Earlier last month I planted my front garden in vegetables, with beets, carrots, radishes and lettuce growing like crazy, and the cucumbers not coming up yet at all (might have been too cold, I’m not sure).  The plants, being cold weather plants, are growing wild and free, with plenty of each plant getting their second leaves.  It’s been wet enough with all the rain and snow we have had of late that I have only had to water a couple of times.  Other than that, they are growing quite well on their own. 

Well, a couple of weeks ago I planted my corn, pumpkin, and some melons.  The corn was Bloody Butcher dent corn, which has a beautiful deep red kernel, and some red broom corn, which is actually a sorghum instead of a maize variety.  I purchased both off of eBay, which shipped in plastic bags. 

After I ordered them and put them up in storage for the spring (I ordered them in the Fall), I found out that plastic bags can kill the seed with static electricity.  Anxious, I still planted them and hoped for the best.  That’s why I planted them this month, so if they didn’t grow I would have enough time to purchase some new seed and plant it for this season. 

Well, A week went by with no change in the ground.  Some weeds have been growing, but that was about it.  Nothing more substantial than that.  I was concerned, worried, and anxious that I may have planted bad seed.  I decided that I would give it another week and see if there was any change. 

Well, on Wednesday I was watering the back garden, and sure enough I spotted about 5 little shoots of corn in the same general area.  Not a lot, but I was excited to see that all the seed was not dead and I would have at least enough corn growing this year to have seed for next year.  That may mean that I wouldn’t be able to make parched corn as I had planned, but I was just excited that my red heirloom corn was growing at all. 

Then I checked the garden yesterday after I got home from work:  And I have about 14 shoots!  Yes, my little corn patch is starting to grow.  It’s still a long way off from producing (between 60 to 70 days), but at least I know that I will have the stalks.  As soon as the pumpkins come up (which should be any day now), I can place some mulch around the plants to protect them, give them heat, and slowly leach nutrients into the soil.  Also, once the little plants are well established, I’m going to plant some pole beans next to each corn stalk. 

So that is the garden so far.  On May 9th at Rowland Hall Lower School (720 South Guardsman Way, SLC), Wasatch Community Gardens is holding a sale for various starter plants, which my wife and I will probably be attending.  They have over 42 different heirloom tomatoes, with several heirloom peppers, melons, squash, pumpkins, and cucumbers available.  The vegetable plants are $2.00 each, with a buy 10 get the 11th free.  They also have various perennials available from trees and grasses to flowers and berries.  The perennials are $7.00 to $10.00 each. 

I want to be sure I have some lemon cucumbers growing if my cucumbers don’t sprout here soon, so I’ll probably pick up a couple there with some other pickling cucumbers.  Then I’ll pick up at least three varieties of tomatoes, though I’m still not sure which I want.  I definitely want the Cherokee Purple, which is said to have came across the plains in the Trail of Tears, and I think I want to get the Hawaiian Pineapple for color, the Black from Tula, and either the Amish Paste or 1884.  And finally, I think I’ll pick up a Black Plum, because it keeps its sweetness even when dried.  Sounds like a good sun-dried tomato variety to me, and it’s a deep purple! 

So if you are in the Salt Lake area next weekend, I would encourage you to attend.  Parking may be a bit of a problem in the area, though there is a University parking lot nearby, and it’s free parking on Saturdays (no permit required).  The easiest way to get to Guardsman Way is to come East on 4th South and pass Rice-Eccles Stadium and turn Right at the light past the stadium, or come up 8th South and take the first Left past East High School’s football field.

So that’s the news from the Garden this week!  Next week I’ll see if I can’t give some more details about the sale, and any plants we picked up.  Then as the vegetables get harvested, I’ll let you know how my dehydration for food storage project works.  ^_^ 

I’ve been a little late in posting this, because of storms and other things that have come up over the past couple of weeks.  About mid March we had some really warm weather, and I thought it would be a good time to start planting.  I also knew that at least one more snow storm was on it’s way, so I didn’t want to plant everything.  So, I planted my cold weather plants.  

I started with my Detroit Red beets, which are a good general beet for pickling and baking.  I love pickled beets, particularly if they are sweet beets, so I got quite a few.  They are also heirloom (though not packaged as such), so I can collect the seeds next year and replant them.  I planted about three to four short rows of these.  

Next I planted some watermelon radish seeds that my Parents had, just for some variety.  They are a white radish with a red center.  I planted about three rows of these, though to date my cat has dug up almost one whole row.  Stupid cat.

The next group of plants were my Golden Beets.  Another heirloom variety, these beets do not bleed as the red ones do and are extremely sweet, so they are good for baby food.  I planted three rows of these.  

Following those I planted five rows of an heirloom beet that escapes my memory, but has concentric alternating circles of red and white going through the body.  I thought they would be interesting pickled, and provide some variety with the other two beets. 

I then had my father plant some icicle radishes, a long white radish.  Next to that I planted some regular carrots that my mother picked up.  These were special, in that they were the VeggieTales carrots, which show my nephews absolutely adore.  

Finally I had two very long rows to plant, so I planted some head lettuce and some leaf lettuce.  I’m not usually a lettuce eater, because I’m not too fond of iceberg lettuce (it’s absolutely tasteless in my opinion), and I don’t trust lettuce in a plastic bag.  The lettuce always seems to go bad very quickly, along with just about every other plant in a plastic container.  Nope, it’s just better to grow your own.  

And finally, I planted some heirloom lemon cucumber seeds in a small spot at the top of the little garden.  These look like tiny melons, but taste like cucumbers, and should look really cool floating in a nice, large pickle jar.

It’s also a good thing I restrained myself from planting the corn I have waiting, and the pumpkins.  I wanted to wait until the danger of a frost was over, which will be sometime this month.  Also, I would have planted my Bloody Butcher dent corn (really good for parched corn) near my Strawberry Popcorn, which would have been disastrous.  As it stands I’m going to have to plant the popcorn at my in-laws house to protect the seeds and have a good crop.  

The pumpkins I’m not too worried about, as they will have a physical barrier.  But that barrier only goes up to 4 feet, which means the corn could try to cross-pollinate.  Not a good thing for two heirloom varieties, both of which are very useful for long-term storage.  

At any rate, I’m really excited for this year’s growing season.  I already have a list of plants I want to get for next year, and I’m in the process of finding locations for them as this year’s experiments take shape.

I know this is my second post for the day, but I have been waiting for the weather to get this warm for a while, and I wanted to post about my new garden.  

In front of my house (on the North side), I have had a huge section of my front lawn tilled under and covered with bark.  I did this to make the front yard more draught-resistant, but also because the land wasn’t good for anything else.  The grass was even dying in that section.  

So, after tilling it under and placing down a fabric weed barrier, I covered it with several bags of bark and mulch.  The total space is probably 8 feet by 8 feet with the dead center of it planted in flowers and a small, young apple tree.  There is a lot of space there that has been, until yesterday, going to waste.  

This last fall I had made some extensive planting plans for my yard with the determination to have several vegetables and fruits grown for canning and storing this next fall.  I looked at this section of the yard, and decided it was time to use it.  

My intention was to plant root vegetables in this section, which requires a very light soil.  Not light as in helium, but light as in more sandy than clay.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of my yard is clay.  So, I placed down six 50 pound bags of play sand, and tilled it in with the dirt.  This made a wonderfully light soil, just perfect for root veggies.  

Initially I was only going to plant beets in this area.  Why beets?  Because I love beets!  My grandfather grew up on a sugar beet farm in Wyoming, and has instilled the love of a good sweet-pickled beet in my father, who gave that love to me.  So I planted Red Detroit beets, Golden beets, and an heirloom beet that my parents found.  

Of course, this only took up a small portion of the land I had prepared, far less than I had expected.  So I planted some heirloom lemon cucumbers, some watermelon radishes, and my father planted some heirloom white radishes.  Still, there is a good portion that is not being used, so I intend to plant some lettuce along those rows.  

In between the farrows and mounds I am going to put the bark back.  This will not only look pretty good, but it will also help retain water during the summer months.  

I’m really excited for this section of the yard, and I’m looking forward to planting the rest. I still need to plant my Broom Corn as a barrier (and can be ground into a nice gluten-free flour, like a cake flour), Bloody Butcher sweet corn (nice, dark red corn, and I liked the name), Strawberry Popcorn (looks like a giant strawberry), Cinderella pumpkins, baby sugar pumpkins, baby watermelon (I’m not sure if the seeds are any good, but I’m going to give it a try), dyer’s woad (that’s an experiment that comes out really well), pole beans (green, yellow, and purple if I can find it), carrots (red, orange, yellow, white, and purple again), and the tomatoes that we have started (Brandywine Pinks).  

If I can help it, all the plants will be heirloom, with a couple of exceptions.  I like heirloom plants, because you don’t have to keep buying seeds every year.  You can plant from the seeds you retain from the last harvest, much like the old farm tradition.  So not only does it save you about $10.00 in seeds every year (at least for me), but you know what you will be growing.  And the seeds are good for up to 3 years before they start to lose their potency.  

Also, I would like to point out that President Obama is also starting a vegetable garden at the White House, with the intention of actually eating the produce.  This is great news, and something that every American should be doing.  Start a garden, whether it be a sizable plot or a couple of flower pots in your house.  You will find that vegetables just don’t taste any better than when you grow them yourself.

This summer I am going to plant woad.  What is woad?  It’s a highly prolific plant used to produce indigo.  Utah, it seems, is an ideal place for woad to grow, as Cache County has it listed as a weed and removes around 22 tons of the stuff each year, just to bury in a landfill.  Indigo is a blue pigment that is produced naturally in a number of plants, from the indigo plant to woad.  

For those of you who know your Celtic history, woad produced the blue pigment used by the Picts for painting their bodies.  It also has a very lasting color, one that is resistant to washing, bleach, and pollution.  Unlike synthetic dyes, it is produced using environmentally friendly methods and no toxic residue or wastes.

So it would seem that in the prevailing eco-friendly political environment, processing woad on a large scale would be ideal.  Unfortunately, that’s just the problem.  It’s not that simple to process at a commercial level, though some farmers in England have had some success.  But what are the ratios of dye to plant matter processed?  That is what I intend to find out.  

So this spring I am going to sow some woad seeds into the space between the road and the sidewalk, which is currently a barren wasteland of deteriorating red lava rock and a hotbed for weeds.  I hope to have enough plant material to produce a significant amount of indigo, to determine the feasibility of producing woad.  But from what I have read, you can only get about 2 grams per kilogram weight of fresh leaves, making it difficult to get a decent amount of indigo from woad.  We will see.

But that is just one part, what about the market?  Is there a market for natural indigo?  I believe there will be, but finding it will be a little more difficult.  Most likely I could sell some on the Internet to those with special interests, and eventually perhaps I could move to the farmer’s markets to cater to the local residents that are interested in their own pigments that are natural.  

Then, finally, there is pricing.  How much should indigo made from woad cost?  A cursory cost of indigo pigment comes to $32.95 for 100 milliliters, or about 3.4 ounces of pigment. That is based on a search for indigo pigment, and not necessarily natural indigo pigment.  That price may not be an accurate reflection, and cannot be relied upon.  

Ultimately I see a future for this industry in Utah, as woad grows well here in the dry conditions, and more “green” industries are growing in their significance.  Perhaps one day an effective woad processing plant can be built in the Cache Valley area, providing a place for the County government to dump all the unwanted woad, perhaps for a decent return on their bounty.

Again, like with many of my other governmental inquiries through email, I have as yet received a reply from the Water Resources board regarding the avenues available for rainwater collection on an urban farm.  And then, a few weeks ago, I heard a report (or a followup at the very least) that legislators here in Utah are looking into reforming the Water Rights laws to allow for residential rainwater collection.  

So why did it take me so long to reply?  Because I can’t find any reference to the followup report on KSL, nor can I find a reference online from any legislator that is taking up the fight.  So in spite of the total lack of references, I’m reassured that someone somewhere is willing to take up this fight.  

Perhaps that is why I am not getting a reply from the Water Resources board.  Perhaps… or perhaps it is because I made the inquiry via email.  Either way, it looks as though sometime in the future it may be possible to build and collect rainwater for use on an urban farm.  Unfortunately I don’t know when or who is fighting for this.  Perhaps it’s time I contact my local legislator again.  Maybe I’ll get a reply.

Last night, while watching the Olympics, advertised a piece on collecting rainwater for watering the garden.  It seems that this practice is illegal, as it is technically stealing from those that have purchased water rights downstream of wherever you are.  Water rights, in Suburbia?  

The first thing you need to understand is that Utah, despite the growing urban sprawl in the Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, and Weber counties, is an Agricultural State.  Our laws were originally written to protect the rights of farmers from other farmers, and those laws stay on the books.  With dwindling farmland in the Salt Lake valley in particular, the water rights laws seem to be more archaic than applicable.  

But note, I said dwindling, not non-existent.  There are still some farms, generally small, in the area around my home.  So taking the water that someone else has spent money to procure would be stealing, and as I support farming in all forms it just isn’t something I could do in all good conscience.

So what is the urban farmer do to in order to decrease drinking water usage?  Is there no hope?  Does the urban farmer need to forever be a slave to municipal water districts and their high  fees?  That’s what I am about to find out.  

I started by emailing the director of the Utah Division of Water Resources, and the Salt Lake representative to see what exactly would be their recommended course of action.  I intend to complete this project, which would not only provide water for my plants, but also help “fuel” my aquaculture program as well.  But I want it to be legal.  

There is at least one possible recourse, which is what Mark Miller Toyota took in order to use the rainwater that landed on their roof for car washes:  he worked out a deal with the Salt Lake City public works department to use their name to divert the rainwater into their cisterns.  Perhaps a similar course of action could be accomplished for residents.  After all, no self respecting urban farmer would want to be in violation of the law while accomplishing their goal.  

Once I get an answer from Water Resources, I will post it.

My parents have been really concerned with food storage lately, and feeling an urgency to get it in place.  As such, they are looking at ways to augment the food storage they already have in as many ways as possible.  The main method?  Self-sufficient urban farming.  

I’ve talked about urban farming before.  It’s a process of growing and raising farm food in an urban environment while complying with city ordinances.  Now, most cities allow quite a lot of latitude, depending on the reaction of the neighbors.  So if you are not on good terms with your neighbors, you may want to warm them up to you.  

The first and easiest method of urban farming is growing a garden.  many people will plant whole sections of their yards in garden, others in selected areas.  I chose selected areas, because our yard isn’t that big to begin with.  I have one small section in the back that has some eggplant, artichokes, corn, beans, pumpkin, peas, radishes, lettuce, cucumber and grapes growing.  It’s small, so there isn’t a lot growing in this location.  But the plants are well managed, allowing for good usage of the land.

This week I will be planting some watermelon in the front yard, in what is currently a garden plot covered with bark.  It will give the appearance of green in the plot while utilizing less water.  Why less water?  Because the bark and weed barrier will keep the weeds down, leaving more water for the melons.

But, because the food that is grown isn’t going to be able to feed us all, or provide all the nutrients we need, more needs to be done.  Unfortunately, there isn’t enough land in an urban environment to have livestock (nor is it zoned as such, generally).  So, what can one do to get their farm-fresh foods?

First, you can learn how to make cheese.  I’ve tried one recipe, and the cheese was pretty good.  Now, this summer my family and I will be making more cheeses by investing in some cultures, rennet, and probably building a cheese press.  Cheese was originally developed as a way to provide the benefits of milk and milk protein without worrying about it going sour in a short amount of time.

Next, there is preserved meats.  We plan on making jerky this summer, along with some bottled and preserved meats.  It requires some investment in a bath bottler (instead of just steam), but it’s worth it in the end.  Along with that, my family has a killer recipe for sweet pickled beets, dill pickled green beans, and hot pickled carrots.  Perhaps this year I’ll get to use my purple carrots I planted (assuming my son hasn’t killed them all already).  

But once you have all this done, where do you store them?  A basement is great if it’s rarely used.  Unfortunately, our basement is being used.  So what to do?  Well, you can build a root cellar.  Root cellars are great, because they can double as cheese caves.  They stay naturally cool in summer, and don’t freeze in the winter.  Also, they don’t have to be really large.  You can build a small pit that is covered (so no one falls in), and then cover it up with a decent covering.  As long as there is a drainage area for rain, you should be good to go.  

So, are we planning on the end of the world?  Is that why we are going nuts with this urban farming plan?  No, not really.  It’s because we want to have good food, save some money on gas and buying at the store.  It’s all about economics.  The fact that the food supply will still be useful and very viable in the case of a disaster is just icing on the cake.  

And the real great thing about these projects this time is my wife’s support of it.  Before she thought I was just crazy, but now she understands the benefits of fresh vegetables and fruits that are just a short walk away.

This coming week I will be teaching my Mac OS 10.4 Server Essentials class, and therefore will most likely not post anything anytime soon. So, I thought I would post a quick update on my backyard project.

Currently, I have outlined the section where it will be located. I was going to even out the ground, but as we will be placing patio stones down around it, it makes more sense to wait until we start getting sand and gravel to lay the foundation on. Once that is gathered, we will have a level foundation to lay the patio and the greenhouse.

That being said, I found enough brick and other material for the foundation, so I don’t need to purchase any additional material. Yay! This means that the project will be running as soon as I can get the fine gravel to level out. Then I just need to get some straw, and start building the cob!

The cob portion will only comprise one full wall, and then about 2 to 3 feet for the rest of the wall. The rest of the wall will be framed in with 2 by 4 boards and covered over with either heavy plastic, or corrigated plastic sheets. Either way, it should take roughly 2 to 3 months to complete the greenhouse. As I get each phase completed, I will post pictures.

Hydroponic Project has Begun!
The project window is moving along quickly, so I also started my hydroponics project. I set some perlite in an egg carton, and cut holes in the base of the carton. Then, I set some seeds in each one. 3 cups have pansies (for my wife), 3 have two types of pumpkin, 2 have cucumbers, and two more have artichokes. I started with the larger veggies because of the time it will take to get them started, and because they will most likely be planted in the ground anyway. The actual hydroponic project will be focused on greens, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs, all of which I can get later once the project is completed.

Once the seeds were set in, I added water, and set it in the window sill. Now, I’m just waiting for the plants to start sprouting. Once sprouted, I will be able to plant them elsewhere, or set them in the greenhouse. Then I can start with the greens. ^_^

So, that’s where we sit now. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know!

Hello everyone! I know I haven’t posted a lot lately, but I have been preparing for my Search Engine Optimization class which has taken a lot of time. But, I wanted to let you know that the garden project has not been sacrificed, and I had some time to work on it this weekend.

Cleaning the Remains of the Snowball Bush
I started by cutting down the majority of the snowball bush, and then spent the rest of the time on Saturday disposing of the branches. The branches were all still very dry, as I cut them before the sap began to rise from the roots. Because of that, they burned quite easily. They also made a lot of ash, very hot coals, and a perfect opportunity to do some good old fashioned Dutch-oven cooking. The recipe that I used will be posted, so that you can try it as well.

I also talked the family into a barbecue, cooking bacon wrapped turkey bits. Add some mashed potatoes, veggies and greens, and it was a great celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, even without the corned beef and cabbage.

The Meal
So, since there wasn’t much else done other than cleaning up the back and burning the branches, let’s look at the meal.

For Dutch-oven cooking, my parents brought up some frozen chicken. I placed these in the oven with some olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh rosemary, and some fresh lemon thyme. I then buried the oven in the coals from all the branches that were burned. After 40 minutes, the chicken was tender, moist, and amazingly tasty.

Now, the bacon-wrapped turkey was a little different matter. I didn’t use the snowball bush limbs for this, because they were not the cleanest of branches. Sure, they are OK as coals surrounding a dutch oven, but I wouldn’t want the filth left by flocks of birds on the bush. So, we used other wood available from previous cuttings that were clean and mostly dry.

The recipe is really simple. We took turkey breasts, cut them up into bite-sized pieces, and then wrapped each of the pieces in bacon. Then we pinned each with wooden tooth-picks, and placed them into a wire frame. Then placing the wire frame on the grill, they cooked up really quickly. Within 15 minutes, they were done (some a little more than done with really hot coals and very flammable bacon fat in the equation).

Together, it was perhaps the best meal I ever had for St. Patty’s Day, and made me proud of my distant Irish ancestors. Perhaps I will cover that connection to the Fitzgeralds of Ulster in future postings.

Now, all that I need to do to finish my preparatory work on the garden is to move the current layout for the chessboard, and then dig the foundation for the cob project.

Changes to the Cob Project
Speaking of the cob project, I had intended to make a very solid, practically livable little house out of cob. Simple windows, a door, a small heater in the corner, and a wonderfully well-built cedar shingle roof. Well, as I have been going over the project again, I realized that there is a part of the project that I have overlooked, and that I definitely need to complete.

Namely, I need a greenhouse. I have thought about this for a while, and I just haven’t been able to find another way around it. The greenhouse would allow me to grow vegetables all year round, as well as tropical fruits. It also would let me build the fish tank that I have been wanting to continue with. So, with water plants, vegetables, fruits, and a small aquarium for growing edible fish, I think it would be worth the change.

Of course, it’s necessary to also allow for the change of materials. I can now use the bricks that I have in the back yard as the foundation (there should be enough), and use some redwood or cedar two by fours to frame in the rest, including the roof. Of course, One wall will remain fully cobbed in (the one facing the garage), which is where the heater (probably a rocket heater) will be going.

Well, that is where everything stands now. There will be some work done again this week, and I hope to have some pictures posted rather soon. Stay tuned!