Autumn 'n' Cabbage

And just like that ::snap:: it’s Autumn! 🍃🍂

We’re celebrating this first full day of the fall season with about 40 pounds of cabbage. 🥬

First, we started with the sauerkraut. I prepped the kraut on the mandoline, and my spouse massaged the salt into it… we both checked for flavor, and I added a little bit of sweet onion, and caraway seed as we layered it in our 5 gallon crock. It’s all tucked under its own brine to ferment in our cool room.

We used 8 cabbages for that (I think), and next I’ll be preparing three cabbages (with some red onion, peppers, and carrots) to sit overnight for the canned coleslaw I’ll be making tomorrow. Also tomorrow, or the next day, I’ll be making cabbage soup to can. And we’re leaving one head of cabbage aside to make my Nono’s Italian boiled dinner – cabbage, pepperoni, and potatoes in tomato sauce. A perfect autumn dinner!

We love cabbage. Can you tell?

Autumn blessings to you!

🕊

Cucumber Harvest

“I don’t have enough cucumbers to make a half gallon of half sours,” she said.

“I’ll just run out to the garden, there must be a few ready to harvest out there to add to this batch, “she said.

And there was. And then some. Nine pounds to add to the 1.5 pounds will be plenty to get those half sours started. And then some. 😁

🕊🥒🌞🥒🕊

Peace

 

Holy Hot Pepper Sauce

Yesterday the big bowl came out to accommodate the big bag of hot peppers generously gifted by a family member. Organically grown, and so beautiful. I could feel the heat around my eyes just looking at them, and that intensified with washing... and I was actually sweating around my eyes when chopping them. It was a generous heap of hot peppers, and I'm grateful for them.

I made a quick hot sauce in the blender with horseradish-infused apple cider vinegar, salt and garlic. Half of that was sweetened with a touch of honey, the rest kept basic, with potential for additions after it melds and mellows. It's already tasty, and hot, but the flavor will improve after a week or so, when I'll be able to make more meaningful adjustments.

The rest was packed into a half-gallon jar layered with onion, garlic and kosher salt. I packed it down with my cedar "tool" throughout the day, until it produced its own liqueur to cover the peppers, which had shrunk by volume a third. And here it will continue to ferment on the kitchen counter (or thereabouts) until it reaches the flavor I'm after... or whenever I get around to using it. And I may add some other flavor-makers for the garden (the basils, shiso, chives...). When I'm ready to use it I puree it, bottle it, and label. Just like with botanical creations: Label. Label. Label. 

Last year I made an end-of-season ferment for sauce, with hot and sweet peppers, and just a bunch of whatever from the gardens. I forgot about until I noticed it in the spring. It was the best sauce ever. I'll be repeating the process again this year, for sure. I LoVe this kind of creative use-what-ya-got process, and fermenting is so accommodating to it, and I'm rarely - if ever - disappointed with the outcome. 

Peace. 🕊

This Year's Farmer's Wine

Yesterday I bottled two gallons of 2018/2019 farmer’s wine.

This sweet, organic, cane sugar wine was made with black currant, rhubarb, wild grape, rosehips, elderberry, bilberry, hibiscus, all coaxed to life with the first blooms of elder.

And there’s lots of love in there too.

I make this wine most every summer when the elders start to bloom. I pull all the suitable fruit from the prior year from the freezer, add it to the fermentation container with organic cane sugar, water, add an herb or two or three or more, and stir in the elderflowers to get the fermentation started. Once it gets going and the fruit is strained out, I continue to add sugar until the fermentation is done. No specific gravity readings, just keep adding sugar 'til the faeries are full. Then it rests and its carboy until autumn, when it gets bottled.

Being a wild fermentation, it’s a gamble, as you can never be certain as to how it will behave, and it’s typically sweeter than I prefer, but always spirited and so far has always been drinkable, and often quite delightful. Like this year. 

This batch is already drinkable, and quite nice for gentle, sweet sipping, and it makes an exceptional spritzer. ::nods::

Sláinte! 🕊

Little Acre Botanical Magic

Yesterday I harvested the first batch of motherwort, my lion-hearted ally, Leonurus cardiaca. It hangs to dry in my little hut, and will likely be joining me to grace my studio space. I'll be harvesting a bit more to start a tincture. And a vinegar. And who knows what else?

