Cèilidh Nam Freumhan

Tag: food

  • My Garden Compendium Has Already Changed

    My Garden Compendium Has Already Changed

    The garden compendium was originally meant to be a catch-all. It included medicinal herbs with drawings, uses, and recipes; planting, care, and harvest instructions for all of the herbs and vegetables I planted; a diagram of this year’s layout; a planting calendar; and a journal of what I did, what happened, and how I could fix my mistakes.

    That plan hasn’t changed. The notebook will continue into next year, or however long it takes me to fill 300 sheets.

    What has changed is everything else.

    Originally, I wrote herb recipes on the back of each herb page. It didn’t take long to realize that a tincture is a tincture, my handwriting was getting messier, and my fountain pen was ghosting through onto the drawing on the other side. So the recipes are getting their own section, but only for the preparations I’ve actually made with herbs from my own garden. The herb pages themselves will stay as a high-level overview with drawings and uses.

    Then there are the medicinal herbs.

    I have become fascinated by them and have been researching them like crazy. That rabbit hole is deep enough to fill 300 sheets all by itself, which wasn’t the original purpose of the compendium. I wanted this notebook to be something I could leave behind someday—a record of the garden that my descendants could flip through and (hopefully) ooh and ahhh over.

    So, naturally, I’m making another notebook.

    Medicinal herbs deserve one of their own. The subject is practically endless, and if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that I’m incapable of leaving well enough alone.

    I’ve also started color-coding the page edges. The notebook only came with two ribbon bookmarks, which isn’t nearly enough anymore. By highlighting the edges of each page based on the section—herbs, vegetables, diagrams, journal entries, and so on—I can find what I’m looking for without even opening the book.

    And finally…

    I did the one thing I swore I wasn’t going to do.

    I started an Excel workbook to track planting and care information for vegetables I haven’t even decided if I’m going to grow yet.

    Just in case.

    table with seeds, twine, and scissors for gardening
    Photo by Micheile Henderson on Pexels.com
  • The Garden Doesn’t Care About My Plans

    The Garden Doesn’t Care About My Plans

    No matter how much research I did before planting my garden (and I’m certainly not finished), there were still plenty of surprises. Some things completely failed, while others did far better than I ever imagined.

    I organized my garden into separate beds based on companion planting, water needs, soil type, and a handful of other factors. It definitely created more weeding than I would have liked, but I needed to see what worked and what didn’t.

    In some beds, none of it seemed to matter. I planted starts at the right time, paired them with their companion plants, and they promptly died. I direct sowed whatever I could, and sometimes nothing came up at all. I even moved some of those stubborn plants into bins with fresh potting soil. A few are thriving, while others are either refusing to grow or have become an all-you-can-eat buffet for whatever animal keeps digging them up.

    Then there are the pleasant surprises.

    The borage is so big that I’m honestly not sure what to do with all of it. I’ll keep tossing the flowers into salads, and the rest will probably go to seed. It’s one of the best bee attractors in the garden, though, so it’s earned its place. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s gorgeous.

    The calendula is massive. I’m drying flower heads for a future tincture, chamomile for tea, and I have dill coming out of my ears. The lettuce just keeps producing, and the carrots have done far better than I expected.

    All that being said, the garden has been a fruitful learning experience. (Fruitful. Get it?)

    As the season goes on, I’m no longer fighting the garden. I’m letting it show me what works, what doesn’t, and how I can make next year’s garden even better.

    And as the universe is my witness, I will not let the quince from hell win.

    stock photo of a calendula head
    Photo by Prashant Gangwar on Pexels.com
  • The Best Vegan Meal of Our Vacation Wasn’t Inside the Park

    The Best Vegan Meal of Our Vacation Wasn’t Inside the Park

    Recently, the fam and I took a trip to Southern California to ride some roller coasters. Before we even left, we knew the main park had two restaurants with Beyond burgers. At this point, that’s pretty much what we’ve come to expect.

