Summer 2013 Garden Tally

Well, I am finally done processing all of my 2013 garden produce. I know, it's just about time to start planting the 2014 garden.

What got me to the finish line were the dried spices I had stowed away in the laundry room until I had time to deal with them.  In the evenings I like to settle down on the couch to watch a show before bed. I like to have something for my hands to do while in front of the TV and rubbing the seeds off dried plants filled that need.

Throughout last summer I collected dill seed heads whenever I was in the garden and spotted some. I stuffed them into paper sacks, which I left open to dry. It took me weeks of rubbing, but I finally finished with a quart jar nearly overflowing.

Last spring I planted cilantro here in Gualala during spring break. By the time we moved up here the place was a weed-veggie jungle and I didn't remember anything about the cilantro. I found the scraggly plants when I was weeding one of the beds. By then it was flowering and the honey bees really liked it, so I left it alone to go to seed. The heads were sort of scattered throughout the plant so I hacked them all down once they had dried in the garden and brought them home. Our kitchen table was piled high with the dead plants for a few days. Dave and I would watch something on the laptop while rubbing the seeds off. We got a whole quart!

In the fall, before it got too cold (not that it ever really got cold this last year), we walked around the neighborhood and collected wild fennel seed heads.  The stuff is a weed around here. One of our neighbors asked what we were doing and he commented that he'd never even tasted fennel. I said it was a common spice in sausage and after he smelled some that I crushed in my hand he realized he had eaten it his whole life. I was able to get a pint so I might take a few tablespoons to him so he can try cooking with it.

As I was putting the dill and fennel away this morning I realized just how many seasonings I've been able to grow.  Herbs are obvious: the green or "herbaceous" part of any plant like basil. But spices always seemed like something regular people just purchase, rather than grown. Not so: I was able to grow lots of seeds for seasoning.

Top: serrano peppers from my dad, lemon verbena leaves, fennel seeds, mint leaves, Thai peppers from my dad.
Bottom: dried onions, coriander, dill leaves, dill seeds, tarragon leaves.

And here is some of the rest of our dried foods stash. We haven't tried everything yet, but I can report that the zucchini works well in lasagna instead of noodles (just rehydrate for a few minutes with hot water until they're pliable) and the carrots resemble fresh ones when cooked in soup. The bell peppers are good enough to eat like crackers!

Some of our dried veggies and fruits from last year. Zucchini and yellow squash, bell peppers, carrots, apples, peaches, apricots, beans, and eggplant. I haven't tried the eggplant yet but I'm not confident that we'll like it.  Maybe in lasagna?

 The final tally for all frozen, canned, and dried "put up" food for 2013 was:

• 12 quarts plum pulp (will make jam or fruit leather later)
• 14 pints no-pectin plum jam
• 12 pints pectin plum jam
• 3 trays dried apricots
• 24 quarts canned apricots (for FIL)
• 7 gallons frozen apricots (for pies)
• 26 cups frozen strawberry peaches (for pies)
• 14 pints pineapple apricot jam
• 11 pints low-sugar apricot jam
• 9 pints low-sugar apricot peach jam
• 4 quarts apricot simple syrup (left over from canning--excellent mixed with champagne or rum)
• 24 quarts canned pears (my dad actually did this for me using pears given to the Bowers by their lawyer...the guy's family operates a produce packing plant and gave them some cases of fruit after one of their meetings...weird, right?)
• 2 quarts canned pear simple syrup (good with champagne)
• 5 dehydrator loads of zucchini
• 4 pints dried onions (grown in Davis)
• 2 gallons frozen blackberries (for jam or pies)
• 30 pounds canned green beans (my dad and Jennifer helped with this)
• 5 gallons frozen green beans
• 10 quarts Gravenstein apples (for pies)
• 6 quarts dried Gravenstein apples (for snacking)
• 14 pints candied jalapenos (canned)
• 12 cups frozen pesto
• 4.5 quarts fermented peppers for hot sauce (jalapenos, peppinos, Hungarian hot wax--will be ready next month)
• 3 quarts fermented cayenne-garlic (accidentally got some yogurt along with the whey inoculate in there)
• 7.5 quarts canned tomato basil sauce
• 11 quarts frozen rosemary pizza sauce
• 9 quarts frozen ratatouille
• 4 quarts frozen chopped chard
• 7 quarts frozen hot salsa fresca
• 15 pints canned chipotle salsa verde
• 18 pints canned salsa verde
• 1 pint dried bell peppers (store bought)
• 1 quart dried carrots
• 1 quart dried figs (from a local family)
• 1 quart coriander seed
• 1 quart dill seed
• 1 pint fennel seed (wild)

We purchased some of the produce from a local family ranch (some basil and tomatoes and beans) but most of it was from our garden. You can see why settling down to write my dissertation was so hard during the summer--never mind the distractions of moving, starting a new job, and my mom's passing. In the next few weeks I'll spend my evenings planting seeds in peet pellets to get our 2014 garden started. 

