12 Principles of Permaculture

So as I said about a month ago I'm taking an online Permaculture certification course, and it's really fascinating. It's not like the rest of the web-courses I have taken, it has actual video lectures, and it's engaging because you are encouraged to interact with the other students. It's through OSU and I highly recommend that you check it out if that's something you're looking to get to know more about. It does cost a pretty penny ($850), but after completion of this course you're certified to call yourself a Permaculture designer!

This week we learned about the 12 Principles of Permaculture, and I am just really loving how much this already parallels how I feel life should be lived. So here they are!

1. Observe and Interact: I feel like I should sing you "Colors of the Wind" from Disney's Pocahontas, but I'll spare you. This however is the same basic idea, you don't own the Earth, you live on it, and you need to take care of it, and live in harmony with it. You're not going to be able to do that if you don't interact with nature, and observe the cycles and patterns that are in place around you.

2. Catch and Store Energy: How much rain just washes off of your roof and into the gutter? How much sun energy beats down upon your land and isn't doing anything other than drying out your grass? How much wind energy? Etc. Etc. I am not saying harness it all, but find a way to harness some, and if you're using that solar energy to grow a garden well, you're already doing this in a way, because you're turning that solar energy into energy stored in that food.

3. Obtain a Yield: You should be getting something from your land other than just yard work, you should be getting a return on your investment, and this applies to all areas of your life. Why put work into something only to get more work? I think this is why I have never understood having a huge green lawn, because you're not getting anything from it, you're just constantly needing to put work into maintaining it.

4. Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback: I think this is something us US citizens really need to start doing. Do you really need an SUV or a big truck with all wheel drive? Do you really need to drive to work, can you carpool, can you walk? What ways can you reduce the waste that your household produces? If you're not seeing these things yourself and you want to improve your carbon footprint ask!

5. Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services: This can apply to so many things, chickens can be a renewable resource. But we need to value these things, and we also need to start putting more pressure on the individuals who are supposedly our representative in Washington to start valuing these things as well.

6. Produce No Waste: I'm far from perfect on this one myself, I can't tell you the stack of reusable shopping bags I have that consistently get left at home. I however have been making great strides to donate items that can still be used, to buy used items whenever I can, and to fix things that can still be useful. We mustn't forget that there are 3 R's, so many people focus on recycling, but really we need to also remember there is Reduce and Reuse as well!

7. Design from Patterns to Details: Basically, start with the big picture and work your way down, this makes things much more likely to succeed.

8. Integrate Rather than Segregate: I think this one is kind of a no-brainer. Look at nature, you'll never see all the Pine trees growing in rows seperated from all the Oak trees, you'll never see all the squirrels living in one forest, and the birds living in another. It's this way because variety makes things more sustainable, you need all the little pieces for an ecosystem to function.

9. Use Small Slow Solutions: This will lessen your environmental impact, and also make it less likely that there will be a catastrophe if you solution fails for some reason.

10. Use and Value Diversity: This one is tied in with number 8, but expands upon it. Use that diversity, make it work to your advantage, and help you produce more!

11. Use Edges and Value the Marginal: Pay attention to what's happening at the edges of your garden, or any space really. This is where energy is exchanged for so many things. We lose heat energy through the walls of our home, so we need to pay attention to the ways we insulate. If we're talking in terms of a garden, the edges are where nutrients are absorbed from the surrounding land, or water, and it is also where weeds make their way in. The edges are also where the most interaction with wildlife will happen. So you can use the edges to either draw in or repel animals depending on your needs and preferences.

12. Creatively Use and Respond to Change: Sometimes things that you see as problems, can in fact be new tools. Your giant shade tree was knocked down in the last wind storm? Well, that opens up new space, and options for placement of sun-loving plants! Never view anything as a set back, just as a change that you need to consider and adapt to.

So there you go the 12 principles of Permaculture, I hope you've enjoyed this mini-lesson, and there are more to come!

