Moving Time!

Greg and I found a duplex in Wallingford that has a chest freezer and an area for gardening - two things that really make me excited (the chest freezer may not be so obvious, but I've been having a massive problem with food storage when it comes to all the foraging I've been doing lately). There is also a cute sauna in the bathroom, but I really don't know how much use it would get. The upstairs apartment has a hot tub that is outside, that they said they'd be willing to let us use anytime, and that is more tempting. This apartment is also $100 less per month - it's only downside really is the fact that it's a 'daylight basement' apartment. There isn't enough daylight in Seattle for an upstairs apartment, let alone this one, but alas - I suppose I need to invest in some good lighting (this apartment actually has lights on all the ceilings, which seems to be rare here and nice).

Next I have to figure out what to do about the little garden area out back. No one has done anything with it in many years, and I hear that there are just some flowers and weeds that grow back there. The landlord actually mentioned ripping it out and letting it go to lawn, but I quickly assured him that I would be using it.

But what to do with it at this late point in the season? I've been helping out on the UW farm - if not for that, I would have thought it was far too late to do anything with it (I'm from Wisconsin, you don't do anything at this point to a garden other than harvest what you already have and maybe throw on some compost!). But I've learned that there are options - winter vegetables and cover crops. I'm actually not certain that I can START even the winter veggies right now, but maybe fava beans or the cover crop. I just signed up for the 'green team' at the UW farm - they're the ones that decide what crops, where, and when they go in. This should be helpful in my planning my own garden - I just hope they start meeting soon.

If not this year, then next year I will have a better idea on what can and can't be planted as well (and of those that can be planted, which do the best). The UW farm practices 'natural pesticide deterrents' - or something like that, I forget the correct terminology. Basically, growing things in certain areas that naturally deter pests from other plants, is what I'm getting at.

We grow a ton of things on the farm, and I've seen what has done well and not so well there. The quinoa, I'll have to ask about, but I don't think it ever did real well - sure, it grew quite large and had a lot of seed on it (grain), but I don't know if it ever changed the correct 'color' before it was time to harvest it, or if all the aphids finally took them all out. It's hard to know these things since harvesting is seldom announced and even when things aren't finished (like the ton of green tomatoes that were growing in patches around the farm) they get ripped out and a new crop of something else is planted. Maybe they're sticking to schedule, or maybe someone is overly anxious about rotating crops, I don't know, but it annoys me when a crop that wasn't finished is suddenly gone the next day. At least they announced that the tomatoes were being pulled.

The potatoes had fungal issues, but some of them still produced quite well. I don't think I'd plant them though as organic potatoes seem easy (and cheap) enough to get from the co-op. The peas even had an issue because someone vandalized them one night, but obviously, that wasn't a growing issue. Still, I'm not sure if beans and peas are something I want to plant either. The corn didn't grow well - I don't want corn though. The cucumbers did ok, but I think they would've done much better with some extra watering.

So what DID grow well? Well - tomatoes (though they didn't ripen before being ripped out), carrots, kale, chard, joi choy, kalarabi, beats, radishes, lettuces, spinach, eggplant, artichoke?, sunflowers, fava beans, squashes, turnips, brussel sprouts, chives, onions, leeks, tomatillos, basil and other herbs, rhubarb, strawberries, etc. The artichoke - I think there was only one, and I certainly didn't get to eat it. We have a fig tree, raspberry and blackberries bushes, a black currant bush, and gooseberries as well.

From this, I've learned that I LOVE kale, and it grows really well. The chard, lettuces, and spinach too. These last three things are great for a home garden because you can then just go pull it when you need it - generally (for me at least) it doesn't take them long to go limp in the fridge, so fresh is far better! Beets are definitely a go for my garden, and probably eggplant and brussel sprouts too. Definitely onions, and maybe leeks. Ok, I've started my list... now I need to figure out what I should do at this point in time...

I saw this guy hiking (this is my excuse to throw in a picture) -

Foraging for mushrooms can have its downsides -

Perhaps somewhat ironically, after going off the trails and trekking over fallen trees, over creeks, through patches of devils club... I fall when I step back onto the trail because the little man-made 'bridge' I'm stepping onto was wet and covered in slime algae that was very slippery.

It was all worth it, but I'm saddened that mushroom season seems to be coming to a fast end. Of course, we didn't get much rain this year during the right times, so the mushrooms weren't as plentiful as in other years (not that I've been out other years, this truly is my first 'mushrooming' year, but I've heard...).

Take a look at this beauty. The King Bolete, Poricini, Boletus edulis. This is the largest specimen I found, and I expected it to be full of worms...
(sorry for the robe, my husband insisted on pictures at inopportune moments)



Another cool photo:


I found matsutakes, quite by accident really, and I don't think they're plentiful in the area I was in (I found 4, in 2 locations off the same trail, even after going back and thoroughly going through the smallish area). They're good, but I'm not in total awe - in fact, since the veil wasn't broken, I contemplated selling the other three (best price for unbroken veil). But that seems like too much work, and ethically, I'm not sure I want to go there anyways. Probably somewhat unsurprisingly, my favorite mushroom is the porcini. I've cooked it in several ways now - all very good. I've got a lot of it dried as well, probably not enough to get me through the winter though. The only mushroom that may change to my favorite when I finally get to try it is Sparassis crispa, or the cauliflower mushroom. I've heard really good things about it, yet haven't been lucky enough to come across one. I really like Hericium (the Bears Head, Bears Tooth, Lions Mane), and it's probably my second favorite. A surprising favorite was Russula xerampelina - the Shrimp or Woodland Russula. It seems somewhat plentiful, so I'd recommend not foregoing them when out hunting for other mushrooms.