Labor Day Weekend Labor

What's up with Munichmaedchen, you might ask as my blogging these days is rather sluggish I would say. Well, that doesn't mean my life is, oh no. I have to tell you a lot and you better sit down when you read it but not just right now, more in a week or so, once all is set in stone and ready to go on the blog.

For today, I can only tell you that I am still swimming in tomatoes and other garden goodies. I could not dig up my grandmother's original three-fruit tomato marmalade recipe but found an almost identical one on the internet. Here it is for all those gardeners with ueber-tomato-harvest. It tastes as fantastic as it sounds: Late Summer Amber Tomato Marmalade

Oh yes, I also learned today what Maque Choux is and how to prepare it. If you only want to eat it though without losing sweat in the kitchen, I've got a great place to go: The Cajun Pacific in San Francisco. Make sure to study their opening hours before you go there. They are only open on certain weekends but worth the visit.

For now, I dive back into my garden-kitchen-food-preserving and pickling world and wish y'all a happy Labor Day weekend!

Comments

[Elke Sisco]

Ooooh, that tomato marmalade sounds really good! I am NOT swimming in tomatoes - mine were really puny, which is entirely my own fault; I didn't give them much to feed on.

But that's alright, because I can steal a few next door. And my eye doctor took a class from Love Apple Farms, who follow biodynamic principles - isn't that what you did too? Check it out - I might sign up for one of her classes next spring: http://www.growbetterveggies.com/

[munichmaedchen]

I am a firm believer in biodynamic gardening. However, I am not a professional more in an experimental state. I credit several factors for this year's harvest: the fertile Gilroy soil and great climate and yes, some of the biodynamic planting choices I made. Among other stuff, I had a 9ft tall sunflower in my garden, thick like a tree, it started to scare me quite frankly :-). I had an army of ladybugs moving in early spring helping me to protect the crops which means I did something right. Because I had huge problems with snails last year eating my cucumbers, I revived my German method to plant the cucumbers in a pot and it worked - no snails only friends laughing. I did stupid things, too, like planting rue as bug repellant and then suffering from major blisters on my arms as the sap of rue leaves and sunlight creates a poison oak like skin reaction. I ripped that herb out in a heartbeat. The huge highriser we build also protected from snails. Herbs and flowers help to keep bugs away and give the garden a wonderful scent and lure hummingbirds and butterflies onto our porch. I consider to take a class in growing crop from seed instead of buying the plants at the nursery. We will see. Let me know how the tomato class works out.