The Pauley Principle: Vineyard

Welcome to The Pauley Principle!

The Pauli Principle, named for Wolfgang Pauli, deals with atoms and electron-sharing that results in new, stronger bonds. Think 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, a shared delectable (!) electron and VOILA! Water!

Similarly, when you prepare whole food to share with family and friends, especially foods you've grown, something amazing happens. Meals become tastier and healthier. Your soul, not just your stomach, becomes fulfilled. You live life more abundantly as a result. During a shared meal, the bonds that people create grow stronger and become something new: GREATER than the sum of the parts! I give you The Pauley Principle.

Showing posts with label Vineyard. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Vitis Grapes!

Just as the season for planting was coming to an end, WOW! A surprising find! After searching locally, online and in catalogs, and after asking several people, Chris finally found our vitis grapes, supposedly good for our soil type and climate. This variety is the Edelweiss grape, yellow-green when ripe, a mild, sweet grape.

Vitis grapes are specially cultivated for wine. The flavor they hold depends heavily on the soil the grapes are grown in as well as climate and rainfall. Since rainfall is an uncontrolled variable, harvests will be different from year to year. Another experiment in winemaking!

In 90 degree heat, Chris prepared the new bed for planting and added a 40-foot arbor to the vineyard. Then, to beat the oncoming storm, he planted at night by truck light. Funny, he enjoys a good glass of wine about once or twice a week. Grapevines require months of growing in good conditions then harvesting at just the right time for winemaking, which adds a few more months. This is a fine example of delayed gratification. All gardening and farming is! If it all falls into place, we hope to share a bottle with friends and family--in about a year--and then I think Chris will feel that it was worth the hard work! Hmmm!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Why Grow Grapes?

For anyone who can manage it, I recommend a grape trellis. Here's why:

My husband had an awful bout with cancer a few years ago. Prognosis: Stage 3 in two systems, 2 months to live. During his chemo treatments there were only three things he could manage to keep on his stomach or even swallow: a tiny bit of steak, a couple bites of ice cream and grape juice. He craved just those foods but could only manage small amounts.

While he was in the hospital, repeatedly over several months, he kept thinking/dreaming about planting a little vineyard. It became like, hmmm...well, a spiritual mission of his! He realized the foods he craved and could eat helped him survive. Many prayers were made on his behalf. He had a strong sense that God brought all the technology, knowledgeable and helpful medical staff, food, me-- everything--together! Chris is strong and well now. And our grapes provide us with grape juice and wine that we enjoy regularly, in moderation.

Grapes provide our bodies with tremendously powerful nutrients: Vitamins C & K, the minerals copper and potassium, and phytosterols. Think FIGHT! These nutrients help our bodies fight not only free radicals but, also, cholesterol in our bloodstream. And they help our bodies heal.

Grapes on a trellis offer a bit of old-world charm to an entry way. If this isn't possible where you live, consider planting on the shares with someone. The aesthetics and rhythm of a grapevine's beauty in the changing seasons is good for our very souls. And for our bodies, a few grapevines can provide several containers of pure delectable grape juice!

Give Yourself the Fast Food Alternative: 1, 2, 3 makes 4 and More

For many people, late night ballgames, church, work and other events make fast food too convenient to resist, but what's in that stuff? I can't begin to answer. Big franchises such as Taco Bell say the 63% or so that isn't beef is made up of "the secret ingredient". If we consume their food, don't we have a right to know what that secret is? And more importantly, what's it doing to our bodies? My plan is worth the effort since meals eaten at home with the family benefit our physical and mental health.

Here's an alternative and my answer to Rachael Ray's A Week in a Day. I call it 1,2, 3 Makes 4 and More. On the fifth day, Friday, make a quick and easy pizza.
In one day, you can make a roast, a hearty soup, and a one-dish casserole to get you through most of the work week.
Meal 1: the roast with salad and a veggie.
Meal 2: the soup served with warm bread or in a bread bowl.
Meal 3: the casserole with a salad.
Meal 4: soup from Meal 2 served with sandwiches using the roast, Meal 1.
Meal 5: homemade pizza.

Plan meals and shop for it. Then take a few hours to prepare the entrees ahead. Start with a roast seasoned to taste. I'm talking real meat. While that's slow cooking, start chopping veggies and meat for a good, hearty soup, one that will be a meal in itself. Get it started and simmering away and then begin a one-pot meal that takes a little more attention.

This week my plan is Day 1, a slow roasted ham with salad and mashed potatoes; Day 2, minestrone; and Day 3, shepherd's pie. I'm making mashed potatoes for two days (meals 1 and 3) at one time on my cooking day. The fourth meal will be ham sandwiches with minestrone. Salads and breads round out the meals for the week. Fruits with cheese make a quick and good-for-you dessert. A truly delicious recipe for shepherd's pie is in my blog.

Be good to you. Be good to others. On days 6 and 7, change it up by going out, having a pot luck with friends and family or grilling out. Remember, live your life abundantly.

About Venison

Venison should taste really delicious! No kidding. It is my favorite meat, except for crab.

Some things to consider though:
*If you wouldn't think of eating a bull, then don't eat a deer that had huge antlers or was in rut. I don't. It affects the flavor and tenderness of the meat.
*Replace the deer fat with beef fat for your ground meat for an 80/20 ratio. Deer fat tends to be slightly bitter and leaves that thick coating in your mouth that, although edible, is not palatable.
*For roasts, sear with butter and olive oil. These impart a wonderful flavor.
*For sausage, use pork shoulder, at a ration of about 3 parts ground venison with 1 part ground pork shoulder.
*Venison by nature is a lean red meat. A good young deer processed properly will give you many delicious meals.
*Anything you would do with beef, except ribs, you can do with venison. Look for my recipe for Shepherd's Pie. Use either beef or venison. Enjoy, share, and live abundantly.

Plan Now for Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is cooked down from sap that you gather from sugar maple trees. There are no other ingredients, not even water. And it's incredibly good. On the market, maple syrups will often have corn syrup, gluten, color and other additives which can stretch profitability and decrease the steaming time required. Since it takes 35-45 gallons of the thin slightly sweet sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup, doing it the old-fashioned way takes time but the result is pure YUM!

If you have the opportunity to tap into maple trees and decide you'd like to give this a try, plan ahead. If you steam off the sap inside your kitchen, it can strip your wall-paper! Been there, done that, at our old farmhouse. If you cook it down outside with a gas turkey fryer, the cost can end up being around $8 a pint. We began cooking over a wood fire a few years ago, using a tripod and kettle. Oh, and a large firewood supply. Whatever method you choose, proceed slowly and with caution.

Gather your supplies. We use food safe plastic jugs, buckets, and little water line spouts. Maple syrup production houses will collect into stainless steel vats using long water lines but we simply gather the jugs, pour into buckets and bring it to the kettle twice daily. I buy little pint jugs to store it in. Very fresh, very pure. Start tapping the trees when daytime temperatures are going to be above freezing but nights are still very cold. In Ohio, the sap will be running fast sometime in February.

Try my cousin Stephanie Krupla's recipe for Sticky Bun Tea Ring and you'll want to search for maple trees you can tap into yourself!