Artful Greens

Miss Henny's Wild Ride

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:11:00 +0000

Miss Henny has had a challenging life. Not the usual kind of born-in-the-ghetto story that you're expecting, but rather a life plagued by misunderstanding and the lack of acceptance that follows bookish girls who skip a grade. Except, paired with a heavy dose of dumb in place of the bookishness. But don't worry - we can still craft this into a makeover story.

She was given to my friend Kate along with 6 other unsexed chicks as an Easter present. Later, after many mornings of countless crows, it became obvious that Henny was the only lady in the group and also that having 6 roosters sucks. So Kate made plans to drop all the birds off to be processed. Around the same time, Henny laid her first egg.

Keeping a single hen through the winter didn't make much sense, and killing her right as she began to lay was also an odd choice. So, we offered to take her in, as we had just lost Miss Meatloaf to a bad case of "sorry we had to break your neck." These things happen. Henny was bigger than our birds, the only one with a full beak, about six months younger, and by far the most beautiful. She was doomed. The girls picked on her and at her for quite some time, and she seemed pretty sad. Plus, she always wore a smirk when I would pet the other girls as they 'assumed the position' for a rooster. She had gone way beyond heavy petting, and frankly, life at our place was boring. Having transferred from public school to a private all girls school, I related to her pain.

For much of the time that we had Henny, she was able to roam the yard freely. Free ranging chickens are at their happiest - they forage for worms, bugs and greens, and most importantly they leave all that petty BS back in the coop. Kind of like having a reprieve from mockery during school breaks when everyone is too busy having fun to care about how big a loser you are. Miss Henny was actually doing ok. But when summer came and all of the gardens in the neighborhood got planted, we had to lock the girls up again. Miss Henny slid back into a lethargic trance only worn by the most far gone of social outcasts. She wouldn't leave the (unfertilized) eggs and barely ate. She was broody.

Around this time I spoke with my friend Kristine, who is a caretaker on the island directly across from our shoreline with her husband, Tim. Together, we've been keeping a beehive on the island. She was waiting for a break in the weather so that she could boat in and get some more laying hens since hers were starting to slow. And that's when Miss Henny's future flashed before my eyes. And she was slightly more popular.

On this particular weekend, my parents and uncle were visiting and my nephew and brother and law were also around, entered in the LCI Fishing Derby. My dad, who grew up working on the family chicken farm, volunteered to manhandle Miss Henny into her cage. We all decided to make the trip together.

Jack carried her down to the dock to wait for Kristine while Josh fished. Miss Henny really didn't have much to say at any point during this adventure, but usually she's a loud, high-pitched squawk-chirper.

It was a windy, choppy, yet beautiful day for a boat ride. Jack put a nightcrawler in the cage with Henny, but she just sat on it. She seemed numb to the whole affair.
After we docked and unloaded (we had some bee maintenance to deal with) we packed up a cart that Kristine was towing behind an ATV - I sat on the back while my family found room in the cart.

Kristine's dogs followed us everywhere we went - Jackson even has his own seat in front the windshield.

Our trip to the barn included a view of the garden, and a visit with the alpacas.

And then, it was time. Henny needs to spend a few days in a cage in order to protect her form all of the 'mean girls in the lunch room' per se- but then she'll have a lot more space and freedom, as well as the love of a rooster.

Her new family includes some birds who look a lot like her - Buff Orpington/Black Star mixes, as far as I know.

No pictures of our bee tasks - sorry! I'm sure my mom took some, and maybe I'll insert them later. Needless to say, it was a great tour, and we saw lots of amazing sights. Solar panels, cisterns, a beautifully constructed log cabin - it is truly an inspirational place.
Back at the dock, Jack and Josh were still fishing. They caught 23 fish at Savage Island, and 45 for the day. But sadly, they did not 'catch the big one.'

And then, just like that, it was all over. Miss Henny was gone. She was the funniest chicken I've known, but I was usually laughing at her, and not with her (not like Miss Rita, now there's a clever girl.) I'm kind of looking forward to seeing her again, and that in itself is a makeover of sorts. ??
So, until Kristine comes to get me, or I patch the rest of the holes in our canoe, I'll just have to wait. My biggest hope is that she becomes a mother - she really likes to sit on eggs.

Get Your Slow Blog Button Here!

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:36:00 +0000

Slow Blogging is a term that has surfaced a few times on the internet - maybe you've even heard of it? You can read the original Manifesto by Todd Sieling here, which I find remarkably well stated. Similar to the Slow Food movement, the concept is that some things are improved upon by a slower, more thoughtful approach, and that the opposite mindset (i.e.; fast food) can inspire rather ill consequences for both bloggers and readers. Together, with all of these weekly, daily, and hourly posts, we are fueling a pace to life that feels beyond our control and often times void of true substance.

Of course, Slow Blogging can hold very different definitions for all of us. We might each admire the idea for varying reasons and institute our own pace. Some Slow Bloggers post just a few times a year, others monthly, and some of us can't keep any sort of noteworthy regular schedule. You might feel that within your community, weekly and daily posts are considerably slower paced than your peers - feel free to define Slow however you like. In my mind, it is simply a rejection of any sort of expectation. You are a person, it is your life, and you should share what you like when you like without feeling obligated to anyone - even yourself.

My exploration of this topic has surfaced one constant theme: Slow Blogs have very few readers. This seems to be an unavoidable fact, and it may be enough to make some bloggers steer clear of the whole affair, especially if they are attempting to earn profits through advertising. Maybe in addition to re-thinking the pace of blogging, we could also be re-thinking our methods for gaining value from the blogs we write. Your blog may not earn you any monthly income, but it may eventually assist you in reaching other life and professional goals; therefore, you might consider keeping it clean - void of fluff, junk, and anything else that reveals you to be a last-minute, I'll just throw something together individual. Just sayin'.

Something else that I've noticed is that other than Todd Sieling's Manifesto and a NY Times article, there is not a lot of readily available information out there. Unless you search 'Slow Blog' you're unlikely to come across the concept. Although the idea has been discussed briefly here and there, it really hasn't been popularized to the level that I think it deserves. So, my solution has been to create a button that bloggers can publish on their sites, notifying readers that Slow Blogging is a concept the author subscribes to. Hopefully, it will spread from blog to blog (admittedly a pipe dream via my 32 readers) but wish me luck.

If you would like to publish the Slow Blog button (illustration by Katya Andrievskaya) on your site, simply copy the html code below and paste it on your blog. I will compile specific instructions below the code for anyone who needs more direction. And feel free to share your stories and opinions! I will happily expand upon this post with your words - together we might build something beautiful.

To publish this button on Blogger, copy the code, and then 'add a gadget' under 'customize.' Select HTML/JavaScript, and paste the code in the box. It is not necessary to title the gadget. Save and view to see your new button.
I am not experienced in other blog publishers, but hopefully we can get the correct information up for anyone who might need help with Wordpress, etc...

A little Wordpress help from Piet, July 13, 2010:

Hello,
I like the idea.... However the button is a JPEG and hence has no transparent background (surrounding) but white only. I made a GIF version with transparent background. The usage is the same in WorldPress.
Is it okay to use it in this way ?

P.s. The GIF is on my site and better for my performance. You can copy it from there if you want.
Thanks, Piet

Mountainside Maple Sugaring

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:14:00 +0000

My father-in-law is a retired engineer who spends the majority of his time at his mountain retreat, hunting, fishing, and working hard to prepare for sugaring season. I wish I could tell you more about how hard he works repairing lines, fighting with the weather, and chopping wood. A better kid would know and might even offer to help. Somehow he still smiles when we he gives us our yearly gallon, and black fly season aside, I think he enjoys his time alone in the woods.

