Dinner Reconciled

Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody.

~~Samuel Pepys

S is for Sunflower

Sunflowers have always been one of my favorite garden plants. Lets just say it brings the 5 year old out in me. Especially, I adore the “giant sunflower” and what child doesn’t marvel at a plant that wasn’t and now looms 12 or more feet off the ground.

Besides its beauty, cheeriness, and presence; what has it done for us lately. The sunflower (Helianthus annuus or Mapi'-na'ka) is a native North American plant and has been farmed for at least 5000 years. Archaeologists have found evidence that the Indians of Arizona & New Mexico have cultivated the plant since 3000 B.C. Now-a-days we feed wild birds and critters with it mainly, and some health conscious folk include it in bread and on their salads. In the 1880’s a process for extracting the oil from the seeds was patented and we got sunflower oil for cooking. So what else can we do with the plant?

Well, have you heard of the “Three Sisters” in gardening, well IMHO the “Sunflower” the cousin that hangs out in the garden too. Let me explain corn, beans, and squash are the three sisters in Native American farming. Basically you plant the corn, then the beans so they can climb up the corn as it grows, and finally plant squash at the base to acts a mulch. There is a lot more to this marriage of sisters, but that is for a later post. Anyway, Native Americans also grew a lot of sunflowers. Why?

The seeds are actually very useful just raw, roaster, braised, as flour, and as a portable food. But let’s start at the beginning, when to sow the sunflower seeds. When the ice breaks up in the rivers, start trying to work the ground once you can plant your sunflower seeds. You might also want your planting to correspond with the first full moon of the April; some tribes refer to this month as “Sunflower-planting-moon”. Clever. Plant the seeds 3-4 inches deeps in friable soil, or as shallow as 1 inch in heavy soil.

Sunflowers are a very hearty plant and will do their best to grow anywhere you put them. This said they prefer full sun and growing in well drained moist fertile soil. They are very tolerant of sandy or clay soil but help them by adding lots of organic compost. Sunflowers are hardy and car little about the day length. Just remember doing plant the seeds in “wet” soil they will suffocate & rot. I use sunflower as trellises for morning glories, red runner beans, and for beans. The seedlings germinate in about 7 days or longer depending on temperature.

Sunflowers respond positively to liquid fertilize either chemical, organic, or fish. You might want to support your sunflower tops if you use them as a trellis; summer thunder storms tend to topple the tops. To jump ahead a little once the seeds start developing you might want to protect you flowers from birds if they start harvesting them before you do. But I have found this to be rare unless you leave the heads up to long.

Then the only thing you need to figure out is what you want to do with the sunflowers bounty. Some recipes to follow, but you can finds recipes for parching, making salted seeds (good for hot climates), and meal-cakes with fat as an energy pick me up.

References:
Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden: Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians (Borealis) This is excellent book on finding out how Native Americans farmed. If you like archeology, sociology, food history, or just knowing how other folks garden this is the book for you. I have read this book twice, and it is a quick easy enjoyable read.

Heirloom Sunflower Seeds - Flash Blend Flower Seed Organic - Get some variety in you garden, these may not be the biggest sunflowers you have ever seen but they will be the most divers.

Peas Epicurean

Spring is almost here in Pilgrim-ville. Time to try an turn the veggie beds and try to start some peas & lettuce early. Here is a little old fashion recipe for PEAS:

Peas Epicurean

2 cups peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 table spoons minced onion
1 heart lettuce, shredded
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper
Water
1 tablespoon minced parsley

Slowly cook peas, oil, onion, lettuce, sugar, salt, & pepper in enough water to cover, until the peas are tender and most of the liquid has boiled away. Add parley.

Note: Obviously, you'll want to update this recipe to modern standards. Can you do it?

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“People are getting tired of going out to expensive restaurants and spending lots of money for seven pea pods and a two-inch steak.” ~~Anonymous

Saint Green

On Saint Patrick's Day, I planted my spring garden seedlings . Well it has been a week-and-a-half and most of the seedlings are up. I got some heating pads under the trays and it really seems to help. But my lighting is insufficient, so I moved everything the the living-room plant table, the light it better ans although some of the seedlings a little bit leggy, and they are thickening up.

I planted two of every heirloom tomato collected last year. And a bunch of spring veggies, and some summer veggies. I figure I will plant some summer squash and okra early, and if it makes it I will have an early crop. But anyway I will have Swiss chard, chervil (herb), and early tomatoes.

I have the lights on a timer and it comes up 2 hours before the sun hits the window and 2 hours after dark. Just want to give some extra light.
Have a 96watt compact fluorescent lighting system but the bulb is bad and is on order. Got to work with what you have on hand.

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May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
~~Irish Blessing

Nude Live Plant Show 2008

Gardens and flowers have a way of bringing people together, drawing them from their homes.

~~Clare Ansberry, The Women of Troy Hill

Attended the Boston Flower Show (2008) this month and as always enjoyed my self a great deal. One of the best parts for me is that the houseplant displays. I always see plants that my friends & family have had; plus there are just so many cool plants out there. The show always has a lot of plant vendor that have exotics. Last year I bought a bunch exotics such as Rabbit-foot Fern (Davallia fejeensis), a Rat Tail Cactus (Disocactus flagelliformis), Pregnant Onion (Ornithogalum longibracteatum), Mother-of millions (Bryophyllum spp.), & Orchid Cactus (Epiphyllum). This year I got an Elkhorn Fern (Platycerium bifurcatum), Bird's Nest Fern (Asplenium nidus), and Asparagus Fern ( P. densiflorus cv. Myersii ).

These are all really cool plants that I have always wanted. My pregnant onion is blooming this spring just like the one in the picture. All I have left to get on my want list is some begonias, and a Climbing Onion (Bowiea volubilis).

At these shows there are always so many vendors that seem out of place to me, e.g. cars, motorcycles, & hottubs. Yes, hottubs can be in the garden, but who goes to a garden show to buy a hottub? Perhaps I am limited in my world view.

It seems that the age of the "Dip Mix" vendor s over with though. For that last few years there has been one vendor that sells dips herb mixes and at $4 a bag it seemed quite profitable. Well this year there were 3 vendor doing the smae thing and 2 other venders had this as their side line. Oh, well to bad for them, I do love the sample dips. Yum!