Changing Seasons

Saturday in the Garden

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Most of the currants have been a dud this year, the strawberries are nearly gone, and the blueberries not-quite-ripe yet.  But the raspberries!! Oh, what a fantastic year for raspberries.  Many, many pints have been delivered to BCS, and many more wolfed down by neighborhood children flocking to our backyard.

IMG_8513Breakfast, snack, dessert – we cannot get enough of them.  The kids are especially loving them blended with plain kefir, a little honey, and ice cubes for a smoothie snack.  IMG_8514

Now that garden chores are finished for the day, we’re off to a Bonsai festival.  And then the girls have Roller Derby practice this evening, while the boys hang out with their grandma.   It’s going to be a busy day!  Hope you have a perfect summer weekend.

Waiting for spring

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It has been a while since I’ve posted.  Life is tremendously hectic (I feel like I say that too frequently).  Friends having babies, and they need meals.  Kids sick with colds that become pneumonia and bronchitis.  Hours of garden work every single day.  House chores I cannot keep on top of.

The grey rainy days and too many hours inside being ill are starting to wear thin on everyone.  We are looking forward to spring.

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During George’s nap today, Harold and I went outside to spread mulch (an unending chore when you are trying to build biomass and increase fertility in a garden with poor clay soils).  Much to my surprise, 5 of the 8 rhubarbs are beginning to wake from their winter slumber.  Oh, it made my heartbeat quicken for a moment – a sign of spring!

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In the front yard, underneath the honeyberry bushes and prune plum trees, the first of the daffodils and crocus are beginning to emerge.   Here in Oregon there are many, many more weeks of grey and rain and chilly weather, but the end is in sight.  Winter is beginning to ebb at last.   We look forward to the rebirth of spring.

Saturday Garden Planning

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I spent a considerable amount of time in the garden this week thanks to temperatures in the high 30’s ad low 40’s.  We had planned on finishing the chicken run re-do this morning.  However, a bank of freezing fog moved in, and the children quickly got chilled, despite being well-bundled.

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So, we headed inside, to make raspberry-swirl brownies.  While the brownies baked, little George and I sat in the dining nook – he played with toys and rosemary sprigs, and I tried to finish up some garden planning for the coming year.    The big kids sat warming cold fingers and toes by the heater (oh, how I wish we had a woodstove!).

I am working on a new map of the garden.  We did a basemap when we first started the gardens, and every year it gets updated.   I have added pears and plums and an apple tree, as well as many new currants.  Several beds got moved around and reshaped in the fall.  The new map will show all of the improvements for the coming year.

IMG_8121  Our Baker Creek order arrived earlier this week.  I save many of my own seeds, and also carefully store purchased seeds from previous years.  We start many more seedlings than we have room for, so that we can share with volunteers and BCS participants, and I do need to reorder some seeds every single year.  (It’s like Christmas in January!)

I am anxious to get the garden going.   Looking forward to having the front sunroom full of little green, growing seedlings very, very soon…

 

 

 

Christmas Posey

Our first frost date is October 15, but we have yet to have a hard freeze this year.  Tender plants that are normally wrapped in burlap or provided with wind screens are thriving free in the mild weather.

While George was napping, and the big kids were playing quietly inside, I spent a little time working in the yard.  I am grateful for the mild weather, because I hadn’t finished planting garlic (usually completed in October), and the un-frozen ground allowed me to get several rows in and mulched right next to the driveway.

Afterward, while picking some Lacinato Kale (above) for dinner and poultry snacks, I noticed that the Tangerine Sage (Salvia elegans) was still blooming.  What a surprise!

Tangerine Sage (far right of top photo) is a tender perennial, and rarely survives the winter here.  I planted mine two summers ago in a sheltered area, and mulch it for the winter, and wrap it in burlap when temps dip below 25.  Even so, it struggled to make it through last winter.  Any yet, with temperatures in the 40s, it thrives and blooms beautiful red spires.

Some bright red sage blossoms and a few sprigs of rosemary seem like a fitting Christmas posey.

Time to get some sewing completed (finishing up Christmas skirts for the girls and their cousin).  So, we’ve put the holiday greenery in the windowsill next to the sewing machine.  I’ve always loved the particular combination of citrus and rosemary, and it fills the breakfast nook with an energizing aroma as the girls and I get ready to tackle a mountain of fabric.

.  Back tomorrow with pictures of our sewing (provided we actually finish this afternoon!)

Yarn Along – Rhythm of the Home

I have a piece in the new issue of Rhythm of the Home .  It just came out today!   Hope you get a chance to read and try out the recipe – it is a family favorite.