Dave's design/build sugar house

You must've heard by now that mountain living is bit different from your standard country living. Loretta Lynn still gets airtime, right? Well, there's no electricity here, although some people have wind turbines and solar panels, as well as gas lights. We're talking outhouse life. Roads turn into trails that are only accessible with snowmobiles or skis in the wintertime, and everything becomes impassible as the mud takes over in the springtime. School bus deer camps, cooking kettles hanging from chains, huge deer fences around gardens, and the steady hum of buckshot. Paradise or Hell, depending.

Beaver dams abound up here

A house down the mountain; I think I want to live here. Those black dots make up a sweet little container garden that got blown over in the high winds. Notice the covered bridge over the creek bed. Perfect place to sleep.

This was my second trip up to camp this season. The first time the sap wasn't running because the nighttime temperatures were too high (sap runs best when the nights are cold and the days are warm.) This time around we had a different issue; a recent cold snap froze all of the sap in the tank, and although we were expecting the weather to warm up, the wind really kept things in check. We had to thaw the sap with boiling water so that the boiler would fill before dark.

A web of sap lines work their way down the sugar bush to the mainline that fills this outdoor tank. From the inside of the sugar house, the quantity of sap in the tank can be read right through a window. My father in law keeps excellent records of the sap flow, sugar content, weather conditions and overall quantity and quality of syrup. Mostly he writes it on the walls inside the sugar house. The building is designed with a vent that opens via a hand crank, allowing the steam to escape. (My mother used to boil sap in our kitchen, until she ruined the walls - all for about 1/2 cup of syrup...)

As soon as the sap began flowing freely from the outdoor tank into the boiler, it was time to fire up the stove. Maple syrup is 66 % sugar, and this sap was about 2.5 %. At 2 %, it takes 43 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup. The higher sugar content meant that less sap would be needed - about 34 gallons per one of syrup.

On a cold day like this one, it's really nice to be in the sugar house as it turns into a sweet smelling sauna.

For all of that water to boil off takes a really long time. You're supposed to drink beer, I think. Personally, I could take pictures all day long without ever getting bored, but my nephew was losing his ten year old mind. My mother -in-law had told me that years ago everyone would boil hotdogs in the sap for lunch as well as eggs, which I brought along. Jack would've killed for a hotdog as he has no use for eggs. But he did peel one. There's a pond right outside the door that we were able to cool the eggs in, and then we stored them in the snow so that they couldn't float away. I thought they might have a hint of maple sweetness to them, but no such luck, they were pretty ordinary.

The egg trick did not take much time. Severe boredom began to set in. Even the dog was bored. Jack and Georgia shared 2 cups of snow to pass the time.

And then, it all happened. And by this I mean very slowly, and after a really long time. The sap began to thicken, and we all tried to stay out of the way while Dave made a draw. If you've ever made jelly or candy, you'll know about that visible moment when the liquid has evaporated enough water to change the sugar content and begin to congeal. You really have to master instinct and timing to recognize when to act, or else you'll get it all wrong. If you overdo it you can taste a smokiness in the syrup, aka: Bean Syrup. Only good for making baked beans.

You may know that syrup is graded, and often times it continues to darken in color and gain a stronger maple flavor over the course of a season. This is usually weather related and is not set in stone. This year, for the first time ever, my father-in-law's total take was comprised of more than half 'Fancy' or Grade A Light Amber. I don't even remember the last time I tried Fancy, and I don't know anyone who buys it. But we have a whole entire gallon, and it is wicked, wicked good.

Fancy on the left, then medium amber and dark amber

All of the syrup passes through a filter before being graded and packaged. This particular batch was Grade C, and therefore went into a 5 gallon bulk container for cooking. Most likely, whatever is left of the season up here will also produce Grade C, and after this container is full, Dave will call it quits.

We finally made it to the good part. Sugar on Snow. Followed by shots of syrup. And then a long, bumpy car ride home.

Here are our favorite things to do with maple syrup:

slushy spoonful out of jar from freezer
drizzled over spoonful of peanut butter
mixed with cocoa powder on the stovetop to dip fruit in
pan fry tempeh in oil, then add a glug of syrup and a dash of soy sauce at the end to make a glaze
toss with carrots, salt, and a little oil before roasting
maple baked beans, good feta cheese, homemade bread, and salad = my favorite dinner
maple apple butter, maple pumpkin butter, maple sweet potato butter
thinned syrup with cardamom/ginger over fresh berries

Ode to Green Smoothies

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:07:00 +0000

In college I wrote an assigned speech about Vinny Barbarino, which was (if you'll please pardon my bragging,) a smash hit. You'd think this would encourage me to boldly continue on proclaiming my adoration for whatever I want, whenever I feel, but truthfully I'm much more inclined to the Haiku. Not so much skilled as inclined. My favorite traditional Japanese Haiku is by Matsuo Basho c.1689:

Not knowing

The name of the tree,

I stood in the flood

Of its sweet smell.

That one gets me a bit weak in the knees, in a romance for nature kind of way. Moving on to human nature and modern Haiku, Jack Kerouac wrote in 1959:

All day long

wearing a hat

that wasn't on my head.

Who can't relate to that? But now, thanks to my assuming post title, I'll share something with you that tells you everything I feel about Green Smoothies, in 17 syllables or less:

heart of a monkey

gas station shopper

blends best guess.

Several years back I randomly began reading this raw vegan blog - I think I was looking for a salad dressing recipe. It was my first blog and I still read it, as somehow it's evolved into this can't-put-down novel for me. Quirky cast of characters and all. Regardless, I became really interested in Raw Foods and began experimenting. For the sake of making an enormously long story short - I cannot be a raw foodist; my throat itches all of the time, and the majority of the recipes involve foods that come from nowhere near where I live, which interests me zero. But I did come away with some valuable ideas and recipes.

Green smoothies are fruit smoothies which include greens, hidden deep down in a landslide of fruity taste. Kale, spinach, chard, purslane, beet greens, lambsquarters - and all you'll ever taste is fruity goodness. Victoria Boutenko, a well known raw foodist, wrote a fantastic book called Green for Life complete with theory, data, recipes, and all things green smoothie related. The premise here is that we need to eat a motherlode of greens - but we don't. We've evolved to enjoy other tastes, and sitting down to bowl after bowl of greens is not manageable for most people. So, she's devised a way to sneak them in - like how mom's grate apples and sweet potatoes into those Mickey Mouse pancakes. Although totally undetectable, eventually you might start to crave the taste of the greens, advancing on to recipes that feature them more than hide them.

My go to green smoothie recipe includes strawberries and blueberries from my freezer (still frozen,) a handful of any kind of greens, and apple cider. If there's any bitterness, I add maple syrup. I also like romaine lettuce mixed with melon and ice. And I'm not opposed to throwing in a banana now and again, but usually my taste buds equate bananas to baby food, especially when they're pureed. I use a Vitamix Super 3600 which I bought off Ebay and have grown to love. I feel similarly emotional about the Vitamix as I do my pets; our time together is bound to be shorter than I can stomach. Later, I found the same model fortuitously underpriced in a Florida thrift store and bought it for back up. Vitamix blenders have high powered motors and the ability to reverse the blade motion, but no matter what you use it's really important to macerate the greens to smithereens, as hiding the taste is only so good if the texture remains chewy. Plus, greens in your teeth is not what we're going for here...

I'm embarrassingly behind on planting for Spring. I normally would've planted the hoop house in February, but instead I went on a road trip for 2 weeks. Of course, life is always changing, and I have to go away again before I can plant. So, for now, I'll buy my green smoothie greens, but I assure you that they are the sweetest when they are home grown.

A Sad Day for Bees....

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:39:00 +0000

I have been on the road for 2 weeks, visiting family and friends and taking lots of photos. My brain is about to explode from everything that I've experienced - which was entirely the point. Although I'm thrilled to share my new ideas and images, I'm also way behind on the home front. A broody hen, taxes, a hoop house to plant, propaganda to design...everything awaits.
While I was away I got word that my bees were flying over at the Blue Heron Farm. This news was hugely relieving as last year 2 of my hives were split in half, with the new hives being comprised of brand new equipment. This means that partway into the season I had 2 hives facing a lot of work, just to make it through the winter. With new equipment, bees are responsible for drawing out enough wax (imagine honeycomb) to raise brood and store food. To make things worse, it started raining a lot, and that prevents bees from obtaining the calories and supplies they need to 'make it all happen.' In the fall I was definitely concerned about the strength of certain hives and began feeding them sugar syrup until it got too cold. {If any of you are interested in keeping bees, I recommend that you explore Beekeeper Linda's blog, and consider reading Ross Conrad's book Natural Beekeeping.}

I was unsure if the bees would really be ready for food, but last year when the sun starting coming out more often, the farmers noticed ravished bees in their chicken feed. I decided to make a big batch for my 6 hives, so that I would have lots to take me through the warming weather. I mix sugar and water 1:1 and cook it on the stovetop until the mixture is clear. I then allow it to cool and pour it in a 5 gallon bucket with a honey gate (the yellow plastic mechanism has wingnuts that allow you to control the speed in which the spout opens and closes. I've found that it works pretty spectacularly when canning things like ketchup, too.) I happen to have a lot of food service jelly jars from my waitressing days to use as feeders for the bees; after filling with sugar syrup, I screw on lids with holes drilled out in a pattern that mimics the shape of the hole in a hive's inner cover. The jars get turned upside down and sit atop slats of wood positioned over the inner cover, inside a medium super. This allows space for the bees to come up and get the food, and gravity controls the flow. I covered the jar lids with duct tape for the ride over to the farm.

I was greeted at the farm by Adam and Christine's chickens aka 'the Pretty Girls.' Because mud season is upon us, I brought a sled to pull all my stuff to the bee yard, instead of trying to drive back there. On a side note, we don't have a rooster at our house, and today I saw my first chicken love. Chicken porn? Call it what you will, but yikes either way...

I used to differentiate my hives just by color, but that soon went by the wayside. Eventually they became all mixed up because my schedule means that everybody 'gets what they get'; be they bee, chicken, niece, nephew, or husband. I thought about numbers, letters, or stencils, but then I found these Wizard of Oz stickers for 99 cents. Sold. There are 8 different images, making them within my price range (bees can get expensive if you don't keep your head.) I unsuccessfully set out a hive last summer to try and catch a swarm, and that one is labeled with the Wicked Witch. Heh, heh...

When I got to the bee yard, I was disappointed to find that only one of the hives seemed to be active. Strangely, this was the hive I had written off as the weakest of the bunch last Fall - I was so sure it would fail. I lifted the covers on the rest and didn't hear any buzzing. I've never lost a hive before, which is completely out of the norm, but I feel distraught nonetheless. I'm unwilling to take things apart and investigate until the weather is much warmer, just in case there is a small population still hanging on, tightly clustered in the center of the hive. This is wishful thinking, I assure you. But when I do go back to clean out the hives, I'll be able to see what happened to the bees - I suspect that they starved. Their death is undoubtedly a regular result of keeping bees in northern climates; Vermont has not seen Colony Collapse Disorder, or at least that is the position of the Vermont Beekeepers Association. This seems to make sense as we don't have a lot CCD stress factors, such as monoculture, overused pesticides, and hives that are trucked great distances (as you'll find at California almond groves, for example.)

So, a sunny, depressing day. And I have about 35 pounds of sugar syrup! That's a lot of lemonade to make...

Growing Apple Chairs

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:11:00 +0000

We have this thing at work, which I'll call 'Mandatory Pie Break.' It takes place at any time of day in any room, and again, it's mandatory. That's how committed we are to enjoying and comparing local pies, usually apple. We live in what feels like the Apple Capitol of Vermont (complete with an annual Apple Fest on Columbus Day weekend) and apple pies are like knishes on Coney Island or cheesesteaks in Philadelphia; everyone has their local favorite. MPB was really inspired by our need to find a new pie, as Celia Hackett of Hackett's Orchard in South Hero finally closed down her famous pie operation after 35 plus years. People are freaking out.

Because it's such a small town, I cannot rightly share with you our results. Let's just say that we've found a hands down winner (although nowhere near as good as a Hackett's,) and are also enjoying 'off - Island' pies in secret. There have been some occasional homemade entries between us, which brings me a little closer to the heart of this post. To celebrate Riki's return from Japan, I made a special apple coffee cake from 101cookbooks.

glazed with homemade apple jelly

steaming hot

Maybe you know a bit about the genetics of apples; I'm a Michael Pollan fanatic, and was inspired to learn more about them after reading the Botany of Desire. The basics are that apple seeds do not produce offspring that resemble the trees in which they come from. A Mac doesn't make a Mac, and a Granny Smith doesn't make a Granny Smith. This unreliability is the basis of why apples are cut and grafted as opposed to started from seed (that and the ability to pair each tree to the proper rootstock for it's desired size and the local climate.) Apples from seed are rarely sweet, nor can their resistance to disease and pests be counted on.

This bit of information puts the home gardener in a pay-to-plant situation. You're unlikely to plant apples from seed on your property unless you can be sure that they will produce a variety that's to your liking. Purchasing grafted 'whips' (unbranched 4-6 ft trees on bare rootstock) can run about $12 - $20 apiece, or more for older and better established trees. Really, that's not bad. However, if you're like me, and have some zany projects in mind, then all of those numbers start to add up before you've accidentally killed your first tree.

McIntosh Seeds

I have two books in my library that inspire me to do all sorts of crazy things with trees; Arborsulpture by Richard Reames and How to Grow a Chair, again by Reames and Barbara Delbol. Both of these books are fascinating accounts of different existing arborsculptures, as well as instructions for growing fences, chairs, and even houses. Arborsculpture is a term coined by Reames that encompasses his process of treeshaping, which relies on whips that are instantly shaped. The Gradual Shaping Method was developed by Peter Cook and Becky Northey and uses small saplings, like those I intend to grow from the apple seeds. Gradual tree shaping requires planning and design to slowly shape the tree into the desired form.

Garden Chair from Pooktre Tree Shapers

Peter Cook on the Garden Chair:

"Our living garden chair started life as a single tree under 10in (20cm) tall. We had planned out the design before the tree had even start to grow. The tree was grown into the design shape over a 3 year period. We waited about 6 years before we sat on it. So it was about 9 years old. This coming spring it will be 13 years old, it is a wild plum (Prunus Myrobalan). This tree now needs no more maintenance than that of the average fruit tree in your garden."

Be sure to follow the link to their site to see their photo gallery and subscribe for updates!

I'm not sure exactly what I'd like to do with treeshaping - I imagine that to start I'd just play with things on a small scale for container plantings and photographs. But what I do know is that without starting the seeds, I'd actually have to buy whips - and as I'm not planning on eating any of the fruit (we have already planted enough,) so why bother? With all of this in mind, I removed the seeds from my coffee cake apple scraps and stored them in the fridge until I was ready to plant.

Later, I added seeds from a Mutsu (aka Crispin) as well as both Bosc and Anjou pears. I had a Northern Spy as well, but it had no seeds!? This time, after removing the seeds I dried them out in the oven (mine can be set at 100 degrees) as I read that this was an important step. I had lent my dehydrator to a friend, but I think that would have really sped things up. If you're using either an oven or a dehydrator, I would be careful not to go above 110 degrees if you'd like your seeds to germinate.

And then, just like that, I set them up for Winter Sowing as I had done recently with several other seeds. You could also keep them in your refrigerator for a few months if you prefer. I, myself, am not too worried about failure (with regards to experimental gardening.) I am so busy in the summer that when I screw things up it usually amounts to nothing but sweet, sweet relief.

Digital Pinhole

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:02:00 +0000

My motto, as it applies to photography, is: 'use your brain, not your wallet' (I wish these words applied across the board in my life, but that's not always the case.) I think I had spent my lifetime budget on photography by about 1997, mostly on darkroom supplies, and long before being exposed to the expenses of the digital realm. As I began to see the benefits of changing over to digital, I made a deal with myself that I would keep it creative and low budget, especially to remind myself that I was supposed to be in total control of the process. My first step was a cheap negative scanner, which allowed me to stop spending long hours in the darkroom getting fixer in my hair. I spent a lot of time playing with toy cameras, homemade pinholes, and making masks inside the camera while I traveled around. Such an enjoyable cure for boredom. I remember checking into a motel to develop a bunch of film on my way from New Orleans to Houston in a town called Sulfur; bad place to need to use a lot of water.

Holga photo 2003, Italy

Holga with a mask taped inside; I shot the bottom half of the film roll of lily pads while canoeing, and then rewound the film, flipped the mask over, and reshot the same roll. This time I exposed only the top half of the roll, shooting cow feeders at a dairy farm.

and a homemade pin-holga shot in Plymouth, Vermont

the shutter on a Holga is bound to fail sooner than later; I just made the broken cameras into pinholes that used remove-able velcro as a lens cap

But here we are today, in 2010, and I am finally and truly finished with developing film, as well. I even tried replacing developer with instant coffee for a time to try and break away from all those chemicals, and guess what - it smells totally putrid! Much worse than a dairy farm and a subway station on the hottest day of summer combined. I'm pretty happy with the digital world, but I like to keep my contributions to the process relevant, which can be challenging. In just about a week I'm headed to Florida to visit my family, and most of what we'll do there is take pictures. I know that keeping myself totally entertained on a lengthy birding trip with my dad means having a special photo technique at the ready (even if I'm not paying great attention to the birding part.) This year, I made sure to make a digital pinhole body cap before leaving. Body caps can be ordered online, and you can probably find a generic version at your local camera store, but don't expect that it will be cheaper.

first, you need to drill out a hole through the center of the body cap. I opted to hold the center to a flame, and then shoved a fondue fork through before it cooled. Sloppy, sloppy work, but much faster than setting up to drill.

next, I cut a small square of doubled tinfoil to place the pinhole in. First of all, aluminum foil is not the choicest material, but it's what I could find. When making the hole, place your hand over the top of the needle (you may want to wrap tape around the top so it's easier to hold in place) and spin the foil around in circles until you've broken through the tip. You're not trying to push the whole needle through.

Needles come in varying sizes, and I'm lying if I tell you that I understand this. I will tell you that no employee of a chain sewing store has ever been able to explain it to me, but regardless, the packages are clearly marked in the 'notions' aisle. I cannot even tell you for sure if the numbers go up or down according to diameter, I've read it both ways from so many sources (not just the internet.) It's like the time 2 different chiropractors told me to wear a lift in opposing shoes. The sewing world seems to say one thing and the photo world another. Could I get to the bottom of this? Sure, probably, but I know that small is what I'm going for. The whole concept is that the farther your 'film plane' (digital sensor) is from your pinhole, the larger the hole needed; digital slrs are thin in comparison to the wooden box pinhole cameras that are available. I think your best bet is to measure the needle diameter on a ruler, and record those measurements. The hole that you create is your aperture, and it is fixed. After creating this hole, you can only vary your results through the amount of available light and the length of your exposures. If the hole is too big, the focus of your photos will suffer, like so:

aperture (pin hole) too big in my aluminum foil - number 14 needle

You could determine an exact aperture for your pinhole after attaining the focal length and consulting a pinhole aperture chart. You'll also need a basic understanding of the corresponding needle size, but rest assured, what you're looking for is small. I need a pinhole of around .29 which as far as I can tell needs about a number 13 needle. The truth of the matter is that you mostly need patience to keep repeatedly testing and experimenting, and getting to know each altered body cap.

This time around I found my supply of copper sheeting (craft stores carry this) which holds the hole much better than aluminum foil. The colored pencil markings on the body cap are not actually marking center, but were helpful for me while I was melting the plastic.

I also glued a piece of black construction paper with a hole punched through it over the copper to help decrease any excess light pollution. Here's where I ended up:

apple

potatoes

clementines

I noticed some pros and cons right off the bat:

obviously, it's great that you can see the image right away and make adjustments - that's tops.
my xti has a Bulb mode (shutter stays open as long as you're pressing the button, which is an undeniable drag when you're on your 20th 3 minute exposure) but no Time mode ( push shutter once to start the exposure and again to end it.) Apparently, the remote control that Canon sells works as though in Time mode. On the plus side, Bulb mode has a digital clock to watch. If you taped something over the shutter to keep it depressed, you could just uncover and cover the pinhole when you're ready to expose. Velcro tabs, a book, etc...
I can see flecks on the image where dust has gotten through the hole and fallen on the sensor. For $50 you can buy a manufactured pinhole bodycap that uses an opaque film over the hole to eliminate this problem.
so much cheaper than a macro lens.
vertical shots need a tripod, as most digital cameras don't have a flat side on either short end.
again, holding the shutter down sucks - listen to music or the radio, and make sure that you're in a comfortable position. A minute is forever if you having nothing else to pay attention to.

The good news is that Florida is likely to be brighter, and my exposures will be shorter. I need a smaller needle to try a tighter aperture, as the focus still wasn't great. Also, I can't find an image to show you, but my favorite camera that I made had an irregular, rough hole and I loved it. I'd like to try to intentionally influence some different shapes for this one. I think that the spinning method keeps the pinhole cleaner, so maybe I'll go back to the quick, violent stab.

And the Winner is......Me!

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:07:00 +0000

I am the proud winner of a Fiskars Momentum reel mower - you can read my entry as it was voted on at Red Dirt Ramblings. I can't tell you how much I've wanted one of these! Thank you to Dee and Fiskars for holding this contest - I'll be sure to photograph the Momentum in action...

2010 Sandwich Garden Menu

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:07:00 +0000

meatloaf glazed with homemade ketchup, goat cheese, & balsamic greens

shredded pork carnitas with roasted corn salad & cheddar habanero greens

Turkish lamb kofta with smoked eggplant cream & minty pickled onion salad

green pea falafel with candied radishes and curried yogurt greens (May & June)

Featuring homemade condiments, veggies from our garden, and all natural local meats.

Portrait of a Cold Front

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:05:00 +0000

http://blotanical.com/php/mm/index.php?type=list_a

Slaughterhouse Blues

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:21:00 +0000

in case you can't make it out, that there's a swastika

A couple of months ago my small town made national headlines when the Humane Society released a video showing employees at a local slaughterhouse mistreating sick calves while a USDA inspector watched. Again, this is a small town, and there are a lot of rumblings about what occurred that deserve mentioning. For starters, Ron and Colleen Bushway no longer owned Bushway Packing, although they received a stunning number of death threats after the incident. Previously, the Bushways ran a custom slaughterhouse until they sold the business to Frank Peretta, who used the facility to process animals (from near and far) into ground meat to be shipped to New York - although custom slaughtering for local farms was still available. The individual who shot the video completely infiltrated himself into the lives of the employees, spending his free time with them, drinking their beer, etc... A common quote you'll hear is "it was him who said 'throw some water on him first'" in reference to a clip from the video where a sick calf can't stand after being repeatedly shocked with a cattle prod. An animal who cannot stand cannot be slaughtered.

Grand Isle

I watched the video both cut and uncut , and yes, I found it shocking. However, I suspect that like many other people who saw it, I kind of missed the point. What's shocking to me is everyday life in a slaughterhouse and the amount of desensitizing that someone who kills animals repeatedly must endure. There is no love or kindness shown, no matter what catchwords are printed on the packaging or how appealing the accompanying picture of the farm might look. Slaughterhouses are either clean or they're not. They are either following the rules or they're not. They are never appetizing.

photo by Gillian Klein

The closing of Bushway's means something more to the state of Vermont: we're now down a slaughterhouse, which is problematic. There is a strong "Buy Local" movement here, and many people purchase meat directly from farms, as whole, half, or quarter animals. Likewise, local organic meat is in high demand at our many health food stores, no matter the price. At the NOFA Direct Marketing Conference many farmers shared their concerns about the lack of slaughterhouse choices. Longer waits for processing are becoming more common and satisfaction is hardly guaranteed. A friend who attended the Meat Regulations workshop told me that one farm had been given all of their meat ground, after having specified particular cuts; another farm mentioned that they always factor in this type of loss, as a vegetable farmer would for crop damage. One complexity of this issue is the aspect of timing; everyone wants to slaughter at the same time, and therefore becomes a number to the facility instead of a loyal customer. Farms that are able to spread out their processing schedule over the course of the entire year are experiencing better relationships with slaughterhouses as well as better results.

photo by Gillian Klein

At this point we are still talking about small, local farms selling both organic and conventional meat. The price tag here can be upwards of $18 per pound, all for the notion that you are eating a well cared for animal with exposure to clean water, fresh air, and sometimes green pasture. Often times, especially with ground meat, you are really eating culled dairy cows who may not be put on pasture if it's preferable for the farmer to control their grain based diet. No matter how carefully a farm may raise their animals, they lose all control as soon as they reach the slaughterhouse. So, knowing a farm and respecting their actions does not mean that their animals are killed humanely, which is probably most heart wrenching to the farm itself. Federal and State laws prevent farms from selling meat which has been slaughtered on site (however, in Vermont there are limited exceptions for poultry.)

Cheap meat is what most of America eats, let's say $2 and $3 per pound for conventional, and $8 or $9 per pound for 'organic', 'natural' or 'hormone free'. All of this meat comes from factory farms located mostly in Nebraska and Colorado and easily makes up the majority of what is available for purchase in stores and restaurants in the US. Factory farms are rightly not farms at all, but rather industrialized feed lots. I have seen them, and again, not appetizing, Animals are crammed in by the thousands, they are routinely medicated with strong doses of antibiotics, and they are fed foods which are incompatible with their genetic make-up. You may have heard the list of concerns before, but here are some facts that you may have missed:

cheap meat caused the swine flu , bird flu, and many other viruses we have yet to meet. Any living being without access to sunlight, clean water, and personal space suffers a compromised immune system. Factory farmed pigs live amidst their own feces and are exposed and re-exposed to mutating viruses daily. Clean, well cared for animals who live outdoors have less exposure to viruses and have much stronger immune systems to fend them off. This principle crosses over to gardening - well tended, uncrowded, and weeded tomato plants were able to stave off last season's blight longer than those that were uncared for. Basic science.
"there is shit in meat." The now infamous quote from Fast Food Nation, or at least the one that grabbed most people's attention. Factory farmed cattle are constantly covered in feces, and after they are hung and skinned, it is very difficult to keep the feces out of the final product in a crowded kill room. This is how E. coli makes it into ground meat in the first place, but just because there's no E. coli in your meat doesn't mean that your meat doesn't contain shit. And just because you don't eat fast food doesn't mean that the meat you purchase doesn't come from the same feedlot. Our government hot lunch program provides school kids with some of the lowest grade meat available.
veal is not baby cows. I just learned this recently. The culinary term for veal refers to a calf that has been milk fed by its mother for about 12 weeks - it's the milk that makes the meat so tender and gives it a grayish hue. Technically young male calves are called veal in books, but on farms are called 'bull calves" and are culled young (2 days old in our scandalous video) to be put into ground meat. So, not eating veal does not mean that you're not eating baby cows.
what about dairy? Vegetarianism is a common response to the social, political, economical, and environmental impacts that industrial meat production has introduced to the world. While I admire this (wear it loud, wear it proud) it does not solve all of the problems. If you eat any dairy products, rest assured that those animals will be introduced to the slaughterhouse system at some point, as they have to remain productive to be considered financially viable. They are not a byproduct; they exist solely to make milk, yogurt, butter, and cheese for those of us who wish to purchase those products, and when they are done they 'are done'.

dairy cows, Milton

You may or may not know that at our farmers' market, I sell sandwiches, many of which are all about meat. Last season I sold local organic beef, along with both chicken and salmon from Costco. Truthfully, the vegetarian wraps that I make from our garden are the most creative and inspired (spring pea falafel with candied radishes & creamy curried greens, and patty pan squash fritters with basil cream & sungold tomato relish) but they're not big sellers. People want meat. The most popular booth at our market is a Bosnian restaurant that creates really delicious food, straight off of the Sysco truck into styrofoam boxes with nary a local product involved - and people can't get enough. I have changed my menu this year to represent what local organic meat I can get: beef, lamb, and pork.

spring pea falafel wrap

So, what are meat eaters (and sellers) to do? The Vermont Agency of Agriculture could probably set some incentives for the opening of new slaughterhouses. I would like to see some effort given towards changing the law so that local farms can slaughter on site. That being said, the latest supreme court decision ( which has me vomiting on the hour) seems to be saying that all laws have already been bought and sold, especially those that give the advantage to mega-corporations. So, really, what are meat eaters to do?

Winter Sowing (tomatoes, too...)

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:42:00 +0000

A friend of mine is an employee at a National Gardening Association demonstration garden and has been telling me about their success with allowing lettuce to bolt. They just choose a few heads, neglect them, and in the spring they have lettuce sprouting up way earlier than if they had planted by hand (seems easy enough, as long as you remember not to weed out the sprouts come spring.) I've actually experienced this in our hoop house by planting for winter too late, and watching those seeds pop up months later. The timing was particularly bad (the lettuce was at maturity for my first market of the season,) but the plants were strong and beautiful.

May 2009

Most cold climate seeds are designed to sleep their way through winter, allowing temperature and moisture to prompt germination in spring. Weeds are thought to have such an advantage in the garden because they've experienced this dormancy naturally. When we start our own seeds, we're often instructed to methodically trick them into reacting as though they've experienced winter, in order to urge their germination. Scarification (nicking a seed coat with a razor prior to sowing) is simply mimicking the cracking that occurs in a seed hull after a season of freezing and thawing. So, why not just sow your seeds outdoors in autumn, and see what happens? Well, you could, but you'd be sure to lose some to wind, birds, and burrowing critters. But we've all seen volunteer squash come up in the compost, right?

Winter sowing is a method of setting seeds outdoors in lidded containers to allow them to scarify and stratify naturally for spring. Although this method is really helpful for specialized northern plants, success has been experienced with warmer climate plants, as well. I happen to have a lot of wildflower seeds with picky instructions, and I'm also totally interested in experimenting with some tomatoes just to see what can be achieved in the hoop house without heat. This is a big issue where I live (at least to me) because a lot of the tomatoes that we buy over the summer are started really early by heating a green house with oil, propane, or wood - just because the public (myself included) can't wait for tomatoes to be ready in September, only to disappear within a month. I'm curious if winter sown tomatoes grow into stronger and more cold tolerant plants that can withstand some of the temperature swings we have in April and May. If so, then maybe they can be protected with an extra layer of plastic instead of being heated, and still produce early.

Pomykala Farm's tomatoes and heater

At wintersown.org (the best instructions for winter sowing anywhere) Trudi recommends saving plastic chinese food containers, cool whip tubs, and 2 liter soda bottles for sowing. If you live where I do (in the middle of nowhere) and eat like I do (not much soda and cool whip) look for foil catering trays - at Costco they're 30/$6.36. I happen to have a lot of plastic starter flats with lids on hand.

I set the whole operation up on the kitchen floor because it's mop-able. The trays were perforated, but I made sure to cut slits in the lids for air transpiration - I have fried countless little plants by not allowing the heat and moisture an obvious escape route.

each flat was seeded, and larger seeds like these Turk Cap Lilies were covered with soil

I made duct tape labels for each tray, written in permanent marker

I set all the flats outside on tables and makeshift tables for the time being. I made sure to avoid places where our steep roof dumps snow (I woke up to no less than 7 'explosions' last night...)

each lid then got weighted down with a piece of wood in case of high winds

and lastly, I made a diagram of what I planted where, as I've never had much luck with labels

Here are the wildflowers and natives that I sowed: Nodding Onion, Rose Mallow, Obedient Plant, Jacob's Ladder, Anise Hyssop, and Turk's Cap Lily. I also sowed 2 flats of Alpine strawberries, Blue Solaize leeks and 6 kinds of tomatoes: Moonglow, Green Zebra, Nyagous, Crnkovic Yugoslavian, Opalka, and Black from Tula, all from Seed Savers Exchange. Will winter sown tomatoes be more resistant to blight?

last season's tomatoes finally got the blight in late August

I dont feel even close to done, but I ran out of (thawed) soil. Can I sow right into plug trays? Can I sow trays in the hoop house without using lids if I regulate the moisture? I plan to try it all, as I have little use for seeds that need to be started indoors - what a drag. And what great gifts these flats would make - I can think of friends and family that would love this little experiment in their own yard, especially if they didn't have to do any of the work. Can you imagine how great it would be to start all of your seeds now? no lights, no watering, no getting the timing wrong. Have I convinced you to try? C'mon, just a quarter pack of tomato seeds in a cool whip tub...

Frozen Carrot Harvest

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:40:00 +0000

This is what I woke up to this morning, just before 7 o'clock. Beautiful enough to make me get out of bed and find my camera, which is remarkable since it was only 52 degrees inside! (I came home last night after the NOFA Conference to a broken pellet stove, and I'm pretty stingy with the propane backup heater. At least we have the back up heat; this was not always so - tears were cried and mothers were called.) See how the lake has almost frozen over? Anyday now.

Since I was up and needed to check the water in the chicken coop, I decided to get some carrots from the hoophouse for juicing. We always keep a good stash inside, but I've been watching it dwindle down to nothing, thinking that 'later' would be warmer. 'Later' turned out to be -2F, and I think I got about 3 intact carrots, with the rest coming out in 2 and 3 pieces. They made delicious juice - could have been warmer, though...

Grocery List Seed Planning

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:54:00 +0000

My seed shopping, swapping, and saving for 2010 is mostly done. Now I get to look over the piles and plans to figure out what I might have overlooked, and I find the best way to do this is with a grocery list. Every year the garden gets bigger, a little more well cared for, and less and less food makes it to the compost pile as waste. We love canning pickles, jam, and chutney, but freezing food is our number one priority. By noticing what I still end up buying at the store every winter, I have a chance to try and cross something off that list for next year.

Here are the items I still seem to buy:
Vegetable broth (although I froze 16 pints)
Fire roasted canned tomatoes (how do I replicate this taste?)
Tomato paste
Cilantro
Thyme
Popcorn
Rice
Ginger
Apple Cider (& ac vinegar)
Onions
Parsnips
Celery

rice - I have a continuously wet spot in our yard that has promptly killed everything I've tried to place there, and I have a dream that someday it will be a sweet, tiny rice paddy. I've done enough research to know the obstacles, like needing lots of sun, warm water flowing through, and (in Vermont) making sure that you've planted the proper variety. Unlike the long grain rices grown in California (which is what you'll find for sale on the web) Vermont 's climate is best suited for the short grain, stickier rice, Oryza sativa var. japonica. To begin Project Rice Paddy, I plan to just set the plants out in 5 gallon buckets to make sure that there is in fact enough sunlight - I can just move them around if need be. A Vermont couple has had great trial results via a SARE grant , and host lectures where they hand out plants - I hope to hear them speak at the NOFA VT Winter Conference (probably no plant handouts in March, though.) However, my boss/friend is heading to Japan in a couple of weeks , and she and I are on a mission to locate some seeds for her to return with. Can't wait, as this is really at the top of my 2010 geeky gardening list - please, leave any knowledge you have in the comment section...
ginger - I love to put ginger in soups and more recently stirfrys, and it's a mainstay in our carrot juice concoctions. Unfortunately, we can't grow the the heat - loving tuber that we buy in the store, but we can grow Wild Canadian Ginger, Asarum canadense. It's a pretty plant, but I've heard that it can be poisonous to certain people in certain quantities. Juicing is all about maximum potency - sounds like an experiment!

today's carrot/apple/ginger/lime juice

fresh herbs/indoor garden - this 2010 mandate has been set: all herbs will be potted. This way, I can bring them in to extend their seasons, carry them into the hoophouse when freak weather is threatening, and if I put them on bleachers in front of the chicken coop, maybe they'll provide a refreshing scent. The real trouble is that to bring plants inside our house means that someone should probably install some windows. We've been living with a window-less second floor for 2 years, just staring up at the framing and spray foam. So, huge south facing windows could mean an indoor garden, lowered heating costs, and maybe something interesting to look at!
parsnips & celeriac: I buy parsnips and celery all the time to put in soups (lentil is a house favorite.) I've been so busy staggering and rotating that I totally missed out on some long season crops. Parsnips are 130 days, and it's not uncommon to plant them in June and harvest them the following spring. While celery is only 80 days, it is not a lasting crop here, and therefore a waste of my time. Lately I've been buying local celeriac instead of California celery, and it's been fantastic to cook with. We've had it in soups, roasted, pureed, and even sliced raw in potato salad and I'm a fan. Celeriac is 110 days and can be stored. So here's the plan: I'm converting a large part of my 2010 outdoor garden to long season crops - leeks, carrots, celeriac, brussel sprouts, parsnips, etc...

Riki's grilled tomatoes from the freezer

As far as everything else is concerned, most of it is about planting more and freezing more. Before I finished writing this post, someone gave me a bag of their own frozen fire roasted tomatoes - grilled on the bbq, duh. Popcorn will be a first for us, as will tomato paste (we've made ketchup, though.) And I'm hoping that apple cider turns into a neighborhood affair - seems like a good plan to me.

Do you plan your seed shopping with your grocery list? What do you buy that you could grow instead?

Industrial Food Freezer, Anyone? Anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:46:00 +0000

Last night we had a Farmers Market board meeting, minus the only male, which means it was on the lengthy side. Once again we have been contacted about a mobile quick freeze unit which freezes and stores about 1400 lbs of produce and/or value added fruits and veggies. The unit, designed and built in Vermont, has made some tours and has some pretty serious strings attached. For starters it's big - about 11 feet tall and 20 feet long. We would need to house it under cover for 2 years. It must be insured on several levels, including driving and workman's comp. Any prep work and pre-blanching of vegetables must be done in a commercial kitchen that we would provide. Our understanding is that within the state of Vermont, nobody wants it. Or maybe they do, but they can't assume the responsibility and expense. Out of state offers have come in, and the Agency of Agriculture is giving one final gentle prod, but will then sell the unit.

ice fishing at the Causeway

We are a small rural community (Grand Isle County.) We have farms, an unemployment issue, and a definite lack of available local food throughout our cold months. A lot of people here buy their groceries at beefed up gas station/convenience stores. A trip to Burlington will get you root vegetables, a scavenger hunt for some local winter greens, and a whole lot of mysterious frozen fruits and vegetables. By this I mean that at the Co-op you can by no-name organic and conventional frozen pineapple, mango, berries, corn, etc.... My first thought was that the store really got to work at the height of each fruit's season, and washed, peeled, and cubed until they could freeze enough to sell us throughout the off months. Brilliant. But, do they really? Or do they just re-parcel already frozen inventory on a weekly basis, right after they unload the truck? The official answer is that they arrive frozen from Woodstock Farms, often times having been grown in Thailand. I think you can also buy the same products in their original branded packaging in the same aisle.

Keeler Bay Variety

Every year some of our food shelfs turn away a local overabundance of winter squash as they are already inundated with them, and lack the necessary refrigeration space. Rockville Market Farm in Starksboro (where JP & I lived for a several years) has recently made a name for themselves by selling their packaged and frozen winter squash throughout the season. If you don't have a root cellar. winter squash will only make it so far. And it's hard not to appreciate the convenience of having your squash already peeled and cubed for you (unless you're a stuffer.) At a certain point in winter, even die hard 'Buy Local' shoppers are purchasing winter squash from parts unknown. Local frozen squash would be a blessing, as would pureed tomatoes, applesauce, corn, berries and vegetable broth.

Rockville Market Farm Squash

Here's the situation in a nutshell: just like an individual Zone 3 gardener struggles and fails to preserve the entirety of their explosive harvest for winter, Vermont as a whole is also struggling and (get your tissues) failing. Farmers are far too busy trying to earn their immediate income to focus their efforts on food preservation. Not all farms are able to pay for quality employees, and by this I mean skilled laborers; adults working with the same crops over enough years that they become adept and speedy with that particular harvest. People who you can leave in charge if you have to go away fro the weekend. Without these employees a farm's actions are limited, and food preservation is not at the top of the list.

Blue Heron Farm

So far, the solutions in place are mostly non-profits; gleaners and donators rather than preservers. I can't pinpoint the moment, but at sometime in my adult life I started to sour towards the concept of non-profits. Why can't communities becoming more self sufficient and healthy be totally into profit? Why do farms have to donate their leftovers instead of sell them? Why can't we buy local frozen produce in the winter, instead of trucked in 'fresh' food? And why can't we create jobs instead of over-stressing our food shelfs? Just so we can pat ourselves on the back and say we're good volunteers? Maybe it's because there is funding available for nonprofit ventures, but not for profit driven business models. I don't know the answer today.

my freezer

I do know that Vermont is nowhere near able to feed itself. Anyone watching the weather this week and the freezes in the Southeast can see that it's important for all northern states to make some progress in this direction. Seasoned gardeners eventually get the process down by staggering their crops, having harvest parties, and working really long days; communities as a whole need to follow a similar model. I'll be following this issue myself, and will keep you posted on the fate of the Mobile Quick Freeze Unit that could. Or maybe you want it? Anyone? Anyone?

Beehive Maintenance

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:39:00 +0000

The hives, like us, are snowed in! Our friends came along to the farm to help us dig them out. I like to keep the entrances clear for ventilation and the all important 'cleansing flights' (bees don't go to the bathroom until it's warm enough to do so outside.) Each of my hives is set up on a screened bottom board in an attempt to control varroa mites. Other then blocking the entrances, snow is actually a positive asset, as it's a great insulator in these cold temperatures.

Here we are pulling in all our gear through the blizzard:

Ernie waited for us so patiently, tethered to a plow. Adam and Christine who own Blue Heron Farm have recently experienced (yet another) dog attack on their organic chicken flock, so we made sure our friends kept their guy tied tight.

Shoveling and listening to the hives. Some were definitely abuzz, but others were harder to hear. I actually don't hear very well, so when I don't hear anything, I don't lose all hope.

Cleaning the entrances and removing the dead bees, below. Each of these hives went into the Fall with a metal mouse guard, in order to prevent critters from nesting inside. Now that the snow has fallen and everybody has found a spot, the bees are better off with a fully exposed entrance. We did find one mouse guard about 4 feet away from the hive, so we'll see if the bees are hosting any guests in the Spring. This same hive did have a mouse nest last year, but bounced back nicely - what a mess to clean up!

and, here JP is drilling a ventilation hole into one of the hive boxes. Okay, should have been done long ago, but better late than never. Bees can actually maintain really well in low temperatures, but cannot tolerate moisture. Zero ventilation will allow ice to develop, which is a death sentence. I used to just visit the hives around this time and prop the outer cover open with rocks to allow the moisture to escape, but that's a bit risky with animals and wind that could knock the cover off completely.

Now that the hives are shoveled and ventilated it's easy to see how uneven they've become from frost heaves. While this is concerning, it's got nothing on what mud season holds in store. The hives will sink and teeter, and it's pretty scary all around, but that's the deal with the the wet clay on our island.

Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, AND an Honorable Mention! (with recipes...)

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:39:00 +0000

Every New Year's Eve (that we can) my friends and I gather for a lingering dinner party and overnight. Each couple prepares a course to serve, and often times we play parlor games while we wait for whatever's coming next. You know - paper and colored pencils, 60 seconds to draw a combination of whatever 2 animals you pull from a hat, like Rooster/Lobster or Iguana Pig. Lots of fun, especially when you can't draw, as your mind will take over whenever there's a time limit involved, as though your life depends on it. But your life doesn't actually depend on it, unless you're laughing so hard you choke on your food.

This year my course was a savory sorbet, served in between Gillian's Fried Oyster Salad and Katie's Try, Try Again Cheese Fondue. JP, who always has to work out of town at the most inconvenient times wasn't around to help me work the ice cream maker (which is really the only appliance he has mastered) so while my Carrot-Apple-Lemon sorbet tasted fantastic, the texture was a bit crumbly. Nobody Cared.

The recipe was rather simple - I juiced about 2 cups of carrot juice with 1/6 of an unpeeled lemon and 1/2 an apple. I boiled it on the stovetop with 1/2 cup of sugar (I was too unsure to leave it out) for 2 minutes and then refrigerated the mixture for a couple of hours. I then strained it and processed it in the ice cream maker and put it in the freezer. Pretty easy! Cleaning up the juicer was the worst part, as usual. I'd like to try it again with no sugar at all, or maybe agave syrup.

I also brought roasted garlic, homemade seed bread from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day , as well as pickled beets, preserved apple chutney, and bread and butter pickles all from my garden. These were a big hit. Sadly, the beets are now gone, but I have a 4 x 8 bed of Chioggias in the hoophouse right now that I think I should harvest and pickle, as the tops did not withstand the latest cold snap.

New Year's Eve is also my sister's birthday, and last night was a big one. She turned 40! And while "40 is the new 20" to many, she pointed out that she herself is not Courtney Cox, and 40 feels a bit different to her. Touche! Here is the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake I made her:

I decided to make it just before I went to work in the morning, and used a quick recipe I found this summer; Easy Dark Chocolate Cake . For the frosting, I used a hand mixer to beat a package of cream cheese, a few heaping spoonfuls (3/4 cup-ish) of Marantha No-Stir Organic Peanut Butter (simply life changing,) and about 1/2 cup of whipping cream. After they were well combined, I beat in about 1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar. The other recipes I saw online didn't have the whipping cream, but I thought it made a huge difference. I also noticed that they had extreme differences in the sugar content, but I found the 1 1/2 cups to be on the sweet side (one recipe called for 5 cups!) So, taste as you go... And my sister doesn't like bananas, but I think this cake is screaming for them!

Here is a picture of my friend Katie 'cooking.' She brought a girlish apron, and her cookbook is a blackberry, but even she considers it just a costume. Her cheese fondue is always a "keep'em guessing"theme, and we all love it - can't wait for next year!

and, a tragedy - Gillian's $20 FryBaby deep fried it's own lid, Oops! At least the oysters were safe...

Lastly, I was so happy to wake up this morning and find out that I won an honorable mention for my entry into Mary Ann of Gardens of the Wild, Wild West 'Why I Garden' Essay Contest -

Thanks Mary Ann! You can read the winning entries here...

Happy New Year!

Scenes from a Dusky Winter Garden

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:51:00 +0000

The bees are still quietly buzzing...

the scallions are finally finished...

rain, snow, ice, rain, and more ice, all melting, melting, melting...

and some Holiday Cheer from the coop...

Why I Garden (Essay Contest)

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Mary Ann from Gardens of the Wild Wild West has put forth this essay contest to encourage garden bloggers to tell each other (in 500 words or less) what motivates them to grow (kill, and grow again.) I, Jennifer, of the Puritan North, submit my entry:

I garden for many reasons, some fairly common and some a bit less considered. Although I grew up gardening and have given it at least some effort each spring of my adult life, I've only had true success over the past 3 years. Beforehand, I led a complicated life of a traveling 'art show artist,' selling my photography at juried festivals nationwide. This allowed me long van rides across the United States, deep in daydreams of growing my own vegetables in between stops at what I called the 'iceberg lettuce stores.' The lack of variety available across the country stunned me; was no one demanding fresh vegetables and um, flavor? My only consolation was to imagine that people who wanted more were simply growing it at home, and that if I wanted what they had, I needed to figure out how to garden in my van. Herbs, peppers, and some greens worked well in pots, as long as I could air them out in between trips at campgrounds. But during heat waves none of us were happy, and I had a bad habit of sleeping in parking lots where no one was allowed outside (house rules.) Something had to give.

I suppose it merits mentioning that throughout this adventure I also had a husband, entangled in his own traveling career. Our relationship has always been a real success, but our home life was becoming a bit unkempt. We acknowledged our failures and looked for a creative solution, which I insisted had to include growing some vegetables. Our first thought was to sell our house and move into the van full time with the peppers, herbs, and very wilted greens. Sometimes we can be so thick. In fact, this realization of stupidity in itself is the crux of why I garden; plants are the best lesson in 'keep it simple.'

I often look to plants when I'm trying to figure out a better way. As we renovate our house and try to make energy efficient decisions, plants have been a great lesson in solar energy. I think about them when I build things that need both stability and beauty. I appreciate what I'm able to learn when I realize that I alone am responsible for taking plants into an extended season; there are actions I can take that they will respond to, and those actions have parallels in my own life and work. These ideas may seem so small, but as an artist I can get really lost in the specifics of things without ever considering the bigger picture. Gardening makes me value simplicity above all else. No more gilding the lily. No more sleeping in parking lots, either. Now we grow a great deal of our own food, have a winter greenhouse, have planted a small orchard, and have a weekly food swap with friends. Now we grow plants just to watch them grow.

The contest is still open! Mary Ann is receiving entries until the Winter Solstice, 8:37 a.m. mountain time, December 21.

Blotanical Seed Swap

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:24:00 +0000

I came across Michelle's blog, From Seed to Table on Blotanical, and was immediately drawn to her writing and excellent photography. Living in California, she has a much longer growing season than I do, so following along is like virtual gardening for me. Michelle recently offered up some seeds that she had saved, and after I told her what I was interested in she sent me some Golden Corn Salad and Crimson Flowering Favas. This is the best! ...but now it's time to return the favor, and the only seeds I've saved are winter squashes. Does a zone 9 garden even grow winter squash? Do they have winter, or rather any need for a lasting storage vegetable? So, I've decided to give her some Luffa seeds for fun, along with pelleted carrot and lettuce seeds. Pelleted seeds have changed my gardening life, and if she doesn't already know about them, maybe they'll change hers, too!

Food Swap Monday

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:18:00 +0000

Today's Food Swap? Another success... Black Bean Soup, Pumpkin Cream Soup, Boule Bread (baked in a crockpot) and Savory Turnovers with squash & leeks, sherried mushrooms, and pecan chard pesto & goat cheese. Tune in next week for more delicious treats!

Pay it Forward

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:02:00 +0000

My nephew Jack came over yesterday to do some baking as part of a school/community project. King Arthur Flour has been to his school, handing out supplies and demonstrating techniques in exchange for a loaf of baked bread to donate to the Salvation Army. The program is called 'Pay it Forward' and every child is given 2 kinds of flour, yeast, a recipe book, a dough scraper, and bags to package 2 loaves of bread - one to keep for their family, and one to bring to school on Monday. Clearly, whoever came to demonstrate was a real pro, because Jack could do every trick he was shown - pretty cute...

flipping over flour onto the dough scraper...

kneading with his little ham hands. You can't tell from these photos, but he's kind of a badass, especially on the football field. The dough knew who was boss...

in fact, it was kind of a learning experience for me, as I don't bake loaf bread very regularly (flatbreads, yes.) We recently found a bread machine in storage, and have been making bricks ever since. But, this was inspiring, and I think I might just give it a try. It smelled and tasted great!

and just one more photo that I snuck of the girls sleeping with their heat lamp last night. Not much different from the red light all of the rotisserie chickens are lined up under at the supermarket. Luckily, they've never been to the supermarket!

Another Food Swap Monday

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:35:00 +0000

Here are the goodies! Again, a pleasure to eat but difficult to photograph for some reason... This time we had another round of fresh bread and flavorful granola, as well as a roasted root vegetable hash and a Thai winter squash soup. Everything tastes better than you can imagine! Next week we'll continue with bread and soup, a vegetable tart (exciting!) and the Wild Card category. Since we are usually able to come up with 3 out of 4 ideas, we've had fun allowing the undecided cook to surprise us, and I hope it sticks. I bet you're ready to start your own Food Swap Monday. ??

Head Start Raised Beds

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:07:00 +0000

Today we constructed three new raised beds using #2 or 'Garden Stock' cedar. I like to take care of these chores in the Fall so that the soil mix has plenty of time to cure over the winter. Because it's such a slow time of year for them, the lumber company happily cut all of our wood to size for us. This was much appreciated, as the 2 x 12's were better pickings than the 2 x 8's, but a total pain to secure in our truck. So, we were that much closer to done when we got back. First, JP made a simple template for a corner joint from the scraps:

He made sure that they were a loose fit, and traced them onto the corresponding wood:

Made the cut on the bandsaw (we can't keep a jigsaw alive for some reason. Or an avocado plant.)

Made good use of at least 3 rarely used objects in the garage; one of our house rules.

Nailed the corners together with Paslode pleasure:

And just like that, we have more space.....We did start removing the sod and turning the soil; tomorrow we'll get up early to fill the beds with leaves, rotted hay, compost, peat moss, and whatever else we can find. I can't wait to decide what to plant where!

and meanwhile, the girls kept themselves busy. I didn't get a picture, but one of them flew onto JP's plate while he was eating a sandwich - good stuff...

First Ever Food Swap

noreply@blogger.com (JP) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:50:00 +0000

Yesterday morning before work, some friends and I came together for our first ever 'Food Swap.' Above is the booty, but there are a few disclaimers to be noted. Firstly, I'm a stickler for decent photographs, and this is one was not working out, so I decided to come back to it when I returned later in the afternoon. Really, this was JP's idea, but he forgot to mention that he would be eating most everything I was trying to photograph all day long. And I do mean everything...

Also, the bread, granola, and salad dressing were made by others, but the fruit chutney on the right is just a falsified stand in for the apple butter and hummus I gave out. Next week, I swear I'll get it right, as this little still life does not do any justice to how great everything tasted.

Now, for the specifics: We are currently a group of 4 (teetering on both 3 and 5) who have agreed to make larger batches of snacks and sides to share weekly. Our true intent is to trade main dishes, soups, stews, vegetables and bread throughout the winter, in order to save each other time and effort, and also because we're excited to try each other's food. With the Holidays coming, we've decided to keep it a bit simpler for now, but who knows when we'll jump in deeper. Or fall apart completely. But, the good news is that we've all agreed to continue on next week, and I am totally excited!

Tomorrow JP and I have a garden date (this is big news) so we'll be building some more raised beds, creating an interior hoop system inside the greenhouse, and with tremendous luck, building my dream composter/pergola/arbor. This last one has been difficult to talk him into, as he doesn't think that compost systems need stairs, but I have a secret diagram of his brain which I consult when I really need to sway his reactions. Photos to follow!