Tuesday, April 17, 2012

DIRT

OK, so why am I getting so excited about dirt?  I mean haven't I always known where dirt comes from?  It is the breakdown of organic materials over a long period of time.  I learned about nursing logs when I was in grade school.  A tree roots itself in a downed log and the log breaks down and as it does it feeds the baby sapling.  It is the circle of life and all that. 

But dirt!  Free dirt!  Free composted stuff!  That is so cool!  I came home early today, well because I could.  And I started to mow the lawn.  The rain got too serious, so I had to stop that.  I looked around for something else to do.  So I started trying to get all the branches and stuff off the roof of our shed.  It has been a tough winter and we are still trying to dig ourselves out.  Well, over the head work is hard to do for a long time.  So I started moving some branches into a pile...you know, cleaning up a bit.  And I found...another completely finished compost heap!  Wow!  I decided not to use the contents, but instead to seed another pile and add some of it to my already started pile.  SO, now I have two piles going.  Two compost piles and two worm bins.  Lots of compost making! 

Dinner's ready.  Have a nice evening!!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Building Community

I often wonder why it is so difficult to build community.  And then I remember that we are all so busy.  We work all day and then we barely have time to eat, keep house, go to all the meetings that we have volunteered for and find enough time to sleep.

BUT, there are times when it is right to follow my gut and just reach out.  I found an old address book today.  It has been in my stuff for a very long time.  And I found one name in particular who I have been trying to get back in touch with for a very long time.  I have tried to connect with her on Facebook, but couldn't find her.  I have Googled her many times.  I have looked her up on Dexknows.  All of that failed.  And I couldn't find a phone number today either, but maybe...just maybe after 20 years a phone call would have been too much of a surprise!!  But I was able to confirm that she still owns the home.  That was a bit tricky, but I figured it out and was able to confirm it.

And then I sat down and wrote her a little letter.  And I invited her to reconnect with me.  What do I have to lose?  Really?  I mean, if she chooses not to, then I can either choose to be disappointed, or I can choose to be proud of myself for trying!  I believe I will do that latter.

Is there someone in your life who you would like to reach out and reconnect with?   Listen to your gut...it just might be the right time.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Our new bed is in!

Thanks to my sweet husband, we have a new raised bed!  Pictures to follow!

The chickent got moved to a dirt area of the garden and I am finding that they are very happy to wallow in the open dirt and old leaves that were there.  So fun to see them. 

Thats all for now.  Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Recycling at our house

Good morning!  How are you doing this lovely Spring day?

Thought I would take a quick minute and talk about recycling.  Over the past couple of years we have started eating more and more whole foods and less and less prepared foods.  I can honestly say that most of the food in our cupboards now is organic.  It has been a huge transition, but I think that we all feel better for it!

SO...what I found was that there is so much more organic waste when we eat this way.  We started a worm bin (yes red wigglers and the whole thing) many years back.  I have to say that I am the example of "It just isn't that hard to keep these guys alive!"  And why I say that is that we went whole winters without feeding them anything.  But they came back in the Spring.  I wouldnt' suggest doing it that way, but it is true.

In any case, we started a worm bin like this one: http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm

I think they went a little crazy with the holes, but whatever.  In our town, we are no longer able to recycle our shredded paper in our recycling bin, so we use shredded paper in our worm bin for the bedding.  We have a container in our kitchen where we store the veggie left overs, the coffee filters and the tea bags and egg shells.  Then when it fills up, I take it, the shredded paper and a pitcher of water out to feed the worms.  I dump the organic waste container and then spread it out, cover it with a thin layer of shredded paper and dampen it with water from the pitcher. 

So many of the worm farmers try to tell you that it is very difficult and you need to do do this or that, but really it is that simple.  Just make sure not to pour too much water in at once because the worms can drown. 

By the way, we have our bin(s) outside.  And we feed the worms with anything organic that has started to go off.  We feed everything else to the chickens.  We have chosen not to feed the chickens meat though.  So...my dog is the recycle bin for meat.  She thinks that's neat! 

Then...we use the worm castings in our planting beds.  We use the chicken manure and the hay in our compost pile and will eventually use that in our planting beds too.  I am thinking we are going to need more planting beds!! 

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Spring has Sprung!!

Hello there!  It has been a long time since I wrote on here.  It has to do with preparation for Spring!  I spent much of the winter reading voraciously about how to get our garden going.  I spent a lot of time on Pinterest learning how to do it inexpensively as well. 

I also got to meet an author of Backyard Homesteading!  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/backyard-homesteading-dave-toht/1101007305?ean=9781580115216&itm=2&usri=backyard+homesteading  He is from our local community and he even signed my book.  Too cool!  The book is really well written and there are a lot of pictures too.  Love that! 

So, as I was asked for an update from my niece on my gardening, I decided I would!  I am posting a few pictures too.  As you can see, we are learning that things don't have to be perfect before we start!  That is a huge lesson to learn!  If you wait for everything to be perfect...YOU WILL NEVER START!  So just start somewhere and let nature take its course. 


Here is my update:  Our chickens have completely prepared our new raised bed area.  They are hard to see, but they are on the right of this picture.  This weekend we will be moving them to a new scratching area and then framing the bed and getting some soil.  It will be lovely and full of manure, but only under the soil, so eventually the soil will eat up all the manure and straw. 

We are working on getting rid of all the grass between our beds.  We will probably put cardboard down and then cover with wood chips from our apple tree that split in two during the ice storm.  Yes, some of the chips will be saved for smoking too.  I heard that apple woodchips are lovely for smoking meat and such. 

Our worm bins are CRAZY-full of worms!!  I dug all the way to the bottom of one and couldn't find anywhere where there was a scoop without worms!  I think I am going to need to share some soon so that they don't get over-crowded.  My other worm bin is just starting, so I can probably put some in there though too. 

So far we have planted a full bed of potatoes of different varieties.  It is the first time that we have planted potatoes, but we had a lot of organic potatoes from the store that sprouted so we thought, what the heck?!  We put them in at a good time too because it was a beautiful weekend and then it has rained since then, so we haven't had to worry about watering. 

I also grew a celery plant from the bottom of an organic celery that I bought at the store.  I started it in water and now have transplanted it to some soil and worm castings.  It is very happy.  I lost the other one that I tried.  The trick is to take it out of the water and put it in soil before it starts getting gooey. 



We also started a lot of seeds...I think on this, we have done what every new gardener does.  We believed them when they said to grow extra because you are going to lose some.  Well, we did lose maybe ONE.  That has left us with...hmmm...I think 18 cherry tomato plants, 18 Roma tomato plants, 18 cutting tomato plants, 18 regular cucumber plants and 18 pickling cucumber plants.  Oh yeah and I forgot to mention that we planted 18 pepper plants...they didn't come up as quickly as the others, so we planted 18 more.  Holy Smokes!!  I think we will be able to off them to our friends and family.  Part of me says that I should just have the chickens make me a long bed and I should just plant them all.  Then we would have a serious jungle!!  (This is only part of them!)



Anyway, we have repotted about half of those in a mixture of worm castings and soil.  Need to do the rest this weekend.  You have to understand that we have a very small home that doesn't have a lot of growing area inside, so I am resorting to leaving two lights on in my laundry room to make sure they are getting enough light.  Not so good on the electric bill.  Will have to figure out a better way next year.  I have found some really good, inexpensive ideas on Pinterest. You can see my Organic Gardening board here if you are interested:   http://pinterest.com/pegathea/organic-gardening/

Let's see, what else?  We have decided that we are no longer going to buy ice cream from the store.  The only ice cream we can have is what we make!  We decided to go with and electric ice cream maker...maybe one day we will go with the hand cranker...anyway, tonight is the first night we are going to make some.  Tonight it is organic strawberry!  It is not quite done.  I took a taste and it tastes heavenly!  We are going to have a get together here in a couple weeks, and we are hoping to make ice cream for it.  Doesn't that sound great?  Maybe we could have an ice cream making party sometime soon too! 

...Later...the ice cream was lovely!!  We found that a little bit goes a long way!  And the strawberry chunks are a bit hard on the teeth.  Probably next time we will just puree them. 

That's all for now.  I hope you are enjoying your Spring so far.  Love to all.