Yes, You Can! Canning Class Offered

Here's your chance to get hands-on experience canning some of your favorite summer items. I'll be sharing my knowledge at an intimate class hosted by the fine folks at Simple Gourmet, where I'll teach canning safety and how to get the most out of your summer produce. The class is set for 10:30 a.m., Saturday, July 30.

Class includes locally grown produce, (yes, we will actually can!) canning jars, written materials and will last 3-4 hours. You will leave with three jars of finished canned items you made that day! Learn more about the class here. 

The class is limited to 10 individuals so make sure to sign up today!

Coming Soon: Mother Moo Creamery

For those of you who love Mothercluck jams and jellies, we are proud to announce that our products will have a new home. 

Coming next month, Mothercluck Artisanal Jams, Jellies and Preserves will be MOO-VING to Mother Moo Creamery, 17 Kersting Court, in beautiful Sierra Madre (www.mothermoo.com).

Owner Karen Klemens will be scooping up her organic ice cream at Mother Moo, plus she will be selling her artisanal jams directly to the public. Home preservation classes and workshops also will be available in August -- just in time to can the 100 pounds of tomatoes in your garden!

Mother Moo and Mothercluck are proud to be united under one barn.

Come by and give a scream, because We All Scream for Ice Cream!

The Market is Back!

After a few months of rest and more importantly the birth of two beautiful, healthy goat doelings, the Altadena Urban Farmers Market is back, featuring locally grown fruits, vegetables and prepared foods.

The market also will be celebrating the lift of the citrus quarantine. The quarantine has hampered local growers' efforts to safely and legally transport backyard fruit. At the May market, patrons can expect plenty of fresh, organic fruit and vegetables for sale.

The market is set from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, May 29, at the Zane Grey Estate, 396 E. Mariposa St., Altadena. Proceeds from the market benefit the ongoing work of the nonprofit Arroyo Time Bank. Check out the ATB's link here.

Mothercluck's line of jams, jellies and preserves will be back along with a host of other regular vendors. We all will be so happy to see our regular customers again.

Truly, the Altadena Urban Farmers Market is one of the best markets in Los Angeles County. Stop by, shop and make sure to pet the goats, including babies Dorothy and Poet. You'll be glad you did!

Buy LOCAL: Two Great Events Saturday!

Your Saturday morning errand schedule might be tight, but there's no reason not to support two events happening in the Pasadena community. Both events are located mere minutes of each other.

On your way to the local grocer, stop by and support local artisans who have baked for the Bake Sale for Japan. The nearest location for Pasadena-area residents is at the Chef's Center in Pasadena, 45 N. San Gabriel Blvd., Pasadena. Mothercluck Artisanal Jams, Jellies, and Preserves has donated some goodies, plus there's delicious breads, cookies, and other sweets for sale. Proceeds from the event go directly toward Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims. The sale begins at 10 a.m.

You'll be thanking us in July if you buy LOCAL and purchase your tomatoes and other delicious fruits and vegetables from Ardenwoods Edibles and Winnetka Farms. Meet the farmers behind this one-day-only sale as they host a seedling and seed sale from 8 a.m. to noon. Ardenwoods is located in Pasadena (email me for address info). There is no entry fee to purchase your locally grown starter plants.

So stop by, sniff some basil and fresh tomato greens, taste some jam, and say hello!

Buy Local! -- SALE This Weekend, Sat., April 2

Meet the farmers behind Ardenwoods Edibles and Winnetka Farms as they have a seedling and seed sale from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, April 2. Ardenwoods is located in Pasadena (contact me for address info). 

If you buy local, you'll KNOW where your starter plants come from! Start from beautiful, organic, HEALTHY seedlings and you will eliminate the problems you might face later this summer. Plus both nurseries carry varieties you won't find elsewhere -- guaranteed!

Mothercluck Artisanal Jams, Jellies, and Preserves also will be selling their delicious, small batch jams. Stop by, shop, taste some jam, and say hello!

Food for Thought

Delicious meal worms for the chickens. Gone in seconds.

I really do need to begin harvesting my own maggots.

Suggestions anyone?

Good Stuff to Eat! Altadena Urban Farmers Market

So proud to be affiliated with the Altadena Urban Farmers Market! If you are in the Los Angeles area, shop locally and attend the monthly market which is held at Zane Grey Estate in Altadena. February's market will be held from 1 to 4 p.m., this Sunday, Feb. 20.

In addition to Mothercluck Artisanal Jams, Jellies, and Preserves, there will be vendors selling natural, organic chickens, bacon, eggs (yes, I'll have a few dozen to sell), artisanal bread, gluten-free products, amazing greens, and starter/edible plants for your own urban homestead.

If you care about where your food comes from, stop by and meet other like-minded homesteaders.

Logo is courtesy of artist and illustrator Joseph Schuldiner, whose book Pure Vegan is due out in early 2012.

Why Mothercluck?