The entire issue is packed with beautiful, thoughtful and instructive articles from such talented women.  From felted sweater garlands to meditations on homeschooling in the winter months to Waldorf doll shoe instructions..Rhythm of the Home always puts out a great edition!

Obviously, for the reading portion of Ginny’s Yarn Along, this morning I’m reading through the new issue of Rhythm of the Home.  For the “yarny” portion, and for Nicole’s KCCO, I’m starting a pair of socks (yarn on the right), out of Brown sheep sock yarn seconds I purchased several years ago (still de-stashing!).

Also in the works is wrapping up some spindle spinning.  The fiber is Brown Sheep mill end bits and pieces, 85% wool, 15% mohair.  I am doing my best to spin worsted weight singles, but I find it very difficult, since I have been spinning for a number of years, and my hands want to spin fingering weight.  I am hoping to turn the yarn into a little knitted panda toy for George, although, part of me is tempted to make another vest

We have company coming this morning, and then the kids and I are in full Christmas-crafting mode today.  We’re hoping to finish up our lessons before lunch, so we can play with some needle felting (making ornaments!) before Girl Scouts this afternoon.

Blessings on your day!

Applesauce

Joining with Amanda for her weekly This Moment post.

Here’s my recipe, which makes 4-5 quarts finished sauce:

Brown-sugar Applesauce

Enough apples, washed, cored and cut into eighths, to fill an 8-quart pot heaping full.  (I used about 24 med-large apples).

1 cup apple cider

1 Tbsp ground cassia cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground mace

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

Juice of one lemon

Directions:  In a heavy-bottomed pot or dutch oven, combine all ingredients except lemon juice.  Cover, and cook on med-low until apples break down and become soft (about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs).  Put apples through a food mill, return sauce to pot, heat to a simmer, add lemon juice.  Process quarts for 25 min in a hot water bath canner.

On the Oregon Coast

We are home from a weekend yurt getaway to celebrate my husband and our second daughter’s birthdays.  There was a driving rain most of the time, so we skipped the frigid beach in favor of a hike through the woods.

Definitely wool skirt, wool socks, heavy shoes kind of hiking weather.

As we started out, we came across an open space full of toadstools, most toppled over by the wind (or grouchy gnomes perhaps?).

Tucked in under the thick patches of ancient evergreen huckleberries and salal, and sometimes even wandering across the path, were many Rough-skinned newts, with their vibrant orange bellies.  The kids made up names and biographies for each and every one they found.  “Shalbert”, “Mona”, “Jean Grey”, “Jimmy” and the others all were given lengthy and elaborate backstories before returning them to their homes.

After our hike, it was back to the yurt as the rains and wind really began to pound.  In fact, we couldn’t even get a fire going, and resorted to driving in to town for take-out Chinese.  Then we huddled up in our sleeping bags and quilts, listening to Casey read aloud until we drifted off (Daddy does the best voices, after all).

Back tomorrow with our Sunday cider-pressing with dear friends on the coast and some travel knitting.

On the road

Just back from our little road trip to yurt-camp on the coast.  Six hours of blissful spinning this first-shearing raw alpaca fiber while we listened to one of our favorite Arthurian-inspired stories on book CD and watched the driving rain all around us.

Back later today to share about our trip, but for now the mountains of muddy, sandy laundry need my attention…as do Halloween costumes…and our geography lessons…More soon.

Test Knitting

The house is full of company at present, and the rains have returned to Oregon, bringing with them the constant grey that so typifies autumn in the Pacific Northwest.  You’ve never seen such miserable looking chickens as ours, huddled under the picnic table in the driving rain.  Definitely a good time to hide out inside, catch up on school projects, watch a documentary, make a hot lunch.

First, can I show off some recent thrift store finds?  The weaving (on the sofa seat) fits perfectly over our beat-up sofa upholstery.  The old, old quilt on the back  was $5,with a perfect palette for fall.  The weaving is cotton and I put it through the washer and dryer with no problem, but the quilt had to be hand-washed in the bathtub to preserve the delicate fabrics (some are silk).

The children finished their school work quickly this morning, so while George plays on the floor and the big kids are watching a NOVA on Viking swords, I’ve been test knitting a vest pattern I worked up last week.  Vests are so quick to knit, and so versatile for small children. Also, young kids so quickly stain and snag sweater sleeves, I find precious handknit vests hold up better than full long-sleeved sweaters.

I’m just about finished with the 12-18 mo size and have the 6 month half-way done.  Only one little error so far, and I have corrected it.  The pattern will be up on Ravelry by the middle of next week, if all goes well.  The pattern will include sizes 3-6 mo, 6-12 mo, 12-18 mo, 2T and 3T.