Today I'm blending a ferment starter of rhubarb with some spruce tips that have been infusing in water a couple of days. It's an experiment inspired by Pascal Bauder to create some beverage flavors unique to my own backyard. I mean, heck, I've done these sorts of things in the past, but my conscious awareness is fully engaged now. And it delights me! And by the way, the spruce water alone is deliciously refreshing. 

Today I'll start harvesting a bit of lemon balm, my ol' friend, Melissa officinalis. And speaking of fermenting... if all goes as planned... Monday will involve more harvesting of this blessed botanical to start a batch of Melissa Ale. I found my notes from a batch made years ago that I simply adored. I'm hoping to recreate it... as close as Nature, that fickle wench, will allow. I remember it well and chuckled at my notes, "like a lemony iced tea with a kick."

As for the rest of the day, I have more plants to get into the earth, including these Jimmy Nardello Italian peppers, a favored heirloom pepper. In fact, these are the only peppers I'm growing this year.

So that's what been in the making, is in the making and what's yet to be made. Magic, all of it!

Peace.

Room to Reach

Garden Ferments

Black Currant Fizz ~ another garden ferment!

Daucus carota ~ wild carrot

Rhubarb Jelly

I've been busy. Journaling. Harvesting. Dreaming. Preserving. Doing. Empowering. Manifesting. 

In short: Reaching.

Peace.

Fermenting Sustenance in Pickled Eggs

Today I started a batch of pickled eggs ~ naturally fermented picked eggs. I haven't made these since the end of last summer. But now The Ladies are laying at their summer rate and I'm able to easily hold aside a couple dozen for (at least) two weeks for hard boiling. In case you're wondering why, fresh eggs, hard boiled, are impossible to peel.

If you've been following me for a while, you know I love fermenting food. A little salt brine, some flavorful botanicals, sometimes a bit of whey ... and magic happens.

So today I hard boiled some eggs, for on-hand fast-food over the coming days, as well as for fermenting into delicious, nutritious pickled eggs. I snagged some oregano, chives flowers, egyptian onion, horseradish leaf and a sprig of mugwort from the gardens, and layered them into a quart jar with 9 eggs and a cup of brine (1/2 teaspoon kosher salt to 1 cup of water). The brine is this only thing I measure and each time I make these (and everything else) the flavorful herbs I use depend on what's available and what my eyes fall on first.

In a couple of days they'll show signs of bubbling fermentation. I'll burp the jar and keep it on my kitchen counter for a few more days, or maybe a couple, or maybe less before I taste the first one. Oh, the anticipation!

But after that first taste I'll place them in cool storage for a couple/few months. Fermented eggs are a bit like wine in that they improve with age.

I'll be putting up several jars of these throughout the summer, to enjoy straight away, as well as to have some in cool storage to supplement the drop in egg production once the days start to shorten... right through to winter.

So yeah, fermenting sustenance. That's what I made today.

Peace.

August heART - At the Farmers' Market

August heART - At the Farmers' Market

I had a great time at the Watertown Farmers' Market yesterday, demonstrating the simplicity of brine fermentation with wonderful produce purchased on-the-spot from the wonderful farmers. I started a simple batch of cucumbers with onions and peppercorns, and a blended batch of sweet bell and jalapeño peppers with garlic and coriander seed. Already, this morning, they're bubbling away and will be delicious in no time.

If you have salt and water (untreated or filtered) in your kitchen, you can start your own ferments today. Just make a brine by adding 2-3 tablespoons of salt (kosher or sea) to a quart jar of water. The more salt, the slower the fermentation, so I tend to use 2 tablespoons for quick ferments, and 3 tablespoons for those intended for longer storage. But, back to the brine ~ Cap the jar, shake it until the salt is dissolved. In another clean jar, add your veggies, herbs and spices ~ whatever's available in season, whatever you like, whatever you have on hand, and pour the brine over them, to cover, cap and let ferment on your kitchen counter. Check it daily, to release the carbon dioxide and to taste the brine. Once the brine tastes interesting you you, sample the veggies. Once it's to your liking you can put it in cool-storage to enjoy for as long as it lasts. And, for the record, it can last for months! Fermentation continues, but slows down when kept cool. We're still eating ferments made last September.

