Mid November

The ground is still workable and the garden harvest, clean up and canning continue.  Last year the first snow was Nov. 20 and the garden was put to bed by the 6th.  Though we are behind schedule, so is winter!

Due to the overgrowth of tomatoes, new products are emerging from our kitchen.  5 quarts of BBQ sauce from Sara's favorite cookbook
"Sacramental magic in a small town cafe."

Plus 3 pints of tomato paste!  Just puree tomatoes in the crock pot for a couple of days. This is the end of the green harvested - studio ripened tomatoes that are usable. The rest...into the compost.  Our studio floor is now open for yoga!

What happened is that my heritage tomatoes planted from seed went from beautiful and lush to "OMG what is wrong with the tomato plants" prior to transplanting in the garden. Hindsight Sara thinks we need more air circulation in the nursery - it looked fungus like. I was teaching in the Badlands so she did two things: re potted ALL of the tomato plants (I think there were between 40 and 50 - you never know how many will survive!); PLUS she bought and planted more tomato plants in case none of them survived.  And our friend Kathleen gave us her extra plants!  They ALL survived and we have been canning tomato products like crazy!

Friday I harvested the remaining Kale. It was a difficult kale year. Little flea beetles would eat the seedlings (one tiny hole at a time) until there was nothing left to grow.  There were about 4 plants that produced well. I will just cook it up and not bother to freeze any this year.

Some went into mom's favorite Whole Foods "super food salad" and some into the harvest bread pudding (brussel sprouts, carrots, turnips, sweet potato).  I also used the top of the brussel sprout head instead of cabbage in the salad.  It seemed to work. There were a few cherry tomatoes left to put in the salad.  I added red quinua for even more super food.

There were still brussel sprouts in the ground until Sunday (18th).  These are the tallest I have ever grown.  They produced a lot!  Some went into the roasted vegetable bread pudding and a quart bag worth blanched and into the freezer.








The garden is officially put to bed for the winter.  It is a bittersweet feeling.  Gratitude for the harvest and for beating winter with a thorough clean up - yet a melancholy as we all (garden and tenders) head into the darkness for reflection and regeneration until spring.