Special Delivery Day - Take One

Tonight's Dinner

Today was my first food bank delivery.  Earlier in the season, I was asked if I would like to manage the plot at the community garden that was for the use of the Monterey kindergarten and the local food bank.  I jumped at the chance, as I have always wanted to incorporate issues of food access into my farming/gardening work/education.

As soon as I was able to "break ground" at the (extra) plot, I snagged some potato seeds, lettuce and beet starts from my lovely farmer sweetie and had a planting day with the kids and staff of the kindergarten.  I have since planted scallions, zucchini, basil, yellow squash, carrots, collards and mustard greens.  The lettuce is the first to be ready for harvest and I wanted to clear those heads out to make way for winter squash, tomatoes, and a second round of additional herbs and lettuce.

I got up a bit earlier this morning, harvested around 30 heads of lettuce, washed and packed them away in plastic bags and after coffee and breakfast, headed to Great Barrington to drop the goods.  My plan was to leave the lettuce on the door step, as I had to be at work at the exact same time the food bank opened.  Thankfully, Dorothy and the other volunteers had shown up early and I was able to meet the people that will be distributing the food to throughout the rest of the season.  They were so grateful and it really helped me to feel like this tiny plot and a bit of work was going to help some families have access to fresh produce.

Next week I will be taking them yet more lettuce, perhaps some scallions, definitely some parsley and beets and maybe even some swiss chard!  The plot is flourishing; potato flowers have bloomed (there will be tons of potatoes!) and the carrots seem to be growing daily.

Potato Flowers!

Here's what's happening in my plot at the house;

Looks like a bean to me!

The Big Picture

Holy Food Making, Storing, Eating......

Gardening is amazing and so is eating your own food.  The taste is just so extreme - tonight I snapped a couple of ready peas off the vine and pulled a carrot up out of the ground for an after work snack as I walked home and watered the potted plants that are waiting to be planted for the Food Bank.

I didn't spend a ton of time in the garden this weekend, as I was busy in the kitchen cooking and storing up goodies brought to me by my sweetie, straight from the fields of her beautiful farm in Dover, MA.  A bin full of garlic scapes, lettuce, bok choi, spring turnips and onions, beets, and the largest, most beautiful head of cauliflower I have ever seen (eaten).

We chopped and froze many bags of garlic scapes to saute up when the winter's share of garlic has been eaten.  We made garlic scape, walnut and asiago pesto that we froze in an ice tray and later popped out to store in freezer bags.  These will be great to pull out and add to hot pasta or into a soup.  We also made quick pickled kohlrabi and tonight I did the same with the spring turnips.  

For dinner we shared roasted beets and smashed, roasted cauliflower.

So much, I am probably forgetting at least half of the highlights.  I am so fortunate to share this season with such an amazing, dedicated farmer.  I learn so much from her and I am really enjoying navigating the ways and importance of growing and eating your own food.

Oh maybe a picture....

Beets!

Trellising and More

Today was a busy day, both in the garden and out in the real world - harvesting, storing, trellising in my own garden and a little landscaping work for a new friend.  Around noon, I came home to trellis the sun gold cherry tomato plants in the yard here at the house

Then I harvested the remaining over grown arugula from the community garden plot, washed it and blended it with garlic scapes , olive oil, walnuts and grated Parmesan cheese to make a pesto.  I had it over pasta tonight for a quick dinner and it was amazing!

There was also some basil pesto making and freezing and oh yeah......blueberry freezer jam.  I am a bit worried about the jam.  I used frozen berries from last year and the recipe called for nearly an entire bag of sugar for 12 - 8 ounce jars.  Hell a lot of sugar!  So we will see.  

Tomorrow - seeding some herbs for the greenhouse!

Berry Bonanza!!!

I swear we hand picked them all today!  Just didn't think to break out the camera until all the hard labor was completed.

My friend Anna and I made the trek west and down the Taconic Parkway to Chatham, NY to visit Berry Farm - a very cool organic and basically solar powered year round farm to pick strawberries!  Turns out their strawberry operation is only a small fraction of their business.  One of the store keepers gave us a brief tour of their greenhouses, one of which is geothermal.  Beautiful, small farm with amazing staff and insane strawberries.  Although the store keeper had some doubt about our harvesting stamina - Anna and I picked about 17 quarts or something like 23 lbs. of strawberries.  I tend to get a little carried away when I know something is soon going to become unavailable - I think they call it hoarding.

We picked, we shopped a little, getting some extras from their farm stand like garlic scapes and a tub of ice cream to split on the drive back.  Then we headed back to the great state of Massachusetts to prepare a meal for friends.  Anna pan fried some fish in coconut oil and garnished them with lightly sauteed garlic scapes and scallions, while I made some pasta with kale from the garden and Hannah made a salad of lettuce and arugula (also from the garden).

Beautiful night to have a meal outdoors

I snuck away to get my camera!

Jack hearts Kale!

After dins, we started on the berries and there was a lot of snickering around the topic of sucking the air out of the freezer....mostly around who sucked the most.

And the winner is.....

All in all, it was quite a busy day.  Lettuce harvesting, pea re-trellising, planting the food bank plot (again), some experimental cucumber trellising and tons of hand weeding and hoeing.  After being away for a few days and feeling a bit off kilter, spending the majority of my day working in the garden proved to be quite therapeutic and a bit tiring!

Pictures - Take June 19th

Bush Green Beans!

Holy lettuce harvest.  These heads are from the kindergarten plot I have been helping to manage for the food bank.  Early in the season I planted a ton of lettuce that was donated by a friendly farmer, mostly to have something quick and easy to work with the kids.  They no longer are using the spot, as school has now gone into summer break, so I am clearing the plot to make way for hearty vegetables for the food bank.  I cleared about 10 heads this morning - some too small for a real harvest, but I need the space!

