Church in the New Year

Our block of meetings begins at 10:30 am this new year. We'll also have to get out of the chapel quickly afterwards - but that's okay, that will get you to my Gospel Doctrine class quicker!
-Becca Meservy

Cooking without Electricity - Sun Oven

So, my husband decided to give the sun oven a whirl with the chocolate chip cookie dough from the freezer.
8:30  set out the sun oven to preheat. 56° degrees outside
9:40  oven 315°.  We put in the cookie dough. Remember, it was from the freezer so it was cold.

9:50  oven 320° and he made some slight adjustments to better channel the sun. He's an engineer so he got a wooden block and put it under the back to angle it towards the sun a little more precisely.
10:10 the cookies were done. Perhaps a little too done, they were crispy. (The normal cooking time for this recipe is 12 minutes at 350°, these were cooked for 30 minutes, so it doesn't really take much longer in the sun oven.)

10:15 oven 330° second batch of cookies put in.
10:30 340°, the oven was adjusted slightly
10:40 time got a way from hm.(Remember, he's an engineer). He meant to take them out sooner this time, but they ended up cooking until they were crispy again.
 Good to know all of that chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer won't go to waste after the next hurricane!

Tasty cookies!

Interview with Master Gardener Bishop Bond

What can we do in our garden in November?
It's not too late to plant green top vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, beets, carrots and brussel sprouts.) The broccoli and cabbage plants can survive if we get a light freeze or frost. When we need a salad for dinner, I just go out and pick off enough leaves for the meal.

Broccoli, cabbage and red leaf lettuce

When I asked about a freeze date, Bishop Bond kind of chuckled. Obviously, you can't pin nature down to a freeze date. If it doesn't freeze, (which it frequently doesn't) your tomatoes and peppers can continue producing until you pull them out to plant your spring garden. Sometimes, you just take the gamble and plant the tomatoes anyway. A 4 pack of  tomato plants is about the same price as a tomato at the store. Your investment just might pay off..
What are you doing now in your garden to prepare for a Spring planting? 
I had a lot of problems with blossom rot this year. In reading up on it, I learned that blossom rot is a result of uneven watering and a lack of calcium in the soil. I plan on working a couple of bags of medina fertilizer into the soil in January. It's available at Lake Hardware.
I have a friend who set up a sprinkler on a PVC pipe to water the garden evenly and he only waters during the day to avoid diseases that can be introduced by wet soil overnight.
He motioned to one bed that was weeds on one half. He said about two weeks before planting, he was going spray roundup on the weeds and turn them into the soil to prepare for planting. Except for the Bermuda grass, he was going to pull that. The soil level in a raised bed tends to decrease for a variety of reasons and needs to replaced. A few bags of peat moss or black cow can add needed nutrients and replace the lost soil.
If you mix river sand into the gumbo here it actually makes pretty good garden soil, but it is hard to do by hand. You would need a tiller. If you want to build a raised bed, you can buy dirt from Texas Garden Soils (9306 FM 523 Freeport, TX)
What pests have you had in your garden this year and how do you get rid of them?
I've had stink bugs and you have to pick them off by hand. Last year my wife bought me a small, hand vac to use to suck up the bugs. It's great. tomato worms you have to pick off by hand (I've read they are easiest to find in the mornings). They lay eggs when the plants are about 2/3 mature. Sprinkle the plants with Sevin dust until they start to bear fruit to prevent eggs. I've also had squash bores this year. They're hard to find, you just have to pick them off the plants.
To keep fire ants out of the garden, sprinkle Amdro around the edges of the garden, but keep it away from the plants. Also, don't use Amdro with root plants such as potatoes, onions, or carrots.
With the drought this year, what can we plant in the garden that will do well in dry conditions?
My okra did well this year and the blackberries. Sister Bond uses the okra in soups and seafood dishes. She also has a great recipe for a gumbo type dish that is healthier than traditional gumbo. (I think we will need to get that recipe for a future post.)
Random Tips
Use old nylons to tie up your tomato plants when they need additional support. (Support hose?)

His peach trees produced well this year. When looking for a peach tree, look for a species that requires 300 or less freeze hours. The fewer the better, but at least less than 300.
Figs also produced very well this year.
He bought some Kiowa blackberries and they produce huge blackberries.

From This to That: Sandwich Loaf

Here's another great sandwich loaf to make from your food storage. This recipe calls for potato flakes, which helps keep the loaf light. The recipe calls for butter, but I was out so I used shortening. You'll notice orange juice in these recipes from King Arthur flour. The juice is supposed to help even out the bitter flavor some whole wheat flours have. It's not necessary and I often leave it out; someone usually drinks my orange juice before I get around to making bread. This time, I froze it in ice cubes first and hid it in the freezer! Hard white wheat makes a flour with a smoother flavor and the orange juice isn't necessary.

Find the recipe for this sandwich loaf HERE.

Cooking without electricity - Sun Oven

Once you have a store of food, how are you going to cook it in an emergency? One option is a sun oven. I spent some time this week experimenting with the sun oven.
I used this recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken from Wendy DeWitt.
Here's how the day went.It was a rather cool day in Southern Texas; 61° at noon.
8:30 am I set out the sun oven to "preheat"
9:30   The oven was 300°. I made a slight adjustment to better capture the sun.
10:30  345°  I put the rice and water in the oven in separate containers to heat.

11:05  300° in the oven. The water and rice were both 150° and I combined them.
11:50 300° oven. I put the chicken in the oven.
11:20 250° I made some adjustments to the oven to face the sun better.
12:00 260° Adjusted the oven
12:30 290°
1:20 260° wiped the condensation off the glass on the oven. Adjusted it to face the sun. Rice looked like it was   done.

 1:50 260° I think I put the sauce in now. I forgot to write it down.

2:40 200° (The sun had moved behind a tree in the yard. I moved the sun oven to a different spot.) Wiped the condensation. Shook the sauce.

3:15 150° The chicken was 200° and the rice was 180°. At this point, the backyard was very shaded and I didn't want to move the sun oven to chase the sun spots so I took everything out and we ate dinner very early. (and warmed it up in the microwave later)

What did I learn?
*Start early and prepare. I think the sauce would have thickened more if I had put it in earlier.
*The sun is definitely lower in the sky in the winter. I had to make more frequent adjustments of the oven to follow the sun across the sky. By 4 o'clock, they sun was too low in the sky to cook anymore.
*I think it might make a difference if the jars used to cook were darker. I don't know if the white rice reflected too much sun. Before the next experiment, I plan to paint the outsides of the jars black.

From This to That: Pancake Mix

What can I do with my food storage? You can turn this:

Into pancake mix with this RECIPE.
These pancakes are really tasty and easy. You just mix the dry ingredients with the oil until it sticks together when you squeeze it like this

Then you store it in the freezer until you are ready to make pancakes. You add a few more ingredients

(You can also use buttermilk. In food storage terms, that would be one cup of powdered milk plus one tablespoon vinegar. The orange juice is optional.)
And, viola, you get this yummy breakfast.

Small Spaces Storage Solutions

One of the dilemmas with food storage is where to put it all. Here's an idea I ran across today while going through a catalog over lunch.

 I remember one of these in our entryway in the late 80's. It was surprising how much food storage my Mom stashed under there. Good news, they're back in style!



 ~CM

Canning

Want to learn how to can but unsure of where to start? The University of Georgia offers a free on-line class! Check it out here.