July 30, 2013

Grape tomatoes

Anne Marie and I visited the garden today and harvested some onions and garlic with a few tomatoes and potatoes thrown in for good measure. We then toured Nottoway and one of the other "garden plotters" gave her a beautiful heavy butternut squash. We enjoyed the ramble but it was a bit buggy so we cut the walk short in order to have time  for a nap before returning to Richmond. It was wonderful to have her visiting us. Young Beverly remains full of beans and runs around the house as if possessed or being chased by an evil fantasy animal. 

forest of eggplants

Used some of the previously harvest potatoes for a delicious roasted potato, fennel, green bean and asparagus dish for last night's feast. The grated parmesan on the roasted veg made  it taste absolutely yummy. We had corn salad with the corn from the Eastern Shore that the Johnsons brought over on Sunday, my favorite broccoli salad, the Silver Palate's summer tomatoes and Pasta dish along with grilled flank steak and finished off with an apple tart made with puff pastry and fresh whipped cream.
The weather was so mild that we ate outside and had a marvelous time with Anne Marie, Tom and Colleen, Alex from Melbourne, and Lindsay. I really enjoyed making the meal and having everyone here. Missed Carly but we used her stand in - Lindsay.
nne Marie used the little Canon camera for the following Veggie Glamour shots. She is right, the closer one gets to the veg, the better they look.



potatoes



Eggplant





mystery melon: a volunteer

 

Recipes

Roasted Vegetables "Back to Basics" page 171 Garten

Heat oven 425 degrees,

toss  the following in  1/3 cup olive oil with kosher salt and fresh black pepper

1 pound of small potatoes cut in half or wedges

2 small fennel bulbs  cut into 6 wedges

and roast for 25 to 30 minutes until potatoes are tender, toss once while cooking

toss in  1 pound of green beans and a bunch small green asparagus cut in 3 inch pieces and roast another 10 to 15 minutes until green veg are tender. sprinkle on 1/4 cup of grated parmesan and roast another minute or two until melted. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.

Fresh Corn Salad "Back to Basics" page 160 Garten

In a large pot of boiling water add 5 ears of shucked corn and cook for three minutes. Add corn to an ice cold water bath to stop the cooking.  When cooled, cut kennels and toss with 1/2 cup of finely chopped red onion, 3 tablespoons (each) of cider vinegar and olive oil, add salt and fresh pepper. and toss. right before serving add 1/2 cup of freshly chopped basil.

Broccoli Salad- from Susan Lubbers

Combine chopped broccoli (chop it fairly finely- but not minced) with golden raisins and toasted pine nuts. For dressing combine equal amounts of plain yogurt and mayo and a little sugar and salt and pepper. The trick is to coat the broccoli not smother it with the dressing so the amount of broccoli one uses dictates the amount of dressing. I usually mix half the dressing I make and then add more in increments so its not too "wet". Chill for a few hours.

Silver Palate Summer Tomato Pasta

   

 





July 27, 2013

 



 Picked on Friday.  

first fruits 2013

July 26, 2013

Before visiting the garden, Ginny and I went to Unity in Fairfax to see a demonstration of mandala making. There are several monks from Tibet building a sand mandala in the sanctuary.   Very interesting. The colors are incredibly bright almost garish especially green. I enjoyed reading some of the Dalai Lama sayings. One of them " The Paradox of Our Age" is as follows:

" The Paradox of Our Age"

 

We have bigger houses but smaller families;

more conveniences, but less time:

We have more degrees, but less sense;

more knowledge, but less judgment;

more experts, but more problems;

more medicines, but less healthiness;

We've been all the way  to the moon and back,

but have trouble crossing the street to meet

the new neighbor.

We built more computers to hold more

information to produce more copies than ever,

but have less communication;

We have become long on quantity,

but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods

but slow digestion;

Tall man but short character;

Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It's a time when there is much in the window,

but nothing in the room.

 

 

The Nottoway garden doesn't look like much but contains past work and future expectations. Perhaps that is what draws me back. I do love working in the garden.  

  

partially completed mandala

pots of colored sand

metal tubes; monks scoop up sand and then rub a metal file over the tube to place the sand on the mandala

Tuesday July17, 2013

It has been some time since I posted to the Nottoway blog. Sadly this reflects the amount of time I have devoted to the garden in 2013.
Last Fall, when I cleaned up the garden I planted a bunch of "stuff" to winter over; mostly  onions but also some garlic. While I have enjoyed the onion, I feel a little bad  because many of them were pulled before their time. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the onion caper, I put in 120 onions sets  that I bought from Southern States in Manassas. Way too many onion sets for a plot 20 by 15 feet. Three different varieties and all delicious. I still have about 40 onions left in the garden after my harvest yesterday. Interestingly enough, the onions stalks are huge in relation to the size of the onion--- the onions are about four feet tall  but with a diameter smaller than the size of my fist!
After dropping Ed off at the Metro at 7:30 am yesterday, I went directly to Nottoway and worked until 10:45.It was HOT.
 I cleaned up the beds- 3 cubic feet plus of weeds and onion and potato debris; pulled about a dozen onions and several pounds of red potatoes as well as a few yellow potatoes. I tied up the tomatoes and tried to reorient the volunteer squash plant that surrounds the bed to the right of the walkway from the gate door. It is unbelievably big and dramatic.
At least now the walkways are clear. Poor Ginny, her side of the garden looks well tended. I have not been a very good gardening buddy this year.  The tomatoes, and eggplants  growing at Nottoway are from seedlings I purchased in Ocean City NJ over Memorial Day holiday. The New Jersey seedlings and the potatoes which sprouted in my laundry room as well as a few sunflowers are the only new things I put into the garden this year. Part of the lack of effort results from being busy with two weddings this spring Jenni Ryan and Pat Jenkins as well as the Cap to Cap  weekend bike ride in Richmond with the entire family...Ed rode 50 miles while Tom did the 100 mile one. Between the ride, the weddings, Carly's graduation, helping her get ready for China, the trip to OC NJ and two weeks in Ireland, I have not had the  time to work in the garden like I did last year. Also, since our neighbors, the Crotty's have taken down a number of large trees, our back yard now sunny enough for plantings. I have put in peppers, beans and tomatoes on Verdict Dr. The deer have really enjoyed eating them so I'll not do that again next year.   
Right now I am in White Plains for a week but when I get back I am going to harvest the balance of the large bed and plant string beans. I plan to ask Ginny if I can cut some bamboo poles from her backyard and use them as a support. Last year, I used the metal wire plant supports for the beans and was happy with them but the area was smaller. Also, this year I have used the metal wire supports for the tomatoes.  Either I have to buy more metal supports or get some bamboo ones.
Next week I promise myself to take some photos for the blog.