1st week of August 2010

Baby Veggies August harvest continues with plenty of warm days. After a stretch of humid days, we were glad to butcher a batch of 80 pastured chickens on a breezy, less humid day at the end of the week. As usual, we ended up with several helpers joining us to learn the mechanics of butchering. We are very glad to teach folks and we benefit from having extra hands to help plus we enjoy the interesting conversation as we all work. Many of the chickens went in the freezer whole but I like to cut up a few for fried chicken meals and some boneless breast packages. The backs and chicken feet along with an assortment of veggies and herbs then went into a kettle to simmer to make a tasty broth. It made the whole house smell like chicken soup.

My customers all received some unusual baby veggies in their baskets this week. One of my experimental crops was growing popcorn that gets harvested young as baby corn. TiceratopsRattyIt can be eaten raw or in a stir fry. They were quite sweet tasting and as long as they were young enough the cob is completely tender and edible. The other veggie in the picture are my mouse melons which are actually tiny cucumbers called Mexican Sour Gherkins. They are a hit during my demos at Lehmans and anytime a visitor strolls through the garden we are sure to stop by the trellis to sample some. Another way we had fun with our veggies lately was to make veggie people. The eggplant "rat" was made for a kids activity with Local Roots where we had materials for making flower dolls or veggie creations. It was fun to see some of the wild ideas and then our boys decided to create a Triceratops. Since I don't like to encourage wasting food we try to finish the project by eating it or tossing it in a stew.

Pink Gladiolas August is a fun time for making bouquets. I love using sunflowers, especially the dark chocolate Moulin Rouge mixed with other multi colored sunflowers. The zinnias are in their colorful glory. This year I have the Benary's Giants, Giant Cactus and the tiny Sunbows. The purple hyacinth beans are just beginning to bloom their purple spikes too. Almost every bouquet I make starts with some feathery foliage from cosmos plus a few stems of white sedum which acts as a "frog" to hold everything in place. Even though I have plenty of flower of my own, I was thrilled when my Amish friend sent home a handful of her lovely pink gladiolas with me. Flowers are just so lovely and a fun thing to share!