Yesterday we harvested & froze 10 lbs of bok choi. That's on top of all the bok choi we've been eating for the past few weeks.
Bok Choi freezes really well & doesn't need to be blanched first.
I left some of each plant to regrow & if it doesn't stay too hot, we may get another harvest.
Maybe the 4th time's the charm? I've tried to graft our peach trees for years. They never take. This winter I did a ton of reading about grafting & discovered the amazing resource http://growingfruit.org
Apparently peaches are the most difficult fruit to graft. One of the problems is you take the scion wood during dormancy - Feb or Mar - but can't graft until temps stay over 60 deg f. So that's May for us!
I stored the scions in the fridge & grafted today.
Fingers crossed.
Finally got to plant the 4 apple trees I got at our local farmers coop! Now I have a macoun, honeycrisp, gala, and fuji apple to keep the Roxbury russet I already had company.
My arms and core muscles are tired!
I saw the first hummingbird of the season this morning!
I'm in Central MA, zone 6a. As a marker of how weird weather patterns are: I was finally able to treat the peach trees for leaf curl today. 4/16.
I should've done a treatment after leaf drop in fall. A 2nd during dormancy, ideally in February.
The problem? Need 2-3 dry days so the fungicide doesn't wash off & no wind. We're at the start of bud swell & spraying might be useless. But it's the 1st window I've had.
Last week, we had over 4" of snow.
Got my steps in & then some today. It's been really cold here & we've been burning lots of wood. Typically, we just load up the bucket of the tractor & bring it up to the house.
Couldn't get the tractor up the hill today b/c of the layer of ice beneath the snow.
So we went old school, loading bundles of wood in a sling carrier & walking them to the house.
Many trips later, the wood is stacked inside.
This is what exercise looks like at #StarFieldFarm
8 years ago when I was planning to expand our homestead orchard, the landscape architect warned me to pick fruit trees that would thrive in a full zone warmer than our current one.
I thought that felt extreme.
Now I worry that it isn't enough.
Last harvest of some forgotten carrots. Weather is for measurable snow tonight & I wanted to dig these out before the ground got any more frozen.
A whole lotta habanero peppers, mixed with a few green & and poblanos, along with salt plus time, made this amazing fermented pepper mash.
The habaneros were nearly inedibly hot to start with. 3 weeks fermentation & the mash is hot but tasty.
I blended some of the mash with cider vinegar, lemon juice, and maple syrup for an absolutely delicious hot sauce.
This is definitely on the list to make next year!
From a walk in the woods with the pups yesterday. It was a glorious fall day & my spouse & I kicked through the leaves like children.
This path is an abandoned railway bed that travels through our property. The land was cleared at the start of the 1900s for a railroad, but it was never built because the railroad owner died in the Titanic.
I like to think I hear the sound of a ghost train from time to time.
Photo taken by my spouse.
This butternut squash was hanging out in the root cellar for a WHOLE YEAR. Still sounded hollow when thumped. No soft spots. Now sacrificed on the altar of butternut squash & tomato soup. (Also to make room for what we just harvested!)
Thank you for your service.
I may live to regret this...
The last batch I made of Tomato jam with habanero pepper mellowed quite a bit in the jar and is tasty but not spicy.
With a glut of tomatoes from the garden & more peppers ripening by the day, I've decided to make a 2nd batch. This one with 2 habaneros & 1 jalapeño.
Also, this was by chance, but it looks like a face!
Adapted from: https://foodinjars.com/recipe/tomato-jam/
#PreserveTheHarvest
#StarFieldFarm
#EatWhatYouGrow
#FacesInThings
I'm harvesting dried beans from our pole beans for the first time this year! I'm not sure why I haven't done this before.
(Honestly, until a few years ago, I had no idea shell beans actually came from the same plant as green beans! In my defense, I grew up a city girl.)
Flora & fauna at StarField farm.
We seem to have a resident fox who like to sun itself on the lawn over our leachfield. Hello, little friend!
These sunny September weather has been great for the garden. Today's harvest included corn, tomatoes, peppers, & winter squash.
So it begins...fall colors starting to tinge the tops of the trees.
This is my absolute favorite time of the year.
And a view I never tire of.
Not a bad way to spend a birthday. Processed 11 quarts of tomatoes sauce from our homegrown tomatoes. This is the second batch we've made this year. A gift for future-me.
