Garden Bounty

So much to harvest, so little time... 

I was so excited this weekend to find a bunch of goodies waiting for us in the garden. As I began the never ending job of weeding my massive garden I looked down and spied this little beauty peeking back up at me... 

    Red Potatoes! 

They were beautiful, just the right size, a bit lumpy and silly looking but they're my silly looking spuds! 

I tugged up a few of the carrots to see what was going on under there (ya really never know what they could be doing down there!) This year we planted dragon carrots which are a deep purplish-red on the outside and an orangish-yellow on the inside. They are actually quite pretty.

I pulled about 3 carrots, also pretty silly looking and a bit small still so I'll let them be for a few more weeks. I don't really know what I'm doing wrong, my carrots always look like little gremlins when I yank them out of the dirt - little scrappy legs and rollie-pollie arms.

They are still pretty small but wow they are funky shaped.

The lettuce is beautiful and tasty too. 

                              

Eeekk! Look at these cute pear tomatoes can't you see them on your plate in a few weeks? I have big plans for you little pretties! 

Farm Garden... The beginning of something big

Sometimes. I think I can take on the world.

Last spring, I came up with this grand idea that I wanted to start a garden at the farm. My recent gardening past consisted of small basil plants turned wild bushes and tomato plants poorly staked that turned into piles of underdeveloped green tomatoes. It's not that I didn't know what I was doing, well I guess I really didn't totally know what I was doing but I just got kinda lazy. Mother Duck is a great gardener - flowers, decorative plants, herbs, vegetables, rocks gardens... this lady can make anything grow and flourish. I helped out a bit as a kid and unsuccessfully fought it as a bratty teenager so I did know the basics. Last year, with an unfounded cocky confidence that I could plant anything and it would survive, I began marking the area for my farm garden.

Yep, thats me. The plot is 100 x 30 feet. It took us a day to till the ground, mark it out and get it ready for the many, many seedlings that I had started about a month earlier.



I planted so many things I can't remember it all. Plus, I guess the garden was camera shy last year because I can't seem to find a picture of our garden bounty.

This year I took a more methodic approach. I purchased seeds while there was still snow piled up to the windows. I found this fun seed company Seed Savers Exchange where I found all sorts of heritage variety vegetables to choose from. Now don't get me wrong, I like flowers but they just aren't as practical when I'm a foodie. Sure you can eat some flowers but you can't feed a bunch of hungry 20-somethings with pansies and rose petals. So, my garden is all veggies.

I started my entire garden from seed this year - much more economical than the alternative. I sunned them under their own lights on a timer, I fanned them to strengthen their stalks, and I entertained them with talk radio. It may sounds silly but a happy seed is a hardy, productive plant. When I ventured out the the garden this spring to see what I was up against this is what I saw...

There's a garden under that mess of wicked weeds somewhere. oh look here it is...

It took another full day to transplant all of my seedlings and sow in the remaining seeds but so far it's been worth it. 

Tomorrow, you'll get a peak at some of the goodies from the garden this year

The Breakfast of Champions

I get a huge sense of accomplishment when I sit down to eat a meal and I realize that I've made or grown everything on my plate. This morning it was homemade plain yogurt swirled with my rhubarb berry jam and my very favorite brown bread with peanut butter and honey. Pretty soon we'll be able to extract our own honey; now I just have to figure out how to make my own peanut butter....

Homemade Yogurt

4 cups (1 quart) milk (I use 2%)
1/2 cup powdered milk
2 tablespoons "live culture" plain yogurt (your starter)

1. In a medium saucepan, mix milk and powdered milk over medium-low heat stirring frequently, bring the mixture just to a simmer. Remove from heat and cool to 110°F; about 30 minutes.

2. Mix in yogurt, with wire whisk. Pour mixture into small mason jars or one large glass container with a lid. (I use a 2 quart pyrex bowl).

3. You have to keep this mixture at about 110°F for about 6 hours. I wrap my bowl in a towel and stick it in the microwave. I leave the light on in the stove top hood (that is under the microwave) and the microwave door unlatched but closed as much as possible so the inner light is on too. The lights help to keep it really warm in the microwave and I just leave it overnight.

5. Your yogurt is done when it has firmed up. Refrigerate. There are many ways to enjoy your yogurt: stir in jam or jelly or fresh fruit. Drizzle with honey and top with a few toasted almonds or just enjoy it plain.

Have fun!

Hey Look I've got a Blog!

Yippie! My first blog post!

It's unseasonably cool today and quite cloudy - the perfect weather for making and canning jam!

I wish I had smell-o-vision technology. The kitchen smells wonderfully fruity and sweet. We are making rhubarb-berry jam with the rhubarb from our farm garden.

You should see all of the rhubarb we've harvested so far this season. I found this great recipe. It's so simple that I'm almost embarrassed to share it! It's a freezer jam but I've been wanting to try my hand at canning. I don't have all of the right equipment but we made it work anyway. It was kind of fun, a bit messy but we ended up with 8 pint and 6 half pint jars of some very tasty jam. Not bad for our first adventure in canning.

Yum!