July 22, 2011

It’s been a while…

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  Weeks, I think.

Life has taken me for a bit of a ride lately which I won’t go into detail about, but I hung on, kept my arms inside the car at all times and managed to make it through.  There’s a break in the action, so I figured it was a perfect opportunity to post.

We’ve had the absolute craziest weather in Minnesota the past couple of weeks.  We’ve had hot, we’ve had torrential downpours, we’ve had tropical rainforest humidity. Hopefully everyone’s garden is flourishing.  My garden is great!  And no so great…

Where to start?  The kale has been beautiful. It’s loved the weather and I’ve loved it back by eating everything that’s grown thus far.  The cabbage is starting to form heads.  I only planted red cabbage this year (my favorite) and aside from a couple of bugs doing a tiny bit of dining they are coming along nicely, as are the tomatoes and peppers. The asparagus is outgrowing its space, but is absolutely beautiful, its soft feathery stalks add grace to the garden. Cucumbers, squash and melons haven’t produced much fruit yet, but I planted them late, so their blossoms should drop and fruit should form any day now.  What else?  broccoli.  Ahhh broccoli. Big, tall, handsome broccoli has, well, nothing… yet.  It might be another year of “not so much” in that category.  The raspberries, on the other hand, were loaded.  They loved all the early rain, plumped up well, then we got more rain and intense heat and many turned to mush right on the canes.  Bummer, HUGE bummer!  The fruit that originally formed on the kiwi is gone.  Not sure if conditions were wrong and they dropped off or if critters just stole them.   Pear trees bloomed beautifully, but only produced about 20 pears (compared to over 100 that the squirrels dined on last year).  They’re still growing so I’m hopeful, but not confident, that we’ll get one of them this year.  Apples… nothing.  My neighbors have had great success with theirs this year, ours have had great success with bugs.  Not sure what yet, because I haven’t really had the time to investigate, but something got to them before they could even produce fruit.  Onto the grapes.  The grapes are flourishing.  They’ve grown at least 15 – 20 feet long this year and are loaded with fruit.  Until a week or so ago they were lush and beautiful.  That was until the onslaught of Japanese Beetles arrived and turned most of the leaves into lace.  I have many names for the Japanese Beetles, but I won’t write them here.  Thankfully they like the foliage more than the fruit, so other than pooping on my grapes (and raspberries), they didn’t harm them.  And nasty as that is… it washes off.

So what did I do about the beetles besides swear at them?  I blasted them with the hose.  Unfortunately that only got them excited, made them flurry around even more and land right back on the leaves.  Prior to this year I’ve never really had much of a problem with Japanese Beetles.  I interplanted curly parsley with my roses, which did a pretty good job of keeping them away.  I could also pick them off the other plants they were bothering.  Until now, I haven’t even felt the need to make insecticidal soap (a nice little concoction of soap, water, garlic, cayenne pepper, etc.).  Although I thought about it, I didn’t spray them, mostly because the plants they were attacking have fruit so it would make picking stuff right off the vine soapy, spicy and well, garlicy.  Yes, it would wash off, but there’s something about picking fruits and veggies right off the vine and eating them immediately that I just love.  Besides, there were so many beetles I would have needed to call in the armed forces to come in and blast them away, so I left them.  I left the nasty, metallic backed, over sexed little beetles to eat my leaves.  And now…. they’re gone.  The plants look awful, but are all recovering. The scary part is, they are now laying eggs in the soil, breeding the next batch of beetles, which will eat the roots and shoots of grass, the garden and anything else that appeals to them.

Basil!  I got so distracted by the beetles I almost forgot to mention the basil!  It’s gorgeous and full and needing pinching practically every day to keep it from going to seed.  I love basil!  And tonight, on my break in the action night, I’m going to make bruschetta.  I have a couple of tomatoes from the farm stand (because other than cherry tomatoes, mine aren’t quite ready) I have basil and need to run and get some garlic.  Friday Farmer’s Market is open for a couple more hours so I’m going to swing by and see if they have garlic (because I didn’t plant any of my own) and grab a baguette.  Then I’ll come home, whip up a little bruschetta, kick back with a book and a glass of wine and enjoy.  I can taste it now.

Ahhhh…. summer, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Kate

p.s. – Did I mention I have bunnies?  Uh, huh.  Two for sure… INSIDE the fence around my garden.  I know I’ve talked about living in harmony with nature, but by harmony, I wasn’t thinking I would give them a home inside the garden.  While enjoying my bruschetta and wine tonight I’ll also be trying to figure out a way to encourage them to leave my garden.

