http://www.tallcloverfarm.com Homeward bound on Puget Sound. Putting in a good day on Vashon Island time. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:31:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5213/spreading-the-chestnut-love http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5213/spreading-the-chestnut-love#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:40:36 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5213 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Autumn’s bounty: a bowlful of chestnuts, a tabletop of squash I have a thing for chestnut trees; let me count the ways. I love the tasty nut and the porcupine casing that protects it. I love the tree’s reaching habit and stately form. I love the way the sawtooth leaves dry to the color of [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5213/spreading-the-chestnut-love/feed 17 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5229/leftovers-line-the-corners-of-my-plate http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5229/leftovers-line-the-corners-of-my-plate#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:54:10 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5229 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Last night, before I waddled into my carbo-induced coma and awaiting bed, I heard the song, The Way We Were. And this morning I’m still hearing the song, The Way We Were. Since I can’t eject the ditty from my internal soundtrack, I have decided to put my time to good use (since I moving [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5229/leftovers-line-the-corners-of-my-plate/feed 22 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4578/when-silence-was-and-beets-werent-golden http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4578/when-silence-was-and-beets-werent-golden#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:34:15 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=4578 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Boz: “Treats? Uh, I don’t think so.” I don’t deny as a kid  I was a little different (I’ll keep adulthood out of this debate), but in my trek to avoid the beaten path I also knew there were situations warranting a walk down the straight and narrow. Such detour awareness usually involved the presence [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4578/when-silence-was-and-beets-werent-golden/feed 33 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3711/friends-dont-let-friends-buy-store-bought-jam http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3711/friends-dont-let-friends-buy-store-bought-jam#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:22:46 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=3711 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Jam First Responder: Nancy to the rescue, jars in hand. Yesterday, I pondered the absence of jam in my pantry. Today, a goddess named Nancy, traveled down the Westside highway (her chariot a full-size flat bed truck) to bestow a coveted cache of delicacies on me and wrong the right of culinary deprivation. As Boz [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3711/friends-dont-let-friends-buy-store-bought-jam/feed 15 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3683/sorry-maam-im-out-of-jam-for-now http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3683/sorry-maam-im-out-of-jam-for-now#comments Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:14:57 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=3683 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } With my last jar of jam (apricot) spoken for, I am officially out of preserves. Seasonal changes surround me, bare branches have a costume change, bluebells break through beds of dried leaves, and winged choruses serenade me early and often. The signs of spring are not only witnessed from a hammock view or back porch [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3683/sorry-maam-im-out-of-jam-for-now/feed 15 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3440/duck-duck-goose-chicken-and-the-egg http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3440/duck-duck-goose-chicken-and-the-egg#comments Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:59:13 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=3440 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } I love fresh eggs, unfortunately raccoons love fresh chickens. After a four-year assault on my chicken coop, the masked bandits finally found a weakness in my poultry (or rather, paltry) cedar fortress.  Rumor on the street was the crafty ringtails met up with a shady arms dealer and indifferent hardware store owner to secure the [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3440/duck-duck-goose-chicken-and-the-egg/feed 30 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2407/foraging-for-mushrooms-bring-a-blindfold http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2407/foraging-for-mushrooms-bring-a-blindfold#comments Wed, 29 Sep 2010 19:21:56 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=2407 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } I love Chanterelle mushrooms, the golden little fungi that appear this time of year on forest floors and grocery shelves around the Pacific Northwest. In the stores they cost about $12.99 per pound. In the forests they’re free, but you better know what you’re looking for. Being a mushroom foraging rookie, I knew I had to appeal to the sympathies of my favorite [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2407/foraging-for-mushrooms-bring-a-blindfold/feed 22 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2307/santa-claus-melon-is-coming-to-town http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2307/santa-claus-melon-is-coming-to-town#comments Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:15:39 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=2307 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } By summer’s end, I’ve eaten a truckload’s worth of melons. When in season, cantaloupes, watermelons, Charentais, Crenshaw and Casabas are dreamy big geodes of flavor that I can’t resist. Sure, I grow my own melons, but in a Maritime Northwest climate it’s the gardening equivalent of Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football.  I’m Charlie Brown, the climate [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2307/santa-claus-melon-is-coming-to-town/feed 11 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2211/figs-in-a-blanket-tucking-in-some-amazing-flavor http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2211/figs-in-a-blanket-tucking-in-some-amazing-flavor#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:01:52 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=2211 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Fig in a blanket: sweet, savory, earthy, and easy to make As a blogging goes, I try not to repeat myself. (If only I could apply this to real life.) While no one likes reruns, remakes are another story.   So if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to request a mulligan, a recipe do-over. I first wrote [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2211/figs-in-a-blanket-tucking-in-some-amazing-flavor/feed 24 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1979/simple-lives-thursday-meets-fashionably-late-friday http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1979/simple-lives-thursday-meets-fashionably-late-friday#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:55:52 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=1979 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Boz looks concerned. I promise Boz, your dinner time will never be fashionably late.  My pal Annette over at Sustainable Eats (along with a couple of her blogging compadres) started Simple Lives Thursday, a blog hop that shares what others are doing in the realm of agriculture, real food, producing more and consuming less. And since [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1979/simple-lives-thursday-meets-fashionably-late-friday/feed 1 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1562/rhubarb-vanilla-ice-cream-rhubarb-a-palooza-continues http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1562/rhubarb-vanilla-ice-cream-rhubarb-a-palooza-continues#comments Sun, 23 May 2010 20:40:47 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=1562 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Rhubarb-a-Palooza Continues… With current Seattle temperatures visiting degrees reserved for ice fishing and mukluk wearing, should I really be making ice cream? Heck, yes; I scream for ice cream no matter what the forecast. I continue my rhubarb love fest with a recipe for roasted rhubarb vanilla ice cream. It’s surprisingly subtle and not surprisingly, delicious. The original recipe [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1562/rhubarb-vanilla-ice-cream-rhubarb-a-palooza-continues/feed 19 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1460/strawberry-rhubarb-the-fred-and-ginger-of-jam-recipe-included http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1460/strawberry-rhubarb-the-fred-and-ginger-of-jam-recipe-included#comments Sun, 16 May 2010 17:19:35 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=1460 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } In the world of preserves (and pie), spring’s star couple is strawberry and rhubarb. One’s sweet, one’s sour, both show up in the garden or market at the same time, and their textures are different enough to keep the end result interesting. So today my friends, I’m going to share with you how I make strawberry-rhubarb jam–the [...]

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