Picture of the Day

What ISN'T doing well

Lest I give you the impression that every plant in our garden is going great guns, take a look at this bell pepper plant above. What? You say that all you see is a stick?

Exactly.

Our bell peppers have never really done anything. When they first started growing, the bottom leaves died and fell off. Now, ALL of the leaves are dying and falling, leaving us with what you see above.

And absolutely no bell peppers.

As I mentioned before, we aren't the only ones afflicted with this problem. But we don't really know how to solve it and we are about to pull all of our bell peppers. If it had been up to Adam, we would have pulled them long ago but I'm slightly more optimistic (or naive, take your pick) and we've left them.

But after arriving at the garden and finding the above, I'm about ready to relent.

Something else that isn't growing well, almost overnight, has been our squash. They started getting these milky white coating of fungus all over them and they just didn't look healthy. Adam theorized that it was because we were watering them at night and, after speaking with a more seasoned farmer, he determined that he was correct.

After one day of watering during the day, instead of at night, the squash started making a rebound.

Amazing.

The only other plant that isn't thriving is a tomato. ALL of our tomatoes are doing great except one and, of course, it is the one that was a gift. For whatever reason, it started getting all wilty despite the fact that it was getting just as much water as the rest of the tomatoes. It is a Brandywine tomato so I'm not sure if they have different requirements than roma or beefsteak.

So there. I've sufficiently tarnished your picture-perfect vision of our garden and our small reputations as gardening professionals.

On the Menu

Stewed collards

Fried Okra
Grilled Summer Squash

Stewed Collards

The trick to these is to wash them well and to get rid of the stems. If you do those 2 things, you cannot fail.

An easy way to cut them is to stack them up on top of each other (after washing and removing stems), roll it up and slice it in about 1/2-inch thick strips.



For this recipe, I added about a half can of vegetable stock and a dash of red pepper flakes to a small pot.


Once it came to a boil, I added the collards and stirred them until they were coated in the stock. I turned the heat down to medium-low and covered them. I only let them cook for about 10 minutes, then I added 1/4 can of stewed tomatoes.



And there you have it!

Some people cook their collards for much longer (like an hour or so) but I prefer them with a little bit of a crunch. Also, we didn't have too many so it didn't take long for them to cook down.

These collards are, of course, vegetarian but you could always add ham or bacon if you are so inclined.



Fried Okra

The "breading" for this is very simple:

1 cup yellow cornmeal

A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
A pinch of cayenne pepper

First, cut off the "caps" and the "tips" of your okra.


Wash them well and the boil them for about 5-8 minutes (until they are somewhat tender).


Once they've cooled, cut them into pieces and roll them around in the cornmeal "breading." The natural "sliminess" of the okra will allow the breading to stick without the need for an egg bath first.


Fry in about an inch or two of oil and enjoy!



Grilled Summer Squash



Obviously, this is pretty straightforward. Cut the squash and grill it. Yum.

We added some of the remaining stewed tomatoes and just a pinch of shredded cheddar cheese because we decided the rest of our meal was entirely too healthy.

That last step, of course, is up to you.

We ate our collards, okra and squash with a serving of wild rice that we harvested from our garden.


Now, if you believed that last bit, you haven't been paying attention. We don't have rice in our garden! Although, perhaps next year...

No, the rice is from a box.

And delicious.

Serving recommendation: Serve with tall glasses of really cold iced tea (Just plain tea. Not some fancy ylang-ylang flavored tea. And absolutely NOT Snapple tea, please.)

Picture of the Day

Gettin' fresh in the garden.

We don't know if these bugs are beneficial or not. They eat our beans (see tomorrow's Picture of the Day) but they pollinate our squash. They look kind of like yellow, oval-ish ladybugs. Do you know what they are?