Lots going on with my folks visiting, garlic needing to be planted, science projects to conduct, so I may not be back to this spot until Ginny’s Yarn Along on Wednesday.  See you then!

Care of the Raspberry Patch

The raspberries have yet to drop all their leaves, but with plenty of rain in the forecast, now was the time to get the patches cleaned up for winter.  What better way to do it than in the last blush of sunshine before the return of fall rains?

We have two raspberry patches.  The one above is for the children of volunteers to snack on.  It resides in the side yard, next to a strawberry bed that serves the same purpose.

The other, larger patch is in front of the chicken coop in the backyard (half shown here).  It is currently one and a half rows of summer-bearing raspberries, and a half-row of “Fall Gold” raspberries, which produce August through October (still picking those!).  I am beginning to add a third row of marionberries and other brambleberries, which will all be trellised.  I also have a dwarf Mulberry on order to plant in this part of the yard come spring.

The first step to cleaning up the raspberry bed (and keeping it healthy and productive) is to weed all around the base.  Raspberries to NOT like weed competition.  I pulled up all the weeds, cut back the mint and sweet alyssum growing around the edges.

Next comes thinning – Raspberry plants are perennial, but the canes themselves are biennial.  Berries are produced on second year canes.  At the end of the first year, the canes produced that year (called “primocanes”) are topped and tied up, because they will produce next year’s fruit.   All spindly, diseased, wonky primocanes are removed at the base with sharp hand pruners (George is “helping” me here with a very old, very dull pair). The large, healthy

 Floricanes, which are the old, spent 2nd-year canes that fruited this year are also removed at the ground.  They are easy to spot, because they are clearly dead at the base, and look “woodier” and may have some unpicked shriveled fruit remaining.

Canes sent up by the plant  far outside your patch (sometimes three feet!) also need to removed, or after a few years you will find your berry patch has walked all over your yard.

Those healthy primocanes remaining are bundled and tied to the wires or strings ringing the patch.  (Some folks who grow their berries against a fence skip this step).  There are different ways to train the canes, and I use the topped-method, instead of the bent method.

Someone asked me this year why I use heavy-duty cotton yarn instead of wires.  The answer is simple – we had a large cone of cotton twine donated to the garden, and there wasn’t money in the budget for wire trellises.

Eventually, I would love to put in a more permanent wire system, but for now, cotton twine works just fine, and I can chuck it in the compost when it deteriorates.  You don’t need to wait until you can afford a spendy wire trellis system before starting your raspberry patch.  Work with what you have. 

A quick note about fall-bearing varieties like the delicate and superior “Fall Gold”, and ever-bearing varieties pruned to produce a large fall crop: These plants are trained differently.  They have more delicate canes, and are often shorter.  They are not topped in the fall.  Instead, I cut out the small, weak canes, and continue to harvest beautiful sweet berries through October from the tops of the larger canes.  Then, in March of the following spring, I will cut the plant to the ground, and it will produce berries on primocanes that August.

While I keep nearly all biomass in our system, and put few things in the yardwaste bins, raspberry canes are not “chopped and dropped” back onto the beds.  They are used as mulch elsewhere in the garden.  I place them around the base of other (unrelated) perennial plants, and mulch the raspberries with other chopped prunings.  This keeps disease cycles from setting up in the berry patch.

The berries here got a layer of chopped comfrey leaves, currant prunings, grass clippings, and apple leaves. Cleaning up the garden in fall needn’t mean wasting valuable biomass in the yardwaste bins, but it is important to utilize it in a way that does not promote pathogens in the garden.

I hope my walk-through of our fall routine for raspberry patch care is helpful.  If you would like free canes in the spring, please feel free to e-mail me come Feb or March.  I would love to help you start growing your own delicious, organic berries.

Blessings.

Low Key

Garden work for me is meditative, and therapeutic…much like knitting, actually.  Today even more so, as we spent the afternoon enjoying the early October sunshine and

snuggling with our Welsh Harlequin, Bumblebee…

dead-heading dahlias…

picking lemony Tuscan kale for dinner…

planting crocus bulbs where the gravel edge of the driveway meets the garden…

inspecting tender five-toed feet…

as well the progress of pumpkins

Can’t think of a more soothing way to spend the end of the day.

Cover Crops

This past weekend, we finally got around to planting cover crops in the front yard garden (and this coming weekend, after fencing off sections from marauding poultry, we’ll sow the backyard).

These are Austrian peas.  I’m trying them for the first time, along with several other cover crops we’ve used before.

It’s a bit of a mess, isn’t it?  Well, before sowing cover crops, we pulled up all existing annual food plants (the exception is a few Vulcan Chard plants that are producing well, and the tomatoes in the far right.  They will be removed this weekend when we plant garlic there).

