Strawberry Jam

Now is the middle of strawberry season and today we went to Sussex County Strawberry Farm. They have 15 acres of berries, the plants were full of berries and the air smelled like strawberry jam as you walked between the rows.

It only took about 45 minutes to pick six quarts which we then took home and made strawberry jam with about four of the quarts. The jam was extremely easy to make with only four ingredients (5 cups mashed berries, 7 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 box of pectin) and even the canning process was not too bad once you got the hang of it. We ended up with nine, 8 oz jars, the jam is a light, shimmering pink and the strawberry flavor is clear and distinct. Given how easy this was and how well it turned out, we are now looking forward to blueberries in July and peaches in August.

Update On The Compost Heap

I’ve read in a few places that landfills are approximately 1/3 yard waste. In previous years, I would mow the lawn place the clippings in big, paper bags sold for this purpose and set them out by the curb for collection at the rate of 2 or 3 a week. This year, however, I’ve been dumping the clippings into a pile the vegetable garden and mixing them with leftover straw mulch and dirt. I mix the pile twice a week with a shovel although mixing is not quite accurate as I simply shovel the pile to a new location and “restack” the pile. I’m also supposed to keep the pile moist, but with the almost constant rain for the last three weeks that has not been an issue. The heat coming out of the stack is tremendous and the grass clippings are rotting away at a very rapid pace usually being mostly gone by the next mowing. The pile is also densely packed with very large worms.

The key to making compost that does not smell is making sure that sufficient air is allowed into the pile and the straw mulch and the frequent turning both provide this. Here are a good link on composting:

http://www.howtocompost.org/

The Return of the Farmer’s Market

Last year, the town started hosting a farmers market in the town hall parking lot. This resumed this past week and will be held every Friday from now until mid September. Between the backyard garden, the victory garden, the farmer’s market and the organic cooperative, it will a good while before we need fruits or vegetables from the supermarket. Many towns have these options available, but don’t do a great job of publicizing it. In my case, the town hosts both the farmer’s market and the victory garden. Periodically checking out the township and public library web sites on a regular basis is a good place to start and the following two sites are also very good.

http://www.localharvest.org/

USDA Farmer's Market Search

The Future of Food

The Future of Food is a documentary about genetically modified food and the moral, ethical, and health issues associated with it. It has a definite slant against, but unlike a lot of documentaries which try to terrify you; this one leans more towards the perspective of this is a relatively new technology, maybe it should be studied a little bit better before it is too late. It is analogous to an intelligent dinner guest offering a point of view rather than a protestor screaming at you with a placard and is worth the watch.

Daikon!

Similar to the regular radish which would not grow well in the heavy, clay soil at the home garden, the daikon radish turned out well in the much looser soil of the victory garden.

Groundhog Update

The groundhog got into the home garden and did a lot of damage to the peas and beans. I’ve put up a bigger door and that seems to have kept him out. The beans have recovered nicely and are producing well, but we were not so lucky with the peas.

Meanwhile, at the victory garden, another groundhog has been getting in. A number of the other people at the victory garden have complained of similar and a few have even taken to setting out traps. The two odd things about this groundhog are that it only eats the squash plants and seems to be going over the fence rather than under it.

Here is an article from the New York Times about the raising popularity of rooftop gardens. That’s certainly one way to deal with groundhogs!

New York Times Story

Free Fruit

Every year, there is always one or two vegetables which we end up with much too much of and we end up giving it away to friends and neighbors. Some people seem genuinely happy for this, but there are always a couple which seem to be just polite.

Last year, we put a box at the end of the driveway with a can to put coins in and let people help themselves. People actually paid including some random strangers who just happen to be driving past the house.

Here is an article in the New York Times about networks of people sharing fruit that falls off of trees and is other wise just going to waste.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/dining/10Fruit.html

The article also had links to two other sites that allow you to trade excess fruit and vegetables with people in your area.

veggietrader.com
neighborhoodfruit.com

Beans & Radish

I went to the Victory Garden and was surprised to find string beans ready to pick. String beans always come a little bit earlier than a lot of other things, but the ground hog wrecked the plants last year and I guess I had forgotten.

I also picked a nice bunch of radishes. The dirt in the yard has a lot of clay in it and root vegetables like radish and carrots never did very well. The dirt at the Victory Garden is much looser and these turned out well.

Recent News Stories

A couple of interesting stories from the New York Times this week.

The first is about two regular people who quit their day jobs and bought a farm in Georgia where they are raising organic meat. Click through to their web site after reading the article. Their blog would make James Herriot envious.

New York Times story
Nature's Harmony Blog

The second is about Stonyfield Farms, the yogurt maker, trying to make the cows that supply them produce less methane (and global warming) by feeding them a diet that is more consistent with their natural diet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/us/05cows.html

When To Water

I’ve been asked a couple times lately do I follow a watering schedule and / or what is my watering schedule.

I do not actually follow a schedule and let the plants tell me what to do. In the case of the plants in the backyard, I simply look at them every day and if they look droopy I give them a good soak. In the case of the plants at the community garden, I do not see them every day and need to exercise a little bit of judgment mostly by keeping an eye on the weather. If it has been rainy or mild, I am comfortable leaving them for a few days. If, however, it is pounding hot, I will increase the frequency of my checks, but use the same rule of thumb regarding how rigid or droopy the plants are. Additionally, not all plants require the same amount of water (e.g. tomatoes need less, cucumbers need more) and will only water the sections that need it.

Some other general watering advice:

Early morning or late afternoon are best. Mid day allows most of the water to evaporate off in the heat. Night watering promotes fungus.

Water the base of the plant and avoid watering the leaves directly.

Less frequent, heavy watering promotes deep roots.

Frequent, short watering promotes shallow roots. Deep roots are better.

Use mulch (straw, newspapers, ground tree bark, old grass clippings) around the base of the plants to keep down weeds and keep moisture in.