Teal for two

Now that we are back at Henbogle, we are working on some coop improvement projects, namely painting the sewing room. Six years on and we are still pecking away at all the painting and redecorating projects on the list; after we paint the sewing room, we'll have one more room to paint before it is time to start re-painting the other rooms, sigh.
The previous homeowners had 3 children; the sewing room was a boy's bedroom, painted a bright sky-ish blue semi-gloss, with a very juvenile wallpaper border around the top of the walls (I could hardly wait to rip the border off, it made the ceiling appear about foot lower).

The former occupant had used approximately one million thumbtacks in the walls, and had covered the ceiling and walls with glow-in-the-dark stickers in the shape of planets and stars, some of which were very difficult to remove. Thus, we had a lot of spackling to do before we could paint.

For the walls, we selected a deep bluish green, Teal Stencil, from Sherwin Williams' Preservation Palette line. This room has no floor as of yet; until a hardwood floor is in the budget, we'll paint the subfloor a taupe enamel (Behr Beaverwood), the same color as the kitchen, with some bronzy gold and Maleya Red accents. Maybe an argyle pattern? No, even I'm not that crazy, we'll use stamps to imprint fleur de lis and star shapes on the floor in a pattern.

Yesterday we spackled and painted the ceiling, and earlier today we painted the walls. Between coats of wall paint, we rode forth to our usual source in search of taupe enamel paint, (we are big Glidden paint fans) but were disappointed to learn Glidden no longer makes glossy floor enamel. Thus on to Home Depot, where of course I was seduced by the siren call of the Black and Decker electric sander for sanding and re-polyurethaning the window frames, but we did find Behr glossy enamel floor paint in Beaverwood.

Back home, we painted a second coat of teal, and tonight removed the painter's tape. Wow, it looks so much better! Dan did touch-up painting while I gave the door a first coat of taupe. Maybe tomorrow we'll be able to start on the floor (currently a vile primary green).

Last year, following some project or other, I created swatch books for each of us (stored in the car & truck) with paint sample chips and other pertinent info about our home's paint palette. We are always collecting paint chips because so often we can't find the color we envision in the Glidden line, so we'll have the paint store colormatch the shade we want from a swatch. I added the Teal Stencil paint chips to our swatch books, it's a keeper.

With the walls finished, now we need to paint the door, the floor, and sand the window and skylight frames and coat with clear polyurethane. We also will sand and poly coat some of the as yet unfinished trim, and Dan will make a door for the sewing/craft closet. This room will look great, and probably will be the first room in the house to be completely finished. Oops, except for the floor, and replacing the overhead ceiling light fixtures.

Can we come in?

Last night, on my way out to the freezer in the shed to get something for dinner, out of the corner of my eye I saw something suspiciously chicken-shaped on the deck.

Yep, it was indeed a chicken, 5 chickens, to be precise, staring intently at the door into the shed. Iris the escape artist must have figured out how to open the gate, and led the girls down the path to to the house for a visit.

It was almost dark, I don't know whether they came down to the house to come inside, or to let us know they were unable to get through the gate, and thus inside the coop to roost for the night.

I called Dan to come and look, and we both had a good laugh, then he led the girls back to Henbogle Coop for the night. (If you look carefully, you can just see Dan's legs at the top of the bottom photo.)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

After a whirlwind trip to visit Dan's parents in New York, we are back in the nest at Henbogle. Thanks to the faithful Antonio, home for February break from the University of Southern Maine, the zoo was in good hands while we were away. Fishy enjoyed 2 walks a day, and the girls were watered, and fed, if not cooed and coddled over.

We had a wonderful time. We celebrated Mom's 75th birthday, all Dan's siblings were there, and a couple of the grandchildren, too. As a bonus, Dan's sister Louise and I, and granddaughter Marianne, also February babies, got to hear the birthday song, and enjoy a cake for us, too. Amazingly, my birthday is February 3, Louise's is February 4, and Dan's mom's is February 5.

We had some pretty competitive games of Snatch, and played a few rounds of a word game Dan's Mom found, Ad-Lib. And we laughed a lot; we always enjoy the chance to see everyone. Happy Birthday, Mom! Best wishes for a very happy and healthy 75th year, and many more after that!

Snatch to the rescue

My ever resourceful and entertaining best friend Holly recently made a visit to celebrate my birthday with me, and in addition to her company, one of the gifts she brought was a terrific word game, Snatch, which she bought at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on a recent business trip to California.

Dan and I have made a habit of playing a game or two most evenings after dinner this winter. We've elected to forgo cable television, so other than rented DVDs we never watch the tube, preferring instead to read, do crossword puzzles, or play a game. Snatch is perfect for a winter evening, quick to set up, play, and pick up. It's great fun and is nicely designed, coming in a sturdy plastic tube printed with the directions (thus reducing opportunities to lose them) and snugly fitting cover. The basic premise of the game is to make words from Scrabble-like letter tiles until you've exhausted all available tiles or cannot form a word with the remaining tiles.

We are both pretty competitive, though, so it can be a bit tense, as a fundamental element of the game is snatching a word from another player, and adding letters to it to make a new word, i.e. bird becomes bride becomes bridles. We are pretty closely matched, although Dan is the stronger player, routinely snatching a word from me or seeing one the instant a new letter is revealed. In two games tonight, I won the first 32-20, and Dan won the second game 30-25.

If you are a fan of word games, check out Snatch. We are planning to bring the game on our upcoming trip to visit Mom & Dad in New York. It seems like a good game to travel with, being compact, self-contained, and fun.

Yup, it's snowing

Well, we're getting the predicted snow, 4+ inches so far, with more coming, possibly with sleet, freezing rain or even a thunderstorm tonight.


We filled the bird feeders last night, and the birds were glad of it-- over breakfast I watched a beautiful female cardinal flitting from the grapevine to the feeders with a sunflower seed. The male cardinals are showier, but the females are beautiful this time of year, I wish the photo showed her coloring better. Enjoy the snow!

9 p.m. update: We've received about 10" of snow, and it has turned to sleet here. Our weather gadget is calling for thunderstorms, but the temperature is hovering at 10F so it's hard to imagine that will happen. The wind has picked up, but the sleet appears to be reducing the amount of drifting we are getting now. Not a letdown, exactly, but not as big a storm as I was expecting. At least so far.

6:45 am update: We received quite a bit of sleet overnight, raising our total to 14" of snow and sleet. Dan's district cancelled school today, but I'll be heading onto campus for another busy day, the second week of classes and the week before vacation!

A Nor'easter on the Way?

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning and wind chill advisories for today and tomorrow.

Winter Storm Warning

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
355 AM EST TUE FEB 13 2007

...A MAJOR WINTER STORM WILL BRING HEAVY SNOW TO THE REGION LATE
TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

...BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILLS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS MORNING...

.THE COMBINATION OF WINDS AND COLD TEMPERATURES WILL CREATE WIND
CHILLS OF 10 BELOW TO 30 BELOW ZERO ACROSS THE REGION THIS
MORNING.

MEANWHILE...LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE UP THE EAST COAST SPREADING
HEAVY SNOW INTO THE REGION LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY. 

The actual forecast is calling for 4-8 inches of snow in the mid-coast, possibly with a little freezing rain or sleet mixed in, yummy!

Still the whole panic-riddled forecasting biz leaves me shaking my head. Inciting panic over 4-8 inches of snow seems a bit extreme. I can clearly remember several big storms of my youth (now referred to as the blizzard of '78, etc.) that did not incite near rioting at the grocery store despite the 14+ inches of snow that fell. I think the problem is not the snow, but us.

I miss the old days, before SUVs, when we were all in the same boat, so to speak, wipers straining to clear the windshield as we crept along the road at 35 mph. Now I drive a sedate 45 mph --as required by law on the Maine turnpike, I might add-- and the crazy fool in the big SUV puts my life at risk screaming by at 65+ mph while yakking on the cell phone. These days, I stay home, I'm afraid of the other drivers. A little snow don't scare me, but the fools with 4-wheel drive, well, they leave me shaking in my pac boots. In my driveway at home.

Garden Recordkeeping

Lately, I've been enjoying my blogging crony Tracy's posts on her blog Outside, reviewing the vegetables she grew in her garden this past year. I'm impressed with her recordkeeping and the systematic way she is reviewing the successes and challenges of her garden. It is one of those things I wish I were better at, but that kind of recordkeeping eludes me.

I do keep a garden journal, in addition to my collected ramblings on gardening that appear here at Henbogle. My journaling efforts started out well my first year in the house, collecting my thoughts in an inexpensive composition book. My garden journal includes several plant lists --for attracting wildlife, for sun, for shade, for wet spots, for dry spots; the (then) dimensions of the vegetable garden, the results of my soil test from the U Maine Cooperative Extension Service, a very basic yard map, and for good measure, the dimensions of the lot, the house/shed/barn, the freestanding deck. I drew the plan for the vegetable garden, recorded some of the seeds I purchased and started, and made a list of bird sightings. My last entry that year: April 8 (!) Planted flower seeds: Marble Arch Salvia, Coreopsis v. Baby Sun, Lavender Vera, Flax Flower, Baby's Breath (pink), Shasta Daisy, Nasturtium (Jewel & Peach Melba), Cosmos (Sensation Mix), Rudbeckia (Indian Summer), Dianthus (Cheddar Pink), Delphiniums, (Belladonna & Pacific Giant mix). I know I started a great many more seeds than those listed, as Dan and I were planning our backyard wedding, and we were dreaming of lovely gardens overflowing with flowers. (Unfortunately, Hogdemort the evil groundhog had other plans and did his best to mow the gardens to the ground. Still, our wedding day was lovely and the yard was beautiful. So there, you rodent!)

The 2002 gardening season had even fewer entries. The vegetable garden plan, a brief note about the lilac hedge we planted to hide our neighbor's garage, an even briefer note about the previous year --"2001 Planting: Silver Garden."

The 2003 entries were a bit more useful, listing the two dwarf cherry trees, a Stella Bing-type, and Montmorency sour cherry, in addition to the vegetable garden plan, and pasted-in photocopies of my seed orders, but little else, probably as that summer we were busy painting the house, a huge task that appears to be never ending.

In 2004 I made more of an effort, beginning in March with an entry about goals for the season, and with regular entries through May 31, with some wrap-up entries beginning in November and continuing into 2005. I also cleverly realized I could print out color photos for inclusion in the journal. I did manage to write well into the summer in 2005 (July 1), but included no useful notes on the production of the vegetable garden, instead keeping more a record of the gardening projects undertaken. I gave a gardening journal to Dan's mom last year, and found her journal inspired me to include, as she does, clippings from the newspaper or magazines on interesting gardening topics such as a new plant variety or unusual herbs. She also taped plant tags onto the pages of her with her notes of where and when each plant was located in the garden.

Tracy has inspired me to pay more attention to the vegetable garden as I start both the new gardening season, and begin my journaling this year with a brand new journal. Yes, despite the few cryptic entries, my old journal is full, and I need to start anew. I know I really value what little I did write in past years, and am sure I will continue to do so. I suspect this blog will provide much information to me in the future, but I think I will still need the journal, which I can carry about with me as I garden, consulting as needed without worrying too much about mud, hose accidents or forgetting it outside overnight.

The empty pages of my new journal beckon, and the lengthening days remind me I need to finalize my plans and get them in the journal to guide me in future years. And so, dear readers, I want to know: how do you keep track of your gardening efforts?

A big break from the cold

Wow, what a gorgeous day today. By 9 am, the temp was up to 25F in the shade, and the sun was shining. This afternoon, the temps hit above freezing (41F) for the first time in weeks.

Dan and I puttered about outside after lunch, shoveling snow off the new deck, and talking about an upcoming project, building a shade pergola for the deck.

A few days before Christmas we drove by a "good used stuff" shop, and saw two gorgeous 8' porch columns for sale in the parking lot. (Imagine the screeching of the brakes at that moment.) Fortunately, we were in the truck, so after a bit of dickering, the columns came home with us. They are in excellent shape, we were really lucky. We plan to use them as pictured to support the pergola. We'll run the joists from a ledger board attached to the shed wall to a stringer connecting the two columns. I hope this will provide some badly needed shade for the deck. We'd been debating the merits of a pergola versus a shade cloth, but finding these beautiful columns for a song made up our minds.

This morning, I was getting antsy to be outside, so I took Fishy for a long walk with my friend Karen. We got back to the house and Karen stopped for a snack (I'd made cranberry orange scones for breakfast) and some coffee. We had a good chat, then wandered about the yard, talking gardening and determining where to put the pizza oven this spring.

We decided it will need to be near the freestanding deck, a little way from the house. This way any smoke from starting it up will be well away from both our house and the neighbors house. We then went over to Karen's and determined where her pizza oven will go. We've decided we will build the two ovens together, sharing the work and our cement mixer, and learning from one another as we go. Only 37 days until spring!

Chickens that do tricks

Dan and I just went out to give the girls a flake of hay. From the house, we could see them, standing all clumped together by the gate, staring at the house. Do they know it is the weekend and we are home?

As we arrive at the Coop, they begin crooning and clucking, happy to see us. We put the hay in the snow dome, and they immediately begin scratching and pecking, looking for seeds. I collect 5 eggs from the nest boxes. We head back to the house. At the gate, we turn to close it, and there they are, all 5 hens, looking at us. Poppy is all puffed up, standing on one leg, head retreating into her hunched neck. Dan said, "Look, our chickens do tricks, they stand on one leg!" And I said, "As though laying an egg a day isn't enough."

Frostbitten Chickens?

Groundhog, shmoundhog, I expected too much from that lousy rodent. Phil may have promised a short winter, but here in Maine we are experiencing the frosty freezing grip of winter, with below zero nights and daytime temps in the single digits. Brrrr.

I've been concerned about the chickens in this cold snap. They don't like the snow, but seem happy enough with the snow dome and the area near Henbogle Coop we've shoveled, and despite the cold, they want to be outside. Yesterday the girls were so eager to be outside they bolted from the coop through the side door as I was refreshing their water. With the forecast calling for single digit temps and wind, I tried to get them back inside Henbogle Coop for the day, but to no avail. I left the Coop door open, so they could go back in and get out of the wind, but don't really know how they choose to spend their days while I'm at work.

With this bitter cold, though, I'm worried their combs are getting frostbitten. Notice the brown patches on Poppy's comb in the above photo. I read in our chicken owners manual, Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow, that rubbing vaseline on their combs would help prevent frostbite, so we've been dutifully massaging on the vaseline, but I'm afraid they've experienced some frostbite. Poppy, with her luxurious comb, appears to be the worst affected. I recently read that Icy Hot increases the circulation to the combs, so I might try that, although I'm a bit dubious, and I don't want to try anything that will cause them discomfort.

We are doing our best to make sure they are comfy. We've got a couple of lamps set up in Henbogle Coop to give some heat and the needed 15 hours of daylight for optimal egg production. We put a sensor from our digital thermometer in the Coop the other day; yesterday morning at 5:30 it was a frosty 14 F, even with the lights. After a few days of the cold we broke down and bought a water fount heater from Knight's Farm Supply, which made life a lot easier for us and provides the girls with warm water, saving them from having to expend energy to warm it up.

Despite the cold weather and frostbite, the girls seem very happy, although a little bored. We've been throwing a flake of hay in the snowdome every once in a while to give the girls something to do. They will scratch through the hay and eat the seeds, and I'll throw any treats and their scratch in the hay to add to the hunt and peck factor. We are still getting 4-5 big, beautiful, delicious eggs a day, and we love every egg. Thanks, girls!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite holidays. To me, it seems that once Groundhog Day has arrived, Spring becomes somehow more tangible, a definite possibility despite the long procession of cold days to come. Once Groundhog Day has arrived, the daylight hours have increased enough that it is still daylight when I depart for home after work, and soon, dusk will still be lingering upon reaching home. Normally, I'm not a fan of the garden-devouring little rodents, but on Groundhog Day, I set my animosity aside and make a temporary peace. Today in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Phil the groundhog poked his snout out of his den and predicted the early arrival of spring. Yay Phil!

Gnocchi Galore

As planned, I made butternut squash gnocchi out of the remaining squash ravioli filling. The gnocchi were not as light as clouds, but they were tasty. I did not even pretend I was going to shape my gnocchi over the tines of a fork.

I did try a method I read about in a Mario Batali cookbook, shaping the gnocchi between two teaspoons, but in the interest of eating dinner before 10 p.m., soon abandoned that effort and settled for small, slightly rounded dumpling-shaped gnocchi.

I cooked them in some chicken stock I made this weekend, and served them with steamed broccoli. I kept them warm in a non-stick skillet over very low heat with some butter and dried sage until I had cooked up all the dough. They were a bit time consuming to form, but otherwise the process went pretty quickly and was a delicious meal -- and we have enough for lunch tomorrow. Based on this experiment, will I try making traditional gnocchi? You bet!

Oooh, I'm Hip! (in a retroactive kind of way)

A new Maine blog has debuted, The Kennebec Report. An as-of-yet un-aquainted fellow blogger at the University of Maine in Augusta, recently relocated there from Guam, will be reporting on his experiences in Maine.

In his second post, Retroactive Hipness, Rob writes about Mainers' being hip.

Maine seems to have what I would call "retroactive hipness." I find the state and its people enormously hip, but not in the Soho gallery, pencil-thin, all-black-clad, wine spritzer, closest-to-the-latest sort of way.... No, I mean a hipness that's derived from, to paraphrase the Mamas and the Papas, making your own kind of music, and it expresses itself in doing things that people did in the Depression as a matter of course: gardening, canning, knitting, crafting, woodworking, raising farm animals, et cetera, et cetera.

If he defines hipness as raising livestock, vegetable gardening, home canning, DIY home renovation/woodworking, etc.etc.etc., than I am seriously hip. I am the master of hipness. I have a Ph.D. in hip. I never in a million years would have dreamed I'd be considered hip. Me, a liberal, fashion-impaired educator, hip. Wow.

Welcome to Maine, Rob. If this is how you are going to be blogging, I'll be a real fan.

Sunny Sunday

We had a lovely sunny Sunday, with no wind and temps in the 20s -- practically balmy. Capping the lovely day, tonight my friend Karen gave me a lesson in making homemade pasta.

We made ravioli, filling them with a squash filling I found on Epicurious.com. The filling was a snap to make, and the pasta, not so bad, once you get a feel for it. The dough needs to be smooth and elastic, but dry, not sticky. Once we got going, we made lots of raviolis in about 2 hours, with plenty of time for conversation and wine.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, SAGE, AND GOAT CHEESE RAVIOLI WITH HAZELNUT BROWN-BUTTER SAUCE

For filling
a 2-pound butternut squash, roasted and mashed
1 1/2 c diced shallot
1 1/2 teaspoons ground sage
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
4 ounces Spanish Manchego cheese, grated

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted lightly and skinned and chopped coarsely


In a skillet cook shallot and sage in butter with salt and pepper to taste over moderate heat, stirring, until shallot is golden brown. Stir in garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Cool shallot mixture slightly and add to squash. Add cheese and stir to combine well. Make ravioli.

In a 6-quart kettle bring 5 quarts salted water to a gentle boil for ravioli.

In skillet cook butter with hazelnuts over moderate heat until butter begins to brown, about 3 minutes, and immediately remove from heat (nuts will continue to cook). Season hazelnut butter with salt and pepper and keep warm, covered.

Makes 30 ravioli, serving 6 generously.

I made a few changes from the Epicurious recipe, which called for using won-ton wrappers. It made a huge amount of filling, so I have a lot left over. I may try and make the remaining filling into gnocchi later this week.

We served the ravioli with a simple roasted chicken and a lovely salad, and followed dinner with a few hands of cards. The perfect end to a nice relaxing weekend.

Heating Up the Night

A week to the day after catching the extremely evil g.i. bug that is going around, I rolled up my sleeves and started cooking again. I was just NOT interested in anything having to do with food before today.

My friend Karen is going to give me a lesson on making homemade pasta tomorrow, and we'll be making butternut squash ravioli. In preparation I roasted a large squash this afternoon, and tonight for dinner tried a new twist on enchiladas, Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Corn.

2 1/2 lb butternut squash, roasted and mashed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c frozen corn
1 T chili powder
1/2 cinnamon
1/2 t cumin

12 6-inch-diameter corn tortillas

8 oz. Pepper Jack cheese
8 oz. cheddar cheese

Prepared salsa or enchilada sauce

Heat 2T oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Mix in squash and corn. Season with salt and pepper.

Wrap tortillas in damp paper towel and microwave briefly to soften.

Place 1 heaping spoonful of squash mixture down center of each tortilla. Top with 1 tablespoon of each cheese. Roll up tortillas. Arrange seam side down in a lightly oiled 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spoon enchilada sauce and remaining cheese over enchiladas. Bake until enchiladas are heated through and cheese is hot and bubbly, about 25 minutes.

Wow, I was amazed. They were delicious, and I think will lend themselves to all sorts of tweaking in the future. I also think you could very easily use canned squash or pumpkin and turn these into a quick weeknight meal. I didn't think to get a photo but I'll be sure to capture the pasta making tomorrow!

January Jaundice

Although it was 60 degrees on January 2, Dan and I couldn't come to terms with the construction of the temporary brick oven, so we let the warm weather pass us by, and now are shivering at the Return of Winter.

We've had 2 little snowstorms, and it was cold last week, especially considering the week before it was so mild. Temps were in the single digits, with the gentle breeze exacerbating the bracing effect. Friday an old fashioned nor'easter ripped through, leaving snow and wind in its wake, and for Dan and I, a brush with the exceedingly unpleasant g.i. bug that is going around. YUK. As a result, we hunkered down for the weekend, armed with electrolyte-replenishing liquids, ginger ale and the woodstove.

At least the enforced semi-paralysis gave me time to work on the vegetable garden plans. When not snoozing or otherwise engaged, I browsed through the collection of seed catalogs and tried to narrow down my choices to a manageable list. Here's what made the list for veggies:
Beans--saved seed of Michael's and Gold of Bacau Pole Beans, Fedco
Beets--Burpees Golden and Ruby Queen, Pine Tree Garden Seeds
Broccoli--Broccoli Blend, Fedco
Brussels Sprouts--Falstaff, Pine Tree Garden Seeds
Carrots--Atomic Red, Mokum, and Rainbow Mix, Fedco
Corn--Painted Mountain, Fedco
Cucumber--Diva, Johnny's
Green Onions--Deep Purple, Johnny's
Leeks--Lincoln, Fedco
Lettuce--Summer and Winter Mix, Pine Tree Garden Seeds
Melon--Prescott Fond Blanc, Fedco and Banana, Pine Tree Garden Seeds
Peas--Lincoln and Sugar Ann, Fedco
Peppers--Amish Pimento, Fedco and Red Beauty, Pine Tree Garden Seeds Lemon Drop, saved
Pumpkin--Winter Luxury and Rouge Vif d'Etampes, Fedco
Potatoes--Carola, Rose Finn Apple, Dark Red Norlands, Fedco
Radish-- Easter Egg, Pine Tree Garden Seeds
Tomatoes--Orange Banana, Amish Paste, Green Zebra, Fedco and Pineapple, Sun Gold, Gardener's Delight, Pine Tree Garden Seeds
Summer Squash--Costata Romanesca, Early Summer Yellow Crookneck, Fedco
Winter Squash--Futsu Black, Pine Tree Garden Seeds
Swiss Chard--Bright Lights, Johnny's

I'm still debating over the tomato category, I hope to can tomatoes this summer, but I also want a good selection of fresh eating tomatoes. In the case of the beans and Lemon Drop Peppers, this will be my first experiment with saving seed myself, and I'm not all that confident in my abilities so I've hedged my bets in both cases with a second or third variety.

The 1-Hour Brick Oven

While doing some research for work today I found this example of a dry-stacked wood-fired pizza oven, and I'm dying to give it a whirl. Stacked on a pallet in the back yard we have a good collection of free-cycled bricks, and the house came with a good inventory of concrete block. We have plenty of nice dry split firewood, all ready for the woodstove, and a flat-ish spot of ground. Now all I need is the time, a few refractory bricks, and some refractory cement.

The oven designer-builder, Dale A. Callaham, built the oven pictured here in under an hour, using a chimney flue liner as the oven chamber. According to his website, the chimney flue liner cracked after a few uses, so he designed a cast oven roof using refractory cement. What a clever idea!

I'm going to skip the chimney flue-liner option and move directly to the cast refractory cement oven roof option when I try mine -- after all, I have a cement mixer, I might as well put that baby to work! The big question, can I manage this in time for a looming birthday celebration? A Pizza Party would be such a good way to celebrate, especially if it did not include the smoke detectors blaring away.

Happy Hot New Year!

It's official, December, 2006 was toasty. According to today's Morning Sentinel,

Through Dec. 30, the average temperature in Portland was 34.9 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

That was 7.1 degrees above normal and 0.1 degrees higher than the warmest December on record, set in 2001.

If that isn't enough, The USDA Zone maps are being revised, and many of us northerners are experiencing climate creep. The American Horticultural Society is reporting that the maps are in the process of being re-drawn.

Selfishly, I have really enjoyed using less fuel to heat my home this fall, and I'm really enjoying the ability to include a few more tender plants in the garden. Unfortunately, the drawbacks are pretty horrendous, though. Poison ivy loves this new weather patterns, and is demonstrating through luxurious growth, as are some other evils such as Japanese knotweed and Japanese honeysuckle. It is also just plain hotter in the summers, and I'm more likely to sunburn. Sigh.

Well, we've insulated and wind proofed this old house as best we can (and it is an ongoing project), I'm driving a fuel efficient car and I carpool, I'm trying to buy locally, and we're planting trees and shrubs like mad. I'm working on making the lawn mower obsolete, too. I'll keep working on it. In the meantime, best wishes to all for a happy and health new year!

Snow

Snow today, our second snow of the season. On December 14, 2000, the day we closed on the house, we had a terrific snowstorm, with over 16 inches of snow, and that was the second or third storm of the season. We had a lot of snow that year, and a couple of long cold snaps; it felt like the Maine of my youth. I remember shoveling the driveway and wondering where we were going to actually put the snow.

In the intervening years, we've had far less snow. The year before last, we bought a small electric snowblower at the end of the season, and last year we did not even use it once. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. While I like the snow, I'm over the thrill of shoveling my very own driveway.

The chickens don't like the snow. Its funny, they will be out all day in a cold November rain, but they totally freak out over the snow. The first storm we had they completely refused to leave Henbogle Coop, staying inside for 2 straight days, even though we opened the door for them every day. This morning when I brought them some spinach and aging grapes, they were in the Coop, but did come out reluctantly for their treat.

After the first snowstorm, Dan and I assembled a hoop house for the girls, to give them a snow-free place to roam, so today I threw their treat into the hoop house to lure them in. Iris refused to come out into the snow, but Poppy, Marigold, Hyacinth and Zinnia braved the terrifying flakes to scarf up some grapes. They liked their snow dome, because when I checked on them later in the afternoon, the four of them were still there and looked to have spent much of the day there, while Iris fretted alone in the coop. Silly chickens.

The Sump Pump Project

We've known for some time now that we were going to have to re-plumb our sump pump, as it was draining directly into our sewer line, which is a no-no.

Sump pumps, for those of you fortunate enough to be ignorant of them, are submersible pumps set into a low spot in a basement to pump out any water that accumulates, say from a quick and rainy thaw in April, or an especially rainy spell. In our old 1880s Cape, we have a dirt floored basement with a combination of granite, fieldstone and brick foundation walls. In especially wet springs, such as the April of 2005, the sump pump ran 24 hours a day for several days. In other springs, it never clicks on.

Anyway, the need to tackle this project was forced upon us by a letter from the water company telling us in no uncertain terms it was time to take action. We decided we might as well do it right and re-dig the sump well and install a plastic basin. Dan found a new sump pump at a tag sale last summer for $5, saving us about $95, so we wanted to set it up in a way that would maximize the new pump's life expectancy.

An unpleasant task to begin with, the unpleasantry is magnified 1000 times by the fact the work had to be done in our icky basement. I'm sure there are worse basements, maybe in the Addams Family home, but ours is not a nice place. It is populated by maybe 10 million spiders, all excellent web makers, and resembles that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones delves through the cobwebs, except without Indiana Jones, or treasure. Sigh. In addition to the spider webs, there's a creepy overturned antique bathtub along one wall -- what is under that thing? I'm not looking.

Anyway, down we went into the bowels of the house, and created this glorious vision of modern plumbing. Dan re-dug the hole, added a layer of gravel, a plastic basin, more gravel in the basin and in the hole between the basin and the walls. Then some nice level bricks for the pump to sit upon, a check valve (thanks Nick at the hardware store for that suggestion), and connect the hose. The hose snakes it's way to the window, now replaced with plywood and insulation, through the plywood and outside. We need a bit more hose, but the majority of the work is done, yee hah! Cross that one off the list!

Mac 'n cheese Ali style

I've been hoarding some leftover ham, waiting for the right moment to make some macaroni and cheese with ham. Well, head cold be darned, after an overcast gray day today highlighted by the unpleasant sump-pump project, tonight was the night, and it hit the spot, served with some yummy steamed broccoli. (More about the sump pump project soon, I know you'll be riveted.)

I started with the basic recipe from my favorite old standby, the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and surprise, surprise, made a few changes.

First, start boiling a big pot of water for the pasta, and pre-heat the oven to 350F. Butter a baking dish and set aside.


Ali's Mac 'n Cheese

4 T butter
4 T flour
2 1/2 c milk, scalded
1 small onion, finely diced
1/2 t smoked Spanish Paprika
1 1/2 c Cabot Hunter's Sharp Cheddar, grated
1/2 c Cabot Habanero Cheddar, grated
1/2 lb cooked macaroni or other curvy pasta such as Barilla Cellentani

When the water comes to the boil, cook the pasta as directed, and set aside in a buttered baking dish. Sautee the onions until soft in 1 T of the butter. Stir in the Spanish paprika and set aside. Over medium heat, melt the remaining butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour. Stir and cook until well combined. Add the hot milk, a little at a time, stirring well after each addition. When all the milk has been added, bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add the onions, and allow to boil for 2-3 minutes to cook flour and thicken. Add the grated cheeses, stirring to melt. Stir into the pasta, pop into the oven and bake for 30 minutes until bubbly and just browned on the edges. Enjoy!

I get many of my spices, including the Smoked Spanish Paprika, from Penzey's Spices. (They have a great selection of excellent spices and herbs, and are especially useful for locating rather hard to find items, such as top quality candied ginger.) I added some diced leftover ham, just after the cheeses. Leftover broccoli is also a yummy addition. This makes enough for plenty of leftovers for lunches.

Wintry Gifts

'Tis the season of giving, and we here at Henbogle House have given and received many joyous gifts, and a couple of less than welcome gifts, we each got an all-to-common cold, ICK. Dan came down with his cold on Saturday, and I followed on Christmas Day. Nonetheless, we had a lovely Christmas Day, beginning with a breakfast of Cranberrry-Orange Scones and Individual Cheddar Souffles, with espresso from my shiny new stovetop espresso maker.

We then moved on to an orgy of gift-giving and receiving. Among the many lovely presents I received was a new Canon PowerShot digital camera with telephoto lens! I'm really looking forward to giving that a workout and sharing the results here on Henbogle.

I made Dan's techy-dreams come true with a new iPod Nano and an iHome digital clock radio/iPod player device, which included a remote control. Does it get any better? Now he's in step technology-wise, at least, with his students. Hmmm, I wonder if that's tax deductible?

We each received many other delightful gifts, but I would be remiss not to mention the wonderful friendships we have here in our little town. We shared much of the day with friends Bill & Michelle, enjoying a fabululous dinner of swordfish and roasted vegetables, mmmm. Later we joined friends Karen and Bill for a quick visit.

Another favorite gift that no doubt will be mentioned in the future as I plan and scheme, the book The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens. This fascinating book is an excellent resource for bread bakers, and also gives informative descriptions of a variety of masonry ovens, and detailed plans for constructing one. I've been making-do with clay tiles in my gas oven, but boy, do I want one of these ovens! Imagine a wood-fired bread and pizza oven in your backyard! I'll be dreaming all winter.....

Approaching Pizza Perfection

I've been working on my pizza skills for some time, looking for the perfect crust. I tried deep dish dough, cornmeal dough, Alton Brown's dough, you name it, I tried it. Finally, I'm approaching the pizza I've been searching for.

I adapted a recipe from Peter Reinhart's book American Pie, Napoletana Pizza, simplifying the process considerably, and adapting it for my oven. I cook the pizza directly on heavy clay tiles I bought at Home Depot for a fraction of the cost of a pizza stone. I had two tiles cut so the that I have a large surface area on which to bake the pizza or bread. If the tiles get too stained, I heave them and start over. The tile cost me less than $6 total. Here's my version of the recipe.

Nirvana Pizza Dough
4 1/2 c flour
1 3/4 t salt
1 t yeast
2 T olive oil
1 3/4 c water
flour for dusting

Stir together the flour, salt, and yeast. Stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed. Stir or knead with the electric mixer for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should be smooth and sticky.

Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Work into a log, then divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Sprinkle flour over the dough. With dry floured hands, round each piece into a ball, dust with flour and transfer to a plastic bag. Store in the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, (will keep for up to 3 days.)

Remove dough from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Dust the counter with flour place the dough on floured breadboard and sprinkle with flour. Flatten disks gently to about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Don't get it too thin or it will be hard to handle later. Sprinkle with flour, cover loosely with plastic and let rest for 2 hours.

At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450F. Generously flour the peel.

Gently stretch the dough out to about 9 inches in diameter, lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough flour to allow the pizza to slide off the peel. Add 3 or 4 toppings, including sauce and cheese.

Slide the pizza onto the stone. Bake about 5 to 8 minutes, until the cheese and crust have browned. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Now the hard part: Cool for 3 to 5 minutes and serve. YUM!

I generally use a simple red sauce of whole Roma tomatoes, chopped, cooked with a little garlic and olive oil. Other favorite toppings include ricotta and spinach, Italian sausage, mozzarella and parmesan, pesto and parmesan.... the options are as unlimited as your imagination.

Although finding the right crust recipe has been difficult, in my experience, the real challenge is getting the pizza onto and off from the peel successfully. Somehow, I always seem to end up with the kitchen windows wide open, fans blowing the smokey air out as the shriek of the smoke detector pierces my skull and smatterings of pizza toppings 'caramelize' on the oven floor. Clearly, I need to build an outdoor Italian brick oven for breadbaking and pizza, don't you think?

The Solstice Fire

Thanks to friends Bill, Michelle and Karen for joining us to light the Solstice fire and sharing the evening with us. Today is gray and rainy, so I'm glad we had the chance to enjoy our fire last night, it is a good antidote to the dreary weather today.

Happy Solstice To All

The wheel turns, a new season begins. Here in Maine, the first day of winter is clear and mild, with temperatures in the upper 30s. What little snow we had is gone, and the grass remains green but thankfully not growing long enough yet to get the mowers out of storage again.

It looks like we won't be having a white Christmas this year, but I'm counting my blessings: lots of time for my fall plantings to settle in, good commuting weather, the chickens are far happier without snow, my aging furnace hasn't had to work too hard, and that of course makes the oil consumption a little less, too.

In honor of the change of seasons, I've added a countdown clock to my blog, counting down the days until spring. Tonight some friends will gather here to light a celebratory fire and enjoy good food, drink and companionship. Life is good, happy Solstice to all!

Ooops!

Dan's mom called the other night, asking about the recipe for Italian Cookies I posted recently. She was looking at her version of the recipe and noticed I had left off the baking soda, yikes! That explains why my cookies tasted rather flat and leaden this year...

I knew something was wrong, but thought it might be the new trans-fat free Crisco. No, it was the lack of leavening. Thanks for catching the error, Mom!

The corrected recipe:

ITALIAN COOKIES

8 c flour
1 1/2 c sugar
4 t baking powder
9 eggs
1 lb of Crisco

Cream the Crisco and sugar. Add eggs, beating after each egg. Stir in the flour, mixing well. Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Roll out about 1/2” thick. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, Cool, and frost with Citrus Icing or Royal Icing.

I don't like pea soup

The other day, after many hints from Dan, I made pea soup for the first time. I used a recipe from my new pressure cooker book, Lorna J. Sass's Pressure Perfect, and made it my pressure cooker.

It smelled good cooking, but the minute I opened the lid, the memories of my first job as a kitchen helper at the Chapel Valley Boarding Home came flooding back. I clearly remembered scrubbing the big aluminum pots used to cook the pea soup --not one of the more pleasant tasks of my life. The pea soup clung to the pot like it was soldered on. Compounding the issue was the fact that pea soup was not a favorite with many of the residents.

Dan promised me my soup was good, but I didn't enjoy even one bite. The memories were too pervasive. Pea soup is off my list for life.

Crunch of the gods

This weekend, in addition to seeing to my hens' comfort by constructing them a hoop house for the winter, I made two Christmas treats to share with friends, Almond Toffee, and Spicy Ginger Cookies. Both are fantastic, and not terribly difficult.

Almond Toffee
2 1/2 c whole almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 T light corn syrup
1/2 t sea salt
1 t vanilla
8 oz. Ghiradelli semisweet chocolate chips

Special equipment: candy or digital thermometer

Finely chop 1/2 cup of the almonds and reserve.

Lightly oil a 15” x 10” jelly roll pan (I used non-stick foil).

In a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan combine butter, corn syrup and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally as sugar dissolves. Boil, stirring occasionally, until thermometer registers 300°F, or until the mixture is the color of dark peanut butter. Quickly stir in almonds and immediately pour mixture into baking pan. With a spatula quickly spread toffee in an even layer.

Let mixture stand 1 minute (it will still be very hot) and sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips. Let chips melt and with spatula spread chocolate evenly over toffee. Quickly sprinkle reserved finely chopped almonds evenly over chocolate. Allow to cool, then chill toffee until chocolate is firm, at least 2 hours, and up to 2 weeks, covering tightly after 2 hours. Break toffee into bite-size pieces and keep chilled to prevent chocolate from melting.

Makes about 2 1/2 pounds.

WOW, was this good!! We took some to friends Karen and Bill last night and it rapidly disappeared. I was a bit trepidatious after hearing toffee horror stories --rock hard burnt sugar permanently bonded to the pan, or greasy, soft candy mush oozing out of the box, but I used a low heat setting and was all prepared in advance, and it went really well. I plan to try making it with tempered chocolate next time to avoid the need to keep it chilled.

Photos of the remains and more on the ginger cookies later, time to head to work.

Hen Crossing

This photo, taken by staff photographer Andy Molloy appeared in the Friday, December 15 Kennebec Journal, with the caption below.

Winthrop police officer Peter Cloutier directs traffic on Thursday afternoon around a flock of chickens waiting to cross the road at the intersection of Routes 133 and 41. A feathered flock of approximately 700 flew the coop from a DeCoster Egg Farms truck around 1 p.m., according to Winthrop Police Department Sgt. Dan Cook. Workers from the town and DeCoster rounded up the miscreant birds and put them back on the truck. Fowl play is not suspected, Cook said.

I hope they enjoyed their brief moment of freedom. I feel bad for them, knowing the life of a DeCoster hen can't be much to crow about, especially when compared to the pampered lives of the Henbogle girls. As an example, today Dan and I fenced in the remainder of the back yard, to give the girls access to some still green grass and some new area to roam and explore. The girls loved it!

What cost economic growth?

Driving to work yesterday listening to Maine Public Radio, I heard an opinion piece on Marketplace that really wound me up. David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter and policy wonk with the American Enterprise Institute made the argument that "economic populism," (i.e. government intervening in the market to ensure that big business treats America workers fairly and ensures prosperity and minimal living standards for all) is a recipe for economic slowdown.

Frum argued that even the slightest decrease in economic growth, say from 3 to 2.5 percent annually over the next 5 years, would be disastrous, causing the U.S. to slip dangerously from its front runner position in world economies.

Ok, the gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world will close, but why is that so terrible? The economies of many other developed nations lag far behind ours, but these nations still prosper. Britons and Canadians enjoy good quality health care, education, a high standard of living. The countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark are known worldwide for their far-sighted views of maternity leave and childcare. Dare I suggest that if in this country our economic resources were fewer, we might use them more carefully?

Reaching back through the cobwebs of time to my freshman economics class in college, I must have learned the benefits of being the economic front runner, but from my current perspective, I see that unchecked economic growth is not lifting up our nation as a whole, but is creating a widening income gap between the rich and poor, and driving the former middle class into the working poor.

The average workers' wages have not kept up with inflation, and yet Forbes magazine reported that the 400 richest Americans increased their wealth by 10 percent last year, while the minimum wage still keeps our low-skill workers living in poverty.

I think it's time to take a new look at economic populism, which perhaps should be re-defined as taking care of our neighbors, to make sure we all enjoy a standard of living that allows us housing, health care, child care, access to a quality education, and nutritious food on our tables.