My Fruitful Yard

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Remember when I asked you all for advice on what this plant was?  I thought (hoped!) it was blueberries, and many of you concurred.  Well guess what?  We were right!

I checked up on them today, and I found these little guys popping up all over them.  I have 8 good sized bushes, and they’re all putting on what looks like a bountiful crop of fruit… I see a summer full of crisps, pies, and cobblers on the horizon, and I for one can’t wait.   I also have several of these guys peeking out:

And I’m letting my cilantro run wild in the hopes of collecting some coriander seeds – although I may give in to my inner OCD person and cut it down if it gets much bigger.  It’s almost as tall as I am, which is a little wild looking.

I know many people are enjoying the fruits and such that are slowly making their way into the grocery stores and farmer’s markets – what are you guys’ favorite springtime treats?  Me, I love strawberries more than almost anything – they’re my favorite fruit, right behind peaches.  I know I’m going to be overrun with berries before too long, so do you all have any suggestions for what I can do with them?

Cotton Mill Farmer’s Market

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Hooray for Farmer’s Markets!  Last year my parents joined the Cotton Mill Farmer’s Market in Carrollton, Ga as a way to get their products out to more people, and I must say that I love going out to say hello so I can browse all the lovely (local!) produce.  It’s not a huge Market, but all the major food groups are represented: meats, dairy, fruits and veggies, and greens.  There are some great people involved who really love their crafts, and it makes for a fun shopping experience when the farmer is clearly dying to tell you all about their products and methods.  Buying local isn’t something that’s for everyone – sometimes it’s just not practical.  The prices are higher than most conventional grocery stores; most Markets are open only one or two days a week, limiting your ability to get groceries at the drop of a hat; selection is limited to what’s in season, and there aren’t many exotic items (tahini in Georgia? I think not). But there are many advantages, chief of which is that the quality of the products is generally much higher.  Because the produce isn’t being hauled from the other side of the continent, it’s usually perfectly ripe and ready to eat – and usually naturally grown or organic.  Also, buying from local farmers and artisans is a great way to put money back into your community.  I’ll be honest here – I buy the majority of my groceries from Publix, but during the spring and summer I try to get as much of my produce as I can from the local producers.  I like knowing that my food was grown less than an hour from where I live, and I like that it’s been grown by folks who have a love for farming.  Because more people are becoming concerned about the quality of the food we eat, more and more Farmer’s Markets are popping up in cities and towns all across the country, and if you’ve never been to one, I encourage you to check one out.  If nothing else, you’ll probably find a friendly farmer ready to talk your ear off about something.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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Apparently I’m on a quick bread kick here lately.  Or maybe I just had 3 bananas sending me accusing looks from their (rapidly decaying) vantage point on my counter.  Who’s to say?  Either way, I’ve had it from a very picky Banana Bread connoisseur (ahem.  My husband) that this bread is perfect just the way it is and I should no longer mess with the recipe.  The base recipe is from How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman’s epic cookbook, and I only played with it a very little bit to suit my taste.  Actually, that’s not true.  Those chocolate chips ended up in there because I had half a bag of them hanging out in my pantry and this seemed as good a fate for them as any, so really, what happened is that I just dumped some extra odds and ends in to facilitate my house cleaning.  You can omit them if you really want to, but I’ll send you an accusing look if you do.  Because bananas and chocolate chips go together like peanut butter and jelly; like Ross and Rachel.  I also added a bit of coffee emulsion because I have it from a good source that bananas and coffee should also be on that list of meant-to-be-togethers.  Although I think you could use a bit of strong coffee or espresso if you don’t have coffee emulsion/extract.  Also, I would tell you that even if some people who fancy themselves Banana Bread Connoisseurs (ahem.  See above.) somehow find out that you used a teensy tiny bit of whole wheat flour and send you their own accusing looks, you should ignore them and do it anyway.  You can’t even tell it’s in there (cue disgusted snort from said connoisseur) and it gives it a little more substance, a little more chew.  It’s still perfectly moist and light, with a very tender crumb, and I’d like to remind…someone…that they did say it was the best Banana Bread I’d ever made.  So there.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything

8 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas, smooshed up (am I the only one who thinks that’s lots of fun?)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coffee emulsion (or espresso or strong coffee)

5 oz mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts (optional.  I omit them because I like my banana bread uninterrupted by crunchy bits.)

