Eat with the old, grow with the new

The weather is certainly starting to warm up (thank you Global Weirding). It's been all upper 70's and lower 80's this week. The early seedlings have graduated to bigger pots, the Kale and Cabbage are hardening off in a lidless cold frame out in the garden, and we've put Snap Peas in the ground. March 21st is still a week off, but Spring is in full effect around the 'Burbstead.

We're pulling the last of the Winter crops out of the hoop house. The lettuce, spinach, and radishes that I planted in there a few weeks ago are up, and Alex is getting set to plant some carrots in his little section. I patched the big hole in the plastic, but some heavy wind and rain opened part of it back up. Considering how warm it's been, the holes are actually providing some much needed ventilation. I'm hoping to have the whole thing replanted in the next week or so.

Erik with some freshly picked Turnips and Carrots

The first round of Tomatoes that I planted consisted of Purple Russian and Silvery Fir Tree varieties. They're off to a great start, and I want to get them transplanted under some row cover this coming week. The second batch of tomatoes have mostly all sprouted. The list includes: Beam's Yellow Pear, Hillbilly Potato Leaf, Large Red Cherry, Pineapple, Speckled Roman, Black from Tula, Green Zebra, Amish Paste, Moonglow, Cream Sausage, and some Ground Cherries (not tomatoes, I know). Altogether it amounts to about 95 tomato seedlings. That's way more than I can grow, but I enjoy giving the extra plants to friends and family members. Next up, Peppers... bring on the warm weather!

6 good looking Purple Russian Tomato seedlings

Hoop House Fail

To say that the weather this "Winter" has been odd would be a gross understatement. Yesterday it was almost 70 degrees, then a front moved in and it dropped down into the 30's. It was also freaky windy. Given how degraded the plastic on my hoop house is becoming, I was a little worried about how it would handle the abuse. This morning when I was feeding the chickens, I walked over to inspect it and this is what I found:

I've had to patch up the hoop house numerous times, but they have all been tears that were 18" or smaller. I'm not quite sure what the best way to fix this gaping hole is going to be. I suppose that will be a job for tomorrow morning. I need to patch it quickly because I have a bunch of seedlings on my kitchen counter that are going to make their way out there before too long. Once Spring is in full effect, the plastic is going to come off, and eventually the frame will serve as a giant green bean trellis. For now, though, I need to seal it up.

Free Online Garden Planner

There are tons of resources on the internet to help people plan their garden. Mother Earth News has a pretty cool program on their website...but it costs money. I was poking around (ie. wasting time) on the internet tubes yesterday when I stumbled across a somewhat simplified version of that software on the Gardener's Supply Company website. It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of the Mother Earth program, but for the low, low cost of nothing, I thought it was pretty cool. You can save individual beds and whole garden layouts. The plant list is a bit simplistic, but there is space for making notes about what varieties you're growing. My first inclination was to use it as a way to work out crop rotation, or play around with different garden arrangements. At any rate, it's a fun way to satisfy the gardening itch that seems to crop up this time of year.

Free Online Garden Planner

Starting Seeds (and ordering more)

It's February, and I'm chomping at the bit to start planting things. Assuming that the plastic on the hoop house manages to make it through the spring, I plan on utilizing that space to start seedlings and harden off plants without over-crowding the kitchen counter. At this point I have 2 1/2 trays of seeds planted. They include: Early Flat Dutch Cabbage, Green Sprouting Broccoli, Silvery Fir Tree and Purple Russian Tomatoes, Curly Blue Scotch Kale, and .... I forget, there are 2 more. I'm also going to try to build a frame out of 1/2 inch conduit to hold the grow lights over the seed trays. I've had schrechlich gluck with starting broccoli in the past, so hopefully having a little more control over the lighting will help ward off tall, spindly seedlings.

I'm also getting set to oder some more seeds from Baker Creek (what can I say, I'm a junkie). Right now I'm planning on getting Golden Giant Amaranth, Extra Dwarf Pak Choy, Nero di Toscana cabbage, and Fordhook Giant chard. I also want to increase the quantity and variety of flowers around the 'Burbstead in order to attract more pollinators. I'm not sure what I'm get for that. Most of what I plant right now are Asters and Marigolds.

Incubatin'

Last week one of our hens, Scratchy, died. I knew something was up with her the day before, when she hadn't come bounding out of the coop as I opened the door. Rather, she quietly hung out in the chicken run drinking water and occasionally pecking at the food. This was the first I'd noticed anything being amiss with her, and by the next day she was dead. That same day, the kids noticed that one of the white chickens we had raised from the batch of chicks this past Spring had hidden a few eggs in the leaves under our wood rack. In light of Scratchy's passing, they asked if we could try to hatch a new baby chick. Having looked into the matter previously, I was a bit dubious about our prospects for two reasons:

1. Incubating eggs is surprisingly tricky, and seemed best done by either a store bought incubator or a live chicken.

2. Brown Spot, our rooster, is so hen pecked - both by actual hens and our well intentioned children - that I doubt he has actually gotten his groove on enough fertilize many eggs.

Nevertheless, it seemed like a fun project to do with the kids on a day off school. We built the incubator completely out of materials that were laying around the house. The only thing we had to purchase was a 25 watt light bulb. Everything was put together, and in went the 3 eggs. We counted out the 21 days it should take for them to grow, and as luck would have it, the prospective hatch day is the boys' 8th birthday. Will anything come of this? I hope so, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Sauerkraut

The art of preserving vegetables by fermenting them is something that goes back thousands of years, and is prevalent in cultures around the world. Considering my family's strong German heritage, it's sort of strange that I've never really learned how to make Sauerkraut before now. The process is incredibly simple: shred or chop vegetables, add salt, squash to release the veggies' juices, top off with some water, cover it, and let it set. As the vegetables ferment, the beneficial microbes and bacteria that are present help to break down the ingredients, preserve it, and make it easier to digest when you eat it. If you cook or can it, all of those organisms are killed. I decided to make my kraut with some carrots and radishes, along with the cabbage. Why? I had them sitting around and I thought it might be good.

I cut the veggies coarsely with a kitchen knife

I used coarse kosher salt to mix them in a large bowl.

This is what the mixture looked like after a few minutes of squeezing. There was a fair amount of liquid that formed as a result of this.

I put it all into this large jar and topped it off with a little water. I used a small plate and a cup to keep the veggies submerged. I covered it with a thin dish towel, and let it sit in my basement for about 3-4 weeks.

Once the Kraut was fermented, I put it into mason jars to keep in the fridge. From 2 cabbages, a handful of carrots, and 6 big radishes I ended up with 2 1/2 quarts of Sauerkraut.

The fermented Sauerkraut is crisp, tangy, and delicious.

I'm not certain how long this stuff is good for in the fridge. At the rate I've been eating it, I don't think I'm going to find out. It's darn tasty. Making it in smallish batches like this seems to be the smart way of doing it. Cabbages and root vegetables store really well on their own, and this is something that lets you make use of them throughout the year. Below is a video featuring the eclectic fermentation guru, Sandor Katz (who may or may not have been the narrator for the infamous "Honey Badger" video). It lays out the process that I followed pretty clearly.

New Growth in the New Year

Fun at home on Christmas Break

The Christmas/New Year's holiday rush is finally over, and now we can settle back down into the routines of regular life. I'll do a bigger post in the next few days looking back at what happened around the 'Burbstead in 2011, and what I'd like to see happen in 2012. For now, a quick update about a few random odds & ends.

Hoop House:

I got the hoop house covered with the salvaged plastic a while back. I knew that it wouldn't last more than one season, and the fact that the weather here has been remarkably mild up until this past week was certainly helping things. Since New Year's, the temps have been getting down in the 30's (which by itself isn't a big deal), and they've been accompanied by 40+ mph winds. That's started to test the strength of the plastic. I've repaired a number of small tears and holes. Yesterday I found a large opening in the back wall. I'm trying to keep in mind that this is an experiment and that we often learn more from failures than quick success, nevertheless, it's frustrating to have to continually break out the transparent duct tape. The plants have taken it all in stride thus far. I've pulled a ton of radishes, lettuce, and other greens out. The carrots and turnips are looking good, and I'm curious to see when the spinach that I planted in November will start to take off.

Swiss Chard, Black Seeded Simpson and Winter Density Lettuce, Beet and Turnip greens fresh from the Hoop House.

Cool Christmas Gifts

I had the good fortune of receiving a number of awesome Christmas presents this year. I'm not the sort of person who needs a lot of material things to be happy, but it's still nice to get some things that I probably wouldn't have bought for myself. A few of the "Burbstead related things I got were:

Food Mill with 3 different sized sieves.

A couple of books that I'm looking forward to reading