Living in Season

Taking an eCourse in whole foods from GNOWFLGINS

 

I'm excited to try my first eCourse on learning how to prepare whole foods. Wardeh Harmon, a Whitefish native who now lives in Oregon, is the woman behind the GNOWFLGINS blog (GNOWFLGINS means "God's Natural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season") where she talks about getting back food basics, which is the goal of this course.

This is a five week course so it won't be an overwhelming amount of information dumped all at once. I'm looking forward to learning how to use sprouted grains and seeds, plus work on my sourdough technique (which has been a struggle for me lately for some reason - I'm hoping she will help me figure out what I'm doing wrong), and learn how to make kefir! She also has a lesson on how pickling. I'm a fermentation nut so this should be fun. There's always something to learn!

To sign up or take a look at the GNOWFGLINS Fundamentals. If you would like to sign up, the deadline is February 22 because the fun begins on February 23. Hope to see you on the Forums!

Plant a Row for the Hungry in Great Falls

When you're planning your garden for the season it's important to consider what you're going to do with everything. Putting in a veritable Eden seems like a good idea when there's still a blanket of snow on the ground, but it's overwhelming when the zucchini are maturing before your very eyes or you have a bushel of beans to eat. This is the time to develop a backup plan besides dropping it off on your neighbor's porch at night.  

When I sat down with Gayle and Pam at the Great Falls Food Bank yesterday we discussed spreading the word on where gardeners can take their extra produce, as well as encouraging home growers to join the "Plant a Row for the Hungry" campaign, a national program hosted by the Garden Writers Association. Gayle is working on acquiring seeds from different organizations to hand out to gardeners willing to grow for the food bank. At this point in time we're planning on having the Cascade County Extension Office be the central location to pick up seeds (although Wade, our illustrious ag agent, is off basking in the sun somewhere so the decision isn't completely finalized). Anyone in Great Falls can pick up the free seeds, grow the produce, and drop it off at the food bank. The food bank is also more than happy to take the extras from anyone who isn't officially part of the effort.

I'm going to encourage our plot people at the River City Harvest community gardens to join the program, as well. We already plan on having several plots for charitable organizations, but if people designate specific rows I can add those to our harvest list. This way whoever is harvesting will know what they can pick. And Gayle said she can send over her volunteers to pick up the veggies so I'm hoping the process will go much smoother this season.

I told Gayle it would be wonderful if we reached a point where they were saturated with produce, but I think that's going to be a tough goal to meet. If Gayle can't use it, she has plenty of resources such as Meals on Wheels, the Mercy Home, Great Falls Mission and many other food pantries that will. While I'm glad it won't go to waste, it's unsettling that there are so many in need just in our little area. If nothing else, hopefully we can make a small dent.

It's raining seeds

Despite at least 6 inches of snow on the ground and the fact the wretched rodent saw his shadow and predicted 6 more weeks of winter weather, I'm in full blown seed glory.

I enjoyed thirty minutes of peace and quiet the other morning while the boys slept to finish my seed orders. I maintained control with Territorial Seeds and Totally Tomatoes, but got a little click happy with Seeds of Change. Their site is just too gorgeous. I think I have everything I need for various articles I'm planning on writing this year. It's always better to have the photo shoot in the back yard since lighting and other conditions are so variable.

This has also been a productive week as far as setting up connections for the community garden effort. I attended the board meeting at the Salvation Army on Tuesday, the same morning I placed my seed orders. They're considering starting a garden for their family services program since they provide food for so many families in the Great Falls area. It's a fantastic location, and would be a tremendous benefit to local people. I was there to let them know what River City Harvest can do to help, and I think I'm now on the Salvation Army board! Funny how that happens, but I'm happy to do what I can. Hopefully, we'll have a final plan in March so we can move forward as soon as the weather permits. The greatest obstacles are securing water - the city of Great Falls charges $1500 to hook up a meter - and erecting a fence around the lot to discourage vandalism or theft. I'm confident we'll have something growing this year, though.

When I returned home from the board meeting, I was shocked to find a box from Seeds of Change on my porch. My initial thought was "Dang! They're good!" But I quickly realized it was the 100 packages of seeds I requested through their seed donation program for the community garden. Oh, what fun! I've sorted through the seeds to decide which ones need to be started ahead of time, and what we can direct seed. It's a good start to what I believe is going to be a highly productive year.

Saving dry hands

My hands take a hammering throughout the year. Either they're in dirt working in the garden, or immersed in water. (I have to say I love my bleach, but it's not good for the skin.) Even though seed starting begins in just under six weeks, my hands are already looking pretty harsh. I ordered a few more tins of body cream from Montana Mercantile to pull me through the season.

As many of your know, I started Montana Mercantile over ten years ago. Actually, I started making the lotion bars, the flagship of the business, first to add to my line of homemade items available at my shop at Shady Side Herb Farm in Coram. The lotion bars were such a big hit, I decided to step out of retail and market to other shops instead. (My first hint that retail wasn't for me was when a car drove in, and I hid - belly down - behind a big patch of oregano!)

The lotion bars took off like gangbusters. It wasn't unusual to be up well past midnight trying to keep up with orders in my tiny kitchen in my pink house in Kalispell. I had two women working with me, my right-hand, Stella, and Lynn, who brought her infant during the few months she was with us. Lauren, the little girl, was crawling at that time, and had the softest knees of any baby from being on a floor slick with coconut oil and cocoa butter.

Soon we added a body cream to the line since some people wanted a cream they could use on their legs and arms. I tried several recipes, but kept having it curdle or clump. Finally, on a horseback ride with my friend Pam, a pharmacist, we brainstormed different methods that might work, and one finally did. The body cream is a mixture of olive oil, shea butter, coconut oil and avocado oil that are whipped together. The lotion bars require the heat of your hand to "rub off" on your skin, but the body cream can be scooped, which is what I needed to put it on Sam's face when his cheeks are chapped.

After several years of being identified by scent - Pam would go into the tack room at the arena where we kept our horses hours after I'd been there, and she could smell me - juggling the wholesale orders, my landscaping business and my freelancing writing became too much. I sold the business to Mark Riffey in 2006, and he's done a fantastic job of improving on it, including a great website where people can order directly from him. So, it was very nice to be able to log in, and order some of my old favorites to keep my hands looking like they did when I used to make it all of the time!

Gobble! Gobble!

I had Thanksgiving dinner planned months ago. Earlier this year I ordered a heritage breed turkey from Courtney and Jacob Cowgill at Prairie Heritage Farm in Conrad. They raised 75 birds this spring for their Thanksgiving CSA members, and for direct sales. All year long the birds ate whatever came their way, more like the wild ones, and lived the good life outside of a caged existence. Last Friday and Saturday they met their fates, and I picked up a fresh turkey from Courtney on Saturday. For me, it makes more sense to know how the bird lived, and I'm delighted to support local producers.

Since Thanksgiving isn't a huge production around here - it's usually just us and Grant's brother and nephew - I like to make the turkey the night before so I have time do something else instead of just cooking. To roast the bird, I followed the first recipe Courtney has on their website. I brushed the turkey with a half-cup of melted butter (can't go wrong there), seasoned it with minced garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary, and put it in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes before turning down the heat to 325 for the remaining 3 hours. The key is to not overcook it. It's done when the internal temp is 165 degrees.

The house smelled heavenly with the turkey cooking in the oven, and we ate some for dinner. Who can resist? The next day, my plan was to make the sweet potato casserole and dressing to be ready to pop in the oven. The mashed potatoes would be made while they baked. I'd reheat the turkey with chicken broth. So, I told the guys we'd eat around four.

I went to see Kelo in the morning. He's so spoiled, and wouldn't stand still for brushing. Romeo, the youngster, was more than happy to oblige. Then I came home and made the sweet potatoes and dressing before giving the boys lunch, and putting them down for a nap. That's where the plan went off track. I fell asleep, too, which is something I desperately needed but wasn't in my schedule, and I didn't wake up until 3:30! All the guys were sitting in the living room!

Thankfully, the Grisaks are not a complaining bunch, and patiently waited until I got things pulled together over an hour later. Everything turned out fine - but of course, they were so hungry by then I could've served them anything! Hopefully, I'll have things better planned for Christmas dinner.

Meat in the Freezer

Despite early cold weather, which is usually a benefit for hunting, success has been slow to come this year. Thankfully, Blaine came to visit last weekend, and counted the first deer of the season. He and Grant went ot to a friend's place near Fort Benton, and Blaine shot this nice, big bodied, two-point muley buck.

I guess they saw quite a few, but didn't have a good shot. Blaine took a couple of cat naps while waiting until the deer started moving again in the late afternoon. He had the sights set on another buck roughly 150 yards away when Grant noticed this one walking up behind them. Blaine turned, readjusted his sight because it was half the distance, and pulled the trigger. One shot is all he needed, which is pretty common for this boy. He's steady and accurate.

Grant is cutting up the deer right now. He is very particular on how the steaks are butchered and wrapped (I'm only allowed to write the deer and date on the package) so he handles the entire process. I'm planning on canning some of the venison later - when he can be home to watch the kids since it takes a good hunk of the day. Canning meat is a long process, but it certainly is handy having it on hand. When I forget to thaw something for dinner, I can grab a can of venison and make a quick "pot pie" or stew. Can't beat it for convenience.

Putting Food By

'Tis the season to pack food away like a squirrel.  There is a big pot of applesauce bubbling away on the stove making the house smell heavenly. I'm using the Macintosh apples my friend, LeAna, brought when she visited last weekend cooking them down with the skins still on. I'll put them through the strainer before processing the pints in the hot water bath. Samuel's a big fan of the sauce, and now that John is starting solid foods, I'm sure it won't last long in the pantry.

A couple of weeks ago I turned 50+lbs of tomatoes into 13 quarts of sauce, and froze about 32 cups of fresh corn. This season I used the 'Martino's Romas' from Seeds of Change. They're a good choice. They produced nice sized fruit that cooked down well. I'm assuming it tastes good (once again - not a good person to judge a tomato). I added 1/2 tsp of citric acid per quart to ensure adequate acidity, and processed the quarts in a hot water bath for 20 minutes. They all look great. We'll use these primarily for a marinara either for spaghetti, cabbage rolls or the Greek chicken. I still have some of the 'Stupice' tomatoes frozen from last year, but need to do an inventory in the next couple of days to see if I should freeze additional ones before I can another batch. If so, I'll freeze them whole without blanching or peeling.

I planted 'Ambrosia' sweet corn on the recommendation of Marcia Bundi at Bundi Gardens here in Great Falls, and I'll plant it again. Even for an Ohio born corn snob, it was tasty. I was concerned it would be a litle tough since we were gone when it first began to ripen, but it held up well. Six "hills" had roughly 4 dozen ears, and I didn't notice any difference in production between the ones I de-suckered and the ones I didn't. I'm very happy to have our corn on hand. It beats store bought frozen corn hands-down!

This is such a nice time of year when the freezer and pantry are filled to the doors. It definitely gives me a little sense of security - like the hard-working ants in the children's fable - as well as a delicious reminder of summer.

Stop and Eat the Landscape

During my many years of designing other peoples' landscapes I never thought much about the usefulness of what we were using. Instead I was more concerned about what would actually grow in the oftentimes challenging conditions and would look good in the process.

Now I'm focusing on what will work, look good and produce tasty fruit or berries. When we bought this place, shade was at a minimum. There is a sad little apple tree at the front of the house, a lonely Russian olive up front and two Siberian pea along the side of the house. That's it. Not much to mitigate the scorching southern and western exposures.

