Roots to Boot

I love the hearty meals of Winter. In the garden, plants like beets and turnips provide tasty roots and greens alike. How about some mashed Kohlrabi? When I think of winters bounty I think of one word…SQUASH! Butternut, acorn, spaghetti, kabocha -what’s your favorite? Squash will keep for quite awhile… but it is to be savored now. An hour in the oven to cook that squash will make your house toasty warm.

Collards, kale, mustards, chard, and salad greens crank all winter long with practically no watering, thanks to the rain. Of course here in the Bay Area, we can also enjoy these greens all year round. Don’t forget the delicious nutritious broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and Chinese greens like bok choy etc. There are also favas, brussels, and cabbages to come, sauerkraut anyone? And when it comes to soupmaking, there’s always a bunch of carrots and celery stalks for the soup stock awaiting, to help to manage all of those greens!

Alliums galore like onions, leeks, garlic, chives, and other tasty tubers like potatoes, parsnips, burdock, radish, daikon, etc. are also in season. Don’t forget those fruits, as the citrus has been sweet and plentiful, and can we just say persimmons? Yum!

Get it while it’s cold because spring is right around the corner~

Dungeness Crab Fishing - Pacifica Pier

Kim holding a Rock Crab

Recreational Dungeness Crab fishing opened on November 6th.  It's easy to catch them from the Pacifica Pier in Pacifica, CA just south of San Francisco.  Best yet, you don't need a license to fish from Public Piers in California.  There are at least two different types of crabs you can fish for from the pier, Dungeness and Rock crabs are abundant.  Check the CA fish and game website  for size and take limits and information on crab species in CA.

A Triple Header!

Fishing from the pier can be done with a drop net and bait like fish heads or chicken but the take is usually rock crabs with that method.  Rock crabs are huge and delicious but their shells are hard so they are harder to crack after cooking.  They also have less meat but are worth it to try.  Sea lions also love to attack crabs feeding on drop nets.

I prefer crab fishing with a large ocean rod and snare baited with a mix of sardines and squid.  Crab snares, bait, tackle, measuring tools and advice can be obtained at the Rusty Hook fishing shop near the pier.  I have found that the best traps are sometimes sold on the pier for around $5.  It helps to put a small 2-3 ounce sinker in the basket before adding bait so as to get a better cast and to keep the trap put on the ocean floor.  Walk to the end of the pier if you can find a spot there.  Toss your snare as far as possible.  Let settle to the bottom and then reel in the slack until the line is taught.   Wait about ten minutes.  Then, reel in very slowly to get rid of any additional slack.  As soon as you feel the weight of the snare, pull the rod tip up hard and fast.  If there is a crab on, it will feel extremely heavy and hard to reel in.  Sometimes if you wait too long, the crabs will pull the traps into the sand.  If that happens just keep trying to free the trap and crabs by pulling up on the rod tip.  Be very careful when releasing crabs from the snare.  Rock crabs bit hard.

My friend Mel and I went fishing on a beautiful Saturday and caught this pile of "Dungies" and Rock crabs.

Rock Crabs and Dungies we caught

The Snare with an unwelcomed guest

Mel with Rock Crab and Snare

Fishing is also popular on the pier.  Kingfish, Jack Smelt, Perch, Striped Bass and even Salmon can be caught from the pier.  Baitfish like Anchovies can also be caught using Sabiki Rigs purchased from the Rusty Hook store.

Jack Smelt

Most important, the pier is beautiful and family friendly.  The view is stunning on sunny days.  Sea lions, and many bird species are common sightings.  One time I even saw a whale swimming in the distance from the end of the pier.  There is a coffee / snack shop called the Chit Chat Cafe with bathrooms conveniently located at the end of the pier.  

Finally, be sure to check the weather before you go.  It can be cold and the sea can be rough on windy days.  Get out there and have fun catching crabs.  The season runs through 6/30/11.

What a View!

