I first saw two of them on top of a PVC nest box. As I watched, I saw they were going in and out of the boxes, checking them out. It looked like a male and a female, so I thought it could be the adult pair that nested here. Eastern Bluebirds don’t necessarily migrate in winter around here, though they will range as far as necessary to find food.

bluebirds on nesting box (click on any image to enlarge)

Then I saw some more flashes of blue flying around. It looked like more than just a pair! They didn’t sit still for long, but I managed to count at least 5 of them that came to visit. And four of them perched in a tree long enough for me to get a photo. At least three of them appear to be males, though the fourth one might be male as well.

bluebirds sitting in wild cherry tree

They were gone in a few minutes, though I did see them later in the day flying around in the cemetery across the road from us. It was an unexpected Christmas present for me, and I am hoping they will be back in spring when it is time to build a nest!

Last week I was hungry for a beef roast, so I cooked a lovely, lean 3 pound arm roast from Fischer Farms in nearby Jasper, IN. I roasted it in the oven for about two and a half hours, until it was fork tender. Then I served it up along with some of our Lacinato kale and  turnips – two of our fall crops that have kept on trucking here in early January.

Beef roast, kale and turnips (click on any image to enlarge)

We got two meals from that beef roast, but that wasn’t all I had in mind for it. I took the meat off the bone, then simmered the bone in a stock pot along with some aromatic vegetables to make stock. I used the homemade stock to make vegetable beef soup. The frozen vegetables for the soup all came from our 2011 garden, including squash, cabbage, green beans, tomatoes and okra. I added the rest of the beef roast to the soup before serving.

vegetable beef soup

We got two more meals from the soup, plus we froze enough for two more servings. And that is why I call it the roast that kept on giving!

I’ve ordered most of my seeds by now, though I’m sure I will find a few things I need when it comes time to actually begin the seed starting process. Thanks to my seed saving efforts and swapping with others, I needed to order less seed than in years past – which is a good thing.

I also took a hard look at what performed well last year, and what didn’t. And then I adjusted my list accordingly! It was a banner year for tomatoes in 2011, but some varieties did not do well at all. So they are outta here! I will be planting more of the outstanding performers like Jetsetter, Eva Purple Ball and Cherokee Purple. And I will try a couple of new ones, like Black Krim and Lynn’s BFF tomato Vinson Watts.

I will also be growing a nice assortment of sweet and hot peppers this year. I still have a few of the Happy Yummy seeds if anyone is interested. You can read about this new open pollinated ‘rogue’ pepper I discovered in this post.

Asian Greens: Gai Lan Green Lance, Komatsuna Summerfest, Maruba Santoh, Mizuna Kyoto, Mizuna Ruby Streaks, Pak Choi Black Summer,Pak Choi Ching Chiang, Pak Choi Fun Jen, Pak Choi Mei Qing, Pak Choi Red Choi, Senposai, Tatsoi, Tokyo Bekana, Yukina Savoy

Beans (bush): Purple Queen, Derby

Beans (pole): Emerite, Fortex, Helda, Marvel of Venice, Musica, Yardlong Bean Red Noodle, Yardlong Bean White Seeded

Broccoli: Apollo, Diplomat, Packman

Cabbage: Earliana, Farao, Parel, Stonehead, Super Red

Carrots: Mokum, Nelson, Yaya

Cauliflower: Snow Crown

Chard: Lucullus, Ruby Red, Verde Da Taglio

Cucumber: Dasher 2, Green Fingers, Manny’s, Summer Dance, Summer Top, Tasty Green, Tasty Jade

Eggplant: Beatrice, Dancer, Dusky, Fairy Tale, Galine, Hansel, Little Prince, Pingtung Long, Rosa Bianca, Raveena, Rosita, Thai Long Green

Endive: Bianca Riccia, Red Belgian, Tres Fine

Greens: Arugula, Arugula Even’ Star, Arugula Ice-Bred, Mache Large Dutch, Mustard Purple Rapa Pop Mix, Purslane Golden, Saisai Leaf Radish

Kale: Beedy’s Camden, Lacinato, Rainbow Lacinato, Winterbor

Kohlrabi: Kolibri, Kossak, Winner

Lettuce: Anuenue, Australian Yellow Leaf, Deer Tongue, Des Morges Braun, Devil’s Ear, Double Density, Flashy Trout Back, Gentilina, Hyper Red Rumple, Lingua di Canarino, Loma, Merlot, Oak Leaf, Radichetta, Red Sails, Rouge d’Hiver, Ruby, Sierra, Simpson Elite, Spotted Trout(aka Forellenschluss), Winter Density

