Here are the things I have learned so far from this years' garden that should be applied to next year.
- You CAN plant sweet corn too close together
- Grow more potatoes
- One zucchini plant is enough. Really. Even when you are selling produce. I mean it!
- Mr. Stripey tomatoes are fairly tasteless and they crack.
- Grow more Brandywine tomatoes
- Did I mention that you should grow more potatoes?
- Stagger plantings of cauliflower, no one knows what to do with 15 heads of cauliflower
- German Yellow tomatoes are very susceptible to Blossom End Rot
- Don't plant your pumpkins in May unless you want pumpkin soup in August
- You go through more carrots than you'd think
- 18 square feet of chard is enough chard to supply yourself and the 3 neighboring counties all summer
- Same thing with salad greens
- Those fingerling potatoes are really quite amazing
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Lost post!
I thought I had added this post a month ago, but I guess I didn't. I wrote this after having my first "all-farm BLT":
Wednesday was the day. The day I had been building up to the ;last 2 years, all of the preparations were in place, all of the hard work complete, my patience at last rewarded, it was time to enjoy the fruits of my labors.
As you remember, we raised a couple of pigs on pasture behind the barn last summer. I saved one package of bacon in the freezer from last year's pig for just this moment.
I calibrated the toaster with a few 'test slices" so that the toast would be the perfect tawny amber, a hearty crunch, but with a little 'give' to the center of the bread.
I walked up to the garden and selected a beautifully ripe Brandywine tomato, an heirloom variety with deep burgundy flesh, and nearly large enough for a single slice to cover the sandwich. It seemed heavy for it's size, an indication that it was at the peak of it's flavor. A small head of Buttercrunch lettuce, bright green against the faded gold of the straw mulch, joined the tomato on our trip back to the kitchen.
The bacon was laid into a cold cast iron skillet, and carefully monitored while cooking to perfection. It's double-smoked aroma filled the kitchen.
It was time. I assembled the ingredients, gave the sandwich a quick slice on the diagonal and dove in.Utter bliss permeated every cell of my body as I savored this sandwich, the most incredible combination of flavors known to man, and knew that each of it's principal ingredients came from within 300 yards of where I sat.
Wednesday was the day. The day I had been building up to the ;last 2 years, all of the preparations were in place, all of the hard work complete, my patience at last rewarded, it was time to enjoy the fruits of my labors.
As you remember, we raised a couple of pigs on pasture behind the barn last summer. I saved one package of bacon in the freezer from last year's pig for just this moment.
I calibrated the toaster with a few 'test slices" so that the toast would be the perfect tawny amber, a hearty crunch, but with a little 'give' to the center of the bread.
I walked up to the garden and selected a beautifully ripe Brandywine tomato, an heirloom variety with deep burgundy flesh, and nearly large enough for a single slice to cover the sandwich. It seemed heavy for it's size, an indication that it was at the peak of it's flavor. A small head of Buttercrunch lettuce, bright green against the faded gold of the straw mulch, joined the tomato on our trip back to the kitchen.
The bacon was laid into a cold cast iron skillet, and carefully monitored while cooking to perfection. It's double-smoked aroma filled the kitchen.
It was time. I assembled the ingredients, gave the sandwich a quick slice on the diagonal and dove in.Utter bliss permeated every cell of my body as I savored this sandwich, the most incredible combination of flavors known to man, and knew that each of it's principal ingredients came from within 300 yards of where I sat.
Monday, August 06, 2007
A funny fishing trip...
This doesn't have much to do with the farm, but it was so funny that I have to share my fishing experience from yesterday.
I grabbed a 6 pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and the dog and loaded up my jon boat into the back of the farm truck and went down to this little lake near us that they just opened a public access for, just to see what it was like.
As I was putting the boat in the water , I noticed this ENORMOUS inflated thing on the beach on the south side of the lake. It was hugely huge, had to be at least 40 yards long and 15 feet high. This will come into the story later.
I fished along a weed line for about 30 minutes and had nothing so I rowed (no motorized boats allowed on the lake) over near a bunch of cattails. I caught a nice walleye and a couple of good sized bluegills over the course of about 40 minutes. Not too intense, it was turning into a nice relaxing afternoon, which is exactly what I was after.
All of a sudden about 50 kids come shouting and hollering down on that beach, they push this huge inflated thing out into the water underneath a tall diving board. Then they line up on the dock and start jumping on to this thing and bouncing off of it. They are making the most godawful racket and a lifeguard is constantly shouting at them through a bullhorn. My serenity wass destroyed, but I was still catching the occasional fish so I decided to tough it out for another half hour or so.
About the time I decided this, I reel in one of my two lines to cast it back nearer the cattails. I notice half the nightcrawler got nabbed, so I reel in the other line to cast it near the cattails and then I will change the crawler on line #1. As I am doing that, I hear a rattling in the front of the boat, I look over just in time to see fishing pole number one thrashing around and go over the side of the boat! That half a crawler was dangling in the water and a big old walleye nailed it and stole my fishing pole!
By this time I am just laughing like crazy, what else could go possibly wrong!? I decide to call it a day. I had some water in the boat that I wanted to bail out before I started rowing to shore, so I dump the fish from my bucket onto the floor of the boat so I can use the bucket to bail water. I'm bailing the water, watching the fish flop around in the boat, when the one really nice walleye that I caught, about 18", gives a tremendous heave and jumps back into the lake! I was laughing so hard I was crying.
To top it all off, as I was rowing back to the dock, Cash the dog decided he wanted to go for a swim so he jumped out of the boat and swam to shore. That gave me the opportunity to spend time with a soaking wet dog in the cab of the truck, and of course he wanted to lay his head on my leg while I was driving home!
I grabbed a 6 pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and the dog and loaded up my jon boat into the back of the farm truck and went down to this little lake near us that they just opened a public access for, just to see what it was like.
As I was putting the boat in the water , I noticed this ENORMOUS inflated thing on the beach on the south side of the lake. It was hugely huge, had to be at least 40 yards long and 15 feet high. This will come into the story later.
I fished along a weed line for about 30 minutes and had nothing so I rowed (no motorized boats allowed on the lake) over near a bunch of cattails. I caught a nice walleye and a couple of good sized bluegills over the course of about 40 minutes. Not too intense, it was turning into a nice relaxing afternoon, which is exactly what I was after.
All of a sudden about 50 kids come shouting and hollering down on that beach, they push this huge inflated thing out into the water underneath a tall diving board. Then they line up on the dock and start jumping on to this thing and bouncing off of it. They are making the most godawful racket and a lifeguard is constantly shouting at them through a bullhorn. My serenity wass destroyed, but I was still catching the occasional fish so I decided to tough it out for another half hour or so.
About the time I decided this, I reel in one of my two lines to cast it back nearer the cattails. I notice half the nightcrawler got nabbed, so I reel in the other line to cast it near the cattails and then I will change the crawler on line #1. As I am doing that, I hear a rattling in the front of the boat, I look over just in time to see fishing pole number one thrashing around and go over the side of the boat! That half a crawler was dangling in the water and a big old walleye nailed it and stole my fishing pole!
By this time I am just laughing like crazy, what else could go possibly wrong!? I decide to call it a day. I had some water in the boat that I wanted to bail out before I started rowing to shore, so I dump the fish from my bucket onto the floor of the boat so I can use the bucket to bail water. I'm bailing the water, watching the fish flop around in the boat, when the one really nice walleye that I caught, about 18", gives a tremendous heave and jumps back into the lake! I was laughing so hard I was crying.
To top it all off, as I was rowing back to the dock, Cash the dog decided he wanted to go for a swim so he jumped out of the boat and swam to shore. That gave me the opportunity to spend time with a soaking wet dog in the cab of the truck, and of course he wanted to lay his head on my leg while I was driving home!
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