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It was a beautiful day.

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

All I can say is… “IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY” ( excuse me for shouting ).

But it was great, aside from the fact that income taxes had to be in the mail today.  I was able to get mine done a few weeks ago so the pain is almost gone.

But hey the weather was really great today mid 60’sF. This is the first day while being outside that passing into the cooling shade of a big old evergreen in the late afternoon felt good.

I was able to get a project started that has been nagging at me for more than a couple years now. I was able to put down a length of ground cover cloth covered with a layer of rocks ( collected while tilling my garden beds) along the woods edge near my garage where the burdock is trying to take over. I will not use weed killer so it thought it had the upper hand. I am, however, fighting back by throwing rocks at it, so to speak.
I was not able to complete the project but got a good start and should be able to finish it in a couple more afternoon sessions. I need to let the ground at the bottom of the rock pile thaw so I can get the rest of the rocks up.

The garlic is doing well. I would say that 85% to 90% of the planted cloves have sprouted and are now between 1″ and 3″ tall. The bulbils that were planted at the same time are taking a little longer although a few are already poking out.

And of course the daffodils are coming up nicely.

Don’ really have anything else exciting to say. Just wanted to let you all know it was a beautiful day here.

Posted in Garden, Projects, Weather | No Comments »

Spring is here according to my garden

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Just a quick note to let you know that spring has officially arrived at my garden this past Friday, April 3rd. Why do I say this? Because this was the day upon which I noted the first tiny red nubbins of my rhubarb plants starting to push their way to the soil surface.

Sure there has already been a little green growth on the walking onions and the parsley from last season has already been showing signs of renewed growth but they don’t count! It’s the emergence of the rhubarb that puts me into the mood for the upcoming garden season and starts my mouth watering at just the thought of the first rhubarb pie. We ran out of rhubarb from the freezer months ago. The four large plants that I now have producing are just not enough, but never fear I have a fifth smaller plant in waiting to be divided into two and planted in the bed that I prepared for them last fall.

The first year that the rhubarb was planted I just watched the three newly planted crowns grow. One was just a single bud but it survived and thrived. This one I split into three pieces the following spring. This past summer the two larger of them produced nicely along with the two original plants. That third little plant is now large enough to split and will provide two more good sized crowns that will begin producing next year. That will give me six good size producing plants. Hopefully there will be a third piece of the plant left when I divide it so I can replant it and have another plant to split again next year. That will then give me a total of eight plants which should be enough to provide us with rhubarb pies the year round for years to come.

So spring is finally here and the garden work begins in ernest.

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Great homestead garden vegetable

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

The Jerusalem Artichoke is a vegetable that many may not be familiar with, however I think it can be of great value on any homestead. I have grown it for years. In years gone by it was usually available in limited quantities in many grocery stores and markets in the fall. I have not seen it anywhere in recent years. So I think the general public is becoming less and less aware that it even exists.

If you are not familiar with it you might wonder what you, as a homesteader, would want with an artichoke plant from Jerusalem. Well the truth be known, it does not have its origins any where in the middle east that I know of nor is it in any way related to the Globe artichoke.

It is however one of the few vegetables that is native to North America

While the plant (Helianthus tuberosus) is a member of the sunflower family it does not produce a crop of edible seeds as do the others. This particular plant produces edible tubers. There are several varieties available including “stampede” which, as far as I can tell, is the most widespread and best known. It is the one with which I am most familiar.
More recently the Jerusalem Artichoke has been called by names like “sunroot”, “sunchoke”, “J-choke” “Topinambur” or just plain “choke” which is how I refer to them.

They are somewhat like potatoes, but with some distinct differences.

First: The plant is a perennial and can be grown in permanent beds. It does best in the northern two thirds of the United States but can be grown in the southern third as well. It prefers the long cold winters.

Second: The tubers store their carbohydrates in the form of “inulin” rather than starch. The inulin is converted into fructose in the digestive tract rather than glucose. This makes it more easily tolerated by diabetics.

