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How to Cook Swiss Chard
Swiss Chard Swiss chard is that bright green leafy vegetable, usually with a red mid vein, that most people inch past in the supermarkets. It looks so darn healthy it is scary, and also looks complicated and possibly bitter. I’ve been growing chard for years. One of the easiest of plants to grow from seed, this perennial in our San Diego climate reseeds itself if you let it. To harvest you cut off all the leaves except a few in the middle (to keep the plant producing food for itself). You can easily feed off of a few of these plants for years.
Chard is Mediterranean, not Swiss, but wherever its from it comes packed with antioxidants and many other great health benefits. There is the most common red veined chard that you see in the supermarket, and there is also white or yellow veined varieties. If you buy a package of seeds called Bright Lights, it contains seeds for a mixture of these. The taste difference is negligible, and since in preparing chard you usually strip the mid vein out, it really doesn’t make much difference except as color variety in the garden.
You can cut the leaves while very young and add them directly to lettuce mixes for salads, especially wilted salads. Or you can stir-fry them up or use them as you would baby spinach. The wonderful thing about chard is that you can use the old leaves as well. Older chard takes a little longer to prepare, but oh, it is worth the effort. To prepare older leaves, I fill half the kitchen sink with water, then with my fingers or a sharp knife, strip the green away from the mid veins and drop the greens into the water.
Strip the green part from the midrib Wash the greens well. If your garden doesn’t have a lot of mulch around the plants, then there might be soil kicked up on the leaves. Also, look out for any freeloaders such as snails or earwigs. I usually soak the leaves for a while, letting any thing extra float to the top or sink, then drain and rinse again. Squeeze the extra liquid from the greens and you are ready to cook.
If you want to freeze the chard for later, boil water in a big pot (depending on how much chard you have; you can do it in batches, too), then blanch the greens by briefly submerging them in the boiling water, fishing them out and bathing them in cold water to stop the cooking process. Dry the greens and freeze in containers.
This is my recipe for cooking chard, which my kids and I have loved for years. You can prepare it this way and eat directly, or use it as filling for enchiladas, frittatas, empanadas, or any other tas or das you may desire! Photos follow the print version of the recipe.
Chard SauteAuthor: Diane C. KennedyRecipe type: Side DishPrep time:Cook time:Total time:Serves: 4-6Swiss chard is easy to grow and a little more involved to prepare, but oh! how it is worth the effort!Ingredients- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 large shallot (or half an onion, or a clove or two of garlic)
- ¼ cup vegetable broth or water
- 2 large bunches Swiss chard (or more)
Instructions- Wash, wring out, de-stem and chop large chard leaves.
- In a large saute pan (that is a frying pan with high sides), heat two tablespoons olive oil to medium high. Or, if doing a mondo-huge pile of chard, use a pot.
- Chop one large shallot, or half an onion, or a clove or two of garlic and add to pan.
- If using onion, then allow to cook for a few minutes until softened.
- Add wrung-out Swiss chard and stir a little.
- Add a quarter of a cup of vegetable broth (the greens will still hold water, so you don't need much broth. Or you can add the same amount of water).
- Cover the pan and reduce heat to low.
- Allow chard to steam for about twenty minutes (it should be simmering in there; if it isn't, turn up the heat a little).
- Lift the lid once and stir chard.
- At the end of the cooking time, remove the lid and turn up the heat.
- Allow any extra broth to cook until almost completely gone. Be careful not to scorch!
- Remove from heat, adjust the salt to taste, and serve. I eat it with butter, or sprinkled with Parmesan cheese is also good. Yum!!
Chard Saute
In a large saute pan (that is a frying pan with high sides), heat two tablespoons olive oil to medium high. Or, if doing a mondo-huge pile of chard, use a pot.
Pan o'chard Chop one large shallot, or half an onion, or a clove or two of garlic and add to pan.
Slice shallots If using onion, then allow to cook for a few minutes until softened. Add wrung-out Swiss chard and stir a little. Add a quarter of a cup of vegetable broth (the greens will still hold water, so you don’t need much broth. Or you can add the same amount of water). Cover the pan and reduce heat to low. Allow chard to steam for about twenty minutes (it should be simmering in there; if it isn’t, turn up the heat a little). Lift the lid once and stir chard.
Stir the chard At the end of the cooking time, remove the lid and turn up the heat. Allow any extra broth to cook until almost completely gone. Remove from heat, adjust the salt to taste, and serve. I eat it with butter, or sprinkled with Parmesan cheese is also good. Yum!!
Buttered Chard: YUM! -
Idyllwild Photos
Boulder-studded hills This last weekend’s retreat to Idyllwild became extra special with the advent of April snow. I started out from Fallbrook at two o’clock, following my GPS through our granite-studded hills and golden-flowered valleys. As I drove through the Anza plateau in the beautiful afternoon sunshine, I started seeing glimpses of my destination, which the forecasters indicated would be snowy.
