Quote of the Day: Alys Fowler

Our modern world has become very unrewarding – that long commute to nowhere with the only treat being a shopping trip on the weekend. When you grow your own vegetables, make your own teas, or recycle your kitchen waste in a bin that you made, you are taking control. You are rewarding yourself instead of waiting for someone else to. You are transforming your world by your rules and, by expressing your life creatively,
the unexpected thrives.

-Alys Fowler, Garden Anywhere

Is gardening, composting, preserving rewarding for you or do you do them for other reasons?

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One Year Ago

One year ago today I was canning pears. Every time I crack open a batch of these pears we have a good laugh.

This wasn’t an ordinary pear canning experience. Not too long after starting my batch of pears a huge storm came through and the lights went out. Since this happens often here in rural Ohio, we expected them to be back on in a few minutes or perhaps an hour at most. Little did we know, it would take days! If you didn’t catch the story of romantic canning by candlelight photos, make sure you check them out!

Any fun memories from your homestead?

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Gardening Quote: Thomas Jefferson

In 1793, Martha Randolph wrote her father from Monticello and complained of insect damage in the garden. Jefferson’s response summarized a basic philosophy of gardening:

“We will try this winter to cover our garden with a heavy coating of manure. When earth is rich it bids defiance to droughts, yields in abundance, and of the best quality. I suspect that the insects which have harassed you have been encouraged by the feebleness of your plants; and that has been produced by the lean state of the soil. We will attack them another year with joint efforts.”

I love this quote! He was a true gardener, growing the soil. This is exactly what I try to do here at Chiot’s Run, I try to build good soil so I can grow healthy plants and pretty much let nature run it’s course after that.

How do you handle pest problems?

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Pearsins or Something Like That

All those pears we picked at my mom’s house are finally getting made into pearsauce, pear butter and my personal favorite, pearsins. What are pearsins you ask? Well, dried pears of course.

This is one of the easiest ways to process pears. Simple wash, cut in half, core and then cut in half again and place skin side down on a rack in the oven. Set oven to 170 and dry until they’re leathery and dry, but not crispy. I sometimes dry them for 3-5 hours then turn off the oven for a few hours, and keep doing that until they’re finished. Periodically check them and remove the ones that are dry and store in a cool dry place.

What kinds of fruits do you like dried?

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Book Report: A Homemade Life

I read about A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table on another blog. I can’t remember which one, sorry. At first this book didn’t seem all that interesting to me and I almost didn’t read it, but I’m so glad I did.

It’s a wonderfully entertaining book, part cookbook, part biography. Each short chapter is comprised of a brief story about a specific dish some are quite funny others sentimental and sad.

It’s quite fascinating to read the history of the recipes and how each recipe became a part of Molly’s life. The recipes are also fantastic, I tried several of them and I’d highly recommend the pancakes! It’s the perfect book to keep on your nightstand so you can read a chapter or two each evening, although you many end up dreaming of delicious food all night long.

Have you read any good books lately that you’d recommend?

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