Squash Blossom Farm

2011-10-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

The finish coat of Earth Plaster inside the greenhouse is done! Only the outside wall to go. As you can see our window in Montana is abruptly closing with snow moving down the peaks. My dancing feet are wrapped in rubber boots and the wool hat is becoming a permanent fixture. So, we used American Clay's Loma Plaster as it was easier to have the material at hand instead of making large volumes of fine mix.

Since our bale wall

was uneven with lots of mountains and valleys- application was a little different than suggested for drywall. We tried the trowel method which appears to go on very easily over a smooth surface. However, the inside retained the

visual anatomy of most of the bales so hand application worked out better for us. A handful went on at a time applying pressure with the palm like the previous plasters. Areas were then worked in a circular motion to move the material into any small air pockets.

Once the wall was dry we went back with a wrung out sponge to "compress" the surface as recommended. This was then followed with a light dusting with a broom to brush the sand off and hand buffed in places with burlap. The suede smoothness was then evident. Inviting hand and fingers to explore the surface. It is unlikely that conventional building methods would evoke the same inclination to touch a wall.

Our plaster master helped apply our Native Finish Plaster coat that drys brown vs. cream. It's a mix of window screened sand and clay slip that have coffee bean frass added until it is the consistency of pudding. His method of using a brush was for ease of use during his assistance and these areas were palm smoothed too. The entire wall will be painted with darker shades of milk paint to increase our thermal mass when the sun decides to shine.

Suede smooth bale craters

The texture is so wonderful I'm already dreaming up the suede Rocket Bench for next spring finished in Loma.

Raven

Sometimes we feel like a pack of turtles but, here we are with only the outside wall left in this immersion in clay. Just a couple wet spots from the sand plaster remain under the tree and turtle moon. With the dry time so much slower out in the elements we've had plenty of time to explore clay sculpting. This is highly addictive for lovers of clay. This weekend we plan to apply American Clay's Enjarre. Even though, it is not designed for outside application, we feel comfortable giving it a go with our generously extended overhangs over the bale wall. Plus, Earth plastering is very forgiving so if it seems compromised at any point we simply redo it by modifying the roof for greater extension or coat the exterior in a lime plaster.

Moving the work crew

"Plaster Master" Work Shoes

Earth Plaster Stages

2011-10-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Dry Bales

First Coat-Sprayed Slip

Second Coat Discovery Plaster

Third Coat Sand Plaster

Discovery Coat and Sand Coat

Finish Coat American Clay Loma Plaster
The inside of the greenhouse is finally done on a beautiful October Moon!

Catching up on Shares and Immune Foods

2011-10-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

I've been so immersed in earth plastering, processing tomatoes and making pickles I forgot to update last weeks share. Not much mystery in it's contents: Dill, montana cucumbers, tomatoes and every type of onion from the garden. We're still eating chard, mizuna greens, kale and the final round of peas but seeing that most have had their fair share of the above mentioned greens we're focusing on filling you up with the warm season gems.

Week 18's share is tomatoes, some spaghetti squash, parsley and more onions. We've officially filled the 20 weeks of shares in 18. Thank-you all for a wonderful, supportive season. We'll be including a request list in the winter for things you'd like for us to potentially try next season and what you cared for this past season and didn't taste for too. It's a challenging grow season here but we're always trying to improve and adjust.

Well, I've been canning diced tomatoes to create with later this winter. We found the last time we canned copious amounts of salsa that we tired of the flavor come March. This time we'll jazz it up as we open them. Chutney's, pasta sauces, soups and salsas and other delightful tomato creations. We've also been dehydrating then freezing the tomatoes just in case all the moisture did not escape. I was hoping to freeze more whole tomatoes but the bags and bags of frozen bok choy and chard are taking up too much space. Good greens are hard to come by in the winter so we're prepared. Did you know most plants in the Brassica Family have more Vitamin C than Oranges? The greens were hiding 2 gallons of Huckleberries. Alright!

Today I made some delicious garlic butter. An easy recipe that can be modified with herbs like parsley and sage or try something sweet with lemon and anise. Pre-made lavender butter is perfect for cookies too.

Garlic Butter

Melt 1 stick of butter in sauce pan

Add 2 Bulbs of Minced Garlic(about 8-10 whole cloves)

Heat on low-avoid browning then pour into wide mouth 8oz mason jar.

We added it to mash potatoes during lunch and stir fried chard and spinach in it. This evening we spread it on tapioca/millet biscuits. My sense of smell has disappeared the last 2 days but this actually trickled in.

With the weather shifting Elderberry Syrup was on the Agenda yesterday. Daily dose around here is at least a tsp and when under the weather 3. Come winter we drizzle it on Huckleberry waffles. mmm....

How to Make Elderberry Syrup
3 cups Fresh Black Elderberries or 1 cup dried
3 cups water
1 cup local honey

Bring water and berries to a boil then cover and simmer for 30 minutes
Mash berries and boil and additional 5 minutes

Strain through a fine mesh strainer or jelly bag overnight or for at least 8 hours for Juice to develop
Add Honey to the Juice

Add Juice of One Lemon to Preserve
Bottle and Refrigerate

We used fresh berries that we harvested a few weeks back and froze and Just by chance I discovered freezing is the easiest way to shed all the berries from the stems. They simply fall off with a little shaking. We spoon are Flathead Honey from their gallon tub. Bees are simply amazing.

The Fall Garlic Crop goes in next week. We're trying for 1000 hardnecks and 1000 soft necks but won't really know for sure till we crack the bulbs.

Earth Walls

2011-10-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

Nearly all of the discovery coat has dried down and were on to what the "Natural Plaster" book calls the infill coat that we've renamed the sand coat. This is the last coat before the clay finish coat and is where all the forms start turning into shapes, animals, plants celestial bodies and whatever else emanates.

Over a couple days we've applied the outside layer of sand plaster to the wall. Mixing up the batch involved the same technique as the discovery coat just the formula changed to

4.5 part sand

2 parts screened and hydrated clay

2.5 gallons earth oven dirt

5 gallons straw

Coffee frass to taste

The foot mixing seemed more like running in place since we were trying for a dryer, tighter mix. I filled a 15 gallon trash can for the sand coat on the outside wall. We applied it about a 1/2 inch thick and have started building on it from there. Anyone that's working on the wall fills their bucket up with plaster from the mixing area and carries it over to their section of the wall.

I've found creating with clay on this scale is so rewarding and meditative. All there is the wall and mud nothing more to think about. Just magically joining each element together in what seems like an impossible feat. In modern construction we have ventured far from the roots of the apple tree with highly processed materials. Both still share the frantic building speed in the small window we have in Montana but this is just simply earth substrate blended and approachable for people at any age with varying experience and abilities. All share the desire to learn a new way of building and creating that doesn't pose a threat to our health.

