Full O'Beans

Have I mentioned that we are growing 9 kinds of beans this year?

This is just part of the selection. Center row from left to right: Borlotto beans (also shelled in the bowl at top left), Flageolet, Purple Hull Black Eyed peas (also shelled in freezer bag at top right), Garden of Eden, and at the bottom, Yard Long beans which are really more like 12-16 inches.

I always plant a trio of bush snap beans. Blue Lake because for some reason I ordered a pound of seeds about 15 years ago- they still germinate every time, I'm looking forward to using them up and ordering something new, D wants to try try the french filet beans next year. Roc D'Or, a heavy producing long yellow wax bean, and Romanette a flat, meaty one that I can no longer get seed for so will have to try something new.

We finally pulled up all the snap beans last week to make way for fall crops, they had lots of big beans on them which are on a newspaper in my office drying to see if we can make shell beans out of them. We ate a ton, gave lots away, canned dilly beans and froze a bunch to toss in winter veggie soups and still there were more on the vines that got huge while we were away.

Now we are shelling beans too. Borlotto has a flashy pod with red flames and fat beans that are also red and white, I shell and freeze these, they're great in soups and we cooked a big pot the other day and they were reminiscent of pinto beans.

Flageolet are just starting to come in, never grew these before, they are small, I guess that is one of the reasons they are special and expensive, more shelling for fewer beans, they are a minty green color and I look forward to tasting them.

An heirloom variety, Garden of Eden, are also new this year, a broad green bean that looks like its going to be tough and stringy but cooks quickly and is tender yet meaty and no strings!

What are not really beans, are purple hulls, a black-eyed pea that freeze really well and make a fabulous soup with greens and some pork product come winter. The perfect dish to dip some cornbread into.

The yard long bean, also truly in the pea family is from southeast Asia. They are bodacious in stir fries and udon noodle dishes.

Last but not least are the Turkey Craw. Somebody gave D these seeds with the story that they were discovered in the craw of a turkey someone butchered. They've got a vine like Jack's that grows to the top of the 8 foot trellis and then all over itself until it makes a big gnarly mop on top and then it starts to set the beans. They are brown when dried, darker on one end of the bean than the other. They have set good fruit this year, better than previous attempts and we are awaiting their maturation so we can harvest and shell them.

The trick with these shell beans is to get them when their shells are starting to dry and feel a bit leathery but before they start to get moldy, a challenge with all the wet weather we've been having. If you aren't planting beans in your garden then you are missing out.

Shelling them is pretty easy, gives you something to do while watching mindless TV, like the Republican National Convention.

The Year in Vegetables

Georgia Streak, a new tomato for this year.  We will definitely grow them again.  Like a sunburst inside and out, sweet and meaty and more prolific than many heirlooms we've tried.

 I thought since the vegetable season was winding down it was time for a reckoning of how much food we grew and put by this year.  Not that the season is really over, but all the major crops are in and I'm pretty impressed with what we managed to grow in our roughly 40 by 60 square feet of garden space.

For storage crops we pulled the following from the ground:
  Onions; Yellow, white and red                          70#
  Garlic                                                              60 heads
  Potatoes; red, yellow and butterball                  20#    
  Sweet potatoes                                                50#
  Butternut squash                                              10 squash   

In the freezer we've put by:
  Tomato Sauce                                                   9 quarts
  Whole tomatoes                                                2 dozen

  Peppers;
    Bell:  yellow and red chopped                          2 quarts
    Mixed: Roasted and peeled                              3 dozen
    Serrano chili paste                                            1 pint
    Whole serranos                                                1 quart

  Snap Beans;
    green and yellow                                              4 quarts
    Chinese yard long                                             2 quarts

  Shell beans;
    Borlotto                                                           2 quarts
    Black-eye purple hull peas                               5 quarts

  Leeks, chopped and sauteed                              2 pints
  Basil Pesto                                                         2 pints 

  Okra                                                                 1 quart
  Blueberries                                                        2 quarts
   
Canned:
  Fig preserves                                                    30 half pints
  Dill Pickles                                                        6 quarts
                                                                                             
On top of that we ate a mountain of veg over the course of the year starting in April with the earliest greens. Spinach, lettuce, arugula, kale, Swiss chard and beet greens filled our plates from April through June.  We had cabbage too along with sugar snap peas. I wager we harvested over 30# of asparagus but I wasn't weighing it, just eating it as fast as I could and giving the rest to friends for 5 weeks in April and May.  There were root crops; carrots, beets, radishes and turnips.  So many we couldn't eat them all.  Last night I roasted a big pan of mixed veggies including 5 big turnips that had been in the fridge since June!  They were still tasty.

When the warm weather rolled around it was beans, beans, beans; haricot verts, blue lake, yellow wax, Garden of Eden, and an Italian flat variety called Pension.  I also grow a small trellis of Chinese yard long beans, so generous and easy and great in stir fries.  There were 4 kinds of cucumbers; Diva, Tasty Jade, Suyo Long and a pickling cuke, we were required to eat one or two a day for many weeks.  There were 5 kinds of squash, three kinds of okra, 12 varieties of tomatoes, and 4 types of eggplants. 
In July we consumed loads of tomatoes and in August the peppers started rolling in along with the shell beans and the second planting of snap beans. 

Clockwise from the back, shell and snap beans, tomatoes with pasilla chiles on top, roasted peppers and fresh peppers.

In fruit we picked about 4 or 5 quarts of strawberries in late May from our small 3 by 10 foot patch.  The blueberries came next, even with the birds we picked enough to eat all we wanted for at least a month. In July we had some nice fat blackberries. Then in August the figs came on like gangbusters, so fast and furious I had to put up 2 batches of jam.  We ate so many we feared for our digestive health :-) July and August also brought the biggest cantaloupes we've ever grown. Several topped 10 pounds and all came up voluntarily from seeds in the compost I put in the beds when I planted the onions in February.  They know when to sprout and conveniently take over the onion bed after the onions have been harvested.

The corn was my only real disappointment this year.  I hadn't grown any in many years because of raccoons, but David erected an elaborate electric fence to protect both the corn patch and the fig tree so I gave it a whirl.  The plants tasseled and released their pollen before the ears had really formed and so the corn was tiny and also kind of starchy.  Maybe not a good variety, but I'll probably give it another try next year now that we have a protective enclosure.

An especially swell summer dinner plate

Now the fall crops are coming in, beautiful tender mixed lettuces, spinach, kale and beet greens. The peppers are still loaded with fruit and a few tomatoes continue to trickle in.  Broccoli and cabbage are heading up.  Beets and carrots are starting to form under ground.  The garlic for next year is in the ground and sprouting bright green shoots.  All of this food growing is a ton of work, but the rewards are great.  How fortunate we are to have more than enough food when so many go hungry.  Knowing that it is organic and fresh and nutritious right from our own back yard makes the work worthwhile.                

Veggies Piling Up!

Red Pontiac Spuds Dug Today

This morning we pulled over 35 pounds of potatoes from the ground.  These will join the 20 pounds of Yukon Golds harvested earlier.  It's interesting that from the same number of seed potatoes and the same length of row, the red potatoes always deliver almost double the number of spuds.

We have been enjoying these babies fried up with onions, simmered in their skins with butter and chives and mashed of course.  Nothing tastier than a newly dug tater to put a smile on your face.

Onions strung through fence wire to dry under cover of the shed

Each year our techniques for growing, harvesting and drying the onions has improved I think, with this system being the best one yet.  They are now starting to fall to the ground which is my signal they are dry enough to bring inside.

In other garden news; the squash, cukes and beans are really starting to pile up and I'm thinking about what to do with them all in addition to eating veggies at every meal.  The peas got ripped down off the trellis this morning, vines brown and starting to turn white with powdery mildew, time to go.

Eating beets every day now too, and contemplating canning a few jars of pickled beets for the winter.  Carrots are ready to dig and cabbage has taken the place of lettuce in the salad department.  Chard is now the green for cooking in lieu of spinach and kale.

Still waiting eagerly for the tomatoes to start getting ripe, a few Sungold cherries tide us over until the reds begin to ripen up, I see tinges of pink here and there and know it will be soon.  

I'm contemplating which beans to plant where, now that some of the spring crops are out and freeing up space.  If you are a regular reader you know I am a bean-aholic.  Fortex and Garden of Eden pole beans are on the list along with borlotto shell beans and purple hull peas.   New to try this season are black and white calico shell beans, also called yin yang beans.  

As always there is no end to the garden chores at this time of the year, but we plug along trying to get something done each morning before it gets too hot.

The day lilies are going crazy now and offer a place to pause and take in the beauty during any trip across the yard.

I'm off to organize a dish for the community garden potluck tonight where we will be digging spuds and cooking them up as part of our event.  As much as we need rain, I hope it doesn't come between 5-8 tonight in Carrboro.

