As the Spindle Turns . . .

I was busy this week.

Made Granola


Cleaned more of the freezer out by using up last year's rhubarb.
Rhubarb Crisp


Of course that rhubarb is very tart. It needs ice cream to go with it. So I made ice cream. I have a herdshare and receive two gallons of raw milk each week. The milk is USDA certified and tested.


At the end of the week, I still had milk leftover so I made a milk-based bread. Whey typically works better but I needed to use up the milk.


Mondays are always the cold night of the week. I guess Mother Nature doesn't like Mondays either. The first flat of plants survived outside just fine (30 degrees F) so they got planted in their new home. Prepping a new home is a lot of work. Just removing the fencing is a pain. I can't wait for them to remove the tree so I can start fencing the entire area as opposed to just the bed.


I cleared the asparagus patch and found two spears of asparagus. Not much you can do with just two spears. They are in the fridge in water with hopes for more soon. They could get added to risotto. Here's a link to youtube if you want to walk around the garden with me.
https://youtu.be/-r3NBT-rKdk?si=N8v7JjYWYE5W4jdd

Today, I am moving more potato grow bags outside. I transplanted some of the vines I got to root. I still have more grow bags to plant but six more go outside today. We are about a week behind weather-wise. Today is warm but too windy for little seedlings. They are tucked inside safe. Winds are 16 mph. Two trays were freed up for me to transplant more soil blocks into pots. I have Mexican sunflowers, a Zinnia (1 out of 10 germinated), and snapdragons to transplant. Poppies need to be planted outside soon which means beds need to be prepped.

Bed preparation means weeding, adding amendments like minerals if needed, compost or just more soil if the bed is low. In some cases, it means tree removal. I have some work ahead of me.

Wednesday, I have to head to the farm to pick up my herdshare of milk. What that means is that even though I was gone for three days, I still need to use up last week's milk. I have to return clean jars to the farmer. I had a half gallon left. Currently, the milk is lasting at least 8 days without going sour. Probably longer. A half gallon gets turned into ricotta.



What this really means is: I have to do dishes. I washed the other milk jars and the big kettle I use to make ricotta. Technically, it isn't ricotta since it isn't from leftover cheese. It's American ricotta. I add a small shot glass of lemon juice to boiled milk and a large shot glass of vinegar. While that's on the stove, I started peeling apples. We are having apple crisps for breakfast. I use the standard 1970s era Betty Crocker recipe. 4 large apples to a 9 x 9 square baking dish. Maybe it's 8 x 8. Honestly, I never measured. While that is baking, I have Hubby doing peanut butter cookies. I made the dough last night. He's making balls and flattening with the fork.



The milk jars are drying. Soon I'll take them back to the farm and pick up next week's milk. Meanwhile, I have to pay attention to the food dehydrator. I have yesterday's yogurt brewing in the food dehydrator. It must be kept at 110 degrees for 24 hours to grow the culture. I have a nine tray Excalibur Food dehydrator. It fits the quart jars perfectly. With temperature controls and a timer, it works a treat. The 2 jars of yogurt will last us 2 weeks in the refrigerator. May be this week I'll do mozzarella.



I haven't done meal planning yet. My week really starts on Wednesdays. Being self-employed, it just worked out that way.



The weather turned cool. We got the much-needed rain. It's cool and overcast today. Tonight I need to pull zucchini vines and transplant the Swiss Chard seedlings. Yesterday I ironed the plant dyed project bags. I should look at the tansy and pick out leaves to do eco-printing. I have at least 8 bags ready to go. It won't be sunny enough for a couple of days but the leaves need to soak in rust water for a day. I plan to cook them in plastic bags in the solar oven on Friday or Saturday, depending on the weather report. I think I will put them up on etsy when they are done.

That's the plan anyway.

May was really dry. A good portion of June was too. Then someone turned on the sky spigot. The drought controlled a lot of the pests we normally get, including the dreaded Mexican Brassica Beetle. If you thought cabbage worms were bad, they got nothing on this critter. The devastation is bad. They even eat horseradish to the ground. The beetles live in the ground so covering doesn't help. Sprays are ineffective. They squish nicely but ew! Right now the beetles are small. Slug damage is more evident. I did put down Sluggo Plus, on organic control. It helped.



