K Curriculum is Here!

This has been a great day! The coldframe is finally sheltering some greens and the remainder of my curriculum arrived. Here is my spread minus our 'home library' and art supplies:

NOW WHAT!?!

Just kidding, but in all honesty I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. I love, love, love the Singapore Math workbooks, but the Scince is a bit elementary in my opinion. Probably more geared towards Pre-K. No problems there thanks to all our books and encyclopedias, luckily for Shaun his Mom is a Science geek. :) The Critical Thinking workbooks are also impressive, I want to order some for myself! Check out their site if you are looking for some stimulating material for the kids. I hope this jumble of hand picked curriculum doesn't leave anything out. Thank-you all for the wonderful support over the past couple of months, this has been a tough decision, and now my little man and I must relax and enjoy this opportunity.

This week was the last CSA pick-up for the year. I will miss it, though I am still undecided as to what to do next year. We are still waiting for the first frost to come and the leaves are really beginning to fall now. Plans to expand the garden, or at a minimum the fence, are in the works. Thomas has me longing for more crisp garden greens and hoop houses.

I was approached by a company to purchase a photo of mine for their upcoming catalog this week, did anyone else have this same experience? I am under the impression they were blog browsing. Anyway, my Cipollini Onions photo will be featured if all goes as planned and I was tickled pink by the request....this is exciting stuff for a stay-at-home-mom! I hope everyone is staying healthy or is on the mend. Hold onto those hoes, this is going to be one wild winter!

Beef

I received an e-mail today from River Rock Farm that the cows are on the way to the butcher today. After hanging for two weeks the beef will be ready.

My initial reaction was extreme sadness knowing these beautiful creatures will lose their life today. What can I say, I am a sappy animal lover! I have seen with my own eyes the humane and free life they have led until now and this does bring comfort. I hope I will continue to have the choice of eating meat raised on this farm knowing I am supporting the right way to raise heads for slaughter, not the wrong, as this is not an easy opportunity to come by.

edit: Home Scool Update- The Letter of Intent has been filed and I met with Shaun's teacher and principal yesterday. Friday will be his last day. His wonderful teacher will hold a spot for him in her class until Fall of next year, and the principle offered for him to return any time. I will bring him in for testing in May to determine his placement (K or 1st) should he return to public school for the following year. All is falling into place.

What we have been up to...

Well first I will start with the laundry list of things I have been doing (all non-gardening related):

• being sick and lazy.
• freaking out over my son's high fevers; so high the digital thermometer could not read it, only goes to 105 degrees. YIKES!
• deciding to grant my son's wish of being homeschooled. Curriculum has been ordered, lesson plans are made, letter of intent being drafted.
• trips to the Pediatrician and Veterinarian.
• waiting for the co-op truck to arrive for five and a half hours in a parking lot with two sick kids and one sick Mom only to discover one of the precious angels turned on my parking lights and we now have a dead battery and no jumper cables. Not to worry, fabulous hubby saved the day!
• lastly, a fun farm field trip on our first day of having 3 fever free people!! YEAH!

I am so behind on posts it is ridiculous.
Weeks ago I realized I had a ripe, albeit minuscule melon. Sweet victory!

We have found a use for all the garden runts, mantel decorations (there are squash and melons in there)!

Here are the photos from our recent farm trip. The tour included seeing how the carrots are processed for retail sale (up the conveyor belt into the drum where they are washed, then hand sorted and bagged), bagging some carrots to take home, a tractor tour of the farm, and picking a small pumpkin out of a 'patch'. The kids had a blast, my daughter was clutching those carrots like they were the last four on earth, lol. She even ate one!

I am off to catch up on what you all have been doing!

Digging Dahlias

This Spring I planted seven dahlia tubers. Of those, four have have flowered, one has foliage only, and one has yet to show any signs of life. The three blooms that are missing are: 1.) Junaita: a large burgundy and ruby flower dating back to 1949; 2.) Little Beeswings: a yellow with red tip ball/button type from 1909; and 3.) a mystery dahlia picked up at Alderbrook Farm.

The gorgeous dahlias shown below are the following:

• Jersey's Beauty- a true pink, vigorous dahlia from 1923 which was once the world's most popular dahlia according to Old House Gardens. Plentiful blooms.
• Andries' Orange- Its full name 'Andres' Oranje As' honors a Jazz Age liquor from the Belgian town of As. This rare dahlia dates back to 1936 and has been in show all summer long.
• Pink Petticoat- a recent introduction with ruffled white petals that fade to pink at the tips.
• Bishop of Llandaff-  standout bronze foliage compliments the scarletred petals, a very stunning mix from 1927.

Some of my dahlias are just beginning to show off their blooms.  This was seeming late to me but it turns out they prefer cool weather and are most productive into the Fall.  Luckily we have not experienced a frost yet, but when we do the tips will die back in a signal to wait a week, then dig the tubers.  I noted the winter care instructions from a wonderful heirloom bulb company below......

From Old House Gardens:

WINTER CARE – IF you want to save tubers for re-planting the next spring, after

the tops have been “blackened” by frost, wait a week or so for the tubers to

harden and fully mature in the ground. The soil will generally protect them from

freezing. Then cut the stalks off a few inches above ground level. You’ll find

that the tubers you planted in early summer will have increased into much larger

clumps, so be careful when digging – start at least a foot away from the stalks.

Tag each clump with its name, wash off all soil, and allow it to dry upside down

in a cool, dry place for a day or two, no more.

Divide the clumps with asturdy knife in fall or spring. Be sure a piece of the “crown” – the thickened area where the stem meets the tuber – remains attached  to every clump, because the eyes (often more visible in fall) are located there. You may want to dust cuts with a fungicide such as garden sulfur. At the least allow cuts to air dry for a full day before storage. Store in plastic grocery bags, in plastic garbage bags inside boxes, or in covered plastic storage boxes to help keep the tubers from dehydrating. Pack in coarse vermiculite, peat moss, wood-shavings, or something similar. Store in a cool, dry, dark place, ideally at 40-45º F.

Check every now and then. Allow excess moisture to escape (look for

condensation) or sprinkle some water on tubers if they seem to be shriveling.

Or here’s an easy way recommended by Marian and Bernard Mandella and Richard

Peters in the Bulletin of the American Dahlia Society, September 2001. “Tear off

a sheet of plastic wrap 20 or more inches long and lay it flat on a level

surface. Place a [divided, dusted, and dried] tuber on one end and roll the

plastic wrap over one complete turn. Lay another alongside and roll again. Be

certain that no tuber is touching another…. You may wrap up to five tubers or so

per package, but in the last 5-7 inches, fold over the side portions of the

plastic wrap and continue to roll to completion. Fasten with a piece of masking

tape that is labeled with the cultivar’s name…. There is essentially no loss

from shriveling or drying.” Some of our customers who grow dahlias in pots

just bring them inside and let them dry out and over-winter right in their pots.

Others grow them in 5-gallon or even 1-gallon black plastic nursery pots that

they bury in the garden and then dig up and store in the basement through

winter. You may want to experiment with these extra-easy storage methods, too!

I will need to remember to dig my glads as well, I hope the tubers will store well over the winter.  How do you keep your tubers once dug?

Garden Finale

THE GARLIC IS IN!! Eight rows of cloves from three different varieties, phew! We had our water heater go and woke up to a wet basement Saturday morning. This was followed by a new television purchase which required some weekend warrior type work before it could be installed, so the garlic once again went on the back burner. While sowing the cloves I realized they are all soft neck, so no yummy garlic scapes from my garden next summer. (Me pouting.)

The predicted low temperature for this evening is a crisp 32 degrees, so all that was harvestable was harvested. Many fruits were not mature- eggplant, winter squash, and melons. Many of the vines were dying so there was no sense in leaving them. The largest of the muskmelons had begun to rot (top right in the photo) and I could smell it's sweet aroma as I approached the trellis. Too bad we never got to sample any of the many, many melons that eventually began to grow. Rumor has it an immature winter squash can taste better than summer squash so I will put this theory to the test and let you all know what the verdict is. The potato bed was harboring some renegade potatoes, the roots kept putting out tubers with out any foliage. The former tomato bed is littered with tomato seedlings which I find interesting since the seeds I sowed are no where to be found aside from a few fortunate spinach survivors. Go figure.

I decided to pull up my Carmen pepper plants and hang them in the basement. Why you ask? I believe I read one can do this somewhere in an effort to ripen them further. I am hoping so since there are at least a dozen peppers there. Have I completely lost it?!?!

I miss all the garden blogging, I have not been in garden mode of late. I have been busy worrying over possible H1N1 infection and academics. The official word from school is 101.4 degrees + sore throat = H1N1 flu. As of the end of last week there were already 4 kids with pneumonia out of the pre-school and kindergarten classes. Scary stuff!

We are all on the mend, but my little girl almost had a few trips to the ER over her inability to breathe, the poor thing. She always gets hit the hardest and is whom I really worry about with this coming cold and flu season.

As for academics, we are seriously considering home school. It is a HUGE decision and one that is absolutely best for my child in my opinion, but it is such a life change. I am on the fence. The other factor to consider is the services he receives.....they most likely would continue in some form other than an IEP, but it's one more thing to mull over. So that is what I have been up to of late with a little garden therapy thrown in here and there, I hope you all are enjoying the turning leaves and cool nights of October. Cider anyone?

One Potato- Two Potato- Three Potato- Four.....

Though the longer those batatas stay in the ground the better, I decided today was the day to dig the remaining sweet potatoes. My lack of patience was getting the better of me and besides, now I have new soil to sow more cold hardy seeds in. I may try sowing early carrots and small onion bulbs, covering them with a thick mulch of straw, and then with plastic for the winter to see what happens. Hopefully it will be spring carrots and larger summer onions! Anyway, back to the sweet potatoes....

Here are some photos of the excavation (next year I will plant them under black plastic in an effort to increase yields):

Here I have pulled the vines away and started to dig in, uncovering a couple of good size roots.

***

This is a close-up of the root system coming down from the original slip. See that long skinny root above the tuber?

There it goes under the boards into the next bed. There are quite a few roots that decided to go next door, problem is my kale seedlings are growing above them.

***

I was thinking some of these pieces may continue to grow and provide me with slips come Spring if I bring them indoors. Most are pencil thin 'tubers' only, one is a vine with a few roots, and lastly there is a small potato with a section of vine still attached. I planted them in with organic potting mix and some soil from the bed they were growing in and topped it all of with a thick layer of straw. Fingers crossed!

***

And here is the less than ideal harvest. Nine potatoes in total from I forget how many slips....a couple died along the way. I am thinking there were 4 or 5 survivors. One did not produce any tubers at all, the sunflower roots took over it's territory completely.

Overall I am pleased to have home grown sweet potatoes under the cold and wet growing conditions, but I want MORE, MORE, MORE!!! I think I will attempt to double or triple my slip plantings next year and try more than one variety as well. (These are Beauregard and they came from Johnny's.) Another idea I may try is growing a few as container plants.

Steele Plant Company and George's Plant Farm out of Tennessee have piqued my interest for 2010. I did some follow-up over at Dave's Garden, the watch-dog site. The reviews were positive (Steele here, George's here) and people seemed pleased with their products. If you are looking for more information on growing, harvesting, or storing these beauties Mother Earth News has an informative article here. It's time for me to go fetch those potatoes from their sunny spot......their flavor will improve over the next month or so as starches covert to sugars, think I can wait that long??

The Fall Garden

We all seem to be slowing down as we ease into Fall, lazily following the pace of our gardens. Personally, I feel stuck in limbo, not sure what I should be doing at this very moment. The dozens of unripe peppers, eggplant, and squash continue to tease me from the stalk. I have been saying for weeks now that I should just rip most of them out. Should I? Am I naively continuing to wait hoping the peppers will turn shades of red right along with the oak leaves?

My newly sown seedlings are starting to show some size, and the pea tendrils are a few inches long. The promise of fresh cut greens again some time in the future is my favorite part about the garden right now, well that and the sweet potatoes. I dug a few last weekend, they were thin but we enjoyed them just the same. It was really satisfying to make a dish of roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions- all grown right outside the front door!

The garden is colorful right now. Dahlias and zinnias add little punches of orange, purple, pink, and red.  The asparagus bed has me humming "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." when I water it.  Maybe that was the nudge that had me starting my Holiday shopping today.  So hard to think of snow and Santa when there is still so much green out there. 

The Grass Really is Greener....

Here is an article from edible SOUTH SHORE magazine with information of grass fed vs feed lot beef and a nice write up about the farm 'my cow' is currently grazing at. The article goes as far as saying eating beef can be good for you, as a good a source as fish for Omega-3's , but better due to lack of mercury. To read this informative write up click on the title above.

Edit: I wanted to add this in too, good for me to remind myself why I pay so much money for the stuff....."An even bigger threat is the change that occurs to a cow’s rumen when it eats this modern and unnatural diet of grains, in lieu of grass. Cows’ guts naturally have a neutral pH. Our acidic one, until recently, had been able to kill off any E. coli that might find its way into our food. Today, however, with grain being the food du jour in feedlots, cows’ rumens are now acidic and certain strains of E. coli have grown resistant to an acidic bath, which means we have lost our natural defense against this killer. "
"Pollan says there is a simple solution to the problem. “Jim Russell, a USDA microbiologist on the faculty at Cornell, has found that switching a cow’s diet from corn to grass or hay for a few days prior to slaughter reduces the population of E. coli 0157:H7 in the animal’s gut by as much as 80 percent. But such a solution (grass?!) is considered wildly impractical by the cattle industry and (therefore) by the USDA. Their preferred solution for dealing with bacterial contamination is irradiation—essentially, to try to sterilize the manure getting into the meat.” Instead of overhauling the whole meat industry with a simple and natural solution of grass feeding, the USDA prefers to put more band-aids on a broken system." From edible CAPE COD.

How to Plant Garlic

Garlic planting season is just about here. This will be my first time putting cloves in the ground so I had many questions left unanswered. I found a great source of information over at Boundary Garlic Farm, such as when to separate the individual cloves (right before planting), spacing options for standard rows or intensive gardening (tighter spacing will result in higher yields per pound, but smaller cloves), that hardneck garlic needs it's tip to be 2 inches below the soil surface, etc....it is a recommended read for any questions one may have on garlic. The last of my deliveries should come this week. I also plan on planting some cloves from a head I purchased at the farmer's market, the variety was not known. Here is a video I came across along the way:

How to Plant Garlic

Have any garlic tips or variety preferences to share? If so post them here, I would love to hear all about it.