August Harvest Records

We've been accumulating these records, and of course the accompanying produce, but haven't been logging them here.  So, here they are.

August 2, 2012
Boston Pickling Cucumbers  1 lb. 12 oz.  (7)
Basil- one handful
Lemon Cucumbers 3 oz. (2)

August 3, 2012
Boston Pickling Cucumbers 10 oz. (2)
Lemon Cucumbers 8 oz. (2)
Tomatillos 13.5 oz. (6)
Crookneck Squash 13 oz. (3)
Jalapeño pepper 1 oz (1)
misc. beans 4 oz
yellow onion 1 oz (1)
Red Wethersfield Onion  5 oz. (6)
Sunberries 1 oz.

August 7, 2012
Lemon Cucumber 1 lb. 14 oz. (6)
Boston Pickling Cucumber 4 lb. 10 oz. (16)
Sikkim Cucumber 1 lb. 11 oz (4)- largest is 1 lb!
Lazy Wife Beans 1 lb.
Purple Podded Pole Beans 1 oz. (1 pod)
Soybeans 1 oz. (one dry pod)
Tomatillo 2 lb. 7 oz.  (28)
Tomato (oxheart) 7 oz. (1)
Sky Rocket Tomato  4 oz. (3)

August 9, 2012
Australian Brown Onions 2 lb. 5 oz.

August 10, 2012
Australian Brown Onions 3 lb. 5 oz.
Volunteer Potatoes 1 lb. 3 oz.
Scarlett Runner Beans 2 oz (2)
Ground Cherry 2 oz. (7)
French Horticulture Beans 8 oz.
Corn 1 lb. 4 oz.  (2 ears)
Chinese Turnip 1 lb. 3 oz. (2)
Tomatillos 10 oz. (7)
Boston Pickling Cucumber 1 lb. 6 oz.  (4)
Sikkim Cucumber 7 oz (1)
Bell Pepper 4 oz. (1)
Oxheart Tomato 7 oz. (1)
Sky Rocket Tomato 5 oz. (3)
Lazy Wife Beans 1 lb. 8 oz.

August 12, 2012
Corn 10 lb. 3 oz. (15 ears)
Purple Podded Pole Beans 4 oz.
Lazy Wife Beans 8 oz.
Sikkim Cucumber 1 lb. 1 oz. (2)
Boston Pickling Cucumber 1 lb. 11 oz. (5)
Lemon Cucumber 6 lb. 8 oz. (18)
Tomatillo 12 oz (9)
Ground Cherry < 1 oz.
Sky Rocket Tomato 11 oz. (9)
Oxheart Tomato 1 lb. (3)
Jersey Giant Tomato 10 oz. (1)
Sparks Tomato 14 oz. (3)
Southport White Globe Onions 15 oz. (6)

August 13, 2012
Southport White Globe Onions 12 oz. (5)
Corn 5 lb. (8 ears)
Boston Pickling Cucumbers 3 lb. 12 oz. (9)
Tomatillo 8 oz. (5)
?? tomatoes 12 oz. (5)
Sky Rocket Tomatoes 5 oz (4)
Jersey Giant Tomatoes 7 oz. (1)

August 15, 2012
Corn 3 lb. 2 oz. (4)
Oxheart Tomatoes 3 lb. 13 oz. (11)
Jersey Giant Tomatoes 2 lb. 2 oz. (6)
Sky Rocket Tomatoes 1 lb. (12)
?? Tomatoes 2 lb. 8 oz. (6)
Lemon Cucumbers 2 lb. 4 oz. (8)
Boston Pickling Cucumbers 1 lb. 15 oz. (9)
Tomatillo (green) 5 lb. 4 oz.
Swiss Chard 4 oz.
Malabar Spinach 1 oz.  ( We decided that we didn't like it, so we didn't harvest any more)
Basil < 1 oz.
Lazy Wife Beans 3 oz.
Purple Podded Pole Beans < 1 oz.
Red Wethersfield Onions 5 oz. (6)
Ground Cherry 2 oz.

August 16, 2012
All Blue Potatoes 26 lb. 10 oz.

August 19, 2012
Purple Podded Pole Beans 7 oz.
Lazy Wife Beans 2 oz.
Lemon Cucumbers 15 oz. (4)
Sikkim Cucumbers 5 oz. (1)
Tomatillo 10 oz. (6)
Jersey Giant Tomato 3 lb. 10 oz. (14)
Golden Queen Tomato 1 oz. (1)
Sky Rocket Tomato 9 oz. (9)
Oxheart Tomato 15 oz. (3)
??? "globe?" 3 lb. 8 oz. (9)

August 21, 2012
Yard Long Beans 2 oz. (2)
Ground Cherries 4 oz.
Cor Di Bieu Tomato 13 oz. (1)
Sauce n' Slice Tomato 5 oz. (1)
Sky Rocket Tomato 5 oz. (5)
Soy Beans < 1 oz.

