-curry lentil cakes (I should probably share this recipe with you) to fill up the hamburger buns we have
-something with green beans and potatoes from the garden… but I’m all out of feta
-something with the 3 small red tomatoes growing in the front yard
-black bean/zucchini/corn tacos, except I don’t have any of the newly picked and shelled black beans cooked up yet
-buttermilk corn chive popovers, but what to have with them? (if only my children thought tomato salad was delicious)

-uhhhhhh… your thoughts?

A Bean!

This weekend we noticed that a couple early beans are a ready. There are lots of blossoms, so we will be rolling in beans shortly. The one pictured is a provider bush bean. Looking at our pole beans we will have a bunch soon.

Rhubarb peeking out from the leaf mulch.

Did we mention that rhubarb is loved around our house?

We have some friends with a giant patch of rhubarb. Every time we see them they tell us to come over and cut as much as we can. For a while we will keep doing that, but hopefully we won’t have to in a few years.

When we moved in five years ago we transplanted  a couple rhubarb plants to our backyard, but they never did well. I think there wasn’t enough sun, plus they’re choked out by the oregano. Earlier this month we transplanted some more, but this time to the front yard. We planted them right when it was really hot, and a few days later the leaves we all brown and dead. Bummer.

But then a week later Bridgit tells me that a few are sprouting tiny new stalks and leaves. Now, a couple weeks more and they are all looking great!

If you’ve got rhubarb ripe for the picking, try your favorite rhubarb-strawberry pie, but swap out the strawberries for some mulberries (they grow like crazy in out town), and cut down on the sugar just a smidge. And if you’re feeling wild, add a quarter teaspoon ginger. Or go simple and stew together rhubarb, mulberries, a pinch of salt, some ginger and sugar to taste with the juice of a lemon. Cook it up until it thickens, let it cool and spread it on some toast. What a way to wake up!

Onions, carrots, and potatoes in the foreground.

This past weekend we got a bunch of work done in the annex garden. We had nice weather and spent about six hours over two days. We got everything weeded. between the corn and bean plants, and the second planting of carrots.

The most work was hilling the rows of potatoes. I had to keep alternating between hilling and weeding carrots.

Bridgit in the Garlic

We also noticed the presence some pests. We had a couple of plants picked clean from Potato Bugs so we spent some time doing a sweep and kill operation. Also our beans were getting hit by deer. We had delayed getting the fishing line fence up, but it is up now.

We did a bit of planting and got some broccoli and carrots in. I also cut scapes of most of the garlic and made some pesto out of them.

Our peas are growing tall and we can’t wait to start eating snap peas!

The other seedlings (mainly tomatoes and eggplant) are getting huge, we need to up-pot them before the time comes to put them in the ground in a few weeks.

I also understand that some will be given to the animals. I see it as a tithe, but I am not willing to loose it all.

What we have tried so far:

• Fishing Line: WORKS. Last year to keep deer out of the garden we used fishing line strung at about waist height around the garden. The idea is that deer will jump over a fence, but if they can’t see it they get easily spooked and go the other way. So far it seems to have worked.
• Plant prickly plants: MAYBE WORKS. We attempted the Three Sisters method for some of our corn. It worked OK, but was a pain to plant and maintain. The beans overwhelmed the corn dragging the stalks down, and it was difficult to move around the squash. Unbeknownst to me raccoon don’t like prickly things (like corn and squash) and will avoid them. Looking back the Three Sisters plantings of corn we not hit by raccoons like the corn by it’s self.
• Relocation: WORKS. After our first year of serious gardening we noticed that tomatoes and eggplant did better at our house than my parents. We have yet to have a tomato bug, and my parents have tons. So we planted them all at our house. It worked great. This isn’t an option for everyone, but has worked for us.

What I am thinking changing this year:

• Surround the corn with barbed wire…I mean beans and squash. I am fine with squash roaming in the corn, especially if it is playing a role as a defender.
• Marigolds as a bug deterrent.

The other threat to the garden are weeds, but that is another post for another time.

But frankly, vegetables are not in their minds right now. Right now, the focus is Christmas. Today we light the third advent candle, and… it’s PINK! Gaudete! Joyous Sunday! The time is near. Or near-er, anyway. Last year was the first year Eli’s head wrapped around the idea of the advent candles. Every day for a week he wanted us to light a second candle. We finally thought to say, “We can’t light the second candle until we see it lit at church.” We could practically see a little light bulb switch on: this is going to take a while. And it did, and Christmas came, and we celebrated the birth of Jesus, and we tried to do more nice things to bring Him into the world just a little more. And we ate a lot of food. And we opened presents. And we enjoyed time with family and friends. And a few days later, we opened the seed catalog and asked what we should plant this year. “PEAS!” Let the anticipation begin.

This combined with the Potatoes, carrots, beets, onions and beans that have started to become ready means we are in for a good harvest this year!