Garden Green

Sleepy in Alabama

2011-08-20T00:34:00.000-04:00

Well I really did it this time. We picked it up, packed it in, and moved it. To Huntsville, Alabama. My husband has family here and his mom has been trying to get us down here for years. I had a good job so it just wasn't in the cards. Now that my job has moved away and the job after it couldn't support us, we decided now is as good a time as any. We made it right before the new school year started here and we're adjusting. Most of my garden was mobile so it wasn't much of a sad day to leave the few plants behind that we couldn't bring with us. The neighbors will tend to them and harvest. I actually harvested our first batch of potatoes today and we'll be eating those with dinner tomorrow.

The one big unfortunate thing is that our dog died June 26th. Majere will be missed terribly and the entire family was inconsolable for more than two weeks. The kids look forward to when we will have another dog but they are following my line of thinking: right now just isn't the time. We've scarcely broken the habits that we built with him and even now as I write this, my heart hurts.

Moving on (before I start crying). I haven't posted in a good long while due to the massive hours I had to work and full time school and family. I'm looking for work but still working hard at school. We are optimistic and things seem to be going our way at the moment which is more than I can say for a lot of folks at the moment. My husband's grandmother has some land and was very enthusiastic when she learned that I garden. We're planning some big things for next year. There is a lot of work to be done before we're ready to start any type of garden on her two acres and we're 30 minutes away. We're headed down there this weekend to spend some time.

With this move, we have a renewed sense of purpose. Our goals are laid out and we know exactly what we want to do. More importantly, we know we will be able to make it happen here. We've been checking into local gardeners, suppliers of rabbits, chickens, and quail and it all looks a lot better than it was in Tennessee. There seems to be more resources here and more like minded folks closer to us. The only hump is the job. We just have to get them. My husband has already had one interview and the man had already hired his nephew so it wasn't a turn down because of anything but that one little fact.

So with that, my update is complete. We're alive, we're living in Alabama, and we're looking forward to making all of our dreams come true.

Wow

2010-11-07T21:04:00.000-05:00

I have not posted since June, not without good reason, but still, I should not neglect what I have going on here. With the loss of my old job and then the subsequent gain of a new one which always promises 50 hours or more a week including weekends... and school.. and I squeeze family in there sometimes, too. House and home have pretty much been placed on a back burner. I do have some small projects going on right now, but it is truly nothing to blog about.

Aside from bringing in my frost sensitive dwarf trees for the winter, I have nothing major to report. I have gone about my normal business of herb gathering and drying and watching as my pumpkins sprawl across the raised bed blooming but producing nothing this year. They are still blooming, even after the light frost, but they have not produced a single pumpkin this year, which is strange for all seven plants. I haven't had time to really stop and consider why this has occurred, but it is something I will be filing away in the back of my mind to look up in a spare moment.

I certainly hope everyone got out of their garden what they expected this past season and I also hope that any of you doing any winter gardening also get what you expect.

This is not an official closing of the blog, but I am going to be scarce. I'm writing more research papers than are in actual existence and with the holiday season so close, I'm watching my hours at work go up steadily. You can imagine where this scenario is going. My new job is nothing like my old one so I can't work on these things from work anymore. It's a home only kind of thing and I'm like never home. Except on weekends. Weekends are reserved for catching up on school work I neglected during the week because sleep seemed like a better idea or I just really wanted to hang with the kids. Bloging is on hold for the most part. In those moments that I have more time and I have something to really blog about, I'll be here.

Enough whining, how about that thing I really wanted to talk about?

I found this page while I was digging around looking for some info on zone 9 for a friend. It is a rather handy dandy Landscape Plant Selector that gives a surprising amount of options for trying to find the perfect plant for whatever project you're doing. I played with it for a few minutes and found that it was really helpful. The pictures could be larger or could stand to have an enlarge option, but other than that, I'm liking what I'm seeing.

Blooms Abound

2010-06-02T19:20:00.000-04:00

My yard has been alight with blooms. Chrysanthemums are nice and purple and blue after the yellow daffodils finally gave in to the end of their flowering season. The azaleas were gorgeous and the honeysuckle has been very nice, although, I'm missing the sweet smell that has clouded the area now that the blooms have finally given up. The tiger lilies up the street are profusely blooming and I'm going to miss them, too, when they are gone.

My cucmbers are also blooming. While my father, who is much further south than I, has been harvesting squash and cabbage like mad over the past week (all planted on Good Friday, you know), I have been patiently waiting for my garden to really take off. The broccoli is nice and large and I'm going to see something happen with that very soon, I think. And all this rain has really set my garden into motion. I have onions peeking out from their little corner and getting larger all the time. I expect to be harvesting them in a month of so and I'm excited for it.

I feel so behind with all of these folks that are harvesting out of their gardens right now when I could scarcely get started until mid-April. Our last average frost date is April 15th and while I started my seeds well before that, the cool evenings we experienced around mid to late April and lasting into the first couple of weeks of May, stunted my efforts after I transplanted. I don't dare get anything planted before the 15th. The last few major snow storms this area has seen have been late April storms that blanketed us with feet an feet of snow and ice.

While I had an excellent mortality rate with my plants this year, only losing two and those to the cat, I'm pleased that our modest garden is thriving. But I'm still jealous of those that are getting much more out of theirs right now than I am. I didn't want the entire bed covered with plants at the beginning. It seemed too overwhelming for the kids to have anything going on that would be that busy. They are perfectly happy with our several plants and are looking forward to when I get pumpkins in the mix later this month.

I did finally get my shamrock bulbs planted. I know I'm late but now that I have some time on my hands, I'm experimenting. I've never grown shamrocks before and I'm very much looking forward to seeing them.

Like everything in the world, life is so uncertain these days. I was hard pressed to spend the money to put a bed in with the lay off hanging over our heads. Disheartening. But I planted anyway in hopes that I could at least get the kids that experience.They have enjoyed helping to take care of the pots of herbs. We snipped some garlic chives and I made a garlic chive butter sauce for smashed new potatoes. One of their first direct experiences with taking out of the garden, cleaning, and then making immediately into dinner. Both of them were glowing with pleasure when they told their father that they had, just that day, gone out and harvested some of the chives in the meal.

It has been an exciting time. We have broken through and really started and finished some of the long list of chores around the house. The amount of useless stuff is shrinking. We are in a better position now than we have ever been and neither of us are working. Instead of having a room of boxes of memories that just take up space, we have part of a closet. Instead of an overwhelming amount of junk the kids wanted to keep from school, we have convinced them that it is ok to let some of it go instead of having it piled everywhere and taking up valuable space in chest of drawers.

I have finally sat down and started going through the piles and piles of crafting magazines a girlfriend of mine gave me and have been scanning off what I want out of them and the rest are going to the used book store to see if we can sell them for credit for other books we want. I've been avoiding this for some time because it meant that I would actually have to organize the craft armoire that has been in such disarray since we moved in last October. But I finally decided that I needed that space for things that I couldn't let go of, like the pictures of the kids and the ribbons they have won and their baby books from what seems like yesterday.

It has been an interesting month. And I am almost happy with the results. We don't *need* to be pack rats. My husband has been carrying around an old server that hasn't worked in years in the hopes that it would magically start working again one day. He realized when going through the box that he had no idea where the power cable to the things was hiding so out it went. We are in a large enough house that it can accommodate all of the things we need with precious room to spare and that is a nice thing. I hated being so cluttered into the last house we lived in. No room to put a desk because the rooms were too small and every inch of space was covered with furniture. And if it wasn't there was a box dutifully standing by never being unpacked because there was no place for it. So sad.

But now we're moving right along and the massive amounts of craps has dwindled to almost no crap at all.

Homemade Alcohol

2010-05-31T21:11:00.000-04:00

I got a wild hair to start making my own wine not too long ago and so I researched and read and went down to the not so local home brew store and bought my basic equipment. I decided to start with apple and then went on to white grape cherry and white grape pomegrante. All turned out very well, I am proud to say.

Then my husband found out about a meadery that was a little out of town but an easy drive so we headed down there. The man was happy to give us a taste of all types of mead. Dry, semi-sweet and sweet, melomel and metheglin and a few others. He gave us some tips on making mead and so we bought some honey and some wonderful honey pecan jelly and headed home to start out batch.

We got our single gallon of mead started and it is fermenting nicely. We've nearly finished the mead we purchased that day and mores the pity because we, and all of our friends that have had it, have thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm very much looking forward to this new batch!

Whew!

2010-05-22T15:38:00.000-04:00

Did I mention being unemployed can really give you a lot of time to work on those projects you didn't have time for before? I have been working on my garden, disheartening as it may be that I don't have a job at the moment, but I've been working on it. We put up the gazebo, built a raised bed, I've done a lot of container gardening, too. I've done a lot of herbs and they are doing so well. My main problem has been pest management because, again, it rains for three days and then we have three days of nice skies, then it rains for three days again. I've been really on top of getting the DE on the plants and keeping it on them. But I'm still seeing the signs of my leaves being eaten. Worse, slugs and snails have moved in. I've been battling that.

But we're counter balancing. I put the bird feeders near the garden and I'm seeing a sharp decrease in insects. The ground squirrels are entertaining as they forage through the little existing bed the bird feeder sits in. The bed is very old but the soil in it is actually pretty good. I've got some things planted but I don't think they are going to do anything. There is a huge tree shading that spot so I'm going to be getting some shade loving flowers instead.

I've been doing a lot of research into aquaculture the past three weeks and this guy:

is amazing. He has built a system in a greenhouse, wrote software to monitor it and has it almost completely automated. Wow.

I'd love to build one. But for now, I'm going to keep on with my cucumbers and onions with broccoli and herbs. My cat is evil as she destroyed the okra, cauliflower, and tomato. Ahh well, there is always next year and indoor gardening.

Into the Raised Bed

2010-04-22T21:36:00.000-04:00

Velvet, the vicious attack cat, had decided that since she refuses to use a litter box inside the house and wants to go outside the house to do her business that she wants to use my raised bed. Grr. It's been an up hill battle to keep her out and I have near anxiety attacks when I go out in the morning to check my bed. She managed to dig up my cauliflower. The one thing my husband was very enthusiastic about. And she nearly killed the okra. So, garden fence went up around the bed because she is killing our veggie garden. The little rat. I'm not entirely sure that I'll be able to get another cauliflower out there before it's too late. But I'm still going to give it a shot. The worst thing that can happen is it will fail and we'll have to do it again this fall.

I'm discovering that absolute joys of homemade bread in the bread machine. The garlic herb bread and the wheat bread I made were great and made really awesome sandwiches. While I make homemade bread by hand, the bread machine has afforded me more time to do other things and I'm guilty becoming spoiled by it. Fresh hot loaves of bread for dinner and then for toast for breakfast make all the difference.

I suppose the bread machine opens up time to fight with my youngest over his new contact lenses. He has a lazy left eye and the doctor wants him to use the contacts to wake his eye up and get his brain to acknowledge the fact that it can function. Getting them out was hard, to the point where we had to go through several sessions of me pushing and prodding his eye and him wincing when my finger hit eye instead of lens. And putting them in.. oh my.. what a battle.

I have no need to contacts so this is new territory for me and he is being as brave as he can and is accepting all the poking and prodding to his eyes with as much grace as a hyper six year old can muster. I'm proud of him for this fact. He doesn't want the contacts and already had the frames picked out for his glasses before his eye exam even started. He wants the glasses and not the contacts but I'm just not sure glasses will be as helpful as the contacts. After we got the contacts in, he was able to actually read two lines further down from the SECOND line where he stopped before we put them in. He could see the big letter in the line of three and that was it. Poor kid. The school caught this and I'm glad they did, too much longer and his brain might not want to register that the left eye is functional. So now it's a routine of cover the right eye and work the left. He is taking that pretty good, too.

I will get pictures up. I will get pictures up. I will get pictures up.

Vinegar in Various Areas

2010-02-23T15:18:00.001-05:00

Use vinegar in the steam cleaner to reduce soap bubbles.

Mix vinegar with lind seed oil and use it to clean your wood.

Clean eyeglasses by wiping each lens with a drop of vinegar.

Soak new wicks for several hours in white vinegar and let them dry before inserting. Propane lanterns will burn longer and brighter on the same amount of fuel.

Deodorize the air. Vinegar is a natural air freshener when sprayed in a room.

Turn a chicken bone into rubber by soaking it in a glass of vinegar for three days. It will bend like rubber.

Deodorize a room filled with cigarette smoke or paint fumes. Place a small bowl of vinegar in

the room.

Remove decals or bumper stickers by soaking a cloth in Vinegar and cover the decal or bumper sticker for several minutes until the vinegar soaks in. The decals and bumper stickers should peel off easily.

Cleaning windows by using undiluted Vinegar in a spray bottle. Dry off with newspaper.

Prevent patching plaster from drying by adding one tablespoon vinegar to the water when mixing to slow the drying time.

Plastic can be cleaned and made anti-static by wiping down with a solution of 1 tablespoon of

distilled vinegar to 1 gallon of water. This will cut down on the plastics' tendency to attract dust.

The colors in carpets and rugs will often look like they have taken a new lease on life if they

are brushed with a mixture of 1 cup of vinegar in a gallon of water.

A mixture of one teaspoon of liquid detergent and 1 teaspoon of distilled vinegar in a pint of

lukewarm water will remove non-oily stains from carpets. Apply it to the stain with a soft brush or towel and rub gently. Rinse with a towel moistened with clean water and blot dry. Repeat this procedure until the stain is gone. Then dry quickly, using a fan or hair dryer. This should be done as soon as the stain is discovered.

Spots caused by cola-based soft drinks can be removed from 100 percent cotton, cotton polyester and permanent press fabrics if done so with in 24 hours. To do it, sponge distilled vinegar directly onto the stain and rub away the spots. Then clean according to the directions on the manufacturer's care tag.

Sponging away grease and dirt with a sponge dipped in distilled vinegar will keep exhaust fan grills, air-conditioner blades and grills dust free.

Leather articles can be cleaned with a mixture of distilled vinegar and linseed oil. Rub the mixture into the leather and then polish with a soft cloth.

To loosen old glue around rungs and joints of tables and chairs under repair, apply distilled

vinegar with a small oil can.

Soak a paint brush in hot vinegar, then wash out with warm, sudsy water to soften it up.

Patent leather will shine better if wiped with a soft cloth which has been moisten with distilled

vinegar.

To add a pleasant scent to a room while at the same time removing an unpleasant odor, add

cardamom or other fragrant spice to a bowl of distilled vinegar and place in the warmest corner of the room.

Varnished wood often takes on a cloudy appearance. If the cloudiness hasn't gone through to the wood, the cloudiness can be removed by rubbing the wood with a soft lintless cloth wrung out from a solution of 1 tablespoon of distilled vinegar in a quart of luke-warm water. Complete the job by wiping the surface with a soft dry cloth.

Dirt and grime can be easily removed from woodwork with a solution of 1 cup of ammonia, 1/2 cup of distilled vinegar, and 1/4 cup of baking soda in a cup of warm water. This solution will not dull the finish or leave streaks.

Stubborn rings resulting from wet glasses being placed on wood furniture may be removed by rubbing with a mixture of equal parts of distilled vinegar and olive oil. Rub with the grain and polish for the best results.

Wood paneling may be cleaned with a mixture of 1 ounce of olive oil and 2 ounces of distilled

vinegar in 1 quart of warm water. Moisten a soft cloth with the solution and wipe the paneling.

The yellowing is then removed by wiping with a soft, dry cloth.

Vinegar for Health and Beauty

2010-02-20T02:47:00.000-05:00

Dampen your appetite. Sprinkle a little vinegar on prepared food to take the edge off your appetite.

Soothe a bee or jellyfish sting. Dot or douse the irritated area with vinegar and relieve itching.

Remedy for acne skin conditions when diluted 50:50 with water and used as a toner. Careful around the eyes.

If you can take it, put a cotton bud or cotton square with appe cider vinegar and dab all over your face. It’s safer and so much cheaper than any store-bought ‘alpha hydroxy’ products to sloth off flaky skin.

Relieve itching by using a cotton ball to dab mosquito and other bug bites with Vinegar straight
from the bottle.

Relieve sunburn by lightly rubbing it with vinegar. You may have to reapply.

Take 1 cup of vinegar and warm water into a large glass and use to rinse your hair after
you shampoo. Vinegar adds highlights to brunette hair, restores the acid mantel, and removes
soap film and sebum oil.

When you eat something too spicy hot (habenero, jalepeno, wasabi) you can quickly get rid of the burn by dabbing your tounge with vinegar.

You take 1 tablespoon full and swallow when you have the hiccups. It stops them instantly.

Relieve dry and itchy skin. Add 2 tablespoons to bath water.

Fight dandruff, by rinsing with vinegar and 2 cups of warm water, after shampooing.

Soothe a sore throat. Put a teaspoon of vinegar in a glass of water. Gargle, then swallow.

Cure for colds. Mix one-quarter cup Apple Cider Vinegar with one-quarter cup honey.
Take one tablespoon six to eight times daily.

Treat sinus infections and chest colds. Add 1/4 cup or more vinegar to the vaporizer.

Feel good recipe. A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water, with a bit of honey added for flavor, will take the edge off your appetite and give you an overall healthy feeling.

Remove fruit stains from hands. Rub with vinegar.

Remove warts by applying a lotion of half cider vinegar and half glycerin. Apply daily to warts until they dissolve.

Relieve arthritis. Before each meal, drink a glass of water containing two teaspoons
Apple Cider Vinegar. Give it at least three weeks to start working.

Remove corns by making a poultice of one crumbled piece of bread soaked in one-quarter cup Vinegar. Let poultice sit for one-half hour, then apply to the corn and tape in place overnight. If corn does not peel off by morning, reapply the poultice for several consecutive nights.

Cure an upset stomach by drinking two teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar in one cup water.

