The Toy Box (the return)

My-oh-my!!! That looks like a great dish! Too bad I did not grow any fava beans this year! Do you think I could substitute another veggie?

I did MI. It was orginally a garbanzo bean salad based upon a potato salad, so go for it!

Wonderful, LavenderDebs, I kept licking my lips thinking about how this would taste.

Thanks so much for sharing!

yummy Deb!

you make the best video's!

how long did you have to cook the fava beans to be able to shell them?

hugs
rose....who really wants one of those lemon squeeezer thingy Deb has

Thanks FB mom!

@Rose.... it is just like dipping a tomato to peel.... 30 seconds in the hot water is all.

I don't know if the days feel lazy, but it does feel abundant. The PNW is in contrast to the rest of the states, Cold and wet in a crazy hot year. I feel like I have been doing so much work in the garden with very little to eat from it. Suddenly there is food, now what?



I've even seen full size green beans!



My little pie cherry tree is not part of my SFG but it is in a pot of MM in my yard. It is covered with cherries BUT it is so little that even when covered with fruit there is not enough for a pie. So what to do with all those cherries? Lavender-Sour Cherry Focaccia Bread. There will be more details on Music of the Rain soon.

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Debs, waiting for the full recipe, like amount of sour cherries, temp and time to bake.

I was able to harvest 14 Montmorency Cherries recently. No bird damage, but this is only the second season since I purchased the bare root tree and planted it in MM in a BIG pot.

I have some culinary lavender. Would one stem of dried flowers equal about a teaspoon or maybe just a half teaspoon of loose dried blossoms?

The foccacia sounds very tasty and I am anxious to try it.

um..... i see a RIPE tomato!!



hugs

rose....oh there is hope.....

Always love reading about your garden Lavender...I am so excited you have ripe tomatoes!

Maybe that means my first ones are only a few weeks off! One can hope!

Furbalsmom wrote:snip....amount of sour cherries, temp and time to bake.

I was able to harvest 14 Montmorency Cherries recently. No bird damage, but this is only the second season since I purchased the bare root tree and planted it in MM in a BIG pot.

I have some culinary lavender. Would one stem of dried flowers equal about a teaspoon or maybe just a half teaspoon of loose dried blossoms? ....

WooT-wOOt! on your cherries!

For you I just crushed a dry stem of lavender, it came to 3/4 of a teaspoon. (but is was a good size flower head) Thanks for asking, I'm more of a "pinch," "dash," and "hand-full" kind of girl. Both my mom and gram'ma hoped I would learn to measure correctly (and teach them) in home-ecc. I did learn but keep going back to my roots.



I thought I wasn't going to have many cherries on my 2 year old tree either, I think I fell short of the 2 cups of sour cherries the Martha Stewart recipe called for. If I had less I would have divided the dough and made a smaller cherry focaccia and another with berries, peaches or sweet cherries. I also think a sour cherry-peach (or blueberry or nectarine) combo would work with this simple bread.



My sons have been on me to start writing things down, I just happened to do so for this bread.

My machine is an older 1.5 lb loaf maker. I also have measurements for a 1 lb loaf if you want.

BTW you do not need as much oil as I made. 2 Tablespoons in the loaf and 2 for the infused oil would be enough.

--I sprinkled on course organic sugar BUT I did that after it was in the oven (whoops...all the smoke is why you did not see it on the movie). Next time I think I'll toss the cherries with the sugar before I press them into the focaccia instead of putting it all over the top (and I sure will not dump it into the oven!!)



This can be 100% white or wheat if your machine can handle wheat.



Lavender-Sour Cherry Focaccia for a 1.5 lb bread machine loaf



Dry:

• 4 teaspoons dry yeast
  
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 1 cup unbleached bread flour
  
• 1.5 Tablespoons dry milk powder
  
• 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
  
• 3/4 teaspoon lavender buds
  

Wet:

• 1.25 (1 and 1/4) cups warm water
  
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  
• 1.5 teaspoons honey
  

Toppings

• 2 cups sour cherries (or whatever you have)
  
• 1 Tablespoon (organic) sugar
  
• 1 Tablespoon lavender buds (fresh or dry, use the same amount)
  
• 2 Tablespoons oil for infused lavender oil
  

Add the wet and dry ingredients to your machine in the order the manufacture calls for. Set the control for manual.



Toss the cherries with the sugar (probably just before using them on the bread)



In a small bowl mix the Tablespoon of lavender and the 2nd 2 Tablespoons of oil together. You may choose to heat this in the microwave for 30 seconds to speed the infusion process. Set aside.



To finish:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. The bread will bake on the bottom 3rd of the oven--adjust a rack.



note you may proof the bread once after it is removed from your machine. I like to do this with whole wheat but not with white.



Generously oil a baking sheet. You can use some of the infused oil.



With your fingers, press out the focaccia. (does not need to proof/rise once it is in the pan)



With a pastry brush generously oil the top of the bread with the infused oil.



If you have not already, toss the cherries with the sugar.

Alternately you can sprinkle the sugar on top of the cherries and bread.



Press the cherries into the bread.

Note; for this focaccia you do not need to dimple the dough, pressing the cherries will accomplish that for you.



