dreams and bones

August in January

2012-01-21T09:06:00.005-05:00

I took a look out the window at this morning's snowy landscape and decided I needed to leaven it with a touch of August memories. I rooted around in the basement and found one of my jars of tomato juice and brought it up for breakfast.Real tomato flavor is a celebration for the taste buds. I rolled it all around my tongue before taking the first swallow ... I was transported. Here's to a taste of sunshine on a snowy morning.

Frisée

2011-12-13T03:15:00.002-05:00

We are in Paris, and exploring local markets with a vengeance . I came home with WAY too much frisée on Saturday. .... Travel adventures are posted on our travel blog

The long and the short of it

2011-11-29T15:19:00.002-05:00

The days are getting so short that pictures of both sunrise and sunset are not hard to come by. Yesterday was particularly stunning with soft clouds refracting pink in all directions. One would think that these hardy rutabagas would keep longer than a tomato, but such is not the case. I used my last Longkeeper Tomato to make an end of season (out of season?) BLT. Its orange color is not so inviting, but the flavor is better than anything found in a supermarket. The rutabaga on the other hand have a short span of freshness. That is why they are waxed in the stores. But it is a wonderful seasonal flavor, and I was glad to be able to offer them to the Thanksgiving table again this year.

Happy Turkey Day

2011-11-24T20:49:00.002-05:00

These are local turkeys raised in a field near my house. I have one happily in my freezer for later consumption as I will be eating at another's table this Turkey Day

Through the night with a light from a bulb

2011-11-15T16:57:00.004-05:00

The title here is from one of the lyrics quirks that kids come up with ... like Round John Virgin in Silent Night. It is a child's misinterpreted lyric to a line form God Bless America. But at this time of year it works. Bulbs bring the festivities indoors and stave off the early darkness of shortened days.

Gotta love the paperwhites. They are energetic little bundles and they always surprise me with their perfume. I also put several amaryllis to pot, including two new baby bulbs that came through this season when I went to repot.

What do these pictures have in common?

2011-10-07T09:23:00.002-04:00

I thought before too much of the post season passed by, I would pose this question. What does this picture
have to do with this picture?

The answer is that these eggshells helped to create a series of heirloom tomatoes this summer (my Italian Sweets to be exact) that did NOT develop blossom end rot (BER). I got this idea from Daphne's blog, but learned it too close to planting time to have collected any eggshells. That is why I am bringing it up now. Once you have a few dozen, wait until a time when you are preheating the oven for some other reason. Lay the shells out on foil or parchment and bake for about 10 minutes at something over 300 degrees. Don't let them burn. The purpose for this is to kill any salmonella. The next step is to place the shells in your food processor and give them a good pulverizing. One word of caution, over time you will dull the inside of your plastic food processing bowl. Then I find an old container ... and mark it with a marker CRUSHED EGGSHELLS ... and pour my shells into it. The two of us did not consume enough eggs last year to fully plant out my tomato plants with the recommended one cup amendment of eggshells. But I was sure to use them on those that a prone to BER, and was very pleased with the results.

A slice of honey

2011-09-07T08:53:00.003-04:00

This morning, after a two year journey, I have finally tasted the finest melon on the planet from my very own garden. It is called a Tranche de Miel cavaillon melon and I saved the seeds from a melon I had in the Aligre Market in Paris two summers ago.

I tried to grow these last year, but was thwarted by an early infestation of cucumber beetles that infested all my curcubits. This year I planted commercial Cavaillon melon seeds as well as my tranche de miel. I tasted the commercial fruit melon from my garden a few days ago ... nice, but nothing like the remarkable sweetness of this melon.

Who Knew?

2011-09-02T07:45:00.004-04:00

Who knew ??? I looked with glazed eyes at this sidebar ad and thought to myself, "why have you been braising your fennel in a regular old skillet?" And even more worrisome ... "why did you not plant any fennel this year so you could USE your $205 fennel braiser?" It was only when I clicked on the side button that I realizedthat this one was not a pan for braising cherries.

THE CLASS OF 2011

2011-08-18T11:06:00.002-04:00

The excitement builds

2011-08-17T08:51:00.004-04:00

Despite the disappointment of losing a biggest tomato contender, the excitement continues to build for the Ag Fair. This year is the 150th anniversary of the Fair, and so yesterday there was a parade from the "Old Ag Hall" aka The Grange Hall to the "New Ag Hall. The parade route went right past my driveway. Here are some of the highlights.

The Whiting Farm ..........

brings sheep to the Fair ....
The alpacas are headed for the Fiber Tent

Biggest Tomato Heartbreak

2011-08-16T07:41:00.003-04:00

Timing a Biggest Tomato entry is bloodsport. In hindsight, I should have removed the pink tomato from the vine the day before the big rain. But hoping for that last bit of water weight I left it on the vine and covered the vine with an improvised raincoat.

When I went out to check it last evening, it was starting to rot from the bottom. No way it could be saved. I brought it in and weighed it ...

TWO POUNDS, Eight and two tenths ounces ... THE biggest tomato I have ever grown. I put my ball cap on its head just for size comparison.

Then I cut away the parts that were rotting and tossed the good parts in a sauce pot.

Tomatoes

2011-08-07T07:26:00.004-04:00

I planted a new variety of tomato this year ... Soldacki. I have been watching a few early ripeners trying to judge when to harvest. Then yesterday my eye fell across my Smith and Hawkin Heirloom tomato book on the shelf, so I opened up to the page on Soldacki.There I learned that they ARE pink ... that I should not wait for red ... and that they crack if left on the vine. So I harvested one. I have always been fond of May Dreams Gardens First Tomato ritual which involves eating the first slice without salt to get its "unimproved" flavor. So I did that with this one. It tasted as described in the Smith and Hawkins book "luscious, intense, with a good ratio of sweetness to tartness." This is one excellent tasting tomato.

And while we are on the topic of tomatoes ... I have a contender for "Biggest Tomato" among my Big Zacs. I am afraid that it will crack from its own weight sometime in the next 10 days, so I have placed it on a stool (homage to May's tomato pillow) and hope that it will fill out happily while on its little throne.

From the Garden Gate

2011-08-07T07:01:00.006-04:00

Turning Points

2011-08-04T19:33:00.005-04:00

It is 7:30 pm. The shadows are long across the field. There is a chill ... yes a chill ... in the air. We are a little less than halfway form solstice to equinox and already I can feel fall stalking me. I am always caught off guard by the shift of seasons. I mean with only 4 harvested tomatoes, how can one be thinking about the end of it all? Sure, there will be plenty of blistering hot days ahead. But the build UP is slowly turning toward the build DOWN. Some of it is the weight of the harvest itself. The garden can only sustain so much vertical rise before the weight of the fruit begins to topple into the pathways and cause the bean trellises to lean precariously in the wind. But some of it is that the plants are spent. The zucchini are no longer turning out the way they were. The artichokes have had their run for glory.

Each season I watch for the turning point ... the point at which the garden begins its natural decay. All season plants have been pushing upward ... escaping the soil and journeying UP against gravity, and now ... slowly ... it is gravity that is winning.

That is why root crops are the crops of fall. Leeks and rutabagas ... carrots and parsnips ... they are using gravity to their advantage.

Slide Show

2011-08-04T08:46:00.002-04:00

Here is a recent slide show mostly of garden photos

Early August promise

2011-08-04T07:35:00.004-04:00

While the general tenor of the garden is still one of promise, I DID have to pull up a zucchini yesterday that had succumbed to the squash vine borer. I had just about run out of zucchini options in the kitchen anyway. But I can highly recommend dehydrated zucchini chips as a solution for the squash overload this time of year.

My tomato knife is quivering in the knife block. So far I have brought in 3 red tomatoes ... a Better Boy won the race this year for first tomato. There is blush on the Soldaki fruit. I am curious as to its flavor. I have not been tending to "the biggest tomato" challenge as in years past, but there is one Big Zac out there that might be a competitor. I will have to give it a little more focus as there are only two weeks until the Fair.

I would really like to be able to put in some artichokes this year, but my timing may not be right. So far I have pulled in a total of 17 artichokes !!! A banner year.

Radishes

2011-07-16T11:13:00.002-04:00

The radishes in my garden seems to have always been bitter. Somehow this year they are my star early summer crop. Perhaps it is variety ... I am using Cherry Belle from Reimer Seeds. Each evening before dinner I pull out 10 or so radishes from the fridge and circle them on a plate. Then I add a little pile of salt in the center. It is a wonderfully refreshing way to transition to the evening.

