie crust--grossss! I don't even know how I ended up with it in my freezer, but as I said I was trying to make something out of nothing. So that was terrible. Second, the sweetened condensed milk is a no-go. I would have used organic cream, half and half or even milk but had none of the above. I also would have liked more squash in it. Sooo next time I will increase the squash to 2 1/2 cups, substitute cream and add more brown sugar. I might even add a bit of molasses....

Nonetheless, it was a success as it is and my husband enjoyed it, so that makes me happy.

Tomatillos

I grew tomatillos for the first time this year. We are addicted to salsa verde in this house and it just seemed silly to be buying it when I knew that nothing I could get from a can would compare to what I could make fresh. That is the understatement of the week. Fresh salsa verde is amazing! I didn't grow many plants. In fact, I started half a dozen seeds a few weeks before the last frost here and they all grew into spindly, scrawny tendrils that eventually died. So at first I was discouraged.

Then, after last frost I decided to try again and direct sow some seeds. I literally sprinkled a pinch in a little spot just to see what would happen. Within a week I had hardy healthy shoots coming up. I eventually thinned these into approximately ten plants. I planted some of them in large pots because I had not planned an area for them and put the rest in an old shady compost pile to try to grow because I just didn't have room. I planted two per pot, which I would not do again.

They were huge! And they flourished! I got a nice crop from the few potted plants I had. The plants that grew in the shade also did well, in many ways better than the pots, however, they were late to produce fruit so I did not get as much as I could have. Next year I will be planting them in an area of their own, probably one of the raised beds in my back garden. They bush, there is no pruning or controlling them. And they need steady water, which was difficult for me since they were in pots and were so big (we'd go away for the weekend and inevitably have weeping plants when we got back). So I made a lot of mistakes, but we got a nice crop considering.

Our tomatillos (tome-ah-tee-owes) were extremely tasty. I grew the green Mexican variety, the most common. They are smaller fruits that look like a green tomato wrapped in a husk. The majority of mine were smaller, maybe 2 inches in circumference. The outer skin is sticky under the husk--nothing a quick rinse in hot water doesn't take care of. They are ripe when they actually burst through their husk.

Their flavor is excellent, almost fruity. They have a very light and crisp texture, almost reminiscent of a star fruit. I wouldn't cook them, mostly because I'm not sure how I would use them that way. I have heard they are tasty grilled. I took most of ours and made salsa verde, of course.

Tomatillos will definitely be a permanent addition to our garden.

Here is our Salsa Verde recipe:
25 (maybe 2 lbs) Tomatillos, husked
4-5 Garlic cloves
1/2 Red Onion
3-4 Jalapenos
Salt to taste
1 bunch (approximately 1-2 cups) Cilantro chopped

Submerge the tomatillos into almost boiling water for 15 seconds. Be careful not to cook the tomatillos. Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse in batched. Combine and adjust ingredients to taste.

New order for Soapmaking

I just processed a new order for soap making supplies and I'm SO EXCITED (and I just can't hide it)!!! I've been planning to get serious about soap making for a while now and finally I got my first big order in. Thanks to some great people and wonderful websites, I've found a plethora of information out there to get me going. What has really pushed me to do this is... well, actually a few things have been catalysts:

1) In my constant effort to go green and as natural as possible, toiletries play one of the biggest parts for me. They are products you come in contact with everyday, several times a day: soap, shampoo, body lotion, facial lotion, lip balm, eye balm, etc. That's not even touching on make-up for the ladies. And organic, natural bath products can be hard to find and very expensive. I have been wanting to phase these non-organic products out of our lives for a while.

2) Personally, my skin has changed in the last few years. Although I still consider myself quite young, wear and tear is evident. I have become sensitive to changes in the weather and I've developed an uneven skin tone. I suddenly have dry spots on places like my eyes that are uncomfortable and only become more irritated with over-the-counter products. I want something that soothes naturally.

3) We have a baby! I will not put any of those crappy products out there on my child. Yuck! Take a look at the ingredient list for any given bath product in your house. You'll see what I'm saying, Lauramide DEA??? What???

4) I have the time. Yes, tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime is on my side. Finally, I have the time to experiment. Thank you, Josh.

The line of products that I'll be working on will be as simple and natural as possible. I'm not big into fragrance. I like scent, but I don't want it to overpower the natural oils and butters I'm using. LOVE beeswax and olive oil, so expect a lot of that. I'm going to experiment with natural colorings (another thing I want to avoid are synthetic dyes) and herbal infusions. Also, I'm going to be making chocolate soap and beer soap! Check this awesome recipe out that from the Soap Queen:

http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/2010/10/last-call-advanced-oatmeal-stout-cp.html

Does that not look good enough to eat???

Yogurt

I consume an inordinate amount of yogurt. Maybe not as much as some people, but I have a cup of yogurt every single day and get really bent out of sorts when I run out. This has been going on for about a year now, around the time I found out I was pregnant I think it started. In fact, I was consuming so much yogurt that--thanks to my husband--I quickly switched to making my own. I don't do flavored yogurt, like that nasty stuff that comes in land-fill bound little cups and promises flavors such as "Strawberry Shortcake!" or "Chocolate Cheesecake". Gag. I like plain, low-fat organic yogurt. I mix walnuts and flax meal in for an Omega3 boost and sometimes I'll add dates or bananas. I could go on and on about how much I love yogurt and the health benefits of it (packed for of protein! great for your stomach!). But what gets me today is that I just sat down to another batch of yogurt that was less than perfect. How did this happen... again??? After about a year of making yogurt, something has changed. The last few attempts I've made to re-culture my yogurt have resulted in a thin yogurt, not what I'm shooting for at all. I like a thicker, firmer yogurt (Greek yogurt is an indulgence). So what am I doing wrong? What did I change in my method? The milk wasn't too hot, so I didn't kill my culture, I tried "tempering" it so that it would be distributed evenly... I even let it 'cook' for an extra hour. I can't figure it out. This has only happened when I tried to re-culture, so its gotta be something with that. Could it be because after the incubation time I let it sit out for a few hours? The incubation time ended at 3am and I forgot to get up and move it to the frig until about 6am. I don't know, but I'm disappointed. Meanwhile I am eating thin yogurt and using all of my husband's precious milk trying to figure this out.... ~sigh~