Organically Inclined » gardening

Of Walnut Trees and Tomato Plants…

Mish — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:44:34 +0000

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!

Technorati Tags: gardening, organic gardening, tomatoes, urban farming, urban homesteading, walnut trees

Eating Simple = 30 lbs Gone!

Mish — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:30:40 +0000

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.

One thing I discovered, and still have a problem with, is leftover food. I realized that I was probably putting an extra 400 calories or so in my body everyday by simply eating what the kids didn’t eat. Leftover peanut butter sandwiches, a half of a granola bar, the end of a juice box! My kids knew when to quit, why didn’t I? I immediately resolved that as much as it killed my frugal side, if the kids didn’t eat it I wouldn’t either. The compost could have it or the trash…and I would just have to get over it.

My other little habit? Eating a little piece of a brownie or cookie and doing it like seven or eight times. Rather than just sit down and enjoy the small brownie my daughter made, I kept sneaking pieces all day long…thinking that just one bit wouldn’t hurt.

So, now when my daughter makes her divine brownies (and really, they are the best), I eat one. But just one. And then I move along with my day. I believe the key to my weight loss so far has been less about how much I eat, but rather how I eat it. I’m not the kind of person to sit down with a bag of chips on the couch. But I am the kind of person who will snag three out of the pantry. I believe this comes from the huge restrictions I had on food when I was a kid. I was only ever “allowed” two cookies after dinner…or I had to eat the whole sandwich right there and then. I wasn’t allowed to leave the table until every last vegetable was gone, creating a life long hatred of vegetables that I have only recently begun to get over. My parents need to control everything I ate (as well as a bunch of other stuff) led to a “need” on my part to sneak food even when I became a grown up and didn’t have to anymore.

That’s why I stopped controlling every bite that goes into my kids mouths. I bring home good, fresh food – along with some treats (or my daughter and I make them) and I let them eat how they will. This post more clearly explains it.

My kids are healthy, thin and energetic. And I never hear a thing about weight or anything else. I’m glad. I don’t want them to view food as reward or punishment. I want them to eat because they need fuel to do other things. Which is how I’m starting to view it.

Once I let go of “food as entertainment,” I was able to move on. I’m writing a book about my experiences now and will share some of the recipes and other strategies that have helped me so far.

Like I said before – I’m not skinny (probably never will be) – but I feel good and most important, I don’t worry about what I eat anymore.

Technorati Tags: christian weight loss, god diet, God-Given Diet, losing weight, paleo diet, Weight loss

The Anti-Lawn Campaign

Mish — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:29:43 +0000

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.

By 1915, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was collaborating with the U.S. Golf Association to find the right grass—or combination of grasses—that would create a durable, attractive lawn suitable to the variety of climates found in America. Included in the testing were Bermuda grass from Africa, blue grass from Europe, and a mix of Fescues and bent grass. Fifteen years later, the USDA had discovered several grass combinations that would work in our climate. We were off and running, to find the most suitable pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that would protect and serve newly blended mix of grasses. After all, now that we had a good grass blend, we couldn’t let it starve or be eaten alive by some hungry pest, or succumb to some nasty disease.”

So, I’ve started my own personal, anti-lawn campaign. I am replacing as much lawn as I can afford to each week with edible plants and vegetables. It’s really starting to look interesting out there. I have cukes and tomatoes and peppers growing in the side yard and even though my husband says it’s all ludicrous, I’ve even gotten a compliment or two. I have a large lawn, so it doesn’t seem like I’m making a big dent right now – but it’ll get there. I’m trying to be patient. Allow things to grow and remember that I still need to pay bills and take kids out to the beach once in a while – not just buy more plants and seeds!

Are you ridding your lawn of lawn? How are you doing it? Have any pictures to share? Email your story to Michelle@organicallyinclined.org

Technorati Tags: anti-lawn, grass, lawns, no lawns, urban farm, urban homestead

Salad Harvest

Mish — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:32:07 +0000

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…

Technorati Tags: garden, homegrown, lettuce, organic garden, urban farming, urban garden, urban homesteading

Living Frugally…

Mish — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 14:14:14 +0000

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.

I’ve heard over and over that good food costs more than bad. It’s true in some cases. Organic strawberries out of season or small container of fresh blueberries are, technically, going to cost more than potato chips or soda. But there are so many good things you can buy (or grow) that will keep your family healthy on the cheap.

