Summer Tanager Enjoys Berries

The summer tanager kept me company in the berry patch as I picked black raspberries this morning.  I saw it noshing on the berries yesterday afternoon as I inspected the garden.  And I heard it's call as I picked today - but I hadn't taken the time to look for it.  Andrew came out to the garden to deliver a message and pointed out that the bird was sitting on a branch just overhead.  What a gorgeous red bird!  I invited it down, and by golly, it flew right into the berry patch, primed for a tasty fruity breakfast.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Summer_Tanager/lifehistory

Kudzu Bugs

I found some of these bad boys on my edamame this afternoon.  An exotic invasive from Japan, kudzu bugs feed on (did you guess?) kudzu ... and soybeans.  They are quickly migrating into all areas of North Carolina.  It's a major concern for soybean growers.  It's a bother for me in the garden.  It's not going to effect my livelihood, but it might effect my dinner table.  I'm worried about ALL my beans!  I planted lots of beans this year.  It's one type of crop that has grown successfully in my garden and we love eating beans.  Will yields be diminished because of this stinky stink bug?!  I must closely inspect all beans tomorrow.

Article in the News & Observer:  http://​www.newsobserver.com/2012/​05/28/2096118/​kudzu-bugs-are-ncs-latest-i​mported.html#storylink=cpy

NCSU fact sheet for soybean growers:  http://ipm.ncsu.edu/​cotton/insectcorner/PDF/​Kudzu%20Bug%20Handout_Field​%20Crops.Final.pdf

NCSU fact sheet for home owners:  http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/​depts/ent/notes/Urban/​kudzubug.htm

A Bird's-Eye View of Today's Garden

Our son, Andrew, and visiting nephew, Yarri, climbed high into the magnolia tree to take this aerial photograph.  I love the way Andrew framed the shot with magnolia leaves!

Summer Bounty Begins

It was a good morning in the garden.  It looks like a good supper tonight!  The girls are laying well.  Fresh Dill, Kale, Asparagus, Zucchini, Black Raspberries, Sugar Snaps, two varieties of Beets.  Let the summer feast begin!

Ready for Zucchini

Black Raspberries ... Looks like our BEST crop ever!

The pollinators and the rains came at exactly the right time.  The black raspberry patch is full of plump, juicy berries.  Plenty to pick today, with many more to come.

Raspberries are the little jewels of the garden ... so delicious on top of a bowl of cereal or mixed into yogurt in the morning, or baked into a cobbler or  tossed onto a scoop of ice cream for dessert, or straight out of hand anytime. And don't forget the fruity pancakes and muffins and jam etc etc etc.  My mouth is watering already!

The chickens love to browse the brambles. They reach up and pluck the berries off the canes.  We've seen our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Brown Thrasher, helping themselves to the good fruit.  And there's plenty of evidence that other birds have been enjoying the berries, as well.  The dogs even like to take a nibble or two.  But no worries.  There's plenty for all!

New Bed for Sun-Loving Flowers

Royal Flush Mix ... sounds like a winner to me!  When I bought the seeds from Gurney's I was thinking of Abi's wedding, although these plants may be bloomed out by that time.  The catalog description:

Dazzling 4- to 6-in. sunflowers soar on 6-ft. stalks. Dynamic color combinations—red with red and yellow, rusty reds and yellow—contrast with dark brown centers. Dramatic as cut flowers! Impressive for borders and backgrounds! Happy even in poor soil! 60 DAYS.

I'm definitely being an optimist when looking forward to the possibility of sun flowers in our shady landscape.  I planted the seeds in starter trays that Andrew had prepared.  Now, here I am with seedlings getting leggier by the day and no place ready to plant them.  But Andrew came to the rescue.  He built me a raised bed on the sunny side of the mulch / leaf containment area.  I planted two rows of Royal Flush at the back of the bed and transplanted a row of volunteer zinnias from the garden.  Then Andrew added a row of cilantro seedlings at the front of the bed.

