Alpacas! Everything you wanted to know...

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One of the classes that I went to at the Mother Earth News Fair a few weeks ago was on alpacas.  It was by Barbara Banks, from Apple Country Alpacas in Rochester, WA.  No, Redmond does not allow alpacas in backyards, as far as I know; but one day on my Dream Farm we will have them!  They are so ridiculously cute, are good to the land, and there is an alpaca fiber shortage- so there will always be a place to sell their wool.  Interested? Here are some more things I learned about alpacas.  

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They are herd animals, so you should have more than two of them.  I'm thinking 4-6 would be a good plan, you can have about 6-8/acre of land.  They live for around 20 years, and weigh between 125 and 175 pounds.  Since they are used to being in the cold of the Andes Mountains, our climate is not so bad for them.  You clip their fleece once a year in the spring, and it's so valuable that about half of it will cover the cost of their care for the year.

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When they are happy, they bounce around like Pepe Le Pew.  It's called "pronking" :)

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They don't have hooves, they have soft feet that are essentially two big toes.  You trim their nails once a year too.  They can be companions with goats, sheep, donkeys, horses, cats, dogs, and llamas.  Sometimes people keep a llama with them as a "guardian animal"; I'm not sure if alpacas are kind of dim, the speaker was saying that when they sense danger, they make an "alert" noise- but then just stand there making the noise.  With a llama in the group, it will run away from trouble, and lead the alpacas with it.  

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Their fiber is very durable, renewable, and sustainable.  Even the bits that might not be good enough for spinning could be turned into felt rugs or garden paths.  They are used to eating grass, but don't actually rip it out of the ground like other grazing animals do.  They only have bottom teeth, so they don't bite, but they can spit at you (like camels).  Even their fertilizer is supposed to be excellent, "I've heard that it works especially well on a plant that was recently legalized in Washington state," the speaker said, cryptically.  And have I mentioned, they are super cute?!  If I get my way, alpacas will definitely be in our future one day.  

Seattle Tilth Chicken Coop Tour!

Seattle Tilth's annual chicken coop and urban farm tour is coming up!  It's on July 13th, from 10-4pm, and this year, they've chosen the top 25 urban farms in the area as the stops on the tour.  One of my favorite garden bloggers is on the tour this year, and she recently opened her own Urban Farm School, so I have to check it out for sure!  (Side note: if you sign up for a gardening class with her anytime this summer, you can bring a friend for free! I'm all over this.)

There will surely be lots of sassy chickens like this on the tour: (I especially like the white one)

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As you know, we've been planning to get some chickens for our backyard for over a year.  I'm hoping to get some great ideas (and maybe a kick in the pants) to go forward this fall.

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I was originally thinking about something like this, where we could grow edibles on top of it... but I'm not sure if there will be enough sun to keep them going. There are a lot of concerns to consider, in terms of coop placement (i.e. safety, too much/too little heat, etc...) so I'm hoping to get some more ideas!

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Preserving with Sherri Brooks Vinton, at the Mother Earth News Fair

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This was the first class that I went to at the Mother Earth News Fair last weekend, and it started the day off with a bang.  Sherri Brooks Vinton shared her story of how she became interested in canning, and it was similar to mine; we both had childhoods where we visited our grandparents on their farms, and ate jar after jar of delicious homemade jam.  (Her favorite was strawberry, and mine was raspberry.)  I remembered thinking how strange it was (but also wonderful) to eat giant canned pears with breakfast every day.  My grandparents canned everything, because at one point they'd had to; same with hers.  She said that preserving food is the same as "stopping time" on it; I never thought of it that way before.

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She then went into several types of food preservation; canning (boiling water, or pressure canning), fermenting, infusing, drying, and freezing.  Some determining factors for what you may wish to do are: type of  food, logistics (how much time/what supplies you have), utility, and taste.

Canning using the boiling water method:

You want to use this method only if you are canning acidic foods- with a 4.6 pH or less.  It is a low investment (you pretty much need a big pot, some jars, a funnel, and a jar lifter-- see below).

