Mid-August

There is still a lot going on in Mid-August and I have stayed on top of watering and cleaning so everything still looks alive and producing.

More than half of the raised beds are still producing and cover crops fill the rest

The Summer Squash bed is still neat and tidy.

But I spotted a spot!

Powdery mildew.

That little round spot dead center in the above photo is the precursor to total annihilation. Not to be confused with leaf silvering shown below.  I see that a lot on the Facebook forums.  New gardeners on the lookout for potential problems often misdiagnose the silvering (below) as mildew.  It actually seems to be some sort of mildew protection.  Varieties with leaf silvering seem much more resistant than those with tender green leaves.  So I got out my Safer Grow Mildew Cure.  I tried this last year at the first sign of mildew and it really seemed to stop the progression.

This is going to be a good year for apples.  I currently have 71 on one tree and about 15 on the other.  And these are 13 to 16 ounce apples!  A little goes a long way.  Every time one falls I have a pang of disappointment.  Then I ask myself - "what would you do with a hundred pounds of apples?"

I am currently shopping for a dehydrator because there will be more than I need for pies and sauce.  But I do love dried apples.

The strawberries I planted this spring are growing well.  About every two weeks I have to get in there and cut the runners.  I have let some babies take hold to fill in for wimpy plants.

The sweet potato vine... well, it has left the garden.

Dinner Plate Dahlias are beginning to bloom.  I've sort of neglected them this year.  They are on the slope where they are difficult to water, so they are just in a holding pattern this year to keep them alive and next year I will put them in fertile ground and add to them.

My clematis vines, while beautiful in June, always end up getting over grown and mildewed.  So I cut them to the ground and in a few weeks they are back and much more manageable.  At this point I can begin training them up their trellis in an organized fashion and these branches will be the basis for next spring's growth.

Potato pots are so ugly in August!  I've been cutting them back and then moving them to the shade on the north side of the garden shed so they don't continue to bake on the hot gravel.  They look like a pile of Christmas presents waiting to be opened.  You sort of know what might be in them but you never know until you actually dump them out.

Tomato season has only just begun.  I have so many nice fruit waiting to ripen.

Brussels Sprouts are sprouting.  This is my first time growing them so I am learning how best to prune them to give a good harvest.

Butterfly Bush

Buckwheat flowers

There are a lot of busy little bees on the buckwheat

Sweet Corn Time! Our farm stands have had corn for a month but it doesn't taste like this!

SS3778R super sweet hybrid from Johnny's Seeds

 I have enough to freeze this year.  My method for cooking sweet corn has changed over the years.  I use the microwave which is a great solution in the hot summer.  I snip off the hair with a scissors and then husk down to the white husk so there are about two layers left.  Microwave at least a minute per ear and let it cool for five minutes or more.  Then the hairs and husks come off easily although I use rubber dish gloves to avoid burning my hands.

Now we just need rain.  We haven't had a drop since the 3rd.  That's a two week total dry spell in hot sunny weather.  My tank is almost out of water again and I've begun emptying containers of nasturtium and eggplants because I can't keep them watered.  The water priorities are tomatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and beans and not only does it use up the water, but it takes a lot of time to go around with the hose and/or cans and get to everything that needs it.

Green Bean Selfie

Jade Bush Beans

 I'm beginning to wonder if the Jade beans are related to the Yard Long Beans.

Blue Lake Bush Beans - a little shorter and stockier

The Blue Lake are a few days behind the Jade but coming on strong.

Sweet Corn is also in full swing

We have a lot of shredded zucchini in the freezer along with cauliflower and the spring peas.  

Now I have to go and snap the ends off of five pound of beans :)

Heat Wave

When you are a gardener, you have to keep an eye on the weather.  You have to measure rain fall and keep an eye out for storms.  You have to know what temperatures are coming.  And in June, when the lettuce is at it's peak you have to watch for heat waves.  Because in a day or two all of that sweet tender lettuce could bolt and turn dry and bitter and end up in the compost pile.

So when I see a 10 degree jump in temperatures coming I get nervous and start picking lettuce.  Not all of it would go bad at once, but it can be tiresome sitting out in the garden tasting a leaf from each plant deciding which one comes into the house and which one gets thrown on the compost pile.

So here is how I extend the lettuce season.  I have a 50% shade cloth covering the west side of the main lettuce bed to block the afternoon sun.

I am thinning the rows cutting the smaller plants not the larger ones.  The larger, more likely to be bitter plants get to stay and shade the others and look pretty.

I still had some "seedling" size plants in pots that are behind in development from the first second and third plantings.  I put those in the space where I pulled over-mature plants this week.

I have these pots in almost full shade.  They are actually larger than the garden row plants but still sweet.

And then there is the weekly large harvest.  I go out at dawn on a cool morning, preferably after a rain, and pick as much lettuce as I think we can use in a week or two.  I put this all in the sink full of cold water and rinse three times.  Once the sink is full, I pull the lettuce out into a large bowl and drain the sink. 

