Keeping a Garden

I've helped with or have kept my own gardens since early childhood. Something about working with the soil, the living plants and then eating like a king has always resonated with me because of those experiences. A big thank you goes out to my mom & dad for exposing me to the activity. Those were good times!

Last year (2012) was the first good year using our original gardening plan when we moved in 11 years prior. Why didn't it work early on? We had too many trees. We got dozens of them cut down in 2011 & 2012, resulting in lots of sun. The tree removals, roof replacement and re-siding projects in those same years also collectively exposed and/or destroyed lawn, gardens and spaces with plenty of biomass and mess to deal with. Yay! 

Clearing and re-purposing those areas has allowed us to expand our gardens, both for eating and sensory enjoyment. We picked a few more areas to clean up recently and as of the time of this writing we weren't yet done with this years' enhancements. Margot was epic in loading and moving the topsoil, but don't expect her to be announcing a change in career to landscaping any time soon! Between the two of us we have spent about a work week out in the yard so far this year, but based on the way it looks it has definitely been worth it.

( This is the herb garden cleaned up, soil spread and ready to plant. May 26, 2013 )

Salad vegetables and herbs are the most important food plants for me to grow on my own property. I love fresh, raw tomatoes; they just scream summer to me! The kitchen herbs basil, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme are so easy to grow, smell fantastic and liven up all our summer meals. Estate grown hot peppers go into lots of summer dishes and in back to back years I expect a large harvest as well the creation of a new special fermented beverage to honor the crop. The sweet and spicy mead last year was really out of sight! This year we also decided to try potatoes, garlic, onions and leeks. Margot calls it our "hash brown" garden. Makes sense, so just go with it!

We kept the number of herb plants constant (I lied, we added orange mint but planted it elsewhere), but a couple perennials that didn't come back gave us better space to work with. We'll be eating basil already for dinner tonight. The sage wintered like a champ and we've already steeped some in lemonade for the house cooler for the summer season. Eating from the garden right out back is a true joy!

( Ready to plant vegetables. May 26, 2013 )

I also planted hops and strawberries from a friend in 2012. They did very well during the first season and this year are really off to a great start. I hope to get a small crop of each when their seasons come. 

( Hallertauer hops, year two. May 28, 2013)

We also decided to pluck out some small ornamental trees and replace the area with a rose garden. That is one of the plans that hasn't been completed yet, so I don't have photos to share!

And with that let's get to the rest of the photos. The captions will guide you along this year's projects.

( Getting the herbs planted is always fun! May 30, 2013 )

( The "infamous" hash brown garden. From the left, front to back. 

Potatoes, onions, garlic, leeks.  The hops are on the far right. May 31, 2013 )

( The tomatoes and peppers are really happy a few days after planting. June 5, 2013 )

( There is activity in the potato bed as of today. June 5, 2013 )

( The strawberries are going to be made into a drink. 

Cute idea to have a "cocktail garden". June 5, 2013 )

( After a few days of sun and water, the herbs are really happy! June 5, 2013 )

This year we also cleaned up the area where we removed our front hedges. Some fill and crushed stone made for a nice clean look. Margot found rustic planters to put annuals in along the front. Looks smashing!

( Front of the house. The grass seed is already down by now. May 30, 2013 )

( The back of our house is finally worth looking at! May 30, 2013 ) 

So that's where I have been lately, and with a few more projects and hours to go, it's where I will be for a few for weekends. 

Cheers!

Jason

One Day in Maine – North Berwick Farmers Market

Another one of the important goals of our “working vacation” was to find 20 pounds of Maine blueberries that we would be used to make a Blueberry Port wine. Doing some research ahead of time I found that the North Berwick Farmers Market is held on Friday’s at the town hall. Heading south from Portland we found the market about 10 minutes off of I-95.  At first I thought we might be dashed in this task as well. The two berry vendors were in the back on both sides of the stalls. We were satisfied in our mission and made two local farmers pretty happy! We ended up with 21 pounds total from the two different vendors, and a mix of at least two different berry varieties.

I don’t have pictures of the berries, they are in the freezer right now, but I’ll be sure to chronicle the process of making the wine in an upcoming post. The berries were plump, ripe (the color was great) and tasted fantastic. Let’s hope our first experience making blueberry wine is a fitting tribute to the source of the fruit.

We also were questing for the ingredients to make fresh salsa to take to a friend’s house the next day. Tomatoes, onion, green pepper and cilantro proved easy to find and we used produce from multiple vendors for a blended result. The result was truly fantastic and the testament to it was how many people commented on the pleasing aroma when we put it out on the snack table the next day!

The last post from our one-day vacation to Maine is our return to York Beach and our final missions of hanging on the beach and getting some taste fried seafood. See ya tomorrow!

Cheers!

Jason

Breakfast for Dinner

I love having what would normally be considered breakfast foods for dinner. I love how much easier those meals can be in comparison.

Last week I made a vegetable frittata that came out perfect. All the vegetables were cooked just right and the eggs for nice and puffy, but not to crispy on top.

Veggie Frittata

1 broccoli crown, cut down into half florets
½ bunch of asparagus, top 2/3 of each stalk cut into 2 pieces
½ large red pepper, sliced thin
½ large red onion, sliced thin
1 cup egg whites/egg substitute from a carton
½ cup shredded low fat cheddar cheese
1 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Steam the broccoli and asparagus just until they were fork tender. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Set your broiler on high. Sauté the pepper & onion until tender in the hot oil. Add the garlic to an open spot in the center of the pan and quickly mix into the cooking vegetables. Add the asparagus and broccoli. Sprinkle the cheese over the vegetables and toss to mix. Add egg white to cover the vegetables evenly. Add salt & pepper if you like. Allow the eggs to cook just until they begin to bubble and you can see them have set underneath the liquid top layer. Move the pan to the broiler. Watch it carefully under the broiler until the eggs complete cook and puff up. It should be golden brown on top, but not too brown.

Allow it to cool for just a minute, cut and serve. One quarter of the dish clocked in at just about 3 Weight Watcher points for anyone who is considering how the dish fits into an active diet regimen.

And there you have breakfast for dinner!

Jason