Home Efforts

We’ve successfully grown a bit of lettuce and arugula and cilantro from seeds, mixed in the perennial flower beds, but it wasn’t a serious effort. It was, though, enough to keep me wondering just what else might grow at 8500 feet?  There are plenty of other flowers in the rest of the garden, so this area was cleared to be the new vegetable area. All these plants found new homes elsewhere in perennial beds, and the dirt was dug up and amended with topsoil, peat and compost. I’m pretty concerned about the irrigation - maybe there will there be too much? Definitely needs close monitoring.

Since I won’t be back for almost three weeks, I put in some special weed barrier between some of the rows, and also around the edge, for walking. And the area where the seeds are planted is covered with a light cloth to encourage germinating (night temps are upper 30s to low 40s.) The predicted last frost date is always June 15, although this has been a really warm spring - I’m counting on that, although we’re prepared to apply some regular freeze cloth if needed. The plant choices are important, of course - cool weather things like broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts; also some potatoes, green beans, and peas. There is a tomatillo planted that has done okay so far, and trying some asparagus.  It’s all a work on progress - really curious how things will turn out.

One more issue, besides weather and water, is varmints. I am using a granular product that smells bad to rabbits and other critters - made of garlic, blood and egg whites - sprinkled around the fence. I’ve also sprayed a deer repellent around the perimeter of this and the rest of the garden.

Seeds planted under the white cloths are: little carrots, 2 kinds of radishes, spinach, lettuce, arugula, Swiss chard, cilantro. I have some seed left, to try in the other parts of the garden when I get back. 

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We get pretty excited about seeing some tomatoes grow at our house, but I don’t want to know what would be the cost per tomato, especially including our labor. That number would be way more, I’m sure, than we would consider spending at Whole Foods. That number keeps changing, also, depending on the squirrel attack rate. 

Just as I came to the side of the house with the intention of protecting our new crop, we found THIS just 5 feet away. Curses!  So now we have new wire netting over all, mulched and fertilized. I have several plants on the other side of the yard, for a distraction, but the tomatoes there are just not as big and appetizing, although completely unprotected. Several days after installing the netting, I did see a squirrel run across our back porch with a lemon-sized green tomato in his mouth. I was unable to find a hole in the netting, so who knows what we’ll find when we get back to check on our crop.

So, this will serve as the record for comparison. This will be the last crop of tomatoes in this location, mostly due to the predator problem - it’s just too annoying. We’ve planted asparagus in between the tomato plants, and hopefully will be harvesting those in a couple more years. I’m not even going to try to find out if squirrels are fond of asparagus. We’ll see if we have a crop first, then wait the three years before we can begin harvesting (for the roots to establish.) By then, maybe I’ll have some other means to eliminate the furry pests.

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This Mama and toddler have birthdays about a week apart, and since they both enjoy cooking, I thought matching aprons would be special gifts. I was lucky enough to find a  new independent fabric store in Denver - http://www.fabricblissdenver.com/index.html  - with a unique apron pattern and a sample reversible apron to see for inspiration. I was challenged by the addition of a reverse side to these aprons, and the knowledge that I couldn’t run to the store to get more fabric if I messed up any of the cutting. Whew! A piece of birthday wrapping paper has become a headband in this photo - all part of the fun…

But, a special request for the toddler’s birthday, was a big-girl pillow. Making this up as I went along - I cut a down pillow in half and removed more of the down, and made a zippered pillow protector. The pillowcases were made cases using fabric from my original “favorite” fabric store in Denver -  Elfriede’s, which carried the wonderful prints I used for some early projects for the grandbabies.

These pillowcases are SO soft, a requirement! The cording -which I think really adds a lot - was a staff recommendation. There is so much enthusiastic help and advice in small shops, it helps me feel comfortable with my fabric and project choices.

And, another project that has been in my thoughts since last summer, is this art smock, from the One Yard Wonders project book. I did discover, though, when I cut out the pieces, that the one yard of oilcloth is enough to make yet another smock - great!

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I just accept this diagnosis - I can’t help myself. But, I think that instead of finishing one task at a time, how great it can be to complete a task that was not even considered initially! And, it can work out really well sometimes. In getting a cleaning rag from the drawer in the laundry room, I decided to tidy all three of the drawers - and I found this piece of broken child’s chair under the picnic tablecloths. I was delighted! 

