Corn - 2020

Oh my. I really haven't kept up with my blog have I? Over 4 months since my last post?

Of course, 2020 has been a complete and total disaster. Between the plague. The riots. And the circus that politics has become. Not to mention natural disasters - record hurricane season, late season snow (9 May!), early season snow (30 October!) and we even had an earthquake here off the coast of Massachusetts!

And...truth is, I've had not much of anything going on!

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But! I always try to keep track of...corn!

Corn was late this year. Spring was cold and wet. The first native (not local) corn was in the farm stands on 15 July.

This was from Northampton or Deerfield 15 July
It was very good corn actually. I never did try any corn from Connecticuit or New Jersey this year.

The first local corn in the farm stands on 25 July. Yes that's very late.

Local corn, 25 July (Arcadian Farms)
Arcadian Farms had the best of the local corn this year. It really wasn't a good year for corn and none of it was outstanding. The last of the corn was around 7 or 8 October. Yes very early. I was able to snag a few ears after but basically the locals just stopped picking because it wasn't worth the trouble.

Interestingly enough I did discover Charles River Farm near where I live. An honor system farm stand with a fairly wide selection of produce. They had corn regularly but it wasn't their own. They'd buy it every morning from the markets in the city and it usually came....from of all places...Quincy! The corn was always good and I'll be very happy to support them next season. I just love fresh summer produce!

I do rememeber however my very last ear of native corn this year was on 23 October from Calabrese Farms in Southwick, Massachusetts. I was driving by and I swear I thought I was seeing things but there, on a hill behind the farm stand, they still had corn!

Poor bunny!

I went over to cut some flowers in my garden yesterday. I have a condo and on the downside of that I don't have any place to plant a garden. But! The community farm in the town where I live leases garden plots! I don't know if that's common or not.

So I have a garden plot for the season that I can keep the lease for as long as I want. I've had all kinds of different lettuces, radishes, beets, turnips and my fennel is doing really well. And I planted all kinds of flowers. I've really enjoyed my garden. Mostly. For whatever reason my tomatoes aren't doing very well. I've never had much luck with tomatoes. I've learned some lessons for next year.

So. As I'm picking flowers yesterday a Red-tailed Hawk swooped down and snatched a bunny hardly 6 feet away!

Up close and personal!
Poor bunny. Of course I felt kind of bad about it but...well, Hawk has to eat!

Edited to add: At least it was quick. Very quick.

It's hot!

Not record hot, but hot! A hundred degrees. Feels like 107. Yesterday, 20 July, was the hottest day in 8 years.

And...my air conditioning is broken! Which is normally no big deal. I like the heat. I live over a river. It's typically 10 or 12 degrees cooler over the river than it is just a quarter mile away. And I figure if I have to close my windows it might as well be winter time. I've been here 29 years and I don't think I've used the air conditioning more than 5 times.

But that doesn't mean I want to sit and sweat like a pig either.

So. I have a most awesome industrial strength ceiling fan!

I actually got it for the winter time to keep the heat from rising and collecting under my 12 foot ceiling. But it's nice in the summer heat. So. I get out of the shower and find...my ceiling fan failed! Story of my life!

So. I get dressed and head for the dollar store. Luckily enough they still had some fans!

Not very decorative... But at the least my cat was happy with it!

I went over during the afternoon and hosed down L and stood her in front of a 4 foot fan for a half an hour. She didn't mind!

I like to prepare food seasonally. More than that I like to prepare food that suits the day. And what could be better than....

Of course! A Margarita!
Well. To be fair, a gin and tonic is the quintessential summer drink. Or a bourbon rickey. Or a daiquiri. Or sangria! Even a pińa colada. I'm not a big fan of fruity cocktails but ya, that works on a tropical day. And there's always the (Bermuda)rum swizzle. Edited to add: How could I have possibly forgotten to include the Mojito in my list?!

And the *best* thing for dinner on a day like this? The very *first* thing that comes to mind?

Gazpacho! Of course!
Oh, and Home Depot has references to local electricians that service Hunter ceiling fans. It's not like I'm going to replace a $650 fan because the power switch broke!

Corn - 2019

Behold!

15 July
First "Our Own" corn of the season! This ear came from Dick Kelly's Family Farm in Upton, MA. This was very good. The early corn isn't the best. But of course I'm always excited about fresh local corn. It's late this year. After such a cold wet spring pretty much everything is a week behind.

