The Secret Life of Plants in the Rain

The Secret Life of Plants

Installing Peter Coffin's sculpture.

German duck fatties

Not really from the garden but the duck meat was from our local duck
farm, Hudson Valley Foie Gras, and the organic Mission figs and Ancho
chilis were from farms further away. They felt good in the hand.

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On ramps and off ramps

The weather is fickle, but the surest sign of spring are the ramps that are coming up in the forest by the river. We went picking ramps this past weekend and cooked them in a balsamic vinegar/duck fat reduction served over home-made duck ravioli (thank you Hudson Valley Foie Gras) and then in a duck ragout over penne. We also pickled some in miso. Trillium are coming up too.

71 varieties

Here's the list of seeds purchased from Fedco this year. Nearly all organic and everything I planted last week is sprouting already, except for the peppers. This is supplemented with what we already have growing in the garden, garlic from our neighbor Charlie and perrenial herbs (chives, garlic chives and marjoram). Add to that what already grows on the land: low and high bush blueberries, blackberries, red and black raspberries, "heirloom" apples (every tree tastes different), pears, ramps, and fiddlehead ferns. Oh, and plenty of dandelions.

2010 garden begins

I fixed the fence this week. Just in time as the deer had started to nibble at the garlic, which is about 6 inches tall already. I thought garlic was deer proof, but when that's all that's up, I guess they'll force themselves. Started some seeds today, I've attached the "map" of what's been started so far. Sorry about page 2 being upside down (I tried). We have a lot this year. Very exciting. Looks like Pesto, Tomatoes, Pickles and Hot Sauce will be the big canning events this year, if the weather cooperates. There's all kinds of stuff getting direct sown after the last frost date, and we're getting a greenhouse put up this year so we can start a lot of things a month early (hopefully).