My update for the week of May 16 to 23:
1. Planted: 6 raspberry canes from a neighbor; 14 “All Star” strawberry plants; 16 cabbage seeds over 16 sq. ft.; 8 sq. ft. of beet seeds; 10 seed potatoes in two tire “containers” a la Backwoods Home magazine; and herb plants including 2 thyme, 3 lavender, 2 rosemary, 1 parsley and 1 lemon balm
2. Harvested: chives, parsley, lemon balm for yummy salads
3. Preserved: tried to make a dandelion syrup from Susun Weed’s Herb book, but after making the decoction with the dand. flowers I realized I should’ve taken all the green off and used only the yellow part of them–it smelled too green and wasn’t going to be sweet and tasty so I composted the decoction which was probably great for the compost; otherwise nothing yet
4. Stored: nothing this week
5. Prepped: well, I made a list of things we need to do to get the basement pantry ready for storage. Hoping for a rainy day to get that done…Also added more compost, manure and peat to all the garden beds before planting them; purchased supplies for a gutter and downspout to the rain barrels, and plumbing supplies to turn the 55 gal. barrels I got into rain barrels (George will do the gutters and rain barrel conversions, thanks Dear!)
6. Managed: weeding and watering daily or as needed; talking to all the plants and trees and shrubs to tell them they’re beautiful and should keep growing! (yeah, crazy lady here, but I know it helps–my plants are always beautiful); put the 20 pounds of 4 lb. packages of sugar I’m storing into a 5 gal. bucket to keep dry
7. Cooked new: well, we made this once last year but I made a frittata with local asparagus and ramps and it was awesome! It’s from Jessica Prentice’s _Full Moon Feast_ cookbook, pub. by Chelsea Green; also started brewing two gallons of kombucha from two different “mothers” I received from friends
8. Work on local food systems: bought the asparagus at the Farmer’s Market and it was delicious. Also, I’m setting an example for the neighbors! Many are planting gardens this year (less b/c of me and more the gas prices and needing stuff to do at home, I suspect) and some are planting potatoes in containers for the first time–5 gal. buckets, etc. Several have said if my potato tire container thing works this year they are definitely doing it next year. Great. I said to them we’ll become known as the “Southside White Trash” neighborhood if they do that. To which they replied “we already are!” Oh, I didn’t know that…thought we were just “crunchy”. We have fun here anyway.
9. Waste reduction: always composting and recycling; also de-cluttering and getting ready for an August garage sale
10. Skills learned: well, by my mistake I learned how NOT to make dandelion syrup and will try again later; also learning how to successfully make kombucha as the batch I tried last year failed–so far it’s working great this time!
1. Planted: 6 raspberry canes from a neighbor; 14 “All Star” strawberry plants; 16 cabbage seeds over 16 sq. ft.; 8 sq. ft. of beet seeds; 10 seed potatoes in two tire “containers” a la Backwoods Home magazine; and herb plants including 2 thyme, 3 lavender, 2 rosemary, 1 parsley and 1 lemon balm
2. Harvested: chives, parsley, lemon balm for yummy salads
3. Preserved: tried to make a dandelion syrup from Susun Weed’s Herb book, but after making the decoction with the dand. flowers I realized I should’ve taken all the green off and used only the yellow part of them–it smelled too green and wasn’t going to be sweet and tasty so I composted the decoction which was probably great for the compost; otherwise nothing yet
4. Stored: nothing this week
5. Prepped: well, I made a list of things we need to do to get the basement pantry ready for storage. Hoping for a rainy day to get that done…Also added more compost, manure and peat to all the garden beds before planting them; purchased supplies for a gutter and downspout to the rain barrels, and plumbing supplies to turn the 55 gal. barrels I got into rain barrels (George will do the gutters and rain barrel conversions, thanks Dear!)
6. Managed: weeding and watering daily or as needed; talking to all the plants and trees and shrubs to tell them they’re beautiful and should keep growing! (yeah, crazy lady here, but I know it helps–my plants are always beautiful); put the 20 pounds of 4 lb. packages of sugar I’m storing into a 5 gal. bucket to keep dry
7. Cooked new: well, we made this once last year but I made a frittata with local asparagus and ramps and it was awesome! It’s from Jessica Prentice’s _Full Moon Feast_ cookbook, pub. by Chelsea Green; also started brewing two gallons of kombucha from two different “mothers” I received from friends
8. Work on local food systems: bought the asparagus at the Farmer’s Market and it was delicious. Also, I’m setting an example for the neighbors! Many are planting gardens this year (less b/c of me and more the gas prices and needing stuff to do at home, I suspect) and some are planting potatoes in containers for the first time–5 gal. buckets, etc. Several have said if my potato tire container thing works this year they are definitely doing it next year. Great. I said to them we’ll become known as the “Southside White Trash” neighborhood if they do that. To which they replied “we already are!” Oh, I didn’t know that…thought we were just “crunchy”. We have fun here anyway.
9. Waste reduction: always composting and recycling; also de-cluttering and getting ready for an August garage sale
10. Skills learned: well, by my mistake I learned how NOT to make dandelion syrup and will try again later; also learning how to successfully make kombucha as the batch I tried last year failed–so far it’s working great this time!
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