Houston High and the Wonderful Garden!

We have had a great year here in the garden at Houston High School!  I told you in an earlier blog about how we were a Wildfire Command Post with the fire fighters and evacuees living all around and in the school - and once our yards were cleaned up (they didn't leave too much of a mess - just had to put some things back where they belong), we got busy putting in the rest of the garden.

Two apple trees went in at the point beyond the huglekulture beds.  We have an Adanac and an Early Harvest planted there now and they seem to be thriving.  I am concerned that we weren't able to give them enough water during the season - I just read that they should have about 10 gallons per day to start out and we weren't able to give them any where near that without our hose connection.  We weren't able to hook up our hoses during the fire since it is non-potable water hose and might contaminate the water spigots that were needed for potable water for evacuees and firefighters.  Ill keep you posted on how they do.

Here they are in the ground!  We had some funny things happen - I have the spoons as markers (also see prior blog for more information on that), and I would come to the garden and the spoon markers would be out of the ground and all over the place.  Finally one of the people helping said they thought they saw a Raven messing around near the apple trees.  Sure enough - the Raven liked that shiny spoon and was picking them up and tossing them about!  I have now wire tied them to the stakes so they at least can't be absconded off with!

Another perennial we have for the garden now is Chives.  We have the potatoes and maybe the kids can do a baked potato bar and have the chives and all the fixins!  They are small now but we should be able to harvest some after next season.  we will probably add a few more plants to the patch as well. 

The Kohlrabi did wonderfully - we had to harvest them before school started as they were starting to split and were not going to make it to the opening day.  We shared them among staff members and we have some new Kohlrabi fans at the school!  Many of the folks hadn't tried it ever so this was something new and wonderful.  It tastes like a cross between jicama and turnip - very mild and refreshing flavor.  It would make great pickles or slaw as well - we just sliced and dipped it!  We will definitely grow these again next season!

Oregon snow peas are looking good - we had a harvest in the second week of school and are excited to have the kids trying these.  So good!

Yellow zuchinni did amazingly well at our location!  We harvested 5 squash off these two plants and there are at least 10 more almost ready.  The kids will be using these this week in their dishes.

The cabbage is doing great and will be ready for slaw soon.  This is Stonehead and even though it was such a hot summer, as soon as it cooled off it took off and is growing great guns!

Rhubarb.  Almost don't need to say more!  We have two of these perennial plants donated to us and we will be able to harvest next year.  Looking forward to that - our culinary arts class knows how to make some pie crust if you know what I mean.

Yukon Gold potatoes thriving in the pallet bin!  The raised bed potatoes didn't do as well (lack of water after planting I think), and the bins got hot, hot, hot.  The pallet bed and the tires did really well for us.  I didnt get a picture of the carrots but they are really doing well too!  Next year we will rotate crops and the carrots will be in one of the big new raised beds so we can plant a lot more - maybe two beds full!

Huglekulture for the strawberries.  

I completely underestimated the amount of fabric and chips it would take!  These beds are huge.  This is one whole roll of fabric and it did about a third of our strawberry row!  We planted 30 strawberry plants in this section and we will go and grow from there next year.  We have quite a few folks who have said they are saving runners and starts for us for the garden.  Can't wait!  Strawberry Rhubarb pie - that's what I'm talking about!

We also planted a few raspberries that will be perennial for us and should produce next year for some berry mixes.  We will be getting some more of those plants as well for next spring.

Stay tuned for the harvesting of the garden.  The kids are anxious and even the staff seem really excited to see what the garden holds. 

I hope your garden is growing well - no matter if you have one bin or 50!   

Where there's smoke ...... Wildfire Round three!

Yes folks - here we go again!  Wildfire in Big Lake round three!  The view above and below shows the smoke coming across the lake in front of the house (looking East now).  The fire is actually a mile behind us (West).  It appears from reports that the fire may have been started by a camp fire this weekend!  

You can see the smoke better in the above photo.  Those arent clouds in the foreground!  That is smoke!  And of course I had sheets on the line - so Ill be re doing laundry this week!  We are lucky that it appears now that we are literally out of the woods and out of fire danger as firefighters were able to get right on it and use bulldozers to create a fire line and keep it away from us.  We also have a lot of swamp around the area but it has been so dry that a lot of the swamp is dry as well!  It slows down the fire but doesn't stop it like we need it too!  There was termination dust on some of the mountains this morning (snow for you folks who aren't familiar with that term - it means summer is over) and I thought that mad me sad - but I will take snow all day long to keep from having another round with wildfires!

Above shows the plume of smoke above the trees looking West towards the fire.  The wind was blowing about 30 miles per hour and it seemed like it was blowing it right at our house!  It was blowing in our direction and the fire was moving fast for a time - thank goodness for the quick action of the fire fighters and thank them for their service as well!

I also have to say what a wonderful community we all live in - I had enough offers to help that we could have had our house cleaned out and been evacuated and down the road in about 20 minutes if we had needed to!  Its great to have that kind of friends, family, and neighbors!

Stay safe everyone and enjoy the termination of summer - may your colors of fall be leaves and not fire!

Pallet Love!

I absolutely LOVE pallets!  The wooden, usually grungy, beat up load lifters that keep the products of the world in their spaces during transit.  I have a whole Pinterest Board dedicated to pallet love! They are a monster sometimes to break down, but they are worth it.  I build all kinds of things with them for the greenhouse, garden and even the house!

The above photo shows one of the grungier pallets that I made into a table/bench for the greenhouse so the small tomato plants would reach the light.  Once they were tall enough they go down onto the floor and I use that pallet table for something else, or put other plants on it!

You may have seen the pallet potato bins that I have featured on the blog before - just like above.  This is a new one on the farm this year - Yukon Golds are loving it.

This is the other half of the greenhouse pallet - in a different spot to get light for the plants and this one was designed a little higher so the solar system batteries can live under neath it - they arent there - stop looking - but eventually batteries will live under there and power the fan and the heater!  I WILL have a year round greenhouse!

Freshly planted Yukon Gold potatoes!  Yum!

But this - this beautiful wooden (pine it appears to be) pallet, is my piece de resistance!

This pallet was part of a crate that the skate sharpener for the local Rec Center came in.  It had walls made out of pressboard and two by fours lumber.  Nothing special really - I had asked the Rec Center manager if I could have it to build raised beds for the garden and was told that if I hauled it off right away I could have it!  When the crate was broken down, there on the bottom was this beautiful pallet!

I had a hard time finding the right project for this pallet - I have had it for a little over a year now I think - and I was dreading cutting it up even - it is just beautiful.  But then my brother in law built a new deck and got a new barbque - and an idea was born!  

 The above photo shows the table top for my brothers table.  It has been lightly sanded and the legs are 4x4's from the dunnage that our casing comes on.  It came together super sturdy and it won't go anywhere in a heavy wind (which my brothers area get all the time).  He has a color scheme of gray and black for his house but I couldn't bear to cover it with a coat of paint!  I used galvanized decking screws to hook it all together so they will weather with the table.

 Finished project!  I used a double coat of urethane on the tops and sides to bring out that wood grain and to protect it from weather and spills!  The one in the back is for my brother in law and the taller on in front I kept for our porch near our barbecue - we have a cooler that will fit right under there and we need some table top space for a prep/cook area where our barbecue sits.  They can be used as a table or as a bench and really turned out beautifully!  I could not have been happier with the result.

Imagine all the things you can do with pallets - keep your eye out for them - Pinterest has lots of ideas and Craigslist has lots of pallets (sometimes even free - you haul)!  Dont pass on one that is a little dirty or grungy - they clean up right nice with a little sanding - and if they don't then you can paint!  Have fun with your own version of Pallet Love!

A little paper in the garden! A recycle up-cycle!

A long time ago, when I was new at gardening and had lots of time - I was a very ambitious gardener!  I began projects the size of which were only imagined by Cleopatra - Oh!  Wait!  I still do that!  Ok - so I dream big - I think we all should - especially in the garden!

Last year when we were dealing with what we refer to as "flying elbow smash" - which was my son's shattering of his elbow and the two surgeries and multiple trips to town to do physical therapy - my garden dreams became a nightmare of overgrown weeds and crowded plants!  Not a happy place!

So this year I began the recovery effort - you will see lots of that on the blog coming up.  I had to do something that would be long lasting and still soothing and in keeping with my visions that I have for the farm.

A few years ago I started saving (for some reason) the paper bags that flour, dog food and sugar game in.  I have a big plastic tub full of them in the greenhouse with a lid on it to keep the critters out (mice for example).  I knew there was a purpose for the bags in keeping weeds down - I have seen it done between rows in gardens with straw over the top, but that isn't the type of garden I am working on now.  So I did what I usually do and just began!

 Photo on the left shows some of the bags and some newspaper that I used for the project - newspaper folds way easier into the shape you need than the bags do - they are more for the large spaces coverage.  Photo on the right shows the start of what was once a medicinal herb garden but is now just an herb garden - culinary, medicine - they're all going in!  The three plants you see here are Lovage, Costmary (to replace the one I lost last year), and Russian Sage.  I started by taking out all the weeds, grass and turf and turning the soil/gravel to loosen it a bit.

 Then cover it with either one of the paper bags (I cut them open and used them as a one layer bag like an open sleeping bag), or some of the newspaper.  Put a rock or two on it and then some bark chips to cover everything.  Photo on the lower right is Coltsfoot - used for cough remedy and throat soothing.  It thrives here on the farm - no matter the soil.  Start taking your harvesting bucket with you when you are "weeding" - in the hod I have coltsfoot leaves and dandelion root that I have culled out of the bed and will dry for winter use.  Watch mixing roots together as it is sometimes hard to tell them apart once they dry a little!

Don't worry if you don't get all of the paper covered the first time around - once it rains a time or two or you throw some water on it, the paper will settle a little and the chips will show where you need to add more.  The above left photo shows a giant Cornflower plant (Centaury not sure the variety) which is also a thriver - it comes up every year and has taken over the area it is in but hasn't tried to go out of the bed.

The area above right is where our septic tank is - so the big rocks are necessary to keep the snow plow driver from knocking the tops off of the clean outs.

Keep working around your plants and placing the paper and rocks and chips.   I had to lay the paper and the chips as I went due to the wind blowing here all the time (we are working on a windmill - stay tuned for that) but you might be able to do a big space and then lay the materials down.  I have also found that I have to water each plant individually when it has been really dry like it has been lately - we are dry, dry, dry!  When you have good rains the water gets in and the paper, mulch combo keeps it there!  When you want to add a plant somewhere after your materials are down, just scrape back the mulch bark, cut a hole in the paper, plant your plant and cover it back up!  Easy peasy!

  Before long you will have a beautiful garden again and one that will be fairly low maintenance!  Just the occasional weed pulling session and some watering.  Enjoy your happy place!