a couple of experiments

Nikole's experiment

This winter Nikole left at the farm a couple of grow bags for me to plant in the greenhouse and then she would grow them at her house in the city, perhaps on her beautiful deck and patio that she and Brad built last summer.  The tomatoes are getting to be  pretty sturdy in their red solo cups and she reminded me about the bags so today I selected a couple of tomatoes and got them planted.  It will be interesting to see how they do.  Because they are quite large and because they will need to make the 2+ hour trip from the farm to the big city, I decided to set each one in a tub for transport.  I also filled each pot only half full with the plan that Nikole will place the pots in their final location and then add more soil to fill the pots.  I placed the plants quite deep and tomatoes will grow roots along the buried stem so by the time that Nikole puts them outside, our last frost date is 10 days away yet, she should be able to fill the pot up to the leaves with more dirt.  The pot is called a smart pot and according to the label that was stapled to it there are many advantages to using this type of container.  The label says it was $10 when she purchased it but that may have been before last years growing season.  If she has any 'after' pictures on her blog I will post a link.   The fabric looks and feels like a type of felt and I think that black color will warm up the soil which the tomatoes should appreciate.  

Big Beef (back) and Oregon Spring (front)

 

My experiment:

The farm is mostly a no spray farm.   Although we have occasionally used a little spray on the fence lines for the most part all the lawn and garden areas do not receive any chemical sprays or fertilizers and I follow mostly organic processes.  So, this is my lawn every year in the spring and off and on during the summer.

This is the lawn in front of my house, between the house and the road.  It has hundreds--thousands--of bright yellow dandelion flowers.  Earlier this year  I found this recipe for a honey colored dandelion jelly. I think this might be the year to give it a try.  I am thinking that if I hold off mowing that patch until I can pick the blossoms it should be a fun project.  My kids will be at the farm for mother's day and it might be something that we can do together.  I wonder if small jars would sell on the farmstand? 

my weekend to do list drifted into monday

I started out with ambitious outdoor goals for the weekend and did manage to accomplish a few of the things on my list.  I spent a good part of Saturday finishing the mowing of the yard.  At this point it is all mowed and has started in regrowing. 

The raspberry row

On Sunday I gave the raspberry transplants some attention.  They were sprawling in both directions which kept me from being able to mow close to the row.  I didn't take a before picture but here is an after.

I added another wire at the top of the wood end posts and added a fiberglass post in the center to help support the middle of the wire.  Then I tied all of the canes that were sprawling to the new wire.  The raspberries have thorns so I have pincushion hands.  I have so many volunteer raspberry plants that could be transplanted so I am giving some consideration to adding some to the cornfield perhaps dividing the front half from the back half. 

The orchard

Since it was mowed I could move the hoses back and I watered the fruit trees in the orchard.  I had trimmed up the suckers on the one plum tree.  It still needs a little work with a chainsaw as the lopper was not able to get all of the branches but it is looking better.  The east apple tree still needs a bigger circle around it. 

While I was moving the hose from tree to tree I worked on weeding along the white fence and then watered that.  I got about half of it done so it will look kind of silly until I get the rest done.

The grapes

The earliest grapes were ready for harvesting.  A few of the earliest ones had been eaten by birds and a few of the latter ones were not fully blue yet but I learned my lesson last year that if I wait too long the birds don't leave any for me.  Although I love the look of my grape arbor it does not make for easy picking now that the vines are getting bigger and I have not been diligent about pruning them.  There were quite a few grapes that could only be reached with a ladder from the top.

There are four vines on the arbor. This one is the oldest of the vines and it has a small purple grape.  Here you can see several bunches of the grapes.

 
And this bunch is on a 6 inch appetizer plate along side of a teaspoon to give an idea of the size of the bunches.

Here is a shot of my big silver bowl with the grape harvest from the one vine.

The sun has kind of washed out the color in this picture.  After washing and plucking the grapes from the stems there was five pounds of grapes which is just the right amount for one batch of jelly!

Making Jelly

Last time I made jelly i made a freezer jelly.  You prepare the fruit as juice and then mix it with sugar and pectin and put it in the freezer.  This year I decided to try a packet of sure jell for less sugar recipes.  This recipe is a cooked type of jelly and is put into jars for storage on the shelf instead of frozen. 

This is the washed grapes that have been removed from the stems.  A potato masher was used to crusth the grapes and then water is added and they are brought to a boil and then the heat is reduces and then they are simmered.  After simmering they juice is strained to remove the seeds and peelings.

 Then the strained juice which has been mixed with a little bit of sugar and the pectin is brought to a boil and the once boiling the remaining sugar is added and it is cooked for one minute once it returns to a boil.  The foam is skimmed off.

The clean jars are held in hot water.

The jelly is ladled into the hot jars.  A funnel is used to keep the mess to a minimum but it is still messy.  Or maybe that is just me.

Then the tops of the jars are wiped clean.

And a lid is applied.

Once the screw band is applied the jars are tipped upside down for five minutes to help with the sealing process.  My box directions said that they could be tipped over to seal or water bath canned.  I decided to to tip them and if they didn't seal then water bath can them but all of mine sealed.

The little bit of extra that didn't fit in the jars is cooling more quickly than the jars and seems to be thickening up nicely as it cools.  Hopefully that means that the jarred jelly will be nice and thick as well.

The cucumber pickles

I am starting to get cucumbers in my cornfield garden and I had this small bowl of random cucumbers.  They were different sizes and different varieties.  I had found this recipe for a copy cat of a Klaussen dill that was a refrigerator pickle.  No canning needed.  I was missing a couple of the spices called for in the recipe but they still turned out good.

These cukes are washed and cut into wedges and then a brine is poured over them and they go into the refrigerator. 

The summer squash pickles

I also have been getting  quite a few zucchini and yellow squash so I decided to try making pickles of these as well.  The recipe i used is for a canned pickle but i decided to do it as a refrigerator pickle.  I didn't want to spend a lot of time doing the canning only to open a jar down the road and find out that it was not a great pickle.  If we like them I will make more and can them so that they keep longer.  If we don't like them i will keep looking at recipes.

These zucchini and yellow squashes are cut into slices along with some onion and then placed in a bowl with salt and water to cover.

After they have soaked they are drained and a brine is poured over them.  This brine is apple cider vinegar and sugar and spices. 

I like the combination of yellow and green on the pickles.  I like the taste and if the rest of the family does as well it will be a good way to use surplus summer squashes.
 
And lastly some pictures that Caitlin took a few days ago with some produce that we picked from our garden.