Category Archives: Garden Stories

Winter Prep

Posted on November 28, 2016 | Leave a comment

In Winter, most of the garden chores involve cleaning up to prepare for the Spring. Even though the chickens are doing most of that work for us, we still have a few tasks to make sure the soil is soft and ready for planting.

We moved the chickens over yesterday. The girls had done their job tearing up the soil, destroying pests like cabbage worms and squash bugs and fertilizing their first stop in the kitchen garden.

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We covered the spot with a thick layer of straw to keep the soil warm. The ground will freeze, but when the Spring thaw starts, we want to retain as much moisture as we can to keep our soil healthy.

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Since my winter sowing project did not work out well last year, I’m going to try direct sowing the cool season and a few root veggies now.

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If anything comes up before the cold really sets in, I’ll use the upside down milk jug tops I have to insulate the seedlings against the cold.

I also plan to give winter sowing in milk jugs another go this year. Although, with this unseasonably warm December I may have the same problems I had last year.

Other winter chores include pruning and cleaning up weeds around the trees and insulating the perennials against the cold.

We have not had a hard freeze yet, but it is coming soon. In the next few days, I’ll get the rest of this done and sit back and wait for my seed catalogs to start rolling in so I can start planning for 2017.

I’ll plant my winter garden
I’ll hope for it to grow
I’ll watch for little seedlings
Protect them from the snow

I hope the cold won’t kill them
I hope I will succeed
I hope my winter garden
Suppresses summer weeds

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Posted in Chickens!, Garden Stories, Permaculture, Poetry, Preparedness, Writing

Crisp

Posted on November 21, 2016 | Leave a comment

Sparkling in the sunlight
The frosty, glittering ground
The chickens now are ready
For cold and wind to sound

They moved into the garden
To do their very best
They scratch and shuffle all around
Eating weeds and pests

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They’re now outside our window
And each and every morn
Pecky has confused our light
And crows before the dawn

The cats both like their new spot
As guardians of the flock
They bask in warm, soft sunlight
Ignoring ruffled bawks

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The sky is bright and blue now
But soon it will be gray
And snow will fall so softly
Crisp winter’s here to stay


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Posted in Chickens!, Garden Stories, Life, Pecky Greenleg, Poetry, Writing

Winter Fertilizer

Posted on November 18, 2016 | Leave a comment

The cold weather approaches and it is just about time to move the chickens closer to the house to keep them out of the bitter winter winds that rip through our small homestead.

We’ve let the plants go to seed so that our girls will have a nice treat during the long winter. We will have moved them all over the garden so that by Spring our soil will be rich and crawling with squiggly worms.

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Perhaps telling the boys that it was time to “destroy the garden” was a little short sighted; but it was worth it to see how much fun they had chopping, pulling and stomping all over the kitchen garden.

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Since it has been warm, the borage and lovage are confused. They think they still have time to multiply and grow.

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Borage. It’s all over the garden and some is even in the yard.

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Lovage – smells like celery.

We found a ton of cherry tomatoes on the vine. They are so sweet! We fed some to the chickens and snacked on some ourselves. Most of the broccoli had gone to seed so we gave that to the chickens too.

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I ran around front to see if the strawberries were confused as well…no such luck. I did find a few roses blooming though.

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The chickens “accidentally” got loose so the boys spent an hour or so chasing them around, catching them, letting them go and catching them again.

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Pecky stood guard over the coop while this was happening. He was reluctant to get involved in the shenanigans.

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I think the girls may be picking on him a little bit. He has a few feathers missing on his rear and a few raw spots as well. A couple of the hens have missing feathers on their heads too. I guess chickens must have cat fights too.

The boys are both very gentle with the chickens. They can catch them much easier than Ray or I can. The hens seem almost docile with them.

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We had a beautiful day working outside. I like all seasons, but I sure am going to miss these nice weather days when we are cooped up.

Snow is on its way
Winter days are coming fast
Autumn falls away

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Posted in Chickens!, For the Kids, Garden Stories, Haiku, Life, Writing

Nature’s Nurses

Posted on November 7, 2016 | 1 comment

Ray and the boys each picked a handful of Autumn olives yesterday and went for a walk in the swales.

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It was twilight and gorgeous. I walked along with them snapping pictures and enjoying breeze, the warmth, the sun and the peace.

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They munched on the berries as they walked and spit the seeds out between the trees we’d planted.

“What are you doing Joe?”

“We are planting trees!”

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Planting trees by spitting seeds may sound crazy…perhaps it is. But how do trees grow in a forest with no one to dig holes and plant?

Seeds drop to the ground. Birds and beasts spread them around.

Sure, some of them grow and some of them don’t, but no shovel is needed to grow a tree.

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Why would we want Autumn olives to grow willy-nilly in the swales?

One, they grow fast and spread even faster. We are slowly trying to cover the berms with plants and shrubs we can use for three purposes: food to eat, nutrients for the other trees and protection from erosion.

Two, they are packed with nitrogen and will enrich the soil. The roots fix nitrogen feeding other trees and shrubs nearby. We are working to nurse the soil on our property, to restore this disturbed soil to a rich and fertile landscape, perfect for growing food for our family.

Three, they taste great and are packed with nutrients, antioxidants and vitamins A, C, and E. They have more lycopene than tomatoes. Roughly 15 times more in fact. Lycopene has been associated with preventing certain diseases such as breast, prostate and skin cancer.

We aren’t just planting autumn olives. We’ve also transplanted seaberries and raspberries. We’ve planted comfrey and mint and plan to throw down more borage in the spring.

We are building our food forest one seed at a time.

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Nature’s nurses planted
All throughout our land
Maybe they’ll grow tall and spread
And nurse our soil back from the dead

We’ve started the process
To repair and restore
We’re giving it our very best
And letting Nature do the rest

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Posted in Garden Stories, Permaculture, Poetry, Writing

Oven Roasted

Posted on October 26, 2016 | 1 comment

I love roasted veggies. The caramelization brings out those natural sugars and crisps up the edges, and there are so many combinations of herbs, spices and oils to use.

It’s (almost) the only way I’ll eat cooked brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower on their own.

With our bountiful brussels sprout harvest and the overwhelming amount of Jerusalem artichokes we have…what better way to eat them up?

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I sliced up around a pound of sunchokes into 1/2 inch rounds. You can go thinner or thicker depending on how crispy you like them.

I didn’t peel them, and I don’t recommend you do either. The skins are thinner than a potato skin and it are packed full of nutrients. Plus, it would be really annoying to peel around all the little nibs and nobs.

Next, I rinsed and dried the sprouts, cut off any yucky parts for the chickens and threw them in with the sliced sunchokes. They weren’t very big, so I left them whole.

Then I started to play.

I crumbled freshly dried rosemary and thyme over the veggies, sprinkled them with salt and pepper and garlic powder and tossed the whole mixture in oil. I used liquid coconut oil, but any oil would work.

I spread the whole mess on a large cast iron skillet, as close to a single layer as I could, and roasted them in the oven at 425* for around 20 minutes.

I kept checking them to make sure they weren’t getting too burnt after the 10 minute mark.

The aroma was delicious. My mouth watered and I could hardly wait to taste the dish.

I wasn’t disappointed.

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Posted in Food, Garden Stories

Harvest in the Fall

Posted on October 25, 2016 | 1 comment

We’ve been waiting for the brussels sprouts to get bigger, but it seems that they’ve grown as much as they are going to.

The boys were excited to harvest them and, truth be told, so was I.

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I have purchased fresh brussels sprouts, still on the stalk, at the store. Our stalks are larger and taller but our sprouts are smaller than storebought.

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I worried that they were not ripe, but the leaves were starting to spread so we tasted one…or two…or three.

They were delicious and sweet, with a slight bite. Joe absolutely loved them. He could not stop eating the ‘baby cabbages’.

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While harvesting these tiny wonders, we found some kale ready to pick.

I’d forgotten that I’d planted it so it was a nice surprise and, since it is soup season, will be a tasty addition to vegetable chicken soup.

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There were also cherry tomatoes red and sweet on the vine and a random cucumber, but the kale and brussels sprouts were the most exciting fall harvest.

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Pumped up by our discoveries, we prowled the homestead in search of more produce ready to pick.

We were rewarded. Our autumn olive had red and pink berries that were sweeter and slightly bigger than last year’s crop.

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They were only on one side of the shrub though. The other side is all new growth thanks to the ice storm that split the plant in two last year. I’m just happy that it grew back instead of dying.

The boys burrowed in and refused to leave until they picked and ate all of the ‘delicious berries’.

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Next, we harvested ‘a few’ Jerusalem artichokes.

My niece and I spent an hour or so digging them up, but we barely made a dent.

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There are so many still in the ground and I don’t know what I am going to do with all of them.

I froze around half of what we collected, but freezing them changes the consistency. They’ll be mushy so I’ll have to mash the frozen ones in with potatoes and puree them into soups.

They can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks so I’ll be sharing them with friends and family.

I’m not too worried about how far they’ve spread. The yellow flowers are beautiful and the tall green stems lovely.

Plus, we do have several acres for them to spread and pop up and we may be able to sell some of them next year.

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In all, we’ve had a successful fall harvest. Now on to planting garlic before the ground freezes.