A closer look at the huge claws of the Rock Crab

Found Fruit Writers in Vogue Magazine

November 2010 Issue

You don't have to be "fashionable" to be in Vogue. Michele Senitzer and Kim DiGiacomo of http://www.foundfruit.com/ got a mention in the November 2010 issue in an article by Hamish Bowles called; "Now, Forager" (Pages 102-106) written following his trip to Oakland to spend a few days with Urban Farmer and author of "Farm City", Novella Carpenter.

As part of their time together, Novella, her partner Billy and Hamish decided to try their hand at fishing for Halibut on the Berkeley Pier.  Michele and I were invited to join the "party".  It was cold, windy and quite frankly a miserable day...too cold for most people to even venture onto the pier, much less fish.  But this was a foraging adventure and gosh darnit, we were committed.  

I think it's fair to say Michele and I really had no idea of the types of articles Hamish writes or that there was a possibility for us to be included in his article.  So imagine our surprise when we got the call that we were mentioned in the November 2010 issue of Vogue?  The article over all was a very realistic description of our beloved gritty city of Oakland and how many of us have returned to urban homesteading, foraging and raising animals for food.  

Nov 2010 Vogue Magazine

I loved Hamish's description of that day on the Berkeley pier as he waxes eloquently about the beauty of San Francisco standing off in the distance and the cold efficient fishing we did.  In spite of the sometimes difficult fishing conditions on our Bay Area piers like Berkeley and my favorite, Pacifica Pier, you can always be wowed by the breathtaking views.  One time while fishing on the end of the Pacifica Pier, I could see whales migrating in the distance.

When Michele and I joined them that day on the pier we realized our friends were a little new to fishing and needed some help to understand the best methods to land Halibut.  For one thing, Halibut are mostly a bottom dwelling fish who prefer live bait.  We cautioned that lures probably weren't going to do the trick.  Overhand casting is also considered a "no no" on most California Piers so we taught them a pretty efficient underhand cast.  We had 4 rods so we set up 2 for Novella and Billy to bottom fish with frozen anchovies.  Then we set up 2 rods to try to catch live bait.  Hamish was on one of the bait rods. Suddenly Hamish felt a tug.  He excitedly reeled in a small fish and what we commonly call a "Bull Head"or Sculpin.  Perfect for live Bait for a Striped Bass.  Hamish asked me to snap a quick photo with his camera and then I took the Bullhead off Hamish's line and placed it onto Novella's line as bait, hoping a big fish would pass by.

Unfortunately nothing else was biting and Novella, Billy and Hamish didn't realize how cold the pier can get.  After putting in a solid effort, they moved on to other adventures hoping Michele and I would catch a huge striped bass for dinner the next night.  Michele and I fished on but no one was catching anything that day other than a cold.

The next day we attended the forage party and "send off" for Hamish at Novella's urban oasis on a vacant lot next to her home in West Oakland.  It was a fun gathering of down to earth fellow foragers.  

The Foraged Spread 

Another point of the gathering was to try a new outdoor earthen oven Novella had built with a friend.  Pizzas were roasting inside when we arrived.  My favorite tasting from the oven was freshly picked zucchini blossoms from the garden lot we were gathered in.  They were filled with feta and fresh basil, dressed in a little olive oil and salt.  Delicioso!

Outdoor oven

Novella and Hamish survey the oven

Homemade Pizza Paddle

Escargot Anyone?

Other interesting forageables included roasted snails (escargot) which cooked a bit too fast in the oven and came out chewy and a bit too salty...I had heard they are the same snails as are eaten in France so I was excited to try them.  These weren't my favorite but I think I will give them another chance soon.  Someone brought homemade cheese and acorn bread that was very good.  Novella's Sangria was nice.

Flower arrangement collected from lot

Vogue Photographer

But the other most amazing new thing we ate were the Persian Mulberries she had growing on the lot. I had mulberries before but never like these. They were sweet and juicy and would make a very very nice wine. We stayed long into the darkness talking and chatting and making new friends.

Pickled Eggs - Amish Style

Michele and I were tending to her garden and chickens the other day and realized we had all the ingredients to make a cherished treat from my childhood, Amish style pickled Eggs.  I grew up in rural Pennsylvania on a farm.  We raised chickens and rabbits for food and tended a huge garden.  We supplemented our food with visits to the local Amish markets and that is how we learned to make Amish style pickled eggs.  If you like pickled beets, you will love these eggs.

First step is to boil up some eggs.  There are different methods to ensure the shell comes off perfectly.  I probably violate them all, but found my method works.  Pricking the eggs with a pin before placing in the water helps to keep the shell from cracking. I boil them for about 12 minutes.  Then immediately run cold water over them until all the heat is gone.  Then I let them sit in the water a few minutes to cool down and peel. 

While your eggs are boiling, boil your beets as well until cooked.  Save a 1/2 cup of the beet juice for the recipe below. Once they cool down, peel the skin off the beet. You can slice them or keep them whole. 

Ingredients:

8-10 eggs
12-15 cooked beets
1/2 cup of beet liquid
1/2 cup white or cider vinegar
1/2 cup white or brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (This is the secret ingredient. The taste it adds is subtle and amazing.  You can add a whole stick of cinnamon if you really like it)
 
Place all ingredients together in a canning jar and store in your refrigerator.  Eggs may be eaten the next day but are best (pink to the yolk) around day 4.  Eggs will keep for two weeks in your fridge (but they never last that long)
 
Let us know if you try this recipe and your best method for shelling boiled eggs.

Fall Harvest

It's Fall and the harvest is bountiful. It's early November and I want to clear some space for Winter greens. I have been picking delicious aromatic carrots, gorgeous beets, and peppers galore. Squashes and kale are plentiful. I have also been harvesting broccoli shoots regularly. The Crane melons from Baker Creek Seeds were disappointing, they smelled so good but never got sweet. The tomatillos are done and I will miss them. Favas are up and brussels are growing and there are ripe cherry tomatoes by the dozen. The "front yard to garden" project is underway and will soon be a giant squash patch, paths and gardens, with an herb spiral in the middle. This summer was a strange growing season though, and the peppers came in really late. I still have 3 giant Black Beauty eggplant plants with flowers but no eggplants. This Winter I am looking forward to giant mustards and collard greens (something different than kale!), broccoli and beans with plenty of rain for the garden.

Morel Morals

What do you do when a friend announces, "I have a mushroom growing in my garden.  Can you tell me what kind it is?...and she shows you these beauties.  Before me stood over 20 large Morels; the ultimate "Found Fruit." I explained to her that she has rare choice edible mushrooms growing right in her backyard.  Although she offered them to me, I initially declined and encouraged her to try them herself first.  This is what I call "Morel Morals."  Her and her husband did trust me enough to eat them and when they kept coming up she offered me some again.

Morels are rare and are more often found in the wild.  So where did they come from?  She recently hired StarAppleEdibles to do some edible landscaping at her house.  A lot of new dirt and mulch was brought in which must have contained the mushroom mycelium.  Mycelium are the living body of the fungus and the mushroom is the fruit.  Hopefully they will get more than one season of these beautiful mushrooms to appear in their garden.

My favorite way of enjoying wild mushrooms is to saute in butter. Wild mushrooms contain a lot of water. The water will release, so keep cooking until the water evaporates and the oil returns to the pan, then salt and enjoy like you would any other mushroom.  One caution is to always cook Morels in a well vented kitchen to evaporate toxins they contain called Hydrazines.

Now that the rains have returned to the Bay Area, it's the perfect time to get out and forage for wild mushrooms.  To learn more about mushrooms and foraging check out these local mycological organizations: Mycological Society of San Francisco, Bay Area Mycological Society.  Sonoma County Mycological Association.  Once a month the Sonoma County Mycological Society holds a mushroom foraging event with guides in Salt Point State Park that should not be missed.  Check their site and calendar for more information.

Racking and bottling Wine 101

Racking 101:

Racking wine is a simple process of moving wine from one vessel (usually a carboy) to another without disturbing the solid particles that have settled at the bottom.  Racking is usually done at least once before getting to the bottling stage and ensures clarity in your final product...

