Winter gardening

So I've already started working out in the yard. A few weeks ago I started planning the garden in my handy new garden journal. I have been meaning to get organized for some time, especially since most of my gardening/planting is very spur of the moment and if I don't write down what I did, I forget, which makes things very difficult when I want to replicate what I did or check on germination times later on.

We are also getting ready to place our seed order for this year, a task I do not hate. I think I've spent at least 25 hours going over different catalogs, online and paper, to find the varieties I'm looking for. We are incorporating more perennials into our vegetable garden this year, as well as around the rest of the yard. Perennials can work wonders in an annual garden bed, stabilizing the soil, providing a permanent home for all kinds of wildlife and micro-organisms while using their taproots to bring up deep nutrients and ground water. Plus I was able to find a bunch of cool perennial vegetable seeds here and here that I will be ordering very soon.

Which leads to why I've already started working outside. Here in Denver the winter is a bit sporadic. Yes, it can get pretty cold, 10-15*F, and stay there for awhile, but then we'll get a week long streak of 40-50* or even 60*, which really kicks my brain into full gear.

Since we live in a rental we really don't want to invest too much money into this property but as we also feel a duty to assist in regenerative living, we are making a few minor adjustments. On the NW corner of our house there is a tree stump that sent up shoots all last year, I'm guessing it was cut down about 4 or 5 years ago and the person who did so figured the stump would just rot away on it's own. Then they placed a lovely wire fence and simply bent the ends to go over the top of the stump, which left sharp rusty metal poking out in the corner of the garden.

Instead of the mostly waste of space that this fiasco causes I decided to create a little height and growing space in the garden with a hugelkultur. I just used what I had on hand, some kitchen waste, a bag of compost, some branches that fell in a storm a few weeks ago, a few bags of leaf mulch and some dirt from my yard. Oh ya, and since I needed the speed up the decomposing process on the stump I dumped some old juice concentrate on top of the stump after making a few chops to make sure the bacteria could get in there and start decomposing.

I started by laying the excess wood pieces around the stump, trying to pile them up as much as possible, then I just filled in with the other stuff I had, kitchen waste, compost and mulch, and layers of dirt as well. I tried to water as much as I could, if it's not wet enough we should be getting snow here pretty soon so that should help take care of it. Plus since it's right next to the downspout on that side of the house any moisture coming off the roof will go directly to it.

My last layer, as of now, was just a loose sprinkling of some bagged compost mixed in with leaves. I didn't have enough topsoil to finish it off, but I should be getting some soon, and when I do I will be able to put a good few inches on top of the entire mound. Then I'll just sit and plan what to plant on it while it cures and gets ready for spring, maybe some of my winter sown perennials? hmmmm

I'll be making another hugelkultur  on the opposite side of the yard in the next few weeks using some wood from an evergreen we trimmed in the front yard. I'm curious to see what happens with the two slightly different plantings this year. At least this year I'll be able to keep track of what I've done.

Sourdough apple cobbler

Part of having a more regenerative lifestyle is becoming less dependent on pre-made store bought foods. I am in the kitchen most of the day, almost everyday (not that you need to do that in order to be more sustainable) but since I make just about everything from scratch I thought I'd start sharing my recipes in the hopes that they may inspire you to do some cooking of your own.

It's been rather cold lately and, since we've been inside so much more, I've been doing quite a bit of experimenting with sourdough breads. I came up with this recipe tonight since I wanted apple pie but I didn't really want to make a crust, plus this version has way less fat considering you only use about 3 tablespoons of butter in the entire recipe. This is meant to be a very flexible recipe, feel free to substitute and adjust to your taste. Hope you all enjoy!

Sourdough Apple Cobbler

1 batch sour dough cobbler biscuit (see recipe below)

2/3 C brown sugar pecan topping (see recipe below)

6 medium large Granny Smith apples, peeled*, cored and sliced

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbs. sugar

1 tbs. flour

squeeze of lemon

1 tbs. butter

*as a bonus while baking snack on apple peels with a little cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top.

1. Peel and core apples, cutting into 1/2" wedges, place them in the bottom of a 9" square baking dish, round skillet or pie dish.

2. Squeeze a bit of lemon onto the apple slices and mix together to coat. Sprinkle cinnamon, sugar, flour and vanilla over apple slices. Mix together with hands then smooth mixture to evenly distribute in dish. Cut the tbs. of butter into small bits and sprinkle over the top of apples then set aside. 

3. Remove the sourdough that has been resting from it's bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough using as little extra flour as possible. When dough has become more elastic and less sticky begin to pull off small chunks about 1-2" in diameter and rolling them into ball shapes. When a ball is ready place it on top of the apples in the dish. You should end up with about 4 rows of 4 balls. Place a towel over the entire dish and let it rest while you heat up the oven and prepare the pecan topping. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 

4. When oven is ready, take towel off of the dish and, using a sharp knife, make a little slash in the top of each dough ball. Lightly sprinkle entire dish with water then spoon brown sugar pecan topping onto the dish. You should have just enough to cover. Place cobbler in the oven and bake for 8 minutes then turn the heat down to 375 degrees F and bake for about 35-40 more minutes. Keep an eye on the cobbler toward the end of baking time, if the brown sugar topping is getting too brown simply place some tin foil lightly over the top for the rest of baking time. Remove from oven and let rest for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Sourdough Biscuit recipe

1 1/2- 2 C. sourdough starter

1/2 C. unbleached flour

1/2 C. brown rice flour*

water

1 1/2 tbs. granulated sugar

pinch salt

1/4 tsp. yeast

*you do not have to use rice flour, you may use regular unbleached if you like or another non-glutenous whole grain flour. I like the light airiness that comes from using rice flour.

1. Be sure to feed your starter at least 6 hours before you plan on baking this recipe. 

2. Mix starter, flours, yeast, salt and sugar all together using just enough water to form it into a barely sticky ball. cover loosely with a towel and proceed with step one of recipe (peeling and coring apples)

Brown Sugar Pecan topping

2 tbs. unbleached flour

handful of raw pecan pieces, about 1/2 C.

2 tbs. butter cut into chunks

1/4 C. packed brown sugar

1/4 C. granulated sugar

pinch salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl, pinching ingredients between your fingers until butter is in small chunks and all ingredients are fully incorporated. Can be used to top almost any baked fruit dish.

Edit 12/12/2011: Just wanted to add a few things,

1. If you want to be extra fancy, try throwing the seeds from half a vanilla bean in the sourdough when you are mixing all the ingredients together.

2. If you are looking for a more simple dish you can omit the brown sugar crumble. Instead simply sprinkle sugar over the top of the biscuits before they go in the oven. (make sure to spray or sprinkle a little water first)