Double-digging Dividends

The big double dig is paying off! Back in October of 2012, I started a double digging project, inspired by reading John Jeavons' book How To Grow More Vegetables. The goal was to improve the soil in my garden beds and hopefully increase veggie production. It was a lot of work, and even though I knew I wouldn't see the results for many months, I opted to broaden my experiment and double dig several more beds.

Ten months later I can confidently say it was well worth it. The beds I worked using Jeavons' method are paying huge dividends now, in the form of super lush, healthy and productive plants. Take the pepper bed, for example.

Gourmet pepper plants

This is the same bed pictured mid-dig in the post linked above. My daughter is standing in front of Gourmet variety bell pepper plants that are 5 1/2 feet tall from soil level to the top of the plant. These plants are absolutely loaded with big, beautiful (and tasty!) peppers. This is the third year we've grown this particular variety and never have the plants been this healthy and happy.

I might think it was a fluke except that the chard I planted in this bed in the fall right after double digging also grew ridiculously well and was much more productive and huge than any other chard I've ever grown.

3" chard rib is thick as a brick, literally

It's a lot of work, but I will definitely be double digging more garden beds this fall. I figure if I just do a few each year, eventually I will get the whole garden done. The payoff is just too great not to do it!

Blossom End Bumps

Family vacations, volunteer commitments, preparing for an increase in work this school year, and of course lots of garden tasks (!) all have contributed to zero blog posts so far this summer. That's not what I'd planned, but that's the way it is. Fortunately, it doesn't take long to post a very short entry with a picture or two that gives a flavor of summer on the Banyan's End homestead, so that's where I'm going to start. No attempts at long and comprehensive posts (who wants to read those anyway, right?), just a few pictures of interesting stuff happening on the mini farm.

So...take a look at these mutant alien tomatoes I just plucked from my Siletz tomato vine:

Siletz tomato with mini-tomato growths

Siletz tomato past its prime

Kinda creepy, huh? Most of the tomatoes coming off this plant have weird, protruding growths that look like extra tomatoes bursting from within the original. Not all are quite as extreme as the pictures, but even the "normal" looking tomatoes have a teeny hint of a growth. The strangest looking tomatoes are typically hidden deep in the middle of the vine. My theory is that the alien growths start emerging when the fruits are past prime picking time. Because they're hard to spot in the thick foliage of the Siletz plant--which doesn't get pruned because it's a determinate variety--I miss them when harvesting and they stay on the vine way too long.

Siletz is supposed to be tasty, nearly seedless and "one of the most reliable slicing tomatoes you can grow" according to Territorial Seed Company. That hasn't been my experience so far here in Davis, but I'm willing to try again one more year. I did transplant this one a bit later than my other tomato plants, so that could be it. Or, maybe they just do better in Oregon. Anybody else out there tried growing Siletz in the Central Valley?

Tour de Cluck 2013 FAQ

Wow, what a day! We had so much fun participating as coop hosts on this year's Tour de Cluck! About 500 visitors toured our urban homestead between 10am and 3pm on Saturday, almost all arriving by bike and a fair number sporting creative chicken costumes and accessories.

An east Davis neighbor and his friends

Lucas Frerichs and Jake & Ed Clemens arrive by pedicab

Five hundred people over the course of five hours averages out to about 25 new people in the yard every 15 minutes. That's a LOT of people! During the busiest times, the yard was so packed I could hardly see Mr. English through the crowd. He and I stationed ourselves in the backyard and answered questions about the garden, coop and chickens. In the front yard, the two grandmas punched ticket maps and managed bike traffic, and the kids and their friends disinfected tour participants' shoes.

Maddie and friends manning the sanitation station

Visitors ask questions and take pictures

You can imagine the number of questions generated by that many people curious about chickens, gardening and green living in general. It's obviously impossible to answer all of their questions, but we did our best. For those who may have come to the yard and not gotten their question answered, or for those who weren't on the Tour and are curious about the setup, here are some of Saturday's most frequently asked questions and some answers.

Tour de Cluck 2013 Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Who designed and built the coop, and how long did it take?