Interestingly, a technique that works for one person in application is different in what works for another and that's the beauty because the end result is the same: Earth Walls to grow food in. Perfectly balanced and not heavily induced with power tools, noise and pollution. Just as it should be-humbling beauty from a small group of people dedicated to finishing it before the snow flies.

Carob Beet Cake makes a great snack after breakfast before lunch and following dinner. We like to drizzle homemade razzberry sherbet over the top.

Razzle Dazzle Sherbet

1 quart bag frozen razzberries

3 frozen bananas

Half a blender of hemp milk

Blend and pour into glass dishes. Great anytime of the day.

Cob Garden-Week 16

2011-09-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

We finished our first batch of Red Marble Cippolini Tomato Sauce. We reduced several pounds of skinned tomatoes with 4 bulbs of garlic last night. Today we added diced up red marble cippolini onions with fresh parsley and flowering marjoram reheated and pureed. Nearly all of it was devoured through the "sampling while cooking" process and I'll have to make an additional batch for canning. Cippolini's are incredibly sweet so next season we'll try to stay dedicated to accurate spacing.

Excavating the Cob Oven

The sauce compliments this divine Raw Ricotta Cheese over a bed of rice penne noodle. This cashew cheese also makes a great stuffing for whole tomatoes.

What you'll need for the cheese

1 Raw Tokyo long onion(or any white finger size onion)

1.5 cups soaked cashews

a handful of cilantro

1/4 cup of volcanic lemon juice

a splash of sunflower oil and enough water to get things going in the blender

Add all ingredients to the blender and serve between the warm sauce and noodles

Applying the Discovery Coat

The Queen of Slip

We've been busy busy transferring the discovery coat of natural plaster to the straw bales. The outside wall has the first coat complete and we're a 1/3 of the way through on the inside. It looks like it takes a few days to fully dry down before the infill coat can be added. That's when the playing and building with clay gets really fun.

Making the Mix

First Coat of Earth Plaster

2011-09-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

At some point during this process we worked out individual roles-things we like to do that essentially influenced our efficiency. Apparently, my role as foot mixer evolved from my lack of mud time as a child and my less tender feet than Salty's. So be it. Children have the most fun anyway so might as well join them.

Our first coat of plaster formula was made of 3 parts sand, 2 parts nearly pure clay from underground the streets of Whitefish (a fortunate stroke of luck), 1 bucket native dirt from the earth oven project and 1 gallon straw. This was tinkered with by adding about 1.5 gallons of coffee bean frass during the final stomp for added aroma and binding strength to the mix. I found this more pleasant and realistic than trying cow poop as an additive.

I started with the volcano of sand then slowly added the buckets of clay. Mixed with the feet till homogeneous then added the bucket of earth oven dirt. Resumed jumping. Rolled the plaster around in the tarp. Sprinkled with straw and coffee frass- returned to the rhythm of mixing with feet/rolling the tarp. Continuously repeating for 15 or so minutes until a nice form resulted.

I knew the brownie batter batch was sufficiently worked if it stuck together as above. 3 mixes of this filled the wheel barrow and covered the outside wall (120 square feet). We applied the mix by hand. You basically work a clump in your hand then apply it to a freshly misted wall emphasizing pressure up and with the palm. It went on about 1/2 inch thick. We were building up low points in the wall with a straw/clay/slip filler from any that fell to the ground.

It took about 4 days to dry down and during this interlude we dove into using a new batch of the same mix on the inside. The loose straw at the top proved quite challenging so we stapled burlap to the frame and tucked it under the stuffing before applying the plaster.

The plaster inside dried much quicker with more consistently warm air in the greenhouse. We gave our next round of starts a mist. We have pablo and slo bolt lettuce going again, cilantro, northern lights chard, peppers, calendula, basil and leftovers from summer-turkish eggplants and hungarian peppers which were attempting to raise as mother plants for next season. There's even a baseball size watermelon between the eggplants that I'm curious if it even has sweet fleshy insides yet.

Spraying Clay Slip

2011-09-17T23:14:00.000-07:00

We used a plaster gun to spray the slip on. The actual making of the slip took much longer than the applying.

Here's the process:

the clay mix was screened on 1/2 inch wire mesh over one trash can

hydrated until entirely covered & stirred with a hoe

the mix settled out for a few days till the water on top ran clear

the water was then scooped off leaving just a little for the clay slurry and felt like the consistency of heavy cream

this was then poured in 1 gallon batches over a window screen secured with a bungee cord over another trash can

The Results

One trash can of finely screened slip covered about 240 square feet.

Applying the Slip

It took two people to use the plaster gun since the batch sits on top of the gun in a large funnel which is difficult to balance while trying not to drench the wall.

It took a half hour to apply and the slip dried in 24 hours

Our Slip Soloist painted flour paste glue onto the straw bale brace boards prior to spraying the slip. Wood needs this adhesion coat of flour paste and sand for the first coat of plaster to bind to. More like binding to like.

So on to the first plaster batch known as the "Discovery Coat"

Strawbale Braces

2011-09-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

I notched the bales with the prying end of a hammer so our 1x3 braces would lay flush to the wall. You'll notice we stacked the bales nearly vertical since the straw is not load bearing and would require less loose straw stuffed areas. Once again the hammer is a handy tool far surpassing the utility and noise if I had used the "literature suggested" chainsaw or roto-zip method.

Salty then anchored the braces into the frame so we skipped the part on threading string to the bales. The top of the wall was stuffed with sections of bales turned sideways and later covered with burlap for the plastering. The top needed no notching just a little side to side movement with hand to separate the pieces of straw.

We stuffed the cracks and seams with dry straw to the middle of the wall and filled the outer 4-6 inches with a straw/slip mix as we plastered to bring the wall semi flush. The consistency of the infill would make a ball when worked with the hands. We applied it by smushing the sphere to it's furthest structural limits and joining the edge where it met the slip-sprayed-straw with a little extra slip. Like joins like.

Also worth mentioning skipping the weed eating part turned out to be a poor choice as compensating for valleys in mountains in the straw was even more time consuming while plastering. Five minutes of prep to trim the wall flush after stacking the bales and before any other step would of saved us at least an hour or two infilling those elevations. So be advised TRIMMING is worth it.

Week 15-Wall Raising and Dancing

2011-09-14T17:20:00.001-07:00

We have clay and sand!

The wall and cob oven projects are going for the fall and the weather is staying temperate. Our 2nd round of peas may actually make it outside too.

This weeks share is more heirloom tomatoes, herbs for salsa, onions, chard, kale and apples. Try the kale de-stemmed and fry with garlic and butter. Grate the apples, add to the kale with a little lemon juice and a 1/4tsp of garam masala. Cook down till apples are soft then serve.

