The Green Gardener

DIY Day

2012-01-04T18:58:00.001-05:00

Tea boxes. Do you ever get annoyed with how they just clutter up your cupboards with random half filled boxes and the occasional loose tea bag that wanders around? You can never seem to find the teas you want because they are never where you put them last. Well leave it to me to attempt and fix this problem. We are a huge Tazo Tea drinking family. So we have lots of the Tazo Tea tins that end up just being thrown away once we are done with them. Not any more.

I recently have been seeing a lot of people doing stuff with the chalkboard paint. If you haven't heard about it its very cool. You can write on it with chalk and it rubs write off. *light bulb* Why not use the chalk board paint to re-purpose my Tazo tins into Tea tins!

Valspar makes a chalkboard paint and I found it to be AMAZING!!!!


Materials Required

The tin painted and waiting to dry off.

Steps:

Prepare your work area. Lay some newspaper down so as not to get the paint anywhere.
With your masking tape, tape around the edges of the label. This will ensure that you don't get any paint the spots you don't want it.
grab your brush and start painting it.
The Finished Project.

Mine took about 15mins to dry completely. Now you can either use chalk or paint pens on the new tin. I am using the paint pens because they look a little better and are a tad more permanent. To remove the paint pens from your tin, get an alcohol wipe and wipe the paint pens off. Its perfect!

Side Note:
Thanks Aunt K for sending the delicious cookies!!!! They tasted so yummy, and looked so good in the pictures! :)

Aunt K's Cookies

Vegan Yum Yum! Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Collards and Quinoa

2012-01-03T00:58:00.001-05:00

Have you ever been in the mood for a random food, and just like that you have to have it. Well the food that I was in the mood for was VERY random. Tofu. Yes tofu was my randomness. I stumbled upon Lauren Ulm's blog named Vegan Yum Yum. Check it out, its AMAZING!!!! My mom has been following her forever, but I just now "discovered" her... She has a recipe for a Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Wok Steamed Collards and Quinoa. Just the description makes my mouth water!

So I made it and it was the most tasty, delicious tofu I have ever had! Go to her blog to get the list of ingredients and directions on how to make this, because it was AMAZING!!!!

Another reason I wanted to make this dish was because my friend Danielle just got back from a visit in Florida where she brought me back some delicious citrus! Fresh Florida oranges, tangerines, lemons, and limes!

Ingredients for tofu glaze. The limes are from Florida, the garlic is from my garlic, and are the pepper flakes!

Some of the Herbs for the Quinoa and the sweet and spicy cause.

A helpful tip for this recipe. Vegan Yum Yum says to bruise the Cardamom pods (Bottom Left). I had no Idea what this meant. So like any respectable person from the 21st century...I Googled it. What it means to bruise a Cardamom Pod is to crush like you would garlic. Lay the pod on a cutting board, then place the flat surface of the knife on top of the pod. With you bottom of your palm hit the knife hard enough to split the pod open but not hard enough to crush it.

Collards from the Garden.

So I am still harvesting the collards that I planted this spring. Talk about being productive! We have had such a warm December that the collards were beautiful and I got quite a lot of collards!

This is the Finished Product.

A huge thanks to my friend Cherry who made the serving plate that the food is on. I love the huge crack running through the middle.

Blissfully Baklava

2011-12-28T21:01:00.000-05:00

I'm not Greek, actually I'm Puerto Rican, but tell you what, there are a couple of foods that make me wish that I was Greek; Dolmas and Baklava. It was Baklava night at my house and the result was a sweet victory! In other words, I called my Aunt and asked her for her Baklava recipe that was handed down to her from her husbands Grandmother. When my Aunt made it for her Church something or another (I don't remember what it was for) a guy from Greece said it reminded him of his Grandmother's Baklava recipe.

I brought some of the baklava into work and the crew went crazy on it. I mean I made a tray for them and it was gone in 30mins. 4 hours of labor gone in 30 mins, why does it always work that way? To this day I will never know. The labor of love, I guess you can call it that.

So it took 4 hours to make 2 batches, which all things considered I don't think it was too bad. And boy was it delicious! Not to mention incredibly beautiful!

My first dilemma was trying to find the Phyllo Dough! I mean seriously where would you put phyllo in a grocery store. I checked near the cinnamon rolls and other refrigerated doughs but no luck, and when I asked someone for help, they just looked at me blankly as if they didn't know what phyllo was! I was having no luck. fortunately Sam was there to help me and she suggested we check the frozen isle near the pizza. The PIZZA, why would anyone in their right mind put Phyllo dough near Pizza. I mean pizza is Italian, phyllo is Greek.... Oh but wait the phyllo was so innocent and sweet lying next to the pizza..

