Barley Harvest

Yesterday, as the sun finally slid behind the house and gave a reprieve to part of the garden, I took up my pruners, untangled the chicken exclusion wire and row cover fabric, unclipped our hastily-added potential rain deflector of landscape fabric, and freed our bed of barley from it's layers of protection.
I'm sure the neighbours gave a quiet sigh of relief that the eyesore was finally being removed.

Then I took a moment to house the inquisitive chickens who had been waiting for that moment with a certain chicken intensity.

There was, at one point, an intent to observe the differences in the quality, quantity, growth habits and other factors as regards each of the three varieties of heritage barley grain, but the birds - both of the wild and backyard variety - took enough interest in our crop that it would be impossible to know how opportunistic predation affected the outcome.  The point of interest now (well, after making sure the grain is properly cured), will be to see how these grains taste, sprout, and most importantly how easy they are to thresh by hand.

Our 8x4 bed, with the viable grain cut out (I'll let the chickens play cleanup crew for a few days)

Our barley harvest, separated from the stalks (which the rabbits are happily enjoying). From front to back, the barley is Faust, Lompoc and Sheba.  All the barley is inside now, sharing an oscillating fan with me while I do schoolwork on the computer. 

Strawberries, Blueberries and Huckleberries

Technically, the month for strawberries has passed in the garden - though there are a few lagging behind to ripen as the season continues.  If we're lucky, and the heat-wave subsides, these 'everbearing' plants will flower again (maybe two more times), and we will enjoy more fruit in the future.  For the time being, our attentions have turned to the blueberries which have been ripening since the beginning of July.  We try to pick the ripe berries at least once a day from our established bushes, to discourage predation by all of the birds looking for a tasty treat.  I just scared off several Stellar Jays having brunch... By the end of the season, we will be so tired of these daily pickings that the time will come to just let the birds have a little feast.  We still treat Nugget to a few of her favourite tidbits - our chicken loves her blueberries, and will jump to carefully nip them from between our fingers.

Yesterday morning, I went out to one of my favourite picking spots to hunt for wild huckleberries.  They're much harder to pick, averaging roughly 1/2 hour of picking for each 1/2 pint of jam that I make, but it's become a bit of a tradition for me.

 

Several times throughout the day, I checked on the hive to make sure that there was no sign of the robber bees - we physically moved the hive after the robbers returned the second day after they found the hive. The distance of a mere 10 feet and some tall plantings seems to have caused enough confusion to discourage predation. Two of the three entrance holes are blocked, and will stay that way in the near future.  I've observed guard bees pacing in and out of the remaining entrance, wary of intruders. We will do a hive inspection on Sunday to verify if our new queen is laying, and if the brood from Jen's hive has begun to emerge.  

 

In the garden, the barley, shallots and garlic are nearly ready for harvest. We had the last of our first -sown lettuce greens with dinner last night, and had blueberries with a bit of ice cream to top off our meal.  The tomatoes are in bloom, but I have yet to see any fruit development (very late this year). Cucumbers and zucchini are beginning to form, as well as the fruits on our winter squash vines.  The pole and bush beans have peaked in their growth, and are starting to set flowers for pollination. More pole beans are just breaking the ground to replace the pea plants I pulled on the weekend. Cilantro plants are busy flowering, so it looks like we will have a good crop of coriander seed - and I have successive plantings of the herb, so we are still enjoying fresh salsa, even if the tomatoes are from the store. The heat caused the oriental greens to bolt, and I've decided to let the planting essentially re-seed itself in place for the cooler months.  The first planting of basil is hitting a foot in height, and I should be harvesting this weekend to make basil/almond pesto (it keeps wonderfully in the freezer). Also on the to-do list is using up some of the parsley for home-made tabouli. 

 

While I was giving some of our plants a bit of extra water, this dragonfly fearlessly landed a foot away from me, and stayed to let me take pictures.

 

Tomato Promises And Heritage Grains

Over the years I have tried to grow a large variety of crops in our gardens. Sometimes I'm seduced by the pictures and descriptions in the seed catalogues and overreach (and overspend). Sometimes I don't listen to experience and think 'maybe this year' - but not every garden is ideal to grow eggplants, melons and peppers (until some future greenhouse dreams are realized!). Not everything does well in our climate or our soil (we have a wireworm 'problem' that makes growing carrots and parsnips a heartache).

A large portion of our crops are old favourites that have proven over several seasons that they will do well and provide for the table. These plants form the base of the garden, and I happily plant them each year. I still manage to plant too much of one thing, and not enough of another - nothing like that enthusiastic response to green beans for the fifth dinner in a row, or the sad expression when there are no more peas is there?  I try new varieties each year, and sometimes they will be added to our 'repeat' list. At the same time, I am trying to grow mostly open-pollinated, heritage varieties that I can save seed from for future use. I support small seed companies that do not sell GMO modified products.

Left up to Adrian, my experiments are fine - as long as there are tomatoes. Unless you've grown tomatoes and eaten them fresh-picked, you don't know what you're missing by eating grocery store offerings. Luckily for those without a garden, we do have the advantage of a fairly healthy network of Farmers' Markets in the Lower Mainland, and a hothouse industry that manages to provide some passable tomatoes in the dead of winter, when all I have left is dehydrated and canned offerings.

Yesterday I sat down and started my tomato seeds for this season. Two flats of seed-starting mix and tomato seeds are now sitting under my grow lights. Garden season has begun.

From Baker Creek:
Bloody Butcher
Flamingo
Japanese Black Trifele

From West Coast Seeds:
Gold Nugget
Principe Borghese
Siletz
Sungold (our one hybrid tomato, which we fell in love with at Pike Place Market in Seattle. Five dollars for fifteen seeds!)

From saved seed (formerly WCS):
Black Cherry
Sasha's Pride
Sweetie Cherry

I started another flat - this time of parsley and cilantro, which I have also direct-seeded outside. I will continue to plant more of those seed outside, tucked amongst the herbs, vegetables and flowers, in weekly intervals for continued availability.

Once the rain let up, and the sun began to shine, I cleared two of our 4x8 raised beds, and planted wheat and barley into each. The seed for these grains is from Salt Spring Seeds, a small seed company that offers unique selections for our coastal region. I hope to save this year's harvest and use it to grow more of these heritage varieties in the future. Some of our grain harvest will be used for human consumption, and some for our livestock. The wheat varieties are Blue Tinge Ethiopian, Kamut, and Red Fife. Our barley varieties are Faust, Lompoc and Sheba. I look forward to seeing how they perform, and how easily they are harvested - that will be the real test.