In the Bean Patch

You know I'm a beanaholic.  Since we were away for most of August, I timed the second planting of beans for mid-July with hopes they would be fruiting now, when we returned.  Bingo.

This patch includes a jumble of zinnias, falling into the paths but they give such cheer its worth climbing around them to get to the beans.  Grey-speckled cow peas in the foreground, an heirloom variety new to me that I'm hopeful about.  Haricot verts next- Taverna- reliable and a heavy producer of small, tender, sweet beans.  On the trellis at the back is Vortex, a new pole bean I'm trying, they are very long yet string-less and tender.  I think they would be the perfect bean for dilly beans with their long-straight habit making them easy to pack and pretty in jars.

 

Furthest out on the trellis, another heirloom bean, Garden of Eden, long, flat yet tender, cooks in 3 minutes!.  either side of the trellis I also planted lima beans, they are a bit shaded by everything else but coming along.

Bean flowers promising many more to come 

  While picking I almost grabbed this guy who was prowling around in the leaves looking a lot like a bean.

The end products; Vortex on left, Garden of Eden in center, haricot vert-Taverna on right.  And flowers to brighten the table.  Think there will be beans on the menu tonight- possibly with some home grown red potatoes and chanterelles picked in the woods this humid warm week.

More About Beans!

I can't recommend highly enough the idea of multiple plantings of beans. I planted my first beans in May and then did a second planting of haricots verts and Garden of Eden in early July. The first planting is about finished now, the second one is still going strong and should give beans right up until frost.

In this bowl are haricots verts, Garden of Eden and yard long beans. The yard longs are really a pea, a few go a long way, they are delicious quickly blanched and then thrown into a stir-fry. My favorite combo of late; Japanese eggplant, red bell pepper, shitake mushrooms and the yard longs with some onion, garlic and a little sauce made of sambal, hoisin, and soy. Serve over soba noodles or rice, you can add, chicken, pork or tofu for protein. Quick and yummy.

Also the Swiss chard has been phenomenal as usual, this was planted in March and we have cut about 50 bunches off of it and it's still looking remarkably good. I planted more for the fall that is still small but should go easily until December with a little protection. The variety is Bright Lights- a wonderful rainbow of colors.

In the foreground are the first planting of haricots verts, I'm leaving the few beans left to make seed, behind them are the second planting from early July, still green and producing.

Beans, Beans, Beans

A 6 foot high fence is not enough

I'm crazy for beans and grew 7 kinds this summer, 2 varieties for shelling and 5 for eating as snap beans or to freeze. I thought I would feature a few varieties on the blog this week. The ones pictured above are Garden of Eden, I've written about them before, they have vigourous vines that keep going after they hit the top of the trellis just reaching for more. The beans are grown to a large size and cook quickly to yield a tender, scrumptious bean. I like eating them as an appetizer, dipped in good oil or hummus, or tossed with oil and vinegar and S&P.

Plain and simple.

I wish you could smell these ginger lilies, the fragrance is like that of a magnolia or gardenia, lemon and ginger, fresh and crisp. Walking past this fence right now is olfactory heaven.

Very Small Scale Community Supported Agriculture

I planted more beans today, If you read my blog last summer you'll know I'm a little wacky about beans, but they are a great source of nutrition, can be stored frozen or dried, and they help build the soil up by fixing nitrogen so whenever I see a small spot of bare dirt in the garden, I think of putting in a few more beans. Their seed is really easy to save too.

Today I planted three, 30 foot rows of purple hull black eyed peas, and about 15 feet of pole beans; turkey craw which are for shelling and supposedly were found in the craw of a turkey, they are brown with one end a little lighter in color and cook up like a super meaty pinto, yard longs, great for stir fry and freezing, and the new favorite from last summer, Garden of Eden, huge luscious flat beans, tender and tasty. The top new variety of anything we grew last year.

I'm also trying an experiment of planting a one foot square parcel in mixed lettuce and arugula in a spot that gets afternoon shade and just see if I can't grow salad greens all summer if I pick them when they are small. I'm going to try successive plantings every week or two and see what happens. If you live in the south, tell me, have you ever tried this or heard of it? How did it go?

I also embarked yesterday on an experiment in Community Supported Agriculture, you might call it a boutique CSA, I am going to see if I don't have enough to make a share for two of my friends over the next couple of months.

