Today I learned that pea leaves taste like peas. They are really good, even if they lack the refreshing crispness of a pea. They can be used in salad or stir fry.

I also learned that immature lima bean pods do not taste like lima beans. They are nothing like eating an immature pea pod. They are actually rather horrifying and require a palate cleanser. I hope I do not make this lima bean mistake again soon.

Susie’s garden looks impossible to water without significant effort and expense. When I first saw the garden site, I thought it might well prove impossible to water adequately, and I imagined the plants dying a slow, dry death as everyone struggled carrying bucket after bucket of water to them. I made several worried comments about this to Erin.

The garden is situated in a field behind the house, but it is back across a stream—a stream crossed by a cute—but little—bridge. The garden is way too far to run a hose from the house. I thought a pump system would have to be installed to bring water up from the stream or, more likely, bucket after bucket of water would have to be dragged across that bridge—totally impractical. I was very surprised when Erin told me a great solution was in place.

Bridge to the Garden

The solution is none of the above methods, and it is simple, elegant, perfect.

The stream incorporates a lovely little waterfall. A hose has been set, open side up, in the waterfall. It runs from there to the garden.

And it works! Water pours down the waterfall and enters the hose. When the garden-end spigot is opened, there is plenty of pressure to water the garden. Low-tech, simple, and free—beautiful.

Water flows from the waterfall straight down into the hose.

The hose exits the stream...

...runs through the woods...

...and waits in the garden, ready when needed.

Gratuitous goat photo

I visited the Hudson Valley farm this morning, ostensibly to do a garden update, and I was a little bit nervous as to what I would find. I felt an odd sense of relief just to find the farm still standing and operating normally, but things were much better than that—things were good.

It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and I found both Emily and Andie hard at work and in good spirits. Emily took the brunt of dealing with the recent deaths and illnesses, but she has years of experience working with animals, and seemed to be able to take this in stride as a sad but inevitable part of farming.  I was so glad to see the two of them upbeat and energetic.

I began searching for Arno almost as soon as I arrived. I had been very worried as to how he might be doing without Agnes. I had a tough time finding him—he is one busy goat. He is very grown up now and is doing just fine—Agnes raised him well. I finally found him palling around with a bunch of the other goats; he then moved on to rambunctiously charging back and forth with all of the sheep (only a few sheep are at Hudson Valley for the summer). Emily and Andie confirmed that he is doing quite well. Below is a cell phone shot of him–my camera acted up. Arno is in the center of the shot, almost head-on to the camera (um, phone).

Arno

Katie, the fourth goat with listeriosis, had been doing very poorly and was close to being put down. However, she has had an abrupt and well-nigh miraculous turn-around and is doing much better. She has her own pen at the moment for TLC and rest.

I also found out that Miss Linda is doing fine—both Odette and Ophelia had reached the point of not being very reliant on her, so Ophelia’s passing has not had the terrible impact on her it might have at an earlier date.

I’m so glad I went to the farm this morning. I had been a little afraid, but what I found there was all good and life-affirming. All of the animals looked healthy, happy, and relaxed (and the people). The garden update—well, that will have to wait ’til another day!

One of the most beautiful goats at the Fiber Farm is Roquefort:

I wish we could have a whole second herd of goats with his gorgeous natural color.

I just wanted to take a moment to show him off to all who have not met him before. I was just about awestruck the first time I saw him…I had assumed Angoras only came in white, but it turns out they also come in shades of black as well as red. As far as I know, the farm does not have a red Angora…yet.

I am heartbroken for Susie, Erin, and everyone at the Farm that more animals have been lost.

Death is very removed from my everyday life–people die isolated in hospitals, hidden from view. It is easy, in a way, to forget that death exists and is coming for each of us. While nothing makes the loss of these animals “worth it”, I am grateful for this lesson in mortality and the reminder that life is finite and precious.

One of my most important pieces of jewelry is a set of Tibetan prayer beads, each bead carved into the shape of a skull. I suppose it sounds quite morbid, but it serves as a reminder of mortality and the fleetingness of life. One of my coworkers was killed recently, in a brutal, horrific car crash. The morning of the day she died, she sent out one of those sentimental e-mails on how unexpectedly death can come, and the importance of appreciating what–and who–you have now. That e-mail, and the knowledge that she was living each day to the fullest, has been such a comfort to those she left behind. She was well aware of the preciousness of her life. I think such an awareness is a gift, and it is the lesson, and the reminder, I choose to draw from the passing of Agnes, Chipotle, and Ophelia.

Ophelia gets her bottle (while Odette waits her turn)

Ophelia gets snorgled

I made refrigerator pickles this morning–it is exciting to finally have a surplus from the garden, and these pickles are a great way to use up cucumbers.

I have an unreasonable fear of canning, stemming from childhood memories of exploding jars in my grandmother’s basement. I can’t imagine how she managed to make those jars blow up, but it has been instilled in me that canning is dangerous. This puts me at a distinct disadvantage when the garden bounty starts pouring in.

I was thrilled to discover refrigerator pickles–yummy, easy to make, and they keep in the fridge for weeks. And no canning! (Must be refrigerated, and they will spoil eventually.) Today I did a bare bones version:

Slice a bunch of cucumbers into a bowl.

Boil together 2 cups white vinegar, 2 cups sugar, 2 T kosher salt. Pour over the sliced cukes.

