Saturday, March 20, 2010

Spring it's Here ;)


Rhubarb is letting us know spring ;) it's here !

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Down the garden path



In between rain showers we are working on bringing the garden out of her winter sleep with a new edged path in front of the pea fence , enriching the soil for the sugar pea's & bringing mulch in for the walking path. I try to keep the garden weed free through the winter months pulling stray grass & weeds as to not have a lot of prep work before turning the soil in the late winter early spring & that helps ;)

Friday, March 12, 2010

Rain Rain & More Rain


Just when you think Spring ... Old mother nature has different idea's like wind , rain & more rain it blew in last night something fierce branches flying off trees & all animals running for cover. Everyone was happy to come in early they had been out munching on spring grass since being turned out in the morning & it takes darkness & driving rain to bring them in off lush pastures early. Our hay burners ;) I mean those big ole' pony's they know they'll be treated to a early dinner of grass hay & oats a few carrots on top so they like being tucked in when the weathers bad they are a lucky group.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Our beloved Gracie ;)


After talking about him I just had to post a picture of the big guy ;)

Sweet Pea's & Gracie


It's time to plant those pea's sweet flowering ones & edible ones your snap or sugar pea's ( I've counted 14 alone in one catalog so there is one for ever liking ) after soaking them just like in my last post at least over night. they do best in cool ground & they can weather through a short frost one year I had mine in a week & we had a late snow storm they were just fine one thing they can't take is being too dry. My Grandmother who lived in the city always had hers in around valentine's day she watched the maple trees when they started to as she said unroll their leaves your soil is ready & it's always worked for me. So I kind of look at it like natures natural guide & if I haven't heard it from her I wouldn't have known ;) so the maple trees on our long lane have started to leaf out & my peas are in. And they are hungry veggies so I always ... after working my soil amend it with alittle well rotted manure & gently line them up & tuck them in. For years around here 9 to be exact we had a family goose Gracie he was wonderful but he nibbled on every green thing that poked it's head up through the good earth even if he didn't like it he gave it a try so up went fencing around all the newly planted seeds more work ... but he was worth it ;) the best watch dog we've ever had well ' I have to admit we've never had a watch dog in the watch dog sense we've had furry family members is what we have ... never left outside to fend for themselves but life is different for a goose for many's years he live in our " gated " chicken coop with electric wiring for safety ;) zap ! & then when he was about 6 he got fed up with the cooped up life & one day when the gate was open walked out & never wanted to walk back in & he had his own self defense hissing & snapping & if that didn't work a good bite ;) we loved him & often watched as a UPS or milkman ran with a package between him & Gracie he positioned himself at night in the driveway & if a car or some wild critter came onto the property that he could see all heck would break loose & I'm not kidding then our furry family member sleeping in comfort ... snug in a bed of their own would wake up & bark so that would alert us & someone here would check it out it was great ... but last year we had a predator slinking around at night a coyote we had never had a problem before but someone let him know we had high living fowl like in well fed & he was right ( our Gracie was a heavy one ) I think they call them christmas geese ;) & he was killed what the coyote left we buried in our pet cemetery " yes' we have one " & well I now have flowers that come up that we haven't seen in years & of course no fencing around the tender shoots about to come from my plantings. We are more careful when we walk out for the dogs last run at night the quick & hurry one ... the guard has passed.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Febrrruary Marching out ;)


With february coming to a close this year is Marching on ;) ahhh ' but March is a wonderful month one of my favorites & you say why ... flowers start breaking through the cold damp dirt to show their pretty colors its like magic coming back year after year buds start forming on naked branches old friends coming back to greet us ... I tilled my garden last weekend on the one sunny day we had & she is ready to get down to business I've flowering sweet peas soaking in a pie plate on my kitchen counter between paper towels giving them alittle boost before being carefully planted around the pyramid tower their fragrance is one of my favorites when I was little many nights I went to sleep with a small bouquet on my night stand filling the darkness with the sweet smell of spring I still do that I couldn't imagine my garden without them as they carry on like troopers through the hottest heat of summer into the late fall when frost starts to grace the fence posts giving bloom after bloom ... love em ;) it always gets me planning !!! I've marked my garden books & have been ordering seeds ( they say there might be a shortage this year O' my ... lucky I'm a early bird ) & in-between rain showers this week I've been pruning my grapes in my small vineyard I've too much to do but I do have a handy man around here who's always ready to help. Oh' & I must mention that on monday I was at our great natural food store " Life Source " where they had Miss Maryann's sweet & sour on a sampling tray in the produce section they call it passive sampling she wasn't alone she had dressing they make at the deli there next to her " giving her alittle competition but she could take it cause one taste of her leads to another.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Sunshine & Dressing