Who knows how the chair was broken originally, but the 2 broken pieces have literally been missing for years. I found the first piece last fall, purely by rummaging/cleaning (and didn’t misfile it somewhere) - so now we can restore the entire chair!  Since the matching table is now being used for tea parties, it’s really good to have this extra chair.

I did a lot of other seemingly unrelated things today, but none that made me laugh out loud like this find..

All ready for the repaired chair…

The tree peonies in the yard always have a head start on producing blossoms..

I just love seeing the big buds and blossoms begin to appear on the peonies in the spring! Big focus this last week trying to get the garden in shape, while it’s still a little cool in the mornings and before too much is overgrown. 

It seems that our soil is very good, judging by the exuberant growth of the peonies and hydrangeas. Unfortunately, there are a few other plants that have now used that great soil to move into serious  “intruder” status. So, more that just the usual clearing of tiny shoots and baby tree sprouts, I noticed major encroachment by asters, phlox, a huge mass of oregano outside the fence, and some unknown but large plant that was taking over the shade garden. 

This poor azalea was struggling in a large patch of deeply rooted asters. So, I’ve been feeling like the Grim Reaper, pulling out completely healthy plants that are just trying to enjoy life - but they’re in the wrong place! And some plants are allowed to continue a bit longer, if their location is not too offensive. I can be lenient sometimes.

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This lovely picnic lunch (Humboldt Fog cheese, roasted beet salad with chevre and pistachios, olives, salami, veggie and caprese sandwiches, and wine, of course) was chosen carefully and thoroughly enjoyed by our group of wine country bikers - 4 friends who traveled to Healdsburg for an adventure. We flew to San Francisco, drove first to Domaine Carneros for a bit of bubbly, an excellent pinot noir, and some cheese and charcuterie. That was a great start. We were too late for wine tasting at DeLoach, but in time to purchase two bottles of wine for our dinner at the Dry Creek Kitchen (no corkage fee for the first two bottles of Sonoma wines.) Since we were in their “restaurant week,” we had an excellent meal for a reasonable rate. We stayed at the H2Hotel - contemporary, comfortable, and in walking distance to each of our 3 dinners.

We were scheduled for 2 days of biking - but the first day of the tour we were driven in a van because of rain. We went to more wineries than we would have been able to get to with our level of biking, and we absorbed a lot of information driving between wineries. Dinner was at Zin, just off the Healdsburg square, serving locally grown food. Our second day started at the Oakville Grocery, to select the above picnic lunch, then to the bike outfitters. We left with full directions to ride up West Dry Creek Road, which has limited traffic. We rode through some rain, but eventually enjoyed beautiful clouds and amazing scenery. We made a couple of stops to taste wine (avoiding the recommendations to sip and spit) and then pressed on to our end - Bella Winery, where we had lunch. We ate in their wine cave to avoid a bit of breeze, then rode back. The views all along the way were unbelievable - we wanted to stop so many times for photos. Hard to choose between getting some rest from the hills and or losing momentum.  It was a good feeling to complete the ride - about 24 miles, including way more hills than my White Rock Lake circuit (which so far has no vineyard distractions.)  Dinner was at another restaurant on the square -Scopa (really excellent) - and back to Texas the next morning, after driving back to San Francisco by way of the Golden Gate Bridge - beautiful views all the way back to the airport.

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So much of what I make seems to be using up ingredients that I already have at hand - purchased for some other meal or dish that never happened. We had several packages of mushrooms that needed some attention, in the last days before we left our holiday home. After some searching, I found a mushroom soup recipe that looked suitable - so we had one really nice meal, and froze the rest of the soup. Coming back, with friends, I thawed the soup, added some cream, and that rounded out our vegetarian meal: Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, burrata and a (new) balsamic glaze, roasted fennel and roasted beets with crumbled chevre, and some toasted whole wheat bread, that I had also made the same day as the mushroom soup and preserved in the freezer. A lovely dinner!

The bread is from the No Need to Knead cookbook - eventually I might make every recipe in it - they’ve all been so good.

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Actually, not my idea - suggested by the young baker’s Mama. We almost didn’t get to making pies this trip - so many other fun things to do, but we will definitely do this again when we can. We used Grands homestyle  (non-flaky) biscuits from a can, rolled and patted. Fillings were apples cooked with brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins; dried apricots cooked with dried cherries; and ham, fontina cheese and steamed broccoli. The ham, cheese and broccoli also became a yummy snack for the young baker, as she was assembling the savory pies. Sampling is one really great thing about baking!