Apple pies really good too

Week 13/14 Summer in September

2011-09-11T18:12:00.001-07:00

This share seems like a lot of food as we combined 2 weeks in one as many crops were ripening up. Daytime to nighttime temps have been swinging 50 degrees with the nights in the 30's. The plants are giving it their last hoorah. We survived the last freeze with just some basil lost. Next year all pesto for the freezer must be made by Sept 1st. And yes, we have another freeze in a couple days so we'll be watering and hoping for the best. So, with all this variability in temps we started to increase the harvest for the share, the freezer, the dehydrator and mason jars.

By now you've probably discovered a couple bags of heirloom tomatoes the Polish Soldaki's being my favorite (pink and funky shaped), a bag of arugula-mizuna green mix, purple cipolini onions, some yellow squash and grey zucchini, a bundle of bok choy greens, parsley and cilantro, hardneck garlic and nasturtium flowers.

In preparation of growing as long as possible. We've been working on laying the floor in the greenhouse and prepping all the potting supplies for fall/winter greenhouse growing and spring planting. We're exploring what type of heat source will be most efficient-woodstove, rocket bench or perhaps a lorena oven to keep the greens, cruciferous plants, herbs, chard and overwintering peppers warm.

We lost 2 crops of peppers so far this season (too cold spring-coconut planting mix-who knows) but the 3rd is looking the best out of all of them. The sun is dropping lower in the sky and shinning more directly into the greenhouse where heat loving watermelons and peppers in pots call home. We've had luck in other parts of the country overwintering peppers and putting them out the following summer. Then they are strong mother plants and produce beautiful fruit. This may be bordering on impossible with negative temperature winters in Montana but we'll see.

We're thrilled with the idea of fresh greens all winter and started the pablo and slo bolt lettuce, cilantro and basil over the last 2 days. This weeks planting menu includes beets, onions, arugula and sweet peas. We all need a little extra sweet smelling, vibrancy during the winter months and sweet peas might be the right potion.

Keep it up Summer in September.

Week 12 Garlic Braids and Potatoes

2011-08-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

Our purple stripe soft neck garlic braids are hanging in a prominent place in our kitchen and we hope they'll be happy in yours too. We washed the french fingerlings and blue adirondack potatoes so keep them refrigerated. And the heirloom tomatoes are starting to show their true colors. We thought we'd have to pull all of them Saturday before the freeze. The weather changed it's forecast thursday to no chance of freeze and not even frost to an abrupt turn this evening for clear starry skies - perfect for meteors dropping into the big dipper, a clear view of a northeast southwest oriented milky way and.....frosty temps. So down to the garden we go to harvest flowers, tender herbs, ripe tomatoes, mustard greens and chard. Hoping the cold doesn't settle to hard "down" in the garden. The cold air likes to ride right over our hillside and settle in the garden. In fall I've watched, with hose in hand, frost clouds start pumping to the edge of our only slightly elevated sight compared to the wetland.

The beauty in all these weather patterns taking ups and really low downs is the flower arrangements in the house. There's not much we can do other than cut the blooms and enjoy the fragrant sweet peas inside and prepare to start watering before dawn.

Next week, we'll get back into mixing in some greens, hopefully a cucumber or two and more tomatoes. If you want extra garlic or tomatoes let us know and we can add them to your remaining weeks. There is just 6 more extra large shares that might downsize to 4 even larger shares if the weather dives down too much in the evenings.

Week 11

2011-08-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

Sun Days

Lady Friends

Garlic Farmer

This weeks share includes some leeks which is great in soup with potatoes and garlic, what might be the last off shoots of watham broccoli, arugula, basil, living up to it's name "slo-bolt" lettuce, purple top turnips-throw the tops into the leek soup, another round of beautiful bok choy, mustard greens, kale and mix of onions.

As usual, keeping track of my labeling on paper and on the trays after several transplants before the sprouts meet their destiny in the earth sometimes leads to lost letters. Every season I'm so determined to stay organized but with my tendency to try lots and lots of different heirloom varieties things get a little mixed up sometimes. So not surprisingly, in all the flip flopping my bunching onions ended up singly planted and larger than normal but my single onions ended up bunched and confined. I've thinned them out and added them to the share so the remainders are now reaching a more accurate size. The flavor is unaffected but the there should be more of it in one place.

In other delightful dining news, the tomatoes are starting to turn and the squashes are coming along. The cucumbers are looking a little larger and the garlic is curing nicely. We're braiding garlic this weekend that you can hang in the kitchen next week to cure out this fall.

Week 10

2011-08-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

We're over half way through the share. The last week will be October 14th-just 8 weeks away. We've been bumping up the share modestly the last few weeks but you can expect extra garlic and tomatoes as they ripen and mature. This years garlic will be woven hanging soft necks and plenty of hard necks(my favorite for their rich oils). We found last year that they kept for about 7 months when kept in a cool dry area all winter. We're also repeating our experiment of leaving the scapes on half the crop as the sage wisdom says they store longer. The size of the bulbs were not to dissimilar from scape and non scape garlics. To our surprise some of the scape garlics were the largest bulbs. This years soft necks are looking immense and they usually run smaller than the hard necks. We'll see what we dig up this weekend.

This weeks share includes 2 bags of Arugula, Chard, Broccoli a Bag of Flowers ( nasturtium makes your hair grow so feel pretty eating flowers ladies and gentleman), Basil-we've been eating tomato basil sandwiches toasted with avocado, Mustard greens, Pablo Lettuce(probably the last before they bolt), Tomatoes-not sure of the heirloom variety as the permanent marker labels did not survive watering, 3 types of onions and Squash Blossoms.

Hope you've enjoyed sampling new foods and recreating old favorites.

We had stir fried chives and bok choy, purple beans, purple onions, shredded carrots and minced garlic, broccoli and mustard greens. Vegetables were added in that order to lightly cook and meld the flavors on low heat in coconut oil. This was over a bed of quinoa.

Below is a squash blossom recipe from the "Raw" cookbook.

Raw Squash Blossoms

4-5 squash blossoms

3/4 cup soaked cashews

1/3 cup ground sunflower meal

2 cups shredded carrots or parsnips

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

3 tblsps sunflower oil

1 tsp sea salt

2tsp minced onions

4 tsps Indian Spice Mix

**Indian Spice Mix 2 tablespoons each of cinnamon, cardamon powder, coriander and cumin

Blend cashews, sunflower meal and shredded carrots with the oil and milk incorporate salt, onions and spice. Transfer mixture to pastry tube and squeeze into blossoms

If that seems too time consuming. Simply mix about 1 cup cheese or pre-soaked ground cashews with a little parsley, basil, salt and pepper and 3 cloves of garlic. Gingerly Spoon into blossoms.

