Ice Art by Mother Nature

Last night we watched a show on PBS about glass artists. Pretty amazing what can be done with molten sand and blow pipes. Among the glass art that was being made on the show were some stunningly beautiful glass icicle sculptures.  I think nature's icicle sculptures are just as beautiful, though.

Scarlet and Black

Fire and Ice---and Sweet Potato Soup...

Free form icicles on the south side of the barn.

Bonfire at dusk.

Today we had a cold icy rain for most of the day. It was nice to have a day where I didn't have to work, and spent most of the day inside baking and curled up by the wood stove. For lunch I made sweet potato soup. The ingredients sounded a bit strange (I would have never thought that turnips and nutmeg would mix well!). It turned out to be the perfect way to use the last of my turnips from last fall's harvest...

Sweet Potato Soup

2 sweet potatoes
2 white potatoes
1 turnip
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (I skipped this)
6 cups chicken broth (I used 3 cups broth and at the end added 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened almond milk--I'm trying to avoid dairy right now.)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste


1.Peel and cut vegetables into small, uniform pieces. Place in a pot, and cover with the chicken stock;  Bring to a boil, and cook until vegetables are tender.

2.Place vegetables and liquid into a food processor. Puree.

3.Return pureed vegetables to the saucepan. Slowly stir in the cream, brown sugar, nutmeg, and butter. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Snow Day Photos

It has been snowing steadily all day. Compared with other places in the country, we really haven't had a whole lot of snow yet this winter. So far we have about six inches on the ground. 

(The last photo is of the amaryllis on my windowsill getting ready to burst into bloom.)

Next Summer's Garlic

"Without garlic, I simply would not care to live" -Louis Diat, Chef, NY Ritz-carlton

Garlic has always been a mainstay in my garden and my cooking, though the only variety I've grown up until now is a rocambole type with an unknown name that my parents have grown for the last 40 years. It is a medium size, hardy, easy to grow, mild garlic that stores well.

Last summer I visited my friend Diana and her husband at their new garlic farm and bought four varieties of heirloom garlic.  I'm excited about watching these grow and harvesting the new bulbs next summer. Garlic is planted in the fall, then harvested the follow summer. I have always planted garlic in late August or early September, and in this part of Michigan it is ready to harvest by mid Julyof the next year.

Here are photos and a little description of the four varieties I am trying this year in addition to my parents garlic:

Killarney Red Garlic is rare and difficult for gardeners to find. The cloves are exceptionally large, and the loose skins on Killarney Red makes it easy to peel. It has a wonderfully deep, full-bodied flavor.

German Extra Hardy is among the most winter-hardy garlic varieties. Very large bulbs with 4-5 large cloves. The outside skin is very white and the skin covering the cloves is dark red. A vigorous-growing garlic with long roots, which gives it the ability to winter over without heaving out of the ground. Flavor is very good and stores well.

Chesnok Red is a hardneck variety that is especially good for baking, as it holds its shape, keeps its flavor and develops a delightful aroma. Each large bulb has a beautiful purple-striped wrapper and contains 9-10 easy-to-peel cloves per bulb.

Kettle River Giant is an artichoke softneck that can grow quite large, up to four inches. It has been a long time heirloom garlic grown in the Pacific Northwest. Cold winters are not a problem. The wrappers are a beige-white with pink overtones. Being a softneck, it also stores quite well. It has a medium heat and a rich taste, not unlike some hardnecks. Averages 12 cloves per bulb.

One of the garlic beds on a foggy morning last October.

Avocado Tree

One of the great things about having a compost pile are the surprises that come up in it. At first I thought this tree seedling might be a chestnut or a type of oak.

(Chickens are big fans of compost piles as well.)

It wasn't until I finally noticed the seed it was growing out that I realized it is an avocado tree.

It was such a pretty tree and looked so healthy that I couldn't let it freeze to death this winter. So back in October I potted it up and brought it inside. It still looks healthy and happy. From what I have read there isn't much chance of getting edible avocados off a seed grown tree, but it makes a handsome house plant non the less.

