My Quest for Easy Green

About two years ago, I was really into a show called, "It's Not Easy Being Green". It was about the experiences of the Strawbridge family, located in Cornwall, in England. (I know, I sound very American.) Anyway, it was on the Green channel, when the Green channel actually played shows about green living. I moved, canceled the Green channel and stopped following the show. Recently, I was surfing the internet and decided to look the Strawbridge family up to see what they've been doing. While it appears James and Dick have gone on to make additional seasons of the show for the BBC, the two ladies of the household have decided to pursue other endeavors. I found the show to be charming, and frankly, their quest to live a greener life on a farm was an influencing factor in my decision to move to a farm. It just looked so fun and interesting.

I don't regret the decision to move to a farm, but, I will admit I haven't had time to pursue some of the cool projects they have tackled in their time on their farm, which they call Newhouse Farm. I suppose I'm writing this to add a reminder to my written documentation that I do need to renew my efforts to look at things like solar power, wind energy, greenhouse gardening, etc. So there you have it. Abrupt huh?

The Weeds Had Time and I Didn't

The title of this post pretty much sums up the year for my 2010 garden. After a year of gardening adventures and hard work in 2009, my wife insisted, "We will have a much smaller garden this year!" To which, I promptly disagreed and said that I would do all the work. Yeah...

So, I charged ahead, even going as far as to till up an extra patch of land on my five acres where I could plant sweet corn and zucchini and squash. I immediately got behind in planting. While I did eventually get all the plants and seeds in the ground, it was so late, it was questionable if some would have a chance to mature. We got pretty adventurous trying to plant lima beans, brussels sprouts, eggplant, etc. These all preformed as expected. (They didn't) But the real story this year was WEEDS! About the time plants really started to come up the rains came. Great right? Little seedlings need water right? Not if the rains last for about two weeks straight and keep you from weeding around your tender little seedlings. Killer competition.

I swallowed my pride and my wife called in the big guns, the in-laws, who came over at one point and tried to help me get a handle on the mess that was my garden. They brought a big tiller and some serious will-power, but, just when I thought I'd get ahead of this fine crop of weeds, the rains started again. To cut to the chase, I lost. The weeds won. While I got a decent share of some vegetables, and learned the lesson that your garden doesn't have to be perfect to produce, I also learned that if you really, really want to thrive, not just survive off your garden, you have to STAY AT IT, rains or no rains!

I'll be spending my winter figuring out ways to work smarter, not harder.

Homesteading 101

In the interest of full record keeping. I also spent time this weekend planting trees around the farm and pasture. I put a couple Weeping Willows in down by the river. I hope the deer or other critters don't get them. Those will be very cool if they are allowed to grow up unmolested. Little H.B. and I put in six hybrid poplars on some high ground in the pasture. Three blue spruce were planted to stabilize a steep bank in the pasture as well. I also put one Bald Cypress in on the yard. It is questionably hardy in this zone, but, if it makes it, it should be very dramatic. All the trees are tiny little twigs at this point, but, if they take hold, I'm looking forward to seeing them grow big and strong. Who says there are no trees in Iowa?

Gathering My Garden Seeds

It is Monday the 20th of April. It was another great weekend weather wise, so, I tried to spend as much time outside as possible. I got a chance to till the garden, and start another long-time-coming project, a play set/swing set for the kids. I'm pretty excited about both the garden and the play set. My Wife has signed on for helping with the garden, she's excited about the prospect of organic vegetables. I'm on my own when it comes to the play set. I'll post some pictures and plans of the play set when I'm finished with it.

We also took some time this weekend, to purchase some of the seeds we will be planting. We bought mostly organic, with the exception of a few plants that are either ornamental, or, I'm just not totally convinced we'd find them easily in an organic format. My next post will be a complete list of the plant variety, brand and whether they are organic or not. Maybe not all that interesting to you, but, I'm sure it will be very handy for me going forward. My started tomatoes are coming along nicely in their little growing setup, though, they are getting a bit spindly. I thought using the combo natural window light and CFL would keep them from getting that way, but, I guess that isn't the right mix of light. Nonetheless, they are growing like crazy. I'm sure they will fill out once I get them in the ground.

I'm coming up with a pretty extensive "To-Do" list as I'm typing here. 1. Finish purchasing the rest of my seeds. 2. Purchase greenhouse started plants. 3. Do a garden layout! (I'm sort of waiting to do this until I know what seeds I'm going to be planting.) 4. Till more garden space. I tilled up the 30' x 50' space that was a garden last year. My Wife took one look at it and said, "We aren't going to have enough room." She's right, so, I'll be tilling more space. We are putting in a lot of plants. It is going to be a HUGE garden!

Starting Raspberries Too Early? I'll Find Out.

It is April 11 and today was a gorgeous day. The temperatures reached into the 60's, so, I decided to work outside as much as possible today. It has been roughly a month (1 week shy) since I last posted, and I had started tomato seeds then. Well, those seeds are now little seedlings, up and growing strong under the bulb and light from the window. I had one pot that didn't have a single seed start, but all of the other ones had both seeds planted come up, so, I carefully transplanted one seedling from another pot into the pot that flopped. I'll see how that goes. I touched the leaves of the plant only, hoping to minimize the chance that I killed it by moving it.

Last week, my raspberries from Gurney's came. There were six bare root plants. They arrived looking healthy, and, even though, technically, we are not past the last date for potential frost, I plunked them in the ground today. I picked a spot behind an old livestock building on the property that gets full southern exposure to the sun, and, I'm assuming has seen it's share of "organic" fertilizer. If they don't freeze off, they ought to do well there. I'll watch the weather, and if it looks like we are going to get to freezing temps again, I'll cover the plants with a tent of plastic.

Starting Seeds

I realize this post is titled, "Starting Seeds", but I've decided I'm going to buy the majority of my vegetable seedlings for the garden this year. I'll give the seed starting thing a little more of a try next season once I figure out what does, or doesn't do well this year. The one plant, I am going to try to start from seed, indoors, then transplant, is tomatoes. I have to admit, I really don't like them fresh all that much, but, my wife loves fresh tomatoes. I guess, I do like salsa, and it seems like tomatoes are the thing to start early, from seed, so, that's what I've chosen to try.

I'm just going to attempt to start seven plants. Mostly because that is how many containers I happened to have on hand. (Seven is also a lucky number!) My son Henry and I had a great time putting the dirt in the pots... cut off 1/2 gallon milk cartons and a couple of reused plastic nursery pots. We planted the seeds about a 1/4" deep. I put in two seeds per pot, in case one is bad. I'll decide when they come up, which seedling looks like it has the best chance, then pinch off the other one. I believe the last frost is around the first week of May here in Northwest Iowa. The tomato packet says to start the seeds 6 to 8 weeks prior to planting, so, I think I'm pretty close on the time line. I, admittedly, didn't give myself a whole lot of time to compensate for errors or a lack of germination.

In the interest of keeping my little growing operation out of the way, I've put the pots on a window sill in the basement that gets decent light, and I'll supplement the natural light with a compact florescent bulb on a timer. It should be a little better on the electricity usage than a traditional broad spectrum grow bulb. I've read a few places that florescent bulbs are as good as long as you have a warm and cool bulb. I'm hoping the window and a CFL will do the trick. I've also read that if you don't supplement your light with an artificial light of some kind, your seedlings will be tall and spindly. Which, isn't good. You want stout seedlings with relatively thick stems. "The experts" recommend around 12 hours of light a day for starting seedlings. I'll see how this setup goes. Speaking of experts, here are a couple links to Iowa State University pdf files on Home Vegetable Gardening and Starting Garden Transplants at Home, which, is where I got a lot of this info. Consider this a nod to my source.

I purchased Burpee organic tomato seed. Baxter's Bush Cherry Tomato and Beefsteak varieties. I used some regular potting soil that I had around. I don't know if having "seed starting" soil will be an issue or not. Maybe. I think potting soil has less organic matter in it, which doesn't allow the soil to get overly wet for the seedlings. One thing I did notice after the fact, is that the potting soil I used is not "organic", so, technically, it was pointless to spend fifty cents more per packet to buy organic seed. True organic vegetables never touch a chemical or pesticide anywhere in the process. I can't imagine it makes that much of a difference in the long term growth of the plant. Unless my potting soil has been sterilized by using arsenic! Anyway, I'll keep posting on how my little seed starting experiment goes... It's not like I can go weed the garden right now. So, I guess this is what I have to "garden" at the moment.

Here is a picture of my seed starting setup. Yes, it looks a little ghetto, but, I'm experimenting. I'm not going to go crazy with intricate lighting and containers. If I can get seeds started in this manner, think what will happen when I actually put some time into it!

My Vegetable Garden Wish List

This is the list I've compiled of vegetables I would like to try in the garden this summer. Again, I am in Northwest Iowa. I'm considering this list a place to start. Admittedly, I will have to whittle this down into something more manageable as I'm sure I won't have the space, or probably time, to put in, and maintain, everything that is on it. Here it is, in no logical order at all.

Sweet Corn (hey, this is Iowa after all)
Sunflower
Pumpkins
Gourds
Squash
Cucumber
Beans
Tomato
Melons
Lettuce
Raddish
Beets
Carrots
Strawberries
Zucchini
Potatoes
Peppers
Garlic
Onion
Cabbage
Broccoli
Kohlrabi
Peas
Egg Plant
Spinach
Asparagus
Cauliflower

I've already ordered "Heritage Raspberries" from Gurney's. They say they will deliver them when the time is right for planting. I will slowly be working through the rest of the list above, and determining what varieties and how much of each one of the above I will be planting. Check back, hopefully I can post notes on my research for the best plants.

69 Degrees in March

So, it is 69° and it is March! Beautiful day, and since I'm home "parenting" the kids today because the Wife has the flu, I thought I might go outside and measure my garden space while the kids are napping. (My dog Franny was happy to help...)









Obviously, I have room to expand if need be, but one has to wonder if you can make a garden too big? So, I measured, and the space that has been used is 50' long by 30' wide. That's pretty big! I've lived in apartments smaller than that.

