July 2009 Archives

Grow, my pretties, grow!
Originally uploaded by kerner

I've been very lucky the past couple of weeks - we've gotten rain about every other day, and the temperatures have been a delightful moderate 70-80 degrees (unheard of for July in Missouri, but I'll take it!). Lucky, that is to say, because I have completely been ignoring my garden and it seems to be doing fine without me. It's good to know not everything around here is falling apart!

(ah, here comes another rain storm now. Seriously, I don't think I've had to water my plants in a month. Craziness.)

My "big" tomato plant continues to look like a half-dead weed, but there are about 4-5 tomatoes on it that look somewhat promising. My cherry tomato plant is doing much better. I get about 2 ripe tomatoes a day (which mysteriously disappear if I don't pick them immediately - is my dog eating them?), but it's still putting on lots of blooms, and I think I'm going to be flooded in cherry tomatoes before long.

Renegade cherry tomatoes jump the fence
Originally uploaded by kerner

I get so frustrated with my ineptitude at gardening sometimes, but there really is nothing like walking into the backyard, picking a tomato off the plant, and popping it in my mouth. Yes - I AM the master of the universe... or at least this little 4x8 foot section of it.

I have about a 2ft x 2ft area in one corner of my garden that has been empty ever since the lettuce bolted and I pulled it out. What should I plant?

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Originally uploaded by kerner

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. Last week we were supposed to be getting new floors installed on the main level of our house. When the contractor started taking up the kitchen floor, this is what he found.

Apparently we've had a very slow leak from the water valve that connects to the fridge for several years. As you can see, the damage is quite extensive. It goes under the cabinets, and also into 2 adjoining rooms.

Since we have to replace a good portion of our subfloor, which includes removing the cabinets to get to it, the floor project has somehow turned into a "why not?" kitchen remodel. As in, "Since they're removing the cabinets anyway, why don't we get new cabinets? Actually, how about new appliances, too? And, we've never really liked the layout of the kitchen - why don't we switch where the dining room and kitchen are?"

Of course, all of this hinges on how much various things are going to cost to fix. It's fun to dream about how you might remodel your house someday, but I feel like I've been forced into it because of this big leak, and it's making me pretty nervous about the whole situation. I wish the various contractors would hurry up and get some prices back to us, so at least we know what we're dealing with, cost-wise.

I'll keep you posted!

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Originally uploaded by kerner

Leaving work on Friday morning to go spend the day with my grandparents was a fantastic idea, if I do say so myself. My cousin Paul was visiting too, so I got to chat with him and catch up on the news about his 3 siblings before he went off to do some work on my uncle Gene's farm down the road.  

Shadow the Green Bean Hunter
Originally uploaded by kerner

After he left, Grandma and I got down to green bean canning. She wasn't sure she was going to have enough green beans at first, but there turned out to be quite a few hiding under the leaves. I also got to meet my grandpa's new dog, Shadow. For some reason he really wanted to "help" with the bean picking by trying to get between me (or Grandma) and the beans, but he wasn't trying to eat them or anything. I think he's still a puppy, but they're not really sure because apparently he had been living in the barn for a while before he decided to become the new family dog.

Screw the lids on tight!
Originally uploaded by kerner

I very much enjoyed my canning lesson from Grandma.  She pretty much let me do everything, although the details about how long to process the beans in the pressure cooker, etc. were just a magic number in her head.  I assume there are instructions somewhere if I ever get a pressure cooker of my own to use.  She sent me home with my efforts, 5 pint jars ("since there are just two of you) and two 1 1/2-pint jars ("for company").  She has already canned 55 qts of green beans this summer, and did about 3 more while I was there to finish up what we had picked.  I think she's ready for a long winter!

That's a lot of fruit!
Originally uploaded by kerner

Chop, chop!
Originally uploaded by kerner

Jammin'
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Sterilize, sterilize, sterilize
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Finished jam
Originally uploaded by kerner

I did it!  I made 12 quarts (plus) of mixed summer berry preserves and canned it.  It was quite an undertaking. 

