Our Tine-y Garden

Zeus and Zasha

2011-03-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you that haven't heard, we've added two new members to our tiny family. Back in January, Taylor and I decided that it was time to get a dog. We wanted a Goldendoodle: low-maintenance, no-shedding, absolutely adorable. Instead, we found these two guys:

After sorting through dozens of pitbulls and chihuahuas, we located these two Alaskan Huskies at the Sarasota Humane Society. They weren't technically up for adoption yet, but we managed to sneak a peak when one of the volunteers tipped us off about the new arrivals. We asked them to place a hold on them over the weekend, and we brought them home with us as soon as they finished up their heartworm treatment. They told us that Zeus was about six years old, and Zasha is around four.

Zasha's the lady. She lays down with her paws crossed, which is just adorable. She licks everything (the dishwasher, oven, and refrigerator are her personal favorites), and talks to herself a bunch. We love her bright blue eyes!

Zeus is the man of the house. He's a total teddy bear, and just loves to snuggle. He's enormous, and lumbers around our home like a wolf. He's definitely Taylor's dog.

They are the two most spoiled dogs in the world. They go just about everywhere with us, and go on plenty of walks and to the dog park, and they love riding around in the car. Zeus sticks his head out the window and lets his tongue flap around in the wind.

We absolutely love our two dogs, and don't know what we would do without them!

Our House: Before Pictures

2011-03-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

So, like I said earlier, Taylor and I moved in 1422 17th Street on the first of the year. We had started looking for a house in September or so, but were growing discouraged when every offer we placed got turned down. Contrary to what they say, banks really did not want to negotiate on foreclosures. After looking at dozens of houses, we finally placed another offer on a short sale home in Bradenton. We had been avoiding short sales because we heard that the process could stretch on for ages. After only a couple weeks, our contract was accepted by the bank and we got the news on Christmas eve. Taylor and I rushed down to sign the papers on the 31st, and the key was ours!

We grabbed some buckets, towels, a screwdriver, and went to work. Taylor's parents came down a couple days later, but we got as much cleaning done as we could (oh--- did I mention there was no running water? Try washing baseboards using milk jugs filled with water. Not fun).

The house was painted these horrible dark colors. Midnight blue in the living room, burgundy in the back. The rest of the colors were vaguely reminiscent of vomit and mashed peas. Ick.

Notice that nasty carpet? In the incredible darkness you can't see the grossly discolored ick spot smack-dab in the center of the room. Yeah, that quickly got torn up.

Funny enough, in the before photos, the kitchen and sunroom appear to be the colors we eventually painted them. What you can't see if how vivid the colors actually were. Neon green and a nasty color that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be chartreuse or buttercup yellow.

Still, we were in love with the house. It needed a bit of cosmetic work, but some fresh paint really helped quite a bit.

Coming soon: In-progress pictures!

The Return!

2011-03-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

After an almost year-long hiatus, OurTineyGarden returns--- with a new house, some dogs, and plenty of new adventures.

Taylor and I moved into our new house on the first of the year. We're still settling it, but it's come a long way so far. The house was built in 1938, and is full of 73 years of charm. We're loving the wood floors, antique doorknobs, and quirky layout. A before-and-after tour will come shortly.

Updates won't be daily, but they will be frequent. I don't know how I managed to keep up daily updates for as long as I did. Instead, we will be writing longer entries with more photos of our crafting, cooking, gardening, and travel.

Making radish chips!

2010-03-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

So, what have we done with all of those radishes from our garden? Radish chips! I've been waiting almost a year to make these with radishes from our garden.

To make them, we slice the radishes as thin as we can, and coat them with salt, vinegar, and spices. Then they go in the dehydrator at 150 for five or six hours, until crispy. They're delicious by themselves, but also make a wonderful topping for salads. Just don't use too much salt! We've ruined an entire batch this way. You can also bake them on a low temperature for the same results.

Moving the herbs out front?

2010-03-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

The cool weather killed off most of our herbs this winter. We're thinking about moving our herb garden out front. We picked up some basil and some rosemary, but we're still not sure where to plant them. We don't have a ton of room out front, but they won't do quite as well in the back. Oh well, we'll figure it out.

Weird germination rates

2010-03-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

We've been having a funky time with a lot of our seedlings germinating. We've kept them in a sunny spot, and have watered them frequently, but they're still not doing great.

Quite a few of them haven't come up at all. Most of the ones that have are twisted a gnarled (although I suppose it beats the leggy ones that we've started up till now!). We're going to have to find a better way to start seeds. Most of the local farms around here use fish emulsion to fertilize the little guys, and keep them in shade for part of the day. We're getting better at the big-picture stuff here, but we need to put some more time and attention into the details.

Off to Boston!

2010-03-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

Back in October, Taylor bought us tickets to go see The Lion King in Boston. The time has finally come, and I'm so excited! We'll be gone for a week, and staying with his Aunt Debbie, who has so kindly offered to put a roof over our head while we visit.

See ya in a week or so!

Looking for tomatoes!

2010-03-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Our 95 cent tomato plants are looking awesome. There are tons of blossoms, but so far, no tomatoes. We went out the other day, and closely inspected, looking for little green orbs that would be the tell-tale sign of yummy things to come.

The two varieties are a cherry tomato, and a larger 8 oz. variety. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Cowpeas are up!

2010-03-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

After a recommendation from our friends Cole and Stephanie, we decided to plant one of the front beds with pink-eye-purple-hull cowpeas. They make for nitrogen rich compost, and are quite yummy. They're basically black-eyed peas with a lighter pinkish-purple eye. The hulls they come in are dark purple to black. We planted them a few days ago, and now they're up!

We're looking forward to some yummy pork and beans over rice.

Whoa, Cherry Belle!

2010-03-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

Last fall when we planted radishes, it took about three months to grow some about the size of a grape. We added them to salads, and they were delish. We decided to plant some in our front beds a couple weeks ago, and they've simply exploded!

After just a couple of weeks, we could see their little red heads poking up through the soil, and their leaves were just huge!

We yanked a couple up, and they were about the size of tangerines. We decided it was time to pick em.

They were bright red, and perfectly round. Only a couple of them had split, like the ones we had planted out back.

I don't know if it's the sunlight or the compost, but our front bed is showing tons of promise!

New Vegetable Basket

2010-03-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

We've finally gotten to the point where we're regularly harvesting things from our beloved veggie garden. Carrying in bunches of collards and radishes can be oh-so-cumbersome. My Oma has kindly donated this wonderful woven basket for the purpose of carrying our harvest! I love it, and think it's absolutely adorable. It'll be wonderful to have around the garden--- to haul out our hand shovels, bottles of water, lettuces, or whatever we might not have room to carry in our arms. Call me silly, but I love it!

Spending the day in Sanibel!

2010-03-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys, no post today! We spent the day in Sanibel on an Ornithology field trip. We saw bunches of cool birds, and a couple of alligators, and the weather was gorgeous.

Hope it doesn't eat us!

Tour of Jessica's

2010-03-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

Just down the street, there's an awesome organic farm called Jessica's Stand. We visit on Saturdays when we can to pick up some wonderful, tasty, local produce. They also carry a bunch of organic produce that they purchase from elsewhere, and the prices are generally pretty reasonable.

Taylor met someone at work that is married to a guy named Brad, who works part time at the farm. He offered to give us a tour of the place, which we gladly took. We scheduled and rescheduled a few times, but we finally made it there!

The weather was kind of uggy (rainy, cold, and windy), but totally worth it. We got to walk the fields full of lettuces, onions, and beets, and Brad told us everything he knew about Jessica's Farm.

They grow all kinds of stuff, including lettuces, herbs, beans, greens, beets, onions, etc. Whatever they don't grow, they order in from some world-wide organic association. Whatever doesn't get sold on Friday and Saturday, a buyer from Miami hauls down to a Farmer's Market, so there's really no fear of over-growing or underselling.

It was unbelievable to see just how many seeds this place grows! They start dozens of 72 or 144 slot flats a day. They don't really follow a calendar from year to year, but instead grow whatever they think they need when they need it.

They do use some organic fertilizers on their crops. In the seedling greenhouse, they use fish emulsion in the hose-lines. The weeds growing around the tables were amazingly huge from the washed-off emulsion. Their seedlings looked strong and healthy though.

People that work at Jessica's get to take home tons of produce, which is perhaps one of the greatest perks of the job. Perhaps one of the better things we learned? They water at least every day, which supposedly really helps things grow this far south. They also use cover crops (cowpeas), and really work on rotating fields. They have a huge problem with nettles, which someone grew there for tea that got out of hand. Jessica's is a cool place. We'll do a post about the farm stand there sometime (it's closed during the week).

