Scott invented a new tomatillo dish. It’s savory and spicy, with browned pork.
Does that look good, or what? I love the colours of this fruit.
We have 2″ of snow today, so I think the fruits I picked yesterday were the last of the season. But I fear not: plenty of skeleton husks on the ground tell me there will again be volunteers in 2011!
This year for the first time since I was a child, I grew corn. I had never tried to grow corn in Seattle. Being a long season crop that appreciates consistent warm weather, corn is not well adapted to the Pacific Northwest. And yet, who can call herself a farmer if she doesn’t at least try to grow corn?
Because I did not expect a definite success, I opted for two unusual varieties – ‘Indian’ corn and popcorn. ‘Indian’ or ‘ornamental’ corn are two of the many names for the beautiful, multi-coloured corns you usually see hung up as decoration. This corn dries on the cob and, in fact, may be ground into flour. I’ve always wanted to try this. Popcorn is a corn variety with an especially tough outer shell that does not allow the moisture to escape from the hull until it actually rupture and everts the shell. Cool.
Despite the cruddy year we had, the corn germinated, grew ‘knee-high by 4th of July’ (a good measure of whether it will mature before season’s end), and produced beautiful cobs. Cliche though it is, the critters noticed they were ripe before I did. I lost the best to nighttime visitors, but protected the remainder with homemade cages from leftover hardware cloth and metal twine.
I will continue to let the corns dry and report back when I’ve used them for food!
For fresh basil taste after garden season has closed, I freeze basil. No, basil does not hold up well to freezing.
The trick is to freeze it in water.
I coarsely chop basil and pack it in ice cube trays before covering with water and freezing. When I’m ready to unleash the basil flavour, I pull out a cube or two. I either pop them whole into soups, stews, or sauces, or melt the cube to use just the basil.
It smells, and tastes, incredibly fresh!
Stink bugs make love on my raspberries. Seriously. I can’t fault them – if I was their size, I would, too – my berries are plump and attractive. They do not appear to be damaging the fruit, merely patrolling it (when not fornicating). In addition to the green-and-brown variety, a tiny black-and-?yellow? variety is even more common on my fruit. When I pick a berry I try my best to blow off the bug. Occasionally I get a yucky-tasting berry (stink), but otherwise we don’t bother each other.
Sustainable Scientist 