Snowy mountains Listening to my audiobook, occasionally holding up my camera to take photos through the windows (thank goodness for digital photos! All those random shots I can delete instead of pay to print and then throw out!) I reached the turn-off for Idyllwild and tall pines. I passed red gambrel barns, peaceful horse ranches, and then the first downy flakes started swirling around. I gave out a hoot to myself. Although I was born in New Jersey, my dear mother told my dear father that she never wanted to shovel snow again in her life, and they moved our family of five children West when I was five. I’ve visited snow a handful of times at Palomar when growing up, or with my children. Up until I drove through snow and ice in Ashland a couple of weekends ago on my trip to Oregon, I had little experience with it. Or did my Prius. On approaching town there was snow on the sides of the road, and it was swirling in large flakes.
Snowy Road Traffic wisely crept along the icy road. Then suddenly, I was there.
Totem (photo taken on the last day) I’d only been to Idyllwild once with my parents, some forty-some years ago. The only thing I remember was a large totem in the main square. I was startled to see it again as I arrived. It brought back good memories of my parents.
The snow had turned into round pellets, like those Styrafoam balls in Christmas scenes. I sat in my car outside the lodge for a few minutes absorbing the sight.
Round snow Oh, and it was cold. My spoiled San Diego self had to make some adjustments. Over the weekend I ended up wearing all the clothes I brought, mostly at the same time in various combinations starting with thermals. I thought I had mittens in my car but I didn’t, and I shouldn’t have had my haircut the day before, or thought to have brought a knit cap. But it was all okay. The lodge was comfortable, our hostesses treated us like royalty, I shared a room with a wonderful woman and we had a wall between us for privacy. The rooms were themed, and mine was, appropriately, The Library, and was decorated in old books and red plaid, which I love. It was perfect.
Plaid room After checking in and seeing my delightful room, I took my camera out onto the street and walked a circle around to town and back. I had to keep the camera nestled under my jacket to keep it from freezing. I wrapped my blue knit scarf that I bought when Miranda and I were freezing in the Orkney Islands when touring Pictish ruins around my head and neck like a babushka. I’m mature enough to sacrifice looks for warmth. ( At least, most of the time. I guess it depends on who is looking. Hmm, I’m still a girl at heart after all! ) The landscape was beautiful, like a picture postcard sprayed with glitter.
Snowy Trees The silence was so profound I could hear the snow fall. There was wildlife looking for food for their young. A mother Gray Squirrel was eating at a squirrel feeder. The bare spots on her tummy show that she is nursing young. I also saw Steller jays, robins, pine siskins, a flicker, crows, quail, goldfinches and acorn woodpeckers. There were bunny tracks in the snow.
Mother Squirrel That evening we communed by the fire in the lodge after a great meal of vegetarian vegetable soup and fresh bread. I enjoyed my cup of cocoa with peppermint Schnapps, but the caffeine made me sleep only three hours. I wasn’t alone with being tired; several other women had little or no sleep either. Saturday the sun was out and the snow began to melt, causing the streets to turn into running water.
Snow Flowers W e took a walk in the morning, ate macadamia nut pancakes, performed Tai-Chi, Zumba, aerobics, work at a barre, more walking, yoga and Pilates, then another walk into town for dinner. During dinner, it began to snow again, big, slushy wet snow that we hadn’t expected.
Hibernating Dragon It was dark when we finished eating, and we visited a couple of shops that stayed open for our group, then ventured through the very wet snowfall back to the lodge and warmth. It snowed all night again, to make our last morning one of magical landscapes. It was Sunday morning, the sky was blue with soft clouds, the quiet was profound and the snow sparkled as if someone had tossed around slivers of diamonds.
Ice A group of us took a silent walk through the snow and trees, not speaking, but pausing to perform simple yoga breathing and awakening stretches, welcoming the peace and freshness into ourselves and sending our thanks for the moment out to the universe.
Icicles in Bush This exercise enervated me more than any other during the weekend; I only regret that not all of the women shared it with us. (After little sleep on the first night and a series of vigorous workouts through the day, along with all the energy spent shivering, several slept in.) One of the phenomenas of the morning was the rising sun catchingthe snow as it melted from the trees, highlighting the drops as if it were handfuls of glitter. I took many photos of it, trying to capture the spectacular sight, but none of them do it justice. If you look carefully at the photo, you can kind of see what I’m talking about.
