Agrarianista

Looking inward... to the workshop, and to personal space.

2012-02-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

© 2012 Joshua Stark

After seeing Mr. Fashion House's amazing hobby-shop, I knew I had to organize my space. I'm now going to town on my workshop, having purchased not one, but TWO pegboards. I just tore out some old shelving put up by some previous owner, and installed one of the pegboards, and I must say, it is looking much better. So much better that I am beginning to believe in starting some projects again.

Of course, I was going to head out today to pick nettles and see if my old single-shot twenty gauge still worked, but today was the day Winter decided to come out here in California, so the rain sent me inside. I'm not complaining about the rain - in fact, by putting me in the shed, it gave me a twinge of hope for a space that is mine, a rare commodity in a 900 sq. ft. house with two little children.

I'm not the type to bang my chest and say, "my ManCave, my Space! You Go!" to my little, doe-eyed, amazing kids. First of all, I've noticed that the ridiculous trend of putting "man" in front of words kinda makes things sound gay (not that there's anything wrong with that). But, even if I did try to get all macho and keep them out, one (five year old) would just laugh at me and the other (16 months) would push me out of the way; he could do it, too.

Really, I wasn't raised to make a fuss for a grown-up space; I was raised that children are people just as adults are people, and so I give "my space" up for the time being.

How I get some space is through cunning mind-games: First, just like drinking iced tea without sugar, or eating liver, I get space by making it boring or distasteful. Second, I make it so that I can watch them in another space, and then make that space much more fun, while I do some of my own things.

Do these tricks always work? No. For example, my children absolutely love liver. They would eat it every day if they could. But, do these tricks almost never work, but sound good? Absolutely. You see, kids like to do whatever grown-ups are doing, whether it be sitting on our butts watching some horribly inappropriate murder mystery, or building a bow. As I've heard it put, "they'd want chocolate covered poop if you had it", and really, you don't even need the chocolate. So for those of you with kids, no more crack! And for those of you without kids, you had darn-well better absolutely flipping love children if you are going to have them, because they will be doing their darndest to give you a colonoscopy for years.

Right now, my wonderful kids are being watched by my absolutely amazing parents, and so I have time to do things that would be dangerous for them. Okay, at this moment I'm typing, but in a few minutes I'll be vacuuming up rat feces (sadly, child labor laws prevent the latter from being delegated, but it is all for the Greater Good). Soon, I will have a space to make better and faster bows and arrows with which my children may more effectively terrorize the neighborhood.

So, back to my shed before I get to run down and grab up my children. And for the record, I absolutely flipping, head-over-heels love them.

-----

Note: To check my spelling, I occasionally type in the Google box the first part of a word; in this case, I typed "colon" because Blogspot here tells me that "colonoscopy" is misspelled (of course, it also says that "Blogspot" is misspelled). Anyhoo, I thought I'd share the top ten choices that Google offers a person who types in "colon". They are: colonoscopy, colon cancer, colon cleanse, colon, colonial life, colonial willamsburg, colonic, colonialism, colonial penn, colonel sanders.

That last one just threw me for a loop.

Back at it... hopefully

2012-01-19T12:35:00.000-08:00

© 2012 Joshua Stark

After taking a couple months off from blogging, I'm giving it another go.

Quick update: No animals now, just garden and foraging and hunting. In the garden, my daughter and I have planted some greens, but they aren't looking good (we had quite a cold snap for California, but only 3 hours of rain in the past 50 days). We will probably re-plant in February: beets, broccoli, rutabagas, collard greens. We'll also plant some potatoes in our successful bamboo windowblind potato patch.

Also, I hope to take on some larger tasks: Building a smoker, maybe even an outdoor bread oven, and some general yard improvements. I also hope to keep this site regular, including updating the "in-season" section. And look for a how-to on nettle cooking, too! We still need the video to accompany our picking vid.

The Ducks are leaving us - what will we get next?

