Category Archives: Hobbies

Work Outside Wednesday

Posted on October 10, 2012 by AnnieRie

Turns out that today was one of those lovely days. Warm, sunny. Perfect day to plant garlic. Half of it went into flower pots on the deck. The upper pots had flowers. The two lower ones were mint, which will stay there since mint is a perennial (or weed, depending on your perspective).

container garlic

I planted 12 cloves in the pots, and then moved over to a south facing area in the flower beds. Since garlic will be done by early June, I can leave it there and put something else in the ground once the garlic is harvested.

Another 12 cloves here. With the potential for 24 head of garlic next spring, we will be set, including those lovely scapes that I use for pesto.

I noticed that we have killer puffball mushrooms on the lawn, and something is definitely chowing down on them. Don’t know if they are edible or not. Whatever is eating them keeps coming back, as every day they are chewed down. But then, we do have a fair number of turkey vultures wandering around. Maybe whatever ate the mushrooms is in our field.

puffball mushrooms

The marigolds won’t quit. There is one bush that keeps getting larger and pumping out more plants.

marigolds

The lavender is still awesome, as is the rosemary. The thyme continues to grow. I cross my fingers and let them get bigger, waiting for that perfect moment to harvest and dry.

Tomorrow is CSA day, but it also will be work day two this week, as we really need to tackle the power washing of our garage doors. They are getting quite a bit of wear, and they need a good fall cleaning.

At least while working outside we are graced with the explosion of yellow mums. It is interesting though, the orange ones that were also out front, seem to have disappeared. These are great, though.

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Retiring “To” Something

Posted on October 9, 2012 by AnnieRie

Great Advice. We heard it twice last weekend. Once at the wedding, and again, while talking at the dinner at RdV. My uncle was talking to someone who was considering retirement. His first advice. Don’t retire in the winter unless you have something lined up and ready for you to do. And, I don’t consider digging out of Snowpocalypse a highlight of retirement.

blizzards 2010

Even if you retired like I did, in spring. Or summer. When there is an overload of things to do outside. Or even now, in October, while we are still activity-driven for weeks until the weather changes and days get shorter. My first winter was easy, because I did the HoLLIE training twice a week. Spring naturalist training, as well. With HoLLIE gearing up, the info program tonight at Miller Library 7 pm is a good place to hear about opportunities for active Howard Countians, who are retired or thinking about it.

Moving from a circle of work friends to that new circle of fellow volunteers, or hobby sharers. Finding people with like interests is difficult for many of us. Especially when we worked in DC or Baltimore. I found that after 18 months, even if I got together with old working buddies, we had no bond to keep the conversations going. So many changes in their offices. I knew few names, and finally knew we had to build our retirement circle.

Now, filling my hours with fellow naturalists, gardeners, wine lovers and the amateur radio community, oh yeah, almost forgot, the bird club and my fellow bloggers, I hardly have time to think.

Somewhere in there, we do get housework and yard work done, and a few home improvement projects. Traveling not as much, but we did way too much of that for our jobs. It is actually nice to stay home for a while and see the local world. And, make a difference.

nature photo program for families at Conservancy

Whether it is leading programs for families. Leading hikes for the schools. Cleaning up the streams that feed the Patapsco. Working on the watershed programs. Caring for the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area. Or any of the other activities my fellow retirees are doing, the satisfaction of a job well done keeps us feeling that we matter.

One recent example this past year. Greenfest was filled with countians who focused on their interests while having a great time.

Greenfest at the Community College

I love the work the Master Gardeners have done, creating different historical garden plots at the Conservancy.

And, all the volunteers who organize and support Earth Day. Besides the Day itself, volunteers spend hours planning and preparing materials for events.

Earth Day supplies

Many times in conversations, at clubs, or at events, we hear how shorthanded the nonprofits, and the service organizations have become. I have heard that the numbers of people who stay retired is smaller. Many go back to work due to those long term effects of a slow economy. Others, who now are supporting elderly parents, have limited free time. If you have retired, or are thinking about it, take time to consider where you might find your calling. Your thing. What makes you smile, and feel good at the end of the day.

HoLLIE 2012 class heading out for a hike at Sharps

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Beaucoup Precipitation

Posted on October 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

In other words. Lots of rain. Good soaking rain. The kind that pushes us towards a normal year where we don’t have to worry about the well going dry. I am a weather junkie. I love our local weather site, at RIMPO, here in Dayton. As I write, it is telling me we got 1.67 inches of rain today. My gardens love it. Particularly, the mums.

