What to do with all of these radishes? – Tacos, of course!

What to do with several bags of winter radishes in mid-March? Pickle ’em for radish tacos, of course!

Recently, I bought several dozen homemade flour tortilla’s from a student’s family, so we’d been craving “Mexican” anyway.

A few years back, Tex Tubb’s Taco Palace in Madison offered a Daikon Radish taco. I was in love with it. I ordered two each time I went. I was sad when it was discontinued. I still ask for it each time I’m there in hopes I’ll get a chef/wait person from the good old days who will make me one. I never have any luck on that one.

So, we created our own! We made a coleslaw with a kick, a mayo-based sauce, pickled radishes, and viola – even better radish tacos.

This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thank god we have this blog to record the process.

Pickled Radishes (good for more than just tacos – that’s for sure!)
up to 4 lbs. radishes (you could add carrots to the mix if you’d like)
6 c. water
1.5 c. white vinegar (5% acidity)
1 c. apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)
1/4 c. kosher salt
1 garlic clove per jar
1 sliced pickled jalapeno per jar
2 dried chipotle peppers
1 tbsp. mustard seed
3/4 tbsp. celery seeds
15 coriander seeds
6 allspice berries, plus a pinch of ground allspice
1/2 tsp. turmeric

Directions:
Add everything except the radishes (and whatever else you add!), jalapenos, and garlic to a non-reactive soup pot. Bring to a boil. Put the radishes, jalapenos, and garlic into a Tupperware or jar. Pour liquid over veggies. Refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours before eating. The longer you wait, the deeper the flavor will be! However, if you can’t wait (like I couldn’t), dig in early.

If you want to process them, put them in sterilized mason jars, and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

Coleslaw with a Kick
1 purple head of cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup yogurt
hot sauce (we used ghost pepper hot sauce) to taste
1-2  teaspoons of sugar
a pinch of salt

 Directions:
We made this on the fly, so these measurements are guesstimates. Combine all ingredients except cabbage. Taste as you add ingredients to make sure the flavor suits your palate. Then, add the shredded cabbage. Refrigerate.

Chipotle-Mayonnaise Sauce
1 clove of garlic, minced
chipotle adobe sauce
lime juice
mayonnaise
sour cream

Combine all ingredients. Taste to find the correct combination for your liking.

Andy decided he wanted to add some meat to the mix. He brought up a piece of Bodin’s fish from the freezer. He spiced it up and got it ready for fish tacos.

Pickled radishes, coleslaw, tortillas, marinated fish

Achiote Fish
4 rounded tablespoons achiote seeds
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
12 whole allspice
white fish

Put all ingredients into ingredients (except the fish) into a coffee or spice grinder. Dump contents into a bowl. Add water until you get a thick paste. Spread paste on fish. Marinate in the fridge for at least an hour.

To cook it, heat a cast-iron skillet or non-stick pan on medium high. Add enough oil to coat the pan. Put the fish in for 1-2 minutes per side.

Assemble the tacos: tortilla, pickled radishes and/or achiote fish, coleslaw, and chipotle-mayonnaise sauce. Wow! Yum! Stupendous! Bring on the margaritas! . . . and, is summer here yet? This plate is summer on a plate.

Baby chicks

The newest members of our family arrived this morning.  We are the proud parents of four new baby chickens.  At 6:00 A.M the phone rang loudly, and we knew who was on the other line.  The post office was calling to let us know that our baby chicks were ready to be picked up.  Looking outside you would never think that this was the time to start raising chickens.  We received a dangerous mixture of rain and snow last night.  Neither rain, sleet, or snow will keep these precious chickens from coming to their new home.  We arrived safely home and immediately put the new babies into their new brooder.  We are hopeful that these new babies will grow into happy life loving, healthy chickens.  The new chicks were vaccinated for Mareks disease.  So fingers crossed that they will never contract it.

Here are some pics of the newest members to our family.

As you look at these~ do any names come to mind?  We originally wanted iconic female music artists, but we’d take names from songs too.

Transplant #1…and Catnip?

This afternoon our jalapenos, cabbage, kale, and brussel sprout seedlings all moved up in the world. They were transplanted from trays to small pots.

Transplants marked with pink post-its
 The catnip has still not sprouted! Uh, oh kitties. Maybe that’s a good thing? Last year, we were mauled by Benson, the cat, every time we came in after touching our catnip plants. Now in March, he still patiently waits on the buffet where we had stored fresh sprigs. He’s going to be waiting a long time if we can’t get these seeds to grow this year! Anyone have any experience starting this cat “drug” from seed?
Spare room or grow room? The catnip is still covered by the cardboard strip.

Defending Family Farms: Tractorcade Protest in Madison, WI



This farmer was rockin’ the parade with a trailer of drums.

