Archive for the ‘Produce’ Category

Sherbet Mania….too much Citrus: Orange Sherbet, Lemon Sherbet, Grapefruit Sherbet

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

We had bumper crops in Citrus this year as previously explained. We eat our Citrus daily and juice it for breakfast and give it away, but we still had too much.

One of our sons who is an excellent cook has a Sorbet/Ice cream maker but some of us never really liked a lot of the recipes (especially when he had a vegan girlfriend). But, we got to talking one night about the old ice cream bars which were orange Popsicles with vanilla ice cream inside. With this idea, which wasn’t new at all, we thought we could juice the Citrus use a Sorbet recipe but then add some cream to make it a sherbet and see how it turned out.

First, we did Orange, and it was exquisite.

Orange Sherbet Recipe:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Boil both and let cool down in frig
2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice (about 6 oranges)
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup cream
Combine everything and chill
Add to Ice Cream Maker per manufacturer’s instructions

Then, we did Lemon, it was superior, but probably needs more cream and/or less zest as the almost brilliant taste of the fresh fruit is powerful.

Lemon Sherbet Recipe:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar (we are arguing whether we need more)
Boil both and let cool down in frig
1 cups fresh squeezed orange juice (about 4 lemons)
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup cream (there is a vote for another 1/4 cup)
Combine everything and chill
Add to Ice Cream Maker per manufacturer’s instructions

Third was the real surprise. We always have a massive excess of excellent Grapefruit. Some of us have come to prefer it for morning juice versus the Oranges which are just too sweet. In the Sherbet, it takes one by surprise and then takes over. It was just excellent. A real keeper.

Grapefruit Sherbet Recipe:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Boil both and let cool down in frig
2 cups fresh squeezed grapefruit juice (about 4 grapefruits)
(no zest)
1/2 cup cream
Combine everything and chill
Add to Ice Cream Maker per manufacturer’s instructions

The net of all these activities is that store bought ice cream just sort of went away. Though store bought cheap ice cream is cheap, another $2 a week went away in exchange for the cream and a wonderful home grown experience to make and to enjoy.

Now, we just have to figure out how to convert the ice cream savings into renewable energy.

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Spring has already come for 2010

Monday, February 8th, 2010

So much for Global Warming….we have had a lot of rain this year (probably just cyclical) and the bulbs and trees started about 2 weeks early in late January versus our normal of mid February.

So far, this year, we added:

10 Fruit and Nut Trees

20 Grapes (from last year’s slips)

14 Boysenberries from cane strikes

Strawberries and more asparagus, garlic, and Kiwis.

1000+ vegetable seeds in flats. Very early for us mid-January. We created a PVC pipe frame which we will use later in the year for tomato stakes, and cover them with cheap plastic painter’s drop clothes. Very happy with the results.

Got all the mature trees pruned and fertilized. Good thing we did…with the early spring, many have already bolted without ever having lost their leaves from the fall and very short winter.

We made a mistake last year fertilizing the the trees using Citrus/Avocado mix for everyone. The peaches, plums, pears, nectarines, apricots were not happy. Lots of green growth with few blossoms. Surprisingly, the apples did not seem to care. The bananas, mango’s like it. The papaya was very upset with ridiculous bizarre growth.

Of course, we had record crops in citrus with more grapefruit, lemons than we could handle. Oranges (unbelievable seedless navels) which we always consume are almost at the excess level. The Bearless lime which we hate had a reasonable crop. We will replace this lime with a sweet lime and a Mexican thorn less which we prefer.

We had a surplus crop of Avocados which we were able to sell and still had way too much to eat.

Looking forward to our first nut crop of Almonds followed hopefully in a few years with Walnuts and Pecans. Still looking for pistachios and macadamia trees for CA (or from seed which we have not been successful at…..). Might get some passion fruit this year.

Very few items left to find to complete the coverage for the “Shopping List” which we updated. Slowly but surely we are moving to Fruit, Vegetable and Nut independence.

We are very happy with the results and derive a lot enjoyment from working in the yard. We putting in a “Granny Path” eg no obstacles so you walk in between the trees and gardens with your hands full without worrying too much so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.

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License to Sell Nursery Stock

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Last year I ordered some fruit trees (2 -Asian Pears, an Almond, and another Nectarine) from Bay Laurel Nursery:

www.baylaurelnursery.com

the products were superior to anything I have ever ordered and I order at least a few things every year for at least 30 years.  I noticed on their packing slip, they have a USDA license and California Nursery Stock Certificate, etc.   I was amazed at how many people seemed to be involved in the shipping of my order.  I thought I was just going to sell my seedlings but I discovered “opps” there might be a few hoops to jump through first….

I did a little research up on the Internet and found there was a License with an exemption for small time home growers.  Then, I found out that you do need to fill out an Application for License to Sell Nursery Stock.  I missed this on the first time through but a very helpful person at the Riverside County Building got us back on the right track.  Currently the form is NIPM Item #2.1.  NIPM means Nursery Inspection Procedures Manual.  I couldn’t find my original Internet version but found one posted by Orange County: NIPM Item #2.1

Then you need a Fee Exempt License to Sell Nursery Stock NIPM Item 2.4
Here is one from Sonoma Country: NIPM Item 2.4 which exempts small growers from the application fee.

