Herbed Oil and Vinegar

Ah, Christmas. Sometimes my favorite time of year. At the very least it's a great time to find excuses to craft, bake, and create things you might otherwise not find time to do. This post is tardy as i obviously didn't want to spoil any surprises!

Herbed oils and vinegars are easy to do, and especially special when they're made entirely with homegrown herbs and veggies.  This year I'm giving each set of parents (i have three) their own oil and vinegar sets. I have to ship the ones to my Dads and Moms in Oregon, so i am rigorously crossing my fingers that they don't explode on the way there.
Flavors and herb choices are entirely up to you or up to what your garden is providing. If it was summer i would have put in a lot more fresh basil, and if my lemon thyme plant hadn't died in this summer's drought i would have been able to put a lot more of that in there: same goes for my lemongrass. You simply want to choose "a theme" and try to stick to it. I put together what i had on hand:

Herbed Oil - Italian Herbs with Garlic

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• fresh and roasted garlic - mashed + whole for garnish
• fresh rosemary and sage - diced + whole sprigs for garnish
• fresh oregano - diced
• peppercorns and dried hot peppers for garnish

Flavored oils are so easy: Simply dice up all the herbs and garlic and put in a mortar and pestle with a drizzle of oil. Mash until you can't stand it then scoop it all into a mixing bowl. Pour the rest of your oil into the bowl and mix well - be sure to get all the goodness off the pestle.  Once well mixed pour the oil mixture into some well sealed jars and be sure to shake them up daily. Marinate the mixture for at least 2 weeks. (i had to skimp the Rommels due to time i'm afraid, theirs only got marinated for about a week, sorry!) When you are ready to bottle simply stuff the fresh herbs and peppercorns/garlic into some pretty bottles: feel free to recycle old oil bottles for this. Using a strainer and funnel one over the other carefully pour the oil into your bottles. The strainer will catch the gook and the funnel will direct the oil into the bottle instead of all over your counter. Be sure to leave some room on the top.
Try and store the oil in a dark, coolish place. The fresh herbs contribute to ease of going rancid so you want to use this oil within 6 months and keep it from getting too warm and friendly to bacteria.

Herbed Vinegar with Citrus

• White Wine Vinegar
• Fresh Meyer Lemon Zest for marinating and garnish
• Garlic - diced + whole for garnish
• Fresh Dill - diced + whole sprig for garnish
  
• Fresh Parsley - diced + whole for garnish
• Garlic Chives - diced
• Lemon Thyme - diced
• Peppercorns and Dried Hot Pepper for garnish
• (wanted to include fresh lemongrass, but it died in the first frost)
  

Pour vinegar into a non reactive pot and heat to just boiling. Meanwhile dice all the herbs and mash in a mortar and pestle. Place herbs in a mixing bowl and pour hot vinegar over them when it is ready. Cover and let cool. Once cooled off a bit pour the vinegar mixture into well sealable jars and store in a dark place, shaking daily, for at least 2 weeks.  When you're ready repeat the same process as with the oils and pour through a sieve and funnel into pretty bottles - i reused the original vinegar bottles.

Presentation:

Is totally up to you, of course. But i wanted these to look pretty and special and "me." I scraped off the original labels with a flat exacto blade, any sticky residue can be removed with WD40. If i had had labels, i may have stuck something to the side of the bottles, but since i didn't i used black hemp twine and recycled Artagain Paper (the same that i use with my illustrations). I hand wrote (redoing several times as my handwriting is NOT good) the ingredients and suggested uses and storage instructions on the paper and strung it to the bottles with the twine. I think the black hemp looks nice on the naked bottles filled with pretty and scrumptios stuff.

Woops, i undercooked the Turkey

This blog is not just a place for my recipes and successes in the garden, but also a place for troubleshooting and recording my shortcomings.

I undercooked the Christmas turkey. It was way bigger than we needed, and i planned on roasting it on a bed of root veggies. That would have been fine, but i went a little crazy with the veggies and they absorbed way too much of the cooking time.  7 hours later and our turkey still wasn't falling off the bone. We still nibbled at the edges, avoiding the less than done inner parts,  but i almost got myself down enough to ruin an otherwise perfect christmas.  Everything else tasted grand though, and as you can see the veggies were soaked in delicious drippings with plenty left over to make some deeelish gravy.

