The changing of the guard

This weekend, I officially traded seasons in the garden.  The pea shoots that sent my 3 year old into the garden every night for crunchy, sweet goodness were ready to come down.  Last year we had a cool summer, and our peas lasted almost into August!  This year was more typical with the vines yellowing mid-July.  We had had our fill of peas by then, and were ready for some new arrivals.
My garden seems to be lagging behind a little this year, but we are finally seeing the start of some tiny fruits!  Most impressive was our haul of bush beans this week.  On two separate days, I filled a quart size container to the brim.  I never can decide what to plant, so this year it is golden wax, contender, blue lake, empress, purple pod, and a flat, curly spotted bean called dragon tongue.  They are so delicious picked fresh, rinsed and thrown right into a steam basket with a few green onions!  Kira, who is 5, loves to crunch them raw (especially tasty dipped in blue cheese dressing!).
There is only a small crossover between the spring and summer veggies in most parts of the country, but here in the normally cool NE, we often have peas mixing with green beans.  This year, with the early heat, I think I am lucky to have any cool season veggies at all!
I am excited to see what will be successful in my garden this year, but nervous, too.  The first week of August last year I spent cutting and destroying my beautiful tomato plants that had succumbed to the dreaded late blight that plagued most farmers in my local area.  This year, the threat seems to be less, but I still check on my babies every night and pinch off any leaves that look the slightest bit discolored.
Until I'm spending more time harvesting, I am snatching up the local seasonal berries.  I've moved to blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.  I love to watch those gallon bags fill up as I freeze and stock them away for the colder months.  My new deep freezer finally arrived on Monday and it will be full faster than you can read the manual.
I also took a canning class this weekend.  I always wanted to learn, but the cost and lack of experience kept me away.  It was a great experience to learn, risk free, and get some hands on experience making jam and pickled beets.  I think I may be buying a large pot and canning rack soon!
Next on the list?  Root cellaring!

Breakfast!

The breakfast of a local food lover.  Excuse the picture, because it really doesn't do justice to the taste or appearance of this meal.  It's become my standby meal of choice.  You can ask my friends from the night shift at RMH: this was my midnight snack almost every night!  I just can't tell you how yummy the Maple Hill cream top yogurt and granola from Rosemont Inn tastes with berries! Of course, until now, I had to settle for frozen fruit.  Now, I use fresh, tart blueberries mixed with raspberries and sweet juicy peaches.  YUM!  If you have a source of local yogurt, I demand that you try this dish!  You'll never think about yogurt the same way again!

the start of a good summer crop!

Finally things are looking up in the garden this year.  To say we got off on a slow start would be an understatement.  Between the unusually warm spring in NY and my acceptance of a new job just at the start of the growing season, the timing of things was a little off from the start.

Just a few days ago, I wondered if I was going to get anything but the bowls and bowls of sugar snap and snow peas that Alayna (my 3 year old) picks every night.  Most bowls don't make it in the house, as she looooooooves to eat peas off the vine!    My salad greens were a hit in early spring, but the heat caused them to bolt extra early, leaving them bitter and limp.  My radishes were tasty for about a week and then they got woody and tough.  Most of the veggies I had planned for love cool weather.  The weather this year has been anything but cool.

I also had a buggy issue in the big back garden.  Despite my watchful eye, most of the leaves off my pepper plants have been eaten nearly off.  Luckily, I had planted one of each variety in the ground and one of 

each in a pot.  The potted ones are small, but leafy.  The in ground ones are starting to recover, but slowly. 

My corn plantings are my biggest "failure" of the year.  I planted blue jade, sweet corn, and strawberry popcorn.  Most of the corn seeds were dug up by some hungry creatures, who left the sad stalks to waste on the ground. 

My tomatoes were started late, due to damping off of the first round of seedlings.  The second set of seedlings all survived, but are much smaller than usual.  The weekend saw a lot of green, but no blossoms or fruit.  But, now, all the plants have at least a few blossoms, and some have hundreds.  I have 4 potted cherry tomatoes, and my sungold looks like it will have the first tomato of the season, with one ready probably by tomorrow!  Now, I hope I can get to it before Alayna!  Last year I ate very few of my yield, as she would sit in the garden and just eat them one by one!

My eggplants have beautiful purple blossoms, and are huge compared to years past.  Hopefully this will be my first success with them.

My beans all look fabulous.  I planted several varieties of string beans.  A handful will be ready in the next 24 hours and I see hundreds of purple and white blossoms in the front of the garden!  

I thought my squash, both winter and summer were a loss due to the slow start, but it looks like all summer squash will be coming soon!  Lots of blossoms for all!  The winter squash is not vining as well as last year, and I hope it takes off soon!  The cucumbers are just starting to climb the trellis.  I tried for watermelon and charantais again this year.  All are small, and with our short growing season, they may not grow any fruit in time for picking.
My best surprise this year is the random pumpkin vine growing right out of the bottom of my compost pile.  My guess is that it is from a seed in one of the pumpkins we tossed in last fall.  I can't wait to see what happens!  I also planted 2 mini varieties and 1 sugar pie that look good so far.
For first time plantings this year, I tried onions, which are looking good.  Every few weeks I am able to thin them and eat the thinnings!  Yum!  I do the same for kale and swiss chard, also first time crops.  My potato crops are growing in bags near the garden, and they are large and leafy.  I hope they are growing goodies underneath the soil!
So, what started as a dismal year is looking up this week.  My guess is that soon, we won't be able to keep up with the produce!  For now, we are enjoying the produce from our CSA farm box and from the local farmers here in upstate NY through farm stands, farmers markets, and the foodshed!
The past few weeks have found me blanching, chopping, and freezing.  Some peas and beans, but mostly the super sweet strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries we have here in the NE.  I have my first canning class on Sunday, where I hope to learn other ways of putting up food for the bleak months to come.
For any who are local, come by and visit my gardens anytime.  I'll show you around!  For the rest, enjoy my updates and pictures as the season gets in full swing!

Katie's Bread Recipe!

I tweaked the recipe for Classic Sandwich Bread from the King Arthur Website www.kingarthurflour.com to make a no-fail bread recipe.  I wanted to find a dense loaf made with real, whole ingredients.  Plan for this loaf to disappear quickly!  It tastes best when toasted and slathered with real butter and local honey!  I am lucky enough to have access to locally grown and ground flour, local honey, and local cream-top milk for this recipe.

2 cups unbleached All-Purpose Flour 

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup 2% milk 

1/2 cup hot water
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) melted butter (real butter, not margarine!)
3 Tbsp honey, divided
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 packet active dry yeast dissolved in 2 tablespoon warm water 

Mixing: 

In a small bowl, mix the yeast, 2 Tbsp warm water and 1/2 teaspoon honey.  Let sit until doubled in size.  

In a large bowl, combine the flours and salt.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl with a damp towel, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 60 minutes, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Shaping: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape it into an 8-inch log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with damp towel, and allow the bread to rise for about 60 minutes, until it’s domed about 1 inch above the edge of the pan. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly.

Baking: Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for about 35 minutes, until it’s light golden brown. Test it for doneness by removing it from the pan and thumping it on the bottom (it should sound hollow).  Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a wire rack before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature. Yield: 1 loaf.

Where does your food come from...reflecting on my goals

My only day off work this week, aside from the one filled with preschool parent duties and dance class, I was hoping to get out of the house and do a little exploring with the girls.  And this time, the weather cooperated.  I knew a few local farmers markets had opened for business last week, so I did a little research and found one in the next county over was open this afternoon.  Knowing that we had a small drive ahead of us, I looked to see what else might be in the area that we could enjoy and found a store with mostly local goodies and the farm where we get our milk and yogurt were all within a few minutes drive.  We ate a quick lunch and hopped in the car on our adventure.
I set a goal last summer to visit any of the farms where we get our meat, dairy, and produce.  My goals are not just to check out the conditions for the farmers and animals, but to get to know the people that we get our food from.  I want my children to know that their favorite yogurt comes from milk, which comes from a cow...not a picture of a cow, but that cow...that one, right over there!   I want them to see that their creamy potato soup comes from ingredients found in a local dairy, early spring gardens nearby, and ham from a pig farm just around the corner.  I want my girls to be aware of their surroundings and not take food for granted.
As I was reflecting this winter on what I actually wanted to get out of simplifying my life and living local, I came to a few conclusions.  I want to be as self sufficient as I can be.  If I were cut off from all supermarkets one day, I want to know that I would survive without difficulty.  I want to know that I have friends that can provide me with the meats and dairy that I can't produce myself.  I want to have the skills needed to grow and utilize fresh produce.  I want to be able to both mend and create.  I want to focus more on my family and less on what we think we need.
When presented with the challenge of buying local foods in upstate NY, which doesn't provide a lot of fresh produce for the winter months, I decided on what was most important to me.  After wrestling with the lack of fresh tomatoes on my salads and what to do when my girls asked for bananas and grapes for snacks, I set myself a goal.  Anything that is found locally at ANY point where I live will be purchased when it is locally grown and in season.  I splurge on bananas, citrus fruits, and a few other treats that do not grow regionally.  But, I do try to buy these when they are naturally at the peak of their season in the nearest place they can be grown.  What I found, in the end, is that there are plenty of other goodies to add to the winter salad greens (grown in greenhouses regionally), such as stored walnuts, beets, local cheeses, and now in early spring I'm adding overwintered carrots and onions.  I found that an apple tastes better in fall when it is fresh from th orchard.  I found that I never knew what asparagus really tasted like until I tasted it fresh picked from a nearby farm in spring.  Bland, mealy tomatoes are not missed one bit.
My other goal is to learn more about the processes that get my food to the table.  Most farms that we have visited have let us walk through the pastures and meet the animals, peer in at baby chicks just born, or steal a glance at the way yogurt is made.
Back to today.  The farmers market, as you might imagine, was limited.  Very few vendors headed out after this cold week, but we met with each one and found some gems to bring home.  At one stand we got golf ball size yellow onions for only a quarter.  We scored big on fresh processed bacon at another.  One local farmer brought seedlings, which were great to see after my disasters of late.  I bought a cinnamon basil to pot on the porch.
We then headed to Gems Along the Mohawk and grabbed up some locally produced peanut butter, cinnamon apple BBQ sauce, and mustard.  I made a mental note of all the other goodies there for future visits.
Our experience at Maple Hill Creamery was great, too.  In spite of the "road closed" sign, we barreled through and found the farm with no trouble.  We learned about the processing of the dairy products and what some of the future plans are for the family farm.  We were able to drive just to where the cows were out to pasture near the dairy barn and got a glimpse of the farmer on his tractor.  The girls yelled "thank you" to the cows out the window as we drove slowly by.
I don't claim to be a fully converted localvore, but I have found my goals to be easily attainable, and enjoyable.  Most of the farmers who supply us with our food recognize us and many know us by name.  No one should be detached from food.  It sustains us.  We should learn where it comes from, what happens to it as it travels its path to our plates.  We just need to be more aware.
If you got this far through my post...I just have one question for you...

"If our current food system were to collapse and the supermarkets no longer were able to ship in the foods that they typically carry, would you know what to do for food?  Would you know where to go?  Would you be able to survive on your own?  Would you survive?"

The potato experiment

New to my garden this year is potatoes.  Only, I don't have a lot of space or a lot of sunshine to offer them.  So, I purchased three black grow bags from my favorite garden supply company and set them up.  Not quite a pot and not quite a bag, these are made of durable fabric and were super easy to set up and fill.  Just add about 4 inches of compost and potting soil, set the seed potatoes on top and add about 3 more inches on top.  And then, wait.  Most of my seed potatoes had already sprouted before I planted them today, so I am hopeful that sometime late summer or early fall, I will have loads of yummy fingerling and gourmet potatoes to dig up and eat.  I know potatoes are cheap to buy, and this probably isn't saving me money this year, but if you've ever had a freshly dug potato fried in a little olive oil...heaven!  

In other parts of the garden, salad greens are growing faster now.  I have several wonderful looking heads of lettuce that will be turning into a salad early next week!  The newly planted greens have a bit of time left, but I just can't wait to sample some fresh picked greens.  Most of my root crops are sending up delicate shoots, and I will be thinning radishes this weekend.  Spinach, both baby leaf and large savoy are planted in pots.  They sprouted in only 3 days!  

Sadly, I've lost a few more tomato seedlings to damping off.  I have used an organic treatment to try and save the rest, and one tray is healthy and strong.  But, the extra tomatoes are dropping off one by one.  This weekend's challenge is to take the affected tray and pot up the remaining seedlings and separate them.  Hopefully we will have a few extras to share after all.  

All my peppers and eggplants are going strong for now, and broccoli and cauliflower are ready to thin.  I have a few paper egg cartons saved to start up my warm weather crops of squash and melon so I can plant them, egg cup and all right in the garden at the end of May.  

This year has had more difficulty getting off the ground than last year, but I am still looking forward to a great garden summer!

My beautiful garbage

I garden by the moon.  Not that I know that it really helps, but it helps me stay organized.  I know which days I am planting green leafy veggies, which days are designated for root veggies, and which days are not set for planting.  Notice I didn't designate any day for "rest."  There are plenty of other garden chores that need to be done.  On the days that aren't on my calendar for planting, I dig new beds, plan for upcoming garden chores, and ready the ingredients for nourishing my new plants.
This weekend was on the calendar for enlarging my backyard garden (110 more square feet to be exact).  I spent most of my time digging out the sod, hauling the compost up the hill, and digging it into the earth.  Luckily, I had at least one nice sunny, but relatively cool day to work with.  Just as I dug in the last square of rich compost, and wiped my brow, my neighbor leaned over the fence to offer up his tiller...if I ever needed it.  Uh, geez...I just spent about 10 hours digging by hand, but thanks!
So, today, one of my least favorite, but  also quite fascinating chores.  I turned my compost.  I have a big black plastic compost bin in the backyard that we toss in all sorts of goodies that would have otherwise ended up in a trash heap.  My compost style is toss it and forget it.  At least until one of the 3 times a year come up that I turn it.  Most of the time, I literally toss in our food scraps, eggshells, and plant clippings.  I add in a scoop of shredded leaves to cover the food and make sure it gets water and air.  Otherwise, I wait until the bin is near full and then I get to work.  It only takes about an hour.  I lift the bottomless bin off the whole mess and move it to a new spot.  Then, I move all the non-rotted materials back into the moved bin.  About halfway down, things change from well recognized pieces of vegetables and bread to a mushy mass of half-broken down sludge (not my favorite part!).  Then, miraculously, I get to a rich, dark brown layer that is crumbly and earthy.  Black gold.  All those mashed up scraps that would have otherwise just added to our family's trash have been turned into something wonderful for my garden.  I am always amazed at just how much black gold I find at the bottom.  As I stir it and crumble it between my fingers, I add it into a trash bin set aside for carrying finished compost.  Today, I filled the bin almost all the way full again and still had a whole trash bin full of the good finished stuff.  Enough to cover the old half of my veggie garden!  I let it sit for another week or two until the last of the bits are consumed by the worms that I leave in the bin and then it goes right into the earth again.

And if my beautiful trash isn't enough to interest you, here is what else is happening in my garden.  Almost all my salad blends are now out and growing, along with several frost hardy romaines.  By next week, tough love will have me out there thinning and leaving my lots of yummy micro greens to add to my salad.  I had radishes, carrots, beets, and salad turnips sprouting this morning that weren't there last night.  My onion plants appear to have transplanted well...although I may be moving them to a more side location of the garden next week.  No more sprouts in the basement have dampened off...a light layer of cornmeal sprinkled over the seed mix to protect it.  All my broccoli and cauliflower have sprouted, along with a few more eggplants I had almost given up on.

Next up...getting potato grow bags ready and planting a few more root veggies.  I have a couple of tomatoes to "restart" after the damping off disappointment of last week, and a bit of the rows of salad blends that a pesky digger disturbed.  Then, it's planning where all the vines and bush veggies of summer will go to allow for sunlight to reach all of them equally.  Never a dull moment when the season starts!