gardening block overcome, rewards subsequently reaped

 

Everyone, including beans I'm stripping
to get bean plant to resume production.

Mostly cherry toms + 2 ancho peppers.

Tomatillos 'n' little peppers (some sweet, some hot).

A few of the tomatillos are as big as regular tomatoes.
Apparently these pups thrive on neglect.
That and an accidentally deep planting bed,
probably 'cause it catches & keeps more water.

Some of the tomatillos w/husks look like
little green jack o' lanterns to me, so it's kinda seasonally apt.

Anyhow, I'm loving all this color.

Happy Halloween, everyone! =)

xoxobb

Winner of the Great Bean Pile Guessing Game,

 

which is staged here,

is Laura K, of the lovely blog, Forest Walk Art!!

She guessed that this bean pile weighed in at 5.5 lbs.

It weighed 4.75 lbs, in fact.

May I just say that, upon re-examining her blog, she's not only got great shots of nature, but a whole page dedicated to MISSPELLED SIGNS?!? Oh, my. The word nerd in me is all atwitter.

So, thank you to ALL who participated, the charming, the brave, and the 100% female guessers:

Laura K (of course), Lynda (living the adventurous life in S. African wilds), and Sue (who, poor thing, is garden-veggie poor this year, though she is garden-deer rich).

=)

xoxoxo

bb

Phriday photo quiz, what do I weigh? + Garden panic

Me being the beans pictured below, harvested this a.m.

They're sitting on a large platter (well, larger than our normal plates),

and there's a quarter visible for scale.

Poor camera: bright sunshine on plastic

and BLACK ninja-kitty in same frame.

Didn't harvest for 2 or 3 days.

oops.

 

So, what does this pile of beans weigh?

 Closest guess by 8 a.m. Monday wins.

 And none of this "closest without being over" 

silliness--that's such an arbitrary cut off.

Statistically, it makes no sense to me,

and as a former stats nerd, I'm not gonna stand for it.

The prize, as usual, is GLORY.

And, if you have a blog, we'll link to it

so my 3+ blog readers will FLOOD your site

with traffic and you'll become rich.

(Maybe.)

Garden Panic

It's finally hit that time of year

where the yield is starting to freak me out.

 (peppers from SF farmer's market)

 

The pepper plants have all swooned from the burden of bounty,

languishing on the ground for want of extra support 

(or a better caretaker).

I'm now afraid of the tomatoes.

 (also from SF f.m.)

  Don't even want to check them.

Just walk by, averting my gaze,

trying to concentrate on other things.

The gardening equivalent of plugging your ears and humming

to not hear what you don't want to hear.

Traaa la la, la la.

So, Bear is dealing with the park fire,

and his wife is intimidated by tomatoes.

Go figure.

=)

xobb

when ya just don't feel like writing...

 

Cook those tomatoes!

7 lbs of home grown tomatoes

I'm doubling Lynn Rosetto Casper's recipe for tomato sauce (tho' darn it I can't find it on the web--got it second hand...) to use more tomatoes.

And about 10 cloves of garlic.

Funny it should take writing procrastination to get me past procrastinating re: cooking the tomatoes.

Either way, I can now see more counter space that I have in a while. I still have a LONG ways to go, but most, yes, most of the really red ones are now destined for sauce. TODAY. =)

biobabbler

P.S.

Here is the sauce, gettin' saucy...

Lunch. Yum.

Monday's harvest

 

Guess how many pounds that is....

biobabbler

eek! 9.2 lbs of tomatoes? On November 4th?

 
Decided that since I am a) totally sore everywhere and b) hoping to stem a produce panic (no pun intended) and c) SO not at my word count for the day, I will NOT go to the gym today (after 3 days in a row).

Laundry, dishes, maybe some pasta sauce, but def. lots of WRITING!!

Anyhow, harvested these pups today:

Aren't they adorable?

And weighed them. On the people scale, as it maxed out the cooking scale. 9.2 lbs.

And that's not counting the dozen on our counter, the dozens MORE in the garden, the 4 pumpkins I bought, and the 7 winter squash we grew.

Take a long, slow, deep breath...

... and there's the dried blue corn I have to figure out how to mill...

=) Everyone should have this problem. Too much fresh food.

So, here's a shot from the outside of the garden looking in.

You can see a) tomatoes looking like prisoners in a line up, and b) some of the tomato plants still green and happy, c) my chrysanthemums blooming (the purple and pink 'neath the middle of the railing).

The flowers tipped over 'cause I got them, the straggly creatures, at the $1 sale at the nursery. And I probably SHOULD cut the flowers and bring them inside, but the bees are so happy they're there, and the cats would probably just eat them, so they just lay out there, looking beautiful and forlorn.

So: the tomato sauce recipe in Joy of Cooking calls for 2.5 lbs of tomatoes. Guess I'm trippling that puppy. AFTER I figure out how in the world I'll fit everything into the already stuffed fridge.

Maybe tomorrow is tomato sauce day. I'm tired just thinking about it.

And I've still got to get the words out.

Happily, today I thought of something that will be a fun device. I think someone in the story will be a blogger. Then I can have blog posts within the book! OMG, HOW FUN!

Anyhow.

=) yes, bowl of cereal, brush teeth, then back at the keyboard.

xobb

last Monday's harvest shot...

 

Apparently some stealthy corn and squash were still out there in the Three-Sisters thicket.

There's still LOADS of tomatoes out there--I honestly think it's the bulk of our entire harvest. Trying to let them ripen out on the vine as long as possible. Supposed to be in the 70s here, soon, and sunny (rain is done), so maybe more will redden before I have to do the giant tomato harvest.

Keeping my eye on the overnight lows, so I can be sure and grab stuff before it freezes.

Fieldwork updates will probably come today, including a rattlesnake shot.

xobb

p.s. if bb seems a little less colorful than usual, she's illin'.
p.p.s. Remember that starting Monday, I might post hardly at all until December as I'm supposed to be writing a novel, of all things! =)

today's harvest: blinded by buttercup

 
Another unusual harvest day. Or, maybe it's just a fall thing. Cut pretty much all of the winter squash I could readily see. At least until I couldn't see.

buttercup squash, tomatoes, and corn

Once again, gardening around 10:30 a.m., when apparently my blood sugar has crashed (thought I felt fine...), so blinking, grabbing for old corn and squash I said out loud: "Why can't I see?" I'd blink again and my vision re: what I was staring directly at would return, but then it'd happen again. yikes.

So steered myself and the umpteen squashes swaddled in my sweatshirt back to the house for a meal. For me, not the squashes.

Woke up later, and the stems had been oozing clear liquid that the ants liked onto the floor. Picked myself up from my brunch-induced coma and cleaned up the mess, unceremoniously swiping ants.

Take Home Lesson
Freshly picked winter squash initial storage position? Stem-side up, if you don't want cute little sugary pools. =)

Learning all the time with this gardening thing.

Picture is from here, Wikipedia.

Thinkin' that's partly why Thomas Jefferson (brainiac) and George Washington (brainiac who had his own still!) were so into it.

You can seriously geek out; and it's never the same. Ever.

And it's fun.

And yummy.

And pretty.

And the ants love it!

xobiobabbler

weird harvest day... and sexy chocolate shot

 

Finally harvested the watermelons--the vines were all dead, so figured it's time. Yanked out the vines.

fling!

Watermelon for the season: Done.

 The last of the summer squash.

Growth rates super slow, and I want the plots for something else, so out they came, and into the chicken runs.

fling!

Squash for the season: Done.

More nightshades! Lotsa jalapenos.

Had to take a shot of the weigh in of our largest tomato this year

Large is not a priority for me re: tomatoes.

Taste and vigor are.

Nevertheless, I have been beguiled by this plump cutie.

Harvested corn, yesterday, until sunset.

Not flinging the stalks, yet, as they are still supporting winter squash.

Vast majority of the corn for the season: Done.  

Can you see why a color freak like me would grow this corn? YUM!

Not sure how to dry it, but hoping some day it'll be blue corn flower.

Then blue cornbread, maybe? COOL!

Cosmos seeds (and petals). Collected these, then...

fling!

Cosmos for the season: Done.

Feeling kind of ruthless in the garden, of late;
when in doubt, yank it out. =)

fling!

So, while in garden yesterday, after 1.5 hrs, covered in dirt, sweat, and a mixture of live and dead aphids (corn = aphidy), the orange sun sinking below the horizon, I remember: I'm supposed to make something today for Bear's potluck.

Hm.

My default if I space on said task is brownies. Easy, popular, smell good, and I usually have the ingredients.

And that's where this came from:

I love how glassy and smooth this chocolate looks in the pale blue bowl.

Chocolate is so beautiful.

sigh

And last, but not least, these folks stopped by to say Hi to y'all...

Cuties. Looks like a double date.

Looks like I'm not the only one running around this fall, preparing for winter. =)

biobabbler

today's harvest... still!

 

 This is a large serving platter, not a normal-sized plate, so stuff is bigger than you think.

Dropped one tomato, so need to use that 1st, two were over-ripe or something, so they went to the chickens. THIS is why it's so hard to yank out  plants (e.g., squash, tomato) in late summer to plant winter stuff.

So, thinking I FINALLY need to get movin' on spaghetti sauce this week.

Pretty much all winter veggies are still tiny cotyledons. Happily next 5 days or so will get up to 80s, so maybe the plants will grow? =) Skippy's garden is pretty much convincing me I need to fabricate some sort of cold frames to get these guys growing.

xobbb

P.S. Cool ocean etc. pics from this weekend coming up. Took over 200, so it's taking me a while to process and then finally select a few to share. xo

furtive fauna REMINDER + red, green, & brown

 
1. REMEMBER: Last day to turn in furtive fauna shots you've taken is tomorrow (either send me the pic or the link to your posted pic--check the link for details). Oh, heck. Scratch that. YOU HAVE the ENTIRE WEEKEND to paw through and find something. The more the merrier, right? I'll be back in town late Monday, so Tuesday I'll see what you all have come up with.

