Food - David Mathre Photography

Thursday (10-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Indoor Gardening in New Jersey

After the deer ate my strawberry plants in the canvas pots on my patio, I tried to get some strawberry plants started indoors in the hydroponic gardens. I cut some of the runners from the Garden Towers. After 2 weeks only a small percentage started growing roots. Most were dead. Later, I read that the runners are better started still connected to the mother plant. I then ordered some strawberry plugs (Sweet Charlie and Chandler) from ISONS in Georgia. These are delivered in October for fall planting. I decided to try some indoors in the hydroponic gardens, and the others outside in the canvas pots (replacing the ones the deer ate). Time-lapse video of the indoor planting.

Daily Electric Energy Used (51.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (30.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The sun came out in the afternoon. Overall a net deficit of 20.2 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Wednesday (09-October-2019) — New Jersey

Home Cooking: Bread and Salsa Verde.

It must be autumn as it is cold and raining outside. Spent the day making Bread and Salsa Verde. I made a Time-lapse video of the time in the kitchen cooking both using a Garmin VIRB-360 camera.

Whole Wheat & Muesli Bread Recipe: Bob’s Red Mill Muesli (1 1/2 cup); Bread Flour (1/2 cup); Whole Wheat Flour (1/2 cup); Sprouted Wheat Flour (1/2 cup); Flax Seed (1/4 cup); sugar (2 tbs); dry milk (1/4 cup); salt (1 tsp); egg (1 large); flax oil (2 tbs); water (1 1/4 cup). Above ingredients added to the Panasonic Bread Bakery. Yeast (2 tsp) added to yeast hopper and the unit set for Whole Wheat Bread (Rapid) and started. Three hours later, the loaf of bread was removed and allowed to cool. This time the bread stuck to the cooker and was hard to get out. Next time reduce the Muesli by 1/2 cup, and increase the bread flour by 1/2 cup. I like this bread since it is not as dense and heavy as the Rye & Whole Wheat loaves.

Salsa Verde Recipe: First I grilled/blackened husked and washed Tomatillos (2.5 lbs), Red Onion (1 quartered), New Mexico Hatch Chile Peppers (4, cut in half and de-seeded) on a broiler pan. These were placed in a 4 quart Instant Pot pan along with garlic cubes (12, Trader Joe’s), salt (1 tsp), Coriander (1 tsp), Cilantro (fresh, 2 oz, washed and chopped), Apple vinegar (1/4 cup), Lime juice (2 medium, squeezed). Then cooked for 10 minutes at high pressure. After relieving the pressure, the mixture was blended with a hand-held immersion blender. Still a bit too sweet. More vinegar and salt?

Daily Electric Energy Used (52.5 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (12.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy and rainy all day. One load of laundry and two loads in the dishwasher. Overall a net deficit of 39.6 kWh. Hope to see more sun this month… But the ground is dry causing the deer to keep getting into the fenced wildflower meadows.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Tuesday (08-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Indoor Nature in New Jersey.

The lettuce in the AeroGarden Farm #1 at day 20 is ready to have some leaves harvested for a salad. The types of lettuce growing the fastest are Black-seeded Simpon, Red Sails, and Red Romaine.

AeroGarden Farm #1. Lettuce ready for first harvest (20 days). Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 1400, 60 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

First Harvest. Salad for Dinner from the indoor hydorponic farm.(20 days). Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 1600, 60 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (47.0 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (18.2 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A little rain and not much sun. Overall a net deficit of 28.8 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Thursday (03-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Indoor Nature in New Jersey.

The three AeroGarden hydroponic Farms have been online for 14-15 days. Many of the plants have already sprouted, and several of the lettuce plants are growing fast. Depending on how big some of the plants get, I may have to trim some out. The LED lights for each tray raises to 36 inches as the plants grow.

AeroGarden Farm 1 Left. at 11 days. Red Heirloom and Golden Harvest Tomatoes. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

AeroGarden Farm 1 Right. at 14 days. Lettuce (Red Romaine, Deer Tongue, Marvel of 4 Seasons, Paris Island, Black-seeded Simpon, Red Sails), Basil, Chives, and Dill. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

AeroGarden Farm 2 Left. at 14 days. Peppers (Mini Jalapeno, Purple Super Hot, Red Fire), and Chives. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

AeroGarden Farm 2 Right. at 10 days. Lettuce, Romain, Arugula Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

AeroGarden Farm 3 Left. at 10 days. Broccoli, Swiss Chard, Basil, Dill, Parsley. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

AeroGarden Farm 3 Right. at 10 days. Cauliflower, Kale, Cilantro, Oregno, Rosemary, Thyme. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (47.0 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (5.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. It rained all day, and the temperatures dropped nearly 40 degrees since yesterday. The Geothermal HVAC system wasn’t needed. The new hydroponic gardens used 8.9 kWh. Overall a net deficit of 41.7 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Tuesday (01-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Indoor Nature in New Jersey.

I am expanding my indoor hydroponic garden capacity this year so I can have both fresh vegetables and greens as well as wildflowers. Two AeroGarden Farm XL systems were delivered. Some assembly required. I set up the Garmin VIRB-360 camera to record the assembly process for a Time-Lapse video. Unfortunately, one of the boxes was missing the hardware (bolts, cables, control unit). ARRG! I’ve requested the missing items be replaced but haven’t heard from the Support folks from AeroGarden yet so I can finish assembling the 2nd unit.

AeroGarden Farm XL Box One -- Contents Jumbled, and Parts Missing. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE) — AeroGarden Farm XL Box One — Contents Jumbled, and Parts Missing. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

AeroGarden Farm XL Box Two -- Contents in Order, and no Parts Missing. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE) — AeroGarden Farm XL Box Two — Contents in Order, and no Parts Missing. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (54.3 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun in the afternoon and warmer out. The Geothermal HVAC used 6.1 kWh for cooling. The new hydroponic gardens used 8.7 kWh. Overall a net deficit of 12.7 kWh.