February Week 3
hazelinok
3 months ago
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slowpoke_gardener
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Recipes for Microwave - Week 3 February 2013
Comments (17)This is a variation of a recipe for microwave béchamel given by Barbara Kafka in her book, "Microwave Gourmet Cooking." BÃÂCHAMEL SAUCE Add two tablespoons of butter or margarine to an oven proof glass casserole bowl. Cover with a paper towel, and microwave on high for one minute. Add two tablespoons of flour, mix with the butter or margarine and heat, covered, on high in the microwave for 1-1 1/2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock and 1/2 cup of 2% milk. Stir to break up lumps and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Check after two minutes to see if it needs to be stirred. If so, stir and heat for another 2 minutes. Add another half cup of milk and heat on high for 4 minutes. After this time the béchamel should be about as thick as heavy cream. If too thick, adjust with chicken broth, and cook until creamy, usually about 2-3 minutes. If too thin cook for another 4 minutes. If still too thin, add two tablespoons of flour dissolved in 1/3 cup of chicken stock. Cook another 4 minutes until creamy. After making this sauce a few times, it becomes easier to judge exactly how much liquid is necessary to obtain the consistency desired. At this point, the béchamel can be seasoned in a number of ways. Add salt to taste, and 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper. Alternatively, add 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon of white pepper. (Careful, the white pepper has a strong flavor) Cover the béchamel and set aside. If it thickens too much, add milk, water or chicken stock until it is the consistency of a heavy cream....See MoreFebruary 2018, Week 1: Planting Time Draws Closer
Comments (120)I am so far behind that I don't think I can catch up. Amy, I know I need a break, but am unlikely to get one. It isn't just the fires themselves, it is all the time I spend preparing for them, cooking for them, etc. and shopping just to have the food available and stuff. It takes enormous amounts of time and energy, and as I age, I find that I have less extra time and extra energy to spare. I'd gladly completely retire from the VFD today if Tim would do the same (but he never will.....). We aren't even to the peak of fire season yet and there's another couple of months to go, at the very least, and longer if the drought persists, so I've got to address the tiredness issue or I won't survive the fire season. The Governor's Burn Ban is due to expire at the end of the week if she doesn't renew it/extend it (I sure hope she does because the conditions that led to it being implemented in the first place have not improved at all) and I dread that. If she lets it expire, our lives instantly go very downhill very quickly. I hit a level of exhaustion late last week (really, I think it had persisted all week or maybe for several weeks) and over the weekend that I could not stand, so I've really begun addressing all the things that ruin my sleep at night because I cannot keep running on 2 or 3 hours of sleep per night. As far as I'm concerned, the phones and fire radios get turned off at bedtime from now on, period, and I don't care what we miss. If the entire town burns down while we are sleeping, oh well.....that's life. Technically Tim cannot turn off his phone in case there is a police crisis at night, but he can (and has) shut down all his notifications for text messages and emails. The quiet little beeps and buzzes his phone makes for each text and email don't even wake him up (so what's the point of having them?) but they wake me up....somethings every few minutes or at least a couple of times per hour overnight. Now, they are silenced at night, but his phone still would ring if someone actually makes a phone call. Since he was promoted last year, he literally gets emails and text messages from folks at work 24/7---every few minutes some days/nights, and 99% of it is routine stuff/CYA type stuff that really isn't important, but you don't want to miss the 1% that matters. And, I am going to mention this only because it irritates the heck out of me.....he goes into his office, closes the door, turns on his computer and TV and LEAVES his cell phone and fire radio on the console table in the front entryway....right next to the living room, outside his office's closed door. The end result? He doesn't hear his phone at all, and may or may not hear the fire radio pager depending on how loud the TV is turned up---but I hear them both nonstop if I am in the living room, breakfast room, kitchen or laundry room. That stops now too. His devices are going to be in the room he is in and he can deal with their noise level however he chooses, because I am done with it. Whew. I feel better. I slept all night last night. I know I awakened briefly a couple of times, but fell right back asleep (which is rare for me) so the effort to keep things quieter is helping already. I can tell I have a lot more energy this morning, because unlike some recent mornings, my first thought upon getting out of bed was not about how I possibly could just take care of all the animals and then go right back to bed and back to sleep for a few hours. That's a useless pipe dream anyway because I cannot sleep during the daytime. So, if my first waking thought isn't about how I can sleep during the day, it must mean I slept enough during the night. Jen, I simply hate this year's weather pattern, and it is back this week for us. After starting out extra cold this morning, every day warms up nicely and we're forecast to hit 78 degrees on Thursday (snakes will be out, no doubt, if that happens) before the weather crashes again and cold rain/snow makes a reappearance in the forecast for Fri/Sat. Really? How many weeks can this same old same old pattern drag on and on. I am so tired of it. You'd think I could be out in the garden planting