MULCH MILLIONAIRES!

THE GIGANTIC PILE OF MULCH

Let’s talk about MULCH. What is it? It is usually ground up wood, pine needles, or, in some climates, chopped up leaves. Mulch is placed around the bases of plants and shrubs (and even trees) to keep moisture from evaporating out of the soil, and to discourage weeds.

Now, I have read in gardening books that deal with DESIRABLE gardening climates, that one can just cram wet fallen autumn leaves around the bases of plants to discourage weeds, about an inch thick, and that does the job JUST FINE.

But here in Central Texas, where you can have summer temperatures hovering around a hundred and ten (like last summer) and sometimes no rain for two years (like Last Summer), my Central Texas Vegetable Gardening book advises: “apply mulch at least 8 inches thick and preferable a FOOT THICK, and use ground up trees because leaves will just dry up and blow away.”

ANOTHER ANGLE ON THE GIGANTIC MULCH PILE

Sadly, the amount of mulch advised is just so much, even though I am CONSTANTLY on the lookout for ground up trees, and I grind up all my OWN trees whenever possible, I have never had anywhere NEAR enough mulch. Laying it on a foot thick, a HUGE garbage can full of mulch (the super huge kind) will only do about a five by five foot bed. So for a garden like mine, I would need like 35 giant garbage cans full.

At Xmas, the City of AUstin gives away all the ground up Xmas trees (to keep them out of the landfill) and we got load after load after load of the ground up Xmas trees, and I STILL used it all up before I got half the garden mulched (and only about 3 inches deep).

SO!

Davey Tree Service was hired by the City to cut down all the tree limbs in the entire city that threatened power lines. We didn’t really have any, but they came and rooted out a ONE foot tall pecan that was growing where they thought it might eventually in 20 years touch the power line. And I was joking around with the Davey Tree guy and I said, ” I don’t suppose you are GIVING AWAY any of that MULCH for FREE?” (from grinding up the limbs, which they were doing) And I was TOTALLY JOKING, because normally the tree trimming companies give you the STINK EYE when you make jests of that nature.

And the Davey Tree guy said: “HOW MANY TRUCKFULS WOULD YOU LIKE?”

(and I said. “……………one……………..?”)

And then nothing happened for a week, and I figured he forgot. But then we came home last Friday and there was THE HUGEST PILE OF MULCH in front of our house, the photos don’t do it justice!

And today, the following Wednesday, Dave finished shoveling the TEN THOUSAND TONS of mulch into three piles, no FOUR PILES in the backyard. I have mulched about HALF the garden, too, and I have enough mulch to mulch EVERYTHING A FOOR DEEP!!!  EVERYTHING !!!!

WE ARE MULCH MILLIONAIRES!!!

ALL MOVED TO THE BACKYARD BY DAVE THORNBERRY, SUPERHERO.

More Late Gladiolas

Watermelon Juice; or, Aguas Frescas

Gigantic Pink Glass of Watermelon Juice Over Ice

Aguas Frescas are Mexican fruit juices, fresh juices, that are becoming popular in Texas with EVERYONE. Because they are G*R*E*A*T!!!

Popular flavors include cantaulope, watermelon, tamarind, lemon, lime, and “Orchata”, which is essentially rice milk with vanilla and cinnamon.

Watermelon has always been my favorite, and I began making it when I bought watermelon and couldn’t fit it all in my icebox. Because watermelons are HUGE and my icebox is usually PACKED. Plus, watermelon juice is just naturally cooling and also diuretic, it is probably the perfect thing to drink in Texas in the summer.

For years I made it with a juicer, outside (because juicers FLING watermelon seeds everywhere. Really. Try it, you’ll see….even when it shouldn’t be possible, they manage.) But I read the other day that you can make watermelon agua fresca with YOUR BLENDER and a strainer, and it just sounded like it might be a lot easier.

IT IS!

My INSTRUCTIONS for YOU:

Chop up your watermelon or half watermelon into cubes.

Pack cubes in blender tightly, with a little water and a little sugar (you need to add a little sugar as a preservative)

Blend.

Pour into a strainer set over a bowl to catch the very tiny amount of fiber that a watermelon has.

Serve over ice!

As you can see, an entire watermelon only has a few tablespoons of fiber!

Late Gladiolas

My gladiolas didn't bloom this year because, well, I THOUGHT it had rained enough for them, but actually I needed to water them more. So instead of blooming they all just withered. But this week, after the thousand inches of rain we have gotten, a few of my gladiolas have sent up flower shoots! The rain made them top heavy and they were falling over, so I had to put them in this vase. IS IT NOT GORGEOUS???

More PORKFEST at OLIVIA

Kay and Jim Richardson, talking to the guy who owns the Whip-In Market, which is a local convenience store that serves a huge selection of beer and Indian Food

As I mentioned before, all the courses at PORKFEST featured Richardson Farms Pastured Pork. Jim and Kay Richardson are absolutely the nicest and happiest folks, always cheerful when I see them at events like this one or at the Farmers Market. You get the feeling talking to them that they are just having the GREATEST TIME raising organic pork, chicken and beef, not to mention wheat, corn and millet on their farm. They got involved with the burgeoning interest in pastured, organic meats and grains just at the perfect time to do well and be VERY appreciated.

Their grass-fed beef is so superior, so flavorful and delicious, that I don’t even ENJOY eating beef that they didn’t raise. Seriously. It is THAT MUCH BETTER. It is like the difference between Texas and California peaches! (In my opinion, there isn’t even any POINT in putting a California peach in your mouth. It is DRECK conpared to a Texas peach. But no one outside of Texas KNOWS this, because Texas never exports any peaches….we eat them all here!)

On to the Cuisine!

Caramelized Pork Belly Rillons in Ginger-Apple Butter. THIS WAS SUCH A MEMORABLE COURSE! The Pork Belly Rillons were the best I have ever had, nice and crispy and not overly fatty, and the GINGER APPLE BUTTER WAS AMAZING !!!

Beer-Glazed Spareribs with cucumber and watermelon salad. These were so tender that the meat was indeed LITERALLY falling off the bone. The Watermelon was a perfect foil.

Remember me going ON AND ON AND ON about Texas peaches? The OUTSTANDING dessert was Texas peach ice cream with CHOCOLATE COVERED BACON. One of the best desserts I have ever had! The chocolate covered bacon was so good, I really wanted to send Jim Gaffigan a boxful.

Olivia: PORKFEST

The First Course: Prosciutto, Salami, Guanciale, and Testa, all made at Olivia. Served with grilled Hill Country Peaches and Plums and Green Onion Salad

Tonight I went to a VERY special event: PORKFEST, at Olivia. At a time when higher end eateries are scrambling to issue “groupons” and get folks in the door, Chef James Holmes practically sold OUT this event the first day is was announced. (Also, I should mention it was ONLY $50, which compares VERY favorably to the price of chef-orchestrated wine dinners.)

The concept: Six courses of all natural pastured pork from Richardson Farms, paired with beers from the 512 Brewery, a fledgling brewery here in town (I have to admit I L*OV*E L*O*V*E L*O*V*E the NAME!! It is of course the name of our AREA CODE here in Austin. It is KIND OF like naming your brewery “78704″, but less obvious! GREAT NAME!!!)

Chef James Holmes HAMMING IT UP with a whole roasted pig! I actually SAID THAT OUT LOUD at the event and everyone GROANED because they thought I was saying a PUN I made up! So embarrassing! I didn't realize it was a pun until they groaned

One day recently I figured out that 70% of the meat I eat is PORK (the magical animal! Pork Chops, Bacon, Sausage, Ham!) which is KIND OF SCARY, actually…but anyway, the menu was right down my alley, and the food was DIVINE.

I have to say, I was VERY impressed with the beers and ales as well. They were ALL awesome, seriously. the “WIT”  brew was made with cilantro and grapefruit peel (two of my favorite flavors, and although you couldn’t REALLY taste them in the beer, I just like the IDEA, you know!); the IPA had just an EXPLOSION of subtle flavors, and the Pecan Porter was seriously, better than most Guinness I have had, dark and smooth in a very luxurious way. I would be hard pressed to say which I adored the most; if I am in a bar that serves 512 brews anytime soon, I will probably ORDER THEM! In preference to OTHER beers!

COURSE TWO: An ENTIRE sausage, with a HUGE perfectly cooked scallop. That is a normal size sausage; the scallop really IS the size of a baseball

Upcoming courses: Caramelized Pork Belly with ginger-apple butter (Extremely memorable and awesome); Beer glazed spareribs with garden tomato, cucumber and watermelon salad; Slow Roasted Whole Pig with potato Gnocchi and summer vegetables; and-

HILL COUNTRY PEACH ICE CREAM WITH CHOCOLATE COVERED BACON!!

Making Fresh Salsa from the Garden

BEFORE GOING IN THE OVEN

Of course, there are MANY kinds of salsa! But what I am writing about here is your everyday (in Texas) red table salsa that is ordinarily enjoyed with tortilla chips. Over the years I have been experimenting with different ways to make red table salsa, and I am pretty happy with this recipe.

You will need:

Garden tomatoes, any size is fine (you can use cherry tomatoes if that is what you have); roughly a small mixing bowl full. How many is that? A pound? Three pounds? I don’t know. I used 4 giant ones (Cherokees) and 6 medium ones (San Marzanos).

One gigantic white onion

Jalapenos, or serranos, or poblanos, or you could even use a single habanero if you are brave. How many? depends on how hot you want it to be. I used three jalapenos, hot ones. (If you don’t have fresh, you can use canned, but the salsa will taste different.)

Some of that frozen cilantro I told you about. Or fresh. One thing I have noticed is that STORE cilantro is way less leafy that homegrown; if you use storebought, you will need to use the leaves off a whole bunch, an ENTIRE bunch.

Deflated and roasted, they are ready for the PROCESSOR!!!

salt and pepper

sugar

a lime

a little oil

Heat the oven to 400˚.  Arrange halved tomatoes, onion slices, and whole peppers on two oiled baking sheets. Salt and pepper them. Roast in the oven until they appear deflated and more than half cooked. They can still be a LITTLE raw. Between fifteen and thirty minutes? You can tell by looking at them. (Or, you can roast them until they are beginning to blacken a little; then you will have “FIRE-ROASTED” salsa!)

Remove from oven, and dump the tomatoes, onion, and peppers into your food processor. (Have you noticed my recipes involve the word “DUMP” a lot? I think I am trying to make this all seem NOT FINICKY to you guys. Cooking can be very loose, very relaxed! You don’t need to be UPTIGHT about MEASURING STUFF!)

Pulse. Add a Tablespoon or two of white sugar, a HALF teaspoon of SALT, and the juice of half a lime. Pulse. Taste. Does it need more sugar? (It will if your tomatoes were sour, the way we grow them around here! Tomatoes that grow in areas where it gets chilly at night are SWEET; in Texas, where it is HOT at night, they are sour.) Does it need more lime? You be the judge. If it needs more of something, add it.

Add a GLOB of Frozen cilantro (Or the leaves from a bunch of fresh cilantro)(Or, if, like my friend Gina, you don’t LIKE cilantro, you can leave it out!). Pulse. Taste. IT IS DONE!!!

This recipe will provide you with a large bowl of better-than-most-restaurants quality salsa. We usually use about half of it right away, and I freeze the other half for later use.

Authentic Table Salsa