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Preserved Lemons

Ever wanted to add a secret ingredient to your cooking that wows everyone?  Something that adds a savory flavor that they cannot quite figure out? Try making some preserved lemons...

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East Oakland Homo Homestead Bike Tour

**update** thanks to all who came out today! if you have not yet checked out the unique and queertastic homohomestead farm tours led by Joolie Geldner then be sure to catch the next one!

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DIY Rain Barrels

On a 1000 square foot roof, an inch of rain yields approx. 600 gallons of water that can be collected! Perfect for watering landscaping plants etc. where fresh water isn't necessary. Captured rain from food grade barrels can also be a good backup plan for earthquake/ disaster preparedness. It can be very inexpensive and easy to assemble a rain catchment system. I was inspired by and learned a lot by looking around online at different folks designs. Here's one I built in my backyard.

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Found Fruit - Plum Wine

Need a reason to celebrate?  The fruit season is on with plums and apricots adorning our neighborhood trees.  What better time than to start a batch of plum wine or jam?  Found Fruit happens simply by asking -  Place a want ad on Craigslist or Freecycle to get started.  Many of our neighbors have fruit trees and are simply too busy to utilize the fruit or their trees produce more fruit than they can use.  I usually offer to share jam or wine with our neighbors if the batch turns out well.  The plums pictured to the left were small and tangy - too tangy to eat - but boy did they make some good wine.  The owners would never have utilized this fruit.  Neighbors sometimes are happy to part with fruit because it damages their lawns or their dogs eat the fruit.  If you have fruit that you wish to part with, you can also try bartering with your neighbors for other fruit or vegetables.  You can also contact fruit gleaning programs who will deliver the produce to shelters.  Here is a simple recipe for starting a 1 gallon batch of plum wine:

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Half Wine Barrel Pond

Ever thought of adding a pond or fountain to your yard but didn't have the space, time or money?  A half barrel pond is a simple solution and can even be kept on a patio deck.

I've kept one for a few years filled with aquatic plants, comet goldfish, aquatic snails and a solar fountain.  The thought came to me after discovering used wine barrels for sale for around $30 at the Oak Barrel Winecraft in Berkeley.  

First, soak and wash the half wine barrel thoroughly, especially if you can still see wine residue in the bottom.  Then, set it off the ground at least 3 inches by placing it on top of some bricks.  This will keep the bottom from contact with the ground and prevent wood rot.  Next, fill it with water and let it sit for about a week.  This allows the water to condition and age and to allow the wood in your wine barrel to expand and stop any leaks.  My barrel had some major gapping at the top and leaked quite a bit at first. But it didn't take long for that to stop.  Now there is a water tight seal.  

Next is a critical step.  Bay area water is treated with chlorine and chloramines.  Chlorine will evaporate from the water within 24 hours.  Chloramine on the other hand will not leave the water without help and will kill fish.  Pick up some water conditioner that removes chloramine from any pet store. Treat the water as directed.  These ponds probably hold about 30 gallons of water.  

Then you can add fish.  I chose 4 comet goldfish because they only cost about 20 cents each, they live awhile, and are beautiful fish.  They look much like koi but should not outgrow the pond. Be careful not to add too many fish to this micro environment.  2-4 is plenty.  If you don't add fish or you will have a mosquito problem on your hands so be sure to at least get some mosquito fish.  If you live in Alameda County, they deliver free mosquito fish to your door.

For the plants, be sure to look for dwarf plants when possible.  My barrel has Taro, Parrots Feather (an oxygenator), Floating Heart Lilly, cape rush, water hyacinth and duckweed.  

It also helps the fish to add a fountain or bubbler to oxygenate the water.  I ordered this eco-friendly solar fountain online and staked it into a planter I had so it could easily be turned to catch the sun.  You have two choices for solar fountains.  You can get one that doesn't need a battery and only runs in direct sunlight.  This will be fine for the fish.  You can also order one that stores power and runs 24 hours but they are twice as expensive.  I keep my pond in an area that receives partial sun and partial shade and also where the solar fountain can catch a ray most of the day.

Lately I've noticed my pond attracts honey bees.  They land on the parrots feather and crawl down it for a sip of water.  Kids also love feeding the fish in my pond and watching the snails.  The fish keep the water clean and clear of algae.  The pond sometimes also attracts raccoons.  They tend to treat the pond like their own personal hot tub.  Raccoons can be deterred by adding a chicken wire ring around the top at dusk.

This system is a sustainable mini aquaponics system.  The fish provide fertilizer for the plants and the plants provide a oxygen and a habitat for snails who keep the pond clean.  The fish also eat the plants and small bugs that enter the system.  Its still nice to supplement they system with some koi food, but probably not necessary if you keep the fish to a minimum.  My system is creating lots of extra baby plants. Feel free to contact me if you would like to barter for or purchase plants for your system.

Got Spuds?

How's this for vertical farming?  Plant a potato tower in your garden or on your patio.  All you need is some scrap wire mesh or chicken wire.  I started this one a couple of months ago using red, white and purple potatoes from my kitchen that had begun sprouting eyes.  Some people recommend you only use seed potatoes since market potatoes can carry diseases.  Michele and I decided to do a little study / contest to see if seed potatoes really do better.  More on that below...

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Aw shucks...

How can you please the hedonist while simultaneously multitasking and running an errand? Take a roadtrip to collect oyster shells in beautiful Tomales Bay for your chickens! Tomales Bay Oyster Co. is one of the best spots for oysters along the Marin Coastline in Pt. Reyes. Getting them to go, or bbqing them at an outdoor picnic spot onsite is a real treat. Daluca and I popped in the other day to gather shells for the ladies... Oyster shells are made of calcium carbonate same as eggshells, and calcium is essential for a strong shell. At home I spread them out outside in the sun and then crush them into bite sized pieces. We've decided next time we come we'll do some fishing as well. No shortage of oyster shells here, and they're free for the taking!
tomalesbayoysters.com

Meet the ladies...

...and I'm not talking about the girls next door. I'm talking about 3 hens: Feisty, Ruby, and Lucky. The newest additions to the family~ Feisty and Ruby are a couple of Rhode Island Reds, a popular American breed around 6lbs and avid layer of brown eggs. Then there's Lucky.. an odd duck indeed, she's an Aracauna that lays a lightly green tinged egg. Lucky thinks she's a duck with her honking cry or other times a goose with her cackling call. I named her Lucky because she was lucky I picked her looking like a rag of hay from being bullied from her last flock. Unfortunately with Feisty on top of the pecking order, and Lucky on the bottom, she still gets a little flack. The ladies free range on the side of my house from sun up to sun down pecking at bugs and keeping the weeds away. I have been trying to ensure that their new coop, free ranging, and diet meets their needs, even adding some yogurt, vinegar, oyster shell, and olive oil to their organic feed when necessary. When it comes to a permaculture garden the addition of chickens completes the circle. They eat the outer leaves from my garden veggies which makes them happy and healthy. They lay eggs in return and then poop nitrogen rich waste which is great for making compost and amending soil. Also since I vermicompost, the worms reproduce happily in healthy compost and the ladies can occasionally have protein rich worm snacks. Keeping chickens is a rewarding and entertaining!

One flew out of the Cuckoo's Nest

It's not like I didn't know a chicken was a bird, but what I didn't know is that to keep the girls free ranging and not "flying the coop" it's advisable to clip the primary flying feathers off the wings. This doesn't hurt the bird at all and though it seemed barbaric at the time, the thought of Lucky, Feisty, or Ruby flying to some random location and surviving, made it a compassionate security measure. I like to give them as many free ranging hours as possible during the day to peck around the yard and take dirt baths etc. I'd also say the event took our relationship to a whole new level. I'm now one part mom, one part adoring and appreciating fan, and one part rooster. There's a new level of subservience with the flock that I didn't ask for, but that allows me to pet the girls each morning. Though I may have to lower their perchs a bit due to their lack of lift...

