GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

  • Fedco Seeds, my favorite seed supplier

    OK, right now is dumping snow outside. I just helped my friend Bill switch out generators up at the camp ( where the Labs swim ).We had about 5 inches of snow yesterday, and I realize I forgot to cover my raised beds with black plastic before the snow dumped on them.

    Can I still put the plastic on top of the snow? or maybe shovel the now off the beds…

    Fedco Seeds
    Fedco Seeds

    All the while, I am thinking of spring. What I will do different, better, what I wont do.

    To help this planning, I have the Fedco Seeds catalog. Fedco Seeds is a seed cooperative, a pretty rare entity in this world of corporate consolidation. I was introduced to them when I joined a community garden in Brooklyn, and have stuck with them.

    Fedco has a great catalog chock full of great descriptions of neat vegetables and flowers, its not written in catalog-speak, its written by the people who grow the seeds out. Their seeds are untreated, and many are organic and/or heirloom. Many of their seeds have great stories about how a particular seed came to be, what family brought it from Russia, or how it sprouted out of a compost pile.

    What is equally cool is what Fedco also offers. They have several departments, Seeds, Moose Tubers, Organic Growers Supply, Fedco Bulbs, and Fedco Trees. Each one has a downloadable catalog.

    Moose Tubers has all kinds of potatoes and garlic.

    Organic Growers Supply is just that. Stuff I’ve never heard of, plus old standbys. I use their red ball spheres with Tanglefoot and a pheremone trap to keep bugs off my apple trees. And my apples look pretty good. No sprays, nothing more than a few easy solutions from these guys.

    Fedco Trees is cool, their big mantra is not big trees, but good root systems, and I can attest to the healthy robust plants they send you. All wrapped in plastic and paper mulch. I’ve bought many raspberries from Fedco Trees. They have a ton of antique or heirloom apple trees, all with great descriptions.

    Their website is simple, not full of a ton of pictures, but that’s not their thing. Their catalogs are downloadable, saving trees you know, so check them out.

    What are your favorite seed catalogs? tell us below:

  • Deep Fried Corn Flake Beer Batter Twinkies – GF Video

    Deep Fried Twinkies, coated in a Beer Batter Recipe, and rolled in Corn Flakes. wow. There is a long history of deep frying candy bars, snacks, cookies, treats, most anything. From what I know, people who work in fish and chip shops have tried to deep fry all sorts of food. Some foods work, some don’t.

    But do Deep Fried Twinkies work when Eric makes them with his Corn Flake Beer Batter recipe? Watch and learn here on Gardenfork.tv

    gardenfork_twinkie

    Eric’s Corn Flake Beer Batter Deep Fried Twinkie Recipe:

    Put your Twinkies in the freezer for at least 4 hours.

    Fill a large pot – a cast iron dutch oven works well – with peanut or vegetable oil to a depth of about 2-3 inches.

    Heat the oil to 350 F and then turn down the heat to hold the oil at 350 F.

    Batter Recipe:

    1 1/2 cups flour – all purpose, bread, organic, all work –

    1 can of inexpensive lager beer – Pabst Blue Ribbon is my favorite

    1 egg

    approx 3 cups of corn flakes, crumbled to about their original size.

    Roll the Twinkie in the beer batter, coat it around all sides.

    Now roll the Twinkie in the crumbled corn flakes.

    Using tongs, place the coated Twinkie in the deep fryer.

    BE CAREFUL! stand back from the oil, as it may spit.

    Turn the Twinkie over after about 2-3 minutes, its cooked when its nicely light gold-brown all over.

    Drain on paper towels, and allow to cool a bit.

    Then eat, and savor.

    Have you tried this? let us know below. And tell us your deep fry stories. thanks, eric.

  • Real Christmas Trees are very green

    Buying a Christmas Tree every year, instead of using an artificial tree, is very green, in terms of eco-friendliness. Watch and Learn here on Real World Green.

  • How to make pizza dough and bake pizza

    Wondering how to make pizza at home, or need a good pizza dough recipe? Here we go. Using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day dough as a base, we create some super great and fun pizzas here. You’re best off with a bread – pizza stone to make these.

    Watch the How To Make Pizza episode and share with us your pizza recipes.

    Check out another Gardenfork episode we did making bread based on the Artisan Bread book here.

    This pizza dough recipe is adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, see their site for info on buying their great books.

    This works best with a clear 6 quart plastic container with a lid that can be slightly ajar, not super tight on the top of the container.

    Take 3 cups of warm water, add to it 2 packets of active yeast, 2 tablespoons of salt and 2 or 3 glugs of Olive Oil.

    Add 6 cups of all purpose flour to this and allow to rise for a few hours.

    When the dough has about doubled, put it in the fridge.

    You can use the dough right away, but its best to leave it overnight in the fridge.

    cut off a a hunk about 4″ in diameter, and roll it into a ball, turning the outside into the inside as shown in the video.

    lay out on a floured board and roll out to desired diameter.

    bake on a preheated baking stone in a 500F oven until bubbly and crisp.

