Garden Archeology

Hello Spring! Welcome! ...please... please stay. We're begging you!

Especially since the gardening has begun!

Since we have a lot on our plate this year, we won't be tilling and putting in a vegetable garden until next year. This year we'll be more focused on learning what's already coming up here, what is dead and needs to be removed and replaced, and weeding and remulching the landscaping we have. It's very exciting but I do admit, I'll miss my garden this year. Yeah, I'll probably be too busy to give it the attention it would need to survive even if I DID have the garden, but still. I'm plant greedy. DO WANT ALL THE GREEN AND GROWING THINGS.

Moving on!

I do have some planters so there's that. I've already gone ahead and planted 2 with mixed color bell pepper seeds! Fingers crossed on those. Having fresh bell peppers for Tony that we can pick ourselves would be so amazing. Small container gardening will also be the smaller amount of work we're looking for this year.

I must also pause here to tell you the pure joy reawoken in me while planting them. The weather has been just absolutely fantastic and my leafy little heart has been all aflutter. I chose to plant on one of these beautiful days because I had a glorious open window of time. Tony and I had been out and about adventuring (windows down, baby! woooo!) and Tony needed to stop back in to the house for something.. (wallet? sweatshirt? Hell, I don't remember, it fell out of my head as soon as I thought of planting.) When he walked out the patio door to have me turn to him with dirt up to my elbows and most likely some up to my eyebrows, and both hands full of dirt, I got hit with that look he gives me that makes me stop and go "uh... what?". It's made up of 75% amusement.

The missing 25% is a matter for a different kind of blog.

Anyway, the "uh... what?" moment was just right, because it made me realize how blissfully and stupidly happy I was in that moment of dirt covered activity. It made me hungry for more planting, for more things to grow green and beautiful for me that I can share with other people.

.......

Alright that was a long pause. But I enjoyed it so it couldn't have been too bad. But here we are and we've found our way to the meat and potatoes of this post.
I had the spring (pun intended) in my step to get some yardwork done. There is a back strip in the yard that isn't accounted for in the landscaping layout we received with the house. A rogue garden! Dun dun dun! Rogue enough that I asked the previous owner what in the heck she even planted back there. Her response? No idea, it was there and it had been allowed to do its own thing.
A mystery! DUN DUN DUN!

And a buried one at that. This very small section of the yard isn't ideal, as it's in the shadow of a very large pine. Well, a bit smaller since it snapped its top off in the recent windstorm. So I became a garden archaeologist for the day.
It didn't look so bad to start, but oh. my. glob. there was a lot more leaves and needles than I thought.

Luckily for my procrastinating butt, the shoots of the plants coming up were still low and sturdy enough that raking won't damage them too bad and in most cases, not at all. Here's a tip: I used a wide plastic rake for this job. I have an adjustable metal tined rake that's very good for multiple jobs but I chose the plastic one for a few reasons. 1: The metal tined rake has very thin tines, as I'm moving pine needles, a wider tine is more desirable. 2: The plastic tines have a more forgiving flex to them which means less damage to plants.

I can't believe how big this pile is from this area.

Now I got to study the things I uncovered. I'm 90% certain that we have a large section of irises and a CRAP TON of PEONIES! *SQUEE!* My heart! Oh madre mia! Such joy! I counted no less than the sprouting of 5 peony groups. There are some plants as of yet unidentified, but once they get bigger, identification should be a snap.

Friends, I can't tell you the love I have for peonies. Had we not had them, I would have added them myself. The existing flowers are so exciting! We'll have irises, lilacs, and peonies. If they come back (they look dead) we'll have roses too. In the fall I'll be adding the tulip bulbs from the potted orange tulips we're currently enjoying. Yay Easter flowers!
Speaking of readily available Easter flowers, Tony asked about adding Asiatic lilies, and sadly I had to decline the addition suggestion. He loves them, I love them. Why not? The same reason I will never grow lavender. There are some smells I love that stab me right behind the eyes immediately. Asiatic lilies have that lingering and long wafting smell that would fill the yard and set my migraine demons on a frenzy. So only when we find one that has a smell my head can stand, will we have them.
But Amanda, lilacs and peonies are lingering and long wafting in scent, why the distinction?
I don't make the distinction. I have no idea how it works. I just know that it hurts my brain or it doesn't hurt my brain.

