Spring in the garden and a visit to a small farm

This year, the garden got off to a slow start this year as we had a cool, often wet, spring.  Because of my studies, I didn't have time to start plants from seed as I usually do.  However, there are many more varieties of heirloom plants to choose from in local nurseries and by mail order than a few years ago.  Although the harvests won't be as diverse as I'd like, I was able to get a variety of tomato, peppers, squash, eggplant, basil and cucumber seedlings.   I also directly planted seeds for beans of all kinds, carrots, and greens. The last few years have provided enough garlic to last will into the winter months.  However, the mild winter disagreed with my fall-planted garlic, so, sadly, I will not have a large garlic harvest later this summer for pesto making.  I will be lucky to get half a dozen bulbs and will miss making a garlic braid to hang in my kitchen.  Each year's weather brings different successes and failures which is why I try to plant a variety each year - if one crop fails, hopefully, there will be plenty of something else. (We still have a couple of butternut squash left from the more than 20 from last year's harvest.)  Gardening certainly makes me appreciate how much work goes into producing our food.

Here are some photos of the garden during the last week of this spring.  Now that the summer heat is on, things have taken off, so I'll post some updates again soon.

Two of the garden beds with tomatoes, basil, and beans; a fig tree, and squash blossoms

Some of the flowers and ornamental plants tucked among the vegetable beds

Recently, we had a real treat in attending an open house of a friend and his wife.  They have about 7 acres, and have been setting up a small farm.  The chickens have the nicest coop I've ever seen with a cupola topped with a weather vane and a solar powered door to allow them easy access to the yard.  There are two of the cutest baby goats that enjoy the run of the paddock and climb on anything they can, plus beehives and guinea hens.  There is a puppy that is a working dog in training to protect them all, along with a few border collies (both theirs and ones they foster before they find a forever homes) for keeping things rounded up.  A vegetable garden is in its first year with plans for a field of cutting flowers for the next.  It was such a relaxing day spent in the fresh air and a bonfire to end the evening.  We went home relaxed while the dogs were tuckered out from running in the fields.  It has me dreaming of having a bit more land of our own.

Resources:
Seeds and fig trees (planted 2 years ago) - http://www.rareseeds.com/
Seedlings:  http://www.territorialseed.com/ and  http://www.rareseeds.com/

2015 in review

Annual year end review workbook 

I can't believe that 2015 is over.  It feels as though it went by in a whirlwind.  In my annual tradition, I am ending the year with a look back to acknowledge the year's accomplishments and evaluate the misses and then set intentions for the new year.  I find that the busyness of life means I don't always get to savor some of the accomplishments as they happen or don't take enough time to take a look at what didn't work and why so I can make corrections or be at peace with letting go.  I know this doesn't work for everyone, but taking just a few hours for this makes me feel as though I am setting myself up to make the most of the coming year.  This process helps me put things into perspective and it's interesting and rewarding to see what I was able to accomplish and how differently some things turned out from what I imagined.

Last year's word was embodiment and I dug deeper into a few topics and projects that I had been dabbling in for awhile to see where they might lead.  I enjoyed my explorations which are leading to more changes ahead and my word for 2016 which is transformation.  This is just the beginning of the changes to come, and I look forward to sharing them with you.

Here are a few highlights from 2015:

Volunteering at the DC Food Bank 
My son and I usually volunteer at the DC Food Book once a month and we were able to make 8 times last year.

1.  Sorting food into bins  2.  View into the warehouse

Road trip to an ancient forest

A day trip to Beall Woods State Park in Illinois which is a forested area that has not been logged or altered and remains today pretty much as it was hundreds of years ago. 

Fall Craft Cornucopia with Hyattsville Aging in Place
A great day of demonstrations and teaching crafts along with some of my neighbors who are also crafters and artists.  I enjoyed teaching the participants how to make collaged gift tags.

Starting in the upper left:  1.  weaving demo, 2.  felting wool, 3.  some of the seniors group working on their needlework and sharing stories, 4.  my table with supplies for making tags, 5.  upcycled old t-shirt, 6.  origami instruction, 7.  wool for felting projects, 8.  origami examples, 9.  reclaimed t-shirts cut into strips ready for weaving, 10.  weaving on t-shirt strips on a stick loom, 11.  t-shirt weaving examples

Garden adventures
Lots of hard work in the garden yielded abundant harvests and filled our freezer for the winter.

Art exhibition at the Popcorn Gallery
Two pieces of my mixed media collage were chosen for an exhibition using reclaimed materials.

Thank you for reading and wishing you all the best in 2016!


Resources:
Unravelling the Year Ahead
Zen Habits: The Practice of Year-end Reflection

Sunflowers in the garden

Vegetable eye candy - harvest photos from a suburban organic garden

Zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, mint (citrus and pineapple), basil, blackberries, raspberries, string beans (wax, purple, green, Asian long)

It's mid-summer and the garden is in full swing.  I gather a little something from the garden almost every day - sometimes for the evening's dinner and sometimes to stockpile for later in the week for preserving.  I thought I would share a few of the still life photos of what I've been harvesting.

Italian sweet pepper, string beans (wax, purple, green, Asian long), zucchini, cucumber, eggplant, tomatoes and herbs (thyme, tarragon, basil and mint)

Patty pan squash, Asian melon, tomatoes, string beans (wax purple, green, Asian long), ground cherries and basil

Zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, raspberries, string beans (wax, purple, green, Asian long) and sweet pepper

Thanks for reading!

Look for daily postings of the harvest and garden progress on instagram.

Garlic harvest

Garlic dried and braided for storage

My first garlic braid!  Maybe it's not the neatest first attempt, but it was harder than I thought it would be to twist those dry stalks into a braid.  It's now decorating the kitchen hanging from the pot rack within easy reach when I'm cooking.

The garlic had a rough time during our exceptionally cold winter this year so the bulbs were on the small side. However, they are still more flavorful and spicy than the standard commercial varieties.  I'm looking forward to trying my luck at growing some more next year,  Hopefully the weather will  be more favorable and the harvest will be larger.

No matter if you get your garlic from your garden or the grocery store, here's an easy way to peel lots of it in a hurry, like when you are making a fresh batch of pesto.  It really works!  I find that the larger the bowls, the easier it is.

Thanks for reading!

Garlic after harvest ready to dry

Daily harvest

The harvest is shifting from mostly green to rainbow colors and becoming more plentiful as more things ripen in the garden.  Here is a day's harvest from a few days ago:

• Rhubarb
• Zucchini
• Thai basil
• Asian long beans
• Asian broad beans
• Beans (wax, green and purple)
• Yellow and red plum tomatoes
• Some of the last of the raspberries

Thanks for reading!

Today's harvest - the first of the 2014 garden

I'm very excited to be able to share the first still life of a daily harvest from my 2014 garden.  I'm so amazed at how beautiful just picked produce can be. Right now there are mostly greens and lettuces, but soon there will be more to share.  This harvest is:  butter lettuce, mesclun, spinach, bunching onions, oregano and tarragon along with a ragusa rose and some peonies.

Thanks for reading!

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Today's tiny harvest - late fall carrots

Carrots

It's getting dark so early these days that it's hard to get good photos before it gets completely dark for the evening.  Today's tiny harvest was a couple of large carrots that were planted late summer for a pot of soup for tonight's dinner and a watering can full of water to water the houseplants from the rain barrel.  The carrots have taken on a rich orange color after a few frosts and are now be nicely sweet. Even though the harvests are down to some root vegetables, cabbage and hearty winter greens like kale and Swiss chard, it's still nice to have a little something fresh from the garden. 

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like these harvest posts:

Today's harvest 1

Today's harvest 2

Today's harvest 3