Harvesting Organic Carrots for a Healthy Thanksgiving Roast

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!  

 

Delicious Organic Kaleidoscope Carrots

   I don't know about you guys, but when I hear the word "Thanksgiving" my automatic thought is....."What's being cooked for dinner?". So I decided to harvest some delicious, healthy and organic carrots. Then I thought, wouldn't all my readers and garden nuts want to see this glorious moment to every gardener?! So I went and got the trusty Canon camera and went to work! I honestly did not think that this harvest would be this size. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, I'm excited! I love it when I do a harvest and pull some decent size crop. These guys have been in the ground for about seventy-five days or so. I spaced these guys out about half of the recommended space for commercial farmers.

   These organic carrots are ridiculously delicious! They smelled so amazing! This was totally worth the time and effort to grow these bad boys! Again, this just goes to show that you can grow amazing produce in the desert region. Until next time fellow gardeners, and green thumbs. Keep it Green and Keep it Growing!
 - Ciao




HyperSmash

Healthy Living : Tomatoes and You

     Anyone can tell you to eat right, that you should choose better ingredients for your meals, or that you should start a new eating routine and forget about your old one. Well they are right, you only have been blessed with one body! The easiest and best way to instill this lifestyle EASILY into your life is to cultivate your own foods. The majority of produce from your local markets can be grown in your specific region. All you need is good soil content, a steady flow of water, and the patience to do said deeds.

(Organically Grown Bloody Butcher Tomato)

¤ First, we will start off talking about the benefits of growing tomatoes! ¤

     Tomatoes are known all over the world as been a highly rich antioxidant fruit, it's also known to lower one's cholesterol and can help battle Prostate and/or Breast Cancer. I want to live a long and healthy life and I'm fairly certain that you would too. The rich supply of antioxidants provided by the tomato can help postmenopausal women with their bone health. And as been used in research to help reduce risk of some neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's disease.

 **Most people with gastrointestinal complications most likely should NOT eat tomatoes frequent, because it can cause more stomach irritation and heart burn to occur more often.**

(Organically Grown Tomato from Rome, Italy)

¤ Reasons for growing your own Tomatoes ¤

    Each person has their specific favourite type of tomato they long for on their sandwich, burger, salad, pasta or pizza. And each breed of tomato has a different price. The higher end of cost are your heirlooms, which have been passed down from generation to generation. So if you are going to grow your own tomatoes, research which type of tomato you like (i.e. beefmaster, roma, cherry). Then research the different breeds of the type you have chosen. There could be the most amazing tomato you ever had out there in seed, waiting for you to give your own "green thumb" a go.

    Tomatoes are one of the easier crops I have grown, they take less time and nurturing than beans or potatoes in my opinion. I use organic manure; steer, cow, pig, horse, or fowl. Dead plant matter with some compost (fruit and veggie scraps, porous soil, and worm casting) and finally some dirt. I prune and clean up, around the base of the plant, about every third or fourth day. My average fully matured tomato plant, about five foot high/one and a half metres, gets about two cups/a pint of water throughout the day.

   Well Friends! You heard what I think about tomatoes and their brilliant qualities. Now it's time to ask yourself if you're going to take a fun risk and try to grow some, or just shop for better quality tomatoes. Whatever you choose, have fun with your food and try to make some of it healthy. Until next time guys....Keep it Green and Keep it Growing! Ciao!! 

HyperSmash

Fall Mini Garden Update

Wow! My garden has been looking beautiful! Everything producing looks so vibrant and amazingly delicious! Look at my Santa Fe Pepper turn red, and more hot compared to the green variety. This would be a nice choice to use in guacamole, it has the right heat without overpowering the avocado and just enough to not make you tear or grab for your closest drink.

As I said, these are the milder version of the Santa Fe Pepper. I use these in my Ramen constantly, or I caramelize them with onions and eat that with sausage. These peppers are extremely easy to grow, all you need is; porous soil, manure, compost, and some care. It is probably the easiest plant I deal with.

The Thai Chili Pepper is a beautiful plant, but is extremely hot! I use gloves when I harvest off the plant or maintain it. I touched my eyes once after dealing with it, and I ended up pouring milk on my eyes and complaining constantly for about an hour straight. I use one chili pepper for salsa, if I used two I'd be screaming.

 My Thyme; completely common, it's found in woods up north of Nevada and other woodland areas. This thyme smells so great and can be used on anything pretty much. It's currently being populated in a new area of the garden so that's why it's not as clustered as before!

My French Pumpkins! These I planted hopefully in time for Christmas! I love pumpkin cookies, cakes, pies, shakes, teas, and bread! All of those things can be made from a fresh pumpkin as well. I get a nice crop and a beautiful plant to stare at until the crop comes. It's a complete win-win scenario. I'll keep you all updated about this specific plant until it's bountiful.

The Bloody Butcher Tomato, which is so-called because once you slice into one the juices flow out more than usual. This tomato is extremely flavourful and awesome in a grilled cheese, I promise you that! It takes about 80 days from flowering to get the full flavour and nutrient value from the fruit, but it's totally worth it. The plants kind of purple due to the fact of a colder climate.

Mexican Sage, how beautiful is that?! Just take a second and gaze at this picture, that's nature friends. Those buds slowly mature and dry into the sage we all use in our recipes. That process takes about 55 days to get really decent sized petals and you can dry them out in your oven on the lowest setting, just keep an eye on it time varies with altitude. Or you can let it dry by itself on the plant, then harvest when needed. So friends, that was fun going through my garden yet again. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Until next time, Keep it Green and Keep it Growing! Ciao!!






HyperSmash

A Rain Storm in the Garden!

This morning after I woke up to the wonderful pitter-patter sound of Mother Nature providing the desert I live in with much appreciated rain, (Which it has been raining for the past 3 days straight now!) I decided to check on the garden to see what kind of progress it has been making since the fall/winter weather is finally settling in the Greater Las Vegas Region. I walked outside, opened the gate and found a lovely surprise! My Red Russian Kale, (I grow Nero di Toscana Kale as well, or Black Kale from Tuscany) is still growing and still plans to grow! Next, I took a walk around the garden to see what else looked good and was photo worthy for my precious viewers, you guys!

 I went near my tomatoes and about half of them are starting to produce crop, but this little guy is taking his sweet time! It's still a good looking plant, and by far needs another run of healthy manure or a mix of plant tea (Which could be the only reason why it hasn't much fruit on it as of yet!). This breed of tomato is actually from Rome, Italy. I have family out there whom has been kind and generous enough to send me these lovely and delicious tomato seeds. Thanks Ziju!!

 After seeing how my tomatoes were fairing with this streak of weird weather, I checked on my abundant Santa Fe Peppers. These specific breed people say isn't that spicy, but that's because most people pick them when they are still green. This breed will change colour to yellow and that's when it will pack one hell of a punch! I use this pepper for my ramen constantly, it has such an addictive heat level and taste!

And finally, I came round to one of my favourite herbs, Sweet Basil. I love the fragrance and flavour when this herb is used in any dish that calls for it. I noticed it was still flowering and producing new leafs and nodes as well. Which is always an exciting thing to see. One cool thing I learned about Basil when I was a young boy, the Romans used Basil to cleanse their palettes and for deodorant. Who can't say no to someone smelling like fresh herbs, am I right?! And that's how I ended my morning walk through the garden. Nothing is more beautiful nor beneficial for a family to garden together. By teaching the newer generations to garden, it ensures that they will understand their food and know when it's fresh to eat or not. Until next time fellow green thumbs and gardening enthusiasts! Keep it Green and Keep it Growing! Ciao!!!





HyperSmash

Harvesting Carrots, Leeks, Peppers, and Red Onions!!

I had the awesome ability to pick some crop from the garden that had looked good enough to eat. So I decided to take some pictures to savor the miniature harvest. I felt like pulling some carrots out so we could roast them later. I asked my fiancee to come out there with me and pick some of the crop she liked as well. My first choice to harvest was this big guy you see right here, it's actually a yellow carrot. This particular carrot was fairly enormous considering the space I gave it to grow was under the recommended space between seeds. I was thrilled to see this size of a carrot coming from my garden, I felt proud!

My fiancee went to go pull the white carrot and the other two carrots came up with it, the orange and yellow one. They all smelled fresh and delicious, so we decided to roast these carrots as well at a later time. And I still have around a dozen carrots that will be hopefully done by Thanksgiving. I planted my carrots specifically so they could of been harvested for Thanksgiving and I hope that I was correct!

After picking some alliums' that were too close growing to another crop, I then pick two nice looking bell peppers that were on the mild spice side. The onions are Red Torpedo Onions, the leek is an English Leek, my peppers were Fajita Peppers, and the carrots were Rainbow Heirloom. I then cleaned these fine looking crop so I could freeze them for later use. Growing your own food is completely rewarding and nutritious for you. You will feel accomplished after growing and eating your food. If you have children, this will also be a fun activity to do with them. Let them learn where and how their food source is coming to them. Your children will be completely fascinated with the concept of fresh food, just like you will too!  Until next time fellow gardeners, Keep it Green and Keep it Growing!
HyperSmash

Your Garden and Bees!

     Every garden needs some bees. Why you ask? Well, without bees the majority of organic plants and veggies would not be able to flower at all! Bees help pollinate and cross-pollinate every single flower on your plants, making new genetics such as hybrid plants.

      Just like Albert Einstein stated ," If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe than man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

     So it is very imperative that if you are trying to start your own organic garden or trying to live a healthy choice life (like me) and want to grow whatever crops of your choosing, you need to have these amazing bugs around your garden constantly!

    There are some key things you should know about attracting these life giving bugs to your garden!

 ¤ Nectar and Pollen!
 Every single flower gives off a sweet aroma to these bees and that aroma comes from the nectar and pollen. It's completely irresistible to these bugs. Some gardeners I know put geraniums and peonies on the border of their gardens, just for extra re-assurance that bees will definitely visit their abundant gardens.

 ¤ Having crop plants that attract frequent bees!
 These plants include melons, squash, fruit and certain varieties of leafy greens. Most of these plants have bright yellow flowers. Some varieties include flowers with white and yellow stripes, some leafy greens also produce purple flowers.

 ¤ Not using any form of Pesticide or Germicide!
I do NOT recommend any form of pesticide nor germicide for this main reason. It can harm the bees and stop their production completely. Plus it can harm your crop from getting the full natural nutritional value. If you have a bug problem check out my post on Neem Oil.

 ¤ Have a form of windbreak with sunshine!
Bees love pollinating in the sun, so plan your garden to be in a good spot for the sun. I recommend a spot that gets at least nine to eleven hours of sun during spring/summer, and seven to ten hours of sun during fall/winter seasons. Alas, if you live in the desert like I, you'll suffer with high-winds quite frequent. I pass this completely by planting my crops a little closer than the recommended space in-between. Which causes a natural wind break and gives the bees an easier time to pollinate rather than fighting their way to the much desired nectar hidden in their delicious flowers.

Dearest Readers and Gardening Enthusiasts, we all have a job to do. That job is to keep the world alive and healthy! Do so by planting flowers or your own food garden to keep the bees busy and happy! We are nothing without these wonderful bugs. They keep us fed and we keep them happy!

Thanks for keeping interest and until next time, Keep it Green and Keep it Growing!
Ciao!


HyperSmash