DIY almanac: Fresh berry and oat tart

I love berry season! Yum, these past few weeks I've been enjoying handfuls of plump and sweet Rainer and Bing Cherries and juicy strawberries from the farmers market, and raspberries picked plum off the canes in my backyard. This afternoon I felt inspired to bake a pie, but as I was out picking raspberries (and snarfing every third berry), I thought it'd be a shame to bake my berries and rob them of their fresh zing. With just a little bit of sugar and a crumbly oat crust, I tried to make these berries sing! Here's my super easy fresh berry and oat tart recipe:

Ingredients:

2-3 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup almond meal (optional but definitely adds to the flavor)

1/4 cup butter (I used Earth Balance and it turned out great!)

A pinch of salt

4 tablespoons of sugar or honey (2 for the crust and 2 to sprinkle over your fruit)

An assortment of berries and cherries, pitted, washed and sliced (at least 3 pints worth)

Preheat your oven around 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a baking pan or pie dish.

Using a food processor, process your oats into a fine meal and then mix all remaining dry ingredients (save for 2 tablespoons of sugar) in a bowl with a pastry blender until you achieve a nice crumbly crust. If you want to make your life super easy, forgo the pastry blender and mixing bowl and  process the oats, optional almond meal, butter, pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar all together until a crumbly soft dough develops. If you don't have a food processor, you could probably just use oats straight up for more of a granola-like crust. Anyway, once your dough is formed, press it evenly into the bottom and up the sides of your greased baking pan. Bake the crust for about 20 minutes, keeping an eye on it. When your crust is golden brown, bring it on out of the oven and let it cool for at least 15 minutes. Then, pour your fresh berries over the crust and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Enjoy and keep chilled. I bet serving this with whipped cream or creme fraiche would take it over the top. So good!

our homestead: scenes from my walk this evening

Today made for a very sunny day, followed by a beautiful evening and sunset. I had the chance to take my dog, Ozzy, out to one of my favorite spots to go for a late summer's walk: the levy that runs along the river. I have a special way to get here. The entrance is a bit of a local secret...you have to drive all the way to the end of a rural road, past a cemetery full of born-in-the-1800s tombstones and then hang a sharp left to find it. Once you get out on the levy, you cross fields of marshlands full of grasses, wild flowers, snags, giant thistles, willow trees and all sorts of critters. Today I spotted a giant toad, several ducks, a beaver and its dam, and an otter hopping into the river from the bank across from me. In times of heavy rain, these marshlands are meant to hold excess river water to help prevent flooding in the valley. The further you walk, the quieter your surroundings become until you find some true peace.

our homestead: scenes from my walk this morning

It was a warm and balmy, overcasted morning, so I decided to take my dog, Ozzy, out for walk down the slough to the river. Above are a few quick pictures I took of the area. The first is of my neighbor's pumpkin patch, full of big orange blossoms (these will later become big ol' pumpkins). The second photo is my other neighbor's field, rolled up into hay bales. Then, the last is the promise of a very good blackberry season (the bushes that line the roadside are littered in green berries). I'm very grateful to live out here. It's so peaceful.

DIY almanac: roasted zucchini and stuffed squash blossoms

I'm a little bumned to admit that the rabbits and slugs got to my zucchini starts this season. Pretty shocking since zucchini is so easy to grow. I had my second garden patch too far down the hill I suppose, where these garden fiends could run rampant and undetected, nibbling and munching away to their heart's content. Luckily, I sell produce for a farmer who always has the coolest crops, so I can always get my favorite veggies from him. One of the specialties that he brings along are his baby zucchini squash with their blossoms still attached. The zucchini is tender and sweet and roasts up very quickly and their big, orange blossoms can be stuffed and made into an ambrosial treat. These baby squash can be found now, out in your garden if you have them growing (you can also use pumpkin blossoms), or you might find them at a farmers market. Here's how I like to prepare them for a nice, summer meal:

Roasted Baby Zucchini with Parmesan and Pepper

Ingredients

A dozen baby zucchini

A big handful of parmesan

Black pepper to taste

1 to 2 caps of olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice zucchinis in half and arrange, belly-up, on a roasting pan or cookie sheet. Evenly drizzle the oil over them, then generously sprinkle with parmesan and pepper. Roast in the oven while you prep the squash blossoms, or until the cheese is a golden brown. You can also broil the baby zucchini at the last minute to really amp up the carmelization of the cheese.

Stuffed and Tempured Squash Blossoms

Ingredients

A dozen squash blossoms

1 small package of chevre goat cheese or a soft cheese of your choice

1 small chopped sweet onion

1 to 2 tablespoons of cream or milk

Optional stuffing: chopped walnuts or pinenuts, green onions or basil

2 cups canola oil

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cups sparkling water

Salt, to taste

Prepare a plate with a piece of paper towel or brown paper (much like you would for making bacon). Mix the cheese, cream, onion and any other stuffing additives in a small bowl. Gently untwist the blossoms and stuff with the cheese mixture, either using a small spoon or a pastry piper (you can also cut a corner off a ziploc bag if you don't have a piper). Re-twist the blossoms shut. Start heating the canola oil in a sauce pot over medium-high heat until you start to see little traces or legs in the oil. You don't want it to be too hot though-no boiling or smoking! Lightly mix the flour, sparkling water and salt in a bowl, then start coating the squash blossoms one by one and then drop them in the oil until their batter becomes light, puffy and a little bit golden on all sides. Using a slotted spoon, remove each blossom and allow them to rest on the plate with the paper towel. Enjoy with your roasted baby zucchini and a glass of lemonade.

DIY almanac: what to plant in the garden in July

July is a very busy and very rewarding month for vegetable gardening. This year we've had a long, cold spring but I'm hoping that summer is here at last. According to the forecast we're supposed to have 10 straight days of sunshine, so I've been working hard outside to take full advantage of the light, doing more intensive-weeding, feeding my already established plants and sowing lots of seeds (mainly beans and winter squash) in preparation for growth. It's funny because every time we have a sunny day I swear my Hop vines grow half a foot! Along with the work I've been enjoying lots of homegrown peas, potatoes, cucumbers, kale, turnips, early onions and more at my dinner table.

Anyway, a big part of planning for July planting is considering when the next major killing frost will be and how this compares to the length of time it will take for vegetables to mature (usually noted on seed packets in days unless you've memorized the planting rhythms). Last year, the earliest frost we had was in late October...I remember this because I made the mistake of leaving some of my harvested sugar pie pumpkins out on the porch. The frost hit them and they became mushy. Sad story. At least this was after I had had the chance to make a few batches of pumpkin chili, a pie, bread and "pumpkins stuffed with everything good" (a recipe I heard on NPR), so I did get to enjoy most of them.

Another planting consideration to make is to anticipate what kind of weather we'll have from July through October. Most vegetables can be planted and grown now, but some might not do as well with the raising temperatures. Potatoes, for instance, prefer a long, cold start and are usually best planted around the end of March. I've heard of folks having some success planting them late, but I suspect that yields won't be as much as they could be. However, one should consider that we've had a funky spring, so maybe planting potatoes now could be like a game of catch-up. Peas are another crop that are usually planted in early spring. I have heard of people planting a second crop for fall. Yields, again, might not be as good as the prior crop, but if anything, you're building up the nitrogen in your planting space and controlling weed growth, so the peas are acting like a green manure. Pea vines are also delicious sauteed in a hot pan. If lettuces, spinach, and arugula get too hot, they'll bolt (go to seed), but it's good to throw them in the garden anyway. I usually try to put them on the shadier side of my garden, or plant them as living "row covers" between plants like squash and corn.

In early July you'll want to plant the following:

-beans! get them in now

-corn (it's a little later to plant corn, but we have had a weird spring and some local farmers have had to replant their corn too)

-winter squash (pumpkins, delicata, acorn, spaghetti...I'm holding sugar pie pumpkin seeds in the photo above)

-second-crops of summer squash (like zucchini, patty pan, crookneck, etc)

-salad greens, chard

-root crops like beets, carrots and parsnips

In mid July you'll want to plant the following:

-cabbage family members like kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli and kale for overwintering (a touch of frost makes them taste extra sweet)

-arugula, spinach