Following are a few pics of the garden. Other than being under a mushy mess of mud and slush, it is an exciting thing to see the ground again. Gives me hope that spring might actually come again. Next step will be to draw the space out to scale, and see how the vegetables I want to put in fit.

-0° and I'm Plannin' My Garden

Really? Has it been since September since my last post? Wow! Well, a lot has happened since August of this past year... as I think I mentioned, we moved our family from the relatively large city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to a farm (my Wife prefers "acreage") outside of a small town in Ioway! I'm closer to work. We've got room to spread our wings. I've got lots of buildings to tinker with and in...

Funny, we seem to have picked the worst winter in recent memory to move to a farm. I'm reminded of just how much I really don't know about this world and how really vicious it can be... Read here: getting my car stuck in the snowbank half way down the driveway. Proceed to walk the 1/4 mile down the driveway to get the mail and nearly die of hypothermia. I'm thinking of Pa on Little House in the blizzard here. Yeah, internet, cell phones, cable t.v., cars ...and mother nature can still simply kick your tail when you aren't paying attention.

Anyway, to pass the time this evening, on a cold January night, I'm planning my garden. I've got room to plant here people. And I'm wondering if I've got more ambition at this point than is healthy. Sure, I grew up with a garden, but, somehow, it just took care of itself (thanks Mom!). Since this is a blog about what I'm into... I figure it is fair to make this process of planning, growing, maintaining and harvesting my garden this year a regular feature on my design blog. Hope you'll (whoever "you" are) look in from time to time on my success and failure. Maybe you'll learn something from my trial and errors... I'll try to post pictures and keep a relatively interesting journal. Thus, the TownKid becomes the FarmKid. What can I say, I'm a complex individual.

Farmin' and Paper Dolls

Ok, so the title is used lightly. Pretty much referring to a couple of things I'm into lately. The thing is, I haven't posted for some time. Sorry 'bout that. I noticed as I look through other Bloggers' posts, they always apologize when they haven't posted for some time. I suppose they feel that whatever audience they have built up, needs to be entertained so they'll keep coming back for more. Well, I'm pretty sure I don't have a regular audience, so, why am I apologizing? Huh?...

We recently picked up our household and plopped it down on an acreage basically in the middle of nowhere. Its been really fun, we've got room to play, and about 40 acres of pasture, but, I have to admit, we miss Target, Wal-Mart and Home Depot being within a 5 minute drive of home. If I forget a bolt during a project, I'm stopped. Its been an adjustment. Needless to say, we are growing and learning... The neighbors keep asking me what I'm going to do with the pasture, I'm a city boy, so, I ask them if they know of any type of animal that doesn't eat or poop, and that is what I'm going to raise in the pasture. They laugh politely and walk away thinking I'm a big idiot. Oh well.

On to the paper dolls. Its something else I've been thinking about lately for some reason. Farmin' vs paper dolls? Not sure what they have to do with one another. Anyway, I was checking out Instructables.com the other day and came across a great post by a paper doll enthusiast named TangMu. This Instructable is loaded full of directions for making your own paper dolls and links to other great paper doll sites. Take a look. Enjoy. Make your own Farmin' Paper Doll.

How to DIY Anything

Have you ever just wanted to be able to build anything? Maybe that's just me... but, in case I get stuck for project ideas, I have found the Mack Daddy of all DIY sites! Check out Instructables.com.

I have never seen so many cool, useful, useless do it yourself projects in my life! Anything from building a solar heater from beer cans to how to make pulled pork. You can find out how SOMEONE has done it here.

Green Resolutions for 2008

Welcome to 2008! I'm going to go the predictable route and make some resolutions for the new year... green resolutions. We'll look back at the end of 2008 and see how I did. I figure if it is a matter of written record, I almost have to stick to some of these!

1. Take shorter showers. Showers usually save more water than a bath, but to add some additional water savings, if I can simply cut the average length of my shower down by 1 minute, it adds up to a savings of approximately $100 over the course of a year! (I heard that on T.V. a bit ago.)
2. Probably the most cliche, over used, over invoked resolution of all... I want to get into better shape. How is this green? I could walk or bike to the store. Save gas. I'll watch less T.V., saving a bit of power. And, best of all, being healthier, saves money for us all because I'll spend less time at the Doctor's office over the course of my life. You don't even want to get me started on the cost of medical treatment in this country!
3. I'll try and catch my car pool more often. Overall, I've been doing a better job of catching my car pool this year, just because gas prices have been so high, (that's right, if it comes to money, I'm all about it.) but I need to hit it 100% of the time. Plain and simple. Save gas.
4. I'd like to start composting table scraps. I have a garden, we throw away a ton of food. Could just as well be fertilizer for my garden and landscape. Less waste in the landfill.
5. My ultimate resolution is to put together a rain water catch system to use for irrigation of my landscaping and garden. Its a bit nerdy, but I'll save more water, and save some cash too... all in the name of saving the planet.
6. I'm going to switch out all the light bulbs in my house with compact fluorescents. Duh!