Garlic Harvest and a Little Midnight Magic

2011-07-10T08:15:00.007-04:00

With rain pending on Friday night I decided it was time to get at least half of the garlic in and under cover. Last year travel plans forced me to harvest early, and over te winter I was pleased with the results. I had MUCH less spoilage than in past years. The more green leaves at harvest time, the longer the storage it seems. So instead of waiting for 6 dead leaves (out of 10) I have started harvesting at 4 dead leaves. I might lose a little in head size, but in the end the garlic lasts longer.Some of the varieties in this harvest were Music Pink, Montana Giant, Place Monge*, Nurenberg Red*, Pskem, and Romanian Red
I take them to the garden shed and lay them out by variety on an old screen door setup between two saw horses. I face the heads in opposite directions by variety to avoid confusion.

They will live here for about six weeks while they cure. I do not wash my garlic, just brush it roughly with my glove. I will clean the dirt off when I clean them up in late August.

As an added treat to garlic harvest day, I had a midnight show from my Night Blooming Cereus. I had removed these plants from southern sun this spring to make way for vegetable flats and I was not sure I would get the reward of a bloom this season.
I almost missed it ... only when I awakened at midnight did I remember to check and there she was in all her exotic glory smelling hauntingly intoxicating.
Note : * indicates recent European varieties having hitched a ride in my suitcase

From the garden gate

2011-07-05T12:56:00.004-04:00

click to enlarge

Lots has changed in two weeks. The squash are filling the bed and the peas are just about spent. Soon the green beans will be producing.

I had given up on my parsnip seeds. They had been interplanted with radishes on the first of June and no sign of them despite constant moisture. THen all of a sudden there they were !!! I remember the first time I planted them, I had no idea what a parsnip seedling looked like and so I was afraid to weed for fear of weeding a parsnip. I would have given anything to have been able to find a picture like the one below.

Parsnip seedling

I ate my first artichoke the other day for lunch. It is a delicious vegetable fresh off the plant. I am not sure if I am leaving them on too long or too short of a time. The outer leaves were a tad bitter. They shoot up on stalks from the center of the plant and each stalk produces 3 artichokes. It should be a bumper year.

The Possibilities of June

2011-06-19T13:54:00.004-04:00

I love the June garden. All is possible. The moths carrying the squash vine borer have not arrived yet. The cucumber beetles are still at bay. And with the exception of the garlic which is starting to brown out, all is lush and green and moving upward.

As the tomatoes move upward they will need support. A friend was cutting out bamboo, so I gathered generously from her pile and used them to build this ungainly structure to hold up merely 5 tomato plants. I will add cross pieces as the plants grow taller.
The successfully overwintered artichokes numbered three. This one is sending up its first thistle. A June artichoke would be a record around here.

Here is the Tomato Count.

Better Boy - 8 ; Italian Sweet - 7; Brandywine - 4; Soldaki - 5; Viva Italia - 1; Big Zac - 4; Sungold -2; Delicious - 3; Long Keeper - 3. A total of 37 plants.

From the Garden Gate

2011-06-07T08:48:00.004-04:00

The garden is in the starting gate. I stitched this together with Autostitch. Click to enlarge.

Starting to take shape

2011-06-02T06:21:00.003-04:00

I thought this little morning view of tomato plants through the iris kind of sums up the planting progress right now. Soon the supports will go in and the tomato growth will take on a life of its own. But for right now, they still look like discreet plants. At present count there are 31 tomato plants in the garden with some Long Keepers still in waiting.
Scapes have appeared in my garlic bed. Pskem is the first to show followed shortly by Montana Giant. It has been dry, so I want to get the watering in now before the bulbs begin to form. Last year, because of travel I harvested the garlic before July 1. I can say that the early harvest resulted in much less crop loss over the winter. I am still eating last year's garlic even though I have to take the sprouts out. The earlier the harvest, the better the storage. And here are six new Green Globe Improved artichokes grown from seed this year. I have put them in a bed along the east side of the garden.
And here, by the garden gate is the hardiest of three overwintered artichokes. This is lush foliage for late May ... only in my dreams ... so I am feeding it weekly with a compost tea made from Harmony 5-4-3. I have a good feeling about this year's artichoke yield.

Tomato Agonistes

2011-05-29T18:33:00.003-04:00

It is like this every year. I have way more tomato plants than my 24 x 30 foot garden can handle. I am on my knees, looking at the available space and struggling with deep existential questions. Utility or flavor? Practicality or passion? I mean when you are holding an Italian Sweet in your hand ... a plant you know will produce THE best tasting tomato on the planet ... and when I say best tasting I am talking sit down in the garden and weep delicious ... I mean thinking at times that perhaps God actually thought up the idea of creation so that human taste buds could join the fruit of this plant and the Omega point would have been reached --> THAT kind of delicious. And next to the Italian Sweet is the ever faithful Better Boy. The Better Boy will never get blossom end rot, it will not suffer from blossom drop, it will faithfully drop perfectly fine tomatoes into your basket almost until October. Whereas the Italian Sweet MAY give you five decent tomatoes per plant and then turn yellow and decay before your very eyes in mid-August.

What's a mother to do? Which one to choose? Paralyzed, I chose a new variety ... Soldaki.

In the end what all of vegetable gardening is really about is the Tomato .... the rest is a side show.

Coming back from the dead

2011-04-11T10:18:00.007-04:00

On Saturday morning I went over to the arboretum to take a guided walk focusing on conifers. I haven't talked about it much in here, but the Polly Hill Arboretum has become an important part of my life. It is within walking distance through the woods, so I prefer walking there rather than on the local roads when I need exercise. Plus, in the summers, I volunteer on the grounds crew once a week. So when I take my walks now I can see the results of our pruning, or raking, or planting and have started to take a real sense of pride in the place.

When I emerged from the woods on Saturday morning, I was greeted with the smell of smoke. There had been a prescribed burn in the fields of the arboretum the day before and the charred black of the fields contrasted with the evergreens on the edges. Hopefully this program will reduce the scrub growth and help return the area to field without so much mowing.I learned all kinds of things on my tour, but for me the highlights were two conifers that are so rare that they were both thought once to have been extinct ... only to have existed in the fossilized record. The younger of these is this little Chinese Pine that was discovered in the mountains of China. It is so new that I cannot find its scientific name listed in the Plant Collections list on the arboretum's website. But here are some pictures.And there is also the Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides. The complete story of this once declared "fossil only" is told by William Gittlen in his book Discovered Alive. In it he details how an alert forester in Central China in 1944 spotted this "new tree" and how its seeds were recovered by a team from the Arnold Arboretum and sent out to other arboretums for test growths. This tree in Polly's collection came from a cutting which Polly got in 1958 from Longwood Gardens. This species of conifer is the exception to the rule of EVERgreen. Like the larch, the Dawn Redwood sheds its needles in winter. That warning given, here she is - only one generation removed from the remote mountains of Central China.

Cherry Blossom Sunrise

2011-04-05T07:13:00.004-04:00

Arrived at the Tidal Basin a little before sunrise on Sunday morning. The city was swarming with 10K racers and all my tried and true parking places had become a racecourse. As the blossoms picked up the morning glow, I started to hear this piece from the Peer Gynt Suite in my head. I used the pile of photos to make my first iMovie with my new Mac. Enjoy.

Watercress and Garlic

2011-03-29T18:19:00.006-04:00

I have been out twice this week harvesting watercress. I am not sure why it is, but the spicy taste of wild watercress catches me by surprise each spring. Last night I added it to a little red cabbage and bacon for a tangy green delight over quinoa.My garlic in the garden is coming along nicely. But my harvested garlic is showing signs of age. The little green sprouts are now like Howard Hughes' fingernails ... easy to call this garlic "long in the tooth." So I decided to gather up about fifteen heads or so and slice them for the dehydrator.

First I sliced them in half

then I pulled out the sprout and sliced each half in threeI had a plate full when I was done and laid them out on the trays. I have never dehydrated garlic before. I read temperatures from 90 degrees to 400 degrees (yikes !!!). I settled on 125 for 12 hours in the dehydrator.the dried chips will be sealed away for later use ... maybe some home-made garlic salt?

A great day to plant peas

2011-03-26T16:25:00.006-04:00

Well the ground DID thaw enough for me to build a pea structure. I had been to a bamboo structures workshop last summer where we built and disassembled about five different kind of structures under the guidance of Art and Marlene Cameron. There are links to photos of some of their structures here.

I wanted a structure that would take my peas high enough. It seems I am always under estimating their vertical needs. BTW did you ever note that it is only after the 21st side shoot that you actually GET a flower? So armed with my plastic zip ties, a chair to stand on and some bamboo poles (and a little help from Mr. Pea-buddy) we had a structure in no time. As the peas come up I will add more bamboo for them to crawl up. It seems that each year in my eagerness to get the peas in the ground, I fail to read the package instructions until AFTER planting. Usually I stick a thumb into compacted soil and drop the seed down the hole. This year I followed the instructions ... I loosened the soil, then made a shallow trench, then covered the seeds with no more than an inch of soil. I think germination will be a little easier for the peas this year.

Spring stirrings

2011-03-25T11:22:00.006-04:00

I awoke to 3 inches of snow yesterday morning. It is what folks in the north country would call a sugar snow ... big white fluffy flakes that stick to branches like cherry blossoms. By 2 PM it was gone ... evaporated like melted sugar on your tongue.

I am near the garden a little earlier this year and thought that maybe I would put in a pea trellis before I headed back to DC for the real cherry blossoms. I was chagrined to find the ground still too hard to secure bamboo poles deep enough. But maybe I will put the pea seeds in anyway.

Last fall, determined to start 2011 with only fresh seed in my seedbox, I put all my old spinach seed in the ground. Well lo and behold, we have lift off. I planted it on the interior of the bed that will hold the trellised peas. Just maybe there will be a spinach crop.Now to the artichokes. It was a very cold winter. I happened to be here for some of the very coldest days, and I am not ashamed to tell you that I filled milk cartons with hot water and and placed them inside the wall-o-waters on the nights we had single digits. I THINK it paid off. I cannot tell for sure yet, but I think at least one of my artichokes survived the winter, maybe three. Meanwhile, I have dutifully started seedlings again this year ... my version of a hedge fund.Pretty soon I will get some Big Zacs and some morning glories under lights. Step by step.

Markets of Oaxaca, Mexico

2011-02-21T11:18:00.005-05:00

We are in Oaxaca for a few weeks on a vacation with good friends from the Midwest. I have very much enjoyed the outdoor markets ... the sprawling Abastos Market here in town and the Saturday market in Ocotlan. They are a beehive of activity as vendors present the produce which they have acquired from wholesalers at the market's edge. This is not a farmer's market except perhaps for a few meat vendors. But it is interesting for what IS here and what IS NOT here. Think Whole Foods in February ... what do you see? Asparagus from Mexico? Not to be seen. Think THE indigenous crop of Mexico ... Maize? Not to be seen here either. But here is a sampling of what you WILL see.

More about Oaxaca HERE

Missed all of January

2011-02-01T10:45:00.003-05:00

Whoops !!! Well here is a start for February. DID YOU KNOW that February is National Snack Food Month? Ugh. So the folks at Kitchen Gardens International sent along a link to a counter movement. It is called #20ate for the 28 days of February. Check out the website. There are some great ideas for opting out of the Frito Lay/ConAgra/Kraft construction of the world. Like these little apricot morselsIn the gardening realm, I will start some artichoke seeds this week. I am afraid the New England winter is not going to allow for over wintering this year. Time to start again.

Merry Christmas !!!

2010-12-24T16:57:00.004-05:00

Solstice musings

2010-12-22T07:02:00.005-05:00

outerspaceuniverce.org

I happened to wake on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning) just at the height of the lunar eclipse, so I padded out onto the front porch to look at the shadowed moon. It was going to have to be one of those "mind's eye" experiences ... I had no tripod setup. I wondered about how such a celestial event would have been read in an earlier time on this night ... the night of least light. "Now you're taking the MOON away too?" But maybe they would have slept through it as I almost did, and not have given it a thought.

This envelope of darkness where we live right now made its turning point last night at 6:38. We are turning toward summer now, slowly ... imperceptibly from snowballs to tomatoes. The light is indoors now, not out. Fireplaces, tree lights, candles in the windows create the man-made glow to hold the darkness at bay.

But sometimes it is good to let the darkness shine. Had I been able to stand the cold, I would have enjoyed a few more moments in the dark night sky with its curious orange orb. If I could have had musical accompianment on my chilly porch on Tuesday night, I would have played this

University of Utah Chorus "Sure On This Shining Night" Morten Lauridsen composer

The Rewards

2010-11-27T12:21:00.005-05:00

Early in the season I noticed that several bloggers were keeping a running total of their harvests and the monetary value associated with it. I decided to do the same but never quite mastered the gadget that would put it on the side panel of my blog. So I kept a journal record and entered it into a spreadsheet in late summer. I still have some broccoli out there and some parsnips, but I will credit them to next year's harvest. Today I ran the final totals.

Out of a 3o'x24' plot (with two 8x4 foot garlic beds outside) I yielded 382 pounds of produce at a conservative value of $647. I say conservative, because those luscious heirloom tomatoes I counted at a mere $1.26 per pound. (they sell at the farmer's market here for $4.99 a pound). I had put much hope early in the season in some French melons that fell to the cucumber beetles. And yet, as I look at the variety on this list I am impressed with the variety of crops I managed to plant even if the showings were small in categories like zucchini that in past seasons seemed to fly out of the garden.

But in my heart of hearts I know that this is only one way of counting rewards that come to me by tending this small plot. How do I put a price on coming eye to eye with a hummingbird while harvesting pole beans? How do you weigh the satisfaction of the smell of the first carrot you pull from the earth ... the first sliced warm tomato ... the spring dug parsnip chowder in April ... the bright green flavor of your first plate of asparagus? It's like the Visa ad, I guess ... priceless.

	Pounds	Ounces	Price	Value
Apples	1	3.3	$ 0.66	$ 0.80
Artichoke	1	4	$ 6.00	$ 7.50
Asparagus	28	9	$ 1.67	$ 47.70
Basil	1	4	$ 12.00	$ 15.00
Broccoli			$ 1.50
Brussels Sprouts	1	14.3	$ 1.25	$ 2.37
Butternut Squash	1	11.4	$ 1.01	$ 1.73
Carrots	1	8	$ 0.54	$ 0.81
Cucumbers	20	13	$ 0.75	$ 15.61
Eggplant		8.4	$ 0.97	$ 0.51
Garlic	21	12	$ 6.16	$ 133.98
Garlic Scapes	3	9	$ 6.00	$ 21.38
Green Beans	23	12.6	$ 1.07	$ 25.45
Greens	7	3	$ 1.51	$ 10.85
Onions		7	$ 0.55	$ 0.24
Peppers	1	4.7	$ 1.26	$ 1.63
Potatoes	2	8.5	$ 0.31	$ 0.78
Radishes	5	6	$ 3.04	$ 16.34
Salad Box	1	6.9	$ 9.85	$ 14.10
Shallots		11.9	$ 1.08	$ 0.80
Snap Peas	2	4	$ 3.52	$ 7.92
Tomatoes	235	4	$ 1.26	$ 296.42
Tomatoes Cherry	13	4	$ 1.93	$ 25.57
Zucchini	4	10.5	$ 1.26	$ 5.87

SUB TOTAL	371	179.5		$ 647.49

TOTAL	382.22

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T07:10:00.000-05:00

waning light

2010-11-15T07:07:00.003-05:00

After what felt like a weeks of rain , there were two soft days this weekend. The artichokes and rosemary are tucked away in their wall-o-waters, the dahlias have been dried and put away, and the garlic is sprouting nicely under its layer of grass clippings.

The light this time of year creates a strange mood. The angle from the south has the sun nearly always in your eyes and that same angle creates crisp landscapes on the bare trees when the sun is at your back.

Large parts of the garden live in shade most of the day. The broccoli I planted in early September SHOULD have been planted on an East-West line because the only crowning is happening on the lucky plant at the south end of the row. [Note to self for next year]

I look up from my work and read the shadows on the landscape thinking it must be five. It is barely quarter to three. I take a moment and sit one last time on the deck looking east out at the field. The sun warms my right shoulder ... a new feeling sitting in this place feeling the earth's orbit in strange bodily warmth.

Fall musings

2010-10-16T08:14:00.003-04:00

All common sense tells me to tear the remaining tomatoes out of the garden. But the absence of a first frost has left me delusional. The vigorous Italian Sweet that I laid on its side in anticipation of Hurricane Earl has enjoyed its warmth near the ground and is sending up vertical shoots all along its horizontal axis and is fruiting. When do I think these tomatoes will ripen? Why is it so hard to let go?Meanwhile, garlic bed prep is done and and one bed is planted out. I plant in a 6x8 inch grid and a four by eight foot bed takes about 96 plants. I can see from my seed garlic supply that I am going to have to limit the planting of some varieties. I have all but given up on softnecks. The only one I plant now is the mysterious Place Monge. Because I harvested early this year, I have MUCH better quality of bulb, and I expect they will store longer than my hardnecks have in the past.

Selecting Seed Garlic

2010-10-02T08:05:00.002-04:00

As garlic planting time approaches, just a word about selecting seed garlic. The rule is that size of clove matters: the bigger the clove, the bigger the head you get next summer. But the key word here is CLOVE. Sometimes with hardneck garlics the bigger CLOVES are on the smaller heads. Porcelains, for example, will sometimes put out as many as 6 cloves per head. But the largest CLOVES are on the smaller heads with only 4 cloves.

