It's Nice to Spend some Time in the Garden

I’ve been so inundated with homework this term. I’m taking some very mathy classes, which twists my brain and requires a lot of extra work for me to GET IT, DAMMIT, and also some very writey classes too, which is a lot easier for me but then has the sad side effect of not wanting to write anywhere else, including here. Honestly my brain is just completely full and kinda tired. I never worked this hard before in any of my college classes, which tells you a couple things: One, I failed a lot (truly, my first college experience was all about failing) and Two, if I wasn’t failing then it was a class that really interested me and so I was motivated to do well and it never felt like work. So, I’m learning what it is to be an ambitious college student and to be afraid of losing a perfect GPA, which I know, not such a big deal in the scheme of things, just - I’m having feelings and worries and anxieties.

Luckily there is the garden to which I can escape when I’m really overwhelmed. Some days, I just can’t get out there, and with the daylight slowly leaving us a bit at a time, the days are shorter too which doesn’t help. Today I made a list of things that I absolutely had to get done in the garden and I firmly stacked my books away from sight and headed out. Tom came with me which made it even more delightful. We had a big morning job which was turning the compost and sifting out whatever was finished, which turned out to be about 8 wheelbarrows-full, a wonderful result. But turning that big pile is a really big job, with long pokey things and big chunks of smelly wet things and just a huge mass of stuff to move and then to re-pile when the good stuff is taken from the bottom. The chickens absolutely LOVE it when we do this job, because the amount of bugs to be found is astronomical - the entire pile, literally, crawls with life. Since the birds are coming out of molt and need lots of protein to grow new feathers, this was a good time to expose all those creepies for them to gobble up. But having them running all over everything while you’re trying to move it… also a hassle. That’s ok. I was able to put a deep layer of compost under all the blueberries (they need a lot of low pH organic matter, and compost is acidic so it’s perfect), a deep layer under the apple tree, a deep layer around some ornamentals that really needed it, and to create two new beds for perennials and bulbs, which I’ve wanted to do for a while. One is under Adam’s window and is filled with plants his dear friend Sophie grew from cuttings and lots of bulbs, and the other is under our magnolia tree where I grow some natives but it needed some punch in the summer when the natives are dormant. I put a lot of bulbs there too. I splurged on a good amount of alliums and fritillarias. I also seeded a bunch of native poppies in those places.

just part of the haul

The winter garden is coming along marvelously. I’m always surprised how, when the soil is warm but the nights are cool, everything really germinates well. The shallots and garlic are already up, the snap peas are starting to bloom, and I’m surprised how big the broccoli plants are this early in the season. Very little needs doing in the veg beds, except that I need to sow a cover crop of red clover everywhere. I am just waiting until the veg crops have a good head start. The flower patches are all looking really wonderful, with six-foot tall (or taller) zinnias, cosmos, and tithonia. The bees and butterflies are still out during the sunny part of the day, but the lizards are starting to hibernate. Some birds have migrated back into the garden and it’s good to hear their songs again (the chickadees, the yellow-crowned sparrows). Leaves are starting to turn and drop and acorns are falling constantly from the Valley Oak, making very loud kerplunks when they hit the cars. It’s seems to be a bit of a mast year for them, while the galls are quite a bit fewer, at least it seems right now. Last year was a banner year for galls.

A friend from Idaho was visiting and said she’d already had snow, and I imagine many of you have already had your first hard frosts. We’ve got a while to wait for that. Meanwhile we’ve had some exciting, smaller earthquakes and some scary moments with wind and fire, but our October has been fairly quiet so far (knock on wood). Octobers are always interesting in California.

This afternoon is back to homework, but I’m glad I got to get out in the sunshine and use some muscles. What are you working on in your garden?

October cooking: More Winter Squash recipes

I thought I’d better get this post out to you before we lose electricity. (If you just want to read about food, scroll down quite a bit. First, a digression.)

Remember two years ago, when Santa Rosa was burning? Well, the same weather conditions are on tap for both today and tomorrow, and to make sure that a repeat of that distaster doesn’t happen this year, our power company is shutting down the grid. There’s a lot to say about our power company, and the fact that our infrastructure is in miserable condition and hasn’t been properly repaired, but I’ll leave that for someone else to discuss. I’m more interested in the conditions that cause these kind of fire events and how we can better prepare for them.

