The summer is winding down, but putting up food for the rest of the year is in full swing. In the three years my family and I have been on our tiny, 2+ acre mini-farm, our goal has been to eventually grow most of our own food, and the rest to be purchased as locally as possible. The first year we barely made a dent, though permission to pick all we wanted from the neighbor’s unsprayed apple trees did give us several shelves of dehydrated apples, canned apple slices, apple sauce and apple butter. Last year we did better. We grew 90% of the meat we ate, and about 20% of other foods. We were able to put something we had raised into every single meal, even if it was just some herbs.
This year we were hoping to double the produce, and we are almost on track with that, in spite of a local drought. Both freezers are getting full, so I’ve been dehydrating and canning, and trying my hand at fermenting.
Sunday afternoon we got a big boost. The local vegetable market called (one that gives us old veggies for our pigs) and said that they had not sold all the corn they had picked that morning, and they had two long rows coming ripe for the following week, so did we want a truckload of corn for us and the animals? She mentioned that it had all been picked that day or possibly the day before, and it was good enough that if we wanted to can or freeze it, they would be happy that it didn’t all go to waste.
My daughter and I went right over to the market. There was a huge cardboard bin full of sweet corn that the owner loaded onto the truck with a forklift. We took it home, unloaded it into the grass near the chicken yard, and went to work.
My sister and brother-in-law were visiting, and we roped them into helping shuck corn. I stayed in the kitchen blanching, icing, and cutting the corn for the freezer. Normally, I do sweet corn in small batches, laying it out on a cookie sheet to freeze separately, then putting it into a large bag so later I can just pull out what I need at the time. But that day we wanted to do a large amount in a short time, so the blanched, chilled and cut corn got packed into quart freezer bags, and put right into the freezer. Our goal was to process as much as possible that evening, since the corn would be noticeably less tasty the following day.
We worked far into the night, with the rest of the family shucking by the porch light after the sun went down.
We processed perhaps a quarter of the corn we had been given; I’m not sure because no matter how many we did the pile stayed the same, it seemed. We filled 30 quart bags. Each bag held the corn from around 10 ears of corn, so we processed about 300 ears of corn that night.
By the following afternoon the corn was no longer sweet, so I used some in a chowder, but we left the rest for the animals to use, and they have all been very happy with their windfall. The pigs jump and snort when we walk toward them with an armful of ears, and the chickens gather around impatiently waiting for us to shuck ears for them. The rabbits like corn too, but they love the silk the most, and they all sit around with it falling out of their mouths like unwieldy spaghetti.
This morning, after shucking corn for all the animals (except the pigs, who can peel their own corn, the clever beasties!) I went to the woods to gather garlic mustard seeds.
Our woods are a 30 foot strip at the bottom of the pasture. Our property ends at a creek, and the woods continue on the other side. Our side of the creek is full of garlic mustard, an invasive species that I’m trying to eradicate, or at least moderate on our property. In the spring it is the first green thing growing in the woods, and it takes full advantage of the sunshine the leafless trees allow through. It chokes out native species, so I pull it up by the wagon load and feed it as an early green to the rabbits and chickens, and sometimes I use the greens in recipes for the family too.
By midsummer, the leaves of the garlic mustard have died, leaving a brown, dead-looking stem. The tops of the plants look like stiff brown arms full of small football shaped seeds. This time of year the seed spikes are ready to pop open and release the seeds.
Garlic mustard likes to grow in the pathways and edges of the woods, so I put on long pants and carry a paper bag. I break off the tops of the plant, and put them into the paper bag, shoving them down to make room. As I push in new tops, and press them to make room, I can hear the seeds drop down to the bottom of the bag. I gather as many as I can. The seeds remain viable in the soil for up to five years, so I try to be diligent about getting every plant top I can see.
Today, I filled my paper bag with the dead plant tops while I was in the woods. Later, sitting on the porch, I just sat for a while, smashing the stems and seed spikes with my fingers. I didn’t even have to look at what I was doing since the seeds readily fell out. I guess it would be considered threshing, on a very, very small scale.
In a few minutes, the bottom of the bag had about half cup of seeds. I’m happy to have so few. The first year we were here I gathered several bags of seed spikes and easily had a cup and a half of seeds. I’m hoping that fewer seeds means I’m making progress getting rid of the invasive garlic mustard.
I keep the small seeds from the bag, and use them in recipes. The seeds are spicy and slightly bitter, so I use them in recipes that call for both mustard and black pepper. Since the taste is so strong, I don’t replace all the mustard seed in a recipe, just about one fourth. Then I use a mild mustard powder for the rest.
Here is my version of the Alton Brown mustard recipe that I’ve had good luck with:
Ingredients
1/3 cup dry mustard powder
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup sweet pickle juice
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar 3 tablespoons wild garlic mustard seed
Directions
In a small, microwave-proof bowl whisk together the dry mustard, brown sugar, salt, turmeric, paprika and garlic powder. In a separate container, combine the pickle juice, water and cider vinegar and have standing by. Place the mustard seed into a spice grinder and grind for a minimum of 1 minute, stopping to pulse occasionally. **I don’t have a spice grinder, so I use a mortar and pestal, since the seeds are so small this works fine. ** Once ground, immediately add the mustard to the bowl with the dry ingredients and add the liquid mixture. Whisk to combine. Place the bowl into the microwave and heat on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and puree with a stick blender for 1 minute. Pour into a glass jar or container and allow to cool uncovered. Once cool, cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
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I also use the ground wild mustard seed in a seasoning blend that I’m fond of. I got the original recipe here:
Spice Blend
1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon ground pink sea salt (or any sea salt)
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons dill seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons wild garlic mustard seeds 1 1/2 teaspoons dried chopped
garlic 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
Grind the garlic mustard seeds in a mortar and pestle, then add the celery seeds, thyme and dill seeds and grind them with the garlic mustard powder until just broken. Stir into other ingredients. Or put everything in a powerful blender for a while, until it is as powdery as you want it. Stores for months in a dry place.
Even if you don’t have your own woods to gather garlic mustard seeds, there may be a forest preserve near you that would be thrilled to have you gather seeds. Just ask!
This is a good way to reduce an invasive species and get a nice, wild bite to eat at the same time. Wild garlic mustard or a spice blend in a cute jar makes a nice gift- no garden needed!