April 20th – April 26th, 2015 The Final Harvest : Carrots With spring now in full swing, it was time to pull out the final produce of our winter garden.  The last survivors of the garden were two of our carrot beds.  This final harvest of the carrots brought in over eleven pounds of carrots.  In addition to those we ate fresh or juiced, we put down 15 quarts of carrots for later.  Carrots are fairly easy to can, although peeling them can take quite a bit of time.  I prefer to can the carrots already chopped, so that they are easier to fit into the containers and ready to be used in a variety of recipes.  I do try to cut them into very large chunks, too, though, so that they retain as much firmness as possible.   That won’t be much, though, since high temperature processing as in a pressure canner really takes the firmness out of them. One of the really nice things about canning carrots is that they can be canned raw, which means you don’t have to do the prep work to cook them and keep them hot before stuffing the jars.  Simply Canning offers some very nice directions on how to get the job done.  It is important to follow the instructions carefully when you can, as not doing so can run the risk of deadly disease or simply the loss of valuable crops.  We take our canning pressure gauge into our local Agriculture Extension office every year to have it checked to be sure it is reading the right pressure and try to keep a close eye on the whole process to be sure the proper temperatures are being met to kill off any potential bad guys that might have hitched a ride on our food. Plantings of the week We were also pretty busy this week refilling all of the beds with the spring vegetables. Tomatoes Our tomato bed was already over half full, but this week we put in the last of the tomato varieties we will be growing this year, Bush Goliath Tomato.  I picked up six babies for transplant from The Natural Gardener, one of our local gardening supply stores.  I was drawn to the plants because they had a very firm, compact, and deep green growth pattern.  I decided to go with them because they also had a special resistance to damage from root knot nematodes, which we have a problem with in our garden.  I have been trying to get resistant varietes of all of our vegetables this season to help reduce the population of the problematic parasites.  I have also brought in a host of beneficial...

Planted cow-peas in the vegetable garden, enjoyed our poppies in full bloom, and took my work to an arts festival.

Spring in the Hill Country This is the height of spring in the Hill Country of Texas.  Everything is in bloom, from fields of bluebonnets to fruit trees.  Even our pecan tree is dangling its pollen clusters.  In the garden, our herb and wildflower corner is in full swing.  We have daisies, poppies, irises, the mint is spreading, our thyme is nearly three times the size it was last year and covered in tiny purple flowers.  Our grapevines are blooming, the pears and peaches are starting to form fruit, and the figs are leafing out.   The back hillside is covered in purple verbena. Of course, all of this amazing growth means that all the weeds and grasses are growing fast too.  Paths are disappearing under a sea of green which encroaches on the garden from all directions.  The last of the winter crops are quickly going to seed.  (Funny that phrase, ‘gone to seed.’  One might use it to mean, ‘not looking one’s best’,  ‘Past one’s prime’  The thing is, when a plant actually goes to seed, that is being pregnant, bringing new life.  That’s not ‘past one’s prime, its a glorious and amazing miracle.  Yet our fear of death and worship of youth leads us to denigrate the whole idea and turn it into an insult.  Too bad we can’t praise the whole cycle of life). With the winter garden providing a fruitful harvest, it is now time to start planting the seeds of spring.  We will have a garden full of cowpeas, okra, peppers, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.  Its going to be a tasty season! In the meantime, here are some images of the garden and ranch from this beautiful...

BEETS! This week we harvested the last of the beet beds, and I thought that I would offer you a photo journal of the whole process from garden to pantry.  I hope you enjoy!