Lots of greens captured by Grace

A week ago today I climbed up into the loft of the barn thinking it would be great to capture a few pictures of our gardens.  I had no idea what would follow this picture taking escapade.  The above garden was mostly planted by Maine Man And Country Boy, we call it our vine garden. (squash, pumpkins, and cukes)

The garden above and below are the two I planted and tended so far. Behind the garden is portable shelter MM made for the meat birds.


MM did most of the gardening until last year when his cup runneth over .  So this is only my second year growing gardens  independently and I’ve been damn proud of my thriving beds of greens.  We have harvested so far this season: dill, cilantro, spinach, kale, bok choy, beet greens, radish,  lettuce, garlic, and zucchini.





For pest control I’ve been fairly lucky so far covering my affected crops with row crop covers temporarily.  I swear by that method!

This is the last picture I took of the boys out back haying before the ladder kicked out on me as I was coming down from the loft.  Tried to catch myself on a beam, hung for a bit shredding the labrum and whatever else in my right shoulder.  So needless to say I have not applied make-up in a week, can’t wear anything that doesn’t have an elastic waist, have mastered doing dishes with my left hand, can’t put my hair up, and Tuesday cannot come quick enough as I have an appointment with a surgeon….my how life changes in an instant!

 

 

WTH was I thinking.....day 6 of 30

 

 
24  more posts to go….WTH was I thinking? Clearly I was not!  lol
I started everything I needed from seed this year but I still have a burning desire to go  shopping at the greenhouse.  I don’t really need anything, maybe I’ll pick up a few flowers. 2 of the 3 gardens are mostly planted as of today.  MM says he doesn’t garden any more but he kindly tilled up the gardens and he put up some fencing, he also is not shy about telling me what I am doing incorrectly…..whatever!  He says I don’t take direction well.  He has a good point but I am who I am.  MM and my boy will plant the vine (cukes, squash, pumpkins and such) garden this week.  What I don’t grow I will pick up at the farmer’s market.  I will start going regularly as of this week.  I would much rather put $20 or more in to local farmers pockets then the grocery stores.  Not to mention the taste and I am sure the nutrition is far superior.  It’s a good goal for all, we are the peeps that need to create change!

 

Sneak Peek of the Gardens

What I like most about these gorgeous chives is that they came up from last years garden.

Lots of beet greens with pink chunks of plump goodness growing below.

Hard neck & Soft neck garlic that Maine Man planted last fall.

Harvest will be in July

Flower Girl passing off a pea to one of her buddies.

Below is MM’s little princess Callie

Above is the strawberry beds that MM threatens to till in every year so I now maintain them. I think this year will be our most abundant harvest.

The greenhouse is thriving. MM has spent endless hours tending the gardens. We’ve been eating fresh goodness since the end of April starting with lettuce (several kinds) followed by beet greens, spinach, bok choy, swiss chard, broccoli and turnip.

The picture below is of a Kiwi bush. It has yet to bear fruit. Any other fellow Mainers ever grown these before? If so I’d love to hear if it will survive and/or thrive in this climate….it looks good so far! We planted them last Spring.

One of the smaller gardens. Each year MM tills up a little more ground.

Pictured below is turnip grown in the greenhouse. I have several more stored in the shed refrigerator. We usually serve it mashed or roasted. We would love to hear how other’s best like to eat or serve turnip….must have recipes anyone?

Green Goodness

Our first pickings of Asparagus EVER!
I must say fresh asparagus has moved right up to one of my favorites.



We haven't had large quantities but enough for a side dish.

Besides the asparagus soup I made and wrote about a few posts back we have mostly enjoyed it baked lightly. Drizzle with olive oil, a dash of sea salt, sprinkled with cheese baked for several minutes.
Simply Amazing!





Other garden goods we are eating so far this season....bok choy, spinach, beet greens, chives, lots of lettuce, and rhubarb.

Scenes from the Green House

All Maine Man's hard work is paying off.

These pictures were taken over a week ago.

This week we ate our first greens of the season, 2 weeks later then last year.

The kids and I only planted 2 flats and MM has done the rest.

He's the green thumb in this family! You grow it and I'll cook it is my motto ;)
SO thankful for all the fresh greens. All winter I have been buying them at the local natural food store and it is not cheap.....something like $9.99 a pound....yikes!
Bok Choy is one of MM's favorite. The best way I like it is in an Asian Salad but we do eat it often is toss salads.
Would love to hear your favorite way of eating it!

Peas

Garlic....notice the chicken is on the outside of the fence. They've been free ranging since last fall but they are soon to be cooped up. They are VERY destructive to the gardens. MM has a a small garden started so far but he has it fenced in.

Growing Mushrooms in Maine

I have been wanting to grow mushrooms for a couple years now since seeing Shitake mushrooms at the Common Ground Fair. A vendor had logs displayed and a never ending line-up of people paying good money for fried Shitake mushrooms.

Looking back in my archives I even have a picture of them on a post I did in Oct 09'.If your a fellow Mainer you may find that post useful as it displays local mushrooms and where they are found. The last picture on that post is of the Shitake's growing on the logs.

I bought the above plugs at a local market for $30 for 200 they came from Oyster Creek Mushroom Company. We planted approximated 3/4 of them and gave the rest away to a friend.

We made it a family event... melted down some paraffin wax. You are suppose to use a double boiler, but who follows directions...really?

Maine Man gathered Oak logs approx 4 ft long and directions said 4- 8 inches in diameter, 1 tree was sacrificed in the making of this project. Drilled the holes w/ a 5/16th bit every 8" evenly spaced around the log. Then the we all took turns pounding the inoculated dowels in the holes, making them flush with the log. Lasly we sealed the plugs with some melted wax. Easy & Fun project to do with the kids! They stayed up an hour past their bedtime helping out. Now the logs will be stacked in a shady area in a square rick or log cabin formation. We should be able to harvest twice a year, Spring & Fall. I will be sure to update our progress on growing mushrooms in the future.

Putting up Tomatoes

Maine Man grew most of the tomatoes in the hoop house this year. Because of that we were one of the first to have ripe tomatoes and we may be one of the last. That can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

Good: Lots of tomatoes to eat & giveaway throughout the extended season.

Bad: I am still have vegetables screaming "hey lady you better hurry up and process me or I'll rot".

I have made fresh salsa, lots of spaghetti sauce, soup, and tomato sauce. Today I plan to make some more sauce but I think I will can it instead of freeze as we are running out of space.

Fortunately I have a handy dandy Sauce Master that I bought last year at Johnny's.

It is slick....wash the tomatoes and cut the large ones and throw them in (stems, peelings & all)

Definitely one of my better kitchen gadget investments. Especially come this time of year.

It is amazing to see how many tomatoes it takes to make this sauce.

While we are talking tomatoes has anyone ever made Piccalilli?

I fear that we are going to have a lots of green tomatoes left so I am looking for ways to use some up. I've also read you can wrap them up in newspaper and store them in a cool place.

What do you with your green tomatoes?

Wordless Weekend

Digless Potatoes

8.5 bushels this season! If I calculated correctly that is approximately 425lbs. We planted a few different types, even purple potatoes. I made french fries out of them the other day, the kids LOVED them! Maine Man used a different planting method this year. Instead of burying the spuds he applied a heavy layer of moist mulch on top and the potatoes grew up through. The mulch hay was recycled from the 40 something bales that served as insulation for our foundation of our old farmhouse this past winter. MM was pleased with his "digless potatoes" and plans to use this method again next year.


On a completely different note I have a question for my fellow bloggers. Have any of you ever used google AdSense on your blog or any other advertisement? Would love to hear others input on this!

Making Cream Style Corn & Shepard's Pie

Last Christmas Maine Man bought me this wooden corn cutter & creamer.

This week he put it to use as we currently have an abundance of corn.

You can do the same work with a knife but I have a slight obsession with kitchen gadgets. Among other things.......magazines, books, bags, to name a few ;)

Cream Style Corn

• 12 ears of corn with kernels and juice removed. (If you do not have a cutter use a knife to cut and run the back part of the knife down the cobs to get some of the juice out)
• melt 1/3 cup of butter in a pan
• add corn & enough water to make a gravy consistency
• add 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper
• bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes
• simmer for 20 minutes = THE BEST CREAM-STYLE CORN YOU HAVE EVER EATEN....no joke!

I even had enough to freeze a couple containers.....we will be loving this in the dead of winter!

The next night I cooked it up and added it to what MM said it truly was the "best Shepard's Pie ever." That meant a lot because he as you know is my biggest critic!

Not sure how you all cook Shepard's Pie but this is how I do it. The bottom layer I usually use a combination of cream style corn & whole kernel but in this case I made my own. For the next layer I sauteed some onions and cooked up some deer hamburg. The final layer is mashed potatoes (fresh red potatoes dug from the garden). On top a dab of butter with a handful of shredded cheese. Bake @ 400 for 30minutes.

Random Tid Bits of Our Life

No real agenda for this posts just some random photos from the last time I downloaded my camera.

Ate the first spaghetti squash of the season.


Split it, remove seeds, cut in half lengthwise, cook until tender (approx 350 degrees for 45 min)
Remove from oven, stir up with fork, add butter, s & p, and shredded cheese
Heat a little longer then serve.....DELISH!

Would LOVE to hear how others cook theirs up!!


Canning is a whole lot of work but well worth the effort!

Kids have been working on a cabin... gotta love their paint job

Damn tomato hornworms! I joked about hatching one on facebook and my gardening
friends were less then impressed....lol

BEST tomato harvest yet! I have made a couple different batches of spaghetti sauce, cream of tomato soup and Maine Man made some tasty salsa.

BEST pepper season as well.

Confessions: I did not know until about 1 years ago that red peppers are just green peppers that are on the plant longer.

I didn't know you could grow Bay leaves in Maine either....until I saw a plant at the farmer's market last summer. I bought the last one. I kept it inside throughout the winter and this summer it has been thriving in the hoop house.

We've been eating lots of corn on the cob.

Hubbard squash