busy spring

It has been a busy busy spring. Global buckets and six new raised beds, a seminar by Mel Bartholomew about square foot gardens, vegetable seedlings from seed, new varieties of tomato from the farmers market. A cold grey spring have left the plants on the small side my peas are only a foot high, and

earth oven

So the spring of year two is finally sorta here. I have doubled the number of raised beds that I had last year from five up to 11, maybe I will get my five hundred pounds of food out of my yard that would be so nice. Purple carrots, white tomatoes, eggplants, blue peas, mushroom flavoured beans and

food security

This picture of the dessert badlands of the southwestern US makes me think about food security. It makes me question what kind of a lifeboat I can build/plan to combat a dessert like this. When I know that global warming and carbon output are messing with climate world wide, not to mention things like soil depletion, water shortages, and seed stock contamination by GMO's......there are days I am surprised the whole world doesn't look like this.
I have been looking into "Growing Green Neighbours" and possibly volunteering with them. The little flyer that I recieved talks about growing food security but I don't know if that is what they are doing. I don't know if this is along the lines of what I think of food security, and permaculture and food forests and CSA, and urban agriculture, or what exactly they are doing.
I will have to see what comes of it there is a dinner in May??? I don't know why a dinner unless it is one of those potlucks that they seem to talk about on the community notices board....That seems awfully late in the season, to be getting together. Okay I guess at least I should have all of my garden in by then and possible at least the pergola completed. That should also give me a chance to also get a couple of the double buckets set up and functioning which might be something they might be interested in if they are geared towards urban ag. I don't know if they will want to see my garden or if I will have to agree to allowing people in my garden....I don't know if I am quite ready for that.
I don't even know if I will join. I don't want to do the board thing at this point, get my hands dirty helping out no problem, sit on a board no way. I really have no idea what these folks are actually doing, the flyer that I have talks about community gardens, learning how to garden, but also about local food, food banks, community kitchens, grow a row, and "working in partnership to build community capacity" whatever that means.
I do know that the more that I feel about it the more I think that it's this harvest that it starts. That I really have to remember there are 5 priorities and everything else is just stuff......
food, water, shelter, heat and security those are the only things that truly matter.
I keep getting the feeling that the sands are running out and that there is a sense of urgency in what I am doing. Water barrels, window farms, global buckets, bake ovens, wood heat, seeds saved, good hand tools, vegetables planted, fruit planted, medicinal herbs planted, culinary herbs planted, pantries stocked, soils built up, and plans sketched out......
I hope this group is more about Gaia permaculture, food forests, and urban agriculture than about communities in bloom, it seems to be. I really hope this is a good group and nothing too political or with too many personalities because I love to garden but I am getting a little lonely doing it all by myself in my backyard. There have to be other people out there that feel the sands running too, and are trying to set up a framework that will help provide the tools for the people within this community and the farmers who live around us to succeed in building a secure network of safe food. A network that will survive peak oil, population pressures and climate change.

spring is in the air

Spring is in the air with birds singing all around me while I build my gardens. I got two raised beds built over the last couple of days with the bean trellises in place and they're filled and I can fit the other beds in and my darling Darrell is going to try and pull that old block apart so it will flatten out. Then I will get the last three beds knocked together and at least lined and the pathways covered with cardboard, and the straw on the paths. It is coming together beautifully and is turning into one of those dream type vegie gardens. My lovely man just digs the heavy stuff for me and smiles just like I listen to him explain sports to me and I smile.
The whole vision is coming together just the way I want it to with the raised beds two more to pick up the wood for and an apple tree to move real quick this spring closer to the house and then all the beds are in. The apple eventually it will shade the bedrooms and the smell of apple blossoms in the spring will make it lovely in the back of the house.
I still want to pull out the sidewalk blocks and use them for either the water barrels at the back or at the front. Then the bakeoven construction begins in earnest pretty quick which means I better finalize all my plans....room for a rack ?two levels a hot and a warm, and a rack strong enough to put stone on to cook on repurpose the ones out of the oven, holes for a spit to go through, as well as the bake oven large enough for at least a couple of pizzas or loaves of bread. Claybakers, pizza peel, wood fire, great clay, carvings of dragons, flames on mica flakes and quartz crystals, this is the next part of the vision. Along with the pergola and the trellis for the grapes, Jay's tree, etc the garden is going to be beautiful.

alpine strawberries

I have planted a whole flat of alpine strawberries and I am planting them in two spots on under the cherry tree by Buddha and the other spot is between the ends of the beds and the hedge.

Hope and Cold Frames

Last year I had not built my lovely beds, or my corn block, I had not met my straw guy, my compost had not started really cooking yet . I had not gotten serious enough about growing food. I had just found the free marble and had just started playing around with that.

marble earth oven

Marble I love marble and granite and because I get it for free I can build anything with it. I hate the thought that the stone itself will just get ground up and made into roadway bases when I know that the mining of the stone itself is horribly environmentally unfriendly. I have had so much fun making the patio out of marble and granite and I love the way that it is coming together there is one corner that I am still tweaking and another little bit that I also need to look at. I hope that my hippie patio makes other people smile cause it works for me. The building of the patio and using the ovals for stepping stones made me look at the beauty of the stone and made me really want to find more places to use stone which made me look at the firepit.
Which then made me think about a spit, and fire and mica and why not put in an earth oven. I
use a solar oven already, and now I am building an earth oven. I got the earth oven book from the library and have really enjoyed it. I have to send it back to the library so I need to make some notes. I love the idea of flames flickering on crystals, I also love the idea of baking pizza in about 2 minutes, and I love the thought of sitting on my hippie patio with my hubby looking at the flames and drinking a glass of wine.

Notes from "build your own earth oven" by Kiko Denzer with Hannah Field.
Soil
Find good building soil
Soil comes in layers, topsoil is a mix of organic matter decomposed plants and inorganic matter -rock sand silt clay. Especially when it's full of worms, compost humus and lots of organic matter topsoil is best for your garden. Below, however is subsoil witch may contain anything from pure sand and rock to pure clay that you could use to make pottery.
What you're looking for is subsoil containing enough clay so that it is hard and strong when dry, stick when wet. Dry, it should feel solid, fairly dense and tough a bit like concrete.

Characteristics of building soil
It is harder to dig, and doesn't crumble easily A shovel leaves a shiney cut mark. When it is dry it won't crumble easily. When wet, it grabs boots and tires and won't let go. Dry or wet, however, it will feel slippery and greasey the flat clay particles slide smoothly instead of rolling and grinding.
Having said all that, it's easy to mistake fine silt for a good clay building soil. Often however even silt can be sticky enough to use. The best thing to do is test some and see how it behaves
Shake test

This is what I accomplished last year well some of it at any rate. I have five of these raised beds all the same size which means when it comes time for chickens the base of the tractor will fit on all of my beds. I do want to make some changes to the wire lattice, but that is it with this design.
I now have a 500.00 budget for this year's garden, I am so excited. I will put in all the rest of the raised beds three more raised wooden beds, and two more corn blocks and one of the raised ovals in the front yard. My major expense was the soil.....200.00 worth of soil, 60 or 70 for sand and stone to fix the path along the garage or maybe soil mixed with my recycled stone and herbs lots of herbs in between the stones. I think I will ask Darrell to take me on a picnic down to some river where I can swipe a whole bunch of natural stone to mix in with my recycled stuff for both the bake oven area, the pond, the path and the raised beds in the front yard. Then the cost of mortar and a few pit bricks... there goes my budget but what a garden I will have.

Charlie loves this spot by Jay's tree, with Buddha and this past fall I planted a swack of tulips and a few ferns in there as well. I have alpine strawberries, violas, to plant in this corner all started in pots some of them outside and some in my mini greenhouse. Charlie the brat loves to climb the trees in this corner and with all his extra toes he just flies all over the branches sort of like he's part squirrel. He cheats too at least when he plays with other cats cause he uses his extra digits as thumbs and holds them down. LOL Benny just loves to sleep under the table under the stars all summer long. They love the catnip plants and I am planting an extra four hanging baskets of catnip for them and one more cage in the herb garden, with the honeysuckle, and valerian I should be able to make the two boys some pretty cool toys. I think the boys think they have pretty good humans.
I still have pemission to cut brush from the county ditches and i was thinking of a woven wood archway for that corner as well if I can this year but definitely next year. The lilac that is up in the front yard the poor thing needs to be moved to that corner with lots and lots of fresh soil and organic matter to settle it in to it's new home. There is already the comfrey with it's vibrant pink flowers along the foundation. I think it would be a lovely grouping right there at the gate and definitely a couple lavenders for luck, the silvers and light purples with the dark purple and white edge of the lilac with that lovely sun beam that comes through the houses and trees there and maybe eventually a clematis or some other vine up the woven trellis....be still my romantic heart.
The rain barrells are right there so I should figure out a way to camoflage them as well. I can put the rain barrels up the sidewalk slabs and railway ties and make it irigate the gardens better. With all the barrels that we now we can really put together a system. I also have split bamboo poles that might make interesting eavestroughing for the garage which would allow me to put a rain barrel by the compost heap as well. Maybe another woven archway with vines to camoflage the gutter so many ideas and now a budget. Life is really really grand isn't it.
I have a glut of garden stuff and I mean a glut there are pots, wall planters, fountains, birdbaths, patio furniture, and tools, lots and lots of tools. There are birdfeeders, whirligigs, and all sorts of stuff most will go in the garage sale but there are some really cool pieces that I need to work into the yard.

Hayboxes, solar ovens, and such

As part of my urban permaculture ideas I have been looking at ways to bring the kitchen closer to the food and reduce using electricity and making heat in the kitchen on summer days. So I decided to go way over the top with the firespit, and cob bake oven all made out of marble and granite scraps. I think the effect of the reflections of micas on firelight is going to be spectacular. I will also make sure that I can get a grate at a proper height as well which would open all sorts of possibilities for an outdoor cooking area.
But it is the solar oven and the hay box cooker that I find most exciting. I tried the solar cooker last year with the lowest tech I could find I wrecked the perfect box in the process and now I need to look at no frills for another couple that will work as well. I have more than enough cardboard to make the reflectors and still have enough for under the new garden beds. I would like to be able to start cooking in one in about May, they cook year round in them in Winnipeg this can be done here.
The haybox cooker is another great way to cook as well. Bring it all to a boil and then put it pot and all into the box tuck down the hay padding and then the lid. Done. Come back in a few hours to cooked food with no risk of burning it or anything. No fuss no muss.

window farming

Window farming, this has is cool. It's a commons project so it had me right there but what a concept for a commons project. Bloody brilliant actually. It will allow me as a person who lives in an suburban area in Canada to harvest fresh herbs and greens in the winter without greatly increasing the demands on the power grid. It will enable some one who lives in a high density urban area to be able to grow a portion of their fresh food year round with or without a balcony.
While the original idea was well concieved there are now plans for deep aquaculture set ups using aquariums as a source of nutirents for the plants that would drip filtered water back into the tank. Indoor plans, outdoor schemes, and just plain brilliant ideas of all types using all sorts of materials. It uses very little space since it is a verticle system in front of a window sometimes with supplemental lighting.
I think I will gather the supplies while I finish the projects so that this fall I can grow salad greens and herbs in the kitchen window. 1.89 for a scrawney cos lettuce from California this year...I think I can get 12 - 15-18 plants in the kitchen window or nine in our bathroom. The system should also improve the interior humidity of the house as well. Drawbacks are come spring seeding and I hope to have that also in hand by the end of the year.
Now to figure out the bottles and find enough to do the project, as well as the dribblers, tubes, pumps, etc and then piece it all together over the winter. Sort of like the solar project I have been procrastinating on I have cardboard and tinfoil and tape and paper to make the patterns, ....kick, kick kick.

Where are we going to camp this year? Do we go hiking in the mountains? Do we go fishing and canoeing on a prairie lake? Buffalo jumps, or towering peaks?
What do we want to do this year??

grape arbors

This is where my grape arbor is going to go. I have planted two vines on this closest corner and want to train them up a trellis attached to a pair of planter boxes and then tie those all into another planter and two corner tables for food service. I love this corner and with Buddha and Jay's tree it will be in an even nicer spot since I am planting more tulips and spring flowers. I will add medicinal flowers, herbs and native edibles, as long as I keep it all very Zen looking I think it will the perfect spot to meditate.
The used 4x4's in the garage, some narrow trellis and scrap 2x4's and 2x6's is all I really need to put it together and long 2x6's to use as overhead cross pieces to form the arbor or pergola.
I have visions of Darrell sitting on the patio working on his laptop, with grape clusters hanging overhead. Probably a bit of optimism considering I live on the prairies but us gardeners are an optimistic bunch or at least an ingenious bunch when it comes to pushing the limits of climate and growing conditions.
In the planters it will probably be mainly tomatoes in five gallon buckets so that I can lift them in and out to protect from frost, the overhead supports could take some hanging planters of flowers and herbs. A perfect place for us to have a glass of lemonade, a barbeque, a morning coffee or whatever our little hearts desire.
After I figure out what I am going to keep and what I am going to get rid of in all that stuff from Mom I have fountains, and planters, and object d'art things and pots and tools and more stuff than you can shake a stick at. Things need to get moved, things need to get sorted, things need to get sold or given away and finished I think I will start with the basement.

winter's wild dreams

I love the hush that falls over the garden at this time of year that allows me to take a deep breath and decide what worked and what didn't, and then the seed catalogues arrive and my mind runs wild. The allure of all the colors and the promise of all those picture perfect gardens and gigantic perfectly shaped vegetables tend to interfere with my good sense. Bucket moments flitter through my mind and visions of impossibilities rattle through my mind of kiwi vines on the gate trellis or hedges of artemisia absinthium around an herb garden of native medicinals, wild flowers, and edibles, marble terraces with grape vines growing up the corner to shade the table and chairs and hummingbirds in the air.
The show Knottinghill is on and that lovely garden in the middle of the city that oasis in the middle of everything the music and the moonlight would be a lovely bucket moment with a fire and a blueberry tea with my husband because yes people do stay married forever.
I love that my husband and I are in that place. That place where I know that this is my home and we will be here forever and that it is right. There are people around us that talk about making millions, selling out and moving off and hitting it rich with some new business idea. My garden is my RRSP it is something I can reach out and touch and it's real, and will provide a positive influence in my life.
Now to reign in my enthusiasm and be a little more realistic when it come to dealing with the seed catalogues.......but really the arctic kiwi would look great right there on an arch at the back gate.....

winter's wild dreams

2010 plan

It's winter. I love the deep breath of winter. I even get to be a bit hibernatey this winter. I am off work for a month, just a month to hibernate and fix my arm.
The guys are all gone and I am planning my garden and dreaming of spring and reading 2 books, square foot gardening and practical gardening and both are spectacular. I have several ideas now for the potatoe barrels but if I end up caging the potatoes I will just cut the two old ones in half and use them as pots all along that front fence line.
The strawberry bed needs to be really looked at it is just not producing but then again I have a major slug infestation and the only thing that will get rid of slugs is runner ducks which could run around the back yard for a few months and then they could go to the butcher and get slaughtered for food over winter. I wonder if I could use the snow fencing that mom sent to coral the little buggers???
Hubby said I had to wait for chickens and I agreed but I really do need ducks and we could eat em, finish them up on a corn diet, let them play all summer long in the garden eating slugs and then bye bye. I will finish all my projects all of them over the summer and I won't get the ducklings until I am almost done the firepit and oven base.....I want the slugs gone and ducks will get rid of slugs and I can cook with the eggs, and they don't crow but they're dirty so not going to be hanging around just one season in the garden. Hedge to fence to raspberry hedge maybe give them the compost heap as well and a couple of kiddy pool type sized spots to swim Lots of straw down and I will do the paths next year not this year.
I went through my seeds and there is not a lot that I need beans, white tomatoes, asparagus peas, strawberry spinach, whitloof, nasturtiums, marigolds, eggplant, globe artichokes and jerusalum artichokes. I also want aparagus roots, and seeds and strawberry roots. and a couple of hazelnut bushes. More food.
I really really have the feeling that this is the eye of the hurricaine or the calm before the storm. I could be just being weird or paranoid or whatever but I think that oil is going to zoom back up to the 150.00 per barrel that it was prior to the financial crisis. I think that this little bit of calm we are enjoying is not going to be long enough to get everything done that needs to be done to prepare for 150.00 a barrel oil. Everything is going to go through the roof and if you haven't tended your garden life is going to be really really hard.
There are places on this planet that have run out of water, they import all their food or they have destroyed their soil, banks and wall streets and economists don't put food on the table plants and animals do.
Corporations have constructed a world where if you can put it in a box and put that box in a container then that is all done in one area of the world. If you can have all your customer service done in another area by a diferent group of people, then that is how it is done. The culture of the bottom line and consumption for consumption's sake etc has taken our attention away from so many more important things.
I to plan my garden and expand my garden keeping in mind that 200.00 barrel of oil is on the way. That Florida is covered in ice, that California has no water, and that Mexico is far far away. Citrus is going to be a luxury a seasonal luxury and I need to start paying attention to everything like that. I need to get back in touch with the women that came before me that pioneered, and planted and mended and sewed and kept hearth and home together.
The web bots are predicting that putting food on the table is going to become more important than putting presents under the tree and that skill is going to be considered as worthy as knowledge.
Time to learn, craft, plan and create. We have the deep breath of winter to put our plans together to figure out how in the next 2 years I can turn it all into a reality. Victory gardens, wartime garden plans, and those kind of places are where I need to start. The whole society zigged with Henry Ford ......we should have zagged. So now I am trying to plan how to zag during this winter hibernation.
Cheers

New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions this year are decade resolutions as well which is kinda nice, so how do I want to change the direction of my life and pretty much the family's lives as well. I have made a lot of them some on line with the ten in ten program, it raised money for charity which was cool and the resolutions are cool. I have made them in my head and heart as well those ones I will break to my hubby next day I have off with him.
So here's my list let's check back in 365 days and see how I did shall we sort of my own little time capsule....
1 Grow more of our food. At least 4 more beds possible 5. That would be finishing the one in the front yard and putting 3 more raised beds in the back with another bench and then there is the one or two for behind the compost those are the ones that may have to wait.
2 More rain barrels at least the five that are not hooked up hooked up and set up and organized so that they will be an efficient irrigation system.
3 The garage needs to be cleaned out, and fixed up including the corner for Jake to blow glass, an area for me to smoke meat, age cheese, press cider, winter chickens, the greenhouse wall and heating will wait.
4 Advocate more, send emails, ask questions, write letters, attend the occasional town meeting, and spread the word on issues.
5 Hugs I am supposed to hug more.
6 Write thank yous, or other forms of saying thank you to the folks that make our lives better.
7 Fix my bike, and I want a bike basket on it.
8 Finish the earth oven, invite lots of people to drink margaritias, and play in the mud have a fire and roast a suckling pig on the spit.
There is more and I think I will post later tonight.
Cheers