Third: It is a tough plant to eradicate once it is planted. Any small bit of a tuber with an eye left after harvest has a good chance of becoming a volunteer in the next season. (In order to keep my own plants in check I do two things. First of all, I plant them in beds with sufficient grassy areas around them so that as they try to spread they are kept mowed and thus contained. Secondly, I never, and I mean never, toss any scraps of any roots into the compost which could find its way into other parts of my garden.)
If you decide to peel them instead of just scrubbing them clean bury the scraps in the choke beds, If you toss them into the compost some will surely sprout somewhere.
Also a few of the flowers may develop seeds, but only when pollinated by a different strain growing nearby.
So if you grow more than one strain just cut off the flower buds. Cutting off those flower buds is also supposed to make the plant put more energy into tuber growth for a larger crop.

Fourth: After years of growing in the same place with a modest amount of compost worked in every other year I have had no pest or disease problem whatever. They are pretty much, except for occasional weeding a little watering if the summer is really dry and harvesting, a no worry no work crop.  As far as planting the initial tubers; there are all kinds of best ways to do it but I have found that if you simply get the tubers 4 inches under the ground at about a foot apart in the early spring, then just get out of the way, they will grow.

As far as eating the chokes I like them best when they are raw and seldom cook them other than using them as a water chestnut substitute in a stir fry. I just scrub them clean with a stiff bristled brush and slice them into a salad or just chomp down on them whole.

I am told they should not be harvested until after the first frost which is supposed to make them sweeter but I start eating them when ever They are big enough to be worth digging. For keeping, they can be left in the ground and dug as needed if you can keep the ground from freezing over the winter with a cover of hay bales or the like. Or dig up until the ground freezes and keep in storage for a few months. Then start digging the rest up when the ground thaws in the spring.

Right now I am eating some that I dug about mid November and they are still in good condition. I store mine in plastic bags to retain moisture and at a temperature just above freezing. Spring dug chokes will not keep nearly as long because they are starting to sprout and grow again.

A pound of seed tubers can cost between $5.00 and $10.00 plus shipping, but just starting with just that one pound you can expand your bed significantly after the first season and never need to buy any again, ever.

You can find out a lot more about these great vegetables by searching the web but now you have the basics.

Posted in Food, Garden | 1 Comment »

2009 Fedco seed order.

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Here is my Fedco seed order for 2009

I placed the order on 12/22/08 ( gotta get it in early because seeds can sell-out )
I received the initial shipment on 01/20/09 ( four of the seeds were on back order )
Received last of back ordered seeds on 02/06/09 ( well ahead of when they will be needed )

Cat Num   Pkt  Qty   Price    Variety
1    208BV    A    1    $1.30    BLACK VALENTINE BEAN*
2    210ST    A    1    $1.30    STRIKE BEAN
3    270GB    A    1    $1.30    GOLDEN BUTTERWAX BEAN*
4    710CL    A    1    $1.30    CORAL PEA
5    760GA    A    1    $1.20    GREEN ARROW PEA*
6    968CS    A    1    $1.60    CREAM OF SASKATCHEWAN WTRMLN*
7    1628BB    A    1    $1.10    BURGESS BUTTERCUP SQUASH*
8    1638BO    A    1    $1.40    BURPEE’S BUTTERBUSH SQUASH*
9    2042SN    A    1    $0.80    SCARLET NANTES CARROT*
10    2058RC    A    1    $0.80    RED CORED CHANTENEY CARROT*
11    2086MK    A    1    $1.30    MOKUM CARROT
12    2092NL    A    1    $1.30    NELSON CARROT
13    2407KO    A    1    $1.60    KING RICHARD LEEK*
14    2408LN    A    1    $2.00    LINCOLN LEEK
15    2411KO    A    1    $1.60    KING SIEG LEEK*
16    2472CP    A    1    $1.40    COPRA ONION
17    2474DO    A    1    $1.40    CLEAR DAWN ONION*
18    2861JO    A    1    $1.10    JERICHO LETTUCE
19    3031FG    A    1    $0.70    FORDHOOK GIANT CHARD*
20    3033AR    A    1    $1.10    ARGENTATA CHARD*
21    3168KR    A    1    $1.00    KRAUSS PARSLEY*
22    3459WO    A    1    $1.40    WHITE RUSSIAN KALE
23    3465BO    A    1    $1.30    BREEDY’S CAMDEN KALE*
24    4517RO    A    1    $1.00    CARIBE CILANTRO*
Since the total cost of the order was over $30.00 shipping was included at no additional charge.
I have ordered some of these in the past but am trying quite a few new ones this year.

Those new ones are marked with an *.
I have a good quantity of seed for the standards that I grow each year from the past couple seasons so I felt I could experiment.  I like to expand my pallet while still having those standards in place in case the new varieties should prove to be less to my liking.

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I have begun planting seeds this week.

Friday, February 6th, 2009

I plant in what I call flats, tubes, and pots.

The flats are 1/2 gallon milk cartons laid on the side with the top side removed which gives me a planting area of about 3 1/2 inches by 7 1/2 inches with a soil depth of about 2 inches. I have made a template from one of the cut off sides which has 36 holes in it. I use this template for planting onion and leek seeds. So I am putting in 36 seeds per flat and will hopefully get the corresponding number of plants to be transplanted to garden beds when ready.
The tubes are approximately 3 1/2 inch lengths of paper towel tubes. Each full lenth tube provides three planting tubes. Nine of these tubes fit into a flat.
The pots are large sour cream containers.

So far yesterday and today I have planted:

02/05
One flat 9 tubes Krauss Parsley.
One flat (36) Clear Dawn onions
One flat (36) Copra onions
One flat (36) King Sieg leeks
One flat (36) Lincoln leeks

02/06
One flat 9 tubes Italian parsley.
One flat 9 tubes Forest Green parsley.
One flat 9 tubes Thyme.
Three pots Rosemary, 3 plants per pot

On about the 25th of January I planted two flats
of Walking onion topsets that I’d kept over the winter.
Each flat contains 14 topsets. I don’t expect all of them to germinate.

I have a few more topsets that I’ll put directly into the garden in the spring.

Sure dose not seem like much now that I write it out but with working the planting in between other activities and having to set up a temporary seeding station I guess it’s a good start.

At least I was able to get my hands dirty.

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Fashion And Luxury Are Dirt Cheap

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

I have unwittingly become someone that is “in fashion”. That seems odd since I never have been before.
I have unwittingly also been suddenly thrust into a life of luxury. I was never expecting that.

However according to an article in the New York Times I have, without my knowledge, been catapulted into a life of luxury and fashion. I didn’t know I was there until they said that growing your own food is and I quote  “The highest form of luxury …”  and also “… has become fashion.”

What do I do? Where do I hide? Should I fear being found out and besieged by paparazzi?

It’s interesting how you can be doing something for years and be considered just another dirty finger nailed gardener trying to provide food for self and family. Certainly on the lowest end of the fashion spectrum ( muddy worn-out jeans and sweaty tattered tee shirts) And then suddenly be thrust into a life of luxury.  Let me see now, will I luxuriate in turning the compost heap today or perhaps with hoe in hand I might enjoy a sweaty stroll down some row of weedy carrots, kale, or onions. The pleasures that await the gardener and farmer are so numerous as to be able to fill days, weeks, even months on end.

But seriously folks it sure is great to know that people want their food grown closer to home weather they do it themselves or pay to have it done.  And they are finally finding out why we have done it for all these years even when it was not the fashion. It is the luxury of the great taste of “home grown” rather than “shipped in from who knows where” produce.

Originally posted: August 3rd, 2008

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EAT SALAD GREENS ALL WINTER, SORT-OF

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

I came across this post in The Deliberate Agrarian Blog concerning a dehydrated salad greens product called Garden Salad Flakes. It is available commercially from Machado Farms. Be sure to read Rick Machado’s comment to the blog post.

Garden Salad Flakes have an amazing score of 2450 ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) units per five gram serving. That’s right, two thousand four hundred and fifty. You can read about what ORAC is here.

I have not delved deeply into it yet but it sounds like something that a lot of can be good for you. Now I don’t grow the same garden greens in the same way that Rick does, nor am I really concerned about obtaining the optimum balance of specific nutrients in exact proportions. I just want to get some of the same sun shinny goodness in the winter that I get in the summer from garden greens. So taking a slipshod shotgun approach that can be taken to some things I just dehydrated a bunch of mixed greens. Maybe I’ll only get 1225 ORAC from my blend but then for what it is costing me I can either use twice as much or just limp along on half a dose. Half a dose being better than none.

Don’t get me wrong I think it’s a great idea. I dehydrate lots of other things, so why not greens.

Why not make some yourself. If your dehydrator is just sitting there idol early in the season crank out some winter time green flakes.

Originally posted: June 30th, 2008

Posted in Food, Garden, Health | No Comments »

The new year begins.

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

I feel good starting the year with my seed order sent in and the brush pile burned.
Those are the garden related tasks I needed to get done.

The following is what I ordered from the FEDCO seed coop 2008 catalog.
Aquantity of one each of their smallest packet size “A”except for the caraway which is a “B”size packet.
Item        Cat #    Total     Cultivar
1     710CL $1.20CORAL PEA
2     748LM     $1.10LITTLE MARVEL PEA
3     1411BZ    $0.80BLACK ZUCCHINI
4     1460TR $1.20 TROMBONCINO ZUCCHINI
5     2086MK$1.20 MOKUM CARROT
6     2092NL$1.20 NELSON CARROT
7     2094SS $1.20 SUGARSNAX CARROT
8     2407KO $1.60 KING RICHARD LEEK
9     2449NO$1.50 NEW YORK EARLY ONION
10     3034PS $0.80GATOR PERPETUAL SPINACH
11     3040RR$0.60 RUBY RED RHUBARB CHARD
12     3047RI $1.10 ITALIKO ROSSO
13     3102VC$0.80 MACHE VERTE de CAMBRAI
14     3158GI$0.60 GIGANTE D’ITALIA PARSLEY
15     3166FG $0.60 FOREST GREEN  PARSLEY
16     3228MZ$1.00 EARLY MIZUNA
17     3306TG $1.20 TENDER GREEN BROC
18     3455RC $0.60 RED RUSSIAN KALE
19     3485QT $0.90 QUARANTINA RAAB
20     4414SB $1.00 SWEET BASIL
21     4422MB $1.00 MAMMOTH BASIL
22     4507CW $2.00 CARAWAY
23     4520DF $0.90 DELFINO CILANTRO
24     4536FL $1.30 FERNLEAF DILL
25     4556ZF $0.90 ZEFA FINO FENNEL
26     4577GC $0.90 GARLIC CHIVES
27     4592LV $1.00 LOVAGE
28     4657RM $1.00 ROSEMARY
29     4669SB $0.90 SALAD BURNET

The total cost came to $30.10 ( there is no shipping cost for seed orders of $30.00 or more.)

I still have a significant supply of seeds from the orders I placed over the previous two years.  All but the onions and leeks should be good for at least another year. Onions and leeks are supposed to be viable for only one year.
I planted a few of of each of these from last year’s seeds today to see if they will sprout. If they do I’ll have a few fresh greens for the winter months. I also started garlic bulbils just to see if they will sprout. If so, more greens.

The coming weekend days are supposed to be at or above freezing during the day so I can get out in the garage (unheated) and get some project materials (wood) cut to size so that when the colder weather returns I can work on them indoors. The projects include a new towel hanging bar for the bath, a set of shelves for my basement work room, a set of foldable legs to use with a piece of Formica desktop, wood pieces needed to finish installing the insulating panels onto the exterior walls of my basement workroom.

I also need to plan out where to plant what in the garden in order to get some type of rational schedule of crop rotation going. I feel like a less than competent gardener while just standing there in the spring seed in hand trying to remember what was in a particular spot last season and what should now be planted.

I cannot, to this day, comprehend how people can be bored or have nothing to do. I am always way behind on projects that I want to do and I know I will never catch up because there is always something new coming along. Isn’t it great!

Originally posted: January 3rd, 2008

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December 2007

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Saturday December 1’st. .. decorations going up .. snow coming down.

