Raising the Garden – Compost… Ewww!

Another discussion about dirt, “great” you say, “She is obsessing again.” But dirt is important, or more specifically, what is in the dirt is important.

In my opinion, dirt is composed of eroded and crushed mineral elements but soil is a living breathing thing. Ideally it is composed of dirt and decomposed life, in the form of nitrogen, carbon and oxygen, along with other trace elements. Even more ideally it includes the enzymes and micro-organisms that will continue to feed on and break down even more vegetable matter into more soil. Plants need these elements to survive, along with a healthy dose of water every now and again (almost daily in the summer here in the desert).

If one is terrestrially challenge, like I am, where does one get good soil? With the growing re-interest in urban homesteading and organic gardening, there are all sorts of ways to find good soil. You can go the Craig’s List route at http://www.craigslist.org and search your area for topsoil, garden soil, compost or potting soil and you will get an overwhelming number of hits. Buyer beware! Before purchasing from someone locally, make sure you ask where the soil came from, what it is made of if it compost, and what may have been sprayed on it. If they don’t know, don’t buy. When looking at the soil, does it look rich and earthy, and does it smell earthy, too? Also, is it completely decomposed or does it still have a lot of discernable leaves and twigs. The latter is not necessarily bad, but know that it will not hold water as well. The same rules apply to soil you purchase at a garden center or big box store.

Another option is to make your own. The City of Mesa, for example, will provide a composting barrel to their customers for a $5 deposit, and you can keep the barrel as long as you want. They also have some very basic instructions for composting on their website at http://www.mesaaz.gov/waste/Successful_Composting.aspx. You should check with your local community if similar services are offered. If your community does not have a formal program, you can always purchase your own system affordably.

I have acquired a worm composter through Amazon.com. And my little worms have been busily chomping down on our kitchen vegetable scraps for almost 6 months now, and I am beginning to get some good naturally composted worm castings. The worms are currently living in our still-under-rennovation master bathroom, but they shall be relegated to somewhere else in the house as the bathroom gets finished. If you were wondering, there is no smell and I feed them every 3-5 days with about a cup of chopped up kitchen waste which has been run through the food processor. They also get sprayed with water at the same time. When the worm castings are ready, I mix them with purchased garden soil and organic potting mix before using them in my containers.

Speaking of containers – I did score a great find on Craig’s list with these old horse troughs – the bottoms are a bit rusty and leaky, so they work perfectly for my garden!

And the carrots I started planting last fall are ready to harvest – I planted several groups of seeds several weeks apart, and the first ones are gorgeous (and delicious)!

Next time – When Squirrels attack!

And we are joining up with Natural Living Mamma and her friends for their Natural Living Monday Blog Hop!

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Raising the Garden – Dishing the Dirt

Severe dust storm, or Haboob, hitting downtown Phoenix in 2011. Photo from MSNBC.COM

Dirt, I never really thought much about it until recently, now it consumes me. It is everywhere. Here in the Arizona desert, it is even in the air in the form of dust, which is a big part of our poor air quality.

Lime basil I got at the farmer’s market, growing roots, needing good dirt.

As I mentioned before, the dirt in my back yard leaves a lot to be desired. It is very rocky, full of construction debris, and it seems equal parts clay and sand, though they are in different areas. I have, in the past, attempted to dig in this dirt for various reasons, and with varying levels of success. I have also sprayed any number of things on my backyard over the years, in the name of weed and pest eradication and prevention. There will be no more of that. This dirt will require a lot of ammending if it is to ever sucessfully grow any edibles. Or I may need to disregard the existing dirt sompletely and bring in healthy, living soil. I am leaning heavily towards the latter… In fact I have pretty much already decided on the latter.

In fact, I have pretty much already started with the latter, in a small-middle-of-the-hot-summer-in-Phoenix sort of way. Our plan is to start small, with container gardening for the fall season, while we work to put together a raised bed or two for next spring. My reasoning behind that is that I am not as active as I used to be, and I need to build myself up to my full potential. My husband’s reasoning is that before he goes out and spends time, energy and money on something that major, he wants to make sure I will actually grow things. He is somewhat misguided, but only slightly, given my history and my tendencies to jump from project to project. This feels different to me, it is a result of an awakening on my part to the food production and procurement process, how farming is done in this country, and wanting a fresher, healthier alternative for myself and my family. And so far I am really enjoying it.

