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This page was created to inform you of upcoming educational events related to gardening and self sufficiency. Please check this page frequently as information will be ongoing.
2010 Northwest Permaculture ConvergenceSave the date for the 2010 Northwest Permaculture Convergence, Sept 17-19! This year we are forging an exciting new pathway in an urban setting by converging at South Seattle Community College. Camping and home stays will be available. With an 87 acre campus and cabins at nearby Camp Long, this will be an experience of an oasis in the city. Not only are the SSCC gardens and meadows waiting for us, you will find warm and fuzzy interior spaces as well.Mark Lakeman, activist architect and urban placemaking guru, will be our keynote speaker this year! Many of you already know that Mark has been an ongoing and early instigator of Portland's City Repair and the annual Village Building Convergence there. Of course we will host a wide array of fabulous regional presenters, and opportunities to present your own work. In addition, look for collaboration with the Cascadia region's Transition Towns initiatives. They will be integrating their own summit into the Convergence. Also look for Seattle's own SCALLOPS (Sustainable Communities ALL Over Puget Sound) to be a presence as well. We are very pleased to be making this year's NW Convergence a truly regional event!With HUGE thanks for all of the work Christy Nieto poured into last year's convergence, I want to introduce myself as this year's registrar. My name is Pennie O'Grady, and I will do my best to make this year's event another smooth and fruitful experience for all of us. This year's organizing committee is working to build upon the last years' success. We hope you will find using a more website based approach to be easy, comfortable and helpful -- and look forward to more involved and friendly connections during the convergence itself.We are building this event as we go. We welcome with open arms all those interested in permaculture, as well as those working in permaculture. Tickets for the 2010 Convergence are $65 through August 1, $85 August 2 through Sept 15, and $100 at the door. Many work trade and volunteer opportunities are available. As in years past, we are asking you to pitch in and do your part to help by volunteering for a couple of hours during the event and bringing your fabulous homegrown food to share.Please keep checking back to the nwpermaculture.org website for registration and other details. More will be posted shortly. I will be sending regular updates from now until the convergence. Of course if you DO NOT want to be on this list, please let me know.All the best,Pennie O'Grady
The Books mentioned in our fall preserving meeting are listed as follows:
Putting It Up With Honey by Susan Geiskopf Excaliber Preserve It Naturally Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest by Carla Emery & Lorene Edwards Forkner Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning by The Gardeners & Farmers of Terre Vivante The Blue Book Guide to Preserving
Recipes ZUCCHINI BREAD OR MUFFINS 1 cup oil (I use ½ cup veg. oil and ½ cup olive oil) 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup sugar 3 eggs, beaten (if you are using a mixer, drip the eggs in one at a time.) 2 cups grated raw zucchini, unpeeled (if using large zucchini, take the seed mush out.) 2 cups flour ½ tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 3 tsp. cinnamon 3 tsp. vanilla (I mean 3 tsp. – do not reduce.) 1 cup chopped nuts 1 cup raisins, (optional) Blend oil and sugars; add eggs and grated zucchini. Add dry ingredients, vanilla and nuts. Pour into 2 greased floured loaf pans, a tube pan or muffin tins. Loaves bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour; muffins will bake in 18 – 20 minutes. Miniature muffins will bake in 12 minutes. Will freeze well.
YELLOW SQUASH CASSEROLE 2 to 3 pounds of yellow squash, cooked Salt to taste 1 tsp. sugar 1 pint cream style cottage cheese 2 eggs ½ stick butter, melted 1 cup grated cheese 2 cups bred crumbs ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese Slice and boil squash in small amount of water until done. Drain. Salt to taste and add sugar. Mix cottage cheese with two beaten eggs and add to mixture along with grated cheese. Mix and spoon into greased baking dish. Spinkle top with bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Serves 8 to 10. May be made ahead of time, but add bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and melted butter just before baking. Will freeze. Recipes from my old cookbook published in 1980. Country Cooking (out of print)
Zucchini Cobbler This is my surprise dessert! No one ever guesses that the secret ingredient is zucchini. Everyone says it tastes like apples. Servings 16 – 20 people. 8 cups chopped seeded peeled zucchini (about 3 pounds) 2/3 cup lemon juice 1 cup sugar 1 tsp. ground cinnamon ½tsp. ground nutmeg Crust: 4 cups all – purpose flour 2 cups sugar 1½ cups cold butter, cubes 1 tsp. ground cinnamon In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, cook and stir zucchini and lemon juice for 15-20 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg; simmer 1 minute longer. Remove from the heat; set aside. For the crust, combine the flour and sugar in a bowl; cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir½ cup into zucchini mixture. Press half of remaining crust mixture into a greased 15-in.x10-in. x 1 inch baking pan. Spread zucchini over top; crumble remining crust mixture over zucchini. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 375º for 35-40 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Printed from tasteofhome.com