Have one raw egg beaten in a bowl next to a bowl of flour. Dip the Stuffed Blossom into the egg batter coating all sides, then drop into flour bowl till covered. Fry in olive oil or coconut oil for a sweeter taste.

Week 9

2011-08-12T20:35:00.001-07:00

Radicchio is in the share this week and ideally oiled and grilled for optimum flavor. We've started harvesting the soft neck garlic that you'll need to keep refrigerated. The rest will arrive dry and cured in about a month but we couldn't resist sampling some early. Braiding is so much fun and looks beautiful hanging in the kitchen. A garlic butter makes a great addition to leafy greens, casserole crusts and baked potatoes. You'll also find some of the regulars this week like Pablo lettuce, Nasturtium Flowers, Radishes, Kale and Mustard Greens. There is also some Royal Burgundy Bush Beans that change from purple to green when you cook them. Finally, you'll find a bag of True Arugula. The previous seed packs were mystifying me as I kept getting mustard greens. Rest assured you're eating Arugula this week! Tomatoes are in the forecast next week with Squash Blossoms.

Happy Huckleberry Days

Week 6

2011-07-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

broccoli forest

This weeks share includes Oregon Sugar Snow Peas, Watham Broccoli, 2 Bags of Lettuce Mix with Borage Flowers, 2 bundles of Northern Lights and 5 Color Silver beet Chard, 1 bag of Spinach, 1 Bundle of Lacinato and Red Russian Kale, some Southern Frill Mustard Greens, Strawberries and Garlic snakes.

learning the letter B

We love Raw Kale Salad which is surprisingly delicious. Simply strip and rub the leaves with olive oil and toss with shredded beets, broccoli, sunflower seeds, sliced strawberries and a little tarmari soy sauce. We like to add roasted cashews glazed in maple syrup and lemon juice (baked at 375 till bronzed).

"that's our rooster"

Over the weekend we put in what may be the last round of outdoor fall garden beds with less than 50 days till our first frost-hard to believe. So, we are developing a couple of low riding tunnels to experiment with extending some succession started cabbage, chard, cilantro, turnips and late season lettuce as the high tunnel is maxed out and we only use the greenhouse for potted plants and starts.

3 year old representational butterfly

We also discovered that digging trenches for greenhouses are best done on the south side first in the morning instead of starting on the north side and working around. The irrigation on the flower garden was somewhat of a respite from Saturday's swelter in Montana. We started filling in the back-up foundation with wash rock today as my idea of bottle caps and pulverized glass, although resourceful, doesn't provide the necessary "zero compaction base" required in stable structures. Still, I had one victory in my hopes of using as little cement as possible by dry stacking the rock foundation to fill in around the concrete piers. Just a small investment in some really cool rock chiseling tools.

We're also still looking for clay/silt subsoil for our natural plaster wall over the straw bales. So if anyone runs across some in the valley give us a whistle so we can start the "community building" project.

Week 5 Farm Share

2011-07-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

We found this metamorphosis bug hiding in the lettuce during a slug slashing adventure the other night. Not sure what it is? It wiggled it's tail when you held the shell. I had every intention of watching the contents emerge in a glass jar this week. However, quick little hands investigating the insect pressed slightly too hard in a rush of excitement. So our newly discovered insect species will go undocumented.

This weeks share includes some loose lettuce mix of Pablo and Slo-bolt(wavy green) with a splash of color, a Zeno Fino Fennel (all parts edible), one bunch dinosaur kale, one bunch Red Russian Kale, 2 bunches of Chard, 1 bag of the first Mammoth Melting Snow Peas, 1 bag of early and everbearing strawberries. The size of the berries vary to the littlest harvested from the 100 new plants this year and the large from established plants over the years. The small ones are really the sweetest to me. Talus snags most of them throughout the week as he's foraging in the garden but I managed to swipe a few before he reached them. Finally, there's 2 types of Romaine Lettuce heads-Red Valentine and Jericho and 1 head of Oak leaf Lettuce as well as, 1 bunch of Garlic Snakes.

Looking ahead the broccoli is shaping up and more flowers are emerging on the snap and sugar peas. If the weather doesn't get too hot they should keep producing. Already some of the Sugar Snap peas have crested over my head. We also transplanted more Blacktail Watermelon (an Idaho heirloom), Eden's Gem Melon, Potimarron(a French winter squash), Spaghetti and and an assortment of other curcubitas. The burgandy okra has the first fruits although this southern wonder may need more heat than Montana has to offer. We'll see.

Since last week the sounds and sights of the garden are full of the first grasshoppers and dragonflies. The grasshopper leg violin serenades may actually be more a tragic tune if they do more damage than the slugs. A good once over along the perimeter of all the beds with the mower was in store this week.

Our rooster and chickens were moved over to the mixed fruit orchard. They are still quite timid to venture out of their beloved tractor. Thankfully, the roosters' resounding call in the early morning has yet to solicit any complaints. He's really a beautiful guy and I think keeps the flock safer and balanced so we hope we can keep him.

To dangling toes in glacier lakes while the garden grows

Week 4 Squash Blossom Food Share

2011-07-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

Snakes are back on the garlic. We like to call garlic scapes-garlic snakes as the resemblance is too similar from their emergence to development when they harden off and shoot straight up. The share this week includes three bundles of it which makes a great raw pesto or as an addition to any vegetable or pasta dish. These "snakes" are from our Music and Bogatyr hard necks selected from our harvest the year before. Most of the garlic was planted by moonlight expect these 12 rows of hard necks that our little guy helped plant in the ground. Not surprisingly the only watermelon seeds that sprouted this year was from his magic touch. I've been unsuccessful germinating seeds of watermelon since I was 6 and am now convinced it requires the attention of young people to sprout.

This week your getting a Share and a Half to fill in the gap of starting a couple weeks later this year and to fend off early freezes later on in the season. There will be 3 other "share-and a halfs" during pepper and tomato season too. So this week includes 3 heads of Northern Lights or Five Color Silverbeet Chard, 3 heads of Pablo lettuce (vibrant purple), 2 Heads of Grandpa's Admire's lettuce, 2 Bags of Baby Bok Choy Greens and 1 Bag of Southern Frill Mustard Greens mixed with some medium size Bok Choy Plants.

We took a break from the garden this past weekend to make a trip to the east side. Our hard working Talus attempted his first 10 mile adventure up to Cobalt Lake. Although we came just shy of the destination as the avalanche banks were precariously waiting to slide, it was dramatic just the same. You can see how far he walked if you look for Two Medicine Lake in the background of the vista shot. The snow was still 6-8 feet thick past Russell Falls and lots of fun to penguin slide down on the journey back.

