Staying home...

Yesterday Eleora brought home a note from the daycare director that her teacher was leaving because she has the opportunity to now stay home with her kids. I am really happy for her, but it also makes me melancholy.

Now that spring is here especially, it seems like every single day I wish I could just stay home with my kids and hang out with them, teach them how to do stuff outside, get my gardening done, cook decent suppers where we can all sit together around the table (more than just on the weekends), keep up on laundry, the kids can get the proper amount of sleep in their naps, and so many more reasons.

Only one more year... actually about 13 months till Tommy is done with school!

The Compost Fair!

So on Saturday I went with my mom to the annual Composting Fair put on by the Spokane Master Composters. We're both very interested in becoming master composters ourselves and might do the program next year. It's not really compatible with my current schedule although I was just thinking... I bet I could trade shifts for those days. Who knows, maybe I'll even be on an earlier shift next year. It won't be until next spring anyway.

So anyway it was really cool! It was an overcast drizzly day so we dressed a bit warmer than we have been and headed up to the Finch Arboretum. We found a fabulous front-row parking spot and went up to the displays. They were also having an arbor day festival and so there were lots of displays and people there.

The sad truth is, almost nothing they taught me was new to me. It sure was fun to go though! They had displays on what are greens & browns, how to build a pile, the different types of bins, composting with worms, making compost tea, etc. They also had a cool video that I thought was pretty informative. That's where I saw one thing I need to start doing. Actually 2 things, but I'll go over that in a bit.

My pile at home is pretty much a cold pile. I built it with kitchen waste and cardboard shreds but it was too far for the hose to really reach so it never got moist enough. I also didn't really mix anything in, I pretty much just dump the kitchen scraps on top and throw my browns on, either cardboard or now, leaves. The video showed the people actually sort of burying the scraps in the pile and just covering them up using a handheld garden cultivator, not adding any new browns or anything. I realized that it was probably a lot more efficient to do it that way and resolved to begin adding my waste that way. Also, they had pitchforks that they were mixing and turning the compost with, which I don't have.

I had a small pile of leftover manure that I'd been wanting to combine with my existing pile. At the fair they gave me a black plastic (or hard rubber?) compost bin. It's a sheet that you put together in a circle, much like my existing bin that's made of a circle of hardware cloth. So on Sunday, Tommy went to Big R for some more grass seed (I'll post on that later) and picked me up a pitchfork. After dinner we went outside and I put together the new bin (it turned out quite a bit bigger than the existing one), dumped my compost pile over and started redoing it into the big bin.

For one, it was pretty funny to watch the mice scurry out of my pile. I know birds come a lot and eat the stuff from my pile (sandwich crusts, etc) but I didn't realize how many mice had nests in it. At least one of them actually ended up in the new bin and unless it can manage to dig or chew it's way out, the holes aren't big enough so it will most likely become compost itself.

I set it up where the hose could reach, and Tommy helped me dampen everything while I forked the old compost pile (it was stinky!), the manure, and mix it together. It was fun! The manure, leaves, cardboard, and some (composted) kitchen stuff all went in together nicely. I think it's a pretty good blend, if a bit low on greens but we'll have to see. Hopefully it will heat up a bit and then I'll know it's a good pile.

The other thing I didn't realize itself was a good visual assessment of the proper mix and ratio. At the fair they actually had piles that they'd started earlier in the week and they were already heating up and in the process of being turned as we went by. It was a great way to really look and see what a good balanced pile looks like.

After we were done, we went home and had some nice hot taco soup. It was a really nice day :) I really hope I can find a way to do the master composter program next year.

Potted up today, planted strawberries

Today I had a half day at work with the morning off. Although, to my unfortunate luck, I also had to have a root canal today.

So I dropped the girls off at daycare, then went to a local nursery. I got a couple small houseplant starts that I'd been looking for an 5 strawberry plants. Then I went and spent about 45 minutes at the dentist. I have a very nice dentist and it went pretty well, all things considered.

Then I came home and finished installing my new shop lights, and got everything potted up except the 2 remaining flats of peppers and broccoli. Which, by the way, are so overgrown that they are pushing the humidity domes up. There were some tomatoes that were in toilet paper rolls and also egg cartons. NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT USE EGG CARTONS. They dried out way too fast, didn't have much space for roots, and pretty much all those tomatoes are gone. I transplanted a couple that I'm hoping might make it, but I have mostly doubts. The hard part is that was all the cherry (actually currant) tomatoes. I don't think I have any that survived... we'll see. But I have a TON of paste tomatoes. The tomatillos are actually growing extremely well.

The funny part was this - the tomatoes I'd potted into TP rolls had mushrooms! Yes, real ones. I inoculated the soil mix with a bacteria/fungus mix and obviously those containers provided the right conditions for fruiting because each one had mushrooms in it. They were very cute. Until I buried them when I potted up the 'maters :)

Tomorrow I managed to be able to take half the day off as well and so I'm off at 2 tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get some more done - I really need to get going on those 2 remaining flats and also plant stuff outside! I've been delaying planting outside because I don't have irrigation in place yet. I did find a place online where I could order everything I needed shipped for about $82. This includes the kind of soaker hose with the internal emitters and pretty much everything I need. Still... $82!

Need irrigation advice!

Hey all you readers out there (all 5 of you ;)!

I am trying to figure out the cheapest but effective way to set up some sort of drip irrigation for my raised beds. I'm looking online but all the DIY methods also involve lots of expensive stuff.

So... any ideas?

Pictures from the Property

3 posts in one day! Oh my!

Ok actually it's really really slow at work today and my mom who is up at the property right now took some pictures and sent them to me. Specifically I asked her to send me pictures of the garlic but she sent me some others, so I thought I'd post them :)

Here's my first compost project. I actually had a whole bunch, about 30 pounds, of old rancid soap that I'd made. I wasn't going to use it, so this was my project to try and compost it. Supposedly soap will compost. As you can see, it's been spread out quite a bit. I imagine the wildlife have been picking through it a bit. I layered it lasagne-style with cardboard, rabbit manure, leaves and the soap. It's kind of an eyesore, but was fun!

Yeah yeah, just another forest picture, right? Well yeah, I guess so. But it's a pretty picture, huh! This is actually the spot (I think) where I will be clearing it out and making a meadow that will someday become a farm.

This is the view from our homesite. Isn't it beautiful? This photo was actually taken from down below at the "bench" but it shows the view the best. We'll probably top off or clear out some of those taller trees since there's plenty of woods behind us and that way it will not obstruct the view. I can't wait!

Worm Composting

I think it's time to retire my worm bins. I'm horrible at maintaining them now that I have a backyard with a regular compost pile. Down in the basement, y poor worms, hardy souls that they may be, have been severely neglected.

So I think one of the to-do things on my list for this weekend will be to distribute the contents of the bins among my garden beds. The beds are filled with mulch-y food for them anyway, and I think they will do better out there. More room for them to expand in numbers, and a pretty much indefinite supply of food with all the compost, manure, shavings and leaves that fill the beds.

It's kind of a sad thing, though. Those compost bins really helped me through the time when I lived in the apartment and had no yard. I really hope and pray that I never have to live in an apartment ever again. Living with no yard to work in for me is a difficult scenario. So, it's bittersweet, but I think the only sad part is really my nostalgia kicking in. And if anything ever comes up and I need to set up a bin again I can always go grab some worms to start with from my garden beds. I'm sure by the end of the summer there will be bazillions :)

The weekend's work

So we went up to the property for the day on Saturday. Actually, a partial day. Eleora threw up a couple times on the way there and I think it wasn't just carsickness, but I think she had what Sophia had earlier this week. She seemed a bit better but lethargic, practically begged to take a nap later on. We ended up just going home around 3 after she woke up. But in the meantime it was great to tromp around on the property! We went around with my dad and brothers looking at the property lines and discussing home sites. Someday soon we'll need to start actually planning instead of discussing!

