Food

On the eve of Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for another week of wonderful produce and a little bit of my money going to farmers around the Southwest who aren't trying to fuse trout genes into my potatoes. Box #2 arrived last Thursday with an extra bounty to carry us through the Thanksgiving holiday. No delivery this Thursday, even farmers get a day off. I daydreamed about the produce as I lopsidedly carried away my heavy bag. We got several acorn squash, five pounds of yellow potatoes, more pomegranates, pecans, and greenery of all sorts (salad mix, arugula, spinach).

Last Thursday, I picked up the first of our winter CSA share courtesy of Beneficial Farms. FYI, Community Supported Agriculture is something all the cool kids are doing. You provide a farmer with a lump sum of dough and over a season they provide you with a weekly supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. As an added bonus they are often organic and local. Our CSA provides produce from farmers all around New Mexico. I'm looking forward to learning about my state's agricultural bounty; apparently it extends beyond green chile.

Fall is definitely here in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We've already had a couple of light frosts, but the forecast last night was for a hard freeze. My wife and I went through our garden for the last harvest of the season. We harvested plenty of green Tomatoes, Ancho and Serrano chile peppers, Tomatillos, some of the more tender herbs like Mint, Sage and Basil and a bale of Arugula.

A discussion on how to feed the world at Zeitgeist '08: The Google Partner Forum titled 'Body 2.0 - Creating a World that can Feed Itself'.

Larry Brilliant the Executive Director of Google.org moderates a panel discussion including:

What: Santa Fe Railyard Grand Opening
When: September 13 & 14, 2008
Where: The Railyard - Santa Fe, NM (Google Map below)

Blossoms on Delicata Squash (Cucurbita pepo) vines in the garden. Delicata (a.k.a. Sweet Potato Squash) is a heirloom variety with great flavor, but it is uncommon in the grocery store given its softer skin which doesn't stand up well to rough handling. So far it's been pretty easy to grow for us and forms the base of our Three Sisters (corn, beans, squash) garden bed.

More Info:

Wikipedia - Winter Squash

Here's another plant that serves many purposes in the desert Southwest. Cholla (genus Cylindropuntia, family Cactaceae) grows in the plains and foothills across the Southwest. It's a native species, closely related to the Prickly Pear, that grows in thin soil and on hot, dry sun-baked locations.

Got Garlic?

Freshly harvested Allium sativum L. (i.e. Bosque Early Garlic). I dug these bulbs up yesterday evening and they are now hanging up to dry. The laundry room is quite aromatic at the moment. My wife informed me that we will be planting 'three times as many' after seeing the ten garlic plants I pulled up. I have no argument with that whatsoever. I may have to try a few different varieties like Spanish Roja or a hard-neck garlic.

More Info:
Wikipedia: Garlic

While I was watering the garden yesterday I saw something lurking in the leaves. It was a Coccinella septempunctata hunting for prey amongst the Allium Schoenoprasum. If your garden Latin isn't up to speed - I saw a Ladybug on a Chives bloom. It's nice to know that beneficial insects have found my garden and are chowing down on aphids and the like.

More Info:

Coccinella septempunctata - Ladybug

Allium Schoenoprasum - Chives