Dog Days Begin

The Dog Days of Summer begin July 3rd at sunrise.
This is when the star, the dog star, Sirius, rises with the Sunrise.

Sirius is the brightest star in the consellation Canis Major, which means:  big dog.
Sirius also happens to be the brightest star in the night sky this time of year.
The ancient people related this stars brightness to the summer heat, like another little sun in the sky.
But all the summer heat really has nothing to do with this star. Its the tilt of the Earth toward the sun that brings on all the heat, but it does make for a good story.
I learned all this, thanks to Google.



The Dog Days begin relaxing summer days playing outside in the heat.
Getting up with the star Sirius at sunrise, to do the farm chores in the cool air, wearing boots
to keep the heavy dew off. Enjoying the siesta afternoons. Being out in the evening for the colorful sunset and seeing the flight of the fire-flys and the mosquito eating martins and bats.

Eating dogs, sausage dogs, grilled outside to keep that heat out of the house.


The food of the dog days,
grilled outside



Hoping you'll  have some lazy Dog Days of summer.

 

Discovering Fennel

Fennel is a vegetable I've never grown nor eaten. So this year fennel was on my list of trying to grow
something new or different, an experiment. This fennel was grown from seed in a tray and then
transplanted out into the garden.

A Fennel bulb

It took me a long time to try this Italian vegetable, finocchio, and to discover its many wonderful charactoristics.
The flavor is anise and is very intense when eaten raw, but like an onion, when saute/cooked the flavor becomes more subtle.  The flavor of cooked fennel is a light, delicate anise flavor. It has many nutrients from vitamin C, potassium, manganese, molybdenum, phytonutrients and antioxidants and only 26 calories in
1 cup.  The Greeks used to call fennel, maraino, "to grow thin".


I found a recipe in The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan
Finocchi all' olio  or Fennel braised in olive oil.
Braise the sliced fennel in a little oil, water and salt until soft and slightly browned.



Braised Fennel with Italian sausage
and a veggie pasta salad makes a great Italian meal.

Fennel can also be eaten for dessert as it tastes sweet, just like anise candy when sliced raw.
Imagine a sweet crunchy flavorful dessert with almost NO calories. What a discovery, Fennel!

June Apples

June Apples = Lodi apples = 1st apples of the Season




This apple tree
is as old as me
only thirty-three
ha


The Lodi apple is the earliest apple.
Ready to be picked in JUNE!
A soft tart apple perfect for applesauce.
Not for eating out of hand, as it is not crisp or sweet.

Lodi's can't be bought in stores, as they do not keep well.
They are best made into applesauce.
Visit your local apple orchards to get the best apples.

Lodi's skin is soft and thin which cooks down well.
If you like apple pies with soft apples, these
apples make it "easy as pie" to just core and slice them up
and freeze.  Then, during the cold months, layer a few
in a pie shell, add sugar and flour and cinnamon
and you've got a homemade apple pie.







The Queen of Applesauce



Finding a Cornichon

How to find a cornichon in the garden.

a cucumber plant

You go down the middle path of the garden on the left side of the compost pile to the dill patch
which is in front of the sweet peppers.
Go left and follow along the row of onions and the hot peppers to the end.
Then go right, and pass three rows of tomato plants on the right and you'll see the cucumber plants lying low with their big pentagon shaped leaves trying to keep the cucumbers shady, crisp and cool. If you gotten to the corn, you've gone to far. Go down the cucumber row on the side of the corn and look hard under those big leaves
for the perfect shaped pickle 1-3 inches long.
It may take a few plants, but I'm sure its there
hiding from the brillant sun. At the end of the cucumbers, you'll reach the squash, the yellow crooked-neck type. They are  easy to find, almost blinding you with their brightness.
Every garden is different and this garden will have a different design next year.  It is a yearly challenge
to find those perfect shaped 1-3 inch cucumbers that will become the tiny pickled cornichon
using a french recipe flavored with tarragon.

The cucumbers here are found in the left back corner.



Cornichons are a wonderful relish, or sliced on a sandwich.



Summer Solstice

Ah summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.
Sound familiar? as much as I say I won't complain about the heat, every year, I do.
But summer time is the best time!

Summer Solstice
The first day of summer is finally here
Friends, family, fun and beer
This is the longest day of the year

sunrise is 6:15 am
sunset is 9:04 pm
14 hours and 49 minutes of fun, hoeing, chopping, sweating, drinking a gallon of sweet tea,
pick'n a gallon of blackberries and a cool swim if I'm lucky enough to get down to the lake.


here are some photos from my summer day



Mr. steer wants my bucket, which he thinks is full of grain, but it just has a bunch of blackberries.



Lilies are looking lovely.
The white trumpet with the yellow center
is called, Lilium Black Dragon
found in China in 1900.






The Beautiful Green River Lake
is waiting for me to jump in and splash.





Bragging Rights

Bragging rights on the farm. Not the billion dollar gains on Wall street or the hole in one on the course
or finishing the 5K in under 20 minutes. Us country people have our own. Who got the biggest buck of the season, who grew the first red tomato or who grew three ears of corn on one stalk.
This year I'm bragging to the neighbors about the biggest head of broccoli grown in the garden and the most money got selling a ole' Hen at the local auction and  last year how I got the largest cat fish using a fishing pole and a worm.




This one Big Broccoli head will cost you more
at Traders Joe's
than the 100 broccoli plants I planted and grew.
The brocolli grew to 12.5 inches across.

 

Brandywine by June 25th weighing over a pound



$85.00 dollars gotten for one Hen and her just hatched chicks!!!!!

The Federal government states that a family of two adults spend about $350.00 - $650.00
per month depending on the kind of food bought: thrifty plan to liberal plan. The food stamp program provides $350.00 for food per month for two adults.
I'm going to brag that the garden, chickens, the beef steer and fishing and buying locally produced fruit and pork, hunting for turkey and venison and preserving and "putting up food", put our grocery bill for the month for two adults well under $100.00 a month!!!!! 






Celebrating the Harvest

 

Simple Summer Foods

Summer is about the simplicity of dishes.
Summer food celebrates the simple ingredients at their peak of flavor.

* Salads bowls filled with the freshest of the fresh vegetables of the season.

* Pies filled with just-picked fruit or berries.

Grilled Pizza

* Grilled Pizza's covered with garden vegetables.         

* Noodle salads with more veggies than noodles.

* Breads made with fresh herbs.

* One-dish meals: main course salads.

Find your largest bowl and fill with veggies, noodles, grated cheese and chopped herbs, add a dressing and enjoy.




Noodle salad with lots of veggies.



Enhance and enliven yourself with summertime favorite dishes with the freshest ingredients.
Support your local farmers and buy garden fresh food at your local farmers market.
Eat by the grace of your local farmers, not by agri-business.

Sauteed vegetables in olive oil with chopped herbs and greens.

As you can see, this is my favorite time of year to eat and eat and enjoy.
Oh, and its okay to eat tomatoes three times a day, with all your meals :)