Author name: Angela Baker

First Day of Autumn

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It has been three months since I last posted an update.  Three months ago tomorrow, I broke my leg quite badly at derby practice, and have spent the summer recovering from two subsequent reconstructive surgeries.

Hard Wear

They tell me it takes a full year to be back (as close) to normal (as the ankle can get).  In the last two weeks, I’ve finally been able to get out in the garden for a few hours each day.  While I have some complications, and still have a brace and need to use one crutch, being back in the garden has done wonders for my recovery.  It is such a gift to be able to get around outdoors – however slowly – and tend to the garden – however wild it has become.  It is so so good to get back to any measure of garden work.

A quick glimpse at our morning in the garden:  (Bea, our resident shutterbug, took all of these pictures, as I was ecstatically hobbling around the yard with a crutch in one hand and pruners in the other.):

IMG_9577[1]The last of the plums were picked today.  They are “Stanley” prune plums in the front yard.  They are ready a full month after the other plums in the yard, so we have had fresh plums throughout the summer.

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IMG_9736[1]The Swiss Chard is a bit out of control in the front beds.  I allow the brightest and most vigorous plants to bolt and then let them self-sow every year.  The result has been bigger plants each year and deep bright pink or red stems in most of the plants.

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The Cox’s Orange Pippin apples are beginning to blush a bit of red.  I am anxious for them to ripen!

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I can never resist snacking on Cape Gooseberries (Physalis peruviana, which are also known as Inca berries).  They always ripen at the very end of summer after most fruits have peaked.  The late ripening, plus their sweet-tart exotic flavor makes them worth growing, no matter how small the crop.

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September also yields a flush of tomatillos.  Much like green beans, the fruit loves to hide:  you can pick a plant through, come back five minutes later and pick another full basket worth.

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When placed together, it is easy to see that the tomatillo (“De Milpa” variety), Cape Gooseberry, and ground cherry all belong to the genus Physalis.  Their papery husks keep the fruit clean, even when it falls from the plant at peak ripeness.

IMG_9747[1]While I picked tomatillos, the older children made and elaborate game for George that involved gathering beans from the “Sadie’s Horse Bean” and “Indian Runner” pole beans.  it kept them occupied for a very, very long time.

IMG_9782[1]A portion of this morning’s harvest for Birch Community Services, which included ground cherries, “Violette de Bordeaux” figs, lavender, French Tarragon, “Delicata” squash, tomatoes, summer squash, plums, “Lacinato” (aka “Dinosaur”) kale, Lemon cucumbers, chard, sage, rosemary, and tomatillos.

More soon as the garden winds down for the year, and life slowly returns to a familiar rhythm for our family.

Blessings on your week.

 

 

 

Early Harvests

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Some of the organic produce we have harvested in the past week and a half or so (thank you, volunteers for all your help!).  Slowly, slowly, the gardens are producing more and more food as soil fertility improves, perennial food plants begin producing, and the entire permaculture system matures.

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Early Summer Evening

 

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Walking the gardens in the evening is one of my favorite rituals.  It gives me a chance to take assessment of the various beds, dead-head flowers, pull weeds, prune as necessary.  The front yard perennial bed is beginning to fill in.  Late in the winter, several plants were damaged/destroyed when heavy tree rounds were accidentally dumped in my yard.  Slowly, new perennials are filling in the gaps.  Columbine, Sea Kale (Crambe maritima), Bee Balm, and several other new plants are beginning to establish, despite the slug onslaught.
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The young plum trees (a Methley and an Early Laxton), have set a few fruit, despite my pruning heavily to shape them.  white clover fixes nitrogen below, nestled beneath honeyberries, rhubarb, comfrey, yarrow and other medicinal or edible perennials.  The day lilies are beginning to fill in and bloom, obscuring the fading foliage of daffodils and tulips.
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Behind the Early Laxton plum, a rhubarb’s leaves capture and funnel water to the thirsty tree roots.  An artichoke’s silvery, deeply-cut foliage is a nice contrast to the deep rounded rhubarb leaves and profusion of lacy Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella).

 

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In the backyard, bush beans and Dwarf Curly Scotch kale are growing rapidly.  The spears of garlic foliage are just beginning to turn brown, but the garlic won’t be ready to dig for another 2-4 weeks.

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Ruth, in the side orchard, amidst tiny new Goumi berry (Eleagnus multiflora), Juneberries (Amelanchier alnifolia), Seckel pear, Breda Giant medlar.  In front of her, one of a number of lupines, which fix nitrogen.  Behind her, to the right, comfrey act as dynamic accumulators, and make fabulous fertilizer.

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One of two Angelica plants in the shade garden.  The tiny seedlings are beginning to take off.  They should reach 6 feet by the end of summer.  When they get larger, I would like to make a batch of traditional Angelica candy.

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Velvety thimbleberries, an Oregon native, are beginning to turn color.  While somewhat flavorless and fragile on their own, they will be added to other garden fruits when making jam.

The children enjoy using the large, soft leaves in their make-believe play – they make a fine palette for berry and charcoal paints, or a few laid overlapping can be twisted into a bundle for various treasures (pretty stones, immature hazelnuts, currant berries).

Back tomorrow with some photos of the produce we have been picking the last two weeks.

Early June in the Permaculture Garden

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The first of the goumi berries (Eleagnus multiflora) are ripe.  I picked a handful, and my eldest promptly ate them all.

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We have four goumi bushes (2 of Sweet Scarlet, and 2 of Red Gem), but only two are old enough to produce any berries.  The young plants will produce a few pints of berries -which as you can see in the above photo, ripen in succession – but in the future, we should get more than enough for batches of jam and fruit leather and fresh eating.  As a bonus, the shrubs are nitrogen fixers, so I have situated them near fruit trees in the orchard, and just uphill from one of the raspberry patches.

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Another look at our little persimmon guild.  The Early Fuyu persimmon has lighter colored, glossy leaves (upper right).  Clockwise from the persimmon: chocolate mint, Japanese iris, Russian comfrey, horseradish, mojito mint, black currants.  Unseen are two young lilacs, burdock, a highbush cranberry, and the goumi berry bush shown earlier in the post.

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Adjacent to this guild is a recently added a Smokey Juneberry (Amelanchier alnifolia).  Juneberries are known by many names, including “saskatoons”, “serviceberries”, and my personal favorite, “chuckley pear”.  I ordered three plants of two different varieties from Burnt Ridge Nursery, which arrived as little dormant sticks, but rapidly leafed out and are doing quite well.  It will ultimately grow 6 or more feet tall, and after a flush of fragrant white flowers in late spring, produce abundant harvests of pinkish-purple fruit, rich in vitamin C.

