Wordless Wednesday- Strawberry

i went out to pick some spinach today, and spied this bright red strawberry in the raised bed next to my spinach. i don't think i've ever had strawberries bloom and fruit in November before. :)

Petition to help small business

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This petition is against corporate bullying.
Vermont's own EATMOREKALE.com, a small, quirky family business, is attempting to secure a federal trademark for the business name they've been using for at least ten years "EATMOREKALE.COM". Corporate Goliath fast food chain CHICK-FIL-A is blocking their attempt alleging EATMOREKALE.COM confuses CHICK-FIL-A customers. They claim that Bo's one man t-shirt printing business EatMoreKale.com is infringing on their business and profits. Um...yeah...okay.


This isn't the first time they have tried to shut down Bo's busniess. 5 yrs ago they attempted to shut his website down and they wanted him to send his entire inventory to them to be destroyed. Bo fought back and they backed off. NOW they are blocking his attempt to secure a fed. trademark.

Please sign the petition and take a stand against big business bullies!!
You can also help out by tweeting this message use the tweet link above!

Earn two extra entries on my Eat More Kale giveaway, by signing the petition! Just leave two comments on the giveaway post saying you signed, and your name.

Earn another for tweeting the above link! Just leave a comment on the giveaway post with a link to your tweet. Can be done daily!

Let's send a message that corporate bullying like this is abusive and won't be tolerated!

Eat More Kale Giveaway!

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Yay!!! i'm very excited to host another Eat More Kale giveaway here on my blog!! i love to help support and promote independent artists and small business, and hope that you will take the time to check out Bo's website and facebook page. These are awesome t-shirts!! You know you want one. :)

Bo is the man behind these fabulous shirts. He prints every shirt individually by hand using hand cut stencils, black ink and a squeegee. He heat-sets the prints with an iron and pre-washes them, creating a super soft t-shirt with a nicely faded look .

Bo get his blank shirts from Comfort Colors a local company up in Vermont, where Bo resides. They are an environmentally-minded shop with that small business feel and quality products.

For four years, Bo sold his t-shirts from a small booth at the Montpelier, Vermont weekly farmer's market. You can now also find his shirts online, and you may even see him selling shirts and handing out his 'business card' stickers at a few food and music festivals each summer.

The T-shirts are available in several popular styles, like Compost, Localvore, Cheese, Organic and of course Eat More Kale. His shirts come in several color choices, and he also offers an organic natural.

Bo runs a contest almost every week on his facebook page, where you have a chance to win a free shirt. The contests are always amusing and a lot of fun to enter. Make sure and fan his page, so if you don't win this time...you can enter his weekly contests for more chances to win!

Need a shirt right now? You can purchase one of Bo's hand printed t-shirts online at the Eat More Kale store.

Now for the Giveaway!

Bo has offered one reader the choice of any one short-sleeved shirt from his site.

MANDATORY ENTRY

1. Visit the Eat More Kale and let me know which shirt style/color you would choose and why.

Please include your e-mail address in the format of Yourname(at)email dot com or make sure it is visible in your blogger profile so i have a way to contact you if you win. Otherwise a new winner will be chosen!

EXTRA ENTRIES (make sure you did the mandatory first!!)
please leave a new comment for each extra entry. You can do as many or as little extra entries as you like! If you qualify for 5 entries, leave 5 separate comments.

2. Be a fan of Eat More Kale on Facebook.
3. Leave a comment telling me if you like kale, and what is your favorite way to prepare it? (i'm always looking for new recipes!!)
4. Be a fan of The Enchanted Tree on Facebook 1 entry

5. Follow my blog The Enchanted Tree on Google friend connect 1 entry
6. Add my button (top left column) to your blog or add me to your blog roll. leave a link. 3 entries (leave 3 comments)
7. Blog about the giveaway link to this post and the Eat More Kale FB page. 3 entries, leave 3 comments.
8. Tweet about the contest leave a link to your tweet. 1 entry (can tweet daily)

EXTRA ENTRIES for signing the PETITION

**Rules**

• Giveaway ends Dec 3, 2011 at 11:59pm EST EXTENDED
  
• Winner will be chosen via Random.Org. notified by email, and posted on the blog.
  
• Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email or another winner will be chosen
• This giveaway is open to EVERYONE.
  

Pumpkin Pasties

Yes, i'm semi-obsessed with Harry Potter and make HP themed snacks and treats any chance i can get. Last month, we brought home two small pie pumpkins from Sage's field trip to Sinkland Farms Pumpkin Patch. She asked me to make a pumpkin pie, but honestly have never been a fan of pumpkin pie...and thought Pumpkin Pasties (pronounced Past-E) sounded more my style.

i used this recipe as an example, but changed it up a bit. Rather than using canned pumpkin, i used fresh cooked. i roasted my pumpkin whole, and then scooped out the flesh and used it in the recipe above. i failed to take pictures of the process though, so check out the post at The Cultural Dish if you need help putting these together.

For the filling i used
-1 cup cooked pumpkin

-1/4 cup granulated sugar

-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

-1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

i mixed this all together and set it aside while i made the crust.

For the pie crust i used
1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour.
1 stick cold butter.
1/2 tsp salt.
1/2 t...sp sugar.
3-4TBSP ice cold water.

Combine flour, salt, sugar and cut in butter (or use a pastry blender)...until the mix is crumbly and the butter pieces are pea sized. Then add ice water 1 tbsp at a time, mixing with a fork until dough holds together. The key to a flaky crust is COLD butter and water...so keep it cold.

When your dough is ready. Roll out into 4" circles and place a rounded TBSP of the pumpkin filling in the center of your circle. i wet one edge of the dough for a good seal. Then fold the dough over the filling and use the end of a fork to crimp and seal the edges. Cut a couple slits on the tops to make vents. i didn't do an egg wash on these, but you could if you like.

Bake in the oven on an ungreased cookie sheet for 30 minutes or until browned.

These turned out great. The pumpkin filling, was good...but not overwhelming. These were delightful little bite sized treats. We enjoyed them so much we made them twice. Any left over pumpkin filling can be frozen for use at a later date.

Enjoy!

Fall Garden.

My fall garden has been enjoying the cooler temperatures! i actually took this picture about a month ago, and everything has doubled in size since.


i have 3 rows of dwarf grey peas. They are just now starting to bloom, so i'm not sure i'll get any peas out of them. We've been enjoying the pea shoots in salads and stir fries. They are pretty cold tolerant, and have thriving in these 30 degree temps. We had a really hard frost a few days ago that left a little bit of wilt on the tips of some of the plants, so i'm not sure they are going to make it to maturity. i also have about 18 broccoli plants, that are doing okay. The flower heads are about 2" across so far. i've been harvesting lots of kale, Swiss chard, spinach and a variety of leaf lettuces.

We had a pretty sad crop of tators this year. Lots of ugly little tators, due to early blight, colorado potato beetles and common scab. i planted using last years seed potatoes, and learned a huge lesson. This spring i'll be purchasing organic certified disease-free seed potatoes. We still managed to dig around 50 lbs. i have to cut a lot of spots out of them though, and they won't keep as long as i'd like.


Sweet potatoes did wonderful. We dug over 70 lbs.

i'm still not a hundred percent sure how to correctly cure sweet potatoes. Everything i've found online says they must be cured for about 10 days at 80-85°F and high relative humidity (85-90 percent). i'm just not sure how to maintain that temperature when it's dipping down into the 30's at night, and i have no idea how to maintain high humidity in a house with a wood stove. We run a humidifier, but it's still horribly dry.
After reading a few other blogs online i found a few suggestions, just leaving them sit out in the hot sun and bring them in at night, curing them in the back hatch of a car...etc. i decided to try the sun method. So far it seems to be working, the sweetpotatoes are maintaining their firmness..and haven't started rotting or wilting. So i hope that'll last a while. We have already eaten a few and they are delicious! i absolutely love sweet potatoes!

i grew peanuts for the first time this year! i had no idea what to expect with them, so i'm thrill that we actually got peanuts! i only had around 15 plants, so i didn't harvest a ton. They were dug a few weeks ago, and have been hanging in the shed to dry since. . :) i'm excited to plant more next year, they don't take up a ton of space and grew really well here. The only problem i had was some root aphids on some of the plants.

i'm loving all the green of the cooler season. We eat kale several times a week. In my colandiar i have blue curly kale, Lacinato Rainbow kale, Swiss Chard, a variety of leaf lettuces, and spinach. i picked this for dinner a few nights ago. The spinach and lettuces when into a salad with a few homegrown carrots, peppers and tomatoes (yes, i still have a few ripe tomatoes on my window sill!). i brought a purple pepper plant inside, and although it is a little wilty looking it's loaded in peppers and i think it'll only take a little while for it to adjust to life inside. Peppers are actually perennial and can grow all winter inside.

Still getting lots of carrots from the kids garden, and a raised bed. i had actually forgetten about these guys. They were hiding in my asparagus bed under some dill and fennel. While iw as cleaning out the bed a few days ago, i found them. i was thrilled to see that many of them were thing an and tender. With our clay soil, my carrots never do very well...they tend to be thick and stubby. This seems to be a good bed to grow them in.

i'm going to try to put up a couple of basic hoop houses over my leafy greens this week. So far they are thriving in the cold, but they won't be happy if they end up buried in a layer of snow.

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

We absolutely love Melissa & Doug toys here!! We have a quite a collection of their wooden play foods, along with a doll house, farmers market, unit blocks and puzzles. My daughter has several more of their wonderful products (pink princess castle and play kitchen) on her holiday wish list!! Melissa and Doug products are known for their quality, educational toys that encourage open ended play and imagination.

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

We voted for the Play Kitchen! Which toy is your favorite??
**Votes will be tallied on 11/20/11. During the week of 11/20/11 an email will be sent to each voter announcing the winning toy from all votes that came from this blog along with your 25% off coupon that can be used at MelissaAndDoug.com . Kind of fun. :)



Disclosure: i received a coupon in exchange for this post, but it didn't influence my opinion about this wonderful company. We love Melissa and Doug toys! :)

Happy Halloween :)

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Some years, i go all out and make themed foods all days, handcmake costumes, decorate and all that. Some years i don't do as much, this was one of those years. Halloween fell on Monday, and with it being a school night i had a hard time totally getting into it.

We did our pumpkin carving on the weekend, roasted seeds and i made a harvest stew served inside a pumpkin. i failed to get a picture of it, but it was delicious. i used veggies from the garden, red potatoes, sweet potato, onion, carrots, turnip, garlic and a yellow beet. Chopped them up and saute'd them in EVOO and then added some organic veggie broth. Let it simmer a while. i diced up a red and a yellow tomato, and add a couple handfuls of kale shredded. Then i added a can of garbonzo beans..and let it cook until everything was tender.
i roasted the pumpkin separately, and used it to serve the soup in. YUm!

We had cheese quesadillas for lunch. These were super easy, i used a pumpkin cookie cutter and cut the jack-o-lantern face with a sharp knife.

For dinner we had 'candy corn' mini pizzas. These were made by placing mozzarella cheese in the center, and chedder cheese all around it. Then i spooned a little ring of pizza sauce over some of the cheddar and baked it.

This was my daughter's costume this year. Tinkerbell on a toadstool. :) Several years ago, i made my son a gnome on a toadstool after seeing it in the Family fun magazine. It was such a fun costume, i thought it'd be a good way to spice up the Tinkerbell costume Sage wanted to wear. The toadstool was made using materials i already had here at home, and the costume was a garage sale/goodwill find that my mom had picked up. Hee hee. i think it turned out pretty cute.


We took the kids trick or treating in Hillsville at the 'Safe Halloween'. My boy dressed up as a dementor. It was a quick, throw together costume that required a lot of pins to keep it together. :) i really love that HIllsville does the 'Safe Halloween'. All the area businesses pass out candy, and treats. Almost all the candy has a tag/business card letting you know where it is coming from. Many times the businesses include a coupon or discount for the parents.

The county gave out candied apples to everyone. How generous!! There were also several churches and groups that were giving out free donuts and hot chocolate. Besides candy, the kids received coupons for free frosty's (Wendy's), water bottles from the Town of Hillsville, local apples and bags of pretzels. The kids get the fun experience of Halloween, but they really didn't get an overwhelming amount of candy.

This year they had live music, which was new. They always have a haunted house, a hay ride and two bounce houses set up for the kids.


They also have free carnival games. The prizes are silly junk, but the kids have a blast.
i know i've said it before, but i really love that the community puts this together every year. We usually attend the Dugspur carnival as well, but totally missed it this year.

Hope your Halloween was just as wonderful!