Autumnal Harvest Soup

I love Autumn, not only do I get to break out my sweaters, but it's also the best time to make soup. Not just because the weather gets a little chilly, but also because there are so many fantastic things available at the farmer's market that make for good soup. Also this year I am once again participating in the Juniper Hill Farms CSA. They are fantastic, they deliver to my worksite, which is awesome, but I can also customize my picks from week to week. Earlier this summer, I was able to get a canning package of beets from them, and now I have canned beets sitting in my cabinet, just marinating in goodness, waiting to be eaten!

But I digress. Autumn is soup weather, and one of my favorite "recipes" is something I call Autumnal Harvest Soup. It changes slightly from year to year, but the point is that it clears out what I need to use up, and makes one heck of a tasty soup. I also notice I tend to make it around the time of the Autumnal Equinox. So here's this year's recipe, all the ingredients were purchased at either the farmer's market, or received from my CSA:

2 leeks (white parts online, sliced really thin)
3 carrots (peeled and sliced)
1 butternut squash (peeled, seeded, and cubed)
4 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 medium apples (peeled, cored, and cubed)
4 potatoes (peeled, cubed)
2 quarts of stock (I used vegetable, but I've also used chicken)

Basically toss all of the ingredients in a slow cooker, turn it on high and then walk away for a few hours. Anywhere from 4-6 hours. Then take your immersion blender and blend it all up. Or carefully put small batched in a blender and blend until the soup has an even pureed consistency. Then grab some bread, or make yourself a grilled cheese like I did, and ENJOY!

You Ferment For Me...

Although, it's been a long time in the making, I've recently started really getting into fermenting foods. I made a batch of pickles last year, and while I really enjoyed their taste, they were soggy, they were not spicy, and the recipe I was following suggested water bath canning! Let me tell you a little something about fermented foods, and then we'll discuss why I was so angry about the canning process. First of all, fermenting is not new, it's been used probably as long as agriculture has been around in order to preserve foods. Mostly it consists of putting a lot of something in a brine and just letting it sit there until it pickles itself. It's really tasty, and once you've had a fermented pickle, those lifeless things you buy in a store just never taste quite as good. I say lifeless because fermented pickles are teeming with life, bacterial life that is! I know, some of you may be put off by the thought that there are bacteria living in fermented pickles, but they are the same beneficial bacteria that are living right now in your guts. These guys help digest food, keep you healthy, and there needs to be a certain amount of them in your guts in order for you to feel good (it's often referred to as your intestinal flora, or gut flora).

So why should you be concerned about keeping the bacteria in your guts happy? Well, there has been recent evidence that suggests that gut flora being in an imbalance may make you fat! (http://www.naturalnews.com/046618_gut_bacteria_obesity_prebiotics.html). So we should not only welcome more probiotic foods into our diet, but prebiotic foods as well (so eat those fruits and veggies!). However, the fermenting stuff I am about to introduce is probiotic, so enjoy the pictures, and since this my new obsession prepare to hear much more about it!

So this is the recent the most recently finished fermenting project. I tried making sauerkraut for the first time ever! It was incredibly simple and it tastes amazing. Not to mention the crazy color because I used half green and half red cabbage. It looks pretty amazing, it's a bright magenta color! However, I made a 2 gallon crock, and now I am faced with having way more kraut than I know what to do with. I have just been eating forkfuls of it here and there. But then I hatched a scheme to get some of it out of my house, I am hosting a Reuben dinner party! I will definitely be posting pictures, as I am incredibly excited to get my friends together and enjoy a ton of fermented goodies! We will all be filled with beneficial gut flora after that party!

This was the previous fermenting project, pickles. I was trying to make them spicy and picked up a pickling spice from the co-op, but next time I am going to add more peppers to the mix myself. It was still pretty good, and a huge improvement over last year however. The secret I have learned is tannins. Though some people put naturally harvest grape leaves, oak leaves, or mustard leaves in their pickles, I didn't have access to any of these things (well, access to any I was sure were pesticide/chemical free) so I put a few pinches of black tea in there from a tea bag that had busted open, and viola! They are crunchy, and a couple of pinches was enough to keep them that way without altering the flavor. That is a gallon sized mason jar that I fermented these guys in, and they fermented in a week! We had a very hot very humid mid-August here, so they were sped along in their natural processes!

