Four weeks later

"This is to let you know that due to cold weather your order has been delayed. If you would like to authorize upgraded shipping to allow us to ship when temps are as low as 26 degrees, please give me a call at the number below. Thanks for your interest in Four Winds Citrus."

I read this love letter and peak outside the window - there is still a four foot mound of snow that the bobcat created in the process of expressing blacktop roads for me to speed in. While its going to be a longer than desirable wait, this has been an endeavor educating oneself in the business of circumventing nature.

The citrus, by definition was meant to be sun loving. As a general rule, sour fruits need less heat to ripen than sweet-fruited varieties. So, I picked the Improved Meyer Lemon immediately. It is expected to put out those fragrant, purple blossoms in spring and again in the fall.

Then I learnt that the growers in desert conditions enjoyed success with Trovita. It is known to be a widely adaptable thin skinned orange, which develops excellent flavor without the heat required by other varieties.

Time is that special thing that keeps everything from happenning all at once and I've plenty of it for the snow to melt while I work on expanding this list.

Green thoughts at zero F

Clearly, being in Madison WI isn't restricting my imagination. I've borne citrus for in my dreams for sixteen weeks, in research for sixteen days and now in a wad of sixteen ten dollars bills.

Nature intended these evergreen leaves, fragrant blooms and tropical flavors for USDA 9-11 zones, or temparatures above 30F. But man would resign to that; or should I say one eager one must have these in Zone 4. Well, it turns out that many wise men thought of this decades before I did.

In 1946, a curious soon-to-be nurseryman named Floyd Dillon decided there was a need for a California version of the dwarf apple and pear. He chose citrus as the ideal candidate. As he later wrote in 1959: "What better specifications could be written for the ideal patio plant than to take everything offered by the standard commercial citrus and dwarf it to patio size, capable of being grown in a box or tub, raised bed or border, either espaliered or in its natural form?"

"If the virtues of citrus could be had in an eight-foot tree, capable of producing fruit two years after planting, if numerous cultivars and novelties were available, if all cultivars could be uniform in size -- then we would have the ideal patio tree."

After several years of experimentation, Floyd founded Four Winds Growers. For my part, I transmitted my digits through their secure online ordering system and am eagerly awaiting a UPS drop off with my healthy 2-3 year citrus.

The Hawaiian Pineapple Tomato

This is an indeterminate that has take its time. We're at about the 110th day mark and each Hawaiian Pineapple plant is some 6ft tall and is filled with about three dozen fruits in various stages of life.

They seem to do an average of one pound per fruit. I'm starting to fantasize 40lbs/plant for the season. The largest fruit I've pulled out this far has pushed through the two-pound mark!

A burst of sweetness that fills my mouth

The Concord grape, which gets its name from Concord, Massachusetts, is a marble sized fruit that fills you entire mouth with a burst of robust sweetness!

Developed in 1849 by Ephraim Wales Bull, today more than 400,000 tons of Concord Grapes are produced each year. Although most are grown commercially, Concord Grapes are one of many grape cultivars grown in the flower and fruit gardening guides home garden.

Bear in mind, grapes change color long before they are ripe. To avoid picking clusters before they reach their peak, taste the them first. If they aren't ripe, wait for them to develop. Some fruits improve after they have been harvested, grapes don't. The Concord Grape is a mighty cultivar.

Here's what I plan to do with the butternut squash

Sour Cream Butternut Squash Pie
One 9-inch pie; 8 servings

A tangy pie with a light, souffle-like texture. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Building up a high fluted rim, prepare in a 9-inch pan, preferably glass, glazing with the egg yolk: Baked Flaky Pastry Crust, or Pat-in-the-Pan Butter Crust.

In a large, heavy saucepan, whisk together thoroughly:
1½ cups freshly cooked butternut squash
8 ounces (scant 1 cup) sour cream
¾ cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
¼ teaspoon salt

Whisking constantly, heat over medium heat until just warm to the touch.
Beat on medium speed until foamy: 3 large egg whites, at room temperature. Add: ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar. Continue to beat until soft peaks form, then gradually beat in: ¼ cup sugar

Increase the speed to high and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the squash mixture. Pour the filling into the prepared crust. Bake until the top has browned lightly and feels softly set when touched, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack. At this point the pie can be refrigerated for up to 1 day. Let warm at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Call me. Then, serve with: whipped cream.

My tomato forest

They're six feet tall and counting. I am harvesting some 3lbs of tomatoes at least twice a week from a patch with 9 plants. They're the neighbor's envy and owner's pride. I will always maintain that it is ALL in the soil prep - amend, compost, till the compost in, compost some more and mulch generously. This is my essence of all the gardening advice I have to offer.

Perfectly shaped, delicious and loaded with goodness

Today, we pulled out the most perfectly shaped, proudly pink and delicious beets. This took a lot of patience - the seeds had endured a whole year in my freezer, took at least four weeks to germinate and were in no hurry to mature. The curiosity got the better of me, so I had to pull them out to see what lay underneath.


As I savor these soft and sweet chunks of pink, I learn that the wild beet, the ancestor of the beet with which we are familiar today, is thought to have originated in prehistoric times in North Africa and grew wild along Asian and European seashores. In these earlier times, people exclusively ate the beet greens and not the roots. The ancient Romans were one of the first civilizations to cultivate beets to use their roots as food. The tribes that invaded Rome were responsible for spreading beets throughout northern Europe where they were first used for animal fodder and later for human consumption.

Beets' value grew in the 19th century when it was discovered that they were a concentrated source of sugar, and the first sugar factory was built in Poland. When access to sugar cane was restricted by the British, Napoleon decreed that the beet be used as the primary source of sugar, catalyzing its popularity. Around this time, beets were also first brought to the United States, where they now flourish. Today the leading commercial producers of beets include the United States, the Russian Federation, France, Poland, France and Germany.

As noted in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Detopoulou P, Panagiotakos DB, et al.), people whose diets supplied the highest average intake of choline (found in egg yolk and soybeans), and its metabolite betaine (found naturally in vegetables such as beets and spinach), have levels of inflammatory markers at least 20% lower than subjects with the lowest average intakes.

For those expectant moms, beets are particularly rich in the B vitamin folate, which is essential for normal tissue growth. Eating folate-rich foods is especially important during pregnancy since without adequate folate, the infant's spinal column does not develop properly, a condition called neural tube defect. The daily requirement for folate is 400 micrograms. Just one cup of boiled, sliced beets contains 136 micrograms of folate.