Collecting Seeds

It would appear that I’ve taken an unintended summer sabbatical from writing here. 

That may be a good thing. 

It has been one of those summers where you blink, and it’s gone.

For the first time this year this week has had the mood of autumn. 

The undercurrents in the air have become chilly

 even while the sun is hot and tries to convince us that summer is lingering.

We are picking the last of the garden things.

  I savor the flavors, knowing the freshness won’t be the same until next year. 

And in planning for next year, I’ve been collecting seeds from what I can. 

 I usually save seeds from some of my favorite heirloom

 or non-hybrid vegetables and flowers.  

And then there are years when time gets away from me,

 the pods age in the rain,

 and drop their seeds to the ground before I can harvest them.

This year I’m winning against time.

A variety of lettuce seeds.

 Chive seeds in the herb bed.

 Putting a brown bag over a bunch of seed heads and then cutting the stems,

 is an easy way to harvest without losing the mature, dry seeds.  

Simply grip the stems and bag and give them a good shaking. 

(Pretending to play a Maraca is optional.)

  If the seeds aren’t quite dry enough to shake off easily,

 they can dry on the stems in the open bag for a few days.

Sometimes I cut ends of old envelopes to wrap the seeds in. 

This year I just used the bags and wrapped them “butcher” style. 

Here is Cilantro, Radish, a great variety of “Wildflowers” from a friend.

And a “Winter Lettuce” grown from seeds from my grandma’s lettuce

 who had gotten her seeds from a friend who has passed away now. 

Sharing with friends makes gardening special to me.    It creates and gives life to memories. 

“Then God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant

 yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, 

and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; 

it shall be food for you.’ ”

Genesis 1:29

Pumpkin Swirl Pancake Recipe

It’s getting closer to fall

 and time for all that autumn comfort food!  

I’m jumping on the pumpkin bandwagon

with this Pumpkin Swirl Pancake recipe.

 We’ve picked a few of our “pumpkins” which are actually

 crookneck type pumpkins or winter squash. 

They’re huge this year!

I'm guessing I shouldn't have planted them in the little garden. 

The vines from two seeds, planted together,

have covered over thirty feet and completely outgrown

the small cottage garden out back. 

They’ve traveled over the boxwoods at one end

and up into the tall shrubs along the fence at the other.

 And apparently, while I wasn’t looking,

there was a marriage with the tomatoes which I can’t dissolve.

 I guess I’d better get in the mood

 for some baking this fall and winter.

There are a lot of pounds of pumpkin on those vines!

 If any of you are in the pumpkin mood,

 here’s an adaption to a basic pancake recipe that I came up with. 

It’s not difficult, and definitely something a little extra special,

 for a Saturday morning breakfast (or supper!).  

Hope you enjoy!

 (There should be a little red popup on the photos that will allow you

to save the recipe to a Pintrest board if you wish.)

 Pumpkin Swirl Pancakes

Basic Pancake Recipe

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups buttermilk

2 eggs

¼ cup oil

Pumpkin Swirl

1 ½ cup thick pureed cooked pumpkin 

 (or pumpkin  type squash)

1 egg

¼ cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients for basic pancake batter.

Add buttermilk, eggs, and oil. 

Whisk until well combined.

In a separate bowl, 

whisk all ingredients for the pumpkin swirl. 

Put the pumpkin mixture into a squirt bottle.

(A clean syrup or ketchup bottle works fine!)

Pour amounts of batter into hot greased skillet

in the size you like your pancakes.

Squirt a generous swirl/spiral of the 

pumpkin mixture on top.

Fry until browned on the bottom and then flip,

and fry until browned on the second side.

Serve with butter and syrup 

or your own favorite toppings. 

(My mind’s thinking of a dollop of whipped cream,

some chopped pecans and a dash of cinnamon!)

Enjoy!

Think Thanksgiving, Think Garlic

When Thanksgiving comes around here in Virginia

 that means it’s Garlic Planting time!  

I don’t claim to be a gardening expert, but it is something I enjoy immensely.  

And I do believe garlic makes most savory recipes better. 

So why not grow some garlic?

We didn’t plant garlic in our garden when I was growing up.  

But my father-in-law taught me how to raise it, 

and it’s a very simple thing to grow, with minimal work.  

 Sometime around Thanksgiving is the time for planting in our area.  

(We’re in zone 7.)

From what I read,  wherever you live, 

garlic should be planted a few weeks after the first frost, 

but before the ground is really frozen.

And where do you get the seed garlic? 

 Well, I’ve heard different thoughts on the subject. 

 Some say only buy from a nursery or seed source. 

 Others say you can plant what you buy at the grocery store, 

but only use organic garlic, which wouldn’t be treated by a sprout inhibitor.  

Honestly, what I’ve been planting the past few years is just regular ol' garlic,

the cheapest thing I could find at the grocery store!  

The Sharp Shopper store has five heads for $1.19.  Not bad.  

 For what it’s worth, what my father-in-law plants is 

seed garlic from an expensive organic company.  

And I must say, his plants did look better than mine

 all through the past growing season. 

 But when they were dug up, the grocery store heads

 were just as nice as the ‘spensive ones. 

 So I figured I’d go with the grocery store method again.

We just break the heads apart, and put each clove

 in its own hole, tip up, ready to grow. 

We make rows of holes about 7” apart 

and plant the garlic about 3” deep.

Here in Virginia, the garlic is usually ready to harvest sometime in June.  