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 Foods that are canned with the boiling water method are shelf-stable for a year. (This means I have some things to throw out, although I'm pretty sure my aunt still has some jam left from the 80's.  The only reason  I feel iffy about some things I canned is because I did them a long time ago, without an actual recipe, so I can't verify how acidic they might be.)

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Pressure Canning:

If you have things to can that are not acidic, or have meat or fish in them, you want to use a pressure canner. Pressure canners are pretty expensive, but they have a very specific use.  You can use them to can vegetables in water, and a variety of other things.  If you are new to canning, I would recommend holding off on getting a pressure canner until you want to make something that needs it.  (i.e. I don't have one yet.)  It can be time and experience intensive, and really, I'm just not up for that yet!

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Fermenting: 

You can also pickle a wide variety of foods.  I'm going to try dilly beans this summer, and I've made some fermented pickles in the past.  Some foods will keep on fermenting for a very long time (like this thing called a rumtopf that sounded delicious), and some should be jarred when they are finished processing.  They have a limited shelf life, but can keep in the fridge for months.  If you can fermented foods, it will kill the beneficial bacteria that you've worked so hard to cultivate, so her advice was not to do it.  

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Drying:

She also talked a bit about drying food.  It's best with lower-moisture ingredients, and the results often require cooking afterwards (like sundried tomatoes).  Drying takes a long time, but it's mostly unattended.  You can dry herbs, fruits, veggies...and even without a dehydrator.  I already dry out old bread for breadcrumbs, so this sounds pretty easy to do.

Her talk was so informative that I decided to buy her book that day.  I totally recommend it, even if you have other books on canning (which I do).

Apple Pie Cereal Bars

Last week, I adapted this cereal bar recipe from Once a Month Mom.  Overall, they were really good, but I  did not make enough crust to do a sufficient top layer, so they were kind of like apple cobbler bars.  Here is what I did, and how I'd change it next time: 

Ingredients: 

Apple Filling: 

(I did not change this part at all, and it was freaking delicious.  The only thing I might do differently next time is puree the apples after they are cooked)

3 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

1 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar

1 tsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. salt (just put your thumb in the middle of your 1/4 tsp. spoon and fill it halfway)

4-6 Tbsp. water, added one tablespoon at a time

Oatmeal Crust:

(I followed the recipe, but increased it by 50%, thinking that I could fill a larger pan this way.  I also reduced the fat by using some applesauce in place of all of the butter.  I should have doubled it, and maybe done a bit more than 1/3 butter.  This is all now fixed and doubled, with a few of my other tricks thrown in as well, and should work with a 9x13 pan for next time.)

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2/3 c. packed brown sugar

2 c. oats, not instant

1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 tsp. nutmeg, freshly grated

First to make the filling: Melt the butter in a large frying pan.  Add all of the other ingredients and cook, adding water as necessary.  You want it to be fragrant and sort of caramelized, with the sugar and the butter.  Cook for about 10 minutes, until the apples soften and look delicious.  (I might blend them up with a hand blender after they are done cooking.)  

Preheat the oven to 350*

Now for the crust: 

Mix together the dry ingredients, then blend them all together with the melted butter and the applesauce.  It will be kind of crumbly.  Press half of it into your parchment/foil-lined pan.

Then cover with the apple mixture, and the rest of the topping.  (Hopefully yours will offer more coverage than this.)

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  Let cool, then slice and serve!  You can also slice them and package them individually to freeze and eat later for snacks.

Mother Earth News Fair

It's official! I am going to the Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup next Saturday!

Despite the fact that I keep referring to it as "the hippie fair", I am super excited about it.  (Plus, everyone knows that Folklife is the real hippie fair around here.) I'm really going to have a hard time deciding which workshops to go to, but I know for sure that I'm going to the one on top bar beekeeping!  There's also a class on food preservation, breadmaking, making your own skincare products... classes on keeping ducks, alpacas (which I'm really sad to miss, but next year!), tons of gardening classes... it's really endless!  I first heard about this fair last year, (after the fact) so I made sure to keep tabs on it this time around.  Find out more info here, if you live in the area and might be around next weekend!

