Family digs into gardening

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July 2, 2015 - 12:00 AM

Though their day jobs are as bookkeepers, Jan Sigg and Nikki Damron spend as much time in the garden and kitchen.
The two women share a garden plot just east of the Elm Creek Community Garden south of town. Their love of cooking and canning fresh produce has made them fast friends. That, and the fact they are connected to the Sigg family — a family whose roots spread deep and wide in these parts.
Jan, 49, works at Macha Enterprises and is married to Dan Sigg. And Nikki, 35, who works at Clayton Corp., is in a longterm relationship with Ryan Sigg.
Their garden plot is owned by Ryan’s dad and Dan’s brother, Jerry Sigg, whose garden is as big as the two women’s combined.
“Gardening is in the Sigg DNA,” said Jan.
“It’s ‘go big or go home,’” Nikki said of the family’s attitude to just about everything it does.
The women say the Sigg men “are good at the front end” of getting their gardens started, including tilling and planting, leaving “the back end to us,” including cooking and preserving the produce.
It’s a bet neither side agrees which carries the bigger burden.
The women each manage 10 rows that are 60 feet deep.
In between their children’s summertime activities, the women are busy tending their gardens and putting up vegetables. Getting the kids to help out can be a chore, they said.
“We know how they feel, because as kids we hated working in our parents’ gardens,” Jan said. “It was torture.”
That said, they both believe it’s a wholesome activity and they don’t put much stock in their children’s protestations.
“It’s a family affair,” Jan said simply.
“I make bargains,” Jan said. “If you till, I’ll pull weeds,” she tells them. Or, “Can you give me just 30 minutes?” that with any luck turns into more.
Jan and Dan have five children, including their son Austin and his wife Emily and their daughter, Elliot, 3, as well as Emma, 19, Ethan, 17, Evan, 15, and Karson, 11.
Nikki’s children are Jake, 13, and Rylie, 9.
With an average yield of 60-100 quarts of green beans, there’s lots of snapping to be done, Nikki said.
“The kids don’t mind it,” she said. “We’ll sit around the table and talk while we snap beans. Before you know it, the bucket is done. It’s good, quality time.”
Both Jan and Nikki are avid cooks, but not by the book. Instead, they pinch, toss and sometimes throw ingredients into big pots and somehow, it turns out all right.
One thing about cooking in that manner: “No batch is ever the same,” said Nikki.
In a world of preservatives and additives, the women say they like knowing what’s in their food.
Nikki swears by beet juice, which she saves when canning beets. She also uses the left over liquid from when she makes salsa.
“It’s great to use as a stock when making chili or soup. It’s also awesome in beer,” she said, of the spicy mix.
Jan’s family is known for its “Salsa Saturdays,” when several times a year they gather to make enormous batches of the spicy side dish.
“We cook it in a big turkey fryer over a hot fire,” she said, making upward of 90 quarts. Nikki said she uses a “witch’s pot,” in which to prepare her salsa.
Of course getting to that point takes lots of preparation.
“We’re pulling onions now, which we’ll freeze. Then in August we’ll pick tomatoes and preserve those. In the fall, the peppers and jalapenos will be ripe,” Jan said.
Only then can a Salsa Saturday have the necessary ingredients.

SAUERKRAUT is a beast of its own, Jan said, “but so worth it.”
With kraut, nature pretty much takes its course while the brining breaks down the cabbage. Large stone crocks are used to contain the mixture during this fermentation stage, “which stinks to high heaven,” Jan said. She conveniently stores the aromatic mixture next door in her son Austin’s walk-in cellar.
“Every few days I go over and scrape off the mold,” a sign of active fermentation.
In short order, the bland cabbage has turned into a deliciously crunchy and tangy condiment.
Nikki recommended smothering a roast or brisket with the sauerkraut and cook slowly in a crock pot.
“It doesn’t get any better,” she said.

THEIR GARDENS began with spinach, lettuce, okra, radishes, garlic and asparagus. Current and upcoming crops for the two include potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and squash.
“I’m here most evenings, about 8 o’clock,” Nikki said. “It’s peaceful. It’s beautiful. There’s no place I’d rather be.”

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