Celebrating our Farmers this Labor Day

I'm in Columbus this weekend visiting my family! Some of my aunts & cousins, granddad and extended family are coming to my parents house and we'll be playing games and hanging outside, hopefully. It'll be a lot of fun!

My parents are nice and they've humored my desire for a mostly-local Labor Day meal. Really- I can't think of a much better way to celebrate local Farmers- some of the hardest working laborers in our country with the most important jobs; feeding our families & our country!

We're starting to gather the ingredients for the big Sunday cookout. I brought some freshly-harvested produce down from my garden to share. 

The Labor Day menu so far includes:

• Caprese Salad w/ tomatoes from my parents garden 
• My fav Potato Salad w/ pink potatoes & garlic from my garden, & onions from my CSA 
• Sweet Corn
• Mango Bean Salad w/ peppers from my CSA & garlic from my garden
• Hamburgers 
• a fruit plate, with my one prize cantaloupe :)

We're heading to the Clintonville Farmers' Market tomorrow morning and hopefully grabbing some of the 'missing pieces' - sweet corn, hamburger meat, and maybe some peaches for a special dessert. I've already got some good input from Columbus buddies on what vendors I should hit up first at the market before I go. I'm looking forward to seeing a new farmers' market here in my hometown!

Here's hoping that your Labor Day is relaxing and maybe even invigorating. If you can, find a way to appreciate and support your local farmers this labor day!

Drying and Curing Veggies & Herbs from the Garden

There's lots of things growing in your garden right now (or waiting for you at the Farmers' Market) that you can dry and essentially preserve for use later on in the season. I personally think that is one of the most awesome aspects of growing your own- the ability to have a Winter's supply of some great thing you worked hard to grow! I know, I know- I'm a nerd. While I won't cover all of them in detail, and this isn't an exhaustive list, there's a lot to be saved from the garden come late summer/fall time!

Produce/Herbs that you can Store by Drying:

Almost any herb

Beans

Chamomile blossoms

Cilantro (into Coriander)

Garlic

Onions

Potatoes

Squash

Cilantro

When to Harvest:

You can simply let the plant flower. Little white flower clusters will form, which will soon form seeds. At first, these seeds will be green but then they will slowly dry from green to brown, then they will harden. 

How to Cure/Dry:

The nice thing about cilantro is it's very low-maintenance to dry. When the seeds are dry, you can just pull the whole plant out by the roots, and harvest the seeds from it. 

Long-term Storage:

Put seeds in a glass spice jar or air-tight plastic container. Grind into a powder as needed, and use in asian dishes (or any dishes, for that matter!)

Chamomile

When to Harvest:

The chamomile plant will produce little white flowers with yellow centers- they look sort of like daisies. Plants bloom in mid June-late July. When the petals begin to droop down, time to harvest! Pluck off the individual flower heads and new ones will grow.

How to Cure/Dry:

Spread flowers across on a dry surface in a warm, dry area for 72 hours.

Long-term Storage:

Store in a glass jar, a tin, or an air-tight plastic container. Put a tablespoon of blossoms into a tea bag for chamomile tea any time you desire!

Garlic

When to Harvest:

Garlic plants have corn-like stalks. When stalks start to turn yellow-brown with 5-6 green stalks remaining, it's time to harvest. Grab each plant firmly, near the base of where the plant meets the ground and pull.

How to Cure/Dry:

Garlic needs to cure (dry out) for a week + before it is stored permanently. If you don't have pest problems, harvest your garlic and simply lay it on top of the soil to dry, on your porch, or bring it in and lay it out in your mudroom.

Long-term Storage:

Once the stalks are completely brown and feel like parchment paper, you can cut them down to several inches in length. Garlic needs good air circulation in order to store well. I recommend a wicker basket, or if you only have a few heads of garlic, one of those ceramic garlic containers.

Onions

When to Harvest:

You can harvest onions then the tops/stalks have start to brown and droop towards the ground. (Or if you're impatient, whenever you want, as demonstrated in the picture) The longer you can be patient, the larger the bulbs will be. If you harvest them too early, just use them as a bulb and a green onion too!

How to Cure/Dry:

Lay onions flat out on paper or some other type of dry surface. Onions are like garlic in that they need to cure for several days for optimal storage.

Long-term Storage:

Again, like garlic, onions need good air circulation to prevent them from rotting during storage. A hanging wicker or mesh bag could work well for storage.

Best of luck as you try out some drying/curing at your own home.
I hope the tips are helpful!

Friday Favorites

Colorful potatoes from the garden make a great potato salad.