2011-10-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

We've decided to give the ducks to Phillip Farms in Lodi. They stopped laying about six months ago, and after a conversation with the decisionmaker in these matters (hint: she is four years old), we will send them off, take a little time to be with Irma (our old dog), and then think about a new pet (probably a cat or a dog; I refuse to take in something that won't also benefit the house, and if we won't eat the rabbits, then we won't raise the rabbits... and, who are we kidding? We won't eat the rabbits).

Considering the squirrel and rat problem created by the gigantic walnut tree, I've thought about a four-pet commando team: A ferret (under-house), a cat (yard, water-heater room, shed), an owl (nighttime tree-rats), and a martin (daytime squirrels). Whaddaya think?

More seriously, if we do look for a dog, it'll have to be happy-go-lucky, and medium build (no smaller than ~20lbs., no bigger than ~40lbs.) Also, I won't buy a dog. And, it needs to hunt. And love kids.

So, if you know of any kind of rescue group for some hunting dog breeds, or if you know of a good pound, let us know.

And yes, the ducks are actually going someplace to really live on a farm. This may be the first time that's ever happened.

What a mountain!

2011-10-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

I've been up in the Sierra Nevada range during any free time I get lately, and I've found something new each time. A quick update, I've made a mountain berry pie (thanks for the name, Mom!), and found chinquapins (a nut, not a Spanish curse word), snowberries, huckleberries, and chokecherries. I've also found still-ripe gooseberries alongside the first snow and a flowering columbine! California microclimates are amazing.

Time...

2011-09-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Today, my youngest turns one year old. His was a difficult birth, and I find myself reflecting on that day, watching my wife get wheeled into the operating room after enduring hours upon hours of 'transition' labor.

But, my boy is insistent, and keeps pulling me back into the here-and-now with his antics and a yell. He is a force of nature, to be sure. He is smart, and learning every day.

Although, the ease with which he would put a live cobra in his mouth, if he could reach one, makes me marvel at the fact that our species has survived at all. The boy is making it on looks, alone -- left to his own devices, he'd have eaten an electrical wire or a poisonous spider by now.

So I'm home today, baking a cake from scratch, wrapping a present, driving the family to the river parkway, and not out on opening day of deer season. There's no doubt about where I want to be (here).

I do hope he likes to deer hunt one day, however.

Happy birthday, Ruben!!!

Living Wild and you - building a native plant community

2011-09-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Alicia Funk over at Living Wild has posted a couple of articles on upcoming Fall field edibles. I was asked, and provided an article on my favorite, wild roses - although it was very hard to choose just one.

If you are interested in native plants, and would like to get in touch with others like you, Ms. Funk's website is a great start.

My wife, the Poet

2011-09-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

My wife is actually quite the renaissance woman, and that includes waxing poetic. Really.

For a taste of what she hath wrought in the smithy of her mind, check out her poem, "Fertile Valley", over at Living Wild.

You rock, honey.

Microclimates

2011-08-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

You may have noticed that I've put up a list of what's in season right now for foraging, hunting and fishing. Homesteaders should most definitely understand their local conditions and learn to recognize the bounty of their region's wild plants, fish and game. This list is a general description, information I'm gathering from friends and the news. Your neighborhood, I can almost guarantee, is going to be slightly different from the list.

One reason for this difference is microclimates: ecological niches that so dramatically shift light patterns, temperatures, humidity, etc., that they effectively create climatic conditions different from the surrounding area. In California, microclimates can be extreme (due to the wildly varying topography, ocean influences, and other factors), but for practical purposes, a microclimate can be as small as the length of a wall.

More intensive gardening, especially in small spaces, can be greatly enhanced by understanding light and shadow patterns and windbreaks on your property, and matching plants and watering regimens to these patterns, rather than relying on the general assumptions of seed company descriptions. And this eye toward recognizing the influences of geography, direction, wind, and moisture can also help your local foraging efforts.

Recognizing niches that vary growing conditions in your neighborhood may lead to pleasant surprises, usually by extending "shoulder" seasons - the weeks on either end of a particular plant's harvest time. Greens, berries, and root veggies are all especially affected by microclimates because they tend to be low-growing and hardy plants, able to survive in wildly varying conditions (the same characteristics that also make them pests, at times).

