papaya harvest

We have been getting fruits from this one tree for 11 months!  It is a little hard to believe that this tiny plant grew so quickly into a tree (and it's a dwarf one).  The fruits are extra large with this variety.  I am talking some that are longer than a football.  Luckily they don't fall off, like some fruits do.  If they did any small child would be in danger playing beneath the tree!  We harvest them one, sometimes two at a time.  We pick them when they have a slight bit of yellow showing and then they ripen indoors.  It only takes a few days for them to be sweet enough to eat.
We share them with our neighbors, and yes, they are very happy with this arrangement.

remember my lemon tree?

Harvest soon.  Already got one.

holy basil look at my tulsi

I came home to this one plant that is gigantic!  I am talking 4 feet tall and almost as wide!  It's the purple tulsi plant.  Time to harvest!

We have been home for 28 days.  I have been so busy since arriving I haven't had time to properly prune and clean up my garden.  One thing I learned, no more tomato plants!  :(  But it's not worth it.  They are a summer bloomer, even where we are where it is so hot, the plants know when it is winter, when it is summer.  Since we are always gone in summer it's not worth it to plant tomatoes.  The only plant that survived has some sort of bug disease...Gardens really do need a lot of love.

But my tulsi is so happy!  Some bugs, but nothing neem won't cure.

This is what I have done since we came home:
*Unpacked and set up a room we had remodeled (can you say dance floor/ performance room people?)
*Gotten Shawn back in school, helping him after school with staying on track with way more homework this year.  Shopping for his school supplies took nearly 5 hours, as I had to go to 3 stores since the other 2 were out of stuff.
*Found the girls a home school teacher and have gotten them going with school, books, supplies, etc.  Meeting with the teacher weekly.  She is GREAT.
* Had a brief surprise visit from Swami (although he didn't stay with us) because there is now a new resident here who Swami lived with for years.  So from now on when Swami comes he won't stay with us anymore...bit of a bummer for us.  We will miss having him here.
* I am currently organizing a workshop with our kids new acting coach from Hollywood.  He is coming here in a month, I am handing his registration, which is fun, but a lot of work on my end - newspaper press releases, etc.
* Hosted Gary's production manager for 4 days while he shot video of Gary singing and playing for several new YouTube videos, all upcoming.  They turned out GREAT!  I will write more about that. 
* Helping oversee Skylar recording songs, making videos, etc.  She runs everything by Gary and me.   
* Continuing social networking for Gary's music, daily
* Helping the kids with every other day shooting brief commercials so they can practice their acting.  
* Getting caught up with eye, dental, orthodontist appointments for all three kids.
* A small fundraising project.
* Cooking, cleaning, piles of laundry!

As Sky used to say when she was little,

"Good my gracious me!"

It's good that I wrote it all down.  I realize, man that's a lot for less than a month, especially right upon our arrival home, where what I want to do is ease back into our life and poke around in my garden.  I am trying to maintain stamina for now I feel pretty tired. 

Good thing the tulsi is good for stress :)

i'm a farmer

Last month I had a ton of extra basil in my little surburban neighborhood garden, I am proud to say.  The basil was at least three feet tall and a couple of feet wide. It was taking over the tomatoes and other plants.  At the same time it just so happened that our neighborhood health food store was low on organic Italian basil.  Exactly what I had, I told them.  So I picked two huge bags full.  I also brought them some Thai basil and of course, those of you who know me well...ta da!

Holy basil.

Holy basil is right.  I made twenty three whopping bucks.  It was so fun.  I even wore overalls that day to pick and deliver the goods. 

This whole experience gave me so much joy.  Aren't the plants beautiful?  Look at those leaves!

Have a great weekend. 

P.S.  The girls' Saving the Planet Starts at Home video made it to the final round of the EPA Youtube contest.  Feel free to give it a good rating if you like it.  :)

my garden 2 weeks ago

How happy my edible garden makes me.  I hope I always remember that, no matter where I live, no matter how old I am, how important it is for me to have an edible garden -- to water, prune, and love my plants.  I especially like to walk through my garden after watering in the morning and sample all of my herbs, and my arugula.  I planted arugula by seed and have tons of it.  We are just starting to get tomatoes now.  I am hoping for a bumper crop.  I thought maybe I planted too early, (October).  I was getting impatient, for the plants were huge and green and healthy looking for 2 months, but no fruit.

Even though the weather is warm year round here, "the plants still know it's winter," as a wise gardener friend pointed out to me once.  He was telling me how he was growing a tropical herb (tulsi), from seed, in Michigan, putting the tiny plants under lights indoors in his basement for the coldest part of winter.  Giving them two hours of TLC a day.  Now that's dedication.

Explanation of my photos:

#2 is thriving tulsi.  Tulsi is holy basil.  I talk about it a lot.  It is my favorite plant.  I am kind of obsessed with it.  I have about 20 tulsi plants in the ground, and another 20 I have started from seed in pots.  

It cracks me up when the kids are looking for me, and I overhear them say, "Where's Mom?  Oh, she's in her tulsi garden as usual." 

Hint: I noticed a month ago that the tulsi had an infestation of scale.  :(  I pruned the plants, painstakingly removed the remaining bugs, sprayed the plants with neem oil mixed with olive oil, and 90% of them are back and thriving, and bug free!  So worth my time.  Neem is great for bugs because it actually stops them from reproducing.  But you have to dilute it with 80 - 90% olive oil.

#4 is my first broccoli.  Can you believe how huge the broccoli plants are?

Organic home grown food is the best!  So good for us, our kids, the earth.  If you are considering starting a garden or wanting to begin composting, let me know and I will help you.  I have lived in many other climates, so I know a fair amount and can steer you in the right direction.  Plus, farming is in my blood.  All I can say is, it's so much fun, and great for the kids.  Have a great weekend.  I have something kind of fun to share with you all soon.  Suffice to say I have a new job that I love.

som tam

 

Som Tam (green papaya Thai salad)

1 green papaya, peeled and shredded

1 tomato, cut into strips

3 green onions, cut in strips

1 cup basil, chopped

1 small red pepper, remove seeds, chop finely

dressing (vegetarian)

3 tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. liquid honey (or cane sugar), 2 tbsp. olive oil, 3 tbsp. fresh lime juice

combine all ingredients and serve with chopped peanuts

I love that I made this entirely with veggies and herbs from my garden (except the lime).

The online recipe is here, in case you prefer to use the traditional ingredients like fish sauce and dried shrimp.  Sometimes they also use a salted crab.  Here is a video to see it done traditionally in Thailand.  In this case she also used green beans. 

winter harvest

Oh, what to season the soup with?

Displayed on our newly sanded and oiled table, rose and tomatoes for color. 

I love the feeling of possibility I get from a stroll through the garden.

The soup was great. 

sharing food, local style

I have a friend who is married to the local country doctor who works on the mountain.  He heals on many levels.  The first time I went to see him, years ago, very homesick for family and friends, he examined me, then after our appointment he took me into his kitchen and gave me some homemade chicken soup to take home and eat.  This was the best soup I ever had, and probably more helpful than any remedies I was given.  My kids love going to him.  He always lets them pick a polished colored rock from his basket.  I was recently up to see him and my friend took me into her home.  Sometimes this doctor is paid in food.  He also has a fair amount of fruit trees growing on his property and my kids love going to pick and eat the fruits.   We always seem to leave with a bag of something.  I wonder, who is paying whom?

garden herbs

I have been using wonderful fresh herbs from our garden in my daily cooking.  Things grow so fast here, it is rewarding, especially to have the plants year round.  I have several types of basil to choose from, plus fennel, dill, oregano, sage, rosemary, parsley.  Gotta find me some thyme, so I can sing Scarborough Fair.

There's fruits and veggies too - chard, kale, all sorts of lettuces, tomatoes, broccoli, caulifower, several types of peppers, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, papayas, lilikoi, and of course, my favorite - arugula.  I also have tulsi (holy basil) -- a whole garden area dedicated to this special plant.  I am beginng a small nursery and selling off tulsi starts to fellow gardeners.  It is very popular dried as a tea. 

 

For more on our family's gardening and my other green pursuits see my other blog, "The Green Mama."  http://greeniemama.blogspot.com/

I have been writing this blog for about a year.  I post here less frequently than I do to All of Us.  I am trying to decide whether to keep it or to combine them into one blog.  Any comments? 

corner view~favorite dish

My favorite dish these days is something I learned to make two years ago.  I don't even know what it is called.  An Indian monk taught me as he cooked in my kitchen, several dishes going at the same time, all recipes his grandmother taught him.  We call it "Swami's Papaya Dish."  Here is the recipe, in my style, which isn't too accurate with measurements:

3 hard as a rock green papayas

2 whole onions

1 green jalapeno pepper

brown mustard seeds

olive oil

tumeric

salt

Prep:

Chop all onions into small pieces, peel and remove seeds of papayas.  (Seeds will be white, not dark colored.)  Shred papayas through food processor, so it resembles cole slaw. 

Creation:

Cook mustard seeds in oil over medium/high heat until they begin to pop.  Then add chopped onion and more oil, brown this together, stirring occasionally, over medium heat.  Add 1/2 thinly sliced pepper (this is optional, this will make it hot).  Add papaya, and more oil, enough to make it moist, 2 tsp of tumeric and shakes of salt to taste.  Add a tiny bit of water if you want.  Cook til everything is soft.  Serve with rice and plain yogurt.  Be careful not to faint, it's so good.

Addendum:  If you can't get hard green papayas, ones that are slightly ripe work, but the dish will be sweeter. This is also delicious.

I plan to make this tomorrow, I will try to post "after" photos soon.  I have papayas growing on our property, perfectly green!   Below is them a month ago.  They are bigger and more plentiful now.  I'm so excited.  This papaya plant was a volunteer from my compost bin.  It's more like a tree. 

   

  Closeup of papayas a month ago.  They are rounder now.

For more corner views from around the world click here:  jane

home grown

Some for the pleasure of eating or spicing food, some for the pleasure of drinking, some for the mere pleasure of looking...

tulsi harvest

I helped a friend who lives nearby and has an established tulsi (holy basil) garden. We harvested the plants, washed them and then plucked the leaves for teas and tinctures we are helping to create. The kids helped us. We all munched on some leaves and seeds. I love the tender young seeds best. They are a bit bitter but they feel so good for you when you eat them fresh.

strawberry lemon lime sorbet

This is what happened after a friend gave us a bunch of homegrown lemons & limes, and I left the kids with a simple idea to make lemonade. They sweetened it with agave nectar. Yum!

lilikoi harvest

It went from this fragrant beautiful flower...

growing on this hearty vine...

which became this...

that we then harvested!

This is my first tropical crop - lilikoi, or passionfruit. The kids eat them plain after biting open the thick shells. They are a bit sour, but so good. I like to add a small squeeze of agave nectar to take off the edge. We have so many that we are sharing them with our friends. The vine was loaded with green fruits when we left for our summer trip in June. I wasn't expecting to get such a long crop, but they are still coming strong, and it's almost September. Ah, the miracle of nature...