Independence Days Challenge Update 6/29/08

Another week of progress in some areas, but still too many areas neglected.  Time management is a perennial struggle for me, and when I add in the emotional post-relationship stresses I’m feeling, plus the full-plates-at-work stress (which I don’t necessarily hate, it just leaves me feeling exhausted at the end of the day and un-inclined to focus on other projects), well, it can just get out of control.  Extreme weather can also augment my lack of productivity, as I tend to just “ride out” really hot or really cold weather without doing much productive other than fending off weather-related crises.

All that said, this week wasn’t too bad!  Here’s my report:

Plant something: Transplanted into garden:  dipper gourd starts, and one special bell pepper plant whose variety is apparently is acclimated to Klamath Falls, Oregon, which is not far from here.  Hopefully this means it grows in a shorter season, as we often don’t have enough time to grow bell peppers in this area.

Harvest something:  First, R brought me five tiny strawberries from his garden (that was my garden last year, strawberries I planted).  That was the entire harvest and it was very nice of him to bring them to me.  Also I ate the mesclun mix I was growing in a pot — it didn’t get nearly as big as I expected, but perhaps that’s how mesclun mix is.  And with the heat it was getting leggy and planning to bolt sometime next week.  It wasn’t enough for a salad, but I added it to an existing salad and it was very tasty!  Harvested some comfrey leaves to dry.

Preserve something:  Those comfrey leaves are drying in the dehydrator.

Store something:  Rainbow rotelli pasta.

Managed reserves:  Nothing this week.

Prepped:  Finally, after months of waiting — I bought a Geo Metro!  We finally got an appointment for a smog test.  It had some valve or vent that was clogged that took an extra $200 to fix, but then it passed the smog test.  This car will double (or perhaps even triple) the mileage I’m getting, though I’m afraid to tally up the insurance, registration, etc, to see what my REAL savings is (’cause I’m not getting rid of the truck just because I’ve added the Geo).  I consider it an important part of “walking the talk” and demonstrating to my community as well as my literal gas savings, so that would have to add in to the equation as well.  I’ve only had it for 2 days, so no mileage results yet, but I plan to top off the tank tomorrow so that I can start my tracking.  Also under prep:  bought a Grundig crank AM/FM/SW radio for $7 at a yard sale.

Cooked Something New:  Not really, but since I’m not aware of having eaten mesclun mix before (I probably have in restaurant or potluck salads, but I wasn’t aware of it), I’ll count that.  Especially since I’ve been disappointed several times in the taste of lettuce varieties I’ve grown, and this stuff I really liked!

Advocated for local food economy:  Well, I did set up a table at this Saturday’s farmer’s market, but I was selling books and movies that the library is trying to get rid of, so that doesn’t count except socially!  However, I did learn that our one local certified organic grower has you-pick options!  And he’s only about 25 miles away!  He’s named his endeavor “Locavore Farms” which is also highly encouraging.  Here’s his website just because I gotta say how pleased I am to learn what he’s doing: http://www.lxw.com/LocavoreFarms/ 

I plan to go up and see his place, maybe volunteer a little, get to know them, and DEFINITELY go get some you-pick stuff as it’s ready!  And speaking of volunteering, the other local food economy thing I did this week was my monthly volunteering to sort co-op orders.  This month’s effort is particularly notable since, due primarily to my submitting my order at the last possible moment and putting it in a mail slot that the co-op guy forgot to check before calling his orders in, I personally received *nothing* from the order this month!  Oh well, as long as the economy doesn’t collapse before next month…  :o

Reduce waste:  I’ve been snipping scotch thistle which are exploding on the property I rent.  I told the landlady that I did NOT want the county spraying to kill them, so that obligated me to deal with them somehow.  I’ve been snipping them down with long-handled loppers, though I suspect that I really need to dig them to keep them from resprouting.  But no time for that now, they’re putting out seedheads, so lopping is faster.  The waste reduction part is that today I loaded the back of the pickup full of thistles and took them to Kate’s house.  Kate has goats, who love to eat thistle!  I suppose I could have just left the thistles to dry and decompose in situ, especially since they are scattered out in several fields, but I think the seeds can germinate even when the plant is snipped before the flowers have opened, so it would be better if I burned or discarded the plants.  Eaten by goats is the best deal, as it not only reduces the waste I have to discard, it also reduces the amount of feed Kate has to provide them.

New skill learned:  Well, I’m getting the hang of cutting down thistles without getting poked — er, make that without getting poked AS MUCH.  Nothing I can think of beyond that this week.

 

Yes, Deer, No, Deer, Whatever You Say, Deer…

We’ll see how well my garden fence actually keeps out deer once there is something  in the garden that the deer might like.  So far there isn’t much in the garden that is more than an inch high, except for a tomato plant I got from a friend, a few pepper plants, and some potatoes that have sprouted.  More will grow or be planted shortly.

Anyway, here are the photos I’ve been promising of my deer fence.  I had the wooden pickets and wanted to use them just because I already had them.  But they are only about three feet high, and a garden generally needs an 8′ fence to be confident of keeping deer out.  Here’s how I compensated and made do.  Click on any photo to make it bigger.

One technique I used was to take advantage of some terracing of the yard.  The terrace is only about three feet high, but with the shrubbery above it and then a three-foot-plus fence above that, I think it will deter the deer quite effectively along that side:

Then, from the other direction, this is how I tackled the challenge:

You might not be able to see the details in that photo, so here is a better closeup:

I used branches from pruning the fruit trees to extend the posts higher.  Then I strung some thick orange twine across at a couple of intervals, then hung some lengths of twine vertically to create the illusion that the area is “occupied” by a fence.  From what I hear, this will work on deer even though there are gaps that might be big enough for a deer to jump through.  For good measure, I hung some garbage cds to provide shiny movement and distraction.

Two other views from inside the garden area, looking out over the terraced part:

 

Here’s my favorite piece: part fence, part art.  This is a giant metal door hinge that R and I found at the dump.  It’s got a kind of medieval look to it, with the horizontal straps that extend all the way across the door.  I didn’t get to take it when we split up, but when I told him I had a use for it as a garden gate, he was kind enough to lend it to me on a long-term basis.  I searched the junkyard for a lightweight interior door or screen to put in it, but found nothing suitable.  (Not to mention that any solid door would have taken to the air with the first good wind gust).  Finally I had an absolute brainstorm about what to put inside the hinge:

One of the things I like about the fence is the extent to which it’s cobbled together from stuff I already had or stuff I found.  The white and brown pickets were all originally bought by me, but years ago for use at earlier homes.  They were used as garden fence at R’s in a clever double-height scheme.  The green pickets in the hinge were in place at the house I bought in 1996, but when I had a better fence built there, the pickets became part of my “stuff” that moved around with me.  Some of the fenceposts were here on this property and I just relocated them.  Others I bought new, and I might have brought a few from R’s.  The branches, as I mentioned, were pruned off fruit trees here on the property.  The orange twine was here on the property — a giant roll of it, sitting on the scrap lumber pile.  Even the cds were repurposed — they come to the library where I work, one every month or two, and we use them to update the electronic card catalog.  Once we’ve used them for the update, they’re trash — except that I’ve been saving them for months now, in anticipation of this use.  And although I’m not showing off the garden itself yet, until I’ve removed some weeds and until things are growing a bit more, I will point out that the walkways you see in a few of the photos are made from cedar planks that were left over from that fancy fence I mentioned that I had built at another house.  The cedar plank boards came in 6′ lengths, but for much of that project we could only have a 4′ high fence (building permit laws — back fence may be 6′ high, front and side yard fences can’t be more than 4′ — sheesh).  Anyway, I saved all those 2′ lengths of cedar planking, through three moves now, and finally have found a use for them as garden walkways and weed suppressors.

So, overall, ten fenceposts was all that I bought new for this project.  Oh, plus some bolts and nuts for attaching the door to the giant hinge, and the hinge to a fencepost.  Not bad!  As long as it works, that is, and the deer decide to admire it from afar only. 

To make the garden also rabbitproof, I have some chicken wire I will staple along the pickets.  That part of the project is coming up pretty soon.

 

Independence Days Challenge Update 6/23/08

I decided to follow Sharon’s lead and switch the end of the challenge week to Sunday.  So reporting will be either Sunday evening or shortly thereafter.  So, this week I get to count two weekends!   Hehehe…

Planted: seed into garden:  5 color silverbeet chard, texas grano onions.  Transplanted seedlings into the garden:  buttercup squash, 5-color silverbeet chard, texas grano onions, sprouts from neighbor’s spring onions, Ping Pong tomato (tomato exchange with friend), principe borghese tomatoes, butternut squash, delicata squash, jalapeno (trade from friend), thai green lettuce, cilantro, cayenne pepper, detroit dark red beets, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower.

Harvested:  Nothing.

Preserved:  Nothing.

Stored: Dog food.

Managed:  Tried to order more buckets and gamma seal lids from the co-op, but my order got lost until after the deadline – will try again next month.

Prepped:  Got major tuneup/brake job on truck.  Since I’m in the process of buying a Geo Metro, the truck is becoming more of a tool for the future than for daily transport.  Bought a half cord (split with ex-boyfriend) of firewood, from friends who are trying to clear for fire safety around their newly built house.  Cut/loaded another half cord (again, split with ex) of dead lodgepole and white fir from nearby Forest lands.

Cooked Something New:  Made rhubarb sauce using local rhubarb bought at the farmer’s market.  Brought the sauce to a potluck where it was poured over hand-cranked vanilla ice cream.  I had two tastes of it, but that’s all, because the potluck host asked to keep the remainder of the jar when I left!  (it was good)

Foster Local Food Economy:  Participated as a seller in a new farmer’s market for my community.  I sold squash starts that I had bought from Azure Standard (bought them in 6-pack each, decided 4 of each was enough for me, sold 2 of each).  Also sold bell pepper and cayenne pepper starts I’d grown from seed, plus also a few aloe vera babies sprouted from my houseplant.  It will be a month or more before there is much in the way of produce coming from local gardens (so far, lettuce, spinach, rhubarb is about it) so I offered the seedling starts just to help the market get going.

Reduced Waste:  In addition to kitchen composting and using urine for garden fertilizer as well as deer repellent, I took what I thought was a dead laptop in to local repair guy, who is reviving it.  I will either keep it and use it, or sell it or give it to someone, which will not only postpone it going to the landfill, but will hopefully avoid someone (me or someone else) buying another computer as soon as they would have otherwise.  Used leftover catalogue CDs from library as deer/bird repellent by suspending them above garden fence (as promised several times already, photos coming soon).  Attempting to feed elderly, tooth-challenged cat moistened dry food (which we have lots of) instead of canned moist food (which has lots of packaging and also spoils easily in the heat).  This is only partially successful, since the cat changes his mind daily about what he will eat…  I arranged my one day per week in the County Seat for the Forest Service project to be the same day that material needs to be shuttled between the main library and the branch library where I (also) work — now I shuttle the deliveries each way, since I’m driving that route anyway.  This is a win-win:  no one has to make a special trip over the hill and back, as they were before, plus I get my mileage paid for even though I need to go anyway for the other job!

Learned a New Skill:  Nothing I can think of.  Oh wait, I did learn how to start a balky lawnmower by removing the air filter, squirting in gasoline or starter fluid, balancing a flat rock over the air filter opening, holding down the safety handle, pull-starting the machine, then while still holding the safety handle, removing the rock and replacing the air filter, using a screwdriver one-handed to tighten it…  Think it’s time for a scythe, eh?

Overwhelmed

That’s what I am right now — overwhelmed.  Physically, mentally, emotionally, at work, at home, in every direction, it seems.  As a result, some of my Challenges have fallen by the wayside.  But I’m slowly coming out of it, getting back on my feet, back on track.

There are a variety of posts I’ve been meaning to make, but just haven’t spent the time to do the background work (like updating my chart that is tracking the collapse of the economy, or taking the photos of the garden fence I’ve been promising!).  Plus, I’m already spending too much time on the computer, and writing posts takes me quite a long time usually!

Stay tuned, I’ll get my act together again shortly…

Independence Days Challenge update 6/13/08

Planted:  Nope, only transplanted, for the farmer’s market — bell peppers, cayenne peppers, aloe vera houseplant babies.

Harvest something:  Nope again.

Preserve something:  Triple nope!

Store Something:  Sheesh, didn’t I do *anything* last week?  It felt like an incredibly busy week, but I guess not in the categories of the challenge.  Didn’t store anything new.

Manage Reserves:  Erm…  Gah.

Prepped:   Major fence progress!   It’s close enough to done that tonight I planted some stuff (that will count on next week’s report).

Worked on Local Food Systems:  Prepared seedling starts to take to first farmer’s market saturday (I’m writing this saturday evening, it went great, but again, that’s for THIS week… :)  I also brought some cayenne starts to my herbalist friend.  I also participated in a symposium held last weekend that, while it didn’t focus on local food, it did focus on local community sustainability in a sense, and given that gas has hit $5 in the valley here, the conversations drifted toward local food on various occasions.

Reduced Waste:  Continued transforming urine into deer repellent.  Have been using fruit tree prunings as vertical extensions to the fence (photos soon, I promise!)

Cooked something new:  The garlic bread I mentioned last week was actually made on Saturday so it should have been counted as this week, but I forgot.  Nothing new this week — due to the conference and some other activities I ate out a lot this week, and just made “same ol’ same ol’” beans and rice or salad when I was at home.

Learned a new skill:  Made newspaper peat pots in which to sell seedlings.  Followed the basic steps determined from googling a couple of sites.  Went pretty well!

I Made Ends Meet!!

No, I’m not talking finances, although with this new part time job, I’m finally making more than I’m spending for the the first time in about four years…

No, I’m talking garden fence!  I finally completed the perimeter — the ends have met!

Of course, there is still much to do — latches, vertical extensions, chicken wire, etc.  But all the major pieces are in place!  Photos to come soon.  This is a funky “with whatever I could find laying around” kind of fence.  But I think it will succeed in keeping deer out, as well as rabbits (and of course dogs).  I’m not so sure the ground squirrels won’t be able to make their way in, though, and I might have to react if they turn out to be destructive.  But — woo hoo!  The ends have met!

Independence Days Challenge Results 6/6/08

Planted this week:  Pumpkin, carrots.  (Still working on the deer fence, so I’m not planting my starts yet, but seeds are ok because the fence will be ready before the seeds sprout.)

Transplanted this week:  Peas — the peas I’d planted in a pot were 6-7″ tall and very healthy looking.  I put them in the ground.  Last I checked (yesterday) it was still unknown whether they would survive — they weren’t looking good, but were still alive 2-3 days after being transplanted.  Maybe digging a pot-sized hole and plopping the whole soil mass into one spot might have worked better — instead, I planted each sprout in a row next to the others, which meant a bit more handling of each sprout than perhaps they liked.  There really was no need to plant peas in a pot indoors, it was just an experiment to see how they did as compared to the ones outdoors.

Harvested:  Nothing

Preserved:  Two more onions in the outdoor dehydrator.

Stored:  Nope.

Managed:  Finally went to pull the last remaining root cellared carrots from the sand bucket, and it was too late.  There were only two small ones and two others that were honestly hair-like in size, and the tiny ones had molded and the small ones were very close.  I decided they were all post-consumer, so into the compost they went.  The only root cellared produce left from last year now is jerusalem artichokes, and I haven’t dug through the bucket sand to check on them, because I don’t really like them that much, and I don’t plan to grow them here.  Though, I just had an idea — maybe I’ll plant a row of them, about 5 feet outside the garden fence.  If the deer and ground squirrels don’t eat them immediately, they’ll grow some nice tall stalks which can function like a second fence!  Ah, well, can’t hurt, eh?

Prepped:  When I went to the “junkyard” shop in the County Seat to buy a used washing machine on Monday, I noticed some unopened boxes of canning jars, and a stack of several mini bread pans.  I was in a hurry that day, but when I returned to town on Thursday, I went back to check.  The boxes of jars were still there, and three of the bread pans.  I bought them — one case of widemouth quart jars, one case of pint jars, one case of half-pint jars, one case of mini (4 ounce) jelly jars.  All unused (though old and dusty).  All with lids.  All for $25.  Including three mini bread pans.  I didn’t know the going price in the stores for this stuff, and the junk place told me they try to sell them for half the new price.  Even if I paid a little more than half, that’s okay.  Even though this area is not full of peak-oil-aware people, lots of people here cherish their “old fashioned” skills like canning, so I reasoned to myself that it would be unlikely to find this stash at a yard sale (though I really don’t know, and will continue to keep my eyes open for more).  I’m not a canner, and don’t have immediate plans to learn, but I recognize good tools and supplies for the future — whether because I will eventually want to learn the skill, or whether so I can barter with those who do can, doesn’t really matter.  Now I have the beginnings of a canning stash!

More prep:  Nearly done with the garden fence!

Advocated for local [food] economy:  Nothing particular this week, though still had some conversations about the upcoming farmer’s market

Cooked something new:  I retried millet for breakfast, and it worked this time!  I had definitely undercooked it the other time.  I drizzled a little olive oil on it, as recommended by something I read, and had some for breakfast.  It didn’t taste bad, but wasn’t very appealing to me.  I made myself eat about half of a big portion, then put the rest in the fridge.  An hour or so later I was hungry, so I tried again — put some soymilk on the rest of it, rather like one might for oatmeal.  Somehow, that made all the difference to me (I’m very texture and temperature oriented when it comes to food) and I snarfed up the rest!  The only downside is having to plan ahead to soak it overnight.  I didn’t notice much of a milky or oily coating that came off during soaking, so someday I might try cooking it without soaking it, to see if it’s really as bitter as what I heard.

More cooking something new:  I made garlic bread for a potluck at the next door neighbors’ tonight.  About the simplest thing in the world — butter, garlic, bread, oven — but I’d never made it before!

Variation on cooking something new — EATING something new:  I don’t believe I’ve ever had rhubarb before.  So recently during lunch at the wi-fi cafe, I saw they had some rhubarb tart, and I had a piece.  Yum!  Now the next step will be to buy some stalks and cook something with them.  I do have the sprouts growing, but they will not produce stalks this first year, I don’t think.

Learn a new skill — Other than the new cooking, let’s see — I got pretty creative in my fence construction this week, and it seems to be working well (though no real test until there are garden yummies growing inside, and I see whether the deer get in or not).  By the way, since I’m on the topic of keeping the deer out of the garden, it’s time to talk pee  :)  I’ve switched from using a large bucket to using a small coffee can, for collecting urine.  Pretty much every day I take the can outside and empty it.  I had been emptying it onto the compost, but I realized that I produce a lot more pee than I do the other components of compost, so I think I was overdoing it!  Just when I was at a loss as to make good use of that resource, and was about to return to flushing it away most of the time, a friend mentioned that the scent of human urine was a moderately good way to repel deer.  Not as good as the scent of mountain lion urine, but…  :)  Since this is good mountain lion habitat, I definitely don’t want to lure one unnecessarily by offering their own scent!  But I have been using my own, poured on the ground around the outside perimeter of the garden fence.  Again, no way to measure success until there is something inside to tempt the deer, so we’ll see.

Update on last week’s skill:  the beans I’m trying to sprout have one or two sprouts, but most beans aren’t sprouting.  Remember these are really old beans.  I’ll give it another several days to see what happens before abandoning them and restarting with fresh beans.

Reduced waste:  I’ve been remembering my cloth bags at the grocery store lately.  Carried my water bottle to a BBQ Thursday night and again to a speech/dinner Friday night.  I even remembered to decline the straw BEFORE I’d opened its little package, when I had iced tea in a restaurant in town Thursday.