I don’t know if you are aware of the “Slow Food” movement or not. Basically, the idea is to promote an alternative to “fast food”, which I have maintained for years is not actually food at all, more like a substitute for food. But I am a radical.
I have mentioned previously that we make our own mayonnaise, we have for years. It is pathetically easy to make your very own mayonnaise, and the result is something that keeps just fine in the fridge but has no other ingredients than eggs, mustard, salt (garlic if you like) lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil.
In the name of “slow food” we also make our very own pesto from the basil that we grow here at the Havens. Granted, we do have to purchase the parmesan and the pine nuts that go into it as well as the olive oil, but the garlic, basil, parsley and oregano come from our gardens. I also make our ketchup; a process that is very similar to making apple butter. Chutney? Yes, we make that too and right now have about 4 different kinds.
As yet we do not grow peanuts, so we don’t make our own peanut butter. Some other time.
Quite a while ago Jim was perusing a web site and came across the recipe for mustard. According to what I can gather, the Romans were the first people to use prepared mustard as a condiment. Ground mustard seed, vinegar, honey, water and salt are really all that are required to produce a rather fine mustard. If you like it crunchier, you can grind your mustard seed coarser. It seems odd to be eating something that has been used for a couple of thousand years, noting that the recipe really hasn’t changed since the inception. Then you wonder why manufacturers feel the need to change it; quite often you see dyes in the list of ingredients as well as stabilizers. (I will note the French’s mustard uses turmeric to make it yellower, bravo to them for eschewing Yellow Dye #5.) I mean, it worked for the Romans….
Freshly made mustard can be quite hot, but if you let it sit a bit it mellows. This is a pint jar of mustard in the food room that is in the process of mellowing. It has a few companions.
So the question is, have we stepped over the edge of the Slow Food Movement and into crazy? Or are we just happily in control of our personal food supply?
The garden has stepped over the edge of winter and is gaily off into spring.
This is a fairly representative sample of what is blooming daffodil-wise…
The vegetable garden is showing signs of spring as well.
You can’t see it, but the bed in the far back right has a lot of little asparagus spears popping up. We got our onion and leek plants and set them out yesterday.
Those leeks don’t look like much, but they will do just fine. We pulled the last of last year’s crop just a few hours before those shots were taken.
There was a flicker out on the lawn this morning breakfasting on little ants. More power to him (or her). I hope it cleans them out of the strawberry bed, they really do create problems. The little ants like to make piles of detritus right around the crown of the plant and then farm aphids in the sheltered pile. It doesn’t do the strawberry plants any good at all.
Darn paparazzi, always following you around. It flew off into the elm tree shortly after I got that shot.
I have been working on the quilt top too. I have the first third of it pieced now, and took it out to hang it on the clothesline for a display shot. I’m really pleased with how it is turning out.
Well, that’s about it for today. Hope you all are listening to the “savoring the moment” mental radio station rather than the “what if” and “ain’t it awful” stations.
Your mustard sounds very good. I like it kinda crunchy and mildly hot 🙂
Love, love, love the bargello quilt you are working on! Congratulations on your color choices and the layout. Fantastic work.
Spring has sprung here in Norman also. We have kept busy transplanting some boxwoods that were oddly planted in our front yard. They are doing well and the neighbors are commenting on our progress…we are not “the kids” here like we were in Grovespring. Much younger population and many more FAST FOOD places!
Great photos, Ellie
I wish I could take credit for this quilt pattern, but I decided that for my first effort I would follow somebody’s pattern. I did pick the colors, though, and I’m really liking it. Since it is going on my bed and will probably last a good many years, that’s a good thing!
So funny to switch from being the kids to being the elders. We have been the “elders” in this neighborhood for quite a while, since most of the seniors who lived here when we moved in have died. Of course, it is a natural progression, this changing from kid to elder…
Glad your box are doing well. They tend to transplant nicely.
I don’t envy you the effort you put into your garden, but boy does look as though it is worth it!
The quilt looks pretty damn amazing.
All the effort in the garden has been expended in little blocks over 16 years. Now it is pretty easy, actually. I need to do a little pruning, and do some top dressing with compost. Other than that, most of the older beds are fairly weed free. The only places that require vigilance are the new beds.
Oh, your quilt is so so beautiful Ellie
I can hardly wait until it is done.
not over the top – i think freshness counts, as does being closer to your food sources and knowing without a doubt what goes into it is a reasonable and good thing.
that quilt – oh, that is glorious! and i’m still waiting for the first bloom on the daffodils, but they are tantalizingly close! i’m holding a vase for a few when they show up en mass…
Your daffodils will come soon… really.
Freshness does count, as does knowing what’s in what you are eating. I had the perfect example of that on Friday night, we went out to eat and while the food was delicious my body rebelled in the middle of the night, unaccustomed as it is to additives. I guess I’ll stick to the Gastropub from now on. I NEVER feel bad after I eat there — they serve fresh local organic food. And fantastic beer.