Gardener to Farmer

Growing Leeks and My Favorite Garden Tool

Yesterday, two (DeDe and Sallie May) of my four Garden Interns helped me clear a bed for growing leeks. I have tried to grow leeks for the past two years, but have always been disappointed in the results. It just seems like they do not reach maturity before the end of growing season. This year, I realized that they overwintered really well, and in fact, multiplied. However, they were not so conveniently located. I pulled them all and threw them in a pile, intending to take them in the house. (Please note the word intending...)

When I realized I hadn't taken them in, I decided to try an experiment. I had always heard that you could grow leeks by cutting off the roots and planting them. I grabbed up the rather scruffy looking leeks and hacked off the roots, then the girls and I planted them right in the ground. Some of them had also formed bulblets, so those were planted, too. 

In doing a bit of research on growing leeks, I discovered this awesome post called Leeks for the Lazy Gardener (right up my alley):

Most home gardeners growing leeks start them from seed each year, or just buy transplants. Some smaller varieties are said to mature in 90 days, but the big inch-or-more wide ones like you'll find in the markets take almost 200 days to grow to that size. In order to get a pencil-sized leek seedling ready to set out in April, you'd have to start the seeds in January, tending and transplanting and keeping them under lights. That's too much work for me. I prefer to let my leeks start themselves.

via simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com

I also want to share with you all the new love of my life...the OXO Garden Knife. OXO sent me this cool looking knife to try. I won't lie to you, the appeal of weaponry in the garden is almost irresistible to me. But I am always dubious of new garden tools...I already have lots of them and it is hard to impress me. Further, it is rare that I will endorse a product. But I am so madly in love with this knife that I will not let anyone else even touch it!

The shape looks like a bulb-planting trowel and a double-bladed kitchen knife were genetically crossed. I know...very Matrix. And yes, I stabbed myself with it a few times as I was not used to the sharp tip. But it is now my favorite weeder and plant divider, as well as self-protection device. (Roaming garden gnomes, you know). The tip slices through dirt, roots and matted green stuff to make pulling weeds a cinch. The sides alternate between a serrated blade and a traditional knife blade, perfect for dividing clumps of perennials or cutting roots off of said leeks.

It is $24.95, so not a cheap tool. But it is super sturdy, and unless I lose it, I can't imaging needing to buy another in the next decade or so. This is the perfect tool for the lazy gardener!

If you have fave gardening tools, I would love to hear about them. Leave me a comment below.

Growing Food: A Guide for Beginners

Today marks the release of my first book, Growing Food: A Guide for Beginners! YEA!! Below is a preview of the back cover...but I would love for you to take a look at it on Lulu.com. There you can peruse the first few pages and see what the inside of the book looks like.

And other big news...I am currently developing a new podcast with a crazy chick you may know, Amanda Thomsen of Kiss My Aster. It is called Good Enough Gardening and we will be debuting our first episode in the next week.

But wait...that's not all! Today on Cooking Up A Story, you will find me kneeling in the garden, attempting to teach you how to plant beets. Only Rebecca Gerendasy could convince me to do such a thing. It is a cute video, though...did I mention how amazing she is? And speaking of amazing women...two upcoming interviews are in the works. Tonight I am being interviewed by everybody's favorite life coach (@coachvanessa) at Integrative Wellness Works in the Let Your Life Bloom Series. Next week, I will be chatting it up with @FarmerPhoebe...more details on that in a couple of days. And in case you missed it, The Nutrition Data Blog did a nice little write up with some quotes from me! 

WHEW! OK, finally, here is the back cover of the book...I am so excited you guys! YEA!

Can You Survive Without a Grocery Store?

It has been a long time since American’s were worried that they might have to answer that question. Recent economic and food safety concerns have contributed to a new local food movement in which communities are talking about increasing independence from the supply chain and supporting local growers. Many people have decided to start a vegetable garden…and you can’t get any more local than that!

If you want to join them but are afraid that you won’t know how to get started … relax, we’ve got you covered!  “Growing Food” will teach you everything you need to know about how to plant, harvest, prepare and store the top ten (okay, eleven) vegetables in simple terms and step by step instructions.

And, this book is full of opportunities for you to connect with all kinds of resources. For the first time in gardening history, there is finally a resource that combines written information with live online interaction. Just think, you can ask a real person your gardening questions!  In this book you will find information about:

•             Organic gardening blogs

•             Facebook, MySpace and Gather Grow Your Own Food groups

•             Gardening forums, videos and podcasts

•             Tons of topic specific web pages for more in depth reading

 

This book is not the end of your learning experience. It is the doorway to a whole network of people who can support you in growing your own food.

