Even The Petals Are Edible

Our guava bushes are blooming profusely!

The Locavore's Curse

One of the things about my conversion to gardening: I know what’s in season here, when. To the minute. I know when beets are likely to be turning woody, know when to expect the first real tomatoes. At the moment asparagus and strawberries are just past peak (we’ve had a good hot week), but it will be a while before the first tomatoes harvested locally hit the stands. Chard, bombproof as always, is a good intermediary. I am harvesting the last of the crucifers. Next week, the onions will start to flower, and will be pulled up. I haven’t planted enough to last all summer — but the leeks are starting to flower now, and I’m hoping to use them first. The garlic is drying: this, we will have for all of the summer and most of the winter.

We went this afternoon to the Maxfield Parrish show at the Crocker Museum of Art. We’re members, so are able to put in a quick fifteen minutes without guilt. Today, though, there was a reception to launch the Parrish show. We decided to attend.

There were strawberries, to be sure. But there were no asparagus. There was pineapple, probably from Hawaii; melons and canteloupes, probably from Mexico or Colombia; grapes, probably from Chile; green peppers, probably also from Mexico (we still have a few frozen bags from last summer’s crop, but these were “fresh”). The carrots were probably local (but who knows?). Oh: and tomatoes. Cherry and grape tomatoes. From where? Blackberries and raspberries: from where? Or when?

I find I am cooking more with the seasons, using what’s available now. Our fridge is full of beets. They will be over soon, meaning I can dig up that bed and put something else in. Something other than beans, cucurbits, or tomatoes, because I am taking up inordinate acreage with those outside my original bunny fence…

Another Weekend With No Tomatoes Planted

It’s supposed to be a record-high temperature tomorrow, and me with nary a tomato seed planted. We did pick up three seedlings at Picnic Day yesterday along with a pepper and marigold, rescued today from Numenius’ office.

I’m back knitting after the cat-bite interlude. We cooked lentils and quinoa with chard from the garden, threatening to bolt, having given a bunch of it yesterday to J&B. Today feels very cuspy.

Yet it’s already tonight, and my big challenge of the morning will be to see if Union Pacific steam train #844 comes by my office window before my 9:00 am meeting. Follow it on Twitter.

Bolting

The cabbages, turnips, arugula, and all other crucifers in the garden are blooming, turning bitter as you watch. I picked the last two cauliflowers and most of the turnips.

It’s too early to plant summer veggies but not by much, and I have a lot to do before then. Trouble is, a nice big fat shipment of yarn came in, and the birds are on their way too.

And I’ve started making my Depression Sketchbook. It’s not very depressing, though…

The Accidental Turnips

I dropped a packet of seeds in the fall in the space between the beds. I tried to pick them up but it doesn’t always work and I forgot about them.

In November there was a fine clump of green things where I’d dropped the seeds. I dug them up and put them next to some chard. I had forgotten what they were. All I knew was they were a crucifer.

Purple-top turnips, it turns out. Into tonight’s soup, along with some tomatoes and basil from the freezer, this splendid kohlrabi, some butternut squash (these are getting a little off by now; better eat them up), and white beans.

Soup Sundays: my favorite.

Volunteer Potatoes

Pica dug these potatoes up today from her vegetable garden after the above-ground bit got killed by a recent frost. She didn’t plant these; they grew from bits left in the ground from previous generations of potatoes. I sketched these using Graphitints in a blank-book-of-mine-turned-journal.

Ravelling

Oh no.

In other news, the warm weather we’re having is giving me lots of hope for the yellow beet seeds I put in on Sunday. I have no such hope for the carrot seeds I put in at the same time. Carrots are a bust. I found what grew out of the packet of seeds I dropped sometime over the summer — arugula? — and have put it next to the beet hopefuls.

We have bought a food mill and put a hopperful of cherry tomatoes through it. What emerged was pulp from one bit and seeds and skins from another. I made a slow-cooked tomato sauce, started in the solar cooker and reduced down on the stove. Yum.

New Technologies In Food Storage

We are overrun in butternut squashes. I haven’t been studying Sharon Astyk’s posts on food storage very assiduously, but keeping the squashes in a dog crate we have lying around seems like a good idea.

Amaranth in Bloom

The mystery plant which Ron correctly identified as as an amaranth is now blooming, thanks in part to the alfalfa field recently being flood irrigated.

Meanwhile, Pica’s solar garden cooking has been highlighted on the blog Veggie Meal Plans: she has a guest post for a recipe for aduki bean and quinoa stew cooked in a solar oven here.

Mystery Plant

This plant recently sprouted and grew quickly in one of Pica’s garden plots, which has since been heavily mulched. If anybody has any idea what it is, do let us know.