I'm excited to find out if the few plants I couldn't identify will be brain-busters or some joyfully colored but non-offensive garden lovelies! Make sure to check back with us for future garden updates!

Getting Up to Speed

First let me start by saying the Happiest of Birthdays to my father! I wish you the very chillest of days. Continue enjoying the retirement, old man!

So let's catch up. What have we been doing anyway?

Well first, we ran away to Chicago.

We ate some delicious food

We had our very first authentic Chicago Deep Dish Pizza at Lou Malnati's. It absolutely blew us away!
Their Tiramisu is also magical

I returned to the Rainforest Cafe and Tony experienced it for the first time

Tony ruined himself for other hot dogs with this Chicago hotdog from a street vendor

 We went to the Shedd Aquarium. We could have spent days there!

 

 

But we were happy to come home to our babies

 

I resumed cooking meals

This oh so satisfying Ham and Cheese Hash Brown casserole

My first attempt at pork chops (success in cooking, failure in picture taking)

This old staple I call "Italian slop" which is delicious but always looks terrible

This Crab Rangoon Dip that didn't last us the night from sheer amazingness

And this "super easy!" Chicken Dumpling mess that was just doughy and gross

I also managed french bread pizzas (topped with green pepper from our garden!), lasagna, some stovetop helper meals, and a few other unmemorable meals.
We also had a couple treats

These chocolate chip cookies that I made for the very first time

 

And this fry that's happy to see us

We've been doing all those things that should be normal but are new to us. Cleaning, budgeting, the occasional nap. We've decorated for Halloween and have been enjoying the season! We welcomed a baby niece (Tony's first "uncling" and my SIXTH "aunting") and a new sister-in-law (about time, Shannon and Steve!)! We got the last of our produce from our garden, have started a family game night, and I may or may not have eaten through 2 or 3 books. Life may not be the easiest, but we are so very happy.

 

Garden Walk

Posted from 09/01

Let's take a little trip around the garden today, shall we?

I'm proud to say I managed for the very first time to grow gladiolus. I tried growing them last year but they never bloomed.
The name of this variety I believe is “Mi Amour”. I'll be trying to save the bulbs this year. We won't find out until next summer if it worked! I did my first cutting of them and gave them to my mother as a thank you for all of her continued help.

 

We also had some beauties that have been developing in the garden. Most of the garden is now left for the winter but there are a few plants still producing. My Roma tomato I let go for the year. There were a few casualties but nothing to cry over. I plan on planting more roma plants next year to up the amount of tomato sauce I can process. I may or may not be shooting for canning next year.

We had a huge problem with deer nipping off the blooms of the burgundy beans last year so the crop was small. We hadn't anticipated that they would bloom on 3 separate occasions unhindered by hungry deer. We caught the first 2 harvests of them but were oblivious to the 3^rd and only discovered them now that they're too far gone for eating. I was thinking of leaving them on the plant and harvesting the dried beans to save for next year. We'll see how much gumption I have for that.

I managed to grow a few carrots this year, but to be frank, I didn't much care. My first year with my garden boxes, I grew so many carrots I was giving away bundles. I even managed a homemade carrot soup! I used more of the space this year for my beans and my sugar snap peas. I still enjoy a few carrots though and snagged a few out a little early. I like to plant a kaleidoscope heirloom variety. Tony thinks they're more flavorful than what we buy at the grocery store and I can't really disagree. I think we're biased though because everything tastes better when you grow it yourself.

We have some up and coming zucchinis that I plan to hand over to my mother. This year, she'll be teaching me how to make zucchini into those sinfully delicious cakes I love so much. Our zucchinis are one of the plants we did not start from seed this year. I love starting from seed but I decided this year would be a year for doing a lot of soil conditioning and I work slowly - far too slowly for seeds to be planted on time. We planted zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant from a started plant. It felt dirty at first, like I was betraying myself but the production and size really can't be denied. I still prefer seeds, but I will never knock anyone again for starting their garden with plants.

