The tomatoes are starting to ripen!  Can’t wait to take them in to BCS on Friday!!  Families have been asking for the last month when we’d have fresh, ripe tomatoes.

90 percent of the tomatoes are still green, including many gigantic beefsteaks, like this Brandywine (look at that sucker in my hand! HUGE!).  If you’ve got a moment, say a quick prayer that they’ll all ripen before the cooler weather sets in, or I’ll be sending out lots of green tomato recipes with the week’s harvest (green tomato chutney, green tomato pickles, fried green tomatoes…).

The first of the tomatillos are ripe as well – these are the DeMilpa, which have  a purple blush, and regular old green tomatillos mixed together.  We have ten tomatillos plants, so there will be many MANY pounds of tomatillos to harvest in the next two or three weeks.

How to use tomatillos?  Well, there are several uses, but after removing the husk and washing these sticky little cousins of the tomato, I like to make them into the best salsa verde ever:

Larksong’s Super Simple Salsa Verde (this is sort-of a recipe – just wing it!)

Two to four double- handfuls of ripe tomatillos, husks removed and washed (how many did you pick in the garden today? Use what’s on hand…the amount is flexible!)

(optional – if you like it spicy!  I leave it out for the kids) 1 small jalapeno, whole

3 or 4 cloves of garlic (add more or less, to your taste), crushed

lime juice, to taste

sprinkling of sugar

flake sea salt.

Directions:

1)Line a broiler tray with foil, and oil very lightly.  Place tomatillos (and optional jalapeno) on the tray and broil, checking every 1-2 minutes, until blackened.  Remove tray, and with tongs, flip tomatillos (and jalapeno) over.  Place back under the broiler until all are blackened on the other side.  Remove from oven and let cool.  (Remove stem and seeds from jalapeno and slice, if using.)

2)Toss whole tomatillos and any accumulated juice into a blender with the garlic (and optional jalapeno slices – sometimes it’s best to put in half at first, so you don’t get it too hot).  Blend, then add sugar, lime juice, and salt to taste, blend again to incorporate. (My kids like a bit more sugar, and depending on the source of your tomatillos, they may be pretty acidic and not need much extra lime juice – so just taste as you go!)

3) Serve!  Enjoy!  Make lots, because it goes fast!

And here’s the rest of the garden update:

There wasn’t time to get any side-yard shots before the rain started up again, but we now have 64 healthy strawberry plants growing there (many have set fruit already!) and the Christmas limas are germinating there as well.

Out in the backyard – the peas (see above) are as tall as Firecracker!  Oregon Sugar Pod IIs, Alaska, Galena, and Alderman Tall Telephone peas are all going strong.  And yesterday Firecracker noticed that they’d begun to flower!  Soon we’ll have sugar snap peas, snow peas and shell peas by the bucketful!

The first planting bush beans are up all over the backyard, and I expect the second planting to germinate later this week (for a longer continuous harvest).  These are Royal Burgundy.  This patch looks good, but unfortunately, most of the bush, runner, and lima beans are all taking a heavy hitting from…

SLUGS!  Despite daily picking (and feeding them to the chickens), the garden is inundated with thousands of slugs.  Most mornings the girls and I pick anywhere between fifty and one-hundred fifty.  Beer traps have only managed to capture a few as well,  so today I finally resorted to buying some organic, “pet friendly” slug bait in order to save the bush beans.  Here’s hoping it works, because there is no way   chickens freely hunt for slugs in the beds without the baby plants being eaten as well.

This is one little patch of the Red Russian kale, which we’ve planted all over the yard.  Thankfully, the slugs haven’t bothered it.  It’s our favorite kale – not only is it beautiful and doesn’t easily bolt, it’s full of vitamin K, vitamin C and iron, and has a mild flavor – we put it in everything from fruit smoothies to lentil curry.  A definite superfood bursting with nutrition.

This is one of the 25 asparagus crowns in full frond – only two more years and we’ll have a nice crop of asparagus of the BCS volunteers!

Our compost still isn’t cooking well once again (too wet and soggy, too many kitchen scraps (”greens”) and too little “brown” matter (leaves, dry plant matter, shredded paper).  So, in the drizzle yesterday morning, I got down to the stinky job of turning it and splitting the compost into two separate side-by-side bins, which will get lots of shredded newspaper turned into them this week.   Let’s hope that does the trick.

The hens and chicks were THRILLED to have the compost turned and were scratching about while I was working – finding germinating pumpkin seeds and worms and all sorts of  “delicious treats”.

This is one of the as-of-yet-unnamed Speckled Sussex chicks (or, as Firecracker calls them “teenagers”) scratching in the compost (those three are so fast, it’s tough to get a photo of them!).  You should have seen the chickens happily clucking and scratching and snacking and clucking some more!

And thankfully, all of the adults are done molting, so those happy hens have started churning out -

- 3 eggs per day!  Woo-hoo!

And that’s it for the garden at present – thanks for being patient with a long update -  Hopefully, the warm weather will come back soon and the tomatoes, summer squash, tomatillos, cilantro and basil will really get a chance to thrive.

Okay, I promise something other than a gardening post coming up soon (although, I don’t know what that will be, since we haven’t had time for much baking or knitting or reading or cleaning house since every spare moment has been spent gardening or researching gardening and chicken keeping!)

If you’ve got a garden going, or even a few tomatoes in pots on your balcony, the girls and I would love to hear about how things are going for you!

The garden has really taken off  after a week of hot, sunny weather, followed by lots of rain. (although, the cold nights and wind the past few days haven’t done us any favors).  Volunteers have been able to start taking in a few baskets of organic produce to BCS, mostly radishes, mustard greens, lettuce, chives, tarragon and baby beets, bok choy, and kale.  The teeny harvests thus far just begin to hint at the bounty of the coming months.

Between slug-picking and weeding and rain showers, we got a few pictures this morning – (above) The boys in the front yard behind Alderman Tall Telephone peas, mesclun mix lettuce, with more lettuce mix and Oregon Sugar Pod II peas in the background.

- the tomatoes are really taking a beating with the cold (40s and 50s) and hail and driving wind this week.  We wrapped about half in plastic (and then ran out of plastic!) but can’t see that it is helping them out much – the hail damage is the worst.   Surprisingly, the tomatillos don’t seem to mind the dreary weather as much and are growing nicely

Despite a little slug damage, the cardoons we planted back in February are coming along nicely – the largest are nearly two feet across already.  (They were planted closely, because about 20% of the seed stock are infertile – they are smaller and weak and I keep thinning them out.  The hassle of starting them from seed is well worth it – I only used half a pack (@ $2.45/pack), and have 8 strong seedlings, versus paying $7.49 each for large starts from the garden center.)

The Vulcan Red Chard is doing quite well – just a few more weeks until it will be able to be harvested in any quantity.

The mustard greens and bok choy bolted in last week’s heat, but the bolted stalks were fed to some very happy chickens  and in the gaps I have planted summer squash (a total of 6 in the front yard, and 19 in the back – a mix of crooknecks, zucchinis, and patti-pans).  I may eventually need to thin them down, but a few are compact varieties, so we’re hoping they won’t get too crowded.

This is a Golden Hubbard seedling, coming up in the bed closest to the street.  Winter squash are such a treasure – beautiful rambling vines all season, tasty blossoms to stuff with ricotta and deep-fry, and finally, vitamin-packed, long-shelf-life squash in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes to eat throughout the winter.  (Since there is limited space, I have only put in my favorite eating squash – Buttercups, Butternuts, Hubbards, Delicata, except along one side-yard, near the house, where the gorgeous – if largely inedible – Rouge Vif D’Etampes has been planted for harvest decorations.)

For everything you could want to know about nearly every variety of winter and summer squash, I highly recommend Amy Goldman’s book, The Compleat Squash.

To keep the neighbors happy, I have planted misc. wildflowers, sunflowers, daisies, and about 50 dahlias in the front beds.  Add to that those dozen winter squash (to trail out of the beds and along the path), bronze fennel and artichokes, and for good measure, a whole jumbo packet of nasturtium!  If that doesn’t make for a pretty (but still mostly edible!) street-side bed, I don’t know what will!

(Eventually, the front bed will be mostly perennial flowers, currants, a dwarf plum, and a low fence with a grape arbor and a gate across the path, but it needed something to make it attractive this year, especially with so many folks in the neighborhood stopping by to ask what in the heck happened to our front yard!)

And with that, I’ll save the backyard and the chicken update for tomorrow!

Preparing for our celebration of the Resurrection tomorrow:

The children’s baskets may be put out awaiting little treats from a certain visitor, but our hearts and minds are fixed the redemptive joy of tomorrow.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. – I Peter 1:3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12: 1-3

Happy Easter, from our family to yours.

A few quick pictures Firecracker and I took in the garden yesterday afternoon:

The chickens having a grand time in the compost bin.

All sorts of things are germinating – peas, peas and more peas, chard, kale, mustard greens, beets, lettuce, poppies, sweet peas, calendula, artichokes, chives, parsley and basil.

The garlic and shallots we planted last October are really taking off!

And, of course, our 75-odd tomatillo and tomato-lets are getting big – here (clockwise from far L) are “Black Krim, “Yellow Pear”, “Costoluto”, “Brandywine” and some little “Sweet 100″ cherry toms that got a late start.

Today we’ll be planting “Hollow Crown” parnips and “Nantes” and “Cosmic Purple” carrots, and more basil, as well as starting cilantro in the cold frame.  Despite the chilly rain the past few days, it’s really feeling like spring as the garden comes to life.

You know what they say – “Good things comes in small packages.”  I think tomato seeds are just about the best small package around -they contain the promise of wonderful meals to come.

I know our garden is going to be growing food for more than our nuclear family, and therefore we’ll be starting more tomato plants than the average garden.  However, we want to grow a wide variety, and I could never use up all of the seeds from the dozen or so types of tomatoes we’ll be growing if I purchased a separate packet of each type.  Thank goodness for mix packs that contain 3 or 4 varieties to a pack – each dyed a different color, so you can still tell what seed will produce what tomato.

