Woodchuck Invasion - How I Handle It

This happened on Sunday. I felt the story should be told, but it wasn't suitable for the upbeat Harvest Monday banter. In fact, if you are opposed to the, shall we say, drastic elimination of garden enemies, please read no further.

In the past few weeks I noticed that a fair amount of produce was being damaged. Now, there will always be chipmunks and voles, and you can't really do much about it. Fences don't stop them. But this looked worse. Something seemed to be trying to burrow under the fence at one place. I stopped it up with firewood on both sides of the fence. While we were gone, and my MIL was watching the place, nothing seemed amiss, nor was the week since eventful.

On Sunday I did some harvesting. Later that afternoon The Kitchen Goddess and I went out to do a final picking. Here is what we found.

Most lettuce destroyed.

All Chinese cabbage and kale mostly stripped.

Half the precious Diva cucumber vines nipped off.

And under the potato bed, this enormous burrow:

That's the handle of a hoe showing you how deep I could go. It's over 3 feet, and probably extends much farther.

All this happened in a few afternoon hours.

I went back to the house to get my camera. When I got back to the garden gate, Mr. G. D. Woodchuck was staring at me from the garden path.

I went back to the house to get my Instant Lead-Poisoning Administrative Device, i.e. varmint rifle. He was gone when I got back to the garden. So I sat on the bench waiting. Within a little while he appeared outside the fence. He went around the neighbor's apple tree and vanished under their shed, where undoubtedly he had a home. But he emerged in a few minutes and went back to the apple tree. Those were his last steps. His death was quick and painless.

So, problem solved for now. But I could not find the other end of his burrow, if there is one. I stopped up this end, but would not be surprised if another one will find its way in. I deal with it then.

Actually, he is the 4th one I've eliminated this year, but never before had one gotten into the garden. The others were preventative action, when spotted in our field.

I'm not proud of this, nor is it something I like doing. It's just necessary to protect what you treasure and rely on, like we do our garden. And I don't believe that trapping and relocating is good for either the animal or other people's gardens. There are plenty of hay fields and corn fields around here where woodchucks can play to their hearts' content. Just not here please.

Harvest Monday - 1 August 2016

Hello again from Eight Gate Farm. We got back a week ago from our mysterious trip. I still can't disclose where, but it was warm, beach-y, and ancient ruin-y. Unfortunately, within a day of being back, we both came down with a combination of Zika, SARS, and malaria...or maybe just the flu. The poor Kitchen Goddess was down for the count for most of the week, but me, possessing manly strength, bounced back in a day or so. Pause for eye-rolling.

My MIL watched the house while we were gone, and kept things picked, but here is what was waiting for us. First, the "firsts." And the star as always is the beloved artichoke.

Next is summer squash. I grew "Yellowfin" like last year, and because so many of you grow the "Italian-style" zucchini with the ribs, I bought "Cocozella Di Napoli" when we were at the Baker Creek store. I can't really say it tastes different, but it sure is pretty.

Next is cucumbers. I'm actually growing four varieties this year (the failure of the broccoli and brussels sprouts left some room). Here you see five "Homemade Pickles," and two of either "Calypso" or "Cross-Country" or both. In my usual style I forgot to note where I planted what for those. Homemade Pickles may be a dumb name, but I'm liking how prolific these bush-type plants (actually short vines) have turned out to be. All are really tasty.

Next we have the first tomatoes and a Hungarian Wax pepper.

The two smaller ones are "Umberto," a free sample I got a few years ago. They are supposed to be a 1 - 2 oz paste-type, but these are smaller and actually were quite good just popped in the mouth. The other is an "Incas" paste-type. We will need quite a few more to get sauce production! Unfortunately this is shaking out to be a bust year for tomatoes; my fault for where I placed them. Most plants are getting a lot more shade than I expected. Well, they get sun all morning and then in the later afternoon, but skip the mid-day sun. I guess that's the important part; not so much the total of sunlight. Anyone know?

The last first is the "Desiree" soup peas. Once again the crop was not all true--some have green pods instead of blue. These are now drying, and I'll show the peas themselves when finished. We will get maybe one pot of pea soup. Is it worth it?

Now the rest of the harvests this week.