Week 3 Squash Blossom Food Share

2011-06-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

This weeks share includes 2 Heads of Lettuce(Pablo is the red-Grandpa's Admires the Green), 3 Bunches of Early Garlic, 1 Bag Spicy Greens, 1 Head of Northern lights Chard and 2 Bunches of Chives. Next week will likely be the last week of chives. So, if you don't devour this weekly they dry down easily in a dehydrator or laid flat and thinly on brown bags suspended on a cookie rack. This way you'll have optimum air flow over and under the chives.

Sicilia our Buttercup with the Rooster making his rounds

Try the chard with any kind of meat including fish-it likes to be cooked with fatty foods. We ate ours with Salmon Cakes this week and it was delicious. We tried the suggestion by one of our share holders of grilling the garlic whole and nibbled on like they do in Spain and found it absolutely delicious. Thanks for the great grilling idea.

Talus's perspective of the Blue Andalusian

The broccoli got a fresh round of compost today and we started mulching the "straw"berries. The straw serves several purposes of retaining moisture and smothering grass germination. The ground seems warm enough to start doing this most everywhere in the garden. So, the purple Adirondack Potatoes and French Fingerlings were mulched with fresh cut organic hay from our jungle and should add some extra nitrogen for some leaf growth.

I found the first curls in the garlic today! so look for the Garlic scapes next week. Besides adding them to stir fry or making pesto, they make great wrist bands to keep the mosquitoes at bay. Happy 4th!

Week 2 Squash Blossom CSA

2011-06-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

The garden is shaping up with this much needed warmer weather. This week, I replanted spinach, beets and radishes as the previous crop did not emerge during the soggy bout.boo hoo.

The radish mix should be quite colorful and varied with Easter egg mixes, belles and german giants. We also transplanted the remaining broccoli, kale, bok choy and lettuce seeded some kohlrabi and fennel to the rows and scattered more daikon.

Daikon is a Japanese Radish that seems a totem in Macrobiotic Cooking. It forms a stout white root with a strong spicy flavor. It's also a great soil aerator providing organic matter if left in as a cover crop or serves an easy guide for successive plantings of other food crops. You'll find it scattered about in most of our garden.

We also ventured into the world of Purple Asparagus earlier in the spring. The extra compost I added this week will give them a boost when we pull our first harvest next year. It's making very teeny tiny small shoots right now that are more enjoyable to admire than to ponder eating.

In the berry world the strawberries are looking great with plenty of flowers and the first berries forming. We also have trial run of Northern Blackberries that we're hoping will actually produce early this fall and our Raspberries show signs of fruit too.

After we finish off the arugula this week and work through more of the bok choy we'll be transitioning that row into our peppers and moving some more warmer weather crops into the high tunnel. The squashes, eggplants, okra and peppers have been quite happy in the greenhouse. We'll leave a handful of peppers and okra in the greenhouse to see if they produce more prolifically than growing in the high tunnel.

So this week the share consists of a couple roseates of tatsoi which has a dark green quality that we like to eat fresh like spinach. A few heads of Grandpa's Admires lettuce. This heirloom lettuce was introduced to Seed Saver's in the 1970's and carries an interesting story like all heirlooms. Some more chives and marjoram and a few heads of bok choy. I saw our first bee buzzing in the chive blossom yesterday.

Also, the bok choy will be peppered with some holes as we do have persistent little critters out there. We strongly believe in a chemical free, organic and sustainable methods so we eat our greens with holes from time to time. However, nightly we do collect and occasionally toss slugs to the furthest distance possible in the evenings. Even with the cosmetic drawbacks, the bok choy is absolutely delicious chopped up and stir fried. It also freezes well if you pre-chop and bag in zip locks.

You'll also find "early" garlic. Finely slice the white ends and use like regular cloves. These clusters we're from our trial on leaving the flowers intact to determine if the garlic stored longer without losing bulb size. We found it did so far but plan on testing this annually. The garlic has 2 other seasons coming-fresh scapes and the grand finale of bulbs.

The recipe this week was located in Roz Denny and Christine Ingram's Vegetarian Cookbook.

Bok Choy With Lime Dressing

1/2 a bunch of chives

1 bok choy head

dried red chillies

2 garlics

1 tblsp ground cashews(we use a coffee grinder)

Dressing

2 tblsp fish or mushroom sauce

2 tblsp lime juice

1 cup coconut milk

Blend mushroom sauce, lime juice and coconut milk.

Stir fry red chilies in olive oil for 2-3 minutes set aside on plate

Stir fry sliced garlic and chopped chives for 30-60 seconds and add to chilies

Finely shred bok choy then toss in salted boiling water for 10 seconds-drain and transfer to large bowl

Pour Lime dressing over the bok choy and sprinkle with ground cashews and chili mixture

True Signs of Spring with Some Created

2011-04-13T16:01:00.001-07:00

The very beginnings of the steel rainbow high tunnel. We're putting up our 20ftx48ft High Tunnel this weekend. This is the first of 13 steel arcs I built yesterday. The metals been patiently waiting to go up since last fall when winter snuck in early and all material was covered with tarps.

We're really looking forward to about a 1000 sqft. of additional growing space. This is where the Heirloom Tomatoes, Peppers and Squashes will be living this summer.

Oohs and Aahs for the little garlic shoots pushing up. We have 500 plants of organic soft and hardneck garlic growing!

Sort of - "volunteer" - 5 sprouting garlic from bulbs we left in during our bulbil trial

Shallots!

And are mostly bantam chickens are in too. Depending on the mystery bag of roosters to hens we should have some organic eggs in early fall for those interested in supplementing their vegetables this season-and probably a rooster or two to give away for those looking to expand their fowl production. Their new residence will be the newly planted heirloom fruit tree orchard. Jobs description includes eating some grasshoppers, egg production and absolutely loving slugs (the slimy's seems unlikely)

Bluebirds and Beginnings

2011-03-22T18:27:00.001-07:00

Here's what we've started so far this season

Heirloom and High Altitude Tomatoes

Aurora-Prairie Fire-Silver Fir-Sasha's Altai-Sub Arctic Plenty-Mikarda Sweet-Polish Linguisa-Soldaki-Hungarian Heart-Odessa

Peppers

Napolean Sweet-Feher Ozon Paprika-King of the North-Hungarian Yellow Wax-Buran-Black Hungarian

Greens

Pak Choi-Kan Tsai-Pablo-Grandpa's Admire-Jericho-Tatsoi-Arugula-Radicchio-Emerald Oak

We're also trying Turkish Orange and Pingtung Long Eggplants, Dr. Whyche's Tomatillo and Watham Broccoli.

The onions are overflowing with Alisa Craig and Red Marble mixed in with King Henry Leeks and Red Celery.

Yesterday we placed our barn wood bluebird box up just in time for the arrival of our Western Bluebird pair. It took them exactly 3 minutes to investigate a possible new home for this years brood or two.

