Edible Curb Appeal?

Remodeling the front yard to be primarily a vegetable garden with curb appeal offers some unique challenges.

The most efficient approach seems to be to begin with the structure of the garden--the planters, the trellises, the fountain (?), the fences--with an eye to the crops and plants that will live around and in these structures.

Should we use a fountain as a feature in the front yard? Should that water feature be a central focal point or should it be tucked into a corner to be discovered by the visitor? Should this and all other elements of the garden be placed to please those who look out from the house or for those passersby who look in from the street, or for both? A little of each, perhaps?

A picket fence across the front seems to be the consensus at this point. Trellises will do the work of fences along the driveway. Raised beds will be common throughout, even for the perennial plantings, and walkways will be covered with either bark or gravel--no mowing, and little if any weed whacking.

The citrus will remain as foundation plants, while an olive and a macadamia will be added. Artichokes come to mind as an additional perennial.

In the summer months, nasturtiums, sunflowers, and cucumbers will add some color, as will the complementary yellow and purple flowers of okra and eggplant over the sea of squash and melon leaves.

In the fall, peas, favas, kales, cauliflowers, and cabbages will add their variety, as will lettuces and other "greens" like beets and chard.

We're learning as we go. There are several good books available to show you how. Our current favorite is Yvette Soler’s The Edible Front Yard: The Mow-Less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden.

Making Turkey Stock

Once you remove all the meat from your Thanksgiving turkey, put the bones on to simmer right away to make stock to use in soups and sauces for the rest of the holidays and after. It may help keep you and your family from getting the winter colds and flu that always come around.

Homemade stock offers three nutritional benefits that are in readily digestible form:

1. Minerals calcium, magnesium, silicon, sulphur and phosporous and critical trace minerals.

2. Gelatin which is good for many tissues of the body -- cartilage, bones, joints, skin, digestive tract, and muscles including the heart. Gelatin also boosts immunity. The majority of our immune system is located in our gut, and gelatin soothes and heals the intestinal mucosa.

3. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulphates, good for joint maintenance.

Making turkey stock is very easy. Put the carcass in a large pot (1-2 gallons) and cover with water. Add 1/4 cup of vinegar (this will help to release minerals from the bones and cartilage). Bring to a boil over medium to high heat. Reduce to medium to low heat and simmer for 24 hours. Skim off any foam that forms on the surface while simmering. After 24 hours strain out the bones. You'll have a gallon or two of yummy stock.

Easy, healthful, and tasty.

A Little Less Ambitious

As self-sufficiency expert John Seymour wrote, “You do not need five acres and a degree in horticulture to become self-sufficient ... self-sufficiency is about taking control and becoming an effective producer of whatever your resources allow.”

Many (or even most) writing about self-sufficiency make the assumption that all of us who want to be self-sufficient want to do so primarily because of environmental concerns, global environmental concerns, like sustainability of food production, reduction of pollution, and so forth.

Our thinking is a little less ambitious. We do want the best possible environment in and around our home to allow each member of our family to thrive, both physically and spiritually. We have found in the process of improving our immediate environment by avoiding unnecessary chemicals--cleansers, herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, preservatives, and sedatives--that traditional ways (natural, homemade) are most often less expensive than purchasing the commercial, chemical products.

In other words, we’re not becoming more self-sufficient to save the planet, we are becoming more self-sufficient to save ourselves. We trust ourselves to take care of us, not the government--local, state, federal, or global. We have found that being self-sufficient, while in the short run is more costly in terms of time and labor (and sometimes money) than relying on others, in the long run is less so. Growing our own food veggies and fruits for the cost of some seeds and a little water is cheaper and cleaner than buying our food at the grocery store. That’s a short term savings. In the long term, we expect to save much more in terms of health and well-being in the future. Those are long term savings.

"Sustainable" for us means that very little, if any, input is required to keep a system going after the initial investment. For example, saving seeds from open pollinated vegetable varieties means that we don't have to purchase seeds or plants each year. Or, keeping a rooster will provide chicks for us whenever we need replacement layers, or meat birds.