I haven't been blogging much. I retired almost 2 years ago now. I've never been happier in all my life! But...while I have my (satisfying) routine I really don't do anything interesting. It's nice to have time to keep a clean house but is that anything to blog about?

I fully board L at a farm barely 2 miles away. We don't train anymore. Well. Of course it's all training all the time and I try to make sure she knows she's the horse. But we don't vigorously train and we don't compete anymore. Mostly we just do ground work and pony ride. Fully boarding her was a huge adjustment!

With more time on my hands I'm trying to do an occasional road trip. Tour old favorites and discover some new places.

I'm thrilled with retirement although it's sad in a way. There was a time I thought what I did was just the greatest thing in the world. And then...I think it was along about the time 50 hour work weeks became expected of professionals I started becoming unhappy. Then when being connected 24/7 became normal, conference calls at 11:00 at night and reading email in bed got brushed off as nothing I'd had enough.

You know, it wasn't supposed to be like this. Back in the 1960s we well and truly believed technology would make us so productive full time jobs would be 30 hour work weeks. That our greatest challenge would be fulfilling our free time with recreational pursuits. Of course we also thought cars would fly by now. And electricity would be free. And nobody would go hungry.

I'm very happy I'm not a young professional trying to build a career today! I haven't missed my work for not even a single minute!

Last ear!

I always track my first and last ears of corn. I love corn and I'll eat corn almost every day during the local corn season.

Saturday 13 October 2018
Actually, that was my last ear. The very last of the season was the next day. So. Next 4th of July you can bet I'll be counting the days!

Picture of Summer

I like to go through pictures by season and pick the one picture that says the most about the season. Of course I usually do that sometime well after the season has passed. What better time to pick The Picture of Summer than during the following winter?

Not this year!

While I was out walking one morning several days ago I passed a house and ..I just found it very striking. I had to stop and look. And sure enough, this house, the scene, the whole thing just said "summer". I can almost smell the grass and feel the heat. I love summertime!

Summer 2018, 25 July

Luxurious Accommodations

With all the heat we've had lately L just loves the fan!

22 July

Quntessential Summer

I think gin and tonic is just the most perfect summer drink. That and sangria.

Why does my gin and tonic look like tea?!
My gin and tonic looks like tea because I make my own tonic water! And I don't have big industrial strength ceramic filters like the soft drink companies have. I started making my own tonic water because I refuse to knowingly consume HFCS in any amount no matter how small. And...much to my disappointment, most tonic waters have HFCS. And nevermind the diet versions. I think they taste funny. Whole Foods house brand tonic water uses sugar but I find it's a little sweet. My favorite is Fever-Tree. But it's expensive. And availability is a little spotty.

So. I started making my own! It's easy! There are lots of recipes around the web. This one is probably the most well known. A lot of them have citrus, some have spices. Some even have lemon grass. There's even a kit!

Mine is a very basic recipe. I use Nature's Wonderland powdered chinchona bark and Ball citric acid.

• 2 tablespoons chinchona bark powder
• 2 tablespoons citric acid
• 2 cups water

Combine and simmer gently for 20 minutes in a non reactive sauce pan. Let it cool and let the powder settle. Then I gently pour the solution into a Melitta coffee maker and a mesh cone filter. Being careful not to disturb the mud from the bottom of the sauce pan.

This first filter cycle takes only a few minutes. It's just to reduce the clogging of the paper filter in the next step

Filter the solution again using a paper coffee filter
This filtration will take very much longer. I leave it on the counter when I've left for the day or filter it overnight. Usually this is sufficient but sometimes I filter it a third time.

One and 3/4 cups of filtered solution!
The final step is to combine the solution with sugar to make tonic water syrup. I use 2/3 cup of sugar for each cup of solution.

Now...you mix 1 oz. of tonic water syrup with 2 oz. of your favorite gin in a rocks glass, fill with club soda, add a lime (or lemon) wedge and enjoy!

By the way, I think that ounce if tonic water syrup is about 28 calories.

Sunset

The days have been getting shorter for over a week now. But locally the sun has been setting at 8:26 pm EDT. The sun is rising later in the morning making the days shorter. My perception however is that these are the longest days. Because of the late setting sun.

