The Modern Victory Garden

My daughter and I were visiting this evening via text messages.   She is working on a plan to give her flock of chickens more outdoor yard area and in the process is also working on setting up suitable space for the addition of some goats in the future.   Her enthusiasm was quite infectious and as a person who loves to plan and execute projects (most of which revolve around small scale agriculture), I immediately identified with her somewhat consuming interest in the matter.   It does indeed seem that the apple does not fall far from the tree!                   

Part of my long time passion for food gardening is that it is a productive outlet for the life energy I seem to channel into planning and making what I dream up – actually happen.   I suppose I could apply that energy and aptitude to something that yielded financial rewards but honestly that does not hold the same appeal for me because the labor of a modern victory garden provides not only material rewards of beautiful nutrient dense food, but feeds my need to redesign and recreate my own part of this world – continually evolving and pushing the limits of what has been accomplished previously.   It is a process by which I define myself, through a continual transformation of this little patch of earth that for a brief time I have stewardship over.   Mind you, it’s not like all the plans work out or are even worthy of having been tackled, but more often than not they result in good things and my life is definitely enriched in the doing of it.   Dreaming up, planning, and then executing the next “thing” is an affirmation that I am indeed alive and that tomorrow holds interesting and worthwhile pursuits.   When we quit dreaming (whatever the source of our passion may be) that is when we cease living.                             

I hope you are not only feeding your family from the fruits of your gardening efforts – but feeding your dreams and plans as well.                                   

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

February 2nd is not only “Groundhog Day” but also marks the mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox – a point in time also known as Imbolc.   By the time February 2 arrives, we have completed the most difficult portion of our ascent out of winters darkest point (December 21st – winter solstice), and are heading towards the longed for beginning of spring (March 21st – spring equinox).   It’s a time of optimism because the low point of winter is behind us and it is possible to actually feel, taste, and see the promise of spring just around the corner.   It’s also the point in time where items that I have overwintered in the garden (or the greenhouse) begin to respond to the increasing sun strength and day length by putting on some noticeable growth after a long period of near dormancy.   It’s the real turning point in the transition out of winter and I look forward to it each year.                                                

Despite the wintery weather over the last several weeks, I have begun noticing some definite signs that Imbolc is almost upon us.   The garden walkways have tiny new shoots of grass and weeds emerging (which the hens have been happily gobbling up!); items in the unheated greenhouse are growing a little faster now, and the garlic that was planted late last fall has sent up shoots through the very thick mulch of rough finished compost that blankets the bed.    I went out into the dark tonight to get a picture to show you.    It is a flash photo on a very dark evening so the picture is not very good quality, but I think you can clearly see how uniformly the bed is sprouting and how much the sprouts have grown.      

This is why I always celebrate Imbolc (groundhogs day).   As a gardener it marks a real milestone in the cycle of the seasons - heralding the arrival of the transformational magic of the first green shoots, which are like a healing tonic for those of us weary of the dark days of winter. 

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

The Review

I have been following the amazing journey of Annette Cottrell for approximately three years now via her blog (Sustainable Eats).   I began reading her blog during the first full year of the journey that her husband, Jared, likes to refer to as her “Crazy Bus”.   This journey was one of having her city dwelling family no longer support the mainstream food industry with their purchases, and devoting herself whole heartedly to the concept of growing as much of their own food as possible and buying the rest from local farmers.   Her husband supported her in this scheme but was not nearly as enthusiastic.   In fact, often when she would come up with a new thing to undertake he would be heard to mutter…”Next stop on the Crazy Bus.”   Thankfully Annette’s “Crazy Bus” did indeed depart the station and has taken a road less traveled that has yielded inspiring results, a lot of lessons learned, and connected her (and her family) to a diverse community of like-minded people.   One particular individual that Annette ended up connecting strongly with was Joshua McNichols.   He and his family had a somewhat parallel journey with their own unique experiences and approach.   Together they collaborated and wrote a book called “The Urban Farm Handbook” that not only describes and contrasts their individual journeys to sustainable eating, but lays out an inspiring introduction to the whole concept and possibilities of achieving a more sustainable urban kitchen and garden.   Whether you live in an urban area, the suburbs, or on a rural property, there are vast opportunities to feed ourselves and our families in a more healthful and meaningful manner.   Those opportunities can be nothing more than just changing our purchasing habits, or if we are really in for a ride on the “Crazy Bus”, we can go all out and integrate the concepts of growing and preserving our own food; small animal husbandry; eating seasonally and buying locally; building a food community; and preparing food from scratch starting with the freshest and most sustainable sources possible.   The choice of how far to go with this food journey is for each of us to make individually, but the rewards for choosing to travel this road are abundant - whether we choose to amble down it on foot or hop aboard the “Crazy Bus” for a wild ride.      