Preheat overn to 350 F and grease a 9×5″ loaf pan.

With a hand mixer, or a sturdy spoon or silicon spatula, cream the butter in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients.  (You don’t really need a mixer here as long as your butter is fairly soft.  I just sort of mash it around a little then add the eggs, etc).  Beat the eggs and bananas into the butter, then add the dry ingredients. Finally, stir in the vanilla, coffee substance of choice, chocolate chips and the nuts if you’re using them.  Don’t worry about making the batter smooth – it’s supposed to be lumpy, so just mix it up until all of the flour has been incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 1 hour, until a tester comes out clean, or with a only a tiny crumb or two.  This bread is pretty moist, so I generally pull it out when a well formed crumb sticks to my tester (not batter, mind you, actual crumbs), since I know it will keep baking for another moment or two until it cools.

 

Spring Photo Goodness

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I know, I know, another post of “Springtime” photos… Can it get any more cliche, right?  Well, the thing is, spring is inspiring.  After months of grays and browns, bare tree limbs, and barren lawns, we are finally getting some color back into our lives.  Flowers are blooming, pollen is flying, and our grass is about to need a trim.  And really, it’s lovely.  Lovely, I tell you.  So just suck it up and enjoy the sight of leaves unfurling and blooms happily waving on heavily laden branches that is the annual sign of new life and warmer days that we call: Spring.

 

 

Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

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I made this with one of my few remaining Meyer Lemons, and I must confess that I was a little worried that the recipe wouldn’t be appropriately wonderful for my rare and precious lemons.   I’ve been dying to cook with them, but I have this irrational fear of using them in a less than spectacular way – you know, of making something just average and wasting them.  It’s silly I know, but I’ll only have them for these few months and I don’t want to waste them on something mediocre.  So.  I hunted around forever before settling on the recipe that I used, and even then I adapted it quite liberally to suit my high expectations.  And readers, it was totally worth it.  This simple little loaf is the very essence of Meyer Lemons.  It’s sweet, tart, and as you pull it out of the oven you will be greeted by the most divine scent: slightly pine-y, citrus-y, and totally delicious.  You won’t want to wait for it to cool so you can smear the slightest bit of salted butter on and enjoy it curled up on your favorite comfy chair.  It’s a typical quick bread type recipe that comes together in no time flat, and then you just have to wait impatiently for it come out of the oven.

Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Bread            

Adapted from AmyBites

A few notes:  I added extra lemon zest, juice, and poppy seeds.  I really wanted a pronounced lemon flavor and I love the little crunch of the seeds, and I got what I felt was a well-balanced loaf.  Keep in mind that I used Meyer lemons though, and they have a less pronounced flavor and aren’t as tart as regular lemons, so you may want to adjust if you can’t find them.  Also, milk would be fine in the place of the heavy cream if you want to lighten it up.                                                                                              

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons lemon zest

½ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter a loaf pan.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Using electric mixer, cream unsalted butter, sugar and lemon zest on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in vanilla bean paste. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in lemon juice and poppy seeds.

Pour batter into pan and bake in center of oven until a tester inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 65-70 minutes. Let loaf cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out onto rack. Cool completely.

Road Atlanta

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Ohmygoodness, readers, I may be in love.   I picked up this bad boy on Friday, and I’m not going to want to say goodbye.   I used Aperturent.com to arrange my date; I picked up  my new companion for a weekend away, and we had the best time.  OK, fine.  I’ll just explain so you don’t have to follow all my links (although I encourage you to check them out, since I did have such a good experience).   I’ve mentioned once before my husband’s um, shall we say fast paced?, hobby – he’s into the really fast motorcycles.   The good thing is that there is a safe outlet for that – because, trust me when I say you do not want anyone you care for to go that fast (Jacob’s top speed this weekend was 175 mph!) on the road.   There are several organizations, such as NESBA and STT, that sponsor track days around the country so the speed demons among us can indulge their need for speed safely (well, saf-er, anyway).

What does this have to do with my date this weekend?  Well, most of the tracks are surrounded by fences, railings, barricades, etc to keep spectators off the tracks, and the riders in.  And they’re road racing tracks, so they’re set up like a curvy road through woods, fields, etc.  It’s hard to get close enough (safely) to take any decent photos.  The track at Road Atlanta, where we were this weekend, is 2.54 miles long, but it’s set up very conveniently for spectators and, ahem, amateur photographers.  There are roads all around the track perimeter and the infield so I could drive from one vantage point to another pretty quickly, but you still can’t get very close in most cases.  My 24-70mm lens just wasn’t long enough to let me get very many good, dramatic shots.  And thus, my date:  I rented a Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS lens, and it was awesome.    I was able to see far enough down the track to tell when my husband was coming so that I could set up and track his movements with the camera to get some really great action shots.   And the lens was long enough to enable me to photograph from places that would have been too far for my 24-70mm to even make out who I was shooting.   I really enjoyed being able to join in the track day fun – I don’t ride myself, so I’m usually along for the ride when we go, and it was really nice to have something interesting to occupy me while Jacob was out doing his thing.  Do let me know what you think of these photos; you can find the whole set here on flickr, and I’d love some feedback.

High speed sports like this aren’t the easiest thing in the world to shoot – I took 693 photos over two days; of those I kept 477, and of those I only chose 78 to edit and make into a collection.  Trial and error, good equipment, practice, and a good amount of luck played a big part in getting any decent shots, and I thought I’d do a post in the next few days on the techniques and equipment I used.  If you have any specific questions, just drop me a line.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Spring has Sprung!

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I’ve been so busy running back and forth from my greenhouse to watch this happening:

That I totally missed this on the other side of my yard:

We’ve had 5 consecutive days of 70º weather, I’ve had my windows open since Thursday of last week, birds are singing, seeds are sprouting, and I bought a pair of sandals today…I think it’s safe to say that Spring has finally decided to grace us with it’s presence.  So far I’ve got radishes and brussels sprouts peeking out, and also some arugula that came from my first ever seed swap.  We’ll be tied up this weekend, and the next as well, but my garden should be officially in the ground by April 20.  I was a little worried that was going to be too late, but a coworker who is a Georgia Master Gardener told me that traditionally in Georgia gardens are started on tax day, so I’m not too far off.

Happy Spring Everybody!

 

 

Seedlings

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And that, my friends, is how you start seeds.  I’m super duper excited about this since this is my first time starting my own plants.  It was very easy, and seems to be working well – I planted these on Wednesday and I already have sprouts.  The boxes I’m using are by Jiffy – I got them at Home Depot for a very good price, and I would definitely recommend them.  After planting my seeds I left them overnight with the lids on, per the instructions, and when I went back the next day to check on them, they were nice and steamy under the lid.  I know they’re staying warm at night, and not drying out, although I expect I’ll have to add water in a day or two.  I got two sizes – several with the smaller pellets like you see above, and then two that had larger pellets for my tomatoes.   It took mine 30-45 minutes to absorb all the water and fluff up completely, so be prepared for a little wait if you use these, but I quite like them and will probably buy the pellet refills and continue using them.

I’m having Easter house guests this weekend, so I’ll be cooking something wonderful (I hope!) and visiting with my family.  I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter, as well, and a beautiful weekend!

Home Improvements

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Check it out, dear readers: we got a (little) tractor!  The closer we’ve been getting to gardening (and grass growing) season, the more we’ve been trying to figure out the best way to go about our new yard obligations.  Our home is on 3 acres that is mostly yard, minus the quarter-acre garden plot that brings it’s own challenge…I don’t know about you but I’m not keen on trying to hoe a quarter-acre garden by hand.  We started looking at zero turn lawn mowers, and tillers, then pull-behind tillers for a riding mower, and then we thought we might need something we could pull a broadcaster behind for seeding the lawn, and a sprayer for weed control…and you see where this is going right?   We ended up looking at  a compact tractor that was small enough to not tear up our lawn while we were mowing it, but strong enough to handle some future landscaping projects and our heavier garden chores.  We found this one at our local SunSouth dealer, in Carrollton, and it was such a great deal that we snapped it right up and hauled it home.  After much shopping around we realized that what was going to cost us the most was the implements we wanted: a tiller, mowing deck, and loader to start.   The tractors themselves were very reasonably priced, but adding implements quickly got expensive.  We chose this one because it was so lightly used that it was basically new, and came as a package deal with the three implements we needed the most.   We’ve already put it to good use removing an unwanted pine tree, cutting the grass, and some light landscaping. 

That’s our 80′s model John Deere riding mower – it was given to us by my Daddy.  It wasn’t running so he gave it to Jacob to repair…it’s not very quick or agile, and the mowing deck needs to be replaced so we use it for hauling mostly.   It’s been very useful when we’ve needed to haul dirt, or rock, or mulch, but sometimes we have less practical uses for it, such as when we need to haul the Bassett Hound across the yard, or something :)

Despite our murky, windy, rainy weather we were able to get quite a few things done this weekend.  The previous tenants were very enthusiastic gardeners, but it doesn’t seem like they were overly concerned with aesthetics.  You can see my little greenhouse above, and Jacob has a shop building off to the left of that photo with the aspalt pad in between.  They seemed to be concerned with functionality more than looks, because the buildings were just placed there on the edge of the yard with no landscaping or anything to make them attractive.  I appreciate the functionality, but I really want it to all look pretty as well…I’m thinking a low wall made of paving stones from the shop to the greenhouse (in front of that sweet gum tree) with a little flower bed in it, and then another paving stone “planter” built along the length of the greenhouse to hide the legs of that cabinet and make it look a little neater. 

We’ve already done a lot to clean it up just by clearing away a lot of brush and junk from around the shop area, and I know the rest will come together in time.  Hopefully spring will be upon us full force in another couple of weeks and we can get down to business in the garden. 

Did I mention how much fun the tractor is?  It’s pretty cool actually.  I might actually volunteer to help with the lawn mowing…

I hope you all are having very happy and productive springtimes, wherever you are, and that all of your projects are going just the way you want them to. Happy Spring!

 

Fabric Shopping and Local Flavor

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I know I told you all weeks and weeks ago about my new sewing machine and how I had visions of textiles dancing in my head, and you’ll just have to take my work for it that I actually did make something wonderful (two somethings! Eeeek!) a full two weeks ago.  I made an Envelope Cushion Cover that I found here, and another project that I will refrain from mentioning until the intended recipients receive their surprises in the mail.  It was so much fun!  It was one of the coolest feelings I’ve ever had to hold my finished projects and know that not an hour previously they were just piles of fabric (much like when I did this and got so excited).  It was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into some more complicated projects.  I’m really keen to try out a dress, like this, or a quilt, like this.  I’m going to keep practicing with cushions and, ahem, other things, until I feel really comfortable with my machine, but after that, it’s anything goes!

I actually made my first fabric purchase from Joann’s, because I have one only about 10 minutes down the road, and it was very convenient.  But I actually had another place in mind that I wanted to check out for textiles called The Fabric Peddler.  I spent several of my college years in Carrollton, Ga, and it’s a pretty cool little town – a typical old southern town in that it’s got a great town square surrounded by all these cool old homes and buildings.  The one I had in mind is a former railroad depot that has been turned into a combination antique and fabric store.  The Fabric Peddler has been there for years, but I think the Feathers & Twigs is a fairly new addition, and I really had fun looking around. The fabric selection is pretty good, and I found two things on the “$3/yd” table that I’m looking forward to using.  I’ll tell you more about those another time, because, honestly, I had the most fun browsing the antiques.

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FabricPeddler-2

 

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I’m usaully skeptical when I see an “Antique” store, because most of the ones I wander into end up being just yard sale junk.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a good yard sale, but I don’t think your IKEA coffee table that has seen better days qualifies as an “antique”.  This place was a typical consignment style antique format (one big space seperated into small areas for each seller’s items) but there was some great stuff here.  Things that were clearly aged, but of good quality, and lots of solid wood furnishings.  There was a good range of newer “lightly used” items likes those rolling pins, and some actual antiques, like the colander.  Everything was arranged beautifully, and there was plenty of room to move around.  All in all, a great little shop that I’ll be visiting again.  Hopefully soon since I found a chifferobe that I absolutely love, and if I can convince Jacob, I’ll be moving it into my bedroom next weekend…

After my browse through the store, I was heading out of town and so enjoying the beautiful weather (74° out on Saturday!  Lovely!) that I just had to stop and walk around the old part of town for a minute.  I took a few photos that I had to share some with you.  It’s hard to explain what is about places like this that I love so much, but they’re just so full of character and charm…and some other quality that I can’t quite put my finger on.  Whatever it is, I love old neighborhoods like this, and I could happily wander around for hours enjoying the view.

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I hope all of you had equally lovely weekends, and a great St. Paddy’s day!