Winter garden

Thought I'd check in with an update of sorts.
It has frozen completely several times here now. The garden is mostly empty and planted with a cover crop of legumes for green manure in the spring. Only the blackened, drooping tomato vines have not been pulled and the few winter crops.

We harvested the last mature cauliflower (see photo), as they do not do well in the rain. There are still abundant broccoli, swiss chard, kale, parsley and overwintering carrots.
We find we cannot grow lettuce until early spring, even in a greenhouse. I make sprouts in mid-winter for sandwich greens.

But we did just pick peppers, both hot and sweet, from the upper greenhouse. The lower greenhouse, with more sensitive squash, melons, and cucumbers died a month ago. The cellar is full of peppers (they keep a long time in baskets), apples and, soon, potatoes from Ferndale.

The pantry is stocked with canned and dried goods, the freezer with meat and berries and pesto. There is still a lug of tomatoes, picked green, ripening.

We are very fortunate here in our benevolent temperate climate.

Day 2 -town trip

Today was educational. I did the long trip to town to deliver soap. I took our Australian Shepard puppy, Kumalie, for a vet weigh-in and to check her ears for burrs and foxtails - the bane of summer.
Vet is in Fortuna, farthest store in Arcata, we live about one hour inland from Fortuna. It makes for a long day.

Figuring it might be harder to eat local while out and about I had my tea and a good breakfast of the leftover tofu with chopped patty pan squash and bell pepper from the garden added. Then loaded soap and dog and, list in hand, we headed out.

Once at the vet we discovered Kumalie had weed seeds lodged right up against both eardrums, so she was left behind and our schedule sped up so we could be back before the vet closed.

First stop, Clendenen's Cider Works in Fortuna. Aside from the Farmer's Market I don't think there are many places to get a variety of local food items in Fortuna. Brio bread at Rays, Bien Padre, some cheeses and Humboldt Creamery milk at Safeway. Maybe more at Ray's, I haven't checked lately. But there are a lot of items at Clendenen's, not including the apples. They had local melons, squash, tomatoes and other vegies as well as honey, jam and dried fruit. They were pressing cider and the aroma was incredible! I picked up a gallon of fresh cider for home and a pint to drink.

My method is to go to the furthest place and then work my way home, so it was off to Arcata. I delivered at Wildberries and Arcata Co-op. Both have plenty of local fare, but I did my shopping at the Co-op.

Following my list I bought plenty of Humboldt creamery milk, buttermilk, and cream to make yogurt and sour cream. a few bottles of Vinatura wine, table red and Heyseus, and one of the Elk Prairie Pinot. Some of Henry's olives (THANK YOU, Henry!), Cypress Grove Chevre log for cream cheese and some Midnight Moon to try as a Parmesan substitute.
As I never did bake yesterday I brought home some Brio Fococcia, olive bread, and a Co-op Bakery sandwich loaf. Another package of Bien Padre tortillas, whole wheat this time. From the bulk dept. I filled a bottle with Tehama Gold olive oil. Karl noted there was one other olive oil from our Bio-region, but I forget the brand now.
Lastly, I hit the fish counter to check out the catch of the day. WOW! There was lots of local seafood to choose from. I left with some ling cod and, our favorite, salmon steak, but there was local rock cod and astoundingly some local shrimp! I wish I had my camera as the seafood display was incredible, with a large whole salmon and colorful Butterfish(?).

Back in Eureka I delivered to Humboldt Herbals and the Eureka Co-op. By this time I was getting rather hungry and so I perused the deli to find something suitable to eat. Uh-oh... I suppose it may have classified as locally produced, but the items I looked at I could not guarantee all the ingredients were of local origin. If I had waited I could have found out, but who I talked to knew the distributor - but not the actual source of the onions, peppers, etc. in the dishes I was looking at. I ended up with a Co-op Bakery Sun Bun. Delicious, but not really what I had in mind.
I would suggest that the Co-op delis have more items during the Challenge that they know are made with local ingredients.

