Independence Challenge - Week 17

Our new kitchen cabinet, sanded, scrubbed, and set at the back of the kitchen table. Note ghastly brown-patterned paneling on the walls. I put the egg cartons and berry baskets on top - we recycle them to our favorite truck farming family. Finally have a safe place for my hobnail cake plate up there. The photo is dark, even with camera flash and all the lights on- but take my word for it, it looks great in person. DD11 was a bit more critical: "That just makes you and all your jars look old."

Planted: Kale and spinach in fish boxes. Beets and carrots direct sown in ground. Another round of peas.

Harvested: A bunch more gourds from that prolific volunteer vine. Some cute chocolate-colored peppers. Another large Brandywine tomato. Black-eyed peas drying in pods on the back porch. I am not going to get very many of them from a little 6' row, but they were very easy to start and grow, so I will plant more in a bigger space. The cabbages and broccoli are both forming heads now - the first I ever grew. I hope no one messes with the pumpkin growing on the ledge outside the back fence. It has the first hint of orange.

Preserved: Decanted the yarrow oil I made 6 weeks ago. I have about 12 oz. of yarrow-infused oil now. I am supposed to pick up a lump of beeswax at the farmer's market this weekend, so I can try making my first salve. It smells pleasantly herbal.

Cooked: DD15 invented a fried zucchini sandwich with tomatoes and basil. She breaded and shallow-fried zuke slices. Nothing else very new: rice pudding, PB cookies, curried chicken, pork stock. Got pork neck bones, chicken legs, and burgers on sale. Monday seems to be a good day at Weis - lots of reduced day-old bread and marked down meat close to expiration. Must keep that in mind if we get the freezer. I feel sad when I go there lately - an elderly woman was killed crossing the street in an unsafe manner, and I think of it every time I drive by. Stay in the crosswalks, people!

Stored: Bread flour. Too busy with other stuff to shop.

Prepared: I found a heavy porcelain utility sink via Freecycle. A bit battered, but it will be perfect as an outdoor bin for potting soil and screened compost. If we need to do some laundry outdoors in the future, it will also work as a double wash tub that we can set up to drain into a bucket, or the garden. I found a metal strand to use as a base, and we installed the sink in what we hope is a convenient spot in her backyard, not far from the future location of a rain barrel. We have a pile of pavers to make place to stand in front of it.


Managed: We uncovered an old cabinet under a drop cloth at Mom's (photo at top). She thinks it might be something she salvaged from her father's workshop when her childhood home was sold. It will hold at lot of my jars of spices, beans, lentils. If it helps keep the table clear, I will then have room for baking and bread-making. I put the big jars of flour and sugar on the bottom shelf. Need to find more big jars of different kinds of flour - bread, pastry, all-purpose. The spelt and wheat flour is in the fridge. This also cleared counter space where the jars used to be - yay!

Reorganization continues - we recycled a large mass of old homeschooling paperwork. The basement is almost ready for storage. Now I have to go find some free 5-gallon buckets. I eventually want to use Gamma lids, but they are too pricey for right now. D11 went back to school, so I have been working with DD15 until her online school begins - we are reorganizing maniacs.

Reduced, Reused, Recycled: Spotted a pile of pallets behind a hardware store with a "free" sign, and got a few for my cellar floor. If anyone else wants some, they are next to Leinbach's Hardware in Mt Penn.

The new kitchen cabinet covers a heavily-used wall outlet, so I ran a multi-outlet surge protector from it. That will give us a switch to turn off all the energy-vampire rechargers.

Local/Family: Our neighborhood playground is being renovated. No idea what the plan looks like, or where to view it, or how the design was developed. DD11 has been using the playground for 5 years. I am sure she had some ideas, but no kids seem to have been asked for input. The project was awarded to Bertolet Construction (Wernersville) for $318,864 in local, state, and federal funds. The Recreation Department webpage says it will be done by the end of October - construction fence was up Thursday. I hope we at least get some benches or picnic tables, so we can have neighborhood meetings.

Talked to Mom about coming to stay at our house this winter, from the end of December to the end of March. It would save her a heating season, and we could still work on her house, without us worrying if she is warm and safe. It will be a good test of how well the five of us would do together. It will require some work here, to make room. I have asked the landlord to insulate the attic, to start, so we can move the girls up there.

I am concerned that "the Depression" has already come to Reading. This week we were reported to have the highest poverty rate of cities in the state. According to the Census Bureau, "Almost 35 percent of the city's population lives below the poverty level, which was an annual household income of $21,203 for a family of four in 2007." More than a third of the city! Almost every kid qualifies for free lunches. My blue-collar neighbors report that manufacturing jobs paying $8-10/hour are hard to find, and better jobs at $12-18 almost impossible.

Learned: The "Adapting in Place" class is back in swing, now talking about security, death, sex, and money. There was homework over the quiet week, but many people were overwhelmed by the assignment to make a short, medium, and long-range plan for well, everything. I will work on that after the course is over.

Researching root cellaring, to see what I might try to keep in the cellar this winter. Lots of apples, root vegetables, squash, potatoes, and cabbages will be available in the markets soon. My cellar is very damp - the sump pump runs when it rains hard. I thought that would make it a bad storage cellar., but my reading tells me that the humidity is actually good, as long as the cellar is under 40F, as close to freezing as possible. Since we no longer use the oil furnace or the clothes dryer, most of the cellar should be pretty cold.

We are also looking into buying a 8-10 cubic foot freezer to put down there. A new model is more energy efficient than used. Manual defrost makes food last much longer, but requires an annual defrosting effort. Also saw plans to convert a freezer to a high-efficiency chest fridge, but I think I want to try that with a used freezer first, in case it burns out the compressor.

Library: DH is catching on to my new range of interests. For our 11th anniversary on Monday, DH got me a book. How to Survive Anywhere: A Guide for Urban, Suburban, Rural, and Wilderness Environments, by Christopher Nyerges. I flipped through it and already learned about magnesium fire starters, which I will add to our list for bug-out bags.

Independence Challenge - Week 12

Twelve weeks! That's 3 months of this effort. I am finally feeling like we've made progress. Not remotely ready if disaster struck tomorrow, but I am measurably more prepared. More importantly, we are becoming mentally more prepared. DH doesn't snicker at me so much anymore. He seemed impressed when I started making yarrow salve, instead of giving me that look that says, "I'm humoring your cute little idiosyncrasy." He doesn't think things will get as bad as I think they will. But he isn't arguing with the preparations.


Planted: Watermelon, from a pot of starts. Friday was the annual clearance sale at Glick's, our favorite nursery. We got there 4 minutes after the 8AM opening, and it was packed with people filling carts. Quart perennials were 99 cents, and 4-in pots of herbs were 50 cents. I got: Bronze Fennel, Rosemary "Gorizia", Lovage, Tricolor Sage, Mountain Mint, Horehound, and a fabulous dwarf Helichrysum italicum that smells just like curry powder. Bought some seeds half-price.

I also got two angel wing begonias, and some ornamentals to perk up Mom's shady yard: astilbes, bleeding heart, heuchera, and foxgloves. Mom bought more lavender, which she loves. I was tempted to buy more perennial flowers, but I am trying to stay focused on edibles and medicinals.

Harvested: Cherry tomatoes direct-to-mouth. Basil, parsley, sage, thyme. A few white onions, and some bitter lettuce that we hide in tacos. A pound of carrots, one zucchini.

Visited the organic County Line Orchard near Kempton. It was a long drive (25 miles one way), so we combined it with the trip to Glick's. We thought to be picking apricots, but there was a disappointing miscommunication. They did have blueberries for u-pick, so we picked 6# of them at $1.75/lb, bought 3# of farmer-picked apricots for jam, and a quart of sweet cherries to eat on the way home, spitting pits out the car windows. It's not worth that kind of gasoline to u-pick anything, unless we are buying some huge quantity to share with others. We passed the Dreibelbis Bridge, a wooden covered bridge that is part of our family heritage, and stopped to take photos.


Preserved: Gave up on finding counter space in my kitchen for the dehydrator. I set up a dehydrator station on the back porch, where there is a grounded outdoor electrical outlet. Dried a pound of carrot slices. Froze shredded zucchini. Froze 4# of blueberries. Froze portions of pistachio-herb pesto. Running out of room in the freezer.


Canned 2 pints of apricot preserves - my first batch of home-canned anything since home economics class in high school! A little runny, but still good on toast, and DD15 pointed out it will make good duck sauce. I will experiment with other recipes. I intended to make more, but someone ate a bunch of the apricots. It seems I generally need to get twice as much as I imagine I need, to have enough left to can.

Cooked: I made Shrimp Risotto using the lovely homemade fish stock I had frozen, for DH's 34th birthday. We had the first yummy local corn of the season from the market. I am looking for an electric carving knife to make it easier to cut and freeze corn. Tried a new recipe for pesto with pistachios and mixed fresh herbs. DD11, who does not try new things easily, liked Dragon Carrots.

Accidentally made ricotta when I was going for yogurt. The milk started to boil when the thermometer read only 203F, so the milk "broke". It would have made grainy yogurt, so I added vinegar to turn it into ricotta (actually, more like paneer). Looks like lasagna this weekend. Considering I could not make yogurt OR cheese a few months ago, I am celebrating the fact that I knew how to turn a mess-up into some other kind of food, saving a $4 half-gallon of raw milk.

Prepared: DH bought LED flashlights for us, a multi-tool for DD15, and a compass. For his birthday, we got him a portable propane grill that runs on those little Coleman-type tanks. Bought interlocking cables to secure it (and other things), since our last grill was stolen right off our back porch.

Cleaned out the shed and re-arranged the back porch to accommodate the grills and the dehydrator. Also worked on organizing our small over-whelmed kitchen. Decided to pack away my collection of vintage pretzel tins, to make room for the canners.

Bagged and labeled 8 one-pound bags of bean mix for soup. Stored 15# of unbleached flour, 15# pounds of sugar, Wondra gravy flour, demarara sugar, baking soda, laundry detergent, borax, pickling lime, canned pumpkin, pinto beans, ibuprofen, lotion. Stashed a few boxes of liquid chai mix, pineapple juice, chocolate syrup, and cream of coconut (have to hide those or they get consumed). Several vaccuum-packed bags of dried tortellini. Froze a few extra pounds of butter and 2# of frozen shrimp.

One of the local supermarket chains had a big sale on my favorite Red Zinger herbal tea, so I cleaned out three of their stores and stashed 10 boxes of tea. I can't figure out how to reproduce it myself; it has too many tropical ingredients for me to grow the components.

Researched the gun licensing and concealed-carry laws for Pennsylvania. My late father left two handguns and two shotguns at mom's house. We have decided to learn to shoot and maintain them, and will get gun safes for our house and car. We thought about learning to hunt, but DD15 wisely noted, "We are way too loud and clumsy."

Reduced, Reused, Recycled: Found new plastic rain gauges at the Good Will, $1 for four. Got a brand-new Weber table-top-size charcoal grill via Freecycle. That's two new grills in one week, greatly expanding our cooking options.

Local: We are registering the kids for schools in the fall. We had been homeschoolng, but I want to get a second job to allow us to buy a house faster. DD11 will go to 6th grade at a local "magnet" school in the public system, the Gateway School for Agriculture, Science, and Ecology. The school is new, so I don't know exactly what the curriculum will be like, but I plan to be an involved parent. If public school is too unsatisfactory, we can always take her back out. DD15 is going to use a public virtual charter school from home - she does well with minimal supervision.

The Sunday producer market is starting to have more variety of local produce. We get eggs, local nitrate-free beef hot dogs, and local pretzels every week. I usually get herbs to dry or use for pesto. Then we get whatever produce appeals, with whatever money is left. We got fresh corn, wax beans, dragon carrots, oregano, and tarragon this past week. Talked to the beekeeper, who will have beeswax (for my yarrow salve) later in the season - he also talked about a wintershare CSA with greens and storage vegetables.

Learned: We are looking into classes for us to learn new skills. The gardening and food storage is my "skill". DD15 is considering welding - they have continuing ed classes at the VoTech. We may never become a licensed welder, but the skill is good, and is also useful for art metalwork. DH is thinking about what skill he might like to pick up... maybe leather work. DD11 wants to learn to make bread. I need to figure out how to make a floury kneading space in our cramped kitchen.

Went to a Master Gardener Demonstration Garden workshop with mom and DD11, and saw demos about rain gardens, water barrel construction, and attracting pollinators. They also had a display of about a dozen kinds of composters in use. DD11 and I are going to build a nesting box to attract Mason Bees. Their demonstration garden is all ornamentals and herbs, with an emphasis on attracting pollinators with native species. Too bad they don't have an edible demo garden. I saw a water barrel design I liked, using a lidded heavy-duty trash can they sell at Home Depot.



Library: Tomorrow (!) is the big annual book sale... this space should be filled with wonders.

Yarrow: Medicinal preparations

I have been looking into the use of yarrow to treat circulatory issues. I have a huge yellow yarrow plant in my yard, so I have begun preparations. I have circulation problems with my feet and ankles, so I am interested in making salve and infusions for soaks.

I got my instructions from Lisa Zahn, who passed on the knowledge from her teacher.

Caution: Consult your medical doctor if you are taking other medications. Herbs are medicine, and have side effects. Seek advice from an herbal practitioner about how and how often to use the various preparations for your particular issues. Apparently, too much yarrow can disrupt women's menstrual cycles. I would be wary of using this is if I took blood thinners or other medications that affect clotting. These instructions are just for making the various preparations, not for using them.

Harvesting: To make yarrow salve, tincture, and infusions you need to use the top parts of flowering stems when they're in flower. If you use wild yarrow, limit the cutting to 1/3 of a stem, from about 1/3 of a plant from no more than 1/3 of the plants in an area. (I use cultivated yarrow in my yard, so I can cut all I want.) For the strongest medicine, pick it on a sunny day, not when it's wet or been wet the day before.


Tincture: Use fresh leaves and flower heads only, maybe a little stem. Rip into about one inch pieces and stuff them into a baby-food-sized glass jar. The small jar will make enough tincture for a single household, but use a larger jar if you are supplying a lot of people. Pack the jar as tight as you can with herb, to the tip top. Then pour 80 proof or higher vodka or brandy into the jar, also to the tip top. Poke air bubbles out with knife, then close the lid. A day or two later, open it up and top off the vodka to the top again, to replace what is absorbed. It must be filled to the top or the alcohol will oxidize.

Place this out of direct sunlight for six weeks, then decant into another jar by placing clean cheesecloth across the top of your jar, pouring off the liquid and squeezing as much liquid as you can out of the plant material. You can then compost the plant material, say a "thank you" to the plant. Some practitioners believe that the energy of gratitude contributes to the medicine. You may want to keep the finished tincture in a dark-colored sterilized bottle and dispense with an eye dropper than has not been used for anything else. Sterilize a bottle by boiling in water for 20 minutes.


Salve: First you need to make an oil, similar to making a tincture. First, allow the herb for a day or two before packing it into a jar. Tear or cut it into one-inch pieces with some stem. Pack tightly to the top of your jar, then pour cold-pressed olive oil over to the tip top. More olive oil to the top after a day or two, to replace what is absorbed. Set the oil in the sun, on a plate to catch the leaks. You can pour that little bit of leaked oil back in, or save it in a jar for later mixing with the rest of the finished oil. You let this sit in the sun for 6 weeks. You may want to check it for mold occasionally. You can scrape any mold off the top. If it's moldy throughout, you may want to start again. In the rare case that mold is a big problem, research making oil faster with heat.


After six weeks, decant the oil through cheesecloth. You can use the oil as is, keeping it in a cool place. Or, make a salve by adding beeswax. Use 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of beeswax for each little salve pot you want. Heat the beeswax slowly just to melt, then take off heat and stir in the yarrow oil. One baby food jar of oil to 2 teaspoons of beeswax might be a good place to start. Adjust the beeswax to get the salve consistency you want. Pour your salve into sterile jars while it's still warm, before it sets up.

Infusion: You want to completely dry the flowers and leaves for this, as you would for making a tea or tisane (herbal tea). Add 1 teaspoon dried herb to 1 cup of boiling water and steep for 8 hours. Increase to the quantity you desire.

More information: Answers.com has an extensive article about yarrow from the Alternative Medicine Encyclopedia. If you have more info about the uses of yarrow, please post in the comments.

Independence Challenge - Week 11

Planted: Acorn squash that might be might be too late, but the seeds were only 10 cents. There is a half-price sale at our favorite nursery on Friday, so I am waiting for that to fill in the other empty spaces for veggies and herbs.

I'm out of compost, so I tried fish emulsion fertilizer for the first time today. Wow, does that stink! And it made ME stink. I hope it works. My yard smells like a fish shop dumpster.

Last week's manual zucchini pollinating seems to have worked, and I will have new zukes soon. But it worries me that the bees were not numerous enough to pollinate. I am checking the other cucurbits to see if they need help. I see baby eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. The Bee Balm out front is buzzing - I need to plant that closer to the veggie patch.

Harvested: The first cherry tomatoes! All of the yellow onions, which were smaller than I expected. DD11 pulled more of her carrots (above). Picked cherries, at Ontelaunee Orchards this time, 4 lbs of sour cherries and 10 lbs of sweet. Picked a lot of basil for pesto. Cut yarrow.

Preserved: Froze pesto cubes. Started yarrow in olive oil to make salve. Pitted and froze sour cherries to make jelly later.

Cooked: DH made Sausage Pie (like quiche with a butch name) for dinner, and a ham quiche. Leftovers were great the next morning. Made Cherry Custard Pie, which we have eaten before, but not made for ourselves. I like it better than the usual two-crust pie. We seem to be in a Pie Phase.

Managed: Stocked canning jars, cinnamon, pinto beans, cooking oil, salt, Q-tips, shampoo, borax. An iced tea spill in the kitchen led me to move and reorganize my temporary reserve pile, when I saw how easily it could have been ruined. DH sounded interested in putting together a bucket system. The geekiness of color-coded gamma lids and oxygen absorbers appealed to him. For now, everything is in plastic tubs under the table.

Made a food storage goal list for 3 months, adapted from Sharon's list. I want to have a year eventually, but it is more manageable to start with 3 months and be eating out of it. I was able to check off some items right away, which felt good. Had everyone specify three personal treats to include, which ranged from licorice to cigarettes. Included a few luxury items with long shelf life, like coffee, cigars, and liquor, as a possible future trade reserve.

Reduced, Reused, Recycled: My mother gave me a water bath canner from her cellar. Yay! That saved me buying one. I am watching for a pressure canner at yard sales and auctions. Mom also trash-picked some large planters for me.

Got a $95 water bill shock this month. Watering the garden, I assume, since the laundering, showering, and dish-washing were at the normal level. Our house rent was raised a bit. Only 5%, but the "rising prices" excuse seems hollow, since we pay all the utilities. I SO wish we were permitted to divert the downspouts to catch rain. The front one goes right under the pavement into the storm sewer. The back one is pop-riveted to straps right down to the sidewalk, where it drains out to the alley on the pavement. What a waste. I am starting to eyeball the neighbors' guttering...


Local: The containers I planted with the girl up the street look good - baby tomatoes are showing (above). I talked to her mother, who wants to plant more next year, and asked me if I know how to can. I am going to find out if we can organize a canning class with the help of our Cooperative Extension agent.

Learned: About the medicinal uses of yarrow from herbalist Lisa Zahn, and am collecting the materials to make tinctures and salves. I need to get some grain alcohol from the liquor store.

Signed up for an internet-based course about 'Adapting in Place' in August. I am thinking of my mother's and brother's houses. Both have suburban land, but Mom is too frail to garden seriously, and Bro is terribly anti-garden about his half-acre of riding-mower grass. If things get ugly fast, farming his sunny lot would be easier than anyone else's, and at least I can have a plan for that. I don't know where we will be living in a year, but I will be better prepared to choose an adaptable residence.

Library: Naught. Still saving my pennies for the upcoming AAUW book sale.

Rainy 4th of July Photos

Most activities were rained out today, including fireworks, cherry-picking, and a bandshell concert. We spent the day cooking, catching up on recorded TV shows, and reading. I took advantage of a break in the rain to take some garden photos.

The yellow onions are ready to be harvested when it dries out:

A spiderweb caught a lot of raindrops:

Potted guara leaning over to kiss the celery:

Last of the roses:

Mystery cabbages:

Lotta basil:

Japanese Bloodgrass:

Sedums:

Drying stuff for herbal tea

I used to be a fanatical drinker of tea, Earl Grey in particular. Drank huge quantities of iced and hot tea every day. But then I had to decaffeinate a few years ago, for health reasons. A difficult transition, but now I am happily addicted to iced herbal Red Zinger instead, and getting interested in growing stuff to make my own blends.

I hung up some lemon balm to dry last week. Early this morning, I harvested a lot of peppermint and stripped the leaves to dry. I recently read a discussion about using your car as a giant summer dehydrator. You put screens or baskets in there and by the end of the day, things will be dry. You know, I bet you could fit a lot of screens in an SUV. Maybe that is what we can all do with the big-ass vehicles when they become too expensive to drive.

"Hey, what kind of dehydrator do you use?"

"A Cadillac Escalade."

I miss real tea - black, green, and white. Smokey Lapsang Souchong. This fabulous smooth Chrysanthemum Tea I once got in Chinatown and now cannot find - you could brew it forever and it never got bitter. It's like quitting smoking (which I also did a few years ago) - you always feel a little cheated that something so satisfying should be unhealthy.

Field Trip to Organic Market Garden

DD11 likes to roll down the car windows and yell "Moo!" at cows when we drive through rural areas. On Saturday, she found some that yelled back.

Yesterday, DD11 and Mom and I took a trip to the open house of B&H Produce, an organic market garden in Morgantown. They will start selling produce at the producer market that opens its season in West Reading on June 1. I heard that they had local grain, so wanted to look for flour, and just generally see how they do stuff.

It was a beautiful day to drive around. The farm is owned by Paul Hartz, and partner Erica Bowers runs the garden operation. The farm has great old barns and houses. They produce grass-fed beef, chicken, and vegetables. There is a health food store on the premises ("Hartz Natural Foods") with a lot of supplements and packaged organic stuff, as well as products of the farm itself. We had samples of farm-made all-beef hot dogs with no nitrates (very good), organic ice cream (also good, but not local), and Greek yogurt (fabulous, but not local). I gotta buy a yogurt maker on eBay.

We took a tour of the gardens. They had cool germinating racks mounted on the south side of a barn, with plexiglass covers - a wall-mounted hothouse. They also had simple cold frames made out of plastic sheeting, that gave them Sept-planted spinach through April. They buy compost from a local bulk producer, to be sure they have enough of the consistently good soil they need for organic vegetable production. They rely on compost and a few mineral supplements, avoiding even the permitted organic pest and weed treatments that certified organic farms are permitted.

When the tour group started around the garden plot, the cows one field over noticed the activity and ran across the field to see what was going on - they all lined up at the fence and kept calling to us, walking along the fence line as we walked along the garden plot. It was like a Far Side cartoon come to life.

There were a few vendors - a dietary supplement peddler, the compost producer, a ground grower, and two plant nurseries. Of course, I left with a few new plants. Another tomato "Black Zebra", with golf-ball-sized yellow fruit, and three herbs I will put in pots: chocolate mint (below), Roman chamomile, and Epazote (Mexican Tea). The Epazote is new to me, apparently a popular herb in Mexican cooking. It is supposed to reduce gas when added to bean recipes.

The store had fresh-ground flour, but not from locally grain, as far as I could find out. It was fun to visit, but I am not interested in supplements or pricey packaged organic groceries. I just want meat and produce, and local sources of whole grain and other staples. It's not worth it for me to drive down to this farm - they bring produce to the West Reading market every week, and I could probably order meat for pick-up.

Update: I emailed B&H, just to make sure I was right about the grain - the cashier sounded a little vague about it. Turns out they DO grow spelt and offer both whole spelt and spelt flour. They also grow wheat, but it is sold to a local mill. This is great! Two leads - one for spelt, and one for a local mill I can chase down.

DD11 greatly enjoyed the chicks

Independence Challenge - Week 3

We have a super-prolific lemon thyme plant, so it seems like all I do is harvest and dry thyme lately. Fortunately, I really like it in stock. The other herbs are not mature enough to pick.

Planted: transplanted greens into fish boxes and empty spots in the ground
Harvested: leaf lettuce and lemon thyme
Preserved: dried lemon thyme
Managed: more work preparing Mom's yard, preparing to move
Systems: found a new CSA with an open house this weekend
Reduced Waste: the usual recycling and composting
Learned: how to preserve my herbs better
Library: Beginning Algebra

It's been rainy and cool lately. I have been doing daily weeding, but not a lot else in the garden. Really busy with work and other responsibilities at the moment. Need to find a source of free soil for the fish boxes - I hate buying bags. Maybe the leaf composting facility in Mom's township - I think she can get compost for free.

Fishbox of greens ready to give to Mom

Potting more plants to relocate to Mom's yard, and making containerized veggies to take there. We are slowly clearing space for planting at Mom's - turns out there was a layer of brick under the stuff in the spot she thought would be good. We are removing the brick by yard-cart-loads to a pallet in the back of the yard. Slow progress, but steady. She is feeling better after a really tough time adjusting to new medication.

We are starting to get ready to move by the end of the summer. Sorting and boxing, making piles to sell or freecycle. Reducing the clutter of school paperwork and outgrown books. By the time we move, I will have a better inventory of what we already have.

I posted to Sharon Astyk's food storage email list last week, to get advice about preserving herbs we grow. Great source of expertise and experience. As I work my way into the attic, I am going to install a drying rack up there, to use until we leave. I have been using labeled ziplocks to store dried herbs - I need to buy some canning jars and lids for this. I found it too hard to get the food smells out of used commercial food jars (pickles, salsa, relish, etc.).

Loads of herbs ready to move to pots and borders

Milk Jug hothouse results

I have a weed issue with the potting soil in the milk jugs. The same weed popped up in most of the jugs - sadly, sometimes it was the only thing that did sprout. I suppose it could have blown in, but it seems more likely that the bagged potting soil was contaminated.

Here in Zone 6B, the regional last-frost date is this week, and the marigold seedlings were out of room, so I potted them in market packs until I decide where to grow them. I found it hard to tease apart the roots, so maybe I should pot them sooner next time.

Nothing happened in the lavender jug. The herb sprouts are just teeny little things still getting their second set of leaves, so I am leaving them in the jugs until they are big enough to handle. The Genovese and Cinnamon Basil sprouted, and one other jug, but I can't tell if it is the thyme or the marjoram, yet. All the jug labels washed off - I have to label better next time.

This was my first attempt at winter-sowing, and I only did 6 jugs and 4 flat trays. Two jugs failed to grow and most of the tray action has been disappointing. The spinach mustard did great, but no action from the blackberry lily, or from the pennyroyal I put in the fridge for several weeks before bringing it outside. There is a 4th tray that has a few tiny sprouts finally, but I can't recall what I planted!

Trip to Oley

I love going to Oley, about 8 or 10 miles into the countryside. We had an early dentist appointment at the Vo-Tech, and then we went to the Oley Legion Diner for breakfast. Less than $10 for three of us to have breakfast, and the conversation is fabulous - peak oil talk, discussion of artisan bread and cheese, gossip among people that eat breakfast together on a regular basis. I got a farm auction flyer hanging on a fish chain on the wall - lots of garden tools and canning jars, but I wonder if its worth driving to Colebrookdale Township on May 10 at 9AM.

A man in "overhauls" came in with two loafs of bread for the waitress (who is think is a part-owner). The man and the waitress are both "bread freaks" and he wanted her to try the extra-sour pumpernickel he just got. It was from the Oley Bakery, which is mostly wholesale to fancy urban outlets, but can be found at Christman's Meat Market just down the road. He offered us a sample slice - it was definitely sour, but it made me immediately want to put corned beef and swiss on it to grill. The man was from Philadelphia, now living in Oley and wearing bib overalls in diners.

I asked if they knew anything about that Old Earth Farm, and they had heard of it, but didn't say much else. Don't know what that means. They told me about an organic farm run by an Aaron Burkholder near Bowers. Googling turned up an address: 460 Bowers Rd, Kutztown PA 19530. We'll have to check that out.

We did stop at Cristman's - no pumpernickel, but they had other great Oley Bakery loaves for about $3.25. But better yet - the meat market is great. Premise-made scrapple and pickled tripe. I found real lard with no additives for $1.19/lb. They render it right there and dip it out of a bucket for customers.

Then we went to Glick's, which is full swing. The front parking lot was full. I stayed out of the perennial section - I knew I would be too tempted. I had to limit myself even in the veggies. Market 4-packs are $1.45, or 45 cents for single plants. Perfect for small gardens where you can only support one or two of each plant. Here is what we got:

Potatoes: Yukon Gold (1), Pontiac Red (3), Dark Red Norland (2)
Sweet Peppers: Valencia (red), Baby Belle (dark red-purple), Chocolate Beauty
Eggplants: Ichiban, heirloom Black Beauty
Tomatoes: Brandywine, Sun Sugar (yellow cherry)
Celery "Tall Utah"
Italian Parsley

I thought we were only growing cherry tomatoes for DD15, but she also wanted a slicing tomato for sandwiches. I must pay more attention to pruning, water, and fertilizing this time.

At $0.90/lb, I only spent 45 cents on seed taters, and I already need more buckets to grow them! The whole bill was $6.90. I saw a lot of brassicas I would have tried, but I can already see the white cabbage moths - I am not buying until I have row cover arranged. Maybe I will get some when they have the spring sale, if there is any room left in the yard!

Hardening off herbs

Weather: Low 80s daytime, 50s at night. Rain expected Sunday (Earth Day) and Monday, followed by a cooler week nights in the upper 40s and days in the upper 60s. We could use the rain - pretty dry for the past 2 weeks.

In my own yard, I have brought out the potted herbs that we overwintered. A little trough of sage (pretty straggly), a rosemary from last summer, and a lavender. I am very happy to have gotten the rosemary through, after last year's powdery mildew horrors. It was drier upstairs in Celeste's window environment. I put them on the warm sidewalk with the bean plant in the pot. Might have to cover them next week for a few evenings. It will go back down to cooler temperature after a few days in the 80's.

I am doing a bad job with the milk jugs. I didn't tape them all, so they evaporate more than I would like and I don't water them enough. Uneven moisture is going to slow down germination. Trying to get back into my regular morning water patrol habit.

Almost forgot: there is a place to get composted leaves in Exeter, which we can visit since that is Mom's township. We can take fishboxes there and fill them to haul the dirt. Have to remember to get more fishboxes Wednesday.

Herbs and more Onions in

I made six milk jug hothouses - hot jugs? Heh. I now it's late in the "winter-sowing" season, but there is still a good danger of frost, and stuff will sprout faster in the jugs.

I over-watered one jug and have to wait for it to drain, but I planted the other five: Lavender "Munstead" from a swap, Cinnamon Basil, Genovese Basil, Thyme (unidentified variety from a swap), and Sweet Marjoram.

DD11 planted a whole quarter with yellow Stuttgarter onion sets. The white onion quarter is doing well with little sprouts all over, but the bunching onions don't seem to be doing much. Maybe I will try them again in a fishbox, since they don't need a lot of depth.

11 also asked me to dig a patch just for her to plant whatever she wants. She said she doesn't want any help - she will look it all up on the internet. I will dig a rectangle at the edge of the grass next to the brick path. DD15 and I need to finish the path this week.

I filled a big fish box with soil, but didn't plant it yet. The spinach and lettuce are doing well, and I could use this box for the next succession of planting in a week or so. Maybe romaine. Planted Japanese Blood Grass in a bagged meat tray. If it goes well, I can use it for swaps. (Note 5/31/08: the JBG never sprouted at all. Could have been bad seed - came from a seed swap.)

Also filled two clay pots from a yard sale - but I may empty the big one and use it to pot a dug-up guara. I need to move the largest one away from the mulberry stump. The stump is sprouting again, and I am going to paint the leaves with Round-up, repeatedly, if necessary. So I don't want any keeper plants near it until I kill it once and for all. (Note: The guara is doing well in a pot, and the stump was susccessfully dug up; no chemical intervention needed.)

Planted peas and onions

Weather: Below freezing last night. 50s during the day. Cloudy, clearing to sun by noon. Windy. Forecast says more of the same for the next week, except for Saturday which will be in the 40s with snow showers in the morning.

I meant to plant peas a few days ago on St. Patrick's Day. All the really cool gardeners have had their peas started in rain gutters or under cloches for weeks. But at least we got the darned seeds in the ground on the First Day of Spring! That's better than last year, when I planted no peas at all.

DD15 planted the peas along the back of the strip along the fence, where there were eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers last year. This strip could really use a round of legumes. When the peas are done at the end of May, I will put beans in. There are also a few perennial flowers left in the ground there, and some spring bulbs getting ready to bloom. I can fill any bare spots with potted herbs. If things go as planned, I will be able to strip the pea vines off the fence by June, before they shade the neighbor's tomatoes in the next yard.

I didn't have any innoculant for the peas, so I will look for some and add it after the fact, hoping it will still work. Pruned the lemon thyme at the end of strip. Smelled great and is budding new stems all over.

We got onions in the ground, too - sets of white onions, and green onions from seed. Intense little 3x3 patch of each, where there were sweet potatoes last year. I buried a lot of kitchen waste under there last fall, and I will mulch with newspaper and grass clippings after the rows sprout. Not sure we had the "onion snow" just yet, but the ground is completely workable, so I am forging ahead.

I filled the fish boxes with bagged soil and stacked the boxes. Need more boxes and more bagged soil. I want to try a few with regular garden soil, too. The kids filled the top one with water to let it filter down and soak the soil. I want to get them really wet and let them drain before I plant them with lettuce and spinach. My plan is to raise the boxed off the ground to try to keep the slugs and rabbits out. We lost our whole fall lettuce and spinach crops to critters.

My plan is to ramp up my casual veggie gardening this year, and so far, I am way ahead of last year's game. Let's see how much this little city backyard can produce.

TO DO: Buy legume innoculant. Find another camera on eBay for garden photography.