Farmer’s Daughter

Tonight I deviated from the typical Montreal Steak Seasoning and made my own marinade.  (Serves 2)

Marinated Grilled Steak

• 2 NY Strip Steaks, or your favorite steak
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• large handfull chopped parsley
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 garlic clove
• a few pinches salt and grinds of black pepper

Combine olive oil, parsley, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  Chop the garlic finely, then sprinkle a little bit of salt on it and  use the side of the knife to gently crush it into a paste.  Add this to the marinade.  Rub the marinade onto the steaks and allow them to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat and clean off the grill.  Cook the steaks over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes on each side for medium rare.  Let rest 5 minutes before eating.

Our pretty flowers.

Front view of our house.

Hayfield in front of our house.  I love the yellow wildflowers blooming now.

This fish recipe is delicious with any thin fish fillet.  Every time Ed and I go to Westbrook Lobster, I order this dish, and this recipe is as close as I have come to replicating it.  Tonight, I’m making them with haddock fillets, which will increase the baking time a little because they’re thicker.  Just make them with whatever white fish you can find.  You can add some cooked crabmeat, lobster, or shrimp (or any other seafood) to the stuffing if you like.  I prefer it plain.

Stuffing for Seafood

• 1 small red or yellow onion, diced
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper, to taste
• water, as needed
• 2 Tbsp chopped Italian parsley
• 1/2 tsp paprika

In a large skillet, saute the onion in the butter and olive oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until it’s translucent.  Add the breadcrumbs, stirring to coat in the butter and oil.  Add water, 1/2 cup at a time, until the stuffing holds together.  Stir in parsley and paprika and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Allow to cool slightly before stuffing fish.

Baked Stuffed Sole

• 4 fillets of sole (or other thin fish fillet)
• stuffing for seafood
• 4 Tbsp breadcrumbs, for topping
• 1 Tbsp butter, for topping
• sprinkles of paprika, for topping

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Place 2-3 Tbsp of stuffing in the center of each fillet.  Roll the fillet, and place open-end down in a greased baking dish.  Repeat for remaining fillets.  If there’s stuffing left over, arrange it around the fish or in the center of the dish.  Top each roll with 1 Tbsp breadcrumb, and dot with butter.  Sprinkle paprika on top, and bake for 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Garlic Lemon Roasted Chicken

• 4-5 lb whole chicken
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 lemon
• 1 head of garlic

Place the chicken in a Dutch oven or roasting pan.  Remove giblets and tuck wings under the breast.  Pour a few tablespoons of olive oil onto the chicken, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.  Slice the lemon and garlic head in half.  Stuff half of the garlic head into the cavity.  Squeeze half the lemon juice over the outside of the chicken, then stuff the lemon half into the cavity.  Stuff the other half of the garlic head into the cavity.  Squeeze the other half of the lemon juice into the cavity, and stuff the lemon into the cavity.  Massage the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper into the skin.  Bake at 375 F for about 1 1/2 hours, basting occasionally, until the juices run clear.  Let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes before carving to redistribute the juices.

I’m making boiled red potatoes and sauteed yellow squash to go with this chicken.  This squash recipe is my go-to in the summer when I’m sick of plain old boiled squash.  It’s good with yellow or green squash.

Sauteed Summer Squash

• 3 yellow or green squash (or a mix)
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Shred the squash using a box grater.  Saute the garlic and squash in the oil in a large pan.  The squash will release a lot of liquid, so continue cooking until it’s mostly gone.  (You can drain it if you don’t want to wait that long.)  It will take 10-15 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  You can add parmesan cheese if you like, like Ed’s mom Marie does.  It’s good with or without the cheese.  Serves 2 hungry squash-eaters.

(Mom, Mema, me, Aunt Dot.  Do I look like a giant?)

Today we went to my Aunt Dot and Uncle Mont’s house for a Mother’s Day Brunch.  While we were there, Aunt Dot gave us a tour of her beautiful gardens.

Aunt Dot’s nifty fence to keep out the invasive bittersweet.

The memory tree, planted in memory of loved ones.

Aunt Dot and Uncle Mont planted this white pine when they moved into their house, 40-something years ago.

Beautiful Dogwood tree.

The wisteria-covered arbor.

Wisteria.  Aunt Dot has promised to give me some of her wisteria when we decide where we’d like the arch from our wedding to permanently live.

The water garden.

Beginnings of water hyacinth.  Aunt Dot says it will cover the pond by summer.

The beginning of a banana tree?  We’ll see…

The birdhouse that Aunt Dot gave me to bring home.  She grows the gourds, lets them dry, then turns them into birdhouses by cutting holes, collecting the seeds, and painting them.  She also gave me some seeds.  Uncle Mont says they’ll climb up trees! I’m going to try it!

