Trying New Things

Sadly, I have to admit I’ve barely been to my vegetable garden in a month!  With all the Holiday “stuff” I’ve shifted it off my “to do” list almost daily.  Well, no more.  Recently, I made it a priority!

I planted lots of fall and winter vegetables, so I was excited to see what, if anything, might be available for harvesting. Boy was I thrilled!  I pulled amazing radishes for our Christmas Eve dinner.  I’ve never had radishes any way but raw, so this year I decided to try something new…roasting them.  After washing the radishes and cutting off the green tops, I cut them into chunks.  The chunks got tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and then were put in a baking dish and cooked in a 350-degree oven for about 40 minutes.  Thinking I might need to disguise the morsels for my family to try them, I mixed them in with roasted zucchini chunks.  My kids were not excited to try this new dish…but after one bite they asked when they could have roasted radishes again and could I please not bother with the zucchini! Success!  

Currently out of the country enjoying a much-anticipated family vacation, I know when we return to Atlanta I will have lots of greens to harvest including arugula and other types of lettuces, collards, kale and Swiss chard.  I even have snow peas and beets coming in!

Soon it will be time to start dreaming of planting the spring garden…I’ll start my seeds indoors under grow lights in late January or early February, so next week I’ll start ordering from the seed catalogs.  I’m thinking of trying some melons and unique beans in 2010.  I’m feeling the need to be a little bold with my recent radish success.

chicken envy

When I got my dad his (Polish) chicken recently (when he helped me build my chicken pen), he named her “Anna” after his Polish grandmother who emigrated to the Chicago area around 1900.  Little did I know that we were setting ourselves up for “Chicken Envy”…You see, my mom, Barbara, aka Nana, looks a lot like “Anna”.  Seriously.  My mom has silver and black “spikey” hair.  Since recently “meeting” Anna, my mom has decided that (a.) Daddy should rename “his” chicken after her, or (b.)  I need to get mom her own Polish chicken that she can name “Nana”.  Hmmmm…..Quite a dilemma, huh?

The four chickens remaining, after the return of the three roosters, are getting along great.  And they have become quite “social” with me!  When I come out to check their water and feed in the evening I’ve taken to “rewarding” them for their attention with a fresh worm from my worm bin.  I wonder if Pavlov knew chickens could be conditioned like dogs…

Each evening, even if it is dark and the girls are in their coop, when they hear me or see me coming (I carry a flashlight if it is dusk or dark), they exit the coop one-by-one down the ramp and scurry over to me at the fence, anticipating their bedtime “treat”.  It is quite comical!  My vegetarian daughter even partakes in the ritual and finds it delightful to watch the girls all vie for a worm.

The girls have been enjoying their “treat” so much, that I ordered mealworms and am now doling them out liberally, much to their delight!  I hope my daughter doesn't find the box of them I have hidden in the back of the refrigerator...

Melancholy Chickens

It’s silly, I know, but I’m sad.  Yesterday I returned three of my seven chickens to the person I bought them from because they are roosters.  (I can’t have roosters in the city limits.)  He promises me he found a good home for them where they won’t end up as dinner.  I hope so.

I went out to the coop this morning to check on the remaining four…and they seemed kind of…lost.  I guess we all (chickens and human) are feeling a little melancholy today missing our fellas.  My successes, to date, on the chicken-keeping front, include the fact that I haven’t inadvertently killed any of the chickens!  I consider this a big success!  I also take credit for asking questions and listening to the answers I received.  This is not something I do on a regular basis…I like to “forge ahead” and “figure it out”.  Actually asking and listening helped me to figure out how to get the chickens to go into the coop on their own each night, helped me to get the grain ratio of organic, custom feed I am giving them right and determine which of the chickens were actually roosters.    I also feel good about the rhythm I’ve gotten into with them as far as feeding/watering/cleaning the coop is concerned.  Now, I am just awaiting the arrival of the “First Egg”.  The chickens are about 16 weeks old, which means they will begin laying sometime in the next few weeks.  The first egg usually is laid when the chickens are between 15 and 19 weeks.  I can’t wait!  Really…I CAN’T!

I’m thinking of putting a roof over part of my chicken yard as the rains we have had have turned most of the pen into nothing but mud.  The chickens don't seem to care, but I do.  I laid wheat straw down on the ground this morning to stabilize it, absorb some of the water, and add mental stimulation for the chickens.  I would feel horrible if they were melancholy AND bored.   Late last week I added two perches for them to use…and I was thrilled to see them all sitting on them this morning.

Now I have to think about getting a few more hens…

Someone Crowed!

Despite a few bumps along my path, I think the chicken keeping has been going pretty well this past month.  The chicks have been eating both the commercial feed and the seed/grain mixture I am providing, they are growing into very pretty young adult chickens and finally, last night, they figured out how to go into the coop all by themselves.  (Thanks to someone telling me to put a light bulb on a timer in the coop…like clockwork, they marched themselves in there as the sun began to set.) 

The bumps are turning out to be a bit significant…however.

Yesterday morning I discovered one of the chicks is being pecked and was bloodied.  So, I had to remove that chick and put it in the brooder where it is warm and I can nurse it’s wound.  The poor thing is beside itself being isolated from the others.  But, at the feed store, where I went to purchase a topical treatment, they told me the other chickens will keep picking where there is blood until they literally pull it apart…Ew.

Also, yesterday, as I was dealing with the injured chicken, someone crowed!  Yep…stretched out his neck and let a big old “Cockadoodle doo” out!  I live in the city limits and by law cannot keep roosters.  And, now that I’m looking at these chickens a little more closely, I’m thinking I may have 3 or 4 roosters out of the seven chickens.  Now I have to make sure and then find them new homes outside the city limits. 

And then there’s the issue of them standing out in this driving rain getting soaked.  Why won’t they go into the coop where it is warm, dry and there is both food and water?  I guess I’ll go help them out and remind them that warm and dry is better than cold and wet.

