Don't Blink

During the past week of business travel my indoor plant starts have grown with the vigor of youth into a verdant and slightly unruly bunch of tweens.The tomatoes from my saved seed are particularly in need of thinning.  I seeded them a little more thickly since I did not know what my germination rate would be.  While they initially lagged about week behind fermented seeds I purchased this year, the germination rate for my saved seed looks to be close to 100%.Pro Tip - always use scissors to snip off the plants you are thinning to avoid disturbing the roots of chosen specimen.

This Ain't Your Grandma's Pressure Cooker

A couple of weeks ago I was interested in understanding how pressure cookers work and I ran across this aptly titled video by America's Test Kitchen "Why Chefs Love Pressure Cookers".I was intrigued with the chefs describing how pressure cookers can cook sometimes tricky dishes to perfection and how the steam within the pressurized chamber infuses the dishes with deep flavor, but it was Tony Maws using a counter-top electric pressure cooker that completely captured my attention and sent me searching in a whole new direction.Electric pressure cookers eliminate a lot of the fear inducing factors novice pressure cooker users have about the stove top kind as well as a lot of handy features cooks of any level will love.  They have a sear setting to brown meats and/or veggies before adding in liquid to finish the meal, they have food-type settings (i.e. meat, vegetables, rice, beans) to take a lot of the guesswork out of the length of time and pressure to cook with, and have redundant safety features to avoid the exploding pots some of us remember seeing in the 70s and 80s when an inattentive cook allowed the pressure to get a little too high.Fast forward a couple of weeks and dozens of viewings of pressure cooker meal recipes later and my Breville Fast Slow Pro was here and ready to be tested. I started with this simple Pot Roast recipe from Flo Lum (more on her in a minute).  The meat was seared then removed from the pan to sear the carrots and onions while the pan was gently deglazed.The veggies were then removed, the meat added back in and the veggies placed around it.  A little thyme, salt and pepper and it was ready to cook.In just 50 minutes I had a delicious one-pot meal that was tender, flavorful and so easy!I had been accumulating recipes I wanted to try once my cooker arrived and will share some of the variety below.  A disproportionate number are from Flo Lum's pressure cooker playlist because she does a great job of displaying the versatility of these counter top appliances and she has a companion blog for printable versions of her recipes.Zuppa Toscana - Risotto - Mashed Potatoes - Low Country Boil - Applesauce - Holiday Ham - Baby Back RibsAfter seeing the Zuppa Toscana recipe I had to reconsider my decision to not grow kale this year and now have some Nero Di Toscana seeds started to add some fresh, homegrown flavor to this dish when I make it later this year.

Starting My Garden Early

While Punxsutawney Phil and the meteorologists work out their differing predictions for the end of winter, growers are already hard at work preparing for spring, summer and fall.January plant starts included cabbage,chili peppers, bell peppers and rosemary.Now that February has begun, the seed starting kicks into high gear with oregano, collards and lots and lots of tomatoes with 8 varieties and a total of 38 plants this year!The new starts will welcome roommates in my growing nook for the cilantro and basil I grow indoors each winter.  I purchased inexpensive shop lights, metal wire shelving units and florescent tubes 5 years ago so I never have to go a grey winter day without their bright colors and fresh flavors complimenting meals.The minimal, initial investment for the equipment has more than paid for itself already and now as my garden diversifies and the number of indoor starts continue to expand each year with no additional infrastructure costs to date, I consider this money extremely well spent.Happy Spring, whenever it comes :)

Will Work For Food

The phrases urban agriculture and urban farming answer the where and the what, but not necessarily the why of food production.  Some urban growers are producing for personal use (which could include sharing their excess bounty with friends, neighbors and coworkers) while other growers are producing food as part or all of their household income stream.While these two groups take very different approaches to growing, watching Curtis Stone's Profitable Urban Farming workshop intro showed me that the personal grower can learn from some of the strategies and efficiencies of the income grower.  We are both working to grow food so a little cross pollination (pardon my pun) of ideas can be beneficial.In this 42 minute video he gives an overview of his commercially successful urban farm in Kelowna, BC.  For income growers, there are a lot of interesting ideas presented.  He has an innovative strategy for land acquisition that is essentially OPP, other people's property.  He rents portions of front, back and side yards from homeowners in his city within a 1 1/4 mile of his home to grow his produce.A very interesting strategy he uses that can be adapted for personal growers is how he categorizes crops as either "quick" or "steady".  Quick crops are crops that are ready to harvest in less than 60 days.  Steady crops are those "cut and come again" crops that take longer but provide a more sustained harvest.  With his 5 growing plots scattered across 1 1/4 mile, he grows his quick crops in the plots closest to him, since they need to be visited more often for planting, rotation and harvest.  He plants his steady crops in the furthest plots to since they only need to be harvested once or twice per week.Personal growers can adapt this concept and plant their baby greens and lettuces in the part of their garden closest to the house and plant the squash and onions in the far part of the garden since they need less regular attention.For growers looking to build or expand their business, this video is packed with information.  For personal growers, there are some great tips on layout, harvesting and drip irrigation that can be implemented in home gardens.In addition to this workshop intro video, he has a lot of other videos on his YouTube channel worth perusing for both income and personal growers.

A New Old Fashioned Barn Raising

I was researching a local farm that I am interested in purchasing from and ran across an article about their recent BarnRaiser.us campaign to improve the sustainability and profitability of their livelihood.  I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about BarnRaiser.There are so many things to love about this artisanal food crowdfunding site:

• The name is wonderfully evocative of the end goal, a community coming together to support the needs of farmers and food artisans
• The admirable mission statement is "To put a billion dollars into the hands of food innovators as they reshape a healthy food world."
• BarnRaiser fees are based solely on fully funded goals.   No goal = no fee for trying
• And like the other crowdfunding sites, the farmers and artisans looking to get funded offer up little goodies for supporting them at different levels
• Projects seeking funding are listed in a gallery format with name and photo, a status bar showing how much money has been pledged and how much money and how many days are left to fund the project and, last but not least, location  for the project
• According to the FAQ, Project Creators are subject to some level of identity verification
• The site is great exposure for the farmers and food artisans whether they reach their funding goals or not

Let's go raise some barns!

Winter Growing

This winter there will be a lot of focus on my indoor gardens mostly because my outdoor winter garden is a bit of a bust this year.  The collards and spinach I planted were just beginning to grow when an unseasonable cold-snap halted them in their tracks.  I tried resowing but still don't have much of anything green going on outside.  I haven't given up completely on the 3 inch tall collards that I still hope will be served on New Years, but accept that I may be buying most of my good luck meal this year instead of growing it.Right now my indoor garden consists of two trays of basil microgreens (already harvesting from the tray on the left) and 8 pots of basil that will be allowed to grow into full plants of about 8" tall and pruned a bit daily as needed for meals.I will be starting another 3 trays of cilantro microgreens this weekend and will do various other types of microgreens (arugula, mustard and red cabbage) off and on all winter to add some homegrown flavor and crunch to winter meals.If you are considering indoor growing, microgreens have a lot going for them.  They have a very quick turn around, usually only 2-4 weeks from beginning to end which is basically instant gratification in the gardening world.  And due to their fast germination to harvest cycle, they aren't usually around long enough for pests and diseases to become an issue.These little plants really do have some powerful flavor, often even more than their adult versions and growing research from reputable sources is showing that some of them are packed with up to 5x the vitamins and carotenoids found in the adult versions of the same plants.So whether or not my outdoor garden takes off with this wonderfully sunny and warm week we are having, I will be posting (and eating) fresh all winter long.

Making Hay While The Sun Shines - Part 3

The wonderful thing about being taken under the wing of a traditional southern food mentor is that in addition to the lesson at hand, there are other tantalizing tidbits sprinkled throughout the lessons like breadcrumbs, just waiting for me to pick up the trail.During my green bean pressure canning lesson, the utensil drawer was opened to look for some other object and the Norpro Wood Corn Cutter and Creamer made its debut into my life.  My mentor explained that device is used to cream corn, which she does annually with Silver Queen, her favorite hybrid variety.  The tool was dropped back into the drawer and the green bean lesson continued.That night I began researching the tool and process of making and preserving creamed corn.  My mentor uses the "Another way" method described at the bottom of this link over at the National Center for Home Food Preservation (the online bible for how to safely preserve food).  The creamer tool was so inexpensive and the corn so abundant at the NC State Farmers Market, I had to give it a try!My whopping 45.5 lbs of corn had 65 ears in it and sold for only $25 - one of the many great reasons to grow or buy abundantly in season and preserve in wholesome ways for the off season.I enlisted help from the cutest and most enthusiastic corn shucker imaginable to get through the pile.Once shucked, the corn was washed, trimmed of any ear worm damage and ready to be creamed.  It took a little experimentation to get the cutters to the right height for the chunkiness I desired.  I found compromise by setting it on a creamier height and using knife cut corn once every 8 or so ears to get nice big kernels.Following the instructions from my mentor and the National Center for Home Food Preservation the creamed corn was cooked in two double boilers for about 10 minutes.Once thickened it the pots were set in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.Once cooled, it was ladled into the freezer bags that work with my vacuumsealer at serving sizes of roughly 15.5oz each.  They were frozen flat to take up less space then vacuumsealed.All in all, my 45.5lbs of corn ended up being 15.5lbs of creamed corn with much of the difference being the cobs that were cut up and added to compost so they were a gain for next year's soil also.  The entire process took about 4 hours from shucking to the last batch being put in the freezer and finished with a total of 16 servings.  I froze 15 of them for the months to come and made one fresh that night.  I knew the project was a success (and one likely to be repeated before the end of corn season) when my little shucker took his first bite of our homemade creamed corn and asked if there was enough for seconds.

Learn As You Grow

Between now and November the most common phrase in my Google search history will be "when to harvest..." followed by the common name of a first year plant in my garden that is showing signs of being nearly there.In general, operating on a need-to-know-basis with my garden works well for me.  A quick search told me that I have some time before my first year spaghetti squash will need to be harvested.But it's not without it's misses too.  I mistakenly expected my first year zucchini to continue to grow at something like the rate they did from the 1" to 4" phase.  One of the young zucchini shot to 11" and a whopping 1 lbs. in just two days!  Researching revealed that I had missed the mark on this one and would need to watch more closely to catch them at the 6"-9" size for the best flavor and texture.I do look forward to the day when I have grown my staple cultivars so many times that much of it becomes second nature to me.  But I will always experiment a little too, trying new plants and varieties to keep this learn-as-you-grow wonder alive.For the record, my overgrown zucchini was still delicious and I don't think it was just because it was the first one.

Garden Toy - Hod

Zucchini and squash season is just around the corner and I had been looking for a replacement for my lovely, but somewhat lightweight flower basked that I use to gather what needs picking and what's for dinner (usually the same things) each day.  After a few searches for garden baskets I ran across this shiny new toy, I mean garden hod.Pros:Food-grade vinyl-covered mesh means you can hose off produce right in the hod before bringing it inside16 quart capacity means plenty of space for an evening's bountyFlat bottom is perfect for when I want to use a small bowl to separate out small itemsSturdy construction...see belowCons:Sturdy construction - this hod is 3.5 lbs. when emptyPersonally, I am okay with the one con.  I garden for a number of reasons and needing to exert a little physical energy to get my food is one of them.I give my new garden hod an A+

Night Garden

My back deck has a beautiful view of the garden and is one of my favorite places to be in the evenings.  A few months ago I had the idea of adding some solar lanterns to the garden beds primarily as a safety precaution against guests tripping over raised-bed edges after dark but also to add a little visual interest to the garden during my evening reveries.Since then, the soft light of the lanterns kissing the plants good night has become one of my favorite ways to view the garden.  My camera of choice (and necessity) is an iPhone 5s, so it is limited in its nighttime shooting capabilities even with the myriad of apps available so I shot this one just after dusk when the lights had begun their night watch but there was still enough light to not turn out a grainy image.

