End of June Garden Update

Wow, lots to update, just on the garden.

1. Carrots. I've thinned them, but there are still a few that are clumping. I pulled one today (smallest of a large clump), and it was 4.5in long! They are growing well. (Somedays, you have to take a measuring tape with you to photograph stuff).

2. Tomatoes. Wow, they are growing great. I had to use bamboo stakes to extend the height of my tomato cages! The tallest, a Red Plum Variety, measures in at 6ft, 1 in. It's the tallest member of our family. The vines all are making green tomatoes, and I hope they will wait to ripen until I get back in town a week from Tuesday.

3.Beans. I think I am close to 1.7gallons of snap beans collected. That's a lot. Maybe I planted too many.

4. Summer Squash. The battle is on, and I am much more on the winning side than I was last year. That's right. Squash bugs. Or, at least what I am calling squash bugs. (I think there are about ten+ kinds of bugs that all do the same thing to squash vines - kill them. Last year, I lost all my vines after only a few squash. This year, I have already harvested that many squash (Did you see my harvest counter to the left?) and the vines are still healthy! I am going out 2-3 times per week, picking off all the bugs I can find, and then killing them with my foot. Spraying water laced with pepper and garlic helps deter them, and this week I started putting small containers with a mixture of 2 tbsp molasses, a splash of cider vinegar, and a pint of water out. It attracts some of them, and then they get stuck in the water. But, we have squash growing!

5. Berries. I have a few berry plants, and my wife and I have been enjoying the occasional fresh raspberry, blackberry, or strawberry. There's never enough at once to make anything, but they taste good. But, since they are young plants, the berries are all small...

6. Peppers. The bell pepper plants are slowly growing, and maybe starting to show signs of peppers. One of the cayenne pepper plants is amazing. It must have 50 baby peppers on it... yum, spicy goodness.

7. Herbs. Well, the herbs are growing. The large amount of basil I planted seems to be sprouting and doing well. Rosemary, parsley, oregano... They will go well with those tomatoes!

Well, there is bound to be a huge harvest soon. I'll keep you posted!

Bean Sprouts!

First off, I know that the number of posts this week has been higher than it has been in quite a while - things are in season and I am keeping busy. Secondly, I read an interesting article this afternoon. Less than 5% of the U.S.A.'s food economy is local based (defined as within 400 miles). Think about that - on average 95% of the food you consume has traveled more than 400 miles with preservatives and the farmers have to sell their crops for less so that they can keep the farms open. The thought is somewhat disturbing to me, I don't know about you. I love that the food I am blogging about, which may constitute ~25% or more of our diet (at least during the peak months this year) is local - usually within 50-100 miles. The food is fresher and, I think, tastier.

Anyways, the Dekalb Farmer's Market allows us to find some produce that is local - usually it is just something that says it is from 'Georgia'. They are great in that most everything is either labeled from the country it is from, or for U.S. produce, the state it was grown in.

My wife and I love making stir frys, as evidenced in the posts I made about snow peas. We almost always include bean sprouts. We can't really tell the difference between the fresh ones that we buy and the canned ones in the store. Where we can tell the difference is the price. A small can of bean sprouts costs about a dollar and a half. The market sells them for pretty cheap. Enough for a stir fry costs less than 50 cents. So, after a little research, I realized that I could can some bean sprouts (pressure can) for about 1/5 or less than the canned ones from the store. Secondly, the sprouts from the market almost always go bad after two days (at which point sometimes we haven't gotten to make our stir fry).

Well, we bought bean sprouts yesterday at the market. For $2.11, plus the price of the canning lids (<$2), I made 10 pints of bean sprouts (3.5 pounds of sprouts). I can't wait to try them. All that is in them is bean sprouts (packed full while raw), water (boiling when poured over), and 1/2 tsp of sea salt (recommended amount for green beans).

I'll post with a comment on how they taste soon. Hopefully, this weekend, I'll be able to post a garden update, with pictures. I really need to weed the garden.

Cherrypalooza

We went cherry picking. Mercier Orchards (mentioned with strawberries) has cherries. Correction, they have amazingly delicious addicting cherries. If you live in Atlanta, it is worth the drive. Go. Now. Quit reading this and go eat cherries that you pick there - but hurry - they are only doing a Upick on them this weekend. Then, you have to wait until next year, and dream of their delicious cherries that you didn't go pick this year.

They have a 'Golden White' or 'White Gold' - it is amazing and tastes nearly identical to Ranier Cherries. Raniers (and these are great) because they have an essence of cherry flavor without the strength of the normal cherry flavor.

OK, so we picked cherries (obviously). What do you do with nearly 10 pounds of cherries? (It was going to be about half that but then my wife admitted she was actually having fun, and that they were delicious, so she wanted more.)

1. Make Cherry Jam

2. Make Maraschino Cherries

3. Make a Cherry and Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

4. Make Cherry Muffins

The how-to and the break down.

First - buy a cherry pitter. This little kitchen gadget makes doing stuff with cherries quicker, easier, and therefore less stressful and more fun.

1. Make cherry jam following the directions in the Sure-Jell box (pink box for less sugar). Cherry Jam is delicious.

2. Maraschino cherries are difficult. NPR had an article about how to make them and recipes recently. Their recipe for the non-alcoholic ones is very similar to the recipe for 'Cherries in Syrup' from the home preserving book I have. So, I used their recipe, subbing 1/2 cup cherry juice (from running some cherries through a food mill) for the 1/2 cup grape juice they called for, and canned it using the directions for the normal cherry recipe (25 minutes in a boiling water bath). They look pretty, and we may try them tonight.

3. This is simply amazing. Easy too. Make one.

4. I made a half batch, which was still 14 muffins.

Cherry Muffins

4 c flour

1 c sugar (or Splenda)

2 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix these ingredients.

1 c melted butter or margarine

1 c milk

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 c cherries

Mix these in separate bowl.

Mix two bowls of ingredients and portion into muffin pans. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

I still have cherries left. I will eat some, probably freeze some, and we'll share some. It was a lot of fun, and these recipes are delicious ways to use cherries.

Remembering my mother's summer favorite - Yellow Squash Muffins

For those of you that read yesterday's post - I harvested my FIRST squash, a medium large size yellow squash. It is perfect, or rather was. :)

My mom was quite a chef and always loved getting fresh produce from the farm. When I was young, she modified some recipes and made yellow squash muffins. They remain one of my favorite muffins that I can easily make at home. Therefore, I made a small batch tonight.

Yellow Squash Muffins

2-3 medium-large sized yellow squash, grated with a cheese grater.

2 eggs (I got mine locally)

1 c melted butter/margarine

1 c sugar (or you can replace with Splenda)

3 c flour

1 tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Combine dry ingredients and make a 'well' in the center. Add squash and other wet ingredients. Mix until all dry ingredients are moist. Put into muffin pans that are either lined with paper liners or sprayed well with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes at 375F.

Eat.

Enjoy.

Repeat all summer.

Garden Harvest this Evening

I just picked a gallon of snap beans (mixture of green, yellow, and purple), half a gallon of snow peas (4th harvest), and the first yellow squash. I also pulled an onion, and I would venture to say that they are about half grown.

YUM!

My wife is making dinner, of which I am told beans are a key player. I still need to take the shells off of the snow peas, as these are a little past their prime, being as it is getting way too hot for them.

Coming soon: What to do when you pick 10 pounds of cherries at the orchard...