Monday, December 29, 2014

Harvest Monday - 29 December 2014 - Our Corniest Post So Far!

Hello again from Eight Gate Farm! We've been enjoying a relatively mild spell of temperatures in the mid-40s F. (~+8 C.). Of course, here in New England, there is scant to harvest this time of year. But we get to enjoy the fruits of our past season's labor. Today I wanted to share our results with using our "Floriani" red flint corn harvest in several ways.

To recap, as an experiment this year I grew about 120 row feet of this wonderful plant, which yielded about 25 lbs. (~11 kg.) of dried kernels. Michelle, of From Seed To Table, also grows this corn, with great results (it's California after all, lucky her). Based on our experiences, I encourage anyone with the space to plant and enjoy field corn.

A few weeks ago we set up our hand-crank "Wondermill Junior" for the first time, and processed our first batch of cornmeal.


This went into a hearty cornbread, served here with a kale/white bean soup (from our garden of course). Delicious and wholesome.


The rest of this batch of cornmeal was made into pancakes the following morning, served with our own maple syrup and our own Bloody Mary mix, for a great start to the day!


This weekend we set up the mill again to grind some corn for polenta.



We kept out a cup for dinner, and put the rest in a bag for the freezer.


The polenta was soaked for a few hours, then boiled while stirring for about an hour. This was pretty labor-intensive. Perhaps the pressure cooker could be employed for this. Here's a bowl of the result:


And here it is topped with a wonderful venison ragout. About the only things not from our garden (or the surrounding woods) were the mushrooms, red wine, and beef stock.



Some notes on using the Wondermill Jr. We used the supplied stone disks. Following the recommendation, we first ran through a small batch of popcorn to let the disks get used to one another. The high points of the disks are ground off, leaving a fair amount of stone dust in the flour. This was discarded, or actually, fed to the birds and squirrels. This takes a fair amount of effort. But after that, cranking is pretty easy. The hopper holds about 3 cups (~700 cc)  of corn kernels. This results in about 4 cups of meal or flour. One problem we have is the disks loosen up fairly quickly, forcing you to re-tighten them regularly. This causes the grind to vary between fine and coarse. Sifting out the coarse grain and running it through again makes it more consistent. It took about a half-hour of cranking (and sifting). Good exercise and satisfying labor.

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks once again to Daphne's Dandelions for hosting. Happy New Year to you all!

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

This Year's Garden Report Card

2014 Garden Report Card

Crop

Grade

Remarks

Apples

D-

2 trees. Only a handful of fruit this year.

Artichoke

Hon. Mention

3rd year trying. Problems from voles. But got 2 'chokes!

Asparagus

D-

12 row feet. Problems with voles. Had to replant. Now we wait again for the plants to mature.

Beans, Green

A

Got all we needed for the year on 16 squares, four plants per square.

Beans, Dry

B

Approx. 80 row feet yielded 4.5 lbs.

Beets

B

Planted 24 squares, 9 plants per square. Not all grew large.

Broccoli

A+

Grew in spring only this year. Got many large heads, not many side shoots.

Brussels Sprouts

C

Tried new method of late planting. Did not size up like last year not surprisingly. Got some.

Carrots

A

Reduced planting from last year, still got all we needed. Fall crop mostly destroyed by voles.

Chard

B

Spring planting, better than last year. Plants taken down in fall by voles.

Cherries

F

2 trees. No fruit set this year.

Chinese Cabbage

A

Grew in summer only, only had enough seed for 3 plants, but what we got was wonderful.

Corn, Sweet

B

Improvement over last year, still not enough for us. Grown in row garden only.

Corn, Flint

A

Approx.150 row feet. Yield 25 pounds shelled kernels. Makes excellent bread etc.

Cucumbers

D-

Did not grow in raised beds this year, only got a few cukes.

Eggplant

B

9 plants, 2 varieties. "Amadeo" produced very early. "Rosita" late and fewer. Both had transplant issues.

Grapes

B

Had to spray with non-organic fungicide. Got about 1 bushel, made about 2 gals. wine

Hops

A

Much greater production than last year.

Kale

B

Grew in summer only, four plants yielded a nice amount. Expect to plant more next year.

Lettuce

A+

Grew mostly in spring, got far more than we need. Summer planting in semi-shady spots did all right too.

Muskmelons

C

Again got tiny but tasty fruit. Powdery mildew was bad.

Onions

A+

Put out about 200 sets; yielded enough for our yearly consumption.

Pears

D

Low fruit set, only got 9.

Peas

B

Second year of lesser production; probably weather-related.

Peppers

C

Transplant issues. Yield not good.

Potatoes

A+

42 lbs. from 2.5 lbs seed. Excellent quality and taste. Variety "Kennebec."

Pumpkins

A+

Got 22 total, largest over 25 lbs.

Radishes, spring

A-

Typical problems with root maggots.

Radishes, summer

A+

"Watermelon" variety, summer planting. Got excellent yield.

Raspberries

A

Enough for jam, libations.

Rice, Duborskian

F

Did not take to transplanting; got a few grains of rice.

Spinach

D-

Poor germination in spring, bolted when planted late summer.

Squash, winter

C+

Planted only in row garden where soil poor. Got about 10.

Sunflowers

A

Grew grey-striped from seeds of last year's volunteer plants. Made great snacks.

Tomatoes

A+

Grew only 6 determinate, 4 indeterminate, but got excellent yield and quality.

Watermelon

D

Again got tiny fruit. Not sure what the problem is.

Zucchini

A

Grew only 2 plants this year. Sufficient for all our needs. Problems with SVB and mildew.