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The black currants all around the yard have been spared the plague of gooseberry fruit flies that have ruined my other currants.

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A final shot of the burdock (with my foot thrown in for scale).  It is such a handsome plant, and growing rapidly.  I have had to remove flower heads multiple times this week, and look forward to trying the root in stir fry later in the summer.

IMG_9417[1]Hal, our six yr-old, thrilled to have found the first ripe red raspberry of the summer.  Gardening with children is such a great experience.  They know the garden and its plants as well as I do, and I hope they will have fond memories of running barefoot in the raspberry patch, snacking as they go.

 

Hidden Corner and Weekly Harvest

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Our chicken coop is a giant monstrosity we acquired four years ago for next to nothing on Craigslist.  It got a window and bright paint and sits very happily in the back of the yard.

Because it is so tall, I knew it needed a vertical climber trained up the side.  I chose Concord grapes, which my grandpa always grew, and remind me of childhood visits to his garden in Indiana.  Concords have a distinct flavor, which grape enthusiasts call “foxy.”  My kids aren’t especially fond of the flavor, but I love them. (There are plenty of other grape varieties in the front yard which they enjoy.)

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I was a bit lazy with my grape pruning last fall, and I had to thin the baby grapes this week.  Looks like we are in for a large crop, nonetheless.

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Behind the chicken coop, tucked back in a corner bordering our two neighbors, is the most precious plant in my garden.  There is a volunteer burdock in the foreground (it has an edible and much-prized root, but I diligently remove flowers before they set seed, as it can become a weed quite easily.)  Russian Bocking Comfrey, black currants, a Goumi berry bush, horseradish, mint, Japanese iris all surround a small tree with glossy leaves:

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This diminutive tree is an Early Fuyu persimmon.  It is the most expensive plant in my garden.  I planted the whip four years ago, and it has twice been broken by small children visiting my yard.  It is incredibly slow growing, adding less than eight inches per year.  Some day it will be a shapely 15 ft specimen loaded with delicious fruit every autumn, but for now, I baby it along, and hope it comes into production before my kids are off to college.

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To round out this little update, here are some of the crates of herbs and rhubarb and such I picked for BCS this week.  Bea cut and tied all of the lavender, but we were sure to leave lots for the bees, and some for our family to use, as well.

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As spring begins to roll into summer, I am trying to let the early hiccups in the garden not get me down, because so much of growing food is out of our control (moles gnawed on some of my dahlias over the winter, killing them.  Slugs have killed a half dozen summer squash seedlings when I wasn’t diligent in slug-picking.  And worst of all, gooseberry maggots in all my red, white and pink currants – after four years of no problems, this year is a total loss, and next year will require floating row covers).

Watching the kids dish huge spoonfuls of homemade rhubarb compote over ice cream, nursing an injured duck back to health, seeing the first of the tomatoes set already, picking food to share with the families at BCS…these things augment the joy inherent in tending a garden.   I think it is going to be a very good growing season.

 

Late May in the Garden, II

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Welcome back!  Today we will walk through our sunny side yard garden, and touch on a few other elements as well.  When we bought our home five years ago, the yard was all sod, weeds, a split ornamental plum, invasive bamboo.  All of those elements are gone now, and we have been adding more perennial crops and improving the garden design as time and budget allow.  One of the first plants we began to add is the highbush blueberry.   Because plants can take five or more years to establish and produce a mature harvest, we wanted to get them going as soon as possible.

Altogether, we have eleven high bush blueberries, four half-highs.  Last year, we added seven low bush blueberries, which are easily tucked in among other plants and produce smaller, but more flavorful berries.  This year, for the first time, we will get a decent harvest of blueberries!  We are certainly looking forward to increasing yields over the next several years.

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Red raspberries in the side yard. They are unaffected by the fungal disease that has required me to rip up all my red raspberries in the backyard.
In the side yard, and across the path from the highbush blues, two quince trees, strawberries, marionberries and raspberries grow along the fence.

The quince trees bloom first, followed by strawberries, then raspberries, then the marionberries.  A sequential floral feast is available to the honeybees all spring.

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Looking toward the backyard, the quince (trained as a bush) in the foreground screens the fairy garden and Sunchoke patch.  Around a young Ashmead’s Kernel apple, directly in front of the shed, an apple guild serves as the children’s fariy garden.  Iris, columbine, mint, dwarf English lavender, rhubarb, yarrow, peonies, borage, bee balm and a newly planted lilac are all beginning to establish themselves.  These plants all benefit the apple tree and its pollinators, and provide a playspace for the children, who tuck sea shells, stones, old wicker baskets in for the fairies.

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Here is a view from the shed, looking up the little side yard path.  day lilies and horseradish line the left side of the path before the blueberries.  A rambling female fuzzy kiwi (left and top foreground) likes to send tendrils out after the apple tree, and I am constantly coaxing her back over the shed.

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This year, we will get dozens and dozens of quince.  The leaves of the trees are affected a bit by rust, but it never seems to bother the fruit.

The weekend is packed with derby for me and the girls, but I will have a post up early next week.  Next will be a visit to the backyard gardens, including the bulk of the orchard space, annual beds, and a visit to my favorite and most stubbornly slow growing plant in the garden.

Blessings on your weekend.

Late May in the Garden Part I

Front yard perennial bed, a mix of edibles and beneficial flowering plants.
Front yard perennial bed, a mix of edibles and beneficial flowering plants.

It has been a long, long time since I’ve done a garden update.  Many things have changed as a succession of new plants have been added, and ten yards of wood chips spread about.   Nitrogen fixers and annual veggies have given way to a maturing system full of edible perennials and low-maintenance food cultivation.  So, let’s take a quick tour of the front yard and shade gardens, shall we?

IMG_9322[1]I consider the front beds adjacent to the street to be my “good neighbor” beds.  I try to keep them as aesthetically pleasing as possible, and let them serve as an advertisement for the beauty as well as the functionality of permaculture.  The beds are full of spring bulbs, lilacs, and a steady succession of summer flowers such as yarrow (red, above left), salvias, columbine, and many, many others.  The fact that these lovely plants all have medicinal or edible uses, or provide a benefit to edible plants here, is entirely on purpose.

