Thursday, August 31, 2017
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Cleaning out the Freezer: Autumn Edition
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| Coffee cake made with coffee, glazed with coffee, has a coffee streusel, and I drank coffee while making it. Take that, afternoon sleepies. |
and finally made the summer stock from all the summer's veggie scraps.  |
This one's gonna be really sweet from all the summer fruits and really spicy from all the  🌶! |
🌻🍃🍅 No. 12: Making Stock 🍃🍓🍃 #100GardenHacks
I am working on a project for the 2017
growing season to work my way through
100 garden hacks*.
Food waste reduction when composting is not possible,
growing season to work my way through
100 garden hacks*.
also a frugal way to get more out of your produce, and all those herbs that be touch to keep up with. This is a particularly good use for herb flowers and seeds!
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| Just save those scraps in the freezer until it's stock time. Then throw it all in a stock pot (or a really big pot) |
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| Add water to cover, bring to a boil and simmer for several hours. I also add some whole peppercorns, any old spices you might want to use up e.g. herbs, seeds, sauces, that have been on the shelf for over a year, etc. |
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| after simmering for several hours, strain... |
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| I also use a masher to squeeze out every last bit of goodness |
Store some in the fridge for immediate use or store in freezer to last all season
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| For easy storage & use, you can put the stock into ice cube trays to freeze |
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| I take the leftover mash to the compost for some great decomposer food! |
🌻🍃🍅 No. 11: Poisoning Poison Ivy Without Poison 🍃🍓🍃 #100GardenHacks
I am working on a project for the 2017
growing season to work my way through
100 garden hacks*.
growing season to work my way through
100 garden hacks*.
Found a wicked patch of poison ivy growing along the west wall of the greenhouse, and even more awesome is how it's grown to be where the barn door slides when opened. So the cause of all the plant's dermatitis (the oil urushiol) has been getting onto the wood of the door. No wonder folks at the greenhouse keep reporting random (and thankfully mild) patches of the rash.
So we can't burn it, we can't cut it (at least no one other than Scott b/c he's proclaimed to be "unafeared" of it), and likewise no one really wants to pull this giant patch. I tinkered with some easy methods to control it, using nothing other than what I already had on hand.
I went basic...literally...I mixed up a batch each of baking soda+boiling water, and epsom salt + boiling water (about a cup or two soda/salt and 1 gallon of water) and...
while still boiling hot, poured it directly onto as much of the plant as I could; I was very intentional about getting a really good amount of the solutions onto the apical meristem (the end of the vine that was growing, or the top of the erect shrubs, depending on which part of the patch I was attacking).
The reason for this is to hit the plant where it is concentrating its energy - new growth. Even mainstream/industrial herbicides are typically applied here because the newer growth is more vulnerable, and at this late point in the season - it's difficult to get any type of systemic action for any weed. However, you can't schedule an invasion or roll back time, so I'm working with what I got. And what I've got is a plant that is still making new growth, new growth is always where a plant concentrates the majority of its resources - most plants will even sacrifice old growth to keep new growth pumping, so this strategy is hits the plant where it hurts the most.
You can see the precipitate from both the salt and the soda. Chemically speaking the extremely alkaline solution should damage the plant tissue.
A day later...
I got a little damage, but the plant is definitely not dead. So in the interest of trying something even simpler, I tried pouring onto the plant just boiling water.
I'm much happier with the results! The plant is dying back, in 24 hours the leaves that received the hot water treatment wilted. And in a few days were completely browned and dead. No soda or salt needed!
🕊, 💌, 🍃 & ⚛
~KF
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| I found this copy on a CVS magazine stand :) However, portions of this publication previously appeared at RodaleOrganicLife.com |
*101+ Garden Hacks magazine. 2017. Rodale, Inc.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Have pipe, will bend
The flexible piping we used last time (PLX) just did not work. Even with supports in between the hoops, the hoops couldn't seem to hold their shape and stay up.So we were forced to consider other materials, and we while PVC would be cheap and strong enough to work and easy to work with, we don't have a lot of it on site to repurpose. The more abundant material and the pieces used to construct the existing hoophouses on the property is metal conduit. So we purchased a conduit/pipe bender.
The afternoon consisted of lessons of conduit bending: you have to account for the extra distance of the bend, so marking where to place the bender includes what the instructions called "deduction," which really seem like additions. And while the instructions advised placing the bender 5" from where you want you bend, we found 3" was closer to what worked.
Lesson 2: when you're bending your second end or side, you have to ensure "up is up!" When you do the second bend, it needs to be pointing in the same direction as the first bend so they match. Duh, but we learned the hard way on the first pipe and had to bend back to make corrections (which can weaken the metal).
We also borrowed an oscillating saw from Scott's parents because it's apparently the really badass way to cut through stuff compared to rotating blades. We used this to cut two more conduits to match the length of the first one in length.
These probably won't be the lengths we go with in the future, because it only covers one bench+plus aisle (rather than the original 2 benches + 1 aisle we want). But we started with a conduit piece we foraged that already had what's called a dog bend, which is what allows the conduit to stick into the bench straight but then bend towards the middle of the space (like a tent or steeple shape). We were working with 103" of length, two bends at 30 degrees for the bottom, and two 45 degree bends at the top for the apex at 51.5".
So with work time running out for the day, we left it with three near-identical-as-we-wcould-get conduits, ready to be mounted somehow (we think they'll fit into the feet we made last week from PVC) or else we'll have to brace them to the table).
🕊, 💌, 🍃 & ⚛
~KF
Lesson 2: when you're bending your second end or side, you have to ensure "up is up!" When you do the second bend, it needs to be pointing in the same direction as the first bend so they match. Duh, but we learned the hard way on the first pipe and had to bend back to make corrections (which can weaken the metal).
These probably won't be the lengths we go with in the future, because it only covers one bench+plus aisle (rather than the original 2 benches + 1 aisle we want). But we started with a conduit piece we foraged that already had what's called a dog bend, which is what allows the conduit to stick into the bench straight but then bend towards the middle of the space (like a tent or steeple shape). We were working with 103" of length, two bends at 30 degrees for the bottom, and two 45 degree bends at the top for the apex at 51.5".
So with work time running out for the day, we left it with three near-identical-as-we-wcould-get conduits, ready to be mounted somehow (we think they'll fit into the feet we made last week from PVC) or else we'll have to brace them to the table).
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| The best part of this pilot effort is that the supports are perfectly "Kim height" :) |
~KF
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
🌻🍃🍅 No. 10: Compost Bucket Sit Upon 🍃🍓🍃 #100GardenHacks
I am working on a project for the 2017 | growing season to work my way through 100 garden hacks*. Compost Bucket Sit-Upon
With all the soil testing Community Roots has been offering this summer, we've had a chance to test some of our garden plots. While the flood plain sandy loam soil is a great texture, most areas lack organic matter severely, leading to some compaction and hard panning at the surface. The deep mulching we've been doing for over a year, plus cover cropping this autumn and spring (especially if we have another early mild winter) will help address the issue, however half our gardeners removed the deep mulching on their plots and won't benefit as much.
I wanted to find a way to add organic matter, that was convenient to the garden plot area; our compost pile is a good distance away, particularly given the uneven terrain - the shortest route between plots and pile is not great footing yet.
I remembered a solution I came up with back in Evanston's James Park Community Garden for composting in a small area, using a 5-gallon bucket to make a miniature in-soil compost bin with a lid that also functioned as a seat.
STEP 1: Drill out bucket bottom
    
By removing the bottom, you can have the compost feed directly into the garden plot. This way the bucket never really fills to capacity and the contents are connected directly to the soil system (with all it's decomposers and nitrifying bacteria!)
STEP 2: Paint the bucket as needed. I spray painted this one the darkest color we had on hand (normally I go black or darkest brown, but we had a dark navy blue on the shelf already). I also can't go with out fun embellishments so I used my old nail polish supply to decorate.
STEP 3: As the paint dries, affix the fabric to the seat an opening enough to stuff it.
     You can also use this idea, but keep the bucket bottom intact to hold tools, or for trash, etc.    | |
🕊, 💌, 🍃 & ⚛
~KF
*101+ Garden Hacks magazine. 2017. Rodale, Inc.
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| I found this copy on a CVS magazine stand :) However, portions of this publication previously appeared at RodaleOrganicLife.com |
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