Things That Go BOOM In The Night

We have friends who have a vineyard but no buyers for their grapes. We accommodate them by picking the grapes and making raisins and wine. Last year we made about 40 pounds of raisins and several quarts of wine. This year we harvested Pinot grapes and decided to make some sparkling wine to drink in few weeks rather than waiting for a year as we did before. The grapes were beautiful.
After a light rinse we placed them in glass jars along with a "starter" that Sandra uses for making fermented rice. We thought that should give it a boost and start fermentation quickly.

Sure enough, after a few days the action began and bubbles and froth developed. After a week we decided to rack the liquid and separate it from the grape skins. Since we wanted a sparkling wine we decided to place it in soda bottles, since they would withstand the pressure developed during further fermentation and contain the carbon dioxide so we would have the fizz.

We "vented" the bottles daily and after another week racked a second time and had a beautiful product, so nice that we bottled some and gave it to a friend to sample.

We kept the remainder in three soda bottles in the garage where the temperature was about 50 degrees. We expected the fermentation to slow and end within a few days. One day I forgot to vent the bottles. The following evening we were sitting in the family room and heard this loud BOOM. We looked at each other, looked around to see if something had fallen from a high shelf, and then started searching for the source of the noise. Then I thought of the bottles in the garage. Upon opening the door to the garage we were greeted by the aroma of our sparkling wine which was now spewed all over the floor, car, storage shelves, freezer, and yard tools. Thankfully only one bottle had exploded and it split sideways and didn't spray the roof. I backed the car out of the garage and hosed it off while Sandra moved the wet bottles and boxes to a dry spot on the floor. I vented the other bottles while she mopped and we called it a night. The next day we washed down the floor and wiped the bottles before replacing on the shelves. We now were short 1/3 of our "vintage" but we are diligent about venting it every night whether it needs it or not!

Remembering......

I was a freshman in college when the Vietnam War was beginning. Student, marriage, children, and critical skill deferments kept me in the US during these years. I had friends who went and never returned; friends who returned physically but were never quite the same afterwards, and friends who returned to jeering crowds yelling "Baby Killer" and other epitaphs. I had tried to put these memories behind me until a few weeks ago when they were brought poinantly home.

We were meeting a friend at the Portland, Oregon airport; her flight was unexplainedly delayed. We took a seat in the waiting area and were there just a few minutes when I noticed what I thought was a motorcycle club entering. They were dressed in jeans and each wore a denim vest with embroidery on the back that I was too far away to read. Most had long hair and some had greying ponytails; several were using canes and one was in a wheelchair. Each one was carrying a furled American Flag, full size. They formed into lines along each side of the hallway from the gate area to the waiting area. They just stood there as if waiting for something to happen. My wife asked me if something had happened but I told her that if it had there would be a TV crew there.

After about 15 minutes the group unfurled their flags; the leader was looking at a printed copy of a photograph. Passengers began to enter the waiting area. A young man dressed in civilian clothes and carrying a backpack approached the waiting area and the group came to attention, saluted, and then shouted "Welcome home soldier". People in the waiting area broke into applause. Members of the group came up to him individually and shook his hand, exchanging a greeting. A lump came into my throat then even as it is now as I write this. What a different greeting than these men had received when they returned for you see - they were a group of Vietnam veterans who have committed to meeting every returning US serviceman who arrives at the Portland airport. I have later learned that there similar groups throughout the United States.

We are living through troubling times but let us never forget to honor the men who are fighting for our right to live in a free country.

Chestnut Harvesting Time is HERE

October is chestnut harvesting time in Oregon. We always go to a farm owned by the Carson family in Hillsboro, Oregon. They grow chestnuts, hazelnuts, and kiwi fruit. Today was the first weekend they were open for U-Pick chestnut harvesting. We have been the last two years and enjoy talking with the family and exchanging chestnut recipes. They have several varieties of chestnut trees, most are about 30 years old.
You need to wait for the nuts to drop off the tree and the enclosing spiny hull to dry and open. There are usually green and brown husks under the trees. You can collect nuts from either but the brown husks indicate that the nuts have begun to dry and the starch has started to convert to sugar. In both cases the nuts will need to be "dry-cured" several weeks before eating.

This year was a bumper crop as you can see from the clusters of nuts on this tree.

The pods begin to crack open when the nut is mature and will soon drop to the ground.

We had to wear gloves to protect our hands when picking up the pods or opening them. One easy way to open the pods is to step on them and release the nuts inside.

The spines are very sharp and will go through even leather gloves if you aren't careful.

Each pod will have between two and four nuts inside.

We harvested 20 pounds in about an hour. We will go again next week introducing some of Sandra's Taiwan friends to this fun pastime.

If you're interested and live in the area the farm is located at:

7110 SW Straughan Road, Hillsboro, OR 97123

So plug the address into your GPS or Google it and tell the Carsons that Michael and Sandra sent you.

Last Harvest

We have had our fill of zucchini and yellow squash, time to look towards the pumpkins and butternut. Temperatures are dropping and we decided to do a final harvest before frost is on the pumpkin. We let one cucumber grow to full size for next year's seed. Some tomatoes will remain to see just how late we can harvest. The ground cherry plants will stay to see if they winter over, it's the first year we have planted those.
We have been looking forward to the grape harvest; last year we processed about 200 pounds as raisins or a "beverage". Last week our friends said they needed about one more week to reach full ripeness. THEN, over the weekend the temperature dropped to 21 degrees and all of the grapes froze - just a lot of mush now. So, we now better understand the risk farmers take trying to provide food for our needs. Oh well, for us there's always next year.

Crabbing - Oregon Northern Coast

Our daughter went crabbing with some friends on the Oregon Northern Coast. They went out in a boat for several hours and each caught their limit. She was generous and shared with us.
First the crabs had to be cleaned and prepared for cooking. BIG DECISION - how to prepare them. We settled on stir fry with lots of garlic.

Sandra took about 8 cloves of garlic for each crab.

Chop the garlic finely, and stir-fry it in oil until it is golden brown.

Remove the garlic and add about a tablespoon of dried red pepper flakes and fry until fragrant.

Cut the crab into four pieces and dredge with flour.

Stir-fry the crab in the oil until it is done, adding some chicken bouillon powder and salt.

When the crab is done add chopped green onion and the fried garlic and heat until the onion is softened.

Serve with steamed bread.

DON’T discard any leftover garlic residue. It is great added to rice congee.

As you can see, there wasn't anything left. In fact it was so tasty that I bought a license and went out to catch our own crabs this past Friday.

We went to a jetty near Nehalem Bay on the Oregon coast. They rent the traps and I wanted to try it out before I invested in my own traps. The license which allows you to catch 12 crabs per day was $6.50 and the traps rented for $8.00/day including a rotting fish for bait. We went with another family and took the fixings for lunch and hot pot in case we were hungry and didn’t want to eat the crabs we caught “on-the-spot”. We even decided how we would divide our catch among our friends since 12 per family would be more than enough.
They even have a pot to boil your crabs if you want to eat them there at one of the many tables provided surrounding a communal fire pit.

They rent boats if you want to go out into the channel but we decided to crab from the floating dock.

Well, to make a long story short we “crabbed” all afternoon. Throw the trap out – wait 20-30 minutes – pull the trap in – inspect the catch. You are only allowed to keep male crabs measuring over 5-3/4 inches across the back of the shell.

I caught 33 crabs – and brought none home. All the large crabs were female and the males were too small to even measure. My friend and his daughter caught over 40 crabs – same results.

We thought about buying some crabs at the pier but had second thoughts. There will always be another chance; in fact my friend is out today at another location. MAYBE he will share his catch.

Ground Cherry - an elegant presentation

This is a ground cherry

We found some in a local Farmers' Market and I decided to try to grow some. I planted the seed in pots in the early spring and they soon sprouted.

They were ready to transplant into the garden in late March.
They grew like weeds, literally. I found that in some parts of the country they invade vacant property and take it over. They soon showed that characteristic in our garden.

As the fruit matures and ripens the papery covering turns brown and the fruit drops to the ground, hence the name "ground cherry".

The right plate is the ground cherry as picked up and the left is the ground cherry fruit after removing the outer husk.

The fruit has a distinctive taste, somewhat like a pineapple-flavored tomato with lots of small hard seeds. Sandra dipped some in white chocolate and it has a much different taste - even more delicious.

Recently I looked at ground cherry information on the web and found that it has been planted in Taiwan and is known as the lantern fruit. It is said to be detoxifying, an aid in controlling diabetes, an antitussive, and a diuretic. So, just eat a few at a time.

A few days ago we picked up some and gave to a friend to take home. She gave some to her children to eat. Later we asked her daughter how she liked it. She replied that it was bad, “Tasted like paper”. We found out that she had eaten the whole thing including the papery husk. When I asked her mother if she had told her to peel it first she replied, “That’s just common sense”.

Fortunately, there is information that indicates the outer covering can be used as a tea that has a detoxification effect. This incident reminded me of the time we gave our friends some jongdz; we had to remind them to remove the bamboo leaves before eating.

The Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong serves a tart with ground cherry at their afternoon tea. I don't think it can compare in elegance or taste with the one prepared by Sandra.

Cucumber - plentiful harvest and CHEAP

We like cucumbers fresh in salads, with Chinese spices and pepper, preserved in soy sauce, and as bread and butter pickles. The first crop of six disappeared overnight, victims of birds hungry for the first signs of spring. The second planting survived after being protected about a week with upturned milk containers.

These cucumbers are long and slender with spines, similar to the cucumbers we found in Taiwan.

They made great tasting Szchuan cucumber pickles with garlic and hwa-jau.

They were also good preserved in soy sauce and made crispy bread and butter pickles.

After pricing them in the local Farmers' Market at $1.50 each I've decided to continue growing our own; in fact I'm preparing for next year by letting one go to seed. I didn't expect it to get this big though.

First Experience with Zucchini

My friend looked at me askance when I told her that I had planted four zucchini. I soon learned why she had that reaction. The first blooms produced bright glossy-green squash and we enjoyed them in salads and baked casseroles.
They continued to bloom AND bloom, we began to share the zucchini with friends and neighbors.

Sometimes we were full of zucchini and when the neighbors saw us coming they closed the curtains. As a result the zucchini stayed on the plant longer and longer and grew larger and larger.

In fact one hid under the leaves and went un-noticed well beyond the scheduled picking time.

Surprisingly the giant zucchini was tender and tasteful.

LESSON LEARNED: Two zucchini are enough for a family and friends

Garden, first harvesting of 2009

Well, I'm still learning about gardening in the Pacific Northwest. The late start of the growing season and our unusually cool spring weather resulted in a huge accumulation of seedlings in my workroom awaiting planting. I planted some zucchini very early and had to cover it several times when the temperature dropped below freezing at night. The slugs appreciated the early treat and attacked the two seedlings vigorously and I thought I had lost them so I moved two more outside. The first ones made a miraculous recovery and I now had four healthy plants growing. A couple of long-time resident friends came by one afternoon and looked at the garden; I could hear them whispering "Didn't anyone tell him never to plant more than one zucchini?" We are now harvesting zucchini in sufficient numbers to start giving them away to the neighbors, so beware if you hear the doorbell.

The first spring we were in the house we rejoiced when we saw a large tree in the backyard loaded down with cherries. We went out and picked some and quickly learned that they were a small red plum. They have served us well as ingredients for some plum wine.

This year Sandra is using some of the almost-ripe ones to prepare a Chinese snack using salt, sugar, and dried plum powder.

I harvested our first cabbage today, it wouldn't fit in Sandra's basket; weighed in at 9 pounds 14 ounces. That's a lot of cole slaw.

You can tell from the leaves that we don't use pesticides, we try to be as "organic" as possible and actively compost throughout the year. We started the soil prep this year by digging in 300 pounds of steer manure; any volunteers for next year's prep work?

The tomatoes are almost ready to start turning color, the Japanese pumpkins and yellow squash are bearing as are the English and Chinese cucumbers. Our attempt at growing Sz Gua (loufa) and Dong Gua (winter melon) appear to be successful as both are blooming and preparing to set fruit. We are excited about the first fruit appearing on the ground cherries too.

In the wings I have about 8 goji plants started that will take another 3-4 years to start bearing. I am trying to be patient with some Szchuan pepper seeds that are reported to take up to 18 months to germinate, AFTER 3 months in the freezer. Oh, well, I may have a hard time finding a place for them anyway.

Well Sandra, We're Not in Taipei Anymore

This sign is at the entry to the playground at Cooper Mountain Elementary School just across the street from our house in Aloha, OR. There is a "pick-up droppings" ordinance for dogs, don't know about horses!

U-Pick - revisited

The past two years in Oregon we have enjoyed the U-Pick option for fruit and nuts. My earlier posts have covered our exploits in these areas. Two years ago we were able to purchase strawberries at a real good price from a stand at the end of the day. They were very ripe and perfect for the jam Sandra was going to make. Last year we missed out on the harvest as it was very short. This year we decided to go ahead and buy some berries from a roadside farmer's stand. They were Hood berries, smaller but extremely sweet and flavorful.
Well, we decided that the price was a bit higher than we wanted to pay for berries to cook down and can so Sandra decided that she wanted to try another U-Pick adventure. We located a farm about a 10 minute drive from the house and started out this morning loaded with empty boxes for our haul. When we arrived we noted that there were workers picking in one of the fields.
They were loading small buckets with berries and dumping them into large barrels.

They were "stripping" the plants of all mature berries, ripe or not. The filled barrels were then transported to a warehouse to await transport to a plant making jam and other strawberry products.
Well, enough of that, Sandra wanted to get down to business so we staked out a row and started picking. The plants were full, some berries already over-ripe. The plants grow close to the ground so you had to bend over or squat down to reach them.

After about an hour we had all had enough and decided that U-Pick was not the best way to get strawberries even if the price was about half that of already picked berries. We gathered about 18 pounds during that hour's time.

We were accompanied by some friends from Taiwan and their kids. The two girls really took to the picking, being very selective and only getting the perfect berries.
In fact they enjoyed it so much we are thinking about hosting a group of kids from Taiwan next summer to experience the joy of living in the Pacific Northwest.

Next come blueberries, blackberries, marion berries, raspberries, logan berries, and a lot of other goodies. Be patient, they're not ripe yet.