Smith Rock An Oregon State Park

Have You Ever Been To Smith Rock?

Smith Rock State Park

We recently stayed in our condo at Eagle Crest for one week. One of the side trips I love is going to Smith Rock State Park. It is famous to rock climbers of all stages. There are hiking trails, as well. And, NO, I do not climb. I am way too old, but it is breathtakingly beautiful to just sit in your car and watch them scale the sheer face of it, or to watch the hikers slowly walking the steep trails.

On this day, with my new camera in hand, there were neither climbers or hikers. I have been there when the rock was covered with both, but then I did not have a camera. I guess we were a bit late because the parking lot was full of cars and people removing their hiking shoes and putting away their walking canes.

You can also view beautiful Mt Jefferson in the distance.

Or, you can walk to the edge and look down at the lovely Deschutes River winding along the base of the rock.

Here are more views of this fascinating park 

If you are ever in the area of Redmond, Oregon, this state park is a must see. If you love hiking and rock climbing, bring the necessary equipment and be sure to pack your camera. 

Here is a link for more information about Smith Rock State Park.

https://smithrock.com/#intro

Happy Trails 

Easy Peasy Roasted Tomato Sauce

OR....How to use up all those ripening tomatoes quick as a bunny.

I love the flavor of this quick and easy homemade tomato sauce. No canning....just freezing.
I have taken photos of the process with my trusty digital camera, here goes.
You will need a flat pan. A heavy cookie sheet will do. I use the bottom of my broiler pan. Who broils anymore anyway?
You also need a Foley Food Mill. I use the attachment on my trusty and very old Kitchen Aide mixer.
Here is the 1st photo showing a bowl of cut up tomatoes. I cut large ones into approx. 8 pieces, medium ones into 4ths, small ones in half and just throw in the cherry tomatoes. Yes, you can use them as well.
Cut as many garlic cloves as you would like. No need to peel. Just cut them in halves or 4ths. Fresh is best because they are juicier. I used 4 in mine.
When this mixture is in the bowl, drizzle on 1 to 2 Tablespoons of a good olive oil.
Add oregano, basil, or whatever Italian spice you like.
Some salt and pepper
I alway add a tablespoon or so of sugar. I like a sweetener in my sauces.
The beauty of this is that you can add whatever you want to make it your own. Some people even like a carrot in their sauce. Cut one up and try it. Peppers, too, hot or not.

Oh...I forgot to say---

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Pour them into your pan

and slide them into the oven.

This is what they should look like after 30 mins. Stir them up and slide them back into the oven for another 30 mins.

Here is the pan full after 25 mins and I should have left them another 5 or ten minutes, but close enough. The skins should be starting to blacken a bit more than this photo.

Let them cool now until you can touch the pan without the burn. Or longer. The other day I went to town and finished when I got home. They were stone cold.

Now comes the separation of skin and seeds. 

Whir them down, way down, until there is hardly anything left but skin and seeds.

Take a look at your sauce now.

Then pour the sauce into freezer containers for safe keeping. You can pull them out and easily defrost them for those quick spaghetti meals. I usually use one of mine and one can of store bought sauce. Still really good. If you make homemade pizza, be sure to try this sauce.. Oh...and be sure to leave a bit of headroom in the freezer container. 

Tomatoes......Gone. At least for a few days. 

I hope you will try this way of making tomato sauce. I think your family will love it. 

Garden Grown New Potatoes and Peas

Garden Grown New Potatoes and Peas

My husband and I slather over the thought of New Potatoes and New Peas fresh from our garden. And, it is the season for this delicious side dish. We are getting a nice crop of English peas and we are stealing....yes, stealing, new potatoes from under the growing potatoes without their even knowing it.

English peas are the kind you shell. This dish is the reason my better half will not hear of planting snow peas.
I get enough from this patch to blanch and freeze a few bags for winter. I love them in salads, too, only defrosting them a little, then tossing them into my green salad.

When you cook really fresh new potatoes, never use a lid. Do not peel them. Just chunk them up as evenly as possible and gently boil them until slightly done. Drain them and put them on hold in a bowl. Using the same pan, melt a couple of tablespoons of butter. Make a roux using approx. 1  tablespoons of flour and whisk very fast. As soon as the rue forms, add a bit of milk, then a bit more all while whisking very fast. Eventually you will add about 1 cup of milk. Now add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt and some grinds of pepper. Add your freshly shelled peas and the cooked potatoes. Let this mixtures be on low heat while you finish up dinner. Watch and stir as needed.
This method is for two people. Double the above for a family. There are no exact amounts. You are really just making a white sauce, but I like mine a little bit thin and then there is extra to put over pork chops or chicken or hamburger steak.
Sometimes I fine chop onions and brown in the butter before I make the roux.
Sometimes I cook fresh new carrots along with the potatoes and add them to the dish. Or, maybe parsnips. You get the idea. All are garden fresh, of course, and on the baby side, not the huge side.

So, bon appetit, my friends. Hope your garden is producing wonderful veggies for delicious eating.

 Happy Fourth Of July 2017 

A RAINY OREGON JUNE

 Single roses hold up better in the rain because the weight of the water doesn't drag them down. There are not nearly as many 'catch basins' in a single rose and it will hold it's head up and still be pretty in the misty June days here on the Oregon coast.

