Trim Pines Landscape Updates & More

Garlicky Green Saute

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 03:30:00 +0000

We needed a side dish for our baked fish dinner a couple of nights ago. I'd planned to bring home some fresh salad greens from the high tunnel, but completely forgot to pick them after a long day weeding, hoeing, and fixing irrigation on the farm.

Checking the fridge, I found that the Swiss Chard and Lambs quarters I'd brought home a week before were still bright, crisp in all the right places and waiting for me to do something with them. We had almost enough chard for the two of us, so I added a handful of lambs quarters leaves to give us a few more bites. Not only was it simple to prepare, the dark green, bright white and deep red looked so pretty in the cast iron skillet!

Ingredients

Half pound of Swiss Chard and lambsquarters leaves
2 teaspoons of oil or butter (I used Walnut)
Dash of turmeric, or to taste
1 teastpoon Garlic powder, or to taste

Preparation

Wash and spin the greens. Chop the chard stems, and coarsely chop the chard leaves. Heat oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the stems to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the remaining chard and lambsquarter leaves, and sprinkle with turmeric and garlic powder. Saute for another 5 minutes. Add a bit of black pepper if you like, then serve the greens hot. Enjoy!

Germination Testing

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:26:00 +0000

We always have seeds left over from previous years’ supply. This week I want to plant spinach and head lettuce, but my new seeds won't be here for a while. So I want to use seeds that are a few years old. When they arrived, the spinach was rated at 85% germination and the lettuce at 95%. These are pretty good rates, but neither spinach nor lettuce is a terrific keeper – their germination rates go down just a little every year. So I really need to know how well they’ll perform because I want to get these babies into the ground!

So what do I do? A germination test! It’ll tell me what percentage of these seeds I can expect to come up. What I’m actually looking for is how much extra seed I’ll need to use for this first planting. You can do this at home, too!

Here’s how it works:

I placed a folded paper towel in a zip-top bag, labeled with the plant that’s going into it. Added 20 seeds, and moistened with warm water. The whole thing goes into a dark location at room temperature – in this case, right on top of a covered flat of tomato seeds. A towel laid over the top provides the buffer they need from direct light while they’re sprouting. While these little guys are in their bags, I might open them a couple of times to let in some air. Some species have just done better for me during germ tests when they get to breathe.

I’d expect the spinach to sprout in 5-12 days and the lettuce in about a week. So I’ll start checking them after 5 days to see how many have sprouted. If I’m lucky, I’ll get something close to the original estimated rate. If not, well, I’ll be able to calculate just how much extra is needed to fill up the beds.

Want to see how the test turns out? Check back next week for an update!

Say Hi to Eeyore!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 02:51:00 +0000

Nice to see you! My name is Eeyore. I'm a miniature donkey, and I've lived at Trim Pines since 2010. Until then I lived for 11 years with a fun family of kids who have since grown up and gone away to college. They called me Number 7 - you know, after the donkey in Green Acres.

I love grass and corn, oats and wheat. Parents can help children feed them to me. I plan to hang around here for quite a long time - mini donkeys can live 25-35 years. My "hee-haw" sound is called a bray...and around here, the family and crew can hear me almost a quarter of a mile away!

Mayhem in the Field

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 16:22:00 +0000

It's a relief, being able to sit here and type a blog post after the power outage we experienced on Thursday. I was worried it would last days, like the ones in the residential neighborhoods where some of our friends live. Fortunately, the first real storm of July 2012 only knocked out the farm's power for about seven hours. That meant we could keep our plants alive through the heat that's continuing over the next several days.

In the meantime, we spent three of those hours hurriedly looking over the storm damage and preparing to be without water - the most important thing our electricity provides us - for a couple of days. We gathered generators, water jugs; evaluated water and air storage tanks, and started to determine where to go to fill them up. One generator was dedicated to the refrigerators so our CSA members' produce would stay fresh for pickup Thursday afternoon.

Of course we also discovered some damage in the fields as we slogged ankle-deep in mud in some of the freshly tilled areas. The market garden and sweet corn field sustained the worst of the wind damage. The 15x150ft shade tent that we built over the pepper plants on Tuesday didn't make it through the storm. Of course a lot of the fabric landed on plants, but most of the plants had been laid down by the wind already. Thank goodness the shade cloth isn't terribly heavy - as we moved it off the plants, we realized that not many of them appear to be severely damaged.

It's been very interesting to watch the vegetable plants return from their wind damage. I wish I'd gotten some photos of the "before" to show how they were leaning over. But now the green beans, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, as well as the tallest sweet corn are all standing back up again, with just a few exceptions. Only time will tell how this affects all these beautiful plants that we've worked so hard to nurture. The one category that doesn't seem to have been much affected is the cucurbits: the cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupes and squashes all seemed to be standing tall or if they're vines, lying in a healthy-looking pose on their rows.

So we've pushed on, watering where it's needed (because the storm didn't end our drought by any means) and trellising and pruning those plants that are long and leggy like tomatoes and cucumbers. Now all that's left to clean up from the storm are a few sections of plastic mulch in the zucchini field that were torn, and finish re-erecting that pepper tent...just as soon as enough of us are in one place at the same time. And we're grateful that our storm damage was truly minimal, compared to what others have experienced!

Hot, Dry Weather: Tree Check Reminder!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 20:41:00 +0000

I know life is busy, so here's a reminder to head outside and spend a few minutes of quality time with your new trees! Check the moisture level in the soil to see if they need some water.
Here's the quick version:

Dig down a few inches into the root ball.
If the soil is wet, head back inside for a cool drink of your own.
If the soil is only damp, or getting dry, give the tree a long, slow drink instead.

The longer, more detailed version is at your fingertips on our landscape tips page.
You can also check our our moisture monitoring tutorial if you'd like to learn more about it. (This one's a downloadable pdf file)

A few things to remember about transplanted trees and water:

A tree can be considered "new" for the first three years, or even four, after it's planted
Rain is usually insufficient for transplanted trees, so be sure to check on them even if it's rained.
Mulch is important for helping a tree to settle in to its new home.
Keeping the soil completely saturated all the time can suffocate roots or cause disease.

Organic? But what about those bugs?

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 18:15:00 +0000

This past week I was admiring all that's happening in the gardens and Hoop House 1 (as I've come to call it now that Hoop House 2 is about to go up). I was admiring the bok choy with its beautiful green & white leaves almost ready to harvest; thinking about thinning the garlic and adding some to the first week's CSA boxes...and being relieved that my carrots have finally started to come up and I can see some of them. Still didn't have any lettuce up in the bed I planted a month ago, so I did a germination test. The seeds seemed ok. It must have been me: I didn't have enough water on the bed the first time around. So I replanted in another space and left the first one for now. I want to see if giving the first bed some more water will bring those stubborn seeds around!

My poor bok choy were eaten to half their original size!

This morning - Saturday - I wander into the hoop house to check on the temperature and you could have knocked me over with a brick! The beautiful bok choy were half eaten! Top to middle, the whole bed had been chewed up by insects...my cute little row of turnips, too. We won't be having bok choy in our menu this week, but I hope the organic measures I took today will allow those babies to recover by next week. Almost 14 days? We'll just have to wait and see.

This is how I hope they look when they recover

All this has me thinking about the first time we tried Bok Choy a couple years ago. The pretty little plants got to a nice 8 or 10 inches tall, and they were eaten. That first time, I just let the planting go because I didn't have anyone counting on it and we were learning a dozen other crops at the same time. Now, I'm setting my sights on finding out how to handle this and the pests that attack our other cabbage-y friends.

The better news about the veggies is that the onions, beans, peas, radishes, peppers and a handful of tomatoes are all off to a great start. On Thursday Mike and Mike laid three rows of plastic mulch in the main garden, plus one looong row of plastic where we'll grow zucchini for the food bank. As soon as the ground is dry enough to walk on we can start planting! As Scarlett said, "tomorrow is another day."

Recycling your Real Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:20:00 +0000

Good news on the environmental front: there are many ways a real Christmas tree can be recycled after its job is done in your home. Many municipalities offer curbside tree pickup on certain dates after Christmas, and some of those use the trees in chippings for mulch. In the city of Grand Blanc, for instance, the mulch collection program picks up right after the holiday just for Christmas tree collection.

You can check with your city or township to see what they offer; in my experience a web search for "recycle Christmas tree (city name)" is the best way to check it out. But...if your pickup doesn't include Christmas trees for recycling in Oakland County, you can do something about it yourself: take the tree to a county park. The Oakland County Parks have a great drop-off program that includes 11 park locations. You can take your undecorated tree to any of these parks during their normal hours and add it to the stacks of other residents' trees. You can check out their web site, Destination Oakland, to learn about hours and other details.

This photo from the Oakland Press shows a Parks staffer
helping with Christmas tree dropoff.

After helping a friend recycle his tree this way a couple of times, I can say that as the end date of the program, January 16, rolls around, those stacks of Christmas trees are pretty impressive! It feels good to know that so many people are interested in keeping this recyclable resource out of our landfills. And the best part is, the wood chips made from these trees is made available to the public free of charge starting just a few weeks later. They can be useful for making paths in the yard/garden, and if applied after composting for a few months can also add some great nutrients to the garden soil.

