Ruffled Feathers and Spilled Milk

Farming with ducks and dairy goats, chickens and children.

Southern Problems.

Posted on | November 28, 2015 | 1 Comment

I know some of you already had snow.  And I feel for you.  I really do.

But today, after ignoring my garden for weeks (months?), I decided to stop by and pay it a visit.  Because after gorging ourselves on holiday food I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a few low-cal garden-fresh meals.

So I headed down there with a plan to pick a pail of  snaps peas to send in with the kids’ lunches this week.  Also to gather a bunch of lettuce to make a nice dinner salad.  Plus to dig up a few potatoes to have with parsley and chives from the herb bed.  And broccoli for a simple steamed side dish.  Voila!  An easy and healthy dinner.

We’ve had a few night time temperatures just below 30 degrees.  But the sensitive lettuces were under row covers.  The herb bed is in a sheltered spot that lets it thrive later than most other areas.  And even though the tops of the potatoes died off, the spuds themselves can stay in the ground all winter and just be harvested as needed.  The rest of the fall crops enjoy crisp temperatures and are sometimes even sweeter after a frost.

But frost wasn’t actually the problem.

Turns out the warm sunny days were too warm to counter the cooler nighttime temperatures.  And several bunches of broccoli had already gone to flower.

I had to make many heavy sighs.  Because I know some of you people are cold.  But I have flowers on my broccoli.  Flowering broccoli is something you have to watch for in the spring garden.  When everything is trying to bolt as summer approaches.  But  flowers in November.  These are the problems of a Southern gardener.

I’m down in the garden.  In my shorts and flip flops.  Making an honest attempt to make a healthy low-cal garden-fresh meal.  And the broccoli has already flowered.  I was thinking that was a sign that I should just drown my sorrows in an open faced turkey sandwich topped with dressing (AKA stuffing) with extra gravy.

By the time I got up to the house I was exhausted at the thought of having to pick off all those little flowers before I could make steamed broccoli for dinner.  I was already picturing myself pulling out the leftovers.  But with my last burst of energy I checked my garden resources (AKA The Internet) and discovered those flowers are edible.  Steamed along with the rest of the broccoli.  Or sprinkled raw over salad.  Or just the way they are.

So today I am thankful for the fall garden.

And living in the South.

Category: Uncategorized

Comments

One Response to “Southern Problems.”

  1. Jamie
    January 7th, 2016 @ 6:46 pm

    Hi, I found your blog doing a search on Google for preparing for kidding…this is my 3rd year raising dairy goats and I wanted a little refresher. I laughed so hard reading your “What [not] to do” for kidding. And 3 bucklings…oh my!
    We have a 2 acre homestead near Austin, TX so I can relate to your Southern Gardening as well.
    I will be adding your blog to my favorites list. Thanks for writing!
    –Jamie

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