Well ''' Here we are on a fine day a little blue sky & SUNSHINE it feels a lot like spring ;) & it's only february. I've been working this past week very hard on the next new salad dressing from Merrywoods & I've got it yea ! ... it was retro fitted from a recipe my Grandmother made so I can't take all the credit ;) from the Salem Senator Hotel restaurant as she was the salad Chef in the 1950's there .... it's been tried out on my four chosen taste testers & it's a big YES''' they loved it on shrimp & crab & spinach & just chopped up romaine Oh' & with grated hard boiled eggs on top it was like heaven in your mouth we roasted some almonds & walnuts together & had a salad with those tossed on , there wasn't one salad that we came up with that it didn't taste fabulous on. they said things like it's light & lemony & not too sweet " we don't want to infringe on miss sweet & sour " & they wanted to take home the recipe as they couldn't wait for it to be on store shelves well''' what's the old saying waiting makes the taste bud's sharper or was it waiting makes it taste all the better when you do taste it again ''' something like that ;) & heck' if I gave out the recipe why bottle it good thinking eh'. It won't be too long it was just deciding on the 2 , I had picked out & speaking of sunshine this one looks like sunshine in a bottle maybe that would be a good name for it that is what the next step is naming it ... It can keep a girl up at night with all the names rolling across the mind. But today I'm taking my mind off it to enjoy blue sky & sunshine. Just thought I'd let the word out it won't be too long till you can all taste it :)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

1458 & More


Sounds like something from a history book but I'm counting bottles tomorrow I pick up Miss Maryann's sweet & sour at Paradigm & it'll be 1458 bottles so far ;) thats a lot of tasty salad dressing. And yes' its been busy fun but I've been super busy around the farm as always in winter with animals there are many chores to do ... today I gave haircuts & shaves to Billy & Benny " horses " cutes names eh' & they behaved very well now Belle our pretty girl well she's a stinker & has to be haltered to groom you'd think it would be the other way around but she use to be a racehorse in her youth & I'm guessing she was primped on all the time & enjoys the freedom of being natural ;) you know you've seen the girls in pony tails & no make-up well I think that is what she has going on so I let her be she deserves her way as she came here from the sheriff's office on a account of getting blinded in her right eye while at the track & then being sold for don't tell her pennies to someone mean who starved her & got in big trouble that is not looked kindly on by good people & so the sheriff took her away & I gave her shelter till I could adopt her ;) now thats a feel good true story & we love her dearly so she gets away with not having to always do what I want to do ;) but not the boys as they have always had good lives & need to always listening to me. Anyway they liked being pampered cause after they get polished & pretty they get carrots so they think its a good trade off. Ok' enough about chores around here. Tomorrow morning before I pick up sweet & sour I'll give the new dressing ( remember I said I had been working on one ) another try just to make sure its perfect then type out the recipe card & leave it with my friend Dave Schultz at Paradigm for him to work his magic on as he's the ( Field Marshal ) Dept. of figuring things out ... thats what it says on his business card I just love him he's a genuine good fellow & he makes my 2 cup recipe into 720some bottles ... & thats how it gets started ...

Monday, January 4, 2010

Mr. Holiday


O'my where did the holiday's go ... as you can tell I'm not tied to my computer ;) I've been too busy with life things were going smoothly then on Dec. 14th ... I was called to jury duty what a drag the week before christmas I had cookies & cakes to bake , stores to check up on remember Miss Maryann's salad dressing is my baby I look after all the time, but not the week of the 14th because I was sitting in the jury box ... wooo ! that just sitting & listening is hard to do when you are a shaker & a mover but I did my civic duty & I met 12 very nice people it was a very Perry Mason experience I loved that show as a kid I still catch it every once in awhile. So the week of the 21st I was a very busy lady & time fly's as they say ...

So here we are in the New Year 2010 ... & this month Miss Maryann's Sweet & Sour dressing will be in the Market of Choice flyer or as they call it ... Savozies ... a beautifully laid out color flyer of their specials & a recipe or two wish they had a store in every city ... but they are only in Oregon & only in 3 cities. " 7 stores total " They do have a website with specials & recipes & different food blogs here go here ;) marketofchoice.com if your a foodie you will love it.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Cold & Frosty winters on !


