Been Busy...

It's been awhile since my last post....sometimes life is like that, you know, taking up ALL your time and everything....The kids had the whole week (23 thru 27) off, something called "midwinter break"--how inconvenient. Having them all home, all day, every day... was draining physically, mentally and emotionally. Anyways, I had a birthday on the 26th . The same day Pakman got me (2) brand new trash cans (not for my birthday, just on my birthday, mind you) which I made short work of thanks to these instructions for a home made compost tumbler, complete with a Youtube video demo. I just couldn't bear the thought of spending hundreds of $$'s for basically a plastic holding bin for organic waste, so this fit the bill nicely. I knew it was time to do something about my previous compost pile situation when a trail of eggshells and old bread suddenly appeared from the torn out corner of the badly weathered cardboard box I had been using since November. Here is the new compost bin collecting rainwater for the past 3 days. I just hope the chipmunks that left that trail o'refuse across the yard don't figure how to gnaw through the fiberglass screens covering the holes. Well, I'm pretty sure it's chipmunks because one of the kids told me they saw one running out of the box with a chunk of something the other day, and plus if it were something like a raccoon or possum or skunk the mess would have been a whole lot bigger and the box would have been more destroyed, that is my scientific opinion.

Since the kids were off school, we invited ourselves to my Dad's and then to my brother's Friday and Saturday. Grampa volunteers at the Michigan Historical Museum so I thought it was a good opportunity to indoctrinate the young'uns with some culture (plus they'd have something of substance to write about the following Monday in the requisite "What I did during my Vacation" essay, besides the usual "slept alot and watched TV"). There was pizza and another cake at my brother's house, after which we all totally embarrased ourselves playing the Wii American Idol Rewind. But the best was yet to come because Saturday they showed us Lansing's premier pet supply emporium where the kids got to touch a real live tortise and I saw an exact replica of my future backyard koi-pond.

But the fun just keeps comin' because March 2 was another important birthday at our house (No NOT Dr. Seuss), but the one I call Junior Gardener turned eleven. And I had to go to 3 different stores to find the DS game she wanted. Whew. But wait--Two more birthdays are coming at the end of March...hope I won't be too sick of cake....I sure didn't plan this right.

More stuff...that single shelf in the laundry room, of which I am immensely proud, is not nearly enough seedling space, so I dragged in the plastic shelf from the garage which was storing mainly empty pop cans and ancient half-empty jugs of (automotive?) mystery liquids, to it's new temporary home in the dining room, and purchased 4 more shoplites. I just got done yesterday sowing another flat of brassicas and herbs, and a few flowers. Main crop tomatoes will be sown next week...can hardly wait!! In case anyone is wondering, this is what damping-off looks like in a flat of celery (notice the bare patches; they were covered with green just days ago)

and this is what an extremely low germination rate looks like in a flat of long red Florence Onions: (there were 60+ seeds in each of those containers!!! bummer.)

Seed Starting Frenzy

YAY! We're officially in Countdown Mode...It is now 12 weeks BLF (Before Last Frost) 'round these parts, so according to several different and sometimes conflicting recommended planting time-lines, it is now time to sow the onions, celery, celeriac, selected brassicas, peppers and eggplants, and possibly early tomatoes indoors. Which is exactly what I did this weekend. Well, actually, the pepper and eggplant seeds were put in ziploc baggies and left to simmer in my fancy high-tech seed-germinating cabinet, shown below. I checked them this morning, and after only 3 days I am ecstatic to report that some of the peppers are showing signs of life! Which means I'm going to have to move them to cells pretty quick, which in turn means a trip to Lowe's in the near future to buy a couple more shoplites and a laser level, because God knows nobody in their right mind would attempt to hang a temporary grow-light shelf without a laser level (at least that is what I have lead Pakman to believe.) In my house, the colder it is outside, the faster seeds in the fancy high-tech seed-germinating cabinet sprout. I believe it is because during frigid weather the furnace kicks on more often and for longer periods of time, which provides the nice constant warmth to the underside of that cabinet where the air vent is located.

