Shepard Lane Garden

  Much work has been done in the gardens this year. There was a long hiatus in the blog, I went through several eye surgeries - and last year's garden was minimal and the weather was poor.  This year is looking up.     because of watering concerns, poor soil quality and my vision - and increased animal traffic knocking down our fences and getting into things - I devised this set of beds that provided me with greens, tomatoes and peppers last year, even through the really bad drought time we had I was able to keep it watered and weeded and keep most animals out of it     thoughts : little composting bin that I made out of household stuff (for another post) is not much but it is a start to playing with making soil which I need a better system for, every 'master garden' and heirlooms book I've read about their systems that is a huge part of it but I have not stuck with a system for it here I have a high nitrogen soil in one place, what to put in there t...

  For posterity - I crave odd foods often, and I think it is the only way my body can communicate some of the things I don't know that it needs. Looked up tonight the chemistry of cooking onions in butter - cooking destroys some antioxidants but keeps some of the vitamin B6 and the vitamin K. More importantly, it also helps combine the copper and magnesium into more fat-soluble versions that can be used by the body better. The same copper / lysine combination is present in olives and avocados (without cooking), which are also cravings. Explains a lot of why I freak Mark out with the 'lethal doses' of garlic and onions I put into the foods I eat - so much that he takes one look and says 'Err.. I'm going away now, tell me if you survive.' I dump on black pepper and even cayenne pepper so thick sometimes he has just gotten used to that and even cooks my hamburger meat with about a 1/4 inch of black pepper on top. Last year I found out about curry, turmeri...

  It's like that training montage from Rocky - I carry water and dirt in five gallon buckets - one of each, uphill... I hack at the ground with a hoe-axe to make holes to fill with potting soil. I carry and plant each item from the garden center in it's chosen position. I walk the dogs to Yellow Hill, and look at the roses, and see the sun beginning to slip behind the trees. I grab one more jar of water for the Lower Salmon River squash, now nestled in the front bed. We've rearranged the bricks there into a pretty formation that doesn't block the footpath.. it deserves a photo in the light soon. I take one more look at the new lily that has bloomed and bring Charlotte in to flop down on the floor and do laundry (her one, me the other). More postal route tomorrow, and I am thinking of the massive amount of rambling pink roses I saw growing wild in a fenceline there.. and wondering how they got there, when, and who. I'm getting it done, bit by bit,...

  Working on an expansion at the front garden.  It doesn't look like much now, but the other area was added last year and it did so well, and retained so much moisture without watering, that we are trying to expand out a few more feet.  Next year, we might even go another layer deep.  We grew rooted parsley, carrots, kale and basil here last year and used almost all of it. These are wild roses growing down under the power lines by the side of our road.  There is a big thicket of them there, and they seem to bloom only for a few days a year.  The purfume off of them wafts across the road and through the field - it is always telltale that there will be a carpet of small pink roses to be found if you go and look. They mow them down often, so the other year my daughter and I took a cutting and brought it home to root.  IT has done so well even through not being watered in its new pot beside the pole garden.  This year it has it's own bloom, at the sam...

 I like cooking things nobody else in the house will eat.  That's sarcastic, but I do like to cook some odder things.  And I like to experiment freehand baking, while I'm already up and at things, and see how my chemistry brain works out. Strawberry Muffins  1 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg .5 teaspoon cream of tartar .5 teaspoon baking soda .5 teaspoon salt (would add a shake more next time) 1/2 cup of white granulated sugar soaked overnight in a handful of fresh strawberries from the garden, cleaned and chopped.  (I'd add several more tablespoons of sugar next time if I were baking this recipe with it.. but it is our standard preservation method for strawberries from the garden that are not eaten immediately)  This batch was not 'sweet'..more like an oatmeal muffin, so it would take more sugar to sweeten it up to most people's taste, or maybe some honey - that is worth further pursuit. about 3/4 cup of milk 1 fresh chicken egg 1/2 stick butter Stir toge...

 I try not to complain.  So I'm not.  I'm just laying it out as it went through my head this morning.  I push my physical body to the limit of damage as a way to get things done - and it is not visible.  Pain.  I know I can't relate to what other people say pain is, until it gets to the 'loudspeaker' point with a broken bone or concussion or huge gash gushing blood.  The everyday things, like a sprained wrist, or a headache, or a twisted ankle.. all parts of my normal EDS, I just tell them to shut up, and get along with my day as best as possible.   Pain medication does almost absolutely nothing for me.  I find it annoying to get ten minutes to an hour of relief and have it come back.  I find it 'easier' to raise the mental wall and use my own body's defense mechanisms, because they last longer, and in the moment, I'm me - I can't rely on anything outside of myself, because then what happens when it isn't there?  If I can deal ...

