SEED PROPAGATION AND CROCHETING

I had to pause making my second blanket for Project Linus (well third blanket if you count the polar fleece one I cut) because I ran out of yarn. I was saved by JoAnn Fabrics on-line, because I live in the middle of nowhere I am close to nothing everything is an hour away. New York city is only 2 hours away, but the nearest shopping mall is an hour, plus any type of fabric store 2 hours. It is a geographical enigma. During my pause I started crocheting hearts for Valentine's Day. This is one I have done from the directions I found here at Bella Dia. Here is one of the ones I have made...

I started my chamomile seeds last week and I already see sprouts! I keep checking them to make sure that they are still there, that they have not magically disappeared. I painstakingly took the time to drop individuals seeds into each pellet. If you have never seen Chamomile seeds I am going to let you in on a secret...get your face really close to the screen...Chamomile seeds are about the size of this... ' .... yes that little single apostrophe. It was a tedious job but I do not want to waste any seeds this year, and I am motivated by the Square Foot Gardening book that tells the reader to only plant one seed at the required spacing so that you do not waste time and seed thinning.

One tiny sprout up front and you can see all the cinnamon I sprinkled on this morning.

If you garden and you start seed indoors then you know what I mean when I say "damping off" if you do not know what I mean and you want to start seeds inside I have a little advice. Damping off is when fungus attacks your little seedling. The plant will look pinched in the stem, might just flop over or even wither; in any case it is dead. The best way to stop damping off is to prevent it, some cook the soil so that any impurities are removed before seeding. I am too lazy for this, however I have found good luck with cinnamon. Yes, cinnamon the spice. I buy the large canister of cinnamon, so I usually put a 1/4 C or so into a hand held sieve and then sprinkle over top of the pellets, about the time I see things sprouting. Just need to do it once, it acts as an anti-fungal agent. Good air circulation is a must to prevent damping off. I have the little greenhouses, so I prop the lid slightly ajar for a while to make sure fresh air is getting into the seedlings. I have yet to try this one myself, but supposedly brewing a strong chamomile tea, adding an ounce or two per quart of water and spraying the soil tops with the mix will help prevent damping off as well.

SQUARE FOOT GARDENING AND FLUFFY FROSTING

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, is interesting. I like the concept and I half-attempted it last year just because my way of thinking is usually askew from the norm. The idea behind square foot gardening is that you make your garden into plots of 4'x 4' plots. One plot is enough for 1 person's worth of fresh produce, but not enough to save for the winter. The plot is broken down into 12" squares and you plant a crop in each square, the number of plants per square depends on each plants spacing needs. For example you can fit 1 tomato plant in 1 square or 16 carrot plants in 1 square. Carrots only require 3" spacing while a tomato requires 12" of space. Of course this book advocates vertical crops, which I am already a fan of and had every intention of doing more of this in the garden. I already grow peas and tomatoes vertically, like most people, but after seeing a special on Disney's garden I wanted to grow my cucumber vertically as well. Well this book has inspired me to also grow my melon and squashes vertically too. Already committed to the boxes Mister made for me last year I will break up the boxes (4' x10') into 4' plots and leave a 1' by 4' swatch between plots and at the front of the box for herbs and beneficial flowers (marigold and nasturtium).

I am excited to see if some of the information I gleaned from the book produces noticeable results. In true Linda fashion I managed to make many mistakes last year and I am ready to make a whole new load of mistakes this year. LOL I am learning...all preparation for one day having more land  and a bigger garden; a girl can dream.

This next recipe is my all-time favorite white frosting recipe. I found it in the booklet that came with my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

FLUFFY FROSTING
Imagine a mix between marshmallow creme and vanilla frosting...yeah I know your mouth is watering too. It has a nice airy consistency and tastes a bit like marshmallow. I could eat just the frosting and forgo the cake.

1 1/2 C sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C water

1 1/2 tbsp light corn syrup

2 egg whites

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place sugar, tartar, salt, water and corn syrup in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves completely, forming a syrup.

Place egg whites in mixer bowl. Whip egg whites until they begin to hold shape, almost soft peaks. Continue beating while slowly pour hot syrup into egg whites in a fine stream and whip 1-1 1/2 minutes. Add vanilla and whip 5 minutes more until frosting loses its gloss and stands in stiff peaks. Frost cake immediately.

Frosts: 12-16 servings; 2 layer cake or 13x9x2 inch cake.

SWEET POTATO PLANTS AND BUTTERY CROISSANTS

This is yet another find from Taste of Home Best of Holiday Recipes (2010) submitted by Loraine Meyer of Bend, OR. I really appreciate any breakfast that I can do most preparation on the night before and these rolls require the overnight in the fridge. They were buttery, flaky and I will definitely make them again.

BUTTERY CROISSANTS

40 ServingsPrep: 1 hour + chilling Bake: 15 min./batch

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups butter, softened

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH:

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110° to 115°)

1 cup warm 2% milk (110° to 115°)

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

3-1/2 to 3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

In a small bowl, beat butter and flour until combined; spread into a 12-in. x 6-in. rectangle on a piece of waxed paper. Cover with another piece of waxed paper; refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, egg, salt and 2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface;

knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.

Roll dough into a 14-in. square. Remove top sheet of waxed paper from butter; invert onto half of dough. Remove waxed paper. Fold dough over butter; seal edges.

Roll into a 20-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Fold into thirds. Repeat rolling and folding twice. (If butter softens, chill after folding.) Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight.

Unwrap dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 25-in. x 20-in. rectangle. Cut into 5-in. squares. Cut each square diagonally in half, forming two triangles. Roll up triangles from the wide end; place 2 in. apart with point down on ungreased baking sheets. Curve ends down to form crescent shape. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake at 375° for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Serve warm. Yield: about 3 dozen.

Sweet Potato Plants
We started this quite a while ago, but since it has been so cold and the daylight so sparse they have taken forever to sprout. This is suppose to fulfill a Cub Scout achievement, only it spread because once E saw K make one he wanted to as well so now there are two. The faces you ask, what is up with those freaky faces? After watching these potatoes daily (they sit right on the ledge over the kitchen sink) I noticed that K's was getting these really plump veins running up and down the potato. The potato freaked me out, kinda disturbing looking for some reason, all veiny. Mister thought the faces would make them look more friendly...not really the effect I think he was going for because they are not making me feel less freaked out.

What we did, I picked out sweet potatoes that were already sprouting, and the thinner ones are better. I pulled out some jars (cleaned out jelly jars) and filled them with water. Next, Kaleb and I speared the potatoes right around the center; three bamboo skewers (toothpicks kept breaking) evenly spaced to hold the potato in the water. The pointy end goes in the water and the round end points up. I picked sweet potato because the vine looks interesting and I plan on keeping the plants. I am a keep-indoor-plants type of person, just having them around makes me smile and breathe easier.

SPRING DREAMING

Yes, I know, winter has barely begun and I am dreaming about spring. I have to say that this winter has been a buzz kill, we have gotten next to no snow just cold. Then yesterday we had this beautiful 50 degree day that made me feel like gardening. SIGH. Last year, more snow then we had places to put it, this year will be known as the brown winter. It does not help my itch that the lemon tree is not only blossoming, but now it is trying to grow lemons...I love this plant.

To make my itch to garden worse I went ahead and ordered some seed for next years garden. I have said it before and I am going to say it again, I LOVE SEED SAVER'S EXCHANGE! I have decided in addition to my peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, melon and peppers I saved from last year's bounty to add eggplant, carrots, paste tomatoes, more cucumbers and sweet peppers. I have Tom Thumb variety peas for the porch (container plant) and thought they would keep some container tomatoes good company so I purchased a paste tomato and an eating tomato that do well in containers. I want more tomatoes then humanly possible to eat this year. I am hoping to add another raised bed and a cover for one of the beds so I can start the tomatoes and peppers earlier this year. I did buy more lettuce and this time, some different types. I have learned from last year...seed thinly really means seed thinly.