Because we want the best of both worlds, trees and shrubs that will shield us from the wind and sun plus produce something edible, we opted for a few more apple trees up front. Planted in a group they'll eventually provide a nice shady spot to play. Linden (basswood) trees were put in along the western side of the house to create good shade areas, as well as providing a valuable nectar source for the bees.

In the garden, I planted the native golden currants to provide a living windbreak along the northern side. Despite being nipped by our -8 record temperature in April last year, they grew over a foot and should provide delicious berries this season.

This year I'm adding elderberries to the mix as a hedgerow along the eastern side of the yard. After a few seasons they'll hopefully provide enough berries to make yummy pies and jams. I used to harvest them during the late summer when I was growing up in Ohio, but don't see them out here as much. I'd also like to add at least one crapabble tree - probably a Whitney - so I can make crabapple jelly and other preserves.

We also need more shrubs along the perimeter of the property to break up the howling winds that tear through here, but it will come eventually. I would like to use more currant bushes, American plums, elderberries and chokecherries. Not only will these options provide plenty of fruit for us, but it will give the birds places to hide and snack.

Good Day for Making Jerky

Our winter wonderland turned into ground blizzards today with 30 mph winds gusting to over 40 mph. It's pretty normal for Great Falls, but it's still no fun to drive in this stuff. I think it'll be another day at home for me.

Since we're not going anywhere, Grant's going to work on his venison jerky. Yesterday he mixed up his marinade consisting of soy sauce, pineapple juice, honey, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and pepper. He thinly sliced the meat he held back just for jerky, and has been soaking it in the marinade overnight.

Today he'll take several hours drying out the marinated meat in our gas oven at its lowest setting. It takes a bit of babysitting since it dries the best when you can turn it often, but it's as good of a project as any on a blustery day like today.

Winter Bee Worries

It was a good year for the bees for most of 2008 with relatively mild temperatures and reasonable weather. Granted, our record breaking -8 degrees on April 21 was an unwelcomed surprise, and the June blizzard wasn’t much of a help except for providing much needed moisture, but the hives weathered all of it without a problem. Now I’m not so sure.

 

We’ve endured sub-zero temperatures for over a week with many, many nights dipping below -20F. A few days have cracked single digits, but for the most part, we’re the epitome of a big deepfreeze.

 

Grant stacked bales of straw along the west side of the hives to help buffer them against our gale force winds, but particularly with last week’s blizzard, there was virtually no way to adequately protect them. Any tiny crack – whether in the garden shed or the front of my truck – allowed snow to fill an area. I shudder to think how much found its way into the hives.

 

Honeybees live through the winter by clustering in the middle of the hive keeping the queen warm in the middle of thousands of tiny bodies. Grant placed a thermograph in a hive years ago (although not squarely in the middle), and one on the hive’s exterior to record the temperature variation. At times there is nearly a one-hundred degree difference. It can be -20 outside, and a healthy hive will stay well above 80-degrees inside. This is pretty remarkable considering these tiny creatures keep it warm through muscular contractions. Basically they’re shivering to produce heat.

 

But with temperatures this cold for this long, it can be tough for the girls to hold it together. (The drones were kicked out after the first hard freeze, by the way. There’s no room for slackers during the winter.)  In winters past, we’ve insulated the hives with the rigid foam, but for so many seasons it’s almost caused more trouble than it was worth since the temperatures weren’t as extreme. Plus, ventilation issues and allowing the bees to venture outside of the hive during warm winter days is extremely important, and can be difficult if the hive is tightly sealed.

 

On sunny days some bees will fly outside to defecate since they are fastidious when it comes to cleanliness within the hive. Unfortunately, just because the sun is out doesn’t mean they’ll make it back without falling to the ground, particularly when the temps are still barely above freezing. (This is evident in the photo – there are many dead bees in front of the hives where they flew out and chilled.)

 

It’s obviously not prudent to peek into the hives now, but if a warm Chinook wind blows through the area (oh please, please, please!), and it might be worthwhile to check them to see if we need to combine hives to help them pull through the rest of the season. Only time will tell.