A. Mr. English and my dad built the coop in the spring of 2011. Together they have intermediate to advanced carpentry skills and many years of experience building stuff, and they made pretty quick work of the coop (2-3 full days.) The coop was designed by a guy named John Carr in Portland, OR who calls this model The Garden Coop and sells the plans for $20. Mr. English and my dad were super happy they bought the plans--even though they have the skills to have built something similar on their own--because it simplified the whole process a lot.

Mr. English and Opa building the coop

Q. Isn't that a lot of money to spend on a chicken coop?

A. Even using "oops" paint, branches for roosts, old deck piers and other items we had on hand, the coop materials still cost just under $1,000 (redwood and hardware cloth are both pricey and accounted for the majority of that cost.) Some people feel like that's extravagant. For us it's a matter of priorities. Some families spend $1,000 on one AKC-registered dog or a fancy television, or they spend twice that amount eating at restaurants and buying Starbucks coffee each year. Most families our size have two cars; we choose instead to have one car, lots of bikes and money leftover to spend on things like a secure, sturdy chicken coop.

Q. How much time do you spend maintaining the garden and chickens, and how do you have enough time to do it?

A. This is a tough question to answer, since it varies a lot depending on the time of year and also because we don't really keep track. A good guess is probably an average of about an hour a day, not including special projects. During the building up phase it probably took a lot longer, but now that all the beds are established, the coop, greenhouse and fencing are built, and we have certain routines and systems in place, it takes less time than you'd think to maintain it all. Again, it's a matter of priorities. The average American watches over 4 hours of television a day; we haven't owned a TV for ten years, so I spend some of those hours tinkering in the garden instead, since that's a relaxing activity for me.

Q. Do your kids help out?

A. Yes! Between school, extracurricular activities and play, they don't have tons of time to help in the garden, but they are definitely interested and they always help with planting and harvesting. They especially love the chickens and often help collect the eggs and let the birds out of the coop in the morning or close their door at night. Most important to us is that they are growing up knowing it's not only possible, but also fun and rewarding to keep chickens and grow much of your own produce.

Charlie harvesting lemons

Maddie clipping arugula

Q. Do you ever have to go to the grocery store?

A. Of course we do! You don't see a rice paddy or a wheat field back here, do you? There are many things we don't grow and still need to pick up at the farmers market or grocery store, including grains, avocados, artichokes, celery, and asparagus to name just a few. It is true, however, that our grocery trips are much more limited because of the large garden and that we eat almost entirely with the seasons when it comes to fruits and veggies.

Q. Can you tell me more about your raised beds?

A. Most of our food is grown in raised beds and that's partly because we can control the soil better, but mostly because we're dog people and anything that's not in a raised bed will potentially be dug up or trampled by the dog. We have about 25 raised planting areas in the yard and our preferred size is a 4 x 8 foot bed made of Douglas Fir. If you buy three 8-ft long boards (12" high), you need make only one saw cut and you can have a new bed built for about $25 and in about 30 minutes. (We got this idea from our friends Nick and Erica at Northwest Edible Life; lots more info & cost comparisons here.)

Q. What are those (pointing at the espaliered apple trees)?

A. Those are a Fuji apple tree and a Granny Smith apple tree espaliered (fancy word for trained to grow in a particular shape) along a concrete reinforcing wire fence. They are regular apple varieties, not dwarf, and to maintain them on an espalier requires three or four quick prunings each year (they grow fast!) Can't tell you anything yet about yield, since they are still young and not yet producing fruit.

Espaliered apple trees

Got more questions? Let us know in the comments below and we'll answer them there, or send an email to saskia dot mills at gmail dot com.

Tour de Cluck 2013 is Next Saturday

Davis is one of a growing number of towns hosting tours of backyard chicken coops and gardens, and the city's fourth annual Tour de Cluck, a Bicycle Chicken Coop Crawl will take place next Saturday, May 25th. The Tour is one of the main fundraisers for Yolo Farm to Fork, which educates the public about the value of a farm-to-table community food system. Our family has cycled the tour all three prior years and I wrote a blog post about last year's event. This is the first year we will NOT ride the coop crawl, but that's only because our coop and garden will be featured on the tour this year and we'll instead be happily chatting with the hundreds of folks who come to our mini farm throughout the day to check out the setup and meet the birds.

The Fowlery at Banyan's End

A handful of tickets are still left for the Tour. Act fast if you're interested, though, because as of this morning there were only about 40 tickets left (of the 700 printed) and those will go fast. If in fact they are still available at this writing, you'll find them either at the Davis Food Co-op or starting at 8am tomorrow morning at the Tour de Cluck table at the Davis Farmers Market.

