Farming in the shade

Well, in this awful Summer of Murphy (a la Murphy's Law), something went right. The grapes are amazing! We just have a few vines, and the Concords have really flourished. The Farmer's parents helped us out by picking about HALF of the grapes. Maybe less. Then they picked them all off the stems... ...sorting through them to keep only the good ones. The result was 42 quart jars of grape juice. We'll do the other half of the grapes this week.

We consider Memorial Day to be the last reasonable day for planting the garden. Most years we have it planted before that. This year is different. After weeks of rain, we finally had a dry week late in May. June 1 found us planting our garden (and getting ready to plant fields) in a frenzy. Thought you might like to watch. These are some seed potatoes cut up and ready to plant. We try to leave two eyes on each section. Stick the nifty potato planter in the ground and drop the potato section in (I wonder if there is a more technnical term for it?)... Repeat. Before you know it, you've got a row planted. The string is so that we plant straight--important when you begin rototilling between rows. We planted the rest of the garden that day, too, including our strawberries. Strawberries are supposed to be planted in April (or at latest) early May. June 1. That's a first for us. It's important not to cover the "crown" of the plant with dirt--strawberries need to be plant...

I've been canning meat for all of my married life--mostly beef and pork. My mother taught me how. I love taking canned meat with us when we go on vacation--no need for refrigeration, as long as the jar is sealed. I love coming home on those days I've forgotten to plan, and being able to pop open a jar, knowing we can have something hot and nutritious in 30 minutes or so. I love the taste of home canned beef or pork, fried* in a cast iron skillet until it's on the edge of crispy. Nothing better. Granny Miller is a blog written by a down-to-earth libertarian who does great tutorial posts. She's just done a post on pressure canning meat that I would recommend. I notice she doesn't give instructions for how long to pressure can meat--trust me, it is a long process. Consult your pressure canner's instruction book for time and pressure settings specific to your canner. Oh, and if Granny's politics or rhetoric offend you, don't let me know about it. I'...

Typically we plant the garden in mid May, and sometimes as late as Memorial Day (the last Monday in May). But this spring has been unusually warm and dry, allowing us to till the low-lying garden plot early. Last week we planted onions (above), lettuce, spinach, carrots and sweet corn. We're gambling with the sweet corn, but it's a risk we're willing to take. The rhubarb looks wonderful. And the asparagus is coming along--we ate some a couple of nights ago. When do you plant your gardens? Anyone have a favorite gardening story to tell?

Last Wednesday we picked the Concord grapes. Actually, my extended family picked the grapes. I scurried around getting out jars and sugar and lids and canners. We carefully picked all the grapes off their stems, removing the spiders and ladybugs and less-than-desirable grapes at the same time. We did this outside, to minimize the mess in my kitchen. When a large bowl was finished, I let the extended family continue their sorting job, and I went inside. I washed the grapes. I put about 1/3 cup of sugar in the bottom of each jar, and enough boiling water to dissolve it. I then filled the jar with grapes, and added enough water to come up to the "shoulder" of the jar. I leave some extra room when I can grape juice (and that's what this post is about--I guess I forgot to specify that). Otherwise I have purple mess outside of the jars. I added sterilized lids and rings. I pressured canned them for eight minutes at five pounds of pressure. I rotated three canners so that I cou...

We finally (!) got a batch of salsa to be hot enough. For years I have been afraid to use chilis, after a nasty up-close experience with the pain of dealing with them. The Farmer was conscripted to help this year with the salsa prep. He used gloves--smart guy! We used our Victorio Strainer this year on about 1/3 of the tomatoes, to provide a smoother texture (something that was important to the kids). All tomatoes, both chopped and put through the strainer, were first disemboweled. Our weapon of choice was a grapefruit spoon. It seems that scooping out the center of the tomato (seeds and all) makes for a thicker salsa (something that is important to all of us). Here's a photo of the finished results. We're happy! Here's how the Salsa of 2009 was created: 8 cups of tomato puree, made from Roma tomatoes, disemboweled and put through the strainer 14 cups of Roma tomatoes, disemboweled and chopped 3-4 cups of chopped onions (the food was flying, folks, it was hard to keep up...

Anyone want to come and help next time? That wheelbarrow of corn ended up as 5 gallon sized ziploc bags of frozen corn, and took me several hours to process (with occasional helpers).

If you are interested in practical instruction in the home arts, please visit Granny Miller's blog . Her posts on canning and freezing (including video she's made herself) are great starting points for those who are new to these almost-lost arts.

Usually we have the garden planted by Memorial Day. Our garden plot is low and wet, and so is one of the later fields to dry out enough to till. And in Michigan, we get these late season frosts that make us rethink planting tender shoots in early May. It  has  happened that we've planted in early May. But not often.  The Saturday before Memorial Day was Garden Planting Day this year. We seeded beans, corn, and carrots using our handy-dandy seeder. By hand we planted hills of squash and cukes. Using a little recycled spice shaker, we planted lettuces and all sorts of weird things for the fair and for fun: okra, kale, swiss chard, kohlrabi, turnips, etc.  We planted tomato and pepper plants, purchased from a greenhouse, as well. We're going to have a bit of trouble with grassy weeds in the garden this  year.  I was on 'tiller duty. Here's what I look like after 'tiller duty... "Mom? Mom, are you okay?"

A couple of weeks ago, we purchased about 20# of asparagus from a farmer up north. We  chopped it: Blanched it: Cooled it off in the sink: And froze it on cookie sheets. The final step (after freezing) is to chip the asparagus off the pan and put it (still frozen) in large ziploc bags for winter enjoyment. We won't eat much of it this summer, as we'll have fresh-from-the-garden goodies to eat. But next winter we will appreciate the work we've done now. Michigan asparagus growers have suffered hard times lately because of the cheap imported asparagus from Peru. Apparently our government thought they could make a dent in the drug trade by enabling Peruvian farmers to grow asparagus instead. They got a hand up and a hand out, and now the Michigan growers (with their higher labor costs) are struggling to compete. Good intentions, but every action has some unintended consequences. Read a New York Times article about it here.

Even now, when most of the garden has been tilled under and seeded to oats, we harvest food for our supper. Onions, broccoli, carrots, and squash all add color and flavor and FRESH nutrition. I understand that in our area, this Friday is a celebration of eating locally. Can't eat much more locally than walking out to the garden in the late afternoon to pick food for supper.

Yesterday we turned some Roma tomatoes and peppers into salsa. We had a regular production line going--two food processors whining their high-pitched song, two soup pots full of bubbly salsa cooking. Red and green stuff splattered everywhere... It's a nice job to have behind us, and I'm sure we'll enjoy the salsa all winter long. Salsa -- 2007 8 cups chopped Roma tomatoes 4 cups seeded chopped sweet peppers 2 cups seeded chopped hot peppers 2 cups chopped onion 6 cloves chopped garlic 2 tsp. salt 1 cup cider vinegar 24 oz. tomato paste Process all veggies in food processor. Mix all ingredients together in large soup pot. Cook together for 20 minutes. Put in pint jars and seal (15 minutes at 5# pressure).