Casita Gatita

Can You See a Difference?

2012-01-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

Any difference between these photos besides a little less than two months (and a 180 degree flip)?

Okay, so I had to change jeans, but that is the same top, same phone, but different me!

Today marks the official 15 lb day, with another 15 (or 20) to go! I need to figure out how to treat myself for a halfway mark.

Clothing for Future from the Past

2012-01-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

So I have been successfully losing weight! 170 pounds on October 22nd, and now 155.5 as of this morning the 14th of January. Not too darn shabby if you as me. Now this means I have options. A lot of my clothing is no longer useable or is headed that way soon due to:

weight loss! (mostly shirts and underwear/bras)
age (yeah, most of my jeans are pushing 6 years old now, and many of my shirts too)
abuse (shirts and pant legs)

When I started on this whole getting-healthy kick I made a pact with myself (and the hubby) that I could have $1 per pound lost as well as $1 for each day I stay in my calorie range...which means I have DATATADAH! $92.50 to use as I please!

Now I know I want a massage (at $50 a pop for the lady I fell in love with at my first massage), and I need clothing. Underwear and bras are taken care of for now...though more will have to appear once I reach stable weight. That leaves me needing new clothes--and that could be difficult.

You see, I am built a bit...curvy. Shirts are not made for people like me, nor are dress pants/skirts. Boobage just gets in the way a bit, and a waist also adds to the difficulty.

The solution? SEWING! I have the power of a sewing machine and a pretty good skill at using it. I also have an awesomely cheap second hand store here (Tienda de Segundas I love you!). At less than a buck a piece for most items I can buy a lot of clothing and still have room for notions (buttons, additions, buckles etc) to make the clothes my own.

My first eyeopener to this was making a skirt for attending The Rocky Horror Picture Show (we put a showing on here twice a year and I occasionally attend). It started life as a too-small woolen plaid school skirt that hit me at the ankles. It ended as a not-quite-too-short skirt that fit me. The skirt is not quite finished and still needs a couple buckles and a more secure fastening device--pictures will happen when I get that finished. Yeah, yeah, I know, a grown woman fitting about in a school girl skirt...At least I have the figure for it again, and there are no complaints from the hubby! Total output for the skirt: $1 as I already had thread, so probably $3 total with fasteners and buckles. Yay!

So now I will be going on a shopping expedition to see what clothes could be easily altered to fit me and look nice all at the same time. Jeans I will probably still buy new, but shirts and skirts tend to be much simpler. I am going to have to find a good Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday afternoon to go, since that is the only time the shop is open.

I will, of course, try to have before and after shots when I remember. I did the skirt so fast (and on a whim) that I forgot to take a before. Oh well!

Mater Update

2011-12-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

Remember those tomatoes from last month? They were all green and rock-like. They looked...sad.

Well now they are NOT sad, and the remaining tomatoes are rapidly becoming tasty red balls of matery goodness!

I have been using them up, but that is a lot of maters. As you can see, I still have some stragglers that are taking their sweet time ripening--but that is good, since it gives me time to use the ripe ones before they go bad.

I also have bad news. It froze hard here this last week, and most of the things I planted in my winter garden did not make it through. I know that the leeks will survive, but the rest is gone thanks to a few nights of 5 degree weather and only in the mid 20's for daytime. Se la vie (pardon my non-existent French)

Along with that colder weather came snow--lots of it. To the tune of 10.5" on the flat out in front of my house. That is a ton of snow for the middle of the desert--especially since it all fell in one day! Three days out, the roads are still rather slick, but the snow is rapidly melting due to the unrelenting sun.

I did get another lamb this year--a big boy just shy of 90 pounds. He made a tasty dinner of lamb shoulder last night. Recipe: add lamb shoulder to crock pot. Cover with Penzey's Lamb Seasoning. Cook on high 6 hours. Add scrubbed sweet taters and carrots to the top of the pot. Cook two more hours. Devour. No pictures, but man was he tasty.

Gathering In

2011-10-31T14:49:00.000-06:00

I took a look at the forecast for the next few nights and realized that the freezes are here to stay. That means that the tomatoes needed to be stripped of anything that could possibly ripen inside (which is pretty much anything shiny dark green instead of dull colored green).

I went out to my now-frostbitten plants and found over 30 pounds of maters, all the way from deep red to green. I have them spread out in produce boxes left over from Costco nectarines and peaches so that the green ones have time to ripen and they all can not mold before I get around to using them.

I separated the very green tomatoes from the ones that were trying to ripen already and made sure to only have the ripening maters in a fairly thin layer to minimize squishage.

Here you see all but the red tomatoes, which I am using for dinner, and thus, have no photo. Please forgive the booze bottles--my husband was bottling beer last night and those are the remaining empties (now if only either of us could drink more than a glass a week we might get rid of some of the bottles!).

Eventually, once the maters are more or less ripe, they will be turned into sauce and frozen...or just chopped up and frozen depending on how industrious I want to be. Heck, I may even can some and break in that pressure cooker again!

I also picked a half-bag of raspberry leaves (minus any spiny bits on the leaf stem) and a large handful of mint for tea. The leaves are all drying in the dehydrator right now (95 degrees for my records) and we will have tasty tea during the winter--free of pesticides, shipping costs, and well...any costs other than the electricity to dry the leaves.

I think that covers it for now. (and so far, no sprouting in the new bed)

I AM Accountable--A Note to Me

2011-10-29T20:36:00.000-06:00

I am accountable for my actions.

I put the food in my mouth.

I decide to exercise or not.

I am my own worst enemy. Not prednisone. Not RA. Not genetics. Me.

With positivity surrounding me, I am the only one who can choose whether or not to be healthy, whether or not to achieve what my body needs, what my husband craves, and what I want. The hardest part of this whole weight loss strategy is convincing myself that I am worth it. I am worth it. I want to be healthy.