Here's what they got on their first week. One big head of bok choy, a nice size bunch of chard, another of baby beets, about 6 leeks, a bag of peas, radish sampler and a bag of arugula. I thought it was a pretty good mix of stuff and my friends seemed happy.

Finally

The thermometer read 24 this morning, a hard freeze at last.  I cut this vase of roses yesterday knowing what was to come, they bring great cheer to chores at the kitchen sink.  I cleaned out my neighbors chicken coop and brought a wheelbarrow brimming with poop down to add to the compost pile. Anticipating the freeze, I pulled out the last of the beans, zinnias, nasturtiums and peppers and layered them all into a big hoop of fence wire about four feet across and three feet high. Along with the garden refuse I layered the chicken poop and freshly raked leaves.  Greens, poop, browns, water.  Greens, poop, browns, water... until I had filled the entire bin. It should get nice and hot and cook up some excellent compost for next summers planting.

Jackson Wonder Lima Beans

We enjoyed a first freeze harvest dinner that included a pot of lima beans and the last of the green beans all simmered up together, roasted long island cheese squash with lots of chopped peppers and a little pork tenderloin cooked up with a mustard cream sauce.  mmmm, mmm. We've now got a bushel of mixed peppers in 4 paper grocery sacks ripening up in the kitchen!

A Favorite Spot

It being the week of Thanksgiving, I gotta say I've got loads to be thankful for, not the least of which is plenty to eat and a roof over my head that's paid for.  I've enjoyed being home the past week, not working at the outside job, just focusing on the home place.  I cleaned the house and did tons of laundry, worked in the yard for many hours, took lots of long walks through the cold sunshiny woods and down along the creek.  It's been a very pleasant week.  Tomorrow- back to the real world, well, as real as my world gets anymore.

Missing in Action, Vegetable Manuevers Underway

Part of the mornings' haul.

So I've been a slacker about posting lately- sorry about that. Summer slump I guess and I've been gone a bit and also busy in the garden too. Big harvest this morning including 4 giant zucchinis, 2 yellow squashes, 2 eggplants, 5 cukes, a big bag of beans, some okra and the tomatoes are finally starting to ripen up. We also dug the potatoes and that yielded a big bowl full.

I've started picking the 'mates a little green because Shorty McSnitch and his squirrel kin have been snatching them off the vines early and chowing down. They have also been eating all of the blueberries and tearing up the blackberries too. I went over to my brothers and borrowed his 22, though I've yet to aim it at one of those pesky squirrels, I'm definitely contemplating it.

The yard is full of young birds, I woke this morning and watched 2 adolescent hummers buzzing about in the Sourwood tree outside my window, at one point they stopped and sat perfectly still, I had to blink to make sure I was really seeing them and watch the spot and then just as suddenly, they zipped into action again. Juvenile red-bellied woodpeckers come to the suet feeder, titmice, chickadees and wrens squawk and carry-on from the tree tops.

Goldfinches frequent the Verbena Bonariensis, a clown-like flower with tall leafless stems topped by small clusters of purple flowers. Goldfinch, the color of lemons, swaying in the tops of the purple flowers is quite a sight. If you scare them into the air- it's like fireworks going off.

How about all the rain we've been having? I read we've had more rain in July than in all of last summer!? The creeks are back up and flowing and mushrooms are sprouting everywhere. Still no sign of our purposefully sown mushrooms, it's too soon, but lots of Chantrelles and Amanitas and all manner of other shrooms are popping up in the woods.

The daylilies have been putting on a big show for weeks now and are the highlight of the flower garden at this point. Our turtle Gertrude has been making regular appearances and enjoys eating the remnants of the tomatoes that the squirrels leave around the yard.

So today I defrosted the freezer in preparation for the tomato onslaught to come. It wasn't too bad and I only had to toss a few peppers from 2006 and a couple of bags of green beans from 2007, we've done pretty good on eating everything up. I made a big pot of borscht using beets and cabbage from the garden, also a batch of curried beets to eat fresh. I plan to make some dilly beans this afternoon and get the fridge cleaned out, its just overflowing. I picked lots of stuff when it got hot; beets, carrots, turnips, cabbage, and much of it is still in there and needs using, but the new stuff coming in is overwhelming us.

If you are anywhere near my house please come get some squash- I know better and I still planted too much. I admit grinning to D this morning when I spotted squash bugs on the plants. People often complain about squash bugs, I always figure about the time they show up and kill the plants I'm sick of squash anyway, it won't be long now before they go down.

OK- so I'm off to make dilly beans and I'll try to post more frequently.

Last of the Beans

You'll probably be glad to hear this should be my last bean post, at least for this growing season.  These are Borlottos, they have the most gorgeous red and green pods, I normally pick them when they are turning a bit pale and start to feel like a kid glove but I pulled these to make way for that clover the other day.

The last of the season have been the very biggest of the year, look at those fatties in the foreground!  I'll add these to the 2 gallons I already have shelled in the freezer.  I've seen similar beans in catalogues and markets also called Tongue of Fire or horticultural beans.  They are easy to shell and excellent in soups, I especially like to put them in my minestrone and they are also lovely just simmered up with some onion, garlic and herbs, a little pork product never hurts either, they are very meaty and delicious.  A good brown pone of buttermilk skillet cornbread is the ticket for dipping into the beany broth.

July sullies on

The tall and diminutive day lily, last to bloom, emerging from behind some painters pallet.

Out in the garden early this morning, feet wet from the deluge of rain that came at dusk last night.  It brought 4/10ths of an inch to add to the inch that came on Tuesday night. Blessed rain. I feel so lucky when it lands at our house, it could be dry just a quarter mile away.

Baby hummers were trying to drink nectar from the red tips of new growth on a Japanese maple, they’ve got the color right, just not quite differentiating between leaves and flowers yet. Red-shouldered hawks continue to scree above the house, hunting and claiming turf, I’m sure there is some territorial and familial stuff going on between them these days, how long do the babies stay in the parents territory? Do they chase them away? How far do they go? I have no idea, but that young one has still been around our yard on a regular basis.

Only one bunny left, is it Flopsy or Mopsy? In the yard a week or so ago I came across the pom pom that was a rabbits tail, white on one side, brown on the other, nothing else, all that was left of that bunny was it’s little cotton tail….

A  view of one end of the garden, here the squash to the left, hanging in there- I haven’t spied any squash bugs or signs of borers but they seem a little anemic, this end of the garden suffers from poor soil and tree roots robbing the nutrients from the veggies I think. Sweet potato vines march towards the camera.

The beans and cukes on the trellis to the left are slowly dying from the ground up, some kind of funk -viral or soil born that’s causing the leaves to brown and fall off, but they still continue to produce. Fresh beans on the trellis to the right, just beginning to bear.  Carrots, beets and chard in between the beans need to be harvested.

The okra are finally getting their heads up above the purple hull peas in my experiment of a shared row, the peas are setting tons of pods and the okra are beginning to bear too. An infestation of aphids settled into the middle section but diligent application of soap spray seems to be slowing them down and keeping them from spreading.

July sullies on, hot and humid, at least we’ve had a spot of rain, but the prospect of 6 more weeks of days in the 90’s is a little bit depressing. Maybe we’ll get a reprieve as we did around July 4th, or perhaps a few days to escape once again to the cool of the mountains.

Fall is in the air

It's the first of September, and I realize I managed to go all the way through August without a single post! August was a busy month that included a camping trip to Grayson Highlands State Park to escape the heat.  The altitude there is 4500 feet so we had a few days with cool air and high winds, lots of walks up the gorgeous Wilson Creek. It was almost too cold to swim, but we did.

 

Later in the month I traveled to NYC to attend the American Community Gardening Association annual meeting and was blown away by all the amazing things people in NYC are doing to bring gardens and fresh food to folks in the inner city that haven't previously had much access to real foods.  They're setting up farmers markets, teaching teens and adults in the community to grow food and sell it, providing CSA shares at low-cost and on a pay by the week basis to low-income seniors.  I could do a whole post on that trip and should.


Back here at home we have finally gotten a break in the weather- I can feel fall in the air as the temps and humidity have dropped to a much more comfortable level, we've even been opening the windows at night and letting in the cool air and soothing night sounds of crickets, frogs and owls.

In the veg garden it is definitely pepper time. The red bells pictured above are the most spectacular.  The Pasilla plants are taller than me and loaded with long, slender, deep green chiles, ready for roasting. 

 These ragged looking cucumber plants are still putting on a couple of cukes a day!  I planted about 12 plants of three varieties, (Tasty Jade, Diva and Suyo Long) back in April and they are still producing.  How many cucumbers can you eat?

Today I worked on getting the fall garden going.  I planted seeds for carrots, beets, radishes, spinach and lettuce.  Also set out broccoli and cauliflower plants.  Still have cabbage and collards to get into the ground but need to prepare the beds first.

The summer garden is still going pretty strong, I've pulled out the first plantings of beans but the second planting is looking very good and is about to start producing.  I've been harvesting purple hull peas off the first planting already as well.  Below is the third patch of beans with purple hull peas on the right half and Italian flat beans on the left.  There are also a couple of butternuts that have volunteered and are creeping along the edge of the path. At the back is one of my fall plantings of carrots and beets and beyond that the last of the cantaloupes which are pretty well played out.  The tomatoes are finishing up as well.  Given the intense heat and lack of rain in July, things look remarkably good

I am thrilled at the break in the weather, the prospect of autumn and the transition to fall crops. I've missed the greens.  Going to try and get more consistent about posting.....

It's Mid-May! Where does the time go?

It's been awhile since I've been here.  Ran into some trouble posting photos which frustrated me and just been plain busy with no time to blog.  Not that there hasn't been plenty to write about.


Take the cicadas for example.  The 13 year periodical magicicadas of the great southern brood XIX.  I didn't make that up, that's what they are.  And when you walk outside our house it sounds like a spaceship is landing on top of us.  I feel like I'm in a sci-fi movie, Day of the Locust perhaps?  They are noisy and its predicted to last several weeks, but they are not really a problem like back in the days of plagues of locusts. I read an account from the diary of a western settler who described having locusts fly inside their clothes and eat away their underwear. I should think that might drive me mad if I had lived through it. But the cicadas are LOUD.  And everywhere.  If you look towards the trees in any direction for more than a minute you'll see their heavy orange bodies, like little footballs with wings, gliding from branch to branch.  Walking up the road to get the mail yesterday the gravel was littered with their remains.They're a remarkable phenomenon though and one I won't hear or see again until I'm 65 years old!

I could also talk about the peonies, but I'll just show these photos instead.

They're coming to an end, the softball sized, double pinks have mostly been cut and brought inside or given away as they get so heavy they bend their stems and fall face first into the dirt.  Not acceptable, they must be cut and brought in to scent the whole house with their heady perfume.

Maybe you'd like to know what we've been eating from the garden lately.  The asparagus are winding down after a solid 5 weeks of heavy bearing.  It's a tough job eating all those jade beauties but somebodies got to do it.  The strawberries are also coming to a close, their red sweetness gracing my breakfast for several weeks now.  I'll have to wait a few more weeks for blueberries, but I'm happy to report the bushes are loaded with plump clusters of green fruit.

We finished the last of the wintered over cabbages this week and the radishes are about gone.  We're buried in tender lettuce, spinach, kale, chard and green onions. Peas are about to start happening as are beets and carrots.  The cukes, squash and first planting of beans are up.  Planted two more varieties of beans yesterday.  All of the tomatoes are finally in the ground.   Twenty plants, 12 varieties, 3 cherry, 2 plum and various slicers including Cherokee purple, yellow taxi and green zebra.  I'm hoping for some very colorful tomato sampler plates and salads this season.

The weather has continued to be remarkably cool and beautiful with fairly plentiful and frequent rains for which I am grateful.  It's been one of the nicest and longest springs I can remember having in these parts.

We have been busy and continue to be so, the process of growing and making so much of our own food is a time consuming proposition.  The KP alone can sometimes overwhelm.  I do understand why lots of people eat fast and pre-processed food, but I'm glad I'm not one of them.

In closing, I share this fantastic pairing of Jackmanii clematis and the pale pink New Dawn rose.  I got the idea from the Wayside Gardens catalog and it's a winner.  This is even better than I imagined it would be, I can see it from the kitchen window, the flowers softening the many hours I spend at the sink.

Freezer Iron Chef

I defrosted the freezer this week in anticipation of whats to come and decided a little Iron Chef competition was in order for us to use up the stuff that's got some age on it. I don't like to keep things in the freezer for more than a year and preferably less than that. Food starts to lose its nutritional value after a few months in the freezer and eventually loses its taste too. We actually did pretty well eating stuff up this year, I only had one small basket of items on the use first list.

What could you make with kasha, hazelnuts, tomato soup, whole tomatoes, green beans, black-eyed peas, pistachio nuts, sausage, bacon, roasted poblanos, serranos, corn, coconut and cranberries? In addition, we are picking loads of green and yellow beans and squash now and still have some of the shitakes from two weeks ago floating around in the fridge that need eating too.