Phyllo Dough

Now that I'm off that tangent, I didn't realize how much butter baklava actually calls for... in case you are worried about the extra weight you will gain from eating this food, don't worry because there is only a ton of butter in baklava... Oh well the butterer the better (Yes I spelled butter wrong on purpose.)

All the brush stroke looking things on the top is butter is cooling!

Baklava Recipe:
All Recipes.com

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
1 lb chopped nuts
1 cup butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F. butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 pan.
2. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll Phillo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fir in pan.
Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying as you work. Place two sheets of dough in
pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of nut mixture
on top. Top with 2 sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layer as you go. The top layer should be about 6-8
sheets deep.
3. Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of pan. You may cut
into four long rows then make diagonal cuts. Bake for 50 mins until Baklava is golden and crisp.
4. Make sauce while Baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey.
Simmer for 20 mins.
5. Remove Baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers.
this freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Sugar Cookies for Christmas

2011-12-23T11:16:00.002-05:00

So these next couple of posts are probably going to be about Christmas and cookies. Mostly because I had a lot of fun this year and want you all to see it...lol

So it didn't start to feel like Christmas until almost a week ago. Maybe its because I work retail and everyone in retail kinda detests Christmas, since we listen to the exact same Christmas song over and over again for 8 hrs!

We had our annual Cookie Making Day. It was a lot of fun as usual. Filled with flour butter, eggs and sugar! I made around 11 dozen cookies, my sister made 11 dozen cookies, my other sister made 4 dozen plus some souffles, and my two friends came over and they made around 2 dozen each. So there was tons of everything everywhere.

Sam and I went out and bought some Christmas tins and then I wrote on them with Sharpie Paint Pens, to add a personal touch.

Christmas Tin opened to reveal a list of what cookies are inside the tin.

A hand written To and From on the front of the tin.

Sugar Cookies
from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Chicken Addiction....Again!

2011-12-14T15:32:00.002-05:00

It seems as though every winter I fall into the same addictions; wearing slacks around the house, letting my room get dirty, wanting sweets and the strange desire to own chickens. Well maybe addiction is too strong of a word. I know, owning chickens, such a strange thing for someone in the burbs, right! Last year...or maybe two years ago...no it was last winter, I started to really want chickens. I think I am going to have to blame my internship on the Organic farm. On the Farm I incubated chickens and it was AMAZING. Read about it HERE. Well It has started again. I have been looking up ideas on coops and what types of chickens are better for the suburbs. It is really awful.

Click HERE to see Heather's Blog and her article and their coop.

I found this awesome blog where a lady (actually her husband) built their own coop, and it looks BEAUTIFUL. It wasn't cheap, but when you look at it, you will want chickens too! Also Heather has the plans to build this beautiful coop for sale on her blog for only $39!!! Really the only thing that stops me is that its winter and that means its CRAZY COLD! I am too afraid for the chickens. Also I am so busy with school and work. I don't know if I could find the time to take care of them and I don't want to pass that chore to my mom...I try to be a good son.

These are the chickens from the farm I interned on.

Here are some other pics of coops that I found on pinterest if you want to see them

The Finished Planter

2011-12-05T20:07:00.001-05:00

So here is the finished project! I hope you all like it. I think it turned out pretty good myself. Next year, when its not so cold and rainy I will probably do another coat. however I think it looks pretty hot as it is now! You can see both of them, the natural and the painted one. I have the instructions of how I made them HERE...it is a photo step by step instuctional. Plus it was virtually FREE!

Pallets = FREE

Screws = FREE

Paint (optional) = $15

I should probably mention that the paint that I used is an exterior barn paint that I got at Lowes. I used a barn paint because the wood is really rough and I thought it seems more appropriate. In the spring I will make two more and paint the second one I made this time around.

But all in all I think they turned out super awesome! Even my Dad said he thought they looked great, and if you knew my dad, a compliment from him means that he was really impressed!

Pallets with a Purpose

2011-12-03T09:25:00.001-05:00

I have recently had this infatuation with re-purposing pallets. Not because I have millions of them laying around my house. Honestly my parents would kill me if I had one laying around! lol. But because its just neat. Pallets are a super easy resource to come by and they are often times cheap or free; and who can beat free! I was able to swipe a few from my job, but if you can't do that, find a store near by that gets in large shipments and see if you can buy or have the unwanted pallets. Most of the time they are willing to oblige. Make sure to ask before taking any pallets, as that often companies send the used pallets back for a cash deposit, and its stealing if you don't. For this project I am making Planter Boxes for my Earth Boxes. Earth Boxes are not the most beautiful thing to see at your house. They are also unsturdy, and tend to fall over when tomato plants get tall and heavy. All in all I two boxes (which turned out pretty AWESOME!) each taking about 3hrs to make and 1 pallet that I deconstructed.