If it is at all helpful to you, come back from time to time and see what is in season, or will be, soon. Definitely use the list while keeping an eye out in your own neck of the woods, especially during the shoulder seasons. You may find a treat.

Lands on the Margin is back! kinda...

2011-08-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Last year, I stopped posting to my third blog, "Lands on the Margin", because I couldn't juggle all of the ideas I'd had, and something had to give. However, I didn't give up on the concept, and I kept the links to the blog live, just in case. I believed the theory was sound.

Earlier this year, I decided to revive the Lands on the Margin concept a bit, as a component of Agrarianista. In California, the added bonus from the wild seems a natural extension of agrarianism, even of the urban variety, because we are blessed with such a rich diversity of plant life.

So, I've begun a project that combines the earlier blog with a couple of new pages here at Agrarianista around LOTM (that's "Lands On The Margin"): A page explaining marginal lands (with links to the older blog, gear recommendations, and useful plants), and a small (soon to be growing) list of Useful Plants of California's Edgelands, with suggestions on identifying and gathering, and a couple of recipes or tips on how to use them.

The old LOTM blog will be used to post the newest entries to these or other related pages I create, so if you are interested in some information about California's bounteous edgelands, please follow the LOTM blog, too!

As always, I'm interested in getting feedback on these pages, so shoot away here (or at the relevant page, itself).

Turkey and dumplings

2011-08-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

As a nice guy and unlucky hunter, but with friends who are skilled nimrods, I oftentimes reap the bounty of others' largesse. Last month, for example, I was the lucky and thankful recipient of Hank & Holly's freezer emptyin', both by attending a freezer-emptying dinner of theirs, and also by just showing up when they asked, "hey, Josh, you want some ducks and stuff?"

So a few weeks back, I cooked up wild turkey legs (and now you know how I got them, because I sure as heck didn't get 'em from shooting an actual wild turkey). I really liked how this turned out, and I want to keep the recipe for future reference (in case I ever find a wild turkey stupid enough to walk in front of me). Feel free to use it, too - but remember, I'm no chef nor cook.

Note: This is a variation from an old "Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook", and though I use some of their measurements here, I don't always do so when actually cooking, especially with the spices. Consider all spice amounts as a suggestion, and throw in or out whatever you see fit.

Turkey & Dumplings

2 wild turkey legs
3 C. water
2 Tsp. "Better than Bouillon" (or equivalent stock or bouillon)
1/4 C. walnut ketchup (or, 2-4 Tb. worchestershire sauce)
1/2 cup onions
2-4 cloves garlic
1 Tb. cooking oil
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1/2 - 1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2 small zucchinis
2 small potatoes (optional)

First, fill a 4-qt. or so Dutch oven with the water, bouillon, salt, and marjoram, and heat to boil
While the water heats up, brown the turkey legs in a pan with the oil, allspice, paprika and black pepper. When the water is boiling and the legs browned on all sides, put them in the water. Cover the pot and cook for 25-30 minutes.

Chop your onions, zucchini and potato, and put them in the pot with the celery seed, walnut ketchup,
and garlic. Remove your turkey legs, bone them and remove any tendons, and chop the meat coarsely. Return to the pot and cover, cook for 10 more minutes.

To prepare the dumplings, mix together 1 C. flour, 1 tsp. baking powder and 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir in a little less than 1/4 C. canola oil, mixing together until it all resembles pea-sized crumbs. Add 1/2 C. yogurt or buttermilk, and stir til combined.

After 10 minutes of cooking, organize your meat and veggies to make some hills above the soup, and drop your dumplings onto these hills. Make six or so. Cover, and cook for 12-15 minutes.

This is a great, hearty meal, and like I said, make sure to spice as you see fit. Enjoy!

California's big country - and getting to know one little slice of it

2011-08-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Most people think of California as either Sun, sand, and surf, or as a seething hole filled with people, or as a cosmopolitan bastion of communism. But there is much more to this, the third largest State in the Nation.

