Update on frontyard garden 2012

Hey all,

here's an update on the frontyard garden.  I was glad the parsley overwintered really well, and came up very early on in spring.  The flat leaf Italian parsley and alliums (green onions, and the chives... and even the garlic) did well coming back on their own.

So here are a few photos updating how the front looks.

Alpine Strawberry looks pretty happy...

By the front door, the rosemary coming out and acclimating to the weather with the overwintered sage behind it.  Dianthus, roses, and alpine strawberry.

Diamond shaped boxes with green onions on the border, and the beginnings of basil, and dwarf Hestia Scarlet Runner Bean

As you can see from the bottom of the photo, the lavender has not come back, but the meadow sage is coming back singing a chorus!  Everything looks decent, but I will soon plan to yank out the green onions once they go to seed, and plant alot of marigolds and red salvias.  I've been told by several people that marigolds keep the rabbits away.  I don't know the validity of this, but feel free to dispense your advice in the comments section :)     I do know marigolds are edible...
The red salvias, the kids and I love to suck out that 1 droplet of nectar that is at the bottom of that long red flower...(sorry hummingbirds!)

The diamond shaped box with the green onion around the parameter.
Basil is planted in the box.  Dwarf Hestia scarlet runner bean was planted in the shape of a diamond, and generously - but as nature usually does, it's not doing what I want it to do!!! AAAAAARGHHhhhhhhhh

The chive flowers add a touch of purple to all the green, and behind it is flat leaf Italian parsley about to go to seed.

A stack of rocks.  Hrmmmm
I took these rocks from my dad's house, and I've always like the look of stacked rocks.
They remind me of my grandmother in korea who passed away a couple of years ago. We visited a few places that had stacked rocks in Korea.  I want to say they were mostly temples, but it happens whenever you find places with many rocks: rivers, canyons, mountains...my front yard...  LOL

More pictures to come, as the season progresses!

Making Garden Plants Out of Food Scraps

We've been so well trained to not even realize what we are doing: paying other people for food, and throwing away the ways to get more of that food.   

For the last few years, out of sheer laziness, I have serendipitously found several plants that can be propagated or resurrected back to usefulness out of food scraps. In theory, you've already paid once for this, no need to pay money again for seeds or plants of things you already have! 

If you have any to add, please do in the comments section.  Knowledge is power!

Basil, Thai basil, Mint (haven't tried with oregano, but am certain it will apply)
I bought a basil plant from the grocery store. It had three plants in a small pot, and I cut those thee plants in half to use the leaves in a recipe.  After picking off the basil leaves, I placed the three stems into a glass bottle with only tap water.  Sort of like what you do for cut flowers, except I put it up on a window ledge that gets lots of sun.

Wait a few weeks, and voila, the roots came out of nowhere!  With only the magic of water!
I think the warming up of the water by the sun had something to do with it, too!
But as you can see, now I have 6 plants instead of only 3 to plant outside my garden.

Various stages of root development.

Re-growing Celery from Middles
I am not sure why, but throughout my whole life, I don't recall eating celery hearts. Once we ate all the crunchy outer stalks I'm sure by the time we got to the nub of the middle with the bendy blanched sad center, we pitched it.  Well, this too is a grand mistake for the veggie gardener!

You can place that sorry looking middle nub with baby stalks  into a glass of water and place it on a sunny windowsill.   Within a week or so, you will not only see that middle stem beef up, but it will grow roots.   At this point, you can plant it into the ground, and grow celery for the season.    YEAH BABY!

Pineapple Stems

This, I wasn't the best at.  For some reason it took me seven pineapple tops before I got one of them to root, but I have a friend who does this with insane success!
After eating a pineapple, remove any meat from the top, and place in a cup of water.   I tried this a few times and failed, so mine (above) looks sad, but is coming back to life. This one, I had sitting in a pot of vermiculite.     I have another one that is doing very well, which I just threw into a pot of an existing plant and left it for dead.   Plants. They silly!

Here is my friend's pineapple top which he put into a plastic cup for amazing success. As you can see, no meat left on the pineapple top, or it WILL turn rotten!

At this point, you can plant it in soil.   Two of my friends who have done this, were able to grow another pineapple from it.  :)

Cabbage, Broccoli, Chinese broccoli/ etc Brassica stems

Now, this... This is a surprise for even me.  We had slices of some sort of brassica's stem.
I was most likely being lazy and instead of putting it into the compost bin, I put it into the garden during the winter.   Well, if that don't beat all... it grows back.   And it wasn't just that one freak accident, there is a second slice of stem growing in my garden, too.

What these brassicas are, I have yet to figure, because it was a crosswise cut of the stem.

Citrus, Pomegranate, Mangoes, and Avocados- seeds

My kids and I have been successful in replanting lemon, orange, and tangerine seeds in vermiculite.  Avocado-sitting on a jar of water with toothpicks through it, and Mango seeds which have been dried for a few days, and then planted into a pot of dirt.

 However, these adventures must be taken with an acceptance of wildcard, because the fruits you get from the grocery store are mostly genetically criss-crossed. Therefore, what we are growing from seeds makes really nice houseplants, but nothing more.  In fact many of them have not flowered in the 5+ years we have owned these plants.   The avocado flowered once, but without a pollinator it just had it's glory moment and fizzled away.  HOWEVER, that being said, they are glorious houseplants we receive compliments on, and give a nice tropical flair to this Chicago home.  Especially on the deck in the summer!

Sprouted potatoes/garlic

Scary looking little critters, aren't they??


Sprouted potatoes can be planted whole, or you can just snap off the sprouted eyes.  Either will grow.
Sprouted garlic cloves can be placed into the ground, and in about a year  you will have a whole head of garlic!

Tomatoes and Peppers - seeds 
 If you buy an heirloom tomato from the store, a farmers market, or receive one from a friend, after chopping it up into something delicious, swipe the cutting board with a napkin to pick up the seeds. dry the napkin somewhere for a few days, and voila you've got tomato seeds for your garden! Cut up the napkin in small napkin chits to plant one by one, or if you don't care, plant the whole napkin. BOOYAH... 
If you repeat this cycle, you'll never have to buy tomato plants/seeds ever again.

Actually, if you try the experiments listed above, you'll never have to buy additional seeds and plants for the listed items you've already eaten! Reducing, reusing and recycling? Re-purposing?

At the very least, you're guaranteed to save money and come to a realization of how much we take for granted and throw away on a daily basis.

The Chicks are Here!

The chicks are here!

Hip hip hooray!

The chicks are here...

Fanfare/parade!

The fountain of youth of yellow fuzz will appear,

if only for one or two weeks of the year!

Yeah, I think I sprained something in my brain making up that little ditty...  -_-*

Well, as the title suggest, the chicks are here at our house.  The first of three schools dropped them off. 

Every year we get the chicks from local schools who have incubated and hatched them.

We find them good homes which range from farms out of town, acreages down south in Illinois, backyard chickeners all over the city, and hobby farmers.

In the week or two it takes to arrange pickup or drop-off, the kids gleefully pet the chicks, feed them, socialize them, and generally squeal with excitement.  

Much to the dismay of the rest of my family, I sometimes let them loose in the house.

Balls of fuzz with little yellow feet...

Keeps us awake at night with "cheep cheep".

Sweet and yellow, peeping little chicks.

It may be, that in truth,
 I am just as (if not more excited) than the kids.

Busiest Saturday EVAR and Smelt Fishing in Chicago

Few Saturdays could possibly top the business of this one.

The adventure started at about 12am when I dropped off this chair.


It was a lovely chair I had picked up from the side of the road one day.  I had hopes to someday reupholster it, and give it a face lift.  However, with three kids, a bustling volunteer life, a front yard garden, and all sorts of time constraints... let's be realistic.  It probably wouldn't be worked on until the kids went to college in 15 years.

Then a friend of mine posted a link to some blog where they painted the fabric instead of reupholstering.  Interesting concept.  I offered her my chair, and it's now in her living room awaiting said paint job. (http://www.hypheninteriors.com/2011/03/painted-upholstery-process-revealed.html pictured below)

Here's the example pictures on that website. Before and After painted chairs.

So, best of luck to her on that project!  It's more than I have ambition to do right now, but I am happy to freecycle it :)!

A couple hours later, at 0900, I got a call from a friend of mine who needed help setting up for the chili cook off.  He needed as many hands as possible, so I called up a few friends and went out to help setup the chili cook off with them.  The GLMV Jaycees Chili cook off donates a portion of their proceeds in the form of scholarships to local high school seniors.  This is the second time we've thrown the chili cook-off, and Tighthead brewery in Mundelein generously donated some space int heir parking lot to us.  Awesome....

Did you know I was a member of the Jaycees?  It stands for Junior Chamber of Commerce, and almost every village or town has one. I've met so many interesting people and had so many cool opportunities by being involved in this volunteer group.  Anyhoos, this is us helping setup the tents.  There was other work to be done such as: running of cables, setting up lights, and labeling the port-a-potties.


Fast forward to the hours volunteered.  Here I am working the entrance with some other fellow Jaycees.

Then, right after my volunteer shift, we zoomed down to Montrose harbor in Chicago for the annual smelt fishing extravaganza!  If you don't know about smelt fishing....

Gather around chickadees, while grandma Holly tells you a story.

It used to be that every April in Chicago, people would flock to the harbors to setup a smelting rig.

It consists of a tall pole to hold the line, and a huuuuuuuge net, and a trolley.

                                        SEE BELOW TO MY AWESOME DIAGRAM.

Then, you gather all your good friends, and grill up some beer brats, and other various deliciousness.  It's a good excuse to see friends, and grill in front of the Chicago skyline till 1am when the smelting time ends.
You can hear all the experienced veterans tell you about how it was back in the day when they would put the nets in the water, and pull up buckets and buckets of smelts.  You could hardly keep up with it, and get hundreds in an hour!!  WOW.  THE DISNEYLAND OF GILL NET FISHING!!!

"Mommy, can we go check the net?"  

Huh? ... oh okay.

Here's the big gill net.  Looks like nothing in it.
Well, I wont lie to you folks.  The smelt may have been running fifteen or more years ago, but I have done this for over seven years and I have caught less than 10 smelts to this day.
There are stories that the smelt run will return to Chicago, but I wont hold my breath on it.

However, it's still a great time once a year for all ages to get out and spent time with family and friends!

^___________^

Spring dirt

There is something about the dirt.  The smell of it, the curiosities of random organisms crawling through it.  Young and old alike revel in different ways with it, but enjoy it all the same. I was digging in a side patch of garden, and saw something gray scurry by.  It wasn't a mouse, probably a vole, but it instantly sent me in a scream of, "ahhhh!!!! get it! get it!"  which instantly made everyone run close, but alas within those .025 seconds, it had run off to locations unknown.  Honestly, it was hilarious, exciting and a bit unnerving wondering where it went and how it might affect the future of the garden.  However, now the kids are armed with a story of "something gray and furry lurks in this corner" in addition to the stories they make up about the "bunny rabbit that lives under the deck". 

 Upon seeing mommy digging in the dirt, they all grabbed shovels and followed suit.  Even the neighbor's nephew came over to get his shoes muddied (much to his mother's dismay).  Everytime they upturned another shovelful, I'd hear excited yells of "wormies! WORMIES!!!!"  and "ROLY POLY!"   sometimes a wonder filled "It's cute."  The wee ones were busy digging their own stories.

The little 3 yr olds shovelling dirt.  I told them the bucket was full and the contents were not retaining, but they threw caution to the wind and piled on the dirt!  Little scamps!  When I asked what the peanut shells were for, they replied "food for the worms".   Ha...!

Checking for more worms or roly polies.

And here I am on the other side of the house turning in the compost, and leaves with the soil. 
I guess even at this age, finding big worms is exciting.  The only difference is I just smile and keep it to myself... that is unless I find a ginormous one.  Then it calls for "AAAAAAA!! Kids!!! GIANT WORMIE!"  and the fountain of youth goes on.

Addendum to the backyard and Dream Orchard

So we meet again, springtime.

Last weekend, I spent some hours painting the backyard fence.  The girls and I went to Home Depot to see what colors were in the OOPS PAINT shelf.  There happened to be a dented can of "house and fence paint" for $7, and it was not yet tinted.  SCORE!  I let the girls pick what color our fence should be, and they gave varied answers from blue to black.  We settled on a chestnut, and so it was tinted.

Fast forward a few hours, and the white primer is on the fence, and the tendinitis is kicking in.  Wow, hey, the fence sure looks good white.  I should just leave it.  Why change perfection, y'know!?
Since we bought the can of Chestnut, I negotiated with myself to paint the posts Chestnut.
I also bought a package of eye screws, and every single post (8' apart) will have an eye screw put into it.

  It aint much, but it's home ^____________^
also: you can see that I don't have a big back yard at all.

Then, I'll plant a red, black, or yellow raspberry at the bottom of every post.  I'm hoping that'll be some way to tame them, and keep them a relative distance from one another. 

Speaking of taming the shrew... er shrub, I saw at my buddy Ed's house, he twists the stems together so the raspberry or blackberry plant is a freestanding tower.  Pretty cool!  Knowledge is power, kids!

Ah knowledge, let's use that segue to discuss MidFEx.   

I found out about MidFEx a couple years ago while googling home orchards.  It's a community of very knowledgeable gardeners who are deeply involved in grafting, pruning, and most importantly experimental fruit trees.  That means, raising natives and rare species, grafting/root stocks, or making five fruits on one tree.  I'm sure there's a great deal more to glean that just those topics, but I will soon find out, for I am sending in my membership monies on the morrow.  I can't wait to learn how to graft and prune my way to gardening greatness!  Case in point, the neighbor's crab apple tree has sent a sucker underground to my side of the fence. While at first, I was somewhat annoyed and planned to chop/dig it out, I thought...woah woah wait!  I could totally graft apple scions to that crab-apple root stock.  HELL YES!   That would be SO PUNK! So guerrilla grafting! So.... aaaawesome! ::evil cackle::  yes, yes, it's all coming to plan swimmingly.

Lending a Hand to Neighbors. Friendship and Urban Homesteading

A few weeks ago, I've had the pleasure of meeting two really nice people.
Aaron and Sam. Two urban homesteaders who also live in my village.

They also operate Oschner Farms which showcases heirloom vegetables, and rare tobaccos.  They had a traditional CSA last year which produced hundreds of pounds of organic and local kale, onions, juicy summer tomatoes, kohlrabi, eggplants and many more.  I had the pleasure of seeing their land and some overwintered vegetables while visiting their farm last weekend.

A photo from last year's CSA baskets from Oschner Farms.

 Since meeting them, we have completely hit it off like kindred spirits of the farming sort.  That being said, one thing we homesteaders do exceptionally well is lend a hand.  Aaron was in the midst of a large ramp harvest, and had thousands of seedlings that needed transplanting.  I told him I would love to give them a hand, and bring the whole fam over.  Through conversation, it became known that Aaron and Sam were good cooks with actual restaurant culinary experience.

Then, I told him I could bring even more hands to lighten the load if there was food involved.
IT IS WRITTEN, SO IT SHALL BE DONE!  In conclusion, last Sunday we went over to Oschner farms and transplanted seedlings with Sam while Aaron was harvesting ramps. 

Aaron in the midst of a ramp harvesting frenzy

Meanwhile back at the ranch... quite literally.

The kids, and our good buddies were transplanting seedlings from seedling tray to 4" pots with popsicle sticks.  When the seedling trays were brought out, my daughter Momsi said "Are those peppers?"

Sam exclaimed, "yes!" and complimented Momsi on her ability to identify seedlings.

                                    

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Proud Momma Moment:
THAT'S MY BABY!!!!!!!!
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This may or may not be correct form, but the vermiculite mix was too crumbly to remove an entire cell. The seed starter mix was a combination of Vermiculite, peat, and magical sea goodies. Either way, the art of transplanting seedlings with popsicle sticks is a method I've seen even in 1970's gardening books. 

This was a long lost art form in revival, I'm telling you!

Here is a picture of the pots we filled, and transplanted.

It worked out swimmingly. Good friendships were made that day with some very good people.

 By the time Aaron had come back from ramping, we were all out of pots, and ready for the much anticipated dinner of smoked pork shoulder on pretzel buns (with a chipotle raspberry BBQ sauce), and rainbow cole slaw.  They even made us some potato soup with shittake mushrooms and ramps. All made from scratch!  It was a nice warm up from working in the brisk weather.