I drew up a REALLY quick plan of what I wanted the boxes to look like when I was all said and done. The dimensions were_____________

Okay, So here we go. Obviously safety is our #1 goal. So be sure to have a pair of safety goggles on. We have to make sure we are safe since we will be using saws, drills and such. Glass eyeballs are not a good thing to have!


Starting off you will need to deconstruct the pallet of your choice. This can be challenging since the nails they use makes you wonder if these are supposed to be deconstructed. They made them like they weren't supposed to be! WHAT!?! Here I have all the pieces that I will be using. With the 3 really study "legs" of the pallet, cut those into 2 - 31" legs and 2 - 16" legs. as seen in the picture on the right.


With the slats from the top and bottom of the pallet, cut them into 11.5" section. These will be used as the sides of our box.

Following the picture on the left. Place the legs in a rectangle, with the smaller of the legs on the inside and the larger legs on the outside. Next, nail them together. I used 3" wood nails. Sorry I don't have a picture of them. I threw the box away! :( Repeat this two times so as to make a top and bottom "lid" (pictures on right)

Tip to top section of your box onto its side and align the 11.5" planks up against the top. So that they are flush with the outside edge... This part is kinda like a jigsaw puzzle, because you'll need to select the boards that fit best. With mine I didn't need to do any extra cutting to make them fit. Maybe I was lucky... :-) Screw the tops of the boards in with two screws per board.

Now You will need attach the bottom part. The inside of the planks should be 6.5" long; as seen in the 1st picture. You will need to keep measuring this over and over and over again as you screw your boards in, because they will shift. continue screwing 2 screws into each board.


For a majority of the project I was using 2" Phillips Wood screws. I did find some problems with the screws stripping. I believe its because the pallets are made from hard oaks and other hard woods. So if you can find some screws that are meant for hard wood use...DO IT! I was trying to make this for free, and I had these laying around.

Now flip it over and do the exact same this to the rest of the sides of the box. I did the two longer sections first and saved the smaller sections for last. That is up to you. It was a personal preference for me.

Now for the finishing effects. Just to give it a more polished look I screwed some planks onto the top. Mine were 2 inches longer than the box to give it a small overhang....and VIOLA we are done!

So I made two of them and will make two more, since I have four earth boxes. You can see one of the earth boxes in the far one. Now I am going to paint them white to match the house. However I really like them as is. It gives them a really great rustic look, and then you can still see that they were made from pallets! If you were to leave them as is, make sure to coat them with a wood varnish so that they stay looking fresher longer. No point in making your hard earned work rot!

Well I hope you all enjoyed this little tutorial, Feel free to leave any questions you might have for me. I think these boxes turned out great and surprisingly didn't take long at all to make. I'll put pictures up of them once they are painted, but it is still too cold to be painting now :(

Thrifty Vanilla Bean Extract

2011-11-30T19:52:00.001-05:00

Tiss the season for family, friends, baking and food. And Christmas would just not be the same without some home-made cookies. And cookies would just not be cookies without some good old vanilla! We are using vanilla constantly this time of year and with the price of vanilla as it is now days, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Orange Juice Container

As I was talking to my mother, we some how ventured onto the subject of making vanilla extract. What a genius idea! Doing some research into it, I found out how easy it was and how economical it was to make such an extravagant ingredient. Here is the recipe:

Split the Beans Down the Center

3 Vanilla Beans (split down the center)
1 cup(8oz) Vodka (70-80 proof)

1 Glass Jar with Tight Lid

Add Vodka to Jars

Directions:

1 Use a sharp paring knife to cut lengthwise down each vanilla bean, splitting them in half, and leaving an inch at the end connected.
2 Put vanilla beans in a glass jar or bottle with a tight fitting lid (I used a cute little orange juice jar). Cover completely with the vodka.
3 Give the bottle a good shake every once in a while. Store in a dark, cool place for 2 months or longer.
This stuff will lasts for years. As you use it, keep refilling with vodka every once in a while, just remember to give it a good shake.

Trader Joe's Vanilla Beans $2.49

But wait there is more! If you have any left over vanilla beans, stick them into a jar of white granulated sugar. This is a great way to add an awesome vanilla flavor to your baking...a double whammy!

