Elderberry Syrup Recipe

Yesterday evening, while pulling weeds, I discovered several hands of elderberries that had been overlooked by volunteers.  They were far back in the shade, and just now ripening, weeks after the rest had been picked.

The mini-harvest yielded just enough to make a batch of elderberry syrup, which is delicious on ice cream, stirred into tea, etc.  It is also a traditional medicinal plant, and the syrup is taken to prevent and help fight off cold and flu-like viruses.

The fruits of the Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) are extremely rich in vitamin C, and are also high in vitamins A and B, niacin, protein, potassium, phosphorus, bioflavinoids (particularly Quercetin), anthocyanins (which gives them their purple-black color) and calories.  Elderberries are quite a nutritious and immune-boosting food, and can be made into wine,  jelly, tinctures, juice, dried and more.   Elderberry syrup is by far the most versatile, and can be made in small batches.

I want to walk you through my recipe, but first –

A few notes about elderberries and toxicity:

1.  Elderberries are safe and have been eaten in North America, Europe and Asia for many centuries, but they need to be prepared safely.  Do not eat berries raw. 

2.  It is really important to remove all stems before cooking the berries, as the stems are toxic and should not be steeped, simmered, cooked with the berries for any reason.  That goes double for the leaves. 

3.  All parts of the elderberry, including unripe berries, contain cyanide.  Ripe berries contain only trace amounts, which cooking dissipates.  Eating more than just a few raw berries can result in nausea and sometimes vomiting.  Eating quantities or drinking a few glasses of fresh elderberry juice (uncooked) can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, stomach cramps, and even hallucinations.  Juice or berries cooked or crushed with ANY part of the hollow stems or leaves will increase these symptoms and can result in hospitalization.

So, now that you know how to safely prepare elderberries (berries ONLY, and cooked), let’s get to the syrup-making.

This morning George and I rose early while Casey was getting ready for work.  While G played on the floor with a ViewMaster, I went through the laborious process of picking the berries from their stems.   It took about 45 minutes to produce about 5 1/2 cups of berries.  Once you’ve completed this, step, you’re ready to start cooking.

Rinse berries in cold water, and let them sit for 10 minutes, stirring a few times.  Debris, bits of stem, unripe berries, spiders, etc rise to the top.  (Believe me, this is an important step.  No one wants a random earwig in their syrup.) Strain off debris and drain off water.

Then add equal parts water and berries (for me, 5 cups water + 5 cups berries) to a jam kettle or large sauce pan.  Bringing to a boil, then reducing to a simmer, cook for 20 min, occasionally mashing with a potato masher or large spoon).

Remove berries from heat and press through a fine mesh strainer (or, place in a jelly bag and then squeeze).  Discard mash and seeds (which are quite bitter).

Return juice to the stove.  Add sugar (you can choose a 1:1 ratio of juice:sugar, or for a slightly thinner and less sweet syrup, I like 3:2 juice to sugar, so 6 cups of juice to 4 cups of sugar.  You may also use honey instead of sugar, keeping in mind that you will need 1/2 the amount of honey as sugar, and it should not be overcooked.)

Simmer juice and Sugar/honey for 20-30 min or until thickening a bit (a wide-mouthed pot will help evaporate off the excess water more quickly than a tall, narrow pot).

Add juice of one lemon (for brightness, to cut the sweetness of all that sugar) and remove from heat.

Pour into bottles and either can (1/2 pints for 10 min in a hot water bath) or store in the fridge for 6 months.

Enjoy!

 

For more on Elderberries:

Pruning

Sourcing culinary varieties

Making elderflower cordial

Collecting wild elderberries

Don’t allow children to use the plant’s hollow stems for straws or peashooters (that’s not a joke).

Elderberry liqueur

 

Essentials

For a long time now, our oldest has been interested in the art of massage.  She has made a study of the subject, reading everything she can find on types of massage, anatomy and physiology, physical therapy, and stress relief.

Ruth is an intense, and typically high-stress individual (she has been since infancy), and I think she naturally gravitated toward the topic because she herself needs a lot of help with the tension and anxiety of every day living.  This has also made her a very empathetic person in this regard, and frequently asks family members who seem stressed, tired, etc if they would like a massage from her.

I had been collecting little jars at the thrift store for some time, and knew Ruth would make good use of them.  She filled the jars with various carrier oils (olive, sweet almond, grapeseed, etc) and a few drops of one essential oil (tangerine, rose, or patchouli (my favorite) or herbs collected in the garden.  I picked her a wide assortment from lavender to hyssop, rosemary to hops, spread them out on the kitchen windowsill, and let her nose guide her.

After a few days steeping in the sunshine, they make great massage oils.  Ruth’s favorite is olive oil with rosemary and a drop of tangerine oil.