Prevent yeast infections. Douche with one tablespoon vinegar to one quart warm water, to adjust the pH balance in the vagina.

Clean dentures by soaking them overnight in vinegar, then brush away tartar with a toothbrush.

Relieve cough by mixing one-half cup Apple Cider Vinegar, one-half cup water, one teaspoon cayenne pepper, and four teaspoons honey. Take one tablespoon when cough acts up. Take another tablespoon at bedtime.

Dissolves whatever glue lice use to lay eggs on the hair shaft. Comb your hair and rinse it with equal parts water and vinegar.

Dip a cotton bud into pure vinegar and dab onto affected areas for ear infections.

Treat athlete's foot by dabbing full strength vinegar to effected areas.

Vinegar for the Car and Around the Outside of the House

2010-02-18T11:35:00.001-05:00

Polish car chrome. Apply full strength.

Clean rust from tools, bolts, and spigots. Soak
the rusted tool, bolt, or spigot in undiluted
vinegar overnight.

Keep car windows frost free. Coat the windows
the night before with a solution of three parts
vinegar to one part water.

White Goat

2010-02-17T19:18:00.004-05:00

One of the most interesting going green innovations to come out will be coming out this year. When I saw this video I stared at it wide eyed and slack jawed and it isn't just because of the head cold I have right now either.

A solid 10 on the greener meter.

Economic Downturn

2010-02-15T18:08:00.002-05:00

After going on and getting $7800 out of debt last year in prep for the inevitable, I learned my site is being closed on April 5th. I'm glad that I worked through the debt I had last year and only have about 3k left plus a car loan. My severance is enough to get us through for several months and there are already job prospects on the horizon.

What is hard is not losing the job. It's the people. The job is good and I enjoy doing it, but it is the people that I will miss more than the work. The company I work for (GMAC) has taken a turn that has led them to this path and 7 years under my belt means that I'll be handsomely compensated but that doesn't give me the time with the people that I work with, which is what I mourn more than anything.

While a good chunk of us will end up at the same place, it won't be the same atmosphere, nor will it be under the same circumstances. Being in management, it is difficult for me to accept a position where I take a hefty pay cut because we have a certain standard of living that we've achieved. There are management positions for which I'm qualified, however, the time and energy I've put into this company will mean nothing there other than "You're hired".

We're lucky to work for a company that cares enough to give us a two day workshop on how to write a resume and how to sell yourself in an interview. Not to mention the mini job fairs that are going on at the site to help us find other jobs with other companies. First Tennessee Bank, Vanderbilt Mortgage and others will be coming to our GMAC site to help us fill in positions at their facilities so that we're still comfortable and have an income. I can't say that for many places, considering I've driven to work before and found out I didn't have a job when I got there because the doors were chained. We're lucky to have two months notice. It gives us an opportunity to say the things that need to be said and time to find the right job instead of accepting the first to offer because we're not sure what the future will hold.

It is distressing. It is hard. It will be hard. I will miss the people. I'll miss the things that happen every day. I'll miss my boss, my co-workers and my direct reports! I will be in a new place and it will be difficult because I won't have the knowledge of this company that I have for my current one or the seniority that will help to carry me into new positions and new teams. It is astounding to me that this chapter in my life is coming to a close.

The first thing I thought when the news came was that I didn't know how to look for a job I've been with the company so long. I don't want to interview and fill out applications and submit resume after resume. But in the end, there is no choice and I will have to do what needs to be done.

We'll keep on trucking.

Vinegar in Various Places

2010-02-14T19:53:00.000-05:00

Use vinegar in the steam cleaner to reduce soap bubbles.

Mix vinegar with lind seed oil and use it to clean your wood.

Clean eyeglasses by wiping each lens with a drop of vinegar.

Soak new wicks for several hours in white vinegar and let them dry before inserting. Propane lanterns will burn longer and brighter on the same amount of fuel.

Deodorize the air. Vinegar is a natural air freshener when sprayed in a room.

Turn a chicken bone into rubber by soaking it in a glass of vinegar for three days. It will bend like rubber.

Deodorize a room filled with cigarette smoke or paint fumes. Place a small bowl of vinegar in
the room.

Remove decals or bumper stickers by soaking a cloth in Vinegar and cover the decal or bumper sticker for several minutes until the vinegar soaks in. The decals and bumper stickers should peel off easily.

Cleaning windows by using undiluted Vinegar in a spray bottle. Dry off with newspaper.

Prevent patching plaster from drying by adding one tablespoon vinegar to the water when mixing to slow the drying time.

Plastic can be cleaned and made anti-static by wiping down with a solution of 1 tablespoon of
distilled vinegar to 1 gallon of water. This will cut down on the plastics' tendency to attract dust.

The colors in carpets and rugs will often look like they have taken a new lease on life if they
are brushed with a mixture of 1 cup of vinegar in a gallon of water.

A mixture of one teaspoon of liquid detergent and 1 teaspoon of distilled vinegar in a pint of
lukewarm water will remove non-oily stains from carpets. Apply it to the stain with a soft brush or towel and rub gently. Rinse with a towel moistened with clean water and blot dry. Repeat this procedure until the stain is gone. Then dry quickly, using a fan or hair dryer. This should be done as soon as the stain is discovered.

Spots caused by cola-based soft drinks can be removed from 100 percent cotton, cotton polyester and permanent press fabrics if done so with in 24 hours. To do it, sponge distilled vinegar directly onto the stain and rub away the spots. Then clean according to the directions on the manufacturer's care tag.

Sponging away grease and dirt with a sponge dipped in distilled vinegar will keep exhaust fan grills, air-conditioner blades and grills dust free.

Leather articles can be cleaned with a mixture of distilled vinegar and linseed oil. Rub the mixture into the leather and then polish with a soft cloth.

To loosen old glue around rungs and joints of tables and chairs under repair, apply distilled
vinegar with a small oil can.

Soak a paint brush in hot vinegar, then wash out with warm, sudsy water to soften it up.

Patent leather will shine better if wiped with a soft cloth which has been moisten with distilled
vinegar.

To add a pleasant scent to a room while at the same time removing an unpleasant odor, add
cardamom or other fragrant spice to a bowl of distilled vinegar and place in the warmest corner of the room.

Varnished wood often takes on a cloudy appearance. If the cloudiness hasn't gone through to the wood, the cloudiness can be removed by rubbing the wood with a soft lintless cloth wrung out from a solution of 1 tablespoon of distilled vinegar in a quart of luke-warm water. Complete the job by wiping the surface with a soft dry cloth.

Dirt and grime can be easily removed from woodwork with a solution of 1 cup of ammonia, 1/2 cup of distilled vinegar, and 1/4 cup of baking soda in a cup of warm water. This solution will not dull the finish or leave streaks.

Stubborn rings resulting from wet glasses being placed on wood furniture may be removed by rubbing with a mixture of equal parts of distilled vinegar and olive oil. Rub with the grain and polish for the best results.

Wood paneling may be cleaned with a mixture of 1 ounce of olive oil and 2 ounces of distilled
vinegar in 1 quart of warm water. Moisten a soft cloth with the solution and wipe the paneling.
The yellowing is then removed by wiping with a soft, dry cloth.

Powdery Mildew Spray

2010-01-22T19:00:00.001-05:00

Got this from Gardner's Net.

1 gallon water
3 tablespoons baking soda
1 tablespoon bleach
1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid

Snip and remove leaves that are worst affected.
Mix ingredients with water.
Spray remaining leaves top and undersides.
Apply a heavier dose on leaves that have signs of infection and only lightly on unaffected leaves as bleach can actually harm and discolor the leaves.

Extremely important: Do not use too much bleach! Use no more than 1 part bleach to 10 parts water. We hesitate to recommend using bleach as it can harm your plants if too much is applied. Use it at your own risk and try to avoid spraying it on healthy leaves.

Hot Pepper Spray

2010-01-19T20:20:00.001-05:00

This can be used to repel, deer, rabbits and other pests from your flowers and some vegetables. Note, use caution with vegetables as a peppery taste may remain on the fruit.

6 peppers, the hotter the better
2 cups water
1 quart water

Put hot peppers and two cups of water into a blender.
Mix at high speed for 1-2 minutes.
Pour into a container and set aside for up to one day.
Strain liquid through a cheese cloth.
Add liquid into a one quart container. Fill container to top with water.
Apply liberally to plants. Re-apply every week to two weeks or after a rain.

Insecticide Garlic Spray

2010-01-18T14:01:00.006-05:00

I found this recipe and some others over at Gardeners Net.

The nice thing about it is you can use it inside, outside, in soil, out of soil. You don't have to worry about it poisoning you, your family, pets, or your plants but it certainly repel insects!

Insecticide Garlic Spray

1 garlic bulb
2 cups water
1 gallon water

Take an entire garlic bulb and two cups of water and blend in blender.
Mix at high speed for 1-2 minutes.
Pour into a container and set aside for up to one day.
Strain liquid through a cheese cloth.
Mix liquid with one gallon of water.
Apply liberally on top and bottom of leaves.

Oh Yea!

2010-01-13T23:44:00.004-05:00

So I started a little earlier than I expected. Now that the world has calmed itself after the holidays and our move and a slew of other things, I'm wandering around the house aimlessly, picking at my newly sprouted herbs and fussing over the established orchard sitting in my dining room taking up entirely too much room for comfort. My little two liter method is actually viable and doing well, I'm just not producing enough light and any plans to build an indoor greenhouse against a huge bank of south facing windows in my living room has my husband twitching and putting up his dukes. So I wander, mumbling to myself under my breath and dodging pillows as they are launched by tha man because he knows I'm not so quietly cursing him under my breath for not allowing me to build a jungle in the house. *sigh*

So I'm shopping online instead. I placed my order for the delightful Pink Lemonade Blueberry plus a gaggle of multi-hued raspberries. A cheap order to be sure but my penny pinching is paying off (all tallied, I paid off 7K+ of our debt last year and have just a little more to go to get down to a car payment and mortgage only) and I'm starting to build my respectable orchard even as I have dreams of a yard full of vegetables and gorgeous flowers.

I have to remind myself that I still need to pick up speed slowly. Get a few things established this year, fight the problems with one or two different plants instead of fifteen. Easier to handle a crisis of raspberries than the entire lot of berries that I ultimately plan to have sprouting in all directions around the fence line of the house (yea, think twice about jumping my fence, there buddy).

While I'm not a newbie at gardening, I am not of a mind to tackle multiple problems my first year of major expansion from the previous couple of years of gardening. And the past couple of years have seen horrendous failure. I seem to manage to plant everything that is going to fail for everyone in my area that year. It's actually amazing that I have a knack for it. I paid especial attention to tomatoes last year and that was just a really shitty year for tomatoes and not just in my area from reading other blogs.

But I know better than to give up. I'll be worried about the little failures when the grocery stores stop carrying fresh produce and canned goods. For now, however, I have my place in line reserved for the new pink blueberry. The birds are going to love me. I wonder if I can get a fly swatter big enough for the birds I'm going to be fighting off my blueberry bush.

So the restless wandering is now aimed at how I'm going to handle this particular treat when (if!) I get it. I know the website had it up for grabs, but that doesn't mean I'll get it. Actually, it does mean that I'll be the first one on the "We're out of that for now, we'll ship it and bill you as soon as we have them in" song and dance like it was for my carmine jewel cherry last year even though I ordered it in plenty of time for them to give me a spring shipment as per the website (nameless company!) but yet I didn't get it until September.

Anyway, I think I have the perfect place to put the tophat that I already have in a container and it's pink counter part plus still have enough full sun for the raspberries on that side of the fence. We'll have to see. Now it's all about soil. I have a good bag of it, but I want to put together Mel's Mix so that I can be a little more worry free with it.

I'm very enthusiastic about the whole thing. I've been dying to get out there and do it and so now, I will.

Pink Lemonade Blueberry

2010-01-13T19:00:00.004-05:00

The catalogs have been pouring in and I've been getting the budget ready for the plants that we're going to go with this year and this one seems to be close to the top of my list. It's

Vaccinium 'Pink Lemonade'

From what I've read on it, even the flowers have a pinkish color to them. It appears to be like a regular blueberry in all other respects liking acidic, well drained soil with lots of organic material.

I adore blueberries. They are one of my favorite fruits because they are just delicious! I am very much looking forward to these guys in a nice mix of fruits for a snack or in a compote with a good helping of home made ice cream.

Kitchen Garden

2010-01-02T16:47:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! As the new year has come, so has my little kitchen garden. I started cutting two liter bottles in half and making self watering containers. So far it has worked very well. I have sweet basil, lemon basil, thyme, marjoram, dill, garlic chives, parsley and summer savory all planted. The dill has yet to sprout, but everything else has popped up beautifully. I don't expect the dill to actually make an appearance for another few days. I'm using a compact fluorescent bulb in a regular floor lamp with no cover to give my plants light and it is working wonderfully.

My little orchard is also stacked behind my emerging garden. I nearly lost my bananas because I didn't get them in before the first frost which came on time this year around the 15th of October, much to my dismay. I forgot all about them so I had more than a couple of battered dying leaves but, the bananas have made a very serious come back. My blueberry bloomed shortly after coming in and has continued to do so. I did finally figure out why my poor lemon wasn't doing so well. It's an iron deficiency that was getting out of hand. I found a rusty nail to insert into the pot around the roots and about a week later I finally got the new growth I should have seen back in August but never got. I'm going to find a couple more rusty nails to insert into my orange and lime as well as their lower leaves started to yellow a couple of weeks ago so I'm thinking it is the same problem for them.

The mother of a good friend of mine is a professional horticulturist and I asked her about it and she agreed that it was either an iron deficiency or spider mites. I went home and checked it out to see if I had the mites and there were none, thankfully, it was just a simple iron deficiency and that is easier fixed than the bugs.

So all of the plants are healthy and doing well with my modesty lighting system. I was looking into a small LED lighting system and found them to be affordable at around $60 for a system that will cover about 3 square feet. I'm looking forward to getting something more set up so that I can start with some tomatoes and maybe some cucumbers which will require more light than my little compact can produce alone.

I've been saving up my two liters (and so have my friends) and I'm going to start experimenting with lettuces next to see what all I can grown in my little pots. I don't really need much, and baby greens are very quick to grow and then be devoured. I'm really quite excited about this and so are the kids, the enjoy planting and watching the plants grow.

It's a nice start and I'm certainly looking forward to have a good fresh salad whenever I want!

Phew!

2009-12-20T13:10:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted. We moved back in October to what I hope is a more permanent home (one that we'll buy eventually I think). It doesn't have the huge track of land we wanted, but it has some and it will do for our purposes. Behind our property is a "green belt" which is more than an acre or trees separating us from the street behind us. It's actually quite nice and we are really enjoying out new home.

Anyway, with the move in October, then trying to get the house in order before Thanksgiving and now trying again to make sure it stays somewhat in order for Christmas, it's been challenging to say the least. I'm almost done unpacking, but I've been sort of stuck on the last 15 boxes since three days before Thanksgiving. I actually managed to unpack our entire lives in less than three weeks. Most everything has a home, thankfully and I have a few boxes that are in need of storage because I just don't have a practical place to put them right now. I came to the conclusion that we just have entirely too much stuff and it isn't frivolous junk. Camping gear alone takes up.. wow. And then the kitchen... double wow. You just never realize until you move.

So now I'm back on a limited basis through the holidays. I'm pleased to be able to sit down and actually not feel guilty for touching my computer with stuff standing around me in boxes waiting and pleading to be put away. And I've been very busy writing for Patti Moreno. Be looking forward to this coming year, I've sent many articles to her this month. Seven in total at this point!

I had a thought this past week about an inexpensive self watering container while talking to a rather handy fellow at work. We were talking about building my hydroponic system because he has the tools I'm missing and is interested in seeing how my first run at a full indoor system will work. I was showing him plans when I came across a set of plans using cut off two liter bottles screwed into PVC. It hit me at that point that I could just put the cut off top right back in the cut off bottom and fill it with water.

So I did. I poked my husband into finishing his Pepsi and then I proceeded to cut it in half, stuff some cotton into neck and filled the bottom part with water. The wicking process began. I didn't put the water in from the top because I wanted to see if the cotton would actually pull up enough moisture into the dry soil and it did. It only took a couple of hours but the bottom part of the soil started to intake the water so I felt it was a sound process. I put together three of these over last couple of days. I have lemon basil, sweet basil and garlic chives so far. Now that we're going to save our two liters (I had the kids dig through the recycling bin and grab a few others for me from the last month) I should have a few of these all over the house to see what plants respond well to this and which ones don't.

I'm very excited about this and hope it works. I'll get pictures posted of them as soon as I can.

Council for Responsible Genetics

2009-08-29T20:57:00.002-04:00

I saw this over at Garden Girl's forum from another member there. The site is dedicated to a safe seed program where seed distributors can sign up saying that they are selling seeds that, to their knowledge, are not genetically modified.

It shows distributors not already taking the pledge how they, too, can pledge that their seeds are genetically safe.

It also has a list of seed distributors that have already taken the pledge for your seed shopping needs.

All in all, a definite 10 on the Greener Meter scale.

http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/Help/TakeAction.aspx

Nessy?

2009-08-29T02:07:00.003-04:00

Ok, I know this is way off gardening topic, but Loch Ness is interrupting.

Apparently, someone thinks that she has been captured by Google Earth.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/loch-ness-monster-monster-spotted-on-google-earth/story-e6frev20-1225766449373

Strawberry Tip

2009-08-28T21:42:00.001-04:00

For your first year of planting strawberries, pinch the blooms off to help build stronger, healthier plants and to also make bigger strawberries.

Really Cool Vegetable Database

2009-08-28T13:24:00.004-04:00

Ever get the feeling that you just pick the wrong varieties? You try 4 different ones, they all suck but your neighbor seems to sniff out the goodies when you're stuck with stunted, half-dead plants that won't sustain themselves much less a family.

Welp, here is something to help you out. The University of Saskatchewan has this program where they are putting all the varities to the test and man, is it handy. I've been digging in there on and off and have found that several varieities I wanted to try probably wouldn't be too good of an idea for me to try without a back up.

The really awesome thing about this after I had time to really sit down and look is that it gives you a recommended list of stuff to grow based on their trials. Very handy indeed.

So, have a look at this thing and let me know what you think about it.

Honey Strawberry Preserves

2009-08-27T21:04:00.000-04:00

6 cups sliced strawberries
2 packages (1 3/4-ounce size) powdered pectin
1 3/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Combine strawberries and pectin in large saucepan; crush berries to blend completely. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil over medium-high heat. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Stir in honey and lemon juice; return to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Skim off foam. Ladle into clean, hot canning jars to within 1/4 inch of tops. Seal according to manufacturer's directions.

Place jars on rack in canner. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath with boiling water 2 inches above jar tops. Remove jars from canner. Place on thick cloth or wire rack; cool away from drafts.

After 12 hours test lids for proper seal; remove rings from sealed jars.

Makes 3 pints.

Red Magic Lily

2009-08-26T20:31:00.004-04:00

I really like this flower. It's so lovely and unusual. I found it over at tulipworld.com and they have a lot of very lovely and very unusual bulbs there. I'm looking forward to going back to the site, unfortunately, while I was browsing, I got a "Site Upgrade" message.

Oh well. There are other places to search.

Today was a really good day. Lots of sunshine and the mini dwarf orchard is doing very well. Hydroponic carrots are growing big and strong, too!

I have one great giant one, and a lot of sprouts. I was afraid of the rest being shaded so I turned the pot to help get them more sun. The growth on these little guys has improved. We're very excited! The kids think this is just fabulous and we're looking forward to a continued harvest down the road.

School has started, things are starting to calm down from all the chaos. The kids are excited about being back in school. We've had out little bumps in the road in the first days of school, but we seem to be straightening ourselves out. Happily, the bumps we small. I think the dog has taken this harder than anyone else. Everyone runs off and leaves him at home alone, the poor pathetic little thing.

Even with our busy schedules and our active lifestyles, we still manage to sit down to the dinner table and have a meal together. We may not cook elaborate meals every night, but we make it a point to have that family time together. It is amazing to me, and at first was quite novel. I think this is because of my generation.

Being of Generation X, I was a latch key kid. My generation was very self reliant because most of us only had one parent and they worked. At an early age I cooked full meals, I handled my own laundry, I took care of the house, animals and garden and my homework without being told because I had to grow up faster than the previous generation. I am teaching my children these traits (or at least I'm trying to teach them these values). I want them to handle their own cleaning and they help me cook. The older they get, the more they do. So it is family time the moment we walk in from school and work. We work together to get the meals made, the table set, and then dishes done when its over. We are trying to teach them to do as much of their homework as possible before they get home from the sitter so that we can have more family time (and work on that math problem we just couldn't quite solve on our own).

We are trying to instill face time. Where Traditionalists and Boomers need that face time, my generation is comfortable with face time or just an email. Generation Y doesn't do so well with face time as they are more dependent on technology than X. What will my little one's generation be about? Video conferencing? Face time in another manner, I guess. But that doesn't take the place of family face time. This is where we are trying to uphold the dinners together. If we do not have dinner together, everyone knows something is very wrong.

I was quite ill not too long ago with a rather nasty virus that had me in bed for three days sipping every herbal concoction known to man trying to find the energy to just get out of bed. The first two days, our family meal was very much on hold because my husband didn't get off work until much later and I could hear the children at the table as their made their sandwiches for dinner talk about how much they wished we could all be at the table together. I managed to pull myself out of bed day two and my oldest son made me his best rendition of a PB & J and then helped me back to bed when I couldn't sit up anymore. He tucked me in and stayed around long enough for me to start dozing again before he went back out and took firm command of the clean up process. His sister made sure the pets were fed and cared for in those two days, periodically coming in to fetch my dog who rarely left my side while I was not well and took him out to do his business. My youngest child was in and out checking to make sure that I was comfortable and asking me if he could do anything and laying with me for long periods and telling me how miserable I looked. Hehe. Those moments made me very proud because even though I can't always see that what we are teaching is sinking in but it came through when it really counted. Family time means something.

Lilies and Tulips

2009-08-25T12:13:00.012-04:00

I just love flowers. Tulips and lilies are perhaps the easiest to care for. Plant and go. The only real problem I've had with them is that the bulbs are eaten before I have a chance to do anything between the deer and squirrels diging them up. But there are ways around that!

Biltmore Estate Lily Bulbs: Landini

The Original Big Orange Tiger Lily

Red Tiger Lily

Stargazer Lily

Darwin Hybrid Tulip Bulbs: Design Impression

Biltmore Estate Tulip Bulbs: Prairy Fire

Lily Flowered Tulip Bulbs: West Point

Lily Flowered Tulip Bulb: Pretty Woman

Tulip: Virichic

Candied Ginger and Garlic

2009-08-24T22:55:00.001-04:00

Candied Ginger and Garlic

You can make this recipe dry with just the sugar and spice (the sugar

will form a thin glaze itself) or add water for a thicker syrup which

can itself be added to coffee or a particularly strong tea (it's really sweet). This is wonderful for treating the common cold.

Cut off a hunk of ginger root about half the size of your thumb (or

however much you want to eat). Slice it thin. You can leave the skin on

or peel it. The skin softens in the pan, especially if you use water, so it's no big deal. Slice a clove or two of garlic in similar fashion (but removing all peelings). Place the garlic and ginger in a small saucepan and add a few tablespoons of sugar. You can also add generous helpings of cinnamon and allspice to enhance the ginger's flavor and decongestant property. If you want to make the syrup, also add some water (enough to dissolve the sugar in). Start on medium heat and move to low once the sugar has started to dissolve.

Cold and Fever

2009-08-23T19:35:00.000-04:00

Cold, Fever

1 ounce dried Elder Flowers

1 ounce dried Peppermint Leaves

½ pint distilled water

Mix the herbs. Place in a quart saucepan. Pour 1/2 pints of distilled boiling water over it. Cover and allow to steep in a hot place for 10 to 15 minutes (do not boil). When ready, strain into another saucepan. Sweeten with honey if desired.

Note: Once covered for steeping, do not raise the lid, as this will cause it to lose some of its strength.

Recommended Dose:

Take this in bed, well covered with blankets to retain the heat.

For severe colds and fevers, drink one pint as hot as possible, and remain in bed, well covered.

For children: one half to one cup.

After taking this remedy, stay in bed well covered for at least 12 hours to promote free perspiration.

Please note: This remedy is quite harmless and safe. It will induce perspiration 20 to 40 minutes after taking, and sometimes sooner. This will soothe you to sleep, and the perspiration will continue for several hours.

In some cases, the temperature has been reduced from 104 to 99 degrees within two hours!!

According to Dr. Dr. Edward E. Shook, well known herbalist, "there is no remedy for colds and fevers of any description equal to this simple life-saving formula."

Follow-up

The next morning, if the fever or cold is completely broken, take a sponge bath with warm water. Change linens in bed. Take some light nourishment such as fruit juices, (pineapple, orange or prune juices). Keep your body warm and away from all drafts for a day or two.

If one dose does not completely break up the cold or fever, take another dose after 24 hours.

Free Green Can

2009-08-22T22:31:00.003-04:00

Ok, this is cool. I stumbled across the Free Green Can today and I am clapping happy for it. It's a trash can and a recycle bin in one and it is free to anyone that wants to get started or wants to compliment their current program. And according the the website, one is paid to use the free green can which would get anyone jumping. They have video about it, too. Very 10 on the greener meter!

You know the City of Knoxville must hate me. I am always sending them this stuff.

Lots of Flowers and a bit of a rant

2009-08-22T20:29:00.002-04:00

I found this really awesome blog, A Garden of Grace and Whimsy. It is just beautiful. This lady loves her flowers and she has tons of pictures to prove it!

I also swung by Garden Rant to see a news clip that just pissed me off. It wasn't the warning that the segment was trying to convey, it was at the very beginning where the woman who has this flower in her garden actually had the audacity to say she couldn't believe that such a plant was legal because it was so deadly. The news anchor chimes in "especially since it has been used to commit murder." They go on to talk about another plant and then she says it. "Later on this morning... Plants with evil intent."

I just about dropped my laptop.

Are you kidding me? Plants with evil intent? Oh yes, that's right, they get up, walk over to someone's food and hop in of their on volition. Arrest that flower. Your honor, this flower is guilty of murder! No. The woman that plucked it and used it to murder her husband is guilty. She could have done it with a sledge hammer or a bottle of drano, an injection she picked up from a carelessly unattended cart at the hospital and none of those items would have been accused of evil intent. Its disgusting.

The idiocy is astounding. A grown woman standing in front of a camera talking about plants as if they have the will or ability to do something... what did she get her triple dose of cartoons before she filmed that?

The fact of the matter here and now is that these plants are to be respected. Respected. Not accused as if it were a court room. Respect the plant. Grow up. Quit trying to terrify people. And for the love of all things sacred, don't be so hypocritical to say it should be illegal and have the damn thing growing in your yard. That is just stupid because when they do make it illegal (thanks in no small part to you), your house is the first one they'll come to.

Sheeple. Please understand that these people are blowing things out of proportion. You do not have to worry about a stray petal of whatever flower strolling into your kitchen when you aren't looking to kill you. If you put some time and effort into researching what the media feeds you, you'd find out that 95% of it is bullshit. Can the plant kill you? Yep. Which is exactly why you shouldn't eat it. Would you have been tempted before that segment? Probably not.

Disgusting, I say.

Horehound for Colds and Coughs

2009-08-21T21:08:00.003-04:00

I was out shopping for school and realized that the autumn decorations are already out. And then it hit me that next month marks the beginning of fall and it is only a few days away. Jeez, next week it will be Christmas at this rate!

That also got me pulling out my goodie folder of cold remedies. Lots and lots of advice from a lot of different websites, books and ahem, herbalists.

Aside from drinking herbal infusions for colds and flu, there are additional things that homemakers can whip up and create that are less likely to be filled with.. well unpronounceable 12 syllable words. I'd much rather prefer that my ingredient list be as monosyllabic as possible, thank you.

Horehound Drops
published on alt.folklore.herbs 1995

4 ounces of fresh horehound leaves
1/2 tsp crushed aniseed,
3 crushed cardamon seed
2 1/2 c of water, simmer this for 20 minutes then strain

Dissolve 2 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 c of brown sugar in the tea liquid. Boil until reaches hard crack stage pour into oiled try. Score when partially cooled.

These can be wrapped in wax paper and then dropped in a ziplock. They will store for a long time but mine have never lasted long enough for me to test the length of time they will keep.

This is a pretty easy thing to do especially if you've ever made your own candy before. It takes a little time but the effort is worth it.

Good Fungicide

2009-08-19T20:55:00.002-04:00

If you need a good safe organic fungicide simply mix 2 tablespoons of Baking Soda per gallon of water, spay the plants liberally. This puts an alkaline coating on the plants which doesn't allow the fungus to grow and is completely safe for both plants and animals.

More Spotted Wilt

2009-08-16T23:21:00.002-04:00

It would seem that I am not the only victim of the spotted wilt. I was asked how my tomatoes were doing by someone at work and wouldn't you know it, he too had the same problem. And his mother. And their neighbor. And the two gardens I was working on with friends, they were also victims of the spotted wilt. What we all thought was blight, turned out to be a virus and their complaints were the same as mine. No pest management when it rains every evening at the same time.

*sigh*

It's just so disheartening. The good that came from all of this is that it really has given food for thought. That aeroponic system looks really good now, so I went down to the lone hydroponic shop in town and started really getting serious about pricing. I talked with the owner for a good long while and we shared some gardening tidbits. He liked my tums for blossom end rot (as we know most blossom end rot is caused by cal or mag deficiency, pick one, tums is nothing but cal and mag) and actually seemed thoughtful about it for a moment and even more surprised when I told him that I have not had problems with it. But I was in the presence of a giant. Hydroponic gardener for 20+ years. I sooo bow down to the master. His vast knowledge will definitely see me through.

So, between helping other customers that came in, he was coaching me on what a starting hydroponic gardener really needs and he kept it very simple. I asked lots of questions about nutrients and lighting and supplements and he was more than happy to really dish out the goodies on all of that. And strangely, the nutes he uses are actually not the stuff that I thought he'd use. I mean, there is Advanced Nutrients (loved that million dollar challenge Big Mike put out), General Hydroponics, Foxfarm and all the other giants, but he actually uses a more obscure brand of nutrient and sticks to it. Fairly amazing to me.

On top of that, he loaded me down with freebies. I have literature coming out of the yin yang. Lots of magazines and pamphlets and just a ton of really awesome advice.

I got home and went through his product catalog and my husband and I started taking inventory of hardware we don't have to build our own system (like that 3 and 4 inch hole attachment for the drill, who has that lying around anyway?) and went on a price check. Everything was reasonable that we'd need to purchase. I looked at flo tubes for a grow room, too. So, we've come to the conclusion that we're looking forward to having a hydro system set up outside for seasonal growing, but we really want to have an indoor one growing stuff all year round as well. Like the tomatoes that we've failed to actually get to eat for the past couple of years due to disaster after disaster.

This winter we'll be rather busy with raised beds, chicken tractors, greenhouse and hydroponic/aeroponic systems to be built. I'm looking forward to keeping busy. I'm thinking of trying to get first indoor system built here shortly. Nothing huge, just a 4 or 6 plant system that will be capable of handing a couple of tomatoes and peppers and maybe some basil. With the start of the school year next week for us, that might have to go on hold until things calm down.

Wish me luck!

Milk it

2009-08-08T18:01:00.002-04:00

One way to give your tomatoes a nice boost to help fight off fungus diseases is to spray them down with milk. This also helps give calcium to them which helps them fight off disease as well. Any milk will do, just make it a 1:10 milk to water ratio and spray away. You can use other dairy products besides milk or chocolate milk, sour cream and yogurt works, too!

Curry Pickles

2009-08-04T21:54:00.001-04:00

Curry Pickles
Family recipe from Steve Hougland

36 med. pickling cukes-thinly sliced

pour boiling water over slices and let stand 3 hours
mix together in large kettle:

1 qt. vinegar

6 TB. Salt

6 cup sugar

2 TB. mustard seed

1 TB. Celery seed

1 TB. curry powder

Let come to a boil & add pickle slices - simmer until they turn translucent - do not boil.

Pack into pint jars and seal and process in waterbath canner for time recommended in your area.

Makes 14 pints.

Ok, this is sad

2009-08-01T23:27:00.003-04:00

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2556548/Dutch-vandals-chuck-tiny-Smart-cars-in-Amsterdam-canals.html

The next craze. :(

Back to Basics - Herbs

2009-07-26T16:46:00.003-04:00

Digging through my library, I found one of my most used tomes. I tucked it away because the poor thing is just falling apart, its in 3 pieces now from use and research. When I bought it ages ago, I had no idea how valuable it would be. It's Jeanne Rose's Herbs and Things. The book is laid out first by the herbs themselves and it takes up the first half of the book. There is history, lore, some growing information, uses, preparations and a lot of other very useful information listed. She has sections with recipes and how to prepare. I have several books by Jeanne Rose including Kitchen Cosmetics. She is a wonderful author.

I have enjoyed growing an array of herbs. I've had many challenges here in Tennessee with growing herbs and vegetables, like any place, there are unique principles that one must learn to be successful. I think my favorite ones to grow are basil and parsley. Both are easy, quick growing and have thrived every time I've grown them. Another favorite, but it has always been a challenge, has been lavender. It seems to be the pickiest of plants. I really like growing echinacea, as well. The last one I had planted was quite tall, coming past my waist (I'm tall for a woman so the plant was amazingly tall). It eventually had a birds nest in it which was amazing in an of itself, too!

Harvesting the herbs is something else I really enjoy. There is nothing like a fresh cup of chamomile tea that you harvested yourself. Or a fresh tincture of immunity boosting goldenseal and echinacea for colds. Or that fresh basil, rosemary, thyme right out of the garden for your dinner.

I have a big list of herbs that I want to get planted and am excited about trying some new ones I've never had before (like lime basil, that just sounds good) and to help get me back into the swing of things, I found an old site with a new face that I hadn't thought about in a long time in a bookmark folder I'd forgotten. Its been a day for going back over sites I've not seen in a while and finding books that I've tucked away. I'm really feeling a little lost as so many places I used to frequent seem to no longer exist. Such a pity so many resources are gone. But Henriette's Herbal is still alive and kicking and larger than ever.

I like her site because she has a lot of good contributors, she has some seriously sarcastic wit and genuinely loves her herbs. Her site has been around for years and is one of the largest, if not the largest, herbal informational websites out there, not to mention its in several different languages.

With everything so close at hand, I'm getting acquainted with things that I have long since stopped doing and getting back into habits that I have long missed. All the new projects that we have scheduled for kick off after we purchase our new home and all the old projects we plan to pick back up seem overwhelming but we're all looking forward to the trials and work involved in becoming a little bit more self reliable. We have the fall and winter to prepare the property for all that we plan. We have set out a schedule for the next couple of years so that we can get things really moving and be where we want to be in five years or so. Time and money well spent.

On a side note, I went out to check my plants right before the storm hit and I noticed two tiny little carrot sprouts. The hydroponic idea I got from the Aerogarden Mastery site is taking off. In a few weeks, we'll have baby carrots to munch down on. Another very exciting moment. This time, we'll keep the rabbits from cleaning us out!

The Unthinkable!

2009-07-26T01:16:00.002-04:00

My really healthy tomatoes are at this point no so healthy anymore. What I thought was fungus from everyday late afternoon rains for a while has turned out not to be a fungus at all. It isn't even the late blight that Barbara commented on (though I do thank you for the comment, Barbara). Over the past couple of days I've watched really great looking plants start withering at the base with spotted wilt virus. It's actually taken me most of the day researching to figure this one out as I've never seen it before.

I was treating the plants for fungus but that wasn't the problem at all and now the disease is spreading so quickly. Luckily, my neighbor's tomatoes and peppers are not being effected and none of the rest of the plants and trees I have in containers currently have any signs whatsoever. So far so good on that. But my beautiful heirloom tomatoes... so sad. This just strengthens my resolve for a hydroponics room. I've not really seen any signs of thirps, which is the usual carrier for this virus. The rain made it very difficult to keep any DE on the plants so I had little to no pest management at all for several weeks. This was a very serious learning experience.

Luckily, I found a lot of really awesome tools that helped me diagnose the problem, even thought I didn't want to believe it because there's just no saving my plants.

The rest of the garden is doing well. I've not lost anything else. My carrots haven't sprouted yet, but there will be a few more days before that can be expected. This method I'm using seems as if it will be a good way to do it. I skipped the clear plastic wrap part because it has been so mild lately and the self watering container keeps the mixture very evenly moist without it being wet. So we'll see if my instincts are correct.

Spotted wilt virus. *sigh*

Garden Update

2009-07-20T20:28:00.010-04:00

Aside from running around and helping to tend to other gardens, my little container garden is doing well. I'm excited that I've been able to start a new project. I got the idea to do this from the archives of Aerogarden Mastery page. It is very easy and very basic so I hunted down a self watering pot, a big one, the one I have is 20" around and perlite and vermiculite. I thoroughly mixed the two bags of medium together, watered it thoroughly and then planted my carrot seeds straight into the moist medium and then gave it a nice spray of water with a spray bottle.

The medium and the bottom reservoir held nearly two gallons of water without overflowing. The reservoir was only about 1/2 full. It will be very interesting to see if this little experiment will work. The link above actually have pictures of how it worked out over several weeks and so I thought I'd give it a shot.

The kids had a great time!

My tomatoes are doing fantastic!

The sauce tomato came up first, but isn't producing as fast as the black plum tomato below. Both are doing very well except for some expected fungal problems that I expected after it rained nearly every day in the late afternoon for three weeks. I handled the fungus problems and we've been doing pretty good ever since. Though, there are just a ton of suckers that I'm having to remove.

Black plum tomatoes are a lot larger than I thought they would be. They are actually a nice good size. I've see blushes of color on the sauce tomatoes, but nothing as of yet on the plums. But very excited because there are just a ton of flowers.

But they will be red and ripe.

The tiny little banana's I got have exploded into these beautiful long wide leaves. It's amazing how much growth they have! Right next to them is the orange and it has tripled in size itself.

The blueberry (left right beneath the orange) took a pretty serious hit in a storm, losing half the plant to hard winds, but it has finally come out of the shock and is starting to grow again. The lemon is the only one that doesn't seem to have bushed out, the very light green one in the middle, but the leaves are just growing large. The pomegrante in the red container, has a lot of blooms and has long branches. The lime on the other side of the large carrot container, has also tripled in size and has a lot of new growth.

Everything is growing so well and there have been no set backs so far. I'm just waiting for my cherry tree to come in this fall so that the last empty pot that doesn't seem to want to stay up right anywhere can be filled with its own tree, too!

Labor of Love

2009-07-16T19:45:00.002-04:00

It's exhausting! I've been helping a couple of friends out with their gardens due to circumstance and it is amazing how much work goes into large gardens. While one friend is down with a broken leg and grumbles about only being able to sit an observe and not do all that much and the other is out of town, I've got my hands full! Both declined to have photos of their properties posted on the blog, but that is ok, I'm having fun anyway.

I've learned a lot of what not to do from these two vastly different garden plots. At one, there is a tangle of hoses and plots that do not allow for easy watering. Not that it is bad garden design, just poor garden position. On the flip side, the other garden I'm helping to tend has the T-tape type soaker hose. Very nice stuff, very easy to maintain.

Raised beds are your friend. But we knew that already. I've noticed there is less soil borne disease, even with beds that are a few years old. And if disease does take a foothold, it is more difficult to spread. In ground gardens do not necessarily have that benefit. Its easier on the back, too, at least once it is installed.

Make sure you keep a good schedule. I didn't know when to fertilize. When were they all watered last? How much tomato food did you give these guys last time?

The vast differences in techniques and set ups from two close friends that have the same ideas is just amazing. Both are good set ups, and both have good yields, but the small problems that each combats are vastly different.

Anyway, I'm off to go pick some peas and tomatoes.

Happy gardening!

Birthday Present

2009-07-08T19:50:00.003-04:00

I went out to look at my tomatoes today, my birthday, and found just tons of little tomatoes everywhere on both plants. Couldn't have gotten a better present. I'm looking forward to the ripe red tomatoes right off the vine. Provided the make it that far. My husband and children are threatening to go right out there with a salt shaker and demolish the lot!

I like the fencing I put up around them instead of the cages. They seem much more stable and there isn't a problem with reaching the berries. Very good buy on the fencing.

The fruit trees are doing very well. The blueberry took a serious hit in one of the very serious storms that we had. Half of the plant was ripped off, but the rest of it survived and there is new growth. The banana's have tripled in size and all the citrus has a lot of new growth. Very awesome to see it.

I do have one fear. The citrus greening disease and the insects that carry them are spreading. South Carolina and Georgia both have recently been put on the infected list. Keep your eye out on that for your area. There is a link at the top!

One Step Closer

2009-06-29T20:15:00.002-04:00

We're moving in the right direction. I am close to meeting the stipulations that the lender wants to see before we get our prequalification letter for the mortgage. We very excited! We have our eye on 7 acres with a nice spacious house and already fenced with a barn. So we'll see if it is on the market when we're ready. If not, there are plenty of others!

Most of my plants have doubled in size since the last pictures and are doing very well. The banana's seem to have some problems with the heat, but I'm learning that if I keep a contain of water near it keeps their leaves from curling in the hot days here in Tennessee.

The tomatoes are massive! Even though I got a late start on them, they are blooming a week a little earlier than I expected so we should have black plum tomatoes and Heinz sauce tomatoes very soon! We've already decided that our excess, aside from what we're giving to neighbors that want some, that we'll donate to a local church that does canning.

Its been very beautiful here over the past month, much better than the drought we went though in the previous few years. Steady rain and good amounts of warm, clear days has been a blessing this year. We're hoping our luck holds for the next few seasons so that we can get ourselves established in our new place.

We've been trying to decide where to start. So many projects! Aside from obvious starts such as compost and rain catchment systems, we're also trying to decide what critters we want to start off with next spring. Bees definitely come to mind. We don't want to go too fast with it, wanting to work one project at a time so that we don't end up with one disaster after another. We have tentatively decided that we will do bees first, then chickens, quail, rabbits and then the fish and shrimp. After those we'll work on cattle and whatever else we decide we want. I'm thinking its going to be easy to start the birds together, considering that their needs are similar (not the same!) and incubation can be done at the same time and while we're waiting for them to hatch, it gives us time to build housing for them. I'm not terribly keen on raising hogs, we're not pork people. Some sausage, bacon and the occasional roast and we're good, so we're thinking to trade.

Animals, gardening, solar and wind power, geothermal heating and cooling. The list is nearly endless, but we seem to be moving in the right direction to start living sustainably. The more reading we do, the more we realize that this is what we really want to do.

It is impressive how this movement is gaining momentum, not just in the US but in all the world. More and more people are beginning to realize that this is what we should be doing. Living more simply and producing more on our own instead of depending on a system that was doomed to fail eventually is the norm. Its in the news, more and more companies are going green. More and more people are demanding cleaner ways to live, healthier food to eat and easier ways to produce energy that are not harmful to the world. With more and more of us working towards these goals, the cheaper these things become. Eventually, it will be the norm, but with all change, this transition from mass production to self sufficiency will take time and effort.

Dwarf Obsession

2009-06-11T13:56:00.009-04:00

Black Plum tomato.

Heinz 1439 tomato.

Dwarf Tophat blueberry.

Dwarf Pomegranate.
Dwarf Meyer Lemon and Dwarf Lime.

Dwarf orange.

One of two dwarf bananas.

I got them and they have been hardened off and are doing very well. The banana's were a challenge, but I met that challenge! My tomatoes are very far behind as these are replants. I've been very busy indeed. I looked over my previous posts and realized that I have been seriously neglecting the blog!

My fear today is that we have high winds and heavy rains with tornado warnings. My banana's are newly out without being in full sun for a full day yet this week from all the rain. But they seem to be ok. But the rolling thunder and constant lighting of the storm that just rolled in as I type, makes me wonder if all my plants will survive this. We shall see. I was cleaning and didn't realize the sun disappeared until I heard the wind, by the time I got to the door to see, the rain and wind were already beating down. This is a good test I think. While they are in pots, they will spend a good deal of time outside and I will not always be here to bring them in when we get these sudden violent storms.

Or maybe I should go ahead and invest in that greenhouse I want before I do anything else once we buy the house. Either way, we'll have to get some strength in on these plants. They have already survived a pea and marble sized hale in two different instances in the past month.

All I can do is hope the bananas will forgive me.

juice

2009-06-10T20:15:00.003-04:00

With my mini orchard started, I'm looking forward to the rewards of having fresh fruit at various times of the year. Like most people, I really enjoy fresh fruit, the satisfying crunch of an apple and the mellow flavors of blueberries. But, also like a lot of people, I also like the blends of juices that you can find at the grocery stores. I'm a huge fan of V8 fusion juices and others that are similar. I've found copy cat recipes all over for all sorts of juices but I came across this site on juice and the do's and don't's of it.

I never really knew that there were so many fruits and vegetables to be juiced! 38 fruits and 58 vegetables! I'm definitely looking forward to breaking out a juicer and trying out some of the recipes found on the site. There are quite a few and with the collection I already have from various places on the web, we'll be juicing like crazy. Which is not a bad thing. If it means the kids get their vegetables, then I'm all for it.

Lots of talk, now go do it

2009-06-10T19:54:00.003-04:00

I've been talking since I began this blog about the plans of our little farm. Now it looks like it will become reality. Our plans to move to the PNW have been crushed, but that is ok, it appears that I'll be fine where I'm at. We've been mulling over what to do now that our little plan to escape back to where we thought home was has been deflated. It wasn't all for naught, just a little out of reach due to circumstance that I won't bore the blog with. Anyway. I spoke to a gentleman a couple of days ago and we've begun the process. Now it is just a matter of finding the right property. We've got time, so we're going to save as much as possible while we're hunting and then go with it.

It is exciting. This is what we've been working towards, it just wasn't the area we wanted to be in, but that is ok, we'll be happy with our own place and doing what we do. It is long over due. I've been rather busy trying to handle the different aspects of what we're attempting to accomplish hence my blog being so quiet so I apologize for my absence. Even my dwarf obsession took a back burner to the larger picture. But now it seems that things are calming and we're almost there. I have a couple of guidelines I have to meet before I can really get down to business with a loan officer but that will take just a couple of weeks and then it is finding out how much we qualify for and then plugging in a search. We're almost there, we're almost there, we're almost there.

My list of things to start is just jumbled! I suppose my first task is to buy it then unpack before I unroll the 3 mile long parchment of wish projects. My husband is so excited it can scarcely contain himself which just adds to my own giddiness. I'll be in and out for a while until we get it settled, but then I'll be back to posting and getting pictures up of each of our projects as we take them on!

Wish us luck!

Finally!

2009-06-08T01:10:00.002-04:00

All but one of my trees came in! The cherry will be shipped in September. I have been very scarce due to this. I've been observing and working with them. I never realized that shipping could shock a plant so. In the past two weeks I have learned this. I also discovered that I was fortunate to receive two banana trees tightly packed together in their little pot.

The pomegranate came out strongest. I actually have 5 buds on that little guy. The blueberry and pomegranate were transplanted and outside within a few days of them coming in. All of the citrus came out very strong as well. I was impressed at their ability to bounce back. Those went out day before yesterday. The only two left are the bananas.

I agonized on how to handle these. I gave them almost a full week before trying to decide on how best to separate them without killing them both. In the end, I washed the soil from their roots, detangled them as well as I could without ripping all of their roots off, then repotted. They both seem to be doing well, but when I started the hardening off process, the leaves on the biggest one started to curl even though it was in a shaded area.

I have big concerns about that. I'm starting with an open window and then I'm going to try again in the evening to go outside again for a few days. After a week I'm going to try shaded cool mornings and see what happens.

I had no idea bananas were so picky.

Until next time and maybe some pics, too!

Red Onions

2009-05-13T20:07:00.004-04:00

As I munch down on my tuna sandwich as I write I can't but help thinking how under appreciated the red onion really is. I use it for so much but I can't remember when it was that I ultimately decided to start using it. I certainly didn't grow up with it in the food my mother cooked as my father is a green onion kind of man.

Whenever it was, I have at least discovered the wonderful flavor of this particular onion and I have one in my fridge at all times. I chop it finely to put in my smooth chicken salad. I have never liked chunky chicken salad sandwiches, I prefer for everything to hold together and it is only with my chicken, tuna can have chunks, but my chicken salad must be smooth. I had diced red onion to my tuna (like now, yum). I really enjoy it in a good salad and I made one not too long ago as a remake of a salad I had while visiting Atlanta.

I posted the recipe on Garden Girl's forum, but I never quite made it over here to post it and since I'm in a red onion mood, I'll post it now.

This salad isn't horribly complicated and if you're a vegetarian/vegan you can omit any offending ingredients. Another note is I made this for myself so I'm giving a list of what I did for a single plate.

1 small handful baby spinach leaves
3 romaine lettuce leaves, torn into bite sized pieces
5 or 6 cherry or plum tomatoes of choice
1 small bunch of shredded carrots
1 complete sliced ring of red onion, separated and broken into pieces
5 or 6 strips yellow bell pepper, broken into pieces
5 or 6 Kalamata olives
1 tablespoon of crumbled feta cheese
1 strip of bacon, crumbled
1 grilled salmon fillet
Croutons
Black pepper to taste

Wash and pat everything dry. Take the stems off the spinach and tear up larger leaves. I originally tried this with Greek vinaigrette but thought it was better with a balsamic vinaigrette.

That was an awesome salad. And that ring of red onion just set it off. I've discovered several things about red onion in different capacities. It is always crisp but in my tuna or chicken, it has a spicy flavor, in my salad it lent a sweet onion tang. It compliments instead of overpowering.

I'm looking forward to growing some in the future. I still haven't fathomed the idea of aeroponic root crops like potatoes, carrots and of course onions. I'm still working on that. But you can bet it will be in my raised beds when I finally get some!

So ship them already!

2009-05-13T19:23:00.002-04:00

I placed an order for part of my orchard weeks ago. And to my amazement, the shipping dates keep getting pushed back. I've been watching for the past couple of weeks as they trees don't show up that the trees won't be shipped for another week or two. How depressing. In this case, I'm not very patient because the last minute changes keep occurring.

At any rate, things are slow. The destruction of my small garden last week is still disheartening and I don't think I'll have a chance to get another one really started before I have to leave. It would be a shame to take all that time and then never get a harvest off of it, so I'm resigned to reading and wishing.

I know there are many of you out there that are the same way and I feel your pain. I've been looking more and more into aeroponics because of this little disaster I have experienced. I'm sorely in need of something growing that I put together myself but it just isn't happening and it is driving me nuts. When the seed wish list is not longer a wish, the tools have been purchased and are just hanging out all shiny and new and you can do... nothing. I can start plenty but will never see it to it's end. I'm anxious to get this move over so I can finally have my home with my little garden.

Knoxville Permaculture Guild

2009-05-03T22:48:00.004-04:00

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Knoxville has it's own Permaculture Guild. From the looks of the site it is still relatively young, but it is there none-the-less. I was slightly stricken that I should find this with my impending move to the PNW, but if nothing else, I can join in and have some fun before I go (if I go, the employment situation up there is looking a little grim, the hubby is threatening to return to Knoxville if this keeps up). I'm looking forward to snooping around the site and having a look at what the community is all about. With luck I will be able to attend some gatherings and workshops on various aspects of permaculture.

Sustainable Living

2009-05-02T16:30:00.003-04:00

They are just springing up everywhere, the little Victory Garden now renamed by most people the Freedom Garden. From the White House to lovely backyards. But is it enough? A little vegetable garden will certainly help Americans get back to eating healthy and help everyone world wide lift some of the burden that is the food demand. But can a good tasty salad, some beans, peas and corn be enough?

Some say not.

There are many folks looking for alternative ways to sustain themselves without having to move out of their urban setting and more now than ever, they are looking not only for the garden, but for the meat supply. To know what is in it, what it was fed, how it was treated are becoming very important to folks these days. This is inevitably a follow up to such stories concerning antibiotics, hormonal treatments and lousy husbandry that has been drifting in and out of the news for the past several years.

A list of things to consider for urban and non-urban settings alike:

Chickens (urban and non-urban)
Quail (urban and non-urban)
Rabbit (urban and non-urban)
Goats (urban and non-urban)
Bees (non-urban and in specific circumstances urban)
Shrimp (urban and non-urban)
Fish (urban and non-urban)

When I say urban, I don't mean the 10 acres sitting on the edge of town, I'm talking about sub-divisions and residential areas that have small plots of land. Yes, you can have acreage in town, I know because I lived on 3 in Knoxville. But not everyone will have this land readily available. Hence bees being in specific circumstances. I don't think it would fly too well if someone in a 75 house subdivision with lot sizes of 10 by 40 for a back yard decided to start up a bee hive. Definitely not.

There are laws to consider. Licenses in some states, cities, counties. Neighbors to annoy. But once all that is worked out and you have decided what it is you can do, what is stopping you?

And it isn't just meat anymore:

Cheese
Yogurt and other dairy staples
Grain growing and milling
Cosmetics
Candles
Mead and alcohol and here
Vinegar
Orchards

It doesn't really stop there either. Homemade wind generators and solar power are also becoming more popular due to the high costs associated with buying packages and having them professionally installed. And for those lucky enough to be near water, there is water generation to consider.

So depending on what you can do will depend on how many other things you can accomplish. For example: If you keep bees you have honey to make mead, you can potentially make vinegar from the alcohol from the mead, you can make candles from the wax, cosmetics from the wax and honey and have honey to use as a sweetener in lieu of sugar. The bees will in turn pollinate your vegetable and grain crops and orchard. Grains, vegetables and fruits mean food for you, food for beef, chicken, pork, game. Meat from any of these, eggs from chickens and quail, dairy from the cows and goats. You can see where all this is going.

A nice little package that is, no? While it does cost upfront to get started in land (providing you aren't paying for it already), supplies and labor, it pays off in the future. Once established, its maintained, and less work is involved. Less work, not no work but still less work all around. There are many testaments to this. Blogs are numerous that show examples of this type of urban sustainable living. Some of them are a little outside of town, some are smack dab in the middle.

One thing I learned growing up is the ability for a community to trade. Ok, so you can't have bees on your back 40 and you can have noisy chickens and there is just not enough room for goats. Gotcha. That doesn't stop you from making friends with a local bee keeper or farmer. Trade is good. Farmers markets are a priceless resource for such things. I was part of a small farmers market in Knoxville selling homemade soaps. I traded for potted herbs, fresh baked breads, other homemade soaps, fresh vegetables, locally produced honey, locally made salsas, jelly, jam, preserves. I still have contact with some of these folks, even if I don't get to make the homemade soap for the market anymore and I get discounts from these people for trading with them in the past for their locally produced wares and when I have something to trade, they know about it.

It didn't cost me anything but my own initiative, sweat, and time. I was already at the market for my own reasons, building the network was a bonus. Everything depends on how much time you want to put into this sort of life. It is a life style change. I dare say that once you start eating french fries from your own potatoes, it would be difficult to go back to fast food. There is nothing in the world like fresh beef.

Growing up, I moved from small town to big city and the transition was difficult. Everything tasted like plastic, fresh foods didn't seem to have the same textures, colors, flavors or even aromas that I knew. My husband is the grandson of a butcher so when we decided to buy a side of beef, the savings were a huge factor, but afterwards, we wouldn't have cared if we'd paid thousands of dollars. There is just no contest.

How to get established:

First, give up on the idea of perfect looking vegetables. You want uniformed vegetables, go to the grocery store. They throw out enough odd looking food because it isn't desirable. Your garden is not a commercial grower. Your garden is a place of out of the norm shades of the rainbow, of dimpled tomatoes, crooked potatoes, pointy ears of corn. Food is misshaped, so what? You're likely to be cutting it into chunks and tossing it into something anyway, what does it matter what its exact shape was when it came out of the garden?

Second, mother nature giveth and she also taketh away. You will have losses. There will be bad years. There are going to be times where you seems as if nothing you've done amounts to a hill of beans. Literally. But this happens. Blight wiped out the American Chestnut trees to almost near extinction. The chestnuts we see now are Asian. Disease is threatening the main type of banana you see at the store today, we'll switch to another kind that is resistant to the disease. Disease is threatening our citrus, again, we'll stitch to a disease resistant kind. Large scale, these things are utterly devastating, it is a economic disturbance, etc. In the home garden, it means you get to find another tasty variety to grow that is resistant to whatever happens to be plaguing you. Do not see it as failure. See it as a learning experience that enables you to try something new that will dazzle the family, neighbors and friends at the dinner table.

You start small. In my mind there are musts. Rain barrels. Compost. Good soil. Start there and then work into the garden. A lot of beginners make the mistake of jumping in both feet and then are unable to continue when several disasters hit in rapid succession or all at once. The small ecosystem that is being established takes time. I was reading on one of the forums I enjoy and a new gardener was just freaking out. She'd started her garden that year, she had numerous plantings and had no experience with any of them. She was over run by pests and disease and she was losing heart. It is difficult to establish a proper area all at once. Start with a few items you wish to grow first - after you can maintain them with your rain barrels and ideally be able to supplement with your compost (not a requirement, but still handy). Think amendments, too, comfrey in the compost, comfrey tea, manure in the compost (you know from your chickens and cows), manure tea, kelp in the compost, kelp extract. Blood and bone meal.

After you've got some beneficial insects attracted to your garden with a few items, expand it. The beneficial insects will keep returning and will aid in balancing the destructive ones. Will you have pest problems? Yep, you surely will, if not, why do we have all the insecticides that we have on the market? Will there be disease problems? Absolutely. But it is easier to handle a couple of problems at a time instead of ten and it is all about the balance. The first time you plant something new, you might get lucky and never have a problem with that item, but that won't happen every time you plant something new or even things you've planted for five years in a row. Red wigglers, lady bugs, bees are all beneficial creatures for the garden and you can buy them online to be delivered. While bees take more effort, the worms and lady bugs are released and go to work.

As for adding critters. You can establish them first or second. If first, you'll have a feed bill. If second and you've decided to plant what they will eat and handle it yourself, it might take you a while to get there. Feed is getting more expensive, so consider what it is that your critter of choice will eat and then grow it in the first or second batch of gardening you do so if you plan to not have a feed bill, you're not blind sided by blight, mold, fungus, or insects the first year and end up with an expense you were not expecting. There are numerous sites that have recipes for home made feeds for all sorts of farm animals and game for proper nutrition. If you have enough area, let them forage for themselves. Most of the animals we eat have been around for a long time, they didn't always have us hanging out to feed them either and yet they survived.

Everything is a circle. Your garden feeds you and your critters, your critters will help clean up the garden when its done and help you to fertilize and aerate so you can garden again. The benefits of these things are that you can make your own foods and store them so that you are not depending on a hormonally grown, genetically altered, chemically treated system. The more you do, the better off you are. If you are unable to do as much, you can benefit from a network of trading. Its time and patience and most of all it's a choice.

Swine Flu

2009-04-30T14:28:00.002-04:00

The WHO (World Health Organization) has been keeping up with this. While the flu in general can be dangerous, this Swine Flu is apparently not as dangerous. Just be careful and make sure to wash your hands frequently.

Which kind of brings me to a state of mind that too much sanitizers can be a bad thing. It helps to breed super bugs that could potentially be more dangerous. Food for thought.

Say Goodbye to Farmers

2009-04-26T23:22:00.003-04:00

A sad day this is. This article rings true for more than just Americans.

http://www.treehuggersofamerica.org/Say_Goodbye_To_Farmers.php

In light of this, a way to contact a representative so that you can make your voice heard:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Monsanto Sues Germany

2009-04-26T22:45:00.003-04:00

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17638.cfm

Unbelievable. They are going to take on a country that has made the decision to ban their GMO maize. This company is completely out of control.

Obama Gets In On the Act

2009-04-01T21:01:00.007-04:00

Ok, so you know that everyone has been buzzing around about how there *should* be a Freedom Garden or Victory Garden on the White House lawn. Welp, the First Family is going to do just that. Amazingly, there will be children from a local school to help the First Lady dig up her lawn for her garden. Can't beat that.

Setting an example to the public is a good thing, but already we've begun to feel the crunch. Several seed websites and forums I have visited recently have already started talking about the seed crunch. They are already having problems coming up with the seed to meet demand of certain vegetable items. One such site in the UK, states that they are just not going to offer individual packets anymore, they are going to focus more on sets of seeds and this is due to the current state of the economy.

The people of the world have already begun to start focusing on where the crisis at hand is leading instead of living in the now. We've heard all the talk of future events due to peak oil, over urbanization and global warming. The disappearing polar ice and with it the polar critters comes to mind. The future has been shoved at the populace so much, it appears that it has taken effect and people are trying to at least begin to prepare for their future. I've also noticed that some of my favorite seed sites have run out of certain popular seeds much faster than I remember it in the past, so even if they have not posted to their site on that fact, it shows there, too.

With luck, the program that the Obama family has begun on their lawn, will spill into many more but I also can't help wondering where all of these people are going to get their seeds. Seeds are already becoming a precious commodity and the garden fever hasn't even really taken root just yet, the word of the impending White House lawn (the First Lawn?) food production only being out for a short period of time. While many gardeners save their seeds, it isn't practiced by everyone so next year the crunch will really be on. My father buys his tomato plants, the seed for beans and peas, and such, and has never in his life practiced seed saving for all the farming he has done and neither has any of our family. What is to become of them next year?

Save your seeds. It is more important now than it has ever been. The lessons we have learned from certain eras such as the famous failed crops of the past and also during the Great Depression, should be ringing true in the ears of every single person on this planet. Now it isn't just the idea of a failed crop it is the idea of countries that export their cash crops now holding in reserve. Rice is a good example of this.

With biofuels at the forefront, Thailand isn't producing rice like it once did, focusing more on biofuel materials than the tons of rice that it used to export has already begun to touch the market. Rice prices are already rising higher than historical averages as the Thai government holds in reserve to feed its own instead of the rest of the world. And Thailand isn't the only country, China stated last year that they would be raising the price bar. It also doesn't help that the idea of using rice as a biofuel took hold in Japan in 2007. And this is all mostly old news.

We can't even really feed the world much less save the seed as a species. So I ask again. Where is everyone going to get their seeds? I have a nice fat stock pile of my own and I share and swap with whomever I can nail down to get that one thing I have never tried to grow. While I have built my own network of really awesome people that I enjoy not only swapping with but chatting with, future gardeners may not be able to jump right into that clique - mine or anyone elses.

I just can't stress enough the importance of saving your seeds. In a world where the economy is in shambles, the food production is going down in favor of finding the replacement to black gold, and people are popping out families faster than the polar ice caps are melting and food riots are expected by 2012, no one's got your back but you and if you aren't saving, you aren't watching your back very well.

So save your seeds and watch as the Obama's start their own garden setting examples to the country and hopefully the world, but be wary of the fact that we are not a small population any longer by any stretch of the imagination. Demand is much larger than supply and even with the massive amounts of seed companies out there, we still have to contend with the fact that Monsanto is destined to own patients on every genetic code for every seed out there and when they do, the home garden is finished. Moving into areas where lands have been farmed for generations and taking people to court so they can shut them down for infringement. I'm betting the price of grow lights will go up sooner than later in that case. I think I'd become an expert in hydroponics damn quick.

So I guess I answered my own question. We'll all be getting out seeds from Monsanto soon enough. I wonder if Obama will endorse that.

Destructive Insect Series - The Cabbage Leaf Miner

2009-03-28T20:48:00.005-04:00

An import from Europe, this moth devastates more than its share of Brassicaceae. The adult lays eggs on the bottom of the leaves in a silk cocoon. Once ready, the miner emerges and then feasts on the leaf it was born on.

They appear in June or July and lay eggs on the tender young leaves and once again in September when the plants are more mature. The first round is more destructive than the second as the plants are not as mature. The result is a weakened and sickly plant.

They thrive in hot dry weather which enables them to multiply rapidly so one way to help deter this pest is to spray your plants with water. There are two species of spiders and a species of ichneumon fly, some wasps and birds that destroy them. And they also respond to chemical treatments (pyrethrum). The best way to control them is to practice good permaculture to attract predators.

Tomatos

2009-03-23T21:42:00.002-04:00

Even though I'm not going to have a huge garden this year, I am, however, going to participate in the creation of a small one. We are going to grow Golden Nugget tomatoes, Roma sauce tomatoes, Black Plum, White Currant, and Heinz 1439.

I got everything started to night and 5 little cups filled with soil and seed are seated in the kitchen window waiting for sprouts. We'll know next week if any of them fail us!

Cherry!

2009-03-22T15:32:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite things is a cherry lime-ade. I just adore the drink and we make them all throughout the summer. I found a couple of recipes for home made cherry syrup.

2 lb Sugar
2 c Water -- up to 3 cups
1 lb Sour cherries
1/4 ts Vanilla

Use only a porcelain or enamel pan. Boil the sugar and water together for
15 to 20 minutes. Add the sour cherries and boil again gently another 20 to
30 minutes or until the syrup thickens. Strain the liquid into a bowl
through a cheesecloth, squeezing the cherries to extract all of the liquid.
Add the vanilla extract. Bottle.

Dried sour cherries may be used instead of fresh ones. They should be
soaked in cold water 6 hours or longer.

Will kept at room temperature as long as the bottle is sealed. Refrigerate
after opening.

Can be used as a topping for ice cream, mousses, bavarians or frozen
desserts.

To serve syrups, add a Tbsp to two to a glass, fill with cold or sparkling
water and ice.

MAKES: 1 bottle

OR

6 1/2 lbs fresh sour cherries, stemmed and pitted or 4 1/2 lbs pitted unsweetened frozen sour cherries
11 cups sugar
5 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (from about 6 limes)

Directions

Puree the cherries in a blender or food processor in small batches. Run juice through a fine sieve, pressing hard to extract all the juice.

In a large saucepan, mix cherry juice with sugar, water and lime juice and bring to a boil, stirring consistently, until sugar dissolves.

Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes, skimming off the foam that rises to the top with a slotted spoon.

Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring and skimming, until syrupy, about 1 hour.

Strain the syrup into jars and let cool completely before storing.

Spring

2009-03-19T21:20:00.003-04:00

It is amazing to me, the turning of the seasons. Watching how the natural world progresses. When I was younger, I abhorred the fact that I had to spend so much time at work doing something that seemed so senseless as collecting more numbers for a bank account no matter what it was that I was collecting, selling or creating. It wasn't tangible to me. I never felt a sense of accomplishment. When I made mention of this once, and only once, an older woman chuckled at me and said that my job paid for my house, food, car and everything else. I was gently admonished, but it filled me with a since of pity because of the dependency I had on someone else to help me do what I needed to do. I accepted it, began a career and have been unhappy with it. While I know that I will never be able to get away from a need for employment because I will have to have money no matter how frugal, no matter how self sufficient and reliable I am, it doesn't mean that I have to slave to the system.

Spring is coming and all winter I have despaired over the fact that I will have no garden this year as I am moving north shortly. My family is already there, our lives are in a storage unit and I am stuck here until the end of my assignment staying with good friends. The closer my move comes, the more entertaining the ideas of what I will do to the property when I get there. While I have sat and pondered this while pouring through seed catalogs and looked endlessly at the species of orchard trees I will purchase, I can't help but be excited that I will get to do all of this and prepare for the first actually planting that I will get to do next year. The sting of having to spend most of my time in the service of someone else doesn't seem so difficult to bear when I weigh it against how much I'll not have to spend because I'm busy growing, making it and just doing the home chores myself.

I have taken my initiative from such people as Patti Moreno, Rhonda Hetzel, Fred Dunn, Gayla Trail, and so many more and I hope you can, too!

Good Read

2009-02-26T21:08:00.001-05:00

http://www.journeytoforever.org/seeds.html

Almost done

2009-02-21T23:40:00.002-05:00

We're almost done. It has been a very hard last couple of weeks but we're nearly done with getting everything out. I'm just beat! But we're pleased even if we're sore, exhausted and ready to hit a spa and lounge in a jacuzzi (I so wish!).

I'm very pleased that we're nearly finished, not only could we all use a rest before I put the family on a plane, but we can all use some time together before they all fly off to the other side of the country. I'm looking forward to the time period between them leaving and me arriving passing by with lightning speed. I don't want to be away from my husband, children and pets.

On a very cool note, friends of ours that are putting me up so that I can save up as much fundage as possible, are considering taking their vacation around the time that I'm leaving so that I don't have to trek across country alone in a 24 foot truck with a mini van dangling off the back of it alone. Which I think is very cool. It also means that I won't have to get the biggest truck, I can get the smaller one and not have to pay as much. Which also means less open space and less damage to stuff.

Getting everything squared away is somehow very satisfying if not exhausting. This move came as a very difficult decision, there were many factors that played their hand in it. It is probably the worse possible time every in the world to move and start over but we're just not finding what we need where we are. The planning began before this nightmare that is our economy began to come into full swing, but we're going to march on and hopefully we'll come out on top for it.

Wish us luck!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-13T20:25:00.004-05:00

Canning Butter

2009-02-11T18:33:00.001-05:00

Canning Butter

Use any butter that is on sale. Lesser quality butter requires more shaking (see below), but the results are the same as with the expensive brands.

Heat pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.

While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.

Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.

Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Once a few lids "ping," shake while the jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar.

At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again, and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 5 minutes and give the jars a little shake until they are hardened in the jar! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.

Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. Canned butter does not "melt" again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.

Gardening with Vinegar

2009-02-07T17:17:00.003-05:00

Vinegar that has had oregano leaves soaked in it makes a good barricade against insects that gather on cucumbers. Wet the ground around young plants once a week. This will also help keep bugs from eating the leaves of melon plants.

More Victory Gardens

2009-02-06T20:10:00.001-05:00

http://www.squidoo.com/victorygardenrevival

A nice selection of victory/freedom garden stuff, including a link back to me!

Sweet!

2009-02-03T20:01:00.004-05:00

I received the most wonderful gift today from a very wonderful friend. The Vinegar Anniversary Book was delivered to my desk by Alyn this morning and man is it a great book! All sorts of tidbits and information about Vinegar, it's history, how it's made and it's uses both medicinal and everyday. I'm very pleased with my gift from her. Thanks a ton Alyn!

So far this particularly caught my eye:

The Most Expensive Meal Ever

The world's most costly meal may have begun with a glass of vinegar. When asked to think of the most expensive beverage, vinegar may not come immediately to mind. Yet it may take the prize for more expensive drink in history! Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, made culinary history when she made a wager that she could consume, at a single meal, the value of a million sisterces. To many, it seemed an impossible task. After all, how could anyone eat so much?

Cleopatra was able to consume a meal woth so very much by dropping a million sisterces worth of pearls into a glass of vinegar. Then she set it aside while banquet preperations were made. When the time came to fulfill her wager, she simply drank the dissolved pearls!

Something Scary on the Horizon

2009-02-02T17:26:00.001-05:00

I found this article very intimating.

Grr

2009-01-29T18:29:00.002-05:00

As the seed and plant catalogs come in and I mourn the fact that I will not have a proper garden any time in the near future, I flip through the pages and make mental notations about checking into this or that, or asking my husband if he likes this lettuce or that corn. I have several that have been folded neatly in my mailbox in these past couple of days and am thrilled to see what new varieties there are for this season. Happily flipping through the pages, I was struck dumb by the huge amount of hybrids there are. Grrr.

It seems that the quick fix, prepackaged, uniformed color, size and numbers will always be spreading. Not that some hybrids aren't good. My father swears by the flavors and growing prowess of better boy and early girl tomatoes but he can't save those seeds and I have grown them myself but... the plants must be purchased every year. I'm trying to save money. I don't want to be a slave to the system why would I want to buy a hybrid?

So some of them have great flavor and some of them are resistant to whatever diseases plague their species, but I just can't bring myself to grow hybrids in my garden. I've recently come to this decision, too. It was this past spring while I was talking to my father and he was telling me that they were eagerly awaiting the next pay day to go out and buy more flats of tomatoes. That started me thinking of how he could have just saved seeds from last years crops, planted them himself and he wouldn't have to wait and he wouldn't have to fight to get the ones that aren't droopy or down right dehydrated with the danger of never fully recovering.

He could have saved just a ton of money by not having to purchase them at all. Buy the seeds, plant them, save the seeds. If your crop fails, you can buy more, but if it doesn't, you don't have to buy them again and leaves the door open to try new varieties. Not to mention you know where they came from, what they have been exposed to and you can make the choice on saving the seeds from the tastiest and best of the crop.

So with a smirk of annoyance in the trash goes the catalogs with all the hybrid varieties I really just don't want to buy and I pick up the phone to call my father to taunt him about his favorites and pick a fight about hybrids and seed saving. Wish me luck, I usually end up losing this argument with him. He usually puts his foot down and snaps "I don't like change, so I won't do it!"

Oy!

Destructive Insect Series - Diamondback Moth

2009-01-28T18:49:00.003-05:00

Found wherever cabbage is grown, the diamondback moth deposits a single egg or groups of eggs usually on the underside of foliage. In 5 to 6 days, larva emerge. They are colorless but as they develop, they turn green. They leaf mine for food and because they are so small, it often goes unnoticed and because they emerge from their eggs on the bottom of the foliage, that is where they feed. The result is irregular patches of damage, and the upper leaf epidermis is often left intact.

While in the pupa stage, they are in loose silk cocoons for about 8 days on the outer or lower foliage. This can also occur within the heads of broccoli and cauliflower. As adults, they are weak fliers aided by the wind to carry them long distances. They stay close to the ground and fly in short bursts if not helped along by a good breeze. They do not handle cold weather well and die off, but they re-invade cold winter areas in the spring aided by southern winds.

Plant damage is caused by the larva. They are very small and can be very numerous. The average female lays about 150 eggs during her 10 day cycle and the entire life cycle lasts about a month.

The tiny larva feed on cruciferous vegetable crops: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, Chinese cabbages, kale, collards, kohlrabi, mustard, radish, turnip, and watercress, with collards being a particular favorite.

They are susceptible to viruses and fungus diseases and are also are often killed by the parasitoids such as Microplitis plutellae. Another major killer of these eggs and larva is rain.

Systems where sprinklers are raining down on the garden will have fewer of these pests. Crop diversity helps to keep the numbers down as well. Planting cruciferous crops with other crops between will help to prevent the spread.

Good luck!

The Worm Guy

2009-01-27T19:55:00.004-05:00

The worm guy! Eco friendly worm usage for an island where the landfill is closed and the refuse has to be taken off island. A definite 10 on the greener meter!

Update: Instead of working 6 days a week, I'm going to work the next 21 days straight so I can have my weekends free at the end of Feb so I'm more strained for time. Stay with me, I'm still here, just a little over worked.

Slow to Post

2009-01-22T19:06:00.003-05:00

Working on packing. Working on getting the moving process started. I'll post when I get the time, but for now, I'm just busy working. I'm also going to be working 6 days a week during all of this (go fig) and so I'll be more scarce than just with normal moving. Stick with me. I'll still be around, just not as much as normal. Once things even out I'll be back to posting on a regular basis!

Vintage Victory Garden Film

2009-01-20T00:34:00.001-05:00

Vegetable Gardening in WWII: Victory Gardens Vintage Film
Uploaded by QualityInformation

Short but cool.

Apriums

2009-01-15T14:17:00.002-05:00

I found it interesting that they mixed apricots and plums making Apriums and Pluots.
Pluots have majority plum parentage and Apriums have majority apricot parentage and are most stable. Pluots and apriums should be ripened at room temperature and then refrigerated. Pluots can be ripened in a brown paper bag at room temperature.

Approximately 20 varieties of pluots have been developed and bred by Zaiger Genetics. Each variety contains a different percentage of plum and apricot parentage. These varieties vary in size, skin color, and flesh color. The skin can be solid, striped, or speckled and skin colors range from yellow-green to black. Pluot flesh ranges from white to red in color.

Pluot varieties include:
Candy Stripe: medium, pink-yellow striped, with very sweet and juicy flesh.
Cherry: small, bright red skin with white flesh.
Dapple Dandy: large sweet with pale green to yellow, red-spotted skin, red or pink juicy flesh. Flavorella: round, medium-sized, golden-yellow, with sweet and juicy flesh.
Flavor Heart: very large, black with a heart shape, and yellow flesh.
Flavor King: very sweet, medium or large, with red-purple skin and red flesh.
Flavorosa: very sweet or tart, medium-sized, flat round dark-purple fruit with red flesh.
Flavor Prince: large round and purple, with red flesh
Flavor Rich: medium-sweet, large black round fruit with orange flesh.
Flavor Supreme: medium or large, greenish purple skin, juicy red flesh.
Flavor Queen: large light-green to yellow, very juicy
Red Ray: medium, bright red with dense, sweet orange flesh.

Freezing List

2009-01-14T21:57:00.001-05:00

Since we're on the topic of prepare ahead meals and the things that can be frozen, I thought I'd add a list of vegetables that can be frozen.

Leafy vegetables such as cabbage, celery, cress, cucumbers, endive, lettuces, fresh herbs, radishes, to name just a few. They just don't freeze well at all. They come out limp and water-logged and squishy. Some potatoes don't freeze well either, they end up mealy and well, yucky.

This isn't to say that you couldn't experiment with some of these in various stages of leaf production or chopped or flash frozen (good luck getting the liquid nitrogen for that). It would really depend but the general rule of thumb is no.

In most all cases, you want to freeze small pieces of whatever you're attempting to freeze. Stick an entire bell pepper in the freezer and then pull it out to thaw and see what happens vs cutting one into strips. There is a huge difference. Smaller pieces face less cell damage from the freezing/thawing process. So make sure to cut it up.

A lot of spices don't do well in the ice box either. They end up with a stronger taste that can over power or they become bitter. Pepper, cloves, garlic, green pepper, imitation vanilla are examples. Stuff like onion and paprika just plain don't taste the same after they've thawed. And to make sure that we're clear, this is raw, not cooked.

Cooked spices can often change their habits when in foods that are frozen, one example is that salt can actually increase rancidity in high fat items on top if losing it initial flavor. Ahem, not that anyone here has a lot of high fat items hanging around the fridge.

As for canning: There are suitable foods for different types of canning.

Fruits suitable for canning: pears, peaches, apricots, apples, plums, pineapple, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries.

Vegetables suitable for canning: peas, corn, carrots, asparagus, tomatoes beans, beets

But then we have another entirely different world, preserving.

Fruits suitable for preserving: strawberries, large currants, plums, quince, grapes, gooseberries, blackberries, cranberries

Then there are jams: strawberries, plums, elderberries, grapes, raspberries, cranberries, blackberries, currants

And marmalades: apricot, plums, peaches, apple - sweet, sour crabapple, cranberry, grapefruit, lemon, quince, orange, yellow tomato

Butters: crabapple, quince, apple, grape

Conserves: plums, oranges, and lemon plums, lemon, raisins grapes, lemon raisins, rhubarb figs, rhubarb peach, lemon, orange peach, currants, lemon pears, lemon, ginger root prunes, lemon, orange orange, grapefruit, lemon kumquat, orange cranberries, lemon, raisins nuts in combination with any of the above

Jelly: Usually made from juicy fruits: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, plums, currants, grapes. Then there are the ones that are less juicy but still suitable: peaches, apricots, quince, cranberries, apples - sweet, sour, crabapple.

Pickling fruits and vegetables: tomatoes - red, yellow, blackberries, cucumbers, peaches, pears, peppers - red, green, green beans, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, onions

Fruits suitable for spicing are: blackberries, peaches, pears, red tomatoes

Fruits suitable for salting are: cucumbers, large and small

Fruits suitable for drying are: currants, grapes, peaches, pears, apricots, plums, prunes, cranberries, apples - sweet, sour, tomato

This by no means a complete list and I have recipes for canning that defy some of these guidelines. It's really all in experimentation.

2009-01-13T16:33:00.002-05:00

Alstroemeria, commonly called the Peruvian Lily or Lily of the Incas or Parrot Lily is a South American genus of about 50 species of flowering plants. Isn't it just beautiful? This blooms from late spring to early summer and comes in a virtual rainbow of different colors. This is a plant meant for cooler climates as it will stop flowering if it gets too hot.

Prepare Ahead

2009-01-10T11:01:00.003-05:00

It so happens that my poor spouse cannot for the life of him not be sick if anyone remotely near him is ill. He gave me the flu I have and he swears I gave it back to him. So now we're both sick. And this leads to something that I'm sorely wishing I still had here.

Prepare ahead meals. This re-enforces that importance of having that little gem in the freezer.

Now I'd like to point out that buying a freezer, no matter what it's size, is an investment. Our grocery spending immediately declined when we bought ours. I did not just fill it up, we bought more meats and vegetables on sale and later started adding in other things to be frozen. By the time we bought a side of beef we were on our second freezer. And we have plans for another larger one for later on down the road.

Looking at other folks freezer set ups here.

My grandmother: She has a 25 cubic foot freezer that is older than I am and has seen better days. Fresh venison, rabbit, and hog that the boys bring her. She gets other meats from the family and it all goes in there. She further buys meat (on occasion) when it is on sale and drops it in there. She does have a few vegetables, but not too many since she doesn't do much of a garden anymore.

My father: He has two 25 cubic foot freezers with plans for another one probably half that size. In freezer one he has deer, rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, quail, goose, hog, gator, frog legs, white perch and catfish. All that he killed, caught, was given or traded for. In the other freezer he has beef and more venison. They don't have a lot of vegetables in the freezer, they tend to can theirs instead of freezing them. About the only vegetables you'll find in his freezer are breaded yellow squash and breaded okra. He can't exactly reproduce that batter so he prefers to buy it. I get frequent stories about how he and my little brother had 3 or 4 crock neck yellow squash for dinner right out of the garden. Man, there are days I miss such a long long growing season. Why two? His father-in-law is now in a nursing home so he provides for his mother-in-law, too and they don't go down there everyday.

My uncle: 25 cubic foot freezer filled with most all the game my father has but also with frozen foods from his garden. Corn, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and so many other vegetables that they prefer to freeze along with canning. With all the meat in there, you'd think that they wouldn't have enough room, but they do, and they are feeding a larger amount of people than my father, so I'd assume that they cycle through it pretty quick.

I know that my grandmother used to freeze her left overs but she never sat down and made entire meals to be put in the freezer. My aunt does the same, she'll freeze left overs that are en masse, but she doesn't go to the trouble of preparing a batch of gumbo and then portioning it out for future before meal use. (That is one of my favorite things!)

They prefer to cook same day and eat right after it is cooked. I feel for my aunt. When she is sick, she still cooks. But I don't (at least until we ate it all so that we can move!).

If you can buy pan cakes and waffles in the frozen food section at the store, wouldn't it stand to reason that you can make your own pan cakes and waffles to freeze? You sure can. Just have a look at the grocery store the next time you are there. What is in the frozen food section that you can do yourself at home? How is it packaged and how can you improve that packaging to extend the life?

Wax paper is your friend. You can put this in between stuff and over stuff and it will be easily removed because it is wax paper. I stay away from foil when I freeze, rip it or wrinkle it and now you have little wads of tin foil in your food that you're trying to fish out. If I can manage it, I put it in the food saver bags but that doesn't always work either. I collect the little plastic containers that soup comes in from Chinese delivery, I get them from people I work with and I always save mine, too. It is pretty heavy plastic and has a tight fitting lid that is still flexible enough to press down on so once the soup is in there, I press the lid down until it is touching and then seal it leaving less air. You'll have to find what you have on hand. There are a ton of freezer friendly containers on the market, some are made especially for freezing so don't overlook the bargain bin at your local mart.

Pan cakes, waffles, fried rice, fried chicken, pre-made vegetables already in a sauce. Whole meals like lasagna, fettuccine, my favorite being the chicken in a tomato sauce with zucchini, cheese and tomatoes, that is some awesome stuff. But I can make my own version of that at home and freeze it. Chili, gumbo, vegetable soup, stews, chicken noodle, and red beans and rice freeze well. I've never frozen jambalaya or etouffee, I'll experiment with that. Meatloaf, meatballs, stuffed cabbage (galumpki), mackerel patties or salmon cakes, crab cakes. Shepherd's pie, crustless quiches, pizza, pizza snacks (we love to make these at home, they never seem to make it to the freezer, though).

There are just so many things that you can prepare en masse and then freeze. How many exotic frozen meals are there in your grocer's freezer? It is all about finding the way to freeze it that works for you.

Just remember that you need to allow the food to cool before you start shoving it in the freezer. After it is down to room temp, it will be easier for you to handle and it won't melt what is already in your freezer.

If you can skip the salt when you are making the dish initially, this is a good idea. Salt can cause food with high fat content to go rancid faster. Make sure to stick with low fat food (you should anyway!).

There are specific recipes for this type of thing and if you have any, feel free to share them here!

Home Sick

2009-01-09T07:27:00.003-05:00

As I lay draped across either my bed or my couch in misery, it occurs to me that I've drank enough herbal infusions to heal a small country of a cold. The hot liquid brings a relaxed comfort that not only helps the healing process as far as I'm concerned but it also but also is reminiscent of another time. Yea yea, there I go again romanticizing ... whatever, moving on.

When you're feeling as bad as I do right now, here is a bit of advice.

Vitamin C!
Mix equal parts of red hibiscus and rose hips and make a very bright read infusion. Drink hot or cold. This is a very good tea, you can purchase it prepackaged for like a gazillion bucks a box or you can grow it and make it yourself for a lot cheaper. I'm actually working on a box of this stuff that ran me $5. But that was only because I was desperate, I swear!

Antibiotic
Echinacea, goldenseal, mint... just a minuscule amount of the herbs that you can create healing infusions. These infusions can be complex, consisting of a long list of herbs or they can be as simple as ginger, lemon and honey.

Which, as it happens, Ginger is a very good infusion for colds, respiratory infections, to be exact. Add some cinnamon in for the sinuses. Some garlic for the immune system. Some cayenne for a lot of heat and a good dollop of honey and you've got yourself a really good remedy to help see you through.

While you can take all of this in a tea, you can eat most all of it on toast, too, so don't limit yourself. Garlic toast comes pre-made, but you've not lived until you've tried ginger, clove, cinnamon toast. It actually isn't all that bad and it is helpful to the body. Or sprinkle this across a waffle and top with honey.

Think comfort food.

I've sucked down enough vegetable broth to prevent cancer. And its hot. Hot liquids are good. I add some cayenne into that and I'm getting more help. Actually, one of my favorites is 4 cups of vegetable broth, a sprinkling of marjoram and thyme, black pepper, two or three cloves of fresh minced garlic. Sip as needed.

While I enjoy sharing with you all, I'm still quiet ill and I'm going to go back to flipping through the channels until I can find something that I can sleep too.

Happy cold season.

Quick Grow

2009-01-05T20:00:00.003-05:00

What can you grown in less than 60 days in your garden?

After my last post I got curious and started looking around at the various varieties and their maturity times. What can you grow in less than 60 days in your garden? There is actually quite a bit. I never really paid attention to the times before, sure, I kept records, but it was on a calender that said planted on this date and harvest on this date. I didn't really stop to really look at the numbers.

Less than 30

Cress, Curled

Lettuce, Freckles Romaine

30 to 40

Amaranth, Garent Red

Mustard Green, Tendergreen

Onion, White Lisbon

Orach, Red

Radish, Bartender Red mammoth

Radish, Brightest Breakfast

Radish, Cherry Belle

Radish, Comet

Radish, Crimson Giant

Radish, Early Scarlet Globe

Radish, Easter Egg

Radish, French Breakfast

Radish, German Giant

Radish, Hailstone

Radish, Long Scarlet Cinncinati

Radish, Pink Summercicle

Radish, Plumb Purple

Radish, Watermelon

Radish, White Beauty Radish

Radish, White Icicle

Spinach, Strawberry

Turnip, Shogoin

40 to 50

Arugula

Bean, Bush Snap, Blue Lake Bush

Bean, Bush Snap, Bountiful

Bean, Bush Snap, Cherokee Wax

Bean, Bush Snap, Contender

Broccoli Raab, Early Fall Rapini

Carrot, Little Finger

Cucumber, Armenian

Endive, Tres Fine

Lettuce, Amish Deer Tongue

Lettuce, Australian Yellow Leaf

Lettuce, Baby Oakleaf

Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson

Lettuce, Boston Red

Lettuce, Bunte Forellenschuss

Lettuce, Flame

Lettuce, Iceberg

Lettuce, Lolita

Lettuce, Marveille de 4 Seasons

Lettuce, Oak Leaf

Lettuce, Prize Head

Lettuce, Red Deer Tongue

Lettuce, Salad Bowl

Lettuce, Slobolt

Lettuce, Speckled

Lettuce, Tanog

Lettuce, Tennis Ball

Mache (Corn Salad)

Mustard Green, Green Wave

Mustard Green, Southern Giant Curled

Mustard, Tatsoi

Pea, English, Alaska

Pea, English, British Wonder

Radish, Early Wonder

Radish, Japanese Minowase

Spinach, American

Spinach, Bloomsdale Long Standing

Spinach, Bloomsdale Savoy

Spinach, Monnopa

Spinach, Red Malabar

Spinach, Strawberry

Spinach, Viroflay

Squash, Summer, Bennings Green Tint Scallop

Squash, Summer, Black Zucchini

Tomato, SubArctic Plenty

Tomato, Sweetie

Tomato, Tiny Tim

Turnip, Golden Ball

Turnip, White Egg

Zucchini, Grey

Zucchini, Round

50 to 60

Bean, Bush Snap, Brittle Wax

Bean, Bush Snap, Dragon's Tongue Bush Snap

Bean, Bush Snap, Fin de Bagnol

Bean, Bush Snap, Golden Wax

Bean, Bush Snap, Old Dutch Half Runner

Bean, Bush Snap, Pencil Pod Black Wax

Bean, Bush Snap, Provider

Bean, Bush Snap, Royal Burgandy

Bean, Bush Snap, Royalty Purple Pod

Bean, Bush Snap, Tenderette

Bean, Bush Snap, Tendergreen Improved

Bean, Bush Snap, Top Crop

Bean, Pole Snap, Sunset Runner

Beets, Bull's Blood

Beets, Crosby's Egyptian

Beets, Cylindra

Beets, Detroit Dark Red

Beets, Early Blood Turnip

Beets, Letherman's Green Top

Beets, Ruby Queen

Broccoli Raab, Spring Rapini

Broccoli, Atlantic

Broccoli, Calabrese

Broccoli, De Cicco

Broccoli, Waltham

Cabbage, Pak Choi

Carrot, Amsterdam Minicor

Carrot, Bambino

Carrot, Parisian

Catalogna

Cauliflower, Early Snowball

Chard, Flamingo Swiss

Chard, Fordhook Giant

Chard, Large White Ribbed

Chard, Lucullus

Chard, Oriole

Chard, Pink

Chard, Rainbow

Chard, Rhubarb

Chard, Ruby Red

Collards, Morris Heading

Cowpea, Knuckle Purple Hull

Cucumber, Boothby's Blond

Cucumber, Boston Pickling Improved

Cucumber, Delikatesse

Cucumber, Double Yield

Cucumber, Homemade Pickles

Cucumber, Japanese Climbing

Cucumber, Miniature White

Cucumber, Muncher

Cucumber, National Pickling

Cucumber, Parisian Pickling

Cucumber, Rhinish Pickle

Cucumber, Russian

Cucumber, White Wonder

Eggplant, Little Spooky

Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled

Kale, Lacinto

Kale, Russian Red

Kale, Winter Red

Lettuce, Forellenschuss

Lettuce, Grandpa Admire's

Lettuce, Kagraner Summer

Lettuce, Little Gem

Lettuce, Lollo Rossa

Lettuce, Prize Head

Lettuce, Red Coral

Lettuce, Red Leprechaun

Lettuce, Rossimo

Lettuce, Rouge d' Hiver Romaine

Lettuce, Rubin

Lettuce, Salad bowl

Lettuce, Yugoslavian Red Butterhead

Okra, Clemson Spineless

Okra, Cowhorn

Okra, Perkins Mammoth

Okra, Red Burgandy

Okra, Star of David

Pea, Amish Snap

Pea, English, Laxton's Progress

Pea, English, Sparkle

Pea, Snow, Dwarf Gray Sugar

Pea, Snow, Oregon Sugar Pod

Pea, Sugar Sprint

Pepper, Bull Nose

Pepper, Hungarian Hot Wax

Pepper, Mini Brown Bell

Pepper, Mini Red Bell

Pepper, Mini Yellow Bell

Pepper, Sweet Chocolate

Pepper, Tequila Sunrise

Radish, Black Spanish

Radish, China Rose

Spinach, Giant Thick Leafed

Spinach, New Zealand

Squash, Summer, Black Beauty

Squash, Summer, Caserta

Squash, Summer, Early Prolific Straightneck

Squash, Summer, Golden Scallop

Squash, Summer, Italian Vegetable Marrow

Squash, Summer, Yellow Crookneck

Tomato, Bloody Butcher

Tomato, First Pick

Tomato, Manitoba

Tomato, Matt's Wild Cherry

Tomato, Oregon Spring

Tomato, Silvery Fir Tree

Tomato, Stupice

Turnip, Purple Top White Globe

Turnip, Seven Top

Zucchini, Dark Green

Zucchini, Golden

Most other edibles take anywhere from 60 to 100+ days. All of it well worth the wait, but for those that are a little impatient, here is a nice list of things to grow that will be ready to harvest in two months or less.

Learning to Prepare

2009-01-04T13:48:00.003-05:00

My family is part of a church group here that focuses on family. They do not only incorporate religious studies in their gatherings every week, but they also teach how to take care of your family. Everything from paying off debt to how to prepare and be prepared.

One of their lessons is how to stockpile for future emergencies. I was surprised when I read the pamphlet. Keeping cash on hand. Paying off debt and setting aside the credit cards. Making sure to pay bills as they come in. Being on a budget. It is something that we are not taught in school. Something significant that they teach is the rotation of food on your shelves.

Now, we've always had a nice stockpile of certain things. Things we use on a regular basis that we buy a lot of while it is on sale at the grocery store, farmers market and the bulk store. We have a food saver that we use a lot to store items that come in bulk so that we can handle it better and use it as we go instead of having to worry about moths hatching in the 20 pounds of flour sitting in the back room.

I've been thinking about this more and more since Patti's current ezine issue came out and one of the articles was about taking care to be prepared. The author of the article proclaimed she had enough money in the bank to take care of business for 6 months and I thought "Wow! I thought it was good to have two!" But the more I think about it, the more I realize that she is absolutely right. The more the better.

But it isn't just the fundage sitting in the bank or the wad of cash hidden under the mattress. It is more than that. It is the list of things that we have on hand that will see us through the hard times that are ahead. And I thought I'd jump on that band wagon on the importance of being prepared like Cynthia McKenna from Patti's ezine, (be patient, this article isn't up just yet, Patti will get it up shortly, make sure to subscribe so you get it before it goes up on the site) or like the posts from Down to Earth, one of my favorite blogs to read.

Taking stock.

What do you use the most? It is an important question. Getting out there and buying a bunch of stuff that you might kinda eat won't do it, because while that is sitting around collecting dust, the stuff you do use is still being used and replaced, used and replaced instead of being on hand. Having two children, we have a fairly healthy appetite for all sorts of things that we need and the idea here is to take a small amount of money and stock just those things that you will need the most.

Storage.

I've broken it down into the following categories. Shelf stable items and Jar or canned items. Frozen items. Vacuum sealed items.

Shelf stable items are the things you buy right off the self that do not require cooling to stay good. Honey, soy, teryaki, marinades, salsa, salad dressings, ketchup, yellow and brown mustard, bouillon, pan cake syrup, balsamic vinegar, flavored vinegars, cooking oils, peanut butter. Most of this comes sealed so that it has a long shelf life. Canned and jar items like peanut butter, jam, jelly, preserves, stocks, vegetables will all do well for long periods of time as well because they are canned in a process.

Frozen items include things like meat and bread but it also means that you can buy a ton of cheese and butter and put that into the freezer as well. We have two freezers. One for meat and one for everything else. I keep vegetables, butter, cheese and bread in the smaller of the two and in the larger, the side of beef we purchased and meat that I find on sale at the grocery store.

Vacuum sealed items. I buy a lot in bulk because it is cheaper and I spend less money in the long run. Spending $20 on bulk culinary herbs that I didn't have room to grow or use during off season makes a big difference. Thyme, rosemary, basil, black pepper, marjoram, coriander, cilantro, savory, mustard seed, and a lot of other herbs I purchased through my favorite bulk herb store, herbalcom.com.

Compare it to the price at the grocery store. What I would pay for 1/2 oz to 1 oz at the store, I can pay for a pound from herbalcom. Doesn't it make more sense to buy it by the pound? When I got them, they came in these wonderful blue bags, but that wasn't a good way for me to keep them stored so I sealed them all in smaller packages with the vacuum sealer. Things like whole rosemary don't stay sealed in those packages for long as they making holes in the bags as the package becomes hard from the absence of air so they are stored in jars instead.

I also do that with the rice, flour, cornmeal, oats and other items that I can buy in bulk. It saves my shelf space for jars and bottles of shelf stable items. I keep them organized in bags that I can hang from shelving in our storage area and in boxes for what we don't need immediately.

Use.

As the container in the kitchen is depleted, it is replenished from the shelf or bags from the food storage. As the bags are depleted, the boxes come open and replenish. As the boxes are depleted, we buy more to replace.

It is a simple system and in the house we live in now, we are cramped for space so every centimeter of space is used to its maximum. And with our impending move, we have bought less to save on the transporting costs. If I'm moving a bunch of food that I can replace after I get there, I'm spending more in gas, which I don't want to do. My shelves have never been so bare but I'll have less work to do because I won't have to move it. It's a simple system that has worked for us for several years and has kept us from sinking when we had something big come up that we were not expecting.

How to do it?

Take $10 and buy it while it is on sale. Take $20 if you can. You've spent less and you've got a lot to tide you over. Go through and make a list of all the things that you seem to run out of and stare at the bottle balefully wishing you could squeeze that last drop out. Those are the things you need to buy. We go through a phenomenal amount of Worcestershire Sauce at my house. We use it for everything from a sauce for dipping steak to marinades. I buy it in large bottles at the bulk store and we never have to worry about it because I take inventory of items like that frequently to make sure that I don't get down to my last bottle and then end up staring at the bottle balefully wishing I had more.

Excel is your friend.

I have excel sheets for everything! Bills and costs and budgets and storage lists. I keep one big file with a master list of all of these on different tabs to make it easier. I have put in time to color code and set it up so that it is easy for me to read and easy for me to spot something that might need to be replaced. I carry my lap top into the storage area and check numbers against quantity. It only takes a few minutes and I find that it gives me a sense of accomplishment. If you don't have lap top, you can print these out and check them off and then update your sheet.

But keeping yourself organized is important. Planning on what you're going to buy and how much you can set aside to buy it. Meal planning can save a lot of time and keep the hassle and frustration of not having something on hand that you need. Keeping an inventory to monitor what you have and what you need is helpful. Build your inventory as you go and keep up with how much you put into it so you can see how much you are saving in the long run, it will help you stick to this if it is new to you.

Running a household can be difficult, but if you and your family work together to minimize the little nuisances that can crop up, then you will find that everything will go smoothly. My children help me in the inventory, they read off the labels and count the amounts and then we make it a group effort to keep up our inventory. Not only do I get help, but they are learning something valuable from me to help them when they are on their own. It will be second nature to them as adults and maybe will keep them from making the same mistakes I made when I was figuring all of this stuff out.

Take stock. Make lists. Set aside a small amount. Buy on sale. Organize your stores. Keep an inventory record. Know how much you're spending and saving. Plan.

This works for more than just food. Toilet paper, paper towels, tissue, shampoo, soap, deodorant, cleaning supplies, toothpaste. Everyday objects too, toothbrushes, bathing sponges or scrunchies and dish washing sponges or scrunchies, ect. If you think about things that you use on a regular basis and then spend a little on them, you'll find you'll have more money in the future.

Make your own. I have posts about stuff like this throughout. Cloth Swiffer Pads. Making your own furniture polish. Household cleaners made of baking soda, vinegar, and borax. Make your own handwipes. A lot of things that can be made at home with things that you have on hand that will cost you less money and give you a chance to be harsh chemical free.

Saving money is more important now than ever. We have left the era of availability behind and are moving into a future of uncertainty. Take steps to make sure that you aren't one of the families out there that is in desperate need by doing a few small things to help keep you comfortable in the future!

2008 - Year of the Potato

2009-01-03T12:57:00.003-05:00

Until I stumbled across it, I didn't know that 2008 was the UN's year of the potato. It raises awareness on just how much we depend and grow this unique tuber on a global scale. Giving statistics on growth, it shows that Europe and Asia produce a staggering amount of potatoes on a yearly basis!

The site gives detailed information on the potato plant and how it grows, nutritional facts, biodiversity, economy and pricing. All in all, a very clever way to get information about the potato out there to the world. The site is in several different languages to help break down the barriers. No doubt that their attempt to educate is really making a difference. I applaud the UN for their efforts.

The thing I find most interesting:

" Diversity conserved in trust

The International Potato Centre in Peru maintains the world’s largest bank of
potato germplasm, including some 1 500 samples of about 100 wild species
collected in eight Latin American countries, and 3 800 traditional Andean
cultivated potatoes. The collection is maintained and managed under the
terms of an agreement with the Governing Body of the International Treaty
on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and, like all collections
eligible for funding from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is available to plant
breeders worldwide upon request."

Incidentally, 2009 is International Year of Astronomy.

The White House Organic Farm Project

2009-01-03T12:17:00.004-05:00

There is something inherently wrong with there not being a garden in every yard of America, and these guys intend on seeing it through to start at the top of the food chain, so to speak, and get that garden ball rolling at the First House. The White House Organic Farm Project is petition urging Obama and his band of not so merry men to go Organic. Grow it on the White House lawn, grow it by having children and disable people tend it, and to distribute it schools and the hungry.

What isn't there to like? Even if they don't do the entire thing in its original form, perhaps it will spark enough light to show that it is important for a garden to be on the lawn of the First House.

This introduces the bus that isn't really a bus. The Who Farm Mobile complete with an explanatory video. Seeing is believing. This bus boasts a worm bin and fresh foods such as kale, collards, chard and some herbs.

How to Build a Rain Barrel

2009-01-03T11:48:00.002-05:00

This is probably my most favorite video on how to build a rain barrel. It is very simple and easy and takes no time at all.

Sweet Sweet Bell Pepper

2009-01-03T10:42:00.008-05:00

Another 5000 year old vegetable, this South American sweet counterpart to the hot pepper has been gracing tables all over the world thanks to Spanish and Portuguese explorers. And with no small help from the fact that bell peppers are extremely adaptable to most growing climates and conditions, this culinary wonder spread through the world via trade routes like wildfire being quickly incorporated into many different cuisines. They now are a staple in Europe where they are dried for paprika, an absolute must in Creole and Cajun dishes, they are used heavily in Mexico, Portugal, and Asia in all sorts of dishes.

Bell peppers have a great many uses. Cooked into dish after dish, they can also be munched down on raw. I like to add green bell pepper and red onion to my chicken salad. It makes for such a delightful crunch and adds a nice texture and flavor combination with the onion and celery. I also like to have green or red strips of bell pepper on my tuna sandwich. I also prefer to use orange bell pepper when grilling beef and vegetable kabobs. The idea there being to cook the meat, but only to char ever so slightly the vegetables. There is just something about cherry tomatoes and orange bell peppers right off the grill, it is incredible. A quick coring and a nice short dip on hot water and you can stuff your pepper with whatever you'd like.

The bell pepper can be dried for later use, too. They dry very well and if you like to make soups from a dry vegetable mix, I would very much recommend that you use both green and red varieties. Dehydrating peppers for later use is quite easy. You can use a food dehydrator or you can sun dry them (but that is another post).

While this capsaicin lacking pepper isn't hot, it is the only edible part of the plant. This pepper belongs to the Nightshade family, like potatoes, so no getting cute and trying to garnish with the leaves of this poisonous plant!

Chocolate Face Mask Recipe

2009-01-03T00:56:00.001-05:00

Ingredients

1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 cup of honey
2 tablespoons of heavy cream (sour cream will work as well)
3 teaspoons of oatmeal powder

Preparation

Mix all the ingredient until the mass in consistent. Apply on the face, gently massaging it so that oatmeal can start exfoliating the dead skin cell layer. Leave it on for about 20 minutes and rinse off with luke warm water.

Facial Mask Recipes

2009-01-03T00:40:00.002-05:00

For oily skin use some plain Milk of Magnesia, rub it on and let dry, then rinse with lukewarm water.

For Normal/combination skin mix one egg and 1/2 cup cooked instant oatmeal and a teaspoon olive oil until smooth. Spread on your face and leave 15 min then rinse.

For dry skin, mix one egg yolk, one teaspoon honey and a teaspoon olive oil and some vitamin E oil if you have it. Smooth on and leave on for 15 min. , rinse in lukewarm water and pat dry.

The kind of the mask you want to use depends on your skin type.

For dry skin, try:

an egg yolk mixed with olive oil and warmed honey
sour cream
plain olive oil
avocado

For oily skin:

dissolve a teaspoon of baking yeast in a small amount of warm milk, wait until foamy, then apply (best done in the bath tub);
puree flesh of a tomato and mix with some potato flour to make a paste;
cucumber (it will whiten your skin);
beaten egg whites with a few drops of lemon juice (great for getting rid of blackheads);
carrots (but don't use this one more than about every other week because it can overdry your skin). This one will make you look tanned.

General refreshing masks:

grapes (just cut a berry in half and rub lightly)
strawberries (test behind your ear first, because many people are alergic to strawberies used this way even thougth they can eat them just fine)
honey and ricotta cheese

Many fruits and vegetables can also be used to good effect. Anything acidic (lemon, strawberries, etc) will tend to whiten and refresh your skin, but you need to be careful if your skin is dry.

In general, don't apply masks more often than about twice a week, and try to vary the ingredients.

It is a good idea to test the mask first. Apply a small amount behind your ear, wait 20 minutes, then wash off. Then wait 24 hours. If the skin behind your ear is normal, then go ahead and use the mask.

A Rainbow of Carrots

2009-01-02T20:56:00.005-05:00

From Garden Green

This 5000 year old root crop did not start out as the lovely orange we know today. There were many colors: white, yellow, red, green, purple, and black. Orange was no where in the picture. The Egyptians had purple carrots, and these were traded and sold across the Arabian trade routes. With the Asians, Arabians and Africans in possession of their newly acquired purple root, the carrot took on the multitude of hues. The Romans knew the carrot as purple or white. The Africans knew it as purple or yellow along with Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern Iran.

From Garden Green

It was these carrots that the Moors brought to Europe during the 12th century. Another hundred years saw the carrot in France and Germany. The purple, white and yellow carrots were imported into the European countries and they grew a green, red and black. During the 15th century, the taproot made it to the shores of England.

From Garden Green

It may surprise you to know that the carrot did not make it's orange debut until a mutated strain of the yellow carrot came to the Dutch who cross-bred it with red varieties to create an orange specimen in honor of the royal House of Orange. Thus creating the sweet and very orange variety that we know and munch down on today.

From Garden Green

January Garden

2009-01-01T20:23:00.001-05:00

Patti Moreno and Mel Bartholomew of Square Foot Gardening bring a series of videos by month!

Happy 2009!

2008-12-31T23:34:00.000-05:00

MySpace Graphics

MySpace Graphics

Recycled Newspaper Pots

2008-12-31T01:13:00.005-05:00

Recycle your old newspaper! Patti Moreno shows you how:

It's very simple to make these and that way there is more room in the cupboard for dishes instead of yogurt cups for seed starting.

If you've gotta have a do-hicky to make your life complete, Thompson and Morgan have a newspaper pot maker.

Green Tomato

2008-12-31T00:27:00.005-05:00

Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomato

Green tomatoes are not necessarily unripe tomatoes, there are a few out there that when fully grown and mature are no other color but green. When the green tomato does ripen, it does change color, it just happens to be another shade of green.

Green Grape Tomato

While the tomatoes roots come from a small yellow berry from South America, the green varieties emerged during the 18th century or so. Green tomatoes were a favorite in the 19th century for pickling but this was more for the unripe fruits than for the green tomato varieties. Now mostly, they are prized for their flavor and the fact that they are heirloom varieties.

Green Zebra Tomato

I know more than one gardener that are completely anti-green tomato, but I believe they add texture and color and flavor to whatever salad or meal with which they are paired.

Lavender Jelly

2008-12-31T00:18:00.001-05:00

Lavender Jelly

3 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup dried lavender flowers*
Juice of 1 lemon (approximately 1/4 cup)
1 (1 3/4-ounces) box powdered pectin or 1 pouch (3-ounces) liquid pectin
4 cups sugar

In a large saucepan over high heat bring water just to a boil. Remove from heat, stir in dried lavender flowers, and let steep for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, strain mixture into a deep kettle or pot, discarding the lavender flowers. Stir in lemon juice and pectin; continue stirring until the pectin is dissolved.

Over high heat, bring the mixture to a boil; add sugar. When the jelly solution returns to a hard rolling boil, let it boil for 2 to 4 minutes (see below), stirring occasionally.

Boil Times:
2 minutes - soft gel
4 minutes - medium gel

After boiling, transfer the jelly into hot sterilized jars. Fill them to within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe any spilled jam off the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them.

Makes five 1/2 pints.

Easy Hydroponic Seed Starting Factory

2008-12-29T20:25:00.002-05:00

Patti Moreno's newest video. A hydroponic set up for seedlings.

Black Tomatoes

2008-12-29T19:47:00.009-05:00

Black Cherry

Black tomatoes are native to the Ukraine and didn't make it out of a small area in the southern part of the country until the 19th century when Russian soldiers took seeds home with them. Up until them, there were very few black tomato varieties out there but by the the seeds spread through Russia, there were all sorts of them. Now there are over fifty black tomatoes to choose from, ranging from black plum tomatoes, to Black Prince, Black Zebra and Southern Night. Germany, former Yugoslavia and also the US have been credited with new versions of the black tomato over the years.

Black Krim

Black tomatoes are noted for their very earthy flavor and are noted to have the strongest flavor of all tomatoes. They are prized for their lovely colors ranging from deep mahogany (Brandywine) to dark purple (Cherokee). There are many places to sell seeds for these tomatoes, but the safest bet is to go to a place like Seed Saver's Exchange who actually know the lines of the heirlooms (for the most part, they don't always get full histories when they get seeds).

Some varieties:

Kumato

Black Prince

Black Plum

Black Russian

Strange

2008-12-28T18:54:00.003-05:00

I was whipping together basil chicken in the kitchen when a friend of mine pointed out that I could just run down to the Thai restaurant and pick up some fantastic basil chicken with all the veggies and a little spring roll. I smiled at that, not in the least bit offended that she thought that my basil chicken wasn't as delicious because that wasn't the point she was making. She was making the point that it would be more cost effective for me to spend $30 at the Thai place down the street than to go through all the trouble of going to the store buying what I needed and then coming home and making it myself.

Is that true? I don't think so. There is something compelling about chopping the vegetables, frying up the food, tasting it to make sure that there is just the right amount of basil and then laying it out on a bed of jasmine rice so that my family can eat healthy.

Even better is pulling the ingredients from your own back yard and doing it. Fresh broccoli, peppers, basil, carrots, zucchini, onion, garlic. Everything you can pick up from the grocery store, sure, but it means so much more when you do it yourself. The time and patience that goes into a good meal is also the same time and patience that goes into growing it yourself. It just takes a little more time and a little more patience and once you've established your garden, these meals will be second nature.

Once you've tasted the flavors and textures from your garden, the grocery store will not look so economical. Why spend 2.99 a pound when you can buy the seeds for much cheaper and just use a little elbow grease? The rewards are so much more satisfying than the rat race. And the only things you'll be buying from the grocery store will be the things you can grow unless you have the space for cows and pigs and such. I personally am profoundly happy for little kids all over the world that don't have to spend hours churning butter (yep, that was me) because of the electric ones that have recently come out in the last 50 years or so.

We live in a time when we have access to foods from all over the world and we can grow them in our back yards. Our ancestors brought over their staples from the various countries they came from and encompass those varieties with the varieties native here, that is just a stunning array of flavor, texture and color. We are losing them now, from the thousands to hundreds. Our palates have become placid and we are accustomed to singular lines of bred foods that are now becoming hybrids whose seed do not produce the same as the parent. Slaves to what someone else thinks is easy to ship, long lasting after harvest and quick growing. Where is the fun in that?

Space is a problem now. There are many, many more people here now than in the day of my great grandparents. Where my great grandparents had acres. My grandmother and uncles have acres, I have 3 acres that I'm about to leave for a back 40. Vertical gardening, raised beds, and indoor gardening are the keys to being liberated from foods that taste like plastic. When I moved to Atlanta from rural Louisiana, that is exactly how everything tasted to me when I was 12. I grew up eating foods right out of the garden, then I was confronted with huge grocery stores with tomatoes wrapped in plastic and apples coated in wax. My mother said I'd get used to it and unfortunately, I did.

But as I stood over my basil chicken chuckling getting a strange look from my friend, I just nodded and said "That is probably so," and left it at that.

Solar Revolution Project

2008-12-27T23:22:00.001-05:00

I came across an article from earlier this year and was excited by the potential after I read it!

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html

Freedom Gardens

2008-12-27T20:56:00.002-05:00

This is a very interesting set of videos. I encourage everyone that comes through here to watch them.

Another Year..

2008-12-26T23:21:00.002-05:00

2008 is almost over. I look back over the year and see wonderful things. My children are growing up and most of all they have an active interest in growing their own food and that leads to them being more healthy eaters. I've learned a lot about my family through gardening, successes and failures have contributed to a closeness that we would not otherwise have. It is interesting to think that this small thing endears us so to one another and it is becoming more important to me.

Our seed stock is becoming rather respectable, a plethora of new things to grow and try. This has sparked off the need for new ways of cooking and offers a wonderful addition to the palate that would otherwise be stuck statistcally in 10 alternating meals. We are a family that spends 80% of our time together in the kitchen and at the table. Another amazing everyday activity that keeps us close.

This coming year will see the upheaval of a major relocation. And then another after we've found a place to buy. It is going to be a hard road to walk for a while, with most of our lives in storage until we can break free from rental properties and into our own house with our own land. It has kept us from buying all those trees I keep pointing at and jumping up and down over, and that is going to take a toll, too. The prices are rising and it is frightening to think of what the cost will be initially be. That is our only fear in all of this. It just seems that nothing can outrun the rising costs, including our want to return to a simplier lifestyle. Especially our absolute longing for the land we've dreamed of having.

I'm a tad put off because I won't be able to garden this year like I'd planned. I will only be able to do the bare minimum which puts my teeth on edge. Our grand plans for a year of growing, harvesting and preserving are on the backburner until this entire mess is back to flowing easily. I'm looking forward to getting this over with as soon as humanly possible.

On a lighter note, my seed swaps have, indeed, put me in a much better position to be a good gardener next year. I'll definately have a choice in what to grow and will be able to expand gradually over the course of the growing season. I'm looking forward to getting to know each of the plants we intend to grow and taking endless notes and pictures to share here. I'm also looking forward to finding a garden mentor to help unlock some of what I already know but have not recalled so far. Growing up on a farm, I spent a good time in the garden, I remember from seed to harvest. Endless hours of shelling, shucking, dicing, canning. But those memories are through a childs eyes and some of it doesn't fit into what I "know". So I'll be hunting for garden buddies and mentors in the Portland, OR/ Vancouver, WA area.

Very exciting!

I started with Jack-o-lantern pumpkin seeds and some carrots and through seed swaping I've come up with:

Carrot, Danvers #126
Broccoli, De Cicco, Organic
Chives, Garlic
Corn, Sweet, Early Golden Bantam
Cucumber, Miniature White
Honeydew, Earlidew
Leek, Summer
Lettuce, Organic, Mix
Mesculin
Mix, Carrot, Lunar, Solar, Cosmic, Atomic
Mix, Salad Greens
Oregano, Greek
Paprika, Capsicum Annum, Szentesi Pincos
Parsley, Italian Flat Leaf
Pepper, Sweet, California Wonder 300 TMR
Pepper, Sweet, Orange
Pepper, Sweet, Orange Sun
Pumpkin, Jack-o-Lantern
Radish, Altaglobe
Sunflower
Tomato, Black Cherry
Tomato, Black Moor
Tomato, Black Plum
Tomato, Cherry Red
Tomato, Gold Nugget
Tomato, Green Grape
Tomato, Health Kick
Tomato, Heinz 1439
Tomato, Hong Yuen
Tomato, Red Pear
Tomato, Roma Giant Paste
Tomato, White Currant
Tomato, Yellow Lemon
Tomato, Yellow Pear
Watermelon, Sugar Baby
Watermelon, Yellow Doll

With more on the way. I also have a lot of flower seeds that I'm looking forward to getting out there. That list is about as large as this one and I started only with cypress vine and ended up with a lot more from swaps and newbie freebies.

My seed box needs to be replaced soon, I'm running out of room.

I have been very blessed with generous amounts of home grown seeds from good people who want to help us get started.

I want to experiment with growth lights and aeroponics since I won't have a lot of land for a few months, it seems the easiest way to do things for now. I'm looking forward to having a nice salad before meals and later growing most or all the vegetables that we cook with on a regular basis.

I just have to get over that potato hump. My husband thinks I'm crazy for wanting to grow two or three different varieties at the same time, but he is thinking on too large of a scale. He'll just have to wait and see.

2008 was a year for planning, 2009 will be the year that we get through one project at a time.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-24T17:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays Graphics provided by MUDTRAP.COM

Seed the Day and Rue It At The Same Time

2008-12-23T22:34:00.003-05:00

Dagoba, you know how I love Dagoba, is doing Seed the Day. You send them a pic with you and your favorite bar of their chocolate and they will send you a packet of seeds. You can't beat that. Details on their website. The offer actually ends at the end of the month so get moving!

On a more dramatic front, Obama nominates Tom Vilsack as the Secretary of Agriculture. I'm not usually a hugely emotional person when it comes to politics. I'm not usually a hugely political person, period. But what a downward swing this is. Vilsack lobbies for Monsanto *shutter*, the makers of Roundup (which has been shown to be damaging over long term use if I'm not mistaken) and supports things like not putting labels on milk declaring them rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) free because they know that the public would rather not drink the stuff and they know that we're willing to pay whatever it takes to protect our health. Better that we just don't know about that. This would be devastating to companies like Monsanto who are major researchers for these types of hormones and other things too.

With such disastrous chemicals as Agent Orange riding on their coat tails, Monsanto has a long history of covering things up. They recently paid out a staggering $700 million for not cleaning up their mess from back in the 70's to a town in Alabama. They are also in deep with foreign court systems for basically lying about the type of seed they brought into the country for farmers to plant. Not nice business at all.

Then there is my favorite. The "terminator" seed. What did you say? You're asking if this is a seed dressed up like Arnold Swartzenager from the Terminator movie, complete with shot gun, cool glasses and clad in black leather? Nay, I say! If only. This technology produces sterile seeds, my friends. That's right. Commercial farmers would be forced to purchase seed over and over from Monsanto because the seeds that the plants would produce would be non-viable.

Did anyone actually stop to think about this on a global scale? A bunch of morons go into a lab, decide to figure out how to make all seeds sterile so that big companies can decide the fate of the world's food. And in the mean time while commercial farmers are forced to abide by this, who gets completely screwed in the end? Well lets see, uh the WORLD maybe? Cross pollination with these plants would devastate natural forests and fields. It would complete shut down the home gardener. Grow your own only to find out next year that half the seeds you saved are sterile.

And where would everyone have to go to get viable seeds? Hmm? You got it. Monsanto. Even though they say they have no interest in further research on the sterile seed, I still find it terrifying that they purchased the company that came up with the concept in 2007.

Idiots. All of them, complete morons. Once you let it all out into the world, things change. The earth is not a laboratory and life finds a way, strangely enough. I, personally, like things just how they are. I enjoy the fresh foods of my labor and certainly don't need some big company coming in and screwing up the planet more than it already is by letting loose to the world plants that produce sterile seeds. It is just unthinkable.

This is what Tom Vilsack supports. This is the future that he could potentially bring forth. It isn't just the growth hormones, its is much bigger than that. The GM corn that actually causes damage to the liver and kidneys. It's the audacity they show by trying to patient the birth of pigs because they have a specific instrument they use to artificially inseminate. The patients on specific varieties and the law suites they filed against farmers for selling seed they grew. It's Terminator, Agent Orange, DDT, Roundup.

For shame Tom Vilsack. For shame Monsanto. For shame Obama for even thinking that this guy would have the minds and hearts of the American people on his agenda.

Sound your voice! Make you're voice heard. Take action!

Say "No!" to GMO's. Say "No!" to the lack of labeling on our foods. Say "No!" to the cover ups and the lies. Say "No!" to Tom Vilsack and to Monsanto. And for the love of all things sacred, say "No!" to the Terminator seeds. They may be saying that they aren't pursuing research, but look at their track record and make the decision for yourself.

Citrus Crisis

2008-12-22T20:03:00.003-05:00

While this time of year is a time for giving fruit baskets filled with orange and apples and nuts of all sorts, there could be in the very near future a small problem with giving a good old fashion fruit basket.

There is brewing in the southern part of the US a small crisis that is beginning to escalate. The Asian citrus psyllid is causing quarantines all over the southern United States. This has also hit Brazil and Asia. The Asian citrus psyllid apparently carries a bacteria that causes the fruit to green and from this they call it Deadly Citrus Greening Disease. It destroys the plant and fruit.

The Citrus Crisis Alert site has a full listing of what and why. Keep an eye on this page and watch as the citrus prices go on the rise. All the more reason to have your own right now.

Multiple Fruiting Trees

2008-12-22T19:29:00.004-05:00

Yea, I know. My obsession with dwarf fruit trees has again caused research and a post concerning it, but there is the thing: Last time there weren't as many of these out there and now that they are out there, I have to post about it.

The fruit cocktail tree is a very interesting tree producing a staggering six different fruits on the three including nectarines, peaches, plums, and apricots. Fairly amazing in my mind.

This is the graphic that accompanies this tree wherever I've found it, which are:

http://www.houseofwesley.com/detail.asp?pid=5556

and

http://www.directgardening.com/detail.asp?pid=5556

Both places charge the same price for the tree, but what I also found interesting was at the House of Wesley is the pear and apple trees. Each tree has 5 different apples or pears and they are both dwarf varieties, not growing over 10 feet. Lovely.

Excitingly enough, Direct Gardening has a citrus version. A dwarf variety that has orange, tangerines and lemons. I'm just loving it!

Now if only we could manage to get all my favorite fruits onto one tree.

Outside of fruit, while driving along one day I saw a Roses of Sharon tree with two different color blooms. I was surprised to see it and thought it was a fluke. I was wrong! I found this little gem and also a butterfly 3 in 1 and a red white and blue hydrangea. Completely awesome!

I was also surprised to find a site selling Mayhaw. This is not a well known fruit as it is a southern tree growing primarily in Eastern Texas, all over Louisiana and in Mississippi. I grew up on the jelly, ice cream and cobbler. I also grew up harvesting this berry. It is much like a cranberry and harvested similarly. We would get out in the boat and use a net to gather them out of the water and lay sheets around the bank side of the tree to catch dropping fruit, usually caused by one of the boys shaking the tree. It is a delicious fruit and tastes similarly to cranberry made into a jelly but is much different when eaten as ice cream or a cobbler. I found it at Aaron's Nursery.

These trees will have the same shipping restrictions for specific states. Most will not be available to the west coast and citrus producing states like Florida from these sites and specific searches will need to be local for those areas.