Golden Acre Lives On: pickles

Zone 7

With lower elevations and longer days, a variety of vegetables will thrive in a Zone 7 garden. Lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts can be planted before the last frost. Carrots, beets, radishes, and parsnips will also do well. Onions, potatoes, peas, radishes, salad greens, and a variety of herbs can also be planted during this time frame. Most areas in zone 7 get moderate to high rainfall and many areas have little snowcover in winter. This makes zone 7 gardening an ideal gardening environment. Fall-grown vegetables, in particular, are usually of very high quality.

Read more at Suite101: Zone 7 Gardening: Growing Vegetables in the "Middle Ground" Suite101.com http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/zone_7_gardening#ixzz0aQUvPuRG

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Canning and Pickling

My mom came to visit to show me how to finish my two-week pickles. I carefully sliced each cuke with my veggie knife...and my mom whipped out her small electric knife and had those cukes sliced in seconds flat. Notice the sugar on the bottom of the jar (left). When the sugar is dissolved, the pickles are ready.

Here they are: All Finished!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Mama's Sweet Pickles

Recipe
2 gal cukes, scrubbed
1st day--Boil 1 gal H2O with 2 cups salt & pour over cukes. Loosely cover. Aluminum foil OK.
2nd day--Drain cukes. Sprinkle 2 oz Alum over cukes & pour 1 gal boiling H2O.
3rd day--Drain cukes. Pour 1 gal clear,boiling H2O.
4th day--Boil 1 gal white vinegar with 2 oz pickling spice. Pour over cukes.
LEAVE THROUGH 14th DAY.

Drain and slice cukes. Layer sliced cukes and sugar in jars. Stop cukes 1½”from top of jar but cover that space to neck of jar with sugar. Juice should seep from cukes and eventually all sugar will dissolve. Jars do not have to be sealed. Any type of glass jar with a lid may be used.

Lessons from Golden Acre:

My first husband was a country boy. He taught me a lot about gardening. We had a ½ acre garden, four apple trees, a peach tree, a plum tree, a cherry tree, a grape arbor, a chicken coop without chickens…
· One crazy thing we did was use metal in gardening. The country folk couldn’t explain why it made a huge difference to use metal tomato stakes, to bury cans & can lids in the dirt, to use copper wire in gardening. Nowadays, modern science tells us that plants thrive on the negative ions produced by static electricity. [Personally I’m glad there’s some God-given use for static electricity other than making my pants stick to my legs.] So, according to the country folk, you place cans about every foot in your garden. Cut out the tops and bottoms of the cans and bury about ½ the can in the ground.
· Always use metal stakes for tomatoes.
· Use chicken wire to provide support for vertical growth, or roll it up and place under the growth of vine plants, like cukes, melons, pumpkins. Place a stick or metal rod under bush beans…for some reason plants go crazy for being off the ground. That helps you, the farmer, prevent fungus and disease.
· Use copper wire in your garden.

The Former Golden Acre

I once lived in a place called Golden Acre.

During WWII, the U.S. government encouraged citizens to grow food in home gardens called "Victory Gardens." Patriotism ran high, and a good Victory Garden was something to boast about. So much so that prizes were awarded for the finest gardens.

Jim Brown and his wife moved to Nashville in 1938, and by the war years their garden was lush and verdant. One section of the land, called The Elysian Gardens, was choked with flowers. Vegetable sections sported such treats as “Victory” spelled out in green-bean plants. Golden Acre was so fruitful that it supplied food for the Browns and their daughter Sue, extended family members, neighbors up and down the street, and a local restaurant, The Belle Meade Buffet. As recognition of his famous generosity, the buffet awarded Mr. Brown a lifetime of free dinners. Each evening of the subsequent 40 years would find Mr. Brown dressed to the nines in suit, topcoat and fedora, strolling his way to the restaurant.

Years passed and Mr. Brown’s jaunty walk slowed. And as Mr. Brown slowed, Golden Acre reverted to its natural state and became a refuge for wildlife. More than 30 species of birds and wildlife lived on Golden Acre’s magical land. What made this so remarkable was that Golden Acre was located one block off West End Avenue, a part of “downtown” Nashville that is incredibly congested and area clogged with cars and busy citizens, noise and pollution. In the midst of that madness stood Golden Acre, a paradise of wildlife.

Golden Acre responded to the city’s growth by becoming a veritable fortress of woods—a warren of meandering paths, hidden grottos with ancient stone benches and altars; the noise of the city disguised by the coos of happy birds, the gentle clucking of hens in the hen yard; the chittering, tweeping, trilling songs of birds; and the gentle song of wind in the trees.
Now Golden Acre is a parking lot.

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