Smells good in here!

Why?  Because I harvested my fresh herbs today!  I got 1 lonely basil plant, about 4 - 5 sage plants, and LOTS of parsley.  I thought about hanging them up to dry, or maybe using the dehydrator, but since dill and rosemary freeze so well, I figured I'd do that instead.

The amount of parsley that grew would last us a very long time, but I didn't actually grow most of it for us; I grew it for Miss Cavedog, Lola.  Earlier this spring she was diagnosed with immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, which you can read about here.  I chose to treat her holistically - parsley is part of her treatment as it is excellent for anemia!  I also have some parsnip-rooted hamburg parsley growing, but I'll wait for awhile yet to harvest that.  It has a milder flavor than regular parsley, which I actually prefer, but I'm growing it for the root crop.

The garden is pretty much done - just a few cucumbers & zucchinis left on the vine, and the two lonely little marrow squashes. I'm still sad the oregano, rosemary, and marjoram didn't make it, but there's always next year! 

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Garden Fresh Veggies!

If you were wondering what the results were of planting by moon phases, this is it! Zucchini, crookneck squash, beets, beet greens, green cucumbers, and lemon cucumbers!  Everything is growing nicely - except my herbs.  The lettuce, spinach, sorrel, and parsley are doing well, but the rosemary, oregano, marjoram, and thyme didn't - neither my indoor-started herbs nor my planted-right-in-the-garden herbs.  I do have 2 very very tiny rosemary plants and a few oregano plants, but that's about it.

I'm quite excited about this - can we possibly have chanterelles at the cabin?  Oh boy!  I hope there's still some there when we go next - they're supposed to have a longer growing season.  I didn't pick any last time because #1, I didn't expect them to be there, having never seen them there before, and #2, I didn't have any of my mushroom books with me to properly identify them.  The berry harvest was in full swing last trip.  We got many (albeit tiny) raspberries and blueberries, and even a couple gooseberries.  The gooseberry harvest is unusually slim this year.

 

I love this time of year - fresh harvest!  Home grown and wildcrafted!

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Today's catch: catfish roe and morels!

I don't understand why people get grossed out by the mere thought of certain foods.  Food doesn't grow in supermarkets!!  I like to eat like our ancestors did - there is SO much tasty nutrition out there, forgotten by today's world.  It's out there waiting for us to re-discover it.  And you know what?  It's worth being discovered!

Today Nick caught me a big ol' channel catfish and found it was full of roe - did a quick check online, and yup, edible!  Looked at several recipes, pretty much just fry 'em on up.  I decided to wait until tonight, hoping I'd have a bounty of morels to add to the frying pan.

Mom & I made a nice little haul of morels today in the woods.

So - on to supper!!  Most recipes I found for catfish roe said to dip them in beaten eggs and season with salt/pepper, fry until golden brown. I did that - beat the eggs, added salt/pepper, beat them some more, and added the roe to coat.  Tossed them in the pan with bacon fat, and put some morels into the remainder of the egg mixture, coated, and put them in the pan too.  When it was all done, I topped the plate with fresh picked wild onion and garlic chives.  Man oh MAN was that good!   Nick caught another channel catfish tonight, here's hoping that one's full of roe, too!

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A little more about us . . .

Sharing a guest post I did over on The Paleo Mama:

Guest Post by Cavemom's Cooking

 

 

For more details, my son's full story can be found in Cavemom's Cooking. 

 

Yes, that's the Cavedog . . .

In the Acknowledgements section of Cavemom's Cooking, the very last mention is Lola - that she keeps my feet warm.  This is exactly what I mean.  Almost every night she worms her 70lb self between me and the stove while I'm cooking supper, and lays her head on my feet.

*Sigh* . . . silly dog.

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Time to plant!

Digging in the dirt!

There is nothing quite like organic produce directly from the garden to the plate!

We've been getting the garden ready for planting.  It's been dug, turned, and naturally fertilized.  Inside the house, we have several pots just started with seeds.  This year, I'm trying something different - certainly not new, almost as old as time itself: planting by moon phases!  I came across the idea in a book on Wisconsin lore - as much as I am into nature and natural remedies, I'm surprised I'd never heard of it before.  Thankfully there is a lot of free information online - this is one of the sites I used: Moon Planting.  The idea is that the gravitational effects of the moon affect the moisture levels in the soil and how the plant stores moisture depending on the moon's phase and what specific constellation it is in.

According to the really thorough information online, last Sunday I planted my cucumbers, zucchini, summer & winter squashes.  Tuesday would have been perfect for planting my root crops, but alas, we just don't have the room in those pots!  Yesterday I planted most of my leaf crops.  The rest will wait until the danger of frost is over and will be planted directly outside when the moon phase is right. 

This year's garden will have:  cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, marrow, beets, salsify, hamburg parsley (parsnip rooted), radishes, carrots (no carrots for Kaiden, sorry kid!), spinach, lettuces, oregano, marjoram, thyme, sage, parsley, and rosemary.  The rhubarb is already starting to come up, the black raspberries are beginning to leaf out, and the wild onions are already growing like mad.  I'm hoping the grapevine will have a little bigger harvest this year.  We'll be putting in an asparagus bed this year - summer crop, since I know where I can wild-harvest the spring crop!  We're also putting in a strawberry bed and some blueberry bushes.  This in addition to last year's planting of an apple tree, cherry tree, and two plum trees.  We've been talking about putting raised beds in the front yard, too.

Are you planting a garden this year?  Feel free to comment! :)

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Simple. Easy. Quick. Delicious!

Cooking paleo doesn't have to take a lot of time - it can be very quick, simple, and easy!  Last night's supper was simply grilled pork chops, seasoned only with sea salt and pepper, oven roasted Italian cauliflower, and fresh fruit. 

 

I'd done some oven roasted cauliflower recipes in the past that were a lot more involved - cook, drain, make sure it's dry, coat it with oil and crushed spices in a skillet, THEN roast it . . . granted it's good that way, but it's equally as good this way and a heck of a lot easier! 

Ingredients:
cauliflower, cut into chunks
chicken stock
homemade Italian dressing
oregano
thyme
garlic granules
sea salt

 

Just preheat the oven to 425F, place a cookie sheet on top the oven with the cauliflower, about 1/8c of saved chicken stock from a roasted chicken (the heat from the pre-heating oven helps melt down the congealed chicken stock and fat), drizzle on some (homemade) Italian dressing and the seasonings - toss to coat - and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes.  I think it actually takes longer  to preheat the oven than to roast the cauliflower!

 

Simple. Easy. Quick. Delicious!

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