Gardening

Last Saturday I worked the Master Gardener booth at the Healthy Living Fest at Quarry Lakes Regional Park.  The day was cold and very windy, and the skies were overcast until I left after 1 pm. I worked with two other Master Gardeners.  We answered gardening questions and handed out sunflower seeds and pots (with planting instructions) to the kids who visited the booth. We also gave out handouts to gardeners who had questions about pests or diseases, or may have questions in the future.  A great site is the University of California Davis IPM site, where answers can be found to many gardening questions.  Here's the link:  UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program

This is an invaluable resource. Master Gardeners strive to give the least toxic methods to deal with gardening and landscape problems, and refer to this site to help the public.

I was also happy to hear so many people in the process of converting their water-demanding lawns to drought tolerant landscapes.  Alameda County Master Gardeners has a great list on drought tolerant plants that do well in the East Bay.  We are also in the process of creating a demonstration garden at Quarry Lakes Regional Park.   This demonstration garden will allow the user to view drought tolerant plants and learn what will grow well, once established,  in this area with very little water.

Roasted Artichokes, Spring Garlic, and Other Seasonal Delights

Last night I roasted some of our homegrown artichokes in the oven. I halved the artichokes, drizzled a bit of olive oil over them, and sprinkled them with sea salt and pepper. I roasted them until the hearts were done, and maybe even a bit longer than I should have. The edges were quite charred and crisp, but we enjoyed them for dinner dipped into some mayonnaise. It was a new taste for us!

This weekend I harvested our first spring garlic and cooked it in a stir fry with snow peas, onions, and fava beans. Delicious.

The garden has been producing something for most meals--mainly fava beans, even though I planted only one row last winter, but also snow peas and Yugoslavian red lettuce.  Plenty of good spring produce.

Beautiful Spring Weather

Well, Spring has sprung, and we are busy keeping up with the weeds, and transplanting some of the vegetables that I started inside. Also set out a couple of tomato transplants too. The garlic is growing well, and the fava beans seem very happy.  The lettuce has taken off, and we even have six or seven asparagus shoots--they don't seem to get ready at the same time, so sometimes we split one for a side dish at dinner--it's kind of sad that there's just one at a time, but they are tender and oh so fresh.

Rain and More Rain

I got caught in the rain earlier today when I had to get my groceries from the store to my car. I shopped at a different grocery store today and parked my car further away. When I was done checking out, I got to the exit door where a line was forming. Outside, it was raining very heavily, but I decided it looked like it would not let up. I rushed with the cart and my groceries towards my car, but by the time I had unloaded everything, my coat and my jeans were soaked through.    I waited a bit before driving off, and when I got home, I ran for the front door, leaving the groceries in the car. I took a warm bath, hung up my soaked rain jacket and my jeans, hoping they would dry as they were just above the small heat register in the bathroom.

I thought Spring was here and we were going to be done with the rains!   But the forecast for northern California shows rain every day on into next weekend.  Of course, that could change, and it is great for the garden, but it makes it impossible to weed and plant in the garden. The grass was just mowed last week and it is already several inches long.  Ah, well.

I started some seeds indoors, and within five days my Cherokee Purple tomatoes and my Rainbow Chard sprouted. Today the Cucumbers also sprouted. Nothing from the pepper seeds yet.  I'll keep watch.

Wisteria and More Fruit Tree Pruning

Yesterday we worked more on the pruning.  With 37 fruit trees, there is a lot of pruning required at this time of year.  The apples in front are done, but the two in the back remain.  The large, old wisteria plant received quite a pruning back yesterday. It had become ungainly. For years it was shared with the neighbors, although the plant is rooted on this side.  Then, awhile back, the neighbors decided they did not want it on their side, so we've been trying to train it along the fence, but it just has not been cooperating well. Maybe because it was on the other side (primarily) for so many years.

Jonathan worked at pruning the right side of the wisteria, and then after this rain we will work on the left side.  It would be nice if it still created some privacy along with its beautiful blooms.

Later, Jon worked on the avocado tree. We get lots of Bacon avocados this time of year, but the tree itself has grown far too tall, so he cut it back a little.

During the week I worked on the plum tree in front, the apples, the grapes, and started on the apricot tree. I'm a little insecure about the Blenheim apricot--turns out it is a full sized tree and growing very well, but I think from what I've read that I should prune it back quite a bit. The resource I'm reading says to prune back last year's branches.  How do I figure out which are last year's though. I guess I should tie markers onto the fruiting branches or something this year. It doesn't appear that you can tell anything from the spurs on the branches...

RIP Little Connie

Our little araucana chicken, Little Connie, died the other day.  I think I'll always have the vivid memory of my husband walking in the side door with a dead chicken in his arms.  I think he wasn't sure what to do.  Little Connie had to be at least 8-10 years old, as we got her from someone on Craig's List when she was 2-3 years old, at least... She laid the bluish-green eggs, until the last few years when she was really just hanging out, and as new chicken ranchers, we are not brave enough to cull our flock by killing, so we've let the older hens enjoy a retirement here in Niles.

Little Connie always reminded me of my great aunt in her later years.  They both had a very stiff-legged walk, seemed to be suffering from arthritis, but maintained a very formal, proper sort of dignity.  They also both became skinnier as they aged.

RIP Little Connie...

More Niles Pie Company Pies

We've been tasting lots of Carolyn's creations over the past several weeks, and we're developing a list of favorites, especially the Chocolate Pecan Puddle:

For Thanksgiving, we ordered a slew of pies, but especially enjoyed the Bourbon Pumpkin Pie:

As the pie aged by a day or two the bourbon flavor came through much stronger, it seemed!

Niles Pie Company

Carolyn has started a new company in Niles (Fremont, CA)--Niles Pie Company.  The first pies were available for pickup last night at our local grocery store, Mr. Mikey's.  We ordered a scrumptious pear-almond galette, and it was just wonderful! Congratulations to Carolyn for starting a wonderful company.  Go to the website and place an order, pay by paypal or credit card and pick up on Friday locally at Mr. Mikey's Country Store!

Pies and Tarts, oh my...

We have too much fruit around here!  We've been making jam, tarts, pies, cobblers, dehydrating French prune plums, and sharing the extra produce.  Today I picked some rhubarb, as our plants have gone a bit wild.  The pink pearl apples, as well as the Cox's orange pippin apples are falling off the trees. We also still have some peaches. So I just finished baking two desserts. First, a rhubarb-apple crumble-topped pie, and then a peach tart with meyer lemon and cinnamon sugar.

Citrus Bud Mite

It is strange that such a tiny pest can cause such great distortions in fruit, but the Citrus Bud Mite (see UC Davis Integrated Pest Management site on Citrus Bud Mite).

I picked this Eureka lemon from our tree last week. The pictures show how "alien" the fruit can look:

The fruit almost looks like a hand with very large fingers.

Red Cabbage

We harvested the last red cabbage from the winter planting.  It weighed 7 lbs after the large outer leaves were removed!  Wow! That's the largest one I've ever grown.  Now, what to do with the red cabbage: sweet and sour cabbage?  cabbage slaw, again?  It does seem that although the red cabbages are prettier in the garden they are not as versatile as green cabbages. I don't think they make sauerkraut out of red cabbage, do they?

Cauliflower

In the above photo, the cauliflower looks kind of small, but it is actually a typical grocery-store-sized one. I was surprised we had this perfect cauliflower growing in our winter vegetable garden.  I thought that a green cabbage just had some ungainly, wild leaves, and that the head wasn't forming correctly.  I peeked inside the leaves yesterday and discovered this full, 8-inch cauliflower growing happily inside.  Today we picked the head and we'll eat it tonight, probably steamed with a little butter and salt.

The leaves are so healthy looking with very little cabbage moth infestation.  We can use the giant leaves in a stir fry too, or feed them to the chickens.

Here's another view of the cauliflower in the garden, just before cutting:

We harvested our first red cabbage

We harvested our first red cabbage last weekend and planned on making both coleslaw and some sweet and sour cabbage with it.  We got the cabbages in kind of late this winter, so the harvest time is later than usual and the cabbages are a bit smaller than in years past.

Our Little Grapefruit Tree

Our little grapefruit tree has had 2 fruits so far--one each year.  This photo was taken in March, and shows the large grapefruit on the teeny tree.  The variety is Rio Red and the tree seems quite healthy despite the fact that it has not grown too much yet. Perhaps I should have not let it fruit and concentrated on growth these first few years.

The tree has been a magnet for snails the last two months, and here in California the rains have continued.  Normally by now the rains would have stopped, but the wetness is creating a terrific environment for snails and slugs. The fruit is much yellower now,  almost ready to pick.

 

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Fried Sage Leaves & Feta Cheese

Along with fresh-squeezed orange juice from our tree, we enjoyed these scrambled eggs (from our hens) with fried sage leaves (Berggarten sage--a cultivar used in cooking with large leaves) and feta cheese. It was awfully good.  I'm starting to get a bit addicted to fried sage leaves--we also had them the other night, served on top of some lemon roasted chicken.

Here's a photo of breakfast:

Rhubarb-Strawberry Custard Pie with Meringue

Last night I made this pie, a variation from a recipe in Joy of Cooking.  The only problem with it is that our rhubarb is a green variety with only a bit of red on the stalks, so that when mixed into the custard the greenish-yellow color is a bit off-putting. That's why I added some strawberries to this, to help with the color.  Last time I made this pie, it was all-rhubarb (the Victoria rhubarb we grow in our garden), and the color unfortunately has led to our daughter refusing to eat rhubarb.  I'm hoping to some day win her back.

Here's what the pie looked like:

Pasta with Spring Garlic, Favas, and Meyer Lemon Sauce

This is a slight variation of a recipe by Annie Sommerville in her cookbook,  Fields of Greens. I cooked up some fettucini in a large pot.  In a separate pan I sizzled spring garlic in olive oil, added frozen sliced peppers from Trader Joe's, as well as some fava beans from our garden.  Later I added the zest and juice from one meyer lemon as well as pepper, salt, and minced Italian pasley.  After draining the pasta, I added it to the hot skillet with the vegetables, stirred things around a bit, and then served the pasta in a large bowl, topped with shredded parmesan cheese and some fresh chive blossoms, also from our garden.  Voila!


Here is what it looked like:

Favas!

The fava beans have grown to be huge, and the time has come to pull out the plants and to finally get my summer garden planted. I've been busy making a kind of fava hummus by preparing the favas and mushing them well, but not too much, adding garlic and olive oil and then enjoying this spread on some good Italian bread.

I recently saw a recipe that uses a meyer lemon sauce and fava beans  and your choice of other spring vegetables--such as asparagus-- mixed into fettucine pasta.  Sounds delicious and I think I'll try this this weekend.

Pink Pearl Apple Blossoms

Our pink pearl apple tree has been abundantly full of blossoms this year...more than in previous years, it seems.  I think that the apple tree has been enjoying our very wet spring.

Artichoke, Plum, Peach

The photo above shows part of our artichoke plant, young peach tree, crabapple, and in the background the blooing French prune plum trees.