Blind Pig & The Acorn

Planting By The Signs - Finally A Test That Worked

My fall garden is producing a bumper crop of radishes, greens, and turnips. Some of you may remember-I made sure to plant my seeds on the appropriate day-dictated by the zodiac signs.

Back in the summer I attempted a sign test and a few of you played along too. The corn test didn't really work out-first, I was unorganized and waited too late in the season to start, second-many of us ran into things we couldn't control-like mother nature and conniving chipmunks. The only corn test participants who made it to the end of the growing season were Martina, Nancy, WKF, and Helen.

As I was planting my fall garden-I took note that Pap and Granny planted theirs on the wrong day according to the signs.

 

This impromptu fall garden test seems to have worked. We planted the same turnip seeds (Pap shared his with me), I planted on the right day-they planted on the wrong day-but still within about a week of each other.

As you can see from the photo above-their garden looks pretty good too. But one thing is lacking in Pap's garden...

Turnips! All he has is green tops-while I have pretty white turnips. So I'm declaring this test a win for the signs. Hopefully next spring some of you will play along with another sign test-I promise to be better organized.

I'll leave you with a bit of good news for me-I made the front page of a local paper this week-if you'd like to read the article-click here.

Tipper

p.s. Check back in the coming days to see how folks ate the corn they gathered in the old days-some folks still eat it the same way today.

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Planting A Fall Garden

The green vibrant bounty of our summer garden is gone.

Pretty much the only thing left producing-is Okra. I wanted to plant a fall garden last year-but time got away from me. This year I've waited till the very last days to plant.

Wanting to follow the signs-(I still want to know if it works or not)-I've been checking the Farmer's Almanac site. The days that were 'right' in August were either not convenient or too wet to plant.

The 13th and the 14th were the last 2 'best days' to plant below ground crops in September.

I used one of my larger raised beds to plant turnips in and

a couple of smaller raised beds to plant radishes. This way The Deer Hunter didn't have to crank the tiller.

Hopefully since both turnips and radishes can stand a light frost they'll both have time to produce before true cold weather arrives. I plan to plant lettuce too-but I'm waiting on the right day-which is either the 21st or 22nd according to the almanac.

A few additional tips for planting a fall garden:

• Depending on your growing season and local weather-some folks may not have time for a 2nd planting, while others may get in 2 seasons of more frost tender veggies.
• Look for veggies that can tolerate a light frost-like you do in the early spring. Often here in western NC our first frost of the fall will be light and another frost won't occur for several weeks.
• Radishes, swiss chard, mustard greens, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, turnips, and lettuces, are all considered good choices for planting in the fall.
• Prepare your soil prior to planting exactly like you would in the spring.
• Most gardening sites and books advise you to start planting your fall garden in mid August. (you can see I'm late)
• Since fall weather is typically dryer-at least in my area-you may have to water your fall garden more than the spring or summer garden.

I haven't told Pap and Granny-but they planted their turnips on a 'bad day'-another test in the making. I'll keep track to see who's turnips do the best and let you know.

So do you plant a fall garden? Did your parents or grandparents? What do you plant?

Tipper

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Saving Flower Seeds

Over the past few days-a feeling of fall has arrived in the Southern Highlands of Appalachia. The time between the end of summer and when fall truly begins isn't one of my favorite times of the year. Most of the garden-veggies and flowers-are at the end of their life cycle. The landscape takes on a look of death as it begins to die back for a season of sleep.

I remember Granny gathering flower seeds during the last days of summer. She'd carry an old envelope to stuff them in-storing up the brown seeds-looking ahead to their rebirth. While I helped her collect the seeds I'd think we were storing up pretty flowers for the cold winter days ahead-even if they were only in our minds.

As each summer ends, I find myself saving seeds just like Granny taught me. Although, I've read detailed instructions for seed saving-I use the simple method Granny did. For most of the flowers-I look for dried blossoms-pulling them apart to reveal the seeds. This method works well with Marigolds,

Zinnias,

Purple Coneflowers,

Black Eyed Susans,

and Cosmos.

I also save Nasturtium seeds. I love-their huge flowing leaves, bright flowers and they're even edible-you can't beat that. To find their seeds just look down through the vining leaves-sometimes 2 are together like in the photo. I take the seeds indoors and lay them on a piece of paper or paper towel and let them dry until they're shriveled and brown looking-then I put them in an old envelope just like Granny and save them till spring.

 

Saving seeds from Impatients is fun. Look for seedpods that are swelled-usually as soon as you touch them they POP. (children love to help with this one)

Once the pod pops open-it looks like this. You can discard the green portion and save the tiny seeds-letting them air dry on a piece of paper-then storing in a dry place till spring.

Sometimes I take the easy lazy way of saving seeds. I cut the entire dried flower-stem and all-then lay it where I want it to grow next year. In most cases it works.

The girls use my flowers in their mud pie making enterprise-so I've ended up with flowers in some strange places-but I say a flower is nice no matter where it grows.

Tipper

p.s. I'm going to a pig pickin tomorrow-ever been to one?

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Blind Pig & The Acorn's Corn Test Update

 

Time to share an update on the Blind Pig & The Acorn's Corn Test.

Tipper:  You can look back to here to see what happened to my corn. Before the incident, the good day corn was about 3 inches taller than the bad day corn. But since the corn met it's demise so soon it really wasn't much of a test.

Martina:  The good day corn is twice as tall as the bad day corn. Neither have tassels yet.

WKF:  The good day corn started out way ahead of the bad day corn but as they grew they evened out to be the same height. Recently, the good day corn has sprung ahead of the bad day corn again, although something has been eating on the good day's tassels.

Rick M:  Both the good day and the bad day corn were about 6 inches high-when something pulled it all up. Up to that point both of the days were equal in growth.

Nancy:  As you can see by the photo-both days are doing well. Corn is about 4 feet high with tassels.

Becky: Not one seed came up-it was a total wash.

Warren:  The heavy rain we've had this year ruined most of my garden including the corn.

Helen:

The good day corn are kind of Lording it over the bad day corn. I tried to tell them that could have been them but I don't think they listened. The bad corn is about 6 inches above my knee, while the good day corn is even with the bend of my elbow (see photo above) it's about 3ft 9in.

As you can see 4 of the corn testers-Martina, Helen, WKF, and Nancy-are still chugging along-while the rest of us have been put down by mother nature.

Tipper

Putting Up Corn

Corn in it's many forms is a staple of the Appalachian diet. Fresh corn, pickled corn, hominy, grits, cornmeal, and yes moonshine all come to mind when one thinks of the uses of corn in Appalachia.

Putting up corn is like canning green beans-in the way that each family has it's own method of preserving the corn for future use. While I've read accounts of canning corn-we prefer to freeze ours. Here is how we do it:

 

It's important to have fresh corn when freezing-we prefer to freeze it on the same day it's picked if possible. Of course the first step is the fun of shucking and silking.

 

I give each ear a good scrub under running water to make sure I get all the silks off.

 

Some folks-cut the corn off of the cob then cook it-we cook ours first. It seems once the corn has been cooked-it makes less of a mess when you cut it off the cob-it doesn't splatter as much. As you can see in the photo above-we use a fish/turkey fryer on the back deck to cook the corn. This way we can cook a good amount at one time making the process go faster-and it doesn't heat up the house as much. But a large pot on the stove works just as well.

The most important tip here-we've found the corn retains it's fresh sweet flavor longer-if you do not over cook the corn. We bring the water to a boil-then add the corn for no more than one minute.

 

Once the corn is cooked we place it in the sink and run cold water over it to stop the cooking process. After it is cooled by the water we cut if off the cob. Tips here: a sharp knife works so much better, and don't' forget to scrape the cob after you cut most of the corn off-especially if your favorite way to prepare corn is cream style-if you prefer more of a niblet style of corn you can skip the scraping part.

 

After cutting the corn off the cob we pack it into freezer bags. Our tip for this last step: we use sandwich bags which are cheaper. Each bag holds about 2 cups of corn. We then place 4 sandwich bags full of corn into one gallon size freezer bag. As we use the corn over the coming year-we take out as many sandwich bags as we need for a meal, then when the gallon bag is empty we wash it and reuse it.

So that's the way the Blind Pig family preserves corn-how about you?

Tipper

p.s. If you have any questions about the process of freezing corn-please email me at tipper@blindpigandtheacorn.com

Blind Pig & The Acorn's Corn Test Runs Into Trouble

 

As I've walked through my yard over the past few days I've seen great beauty-like White Lilies that smell soooo good,

 

                           Zinnia Buds

 

                          Zinnia Blooms

 

                       Fire Orange Marigolds

 

                                Alums

                            Nasturtiums

 

and various shades of Pink Phlox. But amid all the beauty-something evil is lurking in my yard-something so mean, so destructive that it actually...

 

                      pulled up my corn!!!

 

Whatever the evildoer is-it pulled up all of my corn-except 2 stalks-both of which were planted on the 'good' day for planting corn-so there goes my test.

The Deer Hunter thinks it was a crow-I don't. I know crows will pull up corn-and simply lay it to the side-but I don't think they dig holes too. Whatever pulled up my corn dug a neat little hole under each stalk. I think it was the little cutie pie chipmunks that run crazy through my yard when they think no one is looking.

Even though my luck has taken a bad turn-I'm still holding out hope for all the other corn participants-Nancy, Becky, Martina, Rick, WKF, Helen, and Warren.

The Evil Corn Puller Hole Digger is the only problem we've had with garden pests this year-what about you?

Tipper

Cooking Squash In Appalachia

 

The typical way to cook squash in Appalachia-is fried. The actual procedure of frying is varied from cook to cook. Granny cuts her squash in circles-rolls it in cornmeal-and fries it in vegetable oil. She stirs it around in the pan and it becomes more of a scramble than individual fried pieces of squash.

 

The Deer Hunter and I fry our squash slightly different. We cut the squash in length wise pieces, dip it into a milk-egg-salt-pepper wash,

 

roll the squash in a cornmeal-flour-salt-pepper mix, and finally-fry it in either olive oil or vegetable oil.

 

Our method takes longer than Granny's-but the pieces stay intact-and retain more of a squash flavor. One of the Foxfire Books details frying squash-the little lady interviewed in the book, fried her squash in larger pieces like we do-but since it took more time to stand over the pan and turn each individual piece of squash-she told her children she'd fry one pan of squash-but if they wanted more they'd have to fry the next pan.

 

After getting a few tips from Matthew Burns, I fried a few squash blossoms. They tasted good-with a delicate squash flavor-but I probably won't be making them again. They did look very pretty-might be nice for a special meal.

Growing up-I never knew you could eat squash any other way than fried. As an adult I've discovered I like squash boiled-steamed-stuffed-grilled-and perhaps my favorite roasted. We dice up squash, zucchini, and onion-toss it with olive oil, sprinkle oregano-salt-pepper, and roast it in the oven (450) for about 7 minutes-YUMMY.

Did you grow up eating Granny's version of 'scrambled fried squash' like I did? If you've ever been to a summer time church gathering in the south-I'm sure you've seen it on the table.

Tipper

 

Yellow Squash

 

Yellow Squash has been a favorite veggie of mine since I was a child. This year's plants have just started producing what looks to be a bumper crop.

 

As you can see from the photo above-our plants are huge this summer. I think it must be the chicken litter-as well as the extra rain we've been getting.

 

I ask Pap and Granny if their parents grew yellow squash when they were kids. Granny said the state took their garden to build the new 4-lane, and she couldn't remember what her mother planted before that.

Pap said-they grew a different kind of squash. By his description-I'd guess it was a Cushaw. He remembered it lasted longer than yellow squash, was a light orange tan color and seemed tougher like a pumpkin. His mother cubed it then fried it with sugar and water-kinda like sweet potatoes.

Seems everyone in our area grows yellow squash now-Pap said it was in the early 60's or 70's when folks here started growing yellow squash.

 

In the follow days drop back by the Blind Pig to:

• See how to cook squash in the traditional Appalachian way (fried)
• See how to make old fashioned Squash Relish (so good in the winter)
• Come along with me as I try frying squash blooms for the first time ( I keep hearing about folks who do this and want to see if it's worth the trouble)
• Come along as I try drying squash for the first time (when I was a little girl-I so wanted to be a Cherokee Indian-I know they dried squash)

Do you plant Yellow Squash? Have you ever planted any other varieties of Squash?

Tipper

p.s. If you know someone who might be interested in the upcoming posts-please send them to the Blind Pig-I'd truly appreciate it!

Blind Pig & The Acorn's Corn Test

 

A few weeks ago, I mentioned having a test to see whether or not planting by the signs did indeed make a difference in the way vegetables grow. I had several folks sign up for the fun:  Becky of Twisted Fencepost fame, Nancy from Southern Blessings, Rick M., WKF, The Reddirt Woman herself-Helen, Martina, Warren who lives Among the Hills and a few other who want to remain nameless-(I think they're afraid we'll become famous for our discoveries)

 

The test got under way this week-we planted the first batch of corn on the 23rd-which is the best time according to the signs. We'll follow up by planting the second batch later this week when the signs have changed to barren unsuitable days.

If the weather will cooperates the corn should have enough days to mature-most of the participants (including me) live in the south-so it shouldn't be a problem-unless Jack Frost decides to make a very early appearance. I'll be comparing the growth of the different batches as we go along. (check in at Twisted Fencepost to see how Becky's test got started-Sign Experiment)

Corn variety is a hot topic around our mountain holler-seems everyone has a favorite and an opinion to go with it. Our favorite-Silver Queen-which is a sweet white corn. Not only does Silver Queen have a superior taste-it freezes great-and seems to hold that sweet fresh taste better than other varieties we've tried. Nothing better than corn fresh from the garden, boiled on the cob and served with butter-yum.

What about you got a favorite corn variety? What is your favorite way to eat corn?

Tipper

Suckering Tomatoes

This year The Deer Hunter and I have planted more tomato plants than ever before. Partly because we need to grow more of our own food due to the current economic situation-partly because we've had several tomato plants given to us.

We've planted hybrids-like Better Boys, Celebrity, Parks Whoppers, and Romas. But the ones I'm most excited about are the heirloom varieties we planted-they include, Brandywines, Lady Lucy, and Sweet Orange. We've had more than a few 'volunteer' plants come up from last year-so who knows what those will be.

The Deer Hunter has added support to most of the plants and some are already setting fruit.

I've heard all sorts of advice on growing great tomatoes-from putting lime around the plant to placing a dead fish in each hole as you plant. One tip I've always been confused on is the whole 'suckering' deal.

I've been told you should sucker the plants to ensure the energy and nutrients go to producing the actual tomato instead of producing extra plant growth. As tomato plants grow they can become heavy and unwieldy-the pruning/suckering also helps with that issue. However not all folks believe in suckering.

Many folks believe you get more tomatoes by letting all those suckers grow and set fruit. They do admit that the fruit will be smaller-but feel the number of tomatoes produced is more important than the size of the tomatoes produced.

As I researched pruning tomatoes this morning-I found some interesting tidbits:

~Never sucker or add supports to your tomato plants when they are wet.

~There are 2 different types of suckering-the simple method of removing the entire sucker-and the Missouri Method of only pinching off the tip of the sucker leaving the rest of the shoot to help in the photosynthesis process.

~Determinate plants usually don't need any pruning as they are 'determinate' in what they will produce (however some folks say you should sucker them below the first flower cluster)

~All those suckers you remove-can be planted-and grown into more tomato plants.

~At the end of the growing season-approximately 30 days before the last frost-the tomato plants should be topped of all new growth to ensure the fruit already set has ample energy to ripen before a killing frost.

Basically a boat load of contradictory advice is what I found! The Deer Hunter and I are following the advice of our elders and are suckering our tomato plants-but what about you do you sucker yours? Got any other tricks or advice for growing tomatoes? I'd love to hear about it leave me a comment!

Tipper