Southern Spring

Early spring in the deep south is much like most of summer in much of the rest of the country. Warm days that peak in the mid - upper 80s, evenings that still dip into the 40*s on occasion, and violent thunderstorms. And this first full week of spring in south Louisiana? Yes, we've seen it all.

We need the rain, don't get me wrong, but it would be so nice to enjoy a gentle sprinkle rather than a deluge with lightning and house-rattling thunder. The chair in which I was sitting last evening was literally shaking when the thunder, well, thundered. Since we've not had rain in several weeks, there was not much standing, even this morning after two nights of torrential rains, but Choco's play pen (i.e. the back yard) was indeed a mud pit.

The biggest problem with our spring weather this year is that I waited too long to work on my veggie bed! I have been so busy with school functions and my jewelry business that I have had very little time to dig and weed and ready the bed for the spring planting. Sure, the seedlings are more than ready to go in the ground, but the bed is not quite ready yet.

Another sign of early spring is sports. My beloved Tigers and Lady Tigers both made the big March Madness dance, but both were eliminated after the second round. Outside, there's not an empty baseball field ... from pee wees to the colleges to the minors, Louisiana baseball is in full swing!

But the best sign of spring is that I am planning for another trip! Spring Break is the week after Easter this year, and Drew and I will be heading somewhere fun, as usual. The past few years have brought us out west, to the sandy deserts of Big Bend, to Guadalupe and Carlsbad, to the Grand Canyon, but this year will find us with a different kind of sand. This year we will go to Florida! Four nights camping in Pensacola, and then four nights at a condo near Seaside. Oh yes, we will certainly enjoy the powdery sands and warm waters of the Emerald Coast.

Soon, the days will get even warmer, the nights will be hot and humid, and then it will be that season we call "summer" ... and it may even happen before June 21st.

The Winter Harvest

We've had a crazy few months of weather here in South Louisiana. We started September with Hurricane Gustav and welcomed December with record snowfall! Amongst it all, though, I enjoyed my garden.

Gustav damaged or destroyed homes and trees, but luckily caused no major damage to anything of mine. I lost a number of plants, which gave me some new opportunities for gardening experiments as well as some newly opened spaces perfect for trying to grow new vegetables. And, most thankfully, it destroyed my cucumber plants ... I was so tired of eating cucumbers!!

One of my experiments was cauliflower. I've heard how difficult it is to grow, but it apparently liked the spot I chose for it ... and it tolerated 4" of snow really well. Today, I harvested my first two heads:


You'll note that there are a number of jalepenos and one lone poblano pepper nestled in there, too. The pepper plants survived the hurricane with little damage and the jalepeno didn't even mind the frost! Sadly, that is my last poblano of the season, but it has definitely encouraged me to start my seeds for the spring.

Other planting news ... the broccoli is coming along nicely and I should be able to begin harvesting in the early part of the new year. I have plenty of lettuce that can be harvested at any time, but I am fighting the snails for my cabbage!

And the papaya experiment is still going on. The tree itself broke in half during the 100 + mile per hour winds, but it survived. I lost a lot of papayas in the hurricane, but I did manage to save two. Of course, the fruits both cracked with the first frost this year, which was very early, and so I learned a new cooking technique. After letting the bitter and toxic latex drain from the fruit, I peeled it, steamed it lightly, then grilled it with my last eggplants of the season. It was absolutely delicious!

Since papayas don't tolerate cold very well, though, I am not sure whether it survived the frosts and snow we've had here, but I will leave it alone till spring to find out. If it succombs to the weather, I have another in a pot. And the nursery may have more in stock this year ... since a papaya grows about 1' / month here and produces fruit the first year, it would be well worth my time and effort to invest in another tree, if necessary.

What will the new year bring? More landscaping ... walking irises and strawberry guava ... maybe a lemon tree .... I can't wait to find out!

Dehydrating 101

I presented a brief seminar on dehydrating foods at the Lafayette, LA outfitter Pack & Paddle. There was a great turn-out! And I am hopeful that everyone was able to bring home some good info ... but in case you missed anything, here's a brief recap:

For your dehydrator, look for a blower AND temperature control. I have used Nesco / American Harvest products for a number of years with great success. For home dehydrating, a basic model is all you really need. Sure, you can spend hundreds of dollars, but a moderately-priced dehydrator may provide you with more dehydrating years that you will ever need.

I mentioned several great cookbooks last night. I highly recommend Backpack Gourmet by Linda Frederick Yaffe. The recipes are great and it includes detailed instructions on dehydrating in general, dehydrating specific recipes, and simple rehydrating techniques.

One book that recently came on the market is A Fork in the Trail by Laurie Ann March. This is a clever compilation of backcountry and car camping recipes (great for home, too!) and includes color pictures of many of the recipes in the book. The eggplant spread is out of this world, and the idea for fresh yogurt on the trail is inspiring!

Another new book is One Pan Wonders by Teresa Black. It is so new that I haven't had a chance to review the book, but the website it great and I expect similar quality from the book. Although the book doesn't include any recipes that require a dehydrator, the index indicates a wide variety of ideas to try on the trail.

The Freezer Bag Cooking cookbook by Sarah Svein Kirkconell is another great resource, and the website is fantastic, too. The website includes step-by-step instructions on dehydration techniques, video demonstrations of back-country cooking techniques, and lots of interesting recipes.

