Vegetable Garden: The Site



The seedlings are up and growing well.  It's time to prepare a place to plant them.

It's just a short walk through the woods to the field where we can plant.



Well, not as short as I remember. 





She offered to help and we should have let her - she can dig like crazy!



It was hard to choose a site for one small bed in the midst of two acres.  We decided if the blackberries liked the spot, so did we.

A dozen years ago this was a cultivated field.  Now we are dealing with matted grasses and berry canes.

We chose well.  The soil is a soft, sandy loam that will be a pleasure to work with. 

Got Milk?

Yes we do!  Jasper County is home to a very large dairy operation - Fair Oaks Farms.  Five farms in Jasper and Newton Counties milk 30,000 cows and send their products both north and south on I-65.  They are about 20 minutes from my house on the back roads.  The whole time I drive through fields of corn being grown just for them.



Cow-Go-Round by 'Old Man T'

It is quite an operation.  72 cows at a time are milked on a carousel in each of 5 milk houses - around the clock!  Hundreds of cows wait in the corridor to step up into place as those that are milked step off.  They are housed in quarter mile long open-sided  barns where they sleep on beds of sand.  Their manure is processed to generate the electricity to run the place.  Ingenious. 

All of this can be visited at Fair Oaks Farms Dairy Adventure (see link above).  It is a Disney-like farm theme park complete with movies, visitor center, restaurant, and a birthing barn.  A bus tour takes you to the working farm and to a milk house.  Agri-business at its most amazing.

I have visited there twice and the milk I buy comes from there.  (If you live near Chicago or Indianapolis, your milk may come from Fair Oaks, too.  They sell under some well known brands).  But, I have to admit that after the initial awe, I felt saddened.  On the tour, they keep up a steady patter of 'how happy the cows are' and that 'big is beautiful' and 'small is inefficient'.

Well, I've seen the smaller way of doing things and the different way of life associated with it.  I've watched the cows as they were turned out to pasture in the spring and the ensuing 'frolic' - even the old gals could 'kick up their heels' a bit.  I' ve seen them find seclusion in a hollow or the woods to give birth and how proud they were when they returned to the barn with a little calf.

I loved to watch the little society they created among themselves and how they could silently 'organize' things.  One day I was walking with my clueless suburban dog towards the barnyard.  He ran on ahead, and in the few minutes I was behind him, the herd had encircled him and were moving in to literally stamp out him out.  Once they saw me scrambling over the fence, they silently dissolved their circle and pesky dog lived to see another day. Another time they 'organized' a blockade against the horses.  My Dad had to eventually provide a separate feeding area for the horses or they would have starved.

I wonder if there are any families living on small dairy farms now. Milk for them was always plentiful and so was homemade butter and cheese.  Extras were sold to the non-dairy neighbors for some 'mad' money.  Recipes, tips and discussions of the 'best' way of making these were a source of endless interest - and fun debates.  Is that way of life gone now?

My Dad and many of his neighbors didn't have an agri-business philosophy. He told me that although he had purchased the farm, he didn't really own it.  He said that it belonged to God and he was a fortunate man  to be able to use it in his lifetime.  I could see he  loved the land and respected his stock. A lot of the old - timers who survived a little longer than he did have willed their land into the Nature Conservancy to protect it.

I keep a slim volume of Robert Frost's poems on my bedside table.  In a few lines he can bring me to a moment in time that seems as alive as when I first experienced it.  I feel I am back at Running Fox Farm as I read:

 I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;

I'll only stop to rake the leaves away

(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):

I sh'nt be gone long. --You come too.

I'm going out to fetch the little calf

That's standing by the mother.  It's so young

It totters when she licks it with her tongue.

I shan't be gone long. --You come too.

Rhubarb dreams

March is when I start thinking about rhubarb.  Checking for the round red nubs that are the first thing to poke up from the ground in the rhubarb patch was a rite of spring in my childhood.  They were about the size of a quarter and everyone wanted to be the first to spot one - just as we wanted to be the first to spot a robin.

 It was amazing to watch the stalks and leaves zoom up out of the ground as the days turned a little warmer.  By the end of April or early May we were harvesting our first fresh fruit* of the year.  Our stash of apples and nuts were long gone and we were relying on dried and canned fruit.

Mom cooked it into a sauce and called it our 'spring tonic'.  She was right about that - rhubarb is full of vitamins A and C, calcium, and potassium.  We would have a dish every day there was some to cut.  Later in the season she would add strawberries.  Rhubarb and strawberries are a happy combination.  The only other way it was served at our house was in Rhubarb Custard pie.

Two rhubarb roots are going in one end of my garden this year.  It is a perennial plant and it takes three years to get fully established.  I might be able to get a few stalks this year, a small harvest the second year.  After that the whole plant can be harvested every year.  Meanwhile I am on the watch for some locally produced stalks.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

3 cups rhubarb, cubed

1 cup sugar

2 Tblsp. flour

1/2 cup light cream (half and half)

2 eggs

1/4 tsp. salt

1 t vanilla

pastry for two-crust pie

Mix rhubarb with 1/2 c sugar and the flour.  Put into unbaked piecrust.  Mix together 2 beaten eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, cream and vanilla.  Pour over rhubarb.  Cover with top crust.  Bake 15 minutes at 450 degrees, then 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

*Officially Rhubarb is a vegetable, but is used like a fruit. (Tomatoes are officially a fruit, but are used as a vegetable).  I did not make this up.

