Eric reads viewer mail, and we hear about how us talking about our dog’s cornea scratch, and how we treated it, helped a listener. We also talk about keeping bugs out of your mouth. Then we read more viewer mails.
This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but I earn a commission from. Thx! www.gardenfork.tv/amazon
Moms shows us how to make banana bread with a recipe she has used for years. If you want moist banana bread, I suggest using riper bananas and more of them. You will have to bake the banana bread a little longer.
Banana bread is one of those comfort foods from childhood that still work. Having a bad day? Have some banana bread. I really like this loaf toasted with some butter on it, served with tea. Nice.
I don’t recall the name of the cookbook this banana bread recipe comes from, but it was one of those recipe collections put together by a group of people and self published. There are many variations on banana bread, we have one made with coconut here, and a dutch oven banana bread here. But this is mom’s standard and its the one we will learn how to make banana bread with. So here we go.
I have found that dark metal or glass loaf pans work better for this, I like the browning of the crust. And if you want a taller loaf use slightly narrower pans than the standard loaf pan. The baking time will vary depending on your oven, they are all different.
I’m all about saving bananas in the freezer. Have some your family wont eat? Put them in the freezer to save for this. They thaw quickly and fall apart in the batter. Nice that you don’t have to jump through all sorts of hoops to prepare them for freezing. Just throw them in. Done.
It’s 8 pm, its eric, and a glass of wine. So we talk about making ramen, of course. Cause that’s what we’re probably having for dinner. Then we segue to the PBS show Wolf Hall, and then Elon Musk’s new battery for your house.
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Here’s a washing machine valve DIY repair I did when I had to move a washing machine last week. I took some photos of how I did it to show you all.
Behind most washing machines is a set of valves called the washing machine shutoff valves. This makes it easy to hook up a washing machine to the house water supply. There are two shut off valves, for the hot and cold water. Hint: when connecting or disconnecting the hoses from these valves, mark which hose is hot and cold. I often switch them and have to redo the hookup.
As I was ready to disconnect one of the shutoff valves, I discovered the valve was leaking. It wouldn’t shut off, and water sprayed when I attempted to remove the supply hose. Bad thing. I went into the basement and found the supply pipes leading to the washing machine valves, and shut them off.
I then tried to remove the broken valve from the pipe coming up through the shutoff housing, but it wouldn’t turn. So I carefully cut out some of the drywall below the valve so I could see if the pipe was soldered on or was threaded. Thankfully it was threaded, and I could slip a wrench in and remove the valve and the stub of pipe.
Note how I used a utility knife to cut down on two sides and pried open the drywall. This allowed me to use the bottom of the drywall piece as a hinge and put it back in place easily. Some hole filler took care of it after that. This rig sits behind the washing machine, so the repair doesn’t have to look amazing.
Once I got this out of the housing, I could get two wrenches on it and remove the broken valve. I replaced the broken valve with what I call a boiler drain valve, but it works perfect for this application, it has the same garden hose style threads, and its made of brass. Some teflon tape and pipe thread paste, and its was back in its place.
Archive show with Daniel and Mike talking cheese curds and more, here is the info from the original show:
Daniel Delaney of The Hungry Pedaler and Vendr TV joins us to talk about apple butter and pie crusts, Maritime Donairs, and we discuss Anne Raver’s NY Times article about using newspaper to smother weeds in a new garden bed, and where one can buy cheese curds.
our song of the week is How Far, Jamison Young’s website is JamYoung.net
Jozi’s post on Maritime Donairs is here
photo courtesy of www.MorgueFile.com
Archive Show! Eric wings it solo, as Mike is busy with the real world of work. We talk about salt water fishing inspired by an article by Keith Wagstaff of EdibleBrooklyn on East River Fishing & Ben Sargent of brooklynchowdersurfer.com . A lengthy honeybee & beekeeping update, Daniel Delaney’s new venture, EatersDigestNYC.com a weekly email about food events in New York City, Tracy skypes in to talk about single serving brownies, Julie and Tim Kirby call in to talk about bees, home made liquor, and harvesting berries. Julie’s website is http://www.fiddlesticks.uk.net
Single Serve Brownie
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cocoa
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons beaten egg (give the leftover beaten egg to your dog)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flour
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons chopped nuts
· Melt the butter in the microwave.
