Juiced

The other day our neighbor came over with an offer we could hardly refuse. She and her husband have several fruit trees in their backyard. I thought they were all citrus, turns out she also has an apple tree. The offer was for my kids to go over and pick all the apples they could, now how could I refuse. 

So off they went and not 15 minutes later they were back with no less than a half a bushel of apples. Granted many of them are small and only good for using as a projectile against a sibling or cousin or some such person, however some of them were snacking size. 

As it turns out the kids only got some of the apples and our neighbor wanted that tree picked clean and she called later that day to tell me so. So off the kids went, again, this time with the help of a couple of friends and descended upon the tree like a school of piranha on an unsuspecting capybara. They returned with another bushel of apples and for all their hard work we decided to split the apple haul.

Now arrives the dilemma, what to do with nearly a bushel of tiny apples? Cider immediately sprang to mind, alas no cider press. So we did the next best thing, we broke out the juicer. Faster by far than a cider press, however messier and the quality of the juice was not that of good pressed cider. Unfortunately one of the by products of the centrifugal juicer like the Breville we own is foam and oddly enough with the apples copious quantities of said foam. Most unfortunate too as the foam had a distinct brown color to it, much like the foam one might see washed up on the shore of a beach or pond. I can assure you not completely appetizing. 

We managed to work around it though and the finished, filter product was fairly tasty. Just the right amount of sweet and tart. I think though, that because the apples go into the juicer whole and get ground up and filtered through a fine mesh screen, the apple pips add an unusual flavor to the juice that I'm fairly certain isn't present with pressed cider. 

So all in all an interesting experiment and one that's ongoing, for as you can see we still have lots more apples.

Another Move

I think maybe I might have some gypsy in me because I seriously seem to have trouble settling in just one place. For instance I'm writing this from our house in Arizona. Yes I know, what in the world is a kid from New England doing in Arizona? Mostly just sweating, honestly I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time and I wouldn't trade away the last year I've spent here with old friends and new alike. However to quote one of the greatest song writers ever,  "But under my feet, baby, grass is growing It's time to move on, it's time to get going". The question is where? Well I know where I want to go just not sure it's going to happen, but if it does this wanderer may just finally settle down and let that grass grow.

Feeling Hot, Hot , Hot

Or not, depending on the fuel you're using to heat your home. We recently moved into an apartment that has a wood burning fireplace. This is the first real fireplace we've had. Our first home had a gas fireplace which we used maybe once or twice. It was one of those see through things and it was enclosed on three sides by glass, it looked like an aquarium. The problem was the glass got ridiculously hot and it was burning non renewable fossil fuel. I suppose had we stayed in that house I might have eventually put in a wood stove. We didn't stay, I understand the new owners really liked the fireplace, to each his own I suppose.

Anyway back to burning wood. I recently split a cord of wood with a friend of mine, money and space prevented me from purchasing a full cord. It was all aspen which technically is classified as a hardwood, however it burns much like pine. Fast and moderately smoky. Had I known this before hand I probably would have purchased a half cord of oak or maple and supplemented it with a half or quarter cord of the aspen. Live and learn.

The other thing that I noticed is that a great deal of the heat being generated was going up the chimney. Alas while a fireplace is very romantic, they are notoriously inefficient. If I thought I could get away with it I'd get a wood stove, not sure the apartment folks would dig that.

So having said all that, the wood pile is getting low and we'll be needing to resupply soon, lesson learned, call the cat selling hardwood cords.

Where Has The Time Gone?

Wow 2 jobs, a move, a family member goes home and so much time since anything was written here. The dream is still alive though, it's just gotten sidetracked. With that in mind I will be devoting more time to this site and hopefully sooner rather than later it will be coming to you from a small cabin/cottage in the Maine woods.

The idea here is to find a way to work without having to actually go to work. I will be exploring ways to put together enough money to take care of those things that need taking care of while still socking away the funds to make the purchase which will complete the first part of a seemingly life long dream.

Rain Rain Go Away

It's amazing I know but I actually prayed for the rain to stop this summer. Well not really, but, the weather in the Springs has been most unkind to our tomatoes, lot's of rain and cooler temps, as you can see, we got lots of green but very few ripe red tomatoes. We also had several storms that included hail and the tomatoes we have been able to harvest have all been scarred by hail. It seems though that trend has stopped and we are experiencing some nice warm sunny days and warm nights. Of course it's already the beginning of September so more than likely this will change. I am hoping that we will be able to harvest at least half of the tomatoes before the fall frosts set in.

This summers experiment with gardening in CO has led me to the conclusion that we must build a greenhouse once this years growing season is over. I'll be sure to keep you all posted on the progress of that project.

Inch by Inch Row by Row

Well the garden is finally all the way in 24 tomato plants of various types, 15 pepper plants of various types, a few tomatillos and a few goodeberries. Tomorrow I stop by Lowes to pick up some lumber for the trellises for the peas and beans and some stakes for the tomatoes. I was hoping to get some greens in as well but alas the tomatoes and peppers took up to much room. Those will have to go in to garden boxes, I have the perfect spot for them.


It's only been a few days now so I can't be completely sure what plants are going to thrive and which will give up the ghost. A few of the tomatoes are struggling. I think that once they get their roots firmly established though they will do well enough. One of the trials of living in Colorado Springs is the arid climate. Water is crucial, and at this stage of the game I find myself spending a good deal of time outside with a hose in my hand. Tomorrow I'll get an oscillating sprinkler. That should get rid of the waterers thumb I've developed.

Well that's it for now I'll keep you all posted.

Wake and Bake

One of the other ways I decided to save some money was to bake my own bread. Now I've always enjoyed working in the kitchen and I love to bake. It's just that bread always seemed so daunting, that is until one day when I ran across a new recipe. It required none of the labor that regular bread baking does. All you need is a desire for fresh baked bread, a dutch oven and about 24 hours. Of course most of that time you will be doing something else while the yeast and the flour get together and dance.

Now, I've gotten to the point where I bake 4-5 loaves at a time, keeps me from having to spend all my time in the kitchen. You may want to start out with one loaf at first until you get a feel for the way things work. If you time it right and you don't mind getting up early your family can have fresh baked bread for breakfast. Here's my recipe, feel free to give it a try and don't hesitate to ask questions if you have them.

Artisan Peasant Loaf

4 cups all purpose unbleached flour (17 ounces)

1/4 teaspoon yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt (regular table salt works too.)

1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons warm water (110 -115)

In a large bowl (this is the bowl you'll be rising dough in so it should about 6-8 qt) combine flour, salt and yeast.

Add warm water and stir the dough together until all the dry flour is incorporated, a good stiff wooden spoon works great for this.

Now cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm spot for 14 - 20 hrs.

After the dough has risen for the above amount of time dump it out onto a well floured surface. Place a dishtowel, I really like flour sack towels for this job, on the counter and sprinkle some cornmeal in the center. With floured hands pick up the dough and form it into a ball by turning the edges under.







Set the ball of dough on the prepared towel, sprinkle a little more cornmeal on top of dough and fold towel over dough. Set your timer for 1 hour and 30 minutes. When timer goes off put dutch oven on middle rack of oven set temp to 450F, set timer for 30 minutes. After timer goes take dutch oven out of oven, careful it's hot, slide hand under towel and turn dough into dutch oven bottom side up. Put lid on dutch oven and put back on middle rack of oven. Bake for 30 minutes covered after 30 minutes uncover and bake for anothe 12-15 minutes. Turn bread out onto cooling rack, and as hard as it is going to be wait 30 minutes or so before cutting into your masterpiece.