Cooking Outside! In A Sun Oven

Anise hyssop (this one is from the mint family) growing in one of our raised beds.

My Good Fences photo (from my archives) of a replica of the Pinta (and a bit of the Nina) when it was docked in Knoxville several years ago for tours.  We took the grands with us for an educational tour that day.  Please, click on the pic to appreciate all the fences.

I have wanted a Sun Oven for years and finally got one last month.  Goodman is fond of homestyle meals complete with a meat and 2 vegetables so I cook A LOT, and that heats up the house A LOT. I like the idea of cooking without the heat from the stove competing with the air-conditioning in the summertime so it just makes sense to use a sun oven (or/and an outdoor grill.)  And it's really handy when the power is off.   It can even be used in winter - as long as the sun shines you can cook in it.

Since I bought mine I've been surprised to find out how many people have never heard of them.  
Here it's cooking a pot of beans on our deck.  (Imagine li'l red beans cookin' away in there.)

 mine, mine, mine.  ;)

The pot sits on a leveling tray so you can position the oven so the glass lid on top of the oven directly faces the sun.

It can reach 400° inside when placed in direct line with the sun.  Here I made sun tea - next time I'm going to make it in a jar as the pans that came with it don't pour without spilling it everywhere.  o.O 

Cookin' Green Sun Tea

I usually boil pork short ribs (makes them super tender and chases away that awful piggy odor) for an hour on the stove then drain and slather them with sauce on the grill for 10 mins.  Here I cooked them in the oven for a couple hours then drained them, added sauce and grilled them the usual 10 minutes for added flavor.  Delicious. 

Short Ribs going into the sun oven

It took the sun oven about 2 hours to cook beef tips for supper last evening.  Just a few minutes of preparation on my part beforehand then the oven did the rest. Cool.  And that's exactly what happened since I cooked outside...the house stayed cool.   In the summertime I try to fry squash and such on our outdoor grill to help keep the house cool.  

Beef Tips with gravy & noodles, Fried Zucchini, and Mashed Cauliflower 

I've also tried a whole baked chicken, and it's great cooked in the oven, too.   If you have any questions about the oven or are interested in buying one click here to watch a video at the sun oven site.   No affiliation, just a happy customer.

You can read about them here >  Source  <<   Btw, part of the proceeds from sales help to place huge community sun ovens in third world countries.

The growing season will soon end so don't forget to gather mullein for your herbal cabinet.  :)
As always, I'm not a doctor so if you have a medical condition do consult your physician.

Mullein

Shared at The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Wildcrafting Wednesdays, Good Fences, Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop

In the Garden and A Quick Handknit

We are vacillating between chilly and summer-like weather here in the foothills.  Winter usually sets in here sometime in December. This is bee balm that bloomed in June.

Bergamot, bee balm, horsemint are all names for Monarda didyma

I've been piddling in the garden beds a bit and gathering herbs for wintertime use.  This is the common herb mullein that I dry then use as a remedy for chest colds and coughs in general.  It works - true story below...

Several years ago Goodman and I both had the flu at the same time. It was rough to say the least and ended with really bad congestion and a wracking, seemingly endless cough.  A Cherokee friend told me that Native Americans had used wild mullein for centuries to help rid themselves of lung congestion.

Mullein, Verbascum thapsus

I had some on hand, so I immediately brewed us a batch of tea and added honey and lemon for flavor. Even though he was coughing his head off Goodman was doubtful it could help and wouldn't try it. A few days later he had to see a doctor and take a round of antibiotics. Ahem, I did not. ;)  Within hours I was better, and the cough was gone completely in a few days.  I'm convinced it's an uncommonly good herb to have on hand.  Nowadays, we both have a cup or two of mullein tea when we get a bad cough. I use 1-2 teaspoons of dried mullein per 8 ozs. of boiling water, let it steep for 15 minutes then add honey and lemon to taste.  Disclaimer:  I'm not a doctor so see your physician for any serious medical condition.
Sidenote:  The leaves of the mullein plant are large and very soft;  hence another name for mullein is Cowboy Toilet Paper - just sayin'.  o.O

I found a silly fox in my strawberry bed...