Okra: Burmese, Louisiana Green Velvet, Perkins Long Pod

Onion: Candy, Guardsman, Walla Walla, White Spear

Pepper(hot): Aji Dulce, Anaheim, Ancho 211, Biggie Chili, Fushimi, Golden Greek, Happy Yummy, Holy Mole, Jalapeno El Jefe, Pasila Bajio, Serrano Del Sol

Pepper (sweet): Bell Boy, Big Bertha, Carmen, Giant Marconi, Golden Calwonder, Gypsy, Gourmet, Happy Yummy, Jimmy Nardello’s, Jupiter, Orange Blaze, Pimento di Padron, Snapper, Yummy

Potato: Kennebec, Red Norland, Yukon Gold

Radicchio: Castelfranco, Indigo, Variegata di Lusia

Radish: China Rose, Green Meat, Minowase Summer Cross, Shinden Risoh

Spinach: Gigante Inverno, Merlo Nero, Space, Viroflay

Squash(summer): Cavili, Enterprise, Gentry, Partenon, Striato d’Italia, Superpik, Surething, Tondo Nizza

Squash(winter): Boston Marrow, Bush Delicata, Early Butternut, Gold Nugget, Kumi Kumi, Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck(pumpkin), Small Wonder(spaghetti), Table Ace

Sweet Potatoes: Beauregard, Hernandez

Tomatillo: Purple, Verde

Tomatoes: Amish Paste, Better Boy, Big Mama, Black Cherry, Black Krim, Champion II, Cherokee Purple, Early Girl, Eva Purple Ball, Golden Rave, Golden Sweet, Green Zebra, Health Kick, Jetsetter, Juliet, Mountain Fresh Plus, Mountain Magic, Rio Grande, Sungold, Super Sweet 100, Vinson Watts, Viva Italia

Turnips: Hakurei, Oasis, Purple Top White Globe, Tokyo Cross

When I heard that the first special challenge for the Dark Days Challenge was to make soup or a one pot meal, I knew I was in luck. Soups are a mainstay here in winter, and as it happened I was planning on making a pot of chili this week anyway.

I think everyone has a different idea an what makes a good bowl of chili. For me, it means ground beef, beans, and a spicy red base with lots of tomatoes. Fortunately 2011 was a great year here for tomatoes. We have a lot of them in the freezer and pantry in various forms, including sauce, puree, whole tomatoes, oven roasted and dehydrated. For this batch of chili I used our freezer tomato sauce, puree and some whole tomatoes.

chili ingredients (click on any image to enlarge)

Other than the beef and beans, everything in this chili came from our gardens, including the chili powder. I make our own powder from an assortment of homegrown dried peppers, which gives it a sweet and spicy taste. I also added some of our roasted Anaheim type peppers, some diced bell peppers I froze last fall, a little of our chopped onions and a couple of cloves of garlic.

After browning the Stonewall Farms ground beef, I drained the grease and added the onions, garlic, peppers and chili powder and let that saute for a few minutes. Then I poured in the tomato products, and let it all simmer for about an hour.

I added the already cooked red beans at the end. I used some local red beans I found at Rivercity Co-op recently. I had cooked them in the pressure cooker, then packaged the beans in pint containers and froze them for later use. The no salt added beans are a great alternative to canned beans, and the beans retain their shape and consistency after freezing.

chili

I served it up topped with a little grated local raw milk cheddar and some scallions from the greenhouse. It all made for a great tasting batch of chili. And I only dirtied up one pot making it! To see what other gardeners are cooking up from their pantries, visit the Gardener of Eden (aka Robin), host of Thursdays Kitchen Cupboard.

greenhouse in January (click on any image to enlarge)

The greenhouse beds and benches are full of growing things. Just walking in there is a bit of a challenge, but I try and take advantage of every bit of growing space. I’ve got some onions growing in containers that I have been harvesting as needed as scallions. These were planted from sets and plants I got last fall (more on that later).

be careful where you step in the greenhouse!

I also have salad boxes planted with various greens. The mini salad box in the photo below was planted with a Misticanza mix from Seeds of Italy. It should be ready for harvesting soon.

mini salad box with Misticanza mix

Several of our potted rosemary plants are spending the winter on the greenhouse bench. One is covered in blooms at the moment – talk about an overachiever! That’s some Simpson Elite lettuce growing behind it in a container.

rosemary in bloom

Another of the mini salad boxes is planted with arugula. With arugula planted inside the greenhouse and outside in one of the cold frames, we are unlikely to run out of one of our favorite greens any time soon.

mini salad box with arugula

The two greenhouse beds are planted with a variety of hardy vegetables and herbs. Lettuce, spinach, pak choi, mizuna, maruba santoh, chard, parlsey and onions are currently growing there.

greenhouse beds

Outside the greenhouse, the cold frames are covering an assortment of plants as well. The first cold frame is planted entirely in spinach, and has been keeping us supplied for a couple of months now. The varieties planted are Space, Giant Winter and Viroflay.

