Forcing bulbs with children

This is one of many fun activities you can plan with your child to do on any fall day, but it is best to plan this ahead so can have paper whites blooms for holidays. I have had success with this project and love it!

What you need 
A clear vase
Pebbles/rocks
Water
Bulbs

Arrange the rocks in side the vase, place the bulbs and add water, and watch them grow. This is an ideal activity to keep track of how fast the bulbs grow, note any changers in bulbs, watch the outer skin, and many more.
This year we are simply observing, we might consider taking notes after few weeks.

It is the season for cranberries...

Recently I had the opportunity to work with a “co-worker” who had great knowledge about cranberries. I love craisins and cranberry comport that’s about it. However, my canning ability and the abundance of cranberries mixed together made me to do some research. 

Result was apple cranberry jelly, and we all got in to work. Panduka was helpful to skin and cut apples. Nicolette was eager to skin apples using a potato peeler. Nigel’s energy created the perfect canning. Every one had a job from rinsing jars to wiping mouths, and sealing jars.

It was a delightful way to begin to prepare the Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday night. This jelly was so simple to make and tastes lovely. I cannot wait to try it with toast!

Turkey Stock

When I was in VA, I invited my neighbor for Thanksgiving and some of our friends and family. After the meal we were left with this meat caucus which I was about to throw one of guest suggested that I could make a great turkey stock out of it. After couple of attempts I have mastered making my own turkey stock. 

On the same day, I cut all the leftover meat, wrap them in foil, and place them in ziplock bags to keep them off from freezer burns. Then I cut the caucus into 2-3 pieces depending on the mood after the guest departure. Usually the wine get the best of me. Just kidding after all we are all human! 

1 turkey caucus 
2 carrots
1 big celery stalk
1 big yellow onion (cut into pieces)
Flat leaf parsley
2 thyme sprigs
Black pepper corns
1 tbs olive oil

Place big stock pot on medium high heat, and 1 table spoon of olive oil. Sauté onions, when it is translucent add the carrots and celery. 
Let vegetables cook for at least about 5 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients, and the  turkey caucus to the pot and cover with warm water. 
Bring it to boil and let cook for at least 40 minutes. Once it is cool discard the caucus and the vegetables run the liquid through a strainer you got your home made turkey stock! Thank you to my wonderful friend who was always eager to share her knowledge. 

Leftover Stuffing...

I love serving leftovers with a twist. Well, it all began with stuffing. This is an easy way to serve up your left over stuffing. Warm up the stuffing in the microwave in serving bowl and place them in a warm oven. 

Poach eggs, I like to cook them lightly so the egg yolk is runny. I used my tomato chutney on the side, and place the egg on top of individual bowls. Add some chop parsley. 

Serve with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. If you need a kick add crushed red pepper flakes. 

A Sri Lankan making tradition around holidays...

Being a Montessori teacher for young children away from where I grew up have immensely change my outlook on embracing and learning about the American culture. I was fond of reading Thanksgiving to children from MN, KS, and VA. When we moved to MA, I was elated to visit the Plymouth plantation like a little kid. I loved the fact  how they survived hardships together. 

A certain, Sri Lankan holiday brings bitter memories to me, and I would make many attempts to steer away from it. I always wanted to create a tradition which will incorporate Sri Lankan tradition into our family. In this way we acknowledge and respect ALL cultures!

Thanksgiving, reflects a deep appreciation towards Native Americans, and we Sri Lankan’s grew up with respect and appreciation towards family. I know the world is changing, family values are changing, and certainly traditions are evolving globally. There is a part of me wants to make our own tradition. I enjoy thanks giving, because it allows me to slow down, appreciate life, and mostly be thankful for simple things we often take as granted.

My teenage sons looks the other way, when I inquire him what he is Thankful most this year. It was bit hard for me to take it in, because I remember the time same boy took time to think and say that he is thankful for his parents! I guess it is the teen phase. 

This year we had begun a tradition, and it might sounds cheesy, but we will plant after our Thanksgiving meal every year, to remember the good time we enjoyed as a family. This will a beginning of our own family tradition. 

We have been raking for the past couple of weekends. I meant big piles of leaves since our yard looks like a huge pile of leaves. I personally do not like the feel of raking wet soggy leaves. My allergies are not very helpful either. Little Nicolette was having a blast, and it was very amusing to watch her gather leaves. We had raked them to be bagged, and Nicolette decided to move to a different spot to make a nest for her to play. 

She was not helping much, and adding more to our job. Leaves in our yard had find its place this fall, and some made to the compost. We might have great compost in the spring of 2014. 

Thanksgiving Menu making its way...

Maple glazed roast turkey
Sweet potato puree with pecan streusel 
Sautéed brussels sprout with smoked salmon and toasted pecans
Linguçia sausage stuffing with mushroom and caramelized onions
Cranberry comport
Red bell pepper salad with navy beans and arugula

Dessert
Pumpkin pie
Key lime custard pie 
Honey roasted bosc pears with sticky toffee pudding ice cream

Thanksgiving is special to us, because it is kind of a mini break before the crazy holiday season. I love making the Thanksgiving meal for my family. I am looking forward to make the red bell pepper salad. Hopefully we will get to plant few bulbs under this weather before the snow. 

Last of Green Tomatoes

As we officially close tomato harvesting this year, last bit of tomatoes were neatly wrapped in paper and was placed in a brown paper bag. I hope to use them in my cooking. I am hoping to see them turn color. 

I have tried many recipes with green tomatoes this summer and fall, but our favorite is tomato jam. We have already made two batches. 

It just fly off the shelf, because it is that good. I know for sure we will not be sharing this with friends. I have to admit I still like to add more tomatoes to my garden even though we should venture out for other vegetables. 

Green tomato - chutney

 

This is last harvest of green tomatoes. I am run out of ideas but decided to make a chutney. I found this recipe from here. It was sweet and tangy, as Nicolette says smells good.

 I did not had golden raisins and decided to add dried cranberries. I would like to try this next time with golden raisins, because I love golden raisins. 

Hopefully, no more tomato canning for us since we have used all this year.

This could be used with many dishes or simply with a cheese and bread. 

Canning Gifts...

Gifts are already taking shape this year. Green tomato salsa verde was star on our dining table before it made it way to a co- worker's home, and she told me it was great. We are going to keep our gift giving simple this year. 

Teachers and all care givers to our family will be appreciated including friends. I will be giving away some of the preserves we have made during summer and fall. 

I love to create gifts with canning goods at home, but like to add a bit fair to it. I have run into few sites, that shows preserves could be given away with a loaf of french bread, cheese, cutting board, tea towel, herb plant, and tie with ribbon or twine. 

If you know the person you can personalize it a bit more. How is your gift giving taking place this year. I know sometimes this could be very stressful during holiday season. 

Fall Garden - at its peak

Fall is at its peak and dwindling. As I took these pictures of our yard, I could feel the cold air embracing not too harsh. We have once raked in a batch of leaves. 

This will be the second round if we decided to get this done today. 

I am in the mood to plant some bulbs. Crocuses bring the first sings of spring to any garden. It would be nice to develop a patch of crocus in our yard. I love the un planned patches I might take on this project this fall. 

What do you like to plant in your yard during fall, do you have plants that you look forward to see them in bloom in spring...

Jack O Lantern

Our Jack O’ lantern took a very strange route this year. I remember those days finding patterns and getting all crazy carving pumpkins. It was easier this year, because we narrowed it down for few patterns. This is what Nicolette decide to take on this year; however, she wanted thatha to carve the pumpkin. Not a big fan of scooping out the guts too. I guess it was princess Bella's duty was not to get too messy.

She was hung over with few choices this year for costumes between a witch and a princess. Finally, the princess took over I know next year she wants be a witch because, amma was a “nice” which this year.

She was happy to bring in the loot, I am glad few neighbors had healthy candy too, but we love the kit-kat bars and the tootsie rolls. At the end we did had a bit over tired halloween between late night Red Sox games, school, and work, but we pull it all together!

Tomatoes

Total of eighteen tomatoes plants provided us plenty of tomatoes for this season. which we have enjoyed through out the season. It is been a while I bought some from the grocery store. I wish I kept a neat organizer how many plants I had from each variety. I know for sure I had few heirlooms. 

Few of canning recipes I worked on this season included 

• Herb tomato sauce 
• Ripe Tomato Jam
• Green Tomato pickle
• Salsa Verde
• Green tomato chutney

I can assure myself that I have a full stock pantry with our garden bounty for this winter. I am hoping to put them to use. Looking at the jars in the kitchen with many colors reminds me of the wonderful summer I spent with my family. Canning is definitely an Art! 

Have you saved the bounty from your garden. If so How do you save it? and Do you can your crop?

Sala Verde - Canning

Five pounds of tomatoes were sitting on our newly build kitchen counter. I knew I had to do something with this beautiful bounty. The weekend is vanishing right in front of my eyes, I decided to take on canning early Sunday morning. No group y-cycle for me, since I needed to to finish many tasks. Including a trip to the local farm to pick a pumpkin.

I found this easy recipe from the ball - canning site for salsa verde. Saturday was cut short due to work but the rest of the day look was open and busy but we took it easy to catch up and spend time together with each other which includes a afternoon nap as well. Then the rest of the day was spent with friends in town while waiting the oldest to return from a meet. Then filling orders and finally, I was able to get some reading done!

Sunday, getting few more projects done, cooking, canning, and a trip to the farm. Time spent in the kitchen was well worth since I decided to take on canning the green and red tomatoes. As you can see I enjoy every bit of this process. The kitchen was filled with the wonderful aroma of salsa. I am wishing for at least one or two snow days this winter to open some of this bounty from our garden. 

What do you make of green tomatoes. Do you fry them, or pickle them. Few of my friends who tried this said they were great!

Prepping the Raise beds for Fall Stage -1

 

Past few weekends had been brimmed with activities from indoors to outdoors. One of the major tasks was to clean at least one raise bed before it get all crazy. I remember my oldest mentioned during this process that, this garden has supplied us a great bounty throughout summer. It was nice to hear a positive compliment from a teenager!

There were about few pounds of green tomatoes, I offered few to my neighbor but I still had few more pounds. I know what I can do with these may be some salsa verde. 

As we begin the process to take the ties off from the plants, then the stakes, and finally pull the plants out, and fill the wheelbarrow with dried brittle tomato plants gives a nice reminder that the growing season is officially over! Our hands smelled like tomatoes as we pulled about twelve plants. 

we still have parsley, oregano, and sage. Soon we will be harvesting them for our thanks giving meal. 

There is more to prepping beds but for now I am happy to celebrate turn of another great growing season.  As we build and strengthen our gardening skills every year!

Organic Growing - Butternut Squash

During Summer vacation, I was at my newly moved compost unit emptying the compost container with a list of things to do on that day, accidentally, I rest my eye on a somewhat large leaf which belongs to a type of a vine. At that time I had no idea what this vine is going to be. I had a big dirt pile next to the compost unit which I was planning to add to the beds around the house. For a minute I was debating with myself to pull the vine so I can flatten the dirt to build the last raise bed for this summer. Luckily, I had no energy left in me to do such task on this particular summer morning. 

With some mental notes, and to find what this vine growing in our yard I headed indoors before the sun beats the ground. I knew we had a watermelon early summer and I must have dumped the seeds in the compost. I could not help notice the smile on my face thinking we will be growing watermelon this Summer. During that Aha moment, I completely pulled the idea out of my head getting rid of the new found watermelon vine by the compost. 

After few week my dear neighbor was very helpful in identifying this mystery vine which was making its way to our yard from the compost corner. I decided that I am going to let it run WILD oh... yes... it did ran wild, and in return it provided many butternut squashes. I shared few with our neighbors and we enjoyed one too. 

Few tips to keep in mind when you decide to intentionally plant butternut squash...

• These vines tends to run wild needs a bigger ground space but totally doable in a small yard. 
• Once it starts to bloom make sure to have some other plants which attracts bees for pollination if not you may need to perform this task.
• Once the vine start producing butternut squash, check all the veins on the squash have disappeared before harvesting.
• If there is more crop, try to cut back the leaves. Because, it will allow the sun to shine on these beauties. This process will help the crop to mature and turn its color from light green to a pale yellow.
• Once you harvest the crop let it sit for at least few weeks before preparing it (this resting period is called curing)

We will definitely add a vine to our garden next year as well, since we enjoyed it very much this year. It does adds its own charm to the backyard gardening! Do you plant vines in your garden. Do you plan to incorporate them during early planning season of your yard.