I'm telling you officer, that really is my compost pile!

So many things in life start with the best of intentions. I had always looked forward to composting, yes I know, I shoot for the moon. What I have now looks like a dead body in my backyard but it's not how it all started.

For years it frustrated me that I would throw away food scraps; onion peels, strawberries that have gone bad, apple cores, etc. In fact this is why I started to make pumpkin bread. I was upset that I would throw away the pumpkin after I would roast the seeds. I love roasted pumpkin seeds, pulled out with the stringy stuff on them, put on a sheet pan with salt and roasted slowly at a low temperature until they are dried out and taste like heaven. Addictive too. So to make pumpkin bread I found a recipe in Fanny Farmer, my cooking bible, and went to task. Anyway, I was ready to start composting!

When we bought our house I was all ready to get a compost pile started. Two things held me back, first I am nervous before I do anything for the first time. After I try it I get confidence and quickly become an expert. But that first step is the hardest. The second is that my wife was in the hospital for the first month that we lived in our new house. The compost pile was put on hold.

I looked at brochures, glanced at some books and talked to people who already compost. I realized that I am making more out of my fear of trying composting and should buckle down and do it. What's the worst that could happen, satellites falling out of orbit from the sky? Actually that would be pretty cool. So I put together a compost bin.

To save the poor bin's feelings I don't have any photos of it. It was a tomato cage that I wrapped with chicken wire. Took me two evenings to finish it, but I was excited and ready. I placed it out in the backyard and started to fill it up. I realized that in a matter of days it was getting rather full of vegetable scraps and raked leaves and that I was not able to turn it easily or at all. And I saw that I had no more room in there so it was scrapped for compost bin 2.0.

The new bin started out great as you can see. I got plywood and glued the boards together to form this box. I poured out what was inside the old cage and started to add to the pile and turn it. Then I started to tear up my backyard to start my garden. Where can I put this turf and soil, why lets put it into the compost bin. The bin grew and grew and grew (sounds like a fairy tale) and then exploded.

I filled the bin too much and the walls fell over and my crime scene was now there. Also the soil is clay and my 2 to 1 ratio of brown mixture to green is so far off its funny. But I keep adding to it and my guess is that sometime by next year I'll have the proper ratio. I keep it watered and put a sheet over the top to keep as much moisture in the pile. When I did move the grass I dug up over to the pile I brought a bunch of worms. I have seen some of them in the pile, some actually are really large, almost radioactive large, but nothing to fear, yet.

I'm proud of my compost pile, I know it will work. In fact I have seen some of the decomposition happening in the pile, things I put in there months ago are making the soil softer and mulchier, if that is a word. The important thing is that I am enjoying myself and even if I do it wrong, then I'll learn. It can't be that hard, people do it everyday. But I feel good knowing that I am not adding to the landfills. Sure it may only be a few pound of waste a month, but every little bit counts. And of course if I do get it to work I'll have nice soil to use for next years garden.

Now if I can only convince the police...........

Forest Grove Farmer's Market Part 3

Another week, another visit to the farmers market. Lots of strawberries, too bad I got a bunch at the supermarket last week. I'll use the one's I have to make a fruit pie with what ever else is laying around. No rhubarb but now there are strawberries, I'll get some next week and come up with some good recipes.

I did grab some baby red and Yukon gold potatoes, real tiny ones that can be cooked whole in about fifteen minutes in the oven. Or put them on a skewer and roast over a barbecue grill. I'll toss them in with something in the next week. Sweet onions are in season so I grabbed a bunch of them, I already have onions but I am going to use these first. Nice round white bulbs with the tops on them, add them when you cut up onions they are edible too. And some sugar snap peas, maybe use them in a stir fry but I doubt that they will last that long.

Last post I talked about using the red potatoes to bake, I went against that and had a craving for horseradish garlic mashed potatoes. Our stove, the burner section, went out last weekend while I was trying to made a batch of curry. Having to wait from Saturday to Monday without a stove was too much for me, so I needed a meal to comfort me. So along with the shake n' bake pork chops, I made my Thanksgiving staple. Great recipe that I'm sure that can be amended.

