My eggplants are dying and some of my tomatoes. And my peppers stopped producing. I was starting to think my thumb was black. The symptoms were very strange. Healthy plants suddenly just wilting and then perking up again. The eggplants in particular would grow, produce flowers, wilt and then perk up again. But too late to produce an eggplant. Some of the tomatoes started to do it too.
I was completely puzzled. My tomato plants suffered from little pest damage, were planted in beautiful compost, and had received PLENTY of rain, sun and heat. I really was convinced that I was just a bad gardener and resigned myself to never finding out what I had done wrong.
Then, during a search for blight symptoms for my squash (another story!), I found this from the horticulture department at Iowa State University:
Walnut Toxicity
Black walnut trees produce a toxic material (juglone) that can injure and kill solanaceous crops (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant) and other juglone-sensitive vegetables in the garden. Symptoms of walnut toxicity include stunted growth, yellowing and wilting of foliage, and death of susceptible plants. Juglone is present in all parts of the black walnut tree (fruits, leaves, branches and roots). The sources of juglone in the soil include both living and decaying plant material. Rain droplets leach juglone from the buds, leaves, and twigs. The decomposition of leaves and other plant debris by soil microorganisms also releases juglone. Living roots exude juglone into the surrounding soil. Generally, the greatest concentration of juglone in the soil exists within the dripline of walnut trees. Nothing can be done to save juglone-damaged tomato plants. Simply remove and destroy dead plants. Gardeners who have large walnut trees near their gardens should consider alternate sites. If alternate sites are unavailable, plant tomatoes and other susceptible plants 20 to 25 feet beyond the dripline of walnut trees to minimize walnut toxicity problems. Corn, beans, onions, beets, and carrots are tolerant of juglone and can be planted closer to walnut trees provided the area receives sufficient sunlight. Walnut trees that are 75 to 100 feet from the garden shouldn’t be a big threat to tomatoes and other juglone-sensitive vegetables.
Walnut Toxicity! Who knew? Certainly not me! I have three black walnut trees in my yard and one has a dripline that hangs directly over – guess where? Yup, the tomatoes. We’ll just have to wait it out this year and move the tomatoes out to the corner next year! Urban farming certainly isn’t easy – but I’m happy with cuke production as I just canned about 12 pints of pickles!
I am concentrating on keeping my eating simple. I’ve found that if I just eat simple food, without a lot of “stuff” – side dishes or sauces and dips for example – I eat less and feel more full. It’s been hard for me to disconnect from food. Food was the only thing I had in common with my parents, for example. It seemed like no matter what was going on between us personally (and there was usually a lot), if someone just fried up some chicken or grilled some steaks, all was well.
While I still love to eat yummy things, not making as big a deal out of meals has made it easier for me to lose weight. I don’t have a scale here at home, but the last time I stepped on a scale was at my son’s doctor’s office. I weighed…well, it’s embarrassing…I weighed a lot. More than 200 lbs. I was shocked because while I certainly didn’t feel fit, I didn’t feel huge.
I resolved then and there, though, to lose weight. I read a few books and was inspired to do some belly-busting, gut-wrenching workouts and eat only lettuce. That lasted about two days. So, I devised another plan.
I decided I would eat only things that God intended us to eat. Food that’s been here forever. I also resolved to put exercise back into my life more regularly, but not kill myself running an excessive amount of mileage or jumping up and down in the living room.
I’m still trying to find a purpose for lawns…other than golf. I really can’t. I mean, it’s nice for my kids to have a grassy area to play soccer on, but other than that…
In fact, lawns are pretty new to America. According to American-Lawns.com, “Green, weed-free lawns so common today didn’t exist in America until the late 18th century. Instead, the area just outside the front door of a typical rural home was typically packed dirt or perhaps a cottage garden that contained a mix of flowers, herbs, and vegetables.
In England, however, many of the wealthy had sweeping green lawns across their estates. Americans with enough money to travel overseas returned to the U.S. with images of the English lawn firmly planted in their imaginations. Try as we might, it wasn’t as easy to reproduce a beautiful English lawn. After all, they couldn’t just run down to their local hardware store and pick up a bag of grass seed. Grasses native to America proved unsuitable for a tidy and well-controlled lawn, and our extreme climate was less than hospitable to the English grass seeds. (more…)
Just wanted to post a prideful note (I know, pride’s a sin, but I can’t help it) showing the third full harvest of lettuce and spinach I’ve gotten from our urban farm. It gives me a thrill to know that not only do I not have to purchase lettuce from the store, suiting the frugal me, but also that I know exactly how this lettuce was grown – without any chemicals or fertilizers and with a slight donation to the rabbits before the fence went up!
I’m still trying to get most of the kids to eat salad, but I’ve been putting fruit in our salads lately and that seems to help! Although Jack’s propensity for ketchup is slightly disturbing…
According to the USDA, the monthly THRIFTY plan budget for the groceries of me, my husband and our 7 children is, wait for it…$1217 a month! Holy cow! That’s the cheapest plan they can come up with. If I was LIBERAL with our spending, according to the USDA we could spend $2400 a month! Is there anyone who spends that much per month on food? If so, we need to talk.
I was also reading over at the Jeub Family about a recent NPR article that said it now costs $222,360, on average, to raise a child. One Child! No wonder people get freaked out about having kids. If I listened to stuff like this all of the time, I’d be afraid to have kids too. Seriously, how much do people think car seats cost? And really, soccer was only $35.
Would you believe that we spend less than $600 a month on food for our family? That’s less than $3 per day per person. I’ve done it on even less than that – less than $100 a week – but in the summer we buy more foods to grill than we probably should. Winter is where I really save money. (more…)
I hate lawns. I hate green grass, sitting there, doing nothing but waiting to be cut. And then cut again. We have a huge lawn at our new house. So much in fact that the house came with a lawn tractor. And it’s not even nice, golf course style lawn. It’s ugly, cabbagey lawn. So, as part of my urban homestead plan, I have been bidding as much lawn as I possible can “goodbye.”
What’s the point of a lawn? No one knows. I can’t find anyone who can tell me why having lawn is a good thing. In fact, a History of Lawns in America, published by American-Lawns.com tells us that it wasn’t until the American Garden Club “decided” that Americans should have nice, neat little lawns – to go along with their nice, neat “little boxes on the hillside made of ticky-tacky,” that most Americans started to grow them: “Through contests and other forms of publicity, they convinced home owners that it was their civic duty to maintain a beautiful and healthy lawn. So effective was the club’s campaign that lawns were soon the accepted form of landscaping. The garden club further stipulated that the appropriate type of lawn was “a plot with a single type of grass with no intruding weeds, kept mown at a height of an inch and a half, uniformly green, and neatly edged.” America thus entered the age of lawn care.” (more…)
All day Saturday and Sunday we placed compost thickly over the side yard (we live on a corner lot so most of our yard is on the side) and started planting the tomatoes and peppers I started in March. Eggplants went in as did rows of lettuce, brussel sprouts, more broccoli and cauliflower. We also placed mounds of compost over sod we dug up and planted squash, pumpkins and cucumbers.
Because we have so much yard and terrible grass, we are smothering the lawn and digging up places for the plants. We’ll see how this method works. We are trying very hard to use only hand tools and rid ourselves of gas guzzling machines (yes, getting rid of our mower is next on the list!). We hope to rely on mulching and compost to help us in this endeavor so that maybe I’m not nearly as sore next weekend as I am this weekend!
These photos are from Saturday, but we actually continued the smothering to the path on Sunday with another load of free compost from the yard waste center. If you have a yard waste center near you, check it out, don’t waste your time buying bags! This place is amazing!
It would be very easy for me to leave the city and head back to the country. It really would. I love a lot of things about living in the country. I love the quiet and the space. I’m still slightly freaked out by the amount of people who walk past my house each day and gaze into my yard – or windows (we don’t have a fence). In fact, I was so bothered by the idea of being on display that I was ready, as I said in my last post, to give up my third of an acre in downtown De Pere, and head for the hills.
But then I really thought about what that would entail. First, my kids really like it here. They ride their bikes on trails and paths and sidewalks (something they could never really do in Vermont). They walk to the library on a whim – and I don’t have to gather everyone up and put them in the car and drive 30 miles to a library that has more than 12 books. If I need a gallon of milk – or a package of marshmallows for Rice Krispie treats, there is usually a kid nearby willing to take a bike to the store and get it for me – or they’re willing to take a walk with me to go and get it. Except for large trips to the store and field trip days, we rarely use our car.
I used to feel stranded without my car. Now I feel liberated to not need it. My oldest daughter (my only schooled child) takes the city bus to high school in Green Bay and has learned the public transportation system inside and out. She’ll get her license soon, but probably not a car, as she knows the expense involved. (more…)
I was going to move back to the country. I was ready. I started saving up. Even though I love my new home and my ability to walk or bike almost anywhere, the noise of the city was starting to get to me a bit and I hated not having a ton of room to grow things. Then I saw this family, the trailer for their new documentary and a couple of other videos on YouTube about them and I changed my mind. Immediately. I’m staying put and I’m creating my own urban homestead. You can do it too. Just watch:
The Dervaes family lives in Pasadena, CA. Now granted, I can’t grow oranges in my backyard, but I can grow a lot of stuff. And I will. Just watch. The seeds are already growing in the sun room! Look out De Pere, WI, your historic corner is going to get very veg, very soon! I’ll keep you posted as we dig…but for now – check these people out – they’re my new heroes! Now, if I could only get the city to let me keep chickens….
Get the first two chapters of Michelle’s new book, A Fine Mess: Living Simply With Children, for free! Michelle is the homeschooling mother of 7 children and has lots of humor, tips and hints for living with so many for much less. Want to try it out for nothing? Just email Michelle and put “free chapters” in the subject line.
Bring your own bags – everywhere! This is so simple that it’s criminal that we don’t all do it already. I leave 4 or 5 canvas bags in my car at all times and just grab them when I go into a store. Have a bunch of plastic ones? Well, put them in your car and just reuse those! You don’t need to buy a fancy canvas bag like this one, from Organically Inclined! I wish that when I went to the store I wasn’t the only one around who answers “neither” when asked if they want paper or plastic.
Don’t Buy Things! This is so simple even a baby can do it. Just don’t buy stuff. Don’t go to stores. Don’t buy things that have lots of packaging. If you must buy something – check out Craigslist.org, Freecycle.org or hit your local yard sales and thrift stores (bringing your own bags of course). You’d be amazed at how much money you’ll save by simply not purchasing things…and how kind you’ll be to the planet.
Stay home. Don’t get in the car. Don’t drive away. Don’t go out to eat. Don’t go buy things (see above). Don’t do anything. Sit in a hammock in your backyard. Pick weeds. Do the laundry. Watch a movie. You’ll save gas, emissions and money all at the same time. (more…)
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