Sowing and Skiing

We've been having a fairly typical Colorado (lower-elevation) winter this year.  We've had a few snowstorms, though not as frequent or as bountiful as I would have liked.  And we've had our usual stretches of 50-60 (and not so usual 70!) degree days in between.  Those stretches really get me itching and make me want to disregard the sowing dates on the back of seed packets in favor of throwing seeds in the ground as early as January or February.

This was the scene on Feb 1:

  

About a week later I was able to install my new addition to the backyard - a second composter!  Yes, it's nearly impossible for me to take a picture without Takoda in it, staring maniacally at a ball.

Also about a week ago, I noticed some volunteers poking up in last years Garlic bed.  To me, that just screamed put some seeds in the ground!

So this weekend I did.  I left the volunteers and planted around them with some Spinach, Lettuce mixes, Parsnip, and Daikon.  The Mint, Sorrel and Dill ended up in pots.  Then in another bed I sowed Arugula, Radish and Cabbage seeds.  

I pulled back the straw on this years Garlic bed to reveal more signs of life:

It was also time to get the Onion seeds started.  We're only 11 weeks from our last frost date.  Trying a couple new varieties this year that are better for storage...Stuttgarter and Yellow of Parma.  I have 3 seeds in each of the 92 cups, so if Kaya's math is correct, that's 276 possible seedlings.  4 of the cups have Eggplant seeds - first time growing Eggplant.

To keep things in check, and bring my soil stained feet back down to reality, here's the backyard scene from this morning... 

Now I'm off to do some x-country skiing!

Milestones

Yesterday, while eating dinner, Kaya asked me how the baby gets in the belly.  It struck me as such a big leap forward in her manner of thinking.  A pointed and thoughtful question.  An understanding that women have babies, that women carry babies, that babies come out of the mother.  An understanding of 75% of the process, with just the final piece of the puzzle missing.  How the hell did it get in there?

A few days ago, Kassie was helping me with the dishes, as she has been doing for a couple of years now.  She almost always asks to help.  When I say yes, she grabs her sponges and scrubbies from under the sink.  I pull up a chair for her to stand on.  As I wash, she claims the items she needs, that will remain in her sink - the rest I rinse and place in the wire drainer.  Then she plays.  Water and suds in the cups, pouring from one to another, utensils, making soup, stirring, splashing, singing.  Always lots of singing.  She had recently taken to some rinsing and placing in the rack as well.  I finish washing, drying, cleaning counter tops, the dinner table.  She plays on...maybe a quick potty break, but she remains.  I go take a shower and come back and most times, still there. So the other day when I came back down from my shower, she was no longer standing on her chair...the kitchen was empty.  As I looked around, I stopped dead in my tracks.  The sinks had been drained and wiped up.  I saw just a couple of the cups she had been using placed on the counter, in there respective places, underneath the cupboards that were out of her reach.  She had rinsed and dried all the dishes from her sink - and she had put them all away.

Little ones maybe.  But milestones nonetheless.

Root Harvest

A couple of days before the Arctic air mass that is currently parked over us moved in, I figured it was probably time for me to harvest the remaining  root veggies.  I thought about using the ground for long term storage, covering them sufficiently with mulch to withstand the freezing temps, but frankly the whole thing made me a bit nervous.  So I pulled 'em.

Nothing ridiculous, but not a bad haul given I'd been munching on all of these the entire summer.  Golden and purple top turnips, golden and purple beets and orange and purple carrots.  You'd think the girls had a hand in the variety selection with all that purple.

The purple harvest was followed up that evening with a pink sky. 

Followed the next day with our first flakes of the season...

And the next day with a couple inches of ground cover.  

We've had single digit highs for a few days now and I dare say that my lettuce, broccoli, kale, collards, cabbage, swiss chard, along with a few other things, are toast.  I didn't fully comprehend the depth and length of this cold snap and therefore took no measure to protect them.  I have to wonder if row covers would have even helped here?  An experiment for next year, I suppose.   

The Sure Sign

While the fall crops begin to produce in earnest, and the leaves rain down from the trees, we now have THE sure sign that summer has passed.  A freeze warning has gone into effect for tonight and so I was spurred into pulling all of the remaining tomatoes from the vine.  It's the last of the true summer crops for the year.  Being just 5 days from the cold winds of November, I think it's pretty amazing that I still had tomatoes on the vine.  The pale green and brown plants will be pulled and join the chopped cornstalks and mounting pile of leaves to begin a fresh compost heap.  With that start, a look ahead at the bounty the new year will bring.  What a great feeling to have a hand simultaneously in multiple seasons - past, present and future.