In all, I have planted approximately 800 onion seeds into saved freezer-entree containers. There were about 600 Yellow Valencia seeds in a pack for $1.35 from Peters Seed and Research, and about 200 Long Red Florence in a pack for $1.75 from Tradewinds Fruit. Also I planted 3 flats each (actually cut off gallon plastic milk jug bottoms) of Redventure Celery and an unnamed Celeriac variety, also from Peters Seed. I have never planted onions or celery/celeriac from seed, so we'll keep our fingers crossed. Believe it or not, I did not broadcast-sow the onions, I actually sat there and poked 600 holes in the soil and meticulously placed a single seed in each. I hate waste. For the celery/celeriac, I sprinkled a pinch or 2 of the microscopic seed over the soil and pressed them in with the back of a spoon. Keeping the soil moist with a mister and whispering sweet nothings to them at regular intervals is the recommended procedure, which I am so far following without fail.

Some of the peppers, eggplants, lettuce and brassicas are from seed I obtained for seed trials for this guy who I became aware of through the miracle of internet forums. I'll be posting with regular updates on the Seed Trials, as this was part of the deal—in exchange for free seeds and the resulting veggies, I'm supposed to keep records, notes and impressions and pics of what grows, all raw data for his new seed company venture. I'm glad to be a part of this interesting project. Also I plan to save lots and lots of seed. Stay tuned for plenty more on that.

And finally, the first round of tomatoes are: An old early variety, Wayahead Red, obtained for free from wintersown.org's SASE tomato offer, and Stupice, another early variety that sets fruit in colder weather, as well as three “dwarf” or “rugose” tomatoes destined for porch containers named Matchless (red), Coastal Pride (orange) and Bushy Charbarovsky (fuzzy red), with seed obtained from these fine folks. Val and Dan have an amazing garden with many rare and unusual tomato varieties, some developed from their own breeding operation and available nowhere else! Their garden is also featured on page 196 in the 2009 Farmers' Almanac. Besides all that they are also the nicest people you'd ever care to know. I also santitzed the starting mix using hydrogen peroxide per their instructions, so hopefully this will greatly reduce damping-off, a fungal disease that can plague seedlings, especially slow-germinating ones like celery. I'm so excited that the countdown has begun! Bring on spring!

Haiku Friday

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She's just beautiful

She handles just like a dream

A young boy's first love

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A whole new world

Freedom of the open road

Have it home by 10

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No longer a child

Not an adult yet either

Fasten your seat belt

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Wordless Wednesday

Why I Love Thrift Stores

I have been a regular shopper at this chain for about two decades now (gawd that just sounds so wrong). My latest score was under $20. Rear Left: This cute little 2-1/2 qt. ceramic soup tureen has a lid with a little cut-out for your ladle of choice (not included). No maker's mark but it's octagonal design makes it look like the little brother of the Pfaltzgraff 4-qt. one I already have which lives in the back of the cabinet (because it is just too awkwardly massive to haul out for regular family meals). The mixing bowl in the front is not ceramic but some sort of glass, perhaps milk glass, (not pyrex, it appears older, maybe 1950's?) It is nice and heavy, sufficiently deep, has a glossy-smooth finish and rings like a bell when you flick the side. Again no maker's mark. In the above pic I am currently soaking beans in it for tonight's 15 bean soup (which will be served in the cute little soup tureen) and I must say I feel cheated because in the entire 20 oz. package of mixed legumes I found only two, count em, two individual black turtle beans among the zillions of mixed limas, split peas and various colored beans and lentils. Whats up with that? Anyway, next I got a really neat covered ceramic roaster with embossed roosters on the lid that looks just big enough for a good size chicken, made by a company called Sassafras out of a mystery trademarked substance dubbed "Superstone" (not to be confused with "Silverstone" or "Superglue"). Sassafras website does not list this particular model one anymore, maybe they stopped making it?
The inside of the bottom is glazed but the rest is unglazed. I tried scrubbing the drip marks off the top with Comet, but with unglazed ceramics I guess it's just not possible. Oh well, if you're like me, a confirmed non-germophobe who doesn't have qualms cooking with somebody else's cast-off drip-stained roaster lid, I am satisfied to say that at least now I got my very own unglazed stoneware roaster like a proper gourmet. I hear french bread baked in one of these is supposed to be pretty darn good too. No chips or cracks anywhere, each item retailed at $5.95 apiece (plus Michigan 6% sales tax).

