Pear Crumb Pie, Pear Cordial, & Vanilla Extract

Go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is.
         -Will Rogers

 

It's pear season and my friend Katherine generously allowed me to pick a big basket full from the trees in her yard. I grew up with a pear tree in my yard in Alabama and my mom would bake the best pear bread and pear pies. Feeling nostalgic for those things,  I decided to use some of the pears to make a pear crumb pie. The recipe comes from a cookbook that I love and have mentioned in previous posts called Farmstead Chef. The authors lament that the pear is often regarded as the ugly stepsister of the pie world. It rarely tops any pie flavor lists or wins any contests, but it's a shame since they bake so nicely with a more complex flavor and texture than their more often favored fall counterpart, the apple.

Pear Crumb Pie:

For the crust-

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C butter (1 stick)

4-5 Tbsp cold water

I mixed organic all-purpose flour from Nitty Gritty Grain Company with the salt. Next, the recipe suggests cutting in the cold butter with a pastry blender, but since I don't have one of those, I cut it in the way I always do- with kitchen shears. I cut it into the flour in tiny bits, then use my fingers to massage it in until well incorporated and the butter pieces are pea-sized. Next, pull all but a quarter of the butter flour mixture to one side of your bowl and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water over the small portion of butter and flour. Toss lightly with a fork. Then, pull another quarter of the flour mix to that side, repeat with another tablespoon of water, toss again with the fork, and continue to repeat until you have put in all of the water and incorporated it all gently with the fork. Lightly flour your work surface and gather the dough into a ball. Place the ball of dough on the floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it, using gentle strokes from the center out, until it is about 1/8 inch thick. If edges split, pinch them back together. Transfer the pastry carefully to 9 inch pie plate then trim around the edges and crimp them with a fork.

For the filling-

1/2 C brown sugar, firmly packed
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
6 C pears, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Combine all filling ingredients and pour into the pie crust. Bake at 400 Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the crumb topping.

For the crumb topping-

2/3 C flour
1/3 C brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 C butter

Combine the flour and brown sugar, then cut in the butter using the same method you did for the crust. When the pie has been baking 20 minutes, remove it from the oven, pour the topping on, and return it to the oven for another 40 minutes until golden and bubbly.

With the remaining pears, I decided to try another recipe from Farmstead Chef to make a batch of pear cordial. A cordial is a sweet alcoholic beverage made by infusing alcohol with a fruit, nut, herb, or flower. Cordials are quick and simple to make, but do take several weeks in a cool, dark place to allow the alcohol to infuse. I intend to use this batch for holiday gifts, so I'm preparing them now and giving them plenty of time for the flavors to develop and intensify.

Pear Cordial:

3 C sugar
2 C water
6 C pears, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp lemon zest
2 1/2 C vodka

Boil sugar and water over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. When the mixture is clear, remove from heat and let stand until just warm.

Place the pears and lemon zest in a sterilized gallon-sized glass jar with a

tight-fitting lid. Pour syrup over the pears, then add the vodka. Stir, then let stand in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks.

When two weeks have passed, use a fine mesh strainer to remove the solids. Transfer the strained cordial to another sterilized glass jar, cover, and let sit at least another 3 weeks. The final step is to strain it through a cheesecloth to remove any sediment and pour it into the sterilized final bottles.

Pear cordial can be sipped warm or over ice. It is also great mixed with seltzer and topped with a fresh grate of ginger, or it can be used to spice up your favorite winter cocktail. Another fun idea is to use it in a recipe. I can imagine it making a delicious twist on tiramisu, as the soak for the lady fingers in lieu of espresso. Or, add a dash to your favorite pear bread or cake recipe. Get creative with it and you'll come up with something great.

With holiday gifts in mind and some vodka left from the pear cordial project, I decided to make homemade vanilla extract. Vanilla beans are expensive, but pure vanilla extract is even more expensive, so you still save by making your own. Like the cordial, it takes time for the flavors to be extracted and develop, so prepare accordingly.

Vanilla Extract:

4 C Vodka
4 whole vanilla beans

Slice a vertical slit in each vanilla bean with the tip of a sharp knife. Place them in a clean glass jar with a lid, cover with vodka, close tightly, and allow to sit in a cool, dark place for 2-3 months. Strain through a cheesecloth and transfer to several smaller sterile glass jars.

