A Quick Marinade

So, Sunday when we got home from church we laid out some venison steaks from the deep freeze to allow them to thaw in the sink in time for supper. Long about four o'clock I got the steaks apart, which were still a tad frozen in the middle, and put them in a cold water salt bath to get any excess blood out. This also takes the "strong" taste out if there is any. While they were soaking I realized that I was out of our normal "go-to" marinade that we like to use. It's a store bought bottle brand that I can usually mix a little water with and get two, maybe three soakings out of.

Now, I've been highly addicted to a couple of sets of The French Chef with Julia Child over the last month that I rented from the library. J.C. drops mention of wine in every show that she does. From using it in dishes to what wines for with the dish that she made. Well.. maybe not the baking, Queen of Sheba cake episode... I'll have to watch it again and see.

Needless to say.. she got me thinking. I drained and rinsed the steaks and put them back in the bowl. I added a generous helping of red wine to the bowl and sprinkled the tops of the steaks with fresh cracked black pepper. YUM. After allowing the steaks to rest for a good half hour, I flipped them over and peppered that side of the steaks. At this point I felt like they were missing something. I wanted a bit of bold taste outside of the red wine and pepper. I looked in the refrigerator and pulled out the Worcestershire sauce, poured in a tablespoon or two and swished it a tad to blend. After about another half hour the grill was hot and the steaks went on. Shaun took it from there. I did tell him it was OK to add a touch of seasoning, McCormick's Garlic and Onion medley, to each side. He likes to chef it up when he's at one with the gas grill.

When the first bite of these steaks went into my mouth I knew I had done something right that day. I absolutely love the smell in my house when I have included wine in a recipe. This marinade didn't exactly fragrance the entire house but it was fantastic. Juicy, elegant, magnificent.

Starting Seeds

Gardening is one of those things that can yield fantastic rewards. From beginning to end, delight to worry, raw ground to water, the whole experience begins with a single plant. Have you ever thought of starting your garden from seed? I'm going to help you learn how. I have yet to build our entire garden from seed because during spring and early summer I turn into some sort of plant buying nut! I can't resist the beauty in greenhouses and possibilities of what the plants may produce for me someday. Starting plants from seed, purchased seed or seed that was saved from you garden last year, has a different kind of reward. To walk down the rows of veggies and think " knew you when you were just a seedling" feels great. Today let's go over starting tomato seeds.

Now, you're going to need seeds which are available at any hardware store and even at the dollar store this time of year. To prepare the seeds, take one section of paper towel and fold it in half several times. Run the paper towel under water to soak. Place seeds on one end of the paper towel and make one last fold over to cover seeds. Allow seeds to germinate in the wet paper towel for at least 24 hours. Keep the paper towel moist at all times.

Next, you're going to need pots and dirt. You pots can be peat pots, egg shell cartons, re-used six packs and flats from last year. I prefer newspaper pots. They are cheap, a new use for old newspaper and you can plant them right in to the ground. It just makes more sense to me. To make a newspaper pot tear a folded sheet or newspaper down the middle then across the middle. That means that one big folded piece of newspaper would make four pots. Take one of the small sections and fold it long-ways twice. Using a juice glass, roll the newspaper around the glass, fold under the bottom of the glass and, sitting the glass upright, press on a table to make the bottom. Or you can buy a paper pot maker here.



Place dirt in pots leaving 1/2 inch at the top. Place one or two seeds in each pot and cover with 1/4 inch or potting soil. Stores have special "tomato dirt" available, I've not used this before. I find good ole potting soil does the trick just fine. Place the paper pots on a pan with a lip, something that will hold water. Pour water into the pan just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Within 10 minutes or so the pots and dirt will absorb the water. Cover the pots on the pan with saran wrap and place your pan of pots in a warm location such as on top of the refrigerator until seedlings appear. Water the pots twice a day, morning and evening. Like anything else, if the soil is dry.. water is needed... if it is really moist don't water. You don't want to soak the poor things to death.

Once seedlings appear, and they probably won't all at the same time, place the tray in a sunny window. Keep watering as needed and just baby the heck out of them until they are big enough to go outdoors which would be after the danger of frost. In our area, Middle Tennessee, now is the prime time to begin your seeds. We usually plant our garden on May 15th. Mainly because Shaun's Granddaddy said so. We figure he's done it more times than we have so he probably knew best.


You can begin just about any seeds this way. Be careful to read directions on the packets that you buy. Some herbs need to be planted on top of the soil, some more shallow in dirt than others. Some are just too small to need the paper towel soaking and can be started right in the pots.


Isn't this tine parsley precious?

