Last vegetables of the season

Picked the last back porch vegetables and pulled up the plants to compost. The porch looks so bare and forlorn now. But the marigolds are happy inside in a vase! And my kitty looks serious as she awaits the catnip.

Curried Turnip Apple Soup

This soup is delicious! Anyone who has disdain for the turnip might want to give this one a try! The recipe is from "Sally's Place" by Sally Berstein. Click the title link to go to her website. I made a probably inauthentic curry powder from 80% turmeric and cumin plus 20% ground mustard seed, coriander and bay leaf. The ingredients I used are not from our garden but they are from local farms and The Apple Festival that I frequented last weekend in Highland Park. Delicious!

Curried Turnip and Apple Soup
serves 6

3 tablespoons butter or oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 pound turnips, peeled and chopped
2 small tart apples, cored and chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 cups chicken stock (I used water...didn't have stock on hand...
vegetable stock would make a vegetarian version)
1/3 cup raw rice
Salt and pepper
Chopped fresh chive

In a large saucepan, heat the butter. Add the onion, celery, turnip, and apple. Cook until wilted. Stir in the curry powder and parsley; cook for another minute. Add the stock, bring to a boil, and add the rice. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped chives.

Saving Seeds

Jason and I visited family friends of his and new friends of mine a few weeks ago outside of Rochester, NY. They have a beautiful property, an amazing farm/garden and so much warm hospitality (they also sent us home with all the fresh produce, juice, and syrup we could carry!) These beans were sent along home with us to find a life in our garden next year. Inspired, I tried my novice hand at saving a few seeds from our garden for next year...arugula, flowers, peppers, and tomatoes. I found the International Seed Saving Institute's web site quite helpful in all of this.... http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html

Tomatoes and Eggplants and Beans (For Dinner!)

Blackened beans, fried eggplant, tomatoes and polenta. Delicious!

Tomatoes and Eggplants

Beds

These are the beds we patched together from found and cheap materials, shown in an earlier post. They are holding together, and the squash are luckily planted at the edges so they can spill out and take up less room (they are so pushy!). The beds (one wood, one brick, one cinder block) are at the back of a vacant lot near our house. The lot still looks vacant from the street, which isn't a bad thing....it's very peaceful in the back. The great thing about the lot is there is lots of material lying around that puts itself to use. Broken branches or mini invasive trees that we pulled up are good for tomato and bean supports and a broken length of fence makes a good trellis. The bad thing is the ivy and bittersweet that are trying to creep in and take over the world.

Pickles (Before they have turned into Pickles)

Found a great pickle website....awesomepickle.com

I am hoping the pictured items from the garden can turn into salt pickles. Just ferment and then refrigerate...no vinegar or sealing needed! Awesome. Bought some mustard seed and celery seed, and picked some dill. Packed everything tight in the jars with garlic and covered with brine. The sources I found made the brine with 1 TBSP salt (without iodine) per 2-4 C water. Dechlorinated water is recommended (brita filtered, bottled, or tap water left out for 24 hrs) so the chlorine doesn't inhibit fermentation. Check daily to make sure the vegs don't poke out of the brine...they need to stay covered but not tightly covered so the carbon dioxide can escape. Ferment a few days to a few weeks and then refrigerate. Bring on the pickles....I hope it works! For more information, such as health concerns and botulism (seems safe if you learn how it works and how long people have been using the technique), see Sandor Ellix Katz's "Wild Fermentation" book or website.