I found the vanilla beans at Trader Joe's, they were super cheap. They were being sold 2 for $2.49. Since the recipe called for three beans I broke down the prices for everything. If you are unfortunate enough not to have a Trader Joe's in your neck of the woods, here is a website that has some beans for sale.

$1.25(per bean) x 3 beans = $3.74

8oz Vodka = $3.38

Total Price = $7.12

Great Gift Idea

I did a online comparison of prices and I found an 8oz Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract for $12.99 + shipping! For just one bottle that is a savings of over $5.87! Plus you can keep topping off the bottle you made to keep the supply going! Who would have known that making delicious vanilla extract could be so easy and fun!

So This is Christmas

2010-12-25T16:13:00.008-05:00

"So this is Christmas and what have done?" Ok so maybe this is a song and not a great way to start a blog. But really, how has your Christmas been. For me it has gone very fast! I am still working at the garden center, and really love it. I promise I haven't forgotten about you all. I was, for a moment, going to delete my blog; but then I showed it to a friend and thought I should still keep it. The people who are there are so real and I love it! It has been a little slower than in the spring, but surprisingly busier. We have been making wreaths, baskets, and grave-blankets. I really enjoy making them, and am very good at it. Mine are usually the first ones to be sold. There are pictures of some of the ones that I made. Sam and I work together quite frequently. We work very well together, and have lots of fun acting silly and singing Christmas songs. Sam and I are planting bulbs for forcing (without our bosses knowledge.)...shhhh don't tell. I will post something on them when I get a chance.

My New Career Adveture

2010-04-19T16:40:00.007-04:00

I know that it has been a long time since I have updated the blog. This past quarter threw me for a loop! I am now just getting back on tract! But I did get all A's in my classes! Yay for me. This quarter is so much easier than last (anything would be easier in comparison.). Its a good thing too. Why, you may ask. Because, i got a new job. Not just any new job! A new job at a garden center. It is a really awesome place too. I kinda float around, either at the register or in the green house. I like it this way, because I can still experience life in the greenhouse with the plants, but also with the customers. A good medium for me. Plus I get a discount! I like the sound of that. They have me working a lot here, I don't mind though. Since school isn't so hard, it gives me a chance to get some extra cash so that I can pay for the next couple of quarters. I also get the chance to rescue plants that would end up in the trash, bring them back to life, and plant them in my yard! Fun. So that is where I stand. I am actually writing this at school (shows you how much extra time I have), and all I can think about is going outside to be in my yard...I need to get pics before all the tulips are done blooming.

Valentine's Day 2010

2010-02-18T16:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. A day of Love and Romance. Since there is no one special in my life. My sister and I decided to do something for my parents.

Make a Romantic dinner for two
and Leave the House!!!

Mom and Sister #3 went out shopping, just for some fun, so Sister #3 picked up a great olive baguette along with some really tasty olive spread. I forgot the name of the spread. For supper, it was just something really simple. Well it didn't turn out simple. Normally I would consider myself a good cook. Not as good as my mom, but better than most. Who would have guessed that this meal would have presented so many roadblocks. The menu was this...
Spaghetti Squash, with mushroom marinara, chocolate vanilla pudding with heart shaped raspberries, micro green salad, and the yummy baguette.

Normally I cook spaghetti squash in the oven, but Mom said that you could cook it in the pressure cooker. Let's just say that we served them spinach linguine instead. =) That was only the first problem. We wouldn't let them see anything, so they were downstairs watching a movie. I am sure they must have thought that I was destroying the kitchen. I kept dropping everything, I mean everything! The last problem that had to be overcome with cunning and sly personality, which was almost not enough, was the pudding.... *Doom and Gloom music plays in the Background* We thought it would be really fun to make the two different flavors in a swirling type look. You know, Alternating between vanilla and chocolate. The first bowl was a flop. The 2nd ... I got the brilliant idea that the puddings should be in icing bags. I would turn the bowl while sister#3 would squeeze the bags. It didn't work. Puddings was shot everywhere except the bowl. But, it was fun to lick off our fingers! We left shortly after plating.

2010-02-10T10:10:00.000-05:00

On cold days like these, when the snow is falling all around you, its nice to cuddle up in a chair with a book and a nice hot cup of tea! This past summer I had the wonderful opportunity to make my own tea blend. All the ingredients in this blend were grown by me. At the farm, we grew Chamomile, Calendula, Feverfew, Peppermint, and Clover. But we never used any of these blooms for anything. They were only used for looking at. Why, I have no idea! I decided, to make my own brew, and Mmmm Doggy, it's good. These are the pics of this wonderful tea, it is so good that I decided to plant most of these flowering herbs in my garden this year. You will see in my previous post, that they are indeed in the plans. If you so desire, you can do the same. All of these herbs are beautiful in your flowerbeds and landscape; but if you spray your flowerbeds, plant it with the veggies instead. I mean really, does anyone want all those chemicals in their tea, I don't think so. Then when your plants bloom just snip off the flowers. This is good for your plants and premoted them to produce more buds!