2. Fall bounty.

red

green

black cat, pink tongue & day's harvest

3. New plot for lettuce, etc.; arming against gophers.

Couldn't find wire cutters, so to add another width of wire, I just folded it over and hung the rest of the role on the stakes. Patience is not always a virtue...

 

brown

Here, most of the dirt is back, and new bag o' composted manure is poised to be added: this is right when I ran out of calories and had to stop. =) MAN those bags are heavy if they've been sitting in the rain--woah!

4. Sprout update: the pak choi cotyledons are up (cute!), I think I saw ONE beet sprout (mind you, this is before the brutal rain and HAIL storm yesterday afternoon), broccoli continues to advance VERY slowly, and so far no clear action in the kale department. Hoping if it clears up a BIT today I can finish the lettuce plot and plant it!

QUESTION TO GARDENERS: So, are beets normally kinda slow to sprout? It's been wet and cool, so that may have affected things, but man, that pak choi POPPED up right away. Eager! =)

5. Soon, I will post more pics from last weekend soon--there's a few more goodies in there, plus a very cool factoid I learned.

6. This weekend we're off to the San Luis Obispo area for a biobabbler family gathering (LOVE my family--SO fun), and there's a parade involved (that we attend, not run). We'll see if we get out into nature avec Nikon. =)

bb

Furtive Fauna Foto deadline, plus quickie harvest shots and low carbon ideas

  
Furtive Fauna Foto Free-For-All
So, we now have a collective Furtive Fauna Foto (or Crypto Photo? Camoflaged Critters?) post coming up, and the due date for submittals is October 8th. Send your links or photos to biobabbler at g mail dot com by then and you will be a player! =)

For those of you who don't know/recall this theme, to which YOU can contribute, it is explained and illustrated here.

It always shocks me when it happens. How did I not see it? It's SO OBvious. In some cases I was close enough to lick the animal, but was totally oblivious.

Anyhow, we have a FEW contributors (Yay!!) and I think I've got at least 3 shots, but the more the merrier, and of COURSE I will give you full credit in whatever G-rated fashion you desire.  =)

Garden update
Random (non-glamorous) shot of SOME of the recent squash pickings (pepo):

I think I may yank the sunburst squash plants pretty soon. Wanting more fall/winter garden real-estate, and the plant is looking pretty tired, but we'll see. I have great difficulty yanking living plants. I swear I can hear them pleading "I just wanna live!" I am also the world's worst plant thinner. Yeesh. Same reason.

Nightshade family goodies: tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and sweet peppers. The jalapenos are ALL flawless, so I'm guessing they have some major protective qualities (mechanical/chemical warfare) protecting them from buggy attack. It's NOT because I've raised them in perfect conditions (note cracked tomatoes...).

Oh, one cool thing; check out the closest, lower left tomato. It stitched up it's potentially cracked skin. It's amazing. Looks like tiny, neat sutures, perfectly perpendicular to the direction of the cut. TOO cool.

These are seeds from my white cosmos. I've been resisting the very strong urge to deadhead the flowers (to get more fresh blooms) so I can get these babies. Seeds for next year! Makes my cheapie and carbon-frugal heart sing. =) I have loads more ripening, so I must continue to resist snapping them off--it's difficult!!

As I've said before, baby steps toward sustainable living. And this is one. =)

OH, and before I forget, ANOTHER carbon-reducer: I heard on an organic gardening show yesterday (You Bet Your Garden) that I can dig up my jalapeno plants, put each in a big pot, and keep them in some sunny, non-freezing place, and the plants can live for years and years. AND, he said they can keep producing up until November!

They just can't take the freezing temps we get here, so if I can possibly figure out a way to protect some southern-exposure window real estate from plant-killing-kitties, I could save my super productive little plants, then, after spring frosts are over, I can chunk them back in the ground, and away they go.

That'd be sweet.

Just to be on the safe side, though, I'll harvest some jalapeno seeds, too. =)

xoxo biobabbler

attention span of a gnat

 
(albeit I'm assuming that's very short, but what do I know)

Remember a number of days ago I posted a picture of my first harvest from the garden? A glorious sunburst squash?

Well, I've harvested maybe 4 since then. AND a tomato.

Any pics? Any celebration?

Nope.

I'm much better and planning and planting and nurturing the garden into maturity. CRAZY about cotyledons. LOVE leafy things. DIG the dirt.

Very bad at harvesting.

Ho hum.

Just not super interesting to me.

So, that got me to thinking; why?

Maybe we need the drive to plant and grow and nurture, but presumably our tummies would hurry along the harvesting. As opposed to today, where people pay other people to help them eat less and burn off what they do eat.

I'm thinking maintaining interest in harvesting, say, 3000 years ago (or even today, just not my house), when your life depended upon it, was not the dilemma.

Not starving was.

hm.

Guess I'll go install that drip irrigation system now.

bb