Saag Paneer with Swiss Chard

I still have a steady supply of Swiss Chard coming in and expect that to continue for at least another month, if not longer.  I had to start getting creative.  I thought this Indian favorite that is usually made with Spinach may lend just as well to Chard.  I perused several Saag recipes and came up with this, which worked quite well!

Ingredients:

• A large bunch of Swiss Chard (more than you think you'll probably need)
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil (or whatever oil/butter you prefer)
• 1 Slab of Paneer (Indian cheese)
• 1 Small onion, chopped
• 1 Tomato, chopped
• 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 fresh green chili or chili pepper flakes (to taste, just enough for a little heat)
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp cumin (most Saag recipes call for cumin but I omitted it because we don't get along.  Turned out just as tasty, so consider this optional) 
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• Salt, to taste
• 1-3 Tbsp heavy cream (or yogurt)
• Fresh Cilantro, chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Wash swiss chard, discarding the lower stems to the compost.  Chop the rest.
2. Heat oil in saute pan.  Add the onions, ginger and garlic and saute until soft and golden.
3. Add the tomatoes, chili, coriander, garam masala, cumin (if using) and turmeric.  Cook until the tomatoes turn to mush, about 3 or 4 minutes
4. Add the chopped greens, in batches if necessary, and stir.  Sprinkle with salt and cook until the greens have wilted and are tender. 
5. Meanwhile, heat a little oil in a pan.  Cut the paneer slab in half so that you end up with two 1/2" thick slices.  Place in pan and fry until golden brown on both sides.  Remove and cut into 1/2" cubes.
6. Add about a 1/4 cup water or stock to the greens.  Using a hand blender or food processor, blend the greens and spices until the desired consistency.  Leaving it a little coarse is better than pureeing it into a swiss chard beverage.
7. Return the Saag to the pan and continue to cook on low heat.  Add heavy cream or yogurt and the paneer.  Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.  Simmer for 5-10 more minutes.
8. Sprinkle with some fresh chopped cilantro if desired and serve with Basmati rice and Naan.

Garden Update - Sept 29, 2014

Most of the summer vegetables have run their course and the fall/winter garden is now in full swing. 

The rutabagas have completely taken over the front of this bed.  There is a row of parsnip in front of them, but they may not amount to much in this jungle.

The back of the bed has cabbage that is beginning to take shape.  There were actually three rows, but again, the dang rutabagas!

Corn is drying nicely, getting ready for it's fall location on the front porch.  In front, the zucchini is barely hanging on, but does have at least one fruit on vine. 

Ended up with two butternut squash.

And one Buen Gusto de Horno.

The big daddy of the Long Pie Pumpkins.

Baby Long Pie

That's Kassidy's pumpkin and possibly the smallest Hubbard squash ever grown.

I left some beans on vine to dry out for seed, but I probably won't use them.  They are heirloom open-pollinated variety and I had two types growing side by side in the three sisters bed.  They have likely cross pollinated and won't be true. 

Kaya's Jack O' Lantern.

The rarely shown Chard, Turnip and Beet beds...still going strong!

The Kale and Collards that won't give up.  Still tastes great too, never turned bitter.  Carrots in back.  In front are some spinach, beets, carrot and parsnip that are trying to survive this shady bed.

Collards, looking the best they have all year!

Russian Red Kale...Kaya can't get enough of this.

I picked the last of the unblemished fruit from the apple tree yesterday.  Got another 20 lbs or so that are chillin' in the basement for now.  May turn them into Apple butter or Apple preserves if I get a chance.

 The tomatoes are still producing, thankfully, because I need more spaghetti sauce than the 9 quarts I've canned so far.  Here's the scraggly looking back rows that are nonetheless still bearing decent fruit.

Just before a healthy pickin'

Yep, loaded.

The Arugula, Bok Choy, Spinach and Mixed Salad greens that I planted 3 weeks ago.

Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts.  The bugs are loving this stuff, but should be far enough along to pull through the onslaught.  For some reason, I always weed just after taking all the pics.

The tomato harvest...The smaller variety are Romas and the bigger are the Amish Paste. 

And there were some monsters in there for sure!

There were 35 lbs in that haul which netted me 3 quarts of Spaghetti sauce and 10 pints of tasty, tasty ketchup.   

How tall are your sunflowers?

This is a sister post to my sister's post over on Sleepy Dog Farm.  They posted a picture of Lynn standing next to her ~10 foot tall sunflower and posed the question in the post Title.  So here's mine:

At first glance, one might conclude that Lynn and Nora's beast takes the prize, but there are a couple things to consider.  My sunflower is past it's prime and thus the head has started to droop.  That's taking away about a foot of height.  The other thing is that I'm about a foot taller than Lynn.

I'd say they are pretty darn close.

At any rate, I think we'll both have a sunflower seed stash large enough to get us through most of the winter.