Garden- for real, this time.

Okay, so I finally got some photos!  A few friends have been curious about the patio garden we have.  It's not incredibly productive, but it has been fun.  And I feel like my Dad would be proud of some of the stuff I'm trying (sub irrigation).  Anyway, I'm describing the garden here, and welcoming any feedback for improvement-- or even what to do in the winter here in the (almost) Artic Circle.

Above, a photo of most of the plants.  Left to right, there's a wooden box planter that Jim built for me.  It's 3 foot long, and about 12-16 inches tall.  In front of it, there's a Lowe's bucket that has various uses- right now, its storing garden tools.  Behind the bucket and to the right of the wooden planter are TWO large plastic bins (maybe 16 qt?).  Then, along the brick wall is a plastic shelf (5 shelves, over 6 ft tall).  There's a few decorative plants up top- a bromeliad and a donkey tail cactus.  Not pictured, to the right of the shelves, is a wooden desk my dad built and I use as a workshop area for potting or puttering :).  There's a houseplant arrangement on that area as well.

Above, a close up of one of the watermelon.  We've about 3 this size, and I think that's as big as they'll get.  We bought the smaller ones since they're better for containers, and I've loved watching the vines grow all over.  I've used both the shelves and a few strategically placed sticks to guide the vines back onto the porch.

Above is a closeup of one of the watermelons when it was first starting.  Kaden- heck, all of us- have really gotten a kick out of watching stuff grow from seeds to green leaves to tiny something to: food!  Look closely in the back left of that photo and you'll see what looks like trash... a plastic water bottle.  It's actually part of our irrigation system.

 Above, here's a photo of the sub-irrigation system BEFORE we planted anything.  It was quite fun researching this and then figuring out how to make it work (I used pinterest for the initial research).  I got a few 2 liters from some family members, then asked at a garden place for the smaller trays they were going to throw away.  A detailed explanation is here.  Basically, the plastic forms pocket for air and water under the soil, and the roots can suck up what they need without drowning. Except, I didn't drill any overflow holes, but I just checked the water level from the outside (also didn't pretty-fy the outside of the clear plastic, lol).

One of the bins had carrots and watermelon - plus somehow a parsley plant that snuck in.  The carrot greens were gorgeous, and the carrots were small and tasty- but I don't have any pics of those.  Above, is about 3 watermelon vines, with celery sticking up the middle.  I'm trying to get it to go to seed so I can collect for next season (or maybe spices?!).

Here's a close up of the celery flowers.  The neat thing about this plant is that I bought organic celery at the store, and when I was done with the stalks, replanted the bottom!  Details here.  The celery certainly wasn't as  large as the store version, but it was rather tasty- even Kaden had some, and he normally doesn't eat it.

Above, a photo of a wine box we got at a really cool Habitat ReStore (find one near you) and planted tomato, basil and nasturtium in it.  Below is a close up, but since it's late in the season the basil is leggy, the flowers are half dead and the tomatoes are gone.  Look closely to the left most stalk and you'll see a nice yellow tomato blossom- I'm tempted to see if we can nurse another fruit out of it, but it's a bit late for that.

Oh, and the sticks above are just part of our collection...  pay no attention to them...

I had a brief fling with miniature gardens this year.  The end result being that I had extra decorative stuff laying around.  To clean up, I made some of the plant pots a bit more pretty-fied :)

Oooh, here's a close up of our pepper- above.  What you can't tell from the photo is that this is a CHOCOLATE pepper.  I can't remember what that means.  Will it taste chocolatey?  Will it turn chocolate brown if I let it ripen fully?  The other thing you can't tell from the photo is how excited Kaden gets over this- almost every day.  I'll be lucky if I get a taste!

Above to the right, a wee pine tree seedling.  It's just started to have the needles turn yellow, but I'm not too focused on it yet.  Mostly because I have no idea how to over-winter it (no room to bring indoors).  In the middle is a fine rosemary plant- I love to put clippings in the car as an air freshener.  And to the left is the parsley plant- this thing will grow no matter what.  It's good for my green ego.

Above, another shot of the pepper plant- here you can see it's surrounded by a (chocolate) mint plant too.  I keep cutting the mint back to try and give the pepper some room.  You can see how well that's working!

 And here's the most adorable sight so far-- a baby bunny.  This one made it, thank goodness, but its siblings weren't as lucky- a lawn mower ran over the nest, we think.  But seeing this one hop around really made our day (and night!)

And finally-- a photo of our fresh basil, fresh tomato sandwich.  Add a little provolone to Italian bread, warm and... sigh.  I'll leave you with that good taste in your mouth!

Of Rams and Roosters

We got the chance to help out a cousin last night.  Among her many endeavours is a sheep farm, and it was time to shear 'em.  Kaden, Jim and I headed down. 

There were quite a few helpers, so it was relatively easy work for me.  And pretty amazing work too.  The farmers know what they're doing, whether it's fixing a barn door, shearing the sheep, or trimming hooves.

We had the treat of seeing lambs, too.  They don't get sheared, but were brought in to stay close to their mom.  When the mom was taken away for her turn (literally, about 12 feet away in the same barn, but in a different "pen"), the lambs started bleating.  It was adorable and heartbreaking at the same time.

Some were a few weeks old, but the little guy above had been born just that day.  He was the only one of three who survived the birth.  When his mom was taken for her turn, he just laid down near the gate.  We took the opportunity to pet him (Mama was a little too protective) and he started sucking on the boys' fingers.  They all got a kick out of that.

The main shearer guy taught us how to lower our shoulder and guide (manhandle?) the sheep into position.  He was able to hold and clip away.  Amazingly enough, the sheep would balk a little at first, but once they were "held", they pretty much stayed still.  Only their wide eyes and quick breath indicated they weren't sure about what was happening.

Since they had the sheep "in custody", the farmers also trimmed their hooves and gave them dewormer meds.  So there was a lot of shuffling - a sheep would go from the holding pen to the shearing station, to the hooves station, to the front pasture.   Kaden got a turn with the 'shepherd tool hook stick' (he was never sure that calling it a staff was enough).  His job was to guide /encourage the sheep out into the pasture.  He was so excited, he swung the staff toward the sheep- who prompted jumped about 3 foot high and out the barn door.  It was pretty cool, and Kaden took the next 10 minutes to go to everyone and tell them personally how he made the sheep jump.

There was a ram in the mix, too- sorry no pictures of him.  Towards the end, we let the sheep out into the middle pasture, and made sure the field was clear of sheep and kids before we let the ram out.  Our eight year old nephew asked me why it was so important to keep the ram and sheep separate.  I opened my mouth to answer matter of factually about (not) breeding... and then remembered he was 8.  So I told him it was a good question, and he should ask his father.

Later I gave my brother in law a heads up.  He laughed and told me about their chickens.  Apparently the kids would come in and complain about how mean the rooster was.  "Walker's always picking at the chickens, Dad, and then he jumps on them and just beats them up, jumping and jumping.  And he does it all the time!  He's so mean!"   

New neighbor?

Hmm... guess we know what Kaden will be doing ALL DAY LONG!

The cat just stares at him. Like cats do.

Before you think about it, you should know that our condo doesn't allow pets.

AND I'm allergic. So is Nana. Kaden might be. I'm just saying.

But, on the off hand chance my husband doesn't read this...

what do you feed outside-might-be-stray-cats?

And if my husband does read this, he'd like to know how you tell it's a stray,

and how you get it to go back home?

Farm Boy

There's a really neat place near us... a working research farm whose mission is to end hunger. They work on all sorts of cool things... training missionaries for third world assignments... appropriate technologies (i.e. how to build a water pump from stuff you find in the junk yard)- most of those are human powered. They look into stuff for different areas: rainforest, semi-tropic, urban rooftops... It was a favorite place of my Dad's way back in the day. It's still one of our favorites.

Today, ECHO had their annual FARM DAY celebration. A few bucks gets us in, and then.. WOW. Tons of demonstrations on how to grow food, how to use/ re-use the non-edible parts. And... all sorts of way cool edible samples. Turns out Kaden likes Lemongrass Ice Tea better than Orange or Sugarcane Juice (which is straight juice squeezed out of the cane... and no where near as sweet as as it sounds!). Coconuts and tangelos were a hit, but fresh roasted peanut butter and purple yams were tasted and passed on.

One of the best parts of the day? the animals! Bunnies: set up in a hutch where the roof grows veggies, they live in the middle (about eye level) and down below catches their "fertilizer". Goats! Ducks in a pond that also has Tilapia! Chickens- set up in either movable coops or within perennials so they can eat the bugs and fertilize the crops. The friendly chicken was the absolute best... check out our little farmer, with a small smile and a tiny hand wrapped around those feathers:

Right after this, the chicken flapped his wings a bit. The whole crowd flinched- not Kade. But he was done holding the chicken and content to just pet it! The photo is thanks to Tasha- a great childhood buddy I was able to reconnect with today (one of the redeeming features of facebook).