Catherine Molland: My Blue Mountain Farm

My First Egg!

2011-10-30T13:22:00.000-06:00

My chickens are starting to (finally!) lay eggs. This was the first egg and it was delicious! It was an abundant garden this summer and I just have to (rather proudly) share what I have harvested and preserved: Zucchini bread; green tomato jam; frozen green beans, corn, swiss chard, pesto; dried corn, chicos, cranberry beans; onions, garlic, all the herbs, sunflower seeds; ambercup winter squash; sun dried tomatoes packed in oil; and from the Farmer's Market honey and potatoes. Wahoo!!!!

Green Tomato Jam

2011-10-04T09:38:00.001-06:00

Green Tomato Jam
4 lbs. of green tomatoes, chopped
2 lbs. of powdered sugar
3 lemons, sliced very thin and quartered
In a large bowl, alternate layers of the chopped green tomatoes and powdered sugar. Put in refrigerator for 24 hours, stir. In a large kettle, bring to a boil and then simmer the green tomato and powdered sugar mixture for one hour. Skim off any foam. Add lemons and simmer for one more hour. Sterilize jars and lids and fill the hot clean jars with the hot tomato mixture. Fasten lids and put the tomato jam upside down on clean towels. Leave upside down for 30 min., or until when turned upright, the jar lids are sealed. When you tap on the top of the lid, it shouldn't give at all and be tight. Enjoy!

Summer Bounty

2011-09-26T16:06:00.001-06:00

The rains came and my Russian Mammoth Sunflowers grew 9 ft. tall. So did the corn! Lots of produce this summer, hard at work preserving food right now. Mostly freezing (30 loaves of zucchini nut bread and lots of vegies) and drying herbs, chives, etc. Chickens love the extra goodies from the garden and I made a pallet compost bin to put in all the chicken waste and garden scraps. Full circle now: chickens feed the compost bin that feeds the garden that feeds us, love it! Chickens should start laying any day now, too. Kitty likes eating my organic Swiss Chard!

My chickens have come home to roost!

2011-07-01T05:51:00.000-06:00

My Tropicana Beachless Resort for my 10 (6 different types) chickens is finished and they have happily moved into their spacious home. They are pretty easy to take care of and I enjoy hanging out with them. They seem to like me singing "Summertime" to them. They sleep all cuddled together, heads resting on each others backs-very sweet and I'm not seeing any of this infamous pecking order. I really love them. All I need now is some pink flamingos for their yard!

The Eternal Renewal

2011-05-09T18:54:00.000-06:00

Nothing says Spring! like my neighbor's goats having babies..... And me out in my 1200 sq.ft. circular organic vegie garden prepping the soil to receive seeds. Hard physical work (that at first I questioned if I would be able to do), but by the end I felt so strong and proud of my accomplishment! Now, gotta do the planting part next weekend.

Bees and The Due Return Show!

2011-04-25T10:23:00.000-06:00

Bronze Age Bee Goddess

Just took my first beekeeping class. Wonderful! We wore veils but no gloves. I had to pick up the Queen's cage from a table that had bees totally covering it. I moved VERY slowly and the bees gently parted to let me pick it up. Nothing happened and I faced my fear about being stung big-time!

Then I saw a great movie, Queen of the Sun, about the predicament of bees. Scientist and beekeepers from all over the world sharing information. Pretty alarming information and yet somehow the film was very uplifting and inspiring. And so beautiful!! I'm totally committed to having bees on my Paradise Farm next summer.
Coming soon - 10 day old baby chicks (May 13)!!

That's also the date of my son (Keith Yohai) with Meow Wolf's opening at the Center for Contemporary Art, www.theduereturn.com. An amazing show of a 2500 sq. ft. ship that has been traveling through time and space for 2 centuries and has now landed on an alien landscape! There's a ton of buzz about this show, including 2 national art magazine articles. Can't wait!!

Heirloom vs. Hybrid Seeds

2011-03-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

Heirloom seeds are unaltered seeds often handed down through generations of people. They sometimes have interesting histories - "brought over from the old country by Anna and carried west in a covered wagon". Most importantly, you can take the seed from the plant, save the seed, and next year when you plant that seed you will get the same exact plant. Hybrid seeds have been modified by combining several types of the same plant and when you plant their seeds, they can revert back to any of it's ancestors so you can't be sure of what you'll end up with. Heirloom seeds do tend to grow wonderfully delicious vegetables but if you grow several types of say, zucchinis, they can cross pollinate and next year's zucchini could be a mix of types. If you want to save the seeds, just grow one type of that particular vegetable that summer. Hybrid seeds can be designed to be disease resistant, which can be helpful. They are all good but I love my heirloom seeds as they are jewels of the garden passed hand to hand from one earth lover to another!