Following permaculture principles, we strive to utilize everything in our system, so we “chop and drop” spent plants and throw them back on the beds to return their nutrients to the soil and build up the humus.  It hasn’t rained here in ages, so we watered afterward.

Then it was time to plant a mix of cereal rye, crimson clover, hairy vetch, red clover and field peas, and water them in well.  We purchased them in bulk at the feed store, and spent less than $3 for enough to cover all the front beds (except the future garlic bed).

Ordinarily, cover crops (like the rye above) are allowed to grow all fall and winter, and then are tilled into the soil in spring (before they set seed and essentially become weeds).  Well, the soil is a living, complex ecosystem, which we try not to disturb, so we do not till.   We build up the soil, always adding to the top, but not disturbing the mycelium and other organisms in the lower layers.  How do we finish off the cover crop and prepare for planting in the spring?

The answer: We let the poultry do it for us.  While the crops are germinating, we use temporary fencing to secure them from the ducks and chickens, but once they are mature, we remove sections of the fencing, and allow the poultry to feast.

In this way, we

1) reduce our personal energy output (we do not have to spend the time tilling in the vetch, rye and such)

2) reduce our winter poultry feed bill

3) minimize disturbance of the soil ecology

4)massively reduce the slug population as the ducks forage through the cover crops for their favorite treat.

5) enhance the aeration and fertility of the soil as the roots and inedible parts of the cover crops breakdown, and the birds contribute their rich manure.

In small areas of the garden we do not plant cover crops (mostly in the large backyard, not the little front yard shown here), but instead grow some winter produce for our family (chard, kale, cauliflower, etc) as well as many rows of garlic and shallots.  Those areas will receive an addition of well-composted chicken/ duck manure + straw from the coops before the spring planting.

More on garlic cultivation and our slow permie progression from annual to perennial crop cultivation in next week’s posts.

What are your fall and winter plans for your garden?

Late September Evening

We’re trying to make the most of the absolutely stunning late September weather, spending as much time as possible in the waning garden.

Picking and washing Concord grapes before dinner.  As we wash them, their aroma reminds me of my grandfather and his beautiful grape arbor.

The girls grew their own patch of runner beans (on a teepee), with the goal of making a pot of bean and ham soup with them.  We’ve let them dry on the vine, and now they’re ready to pick and store in jars until the time is right to make that pot of soup.

The grapes paired perfectly with our salmon and rice dinner.  Their intense flavor is a strong reminder of how blessed we are to be able to grow and enjoy truly special food that so nourishes our bodies and spirits.

Nature Play and a Lunch Recipe

The past two mornings, the kids and I have worked on harvesting the end-of-summer lavender, which we will use for winter craft projects.  (More on that next time).

The lavender plants are all in the front yard, which is unfenced, and we are along a bus line.  Keeping a busy toddler safe and occupied while we work on front yard projects is a must.

George was kept very happy by his big sisters, who were dead-heading dahlias for me, and bringing him the spent blossoms to play with.   He had such a grand time shredding the flowers, flinging petals in the air and giggling to himself.

After harvesting lavender for quite a while, it was time for lunch.  The older three children take turns being my lunch helper on different days of the week.  This gives me a chance to get some one-on-one time with each of them and teach them culinary skills safely.  This lunch couldn’t have been easier, and it was a hit with all four kids.   Here’s what we made:

Bea’s Bacon-Peach “Pizza”

Preheat oven to 400 F.

For each person, you will need:

4 slices cooked bacon (leftover is fine)

4 slices of fresh peach

2 slices stale rustic bread (we had leftover levain)

a few tablespoons of pizza sauce

mozzarella,and Parmesan

fresh basil leaves (optional)
Directions:  Place sliced bread on a jelly roll pan.  Spread sauce, add 2 slices of bacon per piece of bread, top with cheese, then 2 peach slices, then more cheese.  Garnish with basil leaves if desired (kids prefer to leave it off).

Bake at 400F for 8 min.  Place under broiler for another 1-2 min or until cheese is caramelized and bubbly.

Serve with salad and a fruit smoothie.  Viola!  Lunch!  And happy kids!

Who needs toys when you can shred and fling and mash and revel in blossoms?

While some moments are rough, and we’ve had our stresses and hiccups the past few weeks, we are doing our best to be intentional with each other in our homeschooling, our living and being together, and in celebrating the last breath of summer before the return of Oregon’s inevitable grey, rainy autumn.

We love the snuggly, wooly, apple-cidery things that will come with the coming chilly weather, but for this week, we’re holding on to the blossoms, the lavender bottles, the juicy fresh peaches, the playing outdoors together while we can.

Falling into a Rhythm

Now that we’ve started our homeschooling year, we have again begun our Thursday ritual of serving afternoon tea and snacks in the breakfast nook.

Sometimes I bake something fancy, like a linzer torte, or banana whoopie pies or gingerbread with whipped cream, but this time, since we’re just getting back in the swing of things, I kept it simple.  Bea made graham cracker and Nutella sandwiches, and we put out tangerines and a bowl of tamari almonds and called it good.

We’ve been doing this since Ruth was  preschooler, and the kids really enjoy the ritual.  We pretend like we’re practicing our best manners, but its a time of silliness, faux British accents and lots of giggling.  It is also a time we can sit down and reconnect during the busy week.

Summer and all its freedoms are such a blessing, but it is good to slowly be returning to the rhythms of  fall.

Frosty morning

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The ducks were quacking extra early this morning.  I couldn’t figure out why they were so darn quacky at 7am, when they usually aren’t up until 8:30ish.  In retrospect, I think they were chilly and complaining for a hot breakfast.  🙂

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When I went down at 7:45 to let the poultry out, I had to break the ice on their watering pans.  The hard frost on the garden was just simply stunning.  The kids were all in bed (except George, my early-bird, who was happily playing with a spatula), so I stayed outside for a few minutes and enjoyed watching the birds scatter around the yard, crunching the frozen mulch as they flapped about, their breath trailing out in front of them.

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Now, bread is rising on the counter, the baby is happily rolling about on his blanket, and there’s  a Sweet Meat squash roasting  to mix with some scratch so the poultry can get that hot breakfast they’ve been wanting.

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Once the girls get up, we’ll work on some Christmas gift crafting while we listen to our new book on CD, followed by some baking and our Advent reading for the day.

Looking forward to a peaceful wintery day at home.

Oatmeal-Honey-Molasses Bread

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I let the kids sleep in, and worked on tidying up a bit since the neighbor boys are coming over this morning for a play date (Bend-a-roos and Playmobils and sofa-cushion forts are on the agenda, according to the girls).  Chickens and ducks were let out and fed a breakfast of mashed, roasted pumpkin, scratch and oatmeal.   It was too rainy and cold to do any yard chores this morning, so after poutry-duty, I got to come in and have a few minutes to get a nice breakfast going and read my book.

Breakfast this morning is a new recipe I’ve been tweaking – Oatmeal-Honey-Molasses Bread.  My kids really like the flavor of molasses (in the winter, we make some kind of gingerbread a few times a month), and we have a good quantity of honey on hand at the moment, so I thought I’d alter the oatmeal bread recipe we make frequently.  Here’s the work-in-progress recipe (although, it taked pretty darn good this morning, and had a lovely caramely-color):

Larksong’s Oatmeal-Honey-Molasses Bread

1 1/2 tsp dry active yeast

2 cups high-gluten bread flour

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1 Tbsp vital wheat gluten

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup rolled oats

1 1/2 Tbsp hazelnut (or olive) oil

1 1/2 Tbsp molasses

2 Tbsp honey

4 oz warm milk

6 oz warm water

Directions:

1.  Proof yeast in warm milk for 10 min.  Combine dry ingredients in KitchenAid with dough hook.

2.Slowly add wet ingredients (including yeast/milk), except water.  Process on slow, drizzling in water until good doughy consistency is reached (it will be a little sticky.  You may need a teaspoon or two more or less than the recipe indicates, depending on humidity in your house.)

3.  Knead with dough hook on medium speed, or by hand, for 10-12 minutes until dough becomes less sticky and holds together in a nice ball.  Place ball of dough in oiled pan, rolling to coat, cover with a damp towel or Saran Wrap, and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size (in my cold kitchen, that took 1 hr 15 min, but may take 45 min in a warmer kitchen).

4. Punch down dough, and shape,  rolling edges of dough under until formed into a nice loaf.  Place in well-oiled loaf pan (I like a ceramic 9×5), cover lightly with towel, and let rise an additional 45 min, or until loaf has risen nicely over the edge of the pan (in a warm kitchen, it should take about 30 min.)  During this time, preheat oven to 350, with rack in the middle.

5.  Place loaf in hot oven, and quickly dump 1 cup of hot water in the bottom of the oven.  The steam will make a nicer crust.  Bake loaf for 35 min or until bottom of loaf makes a hollow sound when thumped.  Let rest 5 min and remove from pan and let cool before cutting.

Enjoy this very moist, sweet loaf simply sliced with butter, or use leftovers for really yummy bread pudding or French toast.

Signs of Spring

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When my girls were in preschool, one of their favorite outdoor activities was patrolling the school grounds with the class, hunting for “signs of spring”.  Today, after yard chores were done (including snuggling with her favorite hen, Plucky (above)), my oldest and I hunted for signs of spring in the garden.  It was quite encouraging to see life return to a yard that is still mostly dormant and empty!

Can you name the plants we found waking up?

Let’s start with an easy one – the first dessert ingredient of spring:

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10 canes of these were planted a few weeks ago, to add to the 5 put in last summer – per lb, they’re one of the highest value home crops:

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Twenty-odd of these beauties were planted last year.  Not harvest-able until at least next year, but then they’ll feed folks for 20 more:

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This one is a little more difficult – I grafted her last year, and she’s still a teeny 18 inches tall, but will eventually reach 10 ft and yield delicious late-fall/winter harvests.

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And last but not least, do you know what this is?  After rooting-up cuttings from some red, white and black ones, we now have a dozen of these fruit bushes growing.  At maturity, each can produce 15-30 lbs of vitamin C-rich fruit!

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What edible perennials are waking up in your yard?  If it’s still too chilly, which are you most looking forward to seeing come back to life?

Rebirth

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On this brilliantly sunny February Saturday, we ordered chicks and ducklings from the feed store, and discovered garlic, crocus, vibrant-pink rhubarb emerging from the soil, and soaked up the first hints of spring-to-come.

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In a week in which we had a lot of sickness and stress, and grief, I am doubly blessed that we are learning to make our home a haven, a place where we can witness birth, and rebirth, and celebrate life.

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And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our own feet, and learn to be at home. – Wendell Berry

Kicking off the Garden Year

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We’re back!  I can’t believe I haven’t blogged in over two months!  Morning sickness is finally (mostly) gone, and life is getting back to normal a little bit.

The garden year is just kicking off – in the past two weeks, our friend Scott added wood-and-wire gates so the chickens and children can safely roam the backyard.   We planted several more dwarf fruit trees, as well as more currants, blueberries, silverberries, huckleberries and thimbleberries from One Green World (and boy, it’s doubly hard work when your pregnant!).   The planting plan for the year is all set, we even managed to seed the eggplants this week. (Although, we’d better get the grow lights set up before they germinate!).

Earlier this week, the free load of wood chips I ordered from the power company finally came (the order had been placed in early October, but better late than never!).  Your electric utility is a great source of FREE wood chips for mulching garden beds and paths.   All of the trees they trim out of the power lines are chipped up and thrown away.  If you call and place an order, they will gladly dump them in your yard instead.

You can see how large the load is compared to my two year-old – it’s a very large truck and it dumps a lot of chips.  It may seem like you could never use that much mulch, but we have gone through 4 loads so far on our 1/4 acre, and from now on, will probably use about 1 load a year to keep paths and beds replenished with mulch.  We could never have afforded to purchase that much mulch, so this is a great economical choice for us.

If you’re interested in mulching your yard to conserve water, suppress weed growth, reduce muddy patches, and add biomass to your garden, now (before the growing season gets going) is the time to place an order!

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A few tips/tidbits of info when ordering chips from the utility company:

1)If you’ve never had a load delivered from the power company, please be aware that this is NOT the neat, uniformly shaped pieces of wood you might get when buying bagged wood chips from the garden center.  It is chipped-up tree trimmings, and it will include large pieces, twigs, possibly leaves, pine needles, and chips of several different species.

2)If your yard is like ours, you can make it work no matter what they bring you.  If, however, you need mulch specifically for plant beds, it’s good to check that a load isn’t 100%  pine before they drop it on your driveway.  Pine is far too acidic to mulch beds, unless they happen to be blueberry or currant beds.  It does, however, work great in pathways.  Our first load was almost all maple – and we used it all on planting beds, and waited for a less-perfect load to mulch the paths.

3)If you want mulch free of leaves, order chips in the winter, when deciduous trees will be bare.  Chips full of leaves are more difficult to shovel and spread, and don’t look as neat.

4)If your load has long sticks as this load did for us, put them off into a pile and use them for pea brush and other plant supports.  Or, place them underneath the cardboard when sheet mulching a new section of yard.  Over time, they will break down and add biomass to the soil.

5) When ordering chips, make sure it isn’t Black Walnut, which contains juglone, a chemical that inhibits plant growth.  You don’t want this on your veggie beds!

Next up: seed starting!

Blessings on your as you start your garden year,

Angela

Coat Hooks

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When entering our home, there is no coat closet, or even much of an entryway to speak of.   Our kids tend to walk in the door and immediately dump their coats on the floor.  And, of course, the dog promptly makes a nest in them and takes a nap.  Even if they take their coats back to their room, they aren’t tall enough to hang them up in their closet, so they end up in a pile on the floor back there.  It drives me nuts.

The other day, we were at Cost Plus/World Market, because it’s close to church, and I can’t resist going in when we drive by, especially at Christmas time.  (I love everything in that store!)  They had a big bin full of Indian ceramic dresser knobs and little hooks, and for $8 ($2 for each kid, including “Baby Tummy”), we had a solution to the coat problem!

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A very small change makes a big difference sometimes, and a little less chaos is very good thing.  🙂

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Ripe, with a recipe

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The tomatoes are starting to ripen!  Can’t wait to take them in to BCS on Friday!!  Families have been asking for the last month when we’d have fresh, ripe tomatoes.

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90 percent of the tomatoes are still green, including many gigantic beefsteaks, like this Brandywine (look at that sucker in my hand! HUGE!).  If you’ve got a moment, say a quick prayer that they’ll all ripen before the cooler weather sets in, or I’ll be sending out lots of green tomato recipes with the week’s harvest (green tomato chutney, green tomato pickles, fried green tomatoes…).

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The first of the tomatillos are ripe as well – these are the DeMilpa, which have  a purple blush, and regular old green tomatillos mixed together.  We have ten tomatillos plants, so there will be many MANY pounds of tomatillos to harvest in the next two or three weeks.

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How to use tomatillos?  Well, there are several uses, but after removing the husk and washing these sticky little cousins of the tomato, I like to make them into the best salsa verde ever:

Larksong’s Super Simple Salsa Verde (this is sort-of a recipe – just wing it!)

Two to four double- handfuls of ripe tomatillos, husks removed and washed (how many did you pick in the garden today? Use what’s on hand…the amount is flexible!)

(optional – if you like it spicy!  I leave it out for the kids) 1 small jalapeno, whole

3 or 4 cloves of garlic (add more or less, to your taste), crushed

lime juice, to taste

sprinkling of sugar

flake sea salt.

Directions:

1)Line a broiler tray with foil, and oil very lightly.  Place tomatillos (and optional jalapeno) on the tray and broil, checking every 1-2 minutes, until blackened.  Remove tray, and with tongs, flip tomatillos (and jalapeno) over.  Place back under the broiler until all are blackened on the other side.  Remove from oven and let cool.  (Remove stem and seeds from jalapeno and slice, if using.)

2)Toss whole tomatillos and any accumulated juice into a blender with the garlic (and optional jalapeno slices – sometimes it’s best to put in half at first, so you don’t get it too hot).  Blend, then add sugar, lime juice, and salt to taste, blend again to incorporate. (My kids like a bit more sugar, and depending on the source of your tomatillos, they may be pretty acidic and not need much extra lime juice – so just taste as you go!)

3) Serve!  Enjoy!  Make lots, because it goes fast!

Late May Garden Update Part II

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And here’s the rest of the garden update:

There wasn’t time to get any side-yard shots before the rain started up again, but we now have 64 healthy strawberry plants growing there (many have set fruit already!) and the Christmas limas are germinating there as well.

Out in the backyard – the peas (see above) are as tall as Firecracker!  Oregon Sugar Pod IIs, Alaska, Galena, and Alderman Tall Telephone peas are all going strong.  And yesterday Firecracker noticed that they’d begun to flower!  Soon we’ll have sugar snap peas, snow peas and shell peas by the bucketful!

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The first planting bush beans are up all over the backyard, and I expect the second planting to germinate later this week (for a longer continuous harvest).  These are Royal Burgundy.  This patch looks good, but unfortunately, most of the bush, runner, and lima beans are all taking a heavy hitting from…

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SLUGS!  Despite daily picking (and feeding them to the chickens), the garden is inundated with thousands of slugs.  Most mornings the girls and I pick anywhere between fifty and one-hundred fifty.  Beer traps have only managed to capture a few as well,  so today I finally resorted to buying some organic, “pet friendly” slug bait in order to save the bush beans.  Here’s hoping it works, because there is no way   chickens freely hunt for slugs in the beds without the baby plants being eaten as well.

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This is one little patch of the Red Russian kale, which we’ve planted all over the yard.  Thankfully, the slugs haven’t bothered it.  It’s our favorite kale – not only is it beautiful and doesn’t easily bolt, it’s full of vitamin K, vitamin C and iron, and has a mild flavor – we put it in everything from fruit smoothies to lentil curry.  A definite superfood bursting with nutrition.

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This is one of the 25 asparagus crowns in full frond – only two more years and we’ll have a nice crop of asparagus of the BCS volunteers!

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Our compost still isn’t cooking well once again (too wet and soggy, too many kitchen scraps (“greens”) and too little “brown” matter (leaves, dry plant matter, shredded paper).  So, in the drizzle yesterday morning, I got down to the stinky job of turning it and splitting the compost into two separate side-by-side bins, which will get lots of shredded newspaper turned into them this week.   Let’s hope that does the trick.

The hens and chicks were THRILLED to have the compost turned and were scratching about while I was working – finding germinating pumpkin seeds and worms and all sorts of  “delicious treats”.

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This is one of the as-of-yet-unnamed Speckled Sussex chicks (or, as Firecracker calls them “teenagers”) scratching in the compost (those three are so fast, it’s tough to get a photo of them!).  You should have seen the chickens happily clucking and scratching and snacking and clucking some more!

And thankfully, all of the adults are done molting, so those happy hens have started churning out –

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– 3 eggs per day!  Woo-hoo!

And that’s it for the garden at present – thanks for being patient with a long update -  Hopefully, the warm weather will come back soon and the tomatoes, summer squash, tomatillos, cilantro and basil will really get a chance to thrive.

Okay, I promise something other than a gardening post coming up soon (although, I don’t know what that will be, since we haven’t had time for much baking or knitting or reading or cleaning house since every spare moment has been spent gardening or researching gardening and chicken keeping!)

If you’ve got a garden going, or even a few tomatoes in pots on your balcony, the girls and I would love to hear about how things are going for you!

Late May Garden Update Part I

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The garden has really taken off  after a week of hot, sunny weather, followed by lots of rain. (although, the cold nights and wind the past few days haven’t done us any favors).  Volunteers have been able to start taking in a few baskets of organic produce to BCS, mostly radishes, mustard greens, lettuce, chives, tarragon and baby beets, bok choy, and kale.  The teeny harvests thus far just begin to hint at the bounty of the coming months.

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Between slug-picking and weeding and rain showers, we got a few pictures this morning – (above) The boys in the front yard behind Alderman Tall Telephone peas, mesclun mix lettuce, with more lettuce mix and Oregon Sugar Pod II peas in the background.

– the tomatoes are really taking a beating with the cold (40s and 50s) and hail and driving wind this week.  We wrapped about half in plastic (and then ran out of plastic!) but can’t see that it is helping them out much – the hail damage is the worst.   Surprisingly, the tomatillos don’t seem to mind the dreary weather as much and are growing nicely

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Despite a little slug damage, the cardoons we planted back in February are coming along nicely – the largest are nearly two feet across already.  (They were planted closely, because about 20% of the seed stock are infertile – they are smaller and weak and I keep thinning them out.  The hassle of starting them from seed is well worth it – I only used half a pack (@ $2.45/pack), and have 8 strong seedlings, versus paying $7.49 each for large starts from the garden center.)

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The Vulcan Red Chard is doing quite well – just a few more weeks until it will be able to be harvested in any quantity.

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The mustard greens and bok choy bolted in last week’s heat, but the bolted stalks were fed to some very happy chickens  and in the gaps I have planted summer squash (a total of 6 in the front yard, and 19 in the back – a mix of crooknecks, zucchinis, and patti-pans).  I may eventually need to thin them down, but a few are compact varieties, so we’re hoping they won’t get too crowded.

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This is a Golden Hubbard seedling, coming up in the bed closest to the street.  Winter squash are such a treasure – beautiful rambling vines all season, tasty blossoms to stuff with ricotta and deep-fry, and finally, vitamin-packed, long-shelf-life squash in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes to eat throughout the winter.  (Since there is limited space, I have only put in my favorite eating squash – Buttercups, Butternuts, Hubbards, Delicata, except along one side-yard, near the house, where the gorgeous – if largely inedible – Rouge Vif D’Etampes has been planted for harvest decorations.)

For everything you could want to know about nearly every variety of winter and summer squash, I highly recommend Amy Goldman’s book, The Compleat Squash.

To keep the neighbors happy, I have planted misc. wildflowers, sunflowers, daisies, and about 50 dahlias in the front beds.  Add to that those dozen winter squash (to trail out of the beds and along the path), bronze fennel and artichokes, and for good measure, a whole jumbo packet of nasturtium!  If that doesn’t make for a pretty (but still mostly edible!) street-side bed, I don’t know what will!

(Eventually, the front bed will be mostly perennial flowers, currants, a dwarf plum, and a low fence with a grape arbor and a gate across the path, but it needed something to make it attractive this year, especially with so many folks in the neighborhood stopping by to ask what in the heck happened to our front yard!)

And with that, I’ll save the backyard and the chicken update for tomorrow!