Flowers

2010-03-11T08:12:00.000-08:00

The tomatoes we've planted are doing great! They've only been in the ground a few days, but we're already seeing the little yellow flowers that are the tell-tale sign of fruits to come!

When I was younger, we had a cherry tomato plant on the patio that just pumped tomatoes out like crazy. I think the six plants we have will be more than enough to keep our salads full of little red tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are probably my absolute favorite variety.

Leftover pots

2010-03-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

The other day we planted those twelve tomato plants we bought.

Not only did we only spend 95 cents per plant, we got a dozen handy-dandy pots too. We've now got 12 leftover pots that are the perfect size to start some larger tomato and eggplants. Hopefully later this week we'll get some of them started so that we can grow them soon.

Radishes

2010-03-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

Our radishes are looking great. They only popped up a few days ago, and are already looking rather radish-ish.

I got a great recipe for sauteed radishes in balsamic vinegar, which I can't want to try. All of the radishes we grew last season were very mild, crunchy, and tasty.

Some more seeds for the garden

2010-03-08T07:11:00.000-08:00

We've finally figured out what else we want to plant here in our garden. We went to our local big-box store and picked up some varieties of vegetables.

On the list?

Kale

Collards

Summer squash

Zucchini

Sunflower

Eggplant

Pink-eye Purple-Hull Cowpeas

We love kale and collards, and they grow really well out back, so we hope to start a bunch of them. The summer squash and zucchini will do well out front (we had trouble last season with powdery mildew, so we're putting them in a dryer, sunnier area). Sunflowers are my absolute favorite, and the seeds are quite tasty in salads. The chickens will love them too. Taylor is a huge fan of eggplant, so of course we have to grow some. Ours last season lasted fairly long into the cold, up until December! As for the cowpeas, Cole and Steph really recommend them. They look just like black-eyed peas, and are super tasty. We're going to use some of the left over wire to grow them through, and the left over plant matter makes for wonderful compost. We're going to try a bed of them out back, and a bed of them out front and see how it goes.

Tomatoes!

2010-03-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

This is our first time growing tomatoes here in our garden. We started too late last year to grow any. Yesterday we picked some up for 95 cents a piece.

We wound up planting a dozen of them in our bed out front. They'll love the sun, and the weather is finally warm enough.

We picked up two varieties: Patio and Better Bush. The Patio tomatoes are a yummy little variety of cherry tomatoes, and the better bush are a little larger fruits that are great to eat fresh. We hope to start some more varieties soon.

Watering can

2010-03-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

With our new beds out front, dragging out a hose is nearly impossible. We already have an elaborate system out back, and don't really feel like forking out more money for hoses out front. Instead, we've decided to use a watering can. We picked this one up for four dollars, and it holds about two gallons of water.

It's working out pretty well. The attachment on the end screws off, too, so we can add other ones.

It's a nice way to add a little bit more exercise to our gardening.

Home-made pizza

2010-03-05T06:53:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite dinners to cook is fresh, homemade pizza. The smell of yeasty dough, browning cheese, and rich tomato sauce is just about heaven.

Some of our favorite toppings? Pineapple, bacon, and sausage pizza.

Or veggies! This one has onion, tomato slices, red pepper, and mushroom.

We've finally figured out the absolute best recipe for an airy, yeasty, moist, chewy dough. For your own homemade pizzas:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Mix yeast, sugar, water, oil, and salt, and let sit for about five minutes. Stir in flour (we use half wheat, half white) and knead just a teeny bit, and then let sit in a warm place for a while until it just about doubles. Then press it flat on top of some parchment paper, top with pizza stuff, and bake at 350 for about twenty minutes. We broil it for two to make the cheese brown, and then slice and eat. Yum!

First (real) seedlings of the season!

2010-03-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

The seedlings we started a couple weeks back are shot. It was too cold, and they all died. However, these recently planted radishes are doing well.

They're more Cherry Belles, and they're doing great. We've always had really good luck with radishes. Not only are they super tasty, we get pretty quick results. A few weeks, and we have perfect little red orbs to pull up from the soil.

They're loving the sun and the cool temperatures, and are growing rather quickly. Maybe we'll finally get to try those radish chips!

Ferruccio in the Rain

2010-03-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

We've absolutely fallen for Ferruccio. She is hands-down the cutest chicken ever. The other day it rained pretty hard, so we went out to put the chicken feed inside, and poor Ferruch was completely soaked and caked with mud.

The poor thing looked like it had gotten electrified! She seemed pretty content (she could actually see!), and as soon as the rain stopped, her feathers resumed their usual fluffiness.

What do do with all this wire?

2010-03-02T10:51:00.000-08:00

We've been taking down the rabbit hutch, and we've got about 400 square feet of wire mesh, and some PVC. We're not really sure what to do with it all.

Some of the longer, thinner pieces of PVC could work to make a mini green house for seedlings and such, but there's not a huge need for that where we are. Some of the mesh could work as trellises for climbing plants, but we've still got way more than we can use.

There is seriously a TON of this stuff left over. Any ideas?

Compost

2010-03-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

After finishing our new beds out front, we've decided to compost the back. Even with the new beds out front, we're not abandoning them. They work really well for collards, radishes, peas, and cabbage. It's high sun vegetables that don't fare well out back--- there's way too much shade from the overhanging oaks. We're going to try our hand with tomatoes, peppers and the like out front, where they can soak up some rays.

Our trailer-load only filled three of the beds, but they're about six inches deep. After we loosen the soil up a bit more with a pitch fork, they'll be ready for some more veggies. Right now, we've only got a handful of peas, a couple lettuce greens, and some bolting collards. Our garden needs a lot of work come this spring!

Bolted Lettuce

2010-02-28T10:40:00.000-08:00

Some of our leafy vegetables have gone a while without being picked, and the additional warm weather has caused them to bolt. I've decided to let them flower and go to seed. They're pretty yellow flowers, and add a bit of spark to our garden. Nina thought it was pretty cool to learn that vegetables sometimes had flowers.

Climbing peas

2010-02-27T09:57:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back, we decided to recycle an old plant-shelf into a pea trellis. So far, it's working out great! Some of the peas on the periphery haven't really clung onto it, but hopefully they'll snag it when they get a little taller. These are sugar snap peas, where you can eat the entire pod. We haven't had much success with shelling peas or beans, so hopefully this will be a little different.

Broccolli

2010-02-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

This is kind of a funny story. A few months back we planted two varieties of collards, some brussel sprouts, broccoli, chard, and lettuce greens. We hadn't labeled the seedlings, but we planted them in very specific places so we could tell them apart. The collards were really the only thing that did well--- a deep green variety, and a bluish one. We kept eating them, and eventually started noticing a difference between the two. One was great tasting and smooth, and the other was a teeny bit bitter, and the leaves were a little hairy. After cooking, we couldn't really tell the difference. A few days ago, Taylor goes, "Oh, hey! What's this?"

Ooops! I had totally forgotten about the broccoli, and just assumed it had died with all of the other seedlings. Turns out we had been eating broccoli leaves for the past couple months. They tasted pretty good (broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower are actually the same species of plant, just bred for different characteristics), so it wasn't a huge deal. In fact, I think we'll probably continue to eat the leaves after we've harvested the stalks of broccoli. We learned one lesson though--- probably a good idea to label seedlings and make a note if we interplant!

Peas please!

2010-02-25T08:16:00.000-08:00

Our Green Arrow peas are chugging along. We didn't really plant enough to get anything significant out of them, but they make a nice little treat when we walk out to the garden. They're super super sweet, and just absolutely delicious. They're a shelling-pea, which is kind of a pain though. As good as they are, I don't think we'll really be planting them again. We've got some sugar snaps going, which me might grow again because they're less work, and we get more out of them.

Brrrrrr!

2010-02-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

It's been so cold here lately. Today we woke up to 37 degrees outside, and frost on the windows. Our seedlings (along with all of Mr. Phil's orchids) get pulled in each night. The lack of light is making them really leggy. We were hoping to have planted them last week, which never happened due to the weather.

They might get too leggy and overgrown to really even plant. They're getting pale and don't look healthy. Looks like we might be getting some of our seedlings from the old Home Depot.

Adding to our tools

2010-02-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting a wood lathe for quite some time now. Making drop spindles, spinning wheel bobbins, and whatever else sounds pretty darn awesome. The things are just so expensive! After fooling around on Craigslist for a while, I found one for less than it would cost us to make one (and with so much less work involved).

