Compost Springs Eternal

So, it’s been a year and then some since my last post.  Life, I guess.

What’s new?  We’re a year older, hopefully a year wiser.  Still composting right along.  Here’s the garden layout this year:

We’ve planted 24 tomatoes, 4 crookneck squash & zucchini, 8 assorted eggplant, beets, sweet potatoes, various cucumbers, edamame (ambitious), hot & sweet banana peppers, and basil, plus lots of seeds that haven’t sprouted yet including carrot sand bush beans.

Aren’t the roses breathtaking?  The red rose is William Shakespeare, a prolific, fragrant David Austin beauty and the gigantic pale pink climber in the trees is an old rose called Cecile Brunner.  In a true recycling move, my husband fashioned a trellis/canopy from two old teak garden umbrella frames to prop up this giant rose.  Ingenious, gorgeous and green.

Here’s the current state of the compost pile:

We hauled FOUR wheelbarrow loads of compost in early spring to enrich the vegetable beds and the roses (over 20 old bushes at last count) and I can report that the soil is absolutely beautiful in the boxes.  Rich, dark, loamy and full of earthworms.

But I digress.  Starting with an empty box in February, we’ve already built up a huge quantity of kitchen scraps, clean garden scraps, old leaves and more.  We’ve just started cutting the grass again, so the pile starts to build quickly.  Notice the squash (I think) sprouting in the front by the shovel.  I love re-seeds!  When it gets a bit bigger I’ll transplant to a garden box.

Of course, it’s always a balance between green and brown.  This time of year I’m keeping a pile of old leaves and dirt alongside the pile to balance things out.  I’ve also added compostable containers (cut/tear into small pieces), coffee grounds and lots and lots and LOTS of eggshells.

On the food front, I’m on Day 15 of a Whole 30 food reset.  If you’re a newbie, check out this link for all the details.  Simply stated, it’s a strict elimination-style diet of protein and vegetables/fruit.  That means a lot of scraps to compost!  I felt great before, but I feel even better now.  I guess my diet was pretty clean because I only suffered one day of discomfort and hit the “tiger blood” stage in the first few days.  Hooray!

Here’s the latest compost bucket:

If you’d like to check out my Whole 30 progress complete with food and compost photos, follow me on Instagram at #mydailycompost.

Happy Spring y’all!

 

 

 

Grounds For Composting

There are a lot of adjectives you could use to describe me, but “cheap” is probably not one of them.  Today, however, I tried a really cheap trick.  And it did not work.  At all.

For years I used a classic stovetop moka pot and never thought twice about what to do with the coffee grounds.  They went in the compost bucket.  Well, for Christmas, my husband splurged and got me a Gaggia Classic espresso machine, possibly to cut my coffee shop habit.

After weeks of adventures in brewing espresso, including spraying boiling coffee and/or hot milk on floors, walls, appliances,dogs, etc. and incurring lovely brown stains on my white subway tile, I’m pretty proficient.  I have not mastered latte art (not for lack of trying either) but have decided that homemade espresso is infinitely better than drive through.  It’s a bit  more work, but just like anything else we make at home, it’s worth the time.  (My secret recipe is to sweeten the latte with a splash of pure maple syrup.)

I’m not sure why, but it kills me that all my shade grown, organic coffee grounds are going in the compost after just thirty seconds of brew time.    That coffee is expensive and you have to pack it in like crazy to make two (delicious) ounces.  Each time I brew I wonder if I can use the grounds twice…

Probably most of you are laughing at me right about now.  I admit I never even considered re-using the grounds from a regular coffee pot or even the moka pot,  so I’m not sure why I thought this would be a good idea.  Maybe I’m in the reuse, recycle mode and am just trying to make the most of my foodstuffs.  Anyway, I gave it a try.

Ha ha.  The liquid, I can’t call it coffee, was the color of tea and the taste was absolutely disgusting; unbelievably bitter and burned tasting.  Big surprise, right?

Learn from my mistake, espresso grounds are not reusable, except in the compost pile.

 

 

Composting Valentine’s Day

Confession: I love all the hearts and flowers and corny cards associated with Valentine’s Day.  Instead of thinking of it as a money-making holiday created by the candy and greeting card industry, I much prefer to remember it as the Catholic feast of Saint Valentine, a Roman priest martyred for marrying Christian couples.

I’ve got plush heart pillows on my soafs and pretty hearts hanging in my windows and of course a sparkly red wreath on my door.  Of course I’ve already made heart sprinkled sugar cookies and spent an entire episode of Downton Abby (just started season two) putting candy in mini bags with pretty red ribbons for my girl’s ballet pals.

So I made these lovely little Linzer tarts (tortes?) for my loved ones this weekend.  They are essentially a crisp almond meal cookie filled with raspberry jam.  I’ve got my own secret recipe but this one is similar. There is minimal compost from cookies naturally, but they are so pretty I had to share.

The cookie-making bucket looked like this.

What you can see (clockwise from the top):

• brussels sprouts trimmings (really questionable quality sadly)
• shallot skins & stem ends
• eggs (for the cookies!)
• carrot sticks (left over from lunchbox)
• blueberries (left over from lunchbox)
• In addition to the Linzer tart cookies, I also made a some quickly seared hangar steaks with this sauce paired with roasted brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes.

Here is the bucket for both Valentine’s Day family dinner and Sunday Supper.

What you can see (clockwise from the top):

• lots of egg shells
• lemon halves
• bits of wilted salad greens
• tea bag
• orange peelsshallot skins & stem ends
• espresso grounds
• WhatI made with all of that:

Valentine’s Family Dinner

• Scallops with Fresh Linguine
• Caesar Salad with homemade croutons
• Sunday Supper
• Rich Vanilla Pudding with Strawberries & Lizer Tarts

My middle boy was a bit under the weather so our intended meal with friends and family was cancelled.  A sensible idea but when I cancelled dinner I didn’t make the meal… which resulted in hungry mouths at  seven wondering “what’s for dinner?”

Frittatta to the rescue.  These never used to be in my rotation since I made my fair share of quiche and scrambled eggs, but quiche needs a crust and scrambed eggs really screams breakfast.  Enter the frittatta.  Made in my ten-inch cast iron pan with eggs, milk and whatever bits and pieces I have on hand, this meal is fast, fresh and super easy.

The Sunday frittatta included smoked salmon and shallots sauteed  in butter and some    almost old mozzerella.  A quick simmer on the stove and a minute under the broiler and dinner was served along with a quick Caesar spin-off, some sesame bagels and more Linzer tarts of course.

Hope your heart was happy this weekend.

 

Can I Compost: Date Pits

Last night I was making this truly delicious salad and I had a small handful of date pits.  Trash or compost bucket?

Ordinarily I do not compost pits from stone fruits or seeds from vegetables like squash, peppers, cucumber, etc.  The pits are rock hard and take years to break down, but the soft seeds tend to germinate immediately, take root and send up volunteers all over the garden.

Date pits are a bit different. Not too hard, not too soft, pliable, but still a really big seed.  Hmmm… I had to do a bit of research.  This info reminds me a bit of the old Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood “field trips” that fascinated me when I was five (and when I was the mom of five year olds). It’s definitely worth reading if you are interested in where and how your food is grown.

My verdict was: compost. I’m pretty sure I won;t be growing a date palm in my garden!

Here are the rest of my kitchen scraps for the day.

 

What you can see (clockwise):

• yellow onion peels and stem ends
• strawberry tops (lunch box)
• carrot peels (lunch box)
• Lacinto kale stems (especially in a salad I’m not a fan of the big stem crunch)
• apple peels (sautéed in butter and topped breakfast pancakes)
• garlic skin
• lemon half (morning hot lemon drink)
• lime & mandarin orange halves (salad dressing)

But back to the dates… and the salad… my daughter refused to eat it because she is not a date fan, but guess what?  Neither of us could not stop eating.  It’s really a keeper.  Give it a try.  And if you do, substitute bacon for almonds (I was out of nuts) and be prepared to reach for seconds.

 

 

Toss It Tuesday: Pea Shoots

Aren’t these gorgeous?  Local, organic pea shoots.  I scooped them up in the grocery and couldn’t wait to get them home.  I planned my whole dinner around them because they were just enticing. So fresh, so fabulous.

I roasted some small red beets.  You can do it too because they are infinitely better than the pre-cooked beets you can now find in the refrigerated cases.  Individually wrap each beet in a bit of foil and bake for about an hour at 400 degrees.  This method bakes and steams at the same time for perfect earthy goodness.  Cool, unwrap, and working one at a time, rub off skins gently with a paper towel.  Full disclosure: your hands will get bright pink, so work carefully with the paper towels or slip on some plastic gloves.  Slice your ruby red jewels into quarters and they are ready to eat.

For the salad I put a handful of pea shoots in a small bowl, added the sliced beets, some crumbled feta cheese and toasted pecans.  For dressing, I sloshed on a quick vinaigrette of sherry vinegar, dijon mustard, and walnut oil.  It was gorgeous.  (This picture does not do it justice because it was late in the evening. and there was no natural light.)

The salad was absolutely delicious; all the right notes of fresh, earthy, creamy, crunchy.  Whatever, with some crusty bread, it was a simple, satisfying meal.

About an hour later, my daughter complained of a tummy ache.  Then my husband felt a bit off.  Soon after, I joined them in feeling not terrible, but not good.  Nothing worsened, but we all agreed that all signs pointed to the pea shoots as the source of our ick. This episode kind of confirms my standard gut feel not to buy sprouted seeds.

So, on the compost pile they go. I kind of hate to toss them; they are still so pretty, but I like the idea of them quickly cooking away in the bottom of the compost pile.

Just so you know, the next time pretty, perfect pea shoots catch my eye at the market I am walking quickly by.

 

Don’t Forget the Flowers

What brightens your spirits in the middle of winter?  My secret pick-me-up is a stop by the supermarket floral department (Trader Joe’s is my absolute favorite).  Flowers keep me happy when the sun is not shining and let’s be honest, a little bouquet of daisies or spray roses costs as much as a specialty coffee from corner shop and it lasts a whole lot longer.

My favorite treats are the mini potted individual bulbs of hyacinth, tulip, or daffodil.  You can find them everywhere this time of year.   I buy a few, pop them in my own white ceramic pots and “plant” them around the house for little bursts of happiness wherever I turn.  **sigh** Spirits lifted.

To be fair, we’ve escaped the bitter chill of winter in Atlanta so far, and it is sunny and nearly fifty degrees as I write this, but still.  There are a lot of gloomy gray days left in this season and I like to be prepared.

Back to the blooms … they don’t last forever but don’t be hasty and toss them in your trash. Now, I’m not suggesting you plant the bulbs in your yard.  It’s a time for snuggling on the sofa, not digging in the dirt.  Forced bulbs rarely bloom again, but they are a great treat for your compost pile.  They may send up a few leaves, but I can almost guarantee that unless you’ve got a hardy daffodil that simply has to bloom, you’ll only get a few leaves in your garden as a reminder of your bulb’s former glory.  Save yourself and feed your garden.  Compost.

Here’s a look at the pretty hyacinths that scented my kitchen for two weeks.

Are here is a glimpse of the leaves & spent pink blossoms from two bunches of stock (that’s really the sad name of a pretty, fragrant flower) that I have in my living room and foyer. Remember, to help cut flowers last as long as possible, change the water and trim the stems every few days.  I know that’s extra work, but it really helps extend bloom time.

You can also see butternut squash peels in the bucket. You can’t see the red onion skins, thyme stalks, dirty mushroom stems (ugh) and carrot peels but they are there.  I roasted all those veggies and mixed them with some brown rice, fresh arugula and a quick vinaigrette for a simple, filling but not heavy, school night dinner.

Here’s to sunny skies and fresh blooms in your neck of the world …

 

Composting Love

It’s no surprise that I’m a big fan of Sunday supper, where everyone can come together to share the day, rehash the week and enjoy a delicious meal.  It’s something I try to serve up each week, regardless of who is sitting around the dining room table, but with kids in all directions and one out of the house, those times when our immediate family is all together are infrequent and all the more precious when they happen. This week, due to college schedules, we got to enjoy Saturday breakfast instead.

The day dawned rainy, which was just what my family needed.  Not just a balmy drizzle but a cool, pouring rain, satisfactorily hammering against the windows.  The kids were snug in their respective beds, my hubby was snoozing on the sofa with a dog, and I was enjoying one of those great moments, an unexpected gift of grace.  How lovely to have my all kids home, asleep on a rainy morning, with no immediate pressing schedule (time enough for that later) and me awake to enjoy it.  The only way to improve the morning would be a great breakfast to start the day.  After a bit of quiet time, I started frying bacon.

It had the intended effect.  My husband opened his eyes and we shared a “wow, life is pretty great” moment.  I popped some cinnamon rolls in the oven.  (I had this in the fridge; not homemade but not bad.)  Kids started coming downstairs and flopping on sofas.  I started scrambling eggs with shallots and spinach and arugula.  Orange juice and cups of tea, our definition of cozy, were consumed.  A little sweet cantaloupe.

We didn’t all sit at once and we didn’t all actually eat, but we shared the morning and our love of rainy days and a whole lot of unspoken love.  And then it was time to pack up my oldest and get him out the door for a two week trip.  The spell was effectively broken, but my middle boy loaned his brother his own nicely tailored blazer for the conference and THAT was a silent act of love.  His sister folded all his tee shirts.  I put a warm loaf of homemade bread in hands as he climbed into his car and we stood in the drizzle waving goodbye.  I don’t know what everyone was thinking, but I was thanking God for those little fleeting pockets of time.  And for the inspiration to start frying bacon.

Here’s the breakfast bucket…

What you can see (clockwise top to bottom):

• cantaloupe seeds (I normally don’t compost seeds but these local melons were so delicious I wouldn’t mind some volunteer plants in my spring garden)
• cantaloupe rinds
• lots and lots of eggshells, a dozen to be exact
• shallot skins and stem ends (hiding under all those eggs)
• a whole lot of love (hard to see but you know it’s there)

I wonder if all that love will compost … actually, I think it’s the ingredient that really makes our compost great.

 

 

Glorious Summer With Veggies

Are you just reveling in S U M M M E R right about now? We keep switching between the signature Atlanta weather profiles: hot and muggy with a side of steamy OR breezy, blue and utterly blissful.  With an afternoon shower of course. Sixties in the morning, nineties (in the shade) in the afternoon, but heck, it’s July so I’ll take them both. I stay in Atlanta for the seasons and they rarely disappoint.

The garden is producing like crazy and we are knee deep (ok, I exaggerate but backyard farmers are like fishermen; always out to impress) in cherry tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and squash. Aren’t these colors gorgeous?

 

I planted over a dozen tomato plants this year because I was tired of having just a few tomatoes rolling in piecemeal over the summer and the plan is working.  We harvest huge handfuls of cherry tomatoes (Super Sweet 100) every day (not including the sun-warmed ones we steal from the vines) and now the big fruits are starting to ripen.  The yellow variety is Lemon Boy and the lighter orange is Early Girl.  Although I’m not a huge Early Girl fan, they were they only reliable tomatoes to produce last year so I had to have at least one plant!  The small bright red tomato (upper right of basket) is a plum tomato and the vines are filled with these.  I have visions of one small jar of tomato paste dancing in my head …  Finally, those medium reds are Parks Whopper, which I find amusing since they are distinctly un-whopper in size.  The small purple green cherry tomatoes are an heirloom, possibly Cherokee Purple, but my tag is missing.

Naturally, the question is “what do you do with all those tomatoes?”.  Eat them, of course!  Tomato sandwiches, tomato tarts, tomato jam, oven-dried tomatoes, the possibilities are endless.  I rarely use a recipe and even more rarely have a plan for what to make.  I think you just have to look at the tomatoes and let them silently suggest a dish.  Hmmm, I like the idea of tomato meditation … a quiet communication with nature … Now that I ponder it, I silently admire them each morning as I water, letting the hose sprinkle them for exactly one Hail Mary per plant before I move on to the next one.  It’s pretty easy to pray the Rosary when the birds are singing, the sky is brightening, the water is gently streaming, and you are surrounded by the sheer beauty of the ordinary.  So many blessings right in front of us if we only open our eyes, but I digress.

One summer several years back, I made fantastic tomato marmalade from a huge harvest of tiny yellow pear tomatoes but I have never again either found that variety or gotten it to grow.  I’m wondering if I can turn my tiny red jewels into something similar  … hmmm … I can still taste that tart, sweet, addictive, weird goodness!  I’ll keep you posted.  And as a caution, if you are canning, please ALWAYS use a recipe!  Botulism is bad.

Aren’t the squash pretty?  I’ve been picking them small because we’ve got a lot of birds, rabbits, and caterpillars who would love to make a meal of these (and everything else of course).  We cut these up, tossed them with olive oil, soy sauce, garlic and salt then roasted them with sliced red onions in a grill pan on the grill for five minutes. Right off the grill I added a splash sesame oil and  second splash of soy.  You don’t need protein when you’ve got veggies that good!

One more photo of my meager bucket for the day …Remember every little bit of green adds up!

What you can see (clockwise top to bottom):

• homegrown cucumber peels & stem ends (a daily snack or salad component)
• core & outer leaves of a cauliflower
• banana peel hiding underneath

Less in the bucket means more on the plate, right?  I pan roasted some wild Keta salmon and paired it with oven roasted cauliflower with lemon & salt, plus baked sweet potatoes.  Normally, since we don’t drench the potatoes with anything rodent-attracting I compost those skins, but my dogs were acting like human compost machines yesterday.  They enjoyed both the salmon AND sweet potato skins.  Either way, no extra green waste hit the landfill!

Soon, I’ll post some photos of the compost pile.  It’s looking surprisingly like soil for the lack of effort I’ve been putting into it!  I’m feeling great things for the fall…

 

 

 

Father’s Day Weekend Fun

Perfect weather set the stage for a perfectly enjoyable Father’s Day Weekend … Saturday yard work, dinners on the deck, and … not much else.  Delightful.

I keep missing the perfect light in which to photograph the vegetable garden, but it’s coming along quite well.   I’m crossing my fingers and hope it’s not a curse to repeat that my neighbor mentioned the garden “looks better than it ever has.”  We might be able to harvest green beans and cucumbers this week.  All the afternoon rain showers have been a garden blessing.

Here’s a peek at the child-sized handful of ripening blueberries we greedily picked from our three recently planted bushes.  Although they are barely knee high now, local blueberry experts (i.e. friends and neighbors) assure me they are going to be producing more berries than we can possibly eat.  I dearly hope that is true.  I also dearly hope the neighborhood deer do not discover these delicacies planted in plain view.  Shhhh!

Did you ever rush to plant something in the fall to give it a head start, prep the soil well, baby it against the cold, and rejoice in the spring to find it happily growing away?  Have you also done this and realized you left out a giant important step?  Why do you ask?  We carved out a new planting bed in the front yard (perfect full sun area for some as yet unplanted columnar apple trees) and put in some lovely foundation shrubs but utterly forgot to put down a weed barrier to prevent unsightly Bermuda grass from reclaiming the land.  What a mess!  Picture my lovingly tended front lawn (thanks to my devoted son), nicely shaped trees, tasteful annuals (pink pentas, blue salvia, and white vinca), and the new bed choked with quickly spreading Bermuda.  Acrgh!  With the help of a family friend, my husband tackled the thankless job of raking back the mulch, putting down weed barrier, and re-mulching.  Much better now.  Alas, no photos.  That is what your imagination is for.

All that work killed our appetite for cooking (besides, I had already whipped up cheese waffles for late breakfast).  Thanking my stars that my family loves a good carb-fest, I pulled out all the stops for this calorie laden extravaganza.

Do you need a close up of that bread?

It actually was as delicious as it looked.  I’ll share the recipe because I found it by accident while I was searching Pinterest for something I’ve now forgotten.  I was out of sun dried tomatoes so I added extra garlic, butter and cheese.  No one complained.

All we needed to round out the meal was a simple leaf lettuce salad dressed with a simple vinaigrette (a tablespoon of mustard, a whole lemon, juiced, and as much olive oil as you want to take out the pucker, about a third of a cup, salt & pepper),

Drinks were my new favorite, Palomas or grapefruit soda and tequila.  As you can guess I didn’t really measure, but if you’re one of those who do, here’s a recipe.  I didn’t bother with salt and I used a soda from Trader Joe’s.

Compost bucket?  Since it was a lazy weekend I just kept piling, so you can’t really see all the banana skins from the overripe bunch I broke into chunks and froze for smoothies.  Eggs were for waffles, lemon for vinaigrette, watemelon for snacking, and teabags for our summer staple.

Oh, and for actual Father’s Day, we had a twist to our day, and hence a complication for dinner … but it was actually a gift and we ended up with luscious last-minute lobster roll sandwiches our way: challah hot dog rolls with the tops sliced, buttered, and gently broiled, then filled with chunks of butter-and-lemon laced sweet broiled lobster PLUS chunks of roasted wild Alaskan cod.  The cod makes the sandwich feel decadently full, while the lobster sweetens the cod and tricks the taste buds into thinking you’re eating double the crustacean.  Ours was a happy dad.

Hope your weekend was lovely too.

 

 

Leftovers … and Dryer Lint

After all that weekend sunshine, it turned C O L D again!  Brrrr!  Forty feels freezing when you’ve been frolicking in shorts and flip flops.  No garden work for me!  It was one of those days to curl up by the fire and read…  Or tackle indoor chores…

I’m a creature of habit.  Monday is clean up day: vacuum the carpets, mop the floors, begrudgingly clean bathrooms, change the sheets on the beds and lots of laundry.  Sound horrible?  Not really, since Monday is set aside for cleaning I’m not scrambling every day to fit in time to keep things tidy.  Off and on over the years I’ve had people to help with cleaning and it’s a luxury that I love, but it’s also one that it’s easy to cut out of the budget fore me.  There is something to be said for a shining clean house at the end of the day that you have scrubbed yourself and a pot of something delicious simmering on the stove.  I know that’s a little June Cleaver-ish.  Oh well, I be true to thyself, right?  And really, I never clean in heels, but I do wear pearls …

Back to laundry.  Did you know that you can compost dryer lint?  Technically you can, but I don’t.  First of all I have two big, barking, shedding dogs and I count on my dryer to remove most of that from my clothing.  I think I saved my lint I could quickly have enough fur for hair shirts or new dogs.  I don’t want that dog fur in my garden beds.

Secondly, while many clothing fibers like cotton and wool are eventually biodegradable, they take time a long time to break down.  Plus, so many natural fiber cloths are sewn with synthetic thread or are treated with flame retardant substances.  We try really hard to avoid all chemicals but we don’t live in a bubble.  I cut out dyer toxic dryer sheets years ago, but I’m still don’t want my dryer debris nurturing my vegetables.

On a quick side note, my dryer simply stopped drying today.  Crisis!  It was late and I had lots of wet soccer stuff that needed to dry for a Tuesday game.  Luckily I also had good neighbors with dryers.  We’ll see what the week brings!

But back to that little something delicious simmering on the stove.  Thank heavens I had leftover chicken in the fridge from my Sunday bird.  Luckily it still had lots of meat on it, so I turned that into a warming, bubbling chicken pot pie with a crispy rye crust oozing with carrots, summer squash, peas and potatoes … and I delivered  it to a friend whose hubby is in the hospital.  I also made a simple salad and a dessert of all sorts of citrus drizzled with honey.  For my family, I simmered those chicken bones into soup.  Lent (and sacrifice) is just around the corner.

What you can see (clockwise top to bottom):

• carrot scrapings
• yellowed parsley leaves
• hydroponic romaine lettuce leaves
• sweet onion skin & stem ends (with a sticker!  Argh!)
• potato peels
• half of a lemon
• summer squash ends

Here’s what the bucket looked like when I tossed the citrus peels in.  Aren’t blood oranges pretty?

Now I’m off to call appliance repair …