But, back to the market ... I met some great people, shared some fine conversation, saw an old friend or two, missed seeing others, and encountered a couple kindred spirits as well. Plus, I made time for a quick sketch for August heART to which I added color this morning. Did a little extra shopping before I left the market, too. I'm enjoying a fabulous plum as I type! In any event, I'm looking forward to next week's spontaneous demonstration already!

Fermenting cucumbers and peppers, made at the Watertown Farmers' Market

As for today, it's my spouse's birthday, so this morning, while still cool, I made him a coffee-cocoa cake, which he wants to have for lunch, so I've got that to look forward to! Plus I have some August heART blog party-goers to visit ~ I hope you'll visit them too. And if you have some heART to share, just add your link (below) and join the party!

An InLinkz Link-up

Ginger and Pepper Kraut

This week's CSA share from Dineberg's Farm delivered, among other things, a lovely cabbage, and I decided to ferment it so it might be enjoyed for weeks (and weeks), as other farm-n-garden goodness come ripe.

I created a ginger 'n' pepper kraut, making use of what I had on hand. Now, if you follow me at all, you know that I'm really not a recipe user/follower, and this is most true when it comes to summer fermenting, when I'm using what's fresh out of the garden, from the CSA or the farmers' market, and what I have on hand.

For this not-quite-half-gallon batch I used:
a head of cabbage
three carrots (for color and sweetness)
grated ginger (a couple inches - just a piece that I wanted to use
fresh cracked black pepper
red pepper flakes
kosher salt
… and you can use whatever you have on hand and whatever tickles your taste buds.

I sliced the cabbage, shredded carrots and grated the ginger (all organic) and tossed it all into a large stainless bowl. I added salt to the mix "to taste" and massaged the the vegetables to get the salt well blended. At this point I took a coffee break and allowed the mix to begin the water extraction aspect of the process without me. I do this a lot, allowing mama Nature to do her thing without interference from me. It's one of the reasons that so many "permaculture" concepts resonate with me. But that's another story.

After my coffee break I nibbled the mix and added a bit more salt, again—to taste, and massaged it in and worked the vegetables to release more of their natural fluids. To this I added some fresh cracked black pepper and hot pepper flakes, not measured, just trusting my intuition. I added it all to a half-gallon jar, handful by handful, pressing down the vegetables and rising up the liquid between each handful. I filled a half-pint jelly jar with water, capped it and used it to weigh down the vegetables below the fluid. I covered it with a linen napkin and secured with a rubber band (to keep "unwanteds" out).

This will sit on my kitchen counter for a few/several days and I'll be tasting it daily. Once it reaches the tang that suits me, I'll put it all in cool storage, and enjoy some beautiful, delicious, living food daily, on bread, as a side-dish, in salads, mixed with vegetables, grains, meats … whatever!

So, yeah, that's what I made today.

A Face, Fermented Tomato Juice and Green Tomato Preserves

29 Faces, #20

Fermented Tomato Juice, batch #1 (started 9/18)

Green Tomato Preserves, not my favorite, but better than last year's batch.

It's been a crazy busy week, and I see the pace continuing, dare I say quickening, over the next two. In this moment I can say with confidence that I have neither time nor keystrokes to spare. So … that's what I made today. So far. Still more to get to. 

Peace.

A September Day Cornucopia

Today I started my first gallon batch of fermented tomato juice. I made a small batch of last year and promised to make more, much more this year. This fermentation was inspired by this fermented bloody mary cocktail. Need I say more? Except, perhaps, that this is so simple and so delicious, with or without the spirits!

I've been up to other things these past couple of days. After all, this is the season of urgency - in my corner of the world anyway.

Tomato puree was canned and kale dried, both from Dineberg's Farm. Another round of calendula infused coconut oil was strained and bottled, though this jar will get topped off with the next ready batch. I use this oil mostly for soaps, scrubs and assorted balms.

Peppers from Dineberg's were combined with carrots from my gardens and assorted herbs and spices to start a ferment. And fermented green tomato salsa and hot peppers are also percolating, so to speak, on the kitchen counter.

Peppers, also from Dineberg's, were chopped and dried to help see us through the winter months. 

More tomatoes were harvested along with assorted garden finds to add to this evening's salad and frittata, which The Boy is making with our backyard hen eggs, of course. And, I swear, one of our chooks laid an ostrich egg today. Biggest egg laid on my little acre so far. Could be a double yoker! 