Our feet.  Don’t ask why.  I’m not sure.

My family’s farm, Rose Orchards, opened for the season today.  I worked a morning shift with my grandmother and my cousin Stephanie.  Once we got set up, we had fun decorating with flowers and making signs. 

Here’s our antique carriage, all decorated with flowers.

The greenhouse is stocked full of flowers.

More of the greenhouse.

The big green barn that houses the farm market and creamery.

The seating area for the creamery.

Fresh fruits and vegetables in the farm market.

We had many of our loyal customers stop in today and tell us how much they’ve missed us, especially our pies.  I just realized I should have taken a picture of the pies and also of the animals, but I was working!  Next time I’ll snap some more.

I love to read.  I always have loved to read, when I get to choose the book.  I remember reading Caddie Woodlawn, American Girls books (I liked Kirsten best), Charlotte’s Web, Farmer Boy, and other classic books while growing up.  Now, as an adult, I still enjoy reading.  I love to read books about sharks, including The Devil’s Teeth, the Earth’s Children series, especially The Valley of Horses, and in the last few years my collection of earth friendly books has grown. 

Last year, I got the idea to assign a book review to my AP Environmental Science students, because I thought that they would really enjoy being able to read an environmental book of their choice.  OK, I admit it, I enjoy hearing about a bunch of books without reading them.  It helps me broaden my literary horizons and it also helps me make mental notes of which books I would like to read.  For example, I read Omnivore’s Dilemma after a student presented about it last year. 

We just finished this year’s round of book reviews, and I’ve compiled a list of the books my students read.  I’ve already borrowed a couple of them, and I’m thinking about which other ones I want to read over the summer.  I asked students to write a sentence or two to sum up the book, although because many of them are overachievers, some descriptions are a little longer.  I’ve organized the books into categories here, and I hope that one or more of these books will strike you as a good read. 

Sustainable Living

The Ten Trusts by Jane Goodall and Mark Bekoff 

• This book gave 10 different guidelines that we should follow to respect our planet, animals, and people more.  Some of the trusts included “going green,” teaching kids to love animals, and accepting animals as companions, not slaves.

Go Green Live Rich by David Bach

• This book described 50 ways we can help save the environment along with saving money.  It showed that not everything people have to do to help the environment is a big expense like buying a hybrid car or putting solar panels on your house.  It shows that there are simple things that cost nothing that someone can do to save money.

Sustainable Planet: Solutions for the 21st Century (collection of essays)

Solar Water Heating by Bob Ramlow and Benjamin Nusz 

• This book is about the home conversion from petroleum to solar water heating and if it is the right things to do in your home.  It tells you how to build a system while also trying to save as much money as possible over time.

Climate

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet by Mark Lynas 

• The book has 6 chapters, one for each degree, which each explain what will happen when the earth warms to each point.

The Live Earth: Global Warming Survival Handbook by David de Rothschild 

• This book was a list of 77 things the average person can do to help stop global warming.  In the back, there was a list of things to do if the 77 steps fail (like move to another planet).

Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore 

• This book talks about how global warming is happening and how it is different than the natural trend of global increase or decrease of temperature.  It also talks about how current emissions of CO2 pollution are affecting the temperatue of the earth.

The Weathermakers by Tim Flannery 

• This book is about how global warming affects the climate and what would happen if the world’s climate was changed.

Is the Temperature Rising? by S. George Philander 

• This book was about the scientific causes of possible global warming.  The author, a geoscientist at Princeton puts complex science ideas into generally comprehendable language suitable for the curious reader.

The Hot Topic by Gabrielle Walker and Sir David King

Environmental Contamination

Fallout by Juan Gonzalez 

• This book was about how the EPA lied to the public about the hazmats and toxic substances found after the 9-11 attacks.  Also it focuses on what all the chemicals found can do and how we didn’t protect our rescue workers from them or learn from past mistakes.

The Killing of Karen Silkwood by Richard Rashke 

• Karen Silkwood worked at a plutonium plant and found many safety and health issues wrong with it.  She was poisoned with plutonium and then killed in a car crash.  No one knows who caused this tragedy, but some believe it was Kerr-McGee, the company she worked for.

World Environmental Issues

Dancing at the Dead Sea by Alanna Mitchell 

• This book is about Alanna Mitchell’s journey around the world to environmental hotspots.  It talks about environmental degradation and the possibility that humans may become extinct like dinosaurs.

The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich 

• This book is mainly about the cause of overpopulation and how it is affecting our world.  Ehrlich predicted that millions of people will die from the 1970’s to 1980’s. 

Outdoors

Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv 

• This book was about how children may be suffering from Nature-Deficit Disorder.  It told us why we all need nature in our lives to be healthy, well-rounded people.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson 

• Bryson and his friend Katz attempt to hike the Appalachian trail from Springer Mt. in Georgia to Mt. Katahdia in Maine.

