Whats coming this fall

Hopefully pumpkins...

ghost pumpkins...

and butternut squash!

Daily Harvest

Squash squash and more squash

Late summer and always something to do

besides enjoy nature on a Sunday.

At the Farm Stand today...Recipes

Zucchini Latkes

1 large zucchini-halved, then each half quartered(seeds cut out & discarded) and grated

1 onion-chopped

1 or 2 or more cloves of garlic-minced

1 daikon radish(or radish of your choice)-finely chopped

¼ cup(more or less)basil-chopped

9 more or less sage leaves-chopped

1/3 cup of flour-buckwheat, Johny Cake Meal, wheat or flour of your choice

1 egg or just white or yoke(optional-if used add a little more flour. It makes it more like a pancake.)

salt and pepper to your taste

Make thin-ish patties adjusting ingredient levels if needed. Fry in high heat oil of your choice-Sunflower, Grapeseed, Coconut-on medium heat turning when browned. Add a pad of butter to flavor the oil while cooking(optional.)

Tip: Serve with sour cream, butter and salt, or even a little maple syrup.

This Weekend at Ivory Silo Farm Stand-recipe idea for ghost patty pan!

The birth of the White Scalloped Squash

Peering under the large squash leaves, one sees ghost patty pans in various stages of development.

This one is ready to pick!

However, tis the season to become overloaded with fresh produce. Calls to mind my bereavement over the Town Farm giving up the program that gave jobs to teens growing at and selling vegetables from the huge amazing garden they used to have. What a loss to the town as well as a loss of an amazing concept! In past centuries the property was known as the "poor farm" and it provided food and lodging to those in dire circumstances. If only there was a program to replace this.

As you know if you followed this blog in the spring, there were so many strawberries from our friends Jeff and Wendy's garden that they were begging us to take some. Now its blueberries from Geraldine and Tony and Squash from Ivory Silo, etc. Our freezers are all full of fresh berries and still more are coming. I just heard you can freeze grated zucchini. I guess that is my weekend project.

Our nephew and his fiance were telling us about a program she is starting in Aberdeen Washington called Plant a Row. They are encouraging people to plant a row in their gardens for charity. Imagine food banks with fresh produce as well as canned goods! Here I dont think people even need to plant a row. Imagine a program where people take their overage to a place those in need can come get it from. Or even, a program that employed teens to pick and bring the extra produce to the location. Oh happiness!

One!

Four!

Six!

And many more to come...

Now for the rewards of our hard work

Well there is always more to do, but now that we have made a huge mountain of weeds,

and harvested all that was ready or over ready,

and put up or fermented,

and cut and shelled...

...we can enjoy a feast with friends. Chicken bone broth vegetable soup with peas, flat bread with zucchini and caramelized onions, and roasted delicata squash.

Home from Alaska and lots to do in the garden...

Corn

This is popcorn. Its the first time I have tried to grow it, and its doing OK.

White Scalloped Squash

This is also new to me this year. Not the Zuke but the Ghost Patty Pan.

Pumpkin

This new garden is doing great. I thought we didnt have enough manure or compost, but we came back to quite a lot of growth.

Zucchini

Especially lots of Monster Zukes!

Seriously!

I mean it. I have a lot of Chocolate zucchini bread to make.

Right after we finish making this mountain of weeds.

Oregon Sky

From the passengers seat I saw the light and grabbed the shot to preserve the moment. If only such a thing was possible.

Pepper face.

Grown by Rosie and Peter in Oregon.

Moon over Space Needle

Alaskan Sky

And on the same day...

Only a short time later...

and then it darkens again...

On the same day within an hour.

Wrangell, Alaska

Alaskan Fog

Plants growing in pilings 

Be Mine

Our New Homestead...

...in Alaska, if things dont work out on the farm.

Barn Raising

Stairs! And in the field nearby...

A trip to the beach

Rose Hips

Dunes

Sunset

A walk to the river

On the way I found some turkey feathers;

the tide was high and the grass was green.

Medicinal Herbs on Ivory Silo Farm: Echinacea

Used to fight infections. Has anti-viral, anti-fungal properties. Promotes tissue growth and reduces inflammation. Increases immune function, so therefore could be contraindicated for auto-immune related disorders.

A New Garden

Planted

and mulched on a rainy day.

Some of these hills were planted last week and are starting to sprout seedlings.

Medicinal Weeds: St Johnswort, a treat during the long days of summer

You may know it as a remedy for depression, but it also is the herb to heal nerves. I put these flowers as they start to bloom in olive oil and leave them in the sun for 2 weeks. The oil should turn red. Use it to treat skin conditions like eczema or damaged nerves. I once knew someone who had lost his voice due to damage to the nerves connected to his vocal cords. A Doctor had told him he would never speak normally again. I had been studying the medicinal properties of herbs, but was finally in an herbal apprenticeship. I gave him St. Johnswort oil to rub on his neck and hypericum-homeopathic St Johnswort. Within 2 days his voice was better and within a week his problem was completely resolved.