1 Million Pound Harvest

This growing season I am going to track what we grow (weight wise) and add our meager amount to the Freedom Harvest challenge. Think we can grow 200 pounds of food? Eh. Me either. But it's worth a try! I think last season our harvest was about a pound...
Here's to hoping this season will be better! To learn more about this challenge, and to participate, read about it here.

So far we have baby lettuce sprouts, morning glory (not edible, of course), some cauliflower...and I think that's about it.
Come on Spring!!

Eat Local

The Boy and I are going to sign up for the Los Poblanos Organics CSA. We know that eating with the season's is important, as is supporting local farmers (and business people!). Hey, and they even deliver! How much more simple can it get? According to their web-site, this weeks box (all for only $28.00) contains 4 apples, cherry tomatoes, celery, garlic, bok choi, cilantro, wild carrots, avocados, red pears, baby spinach, and 3 kiwis. Other than the kiwis, it all looks really good! Add in a bag of beans from the Farmers Market and a bag of rice...endless meals! Ok, not endless, but tasty meals if nothing else!
They also offer a work share program! Work 2 1/2 hours a week and you get 50% off the cost. Good to know in case money gets very tight.

Winter Sowing

This year we are going to try our hand at winter seed sowing (more info here). It makes perfect sense to let Mother Nature do Her thing and have the seeds get to growing when She tells them too. The practice is also fun because you get to recycle containers, and boy do I love recycling! We've got two flats set out now (we ran out of seeds), but hope to have more set out soon so that they can go through the fun freezing and thawing stuff!

Chinese Lantern (Physalis alkekengi) (we are Winter Sowing these bad boys)
Seeds from Johnny's

Homegrown Evolution has a nice post about HomeGrown.org today, and I thought I would join the r/evolution! I even started my own group to discuss gardening here in the crazy SW. Please join us! Let us embrace the urban gardening r/evolution!

Visit HOMEGROWN.ORG

Weekend Update

Another relaxing weekend has come and gone.
We did more garden planning and research...two raspberries to go in the front courtyard area. The blueberry bush to go in the front yard. The blackberry to go behind one of the sheds. This coming weekend we are going to get a shovel (the last one died a very dead death), a wheel barrel, and some more steer manure to make the beds ready for their new berry friends.
We rearranged the living room (again), I think we have finally got the set up down. We desperately need more bookshelves! One day one of us may be crushed in a book avalanche!
Charlie got her teeth stuck on her collar during an attempt to link the thing off. The Boy gallantly saved her; he has the scabs to prove it. Her next collar is going to be leather (with a little skull and cross bones on it) since she trashes everything else!

AUTUMN BLISS RASPBERRY

Some of my favorite posts from this weekend in no particular order:
- I want a hypertufa grot! Like I need a new project ;) Thanks Little House in the Suburbs!
- Whole grain crackers would go great with creamy pinto soup!
- With a little help from my friends. Working dogs and a Beatles nod? You can't go wrong!
- Make your own apple cider vinegar, how cool is that? It seems to be a lot like making kombucha.

Slide Show

Off topic, but I'm proud of myself...check out the new slide show on the right side of the blog! These are pictures from our wee urbanhomestead! Yeah!

Thinking Not Doing

1. Plan a garden:
I did more work on the tentative plan (Had to make room for the luffa, after all)
I put all the chicken compost that The Boy got via freecylce

2. Take a formal herbwifery calss:
Nope. I did do a lot of reading though.

3. Choose a major:
Eh. Not yet. The Boy and I did do a lot of talking about it last night though. So that is a start I guess...

4. Learn to tie-dye:
Gr. No. All the stuff is still sitting in the box by the backdoor though.

5. Organize soap lab:
I did a bit of work in there. Only to make room for the new and fun things I bought. I must stop buying things! On a positive note I did craft a wonderful hair mask :)

6-8.
Nope.

9. Exercise:
No :( The work I did in the yard has made my arms sore though. So that should count a little.

10. Getting into craft shows:
No. Maybe I'll look into that today.

Note to self: Have fewer irons in the fire.

Luffa

This morning I was reading the newest post over at Women Not Dabbling in Normal in which they are responding to a question regarding growing luffas. Wow. I've never even thought about the possibility of growing my own luffas! Following links and doing some Internet searching I came up with a couple more links. Here. And here.
It would appear that the zone we live in is just barely passable for growing luffa. I'm thinking about buying seeds from Local Harvest. Now we need to find a place for it to grow. They need a strong trellis to grow their up to 20' tendrils on. Eek. I'm thinking maybe it could grow over the sheds in the back yard? I don't know how easy it would be to harvest them though. We need more wall to grow all the fun plants on! I'm wary of growing something that may become invasive near our neighbors, as a courtisy thing. I guess they could have their own luffas too though.
I think having home grown luffas for sale along with our handmade soap would be wonderful!