Shimmering snowmelt After our wonderful breakfast (pecan maple pancakes!) we headed off down the mountain in glorious weather. I took a last explore through the town, finding a shop that made its own candles, some scented Idyllwild Cabin, and Campfire Smoke, and Citrus Champagne… and they really smelled like their names! I bought some Christmas gifts (beat the crowd! It was snowy outside after all!) and drove out of the snow to home.
- Easter Bunny Tracks
I’m posting more photos on my Facebook page if anyone is interested. The Spring Retreat turned out to be a Winter Wonderland, but I’m sure that it won’t throw the Easter Bunny off at all.
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Retreat
The word ‘retreat’ means to go back to safety, away from the front lines, to re-coop and stand again for another battle. A skirmish lost but the war yet to be won.
I returned today from a weekend retreat in Idyllwild sponsered by the Fitness Fusion/Healing Yoga class I attend. The idea of going to a mountain cabin with a group of women I didn’t know would not normally be at the top of my list of investments. So why did I do it? In part, it is because the leader of our classes, Ann Wade, makes the class unthreatening, welcoming, forgiving and joyous. She creates an atmosphere where being kind to each other is welcomed and encouraged; anything negative would be unthinkable. I thought I would be safe from external criticism, real or imagined. Challenging the internal criticism was another quest. (The internal critic, my own personal Greek chorus, is always hissing, “Hypocrite! Failure! Klutz! Chatterbox! Bore! Fatty! Ugly! Self-pitier! Failure! Failure! Failure!” And to survive the voices I take each criticism and work on improving those that I can. I look for eyes that could be saying the same things, and I stay away. I return to my gardens and hide, and absorb strength from nature. I read and read and read, and volunteer, and try to improve and help, and work until I literally can’t lift my sore arms. And it is good.) Also, the last year and a half have been a testing ground for me. I step over the sides of my box over and over, daring myself to accept, move, change, progress, in often subtle ways. I want to find out what I am capable of, without the tethers or safety of family. When I leave the safety of my front doorstep I go alone, yet the person with whom I am both dueling and dancing is myself. I wanted to see how I behaved in such circumstances.
The idea of being observed by a large group of people in social circumstances (as opposed to lecturing, which I can do thanks to Toastmasters and Drama in high school) is frankly very frightening to me. You’ll find me at partys in the garden or petting the pets. I don’t like to stand out because I don’t have the qualifications to be measured along with society women. And that is all right. I enjoy being me (some of the time). Being with a few people at a time, when I’m not a third wheel, is much better. We can converse, laugh, share. Usually when I’m with groups of women I feel so awkward and immature because I don’t do a lot of ‘girlie’ things. I have never had my nails done, I wear very little makeup, I don’t watch television or go to the movies often, I don’t have a husband. I don’t intentionally read bestsellers or book club books. I’m an oddity. But then I find those who, like me, have animals, have gardens, are liberal and care wholistically for the world and everything on it. Those who don’t try to convert me to their religion or convince me to eat meat, as I don’t try to convert them or show them the horror in their food. This weekend I found a group of women who, although from all different backgrounds, accepted me as I was. Looking back, I think the thing that made me feel best was that no cliques formed even though some who attended were close friends. I wasn’t included as an afterthought. We broke bread together, explored and exercised together. We cried for each other, supported each other, complimented, laughed with and created with each other. I drove off the mountain today with more bulwarks than when I drove up. I am still more creative and unstressed when alone; I need my time by myself to think, calm, and regroup. And that is okay. I also need the company of friends and new friends to keep me from ‘hermiting’. I need to learn from the life experiences and survival techniques of others. I am very, very fortunate in my friends. Those men and women who I have met and worked with at my volunteer activities, at my various jobs, and through professional writing, as well as those who work at the businesses I frequent. I am wealthy in friends, even if I don’t call them or hang out with them, or do family things together.
It snowed on the way up to Idyllwild, and on Saturday night, transforming the area into a startlingly beautiful Spring Christmas card. The snow glistened, and the melting chunks of it turned to falling glitter between the pines.
I’m sorry to say that I can’t post photos tonight. It grows late and I’m exhausted, and the photo loading takes a long time. I’ll add some tomorrow.
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Traveling Again: Oahu
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Garden Stairs
Just a brief update on the garden. With the intermittant rains, and while awaiting bids on the rain catchment ponds, progress is still slow. Yet many trees and plants have been set in the ground, rocks moved picturesquely into place, and lots of mulch spread. My last garden update showed the first and second tier of the embankment leading down to the streambed with the palm-leaf covered retaining fences. I mentioned how the second tier would lead around past a fill spot; that is what Francisco and Juan are working on now. It is another gargantuan task, working on a slippery hillside with heavy rocks. They are doing a fabulous job as usual.
