End of Season Wrap-up (2013)

2013 has turned out to be probably the most productive year ever for the Food Patch. Much of this was due to taking up the Paleo lifestyle in 2012 necessitating the planting of more leafy vegetables and brassicas. This also was the very first year we were able to succession plant lettuce so that we were totally supplied from Memorial Day well into November. We even have some lettuce left under one of the tunnels that we are saving for later this winter.

Yesterday was an unusually warm day and with the melting of all of our earlier snow pack from the last two weeks we took the opportunity to clean off the plots.This is a chore that I usually have done by mid-October in year's past but with a lot of late season brassicas and lettuce it just didn't get done until now. We still have an open row of spinach and a fabric low tunnel that we are saving for later in the winter. This tunnel contains Russian red kale, arugula, chard, beets, and regular curly kale. The small plastic tunnel still has the last of the fall lettuce that even though it hasn't gotten much bigger has somehow managed to survive several major freezes.

We also got the leaf pile off of the strawberries where they had gotten completely packed down from the snow. They were spread over the open areas and will be worked in during the first till of the spring. The last chore will be to spread a little straw over the strawberries. Even that was off schedule because the bales got water logged and were still frozen in places.

The 2013 Apple Harvest

The apple orchards here in western Maryland had an excellent season in 2013. Having skipped the last few seasons and after much nagging from the number one daughter, Miss Rock, I resumed my yearly apple sauce production. In the past I've usually done a small batch (6-8 quarts) just to get us through the holidays but since she can practically eat an entire jar at one sitting I figured we would make a day of it and go back to a large batch production that would get us through the winter. It was definitely easier this time around with a second set of hands helping out.

We began with 1.5 bushels of so-called "seconds" which if you buy from the Ivy Hill Orchard in Smithsburg actually look more like regular apples (they are very high quality and take their apples and cider very seriously). This year's blend was 1/3 Yellow Delicious (for body), 1/3 Stayman Winesap and 1/3 Rome (both for flavor). I always follow the basic Rodale Stocking Up recipe that calls only for lemon juice and honey as additives (we leave out the spices for adding in later if desired). The honey was Hays Apiary unfiltered wild flower also from Smithsburg.

Processing one and a half bushels is an all day project especially since our largest canner can only process seven quarts at a time. We broke the apples down into two separate batches since we don't have anything large enough to hold that volume of sauce before we can get it into the jars. All and all it was a hectic and exhausting day but well worth the effort.

The other news this apple season was running a batch of hard cider. Ivy Hills cider is always first rate and they use UV light for Pasteurization so there is no heat effect on taste or chemical preservative after-taste like you get with the supermarket crap; and no need to worry about preservatives inhibiting your yeast (this batch is fermenting with White Labs English Cider Yeast). It is still in the primary fermenter but should be ready to rack to the secondary just before Thanksgiving. If all goes to plan I hope to bottle some for carbonation and some as a still apple wine. I'm hoping at least some of it will be ready in time for Christmas merriment and carrying on the age old colonial tradition where cider was the drink of the day.

Late Season Abundance

We've had a very productive late season garden. We managed to get a full second harvest of squash, zucchini and cucumber that just keep on coming and will probably continue producing on up to the first frost. We had a very virulent outbreak of aphids attack the first plantings back in the summer and we had to be extra vigilant with preventative sprays of insecticidal soap and permethrin to keep them in check on the second plantings. Now we are seeing some cool season fungus on the leaves but this doesn't seem to be adversely affecting yields. I think we will just let them go on until frost.

 The brassicas as well as the lettuce and greens are in their full glory right now. I expect to see the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower heading up very soon. There have been no sign of cabbage worms with the preventative Bt sprays even though there have been plenty of white butterflies during the day.

The kale , beets, and chard that are destined to overwinter under the low tunnel are coming along well too and needed thinning. I've saved some room for inserting a few bak choi. Since all of these are supposed to be able to take a lite frost, I'll play it by ear as to when to put on the Agri-bond.

Finishing Off the Coop Portion of the Chicken Tractor

After several days of rain last week I finally was able to get two coats of flat classic barn red paint on the coop section and reinstall the hardware. We had over seven inches of rain during last week's nor'easter and there were no leaks so I believe the caulking and basic engineering are sound.