Luffa fruit and flowers from Outdoors-Magazine.com

A ripe/cleaned luffa and some seeds from Rasta Seed.

Luffas are also good at cleaning dishes and other surfaces. One less thing that we would have to buy!

Virginia Creeper

We have a very evasive plant growing in the back yard (where the evil junipers once lived), and it seems to be taking over the entire property! I put a call out to forum members at a forum I belong to and they have identified the plant as Virgina Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). Here is some interesting information I have found, since it seems I am stuck with this fellow.

Herbal:
Botanical.com claims it's stimulating, diaphoretic and cathartic.
In India the leaves are used as an aperient, and a resinous matter that in warm climates exudes from the bark of the main stems is considered a useful stimulant, antispasmodic and emmenagogue.
The juice is said to cure headache, when applied to the nostrils.
The fresh leaves of Ivy, boiled in vinegar and applied warm to the sides of those who are troubled with the spleen, or stitch in the sides, will give much ease.

A very interesting article by Henriette and yet another article she wrote.

Landscaping:
This bad boy takes over and can climb just about anything.
"Virginia creeper is grown as an ornamental plant, because of its deep red to burgundy fall foliage. It is frequently seen covering telephone poles or trees. The creeper may kill vegetation it covers by shading its support and thus limiting the supporting plants' ability to photosynthesize." Quoted from wikipedia.
Evidently it turns bright red during the autumn. That should be beautiful. Here is a photo I found on the internet to give as an example.

I wonder if ours will turn such a beautiful color? I'm hoping to train (as much as one can "train" a plant) to grow along the East wall to cover up the cinder blocks. Hopefully the neighbors don't mind.

Trench Composting

This year we have put all of our soil amending efforts into one of the two veggie beds the house came with. We've airated (we needed to use a pic axe because the soil was so compacted), we've added steer manure and organic mushroom compost. The Boy is on his way to pick up several garbage bags of chicken compost so we can finalize the first veggie bed for the winter.

For the second veggie bed we are going to try trench composting. We've chosen this method because we don't need that second veggie bed for next year (baby steps and all), and we still have a lot of kitchen scraps that the worms can't possibly eat it all.

Photo: Those are our two veggie beds this summer while we were trying to figure out what to do. In the forefront is the bed we have concentrated our work on (ignore the weeds, they are no longer there) to the right is the second bed in which we will be trying trench composting. In the far right top corner (barely visible) is our main compost heap, that should be ready for use this summer.

Quoted from Florida's Online Composting Center-
"Trench Composting is a relatively straight-forward method of composting directly in the soil. This method does not require a bin. Simply dig a trench 8 inches deep in the garden area, fill with 4" of kitchen scraps and backfill with soil.

After a few months, the material will have decomposed sufficiently for planting above the compost trench. For large amounts of material, consider roto-tilling the material into the soil, and waiting a season before planting.

The advantages of trench composting include ease of implementation and its ability to handle kitchen scraps without attracting pests as readily as in sheet composting.

The disadvantages of trench composting include slow rate of decomposition and potential for pests to excavate trenches. Additionally, if the raw materials contain weed seed or plant pathogens, these undesirables will not be destroyed in the trench composting process.

A variant of trench composting was taught to the pilgrims by the Native Americans. You may have heard the story of how Squanto showed the pilgrims how to fertilize their corn crops by burying fish scraps underneath the corn. As the fish composted, nutrients were released for the crop"

More info:
Instructable- not a lot of info, but there is some
Horticulture Blog
Mother Earth News- article on general composting, touches on the trench method

A picture of trench composting from Garden Organic

Now we (I mean The Boy) has to dig a trench so we can get started!

Purslane

The other day I was taking a gander at one of the local papers here and noticed this article on purslane (Portulaca olearacea). I had seen this "weed" in the backyard growing all over the pathway I put in earlier this summer. I put on my internet searching skills and came up with a lot of very interesting information!

• Purslane contains more Omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid in particular) than any other leafy vegetable plant.
• It also contains vitamins (mainly vitamin A, vitamin C, and some vitamin B and carotenoids), as well as dietary minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron.
• In Greek popular medicine, purslane is used as a remedy for constipation and inflammation of the urinary system.

So we decided to try some on the taco's we made last night instead of lettuce. Oh my! That is one tasty plant! It is very crisp (and stays so even on top of hot beans, unlike lettuces) and has a mild, yet distinct flavor. I can't wait to add this "weed" to other meals! It's hard to beat having a free, healthy plant taking over your yard.

Word of caution:
Please carefully and positively identify any plant before you eat it! There is a sneaky purslane look a like that is toxic. Spurge. As far as I have read an easy way to identify the difference between your friend purslane and the bad spurge is that spurge will release a milky substance from it's stems when broken and purslane doesn't. So milky substance (when identifing purslane) = bad

Related articles:
A Guide to Wild Edible Plants for Parents and Teachers to Use With Children
About.com:Edible Landscaping
Purslane Article
The Joy of Purslane by Susan Weed
New York Times Article

Thinking Not Doing: Week 4

Goals:
1. Plan a garden.
-The Boy planted the bamboo (pictures to come)
-While he was amending the soil for the bamboo I found a cache of more morning glories. I have no idea where they have come from but they have the most beautiful purple flowers.

2. Take a "formal" herbwifery class.
-I brought several Sage Woman and The Essential Herbal magazines that Cory gave me. Both have amazing information and inspiration.

3. Choose a major, and act on that choice.
-The Boy and I have been talking about opening an all vegetarian restaurant. I think that would be a wonderful project, but not one we are ready for at this time.

4. Learn to tie dye.
-I'm really slacking on this goal. All the materials are in a box next to the back door, I just keep putting it off for some reason.

5. Organize the soap lab, and make space for an herbal lab.
-I went on a "cleaning out the cupboards" over the weekend on a couple products I am making for swaps. That helped a bit.

6. Replace our current refrigerator.
-Nope

7. Learn to can and preserve food.
-I made and canned mustard yesterday. I think I must have done something wrong though because it is as thin as water. I took a lot of photos so hopefully I will have them up some time this week.

8. Get 24/7 off the ground.
-Voted on logo colors.

9. Exercise four days a week.
-I'm so embarrassed about this goal. We did yoga for about five minutes on day. I spent some time weeding. That's about it though.

10. Be a vendor for two more shows.
-I still haven't heard from the woman I emailed last week. I think it's safe to assume I didn't get in. I wish she would email me so I would know for sure.

More Progress

I love when things start clicking into place
The Boy, as I type, is off to pick up our new rain barrel! The prospect of harvesting our own rain to feed our plant friends is so exciting!
We also ordered the bamboo (Semiarundinaria yashadake) for our privacy screen. It will be so nice not to have little kids yelling at us and watching our every move when we are outside.
And I am working on a master-ish to-do list for fun things we need to do around the house. Go lists!

Sick

Wow, it's been since Monday since I lasted posted. Eek.
I've been rather under the weather lately. Stuffy nose, horrid cough, body aches. Bad news. I've missed a lot of work because of it. Also bad news.
Yesterday we hit up our local health food store to get some tinctures (as we have yet to make our own).
I got Kick Start Immune, ingredients are Echinacea root & flower, Goldenseal root, Osha root, Baptisia root, Yarrow flower, Elder flower, Yerba Santa leaf extracted in 55% grain alcohol, veg. glycerine & Rocky Mtn. spring water. It tastes absolutely horrid, but seems to have worked miracles. Yesterday I could barely talk, today I am back at work.
I also got some nettle. I've read such great things about it's restorative properties. I can't tell for sure, but it does seem to help. The Boy tried some yesterday and he said it gave him a wonderful feeling of euphoria, however, now that he's sick, he gets to double up on the tinctures.


So everyone, keep your immune boosting tinctures near at hand. I do believe the sick season is near.

Self Sufficiency

I was over reading at Path to Freedom this morning and happened across their self-sufficiency graph. What a clever way to set goals, and see the progress. I decided to make my own and fill it using theirs as a guide line. Very revealing! We're 50% and above (if not 100%) on most things....except agriculture. We pretty much flopped that category. Hopefully, with all the garden plans for next season we will be able to change that. I plan on making a new graph for each season (I'm a graph and list geek) to track our "progress". Self-sufficiency is very high on our list of goals!

Doing Not Thinking: Week 1

1. Plan a garden.
We actually did a lot of work this weekend! We took out a couple dead trees and weeded. We also measured the yard and I made a too-scale drawing. We're also working on getting a list together of things we want to grow next season.

2. Take a "formal" herbwifery class.
Nada.

3. Choose a major, and act on that choice.
Nada.

4. Learn to tie dye.
Nada.

5. Organize the soap lab, and make space for an herbal lab.
I did get some wonderful glass jars to store some of my herbs in. I did a little straightening...I have so many boxes!

6. Replace our current refrigerator.
We replaced the dishwasher. A new fridge is still out of the budget.

7. Learn to can and preserve food.
Wes did a little research on flash freezing herbs. Seems do-able.

8. Get 24/7 off the ground.
Nada.

9. Exercise four days a week.
We weeded on Sunday. I say that counts :)

10. Be a vendor for two more shows.
Nada.

Periwinkle

Common Periwinkle (Vinca minor) is taking over my driveway! It was beautiful a couple weeks ago with all the pretty purple flowers. The flowers have mostly faded and now it's mostly bright green leaves. On my never ending information search I decided to learn about my new plant ally: Mrs. Periwinkle.

Quoted from Mountain Rose Herbs:

"...The garden periwinkle is the source of a chemical that can be turned into vinpocetine, a natural treatment for aging minds. Originating in Madagascar but now growing wild in warm climates around the world, periwinkle has enjoyed a variety of medicinal applications.
In Europe, periwinkle teas were used as a folk remedy for diabetes. In Hawaii, the plant was boiled to make a poultice used as a bandage to stop bleeding. In China, periwinkles became cough medicine, and in India, they were juiced to make a remedy to stop the pain of wasp stings. Throughout the Caribbean, periwinkles were used to treat infections„and as a protection against voodoo magic.
...The periwinkle contains vincamine, precursor chemical vinpocetine, in its leaves and seeds.
...More often used as tincture, can be encapsulated or served as tea.
...There is some clinical evidence that the periwinkle chemical vinpocetine can increase blood flow to the brain, increasing oxygenation, and also protect brain cells from damage by a chemical called phosphodiesterase. In one study, a majority of 203 clinical study volunteers with dementia experienced measurable improvement after treatment.
Vinpocetine is also commended for memory enhancement in health people, and tried as a means of reducing brain injury after strokes.
Precautions: Periwinkle is the source of vinpocetine; it is not pure vinpocetine. If you use the whole herb you are relying on a rounded blend of healing chemicals found in the minimally processed plant.
Periwinkle does not cause any known interactions with blood thinning medications (such as aspirin, Coumarin, Plavix, Ticlid, or Trental), although vinpocetine extracted from it does. Vinpocetine can cause either increased or decreased bleeding depending on the medication; this is why whole periwinkle is preferred."

Brain Tea sounds good :)

And from Botanical.com:
"...Culpepper says that it: 'stays bleeding at the mouth and nose, if it be chewed . . . and may be used with advantage in hysteric and other fits.... It is good in nervous disorders, the young tops made into a conserve is good for the night-mare. The small periwinkle possesses all the virtues of the other kind and may very properly supply its place.
...A homoeopathic tincture is prepared from the fresh leaves of Vinca minor and: 'is given medicinally for the milk-crust of infants as well as for internal haemorrhages, the dose being from 2 to 10 drops, three or four times in the day, with a spoonful of water.'

Baby Rosemary

For remembrance.

We have a tiny little rosemary growing on one side of the yard. I planted him about six months ago. He’s so cute! He seems lonely so I recently sprinkled some sweet pea seeds near him so he could have some lady friends.

Here's a brilliant (as always) article from botanical.com about our dear rosemary friend.

Stay tuned for updates about my culinary adventures with rosemary. I can almost smell the rosemary and roasted potatoes!

Desert Willow

Apparently we have a desert willow in our back yard. It has the most beautiful purple fragrant flowers!

.

I found it in this clever book "Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest" that I have been immersed in for the last couple of days. This book has really helped me identify some of the plants growing in my yards. Wonderful color photos!

From reading I have learned a preparation of it's roots and leaves can alleviate diarrhea. Desert Willow leaves and flowers can also be brewed into a tea to treat colds, sore throats and fevers as well as aches and pains. In various formulations, the plant has healing properties for skin irritations and cuts. For instance, boiled bark can be used as a skin ointment.

Desert Bloom Herbs also has a great page regarding the use of Desert Willow.

I think I will try and make a salve from the infused bark for cuts and boo-boos that may come up.