Pounds of Potatoes

Potato Harvest

I haven't blogged for a few days, because I have been working a lot, there hasn't been too much happening at the garden; however, I did harvest the above vegetables this week. My yield was 15 lbs of russet potatoes, 2 eggplants, and 1 small zucchini for Monday. Wednesday, I picked 5 large, ripe tomatoes and a round squash. There has been a heat wave lately, and my decorative flowers are withering, but the vegetables all look good. I have replaced the row in the garden where the potatoes were growing with green beans.

Last Day of Summer

Foster Park Demonstration Garden

 Today was the last day of the season for the Garden Resource Center in Foster Park (Lansing, MI). I stopped by to thank some of the volunteers and to pick up my last installment of plants. I got 7 California Wonder green bell pepper plants and one Lily of the Valley, a perennial flower. The resource center is open by appointment for registered users to borrow tools, books, and canning supplies. If my harvest is big enough, I am going to borrow a large canning jar and pressure canner from the garden center. The phone number is 517-853-7809

The picture above shows the demonstration gardens in Foster Park, across from the garden center building, where the plants, tools, and books are located. This was also the start of the garden tour that took place Wed. night.

Free Plants

Le Grand Tour De Lansing Gardens July 22, 2015

Tomorrow is the community garden tour of some of the best gardens in Lansing. Unfortunately, my garden isn't on the walk, due to distance from the starting point, but if you want to drive past, it is located on the 400 block of South Detroit, across from Dagwood's bar. We spent a few hours out there tonight harvesting, watering, and prettying things up for the tour. Sadly, we also discovered that someone had picked some of our ripe tomatoes without permission. Finally,  July 22 from 10am-1pm is also the last day of the season for the resource center. I am going to check in and see if they have any plants left. 

July 21, 2015

Green Tomatoes

Eggplants

Buckets of Food!

Some of Today's Harvest

I am finding that there is a unique pleasure in growing your own food. After a few days of work that were long and grueling, I couldn't wait to get up on my day off and go poke around my urban gardening plot. With abundant recent rain and hot weather, the plants have really taken off! Today, July 19th, 2015, we harvested everything in the picture above, plus an additional 4 zucchini, and additional green beans, Some of the zucchini and beans went to elderly neighbors near our garden plot and I also brought some in to share with my co-workers.

When I got home, I used my new vegetable chopper (I reviewed the gadget in a blog post last week) to dice the zucchini and potatoes, then sauteed them with the peas in a bit of olive oil. When they were tender, I added a can of tomato salsa, a cup of homemade yogurt with dill, the salad greens, minced garlic, onion powder, hot madras curry powder, salt, and a dash of cayenne pepper- the result was a wonderfully aromatic and moderately spiced curry. I enjoyed this over rice, with another dollop of the homemade yogurt on top.

Hard Work in the Hot Sun

Front View

Today, I will let the pictures speak for themselves- you can see the sunflowers are open, the grass is mowed, vegetables are ripening, and I even dug up 3 good sized potatoes to eat!

Rear View

Baby Eggplants

Russet Potato Fresh From Ground

Cherry Tomatoes

Kitchen Gadget Reviews

2 weeks ago, in preparation for the summer vegetable harvest from my garden, I purchased 4 kitchen gadgets from ebay and local stores to make my cooking easier. Some of the gadgets are used or vintage. They are:

-Feemster's Famous Vegetable Slicer (in vintage box but never used)
cost approx 20.00 dollars with shipping included

Feemster's Famous Vegetable Slicer

-generic/no-name version of The Spiralizer (brand new)
cost approx 18 dollars with shipping included

The Spiralizer

-Home Essentials 4 tray stacking food dehydrator (used, about 15 years old)
cost approx 20.00 dollars with shipping included

Dehydrator of Similar Model to the Model I Purchased

-Prepworks Fruit and Vegetable Chopper/Storage (band new, bought locally)
cost 12.99 dollars at Home Goods big box store in Frandor Mall

Fruit and Vegetable Chopper

First, I have to say, that I would buy all gadgets again and that I have used them all multiple times since I purchased them. They would probably all rate 4 out of 5 stars for me, with most of the items missing the 5 star mark because I purchased the cheapest model available, and they feel somewhat flimsy. Next time, I will purchase the best quality versions available, as I am using them all quite a bit! Now for specific reviews and comments:

Feemster's Famous vegetable slicer is very sharp, very accurate, and very easy to use. It is made of 100% solid metal and will last a long time. The only warning about this is that that blade is very sharp and I would not have this in my kitchen unsecured if I have children. It comes with a blade protector. I made quick and tasty, thin-sliced American-Fried potatoes with this.

The generic brand spiralizer took some trial and error to get it to work, but it makes amazing zucchini noodles that are quick and delicious. This product receives negative marks for quality (it is 99% plastic and the cheapest model out there), and waste. Each vegetable will have about a 1/4 inch section at the end that cannot be spiralized or sliced. I put this in my compost pile. I really love this gadget, though! I have used it 5 times in the last weeks to slice zucchini from the garden.

