Harvest Time

The corn and beans are still green in the fields, I'm knee deep in tomatoes but my thoughts have turned to gathering in hay for the cattle's winter feed. I don't have the time, equipment or land to make my own hay so I purchase it from others. Economically speaking, it would never pay me to buy the equipment I
would need to make my own hay, but I always cringe at what it costs to buy hay especially around here. This is horse country and the horse people are way too picky about their hay. That means we few cattle folks end up paying a premium for hay. Fortunately, this year, the first cutting hay wasn't that good and a lot of hay farmers baled it into 500 plus pound round bales. These bales are perfect for feeding cattle.

I spend a lot of time trying to judge how many cows I can feed with a single round bale. The bales weigh between four hundred and five hundred pounds. They will sit outside in the weather where their round shape you help them shed water, but not snow. Wet seeps into them from the ground, critter sleep on them and in them and by the middle of the winter they are looking pretty sorry. Technically a 500 pound round bale should feed 20 cows for one day. The problem is keeping all 500 pounds of hay in good, eating condition.

This year I've been collecting wooden pallets with the idea of placing the bales on the pallets to keep them off the wet ground. I have plenty of barn space for square bales, but square bales are usually horse hay and horse hay is ridiculously expensive, plus its labor intensive for me. I like feeding square bales because I can be very precise about how much  hay I feed. I can feed in hay racks and the waste is minimal. But square bales require a lot of handling. I'll be feeding 25 head this winter and that would mean putting out a minimum of 12 square bales a day at 50 pounds each. That's a lot of lifting and hauling in cold weather. With the round bales I should be able to set out a couple a week using the tractor with its bale spear and save myself a lot of time and muscle. But round bales have a lot of waste. If they sit out on the ground in the weather they loose anywhere from 20% to 30% of their value. I don't have a barn big enough to easily store big 500 pound round bales so that's why I decided this year I'd collect discarded wooden pallets and store the bales on those.

Sunday my neighbor, whose cattle I board in exchange for help around the place, hauled 11 big round bales in for me. Tuesday he brought over another 31.  I laid pallets out where I thought I would like to store the hay and started placing bales.  The bales were way bigger than the pallets and I quickly ran out of pallet space so most of the 31 bales are stacked on the ground. It was a good idea for the first ten bales or so, but 40 bales on pallets would have been a lot of pallets!  Now my challenge is to get tarps over the bales and secured so the wind and rain and snow of winter stays off the bales.

About now I'm thinking ahead and realizing my stash of round bales, which is taking over the ground around the barn and down the drive, will only last through December!  Did I mention I also have cows for sale?

Salad Days

August means tomatoes of course, but  its also a good time for summer lettuce.  I start planting lettuce in the early spring and keep seeding different varieties all through the summer up until mid August. Most varieties I plant are leaf lettuces as apposed to head lettuces, so they are also cut-and-come again. That means I carefully cut the lettuce for a first harvest and within two weeks or so it grows back. The extreme heat this summer slowed down the lettuce and I tried to give it some shade by planting it on the north side of my four by eight foot beds. I've managed to keep it going just, but the harvest has been skimpy.

My favorite place to buy lettuce seed is The Cooks Garden. Unfortunately I can only buy through their catalog or online.  The Cooks Garden  was one of those small seed companies that developed a loyal following and then was bought out by Burpee. They offer a variety of mixes of lettuce seeds in one packet including spring mix, summer mix and fall/winter mix.  They work really well and are very good cut-and-come-again producers. Single varieties I've found that work well in the summer heat are Red Romaine (cos) and Black Seeded Simpson.  I also like Buttercrunch  and Red Oakleaf . The romaines have the same nutritional value as spinach so I like to plant them to have on hand at all times. Last year I cut the last of my romaine lettuce in early November. I was trying to keep it going until Thanksgiving but the weather was just too cold.

My favorite salad in August is a simple one of fresh picked lettuces, quartered tomatoes, shaved Parmesan cheese, walnuts and my home made Maple Vinaigrette Salad Dressing. This is a simple, fresh tasting dressing that doesn't weigh you down with a lot of garlic.

