My fig tree is bearing a ton of fruit this year. Fresh figs are so amazing - the newton is an abomination.

The castor beans have gone crazy too.  The arbor is a work in progress - you can see one of the 8 upright posts, they look like trees but they are limbs cemented in the ground.  4 horizontal posts are in place so far, they need to be secured more securely and then I can continue with horizontal connecting posts.  I  could never have too many places to grow climbing plants.

A sweet little girl showing us how huge the leaves are.

I’m getting summer plants pulled wherever possible and starting fall/winter crops.  I’m expanding my growing area again.  I’ve prepared all of my growing areas by hand and with chickens and mulch - never used a tiller. It is slow going, but I only expand as I can handle it.

Some of the perennials that came back with us - a flat of 18 for $18. I planted the shade plants in the ground and 3 of each of the sun plants in these pots where I can keep them well watered and they have a little more room to grow.

The tomato plants that used to have beans in front of them - pulled out the beans and the peppers are using the space now. (These cages are 6 ft tall btw)

The oldest cucumber plants suffered while we were gone but they are still bearing. Behind the cukes you’ll notice what looks like corn growing - it is actually milo, or grain sorghum. I didn’t plant it, this area was grass last year and I turned it into garden area by moving  the chickens over it and one of the chicken feeds I bought had milo seed in it.  I’d never heard of it before, but it grows like crazy and produces a huge plume of seeds at the top which the chickens love. Contrary to popular belief, chicken food is pretty expensive so I’m always on the lookout for cheaper alternatives or supplements.

The second garden again.  The castor beans are now taller than me and some of the leaves are almost 2 feet across.  The cotton is blooming and the amaranthus has been shredded by some bug (I’m guessing japanese beetles - but I have not seen them on anything else this year so I think the amaranthus may be acting as a sacrificial trap crop)  but is still blooming like crazy.  The tomatoes are tall and loaded and the sweet potatoes growing like mad.  This garden was watered twice via my garbage can watering system (thanks Claudia!) while we were gone and it gets a fair amount of shade during the day. It was barely wilted when we got back   I have a theory that plants in the south don’t ever need full sun, if they do get full sun they just need more water and complete their life cycle faster.

Close ups! I like how the castor bean and sweet potato leaves look together.

LOVE the buds on the cotton plants.

And the flowers - the second day they turn a deep pink.

Okay-just one more for tonight.
Sweet potatoes in the front, tomatoes and peppers in the middle, 3 sisters (corn, beans, and squash) in the back

The weather this spring has been much wetter and cooler than the past several years. We’ve had a few hot days after months of wet and things are growing exponentially. Above is the most mature blueberry bush. Last year there was a late frost that killed off a lot of buds and the year before was so dry that it didn’t produce much, but all along it has been growing and this year the conditions have been just right.

Looking left from the blueberry bush is a bed with beans and peppers in the foreground and tomatoes in the back. The beans have been producing like crazy and I have younger replacements in different areas - when I yank the beans the peppers will be ready to take over the beds. Right now the beans are also acting as a living mulch for the peppers - why pull weeds when you can pull beans? There are 4 tomato plants planted around each (2) 5 ft tall cylinders of concrete reinforcing wire. 68stationwagon - the ones on the left are lemon boys and under all the foliage are 3 generations of fruits - the 4th generation is blooming now.

Looking right from the blueberry bush. 2nd planting of cucumbers with a stray (but beautiful!) kale. 1st planting of zucchini to the right of that - been picking them for a couple weeks now. The concrete reinforcing wire in the background has my 3rd planting of cukes and tomatoes -pickling and canning varieties respectively.

Walking backwards from the blueberries - 1st planting of cukes. Made my 3rd batch of refrigerator pickles today, ate my 10th cucumber salad and shared a bunch with the neighbors. . .

A different perspective - standing by the fig tree.

This is a new garden where I used to have a chicken coop. The trash can is the start of a drip irrigation system. In the front I have kind of a Southern gothic theme going on - cotton, love lies bleeding and castor beans. Dramatic plants with dramatic histories and uses. Behind that it is back to the basics: basil, tomatoes, peppers, malabar spinach.  More cukes and beans and tomatoes on the former fence with the vegetable shapes hanging on it.

A sweet potato bed. I also have them planted all over both of the gardens to act as a living mulch as everything else gets taller.

Perspective from the back of the former fence.

Also planted but not pictured: okra, potatoes, buckwheat, corn.

This is what Hazel had this morning - peanut butter on toast with a side of honeysuckle.  There is a tiny drop of “honey” in the base of each flower and Hazel must have thought it would go well together so she ran out to get a branch while I was making the toast. The flowers left on the plate were the ones that are not ready yet - the kids call them bananas.

Friday Farmhand Recipe - Spring Tacos

Today from my home garden I had my first modest harvests of spring planted lettuce, cilantro, and radishes. I have been plucking onions (as green onions) all winter and pulled 2 red and 2 white onions also - they are starting to get thicker!

Spring Tacos
I washed and chopped the 2 cups of baby lettuce, handful of cilantro, 10 radishes and 4 thick green onions and mixed them in a bowl. We also had refried beans, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and salsa and assembled our own tacos.

Verdict: YUM. I never would have thought of putting radishes on a taco, but the last time I went to my fav Mexican grocery store I saw piles and piles of radishes and then just *had* to know how they were being used. I wasn’t actually brave enough to ask at the store, but my pal google came through and I also found out that radishes are apparently somewhat common as a taco topping in California - who knew? Turns out that the crunchy/spicy-ness of radishes is what your taco has been missing all along! The green onions added another layer of spice and crunch, and the cilantro threatend to push my tastebuds over the top but the lettuce mellowed it all out and kept all the flavors balanced.

Variations: This would also be really good in a burrito or with black beans instead of refried beans. If my grill wasn’t out of gas I could have grilled some corn tortillas (brushed with olive oil) and made tostadas. If I was serving meat eaters I would probably slice up a couple grilled chicken breasts.

• a.OK white zinnia
• b. lilliput
• c. envy
• d.star white
• e. blue point
• f. cactus flower
• g. Dahlia flowered
• h. polar bear
• i. violet queen (/zinnias)
• j. Bells of Ireland
• k. Shasta daisy
• l. Nigra hollyhock
• m.Jade sunflower
• n. piccolo sunflower
• o. Italian white sunflower
• p.hollyhock country romance

My awesome friend Merrill helped me identify my fish. I thought she’d know because she knows her nature and likes to fish.  She didn’t know what it was but she was the perfect person to ask because her husband works for the DNR and knows who to ask! He forwarded the pic to someone in the fishieries Dept. who had to forward it to someone else who was able to give it a positive I.D.  It is a breeding spotted sucker and apparently they don’t usually have red stripes, just when they are spawning (which threw the first fisheries guy off.) So very cool, it was an amazing thing to see and to know what we saw was icing on the cake.  Thanks again, Merrill and Scott! (Merrill is married to a Scott too.)

My parents visited last week and my Dad built an arbor for me.  An area of our deck (by the door)  gets the noonday sun in the middle of the summer and it really heats up the house. I planted a kiwi vine to grow up the side of the deck and over the arbor. This year I’ll also plant annual vines in pots in case the kiwi does not grow as fast as I hope.

One of the days they were here we went to a park near a pretty good sized river. We saw this unfortunate fish that must have flopped out onto the rocks. I tried to look up what kind it was but couldn’t find anything that looked like it - Merrill?  Claudia (can you ask Allen?) It was full of eggs. Hazel spotted several others like it resting in a calm pool before venturing back into the wild water.

Today I planted seeds in flats - I’m getting a late start but got so much done. I usually break my seed starting up over several weekends but I did about 6 weekends worth today. Vegetables are the priority and flowers sometimes just don’t get done, but I planted 44 varieties of veggies and 15 varieties of flowers - seed list will be posted soon! Later Hazel helped me plant potatoes.  She had to go inside to change into her “farmer pants” (overalls) before we could start. I transplanted chinese cabbages and planted my 3rd  patch of spinach seeds.

I’m going to the GA Organics Conference this Saturday - so excited - especially because my boyfriend (not really, he is one of my many pretend boyfriends, but he’s my #1 pretend boyfriend!) M1chael P0llan is going to be the keynote speaker. Sigh, oh yeah, and there are some classes I’m really looking forward to.

Edited to add:

Okay - so now I’ve been outed I should clarify that Elvis, J. Edgar Hoover, Buckminster Fuller and a bunch of other random dudes (mostly dead or farmers) that I will never meet are on my pretend boyfriend list.  I was going to explain all this yesterday but the crepes were ready and I was going to explain the criteria for making the list but I just faced the blue screen of death and had to re-write all this and now I just don’t feel like it.  She gets what I mean but calls them something different.

An artichoke leaf poking up through the mulch.

Tadpoles in the pond.