Karen's Garden Delights Journal
5th week of August 2011

This week started out with a nip of fall in the air and ended with humid, 90 degree days. I think summer isn't ready to give up yet but after trying to work in the heat, I think I am ready for some fall temperatures. I do have some late beans growing that will probably benefit from the heat but the cabbage, broccoli and salad greens are yearning for some coolness. Late August is always a colorful time for harvesting, here are some peppers we gathered that looked simply vibrant. Most of these are sweet peppers that will be chopped up for the freezer. The hot ones I like to dry to have for some winter spice in soups and broths. The tiny Tom Thumbs are very sweet and I love using them as appetizers with a bit of herb cream cheese. One of my customers roasted some and put them in olive oil, sounds yummy!

I never have planted much sweet corn, it is simply too much of a space and labor hog for my garden. But this week a friend called that their corn was knocked down in a storm and she wondered if we wanted to come pick some. So we came home with about 8 dozen beautiful looking ears of Incredible. Some went into the pot for lunch, a few went into an experimental lacto-fermented corn relish, my customers were glad for a handful in their baskets and the rest went to the freezer. Here my garden helper Rachel is getting a lesson in food preservation. She is a city gal wanting to learn more about gardening so she started coming several weeks ago to help one or two mornings a week. Even though we had to introduce her to many new things (like thistles!), she is learning very fast and is already saving seeds, planting a cold frame and learning to ferment food. I am very thankful that I can now see my carrots due to her help with getting them weeded.

One day while picking tomatoes, my daughter and Rachel discovered this scene. It is a tomato horn worm (a horrible garden pest) covered with parasitic wasp eggs. Quite dramatic to look at and amazing to know that the wasps are a beneficial insect that wipe out the hornworms by laying eggs on them. A few days later, we observed that the eggs had hatched and the hornworm looked like a deflated balloon.

With produce in abundance right now, we are trying more ferments. Here are some of the latest attempts. Recently we have tried peach chutney (peaches plus cinnamon sticks and allspice), kim-chi (spicy sauerkraut with ginger and hot peppers) and we are also fermenting lots of dill pickles that my children discovered they LOVE. Unfortunately, my cucumber plants are finished so we are needing to get them at an Amish produce stand but I'm sure they will taste extra good this winter (if they last that long!) If you are interested in learning more about fermentation, I will be doing a class at the Amish Door Farm in Wilmot on Sept 20. See the Events page for details. Until then, I have more experimenting and studying to do.