Value World is also my favorite place to shop for clothes, expecially for 2-to-10 year-olds, because playclothes are basically disposable in that age range, they grow so darn fast, and trying to keep them "nice" is an exercise in futility anyway. So every 8 to 10 weeks, after saving up about $25 per head, I buy each pre-teen living at my house at the time a whole "new" (to us) casual wardrobe of jeans/sweats/tees. There. Now you know the truth. I'm cheap. And proud of it.

Fun With Cardboard

And a little bit of duct tape, and a few strategically placed staples. Found the raw materials while cleaning the garage the other day. They stopped fighting just long enough for me to snap this picture. Fun fun fun.

60 degrees on February 10. In Michigan. WTF????

Hard to believe that just ten days ago, it was 2 degrees below zero, and I was cutting apart pallets for firewood, and we had just invested in a new portable oil heater, it had been so durn cold for so durn long. Then yesterday it was 45 degrees. Today it's supposed to approach 60. So what did I do as soon as the schoolbus turned the corner with the kids? Pruned the lilacs of course! That took all of 45 minutes.

Then I went around to the side of the house, where the people before us had planted 4 "burning bushes" along the garage. What a waste of a good south-facing 40' long brick wall which gets sun all day. It's almost criminal, planting useless crap like that in such a prime location. There ought to be a law. Those have got to come out. And soon. I have visions of cucumbers and vining tomatos, perhaps a kiwi or three, even reaching as high as that second story window...

I got the shovel and tested the soil around one of them. Not frozen, but pretty much a solid mass of roots, even 3' from the trunk. Digging them out is definitely going to be one b*tch of a job. They're about 5' tall, so I'd like to salvage them and transplant them just inside the rear fence, which would screen the neighbor's patio from direct view of our patio. Until I can enlist my son and/or brother to help yank these out, I suppose I'll busy myself cleaning the garage. Yep, spring fever is coming early this year.

Peppers!

So every time I do my weekly shopping at the small corner meat market/ethnic grocery, I pick up a handful of these tiny green chilis. They might be a Thai type, that's what the grocer has written on the cardboard box. I like them because they are so tiny I don't need to slice them, I just add a couple of them whole near the end of cooking down a spicy curry. I let them fry just enough to release that pungent pepper smell, and if I don't let them fall apart, it gives the dish just enough kick without being unbearably overpowering.
Occasionally there is a ripe red one in with the greens, as last time. So, I cut it open and emptied it of many little seeds. I put those seeds in a baggie with a damp paper towel, and left it in a warm place for about a week. Almost 100% germination. Cool.

And look what happened. Where am I going to put them all? Maybe I'll take a lesson from Ottowa Gardener, and keep them permanently in containers, so I can bring them in every winter, like a tropical house plant. Now I must go shop for some functional and attractive pots.

I did the same thing last November with pepper seeds picked out of a jar of pickling spice. Only got 3 viable plants though, and have no idea what type they are, but aren't they just adorable?

Okay, Okay, yes, that is a flat of garlic (loose cloves recently discovered in the bottom of the fridge), and you can also see the 2 sprigs of mint I rooted that now threaten to take over the dining room. As God is my witness, I shall never pay for condiments again!

New Nursery: Before and After

That's $11 for the shoplite, $14 for 2 "plant spectrum" bulbs, $2 for the little socket-plug converter thingy (so I can plug the shoplite into the ceiling fixture cause the washer and dryer take up the ONLY outlet) and $12 for the 2 flats w/domes and 8 qt. of starter mix. Of course I plan to save and re-use the little 6 packs for the next 20 years to justify the initial expense. I know this setup is not very imaginitive, but hey, it sure beats eggcartons on the windowsill. Now I just need to find the space around the house to put in about 15 more of these shoplite grow-units and I estimate I'll have almost enough space to start the seeds for all the crap I plan to grow this year.