Fairy-Tale Farm

There is a lot growing in the winter garden, despite my not planting most of it.  The giant red mustard has self-seeded everywhere!  With the longer days, it’s really growing large, which is good, since we are currently selling some of it to Gabriella’s restaurant.  I just wished my family liked the pungent flavor better.  I’ve got baby mache growing in between the mustards, another prolific self-seeder, but with a mild flavor.

Giant red mustard in the sunlight.

Aren't they just so purple and georgious?

My current favorite beauties of the vegetable garden are the purple peas.  Their beautiful fuscia and lavendar flowers are like sweet peas, but edible.  The peas themselves are too fibrous as snow peas, but if you wait until they are plump, there are tasty (but disappointingly, green) peas inside. I haven’t tried to steam the smaller ones whole.  I’m hoping they can retain their purple color but lose some of the toughness, maybe with sauteing? One of these days I’m going to grow a purely purple garden – since it seems everything comes in purple these days.

Purple pea blossoms.

Last week’s project was to separate the strawberries and move them to the borders of the garden. First, I decided to create a “strawberry spiral”.  I planted tall yellow lupine, 3 different poppies, and some truly wild dahlia tubers.  If they all grow to their reported 4 feet, you will be invisible as you sit on the wooly thyme in the center of the circle.  Little kids will be enthralled.  For me, the spiral is a meditation.

I built this for the little children. I thought they'd enjoy walking in a spiral, snacking on strawberries along the way.

And then it became time to prune the grapevine.  Note we skipped pruning it last year, due to sickness and neglect.  Which meant that there truly was an amazing amount of grape wood that is now littering half the yard.

Grapevines, grapevines, everywhere!

We turned most of the vines into wreaths.

And an idea is born for Fairy-Tale Farm’s first gardening craft: making wreaths out of cuttings from the winter garden.  Since I now have over 40 grapevine wreaths, I’ve been experimenting with adding flowering branches, such as quince blossoms.

Isn't the quince bush so pretty?

So I cut some quince branches… and tucked them into the grapevines…and the result is lovely!  I’m going to experiment with sticking the bottom of the branches in a glycerin/ water bath to see if I can preserve the blossoms longer….

A grapevine, twisted into a wreath shape, with some flowering quince cuttings....

I just twisted the grape vines around and around until I had enough bulk to make a wreath.  No wire or twine required, the grape vines just wrap around themselves.  Then, you need clippers and  a few flowering spring branches.  I tucked these in one at a time, again using no twine or wire, the grape vines held them into place.

I think the wreath could use even more quince branches, but I was being stingy with my bush, not wanting to prune too much.  I especially like the pink blossoms against my pink livingroom walls.  Nice!

I also planted 4 new trees : a chocolate persimmon, a black mulberry tree, another cherry, a wolfberry bush (goji berry) – currently very popular in raw food circles, but I’ve only tasted the dried version.  I’m hoping fresh goji berries are even better!  And I added a few more yellow raspberries, 4 “pink lemonade” blueberries – yes, they’re pink!  Now I just have to wait several years to see if the varieties are tasty enough to keep.

We’re starting up Fairy-Tale Farm events in March, just a few weeks away!  I hope to have all of the grapevines cleared out of the yard by then, and all of my sweet peas planted.  The greenhouse is packed right now with tomato seedlings, peppers, sweet peas and edible peas galore, and other herbs and vegetables.  Now if everything escapes the wrath of gophers, birds, the one chicken who flies out everyday, and assorted insects, then in a few months, the garden will look like paradise!   Come back and see…

Oh, the possibilities!

2011 at Fairy-Tale Farm was hard.  In Spring, I had to take some time off of hosting events in order to tend to my health.  Here I contemplate what to plant next.

Spring Diva

Months later, the fava beans behind the rocking chair grow into 6 foot towers.  The triple compost system that Karsten built out of old wood pallets against the back fence slowly rots.  Sweet peas bloom on the left next to the chicken coop.  Giant red mustard continues to grow, and red lettuces snuggle in with baby carrots.

The migrating birds don't eat the red lettuces and they look pretty with the slowly growing carrots.

By early summer, sweet peas blossom on the left while red mustards bolt and shoot up yellow flowers in the background. Poppies line the path. The garden is glorious.

I grew some exotic poppies this year.    I call the red and white one “poppy from outerspace”.  The pink peony-like one was a volunteer.  Red pom-pom type from Annie’s Annuals.  Can’t wait to see what combo I get wildly this year.

I had so many sweet peas and fava beans I sold them at the Corralitos Farmer’s Market:

Fava beans and sweet pea flowers. The scent of the sweet peas is so delicious.

We also sold edible flowers. Nasturtium, borage, calendula, pansies, oxalis.

Then, I unfortunately ended up in the hospital with my sweet peas.

Trying to make the best of it at UCSF as I am here for 3 long weeks.

But in the summer I am free, and I spend hours sleeping on the porch as the garden slowly grows around me.

Fairy-Tale Farm is quiet with only the cat for company.

We get a farm dog named “Kia”.  The purple, yellow, and red potatoes are dug up.  Rainbow tomatoes are harvested. Pears.

The winter comes to a close and we harvest pumpkins and peas.  I slowly mend, and contemplate what to do for 2012.  Happy gardening, all. Stay tuned for upcoming events.

Sometimes you have to get out of the urban farm and visit cornfields up the coast for inspiration.