Garden 2011

This was a mixed year for our garden. Crops that did well: kale (this is the most productive crop I've ever grown), lettuce, basil (both from seed and from plants), scallions, grapes, jalapeno peppers grown in a pot, kohlrabi, and dill. Crops that struggled: swiss chard (some kind of fungus early on), broccoli (didn't thin enough), cauliflower (same thing), beets (not enough sun?), peppers that were in the garden (not enough sun), and cucumbers (died early). Everything else was in the middle, including tomatoes which got a fungus again. I guess we should move them for next year. The problem is we have a nice semi-permanent trellis installed where they currently are.

Carrots and chioggia beets:

We picked a record 50 pounds of grapes! Wollersheim also said they had a good harvest this year. Adam is currently making wine in our basement. He expects to get about 25 bottles.

A tiny fraction of my gigantic kale crop. I've made lots of soup with kale lately. Luckily it freezes well, both in soup and blanched by itself.

A salmon dish inspired by something i ate at Sardine. It includes salmon from Seafood Center, corn from the farmers market, and heirloom tomatoes and basil from our garden.

We're always open to trying something new. Let me know if you have suggestions for new crops or things that worked well for you this year.

All God's creatures

As most of you know, Adam and I love looking out our back windows at what's in our back yard. Usually we see things like gold finches, downy woodpeckers, red bellied woodpeckers, blue jays, nuthatches, cardinals, chipping sparrows, hummingbirds (although I never do get used to these amazing birds), squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks. Once in a while, however, we see something that startles us. Here are a few that we've captured:

That last picture is a Cooper's hawk. This was the second time we'd seen him in our yard. When we first looked out the window the other day, he was on our bird feeder. We kind of doubt he was going after birdseed - we suspect he was going after songbirds. I don't know if i should be upset about that or not. I guess it's partially my fault for providing a bird feeder.