August 23, 2012
Yard Long Beans 2 oz.
Lazy Wife Beans 6 oz.
Purple Podded Pole Beans 10 oz.
Green Beans 11 oz.
Wax Beans 14 oz.
Corn 2 lb. 14 oz. (4)
Tomatillo 2 lb. 11 oz.
 ??? tomato 1 lb. 5 oz. (4)
Golden Queen 4 oz. (1)
Oxheart Tomato 13 oz. (3)
Jersey Giant Tomato 4 lb. 7 oz. (14)
Sky Rocket Tomato 14 oz. (13)

August 24, 2012
beans, mixed 11 oz.
Ground Cherries 5 oz.
Pepperoncini 2 oz.
Corn 2 lb. 8 oz. (11 ears)
Red Wethersfield Onion 1 lb. 9 oz.
Tomatillo 1 lb. 7 oz. (17)
Golden Queen Tomato 4 oz. (1)
Jersey Giant Tomato 1 lb. 11 oz. (5)
Oxheart Tomato 1 lb. (2)
Sky Rocket 8 oz. (5)

August 25, 2012
Ruby Queen Beets 17 lb. 11 oz
Early Blood Turnip Beets 4 lb. 2 oz.
Onions, mixed 5 lb.
Chinese Radish 1 lb. 12 oz. (2)
Kohlrabi 11 oz. (7)
Sikkim Cucumber 12 oz. (1)
Jalapeño pepper 1 lb.
Pepperoncini 2 oz. (4)
Boston Pickling Cucumber 4 oz. (1)
Bell Pepper 4 oz. (1)
unripe tomatoes 2 lb. 10 oz. (7)
Ground Cherries 3 oz.
Lemon Cucumber 3 oz. (1)

August 26, 2012
Cowpeas < 1 oz. (1 pod)
Kale < 1 oz.
Yard Long Beans 1 oz.
misc. beans 2 oz.
Tomatillo 11 oz (10)
Butte Potatoes 9 oz. (2)
Tomatoes 6 oz. (2)
Swiss Chard 3 oz.
Red Wethersfield Onion 13 oz.
Yellow Onions < 1 oz.
Sunberries 1 oz.
Ground Cherries < 1 oz.

This is Pay Day

Here we are in mid- August; the time when all that hard work really starts to pay off.  We're entering the tomato glut for the year.  This year, however, we've got to add tomatillos to the count.  I can't believe how productive tomatillos are.  We've got some good-sized bell peppers this year, unlike last year where they never got bigger than a quarter.  Last Thursday, I dug 27 pounds of blue potatoes.  I couldn't be happier with the production of our beans this year, either.  We even grew some yard-long beans, and they lived up to the name for sure:

This past weekend, we went to visit my grandparents in Pennsylvania.  We thought we were hardworking over-achievers until we spent the weekend with grandma and grandpa.  They actually wore us out!  Grandma's gardens were beautiful, and she sent me home with some plants.  I got some more multiplier onions, some kind of herb that smells like bubblegum, lemon balm, and fennel.  Plus my mom gave me some daisies and something else I can't recall the name of.  Here's a picture of Grandma's garden:

Cucumbers are winding down, and we have about 20 more ears of corn that we're waiting on.  I planted turnips yesterday, and I've been meaning to start some flats of broccoli, cabbage, and other greens but haven't done it yet. 

Pickles & Cheese

You can pickle just about anything. Yes, we all have an idea of what "a pickle" is... but for each of us it could be something different. It usually conjures up some version of a pickled cucumber- for me, its a garlicy dill pickled cucumber. So far this summer, I have pickled black radishes(on 7/8/12) and dill pickles (today). I jarred 9 pints of pickled black radishes and 4 quarts and 4 pints of dill pickles. I adapted a pickled beet recipe with black radish inspired spices to create the recipe for those bad boys. They came out well, but in the future, I would recommend peeling the skins off. I left them on, because I like the skins when they are cooked, but it turns out that the skins get chewy when pickled. Edible, but not ideal. I'll have to wait at least 2 weeks to try my jarred dill pickles, but I always make sure to make extra for refrigerator pickles to tide me over.
Pickling is essentially fermenting foods in a certain way- the way that you like, and doesn't kill you. In that way, it is very similar to cheese. I would never be able to keep all these cucumbers for more than a month or so without pickling, just like there's no way to keep milk around without cheese. So far I have made Mozzarella, Ziegerkase, Farmhouse Cheddar, Whey Ricotta, Milk Yogurt and Soy Yogurt. However, I haven't tried all of these yet! Cheese is about patience. Aging makes one cheese one way and another another, so we'll have to wait and see if my cheddar and ziegerkase are successful! Mozzarella is quickly becoming a household norm, and the soy yogurt is vastly more popular and easier than the milk yogurt.

Read more about pickling here!

The Second Half of July

Oh boy. Looks like I haven't updated in a while... The garden looks like a jungle again, but at least I know in which areas things are, even if they are under the weeds. There are no no-mans-land areas like we had last year. I at least have access to all the rows, even if you wouldn't be able to tell where the row ended and the walkway began without having been in there everyday for the last several months.
Here's the Harvest report:

• 7/16:
• boston pickling cucumbers: 3 lb (11, 2 were munched :/ )
• beans (type unknown): 1 oz (3 pods) - these fell off in the storm and were recovered, not really harvested
• nest egg gourd: 1 WAY too large gourd. picked and given to chickens. 
• 7/17:
• garlic. 
• bp cukes: 10 oz (4)
• 7/20:
• kale: 4.5 oz
• red beet: 1 lb (5)
• kohlrabi: 6.5 oz (1)
• bp cuke: 2 lb 2 oz (8)
• chard: 13 oz
• rat tail radish seed pods: 3 oz (40)
• 7/21: 
• bp cuke: 12 oz (4)
• 7/22:
• green tomatillo: 11 oz (7)
• pickling onion: 2 lb 11 oz (48)
• crookneck summer squash: 1.5 oz (1)
• kale: 3 oz
• kohlrabi: 10 oz (1)
• beans: 5 oz (6) 
• rtr seed pods: 1 oz
• lemon cuke: 1 lb 8.5 oz (7)
• bp cuke: 1 lb 13 oz (9)
• 7/24
• lemon cuke: 6 oz (2)
• bp cuke: 1 lb 13 oz (11)
• tomatillo: 3 oz (1)
• 7/25
• cn squash: 10.4 oz (3)
• bp cuke: 1.4 (1)
• 7/29
• lemon cuke: 1 lb 11 oz (10)
• bp cuke: 6 lb 3 oz (20)
• kale: 4 oz
• cn squash: 1 lb 1 oz (3)
• lazy wife beans: 1 lb 12 oz
• scarlett runner beans: 9 oz
• chard: 10 oz
• beet: 3 lb 10 oz
• kohlrabi: 15 oz (3)
• tomatillo: 1 lb (11)
• strawberries(everbearing?): 2 oz (12)
• 7/30:
• cn squash: 1 oz (1)
• rtr seed pods: 1.75 oz
• lw beans: 7 oz
• tomatillo: 11.5 oz (11)
• beet: 1.75 oz (1)
• red wethersfield onion: 4.5 oz (5)
• yellow onion: 2 ob 1 oz
• 7/31: 
• yellow onion: 1 oz (1)
• beet: 4.5 oz (1)
• 2 strawberries... didn't make it inside. CHOMP
• ground cherry: >1 oz (3)
• bp cuke: 2 lb 9 oz (3) (bigger is not better)
• cn squash: 5 oz (1)
• lemon cuke: 1 lb 4 oz (8)

I love lists. :)
Happy growing! <3

Got New Seeds

I got some new seeds in the mail today.  They are as follows:

Purple Dark Opal Basil
Lacinato Kale (the other seeds I had didn't germinate for some unknown reason)
Lamb's Ears
Sylvetta Arugula
Lovage
Hyssop
Amado Coneflower
Prize Choy
Tatsoi
Purple Vienna Kohlrabi
Chives
Tall Russell Lupine
Mrs. Burns Lemon Basil

I'm trying to establish a perennial border to keep down on weeds, so that's why I got all the strange herbs that I don't cook with.  The greens will be grown in the coming months.

A Drip Before the Deluge

So here we find ourselves in the middle of July, with more work to do that there are hours to do it, and I'm not talking about weeding.  We started harvesting garlic on Tuesday, pulling out some 139 heads, equaling just under 16 pounds of garlic.  Lacking a shed or barn, we were hard-pressed to find a place to cure it.  We ended up stringing it up in an unused as of yet portion of the chicken run, and putting a tarp over it with a support pole in the center sort of like a mini circus tent. 

After not receiving and rain for weeks, we got almost an inch on Wednesday along with some hail.  Most of the corn is now lodged, the runner bean poles fell over, amongst other more minor things.  We learned last year to leave the corn alone, and it may straighten itself back up using its powerful brace roots. 

The Rose Gold potatoes that we planted in mid-April are ready to come up.  The leaves were starting to get pretty crunchy looking about a week ago, and after the storm hit us on Wednesday, I went to survey the damage.  The potato plants looked fine, it's just that the Rose Golds looked like yellow sticks coming out of the hay mulch.  Hopefully tomorrow it'll be dry enough to do some digging. 

Some tomatoes have blossom end rot, but I'm hoping it'll rectify itself.  BER happens due to a lack of calcium.  One possibility is that a large fluctuation in moisture disrupts the previous amount of uptake of calcium to the soil, temporarily causing a lack of calcium available to the fruits.  This is the case with us in the last week as we went from .05 inches of rain in July to over 2 inches in a matter of hours.

Our chickens finally learned to stay inside the coop when it's raining instead of miserably standing around in it.  A very large tom has been gobbling in the pasture every morning this week, and I got my first glimpse of this year's fawns. 

Rain

It's raining! I'm so happy!!!