Finally, the Lipsmacking Backpacking series by Tim and Christine Connors is just fabulous. The recipes are simple and clever, with detailed instructions for each. Rehydrated bread on the trail? Sure! A no-cook-on-the-trail fruit & rice salad for lunch? Absolutely.

These are all great recipe books, but the best thing to do is use them as a resource, adding your own special touch to each recipe, and then adapting your own favorites to your own back country kitchen using the same techniques.

Happy trails!

Karla

Busier and Busier

April brought about the end of a busy fundraising project. My son's 5th grade class had planned a trip to the Grand Canyon, and in April, we all saw the results:

The Grand Canyon is a stunning place, and I found myself having a great time in spite on being on a school field trip and all the restrictions and limitations that places on one. The children were all well-behaved, the parents got along fabulously, and the scenery was beyond words.

Since then, my son and I have also taken a trip through Texas on the way to New Mexico and eventually Colorado for a friend's wedding. In Texas, we found a tarantula as big as my hand! At the hotel, no less!! I expect wild things when camping, but not at a "civilized" locale in Henrietta, Texas.

From there, we traveled on to visit some old high school friends. One just had the cutest baby on the planet (current baby ... mine was *the* cutest at that time!), and the other shared some roasted green chiles with me. What good friends I have!

And I was also able to have a jewelry show featuring hand crafted sterling silver jewelry complemented by natural stones, freshwater pearls, and leather. I love being "the jewelry girl" and sharing my jewels and my business with folks who love jewelry as much as I do!

Colorado brought beautiful mountains, more stunning scenery, and more friends, plus baseball, parties, and a wedding!

All in all, we hit 3 national parks, 1 wilderness area, 1 local park, 2 professional baseball games, 1 jewelry show, 1 rehearsal dinner, 1 wedding, and 2 4-hour lunches. Oh yeah, and LOTS of driving! Not too bad for 11 days away from home.

Now things are back to normal for a while. I am busy at work and our new jewelry catalog will be out August 1, 2008, meaning more shows, I hope. It's too hot to get outside much, but the veggies are still producing. I'm tired of cucumbers, but I have to admit that my food bill has gone down and I have indeed gotten creative with new recipes ideas.

Yes, creative indeed.

Babies!

Though I must admit that I am an impatient gardener, I am excited to announce that I have babies! Like this one ...

I have baby tomatoes and squash (two varieties) and peppers and ... gosh, I'm just thrilled!

First Fruits of the Season

My vegetable garden is coming along nicely. I've already harvested some radishes, the lettuce & kale are ready for me to start yanking leaves, and the broccoli raab is starting to produce shoots! The onions are nicely sprouted, two tomatillos and two bell peppers (one red, one orange) are in the ground, and one red lightening and one one patty pan squash have been potted.



I've still got a lot of digging to do to prepare for my 7 remaining tomato plants, 5 or 6 pepper plants, two varieties of eggplant, plus 2 yellow crookneck squash and one more patty pan. I've got seeds for white cucumbers (whoever heard of such!), asparagus green beans, and two varieties of dwarf okra. I am so eager to start the harvest, but I've got to suffer through the work first.



But fruits. I promised you the first fruits of the season, and here they are. These are loquats harvested from my neighbor's tree. Loquats are more commonly called Japanese plums, and they are delicious! They are a common landscape plant around here, but most people leave the fruit for the birds. Not me! I want to eat all I can! Loquats are sweet & juicy, and we can eat them by the bowl around here.


In addition, the strawberries are growing and the dwarf black fig trees have been planted. The satsuma, papaya, red navel orange, and sweet kumquat all have new growth. And Park Seed promises that my semi-dwarf blueberries are on the way, but I've yet to see them.


Lastly, I am scheduled to retrieve two native paw paw trees on Saturday! Paw paws produce fruit much like a banana, but with seeds that must be scooped out before eating with a spoon. The trees grow in the shade, which is perfect for my back yard.


Oh to have the patience to await the harvest!

Dreaming of my spring garden ......

Every year, I add a new flower bed or two, thus greatly enhancing the beauty of my yard and greatly decreasing the amount of lawn left to be mowed.

This year, however, I am adding a dedicated vegetable bed. I usually just tuck my veggies into the flower beds, producing crops of eggplants and peppers that I share with friends, or drop things like tomatoes into pots, where I'm eager to harvest a measley eight or nine tomatoes each season.

I learned the first problem with my tomato plants: I was buying determinate plants, which are bushy and have only one crop, as opposed to indeterminates, which are viney and produce for many weeks.

That learned, I have gone crazy this year with all the types of tomatoes I want to try! I have found seeds for giant heirlooms, tiny cherries and grapes, mid-sized romas! I have found tomatoes that promise to come in all colors: not the just the same old red we all see, but pinks and yellows and blacks and striped! Oh I can't wait to see what I actually grow ...

And peppers! Who knew there were so many varieties of peppers?!? I usually buy one pitiful plant, or maybe two, and add them to my beds. Plain old bells. Whatever is available.

But not this year! I am going to attempt some bells again, but I am adding anchos and jalepenos and bananas to my collection. Oh I hope I get to harvest a few ... I so love peppers of any and every kind!

What else? What else? Okra and beans and squash, oh my!

Now if the warmer weather would only arrive so I can start my planting ............