It somehow escaped from the hangin' tree in the backyard.  (Okay, it didn't really escape.)  If you'd like a quick-to-knit, fun scarf pattern, this one is it.  The free pattern is here.  Just scroll down the page at the site for the English version.

The June-bearing strawberry bed that I started anew back in the spring produced over eighty runners! (Yeah, I counted 'em, lol.)   I've rooted and potted some of them to make a few more beds for next year.  

We planted carrots this year for the first time.  Gardening experts say keeping the seeds moist for the first few weeks to a month is the key to germination.  I did that and, lo, they are growing.  I let them get to the size you see here then planted garlic between the rows of carrots.  By the time the garlic needs more room the carrots will be long gone giving them plenty of room to grow next season.

Okay, that's a wrap for this week in the foothills.  Leaving you with a photo of the cool split rail fence at the entrance of Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Talk to you soon the Good Lord willin'.

p.s.  Next Monday I'll be participating in the Around the World Blog Hop.  If you're not already committed and would like to participate please let me know, and I'll send you an invitation.
Shared at The Art of Home-Making Mondays,  Good Fences, FarmGirl Friday Blog Hop

Piddlin' in My Hangout

Preparedness Challenge

Hallooooo! Anyways, here's where I've been hangin' out lately - in the garden. The zinnias are finally in wonderful bloom.

And the vegetables are starting to come in - here is chocolate mint, cucumbers and mullein flowers. We'll talk about the mullein flowers in a bit.
See the beans on the section of fencing in the garden? They're asparagus beans, and boy howdy, do they get long.
Most of them measure around 20 inches. They're oriental and great in stir fry.
I've been freezing them in small batches and putting them in bags with other vegetables for stir fry mixes. (I recently noticed that some frozen vegetables I'd bought were all the way from China! O.O Ahem, no thank you! Ain't no need for that. I'm making my own now.)Have you seen any of these lately? They're mullein plants, and they are popping up in profusion everywhere this summer. It's a wild herb with wonderful health benefits. I dry the leaves for a tea to break up congestion...

and the yellow flowers make a great earache oil when....
steeped in olive oil, strained, and put in a dropper bottle till needed.

There has been knitting in the foothills, a pair of socks for Goodman. I've been refreshing my sock knitting skills with this tutorial over at Come To Silver. It's great for beginners & whoever needs a li'l jump start.
Burgundy stella d'oros. Hope you're having a great summer!

Two Finished Projects

Thank you for visiting my blog; and Happy Autumn even though it's still a bit warm here in the South. We're still looking forward to red and yellow leaves on the trees and cooler temperatures.I used Homespun yarn and knitted this shawl 20 inches wide and 6 feet long. It's just plain garter stitch, but it's very soft and warm; and the color is one of my favorites. Susan's prairie shawl that you can see at her blog Chipmunk Knits was the inspiration for this one. Her pattern is in the comments section of her blog under the brown shawl. Thanks, Susan!
(Okay, inquiring minds wanted to know: Cast on 55 sts and knit till the end of 3 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun yarn. Cast off; weave in the ends. go for it, y'all)

It's done at last, my crocheted Mile-a-Minute afghan. It's folded here, so you can't see that it's twelve strips wide, but it is. Have a big, beautiful banana baby buggy, Y'all. They're delicious; I'm making these mints for a baby shower that our youngest is hostessing this weekend. I'll show you a pic of the bears, bottles and pins next time. :) They're fun to make. The grandgals beg to get to help make them. Don't tell them it's work.

The plant I mentioned a few posts ago is mullein. It grows just about anywhere, especially along the roadside. It's great for putting an end to the terrible hacking & coughing that comes with colds and flu. I dry the leaves, crumble, and store them in a tin; then when the cold winds blow I'm ready and can make a tea with them. I use 1 tsp. mullein per cup of boiling water; steep 5 mins. and flavor with honey and lots of lemon. There's an abundance of herbs just outside the door just waiting for us to check them out. Have an herb-y week, Y'all.