This year we ordered our seeds from High Mowing Seeds. Because we got a head start on last year we decided to start some plants indoors and also direct seed some early season seeds in the hope of getting an early first harvest. Here’s a picture of what we started indoors on Saturday.

Seeds started indoors

Our sunroom has large windows which face south and west so that’s where we’ll be putting the seeds to germinate and grow. At some point very soon we have to figure out how to keep Slinky away from them.

No, kitty!

On Sunday we got into the yard and worked some bags of composted manure into two of the six beds. Then we planted radishes, lettuce, beets, peas, kale, spinach, chard, and cilantro.

Sundays planting

We’re planning on doing another planting of these same crops in about two weeks. Hopefully by staggering them we won’t be stuck eating beets and radishes for 1 straight week in June and we’ll be able to harvest gradually.

Shh, don’t tell her parents, but Susan willingly planted peas.

With the exception of buying corn, cucumbers and an eggplant from farm stands, our vegetables in July and August all came from our garden.  We have carrots, parsnips, and more beets yet to come.

9/8 Update – Su wrote this in late August and Brian is updating it and posting now. Since she wrote this we’ve harvested all the lettuce and replanted spinach in its place. We planted lettuce where the radishes were. We’ve replanted fall kale where the spinach failed this summer.

The rest of the beets and carrots are going to come out soon and we’ll probably replant some more fall crops. More salad greens, late parsnips, swiss chard.

Current harvest scorecard. All number approximate:
Chili peppers – 20
Parsley – cuttings
Basil – 4 quart pickings
Lettuce – 8 quart pickings
Swiss chard – 4 quart cuttings
Beets – 25 beets and greens
Radishes – 25
Carrots – 10
Red peppers – 6
Tomatoes – 20
Green beans – 4 quart pickings

Just a few pictures of some of the harvest. Check out the strange double radish.

First radishes of 2012

Here is the bed with radishes in the top left, parsnips are in the right side of that row, carrots in the middle, and beets at the bottom.

Radishes, parsnips, carrots and beets

Several other plants have set their fruit.  The first hot pepper:

First hot pepper

The first bell pepper:

First bell pepper

And the first tomato:

First tomato

The beans are looking strong and have a few flowers. Brian says they are almost ready to “hill.”

Green Beans

The lettuce and chard are holding their own despite the hot weather we’ve had the past couple weeks.

Chard, kale and lettuce

The two disappointments are due to late plantings: our little spinach plants that are going to seed as soon as they get 4 leaves up, and the kale is only sparsely germinated.  We’ll be doing 2nd plantings of these later in the summer for fall harvest.

In other news, “Cletus” is continuing to grow, so far right on target for size based on due date.  It’s a lot bigger than when we last took a peek; this time the head takes up the whole ultrasound screen.  Here’s a profile from the 21 week ultrasound:

Profile of little Juddmansee

And one of our favorite survey shots, the leg:

Future middle distance runner

Though it was hard to capture in still photos, we got a nice view of a hand grabbing a foot, all four chambers of the beating heart, and the umbilical cord (it looks like a chain of bubbles).

Last night we discovered that “Cletus” is not much of a fan of fireworks, or else there was some really complex choreography that it thought should accompany the rhythmic booms at Canobie Lake last night. Brian and I got to feel constant motion for 15 mins straight, not just a couple kicks! I suppose if the little one can feel/hear the sounds but not see the spectacular visuals, it would be a bit disconcerting.  We hope that our hands on my belly helped provide a little comfort and reassurance.

First vacuuming of the pool

to this:

Clean pool ready for Memorial Day

In the mean time, the garden has been planted with pepper and tomato starts, lettuce, beets, carrots, swiss chard, kale, radishes, parsley, basil, onions, chives, and green beans.  We watered the first few days, then it’s been raining almost every day since!  We chalk this up to Brian emulating Grandpa Krueger, who notoriously planted beans just before the rainiest week of the spring, ensuring they would be flooded out.  It’s not quite so bad since we have raised beds that drain well, but it has caused us to chuckle each day as we look at the forecast for rain and scattered showers – again.

The first plants to burst forth were the radishes, with their little heart-shaped leaves and red stems.

Radishes are up!

And after about a week, the beans were looking good too.

Green Beans looking strong

Once all the plantings were up, Brian drove in some 2x4s as posts and we put up wildlife netting to deter our woodland friends from feasting on the tasty bounty.  It won’t be strong enough to keep a determined deer from busting through, but it should keep the bunnies at bay.  Brian thought we should give the birds some warning by putting ribbons on the fencing, so they will hopefully avoid flying into it.

Wildlife fencing with ribbons

Here you can see the radishes right in front of me, the peppers in the back bed, and the tomatoes in the next bed over.  We check on our garden every morning, and soon we will need to thin some of the rows.  We are looking forward to many tasty meals from our fresh veggies this summer!

The obvious place to put the garden in the back yard is off to one corner behind the driveway. Because of the trees around our property and the location of the house this is about the only spot that gets sufficient sun to grow any hot weather crops. The problem with this location is that the previous owners had used it for some other purpose and it was covered with stones, weed cloth, a layer of pea gravel, and finally a layer of decomposing plastic. Before we could plant we’d need to clear the area.

Moving enough stone so that we could think about putting down the beds took a week or two. During that time, I started looking for lumber to build the beds out of. The best materials to build raised beds out of appeared to be cedar or redwood as they are both naturally water and insect resistant. Unfortunately in the northeast it is hard to find these woods in rough cuts. Most of the cedar gets made into deck material which is substantially more expensive than rough cut lumber. I managed to find one mill in southern New Hampshire that had enough 2×6 rough cut cedar to make six 4 foot by 8 foot beds.

The lumber arrived but still needed to cut to length to assemble. The design I chose was to build two 4 foot by 8 foot frames out of 2×6 and to stack them on top of each other and held together by 4x4s in the corners. I enlisted the help of my friend Dan to help cut and assemble the beds. This was a bit of an adventure as my selection of tools was somewhat limited. I did not have a lot of garage/workshop space in Newburyport and kept my tool collection pretty small. Fortuantely, I do own an electric chainsaw which turned out to work the best for cutting the boards down to size.

Once the beds were built and the gravel was cleared enough to place the beds it was time to order loam. Seven yards of loam arrived last Friday in a pile on our driveway. The weather was going to be sunny and warm Saturday and Sunday with rain on Monday so we had two days to get the beds placed, leveled, and filled.

Placing and leveling the beds turned out to be quite a bit of work as the area we were working in has a bit of slope as it went towards the back of the yard. Also, once the beds were placed we had to finish making sure all the plastic was removed from the bottom of the beds. The 2 back beds required digging down another three inches or so in order to get all the plastic out. Finally once the beds were in place we had to move stone back around the beds to use as walkways. By Saturday afternoon we had all 6 beds placed and leveled.

After the beds were placed and leveled we went to the local Agway to pick up some composted manure to give the loam a little boost. Who knew you could fit 1000 pounds of manure in the back of a car? In the future we will use compost from our backyard composter to enrich the soil.

Sunday morning we got up early and finished pulling plastic out of the bottom of the beds. We then filled each bed with loam to about 6 inches from the top, then added and inch or two of composted manure, and then topped it off with loam.

We finally finished up about 5pm on Sunday and were completely exhausted. In the end we ended up moving about 6.5 yards of loam (or about 16000 pounds) in a wheelbarrow in addition to all the stone that we also had to shovel. We’re both sore today, but it looks like we’ll be able to actually plant this week! Future tasks will include putting up fencing to keep deer out and figuring out how to adjust the yard sprinklers to hit the garden but for now, SUCCESS!

We left Friday morning from our house and within 5 miles I had already taken a wrong turn and set us on a path to downtown Lowell. A quick correction, and we were on Rt. 3 North heading to Canada. The weather was mostly sunny giving us some great views as we passed trough Franconia Notch. A quick stop for gas (since it’s more expensive in Canada) and coffee in Littleton, NH and we were on our way once again.

