waving a trowel

Greetings from the gardens! We've had several days without rain, but some extreme heat and humidity - Heat Index of 100F or higher. Today was lovely by comparison, and I spent much of the day very happily puttering in the paddocks and the gardens.

Plants that struggled to grow through the weeks of deluge have been rallying and are now growing and blooming at a great rate. I've brought a few pictures from the garden to share, but first: a question for the chard-lovers among you.

How do you like to prepare it? Some of the chard plants are now growing fast enough that - by moving briskly - I can occasionally pick a few leaves before the bugs devour them.

So far, I've taken my usual approach to a vegetable: eating it raw. This is sometimes as far as I need to go - lots of things are delicious raw. But with chard, well, I'm positive there is a better way. Alternative suggestions welcome and requested.

The highbush blueberries by the workshop are done for the year - and a surprisingly fine year it has been for these precious gems, considering all the days of hard rain. Quite often I picked my daily handful by running out between rainstorms.

My last little handful of 2018 was enjoyed earlier this week, and I left the few remaining berries ripening on the bush for the wildlife to enjoy the next day. Fair's fair.

I say "wildlife" not "birds," because I'm not sure exactly who I share the blueberries with anymore. I even saw a tiny mouse in the birdfeeder, five feet off the ground, the other day. Shinnying up that pole and then vaulting over to the feeder is quite a feat, even for the intrepid squirrels and a thrill-seeking chipmunk. When I walked past the feeder and saw a mouse peeping at me from eye level, it was quite a surprise.

Speaking of tiny things, I've discovered three Minnesota Midget Melons in the garden so far. The largest is about the size of a softball, as expected. People who have grown these melons describe them as "individual-serving." I'm hoping to find out, but it will be a while before they ripen. Meanwhile, they remain as safe as possible from predators, hidden in the undergrowth.

Massive vines are producing my favorite winter squash - candy roaster - in the undergrowth as well, but some individuals are no longer able to hide very well. This one is probably 20 inches long and it appears to have grown considerably larger each time I see it:

But today I noticed this little candy roaster on a trellis, cleverly disguised to blend in with the neighboring pole beans:

I'm still picking pole beans every day or two, eating some and tucking some into the freezer. My fondness for bean salad is unabated:

So good.

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going out for breakfast

One of the finest things about gardening is being able to step outside,

gratefully harvest something you have planted and nurtured and watched grow,

and have an organic meal on your plate an hour later.

This morning, it was more like 15 minutes.

The French pole beans are producing so well this year,

there are already a couple of pounds in the freezer.

Imagine how delicious they may be, when the garden is covered with snow.

I also pick a meals-worth of beans for non-gardening friends

who will be able to prepare and eat them right away, at their very best.

That is another of the finest things about gardening - 

being able to share something special with special people.

Come on by.

~~~~~

summer cooking and a giveaway

In this hot, muggy weather, I have to make an effort to have good food on hand, ready to eat in almost no time. Otherwise, I fear my healthy diet could deteriorate into nothing but gatorade and potato stix.

I try to cook two or more things at once - minimizing the amount of heat added to the kitchen, and making enough "ready to eat" food to last for several meals and snacks. This week, for example, I put a layer of bacon in a pyrex baking dish, covered it completely with chicken thighs, and added a layer of bacon on top. Then I took a picture:

Probably my first photograph of bacon.
I rarely buy it. Seemed like kind of an event.

I covered the dish for baking in a slow oven. And since the oven was going to be on, it was a good time to fetch in a great big gorgeous straightneck squash - the Very First Harvest from the Very Raised Bed! - slice it the long way and clean out the seeds and core, then put it in a second covered pyrex baking dish with a little water to gently cook the squash without drying it out.

I know why I photographed the squash.
It's beautiful.

All week I've been eating moist, flavorful chicken with little shreds of bacon, along with a variety of "sides"...yellow squash, farro, sauted mushrooms, etc. When I see really fresh mushrooms at the grocery store I buy a package, eat some raw and cook the rest all at once, to add to meals for several days.

I love mushrooms.
I really ought to grow them.
Do any readers grow their own mushrooms?
Please advise!

And, oh, did I mention my first yellow crescent beans of the season? Grown from seeds I saved from last years plants! I wish I had taken a "before" picture but these beans were lightly steamed and in this dish with a little bacony chicken less than 15 minutes after being carried in from the garden.

 Yum.

Of course, another way to cook without generating a lot of heat or using a lot of energy - and to cook in multiple-meal quantities if desired - is to use a crockpot or slow cooker. I find them pretty darned useful. And I think slow cookers are popular both within and outside the US - correct me if I'm wrong about that! - so that's why I'm going to do a little cookbook giveaway:

This is Stephanie O'Dea's first cookbook - I think she has written four now! - and you can Left-Click to embiggen her description below, or here's a link to the Amazon page. But since I know it is important to many people, I just want to point out right now that all the recipes in the book are Gluten Free.

Would you like to put your name in the hat for a shiny new copy of this book? Easy peasy! Leave a comment on this blog post telling me one thing you like to make in a slow cooker. (If you haven't used a slow cooker before, please share a tip for cooking multiple things in the oven, or any other food-related way to save energy - we can use more ideas!)

I will do a random drawing at noon on Monday, the 24th, and will post the winner's name on the blog that night. Please check back. The winner will have three days to contact me with mailing information; if I don't hear back by Thursday night, I will draw another name on Friday.

Anyone, anywhere is very welcome to enter.

Feel free to share the giveaway.

Good luck!

~~~~~

the perfect bean for me

Tipper at Blind Pig and the Acorn recently invited me to participate in a Sow True Seeds bean planting project.  It simply involves planting some lovely organic heirloom beans in my garden, taking some pictures and reporting back.
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By the way, I use the expression "my garden" loosely. Very loosely.  I live in a woodsy spot, and although the goats have been working very hard in recent years to create a clearing, I still spend a lot of time in April and May squinting up, looking for little gaps in the canopy that may allow enough light through to support vegetable plants.

Then I dig a little hole between the rocks, making a spot for for a few seeds and plants.  I try to do this without breaking another shovel handle.

So, it's a little spot here, and a little spot there. And everywhere there are countless insects and critters just rubbing their little feet and paws together in anticipation every time they see me out there with a shovel, a water jug, and a look of optimistic determination.
~~~

Naturally (because of that optimistic thing), when Tipper kindly invited me to join in on the bean project, I was delighted!

And Tipper found just exactly the right beans for me:

I opened the package at the letterbox, and started laughing while standing right there on the road.

I am still laughing!

My standards for seed have expanded. Now it's not just "organic" I want to see on the seed packet...it's organic and lazy!

And now that the sun is shining at last, I will be puttering away in my patch.  It was 34F when I got up this morning, but I hope for better things from now on.

Fingers crossed.

Except when I'm swatting at the clouds of blackflies.  Can't do that with crossed fingers.  It makes the blackflies laugh while they are biting me.
~~~

And here are a few of my first lazy beans, having a soak before planting, to give them a little headstart.

Because the way I garden, seeds and plants need every little bit of an advantage they can possibly get.  Good luck, little beans!

~~~

By the way, in case you aren't familiar with "greasy beans" - the name refers to the way the bean pods look shiny, due to a lack of the fuzz typical of other green beans. Here is a fuzzy bean:

And  one day I hope to have a greasy bean comparison shot!

~~~

There are apparently many, many, many varieties of greasy beans from the Appalachian region and thereabouts, where families have grown their own special favorites year after year.

For generations.

Sometimes, for hundreds of years.

If you google "greasy beans" it will be a fun adventure!

What are your favorite green beans?

Have you ever grown greasy beans?

If so, can you please send some bean-growing good thoughts my way?

My beans and I thank you!

~~~~~