In The Garden :: July 9, 2016

As we have had a tremendous amount on our plates so far this summer, I have been remiss in posting.  I hope that as we move through the height of the garden season, that I can keep up! :)  The promise of mid-summer abounds with the garden in full swing and beginning to deliver.  The above elderflowers are about to make their way into mead.  B has not done a batch in a few years and instead of foraging for the flowers, the ones we planted long ago are starting to produce in spades.

The sugar snap peas (foreground) and the sunchokes (back) are beautiful.  The sunchokes, our first year with this perineal, are almost as tall as B right now.  The peas, as quite typical for us are so robust we cannot keep up with them.  Shaded in between the two at ground level is a patch of endive.

The summer squash are well on their way and we should be harvesting our first full size napa cabbages this weekend.  Brussel sprouts, broccoli and storage cabbages are also well on their way.  We will have plenty of horseradish and garlic to share, as we watch them take over their various beds.

We have five different kinds of beans this year.  Four green beans and a row of soybeans.  The large squash to the left is a volunteer coming back on it's own from last year.  We also have a volunteer cucumber.  Both plants have given us small early yields to whet our appetite as the smaller plants mature.

We have done primarily roma tomatoes for canning and salsa, but have plenty of cherry tomatoes for snacking.  Peppers and eggplant are also just beginning to flower.

We have a bed of storage onions which are coming along nicely.  We will think them during the summer as we need them and should still have a number to add to the root cellar.

This morning we did our initial harvest of red currants.  It looks like we may get another batch in the next week or so.  As I write, they are simmering on the stove so that we can extract the juice for jelly.  It may not look like it but the garden is smaller this year as we focus on just sustaining ourselves and our storage needs for the off season.  It will be fun to see what we can accomplish.

Working Towards Your Dreams

About seven months ago, Sidney took over a good portion of the household cooking.  She has always had an excellent palate, and cooked from time to time for our tastebuds group.  She also has never had any interest in following recipes.  Myself, I need a recipe, especially for baking.  I have learned over the years where I can add my own flare, and to make up simple mains, but with Sid it is different.  She has a voracious appetite for tasting every element, she likes to experiment with  an array of spices and eyeball ingredients.  She told me that she finds being in the kitchen calming and she does not mind in the least trying over and over again (that would frustrate me to no end!).

We moved to the homestead when she was six and Charles was four.  She has only shadows of memories from before we lived here.  Though she loved her show chickens and the space to run, neither of the kids had taken a tremendous interest in why we garden and preserve food as we do.  Though we told them ad nauseum, it has just always been there, something mom and dad did.  As I mentioned here, this year Sid is extremely interested in cooking seasonally available things, and was key in picking many of the seeds for the garden.  One of her favorite sweeteners is honey, and as it happens we just harvested a ton of it.  She is working on a position paper for school about the plight of the honey bee, and has expressed an interest in learning the ropes from the inside out...it looks like we will have to get her a bee suit so she can help B when our new packages arrive.  

All this said, she has aspirations of Culinary School, and has always enjoyed writing and taking pictures.  This weekend she launched her own blog to record her journey.  We are so proud of her actively working to make her dreams a reality.  Introducing honey and spice [and everything nice]   Please take a moment to look at her initial post and click the follow on bloglovin' box in the right column!  

Peter Piper Picked

We could hardly help but have this phrase reverberating through our heads yesterday as we stripped and removed pepper plants.  We harvested about 30 red peppers from 5 plants, and once removed still have three plants that remain with a few peppers starting that will provide some fresh for us through the fall.  We then picked a full half bushel of jalapeños!  What to do with all of these peppers??

This year we decided to try canning them so we began with charring the red peppers and a portion of the jalapeños on the grill.  Once charred we gently peeled the skins but not too carefully leaving some of the beautiful char flavor for the can.  Then B read that when canning peppers it was best to use their natural juices so we were also careful when we peeled them to keep them over the bowl that we had them in to collect any drippings.  We then dredged them in vinegar and put the portions into jars that we then topped with the natural juices and pressure canned at ten pounds for sixty minutes.  The jalapeños that we roasted were also dredged and went whole into cans to be used later, once the tomatoes finish, in salsa.

Then we took the remaining jalapeños, sliced them jarred them and topped them with boiling pickling liquid.  The proportions for the liquid are consistent measures. 2 1/2 C vinegar, 2 1/2 C water, & 2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar.  Then the quarts were water bath canned for 20 minutes.  As the capsaicin from the peppers getting air born in our kitchen can lead to hours or days of coughing in our household, we decided to do all of the prep work for the jalapeños outside on the porch.  This was a great decision and something that I highly recommend!

This left us with 3 1/2 quarts of roasted red peppers, 7 quarts of pickled jalapeños, and 1 quart of roasted whole jalapeños.  Yesterday Peter Piper Picked & Prepped Peppers three ways!

