The Bee Buzz

I am a recovering bee hater. Being stung over 10 times as a child will create that fear and hatred. However, as an adult gardener I see their role and importance everyday in my yard. Without them, I would not be harvesting the bounty that I have!

I'm sure you have all heard about the recent plight of the honeybees. The decline of them recently is very real and scientists still are not sure why. Some attribute it to colony-collapse disorder, mites,pesticides, or environmental changes (duh!) but they really do not know why.

In Sunset Magazine this month, there is an article by Allison Arieff about a San Francisco State University associate professor of biology named Gretchen LeBuhn who is trying to get to the bottom of it all. She noticed that this decline in bees was affecting her own garden. The productivity of her veggies has declined as well and thought that she could enlist the help of fellow gardeners in gathering research. Enter "The Great Sunflower Project" http://www.greatsunflower.org/. Through this project, she will send you sunflower seeds for you to plant. When they grow, observe your bee situation and report back to her. She now has about 55,000 participants and it is continuing to grow.

Through this research she is able to track bee populations all over the country. I am hoping, through this project, solutions will be found so that our great pollinators do not fly (or die) away. Join her project and help the bees!

In a pickle...

The other day I was minding my own business, pulling weeds in my garden, and picking tomatoes (since they are never ending it seems). I went to turn off the water to the hose and spotted this monstrous cuke hiding amongst the squash and watermelon leaves. Note the fork next to it to show you scale. It is so large that I actually laughed out loud...I think I may have blushed also. I had never even seen it growing in there- only the small, oddly misshapen ones you can see in the picture. This cucumber appears to have a business of it's own.

Since I am currently OBSESSED with canning, I decided to make pickles. These are not the type of pickles that most recipes call for though- they are Japanese cucumbers. After some cookbook and computer research, I found a couple of recipes that looked good and kind of merged them into my own. Here's what I did:

-I hacked the cucumbers into spears that would fit into the jars I have.

-I put them and chunkily chopped red onion into a large pot filled with salted water (called a brine). The brine is supposed to suck the water out of the cukes so that they are crunchy.

-I put the pot with everything in my fridge for about 24 hours.

-The next day, I took the speared cukes and red onion out of the brine and let them dry out a bit on some clean towels.

-While they dried, I mixed rice vinegar (3 cups), water (2 cups), 4 dried red chilies (whole), 2 cinnamon sticks, and about 12 black peppercorns in a non-reactive bowl (not metal). I used a ceramic bowl.

-I boiled water in another pan and set this ceramic bowl in it to heat the pickling juice.

-I put the cucumber spears and red onion into sterilized canning jars with some garlic cloves, poured the vinegar mixture to within 1/2 in. of the top, closed the jars, and brought them to a boil for about 15-20 minutes. Then take them out of the water to cool. Wait to hear the pops so you know that they have sealed! Mine popped!

Now, all the recipes say to let them sit for about a week until eating- so I haven't actually eaten them yet. That's my disclaimer. For all I know, they could taste like crap. However, they smelled good and look quite pretty in the jars. After I taste them next week, I'll let you know. If they do taste bad, then I will have some pretty jars to display won't I?

Tomato tomaaato...

The tomatoes (tomaaatoes if you're a Brit) have been insane around here. They just keep coming and coming. With a recipe from "Good Housekeeping" magazine in my hot, little hand, I set out to make oven dried tomatoes. Now the recipe called for Romas, but being the good adventurer that I am (and only having Yellow Pear and Beefsteaks), I experimented.

Here's how it goes:

-Pre-heat the oven to 300.

-Chop the tomatoes into pieces (the Yellow Pears in half).

-Toss them in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

-Lay parchment paper on cookie sheets and spread the tomatoes out in a layer.

-Chop garlic and basil and sprinkle over the top of them. A little more oil too!

-Bake in the oven for 4-5 hours. Rotate the cookie sheet halfway through.

-Take them out when they are shriveled and look like sun-dried tomatoes.

-Put into jars and submerge in olive oil.

-Keep in the fridge for up to 1 month (if you can resist from eating them that is!).

That night for dinner we made pasta with chicken/fennel/artichoke sausage and these glorious tomatoes! They were so much better than store-bought could ever be. As soon as I have more tomatoes ready in that garden, I'll for sure be drying some more!

Nice Peaches!

In my attempt to want to learn how to can things, I decided to go to a Farmer's Market to pick something fresh and in season to can. Being that it is summer, the obvious choice was peaches- also one of my favorite fruits. To make it even MORE worthwhile, I bought organic peaches (and also used organic sugar in the syrup!).

True to myself, I bought all the things for canning and the peaches and almost didn't follow through with it. I'm glad that I did though because now I have 6 gorgeous jars of peaches cooling on my kitchen counter, golden yellow and orange with the sunlight glistening through the jars...

Okay sounds great, but it didn't start out so beautiful. Let me tell you about peeling a peach. I would liken it to skinning a cat. Or pulling peeling skin off a sunburned person. Now maybe I didn't "blanch" them well enough (dipping them in boiling water to loosen the skins) or maybe they weren't ripe enough either (some were and others weren't). My peach peeling skills were definitely lacking and it took a while. Sometimes I would get a perfect one that would peel off as it should. Others though, were like pulling teeth. I even resorted to using a knife to peel one *gasp*.

Surprisingly though, the peeling was really my only issue. As overwhelming as canning looks, it really is a simple sequence of instructions and, being the good-girl-rule-follower that I am, it was quite easy (and fun!). I listened to country music to really make me feel like I actually needed to be doing this, like storing up for the long winter in my little house on the prairie. I even wore a dish towel around my waist for wiping my hands and jars. All that was missing were dirty little children running around and hiding in my long, flowy skirt (yes, I even wore that!).

After I took them out from processing (boiling the jars with fruit in them for a certain amount of time), I went to feed the peach peels to my worms and heard the, "Pop! Pop!" of the jars sealing. Music to my Laura Ingalls Wilder ears. It worked! They are sealed properly! And now I am proud as I look at my beautiful jars cooling on the counter. Ready to be eaten in the long winter months ahead. ;)

*On a side note: It is way easier to buy canned fruit at the store. Maybe slightly cheaper too. However, buying local and in season is the goal right? Those cans at the store travel from who- knows-where using precious fuel. Growing fruits and veggies yourself and/or buying at a local farmer's market reduces your carbon footprint AND supports local farmers! Also, the jars are much, much prettier...

Squash- to can or to freeze?

I am soon going to be blessed with an (over) abundance of squash. I'm planning to make butternut squash ravioli and soup, however, I wasn't sure if the soup should be canned or frozen. After doing some internet research, I found that most discussions recommend freezing due to the fact that squash is quite dense. This means that the entire jar may not boil while canning and can then grow botulism- not good! And so I will make my soup and pack my freezer with it for the LONG, cold San Diego winter months ahead- heh heh ;)... At least I will have it ready to go for my annual Halloween party anyway, even if it may be 80 degrees out like last year. Oh well...

While doing my research, I found a great website for you healthy moms working so hard to raise healthy kids. It's called www.mothering.com and has great info- from pregnancy to diapers to canning your own food. Remember, every little step you make towards being more green makes a world of difference!

New harvest

I've been starting to harvest a few veggies. First, were a couple of cukes that were sweet and delicious. Next, a few yellow pear tomatoes which made a yummy salad with some mozzarella and balsalmic dressing. Last, were 2 butternuts- one of which I baked and mashed! Yum! The other I am saving for raviolis... Soon will have many large, red tomatoes- of which some are destined to be oven-dried and others canned! Watermelons arriving soon also!

My new garden

I haven't posted for a while! Been busy getting settled in the new house and working in the garden. I built a raised bed in late Spring and planted Early Girl tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, green bell pepper, basil, butternut squash, and watermelons. Needless to say, all those things in a 5x5 raised bed have pretty much taken over the bed and all surrounding areas. I'm wondering if I will have any sidewalk by the end of summer with the way the squash and melons have taken over. And, as life mimics nature, my life has exploded as well with many new friends and adventures. My garden and my cup runneth over-I feel truly blessed. Here are some before and after pics of how this years urban farm has grown...