1) Start with these basic ingredients. One gallon of whole milk (best quality available!) and a couple of lemons (three if they’re small).

2) Juice up 1/2 cup of lemon juice. If you don’t have access to lemons (for some reason!) you can use 1/4 cup of vinegar.

3) Start heating your milk. Not to full heat, but close to “8″ on your stove. Use a spatula, or a wooden paddle to keep the milk slowly moving as it heats. For this, I used a Teflon lined pan. Many will tell you not to, but frankly, cleanup is exponentially simpler.  Do not leave your pan alone.

4) The milk will start to bubble around the edges, and develop a skin. Keep that skin scraped down as much as possible.

5) As it continues to heat, it’ll start to create a soft foam on top. Keep the milk in motion, keep scraping.

6) Now you’ll start to get that “latte” foam on top. Now, you’re ready to add your acid.

7) Add the lemon juice (or vinegar) and slowly mix it together. Almost immediately, the curds will separate from the whey, and you’ll end up with the chunky milk solids apart from a greenish colored whey.

Pour the contents of your pan into a cotton lined colander. There is “cheesecloth” which is generally FAR too wide of a weave. A clean tea towel, moistened, will do nicely. Let it sit in the sink and drain.

At this point, you pretty much have ricotta cheese. If you put it in a bowl with some salt and dried herbs, mix and refrigerate. It makes an amazingly delicious cheesy dip.

Let it drain a little more, and you have cottage cheese.

9) Here, I’ve tied it up onto a rolling pin and hung it over the colander sitting in a bowl. Let it sit and drain for a while. The longer it sits, the dryer it gets. As it cools, squeeze out excess water. Once it’s cooled, and well drained, press it into a bowl or some similar shaping container, and refrigerate.

Here is a version I made with dried herbs. I added a tablespoon of dried Italian herbs, and a tablespoon of kosher salt to the milk as it cooked. If you’re so compelled, after the cheese has solidified in the refrigeration, you can soak it in a salt-water brine and keep it like feta. It makes a delicious crumbly cheese for salads, sandwiches, etc.

This cheese doesn’t melt, but as it heats, it does soften. It’s great on crostini with pesto and tomatoes, wonderful when it’s sliced on crackers and just plain tasty for snacking.

Next time, we’ll be experimenting with a rennet cheese… using vegetarian rennet, of course

As a side note – if you decide to buy garlic from the store to plant, make sure that you’re buying organic garlic that hasn’t been treated with any sort of chemicals. Partly, because it’s bad to eat chemicals, but also because any garlic you’re buying at the grocery store will likely have been treated with an anti-sprouting chemical, so it won’t sprout in the store. Which is why you can keep store-bought garlic at home for months before it ever starts to sprout.

Needless to say, you don’t want to put anything in your garden that is already hindered by chemicals, so go with the most organic, untreated, pesticide free garlic you can.

So, I planted this garlic in February of 08, and I kinda forgot about it. That is, until about September of 2008 when I found 6″ green sprouts coming out of the ground! It took me a while to remember what was happening in that corner of the garden, but when I remembered the garlic planted there, I was terribly excited! I just couldn’t figure out why it took so long to sprout!

So, I let it grow all winter, and when spring came, the puffy flower-ball at the top emerged, and the lower foliage began to die off. It was at this point that I remembered the French technique of breaking the necks of the garlic plants! Basically, what this technique suggests, is that once the bottom leaves of the plant start to dry, and turn brown, bend the neck of the garlic until the top of the plant are laying on the ground, but the bulb is still buried in the ground. Put a brick on the plant, and wait for about a month. Continue to water as normal, and the plant will put all of it’s effort and resources into building a big, healthy bulb, instead of trying to keep the foliage going. Leave the broken plants under the bricks, though, so you know where to find the garlic later!

After a month of keeping these broken necked garlic in the ground, I pulled up a dozen heads of beautiful garlic!

Wash off the dirt (use a scrubby vegetable brush!) and peel off the hard crusted dirt and garlic skin, and you’ll have beautiful garlic ready to eat. If it’s more garlic than you’ll use before it goes bad, puree it with some olive oil, and keep it in the freezer for up to a year!

But first, pickles! I like to make a simple Garlic Dill, and I can tell you it’s insanely easy to make. Check it out!

Start with pickling cucumbers – I began with 10 pounds.

Pickling Cucumbers - about 5 inches long

Cut off the rounded ends – Partly, I did this so it would fit better into the jar, and partly because I don’t really like the odd pointy end of the pickle.

Cut lengthwise, and chop the ends

Soak the cucumbers in a saltwater solution. Approximately 2 tablespoons of water per quart of water. I put a plate on top to keep the cucumbers under water.