· Add the cocoa, mix until blended.
· Add the sugar and mix well. 4 Stir in the egg substitute and the vanilla.
· Add the flour and salt and stir until just blended.
· Add nuts if desired.
· Pour batter into a greased ramekin ( I use a 5 inch round, 1 inch deep terra cotta bowl – makes a thin but tasty brownie!). Bake at 350 for 10 – 15 minutes. Top will be shiny and the sides of the brownie will start to pull away from the edge of the pan when it is done.
Here’s our easy birdhouse plans video, this is based on a few designs, and uses common pine lumber. This birdhouse is a good children’s woodworking project, as you can use hand tools to build it.
I’m big on using scrap wood to build birdhouses, and this house can be made with scrap or recycled lumber or pallets. The design can be scaled up for larger birds and be adapted for many birds: Bluebirds, Chickadees, Woodpeckers, Wrens, Nuthatches. I call it the Bauhaus birdhouse, as its a very simple and clean design that works well for a variety of birds.
One of the most important things when building a bird house is to make sure the interior wall below the entrance hole is very rough or has screening on it. The young birds will need to climb up this inner wall to get out of the nest, and if the inner wall is too smooth, like most finished lumber, they can’t get out of the nest.
You can build a birdhouse like we do here, or take this birdhouse design and make your own changes to the plans. These will last longer if you paint them. The wood is best primed first, then with a few topcoats of an outdoor latex paint. Do Not Paint The Interior! I don’t think the color should be bright, but I’m not an ornithologist…
For bluebirds we use an elongated hole in the basic birdhouse plan but you can also drill or cut a regular circular entrance. Go buy a set of good quality wood spade bits and pick the diameter that matches the kind of birds you are hoping to attract. A coping saw is inexpensive if you plan on doing more woodworking projects, with which you can cut elongated or circular entrances.
We drill several holes in the bottom of the birdhouse, and have a vent at the top. This is one reason we cut one of the sides shorter. It allows the side to hinge for cleaning, and also serves as a top vent for the house. You don’t want the young birds to overheat in their house.
Its important that birdhouses be varmint proof. If you are going to put them on a stake or pole, use one of the varmint proofing methods to keep them from crawling up the post and eating the young birds.
Watch more of our birdhouse videos here:
here is the link to the North Dakota Fish and Game birdhouse plans that we based our birdhouses on.
Have big holes in a birdhouse? Here’s how to make a squirrel proof birdhouse or repair an existing one. Early spring means its time for birdhouse repair in our yard. The yard is dotted with birdhouses made from our how to make a birdhouse video, and some of them have had squirrels chew open the entrances. Here’s how to make a damaged birdhouse squirrel proof and build new ones that will thwart squirrels. Its pretty simple.
Squirrels like birdhouses for the same reasons birds do, they are nice dry places to raise young, and squirrels need a winter home as well. The problem with wood birdhouses is squirrels can easily chew open the entrances. Most of my birdhouses are built for small birds like chickadees, and one would think a squirrel would realize that birdhouse is too small, but they rip open the entrance anyway. See our easy birdhouse plans video here.
Once it has a big hole, birds don’t like it, as the large hole makes it easy for predators to rob their nest.
I’ve seen a number of squirrel proof birdhouse solutions, this one I’ve adopted is the simplest, and works well in my yard.
Pick up a roll of thin metal flashing in the roofing department of your hardware store. Our store sells a roll that is painted brown on one side, white on the other. This is great, as the brown blends in with the wood tone of the birdhouse. You can also use scrap sheet metal you have in the shop – use what you got – but the thinner flashing is easier to deal with. This stuff is handy to have on hand for all sorts of repairs.
You can use it for a DIY exhaust or muffler repair.
You will drill a hole in the metal flashing that is the same diameter as the entrance of the birdhouse. I use a hole saw, which is an add name for a drill bit, but it is what it is. Pick up a hole saw kit here, they are handy to have. Don’t use a spade bit on metal, you will ruin the bit. If doing a repair, the hole diameter should also match the original hole, you can find a link to birdhouse plans and proper hole diameters here.