My first effort was outstanding. A soup made with bacon, onions, garlic, corn, squash and poblanos, all cooked up with chicken stock, a little cumin, cayenne and white pepper. I pureed this base, added cream, salt and lime juice. Garnished with bacon bits, grilled chicken, green onions, pumpkin seeds toasted with chili and salt, and sauteed shitakes. WOW! This was inspired and tasty.

Tonight we'll have a black-eyed pea salad as part of our supper and I'm planning a baked orzo with that tomato soup. We'll see what else inspires us.

If you haven't yet voted for the Carrboro Farmers Market as the best market so they could win $5,000, you can do so by clicking on this link: http://www.care2.com/farmersmarket/

Help them out and tell your friends you don't have to live in Carrboro to vote.

Wray, Colorado and the Prairie Chicken Jamboree

The past couple of days of birding have been less fruitful than earlier in the week, the weather has hindered us, more snow, high winds and cold, but we've still gotten some great birds including a Three-toed Woodpecker, Barrows Goldeneye duck and Evening Grosbeak, all life birds for me.  Last night we stayed with friends of Chris's in Boulder, a pleasant change from a run of nights at a series of Comfort Inns and ate a wonderful dinner with fine wines. I had a dish called duck 3 ways, sausage, breast and confit of the leg, really scrumptious over a bed of white beans and greens.  It seemed fitting as I've been thinking the ducks on this trip have been one of the best parts of the birding.

Tonight we're in an extremely funky motel in Wray, Colorado, out on the prairie just a few miles from Nebraska.  This evening we were held captive by the folks from the Wray Chamber of Commerce for about 4 hours.  First we met up at the Wray museum, filled with arrowheads and info on archeological digs in this area.  Once the group of 25 or so folks assembled we filed onto a bus and were then toured around the town of Wray, population 2,200.  Our leaders were the head of the Chamber and the director of the museum.  They entertained us with stories and the history of Wray as we were driven past the fish hatchery, high school, recreation center, hospital, nursing home, wind turbine, and lovers lane from which I took the following photo looking out over this small but apparently well-funded burg.

We then drove to Laird, the next town up the road, to a building that was formely the school house, that after the top 2 floors were blown off in a tornado, was remodeled into a one story community center.  There we were joined by various dignitaries from the Wray Chamber of Commerce and given a presentation by a woman who had written her masters paper, circa 1963, on the music of the plains indians.  A crew of ladies and gents from the community center took our orders for how we wanted our steaks cooked but by the time the presentation was finished, they all came out medium well.  Baked potato, green beans, tossed salad and a roll rounded out the supper and was polished off with a choice of desserts, I picked cherry pie.  All things considered the meal was decent.

After supper a fresh faced young officer of the Colorado Department of Wildlife gave us a presentation on the Greater Prairie Chickens and what we should expect on our tour starting at 5:20 tomorrow morning.   I'll finally get a chance to put on the long johns and down coat I brought and break out the hand warmers.  It should be quite a show as we sit in our blind and observe as hopefully 2 dozen Greater Prairie Chickens strut across their lek in the early morning light.

Where's Jack?

The rain just won't quit.

Another 7 tenths last night, after 7 tenths the night before, after.... I can't keep track anymore, it seems its rained almost everyday.  As a result things are growing very tall, I guess they are trying to reach for the sun?

Standing in front of the pole bean trellis

David added  3 feet to the top of this trellis and still the beans have grown another three feet beyond that, winding and wrapping around themselves in an attempt to grow higher.  They are finally setting flowers and beans, I may have to get a ladder to pick them though.  In addition to Jack in the Beanstalk references I keep hearing Aretha singing The House That Jack Built "But I ain't got Jack, and I want my Jack back".

The extension David made for the cucumber trellis was so heavy with vine and fruit that it snapped and folded over on itself.  So now picking cucumbers is more like an excavation.  But they keep putting on, with all the rain they are watery, crisp and sweet.  I am glad we will be leaving for a vacation in another 10 days and when we get back, hopefully all the cucurbits and tomatoes will be dead.

After making 4 gallons of tomato sauce, half in the freezer, half in jars and tucked safely away for winter, I am happy to see the tomatoes coming to an end.   But not quite, so last night we took advantage of the first 3 fat eggplants and the squash surplus and made a big pot of ratatouille.  So tasty.

 Vat of Rat + Today's Harvest

Back in my restaurant days we would make 5 gallon buckets of ratatouille and put it in everything from omelets to crepes or serve it as a side dish along side cold roasted lamb.  There, we actually flash fried each vegetable in oil and added it to the cooked tomato sauce.  At home, I sauté batches of each veggie in olive oil and then simmer it all together with tomatoes, onions, garlic and a healthy handful of fresh basil.  Yum.  Some of this is headed for the freezer too.