 Our blog has been somewhat on a hiatus for the past month; we’ve been protesting at the State Capitol.Both of us are teachers, so we are worried about the future of education as we fear the government is moving education towards more and more privatization, but this blog isn’t about that. It’s about another set of our values: local food, sustainable living, and small-scale, family-owned farms, during this time of corporate, big business controlled agriculture. Our motivation for writing this entry is not to offend or sway, but simply to express our perspective on how this bill will affect small- and medium-sized family farms.

On March 12th, 53 tractors drove around the Capitol, while over 100,000 protesters shouted, “Thank you, thank you!”  Farmers decided to join in solidarity with other public workers and supporters, in part, because of the following effects this bill willh ave on them:

  • Collective bargaining rights are essential for farmers’ co-ops. Farmers involved are worried that they will be next on the chopping block. The Vice President of Family Farm Defenders and a dairy farmer himself, Greeno, said, ““Collective bargaining rights are the principles that all of our co-ops operate on. And if they start eroding collective bargaining rights for workers, farmers in co-ops are just next on the chopping block, so if we don’t stand together and defend our rights, we all going to take cuts in turn.”
  • Farmers who operate Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are  concerned that their programs will be cut due to other public workers’ salaries being cut. They’ve noted that many of their members are teachers and other public workers.
  • Badger Care and Medicaid programs funding will be put in the hands of the current government administration. Their intentions are to cut the program. Many farmers have Badger Care; it’s a taxpayer-subsidized program, and most farmers can’t afford other programs. This bill will effectively cut the only insurance many farmers can afford, thereby making it even more difficult for small farms to sustain themselves.
  • Sustainable agriculture programs such as Buy Local Buy Wisconsin will be slashed and gutted.
  • Wisconsin’s farmland preservation program will be cut. At the time the program was created, over 30,000 acres of farmland were lost per year. The cuts will undermine the efforts to preserve farmland from development which would make agriculture impossible and the efforts to build agricultural business on those lands.

All in all, many farmers feel Walker’s bill is harmful! And they came out to show their support! Here are some of our favorite pictures from the Tractorcade.

Here’s said trailer of drums.

It was an inspirational day. One can only hope that this bill will not impede on all of the efforts over the past years to make small-scale farming sustainable and local eating for all possible.

Very Late Christmas Additions: Chutney and Coleslaw

Even though I’m a bit late (like a month!), I still want to share our Christmas menu. We experimented with two traditional sides, and the results were delicious. I have to record the recipes so that I remember to make them again!


The first: Fruity Coleslaw 

6 cups green or savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
2 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pistachio nuts, chopped
2 clementines or tangerines, peeled, divided into segments and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:
Combine the cabbage and onion in a large bowl.
Mix the sugar, buttermilk, mayonnaise and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the vegetable mixture and toss to coat thoroughly.
Fold in the cranberries, pistachios and clementines. Season with salt and pepper.
Let stand for at least 1 hour or refrigerate for up to 8 hours before serving. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper before serving. Serves 6.

— From Recipes from the Root Cellar by Andrea Chesman 
The Second: Cranberry Pear Hazelnut Chutney
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, picked over, and stemmed
1¼ cups sugar
3 whole cloves
1 cinnamon sticks about 3 inches long
½ teaspoon salt
2 firm Bosc or Anjou pears, peeled, halved lengthwise, cored, and cut into ½ inch dice
1 small yellow onion, diced
½ cup golden raisins
⅔ cup diced crystallized ginger
¼ cup whole hazelnuts, roasted, skins removed, and halved (see Cook’s Notes)
Instructions
In a deep 6-quart saucepan, combine the cranberries, sugar, ½ cup water, cloves, cinnamon, and salt.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Cook until the cranberries begin
to open, about 10 to 12 minutes. Adjust the heat so the mixture simmers.
Stir in the pears, onion, raisins, and ginger. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until thick, 10 to 15 minutes
longer.
Remove from the heat, stir in the hazelnuts, and allow the mixture to cook to room temperature.
Discard the cinnamon sticks and cloves if you can find them.
Refrigerate in tightly sealed jars for up to 3 months.
Makes about 1 quart
Cook’s Note: Try to buy shelled hazelnuts (also known as “fi lberts”) with the skins removed. To roast,
place the nuts on a rimmed baking sheet in a preheated 375 degree F oven. Roast for about 15 minutes,
until lightly browned. If they have skins, when they cool enough to handle, lay them on a clean
kitchen towel, or between several sheets of paper towels. Rub the nuts to remove most of the skins
(they never completely come off). You can substitute unsalted cashews, if necessary. Roast like hazelnuts,
until lightly browned, about 12 to 15 minutes.
–recipe from Harmony Valley Farm
The rest of our menu consisted of what we could dig out of the fridge and a turkey.
Appetizers:
Crackers and cheese, pickled beets, dip and veggies, pickled beans
Dill dip with carrots, winter radishes, and sunchokes
Sliced Daikon radishes with herbed cream cheese
Main Course
turkey
rutabaga-potato mash 
mushroom gravy
fruity coleslaw
cranberry pear hazelnut chutney
Dessert
leftover Christmas cookies
Irish Cream
Merry Belated Christmas!

