Finished the start

Finished planting the 2014 crop of garlic yesterday afternoon.  I was in a hurry to get it in before the predicted rain for today makes a soggy mess of my beautifully manicured beds.  The beds were the consistency of  perfectly baked chocolate cake and the temperature was warm enough to make the whole process fairly enjoyable.  With a little over 2000 cloves stuck, there should be plenty of garlic to sell next year.  Planting garlic usually brings the gardening season to a close here on the NCR, but the weather promises to be fairly clement for the next 10 days, so harvest will continue.  Aside from the occasional frost/freeze, this is one of my favorite times in the garden.  Mother nature has frozen most of the weeds, but the hardy veg continue to grow, or at least remain in prime condition.  I will harvest the rest of the beet crop this weekend, but the broccoli, kale and spinach will continue to grow, and I will heavily mulch a bed of late carrots for harvest during the winter.  The only fly in the gardening world is the continued growth of chickweed, which is hardier than any vegetable known to man.

The old is new

The Divine Mrs. M and I attended the premier of the new/old Wurlitzer organ at The Strand theater in Plattsburgh last night.   The circa 1924 organ produced in Buffalo by the Wurlitzer company was restored to original condition in a process which required nearly 13 years and the equivalent of several hundred thousand dollars.  Starting with the donation of the organ by a couple in Massachusetts who had the entire organ, including pipes which reach 16 feet, installed in their basement, the instrument was totally restored and reconfigured for the 2000 seat theater in downtown Plattsburgh.  We enjoyed a showing of the silent film " The Phantom of the Opera", starring Lon Chaney, accompanied by an organist playing the equivalent of a full orchestra.  The house was packed for the benefit concert at $20.00 a head.  It seems nostalgia is a powerful draw.  Many of those in the audience had memories of bygone days when these performances were not so unusual.  I wonder if this is a recent phenomena, or if looking back at "the good ole days" is something every generation does.

The Big Chill

I just had to put that title down for today's post.  As much as I hate the first real freeze of the season, the reference to the archetypical boomer movie is irresistible.  I'll survey the damage tonight, but at least there was no wind to add burn to the freeze.  For sure, the lettuce and more tender veg are history.  The real question is how badly did the broccoli and cauliflower freeze and how long will they take to rehydrate.  We have rain and warmer weather predicted for later in the week, so we should be ok in that department.  The next question is how to get the garlic planted before the rain makes a muddy mess out of my carefully prepared beds.  Fall gardening on the NCR is not for the faint of heart.

Freeze warning

Last week, the galinsoga froze.  By tomorrow morning, many other denizens of the garden will follow that dastardly weed to oblivion.  The weather service is predicting temps in the high teens and low 20s.  At the very least it will freeze many of the hardy vegetables to the point they will need a good shower and warmer weather to thaw and regain their texture.  Broccoli is one of these.  The beets and carrots can shrug off a single night of very cold temps, so long as the ground doesn't freeze.  Some of the greens, like turnip tops will probably burn at these temperatures, while the kale will just get sweeter.  Spinach will hug the ground, but should weather the cold.  Unfortunately, any lettuce still in the ground will be a popsicle tonight.  After such a long run of clement weather, I hate the idea of the garden shutting down, but all things must pass.   I did make up a bed for planting early spinach next spring, so despite the shutdown, spring is around the corner...LOL

Sail ho....really?

An article in the NYT is touting the return of sail power in the form of a 39 ft. sail powered barge bringing produce and other locally produced farm items to NYC via the Hudson River.  This is the brainchild of a consortium (if you could dignify this little bootstrap operation with that name) of Vermont and NY growers along the Lake Champlain-Hudson river corridor.  My own little corner of the NCR was once a bustling lake port in the 18th and 19th centuries.  The Valcour port provided an easy means for locals to reach markets for their goods via boat rather than the primitive roads that existed at that time.  While the movers behind this latest sailpower initiative freely admit it is more show than go, they also point out that 9 million people live within walking distance of the ports the little sailboat will stop at.  Do I think I'll be selling produce via sail in the near future?  I doubt it, but stunt or not, at least their is creative thinking evident in our area.

Winners, Losers and Also Rans

The Red Sox put a quick claim on World Series glory last night, winning 8-1 over the Cardinals.  As a lifelong Yankees fan, I am conflicted by our archrivals success.   Meanwhile, team GOP is losing badly in the political world series and it promises to get really ugly.  Holding hearings to berate web designers and political appointees is not going to take America's collective mind off the recent $24 billion government shutdown brought to you by the party of Lincoln.   The 16th President is probably spinning in his grave as his erstwhile successors tarnish what is left of his party's legacy.  Finally, the weather continues to run downhill here on the NCR.  (That stands for North Country Riviera for those new followers of this blog).   I think we may have had a galinsoga killing frost last night, but I won't know til later in the day.  Otherwise, the garden continues to produce.   The divine Mrs. M picked about 10 lbs. of grape tomatoes yesterday in anticipation of the freeze, so we will have tomatoes with our salads for the next couple of weeks.  The hardier crops will laugh at 28 degree temps. 

Perennial fantasies

Marc Bittman in the NYT tells us that perennial heaven is right around the corner, give or take a hundred years or so.  By working with the genes of annuals, scientists at the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas hope to have a perennial prairie which will produce food with minimal inputs and maximum sustainability.  The catch, which Bittman doesn't explore is the amount of food per acre the new regime could produce.  I doubt it is a fraction of what today's corn and soybean crops now yield.  Of course these yields are unsustainable, depending on huge fossil fuel inputs for fertilizer, irrigation, harvest and storage.   Also, the bounty is produced by essentially mining the soil and causing large losses of soil each year and polluting the rest of the environment.  These factory farms are certainly not the solution to mankind's increasing appetite each year.  However, Bittman and Wes Jackson's fantasy of a perennial prarie is only viable in a world with many fewer than the 9 billion people who will be standing on the earth by the turn of the next century.  We need solutions, and at least this is a start.  Let's hope there is a happy medium between the extremes.

Mild weather continues

Woke up to temps in the 50s this morning.  That would usually be a warm high for the day on the NCR at this time of year.  We have a few frosty mornings predicted later this week, but nothing that would shut the gardening season down.  I look forward to checking on the growth of many different crops when I get home in daylight later today.  Although the tomatoes are probably toast, there is still a cornucopia of items to harvest this weekend.  And garlic to plant.

Pleasant weekend

Thoroughly enjoyed the PMA in NOLA.  Two days of produce talk, excellent food and music are balm to the produce person's soul.  The divine Mrs. M and I spent Sunday afternoon sightseeing in the French Quarter.  Beignets and cafe au lait at the Cafe Du Monde was definitely on the list of must dos.  The weather was nearly perfect for the time of year and  aside from being a little footsore at the end of the day, we enjoyed the experience.  A little jazz to finish the evening and now I'm ready to go back to the real world even if I have to drag my partner back with me.  No politics were discussed and very little current affairs leaked into the produce bubble.  Now it is back to the NCR and business as usual. 

Travelling

Light blogging today.  The Divine Mrs. M and myself are heading to New Orleans for the Produce Marketing Association Convention.  There we will see the latest products and packaging, mostly made in foreign countries by low wage workers or in the USA by similarly low paid people.  It is too easy to be cynical about the food production and distribution system in this country.  If all the workers were paid a living wage, it is likely most people would be horrified by the increased cost.  We are subsidized by the government every step of the way from the seed to the finished product and very few people question the relative cheapness of food in this country.  Enough ranting.  I will report on the wonders of the produce universe tomorrow.

The party of stupid

The post-mortems continue this morning as commenters on the left and right weigh in on the republicans' ignominious surrender last night.  Of course the Faux News brigade will paint a picture of a principled band of patriots who fought the good fight, while the outlets who cater to a less sanity challenged audience will call it what it was, a band of nihilists who were willing to take the country down as collateral damage in their vendetta against the president.  Now the focus will shift as the wrong headed agenda of  slashing the social safety net and cutting back the functions of government at the behest of the .01% continues to generate positive media coverage.  As one blogger puts it,  punching hippies, kicking the poors and punishing the olds never seems to go out of style in this country.   Will the party of stupid learn from the thrashing it took in the polls.  I doubt it.  The only way this ends well is if enough of the politically apathetic wake up and do their civic duty.  Otherwise we will seemingly get the government we deserve.

Avoidance

I'm only going to pontificate on weather and crops today.  The puerile politics our nation has descended to makes my stomach turn.  Anyway, it looks like we are finally going to get some fall weather here on the NCR.  By Saturday night the tomatoes and hopefully the galinsoga will be history.  Because the lows will remain in the upper 20s and low 30s for the rest of next week, the hardy veg will be fine.  The last cauliflower and broccoli plantings should continue to bulk up and the spinach will continue to grow.  If the deer leave the beet tops and carrot foliage alone they will get larger also.   The last few forlorn heads of lettuce will hang on until we get to the mid 20s, but it has been a good run for lettuce this year.  The head lettuce growers who still have crops in the ground are reaping a bonanza as the California lettuce in the Huron growing area is virtually non-existent due to water restrictions.  That means iceberg will be scarce until the Florida  and Yuma deals begin in December.  With FOBs in the mid to upper $20s in Quebec, growers are set to finish on a high note.  As I predicted 10 years ago, the season continues to expand.  We are now at least 2 weeks past the traditional end of lettuce in the North Country.  With California's continued weather woes, I can predict imaginative growers who will try to extend the season further as the weather continues to warm.  Newer varieties which can cope with our warmer summers followed by others which can mature in the shorter days of October and November will eventually find us eating local salads for US Thanksgiving.

Moment of Truth

It looks like John Boenher will finally have to make a decision he is dreading;  either cater to the crazies in his caucus, or put the best interests of his country first.  Assuming the Senate votes on a debt ceiling extension which also ends the government shutdown, the ball is in House's court.  The country is now a laughingstock around the world and most first world inhabitants shake their heads as they contemplate the tea party's antics.  Even a banana republic would blush. The Senate bill is just a stopgap measure which ensures we will play out this tawdry drama again in February.  Even this delay is too much for some of the crazies.  They imagine they are the patriots about to be overrun by the hordes of unbelievers, led by the Kenyan Muslim Usurper in Chief.  Fortunately, if Boenher puts the Senate bill up for a vote by the entire House, it will pass easily and we will see the relatively small number of idiots who have held the nations economy and by extension the world's hostage.  And it will also expose most of them for the racist assholes they are.

Weekend Bliss

As in two days of glorious fall weather.   Finished the Farmers' Market on a high note with a swinging load of beautiful produce.  It almost makes me look forward to next year.  Of course that would require me to continue my amnesia regarding the weather in June and early July.  Fortunately for most Americans, farmers have notoriously short memories.   Meanwhile, the ignorance part of the bliss equation was no TV and very little radio.   Therefore no reflections on the country's governance problems.  Checking this morning showed the teahadist wing of the erstwhile republican party was still making Boenher dance as they pull the strings.  It would appear the defense of the .01% takes precedence over the rest of us.

Last Hurrah

The last farmers' market has finally rolled around, and I have to say I approach this last Saturday with a mixture of relief and regret.  It is nice to finally get Friday nights and weekends back.  At the same time, I will miss the sense of urgency and the fulfillment as the loaded truck rolls into the market and customers snap up the produce I put such effort to grow and harvest.  It sounds somewhat corny, but I feel a link between myself and the ultimate consumer on those sunny and even not so sunny Saturdays.  I think that essential link between farmer and consumer is missing in most transactions today.  The production of food has become so divorced from the people who buy and eat it that it is almost as impersonal as buying a pair of shoes or some laundry detergent.  If I keep doing this in future years, much of the satisfaction is that connection I make as a grower with my customers.  Of course it would be nice to make more than a minimum wage for the time I spend on this hobby. 

Government disaster as reality TV

Watching the political shows these days is almost like being strapped into a chair and forced to watch endless reruns of Jersey Shore or Big Brother.  You want to scream at the idiots who are trotted out each night to affirm that yes, "white is black", "up is down" and not least, "freedom is slavery".  The 30 or 40 Teahadists and the Koch brothers are forcing the country to the brink of default in an ultimately futile attempt to rollback the 21st century's likely most important social accomplishment, health care for the majority of Americans.  Like social security and medicare before it, this is an imperfect program, but it will get better and ultimately will be known as the precursor of universal health care.  Much as the generation that grew up with the New Deal, the generation that experiences Obamacare will be a force for the Democrats.  The dead enders in the Republican party know this and the present apocalypse is their reaction.  I believe cooler heads will prevail, but the cost will be high. Meanwhile, we have to wonder how much longer we'll be experiencing groundhog day.

Frosty start

I had to scrape the windshield this morning for the first time since late April.  We barely touched 36 degrees, so most of the tender veg are probably still okay.  I'm sure the galinsoga will live to grow another day.  With the rain on Monday and warmer temps coming up for the weekend there should be plenty of maturing going on in the garden.  The beets and carrots are still coming on strong.  I noticed more teacup size heads of cauliflower in the last planting and the broccoli is bulking up.  The second cuttings of spinach will be plentiful for the next couple of weeks and the third set of peppers will be in the offing next week.  All in all, the late garden is almost making up for the nightmarish June and early July of our discontent.  

Racism and the Republican Id

It seems the teahadists in the House are determined to destroy the Obama presidency even if it lays waste the American economy.  That is the clear message the lemmings with the suicide vests are spreading through the media.  By some strange coincidence almost all of these nihilists are from the south.  Of course many residents of the old confederacy have little use for the rest of these United States, and for brown skinned people in general.  Obama presents the perfect pretext to bash both of these bugaboos using the rubric of patriotism.  They are fighting to keep the debt (mostly accumulated under republican presidents) from swallowing the country.  If the country dies due to their tender ministrations, at least they can say they tried.  What they did not count on was a unified Democratic party and a president with a mandate and a spine transplant.  Now they are backed into a corner with no way out but to capitulate in a most humiliating fashion.  Like a cornered rat, this is when this movement is most dangerous.  It is also when its foundational racism is most likely to be outed.  When this happens, perhaps the nation can begin another healing process.  But I doubt it.  As long as their are people who fear the "other", there will be hate and destructive actions.  We need to call these out and excise them from the nation's politics.

Springing back

Another mild weekend here on the NCR.  Still no frost predicted for the next 10 days and it looks like most if not all of the late crops will mature, even if the customers are not available.  The farmers' market closes next week, but if the latest returns are an indicator, the customers have moved on to other activities of a Saturday morning.  I guess fresh vegetables are a summertime thing for many people and they will return to chain store fresh for the rest of the year.  It's a shame, because the most vitamin dense veggies are available now.  Cauliflower, broccoli, kale, winter squash, etc. are way more nutritious than green beans and summer squash.  I tried roasted kohlrabi this weekend and it was delicious.  It has been a bountiful fall so far and it looks like it will extend through much of the month.  Certainly it has been a better season than the spring and summer that preceded.

Republican roulette

It looks like Boenher has taken most if not all the bullets from the gun his party was holding to America's collective head.  By telling moderates he is willing to use Democratic votes to raise the debt ceiling he is effectively neutering the teahadist wing of his party.  Maybe the collective sigh of relief from most Americans will give the speaker enough cover to keep his job.  The alternatives are not pretty.  We can hope the next election will be a referendum on the party of stupid, in which case Nancy Pelosi will be pounding the gavel when Hilary takes the oath of office.  There will be a collective explosion of heads at FOX nation, but the future of the country will look immeasurably better with grownups in charge again.

Weather is beautiful, wish Congress was

At least the weather is beautiful for a government shutdown.  No natural disasters to remind the teahadists the need for a functional federal government.  So, until the pain of their constituents and the need for some semblance of responsibility forces them, the shutdown will continue with each side's cheerleaders egging them on.  On the face of it is a no-brainer.  However, brains are not something the tea party is noted for.  Meanwhile, summer has returned to the garden.  I hate to even mention it, but it is actually getting dry out there.  The lettuce for next week should be full size in time for the last farmer's market of the year.  The cole crops continue to jump, although with fewer daylight hours it is a little slower than this kick of warm weather would otherwise provide.  The tomatoes are about done, with excessive cracking on the slicers.  I picked the last few plums, but I don't think their flavor is good enough for sauce.

Proving old maxims

Looks like the republicans are going to prove the old saying "Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result".  They can continue to pass the same idiotic riders delaying or defunding ACA on the back of the continuing resolution to keep the government operating and the Senate will continue to reject the bill and send it back to the House.  Meanwhile, real people will begin to suffer as the government shuts down.  What this comes down to is a lack of leadership on the GOP side.  Someone needs to stand up to the teahadists and tell them you cannot govern the country in a constant state of crisis, regardless of the fundraising opportunities it creates.  The spineless speaker of the house is obviously not up to the task.  Boehner is too consumed by his need to stay on the job until he can land that lucrative lobbying gig to do his duty to the country.  This is what it all boils down to; greed and ideology feeding off each other.  Meanwhile, the rest of us get to watch the trainwreck and hope we are not collateral damage.