But now that the sky is dumping rain, the slugs are prevalent. The beetles are getting bigger. I harvested one 4 pound head of NAPA cabbage. It was not pretty. I soaked it in water like five times over. I got all the beetles out and two slugs. Three more were hidden in the depths. More Sluggo was added to the bed. Tomorrow I will try Captain Jack's Dead bug brew. Organic pest control relies on bacteria to kill the pests. It won't affect bees or soil. There are three more heads of Napa in the garden. Only two are actually starting to turn into heads. I'm hoping they mature before the bugs eat the life out of them.



What does one do with 4 pounds of cabbage? I plan on making egg rolls. Chrono made a lot of chicken tonight. While she chopped up chicken for soup and for rillete, I chopped cabbage. Rillette is effectively chicken spread with honey butter with roasted almond flour to thicken. We add basil for an anise flavor. It is great hot weather food. Spread it on a baguette for a nice cool lunch on a hot day.

Meat Spread https://www.saveur.com/recipes/traditional-french-charcuterie-pork-rillettes/

Egg Rolls https://simpleseasonal.com/recipes/baked-pork-and-napa-cabbage-egg-rolls

I also shredded carrots and used the leftover cabbage for a ferment. In a couple of days, there should be sauerkraut in the fridge. Right now, it is out until fermentation starts. I use Mason fermentation lids and pucks.



In a few more hours, yesterday's yogurt will be finished. I also have plantain and calendula drying for a winter hand salve. There is so much to do at this time of year. I may not have enough time to garden, so I've outsourced that job to the squirrels. Take a look at their garden - https://youtu.be/0iKTo6ei5gI

With the exception of the squash and pumpkins, most of the harvest is in. Since the Genovese Basil was a crop failure, all we really had was Thai Basil this year. The opal basil is nice but didn't yield enough to preserve. Thai Basil is in the dehydrator now. I have more Genovese seed I just got in for next year's crop. Genovese is the large-leafed Sweet Basil. So no pesto. The weather was harsh on everything this year. From a permaculture perspective, or downright common sense, you plant a bunch of different kinds of crops because you never know what will thrive and what won't in any given year.



The bugs got much of the celery this year. I haver to wonder if coffee grounds would have helped. Slugs don't like coffee grounds too much. At any rate, we'll have a good crop of butternuts and Long Island cheese pumpkins in a couple of weeks. All that is normal stuff. I'd like to show you all what else I'm working on.



A long time ago now, BMDL had an herbalist guild. One of the things I learned was how to make salve with calendula, plantain and comfrey. That salve was alcohol based to start. Dried herbs were soaked in an alcohol base for 6 weeks. After straining, the alcohol was heated slowly with olive oil until all of the properties transferred from the alcohol to the oil, then beeswax was added to thicken. That was the recipe. Trying it at home, I discovered how many ways it can go wrong (rancid oil, rotting herbs). After becoming a fan of Kami McBride, I learned to soak herbs directly in oil, only adding a small shot of alcohol as a preservative. Depending on the water content of the herb, you either use dried or fresh. A lot less potency is lost and no heating is involved, except for the beeswax, of course. My last batch I eliminated the beeswax and processed the comfrey in coconut oil during the heat of the summer when coconut oil is very liquid. It needs to be strained before the cooler weather comes in. It worked fantastic! Coconut oil is so much more stable and delightful on dry skin in the winter. I still process calendula and plantain in olive oil but more experimentation could happen.



And then I discovered Avocado Oil. It's not as greasy plus it soaks in to the skin more quickly. A work colleague from South Asia introduced me to hair oiling. In winter especially with the drier air, hair gets damaged. You rub in hair oil and allow it to sit for an hour before taking your shower. She gave me samples of an oil from India to try. It was lovely. I've been wanting some every January since then. I thought I'd give it a try but I don't want to clog my drains or stain my clothing with olive oil. Avocado oil sinks into the skin and hair more quickly. I thought I'd give it a go. Sage is known for helping brunettes. Blondes should try chamomile. Most old fashioned herbals recommend a decoction (tea) of the herb. But keeping it in the refrigerator and remembering to heat it up before use seemed impossible for me to manage. Who wants a cold brew on their head? So I am going to give this a try this winter.