The food dehydrator I bought was inexpensive, works great, and has 2 fruit roll trays included. I made mixed berry fruit leather and dried sweet bell peppers. The biggest negative for this product is that I bought it used, and the box smelled of cigarette smoke.  After I cleaned it and used it to dry peppers (16 hours), there was no discernable smoke smell; however the box had to be thrown out and was stained. It works better than I expected and has a nice size capacity for the money I spent.

Finally, the Prepworks fruit and vegetable slicer is a godsend for onions and tomatoes. I also diced up bell peppers and a portobello mushroom in it. The bottom doubles as a storage device. The only negative marks for this products are that it requires a lot of force to chop some vegetables, like an onion, and that is is hard to clean. I am using a stiff bristle brush to get in the small places, plus it comes with a cleaning utensil.

Overall, every gadget does what it says and does it well! I would buy each one again; however, I would upgrade to the highest quality version sold of the products that have more plastic; even though they work great now, I just don't find them to be particularly sturdy, leading me to fear the gadgets will break quickly.

The Son of Big Papa

The Son of Big Papa, an Eight Ball Squash

Oh, dear Big Papa, you are a strong and prolific plant, providing us with an impressive offspring to eat, very early in the season. We give you thanks and admiration for feeding us so well, and we promise to take care of you for the rest of the season. Since, you are an heirloom breed, your seeds will be saved and cherished, too! Sincerely. thank you Big Papa for giving us this fine squash to feast on- my belly sure thanks you!

This shape of squash did not fit well in the spiralizer machine I bought, so I sliced it, drizzled it with olive oil, and breaded it with Panko bread crumbs and Italian seasonings. Then, I fried it til crisp in a skillet, and  I served this with a hearty portion of parmesan cheese, marinara sauce, and a crusty baguette. YUM!

We will have more squashes of this type to harvest this week.

The Critters Are Not Scared

Tim the Scarecrow

 While I was working this weekend, we started to receive fall merchandise and put out our displays for Halloween. I saw this adorable scarecrow and had to buy him. We put him in the garden and named him, Tim. Unfortunately, when we headed out there to plant some flowers today, we discovered some corn had been eaten and knocked down by a varmint, along with some pea and potato plants having been nibbled on. Additionally, squash bugs have gotten some of our zucchinis that are growing. Clearly, the pests are not intimidated by Tim!

\Geraniums and Cosmos

 The garden resource center had flowers available this week. We got some geraniums and cosmos, along with 2 more pepper plants. Below are some items we harvested today, including a nice, large head of broccoli.

Green Beans, Scallions, Broccoli

How To Make Your Own Dried Vegetable Powders and Spice Blends

Sweet Pepper and Garlic Salt Spice Blend

 With my last paycheck, I scored a great find on ebay, a stackable food dehydrator for less than 20 dollars. When it arrived, I was eager to use it and practice, so I bought a bag of sweet, mild peppers from Meijer. Many ground pepper flakes are too spicy for my taste, so I decided I would dry the mild ones and make my own seasoning. It is packaged in the glass chalkboard container above. I mixed my ground, dried peppers with an equal amount of garlic salt for a sweet pepper and garlic salt blend. It is delicious!

Raw Sweet Peppers

 To make your own dried vegetable powders and spice blends, you will need:
-food dehydrator
-produce to dry
-clean coffee grinder
-containers for storage

Peppers Dried in Food Dehydrator

First, wash and dry the vegetables, slice them to a size that will fit in the dehydrator, then, dry them until they are brittle and have no moisture. My dehydrator only has one setting, and it took me 12 hours to get them to the very dry and leathery stage. Next, turn off the dehydrator and allow the dried items to cool. They will be greatly reduced in size. Then, grind the vegetables in a clean coffee grinder until you reach the desired coarseness. Finally, put them in decorative jars with salt(optional) or ground spices and herbs from your cabinet, to make your own unique blend. There are no added preservatives, so I would suggest using your spices quickly, to maintain peak freshness and quality.

Peppers Ground in Coffee Grinder

Below are some pictures I took of my garden today. I did some weeding and watering. The final picture is a close up of some cherry tomatoes that should be ready to pick next week! I also picked a pint of green beans to take home with me.

Garden on July 3 2015

Laden With Cherry Tomatoes

Green Beans Are In Season!

Today's Harvest

After a good, soaking rain overnight, we made it out to the garden, and many of our small, baby green beans were ready to pick. This is today's harvest for July 1, 2013. We have quite a few green beans, some snow peas, and some smaller turnips. Turnips this size, taste like a mild radish and are good for slicing on a green salad.

Also, I ordered a food dehydrator from Ebay and I am currently testing it on some sweet yellow and red peppers. I don't have a picture, but if they turn out, I am going to try and make a sweet pepper spice blend with the dried peppers, salt, and garlic.