Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Weekly Local Booty (late), Excuses, and Well, Let's Just Get On With It...

Friday, January 9, 2009

Weekly Local Booty (late), Excuses, and Well, Let's Just Get On With It...

I didn't intend to go on hiatus, but it has been pretty stressful around these parts for the past while. I would expect things to be pretty sporadic for the next few weeks - I haven't really been cooking or doing much of note anyway. Let's just say things have been pretty out of whack. I have been doing an awful lot of reading and have created a Books J's Read - 2009 link under the Currently Reading element on the blogs sidebar. I read a lot of books, so I like to try to keep track and do a rudimentary rating scale. Perhaps this will be of interest to some of you; otherwise, you can see how big of a nerd I am. :-)

I did go to the Root Cellar awhile back and scored some grub, so I figured I would share it - hopefully inspiration hits me as to what to do with it all.















Starting from the bottom left: shiitake mushrooms, carrots, 4 yellow and 1 red onion, a huge head of cabbage, local pickled jalapenos (!!!!!), Sandhill mustard (!!!!!), Bonne Femme Honey Farm alfalfa honey, 2 organic avocados (not local), organic Sumatra coffee (not local), and a bag of shredded organic coconut (not local).

Not pictured are a dozen local eggs and two jars of East Wind peanut butter we picked up from the "regular" store. Making our own granola bars means we use a lot of peanut butter.

Sadly, there will be no Garden Update for December. I forgot to take pictures, well, the whole month. Things kept dying and I got jaded. I decided not to try starting anymore indoor crops and to focus my attention on our 2009 growing season. Surprisingly, the pepper plants are what are doing the best. One of our cayennes is even beginning to grow buds. It is the herbs and greens that have really been giving us trouble. Not what I expected. Our salad greens are doing wonderfully in the window and I think we will be having our first harvest soon, I will make sure to get a picture of our loot.

We've been pouring over our seed catalogs and visions of summers possibilities and I think we are getting narrowed down to the specifics of what we would like to grow. Once the seed order has been placed, I will post about what is (hopefully) on our horizons. I don't know when that will be, but I'll get around to it at some point.

I apologize that I haven't been commenting on blogs - I can't say that will change anytime soon - it will likely be sporadic as well. But who knows, right?

'Til next time.

12 comments:

jessy said...

no worries, Jennifer! some time off from blogging is a-okay! reading = the best! so enjoy yourself!

sorry about the indoor gardening - that stinks. but it sounds like you're having some success! hooray for those pepper plants! are those the ones from the pepper colony? i loved them the most! that's sweet that the salad greens are doing so well. perhaps dan & i will start some up. i love greens! mmmmmmmmmmm!

dan just said to me yesterday "we should make some granola bars!" and i said "sounds great! Jennifer has a rock'n recipe i printed out a while ago. wait a minute - she hasn't posted in a while. i hope everything is alright!" i'm quite happyfaced to hear from you, my friend. :)

i love that i'm not the only one already planning out my garden for this year! wahooooooooo!

hope you & Brett have a rock'n weekend! take care!

Anonymous said...

I am sorry things are so stressful! I hope that the reading you have been doing has been a little relaxing for you. That is one of my favorite ways to relax--sitting down with a good book! I hope that the stress load gets lighter soon :o)

That is one huge cabbage! I love cabbage--I have a nice head of local cabbage in my fridge to use up too. Yum!

Have a great weekend!
Courtney

Anonymous said...

Hey J, maybe you could read something for, you know, fun? ;-) Seriously, I get depressed just looking at your "books read" list...and I've even read many of them.

Try something less morose and brooding. I'm finishing up a fantastic work of historical fiction, "The Agony and the Ecstasy." It's about the life of Michelangelo and is great fun. Well, he's broody and morose too, so "great fun" may be the wrong phrase. But the book itself is a good time.

So how about a New Year's resolution to give Howard Zinn a rest? At least for a few months.

hmd said...

I'm sorry things are so crazy. Hang in there. If you don't have a chance to read many posts, I'll cue you in on the important stuff - next week check out my "Market to Table" (yep, next Thursday's). I made homemade black bean patties today. Mmmm! They were awesome! And I know how much you love food porn :)

Laura said...

Sandhill Mustard???? Is this new??? I am going to run to the root cellar( i live kind of across the street) NOW and go get some! i am a mustard fiend!! thankssssss!

Anonymous said...

Life just comes at a person sometimes, no worries about the blogging hiatus. I agree with some of the others, maybe try some lighter books? I have the "serious" ones on my list and in my "in progress" pile, but I have been lately reading some great children's books - new finds as well as returning to some old favs.

Sorry about the indoor crops not turning as you wanted. I've heard lettuces/herbs do okay, so I hope yours continue to do so. Looking forward to the pics and how you end up using them :-)

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

It's nice to hear from you again! The planning for your 2009 growing season sounds like fun. I'm not as ambitious as you guys but do plan to grow more herbs than basil, so I'm looking forward to it too. Take care!

T said...

Hope what ever has been stressing you out calms down soon! In the meantime, can't wait to check out your booklist. :)

Kale for Sale said...

Good job on the local pickled jalapenos. I found some last year about this time and it was the best find of the entire winter. This year I put so many peppers in the freezer I'm concerned I won't use them all which I never thought would be a problem. Take good care. The blog world will be here when you have time.

Bianca said...

Yea! Glad you're back. I always worry when people disappear for very long. I hope everything's okay.

And I know how you feel about being garden jaded. I feel that way anytime I try to grow anything because things always die under my care (well, plants anyway...animals fare much better).

Alicia said...

I'm sorry your plants have died... it's probably just too cold and not enough sun...
Read a lot and enjoy your time!

J said...

Jessy - Thanks, I honestly haven't really had anything to blog about, I haven't really been cooking. But I have been reading and I agree, it is the best.

Actually, my dad came down this past weekend with our (belated) Christmas presents, and one of them was an aero garden indoor growing system. We have herbs started in it and its light has really helped the other plants in the room. Yes, they are the pepper colony plants. The cayennes are growing away, the two jalapenos look a little sad, but they are still hanging on. Our greens are getting close to being harvested, I will have to make something special to highlight them in.

Thanks Jessy, I hope you are having a wonderful week

Courtney - No worries. It has, it really has, there is nothing better (in my opinion) than cuddling up with a good book.

It is a huge cabbage. I didn't think I like cabbage, but so long as they are cooked with onions, I seem to dig it.

Scott - You know, I laughed when I read your comment because you are completely right. I asked Brett if he would describe my reading material as broody or morose and he had to agree.

Deal, I have been reading some fiction (along with a little light hearted non-fiction) and plan to keep with it for awhile.

Thanks for the laugh.

Heather - Thanks, I will. Black bean patties? I will make sure to go look at my reader when I am done commenting, I like black beans enough that I will make the time to check that out. Thanks for the heads up.

Laura - It was the first time I had seen it. Wow, I am a little jealous of how close you live!

Living in a Local Zone - You've got that right. Scott was right, I have enough of my own anxiety as it is, reading a bunch of gloom and doom stuff will only make that worse. Childrens books, eh? Now that is an idea.

What I think is weird about the indoor garden is that it is the peppers that are doing alright and the herbs and cooking greens keep getting all leggy.

Lisa - Thanks. It is fun. I look forward to hearing about what you grow. We are quite ambitious this year. We just both really love gardening and Brett really likes to figure out to maximally utilize our small space.

T - I'm sure it has to at some point.

Kale for Sale - Thanks, they weren't what I had initially thought they were. They were actually horrible, just horrible. They were called "sweet heat" and they were jalapenos pickled in a sweet syrup. Not a combination that I can dig.

Bianca - Thanks. I know, I do too. I think it will be with time.

Hahahahaha, I seem to have a knack for the peppers (they must know how much I like them), but everything else is fairly tenuous. Glad to hear the animals do better than the plants!

Alice - No worries, it happens, I just have to rethink the situation before I try again, and with it already being mid-January, I am starting to look ahead to the 2009 outdoor growing season.

I plan on it and I will try.