Heirloom Meals: Savoring Yesterday's Traditions Today

Thursday September 01, 2011

Heirloom Breeds & Seeds:
Harvest Time - a True Bounty

Ok, so admit it, I expected my garden to produce some food but it is truly extraordinary how much food a 20 X 48 foot garden can yield.  I can't keep up with the tomatoes despite our eating 2-3 a day, canning 50 jars of salsa, roasting multiple pans of cherry tomatoes and freezing and of course, giving some away.  I think one needs to take a week or two off and just put up your food!

So here's my harvest thus far - at least 2 small bushels of jalapenos, 100 lbs tomatoes, 20 eggplant, 50 garlic cloves, who knows how much kale and Swiss chard, 10 heads of cabbage, still waiting to harvest onions.....

And now I am getting ready to plant for late fall harvest, so stay tuned!!

Thursday August 11, 2011

Heirloom Breeds & Seeds:
Who wants sauerkraut?

This year, my garden produced an abundant crop of cabbage, which finally reached such a size that I had to harvest it!

There are many great ways to use cabbage, and I'm going to preserve mine by making some sauerkraut. First, of course, I needed a sauerkraut crock. After scouring the internet, I found a beautiful crock, and I hope to get started on it soon. Stay tuned!

Thursday July 07, 2011

Heirloom Breeds & Seeds:
The Joys of Straw

My garden is really coming along.  The 38 tomato plants are all staked.  I remember my grandfather always removing the "suckers".  When I was a kid I thought they were bugs. Now I remove the suckers and have learned that they are new shoots that form at the roots of the plant that can "suck" the energy from growing bigger and more delicious tomatoes. I have even staked my eggplant which are finally beginning to show signs of life.  For a while I thought they were frozen in size.  Now they are growing and offering up flowers - yippee!!

I planted my kale and Swiss chard so it gets morning and midday sun, but ends up shaded as the afternoon passes.  I think they like it  -  they are healthy and productive!!

But the weeds were killing me!  In fact, one day I thought the weeds were winning and then I discovered STRAW.  Not only does the straw make for lovely paths, its golden color offers a juxtaposition to the lush greeness of all the plants.  And, it seemed to be a magnet for the chickens - I only left the gate open for 2 minutes as I went for a glass of water....

Well, it's time for a little harvesting. Happy day.

Thursday March 10, 2011

Heirloom Breeds & Seeds:
It’s Raining Lambs!!

Lambs keep coming..... and so does the rain. At least the snow is washing
away - now we can begin to inventory the spare parts to the hoop house in
order to begin to reconstruct it after its snow load collapse. Well, maybe
we'll wait until the rain stops....

Sump pumping out the barn gutters has become a regular occurrence with the
rain. We think there must be a gopher hole or rabbit hole right up again the
foundation of the barn which is letting all the water in, since it has never
happened before in its 75 year history.

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