Tag Archives: garden

Tomatoes, Tomahtoes

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Everything currently in my life revolves around tomatoes. Saturday night – salsa. Sunday – a quick stop at a small farmers’ market yielded a BIG BOX of tomatoes for a very small price. Upon further review, I got a deal. A few are bruised, all are ripe, several have marks that make them unaesthetic, but they’re all ripe and fairly solid. Tonight, I load up the crock pots with tomatoes and start the sauce process.

Last week I brought a quart bag of cherry and yellow pear tomatoes to work. I knew some of my coworkers would enjoy nibbling on them throughout the day. Heck, I enjoy nibbling on cherry tomatoes all day when I’m at home! Someone else had gotten there ahead of me with big tomatoes! Well, ’tis the season.

In our closet-lounge

In our closet-lounge

I took it in stride by arranging all of the lovely tomatoes on a platter. By the end of the day, all were gone.

That brings me to a piece of educational philosophy for you.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.

Wisdom is knowing not to serve it in a fruit salad.

And with that, I’ll go find my crock pots.

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Fall Market Days

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We’re buying a little less at the Farm Market these days. The freezers are filling up, and we’re getting low on containers, too. That’s usually a sign that I don’t need to prep quite so many peas or so much corn. In that case, we buy mainly what we’ll cook and eat in the next week.

Saturday's Take

Saturday’s Take

I had to set up the still life on the table with the canning books and jar lids because the kitchen counter was full. See below.

Salsa Time!

Salsa Time!

I convinced “Chuck” to help prep the tomatoes. The kitchen smelled of onions, tomatoes, and vinegar. Yum! The only drawback of last night’s salsa marathon is this: there are no chips in the house. We’ll take care of that later today with a quick grocery run.

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Pepper Sauce

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Or is it Peppa’ Sauce? It’s a Southern dish, a spicy hot vinegar that goes on everything and anything, if I’m to believe the comments. I found it when a friend had too many peppers. This was one suggested solution. I had just the right bottle, so I tried it myself.

Pepper Sauce!

Pepper Sauce!

It’s more formula than recipe. Measure enough vinegar to fill the bottle. Heat the vinegar to a simmer. While it’s heating, prep the peppers by slicing into the skins to enable the vinegar to best soak in and absorb the pepper flavor. Add whole peppercorns and a few cloves of garlic, minced. Pack the peppers into the bottle, and then pour in the warm vinegar. Voila!

If we don't like it, at least it look pretty.

If we don’t like it, at least it look pretty.

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Parsnips?

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The greens are certainly huge. I thought that meant I could harvest a few parsnips.

The greens look good.

The greens look good.

But seriously, folks, even the rabbit wanted nothing to do with these funky looking root vegetables.

Today's garden lesson:

Today’s garden lesson:

Straw bales might not be the best growing medium for parsnips.

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Back to School – Daisy Style

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Back in my regular classroom days, preparing for school meant something different. Here are a few examples.

  • Then: I’d browse the school supply ads and stock up for students that I knew couldn’t afford supplies. 
  • Now: I stock up on canning supplies and fresh, local foods so I can feed my family through the winter.
  • Then: I’d plan at least a week in advance, usually more, to spend time in my room setting it up for the students’ arrival. It would take several days.
  • Now: I’ll stop in this week to move my belongings from my old cubicle to my new one. It’ll take an hour, two at the max. Maybe Amigo will help.
  • Then: I’d get the calendar up to date, noting staff meetings and parent-teacher conferences and any other commitments outside of the regular hours.
  • Now: I’ll get the calendar up to date. This item is still necessary.
  • Then: I’d spend a few Saturdays at school preparing my room and catching up with coworkers.
  • Now: I spend Saturdays at the farmers’ market or in the kitchen working on stocking the pantry.

I also make a point of spending time outside. It can be as simple as weeding or watering the garden or reading a book on the deck, but getting out is an important ingredient in self-care. Back to school means back to my cubicle and much, much more. The process may look different on the surface, but underneath the hustle and bustle it’s the same: getting ready for a new group of kids and parents.

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So on we go – grief or no grief

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The flurry of posts and memorials for Robin William’s death has subsided a little. Life goes on and on.

Meanwhile, I keep going to the Farmers’ Markets. The act of going & the act of buying followed by the process of preparing and freezing or canning or cooking… Let’s start over before I create a huge run on sentence.

 

Wednesday's Market

Wednesday’s Market

The act of going to the market is therapeutic. I get to talk to people, ask questions, and interact positively.

The midweek market is a place filled with happy people! If you look closely at the photo, you’ll see two bunches of carrots. A vendor gave me the second bunch for free because I bought peas and beans from him. He was just being generous and nice – he didn’t know I had a pet rabbit at home waiting for fresh food like this.

No Parsley or Sage

No Parsley or Sage

Rosemary, Thyme, and Lemon Basil hang in the attic. They’ll hang from those hooks for at least two weeks until they’re dry or pretty darn close to it. Like gardening, hanging herbs for drying demonstrates a belief in the future. They won’t dry overnight.

Like gardening, drying my own herbs is a process, not a product. So on we go, growing  and harvesting and gathering what we’ll need for the future. The future looks good.

 

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Dagnabbit, get out of my garden, fuzzballs!

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Actual Text Messages:

Chuck: There’s a bunny in your garden right now. Want me to chase it away?

Daisy: Yes, please. Take a picture if you can.

Chuck strode out to the garden, phone camera in hand, and got a big surprise.

Chuck: It’s a regular wildlife sanctuary back there. 1 chipmunk, 1 mourning dove, 2 bunnies, small flock of blackbirds. Sorry, no pics.

No wonder I’m hardly getting any beans. Come on, critters. Leave the family vegetables alone!

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Plant a seed and wait.

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I found this packet when I was cleaning. By its shape and label, I knew I’d saved it from the dumpster when my school adopted a new science curriculum. I cleaned my classroom closets, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw away seeds. Seeds! They might grow! But what kind of seeds was in the packet?

Curiouser and curiouser.

Curiouser and curiouser.

I took a closer look at the label. Then I started doing the math. These seeds are very likely at least ten years old. They’re unlikely to germinate.

Can you read it?

Can you read it?  

Seeds, Bean Oriental Mung, 30g. Not the usual variety for my zone, but I planted them anyway. 

My Internet research told me that Oriental Mung beans are an heirloom variety, a non-hybrid bean. The sprouts are delicious in salads, and they’re popular in Europe and India. They don’t resemble any beans I’ve planted, so I am really curious. However, after many years in a classroom closet, I’m not counting on feeding the family on Mung beans despite the quantity in the bag.

I’ll let you know, readers. If something comes up (and doesn’t get eaten by the furry creatures), I’ll show you the results.

While we wait, fellow gardeners and other lovely readers, what kinds of experimental seeds have you planted? Old ones? New ones? Something not usually suited to your zone and climate? Add a comment and share.

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Saturday! In the Market!

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I bought a lot of peppers on Wednesday. Thursday was dill pickle day. I hope the pickles work out this time. I’m close to giving up on dills, at least from my recipe books. I might go to a commercial mix instead.

All set to pickle! And more!

All set to pickle! And more!

I had already brought in a meager harvest from the backyard.

Peppers (4 kinds), beans, and two more heads of garlic

Peppers (4 kinds), beans, and two more heads of garlic

I mentioned pickles earlier. I’d be a little, no, more than a little bit bummed if I didn’t have a way to use at least some of the fresh dill that’s growing in the backyard.

Dill, not popcorn.

Dill, not popcorn.

The brine didn’t smell the greatest, so I really don’t know if it worked. Fresh dill and fresh garlic – I hope it all came together. I will have to wait two weeks and then open a jar. Suspense, suspense.

Meanwhile, the Saturday market came by. We took time to listen to some good live music – and I do mean good quality. My fair city plays host to its second annual Mile of Music, and one of the headliners was performing, for free, at the downtown farmers’ market (Hillary Reynolds Band). A little bit down the road we saw one of the lesser known but still awesome bands (Holy Sheboygan) singing and dancing and making people smile. Then we slipped into a coffeehouse and listened to a group of brass players jamming, just jamming.

Oh, the market. We brought home all this – plus corn.

Saturday Market! Fresh food and fun.

Saturday Market! Fresh food and fun.

My parsnips are not quite ready yet, so we bought some. I also picked up beans, green and yellow, in honor of Packers preseason starting tonight. Packer beans!

There’s my work for the rest of the weekend. Watch Brewers and Packers and prep vegetables for freezing. Ah, summer in Wisconsin.

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‘Tis the season – for rhubarb, too

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I don’t remember where I read it. A gardening and cooking article stated that rhubarb is past its prime and not much good after July 4th.

My rhubarb didn’t get the message because it’s still growing.

I pulled a few pounds from the freezer to make into sauce. Then I harvested about another pound of the fresh stuff.

Rhubarb, ready for dicing

Rhubarb, ready for dicing

Here’s the fun part. After harvesting a big stack of fresh rhubarb, the remaining rhubarb looks like this.

Still Growing!

Still Growing!

We had rain yesterday, so the soil and the surrounding grass look much greener today. If this continues, we’ll have apple rhubarb cobbler, crisp, and maybe even rhubarb applesauce in the fall!

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