Blog Title Change

So, I was walking into the lab this morning and this new title just popped into my head! Since I spend most of my farming life confused, puzzled and utterly mind boggled by what people tell me, I thought this was more appropriate.

No worries, though, I'm still a Macy's Girl through and through.

:) Farmer Ran

FYI: Edited because clearly I wrote this before I had my coffee... it basically lacked any kind of sense... well, the basic premise is the same!

Some Pictures of My "Baby" Veggies!

One day, my garden parents will slice me open, fill me with cream cheese and fry me because they love some Jalepeno Poppers!

Wooohoooo... I'm an heirloom!

Watch out... I'm prickly! Who knew cucumbers were prickly???

Teehee... it's like Where's Waldo? Can you find me??? I'm a baby green bell pepper!

Yet another picture of an heirloom!

Update on the "meter" savings from Town of Blacksburg

Do you remember when I posted about the water "savings" that the Town of Blacksburg offers by buying a special meter and monitoring the water not going to the sewer? Well, savings my right arm! The meter costs $150 or so dollars... we're spending MAYBE $5/month more in water due the garden. I'm not a PhD student in Environmental Engineering or anything, but I'm pretty sure that the payback period on that meter is 3 years. Oh wait, if we factor in that we only garden for 5 or so months of out of the year, I guess the meter will pay for itself in 6 years or so... Yeah, ok.

Needless to say (but I will anyway) we did not buy the meter!

Happy Farming!

When lettuce goes bad part duex...

After a quick trip to the Crow's Nest, I discovered that it was not DPR or Farmer Ran at fault in the lettuce fiasco, but rather, Mother Nature. Due to the extraordinarily hot few weeks we had, the lettuce all went to seed and bittered (to be expected, apparently). But there is an upside: the tomatoes are growing like weeds!!! WOOHOOOO!

A note to all you potential suburban farmer girls (or guys): you can replant lettuce at the end of the summer and get a nice healthy fall crop, but the dead of summer means death of lettuce!!!

:) Until next time...

EEEK -- When Lettuce Goes Bad

A word to the wise: Do not eat lettuce that has a flower growing from the center of it! IT WAS SO GROSS... after Googling, I discovered that when lettuce flowers it typically has gone bitter. Lesson learned, so after ripping out half of the lettuce, Dread Pirate Roberts is looking a little lopsided! One half is full of flowering plants (i.e., I'm going to have tomatoes, peppers and melon soon) and the other half is looking weak! I planted some green beans, so hopefully those will take off soon.

What is the key to getting everything harvestable at the same time and keep it that way for 2-3 months???? I'll think on that some more...

HOLY HUMID

I think summer is officially here. The weekend started with thunderstorms, flash flood warnings and crazy lightening and is ending at about 89 degrees (but it feels like 100 with the humidity)! This could mean great hot summer nights for tomato growth, but dry caky soil! :(

What to do? Well, the rain barrel got its first run through and since it's a gravity fed system (as in, it flows from high to low) there is NO PRESSURE! So, after hitting the books (or surfing the web, whatever), I found that other home gardeners use a soaker hose snaked through the garden and let it slowly water all day. I installed that today and watched it slowly trickle out of the holes (sort of like watching paint dry, don't you think?) . If any of you are curious I can post a video of this process, but I assure you that if you sit outside and stare at your grass looking for growth it may be more action packed. No Oscars will be made on that video short!

Some lessons learned of the day: plan your layout ahead. I just sort of planted as I went and my garden is very confusing! Next year I need to work on labeling and strategery... ;)

Cheers and happy gardening!

Farmer Ran

p.s. I've spotted yellow flowers on my tomatoes -- the first sign that the fruit is blooming!

Garden Recipe 1

Well, I decided that as part of my garden project, I would post a recipe for each thing I'm growing! Reader be warned: I do not measure things so well, so use your best judgement!

Tonight's ingredient(s): Fresh Basil, Onions, Thyme and Oregano

The Mission: Delicious Meatloaf

What you'll need:

1-2 big chunks of basil leaves, thyme and oregano finely chopped

1/2 Onion (any kind you've grown) finely chopped

1 lb ground beef (chicken and turkey works well too)

Ketchup (1/4 cup or a "big squeeze")

Honey Dijon Mustard (a smaller squeeze than the ketchup)

Dried Spices (onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes) to taste -- if you like it hot, add more red pepper... really into garlic? Go crazy!

~ 1 to 1-1/2 cups Bread crumbs enough to get the loaf to a "workable" consistency

~ 1/4 cup Crunchy Fried Onions (like the ones for green bean casserole)

1 egg beaten

2 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 cup hot water

salt and pepper to taste

Optional: add 1 cup of cheddar cheese (I omitted this to cut some fat and didn't miss it!)

Mix it all up and bake in a loaf pan at 350 oF for 1 to 1-1/4 hours until done!