gardening Blogs

• Wouldn’t it be cool if…

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  So this morning I took off my farming and food hats to put on my rural booster beanie under my techno-geek helmet and did a little research into a new social media craze that I’ve seen showing up via Twitter in the last few months. The social media tool that is [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 12:42pm EST
  by flyingtomato

• Critters in my Care

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 6
  So, I may have mentioned that we took on a cat. We took on this cat, which belongs to H’s daughter, because his daughter went traveling for some indeterminate length of time.  The cat, who is named Little Girl, is staying at my house for an also indeterminate length of time [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 6:10pm EST
  by flyingtomato

• Goosemobile in Vermillion

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Mark your calendars for December 12 from 1-2pm, as Tom and Ruth Neuberger’s famed Goosemobile will be swinging through Vermillion on their holiday route.  They’ll be setting up in the (old) Pamida parking lot. The Goosemobile carries all kinds of naturally raised and organic South Dakota meats–goose, sure, but also beef, [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 8:43am EST
  by flyingtomato

• A Chicken in Every Pot

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 2
  …or what to do when swiney’s got you down. I’ve been on a mostly liquid diet for the past several days–chicken soup, lentil-garlic soup, split pea soup, curried squash soup–plus broth and tea and juice and water (and a few honey-whiskey-lemon toddies before bed).  Frankly, I’m a bit tired of it.  [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 8:08pm EST
  by flyingtomato

• Crock-Fermented Dill Pickles

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 1
  This is my second year making crock dills in cooperation with my friend Cathy, who lends me the crocks her grandmother used.  The cukes come out of my gardens, as well as the peppers.  This year’s dill came from my friend Amy’s garden, and the garlic is Patti’s from Evergreen [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 7:14pm EST
  by flyingtomato

• Sick Days

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  The weather has been gorgeous for the last week, but the last I managed to get done at the farm was the garlic planting a few days ago.  Despite my strategy of hiding out and working in my house, I finally came down with the crud that’s spreading like wildfire [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 10:34am EST
  by flyingtomato

• What’s Better than Garlic?

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Why, MORE garlic, of course! I spent much of the morning working on poetry unit updates for my lit classes (no rest for the wicked or for online teachers) and the late morning and early afternoon hours cleaning up the yard again, now that the last of the leaves have fallen. My [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 6:28pm EST
  by flyingtomato

• A Day Off

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Yesterday was gorgeous–74 degrees or so and sunny.  A perfect fall day.  I kept telling myself, since  I was trapped inside grading papers all morning and most of the afternoon, that it was actually a little too warm to work in the gardens. Instead, I worked online down at the coffee [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 6:21pm EST
  by flyingtomato

• Crockpot Pork Shoulder Roast

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 1
  Last night’s local feast featured a pork shoulder roast from our friend Nate, mashed potatoes made with Gary Bye’s Pontiac reds and local (Burbach’s) milk, plus some applesauce I’d canned last year from an abandoned apple tree in the neighborhood. The roast was maybe three pounds, bone-in, and it was still [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 7:37am EST
  by flyingtomato

• Lately…

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 2
  I’ve been tempted to post an “out of office” note here–though knowing my own tendencies I would likely begin blogging three times a day simply because I said I wasn’t going to.  Instead of that, I’ll just say posts may be a bit more sporadic for an indeterminate length of [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 11:24am EST
  by flyingtomato

• Manure and Garlic

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 1
  Manure day!  At first our neighbor Kathy (who boards horses) and I talked about loading my truck, then she’d bring some loader-scoops down while I was shoveling out the truck-load–saving a bit of gas and wear on her machine. But that manure was WAY wetter and heavier than I thought it’d [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 9:46pm EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Autumn on the Vermillion

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 1
  Since I got that great anti-pull harness for the dog, I’ve been able to take walks without the guilt that hits if I leave her behind. Cotton Park Trail along the Vermillion River is beautiful this time of year–and almost completely empty.  I’ve seen a total of two people in my [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 3:50pm EDT
  by flyingtomato

• B.J. Running for Secretary of State!

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  By, B.J. I mean, of course, Ben Nesselhuf, our hard-working District 17 Senator.  The contest is still a year away, but I’m guessing Ben is making his intentions known early enough for other possible candidates for his current seat to step up. I’m interested to know who that will be.  And [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 2:29pm EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Testing…

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 1
  An attempt to de-couple my blog from Facebook. I’ll still link to posts, but you’ll have to come here to read them! [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 2:12pm EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Later ‘Mater

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Clearing out the last of the tomatoes, so I can move the wire rack I’m holding the excess produce on back into the sunny bedroom window for the houseplants (which is its main function). I had three pint boxes of ripened red pear tomatoes, plus a couple peach lugs about half [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 10:21am EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Back to the Canner

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  I’ve taken a few week hiatus from the canner as I work on my courses and get the house in shape after the growing season.  But I did buy a big box of apples at the farmers market, and I’ve had my mind set on chutney ever since I got [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 5:49pm EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Battle for Whiteclay Showing This Week

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 1
  USD campus, Churchill Haines 118 on Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-10:45am.  Following the conclusion of the film on Thursday, one of the featured activists in the film, Frank LaMere, will be present to lead discussion. From the website battleforwhiteclay.org: Whiteclay is an unincorporated village of 14 people in northwest Nebraska bordering the [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 9:18am EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Lack of Communication Hurts Dems

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 2
  Down here in the Berkeley of South Dakota, you’d think we’d have a well-oiled lefty machine.  And while our votes tend toward that southpaw direction (certainly in the Central Ward), we seem to be missing some pretty essential organization and communication machinery. Case in point: the McGovern/Abourezk Town Hall at the [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 12:14pm EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Putting the Beds to Bed: Farm Edition, Part Two

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Good field sanitation isn’t my favorite farm chore of the season.  It’s just not that much fun to take down, clear, out, compost and burn everything it took all season to build up. But it’s far from a thankless task.  In fact, it’s probably the number one way to make the [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 1:39pm EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Putting the Beds to Bed: Farm Edition, Part One

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  According to MSN’s Careerbuilder page, farming and ranching is the fifth most dangerous occupation in the U.S. Rest assured dear readers, I am not in that much danger–I don’t use big machinery that could tear off my arm (well, maybe the chipper-shredder could), and I’m not going to get trapped in [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 7:46pm EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Putting the Beds to Bed: Home Edition

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Having made my manure-supplier call for the farm gardens (and realizing it’ll be a week or two before I’ll be able to get that project underway), I settled on using these lovely weekend days to focus on getting things in shape at home. The home gardens don’t get much love during [...]
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  Posted: October 18, 2009, 8:12pm EDT
  by flyingtomato

• Eatin’ Good in the ‘Hood

  —Flying Tomato Farms

  Number of comments: 1
  There’s no question that my neighborhood is home to more than its share of excellent cooks.  Whether its Jason of the weekend breakfast bonanza or John of the sourdough loaves and chocolate chip cookies, or (if I do say so myself) my local food fetishism. Shall I just come right out [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 8:49pm EDT
  by flyingtomato