Sitting in a brine solution for an hour or more - sitting on a Chinese newspaper that was wrapped around the knife I'd just bought!

Now, this is where I had to stop taking pictures because my hands were full, but I can talk you through it.

On the stovetop, get your canner hot – not boiling, but water simmering well. Read the instructions that come with your canner – since we’re doing these in vinegar, you don’t have to use a pressure canner – just a simple boiler.

On a back burner, start warming your vinegar. Don’t boil it! Don’t get near the vinegar steam. Just let it get hot – if it’s bubbling at all, then it’s too hot. Vinegar steam can kick your @$$, so don’t get it near your respiratory system.

Your jars should be completely cleaned – either in the dishwasher, or handwashed in really hot water. If you handwash, make sure to get all the soap rinsed off!

Now, take your jars and put them in the canner – empty, of course – and let them simmer for about 5 minutes. This phase is just to sterilize the jars. After they’ve been simmering for about 5-6 minutes, take them out, and empty the water inside. Set them onto a clean work surface (cutting board, etc.)

Now, in each pint jar, add 2 cloves of garlic (give each clove a little smash – add three if you like!), a few peppercorns, a good heaping tablespoon of dried dill, a couple teaspoons of kosher salt, and a slice of lemon. If you’re doing quarts, just double the amount you’re putting in. If you like them spicy, add a pinch of crushed red pepper – a little goes a long way, so don’t get too crazy!

Now, you’re ready to pack your cucumbers into the jars. You can do chips, chunks or spears – pick your favorite. Remember, the smaller the pieces, the faster they’ll cook, and the less crunchy they might be. For these, I did spears. Jam as many in the jar as you can, but allow yourself about a half-inch gap between the top of the cucumbers, and the top of the jar.

After you’ve packed your cucumbers into the jars, pour the warm vinegar from that back burner over the cucumbers until the jars are filled to the top of the cucumbers — still leaving a little gap between the top of the food, and the top of the jar.

Sealer lids

Now, in a saucepan, simmer about an inch of water. Drop the flat seals into the simmering water for about 30 seconds – be careful to keep them from sealing onto one another! – after they’ve simmer for 30 seconds or so, drop them onto the top of the jars, and put the tightening ring on the jar. Don’t overtighten – just turn the rings until you meet resistance.

In the canner...

Now, place the jar into the canner, on the rack. Most canners will fit 5 or 6 jars. Leave a little bit of space between each jar so they don’t clatter into one another and potentially break.

Once your canner is filled, set the timer for 15 minutes. Add your jars, It’ll take about 5 minutes to get the heat back up, and then it’ll spend about 10 minutes of processing. Once your timer beeps, take your jars out and put them in a cool, dry location AWAY FROM BREEZES AND DRAFTS!!! You don’t want the temperature to drop too quickly – you’ll risk the jars cracking or breaking.

Pickles are cooling!

This batch yielded up about 10 pints, and 2 quarts. I’ll sell the pints at the neighborhood sale on July 11th, and keep the quarts for home

And, the California Mix! This is just a simple veggie mix that I have come to enjoy as a cold snack in the summer. I did a mix of cauliflower, carrots, celery, and yellow bell peppers. It’s also tasty with added caperberries or olives!  I did them basically the same as the pickles, but for the seasoning, I did a wheel of lemon, a heaping teaspoon of Italian Seasoning, three cloves of garlic, and a tablespoon of toasted dried onion. Pack and process the same as the pickles.

Pickled California Mix! Delicious and pretty!

Once they’ve cooled sufficiently, put them in a cool, dark, dry place. Put one in the fridge, once it’s chilled, open and enjoy!

One of the cheats - pre-potted flowers from the garden shop!

Every year I get overly eager and start too many things – only to have them spring to life too soon, and they become leggy and can’t possibly survive outside. This year is certainly no exception – I started a good number of things, and had to sacrifice a few, but overall I timed things a bit better. For my seedlings, I use a simple small shop shelf, and over each shelf I have a small aluminum shop light. I have the lights plugged into an extension cord that’s plugged into a light timer that switches on at 8:00am and goes off at 7:00pm.

Total investment:
Portable Shop Shelf – $20
Three Shop Lights from Home Depot – $5 each/$15
Extension Cord – $2
Light Timer – $5

If you are ready to start seedlings indoors (and now’s a good time to start pepper and tomato seeds, if you’re inclined to go that route!) here are a few tips that I’ve found work well for me:

1) Start seeds in clean pots. I store my seed pots and trays in the basement and shed, and they’re exposed to mold, mildew and heaven knows what else. After I hose them off outside, I bring them in, and rinse them in warm water with a splash of bleach in it to kill any mold or mildew still on it. Make sure to rinse them well, because you certainly don’t want any bleach lingering around.

2) Use a “sterile” seed mix – and if you get it from a Home Depot or Lowe’s type store, don’t buy it if it’s been sitting outside. Anything that gets rain in it will bring mildew and whatnot with it. Seed babies are prone to an unfortunate disease called “damp off” which is basically a mold that attacks the young seedlings and gives them no chance of surviving. You can start seeds in a LOT of different kinds of mediums – pure vermiculite or perlite work great! Seeds don’t need “soil” per se, they just need a place to get warm and take on some water.

3) You don’t have to use potting soil to start seeds in – chances of “damp off” are much higher, and potting soil has composted nutrition in it that the seedlings don’t need until they’re older. “Potting Soil” has a habit of being more expensive than seed starting mix – save yourself the money.

4) Only use those clear domes over the seed trays until you see the first sprouts. Once you see seeds germinate, take the lids off. If they might get too cold at night, prop the lids up with popsicle sticks, or clip clothespins on the sides of the seed trays, and use them as legs to hold up the dome. A little airflow will keep damp off from occurring, and you don’t lose much heat.

5) Group things together that have similar moisture and light requirements. Lettuces, cress and onions don’t need to be terribly warm, but some flowers want more heat. Have one tray of salad plants, another of warm flowers, cruciferous plants (broccoli, kale, cabbage, etc.) in another tray, etc. and arrange them on shelves accordingly. Heat-loving things closer to the lights, cooler plants farther away.

Gathered into groups with sensible companions.

6) Keep soil moist with an atomizer until you see the first leaves (cotyledons) appear. Once the first leaves are on, water from the bottom. This encourages stronger root growth – watering along the top will keep roots weak, and pretty shallow.

7) I’ve used distilled water for seedlings, but if you have a tea kettle, you can do your own. Just boil up water, and let it cool completely and fill your atomizers from the kettle. Boiling kills all the chlorine and other undesirable chemicals that might be appearing in your tap water. Chlorine may be good for keeping water clean, but it isn’t good for tender young plants.

Enjoy spring, whenever it comes to you. I’m looking forward to experimenting with a couple different tomato seeds. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on their progress.

I’m also contemplating using these “Topsy Turvy” planters for some tomato plants this year – has anyone tried these? Do share your experiences with these if you have – i’d love to hear what your experience has been with them!

What I’ve built in my garden is the simplest variety of garden cloche possible – it’s also one of the least expensive. For a 3’ wide by 6’ long space, I needed:

• Two six-foot sections of ¾” PVC pipe
• Two eight-foot sections of ¾” PVC pipe
• One eight-foot section of 1” PVC pipe – cut into eight, one-foot sections
• Clear or opaque heavy-plastic sheeting

To begin, pound the one-foot sections into the ground. Leave about 4 or 5 inches of the end of the pipe above ground.

I just noticed how boring this photo is!

You’ll use these as the insertion points for the arches of your cloche. Two on each end in pairs, two on one side, and two on the other, about 24″ apart.

I use the 6' pipes on the far ends, and the 8' pipes in the middle, so the middle is higher up.

On the far ends, bend a six-foot section of the ¾” pipe into an arch, and insert the ends into the pipes you’ve pounded into the ground.

8' sections in the middle, the shorter ones on the end

Now, we’re going to cover the pipes with a clear, heavy plastic (4 mil or heavier contractor plastic works well!) and create a tent… well, actually, a cloche!

You can use many, many things to secure your plastic – I anchor the back of the cloche (the side I can’t get to, because it’s on the neighbors fence) with a staplegun, but then leave an open flap in the front, and weight it down with bricks.

You want to keep the plastic fairly taut – too much slack in the plastic can allow the wind to create a little flapping which can quickly become a sail and take your cloche up like that house in the Wizard of Oz. Most importantly, though, is the precious warming under the cloche! Under these small, temporal greenhouses, you can effectively create Springtime in small scale, and start growing those early spring veggies now! Even if there’s snow outside!

Think salad! Arugula, radishes and peas! Remember to keep them watered, and your cloches will reward you with early springtime!

As we get into spring, the days will warm – and on those days, remember to open your cloches during the day and let your plants breathe and let off the excess heat. In February there won’t likely be much “excess heat”, but as April and May roll around, you may find that your cloches are no longer necessary until Fall comes back.

Share your thoughts! What do you like to grow in your cloche?

One of the most amazing places we visited was a small town called Giverny, about an hour northwest of Paris. Giverny was the town where Claude Monet (of Impressionist painting fame), and his wife kept a GORGEOUS house – large, but distinctly a “farm” house. Sadly, we were forbidden from taking photos inside of the house, but I recommend visiting the Giverny page HERE to see photos of Monet’s kitchen. Absolutely exquisite.

But it was in the gardens where I was most amazed – first was the main gardens at the front of the house, but there is also the Japanese water garden, where his famous water lilies reside – yes, those would be the water lilies of his most known paintings.

When I’m contemplating my garden for this year, I turn back to these photos, and consider the decidedly French techniques employed – using every square inch possible, and making the plants and flowers be the star of the show.

I’m off to do more research on the French kitchen garden, or potager, that we’ve written about before.

I suspect there will be new ideas…

Okay, so I have to confess.

I cheated a bit.

I hired people to help clear the beds – and it was well worth it! If you find yourself needing some help – hire Jimmy Eager at Achlys Gardens – http://www.achlysgardens.com/ Check out his site – he’s a genius.

The 2009 garden “before” cleanup

Also, as I look at the photos of the garden at the moment, I’m a bit wistful over the previous year. After last year’s garden, I simply let it go to rest as I would if I lived in the Midwest. While living in the middle of the country, I could rely on winter to do a bit of my cleanup work for me – however, out here in the Northwest, we don’t “enjoy” those sub-zero conditions, and weeds continue on, unabated, and when spring arrives, there’s much cleanup to do before the planting season.

Since i’ve been introduced to the Pacific Northwest alliterative adage of “Plant Peas on President’s Day” today shall be that day – when the garden gets cleared, and peas get planted. Cloches will be built. Plans will be made.

And hope will begin again. Welcome to the 2009  growing and eating season!

And it’s got me pumped up for spring!

Over the last couple weekends, I’ve been clearing out the vegetable beds and laying in a layer of mulch – carefully avoiding pulling the remaining overwintering leeks, kale and celeriac. Sadly, I did not plan my winter garden as meticulously as Valria, and ran out of winter veggies early on in the winter. But as spring beckons with it’s seductive gardening catalogs, I’ve begun the planning.

If you have been inundated with catalogs, I’d encourage you to take a moment to determine what plants are good for your area, and not be easily swayed by the colorful images of plants that can’t flourish in your climate. How do you determine this? By finding out what “Zone” you’re in!

Most purveyors of plants and seeds indicate what “zone” a plant is suited for based on the USDA’s “Plant Hardiness Zone Map”.

You can click here to find your zone!

Basically, this map indicates, by region the average annual minimum temperature range. By determining this temperature, you can make an educated selection on your plants, based on which are hardy at those temperatures. For instance, living in Seattle, I am in Zone 7b, which based on these statistics, means that the average minimum temperature is 5-10 degrees Farenheit.

Now, those who live in Seattle know that it is RARE to ever see a winter that cold – thus far, the lowest I’ve seen over this last winter is 22 degrees, and not for any significant amount of time. This relatively mild winter, means that it never “hard freezes”, and that soil can be worked throughout the winter, and that bulbs that remain in the ground over winter won’t necessarily freeze to death.

As tempting as may of those tropical beauties may be, make sure your climate will allow it.

So, the planning continues – take a moment and check out Territorial Seed Catalog!

Here in the Pacific Northwest they can be a bit of a challenge, (even with the zillion varietals that grow well in cooler, wetter climates), and can frustrate even the most savvy of gardeners. I once heard a friend say that she was considering not growing them at all. I was stunned.

What would be the point of gardening, if NOT to grow your own tomatoes. More than any other vegetable, I think, the difference between a home-grown tomato and a store-bought tomato is the greatest. I’ve fed home-grown tomatoes to people who have never had one (can you imagine?) and they are almost confused; overwhelmed by the enormity of the difference in flavor and quality.

The photo above is of the first cherry tomatoes I pulled from the vine earlier this week. They are explosively sweet, and full of flavor. Another perk, or so it seems to me, of homegrown tomatoes, is that they last longer. Of course, you should NEVER refrigerate a tomato – EVER! That will only accelerate the wilting and dying process. It should only find it’s way to the refrigerator after it’s been cut into a salad, or for no more than an hour or so to chill it before serving. However, I wouldn’t even bother chilling them. When they get cold, the natural sweetness is hindered, and they can become unpleasant, because only the acidic tang can be tasted.

A tomato, fresh from the garden, washed gently with cool water, sliced and served with a sprinkling of salt and pepper (perhaps a bit of fresh basil and olive oil?) is one of the most perfect of summer delights, and should only be attempted in the summer.

In a few weeks time, I’m hoping to start canning tomatoes. I have quite a few lovely saucing tomatoes that are currently green on the vine and will be perfect soon. Time to dig out those canners and Mason jars!