SEATTLE REVERTS TO TYPICAL WEATHER

06 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving, Cooking & Eating, Food, Harvest, Pickling, Vegetable garden, Weather

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brandied peaches, fruit vinegars, infusing vinegar, peach preserves, pickling, plum butter, seattle rain, shiro plum, tomaotes

Today’s weather

AFTER A FANTASTIC SUMMER THAT BEGAN IN MAY we are easing back into typical northwest weather. Last night we had quite a light show with 5,600+ lightning strikes! Very unusual for this part of the country. No complaints really. Day after day of sunshine and temperatures of 80°+ has produced some wonderful results in the vegetable garden and loads of pears, beans, tomatoes and more.

A few rainy day photos:

Jaune Flamée tomatoes in the rain

Fucschia “Dark Eyes”

AUGUST WAS REPLETE WITH CANNING AND PRESERVING PROJECTS. I accepted 22 pounds of Shiro plums from my mom’s neighbor.

Shiro plums

Those 22 pounds yielded plum butter, 12 cups of plum juice; half of that became plum jelly, and

Plum infused white wine vinegar; one of two versions

We took a trip to north east Washington to our favorite little lake and on the return home stopped in Okonogan at Smallwood Farms where I bought a box of beautiful, just ripe and sweet Diamond Princess peaches.

Peach infused vinegar

Peach Basil preserves & brandied peaches

I have had exceptional pole and bush bean crops this year; lots to put in the freezer and plenty to make pickled beans too. Nice heads of cabbage. My late spring planting of carrots came up nicely and then quickly eaten by little critters. My second planting last month is looking promising The cucumbers were doing well until we left them on their own for a week when they succumbed to the heat. But I did manage to get a big jar of my favorite refrigerator pickles. Now it’s time to tackle the pears coming on.

HARVEST BASKET CHALLENGE

23 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by backyardnotes in Cooking & Eating, Food, Harvest, Summer!, Vegetable garden

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Arugula, cooking, garlic scapes, harvest, herbs, sage, string beans, Summer squash, Walla Walla Onions, winter savory, zucchini

Golden sage, winter savory, Walla Walla sweet onions, string bean mix, French breakfast radishes, arugula, zucchini costata, and a yellow summer squash (under the beans).

WHAT’S READY TO HAVEST IN YOUR GARDEN TODAY?

STRING BEAN, RADISH & WALLA WALLA ONION SALAD: BLANCH the beans until tender crisp, plunge into ice water, drain and pat dry; combine with sliced Walla Walla onion and quartered radishes and toss with a vinaigrette of white wine vinegar, mustard, chopped savory, a chiffonade of golden sage leaves and olive oil. Serve over lettuce if desired.

The dressed salad

CUT YELLOW SQUASH OR ZUCCHINI INTO THIN STRIPS. Coarsely chop the arugula. Choose a long, spaghetti type pasta. Heat up some olive oil in a large skillet. Flavor the oil with sliced garlic scapes, then remove them. Cook pasta to al dente; heat the olive oil over medium high heat and toss in the summer squash and a pinch of red pepper flakes and salt to taste. Cook until just tender. Drain the pasta (leave it a bit on the wet side and reserve a little of the cooking water) and transfer to a large bowl, top with the summer squash, add the arugula and toss gently to combine; add a little of the reserved water if desired to make the dish a little saucy. Add some grated peccorino romano over the top and you have a quick dinner!

Arugula, stringozzi and yellow summer squash.

ZUCCHINI CARPACCIO. THINLY (paper thin) slice the zucchini lengthwise with a mandoline; arrange slices on a large plate, slightly overlapping the slices. Sprinkle with coarse salt, a few grinds of pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Garnish with a little chopped arugula or whole leaves and some shavings of parmesan cheese. This makes a great first course. Who would think zucchini could be so good?

IT’S DRYING TIME FOR HERBS

21 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by backyardnotes in Food, Harvest, Herbs

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drying herbs, harvesting herbs, herbal honey, herbs, lavender, oregano, sage, thyme

IN THE COOL OF THE DAY, just as the sun was peeking over the tree tops and the morning’s dew had dried, I cut bunches of sage (berggarten & golden), oregano, thyme, and some of the first lavender to bloom, for drying. As far as timing goes most of the herbs have not yet bloomed and I was right on the money in picking on Wednesday–yesterday we had rain!

For large quantities I prefer to hang in small bunches until dry. I have tried the microwave method but think that there is a loss of potency and the leaves seem a little more crispy.

After cleaning and removing dead stems, leaves, etc. I made small bunches, tied them with string and hung them to dry in my laundry room. It’s the buffer between the main part of the house and the garage; it remains cool, dark and has good air circulation with some occasional warmth from the dryer. Bunches of lemon balm were well dried in about five days.

After drying I gently strip leaves from stems and lightly crush/crumble them and store in jars. Since I cannot possibly grow every herb and spice I like to use, some have to be purchased; I save the emptied jars, remove the labels and use again for my own storage.

I made sure to leave some stalks to flower for the honeybees. Someone around here is bound to have some nice herbal honey. And a little later in the summer will have a second crop to use.

NATURE LOVES A CURVE

20 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by backyardnotes in Flowers, Foliage, Food, Fun in the Garden, Growing, Inspriation, Nature

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bean stalk, chicory flower, curves, Gardening, garlic, garlic scapes, nature, petals, plants, poppies, seedpod, shapes

The sinuous curl of a garlic scape

The roll of pollen laden stamens in a chicory flower

The twist of a bean stalk seeking support

The twist of a bean stalk reaching for the sky

The recurving petals of lilium citronella

The soft wave of a poppy’s petal and oval of a honeybee’s body. The roundness of a seedpod and its spoked top

The rolling, cradle of leaves that surround and protect a cauliflower

TOMATO SEED BANDIT

13 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by backyardnotes in Food, Growing, Legacy plants, Seeds & Seed Starting, Tomatoes

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Berkley Tye Dye tomato, nature, plants, seed starting, tomato seedlings, tomato thieves, tomatoes

TOMATO SEED UPDATE! ONE DAY, during the last week of April my daughter came to work in the greenhouse and the SEEDS HAD MIRACULOUSLY APPEARED! Even though it was quite late in the game to be starting tomato seeds she planted them anyway and delivered 12 plants (about 6 inches tall) to me on Sunday. One of each variety. HURRAY! My faith in humanity has been restored!

THERE WILL BE NO TOMATO STARTS HERE THIS YEAR. I’m sad about it too. My oldest daughter works in a college greenhouse part-time while finishing her degree program. This year I offered to loan my tomato seeds to the grow program in return for starts. I have saved seeds from many varieties since the early nineties and subsequent generations of them. I save seed from the varieties that have been tasty and performed well in the temperamental and unpredictable northwest summers. I have saved seed from tomatoes bought at farmer’s markets, produce stands, plants I have bought and grown, etc., and most were heirloom types.

ALAS, no starts because some light-fingered jerk on the grounds crew lifted the entire bag of seeds from the potting bench before some of them could be planted and the seeds and starts returned to me. A theft like that is baffling to me. COULDN’T YOU JUST ASK FOR SOME OF THE SEEDS?!

HOWEVER, this gives me a chance to visit Christianson’s Nursery, one of my favorite nurseries. Located among glorious fields of tulips in the Skagit Valley, they have a great selection of tomato plants. One of the plants I bought last year was a variety new to me: Berkley Tye-dye Heart. A big beefstake type with a red and green center. So good, I saved seed!