Garden Decor

I always put a few things out in the garden during the winter to brighten it up since there aren’t any more flowers. I have a few metal birds that go out by a birdbath right by the back door. I really like the way they look when there’s snow on the ground, they’re very cheery. They make me smile every time I come and go.


Anyone else decorate their gardens during the dull winter months? With what?

Filed under Miscellaneous | Comments (2)

Spreading a Little Christmas Cheer

I loved to cook long before I loved to garden (not sure why I didn’t start a cooking blog). I’m not a huge baker other than breads, probably because I don’t really like cookies and cakes. I make them when requested for gatherings, but my real love is cooking savory dishes and baking beautiful breads.

This is 98.4% Whole Grain Seeded Sourdough from Wild Yeast.

Since I don’t like to make cookies I leave those to my mom this time of year. She does a great job, making the perfect gingerbread people soft and chewy just like I like them and crispy but soft butter cookies with icing. She also makes the most wonderful spritz cookies in all shapes, colors, flavors and sizes. Since my mom is the cookie person of the family, I specialize in a little something different. My contribution to the holiday sweet table is chocolate. Delicious chocolate covered cherries to be exact. I’ve been making these for many years and my request list keeps getting longer every year. Friends come out of the woodwork around Christmas and ask when I’m going to be making them. It’s always nice to have a special thing around the holidays.

Usually I start making my cherries right after Thanksgiving. This year however, we’ve been super busy so I started a week late. I made my first batch on Sunday evening and then another on Monday. These were brandied cherries, so I soak the cherries in brandy for a while in the back of the fridge. Then I make brandy flavored fondant to wrap them in, and then they’re enrobed in delicious semi-sweet chocolate.

On Thursday I made a batch of regular almond flavored cherries (these are my favorite). This year I’ve been playing with my recipe a little, I’m using local organic butter and I’m trying to cut the corn syrup out of the recipe. It was a success! I must say, tempering chocolate isn’t for the faint of heart. If you want to make these quickly, just buy dipping chocolate from the store. Most people won’t be able to tell the difference. But if you’re a chocolate lover like me, a little semi-sweet or dark real chocolate is the way to go. Once you learn the trick to tempering it’s not too bad (it just takes longer).

Here’s the recipe in case anyone wants to make some.

CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES
50 maraschino cherries, well drained
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 pounds dipping chocolate, white or dark

Combine butter, corn syrup and salt; blend until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix well. Knead until smooth and shiny; wrap in wax paper and chill for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain cherries. Shape a marble-size piece of fondant around each cherry; place on wax paper-lined tray. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.

Melt chocolate over hot water, stirring constantly. Dip cherries and place on wax paper-lined tray (I find those tiny muffin cups to be perfect). Store in covered container in a cool, dark place for 10 to 14 days to fully ripen and to attain the “liquidy” inside.

Brandied Cherries
Soak cherries in brandy for at least 2 days. Omit almond extract and add 1/2 teaspoon brandy flavoring instead. Follow recipe as stated above.

So what are you famous for? Cookies, chocolates, breads?

Filed under Holidays | Comments (13)

Birdhouses in the Garden

I have a few birdhouses in my gardens. The funny thing is that no birds live in them. I originally put them up for decoration last winter to bring some color to the gardens during the dull winters, but come spring I forgot to take them down.

They’re only eighteen inches off the ground so no birds live in them, but do have residents. One day I noticed that a wasp flew into one, then I noticed a few more wasps. So I guess they’re no longer bird houses, they’re wasp houses. I don’t mind wasps in the garden, they’re beneficial insects and with the exception of yellow jackets they don’t bother you unless you bother them.

Wasps and yellow jackets are beneficial insects. They feed their young on insects that would otherwise damage crops and ornamental plants in your garden. They can also feed on house fly and blow fly larva. Wasps and yellow jackets become aggressive when their nests are approached or disturbed. This is often when people and animals are stung. While these stings are painful (and life threatening to those that are allergic), these insects should be respected and tolerated under most conditions.

Here’s one of the residents.

This looks like a paper wasp to me. I spent some time on this great website looking at pictures trying to figure out what kind it was for sure. We have many different kinds of wasps living around here, I’ve been trying to take photos of all of them so I can identify them. Generally we leave them alone but if the paper wasps are building a nest in a high foot traffic area I usually just knock it down and they build elsewhere.

We also have yellow jackets that live around here. Last summer we had a huge nest in our front yard. We had to spray it because I’m allergic and they kept chasing me. A skunk dug up the nest and ate the rest of the wasps, so that was a relief. We leave them be if they are in the woods around the house.

This is another kind of wasp we have. They are teeny tiny (less than a centimeter long) and they love my oregano when it’s blooming (which are the flowers in the photo) as well as sedum and a few of my lace cap hydrangeas. I think they’re cuckoo wasps (also called jewel wasp, gold wasp, or emerald wasp), but I’m not positive on that.

So what about you, do you leave wasps to work in your gardens, or you spray like most people?

Filed under Insects | Comment (1)

What I’m Missing

I love everything about winter, the snow, the cold weather and everything else. But every now and then I find myself longing for the warmer months (especially on those cold rainy dark days). So what am I missing about the summer today? Flip Flops.

I love love love free feet. I wear sandals & flip flops all summer long. My feet hate being cooped up in socks and stuffed into shoes, but soon enough they’ll be free again.

What are you missing about summer?

Filed under Seasons | Comments (7)

Quote of the Day: Jamie Oliver

I’m a big Jamie Oliver fan, always have been. I’ve watched most of his cooking shows and his documentary/show about trying to make British State School food healthier. He’s definitely doing his part to make local, sustaineable food popular. I’m currently reading his cookbook/gardening book Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Lifeand it’s fantastic!

“I spent my childhood growing up in a village in Essex and I moved back there three or four years ago with my wife and kids. Like most people these days, with a busy family life and a hectic working schedule, I began to struggle with finding a balance between the two. I seem to have evened things up a bit now, and it’s all thanks to my veg garden, believe it or not. I love spending the odd hour out there, as it really relaxes me. You might think I sound like a complete hippie now, but growing my own veg for these past few years has filled me with such pride, pleasure, and passion. Witnessing changes in the garden through the year, having successes and failures, realizing that certain types of fruit or veg can have certain personalities and you have to work with them in different ways, it’s all just fascinating to me!

The garden has also made me think about food in a different way: about how it grows and what it stands for. To me, growing food at home means eating outside in the garden in the summer at family get-togethers and occasions, or cozying up next to a fire tucking into an amazing comforting stew or soup made with stuff from the garden which you’ve had to go outside and pull up in the rain! It might seem odd, but during the last sixteen years of training and working as a chef, I never thought I would ever grow stuff properly.”

Jamie Oliver: Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life

I’ve really enjoyed reading this book. I like that each chapter has growing how-to’s followed by recipes for those vegetables. Pick it up at your local library and give it a read!

Anyone have any other cookbooks they love and want to recommend?

Filed under Books, Quote | Comments (9)