Edible Flowers

Walking a tour group through the garden yesterday, I noticed the yellow water iris are blooming. I probably wouldn’t have noticed them if I hadn’t been pointing out the useful plants in the landscape. Sometimes we’re just too busy to stop and smell the flowers. When we do, we might consider that they’re also edible. Not all of them, of course, so it’s important to know which ones are and which ones aren’t.

A friend once mistakenly served her family tulip bulbs. Her mother-in-law had given her a bag of bulbs and onions. She didn’t know the difference and saved the onions to plant in the fall and served the tulips in the Swiss steak. They suffered no ill effects other than missing out on the blooms the next spring.

The flowers of many herbs are edible and that fact should be fairly obvious since many of them are made into teas. Think chamomile, hyssop, bee balm and mints, just to name a few.
Marigolds, carnations, Johnny Jump-ups, violets, bachelor’s buttons, nasturtiums and clover are common flowers that are edible.

Marigolds add their golden color when sprinkled on soups, pasta and rice dishes. They taste spicy to peppery depending on the variety and can be used to jazz up herb butters, salads and scrambled eggs.

Johnny Jump-ups have a mild wintergreen flavor and look lovely sprinkled in salads, adorning frosted cakes or accompanying soft cheeses in appetizers.

Violet flowers and leaves are both edible as are nasturtium’s. Violets can be compared to spinach and nasturtiums sport a peppery flavor. We had a limited supply of nasturtium vinegar a couple of years ago. Blossoms added to those bottles made them extra special.

Carnations, clover and bachelor’s buttons all have sweet petals and can be used accordingly. The bases or bud ends of these flowers are often bitter so separate the petals from the base before using.

Be sure to use flowers that are free of pesticides or other contaminants. Wash as you would any other food.

Eating flowers is a trend that comes and goes. It’s back, now, so don’t be surprised if your entré in a favorite restaurant is garnished with flowers. Brighten up your home cooking, too, and surprise your family.

Fresh rhubarb pie

Move over Pie Princess Savannah; Lady Vinegar just made a fresh rhubarb pie!

I may have robbed the rhubarb cradle with the stalks only four to eight inches high. But, rhubarb isn't fussy that way since it's useable if it's above the ground. No need to wait for it to ripen, turn color or the seeds (what seeds?) to turn brown. I gathered a small amount for a small pie. I cut the leaves and left them in the rhubarb patch but left the root end on to trim carefully once they were washed. I cut the 3/8" to 1/2" diameter stalks into 1/2 inch pieces and then made the crust.

With 3 1/2 cups of rhubarb, I made an 8 inch pie. Below is the recipe for the filling, and yes, I did put vinegar in it:

3 1/2 cups fresh rhubarb
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon grape wine vinegar.

The phone rang while I was in the middle of mixing the filling. Hilary had news of her last day of classes at MCAD and her request for us to come get her stuff the next day. The summer job issue is still up in the air so she may, or may not, be home for the summer.

While I was talking with her, Ron stopped home from his trip to Alexandria to get building materials for the potato farm and some for the new wooden stairs to the loft above his wood shop. He poked his head in the door to tell me what he was up to, but Mr. Pie Lover didn't notice what I was making.

The pie is in the oven and the aroma is beginning to waft through the house. Ron will notice when he stops home for lunch. But no sampling until dinner.

Ta da! The first pie of the season!

Getting green

It's a rainy day, washing off more of the winter dirt and making the grass grow. The herbs are poking up through the leaves that still cover their winter bed. Tarragon, oregano and the first dark purple leaves of the anise hyssop have made their appearnace. The lovage sprouts, too, one of the first herbs to offer up its fresh celery flavor, are four to six inches high. The rhubarb is nearly tall enough for a first harvest. It's wonderful to once again go outside to find food and flavors to spice up the everyday menu.

It might be premature to declare the garlic experiment a success but after raking off the layer of leaf insulation from the garlic bed last week, I can see that the green spears are poking up. The shallots are coming up, too.

I've spread many of last year's leaves on the garden with the intent of mowing them into leaf mulch before tilling them in. Ron tried mowing them but that was on a windy day, as many of them have been lately, and the wind threatened to spread them back across the lawn. He mowed some of the sage, and the thyme, a little closer to ground level than I would have liked, but we'll see in just a few more days if that was wise or foolish. The last time I did that to the sage I was afraid I had killed it; but it came up and flourished.