The Urban Farm Handbook is an inspiring introduction to the many areas where we can make decidedly different choices in how we obtain and prepare the food we eat.    It covers a wide waterfront of topics including purchasing and using whole grains; vegetable and fruit gardening (intense growing on small urban properties in particular); raising chickens for eggs; raising small animals for meat and dairy, sourcing your food locally when you cannot grow it yourself; building a food community where you live; and a variety of other topics that all contribute to an improved quality of life via the products and resources we use daily.    Naturally, any undertaking that covers so many topics is limited in how in-depth it can go on any one item.   However, while each topic area can (and does) have books devoted only to that subject, what I really liked about this particular book is that it gave a strong enough overview on each topic that someone could easily get successfully started without further research, and are likely going to be inspired enough to seek out more information on their own.   I also appreciated that there was something in each section for readers of all experience levels – from novices to those with years of specific experience.   I personally found several items that inspired me to give it a try, including some of the many delicious recipes that are interwoven through the book.      

Both Joshua and Annette have engaging writing styles that achieve a happy balance of good story telling and delivery of useful information.   In addition, the quality photography throughout provides visual appeal and the organization of the information flows well from chapter to chapter.   There are literally hundreds of tips and resources provided, many of which will be particularly useful for people like myself who live in the Pacific Northwest region.   Recurrent throughout the book are the concepts of “seasons” and the continuum of choices (or steps) we can take from relatively modest steps - to going all out on each subject.   Also woven throughout the book are personal contrasts of how differently Annette and Joshua often approach the same undertaking.   Reading about their individual methods and philosophies not only provided more information to use, but also emphasized that no one approach will work for everyone.   The underlying message is that the “Crazy Bus” journey will be quite different for each one of us - as it really is all about deciding what makes sense and feels comfortable given the unique circumstances and resources we each have to work with.   Regardless of where you may find yourself on this continuum, I think The Urban Farm Handbook is a great resource to help you to eat the most nutrient-dense and sustainably produced foods possible.   

The Giveaway

When Annette announced that this collaborative writing effort was being released, she asked if I would be willing to read and review it for her.   When I answered to the affirmative, she made sure a copy was sent to me free as a gift.   Little did she know that I had already placed an advance order and purchased one already!   The result of this is that I have an extra copy on hand of The Urban Farm Handbook by Annette Cottrell and Joshua McNichols that I am going to giveaway to one of my blog readers.   If you are interested in having your name thrown into a hat for a drawing for this book, just leave a comment to that effect on this blog post and let me know.   All the names posted as being interested by end of day Wednesday January 18th will be put in a hat and the winner will be drawn at random by my husband (who does not know yet that he has been volunteered for this duty) and announced soon thereafter.   Good luck! 

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

The 2011 year is not quite concluded and I will have more harvest totals to add in the coming four weeks to the running tally for the year.   Historically however, my harvests only average 5 pounds per month from December through April and therefore it is unlikely my final year-to-date total will improve very much from its current amount of 364.5 pounds.   So it looks like I will be finishing the year with somewhere in the neighborhood of 370 pounds of production from the garden for 2011 (at least the amount that got officially weighed).   This is definitely not a good report card given what I know this garden can produce.   Luckily, our actual demand for production has decreased by about 1/3rd so there has not been a real impact on us from a food source perspective.   Our daughter moved away to Pennsylvania in the summer of 2010 so the number of adults being fed from the garden went from 3 in 2009, to 2.5 in 2010, and has now settled down to 2 effective for all of 2011 and going forward.                              

In an “average” year, I would expect to see the harvest total to be closer to 475 pounds and a “really good” year could yield in the 700 pound range.   Obviously, at approximately 370 pounds of production – 2011 was a “poor” production year.   So the question that then begs to be answered is … why?    Here are the components as best I can determine.           

First and foremost, we had dismal weather conditions in 2011.   We continually set records for “low” daytime “highs” throughout the summer season.   It just never got very warm at all.   Granted, our region rarely gets all that warm during the summer, but for 2011 we did not even get a brief period of heat.   Compounding this, the spring was also very chill so plants were slow to get started and then never got an infusion of sun to give them a growth spurt to catch up.   The only positive thing I can say about the 2011 growing weather is that our summer was actually quite dry, which helped to keep the tomato plants reasonably healthy despite the cooler temps.   Had it been wet as well as cold, I would have been in a losing battle with the various fungal diseases that are endemic to my growing region.   The long term forecasts for my region are to get a similar season in 2012 to what we experienced in 2011. This is because the strong La Nina conditions from 2010/11 are back again for 2011/12 and while weaker than last year will still be moderate in force.  

There is not much I can do about the weather – it is what it is – but there are steps that can be taken to mitigate for less than optimal weather.   Knowing that next season is likely going to have much of the same conditions as this year, I can adjust my strategies to help improve my results.       

Out of laziness, I skipped using plastic mulch for the squash patch in 2011.   I will not be making that mistake again in 2012.   The extra soil warmth created from the brown Infra-Red Transmitting (IRT) mulch can help mitigate for some of the cooler ambient temperatures.   In addition, I will be putting a grow tunnel cover over the squash patch bed for the first portion of the growing season to increase the air warmth surrounding the plants during the cool early season period.   My squash plants eventually grew quite vigorously last year (despite the cold conditions), but because they got such a late start due to the chilly spring conditions they were unable to set and mature fruit before the cold wet rains of fall arrived.   I need to ensure the start of the growing season is more hospitable for them in order to avoid the same problems in 2012.   Putting these plants under a grow tunnel cover during the spring period however, will increase the potential for mildews and fungal problems to develop so I will also have to use preemptive applications of organic fungicides.                   

I am also planning to use covers over the potato patch for the first month or so after planting to ensure a warmer soil condition and thus a faster start for the plants.    Another step I am planning to take to adjust for the expected repeat of cool conditions in 2012 is to start my pole beans indoors and set them out as transplants, because the cool soil conditions of a bad weather year make germination more difficult.   I did that with the corn in 2011 and we got a good harvest from the patch despite the weather.   I will (of course) be also starting the corn as transplants in 2012 as well.        

Weather was not the only issue though that resulted in our less than spectacular production results.   For some reason I seemed to have completely skipped using containers on my deck to grow crops in during 2011.    I am not really sure why that happened actually.   Usually I use quite a few containers to expand my growing options and make full use of the limited area on my property that gets adequate sun.   I will definitely be putting my containers back to work for the 2012 growing season.  

While I am not thrilled with the overall level of production of the garden in 2011, there definitely were some excellent performers.   At the top of my list is the Lady Bell peppers.   These sweet red bell pepper plants grew vigorously, had a beautiful leaf canopy that kept to a low and compact growth habit, and produced a significant amount of good sized peppers that went to fully mature/ripened status with little pest or disease problems.   Definitely a winner for my growing region and conditions and I will be growing these again without hesitation.  

Another super performer this year was the celery patch.   I put it in a bed that is actually my worst bed on the property due to significant shading during much of the day.   The bed was amended with composted chicken manure as well as usual home brew compost.   The celery plants responded very favorably to the combination of cool weather, super amended soil that retained water exceptionally well, and seemed quite happy to be in partial or even full shade for large portions of the day – something most other plants (other than lettuces) would not be very tolerant of.   I will be rotating them to another bed area in 2012 but they are going to go into a nearby location that is similarly situated and I will be repeating the soil amendment combo for that planting area in 2012 as well.

The celery, peppers, rhubarb, Napa cabbages, green and red cabbages, kales, pac choi, corn, turnips, parsnips, peas (both shelling and snap), garlic, and lettuces all performed quite well in 2011.    In the “okay but not great” category, I would include the potatoes, bush beans, spinach, leeks, cucumbers, beets, swiss chard, Legend and Defiant tomatoes, and broccoli.    And the winners of the “poor performers” category would have to be the carrots (carrot fly infestation took out much of the crop), pole beans, onions, other tomato varieties outside of those specifically named previously, pumpkins, winter squash, and zucchini.   Yes, you read that correctly…. zucchini is on my list of low performers for the 2011 year.   Amazing I know, but it is true.   All of the squash family with the exception of the cucumbers (which made it into the “okay but not great” category) were dismal producers in this extremely cool growing year.         

That pretty much wraps up my 2011 production assessment and planned 2012 adjustments.   I think with the adjustments I am planning to make, I can improve the production in 2012, even if it does turn out to be another exceptionally cool growing year.                                            

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things. ~ Horace

It’s pretty easy to focus on our gratefulness during the one day a year we reserve for that purpose.   It’s all the other days that pose a little more challenge.   It is hard to regularly recognize all the good things in my life and actively capture and hold that deep sense of gratefulness that only comes from realizing how different my life would be were it not for the kindness and selflessness of others, or if I were not so fortunate as to be living with whom I do; where I do; and with access to basic physical comforts such as food, shelter, and warmth.                             

What makes it hard to regularly immerse myself in true gratitude is that life regularly doles out challenges, disappointments, and (like most other humans) I possess the innate desire to possess something more than what I may have at any given moment.   It is hard to see past these distractions and return to a genuine sense of being humbled, amazed, and truly grateful for all the benefits that are showered upon me each and every day.    Sometimes though, someone or something gives me pause and opens the door to a moment of true gratitude.

It has been absolutely pouring rain for the past day or so in my area, the kind of relentless rain that soaks you through even if you make a mad dash from a building to your waiting car.   Yesterday, while running a quick errand during my lunch break, I was stopped at a corner preparing to make a right hand turn into a long line of mid-day traffic when I saw a homeless man that I often stop and talk to when I am out and about.   He was on the opposite side of the street from where I was, making his way across four lanes of traffic in the heavy rain, carrying his worldly possessions in a canvas pack that has seen much better days.   He was obviously heading towards the wooded area where many of our homeless individuals take refuge.   As I waited for a break in the traffic to make my turn, I watched him cross the street in the heavy rain, walking through deep puddles of water, knowing he was heading to an area that would hardly afford him any better protection than just standing out in the rain as he was.   As I watched his wet progress from the warm comfort of my car, he looked up and recognized me.   A smile lit up his face just as bright as if the sun had broken out of the dark and stormy sky above and shone a beam directly at me.   A cheery wave of recognition and he turned and resumed his watery trek across the soaked road.   In that fleeting moment I was struck with absolute and profound gratitude.   Someone with so little and whose prospects at that moment were so dreary - was genuinely happy to see me and wanted nothing more than to let me know that.    Oh that I could bottle that sense of gratefulness to pull out and flavor every day of the year! 

Here’s wishing you and your family a Thanksgiving filled not just with the abundance of harvests from our gardens, but with a deep and abiding gratitude for those common things that grace our everyday life.  

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

Deb at "At Home on Paradise Cove" posted this and I feel compelled to share this too.     This is a wonderful summation of why our Modern Victory Gardens (aka Kitchen Gardens) are so important.    It speaks to all the issues I find so important and try and discuss regularly here on this site and blog.     This is both a fun and an informative video and I encourage you to take a moment and watch it.                             

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

The mid-week blog updates are getting more challenging lately.   The leaves have turned on our trees but are largely still attached to the branches.   Once they are off the trees I will be raking them up and composting them, or using them to mulch and protect the artichoke plants, but for now it is not time yet to do that.                                       

The garden beds with winter crops are growing (albeit very slowly now) under the extra protection of a grow tunnel; or in containers in the greenhouse; or for extra hardy items - exposed but covered with bird netting to keep my hens out of them.   The fall and winter crops do not require much care during the dark days of winter as the weeds are not growing much either, and the soil stays moist for long periods (even when covered) due to the colder temps and damp conditions.   There will be very minimal watering and weeding chores for the next four months.          

The spent summer crops have been removed and the plant debris added to the compost bin.   The garlic has been planted.   The pumpkins have been brought into the warm house to finish ripening since they were so late setting this year and did not quite make it to the finish line before the cold fall rains arrived.   To summarize, there just is not that much going on out in the garden at the moment worth talking about.   However, the food production garden still occupies my mind quite a lot during the late fall and winter season even if I am not physically in it very much at this time.   If you are serious (like I am) about providing for all of your family’s vegetable needs from the garden, there are several important management issues to stay focused on during this low period in the garden season.               

First, I have to really be careful to avoid overharvesting the winter hardy and protected crops.   A fall / winter garden is really nothing more than plants that have been grown to a mature state prior to the arrival of the really short and dark days of winter and then held in a state of near dormancy for fresh harvesting as needed.   If the plants are mature enough and hardy enough to survive winter conditions (usually with the assistance of some protective cover) they will provide a fresh source of food.   However, with the diminished strength of the sun, much shorter day length, and cold winter temperatures, these plants may survive but are certainly not going to continue to grow much (if at all) and therefore will not bounce back after a harvest with new growth.   Particularly if your garden is like mine and goes into heavy shade during the winter months  because the winter sun sits so low on the horizon that it causes the trees that edge our property to block the sun for much of the day.   Given this fact, a sufficiently large amount of crops must have been grown to provide adequate fall / winter supply and harvesting must be done judiciously to spread the benefit of the fresh harvests out over the greatest period of time possible.   The trick is to use stored and preserved items for the most part, but to augment that with regular infusions of fresh harvests.   Having enough of both supplies and knowing how to pace yourself through each of them during the winter season is something that you pretty much have to learn through personal experience, because every garden's capacity to produce, and every family’s needs, are going to be different.   Unfortunately, just as you start thinking you’re getting pretty good at balancing both parts of the equation (fresh harvests and stored items) something changes to mix it up again!   In our case, our daughter moved away to attend college and suddenly the household I was feeding was down by one person.        

Another critical component of keeping the garden working as much as possible throughout the year is to keep the pipeline going that adds new items to the growing mix.   There is a window of time in the late fall where I stop planting anything and I am currently in that time period, but it does not last very long.   By the end of December or first part of January, I am starting hardy greens inside under grow lights and in the warmth of the house or shop, so that they are ready to be tucked in under the protection of the grow tunnel or greenhouse in early February (or soon afterwards) to take advantage of the gradual increase in day length and sun strength that starts really happening after Imbolc (most of us know it as Ground Hogs Day and is the mid-point between winter solstice and the spring equinox).   Plants begin responding to the increasing day length and sun strength and slightly warmer conditions by once again growing (although slowly in this early period).   Having some new crops coming along is a real help as the winter storage foods start becoming depleted in March and April, and the summer garden crops are still many months away at that point.   The steady schedule of regular succession planting really gets started thereafter and keeps going until once again late fall arrives.   While it is too early to start these next generation transplants, it is not too early to assess whether the seeds needed for this mid-winter seed starting are on hand.                                                                                

What is happening in your fall / winter garden and how are you doing on the levels of fresh harvests and stored items?   Are they keeping up with your vegetable needs?              

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

My garden is not just a hobby.   I definitely enjoy it and find great pleasure in the time I spend in the garden, but I have a definite purpose to what I do.   To put it simply, the primary objective is to feed this household with all of our vegetable needs and as much of our fruit as is possible, and to do it in a fashion that is economical, significantly less reliant on fossil fuels, and produces food that is nutrient dense and of a quality surpassing that which I could acquire even from local suppliers.   The challenge is to do this in my “spare” time and within the limiting factors of my property and location.   Specifically, tall trees surround our property so only a portion of our land receives adequate sun exposure for most vegetables.   In addition, I live in a coastal/maritime climate that is cool and frequently cloudy.   The combination of these two factors means that most vegetables grow more slowly here than they usually do in other areas that receive more sun exposure and warmth.   On the plus side though, our mild winters allow us to grow and harvest frost-hardy crops virtually year-round and our abundant rainfall through much of the year means that irrigation efforts are generally minimal and mostly confined to the brief dry period we get in late summer (Mid July through September).   

Since I garden with purpose, I find it useful to periodically take stock on how I am doing.   Reflecting on what is working (and what is not) helps me to make useful adjustments and often challenges me to increase my efforts in certain areas.   I have been thinking about a couple of topics lately but one in particular has been occupying my focus more than others – that being the goal of achieving greater independence from fossil fuels in the food production garden.  

The abundance of fossil fuels is declining and demand globally continues to climb.   As a result, everything made with oil has been (and will continue to) cost more.   Many things in my garden are products of oil – the PVC pipe I use for grow tunnel supports and the plastic sheeting that I drape over them, the hose I use to water my garden with, and even the waterproof gloves I love to wear in the garden – all are examples of how fossil fuels are present in my garden.   I know I will not erase oil from my life or my garden, but I do try to consciously make decisions to keep my fossil fuel dependence as low as I can practically make it.   To the extent I purchase an oil based product, I want it to be something that will be durable and long lasting as opposed to a repetitive input to the garden production system.   Making those kinds of decisions and efforts translate into economic savings and ultimately a more sustainable food production garden.    

The things I think I am doing reasonably well at to keep my fossil fuel dependence minimized in the garden include:

• I almost entirely use manual tools in my garden.   The tools I regularly use include a sturdy and well-engineered broad fork (for aerating and loosening the soil), a shovel, garden spade, garden fork, pitchfork, a hoe, a rake, a three-pronged cultivator, and a scuffle hoe.   I have acquired over the years some really well made tools and I take good care of them.
• I don’t use chemical fertilizers that come from fossil fuels and I don’t use oil based pesticides or herbicides in my garden either.
• I reuse and recycle garden pots and planters.   My friends and co-workers often bring me pots to reuse such that I am actually heavy on inventory of them at the moment.   Occasionally my supply gets depleted but I have found that all I have to do is mention I could use some and people start bring them to me in great number.
• I use my PVC hoops, plastic sheeting, and bird netting over and over again.   When not in use, I carefully store them away to keep them from unnecessary sun exposure that causes deterioration.

Things I need to improve on (or have recently started changing) include:

• I still use a gas powered weed whacker about four times a year to clean up and mow down the weeds and grass in the garden walkways.   It’s really the last vestige of gas powered tools left in my garden tool arsenal that gets regular use.   The amount of walkway area makes it rather impractical (and expensive) to try and put down weed barriers and mulches.   Mowing and trimming truly is the simplest and least fussy option with my raised boxed edged beds and larger garden size.   Consequently, I am planning to look into purchasing a narrow (small) push reel mower to keep the main walkway areas mowed down and then when my current gas powered trimmer finally dies (as they always eventually do) I will purchase an electric trimmer to use on a more limited basis to trim up against the edges of the beds periodically.   I need to learn how to properly sharpen the blade of a reel type mower though if I go this route.   A knowledge and skill I currently do not have.
• I use plastic starter cell packs to start seeds in.   I rinse and reuse them a few times, but they are thin plastic, which cracks easily, and often I only get two uses out of them before they must be discarded.   About a month ago, I purchased a basic soil block maker and am intending to begin using it with my next seed starting efforts.   I plan to just repot the seedlings into larger recycled pots  so I did not purchase anything but a basic medium sized block maker (cost about $35).   I have a learning curve ahead of me with this, but I think it will be ultimately more economical and certainly less resource wasteful.
• I need to work harder at keeping my purchased and transported inputs for the garden as minimal as possible and to find local (preferably free!) sources for items I do need.   Less packaging and less transportation means less fossil fuel dependence.   Food crops are generally heavy feeders and deplete the soil if a replenishment program is not constantly employed.   Compost is a great amendment but rarely of high enough quality to provide all that food crops need nutritionally without the addition of other fertilizers.   I periodically remineralize the garden soil with the applications of rock minerals which provides slow release phosphorus and potassium, but the garden still requires applications of nitrogen sources on a regular basis.  Recognizing this, I am going to begin a separate compost bin operation to gather up pure (not mixed with bedding) chicken poop from my hens and try and create a more concentrated composted chicken manure product and to do it in such a way that I don’t lose too much nitrogen via leaching and off gassing.   That will require using a more closed container approach for this particular composting.   Not sure what I will repurpose for that project, but I am on the hunt for something that will serve the purpose. 

I have other topics that I have been thinking about recently, but I will save them for some future blog post.   Do you think about this topic in the context of your vegetable garden and do you have things you are working on as a consequence?  

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

"There is more to life than increasing its speed."

--Mahatma Gandhi                               

My professional life often necessitates long days at the office.   I also have other life responsibilities and personal pursuits that demand my time and attention periodically.   So how does that fit with a home food culture that revolves around meals that are largely made from scratch and feature produce from the garden?   It’s a question often posed to me by people who are truly interested in choosing to live a more simple and local food based life, but struggle with how to blend a modern (often fast paced) life with a slower and more time consuming approach to feeding ourselves and our families.   There is no “one size fits all” answer, but I would offer up the following observations based on my own experiences.   

Small Amounts of Work Done Frequently Vs. All or Nothing Work Marathons                        

I am the youngest of six children and my parents struggled financially to feed all of us and keep a roof over our heads when I was growing up.   They did sensible things to manage our family food supply given their limited resources – including growing a large garden every year.   What was not sensible was how they managed that effort.   In their defense, they were just doing what many other people did (and still do).   Each year there was the big “planting day”.   The large garden area was rototilled and then all of us went out and worked from sun up until we were dragging – planting absolutely everything for the garden season all at once.   This typically was done on mother’s day weekend, which was the designated safe day to plant for that area.   Everyone then largely ignored the garden except to occasionally run a sprinkler on it during dry spells.   A day would finally come though when my mother would declare, “the garden needs weeding”.   This of course was a laughable understatement because no one had touched the garden for weeks on end and it now more closely resembled a hay field than it did a vegetable patch.   Back out to the garden we were all marched, like chain gang prisoners on work duty, and toiled until exhaustion set in trying to set to right the weed infested garden.   This pattern of “all or nothing” work marathons continued throughout the garden season and into the harvesting and preserving.   I honestly wonder to this day how I ended up loving to vegetable garden as much as I do – given how much I absolutely came to dread these brutal workdays.                               

Despite these experiences I did keep up the practice of maintaining a home food production garden when I set up my first household as a young adult.   Thankfully I quickly learned that the garden was much easier to manage if small amounts of work were done on a more frequent and regular basis.   Cycling through the garden by small sections to do watering, light weeding, and other routine maintenance rather than doing all of the garden in one marathon day of work not only provided improved results from better overall management, but suddenly gardening was actually a pleasurable activity.   Who knew?!                            

To this day, the only time I ever really feel a little overwhelmed by the garden and related tasks, is when I end up banking up routine tasks because travel or other matters keep me away from the garden for a prolonged period of time.   What works best is to have the garden be a regular part of our every day lives (all through the year) and to do smaller amounts of work on a much more frequent basis.        

The practicality of my professional life though, is that there are some days during the work week where I am lucky if I can do a fly by look at the garden as I race out the door in the morning.   Similarly, there are usually several evenings each workweek where it is impossible to get home at an early enough hour to do anything productive outside and often even restricts how much time and effort is possible for the evening meal preparation.   Not every day is like that though.   I manage to do a morning garden “walk about” several times during the week.   It only takes about 10 minutes of my time; is a calming way to start the day; and I usually take care of one or two small items while I am at it.   On the evenings I do manage to get home at a reasonable hour, I harvest items and do other simple chores.   Bigger projects and work efforts I save for when I have a larger block of time available on the weekend.                                   

Use What Time You Do Have As Efficiently as Possible                 

It is truly amazing what I do manage to get done in the limited time I may have available on any given day.   For example, often before I do an evening harvest, I will start a soaker hose running in the garden - setting the simple manual timer on the spigot to turn the water off after two hours has elapsed.   I then go on to do some harvesting, weigh and photograph the produce, cook and enjoy a nice dinner, tidy up the kitchen, do some laundry, edit and upload digital photos, do a blog update or other tasks that need doing etc.   Eventually I end up popping back outside to turn the water completely off, usually in conjunction with shutting the chicken door on the coop and checking on the hens to make sure they are all safely in for the night.   If for some reason I should get distracted and don’t actually return to manually shut off the spigot – no worries because the timer will take care of that for me.            

Another efficiency step I like to take is to do preserving efforts in larger groups and by processing multiple items in the same work effort.   This is an exception to the “small amounts of work on a more frequent basis vs. marathon work efforts” concept discussed above, but it works for me.   The reason it works is that a large part of the time spent in processing garden produce for freezing or canning - is the setting up and putting away of necessary equipment and supplies, cleaning up the mess created, and actual prepping of the produce.   If I can get more done each time I do set up and take down work, and then establish a kind of assembly line approach to the produce preparation – I can reduce the overall amount of time spent on food preservation activities.   Once I have the kitchen in chaos, the pots of water boiling, and all the supplies out, I just want to do as much as possible so I don’t have to do that again for a while.   I don’t mind canning and food preserving, but I like gardening and general cooking a whole lot more.          

Create Your Own Alternatives to Convenience Foods                  

I like to take advantage of days where I have a little more time at my disposal to create my own alternative to convenience foods.   If there are some basic pre-prepped items on hand, it is easier to cope when time is more restricted.   For example, yesterday I harvested lettuce.   I harvested far more than we could possible need for one evening’s meal.   In fact, we did not have any salad that night, as dinner was a stir-fry of a lot of other fresh harvested items.   I harvested this lettuce though for the purpose of making life simpler for the next several days.                           

After dinner was done, I washed the lettuce and spun it dry in my salad spinner.                            

The lettuce was then torn into bite size pieces and placed in a very large bowl.                                 

This was then covered with plastic wrap and the whole thing was placed in the fridge.                                

Similarly, I keep a dozen hard boiled eggs on hand in the fridge (also done when I have a moment or two of extra time) and the freezer has bags of frozen sliced celery, sliced peppers, and diced onions which can be scooped out and used in cooking on an as needed basis.     It takes about 20 minutes to boil eggs, cool them down, and put them in the fridge.   These simple steps along with purposefully cooking more than we need when making meals (so that we have leftovers in the fridge on a regular basis) forms the foundation of my alternative convenience meals.                 

The lettuce is used to make lunches or dinner salads.   By adding sliced boiled eggs, or slices of left over grilled meat, or crumbled goat cheese and some nuts, craisins, and/or croutons.   Voila!   You have a very tasty main course salad with less than five minutes of prep.   Another fast meal is to use our fresh hen eggs to make omelet’s, filling them with grated cheese and some diced (frozen) onions and peppers that were quickly sautéed until tender.   The frozen veggies were already prepped so this is a very fast meal to prepare and yet very satisfying.   And of course, the ultimate convenience meal is to just reheat some leftovers from another day’s bigger cooking efforts.                            

Relish Having an Excuse to Slow Down                      

My last observation on this topic is that I personally relish having an excuse to slow my life down from the frantic pace of modern life.   I think many of us that are type A personalities feel vaguely uncomfortable with the idea of just “doing nothing”.   While I value and appreciate rest and relaxation, the truth is I actually “relax” more if I also feel like there is still something “productive” happening.   It’s kind of sad really that I feel that way, but it is the truth.   Gardening and cooking meals using the bounty of the garden results in a valuable contribution to my family’s well being.   The fact that I can provide that value while moving at a much slower pace, enjoying being outdoors, dressed in comfortable clothes, and taking lots of breaks to just admire and wonder at the science and magic that a garden represents – is pretty amazing stuff.                         

What are some of the secrets of your success in making your food production garden a part of your modern life?                

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

The weather in our region has been setting records this spring for wetter and colder than normal temps.   Last year was much the same but what made last year worse overall, was that it never really improved and the entire summer was cool and gloomy.   While we have started out cold and damp there is still some reason to be hopeful that summer will actually yet arrive this year and give us six to eight weeks of warmer and drier conditions before the onset of fall conditions.  

Our garden produce is important to us because it is the food we regularly eat.   Whatever the weather year turns out to be, I need to get the most out of the garden I can.   My challenge as a modern victory gardener is to manage weather risk as best I am able and maximize my garden’s productivity in all years.  

 In my garden, many crops are doing just fine despite the not so great weather so far.   Some of it can be attributed to the type of crop being grown.   I know my area is prone to this kind of weather so I plant a fair amount of cool weather loving crops like peas, spinach, cabbages, broccoli, kale, and other greens.   It is tempting to plant less of these and more of the sun and heat lovers like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, beans, and corn.   Given a choice, we love to eat the warm weather crops more than cool weather items but I have found it does not pay to fight the environment I am given, because the odds start to stack against me for success.   So I devote a fair amount of garden space to crops that will grow well in our area, even in the gloomiest of summers.   Recently I blogged about some of these staples for my growing climate – cabbages and kale.   These cool weather crops are (of course!) balanced with a decent amount of planting area reserved for warm weather crops, because not every year is cool and wet and even when it is – some items still produce satisfactorily despite the weather.  Like everyone else, we love those items too and certainly don’t want to do without them, even if they are challenging to grow in some years (for tomatoes it is most years!).         

Some of the warm weather crops are also doing okay this spring.   Much of that can be attributed to being well grown initially under protected conditions; careful hardening off before transplanting; and using additional protection once outside to keep the plants as comfortable as possible in the less than ideal growing conditions.   The pepper, basil, and tomato plants I grew extra early and then planted out with continued protection of either a grow tunnel cover or the unheated greenhouse are good examples of this.   I have five pepper plants in the greenhouse that are absolutely loaded with peppers and have lots more forming.   The tomatoes are growing and have fruit set and flowering.   And the basil is some of the nicest I have grown.   All of them have been grown under protective cover almost exclusively since being set out.   If I had just shoved these out into the elements at my usual planting time without going to the extra effort of giving them cover as needed – the results would not have been the same.   I can guarantee it.   It IS extra work to put covers on; to make sure they are ventilated adequately on warmer days – or to remove them entirely and put them back on periodically – but the effort is not that much for the potential reward provided.  

Not everything works out though despite efforts to manage weather risk.   Every year has its share of plant losses or reduced production from weather related stresses.   This year is no exception.   I lost all my cucumber seedlings transplanted out earlier this spring and had to reseed the lot of them.   They were just too unhappy with the cool and wet conditions.   The replacement seeds are starting to emerge but it is rather spotty and I will be surprised if I get much of a cucumber harvest this year.   Similarly, the first planting of pole beans did not germinate, not a one of them.   I recently reseeded these too and I am now wondering if any of those will come up because so far there is not one sign of them emerging.   I lost almost all of my zucchini transplants (granted I only put a few out) and several of my butternut squash plants.   I direct seeded some replacements of each of those too and am impatiently waiting for those to emerge as well.   The survivors are hanging in there but they are much smaller than they should be and are not exactly thriving.   My point in telling you all of these sad tales is not to garner your sympathy but to emphasize that this is just part of the process.   While disappointing, it is not the end of the world.   The trick is to roll with it and try to recover as best you can from these set backs.   If it is not too late to do another planting – then give it a whirl!   Ultimately you may salvage a decent harvest from the crop or at least salvage something of a crop.   If not, the beauty of gardening is that you have another chance at it next growing season.             

This year’s weather is certainly posing lots of challenges and more of my energy has to go towards managing weather risk, but on balance I think I have more successes than failures in that effort to date.                    

Tonight I snagged a few photos of things going on in the garden that I have not talked a lot about lately.   Here’s a picture of the back portion of the side garden area.   To the right you can see the spring broccoli patch growing and next to the greenhouse is the second generation horizontal pea trellis and the pea patch.   

The peas and broccoli are two of my “safety net” crops that grow wonderfully when we get prolonged wet and gloomy weather.   There is a limit to how much cold and wet they will take and still thrive, but their comfort with cool and damp weather is quite high.   The peas have gotten quite tall and are now up to the second horizontal trellis support and are not only latching on but growing on through.                              

The are just beginning to flower and within the next week this patch should become a mass of blossoms.                        

The broccoli is also doing well and has formed central heads as well as the first of the side shoots.   The heads are starting to size up and it will not be long now before we get to begin enjoying some fresh broccoli.   I am really looking forward to it because this is one of my favorite vegetables in the garden.           

Celery is a plant that does not like really cold conditions, but it is quite content with cool and wet.   It is a good crop for my region for this reason.   For those in drier and hotter areas it can be a real challenge to grow celery well, but it is another plant that is in my arsenal of “if all else fails weather wise, this one will grow just fine” crops.   I have a fairly big patch of celery growing this year and they have formed succulent stalks that are very crisp and good tasting.   The lack of heat stress and lots of wet weather has done them well.                                   

Some of the plants that are doing fine despite the weather are the bush beans and the corn.   Both are more than satisfactorily growing but they definitely would be further along if the weather were warmer and drier.   These are warm loving crops so the fact that they are holding their own is pretty admirable given they really have not gotten much help other than the corn - which was started indoors under lights and was pretty well grown before I planted them out.   Here are the corn plants the day I planted them out (April 30th).        

Now here is the same corn patch five weeks later on June 8th.            

The corn plants are obviously growing, are healthy, and progressing along, but given they went into the ground five weeks ago would typically be much taller by now than they are.   All things considered though, they look great and I am pretty pleased they are holding up so well.                    

The bush beans were direct seeded and are also small for their age, but again they are doing pretty good.   Much of that can be attributed to the variety of bush bean I am growing – Royal Burgundy.   This variety is known not just for the purple-podded beans it produces but for also being a good producer in cooler and wetter conditions.   Choosing varieties that work for your area’s climate is another critical part of managing weather risk.     

I hope the weather eventually warms up and dries out and stays that way for a stretch of time that could be properly called “summer”.   It would certainly make things a little easier.   No matter which way it decides to go ultimately, I have crops in the ground that will provide for us.  All part of the process of managing weather risk.               

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener