When we returned from vacation every single radish was ready to be picked. Radishes are a fast growing crop that can be fun to have in your garden because they outpace every other plant, besides the weeds! The down side to that is when they are ready they are ready all at once.

How do you preserve your radish crop?

There are a few different ways to store radishes that will retain their crispiness:

• Slice off the tops and bottoms, wash and store them in water in the refrigerator. This will keep them fresh for about a week.
• Store in a sand box in a cool place, which is also a good way to store carrots.
• Cook them like a carrot or potato. When radishes are cooked it takes most of the spice out of them.
• Pickle or ferment them.

I’m not a big radish eater but Lucian picked out the seed for his row in the garden and he wanted radishes. No amount of coaxing could talk him out of it. He picked out white icicle radishes and was very excited when they were ready to harvest. Did he like them? NO, “There too spicy!” Were his exact words.

So…….it was time to get creative with storing radishes. I decided to try to pickle them.

I found this Ball recipe for sweet pickled radishes and decided to give it a try. We’ll see how they taste in a few weeks when I crack them open.

• 1/2 pound sliced radishes
• 1/2 cup white or apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. mustard seed
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 bay leaf

1. Pack sliced radishes in a hot 1 pint jar. bring all other ingredients to a boil and add to jar.
2. Wipe rim clean, place lids, and hand tighten band. Let cool. Chill before serving and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 months.

I am more of an impromptu cook and I always change recipes. For starters, I had to quadruple this recipe for the amount of radishes I had. I also did not have mustard seed in my cupboard so I used ground mustard instead. I used 1/2 tsp. ground mustard rather than 1 tsp. mustard seeds. I thought 1 tsp ground black pepper was a little much so I measured in about 3/4 of a tsp. instead. Finally, I put dill weed into two of the jars to test out different flavors. I also put the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes to seal them.

In 4-6 weeks I am going to open a jar to see if the pickled radish experiment was a success or not. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they taste delicious when I open the lid. If they do I’ll plan on traditional red radishes for next year. Not to judge a jar of pickled radishes by their appearance but I think red radishes will be prettier.

When vacation is over the farm will still be waiting.

We had a great time at WinterHaven Resort on Block Lake in Parkers Prairie, Minnesota. I spent a lot of time on the deck while feeding Penelope and reading with a great view of the lake. We finally had the kayaks out for the first time this year. Lucian paddled his own kayak for the first time while we were there. He used one of the small 8 foot kayaks they had at the resort and we had a little mother-son time out on the water. It was great!

Fiona spent most of her time playing with her cousin Maddie, who is also two, in the giant sandbox. She went out with both Trenton and I in our kayaks while Grandma “da” watched Penelope. She did much better this year in the boats. She sat nicely while we paddled along exploring the lake.

We are home now and we have a little catching up to do. In the four days we were gone the weeds have taken over and it seems everything has ripened at once. Before we left I picked our black raspberries and the radishes but apparently I didn’t pick enough. Last night Lucian and I harvested the rest of the radishes. I cut the tops off and washed them before putting the in the fridge for now. I am currently looking for radish recipes. I am thinking of trying to pickle radishes.

What do you do with your radishes?

I’m planning to take the kids berry picking today. I think one more picking will finish off the raspberries. I’ll wash them up and freeze them today until I decide what I want my finished product to be. I’m thinking either black raspberry jelly or black raspberry syrup. I have never made berry syrup before so maybe I will try that.

Going on vacation can be wonderful and an event to look forward to, but when you own a small farm the process becomes more complicated. You cannot just pack up and go. Arrangements need to be made for the care of your property and animals. It can be surprisingly difficult to find the special person or people to feed, water, move, and milk a variety of animals.

We have not been away from the farm for more than two nights in years, but we’re going for a little longer vacation in two weeks. My husband’s Aunt Lori has rented a resort for July 14th through the 21st and has invited us to spend the week with the whole family. Although we won’t be able to spend the whole week we’re very excited to get away from home for awhile.

To make this happen we have to find a few willing farm sitters and accomplish of a few lingering chores to make our sitters’ lives easier. Every season has different challenges and with July comes the heat. My sister, Sondra, and our neighbor, Bridget, will be doing chores twice a day for us but I worry about watering the animals when it is very hot. Especially the pigs. Pigs are wasteful with their water because they like to roll in the mud to cool off when they are hot. Pigs don’t sweat so they have to find different ways to stay cool, mug rolling is the preferred method. After they dump their water dish to make mud their drinking water is then gone.

A list of chores to be completed before we leave:

1. Plumb in drinking cup for pigs. This way they have continuous water to drink but not to waste. Our lovely chore ladies can throw a bucket of water in for them twice a day to roll in.
2. Weed whip the fence line. Although Jack, our horse, does not test he fence our goats are constantly testing it. We want the fences working at high voltage so animals aren’t wandering far and wide.
3. Till the garden. Weeds seem to grow twice as fast as the vegetables. To keep them down until we get back Trenton is going to till the rows before we leave.

I’m planning on having our chore ladies come over to practice. Bridget has never milked a goat before so it should be fun for her! We are only milking Fauna once a day. She still has a kid with her so if she is not milked completely it is okay, the kid will finish her off but unfortunantly she is not the most patient goat when it comes to milking.

I’m excited to head out for a few days. Planning to read, write, and knit in between chasing children around!