I planted seeds in flats three weeks ago. The necked pumpkins are already of a size to plant out in the garden but it's too soon. They have amazing root systems. The peppers and tomatoes seems to be off to a slow start but are getting their true leaves. The brussel sprouts and cabbage are looking good as are the two melon varieties. The family salsa pepper that we've saved for several years are growing again as are little hot peppers that Laura received from a neighbor at her apartment in St. Paul. I had hoped to have proper greenhouse shelves and a lighting system set up this year. It didn't happen but have rigged an extra light to give the plants a boost on these gray days.

Recent tours have gone well in spite of relatively little to see in the yard and garden. We hope they'll come back and visit again as the growing season progresses.

Thawing out and greening up

The ice is finally gone from the koi ponds and though Ron found frost only four inches down in the garden, some of the herbs are sending up shoots. Tender shoots of tarragon and oregano are up as well as rosy rhubarb whorls. We're watching for the lovage and when it's up, things will move quickly.

We had a great time talking about vinegar at the Women's Wellness event at Arrowwood, the West Ottertail Horticultural Day and the K.C.'s monthly dinner. Savannah used her computer skills to make a powerpoint presentation and it debuted at the Arrowwood event.

The first tour bus of the season ( a Girltime Getaway group) zipped right on by on Saturday. Mapquest gives some odd directions for finding us. The tour coordinator called to clarify directions and I guess the four miles from Long Prairie went quickly with all the girl chatter going on. The bus turned around and came back and we had a nice visit with 40 ladies on a mystery tour. It was a chilly day so Ron and I hopped on the bus and chatted about our enterprise so we could abbreviate the outdoor portion of the tour. In another two weeks the gardens and orchard will be a different place than the brown leaf-covered area that it is now. The vinegary is always cozy and inviting and Ron made a fire in the wood stove in the retail shop so no one was cold for very long.

We have two more tours scheduled in the next two weeks so we can officially say the tourist season is up and running.

Beginning a new season

We participated in the first speaking engagement of the season, today, with a vinegar presentation at the Women's Health event at Arrowwood, north of Alexandria. We showcased our new power point presentation created by Savannah and our new taller bottles. It was a beautiful setting and we made new friends among the class attendees. We hope they'll all come to visit.

Through exposure for this event we have been invited to appear on Patti Wicken's radio show on KXRA 1490 AM. Listen for us on Apr. 23 at 9:05 a.m.

Next Saturday, Apr. 4, we'll be talking about vinegar and selling it at the West Ottertail County Horticultural Event in Underwood.

We continue to use vinegar in new ways. Last week I made vinegar bread using my triple wheat recipe and substituting 1/2 cup of vinegar for a portion of the water. The bread was heavy since the acid of the vinegar may have inhibited some of the yeast action. It had a tangy flavor reminiscent of sour dough bread. Definitely a recipe to try again, perhaps with a little less vinegar.

Another development: my foodie watercolors can now be found in a shop on Etsy. Search for the "leatherwood" shop or look under art and watercolors.

We're looking forward to getting our local retail space spruced up and then getting the yard and garden in shape. I've ordered seeds from Pinetree Seeds and hope they come soon so I can get the tomatoes, peppers and a few other early vegetables started indoors.

Happy spring!

Tours

Very soon after the vinegary was established, visitors came, wanting to know what in the world a vinegary was. That was a legitimate question since we had actually coined a logical word. What intrigued me was that so many people had no idea how vinegar was made. It apparently mystified them and they wanted to know.

The first tours we gave were of the vinegary only. Ron explained the process and showed the primary fermenters and carboys for making the wine. He usually had a piece of mother to show as he explained the steps in converting wine to vinegar. He often had a gallon or two of herbs infusing in fresh vinegar. He always gave tastes of the vinegars at hand.

When we started giving sample tastes, we used little glasses but Ron found it difficult to pour from the bottles into little glasses without spilling. Also, a tablespoon of vinegar was far more than the average palate could handle. People weren’t accustomed to tasting straight vinegar and it was overpowering. When we located a source for small bottles with dropper tops, we switched to using spoons and mere drops of vinegar which was enough for all but the true vinegar lovers.
When we found that people were intrigued by what we were doing, we connected with the local tourism committee, a group with which I had worked for several years. Local tourism was interested in promoting sites of interest for bus tours. That brought the first buses to our door.
Buses carry far more people than the average car or SUV and we needed a way to deal with larger groups with the vinegary only a small 10’ x 18’ room filled with stainless steel tables, a triple sink, and supply racks. It could hold, at elbow to elbow capacity, 12 average sized people. Buses often brought 25 to 50 visitors.

