Whiteley Creek Homestead

visually impactful veggie garden plants

Autumn's harvest. It's gathering in end-of-summer and late-season maturation crops before overnight temperatures produce frost. It's also taking inventory of what produced especially well and added an artistic element to the garden. Some large-leafed plants that I will incorporate again into next year's garden are rutabaga, cabbage, zucchini, and cucumber. Large leaves quickly fill open space with lush green foliage. 

We constructed the support for trailing cucumber vines from a section of concrete reinforcement wire. The wire is sold in a roll, so its cylindrical shape lends itself perfectly for this application. Pound a few wooden stakes into the ground to form and secure a length of wire into a tunnel. It adds height to the garden and keeps the cukes off the ground to be easily plucked as they hang suspended from the support.

 

seed viability

Have you hesitated to plant expired seed? Don't. Hesitate, that is.

 

In early spring 2013, my frugal nature couldn't bear to toss out a previously opened package of zucchini seed packed for 2009. I planted one seed in each of twelve newspaper pots. Ten seeds germinated. The seedlings matured into beautifully lush plants that bore an abundance of zucchini throughout the growing season. The germination rate may vary with plant varieties, so recording results in a gardening journal would be helpful for future reference.

baker creek seed company festival

When my eyes fell upon the old hands planting a seedling. I knew.

When the paved road suddenly turned into a winding dirt road. I just knew. And then I saw the grey weathered barns. Could my smushed nose press any harder against our truck's window?

I saw the main street of a pioneer town. The mercantile and flour mill. And across the street the Baker Creek Seed Company's retail store. Bin after bin filled with heirloom seed packets. Just a few miles from Mansfield Missouri... halfway across the country from our central Minnesota home. 

There was music, vendors, speakers, food... all of the components that make a festival festive plus plants and heirloom seeds in abundance. If you've read the book, Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (if you haven't, you need to), you'll remember a Canadian farmer named Percy Schmeiser who takes on Monsanto. He was one of the festival's speakers. It was so interesting to meet the brave man that I had read about in the book. As I sat upon a straw bale, another speaker that I listened to was Hank Will, the editor-in-chief of Grit Magazine, who shared how he farms his acreage with hand tools and farm animals in lieu of mechanized equipment. I replaced my garden roto tiller with a spade years ago to avoid the major disturbance of natural soil layers, so I was intriqued by his comittment to living in a manner closely resembling that of our ancestors. Yes, it's more work. However, it eliminates the need for a gym membership, a noisy engine doesn't compete with birds' melodies, and it's a gentle way to be a steward of our earth. I loved this little girl's attire, so I snapped a photo of her as she played upon newly constructed concrete garden bed enclosures. And then my stride quickened to keep pace with hers, as there was so much more to see and do. (Heirloom seeds are those that are passed down from generation to generation, are open-pollinated, and aren't patented or genetically modified.) Post note: The Wall Street Journal, in its Thursday, May 23, 2013 edition, featured the Baker Creek Seed Company. The article explains the company's birth and phenomenal growth. Your jaw will drop when you learn the ages of the company's founder and owners, Jeremiah and Emilee Gettle.

the little ragamuffin, fancyflours, high mowing seeds

Each year, April 17th is National Blah, Blah, Blah Day. Did you know that? I first learned of it as I listened to NPR while on my walk three mornings ago. The intent of this wacky holiday is actually to do the things everyone's been nagging you about (e.g., quitting a habit, completing home projects). I took the opposite approach. I set my day's tasks aside and sat at my computer to order some little, joyful things. All three orders arrived in today's mail.

FIRST, I opened my parcel from The Little Ragamuffin. Etsy shop owner, Jenny, packages her hand-harvested heirloom seeds with her special touch that makes unwrapping a delight despite already knowing what's inside. Look and see...

She created handmade seed packets from a map... one contains Hutterite Soup Bean Seeds and the other Plains Coreopsis Seeds. If that wasn't sufficient, folded around the packets and tied with a ribbon was a page torn from The Lunch Box Cookbook Copyright 1955, 1954. I know because I have the cookbook... for the drawings. Can Jenny possibly have known how much I love that little cookbook? And look. A recipe for "Lunch Box Chicken" and on the flipside drawings of a barnyard and chickens. How would she know I love chickens? I will display the page in my new walk-in pantry.

Now here's where life's twists and turns eventually begin to make sense... and then life becomes just plain fun. It began in 2011 with a seed order I placed through The Little Ragamuffin Etsy Shop. Fast forward two years almost to the day when I received an email from my daughter, Heather. In one hour's time, three seemingly unconnected people... connected.

Tue, Apr 16, 2013 11:55 am Heather: "Have you purchased seeds from her or something before? https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheLittleRagamuffin I just linked to her in a post and now I feel like I recognize the shop name from a post you did once. Wouldn't that be something. I found her by searching for natural soap or something on Etsy. So, it would be a big coincidence if we both separately posted about her. Let me know. I am so curious."

Tue, Apr 16, 2013 12:32 pm Me: "Yes, I did write two posts about her Etsy shop. Isn't that funny that you ended up on her site, too, and posted about her soap?!! I had first discovered her shop when I planted a page from my seed embedded calendar into my garden and one of the wildflowers that grew was plains coreopsis. I wanted to grow more plains coreopsis the following year and ended up on her Etsy shop to buy the seeds. Here's where it gets really fun. She said she had ended up on my blog when she had done a search for "plains coreopsis" prior to my placing my initial order with her in 2011. (I have a photo on my home page of plains coreopsis lining my garden path at the bed and breakfast.) Now, here's where the story goes on even more. Just yesterday, I ordered another packet of plains coreopsis seeds from her... before you told me that you had posted about her soap. She (Jen) packages the seeds so artfully... with such care. It's such a fun parcel to open and I like that they are hand-harvested by her. It makes them that much more special when I take the little seeds and place them in my soil half way across the country. (She lives in NY.) I also ordered some heirloom Hutterite Soup Beans from her to plant in this spring's garden."

Tue, Apr 16, 2013 12:49 pm Heather: "Oh, such a small small world with weird wonderful things that sometimes happen. What I just e-mailed to her (Jenny,The Little Ragamuffin Etsy Shop): "Whoah!!!!!! I just e-mailed my mother (who also has a blog) to ask if she had ever bought anything from you. I just started feeling like I recognized your shop name maybe through her. Now I want you to realize that I was not looking at shop names when I was searching for items for the treasury. I had not noticed your shop name at all until you had commented on my blog post. What a small, small world full of quirky coincidences."

Tue, Apr 16, 2013 1:00 pm Jenny, owner of The Little Ragamuffin Etsy Shop: "Heather!
I am absolutely floored! This is just incredible...I am speechless, and while reading your message couldn't stop speaking outloud in disbelief and awe! In the midst of receiving your message, traveling to your blog, and writing messages back and forth to you, I was simultaneously making seed packets and filling your Mom's order. This is really amazing. Smiling ear to ear at life's little gifts. Jenny    

And now... my two other parcels that arrived today. I was flipping through some pages torn from magazines. A page from Country Home April 2006 inspired my second purchase... an oversized cookie cutter. The little bird beside the cookie cutter is a photo from the magazine depicting how the sugar cookie can be iced. So pretty. I love the design of the label securing the invoice's fold. Cookie and icing recipes tucked inside the shipping box were a nice touch, too.

And the THIRD parcel... more seeds. 

I first grew Organic Sweetie Cherry Tomatoes indoors from seed in 2009 then transplanted them into my garden. Each year since then, they have been a mainstay in my garden. Look how the cherry tomatoes hang so neatly on the vine as they ripen in my garden. They live up to their name... so very sweet. From High Mowing Seeds, I also ordered crunchy, lime green Pirat Butterhead Lettuce with edges tinged in purple, Ruby Rhubarb Red Chard Microgreens, broccoli seed for sprouting in a jar, Beta Salad Mix of beet and chard baby leaves, and bok choy. Note: Shortly after ordering broccoli seed from High Mowing Seeds (1/4 lb $10.00), I discovered that Azure Standard stocks it and for way less $ (1 lb $11.05). I regularly purchase products from this company through our local group buying club. Products can be shipped to individuals via UPS, too.  

 

 

Bird's Eye Tea

I have two jars of raw honey and two handmade cozies to insulate empty almond butter jars. I just need tea. Medicinal tea... made from plants gathered from the wild and homegrown gardens.

On the first day of May, my loose leaf tea will begin its journey from Seattle to my doorstep in central Minnesota. Three different hand-blended organic and ethically wild-harvested teas from Bird's Eye Tea. An example of one tea blend that Sarah, the business's owner, creates is a spring detox mixture of reishi mushroom, dandelion root, burdock root, calendula flowers, nettle, cinnamon, and astragalus. A newsletter included with the tea provides information about each plant's beneficial properties. The healing tea will be delivered monthly. Enough for a cup a day. Until I say, "I have no time to sip." No. I shall not let that happen. For, then, I will become the boy in Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree. Boy had no time to sit. Until one day he grew old.

And after a long time
the boy came back again.
"I am sorry, Boy,"
said the tree," but I have nothing
left to give you -
My apples are gone."
"My teeth are too weak
for apples," said the boy.
"My branches are gone,"
said the tree. " You
cannot swing on them - "
"I am too old to swing
on branches," said the boy.
"My trunk is gone, " said the tree.
"You cannot climb - "
"I am too tired to climb" said the boy.
"I am sorry," sighed the tree.
"I wish that I could give you something....
but I have nothing left.
I am just an old stump.
I am sorry...."
"I don't need very much now," said the boy.
"just a quiet place to sit and rest.
I am very tired."
"Well," said the tree, straightening
herself up as much as she could,
"well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting
Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest."
And the boy did.
And the tree was happy.

colorful kitchen garden

I have been making an intentional effort to use up what I have. Call it frugality, a challenge, making all things matter, or not wanting to run to the store... it's all that. Several days ago I had made a large pot of vegetable bean quinoa soup. Today, I was about to savour the last bite of soup when I noticed the lovely colors. So many colors in one little spoon. 

Irridescent purple cabbage, dark green glimmering collard greens, autumn orange sweet potato, deep red tomato chunks, and white curly cooked quinoa tendrils. My thoughts began to wander to my kitchen garden that is only yet a plan forming in my head and the rainbow of colors my heirloom plants shall produce. 

'Rainbow' Swiss chard (red, orange, purple, yellow, and white stalks and veins), 'painted pony' dry beans (brown and white), 'dwarf grey' sugar snap pea, golden beets (deep orange skin w/ bright yellow flesh), 'dragon' carrots (red-purple skin w/ yellow-orange flesh), 'old timey blue' collard greens (blue-green leaves w/ purple stems and veins), 'gulley's favorite' butterhead lettuce (dark green leaves w/ red tinge), watermelon radish (white skin w/ dark pink and white flesh), and 'long island cheese' pumpkin (buff colored) - shaped like Cinderella's coach. And, oh, the cutting garden flowers and flowering herbs. Borage with its clusters of blue star-shaped flowers... so easy to grow and lovely in bouquets, ferny cosmos, globe amaranth, 'benary's' giant zinnia, and sunflowers saluting the sun. Each night as my eyes close and the Seed Savers Exchange 2013 Catalog of Heirloom & Open-Pollinated Seeds falls upon my chest, I dream of the warming spring ground and the seeds that will sprout and poke through the rich soil.       

 

learning gate community school ecofest

Today, Dick and I attended an Ecofest at the Learning Gate Community School in Lutz, Florida a northern Tampa suburb. The event included workshops, demonstrations, vendors, music, food - all of the traits that comprise a stellar festival. There was so much to see and do that we camped out there the entire day from 9:30 to 3. The environmental focus of this publicly funded charter school is evident immediately upon entering the grounds. Well-worn paths meandering through sprawling wooded acreage beckon students to outdoor classrooms that include a variety of ecosystems, vegetable gardens, a greenhouse, and chickens housed in a stationery pen and portable coops. I love this nature-inspired planting enclosure that partitions off a section of the larger garden. It adds a quirky "room" that draws you in, creates a natural flow, and slows the pace of a busy world.  

Canvas canopies drape the tree branches to provide shade outside the separate buildings that house each K-6 grade level. (Phase one of a new energy efficient campus for grades 7 through 12 is scheduled to be completed for the 2014-2015 school year.)    

How easily I envision a teacher with students clustered together in the cool morning air underneath this canopy of canvas and tree branches... immersed in the beauty and meditative calm of God's creation while learning participles, long division, and expository writing. A quote on the Learning Gate Community School's web site perfectly captures their philosophy. If we want children to flourish, to be truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth  before we ask them to save it. David Sobel, Beyond Ecophobia Note: At this event, several environmental engineering students from the University of South Florida demonstrated the use of a garbage disposal composter to speed decomposition of compostable materials. Dick and I immediately began to plan our own version on a much smaller scale. More to come in the spring...    

 

local greens in december, raw milk and cheese

When I'm at home, I have all of my unadultered, unprocessed, non GMO, humanely raised, organic, local, raw product sources in place. When I travel, they are there. I just have to search... or visit my daughters who are like-minded and know where to find the good stuff. Adams Fairacre Farms in Newburgh, New York is my favorite grocery store for their stocking of organic, locally grown, tender, crisp greens from Continental Organics in New Windsor, New York. The herbs and veggies are grown using aquaponics, a sustainable, highly productive method of agriculture that is well suited for "densely populated areas or in regions of the world with poor soil and little fresh water. It uses 90% less water than traditional agriculture." (Visit their web site to learn where the plants' nutrients come from. Interesting.) 

Arugula, thyme, bibb lettuce, and microgreens...

Swiss chard and baby bok choy.    

Grass-fed raw cow's milk cheese from 5 Spoke Creamery in Goshen, NY. (Check out their web site to learn the benefits of raw vs. pasteurized milk.) Glass two-quart jars of raw cow's milk from Stap Family Dairy Farm in Pine Bush, NY. Eggs down the road from Stap's Dairy. Know thy farmer. Support your neighbors' efforts. A side note: The run each Saturday with my son-in-law to purchase raw milk straight from the dairy was a special time. Just the two of us. Our time. 

final potato harvest

Today, I dug the last of the potatoes still snuggled under my garden's soil.

Chunks of red (with pink flesh), white, and purple. So very pretty. If I'd had a sweet potato, I would have tossed it in for a pop of deep orange color.  

first snowfall

Standing on my front doorstep, looking out at our first snowfall of the season in central Minnesota.

Snow-draped herbs, onions, and kale against a predominantly grey backdrop. Summer has not yet relinquished its grip.