Salad Greens Window Box

This box is about 8" deep and contains a tiny bit each of red-veined sorrel, scallions, watercress, miner's lettuce, arugula, and mache. I sowed the seeds directly into the box quite close together. When you want to munch, you can pick leaf by leaf or cut the whole plants about 1/2" above the soil. Some will grow back in a few weeks for a second cutting or you can plant new seeds of quick growing greens like arugula and cress when you harvest them. It might only make for a few salads but they will be fresh and tasty any time of year.

Building A Tomato Bed

Jason and our dog friend Cowgirl labor over a tomato bed. The soil in this lot is basically fill and rock a few inches down so the tomatoes will appreciate how deep their new bed is. The wood is tounge-and-groove floor boards that I found at Construction Junction, our local building material reuse center. The fact that they slide together gives the bed extra support. Awesome.

New Outside Home

These guys have finally left the porch where they have been slowly adjusting to outdoor life. They now live in the first scrap wood bed we built last year on a lot down the street from our house. It is just barely holding together. I tightened up the plants' spacing a bit but the bed is fairly deep and the soil is pretty good so i think they can handle it. From the first row to the back are teeny Champion Collards, Ermosa Butterhead Lettuce, Red Express Cabbage, and invisible rows of radishes and early and main crop carrots (I am trying Nelson and Bolero). Instead of sprinkling soil over the carrot seeds, I used damp leaf mold (chopped leaves a couple years old). I dampened the furrow first with the watering can, planted the seeds and pressed gently, then sprinkled over the leaf mold and pressed gently again. The soil is a clay soil so I know if it gets dry and forms a crust, those guys might have a tough time getting through. I think the leaf mold might be easier for them. Just to make sure, I planted some arugula right on top of them. They will hopefully push through first and can be picked as baby greens when the carrots come up and need the space. I hope they make it!

Simple Pasta

4 servings (About 1 lb)

2 c all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

Make a well in the flour and pour eggs in. Beat, mixing with a little flour. Hand mix all ingredients and add a little water or flour if too stiff or dry. Knead for 10 minutes by hand or with a dough hook in a mixer. Divide into four and rest for 1 hour wrapped lightly in plastic. Roll out as thin a possible, stretching and pulling dough as you roll. Let rest 20 - 40 minutes, until leathery but not stiff. Slice on floured board and let rest 1 hour before boiling 3-5 minutes in salted water.

Sauerkraut

I did not grow this cabbage but I am practicing for the cabbages I hope will come from the garden. It seems pretty simple:

1 SHRED cabbage

2 LAYER in bowl with seasalt (1-2 TBSP per LB)

3 TAMP as you layer with your fist

4 MIX along with any other vegetables or spices

5 PACK TIGHTLY in a crock or other container

6 PRESS to push out as much water as you can and
submerge the cabbage in its own brine

7 WEIGHT the cabbage so it stays below the brine
and does not contact the air

8 COVER to keep out dusties & WAIT until its ready (1 week +)

9 EAT!

10 VISIT this website to find out more

I used small plastic food grade buckets nested inside each other...the bottom containing the cabbage and the top filled with water to weight the cabbage and make any easy pressing tool to bring out the brine.

Purslane, A Most Delicious Weed

Purslane is a common weed that may have arrived in North America in the 1400s. It is a little sour and can be eaten fresh in salads or cooked like spinach. Golden Purslane, the variety I am growing, is said to have a bit more of a lemony flavor and larger leaves than the wild bunches. Photo of fully grown golden purslane is courtesy of The Hortulus Farm Diary. The teeny purslanes are what are growing in my window.

Raised Bed Wood

Some floorboards we are hoping to turn into raised beds.