Retroactive Post: Spring Break on the Coast

Whoa, I realized I never posted about our 10 days in Gualala back at the end of March.

Since we move there in about 3 weeks and I finally have a moment to spare, I'll post about it now.

I decided that it'd be good for Eddie to be up on the coast with Dave again, to give Eddie an idea of what it'll be like once we live there permanently. He hadn't attended the "big day care" there since the previous summer and we'd never slept downstairs at the Coast House before. So I figured out when I'd be done with my winter quarter TA duties and finalized all the spring quarter things (updating the syllabus, posting stuff to the class website, etc.) and found 9 days when we could be there.

Next, of course, I made a long "to do" list for myself and for Dave to accomplish that week.  I quickly realized that we needed my dad up there with us to do some of the work so I begged asked him to come with us. He relented agreed so Eddie and I picked him up in Livermore before heading north. Dave had been driving the van every week so he could take loads of stuff to the new house. That left me with the Saturn--i.e., the tiniest car ever. So we swapped cars with my mom and packed  her station wagon TO THE BRIM.

We had boxes of stuff to move into the house, a Costco run, a Lowe's run (including fragile seedlings), seedlings from my dad's greenhouse, luggage, one dog, two adults, and one child. 

We arrived on Saturday and the guys started working/planning immediately. The week FLEW by, with only a few things on my "to do" list finished. (At least they were some of the bigger things!)  I'd planned on having a day or two to work on my school stuff but that...totally didn't happen.

Saturday afternoon there was a burn practice going on at the airport. Papa John let the volunteer FD burn the fields on the south and north ends of the runway. It was cool to see them using the fuel-drip fire starters.

The guys removed an old intercom box downstairs and Eddie was fascinated that he could see into the office closet.

The view as we left the garden. You'll recall my horror at the view upon returning two months later.

Most of my time was spent with my dad, gardening. So...basically the best combination ever.  We tilled, double-dug, amended with composted horse manure, tilled again, irrigated, and planted to our heart's contents.

My dad, standing in the garden. 

He kept remarking shouting to me about how DIFFERENT it is to garden up on the coastal ridge. Maybe he was talking about the lack of rocks in the soil??????  =)

A typical weeknight while I prepared dinner.

Papa John asked me to get him a microscope at the UCD Bargain Barn before I came up. I've always wanted one so he said we could keep it at the Coast House for me and Eddie to use. Woooooo!  My dads spent a night looking at fibers, water, saliva, etc.

One night we looked outside after it rained and saw a bright rainbow reflecting in the Gualala River. If that wasn't spectacular enough, a double rainbow developed.

If the local paper printed in color I would have sent this to them. It was so lovely.

The best part of the whole week was the Eddie had TWO grandfathers in the house AT THE SAME TIME (at least at night when Papa John was over for dinner).

That is a one content little kid.

The following Friday Edward arrived in town via bike. Yes, person-powered BIKE. He biked from SF to Healdsburg on Thursday, spent the night at a place he found on WarmShowers.org and spent Friday navigating the desolate Fish Rock Road. He was tired and starving when he arrived (duh) so we immediately went to a logging site and roasted sausages, hot dogs, and marshmallows for dinner over a fire Papa John made for us.

We had dinner on the fire twice that week, actually; Monday and again when Uncle Edward arrived.  My dad enjoyed it so much he was the one who requested the second time!

I have to admit, I love cooking over the fire.

My dad had NEVER EVER EVER made s'mores before. He'd roasted marshmallows but never combined them with chocolate and graham crackers. Isn't that CRAZY?

Friday when Edward arrived in town.

Late that night, my mom and Jennifer drove into town and spent the Easter weekend with us. Saturday we made a delicious GF breakfast and then my mom took Edward, Jennifer, Eddie, and me to the Sea Ranch to walk on the trail. It was a lovely, breezy day.  One of the photos I snapped that day will be used for our "we've moved" announcement cards.

Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Edward at the Sea Ranch.

