Organic Garden - Summer
The newest garden updates are at the top of each page. These are observations, techniques and ideas that work for us. Follow them through the seasons. ENJOY!
Green Things From My Garden
Folks do not seem to get too excited about eating green things. That is because they have never had my favorite way of fixing the fresh green things from my garden. VARIETY is the key for making wonderful dishes from green vegetables. I am growing spinach, Swiss chard, Mustard greens, Collard greens and Oriental greens in a special area of my garden this year.
When the plants get 5 or 6 inches high, I go out to the garden with my basket and some scissors and snip off a variety of leaves from all my different plants. The next step is to carefully wash them and tear them into bite size pieces. I usually cut up about two quarts of greens. They are placed in a steamer and gently steamed for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, I mix together in an iron skillet:
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
- 1 teaspoon sea salt.
Lightly brown the garlic mixture.
When the greens are steamed, I transfer them into the skillet and toss together with the seasonings. Stir fry the greens for about three minutes. I serve them right away and guarantee that this will become your new favorite way to eat greens. Even people who do not like greens will be amazed on how good this really is. In addition, this is an excellent way to enjoy fresh spinach, even if you do not have the other varieties of greens. Try it, you will like it.
The Great Cabbage
Years ago, my children and I would watch Charlie Brown and the “Great Pumpkin”. If I ever do a T.V. program about the farm, it will have to have a “Great Cabbage” segment.
This is a picture of just one of the many cabbages that are growing in the garden. It will soon be turned into a whole lot of cold slaw.
I think the best cabbages are grown from Copenhagen seed. We have used this seed for years and the cabbages are big, beautiful, and have a great flavor. One year, I won all the blue ribbons for cabbages at the Wright county fair. (Green and Red cabbages)
It is about time to scrub out the old crock that holds the sauerkraut.
MID SUMMER – SEEDS and CUTTINGS
It is July in Minnesota and it is HOT! That means several things. It means that some of my "green things" have just begun to go to seed. It means that it is time to plant new seeds in flats and start more baby lettuce plants.
When they are about 2-3 inches tall, I will pull up the old lettuce, feed it to my rabbits, and replant for a fall harvest of "green things". Today, I planted Revolutionary Red, Butter crunch, and Pine tree Mix lettuce seeds...
The flat of lettuce will live on my porch until ready to go in the main garden. I do not plant the seed directly into the main garden because there is still good lettuce growing in the green patch. This way, there will be no break in salads for my table.
Hot weather also means that it is time to take cuttings of my perennials. I like the Sedums to full in parts of the flower bed, so they are my first cuttings started this summer. I cut the tops off of the growing plants, dip the end in a root enhancer and place them in potting soil. In about a month, they will be ready to go into the flower bed and next year will be big and bushy. I also plan of doing some cuttings of the mums. They are a lovely shade of deep purple and are easily rooted in this way. I want to expand the fall colors for the fall flower garden and this is an easy and inexpensive way to do it.
The vegetables feed my body, but the flowers feed my soul.
SUMMER and GREEN THINGS
We like salads and grow a lot of GREEN THINGS. The "green things" can be topped with fresh red tomatoes, green peppers, and yellow squash. If it is too early for the tomatoes, peppers, and squash to be ripe, then the greens can make up a good salad...
Today, for lunch, I picked a variety of fresh greens from the main garden. Due to the varied flavors and textures, my salads are interesting and attractive. The seeds for the greens came from Territorial Seed Company. They have a great selection of organic seeds and an informative catalog.
The lettuces in my lunch salad included Oaky Red Splash. The leaves are deep red, tinged in copper and sprinkled with a very dark red. They were mixed with Green Deer Tongue lettuce that has olive green pointed leaves. These heirlooms are heat resistant and slow to bolt. I also added Bright Lights Swiss Chard, Redbor Kale, and Wild Garden Mustards. The next stop was in my herb garden where I snipped some Italian Parsley, cutting celery, garden sage, garlic chives, and fern dill.
After washing the greens and herbs, I loaded them up on a dinner plate. I topped them off with shredded cheddar cheese, raw sunflower seeds, and my favorite olive oil and vinegar dressing. This was lunch and it was good.
