Pickles!

Yes, it is that time of year! That time where my hands constantly smell of dill, garlic, onions, and a hint of all spice - jars of dill pickles quickly cover a sizable portion of my counter space and I will look on with drool running down my chin waiting for the day when I can crack open the first batch. So, being the wonderful guy that I am, here is my recipe:

Brine (makes about 3-4 jars) - 2 Quarts of cold water, 1/2 quart of white vinegar, 3/4cup of pickling salt

Per jar:
3 cloves
5 all spice
a pinch of mustard seeds
a pinch of black pepper corns
a pinch of green pepper corns
(more pepper corns if you want more spice)
3 pealed garlic cloves
2 large slices of white or yellow onion (red onion doesn't do to well) or an equal number of shallots
*optional, but recommended* a couple of dried chili peppers (I used garden salsa peppers that I dried from last year) broken into chunks - don't crush them!

Add the pickling cucumbers and a half of a head of dill (that had turned to seed and has no flowers) to each jar. Add brine until almost full. Tap the jar on the counter to get the air out and add brine to fill. Use the self-seal lids (follow instructions on box). Let them sit on the counter until all cloudiness is gone (could take a few weeks). Store in a cool place after they are done. Eat them up fast as they only last ~8months on the shelf at ~60degrees.

Don't forget to eat the pickled onions and crush the garlic into your vinegar and oil salad dressings (adds a bit of good flavor without the overpowering garlic taste)

Garden goodies: Zucchini, 8ball, crookneck, and pattypan squash, tomatoes, cucumbers (pickling and english) kohlrabi

Spraying aphids and my meme

Spray those aphids son!

1) I consider myself a native Montanan - even though I was born in Denver and as a military brat I moved constantly. Montana was the one place over the years that I returned to and could actually call "home" - and strangely...still do.

2) I a proud owner of a wife (let's see if she reads this..), 3 kids, 3 dogs, 3 goats, and 2 guinea fowl. At this time I am not looking to expand - other than maybe by a human kid or 2 in the future.

3) My wife and I were married in Gumbranch, Georgia and lived in Hinesville, GA for the first 4months we were married. We then took the show on the road, moving to Nashville, Houston, and finally our final (hopefully) destination - Boise, Idaho!

4) I work as a computer systems engineer - which means I control everything (buaahahahaha!!)...well at least all of the data and email (which is pretty much everything). I like what I do most days, but on those off days I daydream of buying a farm and coming home to inform my wife "we are going to spend the rest of our lives praying that the crops grow and all the cows come home each night". Usually on my drive home I come to my senses and realize that I like being married and the random hail storm doesn't directly impact my income stream.

5) I have always been a "Go Go Go" kind of guy, but in my garden I can live the "Slow Slow Slow" life - for at least a couple hours a day.

6) Fishing is my other passion. I don't have the opportunity to fish as much as I would like, but those days on the water are the ones that I look forward to all year.

7) I am really bad at this kind of thing, and had a tough time writing it....I am pretty sure that I am not cut out to write about anything other than gardening! :)

More aphids!

Compost!

It was a gorgeous morning in the garden! I spent most of it shoring up the compost around the tomato and pepper plants - I also gave my slug munched potatoes a dose as well - hopefully this perks them up a bit.

The early morning garden time gives me time to ponder some of the great questions of our time...this morning I pondered why my compost doesn't stink! This question has been plaguing me for a while and I it may for years yet to come (unless someone tells me the answer or I stumble upon it by accident). So, here are the ingredients of the compost I am using (as best I can remember):

Leaves
Grass clippings
Newspaper
Cardboard
Random garden plants
Blackberry branches
Cow manure
Horse manure
Guinea fowl manure
Straw
Coffee grounds
Coffee grounds
Tea bags
Egg shells
Kleenex
Paper towels/napkins
Kitchen scraps (lettuce, banana peals, orange peals, etc)

Fish guts

Random dead animals (squirrels, magpies, rock chucks, raccoons, etc)

Even with the large amounts of fish guts and animal materials...no stink! What is the secret? I have no idea...the only thing I can think of is the high quantity of browns that I add. Maybe the smell is absorbed by the leaves or possibly the heat is so high that the green contents are broken down before they have a chance to smell it up. No matter the reason, I will continue to completely ignore the sage advice of the composting experts and add all of these wonderful ''no no'' items...after all they provide that huge nitrogen boost that I am looking for without having to fork over the big bucks for the equivelent in bloodmeal..

Garden goodies: 8-ball squash, potatoes, kohlrabi

Taters and squash!

I am so excited! I am in full red potato and summer squash harvest mode! And so begins a summer full of basking in the fruits of my labor while watching my garden grow. I am pleased with the garden this year, and while there is much to do this fall (build raised beds for my perennials, etc), I am finally at a point with the garden where there is very little actual real "work" to do during the hot summer months. No weeding, no tilling, no hoeing, and definitely no weeping because of slow to no producing plants! While I just picked up the "Lasagna Gardening" book this afternoon, I have been unknowingly conforming to the methods described in this book, and am definitely seeing the benefits daily. Of course, because my garden is 1/3++ acre in size, this type of gardening creates a ton of off season work, but not having to pick weeds all summer is priceless.

Ok, I will stop rambling and move on to these 8-Ball squash that I have been harvesting. They product sooner and are more fruitful than your standard zucchini, and in my opinion - taste better too! I love these things...I know they are hybrids, but that aside these squash are spectacular. I planted two of them last year and was hooked with the first bite, so I will be planting them in my garden until the day I can no longer find the seeds.

On to my recent meme invite...I have been thinking about it and have decided that I will do it next weekend! I have been reading the Veggie Gardening Tips for a while now, and was more than surprised and excited by the invitation. So, something to look forward to for the next week - not to mention, something to think about as I am slamming down some grilled squash and baked potatoes!

Aphids!

* not my hand...

So, yesterday I made a trip down to the garden to grab a tasty snack, and was a shocked to discover my kohlrabi has been infested with aphids. I apparently can't even go out of town for a few days without the bugs taking over! I was forced to spend the better part of 2 hours washing them off with the hose. Needless to say, the water running out from under the plants was coated with a thick layer of drowned aphids - of course I made sure to pick the ladybugs and assassin bugs so they didn't meet the same fate. As irritating as the thousands of aphids were, I did notice that the plants directly touching the dill plants were aphid free....once again proving my theory that dill has magical powers.

On the upside, my asparagus beans are blooming! I am hopeful that we will be enjoying a long season of these amazing beans! These particular ones were ordered from an "Asian food seeds" website that I can no longer locate, which is a bummer since their soybeans seemed to be very high quality.

On the downside, I finally discovered why a bed of my potatoes were doing poorly - slugs! There were huge white and tan slugs eating the new growth off of the bottoms of the plants. In the heat of the moment, I was overcome with a killing blood (or slime in this case) lust and soundly squished a few dozen of them this morning. After adding a healthy dose of coffee grounds around the plants, I found a few more trying to escape - so, I will be making the rounds with the flashlight tonight to get the ones running from the grounds. It appears that a fun filled evening of slime covered chemical gloves is waiting for me!

Garden goodies: Kohlrabi (sans the bugs)