Medusa Peas

  Remember about two weeks ago, when we had that one beautiful day? No?  That's okay, I'm pretty sure I would have forgotten to if I hadn't planted some Amish Sweet Pea's.


  The kids and I were so excited to get a jump on seeding that we couldn't resist the temptation when the sun was in full effect. We started about twelve of the peas and twelve of the tomatoes. I made a small area available in the house for them. I mean after all it was only the first day in February. It was kind of a given that I couldn't just toss the seeds in the beds and expect everything to magically grow.


  What I did 't expect was the craziness that took place over the last two weeks. Rain, ICE and Earthquakes? Yeah that happened, but what got  me was how quickly everything was growing! I had a Medusa plant hanging out on my kitchen table. And two eager mini-me's trying to investigate them every two minutes. We have a few starts that I'm pretty sure aren't going to be joining us in the spring months. If need be I can always call on Ariel over at Humble Farm, LLC and join her new CSA program.



Thankfully, yesterday I was able to pull together more leftover wood from the remodel and build a vine climber.  I'm not sure if that's what it's really called or not but that's how I'll be referring to it. I also was able to transplant the peas into yet another temporary bin.  The new contraption and bin combo does make it a bit tricky to haul in and out of the house, but at least I can baby them for another few weeks.

It was fairly easy to put together. I just made some feet, attached the legs and added a cross-bar. I strung a bit of twine and transplanted the starts. I am always thrilled when I get to re-purpose materials around the house. Find the materials list at the bottom of the page.

Materials

Two equal length 1x1  wood pieces (I used about waist high)

two equal  length 4x1  wood pieces( iused about 4 inches) 

one additional 1x1

four screws or nails

Twine

Who's YOUR'S?

I am doing my first ever presentation on where to find local food next week. I know where I find it, and know the farmers I buy from, but I also know that there are a ton of other farmers that I haven't made it around to, yet. I don't want to leave them out.

These last few years I have met some really great people in the farming community that value life in the same matter that I do. I have found a number of people that care where their food comes from, and how their dollar can benefit our local economy. I am confident you are one of the same.

 My time has very limited as I have two children that demand (and rightfully so) most of my attention. Thankfully I have integrated them into my calling and they help me along the way. But today they cannot help me, so I come to you from my laptop that is missing 13 keys, to ask for your help. As a comminity, a loving friend or someone that just knows...I ask who's your favorite farmer?

Help me, help people to want to support our local farmers.

Yours Truly,
Sherree

Fantastic Fish Stick

I was talking to my girlfriend the other day. We were discussing our quick meals that we reach for when we don't feel like cooking. Yes, every- so -often, I don't want to cook.

She brought up Fish Sticks and a quickly realized that I have never fed my sweet babies Fish Sticks. That's a huge mommy faul on my part. After all, aren't eating Fish Sticks a childhood right of passage? 

Another friend supplied me with a super kid friendly recipe. We all know I can't follow one, so here's my adaption. 

Fish sticks

1 teaspoon roasted cumin 

1 tea basil

1 tea lemon peel

1 1/2 tea dill

1 tea sea salt

1/2 tea pepper

2 cups breadcrumbs (I used pepridge farms

2 cups yogurt (I only had vanilla 😉)

2 pounds tuna ( giver or take. Just enough for four persons)

I mixed the spiced in the yogurt. Let it Merry for about ten mins

I sliced the fish against the grain then rolled it in each yogurt mix to breadcrumbs. Place on lightly olive oiled baking sheet and place in a preheated 400 degree oven until the bred crumbs browned then I flipped the and cooked another 10 mins or so. 

I am a firm believer in using what you have. Hence why I used tuna. I suggest using a milder fish. A white fish like flounder or cod. 

I think it works best with about a inch or so rise. Then you can adjust cooking accordingly.

I have some leftover and plan in making a Balsomic reduction for a sweet addition. 

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

We All Know The Good Spots

We hear about them, see them featured in articles and every so often we get to experience them.

I'm talking about the best spots to eat in town. 

 I finally had my own experience at one of the best. I had the pleasure of meeting some family at The Drip in Five Points this morning.

 I walked in, Daisy in tow and was greated by friendly faces and some cool jazz. The place was comfortable and perfect for a relaxed get-to-gether.

Upon a quick review of the menu, I spotted a prosciutto, brie and egg biscuit with a fig jam. Hello! That's four of my favorite things. The only hang up was...uhm, I don't like biscuits.

 Yup, you read that right, I-don't-like-biscuits. 

I asked if I could sub-it-out and was sort of let down that I couldn't, even though I understood why. I ordered it anyway. 

When it came, I quickly inhaled it. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoyed the life long dreaded pastry.  And I might even say that they have turned this girl into a biscuit eater. Ok, maybe I won't be eating them everywhere, but I'll enjoy a few more there along with another giant coffee.

The Wheels Are Turning

  It's not quite January but I am already plotting how I'm going to tackle this springs garden. This will be my first early garden so It should be eventful.

  I am hoping to apply what I learned from the summer garden, but apparently this past summer was out-of-the-normal for gardens. This is just the thing that would come my way. I always seen to try a first when everything is all out-of-whack. Technically I think it might actually be a good thing. I mean the more hurdles that are tossed my way just forces me to learn even more.

Cross Pollinated Cucumber

  A few things I learned last year are not to plant some plants by others or they will cross pollinate. For
example; don't plant cucumbers by zucchini.You will get these funny gourd looking cucumbers.
Another tips is to make sure to net your berries or they will be swallowed by the birds.
I also opted not to make raised beds and that will not be happening again.

Beautiful Raised beds a River Banks Zoo

 Being that we have fresh ground to work with, we have a few big projects ahead of us. One being the beds. I must work on that shortly or I might miss my window for planting. I'm such a procrastinator about the things that I think won't take that long.

I feel like I already have a jump on the planning though. I have my seed source ordered, my garden mapped (mostly) and a watering system plotted.



I actually think I might pull out a calender and write out my plan. Go me! That is definitely a first. Here's to getting organized.

A few fun things to look forward to;

11 January Seed Swap at  701 Whaley 10:30-1:00

Smokin at the Farmers Market
“Commissioners Cup”
BBQ Cook Off and Festivalsanctioned by the Southern BBQ Network (SBN)
March 21 & 22 

State Farmers Market

Gluten Me Please

I have heard so many people use the term gluten. I see it on labels, in adds and pretty much anywhere I grab a quick bite.

 Many people have explained what it is to me. They go into great detail about the wheat and process that expands it's reach. So I know what it is, technically. But I never really understood WHAT it was. That was until I happened across a show that said it so plainly that it finally clicked.

It is literally in almost every processed product we, as American's create. Y'all I was shocked to learn that it's even in the glue on envelopes! Envelopes, really?

Here's a quick snippet of the show and all the crazy places you can find it.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday My sister- in-law asked me to make a gluten free stuffing. I have been fortunate enough to not have any food allergies, so shopping with such tight restrictions was something new to me.

I headed to Whole Foods Crosshills knowing they would take me by the hand, and walk me through the madness of products.

 With all the base products in hand, I made my way through checkout confident I could actually pull this off.

I have bee told gluten free breads can be dry and quite bland. To assure this didn't happen with the stuffing, I made two.

Yup, and Im glad I did because the recipe I used really needed some tweaking to get a nice flavor and texture.

Here is what I did ~

wholefoods sandwich bread to make the croutons. Just cut them in squares and baked until brown. Then sautéed onions, shallot, celery and mushrooms. Added salt, sage and thyme and 1/2 cup white wine. Simmered down then added the mixture to the croutons with chicken stock (g free of course) until moist then baked about 20 mins on 325.

Upon my taste test, I decided it needed more moisture so I added two medium eggs to the mixture before baking.

We Are In!!

These last few weeks have been really fun, but a lot of physical labor. We managed to close on the HUD home we purchased, gut it, repair it and finally refinish everything.

 This was such an amazing adventure that I think everyone should take part in at least once. Even if it's just heading over to Habitat For Humanity and volunteering for a home build. Do it. There comes an amazing joy from building something out of nothing and doing it with people that have the same heartfelt intentions.
We started with uncertainties that slowly evolved into a great plan. Finding a house is no small task.  Finding a house you can make a home when you only have forty-five days is crazy. Especially when you need to tear out the floors, fix a joist (is that what it's even called?), seal windows and brick cracks and the other five hundred items.

I am not a contractor. I don't even know what the real difference is between a "driver" and a "drill", but together with our family we made a home.

  Please don't think we did this elaborate remodel with high end anything because that is not the case. We kept it simple. We shopped around for all our materials, opted to "refinish" cabinetry and tried to reuse as much as we could. I really tried to shop local during this process, but sadly we were met with some poor customer service and prices outside of our budget.

So, Yes, Home Depot was our friend and I have a new found respect for men shoppers.
You know how people always say men and women are so different? I never really thought that until the guys sent me to the big box store for some additional supplies. Clearly whoever setup Home Depot was a man because each time my common sense would kick in on where something would be located, it was met with that big "whaawaa whaa" sound.  Now I understand how my hubs feels in the grocery store. I think I'll let him off the hook for now on.

Speaking of shopping, our food intake during this time has been horrid! I mean, I have eaten more fast food in the past two weeks than I have all year!
This has left me feeling so gross. I'm ashamed to admit it but, I was in no way prepared for this move food wise.
Some things I wish I would have done to prep;
1) Have easy freezer ready meals on hand. ( That I  had made ahead of time )
2) Not have packed my crock-pot
3) Moved the fridge and pantry first, not last

All in all the move has gone pretty well. We are in, still unpacking and trying to rid our non-essential "stuff". There are random item strung from the front yard, through the house and into the backyard. It will take time to manage the madness but we will get there.
 Thank you to all that made this happen for us. We couldn't have done it without you.

Here are a few pics of before and after.


Before

When we ripped u the carpet, this is what we found.

Random wall shelving unit removed!

Water Damage

A few Termites! Thank god for bonding.

Deck needed steps

And Then there was After

Tiny kitchen, But I love it!~