Fava beans on left, cabbages on right

Fava Bean Flowers

Giant Red Mustard Greens

Purple Of Sicily Cauliflower has become one of my very favorite vegetables to grow. It is sort of a nice combination between broccoli and cauliflower, and stunningly beautiful. The plants are large and lush green with purple ribbed leaves, and the cauliflower heads vary from pale lavender and light green to deep purple. The taste is amazing.

Purple Of Sicily Cauliflower

There is just nothing better than bowls full of fresh berries and hopefully we will have more than enough soon. I just finished putting in 125 red raspberry plants and 16 Blackberry bushes. Along with the 500 strawberry plants I planted this spring and our 24 blueberry bushes we should have a nice assortment of berries. The strawberries are growing beautifully in the cinder block holes and hang down the sides keeping them dirt and bug free.

Earliglow strawberry plants planted in the holes of our block beds.

Earliglow Strawberries

One of our garden helpers.

This time of year we have an abundance of green onions coming out of the garden. These are not the limp little white onions that you are used to buying at the grocery store. They are sturdy, tall, and colorful, with amazing flavor. I wanted to share one of our favorite methods for cooking green onions with you and thank my brother-in-law Thaddeus for initially turning us on to this great way of cooking them.

Watching this fiery little daughter of mine skipping around the garden while I work has become one of my greatest pleasures. She digs quietly in the dirt, patiently waiting for me to finish, picking worms out of the mulch and sorting them into piles. Sometimes she wines, throws monumental fits, and cries until I am ready to scream. Mostly she waits. I tell her I am almost done over and over, she picks snapdragon flowers and gives the pea vines a hug. At times I yell at her too much, feel like a jerk when she pats me on the leg and says “It’s okay Momma, It’s okay.” She walks slowly, balancing along the edges of the garden beds, sometimes I find her bare feet buried deep in the soil among the fava beans, pulling plants up by the roots. Her Idea of weeding and mine are quite different. I hand her pieces of irrigation hose to play with, she sorts landscape fabric stakes for what must seem like hours. Every strawberry and blueberry is sacrificed. If the strawberry stained face of this two-year-old is not what I garden for, then I don’t know what is. I feel like I fail as a parent occasionally, yelling at her for trying to get my attention, telling her to go play, go away, just go do something…PLEASE! There is so much I have to get done, so many living, growing things that rely on me. I second guess myself, thinking that I should be at the playground pushing her on swings, playing games with her, going to play dates. Instead I insist that she sit quietly under the sycamore tree and talk to the ladybugs. I wonder how she will be as she grows, if she will love to garden, love plants and bugs and the outdoors forever, or if in time she will come to resent it. If she will turn away and leave me alone to work peacefully by myself forever. I know how much I would miss her if she did. I hope that I always have these memories, peeking through the Asparagus plants to see which critter she is conversing with, listening to her telling me the names of the plants we have just planted over and over and over again. Leaning over to drink from the hose. running up with hands full of sort-of ripe strawberries that she was so excited to pick. I hope that when I am old she will still come to my garden, still know the names of the plants and bugs, still sit under the shade of the trees with me, still skip along the garden paths with blueberry stained hands and a bright smile on her beautiful face.

Naturally dyed Easter eggs has got to be one of the coolest things I have done in quite a while. If you have never used natural dyes I highly recommend you give it a try. Sure, sitting around with your little fizzy tablets when you were a kid was fun and all, but this takes it to a whole new level.  It’s so much fun for kids (and adults) to gather the ingredients, then wait to see what beautiful colors emerge.

I went a little crazy with it this year, trying to turn everything I had in the house into dye.  I had some great successes and a few real flops. My quest for a lovely green has still left me wanting. Spinach, stinging nettle, peppermint and Eucalyptus bark were all too pale to satisfy my desire for green. Next year I may try parsley. Frozen pomegranate seeds did not work even for a pale pink. I know frozen blueberries would have made a lovely shade of blue, but I couldn’t bring myself to part with my organic blueberries just to dye one or two eggs.

These are the two methods I used for extracting the dyes.

1. Boiling Method

Bring 4 cups of water and 4 TBLS Vinegar to a boil.  Add a handful of plant ingredients or several tablespoons of dried spices or herbs and reduce to a simmer for at least 20 minutes. The longer you cook away the water the more concentrated the dye will be. Strain dye with fine mesh strainer into a mason jar or bowl and add hard-boiled eggs. Soak for 6-24 hours. The longer you soak the darker the color will be.

2. Steeping Method

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add your dye ingredients to individual jars or bowls and ladle boiling water over them. Add @ TBLS vinegar to each jar. Let them soak in the hot water for at least 45 minutes. Strain dye with fine mesh strainer and place eggs in jars. Soak for 6-24 hours. The longer you soak the darker the color will be.

I found that it helps to swish the eggs around gently in the jars occasionally as they sit in the dye. The parts that rest against the sides of the jars will not get evenly covered with dye if they are in one spot continually. Remove the eggs very carefully, some of the dyes rub off easily until they are dry. Drying them in egg cartons works fine. Just flip them over once one side is dry so the other side doesn’t get drip marks.

And finally, if you feel your eggs look a little dull after drying, rub them with a little bit of mineral oil or vegetable oil to give them a beautiful glossy sheen. This also helps blend in any uneven spots in the dye.

So here’s what worked.

yellow onion skins

Turmeric

Turmeric

Turmeric

red cabbage

red cabbage

Red Cabbage

Mate

Mate

Mate

Red Beets

Green tea

Eucalyptus bark

Black Tea

Black Tea

Today I am revisiting a post from last Easter. I have not dyed eggs yet this year and will post pictures as soon as I do, but for now here are some ideas for your own naturally dyed eggs for Easter.

This Easter we dyed our Easter eggs from things in the garden and around the house. The rich and beautiful colors are much more beautiful and unique than anything you will get from store-bought dyes, and it can be so much fun. You will be surprised by every color.

Boil 4 cups of water for approximately 30 minutes with several tablespoons of vinegar and a good couple of handfuls of dye ingredients to make these lovely colors. Pour the dye into mason jars and let the eggs soak in the fridge for the night. You can leave them in longer or shorter for varying shades. Be very carefull when lifting the eggs out of the dye, it scratches off easily when wet. If they look dull after they dry you can rub them with a little bit of vegetable oil to give them a beautiful polished sheen.

Onion Skins: Yellow onion skins made the rich orange/red color.

Red Cabbage: the brilliant blue surprised me. Didn’t expect that from red cabbage.

Red Beets: The marbled pinkish-red. Not sure why they marbled like this, but lovely just the same.

Spinach: I was hoping for a slightly darker shade of green, but got a yellowish/green with marbling.

Coffee: The rusty-brown color in the center is from boiled coffee.

Turmeric: The light yellow is from turmeric powder boiled and strained.

Spring is fully upon us here and we have been doing a MAJOR makeover on the garden and orchard. Our straw bale raised beds were starting to deteriorate and we had been talking about replacing them with block. Well, here it is. And we have a lot of work ahead of us. 2475 blocks to be exact. This should finish the entire garden. We also just finished re-laying all the irrigation in the orchard in what we hope will be a more rabbit and squirrel proof method. And along with all of this we are also building a new and elaborate tortoise habitat for our large tortoise Doppy.

So… long story short, we have a lot of work going on right now, seed orders and 500 strawberry plants are on the way, I am getting ready to start planting more this week. Looks like we will probably be up and running again around May. We are hoping to start taking on more members again this year, so pass the word if you know anyone that may be interested.

And, last but not least, Jason has been making soap like crazy, and it is now ready for purchase. He has been working on the scents, and I think they are perfect now. The Vanilla Orange is very sweet and warm, and the Mountain Forest smells like you are in the depths of a pine forest. I am in the process of setting up a website with a store for purchasing www.primevalgardens.com It is very basic still, as time is rather limited around here, but more will be coming soon.

                                                                           New Tortoise House

Jason here, writing this weeks entry about my Boar Soap.

Three  years ago I was so impressed by the quality of soap I received at Christmas from my mother-in-law, that I asked her to teach me how to make it myself. As a hunter and avid outdoorsman I wanted a scent that reminded me of a conifer forest. It has taken a while but with the right mixture of essential oils I have finally hit the mark . Using Mountain Forest soap in the shower you’ll be invigorated by the primal woodsy scent. Sit down to a breakfast of flap jacks, thick cut bacon, eggs and piping hot coffee. lacing up your boots with your breath fogging in the cold morning air and you can hit the day head on. You get the picture.

Almost immediately requests  came in  for a more feminine smelling soap.

“Bah, Boar soap is for men!” I exclaimed.

The pressure mounted. I caved. Vanilla Orange was born.  I am general annoyed by feminine floral scents. This sweet and spicy odor is one I am proud of. Designed for the outdoorsy women in your life. The kind of girl who loves to ride a horse, hike a trail,  or just spend the day outside.

Welcome to my 100% natural, handmade soap. Made with only the purest ingredients, essential oils, and skin softening agents. Free of any chemical preservatives , artificial colors, animal products, or synthetic ingredients this soap will leave you feeling invigorated, while gently cleansing and moisturizing your skin.  It also works wonders to help heal eczema and other skin conditions.

-Jason

Soap orders can be placed on from our online store: http://www.primevalgardens.com/Store.html

                                                        Jerusalem Artichoke plants stand tall behind the corn

Let me introduce you to the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) also known as the Sunchoke. The name itself is a misnomer. They certainly are not an artichoke, and apparently have no connection to Jerusalem. They are actually a type of wild sunflower, native to the central and eastern United States. We’ve been eating them for months now, I heap them upon my CSA members and no one leaves our house without a big bag full. A 16 foot raised bed planted with several pounds of them last spring has yielded literally hundreds of pounds of Jerusalem artichokes. It is said that once you plant Jerusalem Artichokes you will have them forever and neither your family nor your neighbors will ever go hungry. They store in the ground through the winter, or in the refrigerator for months. The plants are beautiful, tall and lush with small yellow sunflowers. The tubers resemble ginger and have a lovely nutty flavor like a cross between sunflower seeds and artichoke hearts. The plants stand stoically along our garden fence, a dense wall of green, offering a bit of reprieve from the hot afternoon sun. They have been able to withstand heavy winds that flattened the corn, and even the gophers haven’t touched the tubers.

They are  as controversial as their name is confusing. They have a tendency to run amok if not carefully restrained. They may start popping up around your yard and garden, smiling brightly at you while silently scheming to make their next move. Even the smallest piece of tuber left in the ground after digging may happily shoot up into a new 12 foot high plant by mid-summer. They may also drop seeds that will drift off to far corners of your garden and set up residence in your Strawberry patch. They can be a rather naughty native, but if you embrace their willingness to provide you with a plethora of food while cunningly taking over your carefully manicured yard you will get along with them just fine. We find that confining them to raised beds makes them both easy to dig and curbs their enthusiasm to escape the bounds of captivity.

And then there is the issue of their nickname. The dreaded FARTICHOKE. They seem to be a plant with a sense of humor. They lure you in with their beauty and grace. They taste amazing so you finish your plate and have a second helping. They are rich in vitamins and low in sugars, so they leave you feeling full and satisfied. Then they strike. While you are inside clutching your stomach and blaming the dog, they are outside ready to roll through your property like Attila the Hun. But wait. There is a solution! Eat them more often! Turns out, what causes this gastrointestinal upset is called Inulin (not to be confused with insulin). The human digestive system is not capable of breaking it down, but the good news is that the healthy bacteria in our belly love it, and the more you eat the Jerusalem Artichoke the stronger your gut bacteria become, so making them more easily digested. They are also high in fiber, potassium, magnesium, iron and niacin, and an extra good food for diabetics. So you see, they are tricky in more ways than one. We have a love hate relationship with them around here, but ultimately, they are a wonderful, nutritious and plentiful food source.

Oh the beauty! The aroma of woodsy fungi, the feel of soft delicate spines, the flavor of wild things, lobster and oak forest and rain. Yes, it is that time of year again. We wait and wait all summer, missing them, and as Autumn approaches and the first rains fall we begin to anticipate, to speculate, will there be enough rain? Will the temperatures be right? It is an addiction really, once you catch the bug it owns you. For those of you wondering what these beasts are, animal? plant? mineral?,you are looking on the fragile beauty of hericium erinaceus the “Lions Mane” mushroom.  One of the rare gifts that nature sees fit to provide us this time of year, we feast like kings.

I really have no idea what a Quince is. It is one of those seemingly exotic fruits that you occasionally hear about, but probably have never eaten or even seen. When we started planting fruit trees around here though, I couldn’t help myself. There on the pages of Trees Of Antiquity was the AROMATNAYA QUINCE from Russia, “sweet enough to eat fresh, pineapple flavor with a citrus aroma…”  Need I say more? We now have one growing in our yard. So this year I was burdened with the question, “I have quinces, now what do I do with them?” I bit into one, thinking of the sweet, pineappley/citrus description, and promptly spit it out. It was fairly awful. Okay, “sweet enough to eat fresh” might be a relative term. So I started researching recipes. I settled on quince jelly. The pictures showed a beautiful pinkish-red tinted jelly wich surprised me, since there was absolutely nothing pinkish-red about these quinces. What the hell, it looked good and they taste awful raw, so I compiled several recipes for quince jelly, and gave it a shot. The recipes said to boil them for hours, literally, and strain overnight. These are tough little buggers to make edible. I boiled mine for probably two hours and gave up when I was ready for bed. By morning I had sort of a pale, thick, syrupy looking gel that still tasted awful. The slices of quince left over were slightly more edible, I could actually see developing a liking for them. I added the sugar, only about half of the 1:1 part sugar/quince juice the recipes called for, and boiled it again for ages. I sampled it before adding to the jars, and was amazed by the rich, honey-floral flavor. I suddenly was in love with the quince. Oh, and it was now a lovely reddish color.  I am now longing for my little Quince tree to hurry up and grow big, so I can pile Quinces in the arms of unsuspecting people, and eat Quince jelly on my toast every morning.

