Breathing a Sigh of Relief
Yesterday, Mr Chiots and I spent most of the day cleaning out the garage. It had gotten a little out of control. Since we’re going to start building our little teardrop camper soon, we needed to tackle it first. We have a large side workshop attached to our garage which was packed full of stuff.
We moved everything into the main garage and then moved the stuff we wanted back in, organizing as we went. Mr Chiots has a workbench and area on on side for all his tools and other stuff, and I have one wall devoted to gardening. I also have 3 shelves on which I store my collection of terracotta pots, burlap, row covers and other gardening supplies. All of these benches were here when we moved in, I added the shelves above to this area. I simplly added a coat of paint to make everything look clean, it’s not the best, but it’s usable (it is the garage after all).
I’ve been collecting vintage galvanized trash cans and putting them on a wheels. I use them to store vermiculite, potting soil and anything else I buy in bulk. I like that they roll right under the bench and out of the way!
Everything is neat and orderly now and that makes me happy. We should have plenty of room for working on our projects and finding things should be a snap now!
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Quote of the Day: Hippocrates
Let your food be your medicine
and your medicine be your food.
-Hippocrates
I was thinking about this quote yesterday as we were eating lunch. Mr Chiots has trouble with allergies this time of year and he hates taking antihistamines. We’ve been working on finding an herbal or natural treatment for them. He’s currently having great success with a homeopathic treatment, even better than he had with his regular medicine. I had just read this article before lunch and when I looked at my plate I realized we had incorporated a lot of the recommendations into our meal.
We had a big salad for lunch with honey grapefruit vinaigrette topped with, walnuts, dandelion blossoms, violet blossoms, and chives. All of the local pollen from the flowers & honey, the quercetin in the chives & garlic, the vitamin C from the violets & grapefruit are supposed to be really great at helping ease allergy symptoms. Now this is a tasty beautiful way to deal with those pesky allergies!
Do you have seasonal allergies? How do you deal with them?
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The Promise of Deliciousness
Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables.
They probably get jet-lagged, just like people.
~Elizabeth Berry
Our strawberry bed was one of the first things we installed here as part of our edible garden. My parents always grew strawberries when I was growing up. You simply can’t get any better than freshly picked strawberries! I can’t eat the ones from the store, they’re giant, hollow and taste kind of watery compared to the small red jewels that we harvest from our patch.
While I was out working earlier this week I noticed that our strawberry patch is blooming profusely. I see a delicious red berry where every bloom is. Looks like we’ll be able to enjoy a lot of strawberry shortcake in a month or so. Since we only freeze a few and eat the majority of them fresh, we indulge while they’re in season.
If you have room, I’d definitely recommend putting in a strawberry patch. We’re currently adding a few everbearing varieties so we can have a few berries all summer long for salads. I also need to thin out our patch as they have sprawled into the walkways around the raised beds. I’ll be noting which plants produce the best berries and we’ll take those out and start a new patch in the new garden area.
Do you have a strawberry patch in your garden?
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Friday Favorite: Rubber Boots
This spring I finally broke down and bought a pair of rubber boots and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been considering buying some for a few years, but just never did it until a few months ago. Now that I have a pair I can’t imagine ever not having them, so I’m picking them for my Friday Favorite this week!
They’ve come in so handy during our super wet spring. I can slip them on and off easily for a quick trip out to the compost pile or to harvest greens for dinner. They’re also great for trekking around in the snow with some knee-high wool socks underneath. I’m looking forward to having them for my winter gardening efforts. I’d highly recommend getting some rubber boots if you don’t have a pair!
Do you wear wellies around the garden?
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New Rhubarb for the Garden
This year I decided to purchase a few new varieties of rhubarb for the garden. I did some research and settled on ‘MacDonald’. I finally found some from available Nourse Farms. ‘MacDonald’ Rhubarb is described as: an excellent producer for commercial growers and home gardeners. This very vigorous, upright growing strain produces large, tender stalks and has acceptable red color. Shows resistance to root-rot problems.
I decided to get some of the other variety they sell as well. ‘Cawood Delite’ Rhubarb is not as vigorous as MacDonald, but has deeper red color and slightly thicker stalks. Cawood Delight has a stout growth habit that will excel in northern areas. It may struggle in areas with long periods of high heat. We have had a lot of positive feedback on this variety from commercial growers and home gardeners.
I also have some heirloom ‘Victoria’ Rhubarb in my garden which I started from seed 2 years ago (source: Baker Creek). ‘Victoria’ has thick stalks are popular for making delicious pies, cobbler and preserves. This variety can be harvested starting as soon as the 2nd season. It’s more green than red and fairly tart.
Last year one of my rhubarb plants bloomed, it was quite impressive. The seeds were quite lovely as well, they were like little earrings hanging on the plant. You’re not supposed to let the plant bloom I read after it bloomed *OOPS*. Looks like we’ll be able to enjoy our fill of rhubarb in a few years! I’m really looking forward to tasting the different varieties side by side!
Are you able to grow rhubarb in your garden? What’s your favorite way to eat it?
