It’s the month of new beginnings. The decorations are all put away and snow has covered the garden like a blanket for a cold night. For me, it’s a time for dreaming, new plans and ideas. It’s the month my youngest and I were born. After the holiday’s everyone is tired and broke, so I’ve learned to celebrate January by imagining what I’d like this next year of our lives to look like. What new skills can I learn? What practical things can I do to improve the quality of our family, our business, my garden? I want my garden to produce not only beautiful, healthy plants, but useful as well. I live on 1 acre that is filled with large mature white pines and oaks. It is lovely and a sanctuary for many varieties of birds, which I adore, but it’s made gardening a real challenge. The past 20 years were spent tending rich, balanced soil in full sun, which I took for granted. Now, at best I receive 5 hours of filtered sun in spots here and there, where I’ve tucked in herbs, perennials and shrubs to create color. I’ve attempted a few heirloom tomatoes in the sunniest spots, with less than ideal results. By the time they reach maturity, the vines become leggy from reaching for the sun and the fruit begins to blacken on the bottom. Very discouraging for a person who used to start 200 heirloom tomatoes from seed and spend the entire fall cooking and canning. I have yet to find a tomato at the market that taste’s as good as the ones I grew and buying heirlooms by the bushel tends to get pricey.
So a new vision for 2010 for me is to pray that the cottage law will pass in Michigan and I can begin my baking business. I’ve done a little on the side for years and have come up with a few items that are unique and delicious that I know customers would love. I’m just waiting for the right time and place to do it. Other states are much more lenient when it comes to home baking, jams and jellies, foods that are less likely to cause problems. So call your legislator and ask them to pass HR5280 http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009-2010/billintroduced/House/pdf/2009-HIB-5280.pdf, which would allow home bakers to sell to area restaurants on a small scale. In this current economy, we need every opportunity we can find.
I’m enjoying baking for family and friends. Scones, coffee cakes, pies, breads and much more, homemade from the best ingredients I can find (at the best price). I’ve always enjoyed cooking and feeding people and had a dream of running a home style breakfast/bakery. So many ideas. A home with a commercial area, probably in a village setting, adorned with our ironwork, surrounded by gardens, raised beds full of herbs and fresh vegetables, a parlor to read and study full of reference books, another room for networking, a banquet room for meetings and events. The gardens host classroom tours and gardening education. A workshop area for mentoring and educating in various life skills, and classes in food preservation as well. I see a place that sets certain days for mentoring, building relationships in the community, full of resources,connections, bartering and apprenticeships. All good things have started as a dream. We have to start at the start. With God, nothing is impossible. I’m believing for God to increase His entrepreneurial heart upon the young and old in Michigan,to give us direction, wisdom and strategy that will birth new businesses across this state, raising up a standard of excellence against the enemy of lack, and dependency upon government. Our loyalty and reliance is upon a Higher government that is upon His shoulders and of the increase of His government there shall be no end. (Isaiah 9:7)
May your heart be full of dreams!
Merry CHRISTmas!
I’m enjoying the fall so much. Cooler temperatures, brilliant colors and harvest puts me in a mood to organize and prepare to hunker down for winter. The trees painted in shades of red, orange, gold and green inspires me to paint, so today I’m painting a hummingbird and a cardinal on steel canvas. The birds are a signature of our work as they inspire and teach us so much about living. They adorn most everything we make. Recently we’ve been selling to the Wild Birds Unlimited stores in our area and plan to market our work to more stores outside of Michigan. Knowing many people are like us and love feeding the birds all winter, (whether we can buy groceries or not), we’ve designed a 6 foot twig bird feeder that is selling well. Our markers and wreaths are also a favorite for this time of year to decorate the entrance of your home and the brilliant red cardinals show so beautifully against the white snow. Did I just say snow? Oh well, like it or not, here in our neck of the woods, it wont be long before fall will turn to winter and the birds will all be looking for food. I don’t want to forget our feathered friends as they keep me company all year. Have a blessed weekend!
For nearly 30 years, I’ve canned a harvest stew at the end of the garden season with all of the best vegetables I can find. Some I’ve grown and others from local farms. I haven’t added meat in the past, but this year decided to add some wonderful organic chicken from a farm we purchase all of our meats from. The meat and stock was prepared in my pressure cooker, while tomatoes, filet beans, lima beans, new potatoes and carrots, onion, leek, celery, and freshly milked corn simmered in a large pot. The flavor after taking the meat off the bone and adding it along with the stock to the stew, is absolutely delicious.
Here is a very old recipe for Brunswick Stew I thought was amusing. This is how I like to cook, a bunch of this and a handful of that.
What a lovely time of year! It’s been such a beautiful last few days and I’m inspired to begin putting up some of natures bounty. I’m not doing nearly as much as when my boys were younger, no longer raising 200 heirloom tomato plants from seed and no longer enough sun to grow them. So I found a great local farm that is selling canning tomatoes for 8.00 per 1/2 bushel. I can’t grow them for that price. Today I canned stewed tomatoes with lots of garlic, cubanelle peppers and fresh basil from my garden. The house smells wonderful. I plan to do more tomatoes this way, but the project I’m really excited about is the Brunswick Stew I will can in a few weeks. When it’s time, I’ll post my recipe. It’s full of just about everything in the garden, plus some good organic chicken from the farmers market. Yum.
Remember you can easily freeze many herbs that are abundant and ready to harvest right now. Basil, sage, rosemary, thyme and oregano have all frozen well for me and I prefer the flavor being closer to fresh over drying them. Just wash them in cold water and spin dry. I place the leaves whole in freezer bags.
Happy Harvest!
