Blog - Page 31 of 40 - Five Feline Farm

Sugar Cane in Illinois?

Do you remember the old commercial for C&H sugar?

C&H. Pure cane sugar. From Hawaii. Growing in the sun.

Did you know you can grow sugar cane in Illinois too?

Ok, maybe not as a cash crop or in the quantities needed to process granulated sugar. But you can grow it.

This past summer, on Five Feline Farm, Tohono O’odham “Sugar Cane” was one of the experimental crops. Tall slender canes topped with a red seed head. The cane looks similar to bamboo although not as fast growing and not quite as tough.

Sugar cane is different from sorghum which is a much more common plant in this area. Sorghum looks like its cousin sugar cane, but the sap of the sorghum plant boils down into a thick dark syrup with a distinctly different flavor. Sorghum molasses is an acquired taste, but full of healthy minerals. Sugar cane is filled with a sweet juice that when grown commercially is processed and refined into granulated sugar.

Shaving off the hard outer layer without cutting into the sweet heart of the cane is an art. Most of the time I had a nice section skinned and the next cut went completely through the sweet center. There was enough though to sample. Chewing on the middle of the cane gives a burst of sweetness and a desire for more. It was more than just that short experience. It was a rocket ride down memory lane to Hawaii. Roadside vendors in Hawaii sell short sections of peeled sugar cane ready to chew. Warm sweet cane juice washes through your mouth as you watch tropical waves spill over the beach. There’s a reason the place is referred to as paradise.

Back to Illinois.

Sugar cane will never be a commercial crop in Illinois but it is a fun plant to grow. After chewing a sweet sample, the extra canes will be used like bamboo and seeds saved for next year.

A renewable source of fun.

Threshing Wheat

Does anyone this day and age spend their Sunday afternoon threshing wheat? Probably not.

Last Sunday at Five Feline Farm, we did. At least we made a good start.

This wasn’t a massive operation. More of an experiment. What if we could grow and harvest enough wheat to make a loaf of bread? What would that taste like?

The process started last fall with planting hard red winter wheat. Stalks were harvested two weeks ago and dried in the greenhouse. Conditions are perfect inside the greenhouse during the summer for drying things. It is well over the outside temperature and protected from the elements.

Next the heads of grain were removed from the stalk and gathered in a large bucket. Now, how to get the grain out? First try was rubbing the heads between our palms. That worked, but too slow. Plus after a short time, it was irritating to the palms. Next attempt was placing a few handfuls into an old pillow case and beating it with a coat hanger. That also worked. A bit faster than by hand, but still too slow.

The final effort was placing all of the heads of grain in a bucket and stirring rapidly with a wooden rod. Success. In a relatively short amount of time, most of the wheat kernels were free from the heads.

The job is not finished. The next step is to set up a fan and pour the grain from one container to another while the fan blows out the chaff. A good windy day is useful for this purpose as well.

Hopefully the end result will be enough wheat to grind into flour for bread. How could this not be delicious and oh so healthy?

More to come on the grinding and baking.

Three Sisters Update

As our regular followers know, the premier area this year is the Three Sisters Garden. Like most things around Five Feline Farm, a simple idea grows and expands into much more. This garden feature started with a vision of a simple garden plot in a Native American style. Corn supporting climbing beans, surrounded by yellow squash to double as a weed blocking mulch. The garden expanded to include an area for gourds, buckwheat, lavender, mammoth sunflowers and additional dent corns.

A recent discovery is the Google Earth view. The design was to reflect a honeycomb and without a doubt it does. The outline is less visible now that the plants are filling in, but the base is still there.

Already these plants are nourishing us. Yellow crookneck squash abounds. It is a goal to find as many delicious ways to cook this new vegetable as possible.

Perhaps we are picking them smaller but this variety seems to have a different flavor than standard yellow squash. When picked small the squash is tender yet firm enough to hold up and not become slimy. So far we have had it grilled, roasted, sautéed, added to a foil packet of green beans, dehydrated into chips, fried and in stir fry. It feels a bit like Bubba in Forrest Gump naming all the ways to cook shrimp. “Ya got ‘yer fried squash, roasted squash, squash casserole…..”

The next anticipated produce from Three Sisters will be pinto beans. These will be picked when the pods dry, then shelled and vacuum sealed. Surely pintos will produce in a more manageable quantity than yellow crookneck squash.

As always, the Farm blesses us with bounty from vegetables to a gorgeous vista.

Leave us a comment if you have a novel way to prepare yellow squash. If you are in our neighborhood and need some, let us know that too.

How to Preserve Lettuce: Egg Rolls

About this time of year as the weather turns hot, lettuce in the garden will either turn bitter or bolt. This cool season crop is not suited to temperatures in the 80’s. Oft times we find ourselves with an abundance of this delicious and nutritious crop. It can turn into a zucchini type proposition where friends run from you when you approach with a bag (or ten) of lettuce. Unfortunately there is no good way to preserve it. Until now.

A long time ago I had a recipe for egg rolls that used lettuce instead of cabbage. That recipe is long gone so I began experimenting. This recipe takes a significant quantity of lettuce. The beauty is freezing the rolls to enjoy in the winter.

Egg Rolls

2 raw chicken breasts
1.5 inch piece of ginger
2 stalks of celery
1 small onion
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 cup finely diced sweet peppers
8 cups chopped lettuce
1 package egg roll wrappers
1/2 cup canola oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Cut chicken into large chunks and place in food processor. Add one inch pieces of celery and onion. Peel and coarsely chop ginger; add to food processor. Pulse until ingredients are minced. Sauté mixture in a large stockpot until chicken is cooked through. Add sesame oil and diced sweet peppers. Sauté until peppers are cooked, about three to four minutes. Add lettuce and cook until wilted.

Make egg rolls by placing a quarter cup of chicken mixture diagonally on wrapper. Fold bottom point over filling, then each side. Wet the edge of the top point with water, then roll up. Place each egg roll on a wire rack while rolling the rest.

Heat oil over medium heat. Fry point side down until lightly golden, turn and fry other side; about 30-45 seconds per side. Drain on a rack over cookie sheet. Repeat until all egg rolls are cooked.

Let cool and wrap individually in waxed paper or parchment paper. Freeze in ziplock baggies.

To reheat: place frozen egg rolls on rack over a cookie sheet. Place in cold oven and set to 350. Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve with sweet and sour sauce or soy sauce for dipping.