As the quote at the start of this post suggests, sometimes the fruits of life require a little extra effort. When someone kindly invites you to come pick fresh fruit or veggies from their yard, take them up on it and make something delicious. When you can make or grow something yourself rather than purchasing it ready-made, jump at the chance. Your version will likely be more delicious and less expensive. Cooking good, healthy food from scratch and with seasonal ingredients takes more time and effort than cooking from a box or a can, but I firmly believe it's worth every second. It is tastier, healthier, and more affordable. Plus, I learn a lot in the process, I get to know exactly what is in it, and I experience the satisfaction that comes from preparing it with my own two hands. In the fast paced world we occupy, having time to prepare our own food can sometimes feel like a luxury we can't afford, but I think it is important to carve out a little time for it. I try to think of it as an investment in my health and an investment in building a better food system around me.

Roasted Potatoes, Homemade Ketchup, & Apple Crisp

The abundance of fruits and vegetables coming from the garden in late summer can be both thrilling and exhausting. This is the time of year when every day brings new piles of fresh produce to the kitchen counter. After a recent marathon of bean freezing and pickling, my friend Tom quipped that the lesson for next year is that 20 feet of pole beans is 15 feet too many. I've heard people joke that this is the time of year when you will find squash in your parked car if you leave your windows down. Or, maybe you will find bags of zucchini dropped off on your porch in the dead of night by someone who couldn't bear the thought of stuffing, baking, frying, or making yet another loaf of zucchini bread with it. While I've never gone quite that far, I will admit to occasionally being overwhelmed by the volume of produce coming out of the garden in August and September, but ultimately, I am thankful for every bit of it.

I believe that the key is to build as many of your meals as possible around the things that can't be easily preserved, and get creative with the rest. Right now, my fermenting crock holds the last four garden cabbages, slowly turning them into another batch of sauerkraut. The dehydrator hums its low, steady song as it dries five trays packed with herbs, garlic, and peppers which will be pulsed in the food processor and turned into a dry seasoning rub. The freezer is well stocked with beans and berries and collard greens have been on the menu most nights of the last few weeks. Yes, preserving food can be a demanding process, but I remind myself that by putting things up in large batches, there is an economy of scale that makes it worth every bit of the effort. Plus, the effort exerted up-front balances with the ease and effortlessness of pulling a meal together with those same things in the winter months. 

A hanging basket in my kitchen holds enough tomatoes that the hook suspending it from the ceiling threatens to give up and send them all crashing to the floor.  Over the last two weeks I made a giant pot of pasta sauce incorporating garden garlic, shallots, basil, parsley, oregano, and bell peppers. I also blanched, peeled, and  canned a few quarts. Today,  I have decided to use the most recent batch of ripe tomatoes to try making homemade ketchup. Ketchup without high fructose corn syrup can be purchased, but  it's pricey, so I love the idea of making my own, instead. The recipe comes from the thekitchn.com and will make about a pint. I'll keep one jar in the fridge and freeze the rest. The basic necessities for homemade ketchup are tomatoes, simmered with onions, garlic, vinegar and spices. Then pureed, strained, sweetened, and cooked again until it reaches the desired consistency. The spices can vary according to taste. Here is what I added to mine:

Homemade Ketchup

4 Lbs fresh tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 C apple cider vinegar
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cayenne
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 C brown sugar
1 Tbsp molasses

Begin by heating the oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another minute or so. Add the tomatoes, skins and all, along with the vinegar, salt, pepper, allspice, cayenne, and Tabasco. Simmer for 30 minutes and skim the skins from the top of the pot with a slotted spoon. Working in batches, puree the mixture in a blender, then strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds and any remaining skins. Return the tomato puree to the pot, add the brown sugar and molasses, and continue to simmer until the ketchup reaches the desired consistency. The recipe suggested 30 minutes, but I decided to go much longer since I wanted it to be thick. I stored one jar in the fridge and froze the rest in freezer safe containers.

Now that I have a tasty homemade ketchup, I couldn't wait to try it on some roasted Mountain Rose potatoes that I dug a few weeks ago. I love roasting potatoes in fresh garlic and herbs until they are crispy and golden brown. It beats the heck out of a french fry any day, if you ask me.  Potatoes are easy to grow and store with minimal effort.  Growing them entails cutting the seed potatoes into sections so that each section has at least two sprouting eyes, planting them in clumps of 4 or 5, and mounding the dirt up around each clump of potatoes as they grow. Storing them is as simple as finding a cool, dry place. My basement meets those conditions, so I store them in a big, flat basket lined with a burlap bag.

Garlic and Herb Roasted Potatoes

6-8 small potatoes, quartered
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp of fresh herbs of your choice. I like to use parsley, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram.
Generous drizzle of olive oil
Salt & fresh ground pepper

Toss the potatoes, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil until well coated. Pour onto a baking sheet in a single layer with a little room around each potato so that they can brown. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crispy at the edges.

My final pile of produce begging to be transformed today consists of a mix of apples. Vermont is famous for its abundance of orchards growing a mind-boggling variety of apples. Before moving here, I never knew so many varieties of apple existed. Champlain Orchards in Shoreham, VT grows over 50 different varieties and I have yet to try them all. The pile on my counter represents a mix of apples from a small tree in the yard, plus a few that I got from Champlain Orchards. All are relatively firm varieties, with tart flesh that make them well suited for baking, so I decided to make an apple crisp. This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks called The Farmstead Chef. This cookbook covers everything from soups, salads, breads, entrees, and deserts to drinks, sauces, and pantry-stocking staples like baking mixes; all with a focus on fresh, wholesome, seasonal ingredients. The recipe couldn't be much more simple and it is oh, so delicious:

Apple Crisp

4 C apples, sliced with skins on
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C flour
1/2 C oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/3 C butter, softened, plus 1Tbsp for buttering pan

Arrange sliced apples in a buttered 8 inch square baking pan. Mix sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Cut in the remaining butter and massage with your hands until it resembles coarse sand. Spread over the apples and bake at 375 F for 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Berries

 I write today with stained fingers and tongue from a bounty of berries. The blueberries and raspberries are nearing the end of their season and the blackberries are just beginning to peak, so during this sliver of time where their seasons overlap, berries are plentiful. The blueberries come from two cultivated bushes, but the blackberries and raspberries are wild and the woods surrounding the house are full of them this time of year. I mentioned in my last post how simple it is to freeze berries whole. While I love the ease and versatility of preserving them that way, I decided to use this preservation Monday to try something a little different. The first idea came from my mother-in-law, who found an easy recipe for blackberry frozen yogurt pops in Real Simple magazine that sounded worth a try. I don't have any popcicle molds, so I decided to try freezing them in ice cube trays as mini-pops. I also couldn't help but add a bit of fresh mint.

Berry Yogurt Pops

1 3/4 C plain, full-fat Greek yogurt
4 Tbsp sugar, agave, or honey (I used honey)
3/4 lb blackberries ( I used a combo of blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries)
1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped

Whisk the yogurt with 2 tablespoons of the sweetener of your choice in a medium bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the berries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sweetener and the mint, if using. Mash with a fork until coarsely crushed.

Starting with the yogurt, layer the yogurt mix and the berry mash until your molds are full. Insert a stick and freeze for at least 3 hours.

While preparing the ice cube tray of mini-pops, I had an idea to do something similar with pureed berries, lemon, and mint.

Berrylicious Ice Cubes

2 C fresh berries
1 tsp honey
1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped
juice from half of a lemon
zest from half of a lemon

Combine all in a blender or food processor, then pour evenly into an ice cube tray. Freeze for 3-4 hours, then pop the cubes out and transfer them to a freezer bag or other freezer-friendly container. Add to lemonade, iced tea, water, or your favorite mixed drink for a fresh burst of berry goodness.

The third and final berry-themed project for the day was to make fruit leather. These will make a great packable snack for lunch or a hike.

Berry Fruit Leather

4 C  fresh berries
juice from half a lemon
zest from half a lemon
1 Tbsp honey (optional)

Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth, then spread in a thin layer, 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, onto a silicone baking mat, freezer paper, or onto the sheets made for fruit leathers that come with a food dehydrator. Leave an inch-wide border around the edge of your sheet to allow for spreading once the mixture gets warm. They will take 4-8 hours in a dehydrator or oven set to 140 F. You will know they are done when they get somewhat tacky and flexible. Roll the finished leathers between sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap. You can also dust the finished leather with a fine coat of confectioners sugar before rolling to prevent stickiness.

Garden Update

The garden demands a lot of attention by this time of the growing season, but it also now provides daily rewards. The first planting of salad greens are nearly gone and the second planting withered in the heat wave over the last few weeks. I intend to plant a third batch, but will wait until temperatures are on the decline. Thankfully, the second planting of radishes fared well and we have been enjoying them, along with lots of fresh herbs and the summer's first peas.  I often crave the shelling peas, or field peas as we called them, that I enjoyed so much as a kid in Alabama. I always griped about having to help my mom shell them, but I never complained about eating them and now that I look back on that time, I have great memories of shelling peas with my mom. Purple hulls were my favorite variety, but since they nor their other southern counterparts will grow well here (and boy, how I've tried), I have found a suitable replacement called Laxton's Progress #9 Shelling Peas.

Laxton's Progress #9 Shelling Peas

A few weeks ago, we were enjoying garlic scapes and now that July is coming to an end, it's time to pull, clean, and dry the garlic that has been growing since last October. You may remember the Autumn Garden post where I wrote about garlic planting. Garlic makes a great crop to grow since it is generally hardy, doesn't need a lot of attention during the growing process, and is very easy to store with minimal effort toward preservation. I simply pull it up, snip the necks and roots, wash it, peel off the outermost layer of skin, and let it dry in a ventilated area for a week or so. Once the skins feel papery, then the garlic is ready to be stored in a cool, dry place where it will remain good for months.  I use garlic in just about every dish I make. It packs a lot of flavor, plus it is extremely heart healthy and can protect against various cancers, most notably breast, prostate, and colon cancer. According to University of Alabama biologist Dr. David W. Kraus, to maximize the health benefits of garlic, crush it at room temperature and allow it to sit for 15 minutes before adding it to your meal. This triggers an enzyme reaction that boosts the healthy compounds in the garlic. It is also more beneficial when consumed raw rather than cooked.

Late July also signals the start of blueberry season in my region. I picked the first handful of ripe berries on Wednesday and they made a delicious, seasonal addition to my breakfast. Blueberries are chock full of antioxidants, Vitamin C, fiber, phytonutrients, and manganese. As part of a regular diet, they play a role in heart health, brain health, insulin response, and cancer prevention. Since they have a relatively short season, it is great to get out and pick your own while they last, either from your garden or a local u-pick berry farm. To preserve them, simply wash them, shake off any excess water, and freeze them in a single layer. You can do this by spreading them onto a baking sheet and popping them in the freezer until they harden. Then, transfer them to freezer bags or other air-tight freezer containers to pull out and use anytime you want to make a cobbler, a blueberry topping for pancakes, a smoothie, or use them any other way you wish.

Another July garden chore is to keep the cabbage worms in check. These worms are the larvae of dainty white butterflies that seem way too graceful and attractive to wreak such havoc on the plants in the Brassicas family. They eat the leaves of the plant and, as the plants approach maturity, the velvety green worms will bore into your cabbage heads or infest the undersides of broccoli or cauliflower crowns, making them hard to see. If you can't spot the worms, you may be able to spot the trail of green excrement they leave behind. When gardening organically, the best way to control these worms is to hand pick them in the mornings or evenings, when they are most active. I hold a cup of soapy water in one hand, scoop the cabbage worms off the plant with the other, and slip them into the soapy water. If you pick them off once or twice a week, you can effectively control the population and save your beautiful cabbages, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and other related crops from becoming a worm feast.

cabbage worm munching a hole in a young head of cabbage

The vegetables that aren't yet ready to harvest are still making beautiful contributions to the garden with their colorful blossoms and tiny, young veggies.  I'll wrap up today with a few photos of my favorites:

Rattlesnake Pole Bean blossom

Calendula

Tug helps check on the budding okra

blossoms on Mountain Rose potatoes

Salads & Scapes

Sheep's Sorrel

The time has finally come when I get to begin enjoying fresh veggies straight from the garden. Going out with a basket, picking, and shaking the dirt from vegetables that are still holding the warmth of the sun or still speckled with morning dew is remarkably satisfying. Today's harvest mostly included garlic scapes, piles of lettuce, radishes, and a few wild edibles that I like to add to summer salads. Dandelion greens are great in the spring, but have turned bitter by now, so I stuck with sheep's sorrel and plantain, both of which grow wild in and around the yard. They are loaded with iron and boast nutrient profiles that will make your garden plants jealous. Sorrel is especially known as an anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, antioxidant, immune-boosting powerhouse with a nice lemon-pepper zing that makes it a flavorful addition to many recipes. Plantain tastes a bit like spinach and also has a reputation as a healing plant, full of calcium, beta-carotene, ascorbic acid, and Vitamin K. It has anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and detoxifying qualities. When added to skin salves, it promotes wound healing, softens skin, and stimulates cellular regeneration.  And to think, most consider these plants to be weeds! 

Plantain

Cherry Belle radishes

  

After tossing together a fresh salad, I love topping it with a homemade dressing and homemade croutons. Both offer inexpensive, healthy, delicious alternatives to picking up the same items processed for supermarket shelves. For the croutons, simply cube any stale bread you might have on hand, toast it lightly, then toss it with fresh garden herbs, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, grated parmesan, or any other flavoring that suits your tastes.  Toast it once more after you toss it with herbs and spices and they are ready to top your salad. Store any extras in an airtight container. They will remain good for a week or two.

 My two favorite homemade salad dressings are a creamy buttermilk ranch and a tangy maple-balsamic vinaigrette. The buttermilk ranch recipe comes from a new cookbook I picked up recently from Diane St. Clair of The Animal Farm in Orwell, VT. I mentioned my obsession with her buttermilk in two previous posts, one involving buttermilk bread, and another featuring my buttermilk birthday cake. Thanks to her new Buttermilk Cookbook I am armed with pages and pages of tasty new ways to use it. 

Classic Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
 
1/3 C buttermilk
1/4 C good-quality mayonnaise
3 Tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
salt & fresh ground pepper 

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl and feel free to get creative with it. Diane suggests experimenting with flavor variations on this simple base recipe with things like chipotle chiles, parmesan, or roasted garlic. Today I added fresh chives and a bit of sheep's sorrel. 

Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/2 C balsamic Vinegar
1/4 C maple Syrup
1 C olive oil
1 Tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
salt & pepper

Combine all but the oil in a blender or food processor, pulse until combined, then add the oil in a steady stream while the processor is still running until the mixture is completely emulsified.  

Both dressings can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The ranch will last about a week, and the vinaigrette will last much longer, but is best when pulled from the fridge an hour or so from when you want to use it, then shaken vigorously to allow the oil and vinegar to re-blend.

 

Scapes are the graceful, curling shoots that come from the garlic plant and, if left on the plant, they will flower, but will also divert energy that could otherwise go toward developing a larger garlic bulb below ground. As a result, I like to snip mine off as soon as they appear and begin curling, which usually happens about a month after the garlic first develops leaves. Leaving them longer will result in tougher, woodier scapes which are not as desirable to eat. When harvested at the right time, scapes are delicious in a pesto or can be used to add a fresh, pungent kick to any recipe where you might otherwise use garlic or onions. 

Garlic Scape Pesto

10-12 garlic scapes
1/3 C unsalted, roasted pistachios
1/3 C finely grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 C olive oil

Blend all but the olive oil in a blender or food processor, then drizzle the olive oil in a steady stream while the processor is running until well blended. Pesto can be used as a dip, as a spread on crackers or crusty bread, or tossed with pasta for a quick meal. If you don't use it all right away, it freezes beautifully. 

Companion Planting and Other Natural Pest Controls

Memorial Day weekend signaled the start to full-blown gardening season in my region.  The tiny seeds I started in cups 8 weeks prior were now hearty seedlings ready to be transplanted, the cold-hardy seeds I started in the garden around the same time are coming up, and the stack of seed packets I set aside for planting once the danger of frost had past were now ready to meet the soil. The next step was to figure out where each one should go. To make those decisions, there are a few things I like to keep in mind. First, I look at the sketches I made in my garden journal indicating where things were planted over the last few seasons. This way, I can be sure that I'm rotating crops and not planting the same crops in the same beds for at least 2 or 3 seasons. Crop rotation results in better harvests by breaking disease cycles and helping the soil maintain a healthy balance of nutrients, organic matter, and microorganisms. Field trials demonstrate that crops planted in the same plot season after season experience a sharp decline in yields and a sharp increase in disease and pest infestation, when compared to crops that are rotated.

seedlings started 8 weeks ago, now ready for transplanting

The second important consideration when deciding where to plant my seeds and seedlings is the practice of companion planting. Certain plants benefit from sharing garden space with other plants either because they attract beneficial insects or repel the not-so-beneficial ones. There are lots of resources online about companion planting, but my favorite source of info on the subject comes from a book called Carrots Love Tomatoes:  Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte. I found this gem of a book in a box of freebies at the end of someone's driveway while out for a run one drizzly morning and it insisted on coming home with me. I dried it out and dove in. 

Here are a few things I learned and applied to this year's garden: The Brassica family of vegetables including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower is aided by the Allium family which includes onions, garlic, leeks, and shallots when it comes to keeping away wireworms. Beans and corn are happy together and help prevent beetle infestations. Native Americans knew a lot about companion planting and coined the term "three sisters" referring to corn, beans, and squash and the symbiosis that occurs when they are grown together. Lettuce and spinach enjoy sharing space with radishes, since the radishes keep the leaf miners off the other two. Cucumbers benefit from the company of radishes to deter ground beetles. There are also two flowering plants that I love to add to my garden as a method of companion planting:  marigolds and sweet alyssum. The marigolds help keep hornworms off of the tomatoes and sweet alyssum attracts numerous predatory wasps and other beneficial insects that feed on the insects that would otherwise feed on your plants. Plus, they add a fun pop of color to the garden landscape and the alyssum has a sweet honey aroma that I can't get enough of.

Sweet Alyssum

Marigold

Glass Gem Corn

With crop rotation and companion planting in mind, I made a mental map of where I wanted everything planted, set some speakers up on the porch, cranked up the tunes, and got to work. I prepped most of the beds by adding a few heaping shovels of our compost, churning the soil, and dropping in rows of seeds or seedlings. Some plants, like those in the Brassica family, prefer more alkaline soil, so I skipped the compost on those beds. I direct-seeded rows of Georgia collards and Laxton's Progress #9 shelling peas from High Mowing Organic Seed Company.  I also seeded rows of Rattlesnake pole beans, Sacaton Brown Tepary beans, Glass Gem corn, and Cochiti corn all of which are seeds saved from extinction by a nonprofit organization that works to collect and preserve endangered traditional seeds called Native Seeds Search.  I then transplanted all of my seedlings into beds and finished by mulching around them with straw to serve as both a blanket and weed deterrent.

Sweet Alyssum planted with my Brassicas

tomatoes planted with marigolds

Two final projects in the arena of natural pest control involved making beer traps for slugs and neem oil spray. Slugs are a common pest in my garden, so I made traps by filling a wide-mouth can or dish with beer and burying it at ground level in several of the beds. Slugs love beer, and when they come to drink it, they fall in and drown. The traps have to be refreshed after rain and it's good to periodically dump out the drowned slugs so they don't get smelly. Neem oil spray is a chemical-free way to deter pests and can be made by combining 1 liter of water and 1/2 teaspoon of unscented dish soap, shaking it, then adding a teaspoon of neem oil. Neem oil can be purchased where organic garden supplies are sold or online through Organix South. Only make as much as you will use in one application, as the neem oil breaks down and loses its effectiveness once it is mixed with the other ingredients. Use the spray as a preventative, spraying leaves and soil about once a week. In instances of infestation, make a more concentrated solution and spray it more frequently.

It is important to keep in mind that with crop rotation, companion planting, and other natural pest controls, the goal is not total annihilation, but rather to keep the garden insect population in a healthy balance. Many garden insects are beneficial and using harsh chemicals for pest control kills insects and other organisms regardless of their role in the garden. This adversely affects the balance of the garden

love your pollinators

ecosystem, the health of the garden soil, the health of the pollinators, and health of the environment as a whole. According to a national water quality inventory conducted in 2000, agricultural pollution is the number one source of water quality impairment to rivers and lakes and is the second largest source of impairment to wetlands.  Additionally, it is a major contributor to the contamination of our groundwater. If that doesn't get your attention, then consider the pollinators who especially

need our help now, as their numbers are decreasing dramatically. Without them we lose the ability to grow fruits and vegetables without the tedious and impractical process of hand-pollination. When I consider these issues, it seems worthwhile to use a gentler, more natural approach to dealing with garden pests.

With a sore body and the satisfaction that comes with a hard day of physical work, I sat on the porch swing marveling over the garden with all of its new life and daydreaming about the fruits of my labor.

Garden from the porch