Mendolonium

Long ago I made Thomas macaroni and cheese to which I added shredded carrots and peas (both from our backyard).  The first time I served it to him, he complained when he realized that the carrots were, in fact, a vegetable, not simply additional grated cheddar cheese as he had assumed.  I insisted that macaroni and cheese contained vegetables (Not only is it healthier, that’s the way I like it and since I do the cooking that’s the way it is).  We recently pulled our pea plants and used up the last of the frozen peas so that when I made macaroni and cheese last week there were no peas to be had to put in it.  In typical three year old fashion, is rather insistent about routine and complained loudly when he was served macaroni and cheese with only carrots.  I went to add peas to my grocery list for next time, but then I stopped remembering the bright flavor, the firm texture, and the fresh green smell of the peas straight off of the vines in our backyard.  In compassion the frozen grocery store peas are mushy and flavorless.  I decided then and there that we shall  buy no more sad grocery store peas.  They may have been grown in season, but eating them is not an enjoyable nor sustainable choice.  Long ago I committed to buying to only local fresh produce, but upping the ante to only in season, local produce – period:  no out of season fruits or vegetables unless I preserved them myself.  After I explained that the peas were no longer growing, reminding Thomas how we had yanked out all the pea plants together, he accepted the loss of the “green balls” and happily ate his carrots, macaroni, and cheese.  I realized contentedly that in his world it is normal for a kid living in the city to grow all their own tomatoes, to play in the compost, and accept that we only eat peas in the wintertime.   I started doing the Independence days challenge for our food security and sustainability but as the kids get older I am really seeing how important my actions are in influencing the next generation.  After lunch Thomas and I lamented the loss of the peas once again, but then excitedly began to discuss what food treasures awaited us this summer:  peaches, melons, blackberries, and tomatoes – just as it should be.

This past week we’ve:

Pant something:

• Tomatoes (tiny little seedlings started from seed)
• Cannelloni Beans (from seed)
• Cucumber (Marketmore 76, from seed)

Harvest something:

• Leeks
• Strawberries (just a few)

Preserve something:

• 14 half-pints of blackberry jam

Waste Not:

• Organized our garage so that we can find what we need, rather than buying new.
• Gave away unwanted items for free on craigslist rather than throwing them away to be sent to the landfill.

Want Not:

• Received a surprise gift of 8 lbs of strawberries, 7 lbs of blueberries, and 5 lbs of blackberries.  Probably $150 worth of berries, for free!  Better than Christmas!
• Ordered two 55 gallon water storage barrels and an emergency siphon, to store water in case of an earthquake or other disaster.

Eat the food:

• Eating leeks in everything.
• Tried a new empanada recipe, which I didn’t like.  It makes me very cranky to make bad food, but I suppose you have to weed through the bad to get to the good.

Build community food systems:

• Signed up to take a class to become a certified California “food safety manager”.  This is the first step in my opening a food-related small business, teaching sustainable cooking classes and food preservation to the community.

What have y’all been planting/preserving/organizing/eating in this glorious spring weather?

It’s the end of the month (ok, yes it is now the beginning of the next month, but it was the end when I began this entry) and time for another Independence Days update.  One of the reasons I keep up with these posts is to motivate myself.  I have been feeling distinctly unmotivated in my gardening/farming/cooking efforts of late;  I blame the heat, rats, and fire.  The heat is fairly self explanatory, who would move dirt in the blazing sun when it is 100+ outside or cook when it is 90+ inside the kitchen?  The rats are just horrid little creatures.  I know they are cute little mammals, pets even to some but they have eaten all but four of my tomatoes, all of my peaches, and a significant amount of my immature cantaloupe, watermelon, and zucchini.  We have declared war on the little beasts and we are not taking prisoners.  In the past week we’ve had smoky, downright hazardous air to contend with.  Jeff likend the hot, humid, smoky Pasadena weather today to “living in a sauna with a campfire burning in the middle”.  Lovely.  I am also simply discouraged by the lack of resources to draw upon for growing food in Southern California.  I can find lots of books on growing food and many on gardening in hot, dry climates but the food growing books tend to assume that one lives in a place with four defined seasons (one of them cold) and the gardening books tend to concentrate on growing things like azaleas – pretty, yes, but edible, no.  So I am making mistakes – lots of them.  I tried to chit (sprout) seed potatoes for fall planting this past week and they turned into tiny moldy, shrivled lumps.  I harvested our first watermelon before it was fully done because the tendril had dried, however that must have been a result of our extreme heat, not a true indication of ripeness.  My attempts at growing parsnips were a resounding failure.  So I write these updates, not to brag, but to remind myself of how far I have come from that college girl who used to consider Pasta Roni a delicous dinner and once stated that, “I like nature, I just don’t want it to touch me.”

During August we:

Planted something or take care something you’ve planted:

• Trellised cucumbers
• Trellised watermelon

Harvested something:

• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Watermelon
• Bell Peppers
• Anaheim Peppers
• Frying Peppers
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Basil

Our total harvest since March 2009:  62 kg (137 lbs )! – Not including lettuce, a bunch of herbs, some peppers, and the countless berries that we have consumed before we ever got a chance to weigh them.

Preserved something:

• 4 pints peaches (canned)
• pints bread and butter pickles (canned)
• 4 cups dill cucumber relish (canned)
• 28 cups carrots, shredded (frozen)
• 16 cups bell pepper, julienne (frozen)
• a whole lot of potatoes (in the fridge, not ideal, but if I leave them out then will turn to mush in our warm house, anyone have any suggestions for how to store potatoes outside of the fridge in a hot climate?)
• 21 jalapeno peppers (dried)
• 1 cup basil  (dried)

Waste Not:

• Really working on reducing our food waste by eating up leftovers for lunch, etc.

Want Not/Prep:

• Took out all the boys winter clothes (almost as a plea to the weather gods for some cooler temperatures).
• Began moving soil and compost to prepare the beds for fall planting.

Build community food systems:

• Taught my friend Hannah how to make baguettes from scratch.  Anyone else want a tutorial?

Eat the Food:

• A lot of cucumber/garbanzo bean/feta salads
• A lot of veggie fajitas with bell peppers and carrots

I haven’t been posting my Independence Days updates due to the need to gaze adoringly at a certain grinning baby, but while he sleeps I’ve been busy working in our ridiculous heat.  Since my last update, I’ve:

Planted something or take care something you’ve planted:

• Trellised tomatoes (Jeff gets all the credit for this)

Harvested something:

• Parsley
• Leeks
• Shallots
• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Green Beans
• Bell Peppers
• Frying Peppers
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Serrano Pepper (just one!)
• Tomatoes
• Blackberries
• Strawberries

Our total harvest since March 2009:  24.4 kg (53.7 lbs )! – Not including the countless berries that we have consumed before we ever got a chance to weigh them.

Preserved something:

• 20 pints hamburger dill pickles (canned)
• 6 cups sweet cucumber relish (canned)
• 9.5 cups carrots, cut into coins (frozen)
• 6 cups carrots, shredded (frozen)
• 8 cups green beans, blanched (frozen)
• 10 pints strawberries (frozen, for smoothies and sauces) – unfortunately not from our garden, our plants aren’t nearly that prolific yet

Waste Not:

• Brought reusable plates, utensils, etc. on our beach vacation last week

Want Not/Prep:

• Stocked up on 3T – 5T clothes for the boys at Goodwill and on clearance at Gymboree

Build community food systems:

• Does giving away cucumbers and pickles to family and neighbors count?

Eat the Food:

• Found a recipe for Pad Thai and am going to give it a go tomorrow night.

Sadly, peaches aren’t on the list of fruit harvest.  At the beginning of the summer I estimate that we had around five dozen peaches on our tree.  Last week they all disappeared.  I blame squirrels and rats.  Now our tomatoes are starting to vanish – while still green.  Anyone have recommendations for kid-safe and pet-safe ways to get rid of rats?  And when I say “get rid of” I mean kill.  My pacifist, vegetarian values do not extend to vermin eating my food.

One of the typical symptoms of depression is a “loss of interest in normal daily activities”.  True to my typical form, my depression seems to be atypical in that I cope by being insanely (literally) productive.  I am sure that more sleep and relaxation would help my depression, but seeing as how that just isn’t going to happen I am rocking the Independence Days challenge:

Plant something:

• Tarragon seedling
• French thyme seedling
• Lemon thyme seedling
• Curry plant seedling
• Burgess Buttercup squash seeds x12
• Waltham Butternut squash seeds x12

Harvest something:

• Potatoes!  They were beautiful and crisp and so much fun to dig up and harvest with Thomas.  I loved seeing the look on his face when he realized that the earth was full of potatoes – it was as if he found buried treasure with every spud.
• Carrots
• Leeks
• Blueberries
• A few strawberries.
• 2 blackberries (Sounds unimpressive, I know.  But they are only the first two of hundreds on our bushes.)
• A few raspberries.  Fresh raspberries are amazing, must plant more.

Preserve something:

• Two batches of laminated dough for danish.
• 16 cups of marinara sauce.
• A lot more breastmilk.  Freedom in the freezer!

Reduce Waste:

• We threw a get together for some fellow parents and kids as well as a nice relaxing Memorial Day party and rather than succumb to the temptation of disposable or even compostable dinnerware we simply used our everyday plates and silverware.  Thank goodness for the dishwasher.

Preparation and Storage:

• Regorganized my baking ingredients to give me better storage and access for those that I use most.

Eat the Food

• Tonight I made a potato casserole using our leeks, our carrots, and our potatoes.  That simple meal made me feel that we have entered a new realm of self-sufficiency:  we can now make an entire meal using food we grew.
• With a nursing mama there is certainly a lot of eating in our house!  I don’t have as much time to make dinner as I used to so I have been trying to reduce our food waste by chopping up the veggies for a couple of nights worth of dinner when I have the time so that the vegetables don’t languish in the fridge and go bad because I don’t find the time to use them.
• Thomas and I have been having a ton of fun baking – with eggs.  We made scrambled eggs and Belgian waffles for dinner on Sunday night and also baked the “Best Fudge Brownies Ever”.

And it doesn’t fit into any category, but it is the most exciting development of all:   tonight the bee man paid us a visit.  Next week he is going to set up a device to remove  a bee colony from our chimney (that’s a story for another post) and then transfer that colony to a new hive in our backyard.  And you know what we’ll have then…HOMEGROWN HONEY.