The Front Porch Swing

[heartsizedfarm]

Tonight I'm cooking whitefish, spinach from the garden and rice. Watching out the kitchen window as my husband tries to round up the chickens and steer them towards the coop. Doesn't get any better than this.

 

[jmoeller]

I'm a member of 'seeds of the month' and they mail me 4 kinds of seed every month.. well, I've been growing fennel thanks to them.. and I have not the foggiest what to do with the stuff

I used the fronds today to make tea. It was good but a bit too strong for me. I am used to drink herbal teas with fennel, but never straight fennel tea. The fennel never really formed a bulb, so I am just using the bottoms of the stalks where the bulb would be.... going to sautee it with some mixed carrots (rainbow mix) and some snow peas. We'll see if it's edible

My garden is full of stuff I can't preserve.. or well, don't know how to. What the heck do you do with 20 endive plants?

Y'alls stock and meat adventures reminded me of my abundance. I'd give it away, but I grow without any sort of pesticides (even the organic ones) so it's not 'pretty' produce. And the endive is a tad bitter due to the heat. I don't mind, but others might.

It's funny you should say that. I am always self conscious about what I grow too. I know I shouldn't be, but I have heard and seen so many people throw good food away for what I feel like is cosmetic reasons. People can be so picky. I feel like if I give someone some odd shaped cucumbers or apples that haven't been sprayed or something along those lines they will think some thing is wrong with it. I really really appreciate that so many of the front porchers seem to be a little more practical. Thank you all for that I finally feel like maybe I'm not so odd after all.

Ok may be I'm still odd, but I'm not alone.
As far as what to do with endive and fennel.... haven't a clue, but my garden is also full of stuff I'm not really sure what to do with.

 

[LindaB220]

Take the fennel bulb and slice it up across the bulb like you would to cut onion slices. Use it raw in salads. Saute it and use it as a side dish.

Again first link that I liked....

http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/fennel-how-to-use-it/

deb

Yes, deb, I like it too. I've always known I wouldn't like fennel because I'm not a great proponent of anise flavor. But to find out that it's different cooked, well, that just knocks my socks off. I have seed that I need to plant. The idea of using fennel fronds in place of sage, along with the chopped up bulb in cornbread dressing sounds great. Gonna try it.

 

[Tomtommom]

It's funny you should say that. I am always self conscious about what I grow too. I know I shouldn't be, but I have heard and seen so many people throw good food away for what I feel like is cosmetic reasons. People can be so picky. I feel like if I give someone some odd shaped cucumbers or apples that haven't been sprayed or something along those lines they will think some thing is wrong with it. I really really appreciate that so many of the front porchers seem to be a little more practical. Thank you all for that I finally feel like maybe I'm not so odd after all.

Ok may be I'm still odd, but I'm not alone.
As far as what to do with endive and fennel.... haven't a clue, but my garden is also full of stuff I'm not really sure what to do with.

I pick caterpillars off my veggies... part of growing it. I fear the uninitiated would flip out and toss the whole bunch in the trash. That would break my heart... I'd rather give it to the chickens then.

I try to live in balance with nature. Everything has it's place. I don't think it's 'organic' to kill off every bug you don't like. They have their place in the circle of it all. God wouldn't have made them if they had no purpose. Some years I lose all my squash to bugs, other years I am drowing in it. It's nature *shrug* There's usually plenty to feed us and the bugs/animals.

This fall I had picked too many pecans in our local park.. so I gave them to the squirrels that live in my yard. Well, they planted a bunch for later. Later never came and now I am getting pecan seedlings everywhere

Awesome! I will move them to the front yard when they're a bit bigger.

 

[Tomtommom]

Belgian endive is wonderful. I can never eat enough of that... sadly, not what I grew. I grew this:
Guess it's also known as escarole. I mash it into potatoes with onions and bacon and a dash of vinegar.. a bit too hardy for 80-90 degree days. I suppose I could cut it, wash it and freeze it.... My mom used to boil the stuff with a little corn starch to thicken but BLEGH.

 

[jmoeller]

I pick caterpillars off my veggies... part of growing it. I fear the uninitiated would flip out and toss the whole bunch in the trash. That would break my heart... I'd rather give it to the chickens then.

I try to live in balance with nature. Everything has it's place. I don't think it's 'organic' to kill off every bug you don't like. They have their place in the circle of it all. God wouldn't have made them if they had no purpose. Some years I lose all my squash to bugs, other years I am drowing in it. It's nature *shrug* There's usually plenty to feed us and the bugs/animals.

This fall I had picked too many pecans in our local park.. so I gave them to the squirrels that live in my yard. Well, they planted a bunch for later. Later never came and now I am getting pecan seedlings everywhere

Awesome! I will move them to the front yard when they're a bit bigger.

I use floating row covers to keep bugs to a minimum on stuff like squash, pumpkin, cucumber, and potatoes. It works pretty well. I also don't use pesticides or herbicides. If I'm going to go to all the trouble gardening I would like to get better quality produce than I can get in a store, even if it is a little odd looking at times. Boy would it be great to have a pecan tree in my yard.

 

[bruceha2000]

Aha! Thanks. I bet a little bit might be good in my omlets.

Leeks aren't necessarily sandy but as they are tight leaved, any dirt gets trapped in the overlap as they grow. So yes, wash it carefully. Plus, you use the white part of the leek, not the dark green (and tough) leaves.

Sorry for the multiple posts, I am trying to catch up and guess I want to hear my voice ... ha, ha!

I did the same earlier when I was on the porch eating lunch. Didn't have time to read all the way through so posted as I went.

Here is a picture of what my DH is in love with. The six top burners are really nice, 2 of them are high heat burners. It has a broiler, a convection oven and a regular oven.

I looked it up thinking it was perhaps an antique. Nope, that there is a $7,000 modern cooker. Interesting that the oven is small given it is a modern appliance. Rebekah pretty much demanded we put in an electric wall oven. The oven in the 1931 Glenwood IS small but I think it works quite well. She says it doesn't hold temp evenly enough. It doesn't depend on electricity AT ALL! Crumb/grease tray under the distinctly NOT original gas adjusters

) Storage drawer below that. Oven on the top right, broiler below. The top of the wall oven will be the same height as the top of the '31 oven with a microwave above that. This picture is from the house listing, I cut back the shelf that was WAY too low over the burners. Then we gutted the whole building last spring through fall after finding all the rot the prior owners hid.

From what I've stumbled across on the Internet, "raw" cat food recipes are supposedly based on the notion that the "perfect" diet for a cat is whole, warm, freshly killed mice, but I don't think I've read one "recipe" for home-made raw cat food that involves tossing the cat a few live mice the way one feeds certain other pets ...

I don't know about that. Rebekah's cat has killed a couple of mice and barfed up the guts after he disemboweled the rodent and ate only that part.

It's funny you should say that. I am always self conscious about what I grow too. I know I shouldn't be, but I have heard and seen so many people throw good food away for what I feel like is cosmetic reasons. People can be so picky. I feel like if I give someone some odd shaped cucumbers or apples that haven't been sprayed or something along those lines they will think some thing is wrong with it. I really really appreciate that so many of the front porchers seem to be a little more practical. Thank you all for that I finally feel like maybe I'm not so odd after all.

Ok may be I'm still odd, but I'm not alone.

I will be picky at the grocery store because I am paying good money for something that should not look like it came from a no pesticide farm when it didn't. Plus, a lot of time, especially with fruit, those 'blemishes' are the damage done by people who shove a finger or thumb into it to see if it is ripe hen put it back because, really, they have no idea how to tell. Guaranteed rot starting in the next 24 hours.

Now I would NOT turn my nose up at something that didn't look 'pretty' because it was grown organically. You just cut out the parts that are bug nibbled.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Leeks aren't necessarily sandy but as they are tight leaved, any dirt gets trapped in the overlap as they grow. So yes, wash it carefully. Plus, you use the white part of the leek, not the dark green (and tough) leaves. I looked it up thinking it was perhaps an antique. Nope, that there is a $7,000 modern cooker. Interesting that the oven is small given it is a modern appliance. Rebekah pretty much demanded we put in an electric wall oven. The oven in the 1931 Glenwood IS small but I think it works quite well. She says it doesn't hold temp evenly enough. It doesn't depend on electricity AT ALL! Crumb/grease tray under the distinctly NOT original gas adjusters ) Storage drawer below that. Oven on the top right, broiler below. The top of the wall oven will be the same height as the top of the '31 oven with a microwave above that. This picture is from the house listing, I cut back the shelf that was WAY too low over the burners. Then we gutted the whole building last spring through fall after finding all the rot the prior owners hid. I don't know about that. Rebekah's cat has killed a couple of mice and barfed up the guts after he disemboweled the rodent and ate only that part. I will be picky at the grocery store because I am paying good money for something that should not look like it came from a no pesticide farm when it didn't. Plus, a lot of time, especially with fruit, those 'blemishes' are the damage done by people who shove a finger or thumb into it to see if it is ripe hen put it back because, really, they have no idea how to tell. Guaranteed rot starting in the next 24 hours. Now I would NOT turn my nose up at something that didn't look 'pretty' because it was grown organically. You just cut out the parts that are bug nibbled.

I think I would really get on well with Rebekah. Not so sure about Rebekah's cat.

 

[Tomtommom]

I will be picky at the grocery store because I am paying good money for something that should not look like it came from a no pesticide farm when it didn't. Plus, a lot of time, especially with fruit, those 'blemishes' are the damage done by people who shove a finger or thumb into it to see if it is ripe hen put it back because, really, they have no idea how to tell. Guaranteed rot starting in the next 24 hours.

Now I would NOT turn my nose up at something that didn't look 'pretty' because it was grown organically. You just cut out the parts that are bug nibbled.

Full price, yup, I want the good stuff.

If it's marked down, gimme the bruised stuff!

I've had some amazing hauls from the local grocer. I help them, they help me. We all win.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

The Mock Orange is blooming in the duck run outside my bedroom window. It smells CRAZY good! I'm going to hyperventilate sniffing it up.