Gardening=Rocket Science? I think not!

This is an excerpt from a recent letter to a friend, but I felt it was something I wanted to save and maybe even help someone else by their reading.

I want to encourage you that gardening doesn't have to be complicated. The Lord provided us with seeds and soil so that we could cultivate the land and produce food. He meant for ALL humans to do this, not just those of us who make things more complicated that they have to be. You can make gardening as simple or as complicated as you want to. My parents always had a garden. It was a place in the yard about 50' by 100' that Daddy tilled up and planted all our veggies and melons in. It was just plain row gardening. He used triple 15 fertilizer on EVERYTHING. He used Sevin Dust for pests. That's pretty much it. He knew nothing about tomatoes loving carrots, nor about staggering your planting. We usually planted the entire garden in one day. At most it took us two days. It wasn't organic, but I do believe it was still better than what's available at the grocery store because we harvested things when they were ripe, not two weeks early, and we washed everything thoroughly. We canned it all. We didn't spend money at the grocery store on produce unless it was something that didn't grow in our climate.

The way I learned to garden as a child was very simple as far as the brain power that went into it. It was back breaking work, though. Lots and lots of hoeing and all the stuff came in at the same time, and you worked harvesting and processing/canning until you thought your back was going to break in two.

The "new" methods like square foot gardening and all the others that are out there are designed to make things easier/better. Putting down newspapers provides a weed barrier, and the worms consume it and it improves the soil, plus it helps with water conservation. On and on it goes. There are ways to make it better and easier, and you should definitely research and learn as much as you can, but know that the best thing you can do is just get in there and do it. Getting seeds in the ground, providing them with ample water, and keeping the weeds out is really all that is required. All the other stuff is just improvement.

Happy gardening!

Egg Drop Soup

Tonight I made egg drop soup for the first time. I was inspired to do this by this post: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/?s=egg+drop+soup I saved the bones from a whole chicken that Wayne had fried a couple weeks ago. (I kept them in the freezer until I was ready to use them.)I put the bones of the chicken in a stock pot about half full of water. I had to top up the water twice, but I cooked the bones for three hours. This created my broth. I added four green onions, chopped coarsely, and plenty of salt and pepper. I scrambled four eggs and Wayne poured the eggs through a fork while I whisked like a crazy woman! That was a LOT of eggs! I would just do a couple next time. When I tasted it, it tasted like it had fried wan tons! I guess the flavor from the chicken being fried was imparted. I served it alongside stir fried veggies on a bed of rice. DE-lish! This will definitely be a repeat in our house!

Bed of Garlic

Today we placed our first raised bed for the garden. Wayne built the frame for me. I put down two layers of cardboard, and then we put in a mixture of soil, compost, and cow manure. I planted 108 cloves of garlic using the square foot gardening method. I plan to use all raised beds (except, maybe, for corn and potatoes)for the garden, and use the square foot method along with lasagna gardening. Our dear friends' house burned several months ago, and their windows were replaced by the insurance company. They blessed us with their old windows, and we are going to build the beds to the dimensions of the windows so that I can do cold-frames and hot-beds to get earlier produce from the garden. The same friends gave us the white plastic boards used to build the beds. They are "scrap" material where the husband works. I am thrilled with them!

Garlic is supposed to be planted in the fall, and harvested the following summer. I was unaware of this, and so I am hoping for a crop this year. If it doesn't "make" I will simply leave it in the ground and allow it to grow another season before I harvest. Not only will I use the garlic for the obvious, food, but I will also use it medicinally. I have not set foot in a doctor's office for almost four years. GOOT is the primary reason I have been able to achieve this. GOOT is Garlic and Olive Oil Ointment Treatment. It is made from three tablespoons each of garlic, olive oil, and coconut oil. These are warmed gently, blended together, and any large chunks strained out. Simply apply it to the skin, and it will be absorbed into the bloodstream and work systemically to fight all types of infection. Of course, applying GOOT to the affected area is most effective, but you can also apply it to the soles of the feet and put on socks to fight infections where you cannot apply the GOOT. It's good stuff!!!

Sorry this isn't done, but since I referred to it in my Kelly the Kitchen Kop reply, I figured I had better get it back up here. I will post more tomorrow.

For more information about lasagna gardening, check out these sites, which have proven to be extremely helpful to me:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1999-04-01/Lasagna-Gardening.aspx
http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm

And check out these sites about square foot gardening, which have also been helpful to me:
This is the inventor of the method. He takes it to the extreme, i.e. everything has to be perfect or it's not Sq. Ft. Gardening, but it's still a great place to start: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
Here's a very good explanation as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_foot_gardening
http://timssquarefootgarden.com/calendar.htm

The chicklets are here!

Today I bought the first chicks for our new homestead. I bought 10 black australorps. As you can see, my furbabies are just as excited about their arrival as I am! They are such cute, tiny little fluffballs of black with yellow on the undersides and sides of the head. They should start laying in July. I can't wait to have my very own fresh eggs!

Chicken Day!

We are buying our first baby chicks for our new home today. I am planning to get black australorps (like the picture)this time. They are a dual purpose bird who are excellent layers and have a mature weight of around seven pounds. I will buy straight run (mixture of both sexes) and we will butcher the males when they achieve full size, except for one or two that I will keep so that the eggs will be fertile and the hens can raise babies next year. I hope to get to the point that I won't need the assistance of a hatchery for my chickens, unless I want to try a new breed. That will take a few years, though. I decided to choose several different breeds, and allow them to cross in the hope of producing babies that are better than their parents. Time will tell.