Bumblebee Blog

Bzzzz June 25th, 2007

I don’t believe that most people who meet me think first of a farm girl. So I’m particularly delighted to report on my latest farm girl activities–just to prove it IS so.

I started this weekend by starting my second batch of cheese. My first batch was neufchatel, strictly following the book’s recipe. This time I made the same recipe, but omitting the cream, making a lighter version of the cheese. Both are–if I say so myself–fabulous.

Benjamin and I have eaten all of the first batch ourselves. I mixed it with garlic and herbs from the garden and we have eaten it on crackers as snacks. The second batch will be used for an absolutely sinful Italian Creme cake in lieu of the cream cheese in the frosting. (I might even post the recipe–one of my favorites.)

Home made neufchatel cheese

Who knew cheese making could be so easy?!? So far, at least, it seems to consist largely of having the right ingredients (starter, good milk or cream and various other things such as rennet), a REALLY clean kitchen and utensils (not a problem, as my mother-in-law has a favorite “out, out damn spot” joke about me) and waiting around, at which I happen to excel.

I bought the ingredients for creme fraiche today. I am also ordering more supplies from the New England Cheese Making Supply Company to make mozzarella and ricotta.

Embarrassment of riches–farm girl style

Next, I was faced with an embarrassment of riches–a whole bunch of cucumbers. I considered (briefly) giving some away, since our little family of three couldn’t possibly eat them all since there are even more on the way. So I pulled out my latest book purchases from Barnes and Noble and found a new bread and butter pickle recipe. (I plan to post a review of book soon.)

I have made bread and butter pickles a couple of times before. The first time, I was in my twenties and was living in an un-air conditioned house in Norfolk, Virginia. I was DYING with the heat in the kitchen from the huge canning kettle and the gas stove. When I had finished, I had about 20 jars of pickles that I had originally planned to give as gifts and share.

Hah! After all the work of planting, growing and pickling, I DID NOT SHARE A SINGLE JAR. I ate them all myself!

Well, this time wasn’t so bad.

Cucumbers and onions in pickling brine

I had the advantage of air conditioning and a mandolin grater this time that made the preparations so much more convenient and comfortable. In the end, I had about 10 jars of pickles. Will I share? Maybe. Just just a little. Even with a handy dandy Japanese mandolin grater and air conditioning, it’s still a lot of work!

Bread and butter pickles

Finally, just to top off my farm girl report…

I was watering in the garden yesterday and what did I find? MY FIRST TOMATO OF THE SEASON!!!!

I have been a very avid fan of heirloom tomatoes. But this year I planted a couple of varieties of hybrid tomatoes, including Better Boy and Early Girl. And waddaya know? The Early Girl produced the first tomato.

First tomato of the season, 2007

She’s not really all that impressive. Harry tried to put her in the salad last night and I objected STRENUOUSLY. Really, it would have gotten lost. I will eat her tomorrow from my hand with only a little salt for dressing.

Ciao!

Posted In: Canning and Preserving, Cheese Making, Gardening

2 Comments

Bzzzz June 22nd, 2007

I want to believe in miracles. I want BADLY to believe in miracles. Especially the kind that help you lose weight while eating everything you want, “turn back the hands of time” and be more productive “than you ever dreamed.” Heck, I would settle for a miracle plant food!

So when I read about SUPERThrive and the extravagant, if unrealistic claims, of making plants grow seemingly overnight, I had to give it a try.

But then, there’s the heavily marketed Miracle Gro. (I spent MANY YEARS working in a multitude of advertising agencies and grew to HATE cute spellings and words that are JammedTogether with an ExtraCapital. But I have made every effort to overlook that shortcoming of these products.)

SO I PUT THEM TO THE TEST. THE CHALLENGE:

–Three identical plants from the same grower.

–Raised in identical conditions of light, soil, pot and equal amounts of nurturing and neglect for 12 weeks.

–The difference: The water. One plant would be given only plain spring water from our well. One plant would be watered with water spiked with Miracle Gro. The third watered with water spiked with SuperThrive.

I first read about SuperThrive in James Dodson’s Beautiful Madness (a review of which you can read here). Although he was a skeptic, he reported on an extremely successful grower who SWEARS by the stuff and buys it by the barrel full.

On looking into it further, it seemed a bit of a modern aged snake oil. The product label is full or verbose claims. There are some good ones:

–Used by thousands of governments, state universities, leading arboretums, botanical gardens, park systems, U.S. States and cities in multiple drum lots. –Lifts the world!! –Added to 21 fertilizers by 21 growers.

And my favorite…

–Used by FIVE U.S. Departments to help win World War II.

As you can see, it’s difficult to take a product like this seriously since the claims are so outrageous and wholly unsubstantiated.

Nevertheless, in the interest of science, I will suspend disbelief.

The company is fairly vague as to the ingredients. The label claims that it includes “unique, normalizing vitamins-hormones.” In fact, when I embarked on this experiment I happened on a website that had conducted a chemical analysis of the product and confirmed that it does, indeed, have vitamins. It was unclear whether the vitamins were ones that plants need and, alas, I can’t find the website any longer.

The typical application of SuperThrive, according to the crowded label, is about a teaspoon per gallon, which can be added to other fertilizer.

Miracle Gro, on the other hand, simply states that it is a “Liquid Plant Food.” It states that the composition is 8-7-6 and offers a guaranteed analysis of the nitrogen, phosphate, potash and iron content. Application is 10 – 20 drops per quart of water for this particular Miracle Gro Product.

On the left is the plant only given spring water from our well. In the middle is the plant fed with Miracle Gro. On the right is the plant fed with SuperThrive.

THE RESULTS:

As you can see from the photo, the plant that was given only spring water from our well did not fare nearly as well as either the Miracle Gro or the SuperThrive plants. The plant is smaller, there is less new growth and overall the color is less green. The plant is clearly less vigorous than the other miracle food plants.

Left to right: Plain water plant, Miracle Gro plant, SuperThrive plant

After that, the judging becomes somewhat more difficult. My impartial (because he doesn’t give a hoot) observer, Benjamin, says that the SuperThrive plant appears to be bigger, healthier and more vigorous.

Yes, the SuperThrive plant has more new growth, more leaves and is a bit greener. On the other hand, the Miracle Gro plant is also vigorous and the growth is more mature and leaves are larger.

In the end, the SuperThrive plant is probably a bit more vigorous.

But is it a miracle? Sadly, no. Clearly, something in that outrageous bottle works, but it’s no more a miracle than Miracle Gro. And the price is outrageously higher. On Amazon the price was about $32 for a PINT. The 8 oz. bottle or Miracle Gro still has a tag on it from the local nursery for $2.49.

So, in the end, I vote for Miracle Gro. It has a good result with a value price. And you don’t have to feel entirely taken with their marketing pitch either.

My next question: Is that Alaskan fish fertilizer better than either one? Frankly, the only reason I didn’t include it in this test is that the local nursery didn’t have FOUR plants. But I have seen some amazing new growth in the weeks following when I pour on the stinky stuff. (And boy, does that stuff STINK.)

Ciao!

Posted In: Gardening, House Plants