So many Cucumbers! Oh My!

August is such as special time in Seattle.  There is SO MUCH fruit and veggies in season that  I often find myself at loss with how to preserve it or eat it all.  One of the most prolific veggies in my garden this year are cucumbers. 

This year I am growing 2 types of cucumbers (well, 3, but that bush is not producing much so it is dead to me)  First is Lemon cucumbers.  These get rave reviews because they are so unique looking and pretty, but I am almost more partial to dragon egg cucumbers! 

Lemon cucumber on the left Dragon egg on the right

Now, most often the way to preserve cucumbers is to pickle them, and I have spent a fair amount of time making soggy vinegary pickles, but this year, as I went through our cupboard and threw out 6 quarts of 3 year old pickles that we just never got around to eating, because they just taste plain icky, I decided to try something new...

What about cucumber jam? 

An internet search left me dissatisfied.  I found a few ideas on Pinterest, but alas they were in french...

So, I decided to come up with my own version of cucumber jam.  ( I have been making jams for... a few years, and feel like I have the basics down. )

First, I peeled the cucumbers. I feel like I could have scrubbed the spines off of the lemon cucumbers and skipped this step, but I had a vision...I wanted them peeled.

Then I tasted each cucumber before I put its slices into the food processor which was set to shread the cucumbers.

I did this because sometimes cucumbers, when the weather is just wrong, turn bitter...I get the impression that it is when it is too hot then too cool for the vegetables. Think 85 degree days, 60 degree nights.  Any way, I tossed the bitter cucumbers I found into the compost pile with out a second thought, and shredded the rest. 

I wound up with a Quart of shredded cucumbers, and so, I added 1 and 1/2 of a vanilla bean, the juice of a a lime and a lemon and stuck the entire thing in the refrige.  I needed to run errands, and this could wait... or marinate, which ever spin you choose.

After the baby went to bed, I steralized 12, 4 oz jars (10 minutes in boiling water), added 4 cups of water, a packet of Pectin (to make it gel)  to my cucumber mixture, and brought that to a boil.

When the jars were sterilized, I put my cucumber mixture into them (making 12, 4 oz jars) and processed everything for 12 minutes.  (processed = boiled again.)

My end jam tasted like... sweet cucumbers.  Kind of awesome, definitely a strange flavor.

I think this jam will play a role in several things I create in the winter when I look in the pantry and think "What is to eat?  What the heck do I do with cucumber jam?  Add it to stirfry?  or bagels? or cream cheese and crackers, or a special cocktail?"  Perhaps you will find a jar on your door step if I find myself at a loss.  If you throw a party, I will most certainly bring a jar.

You can let me know if I should stick to growing stuff.

Blueberry Bars! So healthy! SO GOOD!

Ok, so credit where credit is due, this is not my recipe...I found it (along with a ton of other great stuff) here:http://sallysbakingaddiction.com

Dude, the woman is a genius!  Source cited.

 I have been thinking a lot about not only eliminating processed foods from my diet, but to a lesser degree sugar.   As I have been scanning recipes for Zucchini breads (or really any quick bread) I am beginning to realize that there is as much sugar as flour in them.  With those numbers, why bother baking?  Using up produce from the garden is great, but if you kill it with added sugar or cooking it to death, why not just ditch the whole thing and go to the bakery?  I'm not saying that I am against canning, jellys or anything of the sort... I'm just thinking that if I want to bake something to eat for breakfast, and I am honest with myself,  Zucchini bread in most recipes is like eating cake. 

So I tried these!  The original recipe calls for strawberries, but we happen to be in the middle of blueberry season, so I have blueberries.  My strawberries are safely tucked away in the freezer.  I made a couple of substitutions.  I had no almonds (she calls for the on the top) so I used flax seeds, and I haven't made apple butter in a long time, so I just used pumpkin puree.   The best part of this recipe?  No sugar!  Only 1/2 cup of Maple syrup!  The only suspect ingredient is corn starch... Corn starch just weirds me out, but it made the filling so good that I will ignore the voice nagging at me that says "But don't you have to process the hell out of corn to get it to give you its starch?"  I bought the organic corn starch, and ignored that voice. 

I have this colleague who I share a scone addiction with.  About 3 times a week, either he or I pick up scones at Two Tartes Bakery on the way to work.  It's not an addiction if you are eating alone right?
I day dream that I will make a bunch of these every month or so, throw them in the freezer and substitute at least one bad breakfast with this.  We will see.

