Bolt's First Egg !

Before moving the goat fence to include fresh raspberry bushes, we discovered something round by the roofing of the goats and chickens's house.  First, we thought that it was a mushroom, just because it was located in a dark space, but later when I went to move their house, I picked it up and it was an egg!

Our girls are maturing and looking pretty good.  They like to be with the goats because then haven't flown outside of the electric fence in a while.  Lindo is working on a permanent goat shed while I was picking our ripe tomatoes to make ketchup.

I pretty much followed my own taste buds to make the ketchup.

First

Collect, clean and quarter all tomatoes you want to use (I even used cherry tomatoes)

I probably used 7-8 pounds this time

Second 

Put them in huge pot with a chopped onion and a chopped sweet pepper 

Have them cook in medium high heat for a while ..... a long time in other words

Third

I added distilled white vinegar (1 cup) and sugar (1 cup) 

1 TBSP of salt and 1 tsp of allspice 

KEEP STIRRING IT AND LOWER TO MEDIUM HEAT 

Fourth 

I used a hand-held blender to blend everything once the mixture had a thick consistency 

KEEP STIRRING 

Fifth 

Let it cook for a while more until it looks like ketchup 

Meanwhile, get your ball jars ready and lids and water canner 

Sixth 

Run the mixture thru a food mill to get rid of seeds and skins of tomatoes 

Pour ketchup into jars, clean the mouth of jars 

Process in the hot water canner for 10 minutes 

I canned 6  (8 oz) jars 

ENJOY IN THE WINTER !

Fugee and Asa at a glance !

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.

Beds and bulbs

Busy school vacation !  Even though we still have snow outside the two major projects were accomplished.

The first one was to turn a bed for tomatoes.  I did this with shovel in hand and patience in taking the 20 + rocks that came out after trying the turn the soil over.  I had some rye grass growing in Vinnie's garden, I pulled it and dumped in this new tomato plot. Also, I added bark mulch from a dead tree that its at the edge of the plot.  I covered the whole plot with the soil that I was turning and later I scattered a half a bail of hay all over the bed, so that it will suppress any weeds that would like to grow in the new fresh soil.

The second project was to make a new bed for peas, away from the rest of the garden so that it doesn't shade other plants. Last year the peas covered most of the afternoon sun from tomatoes, carrots and other  plants. This year the bed is set back and it is a U-shaped plot in which you can enter from one side and collect fruit from the inside as well as the outside.

Started carrots and beets indoors last weekend. In the seed packets you will read that it is NOT recommended to transplant carrots, but I figured out a way to successfully transplanted and that is that you have to wait until the seedlings have 2 or more true leaves to move them to the garden. As for beets, I usually do the same thing. Make sure that the beds are turned and loose for these two veggies.

Trimmed the branches of the 3 apple trees growing by our house.  Every year you are supposed to cut the leading branch which forces the tree to focus on lateral branch growth.  I cut the old canes of the raspberries all the way to the base of the plant, make sure you don't cut the old-new growth canes, since those are the ones setting fruit this year. You can tell the canes that are dead from the ones that are still going to come out of dormancy by the color and flexibility of the canes.

Cut the dead kale plants at the base and left the beds undisturbed.  That way the roots decompose with the help of worms. This winter was too harsh and long and the kale plants did not make it back.

Wild ramps are starting to come out. Also called wild onions, they are used just like scallions in cooking.  Last year I moved some of the plants to different locations thru out the garden and they are growing beautifully.

The goats are also enjoying their new location by the garden.  We are keeping them in with a flexible solar powered fence.  They get twice as much sun as they did at their old home and they have plenty of space to lay down and eat all kinds of vegetation.

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...

Canning tomato sauce

21 pounds of tomatoes from our backyard have turned into tomato sauce after several hours!

Long weekend ahead

Projects for this weekend include :
1. dispersing the wood chips on the paths of the garden 
2. building a shed for the goats 
3. prepare the bed for garlic 
4. do something with all the tomatoes !

So far, we have been busy doing all sorts of makeovers to the garden/yard of our cabin.  We have been clearing the yard with a weed waker and chain saw, since we have a lot of raspberries and young trees and overall we would like it to be more of an open area.  It will help with the circulation of air, since we are in the middle of the forest. 
Now we can see the paths in the garden! the wood chips will help with the unwanted weeds in the garden. You can also use straw hay and newspaper block to prevent the light from getting to the paths and therefore the growing weeds. 

Tomatoes cooked = ketchup

Wow for our tomatoes! This has been a good year even though we had the blight.  I must say that trellising tomatoes has been a challenge this year.  I did not pick the suckers off of the plant and so, there were shots all over each plant that didn't get support.  Next year, I will give each plant more space for appropriate air circulation and better support system.

Now to make ketchup or not ! that is the question 

Potatoes and Tomatoes

Pay attention to the yellowing of the bottom leaves of your tomatoes and potatoes. SO far this season has been warm and rainy and the blight loves that type of weather.  Yesterday, I was looking over my potatoes and they seem to have it, so I cut the plant down to the soil line.  Potatoes are know for keeping sprouting, so I hope they keep growing.  I happened to check on the tomatoes, and since this year I plant them too close, then they could also get fungal diseases.  I picked the bottom leaves, since they had yellow  and brown spots (not a good sign at all).  I also stopped watering, since it doesn't help with the humidity and hot weather this season.  My advice is to keep an eye on your tomatoes and potatoes this season. 
Also, garlic is about to be picked, since almost 5 leaves are dead on each plant !