Jelly

So in the interests of being a localvore I try to make as many things we eat as possible from scratch.  This week  Lexi and I went on a jelly making rampage! We made orange marmalade, strawberry, strawberry balsamic, and grape (from juice from my friends grape vines). Yum! As a side note, in the past I have had trouble with my jelly solidifying , and after some research I tried using the low sugar pectin. Apparently it helps to use that if you are canning at a high altitude. Works great! Our next project is lemon marmalade. Sounds great right?

So last week I was very ill with the 'death flu' as we have dubbed it, and I was laying around watching my food documentaries on Netflix.  Lexi sat down and watched  "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" with me, which is the one where he goes on a juice fast for three months. She was very struck by what she saw there, and asked if we could go vegetarian for a week, which we have been. I thought it was going to much more difficult than it has been since I am hypoglycemic. Actually it has been great, we had tons of things to make for dinner, the only real problem has been lunches for us. I seem to need a lot of protein in the middle of the day, so I have been eating lentil soup in addition to a sandwich or a potato. Of course I feel great, veggies don't make you sick! We may have to keep this up!
Recommended Reading: The Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman

So here we are at the beginning of a new season, always exciting. I have already planted three quarters of my beds, as we are having a dry warm year. Last week I put in three colored pole beans, mustard green, smokey fennel, Italian fennel,  broccoli, hot peppers, sweet peppers and some icicle radishes. I already had spinach, garlic and lettuce in the ground. I still need to plant tomatoes, and I have herbs patiently waiting to go in the ground. Oh, and I planted some of the local red potatoes from my pantry that were sprouting like crazy. I have never grown potatoes before so this is largely an experiment and I would be happy to listen to any advice you may have for me! My goal this year is to have a large variety of veggies instead of a large quantity of a few varieties. Happy planting! 

This is the week! In Utah it's time to plant after Mothers Day, and the nurseries are full of veggies! I bought my tomatoes and peppers, and I am soooo excited! I got Brandywine, Beefsteak (always my favorite), Better Boy, Roma, Sweet Million Cherry, and Yellow Pear. I meant to buy Early girl, but somehow i ended up with Early Doll, which i have never heard of. I also got several hot peppers, jalapenos, Anaheim, and ancho. Last week I planted some carrots and green beans, Blue Lake variety. I should be swimming in veggies in a few months!

I also planted my dahlias today, both the new ones I ordered, and the ones I dug up last year and divided. Dahlias are definately my new favorite flower to grow, last year the bloomed prolifically and they are super easy to grow. talk about bang for your buck! My mom bought them for me last year and said, Trust Me, you will love them, and she was right. 

Too cute to eat! Yeah right...

Lettuce, Radishes, and Peas

Here's my baby lettuce!

And the radishes and peas! I don't think the peas are doing too well, we just haven't had enough sun this year. My brilliant plan was to plant the peas early enough so they were done by May 15th, so I could plant the tomatoes in that bed, because tomatoes do well in a bed that formally had peas or beans in it. Oh well! The best laid plans of mice and men...

Preparing my Last Vegetable Bed

I finally got a free day, so my husband and I set to work on the yard! He trimmed and mowed, and dug up two entire beds for me, one for flowers, one for veggies. This is my last vegetable bed. First we dug up all the grass and removed it, then I laid a medium bale of peat moss on it (which is enormous), and next I am going to dig in some manure. Also I am adding two bags of top soil to the lower end of the bed since it was so rocky. I don't know if you can see it, but I closed off the lower end of the bed, because last year I had a problem with water running out. Its so dry here I flood the beds twice a week to deep water the plants. Don't sprinkle the leaves with water, they like their leaves dry and their roots quenched!