Bugs and Harvests

Well, today I had to perform surgery on my squash and pumpkins. They are being attacked by squash vine borers not to mention cucumber beetles and squash bugs. I don't think I'll be swimming in zucchini or cucumbers this year. I spent about an hour this morning cutting into the stems and pulling out the worms with tweezers. Hopefully at least some of the plants will survive. Next year I think I'll try to prevent the pest attacks a little better with some floating row covers.

The tomatoes are coming in now- 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. Last year I only got a few tomatoes- this year I should have enough to make enchilada sauce and canned tomatoes among other things. I think I'll try stewed tomatoes too. They're like a taste of summer in the cold of winter.

For enchilada sauce I chop onions in the food processor and saute them in some olive oil in a large pot. Add pureed Anaheim chilis, cumin, garlic, and dried oregano. Cook for a few minutes and add pureed peeled tomatoes with their juice (squeeze the seeds out before use). The amounts depend on how much you are making and how spicy you like it. After the spaauce has cooked for about 20 minutes, pour into prepared canning jars with 2 Tbsp lemon juice and process in a water bath canner.

The Yukon gold potatoes that I planted have been harvested. The potatoes didn't do very well again this year. I think next year I won't plant them in the main garden. I might try to set up a garden annex on the west side of the house and put them in there. The garlic is also in- we planted about 100 cloves last fall so hopefully this will last until next summer. Some of the onions and all the shallots are in too. They didn't do all that well either, but the Spanish onions and red and white onions are fine. Next year I will test the soil in each bed so that I can optimize the nutrients for each crop.

Lately I've been making one of my favorite summer salads- Greek salad. I put the juice of 1 lemon in a bowl and add some feta cheese breaking up the cheese into small chunks. Add some diced red onion, sliced cucumber, chunks of sweet pepper and tomatoes and some sliced Kalamata olives. Mix and serve.

Kale and Raspberries

This year I planted lots of kale- some years I don't plant much, but last winter we had kale in the dead of winter that had been hiding under the snow. That inspired me to try to do it on purpose this year and have some fresh greens in the winter.

I grew 4 varieties this year too- a first for me. I usually plant Red Russian and this year added Starbor, Dinosaur, and Tuscan black. Kale is a relatively easy crop to grow, but not so easy to find things to do with it. I harvested a bunch of it this spring, but now it's getting too hot so I'll probably let most of it go until the fall. Kale is best after the first frost- it turns almost sweet. I started to have some problems with cabbage moth caterpillars but sprayed the plants (also the brussels sprouts and broccoli) with BT (Bacillus thurigensis) which worked well to kill them off.

There are several things I do with kale that are pretty yummy.
Kale salad- Chop or tear kale leaves into a salad bowl. Add some dried cranberries and grated Asiago cheese, and toss with a lemon vinagrette (1/3 cup lemon juice, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup olive oil).

Kale chips (recipe thanks to Gerri B)- remove tough stems from kale, brush with olive oil, lay flat on baking sheets, sprinkle with salt, and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until crispy. Cool and enjoy!

Beans and greens- Cook about 1 cup dried cannellini beans in water (boil about 10 min., drain & rinse, add more water with 1 tsp salt and 2 cloves garlic) until almost soft. Drain and cover with broth, more garlic, chopped onions if you like, and cook until soft or how you like them. Add chopped kale or other greens and any spices that you like. You can eat it like a soup or if there's not too much broth, puree in a food processor, and add some crumbled feta cheese to use as a dip or a spread for bread.

Frozen greens- To be able to use kale in the winter I chop it, mix it with chopped Swiss chard and beet greens, and steam for 1 minute to blanch. I then cool the greens in water, drain and squeeze out most of the water, spread them out, and freeze in plastic bags. Use like frozen spinach in pasta dishes, soups, etc.

I know several people who put kale into smoothies, but I haven't tried this yet.

Yesterday we went up to Lakeview Orchard in Lanesborough, MA and picked 16 pints of raspberries. I froze about half of the berries and made a batch of raspberry freezer jam- very easy, no canning involved, and it tastes fresh. I just bought a box of low sugar pectin and followed the instructions using organic sugar of course. This is the only kind of jam that Kai will eat so I'll have to make another batch of jam before the season is over. Luckily there are fall raspberries too in case I don't make it back up to MA soon.

I also made some raspberry almond scones for Bill's mid-morning snacks. This recipe is from the Food to Live By cookbook.

Mix 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, and 1 tsp grated lemon zest in a food processor (or bowl). Add 4 tbsp chilled butter, and chop into flour mixture until crumbly. Mix 1 large egg, 1/2 cup milk or cream, and 1 tsp almond extract in small bowl, and add to flour mixture in a larger bowl until just combined. Gently mix in 1/4 cup sliced almonds and 3/4 cup raspberries. Divide into 7-8 balls and place on cookie sheet (greased or with parchment paper). Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Peas

I have been harvesting peas in a variety of forms lately- sugar snap peas, snow peas and, for Kai, shelling peas. He likes them straight out of the pod. It's funny how some varieties do better than others depending on the year. This year the super sugar snap peas grew too tall for me to reach, but the sugar ann snap peas are dinky little things. It took 2 plantings this year to get a decent row of peas. I didn't grow enough to freeze- they seem to get mushy after freezing and reheating so I don't bother. I might try freezing the shelling peas next year if I grow enough. The chickens like to munch on the pea leaves- they pick at them through the fence.

I've been using the peas in different ways. Our favorite this year is pasta with carbonara sauce and peas- you can find the recipe on Jamie Oliver's site. I use all the types of peas.

Another favorite is pasta with peas and clam sauce. I just finely chop some garlic scapes, and saute them in olive oil for a couple of minutes. Then I add shelled peas and chopped snow and snap peas, clam juice, chopped parsley, and 2 small cans of chopped clams. Cook for a couple of minutes, but make sure the peas are still crunchy. Serve over pasta with some grated asiago cheese.

Speaking of chickens, they haven't been laying many eggs lately. We have 7 hens so we should be getting at least 4-5 per day. Today we got one egg! A couple of weeks ago I found that one of the hens had a rogue nest, and by that time she had 19 eggs in it. There are a couple of other nests in the shrubbery, but they don't have eggs in them anymore. I might have to follow the ladies around tomorrow to see if they have other hiding spots.