Green Beans and Creams

With a busy bee hive comes great bee wax. 

I followed a recipe to make an ointment of dried Calendula flowers.  I like to grow Calendula plants since the flowers are gorgeous as well as useful to us. I have a book on herbs and Calendula quite an array of medicinal uses. Some of those are:

- A standard infusion of flowers can help the body sweat out toxins and help PMS and irregular menstruation  

- The ointment made of the flowers can be used for broken veins, varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Calendula flowers can be used to heal wounds, prevent infection and promote tissue repair.

- Calendula flowers can be added to rice, buns and cakes to make them look yellow.

 Calendula ointment 

First, I needed to make an infusion of camomile, comfrey or elderberry.  I decided to use the dried camomile flowers from last year's harvest.  I used 4 tsp of dried camomile flowers with 1 cup of hot water and I let it stand for 20-30 minutes. 

Second, I poured cold water on a pan (about 1-2 inches) and put a stainless steel bowl in it and a glass jar inside the bowl.  I put some bee wax from our bees (about 2 Tbsps) and 4 tbsp of the camomile infusion in the glass jar.  I stirred it while the pan was on the stove at medium high heat. 

Third, I added 4 Tbsps of sunflower seed oil and kept stirring until the mixture in the jar started to look creamy yellow. I took the jar off the heat and let it cool, but kept stirring until a uniform consistency. I added dried Calendula flowers and camomile. 

Fourth, I put it in a brown glass jar and will keep in the fridge for 4 weeks. 

3 lbs. of Green Beans !

I collected them and blanched them in hot water for two minutes and then dump them in cold water.  I sliced them and put them in quart size bags. They are going in the freezer for now. 

Recap of summer happenings at the garden

Frank the Toad is hanging out the strawberry plants around the stone wall in front of the cabin

Pansies from the garden ready to be placed in ice cubes for the party 

I also used borage flowers, chamomile flowers and mint leaves shaped as hearts 

Asa taking a nap in the middle of the morning 

This week I set out to move their fenced space to enclose a raspberry area near the garden

Asa and Che Che enjoy going on walks with us up the driveway 

and nibble on leaves that they find in their way 

Cauliflower that I forgot to cover up with leaves so that the head would be white 

It still tasted delicious and I blanched and froze two pounds of Broccoli and Cauliflower for the winter

Everything is doing well except for the onions that I tried to start from seed

Onions need a lot of compost, water and sunlight 

I will leave them in the ground in hopes that they will sprout next year 

Cabbage, small but pretty

Broccoli, Kale and Cauliflower do much better in our garden 

One of our lovely chickens cruising thru our garden 

Recently, they have discovered the tomatoes and they like them 

Which means that they are now hanging out with the goats in their pen 

All the them have names 

Blanquita, Negra, Dina and KG 

Our beets are doing great!

I don't think I can wrap one hand around them

I will leave them a little bit longer in the ground in hopes of keeping them in the root cellar 

One apple tree bear fruit this year 

They are getting big and getting some red on them 

I lost the tag of what the trees were, my guess is that they are eating apples 

Red Zebra or Green Zebra tomatoes on the vine 

This morning we had scrambled eggs from our neighbors, tomatoes and eggplant from the garden 

and onions from the farm I work at

Swiss Chard 

My favorite green to grow 

To tell the truth we haven't eaten any yet 

But we will plan to do that soon !

Broccoli, cut and blanched and ready to be bagged!

Time to harvest 

I have been weeding so much that I have forgotten the great feeling of harvesting 

Today I decided to pick, wash and dehydrate herbs from the garden 

Last year was a bad year for herbs, but not this year !!!

I am very excited to dehydrate: 

Rosemary !

Sage 

Thyme and others 

like lemon and Thai basil 

The coolest thing is that last fall I transplanted a thai basil plant to a pot and had it in my classroom

It was the saddest plant you have ever seen

But after being in the garden for a couple of months 

It came back to live

I think I will do that with most of the herbs from this year!

A Bridal Garden Party to remember

Our beautiful garden was complemented by all the beautiful, caring and fun people that joined us this past weekend.  We are very lucky to have found this place. I am very fortunate despite the circumstances of moving to this country when I was 15, and all the hardwork that  Lindo and I had to do to get to where we are now.  And it is all worh it.

                                    

I want to thank everyone that came to the party. I am sorry I missed some of the people that I wanted to be there the most, like my mom and my sister. I guess that is the price you pay when you live away from "family" home. 

                                     

I had so much fun and I just have a big smile every time someone asks me about the party.  It was everything I imagined it to be and more. Thanks to Lindo for putting up with my mysterious planning and setting up the place for the guests.

Since I am teacher, I like to be organized so I set up a map of the garden and a to do list by the temporary tent I borrowed from school. Everyone was helping so cheerfully and I am glad that all my friends got to meet each other and meet my mother in law, Sherrie and father in law Michael. 

Weeding was the first project and the one project everyone was willing to do.  Some of my friends were scared of weeding beds because they didn't want to rip off the veggies, instead they helped me weed the paths and at the same time I showed them what some of the weeds looked like. Also, we planted chard that I had sprouted indoors weeks ago. 

Other projects included planting the veggies and herbs that I got from Jinny Cleland's farm - Four Springs Farm. I worked for her this year for a couple of days and she paid me with plants for the garden. 

