Autumn in New York

The weather has been absolutely exquisite this fall.  The days warm up in the 60s with low humidity, and blue skies.  You might get a light breeze.  Working in the sun is shirt sleeve weather.  You can even lounge about comfortably with long sleeves. 

Each day the trees get a little more brilliant.  We are expecting rain tomorrow which will knock leaves off so we are at our color prime right this very moment.

It has been good weather for campfires.

Some of the remaining flowers are coming out in weird shades, affected by the cool temperatures.  This lemon yellow dahlia should be an apple blossom pink.  I'm mostly done storing dahlia tubers.  I have more than three dozen washed, trimmed and packed away and I have eleven plants still to lift but they are blooming nicely and have not been threatened by frost so I'll leave that chore for another mild day.

We have had frost though.  Last week's Monday the 4th we awoke to a heavy frost all over the lawns and buildings.  Still it only lightly tinged the Dahlias and Marigolds.  Sometimes the frost damage isn't immediately apparent.  The next day I noticed that the sweet potato vines had gotten a bit burned.  They say this damage can work down into the tubers and spoil them or reduce their storage life.  So I went ahead and started digging taters.

Yup, they're ready,

They came out of the ground like bunches of bananas.

The sweet potatoes are pretty much done with their hot curing now and will need to be washed off and dried in a cool area, then will be individually wrapped in paper and stored in a box in the basement.  I have been eating one every few days this past week to track their progress.  The first one I tried had only been out of the ground a day and was mildly sweet but needed some help so I dressed it with garlic aioli sauce (also good on regular potatoes) The texture was just to die for. No stringiness. Not at all dry. I softened it in the microwave, then split it, buttered it, wrapped in in foil and put it on the grill with steaks. OMG it was like silk.  I also did some baked potatoes and sweet potatoes in the campfire coals which turned out well.  

Yesterday I made Chowder from my sweet corn, potatoes and carrots plus my own fresh thyme and chives. I did not add the cream yet as I was planning to freeze it. I can finish each portion with cream as I use it. Even without the cream it was heavenly. I’m going to have some for lunch again today. This Recipe plus carrots.  As always, I am wrapping up summer gardening activities well fattened for winter.

Potatis Korv

 Potatiskorv: (more commonly known as värmlandskorv in Sweden) is a regional Swedish sausage from Värmland, made with ground pork, beef, onions and potatoes. Potatiskorv is traditionally served hot at Christmas in Värmland but often served hot or cold throughout the year. "Potatiskorv" is what this sausage is called in parts of Värmland. In most parts of Sweden, the word "potatiskorv" is unknown, while "värmlandskorv" is well known and sold commercially around Christmas throughout the country, for the benefit of people from Värmland. In the United States, "potatiskorv" (usually written "potatis korv") is the name that has stuck among people with Swedish roots. (SourceWikipedia)

In our area, it is not difficult to find Korv in the grocery stores, but like any traditional dish there are enough variations that you really have to make your own if you want to capture that taste as you remember it. Making Korv is something we only do once a year.  That means there is still a little trepidation and dread before you get started because it is a big project and you don't want to mess it up.  We wisely kept good notes which extend beyond the tweaked recipe to sensible instructions like which bowls to use for what and what to prep first.  In fact steps one and two are:

• Do any dishes
• Take up the carpet

And then continues on to getting the casings prepped and how many cranks of the lever on the sausage stuffer gives the right amount of sausage for a quart freezer bag.

When we started out we would even grind our own meat, starting with pork shoulder and chuck roast.  We got the best prices that way.  Now we just keep an eye out for ground beef and ground pork to be on sale, and stock it away in the freezer.  The recipe calls for 5# beef, 5# pork, 5# white potatoes and 3# yellow onions.  When all is peeled and prepared you end up with about 15# of Korv.

The meat is seasoned with salt, pepper and Allspice.  About half way through mixing, we make a sample patty which we cook in the microwave so we can sample how the seasoning is going.  It doesn't have the true taste of Korv in the microwave but it lets you know if you have enough salt and pepper going in.

Inevitably, there will be about half a pound of meat left in the stuffer pipeline that has to be removed and then hand stuffed.  I get out the cow horn for this last link.  The big stuffer works so slick that stuffing the sausage is a lot of fun.  Having a cow horn on hand to deal with the problem is fun, but after that moment it turns into a lot of work!  I would HATE to have to stuff fifteen pounds through a cow horn!