Into the Wild by John Krakauer 

• This book describes the journey of Christopher McCandless, also known as “Alex Supertramp.”  We learn how hard it is to survive with very little and survive in nature, and we also learn how he met his demise in Alaska.

Wildlife

Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat 

• This book was a story about Farley Mowat’s experience living in the Barren Lands to observe wolves.  Originally sent to see if wolves were the cause of the decrease in caribou, Mowat finds the wolves are of no threat to the caribou.  They essentially help the caribou population by only feeding on dead carcuses.  Mowat finds the actual threat is humans to the wolf population and becomes very attached to a specific wolf family.  Later on he goes home to raise awareness of the dangers wolves face.

When Elephants Weep: The Emotions of Animals by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson 

• This book was about the different emotions that animals are capable of obtaining and projecting to other animals, even to humans.

Polar Bears by Ian Sterling

Among Grizzlies by Timothy Treadwell and Jewel Palovak 

• Treadwell lived in Alaska every summer for thirteen summers with no protection or communication.  His goal was to study grizzly bears and allow them to gain the same respect for him as they have with their fellow bears.

Elephant Destiny by Martin Meredith 

• This book gives a full description of elephants and their place in history, along with the problems they currently face.

Fiction and Novels

The Day After Tomorrow by Whitley Strieber 

• This book is about a climatologist named Jack Hall who discovers a climate change that affects the world as we know it.  The whole planet freezes over leaving his son, Sam, stuck in Manhattan.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 

• The aftermath of nuclear war leads to government and military dictatorship of reproduction due to widespread infertility.  In the struggle to create a Utopia, the government finds that the fear of declining birth rates have pushed the people of the society to take their own measures to survive.

Adrift by Steven Callahan 

• This book was about a man who loves to sail but during a race across the Atlantic his boat sinks.  He has to endure sharks and watch ships pass him while he tries to survive in a tiny raft.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman 

• This book detailed the earth’s existance after humans left the earth, whether from extinction by plague or from moving to a different planet.  The book follows various manmade things, and how long they last and why they fall, as well as how species adapt without us here.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert 

• This fiction book is about the increasing problems of natural distraction due to global warming.  This book mainly focuses on the long-term effects of greenhouse gases on the arctic.

Children’s Books

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss 

• The Lorax is a story about the once-ler who cuts down “truffala trees” and makes “theeds.”  The lorax warns him that his cutting and polluting is bad for the environment but the once-ler continues until all the trees are gone and the forest is destroyed.

Earth Day-Hooray by Stuart Murphy

Why are the Ice Caps Melting? by Anne Rockwell

Where does the Garbage Go? by Paul Showers

The Kids’ Guide to Global Warming by Glenn Murphy

I hope you found a book to read! Happy reading!

I came home today and I was so bored with cooking the same old stuff all of the time.  I had a whole chicken in the fridge, and some chicken sausage, but I didn’t want to make either one.  Finally I searched around a little on food.com and came up with an idea! Crab Cake Burgers (a la Rachael Ray… she makes everything into a burger…)!  But I made up my own recipe, based loosely on my Crab Cake recipe, with a few small changes.  Here it is, for your enjoyment!

New England Crab Cake Burgers

In a large bowl, gently mix the following:

• 1 1/2 cups crab meat (I used claws, because that’s what I could get at the store today)
• 2 Tbsp tartar sauce
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Wostershire sauce
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp chopped chives
• sprinkle paprika
• sprinkle pepper
• about 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs, or other dried breadcrumbs, enough to start to hold the mixture together

Chill for at least 1 hour in the fridge.  The mixture is very loose, so if you don’t chill it you’ll have a hard time making the cakes.

Make about 5 or 6 large crab cakes by first rolling into a ball, then flattening.  Coat each side of the crab cake in some more panko breadcrumbs for extra crispiness.  Cook in about 2 Tbsp of canola oil in a dutch oven or other heavy pan, until nicely browned on each side.  Keep warm in an oven until all crabcakes are cooked.  Serve with:

• fresh hard rolls or hamburger buns
• tartar sauce
• lemon wedges
• lettuce
• tomato slices
• avocado slices

There’s also plenty left over, so we can both take some crab cake burgers for lunch tomorrow! Ed’s comment about tonight’s supper: “You never cease to amaze me!”

On March 10, my 27th birthday, I decided to give a gift to myself and my planet by signing up for the Connecticut Clean Energy Options program.  In this program, Ed and I are able to specify if we would like our electricity to come from clean options, and for a fee, we are able to make sure that the amount of electricity we use is put into the grid from clean sources.  Does the clean energy come directly to our house? No, that’s not possible with the way that our electric company, United Illuminating, is set up.  But what does happen is that 100% of the same amount of energy produced for our household electricity comes from clean options. 

