Archive for June, 2010

The Green Season

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

This has been the perfect year to grow lettuces. It was an early spring that warmed the soil and the hot afternoons have been broken up by cool rain at night – just like Camelot, as my mother used to say. I grow salad ingredients close to the house. They are convenient to pick at the last minute before dinner and the location makes it less tempting to the deer.  So far.

I plant the lettuces very thickly to discourage weeds and keep the roots shaded. The picture above features Red Salad Bowl (very aptly named, in the bowl), Fedco’s mesclun mix in the front of the raised bed and Bull’s Blood beet greens in the back. My dooryard can be hot on a sunny afternoon, so the bed below is shaded by a young “Good Barn” sambucus.

Greens also make a good cover for larger and slower-maturing plants like these King Siegfried leeks. We have harvested quite a few heads of “Flashy Green” lettuce from this bed and I plan to replant this weekend with seedlings from the hoop house. I try to start a new batch every week to keep the rotation going.

While I often stop and consider whether growing my own produce is cost efficient, lettuce is always a no-brainer. One eighty cent “A” sized package from Fedco produces a season of nutrition with very little effort on the part of the gardener. Five packets of different varieties extend the season to the absolute limit with types that will grow (under mulch) until Thanksgiving and flavors to please everyone in the family.  Go green!

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Posted in gardening, horticulture, vegetable garden | No Comments »

“Decked Out” for the MDI Skate Park Association

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

My contribution to the August 12 auction of art work on skateboards as a fundraiser for a free skate park in Bar Harbor.

Dude. Totally.

Deck front

Deck back

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Pruning, simplified

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

With apologies to Lewis Hill, and his wonderful book.

I have 21 fruit trees scattered over two acres. Young or old, no matter what the type or variety, they all need to be pruned to fully realize their potential. Abandoned apple orchards line the highways in some parts of Maine, where cider was an economic force till the great Baldwin freeze of 1890. These trees have grown into gnarled and lichen covered thickets that bear no fruit and die from the inside out – so congested with their own growth that light never reaches the inner branches. Proper pruning allows light to reach every leaf, conserves the energy and flow of sap to productive branches, increases air circulation to discourage mildew and fungus development and keeps the fruit within reach of the gardener.

This weekend I took on the Seckel pear tree in the dooryard. Mature specimens of this variety can reach 50′ – although probably not in Maine. The tree is growing under my power lines so I am very conscientious about pruning this particular specimen.

You’ll need a good pair of pruning shears and a whet stone, a fine toothed tree saw, a pair of loppers and a “reach pruner”. I really, truly try to avoid getting on a ladder, but I do own an aluminum 8′ step ladder for trees that have lost control. Remember not to cut the branch down to the very end – leave the “collar” behind.

Here are the rules:

1. Remove dead or damaged branches

2. Remove branches that cross another branch or the trunk

3. Remove branches that grow straight up. You want a level or even downward slope

4. Shorten the remaining branches to the length required, but cut just above a leaf that is facing the way you want the branch to grow.

5. Stand back and look at the tree. Does it need to be shaped in any particular way? Cutting back hard encourages growth (although that doesn’t seem intuitive). Prune harder in the direction you want the tree to grow.

6. Pick up all the prunings. Dispose of them far from your trees, or bag or burn them. Leaving dead bits lying around encourages pests and fungus.

7. One additional rule that is all mine: if a part of the tree is too complicated to figure out this year, it will only be more complicated a year from now. See if you can cut that part out.

Get a good book on pruning fruit trees for your area. This is a field that folks before us have put in a great deal of time and effort to figure out – take advantage! And remember to sharpen your tools.

These photos are not very clear in a “branch by branch” fashion, but they do show the difference in size – before and after.

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New rock

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Our neighbors across the road are moving. They’ve been wonderful neighbors and we’ll miss them, but as it happens their new home is only 10 minutes away. I don’t get out much, but I think I can still manage to visit. And they’ve promised to come back to Trick or Treat.

Like many households, they are distributing some of their belongings before they move. Unlike lots of folks, they have rocks. Big rocks, all over the lower driveway and they are taking some with them to the new place, and they gave one to us. It is a thing of beauty – 6′ x 2′ by 2′, grey with a few lichen spots and partly cut. S. told me the Japanese term for part smooth/part natural surface, and I’ve forgotten it already. Fortunately, you don’t need to know the word to appreciate the effect.

The New Rock sits partially across the straight-line access to the house, in line with the south window bay. The driveway used to come right up to the house – or rather, the front yard was an empty stretch of fill from nearby Lamoine that one could drive over.  Somehow that open avenue has remained even as the space was populated with peach and pear trees, vegetable beds and a hoop house. This is a “before” photo of the front of the house.

This is the big truck that picked up the stone and dropped it (carefully) here. That’s a big truck.

Here’s the after photo with the stone in place. Rock solid, as they say.

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Posted in gardening, the neighborhood | 1 Comment »

Happy Father’s Day, D.A.B.

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

. . from the very serious kid on your left arm.

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Everybody on to the porch. . .

Friday, June 18th, 2010

To cool off!

The thermometer on the front of the house hit 98 F today, and the max/min in the hoop house is pegged at 128 and 37. Two of my hives are new this spring and still filling up but the big hive needed an army of tiny wings out front, funneling a breeze through the comb. I imagine it also helps evaporate water from the honey in open cells.

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Mmmmm Chocolate Cobbler

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Wikipedia has a lovely entry on cobbler:

Cobbler is a traditional dish in both the United States and the United Kingdom, although the meaning of the term is quite different in each country. In the United States, it is usually a dessert consisting of a fruit filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a rolled pastry dough, then baked in an oven. In the United Kingdom it is usually a savoury meat dish, typically a lamb casserole, which is covered with a savoury scone-like topping—each scone (or biscuit) forming a separable cobbler. Fruit-based versions are also increasingly popular in the United Kingdom—although they still retain the separate cobbler (or biscuit) topping of the meat version—and savoury or meat versions are not unknown in the United States.

Chocolate cobbler is an old Maine dish that I had previously only seen in restaurants along the coast. I  couldn’t imagine the recipe that would make this combination of cake – crust – softness but today I traded a few oatmeal raisin cookies for a co-worker’s notes from her Mom and, voila!

Chocolate Cobbler!

1 C all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt

7 Tbs cocoa – divided and  1 1/4 C white sugar divided

1/2 C milk, 1/3 C melted butter, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 C brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 C hot tap water

Preheat oven to 350.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and 3 Tbs of the cocoa and 3/4 C of the white sugar. Reserve the remaining cocoa and sugar.

Stir in the milk, melted butter and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture into an ungreased 8 x 8 baking dish. In a separate small bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 C white sugar, the brown sugar and remaining 4 Tbs of cocoa. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter.

Now, here’s where it gets weird: pour the hot tap water over the top and DON’T STIR!

Bake for 40 minutes, or until the center is set and doesn’t “jiggle”.

Serve warm (the top will be a goey sauce) or cooled. We like it cool and fairly solid, served with strawberries. This is a wonderful treat.

The Wikipedia entry also includes my all-time favorite cookbook title: Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking Adapted to Persons of Moderate and Small Means. I can’t wait to find a copy.

Cobbler is a traditional dish in both the United States and the United Kingdom, although the meaning of the term is quite different in each country. In the United States, it is usually a dessert consisting of a fruit filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a rolled pastry dough, then baked in an oven. In the United Kingdom it is usually a savoury meat dish, typically a lamb casserole, which is covered with a savoury scone-like topping—each scone (or biscuit) forming a separable cobbler. Fruit-based versions are also increasingly popular in the United Kingdom—although they still retain the separate cobbler (or biscuit) topping of the meat version—and savoury or meat versions are not unknown in the United States.

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Posted in Cooking, dessert, family, recipe | 2 Comments »

Computer dinner

Friday, June 11th, 2010

When we can, we eat dinner together as a family. The number varies with the addition of guests stopping by a supper time and the subtraction of our son away at college, but the plates and napkins, flatware and fruit bowl centerpiece are a constant – except for the exceptions. On those nights when everyone is a little distracted and the schedule is off and it’s just us – we have computer dinner.

Computer dinner requires something fast and easy to prepare and clean up. If there’s going to be an informal dinner it should also be a break for the cook.  Tonight I chose our vegetarian version of Spanish Rice. Brace yourself, this is a narrative recipe:

To serve about 3

Make about 2 C of white rice. I use a rice cooker. I find that brown rice turns an unfortunate color when you add the tomatoes, but maybe that’s just me.

Add 2 Tbs olive oil to a large frying pan and saute 1/2 a large onion, 1/2 C celery and, if your household considers bacon to be a vegetable, about 1/4 C chopped bacon slices. Um, we’re Baconarians? Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is browned. Stir in 1/2 tsp cumin (optional). Add 1/4 C white wine and deglace. Add the rice and mash around with the back of a wooden spoon until it incorporates the olive oil and veggies, then add a can of Ro*Tel, and a small can of kidney beans. Lower heat and cook for a few minutes until every thing is heated through. Add salt if you didn’t use bacon.  We like to grate a little cheddar cheese over the top, and serve with green salad and corn tortilla strips. I have been known to squeeze a lime wedge over the whole mess, when I had one handy.

This is a dependable, easy meal that won’t spill all over anyone’s keyboard. For maximum effect, make sure you’re all in the same room so you can share random tidbits of information (hello, Joshua Slocum’s entry on Wikipedia) or listen to your son strategize with four of his closest long-distance best friends.

These are the best of times.

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Posted in Cooking, family, main dish, recipe | 1 Comment »

Do you have $845,000.00?

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

And would you like to own a barber shop? Ray’s is for sale in the village. Built in 1887, the combination plumbing office and barber shop has been a fixture for decades. The building has four rental units plus the two shops, and at 3/4 of a million dollars is the least expensive commercial property available on the island – which just boggles the mind. Full of character it might be, but at $845,000.00 I think it’s probably a “tear-down” on Main St. We have plenty of salons on MDI, but only one honest-to-buzz-cut barber shop. I’m going to miss it when it’s gone.

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Posted in the neighborhood, urban landscape | No Comments »

Osmundastrum cinnamomeum

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Almost 2″ of rain has fallen here over the last 7 days and the Cinnamon Ferns are almost as tall as I am. I know you can buy these ferns potted, but I have no idea what sort of culture they would need to be transplanted. The one in the picture is growing on the shoulder of our gravel driveway and there are hundreds of them in the swamp beyond. I never thought I’d consider myself lucky to live next to a swamp, but it has proved to be a beautiful and complex habitat in all seasons.

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