It's always best to harvest lettuce in the morning - It's when the lettuce taste best, because it is storing it's maximum amount of carotene - as the day warms up, the lettuce protects itself from the sun and heat by excreting this carotene and it's taste can become quite bitter.  For more lettuce details  - seeding, growing, soil and sun conditions, etc.

Here is what the plot at the house is looking like these days.....

Cilantro~

OMG BEETS!!!

Soil Health

I took a last minute trip this past week to North Carolina and was fortunate enough to have a coworker stay at my home and keep an eye on the garden.  I am quite sure I would not have been capable of leaving the state without that bit of insurance, so I am super grateful for a great new friend.  

And the good news is - while I was gone, the garden did some serious growing.  Sorry I don't have any pictures to share, but it's well past night fall here.  So - tomorrow perhaps! 

I harvested probably 4 lbs. of arugula two days ago and I have had arugula like 18 ways.  Maybe that it is a bit of a dramatic estimate, but I have had two dramatically different arugula salads (both which included blue cheese, duh), a couple arugula and hummus sandwiches and some wilted arugula and pasta.  I think the pasta dish was by far my favorite!  I have also harvested a great deal of lettuce and I have to say that I am once again falling in love with lettuce.  I think last season I became so accustomed to having fresh cut greens, that I really lost that lovin feeling for lettuce, but it's making a come back and that is a good thing, as I have another 20 heads of lettuce that I have to harvest to make room for some additional food bank plantings.  The food bank can not live off of lettuce this season!

I wanted to talk a bit about soil health because I am so shocked at how much the quality of my soil has increased.  Just a couple of weeks ago I was feeling really discouraged about the soil in the garden plot beside my home.  This was the plot that I dug out early in the spring, removing the sod and turning in compost.  As soon as the spring temperatures began to increase, the soil dried out and proved to be quite poor.  I asked some other gardeners, whose experience I have much faith in, and they suggested that I top feed the plot with compost.  I did it once with 4 cubic feet and a week later felt like it needed more, so I added an additional 4 cubic feet.  I then watered pretty heavily and covered the entire bed with straw.  Following practical advice, I still felt I had simply wasted my time and money on this entire plot.  

Until today...

Today I spent some time in this plot pulling weeds, harvesting more lettuce and radishes and I could finally see some serious improvement in the soil quality.  What was once dry and almost rock like, is moist loose soil.  I am certain the rain over the last week has something to do with this, but I know the effort in top composting and protecting the top layer with the straw was an extremely beneficial move.  

I am so happy with this plot - greens are growing, cilantro is almost ready for harvest and I will spend some time trellising my sun gold cherry tomatoes tomorrow.  I will also spend some time across the street expanding the trellis for my pea plants - apparently they are a much taller variety then the one's we grew last year.  Tonight I noticed that they were not only flopping over the existing trellis, but are actually on the verge of snapping!  

Hey give peas a chance! 

Hail!

Today is June 9th, which means yesterday was June 8th - right?  I guess I don't associate icy precipitation with the month of June, but it is possible.  You hear about it in reference to tornadoes and hurricanes, but again you don't think of the state of Massachusetts as being a tornado and hurricane state.

The weather here has been quite unusual - I would think.  Just a couple of weeks ago, tornadoes ripped through Greenfield and last night we had a wicked bad storm; heavy rain, gum ball sized hail and the most amazing and nosy lightening I have ever heard.  Made me wish I was on the river at my folks place in North Carolina.  I have fond memories of beautiful thunderstorms while sitting on the screen porch of my family's river shack.

In garden news - it survived the storm.  In fact, I even had a chance to throw some organic fertilizer down just before the rain and I think that will give the garden plot in my yard here a good boost.

I have been harvesting arugula and lettuce every morning.  Some I am able to share with my coworkers which feels great and the rest I am having as a salad for lunch.  It's such an amazing feeling to eat what you grow.

The pepper and tomato plants I planted last week are starting to show some growth and the cucumber and squash plants I planted too early are bouncing back to life!  I planted them kind of close to other plants, so I am going to work this weekend on building trellis' for them.  I have heard of trellised cucumbers, now let's see if the squash is willing to climb as well.

Hay Day!

Perfect lemonade chairs!

*Chairs courtesy of kind homeowner in Housatonic that so graciously put these chairs on their lawn this morning with a gigantic "FREE" sign.

So much is happening these days in the garden.  Harvesting!  Arugula and tat soi salads galore.  Toscano kale pizzas!  And unfortunately the rather traumatic harvest of two cauliflower plants that were fed to the community compost pile.  Apparently the plants suffered some damage somewhere along the line and the tiny florets they produced were inedible - cute, but not tasty.

Task accomplished this week include, but are not limited to;

• Hand weeding the food bank plot 
• Planting the heirloom tomatoes in pots and the sungold's in between rows of carrots in the plot at the house
• Plant peppers, collards and more kale!
• Direct seeding spinach, arugula, mustard greens, and more radish
• Seeding in trays beets, collards, basil, and scallions
• Top feeding the house plot with compost
• Mulching the community garden plot with straw

It feels like I am in the garden every afternoon after work and I freakin' love it!  I love being in my yard in the late sun and coming in to make dinner with whatever I can I piece together with what has been harvested.  I am kind of becoming a stay at home dork.  

My best side

Well.....that's not entirely true - there have been contra dances and community concerts and trips to Dover and time with special friend visits and work and.....

I have to say, I love my life.  I love my garden and I love having an opportunity to share it's progress via the blog and some photos.  So, enjoy....

Holy FREE lawn mower!

Pesky rabbits!

Straw - good for holding in moisture and keeping weeds down!