I like to add some protein to my salads, so will often cut up a hard boiled egg and sprinkle it on top of the greens. Left over cooked chicken is one of my favorite salad toppers.
The summer "green things" are a staple food at Milk and Honey Farm. We plant a lot of varieties and each year, discover new ones. Even our visitors who do not like salads, enjoy this blend of good greens from the garden.
GARDEN REPORTS
So much for my good intentions - I got too busy to keep up with the garden reports and now it is June! May was work, work, work, and yet more work!!! As of today, there are only six flats of flowers to go - and then I can relax.
The planting process is labor intensive. It follows this pattern. Dig the hole, fill the hole half full of Bunny poop, water the hole, and then put the plant in the hole. It is always a good idea to straighten out the roots before putting the plant in the hole. That way, they won't grew in a circle and eventually kill the plant. A lot of folks who buy set outs at a nursery do not know this and then wonder why the plants sometimes die after a week or two.
It takes about three weeks for the plants to start to grow again after being transplanted. My tomatoes got wind whipped and that does not help their general appearance. They have great root systems and were planted deep, so I am not concerned about how they look right now. Since they are over a foot in height, I don't have to put up a barrier for cut worms. I can't wait to try some of the new heirloom varieties.
The neighbor boys who help with the heavy jobs have finished cleaning out the sheep pen. (Bless them!) The straw and sheep poop makes an excellent deep mulch. This is great fertilizer and keeps the weeds down at the same time.
My Alaska melons are in and have blossoms. It is possible to transplant melon setouts if care is taken not to disturb the root system of the plant. It works for me. These are planted in mounds, surrounded by a "moat" and the whole melon patch is under 8 inches of mulch. Looking good!
Some of the early flowers have blossoms and are doing a great job of attracting the pollinators - mostly bees and butterflies. With this method, I always get excellent pollination on the vegetables.
I have several new experiments going -some concerning companion planting. If they WORK, I will share the information. If not, you will never here of it again. I need to get back out in the herb garden - there is about an hour of day light left. Until the next time.
SYBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP
That is a big word (symbiotic) that means the living together of two or more different kinds of organisms to their mutual advantage. This type of relationship goes on in my garden all the time.
TOMATOES and BASIL are planted beside each other in adjoining rows. The Basil invigorates and perpetuates the growth of the tomatoes, plus repelling tomato pests. When the basil starts to go to seed and produce flowers, I trim them off, roll them in my hand-thus crushing the flower heads-and sprinkle them on the tomato plants. The smell is glorious, like a home made pizza. The tomatoes love it and in addition, the smell of the basil repels mosquitoes OFF of me!
BUNNY POOP and WEEDS are another symbiotic relationship that is on going. When I weed around my plants, I put the weeds in a bucket. Then the bucket gets carried to the rabbit hutches. The weeds are fed to the rabbits and the bucket is placed under the hutch. When the rabbits poop, it falls through the wire cage into the bucket. The bucket is carried back out to the garden and the poop is used to fertilize the plants.
Everyday, I notice more and more mutually advantageous relationships taking place on the farm. Perhaps this is what the CREATOR had in mind before man messed it up. There will be more on this. I find it very interesting and am learning a lot by doing it. IT WORKS FOR ME.
DRINK YOUR VEGETABLES
Remember Popeye, the Sailor Man, and all that spinach he used to eat? Well, I like spinach - picked fresh and steamed or raw in a salad. The blessing of having a big garden is that we have a LOT of everything-so I have been dreaming up new ways to use it. The spinach is beautiful this year, and I am DRINKING it. Yes, you read that right.
When I need an extra energy boost, this really helps. I pick spinach, Swiss chard, Kale, lots of parsley (several handfuls), some cilantro, celery leaves, and three or four green onions. This goes into my Vita-mix (a blender will work) with about a cup of v-8 or tomato juice and about five ice cubes. Blend it until it is smooth. It will be a slimy green color but tastes great and is my "POWER" drink. I also add a few drops of Tabasco and some pepper on top.
If you don't have all this stuff or if you don't like one or two of them, just use the spinach. I can be super tired and after drinking this, get a very rapid surge of energy that lasts for hours. This often replaces lunch.
