Pickin' up Paw-Paws....

After reading about the American Paw-Paw several years ago, I decided I would just HAVE to grow some, seeing as it's a Mississippi Native!  It's a beautiful tropical-looking undergrowth tree, prefering to grow in the shade of larger trees.
The fruit kinda looks like a mango, but is reported to taste like vanilla- banana custard. I can't wait to try one, because that sounds delicious!
Here's a few webpages with pictures and some good info about the Pawpaw.
http://www.cdr3.com/pawpaw/
http://www.druidry.org/obod/trees/pawpaw.html
http://fogcity.blogs.com/jen/2005/08/pawpaw_a_local_.html

Woah! Pawpaw as a treatment for cancer?!
http://alternativecancer.us/pawpaw.htm
well THAT settles it! Pawpaw is DEFINITELY going in the garden!

And check out this cool article on the connection of the PawPaw and the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly:
 http://blueridgediscoveryproject.blogspot.com/2011/08/connections-pawpaw-tree-and-zebra.html
Another good reason to plant PawPaw! It's the only food source of this amazingly beautiful butterfly! (and an amazingly beautiful image too!--> )

Maize Morado- Healthiest Corn on Earth?

I have discovered a new (old) corn! A deep purple (almost black) colored strain of ancient corn that has come under much investigation of late for its alleged high levels of various health-beneficial antioxidants.
"Purple corn, a variety of Zea mays, is an Andean crop from low valleys locally called maiz morado. Purple corn can be found mostly in Peru, where it is cultivated in the coast, as well as in lands almost ten thousand feet high. There are different varieties of purple corn, and all of them originated from an ancestral line called “Kculli”, still cultivated in Peru. The Kculli line is very old, and ancient objects in the shape of these particular ears of corn have been found in archeological sites at least 2,500 years old in places in the central coast, as well as among the ceramics of the “Mochica” culture. "
http://www.pulpastore.co.uk/detox-your-world-organic-purple-corn-flour-500g-203.html

Here's a great article on some of the research that is being done:
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/act.2007.13210

Here's another article about this corn as a cancer treatment that states "anthocyanins from purple corn and chokeberries not only completely stopped the growth of cancer cells, but also killed about 21 percent of cancer cells without having any effect on healthy cells."
http://healthrecipes.com/purple-corn-cancer-treatment.htm

I bought some seeds and can't wait to plant them this year! I have heard reports that they grow fast and big- up to 15 feet and can have 3 ears per stalk. It's traditionally used to make chicha morada, a sweet drink http://peruvian-cuisine.blogspot.com/2008/11/drink-recipe-chicha-morada-purple-chica.html
I can't find much information on its uses for fresh eating or as a flour. I'll just have to find out for myself I guess! :)

Harvest is in

My mom just sent us a box of home canning that she had done this year. It was like Christmas in October! There were 2 jars of beans that were broken, but all the rest were fine and are very much loved and appreciated. Her pepper jelly is beautiful! I am so glad to get a jar for the holidays. I was going to make some but that was one of the things I just didn't get around to doing. We had a cold snap down to 18, so it killed our fall colors this year. We are so sad. :(
I brought in a ton of green tomatoes and have them all in the basement. I managed to grow a good many beans despite the late start and... I wonder ... the freeze hit before the beans were dry on the vines, so I brought in the beans I had for seed and hung them to go ahead and finish drying,.. as long as they look mature and black when they are dry, they should be ok as seed, right? A gardening friend gave me an All American Pressure Canner. (what a gift!) I didn't have enough beans to bother canning this year, but I'll hopefully get a better start next year. I did make a few pickles and some canned tomatoes with vegetables. I've already used over half the tomatoes though! *giggle* I add tomato paste and meat and have spaghetti sauce, or add it to Spanish rice mix for a hearty Spanish rice, or use it as soup base, or add meat and chili powder and make chili. I didn't make jelly this year, but we still have plenty from last year, so we're set on jelly. We harvested all the herbs and have them drying all over the kitchen. We had seven good size pumpkins, and a friend of ours gave us eight butternuts.



OH! I grew Ruby Queen corn- everyone agreed it was the Best corn they had ever tasted by far. It wasn't a bumper year, but I didn't do too bad, all things considered.

Summer 2009 Part 3

Summer brings lots and lots of summer squash. Good old fashioned crook neck is one of my favorites. I didn't get any seeds planted, but I bought a few starts at our local garden store and now have plenty for us, the dogs, and the chickens!




