Feeding The Summer Hoards: BBQ

Some of the people who live on my homestead are vegetarian, while some are meat eaters. Some love fish or shrimp, some get queasy just thinking about it. A few will eat chicken, while others seem to want everything (including dessert) wrapped in bacon. During the summer when crowds of people from cities north, south and west of us come to the mountains for a little R&R, feeding them can be a rather large challenge.

Having purchased a nice new gas/charcoal smoker grill last year when the kitchen was being remodeled, I’ve become quite good at grilling various different meats, veggie alternatives and even vegetables themselves. No matter what kind of meat or alternatives are slated for dinner, I’ve discovered that THE most important ingredients for any such operation are the sauces and marinades. These need to be prepared well ahead of time, and some of what is going on the grill – like chicken breasts, all half-dried fish, peeled shrimp, etc. – needs to soak in marinade in the fridge for hours prior to firing up the grill.

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Red Russian Kale for Dinner (and Breakfast)

I harvested some red russian kale this past week. Planted it in late March along with collards, bunching onions, spinach, beets and salad greens, because March is the best time to plant such things here unless you’re going for a fall crop. So fresh and tender, red russian doesn’t need to have the spines removed like collards and the blue curly kales do. Must break out my solar dryer this weekend, we can’t possibly eat it all before it gets rangy, but I did find a trio of excellent recipes I’ve just got to offer.

I’ll write them as I made them, though we all know the best cooks tweak their recipes and ingredients here or there. So I certainly expect my readers to do the same, bearing in mind what their families like to eat.

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Homestead First Aid Kit: Mullein

I have offered a few posts over the years about this or that home remedy, tonics, tinctures and immune system boosters with the idea that staying healthy is a much better way to live than being dependent on allopathic medicine and too often harmful pharmaceutical drugs. But anyone who does a lot of work around the homestead – building projects, repairs, gardening, wildcrafting, etc. – is going to encounter the slings and arrows of basic life on the land and will need some ready means of attending to various cuts, scrapes, stings, sprains, bruises and such. Thus this series on the essential Homestead First Aid Kit will focus on the best remedies and treatments to be found (or grown) on the land.

I call it a “kit,” but homestead first aid is as much about knowing and doing in real time out on the land when the medicine cabinet isn’t handy as it is about having the right things in that medicine cabinet ‘kit’. And for the most common types of minor injuries people encounter in this lifestyle, I will begin with the most useful plant I know of: Mullein.

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Curses! (Morel Season) Foiled Again!

See those lovely, begging-to-be-harvested morel ‘shrooms in the photo? We eagerly await the first part of April every year here in the wilds of western North Carolina, just for these tasty beauties. But just as Morel Hunting Weekend was called, when dedicated mushroom hunters and able chefs were to converge on the homestead for the annual harvest…

…this happened. Yep. Yet another spring fire, scheduled at exactly the wrong time. Took me by surprise this year, as we’d been getting plenty of rain – it had rained at least an inch just the night before. But the odd spring ritual of train engineers riding the brakes uphill once again sent molten metal (from the brakes) flying into the tinder-dry old kudzu vines and the leaf-fall took off.

Now, the forest loves this kind of fire. It’s too wet to get burning really good, isn’t going to take any trees more than a few years old. It’ll just add some ash to the forest loam just before the underbrush and kudzu gets going, in another month everything will be so thickly green you won’t even be able to tell there was a fire. But alas, we got no morels this year.

Morels are wonderful freshly cooked, but they also dry nicely for use in gourmet dishes later on. But with none to feast on over the weekend of April 9-10 this year due to the fire, we had to make due with some portobellos. These actually worked well as the main ingredient, rubbed with sesame oil and grilled, but if you eat meat this same dish made with morels sliced lengthwise, or thinly sliced portobellos would work as well.

As the portobellos were grilled, in the grill-plate on the second level we put some chunky-cut red onions, green and yellow bell peppers and fresh strawberries, some fresh basil and sage and a short shake of good chili powder, all drizzled with sesame oil and tossed. To this you’d add the morels if you were lucky enough to have any. I know this sounds weird – who in their right mind would grill strawberries? But when it all gets grilled soft and is well tossed, this ‘salsa’ (chutney?) is unbelievably delicious spooned thickly onto the grilled portobellos, or it would be spectacular on lamb or slices of good roast beast if you’re into such things.

For a side we had grilled halved brussels sprouts tossed in olive oil and cracked pepper tossed with fresh raw peas from the garden, over a bed of noodles. I admit I got ‘extra’ strawberry salsa and mixed it in too…

So we got our gourmet meal out of the deal even though the fire got this year’s morels. Sigh. The goldens will be up soon, so all is not lost. Besides, the red kale is almost ready to start picking, beets, salad greens and bunching onions are up, potatoes are in, and the tomato seedlings are up in the window. I figure if I just keep digging, there will be food enough this year.

Something a Little Different: Homemade Pet Foods/Treats

As the situation in Fukushima, Japan is not getting any better – thus the bulk of my terraces aren’t yet tilled and crops not yet planted – I thought it might be a good time to talk about something different. Homemade pet foods and treats! Not just leftover tuna for the cats, or plate-licking for the pooches, but real, honest to goodness pet foods and treats you can make in the kitchen for your furry housemates.

The last couple of years have been tragically tainted with the scandal of Chinese protein imports containing more melamine (a plastic they make dinnerware out of) than actual protein. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of pets died painfully in the wake of the scandal, and babies who got melamine in their infant formula suffered and died as well. So for many animal-lovers, having some ready recipes for tasty, nutritionally balanced (even vegetarian!) pet foods and treats will be welcome.

On our homestead we have 1.5 dogs (our shepherd/lab mix Lady Starfish and McDuff the Border Collie who spends half the year with us), 4 cats and two birds. Someday we want chickens and goats, but we’re going to need some serious bear and fox proof fencing first. These are the pets. We feed the dogs and cats a diet exclusively of dry, higher end food. Through the years we’ve had various vets and other experts explain why this is a better diet than cans of by-products. Avoiding kidney problems in older animals and dental caries (not to mention ‘dog breath’) is good enough for me.

If you read the labels on various mid-range and high end ‘diets’ by major manufacturers, you will find what might be a surprising amount of grains and vegetables. Even though dogs and cats are indeed carnivores, they – dogs much more importantly than cats – need some plant foods as well. Most pet owners know that their animals will eat dinner leftovers with relish and grass/weeds when they’re feeling ill, but it’s good to know what kinds of grains and vegetables are best digested. And what kinds of foods to strictly avoid. Some of the recipes below give a good indication of that.

First, here are some good links to recipe and sharing sites that offer a variety of foods, snacks and other nifty pet things (like dog shampoo, toys, cat litter and more) that you can produce at the homestead.

Savvy Homemade: Pet Food, Treats and More
Healthy Recipes for Pets
Home Cooked Pet Diets

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Finally! The Last of the Pumpkins

Having battled out of control pumpkin vines all summer, I’m glad to report that the last of the pumpkin harvest is finally complete. It rained so much that several rotted on the ground, they’ve been tossed into the compost bin from which I expect next year’s greedy vines will take off. I’d planted an heirloom variety of pie-size pumpkins, not realizing that everywhere there was a leaf there would root a whole new vine. Thus the minimal planting of only 4 vines ended up literally everywhere! It grew over the mints and into the brick pathway. It grew through the roses and tried to cover the grapes. It grew out into the 3rd goal disc golf fairway and down the hill towards the bottomland drop-off. I was literally lopping off new vines daily just to keep some control (and some of my other crops)! Since the compost bin is on the fairway side of the garden, I’m going to go ahead and let the pumpkins have it next year.

Now, processing pumpkins – even pie-size pumpkins of 5 pounds or less – is an arduous task taking lots of time and energy. I spread it out over a couple of weeks, once haviing brought them inside when the temperature dropped to freezing. Once frost is upon them they go fast. Protected from frost in a dry, cool basement or root cellar, they’ll keep for months. So while it’s possible to avoid all that processing by spreadiing it out over the entire winter one pumpkin at a time, pumpkin simply doesn’t last long enough around this homestead to justify not doing it all at once well before the holiday season. I’ve got grandkids who can each eat an entire pie at a single sitting, and grown relatives who fully expect their pumpkin/hickory nut bread along with the fudge and cookies in December (my standard Christmas gifting). One thing you never want to do is find yourself processing a pumpkin at the same time you’re baking cookies/bread and making fudge. You’ll end up not sleeping for days…

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Concocting a Winter Vita-Tonic

Today it is officially Autumn, my personal favorite season (for the colors and smells and crisp, clear air). Unfortunately, this year it’s been so cool and wet that we basically had no summer. The tomatoes turned black and died, pumpkins are rotting in the field, weeds have taken over and it’s been weeks since we’ve seen the sun.

But now is the time to prepare for winter, beyond just putting up the harvest. We managed to get the H1N1 flu right after school started, but the immune-strengthening tea I’d previously gathered and dried worked quite well to keep it relatively mild. Was only abed for a day, which is less than with any other flu I’ve ever had. It does seem to go straight to bronchi and lungs, though, so I’m glad I was prepared. I’d encourage everyone to either gather and dry the recipe’s herbs now, or get some from a local (and organic) supplier and have it ready to brew. It tastes good enough to drink hot or cold just for fun, and certainly won’t hurt you if you do!

The winter comes with its own issues for keeping yourself healthy. There’s a dramatic lack of sunshine – thus a shortage of vitamin D – and cold weather’s general ill effects on a healthy immune system. There’s also a notable lack of fresh foods (at least, those not from some South American country you’d rather avoid), and a steady diet of grains and processed or preserved foods will often come up short on nutrients that would help keep your family going. Thus as soon as it stops raining cats and dogs here on the ‘stead, I’m planning to gather and process the ingredients for a winter tonic packed with goodies. Only four ingredients (you can always add more, of course), and some local organic apple cider vinegar.

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Home Dried Pumpkin Crackers

My grandson would eat pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie every day of his life if he had his d’ruthers, so here’s the recipe for the pumpkin crackers I’m making now in my newfound food drying frenzy. From a crop of mini-pumpkins that took over three whole terraces of the garden (I only planted 4!) before I started cutting them back so I could get to the compost bin and tomatoes.

3 cups pumpkin puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ground mixed acorns and pumpkin seeds
* [can add flax and/or sesame seeds as desired, whole, toasted]
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground nutmeg

Now, 3 cups of pumpkin puree is about what you get out of a single mini pumpkin. If you’re growing giants, good luck (you can eat pumpkin bread and pie every day for a year from just one of those). Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds into a colander, quarter and put into an oven roasting pan with about an inch of water. Bake at 350º until soft. While the oven’s on, roast the cleaned and rinsed seeds on a baking sheet, stirring every 5 minutes to roast evenly (don’t burn). The pumpkin will be done in about 30-40 minutes.

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A Delicious, Immune-Strengthening Herbal Tea

Concerns about how the fall and winter are going to be shaping up with the “Novel H1N1″ version of swine/avian/1918 human flu is going to turn out. It’s already full-fledged pandemic, is less deadly so far outside of Mexico than originally feared, but is unstoppable and there is no effective vaccine on the horizon. It could do an instant replay of the 1918 pandemic, from which the human DNA elements of this novel strain are derived, meaning it will incubate as not-too-deadly all summer, then come back when the seasons turn to wipe out tens of millions.

That’s not guaranteed, of course. It could as easily piddle out and mutate itself into something not even infectious. Yet so far, that isn’t apparent either. I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry, so I’ve gone looking for the most effective natural ingredients for an immune-booster with likely antiviral properties that will also make a good day-drink just because it tastes good and is good for you generally. For regular cold viruses, bronchial/lung inflammations, sore throats, coughs, fevers, chills, etc. High in vitamins and minerals and antioxidants, plus some indications of anti-tumor agents.

Now, medicinal claims for natural herbs and such are strictly illegal per the FDA these days, so take it all with a grain of salt. Yet at the same time, many traditional herbal remedies have been and are being studied because they do appear to be effective. Many modern medicines are based upon traditional herbal remedies, even if they’re just the alkaloids artificially synthesized. First thing I did was go Googling for herbal “antivirals.”

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The Every-Six-Month Soap Job

Awhile back I wrote about making your own soaps, and how much fun that can be even though it’s a lot of work. Besides, who are we dedicated homesteaders if we’re not people who actually enjoy working around our homesteads and doing for ourselves? It’s officially late October now, which means I’ve got a different soap job to do at my homestead.

I do this soap job every spring and fall, mostly just because I can. Besides, it saves my hard-strapped household of four adult-sized humans about $120 every six months on a single necessary household item, even after the not too high costs of ingredients and processing. Since some of the ingredients are also used to make bathroom and kitchen scouring powders, good ant and mouse repellants, and insect sting/burn/rash treatment, I figure the savings to the homestead overall for a year is pretty close to $300.00. That’s nothing to sneeze at, even though my labor is donated free!

This soap job is all about getting our clothes clean. Yes, I do way too much laundry – I still think my daughter and grandson pull clothes out of the drawers or off the shelves and toss them into the dirty clothes hamper if it’s not what they want to wear today instead of refolding and putting them back where they belong. They were gone out of state all of August and September and I didn’t wash more than three loads a week for just hubby and I. But I can’t seem to catch them at it, so I just do the washing (and the drying, and the folding, and the putting away…). It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it!

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