Spring is coming... Spring is Coming.... Spring is coming??

I am impatient... antsy....anxious...ready for spring....ready for green grass to mow....garden to plant....flower beds to weed...

THE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

This is one of the first cookies I learned to bake.

The good ol', all American peanut butter cookie!

I remember the anticipation while waiting, as Mom rolled the little balls of cookie dough between her hands and placed it on the cookie sheet.

I couldn't wait to take a fork and press the crisscross pattern in the cookie. This design makes peanut butter cookies distinctive and the cookie can be identified by sight from across the kitchen!

I have tried several recipes, but I have found that time and again this simple set of ingredients make a great cookie and that after 50 or 60 years of untold batches baked, this recipe has withstood the test of taste and time.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)

2 eggs

1 cup peanut butter (I use Jif)

2 1/2 cups all purpose four

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Cream together brown sugar, white sugar, shortening. Add eggs separately beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Add peanut butter and blend well.

Measure flour into a separate bowl. Add soda and salt and sift once to blend.

Add by spoonfuls to the wet batter, mixing well after each addition.

With about a tablespoon of dough, roll into a ball and place on cookie sheet. With a fork dampened with water, dip into 1/4 cup of sugar and press into cookie, making a crisscross pattern. Bake 9-11 minutes. Don't over bake! You want this cookie crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside!

Cool on a cookie sheet or get yourself a tall glass of milk and dunk away while still warm!

COLLECTED MEMORIES

There are times when I pull the old worn recipe box off the shelf and thumb through the various notes and recipe cards, choose what I want to bake and be on with my day.

Then there are days, like today, when it is cold, with snow covering the ground and the skys are steel grey, when nostalgia overtakes me and each recipe I pick up and read, brings back misty memories of baking and cooking at my Mother's side.

The Sugar Cookie Recipe she used all the time, simply listed the ingredients with no directions. The amounts overlapped each other on a no-line recipe card, the ink so faded out there were places on the card that could barely be read.

The first time I baked them I miss read the amounts of one ingredient and the cookies where so fragile they went "POOF" when you bit them! The look on my husband's face was priceless! The cookie simply disintegrated! I can see my Mom laughing as if she were beside me in the kitchen!

Her Pie Crust recipe and her Peanut Butter Cookie will never be substituted in my kitchen. These recipes are like a trusted friends, well received and counted on time after time.

I have kept the original scraps of paper and cards. I love the stains, creases, and scribbled notes. The handwritting is as familiar as the methods of cooking and baking. To re-write them on crisp clean cutesy recipe cards would somehow deface the integrity of her way in the kitchen. I just can't imagine her cakes would taste the same mixed and baked from anything but that time worn recipe.

Supreme Hot Cocoa Mix

This recipe was developed out of a simple need. On cold days when I have my four active grandsons outside playing and they need something hot to warm them up, the little packages of cocoa mix just were too expensive, and came up short on flavor.

I researched many recipes and tryed a number combinations with disappointing results.

This recipe is a culmination of a winter worth of experiments. It has been given a thumbs up by family members and is requested often.

Hot Cocoa Supreme

2 cups dry milk

3/4 to 1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup non-dairy creamer

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

2.5 ounce package instant chocolate pudding mix

Blend all together in a large bowl

This will fit into a quart jar.

Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup to 10 ounces boiling water.

Stir to mix and enjoy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HERITAGE HARVEST WISHES YOU THE BEST FOR 2011!

MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING YOU

PROSPERITY ~ BLESSINGS ~

GOOD WILL & GOOD HEALTH

The Winter Garden

Quietly the garden rests under the fold of snow and cold.

The seed catalogs are arriving and that old familiar stir of creating, growing and reaping is working the frost of winter from my bones.

I have taken a sabbatical from this blog. A full work schedule and busy summer put writing on hold.
But as the summer and autumn diminished and winter arrived, I realized the pull to get back to the garden has been intensifying with each catalog that has arrived!

