Spring Salad

So one thing that kind of strikes people about my diet these days is that there are very few fresh greens on the menu. No salads in February though we did make some out of shredded carrots and sprouted seeds. And I guess if you sprouted something long enough you'd get some greens. But still I don't have many greens in my diet.

And amazingly, perhaps, I'm feeling really good. I guess I do eat sauerkraut every single day, which trust me, never gets boring (well maybe it would if there was a grocery store nearby). Kraut I think provides a lot of what I need and is something that can be prepared in the fall and last all the way to summer and the glut of fresh greens that awaits me then.

But for now I wanted to share our newest salad ingredient. Everywhere around our place, dandelions are growing. And the greens are nice and tender and young, just right for eating. So mum and I gathered a whole bunch yesterday and made this yummy looking (and tasting salad).


So I encourage you to wander around your garden and find some fresh dandelion leaves to make a salad with. Why go to the store and pay for something that you can get for free? And there are endless salad options available. I'm so happy to learn about all the "weeds" that I can eat.

Spring

Spring's actually been here for a while but I wanted to share some pictures that make me happy, knowing what's coming. This is probably the first time in my life I've really noticed things like the buds on the trees and the first, tender dandelions and birds returning. I think in the city, you're too busy to notice or it takes some effort to look (for which I guess I never made the time). It's kind of sad but better late than never.

Check out this rhubarb. There are seven or eight patches of rhubarb which means we'll have a lot to bake with and sell at the market. Rhubarb isn't always a common market fruit (vegetable?). And the best part is that we're going to have even more with probably twenty more little seedlings on the way. Not too shabby.


And here are some pretty flowers that I've seen in our garden. There are some tulips and day lilies also on the way but we haven't seen any sign of their flowers yet. Mum is also starting a bunch of flowers and we're going to prep her a new garden this weekend. And we have to plant some jerusalem artichokes and our friend Robert is going to give us a bunch of plum trees for our little orchard.


And last but never least here's some garlic which is coming up. It's actually a bit yellow on the tips so that might be a problem. Must be lacking something. The learning continues.

Mushroom Mania

So I haven't been feeling much like writing lately. When I write it never feels right or something so I just sign out. It might also be asking myself: why the hell am I maintaining this blog? But maybe I'll just take lots of pictures until I decide that I have something worth saying. So here are some pictures to share.

Lots of spring mushrooms (many that we can actually use to make tea) and a pile of wood to keep us warm next year. It's good to plan ahead but that's a lot of chopping.


I found this one on the other side of the brook in a punky stump. It wasn't that red, that's the camera compensating. It was more purple but very pretty.


Dan found this one, which weighs quite a bit down the road and up an old logging road. He lugged it all the way home. I think he said it's an artists conch and he plans to dry it out and use it to make tea. Mushroom tea is a good preventative medicine in fighting cancer.


I tried to identify these and I think they are turkey tail. Also good in fighting cancer. You can just chew them like tobacco (not so good for cancer).


We had seven cords of wood delivered. Nice hardwoods, mostly maple, beech and birch. So we'll be nice and toasty next year. We're hoping that seven cords is way too many and we'll have some saved for the following year. Still trying to figure out how much firewood we are going to need. I guess it depends on the winter.

Oh yeah, the dog is our friend Molly who lives on the other side of the valley. She's visiting while her housemates are off on the mainland. Buddy is very angry about having a dog in the house. But they have yet to drop the gloves, to use a playoff saying. We're enjoying the playoffs as well. Life is pretty nice right now.

Before the black flies.

Diametrically Different Diet

I've come to the realization, since moving here, that I'm eating much better than I ever did in Hamilton. Whereas in Hamilton, the grocery store always provided everything and I was tempted by perogies and soysages and salsa and super spirals, here the grocery store doesn't appeal. I guess that's half due to my frugality and desire to save money and half due to the limited selection. It's a long drive to an Ontario-scale grocery store (and I can't drive).

So I find myself eating relatively simple meals of beans, grains, sauerkraut and hot sauce (some things never change and at least it doesn't have any preservatives). I'm sprouting all the time and we eat sprouted salads and I make sprouted bean burgers often enough. I'm working on a recipe that will fool my sister into thinking it might actually be beef. I think I'll try using beet juice in the next batch.

But definitely the variety is lacking but really that's realistic in winter. If I live in Canada, I can't expect salads in February. Unless, I guess, I'm growing them indoors which we may do next year.

And I think my simple meals now will make the amazing variety of the summer all the better. Fresh salads. Steamed greens. Fresh berries. Excellent.

-

In fermentation news:

My beer is carbonating nicely and I'm looking forward to trying some at Easter. I hope that it's good but I have another kit and I'm looking forward to starting it soon. It's a honey blond beer and I'm told it's a lot better tasting than my last batch will be.

We picked up some koji in Sydney yesterday. Our friend Mike is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine and has lots of interesting stuff. Koji, as far as I know, is moldy rice. Obviously though, not the kind of mould that's going to kill us. You use it to make many fermented East Asian foods like tamari. We're going to make a few gallons(!) of miso using it. Our organic soy beans are on the way too; they have to be organic since soy is one of the four major genetically modified foods (do you know the others?*). Miso will take a year to age properly so next spring we'll be up to our elbows in miso.

I've started making ginger beer. I remember my dad buying it for me when I was a little boy. I loved it, so strong and fizzy. Much better than pop, just harder to find. It's going to take a few weeks and I'm going to make it strong. I'll also have to plant some ginger and see if I can keep it going inside the house so I don't have to keep going to the store.

Last and definitely not least, I'm going to make injera, sour Ethiopian bread. The Bulk Barn actually sells teff flour which is the grain used in injera. I wonder if teff could be grown here in Cape Breton. We're going to have an Ethiopian Easter and surprise a friend who lived in Ethiopia once upon a time.

* Corn, soy, canola and cotton are the four major genetically modified foods. Take a look at your grocery cart, you'll find them in everything.