Homemade natural bug spray

Make your own homemade natural bug spray with only 3 ingredients: an easy, safe, effective and great-smelling way to repel insects this summer.

I'm giving you a different kind of recipe this week. And here's why.

Our latest house doesn't have a screened porch. While it does sport a large, expansive deck with lovely wooded views, it doesn't offer the iron-clad protection from flying insects that a screened porch does.

Sigh.

And since I didn't want to spend the summer dousing myself or Mr. Ninj in chemical-laden commercial insect repellent just to be able to enjoy morning coffee or evening cocktails on the aforementioned deck, I whipped up some homemade natural bug spray.

OMG, friends, I love this stuff! Why?

1) It's all-natural, made with lavender and lemon eucalyptus essential oils that have naturally occurring insect-repelling qualities -- yay for nature!

2) It not only smells lovely, it's also cooling and refreshing -- yay for smelling good!

3) It's wicked easy to make, just three ingredients -- yay for laziness!

4) It's a wonderful way for me to incorporate gorgeous cobalt blue bottles into my daily life -- yay for pretty, colorful things!

5) IT ACTUALLY WORKS -- yay for NO BUGS! 

Carrot cake cookies

 
It's still September, so I'm still not talking about pumpkin.

(I'm beginning to think I'm the only blogger who is not.)

What we're talking about today is carrots. Well, really what we're talking about is carrot cake cookies, but that's only because I'm slightly crazy.

Seriously: Am I the only person that gleefully plans and plants a huge garden full of vegetables, only to find at harvest time that I'm trying to turn them into baked goods instead of savory side dishes?

Crap: I finally may be developing a sweet tooth after all.

Even though we have had two pretty significant frosts already here in Vermont, I'm still getting a few things from the garden. I have a little bit of kale, which I had better hurry up and harvest before the deer find it (bastards!), and carrots.

This year marked my first attempt at growing carrots: It was a success! It's so rewarding to see the little orange tippity top of a carrot poking through the ground and then to pull it up. Gasp! It's a real carrot! That I grew!

(It's the little things, really.)

The fun and wonder begins to wear off as you pull up carrot after carrot after carrot. And realize that you don't particularly like cooked carrots.

Uh oh.

Roasted pear and cardamom butter

Holy crap, we've got tons of pears in the wee orchard!

Regular readers will know how amazing this is, after the Great Pear Theft of 2011 (thanks to the deer and possibly a bear) and the Great Season of No Damned Fruit At All of 2012 (thanks to the weather). Although, to be fair, the animal thieves did teach me that I could harvest the fruit by shaking the tree while I waited for my fancy new fruit picker to be delivered.

We have two pear trees -- a seckel and a Bartlett (I think) -- in amongst a bunch of apple trees, two sour cherry trees, one plum and one peach, which must have heard me talking about how I thought it was dead and was going to cut it down because it yielded a number of peaches in its own defense this year ("I'm not dead yet!").

When we purchased the farmette several years ago, I was more than a little excited about the wee orchard, envisioning the lovely pears and apples that I could pick and eat or turn into gorgeous desserts.

But it's time for a reality check: homegrown fruit is damned ugly.

Unless of course you want to spend most of your time -- I mean a LOT of time -- monitoring the trees, spraying for diseases and handpicking gross-ass caterpillars and bugs, you're going to end up with ugly fruit. Mr. Ninj spoke recently with the owner of a commercial apple orchard; he talked about how they have a team that walks around the orchard with a laptop, monitoring the trees and feeding the data into special software programs that show them the short time windows they have to spray the trees to avoid massive fruit loss due to fungal infections and the like.

Um ... no thanks. The Ninj and her laptop don't have that kind of time.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2013: pickle roundup (20 ways!)

It is indeed Monday, the day we share the CSA Share Ninja Rescue, a weekly feature in which you tell me on Fridays what veg you got in your CSA share box (or found at the farmers' market) that you don't know what to do with and I'll give you a whole bunch of recipe ideas on the following Monday.

But the feature may look a little different today. I decided to shake things up a little and not focus on specific vegetables but on a technique instead.

So today we're talking preserving: namely, preserving through pickling. 

Pickling is a great way to preserve a lot of the garden's excess bounty to enjoy over the winter months, when your CSA or garden isn't overloading you with delicious, colorful veggies.

Additionally, I tried to include a lot of recipes and posts from some of my favorite bloggers, rather than just recipes from professional chefs and foodie mags (although they are represented as well). Who knows? You might find a new blog to follow!

Lastly, for all of you who are thinking, "Great, Ninj, but I don't can!" or perhaps, "This is lovely, Ninj, but I don't like cucumbers!" -- don't worry, I've got you covered, too. (Come on, would The Ninj leave you hanging?!!!)

Let's get pickling, shall we?

Cucumber Pickles (canned)

• Garlic Dill Pickles from Food in Jars
• Dill Spears from Sherri Brooks Vinton's Put 'Em Up
• Best-Evah Dill Pickles from The Ninj 
• Curry Pickles from Homemade Trade
• Sweet-n-spicy Bread and Butter Pickles from Martha Stewart

Other Pickled Vegetables (canned)

• Pickled Chard Stems from Local Kitchen
• Pickled Garlic Scapes from The Garden of Eating
• Carrot and Daikon Radish Pickle from What Julia Ate
• Pickled Pepper Rings from Sweet Domesticity
• Pickled Rhubarb from Well Preserved

No-Canning-Required Recipes

• Quick Cucumber Pickles from Rachel Ray
• Cider Vinegar Pickled Beets from Food and Wine
• Pickled Radishes from Bon Appetit
• Refrigerator Dilly Beans from The Ninj 
• Pickled Eggs from What Julia Ate
• Fermented Dill Pickles from The Ninj
• Fermented Honey-Garlic Pickles from Well Preserved
• Pickled Carrots from David Lebovitz
• Pickled Green Strawberries from Kitchen Apparel (guesting on Shared Appetite)
• Pickled snow peas from Alana Chernila

Do you have a favorite pickling method or recipe? Leave a comment below: The Ninj wants to know.

Blueberry vinegar

More excitement around Casa de Ninj this summer: the high-bush blueberries are producing!

Regular readers will recall that last year was pretty much a crapfest in the wee orchard: no peaches, no pears, no cherries, a handful of blueberries and a few measly apples. Pffft. Hardly worth the countless hours I spent hand-picking beetles off all the trees.

Of course, all this misery was courtesy of Mother Nature, who is a fickle broad indeed, giving us a killing late spring frost in 2012 -- as if we hadn't gone through enough cold all winter. Similarly, this summer she has given us unseasonably cold temperatures alternating with blistering heat and seemingly endless rain. For cripes' sake, it's mid-August and I'm still waiting on the tomato harvest; if we don't scoot this along, my unripe tomatoes will be touched with frost before I can eat them.

But it turns out there's a silver lining to all this craptacular weather: the blueberries are thriving.

I'm done complaining. We only have four blueberry bushes and I have already harvested at least six quarts, with many more out there just waiting for me. We have oodles, even with my sharing them with the birds this year (we're all peacefully co-existing now that I've started feeding them and gave them some bitchin' bird baths).

So I was delighted when the week's "assignment" from Sherri Brooks Vinton's Put 'Em Up Fruit for the From Scratch Club's virtual book club turned out to include blueberries.

Booyah.

I already put up some of what I'm calling Black and Blue Jam this year, using the aforementioned blueberries and a boatload of wild black raspberries foraged from the edges of our woods, so I wanted to try something other than jam. Behold: Sherri's book offered up blueberry vinegar!

CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2013: carrots (9 ways)

Happy Monday, friends! Why so happy? Because Monday is the day we share the CSA Share Ninja Rescue, a weekly feature in which you tell me on Fridays what veg you got in your CSA share box (or found at the farmers' market) that you don't know what to do with and I'll give you a whole bunch of recipe ideas on the following Monday.

Coming up in gardens this week are lots of colorful, yummy carrots. I was a little boring this year and planted small orange carrots; if they survive the swarm of bunnies in my yard, next year I might try some purple heirloom varieties. They'd look so lovely in salads and slaws.

Speaking of which, the French carrot slaw featured in my photo is deeeeeelicious and included in this week's recipe roundup below. I love it because it's not the deli-counter mayo-laden, raisin-studded salad of my youth but instead a tangy, crisp side that really lets the flavors of the fresh carrots shine through.

• French carrot salad: It's the mustard that gives it that certain  je ne sais quoi
• Dilly carrots: You love dilly beans, so why not quick-pickle some carrots?
• Carrot-fennel soup: One of my favorites from Amanda Hesser (or, at least, Amanda Hesser's friend)
• Morning glory breakfast muffins: Start your day off with a carrot-cakey muffin that's packed with healthy goodness
• Carrot jam: Lovely on the aforementioned breakfast muffins or anywhere you'd normally use marmalade
• Potato-zucchini-carrot pancakes: With an egg baked into the top and a crisp green salad on the side, these savory pancakes make a nice summer dinner
• Carrot cake oatmeal: Doesn't that sounds delightful? This will become a fall favorite around Casa de Ninj for sure
• Carrot lemonade: One of Michelle Obama's favorite summertime drinks, with a gingery twist
  
• Carrot martini: Because you can always count on The Ninj to booze up your veggies
  

Do you have a favorite carrot recipe? Leave a comment; The Ninj wants to know.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2013: cucumbers

Happy Monday, friends! Why so happy? Because Monday is the day we share the CSA Share Ninja Rescue, a weekly feature in which you tell me on Fridays what veg you got in your CSA share box (or found at the farmers' market) that you don't know what to do with and I'll give you a whole bunch of recipe ideas on the following Monday.

Not surprisingly, I've been asked to provide some suggestions for using up cucumbers. If you're a gardener, you know how sneaky these guys can be. One day there's a tiny little bud or two on the vine and then -- BAM! -- seemingly overnight you've got a garden full of cucumbers.

I won't bore you this with a gajillion pickle recipes, either: we've pretty much covered that in other posts, so be sure to check out The Pickling Ninjipedia for all the pickling ideas you could ever want.

And, let's face it, you're probably already weary of the raw cucumber salad, right? No worries: The Ninj has got 10 delicious, salad-free ways to enjoy your cucumbers this year:

• Asian pork burgers with quick pickled cucumbers: A great alternative to beef or turkey burgers -- and the easy, spicy pickles give it an awesome kick
• Cucumber and avocado chowder with shrimp: A cold soup from Mark Bittman that's hearty enough to be a summertime meal
• Gazpacho: Perhaps the most tried-and-true method for using up all your tomatoey, cucumbery bounty
• Refrigerator pickles: My go-to quick pickle recipe -- it's crazy how many jars of these I make every summer
• Tzatziki: This Greek cucumber-yogurt dip is a cool condiment for grilled meat (think turkey burgers) but also delicious with pita chips as a simple snack
• Cucumber nut bread: Akin to zucchini bread but uses shredded cukes instead
• Cucumber-melon salsa: Lovely paired with fish or chicken
• Cucumber-mint ice cream: Come on, you know you've just gotta try this!
• Cucumber-lime aqua fresca: A gorgeous and refreshing summer sipper
• Cucumber gimlet: The Ninj can always find a way to turn veggies into a cocktail

What's your favorite way to use cucumbers? The Ninj wants to know.

Garden protection tips and Nite Guard giveaway winner

Thanks to everyone who entered last week's Nite Guard Solar garden protection giveaway. The lucky winner (picked by number generator via random.org) was Katherine C., who is hoping the units will help her in her fight against deer. Keep us posted, Katherine!

(And if you didn't win, don't despair: you can still buy your own units!)

I'm feeling rather fortunate (sort of) that I only have to contend with deer and bunnies, as well as the ocasional bear passing through. My readers apparently also have to deal with squirrels, chipmunks, cats, possums, raccoons and rats (UGH)!

In addition to announcing the winner, I decided also to include a roundup of all the other critter prevention suggestions that came in via the comments, as well as some others I've heard bandied about.

• Raised beds (too high for bunnies!)
• Marigolds (and fragrant herbs except basil) planted around the border
• Dogs (but only some!)
• Liquid Fence (US) / Bobbex (Canada)
• Human hair
• Coyote (or other predator) urine
• Red pepper spray
• Netting (for tender greens)
• Castor oil (for burrowing voles)
• FENCES!

Lastly, the most effective "weapon" we have ever used to keep the deer from our garden was water. Well, water in the form of motion-activated fan sprinklers. (The only reason I don't use them now is that we don't have a water source close enough to the garden; if you do have water nearby, these sprinklers are THE BEST!)

Not only did it startle the deer away when they got too close, but it also provided us with endless amusement as we watched unsuspecting early morning joggers passing by our garden. :-)

Have any of these methods worked for you? Or perhaps failed? Leave a comment: The Ninj wants to know.

Protecting your garden: a Nite Guard Solar giveaway

This is my first-ever giveaway and I'm very excited!

Being all ninja-like, this is a different kind of giveaway. Many bloggers are contacted by a brand and agree to write a post on the brand's behalf in exchange for merchandise to give away to their readers. Not so with The Ninj.

I contacted Nite Guard directly because I already own and love their pest-deterrent product.

Let me tell you about it -- and then you can enter to win it!

Regular readers are used to hearing about my ongoing battle with the deer and the bunnies in our garden and wee orchard (they like fruit and veg as much as much as we do, apparently). Since both the garden and the orchard are situated in the front of our house, I'm loathe to put up unsightly fencing around them, so I'm always on the lookout for non-fence alternatives to keeping the critters away from our plants.

Two years ago, I decided to try the Nite Guard Solar "predator control system" (doesn't that sound badass??!!!).  If you're not familiar with this product, it's a solar-powered unit, pictured above, that automatically delivers a single flash of red light each second from dusk to dawn. Nocturnal animals think it is a blinking eye (from up to 500 yards away), a potential threat to be avoided. It also has the added benefit of being mistaken for some kind of security camera on your property, thus discouraging potential human trespassers.

One great feature is that Nite Guard Solar is effective against animals of various sizes: bunnies, raccoons, coyotes, deer -- even hawks and owls. The key is to position the units at the eye-level of the animal you are trying to deter. For example, since bunnies and deer are our biggest concern, I have my units positioned at two different heights.

One of my Nite Guard Solar units in the wee orchard

Weatherproof and solar-powered, the units require no attention from us other than repositioning. You see, even the silliest deer will stop believing that the flashing light is a threat if it never changes position. So every two weeks or so, I move the lights to a slightly different location (I mount them with zip ties, so they're easy to remove and reposition).

And they have worked -- with no fencing required.

That's exactly why I decided to contact Nite Guard for my first giveaway. I wanted to share this easy, safe, effective method for protecting the garden with my readers, and the Nite Guard folks have graciously agreed to supply one lucky person with FOUR (4) Nite Guard Solar units, which normally retail for $19.95 each!

All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment below, telling me what kinds of critters are bothering your garden and if you have any proven tricks or tips for deterring them.

Just a couple of other details about the giveaway:

1. Entry for the giveaway ends at 11:00am East coast time on Tuesday, July 30, 2013. Any comments left after that time will not be included in the drawing.
2. Only comments left in response to this blog post will be considered valid entries (talk it up on Facebook, by all means, but that won't count as an entry, nor will an email).
3. Only one comment per individual will be considered in the drawing.
4. One comment will be chosen at random (using random.org) as the winner.
5. The winner will be notified via the email address provided when the comment is left (so be sure yours is accurate) and also posted on the blog after confirmation.
6. The winner will need to respond and supply me with a mailing address within 48 hours of notification, which will then be shared with Nite Guard LLC.
7. The four units (average retail value of $79) will be sent to the winner directly from Nite Guard LLC; The Ninj is not responsible for prize fulfillment.
8. The giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada only, please.

Of course, if you'd rather not leave it to chance, you can purchase your own Nite Guard Solar units right away!

(Note: While Nite Guard LLC is providing the prize for this giveaway, they did not approach me about sponsoring it nor did they compensate me in any way. The opinions and comments expressed are entirely my own.)

Roasted sour cherry sauce

I had never eaten sour cherries until this summer.

Given that we have sour cherry trees in the wee orchard of the farmette we bought two years ago, you would think I would have eaten them last year.

But no.

Last year was pretty craptacular for our fruit trees. We had nearly no apples and not a single pear, based on a late spring frost that damaged all the blossoms (not to mention the pear-loving deer). We had a peach tree, mateless and pathetic, so no fruit there.  There were also two plum trees which were the wrong types to cross-polinate with each other. And the sour cherry trees just yielded what looked like pits on stems.

Additionally, last year we were new to our farmette and still figuring out how to care for all these trees and plants -- in fact, I spent much of last year simply trying to identify what we had so that I could learn how to care for it. I spent more than one of what I call "What the Hell Is This Day" at the local nursery: I bring in photos of the plants in my yard and ask the nursery workers, "What the hell is this?"

But, so far, this year has been better. We're managing pests and diseases, and I've read up on how to care for the orchard. So imagine my delight when the trees actually starting producing fruit that looked edible.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2013: kohlrabi (6 ways)

Photo by Michael and Christa Richert via the stock.xchng

Welcome to another installment of the 2013 edition of CSA Share Ninja Rescue, a weekly feature in which you tell me on Fridays what veg you got in your CSA share box (or found at the farmers' market) that you don't know what to do with and I'll give you a whole slew of recipe ideas on the following Monday.

Recipes by request: how cool and easy is that?

This week, my readers are looking for help with kohlrabi. You might not even know what it is -- but it's that alien-looking veg you see in the photo above. Freaky, no? 

Kohlrabi is a root vegetable, either green or purple, that is in the same family as cabbage (and even tastes a bit like it), so, when shredded, it makes a great substitute for cabbage. It is has historically been widely popular throughout eastern Europe, due to its cold-hardiness. I also learned recently that is sometimes referred to as "German turnip."

Ready to get creative with kohlrabi? Here are six ways:

1. Potato-kohlrabi puree: a great alternative to mashed potatoes (you could throw a little celeriac in here, too)
2. Roasted kohlrabi: simple and delicious side dish
3. Quick kohlrabi pickles: pickling non-traditional veg yields some fun, interesting results 
4. Kohlrabi soup: this would be a unique (and easy!) starter for your next big family dinner
5. Sweet and spicy slaw: simply substitute kohlrabi for the cabbage -- lovely with burgers
6. Nouveau colcannon: again, substitute kohlrabi for the greens -- it will add a nice touch of crunchiness

Now, with what veg can I give you a little help next Monday? Leave a comment -- The Ninj wants to know.

Gardening: hardening off your seedlings (part 2)

If you've been playing along at home, the seeds you started indoors under a grow light are now healthy little seedlings.

Congratulations! They're nearly ready to be planted in your garden.

But not so fast. Being inside, protected from the elements, and growing in ideal conditions under 16 hours of perfect light every day is just a wee bit different than being outside in the garden, exposed to the natural elements.

You'll need to prepare your seedlings for this transition so they don't die from the shock (literally!).

Just as you would with any change in your own routine or environment, introduce the seedlings to change gradually. This is called hardening them off.

Hardening off can take anywhere from a one to two weeks. If you're pressed for time, just follow the advice I give below for about a week. If you have a little more time, stretch it out to two weeks to ensure you have the best-prepared seedlings for planting. Over this one- to two-week period, you'll be gradually exposing your seedlings to increasing levels of of sun and wind exposure, as well as temperature fluctuations, which will all be much more like the outdoor environment in which they will live for the summer. 

Gardening: how to start seeds indoors (part 1)

As spring is just around the corner (knock on wood) here in Vermont, I can finally let my thoughts turn again to gardening.

It's difficult, over the course of the long winter, to think about next year's garden when it feels like the cold and the snow might just last forever. But once March rolls around, I begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel and start planning my garden.

Each spring, I make a graph-paper map of my garden and decide what plants I'm going to put where, being mindful that most crops should be rotated around the garden space annually, rather than being replanted in the same place. At the end of the gardening season, I make notes on that map, delineating the successes and failures, yields, pest issues, amounts of mulch and compost used and any other significant items that I want to remember -- because, if you're like me, you can't remember details from one month to the next, let alone from one year to the next. Then, in the spring, when I make my new plan, I consult the previous year's notes and use those to guide my plant selection and placement.

A few weeks ago, I drew my plan for my 2013 garden and decided which vegetables I would grow. Now it's time for the fun part: seed starting.

Green tomato cake

Green tomato cake

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but here in Vermont, it's definitely fall.

I enjoy the change of season and the feeling of turning inward that it brings. While my wardrobe moves from t-shirts and flipflops to fuzzy sweaters and boots, my mind changes gears from gardening to loading up the bird feeders, reading by the fire and pots of chili and soup.

But when I put the garden to bed, there are always unripened tomatoes. Sadly, they never got their chance to shine and be the star of some salad, sandwich or jam. It seems a shame to just get rid of them, doesn't it?

So I don't. I let them have their moment in the sun, so to speak.

Tomato jam

Tomato jam

Nature is fickle indeed.

Especially in the garden.

Last year, I had greens that just wouldn't quit: kale, collards, bok choy, mustard greens, chard -- I was practically overwhelmed. But tomatoes and cucumbers? They either fizzled out or were attacked by bugs and blight early in the season.

This year? My bok choy succumbed before I got even one leaf, the Giant Fordhook chard never made it past 8 inches and the deer ate my kale (and the chard, but they seemed to prefer the kale this year, the little bastards). But tomatoes and cucumbers? I had to give away bag after bag of cucumbers, because one can only make so many freakin' pickles.

And I've put up or used up tons and tons of tomatoes.

So far, I have made tomato sauce, slow-roasted tomatoes and marinated dehydrated tomatoes, as well as frozen countless bags of tiny, perfect Sun Golds, which will reappear in ragus and bisques throughout the winter.

Dilly beans: a recipe

Make quick and easy dilly beans right in the refrigerator -- no canning skills required!

Dilly beans

Being able to write this post makes me very happy.

Why?

Because this year was my first time planting beans in the garden ... and they grew, without any bug or disease drama.

And they didn't just grow; they grew well and prolifically -- prolifically enough for me to start searching around for new and different (to me) ways to use and preserve green beans.

I know I've had gardening success when I bring my harvest into the house and Mr. Ninj says, "They look just like the ones you buy in the grocery store!"

(I'm also pretty proud of the fact that my bean trellis is actually a repurposed garden arbor that had to be removed to make way for the new barn. I love re-using and recycling!)

Summer harvest zucchini bread: a recipe

Summer harvest zucchini bread

Harvest time in the garden is the most rewarding time of the year.

But it can also be the time when you realize your planning and planting mistakes and, hopefully, learn some lessons.

This year's lesson learned?

Two people cannot eat this much zucchini.

(Especially when one of the aforementioned two people has never met a vegetable he liked.)

Yes, folks, it's zucchini overload time here in Ninjaville, as I'm sure it is where you live as well. You know this time well: large quantities of the stuff start showing up in the break room at work, with little "Help Yourself!" signs.

Don't get me wrong, I love zucchini -- heck, that's why I planted it. (Way too much of it, apparently, but that's a "lesson learned" now, water under the bridge. )

So, if you have indeed helped yourself to someone else's zucchini bounty or have found yourself overwhelmed by the prolific courgette, I have a completely wicked way for you to make it useful.

Blueberry-peach muffins: a recipe

Blueberry-peach muffins

There truly is nothing like fresh summer fruit in season, is there?

The berries, the stone fruits, the melons -- they are all so sweet, so delicious and so plentiful.

I try to freeze and preserve as much of that summery goodness as I can to enjoy throughout the winter, but it's just not quite the same as eating the real deal in real time, is it?

And this year, we're eating plump blueberries from our very own bushes!

Last year (our first on the farmette), the blueberry bushes did not seem to be big producers and what they did produce was quickly eaten by the birds.

But we got a little craftier this year.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue: Summer Squash

Photo courtesy of David Lat via stock.xchng

I'm sure you guessed that, after highlighting zucchini last week, summer squash would be showing up next.

Guess what? Today is "next." 

Everybody can saute squash and what not, so I tried to feature a couple of recipes that were a bit more on the unusual or adventurous side.

As always, if you need help with a veggie you've received in your CSA share, leave a comment below or send me an email before this coming Friday.

Recipes suggestions are posted on Mondays.

• Summer squash soup: From The Kitchn -- they had me at "simple."
• Summer squash gratin: You know me -- I'd probably sneak some sausage into this dish from 101 Cookbooks and turn it into a main dish.
• Grilled squash and zucchini: From Epicurious, this recipe originally appeared in Gourmet. I like it because of the light dressing that you add after grilling.
• Squash marmalade: This has got to the best use of excess squash I've ever seen. Can't you just see it on zucchini bread? (from Joyce at Friends Drift Inn)

If you try any of these recipes or have a favorite squash recipe of your own, tell me about it in the comments below!

Pickled radishes: make and use

Pickled radish and avocado bruschetta

I have posted about pickled radishes before but this is different.

These are MY radishes.

That is, I grew these radishes in my garden. From seed I sowed directly into the ground.

This may not sound like a big deal to you but it actually is. You see, I'm still a gardening novice and, given the super-short summer growing season here in Vermont, I start all my garden plants inside during the late winter and then transplant them into the garden.

Frankly, I'm a little gun-shy about direct sowing.

Two years ago, I tried direct sowing carrot seeds -- and got nothing.

Last year, I tried turnips -- and got nothing.

So I held out very little hope for the radish seeds I planted this year when I transplanted all my seedlings.

BUT LOOK! IT WORKED!