Growing Potatoes: Growing Food Book Excerpt

Just uploaded this excerpt from Growing Food: A Guide for Beginners...This happens to be the chapter on potatoes...

                                   Growing Potatoes

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Floor

Did you know that potatoes can be used to make vodka? Their high starch content makes them a likely suspect for the creation of this extremely well-known spirit. You will not, however, get drunk from eating them.

 

Potatoes received quite a lot of bad press, due to our switch from high carb low fat diets to high fat low carb diets. But the truth is that they have a whole bunch of nutritional value. In fact, people can healthily survive on a diet of milk and potatoes….not that I recommend that.

 

I have always loved potatoes and have a hard time imagining not wanting to eat them. But, my oldest will only eat them as fries or tots…so I know there are some people out there who haven’t fully embraced the many ways to enjoy them.

 

If you stay away from the spud, here’s a potato adoption strategy to help you embrace its earthy goodness!

Ten Steps to Becoming a Potato Lover:

1)      If you have never grown potatoes, you will be surprised at the large variety of types to plant.

2)      Each variety has a different flavor and texture. Experiment and find out which works best in each recipe.

3)      Potatoes are an early planting crop…spring is on its way!

4)      As the plants start to sprout, take a minute to admire their beautiful foliage. Some have leaves that look like tomatoes, others have leaves that are broad and a bit wrinkly.

5)      Potatoes can have beautiful and very fragrant flowers. Be sure to enjoy the ornamental benefits of your spuds.

6)      These gorgeous tubers are incredibly nutritious…don’t believe the urban legends that they have limited nutritional value.

7)      Potatoes can be harvested as the plant is growing, just remove some of the compost and straw, take a few potatoes and cover up again.

8)      They can be prepared in so many ways…but the easiest is to wash and cube the spud and place it on a baking sheet. Add olive oil, flaky sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. Roast at 400° for 30-45 minutes.

9)      Try at least three times to give yourself a chance to really enjoy…add a different spice like smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder or grill seasoning each time.

10) Slowly try new cooking methods. I love to make hash browns by grating, adding salt and pepper and frying in vegetable oil in a hot skillet.

To see the full chapter, check out the Growing Potatoes page.

Seed Starting: Potting Up

Okay, BIG news! I have published my first gardening book, "Growing Food: A Guide for Beginners"! WOO HOO! I have uploaded it to Kindle and it should be available there in a couple of days. The print version will be ready to go in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for the exact date...And, I have started a companion blog, Growing Food Guide because I have so much time on my hands. HA. Seriously, I started it with a specific focus on my book, instead of building a traditional website, which is what most authors do. Don't fret, you can still tune in to G2F for gardening witt and witticism.

For those of you who are starting seeds this year, you may be ready to "pot up" or transplant your seedlings to larger containers.Now, let me start by saying that up until this point, I have avoided potting up like the plague...opting instead to set out smaller plants or just starting everything in bigger containers in the beginning.

But since Liz and I are sharing the garden this year, I wanted to be sure that we had plenty of produce. This meant starting more seeds...and since I have a small greenhouse, I had to start them in smaller containers, pot up, then move out. Yes, it is like a well choreographed dance...hopefully resulting in plenty of organically grown vegetables over an extended harvest period.

I tried a new soil-less potting medium made by Jiffy. It is essentially made of compressed peat. I used their 70 count starting pack to get the little seeds going. Then transferred to a larger plantable pot for the remainder of the greenhouse period.  

This is what the compressed peat looks like. The directions say to add them to the biodegradable peat pots, then add a half a cup of warm water. Wait until absorbed, then add another half of a cup.

Well, of course I didn't measure...which meant some were a bit soggy. Still, it worked pretty well.

Here's what the containers looked like when the medium had expanded. My only complaint was that there didn't seem to be enough of the mix to fill it closer to the top of the container. If I were transplanting larger seedlings, they might have displaced more of the peat. These guys didn't have a huge rootball, so I ended up with at least a half inch gap from the top of the container.

I do have some extra disks, so the next time I try this, I will definitely use more to get started. If you want to try using this product, I would suggest a couple of things. First, set up the disks so they have plenty of room to expand. Second, buy extra disks, just in case you need them. Third, this is messy...but really, all seed starting is messy. I only say that to suggest you don't do this project in your kitchen. Take the warm water in a pitcher and go outside if you don't have a greenhouse.

You can se they look just fine, but are a bit low on soil. I sincerely doubt the Blue Hubbard Squash will care one bit.

Also set out purple sprouting and tradtional green broccoli seedlings. I direct sewed more purple broccoli, Pak Choi and Early New Jersey Cabbage.

Whew! Between the book and the garden, I am beat...

Obama has a Victory Garden? We Had it First!!

