Chocolate Box Cottage Diary Vol. 2
Week 4: January 26, 2022

It’s been quiet at Chocolate Box Cottage. We have had a quiet week of recovery from a well-publicized virus, thankful that our illness was mild. Sam and I are both feeling better and appreciate your prayers and kind messages. I made up my muddled mind to appreciate the gift of quiet time.

Since I had little energy I enjoyed a lot of reading. I’m so thankful for books! Marie Kondo and I sharply disagree on how many books are permissible to keep in one’s home library. I will never be a minimalist.

Our garden is planned, seeds have been ordered and received, and I started a new Netflix series: Sweet Magnolias. Very cozy and Gilmore Girls-ish.

I kept meals very simple: a pot of soup and homemade bread served for several meals in a row. I lost my sense of smell and taste for a week, but thankfully they were restored through olfactory retraining.

Somehow this time ended up being sweet, in spite of illness…

Enjoying my books and a comfy spot to sit. Art credit: Alexandra Thompson

We opened the curtains wide and let the sun stream in.

I am thankful for my books during times of illness when I can’t get to the public library! For more book recommendations, visit the Chocolate Box Cottage Shopping Guide.

Books seen here: Milk Cow Kitchen by MaryJane Butters, Mastering Fermentation by Mary Karlin, Summer Kitchens by Olia Hercules, 101 Easy Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health, and Home by Jan Berry, Wildcrafted Fermentation by Pascal Bauder, The Mary Frances Cook Book by Jane Fryer, Permaculture for the Rest of Us by Jenni Blackmore, Song of Increase by Jacqueline Freeman, and Jane of Lantern Hill by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Garden planning with seeds, seed catalogs, garden journal, and my garden map at hand.

Christmas cactus in bloom and me with time on my hands to actually see it.

Scenes outdoors at Chocolate Box Cottage this week include our big, rascally tomcat Toby and new plant babies.

When my mind feels clear enough to study, I watch videos (and take copious notes!) inside the Homegrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine course that I am enrolled in and study soil science.

That sounds geeky, I know, but soil life is fascinating and it’s not as hard as you think – with good tools. If you garden and are interested in growing the most delicious and nutritious vegetables and fruits possible, I encourage you to pick up a copy of The Intelligent Gardener: Growing Nutrient-Dense Food by Steve Solomon from Thriftbooks, a reputable online used book merchant.

This homey (and hole-y) loaf of Apple Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread was made with my Dakota Pioneer Everlasting Yeast, an old-time North Dakota leavener that is a type of sourdough starter my grandmother used on the farm for all of her baking through the 1950’s. Diced apples were sautéed in a little butter and stirred into the dough along with raisins and plenty of cinnamon. It makes superlative toast, with or without tea!

Hen Party quilt has been sandwiched (the process of layering the quilt top with batting and backing) and basted (temporary stitches that hold the sandwich in place until the “real” quilting stitches are done.)

A special meal to celebrate feeling better: Oregon coast crabmeat, fresh pineapple, and raspberries. Pineapple scraps were added to a jar to make Pineapple Vinegar.

A gorgeous (if I do say so myself) 50/50 loaf of freshly ground rye and whole wheat, leavened once again with my Dakota Pioneer Everlasting Yeast.

This is sturdy, substantial bread that keeps well due to the nature of sourdough. Sliced thinly it is makes a hearty piece of toast to accompany an egg.

I use my Ankarsum Assistant mixer for bread, a capable and beautiful assistant in the kitchen. I’m in the process of creating a worksheet to use for sourdough bread with this special mixer.

Keeping up with work is easier when you work at home. With little energy, I paced myself for small tasks like cooking, dishes, and laundry, just the most basic things to keep the household running.

Lost your sense of smell/taste due to a certain virus? Olfactory retraining (or training) can help you restore this sense. Learn more here.

Thank you for visiting Chocolate Box Cottage! Charla in her pink knit cap and I would like to bid you farewell.

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary Vol. 1
Week 32: August 13, 2021

This week feels like a continuation of last, and I suppose that is entirely correct. Preserving season begins with small harvests spaced out between weeks: a tray of berries to freeze and herbs to dry for food and medicine.

It starts small, but soon turns into an avalanche and no matter how well-prepared I think I am, it is always overwhelming.

Sam and I went back to our favorite picking spot and picked another 2 1/2 gallons of huckleberries. I made a double batch of Huckleberry Lime Jam with Pomona’s pectin. The flavor is a delight and so is the fact that it is mostly fruit and very little sugar when compared to using traditional pectin.

It was a pleasure to add eleven jars of delicious jam to the pantry shelf, minus the one we ate immediately with a loaf of Farmhouse White Bread made with Dakota Pioneer Everlasting Yeast.

Preserving Season Begins with a Trickle of Berries and Herbs ~

The generous bounty of a harvest kitchen always warms my heart. In addition to bread and jam, there are plump zucchinis to turn into Zucchini Velvet Soup base for the freezer and a nearly-full basket of Dragon Tongue beans; yellow with vivid purple streaks, the beans will be eaten and shared.

Find the Zucchini Velvet Soup base recipe here: https://chocolateboxcottage.tv/recipe-box/zucchini-velvet-soup/

Freezing Huckleberries ~

Blackberries, blackberries, and more blackberries…

I could pick 2 gallons every other day, given the time. My goal is to freeze 10 gallons of blackberries every summer. This takes us through oatmeal mornings, berry muffins, cobblers and crisps, with plenty for jam or to make into syrup for waffles and pancakes.

Homemade Berry Fruit Leather ~

Using (eating) what was stored in preserving season is part of the natural cycle.

Berries remaining in the freezer when berry picking season rolls around again are converted into Fruit Leather rolls, a jammy, sweet portable treat the whole family loves.

Berries are best picked in the cool of the morning, before the sun softens them. Still, I end up with berry-stained fingers. I don’t really mind. Being able to step outside and pick berries in summer reminds me of my childhood and imparts contentment.

August 2021 Walkabout ~

A walkabout is just what it sounds like. A walk about our homeplace, notebook in hand, a time to notice what is happening with the landscape, the plants, trees, and animals. Sam and I do this at the beginning of each month.

While Sam and I have long done occasional walkabouts together, usually on Sundays, I credit Donna Sullivan Smith, herbalist and founder of Miss Magnolias Moxie’s Learning Community, with bringing clarity and purpose to these fun excursions.

Donna provides a monthly list of questions to ask ourselves as we wander our property. It is a great tool for getting acquainted with your property and/or neighborhood’s resources. I’ll drop a link to Donna’s learning community below and invite you to join us!

https://missmagnoliasmoxie.mn.co/feed

Overgrown Cucumbers ~

One more aspect of preserving season is making use of imperfect product.

If you garden, sooner or later you end up with overgrown cucumbers. These cucumbers, believe it or not, are PICKLING cucumbers.

Pickling cucumbers are meant to be harvested small, 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) long, while their skins are thin and tender and before the seeds have a chance to toughen. Young cucumbers make crispy pickles, which is what we all want!

Still, there are uses for overgrown cucumbers. One of them is a quick curry, not at all authentic, but quite delicious with poached fish or chicken.

Feel free to leave your ideas for using overgrown cucumbers in the comments below. I read every one and appreciate your ideas.

Fennel Appreciation ~

I leave you with this picture of our fennel planting. The umbels (flower heads) are in various stages of readiness: some are blooming, to the enjoyment of pollinators and Swallowtail butterflies, others are heavy with seeds ripe for picking.

Fennel seeds are what give many sausages and Italian and Indian dishes their signature flavor. Mild, slightly sweet fennel seed is occasionally compared to anise. Fennel bulbs are edible and delicious, also. Do you use fennel in your kitchen or apothecary?

This may not be what some would consider a pretty picture, but knowing the delights and benefits of fennel surely increase its attractiveness!

Blessings to you this week, Michele

Ps. Click the link below to read last week’s Cottage Diary entry.

https://chocolateboxcottage.tv/cottage-diary/the-land-of-berries/

Week 29 July 24, 2021

This fourth week of July included a beehive check for us newbie beekeepers, a regular supply of duck eggs, and a Very Important Birthday.

A Very Important Birthday ~

Let’s start with the Very Important Birthday: my stepdad, Rolly Griffith turned 90! I appreciate Rolly more than words can describe. He is a rock for our family and he is so good to my Mom. Rolly says he is so grateful to have had two great loves in his life: his first wife of 54 years, Shirley, who passed away in 2005, and my Mom, his second wife of 15 years.

He is a good listener, such a rare quality, and a good counselor.

We celebrated Rolly at a gigantic birthday party at a local park this weekend. I got to meet relatives I had never met before!

Beehive Check at Chocolate Box Cottage ~

Our beehive is situated in the middle of our small home orchard, surrounded by fruit trees: apricot, peach, Italian plum, cherry, and apples.

The chickens currently have run of the orchard. Time will tell whether this is a good choice or not. We may change the fencing at some point.

We had ups and downs with keeping bees since we began in 2017. We lost one colony when we moved the hive from our previous home in Central Point to Chocolate Box Cottage, so we had to start over.

Today we wanted to see how the bees are doing and check on the status of honey production.

Do you grow your own herbs and spices?

Here is part of my annual supply of dried oregano. My goal is to pack 2 quart jars full of dried leaves every year. We use it all.

The small apothecary style jar belongs in my spice drawer. Yes, I have a spice drawer, not a spice rack. Keeping spices in a drawer protects them from sunlight and keeps them cool, prolonging their freshness.

Sam and I joke that one of the reasons we haven’t caught the plague is that we eat so much oregano! Oregano has antimicrobial, antiviral, and expectorant qualities, among others. It really is a powerhouse herb!

Find spice jars like mine here: https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/s/vibe-spice-jars

Duck Eggs in Gem-like Hues ~

We are now blessed with duck eggs, thanks to three shimmery black Indian Runner hens and two drakes. I find it fascinating that each duck hen lays a different colored egg, though they are all the same breed.

We have not eaten fried duck eggs yet, but I have used them in baking cookies and muffins.

Blackberry Season is Almost Here ~

I have picked berries every summer since I was a little girl of 4 or 5 years old. So far there are just a handful of ripe berries at a time.

Cooking & Preserving From the Garden ~

The harvests provide inspiration for meals. Some of it doesn’t make it to the kitchen. Kale, blackberries, basil (green and purple) yellow crookneck squash, green and yellow zucchini, peppers, tomatillos, cherry tomatoes, calendula (edible petals), and Barese melon cucumbers.

Walking into the garden and deciding what to eat based on what is ripe is my favorite style of cooking!

As our kids were growing up, we brought them into the garden. They each had a raised bed or pot of their own to tend, depending on age.

At mealtimes, we talked about the food on our plates. Whether it came from our garden, was foraged, or bought at a farm or the store.

Recipe for Spiralized Zucchini Butter Spaghetti: https://chocolateboxcottage.tv/recipe-box/spiralized-zucchini-butter-spaghetti/

Wood Shed Update ~

The back wall of the wood shed is made from reclaimed aluminum sheets. Used pallets line the floor beneath the neatly stacked firewood. Oak posts came from our pasture. See the mound of bark surrounding the posts? We are deciding how best to utilize it.

From the Oven ~

This is the bread of my ancestors. Bread ecipes and instructions for creating an Everlasting Yeast bread starter will be included in my book, along with variations.

Farewell ~

Thank you for visiting Chocolate Box Cottage ~ see you next week!