The thing that Tony and I have been so excited about though? Our peppers. I myself loathe peppers. I can't handle the heat, even of a green bell pepper. Tony LOVES anything with spice and heat so those are for him to eat. He's started fantasizing about what he'll make with them in his wok. He likes to adventure in the kitchen himself from time to time and I'm all for it. My excitement comes from the color. If you hadn't figured that out yet, my garden is COLOR COLOR COLOR. 

Orange Blaze

Merlot

I love how much we got from our garden this year. The thing is, we didn't really try either. Tony and I put in the effort of weeding them clear and then tilling in better soil. After planting we mostly just let them go. I only really had one good day of weeding and that was the day I dug out my purple potatoes. It feels so wonderful to go out with my canvas bag and go shopping in my own garden. I get to see what's “on special”. I'm not receiving any payment for this, but this is my favorite tote to bring out in the garden.

I bought this tote from Earthbound Trading Co. located in the Bay Park Square Mall in Green Bay Wisconsin. I don't believe this particular print is available anymore but they have an amazing and unique selection of reusable totes,purses, and bags including this mushroom print reusable tote for $6.95 that anyone can feel free to pick up for me!

 

I can't express how excited I am this time of year. So many of my favorite flowers are coming into bloom and vegetables are just about ripe. My sunflowers are getting lots of attention from our insect population including those wonderful bees we want to keep around.

The apples are starting to redden (even if the ones in our tree aren't really edible) and the staghorn sumac is ready for making tea. The air smells fresher, feels cooler, and makes me feel better. I'm so over the oppressive sticky heat of summer. I'm watching the leaves start to hint at fall and I couldn't be happier about it. 

 

So there's our super amateur little garden. To find out more about how actual farming gets done on a large scale, slide over to the blog Caffeine and Diesel for an insight on large scale commercial planting and harvesting and some really great pictures from our own beautiful country.

Home grown love, friends,
Amanda

Purple Potatoes!

Posted from 08/14

Let's talk more about appreciation for growing your own food. Why? Because I want to and you're my blog hostage. Blogstage?.. Ignore that.
Really though, today I went straight for using food from my garden. Those awesomesauce purple potatoes. If you'd like to learn a little more about purple potatoes you can Here.

The basics of purple potatoes for those of us who don't click links, is that they aren't really any different than any other potato. They can be used like a red or a white, best for roasting and frying but can be used for mashing. Then there's some stuff about color and antioxidants, but let's be real, I grew them because they're pretty.

I mean really, look at these beasts. Glorious! I did have a little trouble peeling these due to their size. They're similar in size to a red potato, so I used my handy dandy thumb claw and stabbed in to the potato to keep a grip and not peel my fingers. I came across this little cutie while peeling.

Looks like a little animal face!

So this is the bunch all peeled. When they're sliced, they're absolutely beautiful, I mean as far as produce goes. I suggest using them in a better way than me. Today I'm mashing, but these would be stunning sliced in scalloped potatoes or frying into chips.

Now I've made mashed potatoes from scratch before so I think I've got this covered. However, if you live in Basictown like me, there are a few things to note.

• Peel and wash your potatoes (peeling optional). Cut them to be all about the same size
• Start your potatoes in COLD water. This will prevent the outside from quickly cooking and turning to mush while the inside is still uncooked
• SALT your water. Just do it. I promise. I'll skip the science of starches, just know your potatoes will soak up the salt and you really really want that
• Bring them to a boil and then drop down to a simmer. Cook until you can stab them with a fork and they fall apart
• If possible use room temperature butter and milk. Again, the starch thing.

Fun fact! While peeling the potatoes won't stain your fingers, it will change the color of the water you're boiling. That's a pretty blue but I have yellow lights on my stove so it looks Rio Olympic pool green, but still awesome.

I've cheated and thrown in some frozen chicken breasts into the stove while I'm doing this. Can we all stop and not beat ourselves up for this, though? Most people don't raise their own chickens. If you do, wonderful! That's great! Maybe one day I can too if I have the desire to. We're about honesty here, so I have no problem admitting I'd rather watch Master Chef and Hotel Hell than go feed or wrangle chickens. Sorry, Gordon! The chicken I should note, I threw in a small roaster while frozen, covered them liberally with chicken seasoning and cooked for an hour. Tasty and simple like I like it. Not a ticket to win competitions, but super satisfying. I asked if Tony wanted a side like corn or green beans and he opted for no, so we had chicken and home grown, homemade mashed purple potatoes for dinner.

Today's enterprises succeeded.

Easy Day, Small Wins

Posted from 8/13
It's been 3 days and we have subsisted on leftovers and a day where we went out. I got caught up in the nothing zone for Tony's day off and the next day I got caught in it again. We discussed what exactly we're doing. I have been feeling like I can't really set that kind of working schedule in the house if this isn't permanent or at least extended. We decided this is extended so now I'm able to get into the swing of it. Part of our conversation included such lovely phrases as
“That's a really open ended question.” “LIFE is an open ended question, motherf****!!”
“I love our life. It's a great life if not slightly weird”

So far today has been a short but good day. I have drive because we know what I'm doing. I got up, made Tony some hot spaghetti and used my passata and mixed in some herbs and spices to make a homemade sauce. I enjoyed it, Tony seemed to enjoy it and then in our special way we buried it under parmesan cheese.

Now it seems like something so small but let's cover the fact that after dinner I washed the dishes we used immediately. It's a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. It didn't decrease the amount of other dishes I still have to wash, but it made sure the pile didn't get bigger, they were super fast to clean and it made me feel better about myself. As far as improving our lives goes, this tiny step is an undeniable win.

After the dishes, I headed out to the garden. I was a weeding machine. Why? Because my potatoes finally wilted down and it was time to harvest! Not only did I get a little pile of potatoes, I harvested a nice slicing cucumber, a new pile of romas, and my first little eggplant. My eggplant is a Fairytale dwarf variety, so it's a little one.

I cannot explain the amount of effort that can get put in to working in a garden. It is rewarding, it is back breaking, it is dirty, fun, sometimes a huge pain in the ass and then at the end of it all, you get a meal. Sometimes the meal you prepare can be underwhelming because of your (or my) personal culinary shortcomings and even when that happens, it's still a good meal because you know the work that went into your food. There's a whole new appreciation if you grow your own food.

Kitchen Battle Draw

Posted from 08/08

Welcome to a new work week. Not mine. Tony's. As far as ideas go for what to make for dinner, he only really suggests something when he's craving it. I didn't particularly feel like being an adventurous cook today so I went with something easy for me from (partial) scratch. Baked mac and cheese. Indeed, that gooey delicious with a crunchy top meal that generally appeases everyone. I've made it before, no big deal, right? Apparently I was over confident. In fact, I'm still totally not sure what went wrong.
See here's the deal, the kind I've made before I keep a simple recipe for – but now it's on an old phone instead of in a recipe box like a normal human would have. So I decided to look up one on the internet. I picked one that seemed fairly familiar from a reputable food site I've used in the past.
This one starts with a rue. Butter, flour, whisking, warm milk. Add shredded cheese (I buy block and just shred it myself) whisk until smooth. Except it never got smooth. It's... odd. Kinda chunky. I mean it TASTES fine, but where is my smooth creamy cheesey goodness? This is WISCONSIN. How did I mess up mac and cheese? I just have no idea.
I suppose that's that point of an adventure. It isn't always going to go right.
I also added a little extra seasoning it didn't call for in the recipe. A little onion salt mostly and then Italian bread crumbs. The result? 

The crumbs didn't really brown the way I liked but thank GOD for them! Bland bland bland. My goodness it wasn't this bland before. If not for the bread crumbs, it would mostly just taste like noodles. While the cheese didn't get creamy the way I wanted, the mouth feel was not a problem. The cheese I added on top was great. Really between the bread crumbs and the cheese on top, they were the only positives. It was filling at least and Tony's verdict was “more of the top stuff, please” which to be fair, is what people say when it comes out right, right?

So what I thought was easy was an adventure, so now we'll see how my adventurous project turns out. I received my grandmother's food mill, and I have a stash of romas ready to go so I'm currently cooking the ever living hell out of them. I'm going with the long and low method. I enjoy rich tomato flavors much more than the fresh off the vine flavor. I know I already oopsied, because I started with enough water for 10 pounds and I realized after they'd already started to break down into it so I'm adding more time on to evaporate the water.

Furthermore, everyone should know I have a very bad time of not touching things. I can't help it. It says to just let them cook, so of course I keep poking at the tomatoes. There's about half an hour left on the timer so you know I'm antsy. I'm twitchy and antsy and “sweet mother of monkey milk” I need to learn to walk away from food! I'm quite certain it comes from my insecurity in cooking, and who the heck knows if that'll ever go away?

So it looks like I was pretty successful! With that small amount of tomatoes I used, I managed to mill out 8 oz of passata! Now I've got myself one small can's worth of tomato sauce that I can flavor how I will.

It's funny how today turned out like that. The “easy” mac and cheese went boringly south while my attempt at something way out of my comfort zone went so well even after making a mistake at the beginning.

Internal Success and Failure

Posted from 08/04

Well, let's catch up. It's been a while. Something I haven't talked about that is a major component in my life is the death of my grandmother. She died June 30^th and it's difficult to explain what it means to me. To explain what she meant to me is easy. A childish clarity in circumstances. I loved and continue to love my grandmother. What our relationship means to the rest of that side of the family is what seems to be so complicated. It isn't necessary to go into the ins and outs, we don't need to air any laundry, dirty or not. What I can say is that I did not expect to be able to receive anything of my grandmother's. I had hoped for an apron she used to wear when she would take care of me and felt that even that may be a long shot. Shockingly, I have inherited her piano. Her PIANO. (And the apron!)

What does any of this have to do with a domestic adventure?

My aunt wanted the piano out of the house. Like yesterday.
My living room is trashed. I had about a day's notice to make room. Making room means a pretty deep clean. Now I don't mean having to shampoo the carpet, we aren't filthy people like that. That does mean however that I can't just “move the armchair”. I have to dig out the area I'm moving the chair, dig out the front of the chair, move the chair, then clean out the nest that has developed around it. When you both have been working to exhaustion, there is no keeping areas like that clean. A tag pulled off a shirt, a spoon that fell, cat fur, etc falls down around the area, you leave it because it isn't something that rots, they aren't things that make your house smell. We are fairly self conscious about not letting things rot in our house. So it's garbage, knickknacks, and bobbles we never found homes for. The odd cat toy hiding places develop in areas like this. I knocked it out. My sudden panic at having to have a place ready THAT DAY lit a fire under my ass like none other. I killed it in an hour. While moving a chair, an end table and a chord organ (not inherited, bought for the cost of $15 at a junk shop) should have been the work of about 10 minutes for people that have been able to keep up with their house, an hour for me in the mess we've created is damn impressive! I may have emptied my vacuum a few times.

On a side note, while my vacuum is 50x better than the previous vacuum I owned, it is a bagless variety designed for pet homes and is a terrible design. Suction? Great! Brushes? Wonderful. Capacity and easy of emptying the collection unit? Absolute garbage. Because of the fur that collects, I have to reach into the thing and dig it out with my fingers. If you've ever cut open a vacuum bag, imagine sticking your hand around in that and allow a lot of it to sprinkle on your arms, legs, and puff into your face.
Get it together vacuum companies.

So my house has dramatically improved. The living room isn't even near completion but at least half has been cleaned and vacuumed. We are already enjoying the emotional boost of having a cleaner space and Tony has taken an interest in learning piano. Being able to sit down and practice for 20 minutes and then spending further quality time with Tony when he'd like a lesson is an incredible feeling and I hope my grandmother knows how much joy her piano has brought us. Our girls feel a bit differently but of course they are cats, so who knows what they really think. I know that Lorraine was mildly curious until she stepped on a low note and scared herself. That was supervised. We don't leave the keyboard open when the piano is not in use. Bubbles on the other hand has decided that she is a piano cat. She sleeps on the bench, she sits on top when I play, and occasionally attempts to play while I play. I cannot express how much joy that brings me. Bubbles is in my lap now as I type.

Before I move on to a new meal I made I'd like to address something in regards to being a stay at home anything. In my particular case I already have a case of anxiety and depression which I am medicated for. Remaining at home can be a very depressing challenge. You frequently only see your significant other for days at a time and the same work every day looks at you in the face. There is no delegating to a coworker, although of course it is perfectly okay to ask your S/O for help, the work WILL pile up and it will pile up quickly. If you don't do your work, your health and the health of your family can suffer. From my personal experience in the last 2 short weeks has been the difficulty of keeping up on what I already finished while continuing to improve new areas. You can scrub the bathtub and shower (which I did) but it'll need regular upkeep to prevent that kind of mind and body numbing scrub job. The thing is, when you may be battling depression, the daily challenge is  not giving in to just doing nothing. You can sleep in, so you do, but then nothing improves and then it's 3 days later and there aren't any clean forks in the whole house. The mess you let build is depressing to you so sleep in some more. Breaking the cycle and willingly saying “I WILL do better!” is huge. Some days you accomplish that large or challenging task and you feel great, and then there are days where you look at the same damn dishes you JUST washed and want to take a bath and read a book. Balance I suppose.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is while I myself have not thought that staying home has ever been an easy job, too many think it's Peggy Bundy sitting on the couch eating bon bons and spending Al's money. I have a sliver of insight now and I wanted to share that.
But can we all also note that while Peggy Bundy was lazy AF, that house was a whole hell of a lot cleaner than my home. Oh the magic of television.

As I type, I'm running my dishwasher and my dryer. Multitasking, people. Multitasking. In this case it's easy as I'm using machines, but I frequently pick one thing up only to get sidelined about 5 other times. Turning in literal circles has been known to happen. My hope is that when (if?) I get my house to a level of cleanliness that makes us happy, I wouldn't be so distracted, that maybe upkeep will be easier. Maybe making meals will become regular and less special. I want my meals to not be a special occasion or a surprise.
What has been nice on the meal front is that fact that my garden usually does fairly well. I had to put a lot of effort into making the left behind 4 garden boxes on my rented property usable as the people that installed them had no idea about soil content. They lucked out on a couple plants, but for the amount they planted, their harvest was terrible. I have since augmented the boxes and properly tilled them and my plants are thriving. Thriving despite the fact that I don't really weed. I am however, going to need to rescue my potatoes from getting choked out. I have harvested more green beans and sugar snap peas than we can eat and am going to have to either freeze them or can them. I have a pile of Roma tomatoes that I plan to process into Passata (a nice tomato sauce base that freezes well), sunflowers that I'll be drying for the birds for winter, heirloom carrots that I've been able harvest half of already filling a moderate sized tupperware container, an eggplant that has a 6 inch beauty and 3 other started on it, 4 different kinds of pepper plants, one singular plant of which that will be producing 3 big beautiful peppers by itself, a cucumber plant with a HUGE cucumber that I have no idea what I'll do with, purple potatoes that are looking promising, and 2 zucchini plants flowering beautifully. I have a garden box by itself that I let go this year and the cherry tomatoes that my neighbor planted there last season reseeded themselves. HARD. That box is solid cherry tomatoes and they'll start turning from green quite soon!

I am a picky eater, so making food for Tony is both horridly disgusting for me and incredibly rewarding. So when I surprised him with a meal of tacos (completed with chopped tomatoes from our garden) he was thrilled! Making tacos isn't particularly difficult, but it was the first time I'd ever bothered. They went well.
I also ended up making him enchiladas later in the week. I used a Recipe from the Campbell's website. I looked for something without ingredients I wasn't comfortable using. Turns out it was the right recipe because Tony ate 3/4ths of the pan in one day, and the only thing stopping him from eating all of it was that my mother requested a taste. My mother has always wanted to make enchiladas but no one in my family except her will eat them. My mother loved it and my father was intrigued enough to steal some of hers. The bottom line is that I now have to hand over a recipe to my mother, which is truly shocking, and more shocking that my father has decided he really likes enchiladas. They were topped again with tomatoes from our garden. Adventure success.

Nothing like draining nearly 2 weeks of info into a post. Ahhhhhh. Mind you can be still.