A new garden

© 2010 Joshua Stark

I've been shoveling and shoveling the past few weeks, a bit at a time, working on new raised beds and a duck pond, and things are starting to come together. It makes for a muddy time, exacerbated by three mud-loving critters roaming around the yard, but hopefully we'll get some grass seed put down and they won't make such a mess in their pond.

Here's a pic:

The bed in the background is a 4' x 8' raised bed, to keep out the ducks. The flat spot next to it will be another one of the same dimensions. The big hole in the foreground will be the place for the pond. Hopefully, on the left side, there will be a water feature (maybe a wooden bucket with a little waterfall). The runoff will flow toward the big raised bed on the right, with (hopefully) some water plants in there.

Between the two sections I plan to have a few more, smaller, raised beds, and perhaps a little hill of native plants and flowers.

It's not a gigantic space, but I do hope to get good food out of this.

The Fruits of Labor

© 2009 Joshua Stark

A great thing about learning to can, preserve, husband animals, and make things is that, when the holidays roll around, you can reach into the shelf, cabinet, duck-house or 'fridge and grab something that you took time to make, that is delicious and healthy and comes from the heart, and give it with love and goodwill to somebody who will appreciate it. You also don't have to stand in line so long, or spend a ton of money (so long as you consciously avoid calculating the hours it took).

I called my sister yesterday to ask about babysitting, and the first thing she did was gush about the elderberry preserves I gave her for Christmas. That was a nice feeling.

As part of my resolutions, I'm planning to make more things and forage more, and also to write more, including at this blog. So, stay tuned. I hope to come around more often.

Happy New Year, everybody!

My ducks at (ahem!) the Grange

Okay, so it wasn't my ducks, but my duck eggs, and they weren't featured or anything, but they were an ingredient in the barley pasta for the sugo at the Grange Restaurant's wild duck cook-off against my friend, Hank Shaw, and their chef Tuohy.

It so happens that the sugo was the most-asked-for dish of the night, and so I'm a bit proud, or at least relieved that there was no epidemic in Sacramento the next day from some rare duck bacterium.

It's a pretty neat feeling to know that your stuff has the stuff. Of course, all I do is make sure they have food, water, and shelter, but it's nice to know they live in my back yard.

My cordials were a hit!

I attended a fun birthday party for a dear friend yesterday, and folks tried out my blackberry cordial as well as the green walnut one. Well, both were well received, but the walnut one won out.

In other news, I finished deer season this year with no deer... again. I had a chance on a forked-horned buck this evening, but I would have had to poach it on private property, so no-go.

Living in California

A quick pic of yesterday's and today's harvests, at about 38°, 37", with a helping hand:

Thank those thrifty Italians!

"Thrifty Italians make a second, less potent liqueur by adding 2 cups of alcohol, a cup of sugar, and a bottle of cheap sparkling wine to the solids you filter out of the nocino. Let the mixture stand another couple of months, shaking occasionally. Drink unceremoniously."

This, from a Chowhound forum, was first emailed to me by my friend Kari, in response to my question about green walnut ketchup and nocino. After gathering green walnuts from our gigantic, squirrel-ridden tree, I set about making nocino, and after filtering out the solids, I made this second drink. Here it is:

Ain't it pretty? It tastes good, too. Tonight, we tried it for the first time. If we are still alive tomorrow, I'll consider it a roaring success, and proceed to make more next year. I believe I can turn this into a duck season opener tradition.

I also followed the directions pretty carefully for this one. Cheap sparkling wine? Target has a twist-off "champagne" (yes, I'm well aware of the controversy surrounding the name).

What a night... mapaches.

Never underestimate the power of a plate of pork chop hash and the thought of two raccoons sitting in the walnut tree directly above your duck house to keep you awake and thoughtful all night. About 2:30 in the morning Alka-Seltzer felt pretty good in reigning in the former, but the latter... let's just say, me and my great dog Irma took turns peering into the tree at four flashing eyes, and barking.

Update, a picture... don't let the cuteness fool you.