Summer Made it to the PNW - Garden Update

Summer finally made it to the Pacific Northwest.  It usually rains on the fourth of July, but this year the sunshine came out to play.  This makes three years in a row it's rained just about daily throughout the spring.  It was a pleasure to walk around town and see the smiles on peoples faces as they walked around in sandals and shorts.  I could hear lawn mowers, motorcycles, airplanes, and other various outdoor toys.  We shared a pretty good family Saturday beginning with a morning yoga class, a romp to the farmer's market, a fun lunch and a little playtime at Lake Sacajawea with Kaylee. 

The garden is thrilled about the sunshine too.  I've wandered out there after work a few times disappointed at the lack of growth due to all the rain.  It seems we've been planting and digging for awhile now.  We spent our usual time out pulling weeds and planting the last of the seeds this weekend and I started to find some surprises.  The plants seem to be standing tall right now and enjoying the warmth.  I'm started to see evidence of vegetables now.  I've got some little zucchinis and crookneck squash.  The corn is almost knee high. I can see carrot tops, beet greens, and potato flowers popping up now. I even found a tomato I wasn't expecting while trimming the dead leaves.

Oh yes, we have put up the girls in the garden too.  Isabelle and Molly are happy to be out in the sunshine too.

We're expected to have some really nice days for quite awhile now. I expect the garden to be getting taller and greener by the day.  I don't need shoes in the garden now, Lovin' it!

Pine and Macadamia Nut Stuffed Squash Flowers

Yesterday morning I couldn't help but gather a few squash flowers for dinner.  I have to be careful not to take too many because I want the squash to grow.  So, I took just a couple flowers from all the squash in the garden:  zucchini, delicata, pumpkin, crookneck, acorn, and butternut.  I am amazed how all the flowers from the various varieties of  of squash all look the same.  I don't get to see them blooming too much as I usually get out to the garden in the late afternoon and they've mostly closed up by then.  Yesterday morning they were all standing up and showing their beauty. I can and do pick them occasionally and have a raw flower snack in the garden. I didn't know they were so delightful until last year when I heard about cooking them. If you haven't tried your squash flowers, I think you should.  It surprised me how much a flower can taste like a fresh zucchini.  Be sure to be careful when cleaning them and always look inside before eating them in the garden.  I have brought home some guests like bumblebees and cucumber beetles.

I made a nut cheese for some raw zucchini ravioli from a Vegan Fusion Recipe.  It's from the The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw.  I made the Turnip and Pine Nut Ravioli, page 230, substituting fresh zucchini for the ravioli. I thought the cheese would also make a lovely cheese filling for my flowers.  I squeezed about 1 tsp of cheese into the bottom of a cleaned flower with my handy tool and dipped in a mixture of ground flax seeds and non-dairy milk, then dredged in a little flour and cornmeal, and gently sautéed in hot grape seed oil with a fresh sprig each of fresh thyme and rosemary.  A small teaspoon works well for stuffing the flowers, that's what I used last year.

Pine & Macadamia Nut Cheese
      The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw.

1 cup pine nuts soaked at least 2 hours
2 cups macadamia nuts, soaked at least 2 hours **
1 TB fresh rosemary, minced
4 tsp fresh parsley, minced
4 tsp fresh thyme, minced
2 TB nutritional yeast
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 TB apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup rejuvelac or filtered water, as needed

**Other nuts may be substituted such as: cashews, Brazil nuts, or almonds.

Rinse pine nuts and macadamia nuts, and drain well for at least 10 minutes.  Place in a food processor fitted with an S blade, and process on high speed for about 10 seconds.

Add rosemary, parsley, thyme, nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper, and apple cider vinegar.  Blend on high speed for about 20 seconds while adding rejuvelac through the top until a smooth, cheesy consistency is reached. 

Squash Flowers, stuffed with pine and macadamia nut cheese, dipped in a mixture of ground flax seeds and hemp milk, then dredged in a little flour and cornmeal, and gently sautéed in grape seed oil with a fresh sprig each of fresh thyme and rosemary.

Garden Update ~ Early August

I don't remember the name of these bulbs, but I sure love them.  I have to get out to the garden in the morning to catch them in full bloom though, they close up and go to sleep by early afternoon.


