Humus In A Hurry

No, not hummus...Humus! Humus is the long lasting remnant of decaying organic material. It improves soil structure and increases water retention. Gardens LOVE humus. I actually read a blog once where a woman was so desperate for humus in her soil that she put a bunch of compostables through her kitchen blender. Yikes! Here's a way to get rid of weeds (and their seeds) and make wonderful garden humus in a hurry (and by hurry I mean two weeks...this is sans blender, people).

About this time each year the weeds are going crazy. I just can't pull them all before they go to seed. Observe: And of course just throwing seedy weeds into the compost pile would leave their seeds unscathed and prepared to sprout in next year's garden. I know there are those out there who feel my pain. Here's what you do. Put all of your weeds into a bucket. I usually tote a bucket around with me while weeding and when it's full move onto the next step. The next step is filling the bucket with water and covering it. At first it will look like this: Cover it with whatever you want, this step is to essentially keep mosquitoes from spawning. I even used a pizza box once with a brick on top. I like to keep things classy. Leave your bucket to rot (lovely) for two weeks. Here's what it looks like at the end of one week: At the end of two weeks it should be good and black and ready to be poured into a compost pile or garden bed or lawn or whatever. Be warned, it smells like death. Seriously. But in the end you'll live through it, it'll kill all of the weed seeds and your soil will be all the better for it.

i have the best friends ever

The re-posting begins. So as stated in the previous post I was a dummy and erased a TON of blog posts. But I have the best BFF ever. She painstakingly (and time consumingly) copied all of the missing blog posts from her google reader into an email for me...without being asked!!! Couldn't you just cry from joy? No? Well I could. I'll start re-posting things soon -as in, immediately after this post if the wee one keeps sleepin- I appologize in advance to you followers for inundating you with previously read material. Bear with me. And a million thanks again Nikol, surely this will pass into legend.

And, I am twice blessed because my friend Ingrid's husband Richard left me 4 trash cans full of good black compost.

Make that thrice blessed, my husband and father-in-law got me a nice truck bed full of compost from a place up the street.

I'm in heaven. I told my husband it's like Christmas morning. And it totally is.

Yesterday I traded a large bowl of lettuce and 9 tomato seedlings with the aforementioned BFF Nikol in exchange for three large bags of oranges. How lovely. We had orange juice with breakfast. Nothing beats the feeling of growing your own food, or raising it, or swapping it. The wee one is waking. Look forward to post flashbacks soon:). It's probably best I go, dinner don't make itself, am I right? :)

Life Lately

Sorry the blog has been somewhat devoid of pictures lately. I (or was it the Mr.) have lost the camera charger...and the camera is dead...so there you go.

Things are going great at our house! I'm busy making these for jonas's easter basket, and also a set of these
Now when I say a set I mean, I'm not making any of the whole-egg kind, but crocheting 6 of the egg-opens-to-reveal-baby-chick variety. I'm making 6 chicks in 3 colors, ergo 2 chicks of each color, it can be a matching game of sorts for the wee one. He's been begging for the eggs crochet (what a weirdo) ever since I bought this book and I figured what better time than easter? Anyone else making anything cute for easter? Please share!

Eating mostly meatless at our house is going swimmingly! I've been very, very bad about posting meatless recipes on the blog so here's one to begin making up for that.

Last night we had Black Bean Cakes. Which don't sound great but really are. Any time you combine the words "bean" and "cake"...it's a dangerous road, but I promise they're great, and super healthy. We tell Jonas they're hamburgers and he usually eats them. But last night he wanted nothing to do with them...but that may be because he was forced to eat it in the car on the way to my sister's house for easter egg dying. I was running a bit behind yesterday. But I digress. I don't remember where I originally got this recipe but I've made a few adjustments to it anyway.

You'll need:
2 Tablespoons oil
4 chopped scallions
6 cloves of minced garlic
1 Tablespoon of ground cumin
2 Cans of black beans rinsed and drained
1 Large sweet potato peeled and grated (about 2 cups)
1 large egg, beaten
Half a cup of dried bread crumbs or (my fave) rolled oats pulsed through a processor until bread crumb consistency.

Sour cream, lime wedges and cilantro for serving.

Heat your broiler. In a skillet heat 1 Tbsp oil and add the garlic, cumin and scallions, if you want spicy bean cakes add a chopped jalapeno as well. Cook 30 seconds to a minute and then transfer to a large bowl. Add the beans and mash it all together using a potato masher. Leave about a quarter of the beans whole. fold in remaining ingredients, use the final tablespoon of oil to grease a cookie sheet. Divide the stuff into eight equal parts, form them into patties and broil them 4 inches from the heat. 8-10 minutes on one side, flip, 2-3 minutes on last side. Serve with serving stuff:) They look like this. Only better...and not so dry.

Next. My girls and I have finally gotten book club up and running again! This will make my goal of reading one book a month much easier. For this coming month we're reading Assassination Vacation By Sarah Vowell. In which the author travels to various presidential assassination sites and writes about it with wit and somewhat tongue-in-cheek humor.

Next month we're doubling up and reading both The Backyard Homestead and Made From Scratch both of which I LOVE and am very passionate about.

The garden is going great. We continue to eat from it daily and I cannot wait for the summer stuff to begin producing...have I said that yet? From the 3 brambles planted last year we now have 15 brambles and counting! The raspberry and boysenberry are spreading like wildfire...though I cannot say the same for the blackberry, it's just not pulling it's weight. The herb garden started last year is really starting to take off, and that side of the yard is looking much improved. Once again I'll be growing more tomatoes than I originally planned for. I should not be allowed to look at seed catalogues. I started like 8 different varieties and just can't stand watching all of the little seedlings go to waste. I'm trying to foist them off onto friends...still it should be a bounteous summer.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!

I am very angry. Here is why. I went to clean out my drafts that have been hanging around forever and ended up deleting like the last 6 months of posts. Including the one I just spent an hour or so putting together. I'm going outside.

What is Edible Forest Gardening? (and making small changes)

This post is inspired by Nikol's comment which asks if edible forest garening is like having an orchard. Good question. The answer is, kind of, only much, much better.



When planning an edible forest garden you basically copy the format found in nature, specifically in the forest. If you walk through a forest you'll see that it's not just trees, but trees and shrubs and vines and ground level plants. Many niches are filled. In an edible forest garden you have all of these components and they either produce food or provide some other positive contribution to the garden (like fix nitrogen into the soil, or attract and house beneficial insects/birds). For example, in the edible forest garden I'm planning we have citrus trees, then various berry shrubs planted around them, followed by lower growing plants like flowers, vegetables, and strawberries. It takes some time and consideration when planning such a garden, but once the garden is put in place it takes very little time to keep it running. Think about it, with most space filled, there will be very little room for weeds!
My husband was skeptical of this gardening strategy at first, since it would appear that many of the plants are required to grow in the shade. But, remember in an edible forest garden you copy nature's format, planting shrubs in sunny openings and lower growing plants around the edges. I'm blessed as far as edible forest gardening goes since I live in southern california and inadequate sunshine is the least of my worries. In fact I've been planning one section of my garden so that it will create shade for my poor blackberry bushes. The truth is plants are much hardier than we give them credit for. They actually want to grow if you can believe that.

If this is insufficient explanation of edible forest gardening then either shoot me a comment or check out the book. There are two volumes by the way and, as much as I love the first volume, the second sounds even better.

In other news: can I just say that if you aren't washing your hair with baking soda by now you should be. It is AMAZING, I just can't say enough good stuff about it. My hair feels like it did when I was a young'un. And it's only been a little over a week. I've had a few conversations with people lately that have left me a little baffled. When I tell them I use baking soda to wash my hair they seem to think I'm plum crazy. Even when I give them the facts, they still think I'm crazy. And I can see their point, using copious amounts of chemicals does seem the smarter option. Well, live and let live.

On a somewhat related note: I was reading a raw food book about a month ago and something I read in it has stuck with me. I can't remember the exact wording but basically what the author said was that with each small, positive change she has made she notices significant improvements in her health and the way she feels. And she wasn't just talking about eating raw food, it could be any small change that you make for the better. Using natural cleaners, being more active, eating healthier, etc. I've made two small changes this year and the effects have been dramatic. One of the small changes was the baking soda thing (and I'm sure you're all sick to death from hearing about that) The other small change was green smoothies. Jonas and I started eating green smoothies every morning for breakfast, care of the embarassment of green riches our chard plant provides. If you are unfamiliar with green smoothies here's the recipe: 2 cups of greens, fruit, water (or liquid of choice), blend it, consume. Don't worry, they taste great. And if your's does not taste great, add a banana you'll be fine.



Now Jonas and I, of course, miss some days. Every once in awhile I dont feel like going out into the garden at 6am to pick chard (like when it's pouring rain) so we have cheerios instead. But we have them most days. And I feel great. I assume Jonas feels great also, but he's a kid, he always feels great.

Just something to think about.

Garden Update

Here in Southern California we are blessed with a ridiculously long growing season. Seriously, last year I didn't pull my tomatoes out until the end of December! Since we have such a long growing season it's a good idea to plant several garden rotations, replacing tired plants with new, vibrant ones. Case in point: our sunberries have to go. Jonas will be so devastated, he would seriously sit out there picking berries and eating them all day long if I'd let him. See: Since the sunberries are winding down I've started ten new tomato plants to replace them with, most of them Red Siberians to carry us through the cold-ish months. I'm curious to see if they'll make it straight through the winter. I'm hoping for a bumper crop from these babies, for canning. My other canning tomatoes have not done so well and now the japanese beetles are moving in and eating them:(. Quick side note, my plan for the japanese beetles this year was to just pick them off of the plants in the early mornings when they are sluggish, but they have outsmarted me again! They are living in our neighbor's yard and coming over into our yard in the afternoons for feeding time. Very frustrating!

We are also replacing our first rotation of bush beans. Bush beans generally only produce beans for a two week period before dying back, so it's good to plant several rows of them with sowing dates a week or two apart, to keep you in constant supply. We have four rows of bush beans, or to be honest, two rows and two self watering containers, each with an equal number of plants. The good news about bush beans (and really any legume) is that they have the uncanny ability to pull nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil through their roots. This makes bush beans an ideal crop to plant near hungrier crops like squash, melons, corn, tomatoes, etc. Once the plant has died all of the extra nitrogen remains in the soil, so bush beans are an ideal candidate to be replaced by hungrier crops as well. In our case I am replacing the first bush bean row with hard winter squashes. Instead of pulling out the tired green bean plants it is a good idea to snip them off as close to the ground as possible. Leaving their roots in the ground means you are leaving as much nitrogen in the ground as possible. After snipping the green bean plants I laid them on top of the soil along with some dead tomato plants and other trimmings, then I spread a bag of manure over the whole thing creating a small grow heap. I also added plenty of organic fertilizer.

And lastly the determinate, silvery fir tree tomatoes, which were in five gallon buckets, have been replaced by basil.

Things are looking good in our garden, despite my sister's boyfriend commenting "if people didn't know what you were doing back here they'd think there was just trash everywhere." Lovely. :) He is referring to the fact that I use junk mail to mulch the walkways between rows and keep the weeds down. Here are some pictures for your viewing delight:)

A funny italian zucchini I found today. It looks like it was going to have a siamese twin but things didn't quite work out. Am I the only one who saw this and thought: Alien fetus? That's just me? Ok then, moving on...

Today's summer squash harvest.

One of the self-waterers with new green bean plants. Side note, the self waterer book I ordered from the library is in, I'm picking it up today and hope to have lots of juicy tips for you all.

The Cayenne Peppers are turning red, we'll have hot sauce in no time, hooray!

Our Myrtle is in bloom three months late. What is that about? I've heard that myrtle is sometimes eaten as an herb. I'm still a little too skeptical to try.

A new zucchini plant on the rise!

One of our hot pepper plants called Tequila Sunrise. It grows very similar to the tabasco pepper. I'm really hoping it tastes similar. I loves me some tabasco sauce!

Our giant marconi peppers are really living up to their name!

Felted Baby Bunny Slippers

Last Saturday I attended a baby shower for my friend Tandy. I love making gifts for people when I have the time, and it's so easy to make things for babies! I mean, everything's much smaller and therefore less time consuming. I whipped up a pair of felted fuzzy bunny slippers for Tandy (small problem, Tandy's baby will be born in August, in San Diego, not exactly slipper wearing weather, hmmm, oh well). I originally got the idea for the slippers from my friend Nikol (who just happens to be Tandy's sister). Nikol found a picture of felted bunny slippers on etsy and emailed it to me months ago. My initial thought was, Hey, I could make something like that! And so I did, there were a few bunny slipper prototypes and here is a picture of the final product.

I made them with some off-white wool that I had on hand, but I recommend making them with white wool if you can. The great thing about these slippers is that they are felted, so even if you're not the best at crochet the felting will generally hide any uneven stitches. To make the slippers first you crochet two infant moccasins (instructions to follow). I used a J hook and crocheted them very loosely. They will be somewhat bigger than a baby foot, but remember you are going to felt them.

Instructions:
Make 2 (duh!)
Round 1: ch 14. Dc in 4th ch from hook and in the next 9 chs. 7 dc in last ch. Working down the free loops on the other side of the chain, 10 dc. Join w/ sl st to top of ch 3. (28 dc)
Round 2: Ch 3, dc in same st. Dc in next 10 sts. (2 dc in next st) 7 times. Dc in next 9 sts, 2 dc in last dc. Join w/ sl st to top of ch 3. (37 dc)
Round 3: Ch 3, dc in next 15 sts, (dc dec) 4 times. Dc to end of round. Join w/ sl st. (33 dc)
Round 4: Ch 3, dc in next 11 sts, (dc dec) 5 times. Dc to end of round. Join w/ sl st. (28 dc)
Round 5: Ch 3, dc in next 8 sts, (dc dec) 6 times. Dc to end of round. Join w/ sl st. Finish off. (22 dc)

Weave in ends and felt mocs.

Next you make the ears. Here's where it gets a little tricky. Chain three and crochet 8 or so rows on those three stitches, whatever looks proportionate in relation to the moccasins, on the ninth (or so) row, the last row, slip stitch in the first stitch, half double crochet (or double crochet if you feel adventurous, it's not an exact science) in the second and slip stitch again in the last, finish off. This last step is to round the ear. Make four ears, obviously.

Then you sew the ears to the moccasins with wool yarn and felt them (felting instructions to follow). Now, with Tandy's slippers I stitched the little faces on after felting, but I think stitching a face on before hand (with wool)and then felting would also be very cute. It would certainly blend well.

Now, to felt. Set your washing machine to it's hottest setting and throw the slippers in with an old pair of pants that you are SURE won't bleed color into the wash. Also add a bit of detergent. Bring a pair of tongs with you to fish the slippers out of the stifling hot machine, you don't want to use your hand for this. Start the machine and let it agitate the slippers (agitation and heat are what cause the wool to felt). Before your washer gets to the rinse stage check the slippers to see if they are felted enough (more on this later) if they are felted enough (lucky you I ususally have to do at least three cycles) then rinse them in cold water and shape them to dry. If they are not felted enough then wind the washing machine back to start (don't rinse, don't refill, use the same hot water). Run the slippers through as many cycles as needed to felt them to your liking and then rinse and shape them to air dry.

So, how will you know if the slippers are felted enough? Use your best judgement, the slippers should start to look like a solid piece of felt and the individual stitches will all mesh together. Remember that the felted look will intensify with drying so if they look close to what you think they should look like pull them out and rinse them. Remember that the more you felt them the more they will shrink down so if they are getting to be about the right size they're done. And lastly, remember that you can always felt them more later, but you can't undo the felting so better to be safe than sorry.

The last two things to do are to stitch the face on and deal with the ears. Stitch a face on using black yarn for the eyes and pink for the nose. Now the ears: if your ears are looking how you want them to look then leave them alone, if they are falling to the side or something then stitch them into a placement that is pleasing to you with a white thread. When I did this with Tandy's slippers it only took like two small stitches per ear to hold them back, they kept falling in the poor bunny's face. And TADA! You are done. How adorable. While this may sound like a bit of work it actually goes rather fast. Now I'm working on figuring out an adult version of these, how fun would that be? Enjoy! Here's one last picture of them because I just never tire of looking at my handiwork:)