I stuck the gorgeous, but insufficiently heated animal back in the oven on a lower temp, just left it there for a while, turned off the oven and left it, then stuck it in the fridge. Tasted even better the next night with leftover mashed cauliflower, root veggies, gravy and peas.

It turned out alright, just glad i didn't schedule guests to come at a certain time or there would have been hungry fisticuffs.

At least the husband approved!

Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon

A. Fresh eggs are REALLY hard to peel. Despite using a tip from a fellow poultry enthusiast: put 1/2 Tsp of baking soda per each quart of water, the shells still stuck like crazy. A few of the older eggs peeled a little better. (fresh eggs are harder to peel due to a lack of air or something like that, less space between the membranes)
B. I love deviled eggs, despite them maybe not loving me so much. The husband loves them even more, so what better light dinner before Christmas feast? We picked up some smoked salmon at Whole Foods the other day after ice skating and i was inspired.

To boil the eggs:
Place eggs in pan and cover with 1 inch of water, along with 1 tsp of baking soda if using fresh eggs. Bring to a boil on med/high heat. Once boiling, cover and remove from heat, set a timer for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes have elapsed, pour out the hot water and put the eggs in a bowl of ice water then the fridge until ready to use.

Deviled Eggs:
Most ingredients are to taste, you just need a creamy consistancy, this is about what i used:

6 boiled eggs, halved with yolks removed
2 spoonfuls of mayo, i used Light
about a tablespoon + of dijon or spicy mustard
a good squirt of regular yellow mustard
a pinch of fresh dill
dashes of paprika for garnish
finely chopped smoked salmon and green onions, about 1 slice of salmon
could also add some chilly powder, but i didn't this time
salt and pepper

Mush the yolks with the seasonings and mayo/mustard until rather creamy/sticky. Add the onions and salmon. Taste and adjust to your liking. Carefully spoon the filling into the halved egg whites (you can tell mine are a bit unsightly, but we're eating them ourselves so who cares) and garnish with some green pepper, a little more salmon and paprika.

Ta Da.

Nut Bread

Mmmmmm. My mom gave me this recipe as well. I fiddled with it a bit to meet my needs and interests. It's a very versatile recipe that's open to a lot of variations. Mom says it only gets better with time in the freezer. We will see about that.
I baked a big loaf and divided it between friends. It looked too yummy though that i'll be baking another loaf before we go camping to bring along... and to have to snack on christmas morning.

Note: this recipe doesn't even call for oil in the first place as the nuts provide enough of that on their own.

• 3 1/2 cups flour (again i've been using a 50/50 whole wheat/white blend)
• 1 cup sugar (i only used 3/4)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups milk (here's where i majorly deviated. Instead i used one cup cran/applesauce and 1 cup orange juice. i don't usually like orange flavors in baked goods, but i think in this case it'll be really nice and sweeten things up a bit)
• 2 eggs (i used 3 as mine are so small)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (local pecans)
• cranberries. I think i added about 1/2 cup, maybe more.

1. Preheat to 350. 
2. Mix all dry ingredients
3. Add remaining ingredients and stir well until mixed
4. Pour into pans (this recipe filled 1 9x7 pan) and let stand 20 minutes
5. Bake for 50 minutes
6. Remove and let cool a bit, then remove from pan onto a nice towel to finish cooling.
   

*Notes On My Variations*
Since i had dense applesauce and juice instead of milk i cooked at a lower temperature and cooked a longer total of 1 hour. The first 45 minutes i cooked at 325 bringing it up to 350 for the last fifteen. I was also baking in my toaster oven so i lowered the rack one notch halfway through as the bread rose, that may not be an issue in a nice centered rack in a normal oven.

I think this next time i make it i might be a little crazy and include some chopped organic chocolate that has freeze dried orange rinds in it.

Pumpkin Bread, a Less Evil Version

I looooove pumpkin bread! But i REALLY love the sinful form. I will not allow that deliciousness in my house, however unless i'm surrounded by all my sisters or at least one of my 3 dads. So i altered a recipe from my mom and came up with a loaf that's yummy and cakey and buoyant without being sodden with oil. I cooked down a million apples this fall just for the purpose of baking and subbing oil with applesauce, and so i shall! Turned out great:

• 3 cups flour
• Less than 2 cups sugar (go lean and mix half white/brown)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp clove
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg (i was out of this and added a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice instead)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 16 oz (2 cups) Pumpkin, i used home cooked/pureed pumpkin that was mixed with some raw milk whey
• 2/3 cup oil - i used all applesauce instead of the oil
• 3 eggs slightly beaten - i added one simply because my ladies' eggs are so small
• I also added about a 1/2 cup of pecans
  