Garlic Horseradish Mashed Potatoes
6 Potatoes (any will do, this time I used small reds)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon grated horseradish*(see note/rant at bottom of post)
Granulated garlic
Salt
White pepper

Cut the potatoes into small chunks, skinning is optional, and place into a pot of water with enough to cover and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender, a knife will slide though easily. Don't over cook the potatoes, or anything ever for that matter, they will be harder to deal with and won't taste as good. Add remaining ingredients as to your taste level. Remember white pepper is spicier than black pepper. Use a good potato masher until you get the consistency that is desired, for me that means no lumps of potatoes. I got that from my dad who would make me mash for hours until my hands bled to get smooth mashed potatoes. Horrible memories but really great tasting mashed potatoes.

*Note on grated horseradish - Only use grated horseradish, they type they sell in the refrigerated section of the supermarket, or make it yourself. Creamy horseradish is the greatest crime against humanity, seriously. It tastes terrible, looks terrible and is terrible. Don't use it ever, get the good stuff, real grated horseradish.

Forest Grove Farmer's Market Part 2

I'm posting later than usual, but I did make it to the May 27th Farmers Market. Since I was still in recovery from my mild heart attack, I had very little energy but trudged through. I missed the next one on June 3rd, but that was my first day back to work and I was exhausted.

Just like the previous week, not too many booths selling produce but more than the week before. Grabbed some red potatoes of which I will most likely cut up and roast in the oven. Got two small cucumbers which I sliced up and added to salads, very tasty. And got some asparagus which I cooked in this great recipe.

Asparagus Stir Fry
8 to 12 stalks of asparagus
5 or more cloves of garlic
Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce
Rice Wine Vinegar
Dried Mustard
Cayenne Pepper
Corn Starch (optional)

Cut the bottoms off the asparagus and then slice diagonally into half inch strips, cut the garlic into small pieces, almost minced. I prefer to use much more garlic usually a small head, adjust to your taste. Since I'm not that accurate when using spices I don't have exact measurements of how much to add. I add as much as needed to flavor with. So for the sesame oil I added just enough to coat the frying pan. Once the oil was heated up I added the asparagus and garlic and saute for about a minute or two. I added equal amounts of rice wine vinegar and soy sauce (I used low sodium) about a tablespoon or so if you want to measure. I added the dry spices, about a half a teaspoon, adjust to your taste. The dried mustard can be substituted with Chinese mustard, I also added some five spice I got at Trader Joe's a while back and used Korean red pepper instead of the cayenne, not much difference. Once it is heated it's ready to eat. Corn starch can be added, about a teaspoon or less depending on how much liquid is in the pan, to thicken up the sauce. I didn't add any this time.

Serve as a side dish or over rice. What you have is a basic stir fry base so if you wanted to make a nail soup you could add onions, broccoli, peppers and other vegetables as well. To add more flavor and protein put in some meat, chicken, pork or seafood. I added some leftover pork to the remainder after I made this and had it for breakfast over some brown rice.

Hopefully I'll make it either this week of the 8th or next week back to the market. I know each week more items will be available and I'll have an opportunity to enjoy more fresh food.

Forest Grove Farmer's Market Part 1

Finally made it out to the Forest Grove Farmers Market yesterday. This was the second week for the market but I was unable to make it last week because I was at work late, was tired, I think it was raining (can I come up with more excuses). Not that I don't enjoy the Grove market, but I think I was spoiled by the Beaverton Farmers Market as you can see from previous posts from last year. I am glad to go to my local farmer's market but it is small as compared to Beaverton's which is the largest in the area, probably the largest in the region if not the state.

The market is located on Main Street just north of Pacific Avenue, they close the entire block. I first did a walk through to see what was there and then went shopping. I only found one booth that had some potatoes and rhubarb, since I still have potatoes I got about a pound of rhubarb. I have some apricots and strawberries at home so I'll make a nice fruit pie using this recipe. A number of the vendors who have farms were selling starts but since I've got all of my seeds in the ground or ready to be planted I didn't get any.

My wife was talking to a vendor who was selling pepper plants so I got a jalapeno plant to try out. I like jalapenos but don't eat too many, mostly slice some up when I make fajitas. I might put in a pot to grow or I think I have some room after the last fennel plant to put it in the ground. I''ll see how it turns out, the guy running the booth told me how to dry the seeds and I can plant from that next year.

Also got a "Buy Local" bumper sticker with the Forest Grove Farmers Market logo on it, put that on the car as soon as I got home. I also got into a conversation with Dori owner of Creations by Dori since I was carrying my Peak Oil bag. My wife bought two bracelets, one for herself and one for her sister. There were a number of other vendors selling food and one that had a bunch of organic eggs and a few selling crafts, candy, jerky and other nice items.

As the season goes on I know there will be more items to choose from, waiting for peaches and especially eggplant. Can't wait for eggplant to arrive. I wish I planted some this year, but I am trying to start walking before breaking into a full sprint. Wonderful eggplant, I am waiting for you.

Tearing Up My Lawn Part 1

One of the main reasons why my wife and I purchased a house was for the opportunity to grow our own food. We took our time and found a wonderful house that we love and has a full southern exposure in the backyard. The yard has about 3000 square feet of lawn, I decided to start at the eastern end of the yard to start tearing it up. Not having any experience but a strong determination, I got started.

Having shovels, rakes and implements of destruction, I mapped out strips where I would grow my "crops". Talking with a co-worker, I was advised not to remove all grass but to leave strips in between. He has a small yard and has to put down straw to keep things from getting too muddy. I dug up rectangular strips about twelve feet long and about two feet wide. Of course sticking to my peak oil principle of reducing my carbon footprint I didn't use any electric tools but good old fashion hand tools.

I first marked the area with a shovel then went through and dug up the grass trying to leave as much soil as possible. I took the strips and added them to my compost pile which gave it a large amount of brown mixture to combine with my mostly green mixture pile. I was also able to bring a bunch of worms over which I believe is necessary to help my compost. I should have read more up on this, I'll have another post about my trials and tribulations with composting later on. I think it may be starting to work, but I want to be sure before I write about it.

The process took a few days. I found out my soil is clay which makes it a bit hard to dig and move around. Hopefully next year when I get that compost pile to start working I can use it to mix with the soil. But even with the soil not 100% perfect for growing you can still grow something. I dug up the first three strips to plant garlic, lettuce and onions. After preparing my seed in a mini style greenhouse I had a lot of onion starts but didn't have many lettuce starts.

I then put a few lettuce start in the north side of the middle strip and some fennel in the south end. I put in about thirty garlic cloves in the eastern strip and about fifteen onion starts in the western strip. All but one of the garlic cloves have shot up, a few of the lettuce are growing and now most of the onions are starting to grow. I did add more onion and lettuce seeds, some of the starts just did not take.

The plan is for this weekend to tear up two more strips for the twelve tomato plants that I have growing to get them in by the end of the month. More photos to come.

Beaverton Farmer's Market Part 6

Glad to get back to the farmer's market, missed last week due to my wife and I are in the middle of buying a house. Each week there are more and more items showing up. We took a walk through the entire market first to see what was there and to compare prices and quality.

First got small Yukon and red potatoes, they can be roasted whole, about five stalks of broccoli and a pint of plum tomatoes. Grabbed some more rhubarb to make another pie, see previous posts for the recipe that I'll use. I'm going to bring it to a Peak Oil meeting this week, I've been told it's great to read about me cooking, but they haven't done any tasting yet ;-).

Seeing that the weather will get hot this week, we decided to make a chef salad one night. Picked up tomatoes, cucumbers, head of lettuce and some sugar snap peas. Mixed with some turkey breast, salami and whatever else is in the fridge, makes a great meal.

Onions are looking great, got two very large Willamette Valley sweet onions which I used in the recipe of the week. I added them to chicken Madeira, a great dish that is not hard to make but it very fancy. It's a good meal to make for a dinner party or a special occasion.

