problems in the pea patch

About a month ago we planted some peas......and only two out of about 12 or so came up. Upon investigation, which consisted of digging around in the pea patch trying to find some remnants of the pea bodies, little greyish silvery slithery things were found coiled and twined around a pea full of holes that was still struggling to sprout. I say 'things' because I am not sure what they are. They are not worms as they have lots of squirmy little legs, but I don't think they're millipedes as they are so tiny and not quite as rotund in body shape. We noticed them last fall nibbling on the turnips, so they seem to thrive in damp soil (which we have for maybe 8 months out of the year.....). Other gardeners in the area have said they have also had low pea germination rates and noticed the mysterious 'things' as well. So we planted some peas inside (although they're said to not transplant well as they have long roots, not spreading roots.....) to try and give them a head start when put outside. They only needed about a week to pop their little heads above the soil and start forming leaves. We planted them outside yesterday, and then sowed about 15 pea 'seeds' around them as decoys. I WILL have peas this year.

B-Nutty Shake

nothin' like a nice cold shake on a cold and rainy winter day......

Ingredients:

4 small bananas (or 2 1/2 lg. ones)
2 T peanut butter
4 1/2 T cocoa powder
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cup soymilk
1/8 cup agave nectar
5-6 ice cubes

If you're like me and forget to always have frozen bananas in the freezer for the random day you feel like shakin' things up, then you rely on ice cubes. BUT if you do have frozen nanas in your freezer, use those and eliminate the ice cubes.
Throw everything in the blender till it's all smooth and creamy. this makes enough for two servings, with an extra gulp on the side.

Flooded and slug eaten

If you live in the northwest, this might be what your Italienischer lettuce is looking like......

Marigold Aurore

This is a good recipe for those colder days. We actually made this some weeks ago, when the garden wasn't so soggy, but I'm only getting around to posting it now. This is the kind of recipe that fills you up quick, as it's somewhat rich.

1 1/2 cups soymilk
1 large onion, chopped coarsely
2 large carrots, quartered
15 marigolds, petals removed
1 bay leaf
2 T flour
6-8 T margarine
1/2 cup soy cheese (mozzarella or monterey jack work best)
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of parsley
pasta

Put the soymilk, onion, carrots, marigold petals, and bay leaf in a small saucepot. Simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the carrot and onion are tender. Take the bay leaf out, and put the rest of the ingredients in a blender. Be warned that putting hot items in the blender creates a lot of pressure and the top will explode off and all the contents will erupt out and onto your walls.....so it's best to leave a little air space by holding the lid a little ajar while you blend everything together. puree the ingredients, then set them aside.
The next part is making a roux for the sauce. This was the first time I really made a roux, so I'm not really sure if the measurements are correct. If it starts getting too thick, add a little bit more margarine or even some soymilk. Melt the margarine in a pan, then add the flour. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly, until it's somewhat smooth. Add the pureed contents, soy cheese, salt and pepper, and parsley. Simmer gently for a few minutes until you've managed to make the cheese look like it has melted into the sauce (even 'melting' soy cheese doesn't ever seem to melt all the way....), then serve over pasta.

spicin' things up

my pride and joy:




after some months of having to search through a crowded spice cabinet any time a meal was made, i finally decided it was time. time for organization. time for spice clarity. time for powertools of destruction.
and thus was born the spice rack.

p.s. i know- the picture is crooked.

mushroom and leek soup

it's mushroom season. last week (or maybe that was two weeks ago....) we went to the mushroom festival where hundreds of edible and non- edible mushrooms were on display. there was renaissance music and young men with feathers in their caps. there were mushroom starter kits, and mushroom food, long lines for the honey buckets (portapotties), and hay rides sans hay. at the farmers market every stall has chanterelles. and the occasional adventurous farmer will have some exciting foraged mushroom on sale. so this week we bought some chanterelles and 'fried chickens', harvested the last of the leeks, and made a tasty soup.

