Pot Luck

Haven't had one of these in a while... (4.00 / 1)

What are youze all up to these days?

I'm on YouTube at the moment.  Born down in a dead man's town, the first kick I took was when I hit the ground.  As an awesome man once said (and as I'm listening to him say it)... :)

I need to get out to Asbury Park again soon, especially now that I'm back home.

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 06:05:11 AM UTC

Train fare... (4.00 / 2)

Whaddya know?!  If I head out there on a weekend, it's only $18 round trip, since my SEPTA TransPass gets me all the way to Trenton for no additional fare.

Okay, I am so definitely going to Asbury in like six or eight weeks!

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 06:08:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

No idea where that is (4.00 / 1)

but I'm happy for you all the same.  

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 07:08:18 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

!!! (4.00 / 1)

That's it, Jill.  We have to go to Asbury Park one day.  It's only the greatest (Jersey) shore town in the world!  :-D

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 15:32:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

My news is: I'm moving (4.00 / 2)

Specifically, I am moving exactly 4.4 miles away from my current home, to a home where the master bedroom has been converted to a studio apartment. The family there has 2 acres, a small orchard, 30 chickens (soon to be 37 when I bring mine), and two daughters who are in between the ages of my current (soon to be ex) roommate's daughters. The new place is within the city of San Diego, where chickens AND GOATS are legal. Yay!

Best of all - the family I'm moving in with is good friends with one of my good friends, and they get together with one another a lot.

The only bad news is that the new place comes with a gopher and rabbit problem. I'm hoping that a liberal dose of cat urine around the yard will deter them a bit, but we'll see.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 07:13:15 AM UTC

oh and the other bad news (4.00 / 1)

is they have coyotes around there. I'm gonna see if I can convince my cat Raiden to stay indoors (the studio apt has a cat door) but if that doesn't work, I fear she'll be coyote chow. Molly is mean enough that I bet you she can take care of herself. Raiden would probably think the coyotes want to be her friend.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 07:14:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Glad you're going to a better place (4.00 / 2)

sounds like you'll be where you can garden and work with the critters to your heart's content.

Definitely take care with coyotes. I remember when we lost Sammy Cat II. What I thought was the neigbor dogs playing or fighting over a toy turned out to be coyotes fighting over my cat they'd just killed. And people wonder why farmers and ranchers have a 'thing' about predators....

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 18:36:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sounds like... (4.00 / 1)

...a better situation?  If you're happy, then so am I!

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 15:35:47 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

gophers :( (4.00 / 2)

the place sounds wonderful

I have gophers and rabbits. But since my housemate came with a wonderful cat that was originally feral, my mouse problem and I think my rabbit problem is solved. Deer are still a problem and  they ate every single one of my peonies

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by: LeeN @ Sun Jun 17, 2012 at 13:09:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Deer... (0.00 / 0)

Is it just me, or are there more than ever (and getting bolder) these days?  Just seems to me they're in all kinds of places I never saw them in before moving to Oregon in the middle of last decade.  Now I see them carelessly grazing along railroad tracks (just today on the way home via SEPTA, two of them somewhere around Croydon, didn't even look up as the train flew past) and highways (Route 1 around Lawrenceville last month when my mother drove me home, we saw about 6 in a two-mile stretch).  I don't recall anything like that say, seven or eight years ago?  And I used to drive all over the place for work (and also worked in many wooded areas, at that) back then.

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Mon Jun 18, 2012 at 02:18:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

there are more where I am (4.00 / 1)

and they are eating more "deer" proof stuff  

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by: LeeN @ Mon Jun 18, 2012 at 11:14:31 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

The only thing I know of that's sure fire to keep deer away are dogs. (4.00 / 2)

You need dogs that are large enough to run the deer off. Although my little mule Flash apparently has a 'thing' for deer now. I saw him run a couple of bucks out of the pasture a few weeks ago. He looked like he was going to kill them if he caught them. Once he took off after the deer, Rose followed his lead.

Little Flash is protecting my gardens and the neighbors' too.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Mon Jun 18, 2012 at 16:06:35 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I heard that you need a strong 8 foot fence (4.00 / 1)

if you are serious about keeping the deer out. I've never had a deer problem though. Not a lot of deer around here.  

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Tue Jun 19, 2012 at 06:55:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I made my own deer proof fence this year (4.00 / 2)

I put in 8 foot metal poles and wrapped deer netting around. I made a door out of the netting and wires secured with ties. It's keeping the deer out :) of the veggies but not the rest of my property.
My dog is about 16 so she's not much help.

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by: LeeN @ Tue Jun 19, 2012 at 11:34:24 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm working, working, working (4.00 / 2)

I harvest 3-4 days/week now. I've got a regular schedule down and I almost don't have to look at the daily agenda anymore.

Sunday - Inventory the crops and plants, write the availability list and if I remember, send it out to the Portland CSA members. If I don't remember to send it on Sunday I send it on Monday.
Monday - First part of the harvest for the Portland CSA members.
Tuesday - Tuesday is the big harvest and delivery to Portland.
Wednesday - Inventory and send out availability list to the on farm pick up members and the MCC members. MCC is the local phone co-op and I deliver their shares.
Thursday - Harvest and deliver shares for the on farm people and the MCC people.
Friday - Free Day! Depending on the weather, I'll be working inside or outside. Yesterday I did R&D in the kitchen = did you know that the main stem of the Globe artichoke is edible down to 6" below the base of the flower bud on a 3/4" diameter stem? And I also cooked and trialed artichoke leaf stems. I'm not dead and didn't even get an upset stomach, so they must be OK. And they're damn tasty too! So now I know that in addition to harvesting the buds, I can harvest the leaf stems as I do the Cardoons.
Saturday - Harvest for the Saturday on farm pick up.

In between those regularly scheduled items, I'm planting and seeding I seeded pots for almost 200 row feet of beans last night, thank God for electricity and lights in the greenhouse. I'm also still prepping new tunnel beds in the Arena Garden, I'm line grazing 3 goats for slaughter, I got the cow moved into the old emu pens. She's fattening on spring grass and I'm going to have her slaughtered in July (Yay Beef!), When the cow goes out, I have two veal calves who are coming over. I'll be able to use them to graze around the property. They're bottle babies and I should be able to halter break them if they aren't already (note to self, pick up or make two calf halters and extra lead ropes) and train them to graze on long lines.

I broke ground on the new greenhouses one or two weeks ago last Sunday and now I'm waiting on some money so I can go out and pick up the lumber and pier blocks to begin construction. And I'm seeding to corn this weekend and prepping the cow's old pen for the beans and corn planting. I'm growing sweet corn and popcorn this year.

And the fuel line for my lawn mower got clogged the other day so soon I'll need to clean it out so the thing runs again. For the time being, I'm cutting the long grass with the scythe for Gizmo (which he really loves) and fortunately I've finally gotten good enough at honing that I have a properly sharp blade to cut with.


Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 19:18:55 PM UTC

I, in fact, did not know... (4.00 / 1)

...that the main stem of the Globe artichoke is edible down to 6" below the base of the flower bud on a 3/4" diameter stem.  Thank you for informing me, Jo.  :)

I hope you'll find someone or something to take the beef heart and stomach and stuff, now that I'm gone.  Heh.

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Sun Jun 10, 2012 at 04:50:09 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

LOL, (4.00 / 1)

I didn't know that the stem was edible that far down either.

Chaz will get all the organ meats from the cow and from the veal calves. He has to have organ meats and tripe occasionally. Only getting muscle meat and bone isn't good for him. The organ meats have other vitamins and what not that he needs. In the wild he'd be eating the whole carcass on what ever animals he could catch and kill. Being as how he's not allowed to hunt, I have to do that for him.

I traded 1/4 of the cow for 400+ vegetable plants from a nursery that a friend of mine owns. I'll have the meat she wants cut the way she wants it, and I think the rest of the cow I'll have cut into primals and frozen. that way I can thaw them out one at a time and debone the meat as I need it. I don't cook steaks and I can cut the individual muscles/muscle groups into roasts myself. Chaz can have the large bones to crack.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Sun Jun 10, 2012 at 05:14:47 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I envy you (4.00 / 1)

I wish I had so much land to grow food on! I just took 2 bad-looking potato plants out of the ground, since I really don't have any desire to keep unhealthy plants around that might attract pests and disease - and the tubers were small but perfectly edible. Other than that, I've got the first green tomatoes growing, several winter squashes and pumpkins growing, melons growing, and I discovered the first cucumber of the season just now - and it was enormous! And delicious!

Even though I've got a few potatoes, most of the stuff in the garden's not ready to harvest. The exception is my tree kale and amaranth. So I'll eat that.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Mon Jun 11, 2012 at 00:03:54 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ha! (4.00 / 2)

I may have more land (at least until you get moved) but you have the better weather. My cucumbers aren't even up yet and you already had one big enough to eat!

I envy you back!

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Mon Jun 11, 2012 at 11:11:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

and a second cuke on the way! (4.00 / 1)

just found it today among the big bunch of melons that are growing. So exciting!

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Tue Jun 12, 2012 at 06:17:26 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Margaret & Orthodox... (0.00 / 0)

The Market-Frankford El station, in the Frankford neighborhood of Lower Northeast Philly.

I had to be up there today, and on the way back home came across two of the coolest fucking signs ever. There's a rooftop neon sign for a long-shuttered mini department store, "DA-something-AL" (I forgot), which I'd date back to at least the 1940's. Quite possibly much earlier. Next to that, is a flower shop whose storefront sign is a perfect 1950's thing, which comes out over the sidewalk in an old-school 'swoopy' movie theater marquee-style, and all that. I wanted to take a picture, but my fucking camera's battery was dead. Bah!

This week some time, definitely. It's only an 8-minute or so subway ride north of me, and the sun's out longer, so I'm sure I can manage it at least one day!

Any of this ring a bell for you, Lee?  I need to start seeking out old neon signs soon, btw.  I love that shit.  :)

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Sun Jun 10, 2012 at 05:17:26 AM UTC

New blog! (0.00 / 0)

Okay, this place inspired me to start one.  I envision this becoming something like "a picture a day," of these little hidden corners and whatnot, which may or may not still be around in a few years.  Look up!, as they say around here.  The real beauty is above the sidewalk, mostly hidden in ancient windows, signs, cornices, etc...

Streets of Philadelphia

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Sun Jun 10, 2012 at 15:33:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Cool! (4.00 / 1)

Subscribed to your feed.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Mon Jun 11, 2012 at 11:09:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hold on... (0.00 / 0)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

!!!

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Sun Jun 10, 2012 at 08:22:47 AM UTC

Okay, time to break it out. (0.00 / 0)

I know what it takes to make the Phillies win.  I need to play more Schoolly D.

:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Sun Jun 10, 2012 at 09:10:19 AM UTC

Chicken recipe I developed today (4.00 / 1)

Had it for dinner tonight. Delicious! I've been making a lot of Kefir cheese. I'm going through 2 gallons of milk/week now. I have enough kefir grains to do 3 quarts of milk at a time.

Anyway, I eat a LOT of kefir cheese. I often have it once a day and sometimes twice. But as much as I love that cheese, what I've been craving lately is some sour cream. The Kefir cheese tastes a lot like sour cream, but the texture is more like very soft cottage cheese. So I decided to mill the cheese by forcing it through a very fine mesh. I'm using the spatter guard for my skillets. 3-4 passes through the screen and it's near enough to the texture of sour cream that I'm not going to bother making real sour cream. And it worked perfectly in the sauce for the chicken.

Anyhoo, here's the recipe.

Chicken with Kefir Cheese
by Joanne Rigutto

Ingredients -
6 Chicken thighs
6 Garlic cloves chopped
3 Potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 bunch Green Onions cleaned and sliced into 2" pieces
1 head garlic, seperate the cloves, and peel them.
1 can Mushrooms or 1/2 lb fresh sliced
1 1/2 C Whey from making Kefir cheese*
1 Chicken boullion cube*
Salt
Fresh cracked pepper
Smoked Paprika
1 C Kefir Cheese that has been milled until smooth**

Method -
- Place the chicken thighs, skin side up, in a large baking pan.
- Place the potatoes around the thighs.
- Bring the whey to a boil and disolve the boullion cube in it, then pour over the chicken and potatoes.
- Add half of the whole garlic cloves and green onions to the pan and season liberally with the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.
- Bake covered in a 250° oven for 1  1/2 hours.
- Remove cover and bake for an additional 3/4 hour until the skin on the chicken is crisp and golden and the chicken is cooked through.
- Meanwhile,  slice or drain the mushrooms, peel and slice the remainder of the garlic and saute in a skillet with a bit of cooking oil.
- When the chicken and potatoes are done, remove from oven and transfer chicken and potato wedges to a platter and add all of the pan drippings, as well as the onion and garlic to the mushrooms. Simmer until reduced by 1/2. Then add the milled cheese. Stir to incorporate and add flour as needed to thicken.

* You can substitute equal parts home made or store bought chicken broth/stock  and whey for a total of 1 1/2 cups liquid
** Mill the cheese by forcing it through a fine mesh. I like to use the spatter guard for the skillet. 3-4 passes should render the cheese smooth. Milled Kefir cheese can be used in any recipe that calls for sour cream.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Sun Jun 17, 2012 at 07:00:18 AM UTC

Quadruple the garlic... (0.00 / 0)

...and I'm in!  ;-P

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Mon Jun 18, 2012 at 02:19:49 AM UTC

[ Parent ]