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Video Tour: Doting Over the Daffodils

Tom
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Video Tour: Doting Over the Daffodils

Daffodils: Spring’s Brightest Garden Performers

 

Click on the image above to start the tour.

Spring Stroll Through the Daffodils

I wanted to mark the first day of spring by sharing a brief turn through a bit of the garden, and perusing some of the first bloomers of the season:  daffodils. And besides, gramps here needed a break from his hoop house construction project. These little floral bright spots put a smile on my face, and bring out the optimistic in me even on dour days.  The hoop house update will follow shortly with photos and my full editorial, that is once my muscles and joints return to being fully functional and pain free.

crocus blooms in spring, daffodils nextCrocus looking up and spreading the joy.

Related Posts 

Tom’s Glasses: The Never-Ending Story

Tom
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tape glasses for tomFresh tape applied, counting to ten…

My Kingdom for a Pair of Glasses!

In our last episode of Tom’s Broken Glasses (yes, they are taking on a life all their own), I spared myself the expense of  new four to five-hundred dollar glasses by doing a little home repair–plastic glue to the rescue!

Yesterday, something happened, something cruelly precise and painful in its delivery–delivery by a mischievous universe and faulty glue job. The day began with lumbering low clouds, the kind that portend a Pacific storm. In from the southwest, the skies will scour the seas of the South Pacific and wrangle all the moisture they can, only to force every droplet into an atmospheric fire hose that deluges the Pacific Northwest with the accuracy of a meteorological bullseye. Around here, we call it the Pineapple Express, a gift from Hawaii that keeps on giving. (Mahalo.)

My hardworking pals Rick and Tamara, and I ignored the forecast and the clouds, and settled into the methodical and labor-intensive task of building  a steel framed hoop house. Think ginormous steel whale skeleton.

The rain came with a vengeance, producing a chilly pelting that soaked us to the bones. I seemed to think a cotton sweatshirt could repel nature’s torrent. Bent over, water dripping drip off the brim of my cap, glasses steaming up and rendered useless, I began to fantasize about a trust fund and condo in the city. At that moment, as I pushed my glasses back up my nose, the right lens popped out. In a lifetime movie moment and definitely in slow motion, I watched it spin and spin and spin and pop right into the rabbit hole that was between the foundation bow pole and the compacted earth.  If this had been a carnival ring toss, I would have won a car. While I was not proud of the stream of words that followed, I did apologize to all ears present.

tom tamara rick hoophouse Before the big dig and rain: celebrating the installation of the steel bows.

Rick suggested we use a post hole digger to make a new parallel hole next to the pole, remove the hoop  and go in from the side, much like the successful freeing of the Chilean miners. Tamara, a woman who never met an improvised tool she didn’t like, suggested we remove the hoop, and she could get salad tongs or thin slat of wood to bring up the lens.  For me, all plans were on the table. (Did I mention that I have no back up glasses?) Tamara returned with a wooden crepe spatula (a really nice French oak crepe spatula) and stainless steel salad tongs. While Rick dug a post hole, I held up one steel pole so we could see down the hole with a flashlight. Extricating the pole and keeping it vertical was quite a challenge in itself.

hoophouse hole and poleBad mix: the hole,  the pole, and a loose lens. 

We could see the lens about 18 inches down, but when we removed the pole, it fell to the bottom of the hole along with copious amounts of clay, hard-pan and gravel. Tamara got an “A” for effort and persistence, but the kitchen utensil plan came up short due to the new depth and a hole too small for any adult hand. Rick bored down to about 30 inches and then he broke through to the hole on the other side, but alas, no lens. More digging, more grunting, more rain-soaked sweatshirt, more gratitude for friends who would even have stayed around during this personal excavation. At last we found it, the lens that acted more like a razor clam, slipping deeper down the more we tried to dig it out.

A little Dawn detergent and warm water later, the lens was placed back in the cracked frame and secured with painters tape–a look becoming my current sartorial status.  Unfortunately, the lens was pretty scratched. Back to work we went, remarking that the rain was as relentless as our determination to find my lens.

What next for Tom’s Broken Glasses? Who knows, but for now blue painter’s tape is part of my eye-wear standard, one that will keep me seeing clearly enough to finish my hoophouse.  Stay tuned for (hopefully) the final installment of my eyewear mini-series.

toms repaired glassesOne day later: Happiness is a dry spell, helpful friends, seeing clearly and not giving a hoot about a big wad of painters tape on your glasses. Who knows I could be starting a fashion trend on Vashon.  😉

Same price, but certainly not equal

And just one last thing since the cost of eyewear has my attention and my ire, I thought I’d list a few things that cost about the same as eye glasses, a simple hinged 2-ounce piece of plastic with plastic optical lenses. For the same amount you can buy the following:
 

Favorite Pie Recipes: The Life of Pie

Tom
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Favorite Pie Recipes: The Life of Pie

Favorite pie recipes near and dear to my heart …and tastebuds

Pie Collage blog for favorite pie recipes

I know, I know; it’s national Pi day, not Pie day.  And while I feign to understand the mystery of 3.14159265359 and its importance to the world in which we live, I have no trouble understanding the importance of P-I-E to the world in which I live.  Pie is simply my favorite dessert, especially when crowned with a dollop of ice cream (where applicable).

Tom's Homemade Pie "Quilt"
Tom’s Homemade Pie “Quilt”

So in honor of the Pi most of us don’t understand, I will offer up a tribute to the pie we do understand: my favorite crust filled recipes–both pie and pie-like.  Oh and my apologies for posting two days after Pi day, but warm, dry weather waits for no one in the Pacific Northwest so I was outside working in the orchard and on my latest project, a high tunnel hoophouse.

Favorite Pie Recipes from the Tall Clover Farm Kitchen

Bon Apetit, pie-lovin’ friends! I hope one of my favorite pie recipes becomes one of yours. It’s all about trial and error, so keep up the good fight for crisp crust and thick filling and happiness by the slice.

Now back to my outdoor project: my new greenhouse. And since my greenhouse isn’t going to build itself, I’m headed out to the garden.  Here are a couple fine links to acquaint you with high tunnels and their function in extending the growing season. (I’ll post photos and laments of achy body parts and bad backs, later.)

Eyewear for Tommy: Survey Says…

Tom
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Eyewear for Tommy: Survey Says…

five pair warby parker

Survey Says…They all look alike.

In the last installment of Five Frames, One Face, One Vote , the people spoke. And while the favored frame was Zaag (far right photo), no one seem really thrilled about the  plastic placeholders I modeled all too eagerly. Your honesty was refreshing (if not jarring), but I’m a big boy; I can take it.  In the end, most folks liked my current frames, the ones with the wad of gorilla glue at the bridge.

I did learn that Warby Parker eyewear as handsome and as well-made as it is, does not offer the option of progressive lenses. For you young whippersnappers, were talking bifocals here.  Then, I heard a voice, well actually two voices. The first one pined, “Cinnamon roll, you need a cinnamon roll.”  And then, seconds later I heard the earnest inquiry, “Hey, why don’t you just fix your old glasses?”

repairing broken eyewearI always listen to my inner voice(s), and yes the cinnamon roll was delicious. I was off to our island True Value to seek help from the resident sages of hardware wisdom. After a close inspection of my glasses by an impromptu handyman conclave, consensus was reached. Apparently not all super glues and epoxies are alike, especially where plastic is concerned. I was told acetate glasses needed a glue formulated to hold plastics, and so I made my purchase; one tube of Plastic Surgery, please.

repair eyeglasses glueIn my junk drawer (actually they’re all junk drawers) I found some old plastic toothpicks and used them to apply light dabs of glue between lens and frame. Trying to keep the glue off the lenses was the biggest challenge along with pressing the frame together for the allotted drying time. Minutes later, frame and face were reunited.

Tom Lafont glasses repaired

I can see clearly now and it cost me all of $2.99.

Plastic Surgery worked beautifully and everything old is new again. I can see, I can see! Oh and for those who ventured off the track and shared their impressions of my foray into facial hair (i.e. lose the beard), I shall take your insightful opinions under consideration. In the meantime, I did trim my beard. It’s a start.

And again, thanks for your help everyone; survey says…you’re AWESOME!

Fruit Tree Nurseries

Tom
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Fruit Tree Nurseries

My growing list of Fruit Tree Nurseries

gardening links banner for fruit tree nurseries

I get a lot of questions from readers about where to buy fruit trees and berries, so I’ll be adding a series of link pages to the top menu bar, under uh, “Links.” (I’m such a clever fellow.) Fruit Tree Nurseries is the first one to be added as it’s the perfect time of year to order bare-root fruit trees. Dormancy allows for lower shipping costs (no soil to ship) and a greater choice of fruit tree varieties. Check out the links below and if you have some you’d like to recommend, leave a comment and I’ll add the nursery to the list.  Happy Growing!

fruit tree nurseries bringing home the fruit
Boz loves fruit, too!

Fruit Tree Nurseries

* denotes fruit tree nurseries where I have purchased plant stock (and also been a happy customer).

Garden Help
  • Garden Watch Dog | Great gardener feedback, a site providing customer reviews of recent purchases from online nurseries and other garden retailers.
  • Plant Scout | An amazingly helpful link because it allows you to search for a plant by its common or botanical name and share what other gardeners have to say about it. Even better, the search returns nursery sources for the plant, and reviews of the nursery.
Tall Clover Farm | Posts about growing fruit

Warby Parker: Five Frames, One Face, One Vote

Tom
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Warby Parker: Five Frames, One Face, One Vote
broken eyewear Tom
2012: Before Warby Parker…Cracked plastic, broken glass and one unhappy camper.

Just last year, the plastic frames of my relatively new glasses cracked, sending the lens along with my spirits to the sidewalk below. Both fractured upon impact.  For three weeks I wore my back-up glasses, a woefully geeky pair of over-sized frames with scratched lenses that would have made even Steve Urkel balk. I finally received my replacement pair and life went on.

Tom in glued glasses
2013: Smile intact, but frame and lens held together by a prayer and gorilla glue.

What’s a Warby Parker?

One year later, the replacement glasses snapped in two in the very same spot, but this time I caught the lens before it hit the ground. Since most new prescription eyewear costs about the same as a mini cooper, what’s a man on a budget to do? After an evening of surfing the possibilities, I narrowed down my search to Warby Parker, a curiously-named company that offers cool glasses for a nice price ($95), and also donates one pair of glasses for every pair you buy. In addition, they’ll send you five pairs of frames to try on before you decide which is your numero uno spectacle.

So help a guy out, which amazingly similar frame do you like? Vote below.

Continue

Sticks and Stones Have Found a Home

Tom
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Sticks and Stones Have Found a Home

Sticks and stones never looked so good.Stick Stones Large pot

Sticks and Stones may break my bones, and render my lawnmower useless. Not quite the child’s rhyme, but with soil that heaves up glacial rubble and trees that sneeze sticks, I’m constantly dodging the byproducts of Mother Nature’s whimsies, and as a result working on ways to dispose of or sequester them. My solution: sticks in jar with a little functional garden art on the side.

chopped firewood and tree stumpDrink needed: Boz delights in having 42 new things to lift his leg on.

It all began when I cut down a rogue fir tree in my orchard. After lowering the stump height and removing the firewood, I was still left with some troublesome obstacles. My orchard was the North Atlantic, my riding mower the Titanic, and the stump and surface roots my not-so-hidden icebergs. I wanted to find a way to avert mower disaster.

This is what I did:

  1. Placed a large garden pot on the stump.
  2. Leveled it with shims underneath its base.
  3. Filled the bottom third of the pot with stones for stability.
  4. Added large branches and sapling sticks to the jar.
  5. Collected yard stones and piled them around the stump.
  6. Stepped back and admired my handy work.

Here’s why I did it.

  1. I now have a centralized supply of garden stakes.
  2. I also have a place to store rocks that I remove from the yard (and ready for countless other DIY projects).
  3. Few stones in the yard means fewer mower mishaps.
  4. It looks nice.
  5. It hides a stump.
  6. If visiting kids are bored, I offer them a nickel per rock. (This does not work after the age of 10.)
  7. It’s a good use of a cracked pot that couldn’t hold soil and plants.
  8. And it keeps my neighbors talking. 😉

windblown pot tipped overOh yes and a word of caution: make sure you put enough stones in the pot for ballast, as the first strong wind will treat the branches like a sail and show you who’s boss.

stone garden pathStay tuned for little tutorial on how to build a stone path. Yep, rocks are my most productive crop. I fear I have more rocks than projects in which to utilize them (for now).

Giving Winter the Cold Shoulder

Tom
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Giving Winter the Cold Shoulder

spring flowers snowdrops in the garden

The first sign of spring has emboldened me to tell winter not to get too cozy; your days are numbered. For weeks, she’s plopped her moody self outside my window and ignored my request to keep her distance. But just yesterday, as I was avoiding her contagious cough of cabin fever, I discovered snowdrops and crocuses peering up through the dried leaves of last autumn. The petaled harbingers of spring were signaling the final days of her reign and telling me to keep the faith.

crocus spring flowers

The last couple weeks have been tough as witnessed in my slovenly attitude toward daily maintenance. Failure to shave is the first sign; it’s my canary in the coal mine. When my thinning head of hair becomes an uncombed fright wig, and my favorite sweater and jeans garner uniform status, I know I’m in trouble.

Stacks of seed catalogs litter any and every surface–dogeared, creased  and doodled on for days. Dirty clothes have infiltrated my clean laundry, the new layer mocking me for my propensity to pile not fold. The dishwasher has become a plate and cutlery storage unit while blackberry brambles slowly tangle my garden like rhizomatic rebar. Boz and Gracie seem to be immune, paying little attention to anything other than treats and wood-stove proximity.

That is about to change. I’m ready for spring. I ready for an attitude change. I ready to get a move-on. And in honoring my escape from cerebral and physical hibernation, and in extending my hand to winter (no hard feelings), I offer up my gallery of goodbyes, a few highlights that got me through the dark days of winter.

bulldog and coconut cakeWhile I celebrated a birthday, Boz celebrated the possibility of toppled tables and coconut cake crumbs.

Pierre Fauvet Darigold pastryAs a guest of Darigold, I embraced a delicious day of pastry demonstrations from chef Pierre Fauvet. Recipes to follow. (The goodie box never made it back to the island.)

German Chocolate Cake in the mail Wrapped in parchment paper, protected by real popcorn, a surprise from-scratch German Chocolate Birthday Cake arrived in the mail from my amazingly considerate mother (Decadent, and not a crumb out of place).
 Vashon Island Inn Tour PizzaSponsored by the Vashon Chamber of Commerce, I enjoyed a tour of the island’s guest house rentals, along with a couple wedge’s of Vashon’s best pizza. (photos: La Biondo Pizza, wheelbarrows for walk-in residents, Sylvan Beach, and Point Robinson Lighthouse quarters (for rent).Tall Clover Farm on a foggy dayTen days of fog made me appreciate our normal rain patterns.bathroom facelift
Bathroom facelift: I suspect my wall color choice of “Mayan Gold” came to me after ten days of low light and fog. Plus, I may have been appeasing a few Mayan gods just in case their calendar was right.  😉

What’s up for spring? I’m building a greenhouse, a large high tunnel hoop to extend my growing season. And I will surely share the progress (and no doubt a foible or two) as this will be a whole new learning curve for me. Should be educational and comical at the same time. Ah, spring is just around the corner. Can you give me an “Amen!”

Jeanette’s Best Easy Apple Pie Recipe

Tom
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Jeanette’s Best Easy Apple Pie Recipe

Truly, the best easy apple pie recipe in my dessert dossier.

apple pie by the sliceJeanette’s Apple Pie: I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and have).

As cooks and diners, we all have our favorite recipes. Whether tucked, folded, boxed or ring-bound, our culinary keepsakes tell a story about us from the company we keep to the good times we enjoy. One such recipe for me is a delicious apple pie–a go-to dessert that garners rave reviews and makes old men weep. (Well, it was actually more of a sob.) And if that isn’t enough, the pie is a cinch to make. No mixing conundrums, no dough deliberations, no runny messes in a pan; this is the perfect pie recipe for the beginner and chef alike.

apple pie Jeanettes recipe

THE apple pie recipe –worn, torn, stained, and well-loved. 

The recipe comes from my friend Jeanette, former restaurateur, and unwavering devotee of all things delicious. Her culinary talents have left me speechless (even without my mouth full).  We may live on opposite sides of Puget Sound now, but when I make this pie, Jeanette is surely in my kitchen as she is in my heart.

apple pie making collage

The foolproof oil dough requires no rolling or fussing over. Simply press (or smush as I like to say) the damp crumbly dough into the pie plate. Start with the sides, working your way down to the bottom of pie plate.

Apples ready for the pie

On to the apple pie filling!

best easy apple pie recipe for filling mix and assembly

The filling is as easy to make as the crust. Core and slice the apples (sometimes I peel them, sometimes I don’t). Mix the apples with the remaining dry ingredients, and pop the apples in the pie plate.  Top apples with the reserved pie dough crumble and bake.

Jeanette's best easy apple pie recipeJuicy filling say hello to crispy crust.

Jeanette’s Best Easy Apple Pie

Print recipe
Jeanette’s Best Easy Apple Pie
Serves 8-12
Prep time 30 minutes
Cook time 50 minutes
Total time 1 hours, 20 minutes
The Dutch style apple pie is so delicious, considering how easy it is to make. The crumbly oil crust is basically foolproof.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 heaped teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 2/3 cups vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 6-7 Medium apples (mix it up, e.g. Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and Jonagold)
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 cup butter

Directions

Dough
Step 1
Mix first three dry ingredients: flour, sugar salt
Step 2
Add vegetable oil and milk to dry mixture. Work together until mixture resembles damp coarse sand or tiny pebbles. Reserve one cup of mixture for the top crust.
Step 3
Place remaining dough mixture into pie plate and press to form crust on the sides first, then do the same to form bottom crust. Fill any holes with crumbs and press firmly.
Apple Filling
Step 4
Core, peel apples and slice in to hearty chunks or slices. Mix apples with remaining dry ingredients: flour, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mound apples in the dough-lined pie plate. No need to press down apples; the crumb topping will fill up the gaps. Dot with butter
Pie Assembly
Step 5
Add the reserved pie crumble (crust) to top the pie. Add one tablespoon at a time covering pie evenly. Bake at 400 degrees F for 50 minutes, apple filling will bubble.
Powered by GetMeCooking

apple pie and BozI won’t flatter myself. Boz’s visit to the dinner table had nothing to do with the company; it was all about the pie.

Storage Solutions: My Mom’s Bright (and Admittedly Good) Idea

Tom
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Storage Solutions: My Mom’s Bright (and Admittedly Good) Idea

Storage Solutions and How to let the sunshine in on a window shelfcanning jars a jumbleMy mother is not one to sit idly by. After her last visit to my house, she pretty much had me and the place shipshape in a matter of days. When she asked, “What should we do next?” I offered, “Take a nap?”

canning jars kitchen pantryI could see the wheels turning, a suggestion was about to be set free for consideration, “Tom, you know your pantry?”

I was glad to see she didn’t shame me, by adding, “You know, the one I had totally organized and spiffed up for you on my last visit.” (Though I felt it may have been implied.)

canning shelves pantry window“Um, hmmm, ” I replied, “What are you thinking?”

“Well, you know how all of your empty canning jars take up so much storage space? You could build shelves in the pantry window and store them there. ”

canning shelves DIYOf course, this was a brilliant idea; the jars would be out of the way, but accessible, and the empty glass would allow light to still stream into the small space.

canning shelf wall bracketI was game (since the nap option was not on the table) and began by clearing a path to the window. I started by placing two quart jars on the windowsill, bridging each with a scrap of fir board, and leveling with shims. From there, I marked the ‘wall’ at the top of the temporary shelf on the left and right side, removed the shelf board, and inscribed a line at the mark, from back to front using a level and a pencil. I pre-drilled holes for two screws (to avoid splitting the wood) and  secured the quarter-round under the said line to act as a bracket for the finished shelf.

canning shelves DIY closeupI then measured the width of the window above each quarter-round bracket. (This is an old house and no two measurements are the same). A few quick cuts on the chop saw, pop the shelf into place, and let the sun shine in.

storage solutions - canning shelves DIY jarsAfter the first shelf was in, I placed the next two appropriate jar bookends atop it, measured again, and repeated the process. Four cuts and fives shelves later, organization was restored and daylight plentiful. Spacing between shelves was determined by preferred jar size.

Final count: 2 shelves for quarts jars, 2 shelves for pint jars, and one shelf for pints and smaller.

zen of picklesZen of canning: May the force (time and temperature) be with you.

Now, every time I open the pantry door I’m reminded of my Mom’s truly bright idea (and not tripping over canning jars). Thanks Mom! I’ve rested up a bit now; what shall we tackle on your next visit? (Oh and Mom, as a reminder, Washington State law requires two 15-minute breaks per every eight hours of work.)

PS- a special thanks to Shelby for the lovely note and packet of seeds.

PSS — and I promise, the Crumble Apple Pie recipe is coming shortly.

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