We finally hit a new milestone at our suburban homestead last summer- preserving eggs! When we couldn’t keep up with the eggs our hens were laying we had to make some decisions.
What a wonderful problem to have. But I also wanted to make the most of our surplus for those winter months when the eggs dwindle. Especially because I knew that most of my girls were in for their first serious molting (usually happens around 18 months old) and so we’d be short on eggs come winter.
So, I did what most modern-day, first-generation homesteaders do- I took to the internet and started researching…
Who doesn’t love a good two for one? I’m here to show you that you can have your squash and eat the seeds too! So many of us skip over roasting pumpkin seeds and squash seeds because we’ve had a bad experience. Maybe you did it once and they were, well, stringy, chewy, like eating straw… and just not very good at all.
Well, that probably comes down to two main problems:
The wrong seed
The wrong preparation
So let’s get you back on track to using all of that pumpkin/squash/gourd! And if you’re into squash like I am, check out my Pumpkin Spice cake recipe, and my Winter Squash Lasagna recipe too!
One of my all time favorite vegetables is the humble Beet. Sometimes Beet Recipes can get a little predictable, but I’ve got a guest chef helping us keeps beets exciting today…and sharing his Beet Risotto Recipe with us!
I think my deep love for beets may be in part because it was one of those vegetables my mother NEVER cooked. So, I got to discover it all on my own and there’s something simply endearing about that, isn’t there? Their flavor and nutritional powers are pretty good reasons to love them as well…
Variety Matters!
I also love beets because you can use the entire plant, literally roots to shoots. I admit it took me a few years to fully board the ‘beet green’ bandwagon- but I am quite comfy now not giving up my seat now!
The rest of my family grew to love beet greens as a substitute for half the greens in their salads last summer. They even preferred it to spinach as the season wore on… we’ve also been enjoying frozen beet greens this winter.
But the beetroot is still up for debate with most of them.
Of course I’m a zucchini lover, I’m a sucker for a veggie that goes overboard and can be used in both sweet and savory ways!
I’ve finally gathered together my collection of recipes and ways I use and preserve Zucchini. I know lots of us vegetable gardeners joke about ‘ding dong ditch’ with these as the season progresses… This is the notorious prolific vegetable. And many get away from me and all gardeners each year (see picture at the end if you want proof of that ;-).
There are so many ways to make use of zucchini! This is such a delicious and versatile veggie. For those of with bounty, or if you just want to savor the sweet summer flavors into winter, read on!
Zucchini Growing Tips
I both start seeds indoors and direct sow- with similar results. I get earlier harvests with the plants started earlier, or more prolific but later with the plants I direct sow. Choose what works for you! They do like lots of compost and can be planted outside a fence, as critters (at least in my area) do not nibble. This is a great news because zucchini plants take up a LOT of space, easily three square feet. A little compost and mulch when planting and you should have oodles of zoodles!
Female flower to the left left, male flower to the right.
This was the first herbal salve I ever made, years ago and it is still one of my all time favorites to use, pretty much daily. this Calendula salve softens, heals, soothes and calms my skin in ways that nothing else can.
Making salve is kind of the gateway herbal bath and body product. Once you realize that you can mix a few natural, quality ingredients and end up with a practical, beautiful and healing product most people feel empowered. I want you to feel that power too!
At a time when more and more of us are becoming aware of what we’re
putting on and into our bodies – along with the carbon footprint the products we
use leave behind… making your own salve is a great place to pivot.
These salves also make great gifts! As I am writing it is prime Holiday Shopping time, yet my gifts are being made from things I am already have in my home. Nothing beats a consumable, homemade gift as far as I’m concerned. Bonus that you can use canisters you already have, furthering your commitment to ‘reduce – reuse – recycle’!
Basic Benefits of Calendula Salve:
Calendula petals contains anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial properties, and is used to soothe a long list of skin ailments. Plus, it’s safe to use on babies (yes, even the finished salve with beeswax)! The oils and beeswax are both sustainable and deeply healing in their own right – so being able to swirl and melt them all together can make just about anyone feel like a healer.
There are two basic steps to making salves.
*Infusing
the oil with an herb/flower you’ll be using.
*Adding the thickening + healing agents to that oil.