Last soap delivery was Loleta Cheese Factory (for their gift shop). Now we're talking! I could taste my way through their display guilt-free. They have a large block of cooking sharp cheddar on sale right now (not organic, but definitely local), Pepper Jack, Roasted Garlic Jack (my favorite) and some Rumiano Parmesan. It turns out that, while labeled Willows, Ca., this cheese is actually made in Crescent City. I see eggplant Parmesan in our future...

Back to Clendenen's where I picked up a box of Gravenstein apples to make applesauce, got my definitely no-longer-sedated pup and headed back up the mountain.

Once home and unpacked we dined on salmon, fresh from the garden salad, and fresh Brio Fococcia dipped in oilve oil with garlic and fresh chopped basil. All toasted with a glass of the Vinatura Table Red (OK, but not as good as my beloved Menage a Trois from Folie a Deux of Napa), washed down with good ol' H2O.

My experience in town has me concerned for this weekend when we will be at Blues on the Bay. I better pack my own lunch!

P.S. photo is from local food in the S. F. Bay area at a dinner last fall

1st day ends

Well, we've ended the day - food wise, at least.
So far - OK, but a bit of fudging until we can get to town tomorrow and clarify some things.

Lunch was easy. I had a salad from our garden with dressing made from our homemade red wine vinegar and Napa olive oil (will get more local oil in town) with Albacore tuna I bought off of the boat out at the marina on Humboldt Bay and canned last year.

The photo is of the marina at Woodley Island on Humboldt Bay.

Dinner was a house vegetarian favorite (never did defrost any beef), Tofu Tias. These are a tofu burrito that has converted some very anti-Tofu types to gladly eating bean curd - at least in this guise.

As part of the challenge I was told that spice mixes I made myself were OK, and the Tia spice is all mine. I have a fondness for premixing herb and spice blends for my cooking. See my post "I'm All Mixed Up" for some of my favorites. This one is derived from a favorite dish from Toby's Tofu Palace in Eugene, Oregon (and at the Oregon Country Fair). We experimented until we came up with a blend that mimicked the original close enough for our taste.

TOFU TIAS:
Take firm tofu and cut into 1/2 inch cubes and let sit to drain. I use a wooden bowl, but I think a colander might be better.
Chop some onion and garlic.
Sometimes green pepper as well.
Saute these vegetables in oil, then add tofu cubes and fry until lightly golden. Sometimes they don't turn, but just keep sweating. No matter, it's good anyway.
Sprinkle with the Tia Spice at the rate of 1 Tblsp. spice per pound of tofu.
Stir and cook a bit then add a shot of tamari soy sauce.

Serve in heated tortilla with shredded lettuce, green onion, chopped tomato, sprouts - whatever. Top with salsa and a dollop of sour cream if desired. Enjoy!

TIA SPICE
NOTE: All measurements are very, very approximate!
Mix together about 50% nutritional yeast, 25% chili powder, then add onion powder, garlic powder,dried parsley, tumeric, salt, & white pepper.

Our Tias used Tofu Shop tofu from Arcata, Bien Padre tortillas from Eureka, lettuce, tomato and homemade salsa from our garden. On the side was a cucumber salad and corn on the cob - all from the garden. And a splash of that Diablo Sauce (we like to live dangerously!) We drank water.
The ingredient that may have been a no-no was the Tamari Soy Sauce. I buy it from the bulk dispenser at the co-op, so it is in an unmarked bottle. I have no idea at all as to its point of origin, so will find out tomorrow.

Did have a glass of nice Napa wine. A bottle or 2 of Humboldt, Mendocino, or Lake Co. wine will have to wait until I get to town as well.

Not, perhaps, a perfect start, but quite acceptable, I think.

I see tomorrow, having to eat on the road, as being a much bigger challenge. We'll see.

One day down - 29 to go!