Little Coffee Beans

around the garden :: May tomatoes!

You're not going to believe this! Heck, I barely even believe it. Tuesday night we had Our. First. Tomatoes.

In. May.

May! 

Our first ripe tomato last year was at the end of July. If there are other Colorado gardeners who've experienced the surprise and thrill of May tomatoes (without a greenhouse) I'd love to hear from you, because I'm thinking that we've broken some kind of record around here. The three of us were all smiles and giggles as Zinnia picked the fruit. The small tomato was passed around for each of us to sample. It was sweet, tangy goodness, I tell you. The funny thing is that this is one of the two plants left over from our plant sale (we sold out of everything!). We started noticing green fruit on it weeks ago, but for whatever reason no one took it home. It was beginning to look pitiful so Steve put it in a larger pot, and over the last week the fruit started to ripen.

Licking the tomato juice from our lips, we made our way over to the Sungolds, where we found three ripe little cherries. One for each of us.

I feel like we've been rewarded for some kind of good gardening deed. And from now on I think we'll be letting those early flowers stay.  

In other news, our Moon & Stars watermelon plants are all but dead. I took a photo but I'll spare you the dour glimpse. After reading about them in one of our Organic Gardening magazines, and finding a pack of seeds at our local shop, I was convinced that we were meant to grow them. Well, the fine print on those seed packets tells the tale of our sad fate: "best planted in zone 8 or warmer." Dang it. I doesn't look like we're going to be able to pull it off here in zone 5. Ever since they went in the ground they've been going downhill. Now we're trying O'odham melons from our friends at Native Seed Search in Tucson. Hopefully we have some luck with this desert, heat-loving variety. Fingers crossed.

Elsewhere around the garden things are filling in beautifully. Our forty (!) tomato plants are rocking and many more are starting to set fruit. The collards, kale and chard are getting big enough for almost daily harvests. Beans are sprouting. Cucumbers and eggplants are flowering. Butternuts are stretching out and the lettuces, tomatillos and okra plants are getting bigger by the day.

I love this time of year when the work of planting (and sprinkler repair, and mulching, and yard clean-up, and tomato trellising and, and, and) is done, and the work of harvesting, cleaning, canning and freezing is not quite upon us. I'm enjoying these weeks of small harvests with plenty of time to just take in all the beauty and wonder of these gorgeous photosynthesizing plants. 

How's your end of May garden looking? 

praying mantis

A pregnant mama Mantis ready to give birth to her egg sack on our chiles. Aug. 2011

We heart bugs! 

One thing you have to come to terms with when you're organic gardening is bugs. Love 'em or hate 'em, you kinda need them. We all need the pollinators. We also need the bad guys because the good guys have to have something to eat, or they're outta here. My philosophy is if no one eats more than their fair share of greens, etc, they can stick around. 

We've ordered praying mantis egg cases for years now from our friends at Arbico. If you have a pest problem that you can't figure out, they're our go-to source. From beneficials, to natural organic repellents, they have what you need to keep a healthy balance of bugs in your garden. And let's face it, bugs are part of an intricate system that represents a healthy garden. 

Last year we were lucky to see our mantis eggs hatch. I was able to spot the growing babies for many weeks until their camouflage worked its magic and they disappeared into the thick foliage of the garden. As the summer progressed we caught glimpses of adults here and there. They especially liked hanging out in the chiles.

In September, as we were harvesting the last of the chiles, we found two mantis eggs attached to the stems of our plants. We kept them refrigerated for the winter months and a few weeks ago we set them out in the garden. It takes several weeks of warm temperatures for the babies to hatch so we're expecting ours shortly. From what I've read, it's pretty rare to see the babies emerge, unless you hatch them inside in a jar. Apparently the 200 or so babies make their way out over the course of an hour or so. The appearance of the egg case doesn't change at all so it's actually hard to tell if they've hatched until you find them in the garden. 

We're keeping a close eye on our eggs in hopes of seeing the babies.

Whether or not we catch a glimpse of our own babies, we were lucky enough to see some hatch-lings last weekend. We were parked at our favorite hiking spot getting ready to head out for an adventure. As I sat down on a large rock to tie my shoes, Zinnia came over and started scratching something on the rock face, just below my thigh. She kept asking, "This? This?" After tying my shoes I finally looked down and realized what she was pointing to. To my surprise it was a praying mantis egg case. She got excited when I told her what it was and ran over to tell Dada about the "mamm-tis eggs" she found. Steve started looking around on the ground and spotted two babies crawling among the grasses.

I

We were all quite thrilled with our luck at finding such a sweet little treasure. (And let me tell you, we needed some good juju, because we were all quite off that morning.)

seven things ::

 Thankful. Smiling. Laughing. Appreciating. Adoring.

Loving. Holding. Remembering. Sharing. 

Here are seven little things that I'm loving today.

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................

:: The sandbox is finished! And my girl is crazy about it.

:: Carrying the chair across the room she said, "Mama pull up chair right over there. Look at wind better."

 

:: Revisiting an old favorite. Found this copy when I was nineteen, and so began my path toward home birth.

 

:: A surprise visit and a quick hug from this one.

 

:: Independent community radio. 

 

:: Mother nature's infinite wisdom:

Black beans grow into yellow green beans. White beans grow into purple green beans. 

:: The view from the loo.

 

What simple little things are you loving today?