Rotation Reboot

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt - true in my Midwestern youth and true today.Last week I accidentally* ordered 4 additional garden beds instead of the 2 strictly required for my 2015 garden plan.  Today, with extra garden beds waiting in the garage and a snow day in the Triangle at hand, I sat down to consider what to do about the 32 square feet of extra planting space I accidentally* acquired.  As I considered whether to add new plants, expand the number of my current varieties or a combination of both, I kept thinking of this article I had run across a couple of weeks ago about crop rotation.Until now, I have done a pretty good job of refuting the quiet voice in the back of my mind talking about crop rotation with arguments like "I add compost regularly to my raised beds, so I am replacing the lost nutrients" and "my scale is to small to worry about crop rotation, and that is for monocultures anyway", but as I sat here today looking at what I had already planned and what I was planning to expand, it became harder and harder to not be a responsible steward of the soil I have made and hope to nourish my family with.At the same time I am garden planning, I am enjoying the Edible Education classes on youtube about the future of agriculture, arable land and food in America and the world.So back to the article for tips on rotations and my garden plan I went.  My garden was not entirely hodgepodge, there was some method to my madness!  I have a north facing backyard despite my strong preferences and best efforts when house hunting last summer, but if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with!  So all the tall plants were planned for the back of the garden so they weren't casting shade on anyone behind them and the ones that need more sunlight hours were placed to the right of the garden which has more daylight hours before being shaded by my south facing house.  Beyond those two considerations though, it probably was a bit of a hodgepodge.I started with color coding my planned plants according to the 4 main categories (leaves, fruits, roots and legumes) to see where I was - which was all over the place, then reorganized their placement into a more cohesive plan.  I started at the left with the leaves and worked my way right to legumes with the idea that everything will shift to the right for 2016 and so on.  I don't currently have an equal number of boxes devoted to the roots and legumes as I do for the leaves and fruits to make this work perfectly, but I am hoping that ending my denial and admitting I have a rotation problem is the first step in solving it.And since I was at it with color coding plant "types" on my Excel spreadsheet, I thought I might as well include the container plantings I had planned, the non-rotational plants (asparagus, some herbs and strawberries) I will have off-set from the Garden Proper and the Morel boxes I have in the tree line at the back of my property.  And since I was going to include those, I may as well include a code for my preferred preservation techniques for each type...The red arrows are where trellis supports will be, and the 3 beds in blue will be off to the side and will not rotate from year to year.  I think it is entirely likely that more beds will be added for 2016 and an effort will be made to utilize them for roots and legumes so I end up with a roughly even number for each overall type so the rotations work more uniformly.I plan to grow a handful of flower varieties with as many natives as possible to serve the local pollinators, but since I will not be eating them, I am comfortable putting them directly in the yard and not taking up precious garden space with them.  Additionally I have my 5 blueberry plants, 4 fig trees (2 in the ground and 2 in containers), my Meyer Lemon and an indoor Bay Laurel.All in all, 2015 is shaping up to be a great year to grow and I am considering alternate irrigation sources now that I have cut Denial out of my garden plan.*tell me your definition of accident and I will tell you mine

The Great Indoors

The leaves are turning, the mornings are a bit crisper and all of the big box stores have hauled out their Christmas items....that can mean only one thing - its time for NHG to head indoors!As I sifted through listings looking for my Raleigh area home, the garden potential of the backyard and the indoor gardening space were priorities.  I use intensive, raised bed gardening outdoors so I can grow a lot in a little space outdoors and the same is true indoors.  I have set up in my indoor garden in a dormer nook in my bonus room that measures 48" deep by 74" wide.  I have two 4' x 18" chrome finished utility shelves equipped with shop light fixtures to grow my herbs and tender greens.My indoor garden is great in summer months to grow lettuce and spinach that cannot tolerate the summer heat but it really comes into its own during the winter when it serves as my main source of fresh herbs and greens.  What I have growing so far are:

• 13 Genovese Basils
• 3 Cilantros
• 1 Oregano
• 1 Mint (on consignment for my neighbor who wants it for a Kentucky Derby party next year)
• 4 Rosemarys
• 2 Garlic Chives
• 2 Leaf Lettuce varieties
• Basil and Cilantro microgreens

I will light up additional shelves as the season wears on to add more lettuces and more microgreens (I love arugula and mustard for salad and sandwiches) but this is the official start of the off-season garden.

There's An App For That

On a whim I went to the Apple app store and searched 'vegetable garden' to see what would come up. Currently there are 21 apps available. Some looked ho-hum but there were a few that look like they might be useful with diaries, soil and plant tips, planting and harvesting guides and even pest identification. I may have to give it a try and see if a high-tech mentor will guide me through the first year of being a back-yard gardener.