Pickled Scallions, Blah!

Me, pulling green onions from my garden.

Wow!  Finally the food of the month is something I have in my own garden.  I don’t have to go to the store or anything.  After foreign oranges and carrots, I can do something local.  See, that’s me right there, pulling them up myself.  I was so happy to be able to do this one right.  I pulled up all the remaining green onions I had in a bed, that had once grown irises, yarrow and coreopsis, among many other things.  My current desire for more local food has forced me to convert several flower beds to vegetables.  Over the winter, I also had carrots and beets out in that same bed, but, unfortunately, I had eaten all the carrots before the carrot challenge was announced.

In a very busy weekend I worked half a day on Saturday, worked in the garden in the afternoon, supervising my young helper, Holmes, while he was turning compost and spreading it on my asparagus bed; then, on Sunday, a friend came out to hang out and make two batches of mozzarella.  We went out to the dairy that is about 20 minutes from my home , got the milk and made the cheese.  After she left, taking a jar of the Rosemary Pickled Carrots with her, I also made a batch with Patrick, my DH, who wants to move right ahead to gouda and cheddar.   We made ricotta from all the whey left from all that cheesemaking.  Then I pulled those onions and washed them about 10 times.  I kept remembering that botulism spores reside in the soil.  I don’t want botulism, so I kept washing.

Prepared for the soak.

The only canning recipe I could find for scallions or green onions was Pickled Scallions on several websites.  So I went with that.    After they were washed, I cut them to fit the 1/2 pint jars and stacked them in layers in a bowl with salt, covered them with water and allowed them to sit overnight.

That leaves me where?   Monday morning to make pickles before, I say before, I go to work.  I was up at 5:00 and moving slowly.  My first problem, was realizing that the tiny little half-pint jars would not sit in the rack in my water bath canner.  Now what do I do?  So I got out my Revere Ware stock pot.  I only had enough for 4 jars, so they would fit in that, but how to keep them from jostling into each other.  Somewhere I had read that someone put a dish towel in the bottom of the pot and that kept them steady.  It sounded half-baked, but I was desperate at that moment.  I had to get this done and go to work.     So I put the water on to boil.

I then prepared the spice bag to boil in the vinegar.  The recipe called for pure vinegar, no water to dilute it.  That made me feel better about the botulism.  It had only 2 Tablespoons of sugar in 3 cups of vinegar.  It called for white, I had cider and besides, what I had was organic.  Who knows what is in that white vinegar.  The recipe called for whole allspice, which I did not have, mustard seed and whole peppercorns, which I did.  I punted and used whole cloves instead of the allspice.  I hung the bag on the pot handle and draped it into the caramel colored vinegar and turned on the heat.  Then I packed the jars with the onions, a garlic clove and a bay leaf; then placed them just so on the counter.

So far, all was well.  Or, at least so I thought.  I poured the vinegar in and put on the lids.  Now, how do I get these jars in a pot of almost boiling water with a dish towel floating around in it.  It was supposed to lie on the bottom and behave, but that is not what it was doing.  It was flapping about crazily and there was no way it was going to protect my jars from jouncing around in the hot water.   The other thing I noticed was that there were suds in the pot.  My dish towel apparently had not been rinsed thoroughly in the washing machine.  I don’t want sudsy tasting pickled scallions.  It is now about 6:30.   I have to be at work at 8:30.  I dumped out the pot rinsed it several times and refilled it with clean clear water and waited for it to heat up.

Busted jars.

It took longer than you would think for that to happen.  I just sat and watched the pot come near a boil.  I never thought about how much the jars had cooled down by this time.  I also had nothing in the bottom of the pot to cushion the fall of the first jar that slipped from my jar tongs and banged into the bottom of the pot turned over and popped.  The entire bottom sheared off.  I fished it out.  Somehow the onions all stayed in.  The next jar went as peacefully as you please.  The third jar was going good, but then I heard that pop again.  The bottom had broken off that one, too.  All the vinegar rushed out while I held the jar with the scallions remaining suspended in the jar tongs.  I sat it down beside the other broken jar and crossed my fingers.  The last one was no problem.  They sat on opposite sides of the pot and I put the lid on and set the timer.  15 minutes I had to wait.

They rattled away in the pot, but no pops or crashes.  At fifteen minutes, I took off the lid, lifted the two jars out  and set them on the towel to cool and seal.  It occurred to me then that I did not know what one did with pickled scallions.  Do you just eat them out of the jar like the pickled carrots?  Do you put them in cocktails?  Do you just admire them on the shelf?  The thing that  I was really wondering about, was what I was going to do with the mountain of green onion tops that I had left over.  I wrapped them up and put them in the refrigerator to use in salads and such, but would we really be able to eat them all before they wilted?  This seems like one of the more wasteful kinds of pickles that you could make.  I still had to get ready to go to work, but I was really hungry by this point, and what is better in scrambled home grown eggs than green onions?  I chopped up some of the tops and made me a lovely plate of scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast.

 

The Recipe – Pickled Scallions

To make 4 half-pint jars

48 green onions

3 cups apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup salt

2T sugar

2 T whole cloves

1 T whole mustard seeds

1 T whole peppercorns

4 bay leaves

4 cloves garlic

Wash and trim scallions to fit in jars.  Remove the tough outer layer of skin.  Wash again. Place the scallions in layers in a bowl, sprinkling each layer lightly with some of the salt.  Cover the cold water and let stand 12 hours or overnight, making sure scallions stay submerged in water.  Drain the scallions, rinse then in fresh water and drain again.  Combine the sugar and vinegar.  Add the spices together and tie up in a cheesecloth bag.  Bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes.  Discard the spice bag.  Pack the scallions, standing upright into sterilized jars.  Add one bay leaf and one clove of garlic to each jar. Fill the jars to within 1/2 inch of the top with the boiling liquid and place the covers on loosely.  Place the jars in hot water bath and process for 15 minutes.  Remove and let them cool and seal.Buy a mini canning rack from Amazon that fits in a Revere Ware stock pot.  These pictures won’t line up like I want them to, but here they are anyway.  That’s my blood orange marmalade on the toast.  A lovely breakfast and off to work.

The Farmers Market in Cartago, Costa Rica

My sister-in-law at the market in Cartago.

Back in January, my daughter and I visited my brother’s home in Costa Rica for a family reunion.  No better place for a family reunion in January!  They live in the mountains near Cartago, and have a 15 acre coffee farm.  They moved down there 10 years ago after retiring from teaching school.  They have banana trees that shade the coffee, so there are fresh bananas all the time for the picking.  The workers hang a stalk near their porch and you can just get one whenever you want.  The porch is where most of the living is done.  Where they are, the temperatures run in the mid to high 50’s  at night and up to 80 degrees during the day.  It is like perpetual spring.  It was coffee picking time while we were there and so we got to see how that was done and how it is processed at the co-op that buys their coffee.  Local food is mostly the way of life there.  Unfortunately, Wal-Mart has infiltrated and is bringing more industrial food into the area, but the old ways are dying hard, such as the local farmer’s market.

On Saturdays in Cartago you can go to the local farmers market and apparently, everyone does.  I went with Becky, my sister-in-law, who goes every week and takes several folks from her housekeeper’s family who do not have a vehicle.  (Many people there ride bicycles and walk what would seem to us enormous distances up and down mountains, every day.)  I would estimate that there are at least a hundred booths in each of two streets on either side of a park.  the booths run down each side of the street with a double row in the middle. 

View of the Farmers Market.

There is an enormous variety of food available.  The climate varies as you go up and down in the mountains, so that vegetables with warmer needs grow in the valleys and cooler season vegetables grow up in the mountains.  All kinds of cruciferous vegetables were there, cauliflower, cabbage, greens, chard and lettuce, as well as tropical fruits and vegetables.  I saw green beans, tomatoes, celery, pineapples, gourds, and berries of all kinds.  There were roots and stems of plants I did not recognize, and we could not understand the description of how they were cooked.  There were melons, watermelons, cantaloupe, honeydews and some I did not recognize, but they offered tastes and they were delicious.  Many fruits can  also be purchased along the side of the road.  There were also fresh eggs from non-industrial chickens.  Those are just as tasty as the ones we get from our chickens.

Mixing with crumbled local cheese.

The best part of all was the lovely cheese tortillas made by Maria.  Apparently, this is a regular treat in Becky’s week; Maria knew her well.  She makes these huge thick tortillas on a propane fired grill set up in the market.  She brings prepared masa with her which she brings out in batches.  She mixes it with whole kernel fresh corn and a local fresh cheese, that looks something like homemade cottage cheese or quesa fresca.  After they are completely mixed, she forms it into large balls which are put on the griddle and pressed out with a big spatula.  They cook for a few minutes on each side and are turned a couple more times to complete the cooking.  Then she takes one up, cuts it into about 8 pieces and puts in a styrofoam box for you.  Styrofoam is everywhere.  I wish it would go away.

Cheese Tortillas cooking on the grill.

We took the tasty creation and found a place to sit and enjoy it and watch the busy market.  Becky says that by late afternoon, almost everything is sold.  People from the city of 156,000 and the surrounding area buy up all the food available.  Cartago, which was founded in 1563, is located at the base of Vocano Irazu, which over many millenia has covered the area with volcanic ash which contributes to the high fertility of the agricultural area surrounding the city.  The main agricultural products of the surrounding region are potatoes, milk, onions, coffee and orchids, but as you can see lots of other foods grow in the area. 

And, Maria, the lady who makes them.

I enjoyed my time there, but it started me on a fruit binge that I have just now gotten back under control.  The tropical fruits there were so good and when I got back here, I found that the local Kroger had Costa Rican bananas and pineapples.  They were not quite as good as the ones down there, but they were pretty good.  And then those ruby red grapefruits had come in from Texas.  Ok, I know none of that is local, but it is traditional, at least in my family from way back, to purchase tropical fruits in the winter.  You get those lovely oranges and such from Florida, and that is not so far from me.  But Texas has the best grapefruit, I think.  Anyway, I have been eating a lot of fruit and it has slowed down my weight loss somewhat, although, I have gotten no colds or anything like that, even though people around me at work have been dropping like flies.  I guess it could be worse.  I did allow myself some absolutely wonderful coconut flan at a restaurant we went to.  I haven’t made any flan since I came back.  A fruit binge is much better than a flan binge.

How this all started. (Part 1)

It’s been going on a long time.  My interest in local food began at a young age.  In fact, when I was growing up in the late 50’s and 60’s, that is what we ate.  My father had a large garden that provided almost all the produce we ate except for lemons and onions, the big round kind anyway.  We always had multiplying onions in the winter and spring.  We might buy a potato every now and then at the store when we had run out of ours.  If there was not enough, out of our garden, of things like purple hull peas and corn, there were farms around the area where you could pick your own or buy what they had picked.  We had two large chest freezers.  One was for vegetables.  The other was for catfish.  There was a little meat in there that did come from the grocery store.  But they cut their own meat and I suspect it was fairly local.  We went to a local pork butcher for all our pork items.   His meat was very local.  Mostly, we ate catfish.  My father fished regularly.  The first meat any baby in the family ate was catfish from local streams or lakes.  We lived in a small town but had a large yard.

Into this agrarian scene came the young woman who would later become my sister-in-law.  She brought with her the little pamphlet like Organic Gardening magazines of the mid-sixties.  She wanted to discuss it with my father who was a strong believer in “progress.”  And by this I mean any chemical or method which made his garden more productive, at least in his eyes.  He was not interested in going back to the old days and was dismissive of her ideas.  But she pressed on and would bring it up again and again and through that, I learned a lot about organic gardening at about the age of 9.  It all made pretty good sense to me, but I was eating all that produce that my dad was growing so I did not say a lot about it.  There were many loud discussions about the merits of manure and ammonium nitrate.   She extolled Ruth Stout and heavy mulching, my father harumphed.  It was entertaining and educational.

When I had my own yard and space to garden, organic was the way that seemed right to me.  That was in the very late 70’s and early 80’s.  What I grew in my small square foot garden plots was all done organically and fairly successfully, just not in large enough quantities to really feed us.  My daughter could scarf up all the available broccoli in a morning of playing in the backyard.  That went on for many years.  We grew a little bit and picked over the meager organic offerings at the store.  There weren’t a lot of options.

Then in 2001, we moved to Covington, GA, and about a year later discovered that we had arrived in some sort of organic food mecca.  Some very forward looking folks began an enterprise called, “The Square Market” because of its nearness to the downtown square.  It was wonderful.  There were many organic farmers right in our own little neck of the woods who would bring their produce in every Friday night during the growing season and along with local artisans and musicians, it was a grand time.  At first many people came out.  They enjoyed visiting with their neighbors and friends, they listened to the local musicians, but they did not buy much.  The shock of paying the real cost of organic produce was  a little too much for them.  We went every week and always bought something.  The food was wonderful and the people were fun.  It felt like investing in the community.  But most people did not feel that way.  In the third year, the time was changed from Friday night to Saturday morning.  Somehow, it became less friendly.  Not as many people came and it died away.  I sought out the growers to get produce from their farms, but negotiating that was sometimes tricky.  They were selling mainly to markets and restaurants in Atlanta where people were more willing to pay the higher prices that they needed to support their efforts. 

It was too far for us to drive into town, but then, miraculously, with me begging some of the local farmers for some kind of local outlet for good organic, local produce, Mary Denton started her CSA.  I did myself proud by forgetting to go pick mine up the first day until she called me.  But I’ve been faithful ever since.  Now she brings it to me, because my house is the pick-up spot for the people in town.  We are just about to finish the third growing season of her CSA.  It has been wonderful.  She not only brings us things that she grows, but adds in some lovely other goodies from other farms, like apples, local grown and ground grits, local cheese and many other fun items that we are not able to get here.   

I started concentrating more on my vegetable beds in the back.  We also had blackberry canes and blueberry bushes.  We added a fig tree and two pear trees.  About a year and a half ago after reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, we got chickens and began to seriously consider eating only locally grown vegetables and meats.  I began looking for more local options and it turns out they were there.  And more are coming all the time. 

Then in January of this year, my doctor said that I had Type II diabetes and that if I would just lose weight, I would not have to worry about it.  I made up my mind that that was what I had to do.  Part 2 will let you in on how that is going.

Growing your own.

Collards and broccoli in one of the raised beds.

 

In order to eat locally and organically you can’t do any better than growing your own.  You know exactly what was involved in growing your food when you do that.  There are a multitude of resources for seeds and plants.  If you have ever gardened, you probably get a whole boxful of catalogs every January.  Some have already started coming in at our house.  Here are some sources for seeds and plants that are located in the Southeast, and which therefore, may have plants more adapted to this area.  I will also list some others on the Grow Your Own links that are located outside the Southeast, and which I have used for organic seeds and plants. 

 

Southern Seed Legacy

http://www.uga.edu/ebl/ssl/activities/seedlist/

This is an amazing organization affiliated with the University of Georgia.  They collect, save and distribute seeds grown in Georgia.  Along with the seeds they also collect the stories of the people who grew these seeds.  These are varieties adapted to the humid hot summers of Georgia and other areas in the south.   You only have to become a member to be eligible to receive seeds to plant in your garden.

The Tasteful Garden

http://www.tastefulgarden.com/

This great company is located in Alabama.  They offer transplants that are grown organically.  All the plants that I have received from them have been large and very healthy.  They also have roots for asparagus and garlic bulbs and many other fun things for cooking up all your tasty produce.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

http://www.southernexposure.com/index.html

They sponsor a Heritage Harvest Festival in September every year at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello garden.  I would love to go to that some day.  Here is what they say about themselves, “Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a wonderful source for heirloom seeds and other open-pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds with an emphasis on vegetables, flowers, and herbs that grow well in the Mid-Atlantic region. We support seed saving and traditional seed breeding. Seed savers and breeders are to thank for our rich selection and we will do whatever we can to support our customers and associates to carry on this noble tradition.”

Try these and some of the others that I add to the links list.  I will try others and add them to the list as I find out more about them. 

Our three year old Black Mission Fig tree.

Now that you have some seeds or plants, you’ve got to actually get them in the ground.  If you want to grow your own food but need some help getting started or if you have some questions about things that aren’t going right, there are also some great sites out there with information on how to grow sustainably in your own back yard.  Here are just a few.

Garden Girl

http://www.gardengirltv.com/

The Garden Girl lives up north near Boston, and has raised beds and chickens and goats and does it all organically and sustainably and makes videos to show others how to garden in small areas.  She has a great website with lots of fun stuff to see.  She even works in cooperation with Mel Bartholomew in getting out the word about Square Foot Gardening.

The Easy Garden

http://www.theeasygarden.com/

This is mostly a forum where you can go to ask questions about gardening, show off your garden to other gardeners, and just peruse the wealth of information that has already been posted for your education and entertainment.

Square Foot Gardening

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Mel’s been around for a long time.  My copy of the old square foot garden book is dirty and raggedy from many years of use in and around the garden.  Now he has a new book and a website.  If you want to garden intensively, he has some good information for you.

Start poring through those catalogs as they come.  Take a look at some of these websites and plan, plan, plan for a really great garden next year and some healthy eating for you and your family.

 

How much can you grow on a small lot in town?

We have a house in the historical district of Covington, GA.  Our lot is approximately 75 by 150.  So far we have concentrated on growing some food and lots of flowers.  We are converting to some flowers and lots of food.  I have gathered discarded leaves and grass clippings from my neighbors for years in order to enrich my soil.  We now have lovely soil in all the beds.  Although, I never turn down an opportunity to scarf up some free mulch.  That brings us to the story of the orange bags. 

Very near our house is the city cemetery.  It is maintained mostly by a local jail detail and as a consequence the bags that they use to gather up leaves and such are bright orange.  A few weeks ago our dog disappeared in the back yard.  We did eventually find him in a hidden corner behind the shed but in the course of looking for him I drove around in the cemetery and noticed that there were many many of these orange bags full of pine straw and leaves.  We went back and gathered them up.  Now I need to spread them around in all the beds.  But if you open your eyes and look around there is free mulch everywhere. 

Now, with the help of all that organic humusy mulch to enrich the beds, how much do we grow in our yard?  We have three raised beds that measure 3 by 12 feet; one that measures 4 by 12 feet.  That is what we started with.  We managed to grow plenty of tomatoes in the summer and greens and lettuce in the winter.  But now we want to do more than that.  We are trying to provide a large percentage of what we eat from locally grown food.  And I figure that growing it myself is a local as it gets.  This past summer we converted two flower beds into growing vegetables.  We also have fig trees, pear trees, blueberry bushes, and blackberry canes.  I also took out a row of shrubbery and have put in a row of asparagus and a row of garlic there.  I’ll add another row of asparagus next year when we take the garlic out.  That will be a perennial food bed.  I’m looking for a source of artichoke plants to go there.  I may have to start with seeds to get that.

I’ve added links to the blog and if you look under the “growing your own” category, you will find sources of organic seeds and plants, as well as some regular seeds and plants and information about how to grow food in your yard.   Even a small space like ours will give you a good amount of food.  We certainly don’t have enough to feed us all our food now, so we seek out the local producers.  But our portion is growing and we are glad about that.

greens from the yard washing in the sink

Some Sources of Local Food

Today I want to give you a list of sources of local food in the Covington, Monroe, Conyers area.  We live in an area that has a wealth of healthy food producers.  The only problem is that many of them sell directly to markets in Atlanta and Athens and so those of us here in the country have a harder time getting that produce and meat.  But don’t despair, there are ways to tap into the supply.  What follows is a list of markets, CSA’s and farms that will sell to you.  I have included links to their websites and offer a little explanation of what they do.

Local Harvest

http://www.localharvest.org/

This is a wonderful website.  Just go to the homepage.  Then zoom in to your area on the map and it will give you a list of local farms, CSA’s, markets and restaurants that provide local food for your good eating.  Not only can you get things from your own area but if there are specialty items only grown in certain areas you can order from them and recieve their specialty goods by mail.  I’ve only done that with oranges and they were delicious.

Conyers Locally Grown

http://conyers.locallygrown.net

In this weekly market, Brady Bala of Oxford does all the hard work for you.  He has gathered up local producers from all over the area and brings their produce to his copy shop on Parker Road in Conyers, every Friday afternoon.  You can go to the website to see what is available from the market.  You must become a member to order.  Then you will receive in your email each week a list of what is available.  Place your order by Tuesday night at 8:00 and then go to Copy Central before 7:00 pm on Friday and pick up your delicious local food.

The Market Conyers

http://www.marketconyers.com/

These guys are just getting going, but are striving to bring you local and organic produce as well as some other organic grocery items.  They have milk from Moultrie, produce from Social Circle and other local farmers in the area.  There is also locally baked bread.  They have a really neat store in the old John Deere Tractor place on Hwy. 138.  That’s appropriate somehow. 

Green Livin’ Farms

Unfortunately for the winter, they are only open on Saturday mornings.  They are located near The Hub, between Covington and Social Circle.  Through the summer they had some really good stuff.  Mostly sustainably grown, not certified organic, but they are working toward that.  They don’t have a website, but the number is 678-342-8895.

Hunker Downs

http://www.hunkerdownsfreshmarket.com/

Located in downtown Madison, GA, right next to a really cool bookstore, Dog Ear Books.  During the winter, they are only open from Thursday through Saturday.  They have local meats and milk and produce.  They also have produce from the big Farmer’s Market in Forest Park.  The local meat and milk make it worth the drive.  They both come from Walton County, and are humanely grown. 

Denton Flower Farm

The Denton’s don’t have a website, but they are listed in the Local Harvest map.  They do have a great CSA.  I have been doing that for three years now.  Or is it four?  Anyway, my house is the pick-up spot for folks in Covington.  It is about to come to an end for this year, but get in line to sign up for next year.  Call Mary at 770 464-3900.  Or send her email at DentonFarm@aol.com.  If you have never done a CSA, it is easy.  Mary lets you pay by the month, some ask for the whole year up front.  It usually begins in April or May.  Every week you get a big bag of whatever produce comes from the farm that week.  It allows the farmer to know they have a market for the year and to plan ahead for the things their customers want.  It is kind of like Christmas every week, looking to see what you get.  Then you can find new recipes to go with the produce.  Mary sends out a newsletter each week which often has recipes for the things that are not as commonplace.  She also buys special items that she does not grow from other farmers.  We’ve had lovely apples this fall and lettuce from Crystal Organic farm. 

Next time, the story of the orange bags and some sources for seeds if you want to grow your own.  That’s as local as it gets.