I have told myself for so many years that I saw 140lbs as it flew by, and 135 would never happen. Well. Now I plan--No--WILL get down to 145. Depending on how I feel there, I will go on. But I am convincing myself that I WILL do it. Not can. Not might. Not should. WILL.

I know that I am not convinced yet...but I am much closer than I was a week ago.

I also am 5.5 lbs lighter (Hey, it may be water weight, but it has to come off some time!)

First Frost of the Year and Foodage!

2011-10-29T20:34:00.001-06:00

Our official first frost date is October 11th, but we just had our first frost last night on the 28th (unlike last year where it was on the 8th I believe). The tomatoes are pretty much just a little wilted, rather than being completely died back, but it definitely was enough to put the end to their official season.

I also planted a winter bed a few days ago, so eventually we will have:
Leeks (transplants given to me of unknown variety)
Carrots (purple)
Spinach
Beets (a colorful mix)
onions (bunch)
and garlic (Spanish Roja, once I plant it a little further into November)

We shall see how cold it gets this year--if we end up with another -15F week like last year, I am not sure how much will make it through the winter. I was surprised to see that the carrots, beets, and spinach lasted through last winter despite neglect and colder temperatures than we normally have.

I also have a few pomegranate babies growing inside over the winter, along with the strawberry hanger. The pomegranates were from seed and are a white skinned variety that my mother found originally from Home Depot many years ago. I am hoping to get a few bushes up and running next spring, since they should be big enough to transplant by then. For now I need to get them up to the next size container. I didn't really expect every seed to grow like it did!

Onward to a redone recipe from Betty Crocker:

Impossibly Easy Quesadilla Pie (or I. E. Chile Relleno Pie) with Chicken--Gluten Free

(Image courtesy of Betty Crocker)

1 can (4.5 ounces) chopped green chiles, well drained 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8 ounces) 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro 3/4 cup Bisquick® Gluten Free mix 1 cup milk 2 cans (5 oz each) cooked chicken (do not drain) 3 eggs (salsa if desired for garnish)

Heat oven to 385 degrees.

Generously coat a deep dish 9" pie plate with cooking spray. (I think a regular pie plate will work, but it may be close)

Drain chicken into a microwaveable container.

Add milk to drained juice (should be about 1.5 cups total liquid)

Microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes.

Mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Add in warm liquids and mix.

Pour into pie plate and bake for 45 minutes or until set and slightly browned on top.

Serve with salsa or sour cream if desired.

Serving Size: makes 6 servings in a 9" pie plate

Servings Per Recipe: 6

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 336.5

Total Fat: 19.3 g

Cholesterol: 158.4 mg

Sodium: 704.6 mg

Total Carbs: 15.7 g

Dietary Fiber: 0.6 g

Protein: 23.6 g

Of Tomatoes, Potatoes, and Squash Bugs

2011-09-11T12:25:00.001-06:00

The Cherokee Purple tomatoes that I thought were dead were very much not dead! In fact, they are just starting to ripen and oh my are they tasty. I also rescued a Brandywine tomato from our hardware store to see how those tasted as well. In addition to those, there are a ton of Glacier and Early Girl maters. Here is a picture of the three heirloom tomatoes: Brandywine (pink), Glacier (red), Cherokee Purple (you take a guess).

But why no Early Girl photo? They look exactly like a small version of the red Glacier tomato above. And I forgot.

Last night my husband and I did a taste test of all the tomatoes, both with and without salt (our preferred topping for maters). The results:

Brandywine tomatoes taste exactly like store bought fridge tomatoes, and are nothing to rave about, though they are rather meaty. They ripen late, an just started about a week ago. Also not very heavy producers. Perhaps they want a more acidic/humid/steady climate.
Glacier tomatoes taste very much like how we imagine a tomato should taste, and tend toward a more tart than sweet finish (which I like). They are very meaty and are great for sandwiches.
Early Girl maters have a tougher skin than the other varieties and have a high goop-to-meat ratio. They ripen early though, and are at the end of their season right now.
And finally, the Cherokee Purple tomato was the cream of the crop, tasting rich, and tomatoey, not too sweet and not too tart and even more heavenly with salt. They are late to ripen and are just now getting ripe for me, but also are heavy producers.

So what does all this mean? Well, the Cherokee Purple (and Brandywine) are what is called a "determinate" tomato, which means that it ripens most of its fruit all at the same time (this week apparently). The Glacier and Early Girl tomatoes are both "indeterminate", meaning that they ripen throughout the season. All this combines to meant that I will be planting lots of Cherokee Purple and Glacier, with a smattering of Early Girl to get my season going sooner. And no Brandywine.

I also dug my potatoes today, and got a paltry four pounds of taters from the giant bed--a far cry from last year's 15lb haul. I learned my lesson though: make sure to break up the straw when putting it over the plants lest the roots not get air...and not grow their tasty tubers. Instead the plants grew very vigorously on top, but had very few taters down below.

Now onto less savory matters.

Squash Bugs stink.

The darn shield shaped evil-doers ate every last vine in my garden, first on the summer squash, then to pumpkins, to acorn squash, then on to the cucumbers, watermelons, and cantaloupe. Not one vine survived. I got a few zucchini before they attacked, as well as a few acorn squash and pumpkins. No melons. No cucumbers. Bastards.

Oh well, that is how gardening works sometimes. Time to go eat some maters and mozzarella and contemplate next year's garden plans.

My first tomato of the year!

2011-07-12T21:20:00.002-06:00

Hi there,
I have gotten my first ripe tomato of the season today! Unfortunately for you there are no photos...it didn't last very long among ravenous tomato munchers. I should have one more ripe tomato tomorrow and I can snap a photo of the plants then...as long as I don't munch it first.

On a growing method note: I leave most of the weeds that grow under and around my garden (with the exception of anything that is perennial, has spines, or that may become a problem in the future). The plants seem to like the extra drought protection that the layer of live mulch provides. I do not hesitate to pluck weeds if they do seem to be stealing too much water or space from my planted babies. I also tend to have grass growing in my garden beds, despite my efforts to keep it out--it appears that the garden is the only place that grass likes growing here in the desert, but I am none to fond of how well it can choke out other plants.

