Cookin and keepin

I didn't get a shot of the plate before hand but dinner consisted of stuffed zucchini and green beans from the garden (steamed just a touch). Here is what's left, I was nervous about how it would be received. My wife likes them, I used to make it all the time before we got kids, but the kids was the variable. One just turned one year old and I guess I shouldn't have worried because he eats everything under the sun and seems to love squash and sweet potatoes, so when he barely took time to breathe between bites I shouldn't have been surprised. Our daughter will be turning 9 in two weeks and the last time I made eggplant it did not go well, but I was relieved to hear that she loved it.


After dinner I put some of the glut of potatoes to use. The old standbye, your favorite and mine, potato and leek soup. This picture was taken before I finished filling the jars, 5 in total but when you factor in the large headspace it probably came closer to 4 quarts. Since this is a low acid food and I have no pressure canner, this is going in the freezer, hence the large headspace. Both came from the same cookbook, which I'll have to see if I can find a link to. I must have close to a dozen cookbooks, but this one gets used more than all others.
I first started cooking around the time I "fell off the chuckwagon" (has it been almost 12 years now?) Anyway, its not something I have always been good at, but after growing a lot of my ingredients now I am really getting the sense of accomplishment from it.

score one for the good guys

Even if you hadn't read any of my previous postings I'll bet you could probably guess I was grinning with glee when I read that the many headed beast of mammon, monsanto will be dropping its recombinant bovine growth hormone division that produces the "miracle" drug prosilac.

Aww, poor monsanto can't turn a profit when even slightly less evil companies like wal-mart wont sell rgbh milk. Whats the matter monsanto, didn't buying forcing other companies to not use the "rgbh free" label not help. Could it possibly be that :gasp: a rapidly increasing public knowledge of the true hazards of GMO pharming might in some way lead to a rightful distrust of your product?

Go figure.

Hypothesis and a game

While fussing with the tomatoes I noticed a rather horrid thing


my theory is, that with the insane amount of rain that has fallen on my plains this is a really exaggerated case of cracking. Any more experienced tomato growers care to chime in? Too much rain and they crack, too little and the blossom end rots...sheesh there is no pleasing tomatoes.

And secondly...one is killer tasty, and the other just killer...chose wisely...

They taunt me

The brandywines are getting big and heavy, but not yet ripe! I am not going to be swimming in them, the excessive rain caused a good deal of flower drop, but I do have about 8 on the vines right now in various stages...but NONE RIPE!

Zuchinni on the other hand...



thats 1 lb 4 oz today for a total zucchini tally of 3 lbs 9 oz and 9 lbs for the day when I add in the cucumber, some early beans, and 7 lbs of potatoes. The other cucumbers all seem straight, so my initial worries about soil fertility seemed premature. And by the way



The first of the cherry tomatoes is getting ripe! at last!

And now I broke the 30 pound mark coming in at 31 lbs. I have probably 3 more lbs of potatoes in the ground still. The melons and winter squash are not fairing well, will I make it to the 50 mark? who knows.

Book Review: One Circle

Having tore through "the basics" like "How to Grow..." "Lessons in Nature, and "Gaia's Garden" I think I have a pretty good handle on the theory at this point. I have been really looking for some texts of the nuts and bolts of subsistence growing. I found it in One Circle: How to Grow a Complete diet in less than 1000 square feet" by Dave Duhon and Cindy Gephard. You can get it here from ecology action.

Make no mistake this is a no holds barred exercise in fine details. If you ever wondered whether someone had taken the time to compile and tabulate the facts and figures to properly calculate the required nutrient intake for a given individual, and then determine how much and of what type of crop to grow to meet those needs, let me end the suspense...Someone did and it is documented down to the finest detail. Which likely explains why this book will never be on a best seller list.

That is not an indictment of the efforts of the authors, just that most people will start looking at this and their eyes will glaze over. Most people will look at the fact that the crops grown to satisfy the nutrient and area efficiency requirements of meeting "on as little land as possible" number as few as 8. Add in the fact that, barring potatoes and wheat, most people do not consider the vegetables grown as anything more than a condiment at best or a punchline of a joke at worst. This is therefore, not a book for most people.

Documented carefully within its pages are a slough of tables (and slide rules) to calculate the nutritional needs for any given person, and planting recommendations accordingly. There are also examples so that people like me who don't plan on doing the calculations can use samples to satisfy their curiosity.

So if its not for most people then what is the upside? There are a couple of fantastic essays from a number of people, some excellent growing guides for the crops that are recommended, and while the content of the main segment of the book is quite heavy, it is an excellent explanation of why some crops are less efficient than others if one is growing for sustenance.

If I could have picked a different title it would be "Forget Tomatoes: using biointensive methods to grow crops which will technically provide you with all of your vegan diet using the absolutely smallest amount of space possible." It answered a question for me, what a diet using only the land I own would look like.

In the end I have give this work a thumbs up with a caveat...If you dig textbooks about nutrition and agriculture, pick it up. If not, ask to borrow it from a friend and just read the essays.

Scratch that!

this weekend I was going to dig out the rest of the potatoes this weekend but it rained, hard, again.

the cherry tomato plant in the hanging basket has some yellowing leaves, too much water probably. I started some beets, turnips beans and leeks for the fall. They along with some others will be occupying the bed the potatoes vacate. The healthier better tilth soil of the two beds. No signs of ripening yet from either the cherry tomatoes or the brandywines. Anticipation is killer isn't it.

In other news, the grape vine (lakemont) which was growing strong appears to have weakened growth at the tip and there looks to be some very light brown streaking at the last inch of it. I topped it off right above a node, if its a disease, hopefully I got the infected part of it and it can continue to grow from the node. The Male Kiwi is being ridiculously sluggish. I know its position is not the greatest but it will have to do, I may give it some worm tea and see how it reacts. Hopefully I can give it another couple inches before fall and let it get established.

I've seen more than a few japanese beetles out and about, and managed to "get" all of them, I hope they aren't somehow involved in all this.

Theory and Practice: onion edition

The onion tops had bent over and are now showing signs of withering, so out they came, apparently I have to dry them off for about 2 weeks before braiding them and putting them in storage but I can't say they lived to my expectations. I don't fault the method for this, I'm sure it has more to do with the clay they were planted in than its companions or spacing. I ended up with just a touch over 4 lbs from 5 square feet, some formed what I would call decent size but a lot were no bigger than a large shallot. I have family a couple towns over in what is locally called "onion country" so I will consult with some of the locals there about variety, planting times etc. Things I should have done this year basically.

Got the first cucumber a 4 oz curved specimem. The variety is not known to be curved and in the past, curvy cukes were a bad sign, but so far the babies that are following it all seem straight. No word on taste yet. I'm leaving that to the expert, my wife.

And of course another yellow squash, 11 oz, bringing the zucchini/squash total to 2lbs 5 oz. With more likely a few days away.


My total just a touch below 23 lbs, not what I had expected, but I don't think I was being realistic in the beginning. After all prior to trying the grow biointesive method I had never done a succession, never grown most of the things I have this year.