The investment we make now in terms of time and money has an incalculable return on investment in the near and distant future, both for ourselves and future generations. For those that feel the planet is in need of saving: the solution is not in buying carbon credits, or driving an electric car, or eating lots of tofu. Just do what you can for your immediate environment. If everyone did the same, the global environment would improve substantially. Start by growing something that you like to eat--tomatoes? peppers? salad greens? Add a couple of chickens to your yard and they will eat your table scraps and bugs in your yard, and give you eggs to eat and manure to put on your garden. Less packaging goes to the landfill, less diesel for food transport is burned, and you will be producing a good bit of your own food.

Dreams and Goals

It has been our dream to have an efficient, "sustainable" means of food production. For us, it started with the garden and has expanded steadily over the past few years.

In an urban or suburban setting, it is difficult to imagine a completely sustainable mini-farm. It is not difficult to imagine a mini-farm part, just the sustainable, or completely self-sufficient part. But we can approach those goals.

On our mini-farm we have the animals we need to provide manure--chickens, ducks, geese, fish, and goats--so there is no shortage in this department. We have at least three or four compost bins and piles going at any given time, as well as some worm bins to turn the manure, garden trimmings, and kitchen wastes into usable compost. We plan to add a bin for black soldier fly larvae next year to help deal more quickly with the kitchen waste and to provide grubs for the chickens and fish.

The snag for us in becoming self-sufficient or completely sustainable is that we are having to bring in feed for the chickens and goats. While our poultry are as free-range as we can make them, there just isn't enough "range" to completely provide for them just yet. We need to find the balance between available forage and number of birds.

The ducks and geese forage for themselves with the occasional treats of leftover fruit and greens from the table, and an occasional sprinkle of grain.  Our chickens have free access to a couple of compost piles, so they get whatever leftovers from the kitchen they want along with all the grass, weeds, seeds, and bugs the can find, but they still need extra feed to maintain egg production. The goats are given grasses and hay from bales we purchase in addition to the garden and tree trimmings and other home-grown forage we provide. We grow sunflowers specifically for the purpose of feeding the seeds to the birds (and goats) and the rest of the plant to the goats. We  also have grown mangels specifically for goat feed.  Swiss Chard is a hit with just about everybody on the farm, except some of the people. Kale, too.

To be able to eat fish from our farm once a week throughout the year, we have to purchase fish food. The black soldier fly grubs will help here. We have also been experimenting with other available foods. Tilapia have been reported to eat raw scrambled eggs. We have not had success in getting ours to eat this, but will keep trying. We do grow duckweed to feed our tilapia, but not nearly enough. More pond to grow it in would be nice, but not practical at this point.

Now to the humans on the farm. We can grow for ourselves all of our fruit and vegetable needs. We have eggs, milk, meat and fish in enough quantity to meet our needs most of the time.  We can and do make our own yogurt, ice cream, and cheeses. But if we want beef, pork, or grains we have to buy them. Do we need them? No, at least not all of the time.  So it is entirely possible for us to eat well with only animal feed coming into our farm. This is one of our goals. We'll start with a week or two and go from there.

At this point, we don't make many trips to the grocery store. We buy our staple goods in bulk.With these we make our own bread, soaps, and soft drinks. We can make our own pasta, toothpaste, shampoo, cleaners, and deodorants. Does all this save money? It sure doesn't save time, and time is money, right? Well let's see.

We spend about $300 per month on animal feed, and about twice that much on staple goods (organic if possible). We have a family of eight. That works out to less than $1.50 per person per meal. Our food is real food, no additives or sedatives. No chemicals you can't pronounce. No GMO. Our homemade cleaning and personal care products are the same way. We spend less than two hours per person per day working the farm and the kitchen.

We have a way to go, but we're getting there. Some say that the journey is more enjoyable than the destination. We're having a lot of fun getting to where we want to be. If we can do it, so can you. Start small as we did, working your way up. Start now.

Say Cheese

We have just finished up another a batch of feta cheese.

Feta is a traditional Greek cheese. It is a brined, crumbly, curd cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. After it has aged (two weeks to a month, if we're patient) in its brine, we usually crumble it onto salads or into scrambled eggs. Sometimes we put it on pizza, or in/on other dishes. Others use it as a table cheese, in pastries, and in baking--spanakopita ("spinach pie") and tyropita ("cheese pie").

The first record of what is probably feta cheese, is from the Byzantine Empire. It was called "fresh" or "recent" cheese (prósphatos), and was described as brined and was associated with Crete. (Andrew Dalby, Siren feasts: A history of food and gastronomy in Greece, Routledge, 1996)

The current name "feta" comes from the Italian word fetta ("slice"), which was introduced into the Greek language in the 1600's.

