Museum of Life and Science

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Making Kimchi

A friend on mine that runs a farm up in Virginia called me this morning to ask me if I wanted some Bok Choy, as she was over run with it from her garden. I said, “Sure, bring me five heads of it! I’ll think of something to do with it.”

Here are the five beautiful heads of Bok Choy she brought me. Bok Choy is a Chinese vegetable that is classified as a cabbage, looks more like celery and contains leaves resembling lettuce.

I opted to dehydrate two of the heads for making soup later on. I wanted to keep one for a fresh stir-fry meal in the next couple of days. That left me with two Bok Choy heads left. But what should I do with them?

I discovered that Korean Kimchi is typically made with Napa Cabbage but can be made with Bok Choy as well. What is Kimchi? Kimchi is a traditional Korean fermented spicy dish most commonly made with napa cabbage and other vegetables such as radish, green onion, chive, carrots and cucumber. Kimchi is the most common side dish in Korean cuisine. Kimchi is also a main ingredient for other common Korean dishes such as Kimchi stew. I have never made Kimchi before but there is a first time for everything.

After a bit of chopping, measuring and mixing this is what my Kimchi looks like…

It is not done yet as it still needs to ferment for 2-3 days to get that sour tang you find in dill pickles and sauerkraut. Then I will put it in the fridge where it will be good for 2-4 months.

Horse 4-H Meeting

We belong to a horse centered 4-H club called the Southern Ring Rockers.  Tonight was our monthly meeting.  Hannah came along with us to see what we do there.  The monthly meetings are mostly business events where we talk about what the club has done and make plans for future events as well.

The battery died on my camera so I didn't get to take photos of Hannah at the table sitting with McKayla but she was there!

Farmer's Market

The Farmer's Market in our small town officially opened for the season today.

After a few quiet days at home Hannah was ready to hit the town so she opted to come along with McKayla, Taylor and I to the market.

Our Farmer's Market is pretty small compared to some but it is early in the season and not all of the vendors have started coming yet. Also, next month they are planning to build a permanent structure to house the Farmer's Market in as well. I am looking forward to that!

We purchased some fresh baked items to snack on... a rhubarb tart for me, oatmeal raisin cookies for McKayla and Hannah chose chocolate chip cookies... Yummy!

I picked up a few plant starts for the garden... a purple tomato, thyme, dill and oregano. Then Hannah spotted these huge fresh picked strawberries! It didn't take much convincing for me to buy 4 quarts of them. We ate a few right in the parking lot, the rest I hid away until we got home so we could make strawberry jam with them.

We made Freezer Jam today because it is fast and easy as it doesn't require any cooking. First I cleaned and sliced the strawberries up to equal 8 cups tightly packed berries.

Then we added in a package of Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin (this is different then the pectin for cooked jam). Pectin is what makes your jam (with fruit chunks) or jelly (pureed smooth) get thick and spreadable. It is naturally in many fruits but adding additional pectin helps achieve a thicker result.

The strawberries and pectin are mixed together really well to a consistency that you like. At this point Hannah wanted to eat the mixture with a spoon it smelled so good!

Finally, after letting it set for about 30 minutes we spooned the jam into freezer containers (our batch made 11 half pint jars) and store in the freezer up to a year. Not only is this great jam for sandwiches it is also great over ice cream and makes a wonderful stir-in for plain yogurt too!

Gymnastics Class

Hannah came along with us to McKayla's gymnastics class. But first we ran a few errands in town.

We had to stop at the post office to mail a package as well as some postcards we are trading with others around the world. Hannah and McKayla mailed the postcards while I waited to mail the package at the window.

Our next stop was to the recycling center. Our county (Person County) recently acquired a new recycling system. We are now able to take more types of materials to be recycled and it does not need to be sorted ahead of time! We recycle as much as we can here and the recycling center is a stop I make once or twice a week.

Finally it was time to go to gymnastics.

McKayla, at 5 years old, is in a girls level 1 class and loves it. The play equipment you see in front is for a toddler class. McKayla's class uses the equipment to the rear of the gym like the balance beams, uneven bars, trampoline, dance mats, etc.

After gymnastics we all went to Pizza Hut for dinner. We ordered what we always do; a family order of cheese breadsticks and a cheese lovers with half pepperoni on a hand tossed crust. Yumm

Hannah's first full day.

Our first morning with Hannah started as we begin every Sunday morning... homemade buttermilk biscuits with sausage and gravy and scrambled eggs.  Not the healthiest of breakfasts but we indulge this one day of the week.  Leftover warm biscuits are often eaten with jam or honey.

Warm biscuits right from the oven are so tempting!

After breakfast it is time for chores.  Here Hannah is seen with our goat Mary Jane.  Mary Jane is eating her breakfast on the milking stanchion so I can milk her.  I am currently milking two goats; Mary Jane and her mother Peppermint.

Eggs needed to be collected.  This is a Welsummer hen, one of my favorites.

Our American Chinchilla rabbits needed to be fed.  Pictured here with Hannah is one of three different rabbit litters we currently have. 

Hannah visiting with our Irish Dexter cow Cherry Blossom while she eats her breakfast.  I am not currently milking either of our cows.

After finishing up feeding the rest of the animals (photos to come over the next few days) we headed back to the house to strain the goat's milk.  I got over a liter today but used some to bottle feed the last goat kid (baby) that we haven't sold yet.  Once the milk is strained I put in the freezer for 30 minutes to rapidly cool and then it goes into the refrigerator.

Next thing that needed to get done was wash the eggs we collected this morning and put them in cartons for sale. We sell farm fresh eggs for $2 a dozen right here at the farm.

Here is a picture of one of our eggs cracked open.  The yolks from chickens that free range and eat good things like bugs and fresh grasses are very orange instead of the lighter yellow of commercial raised eggs you get at the grocery store.

The rest of our day was spent doing odds and ends around the farm.  This evening we did some reading and relaxed together while watching TV.  McKayla made this picture of Hannah in a garden with brown leaves falling from the trees.

Flat Hannah arrives!

We were delighted to find that Flat Hannah arrived safely from Texas this afternoon.  She was a bit tired from her days of travel.  We promised her a quiet evening...

As we typically do, Saturday evenings we go over to the kid's grandparents (the Bensens) house in Virginia. Even though they are in another state it is only a 25 minute drive from our farm. We usually take turns with them making dinner for the whole family and tonight I offered to make beef stoganoff to bring over. The beef we used was beef we raised right here on our farm.

After dinner Hannah, Evan and McKayla went out on the deck to read stories with their grandmother. They are currently reading a Star Wars book together.

We always enjoy our visits with the Bensen grandparents but it is nice to come home again.