Bake 20 minutes at 425. Remove from the sheet to a cooling rack right away. Enjoy hot or cold.



Debs....who had 3 yellow tomatoes in the basket too (must have been a good day for cherries)

middlemamma wrote:snip...I am so excited you have ripe tomatoes!
Maybe that means my first ones are only a few weeks off! One can hope!

Thanks! but I need to confess that they are cherry tomatoes. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have them but my big tomatoes (uh-hum some of which are not much bigger then cherry toms) still have a way to go. There was one I had hopes for but when night temps dropped to the mid 40's in all that rain it started to rot so I tossed it over the fence.



Debs...trying to be happy about itty-bittys

Bush beans are just starting to come on. The zuchinni keeps making blossoms, we've eaten the first bucket of creamy sweet fingerling potatoes (Peanut) and harvested the last of the regular yellow potatoes to take camping. Speaking of camping, there is only one yellow transparent apple this year (lots of sweet reds that I need to check the names of, one is gala, the other has a Japanese name). Instead of making a birthday pie for Chris we'll take it with us and make a baked apple in the fire for him. Ray and I have been eating cherry tomatoes and putting the last of the snow peas into everything. I can start using the fennel but it is still really small. Blueberries are ready.



In cleaning up Box 4 to transplant strawberries into, I harvested all kinds of shallots. I just need to remember to put some into the ground for spring onions.



I'll be shocked if I get eggplant or peppers of any kind but they are trying. No eggs yet but the girls are young. LOTS of Lavender that I need to take care of before we leave.



I think the Goldfinch has a nest in that Alder tree. He is back and forth all day. Often sitting at the top singing goldfinch lullabies to the babies. He is my happy distraction. He is a little crazy, saw him chase off a red-headed woodpecker earlier. The crows, who entertain them selves by attacking the resident eagles in flight were also chased off by papa goldfinch. He must be the terrier of the finch world.



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I forgot to say, now get out and get dirty.

Ray and I were away on tuesday but I did tape this on Tuesday, just did not have time to upload it. So, here it is on Friday.

Deb Love you video's as always and so glad you put them up to share with all of us!



I cant wait to go out and smell my daughters sweet peas....we had no idea they had any kind of smell to them.....we will have to get up on a ladder to get to them should be fun.....wish i could hear what they neighbors will be saying...ha ha ha



hugs

rose.....

Rose if there is ANY sun, you will not need to climb to smell the sweet peas. Just stand in the area for a bit.

been thinking of you Deb

havent seen you on for awhile.....hope all is well with you and your family



rose

School has finally settled into a comfortable routine. My garden has been as abandoned as my thread. It is a mess! Now that it is cold and dry days are rare again, I finally have time to putter. I’m afraid that my garden home wants more hard work than puttering.

The tomatoes I was forced to pick green have been turning brilliant shades of red, pink and yellow. Soup that I seldom sacrifice a vine ripe tomato to has been a regular feature at the autumn dinner table. Last Sabbath it was embellished with onion slices and fresh chard from the toy box, and lentils from my pantry. Dessert was the best apple cake I have ever tried. Pretty red apples from the espaliered tree at the edge of my boxes provided the crisp fruit.



Earlier this season I made a decision to try different proteins. I had both success and failures. The black garbanzo beans I was looking forward to were disappointing. I have some seed that I may give to a square next spring, but even though they were pretty they were too few and too fragile for my area. Fava beans and the Rockwell cranberry beans were successful. I have included a video (or at least a link) at the end of this post on fall planting fava beans in a SFG. Honestly it is mostly about my shovel and dirt. Next summer I plan to greatly increase the number of squares given to Rockwell beans.

Still picking chard, kale, purple sprouting broccoli, parsley, leeks, celeriac and a plethora of herbs from the herb garden. Looking for leaves to gather for the compost. It is weird to live in a yard that does not have leaves to rake.

Debs…..getting cold looking at the first frost glistening on the deck.

Burrr, cream puff clouds scattered across the blue sky of a brilliant autumn day. 45/39 (it is 30 degrees as I tap this out)

so happy to see you posting again deb!

i always look forward to your pictures and video's ......your leeks look so yummy!....i love leeks!....and i want to plant fava beans this year....i bought some....but havent put them in the ground yet.....do they need anything to climb or do they just bush up?

sounds like you are very busy!.....how are the nuggets doing?....i cant remember if they are laying eggs yet.....

hugs

rose

All morning on the news I was hearing about snow in Western Washington. It sounded like everyone had snow. To my delight, there was only sparkly frost in my garden.



Debs.....just trying to keep the nugget water liquid

I am still hearing that there could be snow tonight. It has been such a pretty day that I will be surprised if there are enough clouds to make snow. High of 41. Someone thinks it could get down to 28 tonight, I'm sure that means no clouds. Two dog night.

Whatcha think, Deb, will this be a Thanksgiving when we all lose power? It's been a couple years for me.

We had our first power outage last night, with 50 mph wind gusts. I was in the dark for a second, then heard bang..........bangbang........boom. I thought, "That can't be good."
90 minutes later, they were here on the poles, and at 5 am I woke up to lots of light, and heat. Nice.
The storm is predicted for Thursday all day again. At least, no snow. SO much rain, though! We're earning our rainy reputation all in one week this year!

j