Maine

[lazy gardener]

I do grow fava beans. They are delicious, and I like that they are frost hardy, so you can plant them at the same time as peas. They do get tall, so I give them part of the pea fence.

This is the first year I am not battling aphids. They like the fava beans and are usually thick on the eggplant and peppers. I don't know where they went this year. The fava bean pods get really big and mine get these weird black spots (looks like potato scab) when they are mature. You have to extract the beans from the pod, and then after you cook them, there is another skin you have to remove from the bean, but that slips off easily once you cook them briefly. Sometimes the skins have black spots too, but so far, the beans themselves have been unblemished.

Please tell me how you cook them, for how long, and what kind of meals/recipes do you use them in???

 

[ashandvine]

Ash: re: favas I planted a few last spring just for grins and giggles. They grew nice and tall, seemed to be a great trap for aphids. I never did harvest any though. I couldn't wrap my head around dealing with them. From the info I've read, you have to shuck each bean out of it's skin? They'd be a great green manure crop. How do they taste, and how do you cook/use them. I also tried 3 sisters last year and was greatly disappointed.

I felt the same. Apparently most of the corn this is meant for is the indian corn. I do plant squash and some beans together with corn but I planted pink flint this year. This year I put bush beans in with the corn instead of climbers and its worked out really well. I put the squash in with a few climbers in another garden and that is also fine but that is the bed I tried 3 sisters again and I don't know that I want to bushwhack my way to the beans or corn now that the squash is HUGE. Re:Favas- I thought they were mildly sweet and slightly nutty but they were with other things so not sure.

I do grow fava beans.

HA HA HA I knew it! I ate them at a friend's place and even the kids liked them so its our new seed for next year. Great info, thanks!

 

[lazy gardener]

I felt the same. Apparently most of the corn this is meant for is the indian corn. I do plant squash and some beans together with corn but I planted pink flint this year. This year I put bush beans in with the corn instead of climbers and its worked out really well. I put the squash in with a few climbers in another garden and that is also fine but that is the bed I tried 3 sisters again and I don't know that I want to bushwhack my way to the beans or corn now that the squash is HUGE. Re:Favas- I thought they were mildly sweet and slightly nutty but they were with other things so not sure.

HA HA HA I knew it! I ate them at a friend's place and even the kids liked them so its our new seed for next year. Great info, thanks!

OK, so next spring, I'll have to try some for real!!

 

[lazy gardener]

When we got home this afternoon, my 6 y.o. bolted out of the car to go check on the girls. She was met by the RIR who happened to be on the wrong side of the fence again. So, after I got everyone settled, I grabbed my scissors, and gave 2 of the girls a wing clip. Hope that fixes their wander lust. No rubber eggs from BSL in over a week, so I think she's settled down into a state of normalcy. One EE still laying dbl. yolkers 75% of the time, but the shells are nice and firm.

 

[MKandtheforce]

Your silkies may surprise you some day. My 3 originally slept pig-piled in the corner then 1 by 1 they started to roost. DH put a flat board on part of the top roost to keep the other from pooping on the Silkies. They decided they'd rather sleep on top of it rather than under it.

Aw, that sounds so funny! I'm completely in love with my silkies. I always swore I wouldn't get them, but I just couldn't resist!! I hope to get a splash silkie one day, since that's my favorite color on them, but I'm very happy with my girls right now. I loved seeing them snuggling together last night. I was told my white one is show-quality... do you know how to get started in the showing scene?

I'm not "into" raw milk - at least not for drinking. I'm making cheese. The pasteurization process denatures the proteins so the cheese doesn't set as well.

I made two different recipes of mozzarella last night - one was much softer but a higher yield, the other was twice the yield but a really soft cheese.

That looks so cool!! I really want to try making cheese, but I'm a bit intimidated by the process. Where do you get your cultures? They don't even sell rennet at my local co-op anymore, but I want to make sure I'm buying good stuff when I get started in it.

 

[Widget]

Well my bad luck continues. Sarah Jane my Royal Bahamian Potcake passed away a couple days ago.

. Natural causes and I was with her when she passed. And now the full sister to the Pyr I lost a couple weeks ago has a solid mass on her elbow. It is either an abscess or a tumor. She goes in Tuesday to get that checked. Plus my poor Icelandic gelding with Sweet Itch is really having a hard time with his allergies this year. He has rubbed off the hair on his face and chest so he has many scabs and raw spots. He has also lost all the weight he had gained so now he looks terrible. He is now on steroids to help with the itching, some ulcer medication since he could have ulcers from all the stress, a regimented feeding program plus a couple supplements to help with his skin. After a week his skin does look better and he does not appear to be scratching as much as he did. At least his vet is very optimistic that we can get things turned around. At this rate I might as well just have my paycheck direct deposited with the vets.

Sarah Jane
12/25/2001-7/21/2013

 

[buckabucka]

So sorry about your loss and recent bad luck, Widget.

And I agree the cheese looks cool, - I don't have the slightest clue how to make cheese (although I'm pretty good at eating it!).

I cook the fava beans about 3 or 4 minutes in boiling salted water. Sometimes we eat them plain as a side dish or appetizer, recently we threw some in an Italian seafood salad, and one year I made fava bean guacamole. The guacamole was just okay, -perfect color but kind of more like hummus than guacamole.

I'm growing the pink flint corn too, Ash! I'm not too confident I will get any, as I did not plant it until mid-June and the package says "100 days". Kind of a crap-shoot here in frosty acres, but pink cornmeal would be so fun! I'll have to buy a hand-crank mill, so each piece of cornbread or polenta will be worth $5 or something, but still, I desperately want some.

My star plant this year is eggplant. The plants are huge and hanging with eggplants. Unfortunately, DH thinks eggplant is just okay. I've been eating lots of grilled eggplant sandwiches with cheese for lunch. Yum!

 

[dowgirl71]

Found our first TWO eggs, today from our EE (half sister to some of yours, lazygardiner). I was amazed that there was two and wondered how she did it, but figure I must've just missed the one, yesterday. No wonder she's been so noisy, lately!

 

[Widget]

My garden has been hit or miss this year. The heat and rain took care of the lettuce and broccoli. Did the same with the cauliflower except for one plant that is doing well. The peas did great. The beans are just now reaching for the sky and have blossoms. They were stuck at about a foot tall for what seemed like a month. The corn stalks are only about three feet tall. The cucumber plants finally took off and are spreading with plenty of flowers and at least one cuke ready to pick. The pumpkin vines are taking over the yard with several pumpkins started. The tomatoes have also done well. Plenty of green tomatoes on the vine but I am having problems with them rotting before turning red. I think the free ranging chickens have something to do with that. I will have to restart all the herbs. Nothing really took hold this year. Again I think the chickens had something to do with it.

I have to go out tomorrow and find some wild blueberries for sale since it is that time of year again. There is an orchard nearby that has pick your own but they are the cultivated type. If all else fails I guess those will do.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

That looks so cool!! I really want to try making cheese, but I'm a bit intimidated by the process. Where do you get your cultures? They don't even sell rennet at my local co-op anymore, but I want to make sure I'm buying good stuff when I get started in it.

This kit has everything you need and it's a really simple introduction to cheesemaking:
http://www.cheesemaking.com/30-Minute-Mozzarella-Ricotta-Kit.html

Please tell me how you cook them, for how long, and what kind of meals/recipes do you use them in???

Make sure to serve it with some liver and a nice Chianti.
Sorry, couldn't resist.