Betcha it would work with any fruit that was in season!

The fire at the end of the Project.

3 years ago, I jokingly told the neighbor"Come over! We will have a fire!  In our Fire Pit... just give me half an hour, I'll dig a hole.

Sometimes projects take a while.  I dug that hole the first year, but our fires were always smoky. Turns out the bare earth wicked the water from the ground.  Year 2,  we added some decorative bricks I had taken from a Craigslist add.  The smoke was better, but the bricks were not meant to withstand so much heat, so by the end of the summer, I was pregnant, and the fire pit was shot.

This year... this year we would nail it.  With the help of our good friends Tim and Ryan (the oh so brilliant engineer) We went to work... well they went to work, My husband, Ryan, and Tim.  I watched the baby.

Using real fire bricks, they made a beautiful cylinder!  and Fires were lit!

But then... our friends Cadi and John acquired a bunch of bricks from the old Rainier Brewery,  and when Andy said "Can we have some of those?"  They said yes...This begun the REAL project.


Day 1,  Clean stuff out, and prepare to make fire pit... we are still calling it fire pit, but really it is now "large and difficult to make brick patio."... but we don't know that, we are still naive.  As the sun went down, I drank two beers, (I rarely do that these days, as I am nursing) then I pulled out a zombie poky tool that I found at a garage sale for 3 DOLLARS!  (I know, right?)  and got out all aggression I have ever had on the 12 foot area around the fire pit.  I tilled the daylights out of that soil, and it felt good! 

The next day, grandpa watched the baby, and we made a frame, and then leveled the ground.  Then we added fabric, and 500lbs of sand.

Then I got sick, and Andy moved a bunch of bricks, many of which had concrete on them to our back yard.

Then Andy got sick, and Cadi, John and I moved a few bricks.

Then I lost track of time, as Andy spent HOURS over the course of weeks laying and leveling bricks.

 The goal was to make a mosaic of the different bricks to create a beautiful pit that was all recycled.  Andy is more detail oriented than I, and so this was a better job for him.  I am good at attacking the ground with a pitch fork and yelling "Die Zombie, DIE!"  I have a strong imagination that way...

Then Tim watched the baby, and Andy laid bricks, and I spent 4 hours with the back of a hammer hacking concrete off of bricks. 

Then we stole bricks from the neighbor, because we were just short, and I was distraught.  The good thing about being friendly with your neighbors is that you know what they have...

Then our family helped us with the last of the sweeping sand in place during the family reunion, which we just kind of finished in time for grilled Calzones around a fire with the family.

It took a village, and I am grateful for it!  But I have to say, this project was... a little bigger than I thought it would be.

Any body up for Smores?  With the amount of work this thing took to build, we better have lots..and lots of parties!

Update on the Black plastic pumpkin patch of AWESOMENESS!!!

I got to visit the pumpkin patch we put in at the beginning of June, and I am always amazed at how unbelievably FAST pumpkins grow!  To put it in perspective, at the end of May, these plants were but wee seeds. 


June 27, they were little plants. 

July 27... well, they are taking over my friends yard,AND the neighbors yard.

  Remember, it took about an hour and a half to create this pumpkin patch.  My friend waters it every few days, but because it is on a drip system, all she needs to do is turn on the hose. We dug in manure, and sprinkled in organic slow release fertilizer, so there should be enough for our greedy pumpkins to eat, and they seem to be happy. 

Now I never like to count chickens before they hatch, but my guess is that this pumpkin patch will yield 25 pumpkins by the time it is all over... big ones little ones stripy ones.    We still have another month before the bite of Autumn begins to slow the growth of these plants.  Any one want to place any bets on the final number?

By the way, I also have a few pumpkin plants at my house, soooo  I have a feeling we will all be eating pumpkin well into the winter! 

How to plant peas..or other seeds for fall Harvest.

I know I know,  It is easy to plant seeds!...
except when it's not, and they don't come up, and you weed them because you can't remember what you planted in the first place... so i figured I would give a few tips to help get us from a packet of seeds in July, to a wok full of peas in September!

First, weed your area.  Get your bed all tidy and ready to go.  In my bed, I have some swiss chard and... well some... cucumbers?  I don't actually remember what I planted in 1/3 of the bed, but I do know that there are plenty of spaces for peas!!!  So I took my trusty hand held rake/hoe and picked all of the plants I can't eat (the weeds) to make a pretty bed.

Then I soaked the bed.  Soaked it.  Made it all muddy and stuff.  This will make it easier both to plant the seeds and to keep it wet.  The next week is going to be key!  It is going to be hard in the middle of the dry, hot summer to make sure you keep your little seeds moist, so start with a soaked base!

Then, I find a stick-type, planting tool.  I happen to have a piece of bamboo, but I have also used the backs of knives, a stick, a carrot, my finger, you get the idea.

Then make your holes for your seeds.  I find it is fastest to make the holes all at once and then drop the seeds in them.  The beauty of this is you can actually see the seeds you are planting

Cover them up, and then water again!

Then, find something to throw on the seeds.  I happen to have lots of tupperware lids, so I often use those.  Seeds don't need light for the first week or so, (or more) and it helps keep the water in and remind me to water EVERY DAY.

Until you see little pea plants, make sure your soil is wet every day :0)

Finally, Mark the plants with either the seed packet or with a sticky note in a mason jar.  I always tell myself I will remember where I planted what, but I never ever do.  I'm [pretty excited about this particular variety of peas, because they should be easy to spot and harvest on my way from work to the kitchen.. perhaps I will even make it in with enough for dinner :0)

Get your crops for fall and winter harvest planted now!

Cheers

Winter Gardens

OMG OMG OMG they finally arrived!

Some girls collect shoes, I collect seeds...With each season, I become enamoured with something else and decide I need one in each color.  There was the year of the tomato... 60 tomato plants all different colors and sizes, This spring, I became obsessed with planting the perfect kale and this summer has been all about pumpkins... and for the fall/winter garden,  I am thinking roots... really really big roots. (15 pound beet anyone?)

So I went onto the Baker Creek Website and ordered seeds to plant now and harvest sometime between October and January depending on the weather.

Here in Seattle, we have a great climate for planting autumn and winter gardens.  The killing frost often comes late, and it is usually pretty temperate, and rarely ever really hot.  This means that it is next to impossible to grow a watermelon,  but it is pretty easy to keep certain crops like kale growing (and harvesting) all winter.

Late June-mid july is a good time to seed things you would like to eat in the fall and winter.  It is a good time to re-plant a salad garden, which I will be doing because I am interested in learning about some of the heirloom lettuces.  I am going to plant the new lettuce garden where the elephant garlic was, because that bed is square and will be easy to put a cloche on when it gets colder to extend the harvest well into the winter.

I also am going to plant peas.  Often by this time of year, I am sick of peas because peas are one of the first things you can plant in the spring, so I go over board, but this spring I was moderate in my planting of them... because I was busy having a baby, so while we ate a few meals of awesome snap peas, I have not had my fill for the year.  I am excited to try a purple podding pea.  This will make them easier to harvest because they don't blend into the vines. 

Finally, raddicio.  I know next to nothing about raddicio, but I dream that it is really tasty.  I think the plants are beautiful, so on a whim I will plant some and see how it goes.

so excited so excited so excited!!!

Best part of collecting seeds instead of shoes?  I don't need a bigger closet!

It's Cucumber time!!!

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that our cucumber plants were growing mighty big. Every year that this happens, I mean to trellis them, but forget.   Cucumbers don't necessarily need to be staked.  They grow happily on the ground just like pumpkins.  This is fine if you remember to check on them and harvest your cucumbers.... I never remember to check on them.  I often find cucumbers that are the size and shape of dinosaur eggs.  This is ok, sort of.  When they get huge, they are not as tasty as when they are smaller, and they tend to be overwhelming.

So, I asked my husband to do it for me.  He likes to build stuff!  He just made a simple T frame by lashing together bamboo stalks.  After adding a couple of horizontal stakes, he added twine so that I could just lay the quickly growing plants over them.  This serves 2 purpouses.  The first is that I can see when cucumbers are ripe and ready to be picked, and the second is that it saves space, oh and the third is that the cucumbers don't get dirty... but I still wash them.

This picture was taken July 12

After a very short period, the cucumbers almost seem to explode with growth, and today this is what the trellis looks like:

the cucumbers on July 20

Notice, We have our first ripe cucumber!

When the boys were sleeping, I pounced on it, sliced it, added a little ranch dressing and some kalamata olives for an afternoon snack. The first cucumber of the season is always the most tasty.  In 2 weeks, when 3 or 4 are ripening a day, I may not be as in love with cucumbers, but for now I am in heaven!