I Am a Real Farmer

There are few moments in urban life that really make you feel like the rest of the world would acknowledge your aggie abilities. Growing parsnips proved to be one of those moments for me. Let me backtrack to the beginning.

I started out growing cacti and succulents in pots way back when all I had was an apartment window or a tiny balcony. Something special happened when I grew my first pot of tomatoes in one of those apartments, and I haven't stopped looking for places to plant veggies since. I've had a couple of p-patches and a couple of houses, and each time I start a new garden, I stick with safe, predictable plants. Somehow they rarely thrive. Do I not have a green thumb? To be honest, growing vegetables in pots can be difficult. They need frequent watering and fertilizing, and you can't leave them unattended for a long weekend if it's going to be hot. I've seen some people have success with potted veggie gardens, but those folks are smart enough to grow their plants in big tubs. Itty Bitty did a great post about this very subject not so long ago. But growing veggies in the soil, raised be or no, can be tough, too.

What was I doing wrong all those years? Why did some plants outperform others? How come my tomatoes always ended up with blossom end rot? And why don't carrot seeds sprout in real life like they do in magazines?

The answers to those questions fall into two categories. For the sake of readability, I'll split them up into theories.

Theory #1

Gardening is not a single year activity. Whether you grow things in pots, raised beds, hanging baskets, neat little rows, or by the acre, improvement in soil composition will have the biggest impact on your plants' performance. For the first time in my life as a farmer, I am beginning to understand how important caring for my soil really is. Tomatoes need calcium and magnesium. Without these essential minerals, blossom end rot will cover every tomato on every vine. Though the soil in those p-patch plots was wonderful, rich, organic soil, everyone had grown tomatoes in it, and no one had put those minerals back.

Hint: If you raise chickens like we do, you'll have an abundance of egg shells to deal with, and egg shells are a fantastic source of calcium and magnesium. When you throw them in the compost, they take forever to break down. Instead, collect a bunch of shells (I read one account of a guy who kept a big jar by his sink for just that purpose), crush them into smaller pieces, and throw them in the oven to dry out. There's no need to spend time baking egg shells by themselves, just keep them handy and put them in the oven while you're baking other things or while the oven is heating up and cooling down. Once they're totally dry (white egg shells will take on a slightly golden hue), crush them into a chunky powder with a mortar and pestle. Sprinkle this fairy dust around the base of your tomato plants. 

Our chickens have also taught us a lot about compost. I used to compost for fun, but I never had all the browns and greens to make a good, hot pile. Those days are over! Now we always have one batch resting while another is being turned. Sometimes two batches are getting turned at once! Each bin loads up the wheelbarrow about seven times, which is the equivalent of about 15 to 20 cubic feet of finished compost. We use all of that compost in our raised beds and as high-nutrient mulch for the bedding plants around the house. Read more about our composting here.

My point is that gardening doesn't take place in the spring or summer or fall, but it is a year-round entity in need of a lot of attention. Once I started spending a little time caring for our soil, everything began to grow as I had imagined it.


Theory #2

Pick easier plants to grow. How many years did I cry over some exotic plant that didn't survive? Why did I try so hard to grow tomatoes from seed when there are so many great places to buy starts? I make things hard on myself, but I'm learning to change that. By expanding the variety of things I grow into more reliable plants, I'm having more success. I'm also getting to try out veggies I've never eaten before, and it's a lot of fun!

I tried parsnips for the first time a few years ago when Aimee and I were visiting her family in Ireland. Her mother made carrot and parsnip mash. I fell in love. When we came home, I vowed to buy some parsnip seeds and give it my best shot. I was afraid they'd be slow to germinate or prone to split like all the carrots I'd ever grown, but that didn't stop me from planting them. Here's the result.

That's right, folks. I'm a farmer. Check out my parsnips. Each one weighs almost a pound.

As for germinating carrot seeds, I recently read that covering carrot seeds with a board after you water them will help keep the soil moist until those little suckers sprout. Getting carrot seeds to sprout is the real battle, so I'm looking forward to trying out that neat suggestion. After all, if I can grow rockin' parsnips...

Soft-Shelled Eggs and Raised Beds

While it may be early February, every now and then we get a nice day to spend outside. Yesterday and today are a couple of those marvelous days. The girls, pictured above, nearly trampled me to get out into the yard. They've done a good job weeding, eating bugs, scratching, aerating the soil, and removing the excess worms who wander to the surface after a hard rain. They'll be hard at work again today, so, while they scratch and peck, let's catch up on what's happened over the last couple of weeks.

Ingrid is now laying beautiful, white shelled eggs on a regular basis. We're collecting about 18 eggs per week from three hens, two browns to every one white. Her eggs are very normal now, but we took a few photos of the last soft-shelled egg, which also delighted (and creeped out) the neighbors. There's nothing like holding one of these in your hand. It's such an odd sensation. To better describe just what a soft-shelled egg is like, the following photos should provide some insight. This one is a day old, which accounts for its saggy nature. All eggs loose moisture through the shell over time, but a soft-shelled egg is far more susceptible.

Yep, I really did pick it up by pinching the shell. Ew. We later broke this one open and fed it to the dogs. I was a little too yucked out by it to eat it myself, and Aimee doesn't eat eggs. The shell was so thin and soft that it felt like a flower petal. I was amazed that something so delicate could hold all that yolk and white within.

In other egg news, we believe that either Ellen or Portia has begun to lay. We collected three eggs last week, and two of them were white. Though the pictures cannot do it justice, this new egg was very different than what Ingrid gives us. Its shell was perfectly egg-shaped, hard, and clean, and the color was golden.

The one in the middle came from Ellen or Portia, whose names can be meshed into "Portien," which sounds like portion. This one was laid Friday, February 5th, and we haven't seen a second one yet. For all the horrible things we've said over the past few months about our Hamburgs, at least we can now say they are laying. They still have a long way to go to redeem themselves. 

* Side note: Both Ellen and Portia now have their wings clipped. I'll post a little more about this later, but for now, everyone is grounded, and I am getting much less exercise.

Now that February is in full swing, our One Small Change for the month is also well on its way. If you didn't see our change for January, you can view that post here. The compost is coming along nicely, and I'll be turning it again later today. It should be ready for the garden in about three to four weeks. 

The next change we are taking on is to increase the amount of food we produce here on our own tiny plot of land. We want to be more self-sufficient. We want to eat salads from the front yard. We want to make potato salad from our own potatoes and onions. Ultimately, I think we can provide about 10 - 25% of our own food for an entire year, which isn't bad for a city dwelling couple. In that last picture you can see me assembling another raised bed. Aimee and I finished two beds yesterday, bringing our total to seven. The others are behind me, and one includes a cold frame made from an old window from the house. I'll be planting a very early crop of lettuce, salad onions, and snap peas in there later today. Cold frames give little plants a boost of warmth, which allows you to plant things outside as much as four weeks early. This year we'll be growing things early and late in that bed, which could extend our growing season by two to three months. The fescue and herbs I started last year have been hunkered down in the cold frame since early January, and they are ready to be transplanted.

Sunday, Aimee and I played hookie from work and went to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. We saw some great exhibition gardens, oohed and ahhed at the goats in the Seattle Tilth exhibit, and marveled at all the people interested in bringing chickens into their lives. Three of the exhibit gardens had chickens in them. While many of these gardens focus on contemporary design or urban loft style, some of them are more geared towards urban sustainability and recycling. There were water gardens, rooftop gardens, living walls, container veggies, and more. This year seemed very much aimed at what a small plot can produce, which seems appropriate during bad economic times. And, following this trend, our neighbor across the street now wants his own chickens. I'll keep you posted on this development.

Black Gold

The weather was cooperative enough yesterday that I was able to get out and toss some compost. This is the three bin composter we built last summer, and it's finally being put to some good use. The bin on the far left is a storage area for the last of the compost we ordered from Cedar Grove last year, for which Aimee has still not forgiven me. I bought about ten yards. Do you have any idea how many wheelbarrow loads that is? Anyway, the front yard got completely re-landscaped with the bulk of that, and a little was left over for future projects. I'll be building a few more raised beds this spring, so it'll get put to good use soon. The remaining scraps, trimmings, weeds, and branches in the fall were thrown carelessly into the bin on the right, where they proceeded to fester during my period of apathy. Last week we added chicken poo and bedding, tossed everything into the center bin, and threw a blue camping tarp over the top. It worked. Yesterday afternoon, I took my trusty garden fork out of the shed (which is the building directly behind the compost bins) and turned that pile of gold over once more. The trick to hot composting is getting the heat up and turning it weekly. I'm usually lazy about this process, but joining others in the One Small Change campaign changed my attitude. Plus, we have so much chicken poo to deal with, there's no other way to get rid of it all.

There it is, steamy and beautiful. My shoulders are sore this morning, but it feels good to know that I can, indeed, have some success at composting.

What's the difference between cold and hot composting? In cold composting, the pile of material is left to decay on its own, and you don't turn it. Let nature do her thing. The downside is that cold composting can take all year. Don't expect to use that pile in your garden until the following spring. If you're lazy (like I am), then this method might work well for you. Hot composting, on the other hand, likes attention. It can be turned over weekly or every few days. Weekly turning gives you the final result in one to three months, while turning every few days can give you a finished product in as little as four weeks flat. It's called hot composting because the internal temperature of your pile can reach 110 to 160 degrees. This high heat kills many weeds and weed seeds, making your pile safer to distribute onto young plants and seedlings in your garden. Would you like to learn more about composting methods? If you live in the Puget Sound region, the Seattle Tilth society provides classes throughout the year on this topic, as well as a whole host of other cool things. You can view their list of upcoming classes here.

The girls helped me get a little work done yesterday. You can see the lovely weeding job they did here behind the house. Their technique is extremely effective. They scratch the soil until it loosens up, then peck and nibble at green things and bugs they find. Sorry, worms. I want you in my garden, but the chickens have other plans for you. After watching this hard work for a few minutes, I decided to carry on with my idea to employ the hens where their work will be most effective in our long term landscaping goals. The side of the backyard next to the garage was planted by previous owners. They installed paving stones and raised beds, and it appears that they planted spinach and potatoes. As a matter of fact, we ate some of those taters our very first summer here. While I understand the desire to harness the potential of any yard, the spot we're talking about receives minimal sunlight, and it's trapped between a building and a fence. Ultimately, we'd like to pave the whole thing in with paving stones, throw in a gate on each side, and use the space to store the garbage and recycling bins.

I began a simple shelter for the girls last night as the sun was setting. It's made entirely from leftover scraps of wood and metal, so it cost nothing. Yay, recycling! Here it is without the roof. Today I'll be making a secondary nest box, again using scraps, that the girls can deposit eggs in if they feel the need. I'll also fence in this patch of weeds to keep the chickens in and focused on their new job.

The branch on the front of their home-away-from-coop should be a nice roosting pole, and they'll be sheltered from sun and rain, should the weather change abruptly.

Chicken tractor be damned! With uneven ground and restricted clearances all over our front and back yards, this shelter was the best solution I could come up with to keep the girls safe and happy when outside of their main coop. We'll find out today if it works.

The First Hint of Spring

It's not spring just yet, but it felt so warm and wonderful on Monday that we went out and enjoyed the sunshine. The first snowdrop of the season was waiting for us out front. We weeded and trimmed, the compost got turned, and the chicken coop got a thorough cleaning. It's been a terribly soggy winter so far, and the mud and muck in the backyard is quite discouraging. A little sunshine goes a long way this time of the year.

The girls got some well-deserved sunshine, and you can see Raquel (my, how she's grown!) happily scratching and nesting in the dirt beside the garage. We want to clear this area out anyway, so we've enlisted the help of the chickens in our task. They're terribly driven. I sat down for a while and watched Raquel, Portia, and Ellen basking in this little corner of the yard. They pecked, they scratched, and they stretched their wings out to catch a few extra rays of sunshine.

Everyone's combs are developing nicely, and if you look closely at Portia's (she's the little head on the right), you can see that she's got a little unicorn in her genetics. Yes, her comb has a definite peak. Neither of these two are laying yet, and they've been reminded of their schedule, so we're hopeful they'll get on board soon. You can't survive in this farm by looks alone, even with gorgeous wings like that.

On my way to take a few pictures of the compost bins, I startled Ingrid. She was keeping watch from a high perch, then fled the scene a little too quickly. The front of the compost bins is made of lengths of cedar fence boards, one of which was resting on the top of the one Ingrid had inhabited. Apparently she's not familiar with the "see-saw" principle of physics.

The compost, which did not get its picture into this post, is doing very well with the recent contributions from the girls. We may have enough to donate to the neighborhood veggie patch a couple of houses down. In fact, I'm afraid we may have more than our bins can handle. I feel positive about our decision to cancel the yard waste pick-up, but this whole composting thing is going to be a lot of extra work.

In egg news, Ursula and Raquel are both laying up a storm! Today I collected two eggs from one nest box. Both look perfect, and both landed in the right place. Way to go, girls!!

A Late New Year's Entry

Our New Year was one of mixed feelings, so I didn't write a post about plans or resolutions. Resolutions aren't my thing anyway. I like to make improvements as they come to mind, one day or week at a time, irrespective of the date. I read a number of blogs, however (and you can check out all the ones I follow regularly by clicking on the links on the left of this page), and I stumbled across a link to One Small Change. I liked what I saw, and I hope you'll read up on the concept, too. The idea is that changing one small thing in your way of living can have a tremendous impact on the environment around us all.

For those of you who don't know me in real life, I'll share a few details of my connections. I work full-time for a very large part of King County, which is already a large government organization. King County is one of Washington State's largest (and best) employers, and Metro, the county bus system, makes up a big component of the whole. I started out driving a city bus nine years ago. My experiences were good, bad, and everything in between. A little over two years ago I moved into Supervision, and I couldn't be happier (unless a farm was involved). I currently teach operators how to drive buses, I help them qualify on routes, and I answer countless questions. Metro currently employs around 4000 people, and I come into contact with a very large number of those people on a regular basis. Apart from those things which I do at work that fall into the category, "My Job," I also take pride in setting good examples for others to follow. Below is an excerpt from work yesterday.

Four supervisors, including myself, were out in a van reviewing routes for one of the classes we teach. We stopped at the nearby 24 hour Starbucks and went inside for a break. Each of the other three members of the group purchased a beverage, and two purchased food. Names have been changed, but not because anything bad happened.

Ryan- You're not getting a drink?
Me- No, I ditched coffee a couple of years ago. (Casually sips tea made at home in recycled mug.)
Sue- I'm so hungry (wolfs down egg salad sandwich), and I didn't bring anything with me today.
Me- Yeah, I always pack something. I can't go without food.
Sue- I should do that (looks ill after eating too quickly), but I'm bad at planning.
Me- I use a computer program that helps me plan out all my meals, and it's easy to stick to.
Ryan- Is this the thing that gives you a GPA on the meals? You mentioned it before.
Me- Yep. I love it. I get a better variety of things to eat, and I don't make as many irrational decisions about food while I'm out. I feel so much better having a meal plan.

I'm not against Starbucks, I just don't want to spend my money on something like that when I can plan ahead. I like feeling good. "Sue" later asked me for a link to the program so that she could possibly try it out.

Lots of people at work ask me about the food I snack on, the chickens in our backyard, my obsessive behavior of leaving the lights off in my office, etc, and it gives me a chance to talk to them about new ideas which might make positive changes in their lives and in our shared environment. I feel like that influence is important.

In response to the One Small Change idea, I'd like to mention a change we've already made for this month and the remainder of 2010. We decided to change before I even read about the challenge, but I think this fits nicely with the theme. The City of Everett provides garbage, recycling (bottles, cans, paper, cardboard, and newspaper), and yard waste. We started yard waste in 2008 and put that bin out in the alley every week. It began as a way to get rid of grass clippings and the sod we were tearing out of the front yard to make way for landscaping and raised beds. Last year, 2009, we constructed a three bin composter in the back yard. It's time to put that composter to work! The compost from the end of the year has already been turned over into the center bed, and a new bed has begun (thank you chicken poo!). I've never done hot composting, primarily because I'm lazy, and I know it'll decompose if you leave it to sit long enough, but this year will be different. Everything we trim, cut, mow, and prune will be composted on site, bringing us just one step closer to sustainability. Yard waste has already been canceled. There's no going back now.

One last thing. Yard waste in the city is a fantastic resource. There are rules about what you can and cannot put in the bins, and everything they collect goes to a city composting facility. If you live in an area which provides this service and you do not have the space or dedication to compost, call your local garbage and recycling company and ask them about yard waste.

When asked about composting, Jodie answered, "It's better than ending up on the grill."