Sweltering Heat = Happy Tomatoes

It was 83 degrees yesterday and the first real heat we've had here in Sunset Zone 14. I looked at my beds this morning and could swear the tomato and pepper plants grew 12 inches overnight! It's remarkable how much these plants thrive on heat. The squash fared well although I'm slightly concerned about how they will weather today's blistering 90+ degrees. Immature plants, regardless of their innate predilection, cannot handle heat above a certain point so I put out floating row covers today to shield the most delicate participants in the raised beds.

Buff Orpingtons & Sweet Peas

This month we will be setting up our chicken coop and run under the shade of a giant plum tree in the backyard. The coop and run, 4'x6' and 8' respectively are pictured here.

This set up can house around 5-7 chickens. We're planning to get Buff Orpingtons. These beautiful, large, golden chickens are docile, super friendly, heavy brown egg producers and very broody. They are fantastic back yard chickens in my opinion. I won't be hatching these myself as I normally do but rather buying pullets from a local source.

In the garden, the sweet pea vines are fragrant and beautiful! By the time we set up the chicken coop, we'll have a lot of foraging work for them to do in the vegetable gardens. The lettuce, peas, carrots, chard and greens should all be quite a bit more mature, harboring vermin in undergrowth such as snails and slugs. It will be a veritable smorgasbord for the chickens who make fantastic, organic pest control. With five chickens, we can expect to collect at least 18 to two dozen large brown eggs per week. We intend to mix their old straw bedding and manure directly in to the compost pile on a regular basis, for the most dreamy compost imaginable. Organic chicken manure is A+ for composting.

Meyer Lemon Curd & Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes

Tonight I'm planning to make lemon curd from approximately 60 Meyer Lemons the boys picked a couple days ago. The lemons are large, ripe and orange-gold. Their perfume has been filling the kitchen with the most heavenly aroma. We'll squeeze them all tonight and half will be used to make Meyer lemonade, another portion will go in to meyer lemon curd, and a final portion will make lemon squares.

But what to do with all the left over lemon rinds? I'm going to make candied meyer lemon peels. These particular lemons look like they'll make great candidates for this application. Candied citrus peels are great for eating plain, for use in baking, teas, as a garnish or dipped in to dark chocolate. By my estimates we'll have pounds and pounds of candied meyer lemon peels as a byproduct of all all the juicing we're going to do.

For dinner I'm going to make jumbo lump crab cakes served with a garlic/meyer lemon aioli. To accompany, I'll snip some leaves from my newly emerged baby lettuce and make a nice little salad. I have a bottle of white wine chilling and it's just the ticket for this meal. The artichokes look so tempting and can certainly be harvested now but if I leave them to get a little bigger, they'll make a meal unto themselves.

A Sigh...

The compost is black, the worms are dense, the sun is plentiful and luckily, so is the rain. My largest garden bed is well on it's way to a fruitful season. The peas, lettuces, carrots, green Spring garlic, shallots, and brassicas are all making their way up through the soil. There are a million morning glory seedlings creeping up the fences bordering the raised garden bed. I'm anticipating a solid wall of scarlet morning glory blooms within the next few weeks. I'm taking a deep breath and relaxing as the hardest part is now over. Preparing the soil properly is hard work but it makes for healthy plants. Taking steps to prevent disease and pests down the road by focusing on soil health is where it's at.

We are about to start harvesting the first of our early Spring crops such as strawberries, artichokes, lettuce, rhubarb, garlic, carrots, shallots and potatoes. More is coming up each day and the best is yet to come. I love Spring. I love what it means for the bounty of the garden. *SIGH*

Catering is like childbirth....

I find it dreadfully painful and laborious when in the throws of it, but at the same time there's a sense of exhilaration coupled with act of accomplishing the monumental task of feeding dozens if not hundreds of people food lovingly prepared. It is precisely because of this labor of love that I tend to get amnesia once the job is complete. When euphoria really sets in, I want to do it all over again... and maybe for twice as many people the next go around. This feeling is further stoked by the fact that the catering industry standard is to mark up food and services by approximately 600% above cost... it makes the pain melt away very effectively.

Since I have chafing dishes and all manner of equipment necessary, along with as many food/ingredient connections as any caterer could possibly desire, I've decided that the only missing piece is a website which I'm in the process of having designed by a good friend so that I can ply my services more effectively.

Sunday Comfort Food

Yesterday as I do every Sunday, I had my entire family over for Sunday Supper. I brined and roasted two chickens over Yukon Gold potatoes studded with onions and herbs from the garden. With all the broccoli the kids picked from the garden we had steamed broccoli with a bechamel cheese sauce and as a second veggie side I also made pan roasted brussels sprouts with bacon and onions. Early yesterday morning I started a chive cheddar whole wheat dough which rose slowly for hours. This dough produced super soft dinner rolls which were ideal for mopping up the pan juices. For dessert I made a carrot cake using the fresh carrots the kids picked in the garden. I frosted it lavishly with copious amounts of cream cheese frosting and made a healthy pot of very dark coffee to finish it off.

Boys In The Garden

Our Winter Sustenance

This 280 square foot raised bed supplies us with our winter and warm weather organic produce and means that we very rarely purchase vegetables at the supermarket. Growing here and still producing are red and green cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, radish, beets, collards, kale, borage, carrots, celery, shallots, onions, potatoes, mizuna, spinach, swiss chard, corn salad, rhubarb, malabar spinach and more... The veggies taste amazing when picked and cooked within minutes.