Well, I meant to get to this post a week ago...but things just got out of hand this week. And now that Michelle Obama has announced her spectacular vegetable garden, I feel as though I have to rise to the challenge.  Let's start with a quick update of what's happening (or happened) in the outside garden.

Here you see a picture of my neighbor Liz, working away, while I stand by taking pictures of everything. This is usually how I work...:)

Anyway, we spent the day weeding the front 4 beds, plus a bed on the other side of the garden and sowed peas, lettuce, carrots, red mustard, chard and beets. I couldn't believe how much we got accomplished in just a few hours...it really is amazing how an extra pair of hands helps!

The tree behind her is an old apple that apparently has a type of borer attacking it. This nasty little bug eats a ring around the branch, eventually killing it. So, Liz's husband is going to remove it with a chainsaw...I plan on being there to take pictures. :)

In our spring clean up, we decided to test two rakes sent to me by Radius. The green one is the Garden Shark and the orange is the Groundhog. (Note Liz is still working and I am still taking pictures.)

The Garden Shark rake is for spreading mulch and de-thatching lawns and the Groundhog rake is for leaves, branches, and other garden debris. **

So here's the scoop on these two lovelies. Let me start by saying I have always hated traditional rakes...I have to stoop over and work too hard to get a minimal amount accomplished. These rakes have an extra long handle and are ergonomically designed to work for you, not the other way 'round. Both Liz and I agreed that these two rakes are by far our favorites.

I am big on finding tools for the garden that are more friendly to my body. Conserving energy and effort means I can stay in the garden longer...which is exactly what we did. We worked ourselves tired (four hours later) but felt completely satisfied...and much like expectant mothers, we have gone outside every day since to check on our babies...no sprouting yet.

And not to be outdone by the Obama's, Liz and I are sharing our own Organic Vegetable Garden Plans.
This is a complete list of all that we have planted (in the greenhouse and outside) with various growing information. You can also see what varieties and seed producers we are using. And somewhere, Liz has used her fancy software to layout our garden, indicating what is planted where...I will get that posted soon.

Hope you are enjoying your spring (yea!) garden as much as we are!

**both of these rakes are available now in our OpenSky Store!

Save Small Farms and Home Gardens: HB 875, Part II

Yesterday's post on the Food Safety Modernization Act sparked some great conversation...particularly about how a food safety bill could be a bad thing. To those of you who went and read the actual bill, kudos! For those of you who haven't yet and would like to, visit this link to Open Congress and leave your feedback in the text of the bill.

Let me try to sum up two major concerns that are not apparent just by reading the text of this bill. The first is the use of the word "tracking". This term positions this bill to be a cousin for the National Animal Identification System, which creates a tracking system for each and every animal (including hobby farms and pets) in the US. The purpose of which is to be able to track the life cycle of an animal, hoping to prevent the spread of illness or disease.

The USDA has proposed a rule to require all farms and ranches where animals are raised to be registered in a federal database under the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) for existing disease control programs.  The draft rule covers programs for cattle, sheep, goats, and swine.  It also sets the stage for the entire NAIS program to be mandated for everyone, including anyone who owns even one livestock animal, for example, a single chicken or a horse.
                                                                                                     http://www.farmandranchfreedom.org/

And while this seems like a good idea in concept, the cost of this level of regulation will be astounding. It will force many small farmers to stop farming. The basic economics of the process create an affordable financial impact for large agribusiness (who will spend about $7 a head for cattle) but will cost small farmers about $64 a head. If you aren't a farmer, but just have a flock of chickens, you will also be responsible to meet these regulations and absorb this cost. Which will lead to fewer people with livestock.

Though the intended consequences of this bill may not be to support industrialized agriculture, that is exactly what it will do. This will create a food paradigm monopoly, generating increased dependence on big agribusiness and the directives of the government.

Now, imagine this same regulatory system being imposed on other types of food production. Suddenly, the fear for small farms and home vegetable growers seems more rational.

And, if you are organically certified. Please note, both the NAIS and HB 875 give the government extreme latitude in telling you what feed, fertilizer, medicines and pest control methods you can use. There is no mention of organics or how this bill would affect existing organic regulation.For more information, check out Sarah Gilbert's Post on Super Eco.

We are all concerned about food safety. But tracking programs like these will reward the businesses who are actually causing the problem. Seriously, when is the last time you heard that someone became ill after purchasing food from a farmer's market or eating from their own garden? In trying to regulate these huge entities, whose behavior is absolutely appalling, we are giving them the keys to the kingdom.

Before NAIS or HB 875 are passed or implemented, some serious discussion and edits need to be made...otherwise, we will end up punishing the group that is most likely to save us from groups like Monsanto.

