fermenting the cukes

Lately, my preferred method for preserving cucumbers has been fermenting.  Too bad we planted so many Japanese cucumbers because I could have used them this year.  Instead, I ordered a lug from our local organic farmer.  You don't know what a lug is?  Neither did I.  But, I ordered one from the farmer.  It turns out that a lug is just a measurement that they use.  In this case it was a box of cucumbers.  Maybe 20-30 pounds? Anyway, a lot of cucumbers!!

Obviously I decided I was going to ferment a LOT of pickles this year. You might say I love fermented pickles. And last year I didn't make enough.

I may have forgotten one little detail which is where the heck I'm going to store all these jars!  I always make things work.

I am now the proud mama of these beautifully, bubbly, cloudy, garlicky fermented pickles.  I actually got one more larger jar and filled that up.  My husband took all the really large cucumbers left over and made a batch of bread and butter pickles today while I was at the store.  I think we're set in the pickle department?!

Do you ferment?

I've missed you!

Happy New Year!  I've not been here in a long time!

Actually, I've taken very few photos with my camera recently because I've been taking almost all of my pictures with my phone and posting to Instagram instead.  You can find me there under kyndal3.  So, not much to show you here but  I just took these off of my camera.

We have our kiln up and running.  We've done a few firings but the kiln we have was given to us and it's like an old car.  There's plenty of things going on with it that requires us to put money and time into it.  Last night we were finishing up a glaze firing and it wouldn't get up to temperature.  Some of the elements burned up and that means we'll have to take everything out, pull the kiln apart and replace some elements.  But, I have to say that I am LOVING it.  I love working with clay and the sky's the limit.  In the next few weeks I'm going to be taking a pottery class and I'm looking forward to what I can create on the wheel.

This shows you how old these pictures are.  I literally just took them off my camera.  Here we have our Christmas tree.  Remember Christmas?  The next one was when I took Solomon aside and gave him the Santa talk.  He'd been asking me so many questions and I think we held out long enough.  I hate lying to my kids and at this point, it doesn't feel good to keep up the whole Santa story.  He was so sweet about it.  I was upset and he was telling me, "mom, it's okay, it's okay!"  What a relief.  Just one more kid to go.

I knitted a lot of these scarves this Christmas.  You can find the pattern on Ravelry (link at the side).  Fun knit that I used a lot of scrap yarn for.

And finally a recipe for you.  This one came from my mother-in-law.  I've been changing my diet around a lot  lately.  I've actually been working toward less and less grains.  I tell you, it's hard.  This recipe has lentils but I'm thinking that I could use some greens instead of lentils.  It's a hearty meal that would go well with a side salad for dinner.  It's super yummy.  I took shortcuts in writing the recipe as if you know how to cook lentils and roast squash. : )

Roasted Squash and Lentils

1 cp French Lentils cooked, cooled and drained
1 lb. winter squash, cut into 1/2 inch cubes roasted in olive oil
4 Tbs. olive oil divided
2 Tbs. country Dijon mustard
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
2 Tbs. minced red onion
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Whisk together mustard,, vinegar, onion, honey and 3 Tbs olive oil.  Gently toss with lentils and squash.  Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with walnuts.  Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

traditions

There's a shift that happens right about now with me.  I seriously get into creating this warm and cozy home filled with food and other things made with our hands.  Yeah, I get a serious bug around Thanksgiving to create things that borders on crazy or at least renewed purpose!

I'm trying to keep it real with the kids.  I'm trying to keep us all focused on the true meaning of the season and not get swept away with all that other stuff.  Most mornings you'll find us all huddled around the kitchen table with paint or clay and that, to me, is exactly where I care to spend my time.

I'm still trying to define for myself what "the holidays" mean to us.  I think that when two people come together and a family is made, there's much to blend, compromise and create.  It's always a work in progress no matter how you slice it.

I love Solomon's freckles!