 Cherry pitters are kind of amazing. I pitted 2 quarts of cherries yesterday and it was a breeze!

How did I not have one of these before now?

Dinners at home this week have been straight from the garden- here's one from last night. 

Veggies, and sometimes tofu, cooked up in a bit of oil. Simple and delicious.

Ha- look at this cat. What a cute one.

What are you favorite things this Friday?

Friday Favorites

Today I'm thankful for a lot in the garden: some plants are just starting to come into their prime, and some are on their way out. I've been a lot more relaxed about harvesting and using all the goodies from my garden this year and it's really helped me to appreciate each type of veggie/fruit as it comes into season!

Here are some of my Friday Favorites:

Harvested the last of the garlic scapes this morning- I think I'll chop and freeze them.

Look at these amazing Mountain Rose potatoes- they're so pink!!

Pulled my first garlic of the season to see how they are progressing- woah!

First big harvest from the garden- carrots, onions, scapes, kale, and some basil!

Happy Friday, friends! What are your favorites this Friday?

New Potatoes- Harvesting early potatoes from the garden

This is my third year growing potatoes in the garden- they're one of my favorite things to grow. Potatoes are relatively low-maintenance, the plants are surprisingly    pretty, and potatoes are easy to harvest- I'd recommend them for your planting list next year if you haven't grown them before!

I had a few plants that have had yellowing leaves, despite frequent watering. All their neighbor plants look green and healthy, but these two sad individuals were languishing. When this is the case, or when you get a hankering for potatoes, you can harvest some potatoes early- these are called "new potatoes".

It's a pretty good bet that when the plants are flowering, you've got some small new potatoes available to harvest.
I decided to pull out the two yellowing plants, and got 13 very small-smallish potatoes (left). I believe these are little Yukon Golds from last seasons' garden. I'll be using them up quick in some awesome, ultra-local homefries with garden-grown onions and kale tomorrow- can't wait!

I planted a whole lot of potatoes this year- 60 plants!! Each one of these will yield 5-8 potatoes, and that makes for a whole lotta spuds. I don't usually harvest too many new potatoes, because I like to wait until they get bigger, but with a potential harvest of 300-450 potatoes, I think I can afford to pull a few early!

I think my next early harvest will be some of the Mountain Rose potatoes- those are the dark potatoes with pink flesh. The plants are already really beautiful; the flowers are a pinkish-purple, rather than the traditional white flowers that most potato plants have.

I'll post some pictures on my blog facebook page when I harvest the Mountain Rose potatoes, in case you're curious.

In the mean time, off to enjoy this beautiful weather!

What's Up Wednesday

Garlic Scapes! That funny little curly-cue is a garlic scape, my friends.  Hardneck garlic forms these little guys, and you can cut them off and eat them! They're delicious and they free up that spare energy to be used in garlic bulb production.



















The potato plants are just going wild! I spent some time yesterday mounding up compost on them, as you're supposed to to as the plants grow. Soon I'll have new potatoes to enjoy :)

When I left yesterday morning, I had no peas. When I left for work this morning, I had peas! Yeah!!

I think potato flowers are pretty, don't you? I was so surprised the first year I grew potatoes- I never thought about what the potato plant looked like!




What's Up in your Garden this Wednesday?

Springing into Summer

Almost everything I started indoors under lights has been transplanted outside to the garden. One of the last things to go out, yesterday, was little German Chamomile starts (on Left). I hope they do well- this is my first year growing lots of herbs so we'll have to wait and see! Harvesting chamomile blossoms and drying them to make tea is definitely on my list of Self-sufficiency Nerd goals.

The garden is growing GREAT- there's so many tones of green out there! We're just about at the point here of planting summer crops in S.E. Michigan; tomatoes, peppers, cukes, squash, and more.

I've been consistently harvesting lettuce and kale from the garden, as well as a few spinach leaves, chives, and green onions from the plants my neighbors gave me. The beans and peas are doing nicely, and the potato plants are shooting up- it's about time that I mound up the soil around them, now that they're getting taller. Leeks seem to be fairing well- the jury's out on whether or not my toilet paper roll blanching method is truly working. The lettuces are starting to bolt and get a bit bitter, so we'll be having lots of salads for dinner this week!

I've started to plant a few tomatoes and peppers outdoors. All the ones I started from seed indoors didn't do very well, but I put them in the mudroom to get some natural sunlight and they've been perking up. If you didn't start any seeds of your own this season, head out to your local nursery and buy some locally-grown transplants :) 

How's your Garden Growing?

