21st July, 2011 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Ugh, it is hot and humid here like it is in most of the US. We’re trying to stay cool and hydrated. I got a good deal on limes at the store and Sheridan asked if I could make lime-aid. Well, I had never done it and didn’t find any recipes in my cookbooks and didn’t want to run to the computer so I just gave it a shot. Here is the recipe:
Lime-Aid
- 3 limes
- 1 C sugar (more or less to taste)
- cold water
Wash the limes well and remove any stickers. Cut the limes in half and juice into a large pitcher or other glass container (don’t use plastic, they are very acidic.) I used a Pyrex 1 Qt measuring cup. Add the sugar and mash the limes into the sugar with a wooden spoon or something like that. Let sit for 5 minutes or so. Put this mixtures into a 2 quart (1/2 gallon) container – preferably glass – and add water to fill. Chill.
That’s it! I’ve been told it is tasty and it is about gone now so I’ll have to make some more. I want to try substituting honey for the sugar next time since we are trying to cut down on refined sugar.
I had a shock yesterday while strolling the garden. The plants I though were cucumber plants are not, well, I don’t think they are. One of the fruits is softball sized, round and looks surprisingly like a cantaloupe. I have things things all OVER my garden so whatever they are, if they live until the fruits are ripe we’re going to have a lot of them. I found ten while I was out there. Still getting strawberries, peas (almost over), peppers and my first Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomatoes. Not many tomatoes made it past the deer this year. <sigh> Still thinking toward fall. We may build some hoop houses this year. We’ll see.
Stay cool!!!
20th July, 2011 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Never too early to plan for next year - save those seeds!
Boy was it hard to get motivated this morning. I didn’t sleep well plus the weather is just oppressive and doesn’t make you want to leave the house. Ugh!
As I was fixing dinner the other night I found myself doing something that I bet a lot of people don’t think about any more. When I was cutting up a green pepper I saved the seeds instead of throwing them out. I wrapped them in a paper towel to dry, taped it shut and labeled them with what they were and the date. After a few days drying on top of the fridge they’ll go into my seed box for planting next year.
I do the same thing with tomatoes and sometimes stone fruits too – just to try my hand at growing them from seed.
“Way back when” (which in most places was pre-WWIII) people used to do the regularly as it was the best way to get seeds for your garden. Somewhere along the line we’ve forgotten that the seed sold by Burpee for $2.99 a packet is the same seed we get free inside our food.
It is true that if you are eating a hybrid crop (and if it came from the supermarket most likely it is a hybrid) the pepper you get next year may not be the same as the one you ate today, but it will be a pepper for sure and the seed will be free.
It is kind of fun to put all your pepper seeds (separating hot and not hot if you like) in the same container and then plant them without knowing exactly what you will get.
Tomatoes work the same way though for those the prep is a little messier. For them I mix the tomato seeds/pulp in a baby food jar with some water. I let it sit for a few days, shaking to mix the stuff up when it separates. Eventually most of the seeds will drop to the bottom and you can get them out to dry on some paper towels and then pack them away. Sometimes the stuff in the jar ferments and smells unsavory, the seed is still OK but it is best to not soak the seeds in a plastic container since you’ll never get the smell out.
Keep all your seeds in a cool place or in the fridge crisper drawer (I have way too many for that) and next year you’ll be set.
Other seeds you can be collecting for next year are: columbine, sunflower, marigold, thyme, oregano, chives, catnip, basil, four o’clocks and lots more.
17th July, 2011 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
My newest published story comes out soon.... my authors copies have arrived!
I’m up at 5:15 on a Sunday which means, hopefully, I’ll be able to catch up on some writing before the house wakes up. The sun isn’t up yet and it sure is cool outside. I’ve opened the window above my desk and the breeze is coming in smelling of mint. We have a large (larger than I wanted) mint bed in our front yard. Mint sure does travel, but I’d rather have it than the bindweed which it has successfully pushed out.
Spent a lot of time in the kitchen yesterday while both little children napped – a rarity. Our young daughter rarely naps but needs to most days. She is much more pleasant. While they were sleeping I managed to:
- cook and freeze 5lbs of hamburger (I always cook my hamburger before freezing to save time.)
- freeze 1 qt buttermilk in 1/2 C measures (I didn’t get to use it and didn’t want it to go to waste)
- cut up plums for 3 trays in the dehydrator
- cooked (and burned dry) some golden beets – ruined the pan, will have to replace it. I was reading recipes and didn’t notice the water was gone.
- cooked 3 cups white rice
- cooked a box of brown rice
- put one tray of Granny Smiths in the dehydrator (I bought them to go with mashed sweet potatoes but all the potatoes have gone bad)
- started to make chocolate chip cookies but ran out of time
- cut up a pineapple
- froze a bunch of beef I bought on Friday – lots of meals in the freezer now.
What I didn’t manage to do was get a nap which meant come evening I was tired and had to go to bed early.
A grocery trip on tap today after I read the paper for sales/coupons. I don’t do much couponing any more because I buy very little convenience food. Between the food allergies in our family and our desire to avoid chemicals there isn’t much left to buy. I still buy boxed cereal because people are disappointed if I don’t. I do buy gluten free cake mixes but the Betty Crocker ones have very little in the way of chemicals in them. I also will buy lunchmeat which I know is bad for us, but is a staple – especially pepperoni.
The garden needs attention too and I still have those cookies to bake. Other than that it’ll be watching the kids while Scott works outside I guess. We also need to get the table we bought yesterday stripped – the previous owners tried to shellac it (it looks like, I’m not an expert but it is clear and sticky) and we need to get that stuff off. Doubt that’ll be environmentally friendly to do.
Oh and need to take our oldest to practice parallel parking. She takes her driving test on Thursday.
Hope everyone has a good day!
18th May, 2011 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Our birdfeeder is sprouting!
Yes, it has been weeks since my last post and my excuse is only that it finally stopped raining so we could get out in the garden and get some work done. Of course that ended 4 days ago and it started raining again so I’ve been playing catch-up to my computer.
Columbine - my favorite Spring flower
My columbines are beautiful but the lilacs were awful, next to no blooms. We pruned last year and perhaps didn’t do it right, but I didn’t see many blooms at my neighbor’s place either so perhaps it was the weather. We didn’t get any tulips this year either. The leaves came up but no flowers. So odd. Lily of the valley is doing much better than I’d like it to – spreading like wildfire. I love the way it smells but it is so invasive here it has choked out my flower beds.
You can see more photos of Spring around our place by checking out Scott’s website, The Permaculture Podcast. It has a link to his photos.
We have a great crop of lettuce and spinach at the moment, radishes are doing nicely but the tomato sprouts have mostly been eaten by slugs. <sigh> Not sure what I’m going to do about that.
We’re trying to eliminate as much grass in our growing areas as possible (we don’t like grass – such a waste of resources) so Scott has been mulching heavily with cardboard and wood chips to kill the grass between our growing beds. Doesn’t look so good now, but hopefully it’ll look better when we get the plants in.
Our garlic is spectacular! What a crop we’ll have to use and share. Such an easy crop to grow – at least it is here. I’m sure that is not the case everywhere.
And then there is the poison ivy – growing about a foot a day. I tried to tackle it myself and ended up with a horrible rash on my arms. (Another reason I haven’t been typing much.) I’m the only one in my family who gets it at the moment and I was trying to save the others the exposure since it is suspected that the more times you are exposed the higher your risk for a reaction, but, well, forget that. Someone else can pull it next time. We are actually looking into a weed killer to keep it from spreading. Roundup works but kills frogs and we have lots of those so we are looking for something else. Scott thinks he’s found something. We have a section in the front that has been there so long it looks like a small hedge. It is encroaching into our garden space and the area where our children play so it has got to go. I’ll keep you posted.
Ronnie on his perch
The cats have been enjoying sunning on the deck but Ronnie has made a habit of crossing over the garage roof. Not sure what he’s looking for – birds I guess. Hunter just likes to soak in the sun. He’s older, about 15 or so, and seems his old bones need the warmth.
Let’s see, what else, made our first family trip to Hersheypark this year. They’ve got pansies everywhere – I’m jealous. But that is what happens when you own your own nursery I guess.
Scott’s been doing some talks on vermiculture. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten around to posting about that here but we have a worm bin for composting kitchen waste. It is underneath my craft table in the basement. They keep me company while I’m scrapbooking. (Yes, it is a little creepy sometimes.)
I think that is it for now. We’ve still got tons of hours of work to do in the garden and last frost date is upon us so the blog will most likely be pretty quiet until the skeleton of our garden is complete. I’ll check in again when I can.
28th April, 2011 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Our family has been hit with the same bad storms that killed many people in the South. Our thoughts go out to those folks and we are greatful that all we experienced was some flooding. Again.
We’ve not had much luck in the garden since it has been too wet to mow and we can’t get our compost and wood mulch delivered since our supplier has nothing but mud piles at the moment. Soon, we hope. No pots can be planted or additional beds made until we have the supplies and our cardboard for the sheet composting is blowing away with every storm.
Shelves are much more crowded now...
Our plants on the growing shelves are doing well… we’re raising “cat” nip on the bottom shelf… always have to make room for the kitties.
I lost all of the onion plants I put out, they washed away. As did most of the lettuce. When you get an inch of rain an hour for several hours it is hard to keep things in the ground. I put peas in early in the week, and put them in again after they all popped to the top after the rain.
We’ve had bear sightings in the area too… so now we have to keep our eyes open for them. Bees too are a problem this year. They are super agressive for some reason, even the usually passive wood bees are not very nice. Guess it was a hard winter all around.
That’s it for now!
21st April, 2011 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Lots of water
4/16/11
It rained. A lot. We got over 3 inches of rain and our yard flooded again for the second time in a month. This time though it is taking a long time to dry out. I spent the day at Hersheypark writing a trip report for my other website and then ran errands in pouring rain and storms. Winds were high and there were tornado watches and warnings out too.
4/17/11
Made our favorite crock pot chili for lunch today. You can get the recipe here. I don’t use the tomato juice, I just use a large can of crushed tomatoes instead.
Got the last of the tomato seeds into the sprouting tray and onto the heat mat tonight. I saved seeds from all the heirloom tomatoes we got from Spiral Path CSA last year so if things go well we’ll have a lot of variety. Also got the first seedlings in trays ready to go out to harden off.
Spinach seeds I planted in a pot on our back deck have sprouted. Some sun would really help them grow but it isn’t in the forecast.
4/18/11
Wee little radishes
Taking a long time for the field to drain this time. Put the lettuce and cabbage seedlings out to harden off on the porch. Windy today but not much rain. Radish seeds I planted a week ago are up as are some carrots. Time to plant a second batch. Jack found a sustainable solution to clean her drum cymbals today – lemon juice. Worked really well.
4/19/11
More rain. We just don’t need it at this point. I was hoping to hang laundry but that didn’t happen so had to hang it to dry indoors. Lots of finches in their yellow feathers at the feeders today. We won’t be feeding birds much longer – draws bears and we don’t need THEM on the deck!
Moonflowers with seed casings attached
I planted Moonflowers this year and they are up and big. Probably planted them too early. One thing about them is their seed hulls get stuck on the leaves. I wonder why that happens. I’ve tried to pry a few off but I ripped the leaves in a few cases so I know that isn’t the answer.
Scott picked up a bunch of clean cardboard last night to continue sheet mulching part of our yard. We’re still waiting for soil test results to come back from the lab. We’re testing for lead due to our location. Hopefully we’ll get good results.
I made a phone call to Kimberly Clark today to ask about their Pull-Ups brand training pants. Our youngest daughter wears them when she goes to pre-school since they don’t allow cloth (no, we don’t beat ourselves up about this; it is just a fact of how things are.) She loves Toy Story so we get her the boy kind with Woody and Buzz on them. Well, the last pack I bought had Woody and Buzz on the package but inside it was characters from Cars. I thought this was mis-packaging but upon calling I was told that they are phasing out the Toy Story characters and are just using up the outside packaging until it is gone. While I commend them for not being wasteful since this packaging is Recycle code 7 and in most places it must be thrown away, I did say they could put a sticker or something on it to note it is not as shown to avoid disappointed kids. Since we bought this brand specifically because of the characters on them I didn’t accept the free coupons they offered and I told them we’d be switching to the store brand which are much cheaper and just as effective. Oh well. Luckily we’re potty training her now and the use of Pull Up type diapers will be short lived anyway.
4/20/11
Lab tests came back A-OK for lead. Whew. That’s a relief.
It was supposed to be 75F and sunny today but it didn’t get there until 4pm. The kids and I made a trip to ZOOAMERICA today. You can read about our trip here. I went outside in the late afternoon to get our strawberry plants in the ground. We plant everbearing varieties because we like to have strawberries on our salads and cereal and we don’t want to have to deal with a glut of strawberries in June. Usually I buy strawberries for jelly and things from the Farmer’s Market. I planted Seascape and another one I can’t remember in our raised boxes.
I also planted out my cabbage and lettuce sprouts. It’s supposed to be in the low 40s tonight, I hope they are going to be OK. Also planted my largest shallots saved from last year. They were lost temporarily in the basement but I found them under two paper bags full of sweet potatoes we want to try to grow.
Quiet Creek Columbine
Last year I visited Quiet Creek Herb Farm for a farm day and they were nice enough to send me some columbine seeds from the red and yellow plant they had in their high tunnel. I finally got around to sending them some of my Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomato seeds today. They are a bit colder than we are here since they are upstate and west, so they should still be able to plant them for this year if they want to. I just planted mine yesterday.
Also planted radish and spinach seeds and some more marigold seeds. You can never have too many marigolds. Did a walk around the yard and saw violets growing and lots of dandelions. I always like that color combination together.
I did some trimming to my perennials and to the butterfly bushes too.
Gee, was their anything else? I don’t think so.
17th April, 2011 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Newspaper Bags get a new life
When we start seeds indoors I usually need to cover the flats with plastic since I have a lot more flats than I do lids. Before I’ve used plastic grocery bags for this, but I have fewer and fewer of these now that reusable bags have come onto the scened. So I looked around and found a stash of old newspaper bags.
Most people I know with dogs use these while they are walking their dogs, but we don’t have a dog and I hadn’t found a use for them yet. They are really too small for collecting much garbage and too thin for anything heavy.
Flat plastic from newspaper bags
So I cut one open and ended up with an 18.5×19.5 inch piece of plastic. These are a great size to cover my flats of seeds waiting to sprout and they are light enough that they don’t weigh down already sprouted seeds if I have multiple varieties in a flat.
What a great way to reuse these bags and get some help in the garden too.
12th April, 2011 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
- Garlic in our Garden
Last fall we planted some garlic that we purchased from our favorite supplier, We Grow Garlic. I was happy to see that it is doing well already this season.
We sheet mulched this section to a certain degree and weren’t sure exactly how the garlic would take to it. Plus this placement is far forward in our yard and sometimes gets hit with snow from the snowplow during bad storms.
But as you can see the garlic is up and doing well. It’s looking pretty happy.
If you’ve never grown garlic you really should give it a try. It’s as easy to grow as onions and the taste is a lot better than what you will find at the store. Planting time for garlic is in the fall for most varieties so if you are interested in growing it be sure to put it on your garden planner for this year.
We won’t have to do a thing to ours until we harvest it in July. You can see complete growing and harvesting instructions on We Grow Garlic’s website here.
22nd August, 2010 - Posted by Scott - 2 Comments
This little guy, about an inch long in real life, is a Saddleback Caterpillar. They are of note for two reasons:
1. They are a general feeders that will munch on a wide variety of garden plants. In large numbers, which I’ve had this year, can defoliate a 3 year old blueberry bush in a matter of days. On doing a garden walk two weeks ago I noticed that all four of the blueberry bushes were in various states of becoming denuded. A cursory glance at noon didn’t reveal anything so I went ahead and started picking blueberries figuring I would find the predators in the early morning or late evening. That’s when it happened. I got stung.
2. The sting. I’ve been swarmed by ground hornets on several occasions, usually because I ran over a nest with a mower, hit by bumble bees, and fallen into thistle, to name a few ways I’ve been injured by nature’s bounty, and nothing compares to the stings I received from the Saddleback Caterpillar. I didn’t know what hit me but it hurt like the dickens. I rushed inside to wash my hand and check the damage, thinking I disturbed a wasp. There were three stings in total, that I could see, all clustered in the soft part of my hand between the thumb and forefinger. The pain was like an electrical current pulsing into my hand, and yes, I’ve electrocuted myself before too.
A rash raised up across the back of my hand. Application of ice took out the peak pain and a follow up with a topical anesthetic made it tolerable the rest of the day. The next morning the rash and pain were gone. Though it didn’t last long, it did incapacitate that hand while it lasted.
Control:
I have been hand picking them while wearing a heavy pair of leather gloves and then disposing of them. This has been fairly successful with only a moderate amount of work. Though I pulled over 40 off of the 4 bushes the first time out after discovering them, and recovered from the sting, in days since I have only picked another half dozen or so. Manual control looks to work well, is simple, and only takes a few minutes to accomplish.
From researching it a bit, it looks like they are susceptible to BT if you choose to dust or spray with it. Be advised, however, that BT will also kill butterflies.
However you choose to handle them, wear protective clothing and be careful. These little guys pack a powerful punch.
8th August, 2010 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Two years ago we tried our hands at growing garlic here in Central PA and we were astounded with the results. Growing was easy, harvesting was fun and eating was awesome! Scott has shared garlic with many online friends and we’ve gifted some to our family and friends as well. In fact we had enough that we didn’t need to replant until this year.
We get our garlic from Karen and Mike at www.wegrowgarlic.com. They are the nicest people (actually respond to emails themselves) and boy do they grow great garlic! We’ve found their prices to be reasonable and their selection outstanding. The first time around we missed out on many varieties because we didn’t order until September. This year we ordered a week after their shop opened (in July) and we still missed out on some – this stuff goes that fast!
If you have ever wanted to try garlic, make this year the year and go to Karen and Mike’s website here. We grew enough for two years of eating and sharing in a small plot so you don’t need lots of room. Want to know how to do it? Check out Scott’s post here on harvesting our garlic and you’ll see our tiny plot. Interplant with marigolds and you barely have to weed at all. The only thing you really need is decent sun and the plot should not have standing water – the bulbs will rot.
Come on… give garlic a try!
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