It's Not Easy Being Green...

Oh, the dilemmas...

My covered beds are being warmed by a light bulb...

And I'm using grow lights in my greenhouse.  Mike says that using power to grow food isn't "green".  Maybe he's right...I'm not growing many things that I couldn't get from my local CSA.  My garden might just be a luxury....

This is my storage bag dryer...yes, I wash, dry and reuse my plastic storage bags.  So, I guess that somehow being "green" is all about trade offs, really....I hope I get points for trying!


Deb

Thowing Some Wool Around...

My First Wet Felted Scarf ...merino and mohair...

"Harvest Dance"

Enjoy!

Deb

Thowing Some Wool Around...

My First Wet Felted Scarf ...merino and mohair...

"Harvest Dance"

Enjoy!

Deb

On the Bright Side...

It's hard to find much that is good about the incredibly cold, wet summer we had here in the Pacific Northwest...but I found this today...normally my flower baskets would have dried up and gone to seed weeks ago, but this year they are still blooming and beautiful in the middle of September...

Enjoy!
Deb

Otters!

I found these two sitting on our dock yesterday...feasting on wild crayfish fresh from the lake...

Enjoy!
Deb

My Pasta Sauce Recipe....

My mother made great pasta sauce!  She simmered it all day and the aromas coming from the kitchen were heavenly.  I used to make it the way she did, but one time when I was in a hurry I used a sauce from a jar and found that with just a little tweaking it was as good (or better) than my old version.  So here. as promised, is the updated recipe for my pasta sauce....

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
1 quart Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce ( or 1 jar Classico Mushroom and Olive Pasta Sauce)
One cup good red wine
3/4 cup sliced Kalamata olives
Chopped fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, parsley)
2 bay leaves
Ground black pepper to taste

 Heat olive oil in sauce pan over medium high.  Add onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add sauces, wine, herbs, olives and pepper to taste.  Add meatballs from previous recipe and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Prepare pasta according to package directions, drain and serve with pasta sauce.  Grate good Parmesiano Reggiano cheese over pasta before serving.

Enjoy!

 Deb

Deb's Pasta and Meatballs...

 

I love Italian food!  And I especially love meatballs...this is my favorite recipe...the procedure is a little different, but it makes the best tasting, tenderest meatballs ever!

Ingredients:
a loaf of day old French bread, crust removed and torn into chunks
a pound of lean ground beef
some good red wine
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
fresh basil, rosemary and parsley, finely chopped
2 fresh, organic eggs
ground pepper (about 1/2 tsp)

Soak the dry French bread in red wine until completely saturated, about 10 minutes...

Wring excess wine out of bread (bread should be very moist, but not dripping wet)...

Place ground beef and wine soaked bread in a large bowl (there should be about equal volumes of bread and meat)...

Add the rest of the ingredients...

And mix well....

Form into small meatballs...an ice cream scoop helps make uniform sized balls...

Bake at 350 degrees  for 30 minutes...

Makes about 2 dozen meatballs...


Enjoy!

Deb

My Fall and Winter Garden...."Eliot Coleman meets Mel Bartholmew"

Well, I have to tell you that my summer garden did not do well this year.  Between us having unusually cold, wet summer weather and my being out of commission for two months after knee replacement surgery, I did not get nearly the harvest that I had hoped for.  But, looking on the bright side, I had time to do a lot of reading during July and August.  I was very impressed with Eliot Coleman's books on extended season gardening...

 

After reading Mr. Coleman's books I searched the catalogs of some of my favorite seed suppliers and bought root vegetables and greens that should do well here during a Washington fall and winter (I'll write more about them in a later post).  I did a lot of thinking about how to set up my garden beds.  The old wooden beds were functional but not very pretty and were also difficult to move if needed (our septic system drain field is under the area where the garden sits...if we have a problem with the system, the garden has to move).  I had based the original concept of my raised bed gardens on Mel Bartholomew's book...

I really liked the clean, neat look of Mel's white garden beds and was pleased to find that I could buy them online from the Square Foot Gardening Foundation.  I thought they seemed a bit pricey, but after using them I think they are worth every penny!  They are everything they claimed they would be...easy to put together, sturdy and easy to move if needed. I was able to have Mike remove the boards from one of the old beds and put one of the new beds together in its place without disturbing my potaoto crop!  And the service from the people at the Foundation was exceptional!

The hoop houses and other forms of  "cold frames" described in Mr. Coleman's books looked like a lot more work than I was able to do myself.  Mike's been very busy with work lately, so I didn't want to ask him for help building the bed covers. I had bought one of the Flower House pop up greenhouses from the Bark and Garden Nursery in Olympia last spring and was very happy with it, so I ordered one of the Flower House "starter houses" which looked like it might work for what I wanted.  Yes!!  It fit perfectly over a 4' x 8' raised bed and was very easy to set up.  I've already bought another one and will probably buy a couple of the 4' x 4' covers next.

My three 4' x 8' raised beds (two covered and the open potato bed) and the pop up greenhouse.  I'm still working on the 4' x 4' beds and will have photos of them soon.

Enjoy!

Deb