April UFH Challenges

April was a busy month with working, planting and building. My produce from the garden is in a quiet lull while the early veggies are maturing and the fruit trees are flowering in rapid succession.

I've been able to harvest a bit of asparagus from my two year old bed. I must say there is no asparagus that tastes better than when it comes from your garden, all that crisp, sweet, tender goodness. Sautéed, blanched, raw, put in spring rolls, the options are endless. So happy to have a little veg from the garden.

I did get a couple of Urban Farm Handbook Challenges completed last month. The first was getting a couple of trellises  set up. I usually use a netting that can be found in the local hardware stores but the netting is hard to pull old vine off of and will only last a couple of seasons. This time around I used some old metal fence posts and some 2" x 4" wire mesh instead.  The mesh was easily secured by bending the ends around the posts and then where needed I using a couple of nylon ties.

Easy to install and made from simple materials

The snap peas seem to be loving the trellis!

The next challenge from Erica over at Northwest Edible Life was to plants seeds that you have never grown before.  I chose bunching onions, celery, shelling peas, and purple and yukon gold potatoes. I am having success with everything but the shelling peas which were potentially eaten by birds or rotted during the heavy rains. Needless to say, the peas have been replanted.

bunching onions

purple potato

I also acquired additional soil from an area where we are expanding our shop. I am excited about using the soil to building more garden boxes and I even have a rock sifter to get the hurkin rocks out.

This post is part of the Urban Farm Handbook Challenge.

Sunny in Ballard

Last year we brought a couple of our favorite coffee cups from a potter at the Ballard Farmers Market. This last week both of them broke. The upside was we got to journey from far east Redmond to the super fun Ballard neighborhood.

We started at Cafe Besalu eating freshly baked pastry and lattes, then continued on to the farmers market where coffee cups were replaced, new plates were acquired, fresh veggies were put in the grocery bag and inspiration was found in Manila clams. It couldn't have been a better spring morning.

There were some awesome patterns found this morning too.

latte art

sidewalk patterning

The colors of the spring bouquets were really amazing and for $5.00 who could resist.

 amazing daffodils 

spring bouquet 

The  spring vegetables had a great showing.

tender fiddlehead ferns

fresh spring veggies

My favorite image from today is this father peddling a bicycle that provides the power to blend his smoothie while his little daughter looks on.

There is something about this neighborhood that really feels like community. People are interacting with each other, there are many independent stores and restaurants, and dogs everywhere. If we ever moved to the city, this would be one of the places I would seriously consider.

Photography Lesson

A couple of weekends ago, I flew to California and took a super fun workshop from Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple. This completely hands-on class was so engaging and such a great learning experience that I must say if you ever get a chance to take this workshop, just do it!  Here are a few pictures from my weekend.

I'm looking forward to using my newly developed photography skills and sharing the pictures and stories with you.

Adobe CS6 Photoshop

The Warm on My Feet

I ran outside yesterday to chase the deer from the yard and realized as my bare feet stepped onto the wet grass that there was a soft and warm sensation where the cold use to be. I had to stop and enjoy the moment. Feeling the warmth from the bottom of my feet wrapping around to the top was wonderful so I did a little squeal of delight. I knew then that the ground in the gardens was warming and ran to see what was emerging from the winter soil.

asparagus

snap peas

Caroline raspberries

crocus

rhubarb

shallots

So happy for the warmth on my feet.

Cranberry Meyer Lemon Scones

I love scones and I also love anything with cranberries and citrus. Here is a modified scone recipe from  Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour bakery cookbook.  These scones have lots of cranberries in every bite, and the fresh citrus flavor and aroma from the Meyer Lemons adds a nice zippy twist. Top them with the sweet and tangy glaze for the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or tea.

Scone Mix

2 1/2 C all-purpose flour

1/2 C sugar

1 T baking powder

3/4 t Kosher salt

zest from 2 Meyer Lemons

6 T unsalted butter cut into pea size pieces

1 1/2 C dried cranberries

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

1/2 C cream fraiche

1/2 buttermilk

Glaze

juice from the 2 Meyer Lemons

1/3 C sugar

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl mix together eggs, cream fraiche and buttermilk.

Place flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and cranberries in mixing bowl and mix on low speed until ingredients are just combined.

Add the butter and mix until incorporated.

Slowly pour the egg, cream fraiche and buttermilk mixture into the flour and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together. There will be dry ingredients on the bottom of the bowl and which can be incorporated by gently turning the dough over by hand and lightly kneading it in the bowl.

Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper and press the dough out into an eight to nine inch disc. Cut the disc into 8 pieces and move them apart. Place the parchment paper with scones onto a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. When done, cool and brush with lemon glaze. Please enjoy!

Love the Meyer Lemons

I've been longing for a Meyer Lemon tree for a couple of years now, just to have all that lemony  goodness around for cooking would be wonderful. The flavor is a combination of lemon touched lightly with tangerine which adds a bit sweetness. To my surprise, the local Home Depot recently had four Meyer Lemon trees in the garden department for such a reasonable price that I bought two! They were loaded with lemons and flower buds. The added bonus is that when the flowers bloom there is a light floral scent that fills the kitchen where they currently live. I'll move them outside when the danger of frost has past.

Beautifully fragrant flowers

Lemons!

The citrus trees like an acidic soil which must be kept moist but not too wet and to help the plants maintain moisture while indoors the leaves should be misted everyday if possible. I'll be pollinating the flowers using a Q-tip to help increase the chances of continued fruit production.  With this cache lemon deliciousness, I'm developing a Meyer Lemon scone recipe that I'm excited about and will share it with you soon!

Picking Up the Pace

It's February already and the weather is going to be fairly warm for the next couple of weeks so I'm starting to get the garden boxes ready for planting. When the sun is out, it makes me excited to stick my hands in the soil and start planting seeds.  So....

I cleaned out the remaining storage onions and Purple Haze and White Satin carrots in this box.

Will need to rebuild this one... This is the first box we built when we moved here. It has served us well for seven years and needs some new boards.  When we originally put this raised box together, we paid top dollar for the lumber, sighted the edges of each board to make sure they were perfectly straight and constructed a beautifully square box.  This time around, I'm using culled lumber I found at the local hardware store and paid $2.00 per 2" x 10" x 12' piece. Yes there are a few bends and chips in the boards, but hey, when you add soil, water, potential trees falling on it, and then the husband hitting it with the tractor....cheap lumber is a "good thing".

My feral swarm of honey bees didn't survive the winter and I'm sad about that.  I'll start fresh this spring and with a little help from the local beekeeping groups, I hope to have a thriving bee colony that will pollinate my garden and produce some delicious honey this year.

Urban Farm Handbook and Challenge

I just finished scouring my new copy of Urban Farm Handbook by Annette Cottrell over at Sustainable Eats and Joshua McNicoles a seasoned gardener and journalist. They have a written a book that is extremely engaging and makes me want to organize myself to be the best I can be at raising my own foods and supporting agriculture where everyone wins. The information in their book is easy to read and in no way intimidating. After finishing each chapter, I say to myself  "I get it!" and you will too. They have also included many seasonal recipes, producer profiles, and some awesome reference lists.

The best part is that Annette has set up the Urban Farm Handbook Challenge that starts now and runs for 12 months. Each month there is a different challenge activity that is suited to the season (yes! pun intended). Get the book or join the challenge or do both!