Gypsy Forest

round these parts

 

 

   

Goodness the last few days flew by.

We're getting back into our regular rhythm after the holidays. The big boy went back to Hogwarts after a month long break. Theater, music & writing practices have resumed for the others and each day is buzzing along. Joe is learning the banjo and brewing up a storm. He just finished up a delicious vanilla porter and bottled two batches of red wine. I love the uneven recycled bottles all lined up on our table.

He & Sophia recently built & painted a ukulele which turned out really, really adorable. I love that the two of them collaborated on this project.

 

 

 

 

 

The garden is humming along and providing us with salads, greens and herbs. I've been cutting back the cilantro as fast as it grows and tossing it {and parsley} into everything I cook. Oh sweet little winter garden, how I do love thee.

I'm looking forward to starting this next week and have been drooling over the classes available here. {especially the fall & sea sessions} I won't be headed there this year, but I do have a wishful list of online classes. You can check out the bios on the SAW teachers to find some really amazing online courses.

So I guess that's a little bit of what's going on round these parts.

How about yours?

 

this humble seed

 

I struggle with my garden. I know, I've shared this with you before. A few times. ahem~

I recently read a guest post over on Tend (a fabulously inspiring garden blog, do visit, it's lovely). In it, the author expresses the need to be grateful for anything we cultivate in our little gardens....

 

"....that knock-down, humbling experience of growing (or trying to grow) things in an urban setting frequently gives way to gratitude. Gratitude for what does grow, for the surprise successes and the feeling of putting it on the table."

 ~Sarah from The Yellow House via Tend

  

 

For me me this means taking a step back and choosing to be thankful for the simple salad of baby greens. The handful of sweet peas. The tiny cabbages and eager to please swiss chard.

 

fresh on tap, Joe's Bourbon Chocolate Stout (because Rachel will want to know)

 

 

 

 

 

All growing away, filling in the beds, not knowing they aren't the biggest or onliest little plants out there. And I promise to care for them as if they are just that.

I think each salad and ripe tomato should be a celebration of sorts. To take a hopeful seed and tend to it, to watch it grow and become food that will nourish your family, this is a miraculous thing. No matter how small.

I will present my modest harvest to our family table like a child with a a handmade macaroni necklace. Knowing I did my best to get it here. Being thankful and amazed. And being very much okay with it just as it is.

with gratitude~

 

happy friday

 

I cut the basil back last night and ended up with this huge pile of it. It's amazing how such loot yields a mere 4 jars of pesto. Those precious jars sure pack a punch on homemade pasta come January. I've got about 7 of them in the freezer so far. 

Are you putting up anything in your house?

This basil is some of the last living bits in the garden these days. We've started seeds inside and have a lot more to start this weekend. My ideas always out number my space! But we're going to try some butternut squash, peas, beets, broccoli, potatoes, cabbage, carrots and lots of green leafy stuff. Including my beloved swiss chard. And since we're in the south we've got another chance at a round of green beans, cucumbers and some early yield cherry tomatoes. I see a very messy weekend in our future.

Happy weekend friends!

{ps - I've had a few folks tell me they've had trouble loading the blog lately, so I changed the reader to include the whole post. If you subscribe, you'll be able to see the whole thing..... but of course I do hope you still swing in to say hello every now & then.}

 

this {sub}urban garden

The sun is HOT.

My once healthy green plants seem to be yellowing, bolting and shriveling up despite my best intentions to keep them watered and fed. It's starting to look a little bleak out there..... but in another couple of weeks we'll be starting seeds for our winter garden. I still laugh when I think about the idea of keeping little seedlings indoors so they don't wilt from too much sun....

So before things get too sad, I should share a couple of snapshots of our big~little {sub}urban garden...

 

 

there has been some evening comic reading.....

 

 

a visit from this golden dragonfly....

 

 

baby lizards hiding out in the tatsoi (that has done quite well in the heat!)

 

 

our very own sun egg (an arava melon).....

which reminds me.... my friend Valarie has an incredible giveaway going on over at Jump Into A Book. 19 wonderful Elsa Beskow books to one very lucky winner. We are big Elsa fans here... I'll wait, you go enter it!

 

 

Are you back? Then you should meet Little John, 'our turtle'. He's been enjoying our strawberries (we had thought a bird was getting them) and he also seems to enjoy organic kale. We hope he thinks our backyard is a fun place to visit for at least a few more days.

 

 

And this.

Heirloom tomatoes & cucumbers tossed with olive oil, fresh dill and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Simplicity & Perfection

I will truly never tire of this salad.

Because cucumbers are gone far before I am ready for them to go...

Happy Gardening to you.

 

Suburban Gardening

 

Our little suburban garden is thriving......

 

 

A little love and lots of water and some fish emulsion & composted chicken manure have turned the seedlings into lush lovely plants that are beginning to bare fruit. It's been very exciting to eat our first salads of mixed greens and cucumbers in the last week. Oh those cucumbers..... I really, really love those cucumbers. We planted suhyo longs, a seedless variety that is doing quite well for us so far!

 

 

Some of our heirloom tomatoes have begun to ripen and that has brought on some near hysteria levels of excitement (and further obsession of gardening).

 

 

Dragon beans, snap beans and squash blossoms are working over time producing blossoms and the wee beginnings of vegetables for us to eat. After so much trouble in the backyard, I am so happy to finally be enjoying the gardening and feeding my family from it. Even if it's in the smallest dinner salad or sliced cucumber to top their sandwich.... 

 

 

 

All of this excitement spurred our most recent project. A garden journal. It's been a collaborative effort between us girls in the house. We decorated a blank book and have recorded our plant varieties, created a garden map complete with key and what we have harvested from the garden. 

 

 

 

 

And not surprisingly, the harvesting is the favorite part to record. Counting of strawberries each morning and making slash marks into the book.... anticipating the wee summer squash plumping up on the vines and the cantaloupe that is just starting to make some tiny fruits. Adding a new picture to the list under "HARVEST" is done with great care & excitement by each of us. A thriving garden is such a lovely place to learn and discover a whole lot of natural science.

And of course...... to pick some very yummy snacks....

 

 

 

 

Last night, when we finally came to the agreement that this heirloom tomato was ripe, we had our first taste of edible sunshine. Sweet and full of flavor. This variety is called a Black Prince and my are those heirlooms ever beautiful? One precious wedge of tomato sat upon each garden fresh greens & sliced cucumber salad at our dinner table. There was a brief moment of silence and much gratitude for that first tomato. 

And then Joe asked, "So how much did that tomato really cost us?"

Which made the big kids roar with laughter.

"But it was the best tomato ever!" I replied.....

And it was.

 

Mindful Monday

After a quiet morning of Easter bunny magic, we spent about 6 hours tending to the garden. We, mostly meaning Joe & I with the intermittent help from the little ones and snacks made by the house chef (Jade!)

5 pm arrived before we knew it and we stumbled inside, exhausted and happy after a hard day's work. Our dinner flew together quickly....... our first taste of goat steaks from Brookshire Farm, beautiful yellow & green beans roasted with sea salt & olive oil from Market Basket and fried squash blossoms from our own garden.

As the meal came together I realized {with the exception of the flour, spices & olive oil} that we were sitting down to a completely local meal. I was awfully, ridiculously, giddy at the notion of this.... and a recent passage from this book came to mind......

 

"Eaters must understand, how we eat determines how the world is used." 

-Barbara Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

 

 

The meal was delicious and eaten with such gratitude.

Mindful food, how wonderful is that?

And if like us, you have an over abundance of male squash blossoms in the garden.... you can pluck them off after they've closed and eat them in salad, pasta or for a lovely treat try this recipe. 

~Whisk together one egg & 2 TBSP of milk in a bowl, set aside. In a shallow dish mix 1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour with 1/4 cup of blue cornmeal. Sprinkle in some salt, pepper & garlic powder. Dip the squash blossoms in the egg mixture and dredge through the flour mixture. Fry gently in olive oil over medium to medium high heat. (preheat the pan with the oil, it's ready when a sprinkle of flour sizzles in it) Turn to evenly cook, they are done when they are golden brown. I've heard they are delicious stuff with a spoon full of  cheese before frying.... we're trying chèvre next time.

Enjoy.

 

One man gathers what another man spills......

"Steph, you have to see what the neighbors are getting rid of." Joe yelled from the door. "It looks like a greenhouse!"

Louisiana might not offer much by way of traditional recycling, but the "reuse it" system down here is something else. Every weekend people put their bulky stuff that's no longer wanted/needed on the curb and by Sunday evening a whole lot of it is gone. People drive their cars around and pick up other folks "garbage". We've gotten a lot of good stuff this way. A bike, patio chairs, an old wooden box and gardening pots.

But a greenhouse? So I wandered outside to find my husband in the driveway. He points to his treasure. I tell him it's a curio cabinet. "A what?" he says to me. It's like a display for knick knacks, I tell him. He found this amusing and we walked over to look at it. Laid on it's side, the hinged glass door opened like a toybox of sorts.

"It would make a perfect little greenhouse, you could grow lettuce in it all winter," Joe said to me.

 

 

And so the two of us hoisted it up and carried it across the street. It needs some holes drilled for drainage & ventilation and he is going to attach a larger pull to open and close it.... but it really does make a darn good little greenhouse. My pepper seedlings are totally digging their new house.

 

 

Everything in our suburban garden is going well. We've been getting a few organic strawberries each day. Big juicy sweet ones eaten straight out of the garden. 

 

 

The tomato seedlings are officially into plant status at nearly 8 inches tall and thankfully my extras will be heading to homeschool co-op on Friday to friends. Sliding glass door greenhouse & fish emulsion are certainly responsible for their healthy stature. I have never had such good luck!

 

 

 

And the basil, oh how I do love the basil. It tolerates the heat & humidity down here and makes me smile and swoon all summer long with it's tasty leaves and intoxicating aroma.....

 

 

The heirloom tomatoes I purchased have also grown and green tomatoes are making my mouth water and have me checking them every day for the slightest hint of red peeking through...... not yet.... but there will surely be a celebration of sorts for the first ripe tomato from the garden.

 

 

Thanks to Joe, who climbed on the roof of the garage to get this shot, you can see my whole garden. It's definitely taking over the driveway...... but we love it. I spent all day rearranging things and planting tomatoes on Sunday while Joe built more boxes to house my plants. We're getting pretty close to running out of room...... 

 

 

Anyone else enjoying their gardening?

 

Well hello there!

It seems like such a long time since we've chatted.

A whole month of popping in here and leaving a brief little post & photo. It was a fun project, a break from writing the blog and fueled my creativity a bit too. All good stuff.

So what's new?

Let's see...... the driveway is full, FULL of plants. Everything that lived in the backyard has been relocated to the driveway. At the top of our driveway we get full sun. Unlike the backyard..... which I have been fighting with for two full years. I do love that the old oak shades the house from the harsh south sun..... but it turns out kale & chard are not as grateful. Please spare me the story telling of my beet growing success. Or, more accurately, the lack thereof. So after voicing my suburban gardener woes to the sweetest dread locked hippie at the farmer's market..... who by the way had the most epic basket of siberian kale..... he said to me "do you have a big tree or something in your yard?"

Uhm, yeah. Bingo. Essentially my backyard is a tree. And heat does not equal sunshine. At least not to plants anyway..... 

 

 

And so operation relocation was put into action..... I had lots of good helpers.....

 

 

The driveway is now full of potted plants, raised beds and I am quickly running out of room...... my seed starting went so well. Aside from a few ancient seed packets of flowers and the stubborn eggplant..... everything is growing strong. Even peppers.... I actually sprouted peppers! I did make sure to add a good amount of composted chicken poo & backyard compost to my soil before planting, but I have never had so many of my seeds do so well. (Thank You Fedco!) I'll be giving away some heirloom tomatoes to friends very soon.... because somehow I think I might not have room for the two dozen that I planted. 

 

 

Aside from my herbs that wintered over & six heirloom tomatoes I purchased from the garden center, everything else has been started by seed. Our impromptu greenhouse was a huge success. Yes, it is a sliding glass door!

So far we've got musk melon, seedless cucumbers, yellow & green zucchini, 5 varieties of tomatoes, peppers, husk cherries, dill, basil, cilantro, parsley, and two tiny hard to please eggplant seedlings. Peas & beans should be sprouting up through the soil any day and we're getting some green leafy stuff planted this afternoon. From last year we have 3 varieties of mint, lemon balm, oregano, thyme, rosemary and strawberries.... all of which have perked up and greened up and grown immensely since their move to the driveway.

Lately guests to the house have walked under the carport to the side door and upon arrival to the vastly growing suburban garden give a wide eyed "woah......" Sam's friends are careful to park their bike a safe distance from my green babies and no doubt think I'm a little nutty.... this is what happens when you read Farm City. Which I can fully blame on my friend Theresa up in Minnesota.

 

 

Now if I could just find a corner for some chickens.... or rabbits.... or.....

 

random gardening bits....

And here is the great, the incredible, the EPIC potato harvest of winter 2010.......

 

 

Are you surprised? Laughing? I think we got a half cup of the tiniest potatoes, ever.  Mostly blue and one yukon gold which my littlest popped into his mouth and crunched a little before spitting it out and declaring that potatoes were far better warmed up. I agree. We dug through a huge pile of dirt to find these tiny things..... which resemble blueberries more than potatoes. Too much rain perhaps? I don't know..... but someday when we have that farm and more potatoes then we know what to do with I'll look back on this and laugh. For now a small *sigh* will suffice and we'll move onto the carrots.

Please meet, the love carrots.

And you have to say it like this............ "the loooooooooove carrots".

Come on, say it. It will bring a happy little smile to your face. I promise. And you know what? The said potato cruncher in the previous paragraph, well he ate the loooooove carrots too. When no one was looking he nibbled up one love carrot. He just couldn't help himself. And the next morning, upon discovering this, Sophia thought it was only right that the love carrots be in the same tummy. So she gave the second carrot to her little brother for breakfast.

Yes, we're silly, I know.

 

 

and here are the love carrot's friends......

 

 

Aren't they just gorgeous? Their fantastic colors totally make up for their tiny stature. Most were about 2 inches with a few bigger ones thrown in there. It seems that my children could not wait a second longer to uproot these lovelies after discovering the crimson tops peeking up out of the dirt. I so wish I had the camera in hand to capture my boy declaring "they taste good with the dirt on them" as he ate them right out of the garden. 

 

 

I couldn't agree with him more. 

And while we certainly aren't feeding the masses with a harvest like this, we are getting our hands dirty, learning a lot and relishing each bite of what we do manage to grow. That's really what it's all about anyway, right?

Which brings me to the next photo. Something I know a whole lot of us are doing right now....

 

 

Planning & dreaming for the next epic (or not) harvest.

My it feels good to have your hands in the earth, doesn't it?

 

Basil, and confessions of a crappy gardener

 

So my dreams of living a crunchy sustainable life may be a bit, well, shall we say far fetched?

At least, with the gardening aspect.

"I just toss seeds in the ground and they grow!" report far too many of my friends.....

Well, do you suppose they might come toss the seeds in at my place? I could use some help.

I suck at gardening. (that is a bad word in our house, by the way)

I can grow rosemary. I can grow tomatoes. I can grow basil.

Mountains of basil.

 
 

A very small amount of carrots and lettuce made their way to our plates last winter...... but for the amount I put in the ground..... not much makes it to the table. I'm not whining here, just being completely honest at my inability to feed my people from the family garden. I can't grow dark leafy greens or beets no matter how I try.

I can't even grow zucchini. (I hear you gasping!)

This fall I was so ready to toss in the towel....

Until that husband of mine, in the gentlest way he could, said this to me:

"So you're just gonna give up?"

"Ha" I scoffed. "Give up, uhm, of course not."

And with a very grumbled spirit I spent the weekend working the beds.... adding manure.... piles of our own homemade compost.... 

5 garden beds and several large pots later I had a little hope as I planted some seeds.... some seedlings..... 

Nothing like a sore back and dirty fingernails to ground your soul and give you hope.

As I tended to the beds this weekend I cut back a HUGE armful of basil. My big girl followed me around the garden snapping photos as I trimmed.... 

  

  

      pesto ice cubes

  

After several batches of homemade lemon pesto were made to freeze and save for the winter I gently reminded my stubborn heart to not give up.... to keep on keeping on. And somehow this week with those thoughts in my mind I stumbled upon this quote....

   

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are"

~Theodore Roosevelt

 Sometimes, I think the universe just has perfect timing......

   

~~all the garden photos were taken by my Jade girl~~