It wasn't until this Thanksgiving that I really embraced the responsibility wholeheartedly of creating a meal and the traditions that we want to pass on to my kids.  It's been muddy in the past but it's becoming more clear to us what defines the holidays in our family.  I'm feeling more like a grown up!

Kabocha squash I used for pie.

Our meal was very simple this year.  We made turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.  Everything was delicious (so I've been told!) and the kids helped out with the preparation which is as much a part of the tradition as anything.  We gotta pass on that knowledge!

We set the table with my great grandma's wedding china, our tie dyed napkins and a beautifully embroidered table cloth that a friend gave us.  We said what we were thankful for, enjoyed our meal and went for a walk afterwards in the desert behind our house. It was as perfect really as any day could be.

My kids know that Thanksgiving means dusting off the pretty dishes and being together to make a special meal.  It can be as simple as that really.  And of course practicing gratitude which is as important as the pumpkin pie.

Our family has, weather permitting, cut down our own tree for almost 9 years now.  It's what the kids know and it's how they mark the passing of time.  That rhythm that feels comfortable to them, like breathing.  It's not always been easy (crying babies, slippery roads and cold hands).  We don't always agree on the perfect tree either but every time we get home and start decorating it, their fully invested into the process. We talk about previous years with fondness.

Creating these traditions with my family has been a very healing process for me.

Hot chai with milk and honey!

I am grateful for you all and hope that you had a successful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it) filled with the traditions that are meaningful to you!

apple 911

Honestly, I've been staring at these bags of apples in my kitchen for a few weeks now, procrastinating and putting them further and further down on my to-do list.  Yesterday, when we certainly had more important things to do, I looked at my sad apples and knew I had to do something with them A.S.A.P.  

The ways in which I preserve them; apple rings, frozen apple slices, apple muffins, apple sauce, apple pie bars, apples crisps, apples stuffed into my crisper bins.  We still have a 5 gallon bucket of newspaper wrapped apples in the garage that we have to bury in the ground.  Sort of a make-shift root cellar.

This apple-peeler-corer has been one of our best investments.  We've used it many times since we bought it a few years ago.  It's a bit fussy at times but once I get in the groove, these apple slices pile up quickly.

One of my favorite ways I've discovered to preserve apples is by dehydrating them.  My freezer is stuffed which means we have to start getting creative.  At least more creative than we've had to be in years past when there were barely any apples on our trees to preserve.

We bought a sheet aluminum screen and used it in our oven instead of buying a dehydrator.  I thought about it, I truly did but I'm a minimalist when it comes to kitchen gadgets.  I like to keep it simple in the kitchen.  Depending on how long I kept them in the oven, they turned out either like pliable apple rings or apple chips.  I don't soak them in lemon water.  I just slice them and dehydrate them in a 170 degree (F) oven for about 2 hours.

Something else on my mind this past week has been the devastation caused by hurricane Sandy.  The kids  and I have had our ears peeled on the radio listening to what's been going on there.  I'm sending my good thoughts to everyone who has been affected by this natural disaster.

apples and clay

I changed my blog around a bit. I felt like I really needed it in order to feel inspired.  What I like about this format is that I can really see my pictures from the last few years in minutes.  I may not keep it this way but for now the change feels good, you know?  Have you ever just sat for an hour going down memory lane on your blog?  You can also view my blog in other ways by using the tabs on the top left of the homepage.

So, what have we been up to lately?  Two words could sum it all up. Apples and clay.  Or if I wanted to expand on that a bit it would include tomatoes and daily art.  Oh yeah and soccer and homeschooling too. I've been busy in a good way.  Just like every fall is for me, trying to wrap up the garden and starting a new school year can be chaos.

Our tomatoes.  They were abundant this year.  I've spent many a day roasting tomatoes two trays at a time, cooking them down, seasoning and canning them.  It's become second nature to me, this canning thing.  Two days ago, when the weather started turning, I pulled the rest of the tomatoes and our last volunteer cantaloupe in anticipation of our first frost which never happened.  But, it will soon.  We got our first snow in the mountains.