    I was actually excited that one of those restaurants was Johnny Rockets. The location I went to in Vegas had a full vegan burger, so I figured this one would be similar.

    Nope.

    The park version was a Beyond patty on a bun. No cheese. No sauce. Just a dry burger and a handful of ketchup packets. Like a lot of amusement park “vegan” options, it was…fine. We weren’t hungry anymore, and that’s about the best thing I can say about it.

    The water park was even worse. They stopped selling the Beyond burger there about a year ago, so our options were basically pretzels or chips. We figured we’d grab some fruit instead, except the fruit cup at the main park came topped with whipped cream. Apparently, even fruit isn’t a safe bet.

    We rented a cabana, which came with its own menu, and decided to order the fruit platter. About an hour later, our $36 fruit platter arrived.

    It was a plastic clamshell full of moldy purple grapes.

    That was it.

    By the time I added the margarita I’d ordered, we’d spent almost $60 on moldy grapes and a drink that may or may not have contained alcohol.

    Unfortunately, this isn’t unusual. Disney World had a lot more vegan options than Magic Mountain, but “more options” doesn’t necessarily mean “better food.” We had vegan sausages in two different places that were so dry they somehow made the amusement park burgers seem moist.

    The biggest lesson we’ve learned from traveling as vegans is simple: bring your own food whenever you can.

    On our second day, we packed sandwiches, left the park for lunch, and honestly enjoyed them far more than anything we’d bought inside. They were healthier, tasted better, and cost a fraction of the price.

    Thankfully, the trip ended on a much better note.

    On our last night, we found a local restaurant with an entirely separate vegan menu—not just a Beyond burger with the cheese removed. They had loaded fries, buffalo tots, and the best vegan Philly cheesesteak I’ve ever had. Honestly, it was one of the best meals I’ve had, period, and I’m not usually someone who gets excited about food.

    So while the roller coasters were worth the trip, the theme park food mostly reminded me why we pack sandwiches. Sometimes the best meal of the vacation is the one you bring yourself—or the one you find after you’ve left the park behind.

    orange and teal rollercoaster
    Not from the park we went to, but looks super cool.
  • Middle Age is Realizing You Can Just Learn Weird Things

    Middle Age is Realizing You Can Just Learn Weird Things

    I think a lot of us are taught that life follows a fairly straightforward path: go to college right after high school, find a career, and work forty or more hours a week until retirement. I never really followed that plan, and for a long time I felt like I had somehow done life incorrectly.

    As I have gotten older, though, I have realized that the things I didn’t do made me different in a way that I actually appreciate. I have always been curious, and I finally feel like I have given myself permission to simply learn things because they interest me.

    So these days I find myself learning crafts, bookbinding, languages, gardening, and even some homesteading skills. There is always some new rabbit hole waiting to be explored.

    Not always having steady work has certainly been stressful, but it has also taught me that life is about more than giving decades of yourself to an employer who may never appreciate you the way you deserve. There is value in creating things, learning things, and following your curiosity.

    At this point, if something sounds interesting, I want to try it. Some people may think that is strange, and perhaps it is. But I enjoy it, and I like the idea of keeping my mind active and open to new experiences.

    Maybe I am making up for lost time. Or maybe I am finally becoming the person I was always meant to be.

    Either way, I think Hannah Montana had it right:

    “Life’s what you make it.”

    Photo by Paweu0142 L. on Pexels.com

  • Bring Back a Shrubbery!

    As someone who has become increasingly committed to using what I already have, I’m always looking for creative ways to avoid wasting food.

    Which brings us to three persimmons.

    Two days ago, I had three persimmons that had become far too squishy for me to willingly allow into my mouth. It’s a texture thing, okay?

    After some searching, I found a recipe for something called a shrub—a sweetened vinegar syrup that can be mixed into everything from bourbon cocktails to sparkling water.

    Naturally, I had to try it.

    The process begins by peeling the persimmons and squishing out the insides.

    Shudder.

    The resulting pulp goes into a bowl. The basic ratio is about 1:1 fruit to sugar, so I combined 1 cup of persimmon pulp with 1 cup of sugar. I also added roughly a tablespoon of ginger powder because it sounded like a good idea at the time.

    I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and left it in the refrigerator overnight.

    The next morning—at approximately 6:40 a.m., for reasons I still cannot explain—I strained out the solids and was left with about 2 ounces of syrup.

    solids separated from syrup
    This will be great in yogurt or something later.

    The solids weren’t wasted. I saved them in a separate container with plans to add them to yogurt later.

    Next came the vinegar.

    I chose apple cider vinegar because I thought it would pair nicely with the sweetness of the persimmons. Most shrub recipes call for a 1:1 ratio of syrup to vinegar, but since this was my first attempt, I approached it cautiously.

    After all, you can always add more vinegar.

    You cannot un-vinegar something.

    I started at about 50% of the recommended amount and gradually worked my way up to around 75%, tasting as I went.

    Once I was happy with the balance, I transferred everything to a mason jar and gave it a good shake.

    Then I tasted it.

    Wow.

    This is going to be good.

    4 ounces of shrub in a jar
    At least this wasn’t days of work to only get 4 ounces.

    At the time of writing, I haven’t actually used it in a drink yet. I want to give the flavors another day or two to mingle before I start experimenting.

    Besides, I only ended up with about 4 ounces of shrub.

    If it’s as good as I think it’s going to be, I need to exercise at least a little self-control.

  • Some garden success! And a bit of…reevaluation…

    Some garden success! And a bit of…reevaluation…

    I spent five hours on 5/9/2026 weeding and somehow still feel like I barely made a dent. Still, I was able to confirm growth from several more plants, even if others continue to elude me.

    Vegetables I can identify so far: six carrots (not too concerning, since carrots can be reseeded every couple of weeks through July), sixteen potential heads of lettuce, six or seven heads of Swiss chard, four or five heads of arugula, and two corn stalks. I planted two rows of corn earlier than usual because the soil temperature was finally warm enough…or so I thought.

    Herbs I can identify: lots of dill, oregano, borage, lovage, lemon balm, and marsh mallow. Oh, and of course the mint I planted in the strawberry pot — the same mint I apparently dig up every single time I weed. -_-

    About a week ago, I transferred my Japanese Trifele Black tomatoes into larger pots, and by today they already looked strong enough to plant outside. I planted five of those, along with five Brandywine tomatoes that skipped the intermediate pot stage entirely. I decided not to transplant the Cuore di Bue yet because they still don’t quite have true leaves. Those will probably be ready in another couple of weeks.

    Finally, I was also able to transplant the mini bell peppers and the cayenne peppers. Huzzah!

    Not everything is going smoothly, though. My zucchini and cucumber starts — which I bought to replace the pickling cucumbers that died — are already struggling with powdery mildew. Since I don’t have a drip irrigation system, these plants need extra attention to keep moisture off the leaves.

    One common treatment is mixing 1 tablespoon of baking soda with 1 gallon of water. I applied it with a watering can, although apparently spraying it directly onto the leaves would have worked better.

    I also used a vegan disease and bug repellent on the greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini. The Swiss chard already has a few holes in the leaves, and I know from previous years that stink bugs absolutely love my squash plants. Turning over a squash leaf and discovering hundreds of stink bugs underneath is not an experience I care to repeat. No thanks.

    zucchini with a bit of powdery mildew
    One leaf on the right, one on the left with powdery mildew.
    tomato cages up with starts inside
    Total of 10 tomato plants in.

  • My Garden System is Getting More Sophisticated (What’s Working)

    My Garden System is Getting More Sophisticated (What’s Working)

    in progress garden with no growth yet

    The garden overview photo was taken as I began this three-hour tour.

    On the left side is a cover crop of clover that I definitely did not plant. That is supposed to be a row of greens, but unfortunately nothing has grown enough for me to distinguish between actual food and the three-leaf version of a leprechaun’s dream.

    layout of garden with numbered beds and location of plants

    Why Everything Is Numbered

    I have a tendency not to plan things out, which becomes problematic when trying to grow food and medicinal herbs.

