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Cynthia R.
- Female
- Ontario, CA
- United States
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Cynthia R.'s Groups
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Cheesemakers!
46 members
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Earth Mamas and Papas:...
18 members
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LA HOMEGROWNers
25 members
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Urban Gardeners
128 members
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Food Preservation
75 members
Cynthia R.'s Page
Latest Activity
oh, SoCal you say it right at the top. Duh :)
Pomegranate juice! My mouth is watering. Wish I could help you with the pole bean question but so far I have much to learn about plant disease. Thanks for the post, and I'm about to go find out where to live b/c here in Baltimore I think it's way ...
This week the weather has been so gorgeous: mild, cool, (60-70 degree) and crisp nights (50ish). I'm trying to enjoy it the best that I can, autumn is a very short season in SoCal, its likely to jump back to 90 degree temps to get cold and drizz...
oh what an awesome video! Brought a smile to my face :) Thanks for sharing!
Wow, beautiful container garden! I've only had medium success with tomatoes in buckets. I noticed in my plant that a lot of the side branches look dry and wilty like that after the plant starts putting out a lot of fruit. I'm wondering if the extr...
heehee, they arent from my trees, I was driving thru Littlerock, CA when I saw one of the stores there selling the locally grown produce there really cheap, $9 for a 28 pound box of plums and $6 for the 25 pound box of med peaches. I couldnt pass ...
Holy smokes! This is great! I hope I get that much fruit from my trees someday!
Wow, way to discover a new project from an accident! I love it when that happens. Can't wait to find out the results of the taste test.
Cynthia,
Your garden looks beautiful! I do container gardening too...on my back deck because that's the only place that gets enough sun around my house.
It sounds like you're a more experienced gardener than I am and I don't have any good advice ...
I'll second both comments.
For soups, try not to mash or puree the vegetables, and from what I read online the soilds should be no more then 50% of the jars volume- you need plenty of liquid for expansion and to make sure it gets heated properly ...
yup! I uploaded a blog post about it if anyone is interested.
A group for people interested in or already making their own cheese. Share recipes, tips, stories and more.
I have been meaning to post about how I make kefir from the grains I got from my pal Theresa. Its only taken 6 months to pull this post out of my draft folder and finally finish it! Kefir grains are interesting in that they cannot be made in a lab...
CFAITC is a way to integrate agriculture into your classroom while still fullfilling state requirements for California curriculum standards. Just about everything is free to print and use.
Lesson plans by Grade level ( K-12)
http://www.cfaitc.org...
Trying to raise your little ones with an appreciation for good food and good land? Share your favorite tips, blogs, stories, recipes and more here.
Comment Wall (1 comment)
- At 4:56pm on August 6, 2009,
Cornelia said… - Hi Cynthia - welcome to HOMEGROWN.org! I love your funnel cake inspiration story - that's an intimidating DIY involving hot oil!! Looks like you've already made some great connections here - so glad! Look forward to hearing more about your patio harvest.
Profile Information
- What Kind of HOMEGROWN are You?
- Earth Mama, Dirt Under My Fingernails City Slicker
- Fill in the blank:
- God made dirt so dirt don't hurt
- A bit about me:
- 20 something wife and mother of 2 striving to be as self suuficient and in touch with my food supply as is humanly possible in an apartment in the center of a huge metro area.
- Latest greatest meal cooked at home:
- Went to the OC Fair and fell in love with funnel cakes, so I came home, googled some recipes and made some, put powdered sugar on them then topped them off with some strawberry preserves. Heavenly!
- Currently reading
- 1974 Farm Journal Freezing and Canning Cookbook
- Currently listening to:
- the hiss of my pressure canner as my homemade chicken stock processes, my kids bickering
- My latest DIY project:
- tured my apartment balcony into a mini veggie & herb garden using DIY self watering containers, learning to bake real wheat bread ( I usually bake gluten free), continuing to read up on cheesemaking and plan to make sausage (linguica) this fall.
- Web site I recommend
- http://www.pickyourown.org
Cynthia R.'s Photos
Cynthia R.'s Blog
Transitioning to a Fall/Winter Garden
This week the weather has been so gorgeous: mild, cool, (60-70 degree) and crisp nights (50ish). I'm trying to enjoy it the best that I can, autumn is a very short season in SoCal, its likely to jump back to 90 degree temps to get cold and drizzly and rather depressing on natures whim. I've heard and read that autumn in SoCal is the equivalent of spring back east; we're finally wandering outside again after the brutal summer sun and heat, and the ground is warm enough for seed… Continue
Posted on October 12, 2009 at 3:25am — 2 Comments
Canning Jamboree 2009 (part 1)
What I started with: 50 pounds of 'O Henry' peaches and 56 pounds of 'Friar Plums'
Heres just some of what I've made so far: (In this photo) 9 1/2 pints of plum jam, 3 quarts of brandied peaches, 4 pints of peaches in light syrup, 9 quarts of plums in cinnimon syrup… Continue
Heres just some of what I've made so far: (In this photo) 9 1/2 pints of plum jam, 3 quarts of brandied peaches, 4 pints of peaches in light syrup, 9 quarts of plums in cinnimon syrup… Continue
Posted on August 29, 2009 at 9:04pm — 2 Comments
Lesson Learned: Do not add cold jars to a hot canner
I had chicken stock simmering all night, and today needed to get it strained, chilled (to remove the fat) and canned. My mind must have been somewhere else entirely, I had turned the stove on to heat up the water in the pressure canner while I filled jars with cold stock...then when I added the first jar in- CRACK!
I freaked out and checked to see what cracked before it hit me that the water was hot, the glass jar was cold, bad combo. I've never had a jar crack on me. So I carefully lifted it o… Continue
I freaked out and checked to see what cracked before it hit me that the water was hot, the glass jar was cold, bad combo. I've never had a jar crack on me. So I carefully lifted it o… Continue
Posted on August 29, 2009 at 9:02pm — 1 Comment
August Garden Update, tomato issues
Posted on August 29, 2009 at 4:50pm — 2 Comments
Art of kefir making
I have been meaning to post about how I make kefir from the grains I got from my pal Theresa. Its only taken 6 months to pull this post out of my draft folder and finally finish it! Kefir grains are interesting in that they cannot be made in a lab persay as a culture, the only way to get more kefir grains is to keep some happy until they grow (propogate) and you have so many grains you end up having to give half of them away unless you're making huge qualities of kefir daily. My grains came from… Continue
Posted on August 17, 2009 at 10:26am —
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Staff Recipes: Roasted Heritage Breed Turkey
Even though my Thanksgiving will be a party of two, I like to prepare for the possibility of ten! When I heard Wendy was getting a Lilac turkey from Wells Tavern Farm in Shelburne, Massachusetts I jumped on board for a bird.Wells Tavern has raised about 30 of their turkeys for fresh Thanksgiving birds. They are selling heritage breed birds that have had access to pasture throughout the spring and summer, eating natural Vermont grain and scratch feeds – with no antibiotics or added hormones. The turkeys are kept in large fenced pastures, which allows them to naturally scratch and forage, and provides them with protection from predators.
Wendy has been talking about her delicious turkey for a while now, and I am excited to see if I can find success with my first attempt at making Thanksgiving dinner.
Here is her recipe from last year:
Whether fresh or frozen, bring the bird to room temperature before cooking.
Cover the breast with a piece of brown paper cut from a shopping bag, rub it with cooking oil, and tie it in place with cotton string. Alternatively, soak a piece of cotton cloth in unsalted oil, such as corn oil. Remove the covering about 30 minutes before the turkey is done so the breast will brown.Roast heritage turkeys in a hot oven pre-heated to 425F-450F and cook until an internal thigh temperature of 140F-150F is reached. Don't let the tip of the thermometer touch the bone. (Note: The USDA recommends turkeys be cooked to 160F-180F, but these temperature will dry out a heritage turkey. Heritage birds are much more free of disease and bacteria, unlike commercially-raised birds, and do not need extreme temperatures to make them safe for consumption).
Truly the thought of cooking at such a high heat terrified me but it worked out great. We had a 17lb turkey that cooked in 1 1/2 hours.
Cook any stuffing first and put inside the heritage turkey before roasting. Due to the reduced cooking time, stuffing won't become fully cooked. Alternatively, try adding a quartered orange, apple and/or pear inside the cavity instead of stuffing.
Let the roasted bird rest 10-15 minutes before carving.
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