Why are we thinking about fall? Well, partly because all the fall crops are going in. I got row 6b planted last Thursday (8-15). The front half is Apollo, then two rows of Tenderheart cabbage, and back half is Summer Purple.
We've got three nice rows of broccoli and cabbage. I have two more flats to plant. I'll put one in 5b as soon as the Black Turtle beans are done. And I'll put the other on row 3a, which I'm putting the chickens on this week. We got a few handfuls of filet beans out of that row, but as was the case last year, by this time, we're so loaded with food that green beans don't seem that tempting. Yeah, I know... I should make dilly beans... in my copious spare time.
Instead, I've been making zucchini relish. Lots and lots of zucchini relish. I didn't even bother to can the last batch, as I was sure I'd eat it fast enough. I've been eating it daily, and I'm utterly addicted. I put this batch up in pint jars so I can give some away... maybe. You know you've hit on a great zucchini recipe when you start hoarding all your zucchinis! My zucchini! Mine! You can't have any!
I like the fact that beans can themselves up, sorta. Well, after you pick the vines, pull off the pods, and shell out the beans, you're all done! This shot shows the relative yield of different varieties of beans. Each variety was planted in almost exactly the same amount of row space, with the same spacing, so approximately the same number of seeds. And what a difference! The Cannelini's were the underacheivers here, with the Jacob's Cattle performing well (and looking lovely), while the Red Mexicans were the stars! Fully two jars from the same space. The fourth variety, the Black Turtle beans, aren't quite done yet. In this shot you can also see a bunch of my home-canned bounty: zucchini relish, tomatoes, pickles, tomatillo salsa, and preserved lemons.
We are also continuing to upgrade the chicken project. Rick built this clever feeder. The chickens have to step on the pedal to open the bin and access the food. The pedal and lid part is carefully balanced so that the weight of a chicken opens it easily, but a mouse or rat's weight won't.
Here you can see the new contraption in place. The bin holds a ton of food, and it has a separate bin part for grit/oystershell.
But... as we all know, what we REALLY do at the farm is drink! We sent this image to Catherine while she was away at band camp, and titled it "Drinking of You."
Last Tuesday, Karen and Glen came over to the farm. They had stopped by Feather Falls brewery, and got a growler of their beer. They shared it with us in exchange for some Kolsch.
Glen also brought ribs to share, and I put together some flavor bombs.
Then on Wednesday, Richard Roth showed up at the farm with a special beer to share. Notice the corkscrew: this drink doesn't know if it's a beer or a wine. It was both capped and corked.
The second fermentation involves cherries, so it's sort of a cherry wine beer. It had a sparkle like champagne, and a pinkish head. It tasted like fruit juice, but was pretty high alcohol.
We then proceeded to sample the Vindicator. It was fairly malty for an IPA, but tasty.
We also tried the Mission, which was quite nicely hopped, with a sharp, sort of piney-resiny back taste.
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Weather Note
Well... it could be nicer. It's quite humid, which is very unusual. It rained a little Sunday night, and sprinkled for just a minute yesterday morning as we were starting the walk. The clouds over Sycamore Pool make it look more like April than August. Humidity was 65%; fortunately, it never hit the predicted temp of 104. At 90 it was still miserable. There is a large fire burning outside Oroville, so we have a lot of smoke also. There's a chance of thunderstorms through tomorrow, and it's forecast to be partly cloudy all next week.
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And the wall for the freeway gets higher every day.
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