Inadvertant Farmer asks what I've been doing with my youngster in the garden this week.
The truth is not much. We've been having heat advisories above 100 alternating with vicious thunderstorms that are spawning legions of mosquitoes. None of this is conducive to Baby in the Garden.
We did get out last night briefly right before another storm, which was cooling the temp a little bit. Rowen helped pick 2 bell peppers, 13 more Stupice tomatoes, 1 big Black from Tula and 1 Moonglow, the first of that vine to not have Blossom End Rot. His contribution was a helpful sort of whacking with 'his' spade at anything that looked like it needed a good whack. lol He's also very helpful with watering, he's figured out that Mommy likes to get water from the wading pool to water the pots with, and he dutifully dips 'his' watering can into the pool and sometimes even gets that water on a plant. :-D
We have of course been doing lots of canning, and he is very serious about his duties as collector and keeper of the rings. :-) (canning rings that is) He helped his Daddy and I set up some shelving in the basement to keep all our canned goodies in the cool dark. He was especially intrigued by the dead bugs of course, but c'est la vie. All of the filled jars are now out of the hot sunny kitchen and down where they belong. Just in time to make room for the pickles that have to be made this weekend. :-D
I can tell when he's missing the outdoors, but sometimes that's better than a baby covered in mosquito bites and heat rash. Hopefully things will cool a bit this weekend and we can all get outdoors some. I have a rain barrel that he can help install. :-D
Friday, August 13, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Newt, and Why I Heart Judge Walker
Newt G has put forward his view on the Judge Walker decision in CA about gay marriage.
Calling Judge Walker's decision:
Constitutional disrespect? Has he even read the 14th Amendment? Passed, per the law of the land with ratification by 3/4ths of the states back in 1868 when debates about a person's rights included the same arguments except the bigots were trying to deny personhood based on skin color. Its Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to ALL people.
Some points from Judge Walker's ruling that I particularly like:
Read the rest of his ruling, it's great. He rips apart Prop 8 piece by piece, touching on the stereotypes against gays/lesbians and enumerating the studies that find those stereotypes to be wrong, stereotypes like children raised by gay parents are less well adjusted, or that gays and lesbians recruit children to be gay. He points out the entrenched religious views on the "sinfulness" of homosexuality and how intrinsic those religious views were throughout the Prop 8 proponents. He highlights the campaign propaganda that swings between misleading and outright falsehoods, playing on people fears with phrases like,"Save our children" and "falling to Satan."
I'm sure we'll see more about this issue. It will probably be argued all the way to the Supreme Court. I firmly believe that this issue is my generation's civil rights battle. If you're one of the 52% that voted for Prop 8, or might have voted for it were you living in CA, I'm asking you to look at that view rationally. Get beyond the hatred propaganda, have a conversation with a gay couple about how the discrimination affects their lives, compare some of what's being said and done with some of the things said and done during the desegregation era or women's suffrage. This is not a nuanced issue with more than one right answer, as so many issues in politics are. This is an issue about equal rights, rights guaranteed to EVERY American.
Happily I'll be back to the regularly scheduled garden goodness for my next post. Expect to hear more about my tomato vines. :-D
Calling Judge Walker's decision:
"an outrageous disrespect for our Constitution and for the majority of people of the United States who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife. ...marriage is the union of one man and one woman. ... judges who oppose the American people are a growing threat to our society.”One man and one woman, surely he jests, he's been married 3 times. Maybe he meant one woman at a time? Oh, wait, he cheated on his first two wives, so that can't be what he meant either... Hypocrites like this, trying to discriminate against Americans because of their sexual orientation make me sick. "ooooh the sanctity of marriage!!!" Give me a break, which of his 3 marriages and numerous liaisons was the sacred one? The man is slimy and gives a bad name to real newts.
Constitutional disrespect? Has he even read the 14th Amendment? Passed, per the law of the land with ratification by 3/4ths of the states back in 1868 when debates about a person's rights included the same arguments except the bigots were trying to deny personhood based on skin color. Its Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to ALL people.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.Marriage is, at it's core, all about protection. Protection of wealth, protection of children and protection against the ravages of age/illness/hard times. A marriage, in spite of the modern religious trappings is a contract between adults. The 14th Amendment says States cannot deprive a citizen of that right, no matter how a particular faith views the arrangement that person wants to enter into. And to borrow a line from one of my 1 year old's books, a person's a person, no matter how small. (or gay)
Some points from Judge Walker's ruling that I particularly like:
9. Marriage in the United States has always been a civil matter.Recap: You know that line that preachers use at the end of the ceremony, "by the power vested in me by the state of Blah, I now pronounce you.." Their power to solemnize a contract signing between two adults is granted to them by the State, not the other way around. And, because we're such a great country, we don't even require that they do ceremonies they don't agree with, they can respectfully decline to marry a couple, but that couple CAN STILL MARRY, because the power to recognize that marriage, thankfully, does not rest with one faith or church.
