Broccoli

We harvested the first broccoli. I tried to share it but Rick and Buddy made me take it. Honestly, they didn't have to twist my arm very hard. It's a lovely huge broccoli head, and the recent hard frosts have brought out the sweetness. Here it is in all its glory just before I sliced off its head!

And here it is on the cutting board, prior to being cooked. Notice the lovely variation of purple and green on the florettes. This baby was too special for any one cooking technique, so Rick and I had it three ways: First we ate it raw, with Marie's blue cheese dressing. Then we ate some lightly steamed, just for a minute or two, then tossed with plenty of butter. Finally we had some tossed with olive oil and roasted at 350 for about 20 minutes, just until it was crispy and browned. Sheydra turned me on to this method, and it was delicious. In fact, the broccoli was delicious all three ways, and distinctly different tasting in the different preparations. However, the steamed version was sublime. The short cooking brought out a nutty sweetness that was unsurpassed. My only regret is that we didn't plant more broccoli, but this whole year is a test.

I did make it over to the farm yesterday, and it wasn't too bad while the sun was up. Buddy came out for a bit, and I jokingly called Rick C, knowing he's never come out in this cold weather. I told him Buddy said he was too much of a pussy to come out in the cold, and that I was gonna harvest that broccoli and keep it all if he didn't come over. I don't know if it was the taunt, the threat, or just the wonderfulness of farming, but he DID come over for a bit. He pointed out that the cauliflowers were starting to form heads.

We continued the discussion of what did and didn't work the best in the summer garden. Rick C. really liked the Biker Billy jalapenos, which were huge, with nice thick walls. He wants to focus on growing those and pickling them. I felt I had good success with the homemade tabasco sauce, so I'm gonna hold out for adding a few serranos to the mix to round out the jalapeno flavor. We agree that a few tomatoes is fine, and when we want to make big piles of sauce, we can get a few flats of toms from the farmer's market. Corn is a good crop because the freshness matters so much. I want to do the three sisters technique, growing beans and squash with the corn. Rick C didn't think the melons were much success, and I have to reluctantly agree. They take up a ton of space for what they produce. We'd do much better planting potatoes.

As far as spring gardening goes, it's peas all peas! We'll plant every spare inch in peas. I'll buy the innoculant to get the beneficial bacteria well established, and the peas will fix nitrogen in the soil. Besides, peas! Rick C is all for snow peas, but I'm gonna insist on a row or two of real shelling peas.

One idea we came up was planting the peas in pairs of fairly close rows, using the small fencing we have. Then when the peas are down, we plant potatoes in between the paired rows of fencing, allowing us to pile straw over them.

The two most important projects for over the winter are pruning the trees and building the chicken coop. Chickens give a ridiculously high return on investment, both of money and time, and are an important component in an organic garden because you can raise them primarily on waste products, they are fantastic at bug control, and they provide high-nitrogen manure.