May 17, 2014 - Garden Expansion Completed

The garden expansion is finally finished.

May 11, 2014 - The Garden Plan

Tomatoes

1. Old German - Large striped orange/yellow fruit
2. Indigo Rose - Medium sized deep purple almost blue fruit
3. Black Krim - Medium  sized dark red fruit
4. Goldie Yellow - Large yellow fruit
5. Green Zebra - medium to smaller green and yellow stripped fruit
6. Grape - small red bunches
7. Polverini x 3 - an local heirloom plum, unique to Downingtown

Peppers:

1. Bulgarian Carrot - Orange carrot shaped, medium spice
2. Hades Hot - Cayenne, hot
3. ???  - The tag got lost on the way home, but my best guess is an Aleppo Pepper
4. Shishito - Spicy Japannese pepper
5. Grenada Seasoning - Not spicy version of Habenaro
6. Corno di Toro - Large horn-shaped sweet pepper
7. Carmen - Another roasting pepper
8. Golden Bell x 2 
9. Yellow Bell
10. Red Bell

Other Vegetables:

Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Eggplant, Pole Beans, Bush Beans, Cucumbers, Dragon Carrots, Watermelon Daikon Radish, and Spinach.

Herbs: 

Italian Basil, Lime Basil, Purple Basil, Greek Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Mace, Chives, and Cilantro.

May 10, 2014 - Everything Planted

Yesterday I took my annual trip to the West Chester Growers Market to buy what plants I didn't start from seed.  It was a good haul, and I seem to have gone overboard with the peppers this year.  The vendor for the Chile Spot has a very awesome list of chili peppers this year.  Last year I purchased the Grenada Seasoning pepper from him and was blown away by its unique flavor.  So I'm trying out a few more.

Here's the haul from the WCGM.

I had some help putting them all in.

 Here's a shot of the garden from the deck.  Then 4 new beds gave me more room to play with.

Chili Pepper and soon to be cucumbers/beans in the back, and squash and some peppers in the front.

Bell peppers and soon to be beans in the back, and all the tomatoes in the front.  The herbs are in pots in the corner.

April 13, 2014 Starting Seeds

I located my setup int he basement because that was the only place in the house where I had enough room. The challenge with the basement was how cold it is in March.  Because of this, the heating mats was essential to keep the soil temp high enough for germination (70°-90°).  Two 20"x20" mats were enough for 4 flats, but I only needed 3.

The two ratchet straps are connected to eye hooks screwed into the beams in the ceiling.  This gives me lots of flexibility to keep the height of the light just above the growing plants.  The light itself is connected to a timer I had laying around that I use for Christmas lights.

The heating mats are plugged into a thermostat that is designed specifically for the mats.  There is a temperature probe that comes off the thermostat that you place in the soil.  It simply shuts off power to the mats when the desired temperature is reached - without this piece the mats just constantly run when plugged in.

Here are the components of my setup.  It's not a budget system but it's not top of the line one either.  My goal was to have it around for a few years.

T5 EnviroGo 4' 4 x Tube Light

Two  20" x 20" Heating Mats

Heating Mat Thermostat

Ratchet Hangers

Timer

Flat Trays without holes

It's been running for nearly a month now and it seems to be working really good.  Here are some progress pics of the Polverini Tomatoes - the local heirloom variety that started inspired me to start my garden from seeds this year. More on that later...

April 9, 2014 - A Late Start

The 2013-2014 winter was the second snowiest on record - a total of 67.4" fell in the Philadelphia area and I suspect that is on the low side for Downingtown. All that snow is now gone and Spring is here. Unfortunately, because the winter weather continued late into March, I am behind schedule this year getting the garden cleaned up. It was VERY swampy until this past weekend but after spending the first warm weekend out doors it is now ready to go.

While cleaning up I noticed there were some onion-looking things sprouting in suspiciously neat rows.  I think these may be the leftover ramps from last years market.  I wonder if they multiplied?