Here are the ingredients:

3 parts Calendula Blossoms
3 parts Red Clover Blossoms
2 parts Peppermint leaves
1 part Chamomile Blossoms
1 part Feverfew Blossoms

Hope you get the chance to try this. It's really tasty!

Garden plan 2010

2010-02-05T15:10:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but I am extremely excited about this new year of veggies and flowers. After my recent internship on the 150 acre organic farm, I have looked into being more adventurous and trying some not-so-common home veggies. Everyone grows and harvests the traditional mix of vegetables and herbs; such as tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, zucchini, basil and the like. I on the other hand want to reach out into the plethora of vegetables and herbs that most home gardeners never get the chance to do.

Here is a list of what I will be growing in 2010;
Basil, Beets, Carrots, Turnips, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Acorn and Butternut Squash, Tomatoes, Peppers, Oca (not to be confused with Okra), Lettuce, Radishes, Turnips, Garlic, Celeriac, Leeks, Calendula, Chamomile, Fennel, Cucumbers, Nasturtium, Cauliflower, Cilantro, Parsley, Swiss Chard, Kale, and Sun Flowers.

I quickly made a outline of what the garden will look like and we will hope that I got it right. I will go out later and make sure that I have all the measurement correct.

Next post on: Oca (New Zealand Yam)

2010-01-30T13:01:00.001-05:00

Well my midterms are over!!! This is not a completely true statement, I actually have 5 midterms, 3 finals, an essay, and many, many, more quizzes. But on the bright side, my first 2 midterms are done and over with, so I can take a few seconds to breath and release the stress of school by looking into my garden of 2010!

I have been constanly thinking about my new garden for 2010. i am so excited, as I am sure you are. More excited about it. currently, than my new chickens. No I don't have the chickens yet but I know they are still mine!

I don't have the chickens yet, but I do have my memories of all the goodies that I grew last Spring, and boy are they tantalizing! Most of them I will be growing this year, some I won't. Not because I don't like them, but simply because I don't have any room! I expanded the garden more this year (I will post about that in the near future). It added a substantial amount of space, but definitely not enough! With gardening, enough just isn't enough! One of the veggies that will not be making an appearance this year, is Kohlrabi. While I really enjoy this vegetable, I know I will be able to always buy it at the Farmers' Markets. I sure, however, that next year it will be walking down the red carpet!

Last year, the Radishes that were grown at the house, did not turn out due to the ants eating them... I have no idea why our ants like them so, but if you have any suggestions, by all means post them below~ Though the ones at the farm, were beautiful, those radishes are the ones in the picture!

And will you look at the lettuce that we grew at the farm.... WOW, eye popping wow. Its was so green, tender, and crisp! mmmmmm

The Broccoli was really nice, and hardly any worms in it. I think it was because we got it planted so early, that the butterflies weren't out that soon.

I don't know about you, but here soon I will be starting my seeds... I am very excited about this. Last year, I started them in my room, but this year I will be starting them in the green house at the farm! They should turn out very nice, due to all the sunlight!

Moday Book Review

2010-01-18T13:09:00.000-05:00

I know this has nothing to do with gardening....whatsoever, but there really is not too much to talk about in my yard, besides snow. School started back up and I have even more classes that I am taking. As you can imagine, I really revel in the time when I am not reading a scholastic book and am able to enjoy reading something that doesn't necessarily make me starter! We just got a new bookstore near my house, called, City Books. They are locally owned, and all the books are 20% off! I had never been in there so, I thought I would check it out. I didn't have any particular book in mind and just wanted to check out the place and take a break from studying. The book that I ran into is called Dewey, By Vicki Myron.
Dewey is in essence an autobiography of Vicki's life and the life of the whole community in Spencer Iowa, and how a small library cat (Dewey Readmore Books) changed their lives. Rated by the New York times as their #1 best seller, it is for sure a must read. Spencer is a small town in 1988. The book starts off with the sad plight of a cat(Dewey) who was shoved down the library after-hours-drop-box on a -5 degree night. Frostbitten, skinny and dirty he was found by Vicki (the library manager) and the rest of the staff. This adventure shows how one cat can bring together the community, the state, a nation, and eventually the world. Through the loving touch of a cat named Dewey. I would tell you more, but that would just be unfair to you. So, if you ever get the chance to read this book, you absolutley must. Be prepared to have a box of tissues near by though.

