The Pauley Principle: harvest

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 harvest. Show all posts

Thursday, February 16, 2012

A Build-Your-Own Barrel Cellar

My son attributes an article in Mother Earth News for giving him the inspiration to build his own barrel cellar. He had an especially good potato crop, growing Red Pontiacs, Kennebecs, and Russets. He dug them in September and then needed a good place to store them.

My son Josh

After he gathered his materials (a 55-gallon drum, a drain pipe, a piece of wood for a lid, some gravel, wire mesh), the actual work only took "maybe five hours total" to build his cellar and he dug it by hand on a September weekend.

"The cellar did remarkably well!"

Look inside. You'll see the remnants of the 120 pounds of potatoes Josh stored over the winter.

Not one single bad potato!

The original design was for the barrel to go in at a 45 degree angle. Josh built it on a hillside near his backyard and didn't need that much tilt. He also drilled holes in the bottom of the barrel to allow drainage, if necessary, then added gravel under the barrel and a gravel-lined ditch for a drain line to be sure no moisture would be trapped from condensation. Wire mesh was added to the end of the drain line so that no little varmints could crawl up in it. Josh says he never saw the first sign of water, condensation, or creepy crawlies.

"The potatoes last so much longer," Josh says. "No rotten potatoes, no eyes have been growing, and no dehydration. And none of them froze!"

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving Home and Hearth

A time for fun, reflection, prayer and feasting with family and friends!

This year's gathering was larger than ever at our home, and the more, the merrier!

As we reflect on the wonderful addition to the family, we realize how very precious each person is, and how the personal differences add to the richness of the family tapestry, the same way that each rock in the fireplace makes its contribution to the whole. Without each rock you see, what could the fireplace be?

We celebrate our successes this year (heirloom bean seeds, garden produce) and lament our failures (tree loss, poor grape and strawberry harvests). And we look forward to a new year to make improvements.

For awhile this year, my health seemed to be plummeting and Chris ended up carrying the load. For him, his work, for our friends and family to share our food with, and for the wonderful harvest we've laid by, I am so incredibly thankful! (There's a lot more that I'm thankful for, but there just isn't time or space to mention all the blessings right now and it's not like you need to hear it.)

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!