First, a word about gardens. I understand that we usually think we don’t have the time to work in them. But here’s the thing. Once you’ve planted, unless you’re having major problems – like I am with rabbits – you can pretty much leave things alone. well-mulched and occasionally weeded – even the most weed-infested garden will produce come summer and fall. In Vermont, I often had years when we received so much rain that going out to the garden was like an expedition into the jungle. I had to remember what some of my actual plants looked like – and I was always shocked at just how much was produced at the end of the year. Could I have produced more had I stayed on top of things? Maybe. But I still put tons of stuff in the freezer and I didn’t stress out over every little weed.

Even now, our urban farm is getting a little weedy due to several days of heavy rain, but I’ve mulched enough that I know an hour or two with a hoe later will make it look freshly mulched again.

Also, if you have no yard space, you can still garden – just check out The Apartment Farm – these people have corn growing in the bedroom – so no excuses for not having a tomato plant or two!

So, how do I fill the pantry and still get out of the store for less than $600? Well, it’s really simple. I don’t buy junk (OK, I bought the kids a box of Oreos the other day, sue me). I mean any junk. No chips, no snack cakes, no crackers, no cookies, no frozen pizza roll ups, no corn dogs. I did buy fish sticks. UGH! But, in the summer, when no one wants my crockpot meals, it’s nice to have something fast to cook after a soccer game. For $7, I bought a bag of fish sticks that will feed all of us – coupled with fresh spinach and lettuce from the garden – it’s a good way to make the kids feel like they got a treat (instead of spending $40 on fast food) and get something good in them too. If we eat the whole bag (which is possible) in one night, then we spent $1 per person on dinner…the spinach and lettuce were free. Much more cost effective than a McMeal.

I buy fruit all of the time. We have fruit available for eating at anytime in a bowl on the dining room table, on the kitchen table, there is fruit in the “snack” drawer in the refrigerator and in the produce drawer in the fridge. I buy whatever is in season, so now we have strawberries, watermelons and peaches to add to our usual grapes, apples and bananas. All relatively inexpensive, especially at farmers’ markets – or dare I say it – Super Wal-Mart.

I buy carrots for snacks – not lathed “baby” carrots – but real, organic carrots, at least until ours grow. They are cheap! Like $2 or $3 for a 5 lb. bag and we can peel (great job for a preschooler) and cut them into sticks that are available anytime.

Fresh broccoli too expensive? Buy frozen. It’s much better than canned and can be chopped and added to all sorts of recipes.

We also have lots of eggs on hand. They are great for baking and great for cheap recipes from omelettes to frittatas. We also buy pasta, rice, beans, chicken, milk, butter, a big block of cheddar, peanut butter, tomato sauce, oatmeal, regular popcorn (remember, we don’t have a nuker anymore!), unbleached all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, ramen noodles,wheat flour, oil, vinegar, frozen fruits (cheaper than fresh, particularly in the off-season) and veggies.

I can make about hundred different meals with these items that my kids will eat – and they will be whole, healthy meals with a fresh baked dessert each night (we only get a treat after dinner).

If you can find a good source of bulk foods and spices (a local food co-op, perhaps) then you’re ahead of the game because you can purchase only what you need and not the pre-packaged, pre-priced amounts on the grocery store shelves.

Pizza, soups, pasta dishes (there are lots, not just tomato sauce varieties), ramen noodles with frozen veggies stir fried in teriyaki sauce, frittatas, chili, shepherd’s pie, mac and cheese (homemade, not from a box) can all be made with the above ingredients. Last week I was too lazy to go to the store. I just didn’t want to run out and spend any money. But we all wanted burritos for dinner. So I got out my trusty King Arthur Flour cookbook and found a recipe for tortillas. I made tortillas. It took about 20 minutes. It was fun. And it had never occurred to me before to do it myself. For about $.50 in flour, a little butter and some water, I made enough tortillas for everyone and they were really good. I saved not only the cost of the tortillas, but the cost of the gas to get to the store, and the cost of whatever else I would have purchased.

Now I guess I’ll head out to the garden…because if I’m working on growing my food, I won’t be spending any money out and about!

Technorati Tags: eating frugal, food, food budgets, frugal, frugal living, thrifty plan, USDA thrifty food plan

Save Money, Water and Time All At Once!

Mish — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:40:18 +0000

How? Tear up your lawn. No, seriously.

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.”

ICK! Before that, people had dirt in their yards – or gardens of flowers and veggies – shocker!

I ask again – what is the point of grass? To make us look like we have sweeping manses? To make us look like we have golf courses? We mow and we fertilize and we apply pesticides and we waste water and we spend over $17 billion a year on making our lawns more perfect looking. And I still can’t figure out why.

Be different. Plant a garden. Throw wildflower seeds in your front yard. Plant perennials. Join me in ditching your grass and composting it. Kill your lawnmower. Get your Saturdays back. You’ll save money, water and time.

Technorati Tags: frugal, garden, gardening, grass, grass-cutting, lawnmowers, lawns, money, organic gardening, time

Let the Urban Homesteading Begin…

Mish — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:18:15 +0000

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!

Jack helps get compost out of the truck

We need a trailer so we can get more compost.

We are smothering our lawn with compost and planting veggies flower bed style.

We are smothering out lawn and planting veggies.

Technorati Tags: city farming, food, frugal, gardening, large families, michelle hogan, michelle kennedy, organic gardening, urban farming, urban homesteading

Urban Homestead Over Rural Homestead

Mish — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:39:22 +0000

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.

I used to feel very guilty driving and driving everywhere when I lived in the country. Frankly, there was little option. We simply lived too far away from everything. And I still do everything I did in the country in the city. I still cook from scratch. I still hang my laundry. I still make my own baby wipes. And now we can be even more eco-conscious, because we can walk and bike to run errands.

AND….the recycling truck comes right to our curb every other week! No more heading to the transfer station every Saturday.

So, rather than take my family out of the city (something the kids don’t want anyway), I decided to bring more of my country lifestyle here. We do have a very large house…really, the largest I’ve ever lived in. So we are really working on making it more energy-efficient (because it’s also very old). We have radiators for heat – which are great and work well, but will bring in a wood stove for next winter. I’m considering a wood cookstove for the kitchen but don’t want to give up the convenience of the gas stove (considering I ditched out microwave!). Of course, there are a lot of changes to be made. But right now the biggest challenge is digging up the yard, pieces at a time, to grow food.

Yesterday, for example, I didn’t need to do my regular work out in favor of the 4′ by 6′ patch of turf I dug up in the back for lettuce. I also hand dug a row for spinach and set out some cauliflower plants. My hands still hurt from pulling up the turf, but I am satisfied to know that next year I won’t have to do it and I didn’t waste any fossil fuels tilling up my yard!

Next on the list? Convincing my 12 year old that we don’t need the lawn tractor that came with the house and that pushing a reel mower is great fun! We’ll see….

Technorati Tags: homegrown, homegrown revolution, homestead, homesteading, organic gardening, simple life, simple living, urban homestead, voluntary simplicity

Urban Homesteading

Mish — Sat, 08 May 2010 17:31:53 +0000

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:

Homegrown Revolution (Trailer) from Path to Freedom on Vimeo.

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….

Technorati Tags: dervaes, dervaes family, gardening, homegrown revolution, organic, organic gardening, path to freedom, urban farming, urban homesteading

10 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day Right Now…without messing with your world

Mish — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:00:13 +0000

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.
Grow something. Anything. Get a packet of seeds – or two or three or more! Plant them. Water them occasionally (using the water from the rain barrel under your gutters, right?) and maybe in two or three months you’ll have some tomatoes, or peppers or lettuce. Maybe you’ll get the urge to plant more. Maybe not, but either way, you’ll be buying less, eating better and contributing to the world, rather than taking from it!
Walk around your house before you go to bed and flip off every light switch and power strip (you might need to bring a small flashlight). Unplug every electronic device you have – DVD player, cable box, TV, computer (shut the computer down first).
Take a walk. On one of those days you are staying home, grab a bag and walk around your neighborhood. Pick up the trash. When you fill up the bag – go home and sort it into recycling and trash. Wear a glove if you feel the need. You’ll be an example, you’ll be little tuckered out from walking (so you won’t want to go out again) and you’ll have cleaned up your neighborhood a bit!
Surfing the Internet? Find a green-worthy cause and give them the $20 you would have spent had you been out and about and needed to buy lunch!
Brew your own coffee. Take the money you would have spent on a coffee out and buy some great organic, fair trade coffee and brew it yourself. Then get a nice, safe travel mug and take the coffee out and about with you! Gonna need a second cup? Take a thermos full of coffee. My husband always fills a large thermos up for us before we head out on a road trip. Need a fast coffee maker? Our Bunn coffee maker brews a pot in three minutes…and there’s no waste like those new K-Cup style makers. We compost the grounds and the organic paper filter!
Wear your jeans again. No, really. You could probably wear those jeans or pants two or three times before washing them – saving both water and effort.
Hang your clothes. Most people don’t have nearly as many clothes as I do to hang out. So, get some clothesline – or one of those wooden clothes hangers and hang your clothes out. It’s green – and frugal. Why pay for something that the air will do for free?

Find the perfect gift for the natural mom at babyearth.com

Technorati Tags: earth day, frugal, gardening, green, green living, natural childbirth, organic, saving money