We're also raking in our cover crops in certain beds to amend the soil and change the structure a bit. We'll be experimenting with turning it over into the bed after it's grown a cycle and using what's called green manures.

Green manures integrate cover crops with seasonal food crops and serve as a mulch and replenisher simultaneously. This in theory should cut down on "weeding" and provide habitat for beneficial insects.

Mmm...coffee bags filled with straw and bean shells. It's starting to smell like fresh coffee in the greenhouse

Squash Blossom Farm CSA

2011-02-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

Garlic Harvest

2010-08-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

Uncurling

this is the last week of the garlic dry down in the ground. we've had some rain but all seems well. the scapes we're testing have nearly gone vertical and are very firm and Salty built some racks to dry them on. We'll give them at least another month to dry in the air.

The music garlic oils were rich after being pulled and dried 3 weeks ago. We mixed it in some homemade

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
1/4c spicy mustard
1-1/2 cup olive oil
splash or two of apple cider vinegar
3 tblsp local honey
2 garlic cloves
pinch of sea salt
combine and shake

Tastes delicious on salad in homemade coleslaw or for marinating veggies and chicken.

What is July without Dragonflies?

2010-07-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

The garden is finally taking off. Sometimes it seems so ridiculous to wait for peas in July when we're already starting crops for the fall and looking at the first tomatoes make fruit. But the Montana Marvels are delicious.

We're cutting back the "head high" early comfrey and nettles to make a nutrient tea for the heavy feeding crops and drying the other half for my Herbal Salves and Teas. The three rows of 50 foot beds we're digging this week are to accommodate next years CSA. The remaining Siberian Tomatoes, Montana Salmon Squash and some of our favorite Spaghetti Squash will be making a home there. With these being all short season varieties we're hoping that the late season hoop won't be needed. But, either way they'll be cycled out with one of next years garlic crop.

The garlic crop this year is looking great. I pulled the straw last week to start drying out the bulbs and the soft necks have finally made a strong showing. They do seem to shape up a little slower than the ophio-hardnecks. We've cut the garlic scapes on half the ophios and let the other half ride out till they uncurl and stand up straight. From that trial half we'll leave 1 out of 10 in the ground to form bulbils to increase our seed base. Giving us about 200 feet of heirloom bulbils to develop for the next 3 summers, tediously dividing them until they form full size bulbs. These ophios will be naturally adapted to our unique micro climate on Squash Blossom Farm.

Interestingly, the garlic near our center perennial purple carrot does seem the largest. Giving yet more merit to companion planting. Louise Riotte's book is always close at hand. I was introduced to her by a dear friends in the Mountains of North Carolina nearly a decade ago who had the medicinal wisdom to pick nettles without feeling a sting.

Nettles is very balanced for iron and vitamin K intake. I've been mixing dried nettles into shakes, making sun tea and herbal vinegar hair rinses. It was an indispensable drink when I was pregnant with our little guy to keep my iron and vitamin K levels up naturally. A recipe for a facial and hair toner is below.

Herbal Vinegar Toner/Rinse
16oz apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup Dried Nettles

Combine, bottle and infuse for at least one month in a cool dark place. Shake every couple days to activate the herbal constituents. Apply with cotton ball for a facial or pour about 1/2 cup on your head for a hair rinse. I like to add a few drops of rosemary essential oil or peppermint.

Sharing the Harvest

2010-05-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

This season we have some infrastructure projects to fine tune and build. Our hoop houses need some mending and strengthening from the beating they've sustained since 2007. The wind can be severe but will be useful for our turbine. We also have a reclaimed glass/strawbale greenhouse we're building and fence to finish.

We're really close to completing the fence. The 73rd and last fence post was set on Sunday! We have a few gates to make and wire to tack up and the half acre is enclosed. I have never been one for play pens but this one rocks. Our farm is machine free so all our post were hand dug and set by Salty over the last few seasons with some assistance by J-Bird and Papa P. I of course provided the morale boosting and beverage support, which did include some homemade hot cocoa, plus I did swing a hammer and marked out the property to get things going.

Even though we're not selling this year- we're still working the rows and testing out some more heirloom and short season vegetables while providing enough food for us. Our plan is to offer a CSA next season and will then have a strong structure support to make it easier.

The CSA will be a mix of about six Shares for 20 weeks and options include

Traditional Veggie Share-$25 per week

Veggie/Spelt Bread Share-$30 per week

Harvest Shares-sponsored

The handful of Harvest Shares is for families limited on fresh food purchases that is growing in the Flathead Valley. The number of shares we can support is dependent on donations and our growing space. We hope several small contributions even as little as 1$ will add up to share food with 3 to 5 families for the 2011 season. The families will pay what they can afford and in return receive seasonal harvests for 20 weeks.

We have been exploring this option over the past year in an attempt to really open the fresh market to a diverse mix of age groups. Especially children who constitute the majority of Food Stamp recipients and are dramatically affected by their early food choices.

As of March 2010 Flathead county currently supplements 11,744 people with their Food Stamp Program. I found this to be a substantial increase from previous years

2009 ::8383 people

2008 :: 6007 people

2007 :: 5581 people

Based on information I found in the US Census Quick Facts and Montana Department of Health- I calculated the number of people on Food Stamps in the Flathead Valley was at an alarming 10.69% in 2009. I then compared the March Statistics for the number of families in the county on Food Stamps from 2007-2010.

This year was up by over 3361 people compared to 2009 and you'll notice from 2007-2010 the number of people more than doubled. The economy is faltering and it shows in the number of people requiring food assistance. More than likely this number is higher as some families try to go it alone without government help.

We believe in "Feeding All Regardless of Means" which was coined by my sustainable agriculture mentor, Christof den Biggelaar. Besides guiding me on companion planting, crop rotation and cultivation he really emphasized food that is community supported and based. His recent project on the "FARM Cafe" provides meals exclusively from locally grown food donations and without a price tag. Individuals pay what they can afford or trade their skills for food. This is what our Harvest Shares are about on a Community Supported Agriculture Scale where the Farm Gives Back to the Community.

So spread the word as your garden grows and if you have families in mind for our Traditional or Harvest Shares let us know.

The Garlic Saga Continues

2010-05-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Alright! So our Hardneck Garlics are making a strong showing this spring. The Softnecks are a little weak though? This is are first season trying softnecks as I wanted to practice braiding so hopefully they shape up.

We find the hardneck oils and flavor hard to beat-they make up three quarters of our crop. These beautiful green leaves in early spring really perked my interest in growing more food this season. It's always amazing what survives a Montana winter.

Dethawed

2010-04-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

It's Grow Time!

Baking Bread with a Zen Buddhist

2009-12-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

I make bread once a week. It takes all day. It's a combination of gathering ingredients, mixing some up, letting the dough come alive, kneading, rising, sending the dough down, more rising, shaping, baking and eating.