Silent Sunday

I <3 Hostas 

Sage in the front porch pot

Potato Plants

Chives are in bloom

Garden is greening up quickly

Happy Sunday- Enjoy your day :) Stay tuned on Tuesday 5/8 for an exciting giveaway!

What's Up Wednesday

Garlic is looking good- nice and tall! In about a month to a month and a half, we'll have garlic scapes!














Little carrot plants are so dang cute. I like the point when they start to get their first fern-like leaves and you remember, "oh yeah- I planted carrots here!"

The first set of Potato plants are coming up as well

Can you tell what this is, besides a terribly out of focus picture of my hand? I had to share- It's a mini, tiny asparagus stalk!!!! I was worried the plants didn't establish, but looks like they're doing well! 

What's Up in your garden today?

What's Up Wednesday

This is what's "up" today in my garden!

Since I planted some of the cold-hardy crops early, I've been able to harvest out of the garden already, which is exciting! Today for lunch I cut off a few kale leaves, pull the last of the over wintering carrots, snipped a few chives, and cut some lettuce leaves, for a really nice salad. Add some Michigan dried cranberries, some walnuts, and some homemade dressing- one filling meal!

Got to plant my potato order from Seed Savers Exchange- Yukon Golds, Mountain Rose, German Butterballs, and Rose Finn Apple fingerlings! As usual, ordered too many- will have to share with the neighbors :)

Here they are, waiting to be tucked in. Why are rows in the garden so appealing to the eye? 

I also planted two varieties of bush beans- Light Red Kidney beans from High Mowing, and Provider Bush beans from Seeds of Change. The ones in the jar are beans I saved from last years harvest- they're so pretty! I also had some left from the seed packets last year, but it was neat to plant the seed I had saved too.

Here are the light red kidney beans, ready to be covered up!

What's Up in your garden today?

Homefries with Kale, Onions, and Garlic

I harvested my first kale leaves (curly dwarf kale) from the garden this morning, as well as a green onion, and though, "What to make for breakfast with these?" I spotted russet potatoes I have left over and thought "Homefries!" 

I'm always trying to sneak kale into different recipes- I don't love it as much as others do, but kale is really healthy for you, it's pretty, and it's cold-hardy which is important here up North! So here's the recipe I cooked up- it was quite good. 

Homefries with Kale, Onions, & Garlic

Ingredients:
2 medium russett potatoes, peeled
3-5 kale leaves
1 scallion/green onion
1 clove of garlic
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Pour the olive oil into a small frying pan and set on the stove, on medium heat
• Meanwhile, dice up the potatoes into small, hashbrown-ish pieces (1/2 inch is good)
• Add the hashbrowns into the sizzling pan, and let them brown a bit
• Dice up the green onions and mince the garlic- add to pan after about 5 minutes 
• Cut the kale leaves from their stems, and chop into small pieces
• Taste potatoes or poke with a fork, to see how much longer they need
• Add kale to the pan when potatoes are almost finished.
• Add salt and pepper to the dish as needed

Serve and Enjoy!

Silent Sunday

Newest backyard bed- Speckles Lettuce and Leeks

Sugar Snap Peas

Mountain Rose Potatoes curing before they are planted

Salad- Spinach from the farm at work, lettuce from at the garden at home!

Happy Sunday :)

Potato Salad with Scallions and Dill

Today I'm going to share my FAVORITE potato salad recipe with you. It's simple, easy, fresh and light. It's also delicious!! I make it with whatever potatoes I have on hand- Russetts, fingerlings, Yukon Golds.. it's all good, my friends. It's modified from Ina Garten's recipe- over the years I have changed it and modified it to my liking.

Potato Salad with Scallions and Dill

Ingredients

• 6 medium potatoes (any kind will work)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons mustard
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground mustard seed (optional)
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions/green onion

Directions

• Peel the potatoes and chop into 1" sized pieces. 
• Place the potatoes and 2 tablespoons of salt in a large pot of boiling water.
• Once potatoes are added, lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are barely tender when pierced with a knife. 
• Drain the potatoes in a colander, then place the colander with the potatoes over the empty pot and cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel. Allow the potatoes to steam for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk,  mustard, dill, chopped onions, 1 teaspoon of salt, and
  1 teaspoon of pepper, and coriander and mustard seed (optional). Set aside.
• When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, place the cut potatoes into the large bowl. Toss well, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Serve and Enjoy!

Silent Sunday

Frog weather vane in the garden

Aloe plant drinking up the sun

63 tomato plants, 9 varieties

"Parade" bunching onion starts

Cilantro we started from seed!

Seed potatoes hanging in the window to encourage sprouting