I don't think I can find a better way to end this post than with this:

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, opposes the bill and states:, "The burdensome requirements the bill imposes on small farms and the intrusive federal control it creates over small farm operations threaten the future viability of sustainable agriculture and the local food movement."

Save Small Farms and Home Gardens: HB 875

I am not one to overreact about early legislative efforts. New bills are always stuffed full of language that will never make it to the final version. But HB 875 is a different matter.

It is not just the drastic regulatory language that scares me. It is that it represents agribusinesses next step on the path to world food domination. And though that sounds like an over exaggeration, it is not.

Companies like Monsanto have already invaded our food and seed supply. They have successfully obtained patents for GMO seeds and have cornered the market on seed sales. They have sued farmers for harvesting and using seeds from their own corn because it was accidentally cross-pollinated with their varieties. And now they are trying to push through legislation, via Rep. Rosa DeLauro, whose husband works for Monsanto.

Please, don't let this bill get out of committee. There are other ways to protect our food supply. Let's not create a perfect storm by eliminating the few small farmers who are still growing non-gmo, genetically diverse crops.

For more information, check out this OpEdNews piece...a bit on the extreme side, but still has relevant information. Also check out OpenCongress, a cool site that lets you track bills, legislators, etc, leave comments and keep an eye on hot button topics.At the end is a link that will help you automatically send feedback to your elected officials and local newspapers. Here's what I wrote, feel free to copy and edit:

I am increasingly concerned about the potential effects of HB 875. This bill is clearly designed to benefit big agribusiness and to make it nearly impossible for smaller farms to comply. The sweeping language of this legislation could even impact people growing their own food in backyard gardens. This effort is clearly being pushed by small farm destroying companies like Monsanto.

Oregon will not benefit from this kind of outside regulation. Further, we do not need a completely new regulatory agency to deal with food safety issues. Please, read this bill and take action. Don't let agribusiness destroy family farms and urban homesteaders.

Sincerely,
Jean Ann Van Krevelen

Get involved and say no to Monsanto and others like them who care about absolutely nothing but making money.

Growing Food: Spinach, Kale, Arugala and Mache

It is the perfect time in Portland to be growing cool season greens. Spinach, kale, arugula and mache are all very happy with a cooler climate.

This is a photo of Mache, also known as Lamb's Lettuce. I don't have any sheep, so we'll stick with mache. When harvested in early spring, it has a wonderful, mild flavor. It can be used in salads or cooked greens.

Arugula is also a big fan of chilly temperatures. This was planted last fall and still looks good. I suspect that it will look even better in the next couple of weeks.

And just look at this gorgeous kale! Holy cow...talk about big bang for your buck. Kale is one of the most nutritious foods, is easy to grow and has a wonderfully mild flavor. Did I mention it freezes well? Go, plant some now!

And this sea of green is all of my little spinach plants, coming into their own. Though I did notice the slugs have already been at work. Had to start putting down the WorryFree organic slug control...sigh...

Oops, and I forgot one more: Swiss Chard that has overwintered from last year. Died all the way down to the ground, but risin' like the sun.

It is the perfect time to sow cool weather greens for much of the US...get out there and plant!

Growing Your Own Vegetables from Seed

Last week, Liz and I planted a ton of seeds in the greenhouse. What's funny is that it doesn't look like we planted much. But consider that each flat can contain 70+ seedlings... Growing your own vegetables is easy...and starting seeds at home gives you more options than buying plants.

Here's a quick look at the greenhouse and what's cooking...

And if you are in the mood to see my friend Janis' new baby boy donkey, check out her site. She is the producer and chief blogger for The Farmette Report...and she is funny...

How to Grow Potatoes in a Garbage Bag

Lots of folks struggle with figuring out how to grow potatoes. They often plant them in the ground, then treat them like a root crop. The problem is that potatoes don't grow down, they grow up!

Potatoes will certainly grow a small crop underground, but in order to get the most bang for your buck, you add compost and/or straw to the base of the plant as it matures. Every time you add a layer of material, the potato stem will send out roots and make more potatoes...all the way up until harvest.

The challenge is in containing these ever-growing hills of potatoes...I am thinking of growing potatoes in trash bags this year. Here's how it works: start with a bit of compost and hay and the sack flat to the ground (don't forget to poke holes for drainage). Add potatoes, then add more hay and compost to cover. As the potatoes start to grow, add more hay and compost, gradually increasing the size of the bag. When the plant dies, you will have a whole lot of potatoes layered throughout the mix.

I must also confess that I love the scent of potatoes. Some varieties have the most beautiful scent...and it is wonderful to walk into the veggie garden and have such an enticing smell!

I know some people use old tires in a similar way. Are you using any creative or space-saving ways to grow potatoes?