Eddie and Uncle at the Sea Ranch.

Eddie has learned that my mom is not a "rough play" person so he always finds a comfy spot in the house and asks her to read to him for a long time. The house was quiet after our Sea Ranch trail walk and I found them snuggled up in the upstairs. I crept in without him noticing and took a picture.

It was a pretty fantastic and productive, yet exhausting, week. As is usually the case, we ended up staying one extra night/day so that Dave and my dad could finish up some work on the house that Dave wasn't 100% sure he could do on his own (at least without a zillion phone calls to my dad).

A Boy and His Chickens

Tonight reminded me how mature Eddie's become: he used to call the chickens "yick yens" which is pretty much the most adorable thing ever.  And lately he's begun mimicking the little sing-song I say to them when I'm out gathering eggs or whatever: "Here, chickie chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiickies!  Well, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii sweet Lady Birds!  Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii chickie chickiiiiiiiiiiiiiiies!"  It's embarrassing when I say it, but when he does it it's the most adorable thing ever.

This evening before dinner, Eddie ran off to the neighbor's house to dig in his giant compost pile.  He wanted to find worms to feed to our chickens, who were running free in the cul-de-sac.  

I asked if I could take his picture and he instantly turned his back to me and informed that he was too "busy sawing the compost" to pose for a picture.  Of course, when I suggested that we take a picture to show Uncle Edward, he spun around and put on his typical "Anime" smile.  

When he's in a good mood, I can direct his facial expressions--this time to keep his eyes open a bit.  Ahhhhhh, isn't he handsome?!

I was called over to gather the worms and shuttle them back to our house.  One of the worms was as thick as my pinky finger and about 4 inches long.  All it takes it a little tongue clicking and sweet words to the chickies and they come running over to see what I, their Mama Bird, has for them.  They all have their own personalities and right now only two of them are interested in eating worms.  If the worm is held by one end and dangle it, the chickens run up, stop about an arm's length away, and then investigate the invertebrate gift by turning and cocking their heads for a few seconds...and then they snap their head toward the free end of the treat, pull it and let it fall to the ground, and then gulp it down.  The gulp always reminds me of how young children slurp entire lengths of cooked spaghetti into their mouths.  

I had this area along the driveway fenced during most of the winter since I seeded it with perennial flowers.  But now that the rye grass is in full force, the chickens have a salad bar.  

Masala and Pepper each got a few wormies before we retreated inside the house for an easy dinner of take-out pizza.  And truth be told, I'm not sure I even remembered to brush off much of the residual compost from Eddie's clothes before he went inside (but he did wash his grubby little hands!).  

I love that Eddie looooooooooves dirt, compost, worms, spiders, etc.  And not because it is 'boy' stuff, but because his life will be a lot easier for him if he knows how to appreciate life's nasties and that some situations require (or are improved by) getting dirty.  And because I love that stuff.   

Want to see something weird?  Click here to see a picture of earthworms mating.  

My Favorite Kind of Weekend

This past weekend Dave was home for his full three days.  Logging is finally (mostly) done so he doesn't have to work every other Fridays anymore.  Woo!  We had a great weekend--my favorite kind, in fact--because it was a mix of family stuff, yummy food, helping friends, and festivity preparations.  Oh, and ice cream treats.

Friday morning we took Eddie to gymnastics 15 minutes early so he could play in the toy area before class.  When I walk in there at 8:59 am for a 9 am class, he gets shy and sometimes doesn't want to participate.  It annoys me but I don't want to get upset with him since independent participation is something he needs to learn to do on his own.  So we decided to give him some "warm up" time of his own at the gym.  We've only tried this once, but it worked!

The boys took off after that to get new tires on Dave's car while I got some stuff done at home.  In the afternoon, we chaperoned a field trip to the pumpkin patch for Eddie's daycare.  Our minivan was stuffed with car seats, kiddos, and pumpkins.  The kids played on the haystack, got to pet all manner of baby animals (goats, pigs, kittens, ducks, chickens, donkeys, etc.), and picked out their own small pumpkins.

Eddie and Isaac played with their pumpkins a lot--by picking them up and sitting on them.

Eddie and his buddy Isaac.  Aren't they adorable?

What a strong boy!

Can I put 'miniature goat ' on my Xmas wishlist?

This is Abby.  Doesn't Dave look good holding a baby girl?

Afterward, we went home and I made a yummy dinner of post roast, wild rice with pan gravy, roasted Brussels sprouts, and a sugar free apple pie for dessert (I used honey instead).

