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lulu1107's Blog
All Aflutter...Almost
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:48 am Well...I never do things the easy way...but that makes life fun, albeit a bit messy. As far as I'm concerned, it a child shows interest in a subject, we will learn about it. Over the years I've become a temporary expert on jets, tanks, snakes, sharks, dinosaurs, all because a child led the way. Our eldest daycare student, Kyle, age 8, is now into caterpillars. It started about 2 weeks ago, when he discovered a very unique, extremely fuzzy tan caterpillar on our outside climber. He immediately became attached and literally adopted it! Of course he wanted to put it in a jar or a coffee can and "take care of it". I don't even want to think of the countless little creatures that have died that way, baking outside...forgotten in the hot sun. So, I suggested that Kyle find a nice home for the caterpillar in the oak tree that towers over the climber. I said he probably would eat that kind of leaf. Kyle was not prepared for the little guy to disappear amongst the leaves...He literally grieved for the rest of the day. Always one for finding a solution, I suggested that we order some caterpillars or google the kinds that are found in MD and look for some more. After two weeks, our Painted Ladies caterpillars came. We are even keeping cute little logs about their progress! Its a great activity for all of the kids. Yesterday the caterpillars started forming their chrysalids and will be moving to their new "digs", the butterfly house. The kids are excited, the moms are a bit grossed out, but tolerant! Kyle even found two more little black caterpillars yesterday! They were respectfully left outside at the end of our play time. We still check the parsley and fennel every day for Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars, but, probably due to those long weeks of coolness and rain, none yet. I think we should try ladybugs the next time... then I'll build up to being able to do the same with Praying Mantes, without screaming or making a face! I'm glad Aiden, one of the two witnesses to Jake the Snake, is perfectly happy with his growing collection of TOY snakes! This blog entry has been viewed 235 times
Hands Across the Water..Hands Across the Sea
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:22 am (Like the old Paul McCartney song goes...) I have been researching permaculture as it relates to vegetables and have discovered some incredible things! I googled perennial vegetables and eventually tripped over some names that weren't the standard items one usually sees on that list. When I saw Good King Henry and found out it was basically like a year round spinach, I was intrigued. A little later, after more goggling....Perennial Broccoli...WHAT?!!!! Yep, a plant called Nine Star.To me it seemed like a cauliflower and some have called it that. (Even better!) I was impressed! Then came Perennial Kale. Amazing! As I got deeper into this world of unusual perennials, I began seeing more and more UK and French websites and forums.... So I had a chat with a few people on an Irish forum. Someone on that forum was searching for perennial veggies, so she and I exchanged info. So, here I am, wondering how you mail a seed order form to BC, Canada, the wonderful nursery that has most of these unusual perennials. I'll find out tomorrow at the post office! This blog entry has been viewed 422 times
A Child's Mini Wonder House!
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:39 pm I've been trying to add more play places to our back yard. Money is always a factor, so no fancy stuff. The other day I found a great idea. It's basically for a willow or forsythia house! The cool thing is that it is a year round structure. The article I read said that seasonal dooryard gardens could be planted next to its "door", an opening. In fact, why not make a vine door out of a piece of lattice or something? The door would not move and would be open, but it would add to the effect. Depending on the time of year, bulbs, annuals,etc. could be in the little dooryard garden. If the willows had an internal pvc pipe support, or had some willow branches added for horizontal support, perhaps some windows and all-weather curtains could be added. Very small bushes could even adorn the "front yard" of the structure. I favor the non-flowering structure ideas, to be sure there are minimal encounters with bees in an enclosed area. Positioned near the Sunflower maze,it would provide hours of fun! I hope I fit!!!! This blog entry has been viewed 223 times
The Supreme Compliment
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:24 pm Over the Independence Day weekend I did what I'm used to doing...I worked and puttered. Friday and Saturday were spent literally clowning around (I'm a clown) at local events. Believe it or not,several hours in a full clown costume in the sun, face painting and making balloons may be a lot of fun, but it's tiring! So, what did I do to relax afterwards? I puttered in the garden with my three dogs close by. Now that's bliss. Of course there was a lot of sitting and watching the garden grow, too! Several of the neighbors were having a get-together on their back deck next door. The first thing on my agenda was to harvest. So there I was, in my comfortably frumpy garden clothes, with cucumbers and squash hanging out of the pockets! There's nothing better than having several hours to play in the dirt! This group of neighbors is actually focused around 4 men who love to compete with each other, share great ideas, talk sports and yard work...etc. The women kind of group together and the men do the same. When I first moved here 10 years ago I knew next to nothing about yard work and gardening. Slowly I have learned and am still learning. As I was busying myself in the garden on the 4th I was honored with the recognition that these neighbor guys usually reserve for each other. It was brief and simple, but a nice surprise.... One of the neighbors announced that I could grow anything (I wish) and he asked me how I do it.I was so honored I could only smile and stammer. He announced that I needed to come and touch all of their gardens (some sort of a good luck charm, I guess! The funny part is that they all have fantastic vegetable gardens! As someone who is self-emplayed and who kind of stays to herself, it was nice to get some recognition...although I garden for other, perhaps more selfish reasons...the joy of plucking a fresh fruit or veggie and popping it into my mouth!...Or, the serene, beautiful green private world that a garden creates...Still...it was nice to be one of "the guys" for a brief moment! This blog entry has been viewed 205 times
When Life Gives You Lemons...Make Lemonade!
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:49 pm You know the expression... When life gives you lemons. How true it has been for me! As a self-employed person, I've had to think outside of the box many times. So...what to do about the fact that I went through yet another spring without being successful at growing cabbage, brussels sprouts and cauliflower? Actually, the broccoli didn't do well, either. Hmmmm.... I've researched things and I have at least two factors against me...soil that tends to be acidic, due to the nearby oak (I may not be liming enough to compensate), and the garden probably is infected with clubroot. Could white fly also be a problem? There are a couple of ways to handle this... One, put together a raised bed elsewhere. Okay, that's on the agenda for late summer (fall garden).Two, eat the plants as sprouts instead. Why not just sprout them?! Aparently broccoli sprouts are quite a bit more nutritious than their full-grown counterparts. Problem solved.Yippie!!! This blog entry has been viewed 252 times
Sustainability... Yeah, We Can Do That!
Category: Getting Back to My Roots | Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:03 pm I'm ashamed to admit I've been playing favorites with my new veggie garden and my old one is feeling a bit put off! The old garden is 50+ percent partial shade, which makes it less than ideal for some of the more popular veggies. The new veggie garden is in a primo sunny spot and is thriving, chock full of broccoli raab, 4 kinds of tomatoes, at least four kinds of peppers, several kinds of eggplant, several pumpkins, green beans, summer squash, Proso Millet, Golden Amaranth, garlic and tall vining cucumbers. The neighboring sunflower maze is now almost as tall as me! I've been growing mizuna, kale, peas, lettuce, mesclun mix, several mustards in the old garden.With the summer heat, its time to re-do it. This would be my first 3 season year, if I pull it off! Recently I decided to transition the old garden to a perennial veggie garden. Bountiful Gardens (California company) has really neat stuff like Old King Henry, a leafy perennial veggie that dates back to the middle ages.It's like spinach. I'll also add French Sorrel, Perpetual Spinach, Rhubarb and Sweet Cicely to my existing Jerusalem Artichokes, Lovage, Egyptian Walking Onion, Welsh Onion, asparagus and strawberries. Presto changeo, I'm now in love with the old garden again!!! Each of these perennials can take a little partial shade and they are all hardy to at least my zone, 7. Never give up! There's always a way! The herb garden has taken on an Italian countryside personality of its own. Its at the sunniest, hottest side of the house, surrounded on all but one side by driveway or stucco. Hot and dry, just the way they they like it! To the established herbs I added six artichokes, from seed. They are looking impressive with their erect, jagged, silvery tinged leaves. The 5 kinds of Lavender are bursting with white or purple flowers and teeming with bees. The Greek Oregano is actually looking like a bush. Time for us to put it together with the little bit of Basil that I have and some of the pile of Italian Garlic I just harvested to patiently await the arrival of some tomatoes for a great pizza or sketti sauce. The Tansy and Rosemary are also helping to keep bad bugs off the "floor" of my veggie garden. I've strewn their leaves there and it's working! Each year we are getting closer to being able to cover a major portion of our food needs with our garden. Keep reading, Rhonda...Yep, I could be a modern day pioneer, with some work and a few dozen pointers! This blog entry has been viewed 202 times
We Will Rise Above Territorial Disputes and Heckling!
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:37 am The daycare kids and I have been checking our containers, the herb garden, salad garden, orchard and veggie garden daily. Somewhere along the line, probably after several days in a row of sampling, the two year old has decided that the strawberry harvest is HIS! When my 22 year old son got wind of this, he made it clear that the strawberries are HIS! Luckily, the containers are the ones ready for harvest right now and the blueberry patch's alpine and musk strawberry ground covers will be ready to eat soon! Meanwhile, I've made a couple of slip-ups with the salads. What's an occasional oak catkin or beetle in the grand scheme of things, anyway!!!! The daycare kids and I harvested some salad yesterday. They each took turns practicing their scissor skills, cutting one leaf at a time and putting it in the bowl. (That's where all of my gardener's patience serves me well!) We washed it, added some fresh peas (also from the garden), a few other things, and began digging in. I, of course, served up big plates to my two kids as well. My 17 year old daughter begged me to please serve her something canned soon, because she had dutifully "forced this stuff down for you" for weeks now!!!! That wasn't the end of it, though. My kids started making casual remarks to the daycare kids about finding various creepy crawlies coming out of their recent salads!!! (I've gotten VERY thorough and I think I've got a good system now.) Luckily, my sweet little daycare kids kept munching away, proud that they had grown this fine salad from seed to plate. Haaa haa, Jeremy and Cassie, you sassy chips off the old block, you!! This blog entry has been viewed 234 times
Accidental Gardener
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 2:25 pm My sister, Nina, called this morning and, as usual, we chatted away for a while. The conversation got to plants after I lamented the fact that, these days, I always seem to be talking about work, paying bills or trying to replace my car! ...or plants...I added to the conversation. That immediately focused our chat on some mystery herbs that she needed identified, so I took a whack at it. "This one has small blue flowers at the top and the leaves are green, but a bit fuzzy." "Are they oval?" "Oh, sounds like Sage," I said. "You can use that in poultry and stuffing dishes." Then she asked about ones that looked like green sticks with little stick-leaves coming out of them. I asked her to smell it. "Does it smell like stuffing or pork roast seasoning?" "Ah, its probably Rosemary. Does it look like a little pine?" Then I suggested she use an infusion of it as a hair rinse, or put it in a spray bottle as a bug repellent or natural disinfectant. These two herbs were lucky. My sister's style of plant care suited them perfectly!!! Apparently, a long-forgotten pumpkin also "evolved" into little plants, so, of course I asked for one or two! I think the plethora of farming genes we have in our family just might be waiting to be "switched on" in my sister! If I'm wrong, she can definitely handle the cooking and I'll supply the herbs! This blog entry has been viewed 207 times
Great Day in the Sun............flowers
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 7:24 pm I think the bug has bitten my daycare student named Jamie. Not only did she bring her banana peel to daycare (to be composted out back), but she and I single-handedly put the young sunflower plants into their proper places and set up our maze! Its simple, with basically only one L shaped leg and a secret "room" at the end, but it still took almost 30 plants. Its a good thing we love sunflower seeds! Hope the bunny will help us eat some...KNOW the birds will! In my mind's eye I can see the kids frolicking and hiding amongst the towering plants with huge, bright flowers perched happily overhead. That's half the fun of gardening...anticipating what is to come. Now for the "layering". Next we'll plant edible amaranth all along the outside of the maze to help keep the boundaries well defined... We'll finally have some fun hide and seek places as well. I'll be sure to take some pictures of the kids enjoying their maze this summer. It is proving to be an original, inexpensive, simple, relatively quick play yard project that I'm hoping will provide lots of hours of imaginative play. We'll soon see. This blog entry has been viewed 244 times
Bad Mulberry News
Category: Sharing the Joy with Others | Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 5:41 am Well, I won't be screaming with joy about the Mulberry finally bearing fruit THIS year. There's always next year. There's lots of good news, though. My kids borrowed a tiller from their dad as my mother's day gift. I was dragged and zigzaged all over the garden by that thing until I got the hang of it! I plan to put Quinoa, Amaranth and Millet there. The Seckel Pear and French Petite Plum arrived and are settling into their new homes. I also planted a Salal (used to be used to add to buffalo meat by Native Americans), which gets pretty big in the shade and has tasty berries. Not far away from that is the new Oregon Grape. This is the first year I've had a cool season crop. It's coming along very nicely, filled with peas, India greens, mitzuna, kale, lettuce, mesclun, carrots, radishes, Italian dandelion, corn salad and more, all neatly arranged. Basil and artichokes are now peppered into the side garden near some thriving herbs. I added more lavender, some southernwood, another hardy rosemary, some lemon verbena, Egyptian mint and lemon grass. This year's tomato garden is hopefully going to be tall (trip-l-crops)and will be accompanied by eggplants, cucumbers, green beans and several kinds of peppers, including anchos. My son tasted the first fresh radish from the garden. Won't be long until harvest season! Let's not rush it, though. Half of the fun is in the preparation! This blog entry has been viewed 232 times
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