Keeping up with the tomatoes: 174 Pounds and counting

2010-09-04T13:33:00.003-04:00

One hundred and seventy-four pounds of tomatoes is a lot of tomatoes. BUT is is not TOO MANY tomatoes. ... not yet anyway. So what's a girl to do? I have sauced, and, of course, I have sliced. I have made tomato juice for the winter. I have dehydrated, and I have slow roasted. I have even quartered and frozen them.

But the other day I thought, I want tomato juice now!!! So I got out the old juicer and filled jars with fresh tomato juice ... oh so good !!! I have it with breakfast and instead of iced tea at lunch. And there is the lure of the evening cocktail made with fresh tomato juice.

the pre-hurricane harvest

The Salad Box

2010-09-04T13:21:00.003-04:00

Last Spring I was inspired by Thomas's entry about building a Salad Box. I have never been very good at growing greens. It is windy out here and I seem not to keep them watered as I should. Then for my birthday in June I got a Gardener's Supply Salad Grow Bag. It is the same principle as the Garden Box, AND the wicking mats in the water trays insure a steady supply of water for the greens.Well I am VERY pleased with the results. I love micro greens but always find myself throwing away much of the bags I buy from local vendors. This harvest seems to come in at just the right pace. I planted my second bag today.

Costoluto Genovese ... reprise

2010-08-24T18:00:00.004-04:00

Here's to feeling 4 years old again

2010-08-20T06:54:00.006-04:00

I was up before the sun yesterday morning picking and grading entries for the Ag Fair.By 7:15 the entries had assembled themselves on the stairs for the annual class picture.The Class of 2010

All entries had to be inside the hall by 8:15 and people were rushing up a the last minute with their flowers and their baked goods. As someone said yesterday, "On Fair day everyone is 4 years old again !"

Fair Week !!!

2010-08-20T06:30:00.000-04:00

The ribbons were hung by the chimney with care
Because it was the week of the Fair

Night Blooming Cereus

2010-08-18T22:21:00.003-04:00

Two summers ago a friend gave me a leaf from her Night Blooming Cereus. That summer her plant had, in one night, produced 23 blooms. It was like walking into paradise that night.

Well I am not great with house plants, but this little offspring gave me two blooms this summer. The first one I MISSED !!!! Never looked in its direction the night it bloomed. But last week I was given a second chance. What a miracle these blooms are. These photos were taken in the space of one hour last Wednesday night.

The Quest for "the biggest tomato"

2010-08-09T15:28:00.002-04:00

Here is an existential question: If a 2 pound tomato ripens in your garden 2 weeks before the Ag Fair does it make a sound? Is it still the biggest tomato? Today I pulled this beauty, a Big Zac grown from seed, out of the garden. It weighed in at a whopping 2 pounds 5.1 ounces.

There is no way it will save until the Fair and is as I write this being cooked down to sauce. It isn't just about GROWING the biggest tomato, it is also about timing it right.

Green Beans and Sungolds

2010-08-09T07:41:00.005-04:00

It seems everyone has a new favorite cherry tomato this summer ... the Sungold. They are like garden candy. A few weeks ago I ran across this great pasta sauce recipe for cherry tomatoes. I wish I could remember where I found it so I could offer the link .

Note: Just found the link at The Wednesday Chef many thanks to Luisa.

Cherry Tomato Pasta Sauce

Preheat oven to 450 F (I have also done this on the gas grill on hot days placing the Pyrex in the middle of the grill with no flame)

Slice cherry tomatoes in half and place cut side up in an 8 x 8 oven proof dish. Mix 1/3 cup bread crumbs, 3 cloves diced garlic and ¼ cup parmesean cheese and sprinkle over cut tomatoes. Bake in the 450 oven for 20 minutes. Cook pasta (thin spaghetti, bow tie or penne are good) Reserve a half cup of pasta water before draining. There is probably enough sauce here for a half pound of pasta.

Remove cooked tomatoes from the oven. Add fresh torn basil and toss. Then toss the pasta in the mixture, add the pasta water (optional) drizzle good EVO over the mix and toss again. Sprinkle with more cheese and serve.

The other crop I have in abundance are green beans. I ran across this recipe in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for a green bean dip and made it for the first time last night. The only thing I added were a few cloves of garlic.

Frijole-Mole (from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle)

"sloshing in the saliva of August"

2010-08-09T06:33:00.001-04:00

The writer's almanac hit the bull's eye again with this one.

Cherry Tomatoes

by Anne Higgins

Suddenly it is August again, so hot,
breathless heat.
I sit on the ground
in the garden of Carmel,
picking ripe cherry tomatoes
and eating them.
They are so ripe that the skin is split,
so warm and sweet
from the attentions of the sun,
the juice bursts in my mouth,
an ecstatic taste,
and I feel that I am in the mouth of summer,
sloshing in the saliva of August.
Hummingbirds halo me there,
in the great green silence,
and my own bursting heart
splits me with life.

"Cherry Tomatoes" by Anne Higgins, from At the Year's Elbow. © Mellen Poetry Press, 2000.

Costoluto Genovese

2010-08-02T23:05:00.000-04:00

BER, BW, and other disappointments

2010-07-24T21:07:00.005-04:00

I find it hard to write about failure. In a season blessed with abundant sunshine, I have lost three crops, two of which I thought held great promise.

First there is the loss of the entire French melon crop. I had about 15 in various parts of the garden, and they fell prey to bacterial wilt spread by the dreaded cucumber beetle. These beetles also laid waste to my summer squash and, of course, my cucumbers. I DID manage to get something of a harvest from the cucumbers, but three days ago I pulled them up as well.

Also disappointing is the Blossom End Rot I am getting on my Italian Sweet tomatoes. I amended the soil with plenty of calcium early on ... but, alas, they are all black and rotten on the bottom. I was able to salvage some slices from the top of the fruit today, and I can attest that Italian Sweets are still my favorite tasting tomato. If only I could harvest a whole one.

On the bright side, not all of my tomatoes are Italian Sweets. The Better Boys will soon be tumbling in followed by the Big Zacs, the Brandywine, and the Boxcar Willies. And the green beans are prolific.

Well THIS looks like a perfectly ripened tomato .... BUT ....

underneath is the dreaded BER

The Writer's Almanac comes through again

2010-07-01T08:02:00.002-04:00

I am not a fan of growing potatoes, but Hunter swears they taste better from the garden. So he has a bin a the back of the garden this year. They take up bed space when I could be growing melons or tomatoes.

Well today's poem is for those of you who love the potato

In Praise of the Potato

by David Williams

Potato, sojourner north, first sprung
from the flanks of volcanoes, plainspoken kin

to bright chili and deadly nightshade,
sleek eggplant and hairy tobacco,

we could live on you alone if we had to,
and scorched-earth marauders never bothered you much.

I love you because your body's a stem,
your eyes sprout, and you're not in the Bible,

and if we did not eat your strength,
you'd drive it up, into a flower.

"In Praise of the Potato" by David Williams, from Traveling Mercies. © Alice James Books, 1993. Reprinted with permission.

And in case youy missed it last year

An artichoke in June !

2010-06-30T22:29:00.000-04:00

The garlic harvest

2010-06-30T08:36:00.002-04:00

Here is a little rendition of a recently harvested Place Monge.

Garden Panoramic

2010-06-30T08:21:00.003-04:00

click to enlarge

I am going away for a few weeks, and will not return until mid-July. Lots can happen in the meantime. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Cucumber Beetles

2010-06-30T08:17:00.002-04:00

These little beetles have done a number on my cukes, melons and squashes. I responded too late with Pyola. I think I have them under control, but I am afraid I have lost several plants. But the tomatoes continue to thrive.

Bittersweet

2010-06-21T19:09:00.006-04:00

And now it is solstice, that bittersweet reckoning of the gardener. I just came in from tying up my tomatoes. Everything out there is reaching for the sky. Up, up, up they go drawing nourishment from below and above. One of my runner beans actually made it to the top of the trellis today. Now what?

Well you can look for a hint in the garlic bed. Some of my soft necks are starting to bend over and I watch them closely for readiness for harvest. 4-6 dead leaves and it is time.

I am on my porch facing east taking in the solstice sunset from the obverse angle ... watching the shadows lengthen across the hayfield. I am aware that this time of planting and preparation is now at its zenith. Often when I am in the yard in say late April I will say to myself ... this is what the sun will be like in late August. In August there is a bountiful harvest ... even harvest fatigue ... but not so in the light of April. In that very same light, that very same exposure to the sun's angle and duration the garden is only barren possibilities. I comfort myself in those April moments that the days are still getting longer and the best is yet to come.

But today begins the undoing. It is a bittersweet moment.

Turning up the heat

2010-06-21T17:14:00.004-04:00

Well I think I have solved the case of the unwanted visitor in my compost pile. I simply gave it a good turn, added some activator, watered it well, and the next thing I knew it was too uncomfortable for the visitor to forage. If I can keep it humming at 130 degrees + all summer, I should achieve two goals ... good compost and no visitors.

Water and watch

2010-06-19T06:29:00.005-04:00

click to enlarge

Right now is an odd time ... odd in a nice way. The frenzy of preparation is over. The asparagus has been put to bed. And the peas are a good week away from production. Each day the garden is getting taller, and all I have to do is water and watch.

The over wintered artichokes are putting up fruit. Meanwhile, I have made beds outside the garden for the ones I started from seed. And I have transplanted one into a 15 inch pot with plans to overwinter in the basement.My other experiment involves growing a pair of French melon plants in a container far removed from the garden in the hope that their pollination will be uncontaminated and that I can use the seeds for next year. Now if I can just remember to water it.

Need advice

2010-06-13T07:26:00.003-04:00

I need some advice about how to coax a critter out of my compost. Three years ago I bought a really sturdy black compost bin for my kitchen scraps complete with critter guard. For two years it was a fortress. Then one spring I returned to find a hole eaten into it and a completely rotated, aerated compost pile. The critter did not return until the following December, about the time I stop using the bin, so I decided on a live and let live attitude for this winter rental.

Well, this spring he/she has not abandoned the bin upon my return, but is still in residence. Not in residence exactly, but a nocturnal visitor let's say. I have read ideas about how to discourage visits ... keep the pile wet ... plant mint near the bin ... I even tried sprinkling a quart of cayenne juice on top of the scraps before covering.

Obviously I cannot plant mint overnight, but I did stuff some in the hole as a temporary solution.I am afraid that the critter of which I speak rhymes with cat, and I do not want to encourage visits from same. Anyone have any solutions, short of the obvious poisonous ones?

From infancy to puberty in 6 short days

2010-06-10T18:55:00.004-04:00

I had to be away for about 6 days. In that short time, the garden went from infancy to puberty. The tomatoes have weathered their transplant and are well established. With the exception of the Killarney Red and the Chesnok Red, all of the garlic scapes have been harvested, and the plants are busy below ground now bulbing out. Perhaps most exciting was seeing the runner beans taking hold of the bean trellis. I can almost hear the lead leaf shouting over his shoulder ..."Hang on down there ... you're in for the ride of your life!"

A gift from friends who know me well

2010-06-06T10:03:00.000-04:00

Garlic from head to toe

2010-06-02T19:28:00.005-04:00

Here is a healthy garlic plant. It sports 10 leaves with a scape on top. (that little brown leaf on the left counts) When 4 - 6 of these leaves turn brown, it is time to harvest. Each leaf is a wrapper for the bulb underground and so you want 4-6 green leaves to ensure a tight wrap on the bulb after curing.

I look at my garlic everyday this time of year marveling at the differences among the scapes. Here is a classic rocambole curly scape. The purple stripes like Pskem dip their heads like shy swans atop their plantSo I have harvested at least half of the scapes now and am storing them in the fridge. They make great stir fry and are wonderful additions to anything on the grill. You want to pick them once they have curled, but BEFORE they begin to straighten. It will send more energy to the bulb as these wonderful plants turn from scallions to full bulbs in less than a month.

All planted out

2010-06-02T06:16:00.002-04:00

Well with a few exceptions, I can say that the garden is "planted out." It has been a struggle wrestling with weeds and grasses, but with some help from Hunter we have tamed the wild portions of the garden and brought order where there was chaos.For this 6 feet of pathway, Hunter took outthis wheelbarrow full of grass roots.

My plan this year was to focus on the two fruits I love the most ... tomatoes and a charentais melon grown in Cavaillon known as tranche de miel. In my decade of gardening there has never been a moment in which I have said "too many tomatoes this summer." I've done it with cukes and summer squash ... even with shallots, but never with tomatoes and certainly not with these amazing melons. So right now there are 39 tomato plants and 8 melon plants in the garden.
The tomato varieties are:
Big Zac =12
Italian Sweet = 8
Better Boy = 8
Belgian Giant =2
Boxcar Willie = 4
Sungold = 2
Costolutto Genovese =1
Hillbilly = 1
Brandywine = 1.

To make room for these I decided not to plant potatoes this year ... neither sweet nor regular. The store does a better job than I do. However, it happens to be my husband's favorite crop, so he is running a potato bin at the back of the garden with the last of the Red Norlands SBS had on the shelf. I also sacrificed Winter Squash ... I still have four butternut squash from last season in the basement. However, yesterday I did plant a few Waltham Butternut seeds at the east end of the garlic bed, and some Baby Pam Pumpkins at the west end. Maybe there will be a successful overlapping of the bed this year.

I still have some artichoke plants that will need a bed outside the garden, but I can work on that later. Also, I read yesterday that one CAN container garden artichokes and bring them inside for the winter. So I am off to find a few 16 " clay pots.

But it is pretty much tomatoes and melons as far as the eye can see. I plan to container grow two melons away from the garden, in the hopes that the seeds from those melons will not be tainted by cross pollination.

I have been having a cutworm problem ... attacks to newly sprouted green beans and some of my trasured melons, so I tried a little trick with hosta stems proposed by Daphne.Elsewhere in the news: There was successful fruiting in the apple "orchard" this spring despite those surprise late frosts. Because of our exposure to cedar apple rust, I chose resistant varieties like Freedom and Jonafree. However there was one "experiment" in the orchard ... an Arkansas Black ... and it is sporting its first fruit this year.

Moving ahead

2010-05-26T13:01:00.005-04:00

This warm weather is inspiring. Most of the beds are amended and ready for planting. Here is a wheelbarrow full of composted lamb manure (decorated with a buttercup). Each barrow full is delightfully rich and teeming with wriggling earthworms. Life as it should be.Two weekends ago I went to Brimfield, MA for their spring antiques extravaganza. It was there that I found this old shutter for the garden. I will plant nasturtiums at its feet for climbing.Things continue be about two weeks ahead of schedule out there as evidenced by the early appearance of garlic scapes. These are definitely a mid-June PHE-nom in these parts.

Artichoke update

2010-05-15T17:30:00.002-04:00

This is one of my over-wintered artichokes. It looks like it usually looks in late JULY !!! Seeing these is a source of daily satisfaction this spring. I have been keeping them well watered and each week have given them a good dose of manure tea. With this much of a head start on the season, I want to milk these plants for all they are worth.

The shady back bed

2010-05-15T17:20:00.004-04:00

I have a bed at the back of the garden that each year gets more and more shade. Last year it grew potatoes. This year I decided to do a combination of shallots and Brussels sprouts, Swiss Chard, Cippolini onions, carrots, parsnips and radishes. I find I get the best results with carrots if I sift the soil first and place it back in a trench ... not very wide nor terribly deep, but enough to give the little guys a fighting chance of pushing their way in to the ground. I also have found that one of my best spring planting tools is the reused dish soap container. Poke a hole in the ground, squirt in some water. Nest in the shallot, or the bean or the seedling. Very handy indeed.

Asparagus Soup Revisted

2010-05-09T19:35:00.003-04:00

The asparagus rolls in at the rate of nearly a pound a day. During high season I keep a plastic bag in the fridge where I store the snapped off ends and use them to make soup.I found a new soup recipe in the spring issue of Edible Vineyard. Edible Communities, Inc. sponsors the publication of these local magazines on a quarterly basis. Do you have one in your area? Any good recipes to share? If you do have such a magazine in your area, make a point of supporting the local advertisers who help to make the publication possible. And here is the recipe which I tweaked a little bit.

Asparagus Soup with No Dairy Garlic Cream

1 lb asparagus stems

2 TBS EVO

1 cup yellow onion small dice

½ cup rolled oats

5 cups Vegetable stock

Garlic “Cream”

1 medium head separated into cloves and peeled

2 TBS EVO

1 cup water

4 sprigs thyme

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp fresh lemon juice and chopped parsley for garnish

During asparagus season I save the snapped off ends of all the asparagus I prepare and I use these ends to make soup. For this recipe use one pound of those ends which you have slit down the middle. In addition select maybe 6-8 thin spears and slice 4 one inch slices off each of them to add to the finished soup. Cook these tips for 4 minutes in boiling salted water and set aside.

Warm the oil in a soup pot and add the onion and sauté for 8-10 minutes until they soften. Add the oats, the slit stems and the stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer partially covered for about 30 minutes.

Once this has cooled put in the blender, puree, and then run the mixture through a sieve using the bottom of a soup ladle to push through the juice. Discard the fibrous remains. Return to a saucepan.

In a smaller saucepan prepare the garlic “cream” by combining the garlic, oil water and thyme. Simmer uncovered until the garlic is soft, about 20 minutes. Discard the thyme sprigs and transfer to a blender. Puree and add back to the soup. Add the reserved cooked tips and salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, freshen with lemon juice and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

adapted from Hara Dretaki Edible Vineyard Spring 2010

Raw Milk

2010-05-09T17:49:00.002-04:00

I invite you to read this Salute to Raw Milk on Jan Buhrman's blog. Jan is organizing a rally tomorrow morning 8 AM on Boston Common (complete with a cow) to protest proposed changes in the language of regulations concerning the sale of raw milk in Massachusetts.

I grew up on raw milk. My mother, a physician, believed that it would help us develop a better immune system. When I retired after a 30 year teaching career, I had 2 years of unused sick leave, a testament to the effectiveness of the raw milk of my childhood.

I guess I am a little cranky these days about a world in which people who want to feed their families from sustainable farms bump up against a highly tuned regulatory mechanism working for the benefit of the big milk producers, while Congress wrings its hands about how to (or even IF to) regulate a financial industry that took us to the brink of disaster and then took OUR money to cover their bad choices.

I am not a tea-paryter ... but I could become a milk-partyer.

Let the games begin !

2010-05-07T09:33:00.002-04:00

I arrived on a breezy, sunny afternoon to find some nice gifts in the garden. I was able to harvest about 4 pounds of asparagus and set to work cooking it on the grill for dinner. I have been eating asparagus from the farmer's market for a few weeks now, but still it does not have the flavor of fresh from the garden. The next morning I found some random greens ... spinach and sorrel ... and I set it aside in the fridge. So the harvest has begun. Now I must set to work doing all the things that other gardeners have been doing since March ... pulling weeds ... cleaning beds ... working compost ...

I must say I feel that the season is at least two weeks ahead this year. The landscape looks like Memorial Day not May Day. I even got my first whiff of autumn olive this morning. Two extra weeks of growing season is fine with me.

Over Wintering Artichokes

2010-04-20T07:19:00.005-04:00

Steve asked how I managed the successful over wintering of these Green Globe artichokes. Actually I thought readers were a little bored with this story which has been going on in here for nearly 5 years. Please begin by reading these past posts .

I used wall-o-waters the past two seasons. I did not succeed in 2008/2009. But this winter I did succeed. I suspect the success this time is linked to two factors: the way I prepared the plants and the kind of winter we had ... mostly the latter. This year I cut what remained of the plants to 6 inches above ground and covered them in grass clippings before putting on the wall-o-waters. But mostly I think it was the snow cover and the lack of extreme cold that led to success.

Our local garden columnist, Lynne Irons, also reported having successfully over wintered her artichokes this year. She uses different materials, but also gives lots of credit to what was overall a mild winter.

"Speaking of enjoyment — several of my globe artichokes made it through the winter. I had covered them with a double layer of Reemay and enclosed the bed with bales of hay. Keep in mind, however, we did have a mild winter. I do not believe we dipped into the single digits at all. Nobody believes me when I say such things because it was rainy, snowy and gloomy a great deal of the time, but all in all, the temperatures held steady."

One other thought to successful over wintering in northern climates is the variety of the artichoke. Imperial Star has not done well for me. I have experimented with and Northern Star and Emerald but have not had success over wintering them. The ones I had success with were Green Globe Improved from Reimer Seeds.

Halleluia

2010-04-18T06:50:00.005-04:00

I made a quick dash north this weekend to feed and spray the apple trees and put some seedlings under grow lights until I return again in early May. It is a lousy weekend weather wise, but I was greeted with a great success.It may not look like much to you, but what you see in this photograph is something I have been waiting for for at least four maybe five seasons ... a successfully over-wintered artichoke. I am hoping these nice strong plants will produce early and often this year.

On a hunch I dropped by a stand of Japanese knotweed I know in a friend's backyard. I hit it at JUST the right time and was rewarded with a bountiful harvest. It is an invasive brought to the States by none other than the man who brought us Central Park, the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead. It tastes a lot like rhubarb and can be used in its place for many recipes. I will cut it up and freeze it and boil it down into a compote a little later in the season. The great thing about htis invasive is that it is a great source for RESVERATROLI also made time to harvest some parsnips for a spring dug parsnip chowder.

The Easter Parade

2010-04-02T18:00:00.007-04:00

Let's hear it for the trees. This is their season. In my backyard the tulip magnolia is giving off an intoxicating fragrance. If only we had a scratch and sniff capability here.Then, of course, there is the princess of all the trees ... the cherry blossoms. I arrived a little before sunrise, but I was not alone. Here was a bride and her photographer setting up a sunrise photo shoot.The air was still enough to provide a crisp reflection in the tidal basinThen there is the classic shot with the Monument in the distanceand, of course the broad sweep with reflectionand the early sun on blossom and woodWhile Washington is most associated with cherry trees, I think the real stateliness of the city is in its find stand of American elms. These were planted by Governor Shepherd in the years after the Civil War. Why these trees escaped Dutch elm disease is a mystery to me. Anyone with information, please comment. So I wanted to give this elm tree its due. These dogs attracted lots of photographic attention. But already the cherry blossoms are falling like snowflakesbut this crab apple is not far behind ready to take its place in the Easter Parade of Trees

Be Counted

2010-03-19T09:39:00.005-04:00

Just a few words about the Census. As I picked up my form today to fill it out I could not help but think about the census records I have immersed myself in while doing family research. I think of Harmon P. Marble, census enumerator, who, on the 20th of June, 1900 knocked on my great grandparents' door in Humboldt, NE where my 9 year old grandfather lived and made note of all the people living in that house.At its core the Census is an exercise in democracy. It is the way we have to apportion our representation in Congress. But underneath it are the stories of all of us who have lived here and been counted.Today ... for this the TWENTY-THIRD CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES ... I am the enumerator.

If you haven't already done so, please, send in your census today.

Return to Gardening Thoughts

2010-03-17T09:32:00.007-04:00

After weeks of being in winter wonderlands in New England and Colorado, I returned home to all sorts of signs of spring. First there were the amaryllis that have been reluctantly making their way into the world since mid-December.
The next signs of spring could be found in the yard And then finally, right here on my kitchen counter ... the compost bucket has emerged from winter hibernation.Ever hopeful, I have started my artichoke seeds. This year I am growing Emerald and Green Globe. I scored the seed cases with a knife and then set them in wet paper towels on a heating mat for two days. I planted them yesterday in warmed starting mix. I planted a dozen of each variety and will consider myslef lucky if 6 of each make it into the garden.

Winter

2010-02-24T10:56:00.000-05:00

Being pulled in opposite directions

2010-02-06T11:48:00.004-05:00

I am sure it is built into the species, but when snow starts falling, I start scanning for things to put on the stove ... beef stews, pots of soup. BUT I am leaving town soon so I have to curb my urge to cook through the storm. I need to use up what will go bad while I am away.

First candidate is the box of honeybells in the guest bedroom. I extracted as much juice as I could hold in the freezer, and went hunting for a recipe ... VOILA Citrus Scented Quinoa. I will give you the recipe as I found it, however I left lots of things out of it. I did not make the balsamic syrup. Also, I did not add the white wine and lime juice. But I did use the three cups orange juice with pulp and I tossed in the raisins while it was still warm. And I added a chopped red pepper that would have gone bad. I also did not add the tomatoes and greens and cukes. Another day ... another storm

Citrus-Scented Quinoa and Raisin Salad Recipe

Ingredients:
***Balsamic Syrup***
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
***Salad***
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons minced onion
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
8 ounces quinoa
3 cups fresh orange juice
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup natural raisins
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup toasted almonds
2 teaspoons minced fresh basil
Salt and pepper
1 cup seeded and diced cucumber
1 cup diced ripe plum tomatoes
1 1/2 cup mixed baby greens

Directions:

For balsamic syrup, combine vinegar and sugar in heavy saucepan and simmer on low until reduced by half. Cool and pour into a plastic squeeze bottle; chill.

For salad, saute garlic and onion in half the olive oil over low heat in a hot skillet for 1 minute. Add quinoa and saute 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly.

Stir in orange juice, lime juice, thyme and wine; simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes; then, chill thoroughly.

Then, combine chilled quinoa mixture, raisins, almonds, basil and remaining olive oil in large mixing bowl; season lightly with salt and pepper and mix well.

For each serving, set a ring mold 4-inches in diameter by 6-inches high on serving plate. Layer ingredients into the mold starting with quinoa salad, then diced cucumber, follow with diced tomatoes, and top off with mixed greens.

Remove mold and drizzle plate with balsamic syrup. Repeat until all plates are prepared.

Things that go POP in the night

2010-02-06T11:18:00.005-05:00

Around 1:00 am I heard a big popping sound in the backyard accompanied by a bright flash of light ... and then the electricity went out. Tree limbs crashing into transformers was my first thought. So I called the power company. I awoke to a 50 degree house and still no electricity, but God Bless Dominion Power, by 9:00 am while buried beneath comforters, I heard the heat come on. Somehow I had not imagined the need to "shelter in place" without electricity.

Then I read Fernando's blog this morning and realized that maybe what I saw and heard was Thundersnow.

"shelter in place"

2010-02-05T08:34:00.004-05:00

I have just returned from the grocery store where I snagged THE LAST PACKAGE of ground beef. "Oh am I taking too many?" she asked as she loaded 10 packages into her cart. "It is for my Superbowl Party that probably won't happen."

What is this mania that has taken over Harris Teeter before 7:30 AM on a Friday morning? It is THE WASHINGTON SNOWSTORM. And when you pair that with Superbowl weekend, the only worse scenario I can imagine is if the Redskins were playing in it.

I have been eying this storm for nearly a week as it gathers moisture from as far away as Hawaii. Having been raised in New England, I am pretty low key when it comes to snowstorms, but the absence of sufficient snow removal equipment in the DC area makes this upcoming storm a problem for us, for we were planning to drive north for a ski vacation in Maine tomorrow.

But with email alerts from our local jurisdiction that use the admonition "be prepared to shelter in place for 3-5 days" or the AccuWeather overlay on DC describing accumulation as EXCESSIVE, there is little chance we will get out of here before late Saturday night.I suppose we COULD get out of Dodge this morning, but then we wouldn't be here to shovel the roof off and we need to do that in a snow like this to avoid ice jams and leaking.

So in anticipation of an unplowed street, we are toying with the idea of packing the car this morning and moving it to a street that is more regularly plowed.

Let me end this entry with a little shameless plug for my new favorite DC Area weather blogger, Fernando. Check out his blog Potential Vorticity for the latest meteorological updates.

Not much happening

2010-01-31T15:55:00.002-05:00

Well here it is the last day of January. I feel I cannot let an entire month pass without a post. Only thing close to being garden worthy are these paperwhites
and this sad picture of snow and sleet in my sister-in-law Anne's tropical garden.

Merry Christmas to all ...

2009-12-24T10:00:00.001-05:00

The December DC Dump

2009-12-22T09:29:00.003-05:00

Let it snow ...

Let it snow

Let it snow !!!!

The Christmas Cactus

2009-12-16T09:10:00.003-05:00

Every Christmas I marvel at this cactus. It came to me a as a gift from a friend and colleague at least a decade ago. I have re potted it twice. When it starts to bloom I give it cactus food. But the rest of the year ... well, neglect would be a kind word to describe how I treat it. In May I put it on a shaded back deck to face the trials of a Washington summer with nothing but the rain God chooses to bestow upon it. In November, when I return, I rescue it just before the frosts and without the least bit of prompting from me, it starts its Christmas show.

An artichoke on my tree !!!

2009-12-13T17:50:00.000-05:00

Locking

2009-12-08T07:23:00.007-05:00

Years ago Kurt Vonnegut wrote an observation of the seasons that divided the year into six rather than four seasons. Winter was a season of two months -- January and February. It was flanked on either side by the two new seasons. November and December became the season called "Locking" and March and April became the season called "UNlocking." The idea is that nature needs a time of shutting down before the onslaught of winter and a time of opening up slowly before the fruition of summer. It actually makes good sense when you think of it. It places Fall squarely in September and October where it belongs and Summer in July and August.

So true to Vonnegut's new scheme I have been going around "locking" things up in the garden. I have made a new iteration of deer fencing for my young apple trees. I also set up the wall-o-water around my rosemary to help it over winter. I do that by trimming it back and placing a plaster bucket over it and slipping the wall-o-water over the bucket while I fill its sleeves.This form of overwintering has worked for rosemary, so I tried it last year on my artichokes and it failed. But last winter was particularly harsh, so I am trying it again though admittedly with a less hardy variety of artichoke. These are Green Globe. And I adjusted my game a little. I let them grow into the light frosts of November December. Then I cut them back to 12 inches of leavesand then I mounded them with grass clippingsand finally added the wall-o-waters.I harvested the last of the rutabaga, carrots, greens and Brussels sprouts. I will leave the parsnips in the ground for spring dug parsnip chowder when I return.And last, but not least, I removed the dead asparagus ferns to the brush pile.

Late November Gifts

2009-12-02T18:56:00.002-05:00

I have returned to the garden for a few days to shut things down for the winter. Much of my energy has been spent reorganizing the shed. But these next few days I will settle into garden care. High on the list is the prep of the artichokes. Maybe THIS will be the year when the combination of a milder winter and the right covering will lead to successful overwintering. Meanwhile the garden continues to give. Here are some potatoes, carrots and Swiss chard.

Thought for Food

2009-11-29T14:35:00.001-05:00

Check this out.

http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/back-to-the-land/?emc=eta1

Judgement at Nuremberg

2009-11-10T10:34:00.004-05:00

While wandering through the outdoor market in Nurmeberg, Germany last weekend I spied these unusual cabbages and JUDGED them to be the most unusual I had ever seen.

Then my eyes fell on these lovely pinkish tinged hard necks and I JUDGED them to be worthy of import. Move over, Place Monge ... make way for Nuremberg Red.

A Garden Pause

2009-10-30T16:45:00.004-04:00

I celebrated my last night on the Vineyard with a little tomato that had ripened on the windowsill. I seasoned some olive oil with a special balsamic vinegar brought by a friend, sprinkled some salt and pepper, and decorated with the very last basil I had.Forgive the photography ... the cameras were all packed and I was using my phone.

I will return to put things totally to bed in early December. But for now I need to say goodbye to this season. It is hard to let go this year. I guess it is the disappointment of the tomato crop and the harvest that never really peaked. I never had too much of anything really, and maybe one needs a little harvest fatigue in order to feel OK about taking a rest from it all.

If someone told me I could come to southern Florida and plant 80 tomato plants right now, I would consider it. I just did not get enough this season.

I am off for a few weeks for a tour of Eastern Europe. I MAY get to post on the travel blog ... we'll see.

Today's Poem

2009-10-20T07:16:00.002-04:00

Today's poem was right up my alley

The First Artichoke

by Diane Lockward

Though everyone said no one could grow
artichokes in New Jersey, my father
planted the seeds and they grew one magnificent
artichoke, late-season, long after the squash,
tomatoes, and zucchini.

It was the derelict in my father's garden,
little Buddha of a vegetable, pinecone gone awry.
It was as strange as a bony-plated armadillo.

My mother prepared the artichoke as if preparing
a miracle. She snipped the bronzy winter-kissed tips
mashed breadcrumbs, oregano, parmesan, garlic,
and lemon, stuffed the mush between the leaves,
baked, then placed the artichoke on the table.
This, she said, was food we could eat with our fingers.

When I hesitated, my father spoke of beautiful Cynara,
who'd loved her mother more than she'd loved Zeus.
In anger, the god transformed her
into an artichoke. And in 1949 Marilyn Monroe
had been crowned California's first Artichoke Queen.

I peeled off a leaf like my father did,
dipped it in melted butter, and with my teeth
scraped and sucked the nut-flavored slimy stuff.
We piled up the inedible parts, skeletons
of leaves and purple prickles.

Piece by piece, the artichoke came apart,
the way we would in 1959, the year the flowerbuds
of the artichokes in my father's garden bloomed
without him, their blossoms seven inches wide
and violet-blue as bruises.

But first we had that miracle on our table.
We peeled and peeled, a vegetable striptease,
and worked our way deeper and deeper,
down to the small filet of delectable heart.

"The First Artichoke" by Diane Lockward

More Vegetable Love

2009-10-10T10:54:00.004-04:00

They met during the sweet potato harvest ... he spied her across the curing rack

It was love at first sight

So they went to the preacher

And lived happily ever after

Garden Update

2009-10-08T07:32:00.007-04:00

No, I am not trying for some kind of absentee record ... cannot explain my absence from here ... but since the last post the garden clean-up has gone quite well. Perhaps the most stark contrast is this before and after of a tomato bed.
So bed by bed things are neat and tidy ... the pathways are another story. I may break down and just let it go to grass and keep it trimmed with a trimmer next season. I need to save my weeding muscles for tasks more closely linked to crop production.

And while in my heart of hearts I do not believe it, there IS more to a garden than a successful, lingering tomato crop, I am still getting green beans, Swiss chard, spinach and potatoes. Meanwhile, butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts and rutabaga lie in waiting. So there is still reason to revel in the garden and its production.

On Monday I prepared one of my garlic beds with plenty of composted lamb manure. I laid it out in a 6x8 inch grid and on Tuesday I planted six varieties of hardneck. A total of 112 cloves. The second bed is still housing sweet potatoes, but I shall harvest them this weekend. I took a peek in there last weekend and it looks to be an adequate crop. So I recommend to New England gardeners who are trying to make maximum use of garden space to consider interplanting sweet potato slips in a garlic bed on Memorial Day. You can harvest the garlic without disturbing the sweet potato vines and you can have your bed back by Columbus Day in time to plant next year's garlic. ( I KNOW I should rotate, but I have never had disease, and I like using these beds because they are outside the garden fence and garlic is deer resistant ... although sweet potato vines are not and I did use some Bobbex on them in the early summer when they were getting started.)

September Resolutions ~ One Bed a Day

2009-09-08T10:23:00.006-04:00

In some ways, September is more the start of a New Year than is January. So it is not without logic that I feel a renewed sense of commitment to the garden.The weeds in my garden got OUT OF CONTROL this summer. But now the weather is cooler and I feel as though I can take this task on. My commitment is one bed a day. Yesterday I only took an AFTER picture of my pitiful shallot bed. So this morning I wised up and took aBEFOREand AFTER pictureincluding a basket full of treasures I found in that tangled mess.

Chicken of the Woods

2009-09-08T10:11:00.004-04:00

"Look, I have this HUGE Chicken of the Woods. We ate as much as we could for dinner last night, and we're going off island tomorrow, do you want it?"

"I'll be at your house in 15 minutes."

So I had a big round of it last night. Sauteed it with some shallots and garlic and thyme from the garden. I started using butter ... but it is a thirsty little mushroom, so after half a stick of butter I switched to chicken stock. YUM !!!Had I known I would be so lucky, I would not have bought a bag of shitakes yesterday at a roadside stand. So this morning I had fried egg over shitakes with a side of Chicken of the Woods.Note: In my original, pre-edited post, I had used the term Hen of the Woods ( Latin name: Grifola frondosa) to describe this mushroom. It is, most likely a Laetiporus cincinnatus often referred to as a chicken of the woods. It is a reminder that mushroom hunting is not to be done lightly or in an uninformed manner. Thanks to comments from Andrea for that reminder.

Tomato High Season

2009-09-03T07:43:00.003-04:00

Imagine a tomato big enough and succulent enough to fill an entire tart pan. This was the glorious final act of my blue ribbon tomato. I have take to keeping some bacon in the fridge on the grounds that there is nothing more glorious than the BLT during tomato high season.

OLS ~ Week #13 Roasted Lamb Shanks with Cranberry Bean Ragout

2009-08-30T06:09:00.004-04:00

So here it is the end of OLS for 2009. Many thanks to Virginia who edited the New England section, and to all the editors for their attention to our meals and to helping us share. And here is a shout out to Liz in Maine, who started this ball rolling in the summer of 2006. Good ideas have a way of sustaining themselves.
The bean that has 100 names, the one I call October Cranberry Bean (harvested in August ...go figure), has been arriving in profusion in my garden. It is a beauty.

I decided to pair it up with some local lamb shanks from the Allen Farm for a special OLS meal this week. ALL of the non meat ingredients, except the Morning Glory celery, and (of course) the olive oil, came from my garden.The thing I like about this recipe is that it can be done inside the outdoor grill, so you do not have to melt your house on a hot August afternoon. But be advised: It takes a minimum of 3 and a half hours to slow roast these shanks, so start early in the day.

I take my inspiration from Chef John at Foodwishes.com. He has become the new voice in my kitchen. Here are the lamb shanks:

And to finish it off, Chef John suggests a white bean ragout in which I substituted the cranberry beans.

Back to Fundamentals

2009-08-25T08:34:00.002-04:00

Prize winning tomatoes come from enriched soil. While the carousel pumped out a merry tune from the Fair grounds this weekend, I went about the hard work of building new soil for next year's tomatoes. Using fresh manure from a nearby farm (lamb), and grass clippings from my lawn, with a little rock phosphate and Azomite thrown in for good measure, I began layering and "cooking" the raw manure in an open bin.
That was Saturday. Today the compost thermometer registered 140 degrees. When it starts to cool, I will turn the pile into an empty bin and watch it heat up again.

Immortalizing the Champion

2009-08-25T08:27:00.001-04:00

Before the "Special Award" "Blue Ribbon" Brandywine becomes the main ingredient in a Tomato Tart, I decided to make a little watercolor of it for posterity.

Scenes From the Fair

2009-08-25T08:25:00.001-04:00

The Ag Fair this year had a little added excitement as TWO cows gave birth to bouncing baby boys (that would be bulls) DURING the Fair.

Earth's Voluptuaries

2009-08-23T06:21:00.004-04:00

Once again, this morning's poem is a winner.

Vegetable Love

by Barbara Crooker

Feel a tomato, heft its weight in your palm,
think of buttocks, breasts, this plump pulp.
And carrots, mud clinging to the root,
gold mined from the earth's tight purse.
And asparagus, that push their heads up,
rise to meet the returning sun,
and zucchini, green torpedoes
lurking in the Sargasso depths
of their raspy stalks and scratchy leaves.
And peppers, thick walls of cool jade, a green hush.
Secret caves. Sanctuary.
And beets, the dark blood of the earth.
And all the lettuces: bibb, flame, oak leaf, butter-
crunch, black-seeded Simpson, chicory, cos.
Elizabethan ruffs, crisp verbiage.
And spinach, the dark green
of northern forests, savoyed, ruffled,
hidden folds and clefts.
And basil, sweet basil, nuzzled
by fumbling bees drunk on the sun.
And cucumbers, crisp, cool white ice
in the heart of August, month of fire.
And peas in their delicate slippers,
little green boats, a string of beads,
repeating, repeating.
And sunflowers, nodding at night,
then rising to shout hallelujah! at noon.

All over the garden, the whisper of leaves
passing secrets and gossip, making assignations.
All of the vegetables bask in the sun,
languorous as lizards.
Quick, before the frost puts out
its green light, praise these vegetables,
earth's voluptuaries,
praise what comes from the dirt.

The Fair

2009-08-20T14:16:00.006-04:00

Well despite the terrible case of late blight I was able to grow a Brandywine tomato that was even bigger than LAST year's biggest tomato. Then yesterday morning I spied a family of turkeys in my yard and I thought they MIGHT just want to nibble on it, so I brought it in last night and weighed it.I also decided to harvest the applesThis morning I was up early choosing the yellow beans and the green beans.
Deciding on the garlic.
And when everyone was ready, I lined them up on the stairs for the "class picture."

The Class of 2009

Now it is up to the judges.

OLS ~ Week #11 Roasted Corn Chowder (with a bow to local celery)

2009-08-16T16:38:00.007-04:00

So here we are in high summer. What better to celebrate than with a roasted corn chowder? I found the recipe in a cookbook that celebrates the 40 year career of local farmers at Morning Glory Farm.I bought every thing BUT the cream, the onion, sherry and the bacon from the folks at Morning Glory. I highly recommend this book and its recipes. The story is real and the recipes are top notch.

Oh and check out their blog !!!! HERE

A few words about local ingredients here. My chicken stock was made from the bones and necks I had been saving from my pastured poultry. I wish I had thought ahead and bought the bacon from a local provider. My butter was Kate's Homemade Butter from Old Orchard Beach, and the flour was King Arthur's from VT. As for the vegetables, I want to commend Morning Glory for growing celery. Local celery in New England is NOT a pretty sight. I have never had the courage to grow it, but I seldom cook without it. It is a petro intense luxury to be able to reach for the uniform bag of celery in the produce section. But I WILL for the rest of the season, try to buy mine locally. Local tomatoes and local corn FAR outshine their imported cousins this time of year, but local onions, and celery never look quite as good ... I plan to buy them anyway ...

Roasted Corn Chowder

6 ears corn, kernels sliced from the cob
1 TBSP olive oil
sea salt pinch
ground pepper
8 slices good quality bacon finely diced
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled or unpeeled, 1/2 inch dice
2 medium onions, medium dice
4 stalks celery, medium diced
2 medium leeks, white part only, medium dice
1 red bell pepper
4 TBSP butter
6 TBSP flour
1/2 cup sherry
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 TBSP fresh thyme
1 TBSP fresh parsley

I preheated the outdoor gas grill to 400 to keep the heat OUT of the house. Toss the corn in olive oil, salt and pepper and layer on a sheet pan ( I used parchment paper) and roast for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Move the corn around half way through baking. Set aside.

In a heavy bottomed 5-7 quart Dutch oven saute the bacon until crisp and golden. Remove with a spoon, pour off the grease except a small amount on the bottom for flavoring. Add all the vegetables (except the corn) and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Add butter and when melted stir in flour and cook for 3 minutes constantly stirring. Add sherry and stir.

Add the stock and bring to a slow boil. Boil slowly for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add the roasted corn, heavy cream and final herbs. Reheat but DO NOT BOIL. S & P to taste. Serves 8-10

Vegetable Love

2009-08-14T17:50:00.004-04:00

Once freed from the stalk, she raced across the garden, and threw her arms around her tall, dark, handsome lover. "Together at last she whispered."