POTATO BUG POISON & MORE

YOUR GARDEN & COVID 19
I hope everyone is finding some way of enjoying their summer even though your holiday plans may have had to be changed because of the distancing rules. I always have a large garden, so that keeps me busy planting, weeding and now harvesting; and of course preparing & eating all of those wonderful vegetables and fruits.
When we are at home on the farm we forget all about the virus and the regulations. We only go out to shop for necessities, groceries and appointments so we carry masks in the truck in case we will need them.

NANKING CHERRIES
The birds and I took turns picking the nanking cherries. We put a radio out there playing loudly for a few days so that helped me get a few more than the birds got.

HEALTHY UNSWEETENED JUICE MIXTURE (my substitute for milk at breakfast)
I turned all of the nanking cherries into juice and froze it for my regular juice mixture that I have every morning on my porridge or granola. (It replaces dairy milk)
Once a week I thaw and mix up equal amounts of nanking cherry, apple and beet juice and a smaller amount of choc-cherry juice. In the summer I usually have the juice on my homemade granola or millet breakfast cereal (recipes that I share in a previous post on the website) During the winter months we usually have an oatmeal porridge mixture with the juice on top.
However we always top our breakfast cereal with crushed flax and hemp seeds as well.

The choc-cherries will be next as I see they are now turning orange. Then last will be the pure apple juice that I preserve to use all year from our apple trees.

POTATO BUGS
First I have to tell you that the experiment I shared a few months ago to put a dried brown bean into the ground with each potato seed to keep away the potato bugs did NOT WORK. On our yard I had only 2 dozen plants so as soon as the bugs got out a control (I did pick bugs and spray with my rhubarb tonic) I dug them out. I got 4 (4 quart) baskets of all sizes of potatoes. I shared some and we are enjoying the rest. When I pulled the plants, I took them far from the garden and burning them so hopefully I am rid of the bugs. After the garden is tilled and it gets down to minus 4 or so, I will deep till the whole garden in case there are some still planning on hiding out for the winter.

The 13 rows of potatoes that I planted at the other farm are doing great. We have had plenty of rain so the plants are tall with lots of blossoms. We will wait a few more weeks to check out how they are doing underneath, but we should have lots for our family and plenty to share. I did find a few potato bugs there, but I have been brushing them into a container and burning them. How they found that garden, I have no idea so hopefully I can keep them from multiplying and then we will do a deep till this fall as well.

We have been picking peas, beans and cucumbers and I have also been digging beets and carrots for meal times. I have also been picking off the dill weed and freezing or drying it for the winter soups and salads.

BEETS IN THE INSTA-POT
I really am enjoying my insta-pot. I have been taking out 5 large beets, adding 1 1/2 cups water, cooking them on steam for 16 or 20 minutes. (depending on how big they are) To cook I leave the peels on and part of the stem so I don’t lose too much nutrition in the cooking. I drain them, rinse in cold water and rub off the peel and stem. Then I dice or slice them, add butter, salt & pepper. Oh So Good!

BEET PICKLES
But when we want beet pickles, over the diced cooked beets I pour a mixture of apple cider vinegar, stevia or zylitol and salt; put this into the fridge until cold and we have beet pickles! I will also be canning beet pickles in a week or two.
Happy Gardening . . . . Winnie!