The dream of the summer to come

Come the middle of January each year my mailbox sags as the glorious and seductive seed catalogues come rolling in.  The pictures are so beautiful; the descriptions of each veggie and flower so tempting I could spend hundreds of dollars and end up with far, far more seeds than any city full of gardeners could possibly have space to plant.

So I luxuriate in pouring over the catalogues while sprawled on the couch under a blanket in the depths of winter.  I joyfully mark them up with my pen and sticky notes.  However I pretty much end up sticking to sorting all last year’s leftover seeds, making a planting plan from them, and only buying seeds I really need!  Ho Hum.

This year I thought I’d share the list of the catalogues that come to me so you too can send for them and endure the same torture I go through every year.  They are in no particular order of preference just the way the stack ended up next to my chair.

Seeds of Change www.seedsofchange.com

K. Van Bourgondien & Sons (Dutch bulbs and perennials) www.kvbwholesale.com

Abundant Life Seeds www.abundantlifeseeds.com

The Cook’s Garden www.cooksgarden.com

Tomato Growers Supply Company www.tomatogrowers.com

Totally Tomatoes www.totallytomato.com

Johnny’s Seeds (An employee-owned company)  www.johnnyseeds.com

Harris Seeds www.harrisseeds.com

Burpee www.burpee.com

Henry Fields www.henryfields.com

High Country Gardens www.highcountrygardens.com

Fungi Perfecti (Mushroom products) www.fungi.com

Pinetree Garden Seeds www.superseeds.com

White Flower Farm www.whiteflowerfarm.com

Jung Seeds & Plants www.jungseed.com

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds www.kitchengardenseeds.com

Select Seeds www.selectseeds.com

Vermont Bean Seed Company www.vermontbean.com

Territorial Seed Company www.territorialseed.com

Gurney’s Seed & Nursery Co. www.gurneys.com

Farmer Seed and Nursery www.farmerseed.com

Burgess Seed & Plant Co.  www.eburgess.com

R. H. Shumway’s Illustrated Garden Guide www.rhshumway.com

My response to the deeply flawed conclusions of Newt Gingrich about ‘poor kids’ is this: Kids cleaning classrooms is wrong if it’s only poor kids doing the cleaning. What follows, for what it’s worth, is a concept I began thinking about almost a decade and a half ago.

Original 1997 Introduction to In-School Service -

It is true, as President Clinton said in his 1992 inauguration address, that “Millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead.” And not just poor children are so deprived. Our nation needs the service of its young citizens long before they reach the age of eighteen, and those young citizens must learn the benefits of service before age eighteen. Where better to learn to serve our nation than in the place where the law requires that millions of our youth must be five days a week, 36 weeks a year: the school building?

I propose a program of universal in-school service that students participate in throughout their elementary and secondary education. Such a cycle of service, which I call ISS (In-School Service), would begin in the third grade and continue at three year intervals in the sixth grade, the ninth grade and the twelfth grade. Each ISS year a student reached would act as a mini-sabbatical, an in depth opportunity for the student to be part of structured and varied programs of service to school, community, region and state.

I believe the development of a National Service Corps is an important goal for our nation. It is an idea that is long overdue. I wish to argue in this paper that for National Service to succeed in attracting the attention and dedication of American youth and their families there must be preparation for personal service built into the twelve years of formal education that will precede such service.

I contend that by seventeen or eighteen years old it is mostly too late to introduce the values and benefits of volunteerism and service in our young people. We must start when our children are still optimistic about the world and their future in it. It must be a service that has clear and apparent results for kids that live in a world of instant gratification. It must be a service that unifies the children in their volunteer efforts and goals. It must be a service that has value for parents and community so they can provide the wonderful feedback for a job well done. My proposal addresses those concerns.  Click here to read more…..

Let’s hear it for firewood!  When it’s time to put the clocks back you know it is really gonna be winter soon!  There was a hard frost coating all the lawn and trees this morning.  But to give you a glimpse of why they say firewood warms you several times; when you buck it up, when you split it, when you stack it, and when you burn it here is the fabulous woodpile Kip has been working on for the past many weeks.

At first the wood looked like this:

Then with hard sweaty work by Kip and our youngest son Bjorn (and the aid of a rented logsplitter)  we are now insured against the winter chill;

We have yet to do the measurements to calculate how many cords we have (a cord of wood is a stack 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet) but we look forward to lots of cozy heat.  Probably several season’s worth.   Wandering through the shaggy late fall garden with the air smelling of wood smoke is a sign that the gardening season is officially over!  Whew!

Whenever I am up to my wrists in bird insides I think of Julia Child (may her memory ever be blessed!)  and that day sometime in the 1960′s when on PBS I watched her debone a duck with her usual humor and efficiency.

Our ducks began as little yellow fluffy guys but ended up as big 10 lb. robust birds ready to butcher:

1st row  l. to r.

Defrost the duck.

With a small sharp knife begin cutting the flesh away from the rear of the bird, cutting toward the bone and slowly turning the flesh and skin inside out; it helps to use a poultry shear to cut the bones at the joints; when you are at the mid-breast area and the thigh bone has been disconnected from the body begin on the neck end;  cutting the wings free and continuing to cut against the bone as you free up the breast bone.  When the bird is inside out cut the thigh joint where it joins the leg, cut out the thigh bone leaving the meat attached to the carcass.

2nd row  l. to r.

The bird is now inside out and breast and thigh bones are removed.  Season the duck flesh with salt, pepper, mashed garlic and/or ginger; turn the bird right side out.

3rd row  l. to r.

You may choose to stuff  your duck at this point or just truss it.  I use a combination of bamboo skewers and kitchen string to give the bird shape.  Once it is trussed tightly I prick the skin all over with the point of a sharp knife to make sure the fat releases.  Salt the skin after pricking.  Set your stock to cooking with the duck bones, an onion, a bay leaf, celery, peppercorns, and a garlic clove (or four or five ).

4th row  l. to r.

Put your trussed bird in a roasting pan on a rack that holds the bird well above the bottom so the entire skin roast evenly.  Add a cup of water so the initial rendered duck fat doesn’t spatter or burn.  Begin at 400 degrees for 20 min breast up and then another 20 min breast down.  Then turn it breast up and drop temp to 325 degrees for a hour or so.  When the leg wiggles easily you’re just about done.   After removing the duck from the roaster pour all the duck fat through a strainer into a glass jar.  You may have as much as a pint to use for baking, frying and other great cookery.  The duck fat will last for 3-4 months in the freezer.  Let the finished bird rest for 20 min or so before carving.  And as you can see from the picture when deboned a duck can be carved straight across the carcass for neat slices.

You can do the same deboning process to a turkey or chicken.   Even when you’re ‘good’ at it it’s a bit messy to do (wear plastic glove) but as long as the skin is not pierced  most of the ‘mess’ is on the inside so no will know the difference!  Once you’ve done it a few times it goes pretty fast.  I’ve deboned a 24 lb. turkey in 20 min.  The upside is that you have all the fresh bones for stock for the gravy and the bird slices really easily!  Try it!

One of the first things we bought together in 1974; I’ve used it ever since and here it is installed in the new house. Some day it will be refinished but for now it’s still wonderfully utilitarian with it’s flour storage with sifter, sugar storage, and a enamel lined bread drawer.

left: flour bin/sifter; right: sugar storage; bottom right: enamel bread drawer

I had a great time in the Monticello kitchen this week. First discussing 19th century foodways with P. Allen Smith for his TV show and then watching food stylist Annette Joseph arrange the bounty of the garden on the kitchen work table for a Southern Living photo shoot.

After a bit of confusion (mostly on my part!) I’ve updated the class schedule and I hope it makes things clearer to prospective students.  I haven’t become savvy enough to have folks register here on the site so email me via ‘contact me’  and I’ll sign you up.

Quick note so far: The peaches here in the Virginia Piedmont are fabulous this summer!  Very sweet and fragrant.

I have a big selection of cast iron pans – one of which I received from my stepfather in 1957 and have been cooking in ever since.  Its inner surface is so slick the cornbread lifts out easily and even fried eggs slide across the bottom with a flick of the handle.

Over the years I’ve bought many different cast iron pans; some pre-seasoned and some rusted and pitted from neglect.  With the latter I usually use sandpaper to buff out the rust, then scrub it with soap, and then see how smooth a plastic scrubbie will make it.  After that I swab the interior with vegetable oil and put the pan in the oven for a couple of hours.  Some where in that time I wipe down any drips and turn the pan upside down for the last time.

My tendency is once the first go-round is done to use the pan as much as possible; fry eggs, French toast, chicken, fish, whatever process uses a bit of oil and doesn’t leave too much crispy bits.. I don’t wash the pan between uses; just scrape out any bits and wipe it thoroughly with paper towel and use it over and over till its cured.   In the picture you will see some carbon steel pans that I bought last year.  They too have to be cured and they are shaping up nicely with repeated use.

I do not use my cast iron for acid stuff; tomato sauce or milky stews.  For those I use stainless steel.

One recommendation that I have not had the chance to try yet appeared in the January/February issue of Cook’s Illustrated (pg. 30).  Developed by Sheryl Canter it uses flaxseed oil and reportedly creates a rich, slippery, finish that can withstand even the dishwasher!  Here’s a link to her blog-  http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

Skillets, saute pans, and a wok; all cast iron or carbon steel

Follow the link to read a fun story about our family. http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/18/multiracial.census/index.html?iref=allsearch

Query: Is it an homage to the 18^th century humeral notions of medicine (puke, purge, and scare the hell out of the illness) that liquid medicines are still being formulated to taste like rotten fruit mixed with pigeon shit and pills have to be the size of ping pong balls to be efficacious?

Potions!

In other words is it all psychological?; the RX needs to convince the patient “By Gawd, this [noxious and/or huge pill or potion] is sure to work!”  I seem to have bought into the theory for one day into the horse-pill antibiotic prescribed by my doctor I feel for the first time in several days that I am indeed going to live.  I’m not bouncing around, my chair and a cozy blanket still feel like the safest place, but I am actually breathing through my nose for the most part.

So that’s enough about the last half of my last week.  The first half started out way cool.  It was Spring Break here and while my younger granddaughter attended art camp my oldest granddaughter and I volunteered to work with the archaeologists at Montpelier who are working on the slave quarters just to the south of the restored Madison house.  What an exciting project to be a part of even if only in the most amateur and limited way.

The Montpelier archaeology crew (Mark, Hope, Matt, Kim, and three more hardworking young women whose names I just do  not remember – sorry) were welcoming and patient, hardworking and full of good humor.  Heat, cold, rain, wind, no matter, they just plug away, hand and knees coated in mud, shovel and trowels in hand, wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt put through the screens.  My admiration for the work archaeologists do is unbounded; and as an historian what I do is made so much better by having their work to rely on!  Evidence of glass windows, or kinds of food bones, how big were the cabins, were the clothes buttons homemade or manufactured, that is the information that enriches my interpretation of the history of slavery.  Lucky me.

The rear of Montpelier - the dig is to the left out of view

Real archaeologists at their work

Day one; Zoe and I got our own square of soil to open.  The dig director, Mark, showed us how to remove the very top layer of grass with our square edged shovel held at an angle to really just scrape carefully.

"our" square of the slave housing dig

The resultant soil was then screened for any goodies and lo and behold we found bits of old glass even at that top layer!  Then with trowels in hand we learned to inch by inch take the layers of soil down through the historic record.  As we scraped away carefully Zoe found a pottery shard with a blue flower-like pattern clearly visible; I found pieces of window and bottle glass.

Then came the screening of each layer of soil which brought more cool artifacts to light; several pieces of iron nails, more window glass, some bone, and other esoteric things like phylite fragments.

Learning to screen

We were particularly impressed with the record keeping out there in the field; codes for the state, the project, all the squares being opened; more codes and accompanying metal numbered tags and for each set of objects from each level!  Then each sort of objects [iron together, ceramics and glass together, brick, mortar, buttons, coins, whatever] are bagged in small plastic bags which are each labeled with all the above code; then all the bagged and labeled artifacts and the tags, after being listed on a data sheet, are put in a brown paper bag, which is itself labeled with all the same information!  I certainly got an insight into how objects can be described as having come from a particular time period with such specificity.  Talk about the Department of Redundancy Department!

Day two; we worked in the lab learning how clean the artifacts so patiently dug from the soil.  Cleaning artifacts is a whole other discipline with special tools and processes and, yes, it’s own form of record keeping!  Watching a piece of glass become clear and shiny under one’s hands with a soft toothbrush and warm water then laid in the designated area of the drying frame with the other clean artifacts is immensely satisfying.

Me cleaning a piece of pottery

Zoe scrubs artifacts in the Montpelier archaeology lab

Artifacts properly cleaned, labeled and set to dry

I will be volunteering again!

For now I’m glad the cool, damp weather keeps me inside as I recuperate.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll be up to some time outside.

FYI: The peas are up!