Spring Projects---Asparagus - Proper Perennial Planting Produces Prolific Produce

Asparagus - Proper Perennial Planting Produces Prolific Produce

A Disclaimer: Now before I set out to discuss the life and benefits of the asparagus.  I might want to explain myself a bit.  I love to do.  I find joy in working, moving, fixing and exploring. I enjoy God's creation and the people He put in it.  That said, you can imagine, that sitting and writing could quickly frustrate me. Sitting longer than fifteen minutes and composing my thoughts would be draining if it were not for a few things.

1. Pictures. They have color and depth. They explain my meaning when I am short the grammar and vocabulary.

2.  Clever writing techniques, like the alliteration above.  It was fun coming up with enough words that start with P and describe gardening asparagus.

3.  The thought that just maybe, a little bit, you too find joy in working, moving, fixing, and exploring and therefore like reading my posts.

Now on to asparagus. . .

A flat of Asparagus from the green house

Generally, when you purchase a start of asparagus it comes in the bare root form.  The green house which I buy mine from starts the roots in potting soil to ensure they are healthy. If you purchased bare root asparagus, soak the roots in cool water just prior to planting. Allow them to rest in the water, crowns above the surface of the water for an hour. 

Flash Back. I tried for years to grow asparagus.  My grandmothers had awesome and yummy patches of asparagus.  These patches produced enough spears to eat to your heart's content all spring and put blanched bags in the freezer to enjoy during winter. Not my patch. The only thing I was cultivating was the title - Asparagus Slayer aka Weed Benefactor.  And then, (dramatic pause) a new green house came to town.  The gardener who owned the greenhouse (no he didn't ride a white horse or even have a white hat, ironically his last name was White) taught me how to plant asparagus. The instructions were simple, easy to follow and best of all, the asparagus grew!  So let's flash forward and I'll share with you what he taught me.

1. Pick your spot and prepare.  Asparagus is a perennial.  This means it will come back year after year if it feels welcome.  Each year it will be stronger and heartier than the year before.  Choose a place in your yard or garden where the asparagus bed will not be in the way. It is usually best to place the plot to the back of the garden or in the side yard.  The plants like sun and water.  However, they don't like to be soggy, then their roots rot. They don't need all day sun either, a little shade is okay. I only have two cautions.  First, watch out of nut producing trees.  Something chemical is created and distributed by the roots of these trees and that chemical inhibits the growth of just about everything but grass growing near these nut trees.  Second, asparagus beds can be messy looking.  So keep your "yard appeal" in mind when choosing the plot.  Apartment dwellers and folks with small yards:  You can see from the way the asparagus roots are growing in the flat (very 1st picture of this post) that asparagus can grow in pots.  I intend to experiment with this hypothesis, but here's the rough idea. I feel strongly that you could grow asparagus on a balcony in a pot if you were able to keep the pot outdoors to receive sun and water over the winter.  Here in zone five, the top six to twelve inches of soil freezes in the winter and the same would be true of a planter. If you'd really like to grow asparagus, use the technique below for starting your "porch perennials".  As they say, " nothing ventured... " You've got the idea!

2.  Amend soil and create a ridge.  This mini mountain will have your asparagus crowns at the peak and the roots trailing down the sides.  If your soil looks like the bagged soil I poured out into my garden plot then you probably do not need to amend your plot. My dirt is full of clay and is seriously clumpy even after a good tilling or digging. So, I amend.

3.  Create a small ditch at the top of each ridge and stretch the roots evenly to each side. Cover the roots but do not bury the crown.  The crown is located at the top of the roots and looks similar to a knot that holds all the roots together.  The crown of my plants has an asparagus stock growing from it so it is easy not to bury it.

4.  Scoop additional soil up over the roots to retain the mountain ridge shape of your planting row. Move on to the next asparagus root, planting along the mountain ridge just far enough apart that the roots don't touch the neighboring plant's roots. Water gently. Covering with dirt any roots which become exposed.

5. Once your asparagus stocks have emerged and are taller than 2 inches. Cover the entire bed with a least 2 inches of composted manure.  Weed regularly. 

6.   You may harvest your asparagus as soon as the spears are as thick as a pencil. This means you may have to buy your asparagus elsewhere for up to 2 years.  Be patient. Keep your bed weeded and each spring apply the 2 inches of composted manure.  You will be rewarded.

Kefir - The Evening Ritual

Working with Kefir

The Evening Ritual

These are kefir grains.

What is Kefir grains?  Kefir grains are a live culture, a living organism of bacteria and enzymes. Yes, I know it looks a lot like cottage cheese.  If you taste it however you will quickly come to the conclusion that it is not. Kefir grains are a live culture and cottage cheese is a cultured dairy product. However, kefir grains are chewy in texture and sour in taste. Kefir comes in a few different varieties.  I use this variety to culture dairy, raw or pasteurized . 

What is Kefir grains in our house?  It has a nickname in our house "Kethe".  My sons named it that because it drinks as much milk as they do, travels with us when we go out of town, and asks for my attention at least once a day.  If you are a milk drinking, attention getting, travelling companion, you must be named.  Therefore, this culture was dubbed Kethe.

Why use Kefir?  Kefir dairy products are filled with live active cultures and enzymes.  They are a probiotic which aids in the digestion of food in the stomach.  This type of probiotic is transitional. It needs to be replenished regularly and does not establish permanent residence in the intestines.

What do I use Kefir grains for? I use kefir to make cultured milk.  I drink kefir milk with my lunch and in a smoothie as my dessert in the evening. It has a tarter flavor than yogurt and the consistency of very runny yogurt.  Kefir milk smells strongly of the fermentation process.  Occasionally, I drain the whey from the kefir using some coffee filters and make a cheese product with a texture and taste very similar to ricotta cheese.  I use the kefir cheese just as I would ricotta.

What do I need to create and harvest cultured milk?

1. quart sized jars (2)
2. coffee filters
3. rubber band
4. plastic strainer (colander). Only plastic! Metal and glass will shred your grains.
5. rubber spatula
6. glass bowl (I like keeping plastic to a minimum)
7. tight fitting lid for one of the quart jars
8. Kefir grains
9. Milk (I can only speak about using cows milk)

How to use Kefir grains?

Step One:  Acquire the grains from mail order, health food store or a friend that has kefir in the works already.  I received mine from a friend. Since my kefir was received from a friend the directions following reflect that...

Step Two:  Place kefir grain in a clean quart sized jar and fill with milk. Kefir will work just the same if your milk is homogenized and pasteurized from the store or raw from a dairy. I have only made kefir milk with "store bought" dairy one time, and I was travelling.  I used half and half. It created an incredibly thick and creamy cultured milk.  As a rule, I use raw milk.

Step Three: Cover your kefir grains and milk with a clean coffee filter, secured with a rubber band.(I use the rubber bands from our newspapers.) I continue to use the same coffee filter until it becomes soiled with milk. I set the kefir jar with the coffee filter lid on a kitchen counter where it doesn't receive direct sunlight.  If you are culturing more than one food product, such as sauerkraut, set the two culturing food items across the kitchen from each other.  I have read the two cultures can mix and provide unfamiliar results.

Step Four: Be patient. Kefir grains take 12 to 48 hours to culture the milk.  If you leave your culture 12 hours, the resulting milk product will be milder in taste and thinner in consistency. Leaving your Kefir grains soaking for 48 hours will result in a strong flavored cultured dairy milk that is thick.  I personally leave my kefir for 24 hours.  It is really a matter of resources: time and milk.

Step Five: Harvest your cultured milk. Set your bowl on your work surface and place the plastic strainer in the bowl. Fetch your rubber spatula. Remove the rubber band and coffee filter from the quart jar and set aside.  (You may reuse the coffee filter if it in not soiled.) Pour the contents for the jar into the strainer.  Scrape the insides of the jar with the rubber spatula to remove any clinging kefir culture. Set the jar aside to be washed with soap and clear water.

Step Five Continued:  Using the rubber spatula, stir your grains and milk culture vigorously.  The stirring action will loosen the cultured milk from the rubbery kefir grains. Continue to stir until the mass of grains in the strainer doesn't appear to be changing in size. Without turning over your plastic strainer, scrape the back side of the strainer with the rubber spatula pushing as much of the milk culture as possible into the bowl.

Step Six:  Return the kefir grains (the rubbery blobs left inside the strainer) to a clean quart jar. Set the strainer aside for washing and keep the rubber spatula with the culture milk.  Fill the jar containing the kefir grains with milk, cover with the coffee filter and rubber band and set aside.  (Please see step six note:)

Step Seven: Use or store your harvest.  Your newly separated cultured milk product looks like this:

Step Seven continued: Stir the milk product with the rubber spatula to combine the curds (very, very soft curds) and the whey (the clearer of the two liquids seen above). Then you will get this:

Step Seven continued again:  At this moment, I divide up my cultured milk.  I place some in my blender cup for my evening smoothie, I place some in a 1 cup mason jar for tomorrow's lunch and I put the remainder in a quart jar with a tight fitting lid for storage in the refrigerator. Unless you are using or drinking your kefir right away, always store your cultured milk in the refrigerator. Without the grains, it will begin to spoil.

Step Six Note:  Kefir grains are a living culture.  Because they are alive, they multiply.  You will occasionally have to give away or throw away some of your kefir grains. When I have a mass of kefir grains the size of a softball, I divide them.

How much to I give away?  I reduce the mass of grains to the size of a tennis ball.

How do I share my extra kefir?  After I have harvested the cultured milk from the kefir, I divide the softball size blob into two.  One half I place in the canning jar and add my milk as usual. The other half I leave in the colander, washing the remaining tennis ball sized mass of grains with filtered water. (If you only have access to tap water and your water is chlorinated, fill 2 quart jars with water the night before you divide the kefir and set on the counter open.  The chlorine will dissipate.) Place the kefir grains in a small jar and fill with the remaining filtered water.  Place the cap on the jar and place it in the refrigerator.  Share the prepared kefir withing 48 hours.

How to use the water packed kefir?  Drain the kefir grains in a plastic colander.  Place them in a quart jar and fill with milk as usual.