In other news, the potatoes are almost ready for early picking--they have flowers, but are still green on the plants and have not started to die back. This would be the perfect time for fingerling potatoes, if my family liked/needed them. Instead, I will be waiting until the taters are a little more mature before going after them. Besides, I have local potatoes to last me for the rest of the week at least!

Other than that, the zucchini are growing like mad and I have two large ripe green zuchs in my fridge, and the cucumbers are flowering, but no fruit as of yet. I have a large pumpkin sitting in the garden, as well as some baby watermelons. The corn, as expected, grew vertically very well, but did not produce much along the lines of edible cobs thanks to heat, wind, and moths. I did manage to get one two foot long corn cob that had some kernels that were tasty. (Yes. 2 feet long. Too bad it never developed into a real ear--I still have hopes for the later-planted corn to maybe get one or two edible ears). I am hoping that the extreme dry and wind we have been having will not affect the garden too much!

Now I think that I will go outside and dance in the rain before it passes (or turns into hail... ug...that four letter word would send me to tears right now)!

Garlic Harvest Time!

2011-07-04T12:27:00.000-06:00

Well, I just came back from a two week medical emergency trip (everything is okay now) and had good friends taking care of the garden. Everything in the garden was quite happy and growing away. Before I left the rest of the garlic was almost ready to pick, but not quite, so when I got back it was really ready to be plucked!

All told there are about 30 bulbs, including some that fell off of their stems, and one that I ...um...dug into. oops. I dug them up yesterday afternoon and let them sit on the ground overnight. They did get rained on a bit, but not enough to cause any problems. Today I cleaned them up and braided them. Cleaning just involved removing the clinging dirt and any loose skins, then tearing/cutting off the roots to prevent space for things to grow and moisture to collect. Braiding is occasionally hard to start, but easy once you get going. One word of warning: it is easy to get garlic splinters if you are not careful when braiding--don't slide your hand down the stems and leaves if you can help it. Learn from my fail.

Anyway, here is a photo of the newly braided garlic!

And another one

From here they are going to be hung in my pantry to cure and be eaten. I may mash up some with olive oil and some salt and keep it in the fridge as instant garlic, but I have to find motivation and time for that.

One thing I did notice is that some of my garlic is already greenish blue. Apparently I have sulfur/copper enough to turn the skins green, but that will not affect the taste at all. This particular variety also has purple skins at times, so I am wondering if the blue/green tinge is related to that.

Happy garlic munching!

Giant Sunflowers are Indeed Giant

2011-06-26T15:35:00.001-06:00

Well this post is going to be quick due to a host of travel and medical issues in the family. On a good note, the garden is being taken care of by awesome friends, even when I am three states away from home.

So those sunflowers from last post? Yeah, they grew. A lot.

The roof there is 8 feet high at the bottom edge.

Here is another picture taken last week of the monsters.

So just remember that sunflowers labeled "giant" will be huge indeed. I can only wait to see how large the heads get when they ripen! (The last post's photos were taken May 29th, so that is how tall they have grown in less than a month.)

Any garden surprises for you?

First Harvest!

2011-05-29T12:48:00.002-06:00

It is now almost the end of May and I have gotten some of the first produce of the spring! I wasn't expecting to get anything out of it other than some lettuce until later next month, but there were string beans were waiting for me in the garden.

The sunflowers (which are supposed to be giants) are indeed tall--about five feet tall at the moment. I now know for future use that they really keep the area around them cool. I was relaxing in their shade during the 95 degree weather, and it was quite cool--so was the ground beneath the leaves. These particular sunflowers also seem to be exceptionally wind resistant thanks to their thick stems, which are almost an inch and a half thick!

I also found out that I have a volunteer squash plant that seems to be a pattypan type and is loaded with baby squash. I can't wait to have fresh summer squash again, but now I may end up with too much thanks to the extra plant. Oh the woes of a garden! (Insert sarcasm here)

The lettuce is ripe for the picking and is happily growing away. I should have planted more of it in with the sunflowers, but alas, most of it is in almost full sun. We shall see how long it takes the lettuce to go bitter in the heat. I also have baby spinach plants that are replacing the few winter-holdover plants that are bolting/bolted.

The garlic is nearing ripe--at least for the softneck grocery-store variety I planted. The hardneck bulbs won't be ready till at least late June. I picked some of the bulbs from each that were crowded/ripe and boy are they strong! My kitchen smells of garlic curing in the windowsill. (Normally people leave them outside for a few days to cure, but the temperatures vary so much here that I cure them inside by hanging them)

The potatoes are in need of straw to pile over the existing plants (so I get more taters growing in the straw as well as the soil), but I haven't gotten around to buying the straw yet. Oops.

Nothing else to report, so I am off for now!

Spring Garden, and..."What the heck!"

2011-04-11T15:40:00.003-06:00

When I moved into my house last year I fell in love with the garden space it has, and the two big cottonwoods that give partial shade to some of the garden. (Though have been hating the pollen from those cottonwoods for the past two weeks)

There are five beds in my garden. Three of them have wonderful soil, one is okay clay/sand, and the final bed is pretty much clay concrete. Of the five beds, two are currently in use, one mid-way through tilling and already sprouting up taters, and one growing field peas (and weeds) to try and fix the poor clay soil that is there. The last bed is fallow at the moment and will become a summer/fall garden plot once I get the chance to plan it out. All of them are watered using drip hoses (ye olde basic black sponge hoses). The beds are just the right length to run a hose all around the edge of the bed and then up the middle.

Now, on to each bed in turn.

