Flower Power

Growing a food garden means more than just a plot full of vegetables. We've had weeds up the wazoo but some of them are actuallyquite colorful. And the blooms from our veggies have been gorgeous, and in some cases, edible. Here is a collection of pictures from our unexpected flower garden.



Scarlet Mallow- technically a weed.



Morning Glory- definitely a weed.



Little sunflower, can you spot the bee?



Arugula blooms-
add them to salads for a colorful, peppery, touch.



Tomatillo bloom

 

Alfafa blooms- pollinators love them!



Anyone know what this is?



Amaranth- seeds were a staple food source
in the prehistoric southwest



Squash blossoms-
considered a delicacy when stuffed and fried!



Eggplant blooms



The almighty sunflower



I say Tomato...

We have had a hard time trying to grow tomatoes this year. We originally started with at least 10 different varieties this Spring, including Beefsteak tomatoes, Coeur de Boeuf from France, Black Krim, Tommy Toe, Indian Moon, Prescott heirlooms, etc. Unfortunately many of the seeds did not germinate in the greenhouse, others did not survive the transplant process, and many others developed some weird fungus or got eaten by weird bugs.


At any rate, I did not think this was going to be the 'year of the tomato' at Antigua Farms. Luckily, even with over 50 plants dying, we are now getting loads of tomatoes in from the garden. I've made ratatouille, soup, ketchup, marinara sauce, casseroles, salsa, and salads. And now my family is officially tomatoed out.

Mini mini cherry tomatoes

There have actually been so many tomatoes that I've had to think of ways to process and store them. So here are some pros and cons from my tomato storage wars:


1. Canning
Pros: No energy used to store. Long shelf life. Ready to eat out of the jar. Cons: Time-consuming. And do not look up botulism on the internet...

2. Freezing
Pros: Whole tomatoes, soup, sauce; it can all get dumped in the freezer.
Cons: Freezer burn, defrosting takes time, lots of wasted electricity.

3. Drying
Pros: Quick and easy to do. Versatile. Takes up very little storage space.
Cons: Can get moldy if not stored properly.

Sundried tomatoes are a winner!

Verdict is in: if you have too many tomatoes, just make your own sundried ones! You can invest in a dehydrator ($30-$50), you can dry tomatoes in your oven but that means your oven is on all day, or you can do it the super easy way.

Just slice your tomatoes lengthwise (Romas seem to work best) and remove the seeds. Place them directly on a baking sheet. Park your car in the sun and let the tomatoes sit on the dashboard  for a day or two and voila!

Make sure you store them in a dry place and check that the leftover moisture from the tomatoes, if any, does not get trapped in the bag or jar. You can also sprinkle the tomatoes with salt, herbs, or dunk them in vinegar before letting them dry out. Sundried tomatoes are really sweet and can go in everything; salads, omelettes, pizza, casseroles, etc.

New projects for next year?!!



Square tomatoes for better shipping and storage*



Bioengineered, anti-aging, purple tomatoes**

GMO tomatoes with mutated fish genes***

 *  http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/11618

** http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/126892.php

*** http://www.amazon.com/Pandoras-Picnic-Basket-Potential-Genetically/dp/0198506740

Summer Harvest

Here are the latest pictures of Antigua Farms. After all this hard work, it is finally paying off.

We've been eating kale, chard, and bok choy for a couple of months now, but the summer crops are now ready to harvest and we are thoroughly enjoying it. I haven't bought a vegetable in probably a month.



Weekly 'share' from the garden: arugula, bok choy, sorrel,
radishes, green onions, shallots, kale, and lettuce mix!




These last few weeks we have picked tons of yellow and orange carrots, radishes, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers, jalapenos, green onions, fresh herbs, string beans, and a variety of tomatoes!

Raspberry bushes are now in the ground as well as a pretty little plum tree. We've been picking produce, planting new rows of lettuce, radishes and carrots, and prepping the winter crops too (cabbage, broccoli, and squash).

The garden is flourishing. Plants (and unfortunately weeds) have been growing like mad. But man, it's working, we're growing food, lots of it!!

Cherry tomatoes



Yellow crooknecks

Chard

Antigua Farms

The main reason I wanted to start this blog up again was so I could have a record of our latest project.

Last year we bought a beautiful but run-down property with the idea of progressively turning it into a family farm. Our home has virtually no backyard and is surrounded by pine trees, which makes gardening a bit of a challenge. And we wanted our children to have a place to run around and play too.


This idea has grown and grown so quickly over the last months that I thought I would retrace this last year, as we started this almost exactly a year ago. So here is the accelerated version of the beginnings of ... Antigua Farms!

In May of 2011, we bought a 1930s stone house built on a 1.4 acre property near a creek, right in town. We had been looking all over for something similar and were incredibly lucky to find this beautiful place five minutes from our home. it was exciting and daunting all at once.

The "Farmhouse"

Over the summer, Jim went beserk. I forgot how incredibly efficient and tireless my husband is. He litterally gutted the entire house and nearly rebuilt the whole damn thing. And he did this in record time; by August, we had tenants.

I call this one 'Kitchen, Deconstructed'



Kitchen Before

 

Kitchen After!

 During the fall and winter months, we shifted our focus on the adjacent land and again Jim went nuts. This time it involved cutting trees, mending fences, weeding, plowing, and digging beds. If that wasn't enough he also built a 200sq ft greenhouse a cute lil' red barn for tools and equipment. Did I mention, the property has a well, so we have free water, which is usually an issue with farming in the Southwest. Two large water tanks were hooked to a well-pump to allow for easy water access throughout the farm.

June 2011

January 2012

May 2012

We also had the good luck to team up with Thomas from Karma Farms. He and other local farmersplant food on private property and then share what they grow with the owners. They fixed up the small barn that is on the property and added a goat pen. They have fresh milk, we have fresh eggs as trade, as well as some extra hands in the garden.

Refurbishing the goat pen

Twilla mid-crunch

Goat hotel and message board

The lil' red barn

Over the Spring months, we planted potatoes, garlic, and onions in the beds. The greenhouse kept us busy with a "pot party" during which we planted over 1,000 seedlings, including tomatoes, a variety of peppers, eggplant, zucchini, herbs, squash, etc. Lots of watering and transplating...

French Musquee Squash

The greenhouse was equiped with a solar panel connected to a fan to control the temperature inside the structure. We (Jim) also created a picnic/firepit/shade spot for our work parties, saturday night bbqs, and family picnics.
 

Pre pot-party

Pot party underway

Shade!

 

Wind, earth, and fire

Tomatoes everywhere

Baby jalapenos and bell peppers

Now that we have finally moved into summer; tomato and squash plants were transplanted outside, Hopi corn was planted along the creek, and a variety of greens, carrots, peas, and alfafa were seeded in the beds. Basically, you name it, we planted it.

Alfafa for the goats to keep their milk nice and sweet...

Potatoes and onions sharing some straw

Lettuce mix

Itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny carrots

Tomatoes keeping cool in 'water tents'

Butternut squash chilling in the shade

Hopi corn growing using dry-farming techniques

I will now make sure to track the progress of this crazy endeavor of ours in more detail. Hopefully pictures of us harvesting loads of veggies will be coming soon!

Future plans in the works? Chickens, hammacks, a tree house, fruit trees and berry bushes, and a more permanent community space (yurt anyone?). And we're always looking for some helpers, so you and your muscles, come on over.

 

Silvio's aerial view of the garden!