Thanksgiving 09

These were our contributions to Thanksgiving at my Aunt and Uncle’s house in New York.

Cranberry sauce, an apple pie and pumpkin pie made with pumpkins from our garden.

I was responsible for the cranberry sauce.  Here is my trustee recipe:

One package of fresh cranberries
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
zest from an orange
juice from the same orange

Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on medium for about 5 minutes until it boils.  Let it simmer for 10 minutes until most of the cranberries burst.  Chill.

Sunflower Seed

A new sunflower seedling in our vegetable garden with the seed still on top.

Update: Birds or Chipmunks kept eating my sunflower seedlings.  After several failed attempts I cut up toilet paper rolls to 3 inches in length and put them around the seedlings once they sprouted.  This seems to have saved some, but not all my sunflowers.  The critters were able to get to a few despite the protection.

Pick Your Own

These strawberries and sugar snap peas were the first pick your own fruits and veggies from our CSA Farm last weekend.

Spanish Moss in Savannah

Here is a view of some Spanish Moss in Savannah that I took pointing toward the sky as we drove around in our rented convertible.  The moss jumps from tree to tree and creates a canopy overhead in many places.

Mystery Weeds

At some point this summer some weeds showed up in our garden thanks to some seeds that never broke down in our compost/worm bin. We speculated for much of the summer and thought that they were melons, but it turns out that they are Ghost pumpkins from our jack-o-lantern carcasses last year. We will have to remember not to put pumpkin seeds in the compost again this year. I may plant these again someday since it seems like they are the first type of pumpkin that the squirrels and chipmunks in my yard don’t eat.

Organic Gardening Basics

A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Letter to all State Governors on a Uniform Soil Conservation Law (26 February 1937)

We went to an organic gardening class at the Natick Community Organic Farm sponsored by NOFA on Saturday and came away with a ton of useful information. The above quote was by far the most eye opening as to the importance of soil quality to society. Soil is a fragile resource that must be protected and improved in the coming years to maintain crops. Read on to access my notes from the day regarding Soil, Seeds, Composting, Planting and more.

Winter Farm Share

Winter Farm Share

We joined a new CSA for the Winter and had our first pickup last weekend.  We were stunned by the amount of awesome quality vegetables that we received.  The Romanesco broccoli or broccoflower pictured below was by far the strangest thing in the bin.  We had some last night with dinner and it tasted a lot like cauliflower.

Romanesco broccoli

Originally uploaded by jjzach

Backyard Beauties

On the show Chronicle last night I learned about Backyard Beauties, a year round local tomato option for New Englanders. They are located in Maine and they ship fully vine-ripened tomatoes the same day of harvest. Instead of being picked green and ripening on a truck, their tomatoes stay on the vine until the last possible second. I’m so happy to hear of a local tomato option for the winter months.

Bad Carrot Crop

Freaky Carrot from the Garden

Originally uploaded by jjzach

This was not a good year for our carrots. They all came out looking like this and tasted like card board. I think next year I need to do some crop rotation. Carrot gardening tips has many great tips. On a side note I saw some beautiful purple carrots when I was at a farmer’s market in Vermont.

Random Carrot Factoid: Carrots are originally from the Mediterranean region.

Window Box Recipe

2 Pink Geraniums
2 White Geraniums
2 Dusty Millers
1 Purple Verbena
= a pretty combo that doesn’t need to be watered 5 times a day. I’m especially happy with the Carpet Blue Verbena in the center. It has grown quite long and has some pretty purple flowers.