Winter vs. Summer Garden

Just finished harvesting my winter garden. The last of its bounty, beets and carrots are being pulled up, the greens being tossed over the fence to the chickens. I managed to can a few more jars of beets, substituting organic blue agave for the sugar, certainly not as sweet, with a bit of a spicy bite to them.

I sure do like that fall/winter growing season and the veggies that thrive during those months – greens of all kinds, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, carrots. Having more than a month’s supply of fresh lettuce and spinach is heaven. I have decided to leave the Swiss Chard in the ground for as long as it can stand the heat. I haven’t found a summer green yet that can be planted in the heat of the summer, so I’ll just see how the Chard does.

Summer in Texas is brutal and this year promises to be drought dry. Even now in the first days of June we have seen the high 90’s almost daily for the past few weeks. I have planted eggplant, okra, jalapenos, tomatoes and basil. In the vertical garden, I have cucumbers, cantaloupe (a volunteer plant from the compost), and watermelon, for the first time. Watering daily is the only chance for survival in this sweltering climate.

For far, the eggplant looks wonderful, some okra to harvest and the first cucumber to be eaten…for lunch.

My Chicken Dream

I finally did what I said I wanted to do for 2 years now. I got chickens. At the end of last year I mentioned to a friend that has chickens that I wanted to build a coop. She flatly said, “Alan and I can help” and the following few days we set posts, stapled chicken wire down, handcrafted a special hutch to close them up at night, built a roost and fabricated a coop door. I was amazed at how quickly the process created the coop. After 3 days of intense hands-on activity, filled with espresso and on the spot design decisions my friends were off to Boston for the new year and I was left with an almost finished coop minus the tin roof that I had just ordered and the hinged door to the coop that I was planning on building alone.

Looking back, I realize that my reluctance on building the coop was not my indecision on whether or not I wanted the responsibility of chickens, but it was based in my belief that “I” could not build one. Clearly I did not build one on my own, but with the help of my ingenious friends, I gained the confidence that I was capable of learning how to build one.

Now I am no stranger to power tools, but it was that one tool that is a must for do-it-yourselfers that scared me off. Not the cordless drill, but the skill saw. In my shop at school, I use band saws, rotary arms saws and table saws, no problem; they are attached to the floor. But, the skill saw really frightened me. There is something about a whirling blade with metal teeth spinning that makes me uneasy. Well, I’m over that now.

I finished the coop myself, attaching the tin roof and creating the hinged door with latch one afternoon. The following day, my daughter and I went to Calahan’s, a local feed store, and picked out 4 teenage girls, or pullets, as they are known. We brought Adele, Lady, Gaga and Buffy to their new home. The breeds are an Ameraucana, Cuckoo Maran, Barred Rock, and a Buff Orphington, respectively. Unfortunately Adele developed a prolapsed ovarian duct during a terrible cold spell in January and died. We replaced her with Pandora and Penelope, an Ameraucana and Araucana.

Since the initial coop building, I added a run so I could introduce the two new birds to the flock. The girls love the space and three out of five are now laying a beautiful variety of beige, tan and brown eggs. The new girls should lay in a month or so, both greenish blue eggs.

Gotta love that life with Chickens.

Vertical Gardening

I have been asked by friends to describe exactly what a vertical garden is and how to make one and grow veggies in it. So here goes. I first learned about this process from Mel Bartholomew's book, Square Foot Gardening. He advocates building raised beds in square foot increments, in narrow long beds as this conserves on weeding among many other benefits. I suggest you find the book. It's been around since the 1980's and is pretty easy to find. The New Square Foot Gardening includes more versions for roof top gardening and gardening in 6 inches of soil.

Generally speaking, Square Foot Gardening consists of dividing a 1' x 1' garden space up and figuring how many plants you can put in that space. For example in a 1' x 1' space, sixteen radishes or nine spinach or one eggplant could fit. He has carefully planned everything out and it really does work! It saves space, water and weeding.

Vertical gardening is an extension of his space saving ideas. Peas and beans are natural climbers and everybody trellises them or stakes them. But how about cucumbers and melons? Anything that grows on a vine can grow vertically. I have had better luck with my cucumbers since they stay off the ground and get more sunshine. I can also see them better and can determine when they are ready to harvest. The ones on the ground tend to hide out longer and get a scaly appearance and some don't get enough sun and are yellowish instead of dark green.

My vertical cukes could win a county fair ribbon, but not the ones on the ground. Everybody asks if it damages the veggies. You can see from my pictures that it doesn't. They seem to be growing perfectly fine. One suggestion, if you are growing melons, find a knee high hose and put the melon in it and tie it up so the melon has some support, but can grow as large as it needs. I did this and it also kept the bugs off of the fruit. If you look really hard in the center of the picture below you can see a cantaloupe hanging in a knee high hose!

I set up my vertical garden with stakes and 2” x 4” fencing wire. I built the garden on a u-shape with the stakes in the center of a 18” wide space. I plant on both sides, alternating the seeds as I plant. During winter and early spring I plant snap peas and in the summer, cukes and melons. It has been tremendous satisfying this summer.

Mel's support frames in his vertical garden is made of electrical conduit. He uses string to trellis his plants but also mentions netting. I have seen snow drift or construction netting which is bright orange used too.

If you have any interest in creating square foot gardens or vertical beds, I highly suggest buying this book. You can easily find it used for under $10 and it is worth every penny. Happy Vertical Gardening!

Summer Vacation

Having just returned from three very different vacations practically back to back, I am feeling rested, invigorated and inspired. Yet, it makes me ask the questions.

Did pioneers need vacations to “get away from the farm?” Could they in fact take vacations? And if they did, who watched the farm?

My first getaway was to the San Francisco Bay area where I feasted on fabulous friendships and panoramic views. As I truly did leave my heart in San Francisco. Flying into the Bay area I am always surprised at the landscape as the plane hurled across the San Joaquin Valley, truly the big valley. The giant lush irrigated valley produces more than 10% of the food consumed in the United States. It seems to go forever and then abruptly ends at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Crossing the Sierras, brown and barren, give way to the massively populated peninsula known as the Bay Area. The development emerges past the mountains and like the valley seems endless.

The second trip involved family and a wedding. I traveled back to my mid western roots to the farmlands of Northern Ohio just south of Cleveland. Out the window of the plane I saw neat and tidy, brown and green patchwork of endless farmland. The corn was knee high and the tomatoes still small and green. I was disappointed that the wedding was in early summer and not late August when the harvest is plentiful. My summers as a youth were spent eating thick slices of beefsteak tomatoes sprinkled with salt, fresh picked corn on the cob and juicy watermelon. Spending days with cousins around Granny's kitchen table crunching potato chips and drinking Pepsi from glass bottles and spending nights in a trailer at the Lorain County Fair while my cousins showed horses and shoveled horse manure.

I returned just a few days ago from the last part of this three-legged adventure from New Mexico, an Enchanted Land of Spirit and Sky. Having spent a week at a yoga camp for women, submerged in practice and meditation, renewing my spirit and inspiring my life, I have returned to my small backyard garden. Relieved that the hurricane rains and some very helpful friends sustained my vegetable garden while I was away. I sit happily munching on cucumbers in the hot Texas heat.

As a part time pioneer, I have the luxury of growing what I can and if I am not successful, driving to the store or farmer's market where someone else has done a better job. My life is not dependent on my harvest and I have the freedom that in a day's time I can travel to another geographic region and find pleasure in those surroundings. Truly the best of both worlds, content and grateful, all at the same time.

Radical Homemaking

After having read Spike Gilespie's blog at http://austinist.com/2010/05/21/i_am_so_popular_removing_sex_from_t.php I purchased the book Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture by Shannon Hayes. This book centers around an emerging wave of feminism that honors domestic skills as a fundamental step to heal and solve many of today's global crisis. As Shannon Hayes boldly states, “radical homemakers are men and women who have chosen to make family, community, social justice and the health of the planet the governing principles of their lives.” Furthermore she raises the question, “How might I advocate for a meaningful and sustainable domestic life without inadvertently condoning the further subjugation of women?”

Pioneers had no struggle or confusion with personal identity connected to domesticity. Men and women shared equally with the variety of chores necessary to create a sustainable existence. There was no other choice. Today industrialization and technology have created so many more choices and so much confussion and struggle.

I have chosen to investigate an alternative lifestyle as a radical homemaker and a part time pioneer as well as being an artist, full time mother and public school teacher. I embrace the philosophy of this book. Having only read the preface and introduction, I am filled with an overwhelming wave of emotion and that emotion is hope.

Squash Bugs

Well, it happened. My beautiful yellow neck and zucchini squash, dead and flattened to the ground, attacked by some unknown pest. Last year I thought it had been roly poly bugs and had spread the compost out early before planting to release the bugs to the top of the soil to either roly poly off or be eaten by birds. I felt somewhat confident that I would not have that pest to contend with since there were no roly polys in sight at planting. But, I have discovered a new garden nemesis, the squash bug, or so I think. I never actually saw this bug. My friend told me that they had destroyed his plants.

I was out of town for 6 days and my squash plants went from this....

....to this in just a few short days.

I think that I am giving up now on planting yellow neck and zucchini since this is the third year that I have grown great foliage only to have the plants destruct before the sight of any vegetable. I did however get three beautiful straight neck yellow squash. The plant itself had grown rigorously from the small seedling that I started in the cold frame. They had survived the month long stretch uncovered in the garden after the cold frame theft. See blog entry, March 27, 2010 for details. I had babied them along in the garden, suspiciously wondering if in fact they would make it. How did the real pioneers manage crop failure? It was a matter of life and death, whether or not your family lived or starved. Me, I'll just buy my veggies at the farmer's market or grocery where someone else has figured out how to keep off squash bugs. But, what was it truly like back them?

On the internet, I did find a few ways to control squash bugs. One being physically picking off the bugs, another being better variety selection as there seems to be certain varieties more or less susceptible to the pest. Planting catnip, tansy, radishes, nasturtiums, marigolds, bee balm and mint may help repel the bug to some degree. As well as by adding to the garden environment natural enemies of the bugs like spiders and ground beetles and other beneficial insects that might curb the population. Me, I have determined my solution to pest control, I just won't plant them next year and use that precious garden space for something a little bit more pest hardy and heat loving like okra or eggplant. I love my summer squash, so I will see you at the local farmer's market instead!

Agarita Farms

Last Saturday I went out to a friend's farm in Fredricksburg, Texas just 90 miles west of Austin in the spectacular Hill Country. I bribed my 14 year old daughter with ten bucks and dinner to join me. We made out way west listening to Blink 182 and reading the latest Seventeen magazine. Two hours later, we meet Tom and Bev Carnes at their home on the 365 acre family farm around 4:00. Tommy is a high school friend of mine from Denton where we graduated a year apart. I found him on Facebook and was curious about his farming life.

The end of May is hot and humid, but there were a few clouds in the sky that kept the sun from constantly beating down on us as we toured the crops, some fading out while others were just getting started. Unlike my backyard garden, Tommy has rows and vast varieties of veggies I only have a few each of. I really liked the mixed lettuce garden that he lets go to seed in the summer so it can reseed itself in the fall when things cool down.

He and Bev have been selling their vegetables at the local Fredricksburg Farmer's Market on Thursdays making about $200 a week. No, the farm does not support them, rather Tom hangs a shingle in Kerrville where he practices law. Bev works on the farm and helps manage Tom's financials and books guests into their two farm-stay cottages at the far end of the property and works part time as a speech pathologist. It's a two person operation, work is slow, but there is always new innovations while they learn through trial and error.

Grazing on diverse meadows and pastures are some 100 plus Jacob and Navajo sheep. They raise them to sell and for their coats. Shearing took place a few weeks ago, and yes I did bring home both a Jacob and Navajo fleece, but that is another entry on another day.

I plan on returning to Agarita Farms to encourage and support these two hard working folks while they create more sustainability for themselves and others. For more information you can reach them at http://www.agaritacreek.com/