In The Garden :: September 11, 2015

It never fails that when we return from vacation at the end of August, we begin to focus on getting the kids ready for school and preserving food inside.  As a result, the garden proper is all but forgotten. It is running on auto-pilot and we take that for granted until...well about mid-September.   Once we had eaten, preserved and given away volumes of squash, we just let plants idle instead of pulling them.  When removing the vines today we did find zucchini the size of watermelons!  They will not go to waste as the chickens and pigs will have them as an added treat this weekend.

Don't get me wrong, we are still harvesting regularly, but we are also running out of steam; finding the larder fairly full, and beginning to contemplate taking the whole thing down.  Today, on our first truly fall like day with a gentle wind and crisp temperatures we began to take stock.  We weeded those beds that surround cooler weather crops that we will continue to harvest through the fall.  As a result we can now better see the sheer volume of red peppers and jalapeños that we have ready to harvest.  This weekend will include roasting and packing red peppers in olive oil, and pickling roasted jalapeño slices.

As the tomatoes have been pretty sporadic in ripening,  we have popped many of the tomatoes in the freezer as they ripen.  Once we have the bulk that we want for canning, we will simply defrost, skin and can them.  There are a number of determinate tomatoes on the vine that should be ready for roasting, making into salsa and canning within the next week or so too.

We will also be digging potato and pulling leeks for another round of vichyssoise.  Those cans were the biggest surprise last season, as they were the perfect base for many different soups and stews.  As the plants die back we can begin to really appreciate the volume of butternut squash that is appearing this season.  Since they are now hardening off, they are not a priority for picking but we will get them inside in the next few weeks.  How is your garden progressing?  Are you enjoying those final lingering harvests before putting it to bed too?

In The Garden :: August 31, 2015

We have reached the end of official kid related summer, yet our garden's summer still has a few final weeks.  This time of year the garden really takes care of itself, our tasks are focused indoors where all of the bounty must be processed and preserved for the longer colder months ahead.

Though the garden still runs about two weeks behind, we are way ahead of our processing compared to last season.  Our pickling, freezing and canning is going great.  Really just eating all we can and waiting on the final reward, tomatoes ripening for sauce and salsa.

It is also the time of year when we focus on our to do list.  The litany of things that must be completed before winter.  As we finish final harvests over the next few weeks the garden must be put to bed.  Each row will need to be topped with a generous helping of compost, and covered.  The best way to do this will be to take it a bed at a time as we finish harvests as not to get too overwhelmed doing the whole thing at once.

We need to take advantage of the temperate days to get outdoor work done.  At the top of the list is preparing the granary to become our farrowing space for Mabel and Penelope.  The girls will be farrowing this winter, so we really need to get everything done when we are not also battling the cold.  As important as what is happening in the garden this time of year is how we balance enjoying the season, while accomplishing everything necessary to make our lives easier this winter as we button up the homestead.

In The Garden :: August 23

Leaving on vacation for nine days in the heart of the season always leaves us with a bit of anxiety.  I was thankful that we got so much preservation done before we left, because I do not feel so much panic in seeing the current surplus'.

This is one thing that we will not preserve, these little cucumbers are perfect just to pop whole into the Greek salads that may just be dominating our diets for the next couple of weeks.

I think if anything defines the state of the garden as we return from vacation, it is blush.  As we continue to preserve the summer squash and green beans, the next phase is blushing nicely.  Hints of canned tomatoes, sauces and salsas come...and oh the masses of butternut!  For a season that started so slowly, some things are well ahead of last year.  We were keeping our fingers crossed for ripening on winter squash up until we harvested them in late October last year.  This year?  Well, they are well on their way!

Along with the garden bounty, the late summer blooms are dotting the landscape in all of their glory.  The first goldenrod is just beginning to put on its show.  The garden tends to do what it wants this time of year and really you just must wait for it to provide and then eat and process.  The animals, on the other hand, gave Ellen quite a run for her money while we were gone, but that is a story for another post :)

In the Garden :: August 9

In the last week the garden has definitely hit its stride.  The extended cool to the beginning of the season has us running a little behind last year's harvest. Most notably, several of the plants themselves are much smaller.  Though our harvest dates have started a bit later the yields all seem to be great, even from the smaller plants.

We harvested the garlic, which in and of itself ended up being quite an adventure.  B ended up putting on his bee suit to harvest the last few rows as we had discovered a group of ground wasps had decided to take up residence in that bed.  We yielded 168 heads this year!

We enjoyed the first of our yard long beans.  They have been fun to watch grow, and have a special sweetness to them that gives them an asparagus like quality.  I think these will become a quick favorite, and be something that we grow again.

Both summer and winter squash are making impressive showings.  It is not unusual for summer squash to be abundant, I am sure you've heard of national sneak zucchini on your neighbors porch day (which happened to be yesterday)!  What is most exciting is the sheer volume of butternut squash that is well on it's way to maturity.

The late summer wildflowers are abundant and peppering my kitchen with their display.  There is just something about fresh cut flowers!

As I mentioned earlier, this is the crunch time for food preservation.  So far we are keeping up, but are really trying to get ahead.  As you can see the tomatoes are beginning to blush so along with what I hope is a big tomato season and the backlog of everything else, I know we will come back to quite an onslaught after we return from vacation.

#100HappyDays :: Day 79

The first blush of the season makes for a very happy day!

#100HappyDays :: Day 63

One of my favorite things to make is risotto.  It is such an easy dish, yet can be filled with many flavors and has a richness that defines comfort food.  After such a busy weekend, I wanted to hunker down in the kitchen and enjoy making a meal that required a slow almost meditative stirring to incorporate the ingredients.  With our beets coming in nicely, I have been craving the flavor of the Borscht that we made for Tastebuds last winter.   While my kids enjoy eating out of the garden, and love beets, neither of them like risotto!  I know, hard to believe, I guess they just do not dig the texture of it.  So this meal ended up being for mom and dad, while the kids ate salads, homemade apple sauce and leftover brats from the 4th.

Roasted Beet and Garlic Scape Risotto

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 onion, minced

2 ribs celery, minced

2 garlic scapes, diced

1 1/3 C arborio rice

1 C red wine

5 C beef broth

1/2 lb beets, roasted, peeled and grated

2/3 C Parmesan cheese, grated

2 Tbsp. butter

chopped dill, for garnish

sour cream

In a large skillet or pot over medium heat pour in olive oil.  While that is warming in a separate pot bring the beef broth to a simmer.  Add onion and celery to olive oil and cook until soft, then add the garlic scapes and sauté until fragrant.  Stir in the arborio rice until it has absorbed all of the oil.  Then pour in the red wine and stir until absorbed.  Now, one ladle full at a time, stir in the beef broth until each portion has absorbed, about 10 minutes.  Once the last of the broth has absorbed stir in the grated beets until warmed through and then remove from heat and add in the Parmesan and butter.  Once incorporated, serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of dill.  Enjoy!

Garden Bling

SouleMama has a segment on her blog this time of year showing their garden week by week.  I try to capture ours at a few points during the season to show its growth, but I thought this year, I might try to take you on a tour every couple of weeks.  Our garden has a dedicated 1/3 acre section that we have filled with 19 raised beds.  We have room yet for growth, and this year added the hugelkultur.

At the top of the garden closest to the house are two beds, the one on the right we rotate and this year has some early season fennel, beets, and carrots.  To the left is a permanent bed that has our lavender, I harvested the first batch today for drying.

Then we have room for either two more beds or a patio before reaching the bulk of the garden.  The first row has two beds, one that we cover as a mini hoop house in the early spring, has cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower in it.  Behind it in the row is the new hugelkultur which we will plant next year.

The next row over begins with our potato bed.  We have found a great way to plant potatoes is just to lay them on the top of the bed, cover lightly with straw, and then as they grow continue to bury them. When it comes time for harvest, they are all nestled in the loose straw and come out fairly clean.  The next bed in the row has green onions, horseradish, and our giant rhubarb plant.  The third row down is planted to kale, kohlrabi and lettuces.

In the next row over we have the garlic that we planted last fall that we are enjoying scapes from right now.  Then the row behind it is full of peppers and eggplant.  The third row, which we have lined the center of to prevent weed growth has sugar snap peas growing on little trellis'.

As we move to the next row, you can see where we ran out of landscape fabric last weekend when we were rocking in all of the paths.  This first bed has summer squash to the left and cucumbers to the right, the cucumbers will soon be large enough to trellis.  The next two beds in this row have been rotated off this year.  We may put a fall succession planting in one of them to be determined.

In our next section, the first bed is rotated off this season, while the second bed is planted to yard long green beans (our first attempt at this, but should be a hit when we distribute them in farm bags).  The third bed has green beans along the back, and winter squashe in the front so they can vine out towards an open area of the garden space before the compost pile.

The final row has two beds in it and both are planted to tomatoes.  We have a couple of slicers and cherry tomatoes, but we plant most of the crop to paste tomatoes for canning.

Along the back boarder of the garden is a full row of red currants, just beginning to get a little blush on them.  We have a whole area by the barn that has raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries, gooseberries and elderberries.

Finally we have the compost pile.  It never ceases to amaze how quickly the compost breaks down and is ready to use.  We have had such a cool summer thus far that we are running right about two weeks behind last year's progress.  I am interested to see how this garden season unfolds.