Spring is Springing

Decades ago my friend Dorcas shared some daffodils from her garden with me. These were not just any ordinary daffodils. These had been planted by her mother-in-law. But that is not all. If you have driven HWY 99E north of Harrisburg in February or March (it varies year to year) , you will have seen the famous Daffodil Drive. The daffodils were all planted by a man called Bruce Witmer. According to Dorcas, he was a talented craftsman and a well-known and loved member of the community. And Dorcas’ mother-in-law dug up some of the daffodils from her field to donate to the cause. Since daffodils reproduce through asexual cloning (also from seed, but that is not germane to this conversation), my daffodils are genetically the same as some of the daffodils growing along the highway. In years past, these same daffodils were celebrated at the Daffodil Festival at the Long Tom Grange. Sadly, there won’t be a daffodil festival this year. All that to say, my daffodils are blooming. But just the ones from Dorcas. The ones with history. Originally I planted them along the fence line to start my own daffodil drive. The fence line has been moved, but the daffodils remain, some of them bravely trying to bloom in the gravel of the driveway. Tough things, daffodils.

Dorcas’ Daffodils

Last year I suggested that we move the chickens down into the orchard to control pests. My thought was that we would have a mobile chicken coop that we could move around the trees. That way the chickens could fertilize the trees and eat pests and would have ready access to grass and weeds to make their eggs more nutritious and delicious. And they would stay out of the garden. Unfortunately DH had a different idea and created a permanent coop and pen, meaning the chickens need to be let out daily to wander around the orchard garden. So my garden is a total mess because they are having a wonderful time scratching and totally digging everything up. Not exactly a great plan when you are trying to grow things. Our previous chickens were kept near the garden in a very large pen fenced with moveable fencing. When I wanted them to dig up garden beds, we’d move the fencing so they could get to only the beds I wanted taken care of. But mostly it just stayed in place so that the grass and weeds could grow through the openings. Exactly what was needed to keep the chickens out of the garden. So this week’s task has been to remove it from the grip of the weeds and set it up around the garden. Sounds easy, no? No! Field grass does not like to let go and is hard to pull. But eventually DH was able to get it to release and is in the process of using it to protect the garden. Just in time too. I’m ready to plant chard.

We’ve had a fair bit of rain this week–almost 4 inches. Since I’m a total wimp about being out in the rain– even with rain gear– that meant inside jobs. Of which there are plenty. I have been having mixed results with my sourdough, so I fed it twice just to make sure. It ended up making a lovely loaf of bread that we are enjoying.

Sourdough

Because I hate throwing anything away, I had to do something with that discard. I already have crackers on the shelf and really didn’t want to do flatbread, so I made pasta. Because that’s so much easier. Ha! It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. I’m still new at the process and it really does take two people to run the dough through the pasta maker. I did enlist DH’s help, but he didn’t quite understand the need to gently pull it out, especially of the cutter. So I had trouble with it sticking together. And I really need a better method of drying it that in little piles. It all clumps together. But it did taste good.

Pasta

The biggest success was kombucha. My friend Cathy showed me how to make it last year and gifted me with some starter and a SCOBY. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy the whole process. My favorite part is coming up with the flavors. Usually I make fruit flavors, which are our favorites. That means this time of year we have a lot of citrus. But also blackberries from the freezer. DH was quite skeptical at first. I mean have to SEEN a SCOBY? They’re pretty disgusting looking. But now he loves it. I usually do the first ferment for 10 days-2 weeks. Sometimes if I’m busy, it goes a bit longer. But we prefer it more lightly fermented. On kombucha day it takes me only about an hour for the whole gallon process. I get the new batch started with the tea brewing while I am adding flavors and kombucha to the bottles with a little squirt of raw honey. Then 3-4 days later, into the fridge and they are ready to drink. This schedule seems to work out so that we rarely run out of kombucha before the next batch is done.

Kombucha in bottles starting their second ferment

Yesterday I saw a video on making beet kraut, so that will be my next project. Sounds yummy to me. I bought the beets and cabbage today. Stay tuned.

I’ve Been Up to Stuff

It’s been a minute. My intention was to post once a week. Apparently not so much. I have been quite busy doing all sorts of preserving and other preserving.

Today’s project was rendering schmaltz. Do you know what that is? It’s rendered chicken fat that is the secret ingredient in Jewish Penicillin, aka Chicken Soup. But it can be used for so much more than that. It’s good for roasting vegetables or for sautéing vegetables for just about anything. It’s a healthy fat that adds so much flavor. Last summer when we butchered our meat chickens (Sent them to Freezer Camp for my more sensitive readers), I saved the excess fat around the opening into the abdominal cavities and froze it. Over the next few months I added to it. This week I thawed it and chopped it into very small pieces and heated it in a frying pan on low. Chicken fat melts quite quickly, so it didn’t take very long for it to be done. I did let it cook long enough for the cracklings to brown up a bit. (Although they are tasty, I opted to give them to the chickens and the dog. But now that I think about it, next time I think I will save them to sprinkle on the top of things. Sort of like bacon bits.)

Schmaltz cooling before moving into the refrigerator

Also this week Fred Meyer had roasts on sale BOGO free. Perfect for making chili. I ended up only using one of the roasts for the chili and froze the other one. I cut the beef into chunks, removing most of the fat (which I also rendered down into tallow for cooking and pie crusts), before browning it with onion and garlic. Then a few cans of fire-roasted tomatoes (I can’t manage to grow enough tomatoes to save them for winter.) and some tomato sauce. Seasoned with chili powder, cumin, and chipotle powder. It made enough for dinner for two nights (delicious!) and three quarts. I did have a bit of trouble with the canning. Only one of them sealed, and there was some serious siphoning. I had forgot to debubble (which I rarely remember), so the next day I took care to debubble, rewiped the now dirty rims with white vinegar, and put on new lids. This time everything sealed, so we will have some easy meals on the shelf. Not that we will actually use them. I INTEND to use them, but then Dan decides to do something with the eggs or the left-overs and there they sit. But someday…

Chili ready to be ignored on the shelf

Tonight I’m cooking a pork loin in the Ninja Foodii. I seared it in some lard I had previously rendered. For the liquid, I’m using corn cob broth I made and canned this summer.

I got the “recipe” from the YouTube channel “Becoming a Farm Girl.” I can’t find the link right now, but if you know how to make bone broth, you can make corn cob broth. First save your corn cobs from when you have corn on the cob in the summer. Don’t worry about the germs people might have left. You’ll be cooking it hot enough to totally take care of it. If it bothers you, you cut the corn off the cob; it will remove that concern. Just as you would roast bones before making the broth, you roast the cobs. Rub with heat safe oil (I use avocado.) and roast at 450 degrees until they are browned and smell lovely. Then place in stock pot and cover with water. Simmer for a few hours, then strain the cobs out. Pour the broth into jars, and can according to broth guidelines. It’s a lovely brown broth that smells divine.

In addition to using it as the cooking liquid, I used it instead of water to cook rice. It came out a lovely golden color with a good, but not quite recognizable flavor. I also caramelized onions which left a fair bit of fond on the bottom of the pan. I added just a touch of corn cob broth to deglaze and get all that yummy goodness. It’s an inexpensive way to use scraps to add flavor and nutrition to your meals.

Also I was gifted a handful of winter tomatoes. If you know tomatoes, you know that they are NOT winter vegetables. (Or fruit for you botanists out there.) They just do not have much flavor. But I hate throwing things out, so I sliced them up and dehydrated them. That concentrated the flavor. I put them in a recycled jar and am storing them for recipes that call for sun-dried tomatoes (which are rarely actually dried in the sun!). Can’t wait to put them to use.

I hope you have enjoyed my way of using bits and bobs in my kitchen. I enjoy using them. I feel very accomplished and frugal. Cheers!