I used small brad nails to attach the metal to the birdhouse, the flashing is thin enough to nail through. If you are using sheet metal, you’ll need to drill some holes for the nails or screws.
Be careful when handling metal, it can cut you, and wear safety goggles when drilling the hole.
When you buy too many of those cherry tomatoes at the big store, make this roasted cherry tomatoes and polenta recipe. This recipe takes tired, older cherry tomatoes and concentrates their flavor, drop them on top of a quick pot of polenta, and you have dinner, or part of a big dinner.
I had bought a large package of cherry tomatoes at the warehouse style food store, the place where you eyes get big and you want to buy lots of stuff because you think its all a good deal, except that you have to cook it all. I have found that buying dried fruits and nuts at the warehouse store is a good deal. I keep them in zipper storage bags and put the nuts in the fridge, they last longer that way.
The tomatoes sat on the counter for a week – don’t keep them in the fridge – and started to get soft and a bit wrinkled. I cut them in half, put them in an oiled pan, and sprinkled the magic ingredients over them, olive oil and salt. In the oven for 20-30 min, and out come something completely different that what went in there.
The polenta is based on our quick stovetop polenta recipe, using the secret ingredient to cook the polenta faster. Add in some butter, and its a brilliant dish.
You can top the cherry tomatoes with dried oregano or a mix of italian seasonings, it makes them that much better with little effort. I like to buy the larger container of italian seasoning, it goes on top of lots of foods in our house. Don’t use the best olive oil you have for this, as it is heated, so any subtle flavors are out the window. Use fine salt, not the course kind, as some salt might remain, and not everyone likes to bite down on chunks of salt, ok?
We just finished the maple syrup season, so its time for our easy maple baked beans recipe. You can use canned beans for this or cook some beans in your pressure cooker. There aren’t a ton of ingredients to this, but the few ingredients combine to make this perfect for a BBQ side dish.
A viewer suggested the other day that our homemade maple syrup evaporator could be used as a DIY meat smoker, and that provided the easy connection to make baked beans with maple syrup.
I’ve been to plenty of BBQ places across the U.S.A., and some of the baked beans I’ve been served are not great. I want them to be slightly sweet with some baked tomato flavor, and not too soupy. I’ve seen and eaten a wide range of them, and my easy maple baked beans recipe reflects what I like in a baked bean recipe.
A good potluck dinner recipe, these beans should be served on a paper plate in your friend’s backyard on one of those red stained wood picnic tables. Or at least one made out of pallets… ( more DIY pallet videos coming )
I baked these beans in a seasoned cast iron dutch oven. Learn how to season cast iron here. I think its the perfect vessel for this dish. Its got a nice carrying handle, and the thick walls keep the heat even. And drop that puppy on a potluck table and it looks so much better than those plastic food storage containers, right?
A lot of recipes call for molasses or brown sugar, or both. I am not big on super sweet beans, and the maple syrup works well, I think. 1/2 cup of syrup does well for me. I would not suggest adding any more, but again, its a personal thing. The canned beans are cannelini beans, but any white bean works here – you could even use lima beans – which has now got me thinking about a lima bean baked dish.
The small can of tomato paste stands in for ketchup. I LOVE ketchup, especially on meatloaf, but these beans are better without it.
Here are a variety of cast iron dutch ovens to check out:
I figured out how to build a homemade maple syrup evaporator because I was burning through a lot of propane when making maple syrup. I don’t make enough syrup to warrant buying one, but a DIY maple syrup evaporator was just what I needed. Watch the 2 videos below and step through the photos of the evpaorator build.
The Making Of time lapse video:
How to use the Homemade Maple Syrup Evaporator
This is made out of a metal 4 drawer file cabinet and a few steam table pans, plus some stuff you may already have or can get cheaply or for free. If you can find a 5 drawer file cabinet, even better, it will allow you space to have another pan for boiling.
This is not an original idea of mine, I learned about it through Annie Corrigan of Earth Eats, a WFIU radio program and podcast. She produced a story about Mike Bell of the Hinkle Garton Farmstead, who made this great homemade maple syrup evaporator. You can see photos of his rig here.
We have two videos of this evaporator. One is a fun time lapse of me building the rig, the second is a walk through of how to use make maple syrup with it. Below the videos are photos of building the evaporator and more videos on how to make maple syrup
Before I built this evaporator, I was using a lot of propane to boil down sap into syrup, you can watch a video of how we use a propane turkey deep fryer to make maple syrup here. The turkey fryer method works, but you burn through the propane, and make a bunch of trips to the hardware store buying refills.
I did not keep close track of how many gallons of sap I boiled down in a day, but if you keep on top of it, I imagine you can boil down about 50-70 gallons a day, depending on the sugar ratio of your sap and how hot your fire burns. Pallets and scrap lumber burn hotter than firewood, I found.
Click Here to go to the next page for photos and instructions on how to build the homemade maple syrup evaporator.
After reading through photos for the homemade maple syrup evaporator, check out how I improved the original design in this video:
Watch all our Maple Syrup How To Videos here.
Steam Table Pan Maple Syrup Evaporator Improvements – GF Video
This is a homemade maple syrup evaporator made out of a metal filing cabinet. It is brilliant and works really well for how simple it is. Using free or almost free stuff, you can make a DIY evaporator. Most of the items I had around the garage or shop.
Couple of things first:
• Use this information at your own risk.
• Wear the proper eye, hand, mouth, ear protection when using power tools and assembling any DIY project.
If you haven’t already, watch the two videos we made about the file cabinet evaporator. One is a time lapse of the evaporator build, the other is a walk through of how to use the DIy evaporator to make maple syrup. Then go through the photos and info below.
Tools you will need:
Cordless drill, having a flip bit is real handy.
Right angle grinder with a metal cutting blade. Have several spares on hand.
New metal cutting drill bits slightly smaller than the screws you are using.
Self tapping screws #8 x 3/4
Angle Iron or a metal bed frame you can cut up.
2 hinges – almost anything will work, I recycled some I had laying around.
Metal hasp for fire door
4″ vent pipe 4′ – 6′ long
4″ to heat vent metal duct to connect chimney to cabinet
4″ metal vent elbow
Full size steam table trays
Zip screws for sheet metal
Terra Cotta garden pots or firebrick or some other heat resistant objects
Steel grate the width and length of the cabinet. This one is 12″ x 48″
After you build this, fill the pans with water and fire it up. Let it burn for an hour or however long it takes for the paint to blister. I scraped the blistered paint off and put it in the trash.
Some paint will remain, as you can see in the photos.
I tried different lengths of pipe for the chimney. It helps if the chimney is higher than your head, so you get less smoke in your eyes.
The steam table trays need the angle iron to suspend them over the fire. Do a dry fit with all the angle iron and pans in place before screwing them in.
In the video, I attached a bathroom fan to the evaporator. I discovered I did not need to use the fan, as I was burning scrap lumber, which burns hot and fast. If you are burning firewood, you may want to attach one. Its better if you attach the fan to the front of the evaporator rather than the side like I did.
I did not have an adjustable air intake, I found if I kept the door slightly open, that worked very well.
I used terra cotta pots and steel grating to raise the fire up closer to the pans. I found this worked well for me. I did not line the evaporator with firebrick. Though I could see lining it would make it easier to stand next to the rig and carry the heat better. If the fire died down, the boil did too. Firebrick may have helped that.
For Version 2.0 of this homemade maple syrup evaporator, I will move the pans closer to the chimney, and have that extra space that I filled in with a piece of drawer right above the firebox door. The area right near the front door was not nearly as hot as the rear of the box.
This design is based on one by Mike Bell of the Hinkel Garton Farmstead, I learned of it by listening to Annie Corrigan on Earth Eats, a WFIU radio show and podcast. Here is a set of photos on their Flickr page
Check out how I improved the original design in this video:
Rick and Eric talk about starting seeds and gardening, because its finally spring, at least for a few days. We then move on to boiling sap with the new DIY Maple Syrup Evaporator, and Eric tells of his trail run with the new rig.