We found an effective solution, at least during the warmer days of spring, summer and fall, by dividing groups in two. Ron took half directly to the vinegary and I led the other half through the herb garden and orchard, usually passing by the koi ponds and the vegetable garden which also has herbs.

We provided chairs scattered throughout the tour path for anyone less able to handle the terrain. Some sought shelter in the flower enhanced gazebo, listening to the waterfall and the various songbirds with hummingbirds flitting in and out to feed from the feeder hanging nearby. Occasionally I’d bring the herbs to the group with the pond and the fish lending ambiance to the herb talk. We’ve been generally lucky with the weather and only twice did I bring herbs into a bus to fill the time while the visitors waited their turn in the vinegary.

We always share what we’ve learned about growing grapes, apples, cherries, plums and rhubarb. I’ve grown many many varieties of herbs over the last 30 years. I usually highlight those that we use in the vinegars as well as some medicinals that I’ve grown for years and find particularly interesting. When garden clubs visit, many of the members grow herbs and are familiar with them. On the other hand, when a military reunion group, as an example, comes to see the garden, they may be less familiar with herbs. I always give nibbles of French tarragon, anise hyssop, lovage, mint, oregano, basil, sage, cilantro, thyme; whatever is fresh an abundant. Many people have never tasted fresh herbs and are amazed and delighted by the variety of natural flavors.

When we have master gardeners and those who have gardened for many years, we learn from them, too. I love this exchange of information. If a spring or summer rain has resulted in mushrooms springing up in the lawn, we talk about them. If visitors are interested in medicinals, I point out the uses of mullein, plantain, yarrow and others. Many ask if we make dandelion wine and the answer is still, no, not yet.

We talk about the black walnut trees, the overgrown bittersweet vines on the back porch, and of course the leatherwood growing in the yard, from which our business was named. Leatherwood is a flexible twigged shrub that at its tallest is only six feet. It has small yellow flowers in the spring before it leafs out. It doesn’t seem to bear fruit from them but may need a companion shrub in order to reproduce. The leaves are oval and usually among the first to fall in the fall. Leatherwood grows on rich soil and is considered to be found in a widespread area of North America and yet is relatively uncommon. It’s native to this area and we’re pleased that for us it represents this quality of being uncommon but springing up in a healthy place, a metaphor for the creativity we bring to our business.

After giving tours for a couple of years and handling vinegar sales in the small display corner of the vinegary, we decided that we needed a bigger retail space. We added the vinegar and wine and beer making supplies and equipment to my art gallery in Long Prairie. That worked fine for a few months but when that summer arrived and with it the numerous tour buses and groups, we felt it would be far better to have everything in one location. We had built a pine paneled shop space on our property in 1985. It had become a storage area but with a little scrubbing and added shelves it became an ideal display area for the vinegar with adequate space for the other supplies, as well as paintings, pottery, note cards, and consignment space for Amish baskets and locally woven rugs.

We decided to just have it open for tours, groups and by appointment. That allowed us to keep abreast of the vinegary, garden and orchard work while still having a retail space.
Heated by a small wood stove, the shop could only be open in the warm months. We move everything that is in danger of freezing into other heated spaces during the winter. We still maintain the small display of vinegar in the vinegary.

As things are arranged now, we can accommodate most any visitors. When we had a group of fifty people we had to do some creative group dividing and do the tasting outside the vinegary. We’ve found that guests are quite willing to take us as we are and we’re all richer for it.

We'll soon be planning our tour schedule for the upcoming season. Call 320-732-2879 for tour information.

It's nearly Christmas and snow is covering the orchard and gardens. In fact a generous snowfall over the weekend guarantees insulation for the vines and herbs through the winter.

Ron's been busy in the vinegary. He's bottled new flavors: horseradish, habernaro and catnip. They're amazing to which visitors on Saturday will attest. We only tasted drops of the habernaro but in any quantity it's apt to knock your socks off. The horseradish is as horseradishy as can be. It would be the perfect accompaniment to sushi. Most people have never tried catnip in any form; thinking it's only for cats. Well, cats are stimulated by it while it's said to have a calming effect on humans. We don't know for sure about that but we think it will make vinegar lovers purr!

We've had some delightful press coverage recently. Country Home magazine had a little promo in the November issue which has generated orders from all over the country. We really appreciate that. Last week the Minneapolis Star Tribune called and will have an interview with Ron in their food section one day this week.

We had lots of visitors this summer with buses and cars spilling enthusiastic visitors onto the lawn, orchard, garden and vinegary. The tours of the outside have concluded for the season but we'll still welcome vinegary guests. We're planning for lots of visitors next year. My winter project will be to finish my book about this little enterprise, Leatherwood Vinegary.

And now it's October

It was spring. Now it's fall. Things at Leatherwood Vinegary go just that quickly! We planted. We reaped. We're making wine and vinegar.

If it only were really that simple! Yes, we planted but it wasn't a good growing season. Too cool and wet in the spring. Then hot and dry. Now as frost is nearing, we have plenty of moisture and great growing conditions, but time is running out.

In a normal growing season the cherries, plums and apples blossom in succession. The rhubarb comes next, then the grapes blossom. All of that happened except the grapes were really late in leafing out. Because of the cold wet weather when the plums and cherries were blossoming, they didn't set on well. In fact, we had no cherries and only enough plums for fresh eating. Some of the apple trees are heavy with fruit while others only have one or two. This isn't a problem since off years help break the moth cycle and give the trees a rest. Last year's grape crop was glorious. This year we had four, yes four, clusters.

When our crop is poor we're especially appreciative of those who have and share a bountiful harvest. Conditions vary throughout the area and the crop isn't consistently good or bad. We're using the abundant rhubarb and apples that we have along with plums and grapes from others in the area. No cherries so there'll be a dearth of cherry vinegar next year.

We've had lovely herbs so have abundant herbal vinegars. Ron bottled a generous amount of French tarragon vinegar. The garlic is infusing now as well as an experimental batch of catnip (it's stimulating for cats but calming for humans). We dug the horseradish just a couple of days ago so we'll taste the first horseradish vinegar in a couple of weeks.

Tour groups have been wonderful this summer and continue coming as we move into cooler weather. We've enjoyed sharing the vinegary and gardens with mystery tour groups, veterans' reunions, girlfriend groups, families, couples and individuals. Amity came from North Carolina to write a story for AAA Living magazine. Jeff and Inese came to celebrate their fifth anniversary. An opera singer from Australia stopped in on his trip around the world.

We cooked another vinegar themed dinner for a school fundraiser, hosted a large family gathering, and Ron has shared his wine making expertise with classes. We've also learned from our visitors and now know how to grow bigger onions (hoe the soil away from the bulb and let it sit on top of the ground), better garlic ( mulch with six inches of leaves and top with plastic to winter over), jucier tomatoes (trench between rows and fill the trenches with water, let it seep in, repeat).

Now with winter on its way, the plan is to write a book about our experiences as the first vinegar proprietors in Minnesota, and perhaps update this blog more faithfully. But first I want to transplant the strawberry bed, plant the garlic and shallots, make some beet pickles, get two bushels of tomatoes from a generous person who has an abundant crop, make tomato wine and vinegar.......and so on it goes.

Pruning in the orchard

Yesterday was a glorious day to spend in the orchard, pruning the vines and trees in preparation for the upcoming growing season. With temperatures nearing the 70s, I wore a light jacket but could have hung it on the grape arbor instead.

Last year the professor took charge of the grape vine pruning and did a spectacular job of tying up the vines. Grape production was good. The vines appear to have wintered well. Some of them are over 25 years old, have thick gnarly trunks and tendrils that attach securely to the arbor and to other vines.

I pruned more severely than in the past, leaving only the main trunks and a few branching vines. The Italians, Germans, French prune back to an ugly stump with a knobby top and some of ours have some semblance to those, and an opportunity to sprout new growth and produce as those European vines do. I'm tempted to describe the vines as calligraphy against the green backed orchard hill but they really look more like black chicken scratched lines clinging to the arbor with little white flag ties.

It doesn't matter what they look like since how they produce is more important. Yet it does matter to me, the pruner, when I look at the tidy row and feel satisfaction in time well spent.

Nine kinds of blue cheese

Since this is a vinegar blog it's important to mention vinegar with each update: yesterday I washed the windows with diluted white distilled vinegar. I half filled a five gallon bucket with warm water, sloshed some vinegar into it and set about washing windows. I have to say I've become disillusioned with commercial spray window cleaners. The no-streak claims seem to be unsubstantiated. But I was amazed at the streak-free cleaning powers of plain old vinegar!

Now to the blue cheese. My son-in-law, the professor, visited over the weekend. He brought an assortment of blue cheeses, fruit and port with which to celebrate spring. He had no fewer than 18 small china bowls on a large oval tray. In these he placed samples of the nine kinds of blue cheese he found in twin cities' markets along with black berries, Asian pears, apples, plums, grapes and strawberries. There were crackers, too, but to appreciate the more subtle variations in the flavors of the cheeses we just nibbled them in pure delectable nuggets.

What a delightfully intimate way to try new flavors while celebrating the change of seasons!

The Nine Blues:
Cachel Irish Blue
Societe French Sheeps’ Milk Blue
Rossini Italian Blue
Roaring 40’s Australian Blue
Rogue Creamery Oregon Blue
Maytag Iowa Blue
Black River Wisconsin Blue
Big Woods Iowa Blue
Gorgonzola (Italian Blue)

April eleventh snowstorm

April tenth and there’s so much snow on the ground, and on my satellite dish, that I shoveled the walk instead of accessing the Internet and checking for mail. Each step of the entry walk had a foot of shape-holding marshmallow-like snow. I can just imagine the snow men that will arise from this spring-Friday-no-school-because-of-the-snow morning; unless other kids are like my twelve-year-old who is cuddled up on the couch, well into a good book. Since my Internet isn’t working, I’m blogging on my word program and will upload it when the snow slides off my dish.

The moisture that this snow bestows will seep down and add to the supply of water deeper down. The spring melt has already dissipated the frost layer and allowed the puddles to disappear. It’s good for the soil but very hard on the trees. The two arbor vitae sentinels at the front of our house may not recover from the distortions of the snow load. After shoveling the snow off the front steps, with frequent rest periods to relax my arms’ muscle spasms, I shoveled a path to these trees that have been in their regal positions for twenty-five years. Striking the branches with my shovel, I succeeded in knocking much of the snow off. Though the branches sprang back somewhat, the distortions of the major branches are likely to remain but the one that broke will need to be trimmed away.

While other pine trees suffer, too, from the way the heavy wet snow clings to their bracts and branches, the grape vines and fruit trees are feeling no ill effects. The moisture will be good for them.

Planning for Spring

We anticipated a post-holiday respite and yet the phone is already ringing in the new year.

January is nearly half gone and the tour groups are scheduling for February and March. Of course we think the best tours are in the other three months of the year. We'll do our best, though, to accommodate visitors who won't be able to take advantage of the sights and sounds of the orchard and gardens. Maybe the scents in the vinegary itself make up for the other sensory lacks.

In mid March we'll be doing our vinegar talk at the East Ottertail Horticultural Day in Perham. We were presenters in this fantastic garden themed day last year. It was a terrific event; one to get the sap flowing in gardeners' veins. Joe Bergeson will be the keynote speaker, sharing his thoughts on combining annuals and perrenials. Call the East Ottertail County Extension Office for more information 218-385-3000.

As to the vinegar production: Ron's been harvesting vinegars and making wines to eventually convert to vinegars. Our supply is up and the forecast looks good.

Hampton Market in St. Paul now carries Leatherwood Vinegars as does LaRae's Coffee and Gift shop in Long Prairie. The Cooks of Crocus Hill (St. Paul) have been tasting, and smacking their lips. Negotiations continue. As always, the Whole Farm Co-op www.wholefarmcoop.com continues to sell our vinegar through their drop sites.

Hobby Wine Making- the Country Courier by NPL

As hobbies go, wine making can be among the most satisfying: saving money over buying expensive wines, using fruits that otherwise might go to waste, bringing attention to the appreciation of eating well.

Wine making can be as simple as stomping on grapes and letting them ferment with natural yeast from the skins of the grapes. It can be a little more complex when using other fruits: washing and mashing the fruit, adding water, sugar and yeast, and then watching the fermentation process. It can be as scientific as testing the specific gravity and acid content in order to determine the amount of sugar to be added and if the pH should also be adjusted; choosing specific varieties of yeast; adding enzymes, nutrients, and tannins and other enhancers; controlling the temperature during fermentation and other technical steps in the process. Commercial wineries age some of their wines in oak barrels and this can be adapted for the home wine maker.

The equipment used by wine makers can vary as much as the techniques. Buckets, bowls and bags can be used as primary fermentation vessels. After the liquid is racked-off (siphoned off the “must” or fruit mash) it is usually put in glass jugs with narrow necks. Some use balloons on the top to allow the fermenting wine to release the carbon dioxide without allowing room air to enter the jug. A more controlled method is to use airlocks, wine makers’ tools which accomplish the same task, without the powdery substance that keeps balloons from sticking together falling into the wine.