Whatever it is called in other places, the Greeks claim feta as their own. They also lay claim to being the first cheese makers. Polyphemus,  son of Poseidon and one of the Cyclopes, is said to be the first cheese-maker. Homer describes Polyphemus' bowls and baskets full of cheeses in the Odyssey.

Traditionally, feta is made from sheep's or goat's milk or a mixture of the two. Today it is also commercially made with cow's milk. We, of course, use goat's milk. Here is a link to the basic recipe most like the one we use:


http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/feta.html

We also made ricotta from the whey. This will go into the lasagna planned for dinner next week.


As soon as we set up our cheese cave, we'll try making some Colby or other aged cheeses. What's a cheese cave, you ask? And how do you make one? A description of ours will soon follow--no digging or spelunking involved!

More Efficient Means More Self-Sufficient

We have several improvement projects currently in progress on our place. All these and almost all of the projects planned are to make our micro eco-systems more efficient or to make our work easier or more effective. Our goal is to work smarter, not harder. This will allow us to become a little more self-sufficient in the space and time we have available.

For example, we just finished making some portable fence sections so that we can keep the fowl away from some new crops we intend to plant this week. Most of the time a low visual barrier is sufficient to keep the water fowl out, but the chickens often require a bit more, especially in height. Prior to our getting some Marans chickens, our chickens rarely, if ever flew over our four-foot picket garden fence. The Marans, however, have taught everyone in the coop to fly up to the top of the fence and then to fly down on the other side. Time to either clip some wings or make the fences a little higher, or both. So we made some lightweight fence panels that hopefully will do the job.

A month or so ago, someone left the garden gate unlatched and the geese found their way into the garden and ate every single new transplant--cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli--down to the ground! So we replanted the garden rows. A week or so later, we had a day or two of gusty winds which blew the gate latch apart. The geese helped themselves again to every single new transplant, and some not-so-new plants. So we put a new, better latch on the gate and replanted the garden rows. So far, so good: humans are happy, geese not so much.

We also are putting fence around the patio (again to keep the fowl at bay) and new siding on the fish tanks that will be more aesthetically pleasing than the makeshift siding we have had (the siding keeps the sun off of the tank so that algae doesn't grow). Because the fish tanks and aquaponic grow beds are at the edge of the patio, this siding also will be incorporated into the fence around the patio. While we're at it, we will need to design and build a better solar water heating system for the fish--last winter the water stayed just a little too cool for them. They survived just fine, but they didn't thrive or grow much during the cooler months.

We'll be updating our worm bins from the plastic storage containers we started with years ago, to a single more permanent arrangement. The worms turn our kitchen scraps into compost in a very short time. They also become food for the chickens, ducks and fish (and when we go fishin’ they also make for good bait).

We also have plans to consolidate three compost bins into one larger bin over and around which we will put up wire and wood to house chickens. The idea is to let them turn the compost with their scratching, as they live mostly on the kitchen and garden trimmings we throw in for them. This seems to be a very efficient use of resources--time, space, and waste. We have also designed an automatic chicken waterer that we’ll be putting into service in the next few weeks--we have to do some plumbing first, but it will be worth it when we’re finished. Details will follow.

In addition to these projects we are putting in some raised beds in the front yard to increase our growing space. We're looking forward to the Spring when we'll be able to look out our dining room window over a sea of winter squash vines--green like a lawn, but with edible produce....

As soon as we have finished these projects, we’ll find some more. This is a great hobby. We encourage you to try it. Just as in any other hobby, start small and work up to the bigger projects.

Finding More Space

Last week we spent a few days cleaning out the garage and some corners and edges of the yard.

As far as the garage goes, the plan is to make plenty of room to set up an aquarium for a breeding colony of tilapia. We want to be able to raise our own on a continual and constant basis--more sustainability from home. If possible, we also want to have room to put in a fish tank to hold the rest of the tilapia during the cooler months where it is easier heat the tank, while we grow trout in the outside tanks. The trout need the cold water. We'll see what happens.

As for the yard, we cleared some brush and some wood piles and trimmed some trees so that we can have a little more planting space, or more space for our poultry. Between the new beds in the front yard and the space gained in the backyard, we'll be adding about four hundred square feet of growing beds. We'll also be adding some shelter for the ducks and geese for nest boxes and some pens for keeping them confined when we want or need them to be out from under foot.

Do you have a sunny lawn in your front yard? Why do you have a sunny lawn? You water, weed, fertilize, and mow. Why not put in edible landscape in that sunny spot in your front yard? With a strong hardscape (the structural elements: walkways, fences, planters, trellises, etc.) and the right choices of plants, you can water, weed, fertilize, just as you would with a lawn, but instead of mowing grass, you can harvest fruits and veggies that are good to eat.

Although we have had herbs and dwarf fruit trees in our front yard for several years, we are just now putting in raised beds and trellises for growing garden vegetables. We’ll be posting details along with photos of our experiment as it unfolds.

There are several good books available to show you how. Our current favorite is Yvette Soler’s The Edible Front Yard: The Mow-Less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden.

Pizza Dough

We’ve been making pizza every Friday night for about seven years now. Making pizza from scratch is how we really got started with our mini-farm and trying to become more self-sufficient. Read the details here. Several have asked recently about our pizza crust recipe. Thank you for the compliments.

The simple recipe, is nothing special beyond being shared by friends to get us started.We like it because it is easy and fast. We make ours with our counter-top mixer. We used to stir it by hand, but have decided to use the machine to make the job easier and a little less time-consuming.

Basic recipe made right in the mixer bowl:

1 Tbs. Yeast

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

3 cups of warm water

The salt and sugar help the yeast to get going. If your yeast is less than fresh, you may want to let it bloom, then:

Add 7 1/2 cups of all purpose flour. (See our variations below.)

Mix on low for a few minutes. Increase speed and mix until dough pulls away from the sides.

Transfer to an oiled bowl to rise until doubled. Turn out onto a floured counter and kneed for two or three minutes. Cut into three or four equal pieces depending on the thickness of crust you prefer.

Shape into rounds, place on a floured board and let rise while you are finishing the sauce and chopping and slicing the toppings. This step will allow the dough to relax and will make it easier to roll out.

Roll out each round of dough to desired thickness or diameter. Place on a round or square pan depending on your preference, or on what pans you have. We use a round Pampered Chef baking stone. Top with sauce, cheese and other toppings. At this point, depending on how you like your crust, you can let the dough rise again, or you can bake it right away.

Bake in a 500 degree oven until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden, approx. 12-15 minutes. We use a pizza stone on a middle or slightly higher rack. Experiment with cooking times, rack height and pans to get the crust just the way you like it. In our family, some like it thin and crispy, some like it thicker and floppy. We make some of each.

To get a crunchy-tender crust, America’s Test Kitchen recommends letting the dough rest in the fridge for up to three days... yes, days. Even though we make pizza every week, for some reason we haven’t yet remembered to make the dough on Tuesday night. Here is their video. 

Our variations on the basic recipe:

We like to soak our grains before cooking them to maximize nutrition.

These days, we also use whole wheat flour. You can use as much or as little as you like. You will have to adjust the amount of water or the total amount of flour depending on how much whole wheat flour you use. We find that substituting one cup of whole wheat for one cup of AP flour doesn’t usually require any further adjustment.

We also add about a tablespoon of dried summer savory, marjoram, or oregano to the dough to make an herbed crust. We will be trying a rosemary and olive crust soon. We also plan a sourdough crust, and one made with yogurt as the starter. We’ll let you know how those turn out.

Duck, Duck, Goose

Sorry about the corny title, but I couldn't resist.  Back in March we received a pair of Pilgrim Geese and a dozen Khaki Campbell ducks. A couple of months ago some good friends gave us seven Muscovies. We let these foragers roam over most of our quarter acre. We mowed the lawn back in March just before the ducks and geese arrived, and haven't had to mow since--they have done a great job keeping the grass cut! We do trim the edges, just for looks.  In addition to not having to mow our bit of lawn, we also do not have to provide very much extra feed. Finally a use for Bermuda Grass!

 About six weeks ago, one or two ducks began to lay eggs.