If you can't get a ticket, there are lots of other activities in addition to the actual bicycle tour. Many of them will happen next Saturday at Central Park, where the Tour will kick off with a chicken-related art auction, "Courage to Cluck" contest, fowl food vendors, raffle ticket event and other things. Check the Tour de Cluck facebook page for details. If you already have your tickets, come say "hi" when you get to stop #2!

Fleeting Fungi

One great thing about garden paths mulched with woodchips is watching all the fascinating stuff that emerges from the mulch after a rain. When the woodchips have come from a variety of sources, it makes the fungal show all the more interesting. Most of what appears is stuff I've never encountered before (like last May's dog vomit slime mold, for example.) Last week's rain caused another round of fungal blooming, and we got out the camera to document the short-lived display. Having absolutely no idea what the scientific names of any of these fungi are, I made up my own names--either way, they're beautiful and fun to watch.

The first one I spotted looked like something you might find in a tiny, magical fairy garden:

Delicate fairy mushroom

Just a few hours later, however, it had transformed into something decidedly less cute:

Drippy, yucky mushroom

Two batches of caramel-colored mushrooms that sprouted closer to the chicken area at first looked like they might be mini and regular versions of the same variety, but it's been a couple of days since these shots were taken and the mini ones never got any bigger, while the larger ones got even larger.

Clutch-of-eggs mushrooms

Caramel laced mushroom

 Then there was this understated, grey-hatted mushroom:

Slim-stemmed with a grey top

Rounding out this week's fungal extravaganza was this fat, traditional-looking mushroom which popped up in the front yard leaf litter:

A typical toadstool

That's it for variety so far this month, but as long as we're talking fungus, the woodchips produced an entirely different set of fungal fruit back in drippy December and while I did capture them on camera, I never managed to post them to the blog. Here they are now:

Tiny cup saucer-shaped mushrooms in a potted plant

There were lots of these mini toasted marshmallow types

This one reminds me of a sugared candy of some sort

These near-microscopic fungi were clinging to the gutter

Finally, just for a spot of bright color amidst all these neutral tones, here's a picture of a mushroom Mr. English photographed not in our yard, but up at Cold Canyon while on a hike in December:

Cold Canyon mushroom, next to the creek

Some of these things are so teeny and fleeting--pushing through the mulch mid-morning only to melt or transform over the course of just a few hours--that you really have to pay close attention to find them. I've discovered that I love finding new (to me) types of fungi in the yard, so this probably won't be the last time you see them on this blog.

Planting Spuds

There may be only two ways to say the word "potato", but there are countless different ways to plant them in your garden and there's still time to do it in Davis this spring. Local farmers plant their potato crops in March and April, (and sometimes February if it's not too wet.) The seed potatoes I ordered back in December from Territorial Seed Co. only arrived last week; I planted two pounds on March 27th and the other two pounds are still waiting to be planted, hopefully tomorrow.

Seed potatoes

If you still want to plant potatoes you have some options. Locally, Davis Lumber (Ace) had just a few packages left as of this weekend and those were mostly Russets, which aren't the best choice for our area. (Redwood Barn had sold out.) If you don't mind ordering from a catalog, Territorial Seed is a good source, as is Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, out of Placerville. Peaceful Valley still has lots to choose from here. Yellow-fleshed types do best in our region. As a last resort, you could try planting grocery store or farmers' market spuds, but those aren't guaranteed disease free and some are sprayed to inhibit sprouting, so I wouldn't recommend going that route if you can avoid it.

Once you have your seed potatoes in hand, evaluate the size of the potatoes and the number of eyes on each one. Small potatoes (golf ball size) can be planted whole. Larger potatoes can be cut into smaller pieces as long as each piece has two or three "eyes" on it. The eyes are where the plant will start to sprout. Some people like to cure the cut potatoes for a few days to reduce the chance they will rot in the ground before sprouting, but it's not necessary.

Note the several "eyes" on this piece of potato

Potatoes can be grown in so many different ways it's impossible to list them all here. If space is a concern, a grow bag is a good choice. Having grown them in raised beds, directly in the ground, in burlap sacks, and in towers made out of tomato cages ringed with flexible fencing, I've discovered I prefer raised beds, so that's where the Yukon Golds went last week.

