First Corn Harvest

I plucked the first of our corn last night, and this is what i have to say about it.

Firstly, delicious! We ate it mostly raw, warmed under the broiler a bit, with salt. Sweet sweet sweet!

Secondly, one of the cobs i harvested was empty inside - there was sign of nasty bug entry, and all the kernels were eaten off inside. I'm thinking corn earworm? Any other ideas? I recently learned a great tip over at Not Dabbling In Normal to remedy them: mineral oil placed on the tip of the cob after the silks wither. I'll be doing that today or the next to the remaining cobs in hopes of deterring more bandits. This harvest of 4 small ears yielded 1 pound 8 ounces.

The nasty, immature cob - a good cob, but with clearly 'messed up' kernels: 

any musings on the cause of the irregulatity? 

Served with (store bought) veggie burger and garden onions.

Thirdly, the Casino variety is doing MUCH better than the Sweet Treat variety. I plan on letting one cob mature completely and harvesting it as seed corn. My goal for next year is to plant only (or mostly) seeds saved from this year's garden, more on that later. Casino's cobs are fuller and more mature. The little Sweet Treat i plucked was more like 'baby corn' and not sweet at all.

Fourthly: nothing goes to waste around here! The girls each got their own cob to play with at the end, picking out the last minuscule bits of corn our human teeth couldn't get out, and dispatching that not so great cob of immature corn that i wasn't too keen on eating.

Overall: i think corn is worth growing! My placement seems to be facilitating its pollination alright. There are a few stragglers at the corners not developing overly well, but that's to be expected. I'll wait another week or so before harvesting any more to see if the cobs plump out a bit more, but i'll be watching those casino cobs closely: don't want them getting tough!

Rapadura - a Natural Sweetener

Man is it ever gross outside. We may not be getting the "Snowmageddon" down here in Austin, but we're getting plenty of rain. It's stayed in the 30s all day and is just down right nasty out there. The chickens would like to go on strike if they had their way: poor things are positioned right over the back yard roof runoff. Blecht.

Anyhoo- thought i'd curl up with some warm tea and tell you about Rapadura.

I learned of it while reading Nourishing Traditions and planning the Lox recipe. The recipe called for Rapadura, a certain kind of cane sugar. As an fyi: it's no longer called rapadura in the stores, the company (Rapunzel) changed the name to "organic whole cane sugar," in case you're looking for it.
Apparently, folks with low tolerance to sugar, like myself (headaches, highs, lows, depression, tooth ache, you name it) can handle rapadura more easily. It is also made in a more sustainable fashion. See their fancy little illustration:

Jo Whitton over at quirky cooking posted this nice little description recently.  Tastewise, i find it to taste a bit like molasses, but not as potent. Kind of a blend of 'sugar in the raw' and molasses: kind of "brown" tasting, not overly sweet. I mixed it with some regular sugar and cinnamon and it makes a great cinnamon toast blend. It has a very good taste combo with the salmon, i'll be using it in my next grilled salmon marinade with soy sauce and garlic (you'll have to wait for it to stop raining to get me out on the grill, haha). Also nice sprinkled on oatmeal. I don't find it to be quite sweet enough to replace my (very dirty habit/addiction to) sweet-n-low, i'm trying agave nectar for that use. I might grow some stevia plant this year too - dry that and sprinkle into my tea: might work. I don't like the idea of stevia powder as it must be processed an awful lot.

The benefits of rapadura come from the very minimal processing of the sugar cane. Most other sugars are separated - white and molasses, then turned into various things and shoved back together. Rapadura is never separated and thus has greater nutritional value (2% Vitamin C, 11% Iron per teaspoon). I also like that they compost the cane stalks - a nice touch.

It's still sugar. You still shouldn't over do it. But at least it's a 'whole' sugar and not some stripped down white stuff.

What's your favorite sweetener?

COMING SOON: New Mini Co-op to Purchase Goods from the Austin Homestead

Hi folks!
I'm happy to announce that my entrepreneurial spirit is in full swing. As loyal readers, you know that i am the happy mother of 4 beautiful hens, and an experimenter and succeeder in the brewing of Kombucha Tea (KT). Since I live alone with my husband and animals - we simply have more KT and eggs (in theory, they're not quite laying YET) than we can consume in a hasty fashion. I don't, however, make enough of any of these consumables to warrant a full scale advertising corporate identity or even farm stand, nor guarantee availability at all times.

That being said: I would love to form a small scale, local co-op to partake in purchasing and consuming of my wares - for your benefit and for mine. You will help me pay for the things that make my life more fulfilling and healthy, and bring something healthful into your own home while buying as "local" as it gets.

Wares I will have available for purchase will vary with the season, but will rotate around these assorted items: Kombucha Tea, flavored and unflavored, bottled by me or bottled into your bottle at a discount (you can bring bottles as a deposit towards next time, or have me fill it on sight), Yard Fresh Eggs, by the dozen, half dozen, or even by the egg if you don't mind skipping the fancy egg carton, freshly made pasta and pesto, seasonal produce, maybe even cheese! I also crochet beverage cozies that are great for personal use or as gifts, among other silly and useful crafty things.

I will create a google document that you can simply open up online and place your order. The spreadsheet will tally your totals and orders will be filled upon availability. I will do my best to keep the spreadsheet current by week, and if something is unavailable when you want it, you will be sure to get first dibs the following week.   This document will also be an easy way to 'tell your friends' and they can request participation in the co-op as well.  As we go along I'll have a better idea of exactly how much KT i can really bottle in a week - and luckily it keeps in the fridge so i can bottle as it comes and save it up for the weekend.  I'm still working out the kinks - but I will either set up a set time to meet co-op members at an established locale, or set up  'open hours' Saturday afternoons to coincide with the farmers market schedules.

I am open to comment and suggestion, so please let me know your interests, needs, and preferences, and feel free to give me any ideas about facilitating local goodnesses.

Would this be something you'd be interested in? Do you have friends that are looking for a local source for KT or even scobies to purchase for their own homebrew? Would you buy local, yard eggs for about $3 a dozen? Let me know!