Dave and Eddie bought me flowers while running errands that day (so sweet!) and having them on the table prompted me to use our wedding china (Waterford's Ballet Ribbon pattern) for dinner that evening.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast and then scooted out the door to Cassie's for a parent work day at the daycare.  It was a busy and productive 5 hours--the gates were mended, grass and flowers planted in the yards, the school room windows were trimmed out, a fence was removed, and garden beds were made out of recycled pallets.

Work party pizza break.  The kids got to make masks in the school room while the parents worked outside.

Pallet planters--we made two double stacked ones like this and then three single stack ones.  Cute, huh?  We had some pallets at our house and then I found more at my building near the dumpster.

On our way home we stopped at Dairy Queen for Blizzards, yummy.  Eddie needed a poop break and insisted on using his red potty seat instead of the gross restaurant bathroom (I don't blame him).  Of course, he was playing with the leftover potting soil in the trailer while he pooped and flung some of the soil into my Blizzard cup while I took this picture.  I guess I deserved that...

Yeah, that's an action shot of pottying AND throwing dirt into my Blizzard.

That night I made enchiladas using left over pork roast and turned a partial jar of tomato basil sauce into enchilada sauce by adding a bit of this and that.

We always have cooked beans and cooked brown rice in zippy bags in the deep freeze, as well as tortillas and cheese in the fridge so dinners like these are a snap.

We watched Best in Show on Netflix that night while eating some of the pie (with ice cream).  I checked on Eddie that night before we went to bed and found him wearing his mask.

Sunday morning we had IHOP copy-cat cornmeal pancakes for breakfast before I scooted out the door to run some errands.  I had to replace my new phone at Verizon because it kept freezing, return/buy some stuff at Old Navy and Target, and then pop into Costco for a few things (including Polish dogs for each of us for lunch).

Breakfast.

We voted...did YOU?  I sure hope so.

While dinner was marinating (chicken in tandoori sauce), we went on our first family bike ride, where each pushed our own weight.  At least for the ride there...  Eddie did great on the 1.2 mile ride from our house to Slide Hill Park.  Dave led the way with Eddie behind him and I stayed close enough to Eddie to remind him (constantly) to stay away from the white line that separates the bike and car lanes and to watch where he was going.  He doesn't know his "right" and "left" sides very well yet so I was reminding him to stay right behind Daddy the whole time.  Sheesh.  When he got too close to the while line, I'd scoot over into the car lane a little (while signaling) to act as a barrier/warning to any nearby cars.  All the motorists were very considerate and slowed waaaaaaaaaaaaay down for us in those cases.   Gotta love Davis for that!

Biking Bowers

At the park we mostly biked between the giant concrete slide and the play structures, which are on opposite ends of the park.

Going down the biiiiiiiiiiiiiig slide.

"Ride the dolphins, Mama!"

Eddie was most displeased (read: tantrum) when I made him ride back home in the bike trailer.  He didn't understand that the setting sun would make it VERY hard for him (and cars) to see.  Despite the whining and crying the WHOLE 12 minutes home, we did survive our very first family ride.  Woo!

That night I baked the tandoori chicken while I whipped up a batch of an Indian vermecelli dish I found on Pinterest.  I've made it before and it is soooooo good and such a nice alternative to our regular curries with rice and naan.  Eddie liked both dishes so much he had seconds of each. 

Vermicelli upma made with fresh bay leaves and pecans instead of curry leaves and peanuts.

While cooking we also carved our pumpkins.  Not surprising at all, Eddie was most interested in using the knives ("saws") instead of the actual Jack-o-Lantern end products.  In fact, he insisted on keeping a knife plunged into the side of his pumpkin.  Every day he goes out onto the porch and "saws" some more.  That poor pumpkin...

Eddie drew the face on his pumpkin all by himself (plus the "practice" one on the newspaper).  Dave made the rough cuts for him and Eddie did the rest.

I feel sorry for Eddie's pumpkin...

Eddie told EVERYONE who came over before Halloween that Daddy's pumpkin has teeth, Mama's doesn't, and his has no mouth.  

Working Weekend

After a 6 week (!!) hiatus, my instrument is back up and running smoothly.  The recirculating chiller broke after Picnic Day and after trying to repair it myself, watching my professor break it, and then having Dave try to fix that, I finally had to send it back to PA for repair.  Now that the whole instrument cluster is working again, it means I am chained to it during all possible working hours.  Except that I will allow myself one weekend day at home doing normal "life" stuff: shopping, visiting family, cleaning, hanging out with the doggies/garden/chickens, cooking, etc. (read: all the stuff I'd rather be doing on weekends).

So this past weekend, Saturday was my day off.  We went to Livermore to visit with my parents and so my mom and I could attend Tina's baby shower.

The shower was right up my alley: everything was scientist themed!  The decorations, invitations, and one of the games used the periodic table of elements.  I think my favorite part was when the hostesses put ice cubes into our drinks, which each contained a plastic baby: you had to yell, "my water broke!" when the cube melted and released the baby into the beverage.  I can't wait until Baby Boy Porter comes along in August!!!  Everyone knows that while I love all babies, I especially love the ones that are males, born in August, and have nerdy parents who love tinkering/home improvement/cooking/dogs/gardening/eating.

I left Eddie at home with my dad and his dad...they apparently had a fantastic time working on stuff in the workshop, going on wheelbarrow rides, climbing dirt piles, etc.

The original plan was for the guys to finish building the art easel my dad
made for the little guy.  But I guess they got side tracked with regular old
"hammering and nailing" (or doweling, I guess) in the workshop instead.
My dad is quite impressed with Eddie's hammering skills.  He's going to build him a
cobbler's bench next! 

My mom and I brought Subway sandwiches back to the house for dinner and later we had pie and ice cream with Gayla.

This was the best pie I've ever made: peach, strawberry, ollalieberry. Holy jeez it was scrumptious.
3 cups of fruit, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and a touch of cinnamon/nutmeg/salt for the filling.

That night back Davis a giant tree fell down in the park.  Lots of noise, no fans, and high nighttime temperatures meant I didn't sleep much at all.  So Sunday morning I sneaked out the house to go to work before anyone else woke up.  I chugged along at work until lunchtime, when the fellas picked me up so we could go to Home Depot and Costco.  My instrument requires a 1.5 hour reverse flush/cool-down period, which is nice on the weekends because it gives me time to hang out with the guys a little.

I was deposited back at the lab to do another sample while Eddie napped in the car with Dave.  After the 34 minute instrument time, I set it up for reverse flushing/cooling and we went to the pool for an hour.  Then we came back to the lab to do one last sample.  Dave rode my bike home in order to get dinner started while Eddie and I waited around until the sample was done.  It was set up to reverse flush again...but this time my friend, Garrett, said he'd shut off the gas for me since he was working late (I texted him after 1.5 hours to remind him).

While we were at the pool/lab, Eddie's teacher, Amanda, dropped off a hive of
bees into our garden.  She and her boyfriend, Tim, are moving into an apartment this
summer and won't be able to keep their bees (obviously).
We're thrilled to host more ladies in the garden: we already have 7 hens, what's another 10,000 gals?

Dinner was delicious grilled chicken sliders made on Costco's deeeeeeeeeeeeelicious pretzel rolls (Genius!  I'm definitely going to make my own).  After Eddie was in bed and Dave had driven away (tear), I got busy doing all the ironing and laundry folding I'd neglected the rest of the weekend--while watching America's Got Talent, of course.

Easter is for Gardening

Gardening on Easter is a tradition for my dad and I.  We're not always together when we're gardening (although many years were are, like here).  After our Bower picnic on Easter morning, we were all pretty tired. Eddie went down for a nap and then Dave and I snoozed with Taters for a bit on the couch.

When I woke up, I realized I still had time to work on the garden beds.  I started shoveling all the soil back into the beds that the chickens have spread around.  After a while Eddie woke up so then I could start up the tiller (his window is on the right of this picture so I can't use loud equipment when he's sleeping).

At first, the rototiller noise sort of scared Eddie, so he chose to watch me out our bedroom window.  But I think his desire to be involved trumped the noise because he did come out for a turn at the handles.

Eventually, all of us were outside tilling the garden beds.   A sprained ankle, missing pants, and an Easter dress are no hindrance to a Bower's desire to play in the soil.

It'll be nice when he's a little taller so he can operate the tiller himself.

The poor chickens did NOT like the sound of tiller so they huddled
into the safety of their pen. Once we were done, they were back out, finding
lots and lots of worms.

I emailed a picture of me rototilling to my dad and asked what gardening he did that day.  He replied back that he'd done a lot, including some work on his deer and bird resistant fruit tree orchard.

It's look quite nice!  And you can see my old Volvo wagon in the picture, too!