cold frame #1 with spinach

The second cold frame is planted in lettuce. All the varieties are doing great so far, as are the weeds. Of course chickweed is edible, as long as it doesn’t choke out everything else. But that’s not the only ‘weed’ in there. Looks like some weeding is in order!

cold frame #2 with lettuce

The third cold frame is a mix of Asian greens and arugula. The komatsuna on the right has gotten so big it gets some of the leaves smashed by the cold frame lid. I’ll have to rethink my planting strategy next year, though it hasn’t really hurt the plants that much. I’ve harvested some of the pak choi already, cutting it near the soil line so it will sprout again. The dark green leaves in the middle are Yukina Savoy.

cold frame #3 with Asian greens and arugula

The fourth cold frame is planted with mostly lettuce and a little tatsoi. It was planted later than the others, so it’s not quite as far along. Still, it has made good growth for this time of year. If all the lettuce in the cold frames survives the winter, we will be eating a lot of salads!

cold frame #4

The last cold frame is planted with senposai, which is a komatsuna/cabbage cross. This is my first time overwintering it, so it will be interesting to see how it performs. So far, it’s doing great.

cold frame #5 with senposai

This year I am conducting an experiment with growing onions. I planted Walla Walla slips back in mid October, then I covered the bed with a low tunnel arrangement using Agribon material. Hopefully by giving the onions some protection I will improve my chances of success in overwintering them.

onion bed covered with Agribon material

As of early January, the onions seem to be doing nicely under cover. I also planted some red and white onion sets in another bed in early November, and covered them with straw. My hope is that these plantings will give us onions earlier than usual this spring and summer. I also planted some of the sets and slips in containers for use as scallions.

onions growing under cover

That’s a look at how the gardens are growing here in January. Winter gardening results are always unpredictable here, but this season is looking like it will be a good one so far. I hope you have enjoyed the tour!

I have a confession to make. While I’ve eaten gnocchi before, I’ve never made it. That is, until yesterday. Making gnocchi has been on my radar screen ever since the folks at Curbstone Valley cooked up a batch last fall, using some of their abundance of heirloom winter squashes. I drooled over the photos, but that was as far as I got. Then I ran across them again while looking at some of the Dark Days meals at AnnieRie Unplugged. And again, my mouth watered

I decided I could easily make some SOLE gnocchi using ingredients on hand. Since we have an abundance of sweet potatoes, I decided to use them instead of winter squash. And I ground some of the local red wheat for the flour. Add an egg from Stonewall Farms, and I had the basics for making some gnocchi!

ingredients for gnocchi (click on any image to enlarge)

The recipe I loosely followed can be found here. The raw ingredients for the gnocchi are shown in the photo above. After scrubbing, I baked the sweet potato in a 425°F oven for about an hour, until it was really soft and tender. While it was baking, I ground enough wheat to make 2 cups of whole wheat flour. After the sweet potato cooled, I scooped out the yummy orange flesh and fluffed it up a bit with a fork. Then I added the lightly beaten egg, some grated nutmeg, and a bit of salt.

I mixed in about 2 cups of the flour for the amount of sweet potato I had (15 ounces). Once I got the dough right, I divided it into 4 pieces, shaped into logs, and cut into 1 inch pieces. Lacking a gnocchi board, I used the back of a fork to form grooves in the gnocchi. Then I cooked them in small batches for about 2-3 minutes, until they floated.

fresh garden sage

For a sauce, I made a brown butter sage sauce using some freshly harvested sage leaves, and a little butter. Our sage plant has gotten huge, and is loaded with soft grey green leaves. I don’t use sage in a lot of dishes, but I love it in herbed butter creations.

For a side vegetable, I sauteed a little of our Black Tuscan (aka Lacinato) kale. For seasoning I sliced two cloves of our 2011 garlic and added a bit of olive oil and salt. While the kale was cooking I soaked a few of our dried tomatoes in water to soften them. The kale cooked in no time. I threw in the tomatoes, and it was time to plate up the food and eat!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Tuscan Kale

Once again, I have to say the kale stole the show for me. My first attempt at making gnocchi was so-so. I think when I make it again I will stick to a more traditional recipe and use softer flour and add either ricotta or Parmesan cheese (or both). It is possible to ruin a dish by trying to make it too healthy, and I think the whole wheat I used was just too much for the gnocchi. Plus I overcooked one batch, and that didn’t help either. But that didn’t stop us from cleaning our plates though!

I’ve already got a dish in mind for next week and the Dark Days Challenge. I am thinking comfort food, and something I’ve made a hundred times. I have all the ingredients on hand, and I’ll be back later to report on the results.