Posted in Critter Problems, Mindful Living, Organic Gardening, Veggie Garden | 2 Comments »

July 6, 2011

Letting go of the garden…for the love of a dog

Sometimes things happen in life that I just don’t understand.  I’m the type of person who tries to figure out how everyday things fit into the big picture.  Often if it’s not obvious at first, given time, things begin to make sense to me.  This weekend, something happened that still doesn’t.

While working in the garden on Sunday, the gate to our backyard was either inadvertently left open or didn’t latch and our dog got out without anyone realizing.  This wasn’t the first time.  Usually when she “escapes” she heads down the block to play with other dogs in the neighborhood.  Sunday, for some reason, she did not.

At one point, I glanced up from gardening and couldn’t see her. I didn’t think much of it because I’d seen her just a couple of minutes before and there are many little corners that she normally goes to in the yard to torment chipmunks, search for bunnies or just bask in the sun.  A few minutes later, as I sat on the back steps to take a break and cool off, she came around the corner of the house and sat by my feet as she often does.

I had just started to pet her when my husband came around the corner where she had come from and said a car had just stopped to tell him that our dog had just been hit by a car.  The side of our house is on a busy street.  Apparently when she got out she headed up the street and was by the nearby gas station when she got hit.  It didn’t seem possible.  At first we questioned whether they had the right dog.  That’s when I noticed the deep cuts on her back leg which she simultaneously started licking.   My heart sunk, tears started running down my face.  I was sick to my stomach.  The thought of something like this happening to her without even knowing she was gone had every emotion welling inside me.

Thankfully the car that hit her had not driven over her with their tires, but had “bumped” her. The speed limit on this road is 35 mph but people often speed so we have no idea how badly she’d been hit. Thankfully she could still walk.  Thankfully she headed back home and thankfully the people who witnessed this followed her home so they could tell us what had happened.

Grateful as we were that it wasn’t worse, a small dog is no competition for a car.  After an hour or so of observing her at home, we decided to taker her to the ER Vet. In addition to her cuts, she had swelling in her belly and started bruising pretty badly.  After a lengthy exam and a number of x-rays they decided to keep her overnight to observe her.  Even after x-rays and an ultrasound, they weren’t confident that she didn’t have internal injuries.  This was heart wrenching news.  Having lost our previous dog to cancer just 2 short years ago, all the emotions came bubbling back up and I was incredibly fearful that I was going to lose “my little girl”.

We adopted this little rescue dog just a month or two before my fever and fatigue started in 2009.  From the beginning, she has always been by my side.  Wherever I was, she was.  She wouldn’t get up in the morning until I got up no regardless as to how hard anyone tried to convince her.  If I went to lay down, she would follow me and snuggle with me no matter how long I slept.  Having finally gotten my energy back a couple of weeks ago, I promised her we’d get out walking every day.  As I laid in bed Sunday night, trying to go to sleep, I was fearing the few walks we’ve gotten under our belt would be the end.  I was a mess.

Thankfully, the morning of July 4th the ER Vet called with good news.  Her breathing remained clear overnight, the swelling in her belly/abdomen hadn’t gotten any worse and they’d sent her x-rays and ultrasounds out to radiologists and had a surgeon look at her.  Everyone was comfortable letting her come home.  I was elated! Tears welled in my eyes while I filled with relief.  I couldn’t get to her soon enough.

So, my “little girl” is home.  She’s moving slowly and on some pretty hefty pain meds, but she’s on the road to recovery.

As I sit here typing on my laptop, with her by my side, questions are running through my mind.  Why did she go that way?  Why didn’t I check to make sure she was in the yard?  Why did this happen?

Was it a big fat sign that I need to get the latch on the gate fixed? (That seems like a pretty strong message, doesn’t it?)

Is it to teach me to not get so frustrated when she plows through my flowers to chase the chipmunks?  To remind me that perennials will come back, but there’s only one of her?

Was it to remind me just how precious life is, in any form and not to take it for granted?

Perhaps.  Perhaps all of these, or perhaps I’m way off base.

What I can say is that as much as I love all forms of gardening, I let a lot go this weekend.  The planting, the weeding, the watering… I let it all go…  All for the love of a dog.

Kate

Posted in Mindful Living, Organic Gardening | Leave a Comment »

June 25, 2011

Edible Weed #2, Glowing Vinaigrette & Lessons from Austria

Maybe you saw the comment on my first edible weeds post reminding me of when my eyes were first opened to the concept of weeds being edible.

When I was in college I was fortunate enough to be able to do a study abroad program in Graz, Austria.   That trip left a huge impression on me.  I lived with a wonderful host family and made life-long friends.  It’s also where my eyes were opened up to what incredible consumers we are in the US.  At times I almost felt guilty for being from the US, even embarrassed.  I think we’ve made great strides in the years since I was there, but we’re not even to the level of consciousness now that Europeans were nearly 20 years ago.

Their impression of us was that everything is big.  Big houses, big cars, Big Macs.  My impression of them when I first got there was that they did everything the hard way and everything was small. Small cars, small houses, everything they bought came in small packages, with very little packaging.  That was the first time I’d seen the small rectangular cartons that we can now buy broths, milk, etc. in.  At the time they were foreign to me, including lunch.

Lunch is the main meal of the day in Europe, which when you think about it, is way healthier than eating the main meal in the evening like the majority of Americans do.  When you eat in the middle of the day you’ll get energy when you’ll use it vs. filling up when you’re winding down at the end of the day when we don’t need it and then turn it into storage!

I’ll never forget the day I sat down to lunch with my host family and looked at the salad we were having.  Everything in my bowl looked peculiar.  The vinaigrette dressing was glowing green, but that wasn’t as disturbing as what it was on.  I thought I was going crazy, but this “lettuce” that was in my bowl looked a lot like leaves of the most common weed at home.  Since I’d just gotten to Austria and was still getting used to “Styrish” (the dialect in the part of Austria I was in) I thought something must be getting lost in translation.  Did my host mom just say we’re eating dandelions for lunch?  I laughed so hard at the concept.  I mean seriously, these people are eating for lunch, what we are determined to destroy with chemicals everyday!  Then I tried it.  Awesome!  The combination of the glowing green vinaigrette (made with pumpkin seed oil) and the dandelions soon became one of my favorite salads.  The next phone call to my parents I told them to quit putting chemicals on the lawn – the dandelions were lunch!

So there you have it, edible weed #2.  Dandelions!  Other than your front yard, dandelion greens can be found in co-ops, farmer’s markets and the mixed greens in most supermarkets.

Now run out and pick yourself a salad! (Unless of course you put chemicals on them, then definitely stay away!)

Kate

Posted in Edible Weeds, Environment, Healthy Eating, Mindful Living, Weeds | Leave a Comment »

June 24, 2011

Weeds and leaves – cont.

After I published my last post, I realized I forgot to mention one more thing about weeds.  Sometimes, we inadvertently plant them.

The past few years I’ve been putting straw on my veggie beds to keep the moisture in and keep the weeds down.  This year, it backfired.

When buying/sourcing straw there are a couple of key things to keep in mind. First, you want straw, not hay… hay is for horses.  Hay is green and food for animals.  Straw is  grain that has  already been harvested and only the stalks are left to dry. Second, make sure the straw is “seed free”.  In other words, no seeds mixed in with the stalks. We were told this load was “seed free or that there should be very few seeds in it” (red flag #1).  We did notice a few seeds when we originally unloaded the straw (red flag #2), but since he said there would be “very few” I spread it out not paying attention to every piece of straw that hit the beds (foolish flag #3).  Apparently I should have.  After the 40 days and 40 nights of rain that we just had I went out to the garden today to find a little surprise.  The straw is growing!  Now, I not only have tomatoes, onions, peppers, kale, etc.  I also have grain (I’ve yet to do plant ID on it or I’d be more specific) growing in-between the other plants.  When I first saw the shoots I thought perhaps it was just a coincidence and some seeds had blown into the garden, gotten carried by the birds, what have you.  That was until I looked at the small pile of straw I had yet to spread throughout my other veggie bed…

“Weeds” in the straw

So, lesson learned.  Be extremely cautious in the future.  Seeds + water + sunlight = sprouts (whether you planted them there or not).

Oh, and another note about seeds and leaves that I omitted earlier.  Not all seeds produce 2 leaves.  Most do, and those that do are called “dicots” (di = two; cot = cotyledon/seed leaf), there is also a group of plants that only produce one leaf, they are called… you guessed it, “monocots” (mono = one; cot = cotyledon).  Corn, grasses, grains and daylilies are all monocots and, as previously posted in Weeds and Leaves, plants are hard to ID by their seed leaves, even harder when they are monocots!  I can pretty much guarantee I won’t be leaving these to see what they turn into though.  Well, maybe.  At least not in the bed between the other plants. Yeah, probably not.

Your humble, ever-learning gardener

Kate

Posted in Edible Weeds, Plant Biology 101, Weeds | 4 Comments »

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