Cooking with Chef Jo: When is Cooking NOT Cooking?

You might be wondering why I haven't posted a recipe for y'all in a couple of weeks. Well, it's like this. I ain't been cooking much. Sure I'm cooking each night, sort of, but not really cooking anything exciting to talk about. So when is cooking Not cooking? when you are opening up jars of leftovers and reheating them.  And, that's all I've done for the past couple weeks.

I've been so busy tweaking the cookbook, doing crafty stuff to replenish inventory, and just trying to figure out my next move that 5 PM sneaks up on me most nights. So, it's open a jar of soup/stews/chili from the pantry and make some cheese toast to go with it. I did make some tuna salad to use up a half dozen eggs last week. On the few warmer nights, we enjoyed it for dinner with some homemade, air fried tortilla crisps and salsa. But that's just cutting up some hard boiled eggs, some onions and celery, and some seasonings. Not much special about that. Even the bread was store bought. 😮

It's even going to be worse next week with garden planting starting. We finally have a few days in a row with no rain. There just are not enough hours in the day to do it all. The Velcro strap, one of three broke,

so I'm sitting more now too until I can get in to the orthotics' place to get it fixed next week. I kind of have-to-have that brace to stand and walk. We brought in the wheelchair from the barn only to find the rats had chewed and dry rot had taken care of the wheels. GRRR! The new pair of tires were $42 through Amazon.  We finally got all the house and food stores building to have them take up residence in the barn. We need a barn cat to adopt us.

The nighttime lows are still in the forties and there us a definite chill in the air after sun down so for now my pantry/food stores works. It's a good thing too. Soon the fresh greens will be big enough to cut for fresh salads again. I can't hardly wait. I'm so tired of store bought salad mixes. Of course, recently I've been boosting them up with fresh micro greens. Oh to have the high tunnel greenhouse Mel talked about building for year around growing, but that's still in the to-do folder. .

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

 

Weather Woes for the Garden

We've been chomping at the bit for the weather to warm up a bit to start planting in the garden. For weeks now, we've had everything laid out for our Ruth Stout/no dig market garden ready. Tthe weather finally cooperated We had a week of warm spring like weather, but then here came the rain. Followed by another cool patch.  Isn't that always the way it works?

Now, we're watching for the weather to clear and warm back up. Oi Vey! At least the weather clears long enough to have a goof turn out for the Farmers market on Saturdays. Nothing is as miserable as packing the Blazer to go, setting up, and sitting at the market in rain with no customers save those who placed orders the week before.

We're spending our time starting more seeds, and crafting.  We're concentrating on planting summer crops now. We have trays of tomatoes, okra, peppers, and sweet corn started for us and the market. We've also propagated some roses and blueberry bushes from our own stock when we trimmed them in the fall to sell to transplant and sell at the market. Mel started her usual assortment of pansies, zinnias, and petunias to plant baskets for the front porch and to sell in our recycled pots just in case someone is not interested in just vegetables. It'll make our tent more interesting with spots of color.  By selling the plants, we won't be in direct competition with a long time vendor at the market who sells cut flowers. It's frowned upon by the vendors.  It also gibes us our independent niche.

We're hoping the weather will cooperate so we can get our spring garden planted soon before the GA heat makes it impossible to grow. With all this warmer weather the peach trees, wild violets, and strawberries are blooming. The area's dogwoods, red buds, and apple trees brighten the landscape with, pink and white blooms. Is there are better tell that spring is on its way? Of course, seeing a red breasted robin sings to me it's so although this one is more orange.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Crafting with Jo: Upcycling Plastic bottles

I've talked quite a bit about what we sell at the Farmers Market. Since we started herb seeds and grow our own herbs to propagate, there is an abundance of herbs to choose from. Now that it's getting warmer, I'm thinking more towards collections of herbs such as salsas, Italian, Mediterranean, and first-aid.  Lord knows, there's almost an unlimited supply of pop bottles in a variety of different sizes available in the trash cans to work with. I've also acquired a lot of different color sprays and tubes that have been leftover from this or that project so cost should be almost nil. Plus the other vendors are saving theirs for me too.

Now I could just paint some 5-gallon buckets or maybe keep it small. Imagine a first aid caterpillar like this one on the left creeping along a window sill, patio, or balcony. How stinking cute is that? It can be made from plastic drink bottles of varying sizes from single serve to liter bottles. I will have to go to the Dollar Tree for some pipe cleaners to make them though.

How about a 5-gallon bucket with a Mexican stencil design painted on it with cherry tomatoes, onions, hot peppers, and cilantro for a salsa garden pot? Like this one? The pots are usually free at any grocery store bakery or deli operation. Using bright primary colors would make it pop. The nice thing about stencils is that they can be used over and over again. Just change the colors up for variety.

