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?

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.

Hoop House Update - day 7

It's been a while since I have wrote about the happenings in the hoop house. For good reason, not a whole lot going on. Last year was our first year with it. We started the season eating lettuce as early as April and the last of the greens were devoured in December. What's left? Leeks.... as pictured above.
Empty compared to summer.

Lots of little carrots.

Next year the plan is to plant our second planting MUCH earlier.

We were a little behind this past fall.

Live & Learn..that is what gardening is all about!

Maine Man will be installing our old wood stove in the hoop house soon. So then I will officially be able to call it our green house. Looking forward to Spring planting, it will be here in no time!

PS. TO THE LOCALS...... I just signed up for a bee keeping class!!! If anyone is interested in joining me send me your e-mail address and I will give you more info.

2010 in Review

Last night I skimmed though the last year of posts. It was great to look back and reminisce 2010. In this digital era where photo albums are often lacking I am thankful that I document some of our journey here. The goal for 2011 is to post a picture everyday but I have yet to decide if that is doable so we will see. I made 2008's archives into a book and when I have some extra cash I will be ordering 2009 & 2010 through blog2print. The kids, family & friends love looking through it and it is a great back up of my blog if and when the internet ever crashes.



As I looked though the posts there were a few I thought would be worth sharing again before they were buried in the archives.

• In January I did a post on Grapenut pudding - I often retrieve this recipe from my archives. Good way to use up milk and eggs if you have an abundance and it is popular with the older population, Maine Man likes it too.

• I have been saving bacon fat since I wrote about making bird food. I plan to make it again soon.

• It is nice that I no longer have to purchase pie crust at the grocery store when I can make it at home for a fraction of the cost.

• Soon we will be planting leeks. I look forward to cooking up some more of this potato leek soup

• This year I plan to pickle some of the fiddleheads I forage. Can't wait to go out this Spring!

• If you ever visit Maine you must visit Acadia National Park. 36 years in Maine and this year was the first time I ever went there.

• We had an amazing growing season in 2010 thanks to the greenhouse that supplied us with produce from April to December. Next year we plan to plant earlier for winter greens.

• This morning I at some of this garlic scape pesto mixed with farm fresh eggs along with the BEST toast ever.

• Tonight I made up some yummy broccoli soup using my own chicken stock. I cannot even stand the thought of buying that stuff in the store as it can be made at home for pennies and there is no comparison in taste & quality. I usually have a stash in the freezer and even canned some this year but with soup season in full swing my stock is depleted. Now I have to plan ahead.

• This summer our fresh air child will be returning for 2 weeks instead of one. We can't wait to see her again.

• Lastly..... do you remember the duck that hatched out 26 ducklings? That is just crazy!

Looking forward to MANY more Adventures in 2011!

Hoop House Update

The outside gardens are all done producing for the season with the exception of a few onions & some late season potatoes. We did have several tomato plants but those were taken out by the first frost, this past Saturday night.
This is our first fall with the hoop house.
Maine Man has lots of vegetables growing, including...leeks, spinach, lettuce, turnips, beets, bok choy, and peppers. Not sure if the peppers will produce but they have flowers. We are still have a few left to harvest from the our initial crop. The tomato plants remain and continue to produce. Thankfully MM had it all closed up in anticipation of the frost.
I am anxious to see how much longer these tomato plants survive.
Not sure what we will attempt to grow through the winter. I am hoping at least for some fresh greens because I really do not care for store bought lettuce if I can help it.

Leeks

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

Chicken Stock

We eat chicken on average of once or twice a week. Since we have been raising our own chickens (the last 2-3 year) we've always froze most of them whole limiting our chicken variations to baked, rotisserie, or in the crock pot. After we eat and I pick whatever remaining chicken off I always place the remains (bones) in a ziploc in the freezer to eventually make up a chicken stock in my my crock pot. I fill my crock with a couple chicken carcasses, carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, peppercorns & fresh or dried herbs and let it simmer over night. I'd keep some in the fridge for immediate use and freeze the remaining broth. The last batch of chickens Maine Man processed I asked that he would part them out. I had been really craving some boneless BBQ chicken. He parted out all but 3-4 of 20. I was left with lots of bones so I made up a humongous batch and canned chicken stock for the FIRST time ever. Woooo hoooo. The things that excite me!



Last year was my first year with a pressure canner. Before I had only processed food that only required open water bath such as pickles & relish. Confessions......I did not even dare eat the first batch of beets that I processed via pressure canner. The pigs have enjoyed them and nobody has contracted botulism ;) I think I am ok this year ;) I have also used the pressure canner to put up green beans for a first. Looking forward to doing a taste test with some of the green beans I've frozen.


This week I am on vacation so I hope to get a few posts in as I have been a little slack lately. We have absolutely NO plans so the week will be spent putting up harvest, planting fall crops, getting the kids ready for school (haircuts, etc..)


Off to pick tomatoes in the hoop house and make some spaghetti sauce. Enjoy your week!

The Garden of Eatin'

Purple potatoes in bloom
These pictures were uploaded 7/7 so this is a peak at the hoop house from about 2 weeks ago. Currently we are eating cucumbers, yellow squash, green peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini from this garden.

Cukes Gone Wild! Not the ideal situation, they are taking over the hoop house. Next year Maine Man plans trim them to a single stem and trellis them as he did with the tomatoes.

Sweet potatoes (part of the Ivy family)

I keep saying I am going to try fried green tomatoes but I have yet to. Does anyone like eating fried green tomatoes or ever try making green tomato salsa?

I am picking a handful of ripe tomatoes daily. The plan is to make some spaghetti sauce real soon!

The side garden by the chicken pen. Today was the first bean picking/eating of the season.

The pumpkin & squash garden. Here are some pics of the gardens 1 month ago. The changes are impressive.

Corn, potatoes, herbs & Muscovies

Fruits of our Labor

Well, veggies....it just didn't sound right. What I like most about this time of year is all the availability of produce. Three times a day we benefit from the fruits of our labor! Going to an event? Need to put a quick dish together. Nothing like going out foraging in the hoop house & gardens to make a quick, colorful, nutritious delightful addition for a BBQ.

Scenes from the Hoop House

We've been eating peas for a week
This afternoon we ate our first zucchini

A baby cucumber

It is amazing how much this hoop house has increased our growing season

We will be eating yellow squash by the end of the week

Peppers are plentiful

Peas are too!