Growing Challenge Update #5

Living in a new city, posting on her brand new blog, my lovely sister has (finally) started up her Growing Challenge again. Hooray! Of course that means that I need to update everyone on how our garden grows...

This year, I ordered a majority of my seeds from Baker Creek Seeds. They came so highly recommended from many of you that for some reason (duh!) I never looked to see where they're located. Last week the lightbulb came on and I realized that they're here in Missouri, just an hour or two away by car. I wonder if that's why the freebie seeds they tucked into my order have worked out so well in our little garden. This lemon cucumber - apparently named for the shape and color, NOT for the flavor - has taken over the strings and poles originally slated for use by the pole beans we planted earlier in the year. The beans never made it, but it's apparently a great location for the cucumber. It's just starting to flower now, so we may have tiny little fruits by the time we get back from vacation next week!

I hate to admit this, but I don't actually know the variety names of all of our tomato plants. The three varieties I planted from seed all died, so we bought three organic ones from the farmer's market. Those just didn't seem to grow at all for quite some time, so we bought two more from the Home Depot (I know, I know, but I really wanted tomatoes this year and everyone else had stopped selling plants!). Well, now all five are doing relatively well, though the Home Depot hybrids are doing better than the farmers' market varieties. I just picked our first tomato of the season this morning, and we have at least a few dozen little green tomatoes on several of the plants now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have more to pick when we get back.

Our tomatillo is essentially an ornamental this year, since apparently they can't self-pollinate and need a "special friend" nearby to fertilize the flowers to produce fruit. Ah, the lessons we learn. The green pepper plants are pretty and all, but haven't flowered and don't seem to be growing at all. For now, they'll just sit tucked behind the cucumbers until it's time to pull out all the plants at the end of the summer.

Squash would be next. We had a little incident with our power company this week, as they came out to trim limbs in the easement along our back property line and dropped a few limbs directly on the raised planting bed. What had been the healthiest plant (table queen, an acorn squash) is now not doing so well, but the others (zucchini, yellow squash) have more than made up for it.

In a last ditch effort to have home-grown green beans this year, I planted a new round of bush beans last weekend. Hopefully they'll be up and growing by the time we get back. If not, we'll keep eating the beans that our CCSA provides.

I think that's it for now. I'll keep you posted on any new developments after we get back next week. Photos will also follow...

HOT!

From the National Weather Service:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY... WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CDT THIS AFTERNOON.

THE COMBINATION OF TEMPERATURES REACHING THE LOWER TO MID 90S AND DEWPOINTS OF IN THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 70S WILL RESULT IN HEAT INDICIES REACHING UP TO 105 DEGREES. IF WORKING OUTSIDE PEOPLE ARE URGED TO DRINK PLENTY OF WATER AND TAKE FREQUENT REST. NEIGHBORS SHOULD CHECK ON THE ELDERLY IF THEY DO NOT HAVE AIR CONDITIONING.

A HEAT ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN HIGH TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO MAKE IT FEEL LIKE IT IS 105 DEGREES OR GREATER. PEOPLE IN THE ADVISORY AREA ARE ADVISED TO AVOID PROLONGED WORK IN THE SUN...OR IN POORLY VENTILATED AREAS. ALSO... KEEP PLENTY OF LIQUIDS ON HAND AND TRY TO STAY IN AN AIR CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENT.

For now, we're trying to keep the thermostat around 78 during the day and 74 in the evenings. Any warmer, and the humidity kicks in with a vengeance. Boy, am I glad we're leaving for Seattle tomorrow!

We are now experiencing technical difficulties

As we all know, sometimes when it rains it pours. Right when I was gearing up to start posting regularly again, our home internet and phone connections decided to crash and burn. It's now been intermittent or down essentially since I posted last. Unfortunately we have Charter as a provider, and they're AWFUL about customer service, so it could be a bit before we have the issue resolved. I'm writing this note from work, but I can't really compose a full post during the work day, so I'm now at the whim of the cable company. Scary thought, isn't it? At any rate, I'll definitely post (one way or another) before we go on vacation next Wednesday, so please check back soon.

Thanks for your patience!

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet!

I haven't posted in just over two weeks, and it feels like it's been even longer. Hopefully you haven't missed me too much. Like many bloggers I know, I've been struggling to find that delicate balance between work, home life, and blogging, and for the past couple of weeks I've allowed work and home to win that battle. We're making a lot of changes for the better at home, and I've pushed my office to take a huge step toward sustainability starting next year, so I've had plenty to do around here without blogging.

It doesn't help that I've made blogging somewhat difficult for myself. In my roughly three months of blogging, I've signed up to participate in no less than seven challenges, including my sister's growing challenge , green bean dreams' bookworm challenge (parts 1 and 2), chile chews' quit now challenge (parts 1 and 2), 'burban mom's weekly challenges on going green , and farm to philly's one local summer challenge. Five of these are active right now, and I have to admit that at this point I just can't keep up with reading others' blogs, keeping up the garden, working on the various challenges, and writing about them. I just don't have enough hours in the day to get all that done.

So my apologies to the inspirational organizers of these great challenges, but I'm officially dropping out of one local summer and the bookworm events for now. Rest assured that I'm still eating about 50% local food, with a goal of bumping that up to 85% before long. I'm also reading books from green bean's list - I've finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Omnivore's Dilemma, and am reading Living Like Ed right now. But for now, I won't be posting weekly updates about local meals or writing up book reports. I hope you understand...

I promise updates on my various projects and the remaining challenges soon.

One Local Summer Update

I've been awful about keeping up with One Local Summer so far. Last week we ate two meals that pretty much qualify, so here they are.

BREAKFAST - VEGGIE FRITTATA

















Ingredients:
2 eggs plus 3 whites - Pilgrim Acres, Foristell MO (CSA share)
1/2 each Zucchini / Summer Squash - Lee Farms (CSA share)
1/4 cup fresh goat cheese - from our CSA share
2 small spring onions - Rob's mom's garden, Cape Girardeau MO
1 tomato, diced - Tower Grove Farmers Market, St. Louis MO
1 small handful fresh basil, chopped - from our CSA share
2 cloves garlic, finely minced (organic, but not local)
1 T unsalted butter (organic, but not local)
salt and pepper to taste (not organic or local)

Method:
In a smallish, oven-safe skillet, saute the squash and onions over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, until just starting to soften.

Add garlic and tomatoes, continuing to stir occasionally until most of the tomato juice has evaporated. This took me another 4-5 minutes.

While the other ingredients are cooking, whisk eggs with goat cheese, adding salt and pepper to taste. This is a good time to turn your oven on, set to Broil.

Pour egg mixture into skillet with the veggies. Do not stir. When the eggs look like they're drying slightly around the edges, use a spatula or wooden spoon to ease the edges up and tip the pan slightly to allow the runny bits to get underneath. Don't do this too much, or you'll end up with a big lump in the middle, which definitely isn't pretty.

When it looks like the eggs are mostly cooked, move the skillet to the oven. Broil, checking frequently for doneness, until the frittata looks set on top and starts to turn a light brown.

Carefully remove from oven, cut and serve with a sprig of basil.


DINNER - PASTA SHELLS WITH BISON MARINARA



Ingredients:
1 lb ground bison - CSA share (ours was frozen)
1 medium onion (organic, not local)
3 cloves garlic (organic, not local)
14 oz can diced tomatoes (organic, not local)
1/2 each Zucchini / Summer Squash - Lee Farms (CSA share)
small handfull fresh basil, diced - CSA share
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of dried thyme, oregano and parsley
finely grated fresh parmesan cheese if desired

Method:
In a large skillet or sauce pan, sautee onion and garlic in 2 T olive oil until softened. Add ground bison, breaking up as it thaws and cooks. When the meat is nearly done (no more pink bits), add the tomatoes and spices. Cover and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over freshly cooked local Mangia Italia pasta, with a side of sliced CSA cucumbers and farmers market tomatoes, and fresh CSA lettuce salad.