Plant starts and planters have been hot sellers (not to mention the eggs) for us. Everyone, it seems, is jumping on the plant-your-own bandwagon in these uncertain times from apartment dwellers to urbanites. Why have something ordinary when you can have something extraordinary and multifunctional. That's been my mantra for decades. It seems our buyers agree with me. Every little bit helps. It doesn't hurt that we'll be selling transplants to go into the pots too for return business next time around. Just in case they have a brown thumb. 😄

So what do you think? It keeps me busy and happy while watching my garden grow. What have you tried at your booths?

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Farmers Market Report

 The spring like weather brought people out in "droves." Now keep in mind that ours is a small, rural county with just less than 3K folks and a traffic jam is five cars ahead of you in the turn lane. Our farmers market isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination, yesterday's count was 10 tents, but still the twenty-five folks that stopped by our tent, we considered it a successful day because all twenty-five purchased from us.

What we took and sold...

• Two flats of cabbage, lettuce, broccoli/cauliflower/Brussel sprouts and 3 pots of of preplanted carrots (19 carrots in each. We sold them all.
• Four preplanted cutesy recycled soda bottles of rosemary and oregano. We sold them all.
• Eight dozen free range eggs. We'd brought ten. Mel also handed out contact cards for future sales.
• Four kitty cat planting pots made from recycled vinegar bottles and one donkey planter fill with pansies. Leaving one kitty planter, five puppies, five piggies, five chickens to take home.
• People were fascinated by my spinning plan. Like the commenter last week, they'd never seen it spun before. They liked the product after fingering it imagining how it would feel to work with. This sold 8 skeins of tan, gray, and white plarn out of the twenty we brought and two I'd made there.
• But from this demonstration, it also sold three medium size and one large market bags our of the ten we carried with us. Mel was crocheting one in between helping customers.

So all in all, it wasn't a shoddy day. We had four hours in the sunshine, interacting with people, getting to see our friends (other vendors)and Sold quite a bit that we'd brought.  I connected with my certified organic grower friend of years past and we swapped some seeds to start for summer. He grows a ton of different peppers and Asian eggplant each year that I buy each year. But then, he's got twenty acres on his farm too.

I'm also thinking of next year's market. When we finish one of the tiny houses, I get it inspected and the certification for selling pickles and jams. Another source of revenue for this homestead. Lord knows, we've been blessed as far as fruits grow that we've planted or grow wild one our property to provide a few jars to sell. I know all about the prep area inspections from working in restaurants. Cukes and other vegetables don't take that much space. Each fall, I make ten gallons of apple cider vinegar to start with. We made enough to cover our costs and our membership fee for the market for the year from this one day too. Our cash expenditures to make to sell the items were minimal just some paint and time.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Caramel Apple Rice Pudding a Canning No-No??

Caramel apple rice pudding is usually a big no-no where the FDA is concerned or you won't find it in any canning recipe book out there, but the rebel in me tried it.  You know what... it's delicious and it works! It's a shelf stable snack or dessert. Within all the power outages going on, it was worth a try. So far it's been on my pantry shelves for five months and it's still as good as when I first canned it. I think this is a keeper for my fall canning repertoire. So I'm sharing it with you.

Back in May last year, I tried my hand at making rice pudding my way. I liked it so much I decided to try and can some so whenever I wanted a quick dessert or snack I could have it. You know me, I'm all about making it once and enjoying it many times. I've been canning rice and milk products for more than a couple of years now with no ill effects, so why not rice pudding? Worse comes to worse it would be a failure.

Turns out that Mel doesn't like rice pudding so I'll be canning these in half pint jars just for me. (grinning, goody-goody gum drops!) This was an experiment so I only tried a case of jars. I figured one testing jar per month. If it held true for twelve months, I'd do full pint jars next fall. This way I could have two servings for me within a week if I wanted it.

Caramel Apple Rice Pudding

8- 1/2 pint jars

What you'll need

6 cups diced peeled apples, small dice* 1/2 cup water 2.5 cups white sugar 2.5 cups brown sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 TBS raisin for each jar

1/4 c long grain white rice per jar, rinsed well

milk to fill jars

*NOTE- I used my Vidalia Onion Chopper's small grate or you can hand chop apples into 1/4" pieces.

Putting it all together

• In medium saucepan combine apples, water, white and brown sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Over medium heat bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes stirring constantly to prevent burning.
• Remove from heat and stir in vanilla mixing well.
• Place 2TBS of apple mixture in each jar.
• Add raisins and rice to each jar.
• Top each jar to 1" headspace with milk.
• Using the debubbling tool stir contents of each jar.
• Wipe rims with towel to remove any splashed contents, lid and band jars.
• Place hot jars in a hot pressure canner.
• Seal and vent for 10 minutes. Pressure can for 15 minutes per your altitude.

There you have it. Caramel Apple Rice pudding in a jar. It's shelf stable for an anytime dessert or snack. The above picture shows a garnish of sliced fresh apple, sprinkle of additional cinnamon and small mint leaves with the rice pudding in a bowl. For just me, I'll simply grab a spoon and eat it out of the jar.

Now if you are one of those folks that want everything tried and approved by the powers that be, go ahead and ignore this recipe. It's canning with grains and milk which are not approve for home canning. But my house, my rules.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

Garden/Market Ho!