Talus makes his own rice flour dough creations on the floor, digs through the cupboards, rearranges the pots and pans, helps stir the initial ingredients and shape the rolls as we make trips to and from the kitchen.

Water-Yeast-Spelt Flour Bubbling

I discovered the Tassajara Bread Book at our local library. Read it over, tried it out and then bought my now weathered copy. There really is a beauty and awe in your first dough coming alive and the subsequent loaf to savor.

Dough Swallowing Oil and Salt

I've tried making bread in the past-with no success. Ed's technique, if given the right amount of commitment, will evolve into yummy loafs, rolls, danishes and even cinnamon rolls. The book is not short on sweet delights.

Anise-Caraway Rolls and Loaf

Bread making satisfies my desire to work with my hands during the day and has the added benefit of something I can actually eat. Some of the changes I've made to the instructions include covering with an inverted bowl or plate instead of using a wet cloth. The dough is near impossible to remove from the cloth. Occasionally I leave the dough uncovered. This allows more time to play outside, run errands, go for a walk, you know the routine of getting lost in some other activity. The slow rising is ideal unless you want dough overflowing onto the counter, which has happened to me on a warm summer day. Instead of the quick 45 minute rise I push it 2 hours depending.

Rising Uncovered

I also use combinations of spelt, ground sunflower and ground oats to make up the required "wheat" flour. I have yet to invest in a food mill, although I hear the hand grinders preserve the most nutritional content. Until, I acquire one I grind the oats and sunflowers in a coffee grinder.

I really like the Kalaches-Anise Breads and Swedish Rye as of Late. Loafs bake for about an hour but if you want less time in the oven rolls are a quick 15 minutes. It amounts to nearly the same overall oven time as you rotate baking sheets to and from the oven.

Montana Cheese Bread Loaf

Chocolate Ginger Cake with Maple Frosting

2009-11-23T13:10:00.000-08:00

Man this is delicious and warming during cold weather! Just what you need to cap of an afternoon of snowballs and sledding Adapted from Moosewood's Book of Desserts. Their recipes are some of the building blocks to happiness.

I made the Chocolate Ginger Cake for my sweetheart's birthday. It'll make you swoon! Plus it's full of beneficial Omega 3's.

What you Need

3/4 cup organic sugar

2 tablespoons organic molasses

2/3 cup hemp milk

1/3 cup applesauce

1/4 cup organic canola oil

2 free range eggs (get your Omega 3's)

2 tsp Madagascan vanilla

1 cup organic spelt flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground organic cinnamon

1 tablespoon freshly grated organic ginger

Mix all wet ingredients together. Sift all dry ingredients together. Combine. Stir in Grated Ginger. Pour into 8x8 baking pan or 9in round.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Check center with toothpick at 30 minutes and bake till it comes out clean.

Organic Maple Frosting

1/2 cup organic butter softened

2 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar

1 tsp Madagascan vanilla

1/4 cup organic maple syrup

Chocolate Sunflower Cookies and Huckleberry Waffles

2009-11-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Teddy Bear Sunflower

Heirloom Mix

Chocolate Sunflower Cookies

Inspired by my Heirloom and Chocolate Sunflowers growing in my gardens this past summer. These cookies are not short on sugar or fat so you're sure to enjoy them.

3/4 cup Spelt flour

1/2 cup ground sunflower seeds (use a coffee grinder or handmill)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick organic butter softened

1 cup organic sugar

3 tablespoons organic molasses

2 tsp organic vanilla

1 free roaming, organic egg

1 cup ghiradelli chocolate chips

Allow butter to soften at room temp for one day or place on a plate near heat from the oven heating up 375 degrees.

Sift with a fork spelt flour, sunflower meal, salt and baking soda

Use hand blender or cake mixer to work sugar and molasses into butter. This can be done by hand, however I have finally conceded to the electric hand mixer as the butter needs the sugar to add some air and texture to it's density.

Add vanilla and egg to butter and sugar

Add dry to wet and hand mix until well incorporated

Pour in chocolate chips and mix well

Spoon Tablespoon size balls onto cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes

We also like to pick extra huckleberries, particularly in September as the sugars have more time to develop and are rich and seasoned by them. This is primarily due to cooler nights in conjunction with warm days.

Sunflower Huckleberry Waffles with Apple Honey

1 1/2 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup ground sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 eggs separated
1/4 cup organic canola oil
1 cup water
3 tablespoons organic hemp milk
Frozen Huckleberries

Mix dry set aside

Separate egg whites and reserve for later

Beat egg yolk and oil and add to Dry and Mix

Add 3 tablespoons dry milk and 1 cup hemp milk to batter

Stir in huckleberries

Fill waffle iron with 1/4 cup batter

Serve warm

Makes about 10 waffles

Apple Honey Syrup

Splash of organic apple and organic juice

Few Tablespoons Local Honey

Heat honey on stovetop with both juices until well constituted. Pour into open glass and allow to set up at room temperature.

Waffles can be dipped or drizzled with Apple Honey Syrup

Planting a Years Worth of Garlic

2009-10-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

Where were we? After a lengthy time of no posts and lots of gardening-we are back in the blogging world for the fall and winter. Hopefully catching up on this past season's growing notes and what's brewing for the winter month's.

On to fall planting of bulbs!

So we were lucky enough to have a warm fall weather window to plant our garlic! After some intense Arctic Weather in early October, which thankfully did not send the frost too far into the ground, we took 3 days to prep and plant our garlic beds. This is Music-a hardneck variety-in all it's hopefulness for spring.

After eating and canning through our harvest from this season, we decided to plant 10x-yes 10x the amount this fall. Now, to be fair I under-estimated my estimate of planting roughly 200 cloves. But after cracking and popping our 15lbs of Music, Bogatyr, California Soft Neck plus some extra Okanogan Purple from our harvest this year- we ended up with 544 cloves.

Undoubtedly, all would be planted-sore backsides and plenty of wine to mend the pain of it all.

They now occupy four 50ft rows double planted 5 inches apart. We worked around some carrots and parsnips in one bed and seasoned roots of pepper and basil plants in another. The other two beds were previously planted with fava beans (whoo-hoo nitrogen) and 3 types of potatoes-Purple, Yukon Gold and Colorado Rose.

My guess is the previously planted fava bean bed will have the most vigorous bulbs. Beans fix nitrogen in their roots. Once turned under the nitrogen is released into the soil. Come spring we will work in some herbs like sage, basil, bee balm and nettles. Along with calendula and marigolds covering the perimeter.

All beds were turned over by hand with a pitch fork and the pepper/basil bed was lightly hand weeded with very little ground disturbance. This follows our "One Straw Revolution" approach in that we prep beds and grow crops the first season followed every planting after with little to no disturbance of the ground . We simply dig enough soil to plant whatever succession of seeds we are working with. Overtime this should lead to a super nutrient rich growing medium with no weeds.

