8 Months

During this time each year, garden work is down to a minimum, daytime is shorter, work largely moves indoors, and we find ourselves being drawn to the corner of the house where the wood stove now glows at the end of each day.  For the first time since March, I find the time to write, despite my best intentions to be consistent with this space, year-round.

Today, I simply want to say, "Hello," and, "I've missed you," and "Here's what we've been up to and here's what's coming to the blog."

One of our two homesteading classes.

April
Planting the garden and milking twice daily dominated this month. We welcomed a new brood of pullets (future laying hens), and I co-taught two Intro to Homesteading workshops.

It's been such a pleasure teaching various classes with my friend, Lauren Dahl.  We have covered several gardening topics, home detoxing, non-toxic skincare, among other things.  I've wanted to share notes and recipes from the classes all year, and I plan to do just that throughout the next month!

Gigantic spinach!

May
Jeremy and I traveled to the Carolinas where he officiated his aunt's wedding on the gorgeous, Ocean Isle coast. Back home, the garden started to explode with springtime goodness.  Peas, parsnips, lettuce, carrots, and the biggest spinach leaves ever to come out of our garden!  Lauren and I taught an organic gardening class in my garden, mainly using the Back to Eden method. Be on the lookout for a post on what we shared at the class.

June
We wrapped up a beautiful year back to homeschooling and started planning for the following homeschool year. The days grew longer and I found myself in the garden every spare chance I could get. There was a dance recital, birthdays, a second family wedding that Jeremy officiated, our sixteenth anniversary, and our oldest daughter started rehearsal for the new Bethel Music Kids music video (BMK)!  I also taught a food preservation class, where we covered four methods (canning, fermenting, freezing, drying), and notes from this class are coming right up!

The big watermelon and the 3-year-old's new camera face.

July
Our girls all rehearsed for a summer musical, on top of Bekah's continuing BMK video rehearsals.  Family from Georgia visited for what felt to be way too short, but our time was precious with them. The garden was producing full speed ahead, and the majority of what we ate came from it, including a huge Moon-And-Stars variety watermelon!

Tartine's spelt sourdough! And an intoxicating Bavarian cream cake.

August
The girls' summer performance was amazing, filming began for BMK, and, because of the extreme August heat, the garden all but stunted for six weeks. Autumn planting began.  We took a family vacation to San Fransisco before school started. I made the pilgrimage to Tartine Bakery, voted the best sourdough in the country, and several of their loaves are 100% whole grain.  Oh, it was amazing.

September
School was full speed ahead, all the kids' extra curricular classes came back, filling up the schedule, and the van felt like a second home to us all.  We started pulling pumpkins, yams, and Brussels Sprouts from the garden and I officially caught the Autumn love-bug, even though the highs don't leave the triple digits until November.  I had the privilege of speaking at the Flourish Health Summit in Napa and was so happy my mom could come along!  We shared the best meal of our lives at Bouchon Bistro and I wanted to officially live in Oxbow Market.

Heirloom Boer Pumpkin!

October
Lauren and I taught a year-round gardening class and I can't wait to share all the info with you! The only thing is, our planting timeline will only apply to our area, but I'll try to find a place to search for your area's planting guide.  The milking goats were dried up and then bred.  We are expecting about six kids the beginning of March, and more milk than we'll know what to do with. I'm determined to be a consistent, avid cheesemaker this go-around. We celebrated more birthdays, surprised our animal-loving ten-year-old to a birthday trip to Wildlife Safari where she said it was the best day of her life.

November
My favorite month of the year is here.  The trees are gloriously red, yellow, and orange, the mountain tops are once again covered in blankets of snow, and cold weather has prompted baking to re-commence here in the kitchen, making the home constantly smell like heaven. I turned thirty-six, and am filled with thankfulness for being alive during this time in history.  There are people to love, foods to eat, a roof over our heads, and plenty of work to do, because, I am determined to do everything in my power to make this world better than before I entered it.  I say let's all get thinking, find out what we want to be about, follow our dreams, and work hard at it, starting now and never stopping.  Happy November, friends! It's good to be back.

