Spring & Winter Break

My Spring Break begins tomorrow at noon. Looks like it will coincide with a break from WINTER too! Monday we are suppose to see 62F- OHMYGAWD. While it may have been ( I shouldn't speak too soon) the coldest winter in 40 years I honestly felt that it wasn't so bad. Maybe because it seemed like a sunny winter? Just a feeling. March is slated to also be colder than  normal.

I finally feel like I can permanently move some of my spring things outdoors for hardening off. While we will still get T's below freezing (esp. at night) I think covering them with a thick blanket in this cold frame will suffice (please don't screw up). There is nothing that brings me greater pleasure by winter's end than all of these shades of green.

Lettuces, Bok Choy, Shallots, Leeks, Cabbage, Broccoli, Kale, Walking Stick Kale, Celery

in the temporary cold frame:

bricks, concrete blocks, old window = temp cold frame

Getting these out of the basement also means I finally have room to start other things, like a tray of Flowering Nicotianas & Blanket flower. So, starting tomorrow I will have room to start 4 more flats of things, likely all flowers. 

Plantling Progress:

Four kinds of Heirloom Petunias

The soil blocks are performing well. This is something I will definitely continue. 

Various Peppers

I'm almost surprised they have grown. I've taken them off heat and the basement has been

cooler than normal with the hard winter.

Nero Kale, Lovage, Valerian, Fennel, Snapdragons 

(from left to right) You can have mixed rows of seeds in a flat of soil blocks so long as they

have similar growing patterns (pace of growth, planting time).

Tomatoes

This flat is way ahead of the other. This one was under the light timer that broke

and wouldn't shut off. The other flat is just starting to germinate.

Zaatar (left) and a flat of Tropical Milkweed (right)

Projects:

Bitters

Albeit not from the Garden. I've been tinkering. Left is Coffee, Pecan & Coco Nib bitters

and right is Tangerine, Coriander and Cardamon. Recipes from this book.

Sparkling Sour Cherry Wine

And no, the kitty isn't having it. I don't share.

Outside:

The bees are taking advantage of the Sapsucker holes and sipping 

Maple sap on the warmer & sunnier days. 

Is Maple Sap the Bee's Knees?

The Witch Hazel blooms on a cloudy day. I wish I could

just sit and watch it for pollinators.

Tuesday March 4, 2014. For real. 

I think winter is closing her doors. 

Slowly.

Coldly.

Creaking. 

Closed.

Is it too early?

My favorite way to spend Superbowl Sunday is by doing anything but watching the Superbowl. I find it neither a bowl or super. So, let's garden eh?

Is it too early to start my spring garden? Maybe in some years, but after an entire week of 50-60's I find my turnip seeds have germinated in the garden. I have Tronchuda cabbage, Dinosaur Kale and Perpetual Chard basking in the half-sunny sky for the first time since germinating in the basement. What the heck? Let's start the hardening off already.

From upper left to lower right. Two trays of each- Perpetual Chard, Tronchuda Cabbage and Dinosaur Kale.

It was warm enough for the snakes to start sunbathing too.

Other stuff in the garden growing well- Miner's Lettuce. Returns on it's own each year. Can't beat that.

Mache at eating stage. It also reseeds and comes back on its own.

And when you can't garden you consume the fruits of your labor. I've started to dabble in wine-making. Here is the first racking of the Apple, Pomegranate & Orange Wine experiment. It is a very pretty color.

I've also got a bottle of Wild Plum Wine that I made with no added sugar or yeast. The color and taste are amazing. I made it from frozen fruit in November and this is the first rack and separation from fruit. 

Skins and fruit dripping. Wild Plum. 

The other thing that happened this week is the Black Mission Fig started to bud out. I had just given it a good drink and I noticed the buds swelling this morning so I moved it to a window. 

Other stuff I have going- sauerkraut & kimchi making and a loaf of bread. Lots of fermentation in the house! Love it. Happy Sunday whatever you are doing! 

November Harvest & Projects

Some random garden activities of the month include stratifying seeds. My coworker gave me some Hawthorn fruit (look like tiny crabapples) she collected while hunting in a southern county. She said this tree was particularly attractive and very thorny and asked if I would start some seedlings for her. So, I whittled away the fruit and found 2 seeds within each. I dropped them in some water and they all sunk- good sign!  Next, I planted them in a used salad bar container (clear plastic with holes) and put it outside to overwinter. It is important that they are exposed to both cold and moisture in order to germinate. Here is what the soaking seed looked like:

Some recent harvests include: gnarly white carrots, kale and perpetual spinach (which is a variety of chard). I plan on eating Kale throughout the winter. Here are some pics:

I used kale in almost everything I made for Thanksgiving: 2 kinds of veggie meatballs and a Curried Jamaican dumpling. Other things harvestable now include: rosemary, spearmint, marjoram, chives, parsley, green onions, leeks, corn salad.  Things to come next include: spinach, lettuce, miner's lettuce, leafing cabbage.

What to do with that pumpkin on the porch? Slice it, remove the seeds (and roast w/ olive oil and salt), roast the slices and enjoy. I just made some pureed pumpkin soup and added a couple of potatoes to make it creamy, roasted onion and some leftover blue cheese. Roasting the veggies first adds some yummy smokiness to the soup. 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I was lucky enough to be a judge for the second year at the 2nd Annual Homemade Wine Tasting contest sponsored by the Millstadt Historical Society.  Lots of good entries, including: Blackberry, Black and Blueberry, White Grape, Peach, Elderberry got me interested in making my own so I decided to start some batches. 

Some of the homemade wines to be sampled.

Two small batches and a Chuy cat.

I read that Wild Plum Wine can take 3 years to reach its potential so I decided to start small in the event it totally stinks. I collected, pitted and froze wild plums late summer as they fell. On the left are the plums with sugar and water and no added yeast. On the right in the wine bottle I decided to juice some fruits around the kitchen- pomegranate, oranges and apples, add a little sugar and some baking yeast- why not? Because my house is so cold after a few days of little obvious activity I decided to put them on a heating pad to warm up the little buggers. Not surprisingly Chuy found the pad a suitable tush-warmer. 

Another winter project begun again is the experimental window garden in a tower of juice bottles. This was my take on the hydroponic window farm design, except with soil (which could mean huge mess). In the bottom bottle I have 3 spinach plants I had started from seed outside this fall. The middle bottle has parsley seeds and the top one I put nasturtiums. Maybe the nasturtiums will bloom and add some much needed winter color, but if not, the leaves are still edible.

Please don't fall. Please don't fall. 

And a close up of the spinach in the bottom tier:

And lastly, I finally ate a Bhut Jolokia. I can say I did it and I will never eat it again (whole anyway). I ended up with a nice crop. Pulease! Anything more than 3 is more than you would need anyway, right? I took them along with me to Thanksgiving dinner because I knew I could get my brother to eat one first and he did. He seemed so calm about it I ate one too (albeit a small one). The surprising thing about these peppers (at least eaten whole) is that they don't fry your mouth, but they are like a flesh-eating tumor in your throat and ulcerate your gut. I woke at 11pm that night racing for the bathroom. Notice the time on the clock gave them 2 hrs to kick through my insides. They also don't burn coming out- another pleasant surprise! Later in the week my bro ate more and was doubled over in pain. He says if you cook with them whole and remove them whole they add flavor and heat without the pain. I'm thinking of brewing some Chili Vodka for the Holidays....

Bro and Bhut

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.