Egg wash, and steam vents were added, and coarse sugar for the sweet pies;  baked at 375. Delish!  Can’t wait to make them again, although I won’t be able to do it by myself - will need a special baker standing on a stool up to the counter - adds the perfect touch. 

The Christmas stocking that I’ve had for my whole life is made of red felt with appliques that are brightened up by some sequins and beads. This was made in McKinney, Texas, I believe. I liked it so much that I made a similar one for my husband for our first Christmas. I still remember working on it very late at night, to finish in time for a Christmas morning surprise. (Which started the tradition of virtually no sleep on Christmas Eve, I think.) Now that I’ve been making needlepoint figures and ornaments these last 10 years, I had been looking at painted canvases to make needlepoint stockings for the newest grandbaby, and perhaps others, depending on how long it would take. I was just reluctant to embark on a really big needlepoint project that might not be as perfect at the finish as I hoped. I was encouraged by the family craft experts (creators of an amazing appliqued Xmas tree skirt) to make new versions of my very old stocking, and helped with excellent design advice. I really liked how the the first two stockings turned out - (the ones for the grandbabies to use at our house,) so I made two more to hang here for their fathers—

By next year, I plan to add names on the cuffs, and maybe some bells on the blue and green stockings. And, I definitely plan to do some restoration on the original stockings..

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I had so much to do to get ready for Christmas that I barely got photos made, for later posting. Of course, there are projects that didn’t get finished before Christmas, but that’s how things work around here. These Santa and Mrs. Claus ornaments are miniatures of ones that I made a few years ago - these show well on a new tree on the kitchen table this year.

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Missy is 15 years old today!!!  We’ve been talking about this all day with her, but not sure she’s gotten the idea. Regardless, a milestone birthday is not to be ignored. Here is a birthday crab cake - her favorite food.

She did love the crab; too full for the peas or potatoes.

We celebrated with her, of course.

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Something about a new grandbaby in the family and I want to make special things for that  baby to wear. Looking through patterns for baby clothes, I found that Simplicity still produces some midcentury patterns (1948, 1952)  - irresistible. I always think that I will be able to finish a sewing project in no time at all. But, since things always take longer that I think they will, I found myself carrying around fabric and supplies, until I finally reached the deadline to complete (thankfully it happened before the baby has grown too big to wear the outfit.) I’ve gotten darling embroidery design advice for both projects from the newest mother, who completed the embroidery for the first project.

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Primary entertainment here in Colorado has been from the inside looking out, while I rest my hurting foot.  It’s been lovely looking out at the flowers, green mountains, and beautiful sky with ever-changing clouds. It warms up to the 70s here in the afternoons, so we leave doors open for ventilation through the living room — this is our first feathered visitor. We were a little nervous when he flew up to the top of the beams, (we’ve all seen  those birds that live at the Home Depot because they can’t get out) -but then he couldn’t resist trying to get back outside (actually needed help with a shoebox and manilla folder trap.)

As hard as it’s been for me not to be able to work in the garden, or even walk down to the bottom of the hill, there have been lots of activities possible. Only these have been done while sitting in my comfy chair with ottoman with extra pillows and a heating pad for chilly mornings -

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This is a first attempt at a traditional summer treat - and it turned out very well! Organic green tomatoes from Central Market were sliced and dipped into flour seasoned with salt, pepper and cayenne; then dipped into an egg wash, and then dipped into seasoned cornmeal. The crust dried while we were preparing the next course (coconut shrimp,) which helped, I think, in making a really crisp crust that didn’t fall off in our fryer. Served with fresh chevre - yummy!

No pictures were taken of the coconut shrimp, but here’s how it was done:

Mix half rice flour and cornstarch, seasoned with salt, pepper and cayenne. Dip shrimp in this mixture, then egg wash, then coconut. Fry until toasty brown. We used non-sweetened coconut, although some tasters thought sweetened coconut would be better. This also made a nice, crisp crust - worth hauling the fryer down to Austin.

We made wasabi dipping sauce (big hit) as well as trying a lot of bottled sauces -  best being a Korean reddish sweet and spicy sauce. I now know that it’s possible to try any bottled sauce at Central Market, and returned it, opened, for your money back. Only store credit is given if no receipt, (or maybe if you used more than half the bottle?) Haven’t tried that, but worth remembering. So we bought quite a few sauces to trial - all now taking up space in the refrigerator.

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