December 18, 2025
December 14 (Sunday), was an overcast day, with the polar vortex expected to arrive by Monday morning. With temperatures expected to get down to a low of 17F, I needed to get the garden prepared. Harvesting the garden was a high priority!! I harvested all the radishes that were ready. I harvested the ready greens: Japanese greens, arugula, radicchio, and sorrel. The sorrel and radicchio were sweeter after a few frosts.
While I harvested and mulched the garden beds, Bruce moved the bucket garden into the garage. Once I was done mulching, Bruce wanted me to see the layout of the bucket garden. Bruce put some of the buckets in a dark room. I set up the grow lights in the dark room for the plants. I did not take a picture.
I had a nice bunch of radishes from the garden. I washed the roots and leaves, putting the roots out for snacking.
I washed all of the greens and chopped them up. I also included the radish greens in the mix.
I turned the greens into something based on hortopita (Greek greens pie, similar to spanikopita). I didn’t have feta cheese, so I used some Kefalograviera cheese and Manchego cheese instead. Since I didn’t have any phyllo dough, I made a thin sourdough crust. I tossed in chopped green onions, harvested from the garden, into the pan with the onion I was sauteeing.
It made for a nice meal at the end of a busy day.
On December 15 (Monday), we woke to bitter cold of 18F. The high didn’t get over 30F.
It was a good day to stay inside! I made sesame seeds sourdough discard crackers.
On December 16 (Tuesday), we woke to 17F. It warmed up into the 40s. I checked the netting-covered hoop garden. Surprisingly, everything looked good. I lifted up some of the mulch to take a peek at the plants. They looked okay. I knew that plants can look okay and show the damage later.
We went grocery shopping. Suzassippi (https://suzassippi.wordpress.com/), I found where the powered buttermilk is in the grocery, next to the chocolate milk powder.
When we got home, I made sourdough sandwich bread.
On December 17 (Wednesday), the polar vortex retreated back north. Bruce went to check on the RV, while I did a marathon of sourdough discard cracker baking. I made two half sheets of crackers for Nox. They were plain crackers with no sprinkled salt on top, cut into triangles. I made three half sheets of Aleppo pepper crackers. Three sheets of crackers with the Savory Spice blend, Bohemian Forest, gifted to me by my friend Jeanne from ajeanneinthekitchen.com
The dark-eyed juncos were out in force.
The sunset was beautiful.
Today (Thursday, December 18), was a rainy day on and off. We had several birds at the bird feeder during a break in the rain. I even saw a red-bellied woodpecker hanging from the bottom of the feeder getting seeds. Unfortunately, he took off before I could get a picture.
Just for fun, I made volcano potatoes for dinner. I didn’t take any pictures, but a couple of the potatoes looked great, while one split down a side.
In the evening, we had a downpour with strong winds. I hope we don’t have anymore trees down.
Blackberry Homestead 