I haven't posted for a while because I've been busy getting my crew ready for the Artisanal LA Holiday Pop-Up Shop. Mothercluck is one of 30-plus vendors that were fortunate to be selected to participate in this winter event. I'll be sharing my pop-up space with the fabulous kitchen soap artisan PLU (People Like Us). They have marvelous soaps (I particularly love their clean-smelling tobacco and vanilla scent).

Because it's December, mothercluck has prepared a number of small-batch jams, jellies and preserves using wholesome ingredients that are perfect for the season: pomegranates, apples, cranberries, quinces, Meyer lemons (you've got to try our variation of 3M -- Myer and Meyer Marmalade -- it's to die for), and glorious oranges. With mothercluck products, we use the simplest and purest of ingredients, often grown within miles of home. Our philosophy is simple: honor the true taste of a fresh fruit or vegetable and you'll be rewarded with the best in flavor and texture. We never use juices from concentrate (yup, the juice for our pomegranate products were all seeded and juiced by hand), and, if we can help it, pectin.

For those who are visiting the mothercluck site for the first time, welcome. We hope you enjoy the stories published here, which tell the tales of my humble homestead. In addition to being an award-winning canner and preserver (I won best of division and several ribbons for my jams at the 2010 L.A. County Fair), I do give a cluck about food safety. I have taken a number of Los Angeles-area courses on the safety of food preservation and canning. All of these courses were taught by certified Master Preservers of Los Angeles County. When in doubt, I also follow the guidelines set by Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving and the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Mothercluck's jams are heat processed in sealed containers that can be kept in your pantry for up to one year. Once opened, the jams should be refrigerated.

I want to give a special shout-out to Christine Moore, owner of Little Flower Candy Company, for the use of her facilities (you really need to try her caramels), and my terrific network of friends, Rebecca, Heide (friends for 35-plus years!), Maureen, Karen, Sherri, Lisa, Kate, Angela, Meghan, Rose, my friends and co-workers from that extraordinary independent day school I used to work for, and my two Pams for all their support. And to my son Joe and my husband who reluctantly does farm chores: my heart warms whenever I think of you two.

I think that's enough. 


So if you are in the 'hood this weekend, stop by and give me a cluck at Artisanal LA!

The Diet of a Chicken

• Cantaloupe seeds
• Lettuce
• Weeds
• Worms
• Whole wheat bread
• Goldfish crackers (my son is happy to share)
• Maggots
• Scratch
• Leftover pasta, preferably spaghetti -- (chickens aren't bright. They think they're worms)
• Honeydew seeds
• Scum from my jams
• Saltines (my chickens love these)
• Grubs
• Bananas
• Tomatoes
• Yogurt
• Crumble
• Chicken feed
• Apple cores
• Leaves off my pomegranate tree
• Leaves off my parsley
• Just about anything in my garden except pepper plants. Damn chickens.
• Pita bread
• Ears of corn (because I'm nice)
• White rice
• Brown rice
• Spiders
• Earwigs
• Snails
• And of course, plenty of love. Ahhhh. Corny, I know.

Chicken owners, how about you? What do you feed your chickens?

Deep Roots

I’ve come to believe that the root of all evil are roots themselves.

Yesterday, my husband-who-hates-farm-chores and I tackled and culled the roots from one of our two raised gardening beds that sit inconveniently under a giant sycamore tree. There were roots big and small, long and short, and stubborn and easy. It was back-wrenching work, and today, I’m clearly paying for it.

The raised gardening bed is about two years old, and I really haven’t dug deep in the dirt since it was built. Every planting season (there are two, sometimes three in Southern California), I would just add our homemade chicken manure/compost mixture to the heap and mix it in as best as I could.

It’s been a good garden bed – not great since anything that grows there in the summer is only blessed with afternoon sun. But nonetheless, it’s been home to some showy herbs, a few successful tomato plants, the occasional zucchini, not-so-great peppers, and gorgeous coneflowers.

This year, after about five hours of prepping the garden bed, I took stock of what plants would do best in such limited conditions. The solution? Strawberries. They are hardy beasts which require very little maintenance. Hopefully my little strawberry field will prosper and take root under its now root-less ground. Plus, as an extra bonus, the plants could serve as an educational tool to the young children who live on our street. Strawberries can be irresistible to the young mind.

There’s no question I hate digging up tree roots but hopefully I won’t have to do it again. Besides, isn’t that the whole point? Strawberry fields forever?

Organic Eggs?

Hats off to the Homegrown Evolution blog that posted a link to The Cornucopia Institute's newly released Organic Egg Scorecard. It's definitely worth a look if you aren't raising your own hens.

The scorecard identifies a number of excellent egg producers and, not so surprisingly, many household names that are "ethically deficient egg producers." 

Bottom of the list? Eggs from Trader Joe's, Whole Foods (365 Organic), and Costco (Kirkland Signature). The Institute noted that these eggs are "produced on industrial farms that house hundreds of thousands of birds and do not grant the birds meaningful outdoor access."

The top egg producers included farms in Wisconsin, New York State, and Michigan. 