Last but not least this is the current experiment in my gallon jar. You can see the cozies I crocheted for this jar, and my half gallon jar. One of the important aspects of fermenting is that they need to be kept out of direct light. But since I like keeping an eye on my projects, I wanted to keep them on the counter in my kitchen, hence crocheted cozies! I took green tomatoes, onions, ground cherries, carrot, and a jalapeno and tossed them together. I made some brine and put a jar on top to keep everything submerged. This is something that I am super excited to break out and try soon, they have been fermenting close to two weeks now and this is the first time I've just flat out gone my own way in fermenting and tried something completely new. I am by no mean an expert, and I did a ton of reading and research before I even started fermenting anything at home. I'll be posting some book reviews very soon about books that had fermenting recipes in them, for those of you interesting in undertaking this adventure as well.

Permaculture Certification Here I Come!

I just have to share how unbelievably excited I am to begin this course. I have taken so many online courses because they were filling general education requirements and I had to take them, but this one is filled with people who want to be there and are excited to learn and share what they have experienced. This is going to be a really fun, and I am looking forward to learning as much as I can while taking this course!

It has been too long my friends!

There is a lot of news, and a lot of stuff has been in the works. I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted on here. I really regret such a long absence. On the upside, I have some wonderful topics to blog about coming up, as I have been up to some interesting things (fermenting, canning, experiments galore!). However, first I'll have to take a minute to talk about why I've been gone over a year.

Well to begin with, I'm a single mom, and that doesn't give me a lot of time to do anything, and I work and have recently also returned to college. So that's a lot of work in itself. One of the most exciting things is that I am now enrolled in an online certification program for Permaculture Design, so expect some wonderful things to be going on with that soon. But on top of that, I've moved back into town, and have had a few life upsets. Although not all of them have been negative, I'm no longer working overnights, and that has been immensely positive not only for my health, but also for my life in general. However, on the flipside of that, since I am now sleeping on a regular schedule again, I am also getting 6-8 hours a night, and that's cutting into my free time. I was seriously skipping sleep, and getting about 2-4 hours here and there every day, it was a really unhealthy cycle.

Also, and not to bum everyone out, but a few days after I posted my last post, a very dear member of my family passed away somewhat unexpectedly, and it was really difficult to deal with. It still is sometimes, but that kind of killed my energy level, and I began just focusing on the day to day. It's taken me a while to get back into my hobbies (and we also throw winter, and a ton of other random life events in there), and really generate anything I thought was interesting enough to post, but I am back, I am ready to share, and I may even throw in some crochet stuff here and there.

So I'm back, and I am excited to get back on this blog! If there are things you want to see let me know and I will do my best to accommodate!

Soups: Chicken Noodle

So, every year, one Halloween hits everything between there and the end of the year seems like this crazy blur, things pick up at work for me, we get caught up in Holiday shopping, and to top it all of this year I got sick. Not just normal sick, sick like laying in bed and sleeping nearly 20 hours a day for almost a week sick. So needless to say, I feel a little blindsided by everything going on, but I am feeling better and have realized that I am SEVERELY neglecting this blog! So, since it's winter, what do I do? I am not going to be able to go out and plant anything, and there isn't a lot of things to do around here at the moment outside of the house, so I am going to start sharing things inside the house!

Unfortunately, my "recipes" are more like lists, I don't do exact quantities, especially with soups, I have a list of ingredients, and I kind of just throw in a handful of this, a handful of that until I have made soup. Soups are my favorite thing to cook in the winter, and I have enough soup recipes to open a restaurant!

So here is my "recipe" for chicken noodle soup.

Chicken thighs (boiled and peeled into strips of chicken)
Can of diced tomatoes
Diced onions, celery, garlic, red peppers, jalapenos, carrots
Cooked egg noodles

First, brown the chicken thighs in the pan with a little olive oil. Then discard the skin and the large globs of fat, and return to pan, cover with water bring to a boil then cover and simmer for a few hours to make broth. Or, if you have some chicken broth just simmer until cooked through and peel the chicken off of the bone. I always quickly sautee the diced vegetables, then everything just gets thrown in the pot and simmered until the vegetables are tender.