In this bed, (clockwise from bottom left) yarrow, honeyberries, comfrey (background), love-in-a-mist, leeks, nasturtium, and a young peony all coexist quite happily, providing a mix of texture and color, and of course, food.

IMG_9326[1]IMG_9327[1]We have five honeyberry bushes (two early and three late), all planted last year.  This year, we will get perhaps four quarts of berries of off these edible members of the honeysuckle family.  The early varieties are nearly ripe, and it is only May!  Although they are a bit acidic, their flavor is similar to a blueberry mixed with a blackberry, and their extremely early ripening time, compact size and handsome shape make them a good plant for the small-scale permaculturist or home gardener.

IMG_9330[1]I love lush, closely packed groupings of plants of varying textures.  When these plants are collected around a fruit tree, and all somehow benefit each other, we call this grouping of plants a “guild”.  Here I have an Italian prune plum guild: Russian Bocking comfrey (dynamic accumulator and fantastic bumblebee food source), bronze fennel, which hosts beneficial insects (as do the love-in-a-mist, columbine and yarrow planted close by).  Honeyberries, pink and white currants provide additional fruit crops at varying times.  Rhubarb provides an early food crop, but its large leaves collect and funnel rain down to the base of the tree and its large roots help break up dense soil.

Perhaps you noticed the rocks hanging from the plum tree?  What are they?

IMG_9315[1]Here is a better example on another plum tree.  When fruit branches grow at a narrow angle (less than 45 degrees), they can easily split once loaded with fruit.  Some varieties are more prone to narrow branching than others.  In order to prevent damage to a tree you have spent many years caring for, it is best to help stretch young branches to a stronger angle.  One way to do this is to tie rocks to young flexible branches until they are pulled down to a wider angle.  By training the tree this way when it is young, it will not split under the weight of its own fruit in a few years.

IMG_9338[1]I am a sucker for oriental poppies.  They have a large root and attract insects, so I think they serve a purpose in the permaculture garden.  The way they lift the mood and make me smile means they deserve a space even if they have no other function.  (However, the moles in the garden have taken to digging them up and killing them.  Perhaps there are tasty grubs congregating at their roots?  I have lost three this spring.)

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The front yard contains more beds with apples and lowbush blueberries, aronia berries, and high bush blueberries.  It also contains lots of annual beds, which volunteers helped me plant with tomatillos, summer squash, tomatoes, kale, beets and Cape Gooseberries this week.  But those photos are for another day, later in the summer.

On the way to the side shade garden, you must enter through a gate, over which the hops have gotten a bit rambunctious this year.  Only May, and they are sprawling up and over everything.  They emit a delicious herbal smell as you brush past them.

IMG_9347[1]The shade garden has a large collection of natives, including salal and evergreen huckleberry.  It also contains non-native edibles such as goji berry, jostaberry, lingonberries, Angelica, anise hyssop, spearmint, and white currants.

It is suddenly getting a burst of sunshine this year since our neighbor removed a large holly tree, and I am tempted to put in a sun-loving plant right where that bolt of sunlight streams in, because the salal there is not enjoying 8 hours of bright sun.

IMG_9361[1]The thimbleberries – a thornless native raspberry relative which slowly spreads by rhizomes – are absolutely alive with the buzz of honeybees and bumblebees.  While the fruit is not spectacular, it is a good addition to other jams and jellies, and the good it does the bees means it needs a place in every shady garden in the Northwest.

IMG_9354[1]We anticipate a bumper crop of elderberries in the shade garden.  The two planted here get less than four hours of sun a day, but seem perfectly content.  This enormous beast is a “York”, which has grown much taller than the catalog suggested it would.  This year we will remove the oldest trunks (technically stems) which promotes the growth of new, more productive shoots from the base of the shrub.

IMG_9357[1]Before all the flowers are pollinated, I will harvest some this week for a batch of elderflower cordial.

Hope you enjoyed the quick tour of a small part of farmette.  Please stop back later this week with an update on the orchard, back and sideyard gardens.

Blessings on the rest of your week, and hope you have the same gorgeous spring weather we have been having here in Portland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snowy Yarn Along

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George peered out the window this morning and asked, “Where all my snow go?”  Winter’s brief visit has ended, leaving us a landscape of sodden ground and emerging daffodils.

While we were snowed in for four brief days, I baked – and my voracious mob of children consumed – four loaves of bread, endless desserts, and two 9×13 dishes of oatmeal applesauce cake.  The original gluten-free recipe can be found here, but due the flurry of baking and our inability to get to a grocery, I was forced to rework the recipe around the contents of my pantry.  The resulting changes yielded a moist, chewy, delicious dessert as good or better than the original, so I thought I would share the altered recipe here:

Make-Do Oatmeal Applesauce Snack Cake

In a small sauce pan, combine:

1 C whole milk

1 1/2 C applesauce 

1 heaping C rolled oats (NOT steel-cut)

Cook together on med-low heat, until oats are cooked thoroughly.  Allow to cool to room temp.

While the oat mixture cooks, use a stand mixer with paddle attachment to cream:

1/4 C unsalted butter

1/4 C hazelnut oil (or other mild-flavored oil)

3/4 C sugar (I used natural unrefined sugar)

1/4 C maple syrup

1 C dark brown sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Add 2 large eggs (I used duck eggs), one at a time, and beating thoroughly between each addition.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients:

1/2 C whole wheat flour

1/2 C spelt flour (you can use an additional 1/2 C whole wheat if you don’t have spelt flour)

2 tbsp flaxseed meal

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

pinch of clove

With mixer on low, slowly add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Fold in cooled applesauce mixture.  Pour into a greased 9×13 casserole dish, sprinkle with natural sugar.  Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out relatively clean.  Cake will be moist and gooey.  

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In the midst of cabin fever, worked on lots of craft projects.  Between outings in the snow, I accomplished a fair amount of knitting, while the kids went through a ream of construction paper.  The living room was strewn with paper snippets, duct tape, crayons, stickers, and creative energy.  Ruth was cranking out Valentine’s, Bea built a blue paper TARDIS, and Hal and George created a giant stack of doodles.

Sandra’s Slouchy Beret (above) was a fast, easy project – perfect for knitting while watching Dr. Who with the family.  It is made from scraps of yarn, and completed in a few hours.  The beret is currently blocking (a necessary step), and I’ve already cast on another quick-knit.

