In the garden…

Posted on July 13, 2017 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

It blows my mind. How things change…

It was only five months ago that my garden looked like this.

Yes.

Five months ago – February 2017. Snow to the tops of the fence posts – more than thigh high snow…

And while that was going on outside – I had these beauties going on inside…

and these lovelies waiting to pop up…

(garlic).

Though before any of these seedlings could be put into the ground, the snow needed to melt, the earth needed to warm and the ground needed to prepped…

Here was April.

I turned the soil, added peat moss, seaweed (collected locally), wood ash and love… then covered with a landscape fabric to help prevent weed growth, while also warming the soil…

The mosquitos are INSANE here and harvesting is challenging enough once July comes around, let alone weeding – so to minimize being maddened with buzzing while working in the garden, I try to keep my weeding needs to a minimum.

I cover the majority of the garden with breathable fabric and then fill in with hay. Each allows water and sunshine through, while keeping weeds at bay…

In the pic above you can see black instead of the earth – that’s the fabric covering warming the earth while suppressing weed growth.

I cut openings for each row of veggies/flowers. I simply cut a line for a specified length and then pin down each side with landscape pins and wooden row ‘tags’ on each end. I then cover seeds with hay (to help with heat and moisture retention), and water – then once seedlings/plants begin to grow and become larger, I place hay between each individual plant. Like with the garlic greens seen above, (behind the wheelbarrow full of seedlings waiting to go in)…

Amazing to think that only a few months later the same garden would look like this.

Tomatoes, basil, leeks, red onions, broccoli, cauliflower, summer squash, cucumber, beets, lettuce, green beans, peas, swiss chard, kale, potatoes, brussel sprouts and self seeded cilantro. Phew.

Most started from seed.

Months ago.

In my house.

On window sills during the day…

And at night – moved beside our woodstove…

Or sown directly into the ground as soon as the garden was ready. In the case of garlic (below), it was planted last fall…while others waited until spring or early summer.

Either way, much love, planning and work has gone into each plant with the hopes that each will feed us…

Planning and growing are one thing – though there’s also the watering and the harvesting…

the picking, gathering, cutting, pruning, then it’s the washing, cleaning and storing…

A lot goes into growing food – yet it’s all necessary and SO worth it!

My kitchen sink doubles as the wash station and each veggie goes into it’s own separate bag and stored in the fridge – if necessary. Some veggies, like tomatoes (which aren’t ready for a few more weeks/months) are stored best on the counter. Each vegetable has it’s own needs…

Flowers are not be forgotten in a garden either…not only are they beautiful and useful (think cutting flowers), but helpful for pollinators. (:

So plant, plant, plant, plant. And love it – even when it’s 100 degrees outside, with 100% humidity and mosquitos are swarming you! (: It’s worth it.

Hopefully you can try it someday – even if it’s simply one pot of tomatoes or cucumbers on your fire escape.

Everything tastes better with love…

Be well.

Eat well.

Enjoy.

What’s you favorite vegetable?

in the garden

Posted on August 17, 2015 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

This summer has not been my summer to be in the garden…at least not as much as I’d like…

But today, time and circumstance allowed and I was able to get out there!

Phew.

I pulled weeds, cut back tomato plants, and harvested a few goodies…

I was amazed by what was growing – despite the neglect and lack of water.

Thank you plants.

SO much green!

What have you been growing…?

Enjoy.

pesto anyone?

Posted on July 23, 2014 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

It’s time to make pesto!

What’s your favorite recipe for pesto?

Happy gardening!

yeah for summer!

Posted on June 20, 2014 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

Time. It keeps moving forward…and here in Maine, it’s so obvious. Obvious because of the cycle of the seasons and the flowers (or lack of) each season brings.

After being here, year round these past six years, I’ve begun to notice the pattern of the flowers on this peninsula. First it’s the snow drops, then the tulips, followed by the daffodils, the apple blossoms, the ferns…the buttercups, forget me nots… and it goes on and on until the chill of fall begins putting things back to sleep…

I’ve been wanting to post since before the daffodils

and before the apple trees began to bud.

I then I tried before their blossoms appeared, though now those beautiful flowers are long gone…

I did take full advantage of bringing a few inside while they were here…they are (were) so beautiful!

I tried to write while the lilacs were still buds

and winter jackets were still needed, though while the jackets (thankfully) are finally packed away, the lilac flowers have come and gone too.