TKG cleaned up the first batch of garlic (Georgian Fire) that had been curing for several weeks. The bulbs look to have 4 to 5 good sized cloves within. And now I know where the term "hardneck" comes from--the stalks are like wood. Does anyone know if it's harmful to leave them long like this? I hope not, because I like the way it looks, and all garlic should have convenient handles!

Of course, with all the cucumbers coming in, TKG had to start making pickles. So here's the first batch of "Bread & Butter." You know, I always thought Bread & Butter pickles was a New England thing, having never heard of them before moving here oh-so-many years ago. But I read that actually they were trademarked by a couple in the Midwest during the Depression, who had a surplus of small cucumbers, made them this way, and used them to trade for commodities, like, wait for it, bread and butter. Apologies if I just told you something you already know.

Sorry to go on for so long, but it was a busy week! Thanks to Dave at Our Happy Acres for keeping the Harvest Monday tradition flourishing, allowing us to connect with other gardeners around the world. See you next time!

Harvest Monday - 18 July 2016

Hello again from Eight Gate Farm. Here's this week's harvest roundup.

We picked the remaining garlic. The four on the right are German White, and the other 10 are Music. Not much difference dirty like this; maybe they'll be distinguishable when cured and cleaned.

Garlic is easy! I never realized it before. Step by step instructions:

1. Plant 24 cloves in October.
2. Do nothing.
3. Cut 24 scapes in June. Enjoy.
4. Pull 24 bulbs in July. Celebrate.

Okay, maybe "do nothing" includes a little weeding/fertilizing.

We got the first flush of "Carson" wax beans. Using up the 16 remaining seeds, maybe 13 survived. But they are productive.

Also the first major picking of seedless red raspberries (looking yellow in the photograph), and blueberries.

We are sharing the berries with the critters. The netting over the blueberry bushes is keeping out the birds, but the chipmunks just bull through.

We're still picking lettuce, snow and snap peas, carrots, and chard.

The peas and spring lettuce are getting tired, but the "summer crisp" lettuce is just getting going, so many more salads are in the forecast.

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading! There will be no post next week. The Kitchen Goddess and I are leaving for a "business incentive" trip to a location I am not permitted to disclose at this time. Very mysterious. TKG's mom will be watching the "farm" and cat, being paid in produce.

Thanks to Dave at Our Happy Acres for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 11 July 2016

Welcome to another Harvest Monday update from Eight Gate Farm! Thanks again to Dave at Our Happy Acres for hosting Harvest Monday.

Since the last post, we had a short heat wave, followed by a period of unseasonably cool weather, which at least brought some badly needed rain. How cool? Well, sweatshirts for me, and I even saw smoke coming out of a neighbor's chimney. What are vegetables supposed to make of this?

We had a couple of first harvests this week. Our favorite has to be this:

That's right, our first-ever garlic, in all its dirty glory. The variety is "Georgian Fire," which I'm guessing is an early one. Though to tell the truth, the other two varieties are not far behind it. Not really knowing, it was a bit of a guess to decide to harvest it. Let's see...bottom leaves withering? Check. Soil dry? Check. Other gardeners picking? Check. Let's do it! We were really psyched to see the size of the bulbs.

Another first: "Blue Wind" broccoli. I've written that this year's broccoli was going to be a bust, given the pest damage the transplants received. So even though this is only billiard ball-sized, at least we got something.

An unexpected first, shishito peppers.

We enjoyed both broccoli and peppers that very night, wishing we had a lot more.

As for continuing harvests, we took snow and Sugar Snap peas.

The heat spell did not do the peas much good.

We took carrots, turnips (unfortunately the last), and more peas.

And at the end of the week, more carrots and beets. By the way, I misidentified the carrots in the last post as Nelson, when really they are Mokum.

And finally, more lettuce, chard, and peas:

Chard is the only thing we've had to freeze so far this year, but we've accumulated several pounds of peas even though the plants are shutting down, so some might get frozen.

Now a bit about using a harvest. Last fall we only got about a dozen winter squash. The ones we didn't immediately use went into the basement in one of my new home-built screened storage bins. Maybe half rotted over the months (what a mess), but enough lasted so that The Kitchen Goddess could puree them this week. Not bad, considering.

There's an old song, "Turkey In The Straw." Yesterday I revised it like this:

Turkey on the fence,

Makes no sense.

Yes, those are her cute but oh-so-dumb babies trying to figure out how to emulate Mama.

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! I'm looking forward to reading all the posts on Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 4 July 2016

Happy Independence Day from Eight Gate Farm! And belated Happy Canada Day to our friends in The Great White North.

First harvests for some crops this week. We took a few "Nelson" carrots to see how they were shaping up. Not overly large yet, but sweet, crunchy, and delightful.

And the first Sugar Snap peas were taken. They are about 10 days behind the snow peas, and as before, the resulting plants were not all true Sugar Snaps. So the crop will not be large this year, but they are tasty. I've used up the last of this seed lot, and am in the market for a replacement variety.

And the true snow peas are giving us a harvest like this every two days, which we are enjoying in our salads but might have to start freezing soon.

We took the very last of the tatsoi.

And the turnips are winding down, also great thinly sliced in our nightly salads.

The continuing harvests are now demoted to group-photo status.

I love the color of the "Peppermint" chard, and am pleased it does not lose its stem color when steaming.

This soup pea crop is not ready for harvest, because the pods will be dried on the vine and will turn ugly. So I wanted to show it while it is still pretty.

Lastly, lavender to please the other senses besides taste.

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Dave at Our Happy Acres for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 27 June 2016

Welcome to another Harvest Monday update. We had several first harvests of the year this week.

I haven't grown turnips before, and to be honest, wasn't sure I'd like them. My experience with turnips was as starchy, softball-sized root vegetables that were a component of "New England Boiled Dinner," Not my favorite meal by any means. Anyway, "saladette" turnips were said to be a different animal. And they were right! We picked one just to see how they were sizing up.

This was sliced thinly and added to salad. Delightfully crunchy and spicy. So a few days later we took more:

The purple one is "Royal Crown" and the others are "White Egg." The Royal Crown is not as spicy, but the White Eggs seem to grow more robustly. The greens were delicious, too. Turnips will definitely make the cut for next year.

Next, we took a few beets:

Beets are not my thing, but The Kitchen Goddess loves them. I planted two varieties: Red Ace and Pronto. But did I label which was which? Of course not. Too bad, because one group grew a lot faster than the other.

Next was the first harvest of chard:

These are "Peppermint" and "Fordhook." I haven't grown Peppermint before, and not only is it lovely, it grows robustly.

Then there was the first harvest of long-anticipated snow peas, which we were craving. Delightful!

Other harvests (not firsts) were the last of the radishes:

More salad (I can't say enough good things about Baker Creek's "Rocky Top" and "European Mesclun" mixes):

And finally more tatsoi and ching chang:

And here's a delicious use of Asian greens. TKG used her homemade chicken stock and whipped up a batch of soup with the greens, egg, garlic scapes, and udon noodles, topped with fresh basil. I can't get enough of this.

Thank you for reading my post. Please head back to Our Happy Acres, hosted by Dave, for more Harvest Monday treats.

Harvest Monday - 20 June 2016

Hello again from Eight Gate Farm! Weather-wise, the days are starting to get warmer while the nights stay cool. Good for sleeping, but not for the solanaceae family, melons, cucumbers, squash, or corn. All are still not "taking off." Speaking of corn, I drove by a commercial cornfield yesterday, and the plants there are at least a foot tall, while mine are barely 3 inches. GMO Frankencorn? Super-fertilized? Who knows?

Now on to this week's harvests, which I'm sorry to say are just like last week's. We took virtually the last of the radishes:

And a good amount of lettuce:

Those make up our nightly salads, the health benefits of which are completely negated by the ranch dressing I love to pour on.

More Asian greens and the last of the garlic scapes:

I don't write about them often, but herbs from the Kitchen Herb Garden (a repurposed sandbox) are giving us lots of flavor. Here's a picking of thyme and winter savory:

They went toward a dry marinade for grilled chicken breasts, which gave some delicious protein accompaniment to our salads.

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! And as always thanks to Dave at Our Happy Acres for hosting Harvest Monday, without which you would probably not be reading this!