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The devil is in the details, the garage, the garden and my house

7/19/2022

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The season of weeding is coming to a close as the harvest begins. I had huge cucumbers hiding under the leaves that once were so little I thought maybe I should have planted another row to "Whoa, how are we going to pick them? There's no place to walk."

However, the weather has turned ugly hot, and it's been difficult to want to be outdoors in the heat and the humidity. These days my hair looks like dreadlocks as it curls and frizzes and cannot be combed.

So with the hot weather, the gremlins have arrived. First of all, there are grasshoppers galore in our garden. That might explain the snakes and toads I love seeing as I weed. Next, it's disease time for cucumbers, and we must be on guard for powdery mildew, especially with the high humidity.

The peas need picking; the beans need picking, the weeds need picking. Then there's my preemptive spraying of BT to keep the cabbage worms away from the last of my brassicas. And to top it all off, it's been one of those weeks. 

For some reason, all my commitments to speak, travel, do grants and have farm tours ended up these two weeks of July. To begin last week, there was a gust of wind after a downpour at the market and my canopy frame bent. That's bad, but it could have been worse if my friend Maggie hadn't grabbed it before it took out my neighbor's tent. I do have a spare somewhere, but still. Okay, we repurposed the frame after a little pounding to make a tent for my gooseberries. There are tons of berries, and birds and deer love them as much as I do. The first year I planned to pick, I couldn't sleep waiting for morning. When morning came, I grabbed a bucket at the crack of dawn and found that the bushes had been cleared of all fruit overnight. I was devastated. I still don't know whether it was the birds or the deer.

I had to drive to Bottineau on Friday and Strasburg on Saturday for some presentations.

So, on Thursday evening, the freezer in the garage took a dive. I had to allow my fruit to thaw and keep that in the fridge. But, it meant that not to lose it, I would have to make jam, jelly and pie after coming back from out of town. On Friday at 4:45 a.m., we are trying to make room in the refrigerator's freezers to save the grass-fed beef and chickens. 

On Monday, I'm still not done. The freezer we bought didn't work right away, and we are trying to figure out how you can spend $1,000 on a new freezer, and it doesn't freeze. So, we are still juggling food to save out investments. 

Life's little mishaps have entirely thrown off this week's schedule. My dear friend Pat used to say, "Life is maintenance, man." I should count my blessings that we are still in good health, able to weed the garden and reap the benefits. Here's to some cooler weather and a good hair gel.
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Spread your wings and learn to fly

7/14/2022

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Here are a few of the cakes that Claire made. At one time we wanted to start a bakery together. I wish we would have taken that leap of faith.
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Well, the cat's out of the bag. I'm going to be a grandmother again. It's the best news unless your new grandbaby is about 4.5 hours away because I love the smell of a newborn baby. 
 
It was a bit of a shock, I must say, because her firstborn will be 12 years old by the time the new baby is born. I'm very excited and a little apprehensive, as we all are at these times.
 
My daughter, Claire, was my first born. Her birthday is July 16. It was a Saturday night, and on Sunday was the annual Meidinger picnic in Wishek. Naturally, the doctor said I couldn't go. I was bummed as it was the first grandchild in our family. The first words out of the nurse's mouth as Claire arrived in the world were, "what a beautiful baby." She was, she is. 
 
As she grew out of the alien stage (everyone knows newborns look like aliens), not Claire, she looked like a Precious Moments doll. The compliments came so often that she just learned to say, "I know." My heart longs to go back to those days and experience them again.
 
I talked and sang to this little girl and took her everywhere. I sang the Gilbert O'Sullivan song, "Clair, the moment I met you, I swear. I felt as if something, somewhere, had happened to me which I couldn't see," etc. 
 
And this little ditty, "Oh little Claire, you're so sweet, you got teeny tiny hands and teeny tiny feet." That original poem was about hors d'oeuvres.
 
Claire didn't like to travel like her brother, so she stayed with friends or neighbors or at our home on weekends. Of course, as she grew into those teenage years, we ran into a bit of trouble here and there. Some days I didn't want to answer the phone for fear it was the principal at the high school or, worse yet, the truancy officer. 
 
Pretty soon, she was out of college, married, and had a child of her own. It was only then that I saw the products of her upbringing. She started baking cakes and decorating them for weddings and birthdays. WOW. Fondant characters depicting things like the Beatles' Yellow Submarine album cover or basketfuls of veggies for her farmer market mother. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
 
The parties she threw for her daughter were the most amazing. Rooms full of hand-made decorations based on the current trends – think Frozen and Dora. 
 
I have already started crocheting baby things in neutral colors. I know the baby daddy wants it to be a boy while everyone thinks it's a girl. I don't care. I want to be able to smell that baby and spoil that baby because the rest of those grandchildren didn't stay children very long. The other five grandchildren range in age from seven to 21. Where does that time go?
 
When you are in the thick of raising your children, and someone says, "Oh, cherish these moments; you will miss them when they are gone." 
 
And, you are thinking, "No way, get me out of here. I have not been in the bathroom alone or had a hot meal since the baby came."
 
Then the day comes when the nearly unbearable pain in your heart makes you realize just how precious those moments were, and you dig out those photo albums and wish you had written on the back of them like those same people said you should because you can't always remember when and where the photo was taken, and then you sigh, and think to yourself, "this is the way." 
 
So here's to cherishing every moment of every day and happy birthday to my firstborn.

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First large harvest of the season – garlic scapes

7/12/2022

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Those curly tops from garlic are fantastic as a mild garlic flavoring, pesto or hummus.


This summer's weather has been very unpredictable. I'm disappointed in my prowess as a gardener as there are many battles to fight this year. Mother Nature always wins.

As you may or may not know, as farmer market vendors, we educate the public on seasonal eating, canning, gardening and using everything that gardens provide. My first large harvest after the lettuce and Chinese cabbage is garlic scapes. Seeing how people react to the bunches of curly stems at the market is fun.

If you are a garlic grower, you know that garlic must be planted in mid-October, sometime around or shortly after the 15th of the month. It's planted deep, watered in and mulched to protect it from the coming winter. Then, we let Mother Nature take her course. 

In the spring, it begins to show itself under the mulch. Since garlic can tolerate light frost, it's time to uncover the bulbs. It's also time to add blood or bone meal for fertilization and water. Scapes will appear at the end of June.

It's best to clip them right away. Scapes are the seed pods, and we want all the garlic's energy to go towards the bulb hiding deep within the soil. By that, I mean when garlic grabs the earth, it's there for the duration.

Harvesting scapes does two things. It increases the size of the garlic, and you can use them instead of garlic in stir-fries, salads, loaves of bread, etc. Not only that, but one of my favorite things this time of year is garlic scape pesto. I eat it by the spoonful — no vampires in this household.

So, here is a recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto. Traditionally pesto is made with basil. I'm not too fond of the taste of basil, so this is a delight for sure. Use it as a dip for veggies or pita bread or toss it with hot pasta for a light evening meal.


Garlic Scape Pesto
• 8 garlic scapes (1/2 cup chopped)
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup walnuts (you can substitute sunflower seeds)
• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil, plus more if desired

Once you have processed your pesto, here is how you make a pasta dish.

How to Use Pesto Sauce
When you combine pasta with a refined sauce like pesto, the best pasta to use is one with holes or twists and turns that will sop up more of the sauce. Choose penne, fusilli, bucatini, campanelli, cavatelli, ditalini, but don't count out straight pasta like fettuccine if that's all you have.

Cook 1 pound of pasta of choice in salted water. When pasta is al dente, remove from the heat and drain.

In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup room-temperature pesto with 2/3 cup hot pasta water. 

Add drained pasta to the bowl and toss to combine. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Toss again and serve immediately.

Here's hoping you had a wonderful Fourth of July holiday. The Dog Days of summer are coming right up. Enjoy.



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    Sue B. Balcom

    Writing, or maybe talking, comes naturally to me and under the guidance of a great newspaper editor I have acquired skills that led me to author four books.
    I now return to my two loves market gardening and weaving.

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