    So everything is divided into numbered beds. What you don’t see is why they were placed where they were.

    The bottom half is all herbs:

    • #1 loves water
    • #2 likes a moderate amount
    • #3 prefers it drier, grows taller, and would otherwise shade the others

    The rest is organized by nutrition, water needs, and companion planting.

    planting dates for 2026

    My Planting Spreadsheet

    This spreadsheet tracks:

    • frost dates
    • indoor starts
    • transfer dates
    • direct sow timing

    I had to start marking completed tasks with little stars because apparently I cannot be trusted to remember what I already did.

    Eventually I’ll rewrite it in fountain pen like the rest of the commonplace book, but growing actual food takes priority.

    journal with drawings of medicinal herbs and their uses

    The Commonplace Book

    This idea sprouted (yes, I did that intentionally) from a terrible mistake last year: I didn’t know what any of the herbs looked like beyond the seed packet photos.

    So I started drawing the herbs and writing what they’re useful for.

    I’m doing something similar with vegetables, but without pictures. If I can’t recognize a tomato by now, I clearly have other issues that need immediate attention.

    Also, I’m not sure why I decided to write my capital A’s like that. I appear to be passing notes in 7th grade English.

    3 types of tomato starts

    Starts Actually Worked This Year

    Last year my starts failed because I made too many mistakes to recover from and ended up buying starts.

    This year they germinated.

    I’d like that entered into the record.

    tomato cages repurposed for zucchini and cucumbers

    Improved Trellises

    I still haven’t built proper trellises because I refused to ruin my cozy “don’t leave the house” weekend by going to the home improvement store.

    Instead:

    • I flipped two tomato cages upside down and secured them to fence posts for cucumbers
    • I used another tomato cage for pole beans, buried to the first ring

    Elegant? No.

    Functional? We’ll find out.

    similar picture with the tomato cages but includes my cute dog

    Bonus Content

    This photo is similar to the previous one, but I believe everyone deserves to see my good boy.

  • How to Get Started With Your Highland Adventure

    stock photo of a castle in Scotland

    I have dedicated a commonplace book to this topic, in order to have everything in one place. So far, it is divided into: gardening plans, 18th century history, and recipes.

    Here are some steps you can try:

    Tip #1 – Figure out what aspect of Highland culture you’d like to dig into

    Do you like history? Food? How to wear various types of tartans? All of the above?

    Tip #2 – Find a way to organize your notes and thoughts

    I like to keep as much as possible analog; I find that the act of writing things down helps me remember. I have also used my bujo, but the bujo fills up quickly and I don’t care to make a new one every month. Digital note-taking apps are available as well: Goodnotes, Microsoft OneNote, Evernote, and Notion, among others. I haven’t found one that works for me, but use whatever you need to to keep everything straight.

    There is scarcely anything to which I am so feelingly alive as the honour and welfare of my country, and, as a poet, I have no higher enjoyment than singing her sons and daughters.

    Robert Burns

    Tip #3 – After finding your note-taking method, make a list of what you think you might need (yarn, food ingredients, etc.)

    Google will be your friend here; there are lots of great resources that will help you find exactly what you need for your project.

    Tip #4 – Give something a try

    After finding out what you need, and getting all of it, try it out! If you want to crochet or knit, there are sites with free Outlander patterns (if that’s what you are looking for, otherwise there are free patterns all over). If you want to cook, there are plenty of Scottish recipe sites, both vegan and non-vegan. The best way to improve at something is to just do it.

    Tip #5 – Share your work

    This last tip is purely optional; I know I have trouble showing people anything I am working on, though I can share my cooking results with my spouse at any time. Even if it looks weird.

    Make this project work for you!

    If you want to research and/or just enjoy Highland culture, do what makes you happy in the way that makes you happy. And feel free to contact me, whether you have a question, want to share something you made, or just want to express your thoughts.