Category Archives: Harvest

Bedding the Pumpkin Patch


We were really excited about our pumpkins this year.  I for one, love pumpkins and all their various shapes and sizes, I can never have to many.  They did fairly well at the farmers market this year, however we are planning a different marketing strategy for next season.

One of the biggest struggles with pumpkins, or any squash for that matter, is the squash bug.  It will take out a whole squash plant in one day and once you see the all too familiar wilting on your vine the plant is gone and so are all the pumpkins on that vine.  Then the buggers march on over to the next plant and before you know it your patch is ruined.  There are a few things you can do, but nothing is one hundred percent effective and the best plan is to be proactive from the very beginning, meaning the fall before you sow your pumpkins.

The year before we lost about half our pumpkins, this season we maybe lost a third and next season will be even better.  This year I was very vigilant, I would get up around 5:00 am and check under every leaf for eggs and bugs, scraping the eggs and destroying the bugs.  Any vines that showed the least bit of wilt were cut off at the base and thrown away, not composted, not fed to the animals, they were removed from the property.  I couldn’t chance a squash bug escaping back to the patch.
Our preparations for next season started this Saturday with a massive clean up. Squash bugs will hibernate in old plant debris, the spent vines, leaves and straw left on the garden.  This is problematic for me as a “compost in place, no-till, leave nature to do its job” kind of girl.  However the squash bugs had gotten so bad, it was time to re-think this philosophy a bit. We needed to pull up as many of the old vines as possible and dispose of them in a way that killed the over wintering bugs. We also needed to clean up the old plastic we used as a mulch for weeds.


Instead of composting or feeding them to animals all the vines were burned. There were too many vines to send out with the trash,  burning and then mixing the ashes in with the soil make me feel a little better about things.
Another thing that helps combat the hibernating bugs is a light till. I don’t loving tilling, in my research the soil does better when left to do what is does best, but I’ve also learned that a very light till can have some benefits and little of the draw backs. So Mike and the boys gave the whole patch a little fluffing, this brings the bugs up and exposes them to the elements and kills them.

And lastly, the pumpkin patch will be moved.  Rotation is very key and I am embarrassed to admit, I have never rotated pumpkins off this patch. This has always been a family garden so I didn’t manage it as carefully as I ought to have, but now that its a market garden rotation must be done with much thought and exactness. It is critical I get pumpkins off this bit of ground. The Pumpkin patch will be relocated and doubled in size to a new area that was cleared and prepared this summer.  The old pumpkin patch will have new market beds with some classics like peas, beans and carrots with a colorful twist, which I love.

Growing Medicine

Along with Elderberry, and Yarrow, Echinacea is one of my ultimate go-to for winter illness.

“Echinacea (echinacea angustifolia) is the prime remedy to help the body rid itself of microbial infections.  It is effective against both bacterial and viral attacks…It is especially useful for infections of the upper respiratory tract…In general it may be used widely and safely.”  David Hoffman “Holistic Herbal” p.197

The part of the plant used medicinally is the root. When using medicinal roots ideally the root needs to be a least two years old, three or four years is even better. I use a lot of echinacea during the winter, I don’t like to be without the tincture. I have planned and eagerly anticipated the time when I would be harvesting my own roots.  This year was the year!

These sweet little babies are two years old and had a great summer, they were big, thick and full of flowers.  When harvesting medicinal roots the best time is in the fall after a few frosty weeks, the energy of the plant is diverted down into the roots, making the medicinal properties richer. We have had a succession of cold nights and sparkly mornings and the forecast was calling for a hard freeze.  It would have been fine to harvest after the hard freeze, but I didn’t want to be digging in the cold and I wanted to make sure I could see the plants and only take the strongest and healthiest.
In my patch I picked about half of the biggest most healthy plants.  Healthy plants make good strong medicine. With a fork I gently lifted each plant with its root system intact.  They looked so beautiful.

The big roots were sliced in half and about half of the smaller roots broken off, the green foliage and flower heads were trimmed back. The smaller roots and about a third of the big root stalks were set aside in my foraging basket.
The remaining roots were tucked back into their original spots, a few were planted in a new patch. My goal is to have a continual supply of 2-3 and 4 year roots.  To do this I have to be very deliberate and thoughtful about how much I take, how much I re-plant and where.
And true to my nature and philosophy, all the greens and spent flower heads were laid right back from where they came.  They will compost in place, feeding the soil that fed them.
This is my harvest, they will dry out for a few days, the dirt brushed off and then they will be tinctured for six weeks. These beauties will help keep my family healthy throughout the winter. They are also going to go into a formula I am working on that will be an even more powerful ally against the cold and flu.

Keep watching, we will be launching a web store very soon where you can get my herbals, syrups, tinctures and soaps. We are so excited to be able to share the goodness with everyone.

Putting the Garden to Bed

About a week ago we got one of our first really cold nights.  Technically we didn’t get below freezing, but I’ve come to learn over the years that our farm is in a little micro climate that is a few degrees cooler than homes that are only six hundred or so feet west of us or a couple miles north and south. That means when the night time temperatures are predicted to be in the low 40’s we can easily flirt with freezing temperatures. We didn’t have a hard freeze that night, other wise the whole garden would be black and dead, but we did get low enough to zap some of the pumpkin vines, the cucumbers and the green beans. I am sad about the cucumbers, we could have had a few more weeks with them, but I didn’t pay close enough attention and get them covered.  The green beans were on their way out already, the generally cooler temperatures had slowed production to almost nothing.  With that being the case it was time to put that bed to sleep for the winter.  I don’t like my beds to sit empty for long, I like quick turn around to give all the time I can to preparing for the next crop. (Sorry the pictures aren’t that great, the lighting was terrible and we were working quickly to get done before dark)

You can see the tops of the bushes are yellow and dead, those leaves got cold enough it killed them, the plant underneath are still alive, but all the blossoms dropped, indicating we are done with green beans for the season.

A close up of the frost zapped plants.

The first step to preparing the bed for the winter is to mow down the plants. Unless I find evidence of disease or insect infestation I never pull plants up, they are mowed down and left to compost in place. The roots will compost under the ground, nourishing it and feeding beneficial soil bacteria.

On the farm we use a “low” till method. We don’t regularly  till the soil and if we do its very light and shallow. Tilling disrupts the soils ecosystem, which is fragile and necessary, especially with organic gardening. Instead of tiling I will lightly aerate with a broad fork, pushing it in the soil and lifting slightly, I don’t dig anything up or turn it over. This allows oxygen, water and compost to filter a little more easily down into the soil and helps combat compaction. Ideally a healthy soil ecosystem accounts for those things, but we are still working on that!

After working the bed with a broad fork we add a nice layer of organic matter. I happened to use old leaves from last year. I have used old hay and straw, it doesn’t matter so much what it is, what matters is that organic matter is getting put down. Very soon the earthworms, rolly-pollies and other insects and microorganisms will get to work on those leaves, breaking them down and leaving a nice humus layer. This will help the soil retain water, stay fluffy for oxygenation and feed next years crop.

Over all the leaves we spread between 2-3 inches of compost. This black gold is home grown Quail Run compost made from old hay and bedding from the goats and rabbits, horse manure, leaves, grass clippings, comfrey, kitchen scraps and chickens. These were all piled in the chicken yard and the chicken spend about three weeks working it over, turning it and adding their contribution. This is the best compost, so rich and healthy. I’m always amazed that a few weeks ago this looked like a pile of dirty hay and now it looks and smells like rich soil. The compost will add to the richness of the soil and also aid in breaking down the leaf layer.

Finally after mowing, going over with the broad fork, adding organic matter and compost I was ready to seed for the cover crop. Leaving a bed bare could potentially make all my hard work go to waste. Wind, freezing tempratures, heavy rain can all wash away and break down the soil layers. A cover crop keeps that all in place. A cover crop will also add to the organic matter in the bed come spring time when it is mowed and lightly tilled in, cover crops will also add certain nutrients to the soil. I am planting rye grass and winter rye, both will germinate and grow until everything freezes soil for several days, it will then stay dormant until the early spring and then pick right back up, it will be ready for mowing just before planting time. I finished raking the compost and sowing the cover crop by head lamp.

Here is the bed a day or two later. Now the fun part: watching for little rye sprouts!

 

Pumpkins

Autumn is one of my most favorite times of the year.  I most likely say that at the beginning of every new season, I am glad to live in an area of the world where I get to have four seasons, I like the variety and anticipation that each season brings. That being said, Autumn is one of my favorites, I don’t tire of it quickly and I love the cool nights, the harvest, the fall colors, snuggling in front of the first fire of the season.  Its such a lovely time of year. I must confess another reason I love autumn is my love affair with pumpkins. Seriously they are the mostly beautiful and interesting of all vegetables.  I love the typical jack-o-lantern style and I love the old heirloom varieties, the kind that people have been growing in France for five hundred years.  I love them all.  I have to restrain myself every spring as I plan and plant my garden so I don’t plant too    many.  I so enjoy pumpkins.

 

This year I didn’t feel  as bad about  all the pumpkins I planted, we were able to share them with people at market, and let them enjoy the variety and take them home to love too. How can you not love a pumpkin that is green and pinky/orange mottled? Or one whose ridges are so deep and defined it looks like it came right out of mid evil Europe?

Having a nice harvest of good pumpkins speaks to an old part of my soul, the lingering part from my ancestors that would have looked upon those pumpkins and known they would be eating well over the cold winter. That the bright oranges and greens would have been refreshing for the eyes during the dark winter months. As these beautiful pumpkins adore my table, my front porch and eventually feed my family and farm animals I can’t help but feel as if I’m tapping into days long past.

Elderberry

September has come and so has the elderberry harvest. Here on the farm I only have a few elderberry bushes that were planted from small bare root starts a couple years ago, so they are still young and not very productive.  I was only able to get enough elderberry to make some tincture and infused honey, which I am so excited about, however that isn’t quite enough to meet the needs of my ten person household through the winter.

Many people around here and in many parts of the country forage for elderberries, they grow prolifically along ditches, creeks and up canyons. I have never wild foraged for elderberries, the farm is in a dry area and to find elderberries we must make a trip up to the mountains and find an area to forage that isn’t part of the National Park system (it is illegal to forage anything without a permit) and hasn’t already been found and harvested.  That is  a big time commitment with no guarantee of a harvest.  Instead I order dried, organic berries to make syrup with. Someday soon I will have enough of my own berries as we plan to add more bushes to the farm.

I have had great success in the past with my elderberry syrup in building my family’s immune system and shortening the duration of colds and  the flu. This year I decided to make extra and sell at my farm stand, the first week I completely sold out. I am excited to add this to our offerings this fall and throughout the winter.

Kale

No matter your feelings about kale, you have to admit this stuff is cute when it is little.  This baby kale is about a week away from planting in the garden.  It is a little late for a fall harvest, we might get some, as kale is very cold hardy, but I’m not expecting much. Mostly I am using it as a cover crop in my rotation.  The bed this is going into had beets, and beets can be rather hard on the soil, they take a lot out of it.  Kale on the other hand is a bit more gentle and adds a lot of biomass at the end of its life.  I can also easily sow micro clover around the kale once it is established to fix nitrogen, keeps weeds down and add biomass as well. Cover crops are not something I have utilized much, but I plan on learning more and making them an integral  part of our farming system.

Spring Peas

Today as I was out checking the garden I noticed that there were peas on the vines! The end of June our spring peas decided it was too hot and in a pout stopped flowering.  They ended up in the compost pile and a new set of pea seeds were planted. I had been noticing a flower or two the last week, what I hadn’t noticed that under the leaves there were many more flowers than I had known.  Today I saw them, beautiful snow peas, they should be productive well into October and I am so excited!

Small Pumpkins

I love variety and beauty. Gardening has always been very satisfying for me because I can experiment a lot with both variety and beauty. I’m always trying new vegetables and flowers, usually mixing the two.

One way I like to bring variety and visual interest to the garden is by vertical plantings.  A couple years ago Mike made several of these four sided trellises in some of the garden beds and I’ve has a lot of fun growing things right up them.  I do a lot of runner beans (they have a prettiest flowers) and cucumbers, but one of my favorites would be mini pumpkins.

I’ve done a lot of mini pumpkins over the years, they are so cute and they kids just love them, they last through fall decorating and when they are done being pretty the chickens and goats enjoy them as an early winter treat. While pumpkins are a vine, they don’t naturally grow up, like pole beans or peas, and they need a bit of help. I like to use strips of cut up cotton shirts, they have a little bit of give in them, so when the wind blows it won’t snap the vine, they are very sturdy, but if one happens to be left in the garden they will break down nicely. They look a little ragged right after I lift the vines and tie them down, but bounce back pretty quickly. They are a fun addition to the garden and growing them vertically not only looks nice, but saves valuable garden space.

This is the mini pumpkin plant about a week after I tied it up, you can see how much bigger it has gotten and how nice and filled out it is.

 

Summer Squash

I know summer squash (a group that zucchini is a part of) is sort of a joke among gardeners  and neighbors in the summertime. They are abundant and prolific and even the most beginning level gardener can be quite successful with them. 

Growing up I swear I ate buckets of zucchini and crook neck squash and I really hated it.  My mom (love you) would boil those babies and they were pretty tasteless, at least in my opinion. Then my younger sister got married and her new husband cooked up a zucchini on the grill with lemon pepper seasoning….And. I. Was. Hooked. Add to that I start getting these seed catalogues, from Bakers Creeks and Johnny’s Seeds that has all sorts of summer squash, different shapes and colors and sizes.  Not only had my taste buds been satisfied, but my urge for fun and variety was being satisfied.

I’ve grown summer squash ever since.  There are so many different ways to cook summer squash, Pinterest is full of great recipes, but I’d like to share my go-to way of cooking it.  My kids even like it.  This year when I served up the first of the squash my 12 year old boy gave a shout and a fist pump he was so excited!

My method is quite simple:

wash

slice it up in whatever desired shape and size

heat up some type of fat (butter, bacon grease, olive oil, etc) until its nice and hot, add the squash

season as desired (we love garlic salt)

cook until soft, but not mushy, and the edges get a nice golden brown color

serve warm.

 

Enjoy!

 

Roasted Roots

 

This is the time of year when the cool spring vegetables are finished and the warm summer vegetables are on. The beets and carrots are getting just big enough to harvest.  They are small, but I think the small root vegetables are the most tender and sweetest, I’m always excited when I can start harvesting them.

For Sunday dinner I braved the blistering 100+ degrees and trekked into the garden to dig up a few of the bigger carrots and beets that I had left, not taking them to market the day before so we could enjoy them for dinner.  My four year old Jack followed me out and delighted in pulling up the carrots after I loosened the soil around them.  He would exclaim, delighted, every time a long carrot root popped out.

When they are this young young I don’t bother peeling them, the skins are still thin and easy to eat.  I do scrub the dirt off well and cut the tops off, leaving a bit of the stems, I think it looks pretty and it gives the roasted veggie a bit of a sweet crunch.  I cut the beets in half, that way they roast at the same rate as the carrots.  Then I simply drizzled with a little bit of avocado oil and sprinkle with salt.  Then in the oven they go at 400 degrees for around 30 minutes or until they are soft all the way through.

When finished they have a beautiful golden color and the sugars have caramelized, creating the best flavor.  The thin roots at the bottom of the carrots are a bit crunchy and so sweet, my kids love that part the very best.