We have batch #4 of Glögg on the stove, and Korv is what's for dinner.  Each link is just shy of a pound.  I lay it in a baking dish and cover it with foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  Then remove the foil and turn the broiler on low for about 10 minutes keeping an eye on it until the casing browns up nicely.  I serve it with pork gravy, mashed potatoes (or scalloped potatoes) and peas.  Leftovers make good sandwiches.

In The Mood to Make Sauerkraut

 This morning was bright and sunny so I went out for awhile to rake beds, pull Nasturtium, sweep the garden shed etc.  Even if it isn't an outside kind of day I can usually find something to work at.  I still have some dahlias in the ground.  In the end it began to plop snow and rain interchangeably.  I came back inside but couldn't sit still.  I had checked on my Violaceo di Verona cabbages and was suddenly, and inexplicably in the mood to make sauerkraut.

I made a batch this summer from the Golden Acre cabbage.  It was a fun project and turned out well but I gave all of it away to the neighbors.   I seasoned it with caraway seeds and they loved it, even the wife who is also not a huge fan of sauerkraut.  She said mine was very mild and she really liked it.  What she probably like about it is that it was fresh not canned from the store. I will be interested to find if the different variety makes a noticeably different taste.

I picked the two nicest heads and ended up with a little over two pounds shredded.  I still have a good sized head out there and two small ones.  One plant is not making a head at all.  I will probably use one of the small heads for fresh cole slaw when I pull the last of the carrots.

Again, I sliced by hand.  One noticeable thing is that these heads made a lot of brine right away.  That is probably the difference between summer cabbage and fall cabbage with plenty of rain.  These plants would naturally have a high moisture content.  As I worked the salt in I pulled out the coarse stems you can see in that cross section.  The VdV cabbage is very crinkly and made an interesting texture.

It looks good already!

I'm looking forward to tasting it.

The By Products of Gardening - Venison Jerky

 The closer you are to your gardening roots, the more you see things in the natural world which you can harvest.  There are leaves to harvest for compost.  Wild apples to harvest.  Rosehips to harvest. Deer to harvest...

We live in the country less than half a mile from the city line.  This situation creates a comfortable haven for whitetail deer.  No one hunts them because the houses are too close. Natural predators like coyotes are discouraged.  Food is plentiful because of all of the nice landscaping.  I grew up in the country, surrounded by dairy farms and we never saw deer.  They were out there.  My grandfather hunted.  They just didn't come up on the porch and peer into the windows.

The deer are bold.  They have no fear of humans.  Almost every night they come through and taste something.  Anything new, like fresh soil, must be examined and tracked up.  They will walk right up our steps and across the deck.  Because, obviously, it would take too much effort to, you know, go around....

So we hunt them. Vigorously.  My husband and I do not hunt personally and we don't particularly care for venison, but we have a friend who hunts with a bow so he can safely shoot here near the house.  He installs and monitors many cameras beforehand and has four tree stands and one raised "cabin" set up. There are plenty of people who will take venison but do not have the patience or skill to go out and get it themselves.  Over the past few years he has made a nice dent in our deer population.  Any meat he does not use himself or give away to friends gets donated to the soup kitchen.

The big 14" McCoy bowl is excellent for mixing meat.
It stays put!  We use it for mixing Swedish Korv (sausage) too.
It is an absolute beast to wash though.

This is our second year for the food dehydrator.  We bought it to deal with the bushels of apples, but this year have decided to try our hand at jerky.  So we finally asked for some venison.  We bought a LEM Jerky Canon which works pretty neat.  We can make slim jims with it too.

It has been fun having the game cameras set up so we can see more of what is coming and going around here when we're not looking.  We see a lot of deer, of course, and also turkey and more rarely a red fox or the fisher cat.  This year I took things a bit further and set up two game cameras around the garden.  That way I would know if and when the racoons and such were casing the joint.  Throughout the year there was surprisingly little activity immediately around the garden.  The deer visited the apple tree a few times until one of them discovered the electric fence.  After she zapped her nose she stayed away from the garden.

There were a few other visitors of note

Kitty Cat

Wascally Wabbit scoping out the strawberries

The one and only raccoon

Wile E. Coyote

The woods cameras set out by our hunter friend yielded a lot more interesting specimens.  

Fisher Cat

Foxy Loxy

Wile E. Coyote in color

And then just last week

Teddy Bear Parade

We know there are bear that come through a few times a year.  Last year there was a nice set of prints across the dahlia bed.  I will sometimes see footprints in the gravel drive or find saplings broken down.  But we don't feed the birds or have garbage cans outdoors so the bear doesn't often come close to the house.  I waited a long time to get them on camera.

