Abundance . . . Zucchini and more

“The creatures that inhabit this earth - be they human beings or animal - are here to contribute, each in its own particular way, to the beauty and prosperity of the world. Many creatures have toiled singularly or jointly to make our lives comfortable.  The food we eat, the clothes we wear, have not just dropped from the sky.  Many creatures have labored to produce them. That is why we should be grateful to all our fellow creatures.” Dali Lama

Our sweet, warm Six toiling to keep MuRefuge secure.

Anyone who has grown zucchini, whether hybrid or heirloom, knows well how hard this plant toils to give us an abundance of food. 

A toiling pollinator inside a zucchini flower.

The particular variety that we enjoy here at MuRefuge is an Italian heirloom which has a luscious flavor even when the size is pretty large.

Just picked for Fresh Herb and Zucchini Fritters.
Check out the recipe below.

These heirloom plants are quite large. I usually plant 7 seeds in a smallish area, less than foot diameter, pulling out the 3 or 4 least healthy looking plants when they are a few inches high.

The remaining 3 or 4 plants take over a half or more of
one of the largest raised beds along with the walkway
around the end of that bed.

Fresh Herb and Zucchini Fritters

This simply delish recipe will feed 2 generously as a main course.

Serve plain or with yogurt, herbed organic kefir cheese (Cathie’s 

preference), homemade ketsup (Dwight’s favorite addition).

• 1 1/2 pound freshly picked Italian heirloom zucchini
• 2 duck eggs, lightly beaten (of course, chicken eggs can be substituted)
• 1/2 C. dried bread crumbs (I dry and pulverize the ends of sprouted bread)

more or less:

• 1/2 C. finely chopped chives
• 1/2 C. Italian ‘Gigante’ flat leaved parsley, chopped
• 1/4 C. fresh Basil or 1 Tbs. fresh Marjoram, chopped
• 1 tsp. fresh peppermint, chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Grate the Zucchini and squeeze out any excess water. Mix all the other ingredients together in a large bowl, then mix in the Zucchini. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup filled with the batter, drop 4 scoops into a hot cast iron skillet prepared with a small amount of organic ghee and organic olive oil. Press each scoop down with a spatula to make the fritters.  Cook one side until browned to your liking, turn and brown the remaining side. Serve immediately.

Recently made Zucchini Cake

Zucchini Cake

Mix well together in medium bowl:

• 3 C. sprouted flour 
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 T. (YES! 2 tablespoons) ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground mace
• 1 tsp. ground coriander seeds

In large mixing bowl cream with a hand held mixer:

• 1 C. room temperature organic, unsalted butter. Then add

• 1 C. organic maple sugar, mixing 1/4 C. at a time

Beat until light, about 5 minutes

Add 4 duck eggs, one at at time, beating well after each

Add 1 T. organic vanilla, beat well.

Now add sprouted flour mixture, beat well.

Then fold in 4 C. coarsely grated zucchini.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and lightly apply organic 

ghee to 4 C. glass bunt pan.  The above mixture will

be fairly thick; ladle into bunt pan.  Bake for 1 hour

and check doneness with a toothpick. Remove from the

oven when toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes

before removing from bunt pan.  Cool completely.  May

be served for breakfast with organic kefir cheese or for

dessert frosted with organic butter, maple sugar, vanilla

and kefir cheese (adjust amounts for your own taste or preference). 

Blooming lemon verbena

Close up of lemon verbena

Not so long ago a large bundle of lemon verbena was picked and delivered to Screamin’ Mimi’s.  I am told ice cream will be available soon for purchase. While enjoying this heavenly treat remember to

Books and Boxes

Flicker Box

You should have seen Dwight and I putting this flicker box up in the oak tree!  This box is big and heavy since it is full of wood chips which Flickers like to remove before building their nests inside.  A year ago we installed this box on the Southeast corner of our house.  We took it down this Summer when all the work was done on the outside of our house.  When Dwight opened the box to clean it out, he found the beginnings of a Flicker nest, then obviously Starlings chased the pair away and built their own nest, hatching two broods.  Starlings are not my favorite birds.  Hopefully this mating season a pair of Flickers will choose this box as their nesting sight AND Starlings will not move in!

Recipe box

Leeks and celeriac root growing synergistically -
more about this in an upcoming post

The essential ingredient for Celeriac Salad Remouldade
Recipe follows:

•  One large organic celery root (celeriac root),  about 1 1/4 #

Washed unpeeled celeriac root

Peeled celeriac root

• 6 T. organic kefir milk
• 6 T. homemade, organic mayonnaise (recipe below)
• 3 T. organic Dijon mustard
• 4 T. chopped fresh, organic parsley (we like Italian leaf)
• 4 T. finely chopped fresh, organic chives
• 3. T.finely chopped fresh, organic onion

Mix the last 6 ingredients in a large bowl.  Grate the celeriac root in a food processor, then add it to the large bowl, mixing well.  Allowing the salad to sit at room temperature for about an hour melds the flavors together for a more flavorful addition to any Winter meal.

Homemade mayonnaise

Into the glass container of an electric blender, drop 1 egg (of course, we use duck) and whirl for 30 seconds.  Add 1 tsp. organic ground mustard and 1/2 tsp. sea salt, whirl.  While the blender is whirling slowly, very slowly ! drizzle organic virgin olive oil.  After all of the oil has been added then add the juice of 1 organic Meyers lemon quickly. This will make about 1 1/2 C. mayo which will last if refrigerated for about a month.

A smattering of the BOOKS I read during 2011 on

Awakening:

An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days by Susan Wittig Albert

A wonderful book of days which I read on the matching dates in 2011.   I was fascinated to read and watch Susan’s awakening to the blight of the Mother Earth caused by none other than we humans. A voracious reader, as well as an author, she shares the many books she read during 2008, the “extraordinary” year of possibly a woman or black as our next president.  For an ongoing update from Susan you can access her blog http://susanalbert.typepad.com/lifescapes/

Baseball:

Flip Flop Fly Ball: an Infograhic Baseball Adventure by Craig Robinson was loaned to me by Rose’s Auntie T, aka Tanis, “baseball buddy” and extraordinarily good friend.  Tanis likes to support independent book stores so while frequenting one in Sonoma, this book “fell off the shelf into her hands” and she brought it home. I knew nada about infographics. This book was a wonderfully informative baseball book as well as richly illustrating the new to me word, infographic.

It Takes More than Balls: the Savvy Girls’ Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Baseball by Deidre Silva and Jackie Koney both from Seattle and Mariners’ fans.  This book is wonderfully funny, irreverent as well as informative.

Food:

Placer County Real Food from Farmers Markets: Recipes and Menus for Every Week of the Year by Joanne Neft with Laura Kenny.  This book which “fell off the shelf into my hands” is full of simple, wonderfully flavorful recipes made with fresh, in season, local produce from Placer County, California, Farmers Markets.  A book to treasure for anyone who raises their own food OR buys locally from their Farmer Markets.

Fun and Laughter:

Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven by Fanny Flagg

A Redbird Christmas also by Fanny Flagg  In fact most any book this author writes is funny, bringing forth much mirth. This very sweet Christmas story I read this past Christmas Day as Dwight and Rose were napping.

Mother Earth:

The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

I have read all of her books in the Earth Children Series, enthralled by each one as though sitting on my Gramp’s lap as he told me similar stories in my early childhood. 

30,000 Years of Art: The story of human creativity across time and space The first few pictures in this tome are of the painted caves Jean M. Auel  presents as the backdrop for her latest and last in her Earth’s Children Series.

The Butterfly’s Daughter, a novel by Mary Alice Monroe in which she uses the Monarch’s cycle as a metaphor in human’s lives.

Please share you favorite books read this past year in "Post a Comment" while you 

Carpenter Bees and Pink Pearl Apples

A few days ago during our Fifth Season heat wave I hung a load of clothes out on the clothesline in the late afternoon to dry overnight.  The following day I gathered the dried clothes off the line.  Once inside beginning to fold up the clothes,  I heard a buzzing sound coming from inside a pair of jeans just removed from the clothesline.  Then I noticed four very large what looked like bumble bees flying around with buzzing continuing from the pair of jeans.  After about fifteen minutes of removing the flying insects outside and shaking the buzzing from the pair of jeans, I moved to the Bugs of Northern California by John Acorn, illustrations by Ian Sheldon in search of identifying these insects. On page 87 I found a picture of what I had just seen in bedroom . . . Carpenter Bees often misidentified as "big, black Bumble Bees."  This reference goes onto to explain these insects burrow into wood to make their nests,  but a pair of blue jeans?????


I thought Carpenter Bees were small.  I am so happy to have come face to face, so to speak, with real live Carpenter Bees!

Rose

Several weeks ago I drove with Rose to Pt. Reyes Station to pick Pink Pearls from my baseball buddy and dear friend's large apple tree.  Here at MuRefuge the two 10 year old Pink Pearl Apple trees' roots were eaten by gophers leaving nothing but listing stakes. The newly planted replacement trees are not yet producing enough apples to make a Winter's supply of applesauce.  A lovely excuse to visit Rose's Auntie T's magical place.  


Pearly colored skin and luscious marbled dark pink flesh identify this just right apple for pink applesauce.

No other word but abundance can describe what we picked and brought back to MuRefuge for our enjoyment.

The following day all these extraordinarily beautiful apples, my very favorite apple, this Pink Pearl, were made into applesauce. 

These quart jars were added to the pantry for Winter use.

Pink Pearl Applecake

• 3 C. organic sprouted flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 T. organic ground cinnamon
• 4 organic duck eggs                                                              
• 1 C. organic maple sugar
• 1 C. organic ghee
• 2/3 quart Pink Pearl Applesauce
• 1/2 C. water or organic Kefir milk
• 1 C. organic chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease with organic ghee a 9" by 13" cake pan, set aside.  In large mixing bowl add all dry ingredients and wisk.  In quart glass measuring cup add ghee and sugar, beating well with hand mixer until the sugar has dissolved, then add eggs, one at a time until well beaten.  Make well in the dry ingredients into which pour the egg mixture and applesauce, nuts too if you have chosen to include them in your cake.  Mix well and pour into greased cake pan.  Spinkle with  cinnamon and maple sugar (1:4 ratio) and set in oven to bake for 35" to 45" when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes clean.  I often serve this for breakfast with the remainder of the quart of Pink Pearl Applesauce warmed and pour over each individual piece.  This will provide 10 generous servings.

Please add your comments below on your experiences with beneficial insects, food preservation or heirloom apple cultivation.  Your experiences with gophers would be an addition, as well.

KEEP LAUGHING