Garden Progress

We are traveling in Colorado for the Thanksgiving holidays, enjoying
time with family. But here are some pictures of the garden from the
19th of November from before we left.

Eggs with Cayenne Pepper

Wednesday morning I stepped out into the garden to harvest some cayenne peppers. My cayenne pepper plant doesn't seem to realize that it is no longer summer, and is still producing away. I sliced one up and added it to two free range eggs (one a great looking blue egg from an Araucana chicken, the other a nice creamy white egg) and added some cheddar cheese. The eggs were delicious, had a nice spicy kick and flavoring to them with cayenne slices cooked in. It is a great feeling being able to just step out to the garden to find ingredients to a meal that I am preparing. Can't get more local than your own yard.

Wintersown Tomatoes

I went ahead and sent in my request for tomato seeds along with some seeds that I had saved from some tomatoes we had purchased from our Farmer's Market to Wintersown.org. They sent me all the ones I had requested, plus the alternates I had listed as well.

Wintersown sent me:

Green Zebra ~ Pretty, 3 ounce fruits ripen to light green with dark green streaking, very tasty, IND, 78 DTM

Black Prince ~ Dark brick-toned fruits about 2 - 3 ounces each, very productive, quite yum, IND, 72+ DTM

Dr. Wyche's Yellow ~ Delicious golden-yellow beefsteaks, most weighing over a half-pound, large plants, IND, 80 DTM

Black Krim ~ Mahogany-brown fruits with green shoulders, have green gel around seeds, delicious, IND, 75+ DTM

Rio Fuego ~ Blocky red paste is known for high sugar content, makes great sauce, excellent for salad too, DET, 75+ DTM

Grightmire's Pride ~ Pink oxheart tomato, mdeium-size fruits, so very yum, a bit earlier than most oxhearts. IND, 78+ DTM

Old German ~ Mennonite tomato has gold and yellow fruits with red and pink streaks, yum and pretty, IND, about 85 DTM

Golden Jubilee ~ Wonderful variety grown for decades, 3" yellow-orange globes, delicious, IND, 70 DTM

Arkansas Traveler ~ Delicious pink tomatoes about 8 oz., good cropper for hot and humid climates, IND, 85 DTM

Luther Burbank's WonderBerries ~ Solanum x burbankii,Historic, garden huckleberry makes small deep blue berries on short plants, best used for pies or jam, DET about 85 DTM

And they sent Lime Basil and Chinese Cabbage seeds as additional freebies. Wintersown is such a great program for keeping the heirloom varieties alive, and helps keep the cost of gardening down as well.

Fall Homestead Progress

The fall plants are doing well for the most part. The peas are starting to climb up their strings, and the Garlic 'German Red' has started sprouting already.

The brussels sprouts and cabbage are looking promising. The loose leaf lettuce is sprouting nicely as well. Looking forward to getting some delicious lettuce salads again. The other evening we were enjoying some fruits from our labor, we had some really good tasting homemade bread with homemade butter.

Last of the Fall Transplants

Sunday afternoon was a gorgeous day, couldn't have asked for a nicer fall day, the sun was out, but it was nice and cool due to the breeze. So while the kids were napping I got outside and removed more of the tomato plants that are done for the season, and transplanted the rest of the fall plants that I still had in my seed starting shelves. The transplants consisted of two more Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, and Cabbage. The ones that I had transplanted already are looking good for the most part. A few are being attacked by some leaf eating pest, but the ones along the east side of the house seem to be taking off pretty well.

Antonio Feeding the Worms

Yesterday afternoon, Antonio was playing at "Feeding the Worms." He pretended to eat some letter shapes, and then put them into his Elmo connector container which was his "Compost Crock" (which is the same shape as the ceramic one we have on the counter). Then we went over to a different part of the family room, and poured out the container, the whole time saying "dandole de comer a los gusanos (feeding the worms)." I think its great that he plays at composting, growing up as it being something normal to do as a normal part of life.

Frost Warning

We harvested the last of our sun ripened tomatoes at the end of last week. We had some varieties that we really liked, and others that I may not try growing again.

This weekend we had a frost warning, as temperatures were to drop to 32 on Sunday night. It was nice feeling the briskness in the fall air. We lit our fire place for the first time this fall, and the house was full of great warm smells of fresh bread baking, and pumpkin bread baking as well. I had to go out into the garden and harvest the rest of our tomatoes. I pulled about 4 pounds worth. So now, to figure out what do to with all the green tomatoes, Julia may try to pickle some, I may cook some in green tomato recipes, and then I may try to store some wrapped in paper and see if they last us through November that way.