Our particular climate here in California is summer-dry; that is, we receive no significant precipitation from about April until November. This is not new, this is the way our state has always been. It has to do with the currents in the Pacific, the mountains and valleys, the way California sits on the west coast of the United States. The local plants and animals have adapted to this climate. It’s the addition of humans that makes the equation difficult.

Picture, if you will, hills and valleys. California is covered with them. That’s because we are a state formed by volcanoes and earthquakes. Fill those hills with oaks, bays, pines. Let them cook in the summer dry heat for six months out of the year, and deluge them with water for about 3-4 months. The hills are green and lush in winter, brown and bone-dry in summer. Now picture a beautiful ocean or bay view. Those same hills are prime real estate. In order to preserve the views, roads are one lane. They twist and turn around the ancient oaks and pines. More and more and more houses go in, jam packed on these tiny roads, surrounded by dry vegetation. October arrives and with it, the Diablo winds. These winds come from the Great Basin, a desert region with exceedingly hot dry temperatures. Those are regions of high pressure which force those hot, dry temps to a region of low pressure, the Bay Area, in the form of very strong winds. They tunnel over the Sierra and through the valley to the bay, carrying very dry air. The combination of strong dry hot winds and the extremely dry vegetation in the hills (which are all throughout the area) can cause extreme fire danger.

image credit: Forbes

As we saw with Santa Rosa, and with Paradise last year, a faulty power line can spark a fire with terrible consequences. (Or a car backfiring, or a smoldering cigarette butt, or lightning, or just about anything.) So, the power company figures it’ll just shut off the power and that will at least mitigate the chance of those wires starting a firestorm. But imagine being a business owner with no power. Or a school. Major commuting roadways and tunnels are affected. The trains are affected. And the power company is saying that, before they can turn the power back on, they have to check every single line. Power may not come on for many days. It’s a real problem for everyone. And as our summers get drier and hotter (this July had the hottest global land and ocean temps on record) , this is going to happen more often. As Bill McKibben says, “If climate change is shutting down the wealthiest corner of the wealthiest country for five days, imagine what it’s doing to, say, Bangladesh.”

Ok. I’ll leave that there for you to muse about, and get on with recipes.

We’re slowly eating our way through the pile of winter squash that is adorning our piano. Since most of it is delicata squash, I wanted to find old standard recipes that used pumpkin or butternut and adapt them for delicata. The first I tried was a sort of oatmeal pumpkin bake, a healthy breakfast alternative. I saw this recipe on a YouTube channel I occasionally watch, Off Grid with Doug & Stacy. Stacy used her own canned pureed pumpkin, but I wanted to try with roasted delicata. I think it turned out great, but would absolutely be bettered with the addition of nuts for crunch.

“Oatmeal Bake with squash of your choice

4 cups whole rolled oats (I used extra-thick from Bob’s)
milk or water to cover
16 oz pureed squash/pumpkin (I roasted my own delicata for about a half hour on 425, then pureed with skin on, but if using another squash, you’ll need to scoop the flesh out and toss the skin)
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp vanilla
about a Tbsp of pumpkin pie spice; I used a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom - cloves might be nice - whatever you like
pinch of salt
4 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup - 1 cup of maple syrup, or honey
a cup or so of chopped pecans or walnuts
2 Tbsp butter

Put the oats in a large bowl and pour in milk or water, just to cover. Soak overnight or for several hours.
Melt the butter in a large baking dish (I used a casserole dish) in a 375 degree oven.
To the oats, add eggs, baking powder, spices, squash, nuts, and syrup and mix together gently.
Pour into dish with melted butter. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles.

Serve with cream or yogurt and sliced fruit if you wish.”

We have been enjoying this for breakfast. It is extremely filling and keeps you satisfied for hours.

While I was roasting delicata for the above recipe, I also roasted some for a soup. I love butternut soup, and wanted to see if the lighter, more delicate flavor of the delicata squash would translate. Luckily I found a recipe from Grant Achatz at Food & Wine magazine. We thought this was a delicious dinner and also made delicious leftovers.

“Delicata Squash Soup, adapted slightly

3 one-pound delicata squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
3 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper
1 small onion (or two shallots) chopped
1 spring of fresh thyme
3 cups stock (I used homemade chicken)
1-1/3 cups heavy cream
(Grant asks for a shaved truffle; needless to say I skipped this step)

Roast the squash. Grant says to put it cut side up on a tray with butter in the cavities, a little water on the bottom of the sheet, and roast at 300 for 45 minutes. I just roasted it with the others, cut side up with butter on 425 for half an hour. The water in the bottom of the pan was a good suggestion. In any case, you want the squash to be tender when it’s done.

