Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Wednesday's Garden Update


Pulled the rest of the onions out (all the red and the remainder of the white) and set them on shelves in the greenhouse to dry. The yellow ones were brought up to the house last night, dusted free of dirt, stems removed. Now I have to have a marathon chopping/dicing session. Plan is to cut up recipe-sized portions and freeze them in vacuum seal bags. I'm also going to make some onion soup and either freeze it or can it. I'll have to see if I can can it. That would be ideal.

Completely cleaned out the weeds in that bed since I was out there.

Got three more huge albino beets and that bed is just about finished; I think there's maybe five more so I'll give them some time to get a little larger.

Going to start some fall crops in those spots - for me, it's late lettuce, spinach, bok choy, and some other Asian salad green called Salt Wort that's supposed to be like sea weed. I love seaweed salad!

I need to clear out the area where the pigs were; mow and then rototill it this weekend so I can plant pumpkins and turnips there (to use for hog feed). It'll be nice rich soil too. My current garden was home to hogs first. I don't add anything but compost to the tops of the beds each season, give it a good mix up, and plant. I've had the soil tested by the local agriculture extension office and we don't need to add anything. We're getting good results by giving beds a rest and rotating crops.

Seeing a LOT of baby tomatoes and hot peppers. Very exciting! I'm already harvesting some Bloody Butcher tomatoes. These are from plants we picked up at the Scottsville Farmer's Market. We lost a few when we transplanted. I suck at the whole conditioning thing. I'll be better next year with the greenhouse to use. Others are tiny and green, but you can tell all the different shapes already: small grape, long pear, tiny cherry!

The zinnias I started in peat pots need to be transplanted; they are about to bloom! OOPS! I also have to put the nasturtiums out in the garden too. The idea of peppery edible flowers sounds interesting. I love fresh salads composed of all kinds of lettuces, so I thought the edible flowers would be a fun thing to try this year. Both the zinneas and the nasturtium are edible.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Beets!

I have three four foot by eight foot raised beds full of beets. I'll be harvesting more this weekend, but today I'm trying out a new recipe for quick-pickled beets from Alton Brown. 
Have some red, white, and gold beets just roasted and peeled. 


Three quarts!



Patriotic and Funky!

I decided to add a streak of blue to my otherwise very red hair. I have a naturally occurring grey patch there so it worked out well.

First tomatoes!

Fresh goat's milk mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, black pepper, kosher salt, and a little olive oil made for a really good lunch. 

Unfortunately, the remaining tomatoes are still very green.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Patriotic brain fart

I read a news story online reporting about a baseball game. The fans were told that due to time constraints, they were going to skip doing the national anthem. 

This was the third game that day; I get it. 

The fans took it upon themselves and sang it anyway. 

Which led to my brain fart. Did I know the words? I can't remember the last time I went anywhere where this was sung. 

I don't do sports. 

Anyway, I didn't realize the original song was so long! The games would be well into the second inning had the long version been used. 


In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem,Defense of Fort McHenry. The poem was later put to the tune of (John Stafford Smith's song)The Anacreontic Song, modified somewhat, and retitled The Star Spangled Banner. Congress proclaimed The Star Spangled Banner the U.S. National Anthem in 1931.

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!