Top of the stairway I wanted to be able to get down to an old bridge that spans the streambed, and then down to the streambed itself without having to use a rope and rappel down. There had been a pathway down to there, but the flooding several years ago and this December’s heavy rains put short work to that.
First Switchback The men have reinforced the retaining fence, blocked it with palm fronds again, built up and stabilized the hillside with rocks, and cut railroad ties for stairs.
Second Switchback They ran into miscellaneous debris thrown down the hillside by the previous owner, such as crumbled asphalt. Since it was already in the dirt they left it and used it as part of the soil reinforcement.
View from the bottom The area was heavily mulched with straw to protect from possible erosion from this rain we are supposed to have this weekend. The stairs are almost complete, and pending the weather will probably be done tomorrow. These photos don’t do the project justice.
Why, you may ask, am I spending money on such a stairway? Because the streambed, albeit small, runs year-round, and it was the selling point of the property for me. Lined by willows and oaks draped with thick vines of wild cucumber and grape, it is a natural haven for birds, possum, raccoons, coyotes and so much else. Sunlight dapples through the canopy, and all you can see from the bottom are plants and water. When standing down there, I could be in a forest far away from traffic and houses. It is my own private parkland; a piece of nature that I can protect and keep natural for the sake of its inhabitants. This stairway isn’t invasive; in fact as I’ve said, it replaces one that was viable until recently, but utilized old rusty pipes and wire which was more dangerous to man and beast than useful. Besides, the stairs are short enough that even a possum could climb them! Ever hear of wildlife corridors? I have a wildlife stairway!
Tomorrow evening I will be attending a retreat with members of Ann Wade’s Fitness Fusion and Healing Yoga class. We are going to an inn in Idyllwild until Sunday afternoon. Since rain and snow are in the forecast, it should be an exciting time. Since I’m not good in social settings, having always been an observer and loner, I thought I’d try it and see how it went. I expect to have a wonderful time
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Apfelpfannkuchen, or Dutch Baby Pancakes with Apples
Apfelfannkuchen Breakfast. Sigh. My favorite meal. Too often it consists of a bowl of healthy cereal, orange juice and my fistfull of vitamins and supplements. Once in awhile when I have a child or two at home I’ll make these very easy, extremely impressive and delicious pancakes. One pancake per person. Just with some egg, milk and flour in a buttered dish you make this glorious puffed pancake that is a delight to eat. I copied this recipe from my mother’s recipe files back in 1977, my second year of high school. Where she copied it from I don’t know, but I do know that puffed pancakes have been a restaurant sensation on and off for decades. They can also be made plain for dessert and served with fresh fruit or even ice cream and chocolate sauce. Instead of apples make them savory with the addition of mild vegetarian sausage (you don’t want strong flavors to overbalance the delicate pancake) or cooked mushrooms.
Two kinds of pancake You can dress them up with powdered sugar at the last moment, or serve with syrup. It is important that you serve them right out of the oven so that your guests see them in all their risen glory, because the pancakes will deflate to some extent but still be gorgeous. If you pour a little syrup between the pancake and the hot dish it will sizzle and bubble very dramatically. Because the pancakes are served so hot, they take a little while to eat, which makes breakfast more of the leisurely time of enjoyment it should be. Make certain your guests know how hot the dishes are, and protect the place settings with potholders.
Apple filling Apfelpfannkuchen, or Dutch Baby Pancakes with ApplesAuthor: Diane C. KennedyRecipe type: BreakfastPrep time:Cook time:Total time:Serves: 1-6Ingredients- 1-2 apples, peeled and diced (or 1 vegetarian sausage link per person such as Morningstar Farms, cooked and chopped)
- Use the following chart (going across) to measure ingredients:
- Pan Size Butter Eggs Milk Flour
- 2-3 quarts ¼ cup 3 ¾ cup ¾ cup
- 3-4 quarts ⅓ cup 4 1 cup 1 cup
- 4-4½ quarts ½ cup 5 1¼ cup 1¼ cup
- 4½ - 5 quarts ½ cup 6 1½ cup 1½ cup
Instructions- Choose oven-proof bowls, preferably clear glass (for effect). I use one quart Pyrex bowls.
- Divide butter between bowls and set bowls in cold oven.
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Meanwhile, cook apples in a little butter or juice in a frying pan for a few minutes to soften.
- In a blender or with a hand mixer, whirl eggs at high speed for one minute. Gradually pour in milk, then slowly add flour. Whirl for 30 seconds. You don't want to overmix because you don't want air in the batter.
- With oven mits, remove hot dishes from oven; butter should be melted.
- Pour batter carefully into melted butter in dishes, dividing the batter equally.
- Divide apples (or veg sausage) evenly between bowls, if using. Dust with cinnamon, if desired.
- Return to oven and bake until puffy and browned, 20-25 minutes.
