Day 75-80

Miss me? Was it as hard on me as it was on you? Probably, I missed hearing myself talk/write ;) Enough catch up, let's get down to biz. The beginning of the week was consumed with Tayto's (said with Irish accent). Daniel and I weeded the sweet taters on Saturday in lower field. On Tues Cory used the potato digger in Newborn and we walked behind the van to pick them all up...all...quite the work out.

Tater Digger

Oh sweet...

In The Box

-1.5# Heirloom Tomatoes

-1 pint Cherry Tomatoes

-1 bag Baby Arugula

-1# Summer Squash/Zucchini OR 1# Cucumbers

-1 bunch Carrots

-1 bunch Baby Fennel

-1# Green Beans OR 1 pint Blackberries

-1 bunch Baby Leeks

-1 bunch Bouquet garnishes (parsley, tarragon, thyme, rosemary)

Planting wise we started leeks, summer crisp lettuce and sunflowers in the Greenhouse.  Erica and I transplanted leeks in the hoophouse which looked like we were planting single blades of grass. Sandy won some free compost tea raffle, I know, weird raffle. Compost tea is made by steeping compost in water for 3–7 days. It was discovered in Germany...crazy Germans. This stuff was so hot it radiates heat. Anywho, hoophouse 2 got a total compost makeover cause we spread almost all of it and then some.



Indian corn: Unlike field corn varieties, which are
 harvested when the kernels are dry and mature (dent stage),
 sweet corn is picked when immature (milk stage) and prepared and eaten as a veggie, rather than a grain. Since the process of maturation involves converting sugar to starch, sweet corn stores poorly and must be eaten fresh, canned or frozen, before the kernels become tough and starchy. It's delish.

Little known eggieplant facts: eggplant's are high in histamines (Lord knows I don't need that). Studies have shown eggplant is effective in the treatment of high blood cholesterol. Eggplant is richer in nicotine than any other edible plant. Smoke it! Just kidding folks and kids, stick to cigarettes. 





Fennel is pretty awesome, not only does it look like a fancy fan, fennel improves eyesight, digestion, and helps breast feeding ladies. Can be eaten raw or cooked (as shown by the model below) or used as a breath mint!

Canning Time! You heard me! We made spicy ketchup with Chef Andrew in Penny and it was super fun times in the kitch and I loved hanging out with these guys. First, Erica and I sterilized the jars and lids because it can get dangerous if you don't, people are eating this food, people. Then Chef Andrew added the secret ingredients (okay, maybe not so secret but I forgot them) and I helped stir. They left me stirring for awhile and I got worried, but they came back eventually.

Best not to pour the sauce all the way to the top but leave an inch at least, and make sure to wipe off any mixture on the top where it would be sealed. Some weren't sealed properly so we had to check each one after we were done, you turn until it catches then another quarter turn (not too tight or too loose). They were put in boiling water with a rack underneath for about 10 mins. Apparently the rack stops them from cracking, no one wants crack where canning's concerned.

Focus Kathy, focus

Afterdoodle we celebrated with Andrew's cherry brandy he infused himself. Along the shelf he's experimented with a lot of fruit and liquor to add to food/dishes/shots. We also got a peek at the wine cellar below the kitchen where members can rent lockers.

On Friday we harvested like maniac's and then had canning challenge 2012! Here's the rules: we had to use tomatoes. They had to be cooked. It had to be in a jar. And that's it. Pretty open to interpretation huh? Chef Andrew, Penny and Merry judged to determine the winner. The prize: an extra day off!

Ended up Cory made salsa, Jason did a sauce mix and Erica a pizza sauce. I did a blackberry salsa, sweet and spicy, like me. They judged and put their spoons next to the winner. And...I won!

Nigella is one of my fav's also called Love in the Mist (fancy)

Celosia

Finished off the week with these beauty's

Day 74

Indigo's are Ripe!

Whew! What a market harvesting cra-zy day. The camera dude came bright and early and shot us in Jeff Cook field. He spent a hot min filming me picking beans. Okay, so that was boring, but the puppies came to say hi and he filmed that too. Once we were done harvesting in JC, we went to Newborn field to harvest potatoes. That's where I told Cory I put a small purple potato in his M&M bag cause I was wondering if he ate it, he said he didn't know but probably.

Tomato Purgatory

After Newborn came blackberry lovin time, the camera guy was still there at this point and chowed down on some blackberries. Then off to lower field to pick millions of tomatoes. Millions. Also, in a segment I call (just made up) new guy on the farm: peppers. We picked Shishito's, and here's why they're cool, it's the Russian roulette of peppers. One in every ten is spicy...great for parties.

Shishitos (no, I didn't cuss)

Next, we went back to the barn and camera dude left with enough footage for ten movies by this time. Jason brought lunch and then we went back to harvesting after a 30 min break. First I sorted tomatoes while Erica and Cory went to get more produce (carrots and such, not really sure where they went). I bunched the leeks and onions then headed with Cory to harvest okra and flowers.

Last and least, we all made bouquets. I was exhausted...not from the bouquets, mostly from the other events. Oh, and I think the Georgia Outdoor show will air sometime in September, I'll let you guys know. I'd hate for you to miss my big bean picking debut!