Straw is used as a mulch for all beds and paths are covered with last seasons flotsam and seed heads. We planted 544 garlic cloves which will hopefully amount to a similar number of bulbs. Garlic is planted in the early fall for northern latitudes and late fall if you are further south. December being the latest for latitudes somewhere below North Carolina.

We plant our cloves with 2 inches of soil over the top or about 3.5 inches deep. We will cover will at least 8 inches of straw once the rain hydrates the first inch of our soil which is expected this week.

The hardneck varieties we are working with this season are Okanogan Purple, Music and Bogatyr. I particularly enjoy hardnecks as they are easier to pop, easier to pull and extremely arctophillic (i made that word up-they love and thrive in the cold).

We also planted 1 soft neck variety this year (148 cloves of California White) as I plan to experiment with braiding next fall. I found the soft neck more difficult to pop and not nearly as plentiful in decent weight usable cloves. Still they will be a nice addition to are hardneck crop.

This is are 3rd season planting and playing with garlic. We have gathered much of our "how to plant" from local farmers, our own experimenting and digging through literature online and in books. All the planning that goes into growing garlic is worth it from the time you place your first clove into a cool shallow grave, to when you unearth a beautiful bulb and savor the rich oils after curing. If you'd like a Garlic Lemonade Recipe check out Sun Loving Baby's Blog.

We are also planting 8 heirloom bulbil varieties. Bulbils are a much longer commitment for growth. Somewhere around 2-3 years I'll have more on how to raise these in a later post. We will be planted half in the fall and the other half in the spring for trial runs. Heirloom Varieties include Fish Lake, Gaia's Garden, Thai and Siberian to name a few. They are from the scape of hardnecks and genetically identical to the mother plant.

So we are exhausted but more aware of what goes into growing and providing food for our subsistence. There is an entirely different relationship with food you grow and food you buy. Planting what we expect to be our intake of 1 year's worth of garlic puts it in perspective for us. Mind, Body and Spirit goes into growing our food. We are grateful for the wonderful weather provided to pull this off.

Wind and Uva Ursi

2009-05-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

After 70+ mph winds on Tuesday, the hoop went through some modifications. It now stands about 3ft tall and and 5ft wide but is still 50ft long. It held the following day under milder breezes.

It was quite a challenge resetting rebar while carrying and nursing my 10 month old and not getting blown over in the process. The sections that held their ground under the wind were still quite comfortable-at least 10 degrees warmer than the outside air temp. In the end I know the plants sighed some relief that their pseudo habitat was restored.

We'll be planting the potatoes out this weekend! They include

Purple

Red

Russett

We had much success with the purple last year and are looking forward to the red and russett. In fact we'll be sampling some more frozen purples tonight.

The greens and broccoli are still holding on in the hoop and a couple of rows are planted with

Bloomsdale Spinach

Spicy Mesclun

Spicy Lettuce Mix

Red Celery

Valerian

It's amazing spinach only requires 35 degree soil temp to grow! Those in warmer latitudes have ample opportunity to eat and freeze copious amounts of Spinach.

The first stage of our cob oven will begin this week as well-Digging a large deep hole and separating out the soil mediums. Clay is just over a foot deep in spots so we'll be taking advantage of our local resource. Look for our Spelt Treats at the Farmer's Market:Including Artisian Breads and Ginger Snap Cookies!

On the Medicinal Plant Front

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The uva ursi still has berries in the woods. This medicinal plant literally translates to Bear Grape, Uva being grape and Ursus-bear. This is a wonderful medicinal for urinary tract infections by simply taking a tincture of the berries. It grows readily on south facing, sandy slopes and transplants easily as well. Any trailers on the periphery of the main stand can be gently clipped away (as long as roots have not grounded) and moved to a suitable habitat in your native garden. We like to harvest cuttings from sites that are being prepared for a new home or are slated for extensive logging. Might as well save the little guys and give them a new start!

Springing Back Into Action

2009-03-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

Our first round of seedlings were started February 15th. The tomatoes are nearing a foot with the Mortgage Lifters growing the best. This must be a sign of a brighter economic future. Here's the run down on tomatoes for this season

Yellow Perfection

Burbank

Santiam

Caro

Tigerella

Thessaloniki

Double Rich

Chadwick

Black Plum Paste

Peron Sprayless

Brandywine

Roma

Mortgage Lifter

BEANS

Kentucky Pole Bean

Provider Snap Bush Bean

Gold Marie Vining Polebean

Black Turtle Beans

Fava Beans(cover crop)

Garbanzo Bean(cover crop)

GREENS

Golden Frill Mustard

Mesclun Mix

Sweet Valentine Lettuce

Oak Leaf Lettuce

PEPPERS

Jalapeno

Ancho Pablano

King of the North

Napolean Sweet

Feher Ozon Paprika

EGGPLANT

Imperial

Black

Rosa Blanca

Italian White

ZUCCHINI

Black Beauty

HERBS

Sweet Basil

Clary Sage

Parsley

Garden Sage

Sweet Marjoram

Rue

MEDICINAL

Valerian

Calendula

Lemon Balm

Chrysanthemum

Comfrey

Motherwort

Olympic Mullein

Goji

SUNFLOWERS

Taiyo

Arikara

TUBERS

Kohlrabi

Zeno Fino Fennel

Daikon

Red Champion Radish

Torpedo Red Onion

Parsnip

BRASSICAS

De Cicicco Broccoli

Romanesco

Chinese Choy

Lacnito Kale

FLOWERS

Sky Pink Campion

Lobelia

Marshmallow

Poppy

Gift Zinnia

Dahlia

Zinnia

PEAS

Cascadia

Cover Crops

Cayuse Oats

SQUASH

Spaghetti

Red Kuri

MELONS

Hales

Hoop

2008-10-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

The Hoop

2008-10-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

The hoop is in full effect. Once again extending our limited growing season at 48 degrees latitude. The 18 species of heirloom tomatoes are just now turning red. We harvested nearly 30lbs of purple potatoes from the open air garden. Along with some delicious garlic. The largest bulbs will fill in the row where the potatoes were. The last 10 days have been a wonderful indian summer. Even the nights were in the upper 40's. The carrot seed plant and oregano still are in full bloom along with the curiosity nigella, borage, olympic mullein and calendula. Dahilias in red, pink and lavender are still hanging in there. The taramuhara chia took a dive with the last frost but sprouted up a basal growth during the last few warm days. Our broccoli has been enjoyed by the resident deer. Our spaghetti squash seem to develop the best compared to the caserata, black beauty, yellow, hokaido and libra squash. The aztec nicotania is intoxicating under the hoop with honeysuckle shaped white flowers only a hummingbird could penetrate.