We segue to getting rid of stuff, and talk about a new website called Next Door Neighbor , that allows you to have a neighborhood forum. Rick likes it, his town uses it very well, Eric has not had as much experience with it, but it worth checking out. Rick has used it do sell off un-needed items.
Rick is moving forward on his office-shed thing. Rick is working with a neighbor who has experience, which is a good thing with Rick. The challenge is to get wifi into the shed, the answer is probably to run an ethernet cable out there.
We touch on beekeeping and some thoughts on the Honey Flow system people are talking about. And there is the bee winter survival survey at www.beeinformed.org
We end with viewer mail from 3 fans.
This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but I earn a commission from. Thx! www.gardenfork.tv/amazon
Back in the middle of winter I got an email from Troy-Bilt asking if I would like to work with them this year. I’ve known Troy-Bilt for their rototillers, which are the Mack truck of garden power equipment, for as long as I can remember. My neighbors have Troy-Bilt equipment from 40 years ago that works to this day.
So yeah, I said yes.
In early March Troy-Bilt flew me and 5 other DIY – Garden bloggers to Charleston, SC for a 3 day get together. Why Charleston? Because when I got off the plane it was 80F outside. What a change from freezing New England. Sap season hadn’t even started and I’m in a t-shirt testing out mowers and tillers.
I got to meet people from Troy Bilt and their media agency, plus the 5 other bloggers, we are called The Saturday6. We toured Charleston, which is a beautiful city full of history, and had several great dinners.
Really humbling was meeting Katie Stagliano, a 14 year old who founded her own non-profit, Katie’s Krops, to grow food for America’s hungry. Troy-Bilt works with her organization, which inspires and helps kids start vegetable gardens to grow food for the hungry. The Saturday6 will be working with Katie’s Krops this summer.
We spent a morning learning the history of Troy-Bilt, and their plans for the future, and the new products they have for this summer. More on the new products here soon, plus some videos demonstrating their gear.
Then after lunch we went outside and tested the new gear. I’ll be making videos about Troy-Bilt outdoor power equipment and writing about their gear this summer, but in short, they have some great new tools:
The Mustang Pivot is a zero turn riding mower that doesn’t cost a fortune. I was skeptical until I drove it around in Charleston, but it does what the name says.
The Flex system is a power unit with multiple accessories – mower, power washer, snow blower, leaf blower.
The Bronco Axis. A Troy Bilt walk behind tiller with blades that turn vertically. Think of a kitchen egg beater made of steel.
I’ll be posting more about Troy-Bilt over the summer. You can read what Erin Schanen wrote about the new products here.
I had a great time in Charleston, here are the other garden & DIY bloggers that are part of the Troy-Bilt Saturday6 team this summer:
Erin Schanen theimpatientgardener.com
Kenny Point veggiegardeningtips.com
Rochelle Greayer pithandvigor.com
Teresa O’Connor seasonalwisdom.com
Kim Wilson sandandsisal.com
Full Disclosure, I am being compensated by Troy-Bilt, plus they are giving me some of their products. I wouldn’t work with them if I didn’t truly like their products and the company behind them. As usual, i’ll be open and honest with my opinions about Troy-Bilt and life in general.
Mike joins Rick and Eric to talk about first time gardening again. Mike has been without a vegetable garden for a few years and we talk about raised bed gardening, straw bale gardening. There’s some info on RootSimple.com about straw bale gardening.
As an example of how to dial back expectations and bite off more than one can handle, Eric talks about not tapping every sugar maple available to him, because you then have to haul all the sap from that tree through the snow and boil it. So plan and dream, but don’t do more than you can handle.
This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but I earn a commission from. Thx! www.GardenFork.tv/amazon
Mike brings up Chris Kimball of America’s Test Kitchen, suggesting he has a more elaborate maple sap collection system than Eric has.
Mike has started doing DIY bike maintenance, repairing his own bike, especially the fine tuning. He has an expensive bike and didn’t want to mess it up, but it also goes again the collective nature of GardenFork types to have someone else repair your bike. He needed some sort of bike stand that he could make himself and after some web research came up with a simple strap that hangs the bike from the ceiling.