1. Preheat 350
   
2. Mix together flour and next 6 ingredients
3. Add the wet ingredients and mix until just blended
4. Do not overmix!
5. Pour batter into two 9x5 pans, or in my case a 9x5 pan and two little pans. Fill pans about half way, dough will rise
   
6. Bake for 1 hour, let cool 10 minutes and remove from pan

I occasionally run into a bit of egg white or applesauce, but it doesn't bother me! Quite tastey and so far has been enjoyed by all. It's not super sweet, and it could maybe be a little spicier.
To be naughty serve with a little margarine or Smart Balance on top. Yummmmmm.

Christmas Baking Days

My next few posts will be recipes for Christmasy cookies and breads.
It is hard for me, a northerner, to get geared up for Christmas and feeling festive. There is no snow to sled in. There are no frost covered trees. The red cardinals look out of place on the green grass, and it just DOESN'T feel like Winter when it's 65 degrees outside.
But one thing has always meant Christmas to me and my family: baking cookies for friends and families in our festive aprons with Christmas Tides on the stereo (old carols played with antique instruments). This familiar music paired with the methodic and repetative nature of baking really puts me in the spirit.

Before long my husband and i were dancing around the kitchen like silly little village folk, waving the rolling pin around and kicking up our knees. Yes, our neighbors think we're crazy.

If you try any of these recipes, let me know how they turned out. We'll be saving some for ourselves and giving the rest as gifts. 

Here's to the smell of baking goodies!

Yellow Split Pea Soup

Mmm, split pea soup. This may sound repulsive to some of you (mom) out there, but to me and the husband it sounds like a dreamy bowl of warm goodness. My favorite part of being stuck for hours delayed at the San Fransisco airport is purchasing a bowl of split pea soup from the sourdough soup place. It is good, though i always burn my mouth. I've never really thought of making it myself, but upon wandering the aisles of Fiesta the other day looking for grains to fill a craft project i was working on i saw this pretty yellow split peas
"What the heck" i said to myself "Might as well buy these and see what happens."

It's been a little chilly here in Austin, brisk and seasonal (sort of) feeling and we've been eating a lot of soup. We'd had several nights of tomato based dinners, so i thought about those split peas and the leftover veg stock i had in the fridge.
"Would you eat split pea soup if i made it" i said to my husband. "sure. What is that?" he's kind of a dork, but i love him and he'll eat about anything i make.
This particular recipe earned me 2 enthusiastic high fives. Hot dog! I just whipped it up last night, so tonight i'll make it again and pay more careful attention to amounts used.

My recipe was built around Alton Brown's (oh how i miss the food network) curried split pea soup. Once i learned i didn't have to soak the peas overnight, i was set.

Here's mine:

• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• 12 oz/ 1 1/2 cup yellow split peas
• 5 cups veg/chicken stock
• curry powder, about a dozen shakes
  
• turmeric, about 1/2 tablespoon
  
• chilly powder, about a dozen shakes or less, to taste
  
• sage- just a dash
  
• thyme - tiny pinch (not sure if these last two are essential to the recipe, but i threw them in the first time, so better be consistent.)
  
• salt and pepper to taste

In a medium sized pot throw in the onions and garlic with maybe a bit of olive oil or butter if you prefer and cook until softening: do not allow to brown. Once soft add the peas, stock, and all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil then turn down to simmer about 50 minutes or until the peas are soft. Alton says to cook til they're mush and shapeless but i stopped simmering mine when they were soft enough to bite through but still had some body. Turn off the heat and hit with your immersion blender until ingredients are mostly smooth and well integrated. I left it with a few pea chunks, we enjoyed the variance in texture this created.

Optional : serve with a garnish of turkey bacon, diced jalapeno, or chives.

Notes:
Hmm, so last time i used HEB (Central Market) brand organic chicken broth. Tonight i used Pacific: half chicken, half veg stock. I'm thinking the central market stock was waaaaay better. I love Pacific's soups, but their stock was a little too earthy or something. I also used some of my saved turkey stock, which is of course delicious.

Also, last time i think i had a larger ration of pea to stock, we liked it thicker like that. Also, I had a harder time keeping some pea chunks in this batch as the jalapenos kept running away from the blender. Definitely try and keep some chunks, we preferred it that way.

