Walnut Hill Farm • Brodhead • Wisconsin
you could grow rice in Wisconsin? Not the traditional paddy rice, this is an upland variety called Duborskian, a Russian heirloom. I planted it in anticipation of an upcoming trip to Thailand. Hopefully there are enough weeks of good weather ahead for the outer husks on the rice grains to turn a golden brown. Then all I have to do is figure out how to thresh it! As always, more questions than answers!
and it's called the Pride of Wisconsin! We're pretty proud of it, too!
tomato time! And we're rolling in them!
Just harvested our first ear of Hudson Valley Seed Company's Organic Blue Jade Dwarf Sweet Corn and it is stunning! Haven't had much success with corn in our raised beds, but this one is so compact, beautiful and truly unique!
Calihan Catering's own Chef Payson turned some of it into candied celery. Who knew you could candy a vegetable? It is said to be delicious over roasted pears or certain fresh cheeses. John and I are waiting for our pears to ripen to crack open this jar. Thank you, Chef!
if you use a black light. They "glow" in the dark! I was able to pick off 8 tonight. Here are a few of them in my bucket! The damage they can do to a tomato plant in just one day is incredible!
Not to worry! This one is carrying the larvae of the braconid wasp. These larvae feed on the insides of the hornworm until the wasps are ready to pupate. It's best to leave this pest in the garden...in order to conserve the beneficial parasites. Way more questions than answers!
A flat tire almost derails today's harvesting efforts....but a trip to the hardware store and she'll be as good as new!
This uninvited pine snake (over 3 feet long) decided to shed its skin right next to the pool deck. What is fascinating...is that it is the first snake skin I have ever seen that was TOTALLY intact! You can see everything from the eyes and mouth....all the way to the tail! It totally freaked out the dogs....and I asked Nash to hang it on my bulletin board in the greenhouse....and I haven't seen my little resident tree frog since! Oh my....
Johnny's Selected Seeds describe these as "exceptionally sweet, bright tangerine-orange cherry tomatoes leaving customers begging for more. Vigorous plants start yielding early and bear right through the season." And that description is dead on! Early, beautiful, and EXCEPTIONALLY SWEET! Start boiling the water, we're going to have pasta tonight with these gems!
A beautiful harvest!
The colors of summer!
These are Bulgarian Carrot Chile Peppers from Hudson Valley Seed. "A spectacularly cute hot pepper, each about 2- to 2½-inches long, with extremely shiny skin and a carrot-like form. Its fun shape belies its heat, which is significant." When mature, its color ranges from gold to deep orange. Happy 4th of July to all!
are being shelled, blanched and frozen, so we have some of this summer bounty with us all year round!
and that means Garlic Fest is not far behind! What elegant looking dividends from our garlic plants...and so tender and delicious! Chef Payson at Calihan Catering is pickling them and making incredible compound butters. Thank you, Chef!