A few tips I picked up that I would like to share if you are planning to container garden with me this fall:

1. Get big containers, bigger than you think you will need. I like half-barrels, either real ones (heavy, but oh so lovely), or the much more practical mock ones you can get at Lowes or Home Depot.

2. Make sure your planters have good drainage. There is nothing a vegetable or other plant like less than constantly wet feet. The above mentioned barrels, for example, sometimes do not have drain holes in the bottom – we drilled a series of six 5/8 inch holes in the bottom of each one for our garden. We then added about 2 inches of gravel in the bottom before adding any soil.

3. Use good dirt. My dirt is not good, so I went and purchased a bag of organic top soil, a bag of compost and a bag of organic potting soil and layered them in the pot, then dug around in it a bit to mix and aerate the soil. We also stirred in some of what we like to call “Bunny Bombs” delightfully donated by the lady next door that does Rabbit Rescue.

4. Think about the sun vs. shade needs of what you are going to plant BEFORE you fill your pots with heavy soil. I learned this the hard way. ‘Nuff said.

My recently trimmed back senior citizen Sweet Basil, along with it’s 2 New Mexico Chile body guards.

I have actually had a few things growing the past few months, even a basil plant that was planted 4-5 years ago and has been nurtured and protected and finally hacked, I mean trimmed back so it is thriving again. I may just have to write about that at some point…

Ginger in the desert

I also “planted” ginger root a few months back by taking the whole root I got at the market and sticking it in a shallow pot and keeping it moist. No one told me just to plant the knobby rizomes. I shall have to seperate the plants now and give each of them a new home in a new part of the yard. The plants are lovely, and I have been told they blossom beautifully. So far all of my gardening efforts have taken place in front of my house.

Since I last posted, I have added a couple more barrels and some more soil to my compilation of commodities, I am acquiring seeds, by seed saving and from online heirloom seed sources, and I am researching different methods of composting. I am getting more than 75% of the produce we eat from our local farmer’s markets (love bananas and oranges too much to give those up, along with some other things) and I am slowly moving towards locally produced grass-fed beef. It is starting to feel right to me, and kind of familiar. I am realizing, as I do my research, that a lot of what I am reading about is the way it was done when I was a child. Not THAT long ago.

Raising the Garden – Before the Beginning

A while back, I wrote a kind of tongue-in-cheek post about a friend of my son thinking I was a hippie. I may not fit into the counter-culture world of 40 years ago, but I am definitely taking a turn towards getting back to the basics. Over the years I have delved into the fiber arts to learn to spin and weave and knit, and earlier this year learned the process for making soaps and natural laundry products.

I have been researching food lately, learning how it is grown, processed, distributed and acquired by me, the final consumer. It has been a definite awakening. Or actually, a kind of re-awakening. I mean, I knew this stuff in the past, I have studied economics and some nutrition and food science – heck, I went to an agricultural university. Seems a lot has changed in the years since I was in school regarding farming practices and animal processing. I will leave it to you, dear reader, to do your own research and come to your own conclusions at this time. Suffice to say, There is not a lot offered out there that I want to eat anymore.

My husband’s grandfather was a farmer in Kansas until the day he passed away about 12 years ago. We had the pleasure of visiting him on several occasions, to see the steers in his pastures, see the corn and wheat in his fields and eat the farm-fresh eggs and vegetables. He had a wonderful, hard-working life and instilled his salt-of-the-earth ethics into his children, who then passed them down to their children.

My ancestors (wow, that sounds officious) also tilled the soil – my paternal grandmother grew up in central California in a family of farmers, she married and moved to Los Angeles and kept the most amazing gardens and horses and chickens. I have some very fond and vivid memories of running around her paths with my cousins hunting Easter eggs and playing horseshoes. A few months ago I was reminiscing about her beautiful gardens and wishing I had the land to create my own. My husband just laughed at me and pointed out the back door… Duh!