Maple Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon real maple syrup

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

3 tablespoons Canola oil

In a jar with a tight fitting lid combine the vinegar with the salt and pepper and shake to melt the salt. Add the maple syrup and shake well. Add the oil and shake until well combined and emulsified. Pour over salad composed of lettuce, tomato, walnuts and cheese. Toss lightly and enjoy. Some folks add a little dry mustard to the mix but I like this simple version for its light, fresh, slightly sweet taste. That little bit of sugar from the maple syrup really compliments the tomatoes. 

Tomato Butter

Tomato butter is one of those preserves you never see on grocery story shelves. The tomatoes become candied and wonderfully sweet, the lemon remains somewhat crunchy and tart and the ginger adds that little special something.  Spread it on buttered bread or biscuits or serve it as a condiment with pork or beef. You could pour it on a block of cream cheese as an appetizer.  It's more like a tomato marmalade than anything else and its a great way to use all that August bounty of tomatoes. This recipe is from my paternal grandmother.

Irene's Tomato Butter

6 cups peeled, cored, seeded and quartered red ripe tomatoes

6 cups white granulated sugar

1 lemon, washed and very thinly sliced and seeded.

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and very finely minced.

Combine all the ingredients in a large wide bowl or deep pan and let sit, covered with a kitchen towel for at least 12 hours.

Drain mixture into a deep kettle and boil until the syrup  drops in heavy globs from a spoon (could be up to 30 minutes). Add the solids to the liquid and cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens.

Pack in to clean pint canning jars with lids and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes. Makes two pints. Enjoy!!

Or you can do as I do; pack the tomato butter into Weck tulip pint jars and store in the refrigerator because I am going to eat this good stuff right away and want it handy.

By the way, Weck brand canning jars are my favorite for gift giving but they are very expensive to order on line. It's the shipping. But I really like them because they are a canning jar with a great look and they come with a plastic lid, so after you open the jar you can cover it easily.

Old Gal, New Tricks

Adaptability is key to getting on in this life. I've learned that lesson a lot the last two years since my husband of 25 years took a hike. This year for example, I've tried two new farming methods and they both worked pretty well. Here's the first of the two.

I've raised tomatoes forever. Usually I set out the plants and let them sprawl. Some years I've staked them, sort of, and one or twice I've tried cages, but the end result is usually sprawl because I like to grow indeterminate varieties the just grow on and on, more like vines than anything else.

This past spring however I thought I'd trellis my tomato plants as I'd seen some California growers do and see if I could overcome the slugs and rot that I've so often experienced when the fruit inevitably lays on the ground. I had a 20 foot length of left over woven wire fence this spring and some old metal fence posts. With the help of my handy fence post slammer  I installed the fence in the garden. I'd also saved a bag full of old run knee high stockings that make great tomato ties.

I set out 20 Rutgers tomato plants I'd grown from seed indoors this past spring. I like Rutgers as a good all purpose tomato for fresh eating and canning. It's an heirloom variety that my grandfather grew. I also have had good success with some of the hybrids like Burpee's Better Boy and Big Boy, but this year I just went with Rutgers.

The plants grew fast and I tied them to the fence with the old knee high stockings as soon as they were tall enough to reach - that was in early June. Throughout July I wove the tomato vines through the woven wire and kept tying them to the fence. By the third week in July I was harvesting a tomato here and there. The fruits were up off the ground and had no blemishes - other than a bit of core brought on by the excessive heat of July!

Now in August I have a living wall of tomato plants hanging with fruit! I am harvesting baskets of tomatoes, making sauce, leather, and tomato preserves - and eating them fresh every day!  The fruits are still blemish free and there is no waste. I like this method very much and have already planned where the tomato fence will go next year. 

Sexy and Easy Cheese Fondue Supper

Apples and pears are starting to show up in the markets this month and that means its time for cheese fondue and fruit and raw vegetables. This makes a quick, meatless weekday meal with a glass of wine or two. To make it really quick purchase pre-shredded cheese, pre-cut fruit and pre-packaged vegetables.

This recipe is good for two people but easy to double for four servings.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1/2 cup dry white wine such as Saugvignon Blanc or Resisling
6oz  package shredded Swiss cheese
a couple of grinds of black pepper
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a pinch of grated nutmeg

One sweet, crispy apple such as Gala or Melrose
One ripe pear
One carrot
1/2 cup brocolli florets
1/2 cup cauliflower florets.
2 tablespooons lemon juice.
Loaf of crusty French bread cut into one inch cubes.

Directions: Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet and pop in the oven to toast while you prepare the fruit and vegetables. Check the bread every five minutes or so and toss to toast on all sides or as you like it.

Fill a medium bowl with water and a little lemon juice. Core and slice the apple and the pear and drop the slices in the bowl of lemon water to keep the fruit from turning brown.

Peel the carrot and cut into long sticks for dipping.

You can just wash the brocolli and cauliflower and serve it raw or you can par boil it on the stove in a pot of boiling salted water, or steam it a minute or two in the microwave.

Choose a heavy bottomed medium sized sauce pan. Heat it over medium heat and add the wine. When the wine starts to simmer pour in the bag of Swiss cheese and stir until the cheese is melted and the wine is incorporated. Add the pinches of black pepper, cayenne pepper and nutmeg and stir. Pour into a fondue serving pot with a candle warmer or other warming device. Serve with toasted bread cubes, fruit and vegetables and a big glass of wine.

Note: The good deal about the pre-shredded cheese is that it comes with a little corn starch on it to keep it from clumping. If you decide to shredd your own cheese, add a 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch to the cheese and toss before adding it to the wine.

Baby Chicks in August

Naturally raised chickens tend to get "broody" easily. That is to say, they want desperately to sit on a clutch of eggs until they hatch. My hens were particularly broody in June. I collected all their eggs anyway, despite their protests, but their production seemed to be declining and I was concerned they were hiding their eggs out in the weeds.

I decided to let one hen "set" and see what happened. The weather has been very hot and I figured if any chicks hatched they would feel right at home in the 90 degree heat.  When I "brood" new chicks in the spring I always have to keep heat lamps on them to keep them 90 degrees.

The first thing I noticed was that egg production increased. The broody hen stayed on her nest and continued to lay eggs, but everyone else began using the other nest boxes again.

On August 1 one of the White Rock hens hatched two little chicks. I found them hiding under the nest box (which is suspended off the floor and screwed  to the inside of the chicken house wall).  Mom was in a nest box directly above them. I picked them up and put them in with her and they immediately disappeared under her feathers.

For the last week I've kept an eye on the chicks, making sure they had special  baby chick food and easy access to water. I was afraid the rooster might kill them, or maybe one of the other hens, but they all seem to welcome the babies. One of the Buff Orpington hens immediately went to setting inspired no doubt by the little peeping noises made my the babies.

About day three the hen took the chicks outside. I was afraid that might be the end of them as we have a lot of hawks but today is their one week birthday and they are doing well. There is loads of pig weed around the hen house, brought in on some of last years hay, and that makes good cover. In fact, the hen beds down in the weeds each night with the chicks under her and I have to find them and transfer them to the hen house for the night. Enjoy the pictures and keep your fingers crossed that they keep going.

August Update

The verdict is in and I vote for trellised tomatoes. This year was the first time I grew my tomatoes against a woven wire fence.  I have about a 20 foot row of old fashioned Rutgers tomatoes growing on woven wire fence (left over cattle fence) wired to metal T posts I slammed in to the ground with my post driver.

Usually I let my tomatoes sprawl on the ground because the conventional wisdom says that sprawling plants produce more fruit. That may be true, but I can tell you they also produce a lot of rotten and blemished fruit. Tomato fruits left on the ground are prey to slugs and rot and all kinds of problems.  Trellised tomatoes are up off the ground hanging on their vines securely tied with old knee high stockings to the wire fence. No slugs can get to them and since they do not touch the wet ground, they don't rot. I have more than enough tomatoes to eat fresh, can, and make into tomato jam.