Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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Yesterday I was asked why there weren’t any recipes last week. I’d simply blathered on long enough about other things that I’d run out of room. So I hope you’re prepared for a bit of an overload about cooking this week. Or you could skip on down to the last two paragraphs... Bobby’s Baked Chicken 1 (3 1/2#) chicken, cut up 3 Tbl Dijon mustard 1 Tbl mayonnaise 1 clove garlic, minced Zest AND juice of 1 lime 3/4 tsp pepper Salt to taste Chopped fresh parsley for garnish Heat oven to 400°. Rinse chicken pieces, pat dry with paper towels. Wh...
It’s definitely a Montana-style spring going on: spits of rain one day, flurries of snow the next. Between the two, we measured .08” of moisture last week, and every bit counts. The snow Friday evening measured about 3” of wet fluff. It was only 25° Saturday morning, with a stiff breeze, so I didn’t attempt making a snowman. Of course, the almost constant winds are busy sucking that much desired moisture right back up into the sky and blowing it away. Dennis tells me the soil temperature at a depth of 4” is still only 40°, so it’s much t...
The seeds for this year’s garden have been purchased. The seed catalogs were of no help - I’ve continued to ignore both the ones that came snail-mail and the daily barrage of emailed exhortations to have “the best garden ever” if only I’ll purchase their offerings. I shopped locally, both at the grocers and a hardware store. I’ve had plenty of good food grown from those sources. A couple of boxes of seed potatoes were even to be found. Since the extension office noted via Facebook that their seed potatoes were already spoken for, I snapped up...
Let me start with a quick apology for having been missing from the Courier for the past month. I really wasn’t procrastinating. Family matters kept me from even thinking about either gardening or cooking. I’ve noticed lots of geese flying north lately. We’ve seen several gophers out basking in the sun alongside the highway between Opheim and Glasgow. All these critters may be confused, or they may be correct that spring is actually on its way to rejoin us. The snow is rapidly disappearing from my yard and garden area. Of course, it could alway...
MARY HONRUD FOR THE COURIER We’ve had another trip to Billings, this one for a couple of medical reasons. The main one was for another follow-up on Dennis’s shoulder procedure. The healing of that shoulder is proceeding extremely well. He’s the anomaly in that he’s way ahead of the curve in range of motion/lack of pain. The other reason was my dental referral. I was lucky enough to be able to get my tooth extraction scheduled for the same time. The tooth had been bothering me for at least three years. Two re-fills and root canals had not cur...
During the times I spend doing the Whole Life Challenge (WLC), there’s a new Well Being Practice (WBP - you’d almost think it’s a gov’t program with all these acronyms) each week. This current challenge started with making a “Do Not Do” list of three items you regularly do daily that you could reasonably skip doing. Those could be extended to not do all week, or you could list three new items each day. The second week was spend ten minutes each day in meditation. Definitely not my favorite practice. This week we are “declutteri...
MARY HONRUD FOR THE COURIER I'd been so good lately at getting my column written and sent in well before the Monday deadline, that having having procrastination raise its oh-so-tempting head really surprised me. It's a good thing I keep a list of what I've written and for which edition of the Courier, so I was able to confirm I hadn't written one for this week. And I remembered in time to get it done, which is also surprising. As my youngest says, "Go, me!". So, living life and gathering info...
We are home again after our latest trip to Florida. We spent a great deal of time down there hanging out at ice rinks, watching our grandsons playing hockey. They’re in different age groups, the older being a squirt while the younger is a mite. Both belong to the Gulf Coast Flames, and they travel a lot to play. We were in Fort Myers first, then Ellenton. This weekend they’re in Tampa and Orlando. The 8-year-old had just returned to playing after having broken his arm in October. He did that in his own driveway, not related to travel hockey, al...
There are many more epiphytes than most of us non-botanists are aware. I've done a little more studying on these plants, which comprise roughly ten percent of all plant species. So if you are bored with this subject, feel free to skip my column this week. It won't offend me since I don't know who reads my offerings unless you personally tell me. As a quick review, I'll remind you that epiphytes are "air plants". They use other plants as a support, but acquire their moisture from the air around t...
MARY HONRUD FOR THE COURIER While walking along foot paths towards the beach on Sanibel Island in Florida, I took note of the thick "vines" I thought were snaking their way up and around other trees. The sinuous way they formed geometric patterns as they encircled the other tree trunks was very eye-catching. I took several photos, then had to do some research to discover more about this life-form. It turns out the "vines" are actually fig trees, aptly known as Strangler Figs. The Ficus Aurea is...
It's so easy to waste time scrolling through all the apps on my phone, instead of what I should be doing. I know I need to get a column written, typed up (iPad usage), proofread, and sent in. But figuring out what to write about is daunting. And I get to do this every week! It's especially hard to come up with topics during these non-gardening months of the year. There are so many more of those than actual gardening months. Yes, I do have many (too many) houseplants, but the weekly watering...
This past week found me finally getting into the spirit of holiday “baking”. I’d been meaning to do this since I put up our artificial tree. The assembly of the tree occurred before Thanksgiving. I refuse to apologize or feel bad about breaking the unwritten rule of “no Christmas decorating before Thanksgiving Day”. Who doesn’t need to do whatever brings them joy in this wretched year? I’ve made multiple batches of caramel popcorn using the recipe I’ve shared in the past that features large paper grocery bags and the microwave. (If you missed...
