Summer to Fall, A Quick Transition

Our first frost came just when it was supposed to, between September 25-30, so I guess fall is really here. Monsoon rains are over, pine needles are dropping, the yellow zucchini plants look droopy, the maple tree is shedding its leaves and bees and butterflies are having last call drinks from the yellow chamisa blossoms. But days still feel like summer. A friend who was harvesting onions yesterday remarked on how searing the sun felt.

We have crazy apples this year, so apple juice, canned apple pie filling, dried apples, and who knows what else will be preserved.  This is one of three different trees, so I look at them with love and also with dread. It's lot of work to put up all these apples, but worth it when I don't have to buy something at the store.

Red Delicious Apple Tree

Last week we had friends over for dinner: chuck roast, potatoes, country style green beans and a cucumber and tomato salad. I realized later that the only thing we'd bought from the store were potatoes. That's a good feeling.

This stuff was grown inside our Growing Dome

Although the grama grass grew well this past summer, look at that dry dirt! Let's hope for snow.

 This isn't about fall, but just an update on the new pup, Liza Jane. She's a crazy nut, enjoys fetching, and likes to be out and about exploring the ranch, digging holes, and thinking about what it might be like to herd four legged ruminants. Here she is contemplating the neighboring yak herd.

I am still amazed at the changing seasons and don't think I will ever tire of it.

Schlubbing Through Summer

Okay, I admit it: I've been a schlub this summer. That's Yiddish for an unkempt lazy butt.

Well, not totally lazy, but blogging has taken a back seat. Priorities. Work on that.

What have I been doing this summer?

Sitting on the porch, watching this little feller grow up. Miss Bonnie almost killed him, but he shook it off and survived. Bonnie is still patrolling the perimeter of the porch, just in case Little Bunnyboy gets careless.

Watching Mr. Robot while the lawn grows is an afternoon must. The rain has been amazing this year.

I've been outdoors a lot, pulling weeds and tending The Potager, which is a fancy way of saying The Garden.

We had asparagus and strawberries early in the season. Grasshoppers ate the shallot sets and the garlic was small this year since the rains started late.

The tomato plants look great, with lots of green ones, but the picking has been slow with all this rain and the clouds.  Hope reigns, though, since we a few moisture free days forecast. And those tomato bags may be my saving grace since we can take them into the Growing Dome if it gets too cold.

The climbing purple green beans are thriving, an homage to my dad who loved showing off his purple green beans. When they are properly cooked, they turn green. Magic. "Purpipple." He liked to say that.

The steers are growing large and still curious. Here's St. Thomas, saying hi.

We've had time for dinner with friends.

And I've been tidying up the fabric and sewing area. This is an ironic pic, don't you think? You may recognize this best selling book.

There are a few finished quilt tops and a couple quilts finally quilted, but minus their binding and a load of unfinished projects, but isn't that how it goes?

Next post will be quilts. Yep.

Growing Dome May 2015

My winter and spring haven is inside the Growing Dome, a snug, warm place when outside the wind is howling and temperatures are below freezing.

I have fun trying new veggie varieties, so in some ways the dome is like a laboratory. My dad often said, "Let's see what happens!" so that's what I do.

Below are Kalettes, a new brussels sprouts-kale hybrid, almost ready to pick. The little rosette in the center of the leaves are the Kalette part. The leaves look like normal kale, so I'll let you know how I end up cooking this lab experiment.

Just past the Kalettes are some new lettuce seedlings and Royal Burgundy green beans.

Here's a chard jungle. Everyone who visits or whom I visit, receives a bouquet of rainbow chard. Want a good chard recipe? Here you go.

 We've been eating lots of sugar snap peas. Our summer weather is cool, so more sugar snaps will be planted this week for the outside garden.

 The carrots aren't ready yet, but look good.

I'm trying for more flowers in the dome because they add color to the space.

Some pretty peonies.

And Trudy, look at the pomegranate plant you gave me a year ago Christmas! I didn't kill it.

One problem with growing inside are bug critters. In the past the dome has been host to aphids, white flies, and some black gnat-like annoyances who lived in the soil. We learn from our mistakes, one which was planting stuff too close together and allowing the soil to become too damp. Everything needs to dry out now and then to keep the creepies at bay. Right now I am playing host to crickets and roly polies, but they are manageable.

Two years ago was whitefly summer and the tomato plants slowly had their lives sucked out of them. I removed the affected plants, but it was just too late and those pests just never went away.  I ended up removing every plant and giving the dome a much needed airing out before replanting.

This year I am trying something new: the tomatoes are in Smart Pots, so if there is an infestation, I can remove the affected plant more efficiently. This looks like a good idea for peppers, since they seem to attract aphids.

So far, the tomatoes are growing well in their bags. I used a mixture of compost and potting soil and they will need trellising very soon.

I hope you enjoyed the update. Happy gardening!

Growing Dome- Fall 2014

It really is fall here, now, with the pretty aspen trees and last night's below freezing temperatures. In SoCal, there really aren't distinct seasons, but just hot and not so hot. Back in California, when it dipped into the 50's, I'd get out my long underwear and think I was really cold.

 But I didn't really know what cold was until I moved to Northern New Mexico. Heck, there's a small community around here whose nickname is Little Alaska, for heaven's sake!

But I am willing to put on my coat and longies for winter because it's a fine trade for wonderful, temperate summers. Months of over 100 degrees is not my thing, so I find the lightest weight, high performance warmies to wear during wintertime and deal with it.

One way I cope with colder weather is with my Growing Dome, where I have a chance to garden and to bask in the winter sun. Over 300 days of sunshine definitely hits the spot.

During winter I grow cool season crops like chard, kale, lettuce, and all that.

 During summer, I grow most of my tomatoes and all of my cucumbers inside the dome. Some friends grow tomatoes outdoors, but I seem to have bad luck with outdoor tomato plants. They give me a few and then it freezes. I know I could mess around with walls of water and little hoop houses, so maybe that's on the agenda for next year.

Right now my outdoor tomatoes are toast, but inside things are still perking along.

It's like a jungle sometimes/ Sometimes I wonder how I keep from going under (Sorry-Grandmaster Flash took over for a sec.)

In here it's usually about 20 degrees warmer. Temp outside was 29F last night, but all is well inside the dome.

Here's a pretty yellow tomato. I had some red ones, but a varmint climbed inside and chewed them down. We added some wire mesh to the side air vents, so maybe that will keep the little @#$@ out.

We still have plenty of green tomatoes, so if our days are in the 50's to 60's for a while longer,  they will ripen.

We have a load of cucumbers on the vines. Earlier in the summer there were juicy, tasty green straight eight's. Then a couple weeks ago the cucumbers started looking like this. I waited for them to turn green but they never did. They taste fine except for a little bitterness at the stem end (my fault for not being a consistent waterer). Earlier I replanted some varmint-ravaged plants, and maybe they were Poona Kheera seeds? It's a mystery.

Each time I visit the dome there is something to pick, which is totally cool. Earlier I had a bumper crop of Shishito peppers, but the aphids made them anemic, so I had to pull the plants. Those peppers were the best, though, just sauteed with a little salt and lime. Yum!

My fishies are doing well. Last year I was mystified to see strange little fish in the dome's water tank, then realized my original three goldfish had a menage a trois which resulted in fourteen goldfish babies! 

Not Koi, but plain old Wal-Mart goldfish, they recognize me when I lean over to visit, happy to eat their fish food pellets.  During winter they hunker down at the bottom of the tank and wait for spring.

So come on, winter! I'm ready for you. 

Well, kind of.

Scrambled Eggs with Kale, Tomatoes, Onions and Guacamole

The other morning I had brunch at The Tune Up Cafe in Santa Fe where I devoured an egg dish with guacamole as one of the ingredients. I've had eggs with sliced avocado, but never guac. Its garlicky, oniony essence made my breakfast hover above all the others in the recent past.

Luckily, I had some guacamole at home the other morning, so I decided to levitate my own breakfast and make something akin to what I had at the Tune Up.

Veggies in the pan, ready for plating. The yellow tomato is a German Gold, I think.

Scrambled Eggs with Kale, Tomatoes, Onion and Guacamole 

Serves 1


Ingredients

1 T plus 1 t olive oil (divided)
1/4 medium onion, chopped
3 large kale leaves, minus the center ribs, chopped into teeny tiny pieces
1/4 c chicken or vegetable broth
1 medium tomato, chopped
seasoned salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c (or more) of your favorite guacamole
2 eggs and two whites (Give the two extra yolks to the cat. Make the dog sit and watch until cat is done. Then let the dog have what's left.)

1. Cook onion in olive oil on medium heat until the onion looks translucent.
2. Add the kale pieces to the onions. Saute this for a minute or two.
3. Pour in the broth and let the liquid cook away, about two or three minutes.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook just until the tomatoes are warm. Add seasoned salt to taste. I like Goya Adobo salt.
5. Remove veggie mixture from the pan to a plate or bowl. Keep warm.
6. Add 1 t olive oil to the pan.
7. Scramble your eggs whatever way you like. Just before they are done, spread the guacamole on the veggie mixture on your plate.
8. Top with the scrambled eggs. Add green or red chile, shredded cheese or anything else you might like that I didn't include.

Enjoy!

Raised Beds and Growing Dome Update-Late Summer 2013

Back in June, Mike Salman and his crew were building the raised beds which replaced the grass in the side yard. I wanted the veggies growing close and inside the stucco wall to discourage critters and because I am lazy. I like lettuce grown just a few steps from the house.

Even though it was almost a full month late, I decided to plant the stuff I had started in the dome.Why not, I figured. There was no room in the dome, so out they went.

I planted tomatoes, kale, cabbage, peppers, lettuce, carrots and purple green beans. There are also three melon plants with no melons.

Here are the green beans, called Royal Burgundy. When you cook the purple beans, they turn green. I like them because my dad always planted them and they're easy to find when it's time to pick. Today's the first picking of the outside beans! Yay!

I haven't killed the flower garden, yet.

Over in the Growing Dome it's a tomato jungle inside. I planted fewer tomato plants this year since they overwhelmed the other plants.