Some kale right here
Some berries there
Artichokes are everywhere

Sprouts all around
More than a pound
I’ll roast ’em ’til they’re crisp and brown

Fall veggies grow
Until there’s snow
And bitter winds howl loud and blow

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Posted in Food, Garden Stories, Poetry, Writing

Saving Seeds…Finally

Posted on October 21, 2016 | Leave a comment

We always say we are going to save seeds.

We know it will save us money.

We know the plants grow well with our soil.

We know the saved seeds will be unique. They’ve adapted to our growing conditions and there will never be another seed quite like it.

Yet each year, time gets away from us. By the time we remember that we planned to save seeds…it’s too late. Or at least, we think it is.

But this year, we actually did save seeds.

Okra seeds.

Okra seeds, along with pea and bean seeds are some of the easiest seeds to save.

First, just let the pods dry on the plant. When they turn brown and start to split at the ridges, cut them off, open them up and shake the seeds out. Let them dry for a few days and, voila! They are ready to store.

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So far, we’ve saved seeds from three large pods and filled a small medicine bottle.

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Old prescription bottles are one of the best containers for seed saving. They are easy to label and easy to store in neat little rows.

Sunflowers are also good candidates for saving, although there are a few more steps involved.

Tomato seeds are a bit easier than sunflower seeds, and pepper seeds even easier…at least there are fewer steps involved.

Since we ate the three peppers that actually made it this year (slight exaggeration), and our tomatoes were devoured by the chickens, the okra seeds…and maybe marigolds…are the only ones we’ll save this year.

At least it’s a start!

What seeds do you save?

So easy to save
Okra and marigold seeds
Cut, shake, dry and save

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Posted in 13 Skills, Food, Garden Stories, Haiku, Writing

Look Mom!

Posted on October 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

Joe came running up to the house with a ‘surprise’ hidden behind his back.

“You are not going to believe this!”

He slowly pulled his arms around and revealed a small pumpkin. The look on his face, the light in his eyes and the excitement rolling off of him in waves was so contagious.

It was a small pumpkin, but we carved it and roasted the seeds while talking about how it got there when we didn’t plant it.

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We really didn’t plant pumpkins this year. Not in the garden, not in the vineyard and definitely not in the swales.

But last year, we did throw a seed mix down behind the chickens as we moved them through the swales. And we did feed them kitchen scraps.

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Joe and I went walking in the swales to see what else we could find.

We found red and yellow raspberries…ripe and ready to eat. They were hidden in the tall grass and they were oh-so-sweet and yummy!

We found lettuce and mint growing wild.

We found wild mulberry trees.

There is SO much abundance on our land!

We’ve guerilla gardened in our own backyard with seed bombs and chickens.

We’ve forgotten what we planted and transplanted.

We’ve let Nature do that thing she does so well…grow. We’ve created a food forest for our boys to explore.

“Look Mom, raspberries!”

“Look Mom, chocolate mint!”

Look Mom…joy.

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Pumpkins in the swales
Foraging our own backyard
Sweet berries and mint

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Posted in Chickens!, For the Kids, Garden Stories, Life, Permaculture

Sprouts!

Posted on September 29, 2016 | Leave a comment

I love brussel sprouts…especially fresh.

For the past three years I’ve tried to grow them without success. The ones I started indoors never made it much past the seedling stage and the ones I direct sowed never sprouted.

But just look at them!

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I didn’t do anything different this year except get a really, really good seed starting mix. One of the plants survived my winter sowing experiment, one was started indoors and one was from a nursery.

They are all almost ready to harvest!

What are our plans for these gorgeous sprouts?

We are going to roast them with garlic and olive oil, mix in a bit of bacon and then sprinkle the whole thing with parmesan.

YUM!

The sprouts have grown tall
Each one large, green and gorgeous
Roast ’em and enjoy!

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Posted in Food, Garden Stories, Haiku, Writing

Swaying in the Breeze

Posted on September 27, 2016 | 2 comments

The Jerusalem artichokes are absolutely gorgeous this year.

We harvested very few last year so it seems they’ve doubled.

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They are even growing in the old compost pile and another spot about 20 ft away from the original cluster. At first I couldn’t figure out how they got there.

Then I remembered.

The first year we planted them, we harvested quite a few and set them in the basement to dry and preserve them. We left them too long and they ended up shriveling so I threw them in the compost pile.

In doing a bit of research, I found that they can also spread underground up to 60 ft away from the original planting.

Resilient little buggers!

A blur of yellow buds
Swaying gently
Tall and majestic

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The whirring of leaves
Swishing softly
Bright and lovely

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The soft tickle of flowers
Brushing lightly
Calm and soothing

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Posted in Garden Stories, Poetry, Writing