Despite the few days of sunny weather, our garden is moving along.  I'm pulling out onions and zucchini daily and just about everything has something that looks like a vegetable growing.  The corn is almost to the bottom of the second pink row going up on Molly's overalls.  I figured out I can watch the corn's progress by comparing it to the color rows on her pants. I walked around and got some photos of just baby veggies the other day.

Yesterday I filled a box with lots of treats: two kinds of zucchini, crookneck squash, three kinds of beets, red cabbage, broccoli, a dozen artichokes, shallots, onions, squash flowers of every kind of squash I have, (Don't want to take too many from one plant.), fresh rosemary and lavender.

The husband of a dear friend of mine, who passed away in 2009, lives in the house behind my garden and there was some interesting commotion going on.  I recognized his daughter, whom I haven't seen in awhile, Wasipi.  I was glad to see her. I've been wanting to thank her for reminding me of the Green Tortoise's Baja adventure.  Something, we'd want to go on, but I had forgotten about.  After she told me of her 15 day whale watching adventure, I checked it out.  We ended up having an unforgettable Thanksgiving on a secluded beach in Baja with a small group of wonderful people. Turns out, yesterday was Steve's 90th birthday and they were getting ready setting up the celebration in his backyard.  I was happy to fill a bag with some fresh veggies and nasturtiums for their salad.

I dropped some veggies off to another friend on the way home who likes to cook with fresh ingredients. She's just started doing some cooking and baking without animal products.  Felicia told me she had never eaten a beet in her life.  Lucky her, most of us were introduced to beets as canned, overcooked, remnants of their original form.  I am not surprised when someone's first reaction to beets is negative. She gets to try beets for the first time, tender and fresh out of the garden.  My husband never liked them until we started eating them fresh and most times raw. The golden beets are so tender when fresh picked I can eat them like an apple.

Garden Update July

Can you find the bee?

Things have been going along a little slow due to our lack of sunshine in the NW.  We have had some sunshine breaks, but not lasting longer than a couple of days.  The spinach and lettuce plants went to seed very quickly.  But now, we're going out just to weed, thin, and water.  The garden is moving along nicely.  I'm harvesting something every time we go out there now.  Last night I harvested about 30 heads of garlic.  There are three or four varieties of garlic in the garden.  Some of which are elephant garlic.  I am anxious to pull up some of those this weekend.

How do you know when it's time to harvest garlic?  The bottom leaves will begin to turn brown.  Gently dig one up and slice it in half.  If the cloves have filled out, it's ready.  Don't leave it in too long or the cloves will begin to burst out of the skins making them unstorable and open to disease.  They can still be used, but not stored. I planted them in October.  I planted about 60 or more garlic cloves.  I'm looking forward to making some garlic braids. I am so impressed at how one small clove of garlic becomes such a lovely large head over the winter. But then again, the whole garden thing and the production of live food in the dirt from the little bitty seeds fascinates me. 

Last week we also took home about a dozen artichokes, an armload of onions, three nice zucchini, a couple large bowls of peas, stevia, lettuce, a kohlrabi, and of course more herbs to dry:  oregano, thyme, two kinds of mint, basil, and rosemary.  The potatoes are nice and healthy.  Curious, I have three different kinds of potatoes but the bushy leaves all look the same.  It will be interesting to see if the flowers are different colors.

The plan, this weekend, is to get our beautiful scarecrow, Isabelle up in the garden.  This year she gets a friend too, Holly, as she has been named by my granddaughter.

Today we do have a beautiful summer morning.  I'm headed out for a brisk walk, then back home to can and freeze some local organic cherries and apricots.  I have 15 pounds of cherries and about 20 pounds of nice apricots. I already have some eggplant bacon in the dehydrator and a couple trays of the nice Washington apricots.  I'll dry a few pounds of the cherries too.  Sun or no sun, I love this time of year!

Garden Update

We're finally getting some sunny days, not too many, but they are beginning. Friday and Saturday this week were not only dry, but sunny and warm. I managed to get out into the garden both days. Friday I planted carrots, beets, some nasturtiums, and pansies. Saturday was 70º, I wore a shirt with no sleeves and short pants. Woo Who! We both got out there Saturday, Scott weeded around the onions and garlic giving them room to grow. Some of the garlic I planted is elephant garlic and I can see the stalks getting quite thick. I cleared out a mound and planted some slicing cucumbers and a row of delicata squash.