The garlic is in bloom now. They have such neat-looking flowers.






The corn and pumpkins are looking great! They grow so well together! The corn is much darker green this year with it growing in the pumpkin vines. I'm convinced! This is a great way to grown them both! Another great trick from our Cherokee ancestors!
















Here's a beautiful pumpkin blossom.









This is a little rubel blueberry that had something happen to it during shipment. We thought for sure it was dead. But it looks like it is going to make it! I must say though that the rest of the blueberries we got from Hartmann's were the best plants I have ever received in the mail! Actually, they were even better than a lot of plants I see at nurseries! I will definitely be shopping with them in the future!


Here's the blackberries I still have not planted, sitting on the back patio. I may keep them in the shed over winter and plant them next spring. They have grown enough this year that maybe we'll get a few berries next year! I hope so! :)




The strawberries are producing like crazy already. We're getting 8 or so a day. Yay for strawberries!
It won't be long before we can make strawberry cake, strawberry ice-cream, strawberry jam, strawberry sauce for cheesecake. Yummy!

Summer 2009 Part 2

So... where was I? Ah yes, holy cabbage. Ok, so slugs aside, everything else seems to be doing great! I have several kinds of tomatoes as usual, this year I have Grape, Early Girl, Brandywine, and a Russian Black. I have lots of green tomatoes out there, so it won't be long till I have fresh tomatoes!












I also have several kinds of peppers. I have purple, yellow and red bells, and cherry. I've picked a few already and there's lots more up and coming.









In the salad department we have enjoyed red leaf and romaine lettuce, but it is going to seed now, so it's time to plant more.










We have lots of onions and some garlic that is just beginning to make heads.









We have no shortage of violas that have blanketed all the free space in the garden. What a splash they make in fresh salads!











Our comfrey has really taken off this year! This versatile medicinal plant is certainly a welcome sight in the garden.











There's still more to report, so it looks like I'll be posting part 3! Stay tuned!

Summer 2009

I can't believe it has been so long since I made a post to this blog! Has it really been this long?! I suppose so, since so much has happened. I was so late getting my garden in this year that I came close to not planting one at all. But now I am so glad I did! Everything is coming along nicely. :) The fruit trees are doing well, not much in the way of fruit this year, but they are growing like weeds! We do have a few pears and a couple of apricots.









We planted blueberries this spring and actually grew a couple dozen berries.










We also bought 50 Tristar strawberries which are doing well and are already producing berries! That's Tristar for ya! :)









Not everything is growing as well as I would like. My chicken powered bug patrol is currently out of commission- I gave my chickens to a friend to keep for me until I was better able to keep Orion from eating all my eggs! So this season I have had a slug problem! Slugs ate my Cherokee beans to the ground! GGGRRRR!!! After replanting the beans and distracting the slugs with a blanket of leaves from the box elder tree, I have a couple dozen struggling plants that look like they might make it.










The cabbage has not escaped the slugs either. Holy Cabbage Leaves, Batman!!











There's much more to report, but I'll have to finish later. I'll post part 2 tomorrow! :)

End of Summer

Well, summer has come and gone here in the Northwest. They say our low this Wednesday will be 29! BRRRR!!! I have most everything harvested and I have been making jelly all week. I have made crab apple, plum, grape, plum, some green pepper jelly, and more plum. Oh! Did I mention plum?




Our old Damson Plum tree as usual makes more plums than the chickens, the squirrels, the dogs, the neighbors, and us together could ever eat. (Though Orion tries his best to eat them all).








This year was pretty successful considering it was our first year back home and the soil was in pretty pathetic shape. No one told the pumpkins or squash that though, they pretty well took over the whole garden! Next year they get staked!







I found out that my favorite summer squash is the white patty pan. Not only are they quite tasty raw, steamed or baked, they were the most prolific in the garden.
And aren't they just the neatest shape? They were definitely my favorite crop this year.



Here's a few more of my favorite pictures from this year's garden...

Grow Garden Grow!

I have my first squash blossom! YAY! It's sooo pretty! It's one of my zucchini plants. Isn't it pretty! *points*
My tomatoes are doing great now. I Burned them by watering them in the heat of the day. They looked pretty pitiful for a few days. But now they're greening up and I have a few flowers too!
I saw a honey bee the other day around sunset. That's the only one I have seen this year. I have seen several small little bees around,... not sure what kind they are.
I'm pretty happy now that I have a lot of plants up and growing. Let me think... I have corn, tomatoes, several kinds of pumpkin, patty pan swash in white, yellow, and green, some acorn squash, zucchini, crook-neck squash, purple potatoes, cucumbers, several kinds of beans, turnips, peppers of all colors, shapes, and heat levels, onions, garlic, okra, watermelons, and several types of unusual melons to try. Hooray for Summer! :D

Spring Report!

