Restoring a Rusty Cast Iron Dutch Oven

wall hangers

more wall hangers

cast iron skillets that I use daily

I grew up with an appreciation for cast iron cooking, and began collecting new and vintage cast iron and  steel pieces at an early age. The secret to their longevity is in the seasoning. A cast iron piece that is well-seasoned will hold up to most cooking techniques without rusting. MOST.

Occasionally I have bloopers, but I can't show a picture of what I did to my 12 quart cast iron Dutch oven because I was so beside myself I didn't think to take one. I had prepared peach cobbler over coals, just like I had done many times before, but this time my cobbler had boiled over! We had eaten around a campfire after dark and I decided to wait until morning to clean it. To my dismay, the lid was stuck on. I meant to ask Chris to try to pry it off, but I forgot about it and then left it out in the rain. You should never ever EVER do that, and I knew better. Life gets busy and I totally forgot. My beautiful Dutch oven rusted. Badly. Normally, all you have to do if a piece of cast iron cookware has some rust is to gently rub out the rust and oil it, but NO! Mine was crusty rust!

Chris came to my rescue. Dressed in heavy gear, he took the first step in restoring my treasured piece. On the day he was rescuing the hay rake that he acquired, he took my dreadful-looking Dutch oven and also sand-blasted it. That is an extreme rescue, but by the time I got the lid off, it was so bad inside and out that it had been rendered useless. Cast iron is a good investment and should last lifetimes, so we both knew this piece needed intervention if it would ever become an heirloom.

my cast iron Dutch oven after sand-blasting

Then came my part in the restoration. It had to be seasoned. Otherwise, it would become a rusty mess and would be unsuitable for cooking. I used regular vegetable oil and a cotton cloth and simply rubbed oil all over the inside and outside of the Dutch oven and its lid. Then I placed the pieces in my gas oven at 200 degrees F. for 2 hours. To be sure it was covered completely with oil but with no oil pooling that would gel, I took it out and reapplied a thin coating of the cooking oil to the entire surface. Then, back to the oven for an additional 5 hours.

ALMOST fully restored

This is how it looked after seasoning, a darker patina, ready for cooking again. After the next few uses, I will oil it each time and place the Dutch oven back in 200 degrees F. for 2 hours to complete the seasoning process. Then, eventually, it will have the even black color of my other vintage pieces.

Early Morning Frost Damage Survey

This morning, after a cold windy night, I took a quick walk-about and here is what I found.

The grape arbor at the back deck looks healthy,

and terrific tulip and tarragon.

Salvaged strawberry plants from last year's bed look strong...

but these pansies tell a different story,

and some of the 250 tiny little strawberry crowns I planted last week can still be seen reaching for the sky, but barely.  Not all survived.  :/  

In spite of bitterly cold temperatures, the gorgeous grapes in the vineyard are still growing,

and this young white Edelweiss grapevine seems hardy.

Meanwhile, this year's garden plants wait out the cold spell in our loft-turned-greenhouse,

and our herbs are looking herbaliscious except for the sweet basil, already frost-bitten last week!

The forecast here looks even harsher for tonight, with temperatures expected to dip below 30 degrees F. Another year of lost crops due to freezing temperatures? We had too much gusty wind last night to get the strawberries and grapes covered, but tonight I'll do my best! No smudge pots to use on the four rows of grapes so...


feeling helpless, I asked Chris what else we could do. He simply said an age-old line, 

"Man proposes, but God disposes."

Really, Chris, that's the best you can do?  


It feels like Mother Nature said, "OOPS! I forgot all about giving you winter. Here! How's this?!"

Please also check out these Rural Thursdays Bloggers:
Two Bears Farm

A Rural Journal

(OH, NO! Another hard freeze tonight!)

Easter Designs of Love, Life, and Shared Times

My grandchildren came over! I love it when that happens!!!

One granddaughter decorated before the others arrived. 

"This is so BEAUTIFUL!!!," she said when she set up the crocheted display. 

 My cousin Stephanie had crocheted them.  (Think Stephanie's Sticky Buns. YUM!!! Recipe link at sidebar.) 

Then class began for Egg Marbling 101.

The Egg Marbling Artists

The results after a few choice eggs were eaten!

After a brief demonstration, the only rules were 

*Share the dye. 

*Have fun! 

The dye did not dry before some of the eggs met their demise!

I love the meanings of Easter, from the grace of God in our lives way back to the early Pagan traditions of celebrating new beginnings. On this day, we celebrated so much, including life, love, and our time together!

Thank goodness, this was our only Easter Twister! Mother Nature played by the rules, for once.
Perfect weather for playing outside!

The girls could do this for hours! How do they do that???

This bike romped and ramped and rambled some more. Finally, its chain came loose, allowing my grandson
 to take a break.  

Besides, the garage had to be designed and built!

I will never tire of hearing my grandchildren say, "Our nana is the best nana ever!" The joy in their faces tells me even when their voices don't!

What a delight they are!

Photo credits: The grandchildren and I took all the photos for this post. 

Plants are Getting Market Ready!

 We are getting a number of plants ready for our farm market. From broccoli, white cabbage, red cabbage,  cauliflower plants and fresh green onions to potted herbs. 

Without the advantage of a greenhouse, Chris has turned our loft into the next best thing. He  babies our little vegetable plants night and day. They get plenty of sunlight, moving onto the deck during the day. A camp shower bag provides easy watering with its shower head nozzle. Lately Chris has been transplanting his veggies into individual cells, giving them more room, easier access to nutrients, and a great start.

My herbs are hearty and used to being outside. I potted a mix of herbs for kitchen or patio to make their debut at our farm market. The rangy tarragon in the herb bed forms a backdrop for tera cotta pots that are filled with Greek oregano, Italian flat leaf parsley, sweet basil and a pansy. Italian food lends itself so well to fresh herbs, so these herbs are a good introduction for the novice cooks out there!


One of the reasons our plants are growing so well has to do with a lesson we learned the hard way last year. Three different times I tried unsuccessfully to start tomatoes from seeds last year. Always before, I had used plain rainwater. Last year I used our county water, just regular tap water. Time after time, the little leaves would turn white and the stems would pinch off at the base, killing the young plants. Chris read extensively and discovered that the calcium chloride in our drinking water was killing the plants. The annual water reports read well, but we have completely avoided that water this year in our plantings. Our heirloom tomatoes should suffer no such plight. 


The water we use now for our plants is our farm's well water, the same water Chris grew up on. It is a deep reservoir, very tasty and pure. Well water has advantages over rainwater. The natural minerals and rocks that the water percolates and filters through are beneficial to the plants. Since last year's eye-opening experience, that wonderfully fresh water not only feeds our new plants but has also become our drinking water. 


For the plants, the result is faster growing and stronger veggie plants that will be market-ready for the weekend! For me, I just feel better!


At our farm market, we hope to offer customers the best products available. For this weekend: cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower plants, potted herbs, cut herbs (tarragon, spearmint, and Russian sage), and fresh green onions. In a couple of weeks, we should have several different pepper plants and tomato plants, including a few heirloom varieties.


Of course, I will continue making jams, jellies, and baking up a table full of goodies.  One new item this coming weekend: Hot cross buns!


A word of caution: Watch what you're drinking, not just what you're eating. Stay healthy, my friends!  

Restoring Old Equipment with Sand Blasting

While I played around with the farm market, Chris had other things to do.

He had traded for a very old, 1957 model, Oliver rake and an Oliver hay baler, almost as old. These were partial payment on a land clearing job he had done. Since Chris is not a person to just leave equipment in the yard as ornaments, he proceeded to take them apart and get them back into good working condition so that he can make hay for local farmers.

 That meant sand blasting in our back field where the clay soil needs the sand anyway. He is very cautious about safety. You shouldn't breathe the dust from the sand. It stays in the lungs like asbestos. Besides the silica, the old paint could be lead-based.

Chris had built this sand blaster several years ago out of an old sand pot, box tube, lawnmower wheels, steel pipe, and a heavy duty air hose.

(He also sand blasted something for me, but that's another post.)

Here are some pieces sand blasted and primered.

[Meanwhile, I sold out of just about everything I had, and I had started with a huge tableful! No more bread, cinnamon rolls, pies, cakes, blackberry jam and strawberry jam! Gone was the 16-hour day of baking! By the time I needed to put things away, there was very little to do. Just a few cookies and a little black walnut fudge. I had my weekly drawing and...(drum roll)...

the winner was Joy Carter!!! 

She's going to pick up her winning prize next Saturday! I've promised her some jam.]

 Chris has his parts protected from the  elements ...

and ready to put back together before the final painting.

Farm Market Offerings

For our farm market this Saturday, I made blackberry jam that is cooling on its rack. 

I also made two pans of black walnut fudge. I had to make two, since  one pan was  a special birthday gift to my husband.

Making black walnut fudge is a labor of love. The nuts are gathered from our walnut trees and stored. Then they have to be cracked and the nutmeats taken out of the hard shells. Since they are very hard to crack, Chris surprised me last Christmas with a nutcracker of his own design. (Yes, he is hoping to get yours finished soon, Granny Sue and dr momi!!! He hardly sleeps at all right now since he is into so many things!) 

 Even with the handy dandy nut cracker, it takes me a full hour to crack and shell out that many nuts! But black walnut fudge is a delicious and rare delicacy and the effort is so worth it!

At the farm market, we have farm fresh brown eggs from the Speckled Sussex hens and duck eggs from the Pekins. 

Each week I replenish  the table with freshly baked breads, cookies, cakes, pies and cinnamon rolls. Wednesday is an easy day. Thursday and Friday are two long days of preparation. I try to provide at least a couple of baked items for the gluten free diet. I'll offer a few surprises. Again, it's worth the work. I love that people come to the farm and enjoy my food! I'm having such a good time with this, and every Saturday has been like a party! 

Before long, we'll be able to offer a wide range of vegetable plants and produce at a price that will make it easier on local household budgets and closer to home. We've started a couple of kinds of heirloom tomatoes that promise to have a delicious, old-fashioned tomato flavor. 

Our farm market is an exciting new adventure and we appreciate that so many people are enjoying following us, shopping and sharing ideas. Thanks!

New Leaves on the Asparagus? Really?

Chris doesn't like asparagus much. He helped me prepare the soil several years ago, and he even helped plant it, but as far as harvesting, cooking or eating asparagus, uh, not so much. So when he said he saw new asparagus leaves coming up recently, I said, "Really?"

spearmint

Top to bottom: buckeye tree, wild violet, potted strawberries.

Maybe what he saw was mint.

Or maybe he was talking about the new buckeye trees that had sprouted under the old buckeye tree. Hey! We ARE in Ohio!

Maybe he was talking about violets.

Maybe what he was talking about was the strawberry patch. It had cycled out, and I managed to save four little plants. We have 250 new plants to get into the ground SOON.

before

But I'm pretty sure what he thought was asparagus was something else entirely. It's not that they don't have leaves. They actually produce beautiful lacy fronds, but that's later on when the little shoots have matured and begin to form their seeds.

after

Our patch had the remains of OLD leaves. In the "before" shot, you see the dead silvery fronds, remnants from last year's asparagus patch. I had broken my leg and just let the patch go after we had eaten or shared most of the asparagus. So today, feeling guilty for leaving the mess and now all healed up from breaking my leg, I pulled out the old fronds, four wheelbarrow loads of old  fronds! I left the grass as you can tell from the "after" shot.  It's good cover against frost and I want my asparagus to be "uncertified organic". Before long, there will be lots of new shoots, but no leaves except the young plants that I won't pick because their root system is in its first year.

Look closely at the photo above, left of center. The little 2" asparagus shoot sticks up its head toward the sun. I found it and a few others today while I cleaned out the asparagus patch, curious about asparagus "leaves". (No leaves. Not yet anyway.)

So I'll just sit here and sip on my sweet tea for a moment
while I contemplate what that man of mine might have seen. I'll just be happy in the knowledge that, whatever he saw,  it's another little reminder that spring has fully sprung! 

sweet tea with fresh mint

Prepare the Soil, Then Plant the Seed

Chris says it's my farm market. 

I say it's his.

The fact is, we're both sharing the labor

as we begin this journey,

not knowing exactly where it will end but fully aware that

the journey itself is the destination.

Chris takes a moment on the step of our vintage Airstream to catch his breath after working on the grounds while I've been tending our farm market.   The camper serves as a comfortable base for our work.

The chickens and ducks do a great job of providing the eggs for Old Homestead Farm Market. While I've concentrated on the jellies, jams, breads, cakes, cookies, candies and pies, Chris has done all the  work of preparing the grounds, parking area, making signs and getting the gardens ready for planting--after his day's work.
Then, after dark, he retreats to our loft and tends his little plants. He has turned our loft and deck into a sort of greenhouse nursery, but he's having much better luck with his seedlings than I ever had. At this point, where he had hoped to raise 5 or 6 dozen little white cabbage seedlings, he has around 500! And he has about the same number of red cabbage.

These (broccoli?) plants are crowded and need more room for root development.

Who knew he had such a green thumb?!

Chris is explaining how he needs more room in the loft area of our home because  his germination rate far exceeded his expectation. 

Luckily, Chris just happens to have some old bolt trays that were no longer being used so he's been transplanting.

These shelves should help!

As usual, Chris recycles salvaged materials: old egg cartons that people have traded in but are not our brand, his brother's used garage shelving, and bolt trays that had been thrown in the dumpster when a specialty fastening shop moved. 

As I write, it's 2:30 a.m. and he's planting little pepper seeds. Our hope is to provide not only baked goods but also fresh produce and plants at our farm market. We want to offer a variety of seedlings to encourage others to grow their own vegetables, whether it's in a patio planter of tomatoes, a community garden or a family garden spot. Fresh, homegrown vegetables just taste better!