November and Orange

 Before we move on to Christmas and all of the red and green I wanted to review my month of orange:  Orange pumpkins, orange persimmons, orange kittens, big bros and Mama cats, Orange apricots from the freezer, orange linens.  Fall has been gorgeous here in Southern California.  I still have  shorts on today.  Honestly I'll have to put on a sweater this evening but I can't remember when the last time I still had tomatoes on the vine and sleeveless shirts on my body on November 29.  Certainly not in Denver.  BRR

The fall sunsets set the color palette:

Even in California we get beautiful sunsets

Lots of purples, a little yellow but mostly orange.

Let me tell you about my orange:

Most of my extra energy was spent discovering and caring for a litter of kittens that was birthed in the back yard of an unoccupied home.  The Mama brought them over the fence to hide them in my orchard.  The Mama is not new to my orchard.  She naps there often and feels pretty safe.  My dog, Charlotte,  has an ongoing conversation with Mama "Ollie" about her hanging around so much.  So I knew that Ollie had brought her kittens to the orchard and where they were hidden.  Ollie is feral but trusts me a bit.  She trusted me enough to transplant her babes from the soggy place in an old trunk to the breezeway of the workshop:

Here's the whole family. Mama Ollie and her 4 three week old kittens - yes three of them are orange just like her.  The visitor to the side is Rodney who is from Ollie's last litter in March.  He's orange too

Rodney is a great babysitter and plays with his half bros quite often ( The white specks in the grass are the remnants of  avian hunting)  Feral cats know how to feed themselves

Lots of orange kittens

The kittens felt adventurous and safe enough to become part of the barnyard,  Axel sneaks in to have a morning conversation with Bullet

Well, Axel is the last kitten to be adopted.  He is finally big enough ( 2 pounds) to be neutered.  Here lies the biggest challenge:  There are many wonderful organizations who offer low or no cost neutering to feral cats but the demand is much higher  than the supply so I have been waiting months on many lists to have these little guys  and their Mama and brother neutered.  It's a real problem.  But guess what, Axel ? We are taking a road trip to Simi Valley and you are returning without the ability to ever be a daddy.  Yay!  

All kittens have been adopted by loving humans now so I'm just waiting for the teenager and Ollie to have an appointment

This has been a big focus of mine this Fall.  I'm not even a cat person.  Lots of orange!!!

Of course there are lots of orange pumpkins that color up the kitchen and good cuisine;

Jarrahdale pumpkins

pumpkin cut up and ready to roast

chunky pumpkin soup

Lots of orange.  Doesn't this table setting mimic all of the colors of the sunset?

Golden beets ready to roast

and a lobster salad- orange

Persimmons are orange too.  I love Fuju persimmons.  Raw they are kind of like an apple...crisp and slightly sweet with lots of fiber.  But they are pricy at about $3 each so a delicacy.  One of my neighbors has a tree and we will swap our harvests.  OMG he brought over nearly 50 pieces of fruit.

What to do now?

So knowing I had a lot of apricots in the freezer from my own bounty in June I decided to make jam

Butternut squash is orange as well.  The persimmon and apricot jam came out delicious...and not too sweet.  I used not only lemon juice but also lime which I will repeat very low sugar and a vanilla bean.

French onion soup is kind of orange.  I had a bounty of onions and some gruyere cheese.  Maybe it's the cheese that's orange.

Nasturtiums are orange among many other colors.  I just sneaked out to take this picture and the following:

My blood orange tree is bearing fruit for the first time since I planted it in 2018.  I just about gave up on it but patience won out.  These beauties will color up and be ready to pick in about January or February.  The tree is planted outside my bedroom window.  It's such a joyful view in the morning and reminds me of hope and anticipation for my next crop of fruit.

I could add some purple but I think this is enough of my sunset colors for my Autumn on the farm.  I am grateful tfor my lifestyle with fresh homegrown food to prepare into fabulous healthy dishes.  I am surrounded by loving animals who bring me great joy and this year a huge challenge.  Spending over an hour each day walking my dog is good for both of us and I get to visit with my neighbors.  Spending time around my goats makes me laugh and calm down with their amazing therapeutic energy.  The chickens are taking a few months off from laying eggs but they love taking dirt baths on these warm sunny days. 

LIFE IS GOOD ON THE FARM

AND VERY ORANGE

OK  time to get in the Christmas spirit

Health food salad!

I love healthy food and I love cooking- but you probably know that already.  It is nothing but brown, black, gray and blue in Denver with not a thing growing in anyone's garden but who says there aren't beautiful fruits and vegetables to eat!  This beautiful colorful- full of antioxidants salad is delicious.  I started with raw beets- red, orange and chioggia and carrots and shredded them in my $15 slicer from Williams-Sonoma.  Then I found blood oranges, naval oranges and mangoes.  I did have some little limes growing indoors so added lime juice, blood orange juice and pomegranate vinegar- oh and a little olive oil for dressing- oh and a little orange zest.  As if it weren't pretty and healthy enough already I added some dried cranberries.  Try it!

Pretty January salad

beets and carrots

Blood oranges, mango, key limes and navel oranges

Oranges & lemons

oranges & lemons, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

When I was a young girl my Christmas stocking was filled with candy, nuts and oranges.....sometimes apples. These were always readily available at holiday time and affordable as well as edible. My children laugh at me when I try to continue this tradition of stocking stuffers. Today it is usually cozy socks that fill the stocking. But as I look around for available Christmas decorations the fruit is perfect. These oranges are Cara Cara oranges....they are very pink inside and a little sweeter than most oranges and they are the first harvest from my little container tree. Gifts from the garden. The Meyer lemons are from my little tree that has been giving me fruit for many years. The tree stands about 3 feet tall.
So I think of my mother and old traditions using oranges and lemons from my garden to create a yummy salad:

Orange fennel salad

orange fennel salad, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

and Voila! Orange fennel salad:
1 fennel bulb, sliced very thin..use the top for garnish
4 oranges, peeled and also sliced thin, (I used Cara Cara oranges)
spinich or arugula
blue cheese
walnuts, toasted
dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
juice from 2 lemons ( I used my Meyer lemons)
salt
pepper
Mix the sliced oranges and fennel bulb in a bowl and toss with dressing
Lay a bed of the greens on each plate and then add the orange mixture
Sprinkle blue cheese and toasted walnuts on top
Garnish with the feathery tips from the top of the fennel

Post script: tablesetting: 10 lords a leeping (W-S Christmas linens), hand folded Christmas tree made from a retail catalogue.

Guess what I had for breakfast

study of an orange, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

I asked Ella (age 5) " Why do you think they named an orange an 'orange'?" There was a pause and then a giggle. Well why didn't they name a lemon "yellow" and why didn't they name an apple "red"? I guess it's 5 year old humor but WHY?