Cider, Woodsmoke, Soap Bubbles, Beef, Barley & Guiness Give the Illusion of Fall in SoCal

A deep bed of white-orange hardwood coals throws its heat six, maybe seven or eight feet, warming my waterlogged and cold fingers despite my distance from the fire.

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Darkness has arrived, and is impatiently settling into full night, despite the parting comments of the sun written in the bright blue glow of the twilight sky. There is just enough light left to finish cleaning the cider press without resorting to the jarring eye-noise of the backyard floodlights. The last pressing bag is hung to dry.

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Two fresh logs on the fire flair with surprise as they settle onto the coal bed, then transform themselves into the hot, steady flame befitting the tree from whence they came. Cider is in the kitchen; homemade Beef, Barley & Guinness stew is simmering; fresh cider-bread is in the oven. Fresh coffee is on the table and I have a few minutes to make some notes and observations on the ol' electronic kitchen calender here.

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Another Round of Fall

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At the more northerly latitudes of Europe from whence we Americans borrow our seasons, it is winter. Late August through about Halloween are the transitional time, and the traditional start of winter in November can be quite bitter. Around here, if we have nights in the 40s and days in the low 70s we consider that winter has truly begun. (Ah Southern California!) Overnight we had our second lowest temp since last spring -- a mere 42F or so -- and a high not much out of the 60s. We almost had rain; a few places had a cloudburst on Friday, but here we got nothing but some pretty clouds scudding around on a brisk breeze. This is the second patch of "fall" that we have had this year -- after the last patch we had a week of temps in the 90s. Sigh.

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Oak Glen Apples

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Made the annual pilgrimage to Oak Glenn for cider apples last weekend. Didn't buy as much as we usually do -- maybe only half to two-thirds. No particular reason. Feelin' thrifty I guess. The Snow-Line cider seconds look quite nice this year -- very little in the way of rots, moths, etc. (Some years there is more carving done on the apples than not. Today in a bushel I had maybe two cups of parings -- and most of those precautionary. )

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The mix appears to be Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, Pippen, Rome, a couple of Honeycrisps, a few Winesaps, the odd small Arkansas Black, a couple of the cloyingly-sweet Golden Delicious and one lone Red Delicious in that first box. Made a sweet but not too sweet mix over all. Nearly two gallons out of the bushel, wish is good.

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Hannah and I pressed up one box this evening -- just to get some cider for dinner. And breakfast. And midnight snack tonight. (Grin). Nothing quite like cold cider with apple-wood smoked bacon, and some really fresh eggs, fried potatoes with HGO garlic, onions and peppers.

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"Dinner is almost ready," Hannah tells me, singing a song about cider she invents on the spot as she blows her soap bubbles. The hot smoke from the fire carries the bubbles high into the sky, and we laugh.

Garlic Madness Under the Moontree

Yes, madness I say. Garlic everywhere, and not a vampire in sight!

This is, I think, my fifth fall planting garlic. (It all started with some sprouting store-bought stuff several years ago; several garlic related posts here.)

Today, I just finished planting 175+ cloves of five varieties of garlic. Next summer there will be much deliciousness. Last year's crop is being consumed even as you read this, and, well, we may be reduced to buying garlic by late spring. No chance of that in fall 2010 though.

This year we bought a two-pound sampler pack from Filaree

Farms, plus planted our own planting-stock of last years Cuban Purple/Rojo. Sampler included several hard neck and softneck varieties (links on both the variety and specific cultivar give detailed information):

• Chesnok Red a hardneck purple-stripe garlic said to
  be good for baking;


• Killarney Red another hardneck, a true rocambole;


• Cuban Purple / Rojo de Castro, a delighful hardneck creole that we love in pesto;


• S&H Silverskin, a softneck, braidable, silverskin variety;
  
• Lorz Italian, a softneck, braidable, artichoke variety

Planted 25 of each of the four, plus 50 of the Cuban

Purple/Rojo (we really really like them). Still have Silverwhite Silverskins from last crop to eat, and plant if we decide too. A couple of little spots left with finishing fall stuff that can go to garlic in a week or two.

The Cuban Purple/Rojo we planted was ordered from Filaree Farms last year, then grown by us in '08-'09 and saved for replanting. (We have some to eat too, but we really liked it, so a third of the best bulbs were saved for "seed" for this year.) Our planting stock was much brighter red than I remember the mailorder Rojo planting stock; maybe we should call it Rose City Rojo? In any case, we love the stuff -- great flavor, easy mild "burn" in pesto, easy to peel. One of our four-year-old's favorite jobs this summer was peeling the Rojo garlic for dinner.

In taste testing the planting stock, the Killarney Red had a nice, easy but complex flavor. Haven't tasted the others yet, but since we have 1-10 cloves of each left, we will soon. (Grin).

