Photo Friday: Dusty Settles In

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Dave

It’s been three weeks since we brought new cat Dusty home. In that time he has settled in nicely. He was a little skinny when we brought him in, but in three weeks he has gone from 9.4 to 10.1 pounds. If there’s one thing you can usually count on at HA, it’s eating well!

Dusty and Puddin at the trough (click on any image to enlarge)

Puddin has pretty much fallen in love with Dusty. But as of yet, the feeling is not quite mutual. Give him a little more time, and I predict he will come around to her way of things. They are eating together, with Puddin even letting him eat her share when he wants to.

Dusty watching the birds

During the day, Dusty enjoys hanging out in my wife’s office (aka The Woman Cave). She has lots of fun things in there to play with, plus a bird feeder to watch.

Dusty in The Woman Cave

But all that excitement wears Dusty out eventually. Then he likes to nap on Lynda’s chair.

Dusty crashes on chair

He also hangs out with me quite a bit. He’s not camera shy either!

Dusty strikes a pose

My wife got a great shot of Dusty and Puddin relaxing with me in my recliner. It’s not all work here for sure!

me with Dusty and Puddin

Last but not least is a video of Dusty at play – I call it Dusty’s Light Show!

Posted in Cats, Photography | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Shelter From the Storms

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Dave

We had a lot of people checking up on us last week, what with all the storm activity in our part of the world. Early Wednesday morning, we had an EF-1 tornado touchdown about a half mile from here (as the crow flies). Amazingly, with a storm that close to us, nothing was even out of place here at our place. Later that morning, I could hear the sounds of chain saws as a few downed trees were cleaned up. It was the third tornado to hit our little town since 2004.

But the bigger storms rolled in on Friday afternoon. Once again we were lucky, as tornadoes hit all around us. Another major threat with these storms was hail, with some baseball sized pieces coming down to the north of us in Gibson County. We got .06 inches of rain, but that was it. We got no hail, and no damage. There was one little tree limb blown down.

As the news reports started coming in, it was obvious that not everyone was so fortunate. Southeastern Indiana was especially hard hit. We have friends in that area, and we were all checking up on each other after the storms had passed. Bill and Jody live in New Albany, and they too escaped any damage. But they both had relatives in Henryville, which got hit full force with a massively destructive EF-4 twister. Jody’s brother Charlie and his wife Chris were unhurt, but their house was totally demolished.

Bill and Jody went to Henryville on Sunday to help their relatives with the cleanup. Bill sent back some photos, and I got his permission to share some of them.

basement shelter, after tornado hit

Chris and their two girls hid in the basement before the storm hit. That may very well have saved their lives. But it was still a scary place to be. The tornado ripped the flooring right off, and even sucked the basement steps right out of the house. They had to build makeshift steps with concrete blocks to get out of the basement. You can see the blocks in the upper right corner of the above photo. The tree narrowly missed them. Later they found a full, unopened two-liter Pepsi bottle on the basement floor, but nobody in their house even drinks Pepsi!

after the storm

Outside the house, the destructive force of the tornado was hard to imagine. Houses and cars were tossed about like toys. Charlie and Chris had a camping trailer parked in their backyard that has totally vanished – blown away completely to who-knows-where by the tornado.

Jody helping with cleanup

I have often heard stories about how a straw can be imbedded in a tree by the force of a tornado. Bill found a sofa pillow laying across a tree limb. When he tried to pick up the pillow, it was imbedded in the limb. Bill described the mood there as ‘somber’, with everyone talking in a ‘hushed, quiet, reverent tone’. People were coming up constantly and offering food, water, gloves, and to help in any way possible. The insurance company was quick to help also, with cash for living expenses and with assistance finding lodging.

Chris and Charlie, and what remains of their home

Long after the media trucks are gone, the folks in Henryville – and all the other folks hit by Friday’s storms, will still be picking up the pieces. Rebuilding houses and other structures will take a long time. It will take even longer to rebuild confidence and overcome the fears of future storms. It is safe to say that no one who lived through the tornado will soon forget it. And there are lessons to be learned. My wife and I are rethinking our storm preparedness plans. Just going to the basement won’t be good enough any more. We also need to be under something sturdy, and not under the basement steps.

As I sit here this morning, with a gentle rain falling, I am so very thankful for the roof over my head and the warm bed I slept in last night. My heart goes out to all the tornado victims, as do my thoughts and prayers.

Posted in Life, Nature | Tagged | 9 Comments

A Honey of a School

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Dave

This past weekend my wife and I attended the seventh annual Audubon Beekeeping School just across the river from us in Henderson, KY. It was my first time at this event, but it surely won’t be my last. It’s too bad that the Southern Indiana beekeepers don’t have similar programs. Many attendees came down from Indiana, including our friend and fellow MG Carla (aka Mimzy), as well as several other Master Gardeners.

The school offered sessions for beginner, intermediate and advanced beekeepers, as well as a track called Beyond The Hive that featured sessions on making creamed honey, candle making, cooking with honey, and making balms and bars using beeswax. Several vendors were setup as well, including displays from Walter T Kelley and Dadant & Sons. And for only $10 per person – including a BBQ lunch, it was really quite a bargain.

creamed honey

I came away with a lot of good information, as well as a jar of creamed honey we made. George Martin and his wife, who keep about 70 hives in Tennessee, came up to KY to teach this class. For those know might not know, creamed honey (also called whipped or spun honey) is a 100% honey product that is made of crystallized or granulated honey. Well made creamed honey has a smooth, creamy texture with extremely fine crystals. I can see us making some of this when our honey starts rolling in!

The keynote speaker was Phil Craft, longtime KY State Apiarist, who was ‘retired’ by the state in 2011. Phil also taught the intermediate session on Disease Control. Phil shares his vast beekeeping knowledge on his blog, Phil Craft Hive Craft.

All in all, it was a day well spent. The event was held at the spacious and modern Henderson County Extension Office and Expo Center, which is a great facility for events like this.  It is obvious to me that the state of Kentucky places greater value and emphasis on its extension services than does the state of Indiana! Or perhaps that’s just the way it is in Vanderburgh County, where the extension office is crammed into a tiny strip mall type building, and meetings and classes are held all over the place, wherever room can be found.

It was also a very timely event for me. Our bees have certainly been buzzing here lately, and it won’t be long before trees start blooming and hopefully the honey starts flowing!

 

 

Posted in Beekeeping | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Futures Market

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Dave

I’m not a fortune teller, nor am I clairvoyant. But I will make one prediction today: the price of oil and gasoline will continue to rise in the days and years to come, and the cost of food, meats and grains will go up as well. And while I don’t trade on the CME, I am doing something to hedge against rising food prices. I am growing food. And for me, that is empowering. It’s my action plan!

my idea of coffee futures (click on any image to enlarge)

My relatively small investment in seeds, plants, and time will grow into a larger harvest of vegetables and fruit. To be sure, not every year will be a bumper year for everything I grow. But with diversity, the chances of success increase. My wife and I grow around 30 different kinds of vegetables here, and almost a dozen different fruits. And we’re always looking to expand our choices.

seedlings under fluorescent lights

Right now is a busy time here at HA. I kicked off seed-starting season a couple of weeks ago, and there are still plenty more seeds to sow in the near future. This week I transplanted some of the early seedlings into larger quarters. Many of the plants are showing their first true leaves already, like the cabbage plant in the below photo.

this cabbage seedling has a future here

And while new seedlings hold the promise of future harvests, we’re still collecting the payoff from past efforts. Our fall and winter plantings are keeping us fed, even while spring and summer are just around the corner.

lettuce, spinach and arugula = future salads

Growing my own food acts as a buffer against rising food prices, but I would do it for the taste alone even if it didn’t save money. After all, how can anyone put a price on the first fresh homegrown asparagus of the season? And I mean really fresh asparagus, not the stuff that passes for fresh in most groceries.

first asparagus of 2011

As I sit here writing, the spot price of gold is $1714 an ounce (according to the ticker at CNBC) and the price of oil is north of $107 a barrel. But the value of the food we grow here can’t be tracked by an index or a ticker symbol, because to me it’s priceless!

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

A Surprise Harvest – Overwintered Collards

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Dave

This winter of 2011-12 has been interesting. We’ve had only about 1″ of snow so far, and very mild weather in general. That has given us plenty of eating choices with our overwintered vegetables, and some real surprises.

collard plants on February 22, 2012 (click on any image to enlarge)

Collard greens are not generally winter hardy here. In my memory, I have never seen them make it to January. But here it is in late February, almost March really, and the plants are still alive. So I figured I needed to cook up a mess of greens and see how they tasted. And I was not disappointed! They were nice and sweet, with large but tender leaves.

harvest of collard greens

I usually have a hard time estimating how many greens to cook. So I wind up cooking too many. My wife and I were eating on the collards for 4 meals. The leftovers were just as tasty though.

Lacinato kale on 2/22/12

Another green that has surprised us this season is the Lacinato kale. It normally doesn’t make it through our winters either, but like the collards, it is still going strong in the garden. I didn’t harvest any of it this week though.

Yukina Savoy

I did harvest some Yukina Savoy, which is an upright tatsoi relative. I did a quick stir fry with it, and we had it for a side dish one day. The Asian greens in the cold frames are doing so well that I haven’t even started any seeds for new plants just yet. At some point they will start bolting though. The maruba santoh in the greenhouse is flowering already, with bees coming in to visit on the days it’s warm enough for them to fly.

Misticanza

I also harvested some baby lettuce from a mini salad box in the greenhouse. All the lettuces have been doing well this winter too. This cutting gave us 6 ounces of lettuce, which was plenty for two large salads. This was a Misticanza Quattro Stagioni mix from Seeds from Italy.

Double-Chocolate Sourdough Bundt Cake

And one last thing we enjoyed last week wasn’t really a harvest, but certainly worth mentioning. I made a Double-Chocolate Sourdough Bundt Cake for a going away party for a friend at the kitchen where I volunteer. This cake was moist, not too sweet, and oh-so-chocolatey! Thanks to the folks at Curbstone Valley Farm for sharing their great recipe. I will be making this one again soon!

To see what others are harvesting and cooking up from their gardens, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of the Harvest Monday series.

Posted in Baking, Food, Gardening | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Like Chicken Pot Pie – Only Different

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Dave

The Dark Days Challenge has 120+ participants from all over the U.S. doing the best we can to eat local during the winter months. Our challenge is to prepare at least one meal a week using only Sustainable, Organic, Local and Ethical (SOLE) ingredients, and then blog about it. Weekly recaps of the participant’s meals will be hosted by the fine folks at Not Dabbling In Normal every Sunday.

Last year was a great year for tomatoes around here. We also had a mild fall, and plenty of rainfall. That left us with a lot of green tomatoes late in the season, and with me scrambling to find new ways to use them. I made green tomato chutney, green tomato bread, and of course we enjoyed fried green tomatoes.

2011 green tomato harvest (click on any image to enlarge)

But perhaps one of the best things I made with those green tomatoes was salsa. I found a recipe for Green Tomato Salsa Verde, made a few modifications to suit my tastes, and packed most of the finished salsa in jars for freezing. My version of the salsa featured lots of green tomatoes, garden fresh Anaheim type chilies and jalapenos, onions and garlic, along with some lime juice and a few spices. And most of the ingredients came right from our own back yard.

Green Tomato Salsa

The resulting salsa was, to me, pretty amazing. I could eat it by itself, or with chips! It was definitely good with tacos and burritos. The green tomatoes took the place of the more usual tomatillos used to make salsa verde. But I had one more thing I wanted to make with the salsa, and that was a layered chicken and tortilla casserole. And that made for a great Dark Days Challenge meal.

whole wheat tortillas

Last week I made whole wheat tortillas, using some local hard red wheat berries I ground into flour. My tortilla recipe calls for lard, and I used some I got from a local source that I keep in the freezer. Lard gives the tortillas a wonderful flavor and texture.

ingredients for casserole

Yesterday I cooked one of our whole chickens from our CSA in a crock pot till it was tender. My wife took it off the bones, then made stock with the carcass. We froze the stock for later use. About 3 cups of the meat went into the casserole. I shredded the chicken into bite size pieces, then simmered it for about 15 minutes with a quart of the green tomato salsa.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

To make the casserole, I layered tortilla pieces with the chicken/salsa mix and sprinkled on a little shredded Mexican cheese blend. I topped the casserole with more tortilla pieces. I covered the dish with foil and cooked the casserole for about 45 minutes in a 350°F oven, until everything was hot and bubbling. I sprinkled a little more cheese on top while it was still hot.