After a hearty dinner like that: i better stay active and drawing today! www.mirandarmueller.com

Little Scare, Relieved Outcome

It was bound to happen: egg bound that is.

We were both quite amazed and perplexed that BB our littlest pullet, a Chantecler (very rare Canadian breed) would be the first to lay. Granted, her eggs have been pretty small, but golly SHE is very small. How has she been fitting those suckers in her little body much less through her vent (cloaca)?
The last few eggs she laid had noticeable marks on them, kind of scrapes almost. I believe these marks may have been made as the egg was forming (eggs go through a process of layers before they get the outer hard shell). After laying two of these strangely marked eggs, she skipped a day. Towards the end of her second day without eggs I noticed her hiding in the back of the coop in the dark. This isn't good. Her back was also all fluffed up with her tail tucked in. Also not good. I had a feeling these were signs of being egg bound and hopped online for some research. Sure enough I hypothesis seemed correct.  Other symptoms of egg binding can include:

• Rapid Breathing
• Swelling
• Constipation
• Fluffed up feathers
• Straining
• Inability to perch
• Swaying back and forth
• Lack of balance
• Sitting on the floor of the coop

Egg binding is not uncommon, especially in young hens, but it is very dangerous.
Upon further research it became obvious to me that i had to intervene, and NOW. So i did what any good chicken mama would do: donned my surgical gloves, grabbed the KY Jelly and a needless syringe. And okay, it wasn't pretty, but with the help of my faithful husband holding the scared little bird, encouraged her to be still, gently lifted her tail feathers and found the source of the problem. No egg tip could be seen, no egg could be felt in her little body, but i filled the syringe with some KY and gently got some lube inside her cloaca. This was very very strange looking, I'll spare you the details. But please, all chicken mamas: do not be afraid, your chicken baby needs you to do this if she's in trouble despite not seeming to love the rude insertion of gooey fluids into her sacred orifice.

We were heartened when she decided it was time to try and get up on the perch with her other lady friends. She succeeded at the leap and was able to balance just fine.

Result of this scary incident: Upon this morning's coop check i found below where she'd been perched: A broken, thin shelled, almost soft like a lizard egg in places egg. The yolk was perfectly developed, but it sure looked like this egg was awfully big to be coming out of this awfully small chicken. I am very very happy and relieved. Glad my intervention may have helped her, now let us cross our fingers that she and the rest of the ladies have no more difficulties.

Do you keep chickens? Have you ever had an egg-bound hen? How did you address the situation and what were the results?

The Great Egg Comparison

HEB (our local grocery store) Grade AA Large White Eggs

Versus

Olive Mueller-Rommel's Third and Fourth Organic, Mostly Free Range, Home Raised Eggs

I like experiments, especially ones that involve eating your test subjects.  Today I did a comparison between store bought and our eggs with mostly anticipated results. I used eggs from the same chicken, Olive the Wyandotte to keep the variables as consistent as possible.

Here's how it went:

 First comparison:  What do the eggs look like freshly cracked and do they crack the same?

Results: Olive's eggs had much firmer shells, harder to crack. Yolks much yellower, and a large yolk to white ratio than the store bought eggs: perhaps since they were smaller.

 Second comparison: Fried eggs.
Results: Our eggs have much darker yolks, and the area of white immediately surrounding the yolk is a darker, orangier color than the store bought egg. I suck at flipping, both were equally flippable or not. 

Taste: I, honestly couldn't tell much of a difference. Andy on the other hand thought our eggs were much better.

Third comparison: Scrambled Eggs
Results: Olive's shells again harder to crack with darker yolks. Both eggs seemed to scramble about as easily. Again the ratio of yolk to white seemed greater in our egg. Both eggs cooked the same, but it seemed the store bought wanted to turn into a fused flat object more than fluffy scramble moreso than our egg. The color of our scramble is way prettier.

Taste: No question: our egg tastes much better. The store bought scramble tasted more plastic, ours was rich and flavorful. This may just have been because of the higher yolk to white ratio, or because Olive is super special. I won't make that call.

Yum. That was a fun experiment. Consumed to the last drop. Now i start saving up our eggs for next weekend's Christmas baking adventure.

Do you have experience with fresh versus store bought eggs? What do YOU think? Taste or behave differently?

