Down In the Holler

For my birthday in 2007, a couple of my friends gave me four delightfully fresh rhizomes of two varieties of humulus lupulus: Cascade and Chinook. I quickly got to work researching planting and growing techniques for these vigorous vines. Based on this reading, I was prepared for (and got) a relatively meager yield from the first season. The second season, which is now in full swing, is another story entirely.

My trellis design takes advantage of a steep North-facing slope that forms the upper end of what we affectionately refer to as the Holler. Three vertical 2×6 planks act as the top end of the trellis’ wire, with the bottom end anchored about 18 feet down the hill in two large safety-orange stakes. The wire traverses the hillside between these structures in a large “W” shape, which provides one vertical length of wire for each of the four rhizomes.

Last year, even at the peak of the growing season, the vines only reached about three-quarters of the way up the wires, and I was able to harvest a total of about 16 grams of flowers. This year, the Cascade vines are already stretching beyond the top of the trellis and bursting with flowers.  I will probably harvest as much within the next month as I did for the entire season last year.

The Chinook vines are slightly less vigorous in my setting, and I think it is related to a nitrogen deficiency. A couple of weeks ago I gave them a decent dose of blood meal and they have since improved significantly.

I am extremely excited about harvesting these fragrant beauties and putting them to use in my first batch of home-brewed beer this Summer. Stay tuned for details on that process, as I am sure there will be many tales to tell.

Brian and I got back from visiting his family in Jackson Mississippi early this morning. After brunch and a much needed nap I decided to venture out to Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market with my darling friend and neighbor Laura Louise. Generally I try to avoid YDFM on the weekends because it gets SO crowded. We are talking grocery cart collision and tight squeezes at every turn. Really it’s not for the faint of heart. But we were in dire need of a serious grocery trip and this is my preferred grocer for pantry staples and fresh produce. This isn’t a farmer’s market in the sense that there are farmers there selling, it’s more of a combination international market and natural foods emporium. But it’s a real gem here in Atlanta nonetheless.

I didn’t even think until I arrived that it is a holiday weekend so there were even more folks than normal milling about gathering BBQ fixings and trying to avoid grocery cart grid lock. Things got so bad on the aisle with the fresh corn and trash cans for shucking that I pulled a quick u-turn mid aisle, nearly causing a cabbage avalanche as I retreated to a less interactive area. But I digress.

I managed to sit down before we left and make a solid shopping list based on recipes that I plan on executing this week plus all the staples that we needed. My list was long and in the crowd there was to be no dawdling or perusing the merchandise. I put my blinders on got down to business. I did pretty well. But no matter how hard I try I cannot ever stick exactly to a grocery list. Shopping for food rivals shopping for shoes to me. Like admiring yourself in the foot mirror wearing a cute pair of wedge sandals and thinking about what sundress will pair best, I think of favorite recipes for the season and what I already have in my shopping cart, garden or pantry that will pair best. And on really inspired shopping trips I might imagine sitting in the backyard drinking wine with friends, wearing a cute sundress and wedge sandals and eating an artfully crafted seasonal dish made of a combination of fresh from my garden produce and whatever culinary object of desire that has captured my attention. Needless to say sometimes grocery store trips take me hours.

Today it was a bag of rich, egg yolk colored, organic Meyer lemons from Florida that captured my attention. I’ve never seen them at YDFM before, and while I know that their season is usually Winter, they looked to be in good shape and they didn’t come from another hemisphere. Perhaps they are finding ways to extend the growing season or they are the product of improved storage techniques. Either way these looked beautiful and a little rub of their fragrant skin sealed the deal for me.

I had plans to make preserved lemons with them…well I still do. But one of them found it’s way into dinner tonight. When I got home and took a walk through the garden I noticed that we had plenty of darling little sweet green peas ready for harvest. When I planted these peas earlier in the spring I had visions of recreating a green pea risotto that I once had at a wine dinner at Nell’s Restaurant in Seattle. If someone were to ask me what Spring tasted like, that risotto from Nell’s is the answer. Fresh and sweet and green, tender and yielding, but still toothsome like a proper risotto should be. Every bite has a few tender fresh peas in it that pop with little bursts of green sweetness in a way that frozen peas could never manage.

So here I am on Memorial Day weekend, the holiday that usually ushers in Summer, and it’s still rainy and cooler than any May in Georgia that I can remember. My sweet green peas are just ready for harvest, my baby basil plants have grown big enough so far that they can afford to lose a few leaves and I’m lusting after a citrus fruit whose season is usually months over. All these circumstances created one of the best risottos I’ve ever made. This one doesn’t taste exactly like Spring, but it does taste like something awesome.

And with preserved Meyer lemons on hand I can make this again when I have more peas and/or recommend this recipe in good conscience without fearing that I’m supporting a combination of ingredients that you’ll never find in season together again. So here it is:

Meyer Lemon & Sweet Pea Risotto

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
• 1/3 cup dry sherry
• Zest and juice of 1 Meyer Lemon or 1-2 tablespoons minced preserved Meyer lemon
• 3/4 cup fresh shelled green peas (may substitute frozen)
• 1/2 cup basil chiffonade
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Heat stock in a small sauce pot until warmed through. In a seperate pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute garlic and onion until translucent. Add rice to garlic and onions and cook until rice is translucent on the edges and opaque in the center (about 2 minutes). Add sherry and stir constanly until mostly absorbed. Reduce heat to low and add 1/2 cup of warmed stock, stirring frequently until stock is mostly absorbed. Continue adding stock 1/2 cup at a time and stirring frequently until 1/2 cup of stock remains (un-added to risotto). Stir in peas and last 1/2 cup of stock. Continue to stir frequently. Once stock is mostly absorbed, stir in basil and cook until basil is wilted and risotto is al dente. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

For a period of time yesterday and then again today my brain was consumed with stress over finances. I was mostly fretting over student loans. And while I (and we) are in a stable financial situation, every time I look at those big balances I wince a little. Or really I want to pull a Rip Van Winkle and go to sleep for twenty years and wake up when it’s all over.

But what I did instead was call my sweet, comforting, level-headed father and asked for some sound advice on the best strategy for continuing to chip away at those daunting numbers. He gave me good advice, but best of all he reassured me; he gave me some perspective and he told me he was proud of me.

Throughout the course of our conversation I began to think about things that are important and things that I value. I thought about things that I’m willing to live without and things for which I’m willing to pay extra when I can. I also thought about how fortunate I am that we are in a stable enough financial situation to be able to make the choice to pay extra for some things.

Food is one of those things that is really important to me. I’m often willing to pay extra to get better quality when it comes to food. This doesn’t mean that we lounge around the homestead eating beluga caviar, Wagu beef and gold foiled chocolate confections while swilling it down with vintage Bordeaux. But it does mean that I’m willing to pay the price for locally raised grass-fed beef and pastured pork. It does mean that now and again I’ll shell out some extra bucks for artisan goat cheese. I am also willing to regularly pay extra to stock our kitchen with mostly organic and sustainably produced foods, whether I’m shopping at a conventional grocery store or a farmer’s market.

We offset these extra costs by growing some of our own food, making most of our food from scratch and eating most of our meals at home. But by doing these things we get more back than just the ability to buy more nice food. We make an investment in our health. We support our local economy and local farmers. We hone our cooking skills. We learn about new foods and new flavors. We create an environment for wonderful shared meals with friends and neighbors.

All those things are really important to me. And while I love to go shoe shopping just like the next red-blooded American gal, I’m willing to make the shoes I have last another season if it means I get to eat well.

Ladies & Gentlemen it is my honor and privilege to introduce you to the peanut butter to my chocolate, the homemade lemonade to my summer afternoon, he is the crusty bits of cheese baked on the casserole dish of Granny’s macaroni & cheese (aka: the best part). Like a $20 bill found in my winter coat pocket on the first cool day of autumn, this charming fellow often leaves me grinning and thanking my lucky stars for life’s little treats.

Brian Hardy is the computer brains behind this operation drawing on his skill as a software developer and trainer. But don’t let his nerdy profession lead you astray. His dynamic interests range from home-brewing beer to vinyl record collecting and from cooking elaborate ethnic dishes to working on diesel Mercedes Benzes & a vintage Vespa scooter. He’s a creator and a fixer and an imaginative idea maker and generally a super handy dude to have around the homestead.

I think you’ll dig him almost as much as I do…and that’s a whole lot!

So, we finally did it. After all this time, we jumped on the blogwagon. We have entered the blog-o-sphere. Though there’s a lot to live up to in this arena, we consider ourselves primed for the challenge.

In addition to a casual documentary of our lives, we hope this site can be a place to share exciting new ideas and experiences. Learning and growing together with our friends, old and new, is one of our favorite things to do!

You must forgive my lack of introductions. Allow me to start with my compatriot in this tiny kingdom: the love of my life, Ms. Kip Slaughter. She’s a saucy young woman with a head full of knowledge, and she’s not afraid to tell you all of it; you might not even have to ask! But seriously, as a trained Master of Science in Nutrition, she will have a lot to say about gardening, cooking, composting and living sustainably in the semi-suburban patch we call home.

And with that, I’ll leave my introduction to her.