Organic Gardening: Getting Started, Choosing What to Grow When, & Pest Control

Over the past couple months, I've had the privilege of sharing some things learned in the garden.  There is a three-part series containing this info over at Abundant Harvest Organics.  It just occurred to me that those posts were never shared here on this blog, so here they are:

Part One: Getting Started

First, I share a recipe for getting a green thumb.  Maybe some come by it naturally.  Mine came from the resources I share about in this post.

Part Two:  Choices, Choices

After sharing about how to acquire a green thumb, we talk about the process of choosing the perfect seeds and varieties for your personal garden, as well as when to plant things.

Part Three: Pests, Be Gone!

There is so much to learn about controlling pests organically.  It was hard to narrow down information to fit in one post.  I hit the three main ways I've found the most success in keeping critters out of my garden.

Whether you're done gardening until the spring or are tending a leafy-green autumn garden, it's never a bad time to start thinking about what to plant next and how to do it.  I hope these thoughts on organic gardening can be of help and spark some excitement for the growing season to come.

Garden To Table ~ Tomatoes

Besides sun-scorch on several of our beefsteaks, the tomatoes did really well this year; the Roma's especially.  We planted Caspian Pink Beefsteak and Martino's Roma; both are heirlooms. 

Garden Notes  

• Caspian Pink Beefsteak were ideal for where we live because they are an early variety.  I learned that once the temperature gets higher than 95F, the pollen in tomato flowers burn up and can't render fruit.  It stays above that number basically from mid-June until September so the earlier our tomatoes can flower out, the better.  This also made me very happy that we were able to start the plants as early as possible and get them into the garden the second day after the Last Frost Date.  That was a risky move, I know, but it paid off.  They aren't, in my opinion, the prettiest of heirloom tomatoes, but their flavor.  Wowza.  Unbeatable.  I also love how thin their skin is.  These guys are indeterminate, meaning they'll grow and produce fruit (barring exposure to extreme heat) until they die off from a frost.  They can grow up to eight feet tall!
• Martino's Roma were wonderfully easy to grow and so prolific.  They are determinate, meaning they bare their fruit at one time (over the course of a few weeks) and die.  They only grow a couple feet high so there is no need to steak or trellis them.  Glory!  Their fruit is smaller than the Roma's that you see at the market, but the flavor is wonderful and I have made so many tasty canned goods with them (listed below).

To the Table

I was more than happy to put up many different tomato-based canned goods at the beginning of the season.  We have been waiting for them all year and just about every meal has fresh tomatoes tossed in somewhere these days.  Now at the end of the season, I just traded twenty pounds of Roma's for some of my friend's peaches.  Those little guys wore me out.  But oh, the flavor of garden-fresh tomatoes...

Dishes with Fresh Tomatoes

• Ratatouille (Smitten Kitchen version) has quickly become a new favorite.  Serving it over some polenta and sprinkling feta on top is unbeatable.  We grow each of the ingredients, making this dish extra satisfying.
• Salsa (pictured above).  I wish I had a recipe to share, but I don't.  It changes a little every time I make it (which is currently a daily ritual)  All I can tell you are the ingredients that usually go in are tomatoes (about 4-6, chopped), an onion, cilantro, a few peppers from the garden (poblano, sweet Italian, and jalapeño), a few garlic cloves, a heaping teaspoon (probably closer to a tablespoon, actually) of cumin, Celtic sea salt, and the star ingredient that takes it to the next level: smoked paprika.  If your kitchen is without this little gem, go get some.  Now.  It will change your life.
• Zucchini Noodle Pesto Pasta.  We make several batches of pesto (to freeze and use throughout the year) after the weekly basil harvest and this is usually what we have for lunch on those days.  The picture above with the two fried eggs on top is a much simpler version.  Instead of pesto, I used basil flowers and leaves and for protein, I fried up those eggs (complements of our now-laying hens) instead of lunch meat.  I enjoy this version because everything came from our land (well, except the salt and pepper that was sprinkled on top) and it's quicker to make.
• Caprese Salad.  A fresh tomato must.