Today is the last day for the 8:26 pm sunset. Tomorrow the sun will set at 8:25 pm. So now the days will become shorter.

Courtesy of this way cool website. You can search thousands and thousands of locations around the world, you can search by zip code or city name, you can even enter longitude and latitude coordinates and generate a calendar with sunrise and sunset times and all other kinds of settings, civil twilight times, phases of the moon, moon rise and set, and solar noon to name a few. It's quite fascinating! For example, I had no idea the sun sets at 10:23 pm today in St. Petersburg!

Corn! 2017

Of course I didn't forget corn this year.  I just *love* fresh corn.  I'll have an ear of corn at least 5 days a week during corn season.

My first ear this season:

16 July
Actually the first local corn this year was 14 July. A few days later than usual. Oh I was paying attention but the farm stand signs were late going up.

And..my last ear this season:

17 October
Last season's corn was a little better. I'd had a few ears last year so fresh and sweet I didn't even bother cooking them.
Jane and Paul's Farm in Norfolk, MA had the first corn of the season. It was reliably good. Tangerini's Farm in Millis was a reliable source of excellent corn. And Wenger's Farm in Bellingham might have had the very best this year.

And the surprise of the season?

Saturn peach
I'd seen Saturn peaches at the supermarket on occasion for some years now but they're always hard as rocks. This year Jane and Paul's Farm had their own Saturn peaches so I tried one. I was instantly hooked! They were actually a little sweet for my liking, sweeter than a peach. But there's some other kind of flavor thing going on there I can't quite pin down. And I like their size. I don't have the appetite I used to!

Picture of summer

Winter wasn't too bad. Bad enough.

Spring was just *awful*.   I don't know that it was the worst ever but I'm sure it was close.  Cold and wet.  I was still wearing mittens driving to work in May!   Everything is late.  The daisies came up a week or two late.  Not at all impressive.  They didn't last long.

The Black Eyed Susans started coming up and I found a new variant I've never seen before.  Apparently these are called "Irish Eyes" and they're very pretty.

There. The solid yellow ones.
I'm sure the corn will be late this year too.

This summer however has been just...stunning.  Dry.  Breezy.  Abundant sunshine.  In the 80s with an occasional thunderstorm.  This is New England at its very best!

Sunday 25 June. First weekend of the summer.
And this just says it all right here.  This is quintessential "summertime horse".

She's *very* good at this!  Sometimes I just want to run over and rub her belly!

Followed by a good shake. Ha now I have to clean that up!

A turnip?

I am so very excited. I love radishes. So this year I planted some radishes. Some of the more exotic radishes you don't find in the supermarkets.

Delicious radishes!
I like radishes with butter. Radishes and salt. Radishes roasted and pickled.

Ok, what does this have to do with a turnip? Well...I love turnips too. And a couple of years ago I got a packet of turnip seeds. As it turned out at the time I didn't have any space left for turnips by the time I was done so I put them away and forgot about them. When I was looking for radish seeds I came across my turnip seeds. So I planted turnips with my radishes and look!

My very first turnip!
I never grew a turnip before.

What's even funnier is I planted them next door in a field that isn't planted this year. And not two days later the farmer came by and plowed the field! I didn't know what to expect of it. Well. A week later my radishes were coming but rather than nice straight lines it was just a patch of radishes scattered all over. And turnips! So thick they crowded out all the weeds.

Corn 2015!

The first local corn of the season is in!

18 July 2015
That's from Cooks Farm in Wrentham, MA. You can see that's fresh local corn. Look at the tassel!

It's definitely the early corn.

Bicolor Corn
It's a well developed ear with plump enough kernels but it's still not too flavorful. I like to microwave my corn 1 minute for each ear...but my microwave is broken! I can't be bothered to fix it because, frankly, I hardly ever use it. So I steam my corn in an inch of water for ...oh, a minute and a half to two minutes. That's it.

I was very surprised this year. I got desperate and bought an ear of corn from the supermarket. I'm not sure but I think it was New Jersey corn. And while just a *tiny* bit starchy it was actually quite good. I understand there's hybridized corn today whose sugar converts to starch very slowly.

I've had all kinds of time to blog but..well, I just haven't had anything interesting to say. Of course I always log the first and last of the season's corn. Nothing says "summer" to me more than corn and watermelon.

There are some notable other signs of summer around.