Ducks lay their eggs very early in the morning. We would find one or two on the ground each morning as we headed out to do the morning chores. This went on for a couple of weeks. Then, nothing. No duck eggs. We looked in all the usual places we had found eggs before--nothing. We looked in places we hadn't found eggs before--nothing. Someone remarked that this must be how the traditional Easter Egg Hunt began. We were happy that the eggs we were looking for were white rather than brown or some other hard-to-spot color--not that we actually spotted any. We wondered if the ducks had just quit laying, or if some critter had come into the yard and carried of the eggs. In the last couple of days one, just one, egg could be found in one of the usual places each day. What of the others?

Yesterday, we found a clutch of eggs under an antique "Old Blush" rose bush. White eggs are kinda hard to see when they are under a rose bush and there is a khaki colored duck covering them! No wonder we couldn't spot them. There are about 20 eggs in this clutch. We didn't want to disturb the nest so we just counted what we could see.

Mama Duck

We are very pleased that we may have a broody duck to incubate eggs and brood ducklings. The jury is still out, though, because she could still decide to get off of her clutch before they are ready to hatch. But we are hopeful. Typical of the Internet, we found websites that say the Campbells are not very reliable brooders, while other sites tend to claim the opposite. We'll be watching our Mama Duck closely, and if she decides not to sit on her clutch, we'll have the incubator ready to receive the eggs. Hopefully we can get at least a few to hatch this way if we have to.

We know that chickens who are brooded by their mothers tend to make good brooders themselves. We are confident that these ducklings (if Mama Duck will see it through) will be good brooders also, reducing the number of eggs we'll have to incubate and ducklings we'll have to brood ourselves. This will save us time, energy, and feed costs, but mostly it's just fun watching God's creation at work.

Buttercup, our Pilgrim Goose

We're also looking forward to our first clutch of our Muscovy Ducks, who are typically good brooders and tend to lay huge clutches. Probably we'll have to wait until the Spring since our Muscovies are young. We have harvested one of our Muscovy drakes. As noted in an earlier post, the meat is tender and tasty.

We'll also have to wait for Spring to get eggs from our geese, Wesley and Buttercup. More on that when the time comes.

Storing Seeds

What if you don't use all of the seeds in a packet you bought for this year's garden? Should you listen to the advice of the seed companies and toss the extras and buy fresh seeds in the Spring next year? Nope. Seeds will remain viable on average about three years, maybe a little longer if you are careful to store them in ideal conditions.

Conditions a seed needs for germination--moisture and warmth--are the very things that can shorten the life or viability of a seed in storage. Dry and cool conditions will extend a seed's shelf life.

We store most of our seeds in jars with tight-fitting lids to keep moisture away from our stored seeds. Plastic food storage bags will work, too.

The refrigerator is the best place to store seeds. In order to dry out the air in the jar and seed packets, place your seeds in the fridge with their jar or other container open for a few hours (even over night). Remember to put the lid on tightly once the air around the seeds has dried out. Avoid storing your seeds in that really cold spot in your fridge that sometimes freezes.

You could also place a desiccant packet (silica gel; from vitamin or medicine bottles, etc.) or you could make a small packet of powdered milk wrapped in three of four layers of facial tissue. Replace this every six months or so.

When you are ready to plant your stored seeds, take them out of the fridge, but don't open the container until the seeds come to room temperature. This is to avoid condensation which will make your seeds stick together (those little seeds are hard enough to control when dry) and may reduce shelf life if you store them again for next year.

If you are gathering and storing seeds from your own plants, let them air dry on a piece of paper towel or newspaper for about a week before putting them in cold storage.  They will probably stick to the paper, so you may be able to simply roll up the paper towel, fold over the ends, label it, and store it. Keep good records: variety, date, etc.

Even though you are careful to do all the right things to store seeds, some will not germinate the next year. Some varieties (corn, some onions, parsnips, for examples) have notoriously low germination rates. Some seeds may only store well for a year at most (onions). To make up for the lower germination rate over time, plant a few more seeds in each row or hill.

Roasting Summer Heat

We've had some HOT days on the farm the past couple of weeks. High temperatures have been over 100 degrees, but have mostly stayed in the 90's.  Some of our fruit trees and crops got a little wilted and a few leaves were even scorched by the heat even though they had been watered well. For example, our kiwi vines suffered some scorched leaves even though they get the “duck pond” water every morning. Our “duck pond” is a 20 gallon wash tub. Each morning we empty the water that is left from the day before out under one of two kiwi vines growing nearby. The water is yummy for the plants, since our birds “hop in” for a quick swim a couple of times a day leaving behind, well, their “leavin’s.”