But we’ve decided to still have the experts tune the wheels and deal with the spokes.
We then touch on rude car drivers and rude cyclists, and find that there are people like that in all groups. Share the road!
At a friend’s house, they had a broken motion sensor light over the back door. They wanted to repair or replace the motion sensor, and I suggested getting rid of the motion sensor light and install do an outdoor dusk to dawn light install instead. Motion sensor lights always seem to break. And the light fixture is always high enough you need a ladder to repair or replace them.
Full Disclosure, I am a big fan of LED lights. I use them everywhere I can.
I chose a dusk to dawn light that was similar in design to their existing light, and made sure it was one that you could replace the light sensor on. This way, if the sensor breaks, you can replace it and not the whole light fixture again.
The usual rule of working with electricity apply here. Turn off the power that feeds the outdoor light, and use a non contact voltage tester to make sure the power is off in the fixture mount. Exercise extreme caution when working with wires and electricity. I think you are capable of doing this, but be sure to follow all directions that come with the light.
Tools you will need for this job are:
This Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges recipe is one of those overlooked but super easy dishes that makes me realize how simple it is to cook with what’s already in the kitchen. These sweet potatoes are dusted with a bit of cinnamon to give them even more of a earthy warm flavor that offsets their natural sweetness. Watch our recipe video and then tell us your sweet potato recipes in the comments below.
When I first made this recipe, I added too much cinnamon, so I dialed it back for the recipe. You can add more if you like, but I suggest starting with a small amount. I was surprised at how such a small amount of a spice can overwhelm something like a sweet potato, but it can, as I learned. And I’m always learning.
The same thing goes for the honey, less is a lot in this recipe, and too much and it will burn on the potato wedges. I’m repeating myself here, but please try to get local honey, or at least honey that is from the U.S. . Honey can be adulterated, like olive oil. If you don’t have honey, a bit of maple syrup works or brown sugar, or just leave out the sweetener and it will taste great.
You may want to double this batch, as this recipe makes one sheet of roasted sweet potato wedges, and it depends on who you are feeding as to how much you should make. I like to line my cookie pan with foil, it makes clean up easier, but please recycle the foil, ok? Then we can use it again.
Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges Recipe
2 large or 3 medium sweet potatoes, washed and skin on
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
4-5 grinds of black pepper
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, from end to end, so the potatoes will lay flat on a cutting board.
Cut the sweet potatoes into half circles about 1/4″ thick.
Put in a bowl large enough toss them in. This bowl is larger than you think.
Add in the oil, salt, pepper, honey, and cinnamon.
Use a rubber spatula or similar tool to toss the ingredients together, scraping the sides of the bowl to get the seasonings onto the potatoes.
Scatter the wedges on a foil covered baking sheet, its OK if the potatoes overlap a bit.
Turn on the oven to 375F and roast the potatoes for about 45 min.
They are done with a knife slides into the wedges easily.
These are best served warm or hot, they aren’t great colder.
Turn the oven on to 375F
A new how to tap maple trees video for you. We just tapped our sugar maples, getting ready for maple syrup season, and we made another video about how to tap your sugar maple trees. We have more great how to make maple syrup videos below this video.
We use tubing and tree saver taps to tap our sugar maples. You can buy tree saver taps here. The tubing leads to a barrel made of food grade plastic. You can also line a 30 gallon trash can with a food grade plastic bag.
You can also have 5 or 6 gallon buckets at the base of each tree and run your tubes into them. But its easier to empty one big barrel instead of a bunch of small buckets in deep snow.
This year the maple syrup season started late and we have so far only had a few days of sap running. We need warm days and cold nights for the sap to run, and we have had way too many cold days.
I am tapping trees on my neighbor’s land this year as well. They have some nice sugar maples right on the road, which makes hauling sap much easier. Imagine walking through the woods carrying buckets of water through deep snow. Now you know why I use lines and tap trees near the road!
We have a bunch of how to make maple syrup videos here on GardenFork. It is super fun to tap your own trees and boil down sap into syrup. Watch our videos to learn how.
Watch our How To Make Maple Syrup Videos here