Gardening... at the mall?

So, the last time I went to U. Village, it was a very disappointing experience.  I rarely get to go out shopping during the day any more, so the fact that they had nothing that I wanted to buy (and went there specifically to find) made me even more grumpy.  But then, I walked around, in an effort to cheer myself up.  This kind of helped:

 Everything was so vibrant!  Whoever it is that plans out the containers here has done a great job.

I love this gorgeous flowering purple tree.  

And no, your eyes are not deceiving you... that is SWISS CHARD planted in the middle of all of those flowers.  That is when you know that edible gardening has reached its' pinnacle; when an outdoor mall puts chard into their planting displays.

It's wonderful.

Growing Leeks

Last summer, I set out to grow some leeks in my backyard.  A year later, they still look like chives.  However, I also took some over to the twins' house to grow.  Look how they turned out!!

They were huge!  (I actually said, "Shut up! Are those leeks?!)  They gave me about 3 pounds of them to take home.  Just goes to show that piles of sunshine makes a difference for some veggies.  (my squash and greens seem to love the shady backyard though; go figure.)  I think I'll transplant my chive/leeks over there in a week or so!

Summer of Pie!

Last year for my birthday, I got one of those awesome mini-pie bakers.

It's essentially a waffle iron that makes little pies.  It had been stuck in the cupboard until last weekend... and now it's going to see a lot more of the outside world.

 I declare this to be the Summer of Pie!  First, I found a really great crust recipe (Trader Joe's, your frozen crust has let me down too many times!). I was thinking that it should be all butter, but then I read that even Julia Child says that you should mix butter with shortening, so that became the plan.  I used the crust from this book, (from this bakery, originally) using butter and vegan margarine as the shortening, and using 2 c. white flour + 1/2 c. whole wheat flour for the 2 1/2 c. it calls for.  (I guess that book might be out of print now, since it's so expensive.  This is a very similar recipe, just do 2/3 butter+ 1/3 shortening.)  Divide crust into two mounds, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using.  Then roll out the dough and cut circles out of it; a larger one for the bottom, and a slightly smaller one for the top.  These four pies used 1/2 of this amount of dough (so one crust's worth).

Then, I pulled out my trusty pie book, and adapted the filling amounts to make it work for a mini pie.  Since John and I have VERY different tastes in pie (I like every berry, cherry, summer fruit you can think of; apple and pumpkin are his two favorites) I made just enough filling for two pies of each flavor; peach for me, and apple for him.

Pie Filling (for 2 mini pies):

1 c. fruit (I used one granny smith apple for his, frozen peaches for mine)

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 tsp. flour (apple)/1 Tbsp. flour (frozen fruit)

1.5 tsp. lemon juice

dash of salt

1/2 Tbsp. butter

I mixed these things together, and microwaved them for 3 minutes each (just because I didn't know how well the pie baker would cook raw filling). I heated up the machine, put the bottom crust, then filling, then top crust, and closed it.  Pies were done in about 10 minutes!!

The only difficulty I had with this machine was that it was very difficult to see when the green light was turned on (signalling that it was done).  I had to turn off the kitchen light and be in the dark to know for sure!  I also don't think that you could do an open-top pie, like pumpkin, in this.  Next time, I think I'll top the pies with a little bit of cinnamon sugar, but these were super good. :)

Once a Month Mom

So,  I came across this blog several months ago, when I was still pregnant.  At the time, I thought, "Oh yes.  I should compile all sorts of freezer meals, because once the baby is here, when will I be able to cook?"  And then she came a week and a half early, so all I had "compiled" was a giant bag of cranberry mini breads.  They are delicious, but not exactly meals!  But, truth be told, I really have no problem making dinner most nights; once in a while (usually Fridays or the weekend) I am tired of cooking and we get a pizza or takeout from Red Robin- but it really hasn't been difficult to keep cooking, surprisingly.

But I digress.

