garden note september first

lentils, calendula, radicchio and more 'quick pick' 6 week purple hull peas

I meant to plant lentils this fall, but am getting conflicting reports of it being fall or spring. So I have planted just a handful of seeds to see what the plant is like, and if it produces anything before frost then I would know fall (ie: late August early September) is just fine for it. I have no doubt an early spring would work for it as well... I just want something for fall! I have this feeling our 'hard frost' will be in November this year - Mark thinks maybe December. I knew it was not the right time to plant the fall seeds a few weeks ago, but that one cold morning before I expected it - less than a week ago... it made me think that waiting another two weeks would be too much. I guess we'll see how my instincts ride out.

The radicchio should plant just fine out there now. It is starting to get cooler finally, at least in the mornings... still 80-90 during the height of the day.


Lima beans are taking another run at producing


as are the pinto beans




Harvested some more ornamental corn yesterday - it is gorgeous. I love the slate blue one SO much. I gave Grandma ten seeds of it... felt like I was being a miser, but that is a color I would definitely want to propagate further.


Whipporwill pea pods starting to turn


A few of the recently dried pods shelled out
the longer they stay drying on the plant they will get darker in the shell.
They will end out rust brown with darker speckles.


Pogo has to be in on the photo session

I've been eating a lot of garden soup in the past few months. Here is the basic recipe:

Garden vegetable soup

Green beans, snapped
Black eyed peas or other cowpeas, shelled
A few slices of zucchini and/or white scallop squash, fresh or frozen
tomatoes, whatever is available, mostly just cut through the middle or 'squashed' and thrown in
any bits of pepper or carrot available
1 beef cube boullion
a dash of celery seed, oregano and black pepper
a few leaves of basil
dash of olive oil and white or red wine vinegar
I've even thrown radishes, cucumbers and pumpkin puree in there as it was available and needed to be used.

cover veggie mix with water to about 3/4 of a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
turn down to a 'high simmer' 3/10 on my oven, and let simmer for several hours
if the cowpeas are on the drier side, add a bit more water
remove from heat when the cowpeas and/or carrots are tender, and let cool
put in containers and eat with toast.
delicious food!

I've also lost another five pounds since 'last time I checked'. I do this randomly now, because I used to be so focused on the idea that I would check multiple times a day. By not having one in our house and just borrowing Grandma's 'randomly' I have a much healthier response now just seeing how my clothes fit and muscles work and not looking at some number that is not the be-all and end-all of what shape I really am in.

I like this site : Subsistence Pattern Blogspot They say their garden puts them on the 'muscle and bone' diet, because that is all that is left after all that work. I am feeling it.

//I was down in the valley looking at the things that were planted there at midsummer... two of the butternut squashes have produced tiny fruits. One of them was withering down so I split the seed out from it, and the other one is still growing. Mark says it is a good experiment for hardiness. I also saw a quail wild down there - very interesting. I thought it acted very much like a bantam chicken. I could almost imagine little chicks fluttering along behind it under it's wings as it scurried along beating the earth, then it jumped up onto a log, eyed me for a minute, and fluttered off into some low brush to hide.//