State of the Fields (July 18th)

 I am sure its much like most people, I have troubles drawing the lines between my work and the rest of my life.  I even tell people my job isn't a career its a lifestyle.  Even when I get a the occasional day of from the farm, if I don't leave town I'll end up there a couple times that day.  With the best intentions to focus on me and the things I would like to get accomplished in my yard, work beckons. 
Yesterday, started as a rain day, which can truly be glorious.  We received some much needed rain and I got a chance to sleep in.  Goals for the day were simple... write, garden and take some pictures in the yard.  Time allowing, go to the gym (didn't happen) and then dinner in the Cities.  I needed to tend to my tomato plants, they look the best that they've ever looked in my backyard.  Is it appropriate to look to plants with pride?  They've all been caged but needed some additional tomato clips to reign in some stray branches (this required a drive to the farm for supplies).  I also had to work on a "new" grape arbor that I just added to the yard (will share more details another time).  And through this process I brought along my stills camera to document the Joy in the Garden. 

Indigo Rose Tomato: Purple on the outside, will be red on the inside.
Bred for having the highest concentration of anthocyanins which have great antioxidant capabilities.

 

Red Zebra Tomatoes: Still green but looking pretty.

Striped Caverns: When the show some red, I'll be ready to stuff them for a delicious dinner.

More fruit to come.

 

 

 

 

 

Redbor Kale: Tasty and Beautiful.

Alma Paprika: I started growing this one for an appetizer dish involving cream cheese and bacon bits.... mmm.

Garlic: Hung out to dry, in a good way.

 This is where my walk around my back yard came to an end, and work blurs with play.  When your backyard over looks this, its hard not to take a stroll.  Through the deer gates, I continued my photo survey and decided to document it as a State of the Fields: July 18th.

Through the gates we can see low ground fields, a place mother spent most of her childhood summers and where we grow the best cucumbers for pickles around.

Kohlrabi: a tasty treat.  Hard to believe that his sister is a cabbage. 

There is dill in many stages timed out for season long pickling.

Bees can be found all throughout the farm, with thirty-six hives we know someone is always tending the crops.

One of our apiaries overlooking the a wildflower meadow and a cucumber patch,
I sure hope all that clover doesn't distract them from those cucumber blossoms.

 

Pumpkins growing for fall.

This one seems to be running a bit early?!

There is wagon-fulls of pumpkins out there!  Just beneath the green canopies.

Seems the 10 foot fence wasn't enough, this six inch one should keep them out. 
Electrified to keep the raccoons from harvesting the sweet corn before we can.

Four varieties of corn to ripen throughout the summer and fall.... I could eat it for every meal.

The rain has transitioned to overcast leaving a moist breeze in the air and lasting droplets on most everything. 

Squash.  Squash leaves, hope there's tasties beneath those.

This is a good sign, the curly-q marks the ripening melon.  Three dry pig tails and the right vibrations after a tap will let us know when to pick them.

Red hot chilli peppers: I hear they're hot and red.

Banana peppers can be both hot and sweet, both tasty.

Eggplant; blossoms present, and fruit coming along nicely.

A sea of peppers. 

Tomatoes. Staked and growing nicely.

Looks like a field of corn... but the Corn Maze is taking shape and is taller than me in places.

There is red and ripe tomatoes at the stand from the High Tunnel providing us all with delicious tomatoes. 

Many beautiful plants throughout the Garden Center.

Foliage plants can bring some of the tropics right to our Northern part of the world. 

The fresh rain has left it's mark in the soil.  And my day.

This concludes my State of the Fields walk, apparently the pull of the fields drew me out of my own yard once again.

A Spring is Loose.

 Spring inspires me. There is so much that happens in such a little seasonal window.  After a drab winter it can bring on a much needed revitalization. It is all about new beginnings, a yearly chance to start again. These trees and plants have saved up as much energy as they could last season to prevail through a winter which they didn't know for how long or when they'd get a chance to grow again.
Through this botanical patience they wait for signs of spring; and when it arrives, whether it is the warmer nights and soil temperatures or increased day length the plants begin their yearly adventure. Some bloom long before they break bud, ensuring the passing of their genes before consideration of their own needs. All this fresh foliage brightens my days, as I watch the transition from browns to reds, greens and yellows. it is hard to take a walk without a smile.   
 In life we are given opportunities to start again without knowing the outcome.  Much like a flower's growth each spring; if it knew of a frosty morning in the ten day forecast would that prevent it from trying?  How long do we put things off when we worry of the risks and outcomes, could we miss spring because we are worried of frost?

On Easter Sunday I took a walk with my family and  my camera.  We walked the whole farm, and ended up in my yard. Here is a bit of the signs of spring that I thought were note worthy.
 

The Tulips in my mom's yard had brought out the color for the start of the glorious morning. 

Plum blossoms on green canvas.  Note: Plum blossoms smell much better than pear blossoms.

'Goldheart' Bleeding Heart.  Yet to fully bloom but adding some great color to the yard.

Oak: huge tree, tiny blossoms. 

Maple seeds developing; from the edge of the low ground I saw this tree just speckled with red.  Closer inspection through the swamp revealed the red to be the samaras of the maple providing the glow of red.

Another Maple with its seeds on display. 

 

The garlic has made it through the winter swimmingly, and in no time they'll be adding much appreciated flavor to nearly every meal in my kitchen. 

Hot air balloon parade to finish off the walk. 

Thanks for joining me on this Spring walk.  I hope your days are full of just enough rain and plenty of sunshine.

