The weather has been rather cold and damp around the ranch for the past few days, but that didn't stop the Rancher and the Bag Lady from doing what had to be done.
They (well, the Rancher) put the finishing touches on the corral in order to round up the cows to bring them off summer pasture. It has been such a dry summer that there isn't a lot of grass anywhere, but there definitely wasn't anything for them to eat where they were. So Sunday was spent hauling them off the pasture, and taking them to a different place. Because of the lack of grass everywhere, the Rancher decided to split the herd up. Some went to the hayfield, now that the bales have been hauled home, and the rest came home.
The Bag Lady picked all of her tomatoes last weekend, and quite a few of them are ripe now, so she will be doing some canning today. There is nothing quite like being able to open a jar of home-grown tomatoes in the middle of winter and enjoying again the taste of summer!
She also has some beans that are almost ready to be picked, and is hoping to have enough to make mustard beans. The Rancher loves mustard beans. The Bag Lady hopes there will also be enough to make dilled beans, because those are her favourite. She will also make dilled carrots, because they are yummy, too!
There will soon be enough brussels sprouts for a feed, which the Bag Lady is really looking forwad to. She has never grown any type of brassica before, and this year she was pleased with the results of her experiment. She grew broccoli, which was delicious, and planted cauliflower, which did not produce, sadly. The brussels sprouts did fairly well, as did one cabbage plant. There is another small cabbage coming along, but there is the threat of frost quite frequently, now, so the Bag Lady is afraid it may not mature. Unfortunately, the purple cabbage did not produce and attracted worms, so the Bag Lady pulled the plants out.
She also has two zucchini plants which have produced plenty of zucchini..... and are still producing! That will only stop after it freezes, or the Bag Lady pulls the plants out of the ground. There is also enough dill in the Bag Lady's garden to pickle the universe, but she promises she won't. Really.
17 comments:
"went to the hayfield" is either every cow's dream or a lovely metaphor for the bovine afterlife.
It sounds like the garden will keep you out of trouble for a few days. And it all sounds delicious.
dfLeah - snicker - that expression would be "went to the big hayfield in the sky", wouldn't it?
I agree, opening a jar of homemade food in winter makes you proud. Nothing tastes like home grown, home made food.
Sounds like a lot of work. Have your gardening cohorts come to gather their portion of the bounty?
I'm glad you got something to harvest. I'm going out to cut my next half cup of broccoli, and see if my thumbnail size bell peppers show any sign of further growth.
Mary Anne in Kentucky
I'm so jealous of your zucchini!! All my garden produced this year was oodles of cucumbers. I like cucumbers but there is only so much you can do with them, you know? I want zucchini bread:)
It sounds like you have quite the crop. I'm not sure I've every had dill anything other than pickles. I trust it's delicious.
Gail - is it the effort we put into it that makes it taste so much better? Canning tomatoes is like putting sunshine in a jar!
Reb - it is a little work, but it's worth the effort. And yes, my cohorts were here on the weekend, gathering their portion of the bounty.
Mary Anne in Kentucky - there wasn't as much yield in the garden as there should have been, but there definitely is enough! It sounds like my bell peppers are leaps and bounds ahead of yours (they are big enough to pick), but your cayenne peppers are still ahead of mine - none of mine are showing any signs of turning red yet.
Charlotte - if you can grow cucumbers, you should be able to grow zucchini! My cucumbers didn't come up at all this year, so I'm jealous of yours!
Hilary - dilled carrots and dilled beans are delicious! If anyone ever offers you either, don't hesitate for a minute.
Go ahead and pickle as much of your part of the universe as you like -- your winter will be the livlier and tastier for it.
hmmmm.
the vacuous wasteland that is my backyard now CALLS OUT FER GROWING STUFF.
Not to be a geek, but if you've grown canola, you've grown brassica before... it's latin name is brassica napus...
I've always wanted to try growing brussel sprouts. They're one of the things I've started liking all of a sudden over the last few years. And mustard beans? Yum...
I'm quite jealous of your garden :)
Dill is one of my favorites. I love pickling spices and I love dill with pasta, anything egg-y, over salads.
Yum and Three Forks to your gardening!
Can you make any of those brownie cookies (the recipe I sent?) out of the harvest?
Better start stocking up on eggnog fudge ingredients.
That is right around the corner.
I have to admit - I really hate bugs. REALLY hate. The thought of bugs being in my vegetables has stopped me from buying vegetables at the farmer market before. I need to get over it :)
messymimi - that's probably true! I'll see how much I can get done.
Carla - start small. Trust me.
Geo - I've never intentionally grown canola, but it has self-seeded itself in places!
I love brussels sprouts and am SO looking forward to trying these.
Clare - hmmm.... don't I have your address somewhere? :)
Janell - I've been resisting making those brownie cookies (and I've been too darned busy), but they looked so amazing, I might have to do that today or tomorrow!
Sagan - I confess, I was like you when I was your age, too. My mother-in-law at the time gave me an enormous cabbage that she had grown and I ended up throwing it away because it had worms! *shudder*
My husband recently planted another crop of peas and beans. I'm looking to having fresh veggies again in our cooler weather! I only wish our zucchini plants had produced more this year. I just discovered, thanks to my MIL, a wonderful recipe for zucchini dessert that smells and tastes EXACTLY like apple crisp.
Your garden is MUCH better than ours. Although our cabbage (both green and purple) were really good. Didn't plant brussels sprouts this year but I love them.
Yep, there's nothing like home canned tomatoes. I've never heard of mustard beans but they sound delish.
Post a Comment