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Mom’s Summer Cucumber Salad

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From the time my mom was given her diagnoses, her constant mantra was, “Please make sure you continue to tell our stories.” It was so very important to her that the stories of our family remain alive in our hearts and continue to be told and retold, even after she was no longer with us. During one of my vigils by my mom’s bedside, I assured her that I would indeed continue to tell her stories.   I assured her I would not only share them with my girls, but with anyone and everyone who would listen. Because it is in our sharing of stories that I believe we truly get to know one another, and strengthen the bond that brings us all together in this great big world of ours. And to be honest with you, so many of my memories and stories seem to revolve around the sharing of food while sitting at a table with those we hold dear to us. I have loved sharing my family’s food stories in the past in this blog space, and it is my absolute pleasure to continue. Today I am thrilled to share with you the story of my mom’s summer cucumber salad.

While growing up, when the days seemed to stretch on forever, my sister and I felt compelled to stay outside all day long, riding bikes all over our neighborhood. It wasn’t until the sky began to turn rosey in the west that we would finally venture home, red-faced and exhausted. We would walk into the house, greeted by a cool blast from the air-conditioner, and find my mom setting the table in the kitchen. On these types of hot nights, instead of heating up the kitchen with lots of pots and pans on the stove and in the oven, my mom would always have a series of cool, fresh dishes waiting for us. My very favorite of these dishes was my mom’s cucumber salad. It was always so cool and creamy, yet tangy and fresh. It just tastes like summer.

Mom’s Summer Cucumber Salad

4-6 medium cucumbers

1 white onion

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon dill weed

salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together the sour cream, apple cider vinegar, dill weed, salt and pepper. Thinly slice the cucumbers and onions. (I use a mandoline to accomplish this task because it leaves you with thin, consistently-cut produce.) Pour the sour cream/vinegar mixture over the cucumbers and onions. Mix until combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!

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Jackpot

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Over the weekend, my girls and I found a garage sale that seemed as if it was created just for us.  It was awesome.  That is why we went back three separate times.  (Yes, this is true.  Three. Times.)  First off, the sale was located on a beautiful property housing a barn, several out-buildings and a cute little home.  The expansive lawn was dotted with gorgeous antiques throughout it’s beautiful flower gardens.  Very Victorian.  I loved it.  Then as we neared the selling area, we discovered it was filled with two main categories of items:  teaching materials and antiques.  Oh boy.  The three of us Fagan girls were in heaven.

We ended up carting home some beautiful vintage towels and clothes pins,  several cookbooks and gardening books dating as far back as 1952, and we outfitted our entire homeschool operation with books and other school supplies.  I would say it was a huge success.

What were you up to this weekend?  I would love to hear.  Enjoy your week, friends.

In the Garden

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It’s August!  This means we have entered the jungle-phase of the gardening season.  In order to move about the garden, one must weave in and out of the labyrinth of branches and vines.  And while doing so, one may come across our cat sleeping amongst the beans, or perhaps a groundhog who has found his way into our tomatoes.  (Talk about a bit of a fright when not expecting that guy.  Oh boy.)

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But amongst this tangle of vegetation there is a great deal happening, and our kitchen is finding itself brimming with our garden’s bounty.  The tomatoes have now grown taller than me (and standing at 5’11” that is saying something), and for the first time EVER we have been able to grow broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage!  We planted ever-bearing strawberries two years ago and we are now reaping the rewards of an amazing second round of these lovelies.

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A few weeks back, as I mentioned in this post, I hung some herbs to dry.  This week my girls helped to take the leaves off these dried plants, grind them by hand, and then can them for the winter months.

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Also in the herb department, our basil and lavender are just beautiful this year.  I decided to try out Ashley English’s Lavender Lemonade from her book //ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=makofahom-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=1611801281&asins=1611801281&linkId=XB3HIFBW6PW65FC3&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true“>Quench (using stevia to replace the sugar) and it was delicious!  I have also been making basil-lime water infusions and it puts a whole new face on my family’s hydration needs.

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I pulled most of our carrots this week and tried my hand at lacto-fermentation.  So far, there is a lot of fermentation goodness in the form of carbon-dioxide bubbles rising to the surface of the jars when I burp them each day.  I am very excited to taste these in a few more days.

Coming up next week, I hope to share with you some of the recipes I have been working on, which feature so much of this garden goodness.  Until then, enjoy the remainder of your week!

 

A Quick Escape

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With all that life placed before us this summer, we had yet to take any sort of a trip as a family.  It was important to me that we have at least one small excursion before summer slipped from our grasp.  This past weekend we were gifted with the ability to make a quick escape from our routine and visit the Northwoods of Wisconsin.  Although the trip was just one full day, we were able to celebrate a 60th wedding anniversary, visit a distillery and brewery we had never before visited, and spend some quiet time in a beautiful bistro while chatting and drinking lots of lattes and hot chocolate.  Who could ask for more?

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IMG_0729It is with a full heart that I head into this week, trying to hold on a bit longer to the summer, but also looking forward to the adventures that fall will surely bring.

I wish you a beautiful start to your week, friends.

This Space

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From the time I was young, my mom always encouraged me to be my own person.  Not to be afraid of what others thought of me, but to instead dare to be the person I believed I was meant to be.  As I mentioned in this recent post, over the last several years I lost a bit of this independent spirit.  More often than not, I began to do what I thought was acceptable by the majority, rather than doing what my gut was telling me.

Recently, while attending a presentation by Joel Salatin, he said, “If everyone else is doing it, I would tell you to do the exact opposite.”  These words stirred something deep within me.  Am I doing what I truly believe is best, or am I just moving with the current and doing what everyone else is doing?  I began to feel this pull deep within me to not fear being different, but to instead embrace those “differences” and run with them.

Homeschooling is something I have had on my heart and mind since my eldest daughter began kindergarten.  I never actually considered it a real option because it existed so far outside the realm of my daily life.  The people by whom I surrounded myself would never consider homeschooling, and being a teacher by trade, I faced a great deal of skepticism and resistance any time I brought up the topic with other educators.

But I believe God places people and circumstances before us which can aide us in the making of very tough decisions.  I believe He is the one that gives us that feeling deep in our gut, telling us what is best.  It is just up to us whether or not we want to pay attention to Him.  I believe He placed me in my teaching role at Cathedral of St. Peter School the past year and a half to build my confidence in two subjects I often feared.  I believe He surrounded me with other educators who were open to non-traditional means of education if it best meets the needs of the child.  And I believe He gave me two girls, who like me when I was young, appear eager to try something different and new.  And with all of this in my back pocket, I decided to follow that feeling deep down inside of me, and embark upon the road less traveled by, and homeschool my girls this fall.

Now I don’t want to pretend that this decision was met with rosy eagerness by all, because that would be a very false statement.  However, throughout this summer I have been working to find fabulous homeschooling resources and create a space that fosters a positive experience for my girls.  And it is in the creation of this space that I feel confident to move forward in this new endeavor.

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First Garden Post of the Season

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Friends, I do believe this is the my first garden update of the summer.  How is this possible?  Oh my.  There is so much happening out there right now that I struggle with where to begin.  Let us begin with the herb garden…

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I am trying out some new herbs in our herb garden this year and, although it appears to be quite “junglish” right now, I am happy with what is coming out of it at this time.

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We are growing lemon balm for the first time this year, and I have begun drying it for tea and some other medicinal salves I hope to make this winter.  Lemon verbena is also new to our herb selection this year, and I have a liqueur in the works right now.  I promise to share the details of this venture as the process nears an end in three weeks. We also grew quite a bit of stevia this season, and this week I ran it through our dehydrator and then our spice grinder.  We now have a fine stevia powder to use in drinks throughout the remainder of summer and into fall.

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Next, along the south side of our house, we have a raspberry bramble that is booming this year in a way I have never seen.  The bees flock to the raspberries each day, and at any given time we can count almost 50 of them swarming the forming fruits.  I cannot wait to see the bounty we receive from these plants this year.

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Our apple trees are actually producing some fruit this year, which is very exciting.  However, the Japanese beetles have slowly began taking them over, and each day I find more and more leaves have fallen prisoner to their wrath.  I fear we may lose all our apples before fall.

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Finally we move into the main garden space where our beans are also finally coming in.  This year we are growing Bountiful, Purple Pod, Golden Wax, and Dragon Tongue (our family favorite) with it’s beautiful purple stripes.

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The extreme amounts of rain this summer have led to some of the tallest tomato plants we have ever had, but unfortunately they bear very few fruits.  My hunch is the cool temperatures this summer have inhibited fruit production on these plants.  My hope is as the temperature rise this week, we may see some tomatoes begin to form.

Thank you for joining me on my first garden tour of 2015!  I promise it will not be long until we venture into the garden again.

Cherry Crisp

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Last week my girls and I, along with my sister, ventured to my in-law’s home and spent the afternoon tangled up in branches and brambles.  It was picking’ time!  By the time the day was done, we ended up with two giant bowls of tart cherries and black raspberries.  Simply marvelous!

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The black raspberries quickly became freezer jam, with the help of my six and eight-year old sous chefs.  And the cherries, well, the cherries ended up going into an absolutely amazing cherry tart.  I don’t often like to toot my own horn, but friends, it was good.  Very good.  Let me share the recipe…

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Cherry Crisp

6 cups pitted tart cherries (This measurement was taken AFTER the cherries were pitted.)

1 cup local honey

2 T Non-GMO corn starch

Mix these ingredients in a large bowl and pour them into a 9×9 baking dish.  (I use this baking dish because then I can serve the crisp table-side and it looks as good as it tastes.)

2 cups oats

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 stick cold butter cut into cubes

Mix all these ingredients together in a large bowl (such as one of these sustainably harvested bamboo bowls) using a pastry blender.  Pour the crumbled mixture onto the cherry mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for one hour.  Allow 20 minutes to cool before serving.  Enjoy!

*A note about all my recipes: I use all organic ingredients, local when available. I use non-homogenized milk, and all of the dairy we use is from animals raised on pasture. I also use oils that are non-GMO verified. All our meat is raised locally on organic feed, and our beef is grass-fed, grass-finished. All our spices and cane sugar are fair-trade certified and purchased through a cooperative.

Need

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When faced with difficult situations in life, some people need to work out, others need to chat with friends, while others need to indulge in a chocolatey treat.  Me…I need to weed.  To some this may seem a strange act, but for me there is nothing more therapeutic than crouching down amongst all that green, plunging my hands deep into the soil, and pulling out those weeds from the root.  It almost feels as if this simple act helps me to get to the root of my problems, and as each weed falls in my bucket, a small piece of that grief and frustration falls into the bucket as well.

And so I have found myself in the garden a lot lately.  Pulling out my struggles, piece by piece.  And in the end, I am left feeling a little bit lighter, and find myself surrounded by a beautiful miracle.  One that will provide my family with beauty and sustenance for many months ahead.  And one that I know my mom is looking down upon with a smile on her face.

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