No pumpkins in my garden...

I didn’t grow pumpkins in my garden this year.  Butternut and acorn squash were in abundance, however, and delicious.  At this time of year I always wish I had grown pumpkins just because they are such a sign of the season…and maybe next year I will.  I have enough land to plant them in a mound and just let them grow.  Maybe I’ll grow sugar pumpkins, the variety for pie.  Pumpkin seeds are delicious and I use them in several recipes.  One of my favorite recipes with pumpkin and the seeds is with Halibut.  I get rave reviews when I serve it at dinner parties!

Pumpkin Halibut

Halibut filets (4-6) ( or substitute Sea Bass or a similar fish)

Pumpkin butter (your own or store bought-Whole Foods carry it)

Pepitas (pumpkin seeds), raw, 1-2 T per filet

Bread crumbs or Panko, 1 cup

Old Bay Seasoning, 2 T

Fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 stick butter

Wash and pat dry the Halibut filets and place in a glass 9 x 12 baking dish prepped with non-stick spray.

In a bowl, microwave the butter until melted then add the breadcrumbs or Panko, Old Bay, and pepper.  Mix well.

Generously spread the pumpkin butter over the top of each filet.  Sprinkle the top of the filet with the breadcrumb mix and then about 1 T of the pepitas.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-45 min depending on thickness of filets.  Check after 20 minutes for doneness.

Serve immediately.

Infrastructure

Hours go by and the only thing that makes me realize that so much time has passed is that my stomach is growling.  Weeding, planting fall seedlings, pulling out the last of the pepper plants and (finally) planting my Celeste fig tree and new blueberry bushes filled one glorious day last week.  It was a chilly, overcast day…but no matter, my father-in-law, Tom, and I hadn’t been in the garden much this month thanks to all the rain we have had.  The pups were with us and they were crazy!  Too many days cooped up in the house for them, too.  They kept us busy discovering new found “holes” in the brand new fencing…gaps where hills kept the wiring from meeting the ground and they were able to scoot underneath.  We filled the gaps with large rocks we’ve been using to make stone walls and pathways.  Foiled again!

The new water pipe is being laid with spigots in the pasture and inside the veggie patch, any day now.    I can’t wait to not have to haul water from the rented water tank, bucket by bucket!  And, the fencing is being stained black this week…it will look “finished”, at last.  Next week, more “infrastructure”, with my dad arriving to help build my chicken fencing and install the new coop!  I am anticipating the arrival of Le Regazze (The Girls, in Italian, as I have affectionately named my “flock”) with both excitement and anxiety.   7 days and counting…

Beasties in the Night

3 am and I was still awake…the result of surging adrenaline earlier when I let the dogs out one final time before bed.  It was later than usual, 11:30 p.m. when two of the pups came running back to the house…the wirehair dachshund and the ridgeback (not so fierce in the face of danger, after all…).   The American Staffordshire, Hazel, and Felix, the cocker-dock rescue, didn’t come back in with the other two and still didn’t come when called.  (Hmmmm….some remedial training would be occurring later for them!)  In my jammies and socks I trudged out to the totally darkened shed where they were carrying on, barking wildly.  I couldn’t tell what they were all spooled up about in the dark, so back into the house I went for the flashlight.  When I returned with the light, I saw wedged between the wooden privacy fence and the old pine tree, a very frightened and cornered possum.  Now, Hazel, the Amstaf, really doesn’t give up very easily, and Felix, the rescue, was truly just along for the ride.  Banging on the tree trunk with a shovel, I got Hazel’s attention (which was necessary, given her heightened excitement and determination at “saving” me from the possum) and reached around the chicken wire laid for my new chicken pen (yep, that’s right, I’ve got a possum living in the tree that corners my soon to be chicken coop and pen…) and grabbed Hazel by the collar.  She gave up!  And, Felix followed silently.  I put them both in the house and then returned to make sure the possum hadn’t been injured.  It is always amazing to me when a possum “plays possum”…what a dumb thing to do!  There it was where I had left it, playing dead, perfectly fine…no blood, thank goodness!  I put away the shovel, picked up the flashlight and left it there in the wedge of fence and tree to decide when it was safe to resume it’s nightly adventures.  Or maybe it would just head back up the tree and call it a night.  