The other day, I was looking for a healthy cereal bar recipe, preferably one with apples in it (since they are one of John's favorites).  This is what I found: Apple Pie Cereal Bars!  Back to the awesome Once a Month Mom site I go!  The idea is that they compile a series of recipes for the month, and then one day you make a  huge pile of food and freeze it for dinners for the month.  They give you the recipes, but you can subscribe to the site for $8/month to access their shopping lists, secret freezer tricks, and portion-sizes multiplied up for your household.  Honestly, there are only two of us eating this right now, so I am just testing out a few recipes (because who doesn't like to try new things?) so we'll see how it goes.  This week, we are also going to try Pretzel Tofu with Mustard Marinade, and Cauliflower and Kale Pasta; they both look really good!  (Oh, and my goal today is to make the apple bars; I'm going to try to reduce the butter in the crust a little bit, but other than that it is on! I will let you know how it turns out!)

Eclectic Gardening

Having an eclectic garden is not something that I set out consciously to do, it just sort of happened.  Really, I've always had a plant or two around, but it never turned into much until I lived in Los Angeles.  There, I met a lady named Joyce who changed how I thought about homegrown produce, particularly tomatoes.  She was my boss at the Pasadena Playhouse, and my first day of work, she brought in a bag of heirloom yellow tomatoes that changed my life.  I put them on a pizza, and it was the beginning something huge for me. I wanted to grow things.

At the time, I lived in a very dark apartment, with a balcony, but (ironically for California) no sun.  Then I moved into a duplex with a huge backyard, and started growing veggies with a passion.  I hauled bag after bag of "soil amendment" (probably just compost, but that's how they labeled it then) into my backyard, and I tried to grow carrots (big mistake), potatoes (also a no-go), herbs (relatively successful) and tomatoes.  My biggest success?  I grew canteloupes under my kitchen window.  Freaking canteloupes!!  They were the most amazing canteloupes I've had in my entire life, even if they were only the size of grapefruits.  I still dream about them.

Joyce gave me this plant stand, once upon a time

Joyce had a giant backyard in North Hollywood.  She had citrus trees (including a blood orange tree), a giant avocado tree (that she fought both the squirrels and the dog in order to get any to eat), and bed after bed of the tallest tomato plants known to man.  They were taller than she was, which, while most people were taller than Joyce, to have a 5-foot tall tomato plant is still a wonder to me.  She would grow a constant supply of lettuce that could easily turn into a bowl of salad for dinner.  She was like a surrogate mom to me, in my home away from home.

Later on, her boyfriend installed a remote controlled train in the corner of the backyard.  It had a tunnel, plants all around, and even a waterfall, if I remember correctly.  It's been a long time.  I kept in touch with Joyce after I moved back to Washington, but a couple of years later, she was diagnosed with cancer.  It was really serious and she had some experimental treatments.  She lost her hair.  I went to visit, and we snuck into her friend's pool when they weren't home.  I kept having visions of being carted off to a police station in my bathing suit, but the friends really didn't mind when they caught us.  She had been recovering for over a year.  Her hair was growing back into first "the Jamie Lee Curtis" and then into "the Annette Bening". 

I didn’t hear from her for a long time, but that didn’t really worry me since her voice was still on her answering machine.  Until the day that I accidentally called her, (my phone misdialed) and found out from her boyfriend that she’d passed away.  The cancer had come back, and despite everything, she’d lost her fight.  That was a little over two years ago, I think.

 I really didn't plan for this post to turn into a tribute to my friend, but that's where the roots of my gardening as an adult started (no pun intended).  (Gardening as a kid though? That’s a whole other story…)   Even though Joyce’s garden wasn't that crazy, in terms of decoration, it was in terms of awesomeness. And that's the legacy I hope to carry on.  So, when my neighbors think I’m weird for growing edibles everywhere, and offer to show us pictures of how our bark-covered hill used to look (“when it was nice” i.e. just bark), I have to take it with a grain of salt.  Because I love my eclectic garden- weird sculptures, giant rhubarb plants, and all.

I’ll have to show you my recently acquired “solar duck” really soon.  I named her Petunia.  Maybe her middle name will be Joyce.