June 2009

Everything we grow in our garden must be grown in containers and for many years our containers have been planted with flowers.  This year, we are experimenting to see what, besides tomatoes and herbs, we can successfully grow in containers.

Even if you have limited space - just a small patio or balcony - as long as there is sunshine and a little fertalizer, you should be able to grow a few veggies in containers.

Tomatoes always do well in containers - ours are already over 5' tall and full of the promise of a great crop!  We always get a cherry variety called "Sun Gold" as it is a very reliable producer and the tomatoes are delicious.

Anaheim peppers also do surprisingly well in pots.  I usually get two crops before frost.  Two plantswill yield about 12 peppers at each harvest.

Right next to the peppers - my "Tabbouleh" garden!  Mint and Italian parsley grow like weeds and I have already cut enough from this one little pot to make three big batches of Tabbouleh.  I planted the little seedlings just four weeks ago!

Greek oregano is a must and another vigorous grower! We grow it in a little flower box Kirby built and enjoy fresh Greek dressing all summer. This recipe is closest to the one I make, but use fresh Greek oregano instead of dried.  The recipe I use is from Pappas Art of Traditional Greek Cooking, a cook book I dearly love and highly recommend to anyone seeking to learn to cook Greek food. 

Rosemary? Always.  I love how beautiful it looks in the garden, and the fragrance, and the focaccia bread I make in the fall.

And, yes, that IS a blueberry bush growing in the big pot on the left. 

Kirby gets a quart or more off this bush every year! 

Potatoes?  Actually it is surprising how well they do in a container.  Use a fairly big pot so you get a good crop!  K planted a sprouting member of the "old forgotten potato gang" and just look at what a beautiful plant grew up from that sprout!  He tried this several years ago and we had the best potatoes ever!

And that really IS corn growing in that little pot next to the potatoes!  Apparently squirrels hid kernels in this pot last fall and - well - Kirby just will not dispose of any plant that is growing.  If we actually get an ear of corn out of this - you will be the first to know!! I'm not holding my breath - but - I've learned not to bet against K's green thumb! 

We rescued these from the $.99 table a few days ago.  Lovely Italian peppers to roast, summer squash, garlic chives and Cuban oregano.  We haven't ever used Cuban oregano as a seasoning, but it is a gorgeous plant and can be brought in as a house plant in winter.

Feast your eyes on our not so successful strawberries! 

And finally, a small patch of soil our neighbor has shared with us. We have planted cucumbers, butternut squash and pumpkins.  We'll see how they do growing in heavy clay soil completely riddled with gophers and moles.  May have to go the container route next year!

But so far so good!  My first cucumber blossom.  Wouldn't if be fun if we grew so many our neighbors hide from us when they see us walking up to the door with our arms full of cucumbers? 

God's eyes make great frames for displaying those treasures we all seem to bring home in our pockets from trips to the beach, forest or lake. 

But also consider taking along a portable craft studio so your children can make treasure frames "on location". Pack your favorite tote with 4 ply yarns left over from projects, a little glue (Aileen's Tacky Glue or Elmer's White Glue work great) and a pair of scissors and thread and needle.  Let the kids find their own twigs and sticks to use - and if their sticks are a little crooked - so much the better!   (I've become quite attached to the "crooked" god's eyes I created for this post!)

Almost any little "pocket treasure" can be either glued or tied on to the god's eye - pebbles, sea shells, pine cones, bird feathers, driftwood, dried moss....

A god's eye treasure frame is just a modified standard god's eye. If you have never made a god's eye, check out my tutorial for making god's eyes and make a few for practice using twigs or dowels.

The trick for making a god's eye into a frame is to weave the middle part of the god's eye "backyards" and "under" the sticks.  This creates a recessed area between the eye and the outer "frame".

Here's how to do it.

Begin by weaving the eye just as shown in the tutorial.  The eye should be about 1" across. Weave the eye in a counter clock wise direction.

Now, instead of bringing the yarn over the top of the stick, wrapping twice and then carrying it to the next stick as you have been doing, bring the yarn from the back of the stick, and carry it in a clockwise direction to the next stick.  Bring it behind the stick, wrap twice and carry it from behind the stick, clockwise to the next stick. 

You are basically weaving "upside down".  Turn the piece over if you don't believe me!

Continue weaving until you are ready to create the "frame".  Be sure the area you are weaving is wide enough to accommodate your "treasure".

If you are using a contrasting color yarn for the "frame" tie the two yarns together with a small knot.

Begin weaving counter clockwise again, now bringing the yarn over the top of the stick, wrapping twice before moving to the next stick.

Continue weaving to the desired width of your frame.  A frame 5 to 7 yarns wide works great for god's eyes that are 6" to 7" across.

Now you can glue your treasure onto the eye and yarn wrapped sticks as I have done with the sand dollar above. 

(Yup! that's a Christmas tree it's hanging on!)  This is my entry for June in Sarah's Holiday Handmade Crusade.  Be sure to check to see what she will challenge you with in July.

You can also tie or sew your treasure on to the god's eye as I have done with my little bird feather collection in the first photo of this post.  Because I am bound by convention (can't help it - it's in my genes) I have tied the feathers in the center. But you don't have to!  And neither do your children! Put your treasures anywhere you like!

I have a whole cluster of these hanging on a wall.  But they also would be a great addition to your Christmas tree as a memory ornament! 

Or, maybe each member of the family could "frame" a secret treasure from the trip and exchange them during the holidays - perhaps at an advent candle lighting at which each family member shares their favorite memory of the year.

Just plain old god's eyes?  Sure!  Have your children find a few crooked or twisted sticks or twigs and weave away!  As I said, I am totally falling in love with all my weirdly shaped god's eyes made from bent and curved twigs. 

This one is concave - very three dimensional.  I tried to show that more clearly, but no matter how many angles I tried shooting - still got flat results.  Sorry.  But... you could try making one yourself using two sticks with good curves in them so they form a "bowl". Mine is about 9" across.  Maybe I will put dried leaves in it this fall!

Something I should share - natural twigs often have bumps where side branches once grew.  Weaving around these will create interesting openings in your weaving.  

Another fun, simple thing to do with god's eyes - tie your twigs together at extreme angles instead of at right angles.  You will wind up creating very arty, contemporary looking god's eyes. 

Your kids will have fun weaving on twigs they find themselves. Challenge them to find the most twisted, curvy twigs they can find. It's hard to predict exactly what the design will look like when completed.  Finding out is half the fun!

I hope some of you will e-mail me photos of your summer fun god's eyes!  I would love to see!

It is the beginning of berry season at our favorite local farm, the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island.

We purchase almost all our produce from the farm from the beginning of June until the last day of October.  And sometimes we even u-pick our strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries!  Portland/Vancouver residents are so fortunate to have this family friendly farm located just a few minutes from downtown Portland. 

Local folks!  Grab your kids and buckets and head out to the island this weekend! The berries are perfect.

While we were there to deliver a fresh supply of photo note cards and pick our first strawberries, we also stocked up on Pumpkin Patch broccoli, and the lovely Pumpkin Patch baby beets and English peas you see being prepared for dinner in the photo above.

Fresh, tender peas seasoned with a bit of salt, pepper and butter bring back childhood memories of my great-grandmother's garden - and her fresh peas.  And beet greens - I start craving them about the first of March!  Select nice, fresh, bright green beet tops, clean them well, and cook them (without water) in a little sautéed bacon and onion for about 15 minutes.  Sigh!

But we were talking about berries weren't we?  Sorry - got carried away thinking about those veggies!

So - here they are!  Oregon's own fabulous, juicy, delicious, luscious, melt-in-your mouth, to die for, you'll never forget them, Hood strawberries.

Generously piled on a delicious waffle (that I need to tell you about), and then covered with freezer strawberry jam! Which I also need to tell you about!

So first - the jam.  If you haven't discovered freezer jam, you are going to love me for telling you about it!    It is so simple to make.  A neighbor taught me a few years ago and I make lots of it all summer - strawberry, blueberry, peach, and apricot being my favorites.

Basically, for every quart (4 cups) of berries or fruit, you need 3/4 to 1 1/4 C sugar (depending on sweetness of fruit and your taste) and about 1 1/2 to 2 T fresh lemon juice. Remove stems, peels, seeds, etc., and cut the fruit into small pieces about 1".  Place the prepared fruit, sugar and lemon juice into a wide bottom saucepan or skillet, bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes.  Use medium low heat - just enough to keep the bubbles going but not so hot it scorches (UGH).  (You may need to adjust the cooking time a little to suit your preference for jam consistency.) Turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature.  Place in clean plastic or glass containers and when completely cool, place in freezer.  OR make pancakes while you are waiting for the jam to cool and eat right away!  Note: the jam will keep for about three weeks in the refrigerator.  I  keep jam in the freezer for up to 10 months.

And speaking of pancakes!  I have just made the most wonderful pancakes - we liked them so much that I went through my files and purged every single pancake recipe I have ever used!  Debbie, who writes a most charming and beautiful blog Pretty + Simple, recently shared this recipe for pancakes that she found on honeyflake.  Don't even hesitate one minute - just make them.  They are delicious - especially smothered in raspberries and butter the way my grandfather used to eat them.

They are equally good with maple syrup and blueberries, which is my husband's preferred topping.

Because the recipe Debbie shared was so good and we both enjoyed it so much, I decided to tweak it a little to see if I could modify it for waffles.  And it worked! 

Refer to the original recipe. In place of the butter, use vegetable oil and  instead of one egg, use two.  Separate the eggs, adding the yolks to the milk and oil. In a separate bowl, beat the whites until they are almost stiff.  Mix the dry and wet ingredients as instructed, and then fold in the egg whites.  Bake on a well oiled waffle iron.

If you haven't visited Debbie before now, I recommend you take the time to check out Pretty + Simple.  You may especially enjoy her adventures making real maple syrup from maple sap here, and here and this post about baby chicks just cracks me up!

I wish you all a summer of lovely, fresh produce, and a freezer full of lovely jams by summer's end! You will definitely need them for Ableskivers!