[chocomouse]

Thanks, Baker Aunt! I've bookmarked both sites and glanced at the articles, and I'll most definitely make that ice cream soon. The scientific article will have to wait a couple of days - the forecast is for perfect gardening weather, so I must pull weeds today.

[chocomouse]

This is all very interesting, and I need to reread it several times and try to process it all. I do not make/can blueberry pie filling nor do I make jam. I do freeze about 40 quarts of blueberries, from our ten bushes. Frozen blueberries are excellent in muffins or bread - good flavor, not mushy, and the skins are not tough. When I make blueberry pie, I must cook the frozen berries first; otherwise, the skins are tough and chewy. You have to cook them to split the skins. I do not notice any loss of flavor from cooking them at that point. But I have nothing to compare that with. I think the flavor of blueberries varies tremendously depending on the variety. One of my varieties is very sweet, but has no blueberry flavor, some are so-so, and one variety (I have 3 bushes of this one!) is sweet and has a very strong blueberry taste.

I wonder why the formerly-frozen berries in a muffin are not tough, but in a pie filling are tough? Hmmm.

Baker Aunt, I may do some experimenting, but I doubt I do as much or as precisely as you probably will. I do look forward to hearing what you discover!

[chocomouse]

Yesterday I cooked a lot for our celebration party. I made a vegetable tray and salads: seafood, broccoli, and ham 'n cheese macaroni, and baked beans. They were perfect for our first really warm, humid day of the summer season.

[chocomouse]

We had a Father's Day/Daughter's Birthday/Grand-daughter's High School Graduation party yesterday! I made a Death by Chocolate trifle and a Pizza Loaf. That was a KAF blog recently and needs some more experimentation. It's made from the Butterflake Herb Loaf recipe, which is a really nice dough, savory or sweet, but it was too much bread and not enough "stuff." The teen-agers loved it.

[chocomouse]

We had salmon and roasted potatoes with fresh herbs cut from the planters on the deck, all cooked on the grill, and a green salad.

[chocomouse]

What about Wilton and also Pastry Chef? I'm meeting friends at the King Arthur Cafe for breakfast tomorrow, so I'll ask their staff, and maybe get the name of some possible suppliers. You could also try calling their hot line or sending them an email.

[chocomouse]

Happy Birthday, Cass! We'd love to hear from you. Tell us about your latest baking adventures, please!

[chocomouse]

Today I made a ham and Swiss braid for a potluck, and a batch of Coconut cupcakes with coconut icing. That was from a KAF Goodness mix, and really not good. It made only 6 cupcakes (and stated so on the box) and the dough did not even fill the cupcake wells (a standard size pan/wells). The icing is a weird consistency and has no coconut flavor. I really like the Goodness Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake (makes a 9 x 9 pan) but was also not impressed with the Chocolate Cookies or the Lemon Bar mix. I won't be supporting their Goodness charity any longer!

[chocomouse]

Skeptic, for years we've mulched our vegetable garden with a layer of 3-4 sheets of newspaper topped with 3-4 inches of grass clippings. We replenish the grass clippings as needed throughout the summer. That does a great job of keeping the weeds down between the rows and any areas that are not planted.

My mantra is we need about an inch of rain every week to get a good crop of fruits and veggies. Today is our first uncomfortably warm day this season, at 83*. It has been a lovely blue skies, slight breeze, and low 70s most of this month.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by chocomouse.

[chocomouse]

We've had almost no rain for the past 3-4 weeks. Just sayin'

[chocomouse]

Today I used Moomie's Hamburger Bun recipe to make hot dog buns, a nice handling dough but I still need to work on shaping technique. I also used the KAF recipe for Basic Muffins, subbing one cup of spelt flour for one cup of AP and adding 1.5 cups of blueberries from the freezer. They are tender, moist, and would taste better if I had not forgotten the sugar!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by chocomouse.

[chocomouse]

Baker Aunt, my garden is not so big, not any more, as I have been down sizing it. Thirty-two years ago when we moved here, I made it 50 x 100 feet. This summer, we are down to about 35 x 50. And I'm thinking about plans for doing it all in planters on the deck - in a few years. No deer, big or small (in Vermont, they are all "small", white-tail deer, 110-125 pounds is probably pretty average) have gotten through the fence. I start about 2 feet up off the ground, and the last row is about 5 feet up. They will jump a 12 foot fence easily, if they feel they have enough landing space. We also have 50 feet each of asparagus, blueberries, and blackberries, plus 150 feet of raspberries, and 3 apple trees. I don't envy you trying to cut back to one freezer/refrigerator!! I couldn't do that!

I also process my tomatoes by putting them in boiling water briefly, and then into cold water, and then slipping the skins off. I don't use a food mill, etc, I just squish them with my hands, add celery, onions, peppers and simmer til they have boiled down to sauce consistency.

[chocomouse]

The only thing I can is a Hot Pepper Relish, and the peppers won't be ripe for that until late August or September. I freeze all my fruits and veggies, and then make fresh jams throughout the year as I need them. But I look forward to reading about all the canning everyone does, and maybe sharing of some recipes which I will then try.

[chocomouse]

I've just returned last night from a week in Maine, and am so far behind with gardening chores. No seeds in yet, but I hope to get those in tomorrow afternoon. I did get all my purchased seedlings in - 6 each of Celebrity tomatoes, New Ace bell peppers, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli. I put up a deer fence that is 18 x 18, made of metal fence posts with fishing line wrapped around them at about 2, 3, and 5 foot levels. The deer can't see it, and get scared and confused when they run into it. You just have to put it up early, so they never get a taste of the salad buffet and so hungry for more of it that they will jump the fishing line. I put their favorite foods, lettuces, spinach, kale, beans, beets, carrots, etc inside the fence. I plant the tomatoes and peppers, which they don't like the smell of, close to the outside edge of the fence as another layer of fencing. Then the squashes, cukes and zukes which have prickly vines and leaves around that. Onions usually go close to the fishing line fence, but I'm not growing any this year. So far, the deer have not gone into the enclosed part of the garden. We have been eating asparagus for a month, the blackberries are in full blossom, the blueberries just beginning now.

[chocomouse]

I'm sorry for your loss Wonky. My thoughts are with you and your siblings.

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