(Pink Banana) Squash Soup. 10.10.21

I placed Pink Banana in parentheses because it's squash, not bananas, and it's not all that pink. This soup was: 2 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil. 2 1/2 cups of squash cubes, after peeling and removing fibrous stuff from inside the squash. That's about 1/4 of this particular squash. 1/4 large onion, cut into chunks 1 big garlic clove or two smaller ones 1 vegetarian buillon cube. I like Knorr. 2 cups of water plus decorations (see below). Saute the onion and garlic in the coconut oil. When those are clear and just barely starting to brown, add the water and squash and chopped buillon cube. Bring to a boil. Simmer 20 min, until the squash starts to soften up. Turn off the burner. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Portion into bowls. Add chopped peanuts and dollops of Sambal Olek or Sriracha sauce.

What I liked about this soup- The squash is a mild flavor. However, I've done this with pumpkin instead, and that was very tasty too. The coconut oil added a nice coconut flavor to the soup. The chopped peanuts give some texture and flavor that matches perfectly with the soup. The Sriracha (actually my home made version) isn't uniformly mixed with the soup, so there are portions that have the rich hot pepper flavor, and others without it. It's a nice diversion within the bowl of soup. I make a similar soup with sauce tomatoes instead of squash. That's a different blog entry, but basically it's substitute about 4 cups chopped tomatoes for the squash and water, add 1/2 tsp of Italian herbs, and garnish is oregano and croutons.

I Made Another Batch of Fermented Jalapeño Serrano Sriracha. 10.10.21

On Sept 28th, I started another fermentation of red hot peppers for home made, fermented Sriracha sauce. It bubbled and became sour, like it is supposed to do. Today I poured off the brine, and pureed the peppers mixture along with 1/3 cup of the brine and 1 tsp sugar, which will ferment a little further to preserve the sauce. I used a combination of red ripe Jalapeños and red ripe Serranos, because that's what I had in my garden.

This looks and tastes exactly like Sambal Olek sauce, except a bit brighter color and flavor. Last year's kept a year in the fridge, because it was too hot (I used Thai peppers) plus I forgot about it. I expect this will keep until I use it up. I use a lot of Sriracha or Sambal Olek (they looks the same to me) so this is very nice, my favorite motivation for growing hot peppers,

Apple Pie with Mix of Redlove™ Era™ and Jonathan Apples. 10.10.21

Here is a slice of the pie I made, using about 7 Jonathan and 4 Redlove™ Era™ apples. This time, I made the following changes from the usual recipe: When I cut the apple slices, I put them immediately into a solution of vitamin C, one crushed 500mg tab in 4 cups of water. That preserves color and flavor. Substitute Clear Jel™ for Flour 1:1 substitution. I left out the nutmeg. I used 1 tsp vanilla, mixing that with the sugar before anything else. I forgot butter in the pie. Didn't seem to matter. I used coconut oil instead of shortening. That turned out to be very difficult to work with but in the end it was very flaky and very tasty. I always preferred flour to thicken pies but now I change my mind. Clear Jel™ is more appetizing to look at and has a wonderful texture in the filling.

Planting Some Pawpaw Starts. 10.10.21

A few years ago, I planted some pawpaw seeds. Quite a few sprouted. I didn't take good care of them. The plants got eaten by deer, knocked over, dried out. This year I repotted the survivors, then they were subjected to 114 F heat. This was the "Squid Games" of pawpaw trees. Also, there was one in the orchard whose top had died. Sprouts came up from the bottom, but someone mowed over them. Then new sprouts grew through the hardware cloth vole protector, which tore the sprouts when I removed the mesh. I dug that up and now there is a handsome young aspen tree in its place. Today I planted two of the surviving seedlings, and the abused transplant, in a shadier spot in the apple tree mini orchard. If they survive, I want to pamper them next yea with lots of water and  fertilizer. Here is the better looking of the group. It was watered more than the others, because I had it in my baby Forsythia nursery. I don't know why the others weren't there too.

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Here is a blurry version of one of the others. It's not fair that the other one got better treatment, but unfairness is central to the Squid Game, even if you are a pawpaw.

Moving a Tall, Young Aspen Tree. 10.10.21

A few years ago, the aspen tree that I planted in 2012 sent off an underground shoot, terminating in a baby aspen tree. That's one way they reproduce, like amoebas. I cut off that shoot and planted it behind the woodshed. That wasn't very smart, because it's very shady back there. Plus, I needed to put up a deer guard fence which is always messy, encourages blackberry brambles, and was in the way of me getting into the woodshed. Today I moved it to an entirely different spot. I had to dig up a sad little pawpaw tree whose top and died and the new shoot wasn't looking great. The Aspen tree and its roots. I will be filled with a sense of awe if a tree with so minimal roots actually survives. Rainy season / Fall / October is actually a good time do do it.

I had actually tried not to cut off too much root, but the root system was too long and sprawling for me to dig up. Still, I've planted trees almost as tall, with even fewer roots, and they thrived. So we will see.

According to WA State Arborist Lind Chalker Scott (if memory serves correctly, I should not shorten the top, so I wont. Also, it's usually recommended not to tie a transplanted tree to stakes, but thus one is so ungangly and top heavy, I'm certain it will fall over and uproot itself. Do unstaking will need to wsit a year or too. We'll see if it grows. Each Fall I try to plant another shade treein honor of my pasding another rotation around the sun, and I think this one counts.