Savory Mushroom Rice

    In the summer and fall we are blessed to live in an area abundant with delicious edible fungi! I know many people have mixed (or decidedly unmixed) feelings about eating mushrooms, but I often tell people that's because they have met the right mushroom yet. There are a wide array of mushroom flavors and textures to choose from, but even when presented by wild gourmet mushrooms all cleaned up and market ready many folks just plain don't know what to do with them! So I've put together this dish featuring the hedgehog mushroom. Really you could use any firm species of mushroom but I found this the other day, so here we are.

                       178 gram hedgehog!

Remember most of my measurements (except rice and broth)are approximate and all the produce used in this recipe is from the awesome folks at the Ashland Area Farmer's Market!

Ingredients:

Olive oil
Sesame oil
2T butter
Sea salt
Worcestershire sauce
Soy sauce
2 cups broth
1 1/2 cup uncooked white rice (not minute rice!)
Large onion (I like the Walla Walla for this because it browns nicely)
At least 1lb mushrooms
Two cloves minced garlic (or one if you're using elephant garlic! My favorite!)
Two green peppers
One large kohlrabi
Some kind of green (spinach, collards, beet greens.... I used the stir fry mix from Seasonally Sourced for this one)


Using a generous drizzle of olive oil, brown 1/2 of your mushrooms and the chopped up onion on medium high heat. Seasom with sea salt Carmelization= deliciousness! Set aside
In the same pan drizzle some (I don't know.....2T??) Sesame oil and melt the butter. Stir in garlic and green peppers. Cook 30 seconds. Stir in diced kohlrabi cook 30 seconds. Stir in chopped up greens, cook until wilted. Splash in soy sauce (easy does it... you want flavor but not too salty!) And Worcestershire sauce to taste.
Cook until bottom of the pan is brown again.
Stir in small amount of broth and rice, stir until all the good brown stuff lifts off the bottom of the pan. Stir in remaining broth, bring to simmer, cover and reduce heat to medium low.
Simmer 15 minutes, Stir, if there is liquid left allow to cook off.
Removed from heat and quickly stir in caramelized onion and mushrooms. Cover and let rest for ten minutes.
Fluff and serve!!

This fed my family of four to stuffed with a generous helping left over.

Market Meals!

    A common question I hear both when talking to people about foraging and while browsing at my local farmers market is "How do I use this?" If we're all very honest with ourselves I think we can all remember a time when we let that funny looking squash or those wierd new greens go bad simply because we didn't know what to do with them.

  The theme for Finding Tomatoes this month will be how to utilize your market and wild finds! So let's get started with something simple!

    All of the produce used in this quick prep one dish meal can be found at the Ashland Area Farmer's Market. If you're in the Ashland Wisconsin area on Saturday mornings definitely put a stop at the market on your to do list!

   The first thing you need to know about farm fresh and wild harvest cooking is that if you are used to supermarket produce you are in for a big treat flavor wise! You think you know what a carrot tastes like and then you experience an heirloom dragon carrot and suddenly your whole life has been a lie! Or something less dramatic... I get a little passionate about produce. So that being said I end up using much less salt and flavorings than are necessary for factory farm produced veggies, fruit, and fungi.

  For this recipe (I don't know what to call it, someone come up with a snazzy name and leave it in the comments if you'd like!) the only special equipment you will need is a big crock pot! I don't do a lot of measuring which cuts down on the dishes but sometimes makes translating my cooking into recipes a challenge. So think of this as more of a general guideline that can easily be modified to suit your taste

Ingredients:
(Measurements are approximate)
2lbs fingerling potatoes
2 lbs beets
1 lb carrots
1/2 lb mushrooms (I foraged these chanterelles myself but Seasonally Sourced is the booth at the Ashland market to find safely identified wild mushrooms)
1 lb pearl onions
1 cup broth or stock (I'll show you how to make garbage broth on a later post)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (ACV)
Salt, pepper, sage, garlic, and oregano to taste, butter optional

There's a method to my madness on the layering. I put the potatoes down in the broth so they become all creamy and flavorful, the carrots go on top of the mushrooms to enhance their sweet notes, but really you could just huck everything in and turn the pot on low and go about your business. For the more detail oriented home chefs out there though:

Pour ACV and broth into the bottom of the crock pot. Then whole skinned pearl onions (retain skins in big zip lock or container in the freezer for a different recipe!) Add clean potatoes, don't skin or chop them, just dump them in!

Then come the beets, whole or halved. I don't skin these either and the WHOLE beet can be used. Beet greens are amazingly nutritious and tastey. You can include those in this recipe but I needed a treat for my turkeys that day.

Next the mushrooms go in. To properly clean a mushroom you don't use water. They are like sponges and will get water logged very quickly. Instead use a mushroom brush, soft tooth brush, or paper towel to get the bits of forest off. I chose to leave my mushrooms whole for visual interest but if the mouthfeel of whole mushrooms skeeves you out a bit go ahead and chop them up!

Now the carrots, skin on again and cut into big chunks rather than little rounds. Again you can use the WHOLE carrot, the greens have an herby sweet flavor that works well with this recipe but I saved mine in the freezer with the onion and garlic skins this time.

On top of all that go the remaining spices and flavorings. If you're using butter a little goes a long way in this as there are so many earthy flavors stewing together.

Close the lid and turn on low for sixish hours (until tender) mixing halfway through if you can. Serve as is or put it on rice...bonus points for wild rice!

  This simple meal is GREAT for a cool fall day and even without meat it will fill you up and give you good clean energy for all of the autumn fun to be had in the north woods!

Heeeey there....

Wow... so... sorry about the summer, it got a bit away from me! But I finally have time amidst all the hustle and bustle to drop a quick hello like this:

Helllloooooo!

    When last we left off the Porter's Turkeys poults had just arrived and Blucinda was waiting on a clutch. 9 of our transplant poults (including Carmelo, pictured) are absolutely thriving! They were joined about a week later by Blucinda's four little ones but sadly, Blucinda went a bit nutso and started killing her poults and the others so we ended up having our first butchering experience. It went quite smoothly, but then something went horribly wrong with the storage before cooking and well, know better do better right? 

   We sold the five remaining pheasant chicks a few days ago and mom Artemis and dad Apollo are headed to their new home soon making room for Cinnamon the quail to produce whatever is going to be produced from the clutch of 27 eggs she's currently brooding. Yes you read that right, one of my Coturnix quails has gone broody and is stealing everyone's eggs to sit on. We've decided to let her sit for a bit and see what happens. 

  The ringnecks are in their own little enclosure and continue to want nothing to do with anyone or anything else but otherwise seem quite happy!

   The gardens have been such an amazing learning experience!! I have so so SO many plans for next year! Including a booth at our local farmer's market if I can get myself organized, but that's what winter on the homestead is for!

  We are still pushing forward with the goal of having a working reindeer herd on the homestead, and rapidly nearing the completion of our home loan approval journey. 

Things to look forward to in the coming months:

More recipes! I'm going to have to learn how to cook using measurements aren't I? 

More about the fascinating world of fungi! I'll be attending the Midwest Women's Herbal Conference this year and the focus is on fungi so that will be pretty spectacular. It's peak harvest season for us right now so we're spending quite a few hours in the woods each day. 

Fall garden prep, I'm currently waiting on a shipment of tulip bulbs! Did you know tulip petals are edible? Me neither. 

And more! Lots more... 

Stay tuned!!!!

A quick plug for Drummond Woods Trail! It's....there aren't words. You'll just have to go visit! It's a short little hike outside of Drummond Wisconsin. It's just a stunning kid friendly trail with several eco systems to explore.

Lettuce Love One Another!

  I have come to a conclusion about most self sufficient type folks: we have a massive block about receiving. Whether that means receiving equipment, funds, advice, or help many of us seem to freeze up or retreat or just be painfully awkward when we are faced with a situation in which we are being offered something. I think I will attribute this to our deep deep desire to be strong and independent...or at least to be perceived as such.

  We believe the pinnacle of success is reached when we are dependent on no one but ourselves, or even better: when we can help sustain others! Oh the bliss of sharing your produce or eggs with neighbors! It makes you feel almost giddy to think of someone else enjoying your hard work! We are very comfortable with giving (except for our prized foraging spots...we'll take those to our grave thank you very much), but receiving can make us feel like we have failed in some way.

Achievement unlocked: I shared lettuce and other greens!

  I don't know about you but I have things I'm extremely good at (in homesteading and life in general) and things that...well...perhaps are best left to the professionals. If I tried to sustain myself on my halfway there homestead right now we'd be eating a lot of salad greens and not much else. BUT! I have salad, my neighbor has eggs, hey presto! a complete giving/receiving circuit because we are both abundant in something the other needs. Similarly, when you purchase something from your local farmer or forager you are acknowledging your need for the cabbage or mushrooms or whatever while simultaneously filling their need for the cash you brought with you. All needs are met, everyone wins. This is how successful communities are nourished.

  The sticky part for me though is when the item I have to offer is not a physical item at all, but time, experience, research, network, or some other less tangible resource. I have a heck of a time putting monetary value on those things. Which would tend to make me easy prey for someone seeking to take advantage of that but I have a secret weapon! I have surrounded myself with the shield of a loving community. I have really incredibly real, honest, and caring people in my life which is an enormous blessing for uncountable reasons but the one that pertains to today's topic is this lesson that I am learning: If I could not fathom and am made uncomfortable by taking tangible and intangible resources from my community without reimbursement of some kind, aren't I making my community uncomfortable when I don't allow others to reciprocate toward me? Yeah, let that one sink in all you givers!

   We give plants water, care, and protection to enable them to reciprocate that with tomatoes, cukes, and greens. We give our horses and dogs food, water, shelter, and love to enable them to reciprocate with services of protection or transportation. We give our farmer's market vendors money to enable them to reciprocate with tasty produce. We give our communities love, support, and inspiration to enable them to reciprocate the same when we need it.

Lettuce love one another, so we can be loved in return.

They're Heeeeeeere!

     About a month and a half ago we ordered 15 rare heritage cross breed poults from a farm in Illinois that has exciting mixes like chocolate palm and sweetgrass turkeys. What did we get? I have no idea. We ordered the cross breed mix that were supposed to have a paper with them to give us an idea of what they might be but there was no paper. Oh well, small potatoes! Because the most important thing is that even though they threw and extra poult in in case of death by shipping all of them arrived at our local post office this morning peppy and peeping!
   That was the easy part. At the beginning of July we cleaned out and chicken wired off a juvenile pen for them so the big turkeys don't squish them or spread diseases too easily. Well.... that didn't work. They squeezed through chicken wire, fell out of unknown holes in the hutch, and were just generally running around in peeping chaos.
  Ok, thought I, maybe Blucy would be cool with them. After all we had given her those three commercial poults to mother when she was still trying in vain to hatch out the rest of her now defunct eggs. So I brought a cute speckled fellow over to her nest.

BIG MISTAKE.

    Letting out a hiss that could rival the orneriest Canadian goose Blucinda savagely pecked at the hapless little thing. As is hightailed it out of the nest out came Blucinda with wings unfurled and beak agape like some sort of guardian to the gates of hell itself. Even Arpee ran out of the pen in the face of her fury. Scooping up the poult, I ran like the coward I am back into the juvenile pen and enlisted the only help I had (a toddler and a bouncy six year old) to keep the poults out of the adult pen while I figured out what to do.

   We had wrapped an old metal picnic table frame with a double layer of chicken wire months ago thinking to use it for incubated chicks' outside playtime. Our incubator really soiled the sheets this year so it stood abandoned by the garden. Perfect! I rolled it into the baby pen and my kids practiced counting as they scooped the floofs into their crib. I added the bottom half of a broken pet crate turned upside down for a rain and sun shelter with a paving stone on top to keep the wind from taking it, a little waterer, and a dog dish of poult starter feed. Patting myself on the back for my quick thinking, I borrowed the other old plastic picnic table from the pheasants and used that as a lid. But I hit another snag.
  The poults huddled in a corner looking dejected and miserable. Even though I'd dipped beaks in water like I was told no one seemed to have the slightest interest in food or water.
   Hmmmm.....
  Aha!! We've been having issues with one of the quails, Honey. She has taken to eating six eggs a day. Well I had the perfect job for her royal chubness! Sixteen new babies to look after. I put her in with the poults and they immediately decided she was just the ticket and mobbed her for snuggles. This did not thrill her, but never one to pass up a free meal she set to on the dish of poult starter. Six of poults followed suit. Then, apparently thirsty from the excitement she quail scuttled over to the waterer and helped herself followed by seven of the little peepers. After that she decided she had enough fun and started cricket chirping the quail distress call. I scooped her out and put her back in the quail pen and then returned to the happy sight of poults pecking the food, scratching at the grass, and sipping the water.
  So that's our excitement for the day! Now excuse me while I scurry out to the bird yard every ten minutes to check on the new arrivals like the crazy poultry lady I've become.

 A very displeased nanny quail.

Big sibling Thanksgiving and daddy Arpee come take a peek before being shooed into their own area.

Set it and Forget it!

   I have never really had a successful garden. I lack patience and focus which tend to be pretty crucial to the whole process. I am an eternal toddler with too much to explore to be bothered with stationary chores. Luckily there's a garden method for me!!! I present to you one of my favorite garden beds I have going right now: The in ground keyhole!

First I removed the sod from the future key hole. This was in...April? May? Something like that. I have sand instead of soil so I can pretty much dig as soon as the snow melts.

 I framed out the cut out part first and then dug down about....12-18"

 Waste not: some poles from an old exercise machine made the structure for the compost basket.

 I retrieved very rotten, myceliated, grubby, wormy, spongey sticks and small logs from the woods. These are far enough into the decomposition process that they will begin releasing nitrogen into the soil and they help retain moisture AND they keep weeds from spreading runners AND they attract beneficial biodiversity. Yeah. All that. It's pretty exciting. 

 Chicken wire for the compost basket. The purpose of the basket is rather like compost tea: as the compost decomposes the rain will wash the nutritious particles into the garden giving your plants a boost every time it rains! Not to mention the whole circle of tiny lives that plays out with the worms and bugs attracted to the compost. 

 A layer of bird yard waste. Mostly poo and straw. The extra heat will speed up decomposition and extend the growing period by keeping it warmer just a little farther into the fall. 

 The completed frame. Adorably heart shaped.

 I shoveled most of the excavated dirt back in and then just let it hang out until planting time! We use the basket for household compost and all I did for planting was scatter some lettuce, nasturtium, spinach, and tatsoi seeds and then covered them with a little black dirt to get things started. That. Was. It.  No weeding except around the blocks, no extra fertilizer...nothing. 

Tah dah!!!! Here it is on the first day of July. I harvested lettuce for the seventh time last night so that is acutally not as full as it was previously but still rather impressive. (The bare spot is courtesy of a turkey)

There you have it! And the best part? The price tag!!! Because I had the cinderblocks and a piece of chicken wire on hand this cost me $0 to build!

Bacon Grows on Trees

      Bacon grows on trees. This is a fact I have newly come to accept as truth. Impossible you say? Well....

- Obtain properly identified, harvested, and cleaned oyster mushrooms. 

-Preheat oven to 350*F

-Rip the mushrooms into thin strips along the gills, compost the thicker base part or use it in a soup or something later. Put strips into medium/large bowl.

-Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper

-Drizzle mushroom strips generously with olive oil and salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese to taste. Really you could use all kinds of spices on them..go nuts! Toss to evenly coat all mushrooms. (It's ok if some break...bacon bits!)

- Arrange strips in single layer on baking sheet(s). Bake for about one hour...or until brown and crispy!

That's it! Yes...it's that easy! I'd tell you the shelf life and storage but none of ours have lasted more than two hours uneaten to test that. Enjoy!!