Trail, Tent & Garden...

Spent the past couple weekends fervently amending soil, transplanting seedlings we'd germinated, adding a vertical train for the peas and beans, putting together one more cloche.  It's now past our last frost date, the corn is rising, carrots, beets, beans, peas, spinach, kale, chard, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, celery, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, all seem to be hanging in there.  Lettuces are over-producing as we speak.  Kelley's been successfully harvesting russian kale and bok choy for her smoothies for quite some time.  Now, it's time to germinate again...

Spent a nice 3-day weekend at Belknap Springs, celebrating Kelley's 42nd birthday.  Happy 42 honey, you earned every minute of time off used.  Belknap was a better destination for us this time.  In times past we have only been in their main lodge and walked briefly across the bridge above the McKenzie River.  This time we explored their whole site, spent a good amount of time in both of their hot spring pools, and got to take advantage of their facilities while we cooked, camped, hiked and mountain biked, alongside the McKenzie River Trail (MRT).  Plus, Bella Lilu Booster Pirate Dog was there in full-force, hitting the gas, using her outriggers and otherwise, tearing up the trail - with us...

Gotta say, if it hadn't been for the cold, rainy conditions, I might not have enjoyed the hot springs quite so much... nor the coffee we made with our Aerobie Press.  That's turned out to be a serious advantage over our previous camping-sized french press.  The taste was pretty amazing for coffee that had been ground days ahead.  And while sipping it in the pool, its flavor was enhanced that much more by the contrast of cold, drizzly rain and hot, soaking body.  Great time, wish you could have been there with us...

Winter Garden 2009

I can't express my dismay with our garden. The acorns were huge and plentiful this year, hence the squirrels have been working overtime, disturbing roots. Though that's only partially a problem, because most of the beds have netting over them to keep the deer at bay.

All the lettuces we've planted are still infant, though we did try starting them from seed this year. Typically I germinate, then transplant. Radishes are stalled. Kale, chard, spinach, all tiny. The only thing with any sense of growth is our cover crop area. Everything else is stunted.

We did mix in compost we purchased from Down to Earth. I figured it would help if the soil had some extra feeding. It doesn't like it helped at all. I think I'm going to contact a Master Gardener and seek a fix. At the present rate things are growing, we're not going to have much of a yield, which is a bummer.

This is when we eat the most greens annually, and I'm not going to be happy if I don't have a huge mess of kale, chard and spinach to stir fry throughout the winter - let alone the winter salads we enjoy so much.

Fall Planting 2009

I have to admit, since we've added raised beds and made our backyard mostly edible, I don't miss worrying about the grass (which the chickens we added, eat, scratch and tear). We're working on a planting guide (excel spreadsheet), complete with planter outlines for both spring and fall of each growing year. The idea is to keep track of our brassicas and curcurbits so we reduce the soil organism issues that plague these veggies.

We had a decent, not banner, year of production. Our cukes were weird, got big like a squash and never really turned green... had powdery mildew, as did our squash. We did get several patty pan squash, nevertheless. Tomatoes, currant tomatoes, lettuces, cauliflower, kale, chard, spinach, peppers, herbs, potatoes, bush & pole beans, all did well - considering our lack of experience. I double stacked the corn in too small a plot and ended up with these less-than-niblet sized oddities that were thick with starch and kind of chewy - but our dog Bella (YouTube; Bella Lilu Booster Pirate Dog) seemed to like them.

We set up three of our twelve raised bed sections with a winter cover crop of peas, barley and crimson clover. We've planted several varieties of kale, chard, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, leeks, beets, carrots, onions, radishes - in hopes we'll have a decent amount of food during the winter and into the spring. Our kale and chard always do well. We've had limited success with spinach. Very little success with cabbage - though there are three heads developing now from the eight we planted originally. Even without forming heads, our chickens loved the pocked, insect ridden leaves that grew instead.

We also have a hydroponic wall-mount system where we grow lettuces. It did well until I mistakenly added minerals with nutrients instead of the normal liquid food. My longterm intent is to replace the purchase liquid food source ($45 per gallon) with my own worm and veggie compost teas. Seems to make sense, but haven't seen where anyone's done it successfully.

Our eleven Garden Patch containers are getting set with winter veggies too. We're adding mostly chard, kale and lettuce, with some onions for insect protection, one or two completely filled with our winter garlic crop and some spinach of a new variety we haven't tried before. Hopefully, I'll remember to post pictures and keep things updated as they progress. Here are some pictures from our summer garden. Check out those beans... will never do a bamboo teepee again. In fact, next year we're going to build something to the effect of a grape arbor, giving them individual lines to grow up at an angle, equal to 8-10 feet in length... woohoo !

First Snow of Winter 2008 !

We had a nice snowfall overnight between Sunday and Monday. Traffic was a snarl because it was below freezing temperatures, following rain and sleet. It created a lot of ice, which led to lots of traffic accidents. Bella and I headed out early for a sled ride in Tugman Park. Wish you all were here to enjoy it with us.

Jannelle and her boyfriend Andrew Mirr will be arriving Wednesday night, to come live with us. They're in for a surprise, as this is the first time I think Jannelle has seen a full blown snow at our home. And, the outlook is good for more between now and the weekend. In fact, we're thinking of having a holiday celebration with a group of friends, which is what happens when the weather is this good (or bad).

Watch the video with Bella and I. We were on our sled, on the street leading to Tugman Park. Made sense to ride down the hill, rather than walk on the slippery slope. We hit the hill 6-8 times at Tugman, and shared our sled with a bunch of different kids. It was great revisiting boyhood and feeling the cold air against my face, watching Bella's response to speed and the thrill of sleighing. She is the major outdoorsy dog. Couldn't have picked a better one.