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!

Poppin!

So things are a growing and I haven't shared many pics lately.  Here ya go!

The view from the back door

Pretty little radish shoulders poppin up!

Not so clear, but the arugula and tat soi are a growin'!  

Up close and personal with the tat soi!

The plot across the street....being held captive by the ever encroaching grass!!!!

Red cabbage is looking amazing, red onions behind it look strong and healthy, while the basil in back is looking a little dead.  Guess you can't have it all after all.  

Pea trellis is working!!!

And finally......in the third plot, the potatoes are popping!  

Overall, I am pretty satisfied with the way things are going.  There has been a ton of rain lately and not a lot of sunshine.  Weeds have not been a huge problem, but this upcoming week, I am going to have to spend some time weeding the food bank/kindergarten plot and my own plot across the street.  However, when the sun does finally make it's way out, I think I am in trouble!

Also thinking about putting boarders around the two plots across the street.  Something on the cheap and preferably recycled....gotta keep the path grass out! 

Only the Beginning (aka - First Harvest)

Sunday, May 22nd - 6:58 am and I am still alive.  No signs of any rapture from my apartment view, other than a handful of post Apocalypse jokes on facebook and public radio. 

And while I consider myself a nonbeliever, I have to admit at one point while having dinner friends thinking, "If this were the end, I would be perfectly content."  

After work yesterday, my two coworkers and a friend came up the hill to Monterey for dinner and a visit.  It was finally beautiful out, so we took advantage of the late afternoon sun and walked to the community garden.  There we harvested the seasons first heads of lettuce.  And the garden looks amazing!  I had not been there in about a week.  The peas are probably knee high and the onion sets I planted earlier are really growing and looking strong.  Carrots are starting to pop up strong and the cabbage plants are more than double their original size.  

We continued to walk around Monterey, visiting a couple of parks.  We harvested Lilacs for our table arrangement and flowers to add to our salad.  Hannah had provide morels she harvested from the forest and dinner looked something like this;

 

This is kind of an Asian inspired stir fry type dish; garlic, ginger, morels, carrots, leeks and spinach with a bit of soy sauce.  We served this with brown rice and quinoa and a gorgeous salad (that I don't really have pictures of).  

Amazing food and conversation was had around the coffee table.  Plans for future food, fishing, harvesting adventures were mapped out.  Last night definitely goes down in the book as "best rapture ever!"

Once a Farmer, Always a Farmer

In a way, there is nothing too terribly exciting to post about the garden.......or is there?

For one - I have started planting in the food bank/kindergarten plot.  On Thursday a group of four children, the teacher and I planted two rows of potatoes, about 25 lettuce plants and a row of beets on one half of the plot; half is designated for the food bank, the other for the kindergarten class.  When the school year ends in another month, the food bank will be using the entire space.  It kind of works out great, in that child labor kind of way.  The children come and play in the dirt, plant a bit, maybe weed some here or there and the food bank gets the bounty of veggies - no cost for the labor.

For two - there is some more germinating and growing happening.  The peas are a few inches tall now, which means I need to get my butt in gear and get a trellis up for them to climb on.  Carrots have finally sprouted across the street.  Arugula and tatsoi are getting a bit bigger all the time.  The leeks have finally started to pop through the ground.  Tonight after work, I hit the plot by my home with shot of fish fertilizer, so hopefully between that and the sun that is expected to come in the next two days, we will see some serious growth.

For three - my seedlings inside suck.  My apartment just stays too cold and there is not enough sun coming in. I went to three different stores tonight trying to find just the right light fixture to hang over them and struck out, so I am giving up and carrying two trays into work tomorrow to leave in the greenhouse.  I have NO idea why I am so stubborn and didn't just take them there in the first place.  I guess I kind of just wanted my babies close to me at all times.   Moving on...

For four - I spent Wednesday morning at Drumlin Farm doing a bit of planting with the team - or I should the remaining members of last years team; Greg, Abbey and Matt.  It was amazing to be in the fields with these amazing people again.  Drumlin is gorgeous; the baby lambs are out grazing, the seedlings are growing in the green house, the garlic is almost knee high.  That farm is like a dream and I think visiting there just reminded me how much I love and respect that land and those people.  After lunch, it was so hard and awkward to walk away.  I guess I left questioning or doubting my decisions.

Little by little - Great Barrington and Project Native show me that I am here and here is where I am supposed to be.  I guess there is more to be revealed, but for today I am working on being present, willing and open minded to loving this experience.