Civil authorities may permit religious leaders to solemnize
marriages but not to determine who may enter or leave a civil
marriage. Religious leaders may determine independently
whether to recognize a civil marriage or divorce but that
recognition or lack thereof has no effect on the relationship
under state law.
21. California, like every other state, has never required thatSelf explanatory, but I hate the, "oooh they can't have kids, so they shouldn't be allowed to marry" trash. Nice to see a judge slap that one on it's butt. It's offensive to anyone who's ever tried and failed to have children, it's offensive to the thousands of gays/lesbians happily raising children and, quite frankly, it's offensive to me and I'm a happily married hetero with a kid.
individuals entering a marriage be willing or able to
procreate.
33. Eliminating gender and race restrictions in marriage has notUsed to be a woman was property and not legally allowed to leave a marriage or hold her own wealth as both her and her property were owned by her husband. That particular notion thankfully no longer resides in the law books, and yet marriage survived the blow. At one point 41 states had laws restricting the marriage between different colored people. Again, that quaint bit of nonsense was overturned and yet marriage survived. There's absolutely no reason that allowing gays and lesbians to marry will in any way harm the institution of marriage.
deprived the institution of marriage of its vitality.
36. States and the federal government channel benefits, rights and"Why don't they just get civil unions?" What on earth are people thinking when they ask that? Did the thought of a civil union go through their head when their lover got down on a knee and asked to spend the rest of their lives with them? No. Civil Unions are not the same as marriage, and that separate but equal bullsh*t doesn't fly anymore. It's never equal. Civil Unions do not grant the same benefits, nor do they adequately express the love and commitment that same sex couples wish to express.
responsibilities through marital status. Marital status
affects immigration and citizenship, tax policy, property and
inheritance rules and social benefit programs.
58. Proposition 8 places the force of law behind stigmas against
gays and lesbians, including: gays and lesbians do not have
intimate relationships similar to heterosexual couples; gays
and lesbians are not as good as heterosexuals; and gay and
lesbian relationships do not deserve the full recognition of
society.
f. Tr 972:14-17 (Meyer: “Laws are perhaps the strongest of social structures that uphold and enforce stigma.”);There it is, in not so plain English. Prop 8 REQUIRES the state to treat a set of citizens differently than the majority and is thus not only morally repugnant but illegal. It places a government stamp of approval on inequality and that is NOT what this nation was founded on. Say what you will about the rights of states and the rights of citizens to vote, but they do NOT get to vote for discriminatory treatment of other citizens and every state in the union has agreed to that.
g. Tr 2053:8-18 (Herek: Structural stigma provides the context and identifies which members of society are devalued. It also gives a level of permission to denigrate or attack particular groups, or those who are perceived to be members of certain groups in society.);
h. Tr 2054:7-11 (Herek: Proposition 8 is an instance of structural stigma.).
59. Proposition 8 requires California to treat same-sex couples
differently from opposite-sex couples.
Read the rest of his ruling, it's great. He rips apart Prop 8 piece by piece, touching on the stereotypes against gays/lesbians and enumerating the studies that find those stereotypes to be wrong, stereotypes like children raised by gay parents are less well adjusted, or that gays and lesbians recruit children to be gay. He points out the entrenched religious views on the "sinfulness" of homosexuality and how intrinsic those religious views were throughout the Prop 8 proponents. He highlights the campaign propaganda that swings between misleading and outright falsehoods, playing on people fears with phrases like,"Save our children" and "falling to Satan."
I'm sure we'll see more about this issue. It will probably be argued all the way to the Supreme Court. I firmly believe that this issue is my generation's civil rights battle. If you're one of the 52% that voted for Prop 8, or might have voted for it were you living in CA, I'm asking you to look at that view rationally. Get beyond the hatred propaganda, have a conversation with a gay couple about how the discrimination affects their lives, compare some of what's being said and done with some of the things said and done during the desegregation era or women's suffrage. This is not a nuanced issue with more than one right answer, as so many issues in politics are. This is an issue about equal rights, rights guaranteed to EVERY American.
Happily I'll be back to the regularly scheduled garden goodness for my next post. Expect to hear more about my tomato vines. :-D
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
My To Do List
Things done over the weekend:
3 quarts whole tomatoes canned with water
Batch of Basil dried.
Onions were 'cleaned' and put away in the not-so-great place in the pantry.
Potatoes were cured outside for a couple of days and now are in on the kitchen cabinet. They need some of the dirt brushed off and they need to be put in the potato bin in the pantry.
First flush of Stupice tomatoes harvested, along with a pile of cherry tomatoes. Total: 12 Stupice and dozen or so cherries, 1 mortgage lifter. Stupice doesn't seem to be having the blossom end rot problem like the larger tomatoes are.
The rest of this post is me organizing my thoughts on projects I'd like to get done next. You won't hurt my feelings if you don't read it all
GOAL: Cool storage, away from sunlight, for my canning jars full of food
Short term solution: Clean off a ledge down in the basement and put filled canning jars there. Ledge is roughly 12-16" deep and fairly level. It will cost me nothing, and will extend the shelf life of that food. The downside is it has no guard rail and jars could possibly fall and break.
Supplies needed: Bucket and soapy water
Long term solution: Wood shelving with a low guard rail. 3' x 2' x 4'. Cheap and easy to build with a few 2x4's and a couple of plywood planks, some 1x2's for the low guard rail. Hopefully less chance of jars tipping and breaking. I'll need wood that can handle the cool damp of the cellar.
Supplies needed: 16'(legs) + 30'(shelf bracing) = 46' of 2x4's; 3 plywood sheets, at least 3/4" and 2'x3'; 9 feet of 1x2's. Big wood screws, which I might already have.
Extra Credit: Air flow vent for external cold air intake to cool room with shelving, maybe making use of dryer vent that's in place and unused.
GOAL: Cold storage of veggies, like onions/turnips/carrots/garlic/apples/potatoes
Solution: build some crates and put them on the ledges/floor in the basement room with the canning jars. I *have* to have some crates, I refuse to just pile the produce on the ledge, we'll lose too much to rot and bugs. Bags won't allow for proper air flow. Possibly acceptable would be something like a feed bag hanging from the rafters.
Supplies needed: 2x4's and 1x2's, small wood screws.
GOAL: cold frames made with the old windows from my parents
Solution, wood frames the size of the window and 12" or so high. A bar to prop open the windows would be good. I have hinges and handles from the ReStore already.
Supplies needed: 2x4's and 1x2's. Wood screws that I may already have.
***
All of the above projects will require me to cut wood. Not a lot, but more than I *really* want to do by hand with a handsaw. How exactly I'll get the wood to my house and cut I need to figure out before these projects can progress. Perhaps I can visit my Dad for a weekend and go with plans in hand and get all the wood cut at his place, then once cut I bet it would fit in my car alright. Perhaps one of my neighbors has some wood working tools.
**
GOAL: Rain barrel in place and downspout adjusted accordingly.
Short term solution: Rainbarrel sitting on the ground, with flexible gutter pointing into top.
Supplies needed: Something to cleanly cut downspout so it can be put back together when we move out. Maybe a hacksaw.
Long term solution: Rainbarrel perched up on a couple of cinder blocks, with something set up to capture the first flush (A gallon or two) of water (most polluted) before remaining rain goes to barrel
Supplies needed: 2 Cinder blocks, some pvc piping to rig up first flush diverter
Extra Credit: Goldfish! :-) Also, figuring out where capped top of the old cistern is might be potentially beneficial, I'd hate to put the rain barrel on top of it by accident.
GOAL: organize and pile neatly the fire wood I've collected.
Short Term solution: A hatchet to break it all down into manageable pieces, stacked along-side the shed, possibly with our tarp on top. (It's got a hole in anyway, we might as well put it to permanent use and buy a new one for hole-less tarp duties.)
Supplies needed: small hatchet. (tarp to replace old one with hole)
Long term solution, a way to handle larger wood pieces, aka trunks/large limbs and get some serious fire wood.
Supplies needed: axe.
Projects that would be useful to do, but I'm lacking materials and they're not vital.
-Rocket Stove: Need bricks, mortar and a grill rack from some old grill.
-Cold Room: Probably an adaptation of the small mudroom, I'll need shelving and vents to control outside air flow. Might happen closer to winter when it will actually see some use. Hubby has concerns about bugs and temp control and loosing food to rot; I want this to replace our fridge during the winter months.
3 quarts whole tomatoes canned with water
Batch of Basil dried.
Onions were 'cleaned' and put away in the not-so-great place in the pantry.
Potatoes were cured outside for a couple of days and now are in on the kitchen cabinet. They need some of the dirt brushed off and they need to be put in the potato bin in the pantry.
First flush of Stupice tomatoes harvested, along with a pile of cherry tomatoes. Total: 12 Stupice and dozen or so cherries, 1 mortgage lifter. Stupice doesn't seem to be having the blossom end rot problem like the larger tomatoes are.
The rest of this post is me organizing my thoughts on projects I'd like to get done next. You won't hurt my feelings if you don't read it all
GOAL: Cool storage, away from sunlight, for my canning jars full of food
Short term solution: Clean off a ledge down in the basement and put filled canning jars there. Ledge is roughly 12-16" deep and fairly level. It will cost me nothing, and will extend the shelf life of that food. The downside is it has no guard rail and jars could possibly fall and break.
Supplies needed: Bucket and soapy water
Long term solution: Wood shelving with a low guard rail. 3' x 2' x 4'. Cheap and easy to build with a few 2x4's and a couple of plywood planks, some 1x2's for the low guard rail. Hopefully less chance of jars tipping and breaking. I'll need wood that can handle the cool damp of the cellar.
Supplies needed: 16'(legs) + 30'(shelf bracing) = 46' of 2x4's; 3 plywood sheets, at least 3/4" and 2'x3'; 9 feet of 1x2's. Big wood screws, which I might already have.
Extra Credit: Air flow vent for external cold air intake to cool room with shelving, maybe making use of dryer vent that's in place and unused.
GOAL: Cold storage of veggies, like onions/turnips/carrots/garlic/apples/potatoes
Solution: build some crates and put them on the ledges/floor in the basement room with the canning jars. I *have* to have some crates, I refuse to just pile the produce on the ledge, we'll lose too much to rot and bugs. Bags won't allow for proper air flow. Possibly acceptable would be something like a feed bag hanging from the rafters.
Supplies needed: 2x4's and 1x2's, small wood screws.
GOAL: cold frames made with the old windows from my parents
Solution, wood frames the size of the window and 12" or so high. A bar to prop open the windows would be good. I have hinges and handles from the ReStore already.
Supplies needed: 2x4's and 1x2's. Wood screws that I may already have.
***
All of the above projects will require me to cut wood. Not a lot, but more than I *really* want to do by hand with a handsaw. How exactly I'll get the wood to my house and cut I need to figure out before these projects can progress. Perhaps I can visit my Dad for a weekend and go with plans in hand and get all the wood cut at his place, then once cut I bet it would fit in my car alright. Perhaps one of my neighbors has some wood working tools.
**
GOAL: Rain barrel in place and downspout adjusted accordingly.
Short term solution: Rainbarrel sitting on the ground, with flexible gutter pointing into top.
Supplies needed: Something to cleanly cut downspout so it can be put back together when we move out. Maybe a hacksaw.
Long term solution: Rainbarrel perched up on a couple of cinder blocks, with something set up to capture the first flush (A gallon or two) of water (most polluted) before remaining rain goes to barrel
Supplies needed: 2 Cinder blocks, some pvc piping to rig up first flush diverter
Extra Credit: Goldfish! :-) Also, figuring out where capped top of the old cistern is might be potentially beneficial, I'd hate to put the rain barrel on top of it by accident.
GOAL: organize and pile neatly the fire wood I've collected.
Short Term solution: A hatchet to break it all down into manageable pieces, stacked along-side the shed, possibly with our tarp on top. (It's got a hole in anyway, we might as well put it to permanent use and buy a new one for hole-less tarp duties.)
Supplies needed: small hatchet. (tarp to replace old one with hole)
Long term solution, a way to handle larger wood pieces, aka trunks/large limbs and get some serious fire wood.
Supplies needed: axe.
Projects that would be useful to do, but I'm lacking materials and they're not vital.
-Rocket Stove: Need bricks, mortar and a grill rack from some old grill.
-Cold Room: Probably an adaptation of the small mudroom, I'll need shelving and vents to control outside air flow. Might happen closer to winter when it will actually see some use. Hubby has concerns about bugs and temp control and loosing food to rot; I want this to replace our fridge during the winter months.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Spuds!
Well, about a third of my potato plants had died back so I went ahead yesterday and harvested those plants. Should be most of my Yukon Gold harvest. The reds will take another week or so to finish up.
They did awesome! I had 34 potatoes, a few were golf ball size but most were (my) fist size to croquet ball size. I'm really happy with the first harvest. I'll be ecstatic if the rest of the harvest is as good, 80+ potatoes will be a most welcome infusion to our pantry.
I made a point to gather the True Potato Seed (TPS) while I was messing with the plants. I'll be doing some serious gardening experimentation with those. A 2-5 year experiment if I understand the material correctly.
Here's the basics of my plan--
February 2011: Start TPS under lights, discard those seedlings that are sickly. Plant out and grow to spud size in a nursery bed. Overwinter indoors?
April 2012, plant surviving spuds into garden proper and grow to harvest tubers and more TPS.
Feb 2013: Start second generation of TPS indoors under lights indoors, again discard sickly specimens. Plant out and grow to spud size. Overwinter indoors?
April 2014 plant spuds into garden proper and grow to harvest tubers and more TPS.
TPS harvested in August 2014 will be second generation to my area and hopefully if I have enough seed I can start treating the crop like onions and start seedlings every year, to have tubers every year to plant out for harvest. (Every year have both seedlings and spuds to plant out, the seedlings to grow into spuds for next year, and the spuds from the seedlings planted out the year before)
At this point I may have lost some of you. Don't worry, it's not easy to wrap your brain around. I'm not entirely sure I've got it all right yet and I will probably spend some time this winter doing more reading on the subject.
You may be wondering what my purpose in all this hassle is. I have had good luck with buying certified spuds from seed companies, why bother trying to save seed and breed my own varieties? Well, the way things currently work, most gardeners are just planting out clones, no genetic improvements are happening with the varieties. Sure, a few big seed companies are probably involved in some potato breeding and trials, but you know me, I never like to leave something as important as my food in the hands of people I don't know and can't oversee. :-D
So, I'm going to try some amateur breeding of my own. I can't make things worse, and who knows, maybe I'll create the next best potato. :-) At the very least I'll learn more about potatoes and that's not a bad thing.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Busy week
Bear with me here, just trying to keep tabs on things for my own records. :-)
Pints of corn: 21
Pints of whole plums: 4
Pints of plum preserves: 4
Pints of spiced plums: ~4 (not done yet)
Quarts of green beans: ~4 (one was not very full)
Produce from the garden:
1/2 pound of green beans
3 potatoes
~12 cherry tomatoes (the volunteer plants that I transplanted into the garden)
2 roma-type tomatoes, couldn't find the plant marker, I'll need to check my notes.
Swiss Chard~24 onions (not very big this year sadly)
The garden is doing great! I have tomato plants taller than I am! The cherry tomatoes and one of the little roma types are ripening. I had a couple of Moonglow tomatoes ripen last week, but both had what looked like blossom end rot. This bothers me, because I planted every tomato plant with a couple of crushed eggshells and a couple ounces of worm castings. I'm doing a bit of research and watching that plant closely. I think I'm going to try and epsom salt application to correct the situation.
The garlic and onions are about done with their curing on the front porch. I've eaten a couple of the garlic bulbs and they are pretty tasty. My plan this week is to sort them and clean them (brush off dirt and cut off roots/leaves, cull damaged bulbs) and separate the eating garlic from the seed garlic for next year. Onions need the same thing, sorting and storing. I hope to get storage for them worked out in the basement. Right now the only place I have for them is in the potato bin in the pantry, and that's not ideal. I'd like that potato bin to be totally potatoes/sweet potatoes and maybe squashes over the fall/winter. I'd like garlic and onions to have a safe cool place down in the basement, maybe with some apples and a good % of my canned goods. That means I need some crates of some kind, and ideally some shelves too.
Herbs are going gangbusters. I've been nibbling on the basil, tossing it into pasta dishes, and it's about time to do a big harvest and dehydrate. Hopefully that can get done this week. Probably could do mint and thyme too.
For those of you interested in such things, here are the details for the plums that I processed this weekend. They were "wild" plums, meaning it's not a variety grown for market, it's just a tree in someone's front yard that puts out small tart fruits. Our neighbors know the old lady that lives there and they were rounding up anyone who wanted plums to go pick this weekend because the lady couldn't keep up with the harvest. So Rowen and I grabbed a bucket and went to collect some of the bounty. Rowen wasn't much help, but he did seem to enjoy the outing. :-) I picked around 3 or 4 gallons of the little plums. The next day I washed them and pitted roughly half of them, focusing on bruised/marred/split fruits. The unbruised nice looking fruits went into a separate bowl for the spice plum and whole plum recipes. 4 or 5 cups of the pitted fruit went into my dehydrator for homemade prunes. :-) Mmmm prunes. They turned out pretty good I think, the skins are a little tough, but the meat is tart and tasty and will be awesome this winter. The rest of the pitted fruit was combined with sugar and a cup of water and boiled for 15-20 minutes with the hopes of it setting up a bit into a nice jam/preserves. Sadly, as with all my tries this year, it didn't set up AT ALL! It is tasty though. :-) The whole plums were divided into 2 portions. They all were pricked, to prevent bursting, and one half went into a crock and was covered with a vinegar/sugar/spice mix to make some spiced plums. This is my first time making such a thing, I don't know if I've ever eaten spiced plums either. It will take 3 days to finish the process, which is unique. Every 24 hours I have to drain off the vinegar/sugar/spice mix, reheat it and recover the plums with it. After the 3rd day I drain off the syrup one last time, pack the plums into jars, cover with the hot syrup and then can like normal. Needless to say, I've very excited to see how they turn out and I will post an update after the results are in. :-)
I didn't plant enough green beans to can this year, so I bought 2 pounds from the farmers market on Saturday. I was chatting with the lady I bought them from and she said she planted tons of green beans this year because everybody raved about them last year, but now she can't sell enough of them and she's losing money. The 2 pounds I bought from her looked beautiful after canning, so I will probably do some more from her next weekend. I know one person can't make up for all the lost sales, but hopefully my support will offset a bit of it. We have a small stash of store bought cans of green beans, but I'd like to have a dozen or more quarts of my homemade ones before the end of the bean season.
The potato plants are about done! This is only my second year growing potatoes, but I'm once again ecstatic at how they are doing. I imagine I'll harvest them this week as the last of the bushes die back. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to save tubers to plant next spring or whether I'll plan to buy more seed tubers. I'll decide after I see the harvest I think.
The last of my news from my super busy week is the acquisition of a rain barrel! Woot! Three cheers for Craigslist! I scored a never-been-used barrel with all the parts and manual for 40$. I had to drive a ways to pick it up from the middle-of-nowhere, and drive back with it sitting in the passenger seat of my little Honda Civic, (it wouldn't fit in my trunk) but it was totally worth it! The picture above is the actual model I acquired, isn't it handsome? :-) I can't wait to get it hooked up and full of water. I want to find a good breed of goldfish to eat the mosquitoes, unless I can find some other non-chemical way to insure no mosquitoes are breeding in it. (yea, I have the screen, but it wouldn't take a very big hole to let mosquitoes in.)
Pints of corn: 21
Pints of whole plums: 4
Pints of plum preserves: 4
Pints of spiced plums: ~4 (not done yet)
Quarts of green beans: ~4 (one was not very full)
Produce from the garden:
1/2 pound of green beans
3 potatoes
~12 cherry tomatoes (the volunteer plants that I transplanted into the garden)
2 roma-type tomatoes, couldn't find the plant marker, I'll need to check my notes.
Swiss Chard~24 onions (not very big this year sadly)
The garden is doing great! I have tomato plants taller than I am! The cherry tomatoes and one of the little roma types are ripening. I had a couple of Moonglow tomatoes ripen last week, but both had what looked like blossom end rot. This bothers me, because I planted every tomato plant with a couple of crushed eggshells and a couple ounces of worm castings. I'm doing a bit of research and watching that plant closely. I think I'm going to try and epsom salt application to correct the situation.
The garlic and onions are about done with their curing on the front porch. I've eaten a couple of the garlic bulbs and they are pretty tasty. My plan this week is to sort them and clean them (brush off dirt and cut off roots/leaves, cull damaged bulbs) and separate the eating garlic from the seed garlic for next year. Onions need the same thing, sorting and storing. I hope to get storage for them worked out in the basement. Right now the only place I have for them is in the potato bin in the pantry, and that's not ideal. I'd like that potato bin to be totally potatoes/sweet potatoes and maybe squashes over the fall/winter. I'd like garlic and onions to have a safe cool place down in the basement, maybe with some apples and a good % of my canned goods. That means I need some crates of some kind, and ideally some shelves too.
Herbs are going gangbusters. I've been nibbling on the basil, tossing it into pasta dishes, and it's about time to do a big harvest and dehydrate. Hopefully that can get done this week. Probably could do mint and thyme too.
For those of you interested in such things, here are the details for the plums that I processed this weekend. They were "wild" plums, meaning it's not a variety grown for market, it's just a tree in someone's front yard that puts out small tart fruits. Our neighbors know the old lady that lives there and they were rounding up anyone who wanted plums to go pick this weekend because the lady couldn't keep up with the harvest. So Rowen and I grabbed a bucket and went to collect some of the bounty. Rowen wasn't much help, but he did seem to enjoy the outing. :-) I picked around 3 or 4 gallons of the little plums. The next day I washed them and pitted roughly half of them, focusing on bruised/marred/split fruits. The unbruised nice looking fruits went into a separate bowl for the spice plum and whole plum recipes. 4 or 5 cups of the pitted fruit went into my dehydrator for homemade prunes. :-) Mmmm prunes. They turned out pretty good I think, the skins are a little tough, but the meat is tart and tasty and will be awesome this winter. The rest of the pitted fruit was combined with sugar and a cup of water and boiled for 15-20 minutes with the hopes of it setting up a bit into a nice jam/preserves. Sadly, as with all my tries this year, it didn't set up AT ALL! It is tasty though. :-) The whole plums were divided into 2 portions. They all were pricked, to prevent bursting, and one half went into a crock and was covered with a vinegar/sugar/spice mix to make some spiced plums. This is my first time making such a thing, I don't know if I've ever eaten spiced plums either. It will take 3 days to finish the process, which is unique. Every 24 hours I have to drain off the vinegar/sugar/spice mix, reheat it and recover the plums with it. After the 3rd day I drain off the syrup one last time, pack the plums into jars, cover with the hot syrup and then can like normal. Needless to say, I've very excited to see how they turn out and I will post an update after the results are in. :-)
I didn't plant enough green beans to can this year, so I bought 2 pounds from the farmers market on Saturday. I was chatting with the lady I bought them from and she said she planted tons of green beans this year because everybody raved about them last year, but now she can't sell enough of them and she's losing money. The 2 pounds I bought from her looked beautiful after canning, so I will probably do some more from her next weekend. I know one person can't make up for all the lost sales, but hopefully my support will offset a bit of it. We have a small stash of store bought cans of green beans, but I'd like to have a dozen or more quarts of my homemade ones before the end of the bean season.
The potato plants are about done! This is only my second year growing potatoes, but I'm once again ecstatic at how they are doing. I imagine I'll harvest them this week as the last of the bushes die back. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to save tubers to plant next spring or whether I'll plan to buy more seed tubers. I'll decide after I see the harvest I think.
The last of my news from my super busy week is the acquisition of a rain barrel! Woot! Three cheers for Craigslist! I scored a never-been-used barrel with all the parts and manual for 40$. I had to drive a ways to pick it up from the middle-of-nowhere, and drive back with it sitting in the passenger seat of my little Honda Civic, (it wouldn't fit in my trunk) but it was totally worth it! The picture above is the actual model I acquired, isn't it handsome? :-) I can't wait to get it hooked up and full of water. I want to find a good breed of goldfish to eat the mosquitoes, unless I can find some other non-chemical way to insure no mosquitoes are breeding in it. (yea, I have the screen, but it wouldn't take a very big hole to let mosquitoes in.)
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Lughnasadh
Well, Lughnasadh is Saturday, the celebration of the harvest, specifically grain, and we are definitely harvesting here in zone 4 Iowa. The sweet corn crop is in, and it's divine. My mother was coming for a 2 day stay to help with a child care need and she brought a whole bushel (65 ears) of the sweet gold. The two of us spent most of the day yesterday shucking, shelling and canning pint jars of corn. Rowen helped too of course, but he was much more interested in playing with the silks. Mom prefers to freeze her stash, which she did last week, so most of the canned stuff will go to my stores but some will be given as return gifts to our southern relatives who happily send us jars of their excess beans. The best part is they think we're spoiling them by sending down corn. :-) We ate corn on the cob for dinner last night and probably will again tonight. Mmmmmm... :-)
As much as I enjoy living on my own, I do love having my mother around. It reminds me of the living arrangements in India (and other countries), where elders live with the younger generation and help with food and child care. It reminds me of my childhood and having breakfast with Mom before starting my day. It eases the loneliness of living in a new town that's both smaller and more rural than I'm used to. For her part I'm hoping she's enjoying the grandbaby time and vacation from her day-to-day routine. The visit is all that and more and, as with the best things, greater than the sum of it's parts.
The best thing about canning, in my opinion, is that it almost forces you to do a lot of something. It is possible to can a half dozen ears really quick in one batch, but if you're going to be at the corn stand, shucking, shelling and messing around with the jar stash, it's definitely worth your time to do more than one canner load. Which equates to a large deposit into the pantry. Going to the store to buy 40 cans of corn might get you looked at funny, and depending on the quality might set you back 30-40 bucks. The whole bushel of corn from the farm truck was 22$. Lids are maybe another 2$. Less than 25$ all said (plus some time and sweat) and I have 21 pint jars of top quality sweet corn.
It's almost time to do the same with green beans. :-D I didn't have space this year to plant a large enough patch of green beans to can, so I'll have to get them from the farmers market this Saturday. No hardship there, even the small market we have in our new town has some excellent choices for staples like green beans.
I also love how canning connects me closer to the wheel of the year. Even in high summer I've got an eye on winter's cold, and in deepest winter the jars of summer goodness help me remember that spring will come again.
So this weekend I hope to light a bonfire and reflect for a moment on the bounty around me. For I am blessed in family, blessed in health and blessed with lots to can. So, perhaps only a small moment of reflection, as there's much to do!
As much as I enjoy living on my own, I do love having my mother around. It reminds me of the living arrangements in India (and other countries), where elders live with the younger generation and help with food and child care. It reminds me of my childhood and having breakfast with Mom before starting my day. It eases the loneliness of living in a new town that's both smaller and more rural than I'm used to. For her part I'm hoping she's enjoying the grandbaby time and vacation from her day-to-day routine. The visit is all that and more and, as with the best things, greater than the sum of it's parts.
The best thing about canning, in my opinion, is that it almost forces you to do a lot of something. It is possible to can a half dozen ears really quick in one batch, but if you're going to be at the corn stand, shucking, shelling and messing around with the jar stash, it's definitely worth your time to do more than one canner load. Which equates to a large deposit into the pantry. Going to the store to buy 40 cans of corn might get you looked at funny, and depending on the quality might set you back 30-40 bucks. The whole bushel of corn from the farm truck was 22$. Lids are maybe another 2$. Less than 25$ all said (plus some time and sweat) and I have 21 pint jars of top quality sweet corn.
It's almost time to do the same with green beans. :-D I didn't have space this year to plant a large enough patch of green beans to can, so I'll have to get them from the farmers market this Saturday. No hardship there, even the small market we have in our new town has some excellent choices for staples like green beans.
I also love how canning connects me closer to the wheel of the year. Even in high summer I've got an eye on winter's cold, and in deepest winter the jars of summer goodness help me remember that spring will come again.
So this weekend I hope to light a bonfire and reflect for a moment on the bounty around me. For I am blessed in family, blessed in health and blessed with lots to can. So, perhaps only a small moment of reflection, as there's much to do!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Garden Buddies: Harvest the bounty!
Ok garden buddies, we're approaching a full moon, end of July and the veggie flood gate should be open. The list of things that you should be harvesting now in zone 4 or zone 5 is long. It includes Basil, Mint, Sage, Kale, Turnip, Garlic, Cherry Tomatoes, Tomatoes (maybe), Chard, Green Beans, Cucumber, Squash (maybe), Onions, Early Potatoes, Bell Peppers and carrots (maybe). If you have something on this list that isn't producing right now, don't worry, every garden is different. :-) My particular garden has everything except those I've marked maybe, those need a couple more weeks. Other things needing another month or so are Cabbages, Eggplant, Parsnips and Kholrabi.
Here's some great recipes I've been cooking lately, enjoy!
Grandma DeeDee's Green Beans and New Potatoes ala Jennie:
A pot sized to the number you're serving. Grandma always cooked this in a large stew pot for 8-10 people, but if you are closer in size to my family of 3, we find a 4 quart pot enough. Dig a few new potatoes, one or two for each person. Snap a couple handfuls of green beans for each person. Dice an onion. Dice a turnip. Peel 2 garlic cloves per person. Toss everything in your pot, cover with water and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme.
When the potatoes are soft, scoop everything with a slotted spoon into bowls, top with butter and salt/pepper to taste.
Cucumber Greek Salad
Chop cucumber into bite sized pieces. Toss in a bowl. Chop a roma tomato, toss in the bowl. Chop a third of a bell pepper, toss in the bowl. Crumble some feta cheese, like an ounce into the bowl. In a small separate bowl combine 3 parts olive oil with 1 part red wine vinegar, sprinkle salt and oregano and whisk briskly. Pour over cucumber/tomato/feta combination. This keeps well in the fridge for a day or so.
Summer Veggie Pasta
Saute an onion, half a yellow squash, a few cloves of garlic and some basil for 8-10 minutes. Add some chopped roma tomatoes. Season with some salt and oregano and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Scoop onto cooked pasta, top with mozzarella.
Here's some great recipes I've been cooking lately, enjoy!
Grandma DeeDee's Green Beans and New Potatoes ala Jennie:
A pot sized to the number you're serving. Grandma always cooked this in a large stew pot for 8-10 people, but if you are closer in size to my family of 3, we find a 4 quart pot enough. Dig a few new potatoes, one or two for each person. Snap a couple handfuls of green beans for each person. Dice an onion. Dice a turnip. Peel 2 garlic cloves per person. Toss everything in your pot, cover with water and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme.
When the potatoes are soft, scoop everything with a slotted spoon into bowls, top with butter and salt/pepper to taste.
Cucumber Greek Salad
Chop cucumber into bite sized pieces. Toss in a bowl. Chop a roma tomato, toss in the bowl. Chop a third of a bell pepper, toss in the bowl. Crumble some feta cheese, like an ounce into the bowl. In a small separate bowl combine 3 parts olive oil with 1 part red wine vinegar, sprinkle salt and oregano and whisk briskly. Pour over cucumber/tomato/feta combination. This keeps well in the fridge for a day or so.
Summer Veggie Pasta
Saute an onion, half a yellow squash, a few cloves of garlic and some basil for 8-10 minutes. Add some chopped roma tomatoes. Season with some salt and oregano and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Scoop onto cooked pasta, top with mozzarella.
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