Seed potato pieces in a trench in a raised bed

Whatever the container, pick a spot with plenty of sunlight, or you'll end up with spindly, unproductive plants. Place the potatoes on top of at least a few inches of soil and cover them with about four inches of compost/planting mix. Make sure to plant the pieces with the eyes facing up since you want the sprouts to come up through the soil. Also make sure there's space in your bed to hill up soil or compost around the plants as they grow throughout the season. If you don't do that, you may end up with green potatoes due to exposure to the light. Finally, throw some mulch over the top of the newly planted spuds to protect the surface of the soil, reduce weeds, and retain moisture. The plants will have no problem coming up right through the straw.

Finished potato bed mulched with rice straw

There are so many reasons to grow your own potatoes. They're a great crop for getting kids excited about gardening. To a kid, sticking your arm into the soil up to your elbow, rummaging around in the dirt and pulling out handfuls of potatoes seems downright magical. It's also fun to experiment with growing varieties that you just aren't going to find in the standard grocery store. Of course, most store bought potatoes won't compare to the flavor you get with a freshly dug spud from your own garden.

Seed potatoes may seem expensive compared to your typical packet of garden seeds, but under the right conditions, one pound of seed potatoes can produce as many as ten to fifteen pounds of potatoes. I often have trouble finding reasonably priced organic potatoes in the local grocery stores, so it's nice to have a homegrown supply at a fraction of the market cost.

The good news is, if you don't have time to get any potatoes in the ground within the next two weeks, there are varieties that can be summer planted in Davis, or you can wait until fall and plant a round of potatoes then. Give it a try!

Budget Chicken Tractor

Earlier this month I found myself engaged in what has become a February ritual around here over the last ten years: kneeling in the middle of the crushed granite garden path trying to yank all the little clumps of fescue out of the ground before the warm temperatures cause them to go to seed and guarantee next year's spring weed crop. Suddenly I thought, "Wait a second...why am I doing this? I have chickens now and this is their job!"

In fact, the chickens have done a fantastic job keeping their fenced part of the yard free of the usual spring fescue carpet. I haven't seen any green weeds pop up at all, which tells me they must have gotten all the seeds before they even had a chance to germinate. Problem is, we can't let the chickens free range in the other part of the yard because they will hop into my veggie beds and eat all the tasty produce, therefore they haven't had a chance to scour the rest of the yard for weed seeds. The solution? Build a chicken tractor out of scrap supplies and use it to confine the chickens to the foot path where they will eat fescue to their heart's delight and do my weeding job for me at the same time.

There are endless design possibilities when it comes to chicken tractors. Since free sounded really good to us, we decided to let our scrap materials dictate the design. What we had on hand was a bunch of four-foot-tall green temporary fencing, lots of 1x2 redwood boards that had been part of an old patio cover, and enough random hardware (hinges, handles, etc) to finish the job. Mr. English used basic carpentry skills and tools to put together a box with a simple door at one end, and the whole thing took just a couple of hours to make.

Cutting the boards to size

Adding braces at the corners to strengthen the tractor

Extra long top rails serve as handles for moving the tractor

Basic door swings open at the end

Bellatrix and Professor McGonagall earning their keep

So far so good! At first the chickens weren't too keen on being in the tractor, but they got used to it quickly and have almost completely taken care of the weed problem on the path in the picture above. Even though they're only in there for short periods of time (less than an hour), we added a water dish so their needs are met. We also added a simple hook latch on either end of the door, because we discovered the chickens could push their way out if they really wanted to.

We've found we need to pay attention to laying times--each time we've put Bellatrix in the tractor she has let us know within a half hour that she wants out to go lay an egg. It's best if the chickens go in after they've produced the day's egg, so they don't get stressed about it.

Can't wait to move this thing to other parts of the yard, so the chickens can take over even more of the weeding chores!

February is All About Seeds

Aaaack! How is it already the end of the second week of February? The fact that my most recent blog post title has the word Christmas in it is evidence enough that I've been in a state of semi-hibernation for the last couple of months, at least when it comes to the blog and only slightly less so when it comes to the urban homestead. But suddenly it's nearly 70 degrees out and spring seems to be right around the corner (or already here)--it's time to emerge from the cave of December and January and get back to work on the mini farm in earnest.

I haven't been a total slacker this winter, though. I did manage to browse the January seed catalogs, which if I'm honest is not really work and is actually just an excuse to salivate over new veggie varieties and dream about a bigger gardening space. I even got my seed order taken care of and a couple of seed trays sown. Incidentally, there's still plenty of time to sow seeds for your summer garden in Davis. If you don't want to wait for a catalog, just grab some seed at one of the local nurseries or even at the Davis Food Coop, which sells Redwood Seed Company (Tehama County, CA) seeds. Or, you could attend the Spring Seed & Culture Swap hosted by the Davis Seed Savers Alliance this Sunday from 11am-2pm, at Sunwise Co-op in Village Homes.

Catalogs from my favorite seed houses

Box of summer seeds, some old and some new

This time of year I'm very thankful for my greenhouse. Before it was installed I started seeds on the countertop in the laundry room, with great results but at the expense of space available to complete basic household chores. It's nice not to be in that situation anymore. An indoor light setup might mean seeds germinate a bit faster than they do in the greenhouse, which still gets pretty cold at night, but I'm happy to wait an extra week for germination if it means my laundry room is available for, well...laundry. Besides, on these sunny days the greenhouse gets much warmer than the inside of the house, about 85 degrees today, so maybe there's no lag time in germination after all.

So far I've sown only the real heat lovers--peppers, tomatoes and eggplant--plus a bunch of flowers and another round of lettuces.

Seeds started in the greenhouse

"Gourmet" variety of bell peppers, already germinated

Next on the seed-starting list will be lots more flowers, more beets, spinach and chard, and this summer's crop of basil, other herbs, cucumbers, melons and summer squash. Charlie took charge of the radishes and sprinkled those throughout the garden last week, right after another round of carrots went in. Corn and beans will go directly in the ground in April, and I'll direct sow winter squash (grown in summer in spite of the name) shortly after that.

Winter crops have been trucking right along these past few months without any help from me. Spinach, chard and kale plants are now thriving and supplying us with the raw materials for hearty soups and salads. Merida overwintering carrots are sizing up nicely, shelling peas are thriving and will be harvested in April, and several beds are filled with the all-important onion and garlic crops that will be picked and cured from May (onions) to June or July (garlic). These goodies are spread throughout the front, side and back yard growing areas, but here's a peek at what the back looks like this month:

Backyard raised beds (click for a larger version)

One thing I experimented with last fall was Crimson Clover as a cover crop. I'd never grown "green manure" before, and I've been happy with the results so far. The bed in the left foreground in the above picture was full of lush clover until I cut it last month and turned it into the soil (I guess I did something in the garden this winter.) Now it's full of decaying organic matter and a fresh blast of nitrogen, and will be ready to plant with seedlings soon.

All in all, February feels good, in spite of the moment of oh-my-gosh-it's-February! panic. I feel like an expectant mother, obsessively watching my seed trays for signs of newborn sprouts or babying my still-emerging pepper seedlings with afternoon mistings from the water bottle and constant management of greenhouse temperatures.

How is February going for you?

Christmas Cabbage (and Cabbageworms)

On the first day of Christmas my garden gave to me, a cabbage for Caldo Verde.

On December 24th we harvested this beauty from the brassica bed along with some kale, sliced up a chorizo, and transformed it all into a traditional Portugese soup. Because it was a red cabbage, the Caldo Verde turned out more like a Caldo Verde y Rojo, but no matter.

Ruby ball cabbage

Caldo Verde--"green broth" in Portugese--is often made with collard greens, but many people substitute kale. Potatoes are another main ingredient. The soup is commonly served at Portugese celebrations, and given that Mr. English has some Portugese roots, it was a fitting Christmas Eve meal for our family. We served it with roasted garlic and dry jack toasts, for a hearty and filling night-before-Christmas dinner. The next day it made a perfect Christmas Day lunch.

The chickens got a Christmas present as well this week. For reasons I can't understand, given that I haven't seen a live cabbage butterfly in the yard for at least two months, there are still loads of cabbage butterfly worms on my cabbage plants. Those eggs must have a long shelf life! Even with the near-freezing nighttime temperatures we've been having, these worms somehow survive tucked up against the ribs of the cabbage leaves.

