Kaleidoscope

While preparing the 2nd bed for planting we removed some carrots from last fall's plantings.  It was a Kaleidoscope mix of red, yellow, white and orange.  The kids go crazy when they see the different colors.  Served it up lightly sauted with a grating of fresh ginger.  Made for a great side along with our Portobello sandwiches and spicy slaw.

On Sunday we filled our second bed with those broccoli plants that were pretty much begging us for a happier place to grow.  We surrounded them with little cabbage and radicchio friends to keep them company under hoop house number 2.  Monday's forecast calls for high temps along with high winds and possible storms so here's hoping that the big bad wolf doesn't blow the houses down.  We also planted some "seed savers" lettuce and covered it to keep out the pesky deer.  We've already lost the tulips... hands off the veg!

Grandma's Biscuits with Rhubarb Sauce

We still had some frozen rhubarb left from last year's harvest so this morning I made some fresh biscuits and and made a rhubarb sauce to dribble over top.  It was delish...

Grandma's buttery biscuits- drop syle

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Mix in bowl or food processor:
  2 cups flour
  3 tsp baking powder
  1/2 tsp salt
  1/2 tsp cream of tartar


Cut in:
  8 Tblsp REAL butter -homemade or Pasture style is the best

Add (just until all dry ingredients are wet)
2/3 cup whole milk

Drop the biscuits one heaping tablespoon at a time onto a cookie sheet (ungreased).  Bake for 10 minutes or until the tiny tips of the biscuits BEGIN to turn slightly brown.  Should yield at least 12 scrumptious servings. 


 Rhubarb sauce:
1.  A few stalks of cleaned, fresh rhubarb - small diced  (if using frozen, let it thaw in the fridge before using)
2.  Sugar to taste

Throw the rhubarb in a medium sauce pan over medium heat and let it cook until nice and tender.  It will render its own juices so don't add any liquid or butter.  Stir in sugar according to your own sweet tooth and let it simmer until it slightly thickens.  You are done with the sauce.

Put biscuit on a plate.  Spoon sauce over biscuit.  Stuff your face.

Planting Our First Babies

 

On March 27th we planted the first seedlings of the season and protected them from the cool nights (and deer) in our homemade hoop houses.  They are basically plastic tubing and heavy duty plastic covers.  We also painted some milk jugs black and filled them with water the week before and had left them in the sun to warm.  Now they work as mini heaters inside the hoop houses.  Good thing because this week it snowed!  The seedlings survived with a few "burnt" spots, but I think they'll make it.  We also filled one bed with carrot seed and covered it with a fine muslin cover to keep out squirrels and birds.  The spinach in the cold frames have come up.  Can't wait to have our first fresh spinach salad of the season!

Preparing the Site

The cold weather broke the second week of March so we got the raised beds, cold frames and tee pees set up.  Basically we just worked the first couple of inches of the soil and added our compost then smoothed out the surface.  We went ahead and sewed spinach and lettuce seeds in the cold frames and some snap peas under the trellises and tee pees.  The garlic has already poked through giving us hope that spring is really here!

Itchin' To Start

 

So it's that time of year again.  We all get very excited when February is coming to an end.  You can find Jason in the basement hovering over the seed collection practically drooling over the idea of starting them.  We tend to get overly enthusiastic and start way more seeds than we can possibly stuff into our garden space, but what can I say?  We're optimistic and a tad ambitious when it comes to growing our garden.  This year I decided we would get organized and have a garden plan and schedule.  I think this has made it much easier for us to decide, A. how much we can plant and B. where we can find space to plant it.  Because we have such a small place we practice succession planting to keep a steady supply of greens, root veggies, peas and beans in rotation all season long.  So first we will start seeds for those plants that can stand the cooler spring weather and survive a frost or two that always seem to surprise us even though we know how unpredictable Pittsburgh's weather can be.  Once the garden's ground is workable we'll throw seed down there too.  

Here's a list of what we started first.

 

1.  red and golden beets  
2.  swiss chard
3.  fancy baby lettuces
4.  leeks
5.  broccoli
6.  cabbage
7.  basil
8.  rosemary
9.  cilantro
10.  spinach
 11.  sorrel 







And after a few weeks here's what ye' olde plant stand looked like with our babies all snuggled in tight.