Garden Update Pictures

Raised bed with peppers, marigolds, and onions (you have to look for them a bit), as well as the odd volunteer tomato that we allowed to grow.  The onions have done great, and we'll have to do some research to learn how to properly cure and store them.  The peppers always seem to start off very slowly but have come on strongly in the last week.  I think we're going to have a pepper roasting party pretty soon.  We may then freeze the peppers or store/can them in some olive oil and garlic, again more research is needed here. 

North Dakota, and the Red River Valley especially, is known for its potatoes, so it's no surprise that they've done well here.  Hopefully there are a bunch of happy little spuds under there when we go to unearth them.  We're also going to do a bit of research to see how to cure the potatoes so that they store longer.

One row of apple trees, with zucchini and cucumbers in between, and white and purple sweet alyssum flowers on the end to encourage visits from beneficial insects. 

A slightly wider angle shot showing both rows of apple trees with veggies between them.  The extremely unruly tomato (more on this later) raised bed box is off to the left.

I'm Watching You

I wasn't going to post this picture since it makes me feel self conscious about the cracked and peeling paint on the window trim.  This is the window on the south facing mud room and it takes a beating from the elements.  Our windows are old, single paned, and let in a lot of summer heat and winter cold, so replacing them with something super energy efficient is on the radar, but windows are expensive. 

Hiatus Over

Good morning loyal readers.  It's been a few weeks since my last post and I'm feeling guilty about not writing more frequently.  We've been super busy here at the old North Dakota homestead: canning, making bread and butter pickles (more to follow in another post), tending the garden, staying cool in the summer heat and humidity, pulling lots of weeds, making gluten free cookies (more to follow in another post also), tackling some big yard projects, taking puppy to more obedience classes, and traveling for work, so it's been wing dinger of a busy summer so far.

I'm hoping that a couple of cute puppy pictures will whet your appetite and tantalize your senses until I get some additional posts up.  

A sleepy Shaak Ti after a hard days work, which actually involved no work at all, just playing. 

Puppy using her new toy (from the sale bin at Petco where we get many of our toys) as a pillow during a recent sudden napping attack. 

Guest Posting

Here's part two of my guest posting at the From Blah To Ta-Daa blog.

Digging in the Dirt: Part 2

Special thanks to our good friend Sara for the invite to guest post on their lovely blog.

Tater Tot Casserole/Hot Dish

So this recipe is closer to the antithesis of the recipes that I normally prepare, but it is a local delicacy.  Local delicacy yes, local food, probably not.  OK, the only local ingredients are the spinach (it is quite a bit of spinach at least) and probably the Tater Tots.  You've got to assume with all the potatoes grown around here that some bits and pieces of these tots are local.

Someone with Minnesota or North Dakota roots can pipe in and vouch for the passion that local folks display for their Tater Tot Casserole.

Though there are many variations of Tater Tot Casserole, they usually involve some ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, (obviously) Tater Tots, and a heavy dose of cheese.  Since Alycia does not consume the meat we replace it with some mixed veggies and about a pound of spinach, so it's sort of not that bad for you. Sort of.

You Should be Careful When It's Hot Outside

If you spend too long napping in the hot summer sun, your face might start to melt...

Guest Posting

Our very good friend and fellow awesome blogger Sara, and the other kind folks, from the From Blah to Ta-Daa blog have kindly allowed me to guest post again. 

Digging in the Dirt: Part 1

Strawberry Jam Insanity

Since my burgeoning strawberry fields are still in their first full year, they aren't quite up to the significant production I demand of them.  And since I was gone during a critical stretch where the berry box needed to be shielded from marauding birds (with some bird netting), my own personal strawberry production was decidedly sub par this year.  How oh how was I going to make strawberry jam this year?  Well, Alycia and I were going to have to be proactive (not one of my stronger characteristics) go and fetch some berries. 

Alycia's Mom had been trying to engineer a trip from Cavalier, ND up to Altona, CA (the CA here means Canada, not California) where they've been strawberry picking before, but I adamantly said "NO!!!"  I always buy American when I can, especially my berries and my bicycles.  As luck would have it that very day, an ad was posted in the City section of the Grand Forks Herald that said "U-Pick Strawberries" and had a phone number for a local farm just West of town where we could go pick berries.

And pick berries we did.  We picked three full flats of berries, with each of us filling a five quart bucket about three times, probably around 20 to 25 pounds of strawberries. 

The third flat of berries and my trusty cauldron.  I'm pretty sure that I was a warlock or shaman or stirrer of giant industrial soups in a previous life, I really like my giant pots/cauldrons/vats.  Strange....

To say that the strawberry picking was mosquito-intensive would be the understatement of the year.  We hung in there and picked despite the swarms of skeeters and now have some delicious strawberry jam-esque substance to show for it.  I say "jam-esque" because I got a little too loosey goosey with the jam recipe and it didn't set like it should have.  (hanging head in canning failure shame)

Note to self - Jam isn't like canned applesauce, pears, or pasta sauce.  You can't just mix up a big vat/cauldron of it, you need to follow the recipe.