A Year and Some Change

And they tell him, "Take your time. It won't be long now.
'Til your drag your feet to slow the circles down."

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round

❧  Joni Mitchell

It has been over a year since my last post and oh my! there have been some changes.  I've moved, obtained a small flock of hens, married and last but not least, I will have a kiddo this spring!  Nothing like taking a head-first plunge into adulthood and all those other things that I secretly thought I would not have to even think about for years to come.  These new changes are simultaneously exciting and frightening.  A husband and a new, tiny human on the way; not to mention fresh eggs (nearly) every day... how crazy is that?    For now I still feel like a kid playing house, but I'm sure I will grow into my new surroundings.

Smother Mother: Learning to Let a Garden do It's Thing

I am confident that, in the end, common sense and justice will prevail. I'm an optimist, brought up on the belief that if you wait to the end of the story, you get to see the good people live happily ever after. - Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens)

This is my first season as a real gardener.  Not the back-porch-bulk-peanut-butter-container gardener, but an actual yard-garden gardener.   What have I learned thus far?

  

1.  You can't re-use nasty soil from the cactus you managed to kill in order to sprout your seedlings.  There is such a think as damping off and it kills your plants.  Why risk it?

2.  Pumpkins grow wherever they darn well please

3.  There is a reason that certain plants should be planted out in April and others should be planted out in June.  In short, read the back of your seed packets.  

4.  Being a "smother mother" doesn't always yield the best results.  Ignoring your plants isn't a great idea either.

5.  Talking to your plants really works.  They like the attention. 

6.  Weeding is important and if you are out there talking to your plants anyway, you may as well make them more comfortable.

7. Watering is important too.  Generally your plants will tell you when they need water.  If the ground is dry it's a good hint.  Also if your plants are droopy and rather thirsty looking they probably want to be watered.  It's a good idea to schedule a water check into your day.  Unless it's raining, in which case you probably can forgo the watering and watch a movie instead.  

8.  Stay on top of harvesting.  Cucumbers and beans will go crazy if you don't snatch them as soon as they are ready to be eaten.  I've heard tomatoes are similar, though in my experience, I haven't had that problem yet.

9.  Learn the art of freezing, pickling or sharing.  Chances are, you will have too much food so why not save some for later or give some to a garden-less friend?

10.  Have fun! That's what gardening is all about, Charlie Brown.

The Secret Garden: A Tribute

Mary Lennox tends her garden in the 1993 film

 Science, or para-science, tells us that geraniums bloom better if they are spoken to.  But a kind word every now and then is really quite enough.  Too much attention, like too much feeding, and weeding and hoeing, inhibits and embarrasses them.  ~Victoria Glendinning

Unlock the Secret Garden with this Skeleton Key from Gwen Delicious

I am in love with the story The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  It has all the mystery and excitement of a fairy tale and yet, unlike many stories for children, it is also plausible.  Sure, not every little girl is raised in India, orphaned, and sent to live with her eccentric uncle who keeps his sick son locked in a room, but it could happen.  It's a lot more likely than a fish-girl getting legs from a twisted, nautical-witch and losing the man she loves to some lady and turning into foam; not that I've ever really thought A Little Mermaid was a children's story, it's a bit morbid... in fact, most fairy tales are.

If you can't have an entire garden, carry a mini one by Warm Country Meadows.

 
How many fairy tales are actually about children anyway? Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and The Beast, Aladin, Thumbelina... try going through the Disney repertoire and find some... there aren't many. Even the stories that have children in them, like Little Red Riding Hood, and Hansel and Gretel, tend to have talking animals and candy houses. Among those precious few that manage to stay away from fantasy, the depiction of children tends to be optimistic in a far too enlightened (rather than naive) way for their tender age (A Little Princess, Heidi).  The beauty of Mary Lennox, on the other hand, is that she begins as a lonely, spoiled little girl and over the course of the book she learns to care for something (and someone) other than herself and ultimately finds the meaning of family and friendship.  She does something that every child eventually should, she grows.  

Mary and Dickon

And speaking of growing, another wonderful element to the story is that one of the main characters is the garden itself.  This is where all the magic happens and I've found that in reality this isn't far from the truth; a garden is indeed a marvelous place.  Think about it, a pile of dirt is sprinkled with seemingly dead, dried-up seeds.  Add water, sunshine and patience and you've got yourself some sprouts.  Add a little weeding, water, sun and more patience and soon you have flowers and fruit and grass and trees and shrubs.  And then, the animals come.  Birds and rabbits and deer and butterflies, it's really an incredible setting for any story.  

Edwardian Style never looked so good.  By Enid and Edgar

I could gush forever about the majesty of this book, but rather than blather on like the kids' book-nerd that I am, I will just say this:
If you haven't read the book, it's about time to read it.
If you haven't seen the 1993 film (pictured above) do yourself a favor and see it.  It remains one of my favorite movies of all time and the cinematography is exquisite. 

How Does Your Garden Grow?

"The time has come," the gardener said, "to talk of many things, of beets, carrots and lettuces and sweet peas strung on strings.  And why the ground is dark-brown gold and flow'rs are blossoming..."

As you might guess from my Alice in Wonderland rip-off, I am quite excited for the garden!  My little seedlings are (for the most part) growing nicely and as of yet they have not been ravaged by bugs or other critters.  The soil has been fortified with horse manure and raked into three lovely rows, the trellises are up and now it's time to weed and wait.  The amazing amount of work that goes into a garden is a wonderful trade-off for the treasures I will be enjoying later this summer and I suppose I would rather spend a bit of time raking, tilling, and weeding than paying with cash; the end result is so much tastier than any produce at the grocery store and it's just a quick trip out the back door.

The best part?  I know exactly how my food was grown and who has handled it.  I've started these little guys from seed and having that kind of connection with one's food is not only rewarding but something that I consider to be an important experience.  Every new sprout is thrilling and every failed tomato plant is frustrating!  But oh, how I love to watch things grow and garden full of food is not only fun to harvest, but also, it's fun to share - I'm hoping that I'll have to host a pick-your-own-veggies party at the end of the summer.

I like to watch things grow.   

They grow and bloom and fade and die and change into something else.   

Ah life...  

   -Maude, from the film Harold and Maude

I Guess I'll Go Eat Worms...

Okay, I will not be eating actual worms.  I will be eating the delicious food, that grows from the soil, that comes from the worms, that ate my garbage!  I know, compost is not something that usually gets one all riled up, but for me it is pretty darn fascinating.  Every time I'm out in the yard and I see the robins digging for wiggly little worms I get excited thinking about my garden and the nutrient rich soil they will soon have the pleasure of growing in.

After watching the birds make a meal of these creepy-crawlers, I get out my bucket, flip my already massive compost pile and snatch up a few of those slimy little fellows for myself, setting them to work eating my food scraps.  You see, I'm trying my hand at catch-and-release-vermi-composting or, in layman's terms, I'm catching a bunch of worms, putting them in a bucket and waiting for miracles.

I have two books, Garden Anywhere and The Complete Compost Gardening Guide, that sing the praises of using worms to quickly break down compostable materials (coffee grounds, banana peels, etc).  Both books use slightly different approaches so after scanning the pages of each and using some tools around the house I have created a lovely little bucket of worms!

To make your own worm bucket you will need:

A five gallon (or larger) container with a lid
A Shovel-full of Garden Soil or Finished Compost
Enough Newspaper Ripped into strips to fill your bucket half-full
Rubber Gloves (strongly encouraged, I did NOT use gloves which was a mistake)
Drill
corn meal
water
worms
veggie scraps

