Weekend Wars

Typical homeowner, gardener weekend around here. Leaves have started coming down in a rush and for a gardener that means gathering them all up for composting. I went to Home Despot yesterday and bought a 25 ft. roll of chicken wire to make up three circular bins for holding the leaves. This is a relatively cheap and effective way of making little portable compost bins. The hard part is in unwinding the tight little roll of wire, cutting it into three equal lengths and then joining the bitter ends to form three nice hoops for compost bins. It was quite the battle and in the end the chicken wire won. I am covered with punctures, scratches and other wounds and still have one bin to go. Damn stuff refuses to behave and wants like the dickens to return to its original form of a 3 inch diameter roll instead of three 3 ft diameter hoops.

I tried something new last night for dinner. I roast vegetables in the oven all the time...onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, beets, tomatoes, parsnips, etc. and since we got three nice turnips in the CSA box I thought roasting them would be just the ticket. Not a good idea, at least with purple top turnips. Roasting made them bitter and really sent the turnip flavor over the top and basically made them nasty. Lesson learned. It's soup for turnips from now on.

Off to tackle the final chicken wire bin and then on to the leaves. To make amends to Madam for last nights dinner debacle, tonight will be oven roasted beets(again from the CSA) and a small Poulet Rouge from North Carolina. If you happen to see one in your store and try it you will be spoiled for regular white chickens, even the free range ones. Paper thin skin and meat that actually has some flavor. Roast chicken is probably my 'mostest favorite' thing and these chickens are like the ones you get in the street markets in France off the rotisserie. Mighty fine and a truly noble way to honor the sacrifice the chicken has made. I also have a very nice Cote de Rhone that will go nicely with it all.