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Sunday, September 26, 2010

LATEST BEND GARDEN HARVEST

Sophia and I were home alone the other day, and wandered out into the backyard to check on the garden….the first thing we noticed was a giant zucchini….
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back in the rear of the cold frame. But that wasn’t all!!
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Posted by Earl on 09/26 at 11:38 AM
Family Matters • GARDENING • Comments •

Thursday, September 23, 2010

APPLESAUCE IN BEND

Applesauce is a big deal in our family….we had a small orchard of our own at PUC, where I taught the Home Fruit-Growing class. Every year, we cut up apples together and had a big day in which we made anywhere from 60-100 quarts of sauce, which we gradually ate up through the following year.

When we moved to Tennessee, we had enough applesauce (no kids around to eat it) to last us through the first year, and then I actually had to BUY apples the second autumn we were there. Our kitchen was small, so I used the camp stove on the back porch, and it was pretty unhandy, but we made enough (delicious) sauce for the next year. In 2006, I heard about the county-supplied cannery just up the road in Cleveland, TN, and that made life a LOT easier - I used it two more times, and we brought boxes of 2007 and 2008 applesauce out to Oregon with us.

Of course, Laura and her family were here, and we wanted to share, so I needed MORE applesauce. Leave it to my resourceful daughter, who had already scouted out local neglected apple trees with fruit all over the ground. I asked permission of the homeowners, and Sophia and I picked up buckets of apples from at least four different locations around town—here are some identified to us as Romes
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They were beautiful apples - the tree was inside the yard and was watered regularly along with the lawn. What amazed me was that they were 70-80% clean - no worms….and I’m confident that NO ONE was spraying that enormous old tree. We also had some lovely apples of unknown variety
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I’d guess that fewer than half of them were clean, but that’s pretty good for a tree that hasn’t been cared for. The sauce they gave was kind of grey-green and not very sweet - I doubt they were terribly ripe, although they were falling. Then I found a crab-apple tree, and picked a lot of them to add an interesting flavor and tartness to the sauce - they were present in amazing numbers, and I picked all I could reach from the ground…..but most stayed on for the birds
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Finally, our prize apples!! Two badly neglected trees in someone’s front yard - whenever he watered the lawn they got irrigated, but they didn’t get a lot. The picture was taken after most of the apples were gone - both from the ground and the branches.
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We were a bit late for this fruit - most of the apples were on the ground, and many had begun to rot. Almost all of them had at least one worm, but we got a lot of apple flesh from them, and the clean ones were quite beautiful
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So was the sauce!! A lovely pink color, and as flavorful and sweet as one might wish.
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Posted by Earl on 09/23 at 08:32 PM
Family Matters • COOKING • Comments •

Sunday, September 12, 2010

IF YOU HAVEN’T READ A 9/11 POST, YET….OR EVEN IF YOU HAVE

If you’ve never read the PIONEER WOMAN BLOG, then you’re in for a treat.

But, this is not an introduction to the blog….no, it’s just to get you to go and read a poignant and wise post on the occasion of the NINTH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11.

Marlboro Man and I generally don’t sit around and do much dwelling and ruminating on global or national matters, mostly because we have plenty to do on a daily basis around the homestead and beyond. We know where we stand, both individually and as a couple, on political, economic, and social issues, and we’d frankly rather watch a marathon of John Wayne movies than 24-hour coverage of events that both network and cable news tend to cover until they just can’t be covered anymore. Our approach, generally, is to stay informed, help those we can help, pray for those we can’t, educate our kids as best we can…and try to get our dang work done.

The post is decorated with her typical magnificent photographs, and incorporates a deep wisdom that is often seen in people who live close to the land and to the forces of nature.

READ THE WHOLE THING

Posted by Earl on 09/12 at 11:35 PM
Miscellany • Comments •

HOW “ISLAMOPHOBIC” IS THE UNITED STATES….REALLY?

Well, NOT VERY....that is, if you can trust that notorious right-wing cable network, CNN.

Two young Muslim men drove 13,000 miles across the U.S. and back during the 30 days of Ramadan, visiting a different mosque every day, and interacting with all kinds of Americans. At the end, they said:

““After 13,000 miles, I think that America still exists, and I’m happy to know that it does,” said Tariq, a 23-year-old American of Pakistani descent. “It’s really made America feel like home to me in a way that I’ve never felt before. The America that we think about [as immigrants] is still actually there. I’ve seen it! And I’m seeing it still….

“It was really cool and refreshing to see people who genuinely love the communities they’re in and they’re there to stay,” Ali said. “They’re involved in the community, not just the mosque.”

It was also remarkable to have people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, “just bend over backwards and be friendly to us,” he said.”

In fact, the worst experience they report occurred in a mosque…although there was a rational explanation for the reception they got.

God Bless America, and keep her safe.

Posted by Earl on 09/12 at 11:19 PM
Miscellany • Religion • Politics • International • Comments •

COURAGE AWARD: AMERICAN MUSLIM ORGANIZATION SAYS PRESIDENT OBAMA IS WRONG

Let’s recognize DR. ZUHDI JASSER, president and founder of the AMERICAN ISLAMIC FORUM FOR DEMOCRACY (AIFD) for risking his life to defend America and her ideals in opposition to extremist Muslims. From the AIFD statement on the Ground Zero Mosque:
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Mr. President this is not about religious freedom. It is about the importance of the World Trade Center site to the psyche of the American People. It is about a blatant attack on our sovereignty by people whose ideology ultimately demands the elimination of our way of life. While Imam Faisal Rauf may not share their violent tendencies he does seem to share a belief that Islamic structures are a political statement and even Ground Zero should be looked upon through the lens of political Islam and not a solely American one.

As a Muslim desperate to reform his faith, your remarks take us backwards from the day that my faith will come into modernity. I do not stand to eliminate Imam Rauf’s religious freedom; I stand to make sure that my children’s religious freedom will be determined by the liberty guaranteed in the American Constitution and not by clerics or leaders who are apologists for shar’iah law and will tell me what religious freedom is.
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Dr. Jasser is not the only MUSLIM OPPOSING THE MOSQUE in its proposed location, there are numerous others. But he has taken the type of stand that has COST OTHERS THEIR LIVES, so he gets the September, 2010 Courage Award.

Posted by Earl on 09/12 at 12:04 PM
Miscellany • COURAGE AWARDS • HEROES • Comments •

Thursday, September 09, 2010

TOMATILLO TIME!

On Wednesday, Sophia came running into the house exclaiming “Grandmama!! Papa!! Come and look!! The TOMATILLOS are hatching!” And sure enough, they were - a number of them were so big that they were splitting their husks:
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Posted by Earl on 09/09 at 01:23 PM
Family Matters • GARDENING • Comments •

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

BIGGEST BEND HARVEST TO DATE!

Victor should probably get hold of himself right now, lest he laugh so hard he gets a HERNIA....but today was a banner day in the Bend edition of Earl Aagaard’s garden.

Once Sophia got to our house, and Gail headed out for her appointment, the girlie and I tripped off into the garden for a look around.

I had told her we were going to pick some things, and as soon as we approached the COLD FRAME, she spied the STRAWBERRY and squealed…..this is berry #2, remember, and picking it just thrilled her.

Then I pointed out the CUCUMBER, hanging high up on the tomato cage, and she reached up and picked it.

The ZUCCHINI was impossible to reach….in fact, I had to climb into the frame, and stretch down OVER the wire cage around the plant in order to get it, but that made THREE “CROPS” harvested in a single afternoon!

Sophia was enchanted….although not so distracted by the vegetables and fruit that she didn’t stop half-way back to the house to capture a CRANE FLY. Sadly, she was holding it by one leg, and just as I saw this, the fly snapped off the leg and was away…..ah well.

Then she posed with the day’s harvest
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Sophia was dancing with impatience for Grandmama to get home and be “surprised” by the produce! We ate our lunch (me) and snack (Sophia), and about the time we finished, Gail arrived and played her part to perfection. Then the tasting began…...

The strawberry was rather small and seedy, but we dutifully cut it into four pieces and shared it out, one quarter to each of us - and it was DELICIOUS! The perfect strawberry - sweet, and also with intense flavor. If all my strawberries were like this one, I’d be a happy farmer! I lopped off that skinny end of the zucchini, and then cut a round and divided it in four - dipping each quarter in RANCH DRESSING before the tasting. It was good, although Sophia said that one bite was enough. It was a bit strong, honestly. Then I personally tasted a piece of the cucumber to be sure it wasn’t bitter from uneven watering, and it was delicious. Sophia tasted her little chip, whereupon she followed Grandmama’s lead, picked up the cuke, and simply gnawed hunks off the end. She really LIKES cucumbers.

All in all, a very satisfying afternoon…..although when I told Laura about it, she laughed and said she wondered how Sophia would react to what we used to harvest at the Homestead. A waste of time and energy to think about that—this is Bend….get used to it!

High temperatures will be in the high 60s and low 70s for the next 10 days, and the overnight lows will be high 30s and low 40s. I probably won’t have to pull my plastic over the garden, but I’ll certainly watch the updates from day to day so I don’t get frost-killed by a big surprise. And I’m still needing to cut the basil again.

(sigh)

Posted by Earl on 09/07 at 10:35 PM
Family Matters • GARDENING • Comments •

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