- Pancakes will be like a firm bread pudding at the bottom.
- Serve immediately. (Pour syrup around the inside edge and listen to it sizzle! It impresses children and easily impressed minds like mine!) Nom!
Vegetarian Sausage Filling -
San Elijo Lagoon Hike
- San Elijo Lagoon
If you enjoy a hike along a flat trail with lots of nature to admire, you really should go to San Elijo Lagoon. Multiple times. That is because it has many different trails, most of which can be linked together for a long hike.
San Elijo Lagoon is protected by the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, the County of San Diego Parks Dept., and California Fish and Game ( http://www.sanelijo.org/welcome-san-elijo-lagoon-ecological-reserve). It is one of the largest wetlands in San Diego County, and the estuary is a wonderland for birders. The lagoon lies between Encinitas and Solana Beach, and occupies about 1,000 acres.
The Nature Center is run by the County and staffed by two rangers. In the photo at left it is the lowest building to the right of the cliffs. It is an fine example of a ‘green’ building, using solar, reclaimed water, a green roof and much more. Inside are very cool interactive computers and displays demonstrating how tides effect the estuary, the history of the area, and much more. Outside of the Nature Center is a boardwalk trail loop with benches and interpretive displays. During the change of tide there is a great opportunity to watch any number of seabirds fishing right next to the walkway. Watching the glorious sunset with the Coaster zooming past and cormorants fanning their wings on the telephone pole makes it easy to feel very, very happy about living in San Diego.
The Nature Center has a parking lot, and it is accessed from Manchester Ave. Visit the website for exact directions. The parking lot does have hours of closure, and this loop trail is independent from the other trails.
If you continue along Manchester you’ll see a sign for the Lagoon’s Dike Trail on the right. You have to park along Manchester Ave. Walking along the dike is one of the best ways to see dozens of seabirds, some in flocks of hundreds, very close-up. If it has been raining, you may want to check the condition of the dike because, as we found out, it can overflow.
Once across you have the option of hiking West or East. If you opt for West, you eventually walk under I-5, which is an interesting experience in itself, then around through old Eucalyptus trees under the eroded cliffs overlooking the estuary. You have a choice of two trails which connect later, one takes the high road, and one takes the low road, so to speak.
The lower one skirts the water and the higher one leads you through tall native plants. There are lots of flowers, birds, lizards, and interesting plants on either hike. At the end of the lower trail there are interpretive signs. The trail leads up to a trailhead off of North Rios Avenue, where there is street parking. You can continue West from there down to another walkway out into the wetlands for good bird viewing, and even further around the water and close to the train tracks past the water treatment plant (which is a little smelly) and out to where there are interpretive signs describing huge sewage tanks that had been at the site. That is as far as you can go, and you have to turn around and hike back.
Southeast of the Dike Trail are several miles of hiking that extend almost all the way to El Camino Real. There are several more trailheads to drive to and park.
There are lots of joggers and hikers. The pathways are well maintained and I’ve rarely had to pick up any trash along the way. Along with many seabirds, songbirds and raptors you may see mule deer and find the tracks of nighttime visitors such as coyote and racoon.
Although the hiking is along a flat area, there is a lot of it and the coastal sun is deceptively hot in that cooling breeze. Take lots of water, comfortable shoes (you can get them on shoe hero), a hat and sunscreen, and a jacket in case the famous low clouds and fog come blowing in.
This is a wonderful area for good exercise through several different plant communities with lots of good birding opportunities. You can’t do it all in one go, so plan for several trips, keeping an eye on the tide tables. Plan it around a good dinner at a coastal restaurant (such as Siamese Basil Thai restaurant in Encinitas… my favorite!) and an even beach stroll… sounds like a wonderful day to me!
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Permaculture Garden Update
Entrance Lots of hard work is being done on the property, and the garden is taking on character. Bits of the palms that were cut down are being used in so many ways. The upright trunks that were left have been stripped, and metal poles were tied between them. I didn’t care for the look of the poles, so Roger immediately came up with the idea of wrapping them with palm fronds… and it looks great. The above photo is of the future ‘formal entranceway’ to the garden. Francisco and Juan were working from the tops of ladders in full sunlight on this unseasonably hot day… it must have been over 90 degrees out there. Summer weather too early! I’m glad that it is going to cool down a little starting tomorrow.
