radishing radishes.

I know, I know. All of my attention has been focused on The Mini-Farm. So much so that you thought I'd forgotten my humble radish and carrot plot right outside my own front door. Not so! I've been checking on it almost daily (and watering as often).

Here's what I've found:

radish poster child. 

I'd say this one is almost ready to be picked!  It is also the most normal looking radish of them all; the rest of the stems are long and horizontal to the soil as they reach for the sun. Even growing sideways, they are beginning to swell!

We christened it...

(by "it" I mean our little plot in the community garden)...J&M's Mini-Farm. Or The Mini-Farm for short. Yahoo!

J and I began work on our plot 6 days ago. Here is a chronicle of the events:

Step 1: Bought all of the seeds and took hours planning where each plant should go. See my last post for all of the details.

Step 2: Measure and mark off the the 1 foot by 1 foot squares using stakes and twine.

J tying twine to a stake

The grid takes shape

 Step 3: Study the "map" and start planting!

 The map. A little hard to read, but you can sort of see that I have a place for each crop and how many of each crop can grow in a square foot. The map is based on the websites I shared with you in my last post. 

Step 4: Get really bummed because I forgot that some of the seeds had to be soaked overnight before going into the ground. Hence the beans, peas, beets (much to J's disappointment), chard, and parsnips had to sit out planting day. Boo! 

Step 5: Shrug it off and plant the rest of the crops. Leeks, carrots, kale, broccoli  and turnips are in the ground! 

Step 6: Water, water, water. 

a watering pro

Step 7: Go home. Place the beans, peas, beets, chard, and parsnips in ramekins of water and let soak.

Top row: beets, peas, chard

Bottom row: Beans, parsnips

Step 8: Return to plot a day and a half later, plant the remaining crops, now happily primed for germination. 

 

pea in a hole

Step 9: Water, water, water. Then proudly stand over your plot, beaming in the sunlight. Photograph it.  

  The Mini-Farm. In all of its glory. 

Oh, and in case you're wondering, those two craters you see in the front corners of the plot are where the leeks are planted. As the leeks begin to grow, we'll fill in the dirt around them to blanch the stems.

So, there you have it! Our first planting endeavor. I went to water the Mini-Farm yesterday (which would be Day 5 post planting) and I saw little turnip sprouts! So far, so good!

Will keep you posted on the Mini-Farm's progress. 

Blessings, 

M   

 

I bought the seeds.

:) :) :) :)

I bought the seeds for our little plot in the community garden! Here's what I got:

Shelling Peas (Progress #9)
Leeks
Broccoli (Di Cicco)
Beet (Early Wonder)
Spinach (Bloomsdale)
Turnip (Purple Top White Globe)
Swiss Chard (Five Color Silverbeet)
Kale (Dinosaur!)
Fava Beans
Oh, and I'll have a patch of carrots (and radishes, duh).

All of my seeds are from Botanical Interests. Mainly because this is what my grocery store (Henry's Markets) sells, and because they have plenty of heirloom and organic varieties.

I was aided in choosing my crops by this helpful planting guide, specific to Southern California.

I've decided to use the square foot gardening method since our garden is so tiny. It seems to be the most space-efficient (and organized) gardening approach. This website is incredibly helpful - it tells you how many plants will fit in a square foot, and how to figure that out based on what the seed packet says. Genius!

And then I made a little map of our 4'x6' plot on a piece of paper, with each square inch representing a square foot of our garden. I plotted out where each plant will go, because I'm anal like that. Once I figured out how many squares each plant would take (for example, in one square foot you can only have one broccoli plant but can get as many as 16 carrot plants) I looked up companion planting because heaven forbid I plant two varieties that don't get along right next to each other.

Figuring out where each plant would go was like solving one of those annoying math/logic problems they had us do in elementary school. You know, the ones that go something like "Jimmy is twice the age of Mary. Mary is four years younger than Bob. Bob is two years older than Jimmy. Kelly is seven, and is half the age of Mary. How old is Bob?"


Ok, don't try solving that because it doesn't really have an answer. (I just made it up) But you see my point. You remember those third-grade math meltdowns and getting all anxious because the problem was taking too long, and you just wanted to solve it and get on with the rest of your homework so you could go out and play. Except in my case (the what should be planted next to what case), it was a little more fun because I knew there was an answer and a point to my "figuring out" where everything should go, in spite of all of my erasing and re-writing, erasing and re-writing, and then finally! A finished plan!

Did I mention that I'm anal like that?

Can't wait to start planting in t-minus four days! Don't you worry, I'll take lots of pictures.

<3
M

What to do with sage.

