Don't Get Perturbed About The Herbs

We cook with a lot of herbs. In order to have them in close proximity to the kitchen, we have them growing in terra cotta pots out on the back patio.  Right outside the french doors, we have oregano, parsley, and rosemary growing.  Most grow all year long.  Due to the quantity of plants and the size, our basil is located in the garden, so it is not as convenient.  Perhaps I'll grow a basil plant on the patio this spring for cooking purposes and leave the others in the garden for making pesto in large quantities like we frequently do.

Just this past weekend, I started a few pots of parsley, dill and cilantro seeds growing on the back patio.  Fresh parsley smells GREAT all cut up and we love to add bunches of it on top of a steaming bowl of gumbo.  When I was in the grocery store business, we would get some specialty mustard from a company called Inglehoffer.  They made different herbed mustards that came in little glass jars.  My favorite was a dill mustard and I'd like to make some of our own.  Another thing is recently I had a chicken sandwich with dill mayonnaise and although I loathe mayonnaise, it was pretty good.

Finally, cilantro.  We like it in pico de gallo and in Tricia's rice dishes.  Some people love it and some people hate it and say it tastes like soap and smells like stink bugs. This Article tells you why.  It is genetic.  It you hate it, chances are you have the OR6A2 gene that allows you to pick up the scent of aldehyde chemicals.  Those are found in both cilantro and soap.  I almost forgot mint!  We have mint growing out on the back patio as well.  Fresh mint hot tea is real good.

Parsley, Dill, Cilantro and Oregano (not as catchy as Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme)

Green Onions.  Now here is something that I can't get enough of.  I love to add a big, heaping handful on top of a big plate of red beans and rice and sausage.  So Good!  Although I planted a bunch of it from seed recently, they haven't germinated yet and we needed some for a recipe that Tricia was making.  Unfortunately, we had to run to the store and pick up a bunch of commercially grown green onions.

I usually cut the green onions all the way down to the roots and use the whole thing for cooking with, but here's the deal: if the green onions you purchased were in good shape (and why would you purchase them if they weren't), simply keep the roots wet and when you've snipped off the tops, plant them in your garden.  I just planted four of them yesterday as you can see below:

"Recycled" Green Onions

The green onions from the same purchased bunch that I put in the ground last week in the center below were already almost ready to be snipped and used to flavor delicious gumbos, soups, and rice and gravy.  

Grows in NO TIME!!

So while we patiently wait for our green onions planted from seed to grow, we'll have some 'recycled green onions' in inventory while we wait.  I'd like to try planting some other herbs this spring that we haven't used before - like fennel, sage, and thyme.  I also have some lemon balm that I'll get started in early spring.

Fresh-Squeezed Tangerine Juice

During the peak summer months of high heat and humidity, I sometimes question the sanity of living in this tropical climate.  From the middle of June to the middle of September, it can be somewhat unbearable to step outdoors.  But, as I'm reminded, I should dwell on good things:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.  - Philippians 4:8

One of the truly delightful things about living in the South is citrus.  Around this time each year, we are awash in citrus.  We pick Satsumas by the bagful and keep our fridge full of them.  We have friends that give us grapefruit and others that we swap milk for Meyer lemons.  We have a navel orange that is loaded with fruit, but the oranges are not quite ready to pick yet.  We also have tangerine trees.  In the photo below, the tangerine tree is on the right and the navel orange tree is on the left.

Citrus

Let's take a closer look.  This is a young tree and the fruit are loading down the branches.  The deep orange/slightly reddish fruit are ready.  I was going to do a little pruning on this tree, but I like the shape of it and will likely leave it alone.

One of our Three Tangerine trees

It was a nice afternoon and I grabbed a bowl and walked out to one of the trees and began picking the low-hanging fruit.  That's the easiest, right?  Here's the thing about tangerines: They are easy to pick off the tree, but they are hard to peel. The skin holds tightly to the fruit, unlike satsumas.  We normally don't peel any of them. We'll cut them up into quarters and eat them right off the peel. They are loaded with seeds, so you've got to be ready to spit, but they are so flavorful - tart, but sweet!

Bowlful of tangerines

The other thing I really like to do with them besides eating them is to JUICE THEM!  I brought my bowl inside and retrieved a sharp knife.  I cut them through the middle - not through the stem and bottom.  They are so juicy, the juice just runs out all over the cutting board.  The juice makes your fingers sting it is so tart.  The fragrance of citrus fills the room.

Soon to be juice

We have an old citrus juicer that is powered by 'elbow grease.'  The ridges on the juicer, ruptures all the little tangerine sections, releasing the juice, pulp, and seeds into the juicer.  Each half yields an 'almost full' juicer that needs to be poured into the pitcher. 

Squeezin'

A place a sieve over the pitcher to catch all the pulp and seeds before it makes its way into the pitcher.  Before I toss the seeds and pulp into the compost bucket along with the tangerine halves, I press down on the pulp to squeeze out any remaining juice.

Straining

Nineteen tangerines yielded a full pitcher of beautiful, freshly squeezed tangerine juice.  In addition to tasting good, tangerines are good for you, providing a good source of Vitamin A and Potassium and provide 128% of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C.

The finished product

In a patience-building exercise, I didn't taste it.  I put the pitcher into the refrigerator to get it really, really cold.

Just Chilling.

And then...  I promptly forgot about it!  The next morning at work, I received a text from my wife that said, "WOW!  Fresh squeezed tangerine juice is delicious!" When I got home in the afternoon, she had a glass of tangerine juice waiting on me. She was right. It was delicious and we'll continue to make fresh squeezed tangerine juice as long as they last.  The stuff looks like sunshine.  I'll also make some tangerine curd and try some tangerine marmalade.

A Close Shave

Benjamin will be turning 15 years old in about a month.  Our oldest two are in college and our 'baby' is growing up - quickly!  It is incomprehensible, really, when you think about it, how fast kids grow up.  We raise animals and crops, but our most important (by far) thing we are raising is our kids. One day all of our kids will leave the nest.  It is an on-going task to teach them, mentor and mold them on how to survive in the big world out there.  Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail at this important task of preparing our kids for launch.

We've been working with him to teach him various "adult" tasks.  He's been driving to and from church on Sundays.  First we practiced on the gravel road and once he proved he was adept in his driving skills, he graduated to driving on the blacktop road.  He does a good job and he'll have no problem when it comes time to get his permit.  There are other skills that must be learned as you grow up.  We noticed that his "peach fuzz" on his upper lip was growing more and more and when it started to darken, we determined it was time to teach the old boy how to shave.  We talked about warming up the skin before shaving by taking a hot shower to open the pores and soften the skin, and then we lathered up his mini-mustache with shaving cream.

Benjamin's first shave

Then I showed him how to take a razor and carefully remove the growth without cutting yourself.  I remember when I first learned to shave, I had a Styptic Pencil that came in a clear plastic tube.  When I would see all the little cuts on my face from a bad shave job, I would rub the pencil across the cuts and the bleeding would stop.  It would burn like fire, but it would stop the flow of blood.  I no longer have a styptic pencil and need to get another one.  Right now, I use the old trick of sticking pieces of toilet paper to the cuts and then gently pulling it off once the blood clots.  Sometimes, however, this doesn't work.  You pull off the toilet paper and it starts bleeding again.  Note to self: Get Benjamin a styptic pencil!

Trying not to cut him

Benjamin mastered the art of making the funny faces necessary to tighten the skin to allow for a close shave.  I showed him how to maneuver the razor carefully around the nose area.  And guess what? No cuts! He got a close, clean shave - with a face smoother than a baby's... forehead.

Making "the face"

Since this shaving demonstration, Benjamin has shaved on his own and he's very good at it.  I bought him some After Shave Lotion to splash on his face once he's done shaving.  I like to use Royall Lyme because it has a nice, refreshing and cooling lime scent.  I alternate with the old stand-by, Old Spice, in the distinctive bottle.

Shaving every day is one of those things that I don't look forward to.  At least he knows how to do it now.  And we marked yet another thing off the list on his march toward manhood!

Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad (Our Newest Arrival in the Pasture!)

Nope, I'm not talking about the popular Meatloaf song by this name (Two out of Three Ain't Bad) released in 1977.  I'm talking about the newest addition to our little animal family on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm. This year our Jersey cows have given us the following:

• Rosie gave us a little heifer we named Clarabelle, 
• Daisy gave us a little heifer named Luna, and now...
• Amy gave us a little BULL named Chuck.  (well, maybe this post is about Meatloaf after all!)

We always hope for heifers and this year we got two out of three - and that ain't bad. I was planting some turnips in the last three rows of our garden.  The turnip greens and turnip roots mature in about 50 days and they will be fed to the cows during the coldest part of our winter here in south Louisiana. Anyway, while I was planting, I kept hearing the calves (Clarabelle & Luna) mooing.  Finally, I looked up to see what all the racket was.  I saw something beside Amy way out in the pasture. The curious heifers were mooing to welcome the newest arrival.

Three's company

Amy must have just delivered the calf since it was wet and she had just commenced 'cleaning the calf up by licking.'  Steam was rising off of the calf's little body.

Baby's first bath

Well, let's check and see what the sex is - boy or girl?  I lifted the leg (hoping for a heifer) and observed male body parts. Oh well, two out of three ain't bad.  Notice how the hooves are white. They quickly turn black and harden up.

It's a...  BOY.

It is always amazing to us the way that motherly instincts kick in.  This is Amy's first calf and she instinctively knows what to do without any guidance or help from her momma or other cows.  She protectively watched every move I made as she licked her little boy down.

Gimme a kiss, momma

Amy's bag was swollen and filled with colostrum.  In fact, you can see the thick, yellow, antibody and nutrient-filled first milk dripping from her teats.

Colostrum leaking

After a bit, Daisy arrived to see the new arrival along with her baby, Luna.  There was plenty of excitement.  I watched Luna and Clarabelle both lift their tails skyward and run around the pasture, unable to contain their joy.  Daisy and Rosie? Well this wasn't their first rodeo.  They were markedly more sedate about the whole thing.

Visiting the baby

For such a scrawny little thing, the little bull had lots of energy.  He wasn't 10 minutes on the ground before he began clumsily trying to stand on wobbly legs. He'd make progress and then fall.  He was persistent though.

Baby it's cold outside...

After only 30 minutes had passed, the little bull was on his feet.  That sets a record for us easily. Most of our other calves have been very slow to get on their feet and even slower to nurse.  This little fella began immediately to search for his supper - on the WRONG END like they always do!

Hey buddy, the other side!

He finally smelled supper, I presume, and began trying to latch on.  He was unsuccessful, though, and as his head hit the udder, it made the colostrum shoot out of Amy's teats in high-pressure streams. Amy was uninterested in her little boy's attempts as she ate some Dairy ration and alfalfa pellets that Tricia gave her.

Both animals trying to enjoy a meal

Once Amy was finished with her supper, she become a more willing participant in helping the newborn learn to suckle.  She gently nudged him backward with her head, getting him in the right position, mooing soft encouragement to her baby.

Back up a bit, fella!

In no time flat, the little guy hit pay dirt, latching on and drinking the sustenance that will give him a great head start - nutrient and antibody-laden colostrum - Liquid Gold! 

He found the milk spigot!!

So with 3 1/2 weeks left to go in 2015, all our cows had successful deliveries - 2 heifers and 1 bull. We think we're going to name him "Chuck" or "Sir Loin," we're not sure yet  We'll keep you posted on how he's growing and, most importantly, if Amy is going to be a good milker.  She's definitely very gentle and a good momma to her first calf.  Obviously, she's never been milked before, so we're anxious to see how that goes.  We'll find out tonight!

Losing Freedom

Back in This Post from September, we talked about a Black Star hen in our barn that become broody and hatched out a baby chick.  In the last several months the little chick has grown into a healthy little pullet who is very lively.  We have 4 inch by 4 inch square 'hog wire' that separates our garden from the pasture.  This fence protects the vegetables that we have growing from the livestock and poultry that would love to get in there and do damage.  Our border fence works - for the most part.

Tricia warned me the other day that she had seen the little pullet in the garden, scratching around and feasting on all the green growth that can be found up and down the rows.  We can't have that. Saturday morning I caught the bird red-handed.  She squeezed her fat little body through the 4 X 4 fence panel and was enjoying herself.

In forbidden territory

I watched her as she patrolled up and down the carrot rows, scratching and eating. I had plans to put an end to her garden maneuvers, though.  I waited until she was distracted, and then I made my move. I quickly ran to her, intending to scoop her up, but I wasn't fast enough.  She must have seen or heard me coming and she made a run for the border, squeezing back through the fence lightning fast, re-joining the rest of the flock.  I think I saw her laughing at me and doing a little victory dance.

Illegal border crosser

I patiently waited, biding my time, plotting, planning, until the opportunity to catch her would arise again.  We simply cannot allow undocumented pullets to come through our porous border at will, taking our food with impunity, damaging the crops.  Alas, after several tries, I was able to capture her.  She squawked unhappily, but such is the price you pay for trespassing.  I put her into the chicken tractor with our other pullets that we had ordered from the hatchery.  Crossing the garden border illegally cost the pullet her freedom and she learned if you do the crime, you must pay the time.  For the first day or two, the captured pullet who had lost her freedom stayed by herself away from the other birds - no doubt lamenting her loss of freedom.  By the third day, she came to grips with her incarceration and joined the rest of the group and has become accustomed to life behind the impenetrable fence. 

The detained bird at the 9 o'clock position above

She is in the general population with the other detainees now and is being given food and water.  All the birds are healthy and growing nicely.  Although life in the chicken tractor is okay, it is not as good as true freedom outside the barrier. Sometimes you don't know how good freedom is, until you've lost it.

She still gets fresh grass to forage on every day and still has access to fresh air and water.  Life is still good - as far as chickens go.

We'll allow her (and the other chicks in the chicken tractor) to grow.  When they lay their first eggs, we'll open the gate and allow them to have total freedom on the 3 acre pasture - to come and go as they please.  Just not in the garden, please!

Goodness from the Garden

Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Jeremiah 29:5 (NASB)

Ain't gonna argue with that.  While we're picking lots of bok choy right now and about to start picking plenty of kale, Sunday afternoon was an opportune time to go ahead and harvest some hold-overs from the late summer/early fall crop that will be playing out with the onset of cooler temperatures.  

Russ, Benjamin, and I straddled the two rows of Contender green beans and picked a nice mess of beans.  The early spring and late fall green beans are the absolute best.  We even picked a few early pods off of our Sugar Snap Peas.  Beautiful.  Healthy.  Colorful.

Green Beans and Sugar Snap Peas

We got out a shovel and began pulling at the sweet potato vines and then loosened the soil where the roots were to pull up the sweet potatoes.  For some reason (drought?) our sweet potato crop was the worst we've ever had this year.  We never plant sweet potatoes - they just come up on their own every year and overtake the garden.  We just let them run.  This year we had the same amount of vines to start off, but I think due to the lack of rain, they didn't spread out and produce.  I plant to remedy that this year by running piping along the garden with quick connect fittings to sprinklers so that I can keep the garden adequately watered during dry spells.  Here is our meager crop.  We will ration and savor them, nonetheless!:

Sweet Potatoes

In our first experiment with fall tomatoes, we met great success, and I plan to plant fall tomatoes again next year, but in greater quantities.  The tomatoes were beautiful, and we experienced zero bug pressure and only a few worms.  The chickens enjoyed eating the worms as I pulled them off and flicked them over the fence.  It was really nice to not have to fight stink bugs and not see the scarring and ugliness of tomatoes ravaged by bugs.  It was also much more enjoyable picking them off the vines with temperatures in the 70's versus the 90's!

Heirloom Tomatoes

We experienced an odd occurrence with our eggplants.  We planted our Black Beauty Eggplants from seed way back in January - a little over 11 months ago. They grew three feet tall, with lots of foliage and healthy-looking, and had blooms from time to time, but never fruited.  Then last month I noticed some baby eggplants. Finally!

I waited patiently and we are finally experiencing a harvest.  There are lots and lots of eggplants loading down the branches and many blooms announcing the arrival of even more - but with freezes coming, they'd better hurry up.  Here are a few pictures of the eggplants in different stages:

The flower

The Eggplant

I don't know what to blame the long delay on - the drought? heat? stress?  All three? Who knows.  Patience paid off, though, and we picked the first four eggplants on Sunday:

The first harvest

Tricia sauteed the smaller one on the right with some tomatoes and onions, and we ate it as a side dish last night.  Very good!  We'll make caponata and fry some as well.  It is hard to imagine that in only a few short months it will be time to plant the spring garden and will plant the tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds in early January.  I'm just harvesting and I'm already looking forward to planting again!

"A Garden is never so good as it will be next year."  - Thomas Cooper

Picking Luffa Gourds

There was enough sunlight left in the day to accomplish another task that I've been meaning to do. With everything planted in the garden except for turnips and mustard greens, I needed to get busy planting and finish up the fall/winter planting season. But before I could do that, I needed to make some room.  Two rows need to be weeded prior to hoeing and planting.  I worked up the rows earlier, but then a deluge of rainfall inhibited me from getting in there and planting and in the meantime, Bermuda grass completely conquered the rows.  There's lots of work to be done to get those rows ready again.

There is one row that is ready to be hoed and then planted, pending one task: I need to take down the trellis of luffa gourds that has taken a firm foothold on half of the 24 foot long row.  Here is a picture of it below.  I didn't plant this 'hedge' of luffa - it came up on its own, a volunteer from last year's crop.  I like to reward persistence like this and oftentimes just let the volunteers grow.  In this case, I erected a trellis by putting in T-posts and running some baling twine between the two t-posts at 6 inch increments for the luffa vines to crawl on.

Lush luffas

I could see many luffa gourds amongst the foliage as I moved the leaves and could also see that the weight of the gourds had caused the t-posts to sag inwardly, straining to support the many gourds.

A nice, 2 foot long luffa gourd

My immediate thought was, "Man, what a prolific crop.  I wish these things were edible!" and to be honest with you, they are!  But only when they are very young, like the one I'm holding in my hand below.  Luffas that size can be peeled and eaten.  I found recipes for luffa stir fry and was going to try it.  I put this one in the fridge and it turned black and unappetizing, so I composted it and didn't end up cooking it. Next year I'll do it, I promise!

Edible luffa (if they are this size)

So I began pulling on the vines and cutting off each luffa gourd.  I heard a rustling sound behind me and turned around to see that Daisy, Rosie, Clarabelle and little Luna had spotted me working in the garden and came to beg for something to eat.  I obliged and threw the thick, lush, luffa vines over the fence and the girls made quick work of them!

Meanwhile I stacked up the luffa gourds like cord wood on the row just west of where the luffas were growing.  When I was finished, I counted them up.  Twenty-nine (29) luffa gourds from one luffa plant!  Several more were hidden and dried within the vines, so I think this plant in all produced about 35 gourds!!

Stack 'em deep and sell 'em cheap!

I enlisted Benjamin's help and we loaded up an old molasses tub with the bounty and carried them to the back patio and laid them all out on the table.

My RARESEEDS Catalog says this about them:

(Luffa Aegyptiaca) Burpee's 1888 catalogue said, "A natural dishcloth, and a most admirable one. Many ladies prefer this dishcloth. The fruit grow about 2', and the vine is very ornamental, producing clusters of yellow blossoms, in pleasing contrast with the silvery-shaded, dark green foliage. In the North this variety requires starting in a hotbed. The dried interiors of these gourds have already become an article of commerce; grown in Florida, they are sold by Philadelphia and NY druggists."

I've dried a bunch of these before and used them as bath sponges. They are great for exfoliating and can be used instead of a washrag, but I never thought about using them as a dishcloth in the kitchen. We'll try this as they should be great for scrubbing pots, pans, and plates.

To dry them, first you must remove the outer covering of the luffa to expose the inner sponge and begin the drying process.  Simply peel it off.  It comes off easily with your fingers.  I save all the peelings for the compost pile.

Peeling a luffa to start the drying process

I'll show you the drying process and then the seed saving, the bleaching, and the cutting of the sponge in a future post.  I also have an idea that I'll try in which I'll cut the luffa into two inch thick disks and pour homemade soap into them and let them harden into bath soap/scrubbing sponges.  We'll see how that works out and will post the results.  Stay tuned.