Picture of the Day

You may have noticed that we haven't had a plethora of actual farm posts recently.

We've talked about my dog, our farming politics, roasted potatoes and lasagna. Noticeably absent from that list of topics is the farm. How it's doing, what's growing, what's not growing, etc.

The biggest reason for this glaring omission is that I, frankly, have not been to the farm in about 2 weeks. I am on a new, summer schedule at work that has me arriving home later in the evening and feeling very much like a homebody when I get there.

Not to mention the fact that it is h-o-t and, despite the fact that our little apartment has no AC and closely resembles a brick oven, we are at least out of the sun while we are here.

Adam has been going to the garden and, judging from the produce and frustrations he brings back, I can tell you:

The once bally-hooed revival of our bell peppers is over. They are, in fact, dead.

Okra, tomatoes, herbs and flowers are growing like crazy.

Corn...not yet.

Potatoes....almost over.

Beans...growing but no beans. We are worried.

The weeds are growing like, well, weeds.


So, back to the dill.

A while ago we made pickles with our own pickling cucumbers and dill and I promise, promise, promise to post a picking paragraph tomorrow.

And fast on its heels will be a post about our plans for autumn crops and "What We've Learned from our First Season at the Plot"

In the meantime, enjoy the dill flowers.

On the Menu: Lasagna

I've noticed, since we started this garden garden blog thing, that I feel guilty when I make a meal that isn't entirely composed of our vegetables.

Or when, heaven forbid, I don't have time to freeze some vegetables (let alone cook them) and they go to waste.

Tonight though, I put away those guilty feelings and made a lasagna that contained only 2 of our garden ingredients: tomatoes and thyme.

Like most things, I didn't really have a recipe for lasagna that has fake meat, some vegetables and no ricotta cheese (more on that later) so I took a few recipes and cobbled them together.

I found a recipe for bechamel sauce and, since we never have cow's milk or real butter in our fridge, turned it vegan. Here goes:

Vegan Bechamel Sauce
2 1/2 Tbs vegan margarine or butter
2 to 2.5 Tbs flour
2 cups soy milk
ground nutmeg
salt and pepper

Melt the butter over medium heat and add the flour. Stir until it is a golden color. In another pan, bring the soy milk to a boil. Pour the milk into the butter/flour mixture and stir continuously until smooth. Bring to a boil and let it cook for about 10 minutes. STIR CONTINUOUSLY until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper and ground nutmeg to taste. Set aside.

Vegetarian Lasagna
1 jar of tomato sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
20 olives, chopped
1 box of no-boil lasagna noodles
1 cup bechamel sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 package fake ground beef
fresh cherry tomatoes
dried thyme

First, I cut the cherry tomatoes in half. I put them in a dry frying pan and cooked them over low heat for just a bit to loosen the skins.


Then I briefly sauteed the onions and bell peppers. I didn't want them too soft because I figured they'd cook some more in the lasagna.

Then, I browned the fake ground beef (which Adam says looks like worms) and added the olives.

Now its time to start assembling the lasagna. First spray the bottom and sides of the pan with non-stick spray. Then, start with a layer of sauce...just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

Next, add a layer of the noodles. The box told me to make sure the noodles overlap so that, when all the goodies are piled on top, they don't fall through the noodle layer.


Now, add half of the bechamel sauce on top of the noodles. I sprinkled some of the dried thyme on top of this layer.

Then add half of the meat/bell pepper/onion/olive mixture. Put 1 cup of the cheese on top of that.

Add half of the tomato sauce and half of the cherry tomatoes.

Repeat all of the above steps but make sure to end with a whole pile of cheese on top.


Cook the lasagna for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees. I should have covered the lasagna but we ran out of aluminum foil so I cooked it uncovered. But, luckily, the cheese did not burn!

Side note: I made a bechamel sauce in lieu of using ricotta cheese. Apparently, in Italy, ricotta cheese is never used in a lasagna. I don't know if this is true or not and it wasn't really the reason for my substitution. The real reason is that ricotta cheese makes me want to vomit. So I avoid it, whenever possible.

