Now Norma Knits

Random Wednesday

1. Oops. Both Mr. Jefferies and I forgot that yesterday was supposed to be terrier day. Here is a pic of the pupsicle taken yesterday, for the Yorkie-deprived -- well, those of you who didn't already see this on Facebook, anyway:

That's his polar fleece jacket over one of his Peace Fleece handknit sweaters, which was very warm and cozy indeed. However, those little pawses must have been awfully cold. Still, he did not want to go back inside, and I must have walked 10 miles with him yesterday, slipping and sliding on the black ice all the way. 

Yes, he does have boots, but they are more trouble than they're worth. He has a devil of a time trying to walk in the black set I got him, and they fall off too easily. The ones his parents got him in New York City, while he can walk in them fairly well, I could get arrested if I put them on him here.

You think I'm kidding.

Straight from the canine transvestite store.

2. I miss the LSAT studying. This could be a manifestation of something pathological, I'm starting to think.

3. In addition to the yogurt-making craze (I just made my fourth batch -- I ruined one batch, though, by, I think, overheating the milk), I've taken up with another back-to-the-'70s craze:

Sprouting. About a month ago, I bought a "Best of the Best of the Best" kit from Sprout People, and ohman, are we enjoying it! Mr. Jefferies gets a small serving of sprouts on his breakfast, too, which makes him very happy (he's a real greens-eatin' dawg). We're grabbing handfuls of sprouts (that one on the right is the French Mix and on the left is Beanie's Awesome Mix) to throw on our sandwiches, on our salads, and using the sprouts alone as their own salad with some vinaigrette. The other day I had a huge plate of broccoli sprouts with a can of salmon and maple balsamic vinaigrette for my lunch. Yum! And last night we had those bean sprouts on the left of the photo in our tomato/roasted-red-pepper soup. Slightly weird, but good. 

Now that the daily veg are not available from the backyard, this works as a handy and economical super-fresh and super-nutritious substitute. I know I qualify as slightly crazy in the food department, and this might not be for everyone, but I love the Madison Market Mix (nuts and seeds) sprouted and added to my morning yogurt, drizzled with maple syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon, for breakfast. Sprout People's dehulling video was (you know, without trying to be toooo dramatic) sort of life-changing. I'd tried sprouting many times before, but hated the hulls, didn't know how to deal with them, and just gave up. Now that I know how to manage them, and I found a mini-salad spinner for just $19 at my health food store, I'm all about the sprouts.

4. The basketweave scarf is now a smokin' 48 inches long. I steam-blocked it for this photo, and I am in love. With a scarf. I know. Shut up.

 

Oops

Oops, I never did get to making the celery soup yesterday.  Instead I:

1. Did another practice LSAT test. (The result was disappointing.)

2. Made a gallon of homemade yogurt in the crock pot. (The result was NOT disappointing.) (In fact, it was awesome.) (I've got a bee in my bonnet about all the [plain and Greek] yogurt we eat and all the 1-quart plastic containers we throw away. Oh, all right, "send to the recycling center." But still, what most people don't know is that sending all that stuff to the recycling center should not leave one with a completely clear conscience. It's better than the landfill -- or is it? Does everything that we think we are recycling get recycled? Is there an outlet for all the recycleables? Is there a market for them? Is it economically sound to recycle them? The answer, more often than we wish, is no. I'm told by my recycling center reps that there is a huge glut of recycled stuff -- or more accurately, stuff that is returned by well meaning individuals who think it is really going to be recycled -- and nowhere to send it.) (Sorry for all the parentheticals.) (I won't do it again.) (I promise.) (Probably.) Plus, making yogurt was easy and fun, I didn't have to buy anything except a gallon of milk (I used 1%) and a box of nonfat powdered milk, and it will save (lots of) money. (Oops.)

3. Knitted on my red scarf. At last measure it was 45". (I'm thrilled to see the enthusiasm with which the blog community is taking on the Red Scarf challenge. If you don't already know, the Knitspot Ravelry group is having a knitalong -- with prizes!)  Erika has instituted a six-inches-a-day plan. I'm not touching that one with a ten-foot pole. (Oops.)

4. Went to the gym and had a hell of a good and varied workout, using the Tabata protocol, and taught the protocol to Abigail. She's a fan. 

5. Followed the workout with a light dinner of leftover broccoli-mushroom-cheddar soup and a huge salad, and grapefruit.

Life is good. Well, all except for that LSAT. Oops.

Caramelized Squash & Apples -- Somewhat of a Recipe

Oh. My. 

