Last fall we had unusual weather – eighties on October 20th! And less than three weeks later on November 5th, the temperature dropped to single digits, and the ground froze. We wanted to plant garlic, but how? Ken planted garlic in the mobile high tunnel where the soil was NOT frozen. This spring has been cool and we got late snow. I realized it would be warm in the greenhouse so I dug …
Years ago when we were in a fair trade store I saw a lovely set of chimes. I announced to Ken I wanted to buy it. This does not happen often, and he was taken aback. He looked at it and said, “A guy could make one of these.” My quick reply was, “And if A GUY doesn’t make one, his wife will buy one.” For a few weeks Ken puzzled what he had …
Greetings from the Garden! This box has sprouts, onions, garlic, celery root, carrots, beets, black radishes, kohlrabi, and dried black beans Field Notes. This is our final box. After twenty – three years I think we can say it was a good run. We have delivered vegetables to people on time without fail for all those years. Each box had at least eight different varieties, and many had over twelve. Ken did a marvelous …
Spring planting in the greenhouse all depends on the weather. The air and soil temperature inside the greenhouse is much more important than the date. Some years Ken had planted in February, but this year we had early cold with no snow cover, so the frost went deep into the soil. We have also had more cloudy than sunny weather, so there has not been much solar gain once the sun has some real heat …
The first seeds Ken planted each season were the onions. Since I had bought seeds, I decided to try planting them in Ken’s germination cabinet. These are the first seeds I have planted since the bean seed in the cup in kindergarten. Although I called a friend for tips, I had low expectations. So much could go wrong. Was the soil too wet, too dry, did I put enough soil covering the seeds, too …
Ken used to teach people to make nori maki. This is sushi rolled in a sheet of nori – a sea weed that is pressed into a thin flat sheet. And the term sushi refers not to raw fish, but to the rice cooking process. Sushi is rice cooked with some rice vinegar to soften it so it can be carefully pressed into shapes or rolled. Sashimi was the term used for raw fish when …
Ken was an excellent cook; his last job was as a private chef to one of the Pillsbury family. When we first dated, Ken would get me a card and try to buy something or take me out for my birthday. In March egg season is in full swing, and one year I asked him to make me a souffle. He did and it became our habit. Each year he …
I met Ken dancing. He was staying in the Twin Cities to do a pottery show. I asked if he wanted to meet for dinner. He said yes, when he came in for the second load of shelves and unsold pottery after the show. I called him in Turtle Lake to arrange that. This impressed Ken. In those days each long distance call cost money, and no one had called him in Turtle Lake; he …
