Beet that

Processing beets. Why not? I had a basket of beets sitting around in cold storage and not keeping all that well. Not spoiled, just getting a bit wrinkly and soft, as apples sometimes do. K and I did some much-needed cleanup around here this morning, then I gathered my courage in both hands and started peeling beets. Yes, it DOES look like a massacre in the kitchen when you prep more than one beet - magenta smears everywhere.

I used a kitchen mandolin to slice a few and put them in my ancient, handmedown dehydrator. Chopped a few more and put them in a ziploc bag to freeze. My husband's been making himself smoothies for the last couple of months, and actually buying beet powder as one ingredient. He can use little frozen beet cubes, now. I'm not entirely sure what to do with dried beet slices, but I will figure it out as I go along. The instruction pamphlet for the dehydrator actually mentions beets (along with damnear every other fruit and vegetable) so I'm not the first person to do it.

Now I'm just sitting still on the sofa while a tabby naps next to me. There is sun. Good times.

Strawberry breakfast. Oh, I'm suffering so much ; D

Yes, I keep kale, lettuce, and herbs in water like a bouquet until I need them. Works slightly better than refrigeration. This looks like so much kale but after I cooked it it was only three modest servings.

Precipitation appreciation

Wow. I've been sitting on the porch, listening to a soft rain and the hum of the beehive. (the bees live inside the porch pillar)

The seeds and transplants are in the garden, except for a few fall crops that get planted later. The flowers my daughter bought are planted in the flowerbed. The new asparagus roots are, hopefully, all ready to sprout.

Spring garden

This weekend my husband and I were looking at the garden, a little disappointed with how small the (usually fast-growing) plants are. Then we had two rather nice, warm days, Sunday and Monday. BOOM, when I went out this morning the little guys seemed like they had doubled in size in just that time! I need to do some weeding. If carrots get overtaken by weeds earl-on, it seems like they really get stunted by it.

But I should also paint. hmmm.

I was slightly disappointed when I opened the pkg I ordered and found these seed packets for cucumbers and purple carrots. I quickly realized, though, that they are better; plain, non-glossy paper that can go in the compost pile when I'm done, no unnecessary picture, minimal ink used. I'm so used to fancy photos and lots of color that it took a minute to adjust! I sure do hope these carrots do well; our harvest last year (two different types from different companies) was embarrassingly minimal. Once it stops raining every other day I'll get out and dig the trench for the new asparagus I ordered from them.

I saved vines from last fall's sweet potatoes and kept them inside over winter. They're looking a little sad right now, but if they can hang in there until May, they can go back outside and have happy times at the edge between the main garden and the asparagus. I'm hoping that the vines run all through the asparagus bed in late summer and keep down the weeds.

Roots

I've been putting off digging the carrots (because the beans and the tomatoes are visible, so they've been monopolizing my attention). This morning's pleasantly cool temps, however, motivated me to get my butt out in the garden and grab a shovel. Also a hoe, because in the last month the garden has gone from almost-weed-free to knee-deep-in-weeds. How - does that happen? so quickly?

Anyhow. I hoed two raised beds, got fatigued depressingly quickly, then grabbed the shovel. I dug potatoes, just enough for a meal or two, then three sections of carrots. We plant in raised beds about 8x4 feet, I had two beds of carrots and two single rows of them that I shoved in beside other veg. The carrot harvest was DISAPPOINTING. The "red Samuri" seed hardly produced anything. About a handful, I am not kidding, for the whole bed, 32 linear feet of carrots. Also, one of them decided to make the leap from biennial to annual, and put up a flower. Carrot flowers, you may already be aware, look exactly like queen anne's lace. The orange carrots did better, but certainly not record-breaking.

At that point, I realized my son was overdue for getting up for school. He generally gets up with his alarm, but . . I ran back inside and rousted him. Back in the garden I finished up with carrots, put the shovel away, thought about the date for a minute (it's mid-September - shouldn't the sweet potatoes be ready?) and grabbed the shovel again.

Digging sweet potatoes is a chore in that the vines are so ridiculously abundant and it can be hard to remember exactly where I planted the roots. I eventually found the source of the vines and started digging a good 15 inches (37 cm?) away so I didn't chop any of them in half. A few minutes of digging revealed two large and 2-3 small ones, dark purple. I planted purple and orange this year.

I sprayed the whole basketful vigorously with the hose, then set them on the porch to drain. Maybe I should dig the beets, too? Hmm. These garden hods are worth their weight in gold; I love them. I wish I could dig clams some day!

I don't know if the carrot issue was with the variety or the company that sold them - anybody have any recs for reliable red or purple carrots?

Well. Many joyful and tasty roots. Happy fall, y'all!

   I have had a lot of Crap going on lately, finance and business stuff for my (increasingly feeble) father, garden, Hero has a sore hoof, figuring out ‘distance learning’ for two different kids/schools. A lot of it makes me angry and /or frustrated, but wouldn’t make a very interesting post for y’all, so I’ve been quiet about it. Today I have an Aunt coming to visit from Annapolis, which is nice, and we’ll probably cook up a bunch of tomatoes into chili sauce. 

   So, anyway, here are a couple of farm&garden paintings that I did in years when I had more time and was less grumpy! I really enjoy painting veggie stilllifes, but they do not sell well in this area. The copper canisters were quite tricky! 

[ID: First painting is a colander full of tomatoes with deep red chard, green beans, corn, and one green tomato arranged around it. Second painting is a group of yellow and green squash, large cucumbers, red tomatoes, and an onion arranged in front of a knife block and a trio of copper canisters.]

Canning

   I’m more-or-less done canning for the season. I might can venison if we manage to do any deer hunting this year, but that’s about it. I maxed out the cabinet and put a fair number of jars in the pantry, too.

   I usually want about twenty quarts of tomato sauce and twenty pints of salsa, but I didn’t get anywhere near that many. Out tomatoes grew but, boisterous vines but the (numerous) green tomatoes didn’t ripen well. At this point the vines are dead or nearly so, still full of green tomatoes. Disappointing. I don’t really need any more relish, so other than frying a few green ones I guess they will become chicken food.

   I do have a few more things in the garden; one butternut squash that m-i-g-h-t ripen before the frost, a few bell peppers, some kale and chard. Maybe I’ll get some kale frozen next week.

Gardening is made harder by the presence of ***darned ambush predators. Lurking in the kale, no less. Isn’t kale supposed to be good for you? Not when somebody swipes at your hand when you’re picking it, it’s not!

On the other hand, I have friends working hard to help out - thank you bumblefriend!