What We Canned

This was my first time canning anything with tomatoes.  I decided to make what we use a lot of.  That just makes sense, right?  I also learned that unless I am canning salsa, it is an exercise in futility to use any other tomato than a Romas when canning tomatoes.  Any other kind has to cook down so far that it feels like there's almost nothing left.

• Catsup. 24 pints.  12 with the cayenne, 12 without (because I was worried that it would be too spicy for the children who seem to think catsup is a food group).  Both batches came out really well, but I will cook it down more (and not use anything but straight romas next time) because it was still on the watery side.
• BBQ Sauce. 24 pints.  I like it.  Jeremy really likes it.  That's all I am interested in.  We are the only ones in the family who use this sauce to begin with.
• Salsa (found in The Rhythm of Family). 24 pints.  Nothing beats fresh salsa, but when these golden days of ripe tomatoes are over, these pints will be treasures to pull from the pantry; little tastes of the summer past.
• Tomato Sauce.  36 pints.  I used fresh lemon juice instead of the bottled kind (ew).  This guy and I were best friends in the kitchen during tomato season.  Wow, it sure sped things up (once I realized you mill the tomatoes  after they have been cooked and not before).  We will use this sauce throughout the year for chili, pizza sauce, and spaghetti sauce, mostly (using 2 pints sauce instead of 3 jars paste).
• Tomato Paste.  9 half-pints.  I didn't make much of this because it takes forever and I still have about 12 half-pints that I had bought in bulk a few months back.

I have also froze many tomatoes whole to thaw for later when it's soup season to make this creamy tomato bisque.

So yes.  Tomatoes are largely to blame for this season of Riddlelove silence.  They have kept me just a little bit busy.  I know I will thank me as I pull those jars of summertime out to use throughout the year though.  I think it was worth it.  I quite enjoyed it all, actually.

How do you like to eat and preserve tomatoes?  I'm thinking about dehydrating some of the next batch...

I'm sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday.

On The Nightstand: Books of Interest (and Reference)

I am a bookworm at heart.  A perfect world would involve hours of time to indulge in reading.  For now, I'm feeling pretty good when I get a solid five minutes a day in.  That's the painful truth.  Most reading that happens in my life is in the form of reference books.  Oh, how boring that sounds!  But I have come to love them like old friends.  Content and beautiful pictures make being a repeat reader of them a treat.

Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
This treasure turns any black thumb green.  Most every plant, tree, bush, or berry can be found in this book.  It takes a good two minutes to become a pro on any specific crop.  I love how quickly I can find information and answers to questions.  It leaves you with a feeling of empowerment instead of being overwhelmed.  It's magic, I tell you.

The Organic Cook's Bible
The book mentioned above is the how-to-succeed manual for the garden.  The Organic Cook's Bible offers the same kind of help once the harvest (or CSA box) is brought to the kitchen.  Do you find yourself with an exhausting amount of persimmons and have not a clue as to what to do with them like I did after receiving a huge bunch for the first time?  This book will help you identify what variety it is, how to store them, prepare them, and even preserve them if you have enough.  And not just for persimmons, I promise.  It's a massive book.  It covers countless edibles.  Pure gold.

A Year of Pies
This book...  I bought it as a birthday present for my mother.  I have also had my eye on it for personal use for quite a while.  I just happen to be neighbors with my mom now and, well... it might disappear from her kitchen and miraculously end up in mine.  Oopsies.  Daughter of the year award does not go to me.  But this book.  I swoon.  The pictures are glorious and will make anyone's stomach rumble.  There are sweet and savory pies galore.  And the best part?  The recipes are divided into seasons.  It has officially stollen my heart.  How could it not with recipes like Saltwater Taffy Pie in the summertime, Roasted Butternut Squash, Cheddar, and Sage Galette for autumn, Gluten-Free Pear and Hazelnut Frangipane Tart for winter, and Strawberry Crumble Pie with Lemon Verbena Whipped Cream for springtime.  Good gracious.  I can't go on.  But I will say that each season is packed with unstoppable sweet and savory pies, and each season has gluten-free recipes.  The pictures themselves are worth investing in this book.

Please.  Do yourself a favor.  Check these books out at the library.  Don't be surprised if you end up becoming the proud owner them though.  They are keepers and might prove worthy of a prominent spot on your bookshelf.  If they ever make it to there.  Mine never seem to.

I'm sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday.

Garden to Table: Cabbage

As we tend this new garden of ours in it's very first season of use, our discoveries, learning experiences, and recipes bring about a new series of sorts here on the blog.  I will be using it as a garden journal to look back on through the years.  Since we have already harvested a lot of the first plantings, this post is a step back in time to about a month ago, when we pulled our first heirloom Cour di Bue cabbage from it's bed.  What a site that was!  The roots went deep and as you can see, the plant was quite substantial.  This cabbage has a very different form; it grows in the shape of a football.  It (obviously) needs a lot of growing space; which was hard to believe when we transplanted the tiny seedlings into the garden.

We started everything from seed this year, except the two basil plants my mom bestowed upon me.  It never ceases to amaze me how such a tiny, speck of a seed explodes into a monstrous plant in just a couple months.  My heart is filled with childlike wonder with each and every sprout that turns into a plant that renders us delicious nourishment.  I wish everyone could experience the everyday miracle that sustains our lives.  We plant it, God breathes life to it, and we get to harvest and eat it.  It truly is astounding. 

We ended up planting only six cabbages this year.  Most of them were used in this cole slaw recipe that we could't seem to get enough of.  My changes were: creme fraiche instead of sour cream, whatever kind of onion we had on hand instead of specifically a Spanish onion, coconut sugar instead of regular sugar, apple cider vinegar instead of white, a tablespoon of mustard from a bottle instead of dry (it's what I had on hand), omitted the celery salt (didn't have any), and used Celtic sea salt.  What a brilliant pairing it was with organic pulled pork from locally-raised foraging pigs.  We can't forget about lacto-fermented sauerkraut.  I like adding a bit of dill to the kraut as it ferments these days.

Next year, plans are to grow more cabbage.  We had great success with this variety, and will most likely use it again.  Also?  I am longing for a root cellar.  Actually, it's become more of an obsession.  Fermenting/culturing the harvests is my preservation method of choice because of how nutrient-dense the food becomes, but there is no way the refrigerator can store even a small fraction of what we would put by.  Someday (soon, I hope) our hillside will have a little root cellar door in it!

What kind of cabbage recipes and seeds do you like?

I'm sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday.

Summertime Happenings

I started this post a month ago and then...  Construction on the Christmas Cabin began and the garden exploded, demanding all of my extra attention.  All that, along with embracing a nomadic life as we hop from place to place until our home finishes it's growth spurt has temporarily transformed me into a bit of an unintentional recluse.  An interim gypsy recluse am I; desperate to somehow keep the home fires burning (wherever "home" is at the moment), family togetherness, and the garden alive.  Several posts have been floating around in my head and I have really missed blogging.  At the same time, it felt good to lay it down for a while and allow for some realignment and focus.  It would do my heart good to be a consistent writer once again because most of these scribblings are used as a kind of family and personal journal.  It's the busiest summer we have ever experienced (and our summers are always busy!) but I don't want to forget what has transpired on these long, hot, glorious, strenuous days.

In the meantime, here is where I spend the mornings and evenings.  Here is where I meet with the Lord.  Here is where my ears and heart open and I receive wisdom, direction, and inspiration.  Oh, and I harvest all the produce we can possibly eat, too.

We started breaking ground in February, when it was still cool and damp.  The oaks were bare and our new batch of pullets were snug in the brooder, under the roof of the big, red barn.

The beds were put in, and underneath rested fine mesh to keep the digging, root-eating creatures out.

I learned the hard way to irrigate first, then plant the starts that grew on our kitchen table next.

But those nine trays of starts had outgrown their first little home, so they had to go in, and the drip lines followed.  From there they burst into plants so quickly.  It was like they were holding their breath until more room was given them.

French Breakfast Radishes and Tuscan Kale were the first to fill the harvest basket and it was thrilling.

Baby tomatoes were spotted shortly after and I couldn't stop thinking about eating them.  There is nothing like a garden-fresh tomato.  Nothing.

The radishes were lacto-fermented using this recipe and the kale was chipped with this one.  Each were enjoyed immensely.

The garden looks quite different now, and we are bringing in a good fifteen pounds of food each day.  I look forward to catching up with you very soon but for now, I need to prepare for canning some salsa tomorrow before the tomatoes take over the entire kitchen.  I hope this finds you all very well and enjoying this first of July.

Gardening Resources for Large to Small Plots

Whether you are planning a container garden on a balcony or a one-acre plot in the back forty, preparation is so important.  It honestly can determine how satisfying your harvest is.  I thought I'd share some resources with you that have been extremely helpful over the years.

Books:

• Square Foot Gardening has been very helpful when we only had a tiny space to work with.
• The Backyard Homestead is a great book to get you dreaming and is extremely encouraging to see how much food you can grow in the space that you have.
• Easy Garden Projects to Make, Build, & Grow shares 200 do-it-yourself ideas that have many fun weekend project ideas to give your garden a personal touch.  I learned about the Three Sisters from this book and it's something we do each year now.
• Successful Berry Growing is an old book I stole from my parents that has been a fun read and very helpful.  We plan to grow berries and kiwi along the garden fence starting this year.
• Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening is a must-have reference.

Online Resources:

• Smart Gardener is a free, online garden journal that keeps everything organized for you.  You can design your plot, calculate how much of each veggie you need to grow depending on how many people you are feeding, it will have a to-do list for you, and gives many helpful tips.  I love this site!
• Back to Eden.  Talk about inspiration!  You won't be the same after watching this.
• Zone-by-zone to-do lists from Organic Gardening.  A great reference to stay on track.

Seeds and Tools:

There are so many choices out there.  I'd love to hear where you like to find seeds.  Here are places I  have shopped from and love:

• Seed Swappers.  Save some seed, and swap some, too!
• Annie's Heirloom Seeds is where I bought this year's stash.  I have used them in the past and have been very pleased.
• Pinetree Garden also carries great heirloom seeds.  Go in with some friends to place a large order and save on shipping.
• Johnny's Selected Seeds has a sale on seed blockers right now.  I ordered one and can't wait to try it out this year.

Do you have a favorite gardening resource?  I'd love to hear about it.

I'm sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday.

Garden Fever

Something always happens this time of year, right after January first.  My mind can't stop focusing on seeds and soil.  As I fill the simmer pot and place it on top of the wood stove, dreams of tucking seedlings into the dewey earth with my hands fill most thoughts.  What should we plant this year?  Should we grow purple cauliflower or stick with white?  I need to clean those garden tools.  Time to prune the fruit trees!

This impulse to prepare for the growing season hasn't been satisfied for three years, due to living in a fifth wheel, settling in to a new home, and preparing for our fifth child.  All were definitely important, worth-while reasons to forgo a garden, but it means this year I have garden fever bad.  Real bad.  We have actual plans now, and they cause me to wake up thinking about this year's plot. I struggle to think about anything else.  Hopes that placing a sizable seed order would temporarily satisfy my craving were dashed.  It made it worse.

Not everyone experiences this insatiable urge to grow food, I suppose.  All I know is that it has been a desire very deep within me for as long as I can remember.  Never have I felt so close to the Creator as when I'm on my knees in the dirt, hair pulled back, mouth closed in awed silence of who I get to partner with.  Parables come alive.  Personal strengths and weaknesses are never so clear.  Solutions that have been a struggle to find seem to pop out of the ground.  I feel my Father's pleasure in this communion as my thoughts are on Him and my hands tend His soil.  I merely plant tiny bits of seed and He makes nourishment that delights our eyes and palates and feeds our bodies.  Coming in to wash off the grime and sweat after tending our land on a hot summer day is when I feel the most satisfied and at rest.  It's so much deeper than seed choices, garden techniques, and yields. 

The other day, my husband read a passage from Genesis to me, and everything made sense.  Right after making Adam, God Himself planted a garden.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

 Genesis 2:15 (ESV)

The very place where mankind started was in a garden.  Our very first commandment was to tend it.  And because of His great love for us, of course we would find deep satisfaction in this task.  It all made sense.

As life continues and time tries to race by faster than I'd like it to, one thing I know for sure.  I am a gardener.  Making room for this in my life is crucial.  Some might call it a prayer closet.  When this mama tells her family she is going to garden, it's so much more sacred than getting dirty and pulling weeds, and it's not an apocalyptic, fear-based notion.  It's an intimate communion that my spirit joins with Creator and creation.  Afterwards, I come back a centered, peaceful, happier wife, mother, friend, and daughter.  This year, I must make room for the garden.

I'm sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday.

Discovering the Secret Garden

As you come up our driveway, it's unavoidable to ignore the amount of overgrowth our five acres bare.  Ivy crawls up and around massive oaks, ground-cover that's supposed to flower and sit nicely just above the topsoil mounds up in two-foot piles and overtaking nearby redbuds, gnarled mounds of vines speckle part of the hillside, waiting to be noticed...  Anywhere you look on this land, as gorgeous as it is, you will see something in dire need of attention, especially as spring wakes up everything that grows out of the earth.

We spent some time with a neighbor who has lived here for several decades and knows the stories of most of the original owners in our area, and he gave us a history lesson on our land that I ate up.  Apparently, our little cabin has two previous owners.  The last owners (obviously) cared less about this property.  They did no upkeep on the land (or the house) besides paying someone to weed-whack the hillside once a year.  The first owners, however, absolutely poured themselves into this homestead.  They originally built what is now this cabin as their two-car garage and they were going to build a nice, big house somewhere else on the property.  As they saved up for that house, they made this garage into a home, had three little girls, and ended up falling in love with their little house and decided to make it their permanent dwelling.  And the land?  It was simply immaculate.  The woman was a nurse, but when she was home, you could always find her outside, gardening.  The man worked for the telephone company.  He was thrifty and had vision for cast-offs, so he fenced up the pastures with sections of old telephone poles and turned telephone company boxes into beautiful, circular planters.  The barns were almost completely made with massive, solid-wood planks that the phone company had no more use for.  As the man grew older, our neighbor said he entered his, "second childhood" and he would decorate this little house to the nines at Christmastime.  He'd ask all his neighbors eagerly, "Are you decorating for Christmas this year?"  The man eventually left this world and his wife grew too old to care for her beautiful garden, and she spent the rest of her days in a nursing home.

The tale had such a happy beginning, but what a sad ending.  Why didn't one of the daughters decide to make this place her own?  Why did the following owners let it go so down hill?  Was is because it had already been left to overgrowth for too long before they bought it that they couldn't see the vision?  Now it rests in our hands, and the story will continue.

After hearing about this place's past, and as I looked closer to it's detail, knowing there was serious devotion at one point, I began to see what this place once was, and what needed to be done.  I started imagining all sorts of stories about our new surroundings.

This spot was someone's secret garden.

Can you believe that ivy enveloping the oak?!

It's hard to tell, but there is rosemary growing to the right, and to the left, there is a little path that winds up to a huge patch of some sort of bulb that haven't been separated in too long, and I doubt they will flower this year, but I'm guessing they're irises.

This place (I imagine) was the woman's favorite breakfast spot.

There is a little rock path from the house that leads straight to this landing, and there was a circular table with five chairs, one for each family member, and they would enjoy breakfasts there on a glorious spring day like today.  I can smell the freshly brewed coffee hit the dewey, spring air and hear echos of laughter  woven through quiet, morning-time conversations.

This barn (why it isn't painted red, I don't know) sheltered three horses, one for each daughter, I suppose.

And these randomly planted lavender bushes weren't actually random at all.

They used to form a perfect half circle around a cluster of roses.  Only one rose bush is still living.

I noticed right where I dreamed of planting a small vineyard, there were several mounds of vines...

... That happened to be grapes!  I felt even more of a connection with that first couple who probably planted these forty years ago.  I spent all of Saturday afternoon trying to untangle and prune the vines that already started bulging.  I'm praying they survived such a late-season hacking, because now they look like this:

That pile to the right isn't a vine... it's the aftermath.

So, here we go.  The beginning of uncovering the secret garden.  This place will once again be cared for, and it will all come back to life.  I look forward to taking you on little garden tours as we continue to discover, prune, plant, and grow.

I'm sharing this at Barn Hop, Gratituesday, Simple Lives Thursday & Farm Girl Friday.

You Say "Pumpkin," I Say "Kabocha"

I'd like to introduce you to my new autumn infatuation.  It was found in this week's Abundant Harvest box.  It's name is kabocha, or Japanese Pumpkin.  And it is gorgeous.  There were two tasty-looking recipes for kabocha in the ever-entertaining weekly newsletter from Uncle Vern, but I decided to make the season's first pumpkin pie with mine.  Normally, I don't really enjoy the smell of raw pumpkin, but when I opened this kind up (with my parents' fabulous Wusthof),  the most pleasant, cool, cucumber-ish smell filled my nostrils.  If there were a kabocha beeswax candle, it'd be my favorite.

Vern said you can roast the seeds just like normal pumpkin seeds, so I did, in a 350 degree oven with 1 Tablespoon coconut oil and 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt for 20 minutes.  If I were home, I'd probably soak the seeds in a brine overnight and dehydrate them to preserve the enzymes.

Kabocha seeds are thicker and meatier than regular pumpkin seeds.  My son adored them and proceeded to finish them off within minutes.

After baking the kabocha for about 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven, I pureed it in the food processor.  It's a lot thicker than normal pumpkin and there is no need to strain any water out.  One less step.  Hooray!

I used my favorite pumpkin pie recipe out of Nourishing Traditions.  My daughter pinched the crust for me (and I can't do a better job).

Don't forget freshly-whipped cream.  Glory.

Kabocha tastes like a mixture of pumpkin and yam or sweet potato, and you can pretty much use it in any sweet potato or pumpkin recipe.  There will definitely be kabocha growing in the garden next year.  I am in love.

DISCLAIMER:  My friend is already our area coordinator for what I'm about to share with you, so I don't make a penny from plugging this amazing family farm company.  Just sharing the love, folks.  Do you adore affordable, locally-grown organic produce that was picked the day before or the day you receive it?  Do you live in California?  Me too!  Sweet!  So you're getting the amazing Abundant Harvest Organic boxes as well!  No?  Why?!  They don't have a delivery spot in your area?  Oh, and you'd like to easily earn some money while helping others receive affordable organics?  Well then, become an area coordinator, already!  It is quite a stay-at-home-mom-friendly job, in case you were wondering.  You think the boxes are too big for your family to go through in one week?  Split the boxes with another family or two.  It's worth it, I tell you. 

~Browse more riddlelove recipes here.~

Back on Track & the Three Sisters

You know what?  I will tell you.  Happiness, thankfulness, joy, excitement, contentedness fills my being.  Why?  Because I am feeling back on track.  No.  Better than back on track.  On a new track.  A good track.  The track I'm supposed to be on.  It has been filled with many happy surprises.  Here come the bullet points that I love so!

• We have internet in our trailer home.  Which means I am writing you from our cozy mountain dwelling that we have decided is our modern-day Little House on the Prairie log cabin.
• My handy hubs has built about 593 shelves (give or take) inside our "cabin" making for delightful organization and a place for everything.
• Our water comes from a well.  Chlorine what?  Bring on the hot showers!
• The way to and from town is so utterly breathtaking, I find myself looking for excuses to make the drive.
• My kids have friends (whom I love) that they get to catch bugs, jump on the trampoline, race go-carts, and make shows with every day.
• We are surrounded by people who daily blow my mind with their wonderfulness.
• I get to hang a clothesline.
• I have just been offered a plot to garden in.  Heavenly angels sing!!!