On the Menu: Roasted Potatoes

Okay, enough with the politics and dead dogs. It's time to get back on track. It's time for roasted potatoes!

With a steady supply of potatoes now coming in, we decided to take advantage of a momentary lack of extreme heat and roast several of them.

With the miniature fan directed at us, we chopped up the potatoes and mixed them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano and thyme. (All but the olive oil, salt and pepper were harvested from our garden.)

We preheated the oven to about 425 degrees and put the potatoes in for about 25 minutes. Then we took them out of the oven, stirred them up and put them back in for about another 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, we took ourselves off to the relative comfort of our window-AC cooled living room and basked in the steady stream of cold air pouring over us.

When the potatoes were ready, I quickly sauteed up some spinach, bell peppers and (frozen) Lima beans for an impromptu succotash. We drizzled the potatoes with red wine vinegar and were ready to eat.

And the house smelled heavenly with the aroma of rosemary, oregano and thyme drifting around all night long.

Manure: Push it Out

Some time ago, a friend sent me this link on vegan farming. It is an article on CNN.com about vegan farming...the "next level" of organic farming. I personally think this is not only a great idea but a necessary one. And not just because I'm vegan/vegetarian.

Because, "organic" doesn't necessarily mean "good." People will discuss the practices of conventional farms until the drug-laden cows come home but I've never heard a discussion about appropriate technologies for organic farms.

Albeit, some of the practices used by organic farms, both large and small, were okay 50 years ago when farm animals weren't being raised in cramped conditions and more susceptible to diseases like salmonella.

But things have changed and organic farms have failed to change with it.

And the truth is, organic farmers need to be intentional about what they are doing. Organic produce has enjoyed a boom in recent years but I get the feeling that "we" are still under a microscope. If one or two big mistakes are made, the conventional farms and their supporters will jump all over it.

And the argument that organic produce is better and safer will fly out the window along with any market advantage that argument created.

Remember that e.coli scare with raw spinach? Although the spinach in question was not organic, the FDA finally concluded that the likely source of contamination included "the presence of wild pigs, the proximity of irrigation wells used to grow produce for ready-to-eat packaging, and surface waterways exposed to feces from cattle and wildlife."

Proximity of produce to animal feces? Doesn't that sound like one of the tenets of modern organic farming? The truth is, the use of manure in organic farming is so ubiquitous as to be unquestioned. But it needs to be questioned.

I used the word "intentional" earlier and I think it is an appropriate word to describe what organic farming needs. What do "we" really want to encourage. What do "we" really want to support. This doesn't just apply to vegan/non-vegan but sustainable methods too.

There is an organic farm in the Portland, Oregon area that uses butane gas to burn weeds. So, instead of interns walking around with hoes to pull out weeds, they walk around with gas packs strapped to their backs and burn the suckers. And yes, it is a great idea in that it would not only kill the weed but any weed seeds.

But shouldn't we be looking at the big picture? And does the big picture really include butane gas packs? Or, for that matter, chicken manure from the chicken farm down the road because they "aren't using it anyway and its a good way to "recycle" the waste?"

Organic farms shouldn't just do something because it is convenient. Or because it is perceived to be cheaper. Or even because it may produce a higher yield. All of that sounds a bit too much like a conventional farm to me.

Every method employed should be examined. And, although here are negative ramifications to everything, we can surely come up with the best possible practice.

After all of that, I'm here to tell you that Adam and I are not "veganic" farmers.

Yet.

I never said it would be easy, after all. After a brief foray into fish emulsion, we are now making our own fertilizer out of the following ingredients:

alfalfa pellets
corn gluten
green sand
rock phosphate
dolomite
earthworm castings
sea bird guano
fruit bat guano

The final two ingredients are obviously NOT vegan. But they AREN'T derivatives of factory farming either, so I think that's a step up.

And I'll have to get Adam to do a post on the benefits of the other ingredients. Needless to say, it's all about that sacred balance of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.

And with all that said, I'll go farm now. It is hard to farm while standing on a soap box.