 Three sink loads and you will see all the garden grit is gone and you have sorted out all of the maple seeds and damaged leaves and sleepy ladybugs.  Then I run it through the lettuce spinner and pack it into a 2.5 gallon zip bag for the fridge.  The strawberries are in full swing now and the peas will be ready to pick in about a week, so I am making a lot of salads topped with fresh strawberries and last year's peas to get the freezer emptied out and ready to go.

I think it will be another good year for apples.  The second tree has set only three apples.  Which is two more than usual.  I swear if I don't get at least one apple from it this year I am pulling it out and replacing it with another tree.

My pots of carrots are looking beautiful.  I tried them in pots so they would have deep soft soil to grow long and straight in.  I can always tell when they grow down and hit the hardpan under my beds because they blunt off.

The slicing cucumbers are finally on the move and the Pickle Bed is also growing.  It's exciting after so many weeks to go out in the morning and see that things are bigger than yesterday.  My tomato babies seem to double in size each day.  They will probably begin to ripen mid-July.

The Pickle Bed with pickling cucumbers and dill

Pear Cordial

One of my favorite magazines is Hobby Farm Home. Maybe I ought to do a blog on the best gardening magazines. Anyway, Hobby Farm and Hobby Farm Home are the only two magazines I subscribe to. There are two other good ones, I'm considering since I almost always end up bringing each issue home. Anyway, in the November/December 2011 Hobby Farm Home, an article caught my eye. It is called "You're Cordially Invited" and it gives recipes for several fruit cordials.

Thanks to our new Governor, the 40 year law banning the sale of 190 proof grain alcohol in New York State has been lifted, and I no longer have to scrounge far and wide for Moonshine and grain alcohol. I can buy it at our local liquor store! So a new recipe piqued my interest. I made a copy of the Raspberry Cordial recipe for my step mother who was harvesting dozens of quarts of raspberries throughout the summer. The one that got me excited was Pear Cordial.

My mother has four pear trees, and for several years, they have produced bushels and bushels of pears. We have run out of pear ideas. Mom even went so far as to make pear pie, which, to quote my sister, "tastes like apple pie with something wrong with it.'

My favorite pear is the Bosc Pear which is a brown pear, with a rough, almost sand papery skin. It is tasty even when under-ripe. We eat a lot of them.

She also has a winter pear called Keiffer which takes a little more patience, but when you get it at the exact right ripeness, it is very good as well.

Making pear cordial is very easy. You will need 6 perfectly ripe pears, a gallon jar, some sugar, some high test alcohol, and some patience.

First you bring 3 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water to a boil, stir until dissolved, and let it cool to room temperature. Then you peel and slice 6 pears. Plop the pears in the jar, pour the syrup over them, add 1 tsp of lemon zest, and 2 cups of vodka. The article says if you are working with 190 proof grain alcohol, you should dilute it with an equal amount of water. Pffttt... as IF!

You put the jar in a cool dark place for 4 weeks, visiting it every couple of days to slosh it around. At the end of the four weeks, you strain out the pears through cheese cloth. It makes about 6 cups.

What you are left with is a deep chestnut liquid that looks remarkably like cider. The aroma is fruity. At first it was a little sharp, with the lemon zest taking over a bit. You are suppose to let it age 6 months, and in a week I already notice a difference as the flavors blend and mellow. I've been sampling it now and then by just dipping a spoon into it. It is very smooth, with a delicate pear flavor. Then you realise it packs a bit of a punch as it hits your palate. I think it will be good over ice. I wonder what it would be like served hot like Glögg?

Tired

I'm tired.

I'm tired of fruit flies.

I'm tired of every basket and enamelware bowl, bucket and pot being full of potatoes and onions and tomatoes in various stages of ripeness. Apples in various stages of rot. And summer squash.

I'm tired of my tables, Hoosier, countertop and every available flat surface from the side porch on through to the dining room being covered in baskets, buckets and pots.

I'm tired of fishing peas/tomato skins/bean ends out of the sink drain.

I'm REALLY tired of cleaning my countertop composter. That is one stage of composting that is really.... vile.

I'm tired of washing pots/pans/strainers/casserole dishes and cookie sheets. And the stove top.

I'm tired of rearranging my freezer.

I'm tired of cleaning the tomato seeds out of the Foley food mill.

I'm tired of trying to optimize the usage of every bag, box, and bushel basket I've hoarded.

And I'm tired of my refrigerator looking like a disaster zone and being on my feet until 10:00 three or four nights a week.

But I'll never get tired of beautiful, colorful vegetables...

Or Mom's apple pie....

Or gardening in general.

But it sure is time for autumn.

After Apple Picking

This is going to be a banner year for apples in our neck of the woods. Every wild apple tree you pass on the side of the road is loaded with apples. We have a Yellow Transparent, a Cortland, and a Macintosh in our backyard, but the crows and the squirrels stripped all but a couple of dozen apples off the trees. Not to worry, on my farmland we have an Orchard, and I was pleased to discover that there were much more than enough apples for us.

