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

Garlic Harvest

Maine Man & the kids pulled the garlic last week.

Before anyone asks I have no idea what variety it is....organization is not my best quality ;)

What I do know is that it is a mix of soft & hard neck varieties.

It has been drying in the barn. I have given some away and I cook with it frequently.

Hard neck garlics do not have a long shelf life so my plan is to try and freeze a bit, make some pesto, and I may even attempt to pickle some. Flower Girl LOVES pickled garlic. Has anyone ever pickled garlic before? Any suggestions for alternate storage?

Cute little story about pickled garlic....last Christmas I bought some pickled garlic for FG. That night she ate a handful. The next day I noticed she had peculiar breath. It seemed to persist for days. I felt it was endocrine in nature. Ha, the nurse in me! I was convinced she was in DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) or something and even went as far as checking her blood sugar with a glucometer I had. It was normal of course. That afternoon while talking to my BF about the situation, she chuckled and reminded me of all the garlic she'd consumed in the days prior to.

LOL, sometimes knowing more is not always better.

Summer Time

Within minutes Flower Girl went from being terrified

to petrified

To having the TIME of her Life!

Country Boy enjoyed himself the ENTIRE ride!

You might be a farm chick if.......

You might be a farm chick if..........you have a cow named Sir Loin that loves to bury his face in the sand pile.



You might be a farm chick if.......... when someone honks the horn at 6 am you know for sure it is not just to say hello instead you surge with adrenalin and run out knowing that one of your animals must be in the road.



You might be a farm chick if..........your daughter asks your boy if the electric fence is on he proceeds to tell her it is off. Then you must console child for 40 minutes thereafter. (then kick some serious butt ;))



You might be a farm chick if..........you have a chicken plucker that is out on borrow more than in your possession.


You might be a farm chick if..........friends & family say coming to your house is like going on a field trip, always a different adventure.


You might be a farm chick if..........your kids play with matches & knives on a regular basis and you are ok with it.


You might be a farm chick if..........you use facebook as a way of selling livestock.


You might be a farm chick if...........all your visitors greet you with an arm full of egg cartons.


You might be a farm chick if...........your friends are all out partying it up and you are home slaving over a hot pressure canner late into the night drinking diet pepsi in hopes to get a second wind so you can finish putting food up by sunrise.


(all real scenarios here on the farm)

Newest Additions

HELP....... Need some names folks! (1 male, 1 female)

If you have been a long time reader you know we've had some naughty pigs named Obama & McCain who are looooong gone.

We also had pigs called Ham & Pumpkin. Ham delivered the first piggies here on the farm last summer. (hot looking picture of Maine Man on that link too)

We raised 2 of her piglets, one for our family and one for a friend. They were called Barbie & Q. Barbie went to market a while back but Q just went last week with a hanging weight of 340 lbs. As it has been SUPER warm here in Maine as of lately MM did not want to attempt processing the meat. He has processed the last few pigs and even posted about it here. Instead we gave half to a friend and they paid the processing fees, we both made out!

That pig processing post of MM's is the 2nd most visited post on this blog. You know what that #1 most visited post on this blog? MM's "how to build a chicken plucker ".

That man writes 2 posts in 3 years and I post weekly. Something is wrong with this picture ;)

Upcoming posts (of his) will too be popular if he ever gets a chance to make a wind turbine which he has talked of and/or build a hot water solar tank. If anyone can do it, he CAN!

K, folks I'm counting on you here. My friend that owns one of these piggies wants to name them H1 & N1 but I just can't do it.

Suggestions?

Garlic Scape Pesto

Confessions....it took me a year or two to figure out what a garlic scape was.

Not sure why it was so trivial.
Someone on facebook mentioned garlic scape pesto. I was interested so I googled it. Found a recipe here.
Then I made it in no time. SIMPLE & DELICIOUS!

*Pick it

*Wash it

*Chop it

*Blend it

Add olive oil & Parmesan cheese

*Eat it

*Freeze it

1/2 lb garlic scapes
1 cup olive oil
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese


BLEND & SERVE

Good in scrambled eggs, omelettes, quiche, over pasta, home fries, on toast, pizza......
For long term storage I froze in ice cube trays then placed cubes in a ziploc.

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.