Arbor They also covered metal poles that they criss-crossed the trunks in the palm walkway. Up all of the trunks are a variety of flowering vines, and also climbing heirloom roses. I ordered the roses from Heirloom Garden Roses (http://www.heirloomroses.com/), and the plants are small but healthy and virorgous. I made little cages out of leftover chicken wire from the chicken tractor to set over them; otherwise, the bunnies would nibble the young rose leaves down to nothing. Beneath the palms, many plants that will create the plant guilds are in the ground and mulched with chipped palmsand surrounded with rocks. Rocks have also been placed around the property to add character and interest. The palm sheaths that were skinned from the trunks will be used on top of the mulch as a secondary layer; its interesting to look at, is textured and therefore makes interesting hidey-holes for lizards, salamanders and all sorts of creatures. Most planting will now cease until the important decisions about installing the rainfall retention ponds, dry creek beds, swales and the permanent (swimming?) pond are made. We met with more people this week about the pond installation and are awaiting bids and ideas. I’m looking for the most sustainable, least impact and easiest way of installing them, and we may have found a company that understands this. More about the ponds when decisions have been made.
Other work has concentrated on the embankment and the erosion areas there. This is the area below the fence; the embankment with the streambed is on the right, and the main property is beyond the upper left corner of the photo. This area had been leveled, firmed, mulched, and old broken pipes and wires that had been a junky retaining wall was replaced with old chainlink fencing and aluminum from the sheds. Then palm logs were used to line the cut-out area around the left to help hold the soil. Palm fronds were installed all along the top of the chainlink on the right…
Erosion area and also on the next level which is in the process of being firmed, repaired and made available for bird watching, including a very
- Lower level
handy bench. This area had been greatly eroded, especially by the December deluge. An enormous toyon has tipped over and its roots are exposed on the embankment. From this vantage point out over the embankment my daughter and I could watch a lot of birds flying between the canopy of the streambed trees. You can see from this photo also how the palm fronds have been used to block the lower side of the fence. In the bottom left corner is some of the old corrugated aluminum that had been there from the previous owner, and which is still holding up. It will be blocked by fronds as well. Past this point and around the corner is a big erosion area which ends the pathway. It is being worked on. With the ponds, streams, mulch and swales in place, as well as these bulwarks of wire and aluminum, the chance of such heavy erosion happening again even in the worst rainstorms is almost nil. The property will be augmented to deal with excessive waterflow as well as insufficient amounts.
I am still tossing around ideas about buildings to replace the sheds. I need a tool/mower storage shed, a small ‘bee house’ where we can store our bee equipment and work on honey extraction without the bees bothering us (we’ve extracted honey in our kitchen), and I’d like a small greenhouse or growing house for seedlings. I also would like small building or trailer that could be used as a guest house, as well as an area for groups of people to gather for teaching purposes. I’m getting prices and ideas on how to do all this cost-effectively. I’ve looked into Quality Sheds in Menifee, asked the carpenter who did my other projects to give me a bid, and have researched trailers, yurts, geodesic domes, straw bale… everything. So many decisions! But how fun it all is. That’s all for tonight, and thanks for reading. -
Chicken Update (or The Pulletzer)
Rooster To follow my previous post about my darling chicks, who are becoming more colorful and lovelier in their scrawny-necked way every day, I thought I’d update the chicken-fanciers out there. You know who you are! I still wanted two more kinds. I waited on a local feed store for their order to come in yesterday, ran over there today… and they didn’t have what I wanted. We have, if you remember, a Buff Orpington, a Rhode Island Red and a Silver-laced Wyandotte. I wanted a Barred Rock, which is the traditional black and white rooster that is reproduced on tea towels, collector’s plates, etc. I also wanted an Araucana (also known as the South American Rumpless, but I won’t tell the girls that). Apparently they have ‘improved the breed’ and renamed them Americaunas. These are beautiful birds, with brown swirled patterns and each chicken a little different. They lay eggs that range from blue to green (just the shells, mind you!) and are very nice chickens. They are also extremely popular and sell out right away (so the feed stores were telling me) and the hatcheries were out of them. Frustrated and brooding (!) about it, I felt a little peckish (!!) and had some lunch then scratched around (!!!) for a phone book and called Country Feed Store in Vista. They had both kinds! Off I flew (!!!!) and bought two 4 week-old Americaunas (my ladies are about a week younger, so I put them together and so far no pecking),
Americaunasand two one-week-old Barred Rocks.
Barred Rock So cute! I went into the Brood House there and they had so many little chickies! I crowed with delight (!!!!!).
When my daughter and I looked for chicks there a week ago, it was between the rains and we didn’t see what we were looking for. However, as we were standing there in the wet straw we turned and saw a little rooster with wild wet feathers standing just around the corner of one of the pens and staring at us.
