goal for 2012: tomato crafts

dang, i wanna learn to knit/crochet my own little veggie patch.

along with scarves, gloves, booties, and more....

tomato by: locoMOmomma

where have i been?????

on vacation!!!!!!

up north where the weather was much cooler, and the water crisp and clear. but, now i am home and dealing with bills, laundry, work, and over a weeks worth of garden maintenance to catch up on. so, as soon as i'm settled in, it's back to business. soon i'll tell you all about the fun we had on vacation, and all the fun the squirrels had in the garden while we were on vacation.

truck farm.... i want one!!!

last weekend st. louis's own truck farm was hanging out at the tower grove farmer's market, so you know the hubby and i had to go check it out. the truck is totally awesome and, of course, now i want one. what a romantic idea it would be to drive around the country in a mobile veggie garden teaching folks what fun it is to grow your own food. there is also a short film about the the truck farm project with screenings around the country. unfortunately, i had to work on the night the they screened the documentary here in town. luckily, you can watch a few excerpts from the film and read more about the project on the Truck Farm website. cool stuff.

p.s. i also want......

a grill station on wheels
(although, what i would cook up and serve is beyond me)

and an old firetruck ice cream truck.

p.s.s. but want i really really want is......

a vintage ice cream tricycle to sell homemade popsicles!!

photo jacked from old bike.

a quick 3G project week #5 & #6 update

i'm not sure how i did it, but the 3G project bank is up to $33.25!!! artisanal cured meats here i come!!!! let's look back at the last few weeks to see what i bought, and for your viewing pleasure a few really bad food pix to get the week going. 

last week's csa loot was pretty much consumed prior to picture time, so above is a little sampling of the week's take. 

spring csa week #6: $30 

1 bag mixed lettuce

1 bag of fresh kale

herb bundle of sage and oregano

1 bunch radishes

loaf of wheat bosnian bread

1 pk. beef kabob

creamy havarti cheese

tower grove farmer's market

bottle of city seed's herb vinegar: $10

fresh tomatoes: $3.50

basil plant: $2.50

manzo's house made greek style yogurt: $3.50

1 gallon raw milk: $10

trader joe's

greek style yogurt: $4.00

big bag of org. oranges: $4.50

week's total: $68.00

in addition to the tomato and cheese sandwhichs and salads we've been eating for dinner, last night i made some cracked pepper beef kabobs with a sage/oregano yogurt sauce, and sauteed kale finished with the herb vinegar. yummy!!!!

here is the project total for week #5.

spring csa week #5: $30

fresh basil and spearmint

pk. of black pepper

pea shoots

oyster mushrooms

fresh locally made scones

1 pk. not italian bison links

schafley's wednesday farmer's market

16 oz cheese curd: $6

5 lemon verbena shortbread cookies: $2.75

small loaf of sourdough bread: $3.00

1 chocolate pretzel: $0.50

tomato jam: $4.50

raw milk $10

week's total: $56.75

i have to say, other than the lemon verbena shortbread cookies from 4 season's bakery, one of the stand out stars from that week's loot was the ol' timey tomatoe jam. with a pack of opened pork bacon in the frig that so needed to be eaten, i went to the market in hopes of finding a few fresh hot house tomatoes and some really tasty sandwich bread. without any fresh tomatoes at the market, i settled for some tomatoe jam instead, and boy am i glad i did. that stuff is awesome!!!!!!! spread on the sourdough bread with a few strips of bacon, it made for one of the most simple and delicious sandwiches i've had in quite awhile. the vendor said it was made using a very old recipe, so, sometime this week i'm gonna pull out all my canning and vintage homesteading books to see if i can't find a recipe that closely resembles the ingredients on the label. then all i  need is for my tomato plants to start growing and i'll be one my way to canning heaven.

as promised, here are a few really bad and out of focus food pix of what we've been eating lately. (i guess the hubby is right. i do need to go get my eyes checked. getting older blows!!)

fresh tomato salad with pork bacon and sauteed spring onions and asparagus with a slice of italian loaf bread.

sauteed asian greens with leeks and tomatoes, pea shoot salad, and italian loaf slices with a black olive spread.

the ever popular scramble eggs with oyster mushrooms and a glass of raw milk. 

i must say, i am getting a bit tired of mushrooms at this point.

sauteed leeks and asparagus with pork brat. paired with a mixed green salad (not pictured).

now it's out to the garden to survey the critter damage. 

those dang bunnies, squirrels, and birds are going to be the death of me and my garden.

happy monday to me!!

onions!!!

potatoes aren't the only new thing in the garden this year, i'm also trying my hand at onions. i've done leeks before, but never the big round bulb onions. when the bell gardens had nice bunches of onion sets for $1 each, i though, why not? what do i got to lose? go big or go home. so i invested a whopping $3 and bought three different varieties;

• big daddy (110 days): super-sized with a tender heart. delicately-textured flesh good eaten raw or excellent in a french onion soup. yellow globes will last 8 months in storage. good disease resistance and bolting tolerance.