You see, we bought our house in the suburbs and moved in 20 years ago and at the time focused our limited funds on meeting the neighborhood’s requirements that we landscape our front yard. We had planned to someday put a pool in the back, but that someday has long since passed us by… and we still have an almost empty backyard. (Except for the car that is – more on that at some other time – though it is for sale – let me know if you are interested).

Our Blank Slate…

Now you must understand, we live in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Our native soil is caleche (clay) and dust, and our environment includes the Saguaro Cactus and something called a Javelina. Granted, we live in a nice subdivision, in a nice suburban community, with some beautiful lawns and lush vegetation, very little of which is native. As a result of the developer’s grading practices, our back yard is full of rocks, and bits of concrete, and even a few nails still, and we have a low spot right in the middle where Lake Hughes magically appears during every summer monsoon rain. A BIG job, to say the least. And it is summer.

So this will be an ongoing, or “ongrowing” project. I will drag you along, I mean invite you to join me, as I slowly transform my little piece of desert into a suburban homestead, along with all the other stuff I write about. And to the best of my ability work the land I have to help feed my family and make our world just a little bit better. And since it is summer I will first be doing a lot of research and sharing what I find out, mostly to prove it can be done even by me!

Time to get on with it

I guess I have been noticeably absent from the world the last 6 months or so, for which I apologize. Life has thrown me a few hard balls recently and I am just now really picking myself up and dusting myself off. During my trials and tribulations (mostly medical) I have felt myself make a major paradigm shift towards a healthier lifestyle, physically, emotionally and financially. I thought for a bit that I would start a new blog to write about the changes going on, and then I realized this blog was still appropriate for my new attitudes because yarn and fiber crafting are still very much a part of me. And it has never really been just about the yarn.

One of the major changes has been work-related. I am not working now, and don’t think I am capable of doing a regular job, with regular hours anymore, seeing as how they want you to be there on a regular basis. It is just not physically or mentally/emotionally possible. As a result of that, I have reduced our family’s income… not substantially, but enough that it is being felt. So researching ways to save money has been one of my major activities of late. I have also felt a very strong pull towards the garden, or at this point, the earth, as my garden is pretty non-existent right now. I live in a desert, so figuring out the growing seasons, and making them work will be my challenge this year. I have always been fascinated by herbs and the uses of essential oils, so I am slowly replacing some of the toxicity in our lives that way too. Couponing, Canning and Crafting are also big on my list. I may seem a bit scattered and will most likely jump from topic to topic as this new me evolves, so I am just inviting you along for the ride… Better Hang On!

Tour de Fleece – Final Finisher

I wanted to post some pictures of the yarns I spun for Tour de Fleece… the challenge on Ravelry ends today, and I am still spinning some fancy stuff… but here is what we have so far…

450+ yards of Sport weight SW Merino - Fiber from Colinette

and these…

150 yards of Beaded/thread plied art yarn and 50 yards of itty-bitty coiled yarn.

I am happy with my results in the challenge, even though I did not get a chance to spin every day, I was able to finish a couple of projects and got more spinning done the last 3 weeks than I have in a year.

The Tour de France… er… Fleece?

Every year on Ravelry there is a large group of people (well over 4,000 at this time) who, lacking a better reason, form a challenge around the Tour de France… you know, the bike race. I have admired these people from afar since I joined Ravelry back in 2008, but have hesitated to become involved due to a wide variety of excuses, none of which I can think of this year. So I am joining up.

It is primarily a spinning challenge. I guess this is because of the close resemblance of a spinning wheel to a bicycle wheel – come on, work with me here – or perhaps, just as the challenge organizers state “They spin, we spin. A real spinning themed spin-along.” The challenge part is simple, you must challenge yourself in any way you can. Whether that be by trying to spin a bit every day of the race (there are just 2 official rest days), or by finishing a project you might have been working on a while (I shall NOT be knitting any easy to knit Scarf projects this time around), or maybe challenge yourself to try something new.

I have, if you can believe this, been a spinner for 13 years. I know that is has been 13 years, because I took my first spinning class at The Fiber Factory in Mesa when my son was an infant… and he just turned 13. So I’ve been doing this for a while… What I’ve been doing all this time, is nice, tidy, 2 or 3 ply wool yarns, and I have developped a really fine technique for making fingering and lace-weight yarns. What I haven’t been doing is challenging myself.

So I have decided to challenge myself with this challenge, by learning to spin art yarn, primarily the coiled variety, though I may make an attempt at some core spun yarn as well (similar technique, but different outcome). I have acquired (or am acquiring) some beautiful hand-carded batts of fiber from Butterfly Girl Designs on Etsy, and will be using these flashi, sparkly, startling fibers to make something new and exciting. Here’s a taste…

And here is a small sample of what I am trying to do with them… this is a fingering weight single, coiled (wrapped) around a lace weight soysilk yarn core. My challenge yarns, I have decided, will have to be much thicker, bumpier and bolder. But I am liking the results!

If you will allow me, I will post progress throughout the challenge – I have joined the Fiber Factory Planeteers Team on Ravelry – come look me up!

Insomnia

Sleeplessness. It often overtakes us at the most inopportune times. The big meeting tomorrow, the job interview in the morning, the night before the big day… whatever it may be. Stress, business (or busy-ness), or even just an innocent ice tea with a late dinner.

Along with all of the above mine also comes with hormonal changes… used to be it was monthly, on a regular cycle, an expected predictor of things to follow. Now as a forty-something, peri-menopausal woman, there is really no predicting when it will strike(I may expand on that at a later date).

Last night as I was just about to nod off to sleep, the neighbors behind us started getting rowdy in their pool. Mind you, I love a good swim, especially in the evening, when the opportunity presents itself. Considering I didn’t even know they had a pool until that moment is a testament to the 6-7 foot block privacy walls we have around our homes (and their yard sits about 5 feet lower then mine). Or maybe it was a brand-new pool and they were just excited and overjoyed with the prospect. This is, after-all, Arizona – and at 11:30 last night it was still well into the upper 90s outside. But please, it was 11:30 at night.

So I changed into some clothes I could wear into the wilderness-that is-our-backyard, and I got on my Birkenstocks (see my Hippie post from earlier), and I walked thru the yard to the back fence and tried to quietly yell to get their attention. No response. Again a strong testament to our privacy walls.

I pulled an old stepladder from the shed, and I placed it next to the wall and stepped up so that my face was over the top of the wall, looking into their trees/bushes and I tried again. Imagine their surprise when their shrubbery began to quietly yell at them to please keep it down. Thankfully they did catch on that perhaps it was not just the plant life that was trying to sleep. They kept it down after that.

Then I went back in the house, changed back to my sleep shirt, and tried to settle in next to my loudly snoring husband. Really.loudly.snoring.husband. I gave him a gentle push as I am apt to do, just enough to reposition him, but not enough to wake him up. He grunted, said something incomprehensible about wireless routers, repositioned himself and started snoring again. It had been a long day.

I lay there for a time, thinking the random thoughts that come to us only at that time of night… you know – the kids schooling, the kids’ health, my health, my husband’s health, life insurance, did I pay the car insurance, will I have enough energy today to clean up for my friends coming over tonight, that I needed to clear out some of the stuff so my brother and sister-in-law will have room to sleep when they come next week, I need to wash the extra sheets, was the laundry still in the washer wet, will my front-load washer felt as well as my old top-loader did, wouldn’t it be fun to make a line of felted backpacks and hats for kids, and what color combinations would I use?

Sproing! The mind is awake and thinking and creating. The eyes are open, the thoughts are clear. So I got up and started knitting a cute kid’s hat, the idea as clear and sharp in my mind as I could ever imagine. Knitting in the round on circular needles with Cascade 220… Knitting around and around in stockinette stitch…

beautiful teal color…

maybe I can put a felted flower on… the…side…zzzzzzzz.