Frizzle We stared back. He kept watching. He looked mentally unstable. We moved on and were a ways away talking about a couple of free-roaming geese when I looked past my daughter and nudged her, “Look behind you,” I whispered. There he was! He was doing the same thing, just standing there just around the corner of the last pen, staring at us, feathers all crazy. Creepy! He eventually wandered off but I managed to take a photo of him. Today he was there still, wandering around with feathers in a little better shape. He was crowing mightily for his small stature and listening for a return crow from somewhere distant. I asked the young man who was helping me ( a great guy he was, too. It was about ninety degrees and he was loading bales of straw, helping customers and dealing with animals all with a sweet smile on his sweaty face!) about the rooster, and he said he was a Frizzle! The rooster, that is. The rooster had come to them with messy feathers, and he said he’d cleaned up a bit. I love that rooster. If I didn’t think my neighbors would snap and come over with torches, I’d have that rooster just as a pet. A mean, deranged, cantankerous pet, but so what? I have cats who are the same way. The store had two-day-old Frizzles, too, but at that age there is a 50/50 chance of getting females, and I want hens for eggs. Sigh. So the little Barred Rock are in a box next to the other older ladies, sharing a heat lamp (not today they weren’t… so hot!) and with a little antibiotic and vitamins in their water. I tossed some cauliflower leaves in with the older girls, but they thought they were monsters for awhile, then laid on them for a nap instead of pecking away at them. Still kids.
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Native Insects and IPM
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Genetically Modified Foods, and a curious, unrelated photo
Genetically modified food (GMs) are what happens when scientists manipulate cells or even nuclei by inserting genes or viruses to change the DNA. Before GMs farmers would hybridize plants by breeding for preferred character traits. GMs may or may not cause damage to human DNA, but it’s use has escalated the use of pesticides, herbicides and animal cruelty. Since Monsanto, the makers of the herbicide Roundup(tm) are also the leaders in GM food, it seems that they are lining their own pockets by selling products for both cause and effect. If eating GM food is something you’d rather not do, I have just come across a useful article that might help. In the April/May, 2011 Vegetarian Times, there is an article by Neal D. Barnard, MD on the subject. In the article he reveals that manufacturers in the U.S and Canada aren’t required to label GM food. However he says that most US-grown corn, soy, cotton, Hawaiian papaya and canola is GM, but most other fresh fruit or vegetables aren’t, such as apples, oranges, bananas, broccoli. (These, however, are often heavily sprayed with pesticides and need to be washed before eating. The Environmental Working Group http://www.ewg.org/ updates a Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen list of produce that is effected most or least by pesticides; you can see that list here: http://www.healthyreader.com/2008/05/13/12-most-contaminated-fruits-and-vegetables/ .)
Dr. Barnard goes on to give these interesting tidbits: The labels on fresh produce carry a four-digit standardized code for cashiers to look up the price of the item, called a PLU (price look-up). If the code is preceded by an 8, it is genetically modified. If preceded by a 9, it is organic, and organics cannot be genetically modified. So watch your tofu packages if you don’t want GM soybeans.
Since becoming a vegetarian some sixteen years ago, I’ve been a label reader (even now when it requires pulling out my glasses or holding a can at arm’s length!). The amount of sodium in foods is outrageous, as is the amount of sweetners such as corn syrup. High amounts of salt and sugar is in there not for taste, but for its addictive qualities. When you eat salt or sugar, just like drinking caffeine, you crave more. As a vegetarian, it’s amazing what meat products are slid into foods, even those toted to be vegetarian. Now there is a more dangerous enemy than bad nutrition in packaged food. In my opinion, it is that of GM food and heavy herbicide and pesticide use. Even more reason to shop locally and organically, or to grow as much food as you can, and read all the labels. I am an ethical vegetarian, meaning that I decline to eat animals because I am protesting their horrible treatment and slaughter. GM animals are bred to continuously give milk, to grow enormous, to provide more of what humans eat off of them, despite the physical agony it brings. That coupled with already nightmarish living conditions is a monsterous state of affairs. Then humans injest the modified DNA, the herbicides that the animals eat that was sprayed on their food, and the pesticides that was sprayed directly on the animals. It is not a practice of which I will be a part.
Okay, I’m stepping off my soapbox now. As promised, I have a curious, unrelated photo. I have to balance reality with humor to keep sane This was taken by my daughter as we left the area on our recent Oregon sojourn, and we ask ourselves, “Huh?” A really big blowhorn faced the wrong way? A jet engine, faced the wrong way? A hood ornament…. faced the wrong way? Something unusual that fell out from under the car? A neutron accelerator? I love the care of placing a skid under the thing to protect the hood, but cinching the straps so tightly it dents the sides! Another funny incongruency in life, which keeps that humor in living. Any suggestions as to what? Or better yet, why?
Hood Ornament 
Horn? -
From Willow, CA to Corvallis, OR. and back to Lodi, CA.
Snowy Mountains I’m at a hotel in Lodi, CA, which is a truck stop south of Sacramento. I’m halfway home, but, I get ahead of myself. Let me tell you about the second part of the trip to Corvallis…only two days ago!