I have been doing fresh fruits like this for a long time, but drinking the veggies is relatively new. It will be fun to experiment with fresh tomatoes, yellow squash, and bell peppers. Cabbage may be a little strange. NOTE: Most of my recipes are not this weird. However, if you like adventure and need more energy try it. Let me know what you think, and DRINK THOSE VEGETABLES!!!
IT'S HOT! I'M GOING SWIMMING
It always helps to give yourself permission to take a day off - even on the farm. So, I am packing up the Jeep with a lawn chair, two girl friends, my sun hat, and we are going a mile down the road to Collinwood Lake. I will put the chair in the water and SIT!
There is a great little place, far away from the swimming area, with shade trees, cool water, and no people. That is where I will be today. The garden can wait until tomorrow.
No, I don't feel guilty at all.
CABBAGE
I like cabbage! My favorite variety to grow is the Copenhagen Market cabbage. Several years ago, I won a BLUE RIBBON at the Wright County Fair for the best cabbage. It was beautiful!
Most of our cabbages are converted into sauerkraut. In a huge crock, I put a layer of cabbage, then salt, then cabbage--stomping it down to crush it and then repeating with more layers of cabbages and salt. When my crock is almost full-it takes about 20 good size cabbages, I place a board with a heavy rock on top to press down on the cabbage. This helps squeeze out the juice. It will bubble away in the basement for about two weeks and then I will can it. My German Grandmother would be proud!
Some of the cabbages go into the dehydrator for drying. I really like cabbage in the hardy vegetable soups that are made at the end of the harvest and then frozen for winter use. Dried cabbage also works great in the stir fry dishes. (for information on dehydrators see the Country Kitchen page) We also enjoy cold slaw-and fix several different varieties. (for recipes see the Country Kitchen Page) Then there is steamed cabbage, creamed cabbage, sweet and sour cabbage-etc. etc. etc.
The processing is a group project. Matt picks the cabbage and hauls them to the picnic table. I cut off the outer leaves and feed those to the sheep. Bob cuts them up for sauerkraut and helps stomp them. I do the layering and salting. Meanwhile, Matt is cleaning up the cabbage patch. He will pull up the roots-pull any weeds and generally put the cabbage patch to bed until next year. We will mulch it with a layer of straw from the sheep pen.
Although, cabbage can be grown from seed in Minnesota, I always start it in the green house and plant set outs. This way, I get an early start on the cabbage moths and worms. They come later, and by the time they are in my neighborhood, we have picked most of our cabbages.
Try my slaw recipes and let me know how you like them. I am always on the look out for more variations if you have a good one to share.
PICKING AND GRINNING
The cabbages have been picked. Except for a few that I am saving for cold slaw, most are made into sauerkraut. It is bubbling away in a huge crock in my kitchen and in a few days I will can it in quart jars. This is a good cabbage year.
The tomatoes, green peppers and eggplants have done very well companion planted with basil. They are starting to ripen. I am looking for lots of recipes for eggplant. (Please send your favorites.)
The Pesto is made and I have enough to last all winter. It freezes very well and is done up in pint Baggies.
The potato plants are looking good. We dug up a few potatoes (Red Norland and Yukon Gold) for a neighbor who was hungry for new potatoes. They are too small for a serious harvest , so I will wait for another month. (Bob likes the new potatoes steamed and then covered with melted butter, chives and parsley)
The herbs are being harvested- some are in the dehydrator and a lot are hung in bunches from the ceiling to dry. I am starting to put the Everlasting flowers and Herb bunches together to sell at crafts shows this fall. I am also taking my homemade soaps.
This has been a strange weather year and as a result , more bugs that I have ever seen in MN. They really attacked my vine crops - melons, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins.
The flowers are lovely and I have already started to save seed for next year. I plant only heirloom seeds and they will reproduce according to kind as opposed to hybrid seeds that may not produce at all on the second and third generations.
There are some weeds in the main garden, but I am too busy picking and processing to pay much attention to them.
The sunflowers are huge and attract whole flocks of Gold Finches - they are my favorite birds and I plant the sunflowers just for them. I will harvest big bunches of the flower heads, hang them to dry, and use the dried seed heads to feed the birds this winter.
I will try to do better on the garden updates - it has been a busy summer and it is hard to find time to write things down - until then - I am picking and grinning.