But they still crowded and covered the basil, cucumbers, peppers and one last crop of indoor green beans.

The other side is crazy, too. Note to self: You may need to revisit how to corral the tomatoes.

And it's the lonely, empty bee yard.  I saw their new mom yesterday, though, and she says the bees have easily adapted to their new terroir, which makes me happy.

Late summer looks pretty good, don't you think?

December Growing Dome Update

The veggies in the Growing Dome have been lucky so far this year, with no roving cattle inside milling about wondering how the heck they got there and an extended warm weather growing season this fall. It's December in Northern New Mexico and it's been in the 60's outside and in the 80's in the dome.

Although I have removed most of the tomato plants to make room for cool season veggies, I kept the Black Cherry and Amy's Sugar Gem plants just to see what happens. Both have continued to set fruit, and, most important, the fruits continue to ripen so they have been reprieved. Once really cold weather arrives, their days will be numbered, I suspect.

The Black Cherry is gigantic. I can't believe how big it is and how many tomatoes are still hanging in there.

When I visit the dome I spend lots of time creeping around, peeking inside the plant to find ripe tomatoes.

Aha! There's one! The dead leaf in the bottom rear is from the Poona Kheera cuke plant, which is done. I was afraid to remove the plants for fear of disturbing the Black Cherry.

But I haven't been dwelling in the past season, no, indeed. We've been eating lettuce and radishes planted back in early September.

Between the rows of lettuce and radishes are slower growing beets.  If you haven't seen the video of Udgar demonstrating how to cut your lettuce for harvesting, check it out here. You cut it with scissors and it grows back! Toward the back left and back right are kale seedlings. I sowed a bunch of kale seeds in a corner and am now transplanting them here and there.

The sugar snap peas are about six inches tall and starting to twine around their supports. In the back right are some volunteer tomato babies. It has been so warm that even tomato seeds are sprouting. I will remove them, but it's pretty weird, isn't it?

That blank patch is where the Cherokee Purple tomato plant was. I've seeded some stuff there: more lettuce, chard, peas, and I don't remember what else. I took those green tomatoes off the plant. Some are ripening and others may end up as salsa.

The carrots look healthy as does the chard in the back. My radishes are erratic and there's nothing worse than an Erratic Radish. Some plants make radishes and others do not. It may have to do with how fertile the soil is. Too much good stuff makes just the tops grow. Or it may be too warm. If you have an idea, let me know.

I wish I was teeny and could go on an expedition through the carrot fronds.

What Ms. Pearl wants is an expedition to sniff out coyotes, and deer, and elk, and turkeys and bear. And bunny rabbits.

Black Cherry Tomatoes

I know summer's over, but some tomatoes are still producing inside the Growing Dome.  I am a happy October gardener. How long they will last depends on the temps this winter, but a lady in Pecos had tomatoes up until a February deep freeze of -20 killed them. She covered the lettuce and other greens, though, and they survived just fine.

The tomatoes are called Black Cherry.

Most of the red cherry tomatoes were gone by the time these guys ripened in late August and I'm still picking about ten a day in October. That's not many, but I still have the Cherokee Purple ripening, too, with green ones still on the vines.

A word about Black Cherry plants: They grow gimormously and I should have done a better job helping them to climb. Instead, they slumped over the tallest tomato cage so I used another tomato cage to prop it up. Branches are crawling across the dome's floor. It's The Plant That Ate Guadalupita!

How do they taste? Black Cherrys taste sweet with little or no acid depending on how ripe they are when picked. When you bite into them there's a burst of fruit flavor. Some folks describe it as smoky, but I don't get that.

Here is a link http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/88786/  with more comments about this tomato which I will be growing again next year.

I bought my seeds from Tomato Fest.

Tomatoes, Flowers, Apples and a Recipe

Yesterday I took a mosey around to see how stuff was growing. This summer had a pretty good monsoon season and the plants have been extremely grateful. I am grateful for the former lady of the house who, although only here on vacations, thoughtfully planned out the garden so that there is always something blooming during the growing season.

But I don't know what all these plants are, so if you can identify anything, please leave me a comment, okay?

Here's a closeup of one of the flowers:

Because we have no beef cattle around this summer, they didn't eat this vine and I discovered that it actually blooms!

Let me know if you know what this one is.

I admired the apples. I never had an apple tree before, so this is a treat.

I checked out the bee hives. Bears are out and about and the white fence is electrified. Yogi and Boo-Boo do not get this honey!

Inside the Growing Dome I said hello to Manny, Moe and Jack, the resident Wal-Mart goldfish who live in the large water tank.

This is The Tomato Thicket. It's a wall of tomatoes and I have to hunt around to find all the ripe ones.

The Roma tomatoes are sneaky and hide deep within the thicket. But I found them because I am a relentless seeker of errant tomatoes.

And I made this excellent tomato sauce from Smitten Kitchen.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/08/naked-tomato-sauce/

Then I went to Thread Bear, the local Las Vegas, NM quilt store, to buy fabric for a class I am taking in Albuquerque this weekend taught by Jacquie Gering, one of my quilt heroes.