A Khaki Campbell a few days old.

Because of the heat, our chickens have slowed down their laying, but our young (Khaki Campbell) ducks have just started laying for us! We’re getting an egg or two per day right now, looking forward to the days just ahead when we’ll be getting a  dozen per week. What do we do with duck eggs? Well, so far we have used them just like chicken eggs, although their taste is just a wee bit stronger. The duck eggs so far have been about the same size as the chicken eggs, but the yoke is bigger and the white is proportionately smaller.

We roasted a Muscovy drake a few nights ago for dinner. On a Muscovy, the meat is all dark meat, tender and tasty. We had heard that it tastes somewhat like beef, a fact confirmed by our children. One of our more finicky eaters exclaimed, “That’s goooood!” Therefore, Muscovy is definitely on the list of keeper livestock. They are a good meat bird, and don’t make any noise to speak of, unlike our Campbells, and like our Campbells, are prolific layers.

In the garden and “potting shed,” we’ve been seeding for the fall crops--broccoli, beets, lettuce, cabbage, chard, peas, etc. Still have some more to do, and should have been finished with this last month.

Because we have had terrible “luck” trying to grow veggies in containers (can’t keep the soil in the pot moist enough, for one thing), we made some “self-watering” containers out of five-gallon buckets to grow some tomatoes and peppers on our patio--maybe with some protection from the cold, we can extend the growing season a little. (Fresh tomatoes at Christmas, anyone?)  The water we’re using in these containers is nutrient-rich water from our aquaponic system.

This drawing is from the book, Urban Farming (pg. 142), which contains some great ideas for growing things in small places.

We’ll report in a month or so on how this container experiment is turning out, and offer some instructions on how to build and use one.

Easy Sauerkraut

We like sauerkraut, but we don't care for the vinegary, mushy, stringy kind found in the market in cans or jars. Store-bought, canned sauerkraut has been pasteurized and therefore, the good bacteria (probiotic) and enzymes have been destroyed as has the vitamin C, and other goodies.

We make our own for the better nutrition, but mostly because we like it. It is a little bit sour, and the cabbage is still crisp and tastes like cabbage. If you like sauerkraut at all, or cabbage, once you see how easy it is to make, you'll want to try making some yourself. Once you taste this sauerkraut, you'll want to make some more.

At harvest time, we make a big batch in a crock, but we also make small batches in quart jars when we can find good, organic cabbage (on sale) in the market. Non-organic cabbage that has been sprayed to kill insects or weeds may be slow to ferment or not ferment at all. We use either green or red cabbage or a combination of the two.

All you need to make your own small batch is a head of cabbage, some sea salt, a quart jar with a tight fitting lid, a sturdy bowl, and something with which to pound the cabbage, like a wooden meat tenderizing mallet.

Here's a simple recipe from Nourishing Traditions (page 92):

Sauerkraut

Makes 1 quart

1 medium cabbage, cored and shredded
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 tablespoon sea salt
4 tablespoons whey (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt)

In a bowl, mix cabbage with caraway seeds, sea salt and whey. Pound with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer for about 10 minutes to release juices. Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down firmly with a pounder or meat hammer until juices come to the top of the cabbage. The top of the cabbage should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage. The sauerkraut may be eaten immediately, but improves with age.

Notes: We don't always add the caraway seeds. You can easily make your own whey and in the process, sour cream, or cream cheese. See Making Whey.

Here is an excerpt from a great little book on making sauerkraut and other lacto-fermented veggies we recommend:

"Attention was focused on the nutritional importance of sauerkraut when, in the 18th century, sailors often suffered from scurvy, a vitamin C deficiency. Captain Cook sailed around the world, carrying barrels of sauerkraut, not losing a single man to scurvy during his three-year voyage"

From Making Sauerkraut and Pickled Vegetables at Home: Creative Recipes for Lactic Fermented Food to Improve Your Health (Natural Health Guide), pg. 9.

Remember:  Unlike some others on the Internet, we will never, ever, ever recommend a book, product, practice, or process that we ourselves have not purchased or used consistently and with good, consistent results.