sliced sweet potato

Keeping with the Southwestern dinner theme, I served some grilled sweet potatoes for a side dish. To make these potatoes I cut a large Beauregard sweet potato into 1/4 inch thick slices, then tossed them in some olive oil with some of our homemade chili powder added. This is one of my favorite ways to fix sweet potatoes, and I usually save the larger ones since they make nice big slices that are easy to handle on the grill.

grilled sweet potatoes

I cooked them for about 10 minutes on a hot grill, turning once. The grilling really brings out the flavor of the sweet potatoes, and the mild chili powder adds a little smoky heat. They made a colorful and tasty accompaniment to the casserole.

comfort food, Happy Acres style

For my wife and I, this casserole is real comfort food. But unlike the frozen pot pies of my youth, I made this myself with wholesome and healthy ingredients. Except for the cheese and spices, everything was either homegrown or local. And like most casseroles, it should be even better the next day! We’ll freeze any leftovers for more comfort food later on.

Posted in Dark Days Challenge, Food | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Whole Wheat Sourdough Pancakes

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Dave

Since starting a whole wheat sourdough culture last fall, I’m always on the lookout for new ways to use sourdough in the kitchen. Lately I got to thinking about using it to make pancakes and waffles, especially during our recent trip to Hawaii. On a trip to Kauai in 2008 we had some great macadamia nut banana pancakes at the Hula Girl Bar and Grill. Unfortunately we didn’t visit that island on this trip. But I figured we could make them even better at home, especially with the additional flavor boost from the sourdough.

A quick online search for recipes found a lot to choose from. One recipe from Dog Island Farm sounded especially interesting. I had all the necessary ingredients, including a proven sourdough culture. I was ready to experiment!

I was initially a little concerned about how 100% whole wheat pancakes would turn out. Would they taste like sawdust? Could they substitute for hockey pucks? But my fears were unfounded. These pancakes are amazingly light, and have a wonderful rich, full flavor. I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit to suit our tastes and my sourdough culture, but not a lot.

sponge after sitting overnight (click on any image to enlarge)

Like many sourdough recipes, you do need to plan ahead. About 8-12 hours before you want to have the pancakes, you make a sponge with water, flour and some mature sourdough starter. So if you’re having pancakes for breakfast, this means making the sponge the night before.

pancakes cooking in electric skillet

I usually use an electric skillet to cook our pancakes. I like it because it maintains an even temperature, so I can concentrate on other things – like spreading the batter and flipping the pancakes. A well seasoned cast iron skillet or griddle would work as well.

pancake ready for serving

For the batch in the below photo I added a few chopped macadamia nuts to the batter before cooking, and used a mix of half butter and half coconut oil. Berries and other nuts can be added too. We added some sliced bananas on the side and additional mac nuts on the top to make a breakfast that rivaled the one we had on Kauai – though we had to use our imaginations for the tropical breezes!

pancake breakfast

The batter can also be used to make waffles. My wife decided to try some in her pizzelle maker, and guess what? It makes great pizzelle too!

sourdough whole wheat pizzelle

Though I used a 100% whole wheat sourdough starter for this recipe, other sourdough cultures will work. If the batter is too thick after adding the egg and butter, it can be thinned with additional water or milk.


Whole Wheat Sourdough Pancakes Print This Recipe Print This Recipe
adapted from this recipe

1/2 cup mature sourdough starter
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup water
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 Tbs melted butter or oil
1/2 cup fruit or nuts(optional)

1. About 8-12 hours before making the pancakes, mix 1/2 cup sourdough starter with the whole wheat flour and water in a non-reactive mixing bowl. Cover loosely, and let the sponge sit at room temperature.

2. Stir the honey, salt and baking soda into the sponge, then whisk in the egg and melted butter or oil. Avoid over beating the batter.

3. Let mixture sit for about 5 minutes, while heating griddle or electric skillet to around 375°F.

4. Lightly grease griddle with butter or oil.

5. Spoon batter onto griddle or hot skillet (1/4 cup batter will make about ten 5″ pancakes).

6. Let pancakes cook until edges look dry and bubbles slow down or stop forming on surface. Flip pancake, then cook another 20-30 seconds. Serve immediately.

Servings: 10

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 104 calories, 47 calories from fat, 5.3g total fat, 33.4mg cholesterol, 250.8mg sodium, 52.8mg potassium, 12.6g carbohydrates, 1.6g fiber, 3.5g sugar, 2g protein, 11.7mg calcium, 3.1g saturated fat.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , | 5 Comments