Actual Text Messages:
Chuck: There’s a bunny in your garden right now. Want me to chase it away?
Daisy: Yes, please. Take a picture if you can.
Chuck strode out to the garden, phone camera in hand, and got a big surprise.
Chuck: It’s a regular wildlife sanctuary back there. 1 chipmunk, 1 mourning dove, 2 bunnies, small flock of blackbirds. Sorry, no pics.
No wonder I’m hardly getting any beans. Come on, critters. Leave the family vegetables alone!
I found this packet when I was cleaning. By its shape and label, I knew I’d saved it from the dumpster when my school adopted a new science curriculum. I cleaned my classroom closets, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw away seeds. Seeds! They might grow! But what kind of seeds was in the packet?
Curiouser and curiouser.
I took a closer look at the label. Then I started doing the math. These seeds are very likely at least ten years old. They’re unlikely to germinate.
Can you read it?
Seeds, Bean Oriental Mung, 30g. Not the usual variety for my zone, but I planted them anyway.
My Internet research told me that Oriental Mung beans are an heirloom variety, a non-hybrid bean. The sprouts are delicious in salads, and they’re popular in Europe and India. They don’t resemble any beans I’ve planted, so I am really curious. However, after many years in a classroom closet, I’m not counting on feeding the family on Mung beans despite the quantity in the bag.
I’ll let you know, readers. If something comes up (and doesn’t get eaten by the furry creatures), I’ll show you the results.
While we wait, fellow gardeners and other lovely readers, what kinds of experimental seeds have you planted? Old ones? New ones? Something not usually suited to your zone and climate? Add a comment and share.
I bought a lot of peppers on Wednesday. Thursday was dill pickle day. I hope the pickles work out this time. I’m close to giving up on dills, at least from my recipe books. I might go to a commercial mix instead.
All set to pickle! And more!
I had already brought in a meager harvest from the backyard.
Peppers (4 kinds), beans, and two more heads of garlic
I mentioned pickles earlier. I’d be a little, no, more than a little bit bummed if I didn’t have a way to use at least some of the fresh dill that’s growing in the backyard.
Dill, not popcorn.
The brine didn’t smell the greatest, so I really don’t know if it worked. Fresh dill and fresh garlic – I hope it all came together. I will have to wait two weeks and then open a jar. Suspense, suspense.
Meanwhile, the Saturday market came by. We took time to listen to some good live music – and I do mean good quality. My fair city plays host to its second annual Mile of Music, and one of the headliners was performing, for free, at the downtown farmers’ market (Hillary Reynolds Band). A little bit down the road we saw one of the lesser known but still awesome bands (Holy Sheboygan) singing and dancing and making people smile. Then we slipped into a coffeehouse and listened to a group of brass players jamming, just jamming.
Oh, the market. We brought home all this – plus corn.
Saturday Market! Fresh food and fun.
My parsnips are not quite ready yet, so we bought some. I also picked up beans, green and yellow, in honor of Packers preseason starting tonight. Packer beans!
There’s my work for the rest of the weekend. Watch Brewers and Packers and prep vegetables for freezing. Ah, summer in Wisconsin.
The big city of Toledo had a disaster of epic proportions recently. The drinking water supply was contaminated with microcystins, a nasty toxin produced by cyanobacteria. Folks with an apocalyptic outlook may be shouting, “Look out! The end of the world is near! The sky is falling! This new bacteria will take over the world!”
Please set aside my sarcasm for a moment. Cyanobacteria is a major issue and a potential problem anywhere there is a large amount of warm, still water. It’s not pollution, per se, but it is dangerous. It’s also not new. As soon as I heard cyanobacteria referred to as “blue-green algae” I flashed back to college and Environmental Science 101. Way back then, I learned that blue-green algae was an invasive species, dangerous because it would take over the ecosystem and force out the native algae and small water animals that provide food for the bigger fish on the food chain. The same fish will not eat blue-green algae because, well, it tastes bad. Even the invasive zebra mussel turns up its nose (figuratively) at blue-green algae, eating other species and leaving more opportunities for the microcystin-producing cyanobacteria.
So, professor, are you proud of me for remembering that? Pat yourself on the back. I also learned quite a bit about water treatment. In my neck of the woods in the Great Lakes region, just like Toledo, Ohio, our local treatment plants have to go to extra lengths to clean and process the water before it goes back into the watershed. The water that enters my home is also treated thoroughly to keep it safe for cooking and drinking.
Blue-green algae and its bacteria do not get filtered out or chemically neutralized, even in the three major stages of water treatment required in the Great Lakes. In fact, boiling will not get rid of it, either. Boiling water makes the toxin stronger.
So here’s the trouble, people. This algae thrives in warm, still water. Climate change has warmed the Great Lakes and made a perfect storm, er, environment for this kind of disaster to happen again and again.
My fair city gets its water not from a Great Lake, but another nearby large body of water. A microcystin water disaster could happen here. Looking ahead, we residents need to consider:
Readers, grab a glass of cool ice water and chime in.
I don’t remember where I read it. A gardening and cooking article stated that rhubarb is past its prime and not much good after July 4th.
My rhubarb didn’t get the message because it’s still growing.
I pulled a few pounds from the freezer to make into sauce. Then I harvested about another pound of the fresh stuff.
Rhubarb, ready for dicing
Here’s the fun part. After harvesting a big stack of fresh rhubarb, the remaining rhubarb looks like this.
Still Growing!
We had rain yesterday, so the soil and the surrounding grass look much greener today. If this continues, we’ll have apple rhubarb cobbler, crisp, and maybe even rhubarb applesauce in the fall!
Last night I hooked myself up to monitors and participated in a home sleep test. I slept, so I’m guessing I passed. Right? Maybe. I’ll send the monitor back Monday and eventually hear back from the doctor.
But meanwhile, back at the O.K. Chorale, it’s Market Time Again!
First Things First
This picture shows the stock-up items from Wednesday’s market. Peas, peppers, onions, bunny food (a.k.a. carrots), potatoes. The beans in the front came from the garden.
Saturday Market
Blueberries, peas, yellow beans (I picked lots of green last night), bunny food, cherries, strawberries (imported, I’m sure), tomatoes, and a curry chicken salad for lunch from the Green Gecko Deli. The wine in the back row is also from the Green Gecko.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking – that it looks like a mighty small haul for a Saturday market? You’re right. I also bought a smoothie from Smoothie Island and egg rolls from the Hmong food booth. Aha. And —
CORN!!!
I’ve mentioned that I plan to attack corn week by week instead of a big bushel all at once. Here’s the first batch. Chuck will cook six with supper tonight. the remaining 18 are due for a quick blanching followed by slicing the kernels off the cob. I feel like there’s a step I’m missing. In the book Plenty, they did one more thing, right? Oh, I remember! They had a bottle of wine. Prepping corn calls for wine, that’s it. I hope it’s okay if I substitute a New Glarus beer. It is a Wisconsin product, after all.
I’ve never kept track precisely of the cost of gardening. I read The $64 Tomato a few years back, and I was a little disheartened by his cost analysis. Today, while Amigo got a haircut, I browsed a magazine that listed “Grow Your Own Vegetables” as a money saving trick. The featured couple broke even on their backyard garden, but they predicted a better outcome in follow-up years because the majority of their costs were incurred building the raised bed itself.
I had significant expenses in expanding my backyard plot this year. Chuck repurposed the boards, so those were no cost. He used mainly screws and tools that he already owned, so there again was no new cost. We laid down a base for the soil by using home made compost and biodegradable waste from our adorable pet bunny – her litter boxes, if you need it spelled out for you. We bought ten (twelve?) straw bales last fall at about $6 each. Then we built up the soil using commercial topsoil purchased from a local store for a total of about $120.
Seeds and seedlings added to the cost total, but not much. I save a considerable amount when I’m able to start tomatoes and peppers from seed rather than buying seedlings. This year, I lost some of those starter seedlings due to neglect while I regained my health. All that survived are thriving now – and that includes both me and the seedlings.
Then we’d need to figure out a cost estimate for the amount we saved. So many heads of lettuce, parsley (a.k.a. bunny food), radishes, salsa, tomato sauce, etc. – this would be difficult, if not impossible, to inventory and calculate. In general, we eat fresher and better quality when there are foods available in the backyard.
Then there are the perennials: rhubarb, green onions, raspberries, chives.. those incur no new costs. They just grow. Does that balance the produce I buy from the farmers’ market? It’s complicated, it is.
Cost savings? If I really want to, I could keep a spreadsheet next year. Then again, maybe not. It’s such a pleasure to plant seeds and watch them grow, I can’t really quantify it.
Frankly, no matter what the size, a garden is priceless.
Squares
I left you yesterday with a big view of the big garden area. When Chuck put this together, he created walkways so I could plant, weed, and harvest without slogging through the dirt. Not that I mind playing in the dirt – but back to the garden tour.
One set of straw bales plays home to jalapeno peppers. I predict salsa in our future.
More peppers
One the other side, the bales provide soil and support for yellow banana peppers. These are delicious. We eat some, freeze some, and last summer I pickled some.
Beans, beans.
Two squares are devoted to beans, the green and yellow kinds. Some type of furry creature has been nibbling here. The evidence points toward a deer, and we do occasionally see one of those lovely critters in the area. I just wish they’d feast on something else.
Tomato, tomahto
The tomatoes also get two squares. This one is growing like wildfire. It hardly needs the support poles; these tomato plants are winding together to hold each other up!
Bunny food! And people, too.
A variety of lettuces fill the center square. There’s one empty corner. My theory: old seeds that didn’t grow. Oh, well, I have plenty.
Well, folks, despite the late start, I’m growing quite a bit of food for my family and friends. I don’t feel like a doomsday prepper (yet), but I do enjoy the feeling of watching the garden grow.
I talk about it. I blog about it. I spend hours of my days planning, watering, weeding, and maintaining it. But readers, you haven’t seen enough of it, right? Right.
Up the steps – come on in!
There are a couple of decorative pots on the steps. I picked up the pots because I liked the color. It was a rare moment for me: buying pots new at the store. But back to the tour: on the right, you see the Big Pot of Basil. I just trimmed it last week to dry some in the attic. That reminds me – I should open up the attic door and check on the drying herbs.
But back to the tour. You can also see an old re-purposed basket with marigolds growing. Behind the basket is the rhubarb. This is the third location for the rhubarb, and it’s thriving here. In fact, I was going to make rhubarb chocolate chip cookies now that it’s cool enough to work in the kitchen.
But seriously, back to the tour.
Speaking of herbs…
Speaking of herbs, here is the mini greenhouse minus its plastic cover. From the left, you see sage, thyme, and rosemary. Below is a popcorn bucket awaiting repurposing.
More repurposing!
Chuck repurposed this chair a few years ago. It’s still going strong, playing host to decorative plants this year. Hanging from the deck railing is a container of oregano.
Scarborough Fair, anyone?
More re-purposing fun: an old stepladder becomes a set of shelves next to a picnic basket full of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. The thyme isn’t growing well. Talk about killing thyme…never mind. Back to the tour.
The original plot
When we moved here, I started a garden behind the garage. Today, that plot is mainly raspberries, with the space left over planted in parsley, cilantro (bucket), and in the back, zucchini. I transplanted a few marigolds to a blank area to attract pollinators for the zucchini.
The big plot – the new squares!
This section is new. Remember the old triangle? Chuck squared it off last fall, and we built up the soil with Buttercup’s litter boxes. I’m not kidding. The decomposing litter and waste formed the base for a layer of topsoil brought in from the garden store. The straw bales are the experiment of the year.
This post is getting long. I’ll start there tomorrow.
Cupcake Mix; in the corner, rice
I like souvenirs that we can use and enjoy. The cupcake mix was simple to bake, and it included the frosting, too. I dug way back into the kitchen cupboards and found out I did, indeed, own a batch of cupcake papers. I usually bake muffins without these.
Amigo liked the cupcakes and remembered hanging out with a cat under a shade tree while I shopped.
I bought a coffee cup, too. Picture will come later – when I remember.