If I could only choose one spice (other than salt), it would be pepper flakes. We love them sprinkled into + onto most everything savory. From avocado toast to soups to grain bowls...we like them all a bit spicy. So last summer, after growing peppers for years + eating them all fresh, I was scared/inspired into trying to make pepper flakes out of some very spicy peppers that burned my hands when I cut them.  :)

Those pepper flakes lasted all year + were so good! We are still using up the very last of them. So, of course, we're at it again with this year's spicy peppers. I've found the best way for me to dry the peppers is just to put them in the oven on low heat (I've been putting them in at about 270F) until they become brittle enough to crack. I check on them every hour or so + remove the dry ones from the pan. I'd rather hang dry them (to avoid the power used for the oven), but my attempts last year made me realize that it is just too humid here to avoid some going bad in the process. Oven drying lets me avoid losing any of my precious peppers!

Once all of the peppers are dried, I crush them with the bottom of a jar (to avoid getting stinging pepper hands) + put them into jars. (This step involves a little sneezing, no matter how hard I try to avoid it...but confirms that this is good stuff!) That's it + we have spicy, zero-waste goodness enough to last another year!

Love, 
​Jane

My favorite kind of peppers to grow are Carmen peppers. They grow well in our climate and they are sweet + tasty. I was unable to get the seedlings from our usual source this year, so I decided to try these spicy peppers along with some more bell shaped sweet peppers. Both plants have done very well + produced a lot of peppers.

We love spicy food, so I was very excited when the first spicy pepper was ready to pick. What I was not anticipating was the painful burns I got on both hands from cutting them. Wow! They kept me awake at night. So, I've been a little afraid of these things ever since.  :)

They have been pouring in from the garden, + I've been avoiding them (other than adding portions to the pickle jars). I thought I'd try drying them and then crushing them into pepper flakes for use throughout the year. The peppers are strung onto some buttonhole thread + will probably take 3-4 weeks to dry. Once they are dry, they will be crushed, kept in a jar for up to a year, + used to season lots of meals.

My favorite + most used spice in the kitchen has to be pepper flakes. I am fortunate enough to be able to buy them quite inexpensively in bulk. Even so, I think it will be rewarding to use our own homegrown pepper flakes...+ I'm guessing they will be a bit more spicy too.

If anyone is looking for a simple food to grow...even on a balcony, or back porch in a pot...I'd recommend trying peppers. A seedling can be found at a nursery or farmer's market in the spring + transplanted into a pot. They don't grow too big (as opposed to a cucumber or tomato plant), resist pests, and like water, sunshine, + heat. :)

Love,
​Jane

In addition to enjoying fresh, organic flavors straight from our backyard, I've learned a few things about growing + trusting + letting go in the garden this summer. We've experienced repeated bouts of torrential rain interspersed with hot dry days. A few storms downed trees and the tomatoes. Floods evacuated neighborhoods more than once in the span of a few weeks. Warm days in March contrasted with a cooler than normal August. 

It took time + twine to rebalance the tomatoes. I hoped that their roots remained intact + that they would survive. And then it happened again. I don't think that tomatoes like extreme amounts of rain on repeat. Our harvest is usually at its peak in August + September, but this year it has almost quit. 

Radishes + strawberries did well early in the season. The snap peas that usually produce enough to preserve for months to come didn't do so well. I'm not sure exactly why.

Our potato plants looked different this year, so I just decided to hold my hopes for them lightly. I decided to be happy, if we had potatoes...and to be ok, if we didn't. Our harvest may be double what we planted, and for that I am grateful. It takes a lot of work to plant + dig potatoes however, so I'm not sure it was totally worth it. I'm just letting it be.

But the cucumbers...at first they trickled in. And then...they started coming in by the armload...every day! I think it's safe to say that cucumbers don't mind lots of rain.

Climate change is on full display in the garden. I'm mindful of the privilege of being able to observe its effects first hand. My humble gratitude goes out to the farmers whose knowledge + toil goes into growing the bulk of our food. They are my heroes. Sun + rain are necessary ingredients for growth, and their amounts matter. Yes, weather patterns ebb + flow...but the shifts are becoming ever more drastic. Whether or not we grow our own food, our food grows. Climate affects each and every one of us.

Love,
Jane

We have only two or three cucumber plants this year, and yet cucumbers have been our most plentiful crop. I guess they like all the rain we've been getting. Today Julia brought in 19 (!) cucumbers, and tomorrow there will be more. Eek.

Now we're searching for ways to keep our cucumber consumption (+ donation) at pace with the haul. A dish filled with cucumber slices accompanies every meal...cucumber + mint flavor our water...(Julia calls it "party water")...and all the break room tables are full of fresh, organic cucumber freebies.  :)

Any surprises in your garden this year?
​
Love,
Jane

The day arrived to pull up the rest of the radishes from the garden. I have to admit that there were less left than I'd thought. We really enjoyed grabbing a handful of these each evening to top pretty much every dinner we've eaten since they were first ready to pick.

I decided to add a few chives, since we have lots of them in the garden as well.

I wanted to preserve these radishes, so that they will be tasty for a few days rather than fading fast. The Easiest Pickle recipe was used as a sort of guide...substituting what sounded good with the radishes.

Easiest Pickled Radishes

radishes, sliced
chives, chopped
salt
sugar
cayenne
vinegar

I simply packed the jar tight with radishes + chives, sprinkled the seasonings on top, poured the jar full of vinegar and screwed the top on. Shake well before refrigerating. These will taste best after a few hours and will keep up to a week. Yum.

Love,
Jane

"It'll be spring soon. And the orchards will be in blossom.
And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket.
And they'll be sowing summer barley in the lower fields...
​and eating the first of the strawberries with cream.
Do you remember the taste of strawberries?"
-The Return of the King by J R R Tolkien

We set out to buy some seed potatoes, but truth be told...I knew I'd never get out of there with only seed potatoes. That succulent spot has to be one of my favorite places in the place where we live.

So we chose a few of those, because I have some empty pots at home...and...well...

These wooden drawers full of seeds sparked memories that I don't know that I'd be able to pull up on my own...seed shopping as a small girl with my mom...for our two big garden plots.

​Bulk seeds! And three kinds of pink corn!

So we got a few extra bits that weren't on our list...

...and the thing that was. (In bulk!)

Love,
​Jane

My progression toward minimalism, organics, small living, vegetarianism, growing our own food, zero-waste, reduced energy consumption, and ethical clothing involved a heavy dose of desire to have an acre of land to farm...for quite a while. I spent plenty of afternoons searching for houses with a bit of land...and then we spent plenty of Saturdays driving around to take a look at what I'd found.

This was to be predominantly my project. It felt powerful + possible. I wanted to work the soil...use my body...experience life springing from the land...tend abundant harvest...and feed families, including my own. I read about permaculture and crop rotation and no-till raised beds. I went to workshops on keeping chickens and beekeeping and market gardening. My heroes became Joel Salatin and Jean Martin Fortier and Brooke Salvaggio, all of whom we have had the pleasure of hearing speak. I drank in every word that they wrote, tasted the fruits of their labor, and dreamed big.

We don't have our acre of ground, but we do have a patch of yard that receives a healthy dose of sunlight. Our home is not zoned to keep chickens or bees, but there are weeks when we have fresh strawberries for breakfast and months when we can have fresh pickles for lunch. We're still eating our tomato sauce made from the tomatoes we grew last summer. There are bug bites and weeds and plenty of sweat too. I'm not a farmer, but I do grow food.

A big pot with a place in the sun is the perfect spot to grow some tomatoes or pickling cucumbers. A window box would be perfect for some leafy greens. There is always room to experience the miracle! 

Love, 
Jane

Just a little reminder that now might be the perfect time to make some simple tomato sauce. This sauce is a great way to stock up on a little zero-waste helper that gets used in so many ways around here. With a freezer stocked full of jars of this treasure, we are able to make pasta sauce, salsa, soup, pizza sauce, and chili all winter long. I actually used my last jar right about the time we were able to pick our first tomatoes in the garden this summer.  :)

Even if you don't have a garden, getting a big box of tomatoes from the farmers' market is a great option... plus you'll be all done with the sauce making in one go. (I might be a bit jealous about that.) :) Try going closer to closing time and see if you can get a bargain price for a box the farmer doesn't want to take back home. Dinged tomatoes are ok here too.

The tomato sauce I make is super simple... no tomato peeling. That would have been a no-go for me, personally. This works, because I freeze it instead of traditional canning.

I don't season this sauce before freezing, because I find that the flavors are just more flavorful when added later. This also makes it possible for me to choose any jar and flavor it into pizza sauce, salsa, soup starter, pasta sauce or any other number of uses I find for it.

Simple Tomato Sauce

Wash, destem, and cut large tomatoes in half. Blend lightly (I use the "chop" button). My goal is to break them up, but still have pieces.  Bring to a boil and boil over medium heat, stirring as needed (I start by setting the timer for 8 minutes and slowly decrease the time between stirring down to about 4 minutes). Boil down to desired thickness (time needed will depend on the consistency and amount of tomatoes used).  Pour into jars and let cool before storing in freezer.

​I'm never sorry about the time I've spent making tomato sauce!  :)

Love,
Jane