Boy I can’t believe it’s December already! We are putting up our Christmas decorations as our first real snowfall of the season is coming down. They are forecasting up to a foot of snow overnight and then a couple more inches over the next few days. ‘Tis the season to blow snow or shovel or plow. But I guess that depends on the amount of snow that falls, the area you need to clear, and what equipment you have available. If it’s just an inch or two, especially if it’s that light fluffy kind, I’m inclined to just shovel the drive and the little sidewalk at the back door. If it’s much more than that out comes the snow blower. It’s a small one for this area just 5.5hp but it will clear off a foot of heavy snow with no problem. And I still get plenty of exercise walking up and down the drive behind it. I think tomorrow will be a snow blowing day.

Up here in the upper peninsula of Michigan we are supposed to get a lot of snow but the past three winters, especially the last one that set a record for lack of snow, have not been up to par.
I just hope we get a good amount of snow this year and not enough to make up for that which has been lacking for those past few years.

OK. Now it’s the 2′nd of December and now “today” which used to be yesterday’s “tomorrow” and will soon be tomorrow’s “yesterday” and the snow is on the ground. There is a total of 9 to 10 inches including an inch or so which was already on the ground. The winter season is off to a great start! Spent an hour and a half this morning blowing the driveway clean and making a path to the electric meter for the meter reader along with cleaning up around the edges with a shovel. It was pretty warm about 25F and I dressed as though it was zero so by the time I was done I was sweating like I’d been working in the garden on a sunny summer day. Well almost as much anyway.

OK. Now it’s the 5′th of December. Hey! What happened to the 3′rd and 4′th ? Just missed them I guess. Can’t even remember or want to try to remember what happened. Today, however was a shopping day. Bought groceries and a few supplies for projects around the house, Hopefully almost all will be inside for the next few days because daytime highs will be in the teens. With a few more inches of snow expected tomorrow night. If I had it my way we wouldn’t go shopping again until after Christmas but I think the wife will want to go again sooner. Also went to the dump with a trunk load of recyclables. Paper, jars, cans, plastic, and cardboard, boy it accumulates fast and we don’t buy nearly as much as must people. I have a hard time imagining the amount that the typical family of 4.6 people would accumulate in a couple of months. That is, assuming they didn’t just throw it all into the trash.

Wow the 15′th of December already. I got my first seed catalog from FEDCO SEEDS a few days ago and the one from Baker Seeds just yesterday. My order for FEDCO is almost ready. I hope to get it out in Monday’s mail.

I don’t know if I’ll be ordering anything from any other source for this spring. I Hope to order some trees from St. Lawrence Nurseries Possibly apples plums or pears or a combination. Need to consider the fact that they must survive in at least zone 4 and if possible zone 3 just to be on the safe side.

Since we are expecting our first grandchild at the end of February and they live a long ways away we will probably be gone for possibly two months ( March And April). This is going to put a bit of a cramp in my seed starting next year. If I set everything up ahead of time and just plop the seeds in to get them started on or about the first of May I can get most things started at a reasonable time for setting out in early June.

The only problems are leeks and onions. We enjoyed them so much this year I was planning to start a lot more but those have to be started in late February or early March at the latest.

The rest of the month has flown by and tomorrow will usher in a whole new year.

With a lot of inside and outside projects to be done and the holidays to get through I have neglected the blog.
I put up another set of shelves in the basement as well as a set in the bedroom closet. I’ve continued working on the basement to make it usable in the winter months and improve the insulation even more. When we moved in here one of our early natural gas bills was about $180.00 for one early winter month that was not that cold. Currently the bills are running at about $100.00 a month in much colder weather. It’s amazing what adding adequate insulation and plugging all the cracks and other places that cold air can get in will accomplish.
I’m sure I am approaching a point of diminishing return on the energy efficiency improvements but those additional improvements make much more space more comfortably useful.

I thought I would have my FEDCO seed order out two weeks ago but as it is I just managed to get it out on this the last day of the year.

I had my second annual brush burning fire just last week. Another thing that was behind schedule but finally got done before the end of the year. I wanted to do it like last year when there was just a little snow cover on the ground and it was still rather warm.

Well this year it was in the 20F range and I had to dig a lot of the brush out from under about eight inches of crusty snow. It was an all day job, but now its done. I’m sure I’ll find some scraps of brush left when the snow melts but just a little.

I have finally gone over my entire acre and picked up all the loose brush broken branches and trash that had accumulated during the years prior to my purchasing it.

There is still quite a bit of standing brush, as well as a large patch of brambles and trees needing trimming that I will be attending to.
I am thinking that a couple more years of these annual brush burning sessions will get things caught up to where they should be.

I also finished tearing down some type of bird run and house that was in total disrepair and being over grown by some large pine trees that I am sure were far from it when it was constructed. I managed to salvage a good amount of the chicken wire screening and some of the treated lumber posts but the structure will have to be broken apart and hauled to the dump in the spring.

It is amazing the amount of time and energy needed to undo the things that others before us have done and just left behind in an unusable condition.

I have made a new year’s resolution to do more with the blog in the way of record keeping of my activities and projects plans and do it on a timely basis. I hope I do it.

Originally posted: December 31st, 2007

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What happened in October? What happened to October?

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

It was the last day of September. I wanted to get my garlic planted this weekend but other things got in the way. The beds are already prepared and I just have to mark off the planting grid and stick in the cloves and bulbils but there is no need to rush I have a couple weeks left to get them in and I want it to be a pleasant rewarding experience done with care rather than a sloppy rushed job. The garlic would probably grow the same either way but a big part of gardening for me is the personal satisfaction and the look of the plants as they grow with uniform precision spacing.

I spent the last few days getting things ready for winter. I had a number of projects, painting, patching, window repairs, etc. that need to be finished and need to get them completed before the temperatures drop and the snow flies.

On the sixth of October I planted my garlic cloves, just over 200 of them. It rained hard last night again and some more this morning so I was working on a couple indoor projects when it finally cleared up about mid day

The varieties are:

Martin’s Heirloom,
85 of the larger cloves and 49 of the smaller ones for a total of 134
I planted 24 cloves of this last year and now have in excess of 150. I planted all of the larger and some of the smaller ones as listed above. The remaining ones will be eaten. Not much of an eating crop this year but next year should see me with 134 bulbs, and even if I keep 50 of the largest bulbs to replant that will leave me 84 for eating. That’s about 1.5 bulbs per week for the year. Not quite enough yet but getting there.
Those 50 bulbs I don’t eat should then give me about 250 cloves for replanting. WOW!

I purchased a few cloves of each of the following varieties just to see how they grow here and what they taste like.

Chesnok Red, 20 cloves
Planted all cloves of the two bulbs I got.

Red Toch, 26 cloves
Planted all cloves of the two bulbs I got.

Italian Late, 18 cloves
Planted all cloves of the three bulbs I got.

Georgian Crystal, 12 cloves
Planted all cloves of the two bulbs I got.

Spanish Roja, 14 cloves
Planted all cloves of the two bulbs I got.

Rosewood, 6 cloves
Planted all cloves of the two bulbs I bought. These cloves were huge and had only three per bulb.
If these are good and grow well for me they sure will cut down on garlic clove peeling time.

That Takes care of the cloves now I need to plant the bulbils that I have.
I am estimating that the bulbils that I grew on the Martin’s Heirloom along with those I purchased of the Old Homestead and Moano Special varieties will total between 400 and 500. Won’t really know till I finish planting them.
I am hoping to do that tomorrow. A nice Sunday afternoon project.

I also planted five shallot cloves, grocery store variety. They are supposed to be a perennial and grow similarly to multiplier onions.

On the seventh of October I planted my garlic bulbils, just over 500 of them. It rained just a bit last night so I was able to get out into the garden much earlier than yesterday.

The garlic bulbil varieties are:

Martin’s Heirloom, 376 planted to harvest as rounds next year. These will be replanted next fall and harvested to following season as bulbs. I also planted 85 of them very densely in a small bed to be used next spring as green garlic ( like scallions with a garlic flavor ).

I also purchased some bulbils:

Moano Special, 63 bulbils planted
I ordered a packet of 50 and planted the best ones in the garlic bed. (there are still a few left in the packet)

Old Homestead, 110 bulbills planted
I ordered a packet of 200 and planted the largest ones in the garlic bed.

I still have some of Martin’s Heirloom , Old Homestead and Moano Special bulbils not yet planted which I will hopefully find space for in the coming week. Since my officially designated bed space for garlic is full I’ll fit them in here and there also to be used as early spring green garlic.

Next project is to divide my clumps of chives and bunching onions. Perhaps this week.

Have not gotten to those onions and chives yet. I’m still cutting greens from them.

More seasonal projects reared their ugly heads and needed to be tended to.  Mainly gathering the numerous brush piles that were created throughout the spring and summer into one place for the second annual brush burn. I hate burning brush but it seems to be accumulating at a rate that would soon overtake everything if I didn’t. I do it once a year after the first significant snowfall so it needs to be gathered now. You wouldn’t think there would be this much from only an acre of land but the previous owners let things get very overgrown. I’ll keep clearing out a little each year until I get ahead of it. Also this year I am building a nice insulated box to go over our little window air conditioner. Last year I just wrapped a bag filled with insulation around it ( not the best solution but it worked for one winter).  I also replumbed the kitchen drain line. I have also repaired the interior basement window frames and have replaced the bagged insulation previously used on the inside with nice neat easily removable styrofoam panels.
I did manage to squeeze in some fall garden cleanup, removing spent plants and weeds etc.

Sometime this month we found apples for $0.20 a pond and picked up about 90 pounds of red delicious, yellow delicious and Johnna Gold so I have cut cored and sliced numerous batches for the dehydrator.

On October 18′th I planted more garlic bulbils.

Martin’s Heirloom, 48 bulbils planted
I still have a few more left

Old Homestead, 48 bulbills planted
I still have a few more left.

Still have not separated and replanted the bunching onions and chives. Still getting fresh greens.

On October 27′th I planted more garlic bulbils.

Old Homestead, 75 bulbills planted densely in a small bed for spring garlic greens.
And I still have a few more left.

Got to work on the wood pile a little. This is different than the brush pile. When we moved here I tore down a small deck and stairs leading to the front door ( have not replaced them yet, never use the front door anyway and in case of fire can just jump out if necessary. I’ll get to it some day.) It was mostly rotted. Well the wood got piled up out back with the other wood I’ve been gathering from the previous owner’s junk pile in the back. I have already taken two trailer loads of junk to the dump from this junk pile, one last summer and one this summer. I am hoping one more load next spring will see an end to that eyesore. Anyway, I’m sorting out the pile and cutting up all the burnable wood. There were a lot of old branches and smaller tree trunks on the old junk pile which I can toss it on this year’s brush pile fire.

Here it is the end of the month October 31’st. Today I worked out in the garage/shop cutting lumber for yet another set of shelves to be assembled in the basement when the weather turns bad. I swept up almost a 5 gallon bucket full of sawdust from this and some previous projects for spreading on the compost pile.

I made a valiant effort to organize the garage/shop which is full to overflowing with a very nice assortment of usable junk, being stored for future projects. I didn’t make much of a dent but as long as I can get the car in I don’t feel like I neally need to get rid of any of it.

As an example, I picked up a little cabinet with six shelves, perfect for CD/DVD storage. You know the kind with the little peg holes all the way along the inside of the sides. Well for fifty cents I got the cabinet and the shelves but no little pegs to hold the shelves up. Well at the big box store I could buy 4 pegs for $0.98, enough to put up one shelf. That would be about $6.25 including tax to put up the six shelves. I certainly would not pay $7.25 total for this set of shelves, so there it sat with the shelves all laying at the bottom. So, while organizing today I came across a 28 inch metal rod, more like a really thick piece of wire. I sanded off the rust and low-and-behold it fit. Tomorrow I’ll cut off 24 one inch lengths and the shelves will be usable and still just costing me fifty cents and a little elbow grease. So that rusty piece of potentially useful junk just saved me $6.25. I never imagined it would be worth that much when I tossed it into my scrap metal bucket.

The more things that you reuse, repair and recycle the more valuable your stash of junk becomes.

The month is finished and so is this post.

Originally posted: October 31st, 2007

Posted in Food, Garden, Home repair, Projects | No Comments »

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