Oregano

Garlic

I'm pretty pleased with the plants that are coming back or still alive from last season. The herbs are rockin', we have lots of oregano, sage, rosemary, and thyme. The artichokes are all showing some life and when I was out there Friday I accidentally dug up some bulbs from the Mystic Spirit Dahlia I have out there. There was some green shooting out the tops of them. I gently put them back in the dirt and said a few encouraging words. I hope they grow. I do like that flower, it added such life to our garden.

Mystic Spirit

The gardening indoors has been going along a bit slow. I have had some disappointments in the germinating department, but that's how it goes. I tried some Stevia seeds this year and none of them germinated.  Too bad too, they are kind of expensive seeds.  But, I did order some seedlings, just in case, which were delivered last week.  I will have my Stevia in the garden this year.  I only grew four plants last year and that provided quite a bit of Stevia for myself and a couple friends. I have some broccoli, cauliflower, fennel, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and a couple other veggies started. I'll get some corn started in a week or so. I don't want to be too early with the corn this year. I ended up planting it a few times last year. This is the time I get quite anxious and concerned that I won't get everything planted when I want to. It always works out, I'm just impatient.

Kaylee and I decorated some wooden dolls last weekend.  She took them out to the garden with my point and shoot camera and had her own little photo shoot.  I think her pictures came out rather well.  I also bought her a pair of her own gardening gloves this year.  She had a good time trying to move the weeds with the gardening claw. It's much taller than she.

Still Indoors ~ Garden 2011

 I was hoping to get outside this weekend and begin clearing the weeds the rain brought in the garden.  No such luck, it was cold and very rainy today. We did have a couple breaks in the clouds, but it never lasted very long.  I feel like I am in a big holding zone, just waiting for warmth from the sun. There are quite a few plants coming up out there, but it's hard to see most of them right now through the weeds.  I've got some garlic, onions, radishes, peas, lettuce, and herbs growing.

We've had a record breaking raining streak in the pacific northwest. I think, 28 days of continual rain. There was a short break in the afternoon Thursday.  It was warm and clear.  I spent some time playing with our camera in the backyard while we had the sun.  Almost gave me some hope that we would see some spring sunshine this weekend.  I am used to the rain in the northwest, but this time of year I am anxious to get out in the garden and get to work.  I feel like that old Mervyn's commercial where the gal is at the door at 6:00 a.m.on the morning of a big sale, "OPEN, OPEN, OPEN". The seedlings are doing well indoors right now.  Most of these are from the indoor greenhouse, a few of the herbs are out in the garden waking up from the winter, the columbine and artichokes are coming up out there too.




Today was the first day of our farmer's market season.  It's always muddy and a bit rainy the first few weeks.  I welcomed back some of my regular vendors. Right now the most that's available for about a month at the market will be plants, crafts, breads, and locally roasted coffee. There are a few farmers with greenhouses that have some lettuces and greens. I purchased a few things from Eva: a couple rosemary starts, some Jerusalem artichokes, and some kiwis.  I've heard that some people have started growing kiwis in the northwest.  I'm anxious to try hers. I took my camera ready to take some shots at the market, but it began to hail and rain very hard.  I stood under one of the canopies waiting for it to stop, but it just kept coming down. I was pretty drenched by the time I got back to my car. Those photos will have to wait.

The Garden Song

 

 

Garden Song

Written by: Karisha Longaker, MaMuse

On this bright and healthy morning
I wanna sing my song
Let it be sung
And as I let it fly out into the world
Let it be known
I hear the music in all things today
The dance is on

I lay down on the ground
In the garden,
let the earth
Crawl up into my clothes
Stared up at the sky and we fell together
We really are so close
He whispers hello, hello, hello
And the dance is on

All the world is conspiring for me
The dance, the dance
Everything everywhere nourishes my growth
The dance is on
Let it be known
I can hear the music in all things
Today it's on
This one's for me

The bees are buzzing for me
The dance, the dance
Even the distant train is calling my name
The breeze is orchestrating
a complicated ballet
Between the leaves
The dance is on
This one's for me

All the world is conspiring for me
The dance, the dance
Everything everywhere nourishes my growth
The dance is on
Let it be known
I can hear the music in all things
Today it's on
This one's for me

The spiders are making rainbows
Between collard greens and the sun
There's a hummingbird calling
Up in his tree
I can hear his wings from way over hear
They beat for me
This one's for me

January Sunshine

Took advantage of the sunshine yesterday and walked out to the garden.  Looks like the garlic is happy and many of the herbs made it through the winter. Just about time to get some seedlings started. Woo Who!