I promise my next recipe will have measured ingredients!

(What kind of recipes would you like to see?)

Pancakes!

We love pancakes around here, and whenever we make them we try and make a new variety. I try and tell myself they are healthy because I add flax seed meal and make them from scratch, but really, some of the varieties are not really healthy at all! But, sometimes you just have to indulge the sweet tooth and partake in something less than wholesome.

Pancakes:
1 C. flour (I use whole wheat)
2 TBSP. Sugar
1 TBSP. Baking Powder
2 TBSP. Flax Seed Meal
3/4 C. Milk
2 TBSP. vegetable oil
1 egg

Mix the dry ingredients together and then add in the wet ones. I drop the batter onto a hot skillet by the 1/4 C. full. I find this makes about 10 pancakes. Which is more than enough when we eat two a piece.

Honestly, I have no idea what the nutrition information is for these, so sorry that I can't fill that in.

Variations:
(most of these ingredients get folded in last. The spices get added in with the dry ingredients)

*chocolate chip: 1/4 C. chocolate chips
*apple cinnamon: 2 TSP. cinnamon, 1/4 C. shredded apple
*s'mores: 2 TBSP crushed graham cracker, 1 TBSP cocoa powder, 1/4 mini marshmallows, chopped
*Blueberry: 1/4 C. blueberries (really any berry works!)
*rainbow sprinkle: 1/4 C. applesauce, 2 TBSP rainbow sprinkles
*Sweet Potato/Pumpkin: 1/4 C. mashed sweet potato/pumpkin puree, 1 TSP. cinnamon
*Banana Nut: 1/4 C. mashed banana, 2 TBSP. finely chopped walnuts (or pecans, or whatver nut you want to use)
*Honey Nut: (substitute 2 TBSP honey for the sugar) 1/4 C. finely chopped nuts
*Oatmeal Raisin: 2 TBSP. oatmeal, 1/4 C. raisins

This is the list for now and it keeps growing everytime we make pancakes and I look in the cupboard for more ingredients. Let me know what varieties you would like to see, and I will try them out for you! Or share what varieties you come up with!

Shooting for the Moon

Our moon is a familiar sight to us all, but do you really know how important this celestial body is to our environment, and even our bodies? I have decided that starting with the next full moon (October 29th), I am going to strive to be more aware of how the moon effects myself and my surroundings.

First off, let's talk about how the moon effects the earth. The moon controls our tides, and we have especially high tides during the new and full moons. This of course also has some impact on the earth's water tables. Now, you may be wondering why I am bothering to blog about this, since I don't have a blog about boating or fishing. In permaculture and biodiverse/biodynamic farming the earth's cycles become very important, and being aware of the phases of the moon are incredibly important. The different phases of the moon have an impact on how the plant's grow and there are optimal times to plant each type of plant. It's all very fascinating and I am going to direct you to another site, because really there is so much information to be related, and they do a very good job of it already over at Gardening by the Moon.

The Phases of the Moon Explained

By tracking the phases of the moon and planting at optimal times, you can really improve the output of a plant. It's an old concept and people used to plant according to moon cycles, and in fact that's part of what the farmer's almanac is based on! I have always loved the farmer's almanac. So, why not take the time to consider the moon phase, and astrological sign of the moon before planting? If it's more in tune with nature, then it's all good in my opinion.

How does the moon effect us? Well, that may not be as obvious. The moon follows a nearly 28 day cycle, which is also the same as a woman's cycle, so if you're female, try tracking your menstrual cycle by the phase of the moon instead of days of the month, it will probably be WAY more accurate. But even if you're not female knowing the phase of the moon can be incredibly important for you as well. Did you know that the phase of the moon can have an effect on the success of your diet? In fact it's always best to start a diet on the day of a full moon, and have the period of the waning moon helping you out as you begin. It's all very neatly summarized at the Moon Connection, and I think I am going to use that as a guideline for how I plan on eating from now on. If I am going to start gardening according to the phase of the moon then this seems like a natural next step.

Moon Diet Plan

In fact the Moon Connection website has great information on hunting and fishing by the moon as well.

So my goal is to start living more by the moon. For anyone else that's interested in any of this, a helpful resource would be a lunar calendar. I use this one for free: 2012 Lunar Calendar

One Last Taste of Summer

I love coffee cake, and I love blueberries. I have had this recipe hidden away in my recipe box for years now. It was stolen from the bowels of the internet somewhere, and I am sorry if I don't give proper credit, because I can't remember where it came from. It's not my recipe, and if you know where it came from let me know so I can give proper credit.

Blueberry Buckle

3/4c. sugar
1/4c. shortening (I used lard)
1 egg
1/2c. milk
2tsp. baking powder
2c. flour
2c. blueberries

topping:
1/2c. sugar
1/3c. flour
1/2tsp. cinnamon
1/4c. butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350

1. Grease and flour a 9" square pan.
2. cream together sugar and shortening, add egg and milk, mix well. Add baking powder and flour mix well then carefully fold in blueberries. Spread into the 9" pan.
3. Mix together dry ingredients for topping then add butter. Using a fork mix/mash the butter into the dry topping ingredients to form a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle on the top of the blueberry batter.
4. Bake for 45-50 minutes, make sure to test it by sticking a toothpick in it, since cooking times vary depending on your oven. Mine's older so it took almost an hour for it to cook properly.

Why the interest in homesteading?

Honestly, I get asked this a lot by people, not necessarily that specific question, but people are always curious as to how I developed the avid interests I developed. For example, I am very interested in crocheting, knitting, quilting, sewing, canning, herbal remedies, learning about caring for small livestock, gardening, to name just a few. Some of these interests I suppose seem atypical for someone my age, but I love the feeling of being able to make things myself, or being able to fix something that is only a little broken. However it goes past that, to a whole philosophy about life. I tried my best to put it into words, I feel like I had a hard time saying exactly what I wanted to, and sometimes I strayed from my topic a little, but here it goes, my revelation the other night. Caution: This is going to be long, and possibly vague at times...

I realized today, that the planet is going to be just fine, despite what we're doing to it. We may melt the ice caps, tear more holes in the ozone, and pollute our rivers, lands, and air. The planet however, is going to be just fine, it's been here for billions of years, and it will be here for billions more, the only thing that's going to destroy this planet is when the sun finally collapses in on itself and sucks the planets of our solar system into it. There is always going to be life on earth, bacteria, insects, animals, but not in the way we see it now. If things keep going the way they are going humanity is doomed. We don't need to save the planet, we need to save ourselves, we need to find value in human life past what we can produce and consume, and start seeing a bigger picture. We need to work together to reduce what we use, we need to alter our lifestyle to be more in tune with the earth's cycles, and we need to see the planet as something we need to care for, not something that is there for us to exploit. Until we find a value in people past what business measures we're going to continue to see high rates of suicide, addiction, homicide, depression, anxiety, violence in the workplace, divorce, and all of the other ailments that are rampant in Western culture.

Our culture breeds disappointment and a feeling of helplessness, feelings of unrest and dissatisfaction. Convince people they are lacking something and they will keep striving to fill that hole, we don't want complete and content people, we want hungry people who will keep wanting more to fill that void. Find everyone an opiate, keep them from thinking too hard about their lot, but also keep them from being too happy. People that are really unhappy question things around them, so we just need to keep them distracted with hobbies, religion, social groups, activities, movies, music, and all the other wonderful things pop culture brings us. So keep people just happy enough, and keep that feeling of unrest so they are constantly striving to figure out what they need, and if this breaks up a few families, then it's an acceptable casualty. But, this actually helps big business also.

I feel that the disappearance of the nuclear family was no mistake, just as the disappearance of extended families living together was no mistake. They both increase the need for resources, more housing, furnishings, need for utilities. Think about it, how many resources does three generations living together need to consume compared to just parents and kids, and then to take it one step further, how many more resources do those parents and kids need now that the parents live separately? Think about how much more those kids need, essentially two sets of clothing, more toys and room furnishings. It has even become a joke, what do kids in movies say when parents announce they are getting divorced? "YAY! Two Christmases!" A single person on his/her own needs just as many "things" in their apartment (or house) as a small family does, unless they are renting a room. So two people being single and living on their own, (which is becoming an increasing trend in our culture) use more resources and spend more money than two people living together.

The more we break groups apart, force people into smaller living spaces, scatter families, move jobs away from where people live, encourage people to be uncompromising when it comes to what they want, are all the better for big business. The less you trust your neighbors, the more locks, weapons, security equipment, the further you need to travel to get to the people you trust, the better for big business. I know at this point this sounds more like a conspiracy theory than anything, and you're probably trying to figure out what my point is, but trust me, there is a truth here, and you feel it.

My point is this, we need to start forming communities, building relationships with the people around us, or moving closer to the ones we love and trust. We need to start pooling resources, helping each other out, producing things for ourselves and not just consuming. Daniel Quinn described it as a New Tribal Revolution, of people working together to give each other security and support. Picture this; within a block of you there is nothing but the people you love and trust, friends and family, a grocery store and garden that together give you all the things you need and your job. How much will you spend on childcare, how much driving will you do in a week, how far will you need to travel for social events? This sounds very utopian, and perhaps it is, but there is something to be said for the tribal structure, of having all those supports so readily available.

All of this culminates into my vision for my life, a homestead and possibly a family business. Where we focus not on making a ton of money, but on making sure that we all have enough, so that we all are provided for and we're focused on the health and wellness of everyone involved.

Simplistic, and in no way grandiose, I just want contentment from my life, security. I don't need new cars, big TVs, several sets of fine china, I just want to know that my family, my friends, and myself will be cared for. Which, is no easy feat, and is going to take a tremendous amount of work, but, I feel it can be done, and maybe if not completely accomplished in my lifetime, I hope to start people thinking and be like the pebble dropped into a still pond.

All of this, I will admit makes me laugh, it is idealistic, but it reminds me so much of my childhood. When I was in high school, my group of friends and I would talk about growing up together buying a chunk of land and building a group of houses. We talked about having a communal kitchen so we could all eat meal together, and would all be able to hang out and be there for each other. It's funny to me how my vision in life has essentially come right back to that. Just shows you that the ideas of children are worth exploring, because sometimes they are seeing things with astounding clarity.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I love that the computer I do my writing on is sitting next to a window that overlooks mountains, with only a few houses to break up the landscape. There are advantages to living out in the middle of nowhere, mostly that I am not crowded by people, that I don't know. However, there are drawbacks, I am sitting here, on a bright sunny day and it's barely 60 degrees outside, and we had our first frost already. This presents me with a pretty large problem, we have a very short growing season, and I don't have a greenhouse...

So I am sitting here, sipping tea, and researching seeds. My goal is to grow predominantly organic heirloom seeds, because I have read enough about GMOs to know that I am not interested in letting those near me. Looking at the calendar, I am going to have to start seeds indoors, and even still, we had our last frost at the end of May, so realistically I have two months that I can rely on to stay in a decent temperature range to not kill my plants. One of my absolute favorite sites for seed on the internet is Heirloom Seeds. Not only do they have a ton of seeds to choose from, but they also offer premade packages that are pretty awesome. While I will admit that some of the complete garden packages may seem pricey, what you're getting out of it justifies the price.

So I have a list of seeds that I will be ordering from this site, and I figured I would share. I specifically selected items with a short growing season, and tried to get as many varieties of vegetables as possible. The only thing I am going to have to find from somewhere else are sweet potatoes.

The items with an asterix are available as certified organic seeds as well, and the number in parenthesis is the average days to maturity.