If you have a collection of herbs in the garden, harvest them now, before the temperatures drop, and make a simple oil infusion to soften and repair dry, overworked hands and feet this winter.  Simply add a tablespoon of any one herb (simple is better) per 1/4 cup of light or unscented carrier oil, cork and leave in a warm place for several days.  Strain out the herbs, label, and store in a dark place for up to six months.

Knee-High Booties

Off the needles, for a friend having her first baby.  Absolutely loved this hand-dyed, very soft wool (picked up at my neighbor’s yard sale), and added in some vintage undyed wool sock yarn in places to get enough yardage to complete this pattern.

A very easy and relaxing knit, and the results are adorable.  Will definitely be making more of these.

While G is napping

Went to make an afternoon pot of tea, and got distracted by how incredibly dusty and precariously stacked everything was in the china cupboard.  Ended up dusting and reorganizing for a solid hour while George napped and the big kids ran around in the sunshine.  (Had I ever dusted in there?  Spider webs galore on the top shelf.  Ugh).

Also found some time to finish up some baby shower gifts before the herd of elephants came stomping in from outdoors and woke the baby.

 

Little projects seem the easier to complete these days.  Quick and mindless is best.  The last complicated lace shawl I attempted was frogged pretty quickly, because knitting off charts while chasing 4 kids inevitably ends in too many mistakes.

Baby socks in hand-dyed spindle-spun.  Pattern here.

Never did get around to that pot of tea.  Maybe tomorrow…

Thrifted

 

Spent the early hours this morning washing thrifted dishes we found yesterday.  I cannot resist old tea cups – they make great hostess gifts when combined with a box of tea and a little jar of honey.  Also loving the blue and white dessert dishes, and at 30 cents each, how could I pass them up?

Also washed out a vintage hand-knit sweater in the sink with a little Eucalan.  It was marked down from to 50 cents from 3 dollars since it had a small green stain near the shoulder, which mostly soaked out.  This feels like such a treasure – to wear something made over many hours, by hand, by a fellow knitter, decades ago.

I feel very blessed to live just a few streets away from the best thrift store in Portland.  The volunteers are so kind, the prices so much more affordable than the big thrift stores, the store always tucked full of wonderful things, and it supports a good cause.  Every two weeks, all items with a  new color price tag becomes 25 cents!!

All told, our Sunday afternoon trip yielded:

A vintage board game

1 1/2 yrds of grey wool fabric (which will become winter trousers for the boys)

1 1/2 yds grey liner fabric (for inside the trousers)

6 blue and white Japanese dessert dishes

6 assorted Japanese tea cups

3 mis-matched, hand painted saucers

2 child-sized Japanese rice bowls

a bamboo basket for (for yarn?  Toys?)

zippers

2 wool J.Crew sweaters (to be turned into winter Longies for George)

vintage lace-work hand-knitted sweater

set of drawing pencils (for Ruth)

hand-sewn and embroidered South American skirt

2 sets of leggings for George.

Total = $18.55!!

Falling into a Rhythm

Now that we’ve started our homeschooling year, we have again begun our Thursday ritual of serving afternoon tea and snacks in the breakfast nook.

Sometimes I bake something fancy, like a linzer torte, or banana whoopie pies or gingerbread with whipped cream, but this time, since we’re just getting back in the swing of things, I kept it simple.  Bea made graham cracker and Nutella sandwiches, and we put out tangerines and a bowl of tamari almonds and called it good.

We’ve been doing this since Ruth was  preschooler, and the kids really enjoy the ritual.  We pretend like we’re practicing our best manners, but its a time of silliness, faux British accents and lots of giggling.  It is also a time we can sit down and reconnect during the busy week.

Summer and all its freedoms are such a blessing, but it is good to slowly be returning to the rhythms of  fall.

Brandywine

Ruth picked me a little something on her way back in from the garden.  She picked a big something, too.  🙂

Know this fruit?

Just a few of these guys I picked for an afternoon snack the other day, but this autumn crop is ripening like crazy.  Are you familiar with this unusual and tasty fruit?

This fruit grows on leggy plants 3 1/2 – 4 ft tall, and is produced on the underside of branches.  The plant’s leaves are palm-sized or a bit bigger, with velvety-soft texture and a slight purple-ish hue.   It is one of my favorite annual crop plants, with a handsome shape and gentle on the skin (especially well-suited to a child’s garden).

Fruit are produced in slightly fuzzy, lantern-shaped husks (also known as “capes”), which turn from green to yellow and dry to a papery texture as the fruit matures.

Ripe ones are easy to spot on their bright yellow husks.  The first-set fruit (and thus the first to ripen) are closest to the stem, with younger fruit extending out and down the branches.

Fresh off the plant, the fruit tastes taste like lime + pineapple and are refreshingly tart, with a hint of sweetness.  The citrus quality makes them a great addition to sangria or iced tea when sliced up.

Baked in a pie or tart, they mellow and are simply delicious.  Jams are also fantastic.

Do you know this sweeter relative of the tomatillo?

It is the Cape Gooseberry, Physalis peruviana, also known as the Giant Ground Cherry, Pok Pok,or Aztec Berry.

Next February, when you’re starting your tomatoes and tomatillos from seed, consider starting a half-dozen to a dozen of these truly special heirlooms.

 

Swift Watch 2012

So, I’ve come to realize that blogging, even sporadically and ineptly, is really difficult with four busy kids, and a very busy life.  I cannot figure out how to do it without taking time away from the children, or my precious few hours of sleep. (The farm’s FB page is equally neglected lately.) This morning, I sacrificed the latter, getting up long before the children, finishing poultry chores, tidied and swept the downstairs, and folded a basket of laundry before sitting down to a mug of coffee and my laptop.  So, hopefully there will be a few posts up this week.  🙂

Yesterday evening, we said goodbye to summer with a trip to see the Vaux’s Swifts at the Chapman School.  For bird nerds like us,  it had been far too long since our last Swift Watch,  so we threw together a packed dinner, snagged some toys and blankets and headed out NW Portland.

There is a steep hill next to the school, and all the children bring cardboard to “sled” down while waiting for the birds to start spiraling in.

While we waited, I got a little knitting done (trying to finish socks before the cold weather sets in) while chatting with friends.

George played on the blanket and flirted shamelessly with the women sitting behind us.

The best part of the evening was watching the Peregrine Falcons swoop in and snatch two swifts.  George just called them “ducks” and signed “birdie”, but he found the whole thing terribly exciting.

I can honestly say that every member of the family thoroughly enjoyed himself or herself, and we are hoping to go again next week.  Best outing in a long time, and if you’re in the Portland area, we’d love to have to join us next time we go.  🙂

Bea’s Favorite Quick Bread

The neighborhood school is off today, so my 3 older kids are out with the neighbor boys, running amok.   In about an hour, a hungry horde of 9 or 10 ravenous children will descend on my house, so when they went out to play, I figured it was time to hurry up and bake them a snack.

Here’s my recipe:

Bea’s Favorite Quick Bread

(Also known as Banana-Yogurt-Hazelnut-Chocolate Bread, but that’s a mouthful!)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup hazelnut oil (or you could use a light olive oil)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs (my hens lay eggs a between medium and large, so if you have really big eggs, use 2)

3 medium bananas, mashed

1/2 cup plain whole milk yogurt (homemade is best, but a store-bought with strong tang, like Nancy’s, is a good alternative to balance the sweetness)

1 tsp pure vanilla

1 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine first 5 ingredients in a stand mixer with paddle attachment and beat until fluffy.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking soda and salt.

Slowly add 1 egg at a time until combined.   Then add banana, vanilla, and yogurt and mix until thoroughly combined.  Add dry ingredients from bowl until just combined.

Fold in chocolate and nuts.  Pour into a buttered 9×5 loaf pan (I prefer a well-seasoned stoneware pan so the chocolate doesn’t stick!) and bake in a 350F oven for 1 hr 10 min – 1 hr 20 min, or until knife comes out fairly clean.

Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn-out onto a cooling rack and let cool thoroughly before slicing.

A note on slicing:  Very moist and delicate quick breads are notorious for crumbling when cut.  Consider cutting very thick slices and then cutting those in half (almost like a piece of cake – shown in the bottom slice) to avoid this problem.  🙂

My kids love it with PB or hazelnut butter spread on top and some sliced pineapple, oranges or other sour fruit on the side to cut the sweetness.

Hard-cooked Eggs

Hard-boiled eggs that aren’t actually boiled?  There’s no water involved?  I think the proper term is “hard-baked eggs”.   A few versions of the recipe have been making the rounds on Pinterest for a while.  I remember my grandfather doing something similar when we visited during my childhood, and thought I’d give them a try to see if the recipe lived up to the hype.

Hard-baked Eggs

12 or 18 raw eggs, placed in muffin tins or a jelly-roll pan so they cannot roll off.

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Place eggs on center rack and bake 25 minutes (30 min for duck eggs).  Remove from the oven and allow to cool before peeling. 

(Adjustment: If you are already baking something in the oven at 350, you can add some eggs on the top rack of the oven and bake for 25 min.  The heat will be reduced by the item baking below them.)

What exactly is the hype?

1)Claim: They taste better than hard-boiled.