Things I Have Learned About Myself

The week I spent building my chicken pen and brooder with my dad was amazing…lots of physically demanding work , problem solving and above all, conversations. Daddy talked to me about all kinds of things…

I am a Vermi-composter…I use worms to eat my kitchen scraps and turn them into great additives for my garden. Daddy saw my two multi-tiered bins back by my shed and asked about them. He looked at me kinda funny and told me that when he was a kid they used to take coffee grounds and other scraps from the kitchen and put them in this mound out back of their house…hmmmmmm….Vermi-composting is in my blood! Who knew?

He also shared with me for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, that his family had chickens when he was growing up for fresh eggs and meat. This is NOT something I expected…Daddy grew up “in town”, the son of a Psychiatrist! So, maybe I was meantf to have chickens?

Yesterday was my mom’s birthday and she was in town briefly, so I had lunch with she and my dad. Mom told me she thinks I am a lot like my Dad’s father…always eager to learn, always wanting to immerse myself in new things, and I definitely got the animal gene from his side of the family.

Isn’t it fascinating how the things we are passionate about sometimes are things we are destined to be passionate about?

The Chicken Pen is Finally Finished!

I’m so tired.  And my dad is worn out, too.  We pushed ourselves hard today, and daddy definitely overdid it.  We completed the last panel and installed it at nightfall.   It was dark! 

First thing this morning, I got up and checked on the chicks in my laundry room.  My olfactory senses were offended….Wow, chicken poop stinks!  (You were right, Lauren!) Daddy and I completed the brooder in my shed first thing, installing the radiant heater, insulating the windows, putting down newspaper and pine shavings, filling the waterer and the feeder.  We transferred the girls to the brooder and waited for them to settle in.  By nightfall they had ventured all over their new space and were eating, drinking, and pooping, happily! And, thankfully, my laundry room no longer smells of chicken excretions.

I have so treasured this week with my dad.  Together, we have actually planned and built a pen for my chickens and it is really nice to look at.  We problem solved, screwed up and figured it out, made adjustments, drilled, nailed and hammered every 2 x 2 together so that no predator can get to the girls.  And, I know it was hard for him, physically demanding, at the least, but he persevered.  He did it and he feels good about it, too.  And, I’m just thrilled. 

He’s had it though.  He’s ready to go home and have a quiet weekend without physical labor and a sun up to sun down schedule.  I get it….But, I will miss him.  I’ve really had fun and I’ve loved doing something special with my dad, just the two of us.  He’s a great guy….interesting, smart, goal oriented, and talented.  How lucky am I?  I said that Daddy can build anything…and he did.

The Chickens Have Arrived!

Staple gun failure, a broken drill bit, three trips to Home Depot, chicken coop arrives and weighs 240 pounds, 1 hour plus drive to get “the ladies”…nothing went as planned today, but it all worked out in the end. 

Where to begin…Daddy and I got started early this morning, in the 40 plus degree temperatures, building our panels and getting the brooder ready.  Unfortunately, we realized early on that we were missing some very needed hardware, so off to Home Depot we went. Upon returning home and working to assemble the panels with wire, we realized the drill bits were broken, so off to Home Depot we went for a second time.  Finally, getting started building the panels, we pulled up the wire and grabbed the staple gun only to come to the conclusion that it had died….off to Home Depot we ventured one more time! 

Finally, we seemed to have everything we needed and everything was working!  We completed the brooder and began work on the panels for the pen.  It was lunchtime, so we finished the panel we were working on and took a break to have some lunch.  Of course, as I’m putting the turkey and cheese sandwiches on the griddle the transport company arrives with the coop.  Oh my goodness….what exactly is 3’x4’x5’????  I’ll tell you this….it is way bigger than I thought it would be.  And, it weighed over 200 pounds!  The delivery man (that’s right ONE delivery man), couldn’t get it where I needed and wanted it, so I called in my son’s friend, 6’5” Pelham, and asked him to bring an equally capable and large friend!  And he came…because he knows I love him and he loves me, too!

So Pelham, his friend, Michael, and Pelham’s girlfriend, Simone, helped us hoist this massive chicken coop up and over a 5 foot granite wall and 4 steps , then haul it (and I mean these guys were struggling with the weight of this massive coop) all the way to the back of the property where my pen is set up.  They carefully dropped it onto the ground and panted, paced, and tried to catch their breaths!  What fabulous guys!  I am in awe that they are doing this for me!  My daughter, Jessica, had made cookies and brownies the night before, so I encouraged the three of them to go get a Vitamin Water from the fridge and grab some cookies and brownies while my dad and I attached the legs to the coop, which was not as easy as I told him it would be.  Finally, the coop was assembled and we all took a corner and moved it, basically, where it will be when we complete the panels for the pen. 

 

Then we jumped in the car and made the hour long drive to Jackson, GA to get the ladies.  Zachary, the ladies first “Daddy”, was adorable and led me on a much anticipated tour of his operation.  Zachary is 12 and got hooked on chickens from a 5^th grade science project.  He has been hatching and raising them ever since.  We loaded the 6 Wyandottes and 1 Polish (which I purchased in honor on my dad and gave to him as a gift, which I will keep for him) into my dog crate and then into my car. 

When we arrived home, my daughter put the dogs into the back garden so that we could take the chicks straight up to the laundry room for the night.  It didn’t seem fair to arrive in the dark and put them in a cold, unfamiliar shed.  Tomorrow we will introduce them to their brooder. 

My dad was awesome today and I don’t think I pushed him as much as I did yesterday.  It was too crazy and disjointed a day to do that.  So although we were both tired at the end of the day, he was excited about the girl’s arrival, too.  And the girls are resting quietly in my laundry room.

Building the Chicken Pen with my Dad

The Chickens are Coming...Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the day…the chickens will arrive one day early.  I can’t stand it any more…I’m too excited, so I arranged to go get them a day earlier.  Daddy and I are half way completed with the chicken pen.  Earlier today we scrapped the chicken tractor when I realized I couldn’t lift it, let alone move it, by myself.  I’ll wait to make this part of my plan a reality.  For now, I just want the chickens to be here at my house, in my chicken pen, in my coop. 

I wore him out today…seriously, I did.  Daddy asked to stop working.  How horrible a daughter am I?  I didn’t see that I was pushing him…I was too focused on the goal.  Later in the evening, he asked me if I ever sit down.  Ugh!  So for tomorrow, although there is a lot to do, my mantra will be to “slow down” and enjoy the experience. 

Although the chickens arrive tomorrow, we have a brooder set up in my shed…they are still babies, after all.  The chicks will not be living in the coop any time soon.  I want to be able to put them in the pen so they can get used to scratching and eating bugs and grasses, but mostly they will be in the shed, protected from the elements and predators, until they are fully feathered.

The coop arrives in the early afternoon, which will enable us to complete the pen.  We have all but 3 sections of the pen completed, so we will have to make those as well as attach the wire.  The wire is the most difficult part of the process…both Daddy and I have bruises and calluses on the palms of our hands from the wire cutter!

Building this pen together is what is important to me.  I feel vibrant from the process…being outside, building something useful from scratch and doing this with my dad, the conversations, the problem solving….I can’t imagine the experience being any better than it has been.  So, tomorrow, I think we will accomplish a lot, but I am also going to work hard not to push my dad so hard and to enjoy this process. And tomorrow night, I think I will have a hard time sleeping knowing my new babies are all alone out in the shed.  It will be a struggle not to bring them into the house….

Countdown to Chickens

Daddy arrived around lunchtime, so we made grilled turkey sandwiches and talked strategy.  Then we walked the space and made a plan for the chicken pen, making a list of all our building needs. Having someone to talk with about the enclosure made it so real...it isn’t just an idea in my head anymore!  We then went to Home Depot and got all the supplies we needed to build both the chicken tractor and the chicken pen:  2” x 2” x 6’ wood, L brackets for stability, screws, hinges, locks…and when we returned home, immediately got started cutting the wood and putting the pieces together. 

We decided it made sense to build the “chicken tractor” first.  The tractor is a 6-foot-long by 3-foot-wide by 2-feet-high enclosure on wheels.  It is completely “caged” so the chickens will be safe from predators.  The idea is that the chickens can be in the tractor and moved around the yard eating bugs and weeds but not decimate any particular area.  We also decided to put a “roof” over part of the tractor to give the chickens shade if they need or want it.  Quitting time was about 5:20, since Daylight Savings Time means earlier darkness.  We were tired anyway, so it was good that darkness was descending upon us.   We weren’t “quitters”.   Daddy had driven 3 hours to get to me, so I know he was stiff from the drive and ready to have a nice, quiet evening and a good meal. 

The best part of the day was having the opportunity to partner with my dad on this project.  I felt like a little girl again when I believed he could and did do anything!  Today I was in awe as my dad made the ideas in my head come to life.  He really can build anything….and we did!  The chicken tractor is taking shape and tomorrow morning we’ll finish it and get started on the pen.  I’m counting the days until the girls finally arrive.

No pumpkins in my garden...

I didn’t grow pumpkins in my garden this year.  Butternut and acorn squash were in abundance, however, and delicious.  At this time of year I always wish I had grown pumpkins just because they are such a sign of the season…and maybe next year I will.  I have enough land to plant them in a mound and just let them grow.  Maybe I’ll grow sugar pumpkins, the variety for pie.  Pumpkin seeds are delicious and I use them in several recipes.  One of my favorite recipes with pumpkin and the seeds is with Halibut.  I get rave reviews when I serve it at dinner parties!

Pumpkin Halibut

Halibut filets (4-6) ( or substitute Sea Bass or a similar fish)

Pumpkin butter (your own or store bought-Whole Foods carry it)

Pepitas (pumpkin seeds), raw, 1-2 T per filet

Bread crumbs or Panko, 1 cup

Old Bay Seasoning, 2 T

Fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 stick butter

Wash and pat dry the Halibut filets and place in a glass 9 x 12 baking dish prepped with non-stick spray.

In a bowl, microwave the butter until melted then add the breadcrumbs or Panko, Old Bay, and pepper.  Mix well.

Generously spread the pumpkin butter over the top of each filet.  Sprinkle the top of the filet with the breadcrumb mix and then about 1 T of the pepitas.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-45 min depending on thickness of filets.  Check after 20 minutes for doneness.

Serve immediately.

Infrastructure

Hours go by and the only thing that makes me realize that so much time has passed is that my stomach is growling.  Weeding, planting fall seedlings, pulling out the last of the pepper plants and (finally) planting my Celeste fig tree and new blueberry bushes filled one glorious day last week.  It was a chilly, overcast day…but no matter, my father-in-law, Tom, and I hadn’t been in the garden much this month thanks to all the rain we have had.  The pups were with us and they were crazy!  Too many days cooped up in the house for them, too.  They kept us busy discovering new found “holes” in the brand new fencing…gaps where hills kept the wiring from meeting the ground and they were able to scoot underneath.  We filled the gaps with large rocks we’ve been using to make stone walls and pathways.  Foiled again!

