Progress. In reverse.

Below are shots of a large part of the back yard showing progress during the month of June, most recent at the top so you don’t have to wait.

You may recall, we had to eliminate a giant weed forest which of course I didn’t get photos of. And now we have a veggie garden with Buddha surrounded by flowers. Click on the photos to enlarge.

At last, Buddha has a new home overlooking the veggie garden, the vegetables are fenced off from the rabbits, and my bean trellises are stained red with a water-based stain that should fade with age. Still need to paint the corner trim on the garage white, install the rain barrel on the same corner and work on the shady nook to the right that I'll call my Shady Rest.

Vegetable garden is planted, mostly.

DH tilling the back quarter.

Weed forest cut down and ready for overhaul.

Close up of Buddha with red trellises. I may have to tone down the red a bit. They day lilies are from Freecycle, the others were on sale.

Now, if only everything would just grow faster! I can’t wait for my scarlet runner beans to climb the trellises.

 

Double, double till and trouble.

I’m going to make this short on words and mostly pics because I’m actually, short of words right now. Knees aching, back aching, zits on my forehead from wearing a hat two days in a row, dirt under my nails that won’t come out, but two great big things accomplished:

1. We got the back quarter, formerly known as the weed forest, tilled and planted (remember this post about the weed forest, sorry I don’t have before shots but trust me, it was a forest).
2. And DH replaced the kitchen sinks old, iron, rusted drain plumbing in the basement, that I broke during the bake sale prep (shavings from six carrots that I was in too much of a hurry to take to the compost bin overloaded the pipe and no amount of snaking would clear it).

So, there, two people and two great big accomplishments, hence the title above. But I’m only showing photos for the gardening segment because our kitchen pipes are not photogenic. And everyone knows what a rusty old pipe vs. a shiny new PVC pipe looks like, eh?

DH going over what I tilled once. This quarter of the back yard got tilled 3 times, with DH apologizing to all the worms along the way. He's such a critter lover.

He's doing this with cracked heels mind you, what a tough guy, eh?

Note about the tiller: The tiller was on loan to me from Jessica at the Forest Park Community Garden, of which I’m also a member. They’re toying with the idea of including the tiller in the Tool Lending Library for garden members. Because this is a pretty big tool, I suggested they require borrowers to have a valid driver’s license and leave their car as collateral ;-] Jessica won the tiller from Troy-Bilt at the Chicago Spring Fling conference for garden bloggers a couple weeks ago (Troy-Bilt was a major sponsor of the conference). Lucky dame!

This tiller does an exceptional job. It’s the Super Bronco model and yes, even a girl can do it, one handed (unless she’s maneuvering a corner or blowing kisses at her DH).

Areas for the 3-foot wide beds and 2-foot wide paths are marked. My next task—because I can't afford to fill raised beds this year—is to rake as much of the tilled soil as I can into mounded beds. Sort of a poor man's raised bed.

The series below shows the frustration that will plague me throughout the summer: shade from the trees. I’m still not sure I have enough direct sun to grow veggies. As you can see, the shade from two trees pans across the area and then the garage starts to cast it’s shadow later in the day. So I think I may actually end up with a snakelike swath of light where I’ll have better luck. As DH says, we’ll learn what works, if anything, this year and be more prepared for next year.

There aren’t any shots prior to 11:22 because sun to this area is blocked by another tree and a house at that time.

Sunlight vs. shadow from trees at 11:22am.

Sunlight vs. shadow from trees at 12:17pm.

Sunlight vs. shadow from garage at 4:19pm. Will there be enough direct sun for veggies?

Everything pretty much planted and seeded. Only one bed free and that's reserved for strawberries if I can get my shit together and pick a type. Straw is the poor man's mulch we're using to keep Chicago rains from dislodging seeds and to try to confuse the robin that was stalking me during this whole venture. I swear that damned robin is the one who crapped in my eye. And those peppers you see are my emergency purchases because 27 of my 28 starts have failed to survive.

I didn't save much room in the beds for herbs other than basil so I planted a mixure in one of my old wine crates collecting dust in the attic. Drilled a few holes in the bottom, filled with mix, two store-bought plants and lots of seeds. It will likely be too small if there's enough sun but what the hell.

Finally, I figured out how to get kohlrabi to start from seed. I just couldn't get these to start in the growlight set up but they started right up in a wine crate in the yard. Now that I have the yard somewhat organized, I can get these started earlier next year. Was especially worried about the late start when I bought HUGE kohlrabi at the Oak Park Farmer's Market this past weekend and mine are less than an inch tall.

Spinach in the bigass planter is surviving despite the squirrels' best efforts to uproot it. Especially that poor plant on the end, he gets the shit kicked outta him every day.