Last week, one of my many plants unsuccessfully attempted harakiri by flinging itself off the top of the baker’s rack. Sitting in the living room, we heard a loud crash from the breakfast nook. Alarmed, I hurried to check it out. A green vine had jumped three and a half feet from the top of the baker’s rack turned plant stand/catch all. There was plant soil everywhere, and parts of the vine were broken off. It was a mess. After uprighting the vine, I scooped up the soil as best I could by hand and tamped it back into the cracked plastic pot...
Editor's Note: This column was submitted on Nov. 22 however was not placed in the Nov. 25 issue due to space. This week's column could be rather short - or not. I do tend to get long-winded at times... Sometimes I'm not so good about planning ahead (okay, often I'm not), and I've let Thanksgiving sneak up on me. Obviously, the timing of this holiday necessitates a shortened deadline. Instead of needing my small contribution to the weekly edition of the Courier by noonish on Monday, they want it...
I do believe all my complaining about winter arriving early and Montana not understanding how a calendar works has actually paid off. The snow has melted away, thanks to the wind, rain, and warmer (above freezing!) temperatures. Don’t ruin my joy at this by telling me snow is still in the forecast. The unraked (I’ll be honest, the unmowed and therefore not sucked up) leaves were actually dried enough to be blowing about the yard last Sunday. The riding mower may come out of storage this week to take care of most of those leaves. I hope to not...
The calendars are all wrong. It looks like we’re skipping fall this year and are jumping straight into winter. It’s going to be a long one. Dennis pointed out, as I complained, that we did get some Indian summer (are we allowed to use that phrase?) right after those first couple frosts. That nice bit of weather did allow me to dig the carrots and otherwise finish clearing out the garden. But I want more of that nice weather! I hate going immediately from flip flops to snow boots. That’s just not right. This will be my winter of disco...
I think Mother Nature has it in for us in Montana. She's trying to start winter while according to the calendar, it's still fall. I recently remarked that Montana just doesn't understand the calendar. Fall is supposed to ease us into winter, letting us gradually get used to cooler weather. It isn't supposed to jump straight to cold, dumping snow and icy road conditions on us. A former Montana friend, who now resides in Florida, remarked on my Facebook photos of the snow, "It's pretty." Which it...
This is the time of year I'm thoroughly tired of gardening. I'm ready for it to be finished. The wheat crop is all in the bins, the trees are turning color and dropping leaves like crazy, and I'm over it. Fall doesn't fill me with hope and enthusiasm like spring does. The dahlias and gladiola bulbs have all been dug. They've been drying in the garage for a few days. Soon I'll cut the tops of them and layer them atop and between old burlap potato sacks in the Styrofoam cooler I've used for them...
I had a a few weeks off from writing, which has really helped me without my having to ask for it. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the John Deere Trac, running the grain cart while Dennis runs the combine. The houseplants had already been gathered together on the front deck, in the shade of the Virginia creeper that has grown up on the south side. I’d done that over a few mornings before heading out to the fields in order to make watering them easier. I didn’t have to drag the hose all over the yard in my limited time before becoming the ...
Editor's Note: This column was submitted to us on Aug. 31. The making of another frosting used up the remainder of my fresh raspberries. The following recipe was finally tested and is definitely a keeper. I’m using it for graham cracker “sandwich cookies”, as well as on a dark chocolate cake. The cupcake recipe I recently shared also makes a fine 9x13” cake. Chocolate and raspberries really do go well together. Cream cheese makes a frosting so much richer, too, don’t you think? Fresh Raspberry Frosting 1 C raspberries (fresh OR frozen) 2...
First off, I'm offering a confession: my gardening skills are not up to par this year. I'm feeling rather disappointed in my efforts this year. I don't know if it is because it's 2020 (the whole Covid-19 thing, killer insects running amok, the politics, etc) or if it is just my age slowing me down. I'm just not getting as much satisfaction out of growing flowers and vegetables as I normally would. I never got around to sprinkling granular fertilizer over the ground before planting. I haven't add...
This week's column will be almost all recipes. I'm using up my remaining raspberries without just freezing them 'as is'. Save these winners for next summer. They'll be worth it, I promise! I'm in between Whole Life Challenge sessions (the next one starts the day after Dennis' birthday, yay), so I'm back to using regular flour and real sugar for the next six weeks. No need to look for almond flour or fake sugars. First up, I made these bars, but I'll warn you right away, where it says "ungreased...
While I’m still harvesting a few raspberries, they are definitely at the tail end of their capacity to produce appreciable numbers for this summer. A few of the canes may flower again and attempt a second crop, but those berries will succumb to the first frosts if the usual pattern holds. And I’m thinking about possible frosts since our temperature dipped below 40° this Monday morning. Sunday morning was also quite chilly up here just south of the border. I don’t want to contemplate the coming of winter, but it is what it is. Naturally, my gre...
I'm still spending all the hours of every morning picking raspberries. They just keep on ripening and requiring picking. I'll go around the outer edges of the long rows one day, and then through the center between the two thick rows the next. Then repeat. Sundays are skipped. I believe I have enough berries frozen to last through the long winter months, so others are now benefiting from my largesse. The local cafe should soon have jam. Several of my church families had containers of berries to...
I could get used to only writing a column every other week. The Courier hasn't had room for my drivel a couple of times lately, so I've enjoyed those "free" Mondays. The problem is remembering which Monday is the one I need to sit down and put pen to paper. (The polishing occurs when I rewrite this using my iPad - if you can call my finished work polished.) The heat has arrived, along with less rain. This means I have been putting the drip system to work, watering half the garden at a time....
