Small Batch Time

I made way for a fall seeding of various greens and pulled a few under performing tomato plants on site. I plucked the small green maters left on them because I can't seem to just let them go. Mom dropped off about 1.5lbs of tomatillos. Veg production is on the decline as the days get cooler and shorter, so it's prime time for small batch canning.

Small batch canning consists of canning one or two jars. If you can time it right you could do different types of stuff- like these pickles and salsa at the same time. Just make sure both require the same time in the hot water bath or pull some out early if one requires less time. The nice thing about small batches is it can be done quickly and without canning materials. There is a nice site called Food In Jars. The author also has a book, called Preserving By the Pint. I haven't read it, but the link above has many small batch recipes worth checking out. Today I made a Salsa Verde based on her recipe, but I roasted everything (not just the garlic & tomas).

I picked, prepped and made these in less than an hour. 15 minutes in the water bath.

 Dill Pickled Green Tomatoes

 Roasted Salsa Verde

 Post Hot Water Bath

Got my first and probably last flush of Shishitos today. I had to restart from seed 3 times. My fault. I plan to collect some seed and try to overwinter the few plants I do have in pots. Looking forward to roasting these.

Coming projects
I got this hairbrained idea to build a new geodesic greenhouse using a climbing playground set as the top. It's in the mail. Ha. This should be interesting.... pics and comments to come.

Taming the Wild

I put a lot of thought into my garden and I think at least 30% of it has failed me this season. All of this loss makes me wonder what successes I have had. What should I repeat and learn from? One of the things I thought about was growing greens all summer long. I've tried a lot of knew things. The amaranth, while successful in germination, ended up being devoured by bugs. A few made it (survival of the fittest), but then I didn't eat it because I want to collect the seed, which is fine, because it is pretty and I want the ones with the "good" genes anyway. The climbing spinach worked, although it was choked out by the other climbers I planted with it. I had a few Perpetual Spinach germinate and look ok, but I think they are waiting for cooler times to step it up. Stepping back and taking in the panoramic of the garden what I see is these gigantic lamb's quarter shrubs that I didn't plant. They are loaded with healthy greens. As a matter of fact they are healthier than most of the plants I purposefully planted. There is barely any bug damage and they can be harvested perpetually throughout the summer. Hmmmm. Think I could learn something from this plant that has spent a couple hundred of years adapting to this environment? Insert big duh here. I love lamb's quarter. I eat it whenever I can. I never plant it. It requires no water, fertilizer or pesticide. DUH! My latest take on lamb's quarter is the taming of it in phyllo dough triangles. I sauteed a huge bowl of it with a shallot, some garlic and salt and pepper and tossed it in a blender to chop. I mixed in a little Bulgarian Feta and folded these little pockets up and baked at 350 for about 18 minutes. Yum. They were even good for breakfast this morning!

My mom, brother and I often debate the "healthiest" food. I'm convinced this should be the winner. Check out the nutrient content here.  It has a low glycemic index, high anti-inflammatory properties, high protein value, high nutrient balance, over 1,000% Vitamin K, 281% Vitamin A and other vitamins and is high in calcium and other minerals. How can you go wrong? I love it more than spinach. In fact, it blows my mind that this isn't a mainstream crop. Just look at how easy it is to grow and it wouldn't have to be shipped in from outside of the midwest! Incredible. Not only will I let this go to seed I think I will collect it and grow more of it next year. Another noteworthy comment is that it grows in nearly all of Europe, where my closest ancestors likely ate it too. If they survived and ate this wild crop, surely there is a reason to continue eating it (not that I will be passing along my genes to anyone).

Another success of the year: tomatillos. They thrived while my tomatoes suffered. 

Into the blender with a chili and some onion. Raw Salsa Verde.

And...

But even better was when I roasted the ingredients and then blended them together for Salsa Verde #2. Tomas impart a somewhat gelatinous texture to the salsa, like a thickener. It was good and different. I would grow them again. Now, I need a canned recipe to put some up for winter.

So what else- any surprise that a native fruit is more successful than ANY other fruit I've ever purchased and planted? Ya, so the orchard has had so many failures that I'm giving up on things. I'm not replanting. Any tree that dies isn't getting replaced. I will simple put in raised beds and fill it with something useful. I've been collected Wild Plums from trees I planted when I moved in about 10yrs ago. The produce loads of sour-skinned little fruits that I traditionally do nothing with. The bees of many sorts love the flowers and the butterflies come to the dropped fruits. This year I am collecting, seeding and freezing them until I have enough stored to make WINE! Yes, wine. My newest of hobbies. The fruit doesn't all drop at once, which is why I'm freezing it. I've also read that it takes 3 years to develop the best flavor. Wow. I certainly hope I don't F it up!

These are about the size of bing cherries.

My paltry tomato crop has yielded this much in canned tomato sauce:

Made of mostly Orange Icicle and Juane Flamme tomatoes.

Things that have failed or done lousy include: zucchini and yellow squash, cantaloupe and the tomatoes look like crap. I need to take this in and look to nature. What do I need to change? Obviously native plants or weeds are successful. Will I keep trying? Of course, but I have started the chopping block this year. Time to stop investing in an uphill battle and plant high-producing, dependable and self-sufficient crops. Look to a native plant to answer my questions:                Native Hibiscus

Grow where you are planted.

What's Growing On.

Just some updates of what's growing in the garden. Let's start with something fun. I bought a mix of seeds called "Autumn Harvest Mix" from Pinetree Garden Seeds. It says it contains "a great mix of gourds, pumpkins and squash." The mystery is the fun part! What will grow? Delayed gratification again! It was a fat package of seeds for $2.95 and I barely made a dent in it. I picked what looked to be a variety of seeds out of the packet (about a dozen). I started some indoors and others outside. Here are two:

Can't wait to see what I get from this. BTW- Pinetree is a great source for seeds. I like their simple, newspaper-made catalog and that you can buy smaller quantities of seed for less $ (better for the small garden types). They also have a nice selection of cheap books.

Here's a tomato I've grown for the second year. It's called Juanne Flammee'. It's a medium, orange fleshed tomato I got from Baker's Creek Heirloom Seeds. I'm expecting this to be my first ripe mater followed by a cherry-type.

Baker's Creek has the largest selection of heirloom seeds that I know of and they have some fun spring and fall festivals to check out if you live in the Midwest or are passing through. While you're in Mansfield, Mo check out the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum! There isn't much else to do in those parts.

I'm on another mission. It's to grow organic eggplant. See, I LOVE eggplant, but it is terribly difficult to grow organically here. The flea beetles love it more than I. They eat a million tiny holes in the leaves until the plant succumbs. I had given up on eggplant for about 10 years and decided to try it again. This time- in pots. I promised to attend to it like a helicopter parent. I've sprayed it hard with water. I've sprayed it for days with a garlic and chili mix. As you can see it still has holes, BUT the newer leaves do not AND I have fruit! I think this one is called Purple Blaze. And only because I'm feeling cocky about the success of this plant I bought two Ichiban today. Hurrah!

And finally, something else I haven't grown in years- Tomatillos. But seeing as how I love salsa and can it every year I've asked myself, "why aren't you growing tomatillos?" So....here is the lovely beginning of the future salsa verde in my kitchen. A tomatillo flower:

Hoping your garden or the garden in your mind brings you as much pleasure as mine does for me. Happy Almost Summer!