ZUCCHINI RELISH 10 C zucchini (or summer squash) 4 C chopped onions 5 T salt Shred and mix squash and onion then sprinkle salt over top. Let stand overnight. Next morning drain and rinse through strainer with cold water. In stock pot mix together: 1-1/2 C apple cider vinegar 4 C sugar 1 tsp dry mustard 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp corn starch 2 tsp celery seed ½ tsp black pepper 2 red bell peppers (chopped small) 1 green bell pepper (chopped small) Stir in drained squash mixture and heat thoroughly. Pack in hot jars and process in water bath 15 minutes. Yields 6 pints
EASYKRAUTYou can make any amount you want but I find ten pounds, convenient. It fits into 5 gallon bucket and makes about all I can eat in a year (about 20 pints). I lose about 25% of my cabbage to triming so you must allow for that if you are buying it. Shred it any way you like... food processor, knife, etc. We have an official Krauthobel my wife picked up in Germany that works very well, sitting on top of the bucket as in the picture. Weigh the shreded cabbage and add 2 tsp (12 gr) of pickling salt per pound. Mix this well and regularly. Initially, you have to get in there with your hands but as the water starts drawing out, it gets easier with a long spoon. After 24 hours, prepare pint mason jars by washing thoroughly in hot soapy water. Mix the kraut again and begin filling the jars with a ladle, paying attention to the liquid/kraut balance. Stir before each jar to make sure that each jar gets its share of brine. After all the jars are filled to the usual 1" head space, top them off with remaining brine or tap water. Beware of chlorine here if you have to add a lot, it should be boiled first or use distilled water. When the jars are filled and topped off, screw on the lids and place them in pans or trays to collect any over flow and store at room temp for 6 weeks. I turn them upside down a few times during the period just to mix things up but put them back the right way after a few turns. I get very little (if any) overflow. The fermentation process produces CO2 so there is some bubbling and leakage out the top but the jars are designed to deal with this and there is no danger of bursting. When 6 weeks is over, open a jar and simmer it in a sauce pan for 5 minutes or so and taste it. If you like it (I always do), then you can process them for long term keeping. Before processing, you need to rinse the jars; then remove the lids and wipe both the jar top and seal of the lid with clean wet fingers to remove any gunk that would prevent a seal. Then process them in boiling water or a pressure cooker. I process mine for 10 minutes a 10 lbs. That's all there is too it. You will never buy store stuff again. PICKLED PSEUDO RED KRAUTThis mighty fine alternative to standard kraut resulted from not having enough red cabbage to make pickled red cabbage. It is sort of a combination of sauer kraut and pickled beets that looks like it was made with red cabbage and goes like this....... Simmer 1/4 lb fresh beets till soft enough to slip off the skins. Save the juice for later and cut, dice or leave whole as preferred. Shred 2 lbs cabbage and add 4 tsp salt. Add the beets and let sit overnight to start fermentation and wilt. Make a brine of: 1 cup vinegar Stir cabbage and beets and ladle into jars with perforated ladle, leaving most of the brine behind. Top off jars with the sweet brine, screw on lids and process at 10 lb for 10 min. Great change from kraut and goes well with the same meats. Bon appetit, SAUERKRAUT
1 Medium cabbage, cored and shredded 1 T caraway seeds 1 T sea salt 4 T whey (If not available, use an additional 1 T salt) In a bowl, mix cabbage with caraway seeds, sea salt and whey. Pound with wooden pounder or a meat hammer for about 10 minutes to release juices. Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down firmly with a pounder or meat hammer until juices come to the top of cabbage. The top of cabbage should be a least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage. The sauerkraut may be eaten immediately, but improves with age.
LATIN AMERICAN SAUERKRAUT
1 large cabbage, cored and shredded 1 C carrots, grated 2 medium onions, quartered lengthwise and very finely sliced 1 T dried oregano ¼-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes 1 T sea salt 4 T of whey (If not available, use an additional 1 T salt) In a large bowl mix cabbage with carrots, onions, oregano, red pepper flakes, sea salt and whey. Pound with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer for about 10 minutes to release juices. Place in 2 quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jars and press down firmly with a pounder or meat hammer until juices come to the top of the cabbage. The top of the cabbage mixture should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jars. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage. HONEY SYRUP FOR CANNED FRUIT If you do not want to use sugar syrup when canning fruit, you can use honey.
Syrup Honey Water Yield Thin 1-1/2 C 4 Cups 5 Cups Medium 2 Cups 4 Cups 5-1/2 Cups
Heavy 3 Cups 4 Cups 6 Cups
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