A local cuisine

An old proverb says "The poor man gets his ice in the winter."    Not too long ago both the poor and the rich alike got their food in season.

Today we have incredible abundance.  Not only is ice available to anyone anytime, but any food you can imagine is available in season and out.  Food fads are created and discarded at breathtaking speed.  Food snobbery is created and fueled by gurus on cooking shows.

But none of this is for me.  At our house we eat seasonally.  When asparagus is in season we eat it as often as possible.  When strawberries come into their own, we feast on them.  Some towns are famous for their corn festivals.  Well, we have a corn festival at our house every July and August. And, so it goes through the year.  This is the old way - and I think the best way.

Did you know that every region in America was once famous for their cooking?   Housewives had taken what was at hand and developed hundreds of ways of using it and in the process created a local cuisine.

These 'cuisines' are still there - perhaps hidden in old handwritten notebooks or in wooden recipe file boxes.  Some authors have researched these old recipes and written cookbooks about the different regions. 

One that I love is "Cooking from Quilt Country" by Marcia Adams.  It celebrates Amish and Mennonite cookery in Northern Indiana.  She takes you through the year with the harvest and as she does so she weaves in interviews, culture, history, beautiful pictures, and great recipes.  The first section 'The Greening of Indiana' talks about how "Spring comes to Indiana in quiet ways......The earth once again unfolds to nourish its people."

Another good read is the United States Regional Cookbook.  First published in 1939, it was one of my Mom's cookbooks.  When I was little I liked to look at it for the pictures.  Both my sister and I have tracked down copies for ourselves.  I have the 1947 edition.  Strangely, both Wisconsin and Michigan have their own sections and the rest of the Midwest is lumped into the Mississippi Valley.  Here is what they had to say about us back then:

"Meat is of prime quality, especially beef, pork and veal; and the fresh fish from the Great Lakes, the smaller lakes of Michigan and Wisconsin and the rivers and streams add a pleasing variety.  Apples, peaches, plums and pears are abundant around the lakes in Michigan and the southern states of this group.  The decks of the steamers piled high with crates of small fruits and berries from Southern Michigan are the wonder of every voyager on the Great Lakes.  The celery fields of Michigan and the cranberry bogs of Wisconsin are known nationally."

Wendell Berry says "Eating is an agricultural act."  If you can't farm or garden, you still do eat.  So, celebrate the seasons; find recipes using the abundance; start your own handwritten regional cookbook. 
                                                           

                                   

Vegetable Garden: Seedtime

The old saying was 'Plant your potatoes by St. Patrick's Day'.  I'm thinking that it was just a saying, because it certainly wouldn't work out very well up in Wisconsin.

But, a saying like that does give you a goal and I can report that I have planted something by St. Patrick's Day.  Thirty-six somethings.   You can see my low-tech equipment above.  Not shown is the letter opener that I ended up using - pointy end to push the seeds in, flat end to smooth the top.  It worked just fine. When I was done, I put the plastic greenhouse lid on and put it in my closet. For some reason my closet has a heating vent in it and it will keep my little greenhouse warm.

 

Here's what is in my greenhouse:  6 Marglobe tomatoes, 3 cherry tomatoes, 3 Beefsteak tomatoes, 6 green peppers, 18 Marigolds.  Some more low-tech equipment not shown above are the toothpicks that I used to mark the plants.  I colored the tops and made a key in a little notebook.  I would never remember what was what otherwise.

Past glory

Mr. Bill and I have really enjoyed gardening for over 50 years and have had some nice results.  We always did flowers and landscaping, though.  With all that experience, I still feel like I'm in kindergarten when it comes to starting a vegetable garden. 

That was a great year for the lilacs!

One thing I figured out right away was that all of the plants in one container have to germinate at about the same time.  After germination they have to be uncovered and moved to a sunny location.  Some of my other seeds take longer, so I might do some individual pots.

The nice thing about doing this nowadays is that if none of my plants grow, I can head out and buy some from people who have 'grown-up' greenhouses.   

March is Maple Sugar Time

Usually maple syrup is associated with Vermont or Canada, but a lot is made right here in Indiana.  In fact, The National Maple Syrup Festival is held in Medora, Jackson County in Southern Indiana.

When there is a slight thawing and the nights no longer go down into the deep freeze, the sap of the sugar maple starts running.  This happens of course at different times depending how far north you are.  It was the first two weeks of March in Southern Indiana.   This coming weekend, March 19 and 20, sap is being collected and syrup is being made and sold at Deep River Park in Hobart, Indiana.  It is a free event, with the added attraction of an operating grist mill where you can get stone ground cornmeal.  There is even a maple tea room.


Photo by Susy Morris of Chiot's Run



The sap of a maple tree is very thin and clear, almost like water.  To collect it, you push a spigot into the tree and hang a bucket under it.  Sometimes it drips, sometimes it runs freely.  That is all there is to it.....except that it takes about 30 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup!



