Category: Kitchen Garden

Gardening, Farming, Cooking, Recipes, Local Food, Everything that goes into meal production.

Rethinking Breakfast

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date June 18, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— The Cedar River was swollen with recent rain as I crossed on the Solon-Tipton Road bridge for my sawyering job. Water moving to the sea on this water planet.

It was a physically demanding day, and I slept well last night. What for breakfast? Now the trouble begins.

Being a wheat eater, the first meal of the day usually includes bread, pancakes, muffins, or the like. There may be dairy in the form of milk, eggs, cheese or butter. If I feel like grating potatoes for hash browns, that will do. All of this indicating a diet that has changed little since my forebears arrived in North America from the British Isles some 350 years ago.

Occasionally I make some granola, or buy a box of cereal at the market. Oatmeal is a winter staple, and if there is fruit around, that’s nice too. The fact that a leftover grapefruit sits in the refrigerator since Saturday indicates fruit has not been an important part of breakfast, even if it should be.

The pantry is loaded with things to spread on toasted bread. Several kinds of pesto, half a dozen types of apple butter, preserves from locally grown grapes, wild blackberries and raspberries. There are more types of spreads forgotten than remembered. Too, there is more to life than jam on toast.

In the end, breakfast is easy to figure because the ingredients have been around for a long time. It typifies my cooking that I don’t really want a plan of what to have for breakfast.

If we rethink breakfast, it should be in the moment, a creation based on what’s available, what’s going bad soon and what’s possible. The list of variables is not that long, so “creation” is the better usage.

Lately breakfast has been my main meal, with snacks and sandwiches carrying me through the rest of the day. It is time to better consider this important meal and make it better.

Tags cooking, local food

Kitchen Garden

Garden on Monday

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date June 16, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— The tomato plants are doing nicely, with flowers beginning to form on some of them. A man who claimed he had two-inch fruit already, without a greenhouse— I don’t know about that. What has been planted in the garden is doing well.

That’s really the trouble. Not enough has been planted, causing me to re-think the garden.

It may be time to put aside some seeds to wait until July heat passes. Too, the greens must be picked before they go past prime. This week will be a period of finishing the first wave of seedlings, and regrouping.

Combine that will a full slate of other work, and there will again be a lot to get done.

Tags Kitchen Garden

Kitchen Garden

Serrano, Bangkok and Jalapeno Hots

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date June 12, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— It’s a home work day and planting was on the agenda. It began with preparing the soil next to the slicer tomatoes, and planting a row each of Serrano, Bangkok and Jalapeno peppers. I mulched and fenced them, hoping to leave them until harvest.

The lawn is cut in varying heights. Places where I harvested clippings are short. The rest of it is rough cut and uneven, ready for another pass— more farm field than lawn.

I don’t have to leave the property until tomorrow for outside work. In the meanwhile, there’s more to do.

Tags Kitchen Garden, peppers

Kitchen Garden

Tuesday was Farm Day

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date June 10, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— One day per week usually shapes up to be a garden and farm day. Yesterday I planted peppers for 3-1/2 hours at the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project, followed by tomato planting and mowing/mulching at home. There will be plenty of grass clippings, and a host of relieved neighbors once I bring it all in. The tomatoes are in the ground, and victims of transplanting have been replaced.

The pepper plants from last week were shocked, with the leaves characteristically turning white. Today it appears few of them will survive. Afterward, I moved most of the rest of the seedlings outside to harden them. Luckily I have a few additional bell pepper seedlings and can get more from the CSA if needed. The hots are aplenty.

At a meeting last night, we had a conversation about what to do about arugula that bolted (produced flowers), and decided we would eat the leaves. I also gave away some of my excess tomato seedlings and two heads of lettuce, a bag of kale and one of braising greens to young city dwellers who don’t have gardens. There is plenty of food around our house and giving it away is a gratifying part of a local food system.

Last week I purchased a case of beer for after the garden is planted. It is an annual ritual. The beer lasts until fall as I ice them down in a cooler and down them a couple at a time in summer’s heat.

While gardening and farm work aren’t all that was going on yesterday, it seems better to combine those activities, if for no other reason than to dirty only one set of clothes. Something minor, but important as laundry time becomes more precious and limited.

Tags farming, Kitchen Garden, local food

Kitchen Garden

Spinach Picking and Pepper Planting

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date June 6, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— There is a lot of spinach in the garden. The trick is to harvest it before the sun gets high in the sky. I got a bushel this morning, and it is washed and drying between terry cloth towels.

In the space left from radishes, I planted bell pepper seedlings, clearing a tray out of the bedroom (finally). One tomato plant in the slicer patch had died, so I replaced it. The rest are looking good. Just one or two more rows of tomatoes to plant and then the growing. Outside work broke up my gardening morning.

Tags Kitchen Garden, local food, peppers, spinach, tomatoes

Kitchen Garden

Money Crop and Opinion

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date June 5, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— Lawn clippings are a money crop and the harvest has begun. Waiting until the grass gets long with spring growth, I cut it once at the highest deck setting, then again at 3-1/2 inches, bagging the result as mulch for the garden. This year there is an abundance.

Once the garden is mulched, the bagging attachment is removed from the tractor and stored in the garage until next year— it’s better to mulch the lawn during the hot, dry season.

That’s not to say I am caught up with gardening. Far from it. There have been greens and radishes lately, but there has neither been enough time to weed what I planted, nor plant all that needs to be. Gardening will be far from perfect this year working in fits and starts in between outside work.

Last night I attended the Solon City Council meeting, and the setting in the new city hall is spacious, but a little weird. The mayor, councilors, and administrative staff sit at a crescent moon shaped table table arrangement, and I sit front row, center, facing them with my camera and recorder. Last night, after the Alliant Energy discussion, I was the only other person present.

While it is important for the media to cover governing bodies, it is a sad statement that so few people are present at their meetings. Of course, if I wasn’t being compensated, not sure you’d find me there either.

The Iowa primary elections were Tuesday, and my publicly declared candidates all won. Because I worked as a campaign consultant on the 2012 Iowa House District 73 race, there was a particular interest, but I kept my mouth shut about it. What we did then, and I suggested both 2014 candidates David Johnson and Dennis Boedeker do, is predict turnout, and then identify voters until one half plus one needed were confirmed. It doesn’t appear that either followed my advice.

Turnout was 1,064 in the race with Johnson winning by 30 votes. This was pathetic. The district had 1,361 primary voters in 2012. The comparative numbers were Wilton (2012 = 45; 2014 = 33, Johnson County (2012 = 748; 2014 = 569), and Cedar County (2012 = 568; 2014 = 462). Partly this is due to the midterms being less interesting for voters, but mostly it has to do with the amount of work in the form of shoe leather, phone calls and mailings being done by candidates.

One of the myths about the campaigns was that high interest in Johnson County court house races would drive higher turnout there. In 2012 it was the Slockett v. Weipert race for county auditor. In 2014 it was the Lyness v. Zimmerman race for county attorney, plus a competitive four way race for two seats on the county board of supervisors. Overall, turnout set a county record for primaries in 2014. The District 73 numbers show that what mattered more than overall trends was the amount of work done by a campaign (ours in 2012), or the lack thereof (by either candidate in 2014). Some additional things about the race contributed to my analysis but are not appropriate to share on a public blog.

What I know more than anything is the incumbent is smart, politically savvy, and hard working. Since he was sworn in, I have gotten to know him better than I know most legislators. Now that Johnson has a clear shot to November, he should gear up his game if he hopes to win. A surer bet would be on the tomatoes I mulched with my grass clippings, if the primary results are any indicator.

Tags Kitchen Garden

Kitchen Garden Work Life

Into Summer

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date May 27, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— Memorial Day is past, and summer will officially be here in 26 days. The spring garden patch is beginning to produce, there will soon be spring garlic, but everything else is running way behind. I blocked out some time to finish the initial planting this week. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates, although with Iowa resignation, we’ll accept and deal with whatever comes.

It is stunningly quiet in Big Grove considering a contested primary election is just a week away. Both parties have choices to make, although the Democratic courthouse races have more meaning. There have been a lot of absentee ballots cast in the county, more than usual. Whoever is organizing that effort will likely reap dividends in a low turnout election. Since I have a filled dance card for the next ten days, we’ll wait and see what happens.

Like a smoldering ember waiting for fuel, in the ashes is consideration of another pivot point for this life. The busy-ness suppresses it, but nonetheless, it is there. There is more to come on that.

Tags Kitchen Garden, worklife

Kitchen Garden

Garden Log 2014-05-24

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date May 24, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— I planted Acer and Beefsteak tomatoes today, commonly referred to as slicers. Also harvested some radishes for dinner. It was about 2-1/2 hours all-told. The first tomato seedlings seem to be surviving, although they haven’t grown much. There is one more variety of tomato to plant, the Best Boy.

Tags Kitchen Garden, local food

Kitchen Garden

Garden Log 2014-05-22

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date May 22, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— Another morning in the garden spading soil. During rest breaks I made political phone calls to get caught up on campaign activity. Standing near earthworms dug up in the dark, rich loam was a reminder of our ultimate destiny. Life is short so we have to live while we can. Too bad political talk doesn’t produce any actual manure because I could have used some.

This plot and one more remain to be planted.

Tags Kitchen Garden

Kitchen Garden

Garden Log 2014-05-20

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date May 20, 2014

LAKE MACBRIDE— We agreed I could skip soil blocking at the CSA this week. There is a lot of planting to do on the farm, but the summer help has arrived, and the greenhouse needs emptying into the high tunnel and fields before planting begins again in earnest. I spent a seven hour shift in my own garden.

First task was planting tomatoes. I finalized a plan and planted the seedlings according to this plan.

It began by digging holes for the seedlings. They looked like this.

After a lot of work, delicately trying to plant the tomatoes without damage, the plot looked like this. I left a small strip for herbs on the north end.

I watered, staked and caged them before moving on the next plot. I transplanted the remainders in case I need them to replace failed plants.

I found a couple of cloves of garlic in a ditch and planted them last summer, and they came up. Because I have a supply of garlic chives, I trim off the green leaves, compost them, and use the thicker part of the plant in cooking. The leaves are definitely edible, and I would slice and mince them finely and use the same way you use chives for a very mild garlic flavor.

The plot had been left as it was at the end of the season, so there was a lot of work to be done. I removed all the fencing, the aforementioned spring garlic, and brought the John Deere up from the garage to mow it short. I dug a bit, but the day was getting late, and I stopped at about five spade rows.

It was a busy day and a lot of work. Seven hours was about all I could take before heading inside for a shower. It was a constructive day in the garden.

Tags Kitchen Garden, local food