Good Dog

I’ve mentioned that we live in a small apartment with two cats. The future farm of our dreams, however, is chock full of animals. Dogs, in particular.

But, the truth is, I already have a dog.

And, today, I had to say goodbye to him.

And I think that single act has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my 27 years. After reading that, you may think I'm fortunate, and I guess I am.

But for the past 17 years (yes, 17 years) Nicholas has been our family dog. I was 10 years old when we made the trek out to the Pulaski County Humane Society around Christmastime.

I zeroed in on Nicholas. He was one of 5 brothers found in a pillowcase on the side of the road. He was 6 weeks old and, while the rest of his siblings slept, he crawled all over them to get to the front of the cage. To get to where we were standing so he could lick us.

Somehow, I convinced everyone that THIS rambunctious puppy was “The One.” I can remember my dad asking if we were sure we didn't want one of the sleeping brothers.

We were sure.

So we took him home. He was so tiny he could fit in one hand.

For the first few weeks of his new life, he slept in an old refrigerator box at night. We piled the bottom of the box up with blankets and towels. We even put a clock in there to simulate the sound of a heart beat.

He would have none of it.

When we put him in there at night, he would start jumping. And, eventually, this pint-sized dog got to where he could jump OUT of the box.

This one act set the tone for the rest of his life. He would not sleep in a box. He was not a dog. He was one of us.

And so he was. He became like a little brother to me.

He helped open presents on birthdays and at Christmas.

He became a willing ear to all the trials and tribulations of my junior high and high school life. He knew about my crushes before anyone else did.

He was good at keeping secrets.

And he went everywhere with us.

When we went to the lake for vacation, he came with us. When we jumped into the water, he followed suit. He didn't much like it, I don't think. He'd swim to a raft and clamber up on it as soon as he could. But he was in the water with us and that's what mattered most to him.

My mom would pick me up from school everyday at 3:00pm and he came with her. He loved to ride in the "car-car" particularly when he would be ooh-ed and aah-ed over by a bunch of kids.

He was kind of a ham.

When my sister and I practiced the piano, he would sit and howl along. When I practiced basketball in the driveway in junior high, he would try to steal the ball from me.

In high school, when my friends came over, he was there with us. He always liked the girls but would bark if one of the boys got too close.

And when we were home sick from school, he would jump up on the couch with us and doze at our feet all day long.

When I turned 16, and drove myself to and from school, he still would run to the front door everyday at 3 o'clock and sit. Ready to pick me up. Ever hopeful, he did this all through high school and, I think, even into my first year of college.

And when I left home for that first year of college, the only time I got teary-eyed was when I walked out the door for the final time and told my dog goodbye.

I'd like to think the separation was hard on him too although I'm sure he recovered. But he did sniff under my door every morning on his way downstairs.

Just to check.

At some point in college, I convinced my parents that it would be a great idea to bring Nick up to visit. I met them at their hotel which had a big lawn area in front.

And when he came running across the grass to me, I was relieved that my dog hadn't forgotten me. That he could recognize me still.

That turned out to be his last big adventure.

He was getting older, after all, and in 2005 he had a stroke. We thought that might be the end. But it wasn't. He bounced right back.

And for the past 3 years, his health and demeanor have been good. He's been normal and happy. I always knew that when he started to deteriorate, we would have to put him down.

I just figured that would never happen. Some part of me, maybe that 10-year old part of me, thought he'd live forever.

But last Tuesday, he got sick. And by Thursday it was apparent he wasn't going to get better so I took him to the vet.

And now that I think about it, this was the last time he would be the same old Nick. This was the last time he would be alert and happy. This was the last time I'd see his tail wag.

But I didn't know that then.

The vet kept him overnight and let us take him home the next day, thinking the cause of his upset stomach was the presence of a “foreign object” that would eventually pass.

But he wasn't himself.

All weekend, he paced. He was restless, uncomfortable and inconsolable.

We took him to the vet first-thing Monday. The vet said things did not look good. He said the mass in his stomach had eventually passed so this was unrelated.

Nicholas was sleeping in my lap but when I handed him over he started trying to bite the vet's hands. And then he started barking.