My favorite salad tomatoes – Black Krim and Green Zebra…I can’t wait for August!

What are you favorite tomato varieties?

(One of the two tubs with tomato and tomatillo pots – each with 4-6 seeds.  I can’t help but peek at them over and over, hoping to see someone germinating.  Patience, patience!)

The girls are listening to Daddy read The Mousehunter at bedtime, but our daytime book selection reflects the unusually sunny, warm weather that has us all thinking of anything except the tail-end of winter.

We just finished listening to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Which is why we’re starting an asparagus bed -  Little Hen was fascinated by the chapter on asparagus – as read by Barbara Kingsolver’s daughter), interspersed with a complementary collection of Appalachian music.  Indulging a totally separate branch of the girls’ current interests, we had worked our way through a stack of books on Norse mythology and ancient Egypt.  So, it was time to order some new items.  In the afternoons, when we’ve needed a break from gardening, we’ve been scrolling through the library’s website, ordering books, books on CD, and music CDs that appeal to us.

When we went to pick up the books, it was clear that a definite theme must have been running through our collective subconscious while we were ordering:

SPRING!!

This afternoon, while the rain comes down outside, we’ll be reading the chapters on winter and spring from Our Farm, a book about 5 siblings’ experience of a year on their family’s farm.

What books are seeing you through the end of winter, as we edge toward spring?

We’re working on a converting our front lawn into veggie beds, and the unseasonably warm and dry weather has helped us get a jump start on sheet mulching.  Goodbye lawn, hello permaculture landscape!  While Tum Tum and I spread cardboard, straw, manure and compost, Little Hen and her Daddy were busy building cold frames out of scrap wood and old windows from the ReStore. (Firecracker was either resting inside, or resting curled up in a nest of blankets on the driveway, since she not only had strep throat, but then a head-to-toe reaction to the amoxicillin meant to cure the strep.  Poor kid. )

(Collage posters Little Hen made calling for Garden Volunteers – I wrote the words, but she went to town with the scissors, a stack of old issues of Mother Earth News and a glue stick.)

Last year we worked at Penelope’s Garden, but this year, we’ll be hosting a community-building garden of our own.   It will be years before our seedling fruit trees and berry bushes obscure many sunny patches of our yard, so we thought we’d make good use of it all and put in veggie beds to grow fresh, organic produce for families of limited means.  This weekend, a team of volunteers will help us finish installing the front yard beds and create many more in the backyard, so that the organic veggies grown here and cared for by volunteers can be delivered to the families at Birch Community Services, a local non-profit serving needy families in Portland.

We saved a little time for planting poppies and sweet pea seeds, rhubarb and asparagus crowns.  We also started tomato, artichoke, and cardoon seeds in pots in the basement.   The dry evenings allowed me to plant blueberry bushes, dozens and dozens of strawberry plants, and a red currant after dinners last week.

As Little Hen’s sign (which she hung on the front door) says -”Gardening – You want to sign up?”  If you’re interested in volunteering to grow food for needy families in the Portland area, and teaching those families to grow their own nutritious, organic produce, please e-mail me at

angela(dot)baker(dot)knits(at)gmail(dot)com

I’m working on setting up a little blog dedicated to the garden this year.  More on that soon.   If you have any ideas on a name  for the Birch Community Services’  educational and food producing organic garden hosted at the Baker’s house, I’d LOVE to hear them (short, sweet and whimsical is best).

Happy gardening!  The rains and cold weather are on the way, so I’m sure I’ll be posting more from indoors later this week!

Tum Tum and Brenna watching squirrels in the yard this morning.

My apologies on being absent for a bit – we’re once again struggling with sick kids, especially Firecracker, who has had multiple trips to the doctor and the ER in the past few weeks because the colds are wreaking havoc on her asthma.

That, plus my first time hosting Thanksgiving for extended family, and now scrambling to prepare for our church’s Women’s Christmas Breakfast at my house this coming Saturday (ack!  that’s less than two days away!!), I have hardly been on the computer.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a string of posts about the beginning of our Advent celebration.

Blessings!

(And and extra special thanks to my dear friend, Trish, who has been tirelessly experimenting with new banners for me!)

A morning spent baking a pecan pie thank-you.

An early afternoon spent planting hyacinths and digging earthworms with the girls.

A late afternoon of immense blessing – We have been given an enormous maple loom, made right here in Oregon.   We spent about two hours getting it dissassembled, carried up our narrow stairway, and reassembled.

It will need a good bath, a shuttle, some new pegs, but it is a beautiful, beautiful thing – an amazingly generous and precious gift.  The girls and I can’t wait to get her in working order and teach ourselves how to weave shawls and rugs and coverlets – our minds are full of anticipation and possibilities!  (Firecracker would like a superhero cape!)

And now we are off to our homeschool co-op’s end of the semester Open House.   We have been looking forward to it for weeks (Little Hen is in the theatre class, and Firecracker will be singing in the choir).   We’re so glad Grandma and Aunties and Cousin can come down and join us.

Altogether, a truly blessed Saturday – every piece.