A Holistic Approach

Howdy all!! Been a busy week here, with what feels like almost nothing done.

Some plants got sown indoors this week, including the rosemary, Stevia, cauliflower, cabbage, and some peppermint. The broccoli seedlings are about 5-6
inches tall and have been transplanted to larger containers, and placed in the laundry room with the tomatoes. We have cabbage and cauliflower poking their headsthrough the ground as we speak. And Zen's cucumber plant and mammoth sunflower are doing quite well downstairs.

*Mom is not happy about him growing a sunflower. She hates them almost with the fury designated only for tater tots*

Two of our Roma tomato plants have grown their first two true leaves, and are starting the hardening-off process. Our money plant got sown outdoors, in the front by the garage. And our seed potatoes continue to chit outside during the day. The eyes are definitely coming along. I noticed that one of our peony bushes broke its back under the weight of the last frost. I will stake it and hope it recovers.

Also, my project for today, outside of schoolwork, is to empty the planter in front and bring it to the back yard. Not fun at all. It is a beautiful day out, though, so that makes it more pleasant.

I am worried, that buying the end-of-season onions from the bargain bin at Woodley's may not have been a good idea. They are almost all sprouting in the bag. I will plant them anyway, and we will see. This process needs to be learning-focused at this point. I cannot invest in an end product, because I don't have the knowledge or experience to build upon. I need to take this initial time to learn my garden, to make mistakes andfind solutions. Then, when I know how things work, I can become emotionally invested in outcomes.

Additionally, I have been having a lot of stress. About the garden, school, Zen, my health, you name it. So, I am beginning a project to refocus my mind in a constructive and creative way. Essentially, it is a binder with pages of projects that I want to do in it. Anything I want, crafts from magazines, art inspiration, homemade furniture, soap, textiles. It is a project binder. And when I am stressed out, or bored, I find a project and do it. That way I have a productive way to refocus my thoughts and energy that is not self-destructive. Plus, it keeps me creatively active. And sometime soon, I would like to start a letter-writing campaign that I dreamt up. Every day, I would take time to write a letter to someone telling them how great they are, and how important they have been in my life. It is, for me, a project that makes me come to term with this giant webof support and influence that I have. It forces me to be grateful and to spread messages of love and appreciation. I think part of my homesteading journey must include creative, artistic and emotional endeavors like these. I think to be wholly self-sufficient, that I must acknowledge the emotional and creative resources in my life, and to do my part to keep them healthy and replenished. As well as the resources I use in others.

So, this journey that began with food production has shifted and is now a process of becoming whole. (and not lazy) I am on a quest to not just contribute on a superficial level, but to devote my life to glorifying God through giving back to this planet and the people on it more than I take. At this point, I have spent my entire life taking, and now I intend to spend the rest of it paying back the kindness, generousity, love, inspiration, and support that has been so freely given to me without question.

he told me that he sees it...

So, tonight Richard and I were in Zen's room, looking out his window (which faces the back yard) and he told me that he really was beginning to see the garden coming together. It felt good. I have been in this place where it just seems like item after item that needs to get done, leaving me carrying the weight of stress and worry on my shoulders. I worry that the beds won't get done, or we won't be able to get soil on time. I worry that for some reason the seedlings will all die, and I will have to buy started plants this Spring. I worry that when everything is built and filled and planted that it will still be a mess. I worry that nothing will grow, or I will have such a slew of problems that we will get almost nothing out of it, and the investment will be for nothing. I worry that if this fails, I will lose one of the first things I felt I ever truly knew about myself.

But in the face of that worry, there is no choice but to move forward. To greet those possibilities for failure and mess, and poor timing with open arms. Maybe they will be afraid of me and flee...

Today, I noticed some of the new bell pepper seeds shooting out roots. I am hoping that means a bunch of new seedlings will follow. I also planted 5 pods of cauliflower which leaves us one to lose. Rosemary also got planted today. I am pretty sure I will need to buy another pack of seeds, as I know the plan calls for large quantities of the major herbs. I am prepared to shift stuff around if I need to, but am trying to stick as closely to the original plan. I feel like the plan is my only margin of control right now.

I am slowly but surely getting the compost pile moved over. It is so frustrating that I find myself avoiding doing it. But I know it will get done.

Today, I planted the bleeding heart by the apple tree. I also bought a honeysuckle, but haven't planted it because I am not sure where I want them to go. Ideas are welcome.

I keep imagining the trees grown in, the lavender along the back fence large and filled in, the nasturtium, morning glories, jasmine, sweet pea, and climbing flowers all over the fence. Hollyhocks guarding the corners. The vegetables filling the beds, and flowers covering the ground everywhere you look. I get especially excited to see everything fruiting or in bloom. I want to learn what their flowers look like, and how to tell by sight and touch when things are ripe. I want to go out in the evening and smell the plants all around me as fireflies flicker.

Maybe the hope and the daydreaming is what gets me through shoveling sod, or tilling in the cold. Not to mention the investment financially. I am still brainstorming ways to regain the money. So far my favorites are arts and craft items and selling produce. I think I could set myself apart by growing unique and heirloom varieties. I have not found a source for them here yet. All in all, the hard part is that before I can market anything, I need to see how much our garden does make, and how much of it we use.

I can't wait until spring. I just can not wait. I doubt I will ever be inside when the weather gets warm.

Lowe's Inspiration!

So, the weather today was much nicer than it has been in quite a while. Richard and I hit up Lowe's today, after picking Zen up from school just to see if there is anything new in the garden department. And boy, there was!! We ended up getting some potatoes. This year we will be growing Freedom Russet, Yukon Gold, and Adirondack Blue. I set them out to chit as soon as we got home. I also grabbed some seed garlic, seeds, and organic plant food for the blueberries.

I got excited and went home and started cleaning up the planting areas in preparation for Spring. I cut all the old foliage and threw it in the compost. (which is another story in itself right now) I removed all the frost sheets, and replaced the drip hose that runs along the back fence and pinned it down.

About the compost, this year I failed miserably. When we removed all that sod this year, I threw it in the compost bin. However, it carried a lot of sand in it, and was quite root bound, and as a result it choked out the bin. The sand settled and made air unable to circulate, and the weight of the sod, compressed it even more. As a result, nothing could decompose, or therefore heat up. and I couldn't aerate it, or empty it, with this big compressed mass at the bottom. So, it froze, and I ended up having to disassemble the bin, and am now scattering the contents in the bottom of the beds to be covered with newspaper before filling them with Dixie Mix. That way, we can buy a spinning composter, and start fresh. However, it is almost impossible to shovel the contents of the old compost bin into the wheelbarrow to disperse because it is largely clumps of sod bound together and then all of it is frozen in the center. So we have this pile of ugliness in the corner until it thaws. And when it does thaw, I will have to shift it into the wheelbarrow by hand (fun).

And then I went, with a new packet of seeds, and did a new planting of bell peppers. So, hopefully we will get a good germination rate on these ones. Zen took great joy in planting his own set with me. I also took the 3 pepper seedlings and put them in with the tomatoes in the larger containers in the laundry room. Richard and I got all the "magical" celery seedlings out of the broccoli pods, where we now have 4-5 new seedlings. (welcome to the world)

I am hoping to get some dirt to start filling the beds soon. I don't know when it will be possible for that to happen. While I was outside working I got a very real understanding that I need to get on removing that sod along the back fence. Actually, I need to get on the task of newspapering and digging out the excess.

Anyway, I have school stuff to do now. Good gardening!

The Peppers are Hiding and other news...

Temp: 36* F
Humidity: 70%
Feels Like: 33* F
Wind: WNW 3mph

So, here on the homestead we got about 4" of snow, and Zen's school was cancelled for an entire week. Needless to say, with the weather (as laughable as it was) little work outside got done. Inside is about what I consider par for the course.

I moved the seedlings upstairs because it is significantly warmer up there, and the soil felt cooler than it should be down here. We currently have 24 tomato plants sitting on top of the dryer, 12 Roma and 12 Mortgage Lifter. I will choose the hardiest plants to go into the garden come spring. We have 3 Bell Pepper plants doing quite well. I am concerned, because I don't see any signs that the others are germinating. In the garden plan, we have 9 bell pepper plants, and I don't want to have to supplement that many from a nursery. I went to reseed the bells, in case the cold downstairs caused some seed damage, but only had 4 seeds left. I may have to buy another pack. If I do, I will need to do it soon. Currently none of the hot peppers have poked through yet. I thinned the celery to one plant per pod, leaving us with 18 celery plants. I also sowed the eggplant at 3 seeds per pod this week. No sign of the jasmine either. That is sad for me. I keep hoping that in time, they will all just come up like a blitz, peppers, jasmine and everything. I will keep you up to date as to how the seedlings are doing, be sure.

If our plum tree does not show any signs of growth or life this Spring, I am considering trying to exchange it (or cut our losses and replace it) with a "fruit cocktail" tree in its place. We have had really good results with the two grafted trees we currently have (they are our most vigorous). The fruit cocktail tree has plums (to replace those lost ripping out the plum tree), apricots, nectarines and peaches. Plus, they are self-fertile. I am thinking that more than likely that this is what will end up happening. However, I will have to wait until fall to plant it, so we will lose out on this season of growth. Our staples will be apples, pears, and cherries, though so I am not worried. We have time.

I am loving January though. I have gotten a stack of seed and plant catalogs as thick as a phone book, and have taken great joy in curling up in a hot bath paging through them. The one I want to let you know about right now is Farmer Seed Company, from where it looks like we will be placing our next order. I am so disappointed with Burgess. I have sent 3 emails, all with no response, regarding plants that arrived dead. I am not trying to insinuate that the quality of plants was inferior, as most things we ordered are doing quite well. My concern is with the warranty, and trying to get ahold of someone within the company. It is enough at this point for me to discontinue my business with them unless some reason is made clear as to why I have been ignored for the last 2 months.

We still don't have any potatoes, sweet potatoes, or enough garlic (among other things) that need to be ordered relatively soon. And I had really wanted to have the raspberries growing this season for mom. So that is something that needs to happen soon.

I am also brainstorming ways to make money, especially using the garden. I feel like it would justify all the expense that we have had to front to get this off the ground. I am really toying with the idea of getting a booth at the farmers' markets (probably not this year, but next) and selling produce, flowers, baked goods, and garden-related crafts. Missy told me her next door neighbor had a bumper crop of apples from their tree this year, and gave her 2 trash cans full of their excess. If we get any kind of yields similar to that, the farmers' markets could be viable.

I have been working through some Williams-Sonoma cookbooks, with very pleasant results. Tonight we had a lemon curd bar that was well worth making from scratch. (Or "with scratch" as Zen says) I think I may start sharing those with you on here. They will be posted as a separate entry than the homesteading updates. I will try to group about a handful of them with pictures, and let you know how they turned out.

**On another topic, I start nursing school on Tuesday, so you will see a lot of my time being diverted to tat venture, as well as some discussion as it pertains to the homestead**

Accomplishment

Temp: 49*
Humidity: 33%
Feels like: 41*
Wind: W@25mph

I cannot believe that it has been a week since my last post! A lot has changed and gotten done here on the "homestead", or so it feels to me nonetheless.

We have made some investments and gotten some construction projects done, in addition to welcoming some new plants into the world.

We currently have 24 tomato seedlings that look strong and healthy. We have about 54 little celery seedlings that are still tiny, but vigorous. And 3 bell pepper plants have poked their heads through the dirt this week. We have 8 heads of garlic growing with foliage about a foot tall. Also, we planted 6 jalapeno plants and 6 ancho pepper plants yesterday.

About the garlic: we were able to sprout heads using cloves from grocery-store organic garlic. I don't know yet as to whether the cloves will turn into bulbs, but we will see. It is my thought that if they are able to sprout, and grow significant foliage, and develop strong root systems (which they are) then they should also likely produce. I have read the warnings against using store garlic (which is not bred for disease resistance or anything) but at 5-10 bucks a bulb for gardener's garlic we just can't afford to plant our garlic crop entirely from those sources. I haven't yet found a source to buy garlic in bulk.

I have found, however, a few sites to buy bulk garden seeds, which for crops that we are growing a lot of, and that are sown in succession every two weeks (like peas, beans...). I think this is something I will consider for future years! It dramatically cuts costs for those quantities for sure. Additionally I found a source for rare, and non-traditional herbs and flowers. I am slightly apprehensive because this company also sells opium poppies, ephedra plants, and other highly regulated and/or toxic plants. It made me slightly nervous to say the least. However their herb selection is unparalleled.

Today, the bed for the corn, peas, beans and curcurbits was built. On the calendar for today was to buy more soil, but financially we are unable to do that and get the bed constructed. So to me, getting the bed built took priority.

In other news, the Dervaes farm pulled just over 7,000 lbs of produce out of their yard this last year. Congratulations for them!

I was planning on digging out the sod along the back fence, but haven't gotten that done yet, so I feel slightly behind. I am sure I will catch up though!

Talk to you all soon!

I missed you too!

Sorry for the lapse in posts. I got the flu, and with the holidays I was pretty much useless.

Temp: 61*
Feels Like: 61*
Humidity: 93%
Wind: 0

At this point, almost all the tomato seeds have sprouted, and are approx. 2 inches tall. Celery is following suit, however is only a few millimeters tall, maybe around a centimeter on average. I see one bell pepper seed about to stick its little head through the ground, possibly tomorrow. But at this point, no pepper sprouts. Also, no change in the Jasmine either. Those were planted later, though, so I am not worried. With the tomatoes and celery, it looks like the seeds have almost a 100% germination rate. I put 3 tomato seeds in each pod, and all of them seem to be growing. I did thin a few out to the strongest seedling, though, so there isn't competition for nutrients.

On Christmas, I was cooking and discovered our garlic was sprouting, so I planted the remainder of the cloves (four of them). They are already 6-7 inches tall, and so today I planted 4 more from another bulb. The root development looks good. If this works, against strong garden advice, I may plant our entire garlic crop from store-bought organic garlic this year.

I have gone over the garden map and added the areas where flowers will be planted. Except for the flowers that will be used to attract/repel/confuse bugs which will be combined in a distribution spreader and scattered throughout the back yard. The combination I have decided to be in this mixture are as follows: marigolds, nasturtiums, calendula, borage, nicotania, geranium, chives, tansy, yarrow. Possibly to be added to this mix: chrysanthemum, coreopsis, annd oregano.

I just plotted out circular areas on top of the garden plan I uploaded earlier and designated them for specific flowers. I plan to essentially string up an improvised lattice along the entire fence in the back yard to allow climbing flowers to cover it as completely as possible.

On another topic, I got a calendar from my mom for Christmas and am using it to plot out day by day tasks in the garden. I filled it as well as I could at this point. I will need to observe when items in the garden mature to be able to have any idea about harvest dates. So those are not included. I also cannot predict troubleshooting issues that will need to be done.

However, during my downtime from being sick I managed to create a couple spreadsheets that will be used to track how much we are harvesting and to keep notes on garden walkthroughs. If anyone wants to use them let me know and I will be happy to send them.

I have decided to plant whatever we currently have the seeds for on schedule. Any that we are missing by April I will buy started from the garden center. That is the best way that I can figure out to do it. I will do my best to get seeds to use next year over the course of this season. Aside from that, I am out of news for now....