Kitty's Scratch Pad

Beans Beans

More canning adventures ensued this past weekend.  Alex insisted on two pounds of huckleberries from the Ballard Farmers Market which I smashed and cooked down into a wonderful jam.  We finished our weekend foraging in the garden and decided to pick some beans for dinner.  There were more than the two of us could ever consume in a single sitting so the rest went into a small batch of pickles.  I pulled the recipe from one of my favorite canning books, "Well Preserved" and got going.  The beans were super long and fit perfectly into my Weck asparagus jars.  The process was insanely simple - it took maybe a half hour to prepare.  Now we just have to wait for them to soak up as much salty, delicious vinegar as possible.  I am sure one jar won't make it past this weekend as we have high hopes for a homemade brunch coupled with Bloody Marys.

  


 
  

I Think I'm In Love

Best hair product EVER.  Absorbs oil and keeps your coiffure in check for days.

 

Scarecrows

I have a beautiful fig tree on the south side of the backyard and for the past few years, I haven't harvested a single piece of fruit.  I once heard that squirrels are simply rats with pretty tails.  After watching them steal my figs for th past few years, I decided to take charge and came up with a plan.  I planted catnip throughout the garden to encourage the neighbor kitties over to our house.  Yep, I am the neighborhood feline drug pusher.  And so far it is working!  I was surprised to find that instead of coming to our yard for a little kitty fix and chasing down some squirrels, they really come to our yard for a little kitty fix and just lay around.  So instead of attracting fierce hunters, I have attracted a bunch of scarecrows.  Either way, I cannot complain and so far the figs look great.

Eating Locally

A few weekends ago I was out in the garden doing my usual upkeep.  I provided some extra water, minor pruning and had a lengthy conversation with my cucumbers about our shortened season and their need to hurry up and grow.  Just as I finished my discussion, my neighbor Tom popped his head above the fence (Home Improvement style) and asked if we wanted some goat milk from their mama goats.  Uhh...yes...please!  Then he handed over a Chevre starter and a dozen eggs from their chickens! 

During the week, I prepped the cheese and the following weekend Alex made a wonderful frittata.  The best part was knowing every single ingredient (except the salt) was from no more than 100 yards of our house.

Farmhouse Frittata

Ingredients

1 small onion chopped finely

2 cloves garlic chopped finely

1 tbs each of chives, green onion, thyme, tarragon and basil

4 egg whites & 2 eggs beaten

2 tbs fresh chevre

salt to taste

Directions

Over medium-high heat, saute the onions and garlic In a lightly oiled small skillet, until soft and aromatic.  Slowly pour the beaten eggs over the onions.  Sprinkle the herbs evenly over the eggs and cover.  Allow eggs to cook almost completely.  Add small clumps of the chevre on top and cover again.  When eggs are fully cooked, remove from heat.  Add salt to taste and serve.

 
  

A Case of the Peculiar Tomato and Other Tales from the Garden

Summer finally came and with it our garden is finally full of life.  Through the CEL plant start program I ended up with more tomatoes than I knew what to do with.  We have a total of eleven different plants!  Through the season I have been diligent with my care.  I fed them kelp, compost tea and hand watered them when they seemed thirsty.  I have carefully tied them as they have grown  - some nearly six feet tall.  Throughout the season, I have removed the suckers at the axial of the plants.  Removing the secondary and tertiary growth is usually the last step in my care and by this point, I am feeling lazy.  So typically, I toss the unwanted suckers off the deck into a small pile which is eventually composted.  A month or so ago, I noticed a little tomato plant growing in between the rock pathway on the south side of the garden.  It was so peculiar and neat that we decided to keep it.  In this time, it has grown into a full size plant and is full of flowers just waiting to fruit.  With eleven plants, we are sure to have a bumper crop and I cannot wait to devour it with a little salt and some fresh burrata.

Since gardening is all about trial and error, I figured I would throw things in my new vegetable beds just to see what happens.  My biggest mistake was over-planting.  And while my tomatillas are a little crowded by the squash everything seems to be growing anyhow.  For fun, I planted a cinderella pumpkin.  This has been the probably been the main attraction and surely the biggest conversational piece when folks come to visit.  I imagine it could be the main character in a terrible B movie, "The Pumpkin that Ate Seattle".  It will be fun to track the growth and see how many pumpkins we are able to harvest.

Some of the other highlights so far include salad greens, snap peas, rhubarb, strawberries, zucchini, onions, shallots and soon we should have cucumbers.