  • Cooking with a Himalayan Salt Block : Gardenfork Radio

    Today we talk with Gardenfork Contributor Monica about cooking with a Himalayan Salt Block, Antique wood furniture, Chicago homes, Lasagna Composting, The Nature’s Mill electric composter, The Forest Park Rib Fest Team Bar-B-Que Competition, Pressure Cookers, cooking from just the Farmers Market, & meat butchering classes

  • Preparing for Winter – Beekeeping 101 Video

    In this Beginning Beekeeping show, we get the hive ready for winter. Raising bees is a great hobby, and here we show how we prepare the beehive for the coming winter. Below the recipe are links to our other beekeeping vids and sources.

    winter beek check list watchGrease Patties:

    I made my own based on reading thru the various online forums and blogs.

    2 cups vegetable shortening  – NOT butter or other flavored shortening

    4 cups white sugar

    10 drops of food grade pepperment oil or wintergreen oil

    1/4 cup mineral block – this is a mineralize salt lick you can get at a farm – ag supply store. break off a chunk with a hammer.

    mix this together and form into 4″ wide patties, they have to be thin enough to be placed between hive supers.

    you can wrap these patties in wax paper , put in a freezer back and freeze for future use.

    Read more of our beekeeping posts here and watch beekeeping videos here. Thx!

    beekeeping-sugarcake-vid-thumb

  • Eric Bakes Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day


    click here to watch our second video on the Artisan Bread Method and click here to watch our pizza dough recipe video using the artisan method.

    Today we learn how to bake bread the Artisan Bread way. I picked up Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg’s great book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, after reading about it in Alexandra Stafford’s food blog Alexandra Cooks. So we fired up the Gardenfork kitchen to see what would happen. Baking bread is not hard, even I can do it. Watch here and see how we make bread based on Zoe and Jeff’s concept, which is a bit like Jim Leahy’s No Knead Bread, but different. I like what they are doing to spread the word about making your own food.

    Plus, you save money when you bake your own bread. Read what Alexandra says, here’s an excerpt from her blog:

    So, what does one of these loaves cost to prepare? Using the price of flour given by the American Farm Bureau — a 5-lb. bag of flour costs on average $2.39 — and prices for yeast and salt listed at Henry’s Market — a 3-lb. pound box of kosher salt costs $3.49 and a three-pack of yeast costs $2.39 — a one-pound loaf of homemade artisan bread costs about 60 cents to prepare from scratch. (Flour costs about 3 cents per ounce; yeast, 35 cents per teaspoon; and salt, 1 cent per teaspoon.) Using Henry’s Market prices, too, this estimate of 60 cents is likely on the high side.

    The average price of a loaf of La Brea bread is almost nine times more expensive. Even the cheapest loaf of bakery-style bread, priced at $1.29 a pound, costs over twice as much as a loaf of homemade bread. Upon closer analysis it seems the man who called into the radio program actually might be on to something.

    Even if saving money is not your goal, however, give this recipe a stab purely to experience how truly simple bread making at home can be. I’m dying to try other recipes in this book such as roasted red pepper fougasse, Italian semolina, and sun-dried tomato parmesan but for now, I’m extremely happy with the results of this master boule: It’s perfectly salty, moist and airy and delectable all around.

    What do you think? Can you bake your own bread in this modern crazy world? Watch us try. Below is the 2nd video we did on Artisan Bread, and the basic recipe.

    eric-bakes-artisan-bread-in-five-minutes-a-day

    Here is the basic recipe as adapted by me, the Artisan Bread book has a ton more stuff in it, you should go buy it.

    3 cups warm water

    1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

    1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt

    6 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour

    In a large plastic food container with a lid, add together the water, yeast and salt

    mix this up, then add in the flour, mix together.

    all the flour needs to be wet, but no over-mixed

    place this container in a warm area and let it rise for 2 hours,

    then you can use some of the dough,

    or better yet,

    put the container in the refrigerator overnight, the dough will have a better flavor.

    pull off a hunk of the dough, shape it into a ball, let it rise on parchment paper in a bowl for 40 minutes,

    preheat the oven with the dutch oven and lid in the oven at 450F

    when you are ready to put the dough in the dutch oven, use a razor blade to slice a few lines through the top of the ball of dough

    take out the dutch oven, place the parchement paper with the dough in the dutch oven.

    put in oven for 30 minutes,

    then remove lid of dutch oven, and bake for about 20 minutes more.

    bread should have a hollow sound when thumped when it is done.

  • The Fallout from America’s Test Kitchen Parody

    The Fallout from the America’s Test Kitchen Tasting Lab parody by Gardenfork, Chris Kimball saw it and what happened next. Hunter Safety Classes, Cooking Venison, Crate Training for dogs, Upcoming guests, Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day, Benjamin Moore Natura Paint, The Real World Green Minute, Cast Iron Seasoning, Leaf Mulch, and Viewer Mail

    we are using Call Recorder software that splits the two halves of the Skype phone call, thanks to all who emailed us with suggestions.

    Panman.com is the cast iron site we talk about

    Making your own leaf mulch: you can watch our Gardenfork shows on making leaf mulch and a simple compost bin

  • The Chicken Tractor : a new & improved version

    I ran across this today, and there has been a lot of talk on our viewer forum about raising chickens.

