In this episode, Donna describes the why and how of saving seeds to replant next season.
You will also hear us discuss raised beds. This system of gardening provides plenty of benefits, but instead of buying expensive pre-fab beds, we learned to build our own. You can too.
As always, thank you for listening.
Donna, Julia, and the Felines
Welcome back to the Five Feline Farm podcast, formerly known as Farm Chatter, now From Soil to Story. This new title reflects the changes we’ve made in our business to encompass a sharpening of our interests.
In this episode, we explain a bit of our history and our current projects.
Without change, we can’t grow.
Subscribe to our Youtube channel: @fivefelinefarm
If you’d like a free downloadable novella, check out The Decision, A Prologue to Landow Creek.
Yes! We still have a few ripe garden tomatoes.
It has frosted here in Central Illinois and the tomato plants are gone from the garden which means the remaining green and half ripe ones are in the garage to slowly finish ripening. End of the season tomatoes are not sizeable enough for slicing, although diced or quartered onto a salad still tastes fresh and amazing. Most of the remaining will be used as cooking tomatoes. Only a few are ripe at a time, so it becomes a challenge to use up varying amounts.
One option I have used is to juice a couple of small batches and store each in the refrigerator until there is enough to justify getting out the canner. Using this method, I canned 6 more quarts of juice. Now we have the base for 6 more pots of chili, or with some additional seasoning, this could be 24 more Bloody Mary’s.
Now on the kitchen counter awaits another small group of tomatoes. What to do with these?
A fresh sauce perhaps? Cooked and pureed with Italian seasonings, these will give a taste of summer in a lasagna or some other pasta dish.
Or maybe chop along with the end of the garden peppers and make a season ending fresh salsa.
Following the directions in a previous post about Sunshine Mary’s, I could do a traditional, fresh Bloody Mary with these small numbers of tomatoes.
What if I consult the Julia Child cook books and try a French dish with tomatoes?
The possibilites abound. Any of these will make for a fine meal.
And the winner is…..
Come back next week to find out what delicious creation I made.
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It’s late October at the Farm and we are enjoying the last of garden fresh vegetables. Sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, peppers and lettuce were all harvested before the killing frost.
Of course I take this bounty as a sign that I should create a new recipe. Add that to my recent infatuation with broth bowls and I’m off to the kitchen to create a meal.
I have found that I can flavor a broth easily with the following technique. Pour two cups of bone broth into a 4 cup microwave safe bowl. I use a pyrex measuing cup. For the bone broth, I use either home made or an organic one in a carton. Into the 2 cups of broth, add 1 inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced, 6 to 8 one inch pieces of lemongrass and a couple of peppercorns. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, then let sit while prepping the rest of the ingredients. Heat again just before pouring over the bowl.
Rice or noodles. If I’m using rice, my favorite is the high protein Cahokia rice grown in Southern Illinois and available on Amazon. It is also reportedly available in some grocery stores. Sometimes I use plain ramen noodles and prepare according to package directions. Plain ramen noodles are now available at my local Walmart. In a pinch, you could probably use just the noodles from the cheap packages and discard the high sodium flavoring packet.
Choose a variety of colors of vegetables and proteins to make the bowl interesting. I have been using bite sized chunks of sweet potatoes, julienned carrots, poblano and sweet peppers, strips of chicken breast, plus shreds of spinach. All of the toppings are either oven roasted or steamed before adding to the bowl. I keep each topping separate to place around the top of the bowl.
Once all ingredients are ready, assemble the bowl.
Place the rice or ramen, whichever you are using in the bowl, top with vegetables and a few shreds of fresh spinach. Pour the hot broth over the bowl, which will slightly tenderize the spinach. Top with cilantro, Sriracha sauce and/or soy sauce as desired.
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