Chicken Madeira

3 to 4 chicken breasts
1 large onion
12 mushrooms
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/4 cup Madeira wine
1 tbs corn starch
3/4 cup flour
salt
pepper
2 tbs olive oil

1) Clean and cut chicken breasts if desired, mix salt and pepper in the flour and dredge the chicken to coat.
2) Heat a skillet, recommend cast iron, add one tablespoon of olive oil and fry the chicken until its browned on both sides, about two to three minutes a side. Remove from pan and put into a oven or Pyrex dish.
3) Cut up onion and add to skillet after de-glazing with the remaining olive oil. (De-glazing is adding a liquid to a pan after frying to scrape up the little bits that are stuck to the pan.) Cook onion for about five minutes until the onion begins to soften.
4) Slice mushrooms and add to onion and cook for another five minutes, they should be tender and cooked. Add broth and Madeira and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow sauce to reduce. Add seasonings, I put a dash of granulated garlic as well as some pepper.
5) To thicken sauce, strain off about a half a cup of liquid and mix with corn starch. Stir well to remove lumps and add back to the pan. Stir and allow to return to a boil, the sauce should thicken up nicely.
6) Pour mixture over chicken and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees, or until chicken is cooked.

Made this with the broccoli and rice. Rice is a good side dish since it sops up all the gravy. Note the more broth and Madeira you add, the more sauce you'll get, I make extra sauce since I love the taste. Feel free to use less if you don't want it as "saucy".

Grabbed some blackberries and raspberries since they are now in season. Also got more artichokes, this time tried an Italian artichoke as well as a regular one. Made them for lunch on Sunday. The Italian artichoke is meatier and has a strong artichoke flavor. The leaves are thicker and the heart was amazing. Not to diminish the regular artichoke either, it was just as good.

Still anxiously waiting for eggplant to show up, I'll be posting a bunch of recipes then.

Beaverton Farmer's Market Part 5

It was good to get back to the farmer's market yesterday after missing last week. My wife and I were out house hunting, one of the many reasons for us to get a house is to be able to start growing our own food. I'll still hit the farmer's market, but it'll be great to grow my own. Also found out that garlic is planted in September, hopefully we'll have a place by then and I can try growing that first.

From my last post, I did use the basil to make a pesto sauce but found out that you really need two bunches of basil to make it work for about a pound of pasta. I'll try again later in the summer and get a good recipe together. Cooked the last of the potatoes as well, they taste great just roasted in the oven.

Yesterday walked through and found even more fruits and vegetables being sold. Picked up some large sweet onions, very large. Probably will only need a half for most of what I'll cook. Got more potatoes, one booth has a mix and match for the same price, grabbed reds, fingerlings, purples and yukons to roast.

Broccoli is now showing up. Usually when I get it in the supermarket they cut off most of the stem, I got three stalks to use. I cut the florets off and will use them for another meal and cook the stems. The florets of the broccoli can be steamed or sauteed or even eaten raw. Here is a basic recipe to use for broccoli stems.

Sauteed Broccoli Stems
2 to 3 stems
3 to 4 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Italian seasoning
Balsamic vinegar
Lemon juice

1)Slice the garlic thinly and saute in olive oil for about a minute.
2)Cut the stems thinly, on an angle if possible for more even cooking, add to garlic.
3)Fry until garlic and stems are tender, about 5 to 6 minutes and add Italian seasoning, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice (about a tablespoon each), stir until well mixed and serve.

Artichokes are now in season, got two of them, medium sized. Be careful of the thorns on the leaves, I cut my index finger handing them over. Artichokes are easy to cook, simply cut the bottom stem off so that the artichoke can sit evenly. Also cut the top quarter of the artichoke. I boil them in a pot of water for about twenty to thirty minutes until the artichoke is tender, you can put a knife through the center easily.

Turn the artichoke upside down to drain out any water and peel the leaves off to eat. The outer leaves have less "meat" the ones closer to the heart have more. The bottom part of the leaf is edible, it's the most tender part. Also when buying artichokes look for a head that is very tightly closed.

Grabbed some more strawberries, their my wife's favorite as well as yellow plum tomatoes for snacking. New item to try this week, radishes. The greens on top are edible, try those in a salad and see how fresh radishes taste. I'm not much of a fan, but it's worth a shot.