more seeds to plant...and the wine is fermenting!

Before coming to Kindred Spirits this morning, I couldn't help but stop and look at the seeds racks. Just one or two more packs evolved into 5 packages of pepper seeds (pimento stuffer, purple belle, yellow belle, California Wonder and red bell Mercury) and for tomatoes, Roma, Tigerella, another package of Brandywine, Hillbilly and chocolate cherry. The chocolate cherry tomato and hillbilly are both new to me, and look pretty darn interesting. The chocolate cherry is said to resemble chocolate drops, grown in clusters and are supposed to be quite tasty. Hillbilly tomato is a large yellow orange tomato streaked with red and have high acidity (oh my lips!) and quite vigorous.
Its going to be lots of fun growing them in the garden and seeing for ourselves how these varieties taste. Again this morning Jeff commented that we will need to expand the gardens a bit. I'm really lucky he is into gardening too, or I might have a bit of 'splaining to do about all these seedlings. I'm also lucky that my kids have said they will take some plants off my hands. Hmm, think we need an intervention?
Jeff's newest hobby is wine making and oh boy is he going to town! A few nights ago he tested and then transferred his first fermenting from the wine pail into the glass carboy for the second fermentation stage. Whew!! It is fun watching the bubbling action, and knowing that in a few months we can sample this batch. He is using Niagara grapes, and the next batch will be black currants. I'm looking forward to this fall when we will go south of Madison WI to a vineyard and pick the French grapes and have them crushed right in front of us. I'll keep you posted!

Harmony Cafe and coffee grounds

I am truly blessed to have great neighbors near Kindred Spirits Organics. Close by is a remarkable non profit green cafe called Harmony Cafe, a program of Goodwill Industries. Not only is it a cool place to meet for delicious coffee (organic, Fair trade) food and snacks and great music, but they also give price breaks for using the bus or by bringing in your own coffee cup. The best part, the people at Harmony. Mat came into Kindred one day and we were talking about composting, organics and the environment. He offered the used coffee grounds from the coffee shop, to help build nutrients into the gardens soil. He would rather see it composted and go back into the earth rather than going to the landfill and I applaud him. I pick up the coffee grounds three times a week and they are a valued addition to my compost piles. I can't wait to bring to Mat and his friends sun ripened tomatoes and peppers, herbs and flowers grown with the goodness generated by their coffee grounds. If you want to check out Harmony Cafes website and learn more, the web address is www.harmonycafe.org.

Recipe - Tomato Cucumber Salad

Tomato Cucumber Salad
This salad is best eaten the same day as it is made, to retain its fresh sassiness

1/2 cucumber, seeded, diced fine
4 juicy red tomatoes, fresh from the garden or farmer market, seeded and diced
2 shallots OR 1/2 small red onion, diced
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except oil, stir and cover till needed. Just before serving, drain off juices, stir in oil and adjust to taste with the salt and pepper.
Enjoy!!

Seedlings

What a pleasurable way to spend the afternoon, transplanting seedlings into larger containers. I start my seeds in hinged plastic corsage boxes. When they are first planted, I snap the container closed which turns it into a mini greenhouse. Its nice and snug inside and the condensation that forms helps to keep the seed starter/potting soil mixture moist but not soggy. I have switched over to the corsage boxes for several reasons, the trays I had used in the past were far too big for a single package of seeds and I found that my watering was kind of hit or miss. These corsage boxes can be reused, are very inexpensive (about .50 each) and are just the right size for a seed package. Check with a florist, they should have them.
I transplanted my mesclun and lettuce 4 seasons into larger pots, they are sulking a little but with my fingers crossed, they will transition. I also transplanted my watercress. This is the first time I have grown watercress. Isn't it a blast to experiment with different tastes, different flavors? Some of the flowers are ready to go into larger containers, the hollyhocks, malva and lavender. It amazes me how inexpensive plants are when you grow from seed, and how addicting it is.