Where’d Summer Go?

Posted 24 Aug 2010 — by FV
Category garden

Hello friends.

Let’s cut to the chase. Where have I been? Well, not around, but not in jail. Does this clear it up? Good.

The garden has been quite productive this summer. We have enjoyed modest yields of peas, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, Swiss chard, a variety of lettuces and recently have had our first tastes of tomatoes, onions and garlic. We have some fennel and cabbage that are about ready to harvest. Now, let me remind you that this garden has been 100% organic and all started from seeds. We have even begun to save aside some dry seeds for future gardens. Ahh, the circle begins.

Ever try fresh cucumber in your glass of water?

Musical Fruit?

Tomatoes, onins, carrots, oh my!

 

Slices of heaven, and lycopene!

I see cole slaw in your future.

Future green beans begat from our current green beans.

The heat this summer has been just tremendous. A day missed watering sent the garden in to a spiral of wilt and sag. I, myself was in the same spiral. I don’t deal well with the heat, especially the wave we have had this summer.

Many tomatoes are ripening and there’s a new batch of Swiss chard ready for a skillet and some good bacon. We have had some rain recently (finally), but the earth seems to just turn it straight into humidity. So, on a recent watering I was talking and caressing a sagging squash vine (very important) when i discovered this…

Fall must be knockin'!

This is the first of the squash, butternut to be exact. I’m hoping for many more and also some acorn squash. I better go start weaving my cornucopia!

Good to be here again,

FV

He Said It, Not Me!

Posted 16 Jun 2010 — by FV
Category Uncategorized

OK, OK, I said it too, but I’m not Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics, Division of
Endocrinology. Someday I’ll be telling you “I told you so”, but for now, listen to Dr. Lustig. The video is almost an hour and a half long. You may listen to the entire lecture, but I beg of you to at least listen from 1:12:30 to about 1:22:00. I guarantee you will have difficulty not listening to the rest of the video and you may even go back to the beginning to hear the whole thing. It is astonishing what the affects of sugar are having on our society. Let me put this in no uncertain terms to you…. Sugar Is Poison…..   S.I.P.   Every “S.I.P.” of soda that you drink is leading you down a faster route to R.I.P.Please take ten minutes and watch this video from 1:12:30 to 1:22:00. I implore you. Watch it for you, your friends, your family. Thanks, FV

SUGAR: THE BITTER TRUTH

Readers, Readers, Quite Contrary, How Do Your Gardens Grow??

Posted 10 Jun 2010 — by FV
Category As I see it., garden

I have been asking my readers to send some pictures of their gardens. Getting a response has been like pulling weeds! I have had a few people jump on board and I would like to tell you about them.

First we have my good friend SF. Some time ago she sent me some pictures of her garden at the beginning of the season. I’m sure by now that her family’s garden is in full swing. I have held on to these pictures a bit too long, but in fairness here are the pictures she sent. Hopefully soon we will see some newer pics of her progress…

A plot for herbs, snow peas, beans and onions.

Carrots, radishes, tomatoes, spniach, lettuce. "SPIN" or Small Plot Intensive Gardening.

COMPOST!

Overhead shot of last years chives, already flourishing

Last year's thyme and oregano are already popping up to say hello!

Thanks so much SF for the great pics of the garden, can’t wait for more! Here’s what SF had to say about her garden…

“We are SO EXCITED about this year’s garden. Not only is backyard gardening convenient, cost effective, and a great way to reconnect with where food really comes from, but we’ll be free from worries about pesticides, hormones, and other stupid additives that grocery stores like to slap on for cosmetic purposes. Keep your damn wax off of my veggies!”  ~SF

Next up is a serious gardener we’ll call RT. RT has a very well planned out garden using a technique often employed by large farms to cut down on the need to weed. Here’s some pics…

 

RT is not only an accomplished gardener, but also a great photographer, look her up for weddings, seasonal pictures or any special event where you need a great professional photographer! Here’s her link… RT Photography.

Last, but not least is my friend MS. MS has no real garden, well, at least not one we can mention here on the world wide web, but he did send a picture of a specimen from his yard…

MS says "This is my backyard garden. The biggest, ugliest mushroom I've ever seen. An escaped elephant must have fertilized this Little Shop of Horror creature."

I can’t thank SF, RT and MS enough for letting us see a glimpse of their gardening progress. Please keep us posted!

The Duchess and I have had great success so far with our garden. We did have a minor setback when almost all of our tomato plants that we started from seed died just about as soon as we planted them outside. This was our first attempt at starting tomatoes from seed. We have since learned some techniques to grow from seed more successfully, but it was too late. We had to succumb and borrow some already developed plants from ZP and UB, thanks again guys!

I implore all of you to send me some pics of your gardening progress. You too may see your garden up in lights here at foodvigilante.com. Email your pictures to foodvigilante@gmail.com .

Ready, set, GROW!

FV