Welcome Dailon
A funny thing happened while we were in Colombia, South America in February. We traveled down to take photos and make videos for the non-profit that I work for. While there, we met Dailon. He’s a 21 year old from Ohio, who traveled down to help with the camp project that we’re working on.
After talking to him throughout the week, he asked if he could come up and visit/stay with us, to be our intern. He arrived Sunday evening right around dusk.
The next morning he was already out working in the garden (more about what he’s working on later this week). Now we have another member of the Chiot’s Run family.
He’s going to be working in the garden and the woodlot in exchange for his room, board and a small stipened. It’s a good thing I have more garden space, we’ll definitely need it to grow enough vegetables for him. I have to remember to plant two or three times as much of everything. We’re even getting him his own flock of chickens. No doubt you’ll be seeing more of Dailon throughout the summer.
It will be nice to have him around. Since Mr Chiots and I are self employed, it can be difficult to arrange our work to have less of it in the summer and more in the winter as we like. There are times when we should hire someone part-time to help with certain projects, but we just end up working longer hours ourselves. We’re swamped with work right now, so it will work out nicely for us to have someone that can put in the hours outside that we can’t.
Do you ever get a helping hand in the garden?
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Quote of the Day: Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd
Even in the dead of winter, the products of our labor were good. From the freezer we could choose broccoli or cauliflower, peas or beans or corn, anytime we pleased. In spring, we often had them all together in orgies of vegetable soups meant to clear the freezer for the next round. Though certainly we were well-fed, and spiritually content at living from our own labors, the broccoli, peas, beans, cauliflower, and corn came to have a certain sameness about them, a predictable ready-on-demand sort of quality that robbed us of much of the joy of them. The seasons were all flattened out, and one sitting to the table came to seem just like another.
Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd in Living Seasonally: The Kitchen Garden and the Table at North Hill
I’ve talked about learning to live seasonally many times before. This time of the year it becomes increasingly difficult. As I sow the seeds for broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and tomatoes, my mind turns to freshly picked summer vegetables once again.
The beauty of learning to eat seasonally, however, is that you learn about so many new and interesting things you can eat. In my journey to eat more seasonally I’ve discovered things like: sprouting broccoli, mache, endive, parsnip, bok choi, and so many more. Meals are so much more interesting when you’re not eating the same thing over and over again.
The majority of the vegetable consumed each week here at Chiot’s Run are root vegetables that have been stored in the cellar. There is always sauerkraut in the fridge as well. Even though I love carrots, celeriac, rutabaga and sweet potatoes, my stomach has moved on to freshly plucked produce.
I still freeze a few small containers of peas for winter soups and I can some crushes tomatoes for sauces as well. Other than that, there is not much preservation going on in my kitchen any more. Each year our diet becomes more and more diverse thanks to our efforts to live seasonally. Next year at this time, I will be harvesting chard and spinach from my greenhouse, which will fill the gap between winter and spring quite nicely and give us a little bit of a break from all those root vegetables!
If you could only choose one vegetable or fruit to preserve each year, which would it be?
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The Evening Walk
Mr Chiots and I have always enjoyed taking evening walks. We’ve always enjoyed it, we loved walking the streets of the various cities, towns, and neighborhoods we’ve lived in. Here in Maine, we’ve been hiking the different trails on our property.
Typically we leave about an hour before dusk and try to make it back before dark. The other night it was pretty dark when we were on our way back, we had lingered watching the sunset over the wetlands. On our way back, you could only really see Lucy when she was standing on the snow. We always have flashlights just in case we end up staying out too long.
There’s something so relaxing about walking at this time of night, it’s certainly a great way to leave work behind and relax before bed!
What’s your favorite activity for relaxing in the evening (other than gardening of course)?
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Friday Favorite: Starting from Seed
There’s nothing I love more than starting my own plants from seed. Partly, I do it to save money. When you have a garden as large as I do, you could easily go bankrupt trying to buy plants. Starting from seed is a great way to get a lot of plants for minimal monetary investment. I also like starting from seed because you can find really interesting varieties.
Take this asparagus for example, it’s ‘Precoce D’Argenteuil’, an old French heirloom which is prized for it’s tastiness. I also started ‘Mary Washington’ asparagus seeds this year as well. (source: Baker Creek)
Not only can you find rare and unique varities, it’s so much fun to watch the life cycle of a plant starting from seed. These tiny asparagus spears make me smile. Even though I know it will be 3 years before I can harvest anything from these plants, when I finally do I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing exactly what these plants have seen throughout their lifecycle.
What’s your favorite seedling to see in spring?
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Patiently Waiting
Remember that spinach I sowed in the low tunnel in the garden at the end of March?
I’ve been keeping a keen eye on it waiting for germination. It looks like the two types of soaked seeds germinated a day ahead of the non-soaked seed. Not sure if that makes soaking worth the hassle. I’ll be watching to see if one grows better than the other as well, but I’m guessing they’ll probably be the same.
One thing is for sure, I can’t wait to harvest my first bowl of spinach. As I prepared a frittata this morning I was wishing I had some kind of green to put in it. I used to very much dislike cooked greens, but the more I eat them the more I like them, especially with eggs.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy spinach?