Our church hosts a monthly produce exchange, where the community is invited to come and give excess fruits, veggies, herbs (and I've even seen books) and take what they wish. You can even come and just be a taker, no one minds, and even with all of the takers there are plenty of leftovers.

In fact, the produce exchange is such a wonderful event that I'll even abandon all of my former obsessions with privacy and tell you that the produce exchange meets the first Saturday of every month at the big, pink Methodist Church (hosted by Mountainside Communion Church, which meets there) on Palm Ave. So if you're local (or if you're not), don't say no one told you.


ANYWAY! All that's to say that I missed this Saturday's produce exchange because I had to work, but on Sunday morning there were all sorts of leftover goodies - limes, persimmons (personally, not a fan), and a beautiful glass jar full of sage and parsley!

I took four limes and the herb jar.

And I carried my little treasures home, all the while contemplating what on earth I would do with so much sage. There wasn't that much parsley, and parsley's not so hard to contend with.

So the herbs sat on my counter, looking all pretty like this for a couple of days:
 

 

isn't that lovely?

Of course, sitting around on my kitchen counter looking pretty can only last for so long. So today, I did some sage research (and here and here also) It has all sorts of culinary and medicinal properties, which these links can further explain. I decided to make an infusion of the sage leaves, some of which to be used on my hair as I am dandruff prone and the rest of which to be ingested as a warm tea, which has properties as a dietary tonic, memory booster, and mucus buster (helpful for allergies and asthma). 

I put about 2 cups of leaves in a small saucepan, fired up the teakettle, and then poured the just-below-boiling water over them and let them steep for about 1/2 hour. I strained the tea through muslin cloth into mason jars. There was enough for two jars. I tasted the tea - it is super strong, just as every website warned. I'd agree that it's an acquired taste. Quite bitter. Apparently the addition if lime juice and honey makes the infusion more palatable. And since I have limes (yay produce exchange!!) I'll have to try it. 

Be warned! Sage is not to be consumed in large quantities! One of it's essential oils (thujone) can build up and become toxic, causing convulsions. So don't drink sage tea with every meal every day and you'll be fine (this is purely anecdotal advice. I am not an herbalist). Oh, and don't take it when you're pregnant (thujone is an abortifactant) or nursing (unless you're weaning and want help with drying up your milk). 

Now that you've been fairly warned, a photo of the final product! 

two jars. leftover leaves to be frozen. used leaves and muslin. 

Do any of you grow sage? What do you use it for?

M

 

the news can be interesting.

I was listening to NPR on my way to work today and found myself smiling when I heard about how organic farms are popping up in China. Remember how, a couple of years ago, it was discovered that a Chinese brand of milk powder contained melamine? Well, apparently it stirred up awareness about food safety among the Chinese people, many of whom are turning towards organic.

Read (or listen to) the story here.

Blessings!

<3
M

general updates and goings on. (with an exciting announcement at the end)

First of all, it's time to update you about my itsy-bitsy garden. I'm sure you're all wondering how my radishes and carrots are doing, so here are some photos:

 

about 1 week after planting

1 

 does this mean good luck?

taken today!almost 1 month since planting

It's hard to tell if the radishes are doing better or if they're just maturing faster than the carrots. I know they are faster growing plants. At any rate, it's fun to grow things from seed! 

Let's see, what else is new on the home front? 

I'm still on the "no-poo" bandwagon, which has been a fun experiment. I've perfected my regimen and now here is what I do, for those who are curious:

1. I use diluted apple cider vinegar (about 1/2-1 oz vinegar to 12 oz water...just an approximation) as a rinse about every day. Sometimes I can skip a day, but if I just use water I notice my hair becomes dried out. We have very hard water where I live, maybe that is why. I just wet my hair and run my fingers through as though I'm shampooing (but I'm only using water) and then I rinse with the vinegar solution. I rinse the vinegar out with water. 


2. Twice a week or so I clean my hair with baking soda. I put a few tablespoons of baking soda in a little dish/ramekin and add warm water. I stir it up with my finger and then pour over my dry hair in the shower. The baking soda solution is definitely watery. I had to play around with the amount of water to get a consistency I liked. I then scrub my scalp with my fingertips and let sit for a minute or so. Any longer and it starts to dry out my scalp and make it itchy. Then I rinse and follow with the vinegar solution as described as above. 


I've noticed I can't use the baking soda more than twice a week because it dries out my scalp. But if I don't use it at all, my hair is too oily. I still have some days that are more oily than others, but I'm much happier with my new "hair cleaning" method. No more trying to find a shampoo that works for me, no more spending so much money on hair products. And my hair is SO HEALTHY! Oh, and as far as the vinegar smell goes, once your hair dries the smell is gone. I'd like to try infusing the vinegar with herbs (lavender?) - I'll let you know how that goes if I do it. 


Oh - and while we're on the topic of home-made cosmetics, I've been exclusively using coconut oil and jojoba oil as facial moisturizers and have been loving the results. The coconut oil is heavier, so I use it at night and on days where my skin is more dry. The jojoba oil is lighter and can be used any time. 


Switching gears completely, I went on a trip home to visit my parents in the SF area earlier this month. While they worked during the weekdays, I busied myself in my dad's garden:

jalapeno peppers, still blooming

 these roses have a lemony-delicious scent

 

strawberry blossom

cherry tomatoes

1/2 of the cherry tomato crop!

on a roasting pan, getting ready for oven-drying

 sprinkled with salt...yum!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the final results of the oven-dried tomatoes (which we put in 2 jars, covered with olive oil, peppercorns, and basil). Which means I'll have to make them again the next time my dad has a plethora of tomatoes that need to be used up. But I will say that they tasted soooo good on some crackers with the feta cheese I picked up at Happy Acres Family Farm on the way up to my parents house. I took some pictures there to supplement my previous post about the farm, when J and I took a tour and learned how to milk a goat. Here are those photos: 

quizzical duck

how are goats so photogenic??

 my favorite is when they awkwardly stand on rocks and other tall things.

 lazy farm dog

their farm stand, decked out in October attire

I will now conclude my longest-blog-post-ever by sharing one more fun-fact:


Our church is starting a community garden! Eeeeeeeeeeeeee! I am very excited. J and I spent our car-ride on the way to meeting his parents for lunch making up names for our future plot. His parents have already made requests as to what we should put in it (his dad wants some of those saucer-shaped squash). How fun is that! The plots are 4' x 6'. Not sure when they will be available yet - I think they're still working out what the financial commitment will be and all of that nitty-gritty stuff. But I'm excited! Keep your eyes peeled for more about that! 

Phew!

Enjoy your last week of October

<3
M

Ode to my little town.

Today I got the bug to go for a walk (which is a bug I often get), so I put on my rainy day best, traipsed over to the coffee shop, and then continued on the five (or so) more blocks to the park. The park, in fact, that J and I will be married at 8 months from yesterday. Eee! I couldn't help but notice all sorts of sights and sounds as I strolled and sipped, and once I got to the park felt compelled to write a little ditty about it. But before we get to my poem, I'd like to make a couple of observations about  the town in which I live.

I can't imagine a more friendly place in LA county - I mean seriously, one of the reasons I love walking is that I'm bound to run into someone. Whether it's someone I know or someone I'm to meet for the first time is no matter. And when you do meet someone here, the conversation goes a little something like this:

(two people, demographically very different, standing on the corner of M and L  Avenues, waiting for the crosswalk light to change)
Person 1: Hello.
Person 2: Good morning.
(slight pause)
Person 2: So, do you work here on M Ave?
Person 1: Nope! I live here.
Person 2: Me too! I live over in the L Apartments
Person 1: Nice. I'm over on V Ave, by the high school. It's a nice day for a walk (gesturing towards the sky)
Person 2: Yep. It's a nice day to spend money...(chuckles, lifting up the shopping bag in his right hand)
Person 1: (smiles)
Person 2: The wife's a little mad at me, so I went out and bought her some shoes.
(Both people chuckle)
Person 1: Well, enjoy your day!
Person 2: You as well!
They part ways.

My point is, we're all proud of where we live, and meeting a neighbor on the street is somewhat like meeting a classmate in college and discovering you live in the same dorm. I've never lived in a place where you tell strangers on the corner what street you live on as a part of general conversation. There's an understanding here that everyone in this town is a neighbor, and that neighbors are good people. And I just plain like that, which is why I plan to stick around.

And, no, our street names are not letters of the alphabet...but I have to maintain some anonymity since this blog is out there on the World Wide Web, which is full of nice people who would want to live in my town and mean people who would like to stalk me if they knew where I lived (I mean, I hope not, but a little playing it safe never hurt anyone). So to all you people in hyperspace, you're just going to have to wonder. Unless you know me personally :) 

Oh, and be expecting an update on my "urban homesteading" projects soon. A teaser: there's a lot to write about, and things are going well.

Ok, now to the word-art.

My Town, On a Mid-October Morning

grey skies

chirping birds (squawking parrots)

dancing cacti

friendly faces at the coffee shop

rain sprinkles down like glitter on an art project

pomegranates blushing, ruddy pink among green leaves

the neighborhood is damp

the air is easy to breathe

                           crisp

                           cool

                           refreshing

every sound takes on a softened tone, every color a new hue against the cushioned gray sky

the air is still, the world waits

(in glad anticipation, not bracing itself)

for the downpour