The last big piece of engineering for this phase of the project will be putting together the pop door. This will require installing some aluminum C-rail on the inside wall to hold a sliding door of regular plywood and rigging a pull cord to the outside. Once that step is out of the way it is just a matter of closing in the run section with framing and wire and attaching the wheels. This may have to wait until spring. I'll also need to rig some kind of brackets to hold the water and feed bins. I am thinking about attaching the feed bin to the front of the coop and the water bin further down somewhere along the framing for the run. Both will need an access hatch on top so that they can be removed easily for refilling and for when the tractor needs to be moved. We'll also need some kind of simple door in the end of the run so we can let the hens out on occasion to free range in the yard.

This is a shot through the main access door showing the interior view of the nesting boxes and the roost pole. I covered the floor with cheap vinyl floor covering so it will be easier to scrape out the mess. The particle board I used while being cheap is really rough and I didn't want to have to worry about removing the droppings that are sure to accumulate under the roost.

The Super-Paleo Scramlet

One of the joys of having a day off and a kitchen garden in full fall production is the ability to wake up, start the coffee, and head outside to forage. On these days where I tend to skip lunch (intermittent fasting in paleo-speak), a nice solid breakfast is in order and that calls for my so-called "super paleo scramlet"; not quite an omlet, not quite scrambled eggs; too many calories to count but remember it is not about total daily caloric intake but the balance of macronutrients and reasonable amounts of carbs.

 Start with about a half cup of diced sweet pepper and red onion.Saute until tender (I like them a little on the burnt side).

 Wilt in about two cups of coarsely chopped kale (chard or spinach works perfectly well too). This might take a few minutes but it reduces down to almost nothing. It is best not to burn anything at this point.
   

 Follow on with a little shredded meat in this case some turkey pepperoni. Sausage, chicken, beef; anything left over in the frig works just as well.
  
 

 Pour in three whipped eggs. In this case, our local farmer's pastured eggs with a little creme, salt/pepper, and a touch of garlic powder to taste. A little water may also be necessary to thin the whites since with super-fresh eggs they can be hard to whip at first. Hold on medium heat until nearly solid then split into two halves and flip. Turn off the heat and let the cast iron finish the backside.
 

Turn out and top off with a little shredded taco cheese mix, a few skirts of Tabasco. Some quartered Romas and a cup of straight up coffee (in this case Old Rag Mtn Camp Blend from Central Coffee Roasters.) finish off the combo.

Tractor Update; Nesting Boxes

Most of this last weekend was spent building out the nesting boxes for the chicken tractor. So far the design-on-the-fly strategy (with occasional bouts of quick-fix engineering) has worked out pretty well but these boxes are probably the most detailed aspect of the construction and to tell you the truth I was wondering how best to pull it off. Should I build them as a stand alone assembly and then somehow attach them to a hole cut in the back wall? This whole thing was beginning to stretch my limits as a novice carpenter.

Luckily I was checking out some new backyard chicken sites recently and I came across the Coop Thoughts blog. Scrolling down through past posts I hit pay dirt with their entry on how to retrofit a coop with external nesting boxes; exactly what I needed. Of course their dimensions were a bit different then ours and I now have three boxes instead of the two I had originally planned (didn't seem to make sense not to space out three proportionally), but their design looks to be superior to most I've seen so far especially not having the slanted roof as an access door but using the small end panel thus getting around having to completely waterproof the opening.

I'll top off the roof with some of the left over PVC that went on the main roof. This will provide additional overhang against driving rain.

Busted !!

Junior, our resident ground hog, has had a pretty cushy life the last year or so. With two condos (one under our front stoop and the other under our back patio), he has had access to a steady supply of fresh vegetables and fruit not to mention whatever it is that gofers normally eat in the wild. Aside from mowing down some lettuce seedlings we had hardening off on the front porch this past spring and occasionally tripping the motion sensor lights in our security perimeter, he really hasn't been too much trouble. Even when he managed to slip under the rabbit fence around The Food Patch a few times he didn't do that much damage. But since he looked to still be pretty young and knowing just how big and destructive these critters can become we felt it was time for a change. It would have been easy just to slip some rodenticide down one of his burrows and let modern chemistry take its course but the little booger was cute and that would be mean so we set a trap with onion and cantaloupe rind. It took a few attempts getting the trigger adjusted for his small size but success came this morning and Junior is now a resident of a corn field down near Antietam Battlefield. Good luck Junior and I hope you don't have any siblings waiting to take your place.

Salad Greens and The Poultry Business

We had a nice gentle rain last night (0.5 inch in the gauge) and there is nothing that compares to day-break on the morning after a rain when everything is fresh and clear especially when there is harvesting to be done. The salad patch was calling and I had to go.

Everyone should be growing salad greens. Compared to the bagged crap in the supermarkets, especially that white bread of the plant world; iceberg lettuce, there is just no comparison to what the average person can grow at home. Even if you don't have a formal garden plot, salad greens can be started in seed packs and transplanted to almost any kind of container that receives sufficient sunlight. Even seed sprouts have gone high tech with the development of microgreens. These are sprouts that are allowed to grow to the two leaf stage and then harvested as an addition to traditional salad or as a stand alone gourmet mix.

Our everyday large leaf salad mix at the Food Patch consists of cuttings of Johnny's Allstar Gourmet Lettuce Mix (containing six different lettuce varieties) and Johnny's Premium Greens Mix (consisting of spicy to mild to slightly sweet mustard greens and Chinese cabbage). I also like to add in a few young beet leaves if they are available and chard leaves up to about three or four inches in length. This gives an incredible mix with lots of color, flavor and nutritional value.

Typically during the growing season I start one nine cell pack of each mix every other week. These are sprouted inside and grown under lights until the leaves are two to three inches high. Then the packs are set out in the shade and gradually hardened to direct sun light over the course of about a week. They are transplanted to the garden and used to fill in any empty spot that is available. In the heat of high summer (July/August) indoor sprouting and development under lights is critical because many lettuce seed varieties do not sprout well when the ground is hot. At those times of the season, transplants are often placed so that they will be shaded by taller plants during the hot afternoon hours. I also have a small movable tunnel covered with shade cloth (50% transmission) for those weeks in August when it is just too hot for salad. This is not optimal but it assures us that we at least have some salad available even if it is not optimal (still better than the bagged stuff).

The other key to the perfect salad is correct harvesting. Greens should be cut early in the morning preferably before they are touched by direct sun. Clippings immediately go to cold tap water for fast chilling. I use two standard dish washing pans so that I can alternate and do two washes outside and then drain and bring inside for one last wash in the spinner. They are laid out on dish towels until almost dry but not wilted and then placed in gallon zip-loc storage bags with lots of extra air to keep the leaves from getting matted down in the frig. This mix will last for over a week but rarely does it make it that long before being devoured. One standard dish pan yields about three one gallon zip loc-bags.

Yesterday morning was spent down at the Maryland Poultry Swap. It was just down the road in Shrapsburg. It was very well attended and I was hoping to see some chicken tractors but most of the show was taken up by poultry fanciers. There were some nice examples of large stationary coops and I even ran into our local egg farmer, Rufus Martin. He was selling fresh chicken meat that his farm had slaughtered earlier that morning. Can't get much fresher than that. I did manage to run into a guy from Aquabarrel who had adapted some of their rain barrel fixtures to chicken waterers and feeders. With all of the engineering going into the chicken tractor I just couldn't pass these up especially since they are made with square buckets that should be easily adaptable to our design. Aside from figuring how to hang them they should save me a lot of additional time and trouble.

Chicken Tractor Update and First Frosts

The coop section of the chicken tractor is beginning to take shape. Last weekend I was finally able to get the roof on and the floor panel cut out. My goal is to get the coop section finished and painted before too long so this thing can overwinter out on the patio. I need to get the garage opened back up soon. We will be doing the classic spring chick thing instead of getting late summer pullets.

I also was able to do the final till of the bed that will go under the winter tunnel. Timing will be critical because it all comes down to first frost dates and photo period. The days are getting shorter and that will have a profound effect on germination and growth rate. Frost tolerance also comes into play. Since they are calling for a good soaking rain today I went ahead and seeded in a couple of varieties of kale, some spinach and beets. I plan to transplant in some bok choy and who knows what else in the coming weeks depending on the forecast.