Flowers First
Like all recipes, it’s important to start with quality ingredients. Growing my own Calendula adds so much to the garden, as both a trap crop for many common garden pests, and as a draw for beneficial insects – plus they’re gorgeous. I prefer Calendula Resina because it has the highest concentration of petal ‘resin’ aka the good stuff.
These are also great starter plant to seed save from; more on seed saving here. This is all before I snip off the buds to use their medicine. More in depth info on growing these and other beauties at my Companion Planting Flowers for your Vegetable Garden.
Harvesting Calendula
Summer is in full swing when it is finally time to start
harvesting the flowers. This is both rewarding and a great way to tidy up the
garden. Picking them at their peak, with fully opened petals but not drooping-
and after the morning dew has dried but not in the heat of the afternoon, will yield
the best resin.
So, start with either homegrown calendula or skip that part of the
process and buy your calendula from a trusted source. The only place I’ve been consistently
happy with is Mountain Rose Herbs.
They have an amazing selection and grow things they way I do.
Making Calendula Oil:
Once the flowers are cut, I usually let me calendula (and any other herbs/petals) wilt for a good day or two- or sometimes place in our dehydrator overnight to reduce the water content. This make for a more intense infusion and reduces the chance of mold in the oil as you let the plants sit and infuse. After they’re wilted/dried a bit cover the petals with enough oil so the petals are fully submerged. This also helps keep any possible mold at bay. I use a mason jar and screw the lid on. I usually write the date I started the infusion on a dissolving label and let it set for at least 4 to 6 weeks – usually much more. I routinely let my oils infuse for 3 months.
Sweet Almond Oil was my go-to carrier oil for infusing, until I realized that folks with nut allergies are also allergic to almond oil. So while it has the softest feel, a good shelf life and healing properties of its own I only use it for recipes I know only my family will use. I now prefer Apricot Kernel oil. I’ve used a light Extra Virgin olive oil and avocado oil as well, they work great, too.
Infusing the Oil
Infusion is the process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time, a process often called steeping.
Herbal academy
Think of this as a cold brewed tea on overdrive. There are quicker methods where you heat the oil. I’ve never tried this, but if you want to check out the Double Boiler Herb-Infused Oil section of the Herbal Academy article, you can make the infusion in a day. It will not be as potent as the slower, lower temperature version.
*You can also slowly add petals to this jar as they bloom- just
make sure they are dried a bit and remember to keep adding oil to cover petals
completely.*
By the time I’m ready to make salve the bulk of my outdoor garden work has slowed down – and if you don’t have time to make the salve right away, just try to strain off the oil from the infusion within 12 weeks. This straining is as easy as leaving it to drip through a sieve, until the very end when you’ll want to get in there and squeeze out every last drop of goodness. The oil will be cloudier as you squeeze, this is totally normal.
Alchemy Time
Basic Salve Recipe
1 C Calendula Infused Oil (or less if adding other oils)
1 Oz Beeswax
20+ drops of Essential oil of choice. Here’s a great list of Essential oils for salves and their properties.
Now it’s time to get your other ingredient(s) and containers in order. Mainly, beeswax and any other oils you’ll be adding to the mix. One word about beeswax. If you can buy directly from a beekeeper- the raw goodness, plus the smell of honey will add another layer of healing to your salve. Local beeswax will keep the carbon foot print low as well!
I keep my salve recipes pretty simple and just add a bit of jojoba or emu oil to the pot as I’m warming the ingredients. And topping it off with essential oils just before I pour it off.
So Simple
Melt + Pour.
It really is that simple.
Notice my pyrex measuring cup in lieu of an actual double boiler- means one less dish!
In a double boiler (see my cheater version above) or a heavy pan start warming the infused oil and beeswax. If you want to make a larger or smaller batch a good rule of thumb is 1 ounce of beeswax for every 1 cup of oil. You can play around with these ratios as much as you’d like. Adding more beeswax will give you a harder salve; some like a harder slave for summer so it doesn’t melt.
The only trick is to not let the mixture get above 140- low heat is the trick here! If adding essential oils (I do love this, but unless capped they loose their fragrance quickly) do so right at the end. I usually turn off the burner and add just before I pour in.
I usually opt for Lavender or rosemary – but this time I let my
son choose. I make this as much for his eczema as anything else, so I figured he
could chose the scent…and I love that after smelling over 30 bottles he chose frankincense,
which is an essential oil known for being wonderful for your skin!
