Is That an Onion in Your Pocket?
Yesterday I was working on my computer and Mr Chiots came over to look at something and said, “Do you smell something?”.
I said, “Not really”. But a little later I started noticing an “oniony” smell and was wondering where it was coming from. Then I remembered I had an onion in my pocket.
Earlier that day, I was out working in the garden and I found a small onion while cleaning out one of the vegetables beds. I put it in my pocket and kept working and completely forgot it was there until it revealed itself. I’ve done this before, on occasion I’ll put on a pair of jeans or a sweatshirt, stick my hand in the pocket and find some seeds or some wilted herbs.
Have you ever found anything interesting in your pocket?
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Harvesting Yukon Gold Potatoes
On October 6, I harvested my potatoes my from raised potato bed (read this blog post to see how I planted my potatoes). When harvested the first plant, I was disappointed because I only found a few small potatoes.
There were a few medium sized potatoes at the top of the box and none in the middle. By the time I got to the bottom of the box I was imagining that I’d end up with only a few more potatoes than I had planted back in early summer. I struck gold however with the second plant I dug up, there was a nice batch of potatoes with a few fairly large ones.
I actually ended up with a decent harvest (11 pounds), especially considering that Yukon Gold potatoes aren’t supposed to be heavy producers. Only 6 of my seed potatoes produced a decent crop of potatoes, and they were all on one side of the box. I think that lack of sun on the one side was probably the reason for the absence of potatoes. I’m sure if I had great garden soil and a lot of sunshine I could do much better. But we all have to deal with the gardens we have, so I’m happy with my harvest.
We enjoyed a few of the potatoes a few nights later and were particularly delicious; we simply cut them into small bits and fried them in a little bacon grease and enjoyed them with a side of farm fresh eggs. The rest of them are in the basement in a box waiting for other delicious meals, I’m considering a hearty potato soup next.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy potatoes?
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2009 Edible Garden Collage
I enjoy being a member of Flickr. I like the social aspect of it, seeing other people’s photos, commenting on them and being a part of groups. I also like the way you can organize your photos into sets. The collage of all the photos in each set is great to see, I particularly liked the collage of my set titled:
2009 Edible Garden.
If you’re not a member of Flickr I’d recommend joining, it’s free (unless you upgrade to a pro account). You may just find a new group of friends (if you are on Flickr post a link to your photostream below, we’d love to see your photos).
Do you have a great on-line place you enjoy visiting?
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Strawberry Popcorn Harvest
I wrote about harvesting my popcorn last week. Popcorn has to be dried to about 13%-16% moisture for the best popping. I set the little ears of corn out in the sun for a few days and on Sunday we had some time to go out and get them ready to go into the oven for their final drying.
After spending the afternoon in the sun, the ears were brought in and put in the oven set at 100 for further drying. I’ll keep drying it until the kernels start to fall off of the cobs, then I’ll pop them all off and store them in a jar. I can’t wait to pop some!!!
It is the most beautiful popcorn, the kernels are ruby red and the ears are shaped like strawberries, it’s almost too pretty to eat. The seeds are from Botanical Interests if you’d like to grow them in your garden.
I haven’t weighed the popcorn yet, I figured I’d wait until it all came off the cob (I figured it’s a more realistic total since that’s the part we’ll be eating). I’m going to save 20-30 kernels off a few of the best ears for future planting. I’m not sure if I’ll grow this kind of popcorn again next or another kind, or perhaps sweet corn to eat off the cob.
Have you grown any ornamental edibles?
Popcorn update, in 2011 we grew a different kind which was tasty as well, here’s my post about our 2011 popcorn harvest
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Harvesting Herbs for Tea
This week I’ve been out harvesting a lot of my herbs for warming winter teas. I should harvest them all summer long, but I get busy and always forget to do it until winter threatens. I carry a big bowl around with me and snip the fresh herbs. I keep them all separate in small paper bags that I’ve saved.
I think I picked about 2 pounds of herbs for tea this winter as well as a few savory herbs for seasoning (I also like savory tea on occasion) and some medicinal herbs.
What herbs made it into my harvest bowl?
-Catmint
-Blue Stocking Bergamot
-Anise Hyssop
-Peppermint
-Mountain Mint
-Lemon Balm
-Chamomile
-Lavender
-Greek Oregano
-Fennel Seed
-Genovese Basil
-Broad Leafed Plantain
-Comfrey
I was even able to harvest a small handful of chamomile. I had one volunteer plant that I harvested a good amount of blossoms from earlier in the summer. These few flowers are from a plant I started later in the summer. For some reason I didn’t have much luck with my chamomile this year, since I love chamomile tea I hope I have a better harvest next year!
I also have a few potted herbs that I bring in as houseplants, these include: rosemary, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and chives. All of these we will enjoy fresh all winter long.
Do you dry herbs for seasoning & tea?