'Ser Salsa Verde es Facil'

What happens when you plant four tomatillo plants in your backyard garden?

You realize by the end of the summer that you've done nothing with them and there is ripe fruit sprawling throughout that corner of the garden. Which can mean only one thing: another canning adventure on Mainstreet!   In a house without a complete kitchen, the plan was to a make a small batch of Salsa Verde for fajitas: simple, Make Dinner and Eat Salsa.  

The recipes I found were a bit more involved than just a small batch for dinner.  And besides I had the quantities of of ingredients for enough to can a whole batch, and then some.  As I began to compare the three recipes I found, one in Balls Blue Book of preserving, the other two were web sources I realized I liked bits of all three, so I took from all to come up with this one.  

Utilizing what I had available from my garden and Mom's pantry (apparently I didn't have white vinegar or cumin) and the store.  Lemon Juice and Lime Juice... I've yet to get any of my citrus trees to bear fruit (let alone live) in my Minnesota backyard. 

'Ser Salsa Verde es Facil'

Ingredients:

Chop & Cook:	8 cups of Tomatillo 2 cups of Onions 7 Ancho Hot Peppers 8 Cloves of Garlic 2 Jalapenos
Add:	½ cup of Vinegar (white) ½ cup of Lime Juice ½ cup of Lemon Juice 2 tsp Cumin ½ tsp Salt ¼ tsp Sugar

Directions:

Bring salsa to a boil then simmer for 20 min to an hour, or until Salsa reaches desired thickness. Fill salsa into sterilized half pint jars and hot water bath process for 20 mins.  

 

After over on hour of finely chopping vegetables, my brother who was keeping me company (not helping, just keeping company) said, 'Well I am going to bed, but it looks like you've got at least another 45 minutes left of chopping those tomatillos.'  At that point I decided I had enough chunks to the salsa and concluded that the rest could be blended.  After adding the halved tomatillos to the blender with the vinegar needed for the recipe, I myself was in bed within 5 minutes and the chopped veggies were in the fridge waiting to be cooked down the following night.

 

 Not knowing how it was all going to end up... and assuming it would be a better snacker salsa than a stand alone meal like my family's tomato based salsa, I decided to use tiny (4oz) jars.  They are cute and could be used as single serving salsa jars or as gifts.  I didn't thing a single quart jar would be a wise use of salsa or time, since it would have taken up most of the batch.

I am very satisfied with the end result of the salsa... thirteen 4 oz jars.  The home grown products may have slowed down the chopping, my onions were all smaller than ping pong balls.  I spun quite a few LPs during the process.  I could bump up the heat next time around... more Jalapenos or even Serrano peppers like one of the recipes suggested.  There is a strong citrus finish that I enjoy but may scale the lemon/lime back just a bit.  The white vinegar adds some acidity so there isn't such a need for citrus juice.

Mighty tasty, I found another great condiment to add to my morning egg routine. 

Salsa Verde Recipe at Food.com

Salsa Verde at Simply Recipes

Guide to Garlic Planting

Andrew’s Guide to Planting Garlic

Here we plant garlic shortly after the first frost, optimally early to mid October.  You’ll want to start with preparing the soil: Roto-til, break up the hard pan/ add compost, etc.  Garlic likes loose and rich soil with good drainage. 

The night before you plan on planting: Separate out the cloves from the bulbs, leaving the outer layer of skin still on individual cloves. 

Soak overnight in water (1 Tbs Baking Soda to 1 gallon of water), this process essentially ‘wakes up’ the cloves and helps them get a jumpstart on hydrating.

The following day: drain off water mixture.

Garlic in each bowl is a different variety soaking before planting.

An additional step would be to soak the cloves in Rubbing Alcohol for 4 minutes, this will kill off any soil contaminates that may have arrived in seed bulbs and will help ensure you will have healthy plants. 

Place each clove in a hole 4” deep and 6-8” apart.  Pointed end up, root base on bottom of hole.  Cover with compost and mulch.     

Burry and wait.  Within 4-8 weeks the cloves will begin to sprout, what is important is they are setting their roots to hold them in place through the winter.  Growing garlic in the northern climates it is recommended that you use hardneck varieties and mulch them for winter protection. 

When green sprouts in spring, make sure you have a nice coverage of mulch to keep weeds off the plants, garlic doesn’t enjoy weed competition.  Keep them irrigated through June, garlic needs an 1” of rainfall per week… but stop any fertilizing in the middle of May.  Weeding is important, as weeds steal moisture and nutrients from your plants and rob you of bulb size. 

Remove the “scapes” as they appear.  This too will limit bulb size.  Once the curly stems are 10” tall they make a great addition to soups and stir fry. Scapes provide some great garlic flavor, I've had great luck just throwing them whole into crock pot recipes. 

Watch:  as plants mature you can begin harvesting when the first bottom leaf begins to yellow and before the three from the bottom brown and shrivel.  Planting more than one variety of garlic allows you to have different maturation times and can extend your garlic harvest. Harvest while they still have five green leaves, after that point the cloves may begin to separate from each other. 

Allow to dry in a shady, breezy locations for two – four weeks to cure.     

Store the Garlic in net bags with 50-70 degrees and 45-55 percent humidity.  Don’t refrigerate. 

Find a use for garlic in every meal, can you?  Its delicious.

                                                                        Questions? andrew@walochfarm.com

Sources of Information and Garlic that I've used.

Gourmet Garlic Gardens Guide to all things Garlic
Seed Savers guide to growing Galric
Irish Eyes Seed Garlic Guide