Garden Progress!

   And since I forgot to post garden progress yesterday...here it is! We built a 12 ft x 12 ft offset tiered garden patch. It seems to work pretty well. Although next year we either need to move the zucchini, cucumbers, and squashes...or just not plant so many of them. The yellow squash and the zucchini squash are overtaking the garden plot. LOL. I got the top tier completely weeded and just need to get the bottom tier done. That's not happening today though. It's way too hot for that right now. Oh, and that background photo for the blog? That's actually a photo of the lettuce when they had just sprouted! :D It kinda makes me happy to use that, especially since I'm posting garden stuff on here right  now. :)

There's about 8 pepper plants, 6 strawberry plants, mustard greens, mesclun, and lettuce

eggplant, sad looking broccoli, basil, and ittle-bitty oregano plants

Squash invasion!

lots of weeds, tomatoes, squashes, and cucumbers

Fermenting and Gardening Away!

   A couple weeks ago or thereabouts, I posted about making sauerkraut. It's delightful! I fished the peppercorns and dill sprig out of it and managed to fit it all into 2 jars! I think they might be pint sized, I forgot to compare and check to see if they were that or quart. :blush: Ooops. I got them at a yard sell for cheap, so it worked for me at the time. LOL. You can see where we already enjoyed some prior to me jarring it. YUM! It has a nice bit of heat to it and a lot of garlic flavor.
   My next project was to do some regular sauerkraut (so we can enjoy some during the week without wiping out co-workers with the garlic aroma) and let it set longer. I also read about fermenting Salsa Verde, so I decided to give that a whirl as well. Besides, the Salsa Verde gave me a reason to check out some homemade airlocks too!

   I didn't use a recipe per se for the regular sauerkraut--just sliced a head of cabbage (it was about 2.5 lbs prior to slicing) and added a couple tablespoons of salt, massaged and beat the cabbage, stuck it in what I'm referring to as my "kraut jar", added a bit of brine, then weighed it down with a fruit bowl, custard dish, and ziplock bag partially full of brine. Hey, it works and it's fairly inexpensive to do. LOL.
   For the Salsa Verde, I used this recipe from Domestic Soul. Instead of culturing it with whey though, I used some of my brine from my garlic kraut stuff. I probably didn't need to use 4 TBSP of it (recipe only calls for 2), but I wanted to make sure I had something to kickstart it since I'm a bit paranoid. I checked it a few days later and it was perfect! I think I'll add some corn and ground cumin to it next time though. It's pretty dang tasty, so I'm thinking it's a win. I'm not sure just how well my homemade airlocks actually worked since this was a short ferment and there really wasn't that much bubbling. Nothing molded which is always a good thing. LOL.

   The airlocks you see up there? Not too hard to make. Just get some of the plastic lids that Ball makes (or even the Mainstays WalMart brand), drill a hole, pop in a grommet (I used a food grade silicone one), then stick an airlock in there. I got the airlocks for pretty cheap off of Amazon.com. I wasn't sure which style I'd like more, so I ordered a 3 pack of 2 different styles to check out. With it being a short ferment, I just used water. Next time I think I'll use brine just in case it gets in the food and to keep it from molding. Not sure if it makes a difference one way or the other, but I'd really hate to be growing stuff in one of those. LOL.
   This weekend's events will (hopefully) be: making yogurt, feta, and red sauerkraut with apples. Since I'm trying a longer ferment time with my regular green sauerkraut, I'm going to attempt the red kraut in a canning jar with an airlock. We'll see just how well this works, but at least hubby and I were able to find some half-gallon sized canning jars so I should have enough space if I split it up into whatever jars it fits it! I'll post another blog post when we get stuff done (or started in the case of the kraut) and get some photos of it. Until then though, I guess this is it. :waves:

Close up of the Salsa Verde. Ooooh! Pretty!

P.S--And I realized after posting this that I didn't address the gardening-- our garden is doing well...it's kinda huge, actually. LOL. I'll do a separate post for that one another time though.

Citron, Socks, and a Cup of Tea

   I probably would have had Citron done by now, but I stopped so I could make a pair of socks for my mom for Mother’s Day, do some yard work, and various other miscellaneous things. Yeah, I’m quite ambitious with the spring weather around here. ::lol:: I’ll just summarize everything in separate paragraphs and hopefully, I don’t bore anyone reading this. ;)

   I thought I gave myself plenty of time to get Mom’s socks done (2 weeks is enough, right?), but I was pushing the limit on getting them done and mailed to her on time. They should be there Saturday (I mailed them yesterday afternoon), but it might be Monday depending on how fast USPS moves. Close enough at any rate. I didn’t get them blocked, but that’s alright. Between the socks and the tasty coffee, I think she’ll like them. :)

    I’m almost done with section 3 of Citron at the moment. I’m excited to be that far into it and I can’t wait to finish it. I love the color green and with spring here, this is an excellent project to be working on right now. :D I’ve mentioned before that the pattern just caught my eye when I first saw it. It’s even lovelier when you’re seeing it in person.

   I’m currently enjoying a cup of Mighty Leaf’s Pear Caramel Truffle. This stuff is incredible! A nice, rich black  tea that’s perfect for any occasion. Mmmmm. If my allergies weren’t wreaking so much havoc with me, I’d write a tea review as well, but it’s taking all my mental functions just to get this post written and not be incredibly dry. Hopefully, I get over the low brain power state of my allergy troubles soon. Until then, I have tasty caffeinated tea.

   I’ve been trying to make it outside lately--especially with the  warmer weather—and get some stuff done to my yard. I noticed a few weeks ago that there was something growing along the outside edge, but wasn’t sure if they were tulips or daffodils. Turns out they’re tulips. I moved in to this place during the fall last year, so I didn’t have a chance to see the tulips, but I’m happy they’re there because they brighten the whole place up. The yard has some dead patches, so I’ve been raking and trying to reseed it a little bit when it’s not too cold or windy out. I need to kill some dandelions as well, but at least I have my own yard to play with now. ::happy dance:: I already have the start of a small garden out there. Some cilantro, chives, dill, basil, and creeping phlox right now, but I’ll get some more stuff out when it warms up more and I don’t have to worry about snow.

   I’ve decided to give spinning a try. A drop spindle isn’t that much, so I won’t be out hardly anything if it doesn’t pan out. As for why I want to spin, well, I saw a colorway I loved on Etsy, but the fingering weight yarn was sold out. I could have asked if they’d dye some more for me, but since they had the roving in that colorway, I decided to give it a whirl (no pun intended). I ordered a Learn to Spin kit from another seller, so I had some short instructions and practice material. I got my lovely roving yesterday and I’m anxiously waiting on the spindle kit to arrive. It’ll take me a bit to get the hang of it, but I think it’ll be a lot of fun…if I can keep my dog away from it. ::lol:: I’m hoping he doesn’t decide that he should try and play with the spindle, and knowing him he might.

   Wow, this ended up being a lot longer than I thought. ::lol:: Yay for spring and summer! :D