A New Farmer’s Market: Orrville, Ohio

For the past 2 Thursdays I have visited the Orrville Farmer’s Market in Orrville, Ohio, I just happened to be in the area visiting my mom. It’s a small market, winding down for the season, but there’s still a treasure of stuff there. I found things that the Carrollton Farmer’s Market doesn’t have. It seems like a lot of the booths were offering specialty veggies like blue & cranberry potatoes, mini cabbages, heirloom garlic, and arugula.

I filled my bags will all kinds of goodies including: grass fed beef steaks, zucchini, a few pints of cherry tomatoes, garlic, apples (eating & cooking), grapes, decorative squash, beets, turnips, sweet potatoes, baby cabbage, and a few delicious baked goods (granola, peach gingerbread, peanut butter cookies). Too bad last week was the last market for the year (I’m glad the Carrollton one goes through Nov) or I’d head back over to buy some more goodies, especially some grapes.

Anyone else have a farmer’s market they love?

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Lettuce Love

My lettuce is loving this weather (and so am I). I’m looking forward to salad all fall with this patch and another one.

I have to put a fence around my lettuce or the rabbits mow it down, but that’s ok. Next year I’m considering putting up an electric fence around the back yard to keep all the critters out, but until then my little make-shift fences work.

Anyone have any great tips to keep the rabbits & groundhogs out of the lettuce patch?

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Planting Spinach

Last night I planted some spinach in my new raised bed (which is already half full of red cabbage, kale & mache).

I didn’t have much luck last time I tried to start spinach so I used a different technique this time. I started with furrows made every 4 inches, then I dropped seeds every 2 inches into them (I had trouble with germination last time, so hopefully I’ll get a 50% rate then they’ll be nicely spaced).

Then I covered them with about 1/2″ of sifted compost (it’s supposed to help with dampening off & other problems). It made these lovely lines in the soil.


Then I watered well and I’m hoping for the best. I’m going to use a floating row cover and lots of straw to overwinter this spinach. This will give me an early crop of spinach next spring (at least that’s what all the books say, I’ve never done it before).

By the time I was finished it was getting dark, good thing we have a big security light to garden by. Anyone else had luck overwintering spinach?

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Tomato Soup Recipe Anyone?

Anyone out there have a great recipe for tomato soup to can? Mr Chiots and I love tomato soup for a quick meal and I’d like to get away from the canned stuff and go local. I found a few on-line for Roasted Tomato Soup and a Spiced Tomato Soup and this one for regular Tomato Soup. Just wondering if any of my readers had a great recipe they’d like to share? I’m planning on making a few different kinds to see which one we like best.

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Empty Promises

Here is NE Ohio frost will be arriving soon. Now I love winter, there’s just something about a hot bowl of oatmeal on a frosty morning. The only think I don’t like about winter is the lack of fresh tomatoes and other fresh green veggies. Especially now that Mr Chiots and I are trying to eat locally, I foresee a winter lacking in green things. Now don’t get me wrong, we will be eating veggies this winter, they’ll just be frozen ones from the garden or squash that stores well. We didn’t even come close to preserving enough food for us to last the winter, so I’m sure some California produce will be making it’s way onto our place (probably some steamed broccoli).

I think what I am most sad about is the lack of fresh homegrown tomatoes. I have only bought tomatoes a few times at the grocery and they are sad little things, not really fit for eating. So I’m trying to get the most out of my tomato harvest this year. I have canned a bunch of tomatoes and I plan on buying more at the farmer’s market this weekend for even more canned goodness.

I think I should be able to get a few more ripe tomatoes out of my plants. How? Well, I’ve read that if you pick all the large green or partially ripened fruit and trim all the growing tips off the plants you will get more mature tomatoes off your plants that you can harvest and ripen inside well into November. Since I have a ton of green tomatoes on my plants still, I’m going to give it a shot.

So yesterday I went out and picked all the largest ripening tomatoes. I also clipped off all of the growing tips of the plants. It was tough cutting off all of the new blossoms knowing that if given enough time these would have become delicious tomatoes. When I was done I had 6 pounds of greenish fruit and a bucketful of tomato cuttings.

It is sad cutting off all of the flowers knowing that if given enough time they would turn into delicious tomatoes. Oh well, anything to get a few more ripe tomatoes from my vines. Not all is lost though, the clippings made it into my compost pile to become plant food next year.

So what about you, what food will you miss most some winter?

For more info on pruning tomato vines visit Fine Gardening.

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