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Author: theMan
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Out of the Garden Today – February 24, 2015
Arugula and Ruby Streaks overwintered in the hoop house and with all the recent sunshine, they are exploding. Which means plenty of fresh salads. Happiness is picking greens moments before you eat them. The best food doesn’t come from the store, it comes out of your own garden.
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Nakedness Becomes You
It’s always fun to get naked. Whether alder logs find it as exciting to strip down as we do, maybe not. Alder logs do have a sense of shame. When they get naked, they turn crimson with embarrassment. Either that, or they tan easily. See how red the log at the top is, and it’s only partially naked.
Which looks nicer? The clothed or naked alder logs? I used a blade knife from Lumber Jack Tools to peel the bark off a future log post.
The bark curls make great mulch and path beds. Cover a path with them, and they sop up the moisture, and make a fresh fragrant path.
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Monsters Stirring Out of the Ground
Yesterday it was nettles popping out of the earth. Today it is rhubarb pushing out of the soil. Rhubarb unfolds like a monster rising from a deep sleep. At this early stage, it looks like an alien fungus threatening to take over the world. The leaves don’t look like leaves. They look like deformed, wrinkled green stones. But once they shake the soil out of their folds, they will quickly rise and become bold, fragrant, massive leaves.
Few things are as satisfying as sauce made from just-cut rhubarb stocks. It’s a staple here from spring into early summer. You can put it on most any dish from rice to roasted potatoes to meats to vegetables to ice cream. During hot summer days, the chickens seek shade under their tall, spreading leaves.
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The First Nettles or What’s for Dinner Tonight
Each week there is something new to celebrate. This week it is nettles. Yesterday I saw some nettle nips for sale in the store, so today I went to check on our nettle patches, and discovered many nettles sprouting. Tonight’s dinner will be a celebration of the first nettles of the season.
Nettles (Urtica dioica) are rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium. The Bottle Inn in Dorset, England, has a raw nettle eating contest. That I will leave up to you to try.
Japanese celebrate many firsts during the year. The excitement on yesterday’s weather report was that the first strong wind of spring might blow. Today, February 22, it was official. Parts of Japan recorded the first 春一番 (haru ichi ban) of the year, which translates to “the first one of spring”. It is not any strong wind. It has to meet these conditions:
- It has to blow at least 8 meters a second (nearly 18 miles and hour).
- It has to blow from between the east south east to west south west.
- It has to blow on a day warmer than the day before.
- It has to blow between the start of spring (February 4 this year) and the spring equinox (March 21 this year).
There are many wonderful “firsts” to celebrate each month. Tonight it will the first nettle soup of 2015. Soon it will be the first rhubarb of the year followed by the first asparagus. Those should be national holidays.
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Almost Grown
Miasa has been a mother for over three months now. Her chicks are mostly on their own, but occassionaly they spend time together. Here she is with one of her sons, enjoying the sunshine yesterday. Of all the hens who have reared chicks, she has spent more time raising her chicks than any other hen.
