Bucketville Update

Quickie update on the status of the backyard bucket garden since The Three Freezes.

1. All citrus --- seem A-O.K. There was some blossom loss, so the harvest this year may be scant.
2. Tamarinds --- appear to be a complete loss. I think we had about a dozen of them. We will be leaving their brown remains undisturbed, however, in hopes there will be some sign of life coming from the roots up (we don't know), but we will plant 2 bush beans per bucket beside them in order to not waste so many pots (well, buckets)
3. Lychee --- Again we think they're all dead. Like the tamarinds, we will plant 2 bush beans per bucket right beside their remains, in hopes a few may revive. I have less hope of this with them, however, since they were much smaller and more tender.
4. Gynura --- These died back to a brown paste, but amazingly, there are signs with some of them of new leaves coming from the root, yay!! We'll let them get some more oomph and then trim back the brown stuff and let it mulch itself.
5. Papayas ---Weeping, mourning, gnashing of teeth...The 8', two 6', two 4', and rest of the 30 plus papaya plants all appear to be casualties of the freeze. These plants simply hate cool weather but can't withstand those lower 30 temps. We plan a trip to visit the reknowned "papaya man" in Sarasota to see how he manages to have so many fruitful plants in such a small space in his backyard...he and his wife eat only food that they grow, and most of it is fruit, namely papayas. We just really need to know how to keep ours alive without ultimate pampering, since they're SO hardy all the other times of year here and seem to thrive on punishment that would kill most other plants.
6. Malanga --- remember those plants that look like elephant ear plants, with the starchy taro-ish root? They're our pleasant surprise! We did cover them loosely during the freezes, but not with much fuss. They got good and frozen. And the green leaves did die back...BUT...they've all reappeared! This makes them a GREAT keeper for us, and means we can concentrate on propagating a lot more of them. They send out side shoots that Jack carefully separates and starts more from, with seeming success at this point, yay! This is a much-underutilized crop for this region, and just really doesnt make it to the markets locally in large quantities. We've noticed a lot of market malanga comes from central or south america, but we're not sure why since it's very hardy here. Note to selves: Grow it!
7. Sunflower starts --- another surprise. I'd started some mammoth sunflowers from seed in the salad bins, and they were already about 4" tall when the first freeze hit. They survived all three freezes with no problems...uncovered! That really surprised me. I guess our day temps get warm enough to keep them from going under, but for whatever reason, their night-temp cold-hardiness is duly noted! :)
8. Mustard, komatsuna, and radishes did not die back, and were not covered. Yay!
9. Carambola/Starfruit tree sapling --- may be a complete loss :( It was so hardy during those hot, hot days. We'll still keep it watered and such till we know if anything choose to sprout from it in the weeks to come.
10. Jujube sapling --- did not like the freezes, but is greening up again since. Let's see...here's hoping!
11. My cocoplum bushes --- wahhhhh :( All 6 are either dead or having a dickens of a time deciding to hang in there. They are brown and crunchy, but were green and loaded with fruit before the 3 freezes. Double wahhhhh :( We'll see...
12. Bush Cherry --- It may make it, but it's so stressed. Part of it died back to completely brown, but a couple places at the bottom stayed somewhat green. Let's just see... (sigh!)
13. Western soapberry saplings --- these went dormant in early winter and are deciduous. I suspect they'll survive the freezes and will leaf out when they decide spring has sprung. Again, let's see...I still have hopes for them :)
14. Mangos --- it hurts too much to admit we may have lost them all, especially the beautiful 6' Carrie mango we brought onto the porch for more protection. The ones grown from seed by Jack, in pots, all seem to be lost. The Carrie is brown and crunchy...let's see if it decides to put out growth at all.
15. Pineapples --- these are all starts from crowns, and all have turned yellow and mostly limp, but are still with us. Let's see if hot weather revives them at all. We're hoping they will, but are not giving them any special treatment since we want to know what will remain hardy to our locale, and which things aren't our best choices. They've been troopers so far, so they may hang in there and if so, we'll keep propagating more.
16. Yerba Buena mint --- This one takes a licking and keeps on ticking. In fact, it seems to have GROWN during the freezes! It's not a particular plant, not finicky. So we need to find all the ways to best use it...it's a keeper for sure.
17. Feverfew ---another of the herbs that has just grown great guns during hot and cold. I need to find out how to utilized it...it's great!
18. Rosemary ---it revived during the cold, and hangs in there in the heat. I'm lovin' you, rosemary!
19. Thymes --- I have a couple that have done great during hot or freeze, and they're keepers. If we're able to move to our homestead, they'll have a spot of their very own, possibly in an area with birdhouses near the house. They continue to be one of my most favorite :)
20. Basils ---nah, they hated the freeze, but withstood the cold up till that time. I'm not worried, though...we let them all go to seed in the fall and there will be enough volunteers coming up all throughout the other plants' pots they'll be back :)
21. Cassava/Yucca --- These did ok till the freeze, then they died back. I don't know if the root is enough to restart more in the spring when it gets warmer. We're leaving it there just in case. We had barely started our experimentation with these, but they should be hardy to this area...let's see.
22. Coffee tree saplings --- They hated the freeze. I'm not sure how they'll do...they're struggling right now. They're up on our back porch protected from extremes, but Jack's more invested in their survival than I am. If they don't thrive, frankly I want to stay away from things needing babying. But he's right in that we have no mature tree cover right now, and if we did, they might be totally in their element. So, we'll see. If they don't thrive, I'll try my hand at growing chickory or romaine in order to have a coffee substitute (from the dried or roasted, ground roots)


We have a lot next door that is complete concrete-tough hardpan. Our great neighbor with horses down the street has been giving us (free!) liberal truckloads of stable cleanings, which usually is a mix of manure/wood waste/straw. Jack has spread 1/4 of the lot with it to a depth of about 6 inches, and two more loads were just delivered. He's also been leveling our existing lot (the one our house is on) with this mix, too, which will decompose over the very hot summer, and has been mulching the front bed and under the trees, etc.

Collecting boxes of the quantity and frequency needed to layer on the lot next door over such a big area is more than our work schedules can accommodate just now, so it's going to have to remain manure&shavings on top of hardpan, and we're trying to figure out how to grow something in that.

I really want us to grow a large quantity of a few plants there, ones that will make great green manure even if they don't succeed well the first year for a harvest. (but that will stand a good chance at both). I want to plant pink-eye purple hull peas, okra, a couple different bush beans, and bush green beans there. It takes an awful lot of purple hull plants to bear enough of a crop for a good harvest, so I hope we start with those and that they do well. The problem is all that manure and wood chips/straw, and the fact there is very little available soil to sow directly into (the hardpan is sand, sand, sand). That said, I think we may start with a section, mark it off into rows that can be planted at least 3 deep (wide rows), make narrow furrows with a broomhandle and tap out some lines of topsoil mix right in those furrows to get the seeds off to a good start. I have no idea if this will work, but tilling it all in will require renting a tiller and will jumpstart all the weeds that lurk over there, plus we'll be battling that stinking concrete-hard soil. I'm thinking layers of biomass at this point will more quickly transform the soil than any tilling will. And though we just don't have the time to layer carboard over it, etc, maybe just adding green manures to the layer of manure&wood/straw may encourage microbes and worms...let's see!

I still feel us holding back. There is still a semi-detachment in our efforts till we know for sure how long we'll be here, or whether our homestead will come together elsewhere. That's our unknown, so THE first priority is what it has been the last two years...getting out of debt.

Here's my mindset on what we should grow:
1. Keep what's done well for us now...all things we thought would do well in our zone. Those that THRIVE are at the top of the list to keep, propagate, and utilize. We want to only add in other plants we think have this potential.
2. We need to grow what we can use for our diet, ultimately to eliminate the need for the store for essentials. I see our needs being
A. Fresh greens
B. Shell Beans
C. Green beans
D. Potatoes, malanga
E. Medicinal herbs
F. Other---tomatoes, okra, summer and storage squash (in other years, these will be farther up the MUST HAVE list)
G. Fruits

This year, I think we can work on trying A, B, C & D on a small scale, hitting that learning curve. This is "on the side" when not working at our jobs.