Tomato Plate
The field ripened tomatoes aren't in yet but the greenhouse tomatoes from the farm stands have been just delicious! I like slices or wedges on a plate, with chopped fresh basil and onions. I usually like red onions with this. Sometimes I use yellow. With the *tiniest* splash of red wine vinegar it's just, well, that's summer on a plate! Sometimes I sprinkle just a little bit of Parmesan cheese over that. And sometimes I use balsamic vinegar. And sometimes I just use a nice olive oil. You get the idea.

And of course it's bath season!

This is my G and she *desperately* needed a bath!

Oh deer

I often walk around the barn property. There are snakes and rabbits *everywhere*. Which I'd guess is why it's such a favorite with coyotes. We hear them more than we see them and there are always tracks around.

Coyote track. We have some pretty big coyotes.
We see the occasional fox and of course the property is a birder's paradise.

And then every once in a long while we get a treat like this.

31 August
I'm not sure she's in the best of health. She's looking a little "ribby" for such an abundant season.

Run for it!
Sometimes when you're on a horse you can practically reach out and touch the deer before they run. I love this stuff.

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Today's rider's advice. I always keep a change of clothes in one of my tack boxes. In case I want to say, stop at the supermarket on my way home. After riding bareback. In the summer.

Because this is really hard to explain

Corn 2014

Corn's in!

The corn is late this year after the cold wet spring. I had an ear of corn Friday from Hadley. I had heard the Hadley corn was pretty good and ..it was ..ok. Not great. Not bad. The corn from Hadley and Deerfield usually comes in a week or so ahead of the nearby corn.

But yesterday I had my very first ear of native (local) corn.

Saturday 19 July
This corn is from Hanson Farm not far from here. It's good but clearly it's early in the season. I love everything about the summertime. Of course I know all about greenheads but nothing says summertime like corn and watermelon. And clams. And lobsters. And sangria. I could go on. And on.

My first (and last) ear of corn are notable days in my year. Since the season started late I wonder if it will end late? I never noticed before. I'll have to notice this year.

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Look what we found yesterday!

Out in the middle of nowhere. A passing bird must have dropped some sunflower seeds. This is a *huge* sunflower ...bush. It's going to have dozens of sunflowers on it. It was a really pleasant find.

A sunflower bush. Out in the middle of nowhere!

No place I'd rather be

People always ask..."where you going on your vacation?". The answer is of course, no place.

I do like to see my way clear to a day at the beach but really, where else would I want to be?

Sunday 1 June 2014
I'd like to horseback ride around the south of France someday..or Normandy. The reason..in both cases..is, of course...the food! Trouble is I don't just want to horseback ride. I'd have to ride L. That would be a *huge* project. Notwithstanding that I'd have real concerns about putting her under that much stress. So it's destined be nothing more than fantasy.

A desperate act?

While I've come to like a Bourbon Rickey now and then my summertime drink of choice is gin and tonic.

One bright summery afternoon a couple of years ago I went to fix a gin and tonic and found...<gasp> no limes! So. I used ..

A lemon wedge?
At the time I felt it was a desperate act. But. I liked it! I've since learned having a lemon in your gin and tonic is quite common. Some say it's preferred in London these days. And apparently limes in India are more like our lemons than limes. I don't know about that first hand.

Canada Dry or Polar have always been my favorite tonic waters. I hadn't given it any thought really but I find out both have HFCS. I won't knowingly eat HFCS. If I really drank enough for the HFCS in my tonic water to be an issue then the HFCS would be the least of my problems. I'm sure it's not a lot. But I have principles. Really!

Knowing Whole Foods doesn't carry anything with HFCS in it I stopped to see what they had for tonic water. They have some *very expensive* tonic water! I tried the middle tier Fever Tree and the low brow house brand. I thought the Fever Tree made an excellent gin and tonic. But then I knew what I was drinking. A blind taste test might be in order. I found the Whole Foods house brand (365) to make an equally excellent gin and tonic. At barely half the Fever Tree price. But it only comes in cans. Which means transferring a half a can anyway into a bottle for at least a day or two.

In the weeds

Two posts in August?! That might be a personal record. It's not like nothing was going on. Quite the contrary, actually. For the most part the weather was positively stellar. For a couple of weeks every day just sparkled. Sunny. Dry. Breezy. Fair weather clouds. Cool at night.

