[chocomouse]

I am an experienced gardener, a certified Master Gardener. In the northeast, this has been a tough summer for every gardener. It's been the worst gardening season I've ever had. And I'm being generous with my ratings, since it's been a transitional garden season as I'm moving from a huge in-ground garden to growing things in planters and pots on the deck. Cold and rainy spring. Summer's been hot, hot, hot -- we've had more than 15 days of over 90* heat (85* is warm here). We're officially in a drought, and had less than an inch of rain per week, .03 inches so far in September. Watering with an underground system, a hose, or a can, helps, but not enough. And now,a short season, we've had some freezing or near freezing temps, depending on your altitude. We've been over-run by chipmunks, a relatively minor problem. All my vegetables were behind and very slow to ripen. Not one cauliflower on the plants; a pretty good crop of broccoli, the biggest cabbages I've ever had. Tons of tomatoes, more than ever, but late, and very small. Lettuces and other greens went to seed early. Very few summer squash, decent zucchini, plants died early. Cucumbers poor and plants died early. Few peppers, flowers just didn't set into fruit. Winter squash crop questionable so far, some, some big, not as many as usual. Very, very poor berry crops. Three apples, on 4 trees. No comment on the beans or beets, issues may be just related to growing in a planter not in the ground. Zukes and cukes did worse in pots. If I were a first-time gardener, had spent hours weeding in the sun, hauling buckets of water in the heat, not enjoying the fruits of my labor -- I'd be tempted to never garden again. It's really too bad that in a summer when so many folks were trying it for the first time, there were so many more challenges than usual. I'm in several gardening forums, and certainly will encourage all the newbies to try again next year!

[chocomouse]

Skeptic, funny that you should ask about whole wheat scones today! I just now ate one -- my first using whole wheat pastry flour. I was gifted a bag, from KAF, and have never used pastry flour in my life. I looked at recipes using it on the KAF website, and read a lot of comments bakers posted. It sounded like scones and biscuits made from this flour were wonderful! (I must note **** that I use a LOT of whole wheat flour, love the flavor and the texture it imparts; I have made whole wheat scones subbing whole wheat flour for 1/2 of the called for AP flour, and they were fine). So, just 3 minutes ago, I ate one of the fresh scones. Oh, no! It completely fell apart! Just crumbled into pieces. It did not stick to the scone pan, just broke into crumbs. I had to use a spoon to get the pieces out of the pan. And I had to use a spoon to eat it! The flavor was excellent. The recipe was, roughly: 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (subbed for 3 cups AP), 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 stick of butter, 3 oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup half and half, salt, vanilla, chopped dried apricots. So much fat, so tender, and less structure from the low protein pastry flour -- they just collapse. Not a greasy mouthful, surprisingly, but I believe there is just too much fat to hold it together. Now, I'll look for other recipes that use whole wheat pastry flour. I welcome comments from anyone!

[chocomouse]

My husband had a BLT and I had a favorite dinner: leftover grilled chicken thigh, broccoli salad, and a green salad.

[chocomouse]

Skeptic, I do remember you said you like to have your syrup in the cans, not plastic. Years ago (1980s, we made about 15-20 gallons a year then, just for family), we put our syrup into empty liquor bottles, and asked friends and relatives to save their empties for us. My son, in grade 7, was part of a local church youth group that provided a breakfast following Easter sunrise services, and he donated some of our syrup. Easter morning, he walked down the center aisle of the church with a half-gallon Jim Beam bottle in each hand! I was told there were many loud gasps from the congregation. He was completely oblivious to what was happening. In the end, there was plenty of syrup for all the pancakes they served. When the liquor companies began using plastic instead of glass, we lost our cheap supply of bottles and started using mason jars!

[chocomouse]

Dinner was ribs, zucchini, and the last of the green beans from the deck. Summer is over -- temps are cool and crisp, fewer veggies produced in the garden, and the sun sets earlier now.

[chocomouse]

It is suddenly soup season!! It's chilly here today. But we are having leftover pasta and tomato sauce for dinner, and a salad from the deck. I think tomorrow I'll make a batch of tomato soup - would be good right now with a grilled cheese.