Daydreaming through the Seed Catalogs

2011-02-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

Took this picture a week ago from my porch. And while it's (very) cold outside, I'm doing one of my favorite things to do in my organic vegetable garden: going through my seed catalogs and daydreaming my future garden. It's so easy, no hard work digging, weeding, planting! The seed catalogs I prefer are: Seed Savers, Johnny's, and Territorial. I never can resist trying something new, something exotic. But I have my tried and true favorites also. Like costa romesco zucchini, the old fashioned zucchini with the ribs, best texture and flavor! We often take for granted that which comes easily to us, like the abundance of zucchini. But I treasure them as zucchini is so versatile in recipes, from pickles to casseroles and breads!

Why Pioneers Didn't Pay For Gyms, Part 2

2011-01-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

Snow shoveling, like gardening, is a full body workout. I'm continuing my quest to learn how to bake good bread. One of the most successful ones I've tried is Debra Madison's challah bread. I'm finding that the trick is in getting hearty healthy whole wheat bread bread to lighten up and not be a very dense brick. Kinda like my lesson in life right now.

Why Pioneers Didn't Pay For Gyms

2010-12-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

I've been baking my own bread lately. It began because it's more economical and every penny counts right now but I have to say, I'm now addicted because the bread is so yummy. The newest trend is "no knead" bread. First you make your dough, which is super easy, basically just mixing together dry and wet ingredients. Then it has to rise, which takes time but no work on your part. After rising, you put the dough in the frig and when you want to bake bread - pull some out, let it rise again and bake. There a lots of different recipes on the web, and Mother Earth News is always a great source. That's all great but I have to say, kneading is not such a bad thing to do. Great exercise for the arms and really I find it kinda relaxing. The bread gets so satiny and smooth and wonderful feeling that I knead no matter what now. Between gardening, baking bread, and bringing wood in for the winter, who needs a gym?

Tips for Preserving Food: Jams and Pickles,etc.

2010-10-07T09:19:00.000-06:00

Pickling

Another way I found to deal with zucchini is making zucchini pickles. You brine the sliced zucchini and onions, make a vinegar, mustard and turmeric mix and pour it over your zucchini in a jar, screw on a lid and refrigerate. I also add dill from the garden. Google: zuni café zucchini pickles for the recipe.

Fermentation

Kim Chee has many variations, but basically is cabbage, carrots, radishes, with a garlic, ginger, chili powder, and vinegar mix. It is a great way to use up these vegetables. You brine the cabbage, add the spice mixture to the vegetables and leave the jar on your counter with a towel over it to ferment for 7-10 days. Then screw on a lid and refrigerate. Google Kim Chee for recipes.

Jams

High acid fruit jams, like apricot jam do not need a hot water bath. One year I made 75 jars and I was sold out of them in two weeks, yummy! There are lots of recipes on line, but I use the pink Sure Jell recipe, which is the lower sugar one (plenty sweet). After I fill the sterilized jars with the hot jam, I turn them upside down on a clean towel for a half hour. When I turn them right side up, the jars are sealed.

Tips for Preserving Food: Freezing

2010-10-07T09:16:00.000-06:00

Freezing

When you put food items (like berries) into a freezer bag and freeze them, they become one big clump of berries when defrosted. What you want is individually frozen berries so you can remove from the bag the amount you want to use.

1. Berries, Corn, any item you want each item frozen individually: Place berries on a cookie sheet and freeze overnight. Then put individually frozen berries into a freezer bag. I prefer quart size bags. Corn can be cut off the cob with a sharp knife while being stood in a bowl to catch the corn kernels and frozen without any blanching.

2. Pesto, Lemon juice, any soft mass: When there is a lot of basil, you can make your own pesto, which is simply basil, pine nuts, olive oil , garlic and parmesan cheese. Put the pesto into an ice cube tray and freeze overnight. Then pop out the frozen pesto from the ice cube tray and put the pesto cubes into a freezer bag. I love Meyer’s lemons and squeeze them in season and do this same process with them. When you want a couple of tablespoons of pesto or lemon juice, you can easily remove them from your freezer bag.

3. Zucchini can be baked into loaves of delicious zucchini nut bread and it freezes wonderfully well. For a good zucchini nut bread recipe, go to CatherineMollandblogspot.com

4. I make and freeze applesauce in glass jars. The trick to freezing in glass jars and not having the glass jars crack in the freezer is to leave lots of head room in the jar, at least two and a half inches.

5. Tomatoes make great spaghetti sauce, which is easily frozen in freezer bags.

Competition paintings

2010-09-30T08:59:00.000-06:00

Just entered a flower competition, big prize money (wouldn't that be fabulous!) and it was fun to paint flowers. Tried to stay with the format: focus on flowers yet make it interesting. Here are my two entries, "Flower Power" and "Gerber Daisies and Glass". Life is so rich and good lately.....

freezing tips

2010-09-27T15:49:00.000-06:00

If you pack berries into a freezer bag, when defrosted, it will be one solid mess of berries. A better way to freeze the berries is to put them onto a cookie sheet overnight. Then the next a.m., put the individually frozen berries into the freezer bag. Softer items, like pesto and freshly squeezed lemon juice, can be frozen overnight in ice cube trays. Then the next day, pop them out of the tray, put into freezer bags and you will have individual size servings. Also, to prevent glass canning jars from cracking in the freezer, leave at least 2" headroom.