Sharing with Ginny’s Yarn Along today.  I hope to be back before the weekend with some gardening posts, as we redesign some beds, add perennials, and begin seed starting for the 2014 garden year!!

 

Meyer Lemon

 

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Portland is in the midst of a rare snow storm, and all our weekend plans (derby, derby, speed skating, and more derby) have been canceled.  Instead, we have been playing in the snow and sledding and making snow ice cream.

And baking.  Lots of baking.  Something about the arrival of snow, inability to do garden work, a chilly house…a few days into the cold front, and I’ve done so much baking we’ve run out of butter.  And sugar.

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Meyer lemons are in season right now, – a perfect opportunity to try a new lemon bar recipe.  They were delicious!  (Just a note, the lemon bars are gooey, and the original recipe recommends lining the baking dish in aluminum foil.   I don’t like to bake anything acidic in foil, and used buttered parchment instead.  As you can see, the bars came out easily, and baked perfectly.)

IMG_9182With the leftover seeds, Bea wanted to try out an activity she saw on Pinterest.

IMG_9184 IMG_9185We put the pot in a sunny window and hope they germinate.

IMG_9197Looks like the snow will continue through the night, so Ruth and I are making one of our favorite bread recipes after supper.  That way, we’ll have a hearty breakfast of homemade bread, marmalade, and scrambled eggs to bolster us before we head out to play in the fresh snow.  Who knows how many years it will be before we have the opportunity to build snowmen again?

 

Midwinter Sunshine

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Off the needles:   A simple pair of mitts for a gift exchange, to which I added a little needle-felted embellishment.

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Ruth painted a cheery sun on the card and we sewed a drawstring gift bag to round out the gift, and packaged it up.   It was sent it on its way across the country, where it will bring a fellow Grinnellian some Christmas cheer.

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To bring our own family a bit of sunshine in midwinter, a batch of sunny bright marmalade was in order.  I was planning on plain old orange, but when I managed to get my hands on a bowl full of calamondins this week, I knew they were destined for marmalade perfection.  Calamondins are petite, seedy and extremely sour citrus.  However, jam connoisseurs (like Bea, who absolutely relishes marmalade) consider marmalade made with these little oranges to be the finest around.

Calamondins have a slightly smoky, musky – almost black currant – undertone that lends a subtle complexity to the finished jam.  The peel melts in as it cooks, providing texture and flavor, without any detracting chunkiness or bitterness.  If you are lucky enough to be able to source calamondins, the flavor is well worth the extra effort of seeding and slicing dozens of miniature oranges.  If not, you can substitute satsuma tangerines for sweeter finished product, or Meyer lemons for an extra tart marmalade.  Here is my recipe:

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Calamondin Marmalade for Bea

Calamondins (see substitutions above), halved, seeded, and sliced paper thin, to equal 3 cups of pulp + peel (about 40 fruits)

2 1/4 cups water (or 3/4 cup water for every cup of citrus pulp)

White sugar

Directions:

-In a medium heavy-bottomed sauce pan, combine pulp and water.  On medium heat, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  (You can do this the night before and refrigerate it.)

-Prep all your canning equipment.  Bring hot water bath canner full of water up to a boil.  Sterilize jars, heat lids and rings.

-Measure pulp.  It should equal 4 cups (give or take).  In a large heavy-bottomed pot, combine sugar and pulp in a 1:1 ratio (add 1 cup of white sugar for every cup of pulp).  Bring to a boil, and cook until jelly point (22oF) is reached.  (Alternately, you use the spoon method to determine when the jam is finished.).

-Citrus is high in pectin, so be careful not to overcook, or you will have unpleasant sheets of rubbery pectin in the finished product.  Remove jam from the heat, and stir once a minute for four minutes (this distributes the peel, so it does not all float to the top of each jar).  After four to five minutes, the jam can be jarred up.

-Pour marmalade into hot sterilized jars, add lids and secure rings.  Process 1/2 pints in a hot water bath canner for five minutes.

And to bring a little cheer to your midwinter as we turn back to the sun, a few lines from one of our favorite books of poetry - A Visit To William Blake’s Inn by Nancy Willard – and its delightful Marmalade Man:

The man in the marmalade hat
bustled through all the rooms,
and calling for dusters and brooms
he trundled the guests from their beds,
badgers and hedgehogs and moles.
Winter is over, my loves, he said.
Come away from your hollows and holes.

 

 

 

December Afternoon

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Knitting a few rows on some Toasty mitts ,

IMG_9031IMG_9040Daily checks on fermenting veggies.  Jalapeno Purple kraut all finished and getting jarred up for gifts.  Plain sauerkraut coming along nicely.  It will be ready to serve with Christmas dinner. (The weight goes back on top when I’m done checking, so all cabbage is submerged below the brine.)

IMG_9024Vying for space in front of the heater vent to thaw frozen fingers and toes,

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Enjoying the ever-rotating display of Christmas decorations the children arrange and rearrange as they play with them.

Back tomorrow with a recipe for the coming Solstice, and some more knitted gifts.

‘Tis the Season

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Merry Christmas!  I’m trying to post a bit for the holidays, as time permits.  We will see if I can keep it up.  My laptop is still broken, so I am borrowing my husband’s late at night after the kids are in bed.   The girls and I spend much of our spare time with speed skating club and the girls’ roller derby (I’m joining the recreational league in January!).  Hal is learning to read and endlessly creating Lego sculptures, and George is full of joy and wonder and 2 yr-old energy.  We are making all sorts of changes in the back yard gardens when the weather permits.  Life is busy and good and we are enjoying slowing down a bit for the holidays.

The last week or so, we have been trying to finish up Christmas presents and school projects.  I was a bit late in potting-up the paperwhites, but hope they will bloom in time for New Year’s Day.  One for us in a newly-found blue dish from the thrift store, and two for gifts.

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I had a little helper bundle up to help me in the chill and sunshine:

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Be back very soon with some requested recipes and more of our Advent season.

Blessings.

 

Early September in the Garden/ Transitions

Purple "de Milpa" tomatillos. As tasty as they are beautiful.
Purple “de Milpa” tomatillos. As tasty as they are beautiful.

