Starting My Garden Early 2

Well, I have so much to say , and show you .. That I dont even know where to start really . After having taken pretty much the whole month of May off , to get life sorted , and my garden growing . I'm happy to report both are now on track again lol . ( I hope!! hahaha )   So where did I leave off ??  Hmmm wow , for gardening it was 5 weeks ago . So that is where Ill pick back up again .  

These are always the first flowers in my garden :))  I planted them years ago ... lol always lets me know when spring has arrived.  

The mystery seeds turned out to be cucumber :)) 

Peas are great to start inside or direct seed,  I did a bit of both .  This did give these ones a 4 week head start though . 

My tomatoes,  I think these are the sweetie ones.. either way : Important note... these are getting to leggy already , they needed to be closer to the light .  ( 7 weeks later , the few that survived are not much taller than this , but strong now )   

The garlic I planted last fall is coming back strong!!  Mmmm 

Romaine lettuce , direct seeded on March 28th, and covered with a cold frame .
Note : The direct seeded Romaine did FAR better than the transplants I tried.  

Volunteer Wild Strawberry Plant :)) Thought Id save it and see what happens.  

Basil :)) - My little grow shelf worked great , but I did not have the plants close enough to the light for the 1st couple of weeks. Ooops 

My first time planting corn !!  This did SO much better by starting inside... sprouted in less than a week , compared to almost 3 weeks with  direct seeding . ( Mind you , I think I tried a little too early for direct lol , even with a cold frame )

Lots more gardening and food posts to follow !!  I do appreciate all feedback , or if you have your own tips , feel free to leave a comment on here , send me an email , or jump over to my Facebook page and join the daily fun ( links on the right side of this page :))  

I'm glad to be back!!  It has been too long !!  

Happy Gardening - Rich 

Homemade Butter in your Food Pro :))

A couple of months ago , I did a post on how to make your own butter , the old fashioned way , with a little elbow grease and a mason jar :)  Today Ill show you an easier method, using your food pro. Lots of pictures to explain the whole process :) Enjoy  

Ingredients Required : 

Heavy Cream - I used 750 ml , but 500ml makes for a nice sized batch too. 

Food Processor 

Sea Salt - Optional 

Start with 750ml of heavy cream ( 35% ) Ive owned this food pro for 10 years , and have never had a chance to use the mixer attachment until now. 

Noisy attachment that it is :) lol 

5 minutes or so in.. it will appear that nothing is happening, and then .... 

You get good old fashioned whipping cream :))  :) 

Keep going , the volume will increase almost twofold. 

and just when you think nothing is going to happen ... it starts to change ..  this is about 15 minutes in . 

At about twenty minutes it starts to clump up a little, and the butter milk starts separating. 

Twenty five minutes of constant whirring , and you have butter .. time to strain off the butter milk. 

Add a couple of cups of ice water , and turn it back on for 1 minute. 

Strain off the ice water , and you will have butter!!!  

Mmmmm creamy homemade butter !!!  

I saved the butter milk for making a  loaf of bread :)) 

Pack the butter into a seal-able container , add some sea salt if you like :) This will last for about a month in the fridge.  

That's it!! So simple and easy , and you can add any flavourings you like , herbs, salts , chili.. garlic Mmmmm so many options to enjoy , or keep it plain and add flavour later :)  I hope you have enjoyed this recipe.  Happy Cooking :))

Starting My Garden Early

Last year when I started this blog , the growing season had pretty much ended ... So I was not able to delve into the growing side of Good Food .   Now that spring is here , I can :))  Our last frost date here is the 3rd week in May ,   most years I usually try and push that date by a couple of weeks , with mixed results. This year , I'm trying to get smart about it all, Ive FINALLY started a garden journal , instead of just scribbling things on a calendar ! I started planted seeds March 28th ,  more than a month earlier than I have before.   With  the help of a little mini greenhouse I built on the bottom shelf in my kitchen , and a few cold frames.. I'm hoping for this to be my most successful year ever :))  I also got a real jump start on things by planting 3 rows of garlic , and a couple of onions last fall :)) Things are looking good !!

I turned the bottom third of a kitchen shelf into a propagator/grow room .

This was the 1st green thing in my garden ,  The garlic I planted last October :))  I used the leaves I raked up as a mulch to help them thru our winters.  

On the warm days Ive been bring them outside to start hardening them off.  

I tried a row of Romaine , directly sowed on 3/28 ..  took a bit but it came up , the pot to the right was started the same day ( but inside ) a cold frame is covering this lettuce patch . 

Planting the lettuce ,  I like to soak the soil 1st to make it easier to separate these tiny plants 

Things are growing well,  everything has sprouted ,  Ill have lots of tomatoes this year , maybe even enough to do my canning with :)) 

I never planted enough Basil ,  but that will not be the case this year , 60 or so have been started so far , with at least that many being started today  as well.  

Peas sure do sprout quickly .. 5 days and they have already broken ground.  

Red Peppers are a different story , these took about 3 weeks to pop up  

Mystery seeds , I'm thinking Squash or Cucumber . 

My Garden in the early morning light ,  I free-cycled most everything in my garden ,  the cold frames are old packing crates , and cupboard doors  :))

 My Good Food Revolution is changing for the better , look for more gardening , and farming posts , as well as recipes, food porn , and kitchen tips & tricks :)
 Since its Earth Day today , its time to move away from the PC , and go plant something .   Happy Gardening !!

Less Words, More Food 13

I haven't been writing to many recipes lately , so I hope you are all happy with a few food pix until I get writing again :))  I tend to not use a recipe , and just open my fridge and start grabbing food , until my arms are full.. then  its off to the chopping block to see whats for dinner :))  Here is a few of my dinners from the last week or so .

Making my 1st veggie stock :)  Tasted great :)  

Having a little fun with bread, this one is a spicy chili and Marmite batch :) Loved it ! 

Free Range Beef Burgers, with spinach , jalapeno, garlic, mushrooms, and red onion :)) 

This batch was a basil, garlic, and red onion whole wheat bread ( with added 12 whole grains ) 

Quick and Easy Lunch food, Chunk Tuna , with cucumbers, garlic , mushroom and red onion.

Was experimenting with different bread pans, tried using my muffin trays , worked out great . Especially if your like me and love the crispy edges.  

Was too cold, dark and wet to BBQ , so a cast iron skillet has to do sometimes. 

A quick batch of midnight tacos :))  Was not happy with that Mozzarella, and wont be buying that brand again .. it didn't really melt very well  :(

Work lunch :)   Tomato/cucumber salad, with a spicy tuna spread, half a burger, and some of my homemade butter and bread ! 

There you have it :) I do hope you have enjoyed the food pictures.   Does anyone have a recipe request ?  I've been kinda stumped lately on writing them, maybe a request will jolt me into action lol .
Have a great day , Happy Cooking !!

A New Chapter begins with Spring part 4

I hope you are enjoying the farm and gardening posts, as this is one of the directions I wanted my Good Food Revolution to go in , don't worry I'll still be creating new dishes, and posting food pix and recipes.   Ill just be going a little further and showing you where all that yummy food comes from , and no its not a grocery store :)) lol   Enjoy the final post .. although this is not the end, rather a new beginning !!

Two of my re-purposed cold frames are going to be part of another little experiment .. they have warmed the ground enough that i can actually dig it up ... so I'm going to plant a few of the onions that sprouted in my pantry over winter.  

One week in , and the lettuce is showing some life !!  

One, two three everyone raise you bum in the air !! Hahahaha 

Trying some onions from seed for the first time..  One week in  

Same in the 80x20 green house..   this made my morning to see these had sprouted.  I didn't have the notes with me , but I think its spinach .  

That me! lol  ..  sure was thirsty work ,  I dug all that by hand with a shovel and fork.  

Off into the sunset I go !!!  

I hope you have enjoyed this post, and the previous three before it .. if you didn't  see them you can find them all here .   http://richfletchersgoodfoodrevolution.blogspot.com/search/label/growing%20your%20own%20food