01.29.09
Random Thursday
The last supper:
Last night we had the last supper with the harvest from the summer garden. There is still lots of Elk and lettuce in the process plus some overwinter carrots and the chickens are still laying; but basically, this is it from the garden.
Clockwise from left to right after the first ‘go round’ of servings.
Elk Steaks
Roasted, Fried Red potatoes
Home canned peaches
Mixed greens + carrots
Deviled eggs
You know, it is really time consuming to cook from scratch. Of course it would have helped, time wise, if I had decided upon the dinner menu before 4:30.
It was a very good feeling to have this meal. Other than the salad dressing and beverage, everything else was either grown here or processed here.
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Following up on the above post. Now that we’ve been here basically a year (growing season wise) I have a better feeling for what and how much to plant. This year was the first year I tried a winter garden. I followed this book Four Season Harvest . This author has several books, this is the one I purchased. With very little time, sweat and energy we did pretty good. I have plans to invest a few $$, time and sweat plus hire a couple local ‘workers’ to help expand things for this year.
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What good timing. I received my Mother Earth News in the mail yesterday and it talks about growing your own food and how to cut your food budget in half. They really addressed the ‘difficult’ times we’re in and have great suggestions for those who have lost their jobs and/or homes. You can go here to check out their online magazine. Mother Earth News posts almost their complete magazine the month after it arrives on news stands. This one is a good one!
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I also am processing the last pumpkin from summer. I kept it outside hoping to avoid the dreaded rot that sometimes affects pumpkins if you bring them inside. It survived the snow
and being used briefly as a bird feeder. I decided to bring it inside earlier in January and it did fine. Last night we baked it in pans with water. It took about 2 hours to cook. This morning I scooped out the meat and processed it. Right now it is hanging in one of my late Grandmother’s kitchen towels dripping pumpkin juice. Later this afternoon I’ll make pumpkin bread with raisins and walnuts. Yum!