Put in fridge and wait at least a day (if you can) before snacking. I waited until they were barely less than burning hot before snacking…

If anyone has a great refrigerator pickle recipe to share, please do. I’m sure there are much snazzier versions than the above…

I am worried for Susie’s garden. And it is not that Susie is doing anything wrong. She has poured a tremendous amount of labor and love into that garden, as I think we all do with our gardens. This area has been unusually cold and rainy, so much so that the local paper recently ran a front page story on what a disaster it is turning into for the local farmers. Susie’s garden, mine too, are not immune to the disastrous effects, and we are lucky that our livelihoods do not depend on what we are growing.

Susie did not lean toward cold loving crops when planting, and those seem to be the only crops doing well around here. I took a meander around her garden the other day and found the watermelon longing for heat:

That is my pen next to the melon plants for scale and it is hard to see, but it is actually pointing at one of the mushrooms(!) that has sprung up in the garden.

Susie’s garden fascinates me because she has planted many varieties I’ve never tried.  I am endlessly interested in what other people plant. Some of what she has:

Potatoes: Kerr’s Pink, All Blue, and many others.

Charentais melon.  Heirloom variety, reputed to be delicious. Can’t wait to see how this one turns out.

Moon and Stars watermelon. This is one I have grown, with its beautiful speckling of the fruit and even the leaves. Makes me happy just to look at it in the garden. I don’t have much watermelon space and this year I have Mountain Sweet Yellow in my garden, exquisite flavor and it ripens in our tough Northeastern area. (Well, maybe not this year.)

Crystal Apple cucumber. An heirloom white cuke. Looks a bit like lemon cucumber to me.

Black Beauty zucchini. I am open-minded, and I will try this if Susie has any to spare. Meantime I will try to convert her to my all time favorite zucchini, Costata Romanesco. A low yielding zuke—and I believe that is a virtue in a zuke—lots of blossoms for frying and a reasonable amount of fruit. Costata has a delicious nutty flavor. When I bring them to work people actually fight over them.

Boston Marrow Squash. Susie has come up with yet another nifty heirloom, a pumpkin this time.

Peppers: King of the North, Healthy, and others.

Tomatoes: Trophy, Brandywine, Suddoth’s Brandywine, Green Zebra, and others—I’m hoping that between the two of us, Susie and I can have a little tomato tasting this fall.

Susie has many other plants—all look happy but a bit behind due to the rain and cold. Well, not all look happy: the potted tomatoes up by the house were attacked by the chickens and had to be moved within the safety of the garden fence:

A couple of innocent looking chickens:

Sorry for the long delay in posting here! There have been a few kinks, hopefully worked out.

I am already straying from the garden topic–I want to share this video shot soon after Agnes had Arno. Arno is goofing around, while Agnes never lets him get far from her sight. Very typical of Agnes’s conscientious mothering.

Agnes and her Arno from Linda Campbell on Vimeo.

During farm visits, Arno always seemed to be having adventures while Agnes kept a watchful eye on him. Thank goodness for his strong, independent spirit. He is a resilient little goat.

My friend Grace and I were nosing around at the Fiber Farm a few weeks ago, checking out Susie’s plantings. We saw a little bit of deer damage starting on the shrubs in front of the house. That was no surprise—deer are absolutely rampant in this area, a formidable opponent to gardeners everywhere. The poor things have lost most of their natural predators and seem to constantly be on the verge of starvation. Unfortunately, that has led to great boldness on their part and widespread destruction in practically everybody’s gardens.

Anyway, we were looking around when we saw a most intriguing planting under a tree. An intense back and forth ensued as we tried to identify the plant, which had not yet flowered. Our first thought was tulips, but that was clearly impossible—these plants were in easy reach of any deer passing by, and tulips are deer candy.

Back home I discovered a similar mysterious planting in my back yard. I plant stuff all the time and then forget about it, but I couldn’t figure this one out. But all became clear once it flowered:

Susie and I both successfully grew tulips this year! How Susie did this, I just don’t know. Apparently she is under the protection of the plant gods. I, however, happened to put deer repellant down in the area of the tulips—pure chance, I was trying to protect other plantings there. A deer repellant that can protect tulips is a powerful repellant indeed!

For years I did not use deer repellant at all. Too expensive for one. Then I started using a homemade repellant. It was clear to me the stuff would not work—after all, if it did, everyone would use it.

And then, a miracle. I continue to field questions from the neighbors as to why the deer don’t bother my lilies, my hostas, all my plants that normally would make up a deer salad bar. My recipe for homemade repellant is below. It is important to start application early in the season, before deer have gotten in the habit of snacking at your house every day. (They will even teach this snacking habit to their children, and pass down info about how tasty your yard is from one generation to the next.) I apply repellant weekly, and rotate the homemade spray with a commercial repellant from week to week. I like to use Deer Solution as my commercial repellant because it happens to smell like cinnamon, but any spray should do in the rotation. You just don’t want the same thing every single week—the deer will get used to it.

Deer Repellant

2 eggs

1 cup skim milk

1 cup water

2 TBS liquid dish detergent

Beat the eggs a little and strain them through a sieve. Straining them will help keep them from clogging your spray bottle.

Mix all the ingredients together. Store in fridge in a spray bottle, and apply to plants weekly, or after a heavy rain. No need to let the eggs or milk turn bad and start to smell! It works fine with fresh ingredients.

Some people like to add a little vegetable oil to encourage better adhesion to the plant leaves. Brad Roeller of the Cary Institute has done lots of research on deer damage. His green landscaping tips can be linked to from this page, including his own version of homemade deer repellant.

A final word of caution—deer will eat anything if they are hungry enough! I hope you have great luck if you try the repellant spray, but unfortunately there are no guarantees…

Anybody have any favorite tips for dealing with deer?

And now for today’s unrelated goat photos: