Dining from the Garden

Usually I don't get much from my garden.  But this year I am starting to see success.

 

I finally got some carrots to grow in my raised beds.  The trick is to thin mercilessly and to make sure the soil is loose.  They didn't grow very long because they are in raised beds.

 

 

This morning I noticed a huge cucumber on my vines.  I had seen one blossom early on but figured nothing would come of it.  Then I happened to see it this morning while my husband was out checking the beehives.  It weighed in at 14 ounces.  My husband claims that I bought one at Publix to stick in my garden.  I was as surprised to see it there as he was.  There are a lot more blossoms on the vines now, so I am hoping that we will see more in the near future.

I made refrigerator pickles out of it.  They taste pretty good.  They are on the menu for tonight with roasted carrots (in butter) along with BBQ chicken (no, not the ones in our backyard) and some corn I did buy at Publix.  Should be a delicious summer meal.

 

Grow Your Own

My greatest goal is to be able to grow more of my own food.  Unfortunately I did not inherit my grandma Anna's green thumb.  But I keep on trying.  We recently had removed some trees (either dead, ill, or endangering structures) which opened up some sun in our backyard.  So I thought I would give a raised garden bed another try.

My eight year old was explaining worms to my not yet three year old.

 

Worms!  Everyone loves worms!

 

And everyone loves the chance to play in the dirt.

 

Planting peas.  We also planted some carrots.

I bought some blueberries from Tallahassee Native Nurseries.  I also really like to get down to Just Fruits and Exotics when I can, and they have great information on their site.  But I didn't have time to drive to Medart this weekend.

Once again putting the kids to work.  My husband helped too.  We had removed some azaleas in this location (they like acidic soil just like blueberries) because we wanted to have pretty flowers and food here.

Blueberries installed.  I am going to work hard to keep them watered (although one watering emptied our rain barrel) and fertilized with holly-tone on schedule.

 

Winter Solstice Dinner

Last year our family started celebrating the Winter Solstice, as a way to have a small family gathering before we see our parents for Christmas.  I try to make the meal as local as possible and order from the Red Hills On-line Farmers Market .  This market has the motto of "Shop Naked" because you pick out your order on-line sometime between Sunday and Wednesday morning at 6am and then pick up your items at the Bread and Roses Food Cooperative on Thursday after 5pm.

I looked at the items available and decided to do a beef stew.  Someone recommended a chestnut and beef stew and I found a recipe to try.  I substituted turnips for potatoes in the recipe, since that was what was available locally at this time. 

Carrots and turnips from Full Earth Farm, beef from Deep Roots Meat, and chestnuts from Blue Ridge Farm

I steamed the chestnuts using my rice cooker/steamer after looking up some instructions on-line.  First I cut them in half vertically and then steamed them on the highest setting of water for 20 minutes.  They were hot, and peeled very easily.  Their meat is rich and tasty.

The recipe called for a red wine.  I was all out of my red wine from Florida wineries.  Luckily I shopped for additional ingredients at one of the larger Publix stores and they had a selection of red wines from Florida wineries.  I decided on the Vintner's Red from San Sebastian Winery over in St. Augustine, since I have not yet been to that winery.  I also looked at the Southern Red at Lake Ridge Winery near Clermont, I have been there before and like many of their wines.

We also served a salad with lettuce from Ragged Glory Farm (this is the first I had heard of it) and carrot slices with a dressing of ponderosa lemon juice and almond oil.  While the produce was fresh and tasty the salad really could have used something else, I am not quite sure what though.

The beef and chestnut stew was very yummy and made for a nice, local Winter Solstice dinner, especially since a cold front had just come through, making the weather perfect for a hot stew to enjoy before opening our presents.

I even got two new cook books that were published this year and are specifically about local eating in Florida!



Winter Solstice presents from my family, can't wait to read them!