    Handcrafted Coops offers affordable, portable chicken coops for the backyard chicken farmer. All chicken coops are made with sustainable, renewable timber and come flat-packed for easy assembly. Our mission: A chicken coop in every backyard!

    I can’t keep chickens because I’m not home every night to take care of them, but I’m hoping some of my neighbors get some, I suggested some heirloom varieties.

    I’ve seen all sorts of chicken coops, almost all of them hand made from various found materials. i like this coop because of its simplicity.

    What do you chicken experts think? Check out the video and pics

  • Beginning Beekeeping : Fall Feeding and Varroa Mite Treatment

    This is our first year raising honeybees in our new beehives, and I wanted to make how to raise bees beekeeping videos to show you all that you too can raise bees. We are not the experts here, but one learns by doing. So we do things, and we make beekeeping videos.

    The sugar syrup we feed the bees in the fall is a 2:1 mixture. 10 lbs of sugar to 5 pounds of water. 1 pint of water weighs about 1 lb, so we heat up 5 pints of water and mix in 10 pounds of white table sugar. Do not add sugar to boiling water, boil the water and then take the pot off the stove, put it on a heat proof platter and use a immersion blender to mix in the sugar.

    The first gallon of the fall sugar feeding has Fumagilin added to help the bees thru the winter.

    We are using powdered sugar for our varroa mite treatment. watch the video to see how we do this.

  • The worst DIY show ever…

    This week, Emily Farris’ Casserole Crazy competition, Handyman Eric : Green Painters in Brookyn with Benjamin Moore Natura line, why bridges freeze before roads, the Real World Green minute, and s’mores with AmyBlogsChow at The Amber Show party

    Alexandra’s Kitchen is where we learned about Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day, and Alexandra will be on a future Gardenfork Radio show.

  • Eric and the Labs check out the Ford Escape Hybrid. neat!

    While my Ford Fiesta was on the CBS News, Ford Motor loaned me a new Ford Escape Hybrid. So, we piled the Labradors into the Escape and went up to the house. Here’s my video review of the Ford Escape Hyrbrid, and of course, shots of the Labradors

  • America’s Test Kitchen, The Tasting Lab, a parody

    Our friends at Ford Motor and the Fiestamovement ( who have provided us with a Ford Fiesta and funds to produce videos ) suggested we do a 2 minute take on our favorite TV show, and I’m a big fan of Chris Kimball, America’s Test Kitchen, and Cook’s Illustrated, so we had to do a parody of their Tasting Lab segment.

    Let me know below what you all think. thx. eric.

  • If you kill your battery, how many times can you kill it?

    Eric and Charlie talk about the new website, and the changes at our Viewer Forum, and Eric thinks out loud about using Ning as a platform for Gardenfork’s viewer forum, following a phone call with Marc and Nicole of The Wood Whisperer

    Car repair dominates the show as Eric replaces a fuel injector and talk about oil changes.

    Over wintering bees

    The Fiesta Movement and Eric’s Ford Fiesta appears on CBS news

    Ford gives Eric a Ford Escape Hybrid to drive the Labs upstate for a weekend.

    Prepping your lawnmower for winter

    AND a Real World Green moment

  • Balsamic Vinegar Reduction, make the cheap stuff taste like the good stuff

    I’m calling this the Balsamic Vinegar Hack, or cheat. Chris Kimball of Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen posted about making grocery store balsamic vinegar taste like the expensive kind, so I wanted to try it and see. So check out our balsamic vinegar recipe video here and let us know what you think.

    Here’s what happened:

  • Beginning Beekeeping : Hive Inpsection

    As part of our series of beginning beekeeping videos, here we did a hive inspection this summer. Bees are easy to raise, you just have to maintain a few things thru the season, and a few hive inpsections are necessary. Watch here how how are learning to raise bees and become beekeepers.

  • How to bake bread with Tracy

    My sister is the bread baker in the family, so we do what she says. Just watch here and you’ll see.


    here is the link to the bread recipe: http://www.breadworld.com/Recipe.aspx?id=463

  • Eric Makes Rice and Beans

    I cooked up this simple rice and beans recipe after making beans for a few years. These are great, cheap and healthy. There are many recipes for beans, so let us know yours.

    Quick rice and beans recipe

    cook one bag of black beans, drain, and reserve liquid

    chop one large onion and saute in oil until golden brown.

    clear a space in the center of the pan to add the spice.

    add 1 tablespoon of smoked pimenton or smoked paprika  ( you can use a mild chili powder if you like, but us a lot less. add to taste, start with one teaspoon )

    let this spice cook for 30-60 seconds in the center of the pan, don’t burn it though.

    now stir back into the center the onions and allow the flavors to meld for 2 minutes or so.

    add the drained black beans, and enough of the bean cooking liquid so the beans are thick but not like soup.

    allow the beans to meld with the onion spice mixture on low heat and serve with rice and yogurt or sour cream.

    season with salt and pepper

    ©2009 Eric Rochow