Houston High and the Great Seed Grant - Welcome to Hawk Farms!

Sorry it has been so long since you have seen a post on the great things that the kids are doing in the garden at the School - its just that kind of year for me - Ill do better from now on!

This year for the Houston High School Garden we applied for and received a seed grant from Seed Savers Exchange that gave us 100 packets of seeds to plant in our garden.  We were so excited!  Out of the 100 packets of seeds there were very few that wouldn't grow outside in Alaska.  (Okra, eggplant, and a few others).  We didnt get to choose our seed selection but no matter, we had some volunteers to plant some of the hot weather varieties in greenhouses for us to see how we did.  We are also planning a greenhouse for our garden, set to begin construction this fall so next year we will be able to have the seeds that we didnt use this time to grow in the greenhouse!

Above shows the box and some of the seeds!  We got some great radishes that have turned out to be a favorite - they end up looking like a peanut potato - brown skin and all - but they are so tasty! 

  

Helios they are called.

Photo above is Helios Radish - photo from Seed Savers Exchange. These arent ones that we grew but we have harvested some this size already from the garden.

Above photo's show the kids planting into the 4"pots in the classroom.  They each planted pots to leave for the school garden and some to take home as well if they chose!  Grow one, take one!

Here are some of the peas we got and and a couple of the cucumbers.  Our kids ended up planting during the last week of school (about May 15th) and - as you read in a previous blog, it has been the coldest start to spring in 5 years for us so that ended up being a little early for some of the plants - we had to start over with the cukes and most of the tomatoes and the two cukes shown above are ones the Mrs. Reese - another High School employee started for us in her greenhouse.  Thank you Mrs. Reese!

We have a classroom that has these great windowsills in it, it is in our culinary arts classroom but well away from the food prep areas so we were able to put the seed starts that the kids began in the window in their pots and it was nice and warm and had plenty of light too!

Here is another view of the other side of the windowsill and the awesome plants coming up that the kids planted!  The plastic tubs are an upcycle item - they are the tops of the containers that the cakes for graduation came in - they perfectly hold twenty 4" pots.

 Photo on the left is another shot of the kids planting.  They did so many varieties of plants and even some flowers!

Below are three photos of the kids planting in the garden in the raised beds.  They did both seeds and transplants that they had grown in the pots in the classroom.

Once the kids (and staff) went to plant the garden they made this great garden diagram/map sign so anyone who was visiting the garden will know what is planted and where.  This also will help so next year we can make sure we are rotating our crops in the grow bins appropriately.  And such great creativity - I love it!  If you are out at the garden - which you are welcome to do - it is hanging inside the little tool shed area - its open so you can see it we hung it in there so it wouldnt get as wet.

Also included in the seed package was some peanut potato seed - here they are coming up in one of the grow bins.  We all love potatoes here at the school (and at most of our homes too).

Here are those great Helios radishes coming up in the row with the carrots - we got 4 carrot varieties with our pack too!  So happy!

We dropped a bomb - now lets build a rocket - heater that is!

We are struggling with the cold here in Alaska this summer.  We have had only about three days of really good sun here and so I have been having to supplement the heat in the greenhouse so that the cucumbers will do what they are supposed to do.  I will admit it - I dont have the solar system hooked up still and so the tiny fireplace that I use to supplement the heat cannot be used right now - its a work in progress.

So the alternative is that I made a few candle mass heaters (sometimes called rocket mass heaters but I think those are ones that you can put wood in) to make up the couple of degrees that I need for heat supplement.  They are easy - all it takes ais a couple of brick pavers and some terra cotta pots and the bottoms to them and some pillar or even votive candles.

I watch the local thrift stores and garage sales for candles like the one pictures above - you can get them for about fifty cents each at those outlets - and as you have read before you can make your own with the toilet paper tubes  - see that post here.  I try to get ones that arent really scented as they end up being an allergen for some of my folks, and I dont like the sometimes chemical perfume smell in my greenhouse either.

Place your bricks on a flat surface away from wood or other flammables, and then put the saucer for the pot on the bricks.  The pot saucer can be a few sizes smaller than the pot itself - no matter.

Place the candle in the center of the saucer.....

Then turn the terra cotta pot so the bottom side is up over the candle.  I have seen a lot of folks do this with a couple of layers of pots - two or three pots stacked over the candle on top of the bricks.  I only use one because I use odd sized candles, and it is just faster than having to stack multiple pots up - Im a lazy gardener in this case I guess!

The brick pavers under allow air to circulate through so the candle doesnt go out and the hole in the top of the pot also allows heat to escape.  Once the candle is lit the heat comes out the hole and it also heats up the pot covering it.  I have had an increase of up to 10 degrees in my greenhouse between all of my candle mass heaters (I have 3 total but usually only use two).  I let them burn all night when it is really chilly - I know there are some safety issues with that but I have done my best to  alleviate those issues with the sizes of pot and saucer I am using.  So far it has been a great solution to my heat situation and is a cheap, easy fix!  It can also work in your house when the power is out too!  

Fire it up!

Summertime in Alaska - or not!?

The past few years I have tried without success to grow a nice firm head of cabbage here on the farm to no avail!  It has been too hot and I do not have an area of good enough shade to keep the cold weather crop doing what it is supposed to be doing,  One year I had rabbits take out the whole lot, and one year it just flat out bolted and tried to seed before it ever made a good head.

So this year I decided I would plant some good ole' Southern Hot Weather Greens!   I got Mustard and Collard seeds and Jicama too.  I prepped the raised bed and sprinkled in the seeds in neat, tidy rows.  And we have had the coldest summer in 5 years starting out!  June 16th it was 48 degrees at 9:00 at night!  Most likely colder overnight - most assuredly colder overnight!  But the Collards and one row of the Mustard greens have come up - Im hoping for them.

In the above photo you can just see the little rows of green coming up - we need some heat now!

I did plant some cabbage though - some Red Mammoth.  We will be doing some red saurkraut if we can get some cabbage to grow.  I planted it in the most shady grow box I have so it doesnt get full sun - just most of the day sun!  Ill keep you posted on the cabbage since it has been a little cooler start to the summer.  We love cabbage and I just can't imagine not at least trying it!

We have had such great winds too that my squash have broken off and I had to start two of then right over - they broke off right at the base - ground level darn it!  It seemed like a monsoon one night here, wind, thunder and lightning - I ran as fast as I could go to close up the greenhouse, the cold frames, and batten everything down.  Then it rained about 5 minutes and was gone.  So we have to water every day even though it is cold and cloudy!  The only thing really going great guns is the onions and the radishs.

Above shows a couple of the Cherry Belle radishes and the radish/caarrot bed behind it.  I always plant radishes and carrots together to start since carrots take longer and by the time the radishes are grown and pulled out it thins the carrots automatically for you.  Way less work thinning and you dont have to be sad pulling out perfectly good carrots!

I read a facebook permaculture post asking how any one else's green beans were doing - I know Im not alone - the consensus is that it is too cold.  I have planted by green beans in the cold frame again in hopes that they will thrive with the added protection - they have just come up but since I had them in there last year and they did well I think we are ok!

I hope your global warming is working in a way that works for your growing affairs!  Ours so far is not!  Blessed be!

Keeping the Birds!

As you know from my previous blog "How Much is 15  minutes?"  I try to quilt at least 15 minutes a day.  Sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't.  Since my son passed away I seem to do more sitting and thinking than I do quilting but sometimes I quilt too.  Usually once I get started I work for more than 15 minutes - kind of get in the groove so to speak.

I told you before about retreat and the block drawings we do - each of us do a block or two based on a theme or on a pattern that has been nominated at a previous retreat.  I have been pretty lucky and have won them a few times over the years.  Of course, I have made a ton of blocks to do it.

The last time I won blocks was about a year and a half ago - I won the Birds!  The above picture shows the bird blocks on the wall at retreat before the drawing.  Each star block has a bird in the center square.  Our theme besides the bird cutouts was fall colors so it gave a really big variety of colors.

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Above shows one of the blocks after the quilter was finished with it.  I dont quilt this size of quilts yet - I dont have room nor do I have the machine but I have a wonderful lady at Briar Rose Quilts that adds her art to mine and makes for a beautiful combination.

Many times when I win blocks I have need of a quick quilt for a fundraiser, a chemo patient or for a gift for someone - in other words I give them away!  I also told you in a previous blog about cutting up our bed quilt and up cycling it into items such as pillow covers and such - so we had no quilt on out bed.  The hubby asked me numerous times - "How can it be that you are a quilter and we dont have a quilt on our bed?  You make them!"  SO....I am keeping the birds!

Here is is in all it's glory finished and on the bed!  I love how the colors are fall but with the light colored background it keeps it nice and bright in our room!  Sanctuary!

Blessed Be!