The first has:

wintered garlic (a little over a foot tall now),
spinach (Bloomsdale Longstanding--just planted, and three plants overwintered)
sunflowers (Mongolian Giant)
bush beans (I think they are Blue Lake, but I don't really remember)
A few carrots (Nantes hold-overs from winter)
Cucumbers (Lemon)

Adding to that list will be tomatoes (Cherokee Purple and Siberian), Peppers (California Wonder Bell and Big Jim), and some corn (saved from last year) to provide a little more shade. The transplants are only about three inches tall right now and are really fragile--I repotted them into bigger containers, but I want them more wind resistant (not to mention less likely to freeze) before I plant them outside. (Note that the hose is not in my standard configuration due to fail on my part)

The second bed as it stands right now has:

Corn (Posole)
Pole Beans (Rattlesnake Snap)
Bush Beans (Blue lake I think)
Sunflowers (Mongolian Giant)
Beets (Bull's Blood--planted late, but we will see if they grow)
Cucumber (Pickling)

I am not sure what I will plant in the small section between the beets and the peas, but I think there will be room for some melons or squash and still have room for the plants to sprawl. (On the note of watering, this bed you can see the end of the buried watering hose--that keeps the water from evaporating)

Bed number three: Po Ta Toes.

Last year I pretty much had to pick-axe my way through the dirt in the potato bed. After many hours of tilling, lots of adding straw, and more tilling, I planted basic Yukon Gold potatoes and kept them covered with straw as they grew. After a good crop last year, I decided that I would give the soil a year to rest--but nature has other ideas.

This morning I went out to till the ground out there and found quite a few potatoes that were sprouting and ready to start more taters. Not only that but the soil was no longer just hard-packed clay. Instead of the concrete-like substance from last year, I now have pretty darn good soil. Not great, but definitely more happy than I ever though that it would be. The potatoes, along with the straw, water, and worms seem to have done their jobs! Anyway, I remembered a bag of organic potatoes that was trying to sprout in my pantry. Those little taters are now all cut up and drying out a bit before I plant them out with their kin in the tater plot sometime later today or tomorrow.

Here is a short rant on potatoes--seed potatoes are best, but organic works well too. Some people refuse to plant anything except seed potatoes due to risks of transferring diseases to new soils. I am a little hesitant to pay $15/lb plus shipping just to get $3 of potatoes at home. Instead, I go to either my local farmer's market and buy from the nice people there, or I pick up a big bag of organic taters from the supermarket. Neither of these are sprayed with any kind of anti-rooting hormones, and they have not had to be sprayed to within an inch of their lives to keep root rot out of them. Both grow incredibly well, with relatively low risk. If you positively want to be safe, go with the seed potatoes, otherwise organic works quite well.

Alrighty, rant finished. Back to the beds.

Bed four--that bastard clay square

This bed has issues. It is square (not a problem), small (meh), being invaded by Trumpet Vine (I HATE that plant), and has about 100% hard-packed clay. Last year I planted viny things in it and the plants flourished. The soil did not. I even made sure to add in some compost and organic matter. No love. There just was not enough plant matter and deep roots to aerate the soil. While the plants grew very well, they also took out more nutrients from an already depleted soil. Dang.

Now I need to find a way to fix all the problems--and that involves good old rotting plant matter. I picked up some seed for Field Peas to try to get some Nitrogen back into the soil as well as to break of the clay. Once the peas (or the weeds that are growing with them) are mature but not seeding, I will till all of the greenery into the soil and let it sit. Every few days I can spray it with water, and VOILA! there should be much better soil next year. Should. I hope. I doubt that I will plant anything there judging by the state of the soil right now, but I may end up with some melons there, since the plants really love that area.

Finally, bed five--all fallow

I am leaving this bed fallow for the first part of the season and plan on planting it later on with summer/fall goodies and letting one other bed have a break. Last year this bed had lots of beets and garlic, so it is not too taxed, but I still don't need quite that many plants to tend right now.

-------

Now for a quick information session named "What is THAT?!"

So, what is this little cocoon of goodness that attached itself to my vines?

The answer: A Praying Mantis Cocoon

I absolutely was amazed at how many of these little cocoons were all over my front porch area. I love praying mantises because they eat almost every bad bug in my garden that I can think of, and leave the good bugs (like ladybugs) alone. If you see any of these hard little brown things hanging from your siding, overhang, plants, etc, make sure to leave them alone. Eventually these will turn into pest-eating machines! (Until then they sorta look like turds...)

Spring--It has Sprung!

2011-04-11T15:13:00.001-06:00

Well, it has been a long (and quiet) four months since I last updated. Now that I am getting around to gardening it is time to get this blog up and running again. (Especially since it beats working on actual work) If you look really hard at the first photo you will notice tons of daisies sprouting up of nowhere. Yup. I got April Fooled--My mother brought down silk versions my least favorite flower (daisies)and stuck them all over the front yard! (Complete with daisies in the potted plants)

So, after all that fun, what new perennial additions have found their way into my yard?

Three raspberries
Two Semi-Dwarf Peaches
One Italian Plum
Two more grape vines

What does that mean? Lot of holes. Too many to do in one day. In fact, it took me and my husband about two weeks to get everything in, mostly due to a bad case of Trumpet Vine. Now I don't normally go out of my way to kill pretty and non-spiky flowers, but Trumpet Vine is the one exception. It spreads by runners, is highly destructive, and is nigh-impossible to actually kill--even with contact herbicides. This is the one case where I had no problem turning my husband loose with a can of generic RoundUp. We shall see if it is actually dead, or just mostly dead.

So all that aside, I have new bushes, and all of them are holding up well. The 40-60mph winds have not been doing the new babies any favors, but the 80 degree days do tend to make them happy. Even the birds are enjoying it, especially since the new trees mean that water is readily available to them.

In addition to the trees and shrubs I went ahead and planted strawberries in one of those new-fangled Topsy-Turvy Strawberry Planters. I wasn't sure if it would hold up to the wind without bashing the poor plants to pieces, but so far it seems to have weathered the storms quite nicely (as long as I remember to water it). I have had bad luck with strawberries down here in the desert--I could get the greens to grow, but the berries never would form. It looks like this year I may have found a way to grow my strawberries and eat them too!

