In a pickle

 

Crunchy, juicy, refreshing. The simple cucumber (cucurbitaceae) is one of the eastiest summer vegetables  grow and most versatile. As a kid I remember pickling cucumbers with my family in Pennsylvania and enjoying them well through winter. Here I have done a quick small batch of my own version of pickles with Bronze fennel (to replace the dill) crushed garlic clove,  black pepper corn, cider vinegar and sea salt and torbinado sugar to balance the acid.

Consider…The Cucumber

The home infrastructure: part 2 The Greenhouse

I purchased this as a kit in December of 2007. The greenhouse has corragated lexan panels with a UV protectant to prevent yellowing and a longer life. The frame is aluminum with a series of squarehead bolts that slide into tracks to hold the frame together. The door slimply slides to the side. I built the bench frames for the interior from the Oak pallet that it was shipped on. The best feature of the structure is the automatic vent opener. It is a cylinder filled with wax, so when it heats up, expands and opens the vent panel at around 70 degrees.

I keep the air moving with a small fan mounted above the doorway set on a simple timer. In the winter I heat the interior with a small thermostatically controlled electric heater also on a timer. This greenhouse is the backbone of my growing system and I can start about 1200 plugs of seedlings at a time in only 42 square feet.

Bush Beans

First harvest of Yellow and Purple Bush beans from High Mowing Seeds. I met the owner of HMS, Tom Stearns,  at the Georgia Organics conference this past spring. www.highmowingseeds.com He was not only extremely knowledgeable of his craft but  hilarious as well. As we road together to a farm tour of Crystal Organics, he explained that his town in Vermont was voted the most sustainable/organic town in the country for 2008. This season I purchased ”golden perfection” and “gilberti paste” tomato seeds from HMS also and all have perfomed very well.  I blanched and shocked the beans in salted water and served them chilled with a honey-dijon aioli, but are just as tasty raw.

The home infrastucture:Part 1

This is a shot taken in the fall of 2005.  There are cardoons, amaranth, pansies,  flowering tarragon, columnar basil and the famous blue cold frame. This garden has southeast exposure and slopes to the south. It is also protected on the west side somewhat by the house from strong storms, which is a plus but also inhibits some  air circulation.  The winter sun is also great. I have built a series of terraced beds and paved pathway that offer a neat and controlled look without worring about losing soil to heavy rains. Overall dimensions are 12ft wide by 30ft long.

Clematis and Mountain Mint at the home garden

The beginning….

back window of the jeep !