Curious about other methods of recycling a real Christmas tree? The National Christmas Tree Association has some very interesting reports to share, from rebuilding coastlines to manufacturing flu vaccines.

Cauliflower and Other Delightful Fall Veggies

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:36:00 +0000

It's recipe day!

Our CSA members are getting a treat today: the first of our cauliflower harvest. I've been looking forward to cauliflower ever since I started watching for these white heads on the plants back in August. They're finally coming into their own! Cauliflower is delicious, surprisingly nutritious for a white vegetable (B6 and C, anyone?), and it's versatile. It can be steamed, roasted, served as raw florets in a salad or on a relish tray.

As it happens, an interesting web site that I visit occasionally has Cauliflower for it's food of the week this week. "World's Healthiest Foods" has a lot of information about hundreds of foods, so it's one of the places I go to get info on the quick. Today, one of the recipes they're featuring is 5-Minute Healthy Sauteed Cauliflower. It looks delicious!

But my favorite is Faux-tay-toes. Some months ago, my favorite food author, Dinner Diva Leanne Ely wrote about making some stand-by side dishes healthier, and giving their flavor a new, tasty twist. Mashed faux-tay-toes are easy to make (plus it's just fun to say faux-tay-toes), and my family's been enjoying them for years. All you need to do is steam your head of cauliflower, broken into large florets, until it's really tender. Then drain it, and grab your favorite potato mashing device: masher, blender, food processor, or hand mixer. Add a touch of butter, a bit of cream cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and smash away until the texture is right for you. My food experiment for the week: I plan to add a handful of finely diced, colored sweet peppers. I'll let you know how it turns out!

More cauliflower are on their way...as are tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, Brussels sprouts and more! We still have a couple of weeks of harvest here at the farm. And all this diversity of produce makes me want to make a great vegetable soup. My soups are never the same twice. I like to grab a couple of handfuls of whatever vegetables I have on hand, make sure to add a nice big handful of chopped onion and a crushed clove or three of garlic, and then saute it all in the soup pot for a few minutes with a little olive oil. This time of year, I might even add a handful of chopped walnuts or hickory nuts. Follow that up with a nice chicken broth or stock, about a quart of stock per quart of veggies, and I've got a unique, tasty treat every time.

Fall Color in Evergreen Trees? You Bet!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:08:00 +0000

Now is the time when independent garden centers and nurseries all around the Midwest are fielding phone calls from new tree owners asking "Why are my trees turning brown??" Almost every time, once we see the photos, we can reassure them: it's just their fall color. And once you know what to look for, it can be quite a show.

Like the deciduous trees - maples, oaks, cherries and the like - all the evergreens we see around us also go through a fall color change and leaf drop each autumn. The leaves that fall aren't big and splashy, and of course they don't drop from the entire tree either. What happens instead, is that each tree species removes from its branches a certain age of needles every year. For most Pine species, the needles that are falling are either two or three years old. You can see that in the Red Pine shown below:

Spruces tend to hang on to their needles for 3 or 4 years, depending on what kind of spruce you're talking about. The White Spruce below is shedding what look to be four-year-old needles. And some Fir trees shed four-year-old needles, while other Fir species, like the Concolor, may hang on to their needles for as many as seven years. Other evergreens like Yews, Junipers and Arborvitae also experience fall needle drop.

Fortunately for us, the color display can help remind us to pay attention to our trees in the fall. There are three things to manage in the fall: mulch, nutrition and water. Newly-planted trees (those in the ground for 3 years or less) should have mulch covering the root ball and roots for the winter, so they have the benefit of the soil's warmth for as long as possible. If it's there already, just check that it's 3-4" deep and not covering the trunk. If a little more is needed, October is better than November for an application - retain as much of that heat as possible.

Watering new trees doesn't necessarily end just because the air has cooled. Dormant trees are still using water, just not as much as they were in the summer. Performing a soil moisture check willhelp deicde whether to irrigate - they may want water right up through November 1.

Lastly, while you're putting on some water, a fall dose of root stimulator fertilizer is great for those new trees. A product with indole-3-burytic acid in a liquid or granular form can be applied to the surface fairly easily.

The fall color show provided by our evergreens can be a lot like the one we get from our deciduous trees. The range of color shades, as well as the timing and texture of the needles that drop all combine to add a bit more drama to the season. While it never hurts to ask us about it, I think it's one more reason to enjoy Autumn!

Tree of the Week: Kentucky Coffee Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:54:00 +0000

This week seemed like a good time to link to our Tree of the Week list, and what better way than to link directly to one of my favorite trees? I just love the Kentucky Coffee Tree. Not only is it unusual and beautiful, it has a bonus for a plant geek: a really cool Latin name, Gymnocladus dioicus (hear it pronounced here). Legend has it that Native Americans and settlers drank a beverage made from the roasted seeds as a coffee replacement, which led to land developers using the tree as a marketing tool. That didn't last long, as the drink didn't come close to coffee's drink-ability!

