No-Sew Treat Bags

No-sew t-shirt bag.

My daughter's birthday is coming up. I don't even have the invites out yet (today maybe?). But we think we've nailed down the activities.

I've enjoyed doing treat bags in the past. But if you buy all the pieces for those, the cost of that little party element can add up and quick.

So this year, we thought we'd make our own...from old t-shirts. I think we'll let the kids pick their treats from a table or scavenger hunt.

We're going to try to make no-sew t-shirt bags that the kids can decorate themselves.

I did a dry run this morning to test the difficulty. It'll be a snap for kids really comfortable with tying shoes. Others, including my little one, will need a little more help on the front end.

Soccer ball tote.

I've been loading this little size-5 butterfly bag up with items all morning and it's surprisingly sturdy. The example in the craft instructions used a cotton t-shirt, then loaded the bag up with books!

My son had been wanting a bag with a large enough mouth to tote his soccer ball to practice. The one we made isn't very deep, but it's big enough to sling over his shoulder. And my old v-neck shirt, with collar cut off, is plenty wide enough for the ball.

Irving Garden: Thinning, Weeding & Harvesting in Late Summer

It's been such a busy summer I've hardly had a chance to spend any time at the Irving Garden.

There are some new features this year, a compost system that's built and looks like it'll be ready for fall. And, as was the case last year, a bumper crop of veggies...especially cucumbers.

I was there a few days ago and swiped a few young cukes to make my very first batch of pickles. I'm now a huge fan of homemade pickles.

The cucumbers are so overwhelming, they toppled over the metal lattice set up for them to climb. Clearly, they need a sturdier climbing wall if we're going to get them to go vertical.

The beans are doing great. That's what the kids and I spent the most time harvesting this evening in between aggressive weeding.

The garden's also flush with serranos and jalepenos, which I'm pretty sure are new this year. Those will go great with the fabulous looking wall of tomatoes. If we can keep the critters off of those, they're going to be amazing.

Unfortunately the squash is being overrun by squash beetles. I'm encouraging anyone to pick squash as soon as they're even close to mature.

The carrots and potatoes seem to be coming along nicely too.

I'm looking forward to a bigger harvest after school starts and maybe another stone soup so the kids can enjoy the bounty of their classroom plots.

Making Memories at The Farm

Early corn in front of the house.

My kids spent 13 days at The Farm this summer during my busiest couple weeks at work. It's a win win. My employer gets my undivided attention for 10-12 or so hours a day and my future kids get a taste for rural life, which involves a lot of time outside.

So what did they do while they were there?

Good luck dragging any details out of them. It's as if they were on some sort of mission, sworn to secrecy about their day-to-day adventures. Yet I know they had a good time. I know because, except for a couple brief tearful moments when I came down for a day to go to my cousin's funeral, they never begged me to come home. And they were returned to me fully tanned and golden-haired.

They spent a lot of time outside. A lot. Just what mommy ordered.

It's taken me a few days, with only mild forms of torture, to tease out the most memorable things about Summer '11 at The Farm.

Here's what surely is an incomplete list:

Making lasagna - from scratch, from rolling and cutting the noodles to simmering the homemade sauce.

Playing with kittens - the two wormy, flea bag rag-a-muffins my sisters rescued from a ditch brought home one day and have been nursing to rambunctious health ever since.

Visiting Victory Acres - where there is all manner of activity, from fresh produce to a barnyard full of critters.

Going to the 'Garfield Museum' - or as my children have finally realized, the single Jim Davis room in the James Dean Museum in Fairmount.

Playing in the pool - where, I'm pretty sure they started to grow gills.

Hunting buckeyes. It's too early to find any on the ground, so they had to pick some from branches grandpa pulled down for them.

Tee pee adventure - I'm still not quite sure where or when this was, but I'm told it involved going in and out of real tee pees and visiting rooms filled with animal hide. [My daughter, disturbed by the collection of animal skins, was not impressed by this particular outing.]

Collecting eggs. The children learned that the layers are docile while they lay their eggs. This was a particularly good time to pet the chickens and see how soft their feathers are.

Feeding the goats - even though one little Billie was a little over eager and bit into my little girl's hand.

Learning the Lord's Prayer. This may be my favorite. It's one of my favorite communal prayers, mostly because, just like my kids, I learned it by repeating after my grandpa as he tucked me into bed in the Orchard Room at The Farm.

I know there is so much more, but these are the things my children are still talking about and will be thinking about for months and years to come.

Seasonal Recipe: Judy's Best Carrot Cake Ever

Tastes much better
than it looks.

When I first tried this recipe for the Best Carrot Cake Ever, I didn't follow the directions precisely.

I only had two cake pans and I was supposed to make this with three. I also didn't grease the pans near liberally enough. 

So when I found myself swimming in CSA carrots this week, I knew just the recipe to pull out.

This is also the first time I've made the cake since the recipe's creator, Judy, passed away. I love that there's a real person, a woman of quiet elegance, behind this recipe.

I thought about her and her family as I grated the carrots, blended the flour, sugar and cinnamon and cracked each of the four eggs, one at a time, and folded them into the batter.

Judy's Best Carrot Cake Ever

2 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

2 cups sugar

1 1/4 cup oil

4 eggs

3 cups grated carrots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and stir to blend. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Add carrots and mix well. Evenly divide batter between three well-greased and floured 8" pans. Bake for 35 minutes. [With three pans, the batter is thin, so the layers were done for me in about 25 minutes.]

Cool completely on wire racks before icing.

Icing

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 stick butter, softened

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup pecans/walnuts (optional)

1 cup coconut (optional)

Mix all ingredients. Add nuts and coconut. Ice tops and sides of cake. 

Test Kitchen Notes: I was told to use toothpicks to hold the cake layers together before icing and then to warn people there are toothpicks in the cake. I didn't do this and the cake held together fine. Where it started to break apart, I used icing as a sort of glue.

The cake turned out great the second time around. I still need to work on presentation (even my husband said so). Part of the problem was patience. I was in a rush to get the cake iced so I could send some home with a friend breaking his fast at sundown.

I also don't have proper grease for the pans. Oil and baking spray just aren't adequate, especially for a batter this dense. I've quit using shortening in my baking. But I may need to keep some on hand just for greasing and flouring pans.

For sure, using the optional coconut would dress this up quite a bit. Unfortunately, coconut isn't loved by all in my house.

Seasonal Recipes: Garden Salsa & Tomato, Basil & Feta

I've said many times that it can be a challenge to consume a full CSA share within a single week. We sometimes share our share and I often blanch and freeze whatever I can't eat or throw into a stock.

Only a few times this summer have I had to discard or compost uneaten, rotting veggies.

One trick is to skip recipe research and just use what you get as soon as possible. This is easier when cucumbers and tomatoes are in season.

Here are a couple quick (seriously quick, like 5-10 minute) recipes:

Garden Salsa

1 small-medium cucumber, seeded and chopped
2 medium red tomatoes, chopped
1 serrano, seeded and chopped (add another serrano to kick up the heat)
1 medium onion, chopped
Sea salt, to taste

Toss all ingredients and salt to taste. 

Note: I like to smooth this out a bit with an immersion blender, because with fresh cucumber and tomato, this can be watery. If you seed the tomatoes, you'll have less juice.


Tomato & Basil Salad

1 large or 2 medium red tomatoes, sliced or rough chopped
handful of fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup feta
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt, to taste
Fresh ground pepper, to taste


Toss first five ingredients and salt and pepper to taste.

This is good right away, but I like to let it chill a bit before serving to let the flavors meld.

Follow the Farmers' Recipe Trail

After a couple very long weeks of work and long days at the office, I'm taking a much-needed day off. Well, sort of. I just have a little work to do. Then errands. Then painting. Then back-to-school shopping.

But I know I'm getting a respite because I've had a chance to start catching up on the stack of Farm World newspapers piling up so high I was debating whether to just skip reading them and toss them in the recycle bin.

I'm glad I didn't. The pages are always full of good information about the Midwest ag business. Plus there was a nice tidbit in the Aug. 3 edition about a really good project at the Indiana State Fair.

They're calling it a Farmers' Recipe Trail. Fair goers can grab a map and make their way to each of 12 farmers listed to collect recipe cards. The cards have signature family farm recipes, plus a little story about each one and of the farm where the recipe orginated.

I just love this idea.

Each plate of food we eat is packed with a backstory. The hands-on labor of growing and cultivating the vegetables. The production from farm-to-market-to-table. And, of course, the creativity of the farm chefs, who are always looking for a fresh take, fresh flavor combination featuring the bounty before them.

Signature dishes come with years of practice. And, as they are consumed and shared with the generations, they are loaded with memories.

When I close my eyes and think about them, I can actually taste my grandmother's strawberry rhubarb pie, date pudding and golden mashed potatoes & carrots.

Participate in this year's recipe trail - the fair's 2nd annual - from Aug. 5-21 at the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis.

Sad Reminder to Slow Down, Yield to Farmers

The Chicago Tribune has a heartbreaking story today about a McHenry County farmer who was killed after a woman slammed her car into his farm tractor while trying to get around him in a no-passing zone.

I'm betting whatever this woman was rushing to will haunt her for the rest of her life.

The Trib notes:

Nearly every farmer can tell stories of close calls they've had on the roads. Tractors typically go only 15 to 20 miles per hour, and farmers say they do their best to move to the side to let traffic pass. Too many drivers, they contend, pass in no-passing zones, sometimes flipping a one-finger salute or hurling obscenities as they roar past.

 One farmer says he sometimes feels "scared to death" driving his tractor:

"I've had people on cellphones coming toward me and wander into my lane. I guess they figure they have the whole road in the country."

Rest in Peace Mancel "Butch" Beard Jr.

May your death serve as a reminder to all of us to keep perspective, take a breath before giving in to road rage and to relax and enjoy the scenery if a farm tractor slows us down.