Chicken Mama (or Crazy Aunt)

I did it!  In the past week or so, I have ordered my chicken coop, purchased the heated waterer and hanging feeder, researched and ordered organic grains and seeds for feed, and ordered fencing.  My dad and I have agreed on the dates he is coming to help me build my fence around the sod I laid for their “chicken yard”.  And, I ordered my chickens!  Six adorable Wyandotte chicks that are currently 6 weeks old! 

I wanted to order my chicks through an online source…but I waited a little too long and only day-old chicks were available.  I’d like to continue being married, so I opted to look for a little older chicks.  I went onto Craig’s List and found a post for 5 and 10 week old chicks just outside the city.  I was contacted by the seller and found out that he is an 11-year-old young man who raises chickens for spending money!  Pretty cool! He knew a lot about chickens so I think he will be a great resource for me when I take possession of the little ladies.  He agreed to keep the chicks for me until the end of October when they are 8 or 9 weeks old.  That way they won’ t have to be IN the house, but can be in my shed with a heat lamp in case it gets cold.  And, he agreed to swap out any of the “ladies” that suddenly begin to develop more “manly features”.  I’m not allowed to have roosters in the city!

Proudly, I am “Crazy Aunt Di” to nine nieces and nephews, aged 1 to 20.  Only 6 of them are under the age of 11 and one is only a year old.  In an effort to continue my reputation as the  “Fun loving, cool Aunt”, I decided to have 5 of the chickens be “virtual pets” for my niece and nephews aged 5 to 11.  I emailed them about my new adventure and invited them to participate from afar.  “You each may have a chicken for a pet!” I told them.  All I required was that each came up with a good name and one interesting fact about chickens.  Here is what they came up with:

Olivia, 8        “Jenny”                         “Gallus, gallus, domesticus”, Latin for chicken

Ian, 5             “Sidney”                       you can hypnotize a chicken by holding it and drawing a line            in the dirt over and over.  The chicken will stay right there as long as you do this…(hmmmmm….)

Evan, 8          “Pot Pie” or “Pie”         Chickens hatch from their eggs in 21 days

AJ, 10            “Puck”                          The largest chicken egg was 12 inches long

Stevie, 11       “Marge”                       Alektorophobia is the fear of chickens

                                                                                   

The sixth chicken is for my 17 year-old-daughter who threw a bit of a fit when she found out the niece and nephews were getting a chicken for a pet but she wasn’t…she named her chicken “Melinda” and her fact is that chickens are the closest living relatives to the Tyrannosaurus Rex!  Who knew?

I guess you’re never too old for a chicken!

Garlic, garlic, garlic!

Garlic is a staple in our house.  It literally gets used in just about everything I cook!  So, I thought I’d give growing it in my garden a try.  Garlic gets planted in the fall and isn’t ready to harvest until late July or early August of the following year.  During one of our rare sunny days, recently, my father in law and I met at the “farmette” to sow some more fall crops and plant some seedlings.  Very little weeding was needed…I guess all that rain does a number on weeds and crops alike!  We prepared a new bed directly in the ground (not in one of my raised beds) by digging it deeply and breaking up the clumps.  We added a little chicken manure, too.  Of course, I started with the gloves on, but within a few minutes they were off and the dirt was chunked up under my fingernails.  I love the feel of damp, cool soil when I am planting!  We planted two types of garlic, both certified organic:  Lorz Italian and Shvelisi (Chesnok Red).  The garlic arrives in complete cloves the way it would be purchased from the market.  To plant it, we had to break the cloves apart and place each clove in the ground roots down and pointy part up.  No different than any bulb gets planted.  They are planted shallowly, only about 4 inches deep.  When the bed is covered back up with soil, a whopping 6 inches of leaf mulch goes on top.  I think of the mulch like a nice down comforter in winter….nice and cozy!  So now we wait.  In the summer when the green stems start to turn brown and fall over they garlic will be ready to harvest.  I might even try to make a garlic braid!  