In a large skillet, melt some butter and add the onion and the thyme. Cook over low heat until onion is softened but not browned, about five minutes. Scrape the flesh out of the squash and add it to the onion mixture. Add stock and cream. At this point I added salt since my broth doesn’t have any, as well as pepper. Cook over moderate heat for about 20 minutes until the liquid has reduced by a quarter.

Puree the soup in batches in a blender and then decant into saucepan. Check seasoning and continue to warm gently over very low heat until you’re all ready for dinner. We had a crusty loaf of bread and butter with it. I felt like the soup could use a little tang and would have appreciated a dollop of creme fraiche or plain yogurt on top; I’ll do that next time.”

— Food & Wine

OK! Got this done before the power was shut off, yay. Hope you’re enjoying the fruits of your harvest, too. If you have any squash recipes to share, I’d love it!

It's Done

All the raised beds are planted with their winter crops, I’ve gotten several perennial flowers in the ground, and all the bulbs planted (I think - there might be one more shipment coming). The last two weekends have been rough, full of hard work and sore muscles.

The chickens got a lot of new stuff in the compost pile, so much that Molly got up into it and couldn’t figure out how to get back out.

I made tomato paste with all the last tomatoes. I started with a full trug of fruit and ended up with one ice cube tray full of paste for the freezer. You cook it until it’s brick red and most of the moisture has baked away, which takes a full day. (First, you’ve got to cook them down a bit with salt, then put them through the food mill, then decant the puree into some sort of long shallow dish, then into the oven at 225 for hours.)

We’ve had some chilly nights; one morning it was 42 degrees, so I’m glad to have everything tucked in and covered with fleece. Still, going to be hot and windy today, which makes us worry about fire. Cal Fire has been amazing this summer, putting fires out so quickly, and they have not be overwhelmed as in past summers. But fall is a new challenge, because it just gets drier and drier around here - no rain usually until November.

The flowers are really glorious right now, and we’re enjoying watching the pollinators cruise from blossom to blossom. These flowers will all last until the first true frost.

I found a lot of basil under the cherry tomatoes (I had forgotten that I planted it there!) so I was able to make yet one more last pesto for the freezer. Half of the last batch of sweet peppers will be cooked tonight in a sort of Italian skillet dish, and the other half will be roasted for the freezer. Tomorrow night I’ll be making a mixed winter squash soup. The last batch of hot peppers has been strung up to dry, and with that, we put the summer garden to bed. I’m looking forward to the first snap peas and kale, but until then, we’ll just sit tight and enjoy the flowers.

The Big Switch

We’re deep into it, now; the big switch from summer garden to winter garden. Our days have become cooler, and our nights starting to really dip down, and while I don’t expect that to last, it still is a signal to us to get moving on the change. So, squash and melons harvested. Cover crops cut down and put in the compost. Two inches of compost added (I used a different product this year - Organic Bumper Crop from Coast of Maine products, a family owned company that has a west coast location - I got this at Orchard Nursery in Lafayette). Seeds sown, or transplants firmed in. PVC pipes up and row cover on.

We’re working on getting about 80% of the garden done this weekend, and leaving the peppers and cherry tomatoes in for one more week - we’ll transition those next weekend. I got kale, chard, and snap pea beds done last week (in between marathon homework sessions), so those are already starting to come up.

Tomorrow I’ll work on the beds where the remaining beefsteak tomatoes are (as well as some potatoes I have to dig out) and I’ll get the garlic and shallots in. Take a look at these beautiful Inchelium Red garlic bulbs from Filaree Farms. So fat!

The last of the basil is being made into pesto this evening for dinner, and I planted arugula in its place. I also sowed more lettuces. Tomorrow I also must get the beets and kohlrabi in. Carrots, leeks, and more peas will go in next weekend. Peas: my winter goal this year is to grow enough to freeze for next summer.

The chickens are molting and feathers are everywhere. Not an egg in sight which is normal but depressing. We need more (and younger) chickens! This is next on my to-do list.

The light is certainly different, slanting sideways through the trees. A snuggly quilt feels quite good at night, pulled up to the chin. It’s almost soup weather. California tricks us though and October can be as hot as July, some years. We’ll enjoy this coolness while we can.

I imagine many of you are also going through this same stage in the garden. I’d love to hear all about what you’re planting!

First Day of Autumn

Join me on a morning stroll in the garden, today, the first day of Autumn 2019.