good morning muffins!

Hello interwebs!

A friend just asked for the classic good morning muffin recipe, and I realize I haven't update in a while, so I thought I'd share the recipe for my most favorite muffins. They are versatile, adapt well to changes in ingredients, and are darn tasty..
enjoy!

good morning muffins
1 1/2 c sugar (or honey or maple syrup, just use a tad less)
3 1/2 cup flour (i use a mix of white and whole wheat and other flours)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbls baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbls. powdered egg replace, flax seed or 1 egg

1/2c. canola oil
2 lemons, zested (or some lemon juice if you are lazy, like I can be)
1 1/2 c orange juice (or other fruit juice)
1 c. raisins or craisins
1 c. carrots, grated
1 c. other fruit or veggie, or carrots ( I use, zucchini, apple, pear, yellow squash...ooh or maybe mashed and pureed cooked winter squash? whatever you have)
nuts if you want

mix the wet and dry, then combine them together till just mixed. fold in raisins and nuts (if using) scoop them in to greased muffin tins or bread pan. makes approx. 24 medium sized muffins with each tin filled kind of full
bake at 400 degrees for 20 -25 ish mins. for muffins

September I'll remember

the family visit to Vermont was fantastic! Since then I have been planting fall crops of beet greens, spinach and lettuce mix- with the amazing help of Jillian from small step farm. Other highlights have included a trip to a fantastic furniture/ pottery team- Shackleton Thomas
an intern/ student no talent show, and some personal work on projects, a beautiful cutting board and cheese knife as wedding presents and a few stained glass pieces from the stained glass class I took this weekend.

I hope to get more photos up soon- meanwhile check out my co-worker Julie's blog about her time here. it's awesome
Final exciting news, Julie and I revamped the campus map that has been out of date for a good few years now. After a few months of work we have a beautiful hand drawn/ computer formatted map that is really helpful to have around- I'll put up images soon

photos!

music party, lee winning, breakfast pizza before and after, and some cute people shots.

how is it the end of August? seems like just yesterday....

It was brought to my attention that I have very poor blog attendance lately, and at the rate I'm going there will be no posts in September, and -2 posts in October, so this is my attempt to change that.

garden news: harvested my first cantaloupe today!!! typical weekly harvests include
cherry tomatoes
huge, beautiful heirloom tomatoes
yellow squash
zucchini
beans
carrots
onions
kale
swiss chard
cucumbers
a few peas
some fennel
and a ton of herbs

I've been working with the farmer across the street to make more of an official relationship between the Kitchen Garden Intern and her farm- we are working on having the Intern work a few hours a week over there to have a gardening mentor, and really see how a farm runs- super exciting.

also working on drying herbs, too humid outside though, so testing a few different inside spots...

it's been busy times in the kitchen: last week was the graduation for our 3 month long natural building Intensive- they did such a great job on the house they built, amazing(check it out)!

had two amazing friends visit, thanks Lee and Jenny for bringing such fun and good energy to YM.
in my next post: photos Jenny took of our adventures, and some start to finish shots of my morning making breakfast pizza

everything changes so quickly...

I found out today that a friend and amazing St. Louis musician died in a car accident this afternoon... holding Dave, the fattback family and all the family and crew in my heart. so, so sad.
I'm a little out of sorts.
...
finished hanging all the garlic today
harvested 5 pounds of onions
and 6 pounds of kale- froze it all.. .
we decided the best way to preserve things for the kitchen is dehydrating, so we are working on getting a really great dehydrator...
3 more cucumbers today
and harvested the first 3 yellow squash! eep!!!!
lots of evening thunder storms...a big one tonight...

and some photos of all the little (and big) plants in the garden...the carrots are still small, big around but short and stumpy- tasty though. there are a few lovely purple tomatillos and the onions are big. the yellow squash is multiplying like rabbits, the new basil growing in to a colony and the late planted zucchini on its way!

the sunflowers are a super nice addition to the garden- always a friendly face in the garden...

photo graphs

photos! harvesting garlic,

working in the garden

the lovely ladies helping me clean beans for canning



our blueberry jam- we weren't quite sure it would turn out- but it did!














a lovely meal I made of grilled veggies, a salad with roasted beets and blue cheese, reduced balsamic vinegar couscous and baked chicken (austin made the chicken)

goodbye erin and rob night, girl's photo

I'm bringing blogging back

whew! it's been a good month since I last posted.
I made trips to Minneapolis and St. Louis for weddings of dear friends.
the garden is getting huge!!!
I have cucumbers (boothby blondie)
my cantalopes are getting to be tennis ball size
tomatoes are getting big, cherry tomatoes are already ripe
yesterday I had my first beans!
peas are growing wildly
I harvested a total of 89 pounds of garlic
onions are big
kale is running wild and taking over everything!!!

we have two amazing new interns (though erin and rob are missed and have a special place in my heart)
we have been canning a bit!
blueberry jam!
and tonight pressure canning greenbeans from the farm across the road.. yum!

and now for some photos!
(a lovely lazy breakfast a few weeks ago- eggs from our chickens and veggies from the garden)
( 2 photos of the large picnic blanket and utensil wrap I made for Jen and Louis!- wedding presents! )

Green mountain high, it's my home yo!

This week has been the yester week of music. Thursday a band with the best name ever: Manifest next to me- a local hip hop- esh band political and fantastic played a reunion show. so fun
Then last night an instructor played in a band he describes as "the funky side of rock." they did covers of Kanye West, ray Charles, and a song of their own that talked about how great Vermont is and included the title of this post- the singer had long hair, a tie-dye shirt, and a great voice.

there are peas on the pea vines! woot!

and- my class this weekend, rustic furniture, was amazing. below see the photos of my bench! hooray!!! (sorry about the funky colors- not sure what the camera was up to!)

tonight- pickling a portion of the 8 pounds of garlic scapes we harvested last week.

they grow up so fast

s



hello there! after a long weekend in Minneapolis /st. paul for the fabulous wedding of Jen and Louis (and lots of biking, swimming in lakes, farmers markets and friends) I am home to Vermont refreshed and excited about the garden. I came home to colorado potato beetles and tons of snails and slugs- but I also came home to: tomato plants with red 6 red tomatoes, huge kale, chard, beet greens, lettuce and mustard's, garlic scapes!, huge peas with tons of flowers on them, mass quantities of volunteer mint, amaranth, dill and potatoes, blooming flowers.
yesterday the lovely interns finished putting up the last trellis- we did it in an "L" shape to create a little room in the garden- perhaps it will even house a bench I plan to make in this weekends' rustic furniture class.

For dinner tonight I made middle eastern inspired little plates: white bean,basil and parm cheese dip. baba ghanouj. muajdarrah (lentils, rice and caramelized onions). olives,. feta. red pepper and olive tapenade. mint, cucumber yogurt raita. chapatti and pita. tomato, cuke, red onion and herb salad.
yum!

a few more photos

fun with baby cows at the dairy barn... their tongues are a million feet long, it's actually kind of cute...who knew! also the YM structures and some beautiful old trees (some of the oldest in VT, I think) thanks to Lindley for the pictures (I took a few, they are mostly Lindley's though)