Sapping, spaetzle, and an infestation

© 2017 Joshua Stark

The fun with the stand mixer continues!  I've whipped up egg whites for home-made Belgian waffles, and made a gingerbread (from James Beard's recipe) with the paddle.  I've also tried the dough hook twice -- for a soda bread, and yesterday, for spaetzle dough.  I'm still getting the hang of it, but it is coming along.

If you've never made spaetzle, the recipe is super easy: 3 cups flour, four eggs, a teaspoon salt and another of nutmeg, and about 1/2 cup of water.  After mixing the dry ingredients together, mix the eggs in the middle with half the water, and then beat in the rest of the water until it's a smooth, elastic and fairly sticky consistency.  The dough hook worked for this part really well, and let me do other things while it worked.

Now, the hard part (for spaetzle):  I don't own a spaetzle press.  I do it the old fashioned way, by cutting it on a board... something like what this absolutely amazing woman does.

Please, take a moment to watch that video, because that woman flat-out rocks!  

Anyway... I'm actually nothing like that woman.  First, I don't have a board with a handle.  Second, the board I do have is too wide to fit into my pot. I also don't have a knife that flat -- my knife is too sharp and kept getting caught on the board. What I got was a quick whipping up of the dough, followed by an hour or so of wrestling with a very sticky, gooey mess.  

I finally was able to cook up a bunch (it kept growing and growing!), served alongside garden chard and elk meatballs. The kids liked it alright.  The wife absolutely LOVED it!

That latter fact bodes ill for my future.  


Now, for the infestation:

Not the best pictures, but they clearly show what was a short-lived infestation of maybe twenty or so Meleagris gallopavo.  They were first heard jumping from our roof to our neighbor's roof -- I wasn't quite sure what they were, then hey!  There's a jenny staring at me through the window!

I called a couple of times, since a jake was keen on struttin' his stuff, and then I hooted like an owl a couple of times and three or four of 'em immediately gobbled back.  It was great.

I don't know if they were roosting in one of our gigantic trees, but we'll be looking for them tonight (update: no return of the flock).

These are city-folk, and we won't be hunting this particular flock come Spring.  However, I have been very pleased with the efforts of our first bird last year


Speaking of trees, I just this morning discovered that people tap walnut trees for sap.  I have a monster English walnut in my back yard (it could easily accommodate three taps), but I have a sneaking feeling that our temperatures rarely get cold enough for a good flow.

Has anybody out there tapped trees in California?  Have you tapped trees where you maybe get three weeks, total, of below freezing temps?

Other pages here

© 2012 Joshua Stark

If you haven't noticed, I've got a couple of additional pages (linked right below the title up there) for your perusal.

If you have ever been interested in using green walnuts... then, sadly, you are very much like me.  Anyhoo, feel free to visit my Green Walnuts page.  I've got quite a few recipes for those that get knocked out of the tree early by your friendly neighborhood squirrels. 

I also have a link to my "Lands on the Margin" writings.  It's still a bit under construction, but over there you can find my love for those little (and big) chunks of land that tend to get ignored, but that have much to offer (foraging, hunting, fishing, and just living).  As I organize my thoughts, I'll put together my experiences, advice and recommendations for adventuring in these great places.

Last, I've reposted my River Nature Tours page, with an addition:  I now offer services for companies and organizations looking for more inspiring places to conduct conferences and in-service meetings.  If you are interested, check out the idea here and then email me for more information.

I would especially appreciate feedback from readers.  Let me know what you think works, what doesn't work, and what you might like to see (or read) that I may be able to provide.  Thanks!

Update: Around the garden and yard (tip!), pickling, and looking for ideas

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Well, it looks as if my latest attempt to keep the ducks out of the raised bed (give 'em one bed, and fence the other with five-foot bamboo trellis) is proving successful, but I wonder if it's only because they are getting older and care less about thwarting me.  Whatever the reason, I'm getting a late batch of corn, beans and possibly okra - I'm especially excited about the beans.  I wish I had pictures for you all, but our camera was stolen from our car a couple of weeks back (along with my fly rod)...

The potato patch (described here) isn't working as I'd hoped - I only see one potato trying to grow, and it doesn't look like it can work its leaves through the bamboo sun-shade I'm using.  However, I'm still hopeful, and the plants I put in on top are still coming up, too.  They aren't looking too healthy, but this is a learning process, and next time I plan to layer some good soil from the worm bin in-between layers of straw.

My lawn experiment is also coming along nicely.  When I built our little duck pond last year, I inadvertently killed the majority of our lawn.  You see, I used the dirt from the pond to in-fill the lower sections of the yard, but I didn't really believe that the dirt below the topsoil was sterile.  Boy, was I wrong on that one.

Gratefully, the ducks have been fertilizing that dirt for the past year.  However, our very hard rains this year turned much of it into durn-near cement (if you put the emphasis on the first "e" in cement, you will pronounce that properly), and I, having no intention of renting a roto-tiller just to find out where my sprinkler lines are, started looking for a short-cut.  This time, to my surprise, I found one:

First, I mowed down the straw used by the ducks.  Then, I soaked the yard really good.  Next, I spread grass seed (by hand, of course - if I'm not renting a rototiller, I'm sure as heck not buying a seeder!), then covered them in a layer of mulched straw, and watered that down.  Every day for the first few days I sprayed the patch, and now, two weeks later, my test patch looks nice and green! A couple of days back, when I saw that the grass had established, I raked up the larger straw, and I'll be danged if it doesn't look like we have grass on our lawn. 

Of course, the ducks couldn't leave it alone, and there are a couple of holes (especially right where the sprinkler pops up), but those can be fixed with extra seed or a patch of sod.  Overall, I'm tickled pink at how well this worked. 

I also finally got around to dealing with my ketchup walnuts.  Instead of the nine days soaking in vinegar, I actually soaked them for over two weeks, and I must say that the vinegar became even darker than I'd remembered.  I wasn't too worried, though, since vinegar just gets better with age, and nothing was going to start growing in that acidic and tannic concoction.

Yesterday, I drained out the vinegar into a stock pot, put in some ingredients (drat! I forgot the horseradish), and about 30 minutes later, I canned four pints of green walnut ketchup. 

I then crushed the walnut chunks (I had a lot), added four apples and a cup of raisins, then some surgar and spices, and made up four pints of chutney, with a little left over for last night's dinner.

Both recipes can be found at my "Green Walnuts & You" page.  I added allspice and cinnamon to the chutney, and it is something special.  If you've ever had store-bought chutney, homemade blows it away - so long as you use good vinegar.  It is smoother, much less sharp, yet still vinegary in a good way.  I could have added some more heat in the form of more cayenne, but then my wife wouldn't have liked it nearly as much.  For dinner last night, the chutney and some yogurt made wonderful fillips for a split pea soup. 

Pickling Walnuts: issue

© 2011 Joshua Stark

First, I must say that the pickling liquid I made up (thanks, Cottage Smallholder!) smelled absolutely amazing.

However, I've noticed that, since pouring it in the jars, the amount of liquid seems to have gone down, leaving a couple of walnuts exposed.  I'm turning the jars every couple of days and refrigerating them, but I was wondering if anybody else had experienced that problem.  I'm guessing the walnuts absorbed a bunch of liquid, which makes sense, but how does one get around this?

I'd love to hear from anybody with expertise on pickling walnuts...

Garden update and pickling green walnuts

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Well, it seems as if the latest incarnation of duckproofing - edging the raised beds with five-foot bamboo trellises - is working.  Green beans and corn have been allowed to grow to about 10 inches, and I think I'm seeing some okra popping up, too.

I didn't plant the bed in a formal sense, though, so there isn't much in there.  Basically, I threw in some seeds in a very rough pattern, and then covered them in ducked-up straw that I'd mowed over. 

In the potato patch (a bamboo window blind formed into a cylinder and half-filled with straw), I don't see any potato leaves, but the plants I put in on top (radishes, nasturtium, and I can't remember what-else) are popping up like crazy.

From the successes I'm seeing, I envision a radically altered garden next year:  A keyhole raised bed (with a stone base and four-foot walls), with three or four of these bamboo blind cylinders around. 

As for my pickling walnuts, they have blackened nicely sitting outside in the grill, and today I'm canning them.  Today, I'm also crushing the walnuts that have been steeping in the vinegar for the green walnut ketchup and chutney I'll be making next week.  If you are interested in this or other green walnut recipes, definitely take a look at my Green Walnuts & You webpage.

New Page: Green Walnuts & You

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Just beneath the title, you may notice a couple of links to stand-alone webpages.  My newest one, on green walnuts and what you can do with them, is now up; let me know what you think.

And, thanks to Fragmentary Green for lighting a fire under me to get it done.

Anybody making stuff with green walnuts?

© 2011 Joshua Stark

I'm working on a green walnut page, to include basic preparation, recipes, hints and tips.  If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Tonight, I tried a green walnut ketchup & nocino barbecue sauce for some grilled spareribs (I dare not call them barbecue'd).  I improvised, with about 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup vodka nocino, 1/4 cup molasses, liberal amounts of thyme & powdered garlic, some salt, a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, some paprika, and a chopped onion and garlic clove. 

I didn't cook it down enough, and so it was more of a pour-over-the-meat sauce, but wow it was good.  It was like dry-rub good, but with barbecue sauce caramel-y goodness.  Cooked down to barbecue sauce consistency, it would have been amazing.

I will definitely do this right, and very soon.

P.S.:  Even fewer pictures right now, because somebody absconded with our camera (and my fly rod).  I'm sad about the camera... & devastated about the fly rod.

Friends and walnuts

© 2011 Joshua Stark

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to come upon a walnut tree with a good number of easy-to-reach, ready-to-pick green walnuts - that is: green, about the size they will reach when mature, and with no hard shell within the hull.

I picked about 100, and gave half to Hank Shaw.  He suggested we both pickle some with different recipes and compare notes.  Right now, my batch of knife-pricked walnuts is brining in a 1:5 (or so) salt-to-water recipe, which I'll shake every day (or so) for about 9 days.  After this time, I will pickle, so stay tuned.  Also, if you have any suggestions for a good pickled walnut recipe, let me know; though I've made ketchup and chutney, I've yet to just pickle 'em. 

And speaking of foraging, I've got a new member of my blogroll.  Author, forager, and fellow lover of the Sierra Nevada, Alicia Funk has an online presence:  The Living Wild Project, A Collaborative Native Plant Community.  Alicia puts it best:

"I want to invite you to participate in this collaborative site by adding your recipes and plant discoveries. It is essential that we work together to revive the living libraries of information on how to live sustainably with this land. This will provide independence, health and food security for our grandchildren."

When you get a chance, head on over and sign up to be a part of the conversation.  You will definitely see me there.

By the way, Alicia's book can be purchased here, and she's donating 100% of her profits. 

Just try it!

© 2011 Joshua Stark

We are lucky to have some adventurous kids, and though we don't know how far, culinarily, this will go with our 8-month old, our four-year old is doing just fine. 

I've watched many kids balk at something out of their ordinary, no matter how ordinary it may be in the real world (see:  broccoli), and I've watched parents buckle under and just give 'em what they want.  Pick your battles, I'm told.  My response (in my head, of course), "sure, but that infers that you will actually pick a battle at some point".

With our daughter, food has almost never been a "battle".  She'll try anything once, and that's the only rule at our house.  She doesn't have to like it, and if she doesn't like it, she doesn't have to eat it, but she does "have" to try it, and she happily obliges, even when she gives a face upon smelling it.  To even my surprise, she once asked for the eye of a whole-fried mackerel.  Most kids, or grown-ups for that matter, just don't tap that spirit within humanity; we are being homogenized, just like our foods.

At a great party the other day, for example (which she didn't want to attend, it being a zombie-themed party for a 60-year old), I brought along this year's nocino, from last year's squirrel harvest.  I didn't mention that they were knocked out of the tree by squirrels, but I did mention that it is made out of green walnuts, and with that, I'm fairly certain I lost most of my audience. 

This is too bad, because even my nocino is a good, sweet, slightly bitter (but in a good way) and potent cordial with a lot of complexity. 

I catch the same flak about my duck eggs.  It shocks me that people won't try duck eggs just because they come from not-a-chicken.  Our yard ducks live great lives, way better than cage-free, even - a guard dog, 24-hour free roaming, a pond! - but, it doesn't matter.

What amazes me is that these same people grab the Safeway wraps that arrived encasted in plastic and containing who-knows-what. 

Maybe that's my problem.  Perhaps I should have just said, "here's a new liqueur from BevMo.  And try this fritata made fresh at Raley's." 

Now, if I can only figure out how to market squirrel...

When life knocks your walnuts out of the tree early...

© 2010 Joshua Stark

...you make green walnut ketchup and nocino.

At least, that's what I did.

More on this later, but I wanted to not here my big winner this time, so far, has been the green walnut chutney.  I took a page from the 18th Century cook's site, and took the dregs from the green walnut ketchup, added ginger, red pepper flakes, an apple, vinegar, raisins, and brown sugar, and stirred up some chutney, and dang if it isn't absolutely amazing.  I've also realized that I want to make other chutneys, because home-made (like most home-made things, and especially home-made things with good vinegar) chutney is much more subtle and flavorful, while still being pungent (and there's no better word).

It's gooooood.

It's the Green Walnut time of the year - and a duck-update

© 2010 Joshua Stark

I quick update on the aftermath of the ducktastrophe.  All my greens were eaten down, and only the swiss chard, hardy as ever, is showing any signs of coming back.

However, much of the corn and squash and beans, though getting squashed by web-footed fiends, have sprung back well, as well as one cucumber.

I'll plant something else now in the big empty spot... any suggestions for an early-summer planting?

Of course, it is also time for green walnuts.  Last year, I made nocino (and Frugal Italian), as well as green walnut ketchup.  All were wildly popular, so I planned on repeating the endeavours, but the walnut crop looks much different this year.

First, I have fewer squirrels, so that's a plus.  Also, I've noticed that it looks like walnuts produce on 2nd year growth, so this year I expect a ton more walnuts, as we'd had the tree pruned when we first moved here.  However, the tree is dropping a very, very large number of walnuts early, and with the rains we've had, they are bigger than last year, and they are dropping on dirt instead of grass, too - so they are cracking when they land.  No bueno.  Also, I've seen a lot of walnuts with damage on them.  So, I have no idea how well the ripe crop will be, but the green crop of dropped walnuts isn't doing too hot.

Thus, I've had to use walnuts that were a bit more beat-up than last year, so we'll see how that turns out.

Anyhoo, I've got a batch for nocino ala a recipe sent to me by the Erratic Sewer and Crafter, Kari, and also my first attempt at my own recipe with brandy rather than vodka.  Plus, I've got a double-batch worth soaking in salt water for the green walnut ketchup:

Brandy nocino on the left, vodka in the middle, and green walnut ketchup

Haunted by Mr. Shadytail

© 2010 Joshua Stark

We have a gigantic walnut tree in our back yard.  It produces great, big, wonderful walnuts, which I've used to make nocino and green walnut catsup, as well as eat raw (when they ripen).  This year has been hard on it, what with the sustained winds we've had, as well as the huge rains and hail (last week we got a couple inches of hail in about 20 minutes - it was insane).

But by far the biggest headache for our walnut tree is from the squirrels.  And it's a literal headache sometimes, too, because they actually drop walnuts on our heads.

Really, they drop walnuts everywhere.

The squirrels marauding our tree are the non-native Eastern fox squirrel, which means we don't need a depredation permit to "control".  In fact, it is illegal to live-trap them and move them somewhere else precisely because they are a non-native, and invasive species.  Brought here around the turn of the last century for ambiance in the parks, they now run the show.

So, if you have any good squirrel-deterrence measures, please let me know.  For the record, we are dealing with a 65 ft. walnut with a 100-ft. spread, against a fence, and touching an 80 ft. redwood and a jungle of camphor trees.

sigh.

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.

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).

My first fancy-pants sounding meal

The other night, I made spicy turkey patties with blackberry-mango chutney, cheddar cheese drizzled in fig preserves, buttered-and-roasted green beans with wax peppers, and toasted Micaela's tortillas (best flour tortillas ever sold in a store).

I also discovered that, although considered fancy, chutney seems to be just leftovers from making infused vinegars. At least, mine is. I strained out my steeping blackberry vinegar, and used the chunks, per a paraphrasing of the 18 Century cook here, as a base for my chutney. I added some mangoes, sugar, and spices(?) and cooked them down a bit, then put 'em in a jar. I didn't 'can' in the traditional sense, as I plan to eat this over the next couple of weeks.

The tastes went really well together, and I was pleased. It's a very mild chutney, and probably could have used a bit of spicing up with some red peppers or chili flakes, but I liked it very much.

Our Verdant Gathering (pics to come soon)

Just a quick post to say that I haven't fallen completely off the blog world. Last weekend, we hosted our first party around crafts and such, and had a wonderful turnout! I'll post more later tonight...

Also, we had a quick scare last week, when the ducks turned up missing. However, after some frantic-ness on my part (I was at work and had my lovely wife come and pick me up so I could go looking), they were sitting right in the middle of the yard when I showed up. Juvenile ducks, just trying to scare us, I suppose.

Last, I started a batch of nocino and another attempt at a green walnut ketchup recipe, as I didn't take care of my first batch, and I noticed that it had started growing something on its own. That I'll turn into walnut wood stain (no joke).

So, pictures tonight of the party and various experiments!

So... how might one harvest from this?

I'm watching some green walnuts falling off my tree, lately. They are usually bird-pecked or squirrel-bitten, and they are very tiny, say, 3/4 to 1 inch diameter.

However, I've found out that a few things can be made from green walnuts, sent to me by my good friend Kari Kiser over at The Erratic Sewer and Crafter, and I hope to at least make a syrupy candy out of a few of them. I have no idea how it will taste.

My looming problem, then, is how to harvest from a 65 foot walnut with a lower canopy at least 15 feet off the ground...

Any suggestions would be appreciated, but they cannot include A) sprouting wings, B) training my ducks, dog, family members to fly and harvest, C) hugging the tree and shaking vigorously, or D) any form of hired help.