The unseasonably warm weather continued with a 72 degree sunny day yesterday, and there were scores of honeybees flying around the hive all day. Karl keeps feeding them their own honey from an inverted mason jar with little holes pricked in the lid. They don't seem to be eating it very quickly so I assume -- at least I hope -- they are getting what they need from the few plants that are flowering.
Karl went to a meeting of local beekeepers tonight, and I'll be interested to know what the collective wisdom is about taking care of bees during this last month of this weird, warm winter.
The other rather banal new is that Aksel and I planted Sugar Snap Peas in the back alley garden and I re-potted a bunch of arugula seedlings into bigger pots. Swiss chard and spinach seedlings will probably have to be repotted in the next few days. I wasn't expecting all the seeds I planted to sprout and I know that it's dumb, but it pains me to thin those little plants.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Peas Planted
Aksel and I planted peas in the back garden yesterday. We also started spinach, Swiss chard and arugula up on the porch last week. The arugula and chard has sprouted and is already growing well. With its southern exposure, it must be 75 degrees out there during the day.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Crocus in Bloom
Our neighbor's crocus are always among the very first crocus I see in bloom every early spring. By early February his garden is full of them. I was surprised today, out on a walk in the sunny afternoon, to see clusters of crocus in full bloom. We really have had a warm December, but it's still only December 30th!
I stood around and waited a few moments, and sure enough, a couple honeybees stopped by to collect pollen. While the honeybee was visiting some sort of fly was also hanging out on a flower.
I stood around and waited a few moments, and sure enough, a couple honeybees stopped by to collect pollen. While the honeybee was visiting some sort of fly was also hanging out on a flower.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Vanilla Pear Jam
After the family ate their fill of pears, I still had several sitting on the counter from a recent Costco run getting riper and riper by the hour. A little too soft to slice and eat out of hand, they were fine for jam. I followed the recipe on the Food in Jars blog .
The last time I had made jam, I used the requisite amount of pectin and cooked it at a hard boil for a bit too long, resulting in a tasty jam, but with a consistency that was way too hard. This time, I didn't use quite as much pectin and the result is a pretty thin jam. I was hoping to serve this pear jam with cheese and crackers, but I think it's more suited to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pancake topping.
The ingredients: pears, sugar, vanilla beans. Vanilla beans are super expensive. I think a little bottle holding two beans are about $12 at the local Harris Teeter. I bought a package of 30 beans on eBay for about that same price. They aren't quite as plump as the ones in the store, but they are absolutely fine and the price is right.
Mashing everything up...
The finished product...
The last time I had made jam, I used the requisite amount of pectin and cooked it at a hard boil for a bit too long, resulting in a tasty jam, but with a consistency that was way too hard. This time, I didn't use quite as much pectin and the result is a pretty thin jam. I was hoping to serve this pear jam with cheese and crackers, but I think it's more suited to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pancake topping.
The ingredients: pears, sugar, vanilla beans. Vanilla beans are super expensive. I think a little bottle holding two beans are about $12 at the local Harris Teeter. I bought a package of 30 beans on eBay for about that same price. They aren't quite as plump as the ones in the store, but they are absolutely fine and the price is right.
Mashing everything up...
The finished product...
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair
A couple of weeks ago on a whim, I entered a contest for the Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair.
As I understand it, this is a festival of all sorts of crafts vendors from up and down the east coast. This year, they have expanded to a market of culinary crafters with free lessons and tastings and there is a Crafty Food Award competition for home crafted pickles, beer and preserves. I decided to enter Drunken Fig Jam and Spiced Peach Jam into the preserves contest. Much to my surprise, the Spiced Peach Jam made the finals so on October 1st I'll be squaring off against Oaxaca Chutney and Blueberry-Lime Preserves!
The fair is in Adams Morgan at the Marie Reed Learning Center at 18th and Wyoming Ave., NW from 10 - 5. The Crafty Food Awards will be at 3 pm. I'll be there!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Tomatoes, Potatoes, Pumpkins and Figs
We've been eating about a pint of cherry tomatoes a day -- plain right off the vine, with mozzarella cheese, with feta cheese, in pasta salad, in potato salad and in pasta sauce. And, of course, lots are given to friends and neighbors. It really is remarkable just how many tomatoes have grown in two small plots. Last week it finally got to the point that we just couldn't keep up with the bounty so I canned three pints and have now filled a pint jar with sun (actually oven) dried tomatoes.
Some of the potatoes were boiled for a Nicoise salad. These were starter potatoes that were on clearance at Frager's for 10 cents a package in June. They've done remarkably well and taste delicious.
This pumpkin vine is a volunteer taken from the compost pile.
Finally, figs. The fig tree down at the community garden is dripping with giant, ripe figs. They started ripening about 10 days ago and since then, I've probably picked 35 cups of them. I've made three batches of Drunken Fig Jam, a recipe I found on Epicurious, and each recipe calls for 9 cups of them. The jam has figs, brandy, sugar and the zest and juice of two lemons. It's unbelievably good on crackers with goat cheese.
I feel like I'm the only one really picking the figs down there. Every time I go, there are dozens of easily reached ripe figs that are on the verge of being too ripe. I hate to see them go bad on the vine, so I've picked dozens that I've dried. I need to let it go.
Some of the potatoes were boiled for a Nicoise salad. These were starter potatoes that were on clearance at Frager's for 10 cents a package in June. They've done remarkably well and taste delicious.
This pumpkin vine is a volunteer taken from the compost pile.
Finally, figs. The fig tree down at the community garden is dripping with giant, ripe figs. They started ripening about 10 days ago and since then, I've probably picked 35 cups of them. I've made three batches of Drunken Fig Jam, a recipe I found on Epicurious, and each recipe calls for 9 cups of them. The jam has figs, brandy, sugar and the zest and juice of two lemons. It's unbelievably good on crackers with goat cheese.
I feel like I'm the only one really picking the figs down there. Every time I go, there are dozens of easily reached ripe figs that are on the verge of being too ripe. I hate to see them go bad on the vine, so I've picked dozens that I've dried. I need to let it go.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Karl here, posting a bit about our morning with the bees on the 300 block of C Street in SE Washington DC this past Monday.
As Background: The city had gotten some complaints of bees living in the base of a dead tree right on a city sidewalk. They realized they were honey bees and put the word out to the local beekeepers to see if anyone could help move them - rather than kill them all. Thank you Washington DC - well played.
Toni is our neighbor here on Capitol Hill and is a fellow beekeeper. She is affectionately known as "the Queen Bee." She's the one they called, of course, and like only Toni can, she took charge and organized a half dozen or so of us to help.
A few days before, city tree trimmers had cut back the tree to just a trunk (I forgot to photograph the 10 ft. long rotten hole down inside the center of the tree!). When they had cut it back, someone stapled a bit of netting across the top to keep the bees contained during the project. In looking at where they chose to move, you have to give them credit - they sure had found a nice pad with lots of square footage right in a prime DC neighborhood.
We all met at the tree at 9 am. A beekeeper from PG County MD drove in with his pickup truck, city agencies were represented and all the white bee jackets made us look like a biohazard team. When I drove in past the road-cones, Julie objected; "Karl, the street is closed!" I thought my reply was funny; "I know honey, I'm part of the crew!" We parked in the middle of the street behind the tree shredder truck - just like detectives at a crime scene always do on TV!
The idea: cover the holes with screens so the bees (and especially the queen) would stay together in the tree, keep the tree (their hive) intact, move it into the bed of the truck drive them all to a monastery in NW DC. The gang would then crack it open, take out the queen and move her and her worker girls into a 'real' hive. (I had to get to work, and couldn't go up for that part... bummer!).
I have to say, I think we did a terrific job. The photos tell the story better than could, so here you go.
A screen covers the bees exit while a DC DDOT guy cuts the trunk off at the base (but PLENTY of bees are flying). There were VERY few stings (2 i think), given all the noise and activity.
Getting ready to crack the trunk off the root base...
That's me in the bed, helping to pull the trunk into the truck.
Toni and friend with their noses in the bees after they were loaded and covered with a tarp.
And finally, a small hive was set up on the stump to collect stragglers. A bit of sugar and some queen pheromone were put inside to help the bees feel at home. Later that night (when the bees were inside for the night) the box was collected and the girls were taken up to NW to be with Mom. A happy ending for all!
As Background: The city had gotten some complaints of bees living in the base of a dead tree right on a city sidewalk. They realized they were honey bees and put the word out to the local beekeepers to see if anyone could help move them - rather than kill them all. Thank you Washington DC - well played.
Toni is our neighbor here on Capitol Hill and is a fellow beekeeper. She is affectionately known as "the Queen Bee." She's the one they called, of course, and like only Toni can, she took charge and organized a half dozen or so of us to help.
A few days before, city tree trimmers had cut back the tree to just a trunk (I forgot to photograph the 10 ft. long rotten hole down inside the center of the tree!). When they had cut it back, someone stapled a bit of netting across the top to keep the bees contained during the project. In looking at where they chose to move, you have to give them credit - they sure had found a nice pad with lots of square footage right in a prime DC neighborhood.
We all met at the tree at 9 am. A beekeeper from PG County MD drove in with his pickup truck, city agencies were represented and all the white bee jackets made us look like a biohazard team. When I drove in past the road-cones, Julie objected; "Karl, the street is closed!" I thought my reply was funny; "I know honey, I'm part of the crew!" We parked in the middle of the street behind the tree shredder truck - just like detectives at a crime scene always do on TV!
The idea: cover the holes with screens so the bees (and especially the queen) would stay together in the tree, keep the tree (their hive) intact, move it into the bed of the truck drive them all to a monastery in NW DC. The gang would then crack it open, take out the queen and move her and her worker girls into a 'real' hive. (I had to get to work, and couldn't go up for that part... bummer!).
I have to say, I think we did a terrific job. The photos tell the story better than could, so here you go.
A screen covers the bees exit while a DC DDOT guy cuts the trunk off at the base (but PLENTY of bees are flying). There were VERY few stings (2 i think), given all the noise and activity.
Getting ready to crack the trunk off the root base...
That's me in the bed, helping to pull the trunk into the truck.
Toni and friend with their noses in the bees after they were loaded and covered with a tarp.
And finally, a small hive was set up on the stump to collect stragglers. A bit of sugar and some queen pheromone were put inside to help the bees feel at home. Later that night (when the bees were inside for the night) the box was collected and the girls were taken up to NW to be with Mom. A happy ending for all!
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