Day 73

I'm famous! Or at least, I will be. Georgia Public Broadcasting came to Burge to do their Georgia Outdoors segment on farms. They interviewed Cory in various locations while we wheel hoed in the background. I thought about breaking into a dance routine and throwing up some jazz hands to attract attention, but I refrained...better left to Saturday nights. They are coming back tomorrow to shoot us harvesting for market; they were going to have us pretend to harvest, so I was going to hone in my acting talents from a play in kindergarten, but in the end we just wheel hoed. I'm not sure when it will air, probably many months from now, the woman said they'd come back when the sunflower field is in bloom to take some more shots (which is late July). I'd also like to note on their site that the woman is wearing the same clothes she wore here, I'm thinking that's her "outdoor TV outfit".

Three Sisters (well, two sisters one's on vaca)

Buckwheat

 

In Main House field there's a Buckwheat cover crop that's there to replace the Nitrogen in the soil (non-legume family Polygonaceae). The process is called Nitrogen fixation and it occurs naturally in the air by means of lightning. It's really neat because there's a million bees and other pollinators over there keeping the farm in business. And Erica's three sister's corn and bean crop circle is coming up! 

After we became celebrities, we went to Gus' field for more hoeing. There were some soybean plants there that were being eaten by a cute bunny family we always see. Rabbits bite the plant at an angle, deer just grab the plant and pull. A deer jumped over the tall wooden fence and pulled down the electric wire with him in Gus', Bambi really wanted some squash! Our next destination was Jeff Cook field. We met up with Elizabeth the volunteer and weeded the onions while Erica sprayed Deer Off around the corn. The guys went to the canning session and we went to lunch.

Upon return we put together an order for Farmer's Fresh and headed back to Jeff Cook. Erica and I fertilized the corn and cut down a forest of pigweed, while Elizabeth and Cory weeded the onions. Oh, and we got to eat some of the corn that was ready :) good times.

Pizza? Hold the beef on mine.

Tonight was pizza night and I guess it's more popular than we thought because the cow from next door came over.  

Day 72

Today we started out by harvesting tomatoes in the hoop house, cause we needed more of those sweet cherries for the CSA. Then Erica and I headed back to the barn to pack up, clean up, bunch it up before the crew headed to Jeff Cook field. There we harvested kale, chard, zinnias and the green beans (that the kudzu bugs were loving up on).

We ran back to the barn, well okay we took the truck, to finish cutting the garlic. After we packed the boxes we hurried off to lunch before joining chef Andrew in the kitchen. He was supposed to show us how to can cucumbers and I got super excited, but then we only helped him and Penny cut the cucumbers. Tomorrow they will actually do the recipe canning stuff, which I guess intern Jason and Daniel will help out with. All the same it was a nice change of scenery and we chatted it up with Andrew and Penny. Andrew is from England, comes with the accent and everything.

After that we picked okra and met up with Jason to harvest tomatoes while Daniel fertilized. Then I realized we had worked another 12 hour day and it was time to call it quits!

Mixed with cucumber lime and salt overnight

Day 71

Picking up in the Pick up

Me and my pick-up truck, I'm sure there's a country song for that as there should be. Something nice about riding along in the back, element of danger with the potential to face plow to the ground over one bump. I like it! This morning, Erica and I picked up squash, zucchini, and cucumbers in lower field, the striped zucchini's have made a come back, it's about time zuc's! All these veggies are fragile and get cuts and scrapes easily, so we put them directly into the bins and then load them on the truck.

I'm iridescent, jealous?

Carrot time! In hoop house 6, after months of waiting, harvested some beautiful large carrots. So tasty! We bunched 87 then moved to hoop house 1 to gather the rest of the pac choi. The choi had my favorite modern-arty looking bug harlequins (which I've previously posted about), despite their cool exterior they were eating the pac choi so they had to go. Yesterday we saw Cory's fav bug the tiger beetle. These guys are good predators, eating up the "bad" bugs; they also run crazy fast, the equivalent to us running 480 mph.

We did some bunching and washing before we loaded up with baskets to pick the blackberries. Cory's daughter's joined us and made it more entertaining as only 3 kids under 6 can do. After that record heat picking time we went to lunch.

Part II, went to harvest some kale, chard and zinnia's to bunch with basil. I was on zinnia duty and picked out the creme de la creme. We came back and got Cory's delivery boxes ready then headed to plant more tomatoes, water the greenhouse, and trellis. And done.

Note: Things are picking up around here and I'm thinking about going to a weekly blog to preserve my sanity, so this may be the last daily week.

Day 70

Burge pom poms

Today started out pretty rainy and then things went from bad to better, you thought I'd say worse didn't you? Shame on your Monday thinking. But really everything worked out because we needed to work in the hoophouses. We started out in Main House field picking okra (yay) only with the rain I actually sunk a foot into the ground (boo). After that fiasco we weeded the beans and peas, so long pigweed.

After

Next we ripped out the strawberries from the hoop house and the smell made me think about Erica's strawberry spaghetti, man I am always hungry around all these fruits and veggies! Then we ripped out the sunflowers (don't be sad, there are more planted) and pulled up the roots which is what you see us banging together to knock the dirt off before woods disposal. And then we's hungry so off to lunch.

Finally! Here's trellised tomatoes in lower field

When we got back Erica and I worked on replacing plastic row covers and planting cucumbers. Then we got an emergency tomato picking call from Cory. So off we go to lower field for harvesting 911. There were some not-so-hot looking tomatoes (tomatoes can get pretty gross kids) from bugs or blossom end rot. Then some interesting ones that were real lookers, I guess you have to take the good with the bad, like with people. In this case we throw the bad ones into the woods...come to think of it, there are some people I'd like to throw in there too.

Brains!!! (Our zombie tomatoes)