Weekly Garden Thread - March 14-20, 2020

March 14, 2020 | Diana in Wisconsin/Greeneyes

[Liz]

Beautiful Belgian specialty cake found in the elegant confectioneries that dot Belgium's countryside.
For breakfast, dessert, or afternoon snack, w/ all the fresh berries you can pick from your berry patch.

ALMOND PASTE CAKE

PREP Parchment 8" springform or butter/flour bundt pan.

METHOD Cream 1/4 lb sweet butter and 3/4 c sugar light and fluffy. Add
cup almond paste; beat well. Add 3 eggs singly; beat each well. Add 1/2 tsp
b/powder, pinch of salt, 1/4 tsp almond extract,tb Kirsch or Grand Marnier;
stir/combine well. Fold in 1/4 c cake flour gently; do not overmix.

Bake golden 350 deg 35-45 min (pick comes clean); do not underbake.
Cool slightly on rack, then plate.

SERVE dusted w/ conf, fresh berries, maybe a dollop of softly whipped cream.

[Ellendra]

Yes, dry beans.

I soak mine, but I don’t know if that’s necessary. The first time I did it I didn’t soak beforehand. I did it because I had an infestation of pantry bugs, and I figured the chickens wouldn’t mind.

It’s a good way to use up freezer-burned fruits and vegetables, too.

[Black Agnes]

Oh yeah, the chix get the freezer burned berries and love them!

I feed them buggy rice and pasta too when I have an issue.

I’ve just never fed them beans before.

Soybeans are on the ‘to do’ list for the garden this year, mainly for the chix.

[Augie]

I took advantage of a break in the rain on Sunday and got a bit done outdoors.

Chopped up a couple oak logs that I dragged out of the woods back in the winter and added that to the firewood pile.

Took down/cleaned/repaired as needed/put back up all of Mrs. Augie’s tweety bird houses.

Got the weed whacker out and cleaned up the asparagus patch.

Tore down ~75’ of chicken yard fencing in preparation for a new chicken house/yard.

Weather guessers are calling for another 1”-3” rain over the next couple days.

[metmom]

I have some venison in my freezer that’s been around a while.

I’m thinking of pressure canning it.

Does anyone have any experience in that? Is there anything that needs to be done that’s different from pressure canning any other meat?

[metmom]

Oak burns OK?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Sounds like you made a good dent!

“Weather guessers are calling for another 1”-3” rain over the next couple days.”

A lot of places are really getting soaked this spring. It was our turn a few years ago - we were OK - we’re on very high land - but we had a lot of flooded neighbors that were near the local river. (The Pecatonica.)

Beau started my raised beds around the greenhouse; I’ll have pictures later. Excited!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You had me at, ‘Almond Paste!’

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ve never canned meat, but any wild game (Bear, Elk, Venison, Hog) I’ve made in my Instant Pot turnout out really tender!

Waiting to hear what the other gals have to say about canning meat...

[Augie]

Oak is very good firewood. Needs to be properly seasoned for use in a fireplace or a dry stove.

[metmom]

We have an excellent wood stove in our new home that has a catalyst for more efficient burning.

It is incredible how little ash we get when that thing is done with two days of steady use.

We don’t even get a brownie pan size amount of ash out of it. (That’s the size of the ash pan)

[metmom]

I’ve canned plenty of other meat. Was just wondering if venison, for some weird reason, was any different.

I think I’ll get it out and start thawing it.

[Swanks]

Find / buy firewood now to let it sit a minimum of 6 Mo. And B4 everybody wakes up and starts buying / scavaging. I hold 1.5 cords each Yr and thats whats sitting there now for Nov

[metmom]

We have over 20 acres and almost all of it is wooded.

We are sitting on a wood gold mine.

Just have to cut it down and let it season.

[Augie]

My kitchen garden is single, large, raised bed. ~3000sq/ft.

I’ve been wanting to dig it all up and change it over to smaller conventional raised beds. My bones are starting to get stiff and bending over agrees with me less every year.

By the time it dried up to where I could work on it last summer it was so hot I didn’t want to. I’m hoping to make some progress on it this year. Time will tell how the weather and project priorities shake out.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Patron Saint of Cats and Gardens

[Liz]

Gets to me, too.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

One more Puppy Picture. Six of the seven from the 2017 litter. (One of them was always out wandering!) About 12 weeks old. The pup in the upper right is Yakama. He's won his first hunting trophy. Emma, lower center, is well on her way, too. It was a really good litter. They're all good hunters; four are with us, three with others in our group.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

We have about the same in woodland. I keep bugging Beau that we NEED to make some $ off of that wood!

Oak, Hickory, Cherry, Black Walnut. As you said - a gold mine! ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]