This morning in the garden

The weather has been spectacular!  It was great to be in the garden early this morning.  I picked several bunches of Russian kale for a customer who dries it in her dehydrator.  I've never heard of doing that, but she says she would rather dry it than freeze or can it.   I picked a little extra for the cows.  Kale is loaded with Vitamin C.  It is interesting to see which cows go for it.  Rosie is always first in line.  Sometimes she bellows as she runs across the paddock when she sees me with the kale.  Others won't have a thing to do with it.  In general, animals will self dose, so I'm pretty sure that Rosie needs Vitamin C.

While I was in the garden, I checked my cabbages.  They are the best I have ever grown.  One of them is about ripe for the picking.  It's huge, and I'm thinking I can get at least two quarts of kraut out of it, maybe more.  For those who have never made kraut, two quarts may not sound like a very big cabbage, but after the cabbage is shredded (I like mine shredded, not chopped), then it's put into a large container and pounded down to a small fraction of its size, with a hefty sprinkling of salt thrown in from time to time.  Then it must be packed tightly into the fermenting jar so that the natural juices cover the fresh cabbage.  Pretty soon, that huge container of fluffy shredded cabbage is reduced to a quart or two of goodness.  In less than a week, it is great sauerkraut.  I've kept it in the fridge for more than a year, and it just gets better with age.

And speaking of getting better with age, tomorrow night is my 50th high school class reunion.  This evening I was going to do another batch of tomato sauce, but I decided to take it easy.  I haven't seen most of my classmates since we got together 15 years ago.  I'm a little nervous about my rough hands and the freckles on my face and arms from all the sun.  I don't pay much attention to how I look anymore, but this reunion has brought me up short.  I was going to lose ten pounds, instead I put on a couple.  All things considered, I figure the best thing I can do for my looks is to get a good night's sleep.  So no tomato sauce tonight -- I'm off to bed early.

The chicken count is still at 15.  :)