The Case for Family Farms and Family Time

My 17-year-old daughter loves to go to the farmers market.  Every Saturday that we can go, we do.  This past Saturday was no exception. 

Perhaps because of our regular jaunts to the farmers market, my daughter recently wrote one of her college essays about the value of family farms and keeping parts of America rural.  While she was writing the essay we were discussing her views and I found it profound that young people see the need for organic and family run farms to succeed and indeed, thrive.  They don’t want to lose what they deem is best about America…There is something romantic and almost idealized about family farms. 

Purchasing food from the grower in a parking lot anywhere in America reminds us how close we are (and can be) to the earth and our food.  Knowing who grew the food you are eating is important today and not just for health reasons.  Knowing these individuals connect us to our food chain by providing us an opportunity to try new varieties of vegetables and fruits, often varieties we would never find in our grocery stores, to know that the animals we consume were raised humanely and compassionately and that their time on this earth had value and joy, that we support people’s passions for cheese-making and baking, flowers and free-range eggs.  In short, purchasing food from farmers markets is a small act we all can do to support and even encourage the family run farm’s success.

And, it is a great opportunity to connect with your family; to discuss upcoming meals, find out what each other’s likes and dislikes are, and try new foods.  I’m all for embracing those moments when my daughter wants to be with me, and it is effortless.

Water Woes-The Flood of 2009

This past week in Atlanta has been a pretty scary place to live.  I’ve never experienced such torrential down pours and so much water on the ground…everywhere!  The water couldn’t be escaped! 

My worries about my vegetable garden were nothing compared to what most of the metro area was worried about…homes, lives, belongings, pets.  But, I was worried about my garden. Surrounded by two small creeks that feed into Nancy Creek, one of the rivers that overflowed its banks, I was virtually guaranteed that part, if not all of the garden would be affected.

On Monday, after days of not venturing over to see the garden out of fear of what I might find, I decided to go take photos.  There are many ways to get to the property…three of which, I discovered the hard way, were blocked by the flooding creeks and rivers.  I finally wound my way through a part of the neighborhood I had never been through before and found a path to our property. 

My stomach was in knots as I rounded each bend in the road coming closer and closer to the property.  Peeks of the green pasture, not muddy brown, came to me though the trees.  Maybe it was okay?  Pulling into the driveway and venturing towards the veggie patch, the pasture was completely dry!  There wasn’t any evidence of flooding or water accumulation of any kind.  I was stunned! 

What about my recently planted veggie patch?  As I approached the bridge over my little creek, I noticed the raging water, but it wasn’t even half way up the banks! And, no evidence existed that would suggest it had breached the banks, at all!  I mustered the courage to walk into the garden, even though the rain had picked up and was now actually stinging me through my raincoat.  Although the veggie patch was not washed out or under water, there was definitely some collateral damage from the amount and intensity of the rains we’ve had these past 10 days.  Some seedlings were definitely drowned or washed away…most notably some of the root vegetables like the radishes and beets.  But, others, like the collards, Swiss chard, peas and arugula were actually still there and seemed to be growing in spite of the harsh conditions. 

We’ve had three days of sunshine now and tomorrow I’m going back to the veggie patch to see what crops have recovered and which ones will need to be scrapped and possibly replanted.  I’m reminded of generations past whose survival and existence often depended upon their gardens.  In spite of what grows or doesn’t grow in my veggie patch, I say a little prayer of thanks knowing that my family will eat tonight and subsequent nights.