Broke Garden Ground

I have been working on removing sod to a new patch of the garden all winter but yesterday I started breaking the ground on the part of the garden I had last year. What a difference a year makes. Turning the soil on the new ground I am breaking is backbreaking work but the area of of garden that I worked last year is amazing! The soil in the old garden is weed and rock free because I spent a lot of time last year taking care of it. The mulch I used last year really paid off, not just because it kept the weeds at bay but also because it added much needed organic material.

Last year I had my garden plowed by a neighbor but this year I'm doing the entire thing by hand. There are several reasons why gardening without mechanization is good not just for the garden but for the gardener as well.

1. It is good for the garden because it prevents compaction which is good for the microbes in the soil. It increases air in the soil which not only means more oxygen but also more nitrogen because air has a higher percentage of nitrogen than it does oxygen.

2. It is good for the plants because it gives the plants room to grow so their roots can search for needed nutrients.

3. Without the hard-pan, the soil is well drained preventing wet feed for the plants.

4. The gardener is benefited by the exercise that working in the garden gives him or her.

5. Healthier plants that are grown on this type of soil. Because the plants are healthier, the gardener who eats it is healthier.

When Simply Living Isn't So Easy

Snow has been covering most of the Northern Hemisphere and we too have our share of snow right now. It was pretty the first couple of days but now I'm ready for spring. Puncsetany Phil didn't see his shadow but winter hasn't seemed to listen and taken an even firmer grip.

Hanging out laundry on the clothes line has been more of a challenge. Any time that there's even a hint of sunshine, I do a load of laundry and hang it out on the line. I just do one load at a time though. The weather can change so quickly. Take yesterday for example. The sky was clear when I hung the load out but before it could get dry, it started to drizzle. I brought the clothes in and hung them on the clothes bars in front of the wood stove. During the evening I removed the dry clothes and folded and put them away. This morning I folded the last of the load and put them and the clothes bars away. Any further laundry will need to wait because it is snowing this morning.

Fortunately for me, I live in this part of Missouri. We don't get the snow that they get up north. My laundry isn't that far behind. One good day and I can get it caught up again. Hang out clothes while the sun shines is definitely a practice I have learned to keep.

This winter I have been enjoying the fruits of my labors from last summer. We've used up all of our canned green beans. Yesterday I enjoyed drinking a can of the tomato juice that I canned. It was so much better than the stuff I've bought in the grocery store. It doesn't have all the salt in it so I can taste the sweet tomato flavor. It's sad in a way that the lines of filled jars is disappearing but disappear they should. Next summer the process of canning fruits and vegetables start over again. It is all part of the cycle of the seasons.

There are some things that I have on the shelves that are not getting eaten however. The pickles that I canned don't seem to taste very good. It's not so much the flavor as the texture of the pickles don't seem to be right. The only home canned pickles that I have really liked were some crock pickles that a friend and I made some years back. Perhaps I'll try those.

The sweet potatoes that I planted to create slips to plant in the garden is growing well. I counted five slips so far. One of the vines is already quite long. During the day I put the pot, in which the sweet potatoes are growing, into the south facing window so it can get some sun. At night I move it away from the window to keep it from getting too cold. I look forward to when I can get more started for my garden.

A Little Bit Of This And A Little Bit Of That

I didn't post yesterday and I almost didn't post today! But that isn't because stuff hasn't been going on. Did I mention that I have some sweet potatoes planted in a pot in my living room? I don't see anything green yet but I'll keep you all posted.

I've continued my quest to get all the old out of the freezer. I took the last of the old apple sauce out the of freezer and made a single quart jar of apple butter. Mmmm, is that good. It's so easy to make too. I made it in my large crock pot.

I also took some canned food that has been sitting on my shelf embarassingly longer than it needed to be there and with a pound of hamburger made a pot of chili.

I didn't mention that I had been growing mung bean sprouts. I like sprouting in the winter because good fresh vegetables are in such short supply this time of year. Oh, yes, you can buy vegetables in the winter but the quality isn't usually what it should be.

I went to visit a friend's restaurant yesterday. The ambiance, the food, everything was fantastic. If you ever get to West Plains, Missouri, you've got to check out The A La Carte Cafe. Susan Lumsden not only is the chef of the establishment but she also created the quilts that are hanging around the place. I highly recommend the fish tacos! Last night was also the first night Jon, her husband played his twelve string and sang at the Cafe. My husband and I didn't get a chance to go last night but Susan reported that the attendance was phenomenal.

The garden is rather frozen at this time but additions are made daily onto the compost pile and wood ashes are dumped on the garden beds almost as often.

Another friend of mine has a greenhouse where she is growing winter salad greens and I saw pictures today. Was I impressed. I had greenhouse envy. Someday perhaps I will get the chance to have my own greenhouse. But in the meantime maybe I can buy some of Mary's greens. Enough at least to go along with my bean sprouts.

Getting Ready For Another Gardening Season

Yesterday I cleaned another cupboard as I promised and then wrote a couple of articles and made an applesauce cake using some applesauce that has been in the freezer a little too long. It's not good for eating fresh but it still made a good cake. I didn't have any frosting to go on it but I guess that actually made it better because we had enough sweets over the Christmas holiday as it was.

I am washing sheets and blankets today and plan to get out the blackberries from the freezer to make the blackberry jelly that I still need to make.

I read an article by my friend Darlene Sabella today about companion planting. There are hundreds of articles that can be written about companion planting and the plants involved. This is an area of writing that needs so much more written about it and needs to be utilized more in the garden setting.

Most of the time in my experience, companion planting works best when you plant in beds but a few years ago I had tomatoes, dill and basil planted together in a row and all of them seemed to flourish. Each one seemed to complement the other. I'm told that often when the plants make good companions, they also complement one another in cooking. I'm not sure about the dill and the basil together but I know that both tomatoes and dill, and tomatoes and basil are very good together. It is definitely an area that I wish to explore this year in the garden.

Help Stop World Hunger

Here it is the first day of 2011! Already there is bad news on the horizon. The cost of food is supposed to rise especially the main staple crops of corn, wheat, rice and soy but they aren't the only foods that are going up due to crop failures in Russia last fall and drought in Argentina and Chile. But that's not all. The recent cold temperatures have destroyed much of this winter's tomato and orange crops down in Florida.

The prices are rising but the worst part of it is that many people in third world countries won't be able to afford to buy these commodities because it will cost more than they can afford so many will go hungry. The worst part of it is that the world help organizations won't have the resources to feed them. Many will die of malnutrition.

The actual issue this year is the fact that there will be a food shortage worldwide. But there is something that we can do about it.

The most important thing we can do here in America especially is to eat healthier by eating fewer processed foods. Processed foods have all the natural nutrition sucked out of it. When we eat it, we fill up on empty calories devoid of any real sustenance to our bodies. Our body recognizes that it isn't getting what it needs so it craves more. We eat more of these empty calories and we crave more and the vicious cycle continues as we become more and more overweight and more and more malnourished. By eating healthier foods we will eat less food and we will not only be healthier but there will be more food to go around.

The second thing we can do is grow some of our own food. Even a small backyard garden can supplement our food supply. We don't need a large garden to make a difference not just in our own food bill but also in curbing hunger around the world. Even a small 4x10 foot area can provide enough greens and other vegetables to provide a nutritious salad throughout the growing season.

Another thing we can do is to buy vegetables locally. By supporting local farmers, we help keep the food supply diverse. It keeps them in business and provides us with more nutritional food. When we eat local foods, it doesn't need to be trucked in from all over the world. When the demand isn't there to sell outside the country, the food will then be available to population of the country of origin.

If you've noticed that I haven't included sending money to help organization, I've done this on purpose. I believe that the answer to world hunger isn't in supporting these organizations but is, literally, in our own backyards. I believe that by eating healthier and more locally, we will not only improve our own lives but also the lives of every other human being on this planet.

One Warm day in December

Yesterday was a beautiful day to get outside. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to be outside without a coat. I decided to do some work on the garden area and more specifically the composting area.

My compost area isn't a box or specifically constructed in any way. It is simply a pile that gets added to on a regular basis and gets turned almost as regularly.

I started the pile at the edge of my garden this last spring with a pile of sod from my newly plowed garden area. Last year was the first year that we had a garden at the place we now live and our neighbor was nice enough to plow it for us. That's probably the last mechanized tool that will be used in my garden. I'm going to try to grow everything in it simply by using human power more about that in a later post.

After getting all the perennial grasses out of the garden I decided to mulch with aged sawdust and a friend of my brother's brought out a load for me. I had them unload it on top of that pile. I then removed what sawdust I needed to completely mulch the garden and then left the rest. Thus my compost pile was started.

Next I added household garbage to the compost pile. I added anything that that the dogs wouldn't eat. I placed the garbage on one side of the compost pile and then used a hoe to cover it with the aged sawdust from the other side of the pile. There is never an adverse smell that comes from my compost piles constructed this way.

Every couple of rains I turn the pile. It's been so dry this year that by watering the pile I could have promoted the composting process but I've decided to allow nature to do most of the work so I haven't been adding water to the pile. To turn the pile I simply use a garden fork or a shovel to turn the pile onto the grasses space beside the compost pile along the garden's edge. I completely move the pile to the spot beside where the original pile was.

Where the original pile was, there was a bare spot that during the summer I mulched so that grass wouldn't grow there. Because it is beside the garden, it then is an area that I can use to expand the garden in that direction. How much more perfect can the soil be than soil that was under a compost pile? I am running the compost pile down the south end of the garden and hope to complete this area by the time spring comes.

That brings us up to yesterday. Yesterday I decided to get a little more aggressive about getting that south end of the garden done so I raked leaves from around the yard and laid them down on the area of the south end of the garden that hasn't yet been 'run over' by the compost pile. I had previously raked leaves and put them on the rest of the garden but because of some severe winds, many of the leaves had been blown away so to prevent this from happening in this new area, I tossed compost from the compost pile onto the leaves to anchor them down against even the strongest wind. This morning Mother Nature was cooperative and it is raining a nice gentle rain that will soak into the compost and weigh down the leaves.

This spreading of leaves and sprinkling with compost is a process known as sheet composting. It is as the term indicates. The composting done in like a sheet. Mulching with any organic material is a form of sheet composting. By adding sheet compost in the fall or winter, I've insulated the soil from extremes in temperatures creating an environment that is less hostile to microbes that work the compost. The microbes then instead of hibernating are able to do their magic of breaking the sod into light fluffy soil ready for planting in the spring.

By taking this one day in December, I am able not only to save myself hours of garden work next spring but what I do now will also benefit my harvest later in the season.

Have a Happy Greener New Year!

This year I am resolving to do two things that are greener. The first one is to write in here on this blog more often. I have let the site slide and I must apologize for that. I am sorry that I have let you down.

The second thing is that I plan to grow more of my food at home in my own backyard than I did last year.

I hope that my garden will not just provide nutrition for my family but also creates inspiration to you the reader. I hope that in some way I will motivate you to emulate what I am doing. The articles that I plan to write will be augmented by the plans that I use and implement in the process of living not just greener but also simpler. I look forward to sharing this journal and 2011 with you.

As local as your own backyard

When you think about locally grown produce, what is the first place you think of? Most of us think of the farmer's market or perhaps we think of a near by CSA. Do you realize however that there is a place that is even more local? I'll give you a hint. Look out your back window what do you see-- the backyard?

That's right, the most local food could be growing right in your own backyard. If you're thinking that a garden or even a small orchard will take all of your free time, think again.

According to Mel Bartholemew's book called Postage Stamp Gardening you can produce all of your summer's salad vegetables in an area just 4 foo by four foot and it will only take you a few minutes each evening to do any gardening chores. It doesn't cost much either. For as little as a dollar a pack of seed, your garden can be jam packed with the freshest vegetables.

Imagine being able to go out into your backyard and picking musclun, radishes, tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers then taking them into the kitchen and immediately preparing the vegetables and then within an hour of picking, you serve them to your family.

Nowhere but your backyard can you get this kind of freshness. Even locally grown vegetables don't have this claim. As soon as vegetables are picked, the vitamin quality begins to deteriorate rapidly. Within 24 hours most vegetables lose up to 50% of their vitamins.

Nothing tastes like vegetables fresh from the garden. If you doubt this, try this experiment. Pick a cherry tomato from your garden and place it into your refrigerator. The next morning pick another cherry tomato and taste the difference in the two tomatoes. (It can be any kind of tomato but I personally tried this experiment with cherry tomatoes that is why I recommend using a cherry tomato.)To even take the experiment one step further, get a tomato from your local farmer's market and also one from the grocery store. Try to use the same type of tomato to make your comparisons.

There's something pastoral and peaceful about gardening. It's like there's a spiritual connection in gardening. The process of getting outdoors and digging in the soil does nothing less than reminding us that we haven't always sat in front of a computer typing. It reminds us that we are also a part of this planet and we need to take care of it while it takes care of us.

Gardening as a Political Statement

When you think of a garden, what do you think of? I think of a place with fruits and vegetables and flowers. I think of a peaceful place where I can sit and relax and reflect. I think of a place where I can nurture and grow.

A garden does all these things but I’ve been realizing more and more lately that a garden is also a Political statement. Think about this for a minute. When a person has even a small salad and herb and flower garden, what is he or she saying?

First of all, this person is saying that he cares about what his family eats on a day to day basis. He is saying that he is taking control of what the family puts into its mouths. He is saying that he not expecting the government to hold his hand. He is taking responsibility for his own.

If he is growing organically, he is saying that he cares about not only what goes into his family’s mouth but also the environment as well. He knows he can’t do everything but he knows he can do something to help the environment.

He knows that his yard wastes are being recycled right there on his property. He knows that fossil fuel energy won’t have to be spent taking his yard wastes to the city landfill because he manages it locally and it does no harm to the environment but rather it improves it. He knows that by not having his yard wastes hauled to the landfill, he is saving the local taxpayers money and helps the local government, in a small way, balance their budget.

He also knows that by growing his own food, he can spend the money he saves locally, keeping his money local to serve those in his community.

By decreasing the use of fossil fuels, the United States uses less foreign oil and the prices drop. With prices dropped, the finances used to finance terrorism isn’t there so terrorists don’t have the money to buy guns and ammunition.

He know that what he is doing appears to be a small thing but he knows that if he can teach others to do the same thing, there can be significant changes made not only in his community today but can influence future generations as well.

So next time you’re sitting by your garden and enjoying that peaceful feeling, remember, gardening is a political statement that you not only enjoying peace for yourself but also sharing it with the rest of the world.

The Victory Garden Revival and You

The recent renewed interest in growing and eating nutritional, organic food has led to a modern-day resurgence in Victory Gardens. New Victory Gardens are appearing in public spaces across the country once again, but for new and different reasons than in the past.

The original Victory Garden campaigns during World War I urged civilians to grow their own food to free up resources for the war effort. The mission was to see a million new backyard and vacant lot gardens planted. The justification for these original Victory Gardens was to save on fuel and to free transportation and middleman jobs.

During World War II the U.S. War Department renewed the original Victory Garden campaigns to help lower the price of vegetables needed to feed the troops. The effort was very successful and expanded to 20 million gardens producing 40% of all vegetable produced in America at its peak in 1943.Even after World War II, food shortages around the world continued and Victory Gardens still flourished.

Two World War II era Victory Gardens still survive today and have been cultivated continuously for over sixty years. Fenway (Back Bay Fens) in Boston, Massachusetts now grows flowers instead of vegetables. The other is the Dowling Community Garden in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This garden was started there by Ros and Elof Pearson in 1943. Today the garden grows vegetables in 175 plots and there is a waiting list of gardeners.

In recent years, the interest in organically grown and locally produced food, sustainable agriculture and food safety has spurred the New Victory Garden movement. Whether they are called victory or freedom gardens, edible landscapes, liberty or peace gardens--all represent eating locally grown, healthy and nutritious food in a bio diverse and sustainably grown situation. Establish a neighborhood-gathering place to build a greater sense of community.

Today our food travels on an average 1500 miles from farm to table. The process of planting, fertilizing, processing, packaging and transporting our food uses a great deal of energy. This is often referred to in the measurement of food miles. Estimates vary but transport may account for 20% or more of the total energy use associated with provision of a given food item.

This much is known 17% of the nation's petroleum consumption is dedicated to 0n-the-farm food production. Add in processing, packaging, refrigeration and transport of edibles and food takes a bug bit out of affordable oil supplies and contributes significantly to pollution. We could grow lettuce in our front yards most of the year, in greenhouses in the winter and save the 3,000 miles from field to table and breathe cleaner air as a result..

Another reason we need to consider growing our own vegetables is that California where over one fourth of the country's produce is grown is in the worst drought in over 20 years. consumers will have to pay more for their lettuce and other produce. To make matters worse, Federal officials recently announced that the water supply they pump through the nation's largest farm state would drop even further. This year officials in Fresco county predict farmers will only grown roughly half the area devoted to growing greens compared to what they used in in 2005.

Still another reason to grow your own Victory Garden is food safety. You are better able to protect your family from the dangerous forms of salmonella and e-coli. Food that comes fresh from the garden, washed and eaten within a short time of harvesting rather than days after harvest are less likely to have serious issues with these and other diseases.

An additional advantage to planting a Victory Garden is that extra produce can be donated to feed the hungry. One of the longest running national campaigns to supply food for those in need is the Plant a Row for the Hungry program run by the Garden Writers Association Foundation. The program uses a people-helping people approach and simply asks gardeners to plant at least one row of extra vegetables and to donate the excess to a local food bank or soup kitchen. Collectively the Plant a Row program had 600-volunteer committees across the country last year and 27,00 volunteers coordinating collection activities and promoting the program. In total, 1.4 million pounds were collected in 2008.