December 4th there is sometime special about this day but for the life of me it's slipped my mind ... spent the morning checking my stores here in town too frosty to go on the interstate today is home town checks, for stock everyone I work with is so nice its fun to chat with grocers that talk of what is new coming into the stores I never realized how many products don't make it to the shelf & of course how many different variety's of one product there are not like in the pre 1970's where you would choose from ... take for example 3 different mayonnaise brands before 1970 , Hellmanns or west of the rockies Best Foods , Kraft & the stores brand ... I learned that from a dapper gentleman with a green bow tie on who has been a grocer-man all his life he told me he started as a box boy that was back in the days when they used the empty boxes to pack your groceries in which I think they should get back to doing saving money & then the boxes can be recycled ... everybody has gotten too fancy toting around cloth bags advertising where they shop ... anyway it was interesting to walk the aisle's with such a knowledgeable person ... so that was how my morning started & I also get my own grocery shopping done tonight it's scampi I found a great deal on hugh shrimp & I'm going to clean them ... then ... pat them dry ... then put'em in a bowl squeeze a whole lemon over them & let it soak for about 20 minutes then I'll toss them in a hot pan with a few tbsp.s of olive oil & a 2 big tbsp.s of butter throw in 4 chopped cloves of garlic & a 1/4 cup of fresh chives a few sprinkles of red pepper flakes & finish with a good splash 1/4 cup of white vermouth .... then spoon around a molded cup of rice .... let the weekend begin *-)

Thursday, December 3, 2009


Today I ventured out to the grocers & my seafood store Fitt's Seafood owned by my friends Rod & Mimi wonderful people they have the freshest & finest seafood on the west coast they get shipments daily & you can always count on them for great tips on preparing whatever it is you decide on ... like I bought a nice piece of sturgeon & Rod said his favorite way to cook it was to saute it in olive oil & a dab of butter with just a sprinkle of salt & pepper till it gets alittle brown then flip it , so I'll try that tonight I usually smother it in sliced onions & bake it in a hot 450* oven till done it's nice to have someone give you suggestions on someway new & easy to prepare what your cooking & they even suggest a wine to go with it which they have a great selection of its like one stop shopping ;) & of course they carry Miss Maryann's Sweet & Sour which I'll be splashing on shrimp salads tonight ... I bought a quart of their creamy clam chowder as a starter to warm us up she makes a good one almost as good as mine ;) then I'll serve my salad with miss m's next to my sautéed sturgeon... mmm !

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Salad dressing & Pantry Goods




Well you'll all be happy to know Miss Maryann's is moving along she's broke out of Salem & is in Lake Oswego " Wizers" & West lynn "Market of Choice" & Eugene "Market of Choice " 4 stores in that fine city also known as Duck city & she's crossed state lines a case to Wichita Kansas dear to my heart ( more about that later ) not in a store there yet but pending woo hoo ... just alittle up date *-)
I should be writing about decorating "which I've started" for the holidays but I have to talk alittle about food & my pantry ... heres just alittle view of some of my goods I grew & tended in my summer garden then canned some say canning is a lost art not around my world it wouldn't be summer if I didn't baby my vegetable garden with thoughts of filling my jars there have been days when just heating up a jar of tomato puree & adding alittle rice or bits of chopped celery & onion just hits the spot for a hot cup of go juice ;) to get those afternoon chores done ... add a small salad & it'll keep you till dinner. And don't the jars look pretty here I have thick slices of green tomatoes I've pickled mmm ! they really have a snap when you bite into them & they are delicious as a salad topper, sandwich builder, snack or with any kind of roasted meat like the turkey we had for thanksgiving when I do my pickling late in the summer I go by the old rule that they'll be ready for the taste buds around thanksgiving ... Then we have the pickled peppers & cucumbers almost too pretty to open & eat but boy' do they beat out the grocery store ones. I also do a killer Bloody Mary mix really spicy delicious with the ring of salt it's one of my favorite cocktails & I always feel like its on the healthy side you know made with tomatoes ''' They contain lycopene, one of the most powerful natural antioxidants ''' so see Bloody Mary's are actually very good for you ;) I think I'll go make one now & write more later .... ttfn !

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Miss Maryanns

Ahhhh'''' after many problems Miss Maryann is back ! these new fangle things such as blogging were just something I didn't grow up with so its like teaching a old doggie new tricks but I'm learning ...

Not like cooking as I was born to cook ;) I remember as a child making up my own recipes like this one for example ... 1 cup of raw oatmeal mixed with about 3 tbsp. good old white sugar & a few splashes of water & then I'd roll them into balls & wa la I had my own easy made cookies mmmm ! they were good even my grandmother Oma would pop a couple into her mouth & say these are delicious miss maryann your going to be a great cook ;) she was very encouraging & I believed what she said " I was going to be a great cook ;) if I happen to take a liking to something I tasted at a restaurant I'd try figuring out at home just how it was made & came pretty close to it all the time.



"Three grand essentials
to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love,
and something to
hope for."

~ Joseph Addison