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Prepping, Planting, and Patience

May 6th 2013

By: Allison

2 comments
There’s a lot of outdoor work going on around here these days. We’ve been preparing our current garden for planting, along with making some new beds, where we’ve just put in raspberries, high-bush blueberries, grapes, and asparagus. Ben got several trailer-loads of manure, which hopefully will give our soil some much needed help. The boys had fun helping Ben bring tractor-bucket loads of manure from the dumping spot in our driveway down to the garden, helping me transplant a youngish grape vine and some older blueberry bushes to new and better spots, and helping me plant all the new fruit (or rather, the tiny, unimpressive-looking woody stems and roots that hopefully someday will bear bountifully). Hard work for sure, and so satisfying to see our outdoor space slowly moving towards how we’ve long envisioned it. But did I mention slowly? Oh yes–very slowly indeed. Perhaps we’ll have some fruit in, say, a few years, more or less, if we’re lucky? I can wait patiently–I really can.
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The Sweetest Season

Apr 2nd 2013

By: Allison

2 comments
Every weekend from late February through the end of March, we’re pretty much focused on one thing–making maple syrup. We start by hauling out our sugaring supplies, giving our sap-collecting containers a thorough cleaning, and making a trip to the hardware store to replace tubing or for additional taps. Then we watch the weather, and as soon as we’ve had a few warm-ish (well, warm for February, anyway) days, we get the trees tapped and the sap containers placed. The boys love this part, as they get lots of time with the drill and the hammer in hand. Shortly after, it invariably snows and gets cold again, and we wonder whether we tapped too early. But I’m coming to see that perhaps this questioning is just part of the process–knowing when the sap is running, and when to tap, is never an exact science–or if it is, I certainly haven’t figured it out. We just do the best we can–by feeling the weather, watching the trees (during those warm days, shortly before we tapped, one of our maples was literally dripping sap from it’s various nooks and crannies–clearly it was time!), and listening to the word around town. Just paying attention, really.

When the weather warms up again and the sap starts flowing in earnest, we check the buckets every day, and swap out the sap containers when they’re full. Once we’ve collected about 25 gallons of sap, it’s time for our first boil, as that seems to be the maximum that we can boil down in a day. We do our boiling in our driveway, in in a home-made, stainless steel evaporator pan, on an old barrel stove that Ben modified to accommodate the pan. On weekend days, we get the stove going early in the morning. We can’t go far, as our fire seems to need almost constant feeding to keep it hot enough, but during this short season I really enjoy the attention it takes–we all hang out, sometimes crowded around the stove drinking mugs of warm sap, sometimes doing our own thing in the barn or in the yard–but no matter what, the warmth of the fire continues to draw us back, together, many times throughout the day. The boys kick a ball around the yard, sometimes family or friends stop by for a visit, Ben splits wood, and one weekend I got all of my potting soil mixed and my earliest seeds started while hanging out by the fire. And speaking of splitting wood, Connor got to try his hand at that this year for the first time. Using a small hatchet, Ben showed him how to split kindling. He totally got the hang of it, and really did a great job. And, as you might imagine, he was pretty excited to get to do this new grown-up kind of job. By the end of the season this year, we’d collected and boiled down about 122 gallons of sap, and we ended up with about 3 gallons of syrup. A lot of time for not a whole lot of syrup for sure, but now that we’ve been doing this for few years and have gotten into the rhythm of it, I wouldn’t have it any other way–when it comes down to it, I love our days sugaring together as a family almost as much as love the syrup itself.
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Blueberry-Vanilla Jam on 207!

Feb 21st 2013

By: Allison

2 comments
I was back at the WCSH6 studios the other day, taping a new segment on Blueberry-Vanilla Jam for “207”. Since it’s winter, I’ve been making this recipe with frozen berries. And you know what? I actually prefer using frozen at this time of year, as I can use locally-grown berries. I froze a bunch last summer, but grocery stores around here carry Maine grown berries as well. This jam has become a new favorite around our house–it’s been disappearing from the fridge surprisingly quickly (Okay, I admit to a not-so-occasional spoonful right from the jar….and I suspect I’m not the only one!) Hope you enjoy it, too!

Video copyright WCSH6, Portland, Maine

BLUEBERRY-VANILLA JAM
Yield: 4-5 half-pint jars

A note about storage options for your jam:
***This recipe includes directions for canning your jam. However, you may instead freeze your jam, or keep it in the refrigerator. To do this, simply omit the canning portion of the directions (steps 7-10), then, after cooking, allow your jam to cool, place in freezer safe containers, and freeze or refrigerate as desired. If you are freezing your jam, be sure to leave extra space at the top of your jars to allow for expansion during freezing. Your jam will store well in the freezer for several months, and in the refrigerator they’ll last for 2 to 3 weeks.

To do ahead of time:
***Prepare the calcium water. To do this, combine 1/2 teaspoon white calcium powder (included in the Pomona’s Universal Pectin package) with 1/2 cup water in a small, clear container with a lid. Shake well before using. Note that you will have more calcium water than you will end up using in this recipe; simply store it in the refrigerator for later use.

To do ahead of time, if you plan to can your jam:
***Wash and rinse five half-pint jars, lids, and screw bands. Set screw bands aside until ready to use. Place jars in hot water bath canner, fill at least 2/3 of the way full with water, and bring to a boil. Sterilize jars for 10 minutes (add 1 additional minute of sterilizing time for every 1000 feet above sea level), then turn down heat and let jars stand in hot water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small pan, bring to a low simmer, and hold there until ready to use.

Ingredients:
8 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons calcium water
1 vanilla bean
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons Pomona’s Universal Pectin powder

Directions:
1.) Rinse fresh blueberries if desired. If using frozen blueberries, thaw them, but do not rinse them. Then, in a large bowl, thoroughly mash fresh or thawed berries.

2.) Slice vanilla bean pod in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Set the seeds and the pod aside.

3.) Measure out 4 cups of mashed blueberries. (If you have any left over, you can use it for something else.) Pour measured mashed berries into a large sauce pan. Add lemon juice, calcium water, vanilla bean seeds, and vanilla bean pod.

4.) In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and pectin powder. Mix well and set aside.

5.) Bring blueberries to a rolling boil over high heat. Add sugar-pectin mixture, then stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes, still over high heat, to dissolve pectin. Return mixture to a boil, then remove jam from heat.

6.) Using tongs or a spoon, carefully remove and discard vanilla bean pod.

7.) Remove hot jars from canner and fill jars with preserves, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims with a damp cloth, and put on lids and screw bands.

8.) Place jars in the hot water in the canner, place the lid on the canner, return the canner to a rolling boil, and boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 minute additional processing time for every 1000 feet above sea level.)

9.) Turn off heat and allow canner and jars to sit for 5 minutes. Then, remove jars from canner.

10.) Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Then, confirm that jars have sealed. Enjoy your preserves! Or, store properly for later use.
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Bread, Their Way

Feb 1st 2013

By: Allison

1 comment
The boys and I have been making bread together since they were babies, but the process has definitely evolved over the years. When they were little, they were happy to simply help me make whatever I was making. Then, somewhere around age four, if I recall, Connor decided he wanted to make his bread, however he wanted to make it. What ensued was close to two years of lots of self-directed mixing of various amounts of flour, water, sugar, raisins, nuts, rainbow sprinkles, and food coloring, resulting in various liquidy mixtures that we would then bake into various semi-edible but not very tasty bricks of “bread”. Sometime last summer he decided that he wanted to make “real” bread, as he put it. He decided that he was OK with using a recipe, as long as he could still do it all himself. So, I worked up a very simple bread recipe that he would be able to make truly on his own. And indeed, for the last six months or so, that’s exactly what he has been doing. He’s made this bread several times (the photos that follow are from a few different bread-making sessions), and my job has been simply to talk him through each step (since he’s not able to read the recipe yet), and help him get the pan in and out of the oven. Ian’s been making bread, too, and they usually do it at the same time, each making their own version. At age four, Ian’s versions are definitely more free-form. He’s not much into following recipes, and he loves to add extra ingredients…..of all kinds. A recent version contained cooked carrots and broccoli. As you can imagine, Ian’s results are a bit more variable than Connor’s, but both have made some pretty tasty breads. And when someone wants to taste one of their creations? Not much seems to make them happier or more proud.

MAKE-IT-MYSELF BREAD

Makes 1 standard-sized loaf of bread

Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant (Rapid Rise) yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil (or other oil, if you prefer), plus extra for greasing bowl and pan
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.) In a small bowl, combine warm water, honey, and yeast. Mix well and set aside.

2.) In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the white flour, wheat flour, and salt. Mix well to combine.

3.) Pour the water mixture into the flour mixture and mix thoroughly. (The dough will be thick, and stirring can be difficult, so if it’s not thoroughly combined yet, don’t worry. You can finish mixing it all together during kneading it in the next step).

4.) Lightly flour counter or cutting board with a small amount of the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Turn dough onto counter and knead for 8-10 minutes. Add additional flour from the remaining flour as needed to prevent sticking.

5.) Lightly oil the original mixing bowl. Put kneaded dough back into bowl. Cover loosely with a damp, clean kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm spot for about 40 minutes, until roughly doubled in size. If the room temperature is on the cold side, you may need to let it rise for longer.

6.) Using your fingers, lightly grease the bread pan with oil, then set aside.

7.) Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

8.) Remove the cloth from over the dough. Make a fist with you hand and firmly punch down the dough in the bowl.

9.) Turn dough out onto counter and knead for a couple of minutes. Add a small amount of flour (from the remaining quantity of flour) if needed to prevent sticking.

10.) Firmly press dough into bread pan so that it is relatively flat and fills the pan evenly.

11.) Loosely cover pan with the damp kitchen towel, and allow to rise in warm spot for 20 minutes.

12.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until bread is golden brown on top.

13.) Allow bread to cool slightly, then remove bread from pan. Allow to cool thoroughly on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
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Maple-Pear Preserves

Jan 18th 2013

By: Allison

1 comment
In late October we made our annual trip to Hope Orchards. I have a fondness for the place, as I used to pick apples there as a kid. My mom and step-father still live in the area, so I always have a good excuse to make the trip. It’s one of the relatively few orchards that I know of that sells cider that’s not pasteurized or UV treated, so I like to buy a few gallons for our freezer. They also sell pears, which are not always easy to find at local orchards. Pears are one of my favorite fall fruits, and I love to can pear halves, and also make jams and preserves. This year I bought 40 pounds of utility-grade pears. I canned a bunch of them in apple juice, froze some, and made Maple-Pear Preserves. The preserves were such a hit with the boys that I recently made another batch, using the pears that I’d frozen. The recipe is below, and, to see how easy it is to make, check out this video. Enjoy!

MAPLE-PEAR PRESERVES
Yield: 4-5 cups

A note about storage options for your preserves:
***This recipe includes directions for canning your preserves. However, you may instead freeze your preserves, or keep them in the refrigerator. To do this, simply omit the canning portion of the directions (steps 7-10), then, after cooking, allow your preserves to cool, place in freezer safe containers, and freeze or refrigerate as desired. If you are freezing your preserves, be sure to leave extra space at the top of your jars to allow for expansion during freezing. Your preserves will store well in the freezer for several months, and in the refrigerator they’ll last for 2 to 3 weeks.

To do ahead of time:
***Prepare the calcium water. To do this, combine 1/2 teaspoon white calcium powder (included in the Pomona’s Universal Pectin package) with 1/2 cup water in a small, clear container with a lid. Shake well before using. Note that you will have more calcium water than you will end up using in this recipe; simply store it in the refrigerator for later use.

To do ahead of time, if you plan to can your jam:

***Wash and rinse five half-pint jars, lids, and screw bands. Set screw bands aside until ready to use. Place jars in hot water bath canner, fill at least 2/3 of the way full with water, and bring to a boil. Sterilize jars for 10 minutes (add 1 additional minute of sterilizing time for every 1000 feet above sea level), then turn down heat and let jars stand in hot water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small pan, bring to a low simmer, and hold there until ready to use.

Ingredients:
2 pounds firm, ripe pears (about 4 1/2 medium pears)
1 3/4 cup water
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon calcium water
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons Pomona’s Universal Pectin powder

Directions:
1.) Peel pears and remove cores, then cut pear into thin, length-wise slices. If pears are especially large, or if you prefer smaller pieces, you may want to cut these slices in half.

2.) In a large saucepan, combine pear slices and the 1 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pears are somewhat soft but still hold their shape.

3.) Remove from heat. Then, measure 4 cups of the cooked fruit, combine in a large saucepan with the lemon juice and the calcium water, and mix well.

5.) In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup and the pectin powder and mix well.

6.) Bring fruit to a boil over high heat. Add maple syrup-pectin mixture, then stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes, still over high heat, to dissolve pectin. Return to a boil, then remove preserves from heat.

7.) Remove hot jars from canner and fill jars with preserves, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims with a damp cloth, and put on lids and screw bands.

8.) Place jars in the hot water in the canner, place the lid on the canner, return the canner to a rolling boil, and boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 minute additional processing time for every 1000 feet above sea level.)

9.) Turn off heat and allow canner and jars to sit for 5 minutes. Then, remove jars from canner.

10.) Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Then, confirm that jars have sealed. Enjoy your preserves! Or, store properly for later use.
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Holiday Making

Dec 22nd 2012

By: Allison

1 comment
I’ve been wanting to make a gingerbread house with the boys for years, and we finally did it! It was such a fun project. It’s not hard, but there are definitely a number steps involved, and with the boys doing much of the work themselves, each step took quite a while! But, that actually ended up working really well for us, as it allowed us to spread out the project over the course of about two weeks, and not feel rushed. We cut out the cardboard patterns and made the dough one day, rolled out, cut out and cooked the dough another day, made the icing/glue on a third day, assembled and glued together the house on a fourth day, and finally, on yet another day–the absolute favorite day of all–we decorated the house! It ended up being such a fun way for us to spend time together during the holiday season. In case you’re wondering what the dark object sitting on the tin foil inside the house in the picture below is, it’s a bed. Connor was adamant that there needed to be a bed inside the house, so he made one out of extra gingerbread dough, and since we all agreed that it wouldn’t be able to fit through the door after the house was assembled, in went the bed just before the roof went on. We also had fun making pomander balls with oranges and cloves. I so love all of this holiday making!