In fact, we are slated to go out and buy a new larger freezer today as our 25 year old 10 cubic foot freezer is stuffed and we need more space. It's making this groaning sound that gets me nervous, I would hate for the old thing to die right now as its filled to the brim with cherries, blueberries, tomato sauce and more.  I hate shopping but sometimes you just gotta do it.  25 years for an appliance is not bad, and I fear the new one won't last half that long.

Cool Nights Yield Peak Color

I think we are seeing our peak autumn color this week, especially in the maples; the oranges and reds are  truly spectacular and the forest overall has gone from green to gold just in the past few days.

We have finally had frost, reducing the most tender of plants- cucumbers, ginger lilies, castor beans- to limp shadows of their former selves.  But somehow the peppers still march on covered with green fruit.

Finally I see a tiny head of broccoli forming on one of my plants, they are much later than last year, I must have planted them later too.

We are planning the first outdoor fire this evening, it's been perfect before now but finally the stars align.  I've got chicken wings marinating in an asian sauce to grill over the coals and am simmerng a pot of black beans for another batch of butternut black bean chili.  I made this a couple of weeks ago and it was so scrumptious it warrants repeating.  It's also a great way to use a few of the many poblano chiles that are cluttering up the fridge right now demanding roasting and peeling.

Chores this week have included window washing, deck washing, hauling fire wood around to fill the racks, watching the leaves swirl down and wandering through the woods, admiring the deep blue sky as backdrop to brilliant tree tops.

GREENS!

First mess of collards, last bowl of tomatoes

We have been eating greens every night and it's such a pleasure.  Good and good for you, after a summer of eating beans, squash, tomatoes, corn and cabbage, it's a treat to be back to good old greens in so many forms.  I've been sauteing kale and beet thinnings, spinach and chard. Tonight I'm going to shred that pile of collards above and saute them up in some olive oil with garlic and red pepper flakes, toss in a little water and put on the lid to let them steam until they are tender.  We'll have a squash casserole that I froze in July and a chicken breast to round out the meal.

 

Tender mesclun in the garden ready to cut

  A lettuce salad is pretty much required daily to stay on top of the crop.  Ripe peppers, tomatoes, blanched and chilled green beans and radishes dress them up.  I also buy those giant storage beets this time of year.  I don't think you could ever grow one that big in NC.  You can find organic ones at the grocery, they are ridiculously expensive, but who knows how long it took them to get that big.  I'm talking about beets that weigh a pound and a half.  Wash and dry and rub with oil and wrap tightly in tin foil.  Roast in a 375 oven for about an hour to an hour and a half or until a small sharp knife sticks easily in.  Cool and peel, they are tender and deep purple and sweet as candy.  And one 24 ounce beet can cover a lot of salads, so don't blanch when it rings up as $4 or $5 at the store! 

Turkey Craw

It's the first of September and the weather has really gotten with the program for fall. Yesterday was 69 and rainy, today upper 70's dry and breezy. We usually don't get this sort of break from the heat and humidity until mid-month- but I'm happy to have the windows open again and hear the sounds of the night, was wishing for a blanket on the bed in the wee hours this morning.

YES!

These are the next in my bean-a-thon for the week. Green beans next to ready to harvest and shell ones on the vine. (Sweet potatoes in the background all lush and green.) This is the Turkey Craw, someone gave David the seeds some years back, legend stating that they had been found in the craw of a turkey. They need the whole season to make and are another Jack in the beanstalk sort of bean that will get to the top of the trellis and then make a big ole' mess of vine up on top like some crazy hairdo before they start to flower and make their beans.

We are just now harvesting them, aren't they perty? They cook up much like a pinto but a little firmer and smaller.

Before and After

My project the past two days.  Cleared out all the winter squash, old beans and dug out the leeks, harvested the basil and made pesto, cut back the asparagus ferns, swept the paths and then turned the soil (by hand) and sowed clover seed, it's watered and ready to go. Glad to have that done.

When I harvested the basil yesterday I discovered all these caterpillars in the leaves, I think they are actually from bean beetles, but no beans left for them to eat so they jumped to the next crop. They were fairly entertaining trying to find their way out of the compost pail.

This one managed to make it over to my coffee cup.  They all went to the compost pile in the end, hopefully they won't come back to haunt us next year.