Herb Hill: Thyme, Oregano, Sage, Rosemary

Garlic

Sage

 

Thyme

"I have an existential map, it has 'You Are Here' written all over it"
     
     ~Steven Wright

Winter Sun

We had some sunshine all around this weekend.  Clear skies most the weekend. We even got a chance to get out to the garden and do some winter clean up and just be outside.  My son is in Alaska awaiting a plane to Hawaii, it's taken about three days so far to get from Afghanistan to California.  He called from Siberia Friday morning, stopped in Germany, Alaska, Hawaii, and then will be in his own home sometime next week.  I know his family is thrilled, I am.  His wife called last night to tell me she received a text and then he called right after that. He made it back!

The Brussels Sprouts are Happy

New Garlic

The other son has also been given a clearance to be able to live at our house when he gets to come home.  We were told that wouldn't be possible and the thought that this could never be his home again hasn't been fun. That was a ray of hope.

So, it's on to the holiday season and I've decided to get a tree, decorate a little, and celebrate the love this holiday season.  I went to a few bazaars to see if I could drum up a little holiday spirit and it worked.  I wandered through the pretty things and handmade goodies and talked to artists and old ladies and shared some smiles. I picked up some nice gifts and got some great ideas for my own crafty projects. We are still a family, if only two, but we are a family.  Our granddaughter has also been placed in our daily lives to help with this empty nest. That is a big blessing. There is a lot of love in my life!


"If you are patient in a moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow." 
Chinese Proverb

A Good Day for Gardening

Artichoke Blossom

Well, it wasn't a 70° day, but it was pleasant.  I spent about four hours in the garden and could have done more.  I did work up a bit of a sweat and decided I'd gotten my exercise for the day very early.  Just like a regular workday, noon came before I knew it.  I stayed out until about 1:00 p.m. or so and then went home, ate a nice bowl of beans and spent the afternoon with Rhonda.

The tomatoes are pretty tired now, I think I've gotten what I'm going to get out of them.  I did go home with about ten pounds of red tomatoes and five pounds of some nice green ones I saved.  Many of the ripe tomatoes do look like it's gotten too cold and some have experienced a little freeze. Some of the green ones I will try to ripen and some of them will go into some green tomato recipes.  I think I'm going to try a green tomato bread recipe I saw recently.

I pulled three of them up and worked the soil and planted three varities of garlic in their place, two purple varieties and one white. I think one of them is an elephant garlic.  I do love to roast those.

On top of the garlic I spread the dried seed pods from my shelling beans and a layer of the very large cauliflower leaves for a nice mulch.  I'm looking forward to seeing them blossom in the springtime.  I planted a little more than last year.

After that I dug up the rest of the blue potatoes, at least I think I got them all.  They do look like dirt clods.  I also grabbed a couple pepper plants to hang and let the peppers finish ripening and dry.  I planted quite a few varieties of peppers this year. Anaheim, cayenne, jalepeño, Tennessee cheese, red and green bells, something called New Mexican hot, and a few more I don't remember the names of.  I am thinking of drying them and stringing them in some artistic way for holiday gifts this year.  I came home with a few cucumber, some zucchini, summer squash, a small head of cauliflower, and some lettuce.  There's still lots of work to do. Even though I did work hard yesterday, it was a most peaceful day.

When Rhonda called, I was on my knees very deep in the potato trench.  I'd been working for four hours and when she said, let's go out for awhile, it was perfect timing.  We got to share some time talking about life and her daughter's upcoming wedding in April.  I will be helping with the food, of course.  I've catered many weddings, this will be the first that I will bring many vegan and vegetarian items.  I'm looking forward to this little adventure.

