Plantin' Time

The weather has been keeping us on our toes here.  It'll be cold and rainy and snow for a week, then one day the rain stops, the sun comes out, and the next day it hits 70, only to plummet below freezing 24 hours later and more rain and snow falls.  I keep telling folks that this is what it means to be spring, but everyone wants it to be summer and call that spring.  

Anywho, a couple weeks ago, on one of those rare sunny warm days, I grabbed the seeds and headed out to the garden.  Peas, I said, peas and greens are cold-hardy - I'll get them started. 

Last year the rabbits did a number on the peas.  Now that the dog is gone, I will have to be more vigilant in my garden patrols, and I will have to make some amendments to my fencing.  In the meantime, I thought that perhaps the row covers might add a little bit of protection while the seeds sprout and seedlings start to grow.  I hope.

While I was busy planting, and schlepping compost, and raking the beds, the mail carrier stopped up at the house - "You have some bulbs here," she called.  "It's my onions!"  I called back.  And sure enough, my onion order had arrived. So, peas, greens and onions went it.  Must've planted 150+ copra and maybe 50 walla-wallas.  Had terrible luck with onions last year...maybe this year will prove better.

I also got in a few rows of nasturiums and cosmos as companions to some of the peas.  Several years ago, when I put in my first veg garden in Newcomb, I diligently planted all sorts of flowers and herbs as companion plants - the gardens was lovely and full off buzzing life.  By last year my companions were essentially non-existent.  I vowed this winter to make a better effort...I missed all the color.

I also need to expand the garden - there's just not enough room for everything I want to plant.  This year I'm only doing basics:  peas, beans, carrots, greens, onions, butternut squash (but not as many as last year) and corn.  It's not much.

I've passed on the potatoes this year - a difficult decision since I love my German butterballs, but the Colorado potato beetles were just too much for me last year - and the potato harvest was poor (and my storage was awful - lost most of what I grew). 

I still haven't started any tomatoes yet, either...and it's almost too late.  Didn't order any tomato seeds this year - figured I have plenty from past years still in the fridge.  Maybe this weekend I'll try to start a few, and perhaps a handful of peppers - I still have great hopes for the chocolate peppers.

December Diggings

It was Saturday.  Another chilly, grey day was coming to a close, and on a whim I decided to dig up a few carrots when I got home from the Christmas Bird Count.  I was down to one carrot from the grocery store, and about four tiny ones from the garden - time for a few more.

Boy was I pleasantly surprised at the size of the carrots that came up with the third and fourth spading of the fork!

Every year I seem to get a handful of giant carrots, but this year I had the King of Carrots:

This root was so impressive that I had to weigh the silly thing - I simply couldn't get over its size.  And how much did it weigh?  Over a pound!!!

I know it's hard to see, but the scale says one pound and 3/4 of an ounce.  That is one huge carrot.

And it's been tasty.  Toby enjoyed part of it for two nights, and the rest went into the roasted veg. mix I cooked up on Sunday.

More on Sustainable Foods

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Nearly Fall in the Garden

Things are winding down in the garden.  

I'm always amused when movies or TV shows indicate that garden harvest(s) take place all at once and must be done in a day or two.  Perhaps some fruits have such a narrow window, but MY garden has harvesting being done all the time.  

I finally stopped picking the pole beans - I'm letting them dry.  The dry beans will soon be ready to shell...I can't wait to try my own home-grown kidney beans in chili!  I need to find a better way of trellising beans for next year.

 

The onion harvest was very disappointing:

But, as though to make up for it, the butternut squash harvest is going to be phenomenal!

I've picked three watermelons to date - one nearly grocery-store-size!  Found three more in the garden last night without really looking hard. 

 Three more roma tomatoes were plucked from the vine last night...nearly ripe.  Plenty of unripe ones remain...maybe they'll ripen before frost?  I'm not going to hold my breath, but it'll be too bad if the don't, for these are WONDERFUL 'maters.  They might be Grandma Mary's paste tomatoes, or they might be Amish Paste...I just don't remember which of the vines was the one that survived!

The scarlet runner beans are still blooming in quiet profusion.  I never eat these...the pods are a bit to fuzzy for my taste.  They might be less fuzzy as very young beans, but this year I might try some of the dried beans...along with the other dry beans I'm intentionally growing. 

So...if I don't eat them, then why do I plant them, especially in the quantity that I do?  Because they are great for attracting pollinators, and the hummingbirds like them, too.

Soon it will be time to dig the spuds...see if any actually survived the CPB onslaught.  And the garlic needs to be planted for 2013.

Bee Deaths linked to GMOs

				Stop the Mass Death of Bees! Tell EPA and USDA to ban Bayer's insecticides & Monsanto's GMOs!