Well, the photo editor/uploader issues with WordPress haven’t been fixed yet, but I’m going to try and get a few images to upload for this post.  I wish the uploader would cooperate, and I could share photos of all the garden is producing – Sunchokes 10 feet fall, baskets (and bellies) full of “Fall Gold” raspberries, ducks laying pale green eggs every day, broody chickens, yarrow and salvia and dahlias splashing every corner with color…

I love the transition of early September, when we are just beginning to be weary of summer, but not quite ready for the dreariness that Oregon offers the rest of the year.  The plants and bees are frantic to do their work before fall sets in, and the cooler weather and episodes of rain have re-greened every inch of the garden.  The front and backyards are bursting with tomatoes, tomatillos, summer squash, chard, kale, elderberries and ripening quince, winter squash, and apples.

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Runner beans are beginning to dry. Looking forward to a few pots of soup from 1 teepee's worth of vines.
Runner beans are beginning to dry. Looking forward to a few pots of soup from 1 teepee’s worth of vines.

The difficulties of malfunctioning WordPress haven’t been a bad thing, really.  Taking a break from blogging and my FB page has been a good thing for me – less stress, more free time with the kids.   I have learned to roller skate (never skated as a kid!) and am training with Ruth and Bea for roller derby (they play, I fall a bunch and try to learn a fraction of the skills they have acquired).  I ended up falling at skating class and jacking up my left arm, so typing is slow and one-handed at the moment (another reason to take a break from blogging).  (I am very much looking forward to getting back on skates when the splint comes off in a week or two – I may not be a good skater (yet!) but it is something I can do with my girls, good exercise, and a fantastic way to release a lot of accumulated anxieties, worries, frustrations.)

Bea picking dahlias and lavender, both of which are still producing abundantly
Bea picking dahlias and lavender, both of which are still producing abundantly

Time late at night that I would normally spend blogging or reading other blogs, I am now spending exercising and strength building for derby and working on writing projects.   I really miss reading what other blogging families are doing, and seeing other mom’s beautiful handwork and culinary creations – through them I find so many good knitting patterns, book recommendations, recipes, home-education inspiration.   However,  it is also stressful for me and a lot of feelings of inferiority well up with each blog post I view.  The more I read about lives that run so much more smoothly than my own, and view those carefully chosen images, the more I stress about dust bunnies in every corner of my house, kids with tangled hair, house projects unfinished, and piles of unfolded laundry.  When I take a break from the blogosphere, I feel more centered and enjoy my family more, because I am stressing less.  And with the start of our homeschooling year and having a kindergartener, a 3rd grader and a 5th grader, plus a very active 2 yr-old, I need less stress.

Orange beefsteaks with red cherries in the background. Near the house, the beds are overrun with red and yellow "Brandywines" and "Mortgage Lifters". We've been eating "Sun Gold" cherry tomatoes with nearly every meal - so delicious on omelettes or in salads.
Orange beefsteaks with red cherries in the background. Near the house, the beds are overrun with red and yellow “Brandywines” and “Mortgage Lifters”. We’ve been eating “Sun Gold” cherry tomatoes with nearly every meal – so delicious on omelettes or in salads.

So, after sharing this morning’s photos from a few hours in the garden with the kids, I’m not sure when I’ll be back.  I probably won’t be posting regularly for a while, but I will be back now and then to share some of the good things happening in our lives.

Bea picked a handful of lavender for "secret potions"
Bea picked a handful of lavender for “secret potions”
Sweat Meat winter squash vining through the kale
Sweat Meat winter squash vining through the kale
Brandywines with oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and cucumber underneath. We're getting more big ripe beefsteaks this year than in the last three years combined.
Brandywines with oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and cucumber underneath. We’re getting more big ripe beefsteaks this year than in the last three years combined.
Rows and rows of beautiful beneficial (though inedible) mushrooms spring up in all the paths after it rains. They breakdown the woodchips and release nutrients into the soil.
Rows and rows of beautiful beneficial (though inedible) mushrooms spring up in all the paths after it rains. They breakdown the woodchips and release nutrients into the soil.

Blessings on you this month as the seasons shift.  I hope September is as energizing for you as it has been thus far for our family.

IMG_8413   Despite having taken oodles of photos and having several posts drafted, WordPress is being fickle.  Beyond fickle.  Looks like we might have to reinstall it or some such frustration.  Photos won’t load properly, won’t edit, disappear, load distorted on iPad but not on PCs…it’s a big mess I haven’t got the time to fix at the moment. As soon as things are repaired, I will be back to regular posting. Thanks, Angela

Pickled

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Do you ever fall in-and-out-of-love with a craft or recipe?   Do your habits and hobbies have a seasonality to them?

When a skill or hobby piques my interest, I tend to research everything on the subject, and fully submerge myself in it.  I get a little obsessed.  And then, sometimes the interest wanes (like making rag rugs).  Or sometimes it becomes cemented in the rhythm of our family life (like baking bread).  I like to knit in the winter, sew in the summer, but bake and garden all year long.

(On a side note, I think this is why project-based homeschooling appeals so much to me.  Being allowed to freely, and thoroughly explore an interest or idea is as important to kids as it is to adults.)

lactofermented shredded ginger carrots. Recipe from Cultures for Health. The flavor of the carrots comes through pure and delicious, the bite of ginger is the perfect complement to the saltiness of the brine and tanginess of the lactic acid.
lactofermented shredded ginger carrots. Recipe from Cultures for Health. The flavor of the carrots comes through pure and delicious, the bite of ginger is the perfect complement to the saltiness of the brine and tanginess of the lactic acid.

Right now, the obsession is a return to an old interest - fermentation.  The counter is stacked to the back with jars of veggie pickles bubbling, kombucha, kraut, Indian-spiced cauliflower, carrot-ginger slaw, plums steeping in sugar…

lactofermented dill pickles. These are half-sours, with grape leaves floating on top to keep the pickles crisp.
lactofermented dill pickles. These are half-sours, with grape leaves floating on top to keep the pickles crisp.

When I go out to the garden, my first thought is, “What can I pick to pickle?”  When I need a snack, I straight for a dish of kraut or dilly beans.

The basket of mending, countless unfinished knitting projects, this blog, the novel on the bedside table all sit neglected right now.  I’m up late at night setting up second ferments of kombucha, or shredding some root veggie, or washing out fido jars, or reading books and articles on the science of fermentation.

I suppose there are worse things to be fixated on than making healthy, delicious, vitamin-packed food, right?

WordPress has been wonky, and I’m having trouble uploading photos and editing them.  If WordPress will cooperate, I will be back later in the week!

 

From the Fig Tree

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A cascade of very fresh, very ripe figs the kids poured out onto the kitchen table.  They are from a neighbor’s tree.  She doesn’t know the variety (they are actually her next-door neighbors, but a large portion of the immense tree overhangs her driveway, and no one family can consume the vast quantities of fruit.

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The figs are pale green with a pink flesh, and very soft and sweet.  I think they may be “Desert King”, which does quite well in our climate, and typically produces a large good-quality breba crop (we have a young one in our yard, and it has exactly eight nearly-ripe fruit on it).

I’m planning on starting a small (one gallon) batch of fig wine with some this weekend.  The rest we are eating fresh, or on toast with mascarpone.  I have my eye on these quick fig recipes, though.  Numbers 6 and 8 look particularly good.

I’d also like to try Temperate Permaculture’s fig recipe.

If you’re picking figs, wear gloves, so what happened to me doesn’t happen to you.

For all things “fig”, the knowledge bank at Figs4Fun is the place to visit.

Do you have a favorite fig recipe?  A favorite variety?

 

I will be back with more posts over the weekend.  We will be busy with the girls’ Roller Derby practices, birthday parties to attend, Sunday Parkways, and such.  The weather promises to be perfection, so every un-scheduled moment will be spent in the garden.  So much ripening, and so much in bloom, I hope to share pictures of it all.

Elderberry Kombucha

Kombucha going through a second fermentation to produce a fizzy, fruity final drink.
Kombucha going through a second fermentation to produce a fizzy, fruity final drink.

A few folks have asked for the recipe for a recent batch of elderberry kombucha.   There isn’t much of a recipe – it is simply kombucha put through a secondary fermentation with fruit added.  Here is the process:

I am currently brewing my kombucha using the Wild Fermentation group‘s method of 3 black tea bags, 2 green tea, and 1 oolong for each gallon of water.  You can also set up a continuous brew system, which I hope to set up in a crockery dispenser very soon.

Once the kombucha has reached the desired level of tangyness, remove the SCOBY, and reserve a 1/2 cup or so of kombucha to jump-start your next batch.

From here, you have a few choices.  The first option is starting a secondary ferment of your  booch right in the jar, and starting your new batch of kombucha (with SCOBY) in a new vessel.  This is how I have always done it previously – usually with lemon juice and a little brown sugar, or diced strawberries.  Covered and left on the counter for a few days, it will turn into a fizzy, fruity version that my kids find quite superior to plain-old kombucha.

The downside of this is that the entire gallon is one flavor.  This means you are taking quite a risk when experimenting with flavor combinations.  That persimmon-molasses kombucha I thought would turn out so great?  Yeah, well, that was a whole gallon none of my kids would drink.  But there is another option.

A while back, I had pinned a blog post from My Gutsy that featured fruit combinations for secondary fermentation of kombucha.  It was very late at night, and I was skimming whole-foody type blogs and knitting and half-dozing off, and I should have read her post more closely.  She does her second ferment right in the bottle!  Brilliant!  Why hadn’t I ever done this before?  Now, I can try small batches of different flavors, and it is already bottled up and ready to go when I am scrambling to get out the door for homeschool park day or church or what-have-you.

She recommends  re-using kombucha and tea bottles (about 16 oz), adding 1/4 cup fruit juice or puree and filling the rest of the bottle with booch, but also gives ratios for other sizes of glass containers.  I used some chia-drink and iced-tea bottles I had washed out and saved in our basement canning room (I knew they would come to good use someday!).

For some of the bottles, I picked a few blackberries from the yard, crushed them, and added a little orange juice.  For some, I used my old stand-by scaled down to = 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 1 Tbsp brown sugar.   For the remainder of the bottles, I went with elderberry syrup:

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For each 16 ounce jar, I added 2 Tbsp of elderberry syrup.  Because the syrup already contains quite a bit of sugar, and the elderberries have a strong and distinctive flavor, I thought it might be best to start with 1/2 of Gutsy’s recommended amount of fruit juice.   I was sure to leave a good 2-inches of head-space to prevent breakage, and left it on the counter, tightly sealed, for two days.

The resulting drink is a beautiful magenta color (see top photo), and has just the right amount of sweetness and berry flavor plus fizz.  Of all the flavor combinations we tried, the kids loved the elderberry best (George could be heard shouting, “BOOOOCH!! More  BOOOCH!!” Halfway across Sellwood Park).  So, today when I bottled up another round of kombucha, every jar has an added immune-boosting dose of  elderberry syrup.

A few notes of safety –

1)Raw elderberries contain some cyanide (which cooking removes), and the stems and seeds contain even more.   Please follow my safety guidelines, which can be found here, and do not add raw elderberries to your kombucha.

2)Kombucha is a living food, and helps populate good intestinal flora.  Begin consuming kombucha or any fermented or cultured food in small amounts (a Tbsp or so at a time).  Ease it into your diet in order to avoid digestive upset, gas, etc.)

The Best Dilly Beans EVER

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Lately I’ve been getting back to making home fermented foods, for our health and for simplicity’s sake.  I routinely make sourdough, yogurt, and buttermilk, but had gotten away from cultured vegetables (life gets busy).  But the past several weeks, I have re-discovered how much we love lacto-fermented veggies.

Lacto-fermentation is the process of using beneficial bacteria (primarily Lactobacillus acidophilus and L. bifidus) to create lactic acid and ferment raw fruits and veggies into foods that are more easily digestible and have more bio-available nutrients.  The process also preserves food for many months.

The garden is bursting with produce, but my schedule is hectic and time is precious, so even setting aside the health benefits, lacto-fermentation is the best option for preserving and enjoying much of our garden produce.  Unlike canned pickles, lacto-fermented veggies do not require heating up the kitchen and hours slaving over a canner on hot summer days.  They only require a few minutes to prep the ingredients, a little care in setting up the ferment.

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Today, a batch of Dilly Beans finished after five days on the counter, and I couldn’t wait to crack into the jar.  I must say, they are superb.  They are exponentially better than the less-than-crisp hot-water bath canned bean pickles I’ve made in the past.  A completely different and superior food, and I can’t stop eating them!  These beans are crispy, crunchy, salty, tangy, with just the right balance of dill and garlic.  Did I mention how crunchy they are?

Here’s my recipe, but first a few notes that will help your fermentation be successful:

On the brine – in order to create the proper environment for the good bacteria and inhibit mold growth, the brine MUST be salty enough.  The traditional ratio is 3 Tbsp of salt for 1 Qt. of water.  Also remember that all of your pickles must be fully submerged in the brine – any pieces sticking up out of the brine may mold or grow funky bacteria and spoil your batch.

For a less salty, and quicker fermenting brine:  omit 1 Tbsp salt and substitute in 1/4 cup whey from making yogurt, creme fraiche, or cheese.  (You can strain a cup or so of store-bought yogurt with active cultures (REAL yogurt, not one with added guar gum and thickeners and such) to get your whey if needed.  I like Nancy’s Organic Wholemilk Plain.  It’s what I use as a starter for homemade yogurt, too.)

On the fermenting vessels – My friends at The Liberated Kitchen suggested picking up large fido jars at Ross or Marshalls.  What a great idea!  For $3 or $4 each you can snag half-gallon and gallon-sized jars which work great for fermenting.  I pack my veggies in, add the brine, and then insert a small juice glass to push the veggies under the brine before sealing it up.  (Note: I used to believe that you had to burp the jars to reduce pressure and avoid spill-over or breakage, but have since learned that Fido jars actually allow gases to escape through the gasket, without oxygen re-entering or the need to burp the jars.)

Best Dilly Beans EVER

1 1/2-2 lbs of fresh, organic green beans

4 cloves of garlic, smashed with the side of a knife

2 heads of dill buds/flowers OR a good handful of dill fronds (which aren’t as potent)

1 heaping tsp black peppercorns

Enough brine to cover the beans +1 inch (My beans were quite long, and I needed about 1 3/4 Qts.)

Directions:

1)Place garlic, dill, and peppercorns in the bottom of the jar.

2)Stack beans (standing up on their ends) into the jar.

3)Fill jar with brine, being sure to fully cover beans, but leaving headspace.

4) Leave on the kitchen counter (60-80F is ideal) for 5-10 days, until desired tangyness is achieved, then move to the fridge (Be sure to  check the contents daily, and don’t overfill or  you may break your jar, especially if it is warm in the house and it ferments rapidly).  Will keep for several months in the fridge.

For more info on lacto-fermentation and other fermented foods, plus tips on trouble-shooting and inspiration from other fermenters, visit the Wild Fermentation FB Group.

Tzatziki

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My favorite no-cook summer recipe is Tzatziki…or maybe it’s Raita…it’s a toss up.  These similar nutritious dishes are delicious, and their subtle differences complement other foods so well that we make and enjoy both frequently.  Serve some with a handful of kalamata olives and a little block of feta and a mint iced tea and you have the perfect summer lunch.

Right now there is a lot of dill in the garden, so today Tzatziki it is!  (Whip up a batch of falafels and we’ll call it “good” for dinner.)

Here’s my recipe:

Baker Family’s Favorite Tzatziki

3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Vinegar (you can use homemade, but a light-colored vinegar is best, so as not to discolor the sauce)

3 large cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press

1/2 tsp salt

large pinch of white pepper (optional)

2 tsp fresh dill, finely chopped

1/2 onion, very thinly sliced

2 large cucumbers, peeled (or half-peeled as shown above) and thinly sliced

2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt (Greek is best, or you can set homemade yogurt in a strainer for an hour or so to drain)  OR for a yummy twist on the original: 1 cup whole-milk yogurt + 1 scant cup tahini blended with juice of one-half lemon

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil and vinegar.

Add crushed garlic, salt and pepper, and dill and whisk well.

Then whisk in yogurt (or yogurt-tahini blend).

Gently fold in onions and cucumber.

Cover and chill for at least two hours before serving.

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Enjoy!

 

 

Permie Book + New Socks

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Taking a break from a busy day to quickly join the Yarn Along.   I have a penchant for permaculture books, and something about reading up on landscape design and permaculture theory just pairs well with knitting.  This morning I finished The Resilient Farm and Homestead while casting on a pair of socks.

The book is well-written and not-t00-technical.  It is geared toward those folks with property, and/or those new to the ideas of resilience and permaculture homesteading.    While I may not have enough land for sheep and goats and a duck pond, the book still had a lot to offer, and it was nice to day dream while reading through it.

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Here is the cuff of what will be stripey socks in beige, plum and dove grey, cast-on with 5s for a quick knit.  I snagged a bag of Lamb’s Pride worsted at a garage sale last weekend.  I couldn’t resist when it was such a good deal, and folks like me (with chilly feet!) can never have enough pairs of thick wool socks in the winter.

I’ve been cooking up lots of good things in the kitchen, and will be back tomorrow with one of my favorite summer recipes.

As always, looking forward to reading up on the other knitters in the Yarn Along later tonight while kiddos are in bed (and I crank out a few more inches on these socks.)

 

Outdoors

(Edit:  I realize WordPress is having issues right now – all my photos are loading sideways, and while they look fine on my Dashboard, they appear flipped on their side in the final post.  Working on it!)

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The past few mornings have felt like September with their crispness, and we’ve started out the day in sweaters.  And yet the afternoons are the best that summer in Oregon has to offer with blue skies and warm breezes.  So, of course we’ve been taking advantage of the gorgeous weather and spending every possible moment outdoors.   Every evening we’ve taken long walks, and most days we head to a playground in the city after swim lessons and garden chores.

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Sunday we played hooky from church, packed a picnic lunch, and went for a day hike in the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge.  The paths are wide and easy to navigate for toddlers like George who want to walk/run like the big kids (“No backpack!  I walk!  I WALLLLKKK!”).

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And the wildlife!  We saw frogs and birds and insects and fish at every turn in the path and every pond.  Bea tuned-in to every call of every bird, particularly the Orange-Crowned Warblers and Song Sparrows.  But the highlight of the afternoon is when a Bald Eagle flew very low to the ground, directly over our heads, and landed in an adjacent tree.

If you haven’t made a trip out to the Refuge, we highly recommend it.  And we’ll be traveling back again to see the migratory birds moving through in the fall and spring.

I’ll be back later this week with some knitting, spinning, and maybe a few new recipes.  But for now, it’s back outside to soak up that sunshine.

 

Garden Late June Part Two

Middle of the backard, chicken coop in background
Middle of the backard, chicken coop in background

Part two of Late June in the garden:  the backyard.  Rhubarb, beans, amaranth, garlic, pole beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, volunteer chard and sunflowers.

Backyard raspberry patch
Backyard raspberry patch
The side yard, with shed in the background
The side yard, with shed in the background

Raspberries in the back and side yards are still cranking out the berries.  The side yard patch (on the left) has encroached upon the path and blueberries, columbine and dahlias (to the right).  Ah well, I do love that wild, overgrown look to the garden.

thimbleberries, lingonberries and elderberries in the shade garden
thimbleberries, lingonberries and elderberries in the shade garden
immature elderberries
immature elderberries

It’s going to be a great year for elderberries.  Both the native and Asian elderberry in our shade garden are loaded full of young fruit.

A young Cox's Orange Pippin apple
A young Cox’s Orange Pippin apple

We will finally be getting apples this year!  Six of our dozen+ young apple trees have fruit!  And the quinces and one fig have set some fruit as well.  So good to see our investment in perennial fruit crops begin to yield a harvest!

Potatoes, poppies, hollyhocks, kale, cucumber, chard, pumpkins, tomatoes, white clover, currants, gladioulus, chard, filbert: a healthy and vigorous polculture, full of bees every morning
Potatoes, poppies, hollyhocks, kale, cucumber, chard, sage, chives, pumpkins, tomatoes, white clover, currants, gladioulus, chard, filbert: a healthy and vigorous polculture, full of bees every morning
Corn poppies: a self-sowing annual poppy. Reliable, beautiful, and low-maintenance.
Corn poppies: a self-sowing annual poppy. Reliable, beautiful, and low-maintenance.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our permaculture farmette.  I will try to post a few more times this week as we hide from the summer heat.  Stay cool!

Late June in the Garden Part One

Ranunculus, ie Persian Buttercup. One of my favorite summer cut flowers.
Ranunculus, ie Persian Buttercup. One of my favorite summer cut flowers.

Some images from our front-yard permaculture garden, as we slowly transition more and more beds to perennial crops (as time and budget permit).

Front yard late June. Lupines are self-sowing around. The first year of since ripping out the dahlias which used to fill the entire bed. This guild includes honeyberries, plum trees, a baby quince (staked, on the right), rhubarb, currants, lilacs, oodles of beneficial perennial flowering plants, bronze fennel, comfrey.
Front yard late June. Lupines are self-sowing around. The first year of since ripping out the dahlias which used to fill the entire bed. This guild includes honeyberries, plum trees, a baby quince (staked, on the right), rhubarb, currants, lilacs, oodles of beneficial perennial flowering plants, bronze fennel, comfrey.  Annual veggies and blueberries behind.

Oh yeah, it’s a jungle.  I still think it’s more beautiful than any monoculture lawn, don’t you?

Another view of the front beds and grape arbor. Large plant on the right is bronze fennel. New honeyberries and "Early Laxton" plum (and many perennial flowers, lovage rhubarb, etc as well)
Another view of the front beds and grape arbor. Large plant on the right is bronze fennel. Left of the arbor: New honeyberries and “Early Laxton” plum (and many perennial flowers, lovage rhubarb, etc as well).  Artichoke behind young plum produced about 8 heads, but leaves are also a good source of mulch.
Red Yarrow ( Achillea millefolium). Great permaculture plant - attracts man beneficial insects and can be used to staunch bleeding from cuts (works really well, actually.)
Yarrow ( Achillea millefolium). This is a red variety, but I also have white, coral, pink and yellow scattered around the yard.  Great permaculture plant – attracts many beneficial insects and can be used to staunch bleeding from cuts (works really well, actually.)

Planting beneficial, useful, and edible plants doesn’t mean sacrificing beauty and blooms in your landscape.

Young plum guild: Third year of "Methley" dwarf plum I grafted a few years back, "Pagoda" honeyberry, "Hood" strawberries, lavender, chives, bee balm, native iris, oriental poppies, variegated land cress, columbine, oregano. Nasturtiums from the neighboring garlic bed have invaded a bit (lower right).
Young plum guild: Third year of “Methley” dwarf plum I grafted a few years back, “Pagoda” honeyberry, “Hood” strawberries, lavender, chives, bee balm, native iris, oriental poppies, variegated land cress, columbine, oregano. Nasturtiums from the neighboring garlic bed have invaded a bit (lower right).
Another view of the young plum guild (annuals in beds behind).
Another view of the young plum guild (annuals in beds behind).

All of this was lawn four years ago (plus the neighbor’s hedge).  Of course, it’s all in transition, but as the trees and shrubs mature, it will continue to move from scraggly to ever-more beautiful and diverse and productive.  (But always look a bit wild, I hope.)

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The cool and constant rain should give-way to temps near 90F by the weekend.  I know the tomatoes and peppers and squash will be grateful for some true summer weather.

Please come back over the weekend for a walk through our backyard and sideyard gardens.

Saturday in the Garden

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Most of the currants have been a dud this year, the strawberries are nearly gone, and the blueberries not-quite-ripe yet.  But the raspberries!! Oh, what a fantastic year for raspberries.  Many, many pints have been delivered to BCS, and many more wolfed down by neighborhood children flocking to our backyard.

IMG_8513Breakfast, snack, dessert – we cannot get enough of them.  The kids are especially loving them blended with plain kefir, a little honey, and ice cubes for a smoothie snack.  IMG_8514

Now that garden chores are finished for the day, we’re off to a Bonsai festival.  And then the girls have Roller Derby practice this evening, while the boys hang out with their grandma.   It’s going to be a busy day!  Hope you have a perfect summer weekend.

Peonies and Raspberries

Dessert last night - chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and raspberries.
Dessert last night – chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and raspberries

Well, I’ve been knocked down somewhat with a summer cold, and didn’t make the Yarn Along this week.  I finished a pair of socks for a friend, and hope to post photos next week.

Calendula in bloom
Calendula in bloom

We have company visiting, and volunteers in the garden, and swim lessons and so much summer goodness and fun.  We’ve been baking and playing with the neighbor kids and cutting posies in the yard.  And stuffing ourselves full of raspberries on a daily basis.

I had volunteers here this morning, and together harvested loads of organic produce for BCS – baskets full of Spanish shallots, raspberries, 4 kinds of mint, herb packs, French Tarragon, rhubarb, Russian Red kale, Rainbow chard, snow peas, currants, and lavender.   I was too busy picking to take photos, but will try to make a point of documenting next week’s harvests.

Hope you have a good weekend.  We are looking forward to:

-hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa B, who are visiting from Florida

-making Mujaddara, falafels, and kale salad for dinner tomorrow

– biking at Sunday Parkways with my sister

Blessings!