Happy National Banana Bread Day!

Okay, to be honest, I had no idea that February 23rd was Banana Bread Day. I just coincidentally happened to be waiting for a batch to come out of the oven when I stumbled upon this happy bit of news online. But really, what a brilliant idea; who couldn't use a reason to celebrate in the depths of darkest winter, especially when what you're celebrating is a toasty warm bit of deliciousness that many of us grew up eating in one form or another.

This is the version that my kids have grown up eating, and it's still my favourite. Filled with blueberries and a hint of nutmeg, it's a nice break from tradition.

Since I've been making it for so long, I've tinkered with it a bit over the years. I topped this batch with a combination of brown sugar and quick oats (1/4 cup and 1/3 cup respectively), to give the loaf an extra bit of crunch and sweetness. (Another nice option is 1/4 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of quick oats, and 2 tablespoons of butter rubbed together - this creates more of a crumble topping).

This recipe is also pretty forgiving. Sometimes I only have two cups of mashed banana instead of the three the original recipe calls for, but it's always delicious and moist, regardless. You can see that, nowadays, I do go to the trouble to toss the berries with the flour, and it does keep the berries from sinking to the bottom, despite my previous assertion to the contrary.

Okay, I'm off to raise a celebratory slice.

Tea time!

A Fowl Odour

Over the past month or so, we've noticed a funny smell (that's putting it nicely) coming from the crawl space adjacent to our basement stairs. My husband has torn it apart numerous times trying to figure out where it was coming from, but was never able to find the source. Yesterday we finally solved the mystery.

I was out doing some yard work when I noticed Hedwig, one of our Ameracaunas, squeeze herself under the front porch and not come out. A quick peek revealed her sitting happily on a secret nest.

Hubby chased her out and retrieved the eggs using a rake. Pee ewww!

There were almost 2 dozen rotten nasties under there. I guess the foul air was being sucked through the small spaces around the foundation and into the house. 

Not sure how I'm going to break her of this egg-hiding habit, I've already chased her out of several other locations. The eggs aren't all hers though, so I've obviously got a couple of rogue layers.

Ahhh, a smell only a dog could love...

Mid-Winter Deals

Well, it's that time of year again, when garden centers everywhere are clearing out old stock to make room for this year's crop of garden delights.

Sorry, dark cell phone photo!

Yesterday, I headed out to my favorite haunt for a little late January garden center therapy, and was elated to see racks and racks of discounted perennials.

I didn't actually need a lot (not that that's ever stopped me before), but I did find a couple of Prince Henry anemones, two Flash Lime astilbes, and some Red Veined Sorrel (which looks gorgeous in the ground, but will be absolutely delicious in my new favorite tart).

Unlike last year, I couldn't resist grabbing myself a lush looking hellebore, but in my defense, it was on sale!

I also got myself a great hammered tin planter for next to nothing (the hellebore is sitting in it). I'm going to fill it with river rocks, maybe a water plant or two, and put it at the base of the rain chain by our front door.

Gardenworks also has all of their seeds on sale for 25% off - sale ends today, for anyone within driving distance - so I'm almost ready for spring (truth be told, I've been ready for a while). Now if only the weather would cooperate!

Sleepy, Snowy Saturday.

Sent from my HTC

Deal of the day.

Look what I found at our local thrift store today - a brand new (still in the package!) Yolife yogurt maker for only four dollars!

I have always relied on the warmth of my oven light when making my own yogurt, but the temperature isn't always consistent, and this way, I don't have to worry about accidentally turning the oven on and ruining the whole batch (something I've done more than once, despite my best efforts).

My favorite thing about this machine is that if I want to make more yogurt than the 7 glass jars will hold, I can just use the taller lid that came with it, which allows me to make a bigger batch using my own, larger containers.

Pricing them online, it looks like I saved myself about $46. Sweet!

Bacon Jam

I shared this link on Facebook yesterday, but it would be such a good addition to any New Year's Eve party that I thought I'd share it here too.

I know I've spoken quite a bit about being at least a partial vegetarian (I was vegetarian/vegan for almost half of my life), but that has flown out the window in recent years, so when it came time to plan my husband's 40th birthday bash a few weeks ago, the menu was very meat-centered. It's a well-known fact that men love all things bacon (*wink*), so when I spotted this recipe for bacon jam in the winter edition of Edible Vancouver Magazine, I knew I had to give it a try.

This "jam" is a slow-cooked combination of bacon, caramelized onions, coffee, and maple syrup; it's not exactly your typical scone topping, but it's a fantastic addition to a holiday cheese board, and the very notion of a jam made with bacon turned out to be a great conversation starter.

I served it alongside a baguette and some freshly picked arugula. I think it would also be great with an aged cheddar, and can't wait to try it in a grilled cheese sandwich.

Wishing you and yours all the best in the new year!

The Running of the Birds

I hope everyone is having a nice December, and that you're enjoying your holiday preparations, whatever form they take.

I was heading out to the garden the other day to harvest some leeks, and took this video of the chickens along the way. Apparently they see me as the giver of all things good, because every time I venture outside (or even open the door), I'm immediately besieged by birds. They're so determined to be first in line, that I literally have to run to stay in front of them and to avoid stepping on little toes; I can only imagine what my neighbors must think when they see us all sprinting across the yard, en masse.

Our property is on a flight path, and I think the airplane/helicopter noise adds a little something to the video. We don't often get a plane and a helicopter going by at the same time, and they don't usually fly that low, so the girls were a bit startled and abandoned their chase by the end.

Next stop, Pamplona.

Happy weekend!

Winter Has Arrived

So glad I managed to get my spring bulbs and perennials planted when I did (last week!), it looks like winter might be here to stay:

Full Circle

I knew this day would come, and I knew that I wasn't going to be ready for it when it did. Realistically, when you have 42 chickens, it's pretty unlikely that they're all just going to pass away peacefully in their sleep, sparing my husband and me the unpleasantness of having to dispatch one of them, but that day came and went, and it was actually okay.

One of our Red Star hens (the one who suffered a prolapsed oviduct back in the spring, and actually recovered after 8 days of me poking it back in) hadn't been her usual perky self for a few days when she suddenly took on this strange upright posture:

Since she couldn't get herself up the ramp into the coop, and the other chickens were starting to bother her, we brought her into the house while we tried to figure out whether there was anything we could do for her. After several days of hoping that she would magically pull through, it became apparent that she was getting weaker and we'd probably have to step in (but we were still hoping beyond hope that she might just expire on her own). I moved her into a sunny spot for the afternoon while I did some gardening nearby, but after a while I noticed that she had started moaning.

Dang it, she wasn't going to let us off easy.

We decided to try using the killing cone method, and set one up on the wood shed (out of sight of the other chickens, of course). Not having an actual cone, we modified a milk jug for the job.

I was quite emotional in the moments leading up to it (I became a vegetarian, and stayed one for almost 20 years, as a result of my last chicken butchering experience). I held and comforted her (me) for several minutes, and made my husband promise that we could back out if she freaked when we put her into the cone, but being upside down made her surprisingly calm, and it was over in a matter of seconds.

I have to say that I'm amazed how easy it was (for me anyway, she'd probably disagree), and I'm starting to think that maybe we could actually do meat birds one day. Granted, I'm sure it's different killing a vibrant, healthy bird than one that's obviously suffering, but it's more of a possibility than it was before (you seasoned farmers can stop laughing any time now).

To satisfy our curiosity, we did a crude autopsy to see if we could find out what was wrong with her, and she appears to have been egg bound. Her ovary held an egg which, for all intents and purposes, was hard boiled. Don't even ask me to try and explain that one, but it confirmed for us that she likely never would have recovered.

Happy trails, my friend.

Winter Garden 2011

I spent some time in the garden this week (in between rain storms), cleaning up the last of the summer crops, harvesting potatoes and onions, and transplanting small starter plants from the nursery bed into their roomier winter beds.

 Thinning the carrot patch. Sweet babies!

I like to leave my carrots in place all winter until I need them. This works as long as the ground doesn't freeze solid, which (fingers crossed) shouldn't happen until January. And if we miss a few, it's not a big deal, it just means we have fresh carrots in the spring when the snow melts. 

Bolero.

 Dragon (purple carrot).

We've got lots of different greens out there, flourishing in the cool fall weather:

Lacinato Kale

 Red Russian Kale.

Red Ace beets (the tops are delicious in salads).

Arugula (my personal favourite).

 A variety of hardy lettuces.

Our summer was a little too cool for heat loving crops like squash, so our harvest will be smaller than usual, but they'll still make for some yummy soups, stews, and desserts (and maybe even a jack-o-lantern or two).

 "Lumina" pumpkin.

 Hubbard squash.

 "Sunshine" (kabocha squash).

 "Rouge vif D'etampes" (the original Cinderella pumpkin).

In addition to the usual turnips, celeriac, and assorted root crops, we've also got leeks...

...some herbs (although the basil is looking chilly)...

 Dill seed head.

...and a few heat-loving stragglers.

And, of course, what would the winter garden be without the brassica family? Is it a coincidence that they look so gorgeous in the rain? I don't think so.

 Kohlrabi.

 Ermosa cabbage.

 Broccoli.

Fall is also the time when the most revered crop goes in. I didn't end up with much of a garlic crop this year (one head actually), as the resident vermin dug it all up and ate it during an early spring foray into the garden (I warned them that I considered that pre-seasoning, but they didn't seem worried).

I buy locally grown garlic from the organic market here to use as seed, and it's excellent. This didn't look like quite enough to me, so I had to go back and get more after taking these photos.

After fortifying the bed with a little bunny fertilizer, I poked the individual cloves under the soil for their long winter sleep.

Now I plan to sit back and enjoy some cozy winter meals while dreaming about pulling armloads of garlic under the warm July sun.