• red candy apple (95 days): glossy and deep red as an apple and nearly as sweet. flatten, globe-shaped bulbs grow to 4 inches across.

• copra (105-115 days): leader in storage varieties. medium-sized, dark yellow skinned globe onion with a thin neck that dries quickly. store up to 1 year.

i didn't do anything super special to the dirt where i put the onions. 

i just tilled it up a bit, mixed in some compost, and got to planting.

(4/5/2011)

for the bigger onions, i placed the sets about 4-6 inches apart, 1 inch deep, in two rows about 6 inches apart. since i still had extra sets, i then planted another row in between the first two rows, and put the sets about 2 inches apart. this middle row i will harvest early as "green onions," for salads and such, while waiting for the others to bulb up.

(4/11/11)

as you can see from the photo above, all the onions were looking pretty good the other day. we've been getting plenty of rain, so they haven't required to much care. but, i just went out to check on everything since learning this morning that we had some hail storms in the area last night (although i slept through the whole thing). some of the onions are looking great, and some not so much. i don't know if it's the particular variety, my planting technique, possible hail damage, or trauma endured from multiple doggie fence breaches, which have been a total of 4 so far. so, time to strap on the boots and do some damage control.

garden note to self: order of the onions, at the front to back: copra (long day),  big daddy (long day), then red candy apple (intermediate day).

seed addiction and one super awesome raised bed idea

last weekend we heading over to gateway greening's bell demonstration garden, and even though i have more seeds than i can possibly plant this season, at such low prices, i just had to get more. for community gardeners, or gateway greening members, the veggie seed packets were 25 cents and the flower packets were free!!! so i signed up for a membership and got a sweet deal on flower seeds, as well as, some seed potatoes and onion starts, (which i'll talk about in upcoming garden posts). also a few days before that, i picked up some seeds for yet another winter squash and lemon cucumbers. what all this really means is, if i don't seriously get some homemade garden markers going, it's gonna get really confusing out there.

i'm really hoping the marigolds help control the bunnies and squirrels.

also while we were at the bell garden, we watched a potato planting demo and checked out some raised beds in various states of production. set on 22 vacant city lots, it's pretty cool to go and walk around and see all the great veggie gardening that folks are doing. i can't wait to see it once the growing season is in full swing.

one particular bed caught my eye by totally maximizing the space with the addition of some vertical containers made out of house gutters. i figure that's a great place to grow different kinds of lettuce, herbs, and small leafy greens, therefore, leaving the rest of the bed for growing your tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and such.  plus, what a great way to keep the tender lettuce out of reach from the ever present multitude of bunnies that romp around the city. i don't think they had much in the cold frame, but it does look like they have a few onion starts growing in the middle of the bed.

soon soon soon, it will be time to set the tomatoes out in the garden, and hopefully with a new home and fresh compost, they will really start to grow for me. till then, i guess it is warm enough during the day to start the hardening off process. fingers crossed that a little fresh air will do wonders for my tomato babies. in the meantime, i'm gonna weed the small garden plot, till in some compost, and spread out coffee grinds and crushed egg shells. and with all the garden centers opening up for the growing season, it's time to hunt down some sea kelp and worm poop. next time i'll show you my potato plan and onion starts.

p.s. garden note to self.... time to ready more starts. make more newspaper pots for some squash and cucumbers. squash will need 4 weeks before setting out, and cucumber will only need about two weeks. get working chick!!!!

how i know it's my birthday

1. i know it's my birthday today because, as i was making my coffee this morning, i looked out the kitchen window, only to see the most awesome present sitting in the alley by the dumpster......

perfect for the mini greenhouse/cold frame i'm gonna build.

2. now that flowers on one of the trees in my backyard have started to bloom, it turns out to be one of my favorite kinds of trees. 

although, i still have questions as to what the correct name of the tree is. some folks call it a tulip poplar, but i think they have yellow/orange flowers. then i though it was a japanse magnolia, but i think the blooms are larger than this one. so i think it is a jane magnolia. i really like that name for my favorite tree, so i'm going with that for now.