We have planted 25 cloves of each variety, plus an extra 25 cloves (total of 50) of the Rojo, plus a "green garlic" plot of an additional 25 miscellaneous cloves.

Green garlic is what it sounds like: Garlic that has not been dried or cured, and in some cases may not even have really started forming bulbs.

It is surprisingly delicious, and is like a mild garlic-flavored green onion. So, since there where lots of odds and ends (at least 5 cloves of each variety) I planted a patch to pick before the bulbs mature without regret.

Growing garlic also provided the interesting discovery that chopped greens -- just some of the leaf or even the stalk of a pulled green garlic -- make a lovely garlic-flavored chive sort of effect!

Last year we ordered late, and put in about 40 Cuban Purpe/Rojo and 40 Silverwhite Silverskins in two batches; one location did pretty well, the other, not so well. Our one-pound investment in planting stock yielded about 12-15 pounds of garlic, if you include all the sampled green garlic and greens. We still have eating / planting stock from the Silverwhite's, but I think we may have enough garlic in the ground, including one silverskin variety allready.

Now that the bulk of the garlic planting is done, there are always a few cloves extra for the available space, so we will be having a small side by side taste test comparison soon.

Coming Soon: Cider Season!

Fall Arrives for Real; Summer Recap Part II

Fall arrived for real last week. Two weeks ago daytime temps peaked out between 90-100 F; last week the morning low was 46F and the daytime high all of 67F or so. Good grief. But welcome to Southern California, neh? For the last two years Halloween has had a daytime high right around 80F, although one year not long ago it bucketed rain. Go figure.

We are recovering from numerous colds in the house, and trying not to cross contaminate, and so far I am the only one who has missed all of the bugs. So everyone is home, lallygagging about, resting up. In the cool overcast I am casually cleaning up outside for fall planting as my form of rest.

The basil we started from seed last April is still going great guns, and, in fact, had taken over a significant part of the raised bed. We pulled and cut back about half the basil, and topped the rest so it would not go to seed, and have picked and cleaned about 4 quarts of basil leaves. The job this morning is to make up numerous batches of home made, home grown pesto and freeze it up for winter enjoyment.

Took two of us nearly an hour to pick and wash the leaves, but the pesto should make up quick after a short trip to Trader Joe's to stock up on sheep's milk Parmesan cheese and pine nuts. We have plenty of HGO (home-grown organic) garlic.

Of course part of the clean-out is to ready space for fall garlic; five or six varieties on tap this year, more on that in a later post.

Granola Making Day . . .Mmmm!

Yesterday was granola making day. I hate to admit to it as it is such a stereotype, but its good, and really healthy, and really easy to make. We have "his" and "hers" flavors made from the same basic supply of organic rolled oats, olive oil and honey, baked on a tray in the oven. In "his" mix slivered toasted almonds go into the oven too, and the mix is cooked a little darker. Amusingly, the "hers" variety has, er, no nuts.

The "his" variety has, in addition to almonds, unsalted cashews, dried cranberries and organic raisins; "hers" uses a Trader Joe's "golden berry" mix with golden raisins, dried cranberries, blueberries, and cherrys, plus some additional organic brown raisins.

Really good as cereal with milk, as a hand snack, with a few dark chocolate chips as dessert, on top of or mixed into yogurt (especially the TJ maple yogurt) and vanilla ice cream. And as it happens the whole oats are pretty good for fiber and cholesterol reduction, if those items are a concern.

A Very Dry Summer Means Good Drying Weather

All the basil smell reminds me that we had a great summer drying things in the new hanging food dryer from Path to Freedom's web store. Figs, tomatoes, some grapes-to-raisins, all eaten already. Also, in the photo below, we dried more of that same HGO Genovese Basil, various HGO apples and HGO New Mexico Chili's. Also marjoram, and a wonderful lime-basil that has the unfortunate tendency to attract bees (lots of them!) when made into pesto and eaten outside. It's hard to keep up on the apples as people chomp them up almost as fast as we can dry them.

Our apples were done a month ago, and we canned up many jars of applesauce (plain and honey) and new apple butter. The Oakglen run should happen at the end of October, first of November, with cider and more apple goodies. Alas, it will be harder to air dry apples that late, but we might try the hanging dryer in the kitchen.

Speaking of Dry: Seeds Dry on the Vine

In addition I am reminded that we harvested dried coriander seeds, and dried celery seed (I let the celery get away from me, was slow to remove it, and found the seeds quite easy to harvest), as well as saved seed for planting from the "Bee" Basil. I still have a huge store of saved sunflower seeds, and really hope to get some in the ground at school in the spring. We enjoyed beans and peas all spring and summer from seed I saved last year. We have some pepper seeds saved too. It's really pretty rewarding to grow things from seed that you grew and saved, rather than having to go to the store each year for a new commercial packet.

The 'Tween Season: Summer Came, Went, and Lingers On; RIP the Car

Wow.

Busy busy busy spring and summer; so busy living it, no time to write about it. Whew.

But since may main purpose on this blog is to create, for myself, a "kitchen calendar" of jotted doings and observations, I will try to catch myself up. Might take two or three posts, but here we go.

The Engine On the Car Goes 'Rrrr Screeeet Thud' (All Over Town)

Back in May, we lost a car.

The timing belt on the KIA separated, got wound up in the external moving engine parts in such a way as to become one with the internal engine moving parts, killing the engine at 65 on the freeway one afternoon.

This proved to be the equivalent of a stake through the heart for the KIA (the fix was more than the car was worth; there were no active repair bulletins, warranties, insurances or other dodges to get it fixed at lower out of pocket).

So, since May we have been a one car family. Works out pretty well so far.

Driving Bikes to Work, School and Preschool

Most days, Hannah goes to school in the bike trailer (apx 1 mile one way) and the delivering parent (usually Leslie) goes on to school via bike. Kathryn drives her own bike to school (apx. 1.8 miles) riding part way with a parent. This happens most days whether the van is available or not.

I either ride my bike in the early morning, or, when Spencer is with us, ride with him in the van to school in La Verne (25 miles away). He gets himself home on public transit three days a week, and I pick him up via minivan and deliver a band friend to his home on marching band practice nights. Later, Spencer has a bike and we often ride en famille to the park for free concerts, or to South Lake avenue for groceries or just to window shop (especially at the bookstore!

The trailer is parked at school, and both parents have a trailer hitch on their bikes, so either can pick up. And the trailer folds flat, so in the event that an unexpected car pickup is needed, it pops into the back of the mini-van.

We are preparing for inclement weather, and plan to purchase an L.U.V. (or someday maybe two) to get to school(s) on really cold *and* wet days.
What, you may ask, is an L.U.V. ? Its like an S.U.V. only completely opposite. :-)

That is, its is a "Local Use Vehicle:" Small (2-4 passenger), easy to park, low top speed, and best of all a pluggable electric. Although there have been really excellent all electric freeway cars, with 100 mile range no less, since 1998, we do not need that car. We need a car to supplement the bikes -- for when the weather is too cold and/or too wet, or even too hot for Hannah in her trailer (many LUVs have AC). We might want two LUVs because in bad weather both adults might need to go separate places at separate times. But for now, one will do.

Oh we'd still keep the mini-van, but pretty much just for running thither and yon via freeway. or if we needed to go somewhere with the whole family in one vehicle and bad weather.

So, we used Hannah's first bike trailer for the summer (being it's third year in use); it was sufficiently worn, however, that we bought a new, bright yellow trailer for the coming school year, along with a patio chair cover.


The chair cover is exactly the right size to cover the trailer and protect it from rain and UV light when it is parked at Hannah's school. And it only costs $14 instead of $75!


So, we dropped our other car off the insurance and now pay about 45% less than we used too. No gas or upkeep on a second car, and no tickets for forgetting to pull it onto the driveway at night. We aren't car-free by any means, but we get pretty close.

Bees Back, Hot Hot Hot & A Garden Tour

Near record heat today, 90.1 F a little after 1:00 PM PDT, the record for the area being 92F. Last week, no record, but a high temp of 59F and overnight into the 30's. Welcome to Southern California: Today it is high summer, next week, it will be cool. March and April snow in the nearby mountains is not unheard of at all.

Spring planting is mostly done, and we are still waiting on the fall garlic to mature to free up the space for a late spring planting . . . Since I'd like to enjoy some of the spring space hogs before late summer, I am anxious to get the garlic beds back.

We have been eating green garlic from a small side plot, and the bulb formation is nil. The plants look like large green onions, and have a surprisingly mild, lovely garlic flavor. We also, of course, have been eating garlic greens all winter, stealing the odd leaf from various plants and chopping them like garlic-flavored chives.

Garden Tour

As a periodic check in, and for my own amusement down the road, it's time for the garden tour. Mundane, even boring if you aren't me, but this is as much my record as something to amuse any of you (grin). Clockwise around the garden then:

Boysenberries have doubled their fence coverage this year, and are deep in fragrant white flowers, buzzing with bees. Volunteers under the orange tree and further down the fence augment the canes growing on the fence and gate. July and August boysenberry feasts beckon!

Mandarin Orange is mostly played out for this year; a dozen late fruits remain, which I threatened to turn into marmalade. My hand has been stayed by the discovery that late-season, super sweet Mandarins are really good in a salad; the mandarin juice is quite good too, and I may just clean the tree this week and freeze the juice. Next winter's oranges are in bloom now, and the tree was a-buzz with California (and some European) honey bees. Since boysenberries were bee-full too, this is a good sign, as I had not yet seen many bees this season.