Acres and acres of goldenrod
The weather was apparently perfect for goldenrod. We have acres of goldenrod, much of it 6 feet high. I haven't seen it quite like this before. Even though it's just a weed it's all very pretty. Be careful though! There are *tons* of bees out here.

We follow deer trails in the woods all the time. I was rather amused to find that, with our down time through June and July, the deer started following some of *our* trails!

It's a little hard to see there. That freshly trampled brush. We haven't been through here in 2 months! Our trail goes off to the right. The dark shadow between L's ears. That's our trail.

And then here! Weeks later. That's a deer bed deep in the brush.

The flattened brown grass there. Deer have been sleeping out here. We later found a spot out there with what had to be 4 or 5 beds. Apparently a small herd had been sleeping out there. There are I think 3 herds on the property.

I'm reminded of one of our first milestones 7 or 8 years ago. During our first few weeks moving out of the ring. I had L doing her big trot out in one of the fields when we spooked a herd of deer out from some brush. The deer just exploded out of this huge clump of brush. They went every which way. We almost ran over one of them. L screeched to a halt, stood up straight, spun around, stopped and looked at me over her shoulder with this "Holy crap did you see that?!" expression. I thought that was a pretty level headed reaction for a 5 year old with hardly a handful of trips outside the ring.

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This might very well be my "Picture of Summer 2013".

15 August 2013 5:25 pm
I've been here for many years. I walk and ride out here several times a week and it just never gets tired.

A day at the beach

Actually, make that overnight at the beach!

White Horse Beach, Plymouth MA, 29 July 2013, 7:30 pm
I love the beach. This is only a 40 minute drive for me but, sadly, I rarely have time for it. This was my last trip to the beach. It's been two years? Really? But here my sister and her husband, from the upper midwest, rented a beach house for a week at the height of the summer season. Obviously a *huge* deal for them! Big deal for me too, actually. While I can visit the beach any time the mood strikes, staying overnight is a huge treat. Especially here. On a dead end. Where, by 7:30 pm, it's just the locals and the sand and the waves.

One of my sister's best ideas *ever*.

I have this minor obsession with (wild) Beach Plums.

Beach Plums
Beach Plums grow wild on the beaches from Maine to Maryland but the Massachusetts coast and islands are thick with them. Nothing says "beach" to me more than Beach Plums. The flowers smell wonderful. Yankee Candle had(?) a Beach Plum scented candle that they apparently no longer make. That's a bummer. That was a favorite. Around Labor Day you make the most delicious jam with Beach Plums. If you're lucky enough to have Beach Plums here's how it's done.

There's a fresh fish market not 200 yards from this beach house which provided us with wonderful dinner choices which...brings me to the back story of my last post. We got some clams and some crab cakes and some striped bass and some local corn. We even had some...

Caviar and crackers
But we didn't have...

Oysters!
You see, this market didn't shuck. So we missed out on these beautiful oysters. Looking at this very picture several days later inspired me to try shucking my own oysters! Never again will I miss out. My overnight bag will have a permanent church key can opener. Right alongside my corkscrew :)

I have no idea what these yellow flowers are. But I found them very pretty. I always try to stop and enjoy things like this.

I had such a good time I might just have to rent that beach house myself next year. You see, it's close enough I can still hang out with my horses for some of the day!

The Lost World

The weather this season has been a perfect combination of water and sun making for, shall we say, abundant vegetation..

It's quite the jungle out there. Having been favoring my ribs for the past couple of months most of our trails have all grown over. So yesterday we spent some time driving through the dense brush clearing some of our trails into the woods.

Yes we're going in there...

Whoa. Dude. Seriously?
The grapevines are like something out of a science fiction movie. The east side of the property is a carpet of grapevines.

Grapevines everywhere!

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I try to do my part but there's no way I can keep up!

Stuffed grape leaves and white bean hummus
These I stuffed with Spanish rice. They were just delicious. That's a garlic and dill white bean hummus. Very easy to make! There are recipes all over the web. I had lunch at a restaurant a few months ago that served its hummus on a dinner plate striped with chopped tomatoes and olives. I liked that presentation. I added some grated carrot and chopped pepper to this to get a little "garden vegetable" thing going. I was very happy with it.

I think I'll have to go research grape jelly recipes!