So far, all our attempts have been full of surprises, setbacks, and pleasant successes. It's on a very small scale. But later larger scales will be based on our best successes during these days and their limitations. Some things such as fruit trees are a matter of time...they take time to mature and fruit on a bigger scale. But we're having fun trying :)

And those are our simple goals at the outset at this point in 2009.

First Starts, Garden 2009

Meet our 2009 kitchen salad bar!

We hope to actually get a few things into the ground on the lot next door this year. But of course we'll continue using our containers to grow things, too. If you've read this blog at all in the past, you're likely aware we use 5 gallon buckets for a lot of the plants. Recently, I found these...

Buckets, meet bins.

There was a sale at Home Depot.

There are now fewer bins there to meet the public demand. They were too good to pass up, being that they were CHEAP, durable, deep, and much wider than, say...a five gallon bucket. Yes, I'm guilty as charged...

Jack is the green thumb around here, and due to his persistence and attention, we've still got a lot of buckets going in Bucketville. In fact, if anything bites the dust, in the time it takes for a brief moment of silence to give tribute to the casualties of our learning curves, he's usually stuck another start, seed, or volunteer plant back into the bucket as a replacement. He's enjoying the discovery of how satisfying it is to nudge little green things into a good start in life, and I enjoy seeing all his successes!

I'm getting my shot at planting a little bit right now...usually Jack is the master gardener. Who doesn't love playing in the dirt, I ask you??



Today, the bins got planted with:
leaf lettuces,
mustard,
komatsuma greens,
two kinds of table radishes,
arugula,
red kale,
and red chard...yum :)

Oh yeah, and a big thick horseradish root!

(and elsewhere, some empress nasturtiums and mammoth sunflowers... stop me, I'm outta control...)

As far as the salad plants in the bins, I planted them a little thickly so the initial ones can be thinned for baby salad greens and then the others can mature into some cut-and-come-agains for salad. Now for the waiting to see the little babies emerge :)

I started this blog journal in 2006 (hard for me to believe!) and that summer I tried growing a few tomato plants in pots, a couple of eggplants and peppers, and some lettuces in flats.

Here is a pic of those first tomatoes...(2007 brought a new camera...these are with the old one)




I experimented with different repurposed containers -- everything from milk crates lined with paper grocery bags, old boxes, box tops for flats, basically anything that would hold soil...with mixed success.



Even though a job change commenced and the lettuces and tomatoes limped along, even this small amount provided us with a fresh salad everyday and the tomatoes...not any fancy varieties, but mixed multicolored ones...outdid anything we would have normally turned to in the supermarket. The difference in tomatoes alone was amazing...it made us WANT salad :)

In 2007...well, it was an overwhelming year in some respects. When we decided not to grow a seasonal garden, I turned more to kitchen and household experiments, and Jack kept bringing home throwaway 5 gallon buckets, cleaning them, mixing up soil stuff, and putting his hand to different other outdoor leanings. The birth of Bucketville...


We made a concious decision last year not to put in a seasonal garden, but to experiment growing longer-growing things such as baby trees, tree seeds, some individual this-and-thats to see how well they'd do in our zone, and some multi-use plants we need to experiment with on a small basis to see if they're something we want more of. We also started with some herbs.

We moved on to plants indigenous to this zone worldwide...many that were native here, in fact, but have lost popularity due to convenience produce markets. We're exploring ethnic markets when we can, trying to learn different uses for the different parts of plants we'd assumed there was only one use for...experimenting with our own tastes and health needs. This has been fun!

It goes to show, we're only as limited as our imaginations most times. Things WILL grow in buckets (even ugly old paint buckets, ha!)

This year, we're back to wanting to grow some seasonal things and expanding a bit further.

Lessons learned with the container planting so far?

1. don't try to grow two tomato plants per pot (definately!),
2. boxes disintegrate quickly (which can be bad or good depending on how we're using them,
3. it pays to have good soil, and for containers to have a soil mix that drains well
4. we need a good source of compost and natural fertilizer,
5. many plants need some sheltering from our hottest sun exposure,
6. water EVERY day (here),
7. there are going to be invasions of plant-eating bugs so we need to know how to work with that, 8. it helps to have a supportive spouse,
9. if you place heavy containers right on the soil, you'll have to plan on moving them frequently to mow under them unless you've put down a barrier,
10. always place a barrier under the pot between the soil and holes in the pot or termites might decide they've found their Hilton
11. native plants are a good fit usually
12. keep roughly to our recommended planting zone
13. repeat #9 until you finally get reallllyyyyy tired of moving heavy pots back and forth
14. clay pots are expensive. we realize if we can garden on the scale we want there will be nothing on our lot but house and garden...a longer term plan must be decided upon
15. some things just aren't going to do well. Others will. We try to optimize and go with the ones that seem to grow well despite the abuses of weather and climate

Back to January 2009...

We've debated about putting in raised beds, etc, but since we're situationally up in the air with some circumstances and don't know if we'll have the house on the market in the near future, we're having to keep the lawn area more conventional rather than digging it all up (which is what we'd do if we were going to be here longer.) Blah blah blah, anyway we want reusable containers for now (that we could take with us if ever the need be), and containers can be expensive. That's why free used 5 gallon buckets filled the bill so well last year. But at over 100 of them now, my girly self is craving something more aesthetic and more surface space.

As I drool over seed catalogs, renting a tiller and planting a green manure crop for some tilth and mulch to plant into calls with its siren song. How DOES one trim a wish list from three pages to one?? ;-)

We're SO new to this...WHEN to plant, WHAT to plant, what not to do. Hopefully this year we'll work out some of the kinks.

Any advice for the new kids? I know so many of my blog-0-sphere buds out here have years and years over us in experience. What's your advice for the likes of us newbies?

Ongoing Projects At Hand

These will continue to be researched and added to, started or gathered together in order to start...some personal, some family

1. Begin attending a local place of worship. We've put this off for different reasons in the past, but now it's time to find a shul.

2. Stepping up inroads to land finalization and relocation.

3. Determining on paper the ACTUAL savings/costs, advantages/disadvantages of my returning to the job I had. Will weigh financial realities and compare money saved by more careful managing from home (all meals from scratch, really stretching our money, no gasoline expenses, pack all lunches/cook all meals for other family members, etc) VS. the cash. Will also weigh the health impact of working nights, and the reality of how much I can get done in a day here at home, etc.

4. Researching greens and crops that would last the winter here. Must get them in the ground. Plan to do floating row covers or something along that line if necessary during colder weeks.

5. We MUST start substituting grocery store items with our own homegrown/homeproduced. The only of these we're actually using on a daily basis are the fresh and dried herbs and the homemade kombucha. Oh yes, and the diabetes plant/gynura. It's a start, but it's not enough. Greens are top on the list for the immediate, also leaf lettuces and radishes.

6. More experimentation with unfamiliar but available plants, such as cooking young papaya leaves, clover, and others.

7. Need to weekly eliminate ANY storebought breads, with exception of maybe flour tortillas now and then, with my own homemade. Same thing with any sweet treats, occasional desserts. Do NOT plan on making these in large quantities, though, because we're trying to cut back, find our balance. We've lost a little weight just cutting back on them a bit and substituting other things.

8. Find tried and true soup recipes...ones I get asked to make again. Ones I have ingredients for without having to include half a dozen difficult ones. ( I really appreciate Lemongrass's recent recommendations...thank you, I look forward to trying them out!!)

9. Take the time to shop a few places for specific things. I can find real deals out there on specific items, but they're places I seldom shop for much of anything and don't think to go on my weekly grocery shopping. I'll be divvying up the food budget to make stops for these things since they're close by and it would save me maybe 1/4 of my weekly budget. Need to find somewhere with better prices for meat, even though we've cut back on meat quantity by about half.

10. Ultimately, to achieve reducing weekly grocery bill by half within a year's time. I am now spending half of what I spent last year weekly.

11. Increase my physical activity daily. I've lost some weight now, not much, but without trying, simply by getting more rest and eating better, eating more homemade...and, I think, by drinking such copious amounts of the longer-fermented Kombucha (not as sugary as the younger kombucha) I think it's something my body's been needing, and now I FEEL like doing more...yay!!

12. Begin planning the spring garden beds and order seeds.

13. Expand useful recipe base for things to make all meals last.

14. Find the many ways to use the pumpkins and winter squashes since the prices of these right now are really reasonable.

15. Don't know if I can achieve this one, but if so, great :) Can we find a small freezer by late November?? If so, I'd like to watch the sales on turkeys and get some. For now, it would feed us for a long time...till the day we can have our own (praying praying praying...) The prices are so stupid these days, it's maybe my onlyhope to find affordable meat in quantity.

16. Write the thank you notes I have procrastinated.

17. Declutter my desk area, my closet, the back porch. Keep floors mopped regularly (we have allllllll tile floors) Keep laundry folded right after washing. Empty a couple of piles in the garage to free up two more laundry baskets for that purpose. Oh yeah, and those dishes that keep replenishing themselves in the sink even after I've just gotten things back in order (grrrr...) :)

18. Keep saving our loose change for the Kiva.org/Doing Not Thinking Challenge.

19. Plan simple things for Hannukah. I have no idea what we'll do.

20. Make EVERY shabbat a special celebration in our week. Have the music, meals, clothing ready no later than Thursday, since it allllwayyyyyssss seems to get put off till Friday afternoon and then either gets rushed or otherwise goofed. I want it to be a relaxing time, a planned time, an oasis.

21. Every week study the Torah portion ahead of time, and read my Bible every day. I'll be concentrating on the version by Friedman...love his literal translation and brief yet historical insights in his Torah translation with commentary.

22. Do something with that neglected front flowerbed. (Update: Just started that today, whacking the bushes back with the HEAVY limb cutter since we don't have a hedge trimmer. My forearms are obviously out of shape. I got half of them done and my arms feel like they weigh forty pounds and feel like I imagine Popeye's do, ahoy!)

23. I ordered yarn...this, and this...for The First Time In My Life!!!!! (so excited) I'm SO NOT a thready sewing crocheting knitting person. But my daughter has a neglected Knifty Knitter set, and inspired by Warren's success making things with his KK, initially inspired by Angie's KK success here being modeled by the cutest pictures of her kids, I thought of the time I could be sitting beside my sweetie as we watch movies and in an hour or two I could have a real, homeknitted hat or scarf, or (as I get better) a longer project such as a throw blanket. So this project is underway.

24. I sketched some chicken pictures for possible red-on-white embroidering, or maybe applique? to make some squares throughout the winter for later assembling a quilt or other project...(y'know, when I learn how to sew??? lol)

25. We have honed hand-sketched house plans down to a few basic designs. Now I'm concentrating on trying to imagine what specific things we'll need to incorporate for ongoing real life activities...shelf space for fermenting, storage, kitchen arranged in best way for canning and food prep and large quantities of things needing to be cleaned and chopped, etc. Windows situated for best through-the-house airflow, some sort of passive design that encourages temperate interior during exterior extremes. Siting gardens and animals in relation to the house and our need to access them quickly yet not be too close. And so on and so on...

26. Will I Can??? I have a dozen quarts, new in the box, sitting there. I have a soup pot that could act as a hot water canner. This is where I got stuck with the kombucha, before taking the leap. I could start with something easy, like lemon curd. Or pumpkin pickles a' la Throwback at Trapper Creek, or Pumpkin Butter a' la Kathie. And yet I circle the project slowly and with trepidation. Hmmm...

27. Make my own laundry liquid/powder. Yep, another procrastinated project. I think cleaning out the cluttered corners of the laundry room would inspire me to get that underway.

28. Correcting my typos before posting on the blog. Yeah....right (lolol)

That's it for now...just needed to put this to keyboard so as to have the list handy! :)

Bee Garden Plant List, the Good and the Toxic

I was recently looking through my beloved seed catalogs -- one of my favorite pasttimes, usually a winter exercise. Now it's been extended into a year-long exercise in patience and anticipation because of our decision earlier in the year to keep only herbs and trees (in buckets, of course, ha!), but not to grow any spring or summer-bearing plants. Ergo, no "true" garden -- and it's sheer torture seeing all the bounty growing in everyone else's gardens just now, but always a thrill to see what's doing well for different folks, and always a kick seeing the harvests coming in and what they become...meals, pickles, jams, home-canned goods, pantry staples, baked goods, soaps, papers, forages, cover crops, etc. Mmmmmm!!

My husband uttered some very dangerous words the other day, as he was looking at the buckets of green things and thinking into the future to the months we can grow seasonal crops..."we need to grow some flowers."

It's a very dangerous sentence to say aloud in my presence!

Flowers and flowering things are to me what fancy cars, great chocolate, and a getaway weekend cruise are to some folks. Or maybe they are my "beauty fix," or some soothing form of therapy. I love watching bees and insects exploring dancing floral stems, and love the worlds contained there, if I'm still enough to stop and observe. I love that some are smooth, others downy with fine hairs, and yet others are jewels set in a tangled fortress inhabited by every sort of small creature.

I'm not sure why, but as I've grown older, my preferences in flowering plants have transformed from the "perfected" hybrids to the more earthy naturally-occuring forms of these plants, which often are more highly specialized in certain respects, such as native vigor, exquisite fragrance, more natural form, and specific bloom times. My first experiment with this was years ago, when I bought a lot of roses from Jackson and Perkins, among which were hybrids and old-fashioned varieties. The hybrids were little showmen, but lacked...something. The old-fashioneds quickly sorted themselves out into two categories...survivors and casualties...either they thrived or they just died...my first gardening lesson in choosing plants suited to geographic location. The old-fashioneds bloomed only for a few weeks during a particular time of year, specific to their type, but were they ever a riot of beauty then! And the fragrances were beyond description...fragrances never captured in today's bottled perfumes. In the end, the hybrids were dug up and given away to people skilled in nurturing fussy plants, and the other survivors stayed and lived on happily.

What does this have to do with Bee Garden plants?

Lesson learned...look for plants suitable to locale first...

And mine, now, will only be open-pollinated organic seeds and starts. The thing bees and I have in common?

We adore flowers...

--------------------------

Here is the broad list I've compiled so far. They are the common names, rather than the Latin...a more complete list by Latin names is included at the bottom. These are a wide variety of plants good for either their forage, nectar, pollen, and out-of-season food extendering qualities-- primarly for honeybees, even though many of these would be great for other types of bees and pollinators as well.

I'll narrow these down with more research into which ones are specific to my region. The nice thing is that many of these plants are adaptable to many regions nationwide, and perhaps worldwide.

I'm trying to be cautious about two things:
1. Being aware of what plants are toxic to bees, or would taint the honey of honeybees or make the honey undesirable/toxic to humans.
2. Wanting to incorporate these flowers INTO an existing garden diversity of vegetables, fruit trees, herbs, etc., rather than as an isolated "bee crop." We'll be depending on our garden to be our supermarket, and we need those bees to pollinate ALL the available plants. It IS possible to plant bee-loving plants so heavily that they actually draw pollinators AWAY FROM gardens and orchards. I want the plants to be incorporated amidst each other for diversity and the potager-type garden mixed-planting beauty...more like nature does. I don't want to have a separate garden removed from the veggies, etc., that competes for pollinators to the exclusion of the other plants receiving the pollinators' attention. So, in conclusion, the bee-loving plants need to be suitable to grow among the other plants in a diverse garden setting. I don't want to introduce plants into my garden that would be invasive, or harmful to the surrounding plants...thistle would be such a plant. Some plants would be better suited to a meadow situation, fenceline, or wilder areas. Another consideration would be to situate certain plants as to their companionability to certain other plants. Basil does well near tomatoes. I need to hone my research of the following list to see what companion plants each plant is best suited for.

Here's the list! (in no particular order)

Rocky Mt. Bee Plant
Bee Balm
Fireweed
Honey Locust trees
Clovers
Legumes
Raspberries
Asters
Hyssop
Anise Hyssop
Buckwheat
Sunflowers
Elderberry
Wild Plum Tree
Mulberry Tree
Phacelia Tanacetifolia
Mints
Borage
Mexican Sunflower
Hollyhock
Nasturstium
Nicotiana
Stevia (??)
Tupelo Tree
Redbud Tree
Maple Trees
Blackberry
Ajuga
Tulip Poplar Tree
Honeysuckles
Privets
Chaste Tree
Sourwood Tree
Sumac Shrub/Tree
Crape Myrtle Shrub/Tree
Echinacea/Purple Coneflower
Partridge Pea
Brazilian Pepper Bush (invasive)
Goldenrod
Black Eyed Susan
Joe Pye Weed
Currant Bush
Sages/Salvias
Willows
Basils
Cotoneaster
Lavenders
Globe thistle
Hyssops
Marjoram
Rosemary
Wallflower
Zinnia
Comfrey
Germander
Veronica
Nasturtium
Buglass
Chamomile
Chicory
Dropwort
Fennel
Ground Ivy
Hyssop
Lavender
Marjoram
Melilot
Dead Nettle
Queen of the Meadow
Winter Savory
Fuschia
Blanket Flower
Snapdragon
Rosemary
Pincushion
Goldenrod
Yarrow
Milkweed
Aster
Bellflower
Cornflower
Chrysanthemum
Lily of the Valley
Foxglove
Fleabane
Russian Sage
Sages
Buckwheat
Lungwort
Pulsatilla (Pasque Fl)
Lemon Balm
Thyme
Borage
Snakeroot
Button Bush
Russian Olive
Hebe
Bush Clover
Spice bush
Bush Cherry
Firethorn
Sumac
Pussy Willow
Thimbleberry
Snowberry
Blueberry
Lingonberry
Cranberry
Manzanita (UvaUrsi)
Oregon Grape
Mock Orange
Hollies
Desert Willow
Crape Myrtle (pruned to bush)
Escallonia
Catmint
Catnip
Clovers
Cresses
All Mints
Teasel
Daphne
Dandelion
Wineberry
Honeysuckles
Loquat
Bee Bee Tree
Silverbell Trees
Hollies
Quince
Redbud
Lilacs
Blue Mist (Coryopteris)
Serviceberry
Plum trees
Dwarf fruit trees
Hazels
Alder
Medlar
Crape Myrtle
Golden Raintree
Tulip Tree (Yellow Poplar)
Abelia
Tree of Heaven
Acacia (Locust or Wattle)
Maples (Red, Silver, Sugar etc)
Devil's Walking Stick
American Yellow Wood
Summer Sweet
Cotoneaster
Hawthorn
Tupelo (black gum)
Sorrel (Sourwood)
Willows
Basswood
Linden
Elm
Chaste Tree
Persimmon
Horse Chestnut
Chinese and Oregon Ash
Apples
Cherries
Peach
Apricot
Plum
Pears
Citrus (all varieties)
Corn
Tomatoes
Peppers
Cucumbers
Melons
Beans
Legumes
Maples
Alder
Dandelion
Winter Honeysuckle
Willows
Pussy Willow
Peaches
Plums
Apples
Buckwheat
Crabapples
Asters
Calliopsis
Clover
Marigolds
Poppies
Sunflowers
Zinnias
Buttercups
Clematis
Cosmos
Crocuses
Dahlias
Echinacea
English Ivy
Foxglove
Geraniums
Germander
Globe Thistle
Hollyhocks
Hyacinth
Rock Cress
Roses
Sedum
Snowdrops
Squills
Tansy
Yellow Hyssop
Blackberries
Cantaloupe
Cucumbers
Gourds
Peppers
Pumpkins
Raspberries
Squash
Strawberries
Watermelons
Wild Garlic
Borage
Catnip
Coriander/Cilantro
Fennel
Mints
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Blueberry
Butterfly Bush
Button Bush
Honeysuckle
Indigo
Privets
Alders
Basswood
Black Gum
Black Locust
Buckeyes
Catalpa
Eastern Redbud
Fruit Trees (especially Crabapples)
Golden Rain Tree (poisonous flowers to people)
Hawthorns
Hazels
Linden
Magnolia
Maples
Mountain Ash
Sycamore
Tulip
Poplar
Willows
gallberry
citrus
tupelo
saw palmetto
melaleuca
Brazilian pepper
cabbage palm
black mangrove tree
Spanish needles plant
Seagrape
Pepper vine
Fetterbush
Gopher Apple
Buckwheat Tree/Spring Ti Ti
Buttonbush
Coral Vine
Summer Farewell
Trailing Chinquapin
Cowpeas
Curcubits (cucumbers, squashes, watermelons, cantaloupes, etc)
Lespedeza
Mango
Avocado
Snap beans
Birdsfoot Trefoil
Vetches
American and Chinese Hollies
Caroline Laurelcherry
Chinese Tallow Tree
Tulip Tree
Southern Magnolia
Cassava
Sweetbay Magnolia
Glossy Abelia Shrub
Privets and Ligustrums
Scarlet Dombeya
Yaupon
Sweet Acacia/ Mesquite
Common Mesquite
Forget-me-Not
Baby Blue Eyes
Siberina Wallflower
Cosmos
Annual Gaillardia
Corn Poppy
California Poppy
Common Mignonette
Globe Gilia
Plains Coreopsis
Lance-leaved Coreopsis
Black-eyed Susan
Bergamot/ Bee Balm
Fleabane Daisy

For a more complete list by Latin name, you can link here.

(forgive the repetition of some of the things on the list...I compiled it from various sources and have to fine-tune it yet)

Here's the Bad Boy list...plants you DON'T want bees near

Summer Ti Ti...(produces "purple brood")
Yellow Jessamine/ Gelsemium Sempervirens/ Carolina Jasmine/ Evening Trumpetflower/ Woodbine (toxic to honeybees, causes brood death)
Star Lily/Deathcamus Zigadenus genus of plants (pollen is poisonous to bees)
Heliconia genus -- false bird of paradise (toxic to bees)
Spathodea Tree/ Fountain Tree/ Africa Tulip Tree/ Flame-of-the-Forest/ Nandi Flame
Balsa Tree (toxic to bees)
Aesculus Californica/ California Buckeye/ California Horse-chestnut (toxic pollen and nectar)
Neottica Orchid (toxic to bees)
Rhododendrum Ponticum/ Azalea Pontica/ Common Rhododendron (produces honey toxic to humans)
Andromeda Polifolia/ Bog Rosemary (honey that paralyses limbs)
Mountain Laurel/ Kalmia Latifolia/ Spoonwood/Calico Bush/ (honey toxic to humans)

Sheep Laurel (honey toxic to humans)

Azaleas (honey toxic to humans)
Wharangi Bush/ Melicope/ Corkwood/ Doughwood/ Alani (honey fatally toxic to humans)
Datura (honey toxic to humans)
Belladonna/ Deadly Nightshade/ Amaryllis (toxic honey)
Henbane/Stinking Nightshade (toxic honey)
Serjania Lethalis (from Brazil; (toxic honey)

Tutu bushes/ Coriaria Arborea --found in New Zealand --(toxic honey)

Vine Hopper Insect (feeds on Tutu bushes) -- in New Zealand --(toxic honey)

Oleander (toxic honey)

A note about this list:

I am unaware if these toxicities are in honey made exclusively from these plants, or if they result when the above plants are a primary nectar/pollen/forage source rather than being a safer part of a more diverse whole. I'm also not a bee-keeper, yet. I'm aware there are mountain laurels and rhododendrons in the wild in areas where there has never been any negative report of compromised honey or ill effects on bees. I also consider the internet sources a jumping-off place to do further specific research, and don't recommend banning OR embracing a recommendation based solely on something found on a webpage. It's simply a starting place. Do NOT rely on my toxic list above as your guide in what to avoid for bees...it's here as a jumping-off place to raise a possible concern. Each individual is responsible to do more complete research for their own health concerns and that of their bees. I list here only in order for us to compare notes and highlight possible concerns in network-fashion.

If you know of any plants missing from either list, I'd love to know them and add them to our resource book. We're compiling a looseleaf book for different homestead categories as a ready note-taking and comparison tool, and it'll be a work in progress.

It will be fun when we can actually get started keeping honeybees, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

As we choose flowers for our garden, and incorporating many of them potage-style side by side with the veggies and berries, the very first ones we'll bear in mind will be the ones bees love.

Future lists to come...

Beneficial insect plants

Edible Flowers

Fragrance Plants

Medicinals

Companion Plants

Trap crops

Green manures

Forages/feed supplements for livestock and poultry

Pest Repellant Plants

Holistic Animal Care Plants

Said While Jumping Up and Down

(Which makes typing an interesting exercise in coordination)


Jumps are in caps...


Guess WHAT

we're going to GET

with the MONEY

we set ASIDE

from the TAXRETURN

after we PAID

a big ol' CHUNK

of the CAR

payment OFF ?????????










I'm not telling.




Noooooo, oh HA

hahahahaHAAAA


ok, SORRY


(you can take a peek here)


So now I can drink and cook with clean water and type strike-throughs with my keyboard and have a blog post stolen by plagiarizers and be closer to being completely out of debt all at the same time! Wheeeeeee!!!

(I'm a little happy...thank you for sharing my happy dance!)

Pictures and experiments will commence as soon as the big Fed Ex truck arrives :) Stay tuned!

Soapnut Seeds

Looky! Seeds!!

Here's a pic of what arrived in the mail from the Seedman recently...soapnut tree (Ritha/Reetha) seeds! They were received with great excitement!

If you've ever read about Soapnuts, they are a natural dried fruit (inedible) that's being used by many as a replacement for laundry detergent as well as body cleanser and shampoo.

They have found a very receptive modern market for those who desire a sustainable and eco-friendly product. Soapnuts have received enthusiastic reviews by many users since they are gentle enough for those with allergies, strong enough to get clothes really clean, reuseable several times before discarding to a compost pile, keep clothing colorfast, both soften and clean (which removes the need for laundry softeners for those who use them), and are adaptable to a wide range of cleaning applications...from household to body cleanser and shampoo/conditioner.

Soapnuts are considered by many to be a very economical alternative to laundry detergent. For ourselves, after having inquired of some wholesalers, we've found that the prices of this product still exceed what we find is economical for our own budget. Their retail prices, for us, are much beyond our comfort zone. We will still purchase a few as we go along, in order to experiment with them as cleaners in the meantime. Despite what I frequently hear from some people, making the switch from modern conventional products to organic is not, as yet for us, an inexpensive process. Getting set up for independence requires many overhauls and a good deal of experimentation...and special attention to the budget.

But I digress...

Here's another closeup. My husband read up about their germination, and he decided we should soak the seeds in very warm water for 24 hours prior to planting. We're not using a grow light simply because we don't have one, but the seeds were soaked, planted together in a pot of good soil, and J made a wire mesh cover to fit over the top in case curious raccoons decided to have a dig...at the cost of a dollar a seed, these aren't toys :)

The enclosed literature had detailed germination instructions we found helpful, and hopefully in several weeks (or it even stated a few months), we hope to have some sprouting! The planted seeds are currently in a shaded but warm spot in Bucketville, letting the warm Florida days help them along till we're further along towards summer, at which time they'll be rescued and find themselves porched on the lanai in order not to bake to death.

Simultaneously, we received the little 18"seedling whips for the 4 native Western Soapberry trees (shown below), a plant whose berries reputedly have been used by our native populations in the past in much the same way the soapnuts are.

They don't look like much here, but from humble beginnings we hope to arrive at some lush and productive native trees! Soapberries or soapnuts, or both, we hope to one day have a bountiful supply for cleaning our clothing, home, and bodies much more healthfully AND sustainably.

And affordably! How long will it take? We're not sure. (Here's to headstarts) We do know the annual fruit harvest of ONE mature soapnut tree can provide far more fruits in a single year than one family can possibly use. Which is great news, since that means we could SHARE, and give others access to this resource AND have plenty of berries to give out for FREE :)

If you've had any experience using or growing these fruits, we'd love to hear your feedback and any advice you might have!

The Collection Grows!

Those of us who are intently waitinggggg waitingggg waitingggg on the day when we'll finally have some LAND have to do something to occupy our curiousity and interests in the meantime...and so my hubby has grown very excited about our little collection of plants in pots...with a view to growing them to a more mature size and closer to fruit-bearing by the time we can plant them on Our Someday Land permanently.

I've mentioned recently how this wee collection was added to with raspberry canes, gooseberries, a couple of grapes, and even a currant start...in addition to the mango, papayas, and the moringa we had before. Glad to say, so far so good as far as their survival. We'll see how they weather the Florida summer temps and our own amateur attentions by this time next year...hopefully we're choosing ones hardy to our area, as we really don't want to be raising things that are so fussy and delicate that they can't hold their own with minimal care when mature.

So the experiment commences, and tonight we had the happiness of adding some more sale plants (thank you, Lowes!) to the family...little one gallon pots...a few meyer lemons, a key lime, and a Persian Lime. We use lemons around this place like crazy, so lemons will surely be welcome, and of course limes are a great Florida fruit, too.

Earlier today we tried locating some camellia sinensis plants, as those are the actual plants from which "real" tea is made, either green, or fermented and such. We found one grower in north Florida, but his aren't ready for sale for a few more months, and he described their survival as very iffy...so they're not on the Foolproof Florida Plant list. My enthusiasm for plants declines directly in proportion to their being prima donas and needing a butler or a nanny. I'd rather wait hand and foot on some farm animals, for all that. Or on Antonia Banderas when he comes for a visit just to say hello. Oops, did I type that? Well, in my dreams, the Banderases will be our neighbors and regularly need raw milk and deliveries of fermented foods and fresh made bread. I'm sure it'll happen...

OK now that I'm awake again...

The biggest addition has been the smallest...we just ordered online from a northern supplier...guess what?? Yes, a Western Soapberry tree, yeeha! It's a native plant used as a traditional soaping agent, and has a fruit similar to the Asian Ritha tree from which "Soapnuts" are currently marketed as a natural clothes and household cleanser...and from which a gentle and natural shampoo and body wash can be homemade. We're realllyyyyyy excited about this! In all the excitement, we never found any actual Asian Ritha trees for sale anywhere online, but we did find (after a long search) a source for packets of the seeds, and ordered one packet of 5 seeds. According to the description, when the tree is finally mature, it can provide loads and loads of the fruits/soapnuts yearly....enough for ourselves and others, too, if we can get some to germinate and survive till maturity.

Anyway, it's ordered and on its way! Oh SO fun to try new things, especially growing ones!

And now to get some chickens to mingle with the pots out there, in the Taj Mahal, oh oops I mean pieced-together shade shelter J wants to put up in our backyard to buffer the summer sun. After all, shade cloth would be put up around its perimeter, and what better than some hens...oops, I mean Exotic Florida Ground Parrots (chickens are illegal here supposedly) to keep the weeds down and the bugs eaten?? Heh heh...

By the time that happens, I could very well see a sheep there, and oh a couple of rabbit hutches...you know...for free fertilizer (so goes the persuasive attempts to reason with my hubby, lol)

Ah, well, for now we have baby trees!

And that's all I have to say tonight. Except that it's hard typing a post while my husband is watching and commenting every few sentences. Especially the Antonio Banderas part. But his middle name is Antonio, so I'm off the hook, I think. (He's laughing!)

What I suffer for my art...

ha ;-)

2008 Florida State Fair: Sheep

I love the fair!

We recently had a chance to travel to the Florida State Fair, and had from mid-morning till mid-afternoon free to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes...a treat!


Since we didn't have any teens with us this year, the midway and its rides were our backdrop, but we weren't there this time to ride any rides. Even with focusing on particular areas of our greatest interests, there was still too much to see and do all in a single day. We didn't even try...we just enjoyed what we could until we had to leave.


Of course, our first beeline was straight to the animal barns. That's where we spent the better part of the day...hooray!


I think different animals are housed at different dates, and we happened along on the dairy cattle show date. There were no beef cattle to be seen at all in the barns, but we had our fill of watching dairy cattle shows, visiting the barns and seeing the animals up close, and seeing TOGETHER what our first impressions were up close and personal. After all, we're very inexperienced with animals other than having done a lot of reading. But more about the cattle in the next post.


The first building we entered, of all the barns, was a barn where they had a mixture of livestock for close viewing (and admiring...and scratching under the chins...) There was a milking stand set up for school kids in one area, and many of the pens featured Dwarf Nigerian goats, a mixture of other goats (dairy and meat), and rows of different cattle breeds...the horned ones off to the side, and gosh those horns were MASSIVE. But smack in the middle of these other pens was a pen of Barbado sheep...some appearing to be crossbreeds and the ram appearing to be standard (I think). There were other sheep in other pens, too, such as the delightful Jacob's sheep (which I also love), and many of the standard breeds. It's funny...being there AMONG many sorts of animals is a pretty good test of just which ones make your heart skip a beat and beat a lot faster than all the others. It was quite a surprise...


I was surprised how much I liked the dairy goats and dwarf goats. I was very drawn to the Jersey heifers...in fact, I could have happily have staked out a place on a nearby hay bale and communed there for hours, if we'd had hours to commune. And yes, oh yes, I could rouse myself daily at some unearthly hour to milk one, were that opportunity to ever be given me in the future!


What really surprised me was the Barbado sheep, though. The sheep I saw in the pen lacked the uniformly bold markings of Barbados Blackbelly sheep, and these had more variable markings, and the ram had the horns of the American Barbados breed, which is popular especially in Texas ranches.


I've read up on breeds suitable for my area, here in Florida. Much thought is along the lines of "Sheep?? In Florida?? Give it up!" But there are meat sheep farmers who raise St. Croix, Katahdin, St. Augustine, and Barbados Blackbelly sheep here, or crosses such as the above breeds x Dorper. All of the above are haired sheep...sheep with goat-like hair rather than wool fleeces, which is an advantage in the tropical high heat and humidity. There is also said to be a great parasite-resistance and an ability to thrive on variable forage found here. I really don't know anything beyond what I've read, though, and I've yet to see any sheep grazing pastures except for a farm about an hour away that had a few St Croixs or Katahdins. I was realllyyyy hoping there would be a great representation of these breeds at the fair when we went. This barn was just a taste of what I hoped was housed in the Sheep and Goat building farther down the path.

I'd wondered about the Barbados Blackbellies. For some reason, they'd caught my curiosity a lot in my reading, and they are said by some to retain wilder instincts and alertness, making them suitable for a "wild" flock or one closely handled. It seems they don't flock tightly together, though, and they follow a leader rather than are driven as a flock. They've retained a strong mothering ability and are prolific, lambing 2 to 3 lambs on average and coming into heat at any given point yearround. Anyway, they have a leaner frame and more deerlike in appearance, with dark badger-ish black markings. And I reallllyyyyy wanted to see some up close.

When I saw the pen marked "Barbado," I knew I'd found their close relative, the American Barbados. And they were lovely....here are some pics:

What a lovely pair :) I knew this was not a Barbados Blackbelly because the purebreds are polled, and here was evidence of horns on both mama and baby...and all the other sheep in the pen. The American Barbados are horned. I have no idea if the term "Barbado" is just a looser umbrella term for all the related Barbados-origin variations at large, or if it is something more specific. But I knew I was getting closer to seeing a Blackbelly up close. Here are some more pics of the "Barbado" sheep in the pen:

Hello, fella with the handsome horns! And ooooh, what's curled up next to you? Oh, yes it is...those tiny lambs, snoozing away (And at this point, I had to deliberately try not to squeal loudly in public)

And here is a terrible, blurry, picture of the tiniest of lambs...all curled up next to Dad. I was having serious maternal surges at this point... To put it in perspective, this sheep breed is small, and rather petite in comparison with the standard breeds. They are nearly deerlike, and graceful in appearance. This ram, if he were standing, would have been no taller than most Australian shepherd dogs, or thereabouts. All curled up, he hardly took up any room at all, and though I know he's a ram, he was really docile. Yes, I know not to anthropomorphize, and I know he'd be formidable when in rut. Obviously, here he was on a better day...and these little toy-sized babies were snuggled right up to him, sleeping right through the cacophony of touring school groups and curious onlookers. And they're adorable...

He had a harem of gentle ewes in the same pen, but I couldnt resist peeking at the contented trio.

Ah, this little one just finished snacking at Mom's Milk buffet. I could seriously have sat right in the middle of this sheep tableau happily all the day.

But where were the Blackbellies? My hopes were up...I hadn't expected to find anything close. Later, we made our way to the sheep and goat barn.

There was not a goat in sight, so we concluded that perhaps the goat events were on different days, and we'd lucked upon a sheep day. As we made our way around the sheep barn, we saw a lot of sheep, but none of the pens were marked. Many of the sheep wore wool protective blankets (not sure what they're called), and nearly all the sheep had wool, rather than being haired sheep. In fact, nary a haired sheep was to be seen...and I thought that very odd. But what do I know? I'm the amateur.

The temperature that day was in the low 70s, which made for a perfect day weatherwise. But in the sheep barn, even with the big fans blowing, the un-airconditioned 70s temps found most of the sheep (with their wool coats) looking quite wilted and stressed by heat. But what do I know, being an amateur? Still, I swear they were near to panting.

Many of them were quite large, the size of a small pony compared to the diminuitive sheep we'd just been hanging out with in the other building. At this point, J had had enough sheep bonding, and he found a corner of the building to sit a while and chat with others who were in there looking like we were. I walked up and down the aisles, and I was unmoved...loving being among the animals, but not finding just what I'd hoped to find. Since the pens were not marked, I don't know what breeds I was looking at. I didn't see any haired breeds, but was not sure if the grooming style obscured one type from another, since many were shorn. Would show grooming shear hair off a hair sheep and make it look like the others? I didn't see anything that I thought might be a Katahdin, St. Croix, Jacob's, or Dorper.

I got to the next-to-last aisle, and in the VERY LAST pen saw this:

Whoops, hello!! Wait, could it be?? She had all the markings of a blackbelly!
I think those used to be horns, or else they're scurs, so this is probably not a Barbados Blackbelly, but she has the distinctive blackbelly markings...the badger face, brown haired body, and black underbelly stripe extending up to her tail area. Beautiful! And these pictures do her no justice...she was simply lovely! She had "feminine" features and was very friendly.
The hair was the even texture of a bristle brush, and her muzzle (or nose or snout?) was soft and would fit in the smallest cupped hand (she was very gentle and curious). And the eyes were a dark hazel brown. Ah, I was in love! This picture is a close-up, but it doesnt capture her small size.

I was in serious love. What an exquisite sheep! Her legs were not even as big around as a broom handle, and she looked like she might be expecting (though again, what do I know? I'm an amateur)...but, well, you see what I mean

And another picture, just because :)

And finally I had to go. And say goodbye. Even though I still didn't know the name of the farm or who raises this beautiful animal.

I can't wait till we can have a place for an animal this lovely to graze...

So it was a reluctant goodbye...

...and on to the dairy cattle barn, and the surprises that awaited us there! :)

On Productivity

I like to feel like I'm making headway in some real areas, or I begin feeling restless. It seems like the recap of 2007 was a series of major adjustments. And boy, did it ever fly by! It also involved major events in the lives of those close to me, namely my daughter. I love being invested in her life, and that has come into play in a much more concentrated way now that she nears the completion of her LPN program. How very much hope, expectancy, scheduling, and finances have gone into our team effort of her arrival at this point.

I'm trying very much to back off and allow her to make her own decisions, mistakes, and express her personality without my input so much, or at least my censure. Since she lives at home, and since we are pretty comfortable with the structure of our relationships and how our household runs, R's becoming a woman comes with its testing of our personal comfort zones...some of which are the better for a shake-up and others that are the product of wisdom she, as yet, finds confining. She's itching for independence while still needing to be here at home for economic reasons. We are seeing this as a transition stage for her...and for us.

We weathered the "age 18" phase, where suddenly she felt she was given a magic pass to have no expectations placed on her altogether while still living here. I'm chuckling as I remember HOW many times that phrase was used "but I'm 18 now! you can't tell me what to do any more." Well, the "ones what pays the car insurance and hold the car title, pays the mortgage and bills and all the food" continue to have the highest voting share ;-) After a couple of Expectation Shakedowns, a general peace ensued. But the three of us are expectant of a change happening in the next two months, and we're all pretty excited about the transition.

For those following events from early last year when I first started this blog, I may have mentioned the grueling schedule we all teamed up to help with for the past three years. During R's last two years of high school, she was bused (bussed?) an hour away every school day to her nursing program classes, and then midday, bused back to her high school where she took her regular classes, many of the honors classes. Because she and I moved here only three years ago, upon my marriage to J, the relocation itself had been quite a life change. That was right after the series of hurricanes had devastated this area. MUCH happened during that time.

For R, she had to make a new start in a completely new environment, late in high school, and find new friends here locally. And because of a glitch in her credit transfers, she had to take a second semester of Latin 2 which was not offered at THIS school...so she took it online. And it was QUITE difficult and intensive.

So, that said, at one given point, when she was not yet old enough to drive, one of US would get her to the bus stop by (ugh) 5:15 AM, wait with her till it arrived, and go back home to catch a few minutes more sleep before the alarm went off. But R got herself up and her own breakfast, was ready on time, traveled on the bus for an hour to nursing classes, listened to lectures and such, at her lunch on the bus back to school, took her afternoon classes there, caught the bus that stopped near the house, and then did homework. And took dance classes. And talked on the phone. And managed to have her first official boyfriend. All at the same time.

We felt this was a heinous amount of work for a daughter to be put under, but frankly, she seemed to thrive more with more challenges than with too much time on her hands...she is easily bored. She really began to thrive in her nursing classes. And during those two years, we two parents flew her regularly to her Dad's (my ex) out-of-state for visits, paid for all her fees, went to orientations, filled out scholarship and school paperwork, ran the Parent Taxi, and logged 50 hours of passenger seat time as she fufilled her driving practice hours necessary to get her drivers license. The first time out, we were all together, and she was still very nervous about braking. She braked in slow motion, trying not to jerk the car. We all had a very memorable moment (NOW we laugh, THEN we didnt!) when we were all in the car together and she was practice driving through the narrow streets of the neighborhood we lived in at that time...there is enough room for a full-sized car on the streets, so if anyone oncoming passes you in their vehicle, both vehicles have to hug the sides of the street. Which is ok...if no one else is on the side of the street. Long story short, R nearly creamed an older Russian lady who was getting her mail out of her mailbox. The noise inside our vehicle as she approached, and another car approached was "R, stop the car....R...Stop the Car.......R, oh my gosh just STOP THE CARRRR.....(then at yelling pitch) PUT ON THE BRAKE NOWWWWW!!!!!" It was like one of those slo mo dreams where you just can't seem to speed things up fast enough. ..lol!


We survived the driving lessons, and the boyfriend, and the phases. And for three years it's all been building to this point...the completion of her LPN program. Yes, she'll go on to more schooling now in college...her courses are college level now. But she'll have done this major thing, and I'm so PROUD of her! She's so proud she did this, too...that's what makes it enjoyable for me. She loves caring for people, and she is good, and is learning a lot.

Why have I posted this here among the homesteading stuff? Well, it's the chronicle of our lives, and our lives have had this as a major focus daily for these years. As we've wanted to relocate and find our land and build and put in our gardens and transition away from where we are, we've had to balance the timing of everything with the committment of helping R complete this goal...or she may never have had the chance to again. It has required a sizeable financial committment, too, weekly. Daily she has used my vehicle for her commute, now that she's not in school and can't have accesss to the bus. We're nowhere near a regular public bus route, and our city is a considerable drive to anywhere else. Gasoline has skyrocketed, meals are bought on location while she is doing her clinicals at the area hospitals, etc. And her bio dad (my ex) contributes nothing as far as financial support. So essentially, my job right now pays for R.

I have no complaints! I'm grateful! Here's what's about to change...

As of a few weeks from now, R will get a job and begin taking over most or all of her budget needs. She will sit for the state exam...and we're certainly praying she will pass on the first try! She will shoulder the responsibility of applying for her grants and such, unless she asks for and needs our help, and will sign up for her own classes in college needed as prereqs to the R.N. program she wants to take there.

Those may not seem like major changes to others, but in our world, it gives momentum and some more breathing room to our move elsewhere...namely to land. Where we were not free to immediately relocate before, now we're free. And though she might choose to live with us as long as she needs (we're always available), her scholarship will transfer to any state or private school in our state. We're not tied to this location any more! :) :) Also, we can now make faster progress in our continuing attempt to pay off our debts. We can see the progress so far, but what has seemed like a crawl will feel like a leap, soon!

I'm not looking forward to the eventual empty nest...fear creeps into my heart whenever I think about it. But I love seeing R becoming the woman she is, and I know in the right time, that will be my comfort seeing her off into her life. I'm a little beset with fears lately, namely because with the hours I'm working at night, I'm seeing less of R and less of my husband. Two days out of the week, he and I don't see each other at all, though we talk on the phone. I hadn't thought of myself as so attached, but I guess I'm getting old and set in my ways :) I really value the time I have with each of them so much right now. I long to be productive in the things we peruse and dream of regarding gardening and such...the seed catalogues tease me, and the McMurray Hatchery catalog has my favorite chicken breeds well-dogeared. We have made another stab of progress at the red tape process necessary in pursuing the particular acreage we're hoping will be ours, and we await news on a second under negotiation. So many have fallen through at this point, but the work we're doing right now has the possibility of ensuring permanence if we can push through to the end. Negotiating, I suppose, is not just an art, but it's work. I can't give details yet, but as soon as I can announce anything, you'll hear it here first!

Anyway, much is changing, yet I'm not feeling productive. I'm feeling jet lagged from working nights part of the week and trying to be up days the other days of the week to keep meals and housework and such on an even keel for everyone. But mostly I'm dragging around, which makes me feel somewhat blah and out of sorts, and wonder if I'm losing steam in general. But my conclusion, for now, is that this, too, shall pass and change is a constant, and 2008 has many new things ahead.

I hope to have some better perspective soon. I'm loathe to start new projects when my tail end's dragging...I simply am craving time with my family.

Hopefully, J and I will get a really big perk soon....a vacation!! We've never had a honeymoon, and during everyone else's holidays this past fall and winter of 2007, we worked straight through, especially since so many other employees quit at the last minute. I think we'll try in a month or two to have a couple days together, just us two, somewhere a few hours away. My brain needs it. I need some juice for all the wonderful things ahead :)

Here are some things I'm hoping to be teaching myself in the "Meantime" part of this waiting process, since we arent putting in a garden till we have land:

1. Soapmaking, including experimentation with soapberries/soapnuts
2. Making homemade bath salts from a recipe I saw in one of the recent homesteading magazines
3. Making and using my own household cleaning products, for ease, eliminating chemicals, eliminating dependency on buying them from the store, and to experiment and find what works best for us
4. Making a clothesline and line drying most of our clothing
5. Making our own homemade wine vinegars
6. Making our own homemade yogurt
7. Making handmade paper with original designs
8. Getting back to artwork
9. Compiling list of edible landscaping plants, unusual and edible fruits, and plants that thrive in our Zone that have multiple uses
10. Compiling list of the vegetables we're most attracted to growing for our Zone, and their companion plants and flowers, and a general idea of proximities, such as which DONT do well near each other, so we can plot these things easier when we get our acreage
11. Canning on a very small scale, such as pickles, with a hot water bath canner
12. Shredding all our junk mail and used paper and storing in bags till we can use it for bedding or in compost, or for incorporating into handmade papers
13. Cleaning and organizing all areas of our house and storage
14. Eliminating ALL unnecessary possessions we have stored...the stuff that just collects and could be sold or donated
15. Incorporating new recipes into my regular cooking...I'm in a rut.
16. Trying a few simple Indian and Mediterranean recipes
17. Making our own alfalfa and other edible sprouts to eat regularly
18. Walking every day and cutting out most of our white flours and sugars, substituting the healthier ones
19. This should be first on the list, but reading the Bible daily and learning Hebrew.
20. Getting enough rest and enough time with family. Laughing more and being irritable less! :)

I will say the one thing I have been doing more of is catching up with long-distance friends I haven't spoken with in a long time. I'm receiving calls on a regular basis as some life events happen to those I love, and I'm trying to be a good friend-across-the-miles when sometimes the only way I can do that is just to listen. Hey, THAT I can do :)

Ah well, enough ramble for tonight...better get to bed so tomorrow I can be...um...productive ;-)

Monday's Adventure: Top Tropicals

Wow! The stars were aligned or something, but J and I had the same days off for a change, woo hoo!

Monday was our big chance for a day trip, so we looked up a place we've recently been wanting to find...a nursery specializing in trees and exotic plants hardy to our area, especially fruiting plants and fragrance plants. We're not looking for something delicate, but rather something that will both weather the extreme heat and some of the vagaries of the winter thermometer (though this year has so far been quite warm).

Another reason we wanted to find this place is because of the happy coincidence of its being within driving distance, and their carrying a tree we've been very curious about, the Moringa tree. It's a tree I saw mentioned in various articles online related to permaculture and the use of trees as fodder for livestock during times of drought. I'm really excited to know that trees can be used as feed during lean times...the branches and greenery of willows, poplars, and many other trees and shrubs...even holly. Moringa is a tree that seems to have traditional uses for nearly every part of the tree. It thrives despite adverse weather and environmental conditions, can be used as fodder, its many parts used medicinally or as food for humans, and its flowers stir-fried to impart a mushroom taste. Interesting! Our web search for a US supplier turned up this nursery I just mentioned, Top Tropicals, less than a day's drive for us!

Getting there was fun. They refer to their location as the "Tropical Boonies," which is just what is was :) The directions include instructions that read "you can try to Google this location, but the directions are WRONG, so ignore them," and "make a left hand turn at the unnamed dirt road just past the RV park on the right." My kind of adventure!

Then you follow the signs...

This was the first of several signs. And it was a dirt road. Miles and miles and miles. And every so often another sign similar to this one.



Till you get to this sign. Don't be fooled by the illusion of other addresses being pointed to. It's still out in the boonies. It's a very very bad picture. Which is what happens when you're taking it through the windshield of a moving vehicle, pointing right into the noon glare of the sun. Sign on right points to further promises of finding the place. More dirt road to come...


Aha! Another bad shot, but we found the place!

We were met by one of the owners, Mike, and had the FUN of getting to amble around the place as much as we wanted, wandering among the fruiting, flowering, and fragrant plants. (To read Mike's and his wife Tatiana's story, click here.) Not that we actually knew what most things were...there were many plants with which we're unfamiliar. We'll have to research the web site info, since most of them are described well in the online catalog of plants in stock. There is also a wish list for plants not in stock, and the catalog list is much more comprehensive than even the many plants currently on site. Many seeds can also be ordered via their website.

I was really drawn to the fragrance shrubs and trees, ones I've only ever heard of in books, but never seen. There were the Ylang Ylang, the Frangipani, Joy perfume tree, Orchid trees, all sorts of Jasmines, and many I've never heard of...with exquisite frangrances I wish could be adequately described. Oh, heavenly, even with the dip in temps to the 60s! It seems these folks purchased this 20 acres in the past couple years, and have really put a lot of work into the place in a short amount of time. Pics on their site show it nearly a marsh, with standing water in a lot of places, before they put in their two ponds. They've planted fruiting and fragrance plants all around and hope to be getting a harvest next year. They also put down a lot of mulch and compost to improve the sandy soil. Now there is a wonderful diversity of growth everywhere, and we were so delighted to notice bees humming among even the low grass and the weed growth, which has flowers of its own. It just did my heart good...it's been so long since I've seen that many bees working such a big area. A joy!

They had an amazing selection of mangoes and harder-to-find trees...too many to list all of them since it takes up four or five full pages, but just to give you an idea, we saw quinces, loquats, lychees, lemons, limes, kumquats, sapodillas, tamarinds, natal plums, barbados cherries, persimmons, strawberry trees, breadfruit, guavas, figs, durians, papayas, chirimoya, and my husband's absolute favorite, mamey (pronounced mah-MAY). Here is his VERY happy face upon discovering THOSE...


We even saw coffee plants, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla...such fun!

We tried to exercise some self-restraint, which wasn't easy to do, and attempted to limit ourselves to two plants...one obviously the moringa. They had several of those in stock, so we snagged one, and J wanted to get a mango, so we got the Carrie variety, after asking Mike for a recommendation. Of course ALL the varieties of mangoes were tempting, and making a selection was difficult, but Mike said the Carrie variety is such that it will never be carried in a supermarket...it simply is too full of nectar and too juicy to survive shipping and handling. In fact, they are best picked straight from the tree, because if they fall to the ground, they are so full of juice that they burst open. And they taste out-of-this world, or so he said. We were convinced. A Carrie made its way home with us, along with a Moringa. Now we have them huddled next to the three papayas J has potted in the backyard.


Here are the papayas and the moringa. The papayas have the pointed leaves and the moringa has the more delicate looking leaves and the white flowers on a very slender stem.

Here is a close-up of the maringa blooms. The sturdy green pole thingy is what I have it staked to.

Here are the leaves of the moringa, and the stem, which will one day be a sturdy trunk...I hope! We were told it will look wimpy till we get it into the ground permanently, at which time it will flourish and be really lush and fast-growing.

Here's the Carrie Mango. I hope it survives our amateurish beginning attempts long enough to get planted on LAND that we HAVE...hopefully sooner than later.

Update on that score...we have the good fortune, or rather blessing, of having narrowed our search target down from a region to a county and now to a specific area. I can't elaborate on how we're attempting to acquire acreage there, or give any more details just now, but they will be forthcoming if we're successful. We're much farther along than we've ever been! One transaction is in the legal process of being investigated (for no loose ends, etc) and another is in negotiation, depending upon the owner's being amenable to terms we're negotiating. Ah, the waiting part... EVERY day we do something related to the land. EVERY day we add to our computer file of things we have questions about and need to look up, or have looked up but need to keep investigating. EVERY day we have more conversations. I can't every day get online just now, since the computer is sustaining two of us with many time demands jobwise and one lovesick teenager whose boyfriend is stationed in the military beyond phone distance. This blog has been sadly neglected, but I do try to dash here in the event there is anything important in our process to detail.

I've now had going on three days with my husband due to the irregularity of our schedules. It's like being on a honeymoon, especially since we never had a honeymoon :) With the weather turning cooler (finally!), it's been spring-like and sunny and we've had SUCH fun being together. It's definately the shot in the arm I needed! I've been homesick for this man :)

I discovered the nausea I'd been experiencing for weeks was due to a medication, and after discontinuing it two days ago, I feel like my old self...yay! It was eating a hole in my stomach. No more! My blood sugar was also not in balance, something I have to be careful about, so that's being addressed now, too. The more physical work and organic veggies we can have at hand, the better it is for us both. We LONG to be at that point in our land journey. It's getting closer than farther, that's the consolation. And every month we keep plugging away at the jobs is another month closer to being debt-free. Anything we do on the land will be done without debt. One change we hope is about to happen is the transition for our daughter in her nursing career. Hopefully, within only 3 or 4 months she will have her LPN license. We're certainly praying all goes well with that, too! (Praying hard!) It will release us as her primary monetary support so that she can partially support herself while still availing herself of home and food here while she pursues further schooling...and a job! She is looking forward to being employed and having the ability to manage her own expenses as much as possible, and I see it as a good and gradual transition. Which will free up more resources for us, too!

Well, that's the scoop for now. Over and out till there's something else to report. I'll do a post about fodder trees soon, hopefully. I think it's an under-utilized resource in the US farming community, most likely.

Hope all are well! :)