Happiest of holidays to you and yours!
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This Fall…

Nov 20th 2012

By: Allison

2 comments
After having been totally focused on the book for most of the summer, I’m glad to have had an opportunity to get back to some of the regular, day-to-day tasks and activities around our home and garden this fall, at a more relaxed pace. Here are a little bit of what we’ve been up to lately…..

The cold frame prepped and ready for planting in late September…..

Pizza hot off the grill…..enjoying the last days of alfresco dining this fall.

Ian loves to hide among the cabbages….

Connor cooking on his own for the first time (with me close by, of course ). He cut up carrots and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil. His idea, and all his doing….and the result was delicious!

And of course Ian is close behind his big brother…he’s a big fan of peeling an cutting any vegetable he can get his hands on.

The boys loved removing dried corn from the ear with this awesome device at the Common Ground Fair!

A bit of pumpkin carving for Halloween….

And of course, there’s been lots of leaf-raking and general clean-up going on around here…..

….as well as manure-spreading on the garden….

…compost pile-moving….

…and eel grass-collecting for the garden.

Hope you’ve enjoyed your fall as well!
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Brussels Sprout Love

Nov 2nd 2012

By: Allison

2 comments
Remember the vegetable triaging (as it were) going on around here earlier this fall? We’ll, I’m finally getting to the last of the cold-hardy veggies that have been hanging out in the ground by themselves for the past month or so, waiting for a little love, and getting sweeter all the while. Thank goodness they are able to wait, as it certainly helped ease the time crunch earlier in the harvest season. And truthfully, I love them all the more for their patient nature. In late October and early Novemeber the boys and I dug our carrots, turnips, parsnips and beets, and pulled all of the cabbages and brussels sprouts. I suppose I have a special fondness for the cabbages and brussels, as I never cease to be amazed at how awesomely beautiful they are as plants, and how crazily huge and strong they are. Connor is pretty strong for a 6 year old, but he couldn’t even come close to pulling the brussels sprout plants out of the ground, and even I had to work pretty hard at it. And getting the roots off of the bottom of the stalks? For me, that job takes a hatchet. Indeed, they are strong, patient,and resilient….oh, and of course, awesomely delicious.
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Apple Picking and Cider Doughnuts

Oct 5th 2012

By: Allison

1 comment
Our apple trees did rather poorly this year. While last year we were amazed by the remarkable quantity of apples the old, long-untended trees on our new property produced, we were equally amazed by the fact that we got pretty much nothing this year. We did have a brief bit of unusually warm weather last March, followed by a return to more seasonal (ie cold and wet) weather, which perhaps tempted the apple blossoms to come out a bit to early, only to freeze shortly thereafter. Or at least this is what I’ve heard from a couple of small commercial orchards that had similar trouble. Whatever the reason, I can’t imagine autumn without fresh-picked apples, so we headed out to a nearby orchard new to us–Rocky Ridge Orchard in Bowdoin–for a lovely day of picking……and of course, the requisite hot, fresh, cider doughnuts–delish!
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Vegetable Triage

Sep 14th 2012

By: Allison

2 comments
September is always a busy time for me in the garden and in the kitchen, as I imagine it is for most vegetable gardeners in our Northern-ish climate. Perhaps some folks are able harvest and preserve stuff more regularly throughout the growing season, but I always seem to get behind. And with the book requiring most of my attention this summer, I got even more behind than usual–rescuing crops from the garden and getting ’em in the freezer just barely before they went to seed, or got too ridiculously huge to eat. And now, in September, I’m scrambling to harvest and put up all of the cold-sensitive veggies as fast as I can before the frost. As far as I’m concerned, all veggies fall into pre-frost and post-frost categories. Only those that will absolutely die with the frost get my attention now….anything that can hold out for just a bit longer will have to wait. Kind of like vegetable triage, I suppose. Not ideal for sure, but that’s just how it’s been this season.

Amazingly, given my lack of attention paid to the garden this summer, and the fact that this is the first year of our garden in this particular spot and our soil is definitely not what it should be yet, we ended up with a surprising amount of produce. And oddly, some of the vegetables that did very well are some that I’ve had only mixed success with in the past–peppers and eggplant in particular. Likewise, some of our long-time favorites that have always done well for us–kale, chard, and tomatoes specifically–did remarkably poorly this year. (We had to buy tomatoes from a local farm this year to be able to make our salsa!) Even so, the boys and I had plenty of produce to pick and preserve, and as usual, we had a lot of fun doing it.
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