California has more climate regions than any other state, and within each region lie dozens, if not hundreds, of microclimates. California has more plant species than all other states put together. It has the oldest natural park in the Nation (Yosemite was created in 1864). It has the tallest peak in the lower 48, the tallest trees on Earth, the oldest living thing on Earth, the largest thing on Earth, the largest animal on Earth (which it shares with other Pacific states), even the largest elk in the country (which it shares with Oregon). It's agriculture is simply unsurpassed. And half of the State is owned by the federal government, which means that huge tracts are accessible for free by all us Americans.

Within California lies the Sierra Nevada Range. Within the Sierra Nevada run a number of big rivers, each an accumulation of huge watersheds. One of these watersheds, the American River system, is very dear to me, and one mountain-side in this watershed, in particular, holds a very special place in my heart. At the base of this mountain, in the river, I proposed to my wife of 8 years. Each year, I get to know this mountain, a very large, craggy-in-places, ecologically diverse sliver of California. It has huge elevation changes which make for amazing habitat diversity, beginning with mixed conifer (but mostly oak) at its base and toying with sub-alpine habitat at its plateau. Its wildlife is equally diverse.

Every time I visit this place, I find something new. Yesterday, I walked the mountainside with bow in hand for the opening day of our archery season. The place was crawling with hunters, "crawling" in the sense that they were slowly picking along the mountainside in four-wheel-drives and ATV's. I found a gully without a truck parked on it, and slowly started walking up-slope. The Sun was creeping up (I'd gotten up late, but wasn't worried - this was more of a scouting trip) over the ridgetops, and below, a couple thousand feet down, flowed the American River through its canyon.

Archery hunters are, by their nature, quieter than gun hunters, and so there was very little human sound in the land. I poked my way up the gully, noting little sign, but fresh in the grass. Nothing jumped out of the thicket, however, and I moved over the ridge to the South slope. It was going to be a hot day (90 F), and I knew they'd be moving to the North side and hunkering down early. At the ridgeline, I looked down at a beautiful reservoir. On the North side, I found new habitat, a great spring running off the mountain (a spring! In late August!), and more good sign, but no deer.

No deer, but my new finds this time were a new meadow filled with yampa, a couple of red currant bushes, another great spot for gooseberries (finally ripening - in late August!), and four coveys of quail with babies. (Babies! In late August!)

It has been a wonderful, watery, verdant year for the mountain. I can't wait to get back up there and find something new.

Working on kicking this site up a notch

2011-08-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

I'm hoping to add some good content to Agrarianista over the next week or so. Topics include a short guide to edible and useful foraging plants (of California's marginal lands), a slightly more comprehensive corner on current and upcoming seasons, and possibly advertisements.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

And yes, I fully plan to have more pictures, and videos should make a comeback here soon, too.

Seasons and insanity as a forager

2011-08-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Foraging, hunting and fishing are markedly different from gardening, no more so than during harvest. Gardeners (especially the ones outside California) get antsy during late Winter. They pore over arcane tomes of knowledge - planting tips, seed catalogs - in the futile hope that the pages of texts and online fora will fill that hole in their hearts. But, that hole can only be filled by dirt, and besides, that hole is one of anticipation. It's a tough one, to be sure, but there is the knowledge in gardening that with patience, perseverance, and worms, you will garden. Unless you live in the Central Valley of California, in which case you are gardening all year, and don't have to suffer.

But In the wild pursuits, ya got to pick 'em when their ready, which is why my wife hates me during seasons that are particularly relevant to me.

Scene: driving down a country road, listening to "Marketplace", heading towards Mamaw's and Papaw's house:

Me, in a quiet, yet forceful voice: Let's see if we can get a government run by people with even LESS understanding of economics next ti... ooh, look at all the fennel pollen! Craap!

My loving wife (LW), lowering her head slightly and half-closing her eyes: ...

Me: There it goes. You know, it sells at the Co-op for, like, thirty bucks a pound. And here we are, driving right by it.

LW, taking a long, slow breath, slightly pursing her lips: ...

Me: It'll be gone in no time. Man! I bet those gooseberries up the hill are ripe now, too - and we know the elderberries and blackberries are just about to rot on the vine. We never have enough time.

