Reed's Garden Report(s)

[steev]

There's not all that much to be said for extended dry spells (four drought years and counting, here in Cali); news just came of the Metropolitan Water District (think Los Angeles) buying large tracts in the Sacramento River Delta, burnishing its claim to export of NorCal water to SoCal; fuck the Sacramento River fishery; fuck the San Francisco Bay ecosystem; NorCal is where the water is (sometimes); SoCal is where the votes are (always); anybody seen "Chinatown"? This looks like "Owens Valley, the Sequel".

I am as disappointed with Governor Brown (he's also not against fracking, Cali being more prone to earthquakes than Oklahoma, nor railroad transport of coal through the East Bay, an area of high population density and asthma incidence already), as I am with President Obama, both having turned out to be totally corporate shills. It's the Golden Rule: who has the gold, makes the rules.

I'm so glad I bought land in the middle of nowhere, with its own weather and aquifer; I doubt I can make a "living" off it (never gonna have a Porsche; damn!), but I can always live off it; it is increasingly obvious that I don't want to be subject to the interests of people not really interested in the area in which I live. Oh, my! I think I'm talking about "representative" government! I'm so glad that my western neighbor is my county supervisor, who seems generally to be in tune with me.

Sorry; this hasn't a lot to do with tomatoes, per se.

[reed]

Everything's connected. Speaking of drought I saw the other day some academic type came up with a new term, flash drought, where even if it has been wet, a couple weeks of hot dry wind dries it out. What a genius.

[steev]

Indeed so; everything's connected; it's all of a piece; think one can pull on one string for one's religious, social, or political interests and it won't have unanticipated consequences?; so arrogantly thoughtless. The world is more complex than we imagine, much greater than we can dominate; we need a lot more humility in the face of what our world IS, as opposed to what we think we can dominate. That domination crap ain't working out so well, regardless of what Big Oil/Ag want to tell us.

As far as "flash drought", I have no expectation, whatsoever, of rain from April through October; that was the deal throughout Cali until the Federal irrigation projects of the 1950s; you folks who don't want "government" intrusion into your lives should eat vitamin pills, instead of fresh veggies, six months of the year; doubtless you'll be "politically correct", though constipated, during those months; just my gut reaction.

[steev]

Four years of sub-normal rainfall is "drought" in Cali because the water supply is basically annual precipitation (much stored in Sierra snow-pack); the groundwater reserves were largely banked before the 19th Century, before development started to reduce much of the Great Central Valley from becoming a seasonal lake/marsh by levees/channeling the rivers and dams for reservoirs, that development permitting the use of the extensive rich peat soils the annual flooding had produced; the Federal/State water projects of the 1950's allowed expansion of Big Ag, especially in SoCal, leading to Cali's position as year-round fresh produce supplier to the Nation (although Big Oil/Shipping have eaten into that, with downsides I could go into, but won't just now). That the 20th Century was unusually wet for the region only made it easier to justify overspending a very limited resource (Look! We have floods! Let's send all this water to SoCal!)

The situation Cali is in now is that even with normal rainfall, our water supply is over-stretched; our watershed is over-subscribed; not only is our population growing (nearly 40 million, every one of whom wants to quench his thirst, bathe her body, and flush their toilet at least once daily; I know, stereotypes, but I admit that I'd rather drink than bathe; I'm such a beast), but Big Ag needs most of Cali's water to generate their produce for export from state/country. I've been in countries where export income was more important than the local population; not a pretty sight, since that income generally doesn't "trickle down".

Having a Mediterranean climate, Cali is parched for the six dry, hot months; without access to wells, rivers, reservoirs, or canals, there is fuck-all produce that can be grown here, 1/3 of the year. Damned plants just can't get over their addiction to water, especially cultivated crops; they need to be bred less for dietary fiber and more for moral fiber (not that I think many of our citizens get enough dietary fiber, if our current politics are any indication).

[reed]

I like good conversation and to repeat, it's all connected.

Back to the garden about 50% of mine is at the moment bare dirt where stuff has been harvested. I'll be planting more of course in the empty spots but not sure when. If I do it right now I doubt it would grow, will probably wait at least a couple weeks or so for most things. Might go ahead and plant some more bush beans, they don't like it this hot but I have plenty of seeds, maybe I'll find some that don't mind the heat. Could probably squeeze in another patch of corn too and maybe some late potatoes. I'll be breaking into the seed jars soon to see what jumps out.

I'v found it's better anymore not to get in too much of a hurry to plant second crops, early fall frost is less common that late spring ones, so no need to stress things with 90 degree temps. I don't expect any frost let alone freeze till at least mid October.

Should be picking my first melons any day now. I think we can have sweet corn probably tomorrow, should have been two weeks ago if not for the coons and squirrels.

[reed]

OMG, as they say, PEACHES! Every year, well not every year cause I don't always get peaches but when ever I taste the first one it's like I had forgotten what a peach is. It's like I never tasted a peach before, like nobody ever tasted a peach before, like the sky opened up and rained peach manna. One variety especially, Belle of Georgia, if you can excuse the vulgarity is practically orgasmic.

I wish I knew how to make jam or something without adding all the sugar called for in all the recipes I know. Adding sugar to these is a crime against nature. I guess I'll just have to go out every day and stuff myself on peaches till their gone. Somebody's gotta do it.

On my list is to learn how to make brandy, the only possible non criminal way I can think of to preserve them.

[steev]

Peeled, sulfured, and dried can result in pretty good preserved peaches.

If you fill a large jar loosely with such dried fruit and top it up with vodka, then wait a few months, you wind up with a tipple combining the best of both ingredients.

[mskrieger]

Once I tried a German technique of fermenting plums in their own juice in a tall, kind of narrow latch-top jar, half gallon size. It took a day or two for them to weep enough juice to cover themselves, but not too long. Maybe added a little sugar into the crock but not much. It was like the most wonderful, plummiest shlivovitz ever. Put it into the basement when I judged it 'ready', and spooned it over ice cream and cake and whatever else we wanted to make into a fizzy, alcoholic dessert. Supposedly you can keep adding each fruit to the crock as it comes into season. I'm sure peaches would work on their own, too. Just rinse off any surface soiling and slice them into the jar. The yeasts on the skin will do all the fermentation work for you.

[mskrieger]

To clarify--I put the crock in the basement to keep it cool and slow the fermentation when I was satisfied with the flavor and alcohol level. Obviously a refrigerator would be just as good.

[mskrieger]

And shlivovitz = plum brandy. A Hungarian/Serbian/Croatian specialty. Russians would call it slivovitziya.

[reed]

I'm really happy with my melon patch this year. I planted a mix of my seed, mostly Minnesota Midget along with some saved from a little yellow last year that came from Joseph's small fruited mix and some that Ferdzy sent me. We have been tasting and eating them for several days and more keep coming on. Here is a selection of some of them. Some much larger ones are not pictured. 

Some of the very small ones are kinda nasty and some of them are really, really good. Generally the ones with larger seed cavities with some empty space are not so good and the ones with tight small cavities are great. They are the basis of next years crop. I'm dropping most of the medium to larger ones, hey are OK flavor but not great. I'm had some split open on the ends and some just flat explode in the field, I guess from the heat and rain. Some of my favorite little ones are green inside some are orange. 

And then there is this thing. There is five or six of them on the vine and they look more like gourds. It has spiny leaves and rind. They have just been laying there looking exactly the same for a long time and I finally couldn't stand it anymore so I pulled one off and brought it in. The shell is very tough like a gourd and when I finally got it open I still wasn't sure what it is. ferdzy and Joseph Lofthouse , I don't know which one of you is responsible for this thing but it is the sweetest, most delicious melon I ever tasted and I don't think this one is even completely ripe!
  

[khoomeizhi]

pretty cool. is that as tiny as it looks?

hard shell = maybe a good keeper, if you can figure out the right time to harvest...

[philagardener]

Looks great and that hard rind will help reduce losses to animals. Very juicy!

[steev]

Whatever that is, looks like a keeper.

[reed]

khoomeizhi, this one is about the size of a large grapefruit. A couple others in the patch are a little larger. The idea of a melon you can keep for awhile is very exciting. I'v been feeding a lot of the others to the chickens cause there are just too many to eat before they spoil. I'v given a lot away too. 

I'll watch the rest of these closely to see if they change color or anything else that indicates more  ripeness, maybe this one is ripe, I don't know, but it sure is good so not sure it matters.  It's texture is more like an apple, you can't cut it with a fork. philagardener , yes hopefully the tough rind and spines will help protect it., I rubbed the spines off with a paper towel before I cut it.  It is juicy. Never seen or tasted anything like it.