The Lows and Highs of Weather

This is January 2013 and look at those "snaps" every few days. This is what global warming experts talked about thirty years ago. We go from -15 on Sunday to a high of 51 on Wednesday - a 65-degree swing. I wonder how this will affect the trees?

On our agenda this week is more work on cold frames and adding real windows to the glass house that will enclose the goat shed. We scored a houseful of old wood-framed windows which will replace the plastic sheathing that didn't last the summer! Live and learn. Here's the framework. I told hubbs I want white trim with cuteness and a British look. We have a way to go, huh? :D

Even though it's cold, my thoughts turn to making compost. Here's a terrific post from Jaden at Steamy Kitchen about making compost in three days.  I haven't mastered making compost in three months! You?

Chickens and Chocolate Eggs

Dear Juwainyuh,

What a lovely letter you write, and thank you for sharing all your wonderful ideas about gardening and houses! I have to tell you a story about chickens and brown eggs.

I actually get brown eggs from my neighbor a half mile away, who also has Brown Swiss cows. I feel very lucky because, hard as it is to believe, getting local eggs is not easy out in the country. Most local farmers who raise chickens sell the eggs in the city, where they can earn more money for them.

But the brown eggs I get from my neighbor are nothing like the eggs from French Maran chickens. Have you heard of this breed? We first learned of them when we visited Minnesota in October. We stayed at the lovely Deutsche Strasse B & B and one of the other guests was participating in a chicken show at the local fairgrounds. Their French Marans won best of show. And here is a picture of the eggs they lay. Now those are brown eggs! They look like chocolate! You can find more information about this breed here and here, if you are interested.

I loved seeing the plans of the raised bed garden . I have raised beds, too, and I can't imagine being able to grow anything in this hot, dry climate without them. It really makes a big difference in being able to grow food to eat. I had a very good salad garden right outside my back door all summer. Here's an example of how I mixed up the vegetables with the flowers which was very pretty and lush looking!

And here's another picture of a raised bed:

There are four L-shaped raised beds that border the "charmed circle" in the middle (which is just a napping place for the cats).

I'm interested in permaculture, too, and in the new year, I plan to create a sun trap in my middle garden as well as some keyhole beds. Have you heard of those? I have a tremendous amount of brush to process, and this seems like an excellent way to handle that. I just have to find something with which to build the support walls, which is an issue around here, since there isn't a lot of rock. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

As to the big binder you left behind in Yemen with all your research and plans... you can create another bigger and better one here, right? Think of the old binder as nothing more than practice for a better set of plans!

Thank you so much for your wonderful letter, little friend!

Love,

Dani

Sukhailah's Yummy Yemeni Dinner

Earlier this week, I received a care package in the mail from my long-time Story Circle Network pal who is also a cow-orker at Little Pickle Press. I'll tell more about all the treats later, but first I want to share the best part of the surprise - all the sweet handwritten letters... long letters... from the children. Sukhailah, the eldest daughter, sent me two of her chicken recipes, and I couldn't wait to try one out. So I started with Curried Yogurt Chicken. My comments in parentheses below.

Here's what the recipe says to do:

Take one chicken cut into pieces and set it in a very large bowl! Crush 3 cloves of garlic or put them through the garlic press. Rub them all over the chicken pieces. (This helps tenderize the chicken.) Sprinkle with:

3 Tbsp. curry powder (we blend our own)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
Lots of salt and pepper
If you like spicy foods, add some cayenne to spice it up a bit.

Add two cups of plain yogurt and mix it up. Leave this mixture to marinate for at least a few hours.

When you are ready to cook the chicken, chop two onions (I used shallots from my garden), and heat up a little oil in a large pot with a cover.

Saute the onions, then carefully add the marinated chicken, add chicken or vegetable stock (or water) to cover, and place the lid on the pot. Simmer until the chicken is tender, checking often and adding more liquid if necessary. (It took about 1 1/2 hours for the chicken to be perfectly tender, and I did not need to add more broth.)

Serve with rice and/or flat bread, along with fried onions and salad. This is what we made with the chicken this week. We had it with a Yemeni condiment rather like salsa that we all love.

The luscious smelling spices as the chicken cooked, inspired the making of chapatis, an Indian flat bread that's super-easy to make. It's basically just 2 cups of flour, some salt, and 3/4 cup of water kneaded to a smooth dough. Then we smash the dough in a tortilla press using a bit more dough than a tortilla needs so the breads are fatter.

Then just fry on a cast iron skillet.

Here it is served over rice. We just had it with chai to drink, a spiced tea with milk. Next time, I'll probably add a salad with a simple lemon dressing. No room for dessert, but we did talk about poached pears with some almond-flavored cream. Definitely a meal fit for the holidays!

Thank you, Sukhailah! We absolutely loved this dish! A definite 5-!!!!! favorite! :)

A Bad Week for My Home

Hello January - My Weekly Schedule

It's Book-in-a-Week and this year, I plan to join monthly again. My goal for January is 30 pages. I'll be working on new chapters for the Blog Book Tours How-To and one of the children's stories which I'm crafting into a middle grade chapter book rather than present it as a picture book series.

Weather is bright and sunny today, but a bit on the chilly side. We are due for some more snow mid-week but I hope it's nothing much, as we're scheduled for two appointments in the city to talk stained glass with Mick's clients. We're in that hardworking (and tiresome to me) bidding process with a half dozen churches which means a lot of paperwork that is unbillable time. Here's a peek at the church blog.

Sweet potatoes are in the oven roasting. I'm reading An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler and am quite taken with her organic cooking style. Plan to make a hummus from these tatties, to smear on thick slices of home-baked bread. On Saturday, we tried her suggestion of cooking greens in hot olive oil with garlic, then serving on bread coated with cream or pot cheese. I added some tomato slices, pepper, and more olive oil for a cut-with-a-knife sandwich lunch. It was quite tasty. Hubbs wasn't so impressed with the egg experiment on Sunday though. Here's Tamar and How To Teach an Egg to Fly via video instructions. Cute ideas.

What else is new? Rough start to the new year with Mom in the hospital with a viral infection, and a funeral - a friend's husband. Plumbing problems, eye issues, toothaches... it hasn't been a pleasant start. How about you?

It's a New Year!

What better way to start than by commenting on the crazy weather?

Look at Thursday from one week to another - it's not exactly normal for my stretch of the middle. With seed catalogs in hand, I feel like working in the garden this week, but know it's probably not a good idea with impending cold next week. Cwazy! How's it out your way?

An Unusual Sight

My cedars/junipers are blooming this year - with these curious flowers.

This is the first time in six years I've seen this. What exactly is happening, does anyone know?

May Weather

An odd sort of May.

Dust and Dander

Hubbs and I had a pretty intense housecleaning session on Saturday - much needed, and double-power is always appreciated. Today, Accuweather has this addendum to the forecast:

Well of all the nerve! How would they even know? I guess news has gone around the world that I have ten cats. Either that, or they need to look up the word "dander" in the dictionary. Too funny.

Blogging Elsewhere

In case you're wondering where I am, I'm in the midst of an A-Z Blogging Challenge that includes almost 1,200 other bloggers! You can see what I have to say at my Blog Book Tours blog (one of my paying jobs) and maybe learn something about blogging and promoting that novel you have inside you. Or maybe you've already written it. Good for you.

It's still been a little cold here on the high plains, and incredibly windy. I wish it would settle down so I can plant seeds! Everything in the garden is still crispy and brown at this point - well, not everything. I have parsley and other herbs coming up, some of the jonquils have bloomed, and the iris is starting to show some green. And lots of grasshoppers appearing! I ordered 5# of semaspore from Planet Natural and I hope it gets here soon! Or I'll have more of this again, which means not much in the way of natural backyard veggies.

They were everywhere last summer. Looking up recipes for deep-fried grasshoppers didn't deter them one bit, and by July they pretty much had decimated any vegetable matter. I hate seeing them before the lettuce has even begun to sprout! Out, damn fraughts, out I say!