Still preparing for winter
I planned accordingly this year, and didn’t overplant my Napoli and Nelson summer carrots. Too tender to overwinter in my garden, always splitting from the increased moisture, and a pain to deal with. I got the last of those pulled before the rains are really here to stay. The Royal Chantenay fares better over winter and doesn’t lose quality in the row.
Other garden chores included root pruning the mature cabbage so it won’t split.
You can root prune by twisting the plant, but I have found it easier to cut the roots with a sharp shovel.
Then I tip the plant to make sure I have actually severed the roots.
Danish Ballhead.
January King cabbage still growing, so these don’t need the root treatment yet.
The final gleanings of warm weather crops. Done. One sneaky pepper and some wan basil were a surprise.
And the last of the dry beans. It’s hard for me to gauge how much is here. Josh threshed his, intact like this…I’m not sure what I am going to do.
I have been waiting for the soil to dry enough so I can plant my garlic, and it looks like this stretch of dry weather it will be do or die. I did amend the garlic area earlier, so all I have to do is plant.
Under the watchful eye of a heron, who is waiting for some peace and quiet so he can hunt voles, we continue winter prep activities.
Chimney cleaning.
Firewood for next winters stockpile.
Broccoli for roasting.
And always roots and greens for meals and snacks.
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Food Renegade
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
Beautiful as usual. That broccoli looks like something you’d find under the deep blue sea. Very cool!
I’ve never grown dried beans. When you pull them they are dry or do they dry hanging? If they are dry when you pull them, do they stay in tact or are they splitting open and you lose beans? So many questions.
Diane, sometimes the Romanesco Broccoli is listed as cauliflower too, it just depends on the catalog. It has a texture more like cauliflower though – and is delicious roasted.
I try to pick the bean pods when they are dry. If not, I pull the plants to continue drying them. They do for the most part stay intact, a few stray beans escape but not many.
Wow, I’ve never heard of root pruning cabbages. Exactly how much of the roots do you cut?
Alison, I usually make sure 3 sides are cut, the plant is not growing anymore, so root pruning slows down the water uptake, and helps keep the heads from splitting. Even if they do split though, they are still edible. But we prefer to meter out the cabbage over the fall and winter, and not have to make it all into sauerkraut
There’s no better feeling than being prepared. It makes you feel so secure and warm knowing that you have all the heating you need and all the food you need to do you and you and your family accomplished it all. Like I said there’s no better feeling.
Darrell, I agree, it is worth all the work and worry to have plenty to eat and enough wood to keep us warm! It keeps us out of trouble too
Something you don’t see just every day;
http://patricelewis.blogspot.com/2009/11/birth-of-elephant.html
It might be just a little much for some, but I found it pretty awesome.
Thanks for the link!
So the Brocoli in your picture is supposed to look like that! Its cool, and I am sure the kids would love eating it (thinking its something scifi thing instead).
Tree, yep, and like cauliflower, it escapes most cabbage moth predation
It’s pretty cool to look at even if you didn’t eat it!
Gorgeous produce! Do you guys clean your own chimney or have a company do it? …do you save your bean plants for fodder after gathering all the beans? I saw the deep bed mulch additions of the hulls but wondered what you do with the plants, after you mentioned in an earlier post that you pull the plants. Are they hung to dry or just piled loosely, and does the whole plant feed out or is part of it chopped first?
As usual…querstions, querstions
Robbyn, thanks on the produce! I “hired” that chimney cleaner back in ‘78
He is still working out!
The bean plants will go in the bedding too, I don’t think anyone here would eat them, and I have no real good place to store them to find out. Goats might, or if you were short on hay or pasture maybe cows, but our cows don’t really have a palate for odd feeds since they graze most of the time. And it’s funny but the deer do not eat these beans either, but they ravage the green beans right next them?? I did pile them loosely, I had too many to hang, and when I picked the pods earlier, I left those plants in the garden and tilled them in. My question for you is what do you mean does the whole plant feed out or is part chopped first?
Ah, I thought you were saving the bean plants (not the hulled hulls though) for fodder rather than bedding…didn’t know how exactly the animals ate it, if that were the case. It figures your cows know a good thing when they taste it, with all that terrific grazing, and it makes sense that they don’t snack on other stuff too much. But I keep hearing how some folks feed this and that to their animals and I always wonder how much they do by hand to prepare it to be fed out first, and exactly how and what parts are saved. That’s all…you answered my questions really well!
Robbyn, I think fodder is one of those layovers from when more land on small farms was in crops – and the leftovers were used as some sort of feedstuffs. While that sounds good in theory, grazing is much easier, unless you live in a climate that grain crops are easily grown.
Root pruning cabbages. Wow, I learn something new almost every time I come here. Thanks!
Judy, thanks! It works pretty good and keeps the cabbage in the garden a little longer!
I am always amazed at what interesting things you post. I like learning new things from you. You make me want to try harder to become more self sufficient. Little steps along the way.
I love that your family is all involved in your farming. You are most blessed in that you don’t have to worry about a bad food sources or that something might make you ill because you do everything your self.
Once again, a wonderful post.
finding pam, it is all baby steps – I had to start somewhere too – my garden used to be more heavy on flowers and just warm weather crops. It has morphed over the years though
Thanks again!
the broccoli looks amazing – like fractal art. just amazing!
RRG, it is pretty cool to look at isn’t it?
I adore romanesco – I eat it twice! Once with my eyes, and again at table. Such an elegant vegetable!
Hayden, I couldn’t agree more, it’s almost too pretty to eat! Grown with Graffiti (purple) and Cheddar (golden) it is beautiful in the garden and in the harvest basket
Hi, Matron,
I adore your blog. Could you tell me what kind of camera you use for your blog pics? They are amazing!
Thanks in advance!
Trisha, the camera is a Kodak Easyshare, with 12x optical zoom. Almost all the photos are SOOC too, I only need to resize them for the blog. It’s pretty easy to take photos with all the great subject matter at hand