Oh, my apples.  Our trees were so full this summer that we had to prop them up so the branches wouldn't break off.  The lack of late frost was a bonanza this year all around town.  We have Pippin and Jonathan apples in our yard but these red beauties, came from a 75 year old tree in town.  The owner said that they probably didn't taste that good because the tree was so old and we could pick them.  They are the most crispy, sweet apples and a nice change from what we have coming out of our ears already.  Why is it that  I can go crazy over more apples when I have ten bags sitting all over the kitchen?  It's totally irrational but I think we'll be enjoying apple crisp for dinner this winter.  We will be gorging on apple sauce and apple rings like nobody's business too.  Joy.

 Daily art.  We've discovered the big, heavy weight paper is the best for everyday art.  First, it can be taken anywhere and the pencils won't poke through.  Second, it's big enough to draw large dragons, ninjas or castles.  Eli asked the other day to bring out the fermented pickles so he could draw them.  The two boys drew the jar of pickles (while Amelia was reading of course) and then ate them.

We've been tinkering with clay lately.  It's strange how we know certain things about ourselves.  For instance, I knew from a young age that when I grew up I wanted to drive a VW Bug.  I did and I also married a guy who drove a VW bug.  Funny how that is.  Well, I've also known that I wanted to work with clay.  A few years ago someone just gave us an old kiln.  I didn't even tell them how much I loved hand thrown ceramics.  My husband just recently got some work done on the kiln and we did a test run.  I'm so excited.

  Happy Fall to you and yours!

breakfast

My morning bouquet ready to be juiced! 

full on summer

At the beginning of summer my always organized friend Mary sent me a list of her weekly family rhythm and I decided to sketch one out for my family.  At first it looked really full with all kinds of things filling our days.  But, I knew I had to just wait it out and see how it all fell into place loosely.  Monday is our tennis lesson, Tuesday is the farmer's market, Wednesday is lake day/fun day, Thursday we walk to the library and Friday is another fun/free day.  It feels really good to have some kind of structure in our week. 

There are lots of in between time to just do nothing, maybe time for taking a nap or reading a book.  I'm all for doing nothing or just watching the grass grow or robin fledglings in our yard while sitting in the hammock.  I'm taking lots of deep breaths this summer, just slowing down a little.  Even with all this slowing down though, I still go to sleep at night thinking about how full our day was!

I've also been juicing at least 4 mornings a week.  I feel so good.  It's a great way to use up the greens from the garden.  I've been adding celery, carrots, apples, beets, cucumbers, lemons, ginger and sunchokes.  I've also been starting my day with a headstand to get all that good blood to my brain and short meditation to start my day out right.

 I've been watering my garden, pulling weeds and watching everything grow like a proud mama.  It's a never ending job, that garden.  It's so worth it though. 

I picked our apricots and Jonathan made the most scrumptious apricot bars that disappeared in day.  I was watching the fruit ripen and I really wanted to keep them on the tree as long as possible. There are a few slightly green ones in there.  But, it's a tricky thing.  If I waited too long they would all fall off or be eaten by the birds.  I think I picked them at the perfect time.

I got a flat of unsprayed peaches at the farmer's market and again made peach lavender preserves.  I've been canning a lot.  Last week I made a summer squash relish...Wow!  It was so good!  Today I got a flat of strawberries and made some jam.  I added a basket of blackberries!  Oh my gosh, the color of this jam is so beautiful!  Well, I guess you can't really see it here but you'll have to trust me on that one!  It's so surprising that a flat of strawberries can go so fast.  There are lots of little hands that sneak a pint or two before I can get to my jam. 

My chickens are outside now and they're loving it.  They've grown so much as you can see.

And a few weeks earlier....They really don't like getting their picture taken.  They think when I get close to them I'm trying to catch them and they're really not into that!

I could go on but I think it's time to go to bed.

I hope you're having a fun summer!!!