The Year In Review...The Elephant House

The July 4th firecrackers bursting around me have reminded me that I've been here for a year now. It's been so great nesting and dorking out on permaculture projects! Let's have a little "Year in Review" Michele Senitzer's 1st year at
"The Elephant House."
There was: building the coop and getting chickens, making rain barrels for rain catchment and installing a gutter system, crafting raised bed planters and a perimeter garden, refurbishing and installing an outdoor bath that greywaters to landscape plants, vermicomposting, building kenyan top bar hives and catching and installing a swarm, creating a home fueling station to settle, filter, and pump waste veggie oil, a solar powered barrel fish pond, upgrading to a low flow toilet, getting attic insulation, and planting over 30 organic heirloom vegetable varieties, culinary and medicinal herbs while tending to and planting several fruit trees and berry vines. 90% of the materials for these projects came from reclaimed, repurposed, and recycled materials.
Kim (Daluca) and I brewed wine from foraged berries, made mead and kahlua, jams, fermented sauerkraut and kimchee, pickles, preserved lemons, pickled eggs and beets, grew kombucha, foraged chantrelles, black trumpets, mussels, and greens and oyster shells for the chickens.
I also fixed, installed, demolished, improved, and troubleshooted more odd jobs than you want to see more lists of...
In the spirit of starting where you are, I'd say it was a great year!
With a strong desire to live sustainably I currently produce fuel, fruits, veggies, compost, eggs, and honey. I am interested in local food bartering, skillsharing, and seed swapping for continued variety as spice for life.
Goals for year 2 include backyard aquaponics and repurposing the front yard into an edible oasis with an herb spiral and raised beds using sheet mulching.

Backyard Beekeeping

Who doesn't love getting the perfect gift from a friend who really knows you? For my 37th birthday my friend Todd enrolled us in a Kenyan Top Bar beekeeping workshop at Institute for Urban Homesteading in Oakland, taught by Ruby aka Sparky Bee Girl. I had been wanting to try my hand at beekeeping, having had a lifelong fascination with bees. We built 4 Top Bar hives and then got on a local swarm list. Busy with the chickens, and it being late June, I was prepared to wait til next year, but then this morning I got word of a swarm in Richmond about 10 miles away! Off I went with a cardboard box, hedge clippers, a hoodie, and some gloves. There I met two great gals Anni and Carol, and found the swarm about 2 feet above the ground in a Manzanita bush next to their house. After away some low lying branches I placed the box underneath the swarm and gave the bush a good shake. Most of the bees fell immediately in while others flew around me in a frenzy. Quite a rush! I got a bite on my cheek and a sting on my neck before getting the box closed up and getting out of there. With all the adrenaline pumping I hardly even felt it. The rest of the bees starting swarming on the branch again so Carol cut it while I shoved it all in a second box. I wanted to be sure to get the queen!

A good rule of thumb when transporting bees is...make sure the box is closed up well. Can you see where this is going? After parting from our bonding bee adventure I begin the drive back home to East Oakland with my new found friends. A few blocks later I glance in the back and notice a few bees flying around. Few more blocks, few more bees... I drive home like a bat outta hell with my hoodie pulled over my head.

Back home, I left the windows for awhile while running the boxes to the backyard. Nothing to see here folks, nope nothing out of the ordinary happening here... The roar from the boxes was deafening! I was definitely intimidated to open and dump the contents into my hive but I had a lunch date in 30 minutes! I removed the bars cut the tape and dumped the bees into the hive. With bees flying all over the place I slowly and carefully replaced the bars on top of the hive. Tonight I placed a bowl of sugar water in the hive. Peeking in I could see a large clump of bees hanging off some of the bars in the back. I hope the bees take nicely to their new home and thrive!

(http://iuhoakland.com/) Institute for Urban Homesteading
(http://www.sparkybeegirl.com/bees.html) Links to Ruby's hive blueprints/ useful links etc.