We've got lift off or at least germination in our soil plugs. It's so exciting!! Many seedlings have their first leaves already thanks to a jump start I gave them that I found on YouTube. Actually, I've done this before with fruit trees, but not with vegetables before.

The jump start is soaking the seeds for at least 8 hours. They swell making them much easier to pick up and place on a damp paper towel. I put them in labeled baggies and let them sprout first, and then planted the sprouts in my seed starting mix (50% peat, 40% perlite, &10% compost) . Total time was one week Even long to germinate carrots are showing their first leaves! I was amazed because usually it take 2-3 weeks for them to reach this stage.

The plastic wrap came off the trays today and I turned on the grow lights. I positioned the lights (via the chains) to one foot away from the plants. By the germination-seedling rate, we should have a pretty good garden this year... if the weather cooperates.

Years ago I showed y'all how I made my soil block maker, didn't I? Yes, I did. It's here. I used my empty pill bottles that are 2" in diameter. I've since that time, made several of them. I can make six of them (3x2 layout) at a time. I tried a 4x2 layout but my hand wasn't big enough to make eight uniform blocks so I adapted the design to this. I connected them together with paint stirrer sticks. The double layer makes it sturdy. I simply drilled a hole in them and used a washer and nut to attach it. My hand easily stretches across the top bar to push it. I had perfect 2"x 3" soil blocks. Heck with paying $36 for a metal one. It's bad enough that I have to pay for my drugs every quarter (because I HAVE to have them), but sending all those plastic bottles to the landfill should be a crime. The 2" size will allow growth until several true leaves form. Then, the plants can go into the ground or container with ease. No pots to unmold or tear, just dig a hole and plop them in.

We're off to a good start for the spring garden and for selling transplants at the farmers market in two weeks. The market was very, very slow last yesterday. I blame it on the cooler temperatures and the rain.  Next Saturday will tell the tale it's supposed to be in the 60s and no rain.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Crafting with Jo: Gearing up for the Farmers Market Season

 

Last year we couldn't participate in the Farmers Market because of the COVID scare and lockdowns. We continued to craft and build up supplies. Our local market operates from next week through the beginning of August and is open between 8AM to noon on Saturdays. It's about fifteen miles from our homestead.

We got our required 10x10 pop up tent at an end of the season sale. Folding chairs we had. A table was fashioned and painted using a discarded folding table base from the dump. It was missing a top which Mel made out of scrap pallets. It looks very rustic which was the look we were going for.

We decided to invest the $100 fee which is no small hardship for us, Not that our local Farmers Market is that busy, but it would provide contacts for future eggs sales. We really were undecided after losing half of our free ranging hens to dogs an coyotes over the past few months. Now, we get a dozen eggs a day from our hens. If response is good, then we'll buy new hens to supply customers with farm, free range eggs. If there is any doubt about the chickens being free range, I've got pictures of Mel chasing them out of our living room and laying eggs in our back porch that two of them favor, and roosting on our front porch railing. There's little doubt that the flock is free ranging to any visitors we've had. They've been greeted by the chickens and dogs before we can get outside.

I've started four 36-cell trays with herbs vegetables, and flowers to sell a month ago. I've crafted small herb "dish" gardens and pots to sell out of upcycled containers. We've got some cut, fresh herbs to sell ( rosemary, sage, thyme, and oregano). We'll add to the list as the annuals grow. Our market is chemical- free and only home grown produce. Unlike other farmers markets, no wholesale produce is sold. A yearly inspection of farms in the co-op keeps it that way in the truest sense of the words. Even the inspectors operations are checked to maintain the locally grown, chemical-free guidelines of the market.

The baskets, boxed, and cups that came with vegetable and fruit purchases over the last three years have been dusted off and been given a new lease on life to display our wares. An old cube storages rack now will be loaded with plants while another 9-bin cube rack will feature homestead made objects. I'll be carrying our Traveler spinning wheel and plastic yarn (plarn) to spin into worsted weight plarn as an attention grabber. Meanwhile, a Command hooks on one of the cube storage racks will hold market shopping bags (we've made) for sale. One of the cubicles of the homestead made products will hold 350-yard skeins of plarn to sold. This will sit on two ice chests gilled with eggs. It takes a minimum of 2 skeins of plarn to make a 12"x12" sized tote. Mel crocheted some while I knitted some. I made some copies of the patterns we used as a bonus. This pretty much fills our table and tent.

Our total expense including our membership fee should be met within a few short Saturdays. I've spent the last three years talking to most of the regular vendors and watching the traffic flow through the market. The busiest time id either the first hour or the last hour. We may have to build another table with boards and a saw horses, but that remains to be seem. For our first venture, I'm thinking no more than ten of each item. I may change my mind. If we sell out the first Saturday, we'll change tactics the next. It will be a good thing to sell out. Mel will have a notebook for items for people to orders for the following weekend pick up. Anyhow that's the plan. Wish us luck! After all, one man's trash is another one's treasure, right?

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo