Fifteen Hundred Servings

 The Fifteen Hundred Servings project started with the question, “Why are we doing this?”   It was July, and we were just getting started with preserving the early harvest of black raspberries.  I had read Barbara Kingsolver’s book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”, and was acutely aware of the Miracle that is fresh produce.   So I started to wonder about what exactly we were trying to accomplish with this preserving.  Was it to save money?  Somewhat maybe.   Was it for health reasons?  Probably yes.  We think that the food we grow and pick ourselves is healthier than pesticide grown food.  Was it fun?  Depends on when you ask.   Is it satisfying?  Definitely yes!!  It’s immensely satisfying to grow, harvest, preserve, prepare, serve and eat your own food.  

And there is something else.  I was interested in the question of what it would take to put away enough produce to feed outselves all winter.  So we embarked on the Fifteen Hundred Servings Project.  We figured that that was the number of servings of fruits and vegetables we would need for two people for five months of winter December through April.  The arithmetic is as follows:  5 months x 30 days = 150 days x 5 servings per day = 750 servings x 2 people = 1500 servings. We decided to make a general rule that one cup of fresh produce would equal one serving, whether it was berries, squash, or tomatoes. 

So with the goal of 1500 servings in mind we set out to can, freeze, pickle, dehydrate, and store every bit of produce we could get our hands on.  We picked bushels of pears from our neighbor’s tree (with their permission of course); took away all the extras we could manage from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share; combed the local farmer’s market for bushels of apples, and agreed to take any excess produce off the hands of our gardening friends.  We devoted most weekends to the project and managed to rope a few friends into helping out.

On November 30, 2008, we tallied it all up.   We estimated that we had 1,327 1/2 servings, 172 1/2 servings shy of the 1500.  We were delighted.  If we had had room for more squash and potatoes we would have made it. 

So we ate our way through the winter.   We gave quite a bit away as gifts and were able to serve quite a few local/home grown meals to our guests.  The best thing was to be able to open a jar of our own canned pears in February.   Really, there is nothing better.

Here are a few things we learned.  Nectarines need sweetener.   Use stored beets by the end of December.  Butternut and orange squash go by fastest.  It is best to store squash in the kitchen where it is warmer and they can get good air circulation.  Don’t make so many dill pickles.  You can never have too many carrots.  Grape leaves need to be harvested early in the season.

This year is a little different.  We are going at it a little more slowly. At this time last year we had 528 1/2 servings put up.  This year we are at 365.  I think maybe it is because we don’t have the 15oo servings goal as firmly in our minds as we did last year, or it might be the new grand baby is taking up more time.  I expect we will reach at least 1000 servings this year when all the pumpkins, squash, potatoes are stored, and the last of the beans have been frozen.   We still have to figure out how many servings one garlic is worth.  There is always more to learn.  How much squash do we want?  I’d love to write more, but the broccoli is calling.

Campaign to End Fireworks

       Dare I say it.  I think it is time to shift away from fireworks as a way to celebrate America’s independence. 

      When fireworks were invented the idea of lighting up the night sky with fire was totally awesome.  Celebrations with lights and noise made sense because prior to that time the nights were usually dark and quiet.    Even in 1950, when I was a girl, nights were usually dark and quiet, and  I loved sitting on the edge of the lake surrounded by the community of friends and family and joining in the chorus of appreciative aaaahhhs and ooooohhs.

      Today, at least where I live in the city, the night is always lit.  Street lights, city lights, parking lot security.  Blinking, twinkling non-stop lights and noise.   

      With the Green Revolution upon us I look forward to the day when the world is a little dimmer, quieter, and cleaner. 

       I love America.  Home of the Brave, Land of the Free.    On July 4th I would love to be able to go out into the street, stand with my neighbors and look up and be awestruck by the beauty of deep, peaceful, starry night.    AAAAAHHH,     OOOOOOOHHH. 

Check out this link for earth hour

http://yourgreenfriend.com/earth-hour-your-commitment-beyond/

How to Buy a Rain Barrel

      We have an arborist who comes by about once a year to check out the health of our trees.  Every year she shakes her head, frowns seriously and says, “drought stressed.”  Tell us something we don’t know!  Lack of adequate rain is becoming a serious problem in our area and I, for one, can’t stand the thought of losing any more trees in our precious urban forest.  The simplest way I could think of to address this issue in my yard was to install rain barrels.

New Rain Barrel before installation

commercial rain barrel

      A few years ago I purchased our first rain barrel.  This spring I got a second one.  The first one is commercially manufactured, and the second one is made from a recycled food grade plastic barrel which was outfitted with spigots and a screen on the top.  Here are a few lessons I’ve learned so far.

1)  Get as many barrels as you can afford
      My house has an 800 sq ft foot print.  It has a pitched roof with a couple of dormers.  There are gutters and drain pipes at all four corners.  I figure that about 1/4 of the rain that falls on my roof runs down each drain pipe.  I have rain barrels at two corners. Each holds 55 gallons.  When we get one inch of rain, about 500 gallons of water falls on our roof. That means 390 gallons of water are wasted.   That’s extra water that could be protecting our gardens and trees.

overflow spigot on commercial rain barrel

 

overflow spigot on home made barrel

2) Buy barrels that can be attached together

     Both of my barrels have overflow spigots near the top.  When you connect  two barrels together,  the overflow from the first barrel flows into the second one, thus capturing twice as much water. 
      The overflow spigot on the home-made barrel is only the size of the garden hose, so it isn’t as effective as the one on the commercial barrel, which is about 2-1/2 inches in diameter.  The water from the downspout runs faster than it can run out of a 5/8 inch garden hose so it ends up running over the top of the barrel.  This problem could be solved by adding a couple more overflow spigots.
      I run a hose from the overflow spigot on the home made barrel to the spots that need extra water.  Thus, when it is raining, your trees/gardens are getting a double dose of water.

3) Get barrels with a removable tops
      The water stored in the barrels can become stale and musty smelling.  When the barrel is empty it’s nice to be able to reach in with a long handled brush and give it a scrub out once in a while. 
      The top on my homemade barrel comes all the way off.  I haven’t had to clean it yet, but when the time comes I think it will be easier to clean than the commercial one which has a plastic guard on the top that’s not removable.

3)  A screen on the top is very important
      In addition to keeping debris out of the barrel, a screen prevents your rain barrel from becoming a mosquito incubator.  You definitely don’t want that.

4)  Consider hoses
      I made the mistake of buying a cheap plastic hose for the overflow on my newest barrel.  It kinked up at the outlet and was quickly useless.  Buy a good quality rubber hose.  Avoid vinyl.  It is pretty toxic. 

5)  Cost
      The commercial barrel is available for about $100 in the garden stores.  I paid $60 for the home-made barrel because I didn’t actually make it myself but bought it from some one who is making them in bulk.  Do-it-yourself kits are available on line or from some hardware stores.  The prices vary widely depending on what is included in the kit, i.e. barrel, spigots, connections, screen. etc.  I decided that $60 was a pretty reasonable price for having one all put together and ready to go. 

So that’s all I know about how to buy a rain barrel.  I welcome your comments on this blog, particularly your experiences with rain barrel construction, use, set up etc. 

Check out my store at www.earthlygoods.net   for earth friendly products other than rain barrels.

Safe Food

This is for those of you who are concerned about food safety, yet cringe
at the cost of organic produce. It’s research done by the Environmental
Working Group (www.ewg.org) on the chemical load carried by various
fruits & vegetables.

Safest conventionally grown produce (lowest pesticide load)
        Onion, avocado, frozen sweet corn, pineapple, mango, asparagus,
frozen sweet peas, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, papaya, watermelon, broccoli,
tomato, sweet potato, grapefruit, honeydew melon (onions were lowest with
a score of 1, the melon the highest with a score of 30 on a scale of
1-100)

Least safe conventionally grown produce (highest pesticide load)
        peach, apple, sweet bell pepper, celergy, nectarine,
strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots, pears
(peaches were the worst with a score of 100; pears the lowest with a
score of 63)

Most of the produce they tested was washed and peeled (no, they didn’t
peel the peas).

How to Build a Compost Sifter

We have a pretty basic compost bin for our garden.  It has three fixed sides, and the fourth side opens up for unloading compost.  We use the lazy person’s system for composting, which is to throw everything compostable into the bin and let nature take its course.  This takes longer, but we really only need to dig out compost once a year, so it isn’t a big deal.

When we do dig it out in the spring, however, we need something to sift the compost and keep out the sticks, the not-quite-decomposed corn cobs,  and other detritus that needs more time in the bin. 

I built our sifter about ten years ago and it has held up just fine.  I learned how to do it by watching Martha Stewart. 

I used 2×2 lumber because it is lighter than 2×4 and it is really all you need.  The long sides are 47″ and the cross pieces are 24″.  This size goes well with my wheel barrow.  

Lay the 24″ pieces crosswise between the 47″ pieces.  One cross piece goes a couple of inches from the end and the other goes about mid-way along.  See the picture above.  Then drive nails through the long pieces into the ends of the short pieces to secure them.  Next, attach some sturdy L braces on the inside of the corners with wood screws to keep them secure.  This thing gets some pretty hard use so you want it nice and sturdy.

Next cut a piece of half-inch heavy mesh screen, about 27″ by 25″.  Or just cut it to fit the frame with enough extra to allow for attaching it to the frame.  Attach the screen to the frame with staples. 

Next, and this is important, nail some trim over the edges where you stapled the screen.  When I first built my sifter I didn’t do this and the staples came loose after about twenty minutes of sifting.  I just used some scrap trim that was laying around and fastened it with 1-1/2 inch nails.  It has held up just fine. 

As I said, we use our sifter about once a year for digging out the compost.  The long ends serve as handles for shaking and lifting.  We get about 10 wheelbarrow loads of good quality compost, which goes back into the garden and the rest of the yard.  Over time our very heavy clay soil has improved significantly and the level of the garden has risen about 6 inches. 

Have fun composting, and be sure to visit www.earthlygoods.net to see what new interesting stuff I have for sale.

How to Play

“The days ahead require mastery and clarity
AND strength in numbers. Pay attention to your group bodies.
InterPlayers are subversive, sexy,
wild, bewilderers, catchers of light and dark.
We’re alchemical mystery workers and wannabe’s. We’re life artists
who really make shifts not just in ourselves but in the world.”

By Cynthia Winton Henry  Founder of Interplay

Cynthia writes about the days ahead, and suggests that they may be difficult and challenging.   Sometimes the whole world challenges me; sometimes its only my own small piece of it. Either way,  playing helps.  Playing gives me access to my body’s wisdom.  Which turns out to be a powerful resource for coping, figuring things out, and most importantly changing the world. 

Here is what you need to know.  Everybody who has a body can play.  Do you have an urge to stomp your feet, clap your hands or swing your body when you hear music?  Or maybe your body wants to hold perfectly still and take in the music of the country or the city, or the silence of the quietest night.   That’s playing.   Anyone can do it, anywhere, any time. 

1)  Playing Alone.  (Sometimes it is helpful to listen to some music, but that is entirely optional)  Take a breath.  Take another breath and this time let it out with some sound.  Shake out your body.  Take another breath.  Pay attention to your body,  with a particular focus on what feels good.  Now pay attention again.  Notice the desire to move, and the desire to be still.  Follow that desire, notice what happens next.  What catches your attention now?  The sound of the traffic?  An ant on the sidewalk?  The lines in the palm of your hand?  Pay attention to that.  Now pay attention again.   Continue with this process until it becomes a total way of life. 

2)  Playing with Others.  Again, music is optional.  It also helps if you are playing with others who are paying attention and have decided to play together.  

However, it is possible to play with others even when they aren’t necessarily thinking about playing with you.  Start with taking a breath and shaking out your own body again.  A very small shake is sufficient.  Pay attention again and again.  Now notice the group body.  Pay special attention to the place in yourself where love and good will reside.  Notice the connection between you and others.  Be aware that the connection exists even if you aren’t thinking about it.  Be curious about it.  Are you happy to be in the company of others, nervous, irritated?  Be very curious.  Notice the connection in the coffee shop or bus stop or in line in the grocery store.  Notice your body moving through space without crashing in to another body.   Notice your internal responses to the other people in the space.  Continue to be curious.  Be mostly curious about yourself.  It isn’t necessary to acknowledge the connection out loud, but you might with a nod or a smile.  Your bodies already know all about it.  Breath.  Move.  Pay Attention.  Pay Attention again.

Wanna know more?  Click on the photo above and it will take you to the InterPlay home page www.interplay.org.   There you can find lots and lots of other subversive, sexy, wild bewilderers to play and learn with.  We are out to save the world!

Friends

Friends  -  Need I say More??

Hanging Out

I Wrote this back in March but didn’t post it.  So here it is now.  Better late than never.

Spring in Minnesota!!!  Crocuses, Tulips, Robins and Laundry.  Yep – laundry.  Here in the north country where I live there are many months of the year where hanging the laundry out on the line is just too difficult.  Well, there might be a few die hard hanger-outers who can tolerate the cold temperatures long enough to haul their baskets of wet laundry out in the back yard over the snow and freeze their fingers hanging it on the line.  But I know from sad experience that taking down frozen blue jeans is tricky business, and they don’t even really dry very well anyway.
       But Spring.  Here is my chance to venture out into the back yard, carefully stepping around the last remaining patches of snow and ice, and expose the world to my underwear. 

        Here are some of the other benefits of hanging out your laundry:

1) Saving Energy 
OK, I know, it isn’t a lot of money saved by not running the dryer.  Maybe really only a few cents.  But it adds up when you combine it with other money saving, energy conserving measures and every little bit counts right?

2) No Static Cling 
Think about it.  Static cling is caused by the action of the heat and friction of the clothes rubbing together.  No dryer, no static cling.  Which brings me to —

3) No Dryer Sheets 
That’s right, no toxic chemicals to make you and your family sick.  No worry about offending your neighbors by pumping those toxic chemicals out into the air and no worry about offending your friends with clothes that may look nice, but smell like, well, dryer sheets.  But what about that nice fresh scent that dryer sheets provide you might ask.  This brings us to —–

4) Fresh Smelling Clothes 
The nice fresh scent of fresh air.  Yes indeed.  If you hang your clothes outdoors they come back in with a real rather than fake fresh scent. 

5) Less Wear and Tear on Your Clothes
Not putting your clothes in the dryer will prolong their life.  This is why many manufacturers of nice clothes say “Do Not Tumble Dry”, on the tag. 

6) The Bleaching and Disinfecting Power of the Sun
Your whites will actually be whiter and any nasty germs will be killed by the Sun.  In fact, here is a hidden tip,  if you put a little lemon juice on a stain and leave it exposed to the sun, almost any stain will fade and usually disappear.  I have used this on some pretty nasty old stains on white linen table cloths and it really worked.

7) Hanging out in the Back Yard
You can hang out while you hang out.  You get the benefit of being outdoors which is good for your body and your spirit, and sometimes get the chance to visit with your neighbors over the fence, build relationships and probably strengthen your community.  Everybody wins.

 

I know there are a few down sides to hanging out.  Yes, the clothes can come out wrinkled and the towels aren’t as fluffy.  You can, if you want to, throw everything in the dryer for 5 minutes after you bring it in to smooth out the wrinkles and fluff things up a bit.  Also, sometimes it is raining and you can’t wait for a sunny day.  Once again an automatic clothes dryer can come in handy. I suppose it also does take a little more time to hang things out than it does to throw them in the dryer, but I’ve not timed it so I can’t be sure of that.   

So there you have it.  Lots more pros than cons in my opinion.  Try it – you’ll like it.  And here is the final tip

Hang your underwear on the center lines and the towels and sheets on the outside.  Less embarassing for everyone

Get a Rain Barrel

New Rain Barrel before installation

We got a second rain barrel today.  We bought one a couple of years ago and I’ve been really wanting a second one.   We got this barrel through a drawing at the grand re-opening of our local food co-op.  The co-op was giving coupons for $25 barrels, and they had over a hundred of them.  All we had to do was wait around for someone who didn’t want/need a barrel, even at the great price of $25, to win one in the drawing and offer to take the thing off their hands.  We got ours from a young couple who rent in the neighborhood and didn’t have a place for one.  They gladly gave us their winning ticket and we gladly paid our $25 and went off to pick up the barrel.

Ironically, it was raining quite hard when we went to get the barrel.  So there we were, cold and soaking wet, hauling home the heavy black barrel that has been fitted with a couple of spigots (one for the hose and one for overflow).  Now I have to wait until a nice sunny day to saw off the downspout, move the elbow up and then situate the barrel under the pipe.   Then, I have to wait for it to rain again, and wait for the barrel to fill.  It is a lovely, satisfying sound as the rain pours out of the downspout  into the barrel, to be used later when our poor birch tree is thirsty.

We have been experiencing a drought for the past several years here.  Last year the birch suddenly dropped a whole bunch of leaves in about two days.  I was alarmed enough to call our local arborist, who said that it just needs more water.  She explained that the problem is cumulative over time, and that this tree has been struggling to survive for the past several years on an inadequate water supply.  It is planted in a fairly wet part of the yard, where the sump pump drains out, and I had assumed that that would be enough extra water for it.  I was wrong.  So, today’s rain was most welcome.  I can see the tree greening up before my eyes.  And, I am counting on the rain barrel to help bring extra water to its vulnerable roots.

Go Birch!

Is Your Yard Permeable?

If you poured a five-gallon pail of water into the middle of your yard, where would that water go? Would it pool up? Would it run towards the street? Ideally, if your yard has the right amount of permeability, the water would slowly soak into the ground.

Permeability refers to how quickly water moves through layers of soil, sand, and rock. For example, consider the hard-packed soil of a playground (or your back yard in a drought!). It’s nearly impervious; water runs off of it as it would from cement. At the other extreme, there is the limestone karst country of southeastern Minnesota. Water rushes down through the cracked and water-worn rock, joining the underground water supply with a minimum of filtration. Karst is highly permeable; contaminated liquids applied to the surface flow directly into the ground water.

Ideally, water seeps slowly into the ground, where it is filtered and cleaned by layers of humus, soil, sand, and gravel. Water that lands on impervious surfaces such as parking lots, roads, and large, flat roofs tends to flow directly into nearby lakes and rivers (usually via gutters and storm sewers), carrying with it a wide variety of contaminants, from motor oil to pesticides.

Between 1986 and 2000, impervious surface in the seven-county metro area increased 60 percent. The more parking lots and developments there are, the more wetlands that are filled in, and the wider our highways become, the more water runs off the land and directly into lakes, rivers, and streams without having any of its impurities removed.

To see for yourself how permeability affects water quality, visit the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Water from five mini-watersheds, each using different types of pavement, flows into holding ponds. You can walk by each holding pond and see the difference in water quality.

As people are becoming aware that water should seep into rather than run off of the land, gardening and construction techniques are changing. Rooftop gardens are becoming popular; they absorb rainwater that otherwise would run down drain pipes and into the storm sewer. Some businesses and homeowners are using pervious pavers instead of tar or cement for parking lots and driveways. (Remember city streets made of paving stones? They were much better for the environment!)

Some communities are building rain gardens alongside roadways instead of constructing curbing that funnels rainwater into drains that run to the river. Like wetlands, rain gardens hold and absorb large amounts of run-off, and clean the water before it gets to the river.

What can you do to prevent rain water from flowing out of your yard and down the storm sewer? We’ve talked about a rain garden, but our yard, likemost city lots, is too small. A rain garden needs to be located a certain distance away from one’s basement. However, we could shore up the soil in front of the house, where the lawn slopes down to the sidewalk. We could use mulch to keep garden soil moist, so that less water runs off during a hard rain shower.

I’d like to buy pervious pavers for our driveway. My partner says, “But we already have a permeable driveway.” It’s sad but true. Now that the city inspectors are no longer preoccupied with the hazardous sunflowers we had draped over the back fence, I’m afraid they will notice the healthy crop of weeds pushing aside disintegrating chunks of tarmac behind our garage. Rainwater hitting our driveway doesn’t run off; it sinks through those cracks and gets cleaned and filtered by layers of earth, just like it’s supposed to. But I have to say, that’s one ugly permeable surface!

Next time it rains, grab a raincoat and observe the patterns of absorption and run-off in your yard. Then start thinking of ways that you could encourage rain water to stay in your yard and be absorbed by the soil. Maybe you don’t need that solid cement patio now that the kids are grown. If your driveway is due for a facelift, how about paving stones rather than tarmac?

There are dozens of ways you can insure that rain water goes through your soil rather than directly to the storm sewer. Here are some links:
Minnesota DNR rain garden resources
Minnesota Water Gardens

Anita Doyle, Green Irene Eco-consultant
www.EarthlyGoods.net
earthlygoods.minneapolis@greenirene.com