Not Dabbling in Normal
I’m a new writer over at Not Dabbling in Normal blog. I’m sure if you like reading about all the crazy thing I do, you’ll love reading about all the things the other writers do. I’ll be writing a few times month over there. Head on over and check out my introductory post today.
You’ll enjoy reading posts from writers such as:
Kim from the Inadvertent Gardener (she has a pet camel)
Warren from My Home Among the Hills (he’s a frequent commenter here)
Anna from Corgi Hill Farm
Sarah from It Blows Here
Alan from Roberts Roost
Tara from the Organic Sister
Cassandra from The Thinker’s Rock
Spend some time today on their blogs and read about all the interesting things they do.
Do you have a blog or someone else’s blog you’d like to recommend? Link to it in the comments below.
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Behind the Scenes
I hate to have my picture taken and I’m not a fan of seeing pictures of myself either. I’m much more comfortable being the one behind the camera. I’ve been sorting through my photos and I found some Mr Chiots has taken of me. As much as I hate to see photos of myself, I figured you might like to see a few of the person that’s usually behind the scenes here at Chiot’s Run.
Do you like having your photo taken?
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Local Unpasteurized Cider
Fresh cider is one of my favorite fall treats. We buy gallons and gallons of it throughout the months of Sept-Nov. When we first moved here 8 years ago we found a great source of unpasteurized cider from a small local mill. I’ve tried cider from many of the other small local orchards, but the Mapleton Cider Mill has the best product!
One of the things I like about this cider is that it’s unpasteurized, so it hasn’t been heated to death or treated with ultraviolet light to kill all the goodness inside. How does this affect the flavor? Well, I can’t really explain besides saying it tastes like cider and not apple juice like much of the stuff you buy in the stores.
4-5 years ago they tried to make selling unpasteurized cider illegal in Ohio. I guess there are a lot of people like us that prefer the taste because there was an uproar. Our mill sold it “under the table” that year, they didn’t put up their usually signs by the road. It didn’t hurt their business because they were always low on cider when I stopped by.
The state finally decided to let people sell it as long as they put a warning on the cider. This doesn’t deter us, we drink gallons and gallons of cider this time of year.
My favorite way to drink cider, mulled of course; with cinnamon, cranberries and other warming spices. I also boil some down to make cider syrup, which we enjoy over pancakes and drizzled over apple pie. I add some to my apple butter as well and I often make mulled cider jelly to give away. I also use several gallons to make apple cider vinegar and this year hard cider.
Another thing I love about small local places is that they use the honor system. We stop by, grab a few gallons and put our money in the box. You just can’t beat living locally!
What’s your favorite way to enjoy cider? Do you have any special cider recipes you’d like to share?
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Making Preserved Lemons
I’m a huge fan of all things lemon. If I have a choice I’ll take lemon anything: cookies, cakes, scones, etc. Sadly lemons don’t grow in NE Ohio (unless you can manage an indoor tree) so finding a local source is not going to happen. The next best thing to local, is finding a small orchard to buy them from. I searched on-line and found a small orchard in California called Lemon Ladies Orchard. I ordered a 10-lb box of Meyer lemons and they arrived several days later.
I have so many recipes for these lemons I probably will run out of lemons long before I complete them all. First on my list was making a batch of preserved lemons for the pantry.
I picked out 15 nice lemons, coarse sea salt and grabbed a nice sized jar from the pantry. While I sterilized the jar, I washed and quartered 10 of the lemons (cut the stem end off and quarter lemons lengthwise). Next I added the lemon quarters to my jar adding a scant tablespoon of salt after each row. Pack the lemons tightly but don’t crush them. You can also add spices if you’d like, cinnamon, cloves, etc.
Keep adding lemons and salt until you’re up to the top of the jar (I used a quart jar, you can use 2 pints if you’d like).
When you reach the top, take the remaining 5 lemons and roll on the counter to soften (makes them juice better). Juice the lemons into the jar, add enough juice to cover the lemons, use more lemons if needed. Remove any air bubbles and top off with the remaining salt (you want to use about a half cup total for this recipe).
Allow lemons to ferment on the counter for 2 weeks (3-4 weeks if you used regular lemons and not Meyer). Shake the jar occasionally (every couple days) to redistribute salt. Store in the fridge and enjoy in recipes, they’ll keep for about 6 months. When you want to use them you can rinse the lemons if you don’t want to add so much salt to your recipe or you can leave them salty. They may acquire some white crystals, this is OK. Here’s a recipe for Israeli Couscous with Butternut Squash & Preserved Lemons.
Not wanting to waste any part of these lovely lemons, I decided to candy the rinds of the lemons I used for juice.
These little jewels are so tasty! I also used the syrup left from the candied lemons and made some lemon ginger hard candy. *recipe for candied lemon peel
What’s your favorite flavor?
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Staying Warm with Local Wool
For the last couple years we’ve been trying to live more locally, not just in what we eat but in all areas of our life. I try to search out a local source for just about everything I need. Since Mr Chiots is taking up hunting this year, he’s going to need a nice warm scarf. I decided a wool one would be ideal and set out to find a source for local wool. I finally found Trinity Woolen Mill through Local Harvest. Luckily they were going to be at a nature arts festival nearby so we went to see what they had.
I bought some lovely brown yarn that was from “Pansy” a Blue Faced Leicester. I love that the yarn came with a photo of the sheep it came from, how wonderful is that? Their yarn is all natural, they practice sustainable husbandry of their flock and they use bio-degradable, non-phosphate, dye-free, fragrance-free potions in the processing of the wool.
I haven’t knitted since I was in jr high, so it took me a few minutes to get back into the swing of it. It’s like riding a bicycle though, so in no time I was back in the groove. Mr Chiots even tried his hand at knitting after a quick lesson.
Knitting is something I’ll definitely be doing a lot more of in the future. It’s such a wonderful evening activity, perfect for those cold winter evenings. I just found an alpaca farm that makes hand spun yarn not too far away and I’ll be searching for more sources of local fiber. I can’t wait to make myself an alpaca scarf or a pair of fingerless mittens.
What kind of hobbies do you take up in the winter to make up for the loss of gardening?
