THIS AND THAT

I spent all day yesterday at Norskedalen, (I left home at 6:30 A.M.) at an Art Show.  Hot, muggy day spent in a lovely, but airless old log house.  It is an ideal place for me to set up my wares, as there is a huge, old barn loom and an old treadle sewing machine in the main room.  My goods look great in this setting.  However, it was not a profitable day, and I do not think I even recouped my registration fee. 

...rugs, bags, Woolies...

...Woolies and pot holders...

I kept pretty close count of how many people came through the cabin, and I believe it was a bit over 152.  The first year of this show, there were over 250.  

Having left home so early to go set up, and not getting home until about 5 p.m., literally soaking wet and exhausted, I never made it to my garden.  It is highly unusual for me not to go to the garden multiple times a day.

So that was the first thing I did this morning, and not only had the weeds multiplied enormously, but so had the vegetables. 

A great picking of peas, close to my last I'm afraid, two nice heads of broccoli, a yellow cucumber (a new variety I am trying this year) and much to my surprise, a bountiful picking of french style beans.  

We will have a very green supper tonight...steamed green beans with butter, broccoli omelet, and peas sauteed with lettuce and onions, with a touch of nutmeg.

Despite the heat, and it was hot, of the day, and the mugginess, I turned the oven up to 375 degrees and made 

three strawberry cobblers

(strawberries fresh out of the field at 9:00 this morning)

and one strawberry crisp.

My daughter, Educational Coordinator at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, has a large group of teachers here for the week, doing what is called the Cultural Tour.  She had asked me to make dessert for their dinner tonight...with one of the participants being a vegan, thus the crisp.  

It was not a good day to have the oven up to 375, believe me!!

A couple of weeks ago I got Michael Pollan's new book out of the library, and before I even got through the introduction, which he wrote, and I so wish I had, I knew I wanted to own this book, which I purchased at our local bookstore.

It is a wonderful journey into the land of food!!

And below, this radicchio is going to be on our table tomorrow night, I plan on grilling it. I have never grown it before, but thought I'd give it a try this year.  If nothing else,  it is absolutely beautiful.

I have never  grilled radicchio, but am eagerly looking forward to it.

BOUNTY

What a bountiful summer it has been so far.  Despite the late spring, my garden is in great production. 

This is a small portion of one of the three pea fences in my garden.  They are loaded and I might add, absolutely delicious.  I know some people feel that growing peas is too laborious, at least the picking, and shelling part.  I must say, I love the picking, but love way more the shelling.

A wonderful rhythm happens...I sit somewhere out of doors with the peas on my lap, an empty bucket on the ground to my left, and a bowl on the table to my right...oh, and my dog, Sapala at my feet...

...she eagerly awaits the juicy shells, which she immediately chews up...

Somehow the rhythm of shelling the peas is not unlike the rhythm of weaving, meditative and calming...I can't help but recall my maternal grandmother, with whom we lived until her death when I was twelve, and her huge garden out back of our house.  She loved to garden, and she was a master.  I remember trailing after her summer day after summer day, as she tended the vegetables or the grape vines.  I recall sitting alongside of her, a pan of peas on our laps, and snapping the ends, popping open the pod, slipping our thumb to the top, and gently pulling down, gathering the peas in our hands.  What a glorious upbringing I had, day after day out of doors, wandering among the vines and the garden vegetables.  In the fall, going in and out of the basement as the 'ladies' 'put up' all that we grew. I know that my grandmother often works alongside of me in my garden, I can sense her presence in the hot sun, toiling and sweating right next to me...loving the earth and its bounty.

...sauteed in a little butter, with onions and garlic and just a touch of nutmeg....

Lettuce is still coming and is not yet bitter...

...and the strawberries...

What a season it has been.  I have frozen more bags then I can count, this morning I made and froze three pies, so there are now 4 strawberry pies in the freezer.  We have eaten strawberries plain, with yogurt, in cheesecake and in cobblers.  I am not sick of them, and kind of regret that I believe today will be the last picking.

I love the bounty of summer.  I love dinner time, when Freddie and I sit down to a meal gleaned from the garden that very day.  We are truly blessed!

ABUNDANCE

Rain in abundance, and strawberries, too.  

Not all that long ago the prediction of hard frost threatened much of my garden.  I spent considerable time covering plants with bits and pieces of blankets, etc.  I came in the house and mentioned to Freddie that we were going to loose our strawberries, which were in flower, due to frost that night.  He immediately said, let's cover them, he who never involves himself in gardening of any kind, except if I need tilling.  I said you know how large that strawberry field is!...he replied, I'll get the black plastic.  He did, yards and yards and yards of it, along with slabs of cut wood to hold it down.

 And cover it we did,  and how glad I am.

Last year I purchased from an Amish friend, 100 new strawberry plants (for $15) planted them, snipped the flowers off when they appeared, and also moved many, many off shoots from my old plants.  So I now do have quite an expanse of strawberries (an abundance of weeds as well.)

And they are coming on strong!!!

They are large and they are beautiful, and did I mention delicious!!!

 

I have cleaned and cut in half perhaps 6 ice cream buckets full already, laid them on a cookie sheet, froze them individually, and then bagged them.  Oh how good they will be this winter.

I also made, for Freddie's birthday on the 24th, a strawberry cheesecake...

...organic cream cheese, organic berries mashed and swirled...

...and ready to eat!!

COLLABORATION

I hope you all (however many of you there are) will forgive this bit of 'self-advertising', but we are very excited about this new adventure.

My good friend, and colored-pencil artist, Monica T. Jagel, and I have collaborated on a project called The Rural Alphabet.  Monica began this alphabet project with her beautiful colored-pencil drawings, each letter depicting something in rural life.  Nearing the completion of the alphabet, she asked me if I would be interested in writing a poem for each of the letters/drawings.  Without any thought at all, I jumped at the idea with great excitement.  And thus, our collaboration was born.

The originals have hung in many shows, we have sold the entire set, reproduced on foam Art Boards, to Organic Valley for installation in their permanent collection.  We have them out as greeting cards, and always people keep asking, "Where is the book?" 

and so, here is....

our small, and very lovely book.  It will be for sale in a variety of venues very soon.  It can also be purchased from either Monica or me.  Monica can be reached at mjagel@mwt.net or from me at joannes@mwt.net.

We are so excited about this endeavor and are already looking forward to our next collaboration!

 

JUST ANOTHER MISTY MORNING

It seems like yet another day of clouds and rain.  One thing this spring has made me entirely sure of is that I would never want to live in the Pacific Northwest.  

I NEED the sun, which we have seen way too little of thus far.  Yes, it is mighty green everywhere, and that truly is lovely...shades of green that defy description, shades so dark they are black, so bright they are lime, and everything in between...and all not so highlighted by the cloudy days.

I need the sun and wonder if my weekend bout with the flu was in some way caused by its absence?  I think it would have cured me before it ever really set in, but perhaps I am just speculating.

Still, in all this gloom, just look at this!!  This photo in no way does justice to the impact and beauty of these yellow iris' just outside my workshop, set against the backdrop of the ever present morning mist, I think they are simply stunning!

May the sun soon appear for an extended stay!!

THE 'GROW' PART....

I must say I am a bit concerned about this spring/summer weather, and deeply worried that we will not get enough heat index days to ripen the garden produce, and for that matter, the grapes, too.

I am spending much time in my garden, planting (though this is almost complete), weeding, hoeing, and mulching.

...beans are looking pretty good...

...peas look good and are starting to flower... (this is only one of three rows)

...cucumbers have taken some doing this year as the wetness caused several of my early transplants to rot, but here is one that took and is flowering....

(cucumbers being one of my favorite veggies)

...potatoes doing well...

...tomatoes are at a standstill, not doing very much as we have had few really warm days so far...

...I started my own seeds this year having found San Marzano seeds at the local Co-op, San Marzano being the tomato of choice in Italy.  I also found an Italian Heritage tomato seed, so started them, as well.  I have (had) way too many plants, and after having given away a couple of dozen or more, I think there are still upwards of 50 tomato plants in the garden.

In the vineyard the vines are loaded.  I think these tiny, early bunches of grapes are pretty sweet to see.  It does seem that we will have to, at a later date, remove quite a few of these to protect from over cropping.

...and it looks like we will have a really great strawberry crop this year....that is if I can continue to keep the deer away. 

Yesterday, after noticing many leaves missing, I hung around the perimeter, half bars of Irish Spring original formula soap.  It has quite a strong aroma, and I suppose the deer (rabbits) think that there is a person around???

I also 'pluck' the winter coat off my German Shepherd mix dog, and scatter clumps of her hair around my garden.

A mixture of one egg to one gallon of water and a drop or two of dish soap makes a simple organic spray to ward off deer and rabbit.  This must be reapplied after every rain, however.

Blood meal...I spread this all around the garden, as I have heard it is a deterrent for deer.

So, here's hoping that SOON this summer comes on strong and warm and that we all have bountiful gardens!

FINALLY A DAY TO GRILL OUT

Yesterday was a spectacular day, and I was moved to grill out of doors for the first time this summer.  Thick-sliced potatoes brushed with olive oil and garlic, fresh-picked asparagus brushed with olive oil and garlic...(do you get it that I love olive oil and garlic)

...and a filet of salmon which I marinated in the refrigerator for several hours in 1/3 c. tarmari sauce, 1/3 c. brown sugar, 1/3 c. water, and 1/4 c. canola oil after sprinkling garlic powder and pepper on the salmon.

 Grilled first on the top side over a very hot fire, and then turned over on the skin-side to finish.

Served with a fresh spinach salad, it was a Friday night fish dinner to beat anything we've had in a restaurant in a very long time.