Category Archives: general

Cosmic Atomic Carrot Soup

Check out the color in this carrot soup!

Check out the color in this carrot soup!

If you haven’t had carrot soup before, this is really good. I’m not a huge carrot eater but went back for seconds with this soup! It is made with Cosmic Purple carrots and Atomic Red carrots (hence the name) but can be made with any other variety of carrot as well.

Cosmic Atomic Carrot Soup

1 large onion

½ lb. Russet potatoes

½ stick butter

1½-2 lbs fresh carrots, cleaned and sliced

6-8 cups veggie or chicken broth

1 cup cream (or half and half)

salt/pepper to taste

honey (to taste) – tablespoon+

Saute onions in butter on medium heat in a SOUP POT till tender. That way you can just add the other ingredients without using more pots. Add carrots, potatoes and broth and cook till they are fork tender. Pour into a blender and blend till smooth. You will have to do it in batches. You could use a ‘wand’ but I find the blender purees it better and it should be silky smooth. Pour it back into the soup pot. Add honey to taste to just bring out the sweetness of the carrots and stir in well. Taste. Add more honey if needed.  Stir in cream. Reheat till warm but do not boil. Delicious!

Reflections on a Carrot

I like to take time at the end of the season and reflect on some of the new veggies I grow. It may help you decide if you want to grow something but it definitely helps me decide for the next year especially when my thoughts are fresh about them.  Mind you I’m no expert so this is strictly my opinion. This year I planted 3 varieties of carrots: Paris, Cosmic Purple and Atomic Red.

Paris carrot-photo courtesy of Huffington Post.com

Paris carrot-photo courtesy of Huffington Post.com

Let me start with Paris carrots. They are considered a gourmet variety from France. They look like large radishes only orange and are suppose to have superior flavor. They would be great in very hard soil where a long root would have a hard time penetrating. However, I was disappointed in the taste-rather bland and not all that flavorful so I wouldn’t be growing them again. Perhaps the New Mexico soil isn’t right for them.

cosmic carrot_kitazawaseed com

Cosmic Purple carrot-photo courtesy of Kitazawaseed.com

Next carrot that I grew was a Cosmic Purple carrot. The color is a very dark purple on the outside and bright orange on the inside-very pretty and they are about 6-8 inches long. The taste is excellent with an almost spicy carrot flavor-hard to describe but very good. I have grown these in the past and will grow these again.

AtomicRedCarrot_artefactual org

Atomic Red carrot-photo courtesy of artefactual.org

The last carrot I grew was an Atomic Red carrot-I love everything about this carrot. Although it isn’t a supersweet carrot, it still has excellent carrot flavor. It is also about 6 inches long. But the best thing about this carrot is it has the most fantastic red color.  When added to a carrot soup with other carrots, it gives the soup a deep rich reddish-orange color that is almost neon. It is also wonderful in salads. I will definitely grow these next year.

‘Rouge Crapaudine’ Beets-say what?!!

Rouge Crapaudine beet. Photo courtesy of www.frenchgardening.com

Rouge Crapaudine beet. Photo courtesy of http://www.frenchgardening.com

I tried a new variety of beet this year-a heirloom beet named ‘Rouge Crapaudine’. Do I dare try to pronounce it?! Ha! This beet hails from France and is one of the oldest varieties of beet in history possibly dating back 1000 years and still around! Craupadine means female toad in french! It’s not pretty-it’s shaped like a very rough fat carrot  (definitely toadlike) and it’s skin looks like tree bark (toadlike again) hence the name. In fact it’s downright ugly BUT the dense purple flesh is divinely sweet and sought out by chefs. In France they sell them at farmers markets both raw and roasted. I was curious so I looked up how they cook it over there.

craupadine beet cooked

Cooked Crapaudine beet. Now it needs to be skinned.

First wash the beets (you don’t have to oil  or skin them) and place them in several layers of foil (beets on shiny side) and close it up tight on the top and both ends. Then put it directly on hot coals in your fireplace (yes that’s right) but not on a direct flame. A fun thing to do in the winter after having a nice warm fire.

It will cook inside the foil on the coals. How long to cook it depends on how hot your coals are. Mine took about 45-50 minutes total turning halfway through. You’ll have to take it off the coals and check it for tenderness with a fork from time to time as there is no exact science as this is an art!

Wear gloves if you don't like your hands red after skinning beets

Wear gloves if you don’t like your hands red after skinning beets

The skin will come off easy after they are cooked once they cool down.  But be aware your hands will turn a lovely shade of magenta! For more details you can go here  at the website frenchgardening.com where I learned about this beet and French cooking method.

Crapaudine bet skinned and ready to eat!

Crapaudine bet skinned and ready to eat!

Crapaudine beets get a sweet smoky flavor cooking it this way. You can also cook them in a more traditional way in an oven for about 45-60 minutes at 350°F. They’ll still be good but without the smokiness. Do try it in the fireplace for a treat.

After cooking them in the fireplace, I made a salad with the beets sliced and placed on a bed of greens with some crumbled goat cheese, pinon nuts sprinkled on them and topped with a balsamic dressing-absolutely fantastic. I didn’t even like beets-until now.

Crapaudine beet seeds are hard to find but I found them at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Sow them next spring and just be sure you sow more seeds than you think necessary as they are tough to germinate and some won’t come up. Plant them in spring as they will take at least 3 months to be ready to harvest. Then harvest in late summer and store in a refrigerator all winter if you like and save for a wonderful fall-winter treat. Crapaudine beets can also be used in any beet recipe.

Potatoes harvested! Garden asleep!

Potatoes dug out just in the nick of time!

Potatoes dug out just in the nick of time!

Well all my potatoes were harvested before the first snow fall last week. Lava, Adam, Janet, Bob and Mernie all helped dig them out (and of course they all got some too). Thanks to all! I have about a half a bushel left of potatoes after we dug them out. I’m going to try a buttermilk potato leek soup with some of them and will share the recipe later.

From left-Peruvian Purple, French Fingerling and Russian Banana

From left-Peruvian Purple, French Fingerling and Russian Banana

I only grew gourmet fingerlings for my first try at growing potatoes this year. Here are the three kinds of fingerlings I grew-Peruvian Purples, French Fingerlings and Russian Bananas (I think). I loved the Peruvian purples but they  were small and I didn’t get many of them. I also loved the French Fingerling which are the red ones and the whitish ones are Russian Banana fingerlings. Both the Peruvian purples and the French Fingerlings have a wonderful flavor-kind of  a sweet, nutty potato flavor and are creamy in texture. I will definitely grow them again. The Russian Bananas were watery, not sweet, and when never got completely soft when cooked-they stayed crunchy. I won’t be growing these again. Plus I think I will try to grow a little bigger purple potato as the Peruvians were very small. You can check out hundreds of varieties at Irish Eyes Garden Seeds where I got mine online. They have a great choice of potatoes. I will definitely grow potatoes again.

Garden finally asleep!

Garden finally asleep!

Lava helped me unload 2000 lbs of manure in the garden and Beto and Beto Jr. came by and dug in the manure in each bed and finished cleaning up the main garden and pumpkin patch.  Nice to get it all done before winter really hit. So now the veggie gardens are sleeping!

So much to catch up on!

Fall Garden cleaned up

Fall Garden cleaned up

I haven’t been posting much lately because I’ve been busy tearing out the garden before it snowed, preparing for winter inside, working (i.e. making a living) and am studying Permaculture design with an online study group. BUT I have LOTS to share with you and will in the coming posts. Some of it will be on the fall harvest, preparing the harvest to eat, review of last season’s vegetables and about the coming season (OMG! NOT YET-yes it’s true-the seed catalogs are coming in!)  I find winter is a great time to catch up on lots of things we were unable to do in the summer/fall because of the intense gardening and to catch up on the three R’s (rest, reading, and reflection). So stay tuned!

Baca Street Arts Tour this weekend Nov 30-Dec 2

What’s this got to do with gardening? Hey, it’s how I make my living to support my gardening passions! Besides there is glass art you can buy to make your garden beautiful! To pick up maps for this walking tour, start at Liquid Light Glass at 926 Baca Street in Santa Fe. For more info call Liquid Light Glass at 505-820-2222.

DON’T MISS THIS HAPPENING!!

How about giving your our own handmade glass gifts for the holidays! Liquid Light Glass will be offering walk-in paperweight, ornament, and flower making! Come on in- choose your own colors and start forming hot glass into beauty!  All items made will be ready to take home the next day!

Liquid Light Glass gallery represents these artists: Elodie Holmes, owner and glassblower extraordinaire, Jannine Cabossel, blown glass Wabi Sabi vases, Keihatsu vases, glass flowers and more; Marcy Albin, etched designs in goblets; Cia Friedrich, blown glass sculptures and shells; John Marks, blown glass cups and Chimayo Hearts. Many discounts during the tour and 5% of Liquid Light Glass artists revenue goes to Santa Fe Children’s Museum.

We will be hosting other artists that will be selling glass, fine jewelry and ceramics: Kristin Lora, fine metalsmith and jeweler; J9 Glass, flame worked sculptural jewelry; Ezri Horne, ceramics; and Patrice Jaguirreberry, flint knapped blades. Patrice will be doing knapping demonstrations on Saturday. There will also be glassblowing demos all three days!

In addition all up and down Baca Street will be other artists who open their studios up to the public- Baca Street Pottery, Reflective Images-jewelry, paintings, prints and sculptures at various artists studios.

All of Baca Street will be open and celebrating the holidays! Join us!

 

Pictures from the Santa Fe 4th Annual Pumpkin Bash

Santa Fe 4th Annual Pumpkin Bash!!

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Yesterday I held the 4th Annual Pumpkin Bash here in Santa Fe and about 35 people came! IT was COLD but not as cold as later on during the day and people warmed up swinging an axe! My friend Jill Foster called them ‘the choppers’! I also supplied my pumpkin soup (the recipe is in the previous post) to warm the bones. This was the biggest turnout to date. All my friends, Master gardener friends and Homegrown friends came out for the big event. Everyone had fun and afterwards took some pumpkin home.  Must have given away over 300 lbs to friends and the other 85 lbs is going to Kitchen Angels! Let’s figure out how many pies it would make- Take 385 lbs x 16 oz (16 oz in a lb) = 6160 oz. Divide that by 12 oz (1.5 cups is the standard amount of pumpkin used in pies) and we get  513 pies!!  Even if we subtract some out for that stringy stuff and seeds we still get around 500 pies!

Pumpkin Soup from the 4th Annual Pumpkin Bash

Here is the recipe from yesterday’s Pumpkin Bash! It’s a great recipe for pumpkin or any winter squash soup. It can be made vegan using veggie broth but I used chicken broth yesterday.

JANNINE’S PUMPKIN SOUP

INGREDIENTS:
About 7 lbs of pumpkin or winter squash (can be more or less)
Chicken broth or vegetable broth or water (I used one box of chicken broth + some water as it was still thick)
1 can Coconut milk (whole or  lite)
fresh grated ginger (I used about 2 tsp)
honey to taste (drizzle it in, stir and taste!)

Cut, quarter and clean out your squash of seeds and stringy stuff.  Put oil on exposed edges and put face down on foil lined cookie sheet and place foil on top so it doesn’t dry out. Cook at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes until soft when pierced by fork. Scoop out and place in a big soup pot and add 8-10 cups of either water, OR chicken broth OR vegetable broth-your preference. Then take a mixer or one of those hand-held  blender wands and mix till smooth. Heat and add the can of coconut milk, some fresh grated ginger (peel first) and honey to taste. Do not boil. Yummy!

4th ANNUAL GIANT PUMPKIN BASH!!

Wanted to invite you to my 4th Annual Pumpkin Bash where people take axes or mawls and try to split my biggest pumpkin in half (this year 385 lbs). Come take a whack! Then we cut it up and give it away to anyone who might want a piece of fresh organic pumpkin. The rest we haul away to Food Depot/Kitchen Angels. It’s quite the happening.  Hope you can make it!

4th ANNUAL PUMPKIN BASH!!
THIS SATURDAY, NOV 10 AT 9 AM SHARP
LIQUID LIGHT GLASS
926 BACA STREET #3
SANTA FE, NM
(Bring an ax or mawl if you’d like!)

Pumpkin Steaks

Tonight I fixed ‘Pumpkin Steaks’. They were fantastic if I do say so myself!

Here is the setup

I made them with ‘Casper’, my 208 lb whitish pumpkin that Erika Wanenmacher carved up into a jack-o-lantern for Halloween.  I used some that she saved for me from the inside.  Here is how to make them.

You’ll need raw pumpkin and something big enough to cut into 1/2″ steaks. Be sure to remove the skin.

Crush up some Ritz crackers to make cracker crumbs. I like the cracker crumbs better than bread crumbs as they have a  more buttery flavor.  Add some herbs to the crumbs. I added some dried thyme, sea salt and pepper. Beat 2 eggs and some milk in a bowl.

Take the steaks and dip them into the egg mix.

Then press the steaks into the crumbs on both sides. Put some olive oil in a fry pan and heat it up till it is very hot but not smoking.

Put the steaks in the frypan and saute till golden on one side.

Flip and put a top on the pan. Cook until it is golden on the other side and a fork pierces them easily. Take some honey and drizzle just a little of it over the steaks and serve. Delicious.

Giant Pumpkin Patch wrap up

‘Orange Crush’

Let’s catch up with the GIANT PUMPKIN patch!

My giant pumpkin patch produced 1298 pounds of pumpkins this year but there were no recordbreakers for 2012. My biggest ‘Orange Crush’, weighed in at 385 lbs (which is on display at our glass studio-Liquid Light Glass at 926 Baca Street in Santa Fe) was picked up and transported by my 8 strong buds which I affectionately call my ‘pumpkin crew’. Not as big as my 2012 NM State Record of 448 lbs. ‘Orange Crush’ will be the star of this year’s ‘4th Annual Pumpkin Bash’ on Nov 10th.

pumpkin crew 2012

pumpkin patch with ‘Hugo’ in foreground

‘Hugo’ came in at 262 lbs (already went to The Food Depot to feed people).

‘Casper’, 208 lbs-carved by Erika Wanemacher

‘Casper’ came in at 208 ( carved into the biggest jack o’ lantern in Santa Fe by Erika Wanenmacher), ‘Beautiful Baby’ came in at 190 lbs (on display at Prairie Dog Glass), two smaller ones for the State fair came in at 100 and 153 lbs.

And this year a young man from Albuquerque named Olin, broke my NM State Record, growing a pumpkin (named Shelia) that weighed 530 lbs! He started the seed on St. Patrick’s Day and had it in the ground on April 1! WOW! Putting them in the ground in April would be impossible up here at 7000 ft high with our short growing season. Great to have some competition in this state. Congrats Olin but look out next year!

Catch Up in the Veggie Garden

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in almost a month! Not like me! But I have an excuse-I’ve been headless with the final harvesting of giant pumpkins, tomatoes, harvesting the rest of the veggie garden, being ‘The Tomato Lady’ selling tomatoes at the Santa Fe Farmers Market AND planting the fall garden. What’s that you say? Planting a fall garden? Am I not burned out yet of the season? Well almost, but I know I will crave something green in Dec-Jan so I sucked it up and planted some greens in my cold frame. They are already looking so pretty and green. So now that it has gotten cold at night and the garden has been put to sleep (I disconnected the drip systems), I will catch you up on what’s been happening in the garden in the next few posts and what to do with all that produce!

Garden pictures

Well the vegetable garden is winding down-the sunflowers are done, the corn is done, strawberries are done, and the potatoes, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers are almost done. The beans, rhubarb, zucchini, chard and tomatoes are still kicking. In fact it looks like I’m going to get a gazillion green tomatoes to bring into the house to finish ripening.  I had a lot of flowers in the garden as well this year. Here are some pictures of the garden area throughout the season.

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Fall-Time to trim tomato blossoms off

As the tomato season starts to wind down in the fall, I believe it’s time to redirect the plants’ energy so I trimmed off most of my blossoms on the tomato plants. This helps ripen the remaining tomatoes on the plant.  I also cut off those crazy branches that are overgrown (and have blossoms) back to the last tomatoes that have been set on that branch. The idea here is to redirect the plant’s energy to stop making blossoms and put its energy into ripening as many tomatoes as possible before it freezes.

I also trim off any diseased branches where the leaves are dying or turning yellow and spray with Serenade again (probably for the last time). Late in the season, tomato plants are getting older and are more susceptible to diseases so my hope isn’t to cure any diseases but just keep it under control so we can still get many tomatoes. Besides we want all those green ones still on the vine that we have been patiently waiting for!

Giant Pumpkins

 

Closeup of pumpkin in back of car

This year I haven’t posted much about my giant pumpkins but I do have some growing. My biggest is named ‘Orange Crush’ because it’s coloring is more orange than any other that I’ve grown before (most have been salmon colored). It is also the bumpiest one I’ve ever grown-not the prettiest-but pretty doesn’t count in giant pumpkin contests-weight does. Gnarly dude! It’s weight measured approximately 289 lbs yesterday and averaging 8.6 lbs a day and should hit 300 lbs tomorrow. It’s seed came from the NM state winner that I grew last year. It is behind last year’s record setter but ahead of the previous year’s winner I grew, so I don’t know what to make of it. Will it get bigger than last year or not? Only time will tell. Still have this month and a week of October for it to grow. A lot will depend on the weather-if it gets cold all of them will slow down to a crawl but if it stays warm and doesn’t freeze at night, it has a chance.

My second biggest is ‘Hugo’ which is flat and oval shaped and on a different plant.  Rather beautiful, smooth skinned but doesn’t weigh as much coming in at 182 lbs averaging 5 lbs a day so far. I will leave it to see how big it will get.

I also have three smaller ones-2 on one plant and one on a fourth. I weighed them all and decided to take one that weighed 153 lbs  (shown above-I love the glow) and another one that was 100 lbs to the State fair today. I cull some of them to take to the fair but of course leave the biggest ones to keep growing for the contest in Colorado.

I also took my two biggest zucchini (so far) to the fair as they don’t give ribbons for them at the national contests. One was 38.5 lbs and the other was 33 lbs.  Last year’s record I set came in at 62 lbs. at the Colorado weigh off. I still have more zucchini growing that I hope will get bigger than last year.