I found this not to be true.  While they taste a bit more “roasted”, perhaps, it’s not like the baking imparts a delicious smokiness to the egg (perhaps it would if you had a wood-fired oven?).

They were perfectly done in the middle, with no greying of the yolk, so perhaps that makes them a tinge less sulfur-y than eggs that are more easily over-cooked while boiling on the stove. Overall, they tasted just as yummy as hard-boiled eggs.

2)Claim: They peel easier (even fresh eggs just laid).

What I found:  YES!  They peel very easily.  Typically, I don’t hard-boil eggs from our chickens until they are 2 weeks old (3 weeks for duck eggs), since they will peel much easier when the membrane holding the white to the shell has broken down a little bit.  (By the way, this doesn’t mean those eggs are “old”, most grocery store eggs are already 30-60 days old by the time you purchase them).  The eggs I baked were laid YESTERDAY, and the shell just slipped right off as soon as the egg was mostly cooled. 

3)Claim: There is less clean up.

Well, yes, there is less clean up, if you mean that you don’t have egg-water to pour on the plants, and 1 pot to wash (I confess to putting the muffin tins right back in the cabinet.  There wasn’t a speck on them…).

My friend Kelsy pointed out that there is much more ENERGY expended, and I think that is the more important issue.  I baked 18 eggs while baking lunch.  I just put them on the top rack of the oven.  I wouldn’t preheat the oven and run it for half an hour just for 18 eggs, but I would put them in with another dish that is already cooking.

So, the bottom line is that hard-baked eggs turn out very well, and if you are already baking a dish, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make a batch this way.  I’ll definitely be doing it again.  🙂

 

 

Food Production in the Shady Garden, Part I

One of the most frequent questions I receive from folks wanting to increase food production on their property is,“What food crops can be grown in the shade?”  While there are some annuals that tolerate partial shade (Swiss Chard being one of the better ones, in my experience), trying to force annuals to grow against their nature is only going to frustrate you and the plant both.

My answer to the above question is grow perennial food crops in shady locations.  Many perennials thrive in the shade and still produce a tasty harvest for you, year after year, with little or no maintenance.  In this part, I’ll talk about the fruit-bearing perennials that we have growing on the shady East side of our house, which has become a (mostly) Native Edibles Garden.  Later this week I will address herbs and perennial vegetables:

Lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), the lovely, low-growing evergreen shrub shown above, produces sour red berries that are delicious in coridal, jam, wine, and sauces.  It is packed with vitamin C.  They produce 1/3-2/3 lb of berries per plant, so put in several.  It doesn’t like wet feet, so mix in plenty of organic matter and little sand if your soil is largely clay.  Oregon State University has a cultivation guide here.  Lingonberries used to be difficult to find here, but Portland Nursery has started stocking them this year.
Native Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) or Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium)  – These slow-growing evergreen shrubs actually prefer shady spots, and will grow larger (6 ft) than if planted in sunshine (3 ft).  Notoriously difficult to grow and slow to mature, they are a plant for those with patience.  Hucklberries have shallow roots and do not tolerate weed competition or scratching by chickens around their base.  We purchased ours from One Green World Nursery.

Black Currants (Ribes nigrum) – This is one of Ruth’s favorite berries.  She loves black currant jam on toast. The flowers, shown here, will produce large crops of black fruit rich in vit C, iron, B5, and potassium.  It does require a little bit of pruning, but starts easily from cuttings or volunteers, so you’ll be able to share them with your friends.  Plant two for more fruit. 

Red, Pink and White Currants – (Ribes spp.)  – Although these plants are said to do best in sun, I have had good success growing these in less than 4 hours of sunlight.  Our white currant is in full shade and produces a huge quantity of large white sweet fruit great for eating fresh.  The key, I think, is to give them a good start by turning-in good compost before planting, and feeding each year with coffee grounds.  All of these currants are self-fertile, producing up to 20 lbs of fruit per plant, depending on how you prune it.

Jostaberry (Ribes nigrum x Ribes uva-crispa x Ribes divaricatum) – This thornless hybrid of the black currant (“JOhannesbeere“) and two gooseberries (“STAchelbeere“) (hence the name “Josta”)   produces purple gooseberry-sized fruit with a hint of musky black-currant flavor.  It is disease resistant and self-fertile, but obviously must be propagated by cuttings and does not come true from seed.  It can easily be trained into a fan shape and put against a fence, but it does grow 5-6 ft tall and as wide.

Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) – We have a native elderberry, and also an Asian elderberry for better fruit-setting, although they are semi-self-fertile.  These tall (8-12 ft) shrubs thrive in just about any conditions and can be pruned to a central leader and trained into a tree shape if desired.  Elderberries are extremely high in antioxidants and immune-boosting compounds, and many people make a syrup out of the fruit for cough remedies, etc.  The flowers are a crop in their own right and make a delicious cordial.  The berries are quite popular with birds, and you may need to net your elderberries to get a good crop.  The fruits can be juiced or made into jams and sauces.  (A word of caution: there are reported cases of severe gastro-intestinal distress and other symptoms (particularly in children) from eating sizeable quantities of raw elderberries).

Coast Strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis) –This little plant can be seen thriving all over Oregon from sand dunes to understory. It will make an excellent spreading native ground cover and provide you with tiny, intensely-flavored strawberries.  We put some in, but haven’t enjoyed the fruit, since the ducks like them very much, and they are right at ground level.  As with all strawberries, take care not to plant too deeply for the crown, which should be slightly hilled up above the roots and left uncovered.


Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorous) – This NW native perennial thrives in the shady understory.  Unlike many of its cane-fruit cousins, the thimbleberry is thornless and spreads by rhizomes. My kids like the fruit raw, but I prefer it cooked into jams (it makes a lovely jam mixed with red currants). If you have a shady spot and are looking to grow fruit, this may be a good option for you, but it does spread and needs to be kept in check.   If we get enough fruit some year, I’d like to try making a melomel with it.

Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium) – I confess, when we first moved here from Missouri, I thought that some species of holly had taken over half the state of Oregon.  I soon found out that is actually the edible Oregon Grape.  While not the prettiest plant, in my opinion, this relative of the barberry (not a grape) makes a good hedgerow if plants are put close together, and has attractive little yellow flowers.  The berries are a traditional native food here, although I find them less than palatable either raw or cooked alone.  However, combined with other fruits (see Salal below) they are quite good, and their juice will make a very good wine.  They are also used medicinally as they contain high amounts of the anti-bacterial, berberine.  Crushed berries applied topically are supposed to be an effective therapy for psoriasis and eczema.

Salal (Gaultheria shallon) – Sometimes also called “shallon”, I have an affection for this plant, because it reminds me of the years we lived on the Central Oregon coast, where it flourishes.  This handsome evergreen shrub supplied the Oregon tribes black berries that were dried into cakes or cooked with fish or fish roe.  I find it does go nicely stuffed in a salmon, along with ramps or shallots and wrapped in bacon and steamed or cooked over a campfire.  When making jelly, it goes well with Oregon Grape, and mellows the harshness of that berry.

I’d like to add as budget allows:

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) – I’m looking forward to adding this low-growing evergreen under one of the elderberries as soon as there are pennies in the budget for it.  The red berries are the original source of wintergreen flavoring, and while I wouldn’t want to snack on a whole bucket of them, they are a nice breath freshener.  More importantly, they make a good ground cover.

If you’d like to swap/barter for some of the plants listed above, we have a few of each available right now.   Or, if you are interested in take cuttings to try propagating your own, we are happy to share.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back later this week when I discuss some of the shade-loving perennial veggie and herb crops we are growing here.

 

Accidental harvest

Since I just did a post on walking onions, l thought it might be good to talk about another fine spring allium that is often overlooked by home gardeners.

Last summer, when George was just a few days old, friends came to help with the garlic harvest.   We harvested 40 lbs of organically grown heirloom garlic, but, inevitably, some heads were missed.  Here you can see three distinct heads of garlic that were forgotten in the ground.  We have about 2 dozen of these clumps around the farm.

When they germinated in late fall/early spring, we left them be.  With so many bulbs planted close together, they will be too crowded to each create a new head of garlic.  That doesn’t mean they don’t produce a tasty crop of their own, however accidental.

The veggie these neglected garlic heads produce is an altogether unique food called “Green Garlic”.  They are much -prized by chefs, and can be quite expensive in the store/at the farmers market, if you can even find them.

Raw, they can be used in a similar fashion to scallions, but with a bit more of a garlicky kick.  I particularly like them in on top of mashed potatoes.

Cooked, green garlic mellows to a delicate flavor reminiscent of mature, aged garlic, but without the heat.   You can prepare them as you would young leeks, splitting them in half lengthwise, and either roasting them with olive oil, or poaching them in salt water or stock.  They can then be pureed and added to any soup, savory souffle.  Or, green garlic is equally delicious chopped and sauteed with pinenuts and pea-shoots.

If you’re looking for other green garlic recipes, there are some tasty ones here.

 

The onions are a-walkin’

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I frequently get questions from folks here in the Northwest who struggle to grow onions.  Their sets either rot in the ground, or never produce substantially-sized bulbs before the season ends.  The truth is that to get large onions (Walla Walla Sweets and others) to produce really well in a shorter, cool season is tricky.  I have given up on growing them altogether (because I’m a lazy gardener).  Don’t be discouraged, there are other more reliable (and I think, superior) options.

We grow leeks, shallots, garlic, and little cippolini onions with no problem here in Portland.  Garlic and shallots are planted in October for a mid-summer harvest.  Leeks are started from seed in August and grow overwinter for a Feb or March harvest.    Cippolinis are started from seed indoors in late winter and harvested in mid-late summer.

But there is one onion that takes zero work and left to itself in a sunny location will produce a continual harvest of green onions and zippy onion bulbs.  That plant is the perennial Egyptian walking onion.  Also known as tree onions, these clumping plants produce hollow, scallion like greens and a shallot-sized bulb. It is one of the first plants to come back in spring, and is rich in vitamin A.

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Late in summer, they grow bulb-lets on the top of stalks, which will eventually sprout, fall over and root in the soil.  You can either let them flop over on their own (i.e. “walk”) or you can eat them (I think they’re tasty raw), or you can cut them off and plant them where you will.

In the top photo you can see the parent “clump” on the right, and where I have let the bulb-lets fall last autumn, there is a new little clump on the left (directly in front of the chard).

If you’d like to try some walking onions, I’d be happy to give you a clump, or you can purchase them at various nurseries and suppliers.  Simply plant your bulb-lets in a sunny, well-drained spot and be careful not to set them too deeply.

Happy gardening!

One Pot, Two Meals

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Today we had homeschool co-op, followed by a trip to OMSI for the Lego sculpture exhibit, followed by the grocers.  Friday is typically exhausting for all of us, and it’s nice to come home to find dinner is just about ready.  A bit of prep the night before, then throw everything in the crockpot before we leave the house, and we have a simple, nutritious meal with little effort Friday night – all I have to do is start a pot of rice and put out the dishes.

This week’s Friday night dinner is comprised of pinto and kale (with ham and shallots). The meal works double duty:  I make a big enough batch that leftovers can be used for bean burritos or enchiladas on another busy night later in the week.

The total cost for this dish is just over $4.50, if you include the fact that I grew the kale, shallots and garlic, and the beans are purchased in bulk.  Again, that’s $4.50 for the main dish for two dinners for a family of 6.   Add in rice (also purchased in bulk at the Asian market), and the cost  for this dinner is just about $0.95/person.

Here’s the recipe:

Pintos, Kale and Ham One-Pot

Thursday night, prep the following ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of dry pinto beans, sorted and rinsed (sometimes I use cranberry or red beans)

5 ounces of uncured ham (or bacon), chopped

4-5 shallots (about 1 1/2 cups), finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 tsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp olive oil

1. In a large bowl, combine beans with 8 cups of cold water.  Cover with a plate and let soak overnight.

2. In a skillet on med-high heat, cook ham pieces until browned and crispy.  Remove, add olive oil, shallots, and garlic, and brown sugar, stirring frequently, until caramelized, about 10 min.  Remove from pan with ham.

3.  Add 1/3 cup of water to the pan, scraping and stirring to deglaze (don’t lose all that yummy flavor you’ve built up on the pan!).  Add the liquid to the shallot/ham combo.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The Next Morning:

1. Drain beans, and put them in your crockpot.  Add the ham/shallot combo to the beans.  Just barely cover with water.  Then add:

1 Tbsp Penzey’s Ham Base

1 bay leaf

2 big handfuls of chopped kale (or spinach)

2 tsp Smoked Paprika

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Stir ingredients in crockpot.  Put on “low” setting for 8-10 hours.  Serve over rice, or with rustic bread.  Garnish with shredded cheddar if desired.

Stripey Socks, off the needles

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A new pair of socks off the needles.  I have an addiction to stripes, both for looks and simplicity.   I used to like more complicated color work, but knitting with 4 kiddos running around means it’s hard to stick to a chart and actually make progress on more involved patterns.

The yarn is Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport purchased in college (eek!) and finally got around to using.  I’m doing my best to work through my yarn dresser upstairs and completely de-stash before I buy more yarn or do any extensive spinning.

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I finished the blue stripeys just in time, since this week I wore a big hole in my favorite pair of striped socks, and I haven’t had time to finish darning them yet.  (For a great darning instructions, check out Wool and Chocolate’s darning tutorial.)

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A view from the inside while I’m sewing in tails.  Even simple color work should have its own loveliness on the wrong side.

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Good ol’ slip-stitch stripe heel.  I like using it because (obviously from my picture earlier), my Birkies wear hard on the back of my socks and I like a double-reinforced heel for more infrequent darning.

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Glad my toes will be toasty warm at the Trackers pirate potluck tonight!

