Food for Thought

While the summer harvest has ended, it's time to look forward to fall. Our grapevine above is showing signs of impending dormancy. After the leaves fall, I'll remove the critter netting.

This picture shows a branch of the guava tree, hanging perilously close to the ground. It's because it is weighted down with fruit.

We've got hundreds of fruit, like this pair, that will be ready soon.

This nice size example will probably be first.

Our citrus will provide another mediocre crop this year. The tangelo is starting to show some color. We'll be eating this around Christmas.

I've got a few tomatoes to eat this week...

...and we literally cannot keep up with the massive productions of chiles we have this year. Here's a plate we're drying out on the patio.  A lot are just falling to the ground because we just can't pick 'em or eat 'em fast enough. 

That's a problem I'd like to have on all of our food plants.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Sufferin' Succotash!

Well, I'm back. Sorry that I had to take a little hiatus there but there was a family medical emergency that consumed us and my blogging time was one of the things that had to take the hit.

I've got a three-day weekend due to Labor Day so I'm scrounging in the garden to see what I can find.

There's some sweet onions, ready to go (above) and some chiles.

I pick a few and head over to Fresh and Easy (that's Tesco to my UK friends). In the day-old bin, I find some good looking summer squash and some grated carrot at marked-down prices.

I add the last of our zucchini, some baby gold potatoes, chop up an onion with three of the chiles.

It all goes into a recycled plastic bread wrapper (yes, we try to recycle everything here).

Throw in a dash of olive oil, some salt and pepper, shake up in the bag to mix everything up and coat well. Then I empty it on a sheet of foil paper.

Grill it on indirect heat for half an hour and serve with our entree. In this case, a very tasty flat iron steak.

Entire meal is around $6, shared with two people, most of that coming from the meat.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Chiles, Sweet Onions, and Corn...Oh My!

Harvest season continues here at Cheapskate farms. Although, I don't have time to cook it this weekend, I need to harvest the corn before it's too late.

Out in my 4-foot cornfield, five stalks continue to grow.

Here are a couple, with ears sheathed in red husks (although the kernels are still yellow).

Our Serrano chiles are turning bright red, so I'll pick those too.

In the onion patch, the bulbs want to be picked so bad, they're pushing their way up through the soil.

I'll pick these for now and save the rest for later.

And here is this week's harvest, 4 ears of corn (one is hidden), sweet onions, and Serrano chiles.

There're still three ears of corn left that can go another week or two, tons of chiles, and two more groups of sweet onion bulbs to pull up after we eat these.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

On the Hippie Trail...Solvang, California

It was the Cheapskate's wedding anniversary this weekend so we went away for an overnighter up north in Solvang, California. No gardening for me this weekend.

Instead, here are some pictures of Classic Organic Farms, an organic farm just off the 101 Freeway just outside of Solvang.

Organic? Check. Peace sign? Check. So, I guess this is the local hippie farm. I've got to stop in.

Goats frolic on the green hills. Fat cats look for rodents out in the fields.

In the barn, a good looking array of fresh Fuji apples, citrus, carrots, and other vegetables await.

Paying is on the honor system. Put your money in the slot, make your own change from the loose change sitting on top, or write a check and slip it in.

Don't try to cheat, or the guard will get you.

Before we leave, I need to stop and make a new friend.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.