Are you planting trees? Bushes?
Do you have any suggestions for the evil that is Trumpet Vine?
Or are you still digging out from snow?

Gardening Greens--in Mid-November

2010-11-18T12:13:00.001-07:00

Last night it got down to 24degrees (F), but my lettuce, carrots, beets, and spinach all survived happily. Why? The miracle of row covers. In this case, I used a simple doubled over sheet of heavy black plastic. While I don't normally suggest plastic for row covers as it can actually backfire (the plastic doesn't breathe), I couldn't find my normal heavy row cover last night.

As some background, I planted most of the fall/winter garden in mid-September by just sprinkling the seeds over the row. I was too lazy to try rows again, and my seeds were old, so I knew that many would not sprout at all. The big reason that I even planted was that I had an open garden bed, and still had time before snow and freezing settled in.

Now that it is mid-November in the middle of New Mexico we are getting temperatures that make any leafy plant want to curl up and freeze. I have been lucky so far--low temperatures normally above 28F, which means I don't need to cover the plants. Yesterday though, I checked my trusty NOAA site and saw that the temperature was not going to be that warm. In fact it was supposed to be down to 24F and windy--bad news for uncovered plants. Right after I saw that I hopped outside and scrambled to cover up the row. This morning when I uncovered the row, the plants were wet, and slightly squished, but very happy and not frozen.

So here is my recommendation for anyone trying to extend their garden season:

Check the forecasted low--if it is going to be below around 27-28, your leafy greens may suffer
Cover your garden plants before dark if possible--it holds the heat better--but any time is better than none
Covering options:

old sheets
towels
light blankets
plastic sheeting
for long term storage: thick layers of straw (it will cause seeds to sprout later)
purchased row covers
milk jugs with the bottom cut off (keep the lid)
glass jars
pretty much anything that you can put on before it gets cold and take off once it warms up

Make sure to take off the covering in the morning (if it is going to be above freezing)

if you have cloth covers it should be fine to leave it on a few days
plastic should NOT be left on any longer than necessary because the plants will sweat, and could get too hot--or that extra plant sweat could actually cause worse freezing

Water deep during the day before especially cold nights

the water helps to hold heat from during the day

If the plants look shriveled and sad in the morning, don't pick the shriveled leaves

either they will bounce back and rehydrate, or
they will act as a mini blanket for the plant next time it gets cold

How long till my garden dies? Who knows. High desert winter and fall gardening is never a sure thing. I don't think that I can keep my garden alive outside if it drops consistently below 20F, or if it stops warming up during the day (probably early to mid December if I am lucky). On the other hand, there is always the option of rescuing some of the plants and bringing them inside to grow over the winter and ignore the frigid temperatures.

Growing in the high desert means that there is a long growing season, but finicky growing conditions. Temperatures swing wildly every day--24F low followed by a high of 62F is what today's forecast was, tonight's low will be 36F with no need to cover the garden. Aah the fun of gardening in the middle of nowhere!

How do you extend your garden or do you? Do you live somewhere where you can plant a fall garden--or do you hibernate and move inside for fall and winter?

A Gluten-Free Guide

2010-09-10T21:56:00.004-06:00

So you have Celiac. Oh no! No food! No bread! NO PIZZA AND BEER!!!!

WRONG

You can have your food (and pizza and beer) and eat it, and not suffer too!

You have options. Chances are you will have to ask questions when eating out, and will become a label-reading expert, but you can eat pretty darn normally with some hints and practice--and not get glutened at the same time. You may also find that you have a really hard time eating dairy right now--that will happen most times after eating gluten--give it some time and you probably will have no problem with that glass of milk or bowl of ice cream (assuming the ice cream is GF, of course—no malted milkshakes allowed).

Many restaurants are becoming aware of GF needs, and have separate GF menus. You may have to ask your server specific questions to make sure that your food is safe, even at these places (do you have one frier for both breaded foods and fries/chips?). Tip your server well and they won't mind asking the cook about ingredients of the day, and don't be afraid to send something back--better to wait than to get glutened. Be VERY careful at buffets as you can never really be sure that something is GF or has not been contaminated by other foods--I do eat at buffets occasionally, but I get to know the places and am VERY careful... and get glutened sometimes anyway.

Here are a few places that cater to GF patrons:
•    P.F.Chang's/PeiWei (GREAT Chinese food, ask for GF soy sauce)
•    Wendy's (Check the website, but they have lots of cheap GF food--the chili is really good)
•    Carraba's (ask for the GF menu)
•    Outback (ask for the GF menu, or check online first, pass on the bread)
•    Red Robin (ask for the GF menu, pass on the fries unless they have a dedicated no-gluten frier)
•    Boston Market (look online, or ask for a GF menu--they tend to be out of the menus though)
•    Chili's (ask for a GF menu, it may take them a few minutes to print one out)
•    Lone Star Steakhouse (ask for GF menu or online)

Yup, options, lots of them. Some are cheaper or tastier than others, but all are gluten free. Here are some Grocery store notes and suggestions

Grocery Stores with many GF options:
•    Sunflower Market (my favorite around here)
•    Trader Joe's (their prices are between Sunflower and Whole Foods)
•    Whole Foods (as a last resort, but they have lots of options)
•    John Brooks/Smiths (each location carries different products--they both accept requests)
•    Amazon.com (lots of GF options—and Amazon Prime is free for anyone with a .edu email address right now)

So now that you know where you can find GF foods, what can you eat?

Here are some easy and naturally gluten free foods that are easy to keep around the house:
•    White/Brown Rice (good for use like oatmeal)
•    Corn Grits/Polenta/Masa (careful--some brands have flour contamination, but most are fine)
•    Beans, Potatoes, Corn, Veggies, millet, quinoa
•    Lettuce (as sandwich wrappers they work great)
•    All Chex cereals (except, of course, the wheat chex)**only the brand name ones are GF***
•    block cheese (except for blue cheese and other veined cheese)
•    Corn Chips (almost all brands--if you get them in a restaurant they may be contaminated from the fryer)
•    Frozen Fries/Tater Tots (Ore-Ida brand is safe, as long as fried in oil that has not had gluten products fried in it)
•    Yogurt (check for modified food starch--yoplait is okay, as is the Walmart brand and Dannon)
•    Vinegars (all except malt vinegars or flavored vinegars with "malt" in the ingredients)
•    Mayo/Miracle Whip
•    Corn Tortillas (make VERY sure they don't have flour in there as a binder)
•    Buckwheat (even though "wheat" is there...but not buckwheat pancake mix, sorry)
•    Jello Puddings and Jello (except for cookies and cream, check new flavors their starch is all corn)
•    Handi-snacks puddings (except for cookies and cream and tapioca, starch is corn)
•    Larabars--instant meal bars
•    "Imagine" Chicken Broth (and I believe their beef broth too)
•    "Pacific" broths
•    "Better Than Bullion"stock base (not the pork or seafood versions)
•    "Kraft" Brand products (all are labeled clearly if any gluten ingredients are used)—they even have some new hamburger helpers that are GF
•    Kroger Scalloped Potatoes (at last look had no gluten ingredients in it--seen at Smith's)

Easy GF Foods (and Brands when I have a preference)

•    Rice Pasta (Tinkiyada is a great brand that doesn't get mushy):
•    Bread (Udi's Whole Grain is great and not cardboard like most GF"breads", fairly affordable too, or Glutino's Raisin Bread for french toast)
•    Bob's Red Mill GF hot cereal (like oatmeal, but cheaper than GF certified oats)
•    Crackers (Glutino is good, as are the crackers at Costco/Sams though though they tend to be harder)
•    EnviroKids products (granola bars as well as flavored cereals, expensive but handy)
•    Nature's Path GF Cereals (Maple Sunrise and their Corn flakes are great, but expensive)

Frozen/Instant GF Food:
•    Amy's Kitchen (labeled clearly, and okay food, but not great)
•    India Kitchen (Very tasty Indian food)
•    Glutino (okay, and often on sale at Sunflower market)
•    Thai Kitchen Noodle Soups (the little rice noodle ones, cheap and quick food--NOT the udon soups)
•    Pamela's mini cookies (the larger cookies are not as good)

Tasty GF Mixes:
•    GF Bisquick
•    Glutino/Gluten Free Pantry Mixes (bread, pie crust, pizza crust, they all work well here)
•    Betty Crocker White and Chocolate Cake Mixes (the brownies suck, good yellow cake)**many canned frostings are also GF)
•    Pamela's Chocolate Cake Mix (Best Ever Chocolate GF Cake, okay white cake)
•    Chebe Bread (Good for breadsticks and making crackers, lousy for pizza crusts and rolls)
•    Pamela's Baking Mix (very good)

Here are some things to not buy:
•    most frozen pizzas. They are like chewing on expensive cardboard, but work if you REALLY need pizza, or a quick pizza crust (other than the recipe for home made later on here).
•    brown rice tortillas. You can find them frozen if you are really craving a burrito, but they are just not the same. I can't figure out a good homemade recipe for flour tortillas. Corn tortillas normally are GF--always check or ask.

Booze options:
If you see "malt" in the name, it is not gf (look http://www.triumphdining.com/blog/gluten-free-alcohol/ for more info)—this includes Smirnoff Ice, B&J coolers, and Jack Daniel’s Punch

***all distilled booze is technically gluten free, but many companies add back in flavorings and non-distilled alcohols to get their products, so you might have to watch yourself VERY carefully, especially with flavored alcohols like Chambord or flavored rums/vodkas, and some people (like me) can’t tolerate even “pure” distilled grain alcohols like Smirnoff Vodkas***

•    Redbridge beer (I believe it is a Anheiser-Busch product)
•    Bard's Tale Beer (this can be hard to find)
•    Hard Ciders (check the label as usual, but most hard ciders—not flavored beers—are safe)
•    wine (not wine coolers or flavored malt beverage)
•    port/brandy/fortified wines (really sweet and tasty)
•    Capt Morgan Rums (and all non-flavored rums from sugarcane)
•    Tequila (all from Agave)
•    Mead (from Honey)
•    Sake (rice wine)—not all rice beers are safe, most use barley as a base
•    Kahlua (Bailey’s MAY be safe, but only if your system tolerates the distilled whiskey)
•    Southern Comfort
•    Frangelico
•    Vodka (made of corn mostly, and some is from wheat—rarely potatoes—especially watch the flavored ones, since they never list ingredients)
o    Smirnoff Ice is never safe—it is a malt beverage
•    Gin (should be safe, but is normally cut with other grain alcohols)
•    Whisky/Scotch (made from gluten grains, but if fully distilled they can be okay for some people—sadly not safe for me, at least not on my budget)

Okay, lets go on to the depressing list

Here are the words to look out for on menus and ingredients:
•    Flour—assume that it is wheat, whether enriched, whole, or high protein
•    Malt--usually barley malt, and seen in many cereals, teas, and drinks
•    Barley, Wheat, Spelt, Rye, semolina, Durum, Triticale
•    modified food starch (Kraft will label this if it is from a gluten grain)
•    Oats (contaminated with wheat unless SPECIFICALLY called GF—and those are really expensive)
•    Couscous (pasta)
•    Textured Vegetable Protein (it may be from soy only, but normally is wheat and soy)—the foods that can sneak in gluten without even a thought
•    Natural Flavors (can be anything from corn, to roasted wheat, to petroleum products—check online for each brand's definition)

