Kitchen Gardening In Containers

I consider myself lucky that I now have the room to grow my kitchen garden in raised beds and a greenhouse ...

... but I didn't always have this luxury.  I spent most of my life living in apartments or condos, yet I always managed to have a small garden on a deck or balcony or even a sunny window.  I still enjoy gardening in containers, especially when I can combine function with beauty.  One thing I have never been able to do without is a way of having fresh herbs for cooking ...

... this is the container that I have planted on my deck, close to the kitchen for convenient harvesting.  I have parsley, thyme and rosemary (the herbs I use the most often) interplanted with some flowering annuals to make a pretty display.

Salad greens are another must!  I enjoy searching out unusual containers.  Here I have planted a salad garden ...

... in an old wok :)

It's also easy to add some tomatoes for the upcoming salads.  Tomatoes are perfect for container gardening.  This is my first try with Micro Tom ... growing in a basket and already beginning to blossom!  Look how small the plants are yet they will hopefully give me a big harvest one day soon ...

A simple bowl becomes a pretty display and home to some cilantro that will be added to salsas later in the season ...

I used a diamond core bit and a drill press to make holes for drainage in the bottom of the bowl (oh the joys of being married to a tool connoisseur :)  I couldn't drill holes in the wok so I added a layer of styrofoam packing peanuts to the bottom before adding the potting soil to allow for a bit of drainage.

Here a selection of basil grows in a vintage packing crate ...

I am growing leeks in another packing crate ...

... as they get bigger I will pull some for use in summer soups and let the rest mature through the fall and winter ... and they will get big!  This is one that I have left unharvested from last years crop; I wanted to see how big it could actually get growing in a box ... as you can see, the answer to that question is "pretty darn big!" ...

Wine barrels make great container gardens!  Here are two planted with potatoes and another crate that I painted a pretty blue ... I'm still waiting for inspiration as to what to plant in it.

Wine barrels full of soil and plants are very heavy.  When using them on an apartment balcony it is a good idea to decrease the weight by filling them one third full with styrofoam packing peanuts and then adding soil and your plants.

And then there is the ultimate "garden container" ... they come in all shapes and sizes and many of the smaller versions will fit on a balcony or porch.  I have to admit that I am in love with mine ...

Enjoy!

New Pages ... New Directions ...

Reading the news these days (online; on my lap top ... we *voluntarily* don't have television service) is scary.  There are many days that I think that civilization as we know it is about to come to an abrupt end.  I'm not going to bore you with my personal political views, which, if our Congress is any indication, half of you would agree with and half of you would not.  But I think it is safe to say that we all can agree that the problems come down to a few basics; politics, money and the fact that we are using up the world's resources at an alarming rate.  And the problems are not confined to the U.S.; they are global.

If you read my post on GMOs you know that I don't believe that there is really anything we as individuals can do to change politics with our votes.  Vote them out doesn't work when both sides are corrupt (oops! that personal political view just crept in there ... sorry about that).  All we can do is take matters into our own hands, vote with our wallets, and (and this is the biggie!) take care of ourselves, our families and our friends by learning to live frugal, sustainable lives and being prepared for what might come.

I enjoy writing gardening posts, and while I hope that anyone who has the space and even a small amount of time to devote to gardening will do so, I realize that for most people it really isn't feasible.  In the future I plan to include many more posts having to do with frugal and nutritious recipes, "freezer meals" for those Mom's and Dad's who want to feed their family good, healthy foods but are hard pressed for time ... and especially the concept of "pantrying" ... putting food by in season for use in the coming year while also developing a long term "survival" pantry to sustain us when disaster strikes, whether natural or man made.

If you look up at the top of this page you will see that I have added three new tabs; "Pantry Basics", which I am developing to be an inventory of our day to day food stores, "Preserving The Harvest 2012", which will show my goals for preserving this year, and "My Long Term Storage Pantry" which will be an effort to build a supply of food put by for times of need and regularly rotated into our day to day stocks.

I hope you will follow along with me as I stock my pantries and think about stocking one of your own.

Enjoy!

Pressure Cooker Chicken Stock

Every couple of months one of my local grocery stores has a good sale on local free range chickens. I've learned that stocking up when they are on sale and then "shopping from my freezer" can save me a lot of money ... plus the convenience of not having to shop as often (which also saves money ... I live 15 miles from the nearest town and gas is expensive!). I usually buy 6 or 7 chickens at a time, put a few whole into the freezer and cut up the rest ...

 

I pretty much follow these direction except that I leave the wings attached to the back and take the breast meat off and leave the bone behind.  I end up with this ...

Ready to be packaged and popped into the freezer ... and this ...

... some of which will become stock right away and some frozen for later.

I use a lot of chicken stock in my cooking so I go through it pretty fast.  I can quite a bit but sometimes run out.  I've learned to use my pressure canner to make a quick batch of stock when my canned stores run low.  I've mentioned in previous posts that I save all the trimmings from vegetables in a freezer bag for stock making ...

... so when I need a quick batch of stock I take a frozen carcass and some of the frozen veggies ...

... and pop them into a 450 degree oven for about an hour.  Browning the bones and vegetables will give the stock a rich brown color and add to the depth of flavor ( I skip this step if I want a light colored stock for Asian cooking). After about an hour the chicken and veggies will look like this ...

Now I just transfer them all into my pressure cooker, fill it with water up to the two thirds full mark (follow the directions for your own cooker; mine is a Presto 6 quart stainless steel model ... I love it!)  Add a handful of fresh parsley, a couple of bay leaves and a few whole black peppercorns.

Then cover the cooker, bring up to pressure (again, follow the directions for your own cooker), and cook for 20 minutes.  

Allow the cooker to cool off, open and ...

Ta Dah!  Rich brown stock the same as if it had simmered all day!  Strain out the bones and veggies (my dogs love the cooked carrots and celery!) and freeze or store in the refrigerator for 4 or 5 days.  

Enjoy!

Where's The Fish?

I haven't been good about posting the last couple of weeks (Penny, I'm going to get the pressure cooker chicken stock post up this week, I promise!).  Trout season opened here on the lake two weeks ago and I'm hooked (pun intended :).  I've been out fishing almost everyday.  And I'm getting lots of exercise because I fish from our paddle boat!

It's not like I could take a day off from fishing, either ... even if it's raining my supervisors would be upset if I didn't head out ...

Fishing supervisors on the job ...

Coming in  with the catch of the day ... (yes, it IS pouring down rain!)

Back with the catch ... still under careful supervision ...

... let's see it! ...

...well? ...

...wait a minute ... there's only three in here ... where are the rest? ...

No! ... really ... come back! ... where are the rest of them??!!  

Photography by Mike Fitz (who was having way too much fun).

No fish were fried in the making of this post ... they all went back into the lake.

Enjoy!