Cold Rainy Days - Glögg and Dahlias

What better way to spend a cold, rainy autumn day than sorting spices?  I measured out bulk spices and bagged up enough for this year's Glögg.

 

We used to wait anxiously every year for the spices to appear in the local Swedish bakeries.  A few years ago my husband decided that we go through enough of them that we should just buy in bulk.  Decades ago, his parents and their friends had worried that some day they wouldn't be able to get the old spice recipe (are worries inheritable?) and sat down and counted out each individual ingredient.  12 cardamon pods, 6 whole allspice berries, 6 whole cloves, a teaspoon of slivered almonds, a quarter cup of raisens, 5 cinnamon sticks, orange peel...  So we had the recipe.

I order enough bulk spices through Amazon to get us through a few years.  I bag them up each year and pop them in the freezer to keep.  The store bought orange peel leaves something to be desired so I buy a bag of oranges to eat and set the peals out to dry.  Free orange peels! This little enterprise drops our per batch price for the spices from fourteen dollars and change down to a little over four bucks a batch.  Now that's what I call economy of scale!

We may be completely saturated with rain.  We may not be able to walk across the lawn without getting a boot stuck.  But they haven't all been gloomy days.  We have not had a hard frost yet, but I've been working through my dahlias lifting the tubers to store.   In the past I have just knocked off the worst of the dirt and plopped them into cardboard boxes of compost or potting mix and stuck them in the basement bulkhead.  This year I am trying to be a little more precise about the process.  After all, I have the time.  I've found a lot of information online about the best way to store the tubers and there are several methods and variations of storing.  My old method is fine.  But in the spring you end up with a stack of collapsed boxes of dirty, mystery tubers and they aren't any fun to unbox and plant.

Even though we've had too much rain and the dahlia bed was wet and sort of muddy, they rinsed off really nicely.  I dug up and processed one variety at a time.  None of them showed any sign of disease.  I hosed them off and each day set them outside to dry for the afternoon.  At the end of the day I bring them in and set them on newspaper over night.

The next day I trim off the hair roots and cut the stem back to the solid part (the rest of the stem is hollow and can hold moisture or debris).  After they have dried for 24 hours they can be handled without scraping them up.  The hair roots cut cleanly and you can write the varieties on them with a marker.  You can let them dry 48 hours or so before you pack them up but after that you will start to notice that they are beginning to shrivel a little and you don't want that.

It is important to cut out any damaged or rotted tubers because you don't want them continuing to rot in storage and spoiling the whole batch.  You can divide the clumps at this point but I am going to wait until spring.  Some of them separated out on their own for me which was nice.  But the rest will have to be cut up and that will be easier in the spring when their growth eyes start.

I ordered a twenty pound bag of coarse vermiculite from Farmtek. This will keep them clean and should maintain the right amount of moisture without being "damp".

I still have some of them in boxes, but I picked up a couple of these plastic milk crates and now I want more!  They have handles on all four sides, are light weight, and won't crush when I stack them.  I had shopping bags the right size and they packed up really nice and tidy.

They need to be kept cool but unfrozen.  They can stay in the garden shed for now but will have to come in to the basement bulkhead for the winter where they will have the right amount of humidity and will not freeze.

Tomorrow's cold rainy day project is venison jerky.

Strawberry Season

It's Strawberry Season again.  Well not here, but in some parts of America.  So each time I walk into the produce department, I am faced with luscious looking strawberries.  The problem with this is I cannot justify buying fresh strawberries when I have pints and pints frozen at home with no plan for how to use them up.

What do you do with a whole bunch of frozen strawberries?  You make Strawberry Crisp.  I found this recipe on Pinterest so if any of you are in the same predicament I highly recommend it.  It says to serve warm with vanilla ice cream, But in my opinion it's better refrigerated with whip cream.