Commonly Glutened foods:
•    Cream of X Soup--including Tomato Soup (flour thickened)
•    Ice Cream (can be thickened with flour or have flavored gluten bits) (Most fast food ice cream is okay, skip the oreos)
•    Sausages and Processed Meats (modified food starch, check label or check online for more info)
•    Soy Sauce (some are just soy, like many store brands, so check the label)
•    Krab (the fake crab)
•    Wasabe paste
•    Shredded Cheese (look for the word "cellulose" or "modified food starch" thickened sauces/soups (mostly thickened with flour--ask the cook or read label)
•    Rice Krispies (barley malt)
•    Corn Flakes (malt flavoring)
•    many rice cakes (flavorings or malt)
•    Rice-A-Roni (has pasta with the rice)
•    Flavored Tea (check bottles or bags for barley malt flavoring)
•    Mustard (check and see if it has flour, most yellow mustards are fine)
•    Red/Green Chilie sauce—many are thickened with flour (like 505 brand, and about half of the restaurants I have talked to)
•    Bacon Bits (the little fake Bac'O's are bound with flour)
•    Subway (they all touch the bread, then dive into the bins with crumbs--it is just not safe, no matter how careful you are)
•    Crisp Rice (barley malt)--ALWAYS will have barley malt unless labeled GF
•    licorice (all soft licorice has flour)
Taco Seasoning (thickener)
•    Envelope lick-and-stick glue (sad but true--just use a damp sponge instead if licking
•    no-stick spray (some contains flour as an all-in-one no-stick baking product)

Needed items for GF cooking (especially for breads and desserts)
•    fine ground white rice flour (basic grocery store)
•    fine ground brown rice flour (basic grocery store sometimes, otherwise Sunflower or Whole Foods)
•    Xanthan Gum (Bob's Red Mill at basic grocery store—needed for bread-like stickiness)
•    Cornstarch (I get the big Sam's box because it is used a lot as a flour more than a thickener)
•    Tapioca starch/flour (Bob's red mill from reg. grocery)
•    Potato Starch (not potato flour, can be substituted 1 for 1 with Tapioca/corn starch in most cases, Bob's Red Mill makes it)
•    corn meal, corn flour (basic grocery store)
•    powdered milk/buttermilk (Excellent for adding binder and flavor to cooked goods)

Good to have:
•    Sorghum Flour (Bob's Red Mill--excellent for breads)
•    powdered egg whites (good as a binder for breads, coatings, and cookies)

Helpful Cookbooks/Authors

#1 Bette Hagman "Gluten-Free Gourmet" series (my favorite so far is "More From the GF Gourmet", excellent recipes for breads and alternate forms of everyday foods like Cream of X soup base. Most of the ingredients are easy to find. The fresh egg noodle recipe is great!

#2 Donna Washburn and Heather Butt "125 Best Gluten-Free Recipes" (this is my go-to for pizza crust)

General Notes for cooking:
•    When measuring the flours (many of which are fine powder starches), lightly spoon the flours into the measuring cup--don't pack at all.
•    Use white rice flour to make a roux for thickening, just like you would with white flour, or mix cornstarch and cool liquid and add to the sauce (bring to a boil to thicken completely).
•    Use tortilla chip crumbs instead of bread crumbs for crunchy breading
•    either clean bakeware VERY well (especially those crevices on folded pans), or purchase a special set just for GF cooking, use paper liners for muffins/cupcakes
•    If people are baking/using regular flour—stay away from the kitchen until the dust settles for a while. Breathing in the flour is enough to get gluten in your system from your sinuses (I speak from experience here—took me a while to figure it out too)

If you want GF versions of specific recipes, feel free to contact me and I can see if A: I have a recipe already tested for high altitude/New Mexican flavors (like rellenos); or B: if I can approximate a starting place or find a close alternative (so far no good replacement for tortillas).

Backstory:
(I wrote this guide for a friend of a friend. The woman was just diagnosed with Celiac, was 21, and a mother of a toddler—the last thing she had time for was muddling through learning a new way to eat with no help. It has taken me two years to get this far in gluten-free living, so I might as well share the information that I have gained in that time.)

A few disclaimers—I am not related in any way to any of the products, companies, or brands that I have listed here except as a purchaser of their wares/services. I am just spreading the information that I have gathered over the time I have spent gluten-free. And as always, this is not medical information and is not meant to treat or cure any condition--ask your doctor if you have questions about treating Celiac or gluten intolerance

Ode to Compost

2010-05-05T21:15:00.003-06:00

Dirt. Soil. Organism-rich horizons.
However you put it, I like it when I can see rich black dirt and plop baby plants or seeds into it.

New Mexico has no dirt. But we do have sand. Lots. And clay. Lots--but never interspersed nicely together as that would be too nice for drainage.

Having said that, my personal weapon against the lack of dirt is through a plethora of compost.

Ode to Compost
Thou art sweeter than a summer's day
And far better than any sand or clay.
But take so long for to become
The substance that I know and love.

We get a box of fruits and veggies a week through our CSA, I have a little bit of grass at the new house, and there are all the non-seed/spiny weeds that just BEG to be food for my future crops. Why put all that wonderful goodness into our landfill when I can lazily toss it into our compost bin and ignore it for a while? After a few months (or many months since the compost bin is done on laziness and neglect rather than by quicker methods) I strike gold!

We just moved into a new-to-us house, with gardens out back, grass out front (more on that later) and flowers all around. The old house had a compost bin full of scraps that had been working for some 9 months now. My dear housemate gave me the best present in the world in the form of two big bags of perfect-plant-food from the bottom of the bin. The rest of it we just tossed back in the composter to give it some more time. As for those two bags of goodness: one I spread over all the garden beds to give a little umph to the babies since it is warming up here again for the summer. The other bag I am saving for when we transplant three grape vines (and hopefully two fig trees) from my parent's house.

Now back to dirt--and where compost comes in.

It occurred to me when I was digging up various plots in the garden that there were definite zones in my property:

sandy (water runs into and right out of it)
clay concrete (water sits on top of it and tilling it requires lots of work)
fertilized soil (not much of this)

I also noticed from what was left behind that this was a gardening house that used traditional fertilizer and pesticides to grow and kill plants. That explained why I had not seen any weeds in the property (that and it was wintertime) until the hedge mustard decided to try and take over--they were kept at bay with various sprays.

