Today’s Vegetable Harvest

I suppose it has been a week since the last vegetable harvest, at least for the pole beans. Today I walked away from our garden at Farm Chastain with enough beans for the family, 3 ears of Silver Queen corn, and one of Silver King. I also picked a cucumber for Martha and some squash for this week. The corn was a little early to be picked but it sure was good. I think it has another 10 days of fattening up to go, but I ran across several worms which made me nervous so I went ahead and picked some for dinner. Picking the green beans is a challenge for sure, they are super healthy so there is a ton of foliage to get through to find the beans.

I am most proud of the corn. If I were to be stranded on an island it would be a must have for me. You can also see a yellow pepper in the picture above. It needs a couple of days to sweeten up, but also looked in danger of getting eaten up out there, so I went ahead and picked.

We had two watermelons growing nicely only to come back today to find them totally rotted out. Not sure what got to them, but they were super nasty. I'll spare you that picture.

Thanks,

Carson Matthews

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Tomatoes and Green Beans

Over the past couple of days I have noticed some of the green beans getting pretty big in the garden. This morning I picked a couple of handfuls of beans and two pretty red tomatoes. Tomorrow night I believe we will be having green beans, tomatoes with basil and a cucumber for dinner!

Stay tuned for more harvesting.

Carson Matthews

Swimming at Chastain Pool

Last weekend we took our new GoPro out for a spin at Chastain Pool. We had a lot of fun trying it out and getting some underwater footage.

 

Carson Matthews

Spring 2016 Back Yard Garden Update

At Matthews Farm, 2016 will be the year that I defeat the squirrels and chipmunks. Each year my garden has grown bigger and bigger, and each year more critters come out to enjoy the harvests the night before I come out to pick the fruits of my labor.

This offseason I decided to build real cages around each raised bed, and my strawberry & carrot bed has a hinged top as well. The other bed cages will be organic, as in they will grow with the crops as needed. I plan to build trellis’s for the tomatoes, cucumbers & squash, and keeping those caged in will be an ongoing process.

Below are lots of pictures of the evolution of the garden, the planted crops, and some early seed bloomers (pole beans) that will grow in a bamboo teepee. I am also quite proud of the set of sawhorses that I built thanks to direction from familyhandyman.com.

I’m looking forward to a summer full of fruits and veggies from the back yard!

 

Garden coming out of the Fall

the first cage going in

First Raised Garden Cage

Right of Passage Sawhorses doing their thing

Strawberry Patch Cage with Top

Faithful Sidekick Cody

Nifty hinged top

tools of the trade

Finished Cage Top

Broccoli

Blueberries

Strawberries

Green Beans

Green Beans

Strawberry Patch

DIY Soaker Hose

Strawberry Ready to Eat

Vegetables and diy soaker hose

Blueberry Patch

Matthews Farm

Thanks,

Carson Matthews

Pictures of the Chastain Park Playground

Yesterday we took the kids to check out the newly renovated Chastain Park Playground. You can read all about it at ChastainParkBlog.com. Here are a few of the pictures I got of the new playground, it’s truly one of a kind. More pictures are on my website www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com/ChastainPark

 

Thanks,
Carson Matthews

 

DIY American Flag Pallet

The Finished Product

After a couple of months of driving by a wood pallet on the side of Northside Drive I finally picked it up earlier this spring and set out to make some yard art out of it. I had been on the hunt for a pallet that I could make an American flag out of. The first one that I got didn’t have enough slats on it, so I now use it to store my garden tools.  The good folks at Ace Hardware recommended I use spray paint that has built in primer. So with red white and blue paint and some really thick masking tape I set out to create my flag. Here are some pictures of the progress, and the finished product below, just in time for the 4th of July.

The First Taping

Getting the Stars just right

Almost Done

Shoutout to Peachtree Bikes

I wanted to give a quick shoutout to Peachtree Bikes. Yesterday Ben and I took his Diamondback BMX bike up there to get a new tire put on.  Of course that was a quick and easy fix done on the spot.  An hour later we were back after some user errors putting it back together.  The chain was slipping and the brakes were rubbing, so they went back to work on the bike. Apparantly Santa Claus didn’t do too good of a job last year putting it together as they almost completely rebuilt the bike.  Fixing the brakes wasn’t too much of a deal, but during the process they realized the front fork was installed backwards which took some hammering, but they got it all fixed up.  I’m feeling much better about Ben cruising around on his bike now thanks to Peachtree Bikes.

Many thanks to the guys over there for their extra time and effort on Ben’s bike.

They have 3 locations in Atlanta, online at www.PeachtreeBikes.com

Buckhead · 2905 Peachtree Road NE · Atlanta, GA 30305 · 404.262.9853
Sandy Springs · 225 Hilderbrand Drive · Sandy Springs, GA 30328 · 404.254.4116
Serenbe · 9119 Selborne Lane · Palmetto, GA 30268 · 404.262.9854

Rear Brake

Diamondback Viper BMX Bike

July Update on Raised Summer Garden

Here are some pictures to give you an update on how the summer raised garden is coming along.  We have 30-40 tomatoes growing, one bell pepper which appears to be turning red, and some baby squash (I picked the first one too early and it was not ready).  We had lots of blueberries but those were eaten soon after harvest.  We can’t wait for those to mature so we can have gallons of blueberries in the summer!  Until then we have veggies…

Bell Pepper

Tomatoes

Yellow Squash

Top of the Tomato Cage

More Tomatoes Coming

1st Annual Georgia Craft Beer Fest

On Saturday March 22, 2014 Red Brick Brewing Company will host the 1st Annual Georgia Craft Beer Fest benefiting the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild.  Over 25 Georgia breweries have been confirmed for the event including many of my favorites like Monday Night Brewing, Sweetwater Brewing Company, Jailhouse Brewing Company, Jekyll Brewing, & Terrapin Beer Company.

Date: Saturday March 22
Time: 1-6pm
Location: 2323 Defoor Hills Road, Atlanta, GA 30318
Ticket Price: $40 or $75 for VIP
Buy Tickets: https://www.xorbia.com/e/redbrick/georgia-craft-beer-fest

 

Additional details are available at GaCraftBeerFest.com

Thanks,

Carson Matthews

 

Twisted Tree – Chattahoochee Nature Trail

I love this tree along the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area trail.  I’m usually running when back there so never have my camera and certainly not my tripod.  I took both out for a hike on Friday afternoon and got a picture of this twisted tree.

How I did it:

ISO 100
17mm
f/9.0
5 exposures 1/30 sec – 1/500 sec
Shot on Tripod
Processed in Photomatix Pro 5 & Lightroom

View or purchase a high resolution image at http://www.carsonmatthewsphotography.com/Photography/OntheStreets/i-LzQ3Ncz/A

Thanks,

Carson Matthews
www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com

Swimming at Chastain Pool

Last weekend we took our new GoPro out for a spin at Chastain Pool. We had a lot of fun trying it out and getting some underwater footage.

 

Carson Matthews

Thanksgiving Turkey Preparation Timelapse Video

Here is a iPhone 6 timelapse video of our Thanksgiving turkey preparation on Thanksgiving morning. After this it went into the Big Green Egg for several hours and came out perfect!

Timelapse Compilation of Sunrise and Weather

Here is a video compilation of time-lapse videos out of our front window. Our house faces East so we get great sunrises and a consistent look at clouds and storms moving through.

Sunset over the Chattahoochee River

Here is a picture of the sun tonight as it began setting over the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta. This shot was taken from the East Palisades Trail of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area looking west to Cobb Parkway as it crossed the Hooch.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8

70mm f/8.0 5 frames processed in Photomatix and Lightroom

Saturday Down South

Saturday Down South