Collards & Kale

Today we planted the Collard and Kale plants bought from Applefield. It is really nice to be able to start putting plants into the soil. It won’t be long before we start eating them!

A blank slate

Today we visited our plot for the first time this year. This will be our third year on the same allotment. Hopefully we are getting close to eradicating all of the knot weed.

Using Make Magazine’s workbench plans as a basis, we built ourselves a seed bench for the basement this weekend.  The goal was to have somewhere to hang grow lights to start seeds below and a work surface to pot plants and other plant related projects.

First harvest of the year

We were able to harvest a couple of small salads from our grow light fueled basement farm.

When the French chef Auguste Escoffier invented this dessert to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, it was only flaming cherries served on a silver plate. Today, it is most popular poured over ice cream. Chris and I discovered the following version in Wilderness Cuisine by Carole Latimer served over chocolate. We love this version so much, we haven’t bothered trying it any other way.

Cherries Jubilee
Ingredients

~1 cup cherries

2 Tb cornstarch

2 Tb sugar

¼ cup warmed kirsch (cherry liqueur)

1 bar of chocolate (the best you can get – Scharffenberger,

Ghirardelli, Lindt, etc.)

Process

Break up the chocolate into the bowls. Set aside.

Heat cherries in a small saucepan until they begin to give up their juice. Then add the cornstarch, and sugar stirring constantly. Bring the mixture just to a boil and turn off the heat. At this point, the juice should begin to thicken rapidly. Set aside.

Now, briefly heat the kirsch for about 30 seconds over low heat. BE CAREFUL, too much heat will cause the kirsch to ignite! If it does, everything is fine since you are aiming to ignite it anyway, but could be a surprise if you aren’t expecting it.

Lately we have been swamped with camp and the research class and poor Sierra and Oliver have not been getting the attention they need and deserve. The class will be over in a few weeks as will camp but until then, we decided to try out doggy day camp.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is their first day at Best Friends Day Camp.

There are many great things to be said of Best Friends and our experiences with them. One of the best is the webcam! Can you spot Sierra and Oliver? (refresh for an updated view)

I have always admired how weed free the beds at small farm are. Really, it is amazing. It takes us forever to weed, yet in all of the times we have been there, we have never seen anyone weeding. I assumed they had a legion of nocturnal workers with tweezers that would work all night. On a recent trip, I decided to ascertain the secret.

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Everyone’s vegetables are getting massive! The plants have been showing the benefits of weeks soaking up the sun, some rain, and hard work.

If you are driving down Tuttle Lane at any time between sunrise and sunset you are bound to see at least one person lugging heavy buckets of water, tearing out weeds, or collecting the fruits of their labors. Stop by and have a look!

This book is fantastic! It is filled with tips, tricks, and organic techniques. There is a full listing of vegetables in the back and he offers loads of advice from sowing and growing to avoiding common pests.  It is an easy read and serves as an excellent reference. I highly recommend it.

This is probably the most awesome book of the year. It even has its own trailer:

Now available (for boys only!):