Thanksgiving

November 25, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

Timed to coincide with the last of the autumn harvest, Thanksgiving is traditionally a celebration of the foods that store through winter—pumpkins, apples, potatoes, corn.

Which is why we don’t really celebrate it here. Not in the traditional culinary sense, at least. Apples and potatoes are wrinkled and old by November. The pumpkins are all gone.

But there is much to be thankful for at the beginning of summer, and our Thanksgiving Day meal reflects this—pasta full of spinach, artichokes, and peas; a fresh green salad; and strawberries for dessert. Indeed, every day is a harvest celebration at our house. Every day, I am thankful for the sun, rain, and soil. I am thankful for our ability to produce much of our own food. I am thankful for my children, who understand and appreciate the amount of work that goes into every bite they eat—who thank the cook and the gardener every day.

I am thankful for the partner with whom I share the daily tasks that provide food for our table. I am thankful for the neighbours who help keep animals and plants alive when we go on vacation.

Yes, I’m sometimes a grumpy farmer—there’s never enough rain, the pests are terrible, the neighbour’s weed-killer has wafted across the fence line again…there’s always something to complain about.

But however much I grumble as I’m pulling weeds or dragging irrigation hoses around, dinner is always a time of Thanksgiving.

Pick a Path

November 22, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

A utilitarian path through the vegetable garden.

Paths are as important as the gardens they traverse. They set the mood and change how we walk through different places.

There are utilitarian paths. Straight and low-maintenance, these paths are essential in the production areas of the garden.

An untamed path meanders through tall grass.

Wild and untamed paths don’t go directly to their destinations. They meander. They may be somewhat overgrown. They invite the walker to slow down and experience the world around them.

A formal path through the herb garden.

Formal paths invite strolling. They are straight and potentially utilitarian, but they’re more inclined toward the aesthetic. They may lead to nothing more than a view or a bench.

Some paths aren’t much more than suggestions of a path. A few inviting steps that say, “come this way.”

Bridge over troubled water.

Other paths are clear, built structures that provide a way where none other exists.

Just try walking this path without hopping.

And some are pure whimsy, encouraging locomotion other than walking (This path, between the house and my office, makes it incredibly difficult to carry a cup of coffee without spilling).

I enjoy the wide variety of paths on our property. There’s a path for every mood and need.

Fantasy Gardener

November 20, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

What if gardening magazines were written like fantasy novels?

The day was hot. Sun glared from a bleached sky, and heat shimmered off the soil.

Robinne squinted into the sun, eyeing her enemies, calculating the risks. They were arrayed in their thousands—rank upon rank of weeds as far as the eye could see. Their green shoots groped for the sky, smothering her unwary crops. She knew their roots ran deep.

This would be no mere skirmish, no quick-strike street fight. This would be a war beyond reckoning.

Sweat beaded on Robinne’s brow as she considered her strategy. She pulled on her gloves and patted the secateurs hanging at her side for reassurance. She could do this. She had to do this. She was the garden’s only hope.

Robinne drew out her weeding tool, Weedlebuzzer—an ancient weapon, handed down through generations of warrior gardeners. The weeding tool thrummed in her hand, eager to get to work. Robinne smiled grimly, opened the gate, and stepped into the garden.

Small Celebration

November 19, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

Well, I finally made it. Made it to the day I can look at the vegetable garden and not be overwhelmed with jobs to do.

Everything is planted (except successive plantings of things like carrots, etc.), and most everything is mulched. The tomatoes are tied up and pruned, and the potatoes are mounded. Today, I managed to get all but a few small areas weeded, too.

I walked through the garden this afternoon to survey my work, and managed to get all the way through without feeling the need to pull a weed.

To celebrate, I’ve decided to spend the rest of the day pretending that there aren’t a thousand other jobs waiting for me in other areas of the yard. I’ll tackle those tomorrow.

Berries Bought with Blood

November 18, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

Gooseberries are one of my favourite fruits for jam—high in pectin, a beautiful colour, and wonderfully tart.

I just wish the plants weren’t so vindictive…

I watch the fruits swell with a mix of excitement and trepidation. There will be lots of fruit soon, but the price of picking it will be scratched and bloody hands.

I should probably prune the plants, so there’s more space to get in there and pick. But pruning brings its own blood price, and one of the things I like most about gooseberries is that they pretty much take care of themselves. They do well in dry conditions, and they compete well with the weeds. That they give us fruit without the fuss of pruning is a huge bonus.

All in all, I suppose I can’t complain about the trade-off. A little blood for a harvest of delicious fruit is a good deal.

Vigilance

November 17, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

Will we wake up to this tomorrow?

I watched the weather forecast closely this week. The week after plant out, when all the frost tender vegetables are newly planted, is when it usually happens.

A day of cold southerly rain, bringing much-needed moisture. The rain is good, and the low daytime temperatures won’t damage the plants.

But somehow, those rain clouds always blow away as the sun sets. The wind dies, and the air grows still as the temperature plummets.

The weather forecasts rarely predict these frosts, but I’ve learned to look out for them.

Today, as the clouds broke just in time for a spectacular rainbow before sunset, I knew the garden would be in trouble before dawn.

I pulled out all the frost cloth I own, and as the light faded, covered as many tender plants as I could. At this point, I can’t possibly cover them all, but I can strategically save those I would be most sorry to lose, and those that are most sensitive to frost.

Before dawn I will be in the garden again checking for frost. If I’m lucky, there will be none. If I’m unlucky, I’ll spend the early hours hosing down the plants I couldn’t cover in the hopes of saving them.

The strategy works…mostly. But just one frost at this time of year can change the landscape in the garden and the food choices we have through the next twelve months. It pays to be vigilant.

Strawberry Secrets

November 16, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

Shhh!!

Don’t tell my family.

I ate the first strawberry of the season!

It was delicious!

I’m usually quite generous with my garden produce—everyone gets a fair share of the goodies. But when it comes to the first strawberry of the year, I turn selfish.

I always get the first strawberry.

I get it, because I plant, and weed, and water, and weed again. Because in two weeks, I’ll be spending an hour a day just picking berries, then countless hours processing them into jam and other yummy treats for everyone to enjoy.

It’s my sweet reward for a year of work.

The secret will out in a day or two. When I come in with three berries, and give one to everyone else in the family, saving none for myself, they’ll know. They’ll know I ate the first one already.

But by then it won’t matter. I will have gotten the first one.

Celebrating Spinach

November 15, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

The garden is bursting with spinach right now, and we are loving every minute of it. Most meals have spinach in them at this time of year, and some are mostly spinach with a few other things added.

This dish was one of those mostly spinach meals—soft polenta topped with garlic and spinach, cooked just until the spinach begins to give up its moisture. The dish is supposed to also have lots of onion in it, but last year’s onions have all sprouted, and this year’s aren’t ready yet, so I used a handful of chives, instead. And just because I felt like it, I sprinkled some purple chive blossoms over the top, just for the colour.

The result was pretty, and quite tasty!

Rain

November 7, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

I wake
To the sound of rain.

It is not morning.

It is the rain
That has dragged me from sleep.

No.

Not dragged.

It has nudged me awake
Accidentally
Like my husband does
When he comes to bed
(Night owl that he is,
And me an early riser).

Like my husband,
The rain has lain down beside me.
A comfort,
Knowing he is there,
Knowing the rain is there
Watering the garden,
Making the grass grow in the paddock,
Tamping down the dust.

The Best Laid Plans…

November 5, 2016 / Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

Back in mid-August, I blogged about the to-do lists that get me through spring. I make a list and stick to it. That way, everything gets done.

But what if the plants don’t pay attention to the list?

I try to maintain consistency from year to year, and I document planting dates, plant-out dates, potting-up dates. So I know that if I plant my first batch of corn in trays on the 15^th of October, it will be just ready to plant out on Canterbury weekend (around the 15^th of November).

But this year, the corn was ready to plant out by the 30^th of October.

The corn bed wasn’t ready yet. It’s always the last one I prepare, because it’s usually the last one to be planted out. I took the trays of corn seedlings out of my office, so they would have chilly nights to slow down their growth.

It didn’t help. The corn kept growing at a ridiculous rate.

I considered planting the corn in the beds designated for pumpkins, because they were ready. But that would have meant planting pumpkins in the same beds they were in last year. I had a lot of pest problems in those beds last year—I’d be foolish to plant the same crop there again this year.

Last weekend I got frantic. If I didn’t get the corn out to the garden in the next week, it would die in those trays.

Wednesday, I quit work at 2 pm and started preparing the beds. I got them weeded, and the soil turned. Then I realised I was going to need to turn the compost pile in order to get compost for those beds.

Turning the compost pile usually takes at least two weekends of back-breaking work.

This morning, I started on the compost pile around 6.30 am. By the time I’d turned a third of it into the empty compost bay, I was completely exhausted. And I’d only managed to get five wheelbarrow loads of compost for the corn (I really wanted nine).

So I compromised. Five loads of compost would have to be enough. I turned it in, raked the soil smooth and called the beds done. The corn was all in the ground before lunch. Whew!

Of course, it’s a week early. I have learned the hard way not to plant out too early here. My garden sits in a frost pocket. Chances are, the corn will get nipped by frost, but it was either that or watch them die in trays. Crossing my fingers and hoping for warm weather!