That brings us to the Elderberry. Marjorie Wildcraft was very convincing that elderberry syrup was the way to go for colds and flus. Over the last two years, we've given it a try. I have a bottle in my fridge. Honestly, it does nothing for me. My husband loves the stuff. My daughter swears by the Sambucus lozenges. It's a great syrup on pancakes if nothing else. I'll leave this here for those of you who may want to try a recipe. https://thegrownetwork.com/elderberry-syrup-recipe/
There is a difference between the European elderberry and the American elderberry. European elderberries must be dried. They are toxic if they are not. American elderberries can be eaten fresh off the bush. No toxins. There is a company in Missouri encouraging farmers to grow elderberries. If I wanted easy money, I'd grow elderberries. I have four or five bushes right now. The birds got most of the berries this year. Once I get my fence up, I'll be able to cover the elderberries more easily. The ants also farm aphids on those bushes. Black ants raise aphids like we raise cattle. I might need to order a predator bug for them. But it could be lucrative. You do't need much space.



Rosemary Gladstar taught Kami McBride how to make this cold remedy, using garlic, soy sauce and honey. It really sounded good. Kami said that even people who are allergic to garlic can sometimes handle this recipe. I thought I'd give it a go, but carefully as I do have an allergy. After being stuck at the radiology lab for three hours with my husband last week, I caught a cooking show on some network. I just want to make Chinese stir-fry in the worst way. It stays in the fridge. Use the liquid as a meat marinate. I suppose if you are sick, you take a spoonful. I just want to cook with it. I didn't catch how long it should blend, but I'm thinking 6 weeks like everything else. My hands smelled amazing after peeling the garlic. I was afraid of a reaction, but the only reaction I had was hunger for Asian cuisine.



Let food be thy medicine! Hippocrates said. Dr. Terry Wahl recommends a third of your leafy greens be sulfur vegetables (brassicas). Living in a sulfur rich atmosphere in Pittsburgh, foods rich in sulfur give us all digestive problems. Then I caught on to Off Grid with Doug and Stacy. They ferment most of their winter vegetables. I took a couple of classes on this at Gulf Wars one year. I have sauerkraut I made in the fridge but I like my sweet/sour so I do a coleslaw with vinegar and oil. It's almost gone. I may breakdown and buy some more cabbage. I think next year I need to grow more of this spread out over the course of the year.



Vanilla is getting wicked expensive. We use and reuse the beans as long as possible. Currently, I have a bean in a jar with sugar, making vanilla sugar with is oh so good in cocoa. I also have spent beans soaking in vodka to make vanilla extract. I was so unimpressed with the last overpriced commercial bottle I bought. I am making my own. I usually use beans three times before discarding them. Always one bean is fresh. It needs to sit a long time to flavor properly. Pictured above, is Chronographia's Vanilla Coconut milk vinaigrette. It is a must for peach salads. Blueberries too. At some point, I'll get her recipe.



The last thing I have going on is St. John's Wort Oil. We had a lot of blooms this year. For once, they lasted a long time too. It's tricky if you have a plant that only blooms on Midsummer's. Ours bloomed on the 24th but lasted well into July. The oil has been soaking with flowers for 6 weeks. It's time to siphon the oil off. I am working on that today. Some people call it a chiropractic oil. It's supposed to soothe sore muscles. Think of it as medical Tiger Balm. I used olive oil. Next year I may try avocado oil. I haven't tried it yet. If nothing else, the plants can also be used as a dyestuff. They are perennials.





Someone gave me a tip I'd like to share. Oils and label adhesive do not get along. Labels rarely stay put. Those thick rubber bands from the grocery store that come on certain vegetables can be written on in sharpie and put around your jar. That way, you'll know what is really in the jar and how old it is.

Or Preserving the Harvest



Going back to my canning jars and what I’d like to have in my cupboard, I have 36 half pints. A single batch of Pomona low sugar pectin produces four half pints. Jelly doesn’t scale well so I would be making 9 batches of jelly to fill these jars. What I’d like is 9 different kinds. Looking at the fruit and also the herbs and flowers, I’ve comprised an ideal list. Not every year will the weather cooperate to give me enough abundance to have enough of every ingredient. So this is a wishlist based on what I want to try in jellies. I have other fruit crops that are better suited for wine making.