Tomatoes: Stupice* (55), Sub-Artic Plenty (40-60)
Pole Beans: Ideal Market (68), Sunset Runner (60)
Cucumber: Double Yield* (55-60)
Spinach: Giant Winter* (50)
Pumpkins: New England Pie* (105) [I love cooking with pumpkins, so I will make a sacrifice to ensure I have some for consumption.]
Squash: Spaghetti* (100), Black Zucchini (45)
Sweet Peppers: Rainbow Bell (68-80)
Hot Peppers: Jalapeno (70)
Beets: Ruby Queen* (52)
Carrots: Nantes Scarlet* (70)
Onions: Crimson Forest (60)
Turnips: Purple Top White Globe (55)
Sunflowers: Large Grey

I also think that I am going to opt to get some of their wildflower mixes, because it is always a good idea to have a ton of flowers around to keep those pollinators close by! They have a beneficial insect mix, hummingbird/butterfly mix and a honeybee mix that I will most likely be using on the sloped part of my lawn that isn't suitable for really much else other than flowers.

Harvest Time

Wow, can you believe it's September already? I for one, am still in denial. There is still so much I need to do before the temperatures drop and the snow starts to fall! This is definitely a busy time of year, but also, a wonderful time of year. Wonderful, of course, because it is harvest season. Some of us are busy canning, and storing away what we can, while others (like myself) are just enjoying nature's bounty. Because I moved from a city apartment, to a house that's quite a bit away from it all, all that I was able to plant this year were flowers. However, despite this, I am still visiting Farmer's markets when I can and enjoying locally grown foods whenever possible. I am fortunate to live in an area surrounded by farms and orchards, there is no shortage of locally grown crops.

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the apple harvest. I love fresh apples, I love eating them raw, and cooking/baking with them. Of course, if you're eating apples that have been shipped to you from half way 'round the world, you probably don't share my love of them, trust me, I know your pain. I have eaten apples that were shipped here from Argentina, and well, if that was what I thought an apple tasted like, and what their consistency was like I would make nothing more than applesauce with them. However, I was fortunate to grow up in a town in Norther New York where apple trees definitely outnumbered people, so I have a great love of the fruit and it's many varieties. It is hard to say what my favorite it, currently I am loving Gala apples, and so is my son. But I also love Macs, and Granny Smiths.

So versatile, and so tasty, what do you do with your apples? Well one of my all time favorite recipes comes from the blog Piece of Cake. So you can either go to her site, or just continue scrolling down, this one is in my "favorites" tab in my recipe box, and I am sure you'll love it just as much as I do.

Chewy Apple-Oat Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes about 20 two-bize-sized bars

For the apple-oat bars:

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup diced apple (about one small apple, I like Fuji or Honeycrisp)
4 ounces white chocolate chips

For the white chocolate cream cheese icing:

2 ounces white chocolate chips
2 ounces cream cheese, softened but still cool
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar (more or less, depending on your sweet tooth and how stiff you want the icing to be)
Ground cinnamon, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil (with a few inches of overhang on all sides) and spray the foil lightly with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and oats and set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth and lightened in color. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and beat in the egg and vanilla until well-blended. On low speed, blend in the dry ingredients. On the lowest speed or by hand, stir in the apple chunks and white chocolate chips.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake just until a toothpick comes out clean, about 35-38 minutes. Do not overbake. Let the bars cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then use the foil “handles” to remove the slab from the pan. Let cool completely on the rack in the foil sleeve, at least 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the icing. In the microwave, melt 2 ounces of white chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl in 30 second bursts at 50% power, stirring after each interval until smooth. In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth. Add the melted white chocolate and beat until smooth. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until the icing is slightly thickened and sweetened to your liking.

When the bars are completely cool, spread the icing in an even layer over the bars, using the foil to create a dam of sorts that will keep the icing from dripping down the edges of the bars. Refrigerate the bars with the foil sleeve until the icing is firm, at least 1 hour.

Remove the slab from the foil to a cutting board and dust with cinnamon. With a large, sharp knife, cut into about 20 bars. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Violas

When I first looked at my backyard and started trying to determine what to plant and where I was absolutely ecstatic to see two flowerbeds right next to the garage. They are raised and one is a perfect size for kitchen herbs, while the other, was long and narrow. However, when I really put thought into it I realized the long narrow bed does not get much sun at all, and to top it all off, the dirt filling it is rather poor, it's sandy and it's rocky. We don't have normal sand here either, we have sand from the mines, so it's black, due to the ore content. It's pretty difficult to deal with in a gardening setting, and really, it makes me nervous as hell to begin converting the backyard into a productive food garden because I can't help but to think about the amount of money good dirt is going to cost me and I get dizzy. But that's beside the point at the moment, the point of this post is, what do I put in a flowerbed, that is pretty much rocks and sand?

