Is it obsession or wisdom?

I was awakened shortly after 3am this morning by a nightmare.  In my hellish dream, I had gone out to the orchard only to discover that some particularly insistent deer had taken the top two feet off of most of our apple trees.  They had bulled their way over and through the deer netting and removed the most tender branches in a particularly brutal manner leaving green shreds behind as evidence of the ripping and tearing they'd done to the trees.  Despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to drift back to sleep until shortly after 5am.

My dream hung with me through the morning, through Pastor Robert's again-excellent sermon, and all the way home.

So it was that I found myself just a little bit ago copiously applying deer spray to the ground around everything out in the orchard.  So what if it's only 23 degrees outside?  Those flea-ridden deer won't eat my goodies! 

(This is where you imagine a crazy-eyed Greg shaking his fist at the invisible deer out in the woods behind the property as if they were kids riding bikes on his grass.)

Just for good measure, I also resurrected the riding mower and mulched the last batch of leaves that came down in the fall.  Because that's a common-sense sort of thing to do in the dead of winter, after all.

This homesteading thing is lunacy.  Craziness.  And I'm doing snow-angels in the stuff.  At least my babies (the orchard) are safe from those brutes!

Good grief.

Indoor citrus: Take 2

Yesterday afternoon, in an attempt to alleviate the winter doldrums, we made a trip to Homestead Gardens to wander around their facility and wallow in some green.  Wifey had been on a mission to try to find some more household plants (succulents, etc) but she didn't find anything that she was all that excited about.  We did, however, come across some citrus for sale.

Last year, Wifey and the kids got me more citrus plants to add to the surviving lemon from a few years ago.  Unfortunately, they died.  For quite a while I thought we'd done something wrong (over-watering, not enough sunlight, nutrient starvation, etc).  Based on my new theory that our water softener is killing our plants, we figured it's time to give indoor plants another try.  This time, we will use less of the household water.

Hopefully, we have more success this time around.

Making use of melting snow

I went outside this afternoon to do something (can't for the life of me remember what it was, though) and noticed that despite the really cold temperatures outside, we had some melting snow trickling down the roof drains.

Once again, it made me want to set up some rainwater retention barrels.  My current plan is to build a structure about 3' above the ground and set up two separate rainwater collection barrels tied into our downspout by the garage.  That will collect rainwater and snowmelt and allow for gravity-fed watering to the front and at least part of the side garden.

Last year, I bought a few plastic barrels off somebody through craigslist with the idea of putting them to use for rainwater collection.  I got so busy with other projects that I never got around to doing the work, though.

This spring, it shall be done!

E.coli scare from Canadian Romaine lettuce. Solution: Grow Your Own

It would appear that somebody did something bad up north.

It's hard for the average citizen to know exactly where the problem originated (company, trucking company, etc), both the United States Center for Disease Control and Canadian Government have released statements about the recent outbreak of E.coli bacteria found on Romaine lettuce.

Quoting the Canadian article directly:

How does lettuce become contaminated with E. coli?

E. coli are bacteria that live naturally in the intestines of cattle, poultry and other animals. A common source of E. coli illness is raw fruits and vegetables that have come in contact with feces from infected animals. Leafy greens, such as lettuce, can become contaminated in the field by soil, contaminated water, animals or improperly composted manure. Lettuce can also be contaminated by bacteria during and after harvest from handling, storing and transporting the produce. Contamination in lettuce is also possible at the grocery store, in the refrigerator, or from counters and cutting boards through cross-contamination with harmful bacteria from raw meat, poultry or seafood. Most E. coli strains are harmless to humans, but some varieties cause illness.

There's a great way to avoid this sickness, though.  Grow your own.


Growing Lettuce

Depending on the variety of lettuce you want, it can be between 45 and 80 days before you harvest.  Looseleaf lettuce can be harvested at a number of points along its development which is why that's the variety I prefer.  Romaine is more in the 75+ day range.

How to Grow Lettuce

1. In a 1 gallon pot, put two layers of pebbles in the bottom.  This helps to prevent your potting mix from leaking out the bottom.
2. Add in enough potting mix (organic) to fill the pot 1"-1.5" from the top.
3. Carefully set your seeds in a circle 1" from the outer rim with about 2" from each other.  Try to put two seeds in each location.    Once the circle has been completed, put another pair of seeds in the middle of the pot.
4. Gently dust a tiny bit of potting mix over top of the seeds.  You only want to barely cover them with no more than 1/4" of mix  to help keep the seeds moist when you water.
5. Gently water the mix. 
6. You may consider covering the pot with plastic wrap.  This helps to create a greenhouse effect within the pot.  Remove the plastic wrap later on if it appears there isn't enough moisture inside, add more water, then put wrap back on top.  Once the seeds have sprouted and are 1/2" tall, remove the plastic wrap for the final time.  You want to do this to prevent mold from starting.
7. As soon as your seeds and mix are uncovered, water once a week if the air is relatively humid or more frequently if the air is dry.  
8. Once your seed sprouts are taller (1/2" - 1"), thin out any duplicate seeds that may have sprouted in each pair you planted.  You only want a single plant in each planting location. 
9. Depending on the variety of lettuce you planted, that will determine when you harvest it.
10. Congrats!  You now have grown your own lettuce that is free of E.coli and is fresher than any you could obtain from any grocery store, market or farm stand.

Seed order has arrived from Southern Exposure!

I'm happy to report that the seed order -- minus some seasonal items like onions which are lagging -- from Southern Exposure has arrived.

I have some Spring planting stuff (kale, especially) that I may need to get started sooner rather than later.  I don't plan on starting the Summer stuff for another few weeks.

The farm market might stay open after all?

Because The Bear was up sick last night, so were Wifey and I.  While we had a break in the action, she was checking Facebook and saw a post on the local market's page that made us curious and cautiously optimistic.

The community's response and out pouring of love at the Gathering, in person and online has moved us more than words can express. We are working out some of the details and think we can give the [north county market] another shot if we make some changes and have your support. If you really believe in us, we are willing to put our trust in you. We promise more information soon!

Interestingly enough, despite that post being up only 16 hours there are 431 "likes" for it.

Finally using some of our sweet potatoes

Last night Wifey decided to give some of our sweet potatoes a shot.  She had been wondering how things would work out because the skin looked a bit puckered.

Initially, she read somewhere that sweet potatoes needed to cure in a cool space.  More recently, we've read that it's a good idea to leave them for a few weeks in a warm, humid environment then store later in a climate similar to a root cellar.

Conversely, we've had our sweet potatoes in a tower stack in our garage where temperatures have been down as low as 10 F over the last few weeks.

The jury is still somewhat out (could they have picked up more flavor and sweetness in a warmer climate?), but they tasted pretty good and were reasonably sweet. 

We had been concerned that by harvesting them late, curing in a cool garage, then storing in a cold garage that they'd be leathery, starchy, and inedible.  They are definitely edible!


The recipe:

Skin 1-2 sweet potatoes.  Cut up the sweet potatoes into typical french fry size.

Lightly toss with some light olive oil.

Put them on a baking sheet and gently sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake at 425 degrees (no fan) until the fries start getting lightly browned.  Don't let them char or they get inedible!