Making Whey

Use homemade yogurt or quality commercial yogurt--be sure the label says "live" or "active" cultures, or "cultured in the cup." Line a large strainer with a dish towel and set it over a bowl. Pour in a quart or more of yogurt and let stand at room temperature for several hours. The whey will run out of the yogurt into the bowl. What you have left in the strainer is thicker yogurt (Greek Style). If you tie up the towel (careful, don't squeeze the yogurt!) and suspend it over a container and let it continue to drip, soon you'll have something close to sour cream (we use it just like sour cream), if you let the bag drip until it stops dripping, you'll have cream cheese. In the fridge, the cheese will keep for a month and the whey will keep for six months. We always eat it up long before that.

Feta Cheese

We have just finished up a batch of feta cheese. Feta is a traditional Greek cheese. It is a brined, crumbly, curd cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. After it has aged (two weeks to a month, if we're patient) in its brine, we usually crumble it onto salads into scrambled eggs. Sometimes we put it on pizza, or in/on other dishes. Others use it as a table cheese, in pastries, and in baking--spanakopita ("spinach pie") and tyropita ("cheese pie").

The first record of what is probably feta cheese, is from the Byzantine Empire. It was called "fresh" or "recent" cheese (prósphatos), and was described as brined and was associated with Crete. (Andrew Dalby, Siren feasts: A history of food and gastronomy in Greece, Routledge, 1996)

The current name "feta" comes from the Italian word fetta ("slice"), which was introduced into the Greek language in the 1600's.

Whatever it is called in other places, the Greeks claim feta as their own. They also lay claim to being the first cheese makers. Polyphemus,  son of Poseidon and one of the Cyclopes, is said to be the first cheese-maker. Homer describes Polyphemus' bowls and baskets full of cheeses in the Odyssey.

Traditionally, feta is made from sheep's or goat's milk or a mixture of the two. Today it is also commercially made with cow's milk. We, of course, use goat's milk. Here is a link to the basic recipe most like the one we use


http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/feta.html

so you can see how easy it is to make or, in case you want to make some for yourself. 

As soon as we set up our cheese cave, we'll try making some Colby or other aged cheeses.

Homemade and Homegrown

Some of our friends have wondered why we spend so much time growing and making our own food and other things we need and use.

 Some have guessed that it is to save money, since it certainly does not save time. Others have surmised that we do what we do for the satisfaction of being self-sufficient. Still others have suggested that we are "health food nuts" and want to control what goes into our food.

To one degree or another, all these assumptions are accurate. Sometimes we save a little money by making our own. Take baking your own bread for example. You can buy pounds of quality grain or flour for the same price of a loaf of the best store-bought bread. Adding in the rest of the ingredients and the cost of baking the loaves, homemade bread is much less expensive (less than one dollar per loaf). It does take about 25 minutes of attention/work to make that loaf. If you value your time at say, $10 per hour, and you make only one loaf at a time (which is hardly ever the case), then you have a 5 dollar loaf. However, what value do you place on the satisfaction, the unbeatable taste of warm bread with butter, and the comforting aroma throughout the house?

We do want to control what goes into our food and into our immediate environment, our home, but we don't consider ourselves to be "health-food nuts" because we have not subscribed to any of the various food fads that come and go, but rather we prefer to go back to the diet and ways of preparing food that have endured for millennia.To put it simply, if we can't prepare the food or its ingredients in our own kitchen (or backyard), we don't want to eat it. Many ingredients (the ones that are difficult to pronounce) in our store-bought food not only are not able to be made at home, but also are not available to the public for purchase. What does that tell us? Does "toxic" come to mind?

Our neighbor, who came to the United States from the "Old Country" after World War II, put it this way: "If the farmer doesn't grow it, the farmer doesn't eat it." We don't have the room to grow everything we eat (though we are getting closer each year to that goal), so we make careful choices about the food we buy. (First question: Could we grow it or make it if we had the space and time?)

Here is a partial list of what we currently grow for ourselves on our quarter-acre--fruits (apricot, apple, peach, plum, blackberry, raspberry, kiwi, grape, lemon, orange, mandarin, lime, goji), nuts (pecan, almond), vegetables (mostly the usual favorites--tomato, squash, cucumber, eggplant, peppers, cabbage, beets, onions, garlic, chives, shallot, greens, carrots), herbs (too many to name), meat (poultry), eggs (chicken, duck), dairy (goats), and fish (tilapia).

If we can do it, so can you. We didn't start out big, we started small and added one or two things at a time.

Pickled Spicy Carrots

Spicy Pickled Carrots

Denise just recently made some "Pickled Spicy Carrots." These yummy, crunchy, tangy, and hot (from jalapeno peppers) treats are not made with vinegar. They are fermented (similar in process to making sauerkraut or kosher pickles), therefore they have the same probiotics (beneficial bacteria) as sauerkraut and yogurt, and maybe some extras.

We grew the onions and peppers in these jars, but we purchased the carrots. Time involved: the time it takes to cut up the veggies; put them in jars; add water, salt, optional herbs and spices, and if you have it, whey.  Two or three days days on the counter, two weeks in the fridge and these will be ready to enjoy.

The Recipe

 The veggies in this recipe should be organic. The goal is to grow the lacto-bacteria to ferment (pickle) the carrots, etc. These friendly bacteria are ever-present in and on the veggies. Pecticides and chemical fertilizers kill them, as does chlorinated water--so use filtered, unchlorinated water.

• 3 cups of peeled and sliced carrots (slice on the diagonal to increase surface area)
• half of a medium onion peeled, quartered and sliced
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper (whole, pierced with a fork; halved length-wise; or sliced--if you slice, only include the seeds of you want it really hot. Wear gloves)
• fresh cilantro (to taste)
• garlic cloves (to taste) whole, crushed, or sliced
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt
• 4 tablespoons of whey (see below how to make whey; if not available use an additional tablespoon of salt)
• 1/2 cup of filtered water

Mix the vegetables and pack them into a wide-mouthed quart mason jar. Mix water with salt and whey and pour over the vegetables adding more water if necessary to cover the carrot mixture. The top of the vegetables should be at least one inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to the fridge.

 

Making Whey

Use homemade yogurt or quality commercial yogurt--be sure the label says "live" or "active" cultures, or "cultured in the cup." Line a large strainer with a dish towel and set it over a bowl. Pour in a quart or more of yogurt and let stand at room temperature for several hours. The whey will run out of the yogurt into the bowl. What you have left in the strainer is thicker yogurt (Greek Style). If you tie up the towel (careful, don't squeeze the yogurt!) and suspend it over a container and let it continue to drip, soon you'll have something close to sour cream (we use it just like sour cream), if you let the bag drip until it stops dripping, you'll have cream cheese. In the fridge, the cheese will keep for a month and the whey will keep for six months. We always eat it up long before that.

A Pretty Good Week!

This past week was a pretty good week on our mini-farm.

 We picked enough tomatoes to make and can 40 quarts of tomato sauce. Our goal is to have put up enough sauce to make our weekly pizza and also spaghetti or lasagna a couple of times a month and ketchup and barbeque sauce. We still have several quarts to go, but there are still plenty of tomatoes left in the garden.

 Picked peaches and blackberries. Oh, and some eggplant--which will become baba ganoush for a snack today.

One evening we dined on hot pastrami sandwiches made from a brisket of beef we corned and smoked, served on homemade rye rolls, topped with tomatoes from our garden, and enjoyed with our homemade dill pickles and a cold glass of our goats' milk.

 Our chickens are not laying as well as they have been. Perhaps the heat is affecting them. Our ducks should begin laying pretty soon--the girls are looking forward to baking with duck eggs, and the boys are looking forward to the girls' baking with or without duck eggs.

The tilapia have had a hatch. Of course, we had just purchased some fry to grow out. We plan to have fish tacos in the fall when we harvest the tilapia and cabbage.

All in all, it was a good week. We are looking forward to what this week will bring.

Just a Note to Begin

The purpose of this weblog is not so much to brag on our accomplishments, but to share our experiences (positive and negative) in hopes that some will be encouraged to take up gardening and perhaps go beyond the hobby to become more self-sufficient.

We have been developing our mini-farm for a few years now. We try to add a little bit to our food production each year. This past year we added ducks and geese--for eggs and meat. The year before that we added tilapia and aquaponics.

We encourage you to try your hand at growing your own food. If you already enjoy gardening, try something you haven't tried before--not just a new variety vegetable or fruit, but rather try a new way of growing food. What do you eat? What kind of time and space can you devote to producing it for yourself.

Don't jump in all at once. If you haven't done it before, please don't till up your lawn and put in a thousand square feet of new growing space. Start small and work your way up. Choose just one food you really like, see what it takes to produce it for yourself. That's how we got started, and that's how we keep going.