An Abundance of Mushrooms

Mmmmmm, dried mushrooms!

So just what does one do with an abundance of mushrooms? Why, dehydrate them, of course! My organic produce co-op order recently provided me with four 12-ounce boxes of button mushrooms. My husband loathes mushrooms, and my two mushroom-loving sons are both living elsewhere now, so I was the lone devourer of the mushrooms. As much as I love mushrooms, I just couldn't eat them before they spoiled, so I opted to dehydrate them.

Fortunately my parents bought me a dehydrator for Christmas several years ago, so I have the luxury of being able to dry my produce with this. Other options would be solar in nature, not a bad thing at all, and something I've done in the past with great success.

To dehydrate mushrooms with a dehydrator, quite simply clean them (brush off the dirt or wash them if you must), then slice them into 1/4 inch slices, trying to keep the slices the same thickness, otherwise some will be done long before others.

Mushroom slices ready to dehydrate

Dehydrator full of mushrooms

Place the slices on the dryer racks, trying not to overlap them, cover with the dehydrator lid and let them dry until they're crisp.

I honestly don't know how long it would take to dry them because I forgot to check them before I went to bed. But, that wasn't my fault. You see, my mushroom-loathing husband came home from work and declared the mushrooms HAD to be removed from the house because he just couldn't stand the smell, which I thought was quite a delicious smell. So, out the dehydrator went into our kitchen addition, which is not quite complete or functional just yet, other than as a giant walk-in refrigerator in winter, and pantry in summer.

A once-full tray of mushrooms slices dries down to tiny pieces

I woke up with a start this morning thinking, "Oh my gosh! I forgot the mushrooms!" and despaired thinking they'd be ruined. But, when you think about it, once they're dry, they're dry and you can't really over dry something like that, can you? They were fine.

Plate loaded with dried mushrooms

Let the mushrooms cool and transfer them to an airtight container, where they should keep for quite a long time.

Interestingly, I had five mushrooms left that just wouldn't fit onto my full dehydrator trays. Look here to see what I did with them!

In the dehydrator now that the mushrooms are finished? An over-abundance of organic celery!

My Daily Red

My Daily Red

Pictured above is the wine I'm sipping at this very moment. It's my homemade concord wine from last year, and we're taking a break from digging and planting, and in general just playing in the dirt. OK, yes I know, it's not dirt, it's "soil", but "playing in the soil" just doesn't have the same ring to it. You know what I mean.

I am the world's worst record keeper. Really I am. I generally start off in the spring by keeping a journal of what I'm doing in the garden, what I've planted and where, but after a few weeks of that I just give it up and figure my memory will not fail me in the years to come, and I'll just remember. Trouble is, my memory has already failed me and I seem to forget every year that I can't remember this stuff. I've got a yard and garden full of mystery plants. I dutifully put the little labels beside each plant, tree, shrub, etc., but they seem to disappear pretty quickly, especially when they get run over by the lawn mower. I keep thinking I'll get those little metal plant labels, indestructible as they are, but I keep forgetting....

So here's what I accomplished yesterday in the gardens at Cairnwood Cottage. I've got a pathetic little wisteria of some sort that I planted years ago in front of our house. I had to move it about 4 years ago when Dean began construction on our kitchen addition because it was right where the front steps would be. So I moved it to the north side of my garden. Then yesterday I decided I was going to expand my asparagus bed, and my poor little wisteria once again had to be ripped from the earth and moved, this time to my Woodland Garden. I hope it's happy there because it sure put up a fight when I was trying to dig it out of my future asparagus patch.

Jersey Knight....or Jersey Giant?

Then, I planted 19 "Viking KB3" asparagus crowns beside the existing and nicely productive 10 asparagus of some variety that I'm not sure of...I think it's Jersey something, Knight or Giant, I'm not sure which. But I know it's one of those two...can you tell by looking at it?! The asparagus bed will be separated and enclosed by some wood I got from Freecycle, making it a raised bed of sorts.

For those of you who have never planted asparagus...it's not a job for the faint of heart! You need to dig a trench about a foot deep, dump in about three inches of compost and place the crowns on that, spreading out the little octopus-like roots, then back fill. I cheated a little and simply dug holes; I didn't have the time nor energy required to dig a big enough trench for 19 crowns. And why only 19 crowns you ask? They came in packs of six, so I should have had 18 crowns, but one pack had a scrawny extra little thing in it. I planted it in hopes it would grow and thrive.

Today I planted a row of Thomas Laxton peas. We have a fenced dog yard, and one side of the fence gets lots of sun, especially in the early hours of the day. Thomas Laxton peas need some sort of trellis to climb up, so I figured I'd put the fence to good use and let the peas climb up that. Actually, last year I'd planted a few beans and peas along there, but I didn't prepare the soil properly since I was one-armed at the time (rotator cuff surgery). This time I hope I've done a better job at site preparation. I amended the soil with some compost, composted cow manure, and just a hint of wood ash. I actually moistened the peas on Thursday or Friday of last week thinking I'd plant them the next day. Well, that didn't happen. We'd been getting rain. Then I had other things I needed to plant. These were seeds I'd saved from a 2005 crop, so I wasn't sure what their germination would be like. Lots of them sprouted, so I should get a decent crop. A few snowflakes fell while I planted the peas today...it was a mere 40 degrees at the time. The recent warm spell has me thinking 40 degrees is bleeping cold!

Let The Planting Begin!

I was tired when I got home from work this a.m., and was tempted to take a nap. BUT, the temps rose to 68 degrees F., it was sunny and gorgeous, and I just couldn't let a day like this go to waste. And I knew I had to get some bare root raspberries planted that I'd picked up yesterday.

Before I could plant the raspberries, I had to finish preparing the "berry patch", which is on a southwestern facing slope between my garden and the woods. This, at one time, had been an old vineyard we're told, and the terraces and some of the metal poles are still in place. I just had to finish removing some old brambles, Japanese honeysuckle, sumac, and a few other things (including my favorite little buddy, poison ivy). The woods is encroaching, and there are a few trees that are a bit too close and should be cut out. I hate to cut down perfectly good trees, but these really are in the way.

View of a portion of the Berry Patch (foreground) and Woodland Garden in the background

I got six Fallgold raspberries, and six Jewel raspberries. The Jewels are a black raspberry, and Fallgold is, guess what? Gold. I've seen this one written as Fallgold and Fall Gold; I'm not really sure which is correct. The Jewels are on the first terrace up from my blueberries, then the next terrace contains the Fallgold. The third terrace will be six more black raspberries from our friends, and I'm not sure of the variety.

Bare root Fallgold raspberries waiting to be planted

A newly planted Jewel black raspberry

In the next day or two I'll be transplanting some of my red raspberries to their new home on the northern side of my garden. Again, there are several trees that will need to come down because they're in the way. This will be near the chicken coop that we'll be building in the next week or so.

Trees in the Woodland Garden preparing to clothe themselves in green

Daffodil and bee in the Woodland Garden enjoying a 68 degree F. sunny spring day

Once the planting was complete, I had to go sit on the little bench in my Woodland Garden (adjacent to the new Berry Patch) and listen to the Spring sounds, feel the warm breeze and sunshine soaking into my sun-starved skin. The sky was a phenomenal blue, the little daffodils are a brilliant yellow now in the Woodland Garden, and the trees are about to explode leaves.

Bleeding Heart emerging

The bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) is popping up through the leaves and looks a lot like some kind of weird reddish-colored celery, or perhaps some sort of sea plant.

Cairnwood's Frugal Tip of the Day

I'm always looking for ways to save money. A tip that I came across recently, and I can't believe I didn't think of this before, was to save the plastic bag inside cereal boxes. They're clean, food grade, and air tight, except of course for the top that's been opened. I've got dozens of these bags now, and whenever I need to coat something in a breading, I just put the breading in one of these bags, toss in the vegetables or whatever I'm breading, and shake until the items are coated. Works like a charm, and I'm using something that otherwise would have been thrown away. Same goes for bread bags if you buy store-bought bread. I've saved those for years to use in the same way, or for storing home-made bread, muffins, biscuits, etc.

Something's Peekin'! Or....Spring Has Sprung!

These little Tete-de-Tete daffodils (I've seen various spellings for this plant) are the first of their kind to bloom for me here at Cairnwood Cottage. This particular photo was taken in my "Secret Garden", which is a small hidden woodland garden just off our driveway before entering the woods.

Garden sorrel (Rumex acetosa) is the first of my spring greens to pop up. This sorrel is planted next to my asparagus patch, along with some rhubarb.




I know for sure that spring is here when I see my rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum) peeking out of the soil. First I see little pinkish-red "heads", then leaves unfurl, looking all the world like some kind of funky green brain.

And last but not least, little tooth-like daylilly (hemerocallis) "spears" claw their way towards the sun.
Yes, spring is here!

Leaves of Three...

Work continues on reclaiming my overrun garden. The nice thing about having my raised beds overgrown with weeds is the fact that the soil is still nice, light and fluffy since quite a few years ago I double-dug the beds when I created them, and hadn’t walked on them since. The weeds held the soil in place and kept the rain and snow from compacting the soil while I was out of commission and unable to garden, so pulling the weeds hasn’t been too much of a problem.

My biggest problem is poison ivy. It came creeping down out of the woods, silently, stealthily, and quite simply took over the upper beds. My garden is a series of raised beds on a hillside, the upper beds being nearest the woods. If you don’t have a poison ivy issue, drop to your knees this very moment and give thanks! Seriously! I mean it…it’s one of the nastiest things to deal with and try to eradicate from a garden. Oh, it can be sprayed and killed, however, as an organic gardener I really don’t want to be spraying toxic chemicals all over my garden. So what’s an organic gardener to do? I’ve tried killing it in the past with homemade weed killers (vinegar, salt, alcohol, water mixture), which knocked it back some, but it didn’t really KILL it.

So, I got to the root of the problem by no less than pulling it out by the roots. You have to be dressed for battle with no exposed bare skin unless you’re willing to writhe in agony for days and days as you scratch at the worst itch you’ve ever experienced. Long pants, long-sleeved shirt, double gloves (I wear latex-type medical gloves under leather work gloves)….You could wear a face shield of some sort if you wanted, but I was brave (stupid?) and went without, knowing that if I touched my face with the dastardly plant, I had five minutes to race to the house and wash my face with soap and water before the oils could cause me grief. And the grief doesn’t start right away. It could be several days after exposure before the itching begins.

Poison ivy is a pretty plant. I love vining plants, and PI is one champion vine (though I don’t love it!) The vines can run along the top of the soil, like little super highways, sending down roots and voila!, a new plant pops up, only to send out its own network of roots and vines. The roots and vines go on and on and on. I’ve got some PI vines that are close to thirty feet long that I pulled out and tossed in the “poison ivy pile”. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do with all that PI I’ve pulled. I can’t burn it. Well, I could, but I don’t think the neighbors would be too happy when they end up broken out in a PI rash, since the oils can be carried on the smoke. The above photo shows the stack of PI that I yanked out of six garden beds--that's a five-gallon bucket for a size reference.

I found that my best friend, while yanking out the PI, is a rake. One of those strong, sturdy rakes that doesn’t bend and flex. The tines grab the vines and roots as I’d rake it across the soil, letting me know where the little BLEEPERS were, then I’d grab the vines/roots and pull. I’ve also got a nifty method of pulling and coiling the vines to keep them from slapping me in the face, but that’s too difficult to explain. I guess if you pull enough of the stuff, you’ll figure it out.

I think I’ve got my garden beds clear of the poison ivy now, though I know there are still roots hidden here and there, which I’ll probably end up grabbing at some point thinking they’re some other type of root (with my bare hands, no less). Oh, and as well as I was protected, I still ended up with a poison ivy rash on my wrist; probably from taking gloves on and off. My clothes went into the washer after the PI slaughter, and went through two wash cycles to assure the urushiol (the poison ivy oil) was gone. My leather gloves? Well, I think they’re destined for the garbage as I’m not sure a good washing or two would get the urushiol out of them.

Enough is Enough!

OK, it's closing in on a year since I've made an entry here, and quite simply, enough is enough! I'm going to TRY and write here more frequently than a few times a year. Yesterday was an amazingly warm (70+ degrees!) day for March, and Spring Fever has hit me big time, and of course along with that comes the gardening bug. So much to do, so much to do.

I was diagnosed with follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in October of last year, and of course so many things were put on hold because of that. I won't go in to details here, but I have started another blog, "Cells Gone Wild" at: http://cellzgonewild.blogspot.com/ where I'll chronicle my "new normal" in living with this incurable disease. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good now and am anxious to get back to living a somewhat normal life.

So, back to yesterday. My poor garden has been sorely neglected for the last two years due to multiple rotator cuff surgeries, a hysterectomy, trigger thumb surgery, and now cancer, and it really shows. Mother Nature waits for no man (or woman), and she will gladly and quickly reclaim any land that sits idle. My garden is no exception.

Last year I did manage to plant a small garden...some tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, squash, etc. And it was good.

I'm a raised bed gardener, and right now I can't even tell you how many beds I have! At one time I had close to 20, but 4 are completely covered in grass, brambles and poison ivy (HATE that stuff!), and another 4 or 5 got completely flattened when I had my husband rototil the garden because I just couldn't keep up with the weeds the last few years. I think I've got 6 or 7 raised beds that are in pretty good shape at the moment. Yesterday I spent the better part of the day pulling and cutting out brambles and saplings that were trying take over the upper garden beds that border the woods. The soil is still amazing there under all that vegetation. At least the weeds protected it from erosion and compaction; I just wish the poison ivy had decided not to invade.

Earlier in the week I ordered 30 chicks from Welp Hatchery in Iowa ( welphatchery.com ). I'll be getting some Welsummer, Speckled Sussex, and Auraucana chicks around the 15th of April. I really don't need 30 chickens, so will be finding a home for maybe half of them, but there was that whole 25 chick minimum order thing and I needed to mix and match in numbers greater than 5 of each type/sex, thus the 30. I'm so anxious to get some fresh eggs in a rainbow of colors from my very own hens! Now to get the henhouse built up there between my garden and the woods....