A narrow fellow . . . on the flower

Sunday morning I found this baby snake curled around a zinnia in the front yard. (Jeremy took the picture.) I was reminded of the Emily Dickinson poem, although this encounter seemed a bit more benign.

Rock City and Wendell Berry

A few weeks ago, we went back to DeSoto State Park near Fort Payne, AL, having gone there last spring and thoroughly enjoying the canyons and trails. This year there weren't as many waterfalls or flowers since it was later in the year, but it was still relaxing. We stayed there and took a day trip to Chattanooga (less than an hour away) to visit the Tennessee Aquarium and Rock City. Naomi loved Rock City. Although I will admit parts of it were a bit kitschy, it was a beautiful stroll. We went early in the morning to avoid crowds, and it was raining lightly for much of the trip, but that just made things seem more ethereal. Along the trails there were signs displaying quotations from various naturalists and conservationists, among them Wendell Berry (although they spelled his name wrong): "We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent questions of the time: how much is enough?" Indeed, our culture is much more focused on excess than on limits. Growing a garden forces us to concentrate on simple questions: how much do I really need? How much is too much for me to handle? What if we asked these questions about everything? I think our society would look very different.

corn, corn, and more corn

Last Monday we picked, shucked, scrubbed, blanched, scraped and froze a truckload (about 600 ears) of corn. (Jeremy grew it on a generous friend's land, not on our 1/4 acre.)

I'm trying to find new creative uses for it. On Sunday I made creamed corn pancakes, altering the recipe a little since the creamed corn was extra juicy. It was about a cup and a half of fresh creamed corn, 1 egg, 3/4 cup milk, 3/4 cup flour, and 1/2 tsp each baking soda, salt, and sugar. They turned out pretty well, especially covered in local honey!

Tonight's Supper

Homemade pizza on my new pizza stone

Toppings from our garden:

-Tomato sauce (peeled and pureed tomatoes cooked down to thicken with a pinch of sugar and salt)

-yellow squash

-garlic

-purple onions

-cherry tomato halves

-red bell pepper

-purple basil leaves

From the store:

-flour, olive oil, and yeast for homemade crust

-mozzarella cheese

The crust rose well this time and turned out perfect baked on the stone.

December Garden

Osaka Kale

Today's Dinner

Tonight's Supper #3

I actually made this Monday night, but oh well.

-Ratatouille--eggplant, zucchini, garlic, onions, tomatoes, banana peppers and herbs--all homegrown.

-Sweet corn--grown on a friend's plot

-Green beans and new potatoes--grown at The Farm

-Garnished with nasturtium flowers and leaves from the front yard

The only things not homegrown were a couple slices of bacon for flavor and the butter we put on the corn. And salt :)

More Pictures of the May Gardens: Part 2

Parsley, Swiss Chard, Redbor Kale, Nero de Toscana Kale, Red Russian Kale

More Pictures of the May Gardens: Part 1

Some of the late Broccoli

Mimi helping pick the squash

Kohlrabi

The first of this year's squash

Silver Queen Corn, a few weeks from harvest

Kentucky Wonder Bush Beans

Red Pontiac Potatoes

I dug up two rows Saturday

Potatoes about one month ago

May Garden

Still producing: Romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, green onions, radishes

On its way: zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, blackberries, blueberries

I'm helping!

Romaine and chard

Shallots and zucchini

Romaine

After the flood

We’ve had storm after storm for a few weeks now. The forecast has rain heading this way next week as well. Currently the Blackwater River and its tributaries are flooded. Many homes are being flooded. Last week my garden at the farm where I work was under a foot of water. I was worried about the beans. They had only been up about four days. The corn was about eight inches tall. The potatoes were well established so I wasn’t as concerned about them. When the water receded I could see that I didn’t lose much at all. Some of my bush beans and lima beans were washed away or covered with mud, but the majority still stood. I lost some squash and cucumbers and peas. The potatoes and corn are fine. Below are some pictures of the garden after the water receded.

Click the photos to enlarge.

Bush Beans and Lima Beans

Red Pontiac Potatoes

Water was up a little more than a foot over the garden

A survivor

Silver Queen Sweet Corn

Some March Garden Pictures

Pom Pom Loose-Leaf Lettuce

Flat Leaf Parsley

Loose-Leaf and Romaine, with some Mustard in the back

My Beautiful Garlic Bed

Green Onions and some Spinach

Tonight's Supper (2)

Pizza on homemade crust with shallots (grown in front yard), spinach (grown in front yard), and mushrooms. Green salad with romaine and looseleaf lettuces, radishes, and green onions (all grown in front yard).

Tonight's Supper

I intend to start blogging about meals made using homegrown or locally produced ingredients, especially when summer arrives and along with it (hopefully) its bounty of veggies. Tonight, I made a rather interesting conglomeration: a stir-fryish medley of sorts using several homegrown components.

2 cups broccoli florets (grown by Jeremy at the Farm)
1 small cabbage (grown by Jeremy at the Farm)
2 kohlrabi (grown in the backyard)
2 green onions (grown in the front yard)
2 boneless chicken breasts (I feel bad about this, since they were processed and industrial, but they were on sale and cheap. This could have easily been a vegetarian meal.)
1/2 package maifun (rice noodles)
1/2 bottle Thai chili peanut sauce

I pan fried the chicken in olive oil until partially done and then added the veggies, simmering all the ingredients in the sauce, and then mixed in softened rice noodles. We had oven-baked sweet potato fries on the side (coated with olive oil, salt and pepper, baked 20 minutes). Note to self: make these more often. Unfortunately the taters were from the store, but we hope next year they won't be.

This was pretty delicious for something so impromptu (I am not good at planning meals or following recipes). We had tried kohlrabi raw in salad and it was just blah, but simmered in the sauce it was tender and sweet.

Kohlrabi

Garden report: 15 Feb. 09

Spring’s just around the corner. In the raised beds we’ve planted more Bloomsdale Long-Standing Spinach and Vivian Romaine. We’ve also planted a bunch of Evergreen Onions and Cherry Belle Radishes. In seed trays, which are warming in our small greenhouse, we planted the following varieties of lettuce, nightshades, and herbs: Vivian Romaine, Red Sails Lettuce, and Bibb Lettuce, Neon Lights Swiss Chard, Tah Tsai, Dark Opal Purple Basil, Bush Spicy Globe Basil, Common Thyme, German Chamomile, Sorrel, Rose Orach, Burpee Hybrid Eggplant, Sweet Banana Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, Volcano Peppers. Chinese Giant Peppers, Taxi Tomatoes, Costoluto Genovese Tomatoes, Super Suncherry Hybrid Tomatoes, Lemon Boy Hybrid Tomatoes, Giant Tree Tomaoes, and Jetsonic Hybrid Tomatoes. I planted far more than usual. What I can’t use here at home I will be able to plant in the large garden at the nursery where I work.

Over the years I’ve had a hard time germinating and growing spinach. I haven’t had much luck directly planting into the ground nor with seed trays. I’ve tried several varieties. A few months ago I tried planting into a small crate filled with potting soil and compost. The crate is about two feet by three and about a foot and a half deep, with plenty of drainage all around. I just scattered the seed and turned under by hand . The seeds germinated with amazing success. I thinned the plants and began cutting leaves for dinner about a month ago. Recently I added to my garden several raised beds with potting soil and compost. Yesterday I planted a lot of spinach there. We’ll see what happens. Below are pictures of the spinach project.

Little Caeser Romaine

Various Lettuce in a raised bed

Bloomsdale Long-Standing Spinach

Spinach growing in a plastic crate

Great Depression Cooking with Clara

Evidence that there is still good stuff on YouTube. I came across this series of nine videos and really, really, wish that someone had thought to do this with my great-grandmother before she passed in 2000 at the age of 98 (although no one was ever able to duplicate her chicken 'n dumplings even when shown multiple times). Clara reminds us that simple, cheap food can be wholesome and good. It got me thinking again of how the Internet has become a repository for cultural lore that used to be passed down in families and circulated among (physical) communities. In Episode 4, she mentions that back then, everyone had backyard gardens and chickens, but she doesn't think it's allowed anymore. She also tells of when she caught an uninvited neighbor picking produce from her garden. I'm thinking that very soon, her memories are going to become much more than just quaint little stories.

Fall Garden Pictutes

Soon after planting

Parris Island Romaine Lettuce

Cauliflower


Mid-December

2008 Garden Report

With the birth of our first child and an unusually difficult year at work it’s been a very busy year. We have been able to keep up the gardening and have expanded quite a bit, but until now I haven’t had the time to write about it. Naomi was born in March and the Spring garden, I admit, took second place. However it grew well. We had much more squash and peppers than we could eat or give away. The eggplants also did very well. The tomatoes were stunted severely by root knot nematodes. But we started with over sixty plants so we still did okay. We planted some blueberry and blackberry bushes and built a large chicken pen. Soon after it was built some friends of ours gave us a couple of turkeys followed by roosters. All were fed well and then eaten when too noisy for our neighborhood. Finally we got four young hens. Just this week they started laying eggs. This year I plan to raise rabbits. My father-in-law has been raising rabbits for many years and will be able to assist us in getting started. The fall garden grew well considering the limited time I could devote to it. As space in the front yard garden was available I added raised beds made from salvaged cedar planks. That project is almost complete. I was able to secure from the nursery in which I work a large amount of ground to plant upon. Beginning in September, with the help of the managers and my fellow employees, we planted over 5,400 square feet with the following crops: cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, collards, bulbing onions, and romaine and loose-leaf lettuce. That garden has been producing very well and we’ve been able to give food to many of the nursery’s employees. Last week we planted seven eighty foot rows of Green Arrow English Peas. Within the next week or so we will plant a fifty pound bag of Red Pontiac Potatoes. My last garden report was in June. My next post will be pictures from the garden at work. Below are some pictures of our gardening efforts of 2008.

Ruby Swiss Chard

They're not hot, I promise


Mimi with Pawpaw and his piggies

Chianti Hybrid Sunflower