Only 2 and a half weeks to the official start of summer! We've had a busy spring. Luckily, some of the work we've done in the past when we lived here 10 years ago has survived to greet us this spring. Here's a few of our bright sunny tulips.
The first thing we did was plant a mini orchard of fruit trees along the North side of the backyard. I helped Don plant an Italian Prune, a grafted combo of apples, a combo of cherries, a combo of pears, and an apricot. They all budded out nicely and all had a few flowers. So it looks like we may have a few fruits this year from each tree!
The next project was to make a garden. Back in February, I planted trays of seed and had them up and beautiful by March. Grif built a lovely greenhouse... that Orion ventilated for me. Which killed all my plants. *Grumbles something about big obnoxious rowdy oversized dogs* We gave up on the greenhouse idea and took it down. I decided I needed a fence to keep out Big Nose and Jack Rabbit! (Orion and Dori). Grif did a fine job of making a beautiful wood fence.... that Dori dove under and Orion went through. So we lined it with 2 by 4 inch vinyl-coated wire. But then they both wiggled under the gate. So I put a row of firewood logs under the gate. I have to step over, but it's worth it to keep them out.
I started new trays after we got the fence up and now have new seeds ready to go out as I get the beds ready. I bought several tomatoes and pepper plants that were already good size. so they were the first to go in. I planted about 8 different kinds of tomatoes right in the bed. The seeds will hopefully be up soon. I also have one corn bed planted. I'm gonna try this new Mirai. They say it's the sweetest corn ever. The seeds were really funky looking- all shriveled up. They didn't look like corn at all.
More to post soon! I'll take more pictures as I get the garden done. Next up, strawberries!

Lunar Eclipse!

How cool! We had a total lunar eclipse last night. Don took this wonderful picture in our front yard at 3:12am. The moon and its habits are so fascinating and beautiful! And I adore the magical glow it sheds on the garden at night. Oh! I need to make a moon garden. (click here too) This is a very special spot in the garden especially for nighttime flowers and creatures. It is a quiet place to sit on summer evenings, with fragrent flowers like moon flowers and jasmine. Nighttime visitors include frogs, crickets, bats, moths....and the neighbor's cat...
Here's a couple more links with some cool facts and folklore about the moon and its phases: Click here or click here
Oh here's a neat gadget for the moon garden: Solar Flowers

Dragon Fruit

This is one of the neatest, coolest fruits ever! :)
I first experienced a dragon fruit when my hubby brought one home from our local grocery about a year ago. I had never seen one before, and I had no idea what to do with it. So it sat in my refrigerator for, gosh, it must have been 3 months! Finally, when I was cleaning out the fridge, I decided to cut this strange fruit open and see what it was like. What a surprise!! The inside was translucent white, scattered with tiny black seeds. I smelled it, poked at it, and finally decided it had not gone bad. So I tasted it. Again a surprise! It tasted like,... well... dragon fruit! -Very delicate, light, and tropical. We bought several more, but again, they sat around. We just didn't know what to do with them. It's funny how we humans can be such creatures of habit! But, even though we haven't adopted these fruits into our diets yet, they have been in the back of my mind. So I finally decided to bring them to the front of my mind and do a bit of research on them. I found quite a few recipes; blended in smoothies and sorbet, balled in fruit salad, or just sliced and served! The first thing I learned to my complete and total shock was that my mother had a rather large dragon fruit plant as a houseplant when I was a kid! I just never knew what it was! It never made any fruit, as dragon fruit needs 2 or more plants in order to set fruit. But I do remember the stunning flowers! I also remember how easy it was to grow. I've read, too, how this plant is easily grown from cuttings or from seed simply collected from the pulp of the ripe fruit. So add dragon fruit to the list of plants we will be growing in our greenhouse!
Just look at all the varieties at this link!
Pine Island Nursery
Guess what! dragon fruit grows wild here in Hawaii! I've seen them on several hikes in misty areas of the island, though I've not seen any with fruit. If I had known what they were, I'd have brought home a few cuttings! Here's an article in our local paper about growing dragon fruit here in Hawaii:
Honolulu Advertiser, Island Life