Building Soil

mmm there's supposed to be steps in there someplace!

First off, Happy Turkey Day. Today I am remembering Thanksgivings past when I lived 1,000 miles away from any family. But we always had a good holiday. Some of those years everything on the table came from our own place except the flour for the pie crust and any sugar used. The meat, milk, eggs, vegetables, pickles and relishes were all homegrown. There were always some bachelors that didn't have any where to go and we would feed them, along with a young couple who were also far from their family. We traded and bartered with these folks all the time and many of them lent a hand when we built our house. Good times indeed.

Today was a very nice day outside so I did some more clean up work out back. There really is a set of steps in that mess someplace! It's buried in silt and leaves that washed down during the July 4th storm.

Shredded tree prunings with fertilizer sprinkled over.

A big part of what I actually worked on today was to continue shredding up weed trees. I also worked on soil building in a new garden bed right next to the sidewalk. I plan to do an informal espaliered apple tree on the fence with perhaps strawberries or flowers and herbs as an under planting. So I loosened the dirt up and piled tree chips over the area. Then I put on some blood meal for nitrogen to help decompose the wood faster, some potash because the soil has none, and some seaweed meal for trace minerals.  I watered all that in.

Silt and oak leaf compost spread over the top

Then I began mucking out that set of steps. They are buried in fine silt mixed with decomposed desert oak leaves. I tossed it on the growing bed, right over the wood chips.

and mulched with fall leaves.

Then I topped off the bed with a bag of free leaves from a friend. I'll probably pick up a new apple tree around January when they come into the garden centers. By then most of the raw organics I've added should be pretty well decomposed. The next time I'm working over the worm box I'll grab a few and drop them in the bed to help things along.

Since the garden is a bit higher these days than the sidewalk I set some old boards right along it to keep the soil and leaves from washing off onto the sidewalk. I also managed to set the posts and string most of the fence (only about 8 feet). There is one small gap next to the green house that I have to cover and I have to make and hang a gate. I haven't decided what I'm going to make a gate out of. I have several options; a couple of different sorts of wood or a wood frame with wire fence or perhaps a piece of junk art.

HOME GROWN FOOD SECURITY October 3, 2009

HOME GROWN FOOD SECURITY

October 3, 2009 at 2:57 pm

Some of my family & friends do not understand my passion for my garden and canning and preserving the food I grow. To me this is my own form of  Social Security. If things go to pot me and mine will be provided for. If, when I retire, the system doesn’t give me enough money to live on, I will be fine, because I have taken on the responsibility of providing for myself.  Some object that it is cheaper to buy things at the store. That could be, in some cases, modern agriculture and mass production have given us cheap food and goods. However, cheaper is not necessarily better. Some of these systems are actually making us sick! Look at Mad Cow disease, swine flu, bird flu. There is evidence that genetically modified foods are very bad for us [and, if given a choice between natural and GM grain, animals will eat the first and refuse the second! Lets be as smart as the animals!] Besides all these reasons, I enjoy what I do. It gives me a great sense of pride and accomplishment to look at the shelves in my kitchen, bursting with food I put there myself. Besides which, there are many things I can make at home that you cannot possibly buy at any price.
Bean soup, potatoe soup, dilly beans, green beans, pickled peppers, tomato sauce, pickled eggs… there’s more you can’t see, blueberries, apple sauce, jams, jellies, pickles, sauces, marinades. This year not everything was grown at home. I took advantage of terrific sales and the farmer’s market. But next year most of the cupboards will be filled with home grown goodness.  Also not in this picture are the things that I’ve dried, plums, apples, raisins, tomatoes, jerky, herbs for seasoning and tea.

Back to Basics July 26, 2009

Back to Basics

July 26, 2009 at 5:11 am

A lot of folks are getting back to basics these days. Around here that means pickle making, canning tomatoes, drying fruits, vegetables and herbs. It means making our own bisquick type mix for biscuits and pancakes, with 100% whole wheat flour, making 100% whole wheat noodles. It means trying to get rid of all the plastic in our life. This has been really hard to do. I didn’t realize how pervasive plastic is. For now I’ve stopped buying plastic wrap and just have reusable plastic containers. I also recycle anything I get from the store. I don’t usually use aluminum foil either.
Once upon a time I didn’t buy any household cleaners or paper towels and I’m going back to that again. I used baking soda instead of comet and diluted ammonia and vinegar for different things. I also made my own soap. I used paper grocery sacks instead of paper towels to drain bacon on and just used washable rags and dish towels for cleaning up instead of paper towels.
I have some different books that give recipes for different mixes which I’m going to be trying out. I used to make my own soup mix. When ever I had extra bits of celery, onions, carrots, etc. I’d dry them and put them in a jar. Then toss them in a couple of quarts of home canned chicken stock along with some rice or noodles and it was soup.
Way back when I could buy chicken for 25 CENTS ! a pound, I’d buy a dozen whole fryers, go home and cut them up for the freezer. I’d save all the necks, ribs, wings and tail pieces, boil them up with bay leaves, onions and garlic, then strain out the bones. Pick off the meat and put it back in, then can it all up in quart jars. If you have freezer space you can always freeze it.
There are a lot of little money saving things you can do every day. Learn to cook from scratch and skip all the packaged stuff. You will eat better food and save a lot of money.
The internet is a great resource; cruise around and you will find recipes for anything you want, soap, candles, snacks, crackers, breads, the list is endless.