It also comes with some knives and accessories, so it seems like a pretty good deal. We've never used a lathe, and have no knowledge or experience whatsoever, but this seems like a pretty good starting point. We've called the guy, and have plans to pick it up tonight. We're pretty excited to be learning something new!

What color coop?

2010-02-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

It's been about five months since we "finished" the chicken coop, but we still haven't painted the thing. Originally we were hoping to do a barn-red coop, but I'm not really sure I still want to do that. Something bright and cheery might be nice, but a more natural color would work too. I still want a white-wash picket fence. We'll figure something out soon, and cover up that icky ply wood!

What color do you think we should paint the coop?

Home on the range

2010-02-21T07:24:00.000-08:00

We'd love to have a flock of free-range chickens, but right now that's not really an option. Besides not being 100% in the clear with the local law, our home-owner's association also has a ban on our feathered friends. We are living on over two acres, but keeping free-range hens seems just a little too risky. We still felt bad keeping our ladies locked up all day, so we let them out occasionally to scratch and run around (I say locked up like these things have no space, but they have a pretty big coop and run to hang out in).

They love the freedom, and Nina's turned it into a game, giving herself a point for each chicken she rounds up back into the coop. It's pretty cool to see our ladies running around and stretching their legs, and it makes me lust over the flock of free-rangers we hope to have one day.

Try again?

2010-02-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks back, three German Shepherds got into our rabbit cage and killed four of our rabbits. So far we haven't really done anything besides disassemble the old cage.Should we get new rabbits? We spent around $500 on the cage, rabbits, and food, without anything gained except a lesson. To build another cage that would be dog-proof, we'd need a better fence, new rabbits, and some electric fencing to deter any dogs, raccoons, or other animals. This will easily cost a few hundred more dollars, and many more months of waiting for kits, plus hours hunting for the right rabbits, the cost of purchasing them, and a bunch of feed. We're also not going to live here permanently, so we'd have to do it all again in a few years anyways. We're weighing the pros and cons, and hopefully we'll come up with a decision soon.

Three beds out front

2010-02-19T12:49:00.000-08:00

As time for spring planting approaches, we've been working hard on double digging and composting new beds out front. We're aiming for four beds, but we've only done three so far. Each is four feet by twenty feet, adding another 280 square feet to our garden so far. Our tiny garden really isn't all that tiny anymore. We're up to about 700 square feet of space so far.

First-year Book Choice

2010-02-18T10:02:00.000-08:00

Every year, our school picks a book to mail out to all incoming freshman for them to read before orientation week. The first year I came, the book was Three Cups of Tea, which talked about an American that worked in the middle east to open schools in small, impoverished towns. The student body has just finished deciding what book will be going out to our incoming first years in 2010.
I absolutely adore Pollan's writing, and this book is particularly outstanding (I reviewed another one of his books back in November). In The O's Dilemma, he focuses on three different types of meals: the industrial meal, the local, farmed meal, and the hunted and gathered meal, focusing on the evolution of human eating patterns since thousands upon thousands of years ago. It's really interesting, and a wonderful insight into the industrial food chain.

Campus Compost

2010-02-17T13:57:00.000-08:00

New College is a rather remarkable school. We have an on-campus Farmer's Market, an intense recycling program, and all kinds of environmentally friendly initiative groups. One of my favorite on-campus features? Compost bins!

Our school employs a few students to take care of the compost, and most students don't mind dumping their leftovers into the bins found all over campus. The compost gets used in our on-campus organic gardens.

New additions to our flock

2010-02-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

So as I mentioned a few days ago, Taylor has been wanting silkies since, oh... forever ago. We finally found a lady in Sarasota that raises a few (hundred). She also had guinea fowl, quail, donkeys, sheep, horses, twelve dogs, cats, rabbits, geese, etc. Somehow, we wound up coming home with four new additions.

We picked up a few partridge silkie chicks that are cute enough to die for. I love the little peep peep peeps coming from our bathroom. The little chicken power naps are amazing. They'll peep and hop around for a few minutes, and then pass out like they have narcolepsy. After ten seconds of power napping with their heads down, they're back to pecking at the bedding and cheeping.
The larger chick is a few weeks old. The chicks aren't sexed, but she suspected this one was female, which is why we grabbed her.

All of the males will be going back to Glenna's farm, and we'll hold on to the hens.

Our other addition? Feruccio, the white silkie hen. She's pretty much blind, which gives her the appearance of being rather dumb. She really held her own when we put her in with the other ladies. They weren't quite sure what to make of her, but when she fought back at their incessent pecking, they learned to stay away. She's only half their size (and won't get much bigger), but this little ball of fuzz packs a punch!

Our egg system

2010-02-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

With too many eggs for our household to eat, we've developed a wonderful system to get rid of the excess. For $4 a dozen, New College Students can get fresh eggs delivered to their on-campus mail box. A few times a week, I hop on the bus with a couple cartons of blue and brown eggs.
I stick the eggs in the appropriate mailbox, and a few hours later, the eggs have been replaced with some cold hard cash. Students say they love love love the eggs, and I keep getting requests from more and more people.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

So as much as I'm not a fan of Hallmark Holidays, I gotta say, this was freaking cute.

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Frozen Froggies

2010-02-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

With the unnaturally cool weather, there's been very few amphibians, insects, and reptiles about. This is great news for the invasive pythons and iguanas around here, but I feel bad for the poor little froggies! We found a plant outside that had four frogs curled up and hiding from the cold. Taylor snapped a couple of photos, which was good because they've scurried off now that the weather is warming up.

The financial side of gardening

2010-02-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

One thing we haven't done super well is keep track of how much our gardening hobby is costing us. We're finally starting to make a profit selling our eggs for $4/dozen at New College. It's pretty much paying for our feed at this point, but not much else. We've had a few offers for our extra produce, but so far we don't have enough, let alone extras.

In the end, I like to think of our expenditures as our grocery bill, as well as cash paid for our entertainment. With fewer rabbits and our chicken feed paid for with egg money, it seems like the only real expenditures now are mulching hay and seeds.

A culinary experiment

2010-02-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

*Be warned! The content of this next post might be a little bit gross to some readers!*

This semester, I'm taking an Entomology class, which I'm finding very intersting. Quite frequently, the topic of entomophagy, or eating bugs, comes up in class. As an abundant, high protein, low fat food, they're very interesting culinary ingredients. The other night we visited a pet store, bought two dozen crickets, and decided to experiment.

We put them in the freezer overnight to make sure they were good and dead before we threw them in a skillet of oil and leeks (from our local Jessica's Organic Farm).

I have to admit, it was kind of weird cooking food that seemed to be looking at me.

We tossed in some bacon, tomatoes, home-raised eggs, and soy sauce.

In the end, it looked like regular stir fry, until we found a cricket peering out from under the noodles on the end of our fork.

We ate every darn one of them. They really didn't taste bad, but there was such a mental hurdle when it came to eating a bowl of cricket noodles (one of us may have even gagged once or twice). It was an interesting experience, but probably not something we'll try again--- at least not as stir fry. I still want to try chocolate covered crickets.

My first hand-spun hat

2010-02-10T13:01:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, I finally decided to do something with all of the hand-spun yarn I've been making. I picked out a commercially-spun brown wool, and tried my first color-worked piece. The gray is the yarn I made myself, from roving purchased at Rising Fawn Fibers, the same place I bought the raw fleece. I've worn it pretty much every day since I made it, and it's about my favorite thing ever. Also, anyone that accidentally sticks it in the washing machine will die a very painful death. (Sorry for the silly picture. I was eating scrambled eggs before rushing off to work!)

On the hunt for silkies

2010-02-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

We've been looking for a few Silkie hens ever since we first encountered one at The Hostel In The Forest. They're a very funny looking, somewhat small breed of chicken. With sort-of frizzy, hair-like feathers, we think they look like a yeti.

We've hunted on Craigslist, but no real luck. Plenty of people have roosters, but nobody really has chicks or hens. We've found one lady in Tampa who gets shipments in occasionally, but we have yet to hear back from her. I promised Taylor some for his birthday, which was a few months ago, so we better find some soon!

Compost!

2010-02-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

We're definitely taking advantage of the free compost I mentioned a couple weeks back. We've spent the past few weekends heading over to Longwood Park where they keep a huge concrete bunker full of the stuff.

Mr. Dennis lends us his trailer to haul home our pile. The first couple times we went we lined the back of my PT Cruiser with a tarp, which wasn't the most efficient method. Now we can fit in about a dozen wheel-barrow loads of the stuff.

The pile is absolutely huge. We still haven't made a dent in it. It's great shoveling it in chilly weather, because the middle of the pile is hot to the touch (from the microbes causing the decomposition).

It's an absolute bargain. We've saved anywhere between forty and two hundred dollars, depending on where and how you buy compost. And, at only two miles from the house, it's super convenient.

Restoring the ol' spinning wheel

2010-02-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I got really interested in spinning. I made a drop spindle, bought some wool, and started cranking out yarn. It was slow, but satisfying. Then, my Oma made mention of an old spinning wheel she had in her attic. I'd grown up around the thing (used as a decoration, not a functional wheel), and had assumed it was either a non-functional piece, or she'd gotten rid of it. We pulled it down from the attic, and I spent a few days trying to make it work. Because it was so old, I didn't have any sort of instructions, and it was unlike any other wheels I'd seen.

I've been using it, but the thing squeeks so darn dreadfully. Taylor is currently in the process of fixing it up for me, so it'll work without forcing everyone to shout over the noise.

An abundance of eggs

2010-02-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

Our egg production is just about in full swing. After months of no eggs, then a few months of nothing but blue eggs, we're now getting eggs from (we assume) all of our chickens. One day we actually got eight eggs, which was amazing! Taylor is still charting our egg production, and the past few days, we've gotten a big spike. It seems like all of our hens started laying at once.

We've got more eggs than we can handle, and the extras are being sold to New College students.

Pit-fired Bowls

2010-02-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

We've used a lot of the cut-down palmettos for fires lately. Not only have we been using the fires to cook, we've used the opportunity to make some pit-fired pottery.

The colors come out very unpredictably. This set was coated with a honey-colored glaze, but instead came out with red, green, and blue shades.

It's hard to get the fires as hot as we need, since there's not a lot of good wood to burn. Some of the pieces have the characteristic shine from melted silica in the glaze, but most of it is just matte.

While the glaze is considered food-safe, I'm not sure we're going to use these to eat out of. Bits of ash are embedded in the surface, and they didn't heat up as much as they should have. Either way, we're going to continue using our fire pit to make pottery.

Starting seeds

2010-02-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again! We're slowly starting seeds for this year's spring garden. What do we have so far? Okra, peppers, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. We're going to start more soon, and some crops will be directly sewn into the garden. As for tomatoes, we're not sure what we want to plant. We haven't had much luck with heirlooms, but I'm not too sure I want to use commercial seeds. We'll have to see.

A new pea trellis

2010-02-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

Mr. Phils recently replaced his old plant-shelves with a brand new shiny one. Instead of throwing away the old one, we decided to recycle.

It should be perfect for our sugar-snap peas to climb up on. Up to now, we've been using bamboo with yarn tied to it to give the peas something to grab on to. This should work rather well for this climbing variety.

Our other peas are loving the cold weather, and we hope it doesn't warm up too soon.

Lots of compost

2010-02-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

So we decided to give the city compost a try. It's completely free at five pickup locations around the county, with the closest one just two miles down the road. There's a big concrete bunker full of recycled, composted yard waste available to anyone that wants to haul it away.

We picked up a trailer-load full, and composted two of our beds with a six-inch-thick layer. It's not perfectly organic, and still contains trace fertilizers and pesticides, but New College has done a test on it, and deemed it safe for use in their organic garden on campus. It had a good amount of worms and beetles in it, so we decided it's probable okay to use in our garden.

We're pretty happy with it. You can definitely see the difference between the un-composted beds and the ones with a happy dose of humus. We'll have to see how it works out this growing season.

Clearing Out

2010-02-01T07:22:00.000-08:00

Without fires to control the landscape, Florida undergrowth can get a little wild. The palmettos were sky-high and way too dry, posing a huge threat. If they were to catch fire, they'd blaze up in an instant. Since a controlled burn really isn't an option in a neighborhood, we've been working on slowly pushing back the growth.

Now we've got some pretty big piles of palmettos laying around. They're great for fires, and even burn well when completely wet and green. It's been a lot of work (Taylor goes out almost every day after work), but without letting things take their natural course (wildfires caused by lightning), it's actually better for the ecosystem to clear it out every once in a while.

The State Fair

2010-01-31T06:28:00.000-08:00

The Florida State Fair is coming up soon! We're planning on going February 7, and we're very excited. There should be plenty of agricultural, art, and craft exhibits, and of course, fried foods on a stick. I've never been before, but Taylor remembers it being pretty cool.

Shell-less eggs

2010-01-30T06:24:00.000-08:00

As more of our chickens start laying, we're seeing some really weird eggs. So far we've found two that are completely missing shells. One I squished as I blindly reached into the nesting box, and another was laying on the floor of the coop. It's the weirdest thing, and you surely won't find them in the grocery store!

Almost like fall

2010-01-29T06:22:00.000-08:00

The cold weather around here has caused a bunch of the leaves on the trees to fall off. The sweetgum has dropped leaves all over the place, and they make a wonderful crunchy sound when we walk all over the yard. Living in Florida, it's the closest we'll ever come to fall.

Grubs in the Garden

2010-01-28T06:17:00.000-08:00

We found a bunch of these beetle grubs in the garden while we were double digging. They eat rotting wood, and there were plenty of old rotting roots in the area. We fed some of them to the chickens, who found them quite scrumptious.

Free county compost

2010-01-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

We've recently added an additional 320 square feet of garden space outside, which is awesome. The only problem? The soil is sugar sand. It's nearly white. We think it may have once been a beach, because we've found all kind of shells and oceanic things under the grass. It's the sunniest location on the property, but it's going to need work before we can really do anything with it.

Mr. Dennis told us that the county offered free mulch and compost, and we decided to investigate. There are five locations around Sarasota county that offer free compost for home use, and there's a ton of it. The local park down the street has a huge compost pile, and it's less than three miles from the house. There's going to be residual pesticides and fertilizers, but we don't think it'll be more than you find in the average lawn. We'll go investigate, and if it seems okay, we might go ahead and use it in our front bed.

Some lessons learned

2010-01-26T14:38:00.000-08:00

Right now there's not much happening in the garden. We're waiting for seedlings to grow, and don't have much day-to-day maintenance. We've been using this as a time to reflect on our successes and failures over the past eight months, and we feel like we've learned an enormous amount. The most important lessons?

Patience. Whether it's waiting for hens to start laying, seedlings to come up, or not rushing through a weeding job, patience is perhaps the most important skill we've come to work on. Sometimes things seem to take forever--- it was months before we got so much as a single collard to try, and we've had far more failures than successes.

Persistence. Sometimes stuff just doesn't work out as quickly or as easily as we'd hoped. We kept trying different crops, different planting times, different locations, and we've finally found something that sort of works. There's definitely room for improvement, but at least we've made it this far.

Planting times really matter. At first we kind of figured we could follow some vague guidelines, but realistically, a lot of the recommendations are pretty darn close to correct. It's very very important, especially in Florida, to pay attention to local seasonal planting guides. There's a pretty darn good one in "Vegetable Gardening in Florida". I'm not a fan of the rest of the book, which advocates fertilizers and pesticides out the wazoo, but definitely get it for the planting chart and local variety recommendations.

Takin' the bus

2010-01-25T02:49:00.000-08:00

Last semester, a group of city-planners came to talk with my Environmental Issues class to discuss future transportation plans in Sarasota. They wanted student feedback, knowing that many of us represented some more environmentally-concious citizens that would have suggestions beyond new traffic lights and expanding roads. Unanimous among our class, we advocated safer roads for bicyclists, as well as more improved public transportation. Starting in January, SCAT agreed to give all students of local schools unlimited access to the bus system for a one-time payment (I think it came out to $1000, which was taken out of our student fee account). So far, the local busses have seen over 500 visits from New College students, with that number rising each day. To get on, we just scan our student ID and take a seat.

I've started taking the bus to school each day. There's a bus stop five minutes from my house that gets a straight trip right to campus once an hour. I do have to arrange my schedule a little bit differently, and every once in a while I have to wait on campus nearly an hour for the next bus, but it's a wonderful time to catch up on my reading. I'm so glad that New College has taken this initiative, and hope it continues into next year!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

2010-01-24T02:43:00.000-08:00

Sure, this book's been around ages, but it's always worth another read. I've recently picked it up again, and absolutely love the way Kingsolver approaches the local food movement.

In this story, Barbara Kingsolver, her husband, and two daughters leave their desert town to go live on a farm in Virginia to spend an entire year eating locally. They allow themselves a few exceptions (like certain spices), but otherwise, everything is grown within a short drive from their home.

In one of my favorite little anecdotes, Lily, the youngest daughter at six years old, loses one of her beloved chickens. Her mother attempts to console the wailing child, but with no success. In a last ditch effort she tells Lily, "It's only a chicken." Lily responds yelling, "You don't get it! I love chickens more than you!"

A few minutes later, little Lily comes back with a sheepish look on her face. "Mommy," she says. "I didn't mean that. If I love chickens six, then I love you seven."

This story is a wonderful way to become inspired to grow even a little bit of produce, or visit the local farmer's market. She gives us incentive as a culture to ditch the fast-food industrial culture, while also presenting ecological and environmental perspectives on the problems associated with big-business agriculture.

Loss

2010-01-23T05:08:00.000-08:00

Last night, three German Shepards broke into our rabbit pen. Sadly, Farina, Toby, Miura, and Girl did not make it. For now, we're done with raising rabbits, but one day in the future we hope to try again. We've learned important lessons the past six months with them, which we know will help us out next time. This is part of farming, and life in general.

'Coon in the garden

2010-01-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

Just after finishing our first bed, a little raccoon visited in the middle of the night. I don't blame him for walking through the soft soil.

Can you dig it?

2010-01-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

In our back garden, there were way too many roots to properly prepare the soil using a process known as Double Digging. Instead, we either built raised beds, or just simply loosened the soil using a pitch fork. Neither option was particularly successful, because the soil still wasn't loose enough for roots to effectively grow. Out front, we've employed this wonderful Double Digging method, which seem to have really loosened up our soil. The process goes something like this:

Mark out the area to be dug. We like to go around the edges with a shovel to break up any roots that may trail into the new bed. Dig your first trench at the edge of the bed, putting the soil aside in a wheelbarrow. Loosen the soil in the bottom of the trench with a digging fork.

Dig another trench behind the first one, dumping this dirt into the first trench. Break up any big chunks.

If there's any roots or anything in the dirt, pull em out. We also found oyster shells, a Tabasco bottle, and an empty jar of spaghetti sauce.

After loosening this new trench with a digging fork, repeat the process. It's kind of slow going, but we try to split up the work. Taylor digs, and I go behind him loosening the soil. Each of our new beds is 3.5 feet by 20 feet, and they take about an hour to do.

When you're done, you'll have a big raised line of dirt. Use a rake to smooth this out a little bit. We're also going to add compost, and mulch everything with a fine layer of hay. This brings us up to almost 600 square feet of gardening space, which is pretty much awesome.

Makin' some juice

2010-01-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

Nina is an expert orange juicer. The first time I ever met her, she was up on the counter squeezing some citrus. Yesterday she helped Taylor and I squeeze a gallon.

We had to stop once our container was full because we really don't have any more freezer space. We're talking about getting a chest freezer. We're going to need one eventually, and it'd be great to be able to save these oranges in the form of juice.

I think later this week we're going to try our hand at making some candied orange peels, because with all of the juice, we have an abundance of them. We're also going to try canning some, dehydrating some (which might be gross, but it's worth a shot), and making some more fruit leather.

Preparations for our new site

2010-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

After spending the past six months with mixed results in our garden, we've pretty much nailed down our failures to a few factors: too little sunlight, vegetable varieties incompatible with the Florida climate, and less-than-ideal soil quality. We've kind of tackled the plant-variety problem, and now we're on to the other two problems.

We've selected a new site that gets some more sunlight (it's hard to tell from the photos right now because of the way the winter sun moves through the sky, but during the summer the light here is much much better). There were a few bushes and shrubs in the way, but we got permission to pull them out.

The sunlight is definitely much better in our new area, and there are far fewer roots than we have out back, even with those bushes we pulled up. We can actually double-dig this area, which we couldn't do out back. We're going to still maintain our other garden, but use it more for low-light non-fruiting crops like lettuces and some root vegetables. It's going to be a lot of work, but we're very excited.

Nina's Christmas Present

2010-01-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

Thursday afternoon, Christmas finally ended. For Christmas, Taylor and I had wanted to let Seleighna go horse-back riding, but at three years old, she was too young to take a lesson anywhere. Luckily, I had a friend from school who owned a horse just a little ways from our place, and she was willing to let Nina come out, go for a ride, and tour the barn with the other horses.

As excited as she was to go meet Jack, we were a little worried that she'd be too nervous to get on and go for a ride when she realized just how big a horse really is. Instead, she surprised us by hopping right on before she even pet him.

Jack was a perfect candidate for the job. He was super friendly, loved getting kisses, and enjoyed all the attention he got from this little girl. Nina was absolutely in love.

Marilyn was absolutely wonderful too. She did a great job talking to Nina, and making her feel very comfortable up on the horse.

Nina absolutely loved getting to ride around on Jack, and it was a wonderful afternoon for all of us.

Our caving trip

2010-01-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

We've been back from our caving trip for a while, and we're finally caught up with all of our chores and have just sorted through all of the photos from our trip. We took a few hundred of them! Some highlights from our trip:

The view from our campsite was absolutely incredible. The campsite belonged to a caver who owned a summer cabin on the property. Just a few feet from our tent was a sheer drop off overlooking the small town below, and it faced west, so we witnessed some gorgeous sunsets.

It was very very cold during our entire trip (in the 20's and low 30's most of the time). A fire was absolutely necessary, not just for keeping warm, but also for cooking. Most of our meals were cooked in a dutch oven, a large cast iron pot heated with coals.

The first cave we went to was Rusty's, an absolutely gorgeous cave, with something like a sixty or seventy foot drop to get into it. Since neither Taylor nor I are particularly excellent with our vertical gear, Cole and Stephanie are always there to help out. Here Stephanie is on a bottom belay, ready to yank on that rope if Taylor or I slip on our way down, which would effectively stop us in our tracks.

This isn't to say that we're absolutely horrible with our gear! We've been practicing for the past few months, and hopefully one day we'll be able to take a rope-climbing class.

Rusty's cave is noted for the absolutely gorgeous formations. In many caves, a lot of the formations have been damaged by careless people not concerned with cave conservation. This cave, however, has most of the formations intact, and they're absolutely stunning.

The bats are always cool to see. Most of the time they're just clinging to the ceiling, but occasionally you'll see them flying around.

Climbing out is always a blast too. Frogging (the system we use) is fairly easy, but I always seem to have trouble whenever we're climbing up through a relatively tight opening. Balancing against the rock while still climbing is a bit tricky.

Here we are in Howard's cave, a horizontal cave that receives tons of visitors each year. There's graffiti on nearly every wall, lots of litter, and most of the formations are dead and damaged.

After caving, we headed over to the east part of the state, and camped out at Tallulah Gorge. Our original plan was Blacktop Mountain State Park, but it was further up the mountain, the temperature was predicted to be in the single digits. Instead, we slept in the cars down on the valley. The condensation on the inside of the windows was frozen in the morning, so it was still very very cold.

We also visited the Foxfire Museum. It was really awesome to see the way that people used to live in the area. I liked the antique spinning wheels (the lady that works at the museum as a spinner/weaver wasn't there which was a total bummer). Taylor had an absolute blast playing around on the stilts with Cole and Stephanie.

Our trip was wonderful, and wouldn't have been possible without Dennis and Philip taking care of our chickens, rabbits, and garden, or without Stephanie and Cole there to help us out on our caving adventure. Thanks guys.

A homegrown meal

2010-01-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

We've finally got stuff coming out of our garden pretty regularly. Last night we decided to cook up those potatoes from a few days ago. They got chopped up, fried in a little bit of butter, and seasoned with rosemary.

They smelled absolutely heavenly, too.

Then we whipped up a salad with ingredients mostly from our garden. There was a lot of lettuce, tossed with a bit of chard and some baby collards. Topped with homegrown radishes and balsamic-vinegar-glazed walnuts, it made for a tasty dish.

We also made our own salad dressing, which was very very easy. In it, we used a couple of our eggs from our chickens.

Homemade Salad Dressing

Put two whole room-temperature eggs and a quarter cup of vegetable oil in the blender on high for about one minute, or until the mixture becomes thicker and lighter colored.

Add a half teaspoon of powdered mustard seed, and continue to blend. Every thirty seconds add another quarter cup of oil until mixture thickens. You may have to scrape the sides of the blender periodically.

Add a teaspoon of paprika and a tablespoon of lemon juice, and blend until mixed.

While blender is running, add milk until you get the consistency you want. Add onion powder, salt, garlic, and pepper to taste, and mix well.

Radishes

2010-01-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Our garden is looking much better than when we first started. Our collards are chugging along, our lettuces are green, and our radishes are ready to pick! We decided to yank a handful out of the ground yesterday to see how they were doing.

They were just about perfect. They were a smaller variety than the average grocery store radish. We wiped of the dirt, bit into one, and it was absolutely delicious. No harsh "bite" like most of the radishes I've ever eaten. And at just over a month to grow, they were super quick too!

A potato tragedy

2010-01-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

The bitter cold has finally found its way down to sunny Sarasota. Everything has done well so far (except our pathetic little eggplant that we haven't had the heart to pull up), but last night's chilly temperatures found our potatoes down and out.

They'd been in the ground a little while, so we decided to dig them up and see what we had. There was no way they were going to recover from the cold anyways.

To our surprise, we actually found a little potato under one of the plants we dug up. We decided to go ahead and pull up the rest, and what we found was pretty awesome.

There were four or five handfuls of dark, dirty potatoes hiding under the plants. We took them in, cleaned them off, and we'll cook them up with some rosemary and butter for dinner.

A brown one!

2010-01-13T00:01:00.000-08:00

After months of waiting, we finally have a brown egg! We're up to three chickens laying eggs now (Prius and Spyker, our two Americaunas lay blue eggs). Our latest layer?

Evora has finally started laying eggs. She was one of the first two chickens we got, way back in September. She was 12 weeks old when we got her, which sets her at around 25 weeks. We expect Esprit, another hen exactly her age, to lay soon too.

A lovely brown egg among our blue ones

Our newest project

2010-01-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

So after spending my Christmas break spinning yarn, I decided to try another project. On our trip, we stopped at a wonderful place called Rising Fawn Fibers. Brenda, the owner/shepherd, sold us some lovely roving, but my favorite purchase?

I paid about $25 for this raw fleece, still caked with manure, vegetable matter, twigs, dirt, and sheep sweat.

It took about eight rinses in a bathtub under cool water, vinegar, and Ivory soap to get it even remotely clean.

The five-pound fleece weighed about 50 pounds when it was drenched with water. It took forever for all of the water to drain out when we picked it up out of the bath.

We still haven't finished getting all of the oils or dirt out of it. I plan to finish cleaning it, and then dye it and spin it raw, without really carding it.

Hand spun yarn

2010-01-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is about two ounces, or seventy grams, of knitted correidale wool knitting at a sport/worsted weight. It took about six hours total to spin the singles and then ply them together.

I picked up some brown and scarlet RIT dye, which I used to give it some color (I hardly ever wear white). I'm not sure what I'm going to knit out of this, but it's very exciting.

Overally, I'm pretty impressed for my first go at spinning, and I'm already super addicted. I spent all day dying more roving to give it another go.

More beautyberry jam

2010-01-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

After making our fruit leather, we decided to use up the leftover beautyberries we had in the fridge. We rinsed them, pulled out anything that wasn't berries, and boiled them down with some sugar until it got thick. It's canned, and will make some wonderful presents.

A world of food

2010-01-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

I got these photos in an email earlier this week, and wanted to share them. The photos are all created with nothing but food.

My favorite christmas present

2010-01-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was full of wonderful surprises. One of my favorites? This beautifully illustrated children's alphabet book about gardening. The illustrations are amazing, and my mother even got the author to write a personal message to Taylor and I on the inside cover.

Every page is absolutely gorgeous, and the writing is quirky and cute. I'd highly recommend it for anyone of any age.

Caving

2009-12-26T14:34:00.000-08:00

Taylor and I are in Georgia from now until January. Check back on the eighth to see what new stuff we're up to in 2010!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T14:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! I hope everyone found some holiday cheer this year, and had a happy time with friends or family.

Check out Taylor rocking out his hand-knit sweater!

Our blog will be taking a brief break as we go on our post-Christmas trip to Georgia. Our posts will return on January 8, next year!

Seed Saver

2009-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

After getting my fall Seed Saver's catalog, I've decided that I may try one or two varieties alongside some conventional seeds. The photos are amazing, and the varieties are amazing. The only problem is many of them are targeted to more temperate regions, not our subtropical Sarasota.

The Romanesco broccoli is amazing. There's an organic farm an hour south of us that grows this variety, so I think it might work out.

I love how heirloom seeds are totally different from the conventional grocery store fare. Publix doesn't carry things like orange eggplant. They taste great, look cool, and offer a much greater variety, but because they don't pack and ship well, you can't get them anywhere.

I'll think about ordering a few things, and research some of the Florida-friendly varieties. Southern Exposure offers varieties that are more heat tolerant, which I'm also considering.

Making fruit leather

2009-12-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

I've been reading the Encyclopedia of Country Living and found a recipe for fruit leather, which is a dried puree. We decided to give it a shot with some of our ripe tangerines.

We sliced them up, peeled them, and sifted out the seeds.

There were a freaking TON of seeds too. We had to go through the bowl for about fifteen minutes to get them, and we still missed a few.

Then it went into a blender with a bunch of beauty berries.

Then it went into the oven on 140. It still hasn't dried, but it's only been in there a few hours. We'll give it another few, and hopefully it'll turn into a dried, chewy sheet. We can store it in the freezer indefinitely, and it'll make a nutritious, no-sugar-added snack.

Gardening with children

2009-12-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

We think it's important for young kids to get outside, play in the dirt, and breathe some fresh air. It's been proven to help with all sorts of things, including obesity and attention disorders (for anyone really interested in the subject, check out the book Last Child in the Woods).

We're very happy that Seleighna, our three-year-old next door neighbor loves coming and hanging out in the garden. Every morning she comes to check on her princess, take care of the rabbits, and play in the garden. At the library I've picked up a couple of books with gardening activities for children. I think we're going to put together a little two foot by two foot bed for her to plant some flowers and vegetables in, and maybe work with some of the other activities. They're really cute books, and seem to have activities even adults may enjoy.

A new site

2009-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

One of our biggest problems impeding our success in the garden is the lack of sunlight. For a good part of the day, our beds are cast in shade which is not conducive for plant growth. We've since gotten permission to put a few beds out front come this spring, which should improve things. We'll still use the beds out back for low-light crops, and use the ones out front for corn, tomatoes, beans, and squashes, which seem to require a blazing sun to do really well. We're pretty excited, and hope to get a head start preparing the soil in January.

Good news!

2009-12-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

The other day, Mr Dennis told us some wonderful news. Up until now, we had heard that owning chickens in Sarasota county was illegal. Figuring that we were surrounded by woods on all sides and that any neighbors were too far away, we risked it and got some hens anyway. Turns out, it's perfectly legal, so long as there's no rooster, and no more than six hens. We have eight, but we figure, if anyone comes around to check things out we'll just have a nice chicken dinner. We're pretty excited to hear that we're allowed to keep our girls legally.

It's raining, it's pouring

2009-12-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

I love when it rains. It's great for all of the plants around here, and it means one less chore to do. I went outside and snapped a few photos of the lingering rain drops. The tangerines are pretty close to being ready too! Some of them are soft enough to eat already.

Our daily chores

2009-12-18T14:26:00.001-08:00

The beginning of this school year, Taylor and I put a lot of work into getting this garden up and running. We built a rabbit pen, a chicken coop and run (with lots of help from Mr. Dennis), five raised beds, and dug four other beds. Even though most of our big projects are done, we still have plenty of daily chores.

We get up in the morning and head out to the garden first thing. We check on the chickens, which are normally already out. Mr. Dennis is normally up before dawn, so he lets them out for us every morning. We make sure they have plenty of food and water, and throw in a handful of scratch.
Then we check for eggs, and make sure the coop is clean. Every other week or so we clean it all out and replace the hay.

Then we head over to the rabbits, which are normally pretty low on water. With four of them in there, they go through it pretty quickly. Since we don't have running water right near them, we've filled up a few gallon jugs to make the process a bit quicker. After making sure they have food, and maybe throwing in a couple weeds for them to munch on, we head back in until evening.

Later in the afternoon, we put the chickens back in the coop. They normally head back in around 5:00, when the sun falls below the tops of the trees. We check to see if the garden needs watering, and do that while we do a little bit of weed control.

All of our chores don't take too long, and it's nice to have a routine to follow every day (and people to help out when we leave on trips!)

Recycled eggshells

2009-12-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

So in plenty of the chicken books we've been reading, they've discussed calcium. Chickens need extra to lay their eggs, but not too much, which can impair bone growth. Layer feed is generally fortified with the right amount, but crushed oyster shells or chicken eggs are not a bad idea to feed in addition. However, if you feed a chicken insufficiently crushed shells, they may begin to eat their own eggs before you can collect them. To solve this problem, we've been using a wand blender.