My Great Uncle Doug planted the orchard in 1938. When Great Grandpa Fred came on the farm in 1905, there were old orchards (as was common on farms then) on both "upper" and "lower" farms. Some farmers in the 19th century and turn of the century grew a lot of apples. Some were sent to apple driers in nearby Ashville and put in barrels and exported to Germany.


Photo of the Apple Drier in Asheville from "Chautauqua County - A Pictoral History"

The orchard on my farm was across the cow lane from where it is now, on a two acre field. The severe winters of the 1930's and age killed off the old orchards. Some winters were so cold the trunks of trees would freeze and burst and that sounded "like rifle shots" according to my Grandfather.

Uncle Doug planted the new orchard with more modern varieties. It was one of very few, if not the only orchard in Busti planted that late. He ordered the trees from the Stark Brothers  mail order nursery. My uncle Norman used to have to count the trees and report the number along with how many bushels of apples he saved and how many he took in for cider to the government.

By studying an aerial photo I’ve determined there may have originally been as many as 84 trees, and fewer than 30 remain alive. My Grandfather never trimmed or sprayed it. One year neighbors with a cider mill rented it and trimmed it up and tried to put it in commercial condition for a year or two. I believe my Great Grandfather used to graze sheep in there to keep the grass down, and I remember my Grandfather keeping a couple of hives of honey bees in the back. Other than that, the orchard has been left to it's own devices and is in need of some clean up.

My uncle tells that in the 1970's they used to bag up many bushels of apples and have cider made in several batches. They brought it home in milk cans but put it in big 20 gallon earthenware crocks and kept it out in the snow to have cider into December. I remember them laying tarps under the trees to catch the windfall apples.

My Grandmother also canned and froze cider in gallon jugs: glass for canning and plastic for freezing. We drank a lot of cider! We also had applesauce made from the Yellow Transparents, and dried apples dried on cookie sheets beside the wood stove. My sister and I learned to make apple dumplings, and that was all the rage for a year or two.

They stored apples in baskets in the root cellar. A few times in the winter someone would have to go through the remaining apples in the cellar and cull the rotten ones. I remember the cellar smelling of dried leaves and the faint smuttiness of rotting apples.

The past few weeks I have been keeping an eye on the trees, and have been tormented by loads of ripe apples falling to the ground to be enjoyed by the deer and woodchucks. There are McIntosh, Cortland, a Greening for cooking, Double Red Delicious which are still starchy and hard, Red Spies, Northern Spies and one King tree which is covered with large pale apples.

These are BIG trees. You can only reach a few from the ground, and my attempts at picking them from the back of my horse (who knew I was picking apples and therefore wanted to help) were frustrating at best. Around here, if you want to get to something up high, you grab a Kubota!

I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall,
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised, or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
~Robert Frost

All this bounty makes us greedy. We hate to see it go to waste. But of course, there are only so many apples you can eat or cook in a week. So Tim immediately began to think of cider. He doesn't even drink cider! I drink plenty of cider in the fall. I began by warming it and adding a shot of Captain Morgan Rum for a spicy drink. There is a restaurant that we frequent who has put me on to a few other combinations. Add Butterscotch Schnapps for a drink that tastes like warm apple pie. Add Peach Schnapps and the peach almost totally takes over for a wonderful zingy peach drink.

My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
And I keep hearing from the cellar-bin
That rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking;

~Robert Frost

I actually do have an antique orchard ladder (they are narrow at the top) but that would have been useless in this situation. Mom's apple picker DID come in very handy. Although I knocked off quite a few, sending them pelting down on Tim and Mom's heads.

Apple Orchard Gothic
Mom and I pose with our bountiful harvest.

There's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now
~Robert Frost

I talked to my dad the next day and at Tim's insistence I asked him what had become of PaPaw's cider press in Kentucky. He didn't know, but he said he had one in the garage that had followed him home from a garage sale. It needed a new drum, but I told him I would stop by and see it because I know you can buy the new drums online.

How long do you think it takes a guy to load something very heavy into his truck and drive 7 miles? Before I knew it, my father was hollering my name through the screen door, and this....

....was sitting in our driveway. Never balk at a chance to get rid of some junk.

The mechanics of it are clean, well oiled, and crank with ease. It has a grinder which Tim didn't think would do much in the way of chopping an apple, until we dropped a couple in and were rewarded with a pile of apple shards on the driveway. An efficient grinder it certainly is!

But this will probably be next year's project. Tim naturally wants to sand blast it and pretty it up, and we still need a replacement drum, a pusher (for lack of a better word) for the top, and I'll be sewing some sacks to go in the drum.

After all that excitement, I began to cook apples. I made both applesauce and apple butter (more on that another time). And this is just the beginning! There are more apples ripening every day!