And. the herb gardens, which still have rosemary and thyme on steroids. I will be pushing the limit before harvesting the rosemary to hang and dry. I don’t want to harvest the thyme, as I do like it fresh, and creative wind barriers will keep it going even if we get a few frosts in the next two months. These perennials come back every spring, unless a blizzard buries them.

rosemary

English and silver thyme

The burning bushes have berries, and they are beginning to turn to that brilliant red.

burning bush

The marigolds are hanging in there. The sedum is also blooming out front.

The morning glories are giving up. They are putting out humongous amounts of seed pods, but the last blooms are fading fast. These plants are my best source to attract bees to the garden to pollinate my veggies. Even though they become a huge nuisance because they grow out of control, they do screen the garden and keep the honey bees and the bumblebees happy.

All in all, it was a fairly good summer in my gardens. The herbs went wild. The tomatoes did well, as did the cucumbers. I am about to plant 24 cloves of garlic this week, so next year I should get scapes, spring garlic and garlic to cure. This year I was too late and only got spring garlic. The cloves are ready to go in pots, and in the edge of the herb garden.

Here’s to rainy days, that nourish our gardens. And make our trees grow.

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Makin’ Bakin’

Posted on August 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

No, not bacon, baking. Well, one of the items did include bacon but mostly I was baking breads. The ratatouille pie, which I will talk about later, had bacon in it.

Ratatouille Pie with Mozzarella and Bacon

When I retired, my list of things to do the first year included “bake more” and “bake breads”. Besides Christmas cookies, I didn’t bake much. Didn’t have the time.

Now, I sort of have the time, although like many friends, retirement has found us busier than we ever expected. I do like to use my CSA items to bake, though, like zucchini and rhubarb, but not together. Over the weekend, I made zucchini cornbread.

Zucchini Cornbread

The recipe is courtesy of the browneyedbaker blog. And, no, I didn’t remember to cut three rings to put on top. And, yes, it contains sugar, but this is a zucchini bread made with cornmeal. If you do visit browneyedbaker’s site, you will see her classic cornbread link does not contain sugar (so all my Southern friends can stop beating me up for putting sugar in cornbread). 😉

Don’t even get me started on the white cornmeal versus yellow cornmeal battle. Really. There are some strong opinions about making cornbread. For the record, when I do make it in the cast iron skillet to go with chili, I do not use sugar, but I do use whatever cornmeal I happen to have.

After making this really nice moist zucchini bread that we have been eating with lunches, or having for breakfast this week, I got an email from another blog I follow, Diary of a Locavore, who made ratatouille pie last week. The before shot is at the top of the page, and the dinner shot is here. We ended up devouring the entire pie, it was so good, so never put anything else with it. Looking at the ingredient list, it turns out we each had about three strips of bacon, 2 eggs, a cup of ratatouille and an ounce of mozzarella.

7 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cups ratatouille
1/4 cup grated mozzarella
1 bottom pie crust, partially baked
4 eggs
1-2 tablespoons milk
1-2 tablespoons flour

If you don’t want to go to the link for this one, the assembly is simple. Partially bake a pie crust. I did use a premade pie crust, since as you will see later, I was also baking bread again. I had cooked up a pound of TLV bacon earlier to use in dressings, this recipe and for a pizza this weekend. I had leftover ratatouille. Put bacon in crust. Add ratatouille. Sprinkle mozzarella. Mix eggs, milk and flour to a creamy quiche-like consistency. Pour carefully on top. Bake at 350 or 375 depending on your oven. My convention bake setting cooks quicker and does better at 25 degrees less than a recipe calls for setting. My pie was done in about 30 minutes. For a regular oven setting, use 375 degrees and bake for 40 minutes, until the top browns and you can see that all the egg mixture has set.

Tuesday I also decided to use the CSA rhubarb and make rhubarb bread. I wandered around in this rhubarb recipe site, getting ideas. I ended up using most of the second recipe, but added cinnamon and substituted almond extract since I can’t find my vanilla extract bottle.

Ingredients:
Bread. Mix sugar and oil first. Add egg and buttermilk and whisk. Add salt, cinnamon, baking soda and extract. Gradually blend in flour and then add rhubarb and nuts. Fold together. Pour in pans and add butter/sugar crumble mixture on top.

1 1/2 C brown sugar, packed
2/3 C oil (I used grapeseed)
1 egg
1 C buttermilk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 C flour King Arthur unbleached bread flour
2 C diced rhubarb
1/2 C chopped walnuts

Topping:
1 Tbl soft butter
1/4 C granulated sugar

Baked at 350 degrees in two loaf pans. The recipe calls for 4 by 8 inch, but I used what I had.

Rhubarb Nut Cinnamon Bread

The whole house smelled of cinnamon. This is a tangy dessert bread. I will be making this one again.

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Patience is a Virtue

Posted on August 10, 2012 by AnnieRie

Have patience and be rewarded with great old wines, like this one.

100% Hardscrabble blend of Cab Franc, CS, Petit Verdot and Merlot

A blend of 44% Cabernet Franc, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Petit Verdot and 11% Merlot. Cellared for at least ten years. Opened for our anniversary last night. We like opening old wines for anniversary dinners. Being patient enough to leave them alone until they have reached that stage of softness, yet lush enough to make you understand why you buy good wine to cellar.

Perfect with lamb chops.

Anniversary dinner

I pan fried the loin and rib chops with garlic, onion, salt pepper and rosemary. Parboiled some CSA potatoes. Made a Jamie Oliver mothership tomato salad with my tomatoes and basil from the garden.

Mixed heirloom salad with African blue basil

I picked up a six pack of Smith Island Cake Pops to savor with the last of the wine. Red wine and dark chocolate is a perfect match.

I enjoy making a fairly simple dinner for anniversaries and opening an old wine from the cellar. This wine did not disappoint. It was hardly showing its age. No brown edges. No off scents on the nose. Deep, rich, complementing the lamb. What is so interesting about these wines, even with the predominance of franc in them, is the absence of bell pepper usually found in VA francs. This wine has cherry and smoky scents, and a long lingering finish.

I am not sure what went best with it. The lamb or the chocolate. Very interesting experience. Glad I still have two bottles in the cellar, to see how they change. If you have never considered cellaring wine, you might.

It is a hobby that gives so much pleasure with less expense than dining out and paying large markups for wine with dinner. Our strategy was to invest in a case from winery visits over the years. Most of the case would be inexpensive whites to drink in the near term, and a few bottles of good wine to cellar. We would put away the good ones and keep them for anniversaries and birthdays. You have to have patience to do this. We didn’t build a fancy cellar with wooden racks. We made them with kits from Conran.

Now, we are rewarded with exceptional wines for special occasions.

Like being married for 32 years.

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Tonight We Fiddle, Saturday We Farm, Later We Look for Fairy Houses

Posted on July 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

My volunteering schedule is pretty full this week. We held a planning meeting Wednesday for upcoming events at the Conservancy, and this is the busy part of the summer.

Fiddlers and Fireflies, a picnic with music and crafts, is tonight starting at 6 PM. It costs $10/car, and the music is great. Bring a blanket, chairs and a picnic dinner. The event is held in the lower front yard, where the sisters had their garden.

This Saturday, the 14th, there will be one of the monthly Wonder Walks, that focuses on living and farming on the 230+ acre property. We will be leading groups down and around the buildings and talking about what it was like to live here from the early 1800s until the time that the sisters gave the property to the Conservancy.

Naturalists will be leading groups. The event starts at 10 am, and is no cost. I will be leading a group and we will be visiting the out buildings, the barns, the gardens, and take a walk down to the grasslands to see how the farmers used their land to the best advantage to grow crops and keep their farm animals.

A little farther out this month there will be another special event. Looking for Fairy Houses in the forest. It is on the 28th of July. Another free Wonder Walk that is geared towards the little ones, ages 4-10.

It looks like there’s lots to do around here, and I am certainly not bored in my retirement.

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W3AO, It’s All About Logistics

Posted on June 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

After sleeping almost twelve hours, we sort of feel like human beings again. One of the most important aspects of planning and executing an event of the size of Field Day is this. You can always improve your performance with advance planning and, when operating almost non-stop for 50-60 hours, you need to pace yourself and not overheat, dehydrate or work when you are exhausted.

There were many new helpers and many more people at Field Day this year. Lots of younger people, thankfully, for us old folks 😉 to help us out. And many interested dedicated workers who help make this event a huge success.

I already posted once the team picture just before the start of the event. There were at least 10 people not there, who were out in the field making last minute set up adjustments.

These did not include a large number of people who came Friday to set up, and who returned Sunday to tear down. Set up and tear down teams help relieve the operators who were there almost round the clock starting Friday.

Advance prep like having the more than 2 miles of coax ready to go, already designated for where in the field each roll is placed. At tear down, they are rolled back up meticulously and marked so that the following year there is no delay to figure out where they are placed.

AB-577’s otherwise known as rocket launchers, are pre-loaded for quick slide off at marked sites. Everything is ready to bring into the site with no loss of time for sorting or handling. This year, the club had volunteer help in sorting, repairing, lubricating and repacking all twenty-two kit bags that contain the guy wires, couplers, rings, cranks, stakes and nails that were dropped behind the launchers, presorted and ready to install.

Before

In Process

Tower, gear and antenna arrive in sequence and are ready to assemble by roving tower teams.

We have an amazing member who brings all the generators and keeps us powered up for the 48 hours. Three generators. We even had the Chief of Howard County Emergency Management checking them out in detail Sunday while he was visiting the site. Sunday I ended up so busy cooking, I forgot to take enough pics of the event and tear down. But, without reliable power, this event could not take place.

IT support is also important. Networked computers. Coordination. Again, dedicated club members keep all this organized and use a system to track what gets down where and how.

And, all good armies march on their stomachs, right? My contribution to Field Day (surprised?) is assistance to the food tent, ably executed by the wife of one of the club members who organizes the event. I have been assisting now three years. Every year we get more efficient and make constant adjustments in keeping 50-75 people fed and hopefully, very happy. Enough of them say we do, so I think we succeed.

Friday Night Pizza while still setting up

Saturday Lunch

Saturday while last minute preparations go on, we set out a cold cut, sloppy joe, salad, veggies/chips and dip, luncheon bar for people to grab and go, or take a break before the two o’clock start. It is nice to have good generators to power the crock pot. And, to allow us to hook up a Keurig in the evening for all night long fresh brewed coffee.

Saturday during the most active ops time, we bring in Mexican food. Easy to grab and eat, soft tacos, beans and rice, brownies, grapes, strawberries, all minimally interfere with calling CQ. We even deliver to the operators at their stations if they are holding a frequency and don’t want to lose momentum by taking a break.

Sunday breakfast has become simpler, since I cook it at home and drive it up the road a mile to the site. The site is near the top of one of the higher points in Howard County. We live near there (so do lots of other club members since HAAT is important). It means many things can be transported to the site easily, and for me as cook, it means they get hot bacon and eggs on Sunday morning after operating all night. I cook four pounds of bacon Saturday night, and 4 1/2 dozen scrambled eggs Sunday morning.

Get it all there 10 minutes before the 8AM breakfast call. Coffee is perked. Toasters are ready. Love having enough generator power for fresh toast. We were so busy serving, I forgot again to take pics.

Lunch is grilled burgers, hot dogs, smoked chicken, salads, toppings, all the leftovers as well.

After 2PM, it’s off to tear it all down and put it away for next year. No pics of that either as we were all busy.

A few random pics of the fun times.

Jim, far left, happy after blowing the air horn for 1800 UTC start of Field Day

My OM taking a two hour nap before tear down. Behind him the trailer for the towers, and the camper that is parked right in the middle of it all on Friday night to provide security before everyone arrives Saturday morning to complete set up.

Some of the youngest GOTA operators enjoying themselves Sunday morning.

Another good year. Lots of memories. Tired but happy people from all around this area. Who says there’s nothing to do in Howard County? Anyone interested in joining the fun, check out the Columbia Amateur Radio Association for local club events, county event support, emergency service support and other interests. Potomac Valley Radio Club, more widespread than just Columbia but with lots of local members, does lots of contesting and has social events in the area.

73 de PVRC and CARA

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Picking Blueberries at Butler’s Orchard

Posted on June 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, today was a rainy Tuesday. One of those cool dreary days but at least the garden is being watered by Mother Nature and not me. A little less work this week. I did check on the cukes this morning to see how they are progressing and found them happy for the rain. I will probably pick this one tonight and make cucumber salad to have with the greens from the garden and the CSA.

We were in the mood for blueberries. The local farms have them ripe already and many pick your own farms are open during the week. A better time to venture out then on the weekend. We had never been to Butler’s but had heard that they have a very large, well stocked market as well as the pick your own fields. Besides, they had pickling and canning supplies and more variety ready to pick.

Armed with that knowledge we took off when it wasn’t raining for the trip on the back roads to the farm in Germantown. These are really back roads, with barely enough room for cars to pass. We wandered in the market and picked up some English peas to bring home and shell. We talked to the owner about the availability of some of the veggies. You really have to call every day to see if something is picked out, or available.

Blueberries were very abundant. The rain subsided so we decided to go for it. You ride out to the fields in a tractor driven tram, so when it started raining while we were picking, we could run back to it and ride back protected from the shower.

We did get over 2 pounds of berries today, at $2.49 a pound these are a fraction of the cost of buying them at markets or the stores. This haul cost us $5.25.

The farm has lots for families to do. Slides, swings, play sets, picnic tables, a petting zoo and lots of room to spread out.

Black raspberries were also ripe, and the blackberries are not that far off. We rode past the blackberries on the way out to the blueberry plants.

The blueberries will be around for a few more weeks at least. The plants are full of berries right now.

Check here and at Larriland to see what they have. Often they have the same fruit but veggies may vary. We went to Butler’s specifically to find English peas and they had some just picked. They also had those fields open to pick English peas and sugar snap peas, while Larriland has beets available.

If you are into canning or freezing, these two farms can supplement what you grow, and they are a huge bargain compared to shopping farmer’s markets. We may be back at Butler’s Thursday to get black raspberries. They are very short seasoned.

Butler’s is off Woodfield Rd. on your way to Gaithersburg. It is less than 20 miles from west Howard County, and a pretty drive when the weather cooperates. The location is lovely, even in the rain.

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Meet Me At the Fair

Posted on June 11, 2012 by AnnieRie

I know it’s summer when the fair brochure arrives in the mail. I go browsing through the home arts section to decide what to enter this year, and check on my tomatoes to see which ones will be the heirlooms to choose to enter.

I picked my first pickling cucumber this morning.

Not to brag or anything, but I put it up against the CSA pickles that came last Thursday. Mine is the big one on the left. 🙂

My husband wants me to make dill pickles like his mom made, and keep them in a crock. I hope my six plants give me enough to put up a crock of them. I also want to do bread and butter pickles for the fair.

In the past I entered tomatoes and herbs. This year I may branch out and do photography. I have lots of cool pics taken for the blog that would work in many categories, like historic Howard County, and animals, and still life (my flowers). Entering the fair is fun. Most of the time I get nothing but I have two ribbons, one for herbs and one for heirlooms.

Purple calabash, in 2010. This year I planted chocolate stripes, amana orange, legend, pink caspian, great white, pineapple and orange blossom. We will see what does best in my soil. I also planted lots of cherry and grape tomatoes. I never seem to do well in that area.

I did get a ribbon last year for my herbs. This year, the new herbs include tarragon and marjoram. I didn’t do stevia again. I did put in a number of lavender plants, and more varieties of basil. Can never have too much basil. Particularly when the tomatoes come in like this.

If you have never entered the fair, it is really easy to do. Herbs are the easiest. Flowers too. Growing enough veggies to meet the minimum in some categories is difficult but for grape or cherry tomatoes, it is easy to get 15 of them. It is not too late to plant a few tomato plants or an herb border in your yard, and you can put together the three herb arrangement you need to enter.

Try putting something out there this year. And, come to the fair in August. See if I got any ribbons!

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The Transit of Venus

Posted on June 4, 2012 by AnnieRie

For those into astronomical events that only occur once or twice in your lifetime, Tuesday evening has one of the better ones. Cross your fingers that the weather cooperates, and come to the Howard County Conservancy where HAL is holding a viewing party for the transit of Venus across the sun.

Set up is around 5:30 pm, with the start of the transit at 6:03:38 pm EDT. If the sun is visible, there should be viewing available until almost 8:30 when the sun has set.

If there are no clouds, many club members are bringing nighttime viewing scopes and will hold a star party after the solar viewing ends.

If you miss this viewing, you can catch the next transit in 2117, one hundred and five years from now. Do not try to view the sun directly on your own, as you may damage your eyes.

Come say HI as I am one of the volunteers from the Conservancy assisting in HAL’s visit to the site.

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