I was never there for it, but my Mom and Dad made syrup a few times up at Running Fox Farm in Wisconsin.  They had one giant sugar maple right in front of the house along the road.  It must have been planted when the house was built in 1848.  It's possible that they tapped trees in their woods, too.  I don't know.  I'll have to ask my Mom.

Photo by Dean Michaud

They had to boil it down the old fashioned way - over an open fire.  It takes hours and hours of cooking to get the sap to syrup stage. Cooking it indoors would have been too steamy, and would have used up all their bottled gas.  Being made over an open fire gave the syrup a slightly smokey taste.

From my door, the closest producers of maple syrup are:

Deep River Park (If I can get there this weekend) - 25 miles.

Wakarusa Maple Syrup Festival in April - 92 miles

Burtons Maplewood Farm in Medora, Indiana* (They host the National Maple Syrup Festival) - 210 miles.

Leane and Michael's Sugar Bush in Salem Indiana* - 222 miles

*Maple syrup can be ordered on-line.

Perhaps by next year I will be able to find a small producer that is closer to home.  Even better, my sister has a stand of maples at her place, and perhaps by next year will be ready to tap them.  (Getting your syrup made by a relative scores more points than even buying local.  I know, because I am making up the rules.)

  



Rumor has it....

The rumors are getting around:  I'm planting a garden!


 Now the free advice is flowing in.


Here is an e-mail from my sister, Lise.  She and her husband, John, own Blackbird Farm near Rock Springs, Wisconsin.  They are in their second year of working towards being certified organic growers.

Dear April, Mom says you are going to do a garden this year at Karen's. I have hundreds of plants started, Most selectively bred heirlooms, some hybrids, all toxin and disease free. I purchase seeds from six different sources that specialize in highly productive, disease resistant varieties for both home gardens and commercial organic operations. Thirty different tomato varieties including a prolific Polish paste tomato, Czech lavender - which is supposed to be the hardiest lavender on the face of the earth! And the list goes on & on. There are so many websites on this subject, take a look at organicgardeningguru.com, very short and to the point about improving soil, planting, WEEDS (#1 nightmare in this business), etc. Pick your spot start preparing the soil then right next to it plot a space for next year, dig it up and plant buckwheat (a cover crop), when it flowers till it under and plant buckwheat again. Let it flower, till it under. Then plant winter rye. This will smother out weeds from that plot to a great extent and the"green manure" will greatly improve the soil setting you up for a better start next year. Buckwheat and rye are cheap, you scatter the seed by hand (broadcast) and rake it in. This simple advance planning pays off immensely! Cover crops improve the nutrients in soil and the microbial organism population of the soil, the latter of which is important for nutrient uptake and can be ruined by the use of toxic chemicals to fertilize or to kill weeds, pests, powdery mildew and so on. Anyways, come up and pick out as many plants as you want, I always start more than I can sell and wind up throwing them on the compost rows! Happy growing season!      lise    

Lise is very excited about what they are doing and I must say they are doing a great job!  The first thing she sold at the farmer's market last year was her excess seedlings.  She had all kinds of very nifty and unusual plants.  But, oh my goodness, I got tired just reading the e-mail.  In fact, I had to lay down on the floor and do deep breathing exercises to quell the panic.

I think Lise wrote me to counter the advice I was getting from Mom.  (There is a gardening philosophy DEBATE going on between the two of them).  Mom is 88 now, and still gardens.  In fact, she has grown her own vegetables since at least  1951 - which is the first garden that I remember.  Anyway, Mom doesn't use the computer, so she calls me:

Phone call #1:

"Don't waste your energy on adding bags and bags of peat moss to your soil.  Here's what you do when you plant your tomatoes:  pull off the small leaves towards the bottom of the plant.  Dig a hole deep enough to plant it up to where the bigger leaves are growing.  Put some container mix (you know, the kind with the fertilizer in it ) in the bottom of the hole.  This gives the roots some food and some room to grow easy.  Then after you fill the hole back up with dirt, sprinkle some fertilizer around the bottom of the plant.  Be careful not to overdo it, because you could 'burn' the plant.  DON'T TELL LISE I TOLD YOU TO USE FERTILIZER.  But it works good.  And doing it this way saves lots of money."

Phone call #2:

"I forgot to tell you that I don't use Miracle-Gro for my fertilizer.  I buy Expert at Walmart.  It works just as good and costs a lot less.  I think you ought to plant a lettuce mix.  You could do that pretty soon. Make a little furrow, plant your seeds and cover them with the potting mix.  I haven't had any problems with the rabbits eating this". 

(I had been worried about varmints eating things like lettuce and green beans).  I could have said " Oh yeah! How about the woodchuck".  But I didn't.  He has a very bad reputation in Mom's garden.  I hope you noticed:  Mom is ALL about saving money.

Anyway, there you have my free advice.   I myself pondered "lasagna gardening", "square foot" gardening, and other bookish advice.  But, since I usually complicate everything, I've decided to try the "dig a hole, stick it in, and see if it grows" method - at least for this year.