Bees and the Art of Tiller Maintenance

Another beautiful day today. After 4 days of badly needed rain, things started clearing up yesterday. Today was in the 70's. A lovely sunny day. It was heartening to see that the bees were busy foraging around the farm. So far, the hives that survived the fires this summer seem to be faring well. Everywhere there was water, bees were lining up for a drink. Kind of amazing giving the last few days of rain. But they were thirsty! This spring, my neighbors and I will restart the hives that failed this summer. And the cycle continues.

I used the warm weather to work on some farm equipment. Last fall, my walk-behind tiller threw a rod through the side of the engine crank case. You can see the hole it made in the photo at the right. I saw a piece of the crank shaft fly about 15 feet into the dirt as I was tilling a new field. I went to pick up the piece, and man was it HOT. This is the second engine I've blown in a year. The first one was last spring, just as I was finishing up the new lavender field. That time it was the valve guide, and my brother-in-law helped me put together this new engine from some old equipment. Well, looks like it was on its last leg too. Someday, maybe I'll be able to afford a more industrial tiller. In the meantime, I'll keep nursing this one back to health.

I got a new engine to replace it a couple of weeks ago, but figured as long as I had the engine off, I might as well clean it up a bit, and repaint. Yesterday, I disassembled everything and washed off all of the dirt and grease. But it was still too cold to paint. Today things warmed up, and I repainted in the warm sun. Another coat tomorrow, and I can reassemble everything. It will be good as new! Better than new actually. I'm painting the whole thing my signature lavender purple. I can't wait to see it all back together.

Another fun highlight today, I had a visitor. A bobcat. He came right up to the house. Sorry, my camera wasn't handy so I couldn't catch a picture. When I went outside to look at him, he got startled and took off. Funny thing, he went through a hole in the fencing of the vegetable garden and got trapped inside. Boy did he panic. I watched from a safe distance as he stuggled at the far end of the garden trying to get through the fence. Ultimately he made it through, which just goes to show, no fence is strong enough to keep a determined wild cat from getting through!

Maybe he'll come back tomorrow. This time, I'll have the camera ready!

Recipe for "Zen" Spaghetti Sauce

I am told real Italians don't put tofu in their spaghetti. Well, I like to challenge established convention.

I've been noodling over a zen (vegan) spaghetti sauce for about a week now. That's the way it works for me. I'll have a thought about a new recipe, and then I need to try it out. Well about a week ago, I made my signature Zen tacos, and it occurred to me: why not a pasta sauce?

Let me tell you a bit of the background on zen tacos first though. About five years ago, I radically changed the way I eat. There were many reasons for this. The primary was for health. I hadn't been feeling 100%, and I needed to make changes to restore my health and well-being. So I turned to food. At the time, I was pretty much a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy. But it wasn't working for me. Not physically. And not mentally. So I started to experiment. One of the changes I made was to move meat to the back seat. I didn't go strictly vegan, but I did make vegetables the feature course of almost every meal, if I used meat, it complimented the veggie course rather than dominate it, and I did start experimenting with vegan cuisine with vegan days where I ate only vegetable. But I didn't want to eat raw carrots my whole life. I had a basic question: could I recreate some of my "comfort foods" without using any animal-based ingredients at all?

I tried many different combinations of veggies to simulate the dishes I love best. Being from California, I love Mexican. And I love tacos. An all vegan taco filling (no, not refried beans!) was one of my better creations.

Last week, while I was watching the taco "meat" simmer in the pan, something in my mind said pasta! Now pasta was part of the food changes I made 5 years ago, in that I rarely eat it now. I love it, I just have to avoid it. But as a treat once in a while, it is fine.

Here is what you need (Remember, I don't measure, so these measurements are all approximate, go with your feelings):

Ingredients:

1lb tofu, extra firm, shredded (see below)

3-4 cups crimini mushrooms, shredded (see below)

2 cups carrots, grated (mine came from the garden, yum!)

1-2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Tomato paste (3-4 small cans, or make your own, even better!)

2 small onions, chopped (I used one red, one yellow)

Olive oil

Lots of Oregano

Few teaspoons of chopped Rosemary

First, prepare the "meat". You do this by shredding the mushrooms and tofu in a food processor. Put chucks of chopped mushroom and tofu into the process, and use short bursts to shred it into "flakes". Don't over chop, or the tofu will turn into a "mush". You don't want that. You want it in small pieces, that approximate pieces of ground meat. Same with the mushrooms.

Next, grate the carrots. Use the food processor, or use a hand grater. I usually do it by hand. Tonight I used the food processor since it was dirty anyhow. Mix carrots, tofu, and mushrooms together into a bowl. This will be your vegan "meat" and will be browned at the appropriate time just as if it were sausage or ground meat.

Then, put olive oil at the bottom of a large sauce pan. Maybe about 1/4 inch. Next saute the chopped onions. Just until they are translucent. When this is achieved, add the vegan meat to the pan, the chopped garlic, and "brown". It won't really turn color like real meat. The purpose is to try to firm it up a bit, so that the consistency more like the real deal. Do this for maybe ten minutes or so.

Add tomato paste and water. You add enough water so that the mixture is fluid, but don't make soup! Simmer the sauce while stirring. The sauce should flow around the spoon without being too watery. If it isn't fluid enough, add more water. If you overdo it, well, then you're going to have to simmer longer to reduce the water.

Add oregano and rosemary, and stir consistently throughout the sauce.

Now let simmer as long as possible. About 30 minutes or so. The longer the better. But keep stirring, and if the sauce gets too thick, at a touch more water.

Boil the pasta. Drain. Add olive oil or butter (but that's not vegan!) to taste, and then mix in the sauce. I used rigatoni. That's what we always had when I was a growing up. So that's what I used tonight. Zenatoni I call it!

My family always mixed in the sauce before serving. That was just the way it was done. However I put the sauce on top sometimes too. It is a matter of preference / mood. My finicky kids wanted it on the side, in case they didn't like it. But after one bite, my son said "pass more of that sauce!" ... Hey Mikey, he likes it!

What I like about "Zen" sauce and taco meat is that it doesn't stuff you like meat based sauces and fillings. It is satisfying, thick, and "meaty" but doesn't leave you feeling too full all night long. In fact, I find the sauce just as satisfying as a meat-based sauce, and definitely more satisfying and tasty that a simple marinara sauce. The mushroom give a "meaty" flavor and texture, the tofu also adds to texture and visually looks like the fatty part of sausage or ground beef, while the carrots and onions sweeten it up and add body.

Give it a try! I hope you like it as much as we do.

Personal Space - The Surprise

The day I have been waiting for. The day to spring the surprise !

I woke this morning at 7am. Early for a Saturday. I still had to finish sanding and install the armoire doors before I show it to her. But before that, I had a meeting in town regarding some community work I've been involved with. Right after the meeting I rushed home to finish the job!

Another mid-summer day in Winter. 70 degrees. Sunny. Wow. It doesn't get much better than this. The wonderful thing about Summer in Winter is that you have all the warmth, without the FLIES! Yeah! I got back to the farm just after noon. There was utter harmony. I had given everyone notice earlier in the week that this weekend was a farm improvement weekend. We will all work together on small projects and jobs that will make our lives here happier. Working on things like this together helps bring a sense of collective responsibility to a family. We all really do play a critical role in our life here on Lavender Hill.

My son was well into his task rebuilding some raised beds. This year the wire mesh at the bottom of one of the raised beds in the garden finally rotted through. A gopher wreaked havoc on my tomatoes for about a month before I got him under control. An ounce of prevention though is worth a pound of cure. So rebuilding the beds in the home garden became a farm improvement project. Last weekend, he dismantled the old beds, and today he was rebuilding the new ones with the same wood. Well done!

My daughter was also working in the family garden. The winter veggies needed weeding. Not terribly exciting, but it can be meditative. I actually like doing it in early morning, when no one is awake yet. Seriously, I'm not trying to Tom Sawyer you. But today, since I had to go to the community meeting, my daughter took the task. She says she doesn't like the work, but she was smiling when I checked in. So maybe she found the same Zen, but just won't admit it to ol' Dad.

After checking on progress in the home garden, I finished up my sanding and installed the doors. But in process, I was discovered. All covered in wood dust, I turned around to see my wife staring at me. She wanted to know what I was making. Figuring I couldn't say "nothing" with a 7 foot armiore standing in front of me, a sander in my hand, and covered head to toe in dust. "Go read my blog" I told her, "then come back." She did, returning with a smile.

Now that it's ready, how to break it to her? I came up with an idea. I would tell her to read my blog, and she could learn of the surprise the same way you all did! After dinner, I casually brought up some excuse to tell her to read my blog. I had to insist actually, since I got the standard "I will" with no actual forward motion. This became a bit of a test of wills, but since my wife was in on it, she backed me up. Apparently my son had discovered me earlier that day, so he joined in too, and finally she sat down to read, while we all stared at her with goofy knowing smiles. She smiled. "All this from one outburst?" she said. Maybe I saw a happy tear, I don't know. It could have just been the light too.

Well, it worked. She liked it. We all grabbed a flashlight and hiked over to see it in the dark. I even got a rare hug. That made it all worthwhile.

Personal Space - Day II & III

The last couple of days have been busy. At last post, I had hoped to spring the "surprise" yesterday. However business calls and I only managed to get a half day in for furniture making. However the distractions were worthy.

First thing in the morning, I had a meeting with a local winery to do some custom essential oil distillation. Farming has to come first. I am very happy with the opportunity. I had met the owners of a local winery that grows quite a bit of rosemary. They are interested in distilling essential oil for products, and I am interested in expanding my distillation operation to include other aromatic herbs. So it is a match made in heaven. I had an excellent meeting with the wine maker, we looked over the rosemary and agreed on a plan to move forward. I am looking forward to sharing my rosemary distillation days with you in the future!

Busness in hand, I did manage to get back in the late morning and continue some on the "surprise" project. At three I had a brief meeting with my partner on the Carmel Valley Coop (see weblink at http://www.carmelvalleycoop.org) in the late afternoon, so I had to work fast.

I managed to build the shelves, trim , and crown. Most of the time was spent searching the farm for adequate pieces of lumber from which to fashion the shelves. I also started running out of "choice" lumber scraps. Which means milling pieces from larger scraps of wood. This of course also take time and slows down progress.

As my partner showed up for our afternoon meeting, I had just finished the shelves, and milled the pieces I would use to construct the cabinet doors. And that was a day. So I collected my tools, and put things away.

Yesterday was a busy day indeed. My day was still not over. In the evening, I needed to make a meeting with the local Sustainable Carmel Valley group. Deborah Lindsay, council member for Pacific Grove, local radio host of an environmental show called Tomorrow Matters, and personal friend was going to be presenting at the monthly meeting. She is a true visionary. (You can read about Deborah on her website at http://www.deborahlindsay.com) This was a must go! So I fixed some fast food (a very nice omelet), and headed off. The meeting was very interesting. So much so, I would like to dedicate an entire post to my experience. I won't say too much about it today, except to encourage you to visit again tomorrow where I will share details about the meeting which included global warming, peak oil, re-localization of our economy, and psychology of our interpretation of these literally Earth shattering events. And they do relate to my philosophy on farming. So I want to spend some time with this.

But for now, back to the surprise... :)

Today I went back to work, and started working on the cabinet doors. This took most of the day. First I had to rout out the rabbets for the paneling on some of the cross members.

Next I had to drill the peg holes that would be used to join the pieces together. I cut pegs from a piece of 3/8" wooden dowel I happened to have lying around, and securely glued them into the holes. Then I joined the pieces together, and started inserting the panel slats into the slots. Of course this sounds easier than it was. I also had to cut a 45 degree angle as a simple ship-lap in each of the panel slats so that the pieces would join better.

By the end of the day I had finished the two lower doors of the main armoire, and the two upper cabinet doors as well. All that remained was to fasten the doors to the cabinet. But alas, I didn't seem to have any appropriate hinges lying around. After much deliberation, I decided I would take a trip into town and pick up some hinges and fasten the doors on tomorrow.

I seriously contemplated springing the surprise with the doors not yet mounted. But I think I will wait. The impact should be bigger if the armoire is good to go when I spring it on my daughter. I will be patient, and pick up the hinges early in the morning. I am really anxious to see if she likes it, but I try to keep myself restrained. Tomorrow is good.

Tomorrow will be the day. Stay tuned!

Personal Space - An Episode of Cabin Fever

This morning I had a big long list of tasks to get done around the farm. Well, farming isn't all about plants and animals. People live here too, and sometimes they need attention just like all of us. As I walked through the yard to my first task at the distillery, my thoughts were on a conversation, more of an event really, from the night before. Of course, one thing leads to another and I had an idea. A blogosphere surprise for my family. You can all be in on it with me as it unfolds. Here's the scoop...

Life on the farm is not shall we say conventional. Most of our space is outdoors. Fine during the day. But at night, and of course during cold winter rainy season, this makes for cramped quarters. And our house is very small. Let's just say we can amaze even Chinese nationals when they try to complain about THEIR average home size :) I like to think of it kinda like living on a boat.

Last night began with my daughter upset. You see, my son (I know I said my daughter was upset, but it is all connected, bare with me) got a unique Christmas gift, an adorable little device called the Annoy-a-Tron. A tiny little circuit that emits a short, really obnoxious electronic sound once every so often. Just often enough to be a constant distraction, but not often enough to find the darn thing. And it comes with a built-in magnet, so it can be hidden in the most insidious of places. Well a few nights ago he left it in our room and after an hour trying to get to sleep I had to go wake him to find it. The next day he found a new location, but this one wasn't so clever, and ol' Dad managed to track it down, turn it off, and hide it. Then I had an idea, I would give him a taste of his own medicine and hide it in HIS room. Of course in a sinisterly difficult to detect location. He'd have to come wake ME up! While he was at school, I set the trap.

Okay, I know, what about my daughter? Well, apparently it was bothering her while she was trying to study so she came marching in to demand that it be immediately removed. Fair enough, but she was really..., well... really... ANNOYED! I asked her why a silly prank became such a heated issue, and she blurted out: I have no personal space!

It is hard to argue with that.

In fact it is true. For all of us. Cabin fever can take the best. But the key to living on a boat is organization. Or course, closet space is at a premium, and most of our space is shared. For an old weathered goat like me, you stop caring about things like that. But for a young adult, well, it's important. We have always talked about building an armoire so that she would have a personal space to put her belongings. The project never seems to make it to the top 10 list though. Today, it became #1.

So I interrupted my tasks and hatched a plan to build it for her and surprise her. And even better, I would share the progress with you on the blog. All right under her nose. All fun of course. I looked at an old pile of scrap lumber, and visions of King Midas began to overtake me. I would complete it today.

I grabbed my notebook and sketched out a simple design. Looks easy enough, no? And I think I can make it entirely from stuff on hand. Let's give it a try.

With the design in hand, I collected some pieces of lumber from the scrap pile and started cutting. I cut out all of the pieces for the frame, and made the saw cuts for the mortise work. This went pretty quickly.

Next, I chiseled out the mortises for the cabinet frame. I am not a cabinet maker, so this went more slowly. But surely. As the pieces were worked, I fastened them together to make the frame. I had some old 1by6 tongue and groove paneling pieces lying around, so I cut these to length for use as side panels, and fastened these into place using finishing nails. So far, so good.

Uh oh, twilight was upon me. These winter days are so short. I finished the main cabinet frame and side panels, but the shelves and doors remain. As usual, my dream exceeds my day. Fastening everything together had taken more time than I though, getting all the pieces square and lining up right etc. But I had to clean up and put the tools away. I "hid" the 7 foot cabinet in plain sight right on the patio just by leaning it on its side. A simple "fine" seemed to satisfy any questions about my day. He he. If I can only get them all off to school in the morning. Hopefully, no one will notice!

Check back tomorrow to see if I succeed and finish before I'm discovered. With luck, I can spring the surprise when they get home!