My garlic is looking fabulous up there! If you remember, last fall I planted a couple cloves of garlic and mulched them with old leaves. They survived and came up quite nicely. A little shorter than my garlic here, but the winter lasts a bit longer up there than it does down here. I'd say the garlic was at least 6-8 inches tall already. You can see in the pictures that it's definitely doing well. I'm just glad deer don't eat garlic! I did plant 5 cloves and only 4 seem to have come up but that's not bad.
I also had a couple bags of really badly sprouted potatoes. Not really good for anything but planting or composting, so I took them up there and Mom will find a place and plant them. Who knows what will come from that!

So then we came home and had a nice quiet evening. Eleora was feeling better on the way home, as indicated by the near-constant "Old Petonald hadda farm, EIEIO" we heard ;) Fia slept the whole way home. Eleora was still not 100% but at least she was feeling better... though it was an early bedtime for both girls. Eleora didn't even want to read books - she asked to go to bed right away. Weird!

Sunday was a really nice day. I took Eleora to Lowe's in the morning and we got some more annuals for my brick planter, some more shop lights with bulbs, a small charcoal BBQ, a timer for the faucet outside, some grass seed to patch the spot under the spruce tree, etc. It was a nice trip for us and we had fun :) I don't usually go to the chain stores, I prefer going to the locally owned Ace or Big R but Lowe's had these bulbs for the shop lights that supposedly have the same spectrum as sunlight. Same price as regular bulbs, I think around $6.75 for 2 of them. So, we'll try those out and see how we do. I have TONS of potting up to do and STILL didn't get my seeding done.

HOWEVER, in spite of the fact I didn't get my direct seeding done, I did get something major done. I wish I could take pictures but the stupid camera... nuff said. Anyway, my biggest issue was that I didn't have dividers for the square feet on my beds. The thing is, my beds are not perfectly square footed, if that's even a term. They are 3.75'x7.5' and so a couple sections are not quite a foot wide. Because of that, I don't want to "eyeball" each section because I KNOW I'd be off. I was trying to think of the best way to get some dividers, and CHEAP.

What I decided to do was this: I measured out my increments on the beds themselves and marked them. I took my biggest drill bit (about 1/3 inch or so) and drilled holes into the beds about a half inch below the top. I then just threaded and wove my string (got a roll of polyester mason's twine at Lowe's for $1.65) through the holes. It looks neat and tidy, and the best thing - it makes it VERY inconvenient for the cat to use the beds as his LITTER BOX. I'll take a photo as soon as I can because it's VERY cool. Now I have all the beds sectioned off, and my half sections are nicely marked as well. My neighbor commented on how organized I am about this. Well... if anything in my life can be organized I guess it could be this!

Other than that, I still have tons of potting up to do but I'm really trying to be relaxed about it. The truth is we do have a pretty long season here so it isn't like NOW OR DIE. It's ok if it takes me longer. It's OK if I have to wait another week or so to plant carrots. My garden will be fine. This is my first one ever, for crying out loud! The point is to have fun with my girls and to grow good food.

I think all this beautiful weather is mellowing me out :) We also did get some more annuals - I got some white impatiens and some purple alyssum to plant in the brick planter, and then we also got some magenta and purple primroses for the side flowerbed. I think the brick planter is pretty full... it's going to be so gorgeous this summer when everything is grown up. Eleora had fun helping me water in the plants. Then we grilled brats for dinner. All in all, it was a really nice day.

Sick days

So yesterday I ended up taking the day off work to stay home with Sophia who was sick. She's feeling much better now but the really fun part of staying home with a sick kid (especially when they sleep a lot) is doing all the domestic stuff I don't normally get to do! It's weird how much more fulfilled I am when I can spend a day doing that, rather than working, even though I really do love my job. So all in all, I have to say I really do enjoy when I'm forced to take a sick day for the kids.

So yesterday we did a little grocery shopping, and the store had some annuals there so I was able to plant some shade loving annuals in my brick planter railing that surrounds the patio. I got some alyssum, lobelia and pansies. My sweet peas are coming up very nicely.

I also was able to get laundry done, clean up the house and make a home-cooked meal. Sure was nice! I'd been lamenting to Tommy about how lately I've lost my cooking inspiration. I don't know if it's just being out of practice but even on the weekends when I'm home to cook, I go for the quick things like grilled cheese, etc. It's like I can never think of anything to cook or even anything to buy groceries to cook. So we talked about it, he refreshed me on a couple things I used to make a lot that he misses. One was my potato corn chowder, so I made that yesterday. I made it with kielbasa sausage, potatoes, corn, celery and of course garlic & onion in homemade chicken stock. It was excellent (I also bought some french bread at the store, didn't have time to make my own bread for the meal) and I'm currently eating some leftovers for lunch.

We're going to the Property on Saturday for a day trip. I've got a bunch of sprouted potatoes in the basement that are beyond use but I'll take them there, plant them, and who knows! I'm not sure if the deer will eat the potatoes but it's either that or the compost pile, so we might as well experiment and see what happens. I also am dying to check on the garlic I planted last fall. The stuff I planted here is growing like crazy. The Inchelium Red variety that I had is actually native to that area. It was found on the Colville Indian reservation, and our property is about a 10 minute drive from the city of Colville.

The weekend

Well, I didn't get everything done on my list. The kids decided to conspire against us and make it a practically nap-less weekend. Even Sophia fought it. It was really weird.

So... what I did. I made some baby food, although didn't have enough for all week. I did some laundry, I got the flowerbed cleaned up (T and I decimated the blackberry bramble that was trying to take it over) and so hopefully the mums won't have disease this year since all the old growth is cut out. I tried to pull up some of the grass that has a hold of part of it but I think that's a lost cause. It's a shame the bed wasn't maintained, there's a lot of really pretty flowers in there. When we pulled out the bramble we discovered a rosebush that had died. :(

I did get all the purple broccoli potted up and a lot of the cabbage. I got a yard of compost and was able to spread it all. I got my bulb onions transplanted outside and the scallions will be OK to wait another week. Potatoes are planted. I didn't get any of my direct seeding done, though. Still have the regular Waltham broccoli and a little of the green sprouting broccoli that's trying to grow out of the flat and take over the grow rack. It's hard when they are so big because then you break half the seedlings trying to untangle them!

The worst part about it? I can't find my garden plan! I spent all this time making one that took into account shady spots, crop rotation for next year, companion planting, etc. So, I just planted some of my onions in each bed except the one I remember I wanted to put my tomatoes in. We'll see. This morning I laid out a new one and it's waiting for me to redesign it.

Anyway, this weekend was frustrating because I just couldn't seem to get stuff done. And I was going to start running again now that it's light out early enough but I slept through my alarm. I'm just so dog-tired these days. I don't know how moms with young babies are supposed to get back in shape if we're so tired from being UP ALL NIGHT with a teething baby that we can't even wake up on time. Can you tell I'm annoyed? Still need to do a lot of direct seeding and a lot of potting UP. And I realized that I really should have 2 shop lights on each rack instead of 1, especially when I have the bigger cups. So I'll probably be spending more of my allowance this weekend. There's worse things to spend it on, that's for sure :)

One thing I keep telling myself is that I don't have ROOM for all these plants so it's OK if some of the seedlings die. I have 100+ potted up plants. I do plan on selling the extras on craigslist but the thing is, people are going to want herbs and tomato plants... they aren't going to be as excited as I am about french cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli, etc. So it's ok if I let some of those guys go. I still have a flat of peppers that will need transplanting in a week or 2, and a half flat of broccoli & cabbage & eggplant.

Any of you gardeners out there know exactly what I'm deeling...

Planting stuff this weekend

I have a really busy weekend ahead of me!

Saturday:

• Go get a truckload of compost
• Get a birthday present for little Shane and easter egg dye
• Make a Costco trip
• spread said compost
• Put together salad mix box
• fill box with compost
• Pot up broccoli, cabbage and rest of tomatillos
• Little Shane's birthday Party (I can't remember if it's at 3 or 4)
• Dye easter eggs with Wola

Sunday:

• Have an easter egg hunt with Wola
• Direct sow carrots, spinach, radishes, parsley, dill, cilantro, salad mix, and potatoes
• Make the week's worth of baby food - broccoli this week, with cheese and garlic. Lucky Fia!
• Make the week's worth of protein muffins and crudites for work lunches.
• Laundry
• Clean the kitchen

In other springtime notes:
I am absolutely LOVING the violets growing in the lawn. I think I'm going to dig some of them up and see if they will grow in the planter. It just seems like such a shame to have them in the lawn where they will be MOWED. I made a pretty necklace of them this morning for Wola which she promptly tore into pieces. Lol... oh well. My sweet peas are up and my garlic is going nutso. This weekend if I have time I'm going to stop by Big R and get some annuals to plant. Maybe Wola will have fun. I just hope she doesn't pull them up!

In a couple weeks, the Spokane Solid Waste is hosting a composting fair. What fun! My mom and I are going to go... they are giving out composting bins and tree seedlings. I'm excited!

Busy busy April

Well it's been a doozy last couple weeks, I must say. First off, the weather is FABULOUS. Days like today make me want to take a snooze in a hammock. It's supposed to be 67 tomorrow!

But who can snooze when there's so much work to be done! I spent a lot of time in the yard today, inspecting. Wola and I had a great time yesterday exploring the yard. We discovered violets growing in the lawn, one lone dandelion (which I promptly picked and threw into the street to prevent it from seeding), lots of buds on the trees, and the garlic is coming up VERY well. Lots of maple seedlings, also... but those will be smothered when I get my wood chip mulch down (when I finally get it!). We also dug all the weeds out of the brick planter at the end of the patio, in preparation for either my strawberries or herbs. I still haven't decided what I'm going to put in there.

I potted up all the tomato seedlings and ended up with 73 total! Wow... lol. 4 different varieties and also a couple tomatillos, although I still have to finish potting the rest of those up. I will also NEED to pot up all the broccoli, onions, and cabbage next weekend. I might even try and get it done during the week at some point... some of the cabbage seedlings were falling over even before they have their first true leaves. I think because it's pretty warm there inside the grow rack, especially under a humidity dome.

I might also instead of potting up, just stick the onions right into the ground. Next weekend will be busy. I'll need to get a bunch more compost so I can plant into it especially if I want to get my onions right in, and also I'll be planting my potatoes that I just got this weekend. They are in a flat in my dining room, greening up a bit in preparation for planting. I'm also going to sow carrots, radishes, dill, chives, cilantro and parsley (both the rooted and the regular type).

Then I also have to put together my box for salad mix (it'll be real quick, just 4 - 1x6 boards screwed together in a box shape), fill it with compost and plant! That's a lot of compost. Now that I'm thinking about it, I should just go get a truckload instead of buying bags. I think I'll make some phone calls today and see - I bet it would be cheaper and I could just top off all my beds with any remainder.

And the other thing I'll need to do soon is to arrange for a day off from work so I can work in the garden, like spreading mulch and whatnot. Of course, that assumes I'm able to GET SOME MULCH.

Note to self for next year - only plant similar items in each flat! It's a pain to have a partial flat of mostly tomatoes (which are all going nuts) and eggplant (which have only germinated one so far). Also, I am DEFINITELY doing soil blocks. Transplanting from a solid flat into smaller pots, egg crates, TP tubes, etc. is a pain. Soil blocks will be a lot easier, I'm thinking. I'm going to get one of the teeny size for the initial germination and then probably a 2".