Week 6

broccoli forest

This weeks share includes Oregon Sugar Snow Peas, Watham Broccoli, 2 Bags of Lettuce Mix with Borage Flowers, 2 bundles of Northern Lights and 5 Color Silver beet Chard, 1 bag of Spinach, 1 Bundle of Lacinato and Red Russian Kale, some Southern Frill Mustard Greens, Strawberries and Garlic snakes.

learning the letter B

We love Raw Kale Salad which is surprisingly delicious. Simply strip and rub the leaves with olive oil and toss with shredded beets, broccoli, sunflower seeds, sliced strawberries and a little tarmari soy sauce. We like to add roasted cashews glazed in maple syrup and lemon juice (baked at 375 till bronzed).

"that's our rooster"

Over the weekend we put in what may be the last round of outdoor fall garden beds with less than 50 days till our first frost-hard to believe. So, we are developing a couple of low riding tunnels to experiment with extending some succession started cabbage, chard, cilantro, turnips and late season lettuce as the high tunnel is maxed out and we only use the greenhouse for potted plants and starts.

3 year old representational butterfly

We also discovered that digging trenches for greenhouses are best done on the south side first in the morning instead of starting on the north side and working around. The irrigation on the flower garden was somewhat of a respite from Saturday's swelter in Montana. We started filling in the back-up foundation with wash rock today as my idea of bottle caps and pulverized glass, although resourceful, doesn't provide the necessary "zero compaction base" required in stable structures. Still, I had one victory in my hopes of using as little cement as possible by dry stacking the rock foundation to fill in around the concrete piers. Just a small investment in some really cool rock chiseling tools.

We're also still looking for clay/silt subsoil for our natural plaster wall over the straw bales. So if anyone runs across some in the valley give us a whistle so we can start the "community building" project.

Week 5 Farm Share

We found this metamorphosis bug hiding in the lettuce during a slug slashing adventure the other night. Not sure what it is? It wiggled it's tail when you held the shell. I had every intention of watching the contents emerge in a glass jar this week. However, quick little hands investigating the insect pressed slightly too hard in a rush of excitement. So our newly discovered insect species will go undocumented.

This weeks share includes some loose lettuce mix of Pablo and Slo-bolt(wavy green) with a splash of color, a Zeno Fino Fennel (all parts edible), one bunch dinosaur kale, one bunch Red Russian Kale, 2 bunches of Chard, 1 bag of the first Mammoth Melting Snow Peas, 1 bag of early and everbearing strawberries. The size of the berries vary to the littlest harvested from the 100 new plants this year and the large from established plants over the years. The small ones are really the sweetest to me. Talus snags most of them throughout the week as he's foraging in the garden but I managed to swipe a few before he reached them. Finally, there's 2 types of Romaine Lettuce heads-Red Valentine and Jericho and 1 head of Oak leaf Lettuce as well as, 1 bunch of Garlic Snakes.

Looking ahead the broccoli is shaping up and more flowers are emerging on the snap and sugar peas. If the weather doesn't get too hot they should keep producing. Already some of the Sugar Snap peas have crested over my head. We also transplanted more Blacktail Watermelon (an Idaho heirloom), Eden's Gem Melon, Potimarron(a French winter squash), Spaghetti and and an assortment of other curcubitas. The burgandy okra has the first fruits although this southern wonder may need more heat than Montana has to offer. We'll see.

Since last week the sounds and sights of the garden are full of the first grasshoppers and dragonflies. The grasshopper leg violin serenades may actually be more a tragic tune if they do more damage than the slugs. A good once over along the perimeter of all the beds with the mower was in store this week.

Our rooster and chickens were moved over to the mixed fruit orchard. They are still quite timid to venture out of their beloved tractor. Thankfully, the roosters' resounding call in the early morning has yet to solicit any complaints. He's really a beautiful guy and I think keeps the flock safer and balanced so we hope we can keep him.

To dangling toes in glacier lakes while the garden grows

Week 4 Squash Blossom Food Share

Snakes are back on the garlic. We like to call garlic scapes-garlic snakes as the resemblance is too similar from their emergence to development when they harden off and shoot straight up. The share this week includes three bundles of it which makes a great raw pesto or as an addition to any vegetable or pasta dish. These "snakes" are from our Music and Bogatyr hard necks selected from our harvest the year before. Most of the garlic was planted by moonlight expect these 12 rows of hard necks that our little guy helped plant in the ground. Not surprisingly the only watermelon seeds that sprouted this year was from his magic touch. I've been unsuccessful germinating seeds of watermelon since I was 6 and am now convinced it requires the attention of young people to sprout.

This week your getting a Share and a Half to fill in the gap of starting a couple weeks later this year and to fend off early freezes later on in the season. There will be 3 other "share-and a halfs" during pepper and tomato season too. So this week includes 3 heads of Northern Lights or Five Color Silverbeet Chard, 3 heads of Pablo lettuce (vibrant purple), 2 Heads of Grandpa's Admire's lettuce, 2 Bags of Baby Bok Choy Greens and 1 Bag of Southern Frill Mustard Greens mixed with some medium size Bok Choy Plants.

We took a break from the garden this past weekend to make a trip to the east side. Our hard working Talus attempted his first 10 mile adventure up to Cobalt Lake. Although we came just shy of the destination as the avalanche banks were precariously waiting to slide, it was dramatic just the same. You can see how far he walked if you look for Two Medicine Lake in the background of the vista shot. The snow was still 6-8 feet thick past Russell Falls and lots of fun to penguin slide down on the journey back.