Carboys (large glass jugs made for wine and beer making), specific gravity testers, wine thieves (used to remove small amounts of wine from a carboy or barrel), thermometers, siphons, hoses, clamps, long handled spoons, cleaning equipment and a plethora of additives can be added to the supply list.

Fifteen years ago I made grape, apple and beet wines using basic recipes and hoping for the best. Some were quite good, though very sweet. Other times the end product made me suspicious if it should actually be called wine and if it might be better not to drink it.

Several years ago Ron took over the family wine making. He appreciates the scientific approach which results in a more consistent product; wine that we enjoy with meals and share with family and friends.

“I keep careful records and write down everything I do. That way I know why my wines taste the way they do,” he said.

Since we’ve handled wine and beer making supplies we’ve met other wine making enthusiasts. Some prefer the basic method, forgoing the more complicated steps in the process which might ensure a drinkable end product but increasing the learning curve. Others approach it with the zeal of having found a new avocation.

Mark Parteka, who lives just outside of Browerville and is known to many in this area as the Sprint man, has been making wines for five or six years. He says when you start making wine be prepared to throw some out. He’s experimenting this year with honeyberries which were developed in Russia from the bitter honeysuckles.

“I ordered the shrubs from Oregon three years ago,” he said.

“I racked-off the honeyberry wine a few days ago. It doesn’t seem to have much flavor,” he said and noted that when he’d picked the fruit it was lacking in flavor. “I’m considering blending some of the wines to see if I can come up with a good one.”

Parteka has also made apricot, peach, strawberry, raspberry, chokecherry, apple, rhubarb, and grape.

“I have my seven year old nephew come over to stomp the grapes,” he said. “I send him home with purple feet.”

He let’s his fishing crew and hunting buddies try out his wines.

“They complain that they never get any more than a taste of the good ones,” he laughed.

While wine makers often use fruits from local orchards, some chose to work with fruit that has been canned for wine making. This is especially useful when making wine after the seasonal fruits are no longer available. Mark Faust has experimented with the canned fruits and hopes to expand into grapes and plums that grow on his land east of Long Prairie.

Loren and Celeste Miller are using apple juice.

“We squeezed the apples and froze all the juice our freezer can hold. We’re going to make wine out of the rest,” Loren said.

He’s been making apple juice the last four or five years. He made apple wine two years ago and this year added wild plum and rhubarb.

Al Fortmann and Joel Anderson downloaded recipes from the internet. These recipes call for Campden tablets to sterilize the “must” of wild yeasts. They also suggest using yeast nutrients to get the fermentation process off to a good start.

“I’ve seen some old recipes,” Joel said. “I’m a little afraid of making bad wine if I don’t use the Campden tablets.”

Tim Mikish makes wine in the fall as the plums, chokecherries and plums ripen. He likes using his own fruit but plans to experiment with the canned fruits as well.

“I’m going to make blackberry and cranberry,” he said, indicating the Vitner’s Choice canned fruit on his stainless steel counter.

John King, Amy Hunter, and LeRoy Williams have recently bottled the wines they made in one of Ron’s classes. They’re happy with the roughly thirty bottles produced from a six gallon start-up.

LeRoy says that making wine has no connection with his role as a Master Gardener. He says it’s just enjoyable and he likes the personal challenge of making some good wine. Williams also highly recommends taking a wine making class rather than trying to learn from a book. “It’s great to have some one show you what to do and why. I screwed up and it was nice to have Ron explain what happened and why and how to correct it. It was neat starting with rhubarb and going home with thirty bottles of wine that taste fantastic.”

John King made apricot wine and chose to make it sulfite-free. Some people are sensitive to sulfites and the home wine maker can adjust accordingly. King’s wine took a little longer to finish fermenting.

King was pleased with his wine too. “I’m going to use some for gifts,” he said.

Minnesota has about fifteen commercial wineries. Touring these wineries can be a fun weekend getaway. They can also help the home winemaker learn more about the process and provide taste comparisons. Buying commercial wines with the intent of learning the complexities and character of individual varieties can also be a pleasurable and educational process.

Linking up with Ursula

I think of the telephone and e-mail as treasure chests of possibility. Gems of ideas and golden opportunities come flickering through modern shipping lanes with little risk of piracy. Well, maybe there's some risk, but we won't worry about that right now.

One day last week the phone rang. Andrew Whalen, chef of Ursula's Wine Bar and Cafe in White Bear Lake, Minnesota was calling. Andrew had discovered our vinegar at the Golden Fig on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. He'd been using it on the menu at Ursula's and was in need of a larger quantity of our rhubarb wine-vinegar. Since we were already planning a trip to the city that weekend, to see one of our daughters in the Fringe Festival production of They Will Be Sent Into the Dawn at Theatre de la Jeune Lune, we told Andrew we'd deliver. He responded with the offer to make us the salad in which he uses the vinegar. Though Ursula's is only open for the evening meal, Andrew, and owner Kurt Hegland, said noon on Friday would be fine.

At noon we were there. No, actually we were a half hour early and had time to visit a book store in White Bear Lake and take in the view of the quaint shops before pulling into Ursula's parking lot at 2125 4th St.

Andrew welcomed us to Ursula's and we proceeded with a vinegar tasting, with Andrew and Kurt joined by their assistant who sported a broad grin and a big hoop earring. He looked a little pirate-like but that's the kind of piracy to be enjoyed. Since we're into describing these fine food proprietors: Andrew reminded me of the friendly Scottish bartender whom we met at St. George and The Dragon, the St. Patrick's Day pub where we celebrated the day with friends in about 1994 (tall, curly blond hair, wide-set blue eyes, a friendly disposition); bespectacled Kurt looked every bit the Real-Estate-Abstracter-turned-restaurateur that he was.

Kurt explained that Ursula means "female bear" a name he felt appropriate for a fine dining establishment in White Bear Lake, a town that capitalizes on polar bears. Of course I had to check the dictionary on that definition. Ursa Major is of course the star constellation also called the Great Bear. Ursine means of or relating to a bear or the bear family Ursidae. Ursuline refers to members of an Italian order of teaching nuns with references to St. Ursula who was martyred in 1639. Maybe this is more than Kurt or any of us want to know. Let's just stick with Kurt's definition.

After our little vinegar tasting Andrew disappeared into the kitchen and quickly produced one of the most delicious salads to which I have ever applied my fork. A delicate mix of baby summer greens covered half of the white crockery plate. Perfectly prepared al dente penne rigate covered the other half. It was topped with shredded fresh handmade mozzarella (Andrew even makes his own string cheese for his "babies" -son and daughter ages 10 and 13), flash-in-a-pan seared tiny heirloom tomatoes, cubed bacon bits (pancetta) and a Leatherwood rhubarb wine-vinaigrette. I don't think our biases were showing when we declared Andrew's salad one of the best ever prepared!

Having sampled our herbal vinegars as well as our garlic-in-rhubarb, Andrew was inspired to whip up some of his special two-bean hummus which he augments with sun dried tomatoes and Leatherwood garlic-wine-vinegar. Served with smokey crostini, a delectable spoonful disappeared from my plate, while Ron, asking politely first if I wanted more, squeegeed the final vestiges from the bottom of the bowl.

Other items on Ursula's menu: Pan seared pork medallions with crispy organic blue cornmeal polenta cake and dried cherry pico de guillo; grilled Black Angus rib eye with fingerling potatoes sauteed with pancetta and red onion and topped with tomato, basil and feta cheese.

Kurt gives all the credit for the inspired menu to Andrew. Andrew just seems to thrive on the wonderful flavors he can whip up in Ursula's tiny kitchen.

The menu suggests that patrons ask the server for dessert selections. We didn't even think about dessert. Let me see....did I tell Andrew about my raspberry-vinegar infused broiled strawberry topped pavlova?

Visit Ursula's web site at http://www.ursulaswb.com/

Country living

Yesterday as I drove from town to the vinegary I saw sepia colored deer in the green field adjacent to the road. Two dull brown sandhill cranes flew over. We often see wild turkeys, this time of year they lead little ones, and occasionally bald eagles. The wild life is abundant and generally a pleasure to watch. The exception is that the rabbits have repeatedly pruned the peas, kale, broccoli and beets in the garden. A handy product called "liquid fence" seems to have solved that problem. Now a gopher has moved into the pumpkin patch. It's only a matter of time before the raccoons raid the sweetcorn. Gardening can be a challenge but the beasts have allowed us to enjoy our green beans and zuccinni.

Today's schedule includes preparation for a vinegar themed dinner for four couples this evening. We donated the dinner to a fund raiser. Each course includes vinegar, from appetizer to dessert. We'll begin with hummus(with house vinegar), vinegar spritzed chips and crudites. This will be followed with a pasta and greens salad(with garlic vinegar). Then marinated (rosemary vinegar) chicken breast, parsley potatoes (with oil, vinegar and parsley) and stir fried green beans (soy sauce and vinegar). Dessert will be pavlova (a meringue made with raspberry vinegar which makes the center like marshmallow) topped with raspberry vinegar infused broiled strawberries. The dinner also includes a tour of the orchard, vinegary and herb garden mingled with the various courses. We're looking forward to providing this unique dining experience.

Last evening we hosted a garden club tour and we're scheduling more group tours (including a mystery tour) into the fall. We sold our retail store in town and moved the shopping experience to the country as well. This makes better use of our time and accommodates large groups well. The only challenge has been in connecting to high-speed internet service. Dial-up makes managing a web site and blogging a much slower process. But we're hopeful that the high-speed dilemma will be resolved by next week.

Mid June

June 20. We're approaching mid-summer and the orchard, garden, herb garden and lawn are doing well. We hosted the Sauk Centre Gradatim Club for a tour this morning and it was a nearly perfect morning. A dozen enchanting ladies walked through the orchard, noting the developing grapes, plums, cherries, and apples. Some gazed fondly at the chokecherries as if they had forgotten the puckery flavor from childhood. We noted the windy days of the weekend had thinned the apple and cherry crop. Still, clusters of McIntosh apples crowd the branches so even more thinning wouldn't hurt. The apples are walnut sized now and some even have blushed cheeks.

The herb garden's anise hyssop and tarragon are most abundant. The lovage seems short this year but is already going to seed. The new plantings of lemon balm, marjoram, rosemary, and parsley have put their roots down. The basil was slow in germinating but will grow quickly now.

We enjoyed a quick lunch of sage butter pasta this noon. The pasta was already cooked so it was a simple matter of sauteing about four stalks of sage (washed and roughly chopped) in a half cup of butter for three minutes. This was tossed on the reheated spaghetti along with shredded cheddar, Monteray Jack and parmesan cheese. With a little fresh melon on the side it was a delightfully filling lunch. No, there wasn't any vinegar in it, but there will be some in tonight's chili.

The growing season

We're well into the growing season and along with the planting, weeding, and mowing we've been welcoming tour groups to the orchard, herb garden and vinegary.

Our vinegar maker has been busy setting up new batches as well as teaching wine making classes to interested folk in the area. It's rhubarb time so Ron has offered classes in making rhubarb wine. We carry a complete line of wine making equipment and supplies as well as those for beer making. So the rhubarb wine is fermenting.

Ron indicates that about 60 gallons of wine-vinegar is in the works. When these vinegars are harvested many of them will be infused with herbs since the herbs (at least some of them) are nearly in their prime. Lovage, tarragon, dill, sage, anise hyssop, and chives are ready to be picked. We didn't get the basil seeds planted early, but they're coming up and we eagerly look forward to the basil harvest.

The orchard pollination went well with the bees doing their annual duties. Some bee keepers are concerned with the loss of bees but so far they seem to be fine here. A good swarm was buzzing and collecting water at the Koi pond yesterday.

Ron and I enjoyed speaking at the Wadena area Christian Women's meeting Tuesday night. It was a challenge to give all 100 attendees a taste of the vinegars, especially since they were just finishing dinner, topping it off with ice cream. They'd lick the ice cream off their spoons and hold them out for the drops of vinegar. What a delightful group! Since Ron and I are both originally from the Wadena area we were delighted to reconnect with friends we hadn't seen in many years.

I mentioned the Koi pond just a minute ago. The Koi have happily reproduced in the ponds so we now have Koi for sale. You might think of fish and vinegar as a culinary duo but Ron's fish are like my chickens: we don't eat them!

Getting Started

Hi
Just learning the Blogger process here.
We'll be talking about food, wine, vinegar and life.
Leatherwood Vinegary is a licensed wine vinegar making facility. We raise the fruit, make the wine, convert it to vinegar, and flavor it with herbs. We cook with it, use it on salads, and sometimes just sip it. We market it through our web site www.leatherwoodvinegary.com. It's also available at: the Chocolate Fig on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota; Forest Hill Framing and Gallery in Willmar; Whole Farm Co-op in Long Prairie; Baker's Craft and Hobby in St. Cloud.