Sundays this time of year are often for experimenting in the kitchen. Yesterday I decided it was finally time to cut up a couple of the squashes I harvested a while back. I only ended up with two butternut squashes from the garden this year, and I've been rather loath to use them up, but really, how silly is that? I grow them to eat them, right? 

Oh, golden nuggets of wonder! This method really did them proud -- adding flavor interest, without being overly sweet. There really isn't much of a caramelized glaze to this. If you want that or want it sweeter than just a hint of sweet, of course, just add more brown sugar.

But oh, how nice it smells while cooking. Autumnal and spicy.

The two squashes were rather small (or at least I thought so until I cut them both up), so I used them both. I also cut up four small red onions, and four smallish apples from our local applefest a couple weeks ago, that had gone almost mushy (they go bad so fast). If I had had some cranberries on hand, I might have sprinkled a few of those in the mix. 

I coated the vegetables and fruit with sunflower seed oil from Rainville Farm which is about eight miles from here. I then added a generous sprinkling of cinnamon, a little sprinkle of kosher salt, and about a tablespoon of brown sugar -- just enough to help to bring out the naturally sweet flavors of the squash, apples and onions. I mixed it all up and put it in the oven, spread out on a large roasting pan, at 350F for just under an hour, giving them a couple of stirs along the way. 

I served this dish with local chicken breasts coated in maple-chipotle glaze. 

Holy cow, was that delicious. 

Sometimes the simplest of combos just totally rocks the house. 

Unheard Of

 

A giant salad composed entirely of vegetables from my garden.  

All right, I hear you.  I put those in my blog all the time; it's no big deal.

But not on October 8th.  

This salad, from my garden, on October 8th?  

Crazy talk!

(This is northwestern Vermont, need I remind you?)

But it's true.  

In the salad we have:  baby spinach, microgreens (various mystery baby greens from a seed mix I planted in September), sprouted sunflower seeds that fell from the sunflowers I grew this summer, baby kale, baby Swiss chard, broccoli, carrots, red onions, tomatoes (there are now only THREE left from my summer pickings -- I'm stunned and thrilled that they've lasted this well), parsley, chervil; and believe it or not I found some blueberries on a bush that were still edible and delicious, and a great addition to the salad.  In order to gather the ingredients for the salad, I felt like quite the forager, and looking at my garden in its end-of-the-season state, I had my doubts that I'd end up with enough for a decent salad.  Au contraire!

We enjoyed this salad on Thursday with maple vinaigrette and a nice little piece of steak from a local farm. It was arguably even more fabulous than a salad in the dead of summer, given that it is such an unexpected treat for this time of year, and it was packed with the freshest of flavors, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals & phytochemicals. 

-------

Hey, maybe you'll spot me on the NYC Yarn Crawl this weekend.  At the very last minute, it turns out I am delivering Mr. Jefferies for visitation with his parents, and they are very busy, so I need to keep myself entertained in the city for the weekend.  Aw, darn.

Random Wednesday

1.  Mr. Jefferies has coccidiosis, or at least an evaluation of his stool sample (yes, we had the poop!) revealed coccidia.  However, even before the sample was brought in to the vet, he seemed mostly back to his normal self in all respects.  He has his energy back, he is eating and drinking and peeing and pooping (and whining and teasing me for treats and to play with him endlessly).  Yay for normal bodily functions and behaviors.  He has medication (Albon) to take, and he will remain on the bland diet for the rest of the week, at least.  I think he had a very mild case of it, or more to the point, I think he has a strong immune system that recovered from it pretty quickly. Fricking people who don't pick up their dogs' poop.  And fricking him for eating it at every chance he can get (he's fast).  I'm quite sure that's where he got it.  I know he could get it from the ground even if people DID pick up their dogs' and cats' poop, because coccidia is microscopic. But having the poop right there for him to dine on like it's the greatest delicacy in the world increases the chances, I'm sure, a hundredfold.  

2.  The Paul Roberts talk on The End of Food was enjoyable and very illuminating.  I find him to be almost a clone of Michael Pollan -- or vice versa; I'm not sure who came first -- or maybe they were twins separated at birth -- but I saw Michael Pollan first, so to me HE was first -- and Roberts wore a suit, whereas Pollan wore a t-shirt that said, "Vote with your fork," (heh-heh) but the message is pretty much the same.  Roberts had some other important economic angles from which he addresses the subject, though. I commend you to go to his talk if he comes to your area -- or I should say I commend you to buy his book, I suppose.  

2 a) He did say a few times that, being in Burlington, Vermont, he knew he was preaching to the choir, and in my individual case, of course, that is true.  He reiterated the general message that Pollan delivered here last year:  The rest of the country is watching you, Vermont, when it comes to food production.  

2 b).  He said that "overnourished" is the new politically correct word for "obese."  Let's hear it for political correctness.  

2 c).  His talk did make me rue the quarts of berries and pounds of beans, et al., that I did not get put away for this year -- the ones I mentioned in my post last week or so.  And it made me eager to redouble my efforts to grow my own as much as possible and keep it local and small-scale as much as possible.  But, you know, that's nothing new.  I must buy some beets, if I can find some available at a local farmstand, and pickle them.  The beet harvest I gathered the other day from my own garden was too small to bother pickling any -- we'll eat them fresh.  We've already eaten about a third of them.  Yummilicious.

3.  To the growing-my-own end, yesterday I went to Gardener's Supply to get some Milky Spore to try to cut down the population of Japanese Beetles in my garden. They have risen to astronomical levels this summer, after having been kept at bay for quite a few years after my last application of the stuff.  They really did a number on the plum trees, the roses, the strawberry plants, the asparagus, and the green beans this year.  Hopefully next year they will be less in number.

4.  While at Gardener's Supply, I picked up packets of sprouting seeds for the winter, and microgreen seeds to give one last shot at growing something in my garden soil before winter sets in.  

I had a long chat with the owner? manager? (not sure which) at the shop yesterday, who indicated to me that the growing zones have all been moved up a half a zone as a result of global warming.  We talked about our mixed feelings about that.  As northern gardeners, we do appreciate the longer growing season and the greater range of things we can successfully grow, but it also seems to have an ominous feel to it.  Other parts of my state (sorry, Gayle) have already had at least two killing frosts, but we haven't been hit yet.  Knock on wood.

5.  I've had a number of more questions about the raised beds in my garden.  They are made of black plastic, they are very lightweight, super-easy to assemble, and inexpensive.  They also come from Gardener's Supply.  I can't recommend them highly enough.  They have changed my whole gardening life.  You could make your own raised beds by nailing boards together, but for my money these are so much easier (they literally take 3 seconds per corner to assemble, with no tools required), and they keep in the warmth and moisture a bit better, without the risk of getting slivers, cutting, measuring, or hammering my finger into oblivion.  Then again, if you've got some two-by-sixes or two-by-eights hanging around your house (not pressure-treated) and if lack of $39 for a Grow Bed is keeping you from growing some of your own food, then by all means, slap some of those puppies together and throw some soil in, some seeds in, water it, and grow something!  

6.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about Red Scarf Fund fundraising this year.  I have been offered a few prizes (I have some gorgeous red Signature Needle Arts needles sitting here beside me, for example, and some generous gift certificates from Anne Hanson, along with some hand-dyed yarns offered), but response and reaction to my mention of it was tepid at best. Not sure if it's worth the work and headaches.  I suppose anything is better than nothing, though.  

Bushed

Yesterday I:

• made a plum compote kind of thing with fresh plums, a little water, a little maple syrup and lemon juice, which I simmered till it was saucy and served on the
• gluten-free pancakes I made, which are definitely not on my present diet (but they were delicious and worth every calorie); and I
• did considerable prep work for my next CART event, part of which was reading this article, which in turn, due to its content, got me fired up to get outside and 
• harvest the beets; 
• manage the compost bins (which means emptying and spreading the contents of one that was completely ready, and then relayering the contents of one that has been in the waiting position, so that it will decompose better); and then I
• shelled some Dolloff beans that have dried since I picked them last week;
• prepared the beds for planting the garlic, which involves shoveling out a few inches of soil; setting it aside; adding bone meal and blood meal and lime and loosening and turning the soil;
• planted the garlic (two 3X3 beds, and one 3X6 bed -- I believe I planted 72 cloves, which should yield 72 bulbs if all goes well);
• purchased three bags of Intervale compost and spread it, with the replacement soil, on the three beds in which I planted the garlic (they just await some mulch of either straw, spoiled hay, or shredded leaves);
• pulled out some vegetable plants that are past their prime for the year;
• moved two raised beds to what I hope will be better locations for next year;
• refilled them with their soil;
• fertilized the asparagus with more rock phosphate;
• threw Mr. Jefferies' toy so he could chase it, and beg me to throw it for him again, 2,319 times;
• untangled his tie-out cable 29 times;
• brought in some broccoli and Swiss chard;
• watered the new plantings;
• cooked dinner, which was composed of salmon filets; a salad that I concocted of raw broccoli, raw garlic, red onions, an apple and some celery dressed with sunflower oil, apple cider vinegar & maple syrup (it was surprisingly delicious); cooked beets; and wilted Swiss chard;
• backed up my work files off my computer, and did some long-overdue deleting of old files;
• wrote this post

I am wiped out.  Today I may do nothing at all.  Or I might take care of the strawberry bed by cutting back the plants; finish the new compost layering that I didn't finish yesterday; reposition the old compost bins in "better" locations (I am forever searching for that sweet spot that is perfect); and make pickled beets.  

Or

I may do

NOTHING.

at ALL. 

The Payoff - Part 2

It was a lousy tomato year for so many, so I feel extra fortunate that we ate as many as we could possibly eat fresh, we gave some away, and I cooked some in soups, sauces and chilis.  We've still got a few ripening on the counter, I had one with my egg-white-and-parsley omelet for breakfast yesterday, and I still ended up with 20 pints of canned tomatoes for the upcoming winter.  Twenty pints of organic canned tomatoes in a year when many lost their entire crops... that's gotta be worth something.  

The one compost bin planting of three little squash plants produced seven full-size winter squash -- five buttercup and two butternut.  I planted the started squash plants directly in the very-full compost bin.  I layered the takings from all the other bins we have, and spring yard cleanup waste, with a little layer of garden soil and composted manure on the top.  The compost beneath it continued to decay over the summer, and the squash plants thrived in the bin -- this is the second year I have done this, and it has been so successful that it will now be a regular feature of the garden.  It is very space-saving, and the warmth and moisture and nutrition of the bin produces superior squash. I believe I could have got more, but I failed to notice that in one stretch of dry weather (Did we have any of those this year?  Apparently we did.), the bin got terribly dried out. We ate one too soon -- it wasn't quite ripe -- and I have these four Buttercup squashes remaining for eating this autumn, and two more Butternut squash remaining to be picked up there in the bin.  

 

The red onions you see there are less than half of my harvest.  There are an even greater number of yellow onions.  That's way more than enough onions to take us through the winter, assuming they keep, and I have no reason to think they won't.  I'm trying to become even more liberal in my onion uses on a daily basis. I feel a wonderful French onion soup coming on, as soon as it turns cooler, and a big pan of caramelized onions, for starters. 

Stay tuned for The Payoff - Part 3, tomorrow. 

The Payoff - Part 1

The garden pays for itself the whole season long for me.  I get enjoyment before the snow is gone -- in the planning, in the perusing of seed catalogs, in browsing the seed aisles of garden shops -- and as soon as the ground thaws in the spring -- in the digging, in seeing the seeds germinate and the plants grow and thrive.  It gets me out in the sun and air and gives me exercise, and provides me with a focused enjoyment from start to finish.  It keeps me on top of the weather patterns and it provides me with much to learn and much to study and research -- anything from botany and soil biology to ... you name it, really.  It gives me contemplative time, and makes me feel closer to nature. (I will never understand people who say, "I grew broccoli once, but it had WORMS ON IT. I said NEVER AGAIN."  Yes, people, it is growing outSIDE.  There might be WORMS ON IT. Sigh.)

The garden feeds us with a steady supply of good, clean, nutritious, fresh food that I grew with my own hard work and love. It makes me enjoy cooking more and be more creative in the kitchen, and it makes it super-easy to eat local. 

Yesterday we had another one of our locavore meals. I bought a chicken from a local farm (3 miles away), and I stuffed its cavity with a red onion, three fat cloves of garlic, a large sprig of rosemary, a bunch of thyme, and a big bunch of parsley, and then roasted it.  I cooked one of the buttercup squash you see in this photo, and pureed it with a touch of Vermont maple syrup. I braised some mixed greens -- kale, Swiss chard, dandelions, beet greens, mustard greens, and bok choy, with another red onion and two garlic cloves -- in a little sunflower seed oil from a farm 6 miles from here.  Everything was from my yard except the chicken, the maple syrup, and the oil.  The rest was from within a six-mile radius. I love that.

I will admit there are times when I wish I had a staff to do the weeding or a bug-and-slug deinfesting, and it sometimes gets a bit overwhelming in the middle of the season, but each year when it's time to put it to rest for the year, I'm filled with nostalgia and loving feelings for Mother Nature and her gifts of soil and rain and sun and seeds and bees all over again.  

As always happens at the end of a garden season, this year I've got some regrets that I lost a lot of produce to the compost bin due to neglect -- regrets that I didn't get those many quarts of beans frozen or that 5 pounds of Swiss chard, or 10 pounds of asparagus, or the excess 4 quarts of black raspberries.  But if I focus on what I DID get from it, and when I have the tangible proof in hand of my labors and the garden's bounty, the payoff feels doubled and tripled and quadrupled. 

Here is a photo of some of this year's late-season takings from the little garden I have on my little 1/2-acre village lot, most of which is untillable because of its hilly topography.  

This is only a small fraction of one season's yield and a small portion of the story.

Stay tuned for The Payoff - Part 2, later in the week.

Garden Love and A Wee Diet Update

I went out to the garden first thing yesterday morning to see what was out there, since I had not been able to visit for a couple of days because of either lack of time or heavy rains.  

Among other things, I found one small zucchini and another couple of baby ones on the way (the zucchini plant seems to be on qualuudes or something -- it's been extremely sluggish all summer long); a Portugese hot pepper; many greens; a nice little serving of broccoli; carrots that are ready to be pulled; late-planted beets that are going great guns; and many more tomatoes, both green and ripe.  Blight has hit me a bit, but many of the plants are still strong and green.  I have a theory that the red tomato mulch must make the plants so healthy that they can fight off disease better.  I might just be cracked, but it does seem like a strange coincidence that a) the blight came to me so late when it has all but decimated everyone else's crops, and b) even as it's here, the plants are still seemingly able to fight it off with no intervention, and they are still producing very well despite all the rains and the cold nights we've been having.  

But the best little gift of all was to find these:

I planted some French green bean seeds (left over from my seeds from the season of 2008) on August 1st, and sadly I got very sparse germination.  But from those few plants, we had a most delicious meal of steamed haricots verts yesterday, and there are more to come.  After I lost most of my crop of yellow bush beans when the heat wave while we were in NYC made them go all big and tough, and this being so late in the season, these were especially welcome -- and soooooo delicious!  I can see another meal coming from these plants, and I can't wait.

Having so much produce at the ready has made it very easy to stay focused on the diet.  I feel great, and I've been working out regularly.  I love the FitDay site for being able to record everything I eat, to be able to plan my meals and make them fit into the parameters I have set up for myself with regards to calories, protein, fat, carbs, and fiber intake, as well as my calorie expenditures.  Progress:  I've lost 2.5 pounds.

Random Wednesday

1.  After some deliberation, I decided to rip out the Palindrome scarf and start it over with four cables instead of three.  It presently looks like this:

2.  Mr Jefferies and I took a hike on the hill behind my house with my sister and nephew yesterday.  There is a lookout partway up that is a classic spot for viewing the entire city of St. Albans, the lake, and the Adirondacks beyond.  There is a wonderful turn-of-the-(20th)Century sketch done of the city, when St. Albans was quite the railroad boom town, from up there.  A few copies of it are floating around, like in the county courthouse and the historical society, etc., and it's very cool to look at that when one is familiar with the actual spot from which it was drawn. My sister and nephew had never been at the lookout, so I took them there.  It was a very lovely day and the view was pretty good.  I tried to get a Rin-Tin-Tin-style photo of Mr J, but he wouldn't stand still long enough.  He was all like, "I'm busy!"

 

3. I've been working out a lot lately and keeping a close watch on my calories/fat/protein/carbs/calcium.... oh, cripes, the list does go on and on.  I want to get back solidly in the "excellent" BMI range, as I'm topping out that range right now and NOW is the time to nip that in the bud.  But I'm going to visit AnnaMarie again today, and so this will likely be a "one step back" day, since she serves me up with delicious and delectable food every time I'm up there.  I did the hike in addition to a regular workout yesterday, and tons of weight-lifting, and I attempted some unassisted chin-ups and pull-ups (not very successful, but better than ever before) so I'm hoping that will mean something, and I will eat my cookie without guilt.  

3.a).  It certainly is a lot easier to fulfill the carb/protein/fiber/calorie requirements with the garden.  I have so many fresh, fiberful, low-carb, low-calorie veggies available at my fingertips and can add them to every meal.  I'll miss it so much when it's gone.  

4.  Don't hate me because I have beautiful tomatoes!  I've still got a big bowl of them that need to be taken care of, and picked these yesterday:

5.  A friend asked me yesterday if I had enough to give away.  Oh yes, I certainly do.  This basketful is going to AnnaMarie today:

We have a little barter arrangement going on, and today her payment is in tomatoes.