Salt Marsh Moth

Estigmene acrea (Salt Marsh Moth)

Kenny found this moth perched on a wheat stalk the other day.  I'd never seen one before - or should I say I have never noticed one before.  Tending a large garden gets you to notice insects a lot more.  Especially if they are munching on your veggie plants.  The internet is great for looking up stuff so that is where I went to find a picture of this creature.  Yup - the caterpillar stage is a veggie muncher - big time.  So even though unusual looking it's getting the "insecta non grata" organic pesticide treatment.

New Septic System.... or How to spend $600 an hour without even trying!

Our house was built in 1859 with an addition built in 1905.  No plumbing in the house then.  In 1940 another addition was built onto the 1905 addition.  A "modern" kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom were added -- INDOOR PLUMBING--!!!!  When we bought the house it was reasonable to assume the 74 year old septic tank and drain field were going to need to be repaired, upgraded, or replaced in the future.  Which turns out to be NOW!  Back in March when we were plowing the ground for the garden we discovered one leg of the  drain field by plowing up part of it.  If that doesn't sound too good - your right.  So it was really shallow... and it was running straight down hill toward the back property line, which means it was home done job as it has never been OK the have drain field ditches running down hill.

We also discovered that the drain field had two legs.  We knew this because we hit the concrete distribution box.  Ahhh...... also not good.  From the distribution box I hand dug a 3 foot deep trench crosswise to the slope over to the east property line and then north down the slope to the old drain field leg - about a hundred feet.  Ooooh my aching back.  This routed everything out of the garden area.  The area plowed that was anywhere near the old drain field was planted in a cover crop for this year and only "clean ground" well away from the old drain field was planted in veggies.

After consulting with a certified soil scientist (a neighbor who lives less than a mile from our house) we had the contractor here last week to install a new septic tank and new drain field.  A one day job costing $5000.00! but hey - we're good for another 75 years - more or less.

First you find the old septic tank and pick a spot on the sewer line between the house and the tank where there is a joint in the cast iron pipe

Then you dig a trench from the sewer line to the chosen spot for the new septic tank, dig a pit for the new tank and continue the trench to the spot where the new distribution box will be placed for the drain field

Pipe in the trench leading to the new "D-Box"

New "D-Box" for 4 drain field lines

Next you dig a 65 foot long 6 1/2 foot deep trench across the slope of the land following the ground contour

You put these bundles of Styrofoam peanuts 3 wide into the trench with the perforated pipe running through the middle bundle all connected together in a line with a bundle of Styrofoam peanuts without a pipe in it on each side

Like this

Then you dig three more identical trenches parallel to the first turning the entire back yard into a re-enactment of WWI trench warfare

Next the new septic tank goes in.  Everything gets connected together.  Sewer line from the cast iron pipe into the septic tank - solid drain pipe from the septic tank to the "D-Box" - 4 solid drain pipes from the "D-Box" to each 65 foot perforated peanut wrapped drain line.

Last everything is buried and smoothed out.  Done! 

Well, no ........ not really done.  It seems like that ought to be the end but next comes handling over a big fat check while the crew loads up the excavator.  Then we wait for a good hard rain (that happened a couple of days ago).  The dirt settles - a few sink holes open up and a few general low spots reveal themselves a giant mud puddles.  Now we have the task of moving dirt around the fill the holes and low spots and smooth things out again.  Then we can plant grass seed and start to get a back yard lawn again.  Then we will be done...... at least with this project.

Canning Mania!

Some of the stuff I've canned this past week!  Tomato sauce, Tomatillo salsa, Green chile enchilada sauce, Dill pickles, Sweet bread & butter pickles, Summer squash mix, Crushed tomatoes, and lots of dried tomatoes.  There is also stuff in the freezer like Ratatouille, NY pushcart onion sauce, and Pesto

The garden is in full swing.  So far we've harvested:

20 lbs of zucchini, yellow crookneck and golden scallop squash

60 lbs of onions - yellow, white, red and chippolini

28 lbs of tomatoes for making sun dried tomatoes

20 lbs of other slicing and cherry tomatoes

13 lbs of cucumbers

10 lbs of Hatch chiles

plus cayenne peppers, eggplant, pole beans, snap beans, basil and sage

There is so much more still ripening plus carrots, more types of peppers, sweet potatoes, and another plot of tomatoes.  And then there is the fall planted stuff like cabbage, broccoli, peas, beets, kale, swiss chard, and turnips that have germinated and will be ready before the frost hits in late October.

Panzanella

So what do you do when you have a loaf of crusty bread you baked yesterday and a garden full of ripe red tomatoes and fresh basil?

You make Panzanella!

The bread is an easy no-knead wet dough loaf that rises overnight.  The Basil is Genovese type from Italian imported seeds and the tomatoes are Costoluto Fiorentino, also from Italian seeds.  There is a rule about heirloom garden tomatoes - the uglier and gnarly the tomato - the better and tastier it is - so you can guess that these are spectacular tomatoes!

The recipe? - Oh yeah, the recipe.  If you can't figure it out from the photos...... well - just saying.

OK - not to be rude to the culinary challenged - Cut some of the bread into cubes and dry it out in the oven on a cookie sheet.  300 degrees for 5-10 minutes, or use stale bread.  Drizzle with olive oil. Chop the tomatoes and add them and any juice too.  Tear up the Basil and add that.  Sprinkle a little salt and pepper and toss.  It is common to sprinkle a little red wine vinegar over the finished salad.  I like it that way.  It's also common in Northern Italy to add some shaved Parmesan - which I also like but don't have any..... tsk, tsk.  In Tuscany, where this dish originated, they don't usually add cheese.

How 'bout that food styling backdrop in the photos!  I wanted to hide all the stuff on the kitchen counter - FLASH!  I'll prop up some of my color coded cutting boards!  Yeah lame, I know.  Get over it.  It's less distracting than the clutter on the counter.

Random Nature

There is something gratifying about coming across some random bit of the natural world on our property.  Bumble Bees buzzing in the squash blossoms,  a Preying Mantis perched on the string weaving in the tomato patch,  Wild roses blooming next to the road.  I always pause to admire.  I am NEVER in such a hurry to miss the opportunity to enjoy the natural world around me.  And it pleases me that the habitat right here in my yard supports a diversity of life.

Early morning dew on a clothes line spider web.  Made last night in the still air, it will be gone when mid morning breezes dry it out and blow it away.  She will make another tonight.

Little green frog on an Acorn squash leave - acting nonchalant while eying the squash bug.

Frog eggs (no relation to the little green frog) in the seep down by the back of the property.

Tomatillo Salsa

Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh tomatillos
1 large white onion (yellow is OK too)
4 large cloves of garlic
4 medium Hatch New Mexico green chiles (gotta be the real thing! - aaah, no they don't - if you use Anaheim chiles from the grocery store you probably will want to add a jalapeno chile for some heat)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2-3 Tbs fresh squeezed lime juice.
1-2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
water as needed

Tomatillos - just picked

 Method:
Remove the husks and wash the tomatillos.  If you have never used tomatillos before - don't be freaked out by their sticky feel - that's normal and OK and goes away when cooked.

Tomatillos - husked, washed and ready.

The other stuff - the onion and the green chiles are from our garden - next year the garlic will be too.

Roast the chiles on the grill outdoors (my method) or under the broiler or right on gas stove top burner until they are charred all over and look like this.

Roasted New Mexico green chiles

Put the roasted chiles in a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside for 20 minutes to steam.
When the chiles are cool, cut off the tops, peel off and discard the charred skins.

In a roasting pan - put the whole tomatillos, rough chopped onion, rough chopped garlic and the rough chopped roasted peeled green chiles (and rough chopped jalapeno, if using).  Add the oil and toss to coat.  Sprinkle on the salt, pepper, and lime juice.
Roast in a preheated 375 degree oven for one hour until the tomatillos are tender and blackened a bit in spots.  Puree the roasted veggies in a blender or food processor, adding water as needed to get the right consistency.  What is the right consistency you ask?  I give up - what is the consistency you like?  That's the right consistency.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Add the fresh chopped cilantro just before serving.  Lasts a week in the fridge.  Great as tortilla chip dip, of course, but also great as a taco sauce or green enchilada sauce (although I make a different green chile enchilada sauce - smooth Sante Fe style for chicken enchiladas.  I'll post that recipe when all the chiles are ready to harvest.)

I made a larger batch of salsa from the 3 1/2 lbs of tomatillos we harvested yesterday and adjusted the proportions of the other ingredients accordingly.  I canned the sauce in pints jars - so after roasting the veggies I transferred it all to a sauce pan, used an immersion blender to puree it, adding enough water to make a sauce just a little thinner than canned tomato sauce.  I pressure canned it - processing the jars for 20 minutes at 10 psi so I did not have to worry about it being acidic enough for water bath canning.

The finished Tomatillo Salsa

Basil Laundry!

We have a huge amount of Basil growing.  I've been making and freezing Pesto and now it's time to preserve some of it by drying.  This is about 10% of the Basil we have growing.  Really - maybe 10%.   Oh - we're having pizza tonight with lots of fresh Basil on it - that will use up about .0001% of the fresh Basil - more or less.  I've gotta make more Pesto!