Update on the Earth Buckets: the tomatoes are getting much bigger but I've discovered what look like little black bugs with very long wings. Googling makes me think they are adult aphids. Gonna try the oil/dish soap/water method first to see if that works before considering more extreme measures.

Our next challenge is to make the yard look nicer and not so much like a farm (while adding another anti-rabbit fence around the new beds). Not sure we can do that but I’m hoping some nice, free mulch from the city will help. Hell, maybe we’ll just mulch the whole back yard. It’s not like there’s more grass than weeds there anyway. And neither of us golfs.

I’ve also asked DH to make a couple of trellises for between the windows on the garage. I can grow vining flowers up them if nothing else. And I can always try to move the rhubarb that’s growing in odd places to under the windows of the garage. It must have self-seeded last year or something, it’s cropping up in places it was not planted.

Well, that’s it for today. I’m really beat and have no snarky closing so good night and sweet dreams of fruits and veggies.

 

Just when there seems to be a glimmer of light…

…something else happens, as in, MORE ANTS!

But first, let’s focus on the positive, because I need to.

Both bigass deck planters are finally up and secure and the ‘first portion’ of the rotting wood on the deck has been repaired. Of course, you can’t see the repairs because they’re behind the really wonderful 12-foot bigass planter along the front. Click on the photos below to enlarge and get a better view of DH’s work.

Two bigass planters affixed to the sides of the deck. The 12-foot one is along the front and the 8-foot one is along the side. If you remember from previous posts, there was tacky broken lattice and a smashed roof over the grill on the left side of the deck. DH has now dismantled that area and it will be next up for renovation.

I also wasn’t keen on waiting for seeds to sprout so I uprooted my lettuce grown under lights in the office and plopped bunches of it in the biggest planter. They’re kinda wilting but I think they’ll come around. Also planted in the box are Atomic Red Carrots (we’ll see if they can grow in a 12″-deep planter), French Onions of which the name escapes me (grown from seed in the office), peppers which aren’t doing too well and scallions. I may have to buy bigger pepper plants. The ones I started from seed seem to have stopped growing, like, a month ago.

This is the lettuce planted in the largest planter, it really didn't want to be transplanted but I am ever the optimist (ha ha). Ironically, or not, I used DH's good chisel to pry them apart before transplanting. Straw covers seeds so harsh Chicago rains don't dislodge them.

This is the short box where we have baby spinach, romaine, onions, Japanese bunching onions and mache.

You may also be wondering what kind of wood that is we used for the planters. Well, we’ve done some research and I know this will kick up a fuss but this is MCQ (Micronized Copper Quaternary) which is a different type of treated wood. Supposedly, this one doesn’t leach. We’ll see. If I suddenly stop blogging in 9 months or start blogging in gibberish, then you’ll know it was the wood. Nothing to do with the hooch in the cupboard or the dry erase markers I like to inhale at work. Just the wood.

While I was fussing with all this, DH decided to sharpen his $3 army surplus machete on the lawn mower sharpening wheel and tackle the giant weed forest that had taken over half of the rear of the back yard. I used to think these weeds were sunchokes but after several folks went digging for tubers and found none, we’ve decided they’re invasive aphid magnets and we don’t want them. My motto this year is, if we can’t eat it and it’s taking up sun space, out it goes.

I wish I had a before shot of the weed forest but DH was too fast. He was a machete machine. Here’s a shot of him standing on a pile of freshly cut weed carcasses. You can see there are still more of these weeds trying to sneak up behind him in the photo.

Lord of the Weeds! Let no one come between a man with a machete and a mission. Those weeds sneaking up behind him are relatives to the ones he just slaughtered and they are almost as tall as he. Imagine 1/4 of our back yard filled with a 5-foot forest.

Soon to be rotting corpses for our green manure compost pit.

Here’s a couple of views taken from the deck.

This shows just how invasive these things were. This is a great example of why it's a good idea to create boundaries for plants that can be invasive. Even if you want to keep them.

Almost there. Now I gotta figure out what to do about the odd shape left behind by the forest. Not exactly a graceful curve. I'm thinking of rows of mounded veggie beds. This would provide homes for the poor little seedlings still in paper cups in the foreground. And I think we'll be good on compost for a while, we've got piles and piles of green manure. See if you can find the Buddha. He can see clearly now.

I’m thinking that my best option for that corner this year may be 4 rows of 2-foot mounded veggie beds. Funds are running out for the yard so I can’t really build any raised beds this year or order additional soil delivered. Mounded beds may get me through one year and then next year, I can rethink the whole layout.

So, back to the headline of this post. Where’s the cloud in our otherwise sunny day? Well, when DH dismantled the lattice and framework around the grill, he discovered more ants spilling out of a center hole in the upright posts that are made out of, get this, treated wood. Yes, the ants have nested in treated wood. These are some hardcore ants and that really scares me.

But in the meantime, I’m gonna try to stay positive and focus on getting that corner in shape by tilling the ground really well, mounding my rows, planting the remaining seedings and painting that corner of the garage that we couldn’t reach last year due to the forest. Shoot, I may even plant some flowers around Buddha. Edible ones of course.

 

And yet, STILL, visions of veggies dance in my head despite everything.

This weekend was suppose to be the big one: the one we attach the awesome huge planters DH made to the perimeter of the deck. Two huge ass planters:

• one 8 foot x 12 inch x 12 inch
• one 12 foot x 12 inch x 12 inch

The 8 foot is slated for a romaine and scallions. The 12 foot for spinach, radishes and a huge variety of greens.

We got the 8-foot planter up and in place. It’s about the same height as me so I couldn’t shoot into the box but it’s HUGE! AND heavy! And it will be heavier when it’s filled with potting mix. Here are some photos:

8-foot planter box on short end of deck, hovers above the container garden below. The squash trellis will rest against it. You can see the invasive sunchokes on the left edge of the photo, they are about halfway into the yard from the far edge.

THEN, we tried to attach industrial-strength L-brackets to the longest part of the deck. The L-brackets are used to support the bottom of the boxes while insanely huge bolts attach the backsides to the fascia and joists underneath. We learned of THE PROBLEM while drilling pilot holes for the L-brackets on the deck front. There is a hidden board behind the fascia and it was completely rotted away. AND FILLED WITH BIG BLACK ANTS. This actually explains a lot. We often have issues with black ants attacking Olive’s cat food in the summer time since the kitchen is right off the deck. We never could figure out where they were coming from and assumed they were another gift from the Tree of Hell which hates us. Well, now we know it’s one thing we can’t blame on this tree.

Rot and ants extend across the entire front of the deck and into most of the joists. You can see how anxious my seedlings are getting, they're practically growing off the table.

Close up of the worst part we've found so far.

This event caused DH to go further inspecting all the joists on the entire deck, discovering that 3/4 of them are untreated lumber, rotten and infested with ants. (click on photos to see gory details)

This is why you should never use untreated lumber when building a deck. Not only will you jeopardize your safety but ants will plague you forever. We’re not sure which previous owner did this but it appears to have been done in stages.

When the fascia board fell away from the rot behind, gazillions of big black ants fell and went scurrying incredibly fast.

We’re trying to devise a way to replace the joists incrementally so we don’t have to tear down the entire deck and spend shitloads of money we don’t have.

And I’m getting further behind in my seedling transplants. My 38 extra tomatoes are looking peaked and the squash continue to be impatient. I’ve called all the Subways within a 20-mile radius and they have no more pickle buckets because corporate is switching them all to shrinkwrapped pickles. And I still don’t have any carrots, parsnips, corn, melons, rutabagas or kohlrabi in the ground or planters.

There is good news however, the Japanese spinach and red onions in the whiskey barrel are doing great! I was worried about the onions because they looked mildewy in the bag in the garage and the spinach because is looked so delicate. But I think they’ll be just fine.

 

Update on gardening and deck.

I’m so excited about what DH has done to the deck. He completely trashed the old plastic lattice and built a new privacy wall from scratch. It looks so much more modern. (Here are the before shots.) I’m showing you a photo below but please realize, we’re still not done so it still looks a wee under construction but you get the drift. And on the other side, the lattice by the door will also be gone soon we hope. We’re envisioning a bistro table on the deck for coffee/tea and relaxing in privacy while being outdoors.

Awesome privacy wall DH built over Memorial Day weekend. This will allow us to sit outside without being bothered whilst in our pajamas.

External view of the privacy wall around the corner of the deck. MUCH more modern than the lattice.

Here you can see some of the old plastic lattice still in place around the grill. We hope to get rid of this as soon as funds will allow. Notice what's missing? Yep, the broken roof over the back door. That pretty much fell down as DH was nudging it. He'll replace that with a nicer roof that should withstand tree bombs from the Tree of Hell.

DH also found several bamboo window blinds left in our garbage bin behind the house. Not sure who left them there but I doubt they thought we’d actually use them. As you can see, DH attached them to the side of the deck to hide the lawn tools underneath. I’m still not sure how I feel about them. Maybe it will look better once we get the deck planters in place.

Inside view of DH's handiwork. Quite nice eh? I'd like him to hang some of his junk art on this side of the wall. Perhaps a hubcap sun?

This shows the little L-shaped area that gets the most sun in our yard. Tho today was quite overcast. I plan to extend the mulched garden area around two sides of the deck once we can get more mulch.

The two squash trellises are made from weed trees we cut from the yard a few weeks ago. Just enough branches for two trellises and since DH is the knot king, very fine and sturdy knots holding them together.

This trellis will be home to three zucchini plants although one would likely have been enough. I’m growing Raven, Golden Dawn and Clarimore. The Clarimore looks a little weak but we’ll see how it goes.

This is the triangular trellis I made from branches. You can see the three little zucchini seedlings at the base. I'm growing Raven, Golden Dawn and Clarimore.

The second trellis will be used for Kabocha squash as soon as I can buy more mulch. I’m doing a modified lasagna method at the base of the trellises. Boatloads of newspaper, then a potting mix with organic fertilizer topped off with partially decomposing items from the yard. Mostly peanut shells from under the deck. After 10 years of feeding peanuts to squirrels, DH has amassed quite a lot of shells. Tho not enough for the entire garden area. I’m still going to have to find some free or cheap mulch to cover the rest of the newspaper and bring around to the front of the deck.

Groups of containers and pots. Trying to leave a path to the air conditioning unit between the trellis and the containers, just in case. NEED MORE MULCH.

Group of 3 old pots, one broken, containing scalloped squash, acorn squash and basil. I squeezed nasturtium seeds into most pots in an attempt to keep aphids at bay.

And here are a couple of snapshots of seedlings just transplanted into some containers in an effort to keep out the rabbits. I’ve also used chicken wire to keep the squirrels from digging up the seedlings. Seems to be working so far.

Big whiskey barrel with Japanese spinach, red onions, mustard greens and some nasturtium seeds. Smaller pots contain scalloped squash and red lettuce. Rabbits haven't discovered that they can reach the lettuce yet, I'm holding my breath.

The big whiskey barrel was a garbage find in the alley behind our house. I wish I could find 5 more like this. They’re high enough to keep out rabbits, deep enough for just about any plant and I can staple chicken wire to the rim to keep out squirrels.

Oh, an remember this LED fixture DH put in the deck light?

DH is on an LED bender. He's replaced our deck light with a multi-colored LED gadget.

Well, here it is at night. Cool eh?

Groovy multi-colored LED light on deck.

So once we’re done, we can now host the neighborhood raves!

 

Update: Gardening with a vengeance, sort of.

I know, I’m long overdue on an update of the gardening initiative. In a nutshell, I have lots of seedlings ready for planting, 2 plots in Naperville that were under water until last week and I’m already tired of driving 30 miles each way, no plots yet in Forest Park cuz we’re still fund raising, and the sunny spot in my own back yard is getting smaller as the trees are filling in. Ugh!

For more details, I have below, photos of seedlings, the remodeling effort in our back yard and the tomato Earth Buckets I planted today. Oh, and that damned Tree of Hell that broke our awning over the back doorway and continues to threaten our very existence.

Note: Never buy a house with a tree erroneously named Tree of Heaven, it is actually the Tree of Hell and is highly invasive/impossible to kill even if you just cut it down. AND, it’s brittle, many large branches will rain down upon you yearly costing large sums of money to remove. Also don’t buy a house with a tree growing through the deck, no matter how charming.

Damage done to awning by huge branch from Tree of Hell, seen laughing with glee in upper right hand corner.

Seedlings started in March and then again in April

I started a bevy of seeds in late March and many never sprouted. So I planted again every week until I got enough sprouts of each plant I wanted to grow. So now I have 42 tomato plants of varying ages and a gazillion other little things. Items that resisted all attempts to sprout include kohlrabi, oregano, and a few stubborn zucchini.

Tomatoes desperately seeking a home.

Squash about to give up on finding a home.

Young kabocha and acorn squash growing fast.

BTW, I’m insanely pleased with the kabocha squash seeds I ordered from Kitazawa Seed Co., a Japanese-owned company. Every single seed sprouted! Which is more than I can say for the zucchini seeds I got through a different source. I’m thrilled that I’m going to actually have 10 kabocha squash plants! Lots for storage next fall. I’m told they are sweeter than butternut and work really well in vegan pecan pies as a thickener. I can’t wait to try them.

I also ordered a bunch of different radishes from Kitazawa. They all have different plant dates up to early Fall so I’ll be direct seeding them when the time is right for each.

Baby lettuce greens grown under fluorescent lights in our office.

And just in case the rabbits figure out a way to get all my lettuce in the yard and garden plots, I can always grow greens under lights in the basement or at the office. I can’t believe how easy this is. This is a tray of mixed baby greens planted in one of those shallow seedling trays filled with a 50/50 coir/soil mix.

Tomatoes In 5-Gallon Earth Boxes

For those who don’t know, you can nest 5-gallon buckets, drill holes in the inside bucket, insert a wicking chamber (plastic cup or yogurt container), a PVC pipe for adding water to the reservoir in the bottom, and voila, instant self-watering garden system that can be used on any surface. In my case below, I’ve placed them under the kitchen window on the corner/side of the house with the only sun. The ground here is completely compacted and riddled with weed trees that won’t die so I just set the buckets on them. The far right bucket will need some leveling in order to function correctly. To learn more about this technique, go here.

4 Earth Buckets with 1 tomato plant each. Only 38 more tomato plants to go.

Interior of bucket before filling with NON-soil potting mix, organic fertilizer, lime and tomato plant.

Close up of finished bucket. Actually 2 nested buckets, the interior one with drainage holes and a yogurt container wick, the exterior bucket has two over flow holes (one is circled in red in this photo).

Most websites say to use garbage bags for the ‘lids’ but that wouldn’t deter the squirrels in our yard so I just used the lids that came with the buckets. Hopefully, the squirrels won’t bother with the 3-inch diameter holes for the plants.

The master plan.

Phase 1 is the portion nearest the deck. Phase 2 is the fenced in area opposite with it’s own little gate to keep out the giant rabbits that live in the back yard. I can deter the squirrels from digging in pots by filling them all the way with dirt, covering that with chicken wire and seeding through the wire. But I can’t keep the squirrels out of the fenced in area. So I’m going with what I think will work first. The pots should be tall enough to be out of reach of the rabbits. Especially if I leave pointy chicken wire ends protruding to poke them in the eye. Yeah, I mean it.

The master plan changes every day but this is what it looked like tonight.

Frankenfoto of the back deck, the Tree of Hell, DH's framework for the new privacy wall that's replacing the crappy plastic lattice, and the area where my garden will go, pending continued sun. The red rectangle outlines the current area where I get about 7 hours of sun but the trees are filling in so we'll see how that goes.

DH's framing handiwork for the privacy wall. Pretty soon, no one can spy on us.

The privacy wall with extend around the corner of the deck slightly, providing a private morning coffee.

DH is on an LED bender. He's replaced our deck light with a multi-colored LED gadget.

Well, that just about wraps up this edition of Overly Ambitious Suburban Gardening In A Questionable Amount Of Sun.

Oh wait, one more gem just for you folks:

The Rubbermaid Wheelbarrow Incident

Take this as a warning, never, ever, stand in front of an empty Rubbermaid wheelbarrow and proceed to heave a heavy bag of soil into the wheelbarrow, from the front. The Rubbermaid wheelbarrow is designed to flip rear over front to bonk you in the head and cause great pain and embarrassment. Yes, I did this. I just pray no one was watching.

 

Must taste vegan fare at the Chicago Green Festival this weekend.

think everyone pretty much knows that this weekend is the annual Green Festival in Chicago. So rather than rehash what’s already been said, I thought I’d make a handy list of the must see vegan vendors at this event. You can handle the 150 speakers yourself but there are just too many vendors (350+) to sort through unless you plan on spending the night there.

Here’s what I mean, just look at this crowd (not for the claustrophobic):

To navigate this in search of vegan fare, you must have zenlike patience or a list like mine.

Julia’s vegan faves at the Green Festival:

• Chicago Soy Dairy (hopefully, they’ll bring Teese® cheese samples and their new marshmallows, but if not, the ice cream is the best)
• CobraHead LLC (these folks make a very uniquely designed garden weeding tool, I know, not vegan but could be used by a vegan, yeah, that’s it)
• Ornj Bags (made from salvaged construction fencing, no kidding, they’re cool too)
• Divine Chocolates
• Fungi Perfecti LLC (yep, you can now grow your own fungus, on purpose)
• Futters Nut Butters
• iGo Car Sharing
• Soul Vegetarian Restaurant (get a side of mac ‘n cheese here but if they’ve got the jerku wrap, get that)
• The Chicago Diner (if they have the Radical Rueben at the show, THAT’s what you must get, trust me-feel free to skip their mac ‘n cheese in favor of the mac ‘n cheese at Soul Vegetarian)
• Upton’s Naturals, these guys make THE best spiced seitan on the market, period. I swear.

So don’t worry, there’s safe food here. Because I couldn’t check out the vendors on their website last year because it WAS DOWN at the time of the festival (see my only complaint in the next paragraph), I made a bento lunch but found I didn’t need it. Gorge yourself on Temptations® ice cream and eat soul food at Soul Vegetarian East. Then pick up Divine Chocolates for dessert. Here’s my review of 2008’s festival.

One complaint I have about the Chicago Green Festival: Right before the show, their website goes down. Did last year too. Maybe they’re on a server that backs up at midnight and is otherwise unavailable.

Now go stuff yourself until you can’t fit on the Metra!

 

Best balsamic vinegar ever!

Just wanted to go on record as saying I think I’ve found the best balsamic vinegar available, at a reasonable price, in my neck of the woods. Yep, the best. This stuff is addictive and amazing. It’s actually much more concentrated than anything I’ve bought at the grocery and it seems sweeter too. This is the now the only vinegar I use on my salads when I’m doing just plain oil and vinegar. And this is the only vinegar that makes oil and vinegar yummy in my book.

I know—why post about vinegar? Well, if you’ve shopped for balsamic vinegar, you know that the field is wide pricewise and even wider qualitywise. There are $5 bottles and there are $50 bottles. Since I can’t afford the $50 bottle, the brand I’m going to tell you about is a good middle ground.

The store is The Olive Mill and they also sell online if you don’t want to drive to Geneva. I’m in love with their Traditional Balsamic Vinegar although they do have a myriad of flavored balsamics and oils. I have tried the pomegranate flavor but I prefer the traditional. They also have many other products.

Aside from the Geneva location, they also have stores in Naperville, Illinois and Saugatuck, Michigan. And since I’m about out of the vinegar, I’m going to have to make the drive somewhere. This stuff is good enough to drink as a non-alcoholic digestif after dinner.

Cheers!

Disclosure: I am in no way associated, related to or affiliated with the proprietors of The Olive Mill. In fact, I’ve never been there. We’ve been lucky enough to receive their products as Christmas gifts from a friend every year. That’s how I discovered them.

 

This vegan’s attempt to eat ‘off the food grid’.

Yep, this year, I’m back to my old ways and preparing to garden with a vengeance. My goal? To grow and store all the veggies I’ll need to survive until Spring of 2010 without shopping at Whole Paycheck. Save money, eat better. You get the idea.

If I can’t eat it, I’m not growing it. I don’t give a rat’s ass about a lawn, tulips, daffodils or the rose bushes in the back yard. In fact, if you want any rose bushes, let me know and you dig, you own. I gotta make way for all the veggies.

Here’s the plan: Rented a 19 x 30 foot plot in Naperville’s community garden and will attempt to outsmart the shade, rabbits and squirrels in my own back yard. Considering renting a second 19 x 30 plot for just squash since it takes up so much room. Store everything either by canning or preparing a cold area of the basement to be a root cellar like the one grandma had in Kentucky. AND grow as many heirlooms as I can given the recent research on the crappy nutrition of corporate veggies.

The only downsides to the Naperville program are:

1. No hoses allowed (so I’ve got a rain barrel in the back of the van and will use that to refill my watering can rather than traipsing back and forth to their spigots located not all that close to my plot).
2. Can’t over winter veggies or grow perennials like asparagus or strawberries.
3. No organic plots left. They have limited designated organic plots anyway and claim to not have anyone express further interest in more. So I’m stuck with a plot used by who knows who using god knows what last year and next to who knows who using god knows what this year.

Yes, I’ll be eating up a lot of mileage driving to and from Naperville but by next year, the Forest Park Community Gardens should be up and running and they’re just a few blocks away.

It appears the only things I’ll still have to buy will be:

• sugar
• flour
• quinoa (yeah, I know I could grow it but I just can’t picture myself thrashing a plant and then sweeping it all up and separating it from the cat hair)
• rice
• oatmeal
• dried beans
• dates
• raisins
• oils
• nuts
• bananas (we’ll see if I can’t kick this habit and go more local)
• mangos (ditto)
• lemons
• oranges
• avocados (oh man, I don’t know if I can ever give up avocados)
• maple syrup (Illinois is close to Canada, right?)
• agave
• vanilla extract
• soybeans (strictly for making my own soy milk)
• Temptations® brand ice cream (hey, it’s local)
• chocolate
• liquor and wine

Here’s a list of seeds I ordered and most are already in trays attempting to sprout (keepers for winter are marked with *):

• Mary Washington Asparagus (heirloom): Won’t see any results from these until next year so they go in the back yard.
• *Morris Heading Collards (heirloom): Will last through a light frost in the fall but then I’ll freeze or can the rest. Rumor has it you can dig up whole heads and store them in a bucket, with dirty root ball still attached and a little dirt in the bucket through part of fall and winter. They won’t grow because they’ll be in the dark but if kept lightly damp, should last a while.
• *Italian Heirloom Kale (heirloom): Will last through a light frost in the fall but then I’ll freeze or can the rest. Rumor has it you can dig up whole heads and store them in a bucket, with dirty root ball still attached and a little dirt in the bucket through part of fall and winter. They won’t grow because they’ll be in the dark but if kept lightly damp, should last a while.
• Gala Mache: Did you know these grow under tough conditions? They’re not as delicate as they appear!
  
• Green & Red Romaine
• Stupice Tomato: Not an heirloom but this will likely be the only year I grow an early tomato. Next year, I should have plenty of dried heirlooms to get us through July.
• Black Prince Tomato (heirloom): Plan on making flavored oils with this one.
• Green Zebra Tomato (heirloom): Eating fresh for summer/fall and drying for winter/spring.
• Black Krim Tomato (heirloom): Eating fresh for summer/fall and drying for winter/spring.
• Persimmon Tomato (heirloom): Eating fresh for summer/fall and drying for winter/spring. Also will can just plain crushed tomatoes.
• *Principe Borghese Tomato: Plan on growing shitloads of this one and drying them for use on sandwiches, salads and pastas through next winter. Supposed to be the BEST flavor for drying according to the Italians who hang whole plants upside down over winter.
• *Italian Costoluto Genovese Tomato (heirloom): Will make home made marinara and can at least 40 jars to store in the cellar (basement). Planning on one jar a week throughout winter and spring 09/10. Will use for casseroles, pastas and lasagnas.
• Brandywine Tomato (heirloom): Eating fresh for summer/fall and drying for winter/spring. Also will can just plain crushed tomatoes.
• Marvel Stripe Tomato (heirloom): Eating fresh for summer/fall and drying for winter/spring. Also will can just plain crushed tomatoes.
• *Long Keeper Tomato: Can keep up to 4 months in root cellar so long as they don’t touch and are completely unblemished. Not heirloom and not as tasty as those ripened under a steaming hot sun but supposed to taste better than the red Styrofoam at the grocery.
• *Keepsake Tomato: Can keep up to 2 months in root cellar so long as they don’t touch and are completely unblemished.
• *Alpine Strawberries (heirloom): Strawberries are expensive to buy, especially if you buy organic. My plan is to freeze these babies in batches sized to make smoothies for a week. So that’s about 32 quarts since we make green smoothies with strawberries every day for breakfast. Gonna have to really outsmart the rabbits and squirrels on this one. Maybe I can get DH to make me one of these. The 6-foot one would be awesome! Then I’d staple wire screens over all the dirt before planting to keep the squirrels from digging.
• *Tomato Pepper (heirloom): The only hot pepper I’m growing this year. We just don’t use a lot of hot peppers and these little round red ones are my faves because they’re a little hot and still taste like a pepper.
• *Admiral Golden Bell: Will can or freeze some for winter.
• *Vidi Crimson Bell: Ditto.
• *Valencia Orange Bell: Ditto.
• *Butternut – Waltham Squash (heirloom): These will be hanging from the rafters in pantyhose, knotted so they don’t touch each other or a hard surface. Rumor has it that they keep longer this way. May end up canning or freezing some.
• *Thai Dill (heirloom): Will dry most of this and move a small plant indoors for the winter. Either growing in the kitchen window or under grow lights.
• *Wild Zaatar Oregano (heirloom): Ditto.
• *Table Bush Queen Acorn Squash (heirloom): Again, will store in pantyhose as long as they last. May end up canning or freezing some.
• *Yellow Scallop Squash (heirloom): These won’t keep long in the cellar so I may freeze some.
• Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi (heirloom): Not sure how to store these or how long they’ll last into next winter. More research to do here.
• *Italian Pesto Basil: PESTO PESTO PESTO!!! Lots of it, frozen for winter. I think there’s a freezer chest in my future. (DH, hint hint, birthday coming up!)
• *Cameo Container Basil: More pesto but will also attempt to transplant these indoors for next winter.
• *Italian Gigante Parsley: Dry and freeze.
• *Stowell’s Evergreen Sweet Corn (heirloom): Can pull entire plant when ripe and store upside down in pantry into winter, ‘cept I DON’T HAVE A PANTRY! Will most likely freeze or can this as DH may freak out with too many plants hanging in the basement.
• *Jaune Paille Des Vertus Onion (heirloom): Great winter keeper, will braid the dried leaves together and attempt to make ropes. Will also try the pantyhose trick and see which lasts longer through winter.
• Honeydew-Orange Flesh (heirloom): Likely will freeze what’s left in fall in portions for smoothies.
• *Minnesota Midget Muskmelon (heirloom): I’ll see how much of this will keep into fall but likely will freeze.
• *Half Long Guernsey Parsnip (heirloom): I’m hoping to grow these in the backyard so they can stay in the ground over winter since Naperville doesn’t allow winter gardening in the community plots. Keeping in the ground during a frost supposedly makes them sweeter and allows them to keep. The trick is to dig them up before the ground freezes solid or before they sprout new leaves in the spring.
• *Rainbow Chard: Can take some light frost into fall, may have to grow in back yard due to the wacky Naperville rules again.
• *Pot of Gold Chard: Ditto.
• *Catalina F1 Baby Leaf Spinach: Not an heirloom, still looking for a baby spinach heirloom. If anyone knows of one, PLEEZ tell me. Will freeze some of this for green smoothies over winter. Again with the 32 quarts, 1 quart per week.
• Baby Mesclun: Will grow under tomato plants in the plot but also under lights during winter and see if I can get greens without going to Whole Paycheck.
• Heirloom Mesclun Mix: Ditto.
• *Tricolor Pole Beans: I’m not a big bean fan but DH is. And these will be pretty. I’ll freeze those that I want to maintain color and can the rest. Never canned beans before but I have my pressure cooker at the ready. I remember not liking grandma’s canned beans but that may be because she always cooked the bejeesus out of them and smothered them in lard, butter, salt and pepper. They were sorta an army green mash. In fact, maybe I’ll just freeze them all instead of canning any. Hoping to grow these along the fence in the back yard so I don’t have to build a contraption at the Naperville plot.
• Merveille de Quantre Saisons Bibb Lettuce (heirloom)
• Green Feast & Red Robin Scallions: Will chop and freeze these in small quantities for winter use.
• *Slow-bolt Cilantro: Dry some and make cilantro pesto with some.
• *Clarimore Zucchini: Freeze for winter, chopped for salads.
• *Golden Dawn Zucchini: Will freeze but also will try dehydrating long slices for use in winter lasagnas.
• *Raven Zucchini: Will freeze in 2 cup batches for baking but will also spiralize and freeze for winter spaghetti.
• *American Purple Top Rutabaga (heirloom): Can leave in ground over winter similar to the parsnips. What? You’ve never had rutabaga? Oh man, you GOTTA try mashed rutabagas or Tom’s rutabaga soup and rutabaga fries!

Yet to buy:

• garlic to repel Japanese Beetles, just gotta remember not to plant too close to beans
• chives and nasturtiums to repel aphids, and we can eat them on salads.
• thyme and mint to attract good bug

You may ask, “how the hell are you fitting all this into a single 19 x 30 plot?!” Simple, I’m not planting the entire packet of seeds but will save unused seeds for the following year. AND succession planting. NOT everything gets planted at once. But yeah, I may have to get a second plot just for the squash.

Sources for seeds and supplies

Support small businesses and those focused on organic and heirloom seeds:

• Renee’s Garden
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: dang it, shoulda ordered that tiger melon!
• Reimer Seeds
• Use Hay Barn’s classifieds to find a farmer in your area selling straw bales.

Plans for low maintenance

1. Mulch with 10 layers of newspaper covered by straw.
2. Grow backyard annual veggies in straw bales
3. Grow backyard perennial veggies and strawberries in place of roses, tulips and daffodils.

And in case you missed it, here’s a great article from Mother Earth News about storing veggies for winter.

Now, what the hell am I gonna do about fruits? We have no land for an orchard so I’m looking for a pear tree to rent similar to how these folks rent out their apple trees. This should do it, assuming of course that I get all the strawberries I need for winter from my own yard.

Remember, just because it’s organic doesn’t mean it was vine-ripened.

 

Accidental Oat Milk or ‘How to screw up a perfectly good flour sack towel.’

I was starving and desperately craving pancakes yesterday and had no soy milk handy. Rather than lug out the soy milk machine, I decided to try using the blender to whip up some oat milk. Of course, I didn’t have time to look up any recipes because I was, as I said, STARVING. So here’s what I did, mistakes and all:

1. I failed to measure anything. I thought I’d just eyeball it and throw some oats and water in the blender. Probably shoulda measured. I used regular oats because that’s what I had but I don’t think it’d really make a difference.
2. Blended the mess until I thought the blender was gonna choke.
3. I knew that I’d have to somehow strain this mess so that the milk wasn’t pulpy and since I didn’t have any nut bags, I decided to use half a flour sack towel. Bad idea. Not porous enough.
4. I lined a mesh strainer with the towel and propped that at the rim of a large bowl.
5. I started pouring the oat/water mixture from the blender into the towel/strainer/bowl and realized that while I was setting up my strainer, the oats were gettin’ gloopier and thicker. MUCH thicker. I really should have used twice as much water.
6. Anyway, I poured…and scraped, the mess into the strainer. Nothing strained. Nada.
7. Sooo, I pulled up the corners of the towel, twisted and started trying to squeeze the milk out. THIS was very slow goin’ and really gross. The milk came out of the pores of the towel like a gel, actually more like gloopy egg whites. I periodically had to scrape the milk/gel off the outside of the towel and into the bowl.
8. After getting about a cup of milk/gel, I threw in the towel. (Ha!, I’ve always wanted to make that a pun).
9. Then I simply replaced the soy milk in my favorite pancake recipe (which is from Isa’s Vegan with a Vengeance) with oat milk. Of course, the oat milk was so thick, I had to add more water to loosen up the batter so it was pour able. I didn’t make it too thin though and that’s one of the reasons my pancakes were so danged thick. Somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 inch thick!

What would I do differently?

Two things:

• Use a lot more water, how much? I dunno. Maybe 2 to 3 cups water to 1 cup oats? I’d start with that and see how it goes.
• Buy a nut bag and use that for straining. This is what they’re made for and I obviously don’t know shit about them since I thought I could substitute a flour sack towel.
• Probably add a pinch of salt to punch up the flavor. And maybe vanilla and a sweetener if I wasn’t cooking with it.