9 Jellies or Jams in Half Pints
• Strawberry Preserves
• Violet
• Rose
• Lavender
• Raspberry
• Black Raspberry
• Red Currant
• Tomato
• Goumi Berries



I should not have opened the canning book, Canning for a New Generation by Liana Krissoff. Wine, honesuckle flower, hibiscus and plum jelly and oh my goodness! Marmalade made with fruit from the co-op and mango which works really well with peaches or nectarines. So many choices! I really need more half pint jars. I actually do have cupboard space, just not in the 1940s cupboard. I suspect sugar may not have been quite so affordable with the war and all. You may wonder why I didn’t include rhubarb. The 2020 crop is slated for wine. I am almost out of rhubarb wine. It takes two years before I consider it drinkable. I still want to grow grapes too. I just haven’t figured out where to put them. Oh! I planted fig last fall. Wonder how long before that produces? Fig Jelly would be heavenly. I also planted a serviceberry or Saskatoon Berry. I suspect the birds will get the first year of production.

Other options are freezing fruit. I’m not a fan of fruit leathers. I like to make things with frozen fruit.

* Rhubarb – Pie
* Pumpkin – Bread
* Zucchini - Bread
* Gooseberry – Pie
* Mulberry – Cobbler
* Peach – Cobbler



I’m not sure I’ll ever fill the 60 pint jars completely. I actually own more pint jars than the cupboard will hold. The garden is not kicking out the abundance that would fill all the jars. In the future, if my apple, pear, peach and plum trees actually produce in the same year, then the cupboard might be full. Some fruit trees produce every other year. Stone fruits are like that. At the moment, only the Asian pear has produced fruit. The raccoon has been a diligent harvester. Doesn’t leave much for me though. I would love canned peaches, applesauce, quince-apple jam, and pear butter, but the trees are still babies. We’ll just have to see how it goes this year.



Pint Jars Possibilities
• Tomato Sauce/Paste
• Dill Pickles
• Bread and Butter Pickles
• Pickle Relish
• Pickled Beets
• Elderberry – Syrup
• Black Raspberry – Syrup
• Blueberry – Syrup
• Strawberry – Syrup
• Ketchup
• Zucchini Pickles
• Pears
• Sauerkraut

You are going to laugh but I can’t seem to grow enough zucchini. I know! Zucchini abundance is something everybody has. For whatever reason, whether the weather is too wet or the deer sleep on top of the plants, the rabbit digs underneath, or whatever, we have issues each year. I tried pattipans as an alternative. They are in the same family as zucchini and will cross with each other. Last year, squash bugs devoured the pattipans before we even noticed. The other squash were not affected at all. So you can never tell. I save my own seeds so that my plants are acclimatized to my growing region. Seeds from far away do not necessarily grow well here.



Another jar that I need more of is the quart. I am hoping to add enough black currants that I can bottle them for fruit juice. Europeans drink black currant juice every morning for the antioxidant properties. It is just as good as pomegranate or açaí, or blueberry. A variety of fruits are best for maximum nutrition but I have black currants and they grow well here.

I only have a few quart jars. I am using them for dried tomatoes, and herbs at the moment. And yes, I do own a canner that is deep enough. So a few more jars would be good. Ideally, for the size of our family, tomato sauce would be good to can in quart sizes. My cupboard could hold up to 16 jars. That’s on the wishlist along with the half pint jars.



And now we finally get to Ursula von Liste’s list! This is my ultimate list of things I’d love to have stocked in my wine cellar. Okay, so maybe not a cellar per se. I keep it on top the refrigerator, but if I had a proper Wein Stube, I would fill it with my estate grown (Erzeugerabfällung) homemade wines and meads. (Federal Law allows an individual to bottle 50 gallons a year or 200 for a family. Don’t take my word for it - check your local regulations.)

1. Rhubarb
2. Strawberry
3. Cherry
4. Mulberry
5. Rose Petal
6. Dandelion
7. Honeysuckle
8. Blueberry
9. Elderberry
10. Elderflower
11. Gooseberry (or Jostaberry)
12. Black Currant
13. Red Currant
14. Aronia
15. Goumi
16. Serviceberry
17. Red Wine (grape)
18. White Wine (grape)
19. Perry
20. Apple
21. Pumpkin (Marrow)
22. Parsnip
23. Carrot Chamomile
24. Banana
25. Orange
26. Pomegranate
27. Lemon
28. Clove and Ginger Mead
29. Anise Hyssop Mead
30. Tomato Wine (or Ground cherries)
31. Lemon Balm Mead
32. Violets
33. Borage
34. Sage and Raisin
35. Peach or Nectarine
36. Plum
37. Mango
38. Quince
39. Marigold (Renfro page 162)
40. Gillyflower
41. Apricot
42. Persimmon
43. Fig
44. Honey Berry

