White Christmas in Carolina!

A day late ... but who's complaining?

We woke up this morning to a thick blanket of perfectly beautiful snow ... six inches of the frozen stuff!  The entire family went out for a walk in the winter wonderland.  We wandered about the property, then crossed the road to enjoy more woodsy traipsing.  This is the view looking out toward the garden.

Icy transformation.  Even the dried-up bean plants look beautiful!
The snow adds an extra layer of insulation to the covered beds.

The deer and chicken fencing and the cable for the dog run is frosted.
With minimal wind, the snow piled up on every surface and edge.

Happy Holiday Eats from the Garden

The garden is quite sparse.  Even the hardiest greens were burnt by the frigid cold we experienced in early December.  Now is the time to open the pantry and the freezer with appreciation for all that has been put away there.

When the garden was overflowing with berries and figs, tomatoes and peppers, beets and greens, peas and okra, squash and 'taters ... we were eating our fill.  But the garden was generous.  We shared the excess with family and friends.  Still there was more.  Time to take to the hot kitchen - chopping and slicing, spicing and stirring, roasting and blanching - preserving all that goodness for a later date. That later date is now!  The holidays provide ample opportunity to break out the goodies.  As we mark the shortest days in the darkest time of the year, we savor the tastes of summer.

Our holiday meals are enhanced with the many pickles and preserves that had their start in my garden.  Last night, spiced fig pickles and the last of the sweet refrigerator cucumber pickles accompanied our Christmas Eve feast.

Alas ... no Figgy Pudding!

It was the year of the fig in this year's garden.  But what to do with all those figs?  Preserve them, package them up nice and pretty, and deliver them to friends at Christmas time!  The Wilson fig sampler included Fig Chutney, Fig Jam, and loaves of Fig Preserves Cake.  In addition to the joy of sharing the fig bounty, I'll have the satisfaction of serving these treats at my table during the holiday season.  Y'all stop by!

Fig Chutney

• Spoon over a block of cream cheese or goat cheese or brie and serve with crackers for a quick appetizer.
• Serve on the side to accompany assorted curry dishes, or with cold meats – much the same way you’d use pickles or herb jellies.
• Mix into a mild vinaigrette for an enhanced salad dressing or marinade for meat.
• Mix into mayonnaise and serve on a sandwich.

Fig Jam

Delicious on hot biscuits, pancakes and waffles, toast, bread and butter, or any other way you’d enjoy fruit jams.  Or try the recipe below.

Fig Preserves Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 ½ cups sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup (1 half-pint jar) fig preserves (chop up the figs)

½ cup chopped pecans

·        Combine flour, cornstarch, soda, salt, and spices; set aside.

·        Combine eggs, oil, buttermilk, sugar, and vanilla; beat until smooth.  Stir in flour mixture, fig preserves, and pecans.  Pour batter into a well-greased 13- x 9- x 2-inch baking pan.

·        Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Good as is, or topped with sweetened whipped cream, or sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

According to temperatures recorded at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, this is the coldest December on record in North Carolina. The average temperature was 33 degrees through the first half of the month, which is nearly 12 degrees below normal for this time of year. And some days were bitterly cold, with temperatures falling into the single digits / lower teens - struggling to warm to above freezing by mid-afternoon.  The driving force behind all this cold weather?  An unusually strong and persistent low pressure system over Greenland and Nova Scotia which has been locked into place, driving Arctic air south across much of the country.


The second coldest year on record occurred before I was born ... back in 1958!


To put this recent cold snap into perspective, average temps in NC have been more in line with those usually experienced in Maine in early December.  Oh yeah ... this is going to mess with the garden.

Garden Under Cover

I planted my fall crops right on time this year, but the heat and drought of late summer, not to mention the aphids and the rascally rabbits, took their toll.  I managed to get several cuttings of kale before the bugs took over, and I'm still cutting the surviving arugula, mustard, and turnip greens from the uncovered beds seen here.  I replanted everything late in the season and applied lightweight row covers.  Recent windstorms have threatened to blow that cover, but so far, everything remains intact.

Delicious varieties of lettuce, spinach, kale, and other greens are thriving under cover.  I have lettuce that's ready to cut ... so fresh tasting!  What a treat in the middle of winter.  I'm considering extra protection - plastic - for the tender lettuce as winter comes on full force.  On the other hand, a good portion of last fall's lettuce survived the winter with NO row cover at all!  Will the beets, radishes, and carrots currently under cover produce roots early next spring?

Just look at these healthy cruciferous plants!  Last spring I had my best cabbage crop ever from plants that wintered over (with no cover), then successfully headed up.  I was able to harvest big, solid, juicy heads of cabbage before the pesky cabbage worms appeared on the scene.  Is it possible the broccoli might winter over for a similar head-start next spring?  I guess it all depends on what Mother Nature has in mind this season. Check out the tender baby collards ... they're ready to cut ... and the snowflakes in my hair.  It's started snowing about half an hour ago!