I can't seem to stop the zucchini (courgette, to our European friends and family) from growing. A plant will have a two-inch-long fruit on Sunday afternoon, and by Wednesday night it's a five-pound monster! I have zucchini and yellow squash in 5 gallon buckets all over the kitchen. When shredded, each fruit is averaging 18 cups of zucchini or enough to make 18 loaves of zucchini bread.
Fortunately, the rules of homebased processing in Kentucky allow me to produce baked goods that contain home-grown ingredients. I've made three deliveries to the farmers' market this month, and have almost sold out each time. I make large loaves (1.5 pounds), small loaves (1/2 pound) and muffins. I've made plain zucchini bread, chocolate zucchini bread, and zucchini-banana bread. The top seller is plain, 1.5 pound loaves. Which is actually my most economical item to produce.
I've also been canning - kosher dill pickles (some already scheduled on a flight to Dallas at Christmas), bread 'n' butter pickles, yellow squash sweet relish, and three temperatures of salsa. All of those will go to the farmers' market for sale. Some things I keep at home, though -my favorites: roasted red peppers, pesto and spaghetti sauce.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Work, Work, Work
All of a sudden it's harvest time! My vegetable garden is still not a pretty as I would like it to be - no weeds, tomatoes all staked up, beans and cucumbers growing up trellises, but this year has been the best year yet. When we took over our allotment in England, the weeds were tall, but the soil was rich. Our allotments were started during World War II, and had been continuously occupied. Especially in our first year, we grew far more vegetables than we knew what to do with.
It's all different over here in Kentucky. I've had to learn all over again when to sow seeds, when to plant out and when to harvest. What to plant and what to harvest. Since I am converting grass pasture into a vegetable garden, I'm battling grass, giant annual weeds, clay soil, soil compaction and low fertility. At least I have earthworms, now (I started with none). So there's a few things I'm just going to have to give up on for a couple of years - potatoes (ground's too hard) and sweetcorn (not fertile enough), to start with. Globe artichokes are struggling, and cucumbers (ground's too hard AND not fertile enough).
I have a cunning plan...this fall I will create three mushroom beds at the end of my garden. Once the mushrooms have digested all the straw, cardboard, wood shavings and weeds I can gather, I'll move the mushrooms to another location on the garden. The next spring I'll go where the mushrooms were, and plant a soil building mixture of legumes and long radishes, to fix nutrients in the soil and further break up compaction. I'll be able to plant my pickier crops the third year. I'll keep you posted on how the plan works!
It's all different over here in Kentucky. I've had to learn all over again when to sow seeds, when to plant out and when to harvest. What to plant and what to harvest. Since I am converting grass pasture into a vegetable garden, I'm battling grass, giant annual weeds, clay soil, soil compaction and low fertility. At least I have earthworms, now (I started with none). So there's a few things I'm just going to have to give up on for a couple of years - potatoes (ground's too hard) and sweetcorn (not fertile enough), to start with. Globe artichokes are struggling, and cucumbers (ground's too hard AND not fertile enough).
I have a cunning plan...this fall I will create three mushroom beds at the end of my garden. Once the mushrooms have digested all the straw, cardboard, wood shavings and weeds I can gather, I'll move the mushrooms to another location on the garden. The next spring I'll go where the mushrooms were, and plant a soil building mixture of legumes and long radishes, to fix nutrients in the soil and further break up compaction. I'll be able to plant my pickier crops the third year. I'll keep you posted on how the plan works!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Soap Star
I've always loved science, especially chemistry. Which is one reason why I like making cheese - it's like a science experiment in the kitchen. This summer I have a new outlet for my inner science geek; I'm making old-fashioned goat milk soap. There's a picture of me in my boiler suit, protective glasses and thick rubber gloves. Lye is nothing to mess with.
I've made two batches already. The first is a citrus scrub soap, that incorporates satsuma, grapefruit and lemongrasses essential oils and jojoba beads. It's very invigorating. The second batch was supposed to be chocolate, but will probably be labelled white chocolate because it really smells like sweet vanilla and looks like white chocolate fudge.
Three more batches are on the planning calendar - Amber Romance with calendula petals, cucumber and green tea, and an egg yolk soap scented with Pumpkin Pie and Lavender. I know the pumpkin-lavender combination sounds weird, but an article in Cosmo told me that scientists have discovered that these two scents when used together are a super nostril aphrodisiac (check out http://www.smellandtaste.org/index.cfm?action=research.sexual). I'll have then all ready in time to sell for Christmas, and I can sell goat milk soap in the farmers' market because it's a farm-based product.
I've made two batches already. The first is a citrus scrub soap, that incorporates satsuma, grapefruit and lemongrasses essential oils and jojoba beads. It's very invigorating. The second batch was supposed to be chocolate, but will probably be labelled white chocolate because it really smells like sweet vanilla and looks like white chocolate fudge.
Three more batches are on the planning calendar - Amber Romance with calendula petals, cucumber and green tea, and an egg yolk soap scented with Pumpkin Pie and Lavender. I know the pumpkin-lavender combination sounds weird, but an article in Cosmo told me that scientists have discovered that these two scents when used together are a super nostril aphrodisiac (check out http://www.smellandtaste.org/index.cfm?action=research.sexual). I'll have then all ready in time to sell for Christmas, and I can sell goat milk soap in the farmers' market because it's a farm-based product.
Friday, August 28, 2009
House Progress!
This week my Uncle Tom (Dad's middle brother) came to visit for a couple days, and brought his hammer with him. He and Charles just worked and worked and worked. They finished some beams, some sub-floor, some upstairs floor joists and some walls. They got the next load of lumber delivered and unloaded. And I hardly had to do anything! I told Uncle Tom he was welcome to come work on the house any time.
The wall for our front French doors is now in place, and a new set of concrete block steps. Now we can enter the house through a doorway, rather than in between the frame of the bathroom wall. Sub-floor is laid in the front five rooms, and then diagonally back to the pantry. The exterior pantry wall is now in place, leaving only 6 more exterior walls.
Next week, we're expecting some dry weather, so Charles is going to do farm work and catch up on some chores that we've neglected in favor of house-building. The main chore is cutting hay for winter feeding. It's been too wet for our low-tech machinery to bale. Maybe September will be dryer than the rest of the summer.
The wall for our front French doors is now in place, and a new set of concrete block steps. Now we can enter the house through a doorway, rather than in between the frame of the bathroom wall. Sub-floor is laid in the front five rooms, and then diagonally back to the pantry. The exterior pantry wall is now in place, leaving only 6 more exterior walls.
Next week, we're expecting some dry weather, so Charles is going to do farm work and catch up on some chores that we've neglected in favor of house-building. The main chore is cutting hay for winter feeding. It's been too wet for our low-tech machinery to bale. Maybe September will be dryer than the rest of the summer.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Raindrops keep falling
Usually by the middle of July (and usually on Rally weekend) we stop getting rain until toward the end of August. We might get a noisy thunderstorm or two during that time, but generally it's hot and dry for five or six weeks. Not this year.
It has rained at least twice a week, and been the coolest July and August on record. The pastures are so green, it's almost hard to look outside. The summer legumes - clover and lespedeza - are so tall and lush that it's difficult to mow. It's been so much cooler than normal - rarely getting above 90F (32C) - that the warm season grasses have hardly grown, but our cool season grasses keep getting taller.
Add to that: because of our government programs in place this year, all of our pastures were limed, fertilized and overseeded. The animals are fat! This weekend, Sarah (goat doe) had such a full belly that she grunted and struggled to stand back up after she layed down to rest on top of the bush hog. But they still all want to eat their sweet feed mix as often as possible.
The weeds in my garden are getting a little out of control. Ashley keeps trying but I think the bush beans may be lost. The pole beans are making the best of it, climbing up the tall weeds to find sunlight. Tomatoes are growing, but since they weren't planted out until the end of May, they're behind. I'm sure they'll catch up - as long as the weeds don't take them, too!
It has rained at least twice a week, and been the coolest July and August on record. The pastures are so green, it's almost hard to look outside. The summer legumes - clover and lespedeza - are so tall and lush that it's difficult to mow. It's been so much cooler than normal - rarely getting above 90F (32C) - that the warm season grasses have hardly grown, but our cool season grasses keep getting taller.
Add to that: because of our government programs in place this year, all of our pastures were limed, fertilized and overseeded. The animals are fat! This weekend, Sarah (goat doe) had such a full belly that she grunted and struggled to stand back up after she layed down to rest on top of the bush hog. But they still all want to eat their sweet feed mix as often as possible.
The weeds in my garden are getting a little out of control. Ashley keeps trying but I think the bush beans may be lost. The pole beans are making the best of it, climbing up the tall weeds to find sunlight. Tomatoes are growing, but since they weren't planted out until the end of May, they're behind. I'm sure they'll catch up - as long as the weeds don't take them, too!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Little Sturgis Rally for Charity
Every year, Sturgis, Kentucky, hosts the Little Sturgis Rally and Races for Charity (http://www.littlesturgisrally.net/). It's a motorcycle rally - not to be confused with the Sturgis, South Dakota, rally - that has given over $2million to local charitable organizations that work at the Rally. People come from far and wide to show off their motorcycles, have fun, and maybe drink a little alcohol. Since Charles and I returned to America in 2005, we've been volunteering, gradually working up to full time volunteers.
The Rally happened on Thursday, July 16, to Saturday, July 19. This year was different for me, because I was asked to be in charge of all the volunteers. In previous years, all I did was train them for gate sales and look after them so they didn't overheat. This year in addition to the training and looking after, I was also responsible for signing them in and out, selling volunteer bracelets, calculating how much money each volunteer organization earned, and generally dealing with problems that came up. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I had been sick with a stomach virus from the Sunday before, and was still recuperating on the first day of the Rally (Thursday), but I had a lot of great helpers so I made it. By mid-morning on Friday I was firing on all cylinders.
The weather was also beautiful, mild, breezy and sunny. There was a little rain storm early on Friday morning, but nothing as strong as we tend to get during the Rally. The photo is scanned out of our local newspaper the Union County Advocate. I'm the person with her back to the camera, wearing the Gate Committee t-shirt.
The Rally happened on Thursday, July 16, to Saturday, July 19. This year was different for me, because I was asked to be in charge of all the volunteers. In previous years, all I did was train them for gate sales and look after them so they didn't overheat. This year in addition to the training and looking after, I was also responsible for signing them in and out, selling volunteer bracelets, calculating how much money each volunteer organization earned, and generally dealing with problems that came up. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I had been sick with a stomach virus from the Sunday before, and was still recuperating on the first day of the Rally (Thursday), but I had a lot of great helpers so I made it. By mid-morning on Friday I was firing on all cylinders.
The weather was also beautiful, mild, breezy and sunny. There was a little rain storm early on Friday morning, but nothing as strong as we tend to get during the Rally. The photo is scanned out of our local newspaper the Union County Advocate. I'm the person with her back to the camera, wearing the Gate Committee t-shirt.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Northern Visitor
This week my cousin Joe Kramer from Minneapolis, Minnesota, came to visit and help out on the farm. Joe is 12 years old, and is into lots of sports - ice hockey, football and baseball. We like Joe to visit, because he's a hard worker and keeps Charles on task (when I'm not there to do it!).
Joe helped hang gates, build the first wall of our house, milk goats, feed animals, chase chickens, move the chicken run, collect eggs, weed tomatoes and squash, check beehives, house repairs for our Uncle Paul, put up our little soaking pool, and cleaned off Paul's deck. He learned how to drive an automatic and even got a little practice with our stick-shift pick up truck.
Then he would play on the wii until we sent him to Paul's to sleep. And he ate all the bread I could buy or bake. After Independence Day fireworks at the Sturgis Airport, which is not nearly as lame as it sounds, we drove back to Bolckow, Missouri, to drop Joe off for a week with Aunt Sallie and Uncle David. They are also farmers, but on a whole different scale than we are. They have thousands of acres of corn and soybeans, and all the gigantic equipment to go with it.
Joe helped hang gates, build the first wall of our house, milk goats, feed animals, chase chickens, move the chicken run, collect eggs, weed tomatoes and squash, check beehives, house repairs for our Uncle Paul, put up our little soaking pool, and cleaned off Paul's deck. He learned how to drive an automatic and even got a little practice with our stick-shift pick up truck.
Then he would play on the wii until we sent him to Paul's to sleep. And he ate all the bread I could buy or bake. After Independence Day fireworks at the Sturgis Airport, which is not nearly as lame as it sounds, we drove back to Bolckow, Missouri, to drop Joe off for a week with Aunt Sallie and Uncle David. They are also farmers, but on a whole different scale than we are. They have thousands of acres of corn and soybeans, and all the gigantic equipment to go with it.
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