Looking ahead to drier days in the garden

This past weekend brought in another round of rain with a severe Thunderstorm warning....We battened down the hatches in the garden and prepared for the worst...

Luckily it never really hit us and the garden weathered the storm just fine. We are looking ahead to drier warmer days in the garden!

Radish taste trials

Taste trials of 4 different radish varieties and the Mr.’s favorite in order were the German giant, Crimson crunch, French Breakfast and lastly he didn’t care for the texture of Sparkler ... all radishes were planted on same day in the same raised bed in the greenhouse. The Crimson crunch was way smaller than the rest, French breakfast had a little more heat than the others and German giant was definitely bigger had the texture and taste we like but had poor germination due to it being older seed in our trials 😉 trying to narrow down and plant what we love to eat and what performs well in our garden 👍🏻 

Lemon, Dandelion & Cardamom Sugar Cookies

We used the beautiful tried and true recipe from wholefully.com for our base sugar cookies with our own modifications and adjustments to make these tasty Lemon, Dandelion & Cardamom Sugar cookies...

We urge you to try your hand at wild crafting and using wild-harvested, clean Dandelions...

If you decide to make these leave us feedback and let us know what you think!

Ingredients

For the Cookies

• 1 1/2 C. Unsalted butter (3 sticks), softened
• 2 C. Granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. Fresh squeezed Lemon Juice (*reserve remaining lemon juice for Icing)
• Zest from 1 Lemon
• 1/4 tsp. Cardamom
• 5 C. All-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. Pink sea salt
• 1/2 C. Fresh Dandelion petals...making sure they are natural sourced and free of pesticides or fertilizers

For the Icing

• 2 C. powdered sugar
• 2-4 Tb. Whipping Cream or Milk
• 1 Tb. Light corn syrup or honey (see notes)..I use honey ;-)
• 1 tsp. Lemon Extract extract and or remaining Lemon Juice 
• 1-2 TB. fresh Dandelion petals

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, using a hand mixer, or mixing by hand with a wooden spoon, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and Lemon Juice until well-combined.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remainder of cookie ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients a little at a time, until combined.
3. Divide dough into quarters, form into discs, and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge, or 20 minutes in the freezer.
4. 
   Remove one disc from the fridge and roll out on floured surface until dough is 1/4" thick.Preheat oven to 400°F.
5. Cut with a cookie cutter and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet or Parchment Paper lined sheet for 6-8 minutes, watching closely. Cookies are done when bottoms are just lightly golden brown. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting. 
6. To make the sugar cookie icing: Combine powdered sugar, Extract and or Lemon Juice, Dandelion Petals, two tablespoons Cream and corn syrup or honey, adding more Cream until icing reaches desired consistency. For piping and spreading, you're looking for a thicker icing. For dipping cookies, you'll want something a bit thinner. 

Notes

• The standard way to roll out sugar cookies is to use additional flour, but you can also use powdered sugar! .
• Using corn syrup in the cookie icing recipe will result in an icing that dries soft, but stackable. Using honey will result in a softer icing that should not be stacked.

First Harvest's of the season!

It's been a long wait but we are finally starting to get a small harvest's from the garden. The Asparagus is starting to pop up! 

We have also been enjoying Chives, Onion tips, Parsley and a few Stevia leaves.

Onion seedling trimmings on Pork chops

Seeds and times like these

Closed...

Sold out...

Unable to keep up with demand!!!

So many seed suppliers have posted messages on their sites like this...

Did you order your seeds in time before Covid hit? Did you panic buy or have a seed stash on hand?? I am grateful to see so many turn to gardening in times like these.. on the other hand it’s a little unnerving to see the seed industry unable to keep up with demand. I am thankful to have a pretty good storage of heirloom seeds on hand but have been lax on my seed saving practices you can bet I will be polishing up on that this season

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Little moments

I can still bring into my body the joy I felt at seeing the first trillium of spring, which seemed to be telling me, Never give up hope, spring will come. 

— Jessica Stern

A very different Easter this year with Covid having the world upside down. Feeling grateful for all the little moments here at home!

little homestead

 Frosty morning in April and most of the outside garden chores have been completed.  I am patiently awaiting those frost free days ahead to be gardening in full swing.

 There is no place I would rather be right now...Than here!

I am looking forward to this sunny day, playing in the greenhouse, starting more seeds and getting my hands dirty...

It's going to be a great day!

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another Baking post while on Covid Stay at Home Order...Not wanting to waste the excess sourdough starter... I came across this recipe at Hope Well Heights Blog and gave it a whirl. I adjusted the recipe a bit to my liking but this recipe turned out fantastic... I will definitely be making these again!

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1 cup butter, room temp
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup fed starter
• 1/2 t sea salt
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 2 1/4 C flour 
• Chocolate Chips (I used the mini's and didnt measure)
• 1/2 C Chopped Pecans (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. Cream together butter, and sugars in a big bowl until combined, then add the egg...I use a Kitchen aide mixer ;-)
3. add your fed starter and mix in
4. add vanilla and dry ingredients, mix until cookie dough forms
5. add in chocolate chips, nuts and mix.
6. shape or scoop dough onto a greased cookie sheet
7. bake fro 12-15 minuets at 350F.  These do take just a bit longer than non-sourdough cookies but I’d start watching them at 10 minutes to make sure they don’t burn

Diggin' in the dirt

Being on Stay at home Order  and time on our hands we have had the chance to get out in the garden  and get it ready for 2020.

All the rows have been amended, planned and designated for the season ahead.

Honey wheat sourdough Bread

Making bread and conserving ingredients I have been making a few crazy experiments as to what I can get away with while making bread during our Stay-at home Order. 

I have a bucket of wheat flour that is most likely outdated...It smells fine but is very wheaty tasting when cooked. I am determined to use it up and not waste it. That being said I am mixing it with all purpose flour at a rate of 1/3 of the flour that the recipe calls for. We have found we can live with that!

One of the other things is that if I mix it like my regular bread it ends up DRY!

So I'm pushing the limits with water and making this bread dough  on the runny side to fix the dryness issue.

As you can see it's almost a batter like consistency

I cover with cling wrap that has been brushed with a little olive oil to keep from sticking and let it rest

  when it's nice and bubbly from the active sourdough...I toss in the oven and bake 20 minutes.

 It's ugly and it's not going to win me any baking championships anytime soon, but we are using up that old wheat and it's actually good.

 Anyone else doing crazy experimentations in the kitchen while on stay at home order? Leave me a comment and let me know ;-)

Emerging

The snow has completely melted from the garden and I am able to see whats happening out there.

Granted it's not very pretty and nothing much to look at...unless you really look! 

These Dwarf Grey Sugar Pea's have seeded themselves... They will be moved to a different location in the garden as I have other plans for this bed but I sure was happy to see they had sprouted!

Also found many volunteer Mache' (corn salad) rosettes that can be added to our salads..

Many people overlook these guys and may consider them weeds but did you know according to Wikipedia they are packed with nutrients our bodies need, including three times as much vitamin C as lettuce.....Wow! 

and look at my mighty Rhubarb pushing Winter aside as she prepares for her Spring debut

Something new for me to try this year...Pickling Rhubarb!! 

 Do you plan on canning or planting anything new this year?