RECIPE SOURCE

Strawberry Crisp

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Yield: 6 Servings

Ingredients

• 32 ounces of strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup old fashioned roll oats
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)
• Instructions
  1.      Preheat oven to 350*F
  2.      Spray an 9 x 9 inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  3.      In a bowl toss strawberries, 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch.
  4.      Place berries into prepared pan.
  5.      In a separate bowl, mix flour, oats, 1/3 cup white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.
  6.      Add melted butter and mix well.
  7.      Pour oatmeal mixture on top of berries.
  8.      Bake for 35 minutes or until topping is golden and berries are bubbly.
  9.      Serve immediately with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Strawberries

So it worked.  I grew Strawberries.  Not that is any great accomplishment, I've grown Strawberries before.  It's just that sometimes it seems like you are chasing an impossible dream.  Sure things are growing.  You have more lettuce than you know what to do with and the tomatoes are making progress but the things you've got your heart set on.....like Cantaloupes....are looking like a failure.  Again.  Even after all these years I wait in suspense to see how things will turn out.  Because despite the fact that I've proven I can pretty much grow and store a year's supply of fruits and vegetables, I always suspect crop failure may be lurking on the horizon.

When we chose the spot for the strawberry bed,
  Tim thought up some excellent cages
to protect them from rabbits and deer.

I used to have a nice strawberry bed.  For two or three years I picked strawberries until they lost their allure.  I froze strawberries and made jam and bread and honestly got a bit tired of strawberries.  The crop doesn't always arrive when picking and storing is convenient.  But then for two years it quit on me. The plants burned out.  I didn't get a handful of berries.  I got frustrated.  I began to long for gallons of strawberries, more strawberries than I would know what to do with.  An excess of strawberries.  Enough strawberries to be ... well...inconvenient,

So I formed "The Plan".  You know, the plan to grown the biggest, best, most of whatever you can't get enough of.  And it worked.  I bought new plants and I fed them super grow tonic (Blood Meal) and I battled the Chipmunks for the berries (how do those little fff-Suckers get into the berry cage?) and what I thought were slugs but turned out to be tiny little green centimeter worms (smaller than inch worms) that haven't been identified yet and which I do not yet know how to kill...

My strawberries can't wait to get out of strawberry jail

So strawberries are on the menu.  Unlike most everyone else, I am not really into strawberry short cake.  And strawberry jam, while delicious, is pretty easy to come by.  But what I AM really into is fresh strawberries on salads.  And strawberry vinaigrette.  And Tim is into strawberry bread.  Which really isn't bread.  Let's face it folks, any one who has made both cake and actual bread knows that strawberry/banana/zucchini "bread" is cake.  Really.  Its cake disguised as bread.  But I like cake.  And it freezes well, so that is good for long term strawberry storage

Source and Recipe

So why would someone with a blog about tomatoes prefer strawberries on salad?  It's hard to say.  But I do.  Tomatoes are great of course, but they need salt, I guess, and I truly do not feel that they add much to a garden salad.  But some Sungold cherry tomatoes and sliced cucumbers with Italian dressing and maybe some chick peas... now that's a good salad .  But my very favorite garden salad contains spinach, strawberries, mushrooms and garden peas.  With balsamic vinaigrette.  Even I find that combination a little curious.  But it's true.  If you want to be really bold, sprinkle some feta cheese on that.

Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette Source and Recipe

So it worked.  I grew strawberries.  And now I am going to enjoy my strawberries.  And hope the cantaloupes work out just as well.

They're Baa-Ack

I lay in bed by the open window listening to the cry of the red tailed hawk and enjoying the fact that it was Saturday.  Then I realized:  I can't just lay here.  I have beetles!  And thus I was up with the sun and so was able to enjoy the single hour of sunshine we are going to have today.  Because the cucumber beetles are back.  I got a break last year, but not this year.  So I got up early while the leaves were still cool and wet with dew and stuck at least three dozen beetle bug butts to duct tape before the sun warmed and woke them.  

There were noticeably fewer flea beetles hatched this year.  Plants have sustained minor damage, but not enough to bother covering them.  When I set out transplants it was over a week before the beetles even found them.

The cantaloupes are taking off.  Thank goodness I chose to put them in containers this year because we are above average rain and below average temps and everything is damp and soggy.  

My newly planted Honeoye strawberries are beautiful and producing just enough for salad toppings (garnish salad with strawberries,fresh peas, feta cheese and either strawberry vinaigrette or honey mustard dressing)

The garden in general is picture perfect this year.

I've brought out my laundry tubs for planters, leaving one basin open for rinsing produce.

I've been digging the "potato weeds" out of the squash bed and using the new potatoes

And my annual plantings are adding color.

Today's Lunch Specials:

Spring Pea Soup with mint & sour cream
Photo Credit and Recipe

My Recipe Note:  Cook time is for frozen peas.  Cook fresh peas at least 10 minutes to improve the texture of your soup.  And you can get by with less broth

Salt Potatoes
Photo Credit and Recipe
My Recipe Note: I used fresh thyme for my herb garnish