2nd week of June 2008
This is the week where the weeds will either triumph or die. So we are using every moment when the sun isn't beating down to hoe, mulch and conquer the weeds. In the picture, our daughter found one good use for weeds - burdock mocassins. We're using newspapers and cardboard covered with old hay or leaves in paths to make a barrier that the weeds can't penetrate plus this method has the additional benefit of retaining moisture and adding organic material to the soil for the next season. My favorite time to work is in the cool of the evening till I can barely see whether I'm hoeing weeds or plants. I've been very thankful for the help of my cousin on several evenings as she puts in garden time to "earn" flowers for her wedding the end of the month. She just finished a college track season so it's nice to have some real muscles to put to work.
Coming out of the garden this week are piles of lettuce, buckets of sugar snap peas, garlic scapes (the flower head that gets snapped off), and the first heads of broccoli. I am very impressed with this early broccoli named Umpqua. I've been looking for a decent early broccoli that is open pollinated and this one wins the prize so I'll mark a few choice heads to go to seed. Going in the garden are fall broccoli and cabbage, summer lettuces getting planted in partial shade and the next plantings of beans, cukes and zinnias.
To celebrate our son's 13th birthday, we ate "out" - out on the porch that is. For his birthday menu he chose porterhouse steak (from his beef cow), mashed potatoes (the last storage potatoes from an Amish friend) and sugar snap peas (picked by his 6 year old brother) with some incredible homemade strawberry ice-cream for dessert (fresh picked berries from our patch and plenty of cream from our Jerseys). It was a very delicious way to celebrate a milestone and nothing from a restaurant could ever compare with the goodness of that meal. It was also refreshing to take an evening to focus on food and fellowship and set the hoes and shovels aside for a bit.
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