I probably would not be able to do estate grown banana but I do have lemon and other citrus trees growing in pots. Kumquat might be interesting. Seaberry would also be a possibility but I’m not up for the thorns. Cindy Renfro published a book called A Sip Through Time. It’s been an inspiration. On a lark, I once made turnip wine. Perhaps something better suited to cooking with. Sometimes it’s better to think about what you would do with it once you’ve made it. Baroness Alice once made Parsley Wine. She said only a rabbit could love it. Just because you could, doesn’t mean you should. And with that, I will drink to your health! May all your crops be bug-and-blight free!

The rubber seal on the freezer is broken. It tends to ice up a bit. Accidentally, the door didn't close while I was away. All the frozen fruit on the door thawed. Oops! So after a long day with very little sleep, I pulled the necessary items together and put up two gallons of rhubarb wine. Ten cups of sugar gone just like that. Need to buy more sugar next time I'm at the co-op. I hope to get mulberry started soon too. This year it will be wine instead of melomel. The black ants have discovered our honey jar. Hundreds died so that their brethren could climb on the backs of the dead to obtain the ambrosia. It was not a pretty sight. Gotta get the DE (diatomaceous earth) out and dust where the ants are sneaking in.

Looking at establishing a worm bin. Need to drill some holes in a tub and we should be set. My soil needs help beyond coffee grounds. Worm castings will help. Today, we head to the woodworkers to pickup sawdust. My garden paths need to be defined again. I've been raking the old sawdust and adding it to new beds as compost. It's mostly decomposed at this point. The woodworker says he has 14 garbage sacks of it.

The mega shipment of yarn came in for Pennsic. I will be winding my arm off over the next week. I miss my electric ball winder. Everything I sell is hand wound on a simple ball winder. More naturally dyed wool should also be skeined. The tarragon turned out nice. I've lemon balm dyed wool in the sink now. It needs a quick wash and then re-skeining before it gets a photo opportunity.



A quick garden update so I can remember what to do next year. While I was away, so much happened in the garden. I lost most of my coreopsis during SCA 50 Year. It bloomed early. I tried drying it. It turned brown and went to seed. It freezes better but I needed to try drying to learn. Next year . . .



There has been a brief rainstorm almost daily. The rhubarb became enormous. I shall have to run another dye bath with rhubarb. Skirret turned into bushes that were trimmed back, making sure it doesn't flower. I may just move them in fall along the fence line. I think they'd make a nice border. Garlic was harvest before SCA 50 Yr. Potato Onions and Brussels Sprout seed were harvested before WW though I have one more patch of onions to go. Parsnip seed, Daikon radish seed, pea seed, carrot seed and bean seed were harvested for next year's planting and are currently drying. Black dahlia flowers were also snipped and frozen for a dye bath. As I write my homestead report, I am nibbling on anise basil biscotti ice cream. Yum! Thai basil provided the anise taste. Lots growing in the herb spiral. Other herbs were chopped and harvested while I was away. Instead of drying all the herbs, some are minced and placed into the ice cube tray. Once they are frozen into a block, the herb cubes are removed, bagged and labeled. Parsley, basil and thyme cubes await winter cooking to remind us of what fresh tasted like.



While I was away, peas and beans were harvested. These were frozen for later use. We didn't get that great a yield. The rabbits ate any beans and beets that poked up. We resorted to planting beans in the window box. The peas were fine and are growing all over the yard. They are such great nitrogen fixers. I missed the entire black raspberry and strawberry harvest. They ripened over SCA 50 Year. SCA 50 Year was too long an event for my garden. Ten days plus travel time and setup. I missed too much and harvesting. My daughter bore the brunt of caretaking and harvest. I think there are two containers, 2 cups each of black raspberries in the freezer. Not enough for wine or jelly. Probably will combine those with other fruit to make something later. Strawberries were eaten outright. Nothing to store for winter. Mulberry Currant jelly was made before my travels.



There will be horseradish this year. Got to look up recipes. I harvested more onions this morning. They need a couple of weeks to dry out before I weigh them. Once the green tops are totally dry, they will be chopped off. The final product will look like this: