The 5400 Square Foot Homestead

"Should" Homesteading

2011-08-04T14:57:00.001-05:00

The inner ideologue demands a high level of performance on the urban homestead. When homesteading, gardening, shopping and cooking turn into a list of "shoulds", a lot of the joy goes out of daily living and with that, the extinguishing of inspiration. As my beds turn to weeds and the thick masses of wildflowers overtake the sidewalk, as the currants ripen and shrivel on the bushes, I turn my thoughts to the why of it all. If I am honest, I acknowledge that the joy has been in creating a place for biodiversity and vitality from an ordinary city lot. I'm a "big picture" person and once the vision has been achieved, I am not someone who falls naturally into the rhythms of maintenance. I live alone and my beds have gone to hell.

The major lessons of the past three years on the homestead are easy to point to: Go slowly. Finish one major project before undertaking another - down to the most minute details. Follow joy rather than ambition or perfectionism. Balance dreams, visions and ideals with what is practical.

Right now, going on the garden, it looks like a crazy person lives here. I know I'm not crazy - but I took on a great deal more than I can realistically handle. Now, it's time to revise, revise, revise and to find solutions to the problems I inadvertently created in bringing radical change to the landscape.

May your garden be manageable, sincere and a source of delight. May your summer be filled with good fruits from your good labors and may your homestead be a thing of simplicity, beauty and joy.

The ADD Gardener

2011-06-27T01:54:00.000-05:00

Scrolling down to the photo of my coffee table spread with seeds and books and whatnot in anticipation of a spring gardening spree, I couldn't help but be reminded just now of the "all or nothing" approach I tend to take toward the garden (and really, most of life). Hyperfocus is definitely a personal trait but so is distractability. Those seeds from spring? Relegated to a box on my dining room floor. Those books? I think they're on the bookshelf. Catalogs? No idea. Many of the seeds were absentmindedly placed into a Ziplock bag with - OOPS! - onion starts. Today, I found them - moist and moldy. So much for my selection of greens.

Once the current river rock and parkway projects, weeding and planting of the summer garden are done, I will probably do practically zilch outdoors until fall other than installing Monarch plants and watering the vegetables. Is this so wrong?

Oh - and if you like Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis, I think), I have it all over my garden. It makes lovely tea and goes nicely chopped with cucumber in plain yogurt. Please come get some but be smart - plant it in containers!

Early Summer Updates

2011-06-26T12:00:00.001-05:00

FRAYED AROUND THE EDGES
The parkway has been on the project list for longer than I'd care to remember. The last half ton of the garden soil I had delivered a couple of months ago (or longer) was distributed on the parkway yesterday morning just in time for the delivery truck to deposit two tons of large river rock.

I sheet mulched half of the parkway with cardboard some time ago and didn't finish the edges. I would like to recommend that you NOT replicate my Attention Deficit Disorder induced order of operations but rather install edging first. The rain washed much of the soil into the street and ugly brown cardboard is exposed along the curb along 17' feet or so of the parkway. Of course, I just sheet mulched the other side to match, right before I made a trip to the hardware store to pick up edging. The current disgraceful state of affairs will be remedied this week.

I chose two types of edging and it remains to be seen how well they will work for the two applications I need. First, I need a taller edging to keep soil and river rocks from dropping into the street from the slightly sloped parkway. Next, I need something that the neighbor can run his mower over at the property line and, for aesthetics, along the sidewalk (maybe). For this, I chose "Zip Edge". (Is there really a property line on the parkway? Probably not. Hmm.) My competence in manual labor being what it is, I've brought in a consultant to coach me in digging out the edges properly.

THE TREE'S THE THING
The lone parkway tree in front of my house is something in the Rose family with little orange berries. It would be a fine tree, I'm sure, under other circumstances but the top is bare of leaves, the trunk looks like the product of woodpeckers recreating the shootout at the O.K. Corral for several successive seasons and the bark is diseased. A friend tells me that the city's wait time for removing forlorn street trees is measured in years so I am considering putting the poor creature out of its misery myself. The question is whether to "go through channels" and get permission from the city first (if they say "No", there go my plans for Monarchy - see below) or simply to remove it and document its diseased state with extensive photographs in the event the city decides it would like to take me to task. It's scarcely 20' tall and there are no power lines nearby so it would be a simple excision.

LONG LIVE THE MONARCHY
What to do with almost 200 square feet of sheet mulched parkway? Why, create a Monarch Butterfly habitat, of course. With full sun exposure (except for a small area beneath the Doomed Tree), this is a perfect spot to beautify the street with Monarchs' favorites: milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), Echinacea spp., Liatris spp. and other perennial nectar plants. For safety reasons, it's desirable to limit plant height to under 48" - so no Ironweed or other fun prairie plants of the taller persuasion. I've certified the site through Monarch Watch 's Waystation Program already. Certification is only $16.00 and one can purchase lovely and educational metal signs for $17.00 each (see photo). Where better to place these than on a parkway?

I plan to obtain plants from Possibility Place as budget allows over the summer. Alternatively, seed kits are available through Monarch Watch and there are many other milkweed seed sources available online. Many Asclepias species have seeds that need to be cold stratified; it's recommended that these be planted in November for emergence the following spring.

TONNAGE
For visibility at the driveway end of the parkway and to kill off the last of the turf grass along the length of the driveway, two tons of large river rock are going in. Yes, I'm shoveling them in myself. I'm beginning to think that I may be a masochist. Thankfully, this is the last of the major shoveling until the vegetable garden is extended another 14' or so (pea gravel paths, more garden soil). The garden will be extended either this fall or early next year. In total, my guess is that I've installed close to 20 tons of soil, gravel and rock since the autumn of 2008, when I moved here.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
How it happened, I really don't know but I still have no vegetables planted in the new vegetable beds. This will be remedied this week with the planting of squash, beans, cucumbers (including lemon cukes) and a variety of greens - may they live to see fruitful maturity.

SCOURGE OF THE CRAB GRASS
I wish that I were as chic and stylish as Genghis Khan et al. but I do my scourging while seated on a little metal step stool while wearing kidskin gloves. (Wait, I bet Genghis wore goatskin gloves! Ooh! We DO have something in common!) Crab grass has installed itself in nearly every inch of previously bare soil, which equates with a high volume of weeding. I'm glad I have help this week from both my garden wise and accomplished mother and my lovely daughter, who is, as it turns out, a first class weeder.

Weeding is exponentially more fun with company.

How Not to Talk About Your Landscape and Apparently, Brown is the New Green

2011-05-01T12:00:00.083-05:00

Those of us who routinely watch the neighbors' eyes glaze over when we talk about our gardens have been duly admonished. Observe: Talking About Your Landscaping, courtesy of our mentors and friends at Wild Ones.

The same newsletter features a snippet about how green has been coopted by corporate money-grabbers and that brown, for the earth, should be the color de rigeur for the environmentalist. (I'm sad to report that since my relocation mto the Midwest, both brown and green now remind me of lawn grass.) Instead of brown, I propose "wearing" every color found in the native landscape in our gardens and putting a rapid halt to the mindless consumption of eco-branded products. Instead of buying recycled plastic carry-all bags at the health food store, wouldn't it make more sense to purchase the 25 cent canvas tote bags readily available at the thrift store and stop consuming so much plastic in the first place? It seems, however, that the majority of us have been implanted with the Consumer Chip. Maybe it's time for a reinterpretation of Logan's Run in which corporate greenwashers put environmentalists in the Carousel and send agents to infiltrate outlaw permacultural communities. Or maybe I should leave screenwriting to the professionals. Next!


Michael York hereby swears to buy greenwashed products on sight.

From Zero to Sixty: Part One

2011-04-29T12:00:00.004-05:00

The Gardener's coffee table circa 1:00 a.m.

The last frost date has breezed past (or sogged past, as the case may be) and after months of ignoring matters of the garden, suddenly I feel as though I'm trying to keep pace with the pollinators (you may be able to relate). Thankfully, I have some time over the next couple of weeks to address the following:

Planting Eight Gloire des Sablons Currant Bushes (DONE)
Covering Amelanchier roots with more soil (DONE)
Fencing in Vegetable Garden (DONE)
Reconfiguring/shaping Front Yard Apple Tree Berm (DONE)
Planting 50 Fragaria virginiana plants (an everbearing strawberry well thought of as a landscaping plant) on the pink currant and amelanchier berms
Sowing Seeds for the Apple Tree Guild
Ordering Lonicera (Honeysuckle) Bushes & Lingonberries (Maybe?)
Sheet Mulching the Parkway (100% Lawn Free! Yeah, Baby!)
Sowing Half of Parkway in 36"-48" Perennial Wildflowers
Constructing an Herb Spiral on the Other Half of the Parkway
Seeding the Vegetable Beds (Yes, Late)
Planting Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot) on the Shaded Native Currant Berm
Pruning Unhealthy Black Currant Bushes
Cleaning Up & Reseeding Parkway Path with Native Penstemons
Leveling & Anchoring Arbor & Planting with Native Clematis

I think that's enough for now! Pictures will be forthcoming.

Dream Books: Catalogs from Baker Creek, Raintree Nursery &
Edible Landscaping; Lee Reich's Landscaping with Fruit, Toby
Hemenway's Gaia's Garden, theologian Vigen Guroian's
Inheriting Paradise and Comprehensive Basic Gardening
from the Springfield, Illinois chapter of Food Not Lawns.
Not Pictured: Field and Forest Catalog
(a must for the gardening mycophile).

I'm Not Dead, I'm Dormant

2011-03-24T10:10:00.000-05:00

I may be dormant but my garden isn't! The buds on the woody plants and trees are declaring the advent of spring in a most promising way. Are there vegetable starts unfurling on my south-facing windowsills? No. Seriously, I'm dormant. The Gloire Des Sablons pink currants from Raintree Nursery will be shipping soon, however, to add more structure to the bed along the sidewalk and provide some summer berry foraging.

Over the winter, I began experimenting with a raw foods diet with an emphasis on lots of green juices (kale, collards, mustard greens, etc.). I came to realize that the volume of greens I was consuming was not sustainable if I had any intention of growing most of my own produce at some point.

In the near future, I may post at length about special diets and eating locally in Zone 5. Until then, maybe you have something more exciting happening in your windowsills. I would love to read about it.

Now Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding

2010-11-06T13:27:00.000-05:00

Figs are definitely a treat for North Americans and their foliage is beautiful. How great it would be to pick them in the garden rather than shipping them from overseas - but there's no way they'd grow in Zone 5A, right? Wrong!

Big thanks to Anna at Walden Effect for posting about her baby fig trees. The varieties I'd seen were all listed as being hardy to only Zone 6 but apparently there are options for those of us in slightly colder climates. Figs can be potted and brought indoors or overwintered in a frame filled with mulch to keep the trees from dying back to the ground. The fig trees I'd seen in Seattle were 10' - 15' tall but apparently the more cold tolerant varieties tend to be shorter and shrubbier.

I have Celeste, English Brown Turkey and Hardy Chicago on my shopping list for next year, all available at Edible Landscaping, whose plants have done very well for me thus far. Their columnar apples bore heavily during the second year in the garden here and had wonderful flavor.

Figs! Now there's something to look forward to.

Mothra

2010-09-28T07:58:00.001-05:00

My mother discovered a visitor this week in the front yard. Why, yes! It's Mothra. I haven't identified our friend yet but his or her wings were approximately 3 1/2" across in the resting position and she/he spent an entire day camped on the same leaf. This photo doesn't do justice to the eerie green hues of Mothra's wings.

Aronia, a Native Nutriceutical

2010-09-27T12:02:00.005-05:00

Aronia is a genus in the Rose family native to the Eastern United States and Canada whose astringent berries have been cultivated in Europe to produce juice, tea, wine and syrup. Aronia is closely related to and sometimes included in the genus Photinia.

Aronia's unique nutritional and antioxidant profile has led to research in its use against colon cancer, liver damage, diabetes and oxidative stress, including stress resulting directly from chemical exposure. Additionally, Aronia is pest and disease resistant and easy to cultivate, making it a genus of interest to those researching the creation of new markets for minor crops in the United States.

Aronia's common name, chokeberry, is sometimes confused with chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), whose high cyanide content has proven fatal to livestock. Aronia species have no such toxicity issues. Further adding to the confusion is the existence of a Prunus virginiana cultivar called "Melanocarpa", which is also the name of an Aronia species. For this reason, it is preferable to refer to Aronia by its botanical name.

There are two Aronia species: melanocarpa, or black chokeberry, and arbutifolia, or red chokeberry. Both are available as native specimen plants from Possibility Place; more palatable European cultivars are available for shipment from Raintree Nursery and other domestic vendors. This discussion may be helpful to you in deciding if this is the right fruit for your needs and or goals.

Ribes Reading

2010-09-25T20:25:00.004-05:00

Those of us interested in cultivating Ribes (currants, gooseberries and hybrid jostaberries) at home have plenty of literature to draw from. While modern research articles and textbooks are indispensable to the small fruit grower, historic guides* (like this free one from Google Books) continue to offer relevant insights into the cultivation and history of small fruit varieties.

For further information, there are also The International Ribes Association (TIRA) and, if you really want to geek out, the USDA Agricultural Research Service's Ribes page.

The following images are from a report to the New York State Assembly in 1859:

* I will never tire of public domain downloads from Google Books!

Autumn Garden Revisions

2010-09-19T11:48:00.008-05:00

The quinces are almost ripe and ready to sample.

As the quinces round and ripen, the dregs of this year's currants hang withered on their infructescences and the violet and chicory greens sport the sheen of autumn rain, I find myself at a loss as to how to go about the first real autumn garden cleanup. This is why I've invited my mother, a seasoned native landscape designer and gardener, to help me tidy and revise the wild-looking beds and plan for next year.

This week, we'll be snapping and sawing the massive cup plant stalks, cleaning up and transplanting some of the other perennial native wildflowers, removing overgrown weeds and ordering bushes for fall and spring planting.

We'll be planting two types of berry-bearing bushes: a compact Juneberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) native to South Dakota as an alternative to the massive Illinois variety and a bush-form honeysuckle (Lonicera kamchatica) that bears elongated blueberry-like fruits that are said to be rich in antioxidants. These are coming as potted specimens from one of my favorite nurseries, Edible Landscaping.

Seedheads from last spring's Foxglove Penstemon blooms.

For spring, I'm placing orders from Raintree Nursery for bare root heirloom pink currants (Ribes vulgare "Gloire des Sablons") and lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-ideae varieties yet to be determined).

Nineteenth century literature describes "Gloire des Sablons" as having a vigorous upright growth habit and being a moderate bearer of beautiful pink fruit with mediocre flavor. The fact that this variety is still in cultivation may be attributable to both its disease resistance and its unique looking fruit, which is said to freeze well and to be useful for jams and pies and as a dessert garnish. Since one of my interests is marketing specialty currants and currant products in the future, I'm willing to take a risk on their flavor (which can always be amended with other ingredients).

Two Types of People

2010-08-11T11:33:00.009-05:00

Call Wes Craven - The Flowers Are Back!

I find that there are two types of people who walk down the street. The first type, upon encountering a mass of flowers that slightly impedes their passage along the sidewalk, are delighted. They walk on the side of the street with the mass of flowers because it is beautiful and full of life and they are happy to interact with that life. The other type consists of those who prefer to cross the street rather than brush past flowers. Maybe they have allergies or they don't like unruly masses of flowers that in any way impede their linear progress or perhaps they have a flower phobia.This is sad.

Every block has its own version of the "crazy garden lady". Some of us crazy garden ladies have our projects tucked away in the back yard. Some of us have them displayed in the front yard. Still others of us have completely filled our lots with gardening projects. I fall into the third category.

The Horror! (Yes, I Need to Mow)

Last evening, as I sat on my front stoop enjoying a breeze, a gray-haired man and a very young boy were walking down my side of the street. The man saw me (I'm very unremarkable looking, I promise) and the sidewalk with the mass of flowers and he crossed the street with his young charge. Later, as I was pulling out of my driveway to go somewhere, the same man and boy returned on the opposite side of the street. I looked at him with the intention of smiling but I found that he was scowling at me. My smiling impulse vanished. In fact, I was bothered. I don't like to think that there are people who don't enjoy wildflowers and who, in fact, find my garden aesthetically offensive. These people do exist, however. Some of them are my neighbors.

My neighbors may not know where all of these projects are going or how they might develop, though I certainly do, so occasionally I put out a laminated printed sign with a friendly font, tacked to a wooden post. It might say something like "Please Excuse the Mess! We're Seeding the Beds!" or "Low Water Garden Installation in Progress".

Since I've already garnered the crazy garden lady label and there's no going back, I'm considering going full bore and installing an outdoor bulletin board in my front yard with conservation gardening hints, information about Illinois native plants and wildlife and free youth activity booklets from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Late last night, I went outside and cut back some of the flowers so that they didn't hang over the sidewalk in any way. I felt bad for the very young boy who wasn't allowed to enjoy flowers.

What House? What Walk? What Car?

2010-08-10T17:32:00.001-05:00

I know I'm Johnny One Note this summer but very honestly I've never seen anything like these in my life and I'm enthralled with every new stage of their development. The goldfinches happily sing atop their leaves while eating from their seedheads, monarch butterflies flutter gaily all around them and the bees and other insects enjoy the continuing display of tasty flowers. What am I referring to? Why, yes, it's the cup plants. Again. And yes, seedlings are still coming up all over the yard. If you'd like some of these prodigious bird and pollinator friendly Illinois native prairie plants in your yard, please feel free to come dig up some seedlings.

A Simple Hammock

2010-07-24T18:04:00.002-05:00

Early morning storms saturated the thick straw paths in the back yard and left much of the back yard seating too soggy to use. It occurred to me that a hammock would be just the thing between the two old apple trees across from the bunny hutch. Hammocks, if you haven't already observed, are outrageously overpriced and often not very well made. How does a budget minded person make a hammock? Quite easily, as it turns out.

Cup Plant Overflow

2010-07-18T13:28:00.002-05:00

The cup plants we brought back from the native plant rescue at Naperville North High School last year are producing prolifically - there are cup plant seedlings coming up in every sidewalk crack and a multitude of other unlikely places. If you're in the Joliet area and would like some seedlings, you're welcome to come and get some.

(All of those little leaves at the bottom right are cup plants seedlings.)

Urban Farm Magazine

2010-07-11T05:29:00.007-05:00

The publishers of Hobby Farm Magazine astutely began publishing Urban Farm Magazine at some point in the recent past. I'd been meaning to pick up a copy but had a hard time finding it at the usual newsstands - that is, until I happened upon it yesterday at Barnes and Noble.

The cover articles all looked good. The bottom line? A slick Real Simple-esque pastiche, without Real Simple's charm. There is plenty of good content and it's very attractively packaged. For me, it was too attractively packaged. It made me want to read back issues of Countryside Magazine, printed on newsprint with rambling letters from homesteaders in far-flung corners of the country, and to dig out the old Foxfire books.

If the intent of the Urban Farm Magazine is to persuade mainstream urbanites that their expensive patios can provide them with gourmet salad greens, rainwater can be used to irrigate, solar panels aren't that hard to purchase and install and that this is all very tasteful and stylish, I think that they will effectively reach their audience. I look forward to further developments in the genesis of the magazine.

Check them out online.

Tree Challenge

2010-07-04T00:41:00.001-05:00

I'm quickly learning that fruit tree pruning is very much an art. After having butchered my little sour cherry tree, I'm reticent in tackling the beautiful young quince in my front yard, which very much needs a midsummer prune. Maybe it's time to call the Midwest Fruit Explorers Club for moral and practical support.

Animal Dreams

2010-07-04T00:32:00.001-05:00

Today found me relocating the main bunny hutch from the garage to the shade of the apple trees. The three does, mother and daughters, are now enjoying cool breezes and the entertainment value provided by my free range hens (yes, I still have them).

It occurred to me as I sat in the shade observing them that it may be time to set up a Bunny Poo Tea production area. Manure teas make a fantastic addition to the home vegetable garden, especially when it comes to transplanting. In addition to the benefits Bunny Poo Tea will offer my own garden, it is easily marketed to other home gardeners and, as an added bonus, will help my rabbits to earn their keep.

My happy hens lay odd eggs - small and white, slightly larger and green. Are these marketable? Perhaps. I've been tinkering with the idea of diving into beekeeping next spring with a Golden Mean top bar hive, so honey and beeswax may also be in the cottage business repertoire in the foreseeable future.

Of course, it's easy to daydream in the shade of an apple tree on a hot July afternoon but I have confidence that my dreams for this little place in the city will take hold with time and effort.

What have you been daydreaming about?

In Bloom & In Fruit

2010-05-31T11:41:00.004-05:00

Native Foxglove Penstemons (Penstemon digitalis) are blooming abundantly this year.

Against all reason, this Wild Parsnip plant (an introduced biennial, Pastinaca sativa) is 8' to 9' tall. Its next largest neighbor is about 6' tall (which is also unusual). Cup Plants in the foreground.

Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis). A preponderance of these came up this year, which means I'll have to resow the regional native wildflower mix two years from now.

Another plant in bloom from the Midwest Native Regional Wildflower Mix from GrowOrganic.com (no idea what this is).

A late Spiderwort bloom (Tradescantia ohiensis) next to Foxglove Penstemons and native Bee Balm (Monarda).

Young quince fruit (Cydonia oblonga). Quince is a relative of apples and pears. There are about ten fruits this year. Last year, the tree's first year, it bore two, neither of which matured.

Red currant (Ribes rubrum) infructescences.

(An infructescence is an inflorescence gone to the fruiting stage.)

Pardon the blurriness. Black currants (Ribes nigrum). I love black currants - when I'm able, I hope to plant many more of these bushes.

Second year columnar apple tree from EdibleLandscaping.com.

Glimpses of a Spring Morning

2010-05-21T10:49:00.002-05:00

I'm in the midst of preparing a display for an all day environmental event tomorrow and took a few minutes to enjoy the chickens and the garden. Hope you'll enjoy them, too.

One of many native Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) plants coming into bloom.

The Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris) brought from Ohio last year by my mother has done very well this season. Lady's Mantle is used for bruises, wounds and excessive menstruation and is reportedly good forage for sheep and cattle. In the background are Lemon Balm and Sage and in the foreground, Violets. I've forgotten what the yellow flowers in the lower right corner are - they're a native from the Apiaceae/Umbellifereae family.

It's hard to believe that this area was occupied by a lawn last spring. The paths and berms behind the mass of foliage (about 4' - 5' tall) are almost completely obscured. My neighbor was commenting a few weeks ago about how well things are growing; I told her that I can't take credit as I'm not much of a gardener but that it's the plant selection that makes the difference. You can't go far wrong with natives! On the left in this picture, native prairie plants rescued from destruction during a parking lot installation. On the right, regional native wildflower mix from GrowOrganic.com and a quince tree from Trees of Antiquity.

Lawn Replacement Update

2010-04-28T11:42:00.000-05:00

The berms are in, the paths are halfway in and I'm waiting on three tons of pea gravel and a few more yards of garden soil for the new 400 sq. ft. vegetable garden to be installed on the south side of the house, adjacent to the area pictured. I've made a few plant selections but I haven't sown anything yet.

And here's a view of the front yard in its entirety:

Do Bare Rootstock Trees Really Survive?

2010-04-28T11:28:00.000-05:00

Here's what my shipment of apple trees looked like when they arrived.

I didn't take pictures of the root masses, however this is a picture of the one with the most visible leaf buds (the early bearing variety):

Yes, it is very much like a stick. But last year's "stick" (which tried to bear fruit, even!) is covered in blooms this year. Here's my quince tree, planted last spring in much the same condition:

And here's a photo of the entire tree:

So, Yes! Bare rootstock trees really do survive - and even thrive.

HGTV?

2010-04-25T02:32:00.001-05:00

As I was laying out newspaper sections in the southeast corner of my front yard this afternoon to kill the grass (4-6 pages thick, overlapped, to be covered with 3" of pea gravel), I chuckled to myself about the 1-2 day landscaping transformations I've seen on television, most often on HGTV. There's no "mow and blow" landscaping crew swooping in to install the hardscaping, no trips to the big box store for the latest ez-grow cultivars, no $1500 patio set and grill. There's nothing inherently wrong with those things, of course - but permaculture is my passion and budgetary considerations demand that I supply the labor. The time and sheer effort of what's taking place in my yard doesn't make for good television simply because it will take 2-3 more years for things to mature and weeds to be conquered.

I can't tell you what a difference it's made not to have to dig a 10" deep trench under my pathways in this corner of the yard. I managed to get the path halfway done in one afternoon without causing grievous bodily harm to myself and that was a huge morale booster.

So what's left to do in the next several weeks?

Bring in 2-3 tons of pea gravel to finish the paths with (including in the vegetable garden)
Revise, dress and seed the new berms and beds
Remove trees, shrubs and other woody vegetation from the future vegetable garden
Lay cardboard down over said vegetable garden area to kill the grass et al.
Bring in 4 yards of garden soil for the vegetable garden
Install welded wire fencing around said vegetable garden
Plant vegetable garden in cover crops
Mulch 1/2 of the parkway and plant with Midwest regional native wildflowers
Mulch along the driveway with cardboard & install 2 tons of river rock
Cover one end of the parkway with river rock (at the driveway end for accidental drive-overs and putting the trash bins out)

I'm also planning to install an arbor over my front walk with native Passiflora incarnata (Maypop) growing on it. The flowers are stunning and the fruits are edible.

The Neighbor vs. The Chickens

2010-04-14T13:19:00.000-05:00

When I moved into my home, I was aware that a tenant who had lived here just prior had kept chickens. In speaking with my neighbor today, he claimed that the previous owner, the tenant's sister, had reported a giant increase in her home insurance rate due to the presence of the chickens on the property, allegedly due to health issues. He said that he was worried that his own rates would go up in response to the presence of my chickens.

My chickens are the size of large pigeons. A health hazard from five pigeon-sized birds is difficult to fathom. I would go so far as to say that it's an irrational fear. Nevertheless, I offered to find new homes for my birds so as not to cause him any headaches.

I'm more than a little unhappy about this. The neighborhood is heavily populated with noisy dogs whose barking I endure at all hours of the day and night. They urinate on my property. Cats routinely roam through my yard. All I want is a half a dozen half sized chickens who entertain me and provide fresh eggs. They're quiet, they're cute and contrary to popular belief they don't smell when properly kept (this isn't, after all, a commercial chicken operation).

So. I'm finding a new home for my chickens. I'm thinking now about how I can go about garnering support for legalizing city chickens. There's certainly plenty of precedent for me to draw on. Despite the rejection of a measure allowing city chickens in the neighboring town last year, I have reason to believe that ours is a more forward thinking city. It's a city that wants to attract commuters and a more urban set of people in order to boost its revenue. There's hope.

Commonplace Medicinals

2010-04-14T09:51:00.005-05:00

As Susun Weed points out, the "weeds" in our lives are often our Green Allies.

This photo was taken on the south side of the house, where a carpet of violets emerges each spring.

The European violet (Viola odorata) has been naturalized throughout North America. The flowers and leaves can be made into a syrup used to relieve coughing, congestion and sore throat. Taken as a tea before bed, the leaves and flowers can also soothe restlessness and help to relieve insomnia. The rhizomes may be made into a laxative decoction. In large doses, the rhizome decoction can be used as an emetic. Violets are colorful in salads and may be crystalized or used to flavor sugar. The plants are an effective low growing ground cover, keeping out more noxious plants. Read more about violets here and here.

This clump of lemon balm is all that's left of a jungle of the stuff where I relocated a huge garter snake last fall.

While it's true that many members of the mint family (Labiaceae) are invasive, they are wonderful insectary plants providing excellent food for pollinators. Lemon balm is traditionally used as a sedative and antispasmodic and its essential oil has been shown in studies to help heal sores caused by Herpes simplex. Read more here.

Progress Report

2010-04-14T09:20:00.002-05:00

Here are the incomplete berms - 75% and 50% finished, respectively. In my enthusiasm to complete the gravel path on the north side of the house yesterday, I pushed my back too far (oops). I'll be resting today when my trees arrive.

When I'm done convalescing, I have about 1.5 yards of garden soil left and quite a few weeds (leftover invasive lawn grass!) that require my attention. [The stick on the right is a native paw paw (Asimina triloba); the paw paws have been late in leafing out but appear to be fine.]

The straw that broke the gardener's back.

An Heirloom Red Currant Goes to Town

2010-04-09T09:31:00.009-05:00

The Wilder Red Currant (1876) was developed in neighboring Indiana. I planted two Wilder bushes last spring (bare root stock from the ubiquitous Trees of Antiquity) and this year they are loaded with inflorescences. I'll definitely be adding more Wilder bushes. Red currant/strawberry jam is one of my favorites and not widely available in the U.S. except as a European import.

The weed suppressant cover crop you see is New Zealand White Clover from GrowOrganic.com; ultimately, most of it will be taken out and replaced with Alpine Strawberries and a few other goodies as yet to be determined.

Heirloom Apple Selections

2010-04-08T15:22:00.004-05:00

Ordering certified organic heirloom apple trees at the last minute helped to narrow down my choices; about half of the 150+ varieties were sold out. Of the 73 types remaining, it was relatively simple to identify the contenders by zone, purposes that the apples were developed for (I don't plan to press any cider) and flavor. I also selected with some historic and geographic bias.

I selected four varieties for my apple tree circle that span from early to very late bearing in the fruiting season, insuring a steady supply of apples. They are as follows:

Snow Apple (Fameuse, Red American, Royal Snow) - Early

Firmly dated to Canada from 1824 and reported to have been brought to North America by French settlers in the 1700s. A high quality dessert apple with tender white flesh not deemed to be desirable for fine cooking. Keeps well.

Alexander (Grand Alexander, Emperor Alexander, Kaiser Alexander) - Midseason

Many Russian varieties were brought to the U.S. in the early 1800s in an effort to identify cold hardy varieties suitable for commercial production. This variety was brought to England in 1817 but its actual age and origin are unclear. It features a firm, coarse, crisp flesh. Once popular in the South. Does not keep well.

Ramsdell Sweet (Ramsdell's Late Pumpkin Sweet, English Sweet, Hurlbut) - Late

This dessert apple was developed by Reverend H.S. Ramsdell of Thompson, Connecticut in 1838. It features a fine, high quality flesh and generous size. Becomes mealy when overripe.

Lady (Christmas Apple, Api) - Very Late

This aromatic, citrus flavored French apple dates to back to 1600. The Pomme d'Api was reportedly grown in the orchard of King Louis XIII and often used as a Christmas decoration and stocking stuffer. Good out of hand apple.

All of the trees I ordered are semidwarf. Trees of Antiquity grafts its semidwarf trees on MM-111 rootstock, a fairly disease resistant, sturdy stock that allows trees to grow to approximately 75% of conventional size and, by one report, supports fairly heavy fruiting - up to 60 lbs. or so per tree each year. The only downside is that it takes from 3 to 6 years for trees on this stock to begin bearing.

My only home orchard book to date is Stella Otto's The Backyard Orchardist. If anyone has any additional books to recommend, I'd love to hear from you. I'm learning as I go when it comes to the home orchard.

Varietal Information from Trees of Antiquity and Big Horse Creek Farm

The OK Circus

2010-04-06T19:07:00.006-05:00

All of the utility lines were marked this morning as required by law, which made it possible for me to begin work in the front yard. The utility lines were marked in red, yellow and orange paint and flags. I ended up using two colors of marking paint, hot pink for my initial plan and white for the final modified berm and path contours. The lawn looked rather festive today.

I like to think that if I could, I'd use composted fairy dust and Himalayan yak dung in my garden but no, I use bags of topsoil from Menard's. It's labeled as a product of Indiana. We brought home 20 forty pound bags to cover an approximately 25 foot long swath across the front yard; about 7 more bags are needed to build up a few thin spots. I did the pushing, loading and most of the unloading of our 800 lbs. of soil and got a pretty good workout in the process.

Next, I put the newspaper down in overlapping sections with the folds facing outward and wet it down with the sprinkler wand.

Here's the nearly finished product. I sprayed down the soil to prevent it from blowing around. This bed will be seeded with Midwest native wildflowers shortly and one or more bushes will be planted at the far end near the spruce tree. Tonight I'll order the apple trees and tomorrow I'll begin digging in the paths and creating the berms with the soil I've dug up. Satisfying!

A Special Thank You goes out to my Two Wonderful Assistants Today!
Thanks for your moral and practical support.

The Challenge and The Apple Tree Guild

2010-04-06T12:38:00.005-05:00

April is upon us and I'm chomping at the bit to finish the outdoor infrastructure end of things here at the homestead.

Here's a glance at what the challenge in the front yard consists of. Last year, I worked on the north side of the yard - this year, I hope to complete the south side. (What I don't have a picture of is what my front door looked like before I took the gruesome powder coated aluminum screen door off last week. I'm in the process of revamping the entryway.)

This is where the wildflower bed, apple berm, herbal lawn and so forth will go. The existing dirt pile will be fashioned into a respectable looking berm where I'll put more currant bushes and some wild greens - mainly chicory (Cichorium intybus) and borage (Borago officinalis). There will be two berms, one for an apple tree ring and one for a fruit bearing tree or shrub yet to be determined. The soil acidity under the spruce tree makes that a good place to plant some blueberry bushes. I'm currently puzzling over the 73 varieties of heirloom apples left in stock at Trees of Antiquity (a few of which date back to the 1600s); the last shipping date is coming up quickly.

In a previous post, I mentioned Toby Hemenway's Apple Tree Guild from the second edition of his book, Gaia's Garden (see pp. 186-191). I'll spell that out a bit further here.

At the center of the guild, unsurprisingly, is the apple tree. Grass-suppressing bulbs are placed at the base of the tree. Flowers such as daffodils may be used or edible bulbs such as camas or garlic chives. Planting daffodils near edible bulbs is unwise, however, as the two may be easily confused.

The next ring of plants consists of so-called insectary plants that attract pollinators. Hemenway mentions dill, fennel, bee balm, salvias, butterfly bush and fuchsias. Insectivorous birds will recognize this as the habitat of their favorite food insects and will clean the tree of any insects attempting to make a home in it.

Next are the mulch plants such as comfrey, rhubarb, clovers and nasturtiums, which may be cut and left in place to mulch the area. Comfrey is particularly attractive in this capacity as it may be cut down 4-5 times in a season.

Next out are the nutrient accumulators: yarrow, chicory, plaintain, and, if you live in the city and want to drive your neighbors crazy, dandelions.

Nitro fixers are the next ring of plants. Perennial leguminous plants such as clover, alfalfa and lupine are favored but fava beans, cowpeas or any type of cultivated bean would work well, too.

Hemenway also mentions adding stones, logs or brush near the guild to attract lizards, frogs, toads snakes and birds, which help to control non-pollinating and potentially harmful insects.

And last but not least...

This area will be transformed into a vegetable garden. The white fence will be removed and the veggie patch will run all the way back to the first apple tree there on the left, about 39 feet from the front of the house. I previously mentioned using the Square Foot method for this space but I decided that I'd like to see this generous south facing area dressed in more naturalistic wide rows.

Even though it means getting a much later start this season, I'm planning to lay this area out in wide rows with gravel paths between them. The whole area will be surrounded with 4' welded wire fencing backed with poultry netting to keep the wild rabbits out. There will be plenty of forage and cover for them and the other wild creatures in the front yard and in the rest of the back yard.

The textural stuff growing in the foreground is the dreaded invasive Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia spp.). It's said that a tea may be made from its leaves and flowers.

The heart of what I am trying to do with this little piece of land is to create a space that nourishes and sustains the people, domestic animals and wildlife who live here not only in the sense of physical needs but in emotional and spiritual ones as well. Creating a biologically rich and beautiful haven in the midst of so much lawn and paving is important to my well being and is part of a dream that I have had for many years - a dream that is now being realized!

Homegrown Easter Eggs

2010-04-06T11:29:00.002-05:00

This is a few days late for Pascha/Easter but here are some of our homegrown pointy green eggs and golf ball-sized white eggs photographed next to a jumbo brown store bought egg.

There are two chicken breeds that lay blue/green eggs, South American Araucanas and a North American breed called Ameraucanas. Mixed breed green egg laying chickens are commonly referred to as Easter Eggers. We currently have one Easter Egger named Bluebell who gives us the pointy green jobbies. Thank you, Bluebell! Our Dutch bantams lay the little white ones.

Raw Milk Makes the Rounds

2010-04-06T10:05:00.003-05:00

Some while back, I signed up for a membership in a Private Club that provides access to raw cow and goat milk. Raw milk is only available through membership in private clubs since selling raw milk to the public is still, believe it or not, a federal crime. (Our sanitation has improved considerably in the last 80 years or so since the federal raw milk prohibition, don't you think?) What I discovered is that the flavor of raw milk is unbelievably wholesome. Drinking processed milk after having experienced fresh raw pasture-raised milk is like drinking Kool-Aid after having had a fresh tropical fruit smoothie. That wonderful flavor is entirely apart from the many health benefits of raw milk.

Unfortunately, I also discovered that raw cow milk is just as indigestible to me as processed cow milk; that doesn't stop me from enjoying it in the forms of homemade kefir and yogurt, though, which are easy to make once you have the starter culture for each (a friend of mine got a kefir culture going using raw honey in her raw milk - thus making her house the land of milk and honey).

Dairy is priced so low on the open market that many family dairies are being forced to leave the business. Buying fresh local dairy gives farmers a good price and private club members all of the health benefits nature intended for those drinking fresh raw milk. It also gives club members the ability to know the farmers that are responsible for the milk and in many cases to visit the farms directly and to see firsthand the operations that are producing their dairy. To me, this is something that every American consumer should have the right to do.

Here's a little documentary on raw milk cheesemaking courtesy of Michael Gebert and a local NPR program.

Sky Full of Bacon Short: Making Illegal Cheese from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Weedless Gardening Advice from Lee Reich

2010-04-06T01:20:00.002-05:00

Lee Reich's name seems to be everywhere - landscaping with fruit, pruning, gardening weedlessly - and so it's nice to find some free advice from this highly accomplished and well regarded gardener and author in an old article on the Mother Earth News website. Reich's article neatly summarizes his weedless gardening method. Read it here.

Bee Wisdom

2010-04-06T00:03:00.007-05:00

A short, beautiful and inspiring interview with Sonoma, CA beekeeper Serge Labesque.

A few beekeeping resources area available in the Vintage Reference and Resources sections on the right.

Square Foot Humble Pie

2010-04-04T20:45:00.006-05:00

Mel Bartholomew seems like a great guy and to novices and people with limited space, his Square Foot Gardening method is like manna from heaven, I reasoned. I was knee deep in soil deliveries and tree shipments and had The Permaculture Designer's Manual tucked under my arm. I browsed urban homesteading blogs and sighed at the expanses of lawn with 4'x4' raised beds tucked discreetly in corners near suburban back doors. "Well, it's a start, anyway."

A bona fide nature girl, at the tender age of four I'd stuffed earthworms into my jeans pockets as I watched my mother weeding, hoping to play with my terrestrial friends later (my mother found them dried and flattened in my pockets when she did the laundry). As an adult, french biointensive method, potager and plant guilds were really where my mind wandered when it came to food gardening. Mind you, I hadn't had the opportunity to actually do much gardening as an adult until I purchased my home in Will County - but that didn't stop me from having strong opinions on the subject! Embarrassing, yes. Which brings me to this moment, when a copy of Square Foot Gardening is sitting on my desk and I have every intention of applying the method to my new cinder block raised beds.

Why the change? Simple! I have so many projects happening in the yard and with the house that there is simply no more room in my brain. I want to grow food this year and I don't want to have to put any thought into it. I want it automatic, baby! Potager can wait for a year when I don't have eleventy five projects on my household list as well as significant academic and professional demands on my time. No pie in the sky deep ecology dogma here - I need simplicity. So thank you, Mel Bartholomew, for teaching me humility.

Lawn Replacement Ideas

2010-04-03T23:14:00.002-05:00

Last year, I eliminated 50% of the lawn in the front yard and 80% of the lawn in my back yard. This year, I'll be completing the process. Eventually, the parkway too will be planted so that I have nothing to mow. Here's what I'm doing.

First, I'll lay down a thick layer of newspaper along the edge of the front sidewalk, cover it with 4"-6" of topsoil and plant Regional Midwest Native Wildflower Mix from Peaceful Valley.

Next, I'll dig out a path just inside of the wildflower bed and install pea gravel. I'll use the soil I've dug up to create an oval berm planted with the Apple Tree Guild suggested by Toby Hemenway in the 2nd Edition of Gaia's Garden (see page 189 or thereabouts). I'll be putting in a cluster of 5 semi-dwarf apple tree varieties which fruit at different times. I'm considering the New England Classics Bundle from Trees of Antiquity, although there are also contenders at Raintree Nursery and Edible Landscaping.

The wildflower bed will run up to the shade of a spruce tree in the southeast corner of the yard. I'll install a seating area planted with Herbal Lawn Mix. Herbal Lawn Mix will handle the light foot traffic from mail carriers and meter readers who all seem to cut across this section of the yard.

Another option would be to install low growing clovers (Peaceful Valley has a jaw-dropping array of cover crops both leguminous and non-leguminous) as I did on the berms on the north side of the yard. There is, however, a caveat attached. Planting more than 40% of an area in clovers or legumes will result in an excess of nitrogen which will begin to cause problems for other plants. I'll be tearing out some clover this year and reseeding with the Regional mix combined with clover. Incidentally, the New Zealand White Clover (available by the pound or in packets) I planted last year was green and thriving 2 weeks before the bushes and trees budded this spring. It's hardy heat and cold resistant stuff and stays under 8" or so. In my Zone 5A yard, it's 5"-6" tall.

The remaining south facing lawn area, which is flat and runs along the side of my house, will be occupied by cinder block raised vegetable beds with a pea gravel path running between them into the back yard, where more cinder block beds will also be installed. The reason I'll use cement blocks rather than boards for the raised beds is that termites are a serious problem in my area. I mulch with straw rather than wood chips and look for alternatives to wood structures in the yard wherever possible.

Digression!
For the sake of novelty for those who have never seen what termites can do, here's a quick look. When I moved into my house two summers ago, I discovered that they had eaten 70% of the huge beam holding up the entire house. It looked like this (see photo). When I poked the beam, it crumbled away and my finger could penetrate an inch or so into it. Termites are not to be taken lightly!

End of Digression!

To make watering the raised vegetable beds and the baby apple trees a simpler task, I'll be installing a "yard hydrant" similar to this one with a wide shallow bowl under the faucet for wild birds and beasts.

So, to recap: wildflower beds, herbal lawns and cover crops, pathways, berms with bushes and trees, berms with herbs...many options for lawn replacement! Gaia's Garden is a great resource book from many standpoints - bed design is one of them.

Best wishes with your own lawn removal projects this year! I'll post pictures later in the season.

The "S" Word

2010-03-08T12:49:00.012-06:00

I've been sidelined in bed with a cold this week and I've been thinking about the "s word" - sustainability. Though I don't claim to be any kind of pioneer, some twenty years ago in college in Seattle, I refused to learn to drive a car due to the pollutive nature of fossil fuels. Eventually, however, I came to grips with the fact that driving was more conducive to an active social life. Unflattering though it may be, convenience is really the bottom line for most of us when it comes to making lifestyle choices in favor of sustainability.

While it's true that the popularization of "green living" has led to a watered down notion of it, many real and good changes have come about as a result of its popularity. One of those changes has been the validation of a feeling that many people have had for some time, a feeling that modern industrialized culture isn't actually in the best interests of human health and personal satisfaction. Which brings me to the second "s" word: satisfaction.

While we may have different opinions about climate change, environmentalism or sustainability, finding satisfaction in simple lifestyle changes is something with which most people can relate. Planting a vegetable garden and eating its produce, installing a butterfly garden, cutting back on pesticides and herbicides for the health of children and pets - these are basic actions that most people can relate with on some level and in which they can find satisfaction. These are the kinds of changes that we can encourage without risking ideological clashes.

The "urban farming"/"urban homesteading" movement is gaining momentum and in the face of bioengineered food crops, NAIS, the rising epidemic of autoimmune illnesses and economic uncertainty, it is likely to continue to grow exponentially. What we are seeing as a result of this is the normalization of activities that used to be seen in many communities as outlandish and aesthetically awkward. Some of us have been early adopters, others of us have landed on the broader part of the curve and many have yet to join our ranks. Whether our motivations are sustainability or simply greater satisfaction with our ways of living, we're contributing toward a shift in practices, and to a degree in consciousness, toward the good of the environment that we all inhabit.

Today, while I drive quite a bit, I'm the lady with the odd looking permacultural landscaping - and some of the neighbors in my conservative midwestern community, where lawns, boxwood hedges and petunias are the height of respectable landscaping, are scandalized. Others are curious. A few are supportive. Change is happening here too, however. The first community garden in the city is being established this year and the library is sponsoring a second annual "green living" festival. The local neighborhood historic preservation association included Urban Worm Girl in its list of exhibitors last year and is selling rain barrels. An urban organic gardening group is percolating. Good things are happening. We're catching the spirit and it's spreading.

Another "s" word: sleep. With all of that digging, mulching and wholesome eating, I suspect some of us will soon be sleeping more soundly at night. That's an industrial byproduct I can live with very easily.

Gearing Up

2010-02-22T01:08:00.005-06:00

The end of February looms and the ground is still garbed in a healthy layer of snow. It's a good thing the stack of seed and nursery catalogs is growing and along with it, my plans for this year's growing season.

I've modified my design for the other half of the front yard to include a cluster of apple trees, an herbal lawn, midwestern wildflowers, a berm with currants, 2 5'x10' raised vegetable beds, a currant hedge, gravel path and dwarf plum tree. I'm also going to put in two filbert trees next to the bird feeders, since the neighbors cut down their bushes and the birds disappeared immediately afterward.

I still have to finish the northeast corner of the property, completing the gravel path, installing two arbors, planting the berms with native medicinals and planting a dry bed under the eaves with drought tolerant edible natives.

I'm still working out what else to do in the back yard. Most of my plans there are on hold until I can afford to have the 8' wide cistern from the 1880s excavated, recovered and fitted with a new pump. The dwarf fruit trees I put in the back yard last spring appear to have survived through the winter pretty well but I won't know for certain until it's time for buds to appear.

When I look back at the YouTube videos I posted last spring, it's amazing to me how much progress I made in the yard last season. I hope this year will prove to be equally productive.

Urban Farming in Oakland

2009-12-31T17:59:00.004-06:00

Meet Novella Carpenter, author, blogger, urban farmer and sister of Riana LaGarde, one of my favorite food bloggers.

Grey Water "Duh" Moment

2009-11-22T18:19:00.004-06:00

When I had my bathroom redone earlier this year to correct some structural and health issues, I lamented that I didn't have a greywater system for my bathtub and sink drains installed. Carrying water in buckets from the bathroom seemed like a fast track to ruining the wood floors and/or causing slips, falls and a potential for mold issues in the house. It only took me seven months (!) to realize that I can use my bathwater to flush the toilet. I now have signage over the commode to remind me of this and a 2 gallon bucket in place ready and waiting. Now I have to wonder what other obvious conservation measures I've overlooked. I give myself props, however, for not using a clothes dryer - I have eight clotheslines in the basement where there is steady all-season cross ventilation. Surprisingly, laundry dries reasonably fast even through the coldest months.

Pleasant Pheasant

2009-11-19T23:04:00.008-06:00

The idea of wild and free range sourced meats has been tantalizing me through much of the year and while I do have access to grass-fed meats and raw dairy through our local farm co-op, until now I have never explored game meats.

Today, with Thanksgiving looming in my mind, I had occasion to stop by Czimer's in Homer Glen, where I picked up two pheasants, some venison sausage, a couple of venison steaks and a game meat cookbook (see the book list in the sidebar). The pheasants, I will say, were expensive and I know that these were farmed pheasants, most likely raised on Purina Game Bird Chow (the same stuff we used to feed our Coturnix Quail earlier this year). I can't say that this is much of an improvement on any of the meats one would find at the grocery store. From what the fellow at the counter said, the source of the venison was also a farm where the quality of the feed and the quality of life of the animals is an open question. Am I sorry that I purchased the meat? No. I'm grateful to have a resource nearby that sells meat from goats, camels, deer, pheasant, duck, goose, quail, cornish hen, elk, bison, rattlesnake, etc. What a great opportunity to try new meats! The customer service was fantastic, it's been a family business since 1914 and they had a great variety of health foods and interesting objects for sale, as well. I feel comfortable supporting their business.

That said, however, I feel a certain push to find a place to ethically raise game birds, poultry and small animals without fear of legal repercussions (raising animals for slaughter is a no-no within city limits - as is slaughtering them). I'd like to know that they've had good lives and I'd like to take personal responsibility for the reality that meat comes from the slaughter and butchering of animals. While our quail had the most beautifully gentle (if utterly witless) countenances and it pained me to think of butchering them, the reality is that if I had access to a mentor in the whole business, those quail would have been dressed and turned into a nice stew (I rehomed them when they stopped laying eggs).

Tobacco Row

2009-11-19T21:48:00.007-06:00

Dunhill, the British tobacco purveyor, once wrote something to the effect that tobacco is something to be enjoyed in a civilized fashion rather than hurriedly puffed as a symptom of modern anxiety. After all, smoking has merited its very own article of clothing, the smoking jacket, dedicated entirely to the slow enjoyment of tobacco. Like wine and spirits, tobacco in its myriad cures and flavors is something to be lingered over.

Let it be known that while I do not condone addiction in any form, I do enjoy the odd smoke at the patio table in the garden in weather both seasonable and unseasonable. For this reason, along with the fact that commercially produced tobacco products (particularly cigarettes) are notoriously infused with carcinogenic and addiction-promoting additives and are indecently taxed to boot, I have recently begun to ponder the practicality of growing a few tobacco plants here at home.

I have been delighted to find a source for heirloom tobacco seeds in nearby Tennessee. A family with a heritage in tobacco farming found a new niche for itself in the rapidly expanding heirloom and open pollinated market - and with tobacco seed and starter plants, in particular, of which they have over 50 varieties. I am led to believe by various online sources that curing tobacco is a tedious process for which one must build a special box or have a Native American dwelling of some sort to maintain the perfect temperature and humidity. My reasoning, however, is that anything that has been practiced by human beings for more than a few hundred years must be reasonably simple and not too difficult to learn. I'm going to dig more deeply into the issue of drying and curing tobacco and will plan to purchase seeds for next year's garden.

Affirming the Foundation

2009-11-07T10:42:00.005-06:00

As the year draws nearer to its conclusion and the task list for next season seems to get longer and longer, I thought I would bring my focus back to the foundation of all of my undertakings here at the homestead. Here are the guiding principles in what I'm aiming for:

1. Beauty
The gardens are meant to exist as a place of visual and spiritual rest as well as a symbol of abundance.

2. Sustenance
The gardens are meant to provide food and medicine through the seasons in a rhythmic, orderly, and natural fashion.

3. Sharing
The gardens are meant to serve as a point of observation and a source of inspiration for others. Additionally, the physical bounty from the gardens is meant to be shared in the form of food, medicine and cut flowers.

4. Sustainability
The gardens are meant to sustain themselves to a great extent through the use of permacultural principles such as plant guilds, rainwater harvest and soil contouring. Minimal weeding and watering will be necessary.

When I drive through local neighborhoods, I often envision how different life would be for us if instead of filling our front yards with lawns, hedges and ornamental annuals, we chose to use them for food, medicine, beauty and for building stronger family and community relationships, a natural result of spending time in the garden together.

I know that my little efforts in the garden seem strange or awkward to my neighbors during these initial stages. By the end of the third season in the garden, however, I hope that the principles I've mentioned will be expressed in such a way as to be apparent to even the observer who flies past in his or her car.

Back Yard Chickens Make the Local News

2009-10-29T14:35:00.002-05:00

Run Until the Freeze

2009-10-07T13:11:00.005-05:00

Sunlight is filtering through the apple trees and the lace curtains as I sit here in my "think tank" - an improvised office on an enamel topped table in the covered porch turned pantry on the back of the house. I like this room as it's small and wedged between the kitchen and the door to the back garden - two places where I enjoy spending time. Autumn has arrived with aplomb this year and the chill reminds me that I don't have long before the first freeze arrives.

Our rabbit Rose's litter of kits are approaching full grown and need to find new homes, the chickens need winter housing, the paths in the front yard need finishing and meanwhile I'll be resuming full time classes soon, which will mean long commutes to and from Chicago. Thankfully, I live near the train station, so that time riding to and fro can be spent reading and napping instead of sitting helplessly on the interstate.

This first year at the homestead has been transformational not only for the yard but for me personally. I'd like to think that pulling junk plants from the yard, reshaping soil contours and installing walkways are also metaphors for what's been happening in my own life. Certainly this time has been good for self examination. I've been pursuing old interests made new again and considering the qualities of my relationships with others. These activities, while not always completely pleasant, have been very rewarding.

The chill from outside is creeping through the uninsulated walls of my think tank, reminding me how precious time is not just through the brief autumn season but on this day in particular. Off I go.

Seattle Morning

2009-09-22T09:28:00.003-05:00

It's perfectly overcast and about 55 degrees outside - a Seattle morning in the Midwestern prairie lands. I'm enjoying the hum of insects and thinking about a large cup of hot coffee and a very unSeattleish breakfast of home cut donuts from the amazing 24-hour donut shop a few blocks away (who knew "wholesome" and "donuts" could be legitimately conjoined?). Aromatic rotting apples cover the ground under the apple trees in the side yard, the chickens are subdued in the chilly morning air and one block over, the garbage truck is making its way down the street. The weather is an invitation to introspection as the hush of the clouds holds every sound close.

Bad Grass

2009-09-19T18:26:00.003-05:00

Sure, you've seen him down on the corner - soaking up fertilizer, chewing on herbicides, drinking water like there's no tomorrow. Yeah, that's right - the lawn. Good thing some people in high places are talking about Lawn Reform.

A Good Day

2009-09-18T16:44:00.006-05:00

Huzzah. Tomorrow I'll fill in the patio area, pick up some native black currant bushes (Ribes americanum) from the native plant nursery and see how it goes from there.

When Vorpal Blades Go Snicker Snack

2009-09-18T10:28:00.005-05:00

Behold the Jabberwock - all 8,000 pounds of it.

Native Seed Sources

2009-09-17T06:25:00.002-05:00

Here are two that I'm aware of - if you know of any others, I'd be grateful to hear of them.

Horizon Herbs
Native Medicinal Plants of the World

One Garden
Certified Organic and Biodynamic North American Indigenous Seeds

Front Yard Views

2009-09-16T18:02:00.017-05:00

This is a photo from the original real estate listing. The trees and shrubs are sticks in this photo so I suspect this was taken after the first killing frost (fall of 2007?). The house was purchased last August with the same landscaping still in place.

This is the northeast corner of the front yard as of today. It will look much nicer when the pea gravel is installed in the footpaths, the new berms are planted up and the trees and shrubs have matured.

This morning, this space was mounded with fill dirt and bark mulch, wherein were planted a hibiscus, several anemic ornamental shrubs, some hostas and - get this - a tree less than 2' from the house. With all of that fill dirt cleared away, the house foundation can breathe again. A patio table, a trellis with a dry shade-loving vine and connecting footpaths will be installed in this area shortly. The berm in front is hard to see in this photo but it's about 2' tall, 3.5' wide and 10' long.

This is the path curving around the quince berm where the first of the culinary and medicinal herbs were planted this year. The droopy plant in the corner is a large violet I just moved. The potted plants are Lady's Mantle - Alchemilla vulgaris - that my mother brought to me.

This is the same berm from the other side. I've essentially doubled the size of the berm and installed a keyhole path for access in the center. Notice the crazed Lemon Balm overtaking the berm. Want some lemon balm, anyone?

Here's a broad view from the driveway side.

This path is only half dug, extending from the garage to the loop around the quince berm. It intersects with the patio loop and the main path from the driveway to the front walk.

I think I began digging on Friday and I've taken two days off; things are going much faster than I had imagined they would. Once the gravel is delivered (which will make a grand total of 12,000 pounds of gravel used for this year's projects) things will slow down a little. I'm going to spare my wrists this time; I overloaded the buckets when I filled the paths in the back yard and thus learned my lesson the hard way. I'm having particular fun with this project as there is a lot of instant visual feedback for my efforts - no waiting for things to grow in during this phase. The property is now approximately 75% lawn free.

Digging in the Dirt

2009-09-15T03:07:00.009-05:00

Two mornings ago, the cat woke me up at 3:30 by pouncing on my foot. Unable to return to sleep, I wandered outside into the front garden. I gazed into it for some time and (as I tend to do) decided that it was time to seize the bull by the horns. At the more reasonable hour of 5:30, I began digging a one foot deep, two foot wide trench around the main berm, curling around to the main walkway. A second berm began to form. This morning, I incorporated it into the first, creating a keyhole walkway for access between the two masses of earth. I expanded the beds on the path's exterior sides, making room for more native prairie plants. I heaped the new berm extension higher, some 2 1/2 feet above the surface of the yard. Last evening, I began digging the access pathway running between the house and the currant/pawpaw berm extending along the driveway.

Once these paths are filled with gravel, I'll dig in the main walkway between the driveway and front steps. Basing my calculations on my last project in the back yard, it appears that I'll need four tons - yes, eight thousand pounds - of pea gravel to fill in these fairly modest pathways. The water they capture will feed the berms and the dense foliage on the berms will also help to hold water in the soil, creating a slightly cooler, more humid microclimate in the northeast corner f the front yard.

The neighbors, of course, have absolutely no context for what I'm doing and many of them are probably displeased with the state of chaos. I haven't put much energy into the front yard this year beyond getting the trees and shrubs and initial berms in. I didn't even bother pulling out the last of the "Big Box" plantings the seller left behind as I knew that I'd have bigger fish to fry - why style a bad haircut when you'll only shave it all off later?

(Photos Coming Soon)

Garden Day

2009-08-29T19:18:00.009-05:00

I've been so preoccupied with other projects lately (setting up programs and the new classroom to host them in, mainly) that the garden has gone untended for a little while. Today, I gathered in the pumpkins and pulled up the vines, threw two enormous armloads of green stuff on the compost pile, emptied the 140 gallon stock tank we had been using as a duck pond and generally went to town in the yard.

While I was enjoying the outdoors, my two favorite bandits, Oscar and Buck (pug and domestic shorthair, respectively) tore into a bag of garbage and then broke into the massage clinic. When I walked into the house, they both came running out of the clinic with giant smirks on their faces. I wasn't pleased about the garbage but I have to confess that I enjoy their little collusions from time to time - it's fun to see dog and cat enjoying mischief together.

After looking at the yard for a long time today as I often do, I've finally figured out how to use the narrow shaded space on the south side of the house. Once we've had the heavy equipment in to excavate and re-cover the 8' wide cistern, I'm planning to put in an outdoor sink (linked to an outdoor faucet), an outdoor bathtub and a picnic table. The outdoor bathtub will double as a giant ice bucket for gatherings and the greywater from both the sink and the tub can drain directly into the potager, which will be slightly downhill from them on the other side of a future privacy fence and gate. The mushroom bed, birdfeeders and large dog house (which will in the future house Muscovy ducks - sigh) will all remain under the apple trees.

Now that I have THAT figured out and the potager plan is making me itch to get going - I'm probably going to have to wait. And wait. And wait. Because the cistern restoration is going to cost mucho dinero and is hinging on the sale of another property - which, in this market, means that it may be a while. I'm thinking I may as well plan to put the beds in this fall and plant them next season, as it may be a year before the other property sells.

I have the feeling that I'm repeating myself - although to be honest, I think about the same household projects so often in my head, I have no idea if I've committed them to the blog or not.

Time to mine Craigslist for gold (a.k.a. outdoor sinks). :)

Poor Jim

2009-08-28T14:07:00.003-05:00

When we took Dab Dab to the feed store, I knew already that Jim would face a greater likelihood of predation. Every day and night since being alone, Jim desperately wanted to come stay in the garage where he felt safe and was no longer allowed (as the garage is now a classroom and ducks are very messy). At night, it took ten or more minutes to chase him around the yard and finally catch him in order to put him in the large dog carrier we'd placed outside for him. Last night, sick of playing "catch the duck" at sundown, I gave up early and went inside without putting him in his carrier. Around eleven, I heard animal sounds under my window which is on the other side of the house from the garden where the birds are. I was vaguely bothered by these sounds but too tired to think of why that might be. I found out today when I saw poor Jim's remains under the apple trees. He and Dab Dab should never have been parted to begin with and now his fate and Jim's weigh heavy on my conscience. These wonderful, lovable, stupid, noisy inseparable ducks were our friends and now they are gone, one in a horrible manner.

My eyes are full of tears for Jim and for my daughter, who is devastated.

Eggstravaganza

2009-08-16T01:20:00.003-05:00

We currently have about six dozen small blue eggs in the refrigerator. I'm thinking it's time for an Egg Festival in the kitchen. Here are some egg heavy recipes I'm thinking of preparing - perhaps you have a suggestion.

- Quiche
- Fritatas
- Omelettes
- Deviled Eggs
- Egg Salad
- French Vanilla Ice Cream
- Blancmange
- Custard
- Meringue Cookies
- Meringue Pies

Our Late Great Pumpkin Patch

2009-08-15T12:00:00.002-05:00

The front yard pumpkin patch was a smashing success this year and as the plants die back and the last of the pumpkins ripen on the vines, I reflect on how bare the front yard will look when the pumpkin and squash plants have been cleared away. I have some Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris) brought to me from Ohio to plant in the berm where the herbs live and the same dinky single quince is still on the tree, not really developing. In the prairie plant beds along the front walk, the Cup Plants (Silphium perfoliatum) have marvelous 7' tall stalks now with clusters of happy yellow flowers and the last of the native Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) is blooming. Our lot may be tiny but it's teeming with life and possibility. Next year, I'm hoping the prairie garden will be finished, the potager installed and, if I'm really fortunate, the native rain garden. For now, it's time to deal with the cucurbits and design a good stout house for the chickens that will keep them safe through the winter.

Duck in a Wash Tub, Ten Cents

2009-08-14T23:57:00.013-05:00

After a series of communications with an advertiser on Craigslist, we recently spent the afternoon chasing chickens through a pasture filled with a huge and motley assortment of poultry. Our prize? Four pretty hatchery Dutch and a blue Silkie. Yesterday, we found ourselves careening up I-55 with five 'lorps in a dog crate, three Easter Eggers in a wire cage and a duck in a wash tub. Amazingly, the feed store said we could bring them all and so we did. This was actually a sad experience but we felt it was for the best. We hatched the 'lorps, we love our Easter Eggers and we knew the breakup would be hard on ducks Dab Dab and Jim. Nevertheless we are entering a new phase in our chicken keeping - a phase of serving as chicken ambassadors to local organic gardeners. The niceness or not-so-niceness of our coop and our poultry, along with the decibel level, will impress people one way or another and if we are to have any hope of overturning the local chicken ban, we need allies and lots of them. (I have to confess - I'm hoping others will join my little rebellion - this is pure wickedness.)

Dutch breed chickens were brought back in merchant ships from Southeast Asia during the 17th century. At that time, peasants were obliged to give their large eggs to the landlords. The smaller eggs of the Dutch bantam were kept by the tenants. Dutch are one of only a very few breeds that are strictly bantam and do not appear as standard sized birds. Known for their tiny stature, docility, elegant posture, 20 different color variations and ability to bond to humans, they continue to be popular in the Netherlands as well as in the United Kingdom. In the United States, hatcheries have crossed them with Old English Game Birds. Proper Dutch bantams are best obtained from specialty breeders. (Ours are hatchery stock and no - these are not my photos.)

Silkies are fancy fellows with feathered feet and fluffy faces. They are frequently kept by chicken outlaws because they do not resemble chickens (one jokester posts on an internet chicken discussion board, "When people ask me what they are, I say they're Asian ground parrots.")

"I'm a chicken, I tell you! I AM! I AM!"

And so, with only our dear Henrietta and Bluebell left of the original flock, plus Jim the duck, we embark on a new phase in chicken keeping - an outdoor coop, a public outreach and fewer eggs. We wish the best for the friends no longer with us.

Chickens on the Brain

2009-08-13T02:19:00.009-05:00

The outdoor coop plan has undergone several significant revisions over the past week. I had originally intended to build an A-frame style combined coop and run. For those who aren't aware (as I wasn't), the coop is the house in which they're "cooped up" and the run is where they - yes - run. There were several things that I hadn't considered, however. The first was that the floor would become wet and muddy and that any straw put on the dirt floor would probably become mushy and moldy. The food, too, would get wet and mold. Clearly, this wouldn't do.

I then considered a layer of plywood on the inside and a layer of lattice on the outside on the three sides visible to the neighbors. This wasn't a bad idea, really, but I'm not clever enough with carpentry to figure out how to construct a little house to fit into one corner of a 4 x 4 x 8 A-frame. There was also the concern that they wouldn't get enough sunlight. I then considered a sort of gazebo-like structure, again with the plywood and lattice but of a more regular vertical style, 6' tall to allow easy access and so on. This, however, would stand out too much (as if the free roaming ducks don't stand out - oh, well).

With the first event at my as-yet-nonexistent education center scheduled for the 22nd, I decided that this entire question was consuming too much of my mental energy. This excluding the considerable fretting I did over setting up my new compound mitre saw to cut the studs for my A-frame (I am probably the least mechanically/spatially inclined person you will ever meet).

The chickens, I have decided, will be temporarily housed under the old porch, which is brick on two sides and has a rotting subfloor that I will cover for now with heavy plastic so that the chickens don't breathe the mold. For the floor, although the ground stays fairly dry there, I am considering a layer of pea gravel covered with contractor's sand. I'm told this stays nice and dry and is quite easy to clean, although it doesn't yield much in the way of compost (a major detriment).

I'm also considering which direction to go in with our flock. Three of our four Easter Eggers are too loud and cannot stay. As you'll recall, a few months ago we bought some fertile Australorp eggs on Ebay and hatched them. Egg size and production and weather hardiness were major points of concern, which is why I opted for the venerable Australorp. The Australorp chicks are now bigger than our Easter Eggers and are a healthy, energetic lot. The qualm I am having about them, however, their weather hardiness and giant egg laying potential aside, is the fact that they are completely disinterested in humans. They would make admirable barnyard birds, I believe, but for "pet" chickens in the city, I don't think they'll do.

To top the whole situation off, I have outdone myself by inviting an editor from the local paper to the garden alliance meeting in the new education center. She has a "green blog" in the online edition of the paper and recently posted about city chickens. Am I mad? Surely I must be.

I think I'll go make an omelette now.

Environmental Education Stuff

2009-08-09T20:20:00.004-05:00

I've come some distance on my project of establishing an environmental education center. The core programs have been planned, the website is up, class and event dates have been announced and now I'm investigating grants and possible umbrella organizations. When donations allow, I plan to sign the center up with the Environmental Education Association of Illinois . If you're interested in finding an internship, instructor training or general environmental education programs, try looking at the Illinois Environmental Education Database which contains hundreds of listings.

Soil and Health Library Online

2009-08-09T20:17:00.005-05:00

In reading the website for the documentary Food Fight, I circuitously discovered the Soil and Health Library, full of amazing articles for those of us who are interested in tilth, radical agriculture and greater self sufficiency. Enjoy!

Creating an Education Center

2009-07-27T19:27:00.005-05:00

...which is perhaps too grand a name for what will essentially be a classroom in our garage.

After nearly a year, our "barn" has been discovered by the neighbors, who are distinctly unhappy. While it remains unclear exactly what I'll do with respect to our poultry, removing the "dirty" chicken coop from the confines of our garage seems a reasonable step. This will provide a free venue in which to hold organic gardening alliance meetings as well as the upcoming gardening class series I'm currently working on. As the gardens develop and mature, I look forward to holding garden tours and potlucks, as well (hopefully with live music!).

UPDATE: My neighbor turned out not to be unhappy - I misinterpreted his behavior. Whether his non-unhappiness had to do with the eggs I dropped off next door, I cannot say. :)

A Beautiful Vision of Urban Farming

2009-07-10T03:51:00.006-05:00

City dwellers, take note! These folks in New Jersey have a 6000 square foot garden/farm on the roof of a warehouse. Local restaurants are purchasing their produce, which is delivered by bicycle.

Four Months' Progress in the Back Yard

2009-06-25T16:23:00.006-05:00

It's difficult to believe how much the back yard has changed since I took this photo four months ago. Here it is today with projects still very much underway (that mess at the back is a tarp and recycling bins next to the hole where the cistern is). By summer's end, the paths will be finished, the cistern issue resolved and the berm along the back fence tidied up and seeded.

Water Conservation Ponderings

2009-06-25T08:55:00.018-05:00

To calculate the gallons of runoff per annum from your roof:

Take the area of your roof in square feet and multiply it by inches of rain annually. Multiply this number by 623. Divide that amount by 1000, and you have the number of gallons of runoff in a year. Evaporation rates vary from climate to climate and should also be figured in for a more accurate number. (Adapted from this explanation. If I've somehow made an error, please let me know.)

I don't know the square footage of my roof but I will use the given example of 2000 square feet. The average annual precipitation in my zip code is 36.9", thus:

(2000 x 36.9 x 623 ) /1000 = 2 x 36.9 x 623 = 45,977.4 gallons of runoff per annum

There are about 20 houses on my block, totaling roughly 920,000 gallons of runoff each year from my block alone. If each house conserved 10% of its runoff for nonpotable use, this would add up to a considerable reduction in the amount of runoff straining the municipal water infrastructure. Strangely, however, the city seems to frown upon the use of cisterns. My particular house, like many houses here which were built in the 1920s, originally had a cistern in the basement. The water was piped down from the downspouts and held in a corner of the basement by a 4' high retaining wall. The top of the cistern was left open to keep the water in contact with air in order to avoid buildup of anaerobic bacteria and the water was used for laundry, dishwashing and so forth (nonpotable use). Over the years, this system fell out of favor (I have yet to find out why) and today very few of these cisterns remain intact. In my house, the retaining wall was broken out, the plumbing plastered over on the inside and dismantled on the outside.

Rain barrels have become an increasingly common water conservation measure and many cities are encouraging their use, however the low capacity of these barrels in comparison with the older systems of basement, in-ground and above ground cisterns makes them more of a fashion statement than a significant conservation pathway. It may be said, however, that they are a baby step of sorts. Soil contouring and rain gardens are other ways to harvest rainwater from the rooftop without the use of a collection vessel. These together with reducing or eliminating the conventional lawn (or replacing it with a low growing ground cover with a permeable root system - check out the options at GrowOrganic.com) are other measures that can insure that more rainfall makes it back into the groundwater supply rather than rushing down to the street and into the storm sewer.

The insanity of our current water system, in a nutshell, is that we pay the city to take away the rainfall and then buy it back from them (I first heard this idea presented by landscape architect Marcus De La Fleur in his public radio interview). Only a tiny portion of the water we pay for is used for human consumption and today many people are opting to purchase bottled filtered water from elsewhere instead of drinking local tap water. This means that many millions of dollars are being spent to collect, treat and distribute rainfall, local waterways and ecological communities are being adversely impacted and we are paying for water that to some extent could simply be collected and used at home.

There are other issues connected with this idea, such as the heavy metals and other toxins present in many modern roofing materials (which are usually not mentioned in rain barrel literature) as well as issues relating to riparian rights. In many areas, it is illegal to collect runoff from the roof because the city, township, county or state contracts with another city, township, county or state for water delivery (Colorado is one example).

While it looks like a long shot, I am nevertheless hoping that the 1880s cistern in my yard, which has a 4503 gallon capacity, can be put back into use (volume in cubic feet x 7.47 = capacity in gallons). Starting from scratch, one could install a cast concrete in-ground cistern, metal above-ground cistern or use a large food grade plastic tank (not for potable use but for the sake of minimizing pollutants) as some have opted to do. Food grade plastic tanks can be obtained used or new through industrial sources. Many of these already have spigots installed. This is the least expensive option, as then the main costs are installing plumbing and a stable platform to hold the tank. A large capacity cistern, however, remains the most efficient means of collecting rainwater for nonpotable use.

Exponential Growth

2009-06-17T10:58:00.006-05:00

It's June and in theory I should have a huge veggie patch gently fluttering and rustling in the breeze. This is Year One, however - the year when I move earth, plant trees and shrubs and discover how best to manage water.

My original plans for the property were not far off from what I currently envision, based on further site observation and goal revisions. My plans now include the placement of a 500 square foot potager on the southeast corner of the house and a modified design for the northeastern corner.

By next summer, the gardens will consist of:

~ Native Illinois Prairie Plants on the Parkway (60' x 5')
~ A Midwest Native Wildflower Border on Two Sides of the Front Yard (2' x approx. 100')
~ A Culinary & Medicinal Herb Garden on the Northeast Corner (with some exposure from the south and west) with Fruit Trees & Some Berry Bushes (approx. 200 sq. ft.)
~ A 500 sq. ft. Potager on the Southeast Corner of the House with Custom Trellises
~ A Mini Orchard with Berry Bushes Featuring Native and Non-Native Perennial Vegetables on the Southwest Corner and Western Side of the Property
~ In the Sunroom: Meyer Lemon, Kaffir Lime, Key Lime, Bay Laurel and Coffee Plants

Vermicomposting will take place in the basement where the temperature is stable year round and a potting/plant starting area will be established. I'll be getting a lot of seed for medicinals from Horizon Herbs and most of my vegetable seed and tuber starts from Baker Creek, Sandhill Preservation Center and Seed Savers Exchange. Cover crop seed comes from Peaceful Valley, heirloom apples from Trees of Antiquity and most of the rest of the fruit trees and berry plants from Edible Landscaping. I may order a few things from Raintree Nursery. EL offers good information on growing their plants, more so than TOA. Raintree offers the best information of all as their catalog is also geared for commercial producers.

Good headway has been made this year with earth and water, eight trees and four berry bushes have gone in so far and when this whole rainwater issue is resolved I'll be pleased. The question is whether I'll be able to keep the cistern, which appears to have a 4100 gallon capacity, and plumb the downspouts to it or if I'll have to fill it in and obtain the equivalent of $2800 worth of rain barrels (I'll just build them myself - there's no way I'm spending $100 per barrel).

Our poultry population will be changing a bit soon - more about that later.

Five Little Peepers and How They Grew

2009-06-12T01:31:00.005-05:00

We have five Australorp chicks from the eggs I bought via Ebay and all appear to be doing well. I'm grateful that the last of them has survived as she lost quite a bit of blood due to premature "help" hatching from yours truly. The others "pipped and zipped" quickly. On Day 23, she pipped but didn't seem to be making progress. A helpful soul on Backyard Chickens pointed out to me that because this egg had been incubated by our broody hen, sometimes incorrect egg rotation delays embryonic development and thus leads to a late hatch. Also, the gap between pip and zip can be as long as 24 hours. I feel horrible about my error resulting in harm to the chick but after staying up all night keeping her warm and giving her sugar water at regular intervals, I'm happy to report that her appetite has kicked in and she's running around the brooder with the other babies pecking and peeping. Her fellow late comer also had membrane related bleeding but he seems to be doing very well (I am assigning gender based on intuition, I am probably incorrect). The three other chicks are two days older and doing very well.

The title of this post, of course, is from the children's classic, Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. Enjoy.

A Font of Ideas

2009-06-10T00:13:00.007-05:00

One of the outstanding features of Countryside Magazine & Small Stock Journal is the many pages devoted in each issue to letters from readers. These letters are sent in from all over the country from people in a truly astounding variety of living situations. Old timers, greenhorns, cabin builders, trailer dwellers, married folk, the bereaved, single parents and folks living with disabilities all share their common goals and dreams, their struggles and their hard learned lessons. The love of a lifestyle rooted in honesty, simplicity and freedom underlies most of these letters and many of their authors include contact information, seeking connection with others who understand and share their enthusiasm for rural lifestyles.

It's in the pages of Countryside that I have found so many stories of how bread baking, soap making, beekeeping, flower gardening, egg gathering, worm farming and crafting are enabling families to make ends meet. In that spirit, I'm inspired to try my hand at many of these activities. It's things like these, too, that help make homeschooling such a rich experience for the whole household.

I'm hooked.

Kitchen Gardening for Families

2009-06-09T17:26:00.009-05:00

I'm the first to admit that I am not a gardener - I'm someone with an interest in ideas. Because ideas occasionally necessitate action, I was bound sooner or later to get my hands dirty. I've grown culinary and medicinal herbs in pots over the years and had one successful small veggie patch but I am not one of those people who knows how plants behave, where they thrive, how to coax them into productivity, etc. As someone with aspirations of having a front yard potager, then, I was delighted to come upon The Family Kitchen Garden, published by Timber Press (a publisher of well known plant geek reference works).

The Family Kitchen Garden is drawn from wisdom gained through a successful program in the UK which brings school children to work in a restored 17th century kitchen garden. This book is a dream come true for the neophyte vegetable gardener with children. This refreshingly thorough and linear work tells schlubs like me when to sow indoors and outdoors, how to maintain, when to harvest and how to cook a variety of vegetables and herbs. Because the book is written for the UK, it suggests that those of us in zones 6 and below in North America push the instructions back a month or more as our local climates dictate.

Fabulous.

Because This Story Isn't Ridiculous Enough Already

2009-06-09T17:21:00.002-05:00

Common sense dictates that a residential hand dug well twenty stories deep, contrary to the assertion of our visiting "expert" yesterday, has probably not been seen in the history of the United States. After the first contractor went screaming over to the county health department, we had another more experienced contractor out to visit. The latter took a tape measure, ran it into the "well" and discovered - a depth of 11 feet. I do not have a well - I have a cistern, which thankfully is not under the jurisdiction of the County Health Department. Now I get to squabble with the city about whether my "green water" resource can be put to work. If the added cost isn't prohibitive, I'd like to install a new code-conforming concrete cistern in the cavity of the old one, which is unusually wide, and firm it in with fill dirt. Everything is still up in the air, however.

"Surprise! It's a 200 Foot Deep Community Well..."

2009-06-08T17:12:00.006-05:00

"Half of your back yard could collapse at any time!"

...to paraphrase what the well expert had to say this morning after staring in disbelief for a very long minute at the tuckpointed hole in my yard. The Health Department has been summoned and we were advised that filling a well of this width and depth (8' x 200') will require semi truck loads of bentonite. A backhoe was also mentioned.

Why am I not surprised?

Congratulations - It's a Chicken!

2009-06-08T17:07:00.007-05:00

I couldn't be prouder. After weeks of carefully turning the eggs in the incubator twice a day, my daughter has just had a newborn baby chicken. Our new arrival emerged from its shell at about 10:00 this morning and has been napping and peeping like a champion ever since. A second egg is showing signs of life as well, so we have further cause for celebration.

UPDATES:
Chicken #1 has white spot on head; suspected to be male.
Chicken #2 born at 6.30 p.m. (female)
Chicken #3 born at 10.30 p.m. (female) Revised: male
Chicken #4 born at 1.30 p.m. June 10th. (male) Stuck to membrane; severe blood loss.

Garden Tardis

2009-06-08T00:40:00.010-05:00

Are gardeners in fact Time Lords? The subject of time travel sprung to mind tonight as I spent yet another hour staring at the lawn in the southeast corner of my front yard planning a potager (I wonder if the neighbors are starting to worry). Gardening is just as much about the future as it is about the present. In the present, there are the fragrance and texture of soil and seed, the color and shape of the garden plants, the sense of the sun's heat and the coolness or warmth of the breeze. Often, however - at least when this grasshopper gardener looks into the expanse of the yard - there is an inner vision of the future, a time when trees and shrubs have matured, when seedlings are thickened stalks bearing sumptuous fruits and when the long list of projects - solar panels, rain barrels, new hardscapes and softscapes - have been completed. As I print out descriptions of plums, peaches, pears, juneberries and a variety of dwarf tropicals for the sunroom, I have in my mind a future of abundance, of self sufficiency and of lush foliage enveloping the forms of the house and the land. Tonight, maybe for just a moment, I am a Time Lord.

Day 20: No Pips

2009-06-07T14:16:00.002-05:00

Twenty days ago, we put seven fertile Australorp eggs into our Little Giant incubator and six more under a broody hen (a hen who is fussing as though she wants to sit on a clutch of eggs). Day 18 or so is when pips are supposed to begin (the tiny initial "jailbreak" hole the chick makes) and Day 21 or thereabouts is when chicks make it all the way out of their calcium-walled homes and greet the new world.

I have no idea what's happening under my fluffed up, cooing hen but the eggs in the incubator aren't showing any signs of life. I'm going to wait until day 23 before disturbing them and see what happens.

Uncovering a 19th Century Well in the Yard

2009-06-04T19:28:00.008-05:00

In my eagerness to bring it into daylight, I have been digging through two feet of soil to reach the platform over the old well. Just now I uncovered the rusted metal cap, which is the size of a standard manhole cover. This gives a sense of scale - the well itself appears to be about 7' in diameter. It is no longer safe to continue digging on this side of the platform, so I will be digging on the other side this weekend. A contractor is coming on Monday to assess the situation and provide an estimate for the appropriate work.

This Woman is My Heroine

2009-06-04T01:04:00.002-05:00

Read her blog and find out why.

Poultry & Fowl Housing

2009-06-03T15:35:00.005-05:00

In light of the inconveniences of parking outdoors in the winter and the lessons in poultry keeping I've learned over the past year (more about that in a brief essay coming soon), I am currently perusing this gem from 1912 in search of poultry house building wisdom.

Hole to China Demystified

2009-06-03T10:22:00.011-05:00

This morning, two city plumbers and the sewer foreman came out for a visit with some camera equipment. The Hole to China, as it turns out, is old, round and hand built with flagstones. It is probable that it was the well belonging to the historic 1880s home next door to me. (Feel free to geek out.) While they wouldn't guess as to the diameter of it, they did point out that the metal lid is intact and only a few inches below the soil right next to the existing hole. They also said that they would be happy to handle the water testing for free (yes, there is water in the hole - and right now, no telling how deep it may be). I will dig to expose the lid later today and plan to schedule a visit next week from a contractor who specializes in well and septic.

The cistern built for this house, a 1920s bungalow, was included in the basement when the home was built. The retaining wall for the cistern area has since been torn down, however, and the plumbing plastered over. The original floor drain remains. I have thoughts about restoring the basement cistern for laundry use in the future and using the old well for outdoor watering needs, however money is a factor and the list of home projects is already long.

Poultry Greens

2009-06-02T12:22:00.008-05:00

Last week, I broadcasted an Omega-3 Chicken Forage seed mix from GrowOrganic.com, consisting of 20% Common Flax, 5% Ladino Clover, 5% Birdsfoot Broadleaf Trefoil, 10% Non-dormant Alfalfa, 20% Red Cowpeas and 40% Buckwheat. I sowed a higher number of seeds to the area to make up for any snacking that our ducks may do. This seeding should do for the year, according to the website, as the greens can be repeatedly cut down and will grow back.

Prairie Plants at Home

2009-06-02T11:36:00.006-05:00

Here are a few quick snaps I took this morning of the prairie plants we brought home during the native plant rescue at Naperville North High School. We lost several but many are blooming or just beginning to come into bloom. I've been sourcing seeds and will be filling our parkway with prairie plants in the not-too-distant future.

Digging to China

2009-06-01T15:12:00.010-05:00

Some of you may have noted my grim video last week following a heavy rainstorm. I sent a call out to my fellow parishioners and two folks came over last Saturday to help rectify the water problems (to which I found a more intelligent solution than that described in the video).

In the process of pulling a dead tree root out of the way along a shallow trench, a hole to China was found. Actually, what we found was a hole that dropped approximately 6' to 7' straight down and culminated in water of an unknown depth.

This morning I called the city, at which time two separate city employees attempted to get me to admit that I had 1. dug without permission and 2. breached a public utility line. I was also assured that I would pay in full for any repairs to the property as the hole was on private property. As it happens, however, there is a utility easement at the back of my property and so accordingly the city sent out a representative from its water department to have a look.

His expert surmise, in varying degrees of seriousness and based upon the uniform layer of limestone above the chasm, was that this hole is either:

1. a WTA sewer line (think: Depression Era)
2. a bomb shelter
3. a cistern
4. the grave of a local lady journalist who disappeared in 1959 after writing about local criminals
5. an old power culvert

He said that in 32 years with the water department, he'd never seen anything like this, though he assured me that I had not breached a public utility and that according to city records it wasn't a water line. He called up his compatriot, a 35-year veteran sewer inspector who came approximately an hour later and checked out the lay of the land using a copper wire. Yes, that's right - the city sent out a dowser, although I'm fairly sure that dowsing isn't necessarily in his official job description.

After dowsing in the yard, looking at the lay of the house and the yard and dowsing a bit more in my basement, he concluded that the hole to China is probably a cistern. There is no sewage smell, so it is probably not a sewer tank or line of any type. Additionally, there are physical signs in the masonry of the basement of there having been a secondary water holding area (I have been wondering about those anomalies in the basement for some time). He said he would give a call over to the city plumbers to let them know about the property and for me to call and arrange an appointment for them have a look inside of the hole with a camera.

If it is indeed a cistern, the city will probably require me to fill it in, although if it is salvageable I would prefer to put a new cap on it and actually put it to work. We shall see.

Fresh: The Movie

2009-05-30T16:15:00.009-05:00

A new documentary about the reasons for and practices of a return to traditional farming and consuming local foods is making the rounds. I'll be hosting a home screening of this on Monday, the 8th of June at 7:30. REVISION: FRIDAY, JUNE 12, at 7:30.

Native Prairie Plant Rescue

2009-05-20T22:46:00.006-05:00

I heard through the grapevine that restored prairie at a high school was slated to become a parking lot and that plant rescue was underway. When we arrived, it appeared that savvier gardeners than I had dug up the most important specimens. We managed to bring home two carloads of various species but tonight the construction fence was up. I won't be able to make it back until Friday evening, which may well be too late. This is tragic as there are thousands of plants left. I wish the rescue had been more broadly publicized but I'm grateful to have a small sampling in my yard. Most were dug up with the rootballs intact so the survival rate should be good.

Humbling

2009-05-19T00:55:00.004-05:00

With awe and fear, I unpacked the 15 fertile Australorp eggs shipped to me from a seller on Ebay. Fifteen eggs, I might add, that bear an uncanny resemblance to duck eggs (here's hoping they're what they're supposed to be). Of the fifteen, thirteen were intact. Normally, extra eggs are sent in case of breakage in the mail, so this worked out fine as I had purchased a dozen.

A new slightly larger nesting box went into the coop and - thanks be to God - one of our broody Araucanas had a seat on three of the eggs. Tomorrow, we'll slip in three more and the rest will go into the incubator for the next few weeks.

This is our first experiment with hatching eggs so we are very excited and hopeful.

Food, Inc.

2009-05-19T00:51:00.007-05:00

The buzz about this film started some time ago and apparently it will finally open in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City on June 12. I'm hoping it will come to Chicago soon!

Permeable Driveway Options

2009-05-13T23:17:00.007-05:00

Although it has a few years left in it, our aging driveway has inspired me to explore a few more water permeable replacement options.

Last year, I came across local landscape architect Marcus De La Fleur's gravelly medium, in which he recommends planting one of two drought resistant species - Side-Oat Grass (Bouteloua curtipendula), which grows up to 2' in height, or Buffalo Grass (Bouteloua dactyloides), which grows from 3"-12" tall. Both are native to Illinois and both could - depending on your neighbors and your local ordinances - require mowing.

Another option for a long-lasting low maintenance gravel driveway, should one decide to go that route, is the use of EcoGrid, which creates an infrastructure which can also be planted with drought resistant grasses.

My inclination would be to use EcoGrid with a combination of grasses and low growing legumes (clover, hensfoot trefoil?) to attract pollinators.

Chicken Resources from Walden Effect

2009-05-13T22:36:00.004-05:00

Anna of Walden Effect offers the Avian Aqua Miser, a thrifty no-spill low maintenance watering gizmo for chickens which comes with two fantastically pithy and practical e-books - The Working Chicken and Eating the Working Chicken (the latter with video supplements). You can purchase the Aqua Miser pre-assembled or the stripped down DIY version (fairly painless).

I purchased the DIY version, which came with a CD containing the e-books, DIY instructions and two videos to accompany the chicken butchering instructions. I haven't assembled my Miser yet but the water nipple looks good and I'm really impressed with the simple, straightforward materials on the CD.

If you're tired of cleaning scat and litter out of the waterer every morning, here's your answer. I'll post photos of the miser when I get it assembled.

Inspiration!

2009-05-13T21:13:00.011-05:00

The Establishing A Food Forest DVD from the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia is the most inspiring visual garden resource I think I've ever seen. In simple terms, Geoff Lawton describes the patterns seen in forests, their variations in certain climates and how to mimic the work of nature in planning a Food Forest. We then see these principles in action as Lawton walks through food forests of different ages and points out various developmental highlights.

Their Water Harvesting DVD took me more than one viewing to fully appreciate as it was presented in what was initially for me a new conceptual idiom. I would recommend it, however, to those who are interested in the question of water. There are some great water harvesting books out there but I have not delved into this more deeply yet.

Other recent sources of inspiration:

Permaculture: A Designer's Manual by Bill Mollison (it truly is the Bible of Permaculture)
Gaia's Garden by Toby Henderson (new 2nd edition now available from Amazon)
Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier (coauthor of Edible Forest Gardens)

Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets is an "important" book - but to be honest, I am focused on the small and the pragmatic right now and his book is a book of many big ideas. There is a section of Mycelium Running dedicated to gardening with mushrooms and that is the only section I have spent time on, although I enjoyed his presentation at TED very much.

Another book I've enjoyed, although it's not really a "gardening" book, has been the newly published Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois. Spending time with local myco fans is on the list for later this year.

The Mad Rush

2009-05-13T20:43:00.007-05:00

This morning's cool temperature drew me out into the garden where the heavy rain softened up the clay soil beautifully. I dug up more path and laid in pea gravel like a madwoman. I also spent a fair bit of time observing how water flows on to the property from three sides and where it accumulates. I'm still formulating a plan to address this. I came inside soaked to the skin and happy as a chicken in clover.

In the last few days, I've planted currant bushes, moved violets and hostas (the ubiquitous variegated hosta - blech), sawed a downspout that protruded out on to a path, filled in 30' of path with gravel, dug up another 5' of path, potted perennials, built up existing berms for the fruit trees arriving tomorrow and arranged with our contractor to have a duck pen built under an existing enclosed porch when a new back porch is added on. Now that the drakes are free ranging in the back yard (they even eat mystery mushrooms growing on a rotten oak stump), there should be no cause for concern about rodents being attracted to their pen. (Why do people complain about poultry feeders attracting rodents when they themselves have feeders for wild birds? Do I sound like a broken record?) I've also decided to plant squash and beans on the front yard berms to provide fast coverage and visual interest for this year. My plant budget has been exhausted with the trees.

Tomorrow, the new dwarf apple and sour cherry trees will go into the back berms along with the poultry green seed mix from GrowOrganic.com but first I"ll need to track down some straw (done - thank you, Craigslist!) to mulch the seed babies with. The mad rush is on to finish as much of the "heavy lifting" as possible before the warmth of summer is upon us.

Photos coming soon.

Zone 5 Perennial Vegetables

2009-05-06T13:23:00.003-05:00

This morning, I encountered a posting of a perennial vegetable catalog from 1999 with most items on it listed as being appropriate to Zone 5, including:

Allium tricoccum Ramp; Wild Leek
Allium tuberosum Garlic Chives
Aralia cordata Udo
Astragalus crassicarpus Groundplum Milkvetch
Chenopodium bonus-henricus Good King Henry
Crambe maritima Sea Kale
Crytotaenia japonica Mitsuba
Glycyrrhiza glabra Licorice
Glycyrrhiza lepidota American Licorice
Levisticum officinale Lovage
Myrrhis odorata Sweet Cicely
Nasturtium officinale Watercress
Nelumbo lutea American Water Lotus
Psoralea esculenta Prairie Turnip
Rumex acetosa French Sorrel
Saggitaria latifolia Arrowhead; Duck Potato
Taraxacum officinale Dandelion

Colony Collapse Cover Up?

2009-05-05T15:49:00.007-05:00

As I watched an exterminator treat my next door neighrbor's yard, I couldn't help but wonder what the effect of termite spray might be on honeybees.

Much fuss has been made about the "unknown cause" of Colony Collapse Disorder, which has been decimating the bee population here in the U.S. for a few years now. The cause, however, has been apparent to the governments of France, Germany and Italy, where certain pesticides have been banned as a result of empirically linked colony deaths.

From Beecharmer.org:

"France & Italy ban neonicotinoids. In the past six years, a new group of nicotine-based pesticides have emerged called neonicotinoids. The most common is imidachloprid. Ironically, these were originally manufactured to be less lethal. But about four years ago, French and Italian beekeepers complained that imidachloprid crop spraying was killing their honey bees. So the French and Italian governments banned the nicotine-based pesticides.

Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee devastation Germany has banned a family of pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees... The move follows reports from German beekeepers in the Baden-Wuerttemberg region that two thirds of their bees died earlier this month following the application of a pesticide called clothianidin."It's a real bee emergency," said Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeepers' Association. "50-60% of the bees have died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives." Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those examined had a build-up of clothianidin. Source/Full Story: The Guardian, May 23 2008"

Downy Divers

2009-05-02T14:40:00.003-05:00

Our two Cayuga drakes had their first experience with diving today when we filled the 144 gallon stock tank we'd been using as a brooder through the cold months. I placed it on a couple of concrete blocks in a shady corner of the yard and voila - instant duck pool. After some profound splashing and unpleasant dominance mating (ducks mate primarily in the water), Dabs and Jim settled into happy dunking and paddling. Undoubtedly our neighbor will raise the mosquito issue (he was concerned about how we cleaned up after them in their day pen under the deck) but as we intend to use the dirtied duck water in the garden and the ducks are all too happy to eat creepy crawlies, it really isn't a problem. More and more, I'm thinking that enclosing our yard in privacy fencing is a very good idea.

Houdini Hen

2009-04-29T15:17:00.006-05:00

It's axiomatic that there's one in every flock. She squeezes through undetectable crevices seeking out new foods and better nesting places. Our HH is Bluebell, a blue and wheaten Araucana who is currently rolling rotten eggs around in the inside portion of the eaves of our garage. As there's no way for a human to get up to her new lodgings, I hope she will have sense enough to come down eventually - preferably before she breaks a rotten egg and the temperature climbs to 85 Fahrenheit.

Breakfast with a Rose Breasted Grosbeak

2009-04-28T10:54:00.006-05:00

Just outside of the bay window in our dining room stands a pole supporting two bird feeders. This morning we had the good fortune of a visit from a Rose Breasted Grosbeak, the first one we've seen. The fellow we saw was more robust than the one pictured here and he didn't hesitate to open he gaping grosbeak maw and frighten off the sparrows so that he could dine undisturbed. Quite a handsome little fellow!

Also spotted this morning was a Common Redpoll. Redpolls are distributed through Canada and the northern United States, only occasionally seen this far south. He wasn't a visually striking bird but unusual enough to warrant a quick look in the bird guide.

Stock Photo

Reintroduction to Permaculture

2009-04-26T13:48:00.011-05:00

Last evening, I had the opportunity to attend a three hour introduction to permaculture (a portmanteau of "permanent agriculture") given by Bill Wilson of Midwest Permaculture. The sold out presentation was hosted by the Plum Creek Nature Center as part of its Earth Day celebration. If you're not familiar with permaculture, it is essentially a model for ethical and efficient system design for not only agriculture but housing, communities and businesses. The three ethics of permaculture are caring for the earth, caring for people and sharing any extra resources we have with others. Permaculture offers an elegant set of design principles for creating a closed system rooted in these ethics.

Because permaculture is still a relatively obscure concept, Bill Wilson provided a few answers to the question, "Why Permaculture?", including information about peak oil, declining water tables, erosion of topsoil and net energy concepts. A short documentary featuring the father of permaculture, Bill Mollison, examining permaculture projects around the world was shown, followed by examples of permaculture design principles and existing permaculture projects here in the Midwest.

I stumbled on to permaculture in high school in the late 1980s in investigating models for agrarian socialism. A group called The New Alchemy Institute had been around for approximately ten years at that time and had published a book called The New Alchemists which featured models for closed agricultural systems including agriculture and aquaculture. A few years later, I would look for permaculture internships and other opportunities for related learning experiences in intentional communities, only to be sidetracked and "forget" (but not entirely) permaculture for the next 18 years. Having recently acquired a house of my own where I can establish a greater measure of self sufficiency, permaculture has naturally sprung up as a major piece in the puzzle.

Midwest Permaculture offers several types of learning opportunities for those who are interested in learning about permaculture design principles and how to incorporate permaculture into urban, suburban, rural and agricultural settings in a variety of climates.

Image Courtesy of the NASA Image Archive

A Free Education In Organic Growing

2009-04-24T22:44:00.006-05:00

USDA can and does produce some good work! Viva ATTRA!

Arbor Day Quince

2009-04-24T22:03:00.005-05:00

Happy Arbor Day!

A mound of earth and a robust little quince went into the front yard today, I am happy to report. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be riding out to Possibility Place to see their 5-gallon sized pawpaws; the two pawpaws I received from Trees of Antiquity are much smaller than I had anticipated and someone has agreed to adopt them.

If you didn't plant a tree today, I hope you were able to enjoy one wherever you may have been!

The Miracle of Egg Salad

2009-04-22T00:13:00.005-05:00

My story is simple. A few loose tiles on the bathroom floor mushroomed into more than (Very Large Number Here) in repairs to my bathroom. With that as the backdrop to my week, I'm so very pleased to be able to sit at the dining table with a plate of homegrown quail egg salad and multi-seeded matzoh. What comfort! In this salad are coarsely chopped boiled quail eggs, fresh organic dill, dijon mustard, mayonnaise, red onion, celery and sweet relish. In this present moment of wholesome snacking, I am content.

Considering Greywater Use

2009-04-21T23:04:00.012-05:00

The project list for the homestead is huge but somewhere on that list is the installation of a low maintenance greywater system. I found this video fairly helpful in that the homeowner is not only committed to wise use of resources but also took the time to install his system in compliance with local laws, creating a positive perception of alternative greywater applications among local zoning and water officials. Hauling buckets of water isn't likely to happen at my house (we have hardwood floors) but there are some other short to intermediate range ideas I'm toying with.

Here in the Chicago area, we're privileged to have the greywater wisdom of Marcus De La Fleur, a landscape architect who has created a demonstration site at his Elmhurst home (see video here). He gave a highly informative 40 minute interview to the local NPR program last year that directed me to his website, where he offers information sheets for various aspects of his demonstration site and ideas for how to implement them on your own property.

Killing Dinner: Program Teaches Adults and Teens the Reality of Meat Consumption

2009-04-21T17:18:00.011-05:00

Trackers NW offers programs in hunting and traditional survival skills for adults and teens in the Portland and San Francisco Bay areas. This video documents the humane slaughter and butchering of two rabbits by a group of teens who then also cook and eat the rabbits for dinner. While under ordinary circumstances, processing the rabbits would take a lot less time, it is interesting to see the teens' reactions to the process of taking lives to sustain their own lives - something most of us do on a daily basis without actually connecting with that fact.

In considering how to feed my own household responsibly, including raising small birds and animals for slaughter, it has been difficult to find videos that normalize what used to be an every day occurrence for many, if not most, Americans. Industrialized food production, as it turns out, has not only degraded the environment and the lives of animals who are treated as objects rather than conscious beings, but it has also robbed us of firsthand knowledge of the cycle of life, knowledge that our lives truly are sustained by the lives around us.

In taking a step toward understanding this principle, I share the following video with those of you who also want to understand more deeply.

Warning: this video is graphic and some viewers may find it disturbing.

Butchering Rabbits, taking responsibility for your food from Tony Deis on Vimeo.