 I'm still hypothesizing what I mean by theRule of Effort.  It is not a cut and dry equation.  There are so many things that cascade and swirl around to create this turmoil and dilemma t hat comes up in my head often. Do I put forth the effort for this - and for myself, or for others, or for both? Saw a quote today that said 'growth is caring more about your own progress than what others think of it/you'... and yes, with my PTSD I have trouble with this.  It is a bad scar taht if I pick at it, it will come open and be hard to work through all of the rest of what is in front of me every day. Then I think again of what it means in context of the Rule of Effort. My head moves at a hundred miles per hour compared to my fingers, my body .. and so often, my body does not even want to cooperate, or there is no time in the 'real world' schedule to bring what I am thinking of to life.  Other times, the rule of effort comes in and I am giving the project some time, but it...

   OK - trying this another time with some of the baking info I gleaned this morning looking at how different recipes are constructed.  Cooking is really just chemistry with easily obtainable ingredients and a stove.... the result was a little chewy on the outside, maybe one less egg white is in order?, but a good sweet but not too sweet inside of the cake that complemented cherry jelly nicely. 1 cup flour 1/2 cup granulated white sugar 1.5 tsp cream of tartar 1/2 tsp salt (mixed the cream of tartar and salt together well, then sifted it through the flour, then added the sugar and stirred it all up) melted 1/2 stick butter and separated into six Jumbo muffin pan wells started the oven heating to 400 degrees separated 4 eggs from our very productive chickens, and beat the whites together added 1 tsp vanilla extract added 1/2 cup milk beat that just a little to mix  put the pan with the butter in it in the oven to heat up added it all at once to the dry materials and b...

M ade another iteration of the popover-like recipe, not a failure, still needs 'something'... used a new baking pan with deep muffin wells and they came out of the pan like a dream, and were great with maple syrup, but still a bit heavy. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 1 c. flour, 1 tsp salt (little less), 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tbsp white sugar, sifted together. Melt 1/2 stick butter, spoon about 1 tbsp into each of 6 wells. Place pan with butter in it in the oven. Dump the rest of the melted butter into 3/4 cup milk, add 1 tsp vanilla, add two medium-to-large chicken eggs and beat. Slowly add wet mixture to dry mixture and then remove pan carefully to oven (butter should be bubbling), evenly divide mixture between six wells, place back in oven and reduce heat to 400 degrees. Bake about 25 minutes undisturbed in oven. Remove pan and tarts? should come out of pan easily to place on a plate. // thinking how this would go with cheese, or blueberries, or other things includ...

some of the raised beds in the garden where I practice my odd form of gardening the snowball bush in bloom   Not sure what it is, will have to look it up - has a green 'endive' type smell  I haven't posted anywhere else about this yet, just here.  For the past few months I've been doing what I've told myself is 'The Productivity Project'... and it is slightly based off of something I did with the Puttytribe called 'Jumpstart January' back in 2020. The first thing is to examine your goals, and pick something you think you can keep up for at least an hour almost every day for a few months - something productive, that you might not let yourself spend that much time on.  The JJ thing wasn't an hour, just a list of promises to tick off you had done them.  Some people did language learning, others did sketching, or other arts, or fitness or music goals.  I did a little of those things, too - some great paintings and a lot of Welsh. But with the Product...

Thursday afternoon with cleared off cars It had started snowing on Sunday.  Then it snowed again on Tuesday, Wednesday and a little bit in the early morning today.  We hope it is done and will melt by Saturday.  We haven't been out to town since then, and there are numerous accidents in the nearby towns on the roads, so trying not to until we have to. Mark and Esme are making chili downstairs. Esme and I took some things up to Grandma's house today pulling it on the sled.  I had her go down the hill by the garage a couple of times. Our chickens have been doing well.  Some of those single digit temperature days it was really hard to keep water for them, and the little birds from the woods were all over their food so I've been giving lots of extra (and throwing some into the woods) so everybody gets some.  They have continued to give us a few eggs almost every day - they are Cinnamon Queen chickens, and very good girls.   Wednesday afternoon   the ...

  Experimented today and made this recipe - would definitely like to make it again. 1/2 cup brown rice washed and rinsed bring to boil on stove with 1.5 cups of water, salt and olive oil reduce heat and cover 3/4 way, cook for about 30 to 45 minutes stirring until liquid is absorbed stir in can of pieces and stems mushrooms with liquid, add frozen okra add black pepper, celery seed and salt (used seasoning salt) let sit on low, stirring occasionally until the liquid from the mushroom can is almost absorbed add approximately two to three tablespoons shredded hard white English cheddar (used Kerrygold aged English cheddar) and 1 tablespoon Irish full-fat butter add dried oregano and more black pepper let sit on low, stirring often until shredded cheddar and butter combine with remaining liquid to make a consistency 'risotto' should be firm with all liquid absorbed serve on warmed plate made 2 servings