Grain silos After spending the night at Willow (North of where I am now), we headed up past San Francisco. We could see the city from the freeway. In the surrounding areas were miles of farmland and many immense grain silos.
Sacramento; photo Miranda Kennedy Then the land became more beautiful, if less productive, as we passed Red Bluff, Redding, and the Mount Shasta area. Only we didn’t get to see Mount Shasta because it was covered with clouds. It was snowing.
Snowplows (photo Miranda Kennedy) I haven’t driven in snow before, but it wasn’t blinding and the twisty mountain two-lane highway loaded with trucks wasn’t icy. The most trouble I had was avoiding being blinded by the spray from the semi’s wheels. We were surrounded by very beautiful pine forests loaded with snow. Then we hit the next mountain range of Ashland in Oregon and it began to snow in earnest. The road was very wet and ice was on the sides. Big fluffy flakes were circling around. We pulled over to a lodge to use the restroom and through the dining room windows the snow swirled as if made for a movie, and juncos were eating at bird feeders on the porch. We would have loved to have stayed to enjoy the sight, but my daughter and I were both afraid of the roads becoming more hazardous. I certainly didn’t have snow tires on the Prius. There were snow plows and whatever the red stuff that they use instead of salt on the roads.
Lodge We carefully edged back on the highway, and I now drove behind the trucks, keeping my wheels in their tracks figuring their weight and heat would have de-iced as they went. It was a bit tense heading down the hill. Why are there always people who have to speed, even in bad conditions? Once we were off the mountain the snow vanished and we had rain showers, especially once over the Oregon border where it rained almost solidly. After coming off that icy truck-filled narrow mountain path, rain wasn’t even an issue. We made it to Corvallis at about 3:30; a 1,014 mile drive from home.
Old House Corvallis tries hard to be a cute town, and it mostly succeeds. It has historical interest and lies in the beautiful Willamette Valley. Corvallis is on the agenda for those touring wineries, but more to our interest is that it is very attractive for migratory birds. There are preserves and parks all over with wonderful birding hides, walking paths and hiking.
Tree-lined streets Since school started the next day (today), birding sadly wasn’t in the books for us this visit, even if the rain let up. However we did see magpies as we drove through Sacramento on the way up, which was a first on our lifetime birding lists for both of us. Corvallis is surrounded by farming areas, growing blueberries, grains, corn, and feed. This time of year there are thousands of bright yellow daffodils along the roads and in front of homes. Another welcome splash of color in the usually dark grey sky is from forsythia bushes which are in full gloriously yellow bloom. It rains a lot here. This school year, in fact, it stopped raining only to snow a bit, with occasional glimpses of blue sky as a tease between rain storms. Moss and lichens are very happy here, as are Canada geese. Berry bushes and wild apple and pear trees fill the preserves, but being wet and cold is the price for the fecundity of the landscape.
On the way back today I was anticipating heavier snow and ice storms, but to my delight the weather was clear and sunny the whole way.
Snowy mountains The mountains were covered with snow and beautiful. Mount Shasta’s volcanic shape draped in white suggested a more aggressive personality than the rounder surrounding mountains.
Mt. Shasta What beautiful rivers, pine forests and mountains. A couple of young elk were grazing by the side of the highway, and startled by a semi, ran back into the woods. I have a real love for this kind of scenery, perhaps born from my New Jersey birth, or cultivated from my first vacations with my parents and sister to Yosemite and Oregon, staying in rustic lodges, smelling pine resin and woodsmoke and listening to quiet.
Once I passed Red Bluff and Redding, then the scenery became more humanized and flat. Lots of buildings, old vehicles, signage… the poetry was gone from the view. And here I am in Lodi, CA, which may owe it’s interesting name to Chief Lodi. In fact, I compiled a list of the names of places I passed that were delightful to me: Tangent, Calpooia, Umpqua, Drain, Yoncalla, Edenbower, Riddle, Azalea, Jumpoff Joe Creek, Louse Creek, Merlin, Indian Mary Park, Valley of the Rogue State Park, Talent, Weed, Yreka, Hilt, Siskiyou, Jelly’s Ferry, and Yuba.
Tonight I dined at Rocky’s, which most certainly doesn’t have a veggie burger option, but does give you the ketchup right away with your food, knowing you’ll need it. Apparently I just missed the migration of thousands of starlings which cover the area through the winter, dining on the bugs in the surrounding fields. There are still hundreds left, and if you look closely you’ll see them on the sign in the following photo, taken from my motel window. To the lullaby of the traffic of Hwy 5, I bid you so-long. Tomorrow back to Fallbrook, and lots of walking!
Rocky's Cafe