I can say the same about when the rosa rugosa started to bud; I wanted to post, but time escaped me, again…It was so exciting when their buds finally began to open and their greenery popped out in early spring,

though now they are even more intoxicating – their sweet scent being carried on the wind, into my (now) open kitchen windows…luxury, to say the least.

The lupines are here (though they are almost gone now too)

and the iris’s are blooming, though quickly passing.

Tiger lilies are beginning to bud and other types have already blossomed.

I look forward to my peonies, nasturtiums and morning glories…though realize they too will come and go. But, I’m not rushing, nor forgetting to appreciate the here and now! While spring may be ending, summer is just beginning!

So while the flowers, whichever they may be, are here, I will enjoy them. I will pick them, eat them (nasturtiums), give them away and decorate with them.

For me, late spring and all of summer is a time of freshly picked flowers in every room, freshly harvested vegetables from the backyard, and the hope that with the heat, comes a more slow pace, if only for a few weeks…

Flowers remind me just how fleeting life can be and how beautiful it is.

And don’t even get me started on all the loveliness in the vegetable garden, time goes quickly there too! If you don’t get your seeds/plants in on time, well, you miss out…

Here’s a sneak peek at what is happening back there!

I’ve never tried starting pansy’s from seed and this year I did! I’m so pleased that they are finally blooming!!

Happy Summer!

cosmo carrots + kids

Posted on July 19, 2013 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

Gardening is something I look forward to…despite this years crazy spring, super hot summer and now, mosquitos, things are growing and I continue to plant…and now am starting to reap the benefits…

I pulled the first few carrots of the season while Finn napped and as soon as he saw them (after he woke), he said, ‘Mamma, I want to pick carrots too!’

I didn’t want to subject him to the incessant mosquitos and thus, the required long sleeve shirt, long (thick) pants and gardening boots, so I picked while he slept…though when he told me he wanted to pick and wouldn’t mind ‘getting dressed’ (despite the 90+ degree day), out we went…

I was one proud mamma!

Look at these beauties.

Cosmo carrots (purple) and baby carrots, plus the first picking of basil and the never ceasing baby lettuce (under the carrots)…

Finn helped me plant all of these and I’m so happy he wants to help harvest too…I can only hope to instill a love for gardening or at minimum, an understanding of how food is grown and a respect for all that required to grow, organically…

happy weekend!

summertime strawberries make fabulous smoothies

Posted on July 9, 2013 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

Yeah for fresh picked summertime strawberries! Picking strawberries is such a delight this time of year in Maine…even on a cloudy cool day…

Finn and I went picking last week and we had so much fun. We were the only ones there! I think the clouds and drizzle kept everyone else away – which was just fine with us…it was like having our own private strawberry field. It was lovely and so peaceful…snacking on berries, looking out at cloud shrouded hills with a gentle mist falling all around, and cows grazing nearby…it was a magic day in Maine, to say the least…

The strawberry fields were a part of a larger organic farm, Uncas Farm, in Whitefield Maine. The farm is an organic farm and they have a super sweet general store on the premises where they offer sandwiches, soup, coffee, local meats and their own produce…plus, lots of other fabulous goodies…enjoy them in their homey cafe and peruse a book or two (they have a mini library there too!) or take lunch with you…either way, it’s a great spot to go picking organic strawberries, so we did.

Now, what to do with all those strawberries…hmmm…last year we made biscuits and then topped them with strawberries and cream – this year, we’ll do the same, though we’ve also been enjoying a super simple, nutritious and quick snack – strawberry banana smoothies!

They are so easy with fresh or frozen fruit that you should try them this summer too…

Here’s what you’ll need;

1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries

1-1.5 cups plain yogurt

1-2 tablespoons ground flax (easy way to get all those omega benefits!)

a bit (or more) of honey

and that’s it!

Chop and place all in blender.

Blend and pour.

There is nothing better than a freshly made batch of fruit based beverage – added bonus are all the nutrients and the versatility…

Other combo. possibilities;

peanut butter and yogurt

yogurt and blueberries

blueberries, rasberries and banana

What’s your favorite combo?

Try it for yourself and see how refreshing (and filling) this beverage is -especially on those sweltering summer days…

enjoy.

P.S. Fun fact – my blender and fun strawberry glass were picked up for free at my local ‘freebie barn’.

gardening in Maine, in the rain…

Posted on July 3, 2013 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

I’m surprised by how well my little backyard garden is doing, despite all the odds against it…

Time constraints, a precocious three year old, fluctuating temperatures, heavy rains, Maine mosquitos (bad for me, not the garden) and the constant threat of insects (particularly slugs and snails right now)… makes gardening this year a bit of a challenge, to say the least. Granted there are always variables out of our control when growing one’s own, though this year, the wet and cooler temperatures are certainly above and beyond the ‘norm’…

While Finn naps, I try to get out there – little by little more seeds are sown, weeds are pulled, additional mulch is laid and insects are picked off one by one…for me the key to having and enjoying my garden is simply getting out there, once a day, even if only for 15 minutes…to keep an eye on things and say ‘hello’. Yes, I do talk to my plants…why not?

I want to garden. I want to eat fresh organic greens. I want to pick (and then enjoy) fresh homegrown, veggies! I want super fresh, real food. My current budget won’t allow me to buy locally grown, organic tomatoes, but it does, if I grow them myself, from seed. Lucky for us, I like to garden. And I have space to garden…

Not only do I like to garden, I need to garden. For me, it’s innate. It always has been. I like to eat what I grow. Plus, the taste, is impossible to achieve with store bought vegetables. Nothing is more fresh than ‘just picked.’ Seriously.

So, I garden.

I start seeds in the late winter/early spring, I compost, I save seeds, I read about companion planting and organic gardening. I teach myself and I learn as I go. Life is all about learning – it’s never ending – and for me, this years garden is teaching (and reminding me) that plants want to grow.

Every living thing wants to grow – despite set backs and challenges, we all want to and need to grow, vegetables are no different. So if you think you don’t know enough to grow a few plants, think again, they are forgiving (to a point) and they want to please you as much as you want to enjoy them…

So why not start a seed and see how it feels…you may just get hooked.

Don’t have a lot of space? Try plating vegetables/flowers in pots. A tomato doesn’t taste any better grown organically in the ground, in the country, in Maine as one grown organically, in a pot, on a fire escape in NYC…homegrown is homegrown, and that is always better than any store bought tomato…the best part of organic homegrown? Monsanto is not involved – at all.

Happy gardening – for yourself, your family and the earth!

enjoy.

green beans galore + heirlooms

Posted on August 14, 2012 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

The garden is finally looking lovely…

as a garden should, on the coast of Maine, by mid-August…and the green beans have been abundant. It’s amazing how many beans grow on one bush, organically…here’s a super simple recipe for green beans and it’s yummy served warm or cold.

2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed

Zest of 1 lemon

2 Tbsp. lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

2 ounces goat cheese, softened and crumbled

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Add green beans. Cook 3 minutes; drain well. Set beans aside in colander; do not rinse (they will continue to cook).

Whisk together lemon zest, juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss with beans in large bowl.

Transfer to serving platter and sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese.

*This vinaigrette can be made up to a day in advance, covered, and refrigerated, and brought to room temperature before serving.

I just have to mention the heirloom tomatoes too. I picked (and enjoyed eating) my first ripened black krim tomato. They are so incredibly delicious and luscious I had to include them…everyone should be able to experience the taste of a REAL tomato – not one which has been trucked across the country, green, ready to ripen ‘on route’ – no.

A tomato which has truly been vine ripened, without chemicals, pesticides or been biologically mixed with some other life form…and not one which you have to take out a loan to afford…one you grow yourself. Simply slice, salt and enjoy – your taste buds will love you!

garden goings – on

Posted on July 20, 2012 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

late July is beautiful in Maine – everything is growing and growing. Lots of veggies are ready to be picked, blueberry season is here and so many more flowers are ready to burst – summertime…love it!

Today I picked my first crop of green beans and baby carrots…(and wasn’t eaten alive by mosquitos -a pleasant change to say the least) yeah for summer in Maine!

I’ve been enjoying lettuces, swiss chard, kale and beets on a daily basis for awhile now…

so to add carrots and green beans is exciting and a welcome addition – eating those crisp green beans straight from the bush is so summer to me! I’ve also been enjoying lots of basil and patiently waiting for the tomatoes to grow and ripen…

The satisfaction of being able to cultivate, plant, tend, pick, prepare and then enjoy my own home grown food is incredibly illuminating – the joy (and relief) of knowing where my food is from and what was put ‘into it’ – priceless…everyone should be so lucky.