There are numerous restrictions but the biggest is that you cannot ship your plants and they can only be sold in the county in which they are grown.  There are some others but those are the key restrictions.

I am lucky in that I already have a number of small businesses so I have the business licenses, Resale Licenses, Sales Tax, etc. so I did not have deal with those issues.

Basically, you need a business license, a sales certificate, and an agricultural license, as well as all the business “stuff”. I am not going to tell how to do it, but I can tell you my style never really changes when dealing with these issues.  I go direct.  So, I walked into the City Hall and asked for who handles Business Licenses (a very helpful lady decades ago got me through that one painlessly), and then walked down the street to the California State Building and asked where you get your sales license went to the 10th floor and they walked me through the application (a little more complex but got the job done), and then I sent one of my grown sons down to the County Agricultural Office to understand and submit the applications for License to Sell Nursery Stock and the Fee Exempt License.  We had it wrong, and a very helpful man helped us with the forms.

All in all, it would take me a half a day to do it now with what I know, but if I were young and starting over and knew nothing, I would figure a day spread out over several days with some of the items taking more than one visit. Not nearly as difficult as many of government processes and similar in pain to renewing a driver’s license or registering a new car title or getting a smog check, etc.

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Posted in Income, Produce, Recycled Plants, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Shopping List

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

A little long for a blog post, but one of the objectives of Recycled Plants was to also to produce vegetables, fruits and nuts to reduce our food bill as well as to produce vegetables and fruits for sales to contribute to our revenue fund to produce renewable energy.

As part of the Recycled Plants Challenge was to increase our production without increasing water usage.  This is being accomplished through a conversion to drip irrigation, mulching, and next will be rain water capture and reuse.

The list below is our shopping list of the vegetables, fruits, and nuts which we use regularly and which we thought we could produce in sufficient quantities to serve our needs.

Probably, the biggest lesson one relearns in this process is that we eat what is in season, or preserve the surplus.  Ann loves to dry the excess Apples, Bananas and Plums which she puts in plastic sandwich bags in the refrigerator and gets the dry fruit as snacks over the months until the next fruit comes into season.

And, switching to similar items, so for example, we changed from frozen Orange Juice to fresh Grapefruit juice in the morning.  Generic Brand Orange Juice for us is $1.88 per can and we used to buy 4 cans a week.  Just shifting to home grown on this item saves us about $7.52 a week or $391.04 per year.

The reason why we don’t squeeze our Oranges is that are they are superior Seedless Navels which ripen at Christmas.  Though we have 5 Seedless Navels and 1 lesser Juice Oranges, they seem to always get eaten and disappear so there is nothing left to juice.

We have to fight with the Raccoons, Opossums, and Foxes for the Avocados and Grapes.

Right now we only get excess Grapefruit and Avocados.

Here is the Shopping List:

Vegetable Weekly Usage Yearly Demand In Production Sufficient Excess for Sales
Artichokes 0.25 13 no no
Asparagus 5 260 yes no
Bell Peppers 5 260 yes yes
Broccoli 2 104 yes no
Cantaloupe 1 52 yes no
Carrots 2 104 yes no
Cucumber 2 104 yes no
Lettuce Head 1 52 no no
Lettuce Leaf 1 52 yes no
Onions 1 52 yes no
Potatoes 5 260 yes no
Squash Summer 2 104 yes yes
Squash Winter 1 52 yes yes
String Beans 10 520 yes no
Sweet Potatoes 0.5 26 yes yes
Tomatoes 5 260 yes no
Zucchini 2 104 yes yes
Fruits
Apples 7 364 yes yes
Avocados 7 364 yes yes yes
Bananas 7 364 yes no
Grapefruit 14 728 yes yes yes
Grapes 1 52 yes yes
Lemons 1 52 yes yes
Limes 1 52 yes no
Nectarines 7 364 yes no
Oranges 7 364 yes yes
Peaches 7 364 yes no
Pears Asian 7 364 yes no
Plums 7 364 yes no
Pomegranate 1 52 yes no
Tangerines 1 52 yes yes
Nuts
Almonds 7 364 yes no
Macedamian 7 364 no no
Pecan 7 364 yes no
Pistachio 7 364 no no
Walnut 7 364 yes no
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The Concept of Recycled Plants

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Recycled Plants came about as a challenge from my grown children to become more “Green”.

And, after watching a film on the Urban Homesteaders, I added many of their ideas as we have an Urban Home which lent itself to conversation techniques.  They have a ga…gillion sites:

www.pathtofreedom.com

www.peddleswagon.com

www.freedomgardens.org

www.freedomseeds.org

www.littlehomsteadinthecity.com

and, I sure they have a few more as well as the film up on YouTube www.homegrownrevolutionfilm.com

I added from my own experiences the concepts of the iterative processes, and self funding.

So, the concept became a challenge:  We had to get our home to renewable energy and grow our own food without spending any additional money except that which could be generated naturally in an urban environment, and expenditures had to be $25 or less (some small multiples of $25 would be allowed, but no large capital expenditures).

The Organization of Recycled Plants was to be me as the laborer and my youngest grown son as the CEO. Other family members could help when the felt like it.
Big John

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