As the Pacific Northwest gardening season winds down, our focus shifts from the garden beds to the kitchen counter. The harvest is in, and now the quiet, magical work of preservation begins. One of our favorite methods is lacto-fermentation, and there’s no better visual for this living process than a jar of pickles, happily bubbling away. Many people who are new to fermenting get nervous when they see this activity. Is it safe? Is it […]
Look what I found in the garden today. These are so pretty I have to classify them as flowers AND vegetables. These are the Spring Blush Tendril Peas from Baker Creek. http://www.rareseeds.com Can’t wait to see if the pea is a different color, stay tuned for an update on that once they arrive.
Today we started the first bed in the front yard area. This marks the first in ground area we have started at this house. We have had the bed prepping with chicken manure from the neighbor since last year so now we have really rich dark soil that should be just what the squash are looking for. Fingers Crossed that this gives them the space they need as the raised beds were not big enough […]
This week we had the opportunity to get asparagus from the group that is driving to eastern Washington to get excess produce that would otherwise go to waste. We decided to pickle it to preserve it. We found an awesome recipe in WECK Small-Batch Preserving, see recipe below.
Today I set out the first round of onion starts that I grew from seed in the grow tent. Anxious to see how they do instead of buying starts. Also transplanted some strawberries that had decided to run into the herb bed into a container of their own. They only have to share with the cannas when they decide to come back around this year. With last frost still a couple of weeks away we […]
With about 4 weeks left before last frost date, I can actually start to plant some things outside. So we start with Peas. First ones are Spring Magnolia Tendril and Springs Blush Tendril, both from Baker Creek (www.rareseeds.com). This year I decided to try to be more formal with the garden layout instead of making notes on pieces of paper that usually get lost, wet, dirty, etc. I have found that Google Drawings lets me […]
Exiting time on the farm, we are about 8 weeks out from the last frost date and it’s time to get the first little seed starts going. This year we are trying to get them started in the grow tent with full spectrum lights, fingers crossed we can get it right this year and not be reliant on the starts from another source. So far the following seeds are warming away in the tent, I […]
It is the time of year that I see changes daily in the garden. The newest development is the Cucamelons, the tiny baby ones are on there although you almost need a magnifying glass to see them. I think they are going to be about the size of a grape when fully mature. It should be interesting to see how they turn out. I harvested 2.5 pounds of Sugar Snap Peas this morning and processed […]
The garden changes everyday and I really start to notice the subtle changes that will lead to amazing things in the coming weeks. The baby tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, peppers, etc will very soon be items for devouring and preserving for winter. I am excited every morning to see what has happened overnight and then to check again at the end of the day to see how much everything has grown in a few short […]
Tonight’s Radish Harvest was awesome. I didn’t realize we had so many that were ready until I started looking around. I planted them too close together this time so I was afraid they would be too crowded even after thinning out a bit. These are a mix of Cherry Belle and a Chef’s blend that has a little bit of everything in it. They are really good and the dogs love them too, who knew. […]