The laying of a young chicken's second egg

It is so nice in this busy Christmas season to have gotten enough done yesterday that you have time the next morning to ponder with your young hens. Yesterday was a big day: BB and Olive both laid their first eggs. Christmas crafting was in overtime in my studio, and art commissions are coming in and joyfully being worked on. I'm loving being busy, but this morning i took joy in being quiet and still with my lovely ladies.

I let the girls out to run about, they were less 'flap all over the place' than they have been thus far in their lives. Calmly skittering here and there, scratching up bugs while i changed their water and nesting materials. I moved the tractor to a new spot with tasty rye grass to snack on and filled their suet cage with cauliflower stem and greens from last night's meal.  At some point BB beelined back to the coop: i knew something was up. Up into the nest box she went!  I did NOT want to miss this so i went inside to brew some tea to keep my chilly hands warm and came back out to settle in with the hens. The other girls continued to graze while BB nestled in, but soon came in to the coop: to be with her? to enjoy snacks? who knows. It seemed to me that Soot and Belina were taking interest in BB's activity and wanted to keep her safe. I watched, took pictures and filmed waiting to here that joyful song of "i laid an egg" she did not sing, but when she started shuffling the nest material around i figured she'd done her thing.
Sure enough, a peek inside showed a soft hen and her beautiful fresh egg. I plucked it out still warm, and encouraged her down to the snacks - don't want her getting 'broody' now.

What a joyful morning.  Now it's back to Christmas crafting and G is for Grace.

Mashed Cauliflower/Potato with Herbs and Garlic

Scrumptious!
A while back my friend in New York asked how to mash cauliflower. I mentioned some ideas, but was really shooting off the hip as i'd never made such a thing before. i was wandering through  my local market and saw some cauliflower, i thought to myself "i've been eating like a pig lately, it would be nice to make a low cal but hearty meal tonight" and purchased a head of cauli and a medium sized white potato. Along with some fresh herbs from the garden and some olive oil i roasted some garlic in the other day, this turned into quite the feast.  Accompanied by the first eggs laid by our girls, this feast was fit for a king!

• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 medium white potato
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 ice cubes of turkey stock (about 1/2 cup)
• fresh rosemary, diced from 2 inches of stalk
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• salt and pepper

Cut Cauliflower and Potato into uniform sized chunks. Boil together in a large pot, just barely covered by water, until potato is soft enough to poke a fork into without resistance. Drain off all liquid (save it to mix with your chicken's mash or pour into compost) and put drained veg into a good sized mixing bowl.   While the veg was boiling, mix together remaining ingredients in the mixing bowl - heating briefly in the microwave to melt the turkey cubes.  Place cooked veg on top of ingredients in the bowl and blend well with an immersion blender. This makes a very nicely whipped and creamy mashed potato like dish without the heavy carbs of straight potato. Next time i will try this without the potato to see if the cauliflower can carry the dish on its own. 
I served the potato drizzled with some garlic olive oil (Yum overload) and more salt. For the hungry husband I also served with a link of chicken sausage and some meunster cheese on top. (I added a little cheese to my seconds, it was reeeaaal good).
I served the whole meal with the first fried eggs from our chickens - they were uber flavorful and delicious. I put some ketchup on the plate, but regretted that decision. Yard fresh eggs do not require ketchup to make them palatable, the ketchup just got in the way.

First Eggs have been Laid!!!

I am so proud of my girls. At 23ish weeks, BB my Chantecler hen has laid her first egg (surprising as she was the miniature seeming "pocket chicken" who seemed to refuse to mature - hard to tell as Chanteclers don't get much for combs or wattles really). Olive, our little adopted swap-hen Wyandotte at about 26-7 weeks old has done the same.
This is my presumption: they are the two who have been squatting, but i could be guessing incorrectly.

Very sadly, i was across the house in my studio, behind closed doors, so i could not hear if they sang the announcement of their amazing feat. But they have been showing all sorts of signs of agitation: squatting (which looks like they're kneeling down in terror holding their wings slightly out, is a natural response to allowing the rooster to mount safely) hopping up and down in and out of the nest boxes, cackling and making all sorts of odd communication noises. I do not speak chicken, but i had a feeling this day was coming soon. And here they are: two beautiful, well formed eggs. Shells are nice and thick, shape is smooth and mostly uniform. They are gorgeous, light brown, one slightly lighter than the other, one slightly more slender than the other.

I am so proud, and excited to have eggs for dinner!!!!!!

The Last Turkey Soup - Make it Better!