I don't mind pesticides as a last resort, but I would much rather try starting out with improving the whole area and putting in plants that are stronger than the pests to be semi-weed-free. This poses two problems--I only have one of me and a third of an acre to keep free of spiny/sappy/poisonous invaders, and that I want to squeeze as much produce as I can out of what I do plant...with as little effort as possible and no commercial fertilizers.

So I spend some money now on a bale of oat straw, a few bags of commercial compost, and what I can get out of my own bin so that eventually, several years down the road I can have an easier time growing what works here in the desert...but in good soils.

Now back to that grass. I am in a desert and green grass is a bit of a pest to keep green, mowed, and not taken over by russian thistles or other plants. I am tempted to rip it up and ... then would have open dirt with more thistles. Instead I am going to try a method that has worked so far in the past and may work here: neglect. I plan to occasionally toss some water on it if it looks really really sad, but otherwise ignore it and just keep it mowed--weeds and all. I do make weekly sweeps for thistles and other weeds since I am allergic to them and want them out of my property. (Mostly I do the weed sweeps to prevent the evil puncture vine, or goathead, from invading. That plant is my arch-nemesis.) We will see how this experiment works.

I hope to be free of frosts from here on in, even though three days ago we had a low of 34. Today the high was 90 degrees, so I am hoping that the weather makes up its mind and leaves us with a little more spring time coolness before the real heat settles in. I am prepared for the evil heat though, and the summer plants are in the ground (with watchful eyes for frost). The watermelons and squash, along with the tomatoes, up and starting to look large... the pepper plants even have their first flower buds. Unfortunately the peas and carrots are also just starting to look good and the heat is just about high enough to kill them off before I get anything off of them! At least I can say that the garden is a success as I have spinach, chard and radishes from it in my salads now.

As a side note on salads--I am trying an experiment by replanting the root stock of spinach plants that my CSA sent me. They were thinning out their fields for the second crops to come in (like tomatoes) so they plucked and sent me the whole plants. I chopped off the leaves (and should have left one or two on them probably, but we will see) and planted them in my garden by where the other spinach is happily growing. I am hoping that at least one of the six plants takes root so that we have more home grown spinach from what otherwise would just be tossed in the compost bin.

Well, that was a rather rambling post... oh well, at least it was a post at all! I hope to have pictures of the happy garden up here in a few days now that college classes are out for the season and moving has calmed down. Until then, happy gardening!

Spring Garden is In!

2010-03-28T19:04:00.001-06:00

Of course, when moving into a new home the first thing that NEEDS to be done is to put in the garden... well...maybe not need per say, but it definitely is more fun than packing and cleaning houses! Today was my day to put in my spring garden in the nice pre-made beds.

Two of the beds were put to sleep for the winter with compost and covered, the other three needed some love in the form of weeding and tilling. While I am far from finished planting (since I still have three beds that I can fill), today was very productive and I am no longer behind schedule.

"Behind schedule? In March? How can that happen"

Here in the high desert, spring is the very short time between February freezes (mid teens at night, 40's in day) and May sweltering (60's at night, 90's in day). It is windy, moody, and in general a wonderful time of year for being outside without a long sleeved shirt, but not quite ready for shorts--except for that whole wind and moodiness I mentioned. For example: In the past two days it drizzled, then snowed, then just went to 40mph winds--all over the lunch hour. Today it was in the low 70's, sunshine, just enough breeze to be comfortable--in short it was beautiful. Welcome to spring in Central New Mexico.

Now that you know what spring really means here, you can probably guess that most "spring" plants don't have long to live before being blown away and dried out by the wind, or getting too hot and melting in the sunshine... unless they freeze to death... I tend to stick with organically grown seeds when I can get them, and I attempt (though am rarely successful) at finding heirloom or non-hybrid varieties of plants. This is the middle of nowhere, and shipping can be painful for a small packet of seeds.

The garden so far has my transplanted perennials: rhubarb and artichoke, along with a chard plant that refuses to die. To the right of the photo are a bunch of snow peas (the trellis is just visible), some radishes, and the artichoke. This little bed is only about 2 feet by six feet, but is great for these babies.

The next bed is much bigger, about 10 feet by 4 feet.

This bed was all ready to go and only needed a little tilling to get it ready for planting. It now has garlic (planted at the other house last November), spinach, lettuce, onions, scallions, beets, and radishes. I was given the onions, and leafy greens by a friend who bought too many. I babied them along till I could plant them outside. Here is a closer look at the greener side of the beds (before putting in a soaker hose)

Those babies look pretty sad now, but I think most of them will perk up

I planted most of the seeds pretty close to each other since I am not too worried about pests or having to walk between rows. I also installed a soaker hose in the large bed so that I do not have to water from above...and can be lazy.

I do have two more large beds to plant... something in. Carrots, peas maybe, who knows what else. I may leave them alone and just have them ready to plant the summer vines later on in the season. In addition to those two, there is a 4 foot diameter stock pond (now filled with soil) that will be the potato and marigold place. Why marigolds? I hear that they keep away some of the pests that like to eat my taters! I even have a bag of organic potatoes that are desperately trying to sprout under my countertop, so I figured that I could put them to good use. That will have to wait for another day, as it was plenty of work to get the garden mostly up and running.

The two beds that still needs some loving

The best part of this garden is it is an excuse to play in the dirt outside. I remember helping (or hindering) my Great Grandfather in his huge garden long ago, now I am putting some of his knowledge to work for my own garden. (Memories of him in his garden always hit me whenever I am in a shady garden with trellises--all good memories. Tasty too!) Maybe if he and green thumb is watching he can keep an eye on me and my garden--probably shaking his head and saying "no no, you're doin' it wrong"... but a funny thought anyway.

Are you planning on gardening this year? What are you planning on planting--or are you somewhere that you have already planted?