Family Closet

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After quite a few late nights sorting, cleaning and organizing, we’ve successfully moved everyone’s clothes into a “Family Closet” laundry system in the basement.  No more hauling laundry up and down the stairs.  No more baskets of clean laundry strewn about the house.  No more laundry on the floor of the girls’ room.   And believe me, homeschooling 4 kids and running the Teaching Garden means I will gladly take any reduction in chaos and increase in spare time that I can get!

Why did we not do this sooner?  A number of larger families we know had recommended it to us, and after researching a bit on the subject (visit my Laundry board on Pinterest), we pulled together a few pennies and dove in.  4 boxes of clothes went to Goodwill, 2 to the consignment store, and a ridiculous amount of junk was purged from the basement.

So far, we’re saving several hours a week doing laundry, the house is less messy/cluttered, and the kids are helping more with the laundry chores.  And there’s a bonus – we have three large closets upstairs that will be getting converted into a reading nook, a mini sewing room, and a cozy kids’ hideaway.

So, here’s the tour of our Family Closet on a $200 budget:

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The three older kids are learning to do the laundry.  There is a step-stool next to the washer so kids can load and unload laundry with ease.  Mama does the bleach and delicate laundry and helps kids with the other loads.  We’re all a team and we help care for each other, and part of that is working together to get the chores done so we all have more free time to spend playing and creating as a family.

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This “Antonius” system from Ikea is the inspiration for our Family Closet.  Our friends have one and keep laundry for their 6 kids in it.  Ours is full with 4, although we also store winter coats in ours, and the boys have lots of extra pants because, in our experience, boys go through pants like crazy.  Cost: $170.  This is the bulk of our expense.

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6 fabric boxes from Ikea – $12.

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Shirts, socks, shorts, yoga pants, etc for Mama and Dad are in hampers on this shelf.  We are both quite tall, so our clothes take up space!  Two hampers each.  Cost $12.  The shelving they sit on came with the house.

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When kids do laundry, things get spilled.  There are also spray bottles with vinegar-based cleaner on this shelf next to the rolling racks.  Storage tubs of too-big clothes and Easter decorations are behind these baskets.

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I would like to put shelves on the wall to the left (which is the outside of the bathroom), but that’s not in the budget at present.  Cleaning supplies sit on the table for now.

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We’d like to add more lighting in the Family Closet so it feels less “basementy”, and put on a few finishing touches, but for a super-low-budget remake of a previously wasted space, I couldn’t be happier.  Our next project is to clean and organize the other 1/3 of the basement (1/3 being laundry, 1/3 being the wood-framed canning/brewing room) and turn it into an office.  After that, we’ll be working on the upstairs closets and making them into functional spaces for our family.

Hope you enjoyed our Family Closet tour.  Thanks for visiting.

15 minutes

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“This day is not a sieve, losing time. With each passing minute, each passing year, there’s this deepening awareness that I am filling, gaining time. We stand on the brink of eternity.”
― Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

Heart Sachet Tutorial

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Yesterday was a bit of a rough day (flat tire, grouchy kids, nothing major),  and I’m recovering from yet another round of mastitis (feeling better, but trying to take it easy), so we’re trying to have a low-key morning.  It seems like the perfect time to finish a few Christmas gift projects while we listen to the remainder of our current book on CD.

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Ruth and Bea collected the English lavender from our bushes this past summer, dried it, and stored it in jars specifically for making sachets over the winter.   Ruth (nearly 9) requested that we make more heart-shaped sachets today, although yesterday I made a few birds as well, using this fabric bird as inspiration.  Bea (age 7) sticks with rectangles, which are easier for her to tackle on the sewing machine (see end of this post).

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So far, Hal simply enjoys sifting, sorting, scooping the dried lavender while we work.  His contribution to the project is snipping up the scraps of fabric into teensy itty bits, and he is sure that is somehow tremendously helpful.  :)  Ah, well, it’s good practice with scissors and hand-eye coordination for him.

The girls were allowed to pick out a 1/4 yd of remnant fabric from the fabric store for this project, and I’ve been using thrifted odds and ends.  Buttons are from our button jar of scrounged/thrifted/found buttons, and the ribbons and lace are also from the thrift store.    Not only are the sachets a frugal homemade craft, but also make handsome, practical gifts the girls can put together themselves now that they are more confident in their sewing skills.

Here’s how we make them:

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Ruth’s Lavender Hearts

Materials (per sachet):

– scraps of fabric approximately 4-5inches tall and wide, depending on desired shape/style of heart

– 3 Tbsp dried lavender flowers (you can also use cloves + diced dried orange peel, or dried rosemary)

– large handful of wool for stuffing (I use the un-spinnable bits of white/natural roving from the seconds/mill-end bags I purchase for dyeing and spinning.  Un-dyed is best, especially if using light-colored fabric, so it does not show through.)