So looking at the dirt in the flower beds left me sort of pessimistic, but when I did a little research and really thought about it, I realized violas were the answer. First of all, these guys are perennials, so I am not going to have to replant this bed every year (which, is a HUGE bonus cause I would like to be able to focus on my vegetable garden next spring). They also come in a huge variety of colors, which is appealing visually to me and to pollinating insects which are always handy to have around. Finally, and most importantly, they can grow practically anywhere, and I mean anywhere. You don't have to look to hard to find pictures of them growing in sidewalk cracks, and even on walls!

Just look at that little plant! It's barely got any soil in that hole in the wall, and it is THRIVING! Amazing! Of course, these guys would be totally fine in my little flower bed, which really, has little more to offer than a crack in a sidewalk. (The image to the left was on The Pothole Gardener specifically in a post concerning living walls). So I went to one of the local green houses and selected a few different colors that I liked and started planting, the picture at the top right of this post shows what I started with back in May.

So now it is the beginning of September, leaves are changing around here, nights are getting chilly, and I am breaking out my favorite sweaters. I love sweater weather. My violas are just thriving, and I will have to admit that there has been so much going on here the past few months that I have barely paid these guys any attention. I did scatter some egg shells amidst them to deter the slugs (crushed egg shells are not only good for the soil but they are like walking on broken glass for a slug).

But really these guys have been on their own this summer, and they are doing fantastic, they have bloomed continually, and have dropped a ton of seeds, which the birds have enjoyed eating. I couldn't be more pleased, they really earn their reputation for being eager growers. I think that I will make some candied flowers before their growing season ends. It's just a matter of dipping them in egg whites and then dipping them in sugar. Super simple, and an elegant to top off a cupcake.

Road Side Veggies

While I will be the first to admit I can be a horrible curmudgeon, there are times when I cannot say enough good things about people. I will admit I love living in this area this time of year, harvest season, the season to scope out all of those roadside stands for fresh vegetables and fruits plucked from gardens and hand carried to where they sit on display. This is just wonderful to me, since when I go to the grocery store (and while I admire Hannaford for labeling where the produce comes from) being told the tomato I am about to buy comes from chili, makes me a little queasy. Not only because it probably means that the produce was picked before it was even ripe, but also that it spent weeks in transit, moved from shipping containers to tractor trailers. But also because I know that very little of the food imported into the United States is tested and/or sampled by food quality assurance workers to be sure the food these big companies are bringing into the country is safe for consumption. So knowing that road stand veggies are not only greener in the sense that they don't travel as far before I buy them, but also are just more lustrous in general.

Well anyway, I have driven past this one particular road side stand a few times while driving between Plattsburgh and Lyon Mountain, and I couldn't help but to notice the squash and cucumbers piled on this little fold-up table. I have a weakness for summer squash, I love it with all my little bitty heart. Well, anyway, I stopped today and was just browsing marveling at the size of the squash, and the zucchini he had was huge as well, but it was also this lovely deep dark green that was almost black.

While I was standing there the farmer came out and greeted me, and informed me that he was just about to pick some tomatoes, which, I thanked him for but was really only interested in getting a couple of cucumbers, so he went and picked some directly from the plants for me! Was just a really nice guy, threw in a couple extra because he was worried that the one larger cucumber he gave me wouldn't have as much flavor as the smaller ones. Just a genuinely nice guy, practically giving away produce because his plants are just producing a ton of them. But it's the little things like that that make me really appreciate living in a rural area.

So if you live in the area, the guy is located nearly directly across the street from the Hyundai dealership. Probably the closest road side vegetable stand there is to town. I am so anxious for apple season to be upon us.. Late summer and early Autumn are by far my most cherished times of year!