So What's in Your Compost Bin?

I opened our handy kitchen pot that holds our daily compost scraps and I thought to myself, "Damn, it's been nearly a year since I've last posted something on Mothercluck.com. I've got to do something about that."

And so here I am.

A lot of things have happened since my last post, The Big Molt. I was offered an unexpected job, and, unfortunately, I lost that job unexpectedly nearly a year later.

Chicken and Pox, the poster children of Mothercluck.com have both died. Our homestead also lost Gracie, The Ugly One, this past April when she no longer could walk because of an unfortunate neurological ailment. I still miss them all, especially Chicken and Grace. I'm sure there will be a post about them in the near future.

But there have been some blessings, too. My son entered kindergarten this year and is thriving. We have added three new chickens to our flock,  and they produce some exceptionally brilliant and beautiful blue, taupe, and cocoa-colored eggs. We've had a bumper crop of tomatoes and other vegetables because of our chicken poop/compost pile.

Oh, and I can now add that I'm an award-winning canner and preserver. Again, more about that later.

So, welcome back and enjoy. My husband still hates farm chores, so I've got to go empty the compost scraps. There's some serious mold growing in there!

Don't Be Fooled

Baby carrots aren't really carrots. This "Imperator" carrot grows faster and ripens quickly, and because of this, they only have 70% of the beta carotene of a normal carrot.

And besides, wouldn't you want a bit of dirt on your carrot? Buy locally at the farmer's market and have a taste of the earth.

http://www.wisebread.com/baby-carrots-the-frugal-idea-that-isnt

Finally...Success!

Joe had to try one of our first unripe watermelons.

Rotten melon on the vine.

And finally...success!

This summer, I tried my hand at planting watermelon, a fruit that has never been one of my usual homestead staples of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and green beans. My goal was to produce a green and white speckled watermelon as sweet as the ones grown in my childhood, complete with hundreds of black seeds and succulent juice pouring down my chin.

Well, somehow it wasn't meant to be. I planted my vine in May, what seemed to be prime planting season. The leafy stalks grew and grew until August, when I witnessed my first flower. The flowers never really did take but eventually I found myself with a few fertilized flowers and a few watermelon babies that slowly grew and grew until either rot got to them or they fell from the vine.

This past weekend my husband who hates farm chores dug up the green leafy vine (I had let my chickens feast on the leaves earlier). There wasn't any ripe fruit and I considered my farming experiment a failure. As I looked at our lot and contemplated trimming my overgrown sage, I saw IT tucked in the sage -- a beautiful, round globe gleaming with fullness. Could it be, a beautiful sweet melon brimming with juice?

Today, I shared my success with our neighbors and the children that make our block a community. It wasn't the watermelon that reminded me of my youth on Mansfield Ave. but it was good, and it was tasty and homegrown. I might try my hand at growing another one next year but with one change: I'm going to let Joe decide if this is THE watermelon of his childhood. You know, the one that tastes as sweet as honey, with juices dripping down your chin.

Alpine Cleveland Sage

The two Alpine Cleveland Sage (salvia clevelandii) plants that welcome visitors to my home are now in bloom. In the morning, I wake up to their fragrance, which reminds me of a forest after a long leisurely rain.

What a welcome sight after a particularly tough, hot September!

Today's Gathering

This Wednesday morning, I hopped into my car and went to the Santa Monica Farmers Market -- my absolute favorite.

I love most of our Southern California markets -- Hollywood, Encino, Beverly Hills, Studio City, Alhambra, South Pasadena, and Pasadena -- but the Santa Monica market on Wednesday is extraordinary. The market in Hollywood may be larger but this one is diverse, offering a nice variety of farmer-vendors with unusual and hard-to-find produce.

My finds this week were these beautiful heirloom apples and hard-to-stop-eating smoked tomatoes from Windrose Farms in Paso Robles. I've waited all year for the tomatoes. The apples? They soon will become jam.

We'll be eating well this week!

Pictured (l. to r.) is lettuce from our front garden, sungold tomatoes, elstar heirloom apples, a mixture of dapple dandy pluots and moyer plums, and green olives that I will attempt to cure.

It's An Ant Invasion!

Add a little water to your compost pile and you get millions of ants trying to survive the tsunami. You can hear the chickens in the background.

The Coffin

We call this particular raised garden bed our coffin because, well, it's rather deep and large. This weekend we culled the last of the tomato plants and let the chickens do their thing. It was teeming with bugs and little critters. A few days later, it was a plot filled with dust and chicken shit. Thank you Chicken and Pox!

Organic Bean Greens

Close up of the chickens enjoying a mid-afternoon snack. Listen to the birds sing in the background; ignore the poop on the sidewalk.

Praying Mantis: Good for the Garden

This master of camouflage has been seeking refuge in our front public garden for the past few weeks.

Earlier pictures turned out horrible but fortunately the light was just right the other day and I was able to capture a photo of my new favorite garden guest: the praying mantis.

So what if they are known to eat off the head of their mates? I still want them around.