– bits of lace/buttons, embroidery floss, beads, etc for embellishment

– 1 piece of 8-10 inch-long narrow ribbon if you desire to hang the sachet from a door-knob or hook.

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1. Place two pieces of equal-sized fabric facing each other, and pin in the middle (You can use two whole-pieces, or, for a more folksy look, or to use up those teeny bits of a lovely print, create patchwork blocks instead.)  With tailor’s chalk or a pencil, free-hand a heart shape onto one of the blocks.

2. Stitch hearts together, leaving a small hole along one side (not at the point!).  Trim away excess fabric, leaving a 1/4-inch seam allowance (I find it’s easier for Ruth to sew firs,t and cut after and that way she is more likely to produce a heart she is happy with.)

3. Flip fabric right-side out, using the tip of a chop-stick or pencil to press the heart’s point crisply.

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4. Using a funnel, fill each lobe of the heart with 1 Tbsp of dried flowers.  With the help of the chopstick, press wool stuffing into the rest of the heart (more stuffing = nicer-looking finished product.  Don’t skimp!)  When heart is halfway filled, pour in last tablespoon of lavender flowers in the body of the heart.

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5.   Finish filling with more wool until sachet is desired fluffiness.  Using an invisible stitch (such as that used on quilt binding), fold in the seam allowance and close the hole.

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Attach embellishments to your heart, and finish with a loop of ribbon tacked firmly to the top for hanging up your heart.

If your child is younger, s/he may enjoy this project more by making simple pillow-shaped drawer sachets like the ones below that Bea and I made together:

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(Since I was sick over the weekend, I did not get to finish the second post on tactile play for preschoolers.  I will do my best to get it up later this week.)

Happy Christmas crafting!

Tactile Play Part I

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Grandma Jan and Cousin Ruby got the children Perler Beads last week.  I have fond memories of making Perler Bead crafts with friends as a child, and was pleased to see how much the children enjoyed them, too.

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Hal spent the first few minutes just running his fingers through the beads in the pie tin.  As a 3 year-old, he really enjoys the process of tactile play more than completing a project.  When he settled down and started to work with the form, applying each bead one by one, fine-tuning his hand-eye coordination and fine-pincher grip.

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The girls, being 7 and almost 9, focused on the design element, and did the ironing themselves.  And we all helped clean Perler beads up from every corner of the living room floor afterward.  🙂

For more on tactile play for the preschool child, please come back and check out tomorrow’s post here on sensory play, and also this thoughtful post by Not Just Cute.

Freddie the Drake

DSCF4582This is Fred Weasley (aka Freddie), our Indian Runner drake.  He replaced our beloved Georgie Porgie Weasley, who was killed by a raccoon a few months ago.  We all took a while to warm up to him because we were missing Georgie Porgie so much, but he’s definitely growing on us.

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He’s constantly on guard, warning the flock of hawks flying overhead (or airplanes, as the case may be), squirrels and cats in the yard, etc.  He’s also good putting the chickens in their place (afterall, in his eyes, his lady-friend ducks, Audrey III (in the background) and Ping, have first rights to the food tray, treats, worms, sunny napping spots.)

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(We had a hambone in last night’s bean stew, and this morning the birds got to pick it for a treat.  Freddie had his share and then let the other birds go to town.  The extra protein and fat is important to them right now since the weather has been quite cold.)

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Here you can see Freddie’s angel-wing (a deformity caused by improper nutrition in his early weeks.  We did not acquire him until he was 8 weeks old, and the damage was already done to the wing.)

We are really enjoying our sociable, quirky drake as he nibbles our shoes begging for snacks, and attempts to herd us with the rest of the flock.  He’s even taken to following us into the mudroom if he can get away with it.   We’re looking forward to many more years of his company.

Nothing To Do

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The children are really enjoying this book.  It’s those days where we have “nothing to do” that the kids engage in deep, meaningful learning on their own terms.

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This week we’ve been playing a lot of card games (Bea’s favorite), which reinforce cooperation, strategy, addition, subtraction, memory recall for the girls, and help Hal ( age 3 1/2)  with number recognition.

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Our friend Dr. Ellie gave the children this paper punch-out book, and Hal has particularly been enjoying the city play mat in it.  It has been really neat to see him maturing in his play, and listening to the detailed conversations his toys have with each other.  🙂

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In the mornings, when it’s been too cold for the kids to play outside, and we have down time, all of the children have been sculpting with Bendaroos.  Bea likes to create her own designs (a “long neck” dinosaur, above), while Ruth prefers to follow the directions in the pack (a Toco Toucan, below)

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What learning are your kids engaging in when they have nothing scheduled to do?