Here is the tentative plan for this year:
8 Tomatoes
9 Peppers
2-4 Cucumbers
3 Eggplant
1 Zucchini
1 Yellow Squash
And a rotating crop of salad greens

I'm trying my hand at successive plantings this year of some of salad greens.  It's always something that I intend on doing but this year I'm planting 5 Watermelon Daikon Radishes and 5 Merlot Lettuce seeds every weekend for a month - the first set went in on April 5th.  As soon as I get some spinach seeds I'll work them into the mix too.

The biggest experiment this years is a new setup I have for starting seeds. I'll add another post detailing the setup, but I have 18 Polvarini Tomatoes, 18 Green Zebra Tomatoes, 3 Rosa Blanco Eggplant, 18 Grenada Seasoning Peppers, 6 Golden Bell Peppers, and 6 Yellow Bell Peppers - all of which are doing well.   The biggest lesson so far has been how slow the peppers grow.  I really should have started them 2-4 weeks earlier I think.

August 18, 2013 - Tomatoes Everywhere!

The tomato season is starting to wind down. But since I was not good at updating this blog in the end of the summer I thought I'd post some of the harvest pictures for posterity.

July 25, 2013 - Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Tonight's Farmers Market Dinner:

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Nothing beats a roasted fresh chicken - it made the whole house smell like Thanksgiving!

 I really wish Blogger would give me rotation control over my photos.  They appear fine everywhere until I upload them.  Anyway...  Here's my haul from the market.

 1. Prepared the chicken but quartering an onion and plucking some herbs from the garden.  I used sage, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Placed some of the herbs, garlic, and onions in the cavity. I then stuffed a little butter and herbs under the breast skin.  I finished by lightly drizzle of olive oil and salt/pepper over the bird.

2. I quartered a small yellow squash. I added them along with the whole carrots, and carrot greens to the base of the roasting pan.

3. Roasted the chicken at 400 degrees.


4. While the bird was cooking I boiled the potatoes and made  rosemary smashed potatoes.  Simply boil them and mash them (with the skins on) with a little butter, chicken stock, and rosemary.

5. While the chicken rested, I made a quick gravy with the drippings. It was a little rioux, some more herbs (minus the sage) and the drippings from the roasting pan.

6. A simple platting with the carrots acting as a wall between the veg and chicken/smashed potatoes.

August 8, 2013 - Eggplant Parmesan

Tonight's Farmers Market Dinner:

Eggplant Parmesan

Making a tomato sauce:

I had a ton of tomatoes at this point, and the intent was to cook a large vat of sauce and use a small amount for the eggplant.  I did not start it early enough and by the time I had peeled and mashed a small fraction of the paste tomatoes it was getting late - and I still hadn't started the eggplant.  So I cut my losses and made just enough for the eggplant parm.  

1. Get a big pot of water to a rolling boil, this will take a while so start it first and early.
2. Cut an X at the bottom of each tomato.
3. Boil the tomatoes for just a few seconds, 10-30 at most.  And then immediately transfer them into a bowl of ice water.  This should make peeling the tomatoes much easier.


4. Add the peeled tomatoes to a saucepan and cook them down.  They should start to fall apart and lose their moisture.  I used a wooden spoon and a potato masher to break the up once cooked a little. I was going for simple chunky sauce, but if I was going for something thinner with a more consistent texture I'd throw the whole lot into a food processer at this point.

5. The sauce was real simple: dried oregano, salt and pepper. A little bit of chopped basil at the end.

Preparing the eggplant:

1. Take off the skin with a vegetable peeler, and slice into 1/2 inch thick rounds.

2. Lay the slices on a layer or two of paper towels and sprinkle salt over the top and bottom.

3. Let the slices sit for 15-20 minute to allow the bitter moisture to ooze out.

Salted

You can clearly see the moisture oozing out.  Wipe both sides down with another set of paper towels to remove both the moisture and remaining salt.

