Pork Satay

OK, dinner. How'd we do, locally speaking? Before dinner our happy hour was accompanied by a quick bruschetta with bread from Clasen's Bakery, tomatoes from Flyte Family Farm, goat cheese from Dreamfarm and basil from our own garden. The pork was from Pecatonica Valley Farm, the bulk of the peanut sauce was from Yumbutter, the spices on the pork were from Penzey's, the cucumber and tomato in the dubious raita were from Flyte Family Farm, the Hopalicious was from Ale Asylum, local producers or businesses all. The rice, yogurt and limes were, unfortunately "not from around here" (imagine that in the best redneck lawman voice you can muster.)

They're Here!

They're here. But, honestly, they haven't been too bad yet. Normally spring, the brief season of comfortable temperatures and bug-free outdoorsing is suddenly immolated in the sticky, sweltering mess that is summer. Not so this year, at least in my yard. Instead I've been swatting at some weird little flies I haven't seen before. Maybe they've been eating the mosquitoes. One can only hope.

Strangest Kale Recipe Yet!

So, for some forgotten reason I'm growing kale this year, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale, to be exact. It's growing fantastically, hasn't shown any signs of insect activity and they're really attractive plants.



The problem, though, is that we don't eat a lot of kale. It's always just been that stuff they use to dress up the seafood case at the store. Or, on a few rare occasions--one, maybe--I've put it in soup. So having broken the gardening rule that we're only going to grow what we'll eat I went in search of recipes to use that stuff up. Naturally, there is a plethora of soup recipes online. Many pair it with beans and for reasons I'll go into at another time, we don't need another beans-n-greens opportunity. Then I stumbled on what I think is a rather unique recipe: Baked Kale Chips. I know, it sounds completely crazy but they really are good. They won't last until tomorrow and I'm starting to worry I didn't plant enough kale. I made them using the method in the recipe and sprinkled them with Barbecue 3000 blend from Penzey's and some salt. The results aren't pretty, but they're delicious! Maybe it's just that if you put enough olive oil and salt on anything it becomes edible, but I like the slightly cabbagey flavor they have. Next time I make them, I'll hold off on some of the oil and salt. They shrink when they cook so underseasoning them at the beginning is probably a good idea.

Garden Update

I'm glad I didn't commit to any sort of schedule for posting about the garden. It really is true that the more there is to report, the less time there is to write. Over the last week or so I've gathered a few images of the more interesting--to me, at least--developments in the garden.

The collards are getting huge so I think I'll cook some this week. I'm planning on cooking some of the Jacob's Cattle Gasless (!) beans I grew last year to go with them. I don't feel like having black-eyed peas this time.



And speaking of beans there are about a half dozen bush varieties coming along nicely. Some will be consumed as green beans (even the purple ones), some will be shelled and some will be dried.



I took that picture only a week or so ago and they are probably twice as big now. A few have been nibbled by beetles but they look great and most are starting to flower. The White Dixie butter beans I planted later when the Red Calypso failed are really taking it in the shorts, though.

Again, in relation to beans in general, I tried escarole for the first time this year. I make the bean connection because the only recipe I've tried with it so far paired it with canellini. This is the second of two plants. It's gotten huge since I took this picture last week so I hope it's still good when I cook it this Thursday.



On the other sided of the garden the garlic has got me really excited. Last year since it was the first time we had the plot we spring planted the garlic. Consequently it didn't have as long to grow. The resulting bulbs were tasty but probably on the small side. Gambling on getting the same plot this year, we planted this crop of garlic last fall. The plants are huge and robust. I hope that's reflected in the harvest!



Another exciting new plant in the garden is the fava bean. I had them for the first time at the co-conspirator's cousin's house in Portland last year and decided I'd try growing them. I planted them first thing this spring since they're supposed to be a cold weather crop. They came up and then stalled for about a month. Then they bloomed, the flowers turned a disturbing wilted black color and I worried. It turns out that's just what they do. Now pods are forming and some are already quite big. Unfortunately I did what I usually do. I planted all the seeds at once and then stood back and thought "It might have been a good idea to plant those at intervals." I'll soon be researching what to do with excess favas.



Like most everything else, the tomatoes hit their stride this week and doubled in size. This year I'm going to try pruning and staking them. I've got some varieties I'm really excited to try--'San Marzano,' 'Tasty Evergreen,' 'Hillbilly Potato Leaf,' 'Silvery Fir Tree,' and 'Cherokee Purple' among them.



The garden's looking great right now. We've got the weeds under control, everything that can be mulched is mulched, and some things are being harvested even as others are just coming up. We're off to a good start and the Solstice is upon us. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season shapes up, especially a couple of "spicy" experiments I'm trying!

WTF Bird Encounter

I've decided I have a weird inner clock. Or maybe it's just that it's tuned to the year and not the day. In any case, this time of year I find myself springing (yes, I don't exaggerate) from bed as early as five A.M. looking for something to do. As I've discovered this is an excellent time to make ambient sound recordings since traffic is light and few others are about I've been visiting favorite haunts in order to capture the aural essence of summer to tide me over in the less sunny months to come.

This morning I headed out in the green thunderstorm light to Frautschi Point in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve only to find this on the street.



I presume it was a hawk of some sort and just assumed it's a Red-Tailed. Popping on the hazard lights and grabbing the camera I managed to take a few decidedly poor pictures of the scene. Sorry, but conditions were not ideal. Anyway, just adjacent to that stretch of road were two of these guys.



As I was sitting there watching, the crane decided to visit the raptor!



Curious? Warning? Dumb? I can only guess. In any case, the encounter apparently agitated both participants enough that one of them left.



On viewing this photo later, I had second thoughts about my Red-tailed Hawk identification/assumption. Hence, the WTF title of this post, meaning "Who's That Flying?" That's what it's always meant, right?

Germination Station

Last year we put in most of the garden by planting seeds directly in the ground. A few plants, like tomatoes, peppers and parsley were purchased at the Westside Community Market or received from my Garden Guru. This year I decided to start some seeds indoors on my own from my current supply. I've started seeds in the past with wildflowers and even hostas back when Shady Character was all the rage on the Internet. Back then I had a good sized propagation bed on a table in the basement complete with a heating cable. This time around I'm using the plastic-enclosed shelf I built for my orchids which are greatly reduced in number now. Fluorescent fixtures provide the light and some warmth in the enclosed space. I've also got a fluorescent fixture over part of our work bench lighting some pots on a small heat mat I purchased as well as some pots that that are doing just fine without any bottom heat. I'm looking forward to seeing these little guys grow into real food-producing plants!

Seeds

The way I like to describe the weather over the last couple of weeks is "less consistently wintery." Sure, there's still snow on the ground and more on the way today--accompanied by freezing rain. Yay. But there have been some warm days recently that have done a good bit of melt damage to the accumulated snow. In fact, there are some bare places near the house where the drifts had nearly reached the windows. There aren't any crocus yet. Yes, I looked.

Spring is a countable number of days away and my intention to start some seeds for the garden ahead of time has got me thinking and planning what to do and when. Seed catalogs have been arriving fairly regularly. In the depths of winter I got a little crazy and ordered dozens of them. It's a little escape to page through each one as it arrives and dream about actually picking the luscious vegetables in the pictures. However, if I read the phrase "very unique" one more time I may flip out. Most of these catalogs are going to turn out to be just references, though. I've got sources.

First, across the street from my office is an extremely well-stocked garden center. It's got everything I need in the way of seeds and later it will have started plants should my own attempts to make little seedlings fail. And, second, one of my dear friends is a serious collector of seeds who shares them generously. Consequently between the ones I've purchased, saved myself and gotten from him, I have a list so extensive it will be a miracle if I can grow even half of it. And this isn't even including the tomatoes and peppers I'll be selecting later.

Alyssum , Carpet of Snow
Arugula, Apollo
Arugula, wild
Basil, Italian Genvese
Basil, Purple Petra
Bean, Bush, Baby Lima 'White Dixie Butter'
Bean, Bush, Pencil Pod
Bean, Bush, Red Calypso
Bean, Bush, Royal Burgundy
Bean, Bush, Tavera
Bean, Fava, Windsor
Bean, Lima, Henderson Bush
Bean, Pole, Trionfo Violetto
Bean, Soy, Green, Butterbean
Beet, Bull's Blood
Beet, Burpee's Golden
Beet, Burpee's Golden
Bok Choy, White Stem
Bok Choy, Tatsoi, Rosette
Bok Choy, Tatsoi, Rosette
Broccoli Raab,
Calendula, Mixture"
Calendula, Pacific Beauty Blend
Carrot, Rainbow
Carrot, Scarlet Nantes
Cowpea, Southern, California Blackeye #5
Cucumber, Armenian Burpless
Cucumber, Japanese Soyu Burpless
Cucumber, Lemon
Cucumber, Parade
Escarole, Broadleaf Batavian
Fenugreek,
Garlic, Bavarian Purple
Garlic, PVT
Garlic, Tai Lang
Garlic, Western Rose
Gourd, Autumn Wings
Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch
Kale, Chinese, Kailaan, White Flowered
Kohlrabi, Purple and White Vienna Blend
Lettuce, Butterhead, Marvel of Four Seasons
Lettuce, Butterhead, Tom Thumb
Lettuce, Leaf, Lolla Rossa
Lettuce, Leaf, Red Sails
Lettuce, Leaf, Tango
Marigold, Starfire Signet
Melon, Charentais
Minutina,
Mustard, Ruby Streaks
Nasturtium, Peach Melba
Nho Gai, Vietnamese Coriander
Oregano, True Greek
Parsley, Italian Dark Green Flat
Parsley, Rooted, Hamburg
Parsnip, All American
Pea, Snowbird
Radish, D'Avignon
Radish, Easter Egg
Radish, Helios
Radish, Winter, Chinese Rose
Seasoning Celery, Amsterdam
Shinguku,
Silverbeet, Five Color
Spinach, Bloomsdale
Spinach, Bordeaux
Spinach, Olympia
Squash, Summer, Early Golden Crookneck
Strawberry, Alpin,
Strawberry, Alpine, Mignonette
Summer Savory,
Zinnia, Cut and Come Again