3 leeks, chopped somewhat fine (we wanted to use the last of our leeks up, but 1 cup of chopped leeks would do)
1 1/2 cups chanterelles, chopped
1 1/2 cups 'fried chickens', chopped (or another mushroom like portabella, the buttons, porcini, etc.)
1 T olive oil
1 T margarine

1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups soymilk
1 t yellow miso (or another mild miso)
1 T parsley
4 T veggie broth powder (or if you have liquid broth, just use 1 cup of it in place of water)
1 t pepper (or to taste)

saute the leeks and mushrooms in a pot until the leeks are tender. take out 1/2 of the leeks and mushrooms. puree in a blender, then add back to the pot. add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes or so. the mushrooms should be tender, but not mushy.
and that's it. you can eat it now.
if you really wanna get snobby, add some red wine or sherry to the leeks and mushrooms while they are being sauted. or add 1/4 cup of cream cheese for a richer soup. or add both for extra pretentiousness!

seed saving 201: actual collection

this is our first year collecting seeds, so we're still figuring out the plants ourselves. most garden plants will bud, flower,and produce seed. in some plants the seeds are in the fruit, and other plants don't produce fruit at all. a good rule of thumb is that the seed is ready if you can't put your fingernail through it- the seed should be hard. these are the plants we collected seed from, or are in the process thereof....
lettuce: lettuces will bolt, which means they start growing upwards rapidly and become bitter tasting. they typically bolt as the season gets warmer. you'll want to collect seed from the late bolting plants, to promote the trait of late bolting in future plants. after the lettuce has bolted (and the plants can get very tall), it will begin flowering. while flowering the plant will be visited by various nectar collecting insects. the flowerheads will turn white and fluffy. the fluffy cottony part is called papis. when about 3/4 of the flowers turn to papis pull the plant out of the ground. keep the plant upside down in a paper bag, and set in the sun until plant is completely dried out. this takes around a week. after it's dried, shake the plant over a bag, screen, anything to catch the seeds. pull any remaining seeds from the flower heads. lettuce seeds are very tiny and thin. their colors can range from black to brown to a dark tan.

marigold: simply let the plant flower, and don't dead-head. once the flower is dead, it will dry out on the stalk. the seeds will be in the old flower head. split the flower head open, and the seeds will be easy to shake into your hand.

calendula: again, let the plant flower, and don't remove the flower. it will dry up and leave curved rough seeds on the old flower head. collect them when they are hard.

nasturtium: after the plant flowers it will produce a roundish green seed. it will turn dark brown and hard when it is ready to be collected.

morning glory: after the plant flowers it will produce a greenish fruit. this will dry up and become brown. when you put pressure on the fruit, it should pop open, not squish. if it squishes, the seed is not ready. if it pops open then the seed is ready.

garlic: wait until the stalks are dying and turning brown and pull the garlic head up. this is when you would normally harvest it. set aside the heads you want to replant, and hang in a dark dry place until next season. break up the garlic head, and plant the cloves individually.

tomato: pick the ripe fruits that posess the traits you desire. slice the tomato down the middle, lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds. place the seeds in a ceramic or wooden bowl. add enough water to cover the seeds. set aside in the shade for a day, this should allow most of the pulp to seperate from the seeds. rinse the seeds off in a strainer. place the seeds back in a bowl, cover with water again, and set aside for another day. this should remove the remainder of the pulp. rinse the seeds again, then place them on a drying cloth. once dry, place in a storage container.

broccoli: broccoli heads will go to flower, and then take a long time to form thin pods, called siliques. then the pods will take a long time to mature. once the pods toward the bottom of the plant start to open, pull the entire plant up and place upside down in a paper bag. leave in a warm dry place, until the plant is dried up. rub the pods against a small screen to seperate the small round seeds from the chaffe.

cucumber: another lengthy process. the fuits produced later, usually have more seeds. select the cucumbers you want to save seed from, and allow them to ripen on the vine. they will turn a yellowy orange color. once the cucumber becomes mushy, pick it from the vine. cut the cucumber lenghtwise and scoop out the seeds. like the tomatoes, place the seeds in a wooden or ceramic bowl and add a bit of water. allow the seeds to ferment for a few days, and stir them every once in a while. when draining the seeds, the good seeds will stay at the bottom. discard the other seeds with the pulp. place the good seeds on a screen to dry. after two or three days, they are ready to store.

beans: all bean seeds can be collected in this manner, except for mung beans. allow the selected bean pods to dry on the vine. pick before the first frost. remove the beans from the pod. allow the beans to dry for a month, and then store. keep the drying beans in a warm dry area.

a good book on seed collection is "Compleatly Self-Sufficient Food-Plant Propagation" by Herm Fitz.