Still Life of an egg

Someone I know, recently got a small flock of laying hens. Yesterday one of the hens laied the first egg. Elated, this crazy photo was shot. I guess if I had eggs this beautiful coming from my backyard, I would take crazy photos too.

Grilled Cabbage

I always think of cabbage as a cold weather food. Except for coleslaw, I don't know of any other good summer way to prepare it. So I was thrilled when I found a recipe for grilling it. Until this year, I have never been successful growing a head of cabbage, but this summer I have several small heads, just perfect for grilling.

Cornbread Waffles with Blackberries

My friend Mindy recently posted about cooking cornbread in a waffle iron. Intrigued, I served them with dinner last night. They were great, but filling so we had a few left over. This morning I discovered that a few blackberries were finally ready for harvesting. Actually they were a little bit tart, I probably should have waited another day or two, but then I run the risk of having them all gobbled up my mockingbirds. So I mashed them a little with a bit of sugar, and popped the leftover waffles in the toaster oven. A little butter and what great breakfast. Now if I could only get the birds to take the berries I cannot reach; the ones deep in the middle of the patch.

Leek and Dried Cherry Tomato Quiche

Recently I started using a French crust called pâte brisée for my quiche. I think I like it better then the traditional crust I had been using. Right now I have tons of leeks so that is what I used, but later in the summer I will change the veggies depending on what is abundant in the garden. I also have dried cherry tomatoes I want to use up before this years harvests begins.

Growing Bamboo Poles

Part of my motivation to eat seasonally is to reduce food miles, the distance foods travels to get to my table. Now that concept is spilling over into other areas of my life, like bamboo pole miles?

Several years ago I built a gate made of bamboo poles. I ordered the poles from a place in Florida, I think they imported them from overseas, probably China. Wow, what a lot of bamboo miles.

Now I have three rapidly expanding patches of bamboo. Each a different pole diameter. Not only does the bamboo provide a great screen, but I can harvest it for use in the garden. This year I was only able to harvest 11 poles, but in a few more years I will have enough bamboo for all my stacking needs. And there should be plenty left over for building fences and small structures, such as obelisks.

Individual poles should be allowed to grow for at least three seasons before harvesting. And the best time to harvest bamboo is when the plant is dormant, like late winter. Then the poles must be cured before use. There are several different curing methods that I will not explain here, because I have not yet tried any of them. The poles that I harvested died due to extended freezing this past winter. Since they seemed hard and dry when I cut them, I put them straight in the garden to support my cucumbers. There is something very satisfying about growing some of my own garden supplies.