on the warm days (and I intend to try) but warm days usually bring us grass fires and wild fires so they aren't the big treat I think they will be. Kim, The greenhouse looks great and the puppies are so cute. I do wish they had set up the greenhouse to run in the proper direction, but I am sure you'll stop them from making that mistake the next time. In our climate, it probably isn't a critical error since there's plentiful sunlight most of the time anyway... I hope the garage sale went well and you made some cash to give you spending money at the MENF. Jacob, You mentioned needing to vent your tunnel. Yes! The heat builds up incredibly quickly. The same thing is true with cold frames and greenhouses. I think people underestimate how hot such growing areas get during the daytime and how cold they get at night, and there is a learning curve for sure. Even with breathable, air-permeable floating row covers, I can kill foot-high tomato plants by leaving the heaviest frost blankets (those that give 10 degrees or more of cold protection) on them on a winter morning---if I don't uncover those tomato plants by 9 a.m. on a sunny winter morning, they can roast under the heaviest row cover....and it is essential to have those heavy duty row covers suspended some distance above the tomato plants by hoops...you can let ultra light-weight row covers float directly on top of the plants, but not the heavier weights, and I learned that one the hard way too, and barely saved my plants from cooking to death. Jacob, The short answer is that alfalfa is a broadleaf legume, not a grain/grass family crop and that's the key. The specific class of broadleaf weed killers that persist as toxic residue in compost, composted manure, animal bedding and the like can persist in grass/grain type crops, most often on/in hay or the manure from animals fed that hay. Those specific herbicides would kill alfalfa crops if used on them, so alfalfa remains clean from those particular herbicide residues. I still am very careful with chicken manure because we do use commercial chicken feed and some of those herbicide residues persisted in bagged, name-brand (I believe it was Purina) horse feed, survived the horses' intestinal tract, survived the professional, commercial composting of the horse manure, and made it into a commercial, bagged compost product sold and used in some northeastern states a few years back. It was horrifying for 100% organic gardeners to find their gardens dying of herbicide residue when they had purchased/used a brand of organic compost they'd used for many previous years with no problem. It took quite a while for the state's ag investigators to trace back the issue to the horse feed, and then they did tests to verify they had found the correct source of the problem. Meanwhile, organic gardeners and farmers there had to do tons of remediation work to restore their soil so they could use it again, and the commercial compost company had a PR nightmare on its hands. I figure if it happened with horse feed, it could happen as well with chicken feed, but as far as I know, that's never been documented. I use compost that included our chicken bedding/manure only in beds where I don't raise veggies. It would hurt to lose flowers, but not as much as it would hurt to lose veggies/herbs, and so far it hasn't happened anyway. I feel it is easier to be more pro-active up front and avoid the issue than to be scrambling later on to do a couple of years of remediation to fix the problem I allowed to occur. We live surrounded by ranchers and constantly are offered all the horse and cow manure we want and decline 100% of those offers. To me, it isn't worth the risk as I do know that many of these people use pre-emergent or post-emergent herbicides (or both) and I don't want/need/will not allow those residues in my garden ever. It is bad enough that some of my plants get killed every year from aerial herbicide drift from somebody else's use of herbicides. Some of these newer herbicides volatize so easily that even very careful applicators cause unexpected problems with herbicide drift. I'm certainly not going to willingly bring herbicide-infested hay or manure onto our property on purpose, not ever, ever, ever. Well, that's all the catching up I can do. I hope I didn't miss anything vital. I know I'm still hopelessly behind on everything. Dawn...See MoreFebruary 2020, Week 4
Comments (77)Amy, If there is anything worse than looking for the glasses (or two pairs of glasses) perched on your head, it is doing that same thing while also looking for the set of keys that you actually are holding in your hand as you search for your keys and glasses simultaneously. Some days I wonder how Tim and I manage to get out of the house at all. It is almost a given that I leave the house last when we are going someplace because I am looking for my keys or glasses....but then, I finally make it out to the vehicle, and he remembers he forgot something and has to go back inside. Every. Single. Time. We decided we just have to laugh about it together or it would drive us bonkers. A sense of humor is a valuable part of aging. HU, I've been watching the precipitation forecast, and am not happy about it. Then I drive myself nuts by looking at the 6-10 day outlook, the 8-14 day outlook, etc. I am trying to stay calm and not freak out over the coming rain, but of course, I am not happy. Maybe we'll get lucky and it will miss us. No, I don't really think that will happen, but I am going to hope it will. Just when I think the soil will dry out enough to be workable, here comes more rain. The temperatures are lovely though. It was 77 degrees here today at our house, and that's an awesome temperature for the last day of February. The trees know it though---leafing out and blooming and looking so happy. Tomorrow should be equally nice, but the high temperatures and wind will combine to give us High Fire Danger again, which we've had every day for the past week, I think. It is that time of the year. Hopefully there won't be many fires on Sunday. Jennifer, Inoculant is interesting and how much it does or doesn't help depends on what your soil already is like. If you've already grown peas and beans in the area, the necessary rhizobia bacteria might already exist in your soil, so if it does, you don't really need to inoculate. It never hurts to use it though. Think of bean and pea inoculant as a sort of probiotic for your plants. Generally you will get growth that is more lush, green and productive if you've used it because it helps the plants fix nitrogen. Jen, I'm glad you found a chow rescue. Jennifer, I agree with dbarron that one blackberry plant would be fine as almost all modern-day blackberry varieties are self-fruitful. I cannot think of a single variety available nowadays that needs a separate variety as a pollinator. If there was one, the native berries likely would take care of it. With just one plant, though, you shouldn't expect enough berries at one time to make jam or anything like that. Learn about proper pruning because the berries that produce on a plant in a given year come from either floricanes or primocanes, and the plant must be pruned at the right time accordingly. Most blackberry varieties produce on floricanes, but there's some newer varieties that produce on primocanes. Also, do your research and know if the variety you're being is erect, semi-erect or trailing so you can put up the appropriate kind of support. Then, prepare to fight the birds and other wild critters for every single berry. Here's the OSU Fact Sheet on Growing Blackberries in the Home Garden. It will tell you everything you need to know to get started with blackberries. Blackberry & Raspberry Culture in the Home Garden I grew them for 12 or 14 years here in three different locations on our property, and then the voles began eating their roots and I finally gave up. My gardening life was so much easier when the garden had a shorter fence, the bobcats patrolled the garden and the voles stayed away from the garden. Of course, the tradeoff was that the deer jumped the fence and got into the garden, which is why the shorter fence wasn't the best choice overall and was replaced with a taller fence. At the time we did that, I had no idea what a problem the voles then would become. And, yet, the voles don't eat the roots of the native dewberries (trailing blackberries) that invade my garden every year. Dawn...See MoreFebruary 2021 Week 2
Comments (82)So behind here! Moni, I keep meaning to message you about the SCOBY. I wanted to come get it last week, but the frozen roads! Maybe the end of this week??? Amy, Tom fell. He probably has a cracked rib. The doctor prescribed pain medicine to take at night so he can get comfortable enough to sleep. He's doing fine, though. He's been sleeping in the recliner...and that is better than lying flat, I guess. Rebecca, I also remember Dawn talking about her wish for a real snow. It looks like it might happen at her house. Amy, I'm SO sorry. Hugs to you! Around here.... I don't have great hope that our plants in the gardens will survive this. It would be nice if the brussels survive, though. Really nice. Light Shelf update: the first broccoli is looking okay. Not great. It needs to be up-potted very soon. I hope to do this tomorrow. The second round of broccoli is just popping up now. The cabbage seedlings look very healthy as does the first round of lettuce. The 4 cups of tomatoes that were started on SuperBowl Sunday have done nothing yet. I am determined to have cardinal climbers this year. I bought seed last year, but the tiny seedlings didn't do much--except one at my Mom's house did a little bit of something. I started seed early this year. I want bigger plants to put in the garden. They are sprouted and are looking great. Also, the red periwinkles are starting to pop. Hoop house building came to a screeching halt because of the weather. It looks great,, though. Super exciting. I've spent a good amount of time making sure we're ready for the upcoming weather. I think we have everything we need now. The Walmart shelves were empty last night. We already had most of what we needed, except for potatoes. We did stop at Homeland to look for potatoes today (and yeast for a Kings Cake)...they were out of the baking types of potatoes and the 5 lb bags, etc. They had a package of the tiny potatoes, so we grabbed those for dinner tonight. I guess people are making potato soup? We bought feed for the chickens too. Took the recycling in. The snow shovel is at the house now, instead of the shop. I guess Ethan and I will be doing the shoveling because of Tom's cracked rib. I wrapped the 10' x 12' chicken pen with plastic. I would like for them to have a place to walk around other than the coop. The plastic keeps most of the wind off of them...and it seems like it kept the coop warmer last night too. The water got partially frozen Thursday night at 14 degrees. The warmer works pretty well, but 14 must be it's limit. HOWEVER, it didn't freeze last night after the plastic wrap. My dogs are so restless. I walk them around the perimeter of property a couple times a day. But it's just not enough. I can handle the cold pretty well except for my hands. They were burning so badly yesterday after wrapping the pen with plastic that I almost cried. I have Raynauds. Today, I looked for heated gloves today. No luck. I will be ordering some. I'm worried about the neighbors' animals. They didn't put blankets on the horses. One of their cats isn't allowed indoors. He comes to our house for food every night. He's in our shop now. I fixed him up a litter box. Gave him some food and water. Put a towel on an old padded office chair we have down there. He seems pretty cozy. I hope my neighbors aren't upset by it...but I'm worried about him. Our shop isn't warm, but it's insulated and warmer than outdoors. I guess I'll walk the dogs now and call it a night. Stay warm and pray for those without shelter....See MoreKim Reiss
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