Random Garden Photos

Feast your eyes on these........


I SOOOO wish I remembered what these bulbs were called.



Squash Blossom!

The most beautiful bean blooms..

The Enchanted Onion Forest!
 (I admit I only added this picture so I could say that.) 
Say it with me!
THE ENCHANTED ONION FOREST!!!

Peppers and Beans



My First Dahlia



Baby Black Eyed Peas



A Columbine lurks amongst the pole beans.  Can you find it?

 Have a great day!

Green Tomato Ketchup

The leaves are mostly gone now, but the very early morning outside my window looks like this when the sun rises.

Its not always cold but the cooler temperatures and shorter days cause the tomatoes to stop producing and as a kid we gathered them all to make green tomato ketchup.  I haven't made this since my mother died 30 years ago.  My uncle shared the recipe and I made a batch.

First you grind up a mess of tomatoes.  Doesn't matter how many because its all done by eyeballing and taste.  Put on a kettle of water to boil.

 Add salt.  How much?  Well since this is my grandmother's recipe I'll use her words.  Add a "right smart" of salt and stir it up good.  Then you grind up the same amount (total) of apples, onion, pepper and cabbage.

Add salt to this and mix.  By now the water should be boiling and you scald the salted tomatoes rinsing them well.  Put them in a big pot then scald the apple, pepper, onion and cabbage mixture.  Mix everything well.

To this  mixture add pickling spices.  Make sure you bind them with cloth.  Otherwise the suble taste of the vegetables will be overwhelmed and you'll have pickle relish.

 Then add vinegar, maybe a cup per gallon of relish.  I add sugar to taste.

Cook this mixture until done.  In this case you want to cook it past the blanched stage.  Taste it.  The relish will sweeten and sour with age so err on the side of not too much.  It will be a bit bland but with time the spices and vinegar and sugar will pickle the tomatoes.

I wash jars and  put them in a hot (200 degree) oven and boil the lids.  Then I pack the jars and wait for them to seal.  If they seal I'm done, and if they don't I can give them a hot water bath or stick them in the fridge to eat first.  These all sealed.

In my family we ate this green tomato ketchup on beans and we used it instead of pickles in deviled eggs.  I will be very popular this Thanksgiving sharing this with my brothers!

I have many lovely memories working with my family.  I can still remember how we scalded the vegetables then hung them in an old pillowcase on the  clothes line to drain before we added the pickling ingredients.  I used a colander this time.

What was the last thing you put up from your garden?

Peppers Peppers and More Peppers!

This summer was a hard one for tomatoes, but everyone has had a bumper crop of peppers.  A co worker gives me all of his.

These are sweet bananas.  The brown seeded ones have been in the fridge awhile.  Rather than throw them into the compost I decided to dry them.  I had great success with the sweet bell peppers I diced so these were cut into rings by my trusty helper.

I rescued this dehydrater from a friend's basement.  It was going to be thrown away and I can't stand that!

Next are the jalapenos.  They will be dried this evening.

I let the peppers swim while the water boils for their bath.  The blanching kills all the micro organisms that will cause mold.  Then they get sliced.

They are waiting in the fridge for me to get home and start drying them!

I've also started some sourdough with Rose over at Greening The Rose.  My conversion from metric didn't look like her batter, but I got up this morning to (drumrollllllllll please...........)  BUBBLES!

The little black dots are bubbles.  I figured the starter was hungry and I couldn't remember if I fed it yesterday so I fed it again.  This is what it looks like now.

Paste.  But I have high hopes there will be bubbles this evening when I get home!  This evening I plan on racking some wine, drying peppers and having a quiet night alone.  My idea of heaven on earth.

Have a great day!

Okra Dental Floss

Although my little okra patch in the yard has quit producing since Fall is upon us, the dogs still seem to enjoy it.

Peabody, in particular, is partial to it.

Sometimes he lies there in his own little okra forest. 

Then he will forage for a discarded okra pod. I usually just toss them on the ground when they get too big and tough to eat.  Okra grows very quickly.  Sometimes an inch per day!

First he crushes the pod and eats all the seeds.  Okra is very fibrous and if it is fresh it has a (excuse me) snotty gelatinous liquid inside.  This is why most people don't like it.  They, obviously, don't know how to cook it.  Frying it or adding some vinegar to the stew transforms the offensive slime into a thickener.  Today Peabody got an old pod but he still enjoyed it.

You talkin' 'bout me?

Yes I am.  I am telling the world how you use okra for dental floss!

After crushing the pod and eating the contents Peabody starts at the tip and  begins to shred the pod into its fibers.

He pulls it through his teeth from one end to the other!  It must feel good to his gums.

I snapped this shot (above) while he left to chase Uno who had a toy.  Then after much chewing and pulling it looks like this:

Uno traded his toy for a go at it.

If you have ever had an old dog you will know they teach the pups!

Hey!  I want the toy and the okra!!
At the end the okra pods look like this:

How is that for getting the optimal use out of okra?  Eventually it will be composted but there is still a couple of half hearted flossings left!!

Gundru Tasting ~ An Adventure in Kale

Now that my dining room table has newer fermentation projects bubbling I decided to taste the Gundru.

Around the first of September I mashed kale leaves and stuffed them into a jar and covered them with water.  Then I left the jar on the front porch where it would get the afternoon sun.  In Kentucky the nights can be cool dipping down into the high 50's or low 60's and the days approach 80 degrees.  Apparently, Gundru likes this weather because after a couple of days it oozed and started fermenting.

At one point I had worried about the air bubbles in the jar.  Oxygen is wine's enemy.  Pickling usually uses a brine at the least and/or vinegar.  Introducing air can cause vegetables to rot.  That is why you keep pickles submerged in the brine.

These new gallons of wine would quickly turn to vinegar if I took the airlocks off.  You can see the yeast eating the sugar causing the juice to become cloudy. 

While Gundru's new companion ages on the table I decided to pop the top.  When I opened it the Gundru started fizzing and this dark green juice bubbled over onto the counter.  I pulled a big pinch out and gave it a sniff.  It had a distinctive sour, aged, fermented aroma.  The first taste was very chewy with a strong sour kale flavor.  I rinsed the next bite and the sourness was lessened.  The juice definitely has character!  However, there is no hint of salt or vinegar.  The sour is total fermentation due to the wild yeasts.

I decided to have some with my supper of rice and vegetables.  After all, the Tibetans use this to add flavor to their bland diet that consists of lots and lots of rice.  Like most pickles they are meant to be a condiment and not the main dish.

Next I will add some Gundru to soup.  I think the distinctive fermented sourness will be a very nice addition to a simple soup of vegetables with a delicate broth.  Or add it like you might use soy sauce.  I think chopping a couple of tablespoons fine and adding it to a stir fry of chicken would be delightful.  We shall see!

If you have excess kale and some free countertop space this winter try some! 

A Day In The Life

Come and spend the day with me! 

Arrive at work before dawn and boot up the computer.  Check Blogger and see what my fellow bloggies have been doing. 

Storm Sewer Pipe Profile

Gotta get oriented for work.  If you've ever wondered where the water goes from a road with curb and gutters this might interest you!  If you cut right down the middle of the road and  look from the side you can see the pipes.  That would be the white lines.  The dashed green is the existing road and the red/orange is the future top of the asphalt.  The little white rectangles sticking up are the boxes that open into the gutter to collect the water.

Later I feed Bobbi.  It is a rainy morning and as it turns out no one shows up.  I work all morning and only one person stops by my desk.  Work is a very solitary experience for me.  I like that too.

Lunch!  Remember the pickled radishes?  They are very good with kale.  The red stuff is hot sauce.
I eat and remember I have to run and errand.

Guess where I'm going?

I have to return "Wild Fermentation".  Someone else wants it now or I would keep it awhile longer.

I pick up a couple of books.

I have used the public libraries in every place I have ever lived.  We have a fantastic library system here in the USA.

Back at the office I have a few minutes to look at my new books.  How could I pass up a crock pot cook book with PLASTIC covers.  It just screamed  I'm durable!  Use me!  Winter is coming!  It did not disappoint either.  And the Moosewood book.  I own most of them.  That and the Joy of Cooking are the only cookbooks I use with any regularity.

Oh LOOK!  They dedicated the cookbook to me! I love you Moosewood Restaurant!

Back to work.

Pipe Cross Section

I have to redo the entire system because I didn't get the new manual.  Oh, they put them in the empty cubicles where NO ONE works, but not mine.  Oh well, I'm glad I caught the error before I was done.
The dashed lines from left to right is the existing box in the median.  The solid lines portray the new pipe to be attached.  Into the Manhole it goes!  (Engineering has lots of personifications like breast walls, toes, crowns, etc)

The water changes direction at the Manhole and flows to the curb box inlets downhill until it gets to the ditch that will take it down to the creek.  Pipes Pipes and more PIPES!!

I have a visitor after lunch.  I call him Richard the Lionhearted.  My first and only visitor of the day.  Midafternoon there is an announcement that there is turtle pie in the kitchen!

We are celebrating an old employee's birthday.  Not all of us get this treatment!  I almost forgot to take the picture.  This has to be the most decadent dessert ever.  Chocolate, ice cream, sugar coated nuts, caramel and whipped cream.

I work all afternoon and almost get back to where I was the day before when I discovered the error.  Sigh. 

Home and time to start supper.  Had a request for chili.  Sorry but no pictures of the finished product.  I got distracted.

While the ground turkey thawed I tilled the back garden where some kale will go later.  I had all but abandoned it earlier this summer.

Back to the chili.

I sauteed some peppers and onions then added some chili powder and garlic.  Then I dumped it in with the ground turkey to which I added a dash of Kitchen Bouquet.  Gave it a stir.  Added some hot chili beans and a small can of V8 juice and the usual salt and pepper.  Nothing fancy. Mild.  I will add jalepenos to mine.

Outside!  Time to check the front.  Swing and have a beverage.

Kale is looking good in the jar.

Picked the squash.  Played with Uno and his Birdie the neighbor gave him.

I thought you might enjoy seeing and okra bloom.  It is a member of the hibiscus family (I think).  The okra and squash grow where the dead maple was removed.

Back in to check the chili.  On the way I look up.

Remember the rusty mailbox?  This isn't it but it I have one just like it.   These are old old boxes.

Chili is fine.  I move 2 gallons of wine from primary fermentation to the carboys and fit an airlock.  I'm done for the day except to sit and swing until dark.

Good Night!  It was a good day!