The new water pipe is being laid with spigots in the pasture and inside the veggie patch, any day now.    I can’t wait to not have to haul water from the rented water tank, bucket by bucket!  And, the fencing is being stained black this week…it will look “finished”, at last.  Next week, more “infrastructure”, with my dad arriving to help build my chicken fencing and install the new coop!  I am anticipating the arrival of Le Regazze (The Girls, in Italian, as I have affectionately named my “flock”) with both excitement and anxiety.   7 days and counting…

Beasties in the Night

3 am and I was still awake…the result of surging adrenaline earlier when I let the dogs out one final time before bed.  It was later than usual, 11:30 p.m. when two of the pups came running back to the house…the wirehair dachshund and the ridgeback (not so fierce in the face of danger, after all…).   The American Staffordshire, Hazel, and Felix, the cocker-dock rescue, didn’t come back in with the other two and still didn’t come when called.  (Hmmmm….some remedial training would be occurring later for them!)  In my jammies and socks I trudged out to the totally darkened shed where they were carrying on, barking wildly.  I couldn’t tell what they were all spooled up about in the dark, so back into the house I went for the flashlight.  When I returned with the light, I saw wedged between the wooden privacy fence and the old pine tree, a very frightened and cornered possum.  Now, Hazel, the Amstaf, really doesn’t give up very easily, and Felix, the rescue, was truly just along for the ride.  Banging on the tree trunk with a shovel, I got Hazel’s attention (which was necessary, given her heightened excitement and determination at “saving” me from the possum) and reached around the chicken wire laid for my new chicken pen (yep, that’s right, I’ve got a possum living in the tree that corners my soon to be chicken coop and pen…) and grabbed Hazel by the collar.  She gave up!  And, Felix followed silently.  I put them both in the house and then returned to make sure the possum hadn’t been injured.  It is always amazing to me when a possum “plays possum”…what a dumb thing to do!  There it was where I had left it, playing dead, perfectly fine…no blood, thank goodness!  I put away the shovel, picked up the flashlight and left it there in the wedge of fence and tree to decide when it was safe to resume it’s nightly adventures.  Or maybe it would just head back up the tree and call it a night.  

Chicken Mama (or Crazy Aunt)

I did it!  In the past week or so, I have ordered my chicken coop, purchased the heated waterer and hanging feeder, researched and ordered organic grains and seeds for feed, and ordered fencing.  My dad and I have agreed on the dates he is coming to help me build my fence around the sod I laid for their “chicken yard”.  And, I ordered my chickens!  Six adorable Wyandotte chicks that are currently 6 weeks old! 

I wanted to order my chicks through an online source…but I waited a little too long and only day-old chicks were available.  I’d like to continue being married, so I opted to look for a little older chicks.  I went onto Craig’s List and found a post for 5 and 10 week old chicks just outside the city.  I was contacted by the seller and found out that he is an 11-year-old young man who raises chickens for spending money!  Pretty cool! He knew a lot about chickens so I think he will be a great resource for me when I take possession of the little ladies.  He agreed to keep the chicks for me until the end of October when they are 8 or 9 weeks old.  That way they won’ t have to be IN the house, but can be in my shed with a heat lamp in case it gets cold.  And, he agreed to swap out any of the “ladies” that suddenly begin to develop more “manly features”.  I’m not allowed to have roosters in the city!

Proudly, I am “Crazy Aunt Di” to nine nieces and nephews, aged 1 to 20.  Only 6 of them are under the age of 11 and one is only a year old.  In an effort to continue my reputation as the  “Fun loving, cool Aunt”, I decided to have 5 of the chickens be “virtual pets” for my niece and nephews aged 5 to 11.  I emailed them about my new adventure and invited them to participate from afar.  “You each may have a chicken for a pet!” I told them.  All I required was that each came up with a good name and one interesting fact about chickens.  Here is what they came up with:

Olivia, 8        “Jenny”                         “Gallus, gallus, domesticus”, Latin for chicken

Ian, 5             “Sidney”                       you can hypnotize a chicken by holding it and drawing a line            in the dirt over and over.  The chicken will stay right there as long as you do this…(hmmmmm….)

Evan, 8          “Pot Pie” or “Pie”         Chickens hatch from their eggs in 21 days

AJ, 10            “Puck”                          The largest chicken egg was 12 inches long

Stevie, 11       “Marge”                       Alektorophobia is the fear of chickens

                                                                                   

The sixth chicken is for my 17 year-old-daughter who threw a bit of a fit when she found out the niece and nephews were getting a chicken for a pet but she wasn’t…she named her chicken “Melinda” and her fact is that chickens are the closest living relatives to the Tyrannosaurus Rex!  Who knew?

I guess you’re never too old for a chicken!

Garlic, garlic, garlic!

Garlic is a staple in our house.  It literally gets used in just about everything I cook!  So, I thought I’d give growing it in my garden a try.  Garlic gets planted in the fall and isn’t ready to harvest until late July or early August of the following year.  During one of our rare sunny days, recently, my father in law and I met at the “farmette” to sow some more fall crops and plant some seedlings.  Very little weeding was needed…I guess all that rain does a number on weeds and crops alike!  We prepared a new bed directly in the ground (not in one of my raised beds) by digging it deeply and breaking up the clumps.  We added a little chicken manure, too.  Of course, I started with the gloves on, but within a few minutes they were off and the dirt was chunked up under my fingernails.  I love the feel of damp, cool soil when I am planting!  We planted two types of garlic, both certified organic:  Lorz Italian and Shvelisi (Chesnok Red).  The garlic arrives in complete cloves the way it would be purchased from the market.  To plant it, we had to break the cloves apart and place each clove in the ground roots down and pointy part up.  No different than any bulb gets planted.  They are planted shallowly, only about 4 inches deep.  When the bed is covered back up with soil, a whopping 6 inches of leaf mulch goes on top.  I think of the mulch like a nice down comforter in winter….nice and cozy!  So now we wait.  In the summer when the green stems start to turn brown and fall over they garlic will be ready to harvest.  I might even try to make a garlic braid!  

The Case for Family Farms and Family Time

My 17-year-old daughter loves to go to the farmers market.  Every Saturday that we can go, we do.  This past Saturday was no exception. 

Perhaps because of our regular jaunts to the farmers market, my daughter recently wrote one of her college essays about the value of family farms and keeping parts of America rural.  While she was writing the essay we were discussing her views and I found it profound that young people see the need for organic and family run farms to succeed and indeed, thrive.  They don’t want to lose what they deem is best about America…There is something romantic and almost idealized about family farms. 

Purchasing food from the grower in a parking lot anywhere in America reminds us how close we are (and can be) to the earth and our food.  Knowing who grew the food you are eating is important today and not just for health reasons.  Knowing these individuals connect us to our food chain by providing us an opportunity to try new varieties of vegetables and fruits, often varieties we would never find in our grocery stores, to know that the animals we consume were raised humanely and compassionately and that their time on this earth had value and joy, that we support people’s passions for cheese-making and baking, flowers and free-range eggs.  In short, purchasing food from farmers markets is a small act we all can do to support and even encourage the family run farm’s success.

And, it is a great opportunity to connect with your family; to discuss upcoming meals, find out what each other’s likes and dislikes are, and try new foods.  I’m all for embracing those moments when my daughter wants to be with me, and it is effortless.

Water Woes-The Flood of 2009

This past week in Atlanta has been a pretty scary place to live.  I’ve never experienced such torrential down pours and so much water on the ground…everywhere!  The water couldn’t be escaped! 

My worries about my vegetable garden were nothing compared to what most of the metro area was worried about…homes, lives, belongings, pets.  But, I was worried about my garden. Surrounded by two small creeks that feed into Nancy Creek, one of the rivers that overflowed its banks, I was virtually guaranteed that part, if not all of the garden would be affected.

On Monday, after days of not venturing over to see the garden out of fear of what I might find, I decided to go take photos.  There are many ways to get to the property…three of which, I discovered the hard way, were blocked by the flooding creeks and rivers.  I finally wound my way through a part of the neighborhood I had never been through before and found a path to our property. 

My stomach was in knots as I rounded each bend in the road coming closer and closer to the property.  Peeks of the green pasture, not muddy brown, came to me though the trees.  Maybe it was okay?  Pulling into the driveway and venturing towards the veggie patch, the pasture was completely dry!  There wasn’t any evidence of flooding or water accumulation of any kind.  I was stunned! 

What about my recently planted veggie patch?  As I approached the bridge over my little creek, I noticed the raging water, but it wasn’t even half way up the banks! And, no evidence existed that would suggest it had breached the banks, at all!  I mustered the courage to walk into the garden, even though the rain had picked up and was now actually stinging me through my raincoat.  Although the veggie patch was not washed out or under water, there was definitely some collateral damage from the amount and intensity of the rains we’ve had these past 10 days.  Some seedlings were definitely drowned or washed away…most notably some of the root vegetables like the radishes and beets.  But, others, like the collards, Swiss chard, peas and arugula were actually still there and seemed to be growing in spite of the harsh conditions. 

We’ve had three days of sunshine now and tomorrow I’m going back to the veggie patch to see what crops have recovered and which ones will need to be scrapped and possibly replanted.  I’m reminded of generations past whose survival and existence often depended upon their gardens.  In spite of what grows or doesn’t grow in my veggie patch, I say a little prayer of thanks knowing that my family will eat tonight and subsequent nights.

Mother Nature's Composters

Worms are Mother Nature’s way of composting.  In nature, worms devour decaying plant matter.  Their excretions help to loosen clay and enrich the soil for our plants and trees.  Amazingly, we can channel these little powerhouses in our homes to reduce the amount of waste in our trashcans.  And it is really easy!

Several years ago, in my master gardener classes, I sat in on a lecture about Vermi-composting.  What the heck is that???  “Vermi-culture”, an incredibly rich source of soil additive, is the product of Vermi-composting.  It is literally, worm poop!  I was hooked!  What a cool and efficient way of disposing of my kitchen scraps…no more grind of the in-sink-erator for me! 

I bought the bins over the Internet and set them up outside my shed.  I have a stainless steel compost mini bin under my kitchen sink where all my vegetable (no garlic or onions), fruit, pasta, rice, bread, coffee and tea grounds, and eggshell scraps go.  Initially, about once a week, I “fed the worms”, much to the disgust of my family!  And, those worms were well fed!  They have multiplied over the years to the point that I have a second tiered worm bin added to the family.  I now feed both bins at least twice a week!  (It is a good thing that we don’t eat out too often and that I like to cook!)  The “tea” or run-off liquid from the composter is a nutrient rich fertilizer:  plants literally grow over night after being fed with the stuff.  The worm-poop, added to my garden beds and veggie patch, reduces non-beneficial nematodes (bad soil bugs) and helps to enrich the soil.  It is a win-win for the environment:  Less kitchen waste ends up in plastic bags in landfills.

And, the worms make great pets for your kids!  Seriously!  Worms don’t live in your house, you don’t have to clean up after them, only get fed once or twice a week (and the kids can do it) and best yet, they cost nothing after the initial set up costs, including no Vet bills!  Additionally, being a Vermi-composter is a great lesson in ecology and environmental awareness.  I am always flabbergasted when I feed the worms and realize just how much plant refuse I collect on a weekly basis!  I’m all into being “green” these days!

Jalapeno Onion Salad

To make the Jalapeno Onions:

One red onion, sliced thinly

Olive oil

1 cup pickled jalapeno slices

½ cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

Saute' the sliced onions in olive oil to cover the pan until translucent. Add the jalapeno slices, apple cider vinegar and sugar. Mix well and continue to simmer until the liquid has been absorbed or cooked off. Remove the onion slices to a bowl to cool. The Jalapeno’s can be reserved for another time, thrown away or used in the salad.

Note: These onions are terrific on sandwiches, burgers, in omelets, and on steaks.

To make the Salad:

Baby mixed greens

Crumbled goat cheese (Chevre)

Store bought pralines

Place the greens in a salad bowl topped with the jalapeno onions, crumbled goat cheese and pralines. Lightly dress with your favorite salad dressing, although many people prefer not to add dressing because it is so flavorful.

Dehydrated Onion

My dad said he would come down to Atlanta to help me build my chicken coop! Hooray!

When I was growing up in Southwestern Michigan, my dad could fix anything. A Veterinarian by day, I remember helping him on the weekends, paint, refinish floors and wallpaper the rental homes we owned. I have an especially vivid memory of Daddy installing a ceiling fan in he and mom’s bedroom and neglecting to turn off the “juice” to the room…I probably shouldn’t go in to too much more detail in case he reads this.

Anyway, Daddy can build anything. So, I’m very excited that he has agreed to help me with my chicken coop. I’ve decided to buy a kit…already pre cut wood, all the right kinds and numbers of screws and nails etc. We will put it together and paint it and voila`!

I think I got my gardening genes from my dad. (Mom kills all plants…)

When we were growing up Daddy had a really large vegetable garden outside our back fence. I used to help him. One night for dinner we were having broccoli from the garden. (I was an unusual kid and loved broccoli. I still do! ) My brother and sister and I were all served our plates with dinner on them. My brother (a VERY picky eater) hated onions as a kid. There were little white flecks on the broccoli that looked a lot like those dehydrated onions everyone used in the 70’s. Matt, my brother, started pitching a fit about the onion on the broccoli. Daddy told him to stop whining and pick them off. The problem is they didn’t really look like dehydrated onions to me, so I asked daddy what they were. I guess daddy was in a hurry with the broccoli that day because he didn’t pick off the little worms that were hanging out on it before he steamed it. It was a while before I ate broccoli without thinking about the “dehydrated onion” story.

I do wash all the produce that I harvest from my garden. I think there are plenty of great stories my kids will tell their future spouses and children about me without having a “mom fed us dead bugs for dinner” story.

Heirloom vs. Hybrid

I feel invigorated and alive! Everyone has their “thing” that re-energizes them…for some it is tennis or golf, for others reading a good book and for me…I love gardening! And the weather is perfect for 4 hours of weeding, tilling, and harvesting. My father in law, Tom, and I are pretty pleased with the aesthetics of the garden…it is beautiful! I can’t believe I am still cutting zinnias, picking green beans and eggplant, peppers and tomatillos! And, better yet, the seeds we planted are starting to sprout!

About 10 days ago Tom and I pulled up all the tomatoes and squash leaving lots of room for new plantings. I am very excited about using heirloom varieties of vegetables, so I chose to only plant them. Heirloom varieties are non-hybridized and not genetically engineered. They are the plants of yesteryear…the vegetables our grandparents, great grandparents and great-great grandparents planted and ate. They are diverse and often are more disease and pest resistant than hybridized varieties because of their diversity. And they taste amazing!

Okay, so now I’m going to get on my soapbox for a minute…and I promise it will only be a minute.

Many of the vegetables and fruits we buy in the grocery stores are mass-produced from hybrid varieties of seeds. Hybrid plants have been hand pollinated instead of open pollinated (think bees) and they are genetically identical to every other of their variety. They are not genetically diverse. When we rely on one variety of a seed for a particular fruit or vegetable and a virulent disease or pests destroy that plant…that’s it. The plant ceases to exist. (Think Irish potato famine…) Planting genetically diverse vegetables and fruits is good for our future, our health and the health of the environment. For example: There are only a few varieties of hybrid apples, but in the world of heirloom plants there are 10,000 varieties of apples. If you want to know more on this topic, check out

http://www.seedsavers.org/Content.aspx?src=aboutus.htm

So back to the garden and those heirloom seeds we planted about 10 days ago that are beginning to sprout. The list is long…we got caught up in the act of planting! But, the names tell you a lot about the uniqueness of these varieties. I bet they will have one-of-a-kind tastes, too.

Black-seeded Simpson, bronze mignonette, butter crunch, Lolita and sunset lettuces, arugula, and spinach varieties New Zealand and strawberry

Mammoth melting sugar peas

British wonder peas

Lucullus, flamingo and oriole swiss chard

Chioggia (looks like a bulls eye to me), early wonder and bulls blood beets

Little finger and coreless carrots

Hollow crown parsnips

Black Spanish and brightest breakfast radishes

Lacinato kale

Georgia collards (I make fabulous ones for Thanksgiving every year!)

And an experiment with Pinkeye/Purple Hull peas

Dreaming of Chickens...

Today I got an email from “My Pet Chicken” updating me on the currently available pullets. A pullet is a 10-12 week old chick that is about to begin laying eggs. I can’t tell you how desperately I want chickens…I think they are wonderful creatures, interesting and unique with the added benefit of providing fresh eggs on a daily basis. My family thinks I’m nuts… I think I’m a frustrated farmer. I probably should have been a farmer; but I’m not. I’m a city girl that loves to garden and loves animals. And, I can have chickens (hens only) in the city!

So I’ve been pouring over designs for chicken coops, getting quotes on having fencing attached to my garden for a run and reading everything I can regarding the care and raising of chickens. I have this fantasy that I’m having a big dinner party with my closest friends, the ones that love me in spite of my critters and penchant for taking on too much in my life, and we walk out to my garden to decide what to have for dinner! Can you imagine! How wonderful would it be to collect a few fresh eggs for a hollandaise sauce to drizzle over freshly picked and sautéed asparagus, or beets baked in a horseradish crust, grilled corn with lime butter, grilled pizzas made with fresh picked arugula and basil, freshly made ice cream made with a few more eggs! Yum!

Hubby wants me to slow down a bit. But, in keeping with my nature, I want it all NOW! There will be a full court press this weekend…I’ve got chicken coop designs out to share, adorable pictures of Polish and Silkie chickens (could a chicken be any cuter???), and I’m hoping with some great meals, nice bottles of wine and a little extra attention, I can convince him that now is the perfect time to add a few baby chickens to our nest.

Food for my Soul

I've been neglectful... With kids to get off to college and back to school and other life stuff, I "let go" of my wonderful veggie patch; my source of serenity and purpose, for a couple of weeks. Four hours of weeding later, I'm hurting and feeling incredibly re-energized and appreciative of good, honest, hard work. Why did I let two whole weeks go by with out making it out to the garden?

My father in law, Tom, joined me today. A joyful sight greeted us as the zinnias towered over us both! After sort-of making a plan to divide and conquer, Tom tackled the woeful tomatoes (...yanked them out as they are pitiful!) while I pulled gazillions of weeds from the former corn patch and underlying the zinnias. We picked all the tomatoes, green and red (of which there weren't many), re-staked the eggplant, which is still producing amazing fruit, harvested all the acorn and butternut squash (before the squash bugs get them), and attacked the green beans...pulling up the "spent" plants and picking all the beans from the still producing ones. Several large, beautiful green bell peppers were also ready. I'm making stuffed peppers with them this weekend! And, I can't believe it, but there are tons more jalapeno peppers! I guess I'll be making some more jalapeno pickles!

All four of the pups accompanied me to the garden today! They roamed the "pasture" chasing rodents that scampered in and out of the rock walls, chased each other, and generally wore themselves out. When I finally put them in the cab of the truck to drive home, they all found a spot and promptly crashed.

I'm going back to the garden tomorrow morning...and not just because I didn't accomplish everything I had hoped to accomplish today. I need a little more "food for my soul" that only the magic of digging in the dirt delivers.

Creative Abundance

I'm not a huge fan of jalapeno peppers so the reason I grow them in my veggie patch is difficult to pin down. Jalapeno's are prolific...probably any one can grow them with success...and that is probably why I grow them! I love the act of harvesting (what a waste, otherwise). But, what to do with a grocery bag of jalapeno peppers...

Preserve them! That's right, I decided to try my hand at making jalapeno pickles. The term "pickle" simply refers to a vegetable that has been cured in a vinegar and salt brine. Cucumbers are not the only vegetable that take to pickling. In fact, okra, cauliflower, asparagus and many other veggies are successfully preserved in this way. And, it is really easy! Seriously!

After scouring cookbooks and the internet for recipe ideas I settled on a straight forward one I found on cooks.com. I cleaned and cored the jalapeno peppers (the seeds and ribs are where the heat comes from), got my brine boiling on the stove top, prepped my mason jars and lids (which are available at most grocery stores), and started cooking. In an hour I was finished!

It seems like I had so many peppers to start with, but I ended up with only 6 pint size jars of Jalapeno pickles!

Half the fun of growing vegetables, cooking, and now preserving is to share the gifts from my garden with others. My son is headed back to college this week. He's a creative and wonderful cook. I'm planning on sending some of my jalapeno pickles back to Maryland with him. I'll also share a few with my friends as hostess gifts. And, of course I'll use a few in my famous "Mexican Salad".

Note: The brine is cooling in the mason jars, as I sit here writing my blog, and the lids are popping as they seal! Pretty cool!

"Do Overs"

It is a struggle for me to pull out seemingly healthy plants because they are no longer producing at their best. But, this is one of the tasks of succession planting. This week I pulled out the first crop of harticort vert green beans I planted in the spring as the beans were no longer as sweet and tender as I wanted or expected them to be. And, because the second crop is producing wonderfully, I'm ready to use that spot in the garden for something else.

That mass of flattened corn I kept hoping would stand tall again and produce the ridiculously sweet corn my daughter loves...stayed flat on the ground. So, I reluctantly and sadly pulled it all up, too. Time to make room for fall veggies.

Succession planting, or planting the same crop several weeks apart to extend the season of enjoyment of the produce, is something I am committed to. I did it with all my root crops, but for some reason I haven't yet discovered, ALL of my root crops (carrots, radishes and beets) withered and died leaving me with no harvest to speak of. I have prepped a different area of my garden and have purchased new seeds to sow and am hopeful when I put them in the earth next week, that I'll have a beautiful carrots, parsnips and beets this fall.

Being a gardener means that failure doesn't exist. "Do Overs" and "Try Agains" prevail!

Grilled Eggplant Stacks

1 medium to large eggplant, unpeeled, sliced thin

2 medium to large heirloom tomatoes, sliced thin

1 block feta, sliced thin

sprinkle prepared eggplant with basil, garlic and oregano seasoned olive oil (make your own or use store bought)

Place the eggplant slices on a hot grill, leaving the lid off, for about 1-2 minute on each side, until there are "grill stripes" on the eggplant and it softens. Remove the eggplant from the grill and briefly cover with foil. This allows the eggplant to continue cooking while it cools.

Create the eggplant stacks by layering one slice of grilled eggplant with one slice of tomato with one slice of feta with another slice of the grilled eggplant. Repeat until all the ingredients are used. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar OR balsamic glaze. Enjoy!

Bugs Bug Me

My eggplant plants are just lovely. They look so healthy...and the eggplants themselves are shiny and lustrous looking. And there are lots of them growing on the plants, so I am looking forward to delicious, fresh eggplant for weeks to come.

Except, I'm a little worried about the "for weeks to come" statement. As I was recently cutting a ready-to-be picked eggplant I wanted to serve for dinner that night, I bumped a few leaves of the plant and noticed yellow bumps with black spikes coming out of them...about the size of a pea. YUCK! I'm pretty sure these weren't beneficial insects...so, like the good organic gardener I am, I hand picked...YEP...hand picked (with gloves on) the creatures off the backs of each leaf. And, I drowned them in an empty Vitamin Water bottle filled with insecticidal soap. It was probably a slow, painful death...but they were threatening my eggplant! Then, I sprayed the leaves down with the insecticidal soap just to make sure if there were any eggs hatching in the next day or two, they wouldn't have a chance of reaching maturity. These larvae could have been striped or spotted squash beetles or maybe another "nasty" I have yet to identify. I've had to pick some bugs off my acorn and butternut squash plants, too...maybe, they've migrated...

Needless to say, my goal is to utilize hygenic gardening practices to help discourage damaging insects from raiding my garden. By "hygenic", I mean, I clean up decaying or dead plant matter and remove it from the garden (I don't let it rot where it dropped), I gather and remove fruit and vegetables I "missed" from harvesting that are literally "rotting on the vine", and most importantly, I rotate my crops (I plant them in a different spot in the garden each year) so that insects don't set up camp for very long in any one spot.

And, I'm learning to not have such a queasy stomach when it comes to waging war on the uninvited and destructive visitors to my garden.

Sharing zinnias

Zinnias are happy, bright flowers. I love them! I think they make people smile so I have lots of them planted in my garden. I love to cut them and give them away. As I was meeting my neighbor for the first time yesterday afternoon, I was in my garden cutting zinnias to give to her as a "nice to meet you gift". Bzzzz.... I kept hearing this buzzing sound as I carefully selected and cut each zinnia. Bzzzzz.... I chalked it up to the bees that were flitting from the nearby squash blossoms to the eggplant blossoms. Bzzzzz....Then I decided to look in the direction of the buzz...

I stood perfectly still and just listened. This is something I find I do more in my garden than anywhere else. I actually take time to enjoy the flowers and the vegetables and my surroundings. I feel like I lose my sense of time and schedule and so it is easier to give myself permission to pause.

The leaves rustled in the slight breeze which was a welcome relief from the late afternoon heat. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a flash of irridescent green on the fencing and realized the buzz was coming from a ruby throated hummingbird. It was quietly sitting on the fencing for my garden above the barely waving zinnias watching me cut them one by one. I stayed perfectly still and just enjoyed the moment.

I love cutting and sharing my zinnias. Now I know I'm sharing the zinnias with the hummingbirds, too.

Atlanta Farm Girl's Eggplant Parmesan

Atlanta Farm Girl’s

Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:

2 medium eggplants, peeled and sliced thin

1-container whole-wheat breadcrumbs (or your favorite variety)

1 small handful fresh or 1 t dried, crumbled basil

1 small handful fresh or 1 t dried, crumbled thyme

1 small handful fresh or 1 t dried, crumbled oregano

1/8 t ground red pepper (or to taste)

3-4 eggs, scrambled

Spray oil (like Pam)

1-2 jars ready-made spaghetti sauce

Shredded part skim mozzarella

Grated Parmesan

Optional:

sliced tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini or other squash, fresh spinach etc.

Preparation:

Ø Scramble eggs in bowl and set next to stove top

Ø Mix breadcrumbs and spices in bowl and set next to stove top

Ø Have 2 greased (I use Pam) cookie sheets ready with small amount of ready

Ø Heat Oven to 400 degrees

Ø Prepare 9” x 11” glass pan by greasing (with Pam) and spreading small amount of ready made spaghetti sauce in bottom

Method:

Ø Dredge each slice of eggplant in egg followed by breadcrumb mixture to coat both sides

Ø Place eggplant on cookie sheet and bake in pre-heated oven for approximately 20 minutes until lightly browned and soft when poked with a fork

Ø Place cooked eggplant in 9” x 11” prepared glass pan layering as necessary

Ø Add optional mushrooms, onion and/or tomato slices etc.

Ø Cover with remaining spaghetti sauce

Ø Top with mozzarella followed by parmesan

Ø Cover lightly with foil for first 10 minutes of cooking time

Ø Remove foil and cook an additional 10-20 minutes depending on how fast the cheese bubbles and browns

Purple Harvest

I don't have any irrigation at my "farmette", so in periods of dryness, like we've been having of late, I have a rented water tank from which I haul buckets of water to the individual plants in my garden. It's not a lot of fun...and very time consuming. So, I am always very hopeful when I see thunder clouds on the horizon that today it will rain. Today there are thunder clouds on the horizon...

A few days ago I harvested a beautiful eggplant from my garden. Holding the perfectly shaped fruit in my hands I reflected on how amazing it truly is that it didn't succumb to the insects I hand picked off the plants (I'm organic!) and that almost destroyed ALL my eggplant plants at the beginning of the summer, the heavy downpours contrasted with the periods of absolutely no rain...and sometimes no hand-watering, either, and the squirrels...who also love the vegetables I grow in my garden! And, last night I made my world famous (MY world, that is) "Eggplant Parmesan" for my kids. (I will post the recipe...it's worth the effort!)

Laughing around the dinner table enjoying a great meal from my garden is what it is all about for me. And, when my kids excuse themselves for seconds...It was a great day!

Tomorrow I'm going to think about succession planting...I've got to keep those kids coming back for more.

Growing in the City

I am happiest when I have dirt under my manicured nails and sweat is running down the small of my back...I thrill when I am able to pick heavily ripe tomatoes from their vine, burgeoning shiny purple eggplant and perfectly shaped deep green peppers for the eggplant parmesan I'm making for dinner...and I rejoice when I'm watching the dogs run full tilt from one end of the pasture to the other, just being dogs.

For as long as I remember, I've wanted to live on a farm...well, I've always wanted to have lots of animals and a garden that sustained my family. This blog is the record of my adventure into being an urban farmer...

About 18 months ago my wonderful, non-farmer, husband purchased 4 acres of land inside the city of Atlanta for us to build a new home on and for me to, finally, have that big vegetable garden I've lusted for. It is just enough land for the dogs, horses and my some-day chickens to thrive.

With the help of my equally frustrated farmer, father-in-law, Tom, we planted the vegetable garden this past Spring in raised beds I built myself surrounded by an 8 foot high wood and wire fence I had installed to keep out the deer. My family couldn't wait for me to transfer the hundreds of heirloom seedlings I'd been nurturing under grow lights in our family room since February to the "farmette". And, although Tom and I had absolutely no success with the root crops and one corn crop was flattened by an extremely heavy downpour late one night in June, we've harvested lots of incredible heirloom tomatoes, jalapeno and poblano peppers, harticort vert green beans, eggplant, pea pods, okra and blueberries. There are a dozen each of acorn and butternut squashes, tomatillos, tons of paste tomatoes and more green beans and eggplant ready to pick and consume on the horizon.

I am hopeful that my little farm in the city, my "farmette", will remind me every day that all each of us really needs in this crazy, busy life, is a little sunshine, some water, a good foundation and a little love to grow to our full potential.