Welcome to the New Year

2009-12-30T12:41:00.000-05:00

Now that we can put one year behind us, I think it important to be ever so grateful for what we have had, even though times are tougher. I don't know why I have been recently been thinking about this, but for some reason outside of Thanks Giving, I have been thinking about all that I have. I am sure there are many, if not most of you, who realize this on a daily basis. But as for me, it has now recently sunk in.

This Christmas, I can honestly say that I never went hungry...at all. There was so much yummy food the table was overflowing. Even though there is less money, there is more family. Even though we can't have everything we want, we have everything we need. Even though its cold outside, its warm in our hearts. When winter comes, Spring is around the corner. When it seems the worst, people bring out the best. Though it seems lonely sometimes, there are always those to surround us. Ans when the year is at its worst, we can look forward to a fresh tomorrow.

I don't know where that all came from, but its just something that has been on my heart as I reflect on this past year. So as you go through the last few days of the year and into the next, I hope that you will constantly reflect on what you have and the ones you love.

Happy New Years!

Christmas 09

2009-12-27T16:55:00.001-05:00

Another Christmas has come and gone, and like all, it was a good one. I completely forgot to take a picture of the food, so you will have just imagine. We had Brussels sprouts with chestnuts and pearl onions, dressing, mash potatoes, gravy, green been casserole, turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie.

It was definitely a feast. I was so full, that I didn't have any of the pecan pie the day after Christmas day! The first thing that we did Christmas morning was to take family pictures. I know most NORMAL families open presents upon awaking, well not us. First thing was eating our tradition Christmas breakfast of bread pudding and fruit salad; along with getting dressed for our family picture. The pictures really turned out nice. I am only posting a select few, as that if I were to post them all, there would be no room to tell you about them. If I might say, the family looked really nice. The theme for these pics was black, white, and gray with a vest. Not all of us are wearing vests, but for those who go the memo, did. We have pics of the entire family, along with those of just the boys, the girls, all the couples, and so on. It was a lot of fun, hurrying through the pictures so that we could open presents. No I have not grown up completely. I do like the whole present aspect of this season. This year, we did a Secret Santa, it was really quite fun. I had one my brothers.

Market and Carrots???

2009-12-13T18:00:00.000-05:00

Tonight I had my first raw carrot since the farmers market....Don't panic, the last market was was only like a week ago and I have eaten cooked carrots since then. As I said before, I ate a salad that had some raw carrots from the store, in it. They were gross. Not sweet, rather they were bitter. I have no idea why. For some strange reason I have this strange addiction to market. It makes me so high. I always get so happy after I go to market. The atmosphere is so great. All the familiar people; I've met met many people there and many of the vendors have come to know me by name. I am definatly sad that it is all over. So to give me a lessor high, I thought I would reminisce and just show you some of the pics. I love to go to the Clintonville, Worthington, and Westerville markets. So who knows you may run into me some day.

My Moss

2009-12-08T17:01:00.000-05:00

My dad and I recently redid my room. We repainted the walls, the ceiling, and put new trim in. I will admit, it looks pretty sweet. When I was redoing the room, I thought it would be really neat to have some moss plants in it, to give it that naturalistic rustic feel that I love. My sister had some very beautiful pots that were used as centerpieces for her wedding> I grabbed some of those and made out like a bandit. We have moss in the backyard, that was really attractive looking. My dad had brought it back when he went up to the Michigan house. It really shaggy looking with lots of bright and dark highlights. We also had some standard moss that feels more like velvet. Quickly I grabbed the moss and again made out like a bandit. I wish I had taken picks of the process when I was making it, but alas I did not, so use your imagination.
I added some crushed pop cans to the bottom, because I did not have enough potting mix to fill all three containers. Then I added a couple of inches of potting mix (depending on the height that I was looking for). Lastly, I applied the moss on top and secured it with metal hooks.
FYI; when you remove the moss from your yard (or wherever), you need to take some of the original soil with it. Just like all other plants, it needs it roots, no matter how shallow.

I'm Chicken

2009-11-05T11:02:00.000-05:00

Here recently, I have been looking into getting a chicken. Even before I moved to the farm, I had been tossing the idea back and forth in my head...You know, they could produce eggs for us, free fertilizer, and pest control. So many good things can come from a chicken. After I had been exposed to some real chickens that I had lived with for six months, I have come to the realization that... I WANT A CHICKEN!!!! (That sounds really spoiled, but I promise, its not)

Obviously there is a catch.

I live in the city, so I don't have all that much room to raise them
What do I do with it in the winter! It gets cold in Ohio
Will my parents agree with having a chicken in the back yard?
Will the neighbors agree?

So many questions, some of which are still not answered. I have a list of some breeds that I would like to get.

Ameraucana, Australorp or Black Australorp, Buckeye, Chantecler Delaware, New Hampshire or New Hampshire Red, Orpington, Plymouth Rock, Sussex, Wyandotte.

So if you have any suggestions please let me know. I have found a place where the chicken can have a little run and will fit a coop. I have seen that some of the chicken breeds are cold hardy, so I will probably get one of those. Because, what do you do with a chicken in the winter? This is why I will get my chicken next year in the spring! I have talked to my mom about it, and she's all in. When she was a girl, she lived on a turkey farm where my grandpa raised 25,000 turkeys. So she likes the idea. I haven't told my dad yet, he might be more skeptical. I think that all my neighbors will be cool with it as long as it doesn't make a whole lot of noise or smell.
So I just told my dad that I wanted a chicken, and he was cool with it. Of course, He brought up more problems with it, but I'll turn him into liking it. So please give me your suggestions and ideas!

The chicken in the last picture, that I am kissing, is one of the baby chicks from the previous pictures. These baby chicks, I incubated from some eggs and the end result is them being KISSED!!!!!!

My Garden at Rest

2009-10-31T18:29:00.000-04:00

So as you can imagine, since it is Fall, the leaves are falling. Obvious statement, right. Well, what most of us don't realize is that the very leaves that fall from our trees are packed full of nutrients for our yards. Just look at the forests in the US. The soil under that canape of trees is some of the richest soil anywhere. Why, because of all the organic matter that is produced and not removed. I'm not saying that we should never rake our leaves or clean them out of the road. If we did that, we would have a lot of upset neighbors. What I am saying is that why not use them to dress our gardens. I did this last year with some success. The problem I ran into was that I did not shred my leaves fine enough, so they didn't break down nearly as fast as I wanted. Last year, I used my leaf blower (I don't know why they call them this since I was not blowing but sucking the leafs), and it didn't shred the leafs well enough. This year I mowed them...twice! And they got really fine. So I am expecting them to break down much faster. A couple of days ago, my next-door-neighbor wanted to be really nice and mow up all of our leaves. He DIDN'T get far. I ran outside and asked him not to mow them, so that I could...I wanted to keep them... As you can imagine, he just gave me this funny look, and said "okay". So here we are. I want to expand my veggie garden, so I will be doing something similar to Lasagna Gardening, developed by Patricia Lanza. We will see how I do. In the garden now is a lone Arugula plant and some Broccoli plants. so my garden is not at complete rest!

Last Farm Blog

2009-10-27T18:29:00.000-04:00

So I know I did not blog a lot this past summer, even though I promised I would. As you can imagine, my summer has been a whirl wind! Since my internship has ended, it seemed only fitting to to give the farm one last farewell. So here is my encomium to the Farm...

Thanks to the interns, pets, and of course the amazing Farmer Dick; I had one of the best summers of my life! Even with all the summers filled with camps and fun trips to other countries, this one has been by far the best. I learned so much; some dealing with agriculture and some not so much. The first week of leaving the farm, was really sad. I felt so homesick, I had even started calling the Farm my home. For six months I had lived there, cooked there, made friends, laughed, cried, and jammed with some of the neatest people I have met. So I guess, in some way, this post is a tribute to them along with the farm. You always hear about studies that say the more you laugh the younger you get. Laughter does good like medicine. Well if that is the case, I should end up being a very healthy very young baby. I have tlaughed more hardily there, than any one place. I can remember he good times that we spent on top of my camper, just talking with the other interns and having an all around good time.

When I had first found out about this opportunity to intern on an organic farm. I was so excited, but in some ways, I had mixed emotions. I had only met Dick (the Farmer) at market. What would it be like to live with him the entire summer? I have to admit, there was some apprehension about it. But it was awesome, there was no TV, no internet, for the longest time I didn't even have a radio. This is part of the reason I only posted twice. But I kinda liked it that way. Even since being home, I've watched very little television. I loved all the cows, the horses, donkey, dog, cat, chickens, and people. Oh by the by; all the previous chickens got eaten, so the old ones are no more. But I incubated some more from the old chickens fertilized eggs. So, we have more now! One of the interns, found a puff mushroom that was over 8lbs! it was bigger than both of our heads, and probably heavier too....hehehehe. jpk.

Farm Update

2009-07-12T16:31:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time since I have posted in a long time, but I am now home and decided I would change all of this. So since the last time, I have done a ton of work and have an amazing tan! The Garden has grown so much it keeps getting bigger and so do the weeds. We are growing everything; carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, yellow summer squash, peas, yellow purple and green beans, swiss chard, beets, romaine lettuce, red butterhead lettuce, leeks, red and yellow onions, kale, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, red white and blue potatoes, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, sweet corn, kohlrabi, basil, herbs, and all sort of things that I have forgotten. So as you can tell, there is a lot that we have and that I take care of at the farm. Here at Flying J Farm, we have something called CSA. Now some of you may know what a CSA is or may even belong to one. CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture. CSA members basically join into the farm life. They pay in advance and each week they pick up or we deliver several bags of fresh organic veggies. We have about 11 CSA members of which 4 come and pick up at the farm. Whenever they come over to the farm to help us out and pick up their veggies, it is a blast. Since most of the families have young kids, we are always doing games like wheel barrel and water chugging races. Afterwords we take hay rides, go to the lake, and take horse back rides! It is a lot of fun. Along with that, I make lunch for everyone at the farm from things that we grow.

Farm Update

2009-04-21T21:49:00.001-04:00

So I though, I would give you all an update on my life in the farm. Since I don't have internet access at the farm, so I have to wait until I come home for a visit. Thus you will have to wait till I come home to visit and see how I am doing. So as usual it is AMAZING. I live in a little piece of paradise, my trailer home; on a 300 acre farm. There is an amazing Golden Retriever dog, named Jewels; who sleeps outside my trailer to greet me in the morning...love that dog, and she is so adorable.
So I thought I would take you through some of my chores. On one of the rare sunny days that we had here in Ohio, Dick, the proprietor of the farm decided that is was time to plant potatoes. I guess, when you start seeing the dandelions bloom. It means the soil has warmed up enough for the potatoes to grow! So there is a tip for all of you people. One of the other part-time interns came in, and together we cut 600 pounds of potatoes! That's a lot of potatoes, if you couldn't tell.
After the potatoes, I water the greenhouse 1-2 times a day. for all of you who LOVE plants and would kill to have a greenhouse, then I will have to start watching my back. I have the pleasure of watering a HUGE greenhouse, and stay in the 70ish degree weather whenever I want. These are some of the plants that are in the greenhouse.
I also feed the 23 chicken, 1 rooster, and collect the eggs. Usually we get anywhere 15-18 eggs each day, and sell a dozen for 3 dollars. When I broke one of the eggs they weren't yellow, they were orange! It just goes to show that the things grown on the farm are soooo much better for you! There are also cows, lots and lots of cows.

Till the next time I have access to the internet!

Spring Update

2009-04-08T19:46:00.000-04:00

So, just as an update on the who camera issue, I did get the Nikon D90. My dad got for me as a going-away present. I have had a lot of fun experimenting with it and the 2 lenses that I got with it. I am really liking the fact that I can adjust the aperture on the camera. I do, though, have to buy a micro lens. I can get into fairly close to the objects, but not as close as I would like. If you have any suggestions on one I should get, please let me know.

Okay, so now for what I was going to tell everyone. You may have wondered why I said my parents got the camera for me as a going-away present. Well, this whole summer and part of fall, I am going to be leaving my home, garden, and birds for a farm. I will be interning on a all organic cattle and produce and am extremely excited. The farm is called Flying J Farm, and is located near Johnstown, Ohio. You all should come and visit me. I am terrible with directions, so don't even try asking for them. Instead, just go to his website, and get the Google map. So that is all the excitement for me right now. I will be leaving next Wednesday, so wish me luck. I don't know how often I will be posting, since I would think I will be pretty busy, but I will try my best to keep you updated on my adventures on the farm.

The tulips are blooming right now. Not all of them, not even half, just the early ones. Two different types of tulips are blooming. They are Flaming Purissima, and Darwin Tulips. I couldn't find my tags for the Darwin tulips, but could for the Purissima. The Purissima grows 18in tall and blooms in early spring. They are pale pink with vainage of dark pink. Really beautiful.

P.S. A lot of people have asked me where they could get the copper looking bird feeder in my post on Safflower Seeds. I originally got it at Park's Seeds for $9.72. But they must of discontinued it, because I cannot find it on their site. I did a quick Google and found the same on on the online store, Birds-n-Gardens.

~Next post on Rain Barrels~