New Chicks to Arrive on March 21st!

Andy is excited for his spring break! On March 21st, he’ll get to go pick up our newest chicks from the post office. We’ve ordered 3 more Easter Eggers and 1 Barred Plymouth Rock.  Chicks are so cute. When I look at them, I instantly feel so giddy that I have to contain my squeals. It will be hard for me to stay at work all day knowing there are new little peepers at home.

Easter Egger chicks
Adult Easter Egger (Spinderella is an Easter Egger)
Barred Plymouth Rock Chickies
Barred Plymouth Rock Adult

All of them will be getting vaccinated for Marek’s as we don’t know if we still have the disease on our property. We’re crossing our fingers, knocking on wood, and praying to all entities that all chickens will remain healthy.

A "Small" Seed Purchase

“This year, we’re just going to use our seeds from last year. No new seeds. We have enough.”
“This year, let’s be more realistic about what we actually can plant.”
“This year, really, let’s just order a few packs to supplement what we have saved up in the closet.”

A-hem…well, those conversations were had BEFORE the Seed Savers catalog arrived in January. Simplicity went out the window as visions of juicy orange melons and sun-kissed tomatoes appeared in both of our brains. A hefty order later…and viola! Here are the packages of seeds (and the reasons why we HAD to purchase each) that are now sitting in a manila envelope on our kitchen table:

  • Christmas Lima Beans (going to be so pretty!)
  • Opalka Tomatoes (justifiable BECAUSE they are romas without a ton of seeds)
  • Bloody Butcher Corn (How could we resist with a name like that?)
  • Lovage (all of Deborah Madison’s soups call for lovage…)
  • Green husk tomatillos (Salsa Verde…hello!?!?)
  • Blue Solaise Leeks (We never have enough leeks…)
  • Mongolian Giant Sunflowers (Our chickens NEED these.)
  • Orangeglo Watermelons (melons, melons, melons!)
  • Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans (black beans for the pantry)
  • Grandma Einck’s Dill (pickles!)
  • Copenhagen Market Cabbage (helps fight off cancer)
  • Danvers Carrots (Last year’s breed was so small…our garden requires new ones!)
  • Cilantro (again, salsa verde!)
  • Traveler Strain Jalapeno Pepper (First year Seed Savers has sold actual jalapenos!)
  • Good Mother Stallard Beans (We actually needed to order more of this one. We were out.)
  • Oaxacan Green Dent Corn (We want to try our hand at green corn flour.)
  • Brandywine Tomato (out of this garden staple)
  • Detroit Dark Red Beets (out of these too)
  • Long Island Improved Brussel Sprouts (looking for a new gardening challenge)
  • Martino’s Roma Tomatoes (a staple of which we ran out)
  • Joe’s Round Peppers (pickled peppers! hot sauce!)
  • Lemon Drop Tomatoes (We  HAD to order these. They won the taste award last year.)

We also  have a pack of Amish Pie Squash on the way. These produce big, beautiful orange pumpkin-like squash. I’m excited to see them decorating our lawn.

And potatoes, of course. They’ll be shipped in April. This year’s choices include Blue Potatoes and German Butterball Potatoes.

Once again, I’m  most excited for melons. This year’s are going to be ORANGE!

Seed-ordering day produces so much excitement in our little house – it’s a bit silly! I bet it’s almost possible to see little dream clouds floating above both our heads as we idealize and romanticize each year’s garden. I’m sure this happens to all avid gardeners; it’s part of the process and part of the fun. Of course, this year, I’m counting on our dreams matching our reality (wink, wink!).

If all above + all of last year’s seeds weren’t enough, Andy is hellbent on ordering a packet of ghost pepper seeds. He fell in love with a Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce that we bought in Austin. I’ve located a place or two from which I could buy a packet, but for the outrageous price of $7.00 or so for around a dozen seeds. Any advice?

And…I want to plant sunchokes this year. I have a little baggie of them saved. I’m still researching exactly how to plant them, so if you have grown them before, please comment! I’m excited for the tall, yellow flowers they produce; in fact, I’ve heard chickens love sunchoke plots. Plus, you can’t beat the nutritional value of the sunchoke (even if they do create the occasional rumbling of the tummy!).

