Around the Farm

Dear Evangeline,

Gramma finally finished canning the hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes that were ripening when you were here. It was quite overwhelming for a while, and Gramma even began to dream about tomatoes which Poppy thought was very funny indeed. Imagine dreaming about buckets and buckets of tomatoes with no end in sight. Anyway, Poppy will have to build me more shelves for the jars and jars of sauce, salsa, tomatoes, and of course, green tomato mincemeat.

Poppy found dozens of tomatillo plants out in the pig pen. I have put pictures here for you to see what they look like.

They remind me of Chinese lanterns, but these are edible! That is a big word for you can eat them! The pigs scattered the seeds all over their yard. I hope the frost won't kill them before I can turn them into salsa.

Did I tell you that two of our hens hatched some chicks two weeks ago? Auntie Tess heard some cheeping in the barn, and surprise, there were five little chicks! The next morning, Little Bugger hatched seven of her own! Apparently Bantam hens are notorious for hatching chicks in the cold weather. I quickly made safe areas for them all, but unfortunately we have lost several to the cold. One hen and her two remaining chicks are safe in our basement. We made a little home for them in a big metal tub with a light to keep them warm. Little Bugger is still outside with her six chicks. She is a very good mama and keeps her babies tucked safely under her wings at night. I wish you were here to see them.

I was reading your Mama's blog about the doughnuts she made. They look delicious! Do you think she would make them for Gramma and Poppy some time?

I love you, Sweet Girl. Be good for your Mama and Daddy.
Gramma

Sweet Potato Sunday

Papa showed me a recipe from the Source section of the Sunday paper for No-Knead Sweet Potato Rolls. He suggested that they might be nice to have with dinner.I happened to have quite a few sweet potatoes on hand  and decided to give it a try. The rolls were easy and delicious - light, soft and buttery. I served them with Sweet Potato Pie in a Cheddar Poppy Seed Crust - a Mollie Katzen recipe from her The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. The only change I made to her pie recipe was using freshly squeezed OJ with the pulp instead of using the chopped orange. I found that the orange membranes were too bitter for my taste and a bit annoying to chew when the texture of the filling is so creamy. I also replaced the bread crumbs for the topping with flour and doubled the brown sugar and butter. It made the topping more like a streusel, but the sweetness balanced nicely. This pie is hearty and full of vitamin A. The kids and I all agree that it was even tastier the following day.

                       

Below is the recipe for the rolls. It was adapted by Christine Burns Rudalevige from thekitchen.com.

No-Knead Sweet Potato Rolls  (makes 24 rolls)

1 pkg. yeast
1 c. mashed sweet potato
1 c. milk
4 tbs. unsalted butter, melted
2 tbs. brown sugar
2 tsp. Kosher salt
4 c. all-purpose flour


Combine 3/4 c. warm water with yeast in a large bowl. Add potatoes, milk, butter, brown sugar, and salt.
 Add flour and stir until a shaggy dough is formed. The dough will be very sticky. Cover dough and let rise 2-5 hours. Refrigerate if desired to make it easier to use. (I didn't, and it worked just fine.) Grease muffin tins. On a floured surface, cut dough into 72 pieces. Form into balls, and drop three balls into each muffin cup. Cover, and let rise until nearly doubled in size. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until puffed and brown. Brush rolls with butter. Serve.

Leif Erikson Day

Dear Evangeline,

October 9th is Leif Erikson Day. You don't know who Leif Erikson is now, but someday your Mama and Daddy will tell you all about him. Perhaps they will even read you the book I read to your Mama when she was little. It was written by Ingrid and Edgar D'Aulaire. The story is very exciting, and I think that you will love the pictures. My favorite is the picture of Leif with the polar bear.

Every year we celebrate Leif Erikson Day because he was a very brave viking who discovered North America and named it Vineland because of all the wild grapes that made delicious wine.You are descended from the vikings (the Norsemen) on your Poppy's side. But I will tell you all about that another time.

To remember this day, we ate Norwegian meatballs (dilled and with sour cream), mashed potatoes, green beans, and Danish dilled cucumbers. Dessert was rice pudding with cranberries sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. And of course we had some of Poppy's good homemade beer.

I've put the recipe for the dilled cucumbers below for your Mama to make for you some day.

Danish Pickled Cucumbers

3 medium cucumbers
1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 c. water
2 tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
chopped dill

Slice cucumbers very thinly and place in a bowl. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over cucumbers. Cover and refrigerate for two hours.

I love you, Sweet Girl.
Gramma