I got all kinds of peppers including Hungarian waxpepper, cherrybomb and others. I also got tomatoes for making sauce, for slicing, cherries and novelty ones. Finally, I got eggplants including my favorite Japanese eggplant.

For the first time I got Okra. Also a huge bush cucumber, and herbs like Borage, Thai basil, thyme, water cress and ginger mint. The water cress was planted by a spring near the house and the mint near a bank where it can take over without getting in the way of the garden plants.

The party was also filled with joy and laughter. Our friend Michelle brought her 6 month old baby girl, Brynn to the party.  She was great! I must say she was the number one attraction and who could deny that?

We also planted 3 varieties of potatoes, Red Norland, Russets and Blue potatoes. We turned a bed in the middle of the garden for one variety and for the other two varieties we put them in a new bed that I made of decomposed wood, raspberry canes, mulch, compost and top soil.  We will see how they do. I added phosphate as well before planting the potatoes.

Our friend Jo planting and watering the Forsythia.  These beautiful bushes have the first yellow flowers besides daffodils and dandelions that we can see in New England. Can't wait to see it as a 6 ft + bush

We also worked on planting a new flower garden by the front yard next to where we park the cars. We planted goatsbeard, dahlias among many others.

Jinny Cleland holding the bush cucumber! She knew exactly where to place it in the garden, as well as, where to put the herbs depending on the watering that each herb needs and spacing. I have known Jinny since the fall of 2008 when I met her at the coop and asked her if I could work at her farm.  Since that year, I have helped her either planting pansies and other plants in the greenhouse, spreading compost in the field, wedding carrots and picking up produce for her CSA members. She has been a great source of gardening information and we share a vision for the development of a farm school at her farm.

February Check In

This past week I walked in and saw at our local food Coop, the Upper Valley Food Coop, the wire tall stand that has the seeds for the upcoming season from High mowing seeds.  I got so excited just thinking of the food I will grow this year. 


I will definitely make the following adjustments while dreaming about spring:


1. I will not be lazy about double digging the soil before planting carrots. The way you do is that you take a shovel and remove (blade's length) one layer of soil and then you remove a second layer after that. Then you put the soil back in the row, but now it is loose so that the carrots have a place to grow down, otherwise you end up with short, stocky carrots, which still taste good but not big enough sometimes for winter storage. 


2. I will not plant tomatoes too close to each other.  I found out that after 5 years of our garden being worked on, the soil is very rich and the spread of each tomato plant was very wide, this had an effect on the leaves, which resulted in my plants getting the blight. Also, I will have to say that "caging" the tomatoes is the easiest way to trellis the plants if you are not a farmer.


3. I will not germinate a whole packet of kale seeds.  Our whole garden was taken up by these guys, it looked as though I had trufulla trees societies in the garden. However, I did dry a lot of it (which is excellent in rice) and has provided some winter snack for the goats as well. In addition, the kale was host of the cabbage moth, which makes me hesitant to grow Brocolli, Brussel Sprouts and Cabagge this year. Regardless, I think I will give it a try. 


4. I will remove more of the raspberry plants that are growing at the edge of the garden.  I think the garden needs more aeration since our garden is in the middle of the forest. So that certain fungus doesn't have the moisture it needs to live in some plants like tomatoes, potatoes and squashes. It all depends on the weather too. Last summer had sunny and damp days.


5. Plant the onion sets in the sunniest spots of the garden. 


6. Plant leafy greens in rows not in a scatter way.  That makes it easier to pick and more desirable to eat.  Last year I randomly scatter the seeds of arugula and other mustards and just enjoyed their presence in that plot rather than picking the leaves to eat. 


7. Protect the raspberry canes, blueberry bushes and apple trees from deer and goats. Last year, I was so excited after I pruned the raspberry canes. Later that week, we had deer come in and give the canes a second cut.  I was upset, but it also got me thinking that maybe the deer know that if they prune the canes then the plants will grow more in the season.  It was just a thought since they didn't eat the canes. Now, this winter, we might have a dead apple tree in the spring...Our goats ate the bark off one of the apples trees in the front of the cabin. They didn't make a ring all around the trees' trunk, which I hope gives the apple tree a chance to heal and grow this year. Otherwise, we have to get another young sampling for that spot. 


8. More beds in the garden. There are a lot of potential spots for new beds this year, which I am sure will involve tree removal, rock removal and compost addition.


9. Designate a better area for the herb garden.  A pleasing and ornamentally organized array of herbs and flowers. It has to be closer to the cabin and I have to be better at collecting and preserving these essential plants. 


10. Don't wait too long to pick the last of the root crops.  I kept procrastinating about digging the last planting of beets.  Winter came in swiftly and frost made it impossible to dig them out.  Eventually, I dug them out one night when the temperatures were above 32 F. I had to dig them with my bare fingers and it was very painful.  I brought them in the basement, took the leaves out and let them acclimate to room temperature. After a couple of days, the beets were moldy and soft.  I estimated, it lost probably 5-7 pounds.


So, there is a lot to think about the garden these days.  It is never too early to plan for your food and my suggestion is that you start with a simple list of veggies that you would like to grow and definitely plan your beds ahead. I am a visual person, so I like to draw the garden and label plants.


More soon...