A Thanksgiving Table

I don't know what got into him....but Will spent a good part of Thanksgiving morning out in the carport...arranging all the fall vegetables onto a table. The table sagged with bounty (literally. It was quite beautiful, but I knew that, as cold as it was that day, folks would only see it in passing on their way to the door! No matter. It is indeed a work of art.
And one more Thanksgiving note: We wanted to use as much garden produce as possible for our Thanksgiving dinner. So, after all other menu items had been decided, Will got a wild hair and decided to make 'gumbo z'herbes'. This is a traditional louisiana gumbo made with 7 greens. Actually, his was made with 10 greens (!) A thing of beauty, but I must say, it has been many years since I have washed each and every leaf pulled from an entire BATHTUB of greens!
That is all for now. Will has interesting post-frost garden pics on his camera, but I haven't made it into that store yet....

Well, it's November

Down here, that means it's cool at night, sometimes very cool....and you wear a jacket to work or a sweater and then it heats up during the day and you forget that it's fall. Then the sun goes down. And, at night, the grass is wet and cold. And the air is dry. Some of the crops love this; the lettuce and other greens, the broccoli. But you think about the fall tomatoes, and the peppers, the basil and other things that will go with the first frost...which will be soon, maybe. You never know. It's kind of sad, in it's way. I see the flowers. When you walk near the zinnias they explode with butterflies. It cannot last.
I went out in the dark tonight with a big flashlight...trudged across the yard and into the garden to pick basil. Will was making a pizza and this was all he asked of me...it was little enough.
I clipped the middle out of one big plant and the scent rose and I stopped and put it to my nose. I remember this spring, when I picked the first basil and I thought...I haven't smelled this smell in 6 or 7 months, maybe more. It was heaven. So I tried to savor it out there in the dark.

Today, Will planted the garlic. It will over-winter, to be harvested in late spring. We will try to plant strawberries next week. Same thing. If you're not with it in november, you simply don't have strawberries in the spring. Wish us luck. We are overwhelmed with other things, and sometimes our plans don't come to fruition (so to speak). But the berries are a must. We have a 2-year-old grand-daughter and I believe it is imperative that she wander into the garden next spring to gorge on strawberries.

At least I know that these little greens will be with us, frost and freezes and everything, until we throw our hands up and plow them under next spring.

I would like to HAVE a Butternut Squash - But THEN what?

We had a lovely new customer today - a Montessori teacher...she has read Barbara Kingsolver's book (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle....in case you haven't seen this reference before on this blog - buy it, read it). She is searching for food, organically grown if possible - within 100 miles of where she lives (that's kind of the premise of the book). Like many people, she wants to eat seasonally, but there are seasonal vegetables she really hasn't cooked before. For her, and for all of you out there who come by to see what's up on the farm, here is your first Winter Squash Recipe. It's not the most artful scanning known to man, but it will do, and there will be more, hopefully tomorrow.
I think this will be helpful. And, if any of our customers out there have a recipe they would like to share, PLEASE DO!. PS; to our customer on Saturday, who was buying summer squash to do the Thanksgiving 'spinach and bread crumbs and anise' etc. stuffed squash...please send me the recipe and I'll post it...a pic would be fabulous, but if you can't that's ok too).

The Squash Artist

so...I asked Will to arrange the squash so I could take a picture, so I could send an update to our email list. You know how it is...once you have yellow squash and zucchini, you have more and more and more of it every day until it's like a bad dream. And it doesn't 'put up' well'. So. One must alert the customers, so that this beautiful food doesn't go to waste. I asked Will, because he is the family 'Master of Vegetable Arrangements'. And, in my opinion, this is proof.

Potato Witty

yes. A Cat who knows his place... amongst the sweet potatoes....