I'm a Gardener Today

Get to have a day of my own today. Starting the day a little slower than usual, sipping my coffee and listening to music. Enjoying a little extra time with my sweetie in the morning. I get to go out and do some work in the garden today.  I'm putting some bigger tools in the car than usual and getting some real work done out there.  I've been waiting for the sun to shine so I can get out there.

We've had a break in the pace at work and the sun has been shining. The weather reports say this could be the last day in the 70's for quite some time. I am fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of it to love my garden a bit today. Since the sun goes down a little earlier, we haven't been able to spend as much time out there. Many chances I've gotten on the weekends, the weather has been wet. There is much to be done. There's still lots of vegetables to be harvested, weeds to pull, and potatoes to be dug up. I can plant my garlic today and get some of the tomatoes and peppers that haven't ripened uprooted so they will ripen indoors. I'm very excited to be outside today. I do so love playing in the dirt. 

Garden Update September

It was a slow start and we didn't get to give away as much vegetables as last year, but the garden is booming now.  We've harvested probably three loads just like this one this week.  It's been a busy week of washing, preparing, storing, and finding homes for our garden goodies.  It's been fun though.  I have lots put up for the winter.  I don't think I will be visiting a grocery store as much as I did last winter.  While canning my sauerkraut made from our garden cabbage this weekend, I realized that I am entertained by watching a canner simmer or fresh ice cream churning. Funny.

Local and "In Season" Processed Food

Enjoying and preserving the gifts of summer, I processed our food this weekend. 

Two batches of Tumeric Refrigerator Pickles, one made with cucumbers and the other with golden zucchini,

fresh tuna and peaches,

baked some zucchini loaf cake,

steamed some fresh from the garden artichokes,

and made some twice baked potatoes with summer squash and potato stuffing topped with a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

Stuffed Squash Flowers

The garden is going great.  It provides about a basket a day of a variety of fresh food.  I have lots of herbs drying and really don't have the need to shop for vegetables or herbs right now.  We're only buying fruit at the local produce and farmer's markets and a few things we don't have growing.  I tried to grow some cantaloupe this year and the plants look great, lots of pretty yellow flowers, but so far no fruit. Without a warm spring, most of the plants are producing less and/or later than usual.  I noticed quite a few ears of corn growing and we should have lots of tomatoes ripening soon.

 
We also have lots of squash flowers and I have heard of them being a great treat to eat but haven't tried them before.  I've read some of the nutritional benefits and they are high in potassium, vitamins B and K, and beta carotene.  Thought I'd try it.  Last weekend my friend and I sauteed some flowers in a little oil and herbs and they were delightful.  Yesterday while in the garden, I picked a variety of squash flowers:  summer, zucchini, spaghetti, crookneck, and pumpkin with the idea of stuffing them with a little cheese and herbs and cooking them. The flowers to use are the male flowers, they grow upright on a stem and don't produce squash.  The female flowers have what looks like a little squash at the base.  You can use those, but that will reduce your squash yield.  Leave a couple male flowers so the female flowers can be pollinated.

I used some herb goat cheese, chevre, and a sliced anaheim pepper, also from the garden.  I scooped the cheese with a little tasting spoon, added a couple small slices of the pepper and made a little ball.  I stuffed this at the bottom of the flower.  I dipped them gently a somewhat thin batter of WW flour and homemade soy milk.  Then I warmed a mixture of sesame and safflower oil in a nonstick pan.  I sliced some garlic cloves and toasted them in the oil with a couple sprigs of rosemary and thyme and removed them when they were crisp and set them aside for garnish. Then I sauteed the flowers in the oil until they were just golden brown.

 I added a little black bean corn salsa and the toasted garlic chips I made earlier and it was a full meal for two. These were so good, this plate didn't make it far.  We just stood here after the photo and had dinner.

Gifts of the Summer

 I'm doing my shopping in the garden now.  I'm pulling out little summer squash, zucchini, artichokes, broccoli, chard, edible flowers, and many herbs.  The green beans are starting to appear and the tomatoes are starting to ripen.  My shopping list this week was short and consisted of small items I needed for the meals I will prepare for the week.  I wanted to make a zucchini pie so I needed some cheese and eggs this week, but most my groceries are coming from my garden or another local garden right now.