Thank you, Andrew, for all your help in the garden!

Cherry Jam

The Nanking Bush Pie Cherries produced their first crop this year.  It took several days for all the fruit to ripen.  From the three trees, I collected 2-1/4 pounds of bright red cherries.  The picking was quick.  The pitting was not.  It took nearly two hours (with breaks!) to remove the pits.

For my efforts, I had 3 cups of fruit and juice ... enough for one recipe of something delicious.  What would it be?  Cobbler?  Pie?  Turn-overs?

I considered the options, then decided to make jam.  It seemed the very best way to prolong the enjoyment of the cherries. The only problem ... the cherry jam recipe calls for 4 cups of prepared fruit.  Luckily, my father-in-law has some of these very same cherry bushes.  Andrew offered to pick another 3/4 pounds of cherries while he was doing yard work over there in the afternoon.  He did indeed bring me more cherries, and I spent another 30 - 45 minutes after supper removing pits.  Then I collected my jam making equipment, put the water on to boil, and began the process of cooking jam.  

Cherry Jam
4 cups prepared fruit
4-3/4 cups sugar
1 package commercial pectin
Yield:  6 half-pint jars of jam

Fava Beans ... and a little Chianti?

No doubt, at the mention of fava beans many of us are transported back to the time we first heard Hannibal Lecter's horrifying admission, “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti,” in the 1991 thriller, The Silence of the Lambs.  Creepy film ... and one of the very few lines of movie dialogue I think I'll never forget!

Fava beans are also known as broad beans, pigeon beans, horse beans, or windsor beans.  They are one of the oldest cultivated plants and were eaten by the ancient Greeks and Romans.  Fava beans have a distinct flavor and creamy texture that makes them a tasty addition to a wide variety of dishes.  They may be enjoyed seasonally, or dried for winter use.

Fava beans are commonly used as a cover crop because they grow quickly and produce lots of lush foliage. Like most legumes, fava beans are nitrogen fixers.  They replenish the soil with this vital nutrient. Many farmers plant fava beans, then, after growth has peaked, plow them directly back into the field to act as fertilizer ... so called "green manure".

This was a new crop for me.  I was interested in both the cover crop qualities AND the resulting food crop.  In North Carolina, fava beans are the earliest beans to come out of the garden.  We plant them in the fall. The beans grow into bushy plants with tapering leaves and bloom all winter.  The flowers are lovely and pleasant smelling.  In late winter / early spring the plants produce giant bean pods ... 8 - 9 inches long!

I wasn't sure when to harvest them. I was watching for maximum swelling of the bean pods. Today was the day! I might have been able to pick them a week earlier - a few beans showed signs of yellowing - but recent rains helped plump them up a bit.

Andrew and I worked in the garden all morning, putting up bean trellises, harvesting spinach, and finally ... picking the fava beans. By this point, the sun was getting hot and I was getting tired!

No rest for the weary, though. The fava beans had to be processed, and they require an extra step beyond what is typically needed to prepare beans. First, shell them out of the bean pods.  The pods are lined with a pillowy white material that protects the seeds inside.We ended up with 7 1/2 pounds of beans!

Next, boil in salted water .... or steam ... for 1 - 3 minutes. Then skin each bean, removing the waxy outer covering.  We found the easiest way to do this was to slit the skin with a knife, then gently squeeze.  The bean will slip right out!

Here's what you get ... the bean skins and the bright green beans.  I steamed these for 3 - 4 minutes because they didn't look ready to skin until then. But they were a little overdone ... you can see some of them have broken up. Next time I'll keep it under 3 minutes.

Use them in your favorite recipe! The time you've lost preparing these beans is made up during the cooking time. After the initial steaming/boiling, these beans took no time to finish cooking.  We prepared them simply with a little butter, a little olive oil, some fresh garlic, salt and pepper.

Delicious ...  with or without the nice Chianti!