The border crossing was non eventful and despite a little rush hour traffic heading into Montreal we were at our hotel in about 6 hours. We decided to stay in the lovely boutique Hotel Gault in Old Montreal. Montreal is a collection of islands in the St. Lawrence river with Montreal island being the largest. Old Montreal is the location of the original European settlers and has great old architecture, cobblestone streets, and is rich in history.

After settling in we went out to a wonderful dinner at Le Comptoir Charcuteries et Vins. Fortunately we had a native French speaker with us to help with the menu translation but based upon what we ate we couldn’t have gone wrong with any order. The food was served on small plates and we ordered enough for the table and shared with each other. The cheese and meat plate we had to start was a hit, although my thinly sliced veal was a close second. After a leisurely, thoroughly enjoyable meal we headed back to the hotel to crash for the evening.

In the morning, we woke up, had a tasty fresh breakfast in the Hotel Gault lobby, and decided to wander on our own for a while. We walked down to the river and explored the waterfront of Old Montreal. It was a cold morning in the 20s (Fahrenheit) with a brisk north wind off of the river. We saw many people carrying ice skates and followed them to an outdoor ice rink. Susan loved watching the large crowd of young and old skating in a circle on a clear, cold March morning. She particularly enjoyed when the whistle blew and on cue all the skaters reversed direction.

Ice skating in Old Montreal

By this time we were cold and decided to head back to the hotel via the cobblestones instead of along the water. Along the way we stopped into the Notre-Dame Basilica. As in most large cathedrals the art work and architecture were spectacular.

Once we got back to the hotel we grabbed our car and decided to head to the Montreal Botanical Gardens. We had intended to go to the Biodome but there was a very long line just to get tickets and the line was filled with strollers and small children. Fortunately the Botanical Garden was a short walk away.

After a nice warm walk through the greenhouses and a moth and butterfly exhibit we were feeling a bit hungry. G suggested we try a French Canadian local delicacy, Poutine. We headed to a local fast food restaurant for our lunch of french fries covered with gravy and melted cheese curds (with a hot dog on the side for good measure). Fortunately we had a light breakfast and did a lot of walking or the amount of grease might have seriously injured one or both of us. I’m not sure I need to eat Poutine again, but I’m glad I tried it.

Su and Poutine

We headed back to the hotel for a late afternoon nap and hopefully sleep off some food before dinner. We had a late dinner scheduled at one of Montreal’s acclaimed restaurants, Joe Beef. It was going to be hard to top the meal from the night before but Joe Beef lived up to the hype. The menu was all in French and written in chalk on a wall so it took quite a while to translate and make up our minds. Susan opted for a straight forward steak (how can you go to Joe Beef and not order beef)? I ended up with a slow cooked wild hare with foie gras. I’m not sure how to describe it other than to say it was the richest food I’ve ever eaten. It was like cheesecake except it was a very tender, rich dark meat. Once again we all sampled each others wonderful meals and without exception they were all outstanding.

In the bathroom at Joe Beef

Upon getting back to the hotel we crashed into bed for our last night in Montreal. In the morning we decided to go for a run along the river to try to work off some of the previous nights dinner. It was moderately successful as we felt hungry enough to have a wonderful brunch before we said goodbye to G for the weekend.

The drive home was very pretty again and the weather had warmed up into the 60s; Spring came early this year. Hopefully it won’t take us 9 years to go on another vacation out of the United States. We’re both looking forward to going back to Montreal during the summer and seeing what else it has to offer.

Susan cutting the giant pumpkin at Arrowhead Farm

Dan, Jeremy and Brian loosen the dock

Carrying the dock across the yard

Mission Accomplished!

Once the boys declared “mission accomplished” it was time to dig into the tasty appetizers – Uncle John’s pate’ with crackers, and some red peppers to dip in hummus. We watched football until the rest of the crew arrived.

One important test of the day was to see if Nolan would like the pate’.

Nolan's first taste of liver pate'

Nolan's response to the pate'

But it definitely was not as good as when Grandma let him lick the whipped cream off the beaters.

Nolan "two fists" the whipped cream beaters

As you can see, we had tons of yummy food and a good time was had by all! We even brought home a baggie of turkey and stuffing to enjoy as leftovers later in the weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Penrose B&B turned out to be an even better choice than we expected. It is set right into one of the red rocks, with big windows that allowed us to enjoy the views.

View from Penrose Patio

View from Penrose

View from Penrose Patio #3

Top of Cathedral Hike

For dinner we decided to try Cucina Rustica, another fortuitious choice for a delicious dinner. I tried a local Arizona wine, the Pillsbury Rhone style, which was delicious. From the bread with olive oil infused with cerrano chilies to our appetizer of radiccio, prosciutto, fig and cheese to the organic greens in the house salad with a light nutty dressing to the main dishes, Brian’s veal saltimbocca and my osso bucco, everything was delicious. We were just sorry to be so tired that we opted not to try dessert. After all, it had been almost 20 hours since we had woken up to start our day, so we headed back to the B&B to get some much needed sleep.

Alfalfa Farm Winery's grapes

We first took netting off of the vines. It is the same type of netting my dad used to cover his cherry tree, plus they tied the sections together with twist ties and staked it to the ground with tent stakes. It seemed to work quite well, and may have also helped to keep the vines trained along the rows. This activity allowed the volunteers to work in pairs and meet one another as we rolled the netting and put it away.

Then it was time to start harvesting! We got a quick lesson from Chris, the winemaker, about how to do it. Rule #1 – don’t get stung by a bee. They always seem to loiter on the back side of the bunch, just where you’d grab it. Turn the bunch around before cutting it off, gently shake the bunch or move onto another one until the bee flies off. There were four kinds of bees, the most humorous being large bumble bees that are only a few weeks from the end of their life; imagine a grandpa bee that’s been gorging on fermented grape juice. They were slow and clumsy. I managed to avoid getting too friendly with any of the bees, in large part due to wearing gloves, long sleeves and long pants, as well as following this rule. Rule #2 – cut off all the grapes you see. At this time of year the plants need to be putting their energy back into the vines to prepare for winter. Grapes that were over or under ripe were simply dropped below the vines to serve as fertilizer. Key Technique for White Grapes – use your pruners to cut away or dig out any brown or bright green grapes. Ones that are translucent are good! If in doubt, taste them. If they taste sweeter than any store grapes you’ve had, they are right. If they are tart or sour, don’t use them. And with that, we were off to work in groups, making our way down each row with a laundry basket or shallow crate to fill with beautiful white bunches.

Once we finished the two rows of Sayval Blanc grapes, I headed up to the crushing pad to observe the next few steps in the process. First, we weighed the grapes to record the magnitude of the harvest. It looked to be much better than last year, and the winemaker thought this year might set a new record. I figure I harvested 20 lbs of grapes myself, and there were at least a dozen volunteers. Next, each basket of grapes was poured out into an automated de-stemmer and crusher. It looks a lot like a meat grinder – grapes are dumped into a slightly funnel-shaped trough that has a screw running along the bottom. When the machine is turned on, the stems are shot out the bottom on the back side and the crushed grapes and juice fall into a tub below the machine. After that, the crush is fed into a wood press, with a circle of slats through which the juice is pressed. It was a pretty neat looking old wooden press, much like a cider press. It took one person to screw down the top, another to hold the plastic pan lining that funneled juice into buckets, and another to swap out buckets as they filled. The juice was then stored in large 100 gallon barrels for the winemaker to tackle later. They put in a cup of large grain rice every so often, which was meant to serve as a natural abrasive to help extract the juice. When the press filled with skins, they were shoveled into a holding bucket to make room for more crush. The by products of skins and stems would end up being composted, though the intern said that at other wineries they are used to make grappa. He also said that for red grapes they ferment on the skins for several days before continuing on with pressing, to impart some of the tannin and provide the red color.

I received a bottle of wine as payment for my help, so of course I chose a bottle of the Sayval Blanc, so I could tasted the fermented product of the grape variety I harvested. I was really excited to take another step in supporting local agriculture – like a CSA for wine – as well as getting in some quality gardening time. I miss winemaking with friends, so this might be a good opportunity to continue my hobby without the hassle of sanitation and cleanup. The staff at Alfalfa Farm seemed very friendly and were more than happy to answer questions. I am looking forward to participating in more events at the winery – there is still racking, bottling and labeling to do, and of course tasting!

After settling in at the Hotel Monteleone we ventured out onto Bourbon Street for food, landing at La Bayou for Boudin Balls (balls of sausage and rice, breaded and fried), Sweet Potato Stout and Muffalettas and Po Boys. We wandered over to Lafayette Square for people watching and the free concert, then decided to go to d.b.a to see the Tin Men, but ended up seeing the Mirlitones (same Washboard Chaz and Alex McMurray, swap out tuba for 2nd guitar). They are always enjoyable and humorous, and d.b.a. as advertised has an extensive drink selection and is a very cozy music club. We stopped by Clover Grill – they love to fry and it shows! – so Brian could grab a late night bite, and Dan and I could hydrate and steal some tots.

The next morning Brian and I ran through the Garden District, noting that we were *not* in Boston any more – much more humid and about 30 degrees warmer, but we were rewarded with smells of star jasmine in many yards. We were in the mood for healthy food, so we had a late breakfast at Le Cafe at the hotel. Brian had muesli while I had a big plate of fruit and yogurt. We figured no matter what happened the rest of the day, we had a good start: sleep, exercise and healthy food. We relaxed by the rooftop pool for a while, catching some sun and reading. When John arrived we met him and Dan at Lucy’s (sat at the table with the red and white umbrella, you can see in the photo) to relax in the sunshine. Later when Craig and Dina arrived we took them out for a walk on Bourbon Street, including hurricanes at Pat O’Brien’s (gotta see the flaming fountain) and a stop at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, ending up seeing Big Sam’s Funky Nation at Maisson for an Earth Fest show. I didn’t make it past the break – Big Sam was fun and energetic, but by 1am I was nearly sleep walking home. Better to save the late night for Friday.

Friday dawned with the forecast of 30% chance of showers for the first day of Jazz Fest. We started the day again with a run, this time up Esplanade and back, followed again by our healthy breakfast/brunch. We were ready to set out for the Fest just after noon. Seeing the 80% likelihood of showers forecast for Saturday, we opted to leave our ponchos in the room and just plan to duck into a tent during the passing shower for Friday. The day looked promising… until we set up our chairs at the Fais Do Do stage and Anders Osborne came on… and then it started raining… and then it poured. After about 20 mins, I was ready to head to drier ground, particularly since the seat of my chair channeled all the rain into a puddle under my derrière. As we had done in 2007, we sought refuge in the Gospel Tent. Alas, this was no passing shower, and we opted to stick around for about 3 hours, until we were reasonably dry and the major bands of rain subsided and, frankly, nature called quite loudly. By then Nate and Dan also ventured out from their cover, so we grabbed some food and caught the end of George Clinton together. I made a bee line for the Crawfish Monica and some Rosemint Tea, two favorites from last year. Brian and I opted for Lionel Richie, and we were not disappointed. Time has been kind to him, both in his appearance and his voice, and he was clearly loving the audience for sticking it out through the rain and the mud. I think I enjoyed it all the more because it was a multi-generational audience; middle-aged women who had swooned over the Commodores dancing and singing just as energetically as their daughters and nieces who loved Lionel’s 80s music. He covered the spectrum, from Hello to Brick House to Dancing on the Ceiling. It was a fantastic end to an otherwise rough start to the fest. After cleaning up back at the room, we ate dinner at Royal House nearby. We sensed a trend, having had La Bayou twice and thinking this place had the same owners, but they were all good so I don’t feel too bad about lacking variety. Then it was time to head to House of Blues for Trombone Shorty. This was an AMAZING show. Trombone Shorty is not only a talented musician (he played several instruments during the course of the show, and seemed just as impressive on the trumpet as he was on his signature trombone) but also a gifted band leader. The band consisted of two singers, guitar, bass, two saxes, keys, drumset, brass, and conga/auxiliary percussion – plus of course Trombone Shorty. He conducted and cued to keep them all together, building up energy playing all together at times and opening it up for a jam session at others. They played from 11:30 til 2am, non stop, just switching out who was playing for breaks. Did I say it was amazing?! Check out the music sample and videos on his web site.

Then Fest Day 2 began, with a stellar lineup from start to finish. We checked the weather, brought our blanket, chairs and ponchos, and got set up in time to see the Tin Men open at the Acura stage. Brian held down the blanket all day while Dan and I and the rest of us tagged in and out. I mostly alternated between Acura stage and Gentilly stage, at opposite ends of the fairground, but they afforded opportunities to sample many of the foods and bring some back for Brian. I grabbed some collard greens with beans and rice, Brian had sausage bread, and I also had a Cochon de Lait (pulled pork sandwich with mayo that simply melts in your mouth!) later in the day. I followed up Tin Men with Bonerama, Cowboy Mouth (the name of the band is COW-BOY-MOUTH!) with a punk-strawberry-shortcake-looking guitarist, Better than Ezra with Bonerama playing along and finally Simon and Garfunkel. We opted for S&G realizing it was likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience at this point, and sadly we were correct. Some thought Garfunkel’s mike had issues – I just think that he voice isn’t there any more. The audience was clearly supportive and memories associated with many of the songs seemed palpable in the air, but it was a bit sad as well, compared to the tight harmonies of days gone by. Simon took over for a while, making good use of the backup band to pick up the tempo and showcase his african drum influenced solo work, before they closed out together. Brian and I saw the long cab line and decided we’d walk home, an enjoyable tour through neighborhoods off Esplanade that we made in under an hour. We had dinner with Craig and Dina at Remoulade, then wandered Bourbon Street. Brian broke his pledge by having both a beverage from Mango Mango and a Lucky Dog, which both seem to be available at every corner, but survived relatively unscathed. He may have even won a bit of Craig’s admiration.

Sunday, the sunny day! We again ventured out for a run, this time a circuitous route through the French Quarter, along the waterfront, back up through the warehouse district, back to the hotel. New Orleans was really connecting together for me, finally. It was warmer but the humidity had passed, making it a very comfortable day. We enjoyed Theresa Andersson, great voice and talented, though I found it a little distracting to have her hop all over the stage as she played her own backups that replayed them back over her singing, making her an exotic one-woman show through fancy footwork. Her Swedish fans were right up front. Then we wandered a bit, saw part of the Free Agents Brass Band en route to Shawn Colvin, a huge favorite of ours. We’d seen her at Tupelo earlier this year, but it was nice to see a more informal show with a bigger crowd. Then we caught part of Darius Rucker (formerly Hootie of Blowfish fame), which we really liked! His voice lends itself well to Country, and it was a fun show. We had to cut it short, though, to make our fancy dinner at Herbsaint. Mmmmmmmm. I had been excited about this dinner all week, and it surely did not disappoint. We learned that when the waiter suggests fries, you should get them. They were amazing! We completely enjoyed the experience, from Brian’s Gumbo and my crawfish special to the duck (I love duck!) and fontina/ham special with the recommended wine, to our banana brown butter tart for dessert. We highly recommend this spot for excellent service and food – it felt world class.

Monday, and it was time to pack up and get ready to leave. How fast 5 days goes, even with a slow pace! For our last NOLA meal we made it a big one – Breakfast at Brennan’s. It was an event. We did the prix fixe menu, consisting of 3 courses. Brian had strawberries and cream while I had a baked apple with cream. It was like having dessert first! Then since I’m not a fan of eggs, I did the Shrimp Sardu while Brian opted for the much lighter Eggs Hussarde. Who knew that creamed spinach, artichokes, fried shrimp and Hollandaise go so well together? He finished with the pecan pie with homemade ice cream – many raves – while I had the cheesecake with strawberries. This meal easily lasted us until we landed in Boston, no lunch required. We said goodbye to Craig, Dina, Raf and Karen, met up with Dan and Nate, and headed to the airport, wishing that we could stay through the second weekend of Jazz Fest.