Rainy Days

Well... it's finally winter! We've had cold weather and rain the last few days. On Friday, we went to the farm, even though it was drizzling. We cleaned up the bar area so we could sit around it. It's dry at least! We decided to prioritize the back window (cold draft!) and the lighting. I have a few extra strands of fairy lights in my basket right now, but it's been to0 wet for even us to be out in it.

 I decided to update the window coverings in the bathroom. I had made waxed grasses several years ago, but they were tattered and dusty. Here's what they looked like before.

 I had a particularly good crop of sea oats in my front beds this year, so that's what I decided to use. I picked a bunch, making sure I had nice long stems.

I got out all the other materials and set up outside. I used my starter box to provide power, and plugged in my laptop so I could watch video while I worked.

 This is how it turned out.

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What We're Eating
On a cold day like this, beans sounded good. I've got a pot of our beans cooking on the back of the stove. They're seasoned with our oregano, basil, and chiles.
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Glen Cleanup

It rained on Sunday, but yesterday was glorious, so I went over to the farm early. I planted the rest of the broccoli starts in row 6  on the west side. In the center I planted chard, and on the far east side I put in a mix of red and curly mustard.

 I also put poles up around the rows so nobody will walk over it. This shows the broccoli in row 7b.

 Buddy had dug up the weeds in the glen. Then I got busy and cut a bunch of the climbing rose and lilac back. We tied up some rose branches to the rose of sharon to make an arch across it.

 By the time I thought of taking pictures it was pretty dark. The almost full moon looked really neat near the hawk tree.

 I tried taking pictures on different settings, but I couldn't hold still enough for the long aperature shots. So I had some fun with the effect.

 Here is the day's harvest of peppers.

Sink Roof

Well I know I'm in trouble now. Katinka not only called me from Australia to berate me, she also actually posted! Gasp! Katinka, we want some pix now! Show us your springtime garden. Here's what our fall gardens are doing. At my house, this pumpkin is hanging off the fence. These Triamble pumpkins have been very vigorous.

This is the Boston Marrow.

 

I haven't tasted any of these pumpkins yet, but they're all ripening up. This is the Galeau. The picture doesn't do justice to how streaky salmon colored it is. Plus...it's ever so warty!

These Tennesee Dancing Gourds turned out to be the cutest things ever.

 They are very tiny, and they really do spin like tops. This one is sitting on a Post-it for scale.

 Our neighbor's tree gets these big, prickly balls on it. Turns out they are chestnuts! I'd never seen them "in the wild" before.

 Over at the farm we harvested a bunch of basil. It's all going to seed, so it's time to cut it and dry it.

Bill and Laura came over on Sunday. We sent them home with a nice haul. 

 We cut open a Bidwell melon. These are good melons.

 On Tuesday, Rick had the day off, so we got busy and put up the rooflet over the sink. First Rick screwed some boards across the poles.

 Then we started putting fence boards on top. For some reason, we have a lot of old fence boards. 

 I selected and portaged the boards from the pile, Buddy handed them up, and Rick nailed or screwed them in place. He actually used both techniques because when reaching way to the center, it was easier to hammer. But as soon as he could, he switched to screws for stability.

 When Buddy holds a ladder, it ain't goin' anywhere!

 Ricky C showed up just in time...we were done! He helped us admire a job well done.

 Last night I strung up a bunch more peppers. This is quite a haul!

Hellooooo Chicooooo

Howdy Friends! Just goes to show that if you don't post for long enough, i can be motivated to do some myself. I haven't gotten so far as taking photos yet but if Asha holds out much longer....

It's spring here Down Under, my bearded irises are blooming and the roses are just getting their first buds. I haven't been out to the veggie patch, bit I can see from the back window that it's passed time to weed - maybe on the weekend...

Hope to hear from you soon :) Tink

More Peppers

Again, I'm horribly behind. It's that work thing... I dumped my most recent crop of pix here.

When I have a minute, I'll talk about the first COGS newsletter (go check the link! great stuff), which has my zucchini bread recipe. We went to the potluck tonight, which was great fun. More on that later.

The bar slate is up and glued in place. We also got sealant for it.

We've been picking peppers like crazy. Big Jims:

 Cayennas:

  Pasillas, with a serrano in a cameo role:

 Here's another close up of the serranos.

  Rick shows off just how BIG the Big Jims are:

 There are Thai peppers for the world:

These golden bells are just gorgeous. Not much production, but still lovely.

 And how can you not love these? Too funny!

These Red Peters were worth growing for the joke factor.

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What We're Eating

Peppers Stuffed with Peppers
In a moment of insanity, I bought even MORE peppers at the market. This was almost as crazy as going to Sierra Nevada, ordering a delicious margarita pizza, and realizing I'd just paid someone to feed me tomatoes and basil...
So anyway, I bought these lovely purple bells from Pyramid Farms at S&S, boiled them for a few mins, and set them aside to cool while I charred and steamed the Big Jims, Anchos, and Jalapenos from the farm. I also cooked some Lundberg brown and wild rice mix (organic of course). I foraged in the backyard for tomatoes, which I boiled up and blenderized into a sauce. I mixed the rice into the sauce, flavored it with cumin and salt. Then I took each bell half, and inserted bits of red Big Jim, green Big Jim, Ancho, and a tiny slice of Jalapeno. I stuffed the rice mix on top of that, and covered the whole thing with grated cheddar cheese, then homemade breadcrumbs. I cooked it for about 40 mins just to hot it up. Delicious!

Chile Relleno Lasagna
Again, I forgaged for tomatoes and tomatillos, and made a sauce, then charred up a bunch of nice Big Jims and Anchos. I dipped warmed corn tortillas into the sauce, and layered them in the bottom of a lasagna pan. Then I layered in the chiles, some mozzarella cheese, and more chiles, covered it all with more warmed soaked tortillas, and topped it with grated cheddar.
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 But we've also gotten some fall crops in. I planted broccoli (all is Belstar except some Decchio in row 2 back).

And snuck cabbage in around the last of the zucchini.

We pulled most of the beans (and black eyed peas) out in various rows. I put carrots where the dragon tongue beans were in row 3, and put broccoli in the back of that row. Row 7 (where the black-eyed peas were) was cleared out on Sat. and I'll put the last 35 or so broccoli starts there.

We set the chickens to work on the newly cleared rows.

Here's just one day's quick harvest. The gals put out about 8-10 eggs a day. And look at that pile of tomatoes!

The tangerines have held out the longest and are still in full production. They had a slightly more shaded place, and were a little less sun stressed. They are just an overall superior tomato!

The Kentucky Wonder beans that we took out had plenty of full grown beans, so we yanked the bean plants and put them on a tarp to dry. After a few days, the boys attacked them! Stomp!

Ricky C winnows them with the help of the fan.

The ladies stand ready to collect the threshed and winnowed beans.

We got almost 3 lbs of beans from that.

Karen sent me this pic from when we worked on their oven project. Ah! summer in Chico!

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Weather Note
We had some hot weather at the end of Sept. but by now, first week in Oct., it seems like fall. It's been 75-80 in the day, and cooling down to the 50s at night. Basically perfect weather! We got a tiny burst of rain on Sunday morning (10-3).
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 More soon. Love ya Tink!