Another (Sub)Urban Homestead

What Ever Happened to the Another (Sub)Urban Homestead Blog?

2011-01-27T21:57:00.000-08:00

The homestead is still in progress, but we have since opened the Petaluma Pie Company across town. We use some of our homestead produce as well as organic and local whenever possible. Check out our website and blog to see what is going on.

Figs Finally

2010-10-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

We have three fig trees. One was bought last year and is a Conadria Fig, which is green with pink flesh and very sweet and delicious. We have been getting one at a time until the other day when we got a whole handful! Last year we also planted one of many cuttings I made. This was the only one that lived and I thought it came from a tree we found in our house hunting, but now that it has fruit, I think it might be from a dwarf black mission fig we grew in a pot at our old place. The figs were always dry and pithy with no flavor, but this is in the ground with plenty of water and is a vigorous grower. The figs are sweet and juicy, but still have a hint of green. Still not sure the exact type, but maybe we will find out one day. Meanwhile, Desert King, which we bought and planted this year has figs, but they are far from ripe. Hopefully the nice weather will continue long enough to ripen them.

In a couple of years, we should get more figs than we can eat, but right now, I can't get quite enough.

Autumn is here?

2010-09-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Another month or more has lapsed since I last posted anything. I have been busy. I have taken a bunch of pictures of garden activities, though and will quickly update the progress here. After a very cold summer, it got very warm a couple of weeks ago. All of the tomatoes (early or not) ripened at the same time. They were covered with Agribon, as was the okra and kiwano melon. We also got eggplant, peppers, corn, strawberries, summer squash and winter squash. This picture shows just a small portion of our harvest.

I removed a lot of the tomato plants last week to make room for more garden boxes and now I am kicking myself because the temperature is in the 90s again and will be for most of the week. I still have some other tomatoes in the ground so they can take advantage of the heat. And the okra and kiwano melon are still growing under Agribon. I harvested some okra and it was really good, but did not get very much. The kiwano made a couple of fruits and I couldn't resist picking one before it was ripe, so the flavor was disappointing. I am hoping the heat will turn some fruits the proper orange color soon.

Here is an okra flower. The okra is related to hibiscus.

Here is the harvest. Okra, kiwano and asian pear.

Fourth and Sea Produce Swap

2010-08-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to the 4th and C produce swap, which happens outside the very good fish and chips place called "Fourth and Sea". I brought some of my volunteer spaghetti squash and armenian cucumbers which grew to enormous sizes overnight.

Here is Ann Heatly, who started the swap. Find them on the facebook or at swapproduce.com

And then

2010-07-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

I keep trying to grow okra, which is challenging here because it is not hot and humid and it is almost always in the 50s at night. Lately it has been cold during the day as well. I am trying to help the okra along with agribon fabric.

Also under the fabric is kiwano or horned melon. The melon has not made a single flower, though our crane melon and cucumbers have been flowering and fruiting. August is just around the corner. It could get to be over 100 degrees or it could stay chilly. The okra is about to flower.

So C-C-Cold-d-d-d!

2010-07-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

It is easy to blog when you are blogging all the time, but I fell out of the habit and no longer feel like a blogger.

So much food has grown and it was even warm before, but now it is so cold. It is the end of July and as I write it is evening and 54 degrees. It got into the mid-70s today. I have tomatoes trying to get ripe and okra and melons trying to grow. I heard we are on target to have the warmest July on record and people are roasting all over but it is so chilly here.

Anyhow, to recap the past while, I had some volunteer squash come up very early. It looks like spaghetti squash but it tastes much sweeter. That's right, I already have winter squash. I have a bunch of strange squashes that must have come out of the compost. I took some pictures, but can't find them, but that is ok, because we also had:
potatoes and beets and carrots and onions and garlic and basil and greens and stuff, some of which can be seen here.

And then after that we had basil and made pesto. Some pesto went on pasta salad and some went in the freezer for later.

and so on.

USDA and the facts

2010-07-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

I know months have gone by since I have posted here and I have tons of pictures of all the veggies I have grown, but I have been too busy with stuff and things to post anything. But now I am angry at how the government once again takes quick decisive action on the wrong things. While the company formerly known as Blackwater continues to get government contracts, BP continues to get military contracts and so on...

In case you have not heard about the story of Shirley Sherrod read here.

Or just google Shirley Sherrod. I am not going to get into the whole story, but in a nutshell, a right wing website posted an excerpt of a speech given to the NAACP by USDA official Shirley Sherrod who is African American. The speech is about how she overcame her own feelings of prejudice after her father was killed by the KKK and helped a white farmer keep his farm while working for a non-profit many years ago. The clip that was posted appeared to show her "admitting" to withholding help from a white farmer due to his race. Fox news aired it over and over and the USDA quickly fired her. The NAACP also condemned her without first talking with her and has since apologized. The USDA is re-considering their actions now that the full video has surfaced.

I think that Tom Vilsack should offer his own resignation.

Here is what I wrote at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?edeployment_action=changenav&navid=FEEDBACK_FORM

I am writing to urge you to offer Shirley Sherrod her job back. It seems to me that you are taking longer to re-consider the situation than you did to ask for her resignation without knowing all of the facts. This rush to action without full consideration of the facts is deeply troubling. I would urge you to consider offering your own resignation in light of this very unfortunate incident.

Kimchi

2010-05-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

After many misfires over the years, we finally got a good solid crop of daikon.

So I looked online for daikon kimchi recipes and cobbled together what I thought was the best of them. I didn't write it down, so this is from memory. First, I peeled and cut the daikon into chunks and soaked them in a quart of water that had two tablespoons of salt dissolved in it. While they were soaking, I put about 10- 15 cloves of garlic, a thumb sized or bigger piece of ginger, some fish sauce, two tablespoons of salt, two tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 cup of chili powder into a food processor and made a paste. After the daikon had soaked for a couple of hours, I drained it and mixed it with this paste. Then I placed it in a large jar, alternately adding layers of mustard greens and green onions (also from the garden). I covered this loosely (so it wouldn't explode) and let it sit at room temperature for a few days before putting it in the fridge.

This kimchi is not very spicy for some reason. I think the daikon we planted was relatively mild and the chili powder must have been also. Still, it is a delicious companion to rice and other food. We have some more daikon in the ground, so I am looking forward to making another batch.

So much food already

2010-05-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

It looks like I am dropping to once or twice a month for this blog. It is not because there is nothing going on. There is so much going on, I don't get around to blogging. We have been pushing really hard to get the Arroyo Community Garden up and running and we are pretty darned close. There is now a blog for that garden, so I will probably not talk about it too much here any more.

In other news, over the past several weeks, we have been harvesting the following food:

350 Garden Challenge

2010-04-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

Weeks have gone by but I have been too busy gardening and working on the community garden and other things like work to post anything here. There are all kinds of garden opportunities comming up. Here in Sonoma County, there is an effort to get 350 gardens going on the weekend of May 15-16. There is a pretty broad definition of gardens so anything can count, whether it is a window sill garden, a community garden, a residential garden, etc. It can be a brand new garden or new work on an existing one. iGROW is the place to go to register. You can sign up your own garden or volunteer to help someone else's. In other garden challenge news, the Victory Garden Foundation in Oakland is also doing the 350 Garden Challenge.

Also, if you live nearby there is a meeting this Wednesday at the Baker Creek Seed Bankfrom 7pm to 9pm Phone (707)509-5171 199 Petaluma Blvd. North Petaluma, CA 94952

I will be working on my own garden as well as the Arroyo Community Garden that weekend. We had a workday on April 17th, shown here:

Another one is scheduled for May 1st.

Pickled Eggs

2010-04-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

If you have more eggs than you can eat right away, why not pickle them? We happened to have just that problem. Sometimes we give them away, but I like pickled eggs and I happened to also have a bunch of beets. I steamed the beets and hard boiled the eggs. In a pot I cooked water, vinegar, salt and a tiny bit of sugar. I put them all into a jar and put the jar in the fridge. A week or so later and they make the perfect Easter egg.

Of course, we get Easter eggs every day from our chickens.

Fava Bee-n

2010-04-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

Dig For Victory

2010-03-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

My sister just sent me a link to this video.

Dig it.

Fava Beans

2010-03-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

I planted fava beans as a cover crop in the fall. I couldn't wait for beans to mature before turning under 2/3 of the plants, but I left a patch to keep growing. They have been blooming for a long time now, but not beaning. Finally beans are forming. Not sure how long it will take before we can eat them. We have been eating the greens, which are pretty tasty.

Compost Tea 2.0 Solar Powered

2010-03-23T23:48:00.000-07:00

Years ago I bought a small solar panel and charge controller but they sat around and I never put them to use. I want to make compost tea on a regular basis and I don't want extension cord to a fish tank air pump for the 48 hours or so you need to bubble it. So I went to an auto parts sore and got a deep cycle battery and a battery box. I found a device called "Power Bubbles" for keeping fish alive on your boat when you are fishing, It runs on 12 V DC and uses very little electricity. I hooked up the solar panel to the charge controller and the charge controller to the battery. Power Bubbles came with clamps to connect to the battery terminals. Everything fits in or on the battery box. Power Bubbles can drive two tubes with air stones, so I was able to use two 5- gallon buckets.

The picture at the top shows some compost tied into a piece of cheesecloth but I also have recently made a worm bin. My neighbor told me that the CVS sells red wigglers as bait so I went over there and found the fridge that contained containers of red wigglers. I had an old plastic storage bin and some nylon screen and drilled holes in the bin, lined it with screen and fillied it with compost from the regular compost bin, rice hulls and worms.

The worm bin sits on top of a 5 gallon bucket.

When you water the bin to keep it moist, it drains worm compost tea. I added that to my solar powered compost tea bubbler along with some molasses and kelp.

Solar powered compost tea. I have made one batch and am working on the next. The bubbler has been going 24 hours a day for several days now.

Good News?

2010-03-13T21:46:00.000-08:00

Attorney General Eric Holder abd USDA chief, Tom Vilsack have announced that their agencies are working together to enforce antitrust laws in the agriculture sector. I hope this is good news. They will be going after companies like Monsanto who monopolize the seed and chemical business. Pretty soon generic biotech seeds will become available as patents expire for things like Round Up Ready corn. Does this mean that we can see the percentage of biotech crops grown in the US increase from where they are now? I can't wait. Generic GMOs.

Of course, this quaint step towards enforcing the law will mean nothing if we do not amend the Constitution to reverse the "Citizens United" Supreme Court decision. Chris Dodd introduced an amendment but I think it is too narrow. It focuses on the ability of Congress to pass laws restricting campaign spending. I prefer the Move to Amend approach, which is to say that money is not speech and corporations are not persons.

The Last Kabocha

2010-03-10T19:12:00.000-08:00

The other day I noticed that we still had one kabocha squash that we harvested last fall. We have been growing this variety from saved seed from a squash a friend gave us. Since it had been sitting around for so many months we were not so sure it was still good. So I cut it open and it smelled fresh and delicious.

I used half the squash to make a coconut curry with greens, pea shoots and snow peas.

Close Call

2010-03-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

It is a little hard to see in this blurry picture but the lighter sections on the mulch on the ground is frost. It wasn't supposed to be that cold. Spring is here and everything is growing new tender growth including frost damaged plants like avocado and citruses. Fortunately the rain must have protected the plants and there was no damage. In case you don't live here, the coldest winter night time temperatures are in the low to mid twenties. Daytime temps never stay below freezing beyond the early morning. More rain tonight and 46 degrees right now, so I am crossing my fingers and not covering trees out there.

More Broccoli

2010-03-02T08:30:00.000-08:00

Before this gets too boring...
I harvested this romanesco broccoli head last week after it fell over during a rain storm. It was over 4 and a half pounds. I gave some of it to my neighbors and we had at least three meals with it.

Hoop House Folly

2010-03-01T12:48:00.000-08:00

OK, it is not a hoop house, it is more like a rectangle. I thought I was really smart, making this mostly out of scrap PVC pipes. I covered it with Agribon fabric and put my starts in there. It was noticeably warmer inside immediately.

But then the rain and wind came and it all came crashing down.

I have switched back to a tented garden shelf for my tomatoes and eggplants.

And inside, things are growing and staying warmer.

Is spring in the air?

2010-02-26T20:56:00.000-08:00

I am on the east coast at the moment, just south of a bunch of snow. There is still snow on the ground outside this hotel. Once again, I have let quite a bit of time go by without updating the blog. That doesn't mean we have not been updating the homestead. We have had some more rain in California, which is needed. In between rain, we got some things planted and some other things are showing signs of life. To the left is new growth on the loganberry. We expect to get some actual berries from it this year. We also planted some more strawberries, which we should get this year.

We also planted thornless blackberries and thornless red raspberries as well as 2 elderberry bushes. We will probably not get any berries this year, but next year will be a berry good year. In other fruity news, we planted 2 paw paw trees and the multigraft plum tree is blossoming, along with the blueberry bushes.

Nuclear loan guarantees

2010-02-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not talking about my garden so much, but some things just set me off. How about this? The Obama administration is proposing $54 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants. Compare this to the paltry $3-5 billion in loan guarantees for energy efficiency AND renewable energy. Is this the change you can believe in?

Safe nuclear power = 93 million miles away in space. It provides solar, wind, biofuels, etc.

We have not solved the waste problem, the radiation problem or the terrorism problem. Loan guarantees are needed because the market has decided nuclear power plants are too risky.

He did say he was for nuclear power during the campaign. I'm just saying...

Jeeeeez....

Romanesco Broccoli

2010-02-01T14:10:00.000-08:00

Back in August I planted romanesco broccoli. It grew and grew and grew and grew but never brocc'd. I was ready to give up hope but it is winter and not much else is growing, so I left it. I have finally gotten a few heads starting in January.

It is a difficult to predict variety, as the heads are forming ever so slowly over the course of two months, but it is delicious and satisfying to have in the middle of winter.

One of them got so big and top heavy that it fell over and had to be staked up.

Just started seeds of regular broccoli for spring.

State of the Union

2010-01-28T09:34:00.000-08:00

The President delivered his State of the Union Address last night and a few things jumped out at me.

Dear President Obama,

You mentioned in your speech "building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants" and continued investment in "clean coal". I sincerely hope you know better and are just saying these things to throw a bone to the right wing. But I am troubled by the idea of government investment in these technologies. No insurance company will fully insure nuclear power plants so we need the government to provide that protection through the Price-Anderson Act and investors are unwilling to take the risk on them so the government also subsidizes them. Add to this the fact that nuclear power plants are terrorism targets, mining, transporting and enriching radioactive materials is hazardous and we still do not know how to dispose of this clean, plentiful, safe fuel. It also does not matter if you can burn coal in a "clean" way if we continue to blow up mountains and destroy communities and waterways to get the coal in the first place. Coal cannot be clean.

On health care, you said, " if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know." How about allowing all Americans to buy into Medicare? This wasn't even on the table?

Trade. No politician is ever specific enough to spell out what they mean by trade policy. Put "trade" and "jobs" together and it sounds OK. Sure, we should make more "goods" that people around the world want to buy. I wonder what you mean by " we will strengthen our trade relations in Asia and with key partners like South Korea, Panama, and Colombia." What is "key" about these partners, besides that they are super close to the US and right wing?

Not mentioned in the speech was the utter failure of the US to resolve the coup in Honduras. The former president there is being exiled to the Dominican Republic while the coup leaders are getting all charges dropped.

You mentioned the shocking decision by the Supreme Court, "Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests - including foreign corporations - to spend without limit in our elections." but instead of demanding a serious rebuttal to it like... a constitutional amendment, you call for earmark reform and urged "Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong." A bill can be overturned in the courts. We need an amendment and we need the President to lead on this.

Then there was the "spending freeze". I don't know what to make of this, except you are trying to curry favor with Republicans. Please understand this. They hate you. Senator Jon Kyl told NPR's Steve Inskeep "I don't think the American people want a whiner who says, 'Woe is me.' It was a terrible situation, and more than a year after he was sworn in, he's still complaining about the Bush administration,"

Mr. President, you are very smart and a good speaker. Much of what you said was good. I do not agree with all of your policies, but I want to support you. It is time to lead and throw your weight around. If Republicans want to filibuster everything, Democrats are going to have to grow a spine. I thank you for saying, "To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills." Republicans were able to get almost everything they wanted with a very slim majority under Bush. Democrats were cowed by the "nuclear option" threat to end the filibuster and as a result we have Justices Roberts and Alito, whose activism threatens to end America as we know it with last week's supreme court ruling.

There is a lot of work to be done in this country. According to charts and graphs I have seen, it is not as bad as it might have been. I will accept that you have done what you think is the right thing and that it has largely helped. The "recovery" is far from complete. It is difficult to see the light when you are still near the bottom of a hole. I hope you can bring some of the opposition along, but so far, it has not worked. It is their way or no way. You have the will of the majority behind you. Don't be fooled by the Massachussets special election into thinking that Americans don't like health care reform or they want Democrats to be more like Republicans. People are disappointed because you are so "centrist" like another popular president named Clinton. People are disappointed because big business continues to write the rules. People are disappointed because banks still will not renegotiate mortgages. I think you know. I think you understand. Now come on and fight for the people. Stop disappointing.

Thank you,

Angelo Sacerdote
Concerned Citizen

The Floodgates

2010-01-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

We've been getting all kinds of rain here, but the Supreme Court has just opened the floodgates of corporate cash with their radical ruling last week. In a series of leaps of logic, they have equated corporate rights with citizens rights and political spending with first amendment protected speech. If there are limits to free speech, such as shouting, "fire" in a crowded theater, there should be limits to "speech" that strangles and murders democracy. A single major corporation could easily outspend every national political campaign with just a fraction of their profits. Imagine 100 major corporations influencing elections. I don't know about you, but I don't have endless money to contribute to political campaigns to fight all this money. I also have trouble understanding why "free speech" should cost so much money.

I have long been a proponent of public financing of elections. Money in politics affects every issue you can think of from agricultural policy to energy policy, health care policy and foreign policy. I still believe we need this and there is a bill in the Senate called the Fair Elections Now Act. I think it has been kicking around for a couple of years not going anywhere, but now it is the very least we can do and apparently they have a bunch of CEOs who agree. Contact your Senators and tell them to get on the case and pass this bill.

More importantly, however, we need a Constitutional amendment to finally declare that corporations are not persons and are not entitled to the rights of persons. Apparently Arlen Specter tweeted the suggestion, but he says all kinds of things. Public Citizen is proposing a more specific amendment. Freespeechforpeople.org has a proposed amendment, which is a little more to the point and they have also made a video to explain it.

I say, corporations are not citizens and elections ought to be publicly financed. Given the stranglehold corporate money has over the House and Senate already, it will be a long hard fight to get this through. If we can't, maybe we should start applying other laws to corporations, such as the death penalty for murder or even just jail time and take away some of their tax benefits.

Arroyo Community Garden 1st Workday

2010-01-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

After a few months of meetings, we had the first workday for the Arroyo Community Garden at the Living Word Church this Saturday. I shot some time lapse of the work. You should probably watch it full screen. No dramatic digging or building happened, but if you look closely, you can see the stakes and strings which signify where the water lines and walkways will go. Next step is trenching.

Mulch Basin

2010-01-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

Jeez, it's been almost a month since I posted anything. It's not that nothing is going on, I just didn't blog. Now all two of my readers will have forgotten by now. I started this post a while back, before the rain, which is pooling on the clay in the back:

but draining where the mulch basin is:

We have a break from rain so we are taking the opportunity to dig great big holes in the clay soil of the backyard. Last winter, just after we bought this place, I noticed that the drainage out back was pretty slow. After heavy rain, water would sit there on the surface for a while before it would percolate into the ground. I had been reading books like Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond by Brad Lancaster and Create an Oasis with Greywater by Art Ludwig and they both stress the importance of mulch basins.

When I first started thinking about rainwater collection, I imagined having a storage tank holding the water from my roof. While I do plan on doing that (I have already started collecting containers) there is no way I can store the 6000 plus gallons that might run off my roof this year. In fact, I figure if I put a roof over a little more of the chicken coop I could get about 600 gallons from that alone. What these books promote, especially Brad Lancaster's, is harvesting rainwater in the landscape.

A mulch basin is a big hole dug out of the earth that is filled with something like wood chips. If you have a greywater system, you can safely discharge your bath or laundry or sink water into a mulch basin. I heard that the California Plumbing Code was changed, due to emergency water conditions, to allow domestic greywater. In fact, it looks like the city of Petaluma is even promoting it. At any rate, even if you just want to harvest rainwater, a mulch basin seems to be a terrific idea.

We needed to get a couple of stumps removed so I called various tree people. It would be cool and manly to have a chainsaw, but we live in the suburbs and don't need to cut that much wood. For pruning, we have pruning saws and even a reciprocating saw with a pruning blade. A tree service guy came by and gave me an estimate. I also asked about wood chips and he said, no problem. He showed up 2 days later and dumped a few yards of wood chips by the driveway for free. Well that was great, but we never could get him to show up and remove the stumps. I guess it is back to the phone book.

Our yard is fairly flat. There is a very gentle slope, in that is seems like they made the street lower than the houses when they developed this walnut orchard. Due to the poor drainage they put all the houses on little hills, but this must have been a river bed in ancient times. As you may have seen in a recent episode of Chicken Theater, the poor chickens get clay all over their feet when it rains. We have been digging out the basins and creating berms on the sloped areas, to slow the water and encourage percolating rather than runoff. So many people try to get the water to run into the street, but we have been planting a mini orchard and want the water to stay (just away from the house, please). I am hoping that filling the basins with wood chips will help the water to drain deep into the ground. I am also hoping that covering the ground in the chicken area with wood chips will help condition the clay soil and mitigate the clay shoes effect while providing a habitat for worms and other creatures the chickens like to eat. It may take many truckloads of chips. I will keep you posted on whether it makes a difference.

Another side effect of this project is a total body workout. Digging heavy wet clay trenches and basins really works out your abs, upper body and even your legs. I think this will be my workout regimen from now on. Digging holes and moving dirt.

White House Hoop House But..

2009-12-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

Well, we all heard about Michelle Obama and her White House victory garden. I am very proud of her and that. Now they have put up hoop houses for the winter garden. We stumbled upon this because we want to build hoop houses for our summer garden to get better success with tomatoes and okra. We may very well go for winter ones as well. I have a bunch of scrap conduit and PVC pipe. I just need to sort it out and see how much of which I have and then come up with a durable cover material (not clear plastic). If you are curious about the White House hoop houses, here is a video about it.

I am glad the USDA is promoting this idea along with soil conservation, but I keep having these sinking feelings about the Obama administration. Besides the war and the drones and the airstrikes and the lack of leadership on healthcare reform and the coddling of the banks and financial services industry, the food related disappointment is the nomination of Islam A. Siddiqui, a former lobbyist for CropLife, as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator for international trade. This happened a couple of months ago and as near as I can tell it got stalled in the Senate.

Keep an eye on this and remember, the revolving door between industry and government is still very much alive in Obama's America. Don't give up, though. Get active.

Water Bill Progress

2009-12-11T05:06:00.000-08:00

We just got our most recent water bill and our consumption is at an all time low. The water consumption is measured in hundred cubic feet (1 hcf = 748 gallons). We got ours down from 11 hcf last period to 5 hcf this period. It is about a two month period. The average household here is 18 hcf so we are doing better than average, but there are only two of us, so I am sure we can do better.

Blueberries in December

2009-12-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

Well, it is just one blueberry. The other bush has dropped its leaves, but this one is still mostly green and has a blueberry on it. It even started flowering, but I pulled the blossoms off. It's December for crying out loud!

Still Laying

2009-12-09T07:56:00.000-08:00

The chickens have slowed down, as they always do this time of year, but they are still laying. Usually, they slow down and stop altogether shortly before the solstice. Then, like clockwork, they start up again a few days after the solstice. I am wondering if they are getting some street light here in town. I will keep an eye on the situation, as we still have a couple of weeks to go.

It's not un-Yuzu-al

2009-12-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

This Yuzu tree has survived a few winters and a move from our last place to here. Now that it is in the ground, it is much happier than it was in a container. Finally we have a decent number of ripening fruits. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus and you don't eat it, but you can yuze it to make ponzu, which we have with nabe, a hot pot dinner which is great during winter.

I have my eye on our cocktail grapefruit which has a bunch of nice sized green fruits on it.

It is hanging out under plastic sheeting to keep it safe from frost. The chickens are also under there, next to an orange tree, to keep out of the rain. Sometime we will build a more permanent structure for rain and frost because I don't like using the plastic (I am re-using it though).

Avocado Drama

2009-12-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I planted a couple of Mexican Avocado trees in the corner of the garden.

The pieces of concrete are there to keep the chickens from digging up the roots and to maybe provide a touch of thermal mass for frost protection. We did just have a 28 degree killing frost the other night that finally did in a few squash, potato and tomato plants that were still hanging around but the avocado trees did fine with no additional protection. I will be covering them after the rain passes just in case.

Anyhow, after I planted them, I was googling something about avocados and stumbles upon frightening warnings of toxicity. I read that avocado leaves, stems, skin and pits were toxic to dogs, birds and other pets. Yikes! Fortunately the dog cannot get into the chicken/fruit tree area but chickens are birds, right? I looked and looked specifically for information about chickens and found speculation on chicken keeping websites, but no hard evidence. Then I found this farm blog where they are using chickens to control grass and weeds between rows of avocados. If you read the comments section of that post, you can see my question and the farmer's answer. She has never seen any evidence of toxicity and all kinds of other birds hang out in the trees. That made me feel better. The other thing that has made me calm down about it was some nice folks at the California Rare Fruit Growers, which I just joined. Specifically, Julie Frink (avocado expert) wrote:

"Mexican avocado leaves can be used as tea or flavoring when roasting meats. They can be eaten skin and all. It is the Guatemalan varieties that have toxic leaves and seeds. One of my friends tried to feed her chickens avocados but they wouldn't eat them. Later she found out that birds should not eat avocados. Our neighbors dogs eat avocados all the time. Some cats love avocado and I've never heard of it hurting them. I wouldn't think a chicken would be tempted to eat an avocado leaf and certainly not a seed. As to pecking on a fruit.... We have birds in our fields some of whom make nests and raise families but I've never seen birds eat avocados and we have ripe ones on the ground all the time. Our coyotes are beautiful with healthy coats from a diet of rabbits, squirrels, rats and avocados. The squirrels, possums, raccoons, rats and mice like to visit us to fill their tummys with avocado. I suspect you have nothing to worry about but you could check bird and chicken fanciers. I'll ask my two friends who have chickens what experiences they've had."

I am guessing the chickens will be uninterested in the leaves, since they are kind of tough, although that doesn't stop them from eating fig leaves. I have decided to leave the avocado trees where they are. If it becomes a problem, I can always build a fence around them.

Red-Winged Blackbird Swarm

2009-12-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

The other day at the Ellis Creek Water Recycling facility and park in Petaluma, CA we saw these swarming birds and someone said they were red-winged blackbirds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-winged_Blackbird

Watch the whole thing, even though it is long. It is better than fireworks.

I had never seen anything like that before. Red-winged blackbirds are very common across the US.

Lessons Learned

2009-12-01T20:49:00.000-08:00

The plum tree broke right at the graft where the canker was when I tried to pull it out. The roots of both the cherry and the plum trees were very deep already after less than a year in the ground. It took a lot of patience and energy to get them back out of the ground but it had to be done. In a way, it was a good opportunity to check out the soil and how the amendments to the clay were doing. I mixed it up better this time.

We decided to plant a pair of Mexicola avocados in the north west corner of the yard where the plum was. According to things I read, including the California Rare Fruit Growers Association page about avocados, you can plant two or three in one hole to save space and increase pollination. They also hate poor drainage

The person at the nursery suggested these two Mexicola type avocados, Stuart and Grande. These are pretty much the only Avocados I would try here as they are supposedly hardy to 18-24 degrees. I read on wikipedia that the record low of 16 degrees here was only recorded twice in the past century. It has been regularly frosting here but temperatures are still in the 30s at night and 60s by day. Both avocado trees are labeled as being self-fertile, but you are generally supposed to get an A flower ype and a B flower type. A little searching on the internets and I have found Mexicola Stuart and Grande listed as both A type, as both B type and as self fertile, so we shall see. For more on this, so I don't have to explain, see here.

Still unsure about what to replace the cherry tree with.

Next time: Avocados and Satsuma Mandarins in the ground.

Prunus Problems

2009-11-23T18:52:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize it had gotten so bad. I noticed a little sap a while back, but did not realize I should be alarmed. We have 2 trees in the prunus family, a cherry and a plum. They both seem to have a pretty severe case of bacterial canker. I thought it was a borer at first, but they tend to make a mess down at the crown (just above the roots). This starts at the graft and peels and oozes its way up the trunk.

It is really sad because the trees seem healthy otherwise but I am afraid their trunks are too small to withstand it. Our friend Eva said we will probably need to destroy the trees and we read all kinds of scary things that lead us to believe we won't be able to plant any stone fruit. No peaches, no apricots, no plums, no cherries.... I have found some resources that suggest copper spray may control it and that is spread by bacteria on the green leaves, not the cankers, but others say not so much and that the bacteria can live in the bark and become systemic.

If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. Should I try to nurse these trees along or cut my losses and yank them out. Should I risk planting again? Maybe in the front yard? My neighbors behind the back yard have plums. I have not gotten a chance to look at their trees.

My Brain Hurts!

2009-11-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

I was walking the dog and came upon this crushed can.

Bud Light and Clamato together at last!

Time Sure Flies!

2009-11-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

It has been almost a month since I wrote anything. First I got sick with something flu like (maybe swine flu, who knows?). Then we also built a bathroom upstairs. The old one was a disaster area when we bought this place and had to be gutted just to get rid of the mold under the floor and shower. Then I went to the Association of Moving Image Archivists in St. Louis, MO. Then we continued with the bathroom. Then we finished painting the house and now it is raining.

Now I know this is not a home improvement blog, or at least I don't want it to be, but we tried to be on the eco-side by getting a watersense certified toilet. This is an EPA related program that requires toilets to use 1.28 gallons per flush or less and clear out a certain amount of solid waste at the same time. I have seen estimates of 3-5 gallons per flush on older toilets and 1.6 gallons on newer ones. A lot of those 1.6 gallon toilets were not very good and required multiple flushes to do the job. Our new toilet is made by Toto and is very very good. One quick small quiet flush.

We also used a low flow shower head that uses 1.5 gallons per minute. So far I am not totally thrilled with it. Several months ago I went to the water department and they gave me a free cheapo shower head that uses 2 gallons per minute and has a "massage" setting. It was free and even put less steam on the mirror than the head we got with our original faucet (theoretically you could save electricity if you use an exhaust fan in the bathroom). According to energysavers.gov shower heads from before 1992 shower heads used about 5.5 gpm and now Federal regulations require them to use no more than 2.5 gpm. I guess 1.5 is below average and that is what I am all about.

We are very happy to be able to do the same tasks with less water. Not only will it help reduce demand on a scarce resource, it will save money on our water bill. We didn't realize it when we got the toilet, but you can get rebates toward a new toilet in many municipalities. We did manage to get a rebate when we bought a washing machine, for selecting an efficient model.

Next step is to start collecting rainwater.

First Spaghetti Squash

2009-10-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

The first meal with spaghetti squash was made with this one that I scratched a heart into while it was still growing. Spaghetti squash is a nice starchy vegetable with a very mild flavor. The way we made this batch was to cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and fill it with tomatoes, garlic, pesto, pine nuts and mozarrella cheese. Then we baked it. Then we ate it.

Petaluma Bee Ordinance Passed

2009-10-21T06:06:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of "buzz" on the Sonoma County Bee Keepers Association list serve about legalizing bees within Petaluma city limits and it looks like it finally happened. Along with feral cats and potbellied pigs, bees can live in town.

I remember reading animal regulations when we were thinking of moving there. Pigs are legal in town for only 48 hours. I was thinking of having joint custody of a pig with someone else and moving it every two days, but now I can just go out and get a potbellied pig. I am sure we have room for it somewhere.

I am not a member of the Beekeepers Association, but I may go to a meeting soon and we are thinking of getting a hive or two to help with all of our fruit trees and the garden, though I already see a lot of bees around. My friend Mark just gave me some honey from his bees in San Francisco and it is quite delicious (pictured here dripping from a spoon). I need to make a "bee line" to his house and check out the hive, don'tcha know!

Chicken Theater- Chickens, Collards, Clay

2009-10-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

When it rains, the clay gets sticky and forms little clay shoes on the chicken feet. Meanwhile, there is a drama concerning the collard greens.

Adventures in the Rhizosphere

2009-10-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

I was digging up summer plants in order to plant winter plants and almost everywhere I dug I found these networks of mycorrhizal fungi. This was very exciting to me because I have been reading Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets and he was talking about the benefits of mycorrhizal fungi and mycelium in general. Mycorrhizal fungi play an essential role in the soil by closely associating themselves with plant roots and helping to break down organic matter in the soil and transporting water and nutrients from other parts of the soil to the plant. Plants are supposedly much happier when growing with these mycelia. You can buy innoculants, but where did mine come from? I think it came from my compost tea, but I am not sure. While trying to figure it out, I stumbled upon this slide show about the rhizosphere, a universe of amoebas, bacteria, plant roots, fungi, mites, bugs and more. Very happy to be building a thriving ecosystem in my dirt.

{Memo to self: Garlic is planted in rear garden, south western most section before the asparagus. Facing south, left rows are Metechi (marbled purple stripe garlic) next rows to right are Early Italian Purple (artichoke garlic). To the right of that is elephant garlic. Facing west, the rear asparagus bed has shallots in the right hand section where the asparagus did not make it. Also, in the right hand side of the bed that had peppers and arugula in it, next to where the tomatoes were I planted Korean Red garlic.}

Winter Squash

2009-10-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

This is some of the winter squash we harvested. Mostly spaghetti squash. We still have not eaten that one yet. We've eaten one of the very few kabocha squashes we got this year and it was quite delicious.

Recently when I was helping out at the Bounty Farm, Amy the farmer told me to go out and cut the peduncles and let the squash cure in the field. I ran home and cut my own peduncles and left the squashes out in "the field". Now my squash is ready for eating (I think).

Business Opportunity!

2009-10-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

That's right, Mervyns closed well over six months ago and the space is still available. It happens to be the closest store to our house, just a few blocks away. What can you do with such a huge space? Year round flea market or swap meet? Farmers market? Skate park? Roller rink? Garden store? Bumper car stadium? Casino? Nightclub? Dayclub? Replace the roof with glass and make a giant greenhouse? Bulldoze it and plant oats (the crop that grew here before Mervyns)? If you like any of these ideas and want to bankroll them, please contact me immediately. An opportunity like this will not last!

Oh wait, I guess this is happening everywhere. Anyhow, it is 35,000 square feet and you can read all about it here. If you jump at this opportunity and make a ton of money, don't forget where you got the hot tip! (not affiliated with this property in any way)

Food Safety and Damn Lies

2009-10-07T06:09:00.000-07:00

It is all over the news, Center for Science in the Public Interest has announced that leafy greens are dangerous!!! Seriously, I believe this report. It has everything to do with the centralized and industrialized food system we have in this country. Contamination by pathogens spreads very quickly across the country and through many food streams.

Friends, our food system is sprawling and vulnerable. To me, this only underscores the importance of being as close to your food source as possible. If you cannot grow it yourself, try to support local farms through farmers markets, shopping at stores that sell local produce or join a CSA farm. We are very fortunate to be able to grow a lot of this stuff ourselves and to have a long growing season. We have a lot of small farms in this area as well.

Sometimes it is difficult or impossible to get this safe local food. Maybe you are on the road. Maybe you are very poor. Maybe you went out to eat. For these occasions, we do need real safety rules that are actually adhered to.

There is some legislation, H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009,which I do not know a whole lot about. In general, I would tend to not trust it, as I know a lot of legislation is deeply influenced by the industries it is meant to address.

A while back I got a lot of emails about how this bill was going to hurt small farmers, was written by Monsanto. Here is an example, but if you scroll down to the comments section, people are saying that it emanated from the Ron Paul political campaign. Don't know if that is true, but it appears to be further debunked here and here.

This has been debunked for months yet I just found a posting from the other day about it at truthabouttrade.org written by someone at americanthinker.com a proudly right wing web site. It particularly claims, "There are fears that the new laws will make growing organic foods illegal by outlawing the use of manure and requiring chemical pesticide application to all crops. Other frightening interpretations of the provisions in these bills include potentially mandating genetically-modified (GM) crops and "terminator" seeds that will require farmers to purchase new GM seeds each season."

Who are these truth tellers? It says on their "about us" link that they are "committed to promoting free trade and agricultural biotechnology through farmer-led educational initiatives that target public officials, opinion leaders, and the agricultural community." They somehow do not strike me as concerned about organic farming, genetically modified terminator seeds and required pesticide application.

It kind of looks like these kinds of rumors emanate from the industries this legislation might impact. It kind of reminds me of the lies that have been flying around regarding health care reform. It is a little creepy that these lies are deliberately written to freak out people who want to grow food and support others who do the same.

What do you think? Will this legislation offer real solutions to food safety concerns or will it create more problems than it solves. And what is with the disinformation campaign?

Chicken Theater and Fruit Trees

2009-10-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

It turns out this is a great time of year to look for sales at nurseries. We went to Dig Nursery in Cotati the other day and they were having a clearance sale of 30-50% off. The guy who runs that place is very nice, by the way. We got a large Granny Smith apple tree and a Fuji apple tree for 50% off. Such a deal!

Then a woman in the neighborhood stopped by our door to tell us she'd been noticing our garden and that she had some extra mulch in her driveway. We had a couple of other trees (Asian pear and a late orange) and that we had been meaning to plant so today was all about digging holes, removing a stump, walking the wheelbarrow around the neighborhood several times and shoveling things. It is a great workout, especially upper body and abdominals.

Here are the trees in the back if you can discern them from this picture. In the future, we will be fruit rich fruit-cakes. Also picked up a banana tree that claims to be hardy to 10 degrees. I put it in a bigger pot so we will see if it survives. For the time being I can at least say, "yes, we have no bananas".

Anyhow, every time there is a hole being dug, Halley the chicken is in the middle of it. Literally. She is a smart chicken and knows that holes and trenches being dug means worms and other tasty morsels and she is apparently unafraid of shovels. Please enjoy this latest installment of Chicken Theater, "Chicken In A Hole".

Rocktober

2009-10-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

Goodbye summer crops. Tomatoes are still hanging on, but the weather just changed and the days are short. The chickens go to bed at 6:40 pm. Most of the winter squash is done (would have had more if the chickens hadn't gotten out so many times). I pulled out some zucchini and all of the melons.

The corn is over and I have been pulling out the stalks. Not as much corn per plant as I had hoped for, but maybe better luck next time. Some of the fall winter things I planted are almost ready like fennel, beets and potatoes. I have been replacing summer crops with broccoli, romanesco broccoli, brussels sprouts, green onions, lettuce, chard, kale. I need to clear some more space for the starts I already have and for the peas, carrots, spinach and fava beans I intend to plant.

I am going to harvest the remaining peppers and tomatillos this week. The lady at the seed store told me that tomatillos freeze well. I hope so. I dried a bunch of tomatoes in an electric food dehydrator and now we have three big jars full. I keep meaning to build a solar chimney dehydrator or something like that but I keep having other things to do like painting the outside of the house (which also kept me from updating this blog).

Rachel Maddow on ACORN

2009-09-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

You may have read it here first but Rachel Maddow has put together the same argument I did several days ago but with a lot more details. I am glad to know I am not a lone nut. Take a look.

Okra!

2009-09-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

I really love okra but I have never quite had success with it. I know it can be grown here, especially if you provide a hoop house or something to keep it warm earlier in the season. This year my okra plants were kind of stunted, as they have been in previous years, but this year they also got attacked by chickens and then colonized by aphid farming ants. At a certain point, one row of plants took off and outpaced the aphids. I helped them along by blasting the aphids with water. They also got a boost from the late September summer temperatures in the 90's. They are finally three feet tall and putting out flowers. Okra is related to hibiscus, hence the lovely flowers. I have gotten a few good pods from these plants and I hope to have more soon. Next year, they are getting a hoop house to get an early start. I think I will get the hang of it one of these years.

Chicken Theater Episode 3 Bed Time

2009-09-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Chickens go to bed when it starts getting dark.

Guess what?
Chickenbut!

Nuts Are For The Birds

2009-09-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

OK, this is about nuts. This neighborhood used to be a walnut orchard. There is a walnut tree on each parcel. Recently, I have been finding walnuts and shells of walnuts in places where there are no trees, like the sidewalk or my front lawn. At first I thought it must be those damned kids (get off of my lawn!) but then I heard a knocking sound. I looked up and saw this crow repeatedly dropping a walnut onto the street. I grabbed my camera, but did not get a good shot of the action, so you will have to take my word for it.

Chicken Theater Episode 2

2009-09-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Even chickens need to take a break on the park bench.

ACORN

2009-09-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

This post is not about nuts in the literal sense. It is not about food or homesteading at all. I am deeply troubled by the controversy surrounding the organization known as ACORN.

I find it very hard to believe that anyone would be "fooled" by this James O'Keefe character.

According to ACORN's chief executive Bertha Lewis, these people were kicked out of numerous ACORN locations and the people in these tapes have been fired. The right wing likes to crow about other ACORN employees being arrested and prosecuted for so-called voter fraud. In all of those cases, these people were turned in by ACORN to the authorities because the employees had fraudulently filled out voter registration forms. In many states it is illegal to discard the forms once they are filled out, so ACORN flagged the forms and turned them in. Blaming ACORN for "voter fraud" is like blaming Safeway when an employee is prosecuted for shoplifting.

The videos of the ACORN employees giving advice about prostitution and taxes seem kind of damning but I just don't buy this story. Something does not smell right. I would like to see the un-edited tapes. I would like to see real investigations.

The House and Senate just voted to strip ACORN of all Federal funding. Given the nature of these tapes and the organized right wing effort to smear ACORN and anyone who supports them, I can see why these resolutions passed so quickly and overwhelmingly.

Gee, I wonder if we can get a resolution to defund DynCorp whose employees were allegedly having sex with children in Bosnia. Employees who came forward were fired. What about Blackwater, now known as Xe? They have been accused of murder and other serious crimes. How about ArmorGroup, who recently had a video scandal of their own and required employees to engage in sexually deviant behavior, according to a whistleblower? Or Kellogg Brown and Root, which has employees who engaged in gang rape that the Defense Department refused to investigate?!?!?!? Or And I am sure the list goes on and on. Given the number of times these companies have overcharged the government for services, maybe we could pay for health care with the windfall we would reap.

So, in short, I understand how terrible it was, what ACORN employees seem to have done, but I did not realize how quickly Congress could act when they want to. And they didn't even wait for an investigation. How unusual.

How much money do you suppose ACORN gets from the government vs. DynCorp, Blackwater, KBR, etc.? How many people are killed or raped by ACORN? For ACORN's part, they need to get their employees on message and on the alert, but by this time it could be too late. The right wing is vicious.

I understand that various law enforcement agencies are investigating these allegations. I hope they uncover the entirety of these tapes and that they can shed more light on this controversy.

Chicken Theater

2009-09-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Chicken Theater. Please do not expect high drama, exceptional moments of cuteness or comedy. Chicken Theater is a meditation, a chance to relaxo and pretend you are at the rancho. Come and get away from it all with Flo, Shortcake, Cupcake, Butterball, Halley and Simon.

Another Community Garden Planning Meeting

2009-09-08T22:14:00.000-07:00

This Thursday September 10th, there will be a planning meeting for the community garden at the Living Word Church in Petaluma being organized by Petaluma Bounty. The last meeting had a small crowd of interested people turn up. This time this group of neighbors passed out fliers in their neighborhood and we hope to get a bigger crowd this time. If you live in Petaluma and you want to help plan this community garden or learn more, go to 901 Ely Blvd South at 7 pm this Thursday.

The Hungry Hungry Caterpillars

2009-09-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

It is so heartwarming to go outside and see these Small White Butterflies aka Cabbage Butterflies. They fly around, sometimes in pairs. They mate and lay tiny little eggs and cute tiny little green caterpillars come out and eat the leaves of my tiny fall starts of brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, bok choy and collard greens.

They get on bigger plants, too. I don't like getting upset at butterflies, but they are cramping the style of the garden. I am trying to control them by seeking out their eggs and larve and squashing them with my fingers (digitally, as a farmer once described it to me). If they are big enough, they go to the chickens. They are really easy to miss because they are usually on the bottom of the leaf, so you have to turn every leaf. I read that parasitic wasp s are a good biological pest control for cabbage butterflies and aphids. You can attract these wasps and other predatory insects by growing plants with lots of tiny flowers like yarrow, fennel, corriander, etc. I have some in other parts of the garden already. I will get some more of those plants going today.

Cupcake

2009-09-02T22:44:00.001-07:00

Freedom isn't free, Cupcake!

This is Cupcake, sister of Shortcake. Together they are the Babycakes. The babycakes, along with Simon, are Ameraucana chickens, who are smart, lay cool bluish-green eggs and are fairly lightweight. Of all of the chickens we have had over the past several years, the best escape artists have been Ameraucanas. They are magic chickens. One minute they are inside the fenced area, the next minute they are out. They don't even know what happened sometimes. We spent all this time creating a fence to keep the chickens away from the back garden and the more potentially toxic perimeter of the house. Cupcake flew up to the top of the fence and jumped over. I put another section of floppy chicken wire on top of the fence. A couple of days later, Cupcake got out again. Finally we clipped her wing, which really is like a haircut. She still gets out. I am not sure what to do. She is still enclosed by the taller wooden fence around the back yard, so she won't get out to the street, but I would prefer she stay in the chicken run. At least she is the only one who can do it.

Flo

2009-08-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

Time to stop talking about vegetables and start talking about chickens. This is Flo. We don't know exactly how old she is anymore, but she is pretty darned old. When we moved into our last place about 4 or so years ago Flo was already there and already old. She was probably just entering henopause when we first met her. She would lay nice white eggs occasionally, but they started coming out with weird or no shells and eventually she stopped laying altogether. A couple of years ago we had some really intense heat which killed one of our hens. We have since learned that it is good practice to provide chickens with electrolytes on hot days (it's what chickens crave). Since they cool themselves down by panting, they exhale carbon dioxide and their blood can get too alkaline and whack them out pretty badly.

Anyhow, Flo looked like she was done for as well. She just melted into a dazed puddle. Even her comb was flopped over. She somehow managed to bounce back. In the meantime, we knew one of the chickens had been eating eggs. One day we caught Flo in the act. That explained her youthful new feathers and perky comb. She had become a vampire chicken! Since we are softies, we kept her around anyway and just checked the eggs as often as we could. All of the other chickens of her generation have since passed away but Flo just keeps on keeping on.

Go Flo!

Nopales

2009-08-27T21:39:00.001-07:00

This nopal cactus was here when we moved in. It finally started perking up recently, since we dug garden beds right next to it and it has been getting compost and water. Some of the pads have started growing where we don't want them, but fortunately they are edible, delicious and nutritious. Supposedly, they are good for diabetes and reducing the glycemic effect of certain foods. It is also supposed to be high in vitamins A, C and K, B6, riboflavin and fiber, too. I also read that the juice can be used to treat wounds and burns, kind of like aloe. When they are young and tender, there aren't many thorns and they can be scrubbed clean, sliced and sauteed with other veggies.

All this and it makes fruit, too! Tonight we sauteed it with eggplant, onion, garlic, peppers, tomatoes and basil and ate it with pasta and cheese. It was delicious.

Shishito Peppers

2009-08-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

Shishito peppers are easy and satisfying to grow. This is the second year we have grown them. They produce a lot of small mild green peppers for a very long time. They sometimes can turn red and get a little sweeter, but usually you pick them green and kind of long. What we do is put a little olive oil and salt on them and pop them in a toaster oven. You can leave the stem on and seeds in. They are great as a beer snack or just a snack.

Here Are My Tomatoes

2009-08-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

I think this is Pineapple, a Black Tomato and "fig" tomatoes. The fig tomatoes really don't taste like figs at all. Maybe I got them mixed up with some ordinary tomato. I haven't tried the others yet but will shortly . I don't quite see any avalanches of tomatoes coming, as they seem to be getting ripe only a few at a time.

The Japanese cucumbers are producing at a decent pace, also not enough for major surpluses, but enough to eat.

At the top of the photo are those muskmelons. Probably a few days away from ripe, but bugs were showing too much interest in them to leave them on the ground. Husk cherries at the bottom of the picture.

Hot Steamy Compost Action

2009-08-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

The compost has finally hit its stride. I have been saving a little bit from each previous batch and adding it to the next. Finally I have this certain smell. I think it is the smell of mycelial activity . I smelled it when I got a delivery of compost months ago. It is kind of amazing how the compost can go from a sour stinky smell to earthy and hot in just a few days after adding the right balance of materials and rolling the barrel around. This picture shows a clump of compost with mycelium growing on it.

Free Junk For My Compost Trunk

2009-08-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

We collect chicken poop from the coop, along with the pine shavings we use for the floor. I add stuff from the garden and our kitchen food scraps, but it is never enough to fill up our "roll your own" barrel compost system. Fortunately, this world is full of free compostables. For instance, the Peet's at the local stripmall has big bags of used coffee grinds and filters for free if you ask for them. Another source of free compost materials is the horse manure pile at Helen Putnam Regional Park. You just have to remember to bring some containers when you go there for your walk.

By the way, shortly after watering with compost tea, I noticed a burst of healthy new growth. Not too leafy and floppy either. It was hotter so it is hard to say for sure, but I'm guessing it helped. Here is a picture of the new growth on the Japanese cucumber plant.

I am brewing up a second batch of tea right now. This time I am adding kelp powder which is supposed to stimulate the growth of fungi. I will also be patient and brew it longer. I will keep you all updated on this exciting project.

Community Gardens

2009-08-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Even though we are near "the country" not everyone has a place to garden. Last week I attended a preliminary planning meeting for the proposed Arroyo Community Garden here on the east side of Petaluma. This coming Thursday, August 20th at 7PM there will be a meeting to discuss the community garden at the Living Word Lutheran Church 901 Ely Blvd South in Petaluma . If you live anywhere near there, you are invited.

Grayson James, Executive Director of Petaluma Bounty briefly explained to the attendees how to organize a community garden. This Thursday, Grayson will be there to show you what it is all about. The Living Word Church is generously providing a nice sunny field to the garden. There are apartments right behind it, so maybe they will want to come and have a garden in their "own backyard".

Here it is, nothing blocks the southern exposure. They have a well already. All it needs is fences, garden boxes, compost, seeds, a little plumbing and you!

Beans, Beans, The Magical Fruit

2009-08-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

We have a tower of beans, a fountain of beans. These are green and yellow filet beans which I wrote about earlier. We have had them for weeks and they are so high, we can't reach some of them. We pick a big bowlful every day and they keep coming. We have given some away and we are eating them every day. They are tasty sauteed with other vegetables but I think I like them best steamed where you can taste their flavor. I must admit, I have never been a fan of string beans, but they have such a great flavor when they are fresh and steamed.

We also pickled some. These pickles are made with white wine vinegar, white wine, water, salt, sugar, corriander, mustard seeds, peppercorns, bay leaf, dried jalapeño pepper and a couple of cloves of garlic. In this recipe you heat the liquid with the sugar and salt and put everything else in a safe container (I used heat resistant glass) and pour the hot liquid on top, which blanches the beans. Then you let them cool and put it in the fridge. I guess you could can them, but I they will last in the fridge for quite a while. Green beans taste good but are not as pretty as yellow ones. You can put other veggies in the brine with the string beans as well. I got some colorful carrots from the farmers market and put them in this batch. They are a delicious complement to sandwiches and salads.

We also planted scarlet runner beans which we are planning to harvest for dry shelling beans. My aunt gave me the seeds a few years ago and I have been growing them for a couple of years. I saved the seeds from last year. We cooked and ate them a couple of times and found them to be delicous. They are really neat looking, too before you cook them. Then they lose their pattern and turn brown.

Where Are my Tomatoes?

2009-08-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

I have so many green tomatoes. In this region, the weather is so inconsistent from year to year, you never know when tomatoes will ripen. We are also in a different microclimate from last year and got our plants in a bit late. I have asked around. Some neighbors have ripe tomatoes. The folks at the Bounty Farm on the other side of town have ripe tomatoes, so it is only a matter of time before we do.

I picked some cherry tomatoes this morning, which are almost there and sweet enough. I made the mistake the other day of trying to sample an almost ripe "fig" tomato. It did not taste like a fig, so now I am waiting for them to fully ripen. There are a few of these fig tomatoes just a few days away from ripe. Will they taste like a fig or a tomato? Or somehow like both?

I am also waiting on Italian paste tomatoes and something called a "pineapple" tomato (not sure if it is named for the color or the flavor), along with a few others. I guess it is only mid-August, so I should be happy with my cucumbers and beans. I just hope the tomatoes have the good sense to not all ripen at once.

Almost there...

Next:
Beans Beans!

More Trees

2009-08-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

One of the first things we did outside when we got this place was to plant fruit trees, since they take so long to start bearing serious amounts of fruit. Along the north fence of the back yard, we planted an Emerald Plum, a Hachiya Persimmon, a Stella Cherry and a Fuyu Persimmon.

We got all of those trees bare root at Harmony Farm Supply & Nursery in Sebastopol. It must have been January or February and the clay soil was extra mucky as we dug it out to fill it with mulch and compost for the trees.

In addition to these trees we also have planted pomegranate, grapefruit, lemons, yuzu, mandarins, blueberries and kumquats which we have picked up from various other excellent nurseries in our area. A few of them are actually producing fruit!

This weekend we went to Harmony to get something else, because they had their fruit trees at 20% off. It turned out it was also "customer appreciation day" and we got free tacos, free "vegan" fertilizer and some seed packets. Our lucky day! We wound up picking an asian pear and a dwarf orange tree. We just need to figure out where to put them now.

We also found out that the best time to get a greater selection of the bare root (much better value) trees was the second week in January.

I can't wait til January. Oh wait, the tomatoes aren't even ripe yet!
Next: Where are my tomatoes!

Look At That S Car Go

2009-08-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

It is the bad punchline to a bad joke about a snail buying a car. Cash for clunkers made me think of it. But seriously, the snails in our area are escargot snails brought here by the French. With their delicate shells it is amazing they survive in the wild. I tried escargot once but was not a big fan so I am not going to travel down the road of eating my pests. I let the chickens do that for me. They can use all the extra protein and calcium they can get and I don't have to spend weeks purging the snails.

I find an upside down flower pot is an excellent trap for them. They go in there to escape from the hot summer sun and I can just pick it up and shake it out in the chicken run. The chickens go crazy over them. I feel a little bad for the snails to meet such a brutal end, but hopefully it is fairly quick. It also means more greens to feed my chickens since the snails stay under control.

Alternatives to Alternative Energy

2009-08-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

We want to make our "carbon footprint" as small as possible. Solar energy of some kind seems like I good idea. I always heard that solar hot water had a much quicker payback over solar electricity. There is a 30% federal tax credit available and the California Energy Commission is offering rebates and tax credits as well. In addition to all this, California's AB 811 is kicking in and is being administered on a county level. In Sonoma County it is SCEIP and it gives you a 7% loan that gets attached to your home's tax assessment, so it is not a personal loan and if you sell the house, the loan repayment goes along with the house.

We had a couple of contractors give estimates for solar hot water and then we did some math. One thing we had not really considered was that there are only two of us and we have done some things that make our gas bill and our electric bill pretty low already.

The cheaper estimate wound up being about $6600 after tax credits and rebates. When it is warm and we are not heating our home, we use gas for hot water (showers, sinks, laundry), the dryer and the stove. It is currently about $10 per month. We insulated our pipes and wrapped the water heater. In addition the water heater is turned to a comfortable setting, but it is definitely well below maximum. At this rate it would take us 55 years to repay this investment. If I went by the March bill, which included some heating, It would be closer to 13 years, but this hot water system doesn't heat the house.

Similarly, we figured it would take 40-60 years to repay a photovoltaic system. So no matter how sexy panels on the roof are, we are definitely looking towards efficiency improvements instead.

Fortunately, all of these rebate, tax credit and loan programs apply to less glamorous upgrades, such as windows, doors, insulation, cool roofs, etc. As I have written before, insulation is a very good bang for your buck. We spent $500 on materials and got $300 from our utility. I think we may be able to apply the federal tax credit to that as well.

One improvement we made that I do not think is covered by these programs, but is very exciting is the installation of high efficiency, long lasting LED recessed lights. We bought the Cree LR6 lights, which have regular edison bases and can be screwed into many off the shelf recessed light fixtures. We have been very impressed with the amount and quality of light these produce for only 12 watts. I wish they came in light bulb form, but they have these heat sinks on them, which makes them a little bulky for an ordinary lamp. They are a little pricey at $80-90 each, but they last for decades, contain no mercury and are dimmable. If you do the math, it has a fairly quick payback, even compared to CFLs. The only thing that makes me grumble is that they do a lot of stuff for the military (including installing thousands of these LED lights). The military is thinking ahead, though. The Pentagon issued a report back in 2004 warning of the chaos that climate change could bring. The military is also a big user of solar panels, etc. So many of the innovative products we will see will also likely have a military use. It's great that the military wants to reduce its carbon footprint, but we really need to reduce our military footprint around the world.

Other improvements we can make include upgrading our heat (currently gas wall heater) to a hot water radiator system, wearing sweaters in the winter, replacing our front door, air drying our laundry, DIY solar hot water heater (may be less efficient than commercial, but lower investment), re-roofing the leaky garage roof with a lighter color and insulation (cool roof) and so much more.

We have some more head scratching to do, but if we plan well, we can get our future energy bill savings subsidized now .

Next: Back to the garden!

A Scorcher

2009-08-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

How hot was it? I don't think it was really 108 degrees, but that is what the car said when I got in it. It was sitting in the sun. I think it was more like 99 degrees. I am hoping this will push the tomatoes over the hump into ripe. And maybe some melons , too?

How hot was it? I bought a new seed starting tray and left the clear lid on with no dome in partial shade and it turned into a solar oven and melted the plastic.

And the chickens were hot.

But I was able to cook some potatoes in the old solar oven. I made it a couple of years ago and it gets over 200 degrees easily. Today it was around 250. I would like to build a better one. I know you can get over 350 in a well built solar oven.

Back Yard Garden

2009-08-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

I wrote about the garden in the front yard. This is currently the most productive part of our garden, the more attractive part and the most chicken proof part. It is also the one people see when they walk by. The one in back, our "secret garden" is growing into its own.

This picture shows Lina digging out the grass and weeds several months ago.
In between the strips of cardboard behind her is where we planted two rows of asparagus. Since then, the chickens have dug through there several times before we had our fencing in order, so we may have to put in some more crowns next year. the cactus in the background is a nopal cactus that was already here. Since it produces edible pads and fruit, we are leaving it where it is.

The biggest chunk of this garden is corn. I am still learning how to tell when it is ready. I picked some that I thought would be ready but it was immature. It was still tasty.

To the left of the corn is a sad attempt at okra. I keep trying to grow okra year after year and I am determined to get it right. This year the ants are farming aphids on them and the chickens have already attacked them a couple of times. Behind the okra are spaghetti squash, kabocha (the third year I am growing it from seeds from a friend) and yellow crookneck squash. In front of the corn is a squash I got from Baker Creek Seed Company's new Petaluma store called Long Island Cheese. It is named after its cheese-wheel appearance, not the flavor, though that would be neat.

Behind the corn is a giant Persian walnut tree (aka English walnut). This whole neighborhood used to be a walnut orchard, so every lot has a walnut tree on it. Some of the trees have been taken over by the black walnut root stock but ours has the common larger walnut on it.

If we had picked some back in June we could have made nocino, which we did a couple of years ago after our friends Carleen and Joel brought by some walnuts they picked. We made a few different recipes and it was delicious. Anyhow, the reason I am writing about the walnut tree is that having it right next to a garden plot limits the types of crops you can grow. Walnut roots and leaves are toxic to all nightshade family crops, but I read that corn, squash and beans were OK and they seem to be. Also, black walnut is more toxic than Persian walnuts.

Compost Tea

2009-08-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

Now that we have a compost system and a new batch of compost, I want to use it, but all the garden is in cultivation, so I don't want to mix it into the soil. Someone suggested I make compost tea, so I looked it up on the google machine.

I had most of what I needed, buckets and compost, but I didn't have an aquarium bubbler or tubing. I took a stroll over to my local stripmall and found a big chain pet store that had what I needed.

I followed the instructions I read at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and I was all set. Here is my first batch of compost tea bubbling away.

I just watered everything with it and the weather's getting hotter so we shall see what happens.

Roll Your Own Compost

2009-08-06T21:35:00.001-07:00

While we started all this with a big compost purchase, I want to minimize the need to buy things like that. I considered all different kinds of compost systems. I used to have a big plastic composter with a door on the bottom, but it took so long to finish, created a habitat for slugs and ants and was constantly falling apart. I gave it up when we last moved. I thought of building a three bin system, but since it gets so dry around here, I didn't want to have to water it all the time and we also were not sure we wanted to commit to a particular location.

I had read about compost tumblers, which claim to give you finished compost in just 3 weeks . I liked the idea, but not the expensive price tag. Also, all the moving parts made me think they might break. And what if you want to stop adding stuff and start a new batch while it's still cooking?

On Craigslist I was able to find food grade barrels. Specifically, I wound up going to Bataeff Salvage (I have to be careful not to buy all kinds of things there) where I found fairly un-offensive "terra cotta" colored plastic barrels that previously contained olives. These barrels are perfect for compost because they have screw on lids for easy access and moisture retention and they are only $15 each. I drilled a bunch of holes in them towards the top and bottom, to facilitate airflow.

Into the compost goes chicken dropping, kitchen scraps and garden waste. We have 2 barrels so we can let one batch finish without adding new materials while we start a new batch. All kinds of exciting compost pictures are available here. I need to start a compost calendar so I can remember when it is ready.

Perhaps in the future we will mount these on stands, but for now, we roll our own compost.

Next- COMPOST TEA!

The Water Bill

2009-08-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

Since it was so very hot several weeks ago, we had to water the garden. Since we have a lot of new compost and rapidly growing plants, the soil was thirsty. In our last place we were on a well with septic, so it is a new thing to pay water bills. It is also new to pay sewer bills.

In Petaluma, your sewer bill is based on the winter average. Since it rains in the winter and is dry in the summer, this is a sensible way to figure out how much water is going to the sewer without metering the sewer. Since we have not been here for a full year, we do not have a winter average to base our sewer bill upon. This means they look at our current water use or the average winter water usage of households in our area and bill us based on whichever number is lower. It has cooled down recently, and our soil has reached some sort of baseline water saturation, so we have been able to ratchet down the watering schedule. Hopefully our next bill will be more humane. I am hoping to get some rainwater catchment happening before the rain comes so we can reduce our pressure on local water supplies next summer.

Fortunately, even at peak watering season we are using less water than the winter average for our area. Unfortunately, the sewer rate is about twice as expensive as the water rate and I know our winter usage will be much lower. It was pretty pricey to water the garden this summer because we are subsidizing the new waste water treatment facility, which I am pretty OK with because...

The other day, we went to Shollenberger Park, which is still not saved, by the way, and we were surprised to see a fence gone and a new sign. Our park had grown to several times its original size thanks to the Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility. I just found some pictures of it here. Who knew that waste water could be so beautiful? I hope we can take a tour inside the building as well soon.

Mid Summer

2009-08-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have posted.

Since I don't think anyone is reading, I don't feel so bad, but I promise to be more regular.

Summer came for a while and the garden really grew. We have been getting a good crop of Filet beans, which are like a string bean with no string. We have them in yellow and green. We have been picking every day, giving to neighbors, cooking and pickling them.

Also on the menu now are Shishito peppers. If you live in part of the San Francisco Bay Area where you cannot fully ripen bell peppers, these will make you feel good. They are compact and very prolific. You pick the peppers a few inches long, put some olive oil and salt on them and pop them in the toaster oven. Eat them, seeds and all, with beer in some other snack scenario. They are not hot, despite some seed catalog descriptions.

Our musk melons plants are making melons. I saved these seeds from melons I bought from Crescent Moon Farm at the Cotati Farmers Market a couple of years ago. I wish I could remember the names. I just labeled them Musk Melon 1, 2 and 3. Crescent Moon Farm always has really interesting vegetables like okra and unusual peppers. I remember one of the melons was a perfume melon with a strong fragrance but a mild flavor. It was meant to be carried in one's pocket I was told.

Another unusual thing I am growing a husk cherry. This variety is called Aunt Molly's Husk Cherry and I picked it up at a plan sale at the Occidental Ar ts and Ecology Center this spring, along with a bunch of tomato plants. The husk cherry is related to
a tomatillo but the fruit is much smaller and
much sweeter. You could have it for dessert or in your salad. I am still not totally convinced that I really like them, but they are different and they are ripe now, unlike the tomatillos or tomatoes. We did get our first cherry tomatoes the other day, though, and they were great.

Other food ripening now includes zucchini, eggplant and japanese cucumbers. I am pretty surprised that the whole garden is doing so well since we didn't really get the soil ready until May.

Coming soon...
The garden in the back yard!
The water bill!
The sewer bill!
The plans for rainwater catchment!
The compost and compost tea!
And much much more...

Hello Front Yarden

2009-06-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

Here is the "after" picture. We ported some of our old garden over here in pots and barrels and the rest, we started from seed or plant.

We have:
artichokes and sunflowers

cucumbers
tomatoes
rare french musk melons
eggplant and greens
strawberries
and much much more...

Goodbye Front Lawn

2009-06-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

After a year or so of foreclosure induced neglect, the "lawn" had turned into a field of weeds. I like weeds that are useful or nutritious, but many of these weeds are noxious, prickly and invasive.

There is a sprinkler system in the ground for watering a lawn, but the previous owners must have taken the controller. While we are planning on collecting some rainwater, I think we will have to rely on some city water for the garden. I plan to get a new controller and convert the sprinklers to drip lines soon, but first things first.

We had a slab of concrete in the back which was cracked and heaving in multiple directions. We rented a jack hammer and broke it up. Then we had a big pile of concrete chunks which we used as pavers and garden beds.

We pulled a lot of weeds and dug a lot of dirt. A thin layer of imported topsoil covers our adobe clay. We got 5 cubic yards of high quality compost from a local supplier called Grab N Grow and have ammended all the garden beds.

Moved to the Big City

2009-06-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

We were living out in Penngrove in a chicken barn for the past several years and, due to the recent collapse of the housing market, were finally able to find a home. Perhaps due to wine and horses, rural land was still out of our reach financially. In town, the formerly "cheap" half million dollar "starter" homes were now far less, so we gave up our country mouse dreams and moved to the suburbs in the City of Petaluma.

We got a bargain in this house, but had to put a lot of work into it as we could only afford a fixer upper. Besides cosmetic and functional upgrades, we are focusing on energy efficiency and reducing the amount of money it takes to run the place. For instance, we insulated before we moved in. Built in northern California in the 1950's, this place was never insulated. There are lots of rebates available for this. We got $300 back from PG&E after spending only $500 on materials and we will save on heaing bills into the future. We installed LED recessed lights. We hope to add solar hot water and heat soon as well.

For the purposes of this blog, I will focus on the transformation of a sunny and unproductive front and back yard into a food source and example victory garden or urban homestead.