You know it’s ready whenever the leaves are dead enough 

that they flop over and bow down to the ground. 

 Just pull up the stalks and shake off the dirt. 

 I spray the bulbs off with a hose right away so they’re nice and clean, 

and then let them “cure” in a dry place out of the sun. 

 You don’t want them to stay wet very long!

 Here’s last summer’s garlic, 

hanging in the garage, curing.

Garlic is an easy thing to grow.

And since I never seem to plant enough to last more than a month or two,

we upped our number this year to around a hundred cloves.

Maybe that will last a bit longer!?

We shall see.

"Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 

for we brought nothing into the world, 

and we cannot take anything out of the world. 

But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."

1 Timothy 6:6-8

Freezing Green Beans

 I’ll be up front with you.

This entire post is about green beans.

I realize that likely squelches the interest of many of you

who never will care an iota about a green bean

unless it’s one you’re putting in your mouth.

But read on if you care to. J

I have somewhat of a compulsion about efficiency.

Just ask my husband.  He says I’m so efficient that I become inefficient.

Truth.

There are things sitting around our house that aren’t put away

simply because I’m not making a trip to that room right now.

I’ll wait and take them with me when I’m going there anyway.

Of course they’re forgotten on the next journey to the intended room.

But I digress.

Back to beans.

I generally plant plenty of beans to freeze for the year,

and I’m always looking for ways to save time with a project like that.

I’ve had some great pleasure (again, just ask my husband

who gets to hear my excitements)

 in finding a timesaver in freezing green beans this year.

That excitement provides the reason why I’m writing about Green Beans.

I don’t claim to have it nailed down to perfection,

but I’ll share what I’ve come up with.

If you have tips and tricks, leave some comments! J

For starters, I pick the beans by snapping off the ends,

leaving them on the plant.

That way I have a whole bucket of beans with the ends already removed.

Takes a bit longer in the garden, but it’s worth it to me.

When I bring the beans in, I line them up in batches

on my wooden chopping block.

(A large cutting board would work just fine too.)

A big knife makes the work quick. 

 With this method I can cut up a five gallon bucket

full of beans in ten minutes or less.

For real!

One negative is that the beans are not quite as even a length

as if I’d looked at each one as I cut them.

But I’ll give up each bean on my plate equaling

exactly 2 3/16 of an inch for time saved with a knife.

 I don’t worry about the beans that fall –

just let the pooch eat them.

(Crazy dog LOVES raw beans!)

After I blanch and cool the beans, I drain them in the sink

since I don’t have a large colander (which would probably work better).

A side note:  Last year I tried freezing some beans unblanched

which was a huge time-saver.

But we did think they tasted a little “off”.

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have thought about it

if I ate them at someone else’s house,

but they just didn’t taste as good as what we were used to.

And I don’t want to ruin my family’s appetite for beans

– they’re our go to vegetable. 

 And here’s the new part of my method.

Instead of spending time bagging into quart zipper bags,

I’ve been dumping the whole batch of drained beans

into a clean pillow case stripped over a bucket.

I rubber band it shut, haul it out to the freezer in the garage,

and pop it in to freeze.

Once the beans are frozen, I get a full sized brown paper

grocery bag and line it with two kitchen sized trash bags.

Then the pillowcase of beans comes out of the freezer

(it may require a few plops on the floor to break apart any frozen-together-beans),

and the contents are simply dumped, loose,

into the lined paper bag.  They flow out beautifully!  

The paper bag happens to be the perfect size to

fit into the compartments of our chest freezer.

I like this method because the beans are loose

and I can get out whatever amount I need for a meal,

depending on how many people we’re serving.

I can just open the bag and scoop however many I want

into my cooking pan -- just a few, or a considerable pot full.

So... if you’ve stuck with the bean theme this long,

I hope you might find some of this to be useful! J

I love learning new gardening and household tips.

Like I said earlier, share away in the comments area!

“And my God will supply every need of yours

according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” 

 Philippians 4:19

Proverbs from the Garden

Resolving to end bad habits but refusing to recognize their cause,

is like removing weed tops without their roots.

You will see the sprouts again another day.

The first pie-cherry is sour, the second tart, the third tangy, and the forth sweet.

(The thought in this observation came from my Cassie Jo, age 6.)

 Be happy when you find a worm in your salad.

You could have found half a worm.

 Provide support for tomatoes and children when they are extremely small.

Cages supply the structure and support needed for strong growth.

Forcing more developed growers into cages causes damage and breaking.

It is unwise to pick one’s nose after handling hot chilies.

It would seem that some people, like some bees, come with stingers.

Be wary, but do not let the potential for pain cause hatred.

Both are created for a purpose.

  

Planting a seed for the singular purpose of beauty is a worthy deed.

Vegetables are food for the body, but beauty is food for the soul.

"But the wisdom from above is first pure,

then peaceable, gentle, open to reason,

 full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere."

James 3:17

Up Into the Cherry Tree

Foreign Lands

From A Child’s Garden of Verses

By Robert Lewis Stevenson

Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad in foreign lands.

I saw the next door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,
And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.

I saw the dimpling river pass
And be the sky’s blue looking-glass;
The dusty roads go up and down
With people tramping in to town.

If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships,

To where the roads on either hand
Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive.

Do not be anxious about anything, 

but in everything by prayer and supplication

 with thanksgiving 

let your requests be made known to God.

Philipians 4:6