After a two month processing period, we just received our first electric bill in which we’re paying the extra fee for this clean energy.  Why would someone want to pay extra for clean energy?  Well, first let me say that this is a way of voting with our dollars.  Ed and I are making the statement that clean energy is worth a little more to us.  And also let me add that the fee is not that much.  For 100% of our electricity to come from clean options, we pay a fee of $.011 per kilowatt hour.  Last month, we used 555kwh of electricity.  That means our bill goes up $6.11.  That’s a very small price to pay for clean energy, especially when you consider that we did not have to pay for installation of solar panels or a wind turbine.  That’s $6.11 well spent.  However, if you can’t swing that, you can sign up for the 50% option, in which only 50% of your energy used is clean.  The cost would then go to only $3.06 per month.  Who can’t afford that, when you look at the impact you make and how easy it is.  More information can be found on the FAQ page of the CT Clean Energy Options website.

So let’s talk clean energy.  Where does it come from?  There are two options, which are outlined on the CT Clean Energy Options website.  We chose to go with Community Energy Company, because the cost is $.011 as opposed to $.015 with the other company, Sterling Planet.  By chosing this company, 50% of the electricity we use comes from Wind power, and 50% comes from Small Scale Hydroelectric power.

So what kind of impact on the environment are we making? Well, on the CT Clean Energy Options website, you can use the calculator to find out.  So I tried it with our numbers.  I entered 555 kwh as our average monthly usage, although I’m not sure if that’s really the average.  But that’s what it was last month.  If we multiply that times 12, and assume it came from traditional energy sources, the result would be 5834 pounds of Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.  I know you can’t picture that, so here’s a comparison.  5834 pounds of Carbon dioxide is the same as:

• Burning 302 gallons of gasoline, or
• Driving 0.6 cars for 1 year, or
• Importing 6 barrels of oil, or
• Cutting 2 acres of forest.

So, by signing up and requiring our electric company to produce the same amount of electricity we use from clean sources, we are saving 5834 pounds of Carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

Traditional Sources of Energy for Electricity in my area

Community Energy Sources of Energy for Electricity

The other great part of signing up for this program is that participating towns are eligable to receive a free solar energy system for every 100 households that sign up for the 100% option. (The 50% option counts as half a household.)  This system can be installed on a town building or a school.  Some of our neighboring towns have already received their panels.  You can check to see if your CT town participates by clicking here.  I was disappointed to learn that my town does not participate, but I’ll be looking into changing that.

So, are you ready to enroll? If you live in CT, grab your latest electric bill and click here to sign up!

If you live in a different state, click here to see if Clean Energy Options are available!

Today I used my Burt’s Bees Chemical Free Sunscreen, SPF 30, for the first time. 

First, let me say that sunscreen is extremely important to me.  Although I identify myself as American, my heritage can be traced to England, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland.  Which is fine, if you like cottage gardens, christmas trees, potatoes, and chocolate.  (Check, check, check, check.)  However, the problem arises when I want to go out in the sun without getting toasted.  I can’t.  None of my DNA has sun protection.  I get burned all of the time.  I’ve already been burned three times this year.  My first sunburn was over April vacation when i went for a walk on the beach with my mom.  I thought I was well covered, as you can see in the picture below.

However, I burned my face, even with a visor on, and the tops of my feet, which is extremely painful.  My second burn was during our Lake Gaillard walk.  It was cloudy all day, so I didn’t wear sunglases.  My face proceeded to burn in the area my sunglasses had protected during my previous burn.  I woke up with very sore red welts under my eyes.  My third burn happened yesterday.  It was so pretty yesterday afternoon that I had to get outside and work on my lap top.  I got burned from my short sleeves to my elbows, and from my knees to my ankles.  I wore socks, of course, remembering my crispy feet from April.

Well, today, I was certain to wear my sunscreen outside while reading.  I slathered on the Burt’s Bees Chemical Free Sunscreen, SPF 30, and was thoroughly disappointed.  It is bright yellow, and left a yellow film on my arms and legs.  It did not absorb, and started to flake off as I continued to try to rub it in.  What’s more, I can’t get  it off.  I just tried taking a bath and using some exfoliating body wash (which hurts on sunburn), and I’m still greasy.  I will never use this sunscreen again.

My overall grade for Burt’s Bees Chemical Free Sunscreen, SPF 30, is a D.  Although I hated it, I didn’t get burned any more, so I have to give them that much.

However, I must add that I usually like Burt’s Bees products, including shampoo, face wash, lip balm, and lotion.  I’ve recently been especially appreciative of their Aloe and Linden Flower After Sun Soother.