Just as I was about to give away my stash of this year's seeds, I received the garden news.  All I have to say is, it's going to be hard for me to sleep tonight, due to the utter excitement of plunging my hands back into some soil.  Oh, the anticipation of little sproutlets turning into plants yielding fresh nourishment!  There is no exaggeration here, I really will have a hard time sleeping tonight.  Sweet happiness!

I pulled out my treasure box tonight and started dreaming again.  Isn't it wonderous? Oh, the many treats this basket holds within it's braided walls!

I am so incredibly giddy about my first garden project, it must be shared.  First, there will be a circular plot of soil dug up and fertilized.  Next, I will start in the middle and plant about sixteen corn seeds in a cute little circle. (The variety of corn 6-year-old chose for this year would be called "Sugar Buns."  Yeppers.)  Then, around the outside of the corn will come a larger circle of Pencil Pod, Rattlesnake, and Black Valentine pole beans.  Lastly, there will be an outer ring of lovely Early Butternut squash.  There you have it.  The Three Sisters; a bit Native American wisdom.  

I heart companion planting.  The corn supports the beans, the beans give nitrogen to the soil which nourishes the corn, and the squash provides a pest-resistant ground cover that holds in moisture and smothers weeds.  Beautiful.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if my dreams included the Three Sisters tonight.  

Goodnight, kind world.  Tomorrow, I join the beloved league of home gardeners again.  Oh happy, happy day!

~Read the archives of this journey here.~

How to Grow Potatoes. And a Confession.

Another gardening post had to be written.  It's on my mind.  Gardening is my special reward for getting the other tasks of the day completed.  It's hard not to be out there all day, soaking up the sunshine, breathing the fragrant, blossom-scented spring air, feeling earth in my hands, spotting new sprouts, weeding, caring for little seedlings with anticipation of a tasty, satisfying harvest...  

We are nearing the end of potato-planting season for those of us in zone 9.  I got mine in the ground a couple weeks ago and they just started sprouting up all over the place. 

If you have never experienced a home-grown potato, well... you just must.  There is quite a superior taste that comes with a spud that you dug up with your own bare hands.  I think it has more to do than being bias, though.  If you like potatoes, ya gotta grow your own at least once.

How does one plant potatoes?  Well, there are many ways.  Google your heart to find out all the different methods.  I've read a several articles/books, and what every source said was to only  plant certified seed potatoes that you buy at a garden store.  I wondered what they did in the good ol' days and remembered reading the Ingalls ate their seed potatoes when they realized they were living in Indian territory and had to move right away.  So they used seed potatoes too.  This made me question my shady action even more.  I must confess to you.  I have been a naughty potato planter.  This makes 2 years in a row now.  I planted potatoes that were not certified seed potatoes.  They were organic, though (conventional spuds have been sprayed with an anti-sprouting chemical, amongst other treacheries).  They started sprouting and it just made sense to plant them.  Kind of.  In a rule-breaking sort of way.

So, I chopped them up (at least 2 eyes to a chunk), let them set out for a day to scab over,

dug 6-inch deep trenches, a foot and a half apart from each other, and placed the tubers, cut-side-down, about 8 inches away from each other.

I did this no-no last year, and was quite pleased with the results from our little rebel bed.

Some quick tater care tips:

*  Cover plants up with more compost/hay/wood chips weekly.  If the tubers (potatoes) are exposed to the sun, they turn green and become carcinogenic.

*  Take good care watering them when the plants begin to bloom.

*  Harvest about a week after the plant has turned brown and looks dead.  If you want to harvest new potatoes, gently dig around with your fingers for smaller tubers once the flowers have bloomed above.

*  Once you've dug up all your potatoes, let them sit exposed to the sunlight, on the dirt (on in the garage if it might rain; they need to stay dry) for a couple days to toughen up their skin so they can be stored longer. (You can also clean them up and eat them right away.  Leaving them out is just to toughen them up for storage.)
*  Make sure to move your potato plot every year.  Potatoes shouldn't be grown in the same place for at least 3 years to prevent disease.

Well then, I'll keep y'all posted on my second season of potato naughtiness.  Hopefully, I won't learn my lesson...

And for those of you who have never seen what potato plants look like (I didn't until 3 years ago) but always wondered: