Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2
Week 32: August 13, 2022

The screen door is open most evenings, a small holiday in itself. The yellow Adirondack chairs are pressed into service, the front porch is abloom with pink and red geraniums. It is too warm for supper there, but the garden teepee is becoming a favorite comfortable spot again as greenery wends its way up.

Could anything be more fitting than zucchini, in some form, for dinner in the teepee? That’s how Sam and I celebrated our First Date Anniversary, with grilled burgers served on zucchini slice “buns.”

Sam and I met through mutual friends, TJ and Charity Weber, who thought we were perfect for each other and decided to play matchmaker! I worked with Charity at the local Grange Co-op, Sam and TJ worked 2 jobs together at the time.

Sam came to meet me for the first time at work and asked me out to dinner. Our first date was to take place Sunday July 13, 2003. Tragically, my Dad died unexpectedly the night before our first date.

We didn’t go out until more than a year later, August 14, 2004, after a chance meeting at the Post Office. Coincidence is God’s signature and we quickly fell in love.

We celebrate all the special days: First Date Anniversary, Proposal Day, and our Wedding Anniversary. And we celebrate many other small things!

We have invented a basketful of small holidays and sprinkled them through the calendar:

First Day of Summer – with homemade ice cream

First Zucchini – with fried Zucchini Moons

First Tomato – we share it

Wisteria in Bloom – with pictures

Locust Tree Flower Flurry – grilled supper under the falling petals

Final Load of Firewood – a nap and a movie

This is just a sampling of small holidays of summer. We also celebrate clean floors, internet outages, and new baby animals of all kinds.

We are ready to mark any occasion, especially the small ones, with a special dessert, a picture, a picnic, a walk, or whatever suits.

How about you? Do you celebrate any private or “made-up” holidays? Do tell!

First sunflower… another small holiday? Chocolate Cherry Sunflower is a show-stopper.

Thornless blackberries mingle with wild ones along our garden fence. First ripe berries means blackberry cobbler or pie!

Gorgeously flavored Amarylla tomatillos are best when fully ripe, so sweet! This Polish variety was bred to thrive in the cooler summer conditions of inland eastern Europe. I didn’t used to consider tomatillos desirable as an out-of-hand snack, but these have changed my mind.

Our little dog, Squirrel loves to spend time in the garden with me, nose in the dirt. On this day, she uncovered a treasure: skin shed by a snake!

Small Chamomile harvest to be dried for tea. The variety is called Zloty Lan and I appreciate the extra-large size flowers. Larger flowers equal more tea. They have a fruity floral scent that is calming to the tummy and the disposition. I left plenty of flowers to self-sow. 

Another variety of chamomile, Kelway Golden, used for dyeing, is just coming into flower against a backdrop of Persian basil.

Goldenrod – a gift from a friend, Michael Villareal. In search of a cup of red wigglers (worms) for a new worm bin.

New video

A garden tool basket is almost like having an extra set of hands in the garden! No more lost time hunting for missing pruners or gloves; you will know right where they are. All those small items, too, like a tape measure for measuring off planting spaces, pencil for making notes in your garden journal, and more. You can bring your water bottle along, effortlessly, so you stay hydrated in the heat!

Zucchini Slice is a dish that Australian friend Amanda Roberts has been prodding me to make for a while. I finally made it and it was an instant hit. Sam makes waffles for breakfast.

Mix up a big batch of bread dough once a month with my Whole Wheat Freezer Bread Dough recipe, either by hand or using an Ankarsrum mixer. You can thaw and bake a loaf each week to keep fresh bread in the house and if a piece of dough hangs around too long in the freezer, it’s still great for pizza night!

Recipe for pizza sauce made from a can of tomato sauce or from tomatoes you’ve dried from your garden (pictured) is included in the pizza recipe! Make pizza just the way you like it.

A delicious summer meal of tabouli salad made with spelt grain, spiralized curly fries cooked in a cast iron skillet, and grilled steaks. Feeling blessed.

We said goodbye to our beloved Pastor Dennis Mortimore and his wife Joy as they retired to Grants Pass. Tom and Sheryl O’Neal, Pastors of a neighboring church, gave a beautiful tribute to Dennis. 

We make Tea and lunch at Mom and Rolly’s a small holiday. This week included a bunch of grandkids, so fun! Sisters Savannah Hulce, and Gigi and Alyssa Hill, Miriam and Mom’s BFF Joy Longiotti joined in the fun. Joy brought a newly finished quilt top to show and lunch was open-face egg salad sandwiches, fruit salad, sliced garden cucumbers, and iced tea.

Thanks for stopping by, see you next week!
Blessings,
Michele

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary Volume 2

Week 23: June 11, 2022

With 4 false starts to spring, gardening has resembled a chancy game of roulette. It turns out the fourth time, not the third, was the charm this year. Never have I planted and replanted so many times. We are now over a month later than our usual main planting time and it appears the weather has settled down at last.

I am thankful that I know how to save my own seeds – because buying and rebuying seeds this year could have been expensive. (I do enjoy buying “new” heirloom varieties, anyway, for fun.)

Pantry Cost Comparison

Gardening, preserving, and cooking are real work whose value is difficult to tabulate.Have you ever wondered what the cash value of your pantry is?

One year – 2009 – I completed a comprehensive cost comparison of my pantry to retail prices. It was an educational exercise, to say the least.

The value of foods I preserved by canning, freezing, dehydrating, fermenting, and storing, + garden seeds I saved, added up to… $4,747.10. In 2009!

On the Homestead

If you expand the picture of the lavender flowers (known as dame’s rocket or gillyflower) you might just be able to see a Hummingbird hawk moth hovering mid-flight, just left of center. Hummingbird hawk moths very much resemble hummingbirds.

In the Garden

First Violetta artichoke of the season and a fresh crop of lemons ripening from green to yellow are welcome in the kitchen. Learn to grow lemon trees from seeds here.

Sam adds chicken manure to the garden, Michele prepares to plant a flat of Pesto Party basil. The garden is poised for growth.

The comfrey was frozen back to the ground, then cut back all the way. It sprang back more robust than ever!

Calendula in bloom. A mixture of types grows freely in the garden, coming back bigger and better year after year.

In the Kitchen

Looking back through the pictures on my phone reminds me that we were blessed to eat well.

Monday tea with Miriam. Wish Cameo was here. Happy birthday, Cameo! I love you!

I opened the last jar of pressure canned pork for carnitas. Need to can more, it is so nice to have easy meals in the pantry ready to heat and eat.

A light wheat sourdough batard, from starter to shaping, to baking, to sliced. I am enjoying the ease of baking in a lighter weight vessel, this speckled enamel roaster from Crow Canyon is so pretty!

Dehydrated tomatoes hold their flavor well; simmering them in a little water plumps them up for a taco salad with beef and pinto beans on a bed of sliced cabbage instead of tortilla chips.

Goldenkraut is our favorite version of sauerkraut – and we’re down to our last jar. Sourdough pikelets are a simple way to use extra sourdough starter. Topped with egg salad they make a delicious open-face sandwich!

Using up the last hunk of homemade feta cheese in Einkorn tabouli salad with store-bought veggies and lots of fresh herbs from the herb bed outside the kitchen window.

Own a Bosch Universal mixer? I shared our family’s favorite bread recipe this week on the Chocolate Box Cottage YouTube channel. Make a big batch of 5 loaves; eat one and freeze four.

Book Shelf

Fermentation book picks:

If you would like to support my business, please use my affiliate link. It gives me a chance to earn free books, without affecting your price.

Beginners ~ Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin

Intermediate ~ Fermented Vegetables by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey

Advanced ~ The Noma Guide to Fermentation

So tell me, how do you tabulate the value of your work in your kitchen? Have you ever done a cost comparison?

Blessings,

Michele

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2

Week 10: March 12, 2022

Mild weather is perfect for washing quilts. Gentle detergent, gentle cycle, dry partially in the dryer to remove water weight, then finish hang drying. I remember sitting in the garden of our previous Central Point home hand stitching the binding on this quilt on a sultry 4th of July evening in 2010.

I made 2 of these quilts, one for Quilt A Smile and one for me. But Miriam fell in love with mine, so I still need to make one for myself.

In case you are interested, the pattern is called French Roses by Heather French and it’s a fun one for scraps or hand-picked fabrics.

New facia and trim boards to exclude mice. I hope!

“Great Stuff” appears to be nothing more than silly string for guys, as evidence above indicates.

Sam is making steady progress on repairs to our vintage A-frame greenhouse and the new herb garden space. He works hard and sacrifices unflinchingly for me, because he loves me. There is no doubt I am exceedingly blessed among women! Thank you, God.

In the Kitchen

Grandma’s recipe…Baked Rice (custard). My very favorite indulgent comfort food.

Waterglassed (or limed) eggs for egg salad sandwiches. As you can see from the date on the gallon jar, these were stored since October. We are using up our last jar of waterglassed eggs in March and the chickens are laying well again. We only had to buy 2 dozen eggs this winter.

Learn about waterglassing eggs here.

Wild Tabouli Salad is a forager’s take on traditional Lebanese or Syrian Tabouli (or Tabbouleh). Soft wheat berries were soaked overnight and then cooked. Instead of parsley and mint, I used wild herbs: shepherd’s purse, purple dead nettle, self-heal, and dandelion greens – with just a little parsley and mint that survived our recent 13-17F (-11- -8c). You might have all of these green goodies growing naturally in your backyard.

Note: Correct identification of any plants used as food is critical.

Blood oranges. Eat the marvelous, citrus-berry-flavored fruit, dry the peels for tea, and plant the seeds.

In the Garden

Planting seeds saved from blood oranges.

Work on the new Herb Garden continues, a piece at a time.

Rooted Pussywillow Cuttings from Meadowwoods Farm have been planted around the outside perimeter of the Herb Garden.

Moringa is a tree from India that produces edible, protein-rich leaves. The seeds require a 2-3 day soak in warm water, changed frequently, before planting. I am starting these Moringa seeds in extra large (5 gallon) pots with good organic potting soil and plenty of bunny berries so that they won’t need to be transplanted.

Planting time in the greenhouse: tomatoes, peppers (including seeds saved from these gorgeous flame-colored Aloha bells purchased at Fred Meyer), tomatillos, and herbs.

A happy little Meyer lemon seedling basks in the warm greenhouse on a March afternoon.

Mayo Bule gourds are an heirloom treasure. The vines are rampant climbers to 10-12 feet (3-4 meters) or even more, bearing big heart-shaped leaves and night-blooming flowers, which attract hummingbird hawk moths at dusk. In time the vines bear beautiful light green gourds 10-12 inches (25-30 cm) tall, shaped like Bartlett pears, covered in peanutty warts. Most unusual! The gourds eventually cure to tan or gold and make wonderful birdhouses. (Entrance holes should be drilled lower; these are used as decor)

Mayo Bule gourd seeds are unfortunately not available commercially. I have been growing them and saving seeds from about 2003. If I am able to multiply them to sufficient quantity, I may offer them for sale.

The plant in the Victorian shoe planter is a variegated Swedish ivy, Plectranthus variegata.

Old Friends

Speaking of women, we attended the memorial service of a dear friend, Terri Murray, on Saturday. Terri not only lived well, she set an example of how to die well. Not something we talk about – even in church. Thank you, Terri.

I crossed paths with my high school Spanish teacher, Carmen Tillery Adams. She was a very young teacher! She and I have both since married and raised families. We also saw Sue and Harold Steward. Sue is one of my quilt mentors at Quilt-a-Smile at New Life Church.  

Don’t forget Dessert!

Someone mentioned cake, so I went to the greenhouse and picked a lemon for a cake.

Made-from-scratch Lemon Buttermilk Cake is quick to pull together from pantry ingredients + 1 lemon.  

We are planting several interesting new or heirloom varieties this year in the ongoing quest to refine our home food system while keeping it lighthearted and fun.

How about you, are you planting anything different or unusual this year? Have you increased the size of your garden or are you planning to preserve some of the bounty?

Blessings to you this week – and thanks for visiting! If you have a few minutes, to spare, feel free to enjoy a cup of tea/coffee and another Cottage Diary entry.