Peach trees are still dormant, a cause of some small concern as they were just planted this past spring. Some buds starting, some tell-tale darkening of stems, but no solid signs of life. Fingers remain crossed.

Loquat has large fruit and a medium heavy crop; last year was a heavy crop, but smaller. I like the larger fruit, as the seeds are so large the small fruit are a bother to eat, even if very sweet.

Apples are bloomin with the potential for a heavy crop in a couple of varieties. Much depends on how the others bud-out, and how bad the June Drop is this year.

Grapes have leafed up and have heavy fruit. The south side -- the neighbor's side(!) -- has the heaviest fruit, but the yield looks good. Researching raisin techniques, to, hopefully, repeat the successful raisin making experiment. And we are parceling out last year's Grape Preserves to make it to the next harvest (grin). Fortunately, we have apple butter and fig butter to keep us going on our own preservation work for awhile.

Figs are leafing in slow; it looks like a modest crop after last year's bumper. At least we are not yet as heavy with immature fruit as last year, so I am predicting a light crop.

Elephant Garlic is still going. Getting impatient to harvest, but done to soon and there will be no bulbs.

Yellow Onions have been adding to salads as we thin them (grown from seed) and use the very strong green onions; Green Bunching Onions are ready to use, but waiting for the yellows to be all thinned out before we go after the bunchers. The bunchers will stay small and "green onion" style even as they mature, whereas the round onions just grow badly if left too crowded.

Silver White and Cuban Purple Garlic currently fill about half the garden space. They are dancing close to harvest time, but the leaves are staying green, and so they stay in the ground.

Cabbage stuck into a couple of bare corners have produced a few nice heads; cabbage is one of those things that requires more space, however. One head of cabbage can be a couple of feet across, with all it's outer leaves.

Hannah planted a patch of edible flowers in the horse trough early this spring, which have greened up great guns but nary a snack-able flower petal yet. Hannah also planted a window box with shelling peas and carrots. Peas are up and looking for the promised trellis, and the carrot sprouts have been emerging all week. Her volunteer Sunflower is now officially taller than her, and should have an open flower any day now.

Kathryn planted leeks and some fascinating carnival carrots -- old style carrots that come in orange, white, red, and purple! Each is sprouted, and the waiting begins.

Bell Peppers in Red, Orange and Green have survived the transplant shock and are putting out flowers. We planted several plants, as we discovered bell peppers freeze really nicely if cleaned and cut first.

New Mexico Chili Peppers, really tasty and a special project by Leslie also are hanging on. We have five plants, so come fall there may be chilies for everybody.

My patch of Italian Basil is sprouting, and if we see a mature plant or two at TJ's we may find a pot for 'em. We really grew to love the home grown pesto last year! We also have some Lemon Basil seedlings inside, waiting to transplant.

Chives struggle. After going great guns as seedlings indoors, they are not thriving outside side. Frustrating, as these could be a perennial.

Bok choy starts have new growth after the transplant; bush bean starts are struggling but holding on, while the pole bean transplants from in the house have mostly all died. Amusingly, additional seed planted alongside the transplants has germinated and is doing fine. Go figure, same seeds! (The seeds are from last year's crop, saved by us.)

Pickling Cucumber starts are in, and hanging in; Slicing Cucumbers started in the house all died, and were replaced by store starts -- and some seeds from the same package, which have sprouted already.

Broccoli is a disappointment this year; planted 10 plants, expecting a bumper crop, but the output has been meager.

Snow Peas, originally a pair of volunteers, augmented by additional plantings of our own seed, produce a reliable bowl or two of pea pods every 2-3 days.

Asparagus has run its course, and the three stalks that shot up today have been allowed to go to seed; funny stuff 'cause it grows by INCHES per day.

Romaine Lettuce starts have been harvested from time to time, and the stumps are regrowing leaves for the second harvest. Need to do some lettuce starts inside ASAP if salad is wanted this summer! Oak Leaf Lettuce doing similar. Both are in red clay pots on the patio.

Celery, first time item for us, are quite pretty, and doing well in another big clay pot. One can pick the outer, strong flavored stems one at time, and it is hoped that the six plants we have will see us well along before they try to go to seed. For flavor in stews and chopped in salads the celery leaves are quite tasty.

Hannah has a strawberry plant that struggled all spring, and is now sporting a half dozen berries. The other plants did not make it over winter; the one big red berry she was eyeing vanished over night to backyard marauders.

Finally, last but not least in the back, the lemon has the last of a crop, a new green crop, and fresh blooms -- all at once -- as it often does.

The front yard herbs, and especially the rosemary, thyme and oregano, and lilac continue to produce reliably. The lime was all a-bloom, but we have yet to produce a single mature fruit. Mostly it is neglected and gets insufficient water.

Once the garlic is up and drying, lots more getting ready to go down in the same spot!