First of all, that much jam requires a gob of fruit.  Like, 6 packs of strawberries, 4 packs of blueberries, and 2 bags of cherries, plus one bag of frozen raspberries thrown in for good measure.  Luckily I caught them on sale.  I guess that's kind of the point of canning, isn't it, to get the fruit at its peak and at its best price?

(I only get a little bit of fruit each week with my farmshare, so yes I caved and bought non organic fruit from the evil Wal Mart empire.  I've never done this before and didn't feel like wasting $50 of fruit from the farmer's market.)

When I made the cherry jam, I didn't chop up the cherries at all after pitting them, and it was quite chunky.  To eliminate that this time around, I sent everything through the food processor for a few pulses. 

I cooked the jam in two batches because the canner I bought only holds 7 jars at a time.  Since I had 12 jars to work with, I split the fruit in half and did 6 and 6.  Apparently the key to good jam is to cook it as hot and fast as you can without burning it.  This is a lot easier said than done when you are making a huge batch.  I followed the recipe for cooking times even though it wasn't cooked down as much as I thought it would be.  I think that's what the pectin is for. 

I was raelly paranoid about getting everything super clean, and I'm still not sure I did it right.  But so far (a week later) the jars don't look moldy and the jam appears to have set up, so I think I'm in the clear.

Now that I've gotten a small taste of success, I have a whole list of other things I really want to try to can: peach halves, apple butter, maybe even tomatoes or the elusive tomato jelly?  I have delusions of a Christmas gift basket with canned goods from every month of the year. Thankfully, I know myself well enough to know that that's probably not going to happen anytime soon.

New books... where to begin?
Originally uploaded by kerner

A package of books I ordered from Amazon, as well as a wonderful gift from a friend who loves to read, both show up on my doorstep within a week's time. Should I declare defeat now, call in sick, and just bury myself in books? 

I am on a serious reading tear this summer.  I already finished reading 2 out of the 3 books that I took with me on vacation, and I'm reading with the third renewed interest thanks to some cajoling from my same book-loving friend.  Middlesex is an amazing story of a Greek family throughout the 20th century, and its a little Gabriel Garcia Marquez-esque (sweeping storyline, a little bit a magic, suspension of disbelief) which I love.  The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society is a lot more of a beach read, but with some interesting WW2 history thrown in, and a charming little love story.  As long as I'm making literary comparisons, this one definitely had a feel of Austen about it.

The third book, The Corrections, took me a lot longer to get into... I am about halfway through right now, and as far as I can tell it's a satirical story about an older midwestern couple and their three adult children.  I normally like to read books where I like the characters (and I most certainly do NOT in this book) but I am trying to appreciate the writing.  Viewing the characters more as caricatures than real people seems to help, although I am a midwesterner and occasionally I feel like the author is making fun of me.  One thing that is pretty interesting about reading it right now is that it's set in the economic boom times of the late 90s/early 2000s, and comparing it to our current situation.

Not that I need any more books to read, but....Have you read anything good lately?

Shimmering in the sun
Originally uploaded by kerner

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Originally uploaded by kerner

Alpaca Ribbon Scarf
Originally uploaded by kerner

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Originally uploaded by kerner

The first few days of the Tour de France Knit-Along have been really fun. I've watched more cycling than ever before in my life, which has also inspired me to get out on my bike for several good rides of my own.

On the knitting front, I'm going for the King of the Mountains jersey by attempting to conquer my mountain of unfinished knitting projects. On the first day of the Tour, I counted 6 unfinished projects:

Colorado Lodge Socks
Summer Shimmer Scarf
Alpaca Ribbon Scarf
Star Sweater (for me)
Saranac Sweater (for Matt)
Craft Hope hats

I am happy to report that only a week into the KAL I have finished 4 projects! (Of course, they were the ones with the least left to do, but still!)

My favorite is the Alpaca Ribbon Scarf, which I started almost a year ago and intended to give as a gift for Christmas 2008. Oh well, there's always this year, right?

