Category: Summer - Our Tiny Homestead

Baby Frogs a Hoppin'

7/19/2015

From Theresa: We built our tiny wildlife pond in 2012, and it immediately started to attract wildlife, including dragonflies, snails, water beetles, birds, squirrels, and chipmunks. We built it hoping for frogs, because I love falling asleep listening to their calls. In its second summer we had one resident frog, but there weren't many mating calls. This Summer, we were serenaded for many nights by calls from the American Toad, tree frogs, and a third frog we couldn't identify. And this time it resulted in a pond full of hundreds of tadpoles, which have now become incredibly tiny frogs!!

"We're sunbathing and she's taking pictures of us- How rude!"

Frog with a Duckweed Hat
(Theresa was trying to clean some of the duckweed out of the pond,
and was surprised to scoop up a frog along with the duckweed.):

King of the Mountain:

King looking for a smaller mountain:

They began as tadpoles....

We first noticed tiny tadpoles in our pond on 6-6-2015:

Then the gang got bigger (6-12-15):

By 7-11-15 the tadpoles started to get legs (Bear says we should call them frogpoles):

Then they lost their tails and became frogs!
(Walking on water with the help of duckweed):

This American Toad could be one of the parents (dad or mom, we have no clue):

The Habitat:

This is the wildlife pond we built,
although Bear says it looks like a swamp since it's covered with duckweed.
It's been amazing to sit next to the pond every day
and discover first hand how tadpoles turn into frogs,
knowing that we played a tiny role in supporting new life.

For instructions on making your own tiny frog habitat,
see our page on how we built this wildlife pond:

Black Cap Update: Creamy Drinks

7/5/2015

Bear here... It's time to harvest the wild raspberries, aka black caps, in our yard, and time to find something different to do with them.

We added instructions for making creamy drinks to our wild raspberry page. Basically, I mixed chocolate milk, raspberries, and ice cream.

Time to drink them while they're still cold.

Type at ya later...

More Summer Solstice, Sunday 6-21-2015

6/25/2015

Bear here... The weather cooperated and we got to spend the whole day of Summer Solstice outside. In celebration of the Sun, we thought it would be fun to see if we could rig up a solar oven. Theresa had some gardening time and a reminder she sometimes gets a sunburn easily. I goofed off and cooked in my kilt over the fire. We had friends over for dinner. Here are some pictures and more details...

Our nephew Jeremy gets to enjoy the hammock that Theresa vacated when she went to work in the garden.

IMPROVISING A SOLAR OVEN:

I like to experiment with cooking in different ways and Theresa is always looking for ways to save energy, so in honor of the Sun on the Solstice, she suggested we build a solar oven. Simply put, a solar oven is a tilted box with a glass lid that you point towards the Sun so it will heat up enough inside to cook food. Theresa has instructions on how to build a more permanent one that we hope to try, but today we wanted to improvise with the items we had and see what would happen.

First thing you need is the big heater. Yep... sunshine. Find a place in your yard that will be in full Sun most of the day. We used our driveway.

Here's what we used:

the cooler we use for hay box cooking (emptied of insulation)
the storm window from our back door
2 chairs to set the oven on because I don't like bending over that much
various (yet stylish) pieces of wood to help hold oven at the correct angle.

The tricky part is that you want the box tilted so that you have the least amount of shade in the box. To keep it at the right angle, you'll also need to be able to move the oven as the Sun moves across the sky. We checked every hour and adjusted.

We both had ideas on how to improvise the set-up. Theresa says she had it just right and then I came along and changed it. Each of our "I know what I am doing" attitudes made this part take a while (40 min.).

In spite of disagreements, we got the oven working and it topped out at 200 degrees F. We tried cooking rice (1 c. rice to 2 c. water) in two different ways. One pot we did hay box style (boiled the rice & water on the electric stove for 10 minutes, then put in the solar oven to finish cooking). It was done in 1 hour. The second pot we just filled with hot water from the tap. It took around 4 to 5 hours before we noticed it was finished.

We balanced both pots on a folded dish towel, since the bottom of the cooler was tilted. Above is the first pot of finished rice. Don't be fooled- you need hot pads to touch these dishes.

Theresa also realized that the temperature was right for drying herbs. This catnip dried really quickly, so now she's devising plans to build a solar dehydrator (if we ever find the time).

I tried to bake whole potatoes in the solar oven, but there wasn't enough heat or time. Next time I'm going to try lining the cooler with aluminum foil to create more reflective heat.

Archie the visiting dog thinks we are strange but cool. (Ivy the cat thinks Archie is OK, for a dog, but our other cats did not appreciate the visitor.)

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM AND COBBLER IN A DUTCH OVEN:

Theresa and I figured that home made ice cream would be great to make for the longest (hottest?) day. We decided to make it while our guests were here instead of the day before, because Theresa thinks it tastes best straight out of the ice cream machine, right after it's done and still soft. I like it when it has been in the freezer and is more firm. I am not going to argue with her, though, because either way, as the ice cream maker I get to "clean off" the paddle (aka lick all the ice cream I can get from the thing.)

Our friend Reed reminded us that we have his canned pie filling in our basement and suggested we cook some cobbler in his dutch oven to go with the ice cream. First he lined the pot with foil, then dumped in one quart of pie filling. You can also use chopped fresh apples or peaches. We used a rhubarb pie filling he canned last year.

The topping is 2 c. biscuit mix with butter or Crisco cut into it, with sweeteners added in to taste (such as a couple tablespoons of brown sugar and some cinnamon).

Then place the dutch oven in the fire pit over coals. The trick is to get the heat even on all sides. If you know one side is hotter, you will have to turn it periodically. Reed told me dutch oven cooking is more of an art form than a science.

How long? Don't know. Depends on the coals. Thus an art form. (I am guessing around 1/2 hr.)
When the top was bubbling he pushed it down with a spoon...

... to mix better, then he added more topping and put it back on the coals. I noticed a lot of liquid, so I am guessing you let it cook until there is not much liquid.

We didn't eat it right away so Reed took it out of the fire, but put some coals on top of the lid to keep it warm. It looked and tasted real good with the ice cream.

FIRE PIT (GROUND) GRILLING, in a kilt:

The set up is easy. You need an old usable grill grate (the bigger, the better), bricks to set in the fire area to prop up and level one side of the grate, and two metal poles stuck through the grate into the coals to hold the grate still while you cook.

Other helpful tools include gloves for moving the bricks and something long handled (aka a fire stick) to move coals around with.

Put the potatoes in first. Wrap them in foil and put them by the coals. I would turn them every 15 min. or so to keep the cooking even. They should be soft in an hour.

Then... bring on the meat!

Proper food, fire, and attire...

Just like on the grill, only lower.

The fruit of my labors.

Enjoying the fruit of my labors (they say I don't leave enough meat on the bone for a dog to want it afterwards).

BEGINNING OF THE LONGEST DAY:

END OF THE LONGEST DAY:

The view from the bike path across the street. Good night Sunshine.

HAPPY SOLSTICE!

Longest Days... Celebrating the Summer Solstice

6/13/2015

From Bear:
Next weekend is the Summer Solstice (Sunday, June 21st), the longest day of the year. Here are some random Summer Solstice pictures and thoughts...

An early morning start to a long day.

Cookin' outside makes everything taste better.

Time to harvest some herbs, the real heat is coming soon.

Might have to go to bed while it's light out.

The close

to a good

long day.

From Theresa:
We celebrate the longest day by connecting with the Sun. We like to camp at Blue Mounds State Park, where we can watch the sunrise from the East observation tower, stay outside all day watching the Sun move slowly across the sky, then watch the sunset from atop the West Observation tower.
Click to see our Summer Solstice celebration from last year.
These were my thoughts at the end of the day:

Watching the Sunrise and Sunset on a magical day is powerful,
because it helps us reconnect with our visceral understanding of the changing seasons.
We need to remember how long the longest day really is (around 16 hours of Sunlight in our area).
We need to be reminded of the gifts that are offered to us freely by the Sun- warmth and food.
The Sun heats the Earth just right- our Mother planet is habitable for many life forms,
instead of being frozen or on fire. The Sun's light becomes our food. Plants soak the rays of the Sun into their green leaves and miraculously photosynthesize it into food,
becoming the basis of the food chain that feeds the rest of the world.
On Solstice, we are reminded that the Sun is life. We celebrate and give Him our thanks.

Even after
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz
a Sufi Mystic from the 1300s

New Life in the Pond: Tiny Tadpoles

6/7/2015

From Theresa:
This is the fourth Summer after we constructed our wildlife pond...
and we're thrilled to see tiny tadpoles swimming around in it for the first time
(see the black spots hugging the rock).
At least we assume they're tadpoles, either that or Bear says they're "sperm dark."

Here's a close up:

This is also the first Summer that we've been serenaded by multiple frog songs as we fall asleep.
Maybe this is one of the parents... Bear met him by our wood pile:

This is also the first year that any plants overwintered in the pond-
we're seeing a lot of native arrowheads popping up (Sagitarria latfolia, which have edible tubers).

This is what the pond looked like this morning.
Click to see how we built our frog pond:

Pop Quiz- Can Bear Identify Today's Harvest?

6/7/2015

From Theresa:
Here's the Sunday morning harvest from our gardens. I've been trying to convince Bear that all the money I spend up front on the garden gets paid back to us in food to eat,
so I asked him to come look at what I brought in.
Just to make it fun, I asked him if he could identify everything I picked.

(Bear here... Tests are fun? Only when food is involved... just sayen.)

1. Here's what we got from our new annual vegetable garden:

Bear correctly thought this was (counter clockwise in the colander):
orange nasturtium flowers, nasturtium leaves, green onions, and lettuce (center).

(From the big guy... Doin the seat dance & showin' off now... uh Huh...)

I harvested these annuals for salads. We're growing them in stock tanks:

Bear wasn't sure about this one from the stock tanks-
and said it was "that weed we've been eating a lot lately"

This is lamb's quarters.
The young leaves are great raw in salads,
or the older leaves are great slightly steamed
and used any way that you would use cooked spinach. We add them to rice dishes.

(Bear here... To be fair... we have been using a lot of LAMB'S QUARTERS lately.)

2. He got this one from our perennial vegetable garden right away (probably because I had pointed it out to him when we were sitting in our bay window eating breakfast this morning):
(Bear here... It still counts as a right answer... so there...)

This is Turkish rocket.
This is the first year we've harvested it, so I am still learning how and when to do it.
You're supposed to eat the flower buds before they flower,
when they look a lot like broccoli, but I am too late this time.
We can also eat the flowers, so I harvested them.
I think this will make more grow back for another harvest.

Here's what the full Turkish rocket plant looks like (this one is 3 years old):

Here's what's the Turkish rocket flower buds look like
when you're supposed to harvest them, before the buds flower.
You use it like broccoli, which it obviously resembles, eating it either raw or steamed.
It feels like broccoli in your mouth, but tastes a lot more tangy.

Bear offered his usual comment to his first bite- "Tastes like plant."
(You know who here...WELL... it does taste like plant...)

3. On the right is more Turkish rocket. On the left Bear wasn't sure if this was parsley or cilantro-
but he said, "Wait a minute," and put a little leaf in his mouth. Then he knew it was cilantro.

(Yep, it's me... Right answer, a little late... Enough said)

4. And here was the real stumper.... Bear blurted out that this was broccoli!!

We got a great laugh out of that, since he knew immediately that he was wrong.
(Me... Duh...)

We've been growing lots of rhubarb around the foundation of our bay window
for a couple years now, where it seems really happy,
but this is the first year we've found the time to figure out how we like to eat it.
Today, I'm putting it in a crock pot with some lamb to make a savory stew over noodles.
Last week we stewed it with brown sugar and almond extract
to make a sweet rhubarb sauce side dish.

It's been wonderful to see Bear get more and more interested
in our gardens as the years have gone by,
because I surely need his help keeping it going
and learning how to cook the harvest.
I'm thankful we're in this homesteading adventure together!

(Me getting the last word... Hah... I got her to blog. Summertime is Theresa's tome to be outside and do the yard stuff. To kinda quote her "Now is the time to garden and take pictures,
Winter is when I can blog about it." Ain't team work grand... Type at ya later...)

Free Air Conditioning

5/7/2015

GOTTA HAVE PICTURES

Time for cat nip.

Ivy " A little help here..."

Doolin, early day nappin' by the A C

Bear here... Yep... keeping the house cool while using fewer resources. It is such a simple thing but Theresa had to teach me about it and I figure I would pass the knowledge on to our readers. Here is how it began...

Me... "Woman, it's night time why ARE you opening the windows?"

Her... "Silly male, this is how people kept their houses cool before air conditioning. When it gets into the 60's at night they opened all the windows to let cool air in. In the morning, before it gets hot, they closed the windows and the curtains to keep the day heat out."

Me... "Ug? They closed the curtains too? This sounds complicated."

Her... " Not at all, my cute neanderthal. Curtains stop the light from shining through the glass and having a green house effect. We also have different curtains for different seasons. Thick ones in the winter to help block the wind and thinner ones to let a little wind through..."

Me... "Oog. Me wondered about that."

Her... ... "Anyway, This is the plan. At night if it is warmer outside than inside or raining we don't worry about it. If it is cooler, we open the windows for the night then close them and the curtains before hot air can get in during the day. Almost forgot, heat rises so the windows upstairs can be left open and the hot air can escape. Simple old school air conditioning."

Me... "Good to know."

Now you know...

type at you later...

Shelf Chef Experiments with Wild Raspberries

7/25/2014

From Bear:

'Tis the season to harvest stuff. For some reason, I'm picking black caps, aka wild raspberries. (Theresa says because they're in season and they're in our back yard... duh.)

I've added a page with our various black cap experiments- from spiced brandy to pepto-bismal colored yogurt cheese. Mm..Mm...

To everybody I've told about the no bake cheese cake, it's on the page too. Enjoy.

Celebrating Summer and the Solstice Sun

6/28/2014

Summer Solstice sunrise at Blue Mounds State Park.

The garden is growing! Here are baby lettuce, peas, cucumbers, and garlic.

From Theresa:

I've added a page on celebrating early Summer, a time when I wait hungrily to be given those iconic Summer foods that aren't yet ripe in the garden. I dream about the first ripe tomato and how it will taste on my tongue. I harvest herbs and spend so much time in the garden that my nails and feet are always dirty.

We also celebrate the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year (June 21st). This year we watched the Solstice sunrise and sunset from the observation towers at Blue Mounds State Park, and remembered how important the Sun is in our lives.

I hope everyone is enjoying the blessings of Summer!