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Asian Delight hybrid bok choy |
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Overwintered spinach |
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Arugula |
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Arugula-topped pizza |
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Cherry Belle and French Breakfast radishes |
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View from Gunstock Mountain |
A lifelong ambition to have a "gentleman's farm" fulfilled...one unplanned expense at a time!
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Asian Delight hybrid bok choy |
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Overwintered spinach |
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Arugula |
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Arugula-topped pizza |
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Cherry Belle and French Breakfast radishes |
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View from Gunstock Mountain |
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'Brisk Green' hybrid bok choy. |
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French Breakfast radishes |
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Asparagus |
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Swingin' bachelor salad |
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Bear Attack |
Greetings from Eight Gate Farm! I always say our springs are unpredictable from a weather perspective, and this year is no exception. In early April we had two days of 85+ degree temperatures (30 C.) And I stupidly neglected to vent the two little mini-greenhouses we have. So all my artichoke, celery, and lettuce seedlings were cooked to death. Then it got cold again. It was warming up fine in the past weeks, but in the wee hours of May 18 we got a true frost, literally a month after our last frost. It was not unexpected, but it still caught a lot of people off guard, people who had rushed to set out their tender crops. Here, we were not affected too much, but it did wither the new leaves on the grape vines. I hope they recover.
Harvests so far have been almost exactly tracking what happened last year at this time. Here's the lineup:
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Asparagus |
I overwintered spinach again. Only about half the plants made it though the winter, which is pretty good considering the leaf mulch I applied blew away in one of our storms. The hardiness of spinach is amazing.
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Over-wintered spinach |
I got the first picking of arugula, which was directly sown on April 11. Thus we got the first homegrown salads of the year, very welcome.
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Arugula |
Finally, I've done three cuttings of chives. We believe the spring chives are tastier than what you get later in the season, so we've been using them fresh and dehydrating a lot. They are now about to flower.
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Spring chives |
I'd always attributed that aphorism to Benjamin Franklin, the great American patriot and polymath. Looking further, the phrase predates him considerably, to the 16th Century, though not so succinctly put. Regardless, I've always agreed with it, especially when considering the garden produce that I work so hard to provide. Nothing bothers me more than having my crops get wasted, because they can't be used in time.
It came to mind this week, when The Kitchen Goddess dispatched me to the "stores," to fetch some potatoes for a dish she was making. The spuds had been harvested in early September, and were being kept in a cool, dark room. Alas, I found that every remaining one had sprouted. I was going to throw the lot out, but we reconsidered, and decided we could use them anyway, even if they were a little soft.
I peeled them and put them in cold water while she was out.
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Peeled 'Kennebec' potatoes |
She did her typical magic, and took some to make gnocchi, by adding flour and egg to make a sort of dough. Then she rolled it into cylinders, sliced them, and pressed a fork onto them. Finally she dusted with corn meal. Here's the result.
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Gnocchi |
The remaining potatoes were shredded. These can be used for potato pancakes, or that uniquely American dish, "hash browns." They were also put into the freezer.
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Shredded potatoes |
In late winter we get our first harvest of the year...maple syrup!
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Maple syrup before canning |
I'm pretty sure those readers not in North America really don't know or understand what the fuss is about. Maybe Sunday morning pancakes or waffles are not part of the culinary tradition. But to us, it's a big deal! Those vile (my opinion) artificially "maple-flavored" sugar-based syrups (looking at you, Log Cabin/Aunt Jemima) pale in comparison to the rich yet delicate taste of pure, natural maple syrup.
I've written about our small-scale production methods here and here, for those interested.
The winter this year has been very strange. It warmed up in January and the sap started running. How did I know this? Broken twigs were dripping, which would freeze overnight into icicles. We tapped two of our Sugar Maple trees on February 12, two buckets per tree. We had a strong initial run, which shut down as the weather cooled again. The Kitchen Goddess did a boil of what we had collected so far. It started back up after a week or so. We took the last and pulled the taps on February 23. She then boiled down that batch. She will shortly can it into smaller jars.
From the above picture, you can see how the earlier batch (left) is much lighter. I can't really explain why. All I know is we got 2+ quarts, which will serve us well over the coming year. Whole Foods is selling pure "organic" maple syrup for ~$20 per quart, so this is a win for us. Yes, there are costs involved. We typically go through one tank of propane to boil it down, and this year it cost $17, up from $15 in the previous year. But still worth it.
That's of course the only harvest I can report at this time. I'll be back once the growing season progresses.
On a sad note, two weeks ago we said goodbye to our beloved, 19 year old calico kitty, Daisy. Her health had been on a rapid decline, and she had lost so much weight. Here's one of our last pictures of her, in her favorite location, in front of the warm wood stove.
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Daisy-Cat |