A feed of late, Christmas beets. 

Happy Holidays!

Happy Solstice!

The garden is officially put to bed, where there will not be much growth on anything in the cold frame or under row covers until late February or early March. Time to do some major garden planning indoors, with my feet up by the fire. Plans for next year include: expanding the asparagus beds, hopefully planting grape vines, hopefully get another haskap berry bush or two (I've got three already), adding some fruit trees (although we've very little room for them), and building a greenhouse. We had hoped to build a greenhouse this fall, however home renos came first and now there is not much point in tackling the project until the spring.  I have already been scouring seed catalogues and websites to pick out my choices for next year. I saved a lot of seeds this year from my own crops and before you know it, it's going to be February and time to start seeds again. 

Time to get Creative.

These days we still have lots to eat. We are currently enjoying lots of potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, rutabagas, brussel sprouts, broccoli, kale, swiss chard, squashes, parsnips,  green onions, mache, frozen beans, fermented beans, canned beets, green relish, leeks, frozen tomatoes and tomato sauce, spinach, bok choy, thyme, parsley, cilantro and arugula. During the summer months, making dinner is exceptionally easy. Mostly we eat what needs to be harvested, simply prepared, (since fresh veggies taste amazing!), with our protein source. Into the fall and winter months we still have lots to eat, even more so in the early fall around harvest time, and prepare lots of soups, stews, roast dinners and other hearty warm dishes. Instead of eating the same thing over and over, this can be a good time to get creative with what you have. When our ancestors used to grow most of their own food, this could present a problem. I have read about families sustaining themselves on potatoes and other root vegetables for the entire winter. Having a cold frame instantly increases the variety of food you can harvest during the winter months.  While still using only garden vegetables, it's a good time to mix it up and play around with recipes and combinations, in an attempt to prevent boredom.  I made this yesterday for my lunch. 

Spicy Thai Noodles

Cook one package of noodles according to package directions. 

(I used 100% buckwheat, soba noodles, you also could use rice noodles, brown rice noodles or kamut if gluten is tolerated. )

In a small saucepan, warm about 1/4 cup of sesame oil on medium-low heat. Add as much red chili pepper flakes as desired, I do not like things over spicy so my version is fairly mild, adding only about 5 pepper flakes.Remove from heat and  either strain the pepper flakes or leave them in the oil. Whisk in 1 tbsp organic peant butter, 1-2 tsps each of fish sauce, soya sauce, rice wine vinegar and season with fresh ginger and garlic if desired. 

Grate several carrots over the prepared noodles and add several slices of green onion. Pour the prepared sauce over the noodles and vegetables, tossing to coat. 

Garnish with cilantro and serve either warm or cold. Makes a great salad to take to work the following day. I ate this plain at lunch time and added leftover chicken pieces in the evening. Could be served over a bed of greens, sprouts or cilantro. Also, you could add extra vegetables like bok choy or broccoli.  

*Edited to Include: You're going to need to add a tsp. or two of honey to the sauce for the noodles to make this a Thai dish. I'm sure you all are quite savvy in the kitchen and realized this, I just had to confirm. Palm sugar or raw sugar would also work here for balancing flavors. 

My last paperwhite bulbs arranged as a centerpiece for the table, just needs some rose-hips, I'll grab some when I take the dog for a walk this morning. 

Sprouting Sprouts.

One for us, one for our chickens. I've given up on sprouting sprouts in a jar with water since sprouts in soil do just as well, if not better. I wet the soil first, add a thin layer of sprout seeds and ta-da, sprouts. My boyfriend and I will trim these for topping soup, salads, wraps, eggs etc... During the winter months, one naturally turns to more cooked foods, stews, soups, casseroles, topping food with sprouts allows you to add some extra nutrients,(sprouts are quite nutrient rich) and active enzymes. I always grow parsley indoors for the very same reasons. Plus, a nice green garnish looks great on a dish of cooked vegetables. We eat with our eyes at the same time as our mouth. Look for sprouting varieties, this one is an organic mix of lentils, radish, red clover and black mustard. Very tangy!

Compost.

We make really nice compost here with very little work. Here I have finished off this compost pile for the winter.  We started adding to this receptacle in the spring, and we are hoping it will be ready next summer. There is all kinds of kitchen scraps, garden waste, leaves, straw and other organic materials under a layer of leaves, straw and even chicken manure. To 'finish off' the compost, I add a really good layer of brown leaves from the yard, cover that with a few scoops of manure from the manure pile and top with a good layer of straw. Our bins, constructed from pallets, are positioned under a lot of trees, so after the compost is finished, Mother Nature herself adds another layer of leaves on top. The compost is then left alone until early spring time when I can then start to turn the compost frequently, once the weather has warmed up and biological activity increases. The pile has already shrunk down considerably from the time I 'finished' it, as it was to the very top and heaped in the middle. The compost doesn't do too much over the winter months, although if you dug into the middle of the pile you would find it quite warm and somewhat 'active', then quickly starts breaking down again in the spring. There's a large debate as to whether compost needs to be stirred or not, with some claiming it essential and others claiming it detrimental. I truly don't believe it is necessary, I dug into this pile the other day and it was surprisingly soil-like on the inside.  I will stir mine to try and accelerate the process, so I may use my own compost to dress my crops in the late spring/early summer. The chicken manure acts as an accelerant, due to it's very high nitrogen content, which will help the pile break down quicker, however you do not want to use too much. Balancing your nitrogen and carbon content of your compost is key for decomposition, although again there is different perspectives on this, usually a ratio of 3:1, browns (carbon) to greens (nitrogen) is recommended.  Fallen leaves are a great source of carbon and around the time they fall is around the time my compost receives them, although some people will save them year round to add regularly.  During the rest of the year I add other sources of carbon to balance things.  

Moisture content is important for compost, you do not want the pile to be too dry as biological activity will be greatly reduced. The same is true for too much moisture, usually damp to the touch, almost like a wrung out sponge, is best. 

The pallet receptacle behind this one is our current compost pile that we will continue to add to all winter. 

My First X-mas Wreath.

Instead of buying a wreath this year, as I usually do, I decided to get out the shears and make my own. It's far from perfect, although not too bad for a trial run. I know where I went wrong with this one now and can practice on fine tuning the craft while making more for gifts.   I love these reusable bows that keep well from year to year and next year I'd like to make some out of more earth friendly material, like burlap perhaps. We have no shortage of these lovely, large rose hips for decorating the wreaths. I should have made rosehip jelly this year.  

Venison.

My boyfriend had a successful hunting season and now we have a whole deer. Venison is a really nutrient dense meat and it's delicious if cooked properly. Last night we had venison chops over maple-garlic rutabaga puree and then made sausage patties with pork fat, sauted onions, apples, garlic, cinnamon, ginger, mustard powder, nutmeg and cloves. 

We froze them in a single layer, aka Individual Quick Freezing, so we can package them together and they won't stick together. They can then be plucked from the freezer and cooked for breakfast. They turned out really well and since you use the deer burger to make them, which IMO isn't good for too much else, we have a whole pile of these patties. Would make a great accompaniment to holiday breakfasts. 

Here is my recipe for the maple-garlic rutabaga puree. Simply make the recipe as is but use an immersion blender or food processor to puree the mash. 

Maple Mashed Turnips/Rutabagas

4 large turnips or Rutabagas                  1 tsp garlic grated

3 tbsp local maple syrup           2 tbsp butter or oil

1/2 tsp salt                     dash nutmeg or cinnamon

Peel and chop turnips/rutas into small pieces. Place in a saucepan and almost cover with water and boil until tender. Drain saving the water for soup stock if ambitious. Mash with the maple syrup, salt, butter and then sprinkle with nutmeg or cinnamon. Serve nice and warm.

We grew quite a few rutabagas this year since they store and keep really well. After a few frosts now they're extra sweet and tasty. 

Roasted my last pumpkin for pumpkin pudding this weekend. Making a pudding is a cool way to avoid gluten. I don't have a problem with gluten myself nor does my boyfriend, we just don't eat a lot of wheat or other grains. You simply prepare your pie filling, pumpkin in this case, and pour it into a greased baking dish instead of a pie crust and bake as you would your pie. The filling is the best part anyway, if you ask me. 

Early Amaryllis.

I am not sad I started this guy off a little too early. I have lots of paperwhites needing to be planted, to fill in the spaces. Besides, there is still several flowers that are  going to bloom on this amaryllis. Lovely!

The Cold Frame and some Unattractive Onions.

From the outside looking in, bok choy, kale, spinach and arugula corner. 

Hard not to catch a reflection on a direct shot, that's the pea trellis. 

A random clump of overgrown green onions that I'm still using, still tasty! 

Does not look anywhere near as cold as it was! We've had some frosty mornings here.

Uh-Oh!

My amaryllis bloomed! It has two large flowers on it now with at least 5 more following. 

Earlier than I had hoped but lovely anyway, and now i know for next year!

Inside the Cold Frame.

A tiny piece of summer still lives in my cold frame's microclimate, where these guys weren't told it is time to stop growing.  I had planted my cold frame a little later than I would have liked to, although you'd never really know. The crops that do well in the cold frame are doing just that. I can not explain how lovely it is to have these veggies growing in the frame. Any time I need some greens, I take a quick jaunt to the frame and can pick arugula for a wrap, spinach for a salad or kale to steam. The veggies stay their very freshest since they are still in the ground, providing us with their best to offer for nutrients. Powdered 'green' drinks got nothing on this production! 

Bok Choy, perfect for a holiday meal. My mother always made authentic chinese dishes for X-mas eve, Bok choy would have been perfect to have.  

Spinach in the baby stage. 

Radish growing away. 

Transplanted Kale. 

Arugula. 

Outside the cold frame we have some frosty broccoli. 

More frosty broccoli. Can you believe that broccoli freezes like this and then perks back up looking no worse for wear? Very cold tolerant, cold frame not required. 

Tucked In.

My back garden bed, where my three sister's garden grew this summer, covered with oats for a cover crop of green manure. The oats will be killed over the winter, and then can be either raked off the bed and composted, raked to the side and planted through or tilled into the soil. We are really hoping to avoid tilling this year to avoid disturbing the little eco-system that has developed under the soil. The reason we have had to till over the years is mainly because our garden soil consists predominately of clay. Clay compacts harder than concrete over time and after being exposed to elements like pounding rain and heavy snow. The cover crop protects the soil from the elements and erosion, keeps nutrients from running off and adds nutrients when either tilled back in or planted through as mulch.  I go on like a broken record about cover crops and protecting the soil. I have found the rule, no bare soil at any time, to be one of the most important factors in a healthy garden. No bare soil = no weeds, more consistent moisture, more biological activity underneath, no erosion, less compaction and less run off. The roots of cover crops run deep under the soil, keeping it workable. A cover crop keeps the soil where it is supposed to be for the winter and ensures it stays there in the spring rains. 

Chicken Dinner.

After having butchered our 30 meat chickens last Sunday day/night, we could finally bring ourselves to have a chicken dinner. We will leave the majority of our parsnips in the ground covered with a thick layer of mulch to keep the ground from freezing around them until the spring, when we will dig them up to eat then. We will probably steal a few here and there to try, especially now that we have had some heavy frosts to sweeten their taste. I like to cook carrots and parsnips around my chicken not only because they're extremely delicious, also to save energy, time and dishes.  These parsnips were really tasty, and yes I did peel them, the dirt was a bit much to scrub off. 

A Little Change.

My Amaryllis and it's buddy, Paperwhite, as of today. I am still wondering if my Amaryllis will bloom early or not, only time will tell. It may need some support in the future, I should have put a bamboo stake in already. 

The Easiest Garden Task Ever.

Seed collecting time. Collecting all seeds is relatively easy, even tomatoes that need to ferment, however there is not much easier than saving seeds from melons and squashes. 

When harvesting your squashes and melons, look for the largest ones that ripen the earliest and are the most flavorful. Keep them marked in your mind. 

When either cooking or eating the specimen, grab a handful of seeds from the pulp. 

Clean them of the pulp that clings to them. Pictured here if pumpkin seeds. I find throwing them in a small dish of water and letting the seeds float away from their pulp and to the top an extremely easy way to clean them.  

Scoop them out, discarding any pulp that still clings to them, and spread them out in a single layer to dry. When dried, package and label.

 This is where gardening gets to be so cheap it's free. You can grow the majority of your vegetables from saved seed, potentially making your garden free. As far as my knowledge extends, you can not save seeds from the Broccoli family in our climate, as they need to overwinter to produce seeds. Almost anything else is possible. I save lettuce seeds, tomato and ground cherry seeds, pepper seeds, swiss chard seeds (hopefully, as they haven't fully formed yet), melon seeds, squash seeds, mache seeds, cilantro seeds, radish seeds, bok choy seeds and many more, including many flowers.  

Growing Up.

My baby hens are growing up. You could probably say they are teenagers now. The hens we have now started laying at 16 weeks, I'm hoping these guys will follow suit. Until then, they are loving life, having the 'big barn' all to themselves.  I often catch them all sleeping together  on their big pile of straw, growing up is hard work. 

Oh no, Amaryllis!

I don't know about this guy. I was reading a bulb book last night, that stated an amaryllis bulb can bloom in as little as 5 weeks. I know they can grow alarmingly fast, however this seems like a bit much. I may have been slightly ambitious getting the bulb started for the holidays, although, early or late, indoor blooms aren't exactly a disaster.  I had timed this planting for exactly 8 weeks before X-mas day and have a feeling it will be here for some early cheer. I started one paperwhite bulb early, in the mug, for succession paperwhite blooms. I had the paperwhite bulb timing down perfectly last year. I planted them at the very first of December and had them bloom from the 23rd on. 

This is last years paperwhites, about to bloom on December. 20, 2011. 

One stalk in bloom on the 24th, with the rest to follow quickly behind.

Garden Candy.

Three yellow carrots. We have already had a couple frosts here now, and the taste of the carrots reflect their occurrence. When the temperature drops and you have a frost the starches are converted to sugars in root vegetables, making them taste sweeter than they previously did.

I really like the colored carrots we grew this year. They did really well and are tasty! Nice for a change. Next year we'll grow them again and I'm really hoping to add purple to the mix.

Extra Credit.

My cold frame bed is actually doing much better than I initially gave it credit for.  We've had some really nice days that the seedlings seemed to have appreciated. The Bok Choy is coming along quite well, as you can see pictured here. 

Kale, those are some oats that snuck their way into the cold frame bed in the back. 

Radishes and arugula seedlings. 

Little baby Kale outside the cold frame. I'm going to put a row cover over these guys for the winter since kale is so cold hardy and one of the only vegetables I can grow year round. We eat a lot of kale in the winter months, good thing it's so tasty. 

Brussel sprouts after I removed all the leaves. You remove the leaves to encourage the sprouts to form. 

Again. 

Ruby red radishes. We also eat a lot of radishes into the fall and winter months. They certainly don't mind the cool weather, they enjoy it. 

I love growing celery. 

Holiday Blooms.

I've started some indoor gardening for gifts and for myself. It's a little early to start paperwhite bulbs for Christmas blooms. I've started them around this time before and had them bloom weeks before the holidays. I did start this Amaryllis bulb indoors the other day to add to our holiday decor. The nurseries usually get the Amaryllis bulbs in around the same time you want to plant them for the holidays, they take around 7-10 weeks to bloom.  Add a bow, some dried moss and even some red berries or rose hips to the pot and you have a lovely centerpiece. 

Here's a Link to an Article from About.com on how to Force and Rebloom Amaryllis Bulbs.