Green Bean Harvest

The beans are coming in hot and heavy. Picking the pole beans is relatively easy, while getting all those lovely bush beans is back-breaking work! I have to say, the effort is worth the reward. These 17 pounds of green beans are destined for our 4th of July family reunion weekend. I'm counting on some help with the snapping!

Still up to my eyeballs in cucumbers!

I can't stand for anything to go to waste. Must use these cucumbers!

Summertime calls for a nice cool cucumber soup. You'll find many cold cucumber soup recipes out there ... basically raw cucumbers puréed with yogurt or sour cream, typically topped off with fresh dill. Those recipes are good, but check out THIS recipe. Delicious served warm OR chilled.

Creamy Cucumber Soup

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/creamy_cucumber_soup.html

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Oh, boy! Look at these fabulous ingredients! Fresh parsley, mint, cucumbers, tomatoes ... tabbouleh is a no brainer. 

Here it is, all chopped up. I use a recipe found on Epicurious ... quinoa instead of bulgur to keep the gluten-sensitive diners happy. Here's the link: Quinoa Tabbouleh 

 And now for something totally different...

Cucumber Infused Vodka

~Peel, seed, coarsely chop cucumber and put in a jar.

~Fill jar with vodka. Close with tight fitting lid.

~Store in a cool, dark place.

~Give it a shake once or twice a day. After two days start checking the flavor.

~Once the flavor is acceptable, strain out the cucumbers and discard.

~Store infused vodka in the 'fridge.

~Create delicious summer drinks!

What a week of cukes! Fresh sliced cucumbers, sweet pickle relish, two kinds of refrigerator pickles, soup, tabbouleh, infused vodka ... in the end I'm left with four cucumbers. Thank goodness, son Andrew took them home. Now I have a clear counter ... until the picking begins again tomorrow!

Beans!

Here we go. Green bean season! It's been a long, cool, wet spring. The beans are lush. Expecting good yields.

Picked 5 pounds of Jade bush beans yesterday. Half went into the freezer. The other half went onto the dinner table.

The first picking of the pole beans ... always so perfect! The beans are big, well-formed, hanging in bunches, no bug damage. Rattlesnake variety is pictured here.

Picked my first little batch of pole beans this morning. Lots more to come! Rattlesnake on the left, Garden of Eden Italian flat beans on the right. The golden sunshine and the cool indoors sure make different lighting in these pics!

Black Swallowtail Butterfly ... Hungry Caterpillar Version!

This morning I relocated these, and several of their friends, from my fennel and dill plants to a nice patch of Queen Anne's Lace ... far from the garden! Turns out that Queen Anne's Lace is the main host plant for this butterfly in the wild.

Win - Win!

Want to know more about these beauties? Here's a link: http://butterflies.heuristron.net/butterflies/blackSwallowtail.html

When life gives you cucumbers, make pickles!

Looks like a good year for cucumbers. They just keep coming! Here's what's still on the counter, despite our best efforts to use them up in salads and chilled soups and out-of-hand encounters ...

The supply of sweet pickle relish has been replenished. I processed two batches (8 pints) Thursday morning. I chopped for 1-1/2 hours! People ask why I don't use a food processor or some other speedy method. The truth is, I'm sort of picky about the size of the chop in my relish, so I have to do it the old fashioned way. You know, chopping can be a meditative exercise.

The refrigerator pickles are marinating. They should be full of flavor in just a few days. I've prepared both sweet slices and dill spears. These pickles are quick and easy to make. Fresh, crispy, and delicious!

The recipes I use are below. For more pictures and commentary, see my "Sweet Pickles" article posted July 2013.

Refrigerator Sweet Pickles (Mary Gray's recipe)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed

1 small onion, sliced
1 small green pepper, sliced
Cucumbers, unpeeled, sliced 1/4" thick

     Mix together vinegar, sugar, and spices. Pack veggies into a glass jar that has a tight fitting lid.    
     Pour vinegar solution over all, be sure all vegetables are covered. Store in refrigerator.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles (from All Recipes website)

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/4 cups white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon sea salt

• 4 cups cucumber spears
• 2 cloves garlic, whole
• 2 heads fresh dill

Directions

1. Stir water, vinegar, sugar, and sea salt together in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil; remove from heat and cool completely.
2. Combine cucumber spears, garlic cloves, and fresh dill in a large glass or plastic container. Pour cooled vinegar mixture over cucumber mixture. Seal container with lid and refrigerate for at least 3 days.

Sweet Pickle Relish (from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving)
1 quart chopped cucumbers
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped sweet green pepper
1 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 cup salt
3-1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon mustard seed
2 cups apple cider vinegar

Combine cucumbers, onions, and peppers in a large bowl; sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly. Combine sugar, spices, and vinegar in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil; add drained vegetables; simmer 10 minutes. Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yield: about 8 half-pints

Blanching vegetables with the pressure cooker

Why haven't I done this before? So quick and easy ... not to mention energy and water efficient ... to simply bring green beans up to pressure, cool quickly, toss into bags and into the freezer!

From www.growyourown website, regarding freezing fruits and vegetables:

Blanching vegetables with a Pressure Cooker. Insert the trivet into the Pressure Cooker, add  300 ml water, bring to fast boil. Lower the prepared vegetables into the Pressure Cooker, close the cooker with the lid set to Medium pressure and blanche for the time indicated. Immediately reduce pressure and plunge the blanched vegetables into running cold water, to prevent further cooking. When the vegetables are cold, drain them well before starting the freezing process.

Broad Beans (shelled), Broccoli, Cauliflower (firm only), Leeks, Peppers. 1 minute.

Peas (shelled), Courgettes, Morrow, Spinach, French and Runner Beans, Celery, Bulb Fennel,to pressure only.

Corn on the cob (remove husk and silks and leave whole), 3 minutes.

Soft-neck Garlic Dug Today

It will hang in the shed for a couple weeks to air dry, then plaited into decorative braids to store for use throughout the coming year.

The hard-neck garlic will remain in the ground for a few more weeks. After scape removal, the underground bulbs begin to really grow as energy is transferred from the leaves of the plant to the bulb.

Last bites of kale ...

... put directly into the freezer. We have so much good food to eat right now, I have no choice but to preserve some for future use!

It's official ... I have a green thumb!

And green fingers, too.
The tomato plants are thinned and supported.

A busy Tuesday while Sweet Evalina napped ...

The beets had already been pulled yesterday and cleaned up with roots separated from the greens.

I blanched the greens. Put three 1# bags in the freezer and kept 1# out for supper this week.

I made 9 pints of beet pickles with the roots. I've been using the same recipe from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving for years. You can find it along with photos and commentary in previous blogposts of May 2010 and June 2011.

I used the food processor to zing up the garlic scapes with salt, pepper, and a healthy dose of olive oil.

I froze the resulting pesto in 1 tablespoon blops to be used in the future to season soups, sauces, etc.

While the food processor was warmed up, I trimmed back the basil plants. I made one batch of BASIC basil pesto (basil, garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper) which I froze. Then I made one batch of fancy basil pesto ... the obligatory garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil ... along with plenty of walnuts and parmesan cheese. I generously coated a potful of rotelli (spirals) with the paste, adding mozzarella, prosciutto, cherry tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts for a deluxe pasta dinner.

A few pics ... status of the garden

Cherry Tomato Jungle

Beets

Beet Roots

Blueberries

Garlic

Kale with bolted lettuce and spent spring peas in background

Post Vacation: Status of the Garden

It is reported that while we were away for two weeks plenty of rain fell, and it shows. The garden is growing like crazy! Rouse the Spouse set about weeding before I even set foot in the garden. What a sweetie to spare me the sight of those undesirables!

I'm sorry to report that we missed the black raspberry season. Berries were just starting to ripen as we left the country. After two weeks, they've played out. On the other hand, we should start picking blueberries anytime now!

Of course, spring crops are finished. The sugar snaps and snow peas have pooped out. The lettuce has bolted. The salad turnips are ready to harvest now and in the next week. The kale and the beets must be harvested asap.

Meantime, summer crops are coming on strong. The cucumbers are producing well. Some are on the brink of being too big. Still tasty, it's the perfect time to chop-chop a couple batches of pickle relish.

The green beans are lush. Picking will begin soon.

The tomatoes have suffered from neglect. It's a tomato jungle out there! Must get them organized and tied up. The pepper plants need support, too, and the long beans need an extended climbing structure.

Alas, the baby okra plants were overwhelmed by the neighboring beets. The okra got a late start this spring. The weather was too cool. But it's hot now! Surviving plants should take off this week. I filled in empty spaces with new seed.

In our absence, the hard-neck garlic has produced flower stalks ... garlic scapes. I cut them all and will make garlic scape pesto for the freezer. The basil and the parsley are both in need of a good cutting back. Pesto pasta coming right up! The dill smells delicious, as does the rest of the herb garden.

The zinnias are blooming, adding a riot of color to the garden. The sunflower stalks are robust!

Sue has NOT been in the garden!

She's been galavanting about the Mediterranean!

Wandering the tree-lined streets of Barcelona, where it seems everyone has a little garden on the balcony, roof-top terrace, or patio. Even the city's iron grills and street lamps are crafted with floral designs. It's a beautiful clean and green city.

Admiring the home gardens in the small Spanish, French, and Italian villages. Food is fresh and delicious in this part of the world.

Realizing that almond trees and olive trees grow everywhere here! Of course, one must visit the vineyards of Tuscany and taste the fermented fruit of the vine.

Wondering if the amber waves of grain are semolina wheat used to produce all the good pasta?