• Drill some holes along the sides of your bucket so that your worms have room to breathe.
• Rip your newspaper into strips no longer than 3 inches long and wide.  Moisten the newspaper pieces and add them to your bucket until it is half full.
• Add your soil and a sprinkling of corn meal and toss everything together.  Don't bury the newspaper in soil but use enough to coat the newspaper so that it feels gritty and looks a bit muddy.
• Place the earthworms that you've caught from your yard into the bin.  Take veggie and fruit scraps, cut them into small pieces, and bury them under the bedding for your worms.  The food for your worms must be buried for easy worm access.  Check on your worms' progress every few days by stirring through the bedding and mixing things up (rubber gloves are strongly recommended for this task).  Also, make sure that the bin is kept moist but not soggy so that your critters can stay properly hydrated.  A sprinkle from a watering can does the trick, as does a spray bottle.  When your bucket is teaming with worms, release some of them into your outdoor compost pile or start a second bucket!  
• For more info check out: Treehugger.com, Vermicompost.net, and HowStuffWorks.com

So far my worms are eating fairly slowly, but I've only caught about 50-75.  These books suggest 200+ worms for a 12 gallon bucket.  The more worms, the more quickly your food scraps turn into magnificent soil for the garden.  

Change of Pace

I have moved to lovely Upstate New York and things are beginning to settle into place.  Do I have an actual room to call my own? Not yet.  Is there a grocery store in town?  Not exactly... but there will be soonish.  Oh, how I've missed the little pleasures of the north country.

I've been here since the end of March and since moving I have made eight dozen newspaper pots for seedlings, planted tons of seeds in the aforementioned pots, eaten three delicious cheese rolls, pruned two lilac bushes, pruned many, many raspberry canes, picked up a truckload of cherry flooring, mudded and spackled and mudded and spackled and sanded and mudded the third floor of the B&B, baked some tasty bran muffins, baked some tasty orange poppy-seed scones, baked some tasty banana walnut muffins knit a seed-stitch scarf that took a long time but that I am exceptionally pleased with and ironed and cleaned and dusted and vacuumed more than I ever thought I could in the span of two weeks.  It has been heaven.

Despite the fact that I no longer have easy access to the wondrous goodies from the co-op and the great company of the folks in B-town, the work and lifestyle here has been excellent - I love setting my own hours - even if I am working for  twelve hours a day instead of eight.  

The biggest drawback from this new way of life is that it is incredibly easy to get sucked into the work that needs to be done around the house and my small business has taken a backseat for the time being.  If only there were a few more hours in each day.

Dreaming of Spring

It's that time of year.  The time of year where it snows and melts and snows and melts and snows and once again I'm just itching to start my dear little seedlings so that I can have a bountiful crop of delicious treats, but I don't want to jump the gun.

 

Last year my tomatoes were a bit crowded and they ended up rather leggy with minimal fruit. But this year will be my year! I just know it. Armed with some lovely gardening resources (The Backyard Homestead, Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers, Garden Anywhere, The Complete Compost Gardening Guide, The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook )  I am ready to take on some serious planting and whip my basil and carrots and tomatoes into shape! No more cramming 5 plants into one pot (I will have a yard this year)!

Working at Cate Farm was one of the best jobs ever!

 

I think that my number one problem when it comes to gardening is deciding which tasty morsels to plant. With so many seeds to choose from a lady can be quite overwhelmed! I've drooled over the High Mowing Organic Seeds website for awhile now and today I just finished buying what I think will be the last of my seeds.


The list includes - but is not necessarily going to be limited to:

Brandywine Tomatoes - Heirloom
National Pickling Cucumbers
Kentucky Wonder Pole Peans - Heirloom
King Richard Leeks
Old Spice Mix Sweet Peas
Autumn Beauty Mix Sunflowers
Green Zebra Specialty Tomatoes
Sweet Marjoram
Evergreen Hardy Onions
Red Cored Chantenay Carrots
Genovese Basil
Lolla Rossa Lettuce
New England Pie Pumpkins
Bouquet Dill
Early Wonder Tall Top Beets
Lacinato 'Dinosaur' Kale - Heirloom
Hotshot Spicy Mix Mustard Greens

Am I overzealous? Definitely.  Am I over my head? Probably.  Am I going to plant all these lovely treats and then some?  Absolutely.  Besides, who gets a lovely full delicious garden if they don't plant all kinds of seeds?  This is no time to be conservative...  I will go all out this year and that is that!

Is it Memorial day yet?