Hay In, Dinner On, Bees in The Basil

Look what I found while harvesting celery to dry.

Bees in the Thai Basil.

The celery will be cut and dried and used in soups and stews in the winter.  I love it when the harvest table carries a selection. This is how I decide what to have for dinner.

My jeans and gloves were waiting in the barn for the hay to be baled. You can’t throw bales in a short skirt and tennis shoes which is what I wear every day.

While i waited for the hay to be baled I made ravioli. I am still practising making ravioli but no store bought pasta this month of the September Home Grown Challenge! These were lamb with cilantro, basil and thyme.

I  popped them in the freezer for a few hours to wait for dinner, so they would not go soggy.

The last stragglers of the autumn garden were planted.

Then at last the hay was brought in from the fields. Ninety-five bales in all. The old man was mowing the ditches yesterday so my Hay Man’s tall 10 year old son, drove the tractor while his father stacked the bales on the hay rack.  Around the fields AND home again this boy drove. He did an excellent job.

I said how old are you? Ten. He said. His face waiting.  Oh my goodness, I said to him, I thought you were at least 13.  What a splendid young man you are. His smile opened up like a white dove and flew about his face with delight. He stood as tall as he could and smiled out loud.  His brother standing next to him smiled exactly the same way as though his older brothers success was his too. And thank you for minding Ton I told the younger one and they looked at each other in glee. I love it when kids get to work, it is good satisfying work. They learn hard work but they learn pride too and pride in what you do is a life force.  Even if it is just clearing the table or making their beds or putting away their clothes. Not everyone gets a chance to bale hay or muck out stalls. Knowing they are doing an essential piece of work and getting praise for a job well done is wonderful for kids.

After our Hay Crew had gone we pushed the hay rack up the the clatter box and I loaded it from below and John stacked it from above.

We worked at a steady leisurely pace with lots of mucking around and had it all stacked in the barn in an hour. An HOUR!!!  

What a joy that little clatter box is.

Then in we came and heated up Lyn’s  Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce  which I have made jars of, it is so tasty.  Picked some Swiss-chard, which we have  every meal, we eat it thinly sliced and raw, under the steaming sauce. Loading the plates with steaming ravioli we took our meals into the  new North Verandah where we eat every night.  A very good day yesterday.

I spoke to Red Hat Matt and the piglets are happy in their new home and Matt and his family  have discovered, to their delight, that pigs wag their tails when they eat. Lovely.

Below is the recipe Lyn sent me for the Pasta Sauce. It fits the September Home Grown Challenge perfectly and  tastes delicious.   Lyn is from England and lives in Virginia and you will find her in the Comments Lounge every day. I have been sent a few more  recipes from The Fellowship using only the ingredients I have in my gardens so I look forward to trying these as well.

Have a lovely day.

Your friend on the farm, celi

 

Lyns Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce

 

Ingredients

 

6 bulbs garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 medium red, yellow, or green sweet peppers halved and seeded

12 pounds of ripe tomatoes, peeled

3 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of kosher salt

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon of pepper

2 cups of lightly packed fresh basil, snipped

1 cup of lightly packed assorted herbs such as oregano, thyme, parsley, snipped

6 tablespoons of lemon juice

 

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Peel away the outer layers of skin from garlic bulbs, leaving other skin and cloves intact. Cut about ½ inch off pointed end exposing the individual cloves. Place the garlic cloves, cut side up, in a 1 to 1 ½ quart casserole. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, cover casserole. Arrange peppers cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet, brush with remaining oil.
2. Roast garlic and peppers for 40 – 50 minutes or until pepper skins are charred and garlic cloves are soft. Cool garlic on a wire rack until cool enough to handle. Pull up the sides of foil and pinch together to fully enclose peppers. Let peppers stand for 15 to 20 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Peel off skins and chop peppers, set aside.
3. Remove garlic cloves from skins by squeezing the bottoms of the bulbs. Place garlic cloves in a food processor. Cut peeled tomatoes in chunks, add some of the chunks to the garlic in the food processor. Cover and process until chopped.
4. Transfer chopped tomatoes and garlic to a 7 – 8 quart pot, stainless steel, enamel or non-stick. Repeat chopping tomatoes and adding to the pot.
5. Add brown sugar, salt, vinegar and black pepper. Bring to boiling. Boil steadily uncovered for 50 minutes stirring often. Add chopped peppers and boil for a further 10 to 20 minutes, or until the mixture is reduced to desired consistency for sauce.
6. Spoon 1 tablespoon of lemon in the bottom of six hot canning jars and add sauce to ½ from top. Process filled jars in boiling water for 35 minutes.