Sunday, June 27, 2010

Cobbler and No Grain Granola

No Grain Granola


2 cups raw pecans
2 cups raw almonds
8-10 pitted dates
1 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup shredded coconut
2 eggs (I used duck eggs)
Process the nuts, dates, and cinnamon until they are a course meal. Stir in the coconut. Add the two eggs, slightly beaten. Stir. It will be thick and clumpy. Spread on a baking sheet with sides. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, stirring at 10 and 20 minutes. Cool and store in an airtight container. Serve with your favorite milk and add fruit, fresh or dried, if you like. We used almond milk.


Granola-Jeff says it looks like hamburger.  I have to agree, just don't tell him that.


Blackberry Cobbler (Thanks to Everyday Paleo!)

3 cups of fresh blackberries
1 1/2 cups almond meal (finely ground almonds)
1 omega 3 enriched egg
2 tbsp coconut oil
A drizzle of raw organic honey
Cinnamon to taste
“So Delicious” coconut milk

Preheat oven to 350. Pour the blackberries into a pie pan. In a small bowl mix together the egg, almond meal, and coconut oil, and shake in a bunch of cinnamon. Stir well. The mixture will be really thick and clumpy. If you wish, drizzle a bit of raw organic honey on top of the blackberries. By hand (or if you have a 2 year old to help you, that works just as well…) crumble the almond meal mixture on top of the blackberries and bake in your pre-heated oven for 35 minutes. Serve in bowls with cold “So Delicious” brand coconut milk poured over the top. Yes, it’s addicting, but life’s too short to not eat cobbler now and then…

This was some good stuff!  Notice that is past tense.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The Grass is Always Greener...


...before July.  That can be soooo true here in Oklahoma.  It has already been hot and we are just now officially two days into summer.  We have had above normal temperatures for the last three weeks at least.  Not just one or two degrees, more like 7-12.  That translates into the mid 90's for this area.  There is little relief in sight.  Last night we watched huge thunder storms with crazy amounts of lightning move our way, only to get with in 10 miles and fizzle out.  The grass this morning wasn't even as wet as a heavy dew would make it.  It can get very hot and dry this time of year.  With our wonderful Oklahoma winds it can feel like a convection oven.  That's what the grass will begin to look like it has been in.  Now, an upside to that is I don't have to mow as often.  We don't water our yard since we have a shallow well.  There is plenty of water, but it starts to pull up a lot of mud if we use very much.  It is also about an acre of grass.  No, we just let it turn brown.  I enjoy it while I can.

Still green!

The garden so far is doing fine in the heat.  I have several peppers and eggplants.  The tomatoes are putting on quite a few, just waiting for them to get ripe.  The cantaloupe is about the only thing isn't doing much.  They are still very small.  The tomatoes in the Topsy Turvy are not producing.  I still have the same two tomatoes on there and no new blooms.  The same for the one in the bucket.  I will fertilize them today and see if that helps.  I have okra starting to come on and my sunflowers are looking good.  The mustard greens got away from me a little and the spinach has made its last bit for the summer.  My spaghetti squash vines are doing quite well, now if they would just produce some squash!


Checking in on the guineas
Squash bloom
Mustard gone wild!
Spahetti Squash
Sunflowers and okra
I don't think we will get anywhere near 30 pounds

Monday, June 14, 2010

A Little Rain Never Hurt Anything



That statement is for the most part true.  However, 10+ inches can damage quite a bit.  At least I won't have to water for a few days, but I also can't mow for a few days.  By then, it will be a jungle.  I'm also pretty sure that any grass seed we put out last week has made its way to Texas.


Our Road

A normally dry field

The pond across the road from the field

Normally dry road-a Dodge 4x4 crossed after this was taken.  It came up to the hood of the truck!  Dumb!!

Our road after the water receded.  What's left of it at least.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

OOOPS!!!

Just a quick hint.  Don't leave the soaker hose on all night.  Especially if you have a well.  It will burn out.  Don't ask how I know, I just do.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Flower beds

The flower beds are looking fine.  I got around to weeding yesterday.  There is really not much to say about them.  The herbs are doing well also.  My basil never came up in the whiskey barrel, so I reseeded it yesterday.  Normally I don't have any issues with the basil so we will see what happens.

Look closely-basil seed!
Basil
He Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
Before

                                      After, Hyacinth beans are a nice surprise.







Thursday, June 10, 2010

Guineas for the Garden



We got some guinea chicks yesterday.  We had actually tried to hatch 2 dozen under one of our broody hens, but we only got two from that.  Not that she didn't sit well or that the eggs were bad, but when you have three snakes taking turns lunching on the eggs and then the chicks as they hatch, you tend to not get very many.  We were lucky to find the two we saved.  We found the snakes later that afternoon when we (meaning Jeff) cleaned out the brooder.  Nice and fat on little chicks.  Our friend who had given us the eggs had chicks hatching out at the same time so we went and got a few more, so now we have twenty.  They are the cutest little things and very friendly.  We can pick them up and mess with them all we want.  We hope that will translate into them staying around the house and not running all over the neighborhood.  I just can't believe that they will grow up to be so ugly!




The garden is looking great.  We got the tomatoes caged today.  No wimpy little store bought cages for us!  We have tomatoes on the vine.  We also have some squash and peppers.  The okra is doing nicely as are the sunflowers.  We have blooms on the potatoes.  My granny always said, "When there are blooms on top, there are potatoes on bottom.  All-in-all, things are looking great!  I think my granny would be proud!






Thursday, June 3, 2010

Foraging

In this area of Oklahoma, there are three great things to forage for.  Maybe four.  We have morel mushrooms for a very short period, sand plums, wild blackberries, and lambs quarter.  Morel season has come and gone, the plums have about another month before they are ready, and lambs quarter is found all summer long.  Right now it is blackberry time. 

Now you can't text or surf the web with these blackberries, but you can make the other one into an amazing cobbler or jam!  I love blackberry cobbler and jam, so we have been out picking them for the past few days.  They are ripening slowly this year, but the temps are supposed to stay in the 90's for the next several days, so the ones that are just pink will be getting ripe very quickly.  I can't believe people used to treat them as a nuisance plant.  They are quite invasive and I would never try to cultivate them, but I would love to have a very thickets of them on about 5 acres.

Not quite ready
 Found one!
This is all we found today, but a lot more are ripening!

Wild Blackberry article

Sand plums are tiny little things, but they are tasty!  They also make a great jelly.  I hope to find some good thickets of them this year.


Sand plums-courtesy arbucklequ.com


Sand plum info

The morels are really good.  We usually mix them in stir fry or coat them with flour and fry them.  I just wish they had a longer growing season.  You need to be sure you know what a morel looks like as well as the false morel.  The latter is not to be eaten!


Morels

Morel FAQs

You may be less familiar with lamb's quarter.  It is an edible weed.  It makes a great spinach substitute!  I have made creamed lamb's quarter, lamb's quarter enchiladas, and mixed it in my stir fry.  It grows wild just about anywhere.  The young leaves are best, as with most greens.  They are also very nutritious.


Lambs quarter in our yard!

Lambs quarter info
Lambsquarter kid's page

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Taking Off



With the weather getting, and staying warmer, the garden is finally starting to look like it's growing.  I will need to stake the tomatoes this week, pull some wheat that is coming up in the straw, and probably keep it watered a little more frequently.



I haven't harvested much yet.  Only a few mustard greens and spinach.  All of my cool weather crops were put in late, so I don't really expect much from them.  The tomatoes are all blooming and I have several with fruit.  We have picked a few strawberries, but nothing to write home about.  I think these plants are June-bearing, so I don't expect much more this season.  I will find some ever-bearing to get put in soon.  Next summer we should have a good crop.





My purple bell peppers and jalapenos are doing well.  The potatoes look fine as well as the sunflowers and okra.  The black beans should bloom any time now.




My other project is growing well also.  My kiddos.  They are even getting along better these past few weeks.  I think they are both starting to realize that Sissy will be going off to college next year and we won't be seeing nearly as much of here as we used to.  We'll still see her every weekend, but it's just not going to be the same.

Decorating cupcakes together