I surveyed my fresh groceries and made some pretty fun decisions about what to do with my fresh garden vegetables and the fruit of the season.   I had some organic soy beans in the drawer so I made some fresh soy milk to use in the zucchini pie.  I made some peach preserves sweetened with fresh local honey using Agar for thickener.  I only used a little, I didn't want a jelly consistency, just a thick fruit mixture.

Peach Preserves

I put up some blueberry freezer jam sweetened only with 1 teaspoon of powdered stevia to five pounds of blueberries. To make up for the liquid lost by omitting the sugar, I used one cup of water. I used pectin to thicken this time. It's fruity and sweet and doesn't taste like it's sugarfree.

Sugar Free Blueberry Freezer Jam

These little summer squash all became raw teriyaki noodles.  I'll post the recipe separately a little later. I have a handy little sprializer gadget that turns them into curly long noodles.  Tossed with a teriyaki sauce made from pumpkin oil, pomegranate juice, shoyu, miso, a little agave, and fresh ginger, they become a fresh Asian inspired dish.

Sunburst, Crookneck, and Zucchini Squash picked this morning.

I have some cabbage, four large heads, sliced and wilting in the crock for some homemade sauerkraut.  I also prepared some barley this morning and have been adding some sliced vegetables in throughout the day.   As I used the vegetables in other dishes, I threw the ends and pieces in with the cooked barley.  The barley has fresh cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, squash, peas, and fresh raw corn kernels.  I think I'll add some balsamic vinegar and a dash of chili oil and call it a barley vegetable salad. 

I still want to make something sweet for a dessert.   My friend, Morgaine, made a blackberry custard recently and I have some of the fresh eggs I bought for the zucchini pie left.  I think I'll hunt down that blog and make some peach custard with some of the preserves I just made.  I'll let you know how that works out.

Early August in the Garden

Just a little peek at the garden. She's blooming everywhere. There are beautiful herbs, flowers, fruits, and vegetables popping up everywhere. It's a lovely place to be with or without the sun.  Isabelle has a few friends in the garden now too.  I've included a couple of them, another scarecrow-ess named Betsy and her owl. 






The very pretty shiny object in the garden is a hand made sunburst made out of polished steel by one of our local artists. It is a gift from my friend and sister, Rhonda. I had to stop by the garden and let it shine in the sun for a few moments on the way home.

A Pearl in the City

We drove our granddaughter home, north of Seattle, Saturday.  It can be a long day, three and a half hours one way.  Both of us have back issues and need to stop at least every hour, sometimes more after a few hours of driving.  It takes us about nine hours or more to do the round trip.   We like to make some fun out of it and try to take little exploratory stops off the freeway at least once.  One of our stops was right off the highway in downtown Tacoma.  We wandered around a little bit and had an early dinner at a nice little vegan cafe.  It was late Saturday afternoon and downtown was very quiet.  There was no traffic and we had lots of room to roam and look around.  We came across a little community garden.  This was a very creative little spot.  The wall mural is right around the corner from the garden.  

Garden Update

It seems summer is harder to take time to edit pictures and blog.  I am much busier in the summer.   I cook less, but there is work to be done to preserve all the wonderful fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs growing everywhere this time of year.  We're having some fun in our garden now.  Everything's growing strong and I am bringing home different fresh vegetables  and herbs everyday now.  If I am not in the garden, I'm in the kitchen cleaning and preparing our bounty for our own use as well as others'.

One of the great gifts of the garden is the ability to give food away daily.  Soon, there will be an abundance of tomatoes, corn, beans, and zucchini.  There is more than enough for us and I can give vegetables to my friends, coworkers, people I do business with in town, complete strangers, the Alanon clubs, and the church around the corner.  This church gives food to whomever needs it every Thursday.  I love giving them my vegetables.  There was a time when the boys were small that we were in that very line of that church on a couple Thursday mornings. 

Little Veggies

The garden is producing daily food now.  I am picking a pound of peas a day, three or four onions, and lots of herbs.  Yesterday I noticed there are little veggies popping up all over.

8 Ball Zucchini - It's about three inches in diameter.

Little Broccoli beginning

Up close

Sunburst Squash

Golden Zucchini beginning