Cooking is Essential.   It is a Life Skill and an expression of Creativity.   And soup - it can make something out of a little. And yet many are just rediscovering cooking, especially in 2020 among my generation. During the pandemic, a lot of people have learned to cook 'for the first time in their lives.'  That seems so odd, but I do understand it having seen so many others in my generation with vastly different upbringings.  Some got to have frozen microwave meals and fast food.  We didn't.  Even when we lived in the house 'in town' and not miles and miles out in the forest (the rest of the time) we cooked from scratch most of the time.  I've been doing a lot more cooking this week just trying to sort out some of the things I use to cook on a regular basis.  The family cookbook I am working on contains things we all like to eat and also a variety of things like the Stone Soup recipe at the end of this post that I learned to cook from ...

  I tried to recreate this recipe yesterday, ended up close to a couple of Internet recipes but going to document it here as a 'first attempt' at what I used to make on a regular basis. Important equipment : parchment paper, large baking pan, rolling pin Heat oven to 450 degrees Ingredients : 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder Choose your spices : 1 tsp oregano (Italian seasoning, or any other flavor of herb you like), 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp strong garlic powder granules, dash of tangy ground dill weed herb. Mix all of this together in a bowl, stir well to combine. SETUP : important!  Do these now while your hands are clean Put up to 1/2 cup extra flour in a cup next to your cutting board. Tear off a piece of parchment paper (not wax paper) and place it on your prepared baking sheet on top of the stove. Warm up 1/4 cup of water (do it now, because it will be more difficult in a minute when your hands are full) Proceed :  Get out 2 tb...

   I have been taking these projects as 'eat the elephant', a little bit at a time, and making progress.  The one is a red octopus knit toy, and the other is an installment of tested recipes for the family cookbook.  I had planned to start onion seeds yesterday, but did finally get that halfway done today.  I'm still looking for the seed but it is going to take a minute to come across them again.  The pan is ready to go and I have a jug of water and a window waiting for it.   Herbed butter crackers for the cookbook.  I scanned three or four different recipes looking to see if I could job my memory about the crackers I used to roll out more than a decade ago.  Wrote down the info off of one recipe that seemed 'almost' right and changed it to include baking powder.  But, I had the instinct that one of the ingredients used to also be cream of tartar.  I didn't have any, so made it without.  I'll see if these are too hard without i...

  My uncle had said that he appreciated my mom and dad had taken the time to teach me a lot of different life skills.  I agree.  They both taught me a lot.  But, as he said this I was thinking - it was more than just them, and also, it depended on what I was willing to absorb.  It helped being out on a farm out in the middle of frozen Northern Minnesota - having wilderness and very little else to do.  But also, it helped that people instilled patience in me beyond what other kids my age seemed to get.  Sometimes, it was instilled against my will and with resentment, but I learned the task. The thing I am thinking specifically about this morning is not washing the dishes, or hanging the laundry, or weeding the garden or pulling in wood and pine boughs from the forest.. although I did all of those things.  The thing I am thinking about is learning to roll a ball of yarn. My step-grandmother was I have to admit a hard woman to deal with.  She di...

  Our Moonflowers last year were a sight to see, being nearly as large as the palm of my hand, and having a beautiful fragrance.  I had to wait for the pods to dry, but since I had forgotten to tie a little colorful piece of yarn near the big flowers (last year was a bit of a blur, for many reasons), the pods were a little hard to find this year!    This is what I was looking for, hard pecan shaped pods that contain seeds that resemble spanish peanuts.  . And here is what I was hunting for the brown pods in, this tangle of brown vines.  It is a little like a needle in a haystack without the little bits of yarn.  But I managed to find enough to replant, and maybe if I get some more time I will go out there and cut the entire vine down to bring to the compost pile.  The pods are actually quite a bit easier to find by touch, as their shells are a distinct difference from both the vine and the dead dried leaves. A little bit of work and you can keep a...

  It is a new year at Shepard Lane Garden.  It is cold, but the sun is shining.  I worry about so many things. But the garden is a place that holds hope and potential.  I have been going through my seeds, thinking about what can be grown this year, and what kind of commitment of time and energy I can put into it.   Challenges and Goals : A challenge: Honestly, my energy output is not as high as it used to be.  My hEDS, basically a collagen disorder, has taken a toll, some days worse than others.  I can still lift a 75 lb object one day and be fine - until almost exactly the same time the next day when I am in pain for several hours.  There really doesn't seem to be any explanation for it - but it is constant and has been this way for several years now.  Mostly, I just deal with the pain (because whole classes of painkillers are basically noneffective on me, I hypermetabolize, joy!)   And it is the little things that are so puzz...