Green For Fall

you know...usually, August comes and the grass on the side of the road turns brown..the trees are turning from green to brown, Things just look tired, that's all. They've grown and now they're ready to give it up for fall and then for winter.
Not this year. Things are unusually green for fall. Beautiful, but very, very green.
We've had lots of rain, which is also unusual this time of year...its kept us out of the field for the past couple of weeks. Well, not completely out, but less tilling etc. than we'd like. Things are looking up for the fall vegetables, although the pumpkins are marginal. Hints of viruses and disease brought on by too much wet....we'll have to wait and see. Same with the winter squash. Again, we'll have to see. Will has been yanking a plant or two out of the ground every couple of days. When one plant has a virus, you have to remove it, or it will infect the other plants. That's just the way it is...a little dry weather would go a long way at this point.
Here we have the 'cats on a fence' phenomena...And here, we have the first very beautiful Acorn Squash.
SO; tonight's embarrassingly fabulous menu: FRIED chicken. FRIED Sweet Potato Chips; FRIED slices of Acorn Squash. Yes. A truly Southern dinner. Everything FRIED!!!!
I think we are feeling the effects of many weeks with no sugar of any kind and no processed carbs. (!) The sweet potato chips were the highlight, I must say. There is a company down here named 'ZAPPS'. It's a chips thing. They make all manner of wonderful potato chips spiced with things we love: cajun stuff and vinegar and like that. Up until a year ago, you could always get ZAPPS Sweet Potato Chips. But they don't make them anymore. And we really wanted them. So we made our own. Better than ZAPPS. And there's a whole field of sweet potatoes out there. yea.

Two pictures on this Saturday night...

First, we have this;
Two tons of chicken manure from Mississippi + one very old FarmAll tractor plowing it under.
and you get: really pretty dirt. You must admit, that is a glorious color...

and here is picture #2:
In the 'yes, we have bananas' category. How cool. I still don't understand why the flower is not open, yet the fruit has set. Obviously, I know nothing about bananas. (!) In this part of the country, lots of people have banana plants (or trees) and they freeze back every year. And not many folks we know have ever actually HAD bananas. But Will has been taking care of this plant, cutting back the frozen stalks and wrapping the trunk, for a couple of years now. I read that once a stalk produces, it will not produce again, Only the new growth will produce. We were both surprised to look up and see this. It is a first for us. We only planted this for decorative purposes, not to actually GET any bananas! surprise!

A Dead Picnic Table and the Rebirth of the Zinnias

Ah, me. I could tell you stories about this picnic table. It was from 'the farm'. the original 'farm'. And that was long ago and far away. Our daughter's outdoor sixth birthday party. Countless fish fries and all-garden summer feasts. It was built, I think, by a guy named Scott. It has moved as we have moved...many times. And it has been out by the barn, with tall, tall grass growing up through it this summer. Too heavy to move, even to mow under. And Will says it's over. So, as I respect his opinion on the death of useful things, I can be sad but not too sad. True, it doesn't look like junk. But Will says it's junk. So there you have it.And then, apropos to the name of this very website, we have this fall's 'accidental zinnias'. They were a row in the herb beds. They were mowed down. They re-seeded. I asked that Will please not plow the little babies under. He respected my wishes. thank you. And now, we have flowers in the middle of the sad late year herbs beds. Beautiful, no? We also have the 'not-accidental' zinnias, planted a couple of weeks ago, and coming along for the fall. not nearly as impressive. But, patience, patience.

Can you believe this?

tropical depression to hurricane in FOURTEEN HOURS!

just goes to show
you can't take your eyes off the tropics for a minute this time of year.
We're crossing our fingers about the rainfall.
the garden can only take so much, and we remember the heartbreaking 'remnants of Allison' back in late June of whatever year that was...more than 23 inches of rain here in three days. 350 tomato and pepper plants, loaded with fruit...drowned. dead as the proverbial doornail. It was very sad. We won't get that much, but we stand to get more than we want on the garden. Can't do anything about it...we'll just have to wait and see.

http://www.weatherunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200709_n0z.html?extraprod=n0z#a_topad

Fall Crops...

In case you're wondering what's actually happening with the crops...
we have, at the moment:
Sweet Potato mayhem: 500 little plants that have done well and will be harvested relatively soon.
Keep in mind that, as a customer, you should probably get a crate of them and keep them to 'cure' into the winter.Fall tomatoes and peppers are in the field and coming along. It will be a while yet, but know they are doing well. We'll let you know....
The 'Winter Squash' are doing quite well, and setting fruit. These are Acorn and Butternut squashes. They don't come in as quickly as summer squash, but store very well.Summer squash (yellow, zucchini), and cucumbers are up in the flat. Even though they aren't yet in the field, they'll produce in a big hurry once they're set out.

And then there are the pumpkins...pie pumpkins and jack-o-lantern pumpkins. Lots of blooms but no fruit set as of yet. I haven't talked to Will about this, but I think the nights are not cool enough yet...not to worry...there will be pumpkins. For those of you who have little ones who want to pick a pumpkin for Halloween, I don't think it will be a problem, but here we are at this moment:
You can see the buds and the spent bloom...
For those of you who groove on the beginnings of the garden, you can see things are on their way. We will be planting rows of beans (red, green, yellow) this week. And lettuces and spinach of course. Any questions? drthais@cox.net. Ask them here.
In the meantime, we have honey from the hives available, and if you want a 'first fishing experience' for the kids, weekend pond fishing is available. Let us know if you want details about that!

Definitely NOT a catfish!

So..Will and I have been trying to catch catfish out of the pond. Last weekend we thought we'd just haul in a few and have them in the fridge for the week. Well...come to find out, our catfish are WAY smarter than that. I'm here to tell you that last Sunday, they actually HID from us...and this is true.
Every night, we feed them. They come up by the dozens and swarm on the surface of the pond, gobbling up all the food. The perch don't even stand a chance. We have to haul off and sling fish food way out for the perch. Well. once the catfish figured out we were actually FISHING for them, they didn't come to the dock at all. They were nowhere. We were puzzled. I even caught Will out in the night with a flashlight on the other side of the pond, kind of looking around in the water. It was very curious.
So, this evening we gave it another go. He left the fountain on, I think for cover. And when I got out there, he was being very quiet and fishing really deep off the end of the dock. I joined in, not having much hope. He caught a really big catfish. I was impressed, and hopeful. We were sitting there staring at our corks, and he was telling me...'you know, with catfish, you have to be patient" ok, patience. I can do that. Then he says..."look. see? (and he's getting a bite) "just let him take it. let him pull it way under." Hey! another one! And he pulls it to the surface. But. Uh.
It's not a catfish. It's the ugliest nastiest snapping turtle you've ever seen! I mean, EEwww!
He was hooked pretty good. Will kind of drags him over to the bank. 'I need a shovel" he says. A shovel? By the time I get to the barn and back, I won't even get a picture~! wait!. So I run in to get the camera. And the closest implement at hand is a big hoe. So I brought him that. But the turtle is in a vile mood by now, snapping and whatnot. And he breaks free of the hook and sinks under the dock. So there you have it. He's down there. Somewhere. I figure there's 1000 fish in that pond, so he's eatin' pretty well. Oh, and p.s.///after the first catfish was caught, the rest of them disappeared. Will had to wait until after a rainstorm and threw out a big load of fish food. Then he had them all confused and caught two more. But there are 200 of them in that pond. And it seems like all 200 come to dinner every evening. So we'll have to come up with a fairly clever strategy about this.

well...we tried

but sometimes, you just can't catch a break. The hay got baled, but minutes later, the skies opened up. Will tried mightily to get it into the barn and he did...but during and after a massive rain storm. Oh well...at least it is for mulch, and not for feed, right>?


Look closely and you can see the hay in the rain - and the baling equipment in the rain. I couldn't get closer because, well, what good would it do to get the camera wet too?

HAY!...almost

It's been way too long since the hay was cut...somehow we didn't connect with our hay guy in the spring, and so we waited for him all summer to no avail. We were down to four bales, and that's a pitiful situation. Can't mulch much of anything with just four bales...
So we finally started searching around for someone else, anyone at all to please please cut our field and bale the hay. One problem we have is that we use the old-fashioned square bales (which are actually rectangles) and not very many people bale those anymore. Most hay is used for cows, and folks just have those giant round bales made, and leave one for the cows to munch on. The giant bales are of no use to us...can't haul em around for mulching. So we finally found a guy (I think it was four guys) to cut the hay and that was yesterday, A truly beautiful sight. Then we waited for them to come back and 'fluff' it with the 'fork-thing' attachment on the back of their tractor. But they didn't show up to do that...hmmm....and then this morning we waited again. And we were worried. Because it was supposed to rain. And that would be bad. We haven't had rain all month, but you would know that when we finally have the hay cut we'd be threatened with rain. Well. Will made a phone call, and found out they don't plan to bale it until TUESDAY. (It's Sunday right now). Tuesday! And yep. It's raining. But it could all work out, you know. We're kind of counting on that. Not raining much, then stopping, then allowing the hay to dry. then baling, right?

the Last Gasp

..and here you have it. A bucket of peppers and a bucket of peppers. Sweet or hot. Pick your choice, as they say in New Orleans. The End. With 'assistance' (aka: hired help, but we are very grateful), all has been pulled from the ground - in the field, in the flowerbeds. All tomatoes and their stakes, peppers, eggplants. There just comes a time, and that's all there is to it.

I have no pictures of the bare field and the fence lines, but - to us, anyway, it is a beautiful sight.
All I have is this, a picture of the last two buckets of whatever there was.

Even though it cannot be posted here, I have in my mind the flats out by the greenhouse- a sturdy army of pumpkins and winter squash- and tomatoes and peppers not as hardy but they'll do for now. A sign of what is to come.

All that remains is some plowing and a trip to Mississippi for chicken **** and we're on our way to a fall garden.

In the meantime, one more honey-spinning exercise: this time, assistance provided by Mark, age 5, who wanted to see what this was all about: Mark watches 'Mr. Will' uncap the honey: Here, he checks out the spinner, and helps to align the racks to receive the frames.
Then he prepares to help hold down the machine while Will spins furiously. I sent him (and his mother, Maria) home with a jar of honey. They are having Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches for dinner.

Brutal Honesty and the Death of the Garden - Part I

It would be easy, you know, to keep this blog full of posts that show an orderly, beautiful garden; one that never has any weeds, any bugs, any hint of down time. any sadness. But life isn't like that and gardens aren't either. There are two times during the year (in this part of the world, anyway) when everything is a mess. period. Although it's time to start over, we haven't done anything about that yet. We can go out and gather a little of this and that, but only because we know where it is. Nobody else would venture into the field, because from a distance (and even up close, really), it looks like a wasteland.There are a few vegetables yet to be had. But pulling them up or mowing them down and plowing it all under requires a particular state of mind. Not to mention the time and the effort and enough dry days to get the tractor into the field. So what is out there that can give us a week or a few days of summer vegetables before we say goodbye? a few eggplants, maybe some tomatoes, peppers that would go longer if we left them.

Still, as you wade into the morass...you come upon a few surprisingly vigorous things. The okra will be with us as long as we allow, or until we just get tired of cutting it every day and a half. The crazy fence, strung last summer exclusively for loofas, is the heart of the remainders. Planted with cucumbers and birdhouse gourds, and laced with many, many more loofas (which cannot be killed and will come up and thrive no matter what you do)...this fence will stand lush with vines well into the fall...and the hot peppers - almost lost in the masses of old tomato plants and fallen -over bell peppers; they too will go on and on...unless we just tear up the row. And then there are large expanses of things that used to be, like the watermelons. Sale today. $2. The very end of the selling of the summer produce. And the rows of lovely sunflowers. They're long gone from the field, but held onto the fenceline until a week ago. I write this post not to depress people...it's depressing enough for me as it is! I just thought a little honesty was in order. If you follow the garden, you follow it through it's entire life. One big thrust of activity - pulling, plowing, tilling...and the hope of the coming season begins. And that's not as hard as it may appear. On the other hand, my personal shame, The Late Summer Decline of the Herb Beds is indeed enormously intimidating. And that post is next. In the meantime, I can always think back just a couple of months, and remember how glorious it has been.

It's OK For Vegetables To Get Wet -

-but the market tent has definitely seen better days. A few drops were falling as a customer buys a a melon and some cucumbers...I saw the new mower in the yard - parked. Will is over there weed-eating around the beehives. I thought (briefly) that maybe i should drive the mower under the carport. But no. I've been using the leaf blower on it, but it has dirt that won't come off with the blower. And besides, yesterday Will got it stuck in the pond. So there's mud too. So I thought, well, let a little rain wash it off, and I'll get over there with a towel, and just wipe it down. ok. Here's another one for the Department of 'HA-HA'! I mean, the sky didn't look particularly threatening, and i didn't hear any thunder (although I think the dogs and cats did, who wanted in the house in the worst way), and it really looked like a little summer afternoon rain, nothing more. This is where the 'ha ha' comes in. The little drops turned into big drops, then sheets of rain, then more rain, then Will and I were both soaking wet and in the carport. I swear the sun was out in the west, and the clouds were not much to speak of. But this went on for, oh, maybe an hour and a half! pouring rain. Maybe two inches, I don't know. (we forgot to empty the rain gauge, so you can only judge by random buckets and things out in the yard). Here is picture of how unassuming it looked from the front porch:See? you can hardly even see those little fat drops. The market tent was filling up with water. What this means is, big pools of rain are collecting on all four sides, in big pockets on the roof of the tent. Somebody has to get out there with a broom and heave-ho, dumping the water off of each corner from underneath. Either that, or the whole thing may collapse. I ran out there and did the honors. It looked like it was letting up. But the more I pushed with the broom, the heavier the rain got. Then there was a clap of thunder. Not me, I thought. I'm not going down this way, holding a broom under the market tent and getting struck by lightening. I ran back to the house and ran dripping through the house out the other end to the carport. Just to let everyone know, the animals know how to spend their time during a storm: Of course, the black cat has to go into the workshop, because the red cat won't tolerate it's presence. Back to the storm: In the driveway, I find Will vigorously washing the car in the pouring rain! He had done the mower, and moved on to the vehicles. ok. Well, lots of excellent rinsing going on. The tent, meanwhile, is filling up with water again. I got sick to death of running out there and pushing upwards with the broom. By this time, the roof of the tent was ripping along the seams as I pushed the water out. oh well. The tent has had a long and happy life. Its still good for keeping out the sun, right? ...At long last, the rain stopped. I believe (and this from the radar on the tv) the storm just formed over us and stayed there; a red blob - for more than an hour. I wasn't too worried about the melons and vegetables. But they were now all layed on on soaked and nasty tablecloths, and the scale and money box and other stuff were in a big pile covered with very wet dishrags. yuk. So i gathered clean towels and rags and trudged out to wipe down each squash, every tomato. Rolled the melons aside one by one, pushing the tablecloth aside. You have to clean up. I mean, you don't want the customers to think you're a slob now, do you? In my opinion, vegetables look even more beautiful after a good rain. We were out sitting with our coffee this morning, talking about getting the front field cut for hay. It's a tricky business. When the hay gets baled, you better be darned sure you have a couple of days of dry weather coming up...or all you get is moldy bales that have to sit in the field. maybe forever. good thing the guy didn't show up this morning.