Production and Transition

I just picked another 5.25 pounds of basil and made 4 more quarts of pesto, half with walnuts and no garlic (for me) and half with garlic and no walnuts (for Rose and Peter). These I am going to freeze in ice cube trays and store in big gallon bags to be used 1 or more at a time. I think it will be a lot easier than freezing the individual quart bags, even though those store nicely, like files.

I pulled up all the cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli plants and put them in a pile for the ducks and chickens to eat the cabbage worms off of them. The pile is far from the garden, which will hopefully confuse the pests and keep them from overwintering there. We had cross-striped and imported cabbageworms. The broccoli and cauliflower produced just about nothing. We got about 10 purple and 2 green cabbages, not huge but dense and beautiful and delicious. I will be lacto-fermenting some this afternoon to make real traditional sauerkraut, which involves pounding the cabbage with salt to release the juice, then letting it ferment, completely submerged in the brine, at room temperature for 3 days before refrigerating. It is very sour and tasty and great for replenishing healthy bacteria in the digestive system. Lacto-fermented pickled vegetables do not require vinegar because the naturally occurring bacteria on the surface of the plant initiate a fermentation process which produces beneficial lactic acids. You can also use a little bit of whey from yogurt or cheesemaking to enhance the fermentation process. I will probably be adding some from my....

HOMEMADE RAW GOAT AND COW MILK YOGURT! I discovered a wonderful little farm right down the road called Dainty Doe Farm. They sell herd shares so that they can legally provide raw cow milk to herd share owners. They also sell raw goat milk, yogurt, kefir, kefir grains, and soft cheeses (some items have to be special ordered). I make my yogurt by heating the milk to 110 and then culturing with yogurt, rather than heating to 180 and cooling to 110. that keeps the proteins intact and protects that live enzymes. I hope to do a profile of Dainty Doe Farm soon for my other blog, Eat Local Ozarks. I have been neglecting it, but I intend to get going again with the profile of Foundation Farm.

Cucumbers starting to produce (10 beauties so far). We are looking into growing varieties with no bitterness since they are a bit bitter. You can peel off the bitter skin, or just enjoy the benefits of the bitterness, which include stimulating digestive fluids. 0% bitter varieties are: Lemon, Eversweet, Ashley, Sunnybrook, and Saticoy Hybrid.

Tiny green beans are starting,as well as canteloupe, tiny butternut squash, a few ears of corn. I germinated some corn seeds in paper towel so I can put them out with a better chance of surviving the extreme heat and drought. We are watering A LOT because it is so hot and dry and we can't let all the work we've done thus far go to waste. Even with the cost of water, the value we derive in freshness and nutrient density will outweigh the increased water bill. Installing gutters and water catchment systems will definitely be on the horizon. We are also cleaning and refilling the waterers for the chickens and ducks 3 times a day, and refilling the ducks' kiddie pool once a day. The water gets hot, even in the shade. We also lost the only bit if shade we did have, because tent caterpillars just defoliated the entire tree. I probably should have researched tent caterpillars 2 years ago, but I just read that the way to eradicate them is to remove the egg masses when they appear in late winter. Tent caterpillars like apple and cherry trees so they have to go! So far the trees are doing great and getting really big, except for a few Japanese beetles, which I hand pick from one cherry tree. The apple tree in the empty lot next door is producing some yummy apples. They remind me of Honeycrisp, which I've heard don't produce the same flavor and texture apple here as up North. I'll have to figure out what variety it is, or maybe just start my own from the seeds.

I just mulched the now-empty potato bed with a bale of straw. I let it get too dried out by letting it sit uncovered for a few weeks. I am now covering it and I will water it to get the soil microbes active again. The chickens and ducks are also busily picking through the straw to remove all the weed seeds. The only weeds I am seeing in the tomato bed, which has a very deep straw mulch, are wheat grass shoots growing up around the base of the plants where the mulch is lighter so the roots can get air. They are easy to remove, but if the birds can remove the seeds first it will save me that much work. Saving work is essential. The work with the extra birds and extra gardens this year is definitely pretty intense, especially when the heat makes being outside for long periods of time unbearable. I end up dizzy and have to come in and lie down, even when I drink plenty of water. I have started putting salt and lemon in my water to replace electrolytes, so maybe that will help.

The Rosa Bianca eggplants are beautiful. The fruit gets rather large while still ensconced in the sepals remaining form the now-shriveled flower, then slowly gets bigger and outgrows her shell.

Yolo Wonder red peppers are growing big hidden inside the dense thicket of leaves. They grow with their bottom facing up. They won't turn red until they are fully mature, so they are totally camouflaged now. The Jaluv an Attitude hot peppers are delicious! I tried steaming a couple the other night, which was interesting, but not as interesting as Rose's famous cream cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped jalapenos! I'll be making a big batch of those tonight in her honor, since she is away visiting her extended family on the East coast.

This is the time of year to replant beds that have been vacated by early crops. This has never been one of my strong points, so I am going to try to do a better job this year. We also have a new bed that Peter and I made last fall by laying down cardboard and hay. The chickens have tilled it like crazy for the last few months, so it is probably just about perfect. I see the Bermuda grass starting to encroach, so I want to get that  planted and put some kind of edging material around it to keep the grass controlled, at least to some extent. I will probably be planting more corn, beans, squash and melons since they love heat, and then soon after starting fall crops of greens, peas, and brassicas. The plan is to build a couple cold frames to keep us in salads and dark leafy greens all winter.