It's the end of the year and how did that happen?

 

This is my feeble attempt to write a blog....... I don't know where the time goes, I really don't. The older I get time seems to flit by faster than a rat in a drainpipe and somebody just flushed twice.  Then again so much has gone on since August 2nd, it's been hard to keep track of everything. 

Even after "Critter Siege 2024" the tomatoes and peppers rolled in.  The tops of the carrots were gone but underground carrots remained.  What is it about digging carrots out of the ground after a good snow and freezing temps.  All those carbs converting to sugar making them candy sweet.  We have had oven baked carrots every week since the snow and vowed to plant more next year, they are that good.  For the first time I did not need to buy tomatoes from the guy up the road; there were enough to fill the basement and then some.  Heirloom varieties took a hit in the heat and drought of 2024 and I learned not to ever just plant one variety of anything.  There were so many garden lessons learned in 2024; I am grateful to still be learning.  

The storms rolled through about once a month, or we would have had no rain at all.... 

Maybe this winter I can catch up on all the garden chaos of 2024, maybe not (I have projects planned). 

As storms intensified we got serious about taking the giant spruce down that threatened to topple each storm.  I cried and my heart hurt as it protected the house from harsh winds in the winter and cooled us in the summer.  It hosted so many families of birds and raccoons.  It was our very first Christmas Tree when we moved into this place over 40 years ago.  I planted a new tree, a serviceberry for the birds. 

Then the Miller reunion..... our album cover for 2024.  

After another Miller whirlwind visit, it was back to work

and now it's the holiday season........

I just landed back home from a quick trip out to the grocery store.  I am NOT in the holiday spirit this year.  I've not baked and have no intention of baking.  I have not done one show this year and not missed it.  There are no decorations tossed about the house. It's just different this year.  Am I blaming it on global warming, democracy going down in flames, the food supply in peril; all the above?  Retail is so depressing this year. 

BUT I thought I'd stop at a retail establishment that is usually decked out to the doors and beyond to get my jingle going.  Parking lots were filled, I parked across the street and walked across a four lane street to get there..... the first grumble begins.  Made it to the store in a stiff wind and it was absolutely packed but the explosion and sense assaulting atmosphere called Christmas was present in its full glory.  The check out line snaked to the back of the store and not one smile was to be seen. Two women working the registers scanned like mad and never looked up; stick a fork in them, they're done.   After my 180 degree scan, I moonwalked out the door and scurried back across the four lane highway, it was too much.  Waving the happy Fuck you to the guy who blew his horn as I stayed in the crosswalk.  He should be grateful I didn't launch myself onto the hood of his car like the rabid raccoon I am deep down inside.  I could easily peel those wipers right off his car!  Phew, back to my van and take a deep breath.  Rummaging through the grocery bag as I wait to vault into brake lights, horn blowing and cursing, my hand found the giant bar of dark chocolate at the bottom of the bag; intended for cookies in my dreams.  I ripped the wrapper off with my teeth and cracked off a square and another and another.  I had two squares left by the time I hit the driveway and I am not going back out.  But I have greens in the hoop house, and bourbon in the cupboard.  That will fill those Christmas stockings.   Or remember getting an orange and you were thrilled?  

Am I getting old or just over capitalism?  I am so happy to be watching birds at the feeder and walking to the hoop house.  I put twinkle lights on the hoop house and may just slap a bow on that for the holidays; it makes me happier than anything you could stick in my stocking!  

So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and do whatever it is you need to celebrate.  

Peace and well being to all🎄

Under attack.........

 

2024 the year of the great battle to get one tomato!  Never in the years of gardening have we been invaded in such numbers or vehemence.   We have grown a crop of robust, vigorous, critters who will take the hit on the electric fence and keep raiding.  I think they come from old Viking stock and wear helmets.  

First the chipmunks arrived.  Agricultural fabric was draped over everything and thought my worries were over.  Can you hear the chipmunks laughing?   Holes chewed everywhere!   I clipped the holes shut with clothespins and they just chewed another hole.  At the moment the insect cloth has more clothespins than an Amish clothesline on Monday morning. 

Bring on the neighborhood cats.......... Rufus, will work for belly rubs.

The deer wiped out row after row of carrots, so at night the covers went on.  It worked on the carrots but just bumped them over to the hoop covers; poking their heads through the covers to chomp down broccoli and tender kale shoots.  

Installed heavier rocks and clamps to hold the netting down and so far so good.  

 

Ran over to the neighbors to celebrate the 4th of July with a potluck dinner.  I was gone a maximum, two hours.  Walked across the backyard and found this......

Brussel Sprouts and Eggplant gone......... break out the traps for the band of evil groundhogs.  

Yes, I hate them!  And one pooped in the freedom bus on his way to paradise; I will never get that smell out of the van but it does entertain the dog when we go for car rides.  He can't figure out where the groundhog is hiding in the van and why are the windows are open all the time. 

Planted two rows of carrots and found these..... asian jumping worms, invasive AF.

Put them in a plastic container and tossed in the freezer.  Dead! 

Sifted through the dirt and compost looking for every single one I could find and planted two rows of carrots. 

The skunks came in two nights in a row and excavated for even more worms!  Carrot crop decimated in the process.  Tossed my trowel in the air and walked in the house. 

My winning streak and apathy lasted 48 hours.  As bad as things get there are always tomatoes and peppers.  It's been like that forever around here.  I could live with the slugs, snails, birds, groundhogs, deer, skunks, japanese beetles, squash vine borers and on and on because you were at least going to get tomatoes! 

Not this year! 

Thought it was skunks, nope fat bastard raccoons who apparently sent postcards out to their nearest, dearest and distant cousins.  Count the eyeballs!  I've trapped 6 raccoons and there is no end in sight so I'm trying to live with them because I will never trap them all! 

I installed the electric fence again and every night I would soak down the area with water from the rain barrels; when their grimy little paws hit the fence they'd get a double charged zap!  They took the hit to get to the tomatoes.  They must be wearing rubber underpants!   They're every where..... even the chicken coop!  

Hello..... 

The birds cleaned out the blueberries and blackberries.  And again the deer!  They ate the blackberry shoots down to the ground.  

On a good note the japanese beetles weren't too bad this year.  

I am one click away from ordering a pair of coyotes off Amazon or building a Lego Rocket launcher.

The heat and humidity have been off the charts.  I always order compost in the Spring.   This year I opted for 8 yards instead of the customary 18 yards.  Hoping to use wood chips in the way back garden.  

and three loads of wood chips, 8 yards each. 

Yes, my little wheelbarrow and I have moved 32 cubic yards of stuff.  

Started a hoop house but waiting for cooler weather to finish. 

Built new tomato trellis systems to keep tomatoes off the ground.   Soon to be wrapped in electrified barbed wire and moat. 

Trenched in heavy duty screening to keep the groundhogs from burrowing under the shed.

Lost two of my three chickens to bird flu ...... 

sometimes just no words to say how hard sustainability on a half acre can be.

It's hard because everything counts and everything has a job to do.  They were buried under in way way back very deep and covered with 6" of wood chips.  

Fern is the only chicken left and I am reluctant to pick up more birds until next year.  The cats come to visit a couple times a day and she appears to be doing well as now she gets all the treats.  She loves frozen corn on these hot 90 degree plus days.  And she is still gifting an eggs a couple times a week.  

The girls are free ranging over the rainbow bridge and eating all the treats..... no fences anymore! 

Godspeed girls see you on the other side. 

And through all this the garden still gave so much.  

and for that I am grateful ....... and yes I will keep pedaling. 

 

Yes, do all the things!

  Why do we attempt to do all the things........

First off let me say, I am not a "prepper" I am just ridiculously curious and interested in way too many "things".   If I don't get it right the first I will be tenacious trying to figure it out.  It has lead me down some endless rabbit holes.   Take from the past but spin it today to make it better.  Gardening, pottery, food preservation, weaving and on and on.  Is there a better way to be easier on the planet, reducing my carbon footprint?  

Somewhere mixed in with girls scout badges and old monopoly pieces I have my Ranger Rick badge and my ecology flag patch from the 70's...

But when your Mom is a Tupperware lady and you grow up with suitcases full of plastic and Tupperware parties abounding in that little bungalow in Parma, Ohio, well ...... plastic was just magical. 

That was my first recollection of plastic in our house.  It just wasn't around and store bought food was in a paper bag, even produce was in a paper bag or came out of the garden or a jar in the basement.  Water came out of the backyard hose and not a plastic bottle.  The hose was real rubber and probably should have killed us.  When I was around 6 years old, my Mom was one of the few woman who took a full time job as a secretary for USDA, PPQ (plant protection and quarantine) and there she stayed for the rest of her working life.  She took the bus to downtown Cleveland and returned each evening and did not want to make dinner.  Enter Swanson TV dinners and Stouffers Tuna Noodle casserole.  It was miracle food, packaged in aluminum foil and waxed cardboard.  Meanwhile "the kids" spent snow days, afternoons and every summer vacation or school break at a very Hungarian Grandma's house with homemade noodles, lard, a big garden and homemade soup.  Grapes drying on clean white sheets draped over a day bed for raisins.  My uncle brought in a dead pig that would be cut up and processed on the dinning room table and side meat was salted, packed in a barrel and stored in the coal bin of the basement. that would be distributed between 3 families.  He brought a gallon jar of milk every week, the top thick with cream.  We went down to Islays or Franklin ice cream store and bought half gallons of ice cream in square paper containers.  No plastic.  The morning and afternoon newspaper was kept on the counter for scraps.  The scraps were neatly wrapped and taken out to the compost pile after each meal.  I remember when we started getting trash collection and there was nothing to put on the curb.  

My Mom on the other hand couldn't get to age of Judy Jetson fast enough and yet my grandparents were firmly rooted in the early part of the century.  My Mom would go to work and host Tupperware parties in her polyester knitwear.  She raved about no ironing, wash and wear.  And yet she picked up a bucket of soap chips from those immigrant grandparents.  We saved all our fat in 3 pound coffee can and when full ran it over so they could make lye soap.  She did the laundry with that soap and there was always a bar sitting by the laundry tub in the basement.  We bounced between two worlds and never thought twice. 

It took awhile for my brain to make the leap to where I am today.  Boycotting plastic, buying old furniture, haunting the used clothing stores for jeans and jackets.  I had my first tour of a landfill in the 80's and it was the catalyst to say Whoa, what are we doing?  Plastic was everywhere and in everything and it was alarming.  By the 90's I was estate gardening full time and by the late 90's we were aware something was going on with the weather.  The summers were hotter than Hell and there were noticeable storms more often.  The gentle rains were a memory by the mid 2000's.  It became drought or flood.  Plants were stressed and gardeners were stressed trying to figure out growing patterns.  We have bounced up two growing zones in my lifetime.  That set off alarm bells.  

Then I noticed the furniture we going to buy for our home smelled funny and wasn't made of real wood but a composite. We decided not to buy and wait. 

 Americans throw away 12 million tons of furniture every single year! New York Times

Most of that furniture was made in the last 10-15 years.  We live in the age of fast furniture, less quality to be sure.  The older, second hand furniture is better quality and can last a lifetime or more.  We now buy gently used furniture and donate any furniture we no longer need.  Keep it out of the landfill! 

Then we joined Sierra Club and Nature Conservancy, started donating to several food banks.  The more we read and picked our heads up out of the sand the more alarmed we became.  What could we do to offset our carbon footprint of 13.6 tons of carbon per year?  I thought we were doing so much, our trash pick up gone down to one 13 gallon trash bag a week, still too much but it was all from food packaging.  Why cucumbers need to individually wrapped in plastic and then if you buy three wrapped yet again in plastic I will never understand.  We stopped buying cheese or any food that sat in plastic due to nano plastics etc.  Our yard waste is now pretty much circular, it stays on site and is chipped for mulch.  The only thing I won't let stay on site are rose bush prunings and diseased plants.  I don't do hot composting so it needs to go to a bigger facilities.  The average American household puts out around 48 metric tons of carbon. University of Michigan study.   These charts on food and transportation are pretty eye opening.

 Guess what we quit eating?  Dairy and our meat has been cut way back to once a week.  My driving has been impacted also.  Last year I drove 1/3 of what I did the year before.  I have decided to stop doing shows and instead will ship pots off to galleries or keep the galleries local.  We are making adjustments for heating and cooling at home too.  We are living very differently. 

So far this year I have walked enough on my treecard app to off set my carbon foot by 47 tons and I can also contribute to remove plastic from the ocean.  

If your are still on the fence here is some great data to read on snowy afternoon with a cup of coffee and if it doesn't alarm you enough to adjust your lifestyle I'm not sure what will.  

Climate data 1995 to present

As we plod through our new lifestyle I hope to keep this blog open for any ideas to make living on the planet a bit easier.  So far the best thing I have found for big carbon moments like a road trip or airline trip is buying trees from the Arbor Day Foundation.   So if you're headed to Antarctica and you are contributing 4.14 carbon tons (Sierra Club) to a warming planet,  why not buy a bunch of trees for the future of the planet.  I think it would be a great selling point if an airline or cruise just added that to their ticket, included in the price to haul you're privileged butt around.  If you work for a big corporation why not buy trees for the carbon your employees are putting out there.  We have entered a new era of zoom meeting and teleconferences.  It's not always necessary to hop on a fossil fueled antiquated system of travel but if you are, plant a few trees! 

Happy March!

Winter is back with a vengence and chickens.....

Oh March.......

 Snowy, windy mornings...... 

Of course I planted things outside already.  Of course it was a week of 60-70F weather.  Even then I considered cold weather returning, wild weather swings are the norm.  I expected a bit of snow.  I expected it to last 12-36 hours.  That would be normal, it's not normal anymore.  Did I expect 15F degree weather and high wind?  Nope.  

So I decided to run with it and did an experiment.  

These two beds are covered in single layer frost cloth and mulched heavily with shredded leaves, a few months old and planted in raised beds with cement block.

Kale, chinese cabbage, romaine lettuce and butter crunch lettuce. 

This bed is planted on the ground, no raised bed, single layer of frost cloth and not mulch.

I would say the most exposed of all beds.  Cabbage starts are  under the cloth.

Savoy, purple and jersey wakefield varieties

These two beds are planted in the ground, no mulch and double frost cloth. 

Cabbage, two varieties; little tiara and savoy.

This bed is somewhat protected, close to the house.  Double frost cloth, no mulch.

Kohlrabi variety Kossack and white turnips, variety; hakurei (hands down favorite of any turnip so far) 

I have not dared to peek under the covers, fearing total loss with temps low enough to freeze the ground.  The winds have been downright brutal, gusting to 45 mph.  This current weather pattern holds until next week when we creep into the 40's but at least above freezing.  A bit of sun would do wonders!  Stay tuned for the results.....

Quite a bit has been transplanted.  In the past I have always transplanted iris in August/Sept.  It never happened.  I now believe the people setting dates set in stone were men.  Women just know stuff is going to change and if there is time; DO IT! 

Lemon balm has been yanked out and unceremoniously plopped behind the compost pile.  I didn't even bother with the gardeners prayer; "Grow Dammit" because it just doesn't matter.  No one ever said; " Oh I think I need more lemon balm!"  No one!  

I need to move the cold frame to make way for the cattle panel hoop house.  Ran out on a Saturday morning, cleaned it out, moved the panels and tried to pick up the end.  Groan, pull again.  Grunting, cursing, off to get a pry bar......nothing.  Completely forgot I sunk the 4x4's about 2 feet in the ground.  Even with the wet ground it was not budging.  I need to take each board off and move it.  Argh.... another day!  Some days I just run out of gas.  

I sat on the edge of the cold frame with a hot cup of coffee and watched the chickens....

The girls did a great job on the compost pile and cleaning out the back garden!  Bravo ladies!  These three gals are going on 4 years and I get about 10-12 eggs a week.  More than I need.  They do have their drawbacks however.  While I was moving blueberry bushes I let them free range around the back garden.  I would dig and prep a large hole and by the time I got the blueberry bush out of the ground and wrangled the root ball and all to the prepared hole, the chickens had filled in the hole looking for bugs and treats.  Grrrr... re-dig and plant.  6 blueberry bushes later I had time to plant the brassicas in the raised beds.  As long as there is fresh dirt there are chickens on a mission.   Excuse me ma'am, we do have a dress code in the garden....... 

Looking over my shoulder, the ladies were raking fragile, shallow rooted blueberry roots with their talons of doom.  C'mon ladies!  There are 3 chickens, two stick together like glue and one is on her own.  I jumped to chase them off the preciously planted blueberries. They scattered in three different directions.  I went for the gang of two and herded them back to the chicken corral with a pointy rake.  Locked up I ran back to get the third, finding her chowing down on tender brassica starts.  Chickens 1 - Gardener 0.   Grabbed her and tossed in the corral with the other two offenders.  Between weather and chickens those kale plants don't stand a chance, I will be direct sowing in a couple weeks.   The chickens are currently on lock down until I get a chicken tractor made.  The red shoulder hawks have taken up residence in the maple tree next to the garden so free range is probably not a great idea this Spring.  They do continue to storm the gates with the eternal hope of escaping and wreaking havoc on fresh shoots in the asparagus and peony beds.  At night I have visions of them whittling little pitch forks and smoking cigarettes planning their jail break.  

It is the season for knee pads and weeding knives.... 

I don't think I could work without a hori.  I can't walk out the back door without pruners clipped to my pocket, knee pads strapped on and the hori shoved in my back pocket.  I could take a kidney out if I forget and sit down too quick!  or the chickens could use it as a shiv to make their break when I gather eggs.... I have urban thug chickens, not country chickens. 

Even with knee pads dirt happens.....

At the end of the day there is time for sunsets, beach fires and a really good dog who isn't trying to shiv the gardener for greener pastures ........ 

His new arthritis meds have helped so much...... :)