On my Dresser

It is -5 degrees outside right now, but thanks to these flowers, the house smells of springtime.

Summer Sunshine

Most of the tomatoes I grew last summer I probably won't grow again. The biggest disappointment  was Italian plum. When I bought the seeds I was of the understanding that it was a Roma-like paste tomato. It was going to be my mainstay for sauce for last year. I planted 25 plants and the fruits turned out to be barely larger than a cherry tomato with hardly any flavor. I did end up processing them all for sauce, but it was a lot of work.

The one tomato that I will grow again that I grew last year, is Jubilee. It is a productive yellow tomato with large uniform round fruit. The flesh is thick, sweet, and juicy with lots of tomato flavor. It was perfect for eating fresh, for sandwiches and it cooked up into a thick golden sweet sauce.

Six year old Liam holding a Jubilee tomato from last summer's garden.

The large golden tomatoes cook up into liquid summer sunshine.

A wheel barrel of tomatoes from last summer waiting to processed into sauce.

It is the time of year to browse through catalogs and plan next summers garden. For those of you who garden, what are your favorite tomatoes to grow?

 Each year I try new heirlooms, but still haven't found many varieties that are productive enough to give a permanent place in my garden. I would love to find a very productive heirloom paste tomato. My very favorite tomato for taste is Hillbilly. It is a big irregularly shaped yellow-orange tomato with flesh that is marbled with yellow, orange and red. No other tomato comes near it for sweetness or flavor. The big draw back is that for me, it has been extremely unproductive--I often get as few as 2-3 tomatoes off of each plant. I plant a few plants every year in spite of that just because they are so delicious!

Veterans Field

Simple white stones mark the graves of brave Michigan soldiers from the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War I and World War II.  Photo taken today at Mount Evergreen Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Jackson, Michigan.

Irrigation System

Skeleton like it stands

among the stubble of last years corn

waiting for spring and sunshine

to bring a new crop

of corn, wheat and soybeans.

Snow Angel

Indestructible

This pansy just keeps going and going...

Jewel Bear

A woolly bear hanging out on a basil leaf and soaking up sunshine for winter. (Photo taken  October 10, 2010.

Ice Flower

Frosted Fencing

 

Wintery Barn

We woke up to temps of 5 degrees and frost on the trees yesterday morning.

The red horse barn with its little farm house and 5 acres of land sold a few months ago for only $47,000.  (Yes, we did entertained the idea of buying it--if there had been a way to just buy the barn and a the few acres that surround it, we would have done it.) Neighborhood sources tell us that a local family with horses are moving in in February. It will be really nice to see horses in the pasture on the other side of our fence.

(A glimpse of the farm house is the background of this photo.)

Camouflage Kitten

"If I sit very still and act like a fir tree, maybe a bird will come and land on my nose..."

Winter Pansies

When the snow melted during the New Year thaw, the pansies along the patio steps lifted their faces out of the dirt and smiled at the sun.

The Kitchen Sink

We installed the vintage washboard sink last week. It isn't in quite as good condition as I had thought it was, but it is a huge improvement over what was there. Once we cleaned off the layers of paint and grime, there are some stains and pitting and it will need to eventually need to be refinished. But it is so much more practical and looks far better than the sink we took out (which really wasn't a bad sink--it was a standard double basin stainless steel sink). I must say, these double washboard sinks are the ultimate sinks for utility. It makes me wonder why no one has come up with a similar, but modern design. This is supposed to be a temporary installment. At some point we are going to put in more counter top and cabinets and the sink will be moved and permanently installed then.

We had another lovely sunset on January 2nd. This time of year we savor any bit of sunshine we can get since we don't see the sun that often.

The sky a few minutes after the sun set.

Reflections in a stream

 Creeks tend to have lots of little swirls and eddies, but this one is so quiet and still, you have to stop and listen closely to hear the music of the softly flowing water.

Photo of Portage Creek taken on Jan 1, 2011 at the Beckwith Conservancy, Stockbridge, Michigan.

First Sunset of 2011