Let the containers cool and cap in a few hours.
Congratulations! You’ve just made your first salve.
One cup of oil turned into this much calendula salve.
These are great as gifts, and you’ve solved the dilemma of needing an upstairs + a downstairs + a car + a backpack skin cream without any fake chemicals or plastic packaging. Well done!
My Switch has been flipped and my body is craving hearty soups, roasted veggies and all. the. Kale!
Kale really is the QUEEN of the late Fall garden. It is by far one of the easiest plants to grow and it just keeps giving. Easier to grow than many other superfoods, this stuff was made for Minnesota gardeners.
Growing Kale
Kale can happily grow with only 6 hours of sunlight, and will still produce tender leaves – making it a great option for those of us struggling with the shady side of the garden. Like most leafy things, it likes a healthy dose of Nitrogen, my best practice is to add homegrown compost to the top before planting.
There are quite a few different varieties out there and they are not all created equally.
Kale Variety Role Call
Dwarf Blue
Seed Savers Exchange Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale has consistently tender leaves, and stay roughly one and half feet tall. One of my all time favorites.
The Westlander Kale from High Mowing Organic Seeds was a show stopper this season, producing the ‘Kale Trees’ loved by vegetable gardeners.
Lacinato
I prefer any kind of curly kale to Lacinato (aka Dino) Kale about 1000 : 1. So when I am raving about kale, keep in mind I do NOT mean the stuff pictured above. I mean nothing is 100% perfect, right…
Red Russian
Red Russian is a striking beauty that had a more leathery texture than the others I’ve grown, so I suggest using these in cooked form. Still very much worthy of a spot in the garden.
Scarlet
A single glorious Scarlet Kale from that OVERWINTERED (yes through last years insane polar-vortex temps) and is happily living its best life towards the back of my garden, partly shaded and loving it. I’ve now overwintered plants from the seeds of this kale.
I may have saved the best for last- this is for sure my new favorite for late season harvests and the fact that it is a true perennial in my Zone 4b Minnesota garden.
Homesteader’s Kaleidoscopic Perennial Kale Grex
Not only is this a perennial, but the variety of leaves coming from that single seed packet, from flat to curly, darkest green to purples- but all with the best kale flavor I’ve grown. This is also my go-to variety for blanching and freezing to use all winter long. The only company selling these amazing seeds is Experimental Farm Network.
Cold Hardy
Most kale varieties can easily handle temperatures down to 10F. So even up here in Minnesota we can keep these beauties growing into November. A few years back they lasted until our Christmas meal! Because of their size and ability to take the cold I have never grown these with any season extension covers or hoops.
After the first few frosts you’ll fall even more in love with this veggie. They get sweeter with each passing frost!
HARVESTING TRICK
Snap off those bottom leaves first working your way up the stalk as you go. This is a key to not being stuck with big, tough leaves! This is especially important if you want to keep enjoying all season long.
You can always snap off a few leaves and freeze them rather than having to eat tough leaves a few weeks later! This will also leave you with adorable kale trees at the end of the season.
Meet the Kalettes!
Kalettes are kale’s hipster little sister. They’re a mix of kale and Brussel Sprouts. These are gorgeous to grow, with intense purple stems, and purple coloring into the base of the leaf clusters.
They take up a huge space like Brussel Sprouts, and produce a lot of fluff – but the taste is pretty awesome! I’ll grow two or three plants next year instead of six.
Cooking with Kale
We grow a LOT of kale, so here’s how we use it.
Fresh
Chopped and ‘massaged’ (when you run olive oil into the leaves to tenderize them) salads, Here’s one of my favorite chopped kale salad combos as highlighted on my website‘s recipe page.
Kale Chopped Salad Ingredients 3-4 Cups Kale, torn Drizzles of EVOO, honey, 1/2 Lemon juiced S&P A few Craisins Directions Toss into blender of choice and just barely pulse. Can add fresh berries, parmesan cheese and nuts after blending
Crispy
Kale chips are such a great way to sneak in ALL those Vitamins,
minerals and Protein! We just tear and massage in EVOO, bake on a sheet pan for
5-10 minutes at 350F. You can use whatever seasonings you feel like that day-
chili powder, cumin, onion powder, or go for an Asian taste and add in Aminos
and red pepper flakes. One note; garlic powder tends to burn for me on these.
Steamed + Sautéed
Warm Squash and Crisped Kale Salad!
Have you ever cooked up a pan of kale and red onions? If not, this needs to be one of the next things you try. I’ll add a simple mix of kale greens, onions + garlic with chick peas and roasted squash and boom you’ve got your self a perfect fall salad. This recipe is included in my Market Meals post from last winter. Add kale, onions and tomatoes to your egg scramble in the morning to boost flavors and nutrients.
Preserving Kale
Since we grow so much kale it is one of the veggies we preserve a lot of as well. I used to just wash tear and freeze, but have found that it holds both its flavor and its texture better if I steam blanche it first. Steam blanching is better for greens that regular blanching directly into the boiling water as it helps retain more of the nutrients.
I then pack the blanched kale leaves into muffin tins and freeze overnight. Then remove the ‘pucks’ which equal roughly 2 cups of fresh kale into freezer bags (important to squeeze out as much moisture before freezing). With the air removed from the bag, its also a great space saving way to store kale. We use frozen kale in recipes all winter long. Frozen kale is perfect for adding into soups and stews, you can also eat it just like steamed/creamed spinach – YUM.
If your main use of frozen kale is in smoothies, I’ll suggest you DO NOT blanche it before freezing. There is something magical about the way kale crumbles and loses some of its toughness when frozen raw. If you’ve never liked kale in smoothies, I challenge you try frozen kale and let me know!
So, are there any Kale Nay Sayers left out there? What can I do to convince you of kale’s abundant awesomeness?
Tell me, which recipes are you going to dig into first?
Here are my top picks for local Organic Apple Orchards, plus some bonus ‘almost’ organic orchards.
The golden days of fall are that much better when you get to crunch into a crisp apple you just picked off a tree…
But not many of us grow enough apples to eat our fill- let alone make apple sauce, jelly, and baked goods we crave come fall. Enter the family trip to the apple orchard, one of many Minnesotans’ beloved traditions.
Organic orchard options are popping up around the metro as people are becoming more aware of how pesticides and herbicides often used in traditionally run orchards can come home on even those hand picked apples and harm our pollinators.
We’re not the only ones in the apple orchards!
Around the Twin Cities there are now a handful of organic options to fill an ever growing demand for organic produce. Growing organic on a small scale is one thing, but growing a large quantity of fruit trees (monoculture) organically takes a combination of skill, grit and fast action. The movie Biggest Little Farm is a great example of this!
Most of these kinds of farms have CSA (Community Supported
Agriculture) shares for sale plus on site farm stands with other products like
honey, broiler hens and lots of veggies to pick while you pick your apples.
Support the small family farm and pick your apples from an orchard free from any harmful pesticides!
Alternative Roots Farm
Alternative Roots Farm is a certified organic farm and orchard growing over 40 varieties of apples. From Honeycrisp and Haralson, to Golden Russet and Ashmead’s Kernal, we grow new and heirloom favorites – preserving diversity and heritage in South-central Minnesota.
They sell picked apples out of their farm store and do amazing deals with apple shares (like a CSA) and make a LOT of apple sauce! They’ve got a sweet deep winter greenhouse to keep locals in their greens over winter to boot. Follow their Facebook Page for updates.
One of Alternative Roots Orchards – photo credit Brooke Knisley
Carpenter Nature Center
The Carpenter Nature Center cares for a unique orchard started in the 1940’s. As a nature center they work to be as sustainable an entity as possible, but are not certified Organic. I’ve been to the orchard during their wonderful, down home Apple Festival and it is such a great family time. This year’s event is set for Saturday & Sunday, October 12 + 13, from 10-5.
My boys picking apples during last year’s Apple Festival
Sweetland Orchard
Sweetland Orchard is on the West Side of the cities, in Webster and while not certified organic they manage the orchard through minimal intervention. This family operation grows over 30 varieties developed by the University of Minnesota, heirloom varieties, and cider varieties; and they have a passion for cider! They do frequent pop ups at lots of locations around town. Check their Facebook Page for updates.
Applecrest Orchards
Applecrest Orchards is not a certified organic farm but uses IPM, Integrated Pest Management, and common sense in growing great apples. They’ve got over 1,000 trees growing 20 varieties on the Northeast end of town in Hugo. Their IPM program consists of scouting, pest trapping and utilizing the the Cornell University NEWA offerings. This helps them specifically focus any spraying. “We make sure to mow any flowers prior to spraying so we do not contaminate bee forage. The pesticides we use are targeted to specifically mitigate any loss of beneficial insects”. I will say, walking through the orchards in September there is a myriad of insect life between the rows of fruit laden trees!
They sell at local farmers markets and usually have food trucks at the orchard on weekends during the season! They will also be at the WBL Winter Farmers Market again this year.
Applecrest in Autumn
If you’re ready for a day trip, check out Sap Suckers in Mora or Hoch Orchard and Gardens in Southeast Minnesota, two established organic orchards. For other orchard locations you can check out the MN Grown website.
Make the Most of your Apples
And in case you’re wondering what to do with all those amazing apples once you get back home, I’ve got a blog post, An Apple A Day, from last fall all enjoying your apple stash for months to come!
I love learning about new farms and orchards, feel free to pass along any other organic orchards you’ve enjoyed- the more the merrier!
I love seeing the metal buckets and blue bags hanging on trees around town this time of year! Those bags are the symbol of two things I love dearly: Spring + Maple Syrup!
I’ve noticed that these buckets and bags have been multiplying in recent years! I hope the trend continues, because maple sugaring is such a simple way to forage your own food, reduce your carbon footprint, add nutrients to your sweetener—all while adding another homesteading skill to your list. Bonus: there’s very little that can go wrong, it just takes some time.
I know that sounds dramatic, but saving seeds is a big part of why humans hunkered down into communities and began our long march towards civilization (we’ve still got on our marching boots though, right!?). Variations of those seeds still sustain us today.
Until a few generations ago, most people planted what they had saved from the last harvest. With a few additions now and then from neighbors or travelers.
But for me and many home gardeners, saving seeds had fallen off our radars. It is making a bit of a comeback and I am encouraging as many people as I can to jump on this bandwagon with me!
To start saving seeds please remember: Not all seeds are suited for saving!
There’s a simple trick to buying the right seeds so you can save + grow again.
Grow Heirloom varieties, or open pollinated varieties. Hybrid seeds will not produce the same vegetable that you took the seed from.
Garden Planning, my Favorite!
I love getting those seeds catalogs and will have larger than anticipated bills at a few seed companies once I finalize my orders, but I am proud to be able to skip over a few seed sections because I’ve saved my own seed stock from what I grew last year.
Saving seed is intuitive- if we stop to see the plants we nurture as part of Mother Nature. Everything has a cycle, and the whole reason tomatoes exists is to grow more tomatoes so they make it easy for us. Or as Michael Pollan suggests in a few books, like The Botany of Desireand TED talks, “the plants have us working for them”. Continue reading
It is indeed deep winter here in the Northland. The snow is starting to come down out there as I write this, replenishing all the melted snow from our last 36ºF ‘heatwave’. I’m also seeing a definite downward trend in temps coming up. Minnesota’s Winter Wonderland…
For our family that means comfort food cravings are in high gear; and that means soup. At least half our dinners are bowls of hearty, steaming soups. Which also means most of my lunches are soups too. I know, I’m one lucky girl 😉
And the one thing all my soups have in common is a LOT of veggies.
The only other meals that come close to the daring amounts of vegetables in my soups are stir fry or salad. And soups are simply more satisfying when the snow is deep and the nights are long.
Even in Winter I try to start with as many local ingredients as possible- the surest way to do this is by going to one of the many Winter Farmers Markets popping up- or grow surplus in teh Summer garden to freeze or can for Winter use.
*Kid Tip*
The way I sell even the most vegified soup to my kids?? Pairing it with homemade biscuits/breads/grains + cheese. They will slurp every last drop to get another toasted cheesy anything!
My quitclaim; I am pathetic at sticking to recipes. This is very possibly why I love making soup so much. It’s like I get to play chemist with flavor layers. In my kitchen, a soup is never really ‘done’. I often add a few extra ingredients to a soup while heating it up for leftovers the next day. Ohh, I see you there garbanzos, leftover broccoli or peas.
I wish I’d started my cooking education with soups… they are massively forgiving and as simple or complex as you make them. You can feel in control of the outcome and learn so much about flavors as they mix and mingle in that bog old pot. Continue reading