Happy Gardening …. someday soon!

The Stylish Blogger Award

First, I’d like to thank Heather at  (G)O’Donnell for awarding me the Stylish Blogger Award! It is always such a pleasure to be acknowledged and to know that at least one person reads these blog entries.

Here is how the Award works:

  • Make a post + Link back to the person who awarded you this award 
  • Share 7 things about yourself
  • Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers so we can share the love (I’m going to stick with what those before me have done though and award fewer than that)
  • Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won

Here is goes! This is a joint effort between both writers at The Backyard Market (Andy and Darcy):

1. We met at a Burger King on our way to a Dave Matthews Band concert. We had mutual friends who were meeting up, and we both were along for the ride. Now, from time to time, we pass that special Burger King, where both of us experienced love at first sight, and are tempted to stop…but then we come to our moral senses and keep driving.

2. In Las Terrenas in the Dominican Republic, we met two sweet, friendly children. We spoke Spanish with them, and they graciously helped us with new words and forming sentences. I mentioned that I liked chickens. They arranged to bring me one to take back to the United States the next morning. Their innocent and charming personalities made it hard to decline the offer.

3. Whenever we travel, we (months ahead of time) research all the local food co-ops in the area where we are going. We get more than excited to search them out once our plane lands or our car crosses the city lines.

4. We can’t decide whether to live in the city or the country. We love it in the country, but adore the city. We’re here in the country now. Who knows for how long? Andy thinks we should just buy some land in Central Park. Hehe.

5. On our first date, I mentioned that I was an ENFP according to the Meyers-Briggs personality test and that I was obsessed with the test’s types. In fact, I felt I could figure out someone’s personality code upon meeting them. I mentioned this at the Hilltop (where we were dining), and Andy spit out his code (INFP) like nobody’s business. I was instantly in love.

6. I became a vegetarian a few months before we began dating. Andy had just developed what he thinks is his best dish: steak with mushrooms and blue cheese. Bad timing.

7. For some reason, we both have an adoration for songs that use the f-word with passion, in lines where cursing would seem unexpected, and from voices that seem innocent and sweet. Example: Rilo Kiley’s “Better Son/Daughter.”

There you go! Those may or may not have been interesting, but they’re us.

And now…for my awards. Here are a few of my favorite bloggers:

1. Megan at Our Crowded Mantel
2. Ian at Moan Laur B & B
3. Happy Chickens
4. Hitchhiking to Heaven

    Ani, our feather-footed friend

    Way back in October of 2010, Ani, our feather-footed Bantam, passed away.This post should have been written months ago, but I think we were subconsciously avoiding  it. At the time of her death, we were going through our own human health issues, and the sadness in seeing her pass was overwhelming on top of our looming feelings of mortality and all of that. Of course, as always, our sentimental feelings about our chickens are our own, and we realize they might sound quirky…or loony…to some of our readers. Sorry about that! We’ve grown surprisingly attached to our birds.

    If you’ve followed the chicken posts of our blog, you know that our chickens were hit with Marek’s disease, which is seemingly rare in small operations such as our own. Ani began acting lethargic, and she had a slight limp. These signs were unlike what our other chickens had exhibited, so we remained hopeful that she was just coming down with something else. We took her to the vet, who felt unsure if she was dying from Marek’s or just sick. We kept her inside in a pet carrier and administered some meds, but she died (peacefully?) on a Sunday afternoon. She’s buried in our backyard, far from where our other chickens visit.

    A side note (for all of you new chicken-keepers) is that through research, I’ve learned that if a hen is to get Marek’s, a very vulnerable time is when she is about to lay her first egg. I believe Ani was egg-ready. 

    Ani stole my heart as my favorite chicken. She had such a bouncy gait, and when I picture her, it’s usually images of her running and flying to keep up with me or Andy, venturing around our yard. She was crazily affectionate. The second one of us entered her run, she’d desperately try to seek out one of our limbs or shoulders onto which she could  land. When our run with Marek’s began, I silently hoped and prayed that Ani and Zappa would be spared above all others. I think that because we got those two first, we spent the most time bonding with them, and so, they became more affectionate than the others, and hence, we saw them more as pets than our other chickens.

    Here are my favorite images from her very short little life.



    Spinderella Laid an Egg!

    When we pulled into the driveway tonight, we knew something was up in the chicken house. Zappa and Janis, our two Bantams, were outside playing in the snow. Our hardier Easter Egger, Spinderella, was no where to be seen, even after several human calls, to which she’d normally fly out and greet. 

    Andy peeked inside the coop and found a nice greenish-blue egg along with Spindy. That’s right! Spinderella, our little baby chick, is now an egg-laying, grown-up hen.

    Here’s that egg: