Having Helpers Home

Over Thanksgiving Jake and Allie came home. We only had one serious day of work, and it came after Allie left, but we got a lot done. Trusted friend Jorgen lent me his Stihl chainsaw-on-a-stick and we cleaned up the Lacebark Elm trees lining the driveway. Then Jake helped with the annual task of putting up the greenhouse plastic.

I've run out of washers for the green clips, we'll see if we can pick up some replacements at the hardware store. We're trying an experiment this year; we're leaving the south end uncovered, just a single layer of tempered glass, to see if we can let more light in without sacrificing too much heat.

Saturday Miscellany

Lisa and I made a trip to the Fulton farmer's market and picked up some of the first sweet corn of the season.  Tomatoes are coming along.  Our market has always been a little heavy on crafts and music and light on actual food.

Then we went back to Danamay Farm for some more u-pick berries.  The blueberries are finished, and the blackberries are not quite as plentiful as two weeks ago, but it didn't take us long to add another 7.5# of blackberries.

It is great to have Allison home, if even for a few days.  We took the opportunity Saturday to collect some Allison Elderberries.  The berries didn't progress as much as I thought they would in the past week, but we got about 8#.  I think we are up to around 13#.  My goal is 20#.  The plan will be 15# in a straight elderberry, 15# of blackberries in a straight blackberry, 5# elderberry + 10# blackberry in a blend, all using a cold soak.  Then, saving off the seeds/skins from these batches, I'll do a second run rosé.  Now I still need to figure out what to do with the blueberries.

The freezer is getting full!

Earlier this week we tried a 375ml bottle of the 2014 hibiscitrus wine.  This wine is over-the-top fruity and floral, a great summer wine.  So again, we are in full hibiscus-flower-collection mode.  Unfortunately one of the pots blew over in a storm a couple of weeks ago and broke.  Saturday I attempted a repair with some 2-part epoxy and a strap clamp.  I do it for the wine.

Lisa hates beets.  I'm not generally a fan...they are like the pineapple of the root vegetables in a way.  Just like pineapple doesn't share space in a fruit salad, beets don't share space in a roasting pan.  They turn everything purple and are just generally obnoxious.  But pickled beets, that might be a different thing entirely.  I made a go at pickled beets yesterday.

Pickled beets, with red onions for garnish

Finally, after about 5 years, it appears that this is really a thing.

Black sapote, chocolate pudding fruit

Improving Elderberry

Back in my scoutmaster days, Jake and Adam and I went on a float trip on which we had dehydrated ground beef.  We used it in spaghetti, and after a long day on the river, it was delicious.

A month later we made the same meal at home in the kitchen.  It was awful.  Food on a campout always tastes better.  The same food that produces an average meal at home makes for a fantastic meal around a campfire.  The things that you associate with food strongly affect the taste, both in a positive and negative way.  Context is important.

I'm looking for ways to improve my elderberry wine.  My first batch, made largely from my neighbor Larry's fruit, was light in fruit.  And I should have let the berries ripen a little more.  It is lightly oaked and the flavor is decent.  But it has an odd color, that of tea.  It looks oxidized, but it is not.  So while it tastes pretty good, it is just hard for me to get past that color.

Allison will be going back to school next week. Yesterday, we went back to the elderberry patch.  Patches, really, as they are spread out along a mile of lightly traveled county road.  Allison is small but mighty.  She fought through weeds taller than she is.  Together over two hours we had a great time collecting over 26# of truly ripe berries.

This year, I'll cold soak the elderberry and bump the volume of fruit.  Even if the flavor doesn't improve much, the color should be much better.  But this year's wine will also be made from Allison and Robert's berries.  And that might be the thing to make this year's elderberry as good as dehydrated ground beef on a campout.