LW, a knowing smile playing across her lips: ...

Phoebe, four-year-old daughter in the back seat: I want to move closer to Mamaw and Papaw.

Me: Me, too, honey... ah! I bet the stripers are hitting at Watt Avenue right now, and next week is deer season! It'll all be gone for another year, and we won't even get a chance. Man, we never have enough time.

Ruben, 10-month-old in the back seat, in a quiet, thoughtful tone: Gah.

I get a tad wild, myself, when things are in season in the wild. The word in Spanish is "desesperado" (not to be confused with that wonderful hit by the Eagles), and it drives my wife bonkers. Finally, she will say, "just go! Get out!", and send me packing to pick. Or hunt, or fish.

But my madness isn't completely irrational. In the wild pursuits, you have to be out at the right time, or it truly is gone until next year. There is no anticipation, no nurturing in the same sense as gardening, and there is nothing in the wild approaching the fence that surrounds your plants from everybody else's. Oh, sure, you think about the wonderful things you will make with particular plants or fish or game, but you don't nurture the plant, you don't water it or drive away bugs or anything like that. It isn't your plant... although you certainly do feel a sense of proprietorship when you come back to a ripe fig tree and find that it's been stripped clean by somebody else. It is ripe in its own time, on its own effort, and you just have to make sure and show up, or it goes to somebody else.

The wild pursuits are ephemeral, and so aesthetically and philosophically, they provide much nourishment. But, when it comes to eating, an ephemeral nature can drive a person kinda coo-coo.

Garden update: Potato leaves!

2011-07-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

A quick update on the garden: The potato patch built out of bamboo window blinds seems to be working, as the potatoes have started to leaf out. Additionally, we have other plants I planted on the top layer that are taking off, too.

One bowl oatmeal biscuits

2011-07-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

And by one bowl, I mean you don't take the dough out of the bowl until you put 'em on the cookie tray.

It's unrelated to my typical stuff (I didn't grow the oats or flour, milk the cow or mine the baking powder), but it worked out so well that I thought I'd write it down here.

First, the ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups flour (I use a half-&-half blend of whole wheat and unbleached)
1/2 Cup oatmeal
1/3 Cup vegetable oil (or butter)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 or so Cup yogurt

Next, directions:

Heat your oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit.
Cook your oatmeal according to their directions and let it cool (I use leftover oatmeal)
Add the oatmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and oil, and mix it together.
Add the 1/2 Cup of yogurt and mix it together. The mixture should be wet dough - it comes together as a ball, but it's a bit slimy.
Cut 12 pieces out of the dough, one at a time, and put them on a baking sheet.

Cook them for 12-15 minutes.

No rolling, no kneading. The oatmeal imparts some liquid and also makes it easier to shape on the cookie sheet, so they don't look like flour drop biscuits. The oatmeal also makes the biscuits moist.

It's a good, simple recipe. I hope you like it.

Marginal lands this week!

2011-07-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

It is the time of year in Northern California when those of us who know it start hitting the marginal lands, those places on the edges of civilization, looking for good things to eat and a great time while we're at it.

You see, it is Summertime when these lands really provide. We've got fennel blooming, ripe berries and fruits, great fishing, and rabbit season just started. This week, I'll be hitting some of my favorite spots, looking in particular for blackberries, gooseberries, figs, and bunnies. I'll also be trying two new things: Trapping crawdads (which, though not really new to me, still something I haven't done in ages), and possibly bowfishing from a canoe for carp. Hopefully, I'll cajole somebody with a camera to come out, especially for the bowfishing.

Update: Around the garden and yard (tip!), pickling, and looking for ideas

2011-07-22T05:51:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Well, it looks as if my latest attempt to keep the ducks out of the raised bed (give 'em one bed, and fence the other with five-foot bamboo trellis) is proving successful, but I wonder if it's only because they are getting older and care less about thwarting me. Whatever the reason, I'm getting a late batch of corn, beans and possibly okra - I'm especially excited about the beans. I wish I had pictures for you all, but our camera was stolen from our car a couple of weeks back (along with my fly rod)...

The potato patch (described here) isn't working as I'd hoped - I only see one potato trying to grow, and it doesn't look like it can work its leaves through the bamboo sun-shade I'm using. However, I'm still hopeful, and the plants I put in on top are still coming up, too. They aren't looking too healthy, but this is a learning process, and next time I plan to layer some good soil from the worm bin in-between layers of straw.

My lawn experiment is also coming along nicely. When I built our little duck pond last year, I inadvertently killed the majority of our lawn. You see, I used the dirt from the pond to in-fill the lower sections of the yard, but I didn't really believe that the dirt below the topsoil was sterile. Boy, was I wrong on that one.

Gratefully, the ducks have been fertilizing that dirt for the past year. However, our very hard rains this year turned much of it into durn-near cement (if you put the emphasis on the first "e" in cement, you will pronounce that properly), and I, having no intention of renting a roto-tiller just to find out where my sprinkler lines are, started looking for a short-cut. This time, to my surprise, I found one:

First, I mowed down the straw used by the ducks. Then, I soaked the yard really good. Next, I spread grass seed (by hand, of course - if I'm not renting a rototiller, I'm sure as heck not buying a seeder!), then covered them in a layer of mulched straw, and watered that down. Every day for the first few days I sprayed the patch, and now, two weeks later, my test patch looks nice and green! A couple of days back, when I saw that the grass had established, I raked up the larger straw, and I'll be danged if it doesn't look like we have grass on our lawn.

Of course, the ducks couldn't leave it alone, and there are a couple of holes (especially right where the sprinkler pops up), but those can be fixed with extra seed or a patch of sod. Overall, I'm tickled pink at how well this worked.

I also finally got around to dealing with my ketchup walnuts. Instead of the nine days soaking in vinegar, I actually soaked them for over two weeks, and I must say that the vinegar became even darker than I'd remembered. I wasn't too worried, though, since vinegar just gets better with age, and nothing was going to start growing in that acidic and tannic concoction.

Yesterday, I drained out the vinegar into a stock pot, put in some ingredients (drat! I forgot the horseradish), and about 30 minutes later, I canned four pints of green walnut ketchup.

I then crushed the walnut chunks (I had a lot), added four apples and a cup of raisins, then some surgar and spices, and made up four pints of chutney, with a little left over for last night's dinner.

Both recipes can be found at my "Green Walnuts & You" page. I added allspice and cinnamon to the chutney, and it is something special. If you've ever had store-bought chutney, homemade blows it away - so long as you use good vinegar. It is smoother, much less sharp, yet still vinegary in a good way. I could have added some more heat in the form of more cayenne, but then my wife wouldn't have liked it nearly as much. For dinner last night, the chutney and some yogurt made wonderful fillips for a split pea soup.

Pickling Walnuts: issue

2011-07-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

First, I must say that the pickling liquid I made up (thanks, Cottage Smallholder!) smelled absolutely amazing.

However, I've noticed that, since pouring it in the jars, the amount of liquid seems to have gone down, leaving a couple of walnuts exposed. I'm turning the jars every couple of days and refrigerating them, but I was wondering if anybody else had experienced that problem. I'm guessing the walnuts absorbed a bunch of liquid, which makes sense, but how does one get around this?

I'd love to hear from anybody with expertise on pickling walnuts...

Garden update and pickling green walnuts

2011-07-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Well, it seems as if the latest incarnation of duckproofing - edging the raised beds with five-foot bamboo trellises - is working. Green beans and corn have been allowed to grow to about 10 inches, and I think I'm seeing some okra popping up, too.

I didn't plant the bed in a formal sense, though, so there isn't much in there. Basically, I threw in some seeds in a very rough pattern, and then covered them in ducked-up straw that I'd mowed over.

In the potato patch (a bamboo window blind formed into a cylinder and half-filled with straw), I don't see any potato leaves, but the plants I put in on top (radishes, nasturtium, and I can't remember what-else) are popping up like crazy.

From the successes I'm seeing, I envision a radically altered garden next year: A keyhole raised bed (with a stone base and four-foot walls), with three or four of these bamboo blind cylinders around.