 My friend entered my garden one day and said...."Where did you get my Little German Rose? I thought my mother-in-law and I were the only people who had it." You see, her MIL had lovingly brought a cutting home all the way from Germany, got it started and then gave another rooted cutting to her daughter in law. However, she also gave a cutting to her neighbor, my gardening friend, who gave a cutting to me. And, so it goes. We gardeners like to share. 

 The artwork on this antique photo album cover reminds me of my single pink rose. 

The interior artwork is so pretty, too. Vintage wedding photos or vintage family photos in those old sepia tones would be perfect for this antique album. 

To see this antique photo album in my Etsy shop, follow the link below

https://www.etsy.com/listing/522144950/antique-victorian-photo-album-floral?ref=shop_home_active_9

Bye for now. See you when the sun shines.

SPRING GARDENING

A stroll along the Potomac at Mount Vernon in the spring. This Johnson Bros plate reminds us of early days of our country when ladies wore long dresses with hoops and gentleman wore jodhpurs when riding a horse. This plate is a sweet reminder of our American history.

Here on our farm in the west trees have completely leafed out and flowers are blooming everywhere. I am planting our veg garden now, mostly in hay bales. I have planted in straw bales for the two years previous and it was successful, but this year they doubled the price of straw bales....yes, doubled.....so I am using some old hay bales out of our barn that were baled before the seed heads were formed. So....free is best and we will see what happens. The trouble is, our baler makes small bales and they are much looser than the big straw bales from the Willamette Valley. I have read that it works if you keep pushing them down as they rot.

Here is my pink Clematis growing on the greenhouse.

.

Here are last years straw bales in the conditioning stage. You have to condition them with high nitrogen fertilizer and water for 10 to 12 days. They should be growing odd little mushrooms when it is time to plant the bales. No...you don't eat them. They aren't poisonous but they wouldn't taste good.

A very nice bean crop coming along in the straw bales.

I have been very negligent about my blog but I am going to try to add to it more frequently.  Next blog will show the hay bales that I am just beginning to plant so that you can compare and see what I mean. 

 Today I planted my Blue Lake beans like the ones above.  No other beans taste as good when canned as Blue Lake beans. I have tried many other varieties and this old favorite is still the best in my opinion. 

If you are wondering....I set the bales on top of my already raised beds. Old ladies and old men find it hard to bend. LOL

See you next time.

Check out my etsy shop, especially if you like vintage.

www.etsy.com/shop/AlderHillFarm #etsysellsvintage

SPRING Is On It's Way....Slowly

March is right around the corner and I have been very lazy about my blogging. I have been sewing and quilting more, though, and of course, always busy with my Etsy shop, adding new items and getting them out where they will be seen. Takes gobs of time.

We have had rain, rain, and more rain. Our low pastures have flooded about 5 times this winter. Today, hopefully the last time this year, the water is receding quite well with the extreme low tides we have been having.

We are worried that the grass will be damaged and won't grow as well as past years. Also, the flood waters tend to bring in lots of weed seeds that settle into the bare spots. Here is a photo to the right of this one.

In spite of the rain and cold weather, this is beginning to happen. Makes me want to sing my Spring song. 

And here is a pot of Jack Be Little Daffodils that I can see from my dining room window.

Here is a little vintage planter that you will recognize as being rather...well....a....yucky. If was made by Lefton and it goes along with Spring. This is the humorous, yucky planter you can find in my Etsy shop.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/458421156/lefton-snail-planter-vintage-pottery?ref=shop_home_active_17

Until next time when I will show you a fabulous way to pin your quilts Without getting down on the floor.

Snow Days

Here on the Oregon coast we generally have some cold days in January. A few freezes, a few white frosty mornings, and quite a few dark rainy days. But this year.....well...since the 1st (and this is only the 7th) we have had cold rain, wind, snow that stuck and is still sticking, nights in the 20's, and now, today that dark day with really cold rain, which doesn't melt the snow very fast.

It was exciting to wake up to these scenes out our windows the other morning.

This photo was taken our front window looking towards the road.

 

This was taken from the back porch looking out over the garden and the fields below. The cows couldn't find their grass and got double doses of hay that day.

If you are reading this and you live in the northern part of the US, you are probably laughing right now. I know the cold has been just terrible this year for you. I don't know how you do it.

One way to cope is to have indoor projects. Sewing has alway been my go-to both winter and summer, so I always have something to do. I started out making clothes for my girls, then for myself, then stopped making clothes and started quilting. I started in the late 80's and I am still at it. Lately I have fallen in love with small quilts. Probably because at my age it is hard to handle all the yards and the weight of large quilts. I really love small quilts. It takes more patience and know-how to piece a small block because it has to be even more accurate than a large one, and quilting is all about accuracy. I don't want to scare off beginning quilters. Quilting is all about artistic adventure, about putting colors you love in your quilts and even about decorating your home with them. All the while, though, we strive for accuracy. We say to ourselves....the next one will be better. And, it almost always is. 

Here is a small cotton and wool quilt I made to hang on the wall in a small space where it will remind you that summer will come once again.