Mulching the Strawberry Patch
This spring we put in two 4×10 foot raised beds filled with 3 different kinds of strawberries. We planted early, mid, and late bearing plants, that way we have strawberries for a longer period of time. Since this was our first summer with plants, we didn’t get any strawberries. I faithfully picked off the blooms when I saw them, hoping for a great crop this year.
Strawberries like acidic soil, so when we built the raised beds we added extra peat moss to the soil mix. I tested the ph and it was perfect for strawberries. I’ve read several placed that strawberries should be mulched in the winter to protect the crowns (especially here in Ohio where we have fairly cold winters). I was planning on using straw, but then I decided the pine needles would work better.
They have less of a tendency to attract slugs and they are acidic so they will help maintain a proper ph in the strawberry bed. Since we don’t have any pine trees on our property, we loaded a few tubs into the car and headed down to the walking path in our neighborhood. It’s under canopy of huge white pine trees, so there were plenty of pine needles for us to rake up, and the best part is that they’re FREE!
We spent a 15 minutes raking up a few bins full of mulch and then headed home. We had to make 2 trips but we were able to get enough mulch for our 2 strawberry beds and our 6 blueberry bushes (which also like acidic soil).
The mulch not only helps protect the plants and improves the soil, but it makes the beds look much nicer as well. In the spring we’ll scrape off most of the mulch and it will go in the compost pile to finish decomposing.
Do any of you have any other great ideas for free mulch?
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Eating Seasonally = Winter Squash
When you’re trying to eat seasonally you start to wonder what you’re going to be eating for veggies in the winter. I do have mache and spinach still growing in the garden for greens, as well as canned green beans, beets, and zucchini pickles in the pantry. All of these are wonderful, but one of the best winter vegetables is butternut squash. They’re super easy to store, mine are just sitting on top of the side table in my dining room. They will last for up to 6 months if stored properly. Now that’s amazing, no canning, freezing or preparing, just pile in a corner and check them every week or so, could it get any easier than that?
There’s just something about roasted squash that is warm and cozy. They’re also super healthy. Butternut squash is an excellent source of magnesium, potassium, vitamins C and A, and a good source of calcium.
So how do you go about eating a butternut squash? They can be cooked in a variety of ways: baked, pureed (like mashed potatoes), in muffins, in pies, in ravioli or lasagna, and in soups. We prefer ours in soup or roasted, although butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter occasionally graces our winter table. You can also eat the seeds if you’d like. I sometimes roast them in the oven, but most of the time I save them and throw them out by the bird feeder for the birds.
Most of the butternut squashes that grew in my garden this summer were small ones, but I did have a volunteer that grow out of my compost pile that produced a 3 pound squash. I bought 6-7 at the farmer’s market along with a few pumpkins and other kinds of squash.
Here’s my favorite Butternut Squash recipe.
Butternut Squash and Chipotle Soup
from Fresh & Light (Williams-Sonoma)
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, 2.5 lbs
1 tablespoon of butter
2 slices of coarse country bread, each about 1/2 inch thick cut into 1/2 inch cubes (for croutons)
1 teaspoon of dried sage
1/2 yellow onion chopped
2 small chipotle peppers (I’d start with 1 without seeds and then taste) I use canned ones
3 1/2 cups of chicken broth
salt to taste
fresh sage leaves (optional)
Preheat oven to 350. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Using spoon, scrape out the seeds and any fibers and discard. Place the squash halves, cut side down, on a baking sheet and bake until just tender, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven. When cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a bowl.
In a large saucepan over medium high heat, warm the butter. Add the bread and dried sage and saute, stirring often, until the bread cubes are browned on all side, about 4 minutes. Using a spoon, transfer croutons to a plate and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the squash chiles, and broth. Simmer over medium heat and cook, uncovered, until the squash is very soft, about 30 minutes.
Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth (or with immersion blender), be very carefully blending hot soup as it has a tendency to explode the top off the blender. It’s best to start with bursts of power then to full blend. Its also wise to keep a kitchen towel draped over the blender. I have found an immersion blender to be indispensable since we make many pureed soups.
Return soup to the pan and reheat gently. If desired add some whole milk and butter. Taste and add salt and freshly ground pepper as needed. Ladle into warmed bowls. Divide the croutons among the servings and garnish with sage leaves. Serve hot.
What’s you’re favorite way to eat butternut squash?
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Elderberry Syrup
Em from Dance of the Small Things asked for my Elderberry Syrup recipe back when I posted about the items I had canned as part of the Harvest Keepers Challenge. I make syrup every year and we use it for pancakes and we also stir it into tea as a sweetener. Elderberries are super healthy and great for you. Handmaiden’s Kitchen has a few posts on the benefits and how to make an elderberry tincture.
Elderberry is used for its antioxidant activity, to lower cholesterol, to improve vision, to boost the immune system, to improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsilitis. Bioflavonoids and other proteins in the juice destroy the ability of cold and flu viruses to infect a cell. People with the flu who took elderberry juice reported less severe symptoms and felt better much faster than those who did not.
This is my recipe for syrup. You can just make it using sugar, elderberry syrup and lemon juice if you don’t mind a runny syrup. I prefer mine to be a little thicker so I use pectin, I find it works much better on pancakes this way (doesn’t make the pancake soggy). If you plan on using this only for health benefits in tea, you probably don’t need to add pectin. I use no-sugar pectin so I can make a reduced sugar syrup, I also use organic evaporated cane juice to sweeten my syrups & jellies.
First you want to pick very ripe elderberries (I always pick as many as I can, I think this is about 10 quarts) and remove all stems (stems are poisonous so make sure to get as many as possible). Next, you’ll cook the berries down with a little water to prevent sticking. I usually barely boil mine for 30-35 minutes in a big stock pot with the lid on, every so often I crush them with a potato masher. Next let them cool a bit and press them through a sieve if desired (you can leave in the seeds if you’d like, I strain mine out). You’ll end up with elderberry juice.
I ended up with about a gallon of elderberry juice from my stock pot full of berries. At this point you can refrigerate the juice if you’d like for a day or two before you make the syrup, or you can proceed and make the syrup right away.
ELDERBERRY SYRUP
1. Bring boiling water canner, half-full of water, to simmer.
2. Prepare jars, lids and rims for canning.
3. Measure 10 cups of prepared juice into pan and add in 1/2 cup of lemon juice.
4. Measure 8 cups of sugar into bowl, set aside.
5. Mix 1/4 cups of sugar (from bowl that you set aside) and mix with pectin in a small bowl.
6. Stir pectin/sugar mix into fruit juice, add 1/2 teaspoon of butter to keep foam down.
7. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil (a boil that can’t be stirred down), stirring constantly.
8. Stir in remaining sugar and return to a full boil and boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. (remove a small amount of syrup from pan and cool quickly on cold plate to test consistency, you want it to by syrupy but not too thick).
9. Ladle quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of top. Wipe jar rims and threads, cover with lids and place jars in elevated rack in the canner. Water must cover jars 1 or 2 inches above lids. Cover and bring water to a gentle boil. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. Remove and cool on rack.
Just a note: Make sure you’re picking real elderberries and not ink berries. If you’re not sure, find someone who knows and have them help you. As with anything else, make sure you’re not allergic to something before you eat a big helping of it. Also make sure to check the seals on the jars before storing them.
What kinds of delicious syrups/jellies did you make this summer?
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My Favorite Herb: Thyme
My favorite herb is lemon thyme. I always have a potted thyme around for quick harvest, it lives on the back porch in the summer and inside by the patio doors in the winter. I like all kinds of thyme plants, I have 5-6 different ones growing in the garden, but lemon is the one I have potted and always reach for when cooking.
It’s a beautiful herb with variegated leaves. It brightens the flavor of whatever soup or sauce you add it to. I will never be without a lemon thyme plant in my gardens.
Thymes are great in the garden. They’re hardy plants and they attract a lot of beneficial insects, mine are abuzz all summer with bees and butterflies. As with most herbs they are also not enjoyed by pests such as rabbits and deer. Most of them bloom, often in a purple color.
This Woolly Thyme has the greatest color and texture.
I also have creeping thyme in the garden, it’s great for hillsides, quickly spreading to cover the ground with a beautifully scented green carpet!
This is a Major Red’s Creeping Thyme, I just took this photo yesterday. Most thyme’s turn a beautiful shade of red or crimson in the fall/winter, as you can also see by the woolly thyme below.
What kinds of thyme grow in the gardens here at Chiot’s Run? Elfin Thyme, Major Red’s Creeping Thyme, Carpet Thyme, Lemon Thyme, and English Thyme. I would love to get some Coconut Thyme, Lime Thyme, French Thyme and some Orange Balsam Thyme. Papa Geno’s is a great place to find different kinds of thyme if you’re looking to expand your collection.
What’s your favorite herb?
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Harvest Time
This is a photo of a few of the pumpkins & squashes that I harvested out of the garden earlier this fall. I thought it was interesting how the sunlight was hitting them one evening.
For some reason all these squashes were fairly small. The ones I harvested a few weeks later were huge (of course they were growing out of my compost pile).
Can’t wait to eat these, hmm what will it be? Butternut squash soup, roasted butternuts, pumpkin pie or bread? Any suggestions or great recipes out there?