Dirt under my fingernails is my kinship with the basic needs of life.

SWEET SALVAGED FARMHOUSE FLOWERS

With vegatable gardening being such a disappointment this summer, bits and pieces of my world were saved with touches of color and a freshness to the eye!

My farmhouse flowers have been gleaned from throw aways, trades, giveaways, and salvage from my Mom and Mother-in-Law.

GARDENING FOR OTHERS!

Not only are we battling the elements in North Idaho, but adding insult to injury ~ our garden has been beset with quail. They snipped the chard, the radishes have been planted twice and are a delight to the appetites they have for fresh spicey greenery. They have clipped it to the ground leaving only the pathetic stems for evidence they have feasted! They have re-distributed seeds with the rounded out fluffing holes in which they dust themselves. Our garden is their haven, spa, cafe and home away from home.
And after an early morning stroll through the garden we also discovered by chance our resident red squirrel has planted a garden of sunflowers for himself. We have found caches of the little seeds "squirreled" away in little holes that have been carefully excavated and filled with cheekfuls of stollen treasures. Ten or twelve sprouts will pop through the soil and look like a bouquet getting started. I weed more sunflowers than weeds! Maybe that is a good thing!
Gardening for me is always done with the intent to share ~ but I had in mind the basketful of goodies to the nieghbor, or the extra tomatoes or squash to the food bank. Sharing space with the residents that do not recognize fence lines, boundaries or straight row gardening can be challenging, but we take it with tongue in cheek and do what we can. Row covers are being crafted to keep the quail from our efforts. But stopping a squirrel from emulating what he sees ~ well what can I say... I will just have sunflowers growing here and there!

Fickle Weather and Frustrated Gardners

Being tucked into the mountains of North Idaho gives those of us that love to garden a challenge of growing our gardens in just a short 90 days. Planning is essential and starting seeds indoors is a must. The snow has melted from Gisborn, and even with the mild winter we experienced, this small micro-climate we live in had Spring giving us a taste at how frustrating getting started can be. After being lulled into thinking we could plant in April, May came in with an attitude that had many gardeners trooping back to the nursery to replenish veggies that had their noses nipped beyond salvage. My potatoes have been planted and some are through the ground, the lettuce is up, as are the radishes.
Our apple trees are happily blooming along. I hope the last blast of cold weather is behind us. The poor tomato plants have been in the house ~ out of the house ~ in the house ~ out of the house! The new and enlarged addition to the garden should be ready to plant in a few days. Now if it just stops raining!

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. ~Hanna Rion

I love winter, the cold, the snow, the time to retreat into the warmth and comfort of home. I love the weekend nights sharing suppers with family and friends after shoveling snow, packing wood on the fire, watching the kids play in the snow and coming in with red noses and cold hands. I love the holiday season, cooking with family and friends and eating til you're stuffed.Then I love it when we see the first hint that spring is on its way and the winter hiatus has ended and the snows have ebbed from all but the mountain tops. Spring has arrived early this year and the lust for getting the garden in shape and growing is like an a magnet that pulls at my desires to dig in the earth and plant.The garden is being enlarged this year! Not much, but just enough to add the bed for winter squash and cabbage.
Along with the extra square footage of garden space, we added 3 apple trees to the surrounding yard. Semi-dwarf Honey Crisp, Macintosh and Cameo apples trees grace the East side of our yard. The uncertainties of these times calls for measures that can renew belief in our selves and our way of life. Gardening provides the avenue to meet these needs, providing nourishment for our families and creating a positive impact on the earth. It is like a gift that keeps on giving.I can already feel my senses calming. The process of gardening restores in me what begins to diminish through the winter months.As soon as the first green shoots appear the
excitment begins!

Pickles in Winter

With the preserves and pickles on the pantry selves dwindling at the end of the winter, getting creative to satisfy the taste of something summer is a must.
While shopping at Costco in January, I came across baby English cucumbers. A baggies of these little jewels came home with me. I did not intend on making pickles, but after eating them sliced with salt, pepper and a dash of vinegar, I realized what I really wanted was refrigerator pickles!
Three more bags of cucumbers came home with me the following week, and wallah ~ we had ~

Winter Pickles

Slice as thinly as possible (I use a mandolin) about 4-5 pounds baby cukes, and 2 sweet onions.

Toss to mix well and pack firmly into 4 quart jars, washed and rinsed with boiling water.

Heat in heavy sauce pan, bringing to a boil.
4 cups sugar
4 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1/4 cup canning salt

Ladel over the cucumbers and onions in the jars.
Seal and let cool. Store in the refrigerator.
These are ready to eat as soon as they have chilled through.

THE PIES AND CAKES OF MY LIFE

I grew up sandwiched between the lives of these two women. My Mom on the right was a scratch baker, rarely a recipe in front of her, and if there was one, it was hastily written on any scrap of paper that was handy. My Aunt Frances, (Grandma to me), with the cakes in her hands, kept accurate records in beautiful penmanship on little note cards ~ all on file in a little recipe box neatly organized. Their kitchens were as different as their style of cooking, but the end result was amazing none the less. They lived next door to each other for their entire lives, and shared a life time of family, home, and food.
My Mom insisted that I learn the secret of her pie crust... and had me making pie crust cookies at 7 or 8 years old. Her 'recipe' was more method than measurements. I have spent 40 years making her crust and finally feel like I have hit my stride with pies! Her recipe has been committed to memory. Crisp, dry days in the fall and winter are the best times to bake. She used lard or rendered bear fat, but gave way eventually to Crisco. I have baked with all three and the rendered bear fat produces the most unbelievable light flaky crust. a A French pastry chef had nothing on Mom when it came to her pie crust!
Then there was Grandma's cakes and the chocolate, fudgy frosting that topped them. Dessert at her house was called "toppings" and not much could top off a meal like one of her chocolate cakes. I miss these wonderful women, the kitchens they cooked in and the banter, gossip and love that was ever present.

THE GARDEN BLANKET

This ugly roll of black plastic behind the tomato plants gained us enough insulation to extend the tomato harvest. We tented clear plastic over the top for a green-house effect.

It looked terrible, and with the threat of 19 degrees at night, but sunny daytime temps in mid September, it did the trick. This wrap method bought us almost 3 weeks of extended garden time and another 40 - 50 pounds of tomatoes.

PRESERVING IN THE PAST

THE MAJESTIC ~ THE RANGE WITH THE REPUTATION

My husband and I live in the house where I grew up, and the old Majestic wood range my Mom cooked and canned on is still in kitchen, providing for us, warmth and good food, baked and simmered all winter long. This was my Mom's stove, and she used it faithfully everyday when I was a child. I can remember her canning on this in the summer, fans going, hotter than heck, cooking greenbeans in a waterbath canner for 2 1/2 hours.

She baked pies, cakes, fried chicken, pork chops, venison, and vegies and potatoes, or what ever was on the menu for the night. She canned on this old stove for years, until she bought a small apartment sized electric stove. Dad installed it right beside the Majestic. She then moved the summer canning activities to the modern era of electricity! She never bought a pressure cooker to can in, but always relied on the old method of waterbath and open kettle. We all lived through it, and ate well because of it, but now it is not acceptable to preserve many foods with those methods.

~

I have a lot of respect for the way our Moms, Grandmas, and Aunties strived to put up the food for their families, working in a sweltering kitchen for hours to put the treasures of jams, jellies, tomatoes, green beans and pickles on the pantry shelves for winter. It was a labor of love, dedication to family, and an ever mindful eye to thrifty living.

There are lessons to be learned from the ways our mothers ran a household. There was no excess to their lifestyles, needs were met before wants were granted and you made do or did without. My life has been crafted by my Mother and the women I was closest to when I was growing up. Their influence runs deep in my veins and I have worked to pass this on to my daughter. And as she so eloquently puts it... sometimes the old ways are best...