As for my pickling walnuts, they have blackened nicely sitting outside in the grill, and today I'm canning them. Today, I'm also crushing the walnuts that have been steeping in the vinegar for the green walnut ketchup and chutney I'll be making next week. If you are interested in this or other green walnut recipes, definitely take a look at my Green Walnuts & You webpage.

New Page: Green Walnuts & You

2011-07-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Just beneath the title, you may notice a couple of links to stand-alone webpages. My newest one, on green walnuts and what you can do with them, is now up; let me know what you think.

And, thanks to Fragmentary Green for lighting a fire under me to get it done.

Anybody making stuff with green walnuts?

2011-07-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

I'm working on a green walnut page, to include basic preparation, recipes, hints and tips. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Tonight, I tried a green walnut ketchup & nocino barbecue sauce for some grilled spareribs (I dare not call them barbecue'd). I improvised, with about 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup vodka nocino, 1/4 cup molasses, liberal amounts of thyme & powdered garlic, some salt, a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, some paprika, and a chopped onion and garlic clove.

I didn't cook it down enough, and so it was more of a pour-over-the-meat sauce, but wow it was good. It was like dry-rub good, but with barbecue sauce caramel-y goodness. Cooked down to barbecue sauce consistency, it would have been amazing.

I will definitely do this right, and very soon.

P.S.: Even fewer pictures right now, because somebody absconded with our camera (and my fly rod). I'm sad about the camera... & devastated about the fly rod.

On with the fight! Duckproofing the garden

2011-06-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

In my attempts at urban homesteading, I'd come upon a small problem: My laying ducks eat everything we humans might, especially those things that come from plants. I've since also discovered that domestic ducks can jump high, that they can fly, and that they don't mind throwing their weight around to get what they want.

Basically, I'd reached the conclusion that, if I wanted both free-ranging ducks and a garden, I was going to have to build something like the key-hole raised beds I'd seen - at considerable cost. If you know me, you understand that the end of that last sentence rendered the concept out-of-bounds (although I am toying with a design that would include a first level of wall stones, then the next three or four levels of doubled-up cedar fenceboards...)

But earlier this year, I was inspired by two new ideas, and yesterday I put them to work.

The first idea was that one didn't necessarily need dirt to garden. A.G. commented on a post about rained-on straw bales, and mentioned bale gardens, a very interesting idea.

Next, at Little Master House's 1st birthday party, we noticed some interesting "raised" beds in the front yard of the Littlest Master's aunt and uncle's place. At first, we took little notice - both the front and back yards were beautiful, and there was so much from which to take inspiration. But as we were leaving, I noticed what appeared to be bamboo beach mats standing on their sides, shaped into cylinders, and filled with straw. From between the bamboo slats, I saw plants growing... wait, those are potatos!

Genius.

What I liked about the idea (in theory) is that my ducks could pick some leaves, and the rest could grow above their grasp. Then, when the potatoes were done, I could just remove the mat, "dig" the potatoes from the straw, and leave the pile for the happy ducks.

Well, a couple of weeks back, I walked into Big Lots and found bamboo mini-blinds for 50% off. Yesterday, I pulled off the hardware and used zip ties and river reed poles to form a cylinder, filled it with some ducked-up straw, and added potatoes.

My twist? On top, I put some worm compost, then planted some potato companion plants: Nasturtium, swiss chard, radishes, and a couple of bush beans. As part of the experiment, I put some of the seeds straight into the straw, and others into a little bit of compost.

Now I sit back and wait to see how the ducks will ruin this one.

Friends and walnuts

2011-06-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to come upon a walnut tree with a good number of easy-to-reach, ready-to-pick green walnuts - that is: green, about the size they will reach when mature, and with no hard shell within the hull.

I picked about 100, and gave half to Hank Shaw. He suggested we both pickle some with different recipes and compare notes. Right now, my batch of knife-pricked walnuts is brining in a 1:5 (or so) salt-to-water recipe, which I'll shake every day (or so) for about 9 days. After this time, I will pickle, so stay tuned. Also, if you have any suggestions for a good pickled walnut recipe, let me know; though I've made ketchup and chutney, I've yet to just pickle 'em.

