Single, Fresh, Wet, and Wild

Saturday was the first annual Sierra Nevada Single, Fresh, Wet, and Wild festival. We went with Karen and Glen. Rick, Karen, and I walked, and Glen rode his bike over once he finished golfing. It was a fantastic event!

But before I get into the full details, lemme catch up on farm news. I mean, this IS a farm blog after all... We're eating lovely cabbages.

And getting a lot of broccoli. This is the start of the main crop; we already harvested the center heads of the earliest ones, which were the Packmans on row 5 that were planted on 6-20 (!). These pictured are the Apollos that we had such good luck with last year.

And remember that bug we were going to identify? Rick found a site and tracked it down: they are nymph forms of Harlequin beetles (a type of "stink bug"). They are indeed sucking the life out of our broccoli leaves, so I'm going to hunt them down and slay them. Last Thursday was Rock Band night, but it was also Firestone Walker night at the Handle Bar, so we started off there!

I started with the FW  Double Jack IPA and Rick had the FW Wookey Jack. Next I had a Drakes Aroma Coma. Both were delicious, and the big IPA got me heading down the road to tipsy!

 Friday I got busy and planted  two big beds of garlic in Sector 4 (by the house). I got 4 rows in each bed, with just under 30 in each row for approx 100 per bed. I got the irrigation set up on Sunday.

Ok back to the festival! We walked over, and got in line. The tractor in the back is pulling a shuttle car. They set it up with parking at the fairgrounds and shuttles to bring you over. But lots of folks walked or rode bikes.

On the way in we saw this exhibitor.

Once we got in, we got a program and a cute little glass. I had my pencil at the ready to make notes.

It took place mostly inside the huge tent. We made little "base camps" so we could foray out and grab beers around the sector, then return and find everyone. We changed base camp several times to work the whole floor.

Outside they had food tents (in the background) and lots of seating. You could have all you wanted to eat and drink, and there were never any lines! Much better than our first Octoberfest. These stations were sausage (with rolls, sauerkraut, mustard, and coleslaw), taco bar, and pretzles with beer cheese. The last station also had a big bowl of sliced watermelon radishes, which were great for palate cleansing.

Beer tasting is serious business!

They had a display of beer camp partners breweries.

And the pedal powered bar.

Ken Grossman was signing autographs.

Here were all the beers, with my notes...

Autumn Frolicking

So we haven't just been digging and planting. Sunday, Tom played at Has Beans in Chapmantown. His band is Adam, Rita, Rita's daughter, and Tom.

They set up in the alleyway, which was kinda cool, although we had rails and plantings between us and the band.

But it was a lovely sunny day, and we chatted with some great folks between songs. Nora was there, and Melinda, and Dan and Judy.

Afterward, we went to the Handle Bar. Tom ponders his flight...

They bought a kegerator, but too late! There's no Kolsch left to be had! So we drank Trumer Pilsner instead.

Not a bad way to spend a beautiful Fall Sunday.

Autumn Planting Roundup

We're having that slice of almost perfect weather that we often get in early Fall. It gets pleasantly warm in the day, and cool enough at night to snuggle up with blankets. I got the backyard pretty much all squared away. The beans are out of row 1 and greens are taking their place. There are transplants in the front (set in 9-20) and direct seeded stuff (seeded 9-24) in the back. Row 2 is broccoli and cabbage that went in on 9-1.

The last Friday, 10-11, I cleaned up row 3, taking out all the tomatoes, but leaving the peppers for now. I got it planted with Continuity Butterhead lettuce, Winter Red kale, a tiny strip of Surrey arugula (saved seed), then French Red shallots. Also on Friday, I put some of our saved Spanish Roja garlic in row 4 back, and row 5 back is the garlic that sprouted, only the biggest ones, transplanted on 9-1. I could probably take out the cherry and Borg tomatoes now, but they're still producing a little, and I'm not in a hurry.

The backyard is in pretty good shape. At the farm however, I'm behind on getting the garlic in. I decided to put it in sector 3, because it's almost ready, and it hasn't had garlic or onions there recently. The chickens are lending a hand... or a wing? Mostly a foot, as they scratch and scratch up the dirt. We did lose one chicken so we're down to 10. Since this shot, I've finished digging up the whole area. I just need to rake it into rows and put down straw on the paths.

**********************************
Weather Note
Sector 3 became suddenly much easier to dig when it rained on Saturday night. It wasn't even that cloudy, but we had a brief downpour. We all took shelter in the bar, and waited it out. I was glad I'd gotten row 4 planted.
************************************
This is row 4, newly planted in crimson clover for a cover crop/forage row. I'll keep planting as I keep taking out tomatoes and peppers.

We're still getting peppers!

The broccoli is doing well. We've had some aphids, but I've washed them off. We have six rows of broccoli. (One row not shown here). The cabbages that were set in on 7-22 are already done and harvested! I'm going to put lettuce behind them.

The broccoli are producing well. The Packmans in row 5 are already on side shoots, and they were maybe planted just a tiny bit early. On the other hand, it was nice to have them.

This flat of lettuce is doing well. Since this was taken, I thinned/transplanted them, and I have 49 plants.

We're seeing lots of these on the broccoli. We don't know if they are eating the aphids or the brocs! I'm going to try to identify it.

This row of greens should keep us fed for a while. There's lettuce, chard, kale, win choi, and violetta pak choi.

***************************

What We're Eating

Pickings are a little slim but... with the last few tomatoes, a zucchini, a pepper or two, some green garlic, and fresh oregano. 

I was able to scrape up a pizza's worth of veg. I sliced the zucchini, salted it and let it sit while I prepped the rest. Then I rinsed and dried it. A lot of liquid came out from that, so it didn't make my pizza soggy. 

The pizza was fantastic. 

********************************

Rick C.'s BD

Rick C. is turning 60! His birthday is actually next Sunday, but Catherine will be out of town visiting her daughter so we had the party last weekend. It was a lovely day, we had a nice turnout, and best of all, Catherine did all the work! Well we helped a little, but really, it was all her.

There was music, and food, and drink, and good cheer.

And more music.

And cake too!

The weather cooperated; it was sunny and warm but not hot, there was not too much wind (for once), and even toward evening it was barely light-sweater cool. Buddy somehow managed to cram the huge pile of vegetation from the sector 3 into the bin so we had a nice clean yard, which was important because we used the sycamore's shade.

Fall Cleanup Continues

I pruned the apricot/plum last Monday, but I hadn't taken a shot of it. It's much smaller!

I'm continuing to clear out the pumpkin patch, even though there is no bin room and I am having to just make a big pile. I found a couple of delicatas in the process. I couldn't resist another group shot.

And I couldn't resist a glamour shot of the winter luxury pie. It's a lovely little pumpkin.

The red kuris are lovely as well.

Thursday was Rock Band night, so we made an early jaunt to the farm and then rushed home to play. Rick took some time off, so he's been painting over at 9th Street. The tenants are on vacation so it's a good time to get stuff done. Yesterday was lovely and warm, if a bit windy. It was really windy for a couple of days. We saw this execution of buzzards in the sky. There must have been 50 of them.

We were excited to discover that the Winchester Goose is now open. We went down last night to check it out. It's surprisingly tiny, and it was pretty crowded. 

They had a nice selection of beers, but it was so crowded that we left after one beer. It was standing room only, and people were crowded all around us. It's hard to savor a nice beer when some chick's butt is right in your face. Also, they don't really serve food. They have sandwiches and a few platters that are clearly intended to be shared. It might be nice to get one between a few people, but you go there to drink, not to dine.

After we left, we walked over to Chico-ichi to hear Larry and Steve play. I swear, the service in that place is just appalling. The first time we went, we waited about 15 minutes and never saw any wait staff. Rick finally  had to go inside and demand some beers. Then the second time, we ordered 2 appetizers, and they brought us 2 dinners. This time, we ordered 2 appetizers and they brought us one that wasn't even properly cooked. Bleah! We need to switch our Rock Band night and catch the boys at Grana instead. 

Fall Fell

Last week, Fall fell with a vengeance! It got cold and rainy. We wore coats for the first time, and put blankets on the bed. I even dragged out my laprobe and heating pad. We also had the first fire of the season! As noted in my last post, it rained pretty hard on Saturday. Then on Tuesday night, it rained as well. Here we are in the bar, watching the rain. We had an unexpected Bill!

The rain gauge showed half an inch of rain.

It cleared up a bit for Wednesday, when I picked these lovely squashes.

I also planted another flat of lettuce. They should do better in this weather. We are getting warm days and cool nights (when it's not raining...).

Thursday night was Enloe's dinner for folks who'd worked there a long time. Rick and I got to go because he's been there 10 years already. We had a lovely dinner and a couple of glasses of Flipside.

Here's a nice day's haul! All the first plantings of cabbage are done. We've picked the big ones, but there are still some Soloists in the ground. I sent one each home with Catherine and Buddy.

Kim called me about a limb down at 9th Street. I had chapters to work on (first Prima book in ages!) but Rick went over and cut as much wood as he could. Turns out the whole side of the old pear came down. It's actually a good thing, because I was going to have to pay to have it removed anyway. I cleared some space and we set up another rack for wood. It's all stacked and ready to keep us warm this winter.

I'm itching to get the garlic in the ground, so I went out and picked some of the pumpkins. There are still a couple that aren't ripe yet, but this is most of them. The Red Kuri were the most productive, with the Winter Luxury Pie and Baby Blue Hubbard tied for second. I have one lonely Kakai Hulless ripening up. Once the rest are finished, I'll pull up all the vines and we'll get garlic in the spot. I'm also going to plant a bunch in the backyard. Garlic is a good backyard crop because it's "plant and forget." At the farm, I'd rather have things that are ripening all the time and need watching.

I got the apricot/plum tree pruned yesterday, so all the small trees are done except the bigger apricot. It will have to wait for the next bin.