Monthly Archives: July 2009

Tomato & Irrigation Update

Posted on July 3, 2009 by | 2 Comments

Less then two weeks ago I severely pruned the tomato suckers and left the bushes looking scrawny. I was afraid I had given them a bad haircut and taken off too much of their lush green glory. However, I am happy to report amazing things.

The bushes are back and bigger, lusher, greener then ever. The additional sunlight just at the point in time when they were beginning to flower, along with a shot of fish fertilizer, has triggered tons of new blossoms and even more fruiting branches.

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It’s also made it easier for me to get the watering can down to the roots to water them.

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Sadly, I’m still watering the veggies by hand since even my 20 PSI pressure regulator blew the T-tape connectors. I’m waiting for the 10 PSI regulator which should come today and then hopefully I can finally fully utilize this expensive and complicated watering system. When it’s done it will be worth every penny, tear and blister.

I’ve installed some turn off valves at key points in the line to turn off the veggie boxes, which has allowed me to use the parts running to all the perimeter plants, raspberry bushes, and the side orchard. That alone is saving me at least 45 minutes per day of watering. The cool thing about irrigation watering is that it’s at the plant base so it doesn’t wet the leaves unless you choose a sprinkler type ending for certain plants. Less moisture on the leaves is a bonus in our normally wet climate where mold and mildew can set in overnight in the spring and early summer.

By dripping water out at a slow rate rather than full spray as from a hose the water is better able to penetrate our heavy, clay soil without running off. This will save you water and money in the long run and encourage deep root growth rather than superficial root growth.

There are a million reasons you should consider installing an irrigation system or at the very least soaker hoses. Automating the system with a timer is a huge plus for someone with young kids or a hectic lifestyle (anyone?)

One last word about watering – especially right now when we have temperatures scheduled upwards of 80 degrees on the way. It’s important to keep your plants watered and not let them dry out. By the time your plants have wilted you’ve greatly reduced their food-bearing potential. Your veggies are not as forgiving as you think they are!

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As the Rooster Crows

Posted on July 3, 2009 by | 3 Comments

We’ve had our chickens about 8 weeks now I think, give or take a few in either direction. They are charming, always amusing and great for kids. I never expected them to be so gentle or so entertaining and when they start laying the eggs will be a huge bonus for us.

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We are allowed 5 chickens for our lot size (anyone is allowed at least 3 and then depending on your lot size you can have extra.) The boys each picked out 2 chickens but I was unsure if the coop would be big enough since we converted an old dog house into the coop. We left the Feed store with only 4 and as I drove away something in the back of my mind said “you should have gotten extra just in case…” But we were already on the freeway speeding homewards with a box of noisy chicks and two small boys bent on opening the box in the car.

Friday night friends were over and of course the conversation turned to chickens. I said smugly “No sign of rooster yet!” In Seattle you can have chickens but not roosters for obvious reasons. The very next morning we opened the coop and McNugget, the Rhode Island Red stuck her head out. She has always been the most aggressive and first to try everything.

She looked at me, opened her beak and let out a scratchy cock-a-doodle-doo! My own Chicken Little looked at me, crestfallen, threw his head in his hands and started to sob. He realized immediately what that meant. McNugget is turning into a young rooster and has to go.

We should have realized from the aggressive behaviour, the larger tail feathers and more pronounced comb. Now it’s obvious and every morning since then we’ve been greeted with crowing to bring on the day. I’m currently pursuing my options – a class on poultry processing if I can swing it quickly enough or donating him to someone else who processes chickens on a regular basis. In any event McNugget will end up in the stew pot somewhere.

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Chicken Little is coming to terms with a valuable lesson in homesteading – pets have a purpose. The hens lay eggs and the roosters get eaten (especially since you can’t have a rooster in the city limits.)

He’s accepted that we’ll be eating one of his beloved chickens. He’s doing a great job caring for the chickens, letting them out in the morning and putting them in at night. He spends hours hanging out with them and finding them bugs. Having the chickens, growing our food, and preparing everything from scratch are providing him with an amazing foundation in life – emotionally as he learns to be responsible for plants and animals in all their cyclical glory, socially as he learns to respect giving back and protecting soil and the environment, and physically as he eats a pure diet free from all soy, GM corn or canola, food additives and preservatives and excessively salty or sweet things.

He might have been happier inside watching Power Rangers all day and eating boxed cereal, crackers and cookies but this is a much healthier childhood for him – days spent outside discovering bugs, watching chickens, tending to the garden. The cereal and crackers and Power Rangers will be there waiting. But right now the rooster is crowing…

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Mildew, Scab and Fungus

Posted on July 3, 2009 by | Leave a comment

I went to the farmer’s market for the first time in many weeks and had a great conversation with Wayne, founder of the amazing Rockridge Orchards, which is always the highlight of my farmer’s market trip.

I’ve been watching the apple trees for some time now. I put them in as sticks this spring (and late in the spring I might add.) They leafed out and had some flowers. Then about a month ago I noticed some black spots on the leaves and some of them seemed to be curling.

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I mentioned that my apples had what I thought was scab and described it. I told him I had used Serenade on them. He shot back right away “Dormant Spray.” Beg your pardon?

The fungus had overwintered in the evergreen plants he explained. I don’t have scab, I have early signs of the mildew that knocked down all the Akebias and azaleas during last early summer’s continuously overcast, wet weather.

A dormant spray that is comprised of lime and sulpher is perfectly fine for organic gardening and will take care of any fungus, no questions asked. I ordered some from my favorite online addiction, Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply. Being the most awesome online farm store ever they have several choices. The product descriptions don’t suggest using it for mildew but I trust Wayne completely.

I’ve sprayed the apple trees, my flowering red current bush, mint and azalea. It is probably too late to save the currents on the bush and I was planning on mowing down the mint patch anyway since it’s already halfway up my thighs (mojito, anyone?) but everything should recover and now I know how to prevent it next year.

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What We’re Eating Right Now

Posted on July 3, 2009 by | 2 Comments

I’ve been completely crazed lately with little time for blogging. My fussy & reflux baby online store has been exploding with action at a time when so many things have finally come into season. I’ve been busy putting up rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, cherries and peas. Finally – fruits again!

We’ve also had a slew of birthdays and I’ve been cooking for another family with a medical crisis so by the time I get my orders done and kitchen in order it’s far into the wee hours. Did I say I would be talking about what we’re eating?

In the last few weeks so many things are finally ready to eat. We’ve eaten almost all the main stems from the broccoli plants which are already producing some great side shoots so we’ll have another round of broccoli coming shortly.

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I’ve picked some service berries (saskatoon berries) but left many of them for the birds due to time constraints.

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I’ve processed about 5 pounds of peas so far and new ones are developing so we’ll have another round of those coming as well.

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I’ve picked pints and pints of strawberries and stems from our 3 rhubarb plants. It’s only their second year so I know I shouldn’t but I can’t help myself. We love rhubarb!

We’ve been eating asparagus (from the market until ours are older), kale, swiss chard, mustard, arrugula, sorrel, purslane, claytonia and vit lettuce for quite awhile. The basil plants are long overdue for a huge harvest since they’ve bolted so pesto is on the menu. But the real gem here and herald of summer is zuchini. This morning we had zuchini morning glory muffins and I noticed there are probably another 4 out there I can pick in the next few days. Time to heat up the grill!

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Halfway Checkpoint – We’ve Come so Far

Posted on July 3, 2009 by | 13 Comments

We started this journey on January 1 by stopping buying food from the grocery store cold turkey. It’s been 6 months now and we are smack in the middle of summer. We are just over the solstice (which certainly means more to me as a grocery gardener then it ever has before) but not yet into the huge bountiful harvest that will start in earnest in another month.

So far we are on track – I’ve bought tortilla chips, salsa, and orange juice once for my husband’s birthday and I’ve caved in to the kids once and bought bunny crackers and chex mix. It’s hard giving things up completely and luckily my kids are young enough to be fairly compliant about it. Compliant is not the same as non-complaining but I’ll take it.

I’m lucky to live in the maritime Pacific Northwest where it’s possible to grow a wide variety of things year-round and a hotbed of organic farmer’s markets to boot.

I’ve been able to find semi-locally grown wheat, spelt, corn, beans and lentils (either Eastern Washington or just across the border into Oregon via Azure Standard.) I have access to affordable raw milk, both goat and cow that I’ve been learning to turn into cultured dairy products and cheese. I’ve found pastured organic eggs until our own chickens begin to lay.

I have good access to organic, grass fed sustainable beef, pork and lamb from Thundering Hooves and Cascade Range Beef. I have access to wild caught salmon and tuna from Loki and St. Jude that are much more affordable when you form a buying club to get the wholesale prices by the case.

For the most part our grocery bill is around the same as it was before, or perhaps even less since we have zero discretionary spending on things like packaged foods, menus are carefully planned ahead of time around seasonal foods and most foods are bought in bulk (as in 25 pounds of wheat berries to be stored and ground into flour as I need it.)

We eat very well, the menu is creative and accomodating of every family member for the most part. The kids no longer eat little pizza rolls but we make pizza once a week and always have cheesy breadsticks on hand in the freezer to be dipped in pizza sauce when the cravings strike.

I’m not going to lie to you though. I spend hours in the kitchen every day. My husband suggested I post a day in the kitchen and my immediate response was “No way – it would scare everyone away!” But maybe I should. There are no convenience foods that grow on trees. This is slow food at it’s slowest.

I love to cook and I love food. I love gardening. I love that it slows things down for us in this crazy world. I love teaching my kids to enjoy food – from choosing the seeds for their own garden boxes to planning a meal and then making every wish of that meal come true.

You want a sundae of chocolate ice cream with cajeta and cherry sauce on Sunday? Saturday night we make ice cream base then Sunday churn it, take the cajeta out of the freezer and open a jar of home canned cherries. We pour cream off the top of the milk and put it in a jar so he can shake it up to whip it. He will enjoy that sundae more than anything we could have bought and he will remember that experience – of making his own decisions and being responsible for helping me pit cherries to can them, waiting for the ice cream to finish and tasting everything along the way.

It’s something that is sorely lacking in our society today. I can’t make him wait for many things or involve him so painfully in their process but food is important. As Debs puts it, food is love. And I love my family dearly.

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays with Food Renegade – a damn good blog for lovers of sustainable, organic, local, ethical food.

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