Good Soil

Good soil gets me more excited than loads of produce.  We've currently got very little planted in the garden, but the soil is the best it's ever been!  I'm trying a less-is-more approach right now to planting.  Usually, I start a ton of seeds, transplant them too late or too shoddily and then enough of them survive to still feed us.  This time, I'm trying to plant less quantity- closer to what we actually need and take care of each plant a little better. 

Last fall, I sowed a lot of winter rye sort of as a cover crop, and to see how growing winter grains would work since I've had zero success with spring wheat.  It turns out that the rye is doing so well that I couldn't bear to cut it down as a green manure and I'm letting it go.  I'll cut it for grain in a few more weeks.  The result of that is having a lot less space to plant, and having large areas not going to the weeds.  It's really calming and beautiful to watch the seed heads bob and sway in the wind, much like watching the ocean. 

We've been eating tons of nettles and ramps.  The ramps are almost done now, but I did make an awesome ramp kimchi, thanks to my friend Dom, who provided me with the idea, recipe, and Korean chili powder.  next time, I think I will cut the leaves up a little more, because the long strands don't work out really well in the kimchi.  Also, we found a pretty good reliable flush of Dryad's Saddle mushrooms.  These guys don't get much culinary respect, but I'm happy to get what I can. 

don't eat mushrooms without a 100% positive identification.

I planted 3 different beds of corn, which wasn't the original intention, but that's what happened.  Sort of by accident, I ended up doing 3 different things with each planting. One has tons of clover, jewelweed, and other stuff growing like a living mulch because I didn't weed it beforehand.  Another bed got mulched with old leaves, and one I did nothing to.  I'm curious to see how that works out. 

Naomi did a nice job mulching these guys

Sunchokes going crazy

strawberries and horseradish

raspberries going crazy and crossing over the path

The source of some really great compost!

The last picture is a bummer pic.  That is some serious erosion, and it is painful to look at.  It's about 10 yards past the end of our garden.  Avoiding this type of erosion should be more of a priority.