It was the first time I heard him bark in days. And it broke my heart.

The vet finally set Nick on the floor so he could pace. At one point, Nick walked over to my chair and licked my ankle twice.

A lick from Nicholas is his way of saying, "Hello! I'm glad you’re here!"

I think this time, this last time, he was saying goodbye.

The vet wanted to keep him for a few days.

But by Wednesday morning, it was apparent that Nicholas was dying. He had been having seizures in his cage and they were dosing him with Valium to keep him comfortable.

And his kidneys were failing.

I left work to meet my parents at the vet. We had made the decision to put him down.

The three of us stood around our dog, trying to reconcile the dog in front of us to the dog we knew. The Valium had caused him to sleep and the warm air coming from his nose created a foggy area of condensation on the examining table.

The vet said he would probably be gone before he was even finished with the injection.

The drip-drip from the sink in the room ticked off the seconds and I watched that foggy area shrink and disappear.

I tell myself that he lived a good, long life. And that is true. He did.

But as I sit here now, I still have his hair on my shirt.

And I miss him.

He was a good dog.

Picture of the Day

Before the Bloom

Sometimes, flowers are pretty before they bloom too.

This is one of the flowers in our "wildflower" mix. I'm not sure what kind of flower it is. Its leaves look like dill leaves but I'll be sure to post a picture of it when it blooms.

Picture of the Day

We found this caterpillar munching on our dill.

Two days later he was in a cocoon.

(This one's for you Colin.)

70's Solar Tea

We set out to make some sun tea and so we "borrowed" my mom's sun tea jar. I say "borrowed" because, since my mom hasn't made sun tea in years and has no plans to make it in the future, the jar is most likely ours now.

I remember this jar from when I was a kid but I forgot that,instead of being a mere sun tea jar, this is a "SOLAR TEA" jar. "SOLAR TEA" sounding, in my head, like a Don Pardo announcement.

The last time either of us had sun tea was when were doing an internship at an organic farm in North Carolina. Honestly, in terms of thirst quenching-ness, nothing comes close to sun tea on a hot day.

In preparation for our sun tea, we harvested stevia from our garden. Stevia is a natural sweetener but it is very strong so we would only need 1 or 2 leaves. We are drying several bunches of it in our apartment but I'm not sure what to do with it once it has dried. I guess that's another day, another post.



We also harvested some mint from just-outside-our-garden. Our own mint isn't quite up to snuff yet but Adam found some wild mint growing around our fence. It smelled like catnip to me but I trusted the botanist in Adam and picked it.


Once we got home, we just shredded up the leaves and wrapped them in a piece of cheesecloth.


Then we set it on our fire-escape and, after a few hours, we had our sun tea. The mint was STRONG and the stevia wasn't but it was good.

Turns out, SOLAR tea made on a fire-escape off of a small apartment is just as good as sun tea made on a picnic table on a farm.

And that is good to know.

Picture of the Day

Don't call it a comeback


Yet.

But, do you see what I see?

A bell pepper flower? With beautiful green leaves surrounding it?

So exciting!

I'm trying not to let my bell pepper dreams run away with me but I'm already thinking of all the things I can make with these as-of-yet-nonexistent fruits.

We were about ready to throw in the shovel (sorry, I had to) and then the plants had a rebound. I'm not sure what caused it. We did fertilize them and give them extra water. And when we watered THIS time, they had mulch to protect them from the bacteria that supposedly splashed up on their lower leaves.

We'll see. Keep your fingers crossed and your good bell-pepper vibes coming.

Mission Accomplished?

You may have seen my to-do list for this weekend. And you might be wondering if we accomplished everything we set out to do.

I'm here to say we did.

Almost.

We were able to run around and collect some mulch. We got a bag of magnolia leaves from my dad (Big thank-you to the large magnolia tree in my parents' front yard.)

We also got some cardboard from the neighborhood liquor store. (And thank-you, neighbors, for the large amounts of alcohol consumed.)


I've been (not seriously) considering changing the name of this blog to The Great Mulch Experiment.

So far this season, we've used straw, magnolia leaves, oak leaves and mulched trees and other tornado debris.

It was kind of a surprise to discover the mulch that worked the best.

The magnolia leaves!

Take a look at the pictures below.

The first one is a row of okra with no mulch...


...and the second is a row of okra with magnolia leaf mulch.

There's not a weed to be found in the magnolia mulch.

Now take a look at our potato plants which were mulched with oak leaves. Do you notice some weeds poking through?


So, I'd say the breakdown of mulch (best to worst) goes something like this:

1. Magnolia leaves
2. Straw
3. Mulched trees and tornado debris
4. Oak leaves

Other than The Great Mulch Experiment, we also watered, fertilized, harvested and made pickles.

The fertilizing and pickling will have to wait for another post.

The pesto-making was the only item not crossed off our to-do list. However, my weekend is technically not over yet because I have Monday off. So...

The harvest today included:

okra
tomatoes
cucumbers
herbs
flowers
and......
POTATOES

Apparently, when the potato plant gets all wilty and dead-looking (see above) the potatoes are ready. So we pulled about 4-5 plants today and found roughly 20 Yukon Golds awaiting us.


I plan on roasting these with the herbs we harvested today: rosemary, thyme and oregano.

Yum.

If you remember, we planted several cut potatoes. This is what it looked like when we pulled the plant:


Sometimes, you can get something from nothing!

Lesson learned.

Picture of the Day

Can you spot the bug on this corn "feather?"

Did you find it?

Well, that one was a warm-up.

What about this next one. Can you see the bug on the flower stalk?


A bit tricky, isn't it?

Every time we go to the farm, I spot a new bug or two. I'm not sure what they are called. I'm not even sure if they are good or bad. (Although, I'm sure Adam knows.)

But I'm hoping that it's about half and half.

And that the good half like to eat the bad half.

But I'll stay away from the insecticides and let the bugs fight their own battles.

Picture of the Day

Happy 4th of July!

What's prettier than a firecracker?

A butterfly.

This one made a pit stop at one of the wildflowers in our garden. Butterflies, hummingbirds and honeybees have all stopped by our little patch of garden and we couldn't be happier.

There is also a baby bunny rabbit somewhere in the garden. Our plot neighbors are horrified but we think he's cute. I haven't been able to get a picture of him.

Yet.

In case you are wondering, and I know you are, this butterfly is a Black Swallowtail and is found primarily in "open fields and woodland meadows." * That fits the environment surrounding our plot to a T.

*This is according to the A Golden Guide: Butterflies and Moths book that Adam handed to me when I asked, "I wonder what he's called?

Distracted To-Do

I have been slightly off this week. Perhaps it is because it is a shortened holiday week. Perhaps it is because I started my new summer schedule at work. Perhaps it is because I've slept in my bed only once in the past 7 days.

Whatever the reason, I'm off.

For instance, I made pesto. With our basil. From our farm.

And took no pictures. Not a one.

When we went to the farm this evening, I forgot my camera. So I couldn't take a picture of the large and numerous bugs eating our collards.

Or the new sunflower blossoms that opened recently.

I couldn't even document the fact that our peppers may be (fingers crossed) on the rebound. We have new foliage. New flowers and a few actual peppers.

And no pictures.

So I can't provide any pictures for this post. But I can provide the following list.

A farming to-do list for the long holiday weekend:

1. Weed the areas we haven't mulched yet.
2. Mulch the areas we haven't mulched yet.
3. Fertilize everything.
4. Water everything.
5. Harvest.
6. Make more pesto. Take pictures.
7. Make "easy" dill pickles. Take pictures.
8. Make zucchini bread. Take pictures.
9. Make sun tea. Take pictures.
10. Blog about it all.

Picture of the Day

Beans, Reaching

I think I said before that the okra plants were my favorite. But I think I may have changed my mind. The beans are now my favorite. It is so amazing to me that they instinctively (do plants have instincts?) reach out to find something to climb.

And that they can stay sticking straight out in the air, with no support, and not flop down.

The only thing I like more about beans is eating them.

Same with the okra.