her able hands

I dreamed last night that my chickens all turned into baby foxes and found their way out of the tractor. A guy Chris knew (in the dream only) was telling me I should order eggs from the government from now on because keeping chickens isn’t safe, and that I’m inviting Avian Bird Flu at best, and a return of the Plague at worst. I told him he should stop letting the government tell him what’s true and not true, and maybe think for himself for a change. He then picked up a giant vacuum cleaner and began sucking up a huge bag of different kinds of balls: volleyballs, soccer balls, tennis balls, softballs, golf balls. He was laughing and howling like a drunken frat boy during pledge week, and he had plumber crack.

Good times.

I wanted to follow up on an earlier post about Farmgirl’s Fabulous Green Garlic Pasta. I chickened out on sacrificing my garlic beds, but kept thinking about how good, simple, and versatile the recipe sounded. I can’t figure out how to get a permalink for an individual post on her site, so I’ll just quote the recipe here. The only change I made was to add crumbled black olives to the green garlic sautee.

Farmgirl’s Green Garlic Fettuccine
Cook your choice of pasta according to package directions (I add a splash of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt to the water). Meanwhile, heat a lump of butter in a skillet. Finely chop as much green garlic as you like (warning: it shrinks down) and add it to the pan of butter. I used the white and light green parts plus about an inch of the leaves of three stalks (for one serving). Cook on low heat until softened, about five minutes or so. Add a splash of pasta water, cover, and turn off heat while pasta finishes cooking. Stir drained pasta into green garlic mixture, along with another lump of butter and plenty of freshly grated pecorino romano (or asiago or parmesan). Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with more grated cheese and a few finely chopped garlic leaves if desired, and serve it up quickly–or risk finding yourself standing in the kitchen with fork and empty bowl in hand and a very confused look on your face.

Other Ideas: I think this buttery green garlic would also be wonderful mixed with boiled red new potatoes, stirred into some rice, or sprinkled over real mashed potatoes.

I finally made it the night before last when I noticed a whole lot of volunteer garlic in the small beds on either side of the front porch steps. I pulled up about thirty shoots, some of them very thin, some as fat as a leek. I remember seeing a few garlic plants there last year, which went to seed. The scapes must have fallen and taken root, because this year there’s a lot of garlic growing. I can’t wait to see the scapes forming on the garlic in the back, because boy do I have plans for them. I’m going to shove those juicy little garlic buds into every spare inch of bare soil I can find, so next spring we can live on green garlic.

While I sat in the sun to peel the outer leaves off, Chris took Lila for her first official climb up into the Sugar Maple.

We’ll add this tree to the list of things we’ll miss about this place. It’s a perfect climbing tree, and will only improve with age.

The girl is a natural and she acclimated to the height faster than Chris did, and tried to scoot up much higher, making Daddy’s stomach lurch with fear and nausea. Thus ended the tree expedition.

While I’m getting sidetracked let me also show you where the money for fixing the drainage pipe in the side yard went. Just two days before I came home and told Chris I wanted to look at the beautiful little house next to his parents, he drained the little bit of padding we had to buy a summer driving car. The behemoth, ancient Suburban he drives is a nightmare in the summer because the air conditioning died about 8 years ago, and only one of the power windows works. It’s a furnace on wheels.

He didn’t want to buy another used Honda that would slowly break down and turn into something that will never be worth more than a few hundred dollars, so he decided to go the classic car route. A friend of his drives only classic vehicles, and as he says, “Everything’s for sale.” So now we’re the, ahem, proud owners of the car that put Ralph Nader on the public safety radar. Chris did install a seatbelt in the drivers seat, and will get to the other ones before anybody else is allowed to go for a ride.

Luckily, (ha! ha ha!) it’s painted safety orange, so anybody with even 20% vision behind the wheel of another car will see you coming. From like, 30 miles away.

I’m particularly fond of this shot that shows how our two interests collide. Yes, it came with the fuzzy dice.

Anyway, back to the pasta. I used Fettuccini, Asiago cheese, and the aforementioned olives, and wished I had cooked up two pounds because the one didn’t go very far. I seldom hold back food for myself, but in this case I looked around at the rest of my family as we ate, listened to the warning signal of their ecstatic groans, and said a little louder than necessary, “I call dibs on the last serving!”

I did share two bites with Chris, and instructed Tyler to make himself a turkey and cheese sandwich if he was still hungry.

We had it with our first local asparagus drizzled with lemon butter, salt and pepper (which makes me very eager to get an asparagus bed going,) and another giant salad from our very productive cold frames.

The spinach has thickened up a little, giving it a buttery crunchy texture like nothing I’ve had from the grocer. I snipped bits of fennel leaves and dill into the greens, and thinned out the Merlot lettuce, giving us a few leaves for color, and a sharp, green flavor. We ate the pasta too fast to get a photo.

There are enough spring garlic shoots remaining in the front to make one more meal, and I may splurge on some shrimp to toss with it for a farewell dinner.

If you enjoy reading about food and gardening, check out Farmgirl’s inspiring new blog, In My Kitchen Garden. I love her writing style, and her sensibility in the garden, and the kitchen. She’s such an inspiration, and somehow finds time to update both blogs almost daily. The woman makes me hungry. I cannot wait to get busy with the growing and cooking at the new place.

Today I’m running out to throw some more seeds in the ground, New England Pie Pumpkin, Rouge Vif d’Etemps Pumpkin, Waltham Butternut, Kuri Squash, Mexican Sour Gherkins, Lemon Cucumber, Basil, Dill, Cilantro, Chiogga Beet, Chard. These will all be for fall harvest or for my weekly visits to mow the lawn and collect for market. Low maintenance, big returns. I hope.

Then I have to come inside and start packing. We’re hoping to be out by the end of the month.

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