SEPTEMBER HARVEST

My husband had the opportunity to help with wheat harvest on Century Farm in Genesee, Idaho. This is a 4th generation farm owned by my brother in law and sister in law, Kurt and Sharon Blume.
They are part of the Shepard's Grain group of farmers that are promoting sustainable farming practices and direct seeding, a practice for protecting soil for the future.
Kurt is in the combine and Rog is running the red quad tract, pulling the bank-out wagon.
Thanks goes to the Blume's for letting Rog be a small part of this great opportunity!

Kentucky Wonder pole beans mixed with Yellow Bush Beans
make a great combo. Throw a chilled jar into a salad and dress
with Tuscan Italian Dressing.... top with fresh grated Parmesan
Cheese....serve with toasted bagettes... there is not a better meal anywhere.

Huckleberry jam on a shelf of it's own. Excellent with everything!

PUT UPS IN THE PANTRY

Pickled Beets are a staple for us

and we like them heated through

and served like a side dish instead

of a garnish for salad.

My Aunty Beatrice's recipe for BREAD & BUTTER PICKLES
The recipe has been around since the late 1930's. It was

passed to me when

I started gardening and canning.

A TRIBUTE

The evenings are getting shorter. At 8:30 last night the realization of summer's wane floated over me with the evening breeze. It was a melancholy feeling that left me with a reluctance that I didn't want the gardening to be over, that in spite of the hard work, sore knees and back, I was going to miss the peace and contentment and the sense of accomplishment that growing our food gives me. With the clank of the latch, catching when it closes, the vintage gate that old Sol hangs on, provides me with protection from the outside world and all the while teaching me the patience, tolerance, compassion and ability to leave the world, even if it is just my world, a little better. Keeping a garden teaches us to be kinder to the earth. Nourish it, and it will in turn, nourish us.
I have learned, to give is to receive.

We buy seed, work and water the ground and plant. But we don't often think of the miracle that God has given us when the first sprout of seedlings stretches through the soil. The Bible speaks of planting and sowing and reaping, and while a good share of this is metaphor, I would like to think it is also a literal command. To feed our body, keeping this miracle in our heart, is to feed our soul. Whether we farm on a large scale or garden in containers, the process is the same. A seed is planted and a sprout is formed and grows. Our tables are blessed and bountiful.
I am thankful.

There are a few green beans left to mature, cucumbers are still producing, tomatoes are ripening, my zucchini, while grumbled with a slow start, has produced a respectable crop and continues to shovel fruit at us at an astounding rate.

The bully of the garden has had his tendrils clipped but didn't seem to mind the pruning. The squash he is growing are beautiful.

There is still canning and preserving to be done, and the faint feelings that indicate summer is changing, will soon give way to crisper days and cool nights. I am reminded that the preservation of food gives way to the cooking and baking of what has been put up.
These are the gifts of the garden and it's only expectation is for us to receive it.
I am greatful.

TICKLE THE EARTH WITH A HOE AND SHE WILL LAUGH WITH A HARVEST

My winter squash is a bit of a bully. Pushing his way in front of the cucumbers, through the rows of beets, across the carrots and beans to see if the other side of the garden is greener!

One of my poles of green beans fancy the nearest tomato plant and my plum tree sees fit to pepper the cabbage with little green plums. My garden seems to have a sense of humor and displays a bit of a cheeky personality.

I am drawn to this small plot of ground that seems to have a soul of its own. It is giving up its harvest in small increments right now. A colander of raspberries, a salad a day, beets coming on, beans in bloom as are the tomatoes, with all 12 plants producing. My zucchini seems to be the only slacker in the patch.....

WATER WORKS

EARLY MORNING 'FIRE WORKS' OVER THE GARDEN!
WISHING EVERYONE A FUN, SAFE, AND


PATRIOTIC 4TH OF JULY

VEGGIES GONE WILD!

Look whats in the garden! I think if I watch quietly and with determination....I will see them grow!

BOWL OF BEAUTY

My favorite peony adds a feast for the eyes just outside my kitchen window.

Every Gardner Knows That Under the Cloak of Winter Lies a Miracle

I am always surprised and delighted when the rows of seeds emerge and in such a short time, the shape of the garden has been created. Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans are reaching up to take hold of the supports, the squash are racing the cucumbers for space, and the beets, radishes and onions are ready.

IN MY GARDEN MY SOUL IS SUNSHINE

Step through my garden gate.

You will always be welcome here!

Shepard's Grain

I have used Stone-Buhr flour for many years. Then my sister-in-law gave me 2, one gallon sized bags of Shepard's Grain flour. I was hooked and haven't looked back. When it finally hit the stores in my home town, needless to say, I was more than happy!
Check out the best buy date on your next bag and log on to Find the Farmer. The home page has the window to upload the date of your bag flour, enter the date and hit submit. The date is the key to the location where the grain was havested. A map will show farms that are noted by a red push pin icon. Click on the push pin and it will tell you the name and location of the farmer that grew the grain that was milled on the stamped date. Explore the web site...I am sure you will like what you find.
Be sure and check out the link I have provided. Just click the title of this post "Shepard's Grain" and it will take you to the proper page. I am proud to let you know that Kurt and Sharon Blume are my brother and sister in law, and are part of a group of multi-generational farmers that are changing the face of large scale farming practices of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Listen to the video and learn a bit about the farmers, Shepard's Grain, and get closer to where and how such a common commodity like flour is produced.

PLANT A SEED AND SEE WHERE IT CAN LEAD YOU!

A LITTLE SWEAT EQUITY AND A LOT OF IMAGINATION

The fence surrounding the garden and the arbor have been completed. The only goal, for design in mind when we started, was to complement the old plum tree. My husband gleaned and saved twisted and gnarly limbs and trees from various jobs, with the thought they would be used one day for some project in the yard. His imagination and creative ability with the chainsaw came to life and he has outdone himself with this wonderful gift! It turned into a family affair with the much appreciated help from my step-son.

The dimensions, once the tilling commenced, quickly changed from it's conservative beginnings, to truly being a garden. We dedicated two days to hauling compost in by the dump-truck load. The garden was enriched and tilled once again before final planting began.

But, as they say... the best laid plans go astray! Still working from the original grid plan, we ended up with extra space and room for rows.

I stuck to basics this year, with my intent to preserve what we eat the most. Green beans, variety of pickles from the cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, and no garden would be complete without zucchini squash.

So now that the radishes are through the ground and the beans have germinated, I am called upon my patience to wait. Wait until I can put the first canner load of green beans in the cold pantry. Wait until I can make the first batch of my Auntie Beatrice's Bread and Butter Pickles. Wait until the tomatoes are cooking into the tantalizing aroma of Italian Spaghetti Sauce with Zucchini, Sweet Red Bell Peppers and the Greek Oregano that grows wild in the garden. Alas ~ Wait, Wait, Wait....

BeBop a Rebop Rhubarb Pie!

Nothing makes my mouth water more than the first fresh pie of the spring season.
Raspberry-Rhubarb Lattice Pie is a winner.
1 1/2 to 2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
4 cups rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 cups granulated sugar (or you may want it sweeter so you can add more)
1/3 cup flour
1 Teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons cold butter in 1/2 inch diced pieces
Crust for 11 inch Double crust pie... chilled.

Pre-heat oven to 375 F.
Separate 1/3 of the pastry and refridgerate it until ready for use.
Roll out remaining pastry and place as the bottom crust in you pie dish.
Put the raspberries and rhubarb in large mixing bowl and sprinkle with the sugar, flour and lemon juice. Toss to combine, but be careful not to break up the raspberries.
Spoon the filling into the bottom crust and dot with the butter.
Roll the remaining pastry into thin rectangle. Cut strips into 1/2 inch strips and start the lattice on your pie by forming an 'X'. Weave the remaining strips in an over - under fashion to form the lattice. Crimp the edge of the pie with a fork or your fingers.
Bake the pie on a large parchment covered baking sheet for 1 1/2 hours or until the pastry is golden and the juices are bubbly and thick. Let cool completely before serving.
(If you use frozen rhubarb let it thaw and drain completely before baking)

THE OLD GARDENS

Even though my Dad was a photographer, he apparently didn't
think the vegetable garden was worthy to record it's
history on film. The garden in the front yard was
another story. Gourds and beans grew at each side of the little bridge going to the front door.
Roses bloomed alongside beds of zinnias.
There were flowers everywhere.
My Mother loved pots of this and that scattered throughout the larger beds. She could create the most interesting array of arrangements from found articles... buckets, boxes, anything that was old iron that had an appropriate hole in it, was suitable for planting.
Hens and chicks still grow on the rock wall behind the house.

Even years after she was gone, I would find Sweetpeas and California poppies blooming in hap-hazard places. A group of iris hidden behind my garden shed, The ferns that come up every year and are tucked away so that when their lime green color hits your eye, it is a reminder to pay attention!

Beets and Beans and Carrots OH MY!

Autumn Beauty and Teddy Bear Sunflowers

Atomic Reds and Little Finger Carrots

Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans... an old reliable with high yields and tons of flavor.

Detroit Darks, Early Wonders and Italian Cylindra Beets... We love the tops cooked like spinach and Pickled Beets are a favorite.

Boston Pickling.. a great Highly Productive Cucumber for those of you that like to make pickles.

TWO kinds of Zucchini... a must for my spagetti sauce and Morning Glory Muffins!

Radishes..... Scarlet Globe and French Breakfast... Did you know you can saute radishes?

And a variety of canning and table tomatoes, Heirloom varieties all...... compliments of my Cousin Chuck's greenhouse.

My canners are ready, the cold pantry is being organized... GET GROWING!

Francious Rene Chateaubriand

When God on earth was making the primal Paradice,
A garden, say the Scriptures, was fashioned to suffice.
And man these years remembers, and every spring recants....
One step toward his Eden with every seed he plants.

The Little Green House in the Window

Portly, the stout black bear with the big tummy, stands watch over the little green house in the window. Boston Pickler Cucumbers, Zucchini and Teddy Bear Sunflowers are ready for transplanting into bigger containers.

The best table top green houses are right from your local bakery! This one started life as a carrier for a sheet cake. There are little grooves in the bottom of the tray that let you water evenly, and there is easily room for 2 dozen jiffy pots. Don't for get to label what you grow!

Waiting Patiently to Plant

Watching the snow level diminish from Gisborn Mountain has been used for a planting gauge since I can remember.

After a long winter with heavy snow, waiting for this mountain to be free from the icy grip of our

unpredictable Northern winters, can be a test of endurance.

And to a gardner, there is nothing worse than having all the catalogs and flyers arrive, and then you look out your window and four feet of snow still layers atop the garden!

Your heart beats a little faster and all of a sudden you just

KNOW that Spring has to hurry up and get here!

Who wouldn't want to dig in the dirt with a view like this?

Gardening is in my blood...... I can't help it.

I have the good fortune to live where I grew up. I have an undeniable link to my roots. I live in the house where I was raised and my children and grandchildren call this home as surely as I do.

My Dad grew a garden in the most unforgiving location on the acreage. And he did it with flare and generosity and was successful enough that my Mother used to say he could feed the Panhandle of Idaho with what was grown on that hilly spot behind the house. The original garden is gone now, with only remnants of the raspberries gone wild. But a new garden has been created and I invite you to come along with me while I re-invent and renew my green thumb.