What projects have been hanging around your needles, sewing machine, etc. waaaaaay too long?

Tomato
Originally uploaded by kerner

To-mah-to
Originally uploaded by kerner

Good news... my every-other-day waterings are working! I have about 8 little bitty tomatoes starting on the tomato plant that I thought was dying. My grape tomato plant is looking pretty good too!  Still nothing on the lima brean front, but I remain hopeful. 

Gardening is interesting for me... I'm really quite terrible at it, but for some reason I keep trying.  I went to a class at a gardening center earlier this spring, and I was really convinced this was going to be the year.  Turns out I still have quite a bit to learn, but that's okay.  I do feel quite blessed that I don't have to depend on this little garden to feed myself or my family.  Both my grandmothers managed to do that for quite large families, which is totally amazing to me.  I think I need to drive out to the farm soon and see if there's any tips I can get grandma to share.

New knitting books
Originally uploaded by kerner

The KnitPicks 40% off sale strikes again. I was busy dealing with house stuff last night, but I'm looking forward to digging into these books in the next day or two, and dreaming of cool weather to knit socks and sweaters for...

The sample-giver lady sold me on the cherries right as I walked into the grocery store.  I must admit, I normally turn up my nose at the latest and greatest in engineered food product that the grocery store is passing out as samples, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this time it was just cherries!

But enough about the cherries, first I had to make dinner. Those of you who follow me on twitter might have heard about my unfortunate incident with the toaster oven tonight. In my defense, it has been acting up a bit lately - either over cooking or under cooking things. So, the first time I tried to toast some corn tortillas, they barely cooked at all. I left them in for another toast cycle... and as soon as I realized the kitchen was getting a bit smoky, one of the tortillas was on fire!  Luckily the fire was contained inside the oven.  I threw some baking soda into the toaster oven and quickly opened all the windows.

Despite my mishap (and yes, the toaster oven is literally TOAST now), dinner turned out fine (with some microwaved tortillas, thank you very much!) I was cleaning up afterwards and just felt like cooking some more. Maybe I was trying to redeem myself? Anyway, that big bag of cherries was just sitting there...


No-Recipe Cherry Jam
Originally uploaded by kerner

Aha! I should make cherry jam! Using an "un-cookbook" called Lost Arts, I determined that I could make it with just the fruit and a little bit of sugar. I pitted all the fruits, added about 1/4 c. of sugar, and - following the instructions in the book - started boiling the fruit. I didn't really understand how "boiling" was going to work since there was just a little bit of cherry juice in the pan. But as soon as the pan got hot, all the cherry juice started to come out of the fruit. The book said to cook it at a high temperature to preserve the color, and cook until it is the consistency you want.

Bubble, bubble
Originally uploaded by kerner

Easy enough, I just stirred and stirred until the juices reduced now to a sticky jelly. I probably could have pulverized the fruit a bit more before I started, but it will be... rustic. Yeah, that's it.

What could be sweeter?
Originally uploaded by kerner

I filled a glass jar with the jam and stuck it in the fridge - the rest we gobbled up with some yogurt. Mmmm.... wonderful. And I think it took all of 15 minutes.

Slurp!
Originally uploaded by kerner

(I may have licked the pan, it was so delicious)

Happy hippie mama
Originally uploaded by kerner

My sister is so awesome. She's still getting the hang of being a mom (baby Benjamin is two weeks old today!) but I think she's doing fabulously so far.

(That's a Moby wrap in case you're interested - I think you can buy them, but my mom made this one. It's just a really long strip of stretchy fabric.)

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Originally uploaded by kerner

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Originally uploaded by kerner

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Originally uploaded by kerner

I'll be snuggling this sweet baby as much as possible this weekend, so I may or may not see any fireworks tonight.

Happy 4th of July!

Team Rabobank
Originally uploaded by waterboyzoo

It's that time again... the Tour de France! Actually it starts tomorrow (July 4, but I think I'll probably have something a little more patriotic to post then). Also, I'm not really a huge cycling fan, although I am learning to love riding my bike and I'm sure I can learn a few tricks from these guys if I pay attention.

No, I'm excited because it's time again for the Tour de France Knit-Along. I joined this group on a whim a couple of years ago, and had a really great time learning more about cycling and getting to know some new knitters.

This year I am competing for the polka dot jersey, which means I'll be trying to finish up as many current knitting projects as I can. Right now, that would be a pair of socks (from my Colorado trip), a cotton sweater for myself, a scarf that I meant to give as a Christmas gift last year but still isn't done, and as many baby hats as I can possibly crank out for Craft Hope.

I have been assigned to Team Rabobank, which in addition to being a real Tour team, is a team of 10 knitters from 4 different countries.  I'm hoping I can talk them into some kind of swap at the end of the KAL - I love getting mail and random goodies from other countries.

I have also agreed to adopt Stage 12 of the Tour, so be looking forward to learning more about the French towns of Tonnerre and Vittel on July 16th.

Picking green beans
Originally uploaded by kerner

Chicken coop
Originally uploaded by kerner

Washing beets
Originally uploaded by kerner

Yesterday I posted on twitter that I had spent my morning picking green beans, and I almost immediately got a response asking if I had a new job. Um... no. Somehow I doubt I could make my mortgage if I decided to quit the attorney gig and take up vegetable gardening. (Besides, that's hard work!)

Actually, I took the morning off to work at my CSA - we are required to work 12 hours as part of our membership. I spent the first part of the morning picking green beans, while a more mechanically-inclined member got put to work repairing farm equipment, door frames, and more all over the farm.

I cut some salad greens for a while with Karen, one of the unpaid interns on the farm.  She graduated from Rice University with a degree in civil engineering over a year ago, and hasn't found a job yet.  She would really like to teach English abroad, but apparently with all the teacher lay-offs around the country, those spots are getting harder and harder to come by.  To pass the time during her job search, she took a position at the farm for the summer working for room and board.  I am so thankful for my job right now, even on days that I daydream about doing something more creative.

I finished the morning by washing beets... I never knew how much work went into preparing the food on harvest day.  All the greens are washed on a large washing table and spun dry, all the produce is washed and counted, and smaller items have to be counted and bagged or tied into bunches. 

My favorite part of visiting the farm is talking to Curtis, the farmer.  His enthusiasm for his work is amazing.  He is already planning for the winter farm share in addition to growing for the summer season.  Seriously, you have never heard someone get so excited about onions!  But to try to make a living and support a family of 9 (!) by running an organic farm, I think you have to be completely dedicated to your way of life.  It's very inspirational.

Hostas are lookin' good, though!
Originally uploaded by kerner

A new month is here... I love the opportunity for a fresh start. Here are some things I'm looking forward to or challenging myself to in July:

* New floors! My husband I have have been saving to put new flooring in our home almost since the day we bought it. This will be a major upgrade, but also a major disturbance as construction workers invade the house for a week.

* Summer reading, continued. My book club has gone on hiatus for the summer, so I am trying to get a jump on things by pre-reading some books that we might enjoy for future meetings. It's a group of women that I go to church with, so sometimes we read Christian books, sometimes books focused on women's issues (ie, Deborah Tannen's "You're Wearing That?" or Jonalyn Grace Fincher's "Ruby Slippers") Any suggestions for us?

* Third Triathlon of the summer - the Concreteman. This is the only local tri that offers an Olympic distance race. I am really intimidated by the distance, but I would love to say that I'd done it.

* Vacation Bible School. Every year I volunteer to help with the crafts at VBS. Even though they tend to be pre-packaged projects that don't require much creativity, I still enjoy working with the kids on crafty projects.

* Quilt for myself. I started this in January... all the squares are done but that is all. I am challenging myself to finish the quilt top in July.

* Downtime. To try and avoid future meltdowns, I am committing to schedule one evening of free time for myself each week. I'm kicking this off with a bang with a relaxing weekend at my parents' house over the 4th of July.