[chocomouse]

Food-grade oils must be recycled in Vermont, and recycling companies do take them. There are some centers that accept motor oil, etc, but not many. Many areas/town in VT do not have companies that do curbside pick up of trash, or they might pick up trash but not separate out the recyclables.

[chocomouse]

Len, or anyone else who would like to order syrup, the address to order is scruggssugarhouse@gmail.com. My husband or son will respond, although our son just left for a 10 day camping trip in Maine so may not always have phone/internet connections. They do not have a website yet, but do have a Venmo account for payment, and do accept checks.

[chocomouse]

Vermont is a leader in the sustainable living movement. We have superb recyling facilities and programs, and a lot of education around the issues. As of July 1, we could no longer put food scraps into our regular trash, and that led to many towns scrambling to locate central collection points. If you compost (as we have, for 35 years) you are allowed to put meat and bone scraps into your regular trash. There are now many new collaboratives formed to collect and process all food scraps. However, I suspect there are still a lot of people who will not make the effort to separate food from other recyclables. It's all matter of attitude and effort.

[chocomouse]

Too hot to cook. I made chicken salad from leftover chicken breasts.

[chocomouse]

You're right - if it's raining, you don't need to spray them with water!!! How are the plants looking now?

[chocomouse]

I made the Apricot Oatmeal Bars that BakerAunt often makes. I used raspberry jam which I made from our fresh picked berries. I made a few slight changes, mostly increasing the ingredients a bit to fill a 9 x 12 pan, and subbing in white whole wheat. They are delicious, and I will definitely make again. I am thinking about a thin layer of melted chocolate on top of the jam (raspberry or apricot) then sprinkled with the topping.

[chocomouse]

We had a decent syrup season last year -- not "wow", but not bad. Comparisons for us are difficult, since we spent over 100,000 on a new building, all new, high-tech equipment, etc. And last year was our first year as a "commercial" official business. We had also planned to tap many new trees, thus increasing our capacity, but that didn't happen due to unexpected issues. I have not heard any talk about a shortage of syrup; most years there is surplus, which is stored for the future. However, I would expect usage is up (parents working from home and feeding home-from-school kids pancakes!) so pressure is on supply-demand.

We sell our syrup for $10.00 a quart (I hear you "gasp"; I keep telling my husband he needs to raise the price a little! But he wants to make it affordable, and doesn't need to make a ton of profit). Three quarts fit into the USPS pre-paid $15 shipping box, so you get 3 quarts for $45.00. We ship only in the plastic bottles, to avoid the inevitable breakage.

I know you said you do not like the plastic; that's why I didn't offer to sell you any syrup the last time we talked about this! I don't know why you don't like the plastic, but you can repackage it.

You can easily pour the syrup into glass containers (we personally use mason jars) and reseal them. That means heating the syrup up to 180*, pouring it into sterilized jars (think canning) up to about 1/4" from the top, put on the lid and screw band, then turn upside down for about a minute to seal. Syrup that is processed this way will keep probably forever, although many folks say three year. Once it is opened, it must be refrigerated. However, if your syrup ever does get mold growing on it, just scrape off the mold, and heat the sryup to 180* and reseal or refrigerate.

We have only the "dark robust" grade of syrup. That used to be called B grade. A lot of folks believe that means inferior syrup - it is not. It's the only kind I use, and is preferred by most Vermonters and bakers. All syrup has to meet certain standards. All syrup that meets those standards will have the same density - measured with a hygrometer. The flavor may differ somewhat from farm to farm, depending on the terroir. If there is an off-taste, something is terribly wrong- like re-using a mason jar that once was filled with pickles! We do not reuse plastic jugs. We do not wash our glass jars with soap - that can impart an odd taste. Glass is not impervious. Or, using sap from a maple tree in late spring after the tree has budded; it gets a bitter, sharp taste.

Please let me know if you have questions, or want to order some syrup!

[chocomouse]

Mike, spray them with water first thing in the morning, sunrise, and you might save them. Or, go out and throw a sheet over them tonight. In the low 40s, the plants most likely will not be killed, but if the cold is prolonged, the tomatoes won't ripen. So pick them all and ripen inside - put in cardboard boxes and separate with layers of newspaper.

[chocomouse]

Today I made another 5 quarts of tomato sauce for the freezer. We have plenty of tomatoes still ripening, and temps in the 80s this week. We also had BLTs for dinner.

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