It turns them into a consistency similar to their food, which we either mix in, or throw in with some scratch. They seem to enjoy the stuff, and it's one more way we can keep a closed system here in our garden.

Still no babies

2009-12-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

It's been almost three months since our rabbits have been together. They were supposedly a little over six months old. Rabbits this size generally take between six and nine months to reach sexual maturity. This means that pretty soon, we should start to see some evidence of breeding rabbits. Toby is definitely much more interested in the girls, but they don't seem to reciprocate his behavior. I now understand the phrase, "chasing some tail."

The girls are still displaying nesting behavior, including Farina, who is actually old enough to breed. She should be right around ten months old right now. She's ripped out all of this hair to line her hutch, which may be a good sign.

Radishes

2009-12-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

When we first started our garden in August, I was very excited about the radishes. Supposedly Cherry Belles only take 21 days from planting to harvest in ideal conditions. Sadly, we didn't have those ideal conditions. It was too warm, our soil too packed, and not enough sun. However, this time around, they seem to be doing well. We directly sowed them, and a couple weeks later, they're looking terrific. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Food Inc

2009-12-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to get more books out of the library instead of buying them, but I just couldn't wait for this new release to make it to my local branch.

Nearly every chapter is written by a different person on a different subject. There's an interview with the writer of Food Inc the movie, Robert Kenner, too. A few of the subjects:

Organic food

The future of world hunger

Ethenol

Genetically modified foods

Animal practices in agribusiness

Pesticides

Global warming and agriculture

Cheap food

Community gardens

Sustainable tables

Obesity

All in all, it's a wonderful, sometimes alarming book. If you haven't seen the movie, I'd recommend that too.

Our strawberries have recovered!

2009-12-13T13:41:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, our strawberries where looking pretty sickly. We assumed it was snails, and decided to go out one night with flashlights to try and find the culprits. Instead of snails, we found some teeny black beetles. We picked them all off by hand, and now our strawberries seem to have recovered.

Stevia seeds

2009-12-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago, we got some Stevia at a local Sarasota Fruit and Nut Society sale. We planted it in Taylor's herb garden, and it quickly began to flower. This week, we've got some seeds! We collected some in an envelope, and we'll try to grow some more this spring.

Empty nesting boxes

2009-12-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

We continue to keep finding our eggs on the floor of the coop, instead of the nesting boxes where they belong. They love hanging out and pooping in them, but just can't quite figure out their intended purpose. Oh well--- they help with ventilation, and let some light in.

Our cabbages are cabbaging!

2009-12-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

For the past couple weeks, our cabbages just looked like little piles of limp leaves. Then, recently, they've actually started folding inwards to form little heads. We're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.

We've got some red cabbages planted too, which are still pretty tiny, but we're hoping they catch up soon.

Environmental Issues Final

2009-12-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

For my Environmental Issues class this semester, I had to write a paper about the future of any issue I chose. Related to both academic and extracurricular interests, I decided to write about the past, present, and future of industrial agriculture. For anyone that's interested, I've decided to post a rough copy here:

Agriculture in the Year 2100

In the early 1900’s, more than forty percent of Americans farmed for a living. By the end of the century, that number dropped to less than two percent (Pyle, 2005). Increased mechanization, the introduction of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, and transition to monoculture drastically increased annual yields nationwide, and at the same time decreased the need for man power to run it all. This transition applies not only to Americas vegetable and grain crops, but animals products as well. The introduction of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) has led to increased consumption of meat, and other animal products (Halweil, 2008) . Traditional heirloom crops disappeared, replaced by their more industrial counterparts; hybrids and, controversially, GMOs.

While some hail industrial agriculture as the end to world hunger and the advancement of man kind, some environmentalists and agricultural scientists recognize industrial agriculture taking a large toll on the environment. Increased consumption of fossil fuels, wide-spread use of polluting chemicals, and damage to ecosystems have all made headlines as a result of the growing agriculture industry.

Chemical Consumption

In the 1940s, agriculture witnessed the Green Revolution. The discovery of petro-chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides quickly bolstered farmer’s annual yields, bringing plenty of enthusiasm for technology into the agricultural sector. Over the last fifty years, fertilizer use has increased ten-fold (Grinning Planet, 2005), and is expected to continue well into the twenty-second century.

Why the transition from organic to chemical agriculture? After the second world war, there was no longer a high demand for war chemicals. Labs that synthesized many of the chemicals used during the war would be shut down, unless they found new uses for their technologies. Nitrogen was one of the most used chemicals, used in TNT and other explosives. During the war, the US government had built more than ten factories to supply these nitrogen bombs. After the war, these plants transitioned to produce chemical fertilizers, as ongoing studies linked nutrient availability to rising crop yields (Ganzel, 2004). Other plants transitioned to the production of pesticides, herbicides, and other toxic chemicals. These chemicals were abundant, cheap, and greatly increased agricultural yields to support a growing population. As populations continue to explode, many farmers view fertilizers as the only possible solution.

Taxes on the Environment

The average item on the American dinner plate has traveled over 1500 miles (Kingsolver, 2007). Agriculture directly consumes 20% of the nations fossil fuels, both in production and transport (Cleveland, 1995). This results in a huge number of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global climate change. Nearly all of the chemicals used in agriculture are created from petroleum directly from fossil fuels.

In addition to depleting non-renewable resources in the form of fossil fuels, soil is quickly disappearing. In the past forty years, more than one third of the world’s topsoil has disappeared, washed away into lakes, rivers and oceans by wind and water erosion (Pimmentel, 1995). As farmers continue to rely on tilling, which releases large amounts of sequestered carbon dioxide, this topsoil loss is expected to rise significantly in the next century. This erosion is also resulting in decreased production per hectare.

Agriculture continues to rely on harmful chemicals to bolster productivity. The use of organochloride pesticides contaminates not only lakes and rivers, but groundwater as well (Butler, 1969). Long term exposure to pesticides results in resistant pests, which will eventually require stronger pesticides or herbicides (Cummins, 2009). By traveling in waterways, these pesticides endanger ecosystems world wide.

Changes to Diet and Health

Up until the mid 1900’s, the human diet hadn’t changed remarkably in over 10,000 years. With the rise of industrial agriculture, the types of food available for consumption has changed drastically. Most notably is the rise of genetically altered foods, and the expansion of corn consumption.

Genetically modified foods (GMOs) have been on the market since 1990, and about half of the corn, soy, and canola grown in the US is genetically modified (Philips, 1998). Most of these GMOs have been engineered to be pesticide and herbicide tolerant, which allows farmers to use copious amounts of chemicals without harming the plant. While the health effects of GMOs remains largely unstudied, the neurotoxic quality of pesticides has been noted many times. More than half of the produce in todays grocery stores contain pesticide residue, according to the Food and Drug Administration (Organic Consumer Association, 2009). Ninety-five percent of Americans have levels of organophosphate pesticides show up in blood tests according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. These pesticides are linked to many disorders, including hyperactivity, motor dysfunction, learning disabilities, and developmental delays. More than 400 biocides and 300 synthetic additives are allowed in conventionally-grown foods.

The health concerns related to GMOs are many and largely unresearched. In 1989, a genetically-engineered dietary supplement resulted in the death of thirty-seven people, and more than 5,000 suffered from eosinophilia myalgia syndrome as a direct result of the supplement. A decade later, a GMO potato containing a mosaic viral promoter caused lab rats to die of severe viral infections. This same gene is currently present in nearly all GMO crops. A GMO bovine growth hormone proven to cause cancer in lab studies is present in about ten percent of milk sold in the US (the EU has since banned this rBGH). These GMO crops may also cause extreme allergic reactions. A decade ago, a gene from the Brazil nut was spliced into soybeans. Animal tests showed up negative, but humans still had severe reactions to the beans. Luckily, the product was pulled before it reached the market, as a result of these last-minute tests. Further problems with GMOs are described in the next section.

Perhaps even more alarming than the introduction of GMOs is the rise of corn. Of the more than forty-five thousand items available in most supermarkets, about a third of them contain corn (Pollan, 2006). Most of the 10 billion bushels produced annually isn’t directly consumed, and is instead turned into the processed foods that occupy most of the shelves in the grocery store. What isn’t fed to animals to become meat will be processed mechanically and chemically to become corn syrup, preservatives, oil, citric acid, fructose, glucose, MSG, xanthum gum, or one of the hundreds of products made from corn today. Because corn is heavily subsidized, it is incredibly cheap, and has replaced other crops in our diet. Most of these new corn concoctions are incredibly unhealthy, high in sugars and fats. Because they are so readily available, both in supermarkets and fast-food chains. The average person under 18 visits a fast food establishment twice weekly, and fast foods comprise about 20% of the average American’s diet (Institute of Medicine, 2005). This drastic change in diet has led to an increase in the percent of Americans that are obese, or suffer from diet and weight related illnesses. One in three children born after the year 2000 will have diet-related diabetes. The number rises to one in two for minority children (Kenner, 2009). One in ten people in the world is clinically obese. If this number doesn’t change, half of American will suffer from diabetes in 2100.

Beyond the health issues arising as a direct result of consumption, industrial agriculture is creating a dangerous backdrop in which antibiotic resistance runs rampant. Low doses of antibiotics are included in most of the diets of industrial livestock. About seventy percent of all antimicrobials in the US are given to livestock (UCS, 2001). Because of this antibiotic abuse, new resistant strains of bacteria are becoming common. Most staph infections in the US are penicillin-resistant, and may be resistant to other drugs as well. Without a decrease in the amount of antibiotics being used in the agricultural industry, many new “super bugs” may emerge over the next century.

GMO Pollution

Genetic pollution is a relatively new word to describe one of the many potential problems that GMO crops have created. Genetically altered pollen can contaminate non-GMO food crops grown in other areas. Many commercial food crops are wind pollinated, and this pollen can travel miles to contaminate non-GMO fields. This genetic drift can also affect weeds related to the GMO crop. The insertion of “kill genes” which are designed to make saved seeds unviable can drift into neighboring farms or wild plants growing near farms growing these GMOs.

Monstanto, and other companies responsible for developing these GMOs are actually benefiting from this problem. They frequently sue farmers who haven’t purchased GMO seed whose crops contain these genes from cross contamination. Because these genes are patented and protected, they retain them as intellectual property. Growing any GMOs belonging to Monsanto without paying for the right, accidentally or not, is illegal.

An Uncertain Future

By 2050, the world population is expected to surpass nine billion people and remain at that level for a few centuries (Lutz, 2002). With many more mouths to feed, and most viable land already in production, agricultural yield will need to be much more efficient to feed the people, especially in the US. While nobody knows the right answers or the outcome, and with global climate change a looming possibility, there are several proposed solutions to curve the impending food crisis.

One of the largest arguments for industrial agriculture is that it functions under an efficient use of man power. One farmer can feed well over 100 people (Pollan, 2007). The use of tractors, combines, threshers, and other bits of machinery allow a few people to do the job of dozens. While it makes good use of personnel, it’s much less efficient than biointensive models. By packing plants closer together, yields per acre can quadruple. However, because of the close spacing, it’s nearly impossible to plant and harvest with machinery.

One of America’s largest concerns today is job security. The US unemployment rate has risen to around seven percent, with more than 11 million people out of jobs (Goldman, 2009). A more intensive, organic agricultural sector would welcome the jobless, requiring more people than conventional agriculture. A transition to organic methods would also require the well-educated, who would have to monitor complex biological systems and polycultures.

Another, perhaps more startling proposition? There are currently 2.3 million people behind bars in the US (Aizenman, 2008). If these prisoners were given the privilege to get outside and grow food, the US would instantly double the number of farmers within its borders.

On the other extreme, many US companies have begun offshoring our food production, especially in the organic sector. Everything from apples to steaks are being shipped from Asia, New Zealand, and South America, where land and labor is cheap. While this is a possible short term solution, one cannot simply ignore the resulting pollution. Restrictions on chemicals are less stringent, and the produce must travel thousands of miles, consuming millions of gallons of fossil fuels.

The further development of GMOs will prove to be either a great success, or a horrendous failure. More stringent lab testing and further technological development should be required before these genetically engineered “franken-foods” can hit the market. Whether or not there will be an accident leading up to this regulation is unknown, but possible.

Bureaucracy must also drop its regulations against small farmers, who are often more environmentally and health conscious than the big industrial farmer. By setting standards on cleanliness rather than infrastructure, more local, healthy foods will be available at less cost for the consumer.

Ganzel, Bill. Postwar Fertilizer Explodes, 2004. Living History Farm.

Pyle, George. Raising Less Corn, More Hell. 2005.

Halweil, Brian. Meat Production Continues to Rise. World Watch Institute. http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5443

Grinning Planet. World Fertilizer Use, 2005. http://www.grinningplanet.com/2005/05-17/world-fertilizer-use.jpg

Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal Vegetable Miracle: A year of food life, 2007.

Cleveland, Cutler. The direct and indirect use of fossil fuels and electricity in USA agriculture, 1910–1990, 1995. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment Volume 55, Issue 2, September 1995, Pages 111-121

Pimmentel, David. Environmental and Economic Costs of Soil Erosion and Conservation Benefits. Science 24 February 1995: Vol. 267. no. 5201, pp. 1117 - 1123

Butler, Philip. Monitoring Pesticide Pollution, 1969. The American Institute for Biological Science.

Cummins, Ronnie. Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods and Crops, 2009. Organic Consumers Association.

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivores Dilemma, 2006. The Plant: Corn’s Conquest.

Phillips, Peter and Grant Isaac. (1998). GMO labeling: Threat or opportunity? AgBioForum, 1(1), 25-30.

Organic Consumer Association. Exposure to Pesticides, 2009. Food Inc, A Participant Guide.

Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. 2005. Institute of Medicine. www.iom.edu

Kenner, Robert. How industrial food is making us sicker, fatter, and poorer, 2009. Food inc. A participant’s guide.

Union of Concerned Scientists. Hogging it: Estimates of antibiotic abuse in livestock. UCS, 2001.

Lutz, Wolfgang. Doubling of World Population Unlikely, 2002. International Institute for Applied System Analysis.

Goldman, David. Worst year for jobs since '45: Annual loss biggest since end of World War II. Unemployment rate rises to 7.2%. http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/jobs_december/

Aizenman, NC. A new high in US prison numbers, 2008. Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/28/ST2008022803016.html

Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal

2009-12-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

With less work to do in the garden, and school drawing to a close, I've finally had more time just to read for fun. I picked up Salatin's book, "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal".

It's an entertaining read for anyone interested in the local food movement. He deals mostly with animal products (eggs, beef, and pork), and the controversial methods that surround them. He colorfully details encounters with government bureaucrats , who desperately try to run his small farm down.

He uses independent labs to prove that his products are much cleaner than the typical grocery-store fare, but even so, much of what he wants to sell is often illegal. For being such a thick book, it's a pretty quick read that I recommend.

Heirlooms

2009-12-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, we got rid of most of our heirlooms. The squash had succumbed to mildew, the beans had fungus and aphids, and pretty much everything was dead. We still had some Oakleaf in a seedling tray, and in a last attempt we went ahead and planted it anyway. A couple weeks later, they're still doing lovely. You can definitely see why it's called Oakleaf lettuce. I'll bet it's delicious.

Delicious

2009-12-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

More and more home-grown food is making it on our plates. This morning, we picked some collards.

Then, Seleighna helped us tear them from the stalks and rinse them really well. She loves helping out with our vegetables (she did an amazing job shelling limas a couple weeks ago).

A few hours and a few pieces of bacon later, we had a delicious pot of steaming hot collards. Topped with a little bit of garlic and salt, they made for a rather tasty lunch, on top of being organic, fresh, and local. It's nice to get some encouragement to keep on keeping on.

Collards

2009-12-05T12:38:00.000-08:00

Another crop that's doing well so far! Our collards (Georgia Blue) are doing very well. They love the cooler weather, and just keep chugging away. Tomorrow we're going to cook em up with a bit of bacon for lunch. Yum!

Grrrr.

2009-12-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

We use mulching hay for just about everything. Chicken bedding, mulching our garden, the rabbits nibble on it, and use it for bedding. One day, while I was at school, Taylor went to our local feed store to replenish our supply, and they gave him the wrong bale of hay. We stupidly decided to use it anyway, and turned one of our beds into weed paradise.

This morning I pulled most of the weeds, and re-mulched with a new bale of the right stuff. We can still use the leftover seed-ridden hay for animal bedding, and the rabbits prefer it to munch on.

Potatoes

2009-12-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

Right now, our best-growing plants are the potatoes. They took weeks to finally show up (we thought they had maybe rotted in the ground), but once they poked their heads out of the soil, they looked great! They started out as these teeny purple plants, and now they're close to two feet tall and a luscious green color. Later in the season, we can dig em out, and have purple mashed potatoes.