And speaking of foraging, I've got a new member of my blogroll. Author, forager, and fellow lover of the Sierra Nevada, Alicia Funk has an online presence: The Living Wild Project, A Collaborative Native Plant Community. Alicia puts it best:

"I want to invite you to participate in this collaborative site by adding your recipes and plant discoveries. It is essential that we work together to revive the living libraries of information on how to live sustainably with this land. This will provide independence, health and food security for our grandchildren."

When you get a chance, head on over and sign up to be a part of the conversation. You will definitely see me there.

By the way, Alicia's book can be purchased here, and she's donating 100% of her profits.

Water, water, everywhere...

2011-06-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

I sit in my kitchen on this cold and blustery June day here in the wilds of the Sacramento metropolitan area. Last week, the mountain passes over the Sierra Nevada were closed due to white-out conditions, and the snow level dropped to 4,000 ft. Thankfully, this last storm only saw snow to 8,000 feet, so maybe we are making progress?

Regardless, we get dry days on the days I work, or the days I've spent at home caring for family (a bad flu, oddly enough striking only the females, blew through here last week). Then, when it looks like I might get a day off to fish or (gasp!) to garden, here comes another storm. Nor are these storms only in the sense of a person unaccustomed to them: Last week, we found ourselves, for the first time, in a 'tornado watch' zone, as the tail-end of a system took on that familiar and ominous J-hook over our house. Luckily, nothing formed, but still, it was June 1st.

We typically get around 19 inches of rain in Sacramento, and also typically, it all falls between late October and early May, and this is no exaggeration. But here we are, stuck indoors on a Sunday in June, expecting another downpour, soon, as well as thunderstorms tomorrow.

I should get out and at least get 'caught up': Empty the duck pond, dump any standing water, clean up the walnuts (now being dropped by squirrels). I should even put in the newest attempt at duck-proofing the raised beds (a huge bamboo trellis). But, I must admit I'm pretty beat down by this weather, and the continual catch-up I have to do, making no real progress, is dampening my spirits more than the rains.

How do I get out of these doldrums?

Just try it!

2011-05-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

© 2011 Joshua Stark

We are lucky to have some adventurous kids, and though we don't know how far, culinarily, this will go with our 8-month old, our four-year old is doing just fine.

I've watched many kids balk at something out of their ordinary, no matter how ordinary it may be in the real world (see: broccoli), and I've watched parents buckle under and just give 'em what they want. Pick your battles, I'm told. My response (in my head, of course), "sure, but that infers that you will actually pick a battle at some point".

With our daughter, food has almost never been a "battle". She'll try anything once, and that's the only rule at our house. She doesn't have to like it, and if she doesn't like it, she doesn't have to eat it, but she does "have" to try it, and she happily obliges, even when she gives a face upon smelling it. To even my surprise, she once asked for the eye of a whole-fried mackerel. Most kids, or grown-ups for that matter, just don't tap that spirit within humanity; we are being homogenized, just like our foods.

At a great party the other day, for example (which she didn't want to attend, it being a zombie-themed party for a 60-year old), I brought along this year's nocino, from last year's squirrel harvest. I didn't mention that they were knocked out of the tree by squirrels, but I did mention that it is made out of green walnuts, and with that, I'm fairly certain I lost most of my audience.

This is too bad, because even my nocino is a good, sweet, slightly bitter (but in a good way) and potent cordial with a lot of complexity.

I catch the same flak about my duck eggs. It shocks me that people won't try duck eggs just because they come from not-a-chicken. Our yard ducks live great lives, way better than cage-free, even - a guard dog, 24-hour free roaming, a pond! - but, it doesn't matter.

What amazes me is that these same people grab the Safeway wraps that arrived encasted in plastic and containing who-knows-what.

Maybe that's my problem. Perhaps I should have just said, "here's a new liqueur from BevMo. And try this fritata made fresh at Raley's."

Now, if I can only figure out how to market squirrel...