{these moments}

Playing along with SouleMama - in her words {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo  few photos - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, {extra}ordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  

Happy Weekend!

around the garden ::

It rained all night last night. The smell this morning, you know it. It's divine. 

Here are a few scenes from the garden this week ::

How about that face? She took a bite of chard and thought she saw a bug on it.

We're harvesting radishes, chives, garlic, chard, mustard greens and a little bit of kale. I've also started preserving our herbs before they all start to flower; this week I made parsley and oregano ice cubes.

After last night's rain, the ground is in prime shape for some cultivating and weed pulling. And I still have more seeds to get in, too. Yesterday, Steve dug up our garlic so it's now time to fill that area with beans. Oh, and I can't forget the cilantro. We have to have cilantro by the time those tomatoes are ready so I can have a steady supply of salsa. 

This is my thrifty score for the week. I went to the thrift store in search of a little radio for Zinnia's room and saw this beauty (which I've wanted for some time now, but kinda forgot about until I saw it). $2.99! I'm so curious to see just how many pounds of goodness we pull out of that garden of ours. 

Off to it!

What's happening in your garden? What are you planting? Harvesting?

in the kitchen :: radishes & popsicles

Mmm, radishes and popsicles. Did that combo peak your curiosity? Well, I haven't tried making radish popsicles, just yet, but this week in the kitchen we've been playing around with both. 

Let's start with the radishes. Crunchy. Tangy. Spicy. And short lived. We've been eating them everyday because when they're ready for harvest, they're ready. Blink and they bolt or become too woody to eat. 

The most common way to eat radishes is thinly sliced over a salad, but one of my favorite ways to enjoy them is roasted.  It's so easy to pull off and they make a great side to any meal.

Gather, clean and slice your radishes. You want thinnish slices, not paper thin but not too chunky either.

Toss the slices in olive oil and coarse salt. 

Lay them on a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes on 400f.

Eat them right off the pan, as a side or sprinkle them atop a salad. 

Now, for those popsicles. Inspired by Kim at Your Green Baby, I've begun adding greens to our smoothies. Depending on how much you use, the flavor ranges from negligible to robust; suit your own your palate. We sure do love our chard and kale around here and fortunately I don't have to hide veggies to get Zinnia to eat them, but if your little ones are quick to run at the sight of something green, this is a great way to include the nutrition of greens without much fuss.

What goes in my smoothies is dictated by what I have on hand. For this batch I used frozen blueberries, a banana, a few leaves of chard, a couple tablespoons of greek yogurt, rice milk and a wee drizzle of honey.

Blend until smooth. 

Pour into popsicle molds then drink what's left.

Let freeze for a few hours then enjoy!

Happy and healthy eating friends! 

seven things ::

 Thankful. Smiling. Laughing. Appreciating. Adoring.

Loving. Holding. Remembering. Sharing. 

Here are seven little things that I'm loving today.

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Her first taste of honeysuckle.

Dinners that come together so easily, especially on nights I don't want to cook: kale chips, rosemary potatoes and roasted radishes.

Muddy water. Enough said.

Belly butter. Baby butter. Shea butter. This yummy tub was left on my doorstep by a thoughtful friend.

The rainbow chard is in!

A nice place to cool off.

These two with their weird cravings: sardines, grits and garbanzo beans eaten with chopsticks, of course.

What simple litte things are you loving today?

 

the work around here

This weekend was full of projects around here. Among the many things we juggled, we put the final touches on the garden, built the border on the new bed out front, mulched the paths, stored the starter pots, cut the grass and started building a sandbox. Now that the garden is fully planted, Zinnia's winter sandbox (aka the dirt of the garden bed) is no longer the best place to drive her digger. We decided a few weeks ago that she'd enjoy her very own place to dig so we started discussing plans for a sandbox. 

Just last week, some neighbors hired a landscaping crew to tear down the raised garden beds in their front yard (why people want to replace xeriscaping with sod in this climate is baffling). After a day or two of work Steve noticed a huge pile of perfectly good landscaping timbers thrown haphazardly in the street and he walked over to investigate. As you might imagine, the crew was preparing to cart the entire lot to the landfill. What a waste! Those timbers go for $12-15 bucks and there was a stack of at least twenty. Within minutes, they were being carted, one-by-one to a neat pile on our driveway. 

This weekend, they found new life with two projects: in the front yard, they're lining our newest garden bed and in the back yard, they're being used to construct Zinnia's sandbox. We'll take the remaining timbers to our local salvage yard, Resource, where they'll be used by someone else for another DIY project. 

Now, reclaiming and recycling timbers is good and all and we'll pat ourselves on the back later, but did you see my girl working that drill? She was so proud of herself and Dada was tickled pink, too.

 

{these moments}

Playing along with SouleMama - in her words {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo  few photos - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, {extra}ordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  

Happy weekend!

around the garden ::

Whew! It's done. Well, mostly. And we're plum tuckered out.

Out front, chiles galore.

Out back, everything else: tomatoes, radishes, onions, horseradish, garlic, basil, kale, collards, chives, mustard greens, peas, beans, cucumbers, lilikoi, hops, more tomatoes, zinnias, chard, beets, carrots, more tomatoes

and the butternuts

I'll finish mulching tomorrow. Today, I'm heading to the hot springs for a day of rest and relaxation. We need it! 

How's your garden coming along?