Small greenhouses can be used inside. Last year I used a bench in our spare bedroom with a heating vent underneath it and draped a thin quilt over the bench to hold in a little heat. It was definitely a make shift green house attempt. This year Santa brought me a small green house to start seeds in. I have it in the basement and have a heater rigged up on the bottom shelf that comes in intermittently keeping it at a tropical temperature between 85-95 degrees.

It has worked great so far and when the seedlings are ready to spend a little quality time in the sun, a little at a time at first, they can do so in this green house, tied down!, without fear of wind or rain abusing them before they are strong enough to handle it. I encourage you to give it a try.
I will offer up a packet of Black Cherry Tomato seeds for free if anyone is interested. Just leave a comment with you email and I'll get in touch with you.

Exploring We Will Go

Explore. The need to discover. I feel this need. I feel a strong tug from the wooded areas of our farm. There is especially a spot where the creeks meet, below the church camp beside us, that draws me. Yesterday I felt like I'd gone a bit too far when I crossed the creek just to get a look at the rocks on the other bank. Pepper crosses it, Dottie crosses it, with little holding them back they cross it. Yesterday... I crossed it. Just for a minute. I looked around and took a couple of pictures and came on back across. I picked up the rock, on my side, that I had come for. A rock full of fossils, crinoids to be exact. It is a fossil that we grew up calling "indian money." I was amazed when I looked it up yesterday. I've yet to find how old these fossils of animal looking plants are. It's beyond my comprehension I feel.

Miss Pepper always wants to go to the left, up the hill, instead of straight on the path to home. She's fourteen and a half and still never quite ready to go back to the house (unless it's summertime). This day I followed her. When we were almost to the top we made a sharp right through the woods. In the wintertime there aren't near the brush and live twigs on the ground. Not to mention the thought of snakes and ticks and spider webs stretching from branch to branch. I was delighted that we ventured here. I found where a hunting stand was a some point. Not near as old as the fossils I had found earlier, but still cool. I might not have seen it if I hadn't heard a small Downy Woodpecker and looked to my right. He was pecking a piece of wood that used to be the tree stand. Sometimes you need a hint of where to glance.

Past the fallen down tree stand and down the hill, I found a tree. Perhaps the biggest Beech tree I've ever seen. If I stretched my arms out around it they wouldn't even span half way around. I had to just stand there and touch it. Just past the tree, I found another tree that looked to me like it had been shot with a shotgun and the spread of pellets from the shot embedded into the side of it. Upon closer look, I don't think this was the case at all. I found one hole that didn't seem as old as the others. Which leads me to believe that this wasn't a shot wound at all. Maybe it was bugs. Maybe it was wood worms. Maybe it was both and the hole were from a hungry woodpecker.

It's amazing what you can find if you just take time to look. As soon as my hair dries, I'll be exploring again today. I figure when I'm old I might have seen all there is to see on our farm, but I doubt it. The Lord blesses this earth with too many treasures to count and me with a curious heart to find them.

I made myself finish it and I'm glad I did

There are often times when I do not finish reading a book. I absolutely love going to the library. When I started my new job in August I realized that I was not going to be any where near my local library any more. So I looked in to the Davidson County library, which is composed of many, many libraries throughout the county, and joined, which I had to pay for. Judging by the fact that I no longer rent movies, have cable TV or get magazine subscriptions, accept for one which was a gift, I decided to sign up. I have two libraries that are within my lunch hour distance from work. And I can get online and search for any book on their county-wide site, reserve it and they will magically have it waiting for me at the library of my choice which is fantastic!

Last week, on a Monday, I decided to take my holiday reading back and pick up a few new books to browse through over the next couple of weeks. I generally get one good read, one nature flip-through book, a home decor book which is mostly a look-book with cool pictures and antiques, and something else on a whim. The "whim" book rarely applies to any area of my life that I can do anything about. Generally about starting a business or ... starting a business. The only time I touch this selection is to move around in my book bag or return it.

On this day I picked a pretty good book called "Cherries in Winter" by Suzan Colon. It is full of this gal's experience during our recent recession and job lay-offs, family heirloom recipes (even shown on original paper in her ancestor's writing) and stories of her family that put a smile on your face. I really liked it. My problem is, even when I get a really good and fast read, I'll get three quarters of the way through the book and loose interest, get tired of reading, I am ready to move on. I let myself do this for about four days and today, on my lunch break, I finished it. I was able to ignore all conversations all around me in the lunch room at work and eat my lunch, but I finished it. I think sometimes deep down I don't want it to end, I don't want to know what happens so I'll just stop reading the book and take it back to the library and I won't have to find out.


I am glad I have another fully read book on my list. It's a small accomplishment, but I did it.