Native to the Midwest, KCT has a nice light to medium green leaf color that contrasts really well with the shade that the leaves give, making a very "woodland" feel under the tree. That leaf color turns yellow in the fall and in some years is very striking, then the leaves, which are doubly-compound, come off to leave behind a strong, coarsely-textured outline.

Ok, so what's doubly-compound? Well, the leaf is composed of a stem, which has smaller stems coming off of it. Those smaller stems, in turn, contain leaflets. There are dozens of leaflets per leaf, and the whole structure is about 3' long!

Now for my favorite part of the tree: its fruit. The seeds (on female trees only!) come in a great big, bean-like pod that starts off a lighter green than the leaves, and then as it matures becomes a deep, rich, russet or chestnut color. They hang on the tree most of the winter, breaking off and apart late in the season. The tree only grows a couple here and there while it's young, then as it gets to be a 10-12" trunk diameter or so, you start seeing them pop up around more of the tree's crown. As it grows older, the tree fruits heavily only every 2-3 years.

So, back to Tree of the Week. We feature dozens of species of trees in this listing of good - and not so good - trees to plant in our area. Kentucky Coffee Tree is one of them, and we like to go through the list for a weekly feature. Descriptions are a bit more objective than you see here, but we try to provide a nice overview of how the tree can perform in the landscape. Enjoy!

Roasted tomato soup

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:53:00 +0000

So I think this might be tomato month, as two posts in a row are about them. Let's see what inspires next time. Maybe broccoli greens, or planting spruces. Ya never know.

Anyhow, here is a great way to use those tomatoes that have gotten really ripe before you had a chance to eat them! Roasted tomato soup has just a tad bit different flavor from other tomato soups. It's still got the great creamy richness, but there's a hint of the darkened flavor that you get from roasting instead of just boiling.

The ingredients for about 3 quarts of soup:
a nice, heaping panful of ripe tomatoes: enough to layer one 9x13 pan and a 6x9, too.
olive oil
1 to 1.5 teaspoons dried thyme
a couple of pinches of dried parsley
a couple of pinches of dried tarragon
a pinch of seasalt (or whatever salt you have on hand)
Heavy cream - or a 3:1 mixture of evaporated milk and milk from the fridge

How it's done:
Core the tomatoes and place them in the baking dishes, while preheating the oven to 425F. If the tomatoes have blemishes, remove them before roasting, to make them easier to peel later.

Drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes - for this lot, I used about 2 tablespoons. Then pop the pan(s) into oven, and roast for about an hour or until they're browning on top. These large tomatoes took that hour, plus about 40 minutes at 200F before I was satisfied.

Let the tomatoes cool enough to handle, and peel them. Place them in a blender with their juice, and add about 3/4 to 1 cup of cream for every quart of tomato/juice combo. Add the spices, then hit the cream button until it's good and smooth. For this batch, I blended in halves: a little over a quart of tomatoes with an appropriate portion of the spices & cream.

Heat what you're going to eat, and enjoy!

I'm going to play around with this a bit. More spices, maybe a bit of garlic, perhaps adding a cup or two of chicken broth. I'd love to hear how you vary it, too!

This sounds like one of those recipes that takes a long time, and it can. But check this out: I roasted the tomatoes while doing other things, and stuck them in the fridge until I could create the soup. Then, when ready, I peeled them and the rest is history.

Veggie Tip - Storing Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:40:00 +0000

Tomatoes taste best at room temperature and can be damaged by cold temps, so I find it best to store at room temperature and out of direct exposure to sunlight. They will keep up to 5 days, and maybe more, depending on the variety and how ripe they are. However, refrigerating can help an overripe tomato keep for one or two more days. If you must refrigerate, try the butter compartment, where it's warmer When you're ready to use it, take it out 30 minutes ahead of time so it can regain some of its flavor.

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:47:00 +0000

If you venture out into your yard this hot, muggy afternoon, you'll probably see some of what I saw in the field today: droopy leaves. I tell ya, I felt just as droopy as those leaves looked! You'd think we'd all be used to it by now, but with 8 weeks of low/no rainfall - it reminded me, it's time to check the soil moisture.

So I've been going around, digging into gardens, fields, pots, root balls - anything that might need my help with some water.

I'm going to suggest you do the same, especially on your trees that have been in the ground three years or less and those that have been growing in place for decades. Since we only have about a 40% chance of rain for the week, now is the time to get these trees good & wet, if you haven't recently. Our moisture monitoring tutorial can help you get the hang of checking the soil, and our watering instructions will tell you how to put the water on.

Now if your tree's root area is already wet, it could still show some sign of wilting this afternoon. That's just because it's darn hot. If you look at the tree in the morning, before the mercury rises much, you should see that the leaves have perked up quite a bit overnight. Another hot day might influence trees to use more water than usual, so don't be afraid to check on them a couple times this week.

Some newly-planted trees - anything moved within the last three years - are displaying a bit of their fall color. That could just be a "normal" part of the transplant recovery process - or it could indicate some other issue. So feel free to comment here if you have any concerns! We'll step you through some care and yard questions that can help clear things up.

Honey Lavender Lemonade

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:15:00 +0000

Wow, I just went to beverage Heaven! I made my first drinkable batch of lemonade. Like so many, I've tried a few times to make lemonade from scratch...only to pour it down the drain because it was either bitter, or way too sweet. I'll tell you what made the difference this time. Two things: raw honey and lavender water.

So...what the heck is lavender water? It's where you take a handful of organic lavender and steep it in a quart of boiling water. In my case, it was ten long-ish stems with the fully blooming flowers still on. After about ten minutes, strain the lavender out, and voila! You have lavender water, also known as an infusion of lavender. By the way, when using lavender for cooking you do need to make sure it's organic, or culinary grade. Any lavender marketed for crafts may contain chemicals that you do not want to put in your mouth.

In case you want to try it yourself, here is what I did to give myself a rush of YUM:

5 cups water, not quite tap-cold
3/4 cup raw honey
Juice of 3 lemons, plus chopped peel of one
1 1/2 cups lavender water, chilled
Ice to fill pitcher to 2 quarts

Add honey to the water, and shake it up - it might take a couple of minutes for the honey to dissolve. Warmer water will dissolve the honey more quickly. Then, add the lemon juice and lavender water. Follow those with ice cubes to make 2 quarts, and the chopped lemon peel. Give it another good shake, and pour over ice.

My lemon peels are still in the pitcher - it's only been a half hour so far. I'll let you know when I take them out. If you're trying this, I'd love to hear how long you leave in the peels. Or what else you like to use lavender in!

Spring Tree Care: Mulching and Fertilizing

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 06 May 2011 13:53:00 +0000

Thanks to Tom & Dawn for asking me the following question last week about their trees:
The Autumn Blaze Maple & Aristocrat Pear trees buds are appearing. Is it time to remulch and fertilize?

Well, yes. And maybe not, too! This wishy-washy answer really applies to everyone's trees as we head further into spring and are enjoying (finally!) some warmer weather. The fertilizer question is the easier part of this to answer: Sure, go ahead and apply your starter/root-stimulating fertilizer now on your new trees. New trees are those that have been in the ground for three years or less; starter fertilizer has a low nitrogen content and higher phosphorus for promoting root growth after transplanting. Tree roots will grow whenever the soil temperature is above 40F, so even early April would have been an ok time to put on the root stimulator. Nitrogen based fertilizers, on the other hand, should only be used for trees after a soil test indicates it's needed. If you want to have your soil tested, talk to the MSU Extension Office about how they can perform those tests for you.

Now for the mulch half of the question. There are a few variables here that need to be addressed. The first is - does the tree actually need more mulch? If the existing mulch has decomposed to 2" depth or less, the answer is yes. In that case, now we want to consider whether the soil is starting to dry out from all these massive rainfalls we've been having. Soils that are still pretty wet under the surface should probably wait a week or two before they get any new mulch. Damp or dry soils can definitely be treated with mulch now. What's best to use? Bark mulches - hardwood or red pine - for their acidifying and health promoting qualities are my favorites.

And here's a thought about adding to size of the mulch area - I like to increase the size of a mulch bed around evergreen trees every couple of years, to keep mowers away from the branches. Now is a good time to do that, again thinking about how wet the soil is below. You can use your favorite lawn-removal method: newspaper, roundup, or a shovel - and add up to 4" depth of fresh bark-based mulch. A one-foot strip around the perimeter of the tree does wonders for its branch safety!

News from the MSU Landscape Alert

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:58:00 +0000

The big melt and your turfgrass

posted on February 14, 2011 10:36

Shoveling snow from poorly draining areas to help water quickly escape from greens could reduce the risk of winterkill injury

Kevin Frank, Crop and Soil Sciences

There was significant snow melting last weekend and it will continue throughout the week with high temperatures expected in the low 40's to near 50. Currently, the night time lows are forecast to be near or above freezing almost every night (except tonight), which should help the water keep moving and minimize ice formation.

As the snow melts, do whatever you can to facilitate water movement off putting greens to prevent overnight freezing and ice formation. Shoveling snow from poorly draining areas or shoveling channels or paths to help water quickly escape from greens could reduce the risk of winterkill injury. Melting snow and overnight freezing and ice formation is one of the times of highest risk for crown hydration winterkill injury on Poa annua putting greens.

Additional information on winterkill injury of turfgrass can be found at www.turf.msu.edu/winterkill-of-turfgrass.

Photo 1. A path is shoveled to let water drain and reduce the risk of winterkill injury.

Snowy Tree Protection

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:19:00 +0000

With Snowstorm 2011 just ended, most of us are thinking about the basics - digging out the driveways, sidewalks, and roads. We should also take a minute to stand up & rest against the shovel, and look around at our trees. The heaviest snow loads on their branches can cause some breakage. This is especially true of evergreens, with their needles that can help hold a lot of snow, and multiple-stem trees like birches, whose trunks are often a little less than vertical.

It can be important to remove the snow from the branches, especially the wetter, heavier snows. But be careful not to just knock it off with a broom - that can break branches, too. Upward strokes, gently shaking the branches is safer for the tree. A firm, gentle tap from beneath can jostle some of the snow from the tree limb.

Photo courtesy Joseph O'Brien, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Staying Green this Holiday Season: Recycling Christmas Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:27:00 +0000

After the holidays, our thoughts turn to what to do with our Christmas tree now that its role as centerpiece is over. Many people think of very creative ways to re-use their trees, and others rely on community programs for disposal of their trees. Trees can be recycled and used for interesting functions including bird feeders/shelters, fuel chips and mulch.

One of my favorite newsletters, Dave's Garden, has just reprinted a few ideas for people to re-use their Christmas trees in their own yard:

Do you live on a farm with a fish-stocked pond? The tree can be immersed in the deepest part to provide a habitat for the fish and aquatic animals living there.
Do you have a backyard “habitat”? Cut the tree in half (or thirds, if it is very large), then push the sections back into the underbrush around the perimeter, or under large shrubs in your “wild” area. In the spring, sow seeds for fast-growing or vining plants that will quickly cover the bare branches.
Do you have a wood-burning stove or a fireplace? Cut the trunk into suitable lengths and add to your woodpile for future fuel. NEVER try to burn the dry branches in a stove or fireplace; they are highly combustible and can quickly burn out of control.
Do you own a wood-chipper or have access to one? Chip the tree into mulch for spring, or to dry for fire-starter fuel.
If none of these ideas would work for you, check your local town website or newspaper to see if the city maintenance department is offering a collection site. Many smaller towns mulch these trees for use in city projects, and often invite residents to help themselves to the city mulch pile.

The author's list inspired me to start looking at some of the community-based options available in Michigan. Many of our cities, townships and counties offer recycling programs that include drop-off points where residents can take their trees. Some even offer curbside pickup. Here is a short list of community programs in Michigan to help you decide where to take your tree after the holiday:

The city of Grand Rapids offers free drop-off recycling, and curbside pickup for a very small fee for most of the month of January.

Cascade Township's dropoff point is a fire station, from 12/26 through 1/11.

Oakland County residents can use the several drop-off points hosted by the Oakland County Parks. from 12/25 through 1/16.

Earth 911 lists Johnston Farm & Composting as a drop-off location for Christmas trees, for a fee, in Livingston County.

I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. If these are all too far from you, by all means take a look at your local newspaper & see what's available nearby. I'd love to see what you find, too - please share in a comment!

Happy Holidays!!

Winter Wonderland Party

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:05:00 +0000

The weather outside looks wonderful for next week, and we want to celebrate it! Come join us for a hayride next Thursday, December 30, for our first-ever Winter Wonderland Hayride Party! Details are still in the works, but right now we do know that we'll have hayride tours of the farm, and a hot dog & marshmallow roast complete with hot drinks. Keep an eye on our facebook page - as we figure out the nitty gritty, we'll post an event with times, details, prices and rsvp instructions. We can't wait!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:28:00 +0000

I've been having fun reading about pumpkins and squash lately. Here are a few things I've learned you can do with them. Ok, I already know about most of it, but these are some of the more eye-catching web pages I've seen.

Carve a jack-o-lantern in your favorite silly, scary, using nifty tools and a basic template
or get more involved with specialty carving techniques
A friend carved this one for us early in the season:

Underwater Pumpkin Carving - yes, you really can carve a pumpkin under water!

Paint fun faces or designs on them, sometimes with a 4-H club

Make lots of delicious treats with the flesh and the seeds.
Like pie, custard, muffins, waffles, cheesecake and about half a dozen more just on the linked page! This applies to both pumpkins and squashes - and with squashes' slightly varying flavors, you can experiment with any recipe for subtle taste changes.

Roasting squash seeds: I like to cut open small squashes of two or three different kinds and roast all the seeds the same way, then compare their flavors. My favorite so far is Delicata seeds, which is also my favorite squash for a quick, microwaved treat.

You can take stop-action footage of a carved pumpkin wilting. Or you can just look at a video in a stock footage collection.

And here are some of my personal favorites:

You can visit a pumpkin patch and let fly on a pumkpin launcher

and then watch it zip over the terrain -or pond- as far as you can make it go!

And of course, you can spend time with your family choosing just the right pumpkin to become the canvas for your own artwork. Visiting a pumpkin patch with a hayride and other family activities is one of the best ways to spend a weekend afternoon!

My New Favorite Veggie: Purple Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:39:00 +0000

We started growing these last year, and all winter long when I'd go to the potato boxes I would reach for the purples before any other. These relatively uncommon tubers have flesh that ranges in hue from dark blue to lavender, sometimes mixed with a little white. They have a subtle nutty flavor; we think they taste even more "potato-y" than many white or yellow potatoes. Microwaving preserves the color the best, but steaming and baking are also favorable methods of preparation. When boiling, it's fun to watch the water change color! In fact, if you leave the skin on, prepare to see your potato water become a lovely shade of green. Since it's purple inside and out, the pigments make it very high in antioxidants - more, I've heard it said, than blueberries, pound for pound!

Here are a few ideas for adding this tasty, nutritious spud to your menu:

Combine it with other potatoes and veggies when doing roasted veggies

Mash some of these babies, and separately mash a lovely orange-colored winter squash, or sweet potatoes. Serve them side by side, or gently swirled together in a serving bowl.

Roast a couple and toss them with a baked spaghetti squash.

Prepare them as you would any other potato and surprise the family!

How about a specific recipe? This one's Fork Crushed Purple Potatoes

Enjoy!

What's that Moth?

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:48:00 +0000

From MSU's Landscape Alerts:

Butterflies and Moths on the Internet
Duke Elsner, MSUE Educator, Grand Traverse County

The Internet is loaded with sites that provide information on moths and butterflies. The great challenge in using these sites is picking out the good ones with accurate and useful information. I’ve been exploring these for some time now, and here are my favorites for help with the identification of butterflies and moths:

Butterflies and Moths of North America
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ This is a searchable database of verified butterfly and moth records in the United States and Mexico. It includes dynamic distribution maps, photographs, species accounts, and species checklists for every U.S. county and each Mexican state.

The Children’s Butterfly Site
http://www.kidsbutterfly.org/ This is a companion site to the Butterflies and Moths of North America, intended for a youth audience.

North American Moth Photographers Group
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/MainMenu.shtml The Moth Photographers Group is a non-profit organization with the purpose of aiding nature photographers and others in identifying moths. Their goal is to make accessible via the Internet photographs of most of the moths occurring in North America.

Images of North American Moth Species
http://eweb.furman.edu/~snyderjohn/leplist/ Access and links to photos of caterpillar and adult forms of thousands of North American moth species.

North America Butterfly Association
http://www.naba.org/ This the largest association in North America of people interested in butterflies. Its goal is to increase public enjoyment and conservation of butterflies. Their site includes information for locating and identifying butterflies, how to create successful butterfly gardens, and how to photograph butterflies.

Southeast Michigan Butterfly Association
http://www.sembabutterfly.com/index.html A great source of local information for Southeast Michigan, with links to many resources.

Thoughts on Growing Pesticide-Free Sweet Corn

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:17:00 +0000

My family is quite conscious of our community's desire for produce that nourishes, tastes great, and has low impact on the environment. We want to be able to provide that to them, and so began our quest to grow pesticide-free sweet corn. The learning curve has been quite a ride! From variety selection, to cover crop usage and selection, from weed control to just how much damage can be done by four-legged & six-legged pests, and even how and when to properly harvest, there are dozens of factors that go into how successful a sweet corn crop will be.

Variety selection might have been our most important step in protecting our crop from pests, and providing a long-lasting harvest. We chose varieties that would withstand cooler weather in the fall, so we can keep providing corn for a long season. Our other criteria included: a long holding life on the stalk, so we don't have to pick it all at once; a long shelf life after picking, so you can take home a dozen and eat it all week if you want to; a nice large ear and an extra-sweet, tender kernel for tasty goodness. But the trait that's been the most beneficial is the length of the husks - they're longer than many others, so the tip of the ear is down below the end. This hides the kernels from the insects that would burrow into the tip of the ear and chow down before we'd get to it. That means far fewer - almost zero - ears with worms in, even though there are no insecticides applied.

And that brings me to the "getting to it." That longer husk has made it challenging for some of us (ok, me - Christina) to learn how to select ears when picking. After picking every day for two weeks, this week I finally got the hang of it and realized that I'd been picking some of my corn early! It was tasty and tender, but not quite big enough. Now that I really know what I'm doing the corn I'm picking is a better fit for everyone who's coming to eat it.

Dry, Hot Conditions Contribute to Summer Stress for New Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 16:22:00 +0000

by Bert Cregg, Horticulture and Forestry

From Landscape Crop Advisory Team Alert, August 13, 2010

The warm temperatures of the past couple months coupled with low precipitation in many areas have caused many trees in Lower Michigan to begin to shut down. As I've noted before irrigation during the summer is critical for newly established trees and shrubs. By "newly established," I'm referring to trees that have been planted in the past two years. Even with the best of circumstances, newly planted trees should be irrigated every seven to 10 days during the summer. This year, however, is not the best of circumstances and even well-established trees are showing signs of stress.

What are the signs? For some trees, such as maples, we're seeing early fall color. In some cases, we'll get some red, but more typically we'll just get some yellow. We're also seeing some leaf folding or leaf rolling. I have noticed a lot of cottonwoods, tulip-poplars, and sycamore that are shedding leaves. It's important to remember that conifers are suffering in the heat as well, even though the appearance may not be as dramatic as some shade trees. When the weather gets as hot as it has and rainfall is lacking, it's important to get landscape trees some water. If our current patterns continue, we may see effects into this fall and beyond. For maples, although we're seeing some early fall color, we may lose a lot of leaves, so there are fewer around for the regular fall show. Also, as trees are stressed in the late summer and fall, they are less able to acclimate going into winter. Therefore, we may see more evidence of winter injury come next spring.

What to do? To the extent practical, try to irrigate trees showing signs of stress as soon as possible. If you can't get to all your trees; prioritize .Water newly established trees first. A lawn covered with leaves from a large old tulip-poplar may be hard to ignore, but it will likely survive and recover; whereas the next few weeks could be make or break for trees planted this year or last year. Remember: don't kill with kindness. One good soaking once a week is better than drowning the tree every day. Make sure to avoid surface run-off. Dry soils often crust over and resist infiltration until they are wetted. If your watering by hand, go from tree to tree, giving each a little water and cycle through a few times to make sure water is infiltrating. And, of course, mulch, mulch, mulch.

Zucchini (Thanks to the Dinner Diva, Leanne Ely)

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:56:00 +0000

While Leanne's article is about zucchini, I bet any of the summer squashes would be great with both this trick and the recipe!

From Tips, Tricks and a Recipe
Today's focus is on Zucchini
I am lucky enough to have some planted in my garden and it's going crazy. I've had about 4 zucchini so far and YUM, delish! Here are some things you need to know about zucchini:

Massively low in calories--one large zucchini is only 16 calories!

Plenty of phyto nutrients including beta-carotene, B vitamins, a little vitamin C and plenty o' potassium!

Here's Today's TRICK:
To change things up, I grate my zucchini, sautéing it in garlic and olive oil, topping it with a little freshly grated Romano cheese and fresh ground pepper. Nice side dish and almost rice-like or pasta-like in texture.

Here's a TIP:
Small to medium sized zucchinis are most tasty. Look for a smooth, unblemished skin and nice dark green color. Tasty zucchs skin should feel soft, but the zucchini itself should be hard and not squishy (that means its past its prime, yuck!)

And your RECIPE:
(from Saving Dinner the Vegetarian Way)

Mediterranean Orzo Salad
Serves 6

2 1/4 cups orzo
2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
15 Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
6 green onions, thinly sliced
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 large tomato, seeded and cubed
1 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded, deribbed and chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
3 tablespoons mayonnaise

Prepare orzo according to package directions; Drain and rinse under cold water. Drain again very thoroughly. Place in a large bowl.

Stir in the zucchini, olives, green onions, celery, tomato, and green bell pepper.

In a small bowl, beat together the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, dill, salt and pepper. Pour over the salad and toss to coat well. Sprinkle on the feta cheese and toss again. Add the mayonnaise and toss gently. Chill at least for 2 hours and bring to room temperature before serving.

Per Serving: 575 Calories; 34g Fat; 14g Protein; 57g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 28mg Cholesterol; 528mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 5 1/2 Fat.

SERVING SUGGESTION: Serve with a simple caprese salad: sliced ripe tomatoes, layered with fresh basil leaves, sliced mozzarella and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Fresh ground pepper over the top finishes it beautifully.
Copyright (C) 2010 www.savingdinner.com Leanne Ely, CNC All rights reserved.