(not so) Urban Hennery

I’m not sure what happened to week #2 of One Local Summer. I know we had more than one all local meal, but I didn’t even realize that I hadn’t shared one with you until last night. Oh well, it’s turning out to be that kind of summer.

Tonight we had a fantastic dinner. We started off eating by the handful. Some strawberries standing in the yard. The very first (well almost) of the snow peas plucked and eaten raw (I love that the blossoms are still attached). Followed by perhaps the last of the local asparagus, roasted in the oven with a bit of kosher salt and California organic olive oil. All topped off with local pork chops smothered in basil pesto grown and frozen by our neighbor. And now I’m topping it all off with some organic Washington Cabernet and a slice of toast with fresh made strawberry jam.

Of course, only the peas managed to get their picture taken. The rest of the courses forgot to remind me…

Tags: harvest, one local summer, peas, veg

Preserving season has arrived with the red stained fingers and sweet ping of strawberry jam.

I know there are people that will tell you to wait until berries get cheaper to make jam, but I’m not one of them. I think that the first berries of the season make the freshest tasting jam. I always make half of my strawberry jam now and the other half when the berries are cheaper. Then I refuse to mark the jars and mix them together so I don’t eat all the best first.

Tonight I made 16 half pints of jam. I’d give you my recipe, but I went seriously off the reservation and I’m afraid the USDA might come after me…

In all seriousness, I used the UMN recipe for no pectin jam last year with great success. Tonight I was possessed by demons and decided to short the sugar by 2 cups (7 instead of 9 to go with my 9 cups of smashed berries), add 1 TBS of lemon juice per cup of berries and then 2/3 of a packet of pectin.

So far so good. The foam is delicious - just a bit tart and tasting of fresh fresh berries. We’ll see if the jam is as good - it may turn out to be a bit too tart. If so, I’ll keep it all for me as I like it that way and go back onto the reservation for the other batch. That way I can give people a choice when I inevitably give a third of it away as gifts.

Tags: jam

It’s hard to believe that Cody has been here less than six weeks and Whisky less than four. We’ve quickly settled into a routine, sometimes well oiled and sometimes not.

Whiskey has packed on the weight faster than anyone expected, without any issues and is showing all the signs of being in perfect health. I’m guessing he’s put on 50-75 pounds in the last 3.5 weeks (this photo is a week old). Apparently the only thing wrong with him was not enough food and a desperate need for worming and dental work.

The change is so dramatic that if I didn’t know he was the same horse I’m not sure I would believe it. He’s a perfect first horse for Mike - calm, focused and confident on the trail. Everyone that thought we were a bit crazy for buying him (you know who you are!) is shocked to see him. He’s really a fantastic horse and not nearly as homely as I’ll admit thinking he was

Cody on the other hand, is both a delight and an asshole on a regular basis. He’s fun to ride and hang out with once you catch him. Unfortunately he can be hard to catch and has pushy ground manners. Not to mention that it takes two of us to get him in the trailer to go anywhere. We’re slowly working on all of it with advice and input from friends and their son, a horse trainer. Things have gotten so much better since that early day when I found myself wanting to send him back. I wouldn’t trade him for anything.

After all, who can resist a pretty pony that’s a delight to ride and looks so *cute* sleeping in the pasture?

Tags: Cody, horses, reflections

If you notice that things are wonky or missing it’s because I upgraded my version of Wordpress tonight only to find that my theme and most of my plugins/widgets are not compatible. I’ll be working on getting the hennery back in order over the next few days, so bear with me as things come (and go).

I put in the second round of bush beans yesterday afternoon. In the process I was fascinated to find that the yellow Pencil Pod Wax Beans start out as black seeds.

Whodathunk?

Tags: beans, planting, veg

Romanesco broccoli straight from the garden, to be lightly steamed.

The smallest of the broilers butchered yesterday. A 2 pound 5 ounce hen, just bigger than a cornish game hen. Spatchcocked Butterflied and destined for the grill.

But first, Hood Canal oysters picked up at the farmers market, grilled with a bit of local butter, homegrown green garlic and Very Hot Sauce hand delivered by Anita & Cameron back in February.

Grilled to perfection by Mike, the chicken was complemented by the broccoli and a salad of homegrown lettuce and green onion plus locally grown organic radish.

All topped off by a dessert of the first of the local organic strawberries with fresh whipped cream (organic, non-local sugar and vanilla). Mmmmm.

Not all of our meals this summer will be so extravagant, but I figured we might as well start off the challenge with a BANG.

Happy summer all!

Tags: chicken, one local summer, oysters

Because we have a small patch of everbearing strawberries we rarely get a lot at any one time. Usually there are just enough ripe berries to have a snack, or put on top of granola or top dessert if you let them build up for a few days.

But that’s okay, I can always get enough berries for jam and freezing from the local farmers. There’s something charming about getting just a handful at a time.

Tags: strawberries