Take Action Now!

Monsanto's Mon810 corn, genetically engineered to produce a synthetic version of the insecticide Bt, has been banned in Poland following protests by beekeepers who showed the corn was killing honeybees. Meanwhile, commercial beekeepers in the U.S. have filed an emergency legal petition with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend use of a pesticide that is linked to massive honey bee deaths. The legal petition, which specifies Bayer's neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin, is backed by over one million citizen petition signatures.

Poland is the first country to formally acknowledge the link between Monsanto's genetically engineered corn and the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that's been devastating bees around the world, but it's likely that Monsanto has known the danger their GMOs posed to bees all along. The biotech giant recently purchased a CCD research firm, Beeologics, that government agencies, including the US Department of Agriculture, have been relying on for help unraveling the mystery behind the disappearance of the bees.

Now that it's owned by Monsanto, it's very unlikely that Beeologics will investigate the links, but genetically engineered crops have been implicated in CCD for years now.

In one German study, when bees were released in a genetically engineered canola field, then fed the canola pollen to younger bees, scientists discovered the bacteria in the guts of the young bees took on the traits of the canola's modified genes. That proves that GMO DNA in pollen can be transferred to bees though their digestive system.

Many bee-keepers have turned to high-fructose corn syrup to feed their bees. High-fructose corn syrup is made from Monsanto's genetically engineered corn and that corn is treated with Bayer's neonicotinoid insecticides.

Bee colonies began disappearing in the U.S. one year after the EPA allowed these new insecticides on the market in 2004-2005. Even the EPA itself admits that "pesticide poisoning" is contributing to bee colony collapse.

One of the observed effects of these insecticides is weakening of the bee's immune system. Forager bees bring pesticide-laden pollen back to the hive, where it's consumed by all of the bees. Six months later, their immune systems fail, and they fall prey to natural bee infections, such as parasites, mites, viruses, fungi and bacteria. Indeed, pathogens such as Varroa mites, Nosema, fungal and bacterial infections, and IAPV are found in large amounts in honey bee hives on the verge of collapse.

Three recent studies implicate neonicotinoid insecticides, or "neonics" for short, which coat 142 million acres of corn, wheat, soy and cotton seeds in the U.S. alone. They are also a common ingredient in a wide variety of home gardening products. As detailed in an article published by Reuters, neonics are absorbed by the plants' vascular system and contaminate the pollen and nectar that bees encounter on their rounds. Neonics are a nerve poison that disorient their insect victims and appear to damage the homing ability of bees, which may help to account for their mysterious failure to make it back to the hive.

This was the conclusion of research which came out in the prestigious Journal Science. In another study, conducted by entomologists at Purdue University, the scientists found that neonic-containing dust released into the air at planting time had "lethal effects compatible with colony losses phenomena observed by beekeepers." A third study by the Harvard School of Public Health actually re-created colony collapse disorder in several honeybee hives simply by administering small doses of a popular neonic, imidacloprid.

Learn How to Protect Your Neighborhood Bees:
http://www.honeybeehaven.org/

 

[This article is from www.organicconsumers.org] 

A Bit o' Rain

At last!  Thursday last week we woke to rain...and it rained for three whole days!  I got about an inch and a half out at the house, although just a few miles north of me they had over three inches!  Still, I'll take it.  It started off as a heavy rain - so heavy, in fact, that when I drove thru Napoleon on the way to work Thursday morning, there was a lake in front of the gas station and a whirlpool circling the drain in the road (in truth, some of this might have simply been the result of ground too hard from drought to soak up the rain as it fell).  By late morning, however, it had let up, and for the next two days it was mostly misting - light rain that could soak in.

I picked more corn - and more beans.  That's what's producing right now.  

I was very excited to find one blue kernel on one of the ears of Painted Hills.  

Watermelons are growing on the vines - how does one know when they are ready to pick, though?  And if the squash beetles leave 'em alone, I should have lots of butternut squash this fall. 

The spuds have tried to rally - they are sending out some new leaves, but with them are coming a new batch of CPBs.   Grrr.  I may have to give up potatoes.  :(

Better than Peas

The silks were brown, so I figured it was time to harvest some of the corn.  Oh, my goodness - just look at 'em!  That's Painted Hills on the left, Ambrosia in the middle and the two on the right are Fleet.

First, there was some disappointment.  Below is what the Painted Hills, an heirloom variety, is supposed to look like.  Its claim to fame is its beautifully multi-colored kernels.  Mine were all just white.  Hm.  Did they send me the wrong seed?  Nope - what I planted was multi-colored.  Could it be the poor soil here affected the coloration?  I have no idea, but I was disappointed.  (Reading thru the description on the FEDCO website, they say the ears have mostly white kernels, with other colors interspersed.  Maybe some of the other ears will be more colorful.)

 Painted Hills Sweet Corn | Photo credit: we'moon in the woods, Flickr, Creative Commons, 

via Frugal-Cafe Blog Zone

Still, I cooked 'em all up and while watching the final episode of the first season of Torchwood, I enjoyed the best corn I've ever grown.  Yum. 

The (few) leftovers went into the freezer.

Drought and the Garden

The peas have given up the ghost - and who can blame them in the heat and drought we've had this summer!  I'd almost give up on the beans as well, which seemed to be producing a few flowers, but no actual beans...until this week.  Huzzah - the rattlesnake pole beans have finally started to produce!

 But the plants are not thriving.  A) The twine I've been using for trellising keeps breaking - I never had this kind of problem back in NY, and b) something is eating the plants.  The bush beans (dry beans) have struggled and I don't think I've seen a single blossom there.  The culprit?  You tell me:

Yes...that's a hole dug under the fence.  I found that last night.  I've seen rabbits in the garden, and certainly have seen the damage they've done to the beans.  I never had rabbit problems in NY.  The worst I had was the CPBs and the year the voles (?) ate the carrots.

Now, this hole is suspect belongs to the 13-lined ground squirrel.  I've seen one in the yard, and recently found two dead in the road, but otherwise they've been pretty secretive.  I don't know if they damage crops or not, but they are definitely living in my raised beds...almost as bad as the moles.

The corn, while crowded, is actually looking pretty good.

In fact, there are quite a number of ears this year, and many of decent size!  I'm really looking forward to harvesting these...if I can get them before the raccoons.  Based on the crop at the moment, this is the best luck I've ever had with corn!

The butternut squash is going great guns!  It got off to a late start, but it seems to be making up for lost time now.

I've also got some watermelons planted in there - and look!  A melon is in the works!  I'm not the biggest melon fan, but I like the idea of growing them.

 So, the garden tools along...hopefully the beans will produce enough to freeze for the winter, and I'll beat the varmints to the corn.  I've squashed a few batches of squash bug eggs, so maybe I'll dodge that bullet, too.  The spuds are starting to releaf - maybe there's still some hope for them.  The onions, however, I fear are not going to be robust - not like the ones I had in NY.  The tops look good, but the bulbs remain small.  We'll see what happens come harvest time.

Progress Report

Here it is, the near end of June.  While some rain has fallen, most has fallen around my address, not at my address.  Things are still quite dry.  Still, with carefully applied water from the hose, it looks like we will have some veg to harvest yet.

I think the corn will definitely pass "knee high by the 4th of July" - it sure looks promising.  This is actually the best-looking corn I've ever grown!

The assorted pole beans are starting to climb - a good sign.

The carrots...well...I have yet to master carrot-planting.  They always come up in clumps.  I've had some success transplanting, but it's a tedious chore.  Right now I'm working on battling the weeds that are also growing with the carrots.

Peas have been blooming for two or three weeks now, although most of the plants are under two-feet tall!  Runty - lack of rain.

Never the less, there are lots of pods filling up!  Should be able to start harvesting in a week, I should think.

The paltry few onions are doing well, too - maybe next year I'll try planting seeds again.

The spuds are looking great for the most part...and the CPB apparently think so, too.  I must've squished well over a hundred of the beggars the other night, and last night it looked like I hadn't touched a one of them!  Must go on a rampage tonight...or I won't have any plants left at all!

Tomatoes?  Only two plants remain, and they are struggling. 

But the squash and cukes are coming up - so that's a plus.

I have yet to get the sweet potatoes planted...perhaps tonight.  And it's time to make another batch of mozzarella!

It's Cheese!

For a few years now I've wanted to play around with cheese-making.  I'd read that mozzarella is one of the easiest cheeses to make, but was never brave enough to try it.  It didn't help that I went to a cheese-making workshop and their mozz failed.

But several times I've been in stores over the last couple of years and saw cheese-making kits - everything you need but the pan and the milk.  I finally bought one, and a gallon of milk, and yesterday I attempted to make some mozz.

First, you need a steel or enamel kettle, a gallon of milk (pasteurized or raw, but NOT ultra-pasteurized), a couple measuring cups, some measuring spoons, a spoon to stir with, and a knife.  (Ignore the butter and oranges - I have very limited counter space in this kitchen, so things are cluttered and crowded.)

From the kit you dissolve one -quarter table of rennet in one-quarter cup cool water and set aside.  You dissolve 1.5 tsp citric acid in one cup cool water and put this in your kettle with the one gallon of milk.

You turn on the stove and start warming it up - 90 degrees F is your target, while you stir "vigorously."  When you hit 90, you remove the kettle from the heat and pour in the rennet, stirring in an "up and down" motion (careful you don't end up wearing your mixture).  You then cover the kettle and wait for the curds to form and the whey to separate out.  This should take five minutes - I ended up waiting closer to half an hour, and it still didn't look like the photo. 

Then you are supposed to use a long knife and cut the curds (mine looked more like ricotta cheese floating in yellowish water, so it didn't cut well).   You put the kettle back on the stove and reheat to 105 degrees, stirring in an "up and down" fashion.

When you reach 105, you remove it from the stove and drain the whey.  It was only after I had completed my cheese and was cleaning up that I remembered the cheesecloth, which was out drying on the clothesline - had to be washed first.  Without this for draining the liquid from the "solids," I resorted to using a spoon and trying to pour off the whey - a lot of curds went down the drain.  Lesson learned.  (In my defense, the directions didn't say to use the cheesecloth for the draining.)  

Here are the curds sitting separated in a bowl.

Next, you stick the bowl in the microwave for a minute, then drain off more whey.  Return to microwave for 30 seconds, and start to fold the curds into a single unit of soon-to-be cheese.  This is also when you add the teaspoon of salt, if you so desire.  My cheese still wasn't looking very good.  

I ended up doing the 30-second microwaving three times, because the recipe said it had to be 135 degrees in order to stretch properly.  At this point, you are supposed to pull it like taffy.  At 135 degrees, this wasn't going to happen - not without asbestos gloves!  So, I just used my spoon to fold and fold the cheese, which at last was starting to look like mozz!

You then form your cheese into whatever final shape you want.  I made three round balls.  You plop these into a cold water bath for about five minutes.

And then you transfer them to an ice bath for about 15 minutes.   This is to cool the cheese down.  

My cheese was still warm when I wrapped it.  One ball went into the fridge, and I had some of it this morning in my omelet, and the other two balls went into the freezer (it's supposed to freeze well).

Despite a dubious start, I'd say my first foray into cheese-making turned out well!  A gallon of milk doesn't yield a gallon of cheese, but it's still cheaper than buying it in the store!  And, if all goes well, it only takes about half an hour to do.  I'm looking forward to my second try.

Up and Growing

The garden is starting to actually look like a garden now.  Last weekend was spent trellising.  Actually, I did some two evenings, and the rest on Monday - my only day off in the last two weeks.  There's something about the trellises that just make a garden seem complete.

The beans sprouted so quickly:  one week and they were up!  If they all survive (and there are a LOT of vole and mouse and mole tunnels in the garden), I should be all set for beans (snap and dry) this year.

Also within a week the corn was up!  Amazing.  Three varieties this year:  some colorful sweet corn, as well as Ambrosia and Fleet.  I never have a whole lot of luck with corn, but hope springs eternal.

The peas have been going great guns.  Again, if they all survive and produce, I should have plenty of peas to get me through the winter.  Last year was a bust for peas - the groundhog got the plants.  So far this year things look pretty good.  I've got my fingers crossed.

I transplanted the tomatoes and peppers on Monday - I think all the peppers perished, though, and of the remaining 15 or 20 tomato plants (out of over 100 that sprouted), I think only three are still hanging on.  I've never had such trouble with tomatoes before!  

The onions are hanging in there.  I miss the onion harvests I used to have in Newcomb - they were great!  I bought seeds this year, but never got them planted.  I had also ordered some starts, but not too many came.  Even if they all survive, it's only going to be a handful of bulbs.  I wonder if it's too late to start some seeds.

I also got the spuds in a week and a half ago.  I had cut them up so spread the wealth (1-2 eyes on each piece), but they started to mold before I could get them in the ground!  Ack!  Even so, this morning when I was out watering before coming in to work I could see most of them are sprouting.  Hooray!  Now if only I can keep the potato beetles off them (I've already crushed many eggs).

Even the carrots have sprouted in record time - a week!  Usually it's 3+ weeks before I see any sign of life from carrot seeds.  We've been lucky with a long stretch of simply beautiful weather - cool nights, warm days, but not hot or humid.  The downside is that things are incredibly dry!!!  As in parched!  We haven't had any rain worth mentioning in weeks.  Temps supposed to be near 90 today and well into the 90s this weekend.  Ugh.  I worry about the well - how much water is down there?  No snow to speak of this winter, and a dry spring - this does not bode well.

I still have things not planted:  squash, sweet potatoes, cukes...and I'm out of space!  I was going to take advantage of a plot at the Community Gardens at work, but the offered plot needed a lot of work before it could be planted, and I can do that at home just as easily.  Maybe that's what I'll do this weekend, before the heat rises too much.

Harvested my first lettuce and spinach yesterday!  Must plant more.