a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • Odd Potato

    OddPotatoe

    Just because a potato is odd doesn’t mean it won’t taste good. It may be that the oddest potatoes have the best flavor. If you want funky, funny potatoes, you’ll probably need to grow them. Funky, funny potatoes don’t make it onto store shelves. Their destiny is compost bins and factory foods. To make it onto store shelves, potatoes can’t look like they have a mind of their own.

    This odd potato ended up turning into hashbrowns for breakfast. Now they don’t look so funky.

    Hashbrowns

    There are plenty of other odd vegetables in the garden. It’s time to glean leftover vegetables to prepare the beds for overwintering vegetables like shallots and garlic. These odd little onions and carrots, gleaned from a vegetable bed, will make a number of happy dishes.

    Gleaning

  • The Mystery of Kohlrabi

    KohlrabiBasket

    Some things are inexplicable. Like why isn’t kohlrabi served at every meal? Why isn’t kohlrabi seen in every shopping cart in supermarkets? Peeled and sliced, it is crisp and juicy, sweet and mild, the ultimate snack food, the most refreshing salad, the optimal side dish to any meal. It is so delicious, parents could use it to make their children behave. “Put that down this minute, or there will be no kohlrabi for you!” That would work one hundred percent of the time.

    KohlrabiSlices

  • Kohlrabi at Sunset

    EveningKohlrabiA

    Crowds gather along the shores to watch the evening sun set on the ocean, to see the fading light pull its glow over the islands and waves. Who rushes into the garden to see the sun slip its last rays through the kohlrabi? The evening sun makes the kohlrabi seem even more sensual. Could these possibly be the first photos ever posted of kohlrabi at sunset? I did several queries and didn’t find a single picture of a kohlrabi lit by the setting sun.

    There is a dearth of photos of vegetables glowing in the setting sun. No photos of cabbage, carrots, rubystreaks, or dried bean pods at twilight. During my search, I did learn that in Vermont, the night before Halloween is called Cabbage Night. Children go out into the fields to collect rotten vegetables, so that when they go trick or treating, they can toss the rotten vegetables at those who don’t give them a treat. Hopefully they leave the kohlrabi behind. A spoiled kohlrabi will crack a skull wide open.

    Maybe if they went out before sunset and saw how beautiful vegetable plants are when lit by the evening sun’s gentle rays, they wouldn’t think of throwing rotten vegetables.

    I better stop telling how beautiful vegetable plants are before there are hoards of photo snapping tourists, lined outside the gate, clambering to get in to photograph the vegetables at sunset.

    EveningKohlrabiB
    EveningCabbage
    EveningCarrots
    EveningRubyStreaks
    EveningBeanPod

  • It’s Done

    BridgeWorkA

    There wasn’t a cloud in the sky all day. By early afternoon the new bridge was done. The most time consuming part was pounding out the nails on the lateral boards. We recycled the boards left when we removed an old deck. With the bridge complete, the chickens, dog, and us have an easy walk to the other side. The bridge is 1.5 meters (4 feet 11 inches) wide and 3.65 meters (12 feet) long.

    MapleLeaves
    BridgeWorkB
    BridgeWorkC

  • A Season of Fiery Reds

    FallLeaf
    SkunkyOnNest

    Fall is the time of brilliant reds. On a sunny day, it looks like the leaves are on fire. I’m not sure the chickens are impressed. Many of them have combs redder and more brilliant than any leaf can dream of being.

    FallMaplesA
    SkunkysMomAndNewChicks

    Skunky’s mother is too busy rearing her next brood to worry about the fall leaves. And Tangerine and her chicks scamper around my feet when I split wood. You have to swing your ax carefully when you have a mother hen and her chicks running around at your feet.

    TangerineAndChicksChopWood
    TurningMaples
    BridgeA

    A warm, sunny fall day is made for building new bridges. There was a narrow bridge here until a tree came down and split it in two. The replacement bridge is twice as wide and much stronger, a perfect bridge to ford the ravine to enter the western woods on the other side. You can’t see them, but there are chickens in the ravine, scratching in the muddy waters in search of good things to eat. The forest on the other side is a favorite hunting ground of the chickens. Now, they’ll have an easy bridge to cross the ravine, and so will BB on his rabbit hunts.

    BridgeB