Month: November 2020

A vegan thanksgiving

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The marathon of holiday cooking started on Wednesday morning with two pies. A vegan pumpkin pie (really butternut squash and some sweet potato) and a vegan pecan pie.

And a beautiful brief snowfall, just perfect to make pies by.

Side yard with old path to clothesline and new tractor road to fruit yard highlighted
Front yard overlooking bird feeder, orchard, and pile of wood chips

By Wednesday evening it was becoming clear that there would be too much food for Thanksgiving dinner. So we ate the kale farro salad for pre-thanksgiving dinner. An overlooked mealtime until this year!

Thursday morning’s bake was this main course: shepherd’s pie with mushroom lentil filling and polenta topping.

A relish tray to nibble while waiting for roasted vegetables – cheese (my cheat), kalamata olives, and pickled red onions
Roasted buttercup wedges with balsamic glaze
Roasted Brussels sprouts with soy sauce and garlic
Table setting for two. (Ignore the half-eaten pecan pie!)
Cutting into the pumpkin pie
Yummy pie, lots of flavor.

We were overstuffed of course and have plenty of leftovers. It felt weird to have thanksgiving alone at our house due to COVID. But the food was fun and exciting and just the way we like it.

Mulching for winter

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We mulched most of the beds for winter. The two near the back got a layer of chicken coop waste covered by a layer of straw. The other beds got waterlogged straw, picked up from J&P Farmers Market. And some leftover hay.

The strawberry bed got a light layer of mulch. It really needs the blighted leaves pulled off and more mulch. Maybe later.

What’s left in the garden? A nice patch of leeks, quite a lot of kale, some juvenile broccoli that I don’t have much hope for, and mostly bygone escarole. A row of half-hearted spinach.

It’s definitely getting to be wintry out there.

Coming indoors

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It’s been warm this week. Good weather for preparing to bring some plants indoors soon. I found a low table in a barter and swap group and picked it up this morning. It will make a nice platform for herbs in a sunny window.

From top: rosemary from Chuck, rosemary from Surry Gardens, parsley, French tarragon from Surry Gardens, dug thyme, dug chives, more parsley

We repotted the second lemon tree and the still-growing graft from the first lemon tree. Made up extra potting mix from leftover Pro-Mix potting soil, a little coir fiber, and a little sand. And some sprinkles of azomite and green sand.