The Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen

Each year the Environmental Working Group releases it's list of the 12 most pesticide laden and the 15 least pesticide laden fruits and vegetables.  

This year's list has changed slightly from last year.  I'm very, very surprised to see kale and carrots on the Dirty Dozen side.  They are vegetables that are so easy to grow without pesticides!

But am possibly being optimistic?  A small grower can watch their vegetables as they grow and make adjustments to what the vegetables need so that they can grow naturally.  The big processors (notice I don't say growers) have such huge fields to oversee that they don't have that option.  Yet another reason to "Buy Fresh, Buy Local"!

Here's the handy list to print and clip as a guideline for your future grocery shopping trips.

If you are interested in more information, you can go to this website:

http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/41057267.html

Happy, healthy eating!

Fall Pickings

Picked fresh from the High Tunnel a few moments ago...

...Radishes and Italian Flat Leaf Parsley.

I planted the parsley in the spring and it's holding up beautifully to the colder weather.  I blogged about planting the radishes on September 15th!  I also have lots of carrots and lettuces.  I think I'll be able to do a Fall CSA next year.

I have tons and I'm giving it away.  Let me know if you'd like some!

Freezer Camp

The pigs went to "Freezer Camp" today.

Fitz and I worked last night and this morning to build a carrier on our trailer to transport them to the meat processor in Elkland, PA - about an hour away from us.  It's not pretty, but we made it with old rough-cut wood and the price was right.

Does anyone hear banjos?

After the carrier was built, we had to get the pigs into it.  We backed into the pig pen and threw some dried corn into the carrier.  Up zipped the first pig into the cage and he began happily munching away.

The second pig would not go up the ramp!  He put one foot on the ramp and then the next and would get halfway up and would turn around and trot away.  We tried to entice him by putting corn right in front of his nose and moving it away as he climbed.  No dice.  He just didn't trust that ramp.  We got him halfway up and Fitz got behind him and tried to push/lift him in.  Well forget that!  That pig screamed bloody murder and jumped away.  

Finally, we took off the ramp and put the corn just out of his reach...he climbed into the cage.  So we hurried to put the ramp (which also acts as the back door) on and as we put the pins on he shoved Fitz out of the way and sailed out over our heads.  So now we were in a quandary.  He eyed us distrustfully and no matter how much we shook buckets of corn and sweet talked him, he wouldn't even come near the cage.  

Finally, we had heard that if you put a trash can over a pig's head you can back it up where you want it to go... So we put the ramp back on, and I put corn in the bottom of a pail.  He shoved his head into the pail to eat the corn and lickety split I backed him right up the ramp and into the cage. 

We pick up the meat at the end of this week.  

The "S" Word

We had our first SNOW last night. As I look out the window there's a light dusting over everything and it's still coming down - sideways.

Looking out at this frosty wonderland, I find that while I'm happy for the chance to slow down, I'm reminded that there's so very much to finish before I put the garden to bed. It's supposed to warm a a touch today and tomorrow and Sunday actually call for weather in the low 60s!

I'm working on the outside garden now and must finish pulling the last of the carrots and beets to bring in, cut and bring in the zinnias and the dill to dry for their seeds. And finish cutting and pulling the corn stalks to feed to the pigs and the sunflowers to hang and dry for winter treats for the chickens. After that, it's time to spread the compost on the outside garden, 'till it in and plant a "green manure," I'll plant winter wheat which will start coming up very, very early next year and will be rototilled into the garden about four to six weeks before spring planting. Green manure is a very efficient way of conserving nitrogen in the soil.

Then the work begins on the garden inside the high tunnel. Can you believe we picked a watermelon out of the high tunnel in October? It was utterly sweet and delicious!

I have lots of Italian flat leaf parsley, fresh dill, dill seeds, and some lettuce to give away. The catch is that you have to come and get it. We'll be home tonight and most of tomorrow. Just come on by!

World's Easiest Chocolate Brownie Recipe

It's a cold and rainy and there's nothing better than a pan of brownies fresh out of the oven on a day like this.  The house smells of chocolate and running the oven makes the house warm and cozy!

This recipe is as easy as a box mix and so much richer - almost like fudge.  It only dirties a couple of utensils, one bowl, and the baking pan.  Can it get any better?

The recipe used to be on the back of the Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate box and then for some completely unexplained reason was replaced with a cookie recipe.  Hence the name:


Baker's Chocolate One Bowl Brownie Recipe

4 squares unsweetened chocolate
3/4 c. (1-1/2 sticks) butter
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 c. chopped nuts, optional

1. Heat oven to 350-degrees

2. Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwavable bowl at high for 2 minutes or until butter is melted.  Stir until chocolate is completely melted (this will take a minute or two).

3. Stir sugar into chocolate.  Mix in eggs and vanilla until well blended.  Stir in flour and nuts (I never add nuts - they get in the way of the chocolate!).  Spread in a greased 13 x 9 inch pan.

4. Bake 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs.  Cool in pan (cool? - ha ha!); cut into squares.  Makes 24 fudgy brownies (24? - ha ha again!).



Enjoy!  And remember... I always love to hear how you liked, or if you disliked, a recipe!

Corking

You want to make nice fresh salsa, but all the jalapeno peppers have these yucky looking white lines all over them.  You wonder, "Why would the grocery store sell nasty old peppers like that?"  

If you like a spicy salsa, and you see these lines, then you'll want to snatch up these peppers!These white striations are actually stress marks or "corking." 


Their appearance usually indicates that the pepper is ripe and ready to pick! They aren't harmful in any way and don't affect the flavor of the pepper, but some people (lots of chefs included!) think that corking indicates a hotter pepper.

So when you're shopping remember that the jalapenos on the right will give you a nice fiery salsa, but the jalapenos on the left will blow your lips off!


Thank you Tadd, for teaching us about "corking" at this year's Farmer's Market!

"Last Of" Season

We're in the season I like to call "Last Of... Season"  Everything I pull out is the last of everything.  The other day I pulled out the last of the peppers, a few eggplants, green tomatoes, and I even found one last, lonely, butternut squash hiding.

Winter squash are lovely because they'll last for months in a cool dry place. I'll pickle the hot peppers, freeze the sweet green and red peppers, and maybe some kind of eggplant dish and fried green tomatoes?

I'm sad to see it all go, but that sadness is offset by added leisure time!