Canning tomatoes with two babies under 2 years old is not the hardest thing I have ever done, but it does deserve a place on the list. When you have 100 pounds of tomatoes in crates in your kitchen threatening to turn into a pile of red sludge, there are few options that don’t require spending hours in front of a hot stove though. You find that you have endless amounts of time to think about life while canning tomatoes, and I spend a good portion of it thinking about how store-bought sauce is pretty good and really not that expensive. I invariably burn myself at least twice and splatter hot sauce all over my clothes before I remember why they make aprons. Every time I place a shiny jar of the newly canned red gold on the shelf in the pantry though I am reminded why I do it. And I do it again and again, until every last mason jar is full and every tomato is gone and my pantry is brimming over with summer sunshine.

Enjoyed a great CSA potluck today and beautiful September veggies. Nothing better than having the best grocery store in the world right out your door, and wonderful people to share it with.

I grew up on Potatoes. I took the potato for granted it was such an easy crop to grow. Toss a few cut up pieces in a trench, hill up some dirt, wait a few months, and voila! Potatoes. Since I began gardening in Southern California potatoes and I have not been on friendly terms however. Everywhere I turn I see articles about growing potatoes. Grow them in tires, in wire baskets, cardboard boxes, raised beds, and yes, even trash cans. It seems that everyone can grow potatoes in anything, except me. Every year I have planted potatoes and every year I have had my hopes dashed as I watch my beautiful plants wither away much too early.  Upon digging I invariably find only several tiny potatoes clinging hopefully to the remnants of their parent plant. This spring I noticed potato plants popping up in random places around the garden. Some were in beds, some in pathways, none of them were in places that I had ever planted a potato. A squirrel or mouse must have dug the potatoes that I planted last fall and replanted them in secret locations only they would know. I wondered how those potatoes had vanished without a trace. I tossed a little extra dirt around the plants and ignored them. They seemed to thrive. Today I got out the shovel and started digging. Imagine my surprise when I began pulling large, smooth skinned potatoes out of the ground. Quite a lot really for the several plants I dug. 25 pounds of beautiful red potatoes from plants I never planted. I guess I owe the rodents for this one.

Thor Iorek, born July 1st. Welcome baby Thor, our hearts are full to bursting with love and joy for you.

Now I am slowly getting back to life as normal, back to the garden with a baby in a pack again, digging potatoes, planting zucchini… I tell Thor about the tomato varieties, which are my favorites, which are new, he is a captive audience, literally, so let the gardening education begin early.

I would like to thank all of my CSA members for your patience, for coming out and picking your own vegetables when I need you to, for your support and understanding while I get my life back on track. You are greatly appreciated.

It’s that time of year again. They spring up so quickly, where there was nothing there are now huge primeval looking plants with big globes and spines. Beautiful and delicious. Baskets brimming with fresh picked artichokes, I am a happy gardener. Early in the season I cut the stems long, a foot or more, and cook the whole stem with the artichoke. It is just one big extension of the heart. Don’t miss out on this extra bonus, you just don’t get them like this at the store.

Storm regarding her first Morel.

On a quick trip up to Washington state, several hours in the woods rewarded us with a nice haul of Morel mushrooms, widely regarded as the best tasting wild mushroom on the planet. For anyone who has ever picked morels, stumbling on a decent patch is like the best Easter egg hunt ever. These little woodland gems are so hard to see, you can kneel down to pick one and suddenly realize there are 10 more all around you that you never saw at all. One lucky year I picked close to 100 pounds over the course of a week. It was simply glorious. Storm enjoyed her first mushroom hunt, and enjoyed eating them even more. She was stuffing sautéed Morels into her mouth as fast as she could and pointing and yelling for more. It runs in the family I guess. There is something about mushroom hunting that is very catching. I would spend hours as a kid roaming the woods and bringing home baskets of all different sorts of wild mushrooms. We would sit around with Mushrooms Demystified, the mushroom hunters bible, and try to identify everything we found. Hopefully our children will carry this same passion for the beautiful, magical wonders of mushrooms that their parents do.

This weeks veggie box contains:

4 large Artichokes, 1 bunch turnips, 1 bag spinach, 1 bag sugar snap peas, 3 Kholrabi & greens, 1 head Lolla Rossa lettuce, 1 bunch swiss chard, 1 bag chive flowers, 1 dozen eggs

A nice change from the typical green broccoli that we are used to, Purple Sprouting Broccoli does not make heads, but rather produces lots of little sprigs of broccoli with wonderful flavor. It took a while, growing slowly over the winter, but has finally rewarded us with a plentiful amount of lovely purple broccoli florets.

This Weeks Farm box includes: 1 large bunch young turnips & greens, 1 bunch red beets & greens, 1 large green Cabbage, 1 bag chive flowers, 4 heads Lettuce, 2 bunches radishes, 1 Dozen eggs.

Boxes can be purchased weekly at: http://www.pick-a-pepper.com/view_farm.php?fid=89&back=welcome