Zucchini Nut Bread Recipe

2010-09-27T09:46:00.000-06:00

As promised, here is the Zucchini Nut Bread Recipe.

Zucchini Nut Bread
Makes 4 Loaves preheat oven 360 degrees
4 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 cup oil or soft butter
2 TBS. vanilla
5 cups shredded (peeled and seeded) zucchini
3 &1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3&1/4 cups white unbleached flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 cups crushed pineapple OR applesauce
2 cups nuts
(Optional: 1/2 cup cocoa, and 9 oz. Chocolate chips for chocolate version)

Beat 4 eggs until foamy. Add sugar, oil or butter, and vanilla. Stir well, add
zucchini and applesauce (or pineapple). Separately mix together flours, baking
powder , baking soda, salt (cocoa for chocolate version). Combine dry
ingredients with wet ones and add nuts. Grease 4 loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour 10
min. Enjoy!

Putting Up Food

2010-09-21T09:10:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Emily Van Cleve interviewed me for the Journal North newspaper for an article called "Putting Up Food". It was about my large organic vegetable garden and I shared simple and easy tips I have learned over the years for preserving food. I mean, as much as I love those zucchini's, after awhile, what is a same person to do with all of them?? I made zucchini pickles this year and everyone loves them, they have turmeric that turns them golden and mustard seeds, dry mustard and apple cider vinegar. Google Zuni Cafe Zucchini Pickles to get the recipe. Also, I froze lots of zucchini nut bread and I'll post that recipe tomorrow. I also made jars of apricot jam this year, dried all kinds of herbs, made and froze pesto, and stored garlic, onions, potatoes,etc. Whew! I am grateful for all the abundance, especially this year and I'm tired, too.

Fun Show

2010-06-09T09:49:00.000-06:00

Marigold Art, 424 Canyon Rd., Santa Fe invited me to join artist Ruth Tatter in a "Wildlife Revisted" Show this month. The opening on June 4 was packed and a lot of fun. Kate McGraw of the Albuquerque Journal North did another wonderful article on June 4 called "Animal/Nature with a huge (6"x4")image of my African Queen and it drew people to the opening! Was great to see a lot of friends and Barbara, the owner, made her famous wild porcini mushroom dip. She teaches people how to pick wild mushrooms and I want to learn....

Sky Meadow Spirit

2009-12-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

My gallery suggested I do a four panel piece and the result was this painting "Sky Meadow Spirit". The idea came while I was leafing through a magazine and I saw a photo of a beautiful lush meadow. I accidentally dropped a clipping of a sky scene onto the meadow photo and I loved the play of contrasts. So, two alternating panels are of a meadow and the other two are of the sky. The mysterious figure on the bottom of the third panel wasn't planned, he just appeared and I went with it. Very "Green Man" energy, all good.

"Releasing the Muse"

2009-10-14T07:25:00.000-06:00

Here's a new painting hot off the easel. It's called "Releasing the Muse" and it's acrylic mediums and silk-screened Japanese paper underneath and then painted with oils. I thought I'd never finish this painting as it has evolved and mutated many times. But now it's done and hanging in a show at the Community Bank on Guadalupe and Paseo de Peralta here in Santa Fe. Show is up until Jan. 9, 2010. On to the next canvas!

NM Museums' Seminar

2009-08-09T09:13:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I went to a very interesting seminar that the NM Museums sponsored. Learned a lotta new stuff and here's some things I want share. Check out mashable.com for good demographics and Moo.com for business cards with lots of different images (great for artists!). I finished a new painting, loving it! Will post image later.

2009-07-07T07:26:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I lasted posted anything. Been busy and I have great news: I am now gallery represented in Santa Fe! My art work can be viewed at Galerie Esteban, 241 Delgado St. (corner of Canyon Rd.), 505.988.1002, www.galerieesteban.com Also, I am having a show there this week! The artist reception opening is this Friday, July 10 from 5-8 pm.

And as if that wasn't exciting enough, my art is on the cover of the summer issue of Edible Magazine with an article I wrote, "Garden to Canvas", inside and three more images of my paintings! The summer edition of the magazine will soon be seen at www.ediblecommunities.com. Scroll down the page and click on Santa Fe. I'm thrilled and nervous both, wish me good luck!

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

It is the start of another year and I feel very positive that this will be a year for great growth. My resolution is to play more, paint more and just enjoy life.

Oh yeah, and to spend more time on the computer to organize and promote my art. Approaching life fearlessly (Ok, yes there was a little fear of the computer.)

Welcome, 2009.