I'm a pot head

I was walking through my yard today, realizing that I still need to get everything put away.  There are pots everywhere.  This one is by itself on the deck.  Its a leftover from a project for the kids Nature Club.

This is a pot sitting just outside my garden.  My brother was quite upset that I bought it.  You see at the time he worked for a large pottery company located nearby.  I told him he needed to give me more pots to satisfy my addiction.

So he gave me this one.  Its just outside my front door in the herb and flower bed.  Once upon a time there was mint growing wildly in it.

I haven't a clue where this one came from.  My daughter decided that she and her friend were going to plant some flowers.  The got this pot, filled it with dirt and planted some zinnia seeds in it.  Its been sitting in my garden for the past few weeks.  Do you think anything is going to grow?

This is my post for the Sunday Stroll.  Check out who else is strolling at the Quiet Country House.

Baby, its cold outside!

It was 22 degrees when I woke up this morning.  We've had quite a few good frosts already, but this is the first real freeze.  The really crazy thing is, we're supposed to be in a warm up in the next 4 days or so.  There will be highs in the mid 60s at least.  The parsnips couldn't care less.

 

The chard is probably going to care a little bit more.  We'll see how it all goes.  I've never had chard this late, so I have no idea what this will do to it.  If all else fails, it will go to the chickens.

Veggie egg rolls

These are a favorite at my house.  Last night I took them to a potluck dinner our homeschooling Moms had.  Everyone loved them and I was asked for the recipe.  Aside from a bit of chopping, they are pretty simple to make.

Veggie Egg Rolls

1 T olive oil
1/2 small onion diced
1 small head cabbage chopped
2 cup carrots shredded
2 cups green beans chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 T veggie bouillon (or chicken)
2 T hoisin sauce
2 T brown sugar
2 t toasted sesame oil
2 T soy sauce
3 T cornstarch
black pepper to taste
1 egg beaten
1 package egg roll wrappers

Saute veggies in olive oil until just softened.  Add bouillon, hoisin, brown sugar and sesame oil, stir to combine.  In small dish combine soy sauce and cornstarch to make a slurry.  Add to mixture until thickened.  Season to taste.  Let mixture cool slightly then fill egg roll wrappers.  Place the wrapper so that it forms a diamond.  Place 2 T of filling in the lower half of the wrapper.  Fold bottom corner up and tuck it back against the filling.  Fold in the sides to keep filling in.  Brush beaten egg on top corner and fold the egg roll the rest of the way up. 

These can be baked or fried.  They are pictured baked.  To fry heat oil to 350 and fry until golden brown.  To bake, grease cookie sheet and place rolls onto greased sheet.  Brush tops with olive oil and place in 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. 

Dipping sauce

1 t crystallized ginger finely diced
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 t red pepper flakes

Combine ingredients and let sit for a few minutes to meld flavors. 

Notes

I've played with this recipe a lot and have found that you can use just about any kind of cabbage, most veggies and can even add meat.  If you wish, you can add up to 2 cups of meat or chopped shrimp.  My family loves this the best with 1/2 cup of shrimp added.  This filling is also good over rice or rice noodles. 

Holiday lighting for chickens

J and I have been talking for a while about how to set up some lighting for the chickens so that they will lay.  For those who don't know, chickens lay eggs depending on the amount of light they get daily.  In the winter they lay very few if any eggs, so many people supplement the lighting to make their bodies think its ok to lay eggs.  The other day I had a lightbulb moment (I know, bad pun) and thought to use the Christmas lights that we no longer put on our house.  So far it seems to be working, the chickens are staying up later and eating and drinking later.  There are no eggs yet, but they are making what appear to be nests in the house.  I'm hoping this is a good sign. 

I'm happy to see the lights get used.  We used to be good little decorators and put them up on the house every year.  Then we got lazy and figured that it was good anyway, since then we weren't using the electricity.  Now we're using electricity for a good cause, not throwing these in the landfill and not buying anything new.  Pretty good option in my book. 

The plan for next year is to get more chickens.  We want to build a bigger, more permanent coop for all of them.  The tractor would still be used for the new chicks, until they're big enough to go into the larger coop.  We can also use the tractor to graze them when it suits our purposes.  The long term goal is to not have to supplement them with light over the long term.  If we let them lay like crazy during summer, then we can preserve the eggs for  the winter.  I have no idea if this will work, but it would be great if it did.  Eggs keep for a long time and can also be frozen if need be.  Has anyone else done this and had it work?

Almost done for the year

The kids were a huge help yesterday.  It cost me some candy and a few bucks in the end, but was well worth it.  They finished filling all but one bed.  I had already done a lot of it, but they did 3/4 of 1 and 1/3 of another of the big beds.  Then they decided that wasn't enough and raked my leaves, spreading them over the tops of the beds.  The little ones helped me plant 200 bulbs out as well.  I'm just amazed.  My back is still killing me, but it feels much better than it would have.  It would have taken me at least another day or so to do what they did in an afternoon.  Great kids.  Last Friday they raked another neighbor's leaves up as well.

All I have left to do is turn the last bed and fill it, weed the edges of the fenced garden and rake out the rest of the soil.  If my back was feeling better, I would get some cow manure spread, but its not the end of the world if I don't.  The garden is put to bed well and will be ready for me to plant the early things like peas, onions, lettuce and cole crops.  Maybe I'll get the kids to help me spread the manure...

Child labor

Ah, what a beautiful sight.

Canning applesauce

Time to make the applesauce.  The kids were so excited.

I cut up all the apples, leaving the skin on for added flavor and nutrition.  The cores were placed in a bag to save for the chickens.

Into the pot with an inch of water.

All soft and yummy.

Through the strainer to get the right consistency.

Then 20 minutes in the water bath and we have sauce!  The kids love it, so I need to use up the rest of the apples tomorrow.