Harvest 9.10.09

While we were watering the gardening we noticed a few things needed to be picked. We finally picked our first Lilac bell pepper and the first of the grape tomatoes. YUMM!! This is the last of our Spaghetti Squash. This weekend we are going to pull it up and plant some artichokes for next year! YUMM!!

Farm Update #16

This morning I decided to snap a few photos of the garden. While we are doing some cleaning of old plants and weeds here are some of the good things growing!

The giant pumpkin vine...



Eggplant finally blossoming...


Bell peppers finally turning colors...


Salad bar... YUMMM!!!

Stuffed Zuchinni Recipe

I had this HUGE zucchini Farmer Bob gave us a little while back. I figured it was a great chance to make some stuffed zucchini!

1/2 lb of ground lean turkey (can use meatless meat or ground beef if preferred)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
2 tablespoons of water
1 cup of diced zucchini
1 big zucchini
1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese
Cooking spray
1/4 cup of low fat stredded cheese

1. Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 400.
2. Slice big zucchini lengthwise into two halves. Then half that. (You'll have 4 pieces)
3. Scrape out the seeds and lights spray them with cooking spray.
4. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile the zucchini is baking....
5. Cook the turkey in a pan until fully cooked.
6. Place turkey in a mixing bowl and set aside.
7. Place the diced zucchini into the pan and saute up for about 5 minutes.
8. Toss all the seasonings, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, water, diced zucchini up with the turkey until mixed well.
9. When zucchini buzzer goes off, take out and spoon mixture into the zucchini.
11. Top with shredded cheese.
10. Place back in the oven for 5 minutes.

Outcome:
2 servings (one serving shown)



Nutrition:

What's zone 9?

Photo Source

One of the things I never paid much attention to was our our first/last frost dates are. I figured, hey we live in SoCal so I can plant what I want, when I want. Right? WRONG! After all the denial, I finally looked it up.

Zone 9 = Average dates Last Frost = 30 Jan / 28 Feb
Average dates First Frost = 30 Nov / 30 Dec

--USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Maps

Basically, this is saying I can probably garden well into November and even push it. We have some BIG BIG plans for the garden next year so it seems like we'll be doing all the renovations in Jan 2010 so we can start the garden in March. What renovations? We are finally going to finish off the retaining walls and put in a new sitting wall on the hill. We are also going to hook up a better irrigation system and build a new trellis for the grapevines and raspberries.

Back the the idea of planting and harvesting. I think I'm pretty much done planting for the rest of the year. What is out there is out there.

Freezing Spaghetti Squash

We harvested quite a bit of spaghetti squash the other day.

Now, we love spaghetti squash but we will not eat all this in one week. I figured why not freeze it and be able to to enjoy the fruits of our labor in the "dead" of our winter. I know, our dead of winter is like 60 degrees. :)


Wash and cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise and toss into the oven at 400 for 20 minutes (i do it till it's lightly golden). Once it's cool, take out the spaghetti strands using either a spoon, fork or a ice cream scoop. Pack in freezer bags and store.



To reheat, take it out a few hours before from the freezer and let it thaw out a bit. Now, cook it any way you'd like, stir fry, steam, bake into a dish! Enjoy!

Pests in the Garden

In the early spring I found lettuce caterpillars and aphids. I researched and found the the answer to it all was planting Marigolds. Now it's late August and one of my cherry tomato plants is slowing dying. While cleaning out all the dead branches I noticed this little guy chilling.



I wondered if there were more and found another one dead and withered up. Not knowing what type of pest this was,I looked him up and I think it is a tomato hornworm.

After much research, it seems that the only two ways to get rid of them is to pick them off and drop them in soapy water, or dust them with a chemical. I will go with the soapy water for now.

Chili Peppers

While I was watering the garden, I noticed some chili peppers ready to be harvested.



We don't eat these so we quickly washed them and then stuck them in the freezer for my mom.

I haven't taken many photos of the garden because it's in a bit of a transition. Hopefully we'll get things straightened out and will post this weekend!