4. Prepare a dredging station with three bowls:

•  The first with just flour
• The second with a couple of eggs beaten, with a few tablespoons of water to stretch the egg if need.
• The third with seasoned breading.  I used panko, seasoned salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, and a little parmesan.

5. Coat each slice with flour, egg, and breading and set aside on a sheet of parchment.

6. Fry in hot vegetable oil until browned on both sides. This is best done in batches and

7. Set aside cooked eggplant slices on a cooling rack. This should stop them from getting soggy while the rest cook.

8. Top them off with some of the sauce and mozzarella cheese and bake until it's hot and cheese is melted.

9. I plated the eggplant parm with sliced cherry tomatoes, caramelized onions, parmesan cheese, and fresh oregano.

June 27, 2013 - Boerewors Sausage and Cold Couscous Salad

Several weeks delayed, but here is (was) Tonights Farmers Market Dinner:

Boerewors Sausage and Cold Couscous Salad

Boereswors sausage is a traditional South African sausage made from beef, pork, bacon, red vinegar, nutmeg, allspice and, cloves. I've never hear of it let alone cooked it before finding it at the Canter Hill Farm's booth at the market.  It was different from many other sausages I've had in not only flavor but texture.  It seems to be light in fat and therefore felt drier - although not in a bad way. Great flavor that was not overwhelming, I would highly recommend trying it.

The final product.

The honey was not used, but here are the sausage, parsley and cookies from the market.

1. Added the uncooked couscous to some heated olive oil, and stirred to give it a light toasting.
2. Added the chicken stock and cooked the couscous according to the directions.

3. After it was cooked I set the couscous aside and let it cool to room temperature.
4. Once cooled, I added some chopped tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden along with the parsley from the market.

5. Meanwhile, outside I grilled the sausages.
6. Sliced the sausages and plated them around the couscous salad with two kinds of mustard.

June 20, 2013 - Downingtown Farmers Market Dinner: Canter Hill Pork Chops

Tonight's Farmers Market Dinner:

Grilled Canter Hill Farm Pork Chop with Cherry-Balsamic Reduction, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes and Grilled Summer Squash.

Last week was a bust: severe thunderstorms and preparing for a trip to upstate New York made me miss the market for the first time.   This week however,  I was fortunate enough to get to the market nice and early to get the first pickings.  Today, I decided to splurge on some pork chops from Canter Hill Farm.  They were pretty pricey at $13 a pound, but the meat was superior and the results were very delicious.

This week's bag: cherries, potatoes, a zucchini, a small onion, and the chops.

1.  The chops came sealed and frozen, so as soon as I got home I tossed them into a bowl of cool water to begin defrosting.  I don't know if this method is approved by the Health Inspector, but it allowed me to quickly defrost the chops in a (reasonably) safe manner.

2. Chopped up the potatoes.  Drizzled them with some olive oil.  And tossed them in rosemary from the garden, and salt & pepper.  Roasted them at 400 for about 45 minutes.

3. While the potatoes were cooking, I began the reduction:

a.) Minced half of the onion and sauteed it in some butter, salt & pepper. over medium heat.

b.) I cranked up the heat a bit and added some sherry.  Let that sit for a few minutes

c) Added a little stock, balsamic vinegar, and pitted,quartered cherries.

d.) Let that reduce for about 30 minutes (I think) while stirring it every few minutes.

Here's what the cherry balsamic reduction looked like when it was all finished.

4. The squash were cut about 0.25 inches thick and lengthwise.  Tossed in a little oil and S&P.

5. The thawed pork chops got dusted with a little S&P and some chopped sage.

 6.  I let the squash cook for a few minutes before I dropped the chops.

7. About 6 minutes one one side then 5 on the other and it was done.  I let it rest about 10 minutes while I plated the squash and potatoes.  I garnished it was a cherry that was sliced to allow the sage/parsley bundle sit in.