let's see your veggie garden {pics}

[deluxestogie]

If you figure half the weight of a squash is discarded (or saved as seeds), then 32# of squash @ 1/4# per meal --> that's well over 100 meals of squash. Seems like a perfect situation for experimentation on recipes.

Nice grow.

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

I was intent on finding homes for some of this. I probably couldn't eat that much squash before it started to rot. Squash is a seasonal delight like mushrooms etc. I just wished that my watermelons had turned out better. I think I'll grow some Brussels sprouts next year and put the watermelons in a better spot with more sun.

Wes H.

 

[deluxestogie]

Any squash that will eventually find it's way into a mashed or pureed form can be cut into skinless chunks, and frozen. Squash bread, squash soup, mashed squash.

The Hidatsa Indians would cut their squash into rings, then string them and hang them to dry, for use in the winter.

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Frozen raw, or frozen after cooking?

Mushrooms need to be cooked before freezing. I learned about that the hard way. I have no experience with preserving squash.

Wes H.

 

[deluxestogie]

You can peel squash, chunk it, then freeze it like that, uncooked, or blanch then freeze. I always blanch veggies like beans, because the exterior is dirty. Of course, you can cook the squash before freezing if you choose.

It seems like your very dry climate might be just right for a trial of drying squash rings.

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Sounds like an experiment to me. I have a little to experiment with.

Peeled and dried, or unpeeled and dried?

Wes H.

 

[deluxestogie]

I would guess unpeeled (for strength), sliced into rings, and strung on a rope. I imagine the Hidatsa grew an elongated squash variety.

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Refresh my memory, weren't the Hidatsa from Vancouver Island? Or was that the Queen Charlotte Islands? Or perhaps none of the above. The name is familiar is all.

Wes H.

 

[deluxestogie]

The Hidatsa are in North Dakota. A wonderful account is Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden, published in 1917: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html

Bob

 

[CobGuy]

The last couple of tomatoes and some Marigolds that came up from last year:

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

We haven't had a killing frost yet, and I'm still able to pick raspberries off of my ever bear vine.



I've been picking a few mushrooms also. The Chanterelles have been pretty sparse this year due to lack of rainfall. We have had about 1 inch of rain in the last several days and I'm going to go out one more time to see if the rain has pushed a few 'shrooms out of the ground. The season is about over, so we'll see if there are any left. I'd really like to find a Bear's Head (Hericium abietis) but that might be too much to ask for. That is if it doesn't start snowing at the higher elevations.



Wes H.

 

[fimbrew]

My mother's raspberries in western Montana are peaking around late July. We are getting ready to bottle the raspberry wine from raspberries we harvested then. Nice mushroom harvest!

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

I'm going mushroom hunting. Wish me luck! I have to wear my red coat and make noise so the elk hunters don't shoot me.

Wes H.

 

[deluxestogie]

Break a stipe!

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Success! I'll post a photo tomorrow.

Wes H.

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Pickings were better than last trip. The numbers are still poor. I got about 3 dozen Chanterelle's. The mushrooms of all types are just now starting to emerge due to the lateness of our seasonal rains. In a better rain year, the forest floor will be covered with all manner of species of mushrooms.



There are a few puffball mushrooms in the basket also. I don't personally eat them but I know someone who will (Lycoperdon perlatum).

Total Chanterelles after cleaning about 2 pounds. Far from a personal record, which is 7 pounds. But you take what mother nature hands out. Also, I'm still searching for the elusive Bear's Head (Hericium abietis). Maybe next trip if I don't get frozen out.

Wes H.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Good haul.

I haven't been mushroom picking in some time. There were many years where I was dedicated to it. One thing I did was bring non edible saprophytes home for the compost. It got to a point where there were always mushrooms growing in my compost bin, and often in the garden itself. The only travesty that happened was in regards to an edible, the Honey Mushroom (Armillarea mellea). One summer, one of my choke cherry trees up and died without explanation. The following summer, (and subsequent years), there was a patch of Honeys growing next to the stump.

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

I've also introduced mushrooms to my back yard as decomposers. I haven't been able to get any desirable 'shrooms to grow. But those stumps are slowly going away.

Wes H

 

[deluxestogie]

You can buy "Shitake logs" that have been inoculated.

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Yes, I have heard of that.

The point of collecting mushrooms is to get out in the weather and tramp around in the woods. If you find them good. If not...oh well!

Wes H.