3. i went second hand shopping and came home with some seriously cool loot.

the metal trays are for seed starting.

the little blue metal coffee pot is my new inside watering can.

two very cool vintage sleeveless shirts just in time for the warm weather.

and four new vintage sewing patterns. 

all for under $12

happy birthday to me!!!

just a perk of the job

the other day i scored a nice size bag of seed potatoes. just another little perk of the job. oh, did i forget to mention that for a few hours a week i am helping out at maude's market. well, i am, so come down a visit me!!! while you're there, if you know anything about planting potatoes please let me know, cause i don't know jack about it. for now the little buggers are hanging out in a paper sack at the back of the frig. till then check out some pictures i took of the market.......

local food, come get your local food!!!

i so want a bag of that popping corn.

maude's market

4219 Vir

ginia Avenue in St. Louis 

http://www.maudesmarket.com

 

can't say i didn't warn you, hubby!

oh my! the hubby makes a full on face at the camera appearance on the blog today. he thought he was being funny when i was trying to take pictures of the farmer's market loot, calling me a dork and acting like he was vanna white displaying the items. (of course i was to slow in getting the shot where he was mooning me. dang!!!!) i told him i was gonna post the pictures if he didn't leave me alone, and post away i will!!!

yep, i actually choose to live with this guy.

but you know, hubby is a good guy. he braved the cold (16 degrees) with me this morning to make the market rounds and gather some loot. later he even called it loot when i was unpacking the bags. sweet boy!!! well let's take a closer look.....

week #2 of the 3G project.

here's the breakdown:

from the st. louis community farmer's market

1 lb. organic red beans $4

1 big ass bag of local lettuce $6

Baetje Farms goat cheese (local and happy goats) $8

oatmeal scone from local bakery (ate it for breakfast so not pictured) $2.25 

from the soluard farmers market

1/4 lb. organic fair trade locally roasted coffee $2.50

1/4 lb. organic tea $5.00 

1 lb. block of locally made butter $4.50

from maude's market

big brown buttercup squash $2.35

1 dozen really happy chicken eggs $3.50

daikon radish $2

1 lb. pecan pieces $8.80

also pictured is about 2 lbs. of organic oatmeal $1.88

not pictured is 32 oz jug of milk i bought on monday from the wholefoods $4

(still having a butter and milk dilemma, but we'll save that for another day)

so rounding up, that's about $55 total (+/- tax), and with the left over money from last week, that gives me about $16 bucks in the project bank. yeah!! doing good so far.

i guess i'll also give you a "what we're eating" update as well. the last post left off with dinner on thursday. friday morning we got up somewhat early and hubby had the day off. i made us a quick breakfast of the last of the andouille sausage, scrambled eggs, and more irish the soda bread with strawberry jam. then we headed out for what turned out to be a busy and fun day. first we went to the art museum to check out some FSA photographs and ended up being totally creeped out by this painting. by then we were hungry and stopped in over at farmhaus for lunch and had fried fish, hushpuppies, and red beans and rice. there we used a gift certificate i got as a going away present from my old job in greenville, so no money from my pocket spent on that meal. and i still have some moneys left over for two more lunches there for both me and the hubby. yeah!!!!! then we went to another photo show of f64 photographers, saw some cool folk art, stopped at an art gallery and saw some really BAD art, went to check out the crazy tile work on the ceiling of the basilica, and then met some friends and had ribs for dinner and topped the day off with some gooey butter cake. yum!!! here are a few shots of the day i took with my phone.

f64

farmhaus

basilica

more basilica

cute dinner date

well this post is getting longer than i expected so i'll continue with the veggie hash and bananna bread that i cooked in the kitchen today in tomorrow's post.

upcoming posts: last day of week 1 meals, i joined a CSA, time to get the garden going.

trying to relax

well folks, the to do list is getting smaller and smaller. today we went out for a short bit to look for a coffee table down in the cherokee row antique district. i'll tell you all about that area one day. also, we were successful in getting a coffee table and i'll post some pictures once the new rug comes in and the living room is finished. for now here is a picture from today's visit to antique row.

flying solo on the 4th

it was a very independent independence day for yours truly. don't fret, hubby bubby is still in the picture, but just not here for the holiday. and at the advise of said hubby bubby ("go buy yourself something pretty"), i ditched my house cleaning duties for the day and went out to do my part to stimulate the american economy. first stop.... lunch!!!

oh, i love the dough/cheese sugar ball things at the indian restaurant. next stop.... buy me something pretty.

ok, so whenever hubby tells me to buy myself something pretty, i generally end up getting something off my kitchen want list. and since i haven't decided on which food dehydrator or grain mill i want, i got some glass containers with bpa free lids.... all made in the good ole USA (bye bye forever ugly bad for you plastic rubbermaid. you're going into the neighborhood yard sale to benefit the 3 year old boy down the street who got ran over by a riding lawn mower..... sad sad tale for a different post). i also saw a kick ass casserole dish, cookie sheet, and pizza stone made of nothing more than clay and water, with no chemicals, also made in the USA. i'll most definitely have to look into those. next stop..... grocery store.

cause what holiday would be complete without some delicious chocolate ice cream??!! and......

beer!!!!!!!!!! this is the first time i've had this beer. pretty tasty. brewed by a south carolina company who share like minded ideas. so i hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday. and even though hubby bubby was not here to share it with me, i had a pretty darn good day and was not completely alone, for i did have.....

mr. keebs!!! a couch, a puppernut, and a beer, happy holiday to me!!!

pickin blackberries

today i went a pickin blackberries and found the mother of all blackberry bushes. boy, she was purdy. and even though the brush around the base looked like the prefect hang out for snakes, killer ants, stingin bees, and warrior wasps, the berries were to delicious looking to pass up. i went in and i'm happy to report that the only harm i encountered was a groovy purple juice stain to my hiking pants. gotta love free blackberries.

 and remember folks..... all you need is love. 

a boy and his donut/first growth of 2010

 

 colby and his donut 

yesterday i went to a wedding festival with the pig girl, her sister, and their nephew, little man colby. pig girl is getting married later this year and still needed to pick out her flowers and band/dj, so i tagged along cause i like to hang with the colbster, and of course, to eat my weight in cake samples. not to mention that this one booth had a mashed potato bar. other than that the wedding festival was alright. that kinda of stuff is not really my cup of tea. BUT, i did see something that was pretty nifty and right up my alley. a wedding bouquet made out of cabbage leaves. awesome idea. 

 

 i think their arrangement needs just a touch of an accent color, 

but what a cool idea. 

 oohhh, mix that with a small white hydrangea blossom, 

or better yet some white pea blossoms and that would be totally awesome. 

anyway, enough of this wedding nonsense. with two girls at work getting married this year, i'm a little wedding talked out. plus i still find it a bit silly to spend soooo much money on a one day thing. give me a court house, a cabbage/pea blossom bouquet, and a vintage white eyelet dress (or something thing like this), and i'm good to go. so enough of that and on to more important matters.......

today's weather forecast: 

high of 45 degrees and mostly sunny!!!!!!!! 

time to get out and get to work in the garden. 

(cause the only thing i've done so far this year is start a small pot of parsley)

  

the first growth of 2010.

today i need to clear out the fall garden, work the ground a bit, add in some soil amendments, and address the long forgotten compost bucket. i was hoping to get some peas going, but the green arrow peas that i wanted are on back order. later i might venture out to see if i can find some, but until then i still need to get their space ready and redo the netting layout into one long line. i hope to plants the peas along one row of netting and then in front of that lay out a row of radishes. hopefully both will be done by the time the tomato plants need to be set out. since i'm still working with a limited space and long list of veggies i want to try to grow this year, i'm going to have to really consult the books and get great ideas on how to grow different veggies together for a maximum yeild in minimum space. speaking of veggies, here is a list of the seeds i have left over from last year and a list of the news seeds that i ordered from seed savers exchange. 

 

this year's new batch of seeds.

seeds just in from seeds savers exchange 

lettuce mixture
(amish deer tongue, australian yellowleaf, bronze arrowhead, 

forellenschuss, lollo rossa, pablo, red velvet, and reine des glaces)
 

 mexican sour gherkin cucumber

chervena chushka pepper

garden sunshine pepper

fish pepper
red Russian kale
christmas lima bean

bee balm
thyme
green culinary sage
grandma erinck’s dill

 seeds left over from last year 

sparkler white top radish
american flag leeks
sherwood leeks
red core chantenay carrot
tai sai Chinese cabbage
silverbeet swiss chard
granpa admire’s lettuce
roquette arygyla
mixed Japanese greens
slobolt lettuce
bloomsdale longs standing spinach
monnoop spinach

hillbilly potato leaf tomato
beam’s yellow pear tomato
martino’s roma tomato 

cherry roma tomato

giant Italian parsley
cilantro
common chives
large leaf basil

southern giant curled mustard
purplt top white globe turnips
american purple top rutabaga

time to get a planting!!!!!!