I did manage a wee bit of time to art journal and prepare a new journal for the coming days. More on that another day.

As for today … and yesterday … that's what I made. Peace.

Love in the Studio, the Gardens and the Kitchen

Today, thanks to the morning spitting that kept me out of the gardens, I made time in my art journals. This page is from my large, personal journal. She'll have words added. Words that will be shared judiciously.

I started trimming and sorting the harvested and cured garlic by size so that I'll be prepared for planting time, which will sneak up on me. It usually does. I still have more garlic to harvest and cure (and trim and sort). You can never grow too much garlic.

And I bottled some kombucha and fed the never-ending batch with some fresh sweet tea. This is pretty much a weekly task. I have several bottles in storage, months old, and they're delicious. They even mix into a nice cocktail.

I spent some time in the gardens with the kinky tomato plants who wanted to be tied up again. I surveyed the little plot of land for things getting ready for harvest, and plucked some cilantro with which to to garnish this evening's chili.

That's what I made today. Love.

And Peace.


PS  Don't forget to check out all the great blogalong blog posts today!

A Garden of Blessings

Yesterday I canned the plums that I picked up Saturday at the Watertown Farmers' Market. I processed the excess syrup too, because it's so good and will be a delightful addition to a number of things, including cocktails.

Today I jarred up the fermented summer squash that I started the other day. Five days and they are fermented to what I can only call perfection. The two quarts would last for months in cold storage, but I'm certain we'll eat them up long before autumn arrives, let alone winter.

I continued planting in the gardens and got more beets, turnip, kohlrabi, cucumber and even peas into the earth, though I may have jumped the gun on the peas. But I'll be planting more later anyway, so no harm. I tossed more lettuce seeds, as I do every two weeks or so, for a steady supply of salad greens all season. Life is pretty sweet.

I even made time for some art today. Not a lot, but enough to placate me.

I made time for friend who brought me a pan of her amazing Italian-style sausage and peppers … enough for several meals! And, hey, who wouldn't make time for that?

It's been a day of sun and clouds and I hear there's rain on the way, but no sign of it yet. It's been a day of many blessings, and the signs for those are everywhere.

That's what I made today.

Peace.

PS   You can read more about how I ferment summer squash here.

Good Eats

Today, with the help of a good friend and accomplice, I got a gallon of eggplant pickles prepared for preservation and a four quarts of yellow squash fermenting.

The eggplant is so simple and should be ready to start eating in the next couple/few weeks. We just cut the eggplant in 1/4-inch slices, put a few sprigs of fresh spearmint in the bottom of the jar and began layering a couple of inches eggplant with some garlic and rough-chopped jalapeno peppers and a tablespoon of sea salt. There was no measuring, really, except for the salt. We layered until the jar was filled, topped it with three more sprigs of mint, filled the jar with living apple cider vinegar, used a small jar to push the vegetables below the liquid and capped it. It's already smelling amazing.

I've never tried this method before, but when I saw this video I knew I had to try it. There's no heat processing, and the eggplant should remain safe and good for … years, it seems. I'll see. Though I have a feeling they won't last that long - meaning they'll be eaten! I'll keep you posted.

Then, along with a garden frittata for supper, I roasted these baby eggplants that I got from Dineberg's Farm. I minced some (well, a lot) of garlic, salted it and blended in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, a splash of one of my herbal-infused vinegars, some freshly crushed dried oregano, celery seed, cayenne powder and let that sit while I prepared the eggplants. I gave each eggplant two slits from stem to blossom end, creating four sections still attached to the stem, and stuffed-n-drizzled the garlic mixture into the center of the four quarters. They were arranged in a dutch oven, covered and placed on my grill, set to a moderate heat (about 350F) for 10 minutes. Then I turned them, replaced the lid, and let them roast another 5 minutes or so.

These were so freakin' good. The Boy ate a few and … I ate the rest. Yep. All of them. They were that good.

Yep. That's what I made today. Good eats.

Peace.

More of the Same … and Then Some

Today I owe a loving dose of gratitude to my friend, Sherrie, who came to visit and help me cut up the last of the tomatillos. Together we chopped them along with onion, garlic and hot peppers and got another two and a half quarts of salsa verde fermenting.

Two heads of cabbage were also prepared, and a half gallon batch of sauerkraut started too.

It was excellent help and perfect company as we chatted, caught up, chopped, sipped tea, sampled the fresh-made salsa and the batch that was started a couple of days ago which seemed to evoke some misty memories. In any event, it's gonna be so good! And she went home with a wee jar of fermented salsa to enjoy at her leisure.

That's what I made today. Peace.

Salsa Verde Ferment

Today I start playing catch-up on a few discretionary tasks, including posting here on this silly blog. So, since this is catch-up, we'll just take a little literary freedom and say that I made this today … 

I still have tomatillos to preserve. If you remember, I made a batch of canned salsa verde last month and while it's quite good, I wasn't anxious to make more of the same. I'm glad I listened to my hesitant intuition, because this past week I got my copy of Food As Medicine - The Theory and Practice of Food, by Todd Caldecott. All other praises to Todd and the book aside, one little serendipitous piece in the book is a recipe for a naturally fermented salsa verde. Of course I had to make a batch. I adore fermented foods and honor the method as, perhaps, the premier method of preserving food.

Don't ask me for the recipe … rather, purchase your own copy of Todd's wonderful book. I'm glad I did. I'm sure that over time I will make my own adaptations that I will share with you. But really, fermentation is so simple and safe that recipes are really unnecessary, once you have basic salt/brine ratios under your belt. 

I'm looking forward to watching this particular ferment over the coming few days. I'll taste it at every "check" and will know within four days or so if I want to make more of it. I suspect I will.

That's what I made "today." Peace.

("Literary" freedom in a Blog?)

Lacto-Fermented Kimchi

Today I harvested a lovely head of Napa cabbage, a couple carrots, a nice big daikon radish, some green onions. I gathered my garlic and hot pepper flakes, the organic ginger I bought at the local health food store yesterday and my supply of whey from my homemade yogurt and made ...

Lacto-fermented Kimchi

1 head Napa or other cabbage, chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped 

1-2 carrots, grated

1 daikon radish, grated (or any radish)

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 T. fresh ginger, grated

2 T. hot pepper flakes (or more!)

1 T. sea salt

4 T. whey

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, massage to release natural juices. Transfer to a jar, pack down, cover with a loose lid. Allow to sit in a warm place, out of direct light for 2-4 days. Store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

It's so good and good for you.

That's what I made today. 

Peace.

Half Sours

I've been on the road this past week. Got home yesterday afternoon. Today, I reflected a bit,  didn't over-focus and I grounded myself. Well, I did my best. I lounged long in the morning, sipping coffee while cleaning up and catching up on a lot of stuff that landed on this computer. I went out to a late breakfast with The Boy. We browsed a pawn shop and antique store. When we returned home we tied up tomato plants, trimmed suckers, removed some fallen sunflowers, harvested cucumbers, beans, horseradish, lettuce and trimmed some low branches from a wild cherry tree. Some of those trimmed branches may make a nice walking stick or two.

One cucumber was added to dinner's salad. The others made their way into jars along with some garlic and a 3.6% brine … and over the coming days these will become delicious half sours. I will add a grape leaf to each jar tomorrow, the tannin in them helps to make for a nice crispy pickle, especially for keeping, though these little batches will no doubt be eaten quickly. The upcoming gallon batches will have grape leaves a-plenty at the bottom and top of those jars. Horseradish leaves too.

That's what I made today. It felt fitting. Peace.

.

A First Ferment

A gallon jar. A few handfulls of cucumbers. A couple grape leaves. Garlic. Pure sea salt and water (3 tablespoons to each quart of water - 'cause someone's gonna ask). A little weight. Time.

Before long I'll have the first batch of summertime half sours!

That's what I made today. Peace.

A Porky Pick-Up

I finally made my way to Southington to pick up our half a pig from the butcher. The freezer is packed full again with the delicious remnants of last year's meagerly abundant garden harvests, along with beef and now pork from Schreiber's Farm. I kept out a loin roast, some ham hocks and fresh bacon for cooking over the coming days. I started fermenting some dried limas to make a batch of the baked beans my mother loves. I'll be visiting her for easter and will have lots of cooked, healthy meals to restock her freezer - home-cooked, convenient foods that she can easily defrost and heat up. I prepare meals like this for myself too because as much as I love to cook, I'm not inspired to do it every single day. Though I am inspired to eat real home-cooked food every day.

In any event, no one's gonna go hungry around here! Peace.