Cabbage worm on a cabbage leaf in late December

I collected a nice handful for the chickens, who are always eager to snap them up. The chickens have been confined to their run more than usual lately with all the downpours we've had, and they haven't had much foraging time, so I'm sure they really enjoyed the "verme verde".

Chicken snacks

Yum!

It's quiet in the garden this time of year. That's a good thing, not only because the rain makes me want to stay inside with a cuppa hot cocoa and a bowl of buttered popcorn, but also because I started working part-time in the classroom last month. I haven't had as much time to work in the yard (or write about it!) as I get a handle on my new responsibilities and get to know my students. By the time I'm really settled in next month, it will be perfect timing to think about starting seeds for next year's veggies.

In the meantime, kale and spinach are ready to harvest as needed, carrots and lettuce are growing slowly, garlic and onions are coming along, red clover is doing its job covering otherwise resting beds and providing greens for the chickens, and a bounty of shelling peas are in the forecast for spring. All that means I can take a worry-free break from the garden this week, enjoy time with family and friends, and make plans for the New Year.

Happy holidays, and I hope you're getting some rest this winter season, too!

Banyan Café: Curried Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

Butternut squash is plentiful and cheap this month and is the perfect veggie to make into a quick, frugal and cozy soup during this cold, rainy weather. Farmers markets are full of winter squash and if you're in Davis, Nugget Market has organic, local butternut on sale this week for $0.75 per pound. Better yet, you might already have a harvest basket full of butternuts in storage, in which case your main ingredient is free.

Butternut squash from the garden

Growing our own squash (and onions and garlic) means this soup costs us just pennies per serving. The grocery store supplied the chicken stock, cream, butter, celery, apple and spices (under $2 if you portion it out.) Once our newly-planted apple trees start producing, I'll have the apples on hand, too. For stock, I buy organic Better than Bouillon at Costco, which means the 4 cups called for in this recipe cost a total of about 30 cents. The most expensive thing in the soup is the cream, and you can leave that out if you're allergic to dairy or want a lighter soup.

Gather:

1 yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 T butter
1 T curry powder
1 clove garlic, minced
1 two-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded & cubed (save seeds for roasting)
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and chopped
4 to 4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Put it together:

Melt the butter in a large soup pot on medium heat and saute the onion and celery until soft (don't brown), about 10 minutes. Add curry and garlic and saute for 1-2 more minutes. Add the squash, apples and 4 cups of stock to the pot; bring to a boil and then turn the heat to low/med-low, cover and simmer until squash and apples are soft (about 20 minutes).

Turn off the heat and use a stick blender to blend the soup in the pot (or carefully transfer small amounts to a blender and blend, returning to a large bowl or pot.) Add cream and stir. Adjust the thickness as desired by adding 1/4 cup more of broth at a time. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes about six dinner servings, more as a first course.

Curried butternut squash and apple soup

Enjoy!

Don't Throw Out Those Cute Little Pumpkins!

Was your Thanksgiving table decorated with pretty little orange pumpkins this year? Have you had a small collection of squash welcoming visitors on your front porch since Halloween? Are you done with them now? Wait! Don't throw them away! You can eat those things, you know.

Walking through the neighborhood, I keep seeing groups of small pumpkins sitting in the gutter or perched on top of leaf piles in the street, waiting to be picked up by Davis Waste Removal and taken to the landfill. I'm not talking moldy, old carved jack-o-lanterns here, but whole, unblemished and still perfectly good fruit that in many cases would make a tasty pumpkin pie (or two or three).

Good pumpkins in a leaf pile

Those big pumpkins we all buy for carving at the end of October aren't the best for eating (except maybe for the seeds), but the small sugar pumpkin varieties are grown for just that. Their flesh has a light, flaky texture perfect for turning into dessert, as opposed to the stringy insides of a large carving pumpkin. There's a good chance those 1 to 3 pound little pumpkins you bought to set on the mantel this month are good eatin'.

Pumpkins will stay fresh for at least a month and up to two depending on storage conditions. Ones that have been sitting on a shaded porch out of the rain and in the mild temperatures we've been having are probably fine. I just pulled two off our porch last night and baked them in preparation for some pie making.

Lil' Pump-ke-mon Hybrid (l) and Sugar Pumpkin (r)

With pumpkins this small, I remove the skin like I would do with an orange. Slice off the top and bottom, stand the squash back up on the now-flat bottom, and then take off the skin by curving your knife down the sides of the pumpkin the same way you would cut the peel off an orange. Then cut the pumpkin in half, remove the seeds and pulp, and cube.

Cubes of fresh pumpkin

For a side dish, I prefer nearly-dry roasting because it browns and carmelizes the cubes and brings out the sugar. For baking (including freezing for use later in pies) I prefer to spread the cubes in a single layer in a baking dish, add a 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the dish, and cover. 15-30 minutes in a 400 degree oven will do the trick, with larger chunks taking more time. When they're done, just cool, mash and use or freeze.

Of course some people think the best part of the pumpkin is the seeds, and my sugar pumpkins had loads of them. Some of what I baked yesterday I had just pulled off the vine, and I couldn't believe how easy it was to extract the seeds. None of that sticky, slimy mess you get when trying to remove seeds from a carving pumpkin. I'm not sure if it was the variety or the fact that I had just clipped it from the plant, but separating those seeds was a breeze and they were very clean. To roast them, toss with a small amount of oil, salt to your liking, spread in a single layer on a baking sheet, and put in a 250 degree oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Seeds from sugar pumpkins, before roasting

So go rescue your cute, little pumpkins right now! With a bit of work you can have a pumpkin pie on the counter and some crunchy, tasty and healthy snacks for the lunch box.

November Harvest & Garden Tasks

One month ago we put down our garden tools for a day and headed over to Guinda for the annual Hoes Down fest, but the very next day and every day since, that hoe (and all the other garden tools) has been back in use and it definitely does not feel like the work season is over on our Central Valley mini-farm.

Pomegranate on the tree

Of all the current garden tasks, harvesting is creating the heaviest load. The particular combination of fruits and veggies on our homestead means we are now in full harvest and processing mode, more so than in September or October. This is mostly due to our large pomegranate tree. So far Mr. English has harvested a little over half the pomegranates from the tree and already we have three burlap sacks full of fruit in the garage, not including the crate I already dealt with.

If you love pomegranates, you know about the painstakingly delicate process involved in extracting the seeds without crushing them. I have a system I like, but it still takes one person about one hour to pull all the seeds from six large pomegranates. Do the math on several hundred pieces of fruit and you begin to see what a task I still have ahead of me if I want to process all of it. This is why we give away lots of pomegranates this time of year (let me know if you'd like any!)

Pomegranate seed pockets

About 4 hours worth of seeding

In addition to the pomegranates, we're also happily dealing with about 50 pounds of English walnuts. Mr. English's father owns a walnut orchard up near Chico, so every fall we gratefully receive the gift of enough walnuts to get us through a year's worth of baking and cooking. Of course, the nuts arrive in the shell, still needing to be cured, shelled and frozen. A Davebilt #43 cracker would get the job done in about an hour, but at $150, that's not a justifiable expense when we only crack one 50-lb bag per year. So, instead we use the one-at-a-time nutcracker, and it takes one person about 45 minutes to create a pound of shelled nuts. This is when it helps to get the whole family (and friends) involved.

English walnuts

With the gorgeous weather we've been having, we're also still harvesting and processing lots of eggplant and peppers, and even basil. Most of the winter squash is still on the vines and will need to be pulled, cured and stored before the first frost arrives, probably later this month. In addition to the harvesting, I'm also ripping out summer plants as they finish up and amending the soil before cover cropping or planting with winter crops like garlic, onions, peas and greens of all kinds. That will mean another trip out to the horse barn on the outskirts of town to get another free load of aged horse manure, probably this week before it starts to rain. Those forecast showers are probably the first break I'll get in the garden!

If it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not. I love the harvest season, it's just that since ours comes a tad later around here, it means we are still in full swing and will be for a few weeks, when others have been winding down for the last month. Not everybody is winding down, though. Just yesterday we joined about 40 other people at Frate Sole olive orchard to pick olives for another Foods Resource Bank fundraiser. We picked about 500 pounds of olives in an afternoon, but most of the trees there are still loaded with fruit and they will be harvesting for a number of weeks to come. So, we are in good company.

What are you still working on in your garden this month? Any relief in sight?