So it's a week or so after Thanksgiving. We've feasted. We've had turkey sandwiches. We've had turkey soup or pot pie. We're tired of turkey soup, but there's still some left in that big ole pot in the fridge. What to do with it?

I puzzled over this quandary last night and scrimcoached something highly delectable (and certainly another factor in my increasing winter chub - really? pasta and sausage for dinner? Too many carbs, but too delicious not to have seconds)

My base turkey soup consisted mainly of turkey carcass cooked for about 6 hours with onions, bay leaves, salt, pepper, jalapenos, whatever else you add to stock. Turkey Soup II night added some squash, hominy, leftover spinach noodles, some cabbage. You get the idea, it's turkey soup with veggies to my liking. By day 4 or so all that was left was mostly just turkey stock and way cooked down veggies. How to transform this boring soup into a deliciously addictive cold night glop of yum?? Here's how:

Add 2 chicken sausage links, halfed long ways then chopped into small chunks. Add another fresh chopped jalapeno or two. Once the soup has boiled a bit, turn down and simmer for a few minutes. Near ready to eat time add some orzo - i think i used about a cup or so. Also add a large spoonful of tomato paste, about 1/3 a small can and stir in. Cook until the orzo is cooked to soft but not total mush and turn off heat. The orzo swells and is cooked with turkey stock instead of plain water and is thus intensely flavorful and rich. Serve in large bowls and top with some shredded mozz and cheddar. OH Man this is good. Salt to taste.... and your seconds will be even yummier because the orzo will continue to swell and fill with flavorful goodness.

no pics, we consumed it promptly and the recipe was too nebulous to really count as a 'recipe' per say - but i just had to share this with you, and write it down for my future rememberings. It's all about the orzo and the tomato paste - the sausage isn't bad either ;)

It Happened. It Froze.

8:30 am. Right now i'm seriously wishing these darned trees had lost all their darned leaves and would let the morning sun shine through to resuscitate the frozen babies in my vegetable garden. Everything is frozen.
The peppers in their securely covered patch with lamp seem to be okay ... but not thrilled. Their onions cohabitants look stunned, and the garlics in the bed nearby look positively displeased with life.

The main vegetable patch under its tent city construction? I peer under the sheets and see a sorry sorry sight. A touch to a baby spinach leaf reveals stiff rigor mortis of plant body.  I have never tried to garden in an actual winter before, so this state of frozen garden inhabitants is quite unsettling, frustrating, and fear inducing. Will I fail in my winter crop as well as my summer? Will my hard work and love be repaid with dead plants, stunted and non-producing? Was i fooling myself thinking that "cool weather plants" really didn't mind getting a touch of a freeze?  This will be a learning experience for me - hopefully we'll get something to eat this winter (since i missed all my tomatoes this summer on a wedding vacation) and not just a whole lot of chicken snacks and compost.
Sigh.
9:30 am Hurry up, sun! The babies want to feel your warm embrace. If only the garden were on the other side of the house..... but then it would only get am sun, and that is insufficient.
 I'm noticing that i piled some leaves here and there as mulch. I was afraid to smother the plants underneath so i mushed them around exposing the tops of the lettuces etc to the air- but i think i should have just covered it all with leaves and maybe spared the plants underneath them. This freeze just caught me unprepared.

Have to keep reminding myself: gardening is learning. you do not know everything. you will make mistakes and kill plants occasionally.... i just wish they weren't plants i was counting on for food!
I live in zone 8 and have plans on moving to a northern version of zone 8 (yamhill valley in oregon). This is the first year i have seen a hard enough freeze to fill a bucket with more than an inch of ice.

9:45 am. Need to walk to the gym now, cooolld walk.... but i'm feeling hopeful. I pulled back a little bit of tent city to let the sunshine in, will leave the rest covered and light on peppers until i get back from yoga.... it looks like the peas are becoming happily pliable again, the little kales seem unphased, the broccolis thawing out.

12:30. Hope is in sight! I've pulled back some of the sheets and uncovered the peppers and turned their light off. Peppers have just a bit of frost bite on their edges, not bad. All the winter crops in the main garden seem to have sproinged back to life, great. Eggplants have bit the dust, but that was to be expected.

Looks like I may not be a failure after all.

So far so good!

What zone do you live and garden in?
What do you do as a gardener in winter time? When do you call it quits? What precautions do you take before freezes? What crops do you expect to survive and produce throughout the winter in your area?