the garden

hurray - i finished planting the vegetable garden.  alittle late, but that's usually how it goes.  the hardest part is removing the crabgrass that creeps in over the winter.  it's relentless.  once the grass was cleared, james dumped about five skid steer buckets of compost on the soil.  the chickens had a good time scratching and pecking while i raked it around.  our compost is looking good this year, thanks to james.  he collected manure from a neighbor's horse stalls for about a year, taking the loads by tractor each sunday and dumping them into three huge concrete bins in the back of the property (which, i'll admit, seemed alittle crazy to me at the time).  he mixed it with straw, shavings and manure from our animals, kept it moist and turned it with the tractor every week.  eventually, steam rose from the piles when he turned them and worms appeared, as if by magic.  now we have a ton of rich, odor-free compost for the garden and trees.

fortunately, most things grow well in the soil here.  we had big success with lettuce last summer despite the heat, so i planted more.  i also planted an heirloom variety of beans, yellow peppers, cucumbers and summer squash.  broccoli rabe is a new addition, as are scallions.  the quest for decent tomatoes continues.  i've never had luck growing them, but i try every year.  this year's attempt = early girls and beefsteaks.  i want to plant a large plot of corn in the back, but don't know if we'll get around to it this year since we need to build a temporary fence first.  i've never planted a large enough crop to produce really good corn.  someday.

in another month or so there will be an explosion of figs; missions, brown turkeys, queen annes and kadotas.  there was a fig orchard on the back acre about ten years ago, but only a few trees remain.  i dry as much of the fruit as i can once it's ripe, since figs don't stay fresh too long after they're picked.  the first year, i tried drying figs in the sun but they were hard and chewy. the daughter of the original owners (who lives next door) makes candied figs every year so i modified her technique for processing figs.  i combine water, brown sugar, fresh orange or lemon juice with the peel, red wine, cloves and cinnamon in a stock pot and simmer the figs in it for about 20 minutes or until they are soft and plump.  then i drain and dry them in the oven for 2-3 days.  they last in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or in the freezer for several months.  we save the poaching liquid to use as a syrup over ice cream.  it's awesome.

our fruit trees are old and some of them are reaching the end of their life spans.  we planted about 20 saplings this year - apples, peaches, plums and apricots, mostly.  our neighbor, jim, showed us how to root branch cuttings from our fig trees.  he's lived in the area his whole life, grafts his own trees, and is an encyclopedia of experience about all things green.  with his help, james rooted half a dozen little missions and queen annes that are ready to be transplanted into boxes.