A couple of useful links for us Western Maryland plow boys:

Maryland First (Fall) Frost Dates

Maryland Last (Spring) Frost Dates

Got to go; its off to the Maryland Poultry Swap in Sharpsburg.

Life is Good

Cooler temps and slowly shortening days means one thing; back to full production of the salad greens. This week marked the first big cut of the fall lettuce and mustard greens. Together, these make one hell of a salad mix that never fails to satisfy. We should be able to add in some young Swiss chard in the next week or so.

And this is our first trial of bok choy. This is so easy to grow, and apparently not a target for any of the usual insects, that we will have to make it a regular addition. I also hope to put some of this under the winter tunnel.

And what's a Sunday evening dinner without some stir fry from the second planting of squash together with red onions and peppers.

Fall Garden and Initial Prep for Winter

Production wise it was one hell of a summer for the Food Patch. Cooler summer temps and adequate rainfall meant only having to water the plot at most two or three times so far although it is now starting to dry out a bit more. Nearly all of the spring plantings have been pulled (except for a few beets and herbs) to make room for the fall crops. It really helped this year to move the tomatoes and peppers outside the rabbit fence to make more room for crop rotation. This will continue next year. Late season plantings of yellow squash, zucchini and cucumbers were started inside in late July so that they could be put out and get established before the days started getting shorter.  They are just about to start yielding. Late summer kale and Swiss chard are coming on as are the fall brassicas that were started inside along with the squash and cucumbers. That leaves one large area in the middle of the plot that I am holding in reserve for the winter tunnel (about where the blue bucket is sitting in the pic). I've got a small poly tunnel on a wire frame that I can move around but I also plan to put in a full-length agri-bond tunnel down the middle to see just how long into winter I can continue some kale, spinach, beets and bok choy. With lower temps and shorter days, things will definitely slow down but anything would be preferable to the foreign crap that is in the produce section of the stores in the off season. I figure as the temps decrease I can overlay the agri-bond with clear poly to get a little more protection and also slide in some gallon jugs of water to absorb heat during the day and radiate at night. I might even use some straw bales to seal up the ends depending on how things go.

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The other big news this week was the final bottling of the raspberry mead that was started way back at the end of March. It was made with berries from the Food Patch and local wild honey (Hays Apiary in Smithsburg). Technically it is a "Melomel" which is mead made with a fruit other than apple or grape. It is very light and dry (very paleo) with subtle hints of the honey and fruit. In retrospect it would have made an excellent sweet champagne if supplemented with sugar and carbonated. But I wasn't ready to tackle a sparkling wine just yet and sweet is definitely not paleo. With all of the excitement surrounding the History Channel's Viking series and in anticipation of season-2 in early 2014, I am calling this concoction "Blood of Ragnar". It is not super high in alcohol and makes a nice accompaniment to food.

Mid Summer Abundance

It's that point in the summer where the yields are high, the bugs are still under control and we are suddenly in a state of abundance mainly due to more than adequate rainfall. The key is how to maximize use while minimizing waste. Easier said than done. The tomatoes are just starting to come in but the squash, cucumbers, chard, beets, and onions are really rolling. That means lots of stir fries, salads and what ever else we can whip up on short notice.

The lettuce is on temporary hiatus having been in constant production since Memorial Day weekend until just this past week. The 50% shade cloth made a huge difference in the summer heat so we are starting new seedlings to establish a new system for mid summer under that cover. It was not until we had to buy a few bags of so-called baby gourmet lettuce at the store this week that we realized just how well we have had it and just how sub-par the commercial offerings are compared to home-grown! In the next week or so we will be starting seedlings for our fall crops and believe me we will be pulling out all of the stops this year to extend our harvest into the fall and early winter. There is just no substitute for home-grown produce. 

The other big news this week was the long-awaited laying of the keel for the chicken tractor. The design of this thing has been under development since February. There is still a lot to do and much of this project is design on the fly and quick-fix engineering. We really needed the frame to be constructed in order to see how to flesh-out the rest of the structure. Right now it is looking like we will have a hen house of approximately 36" X 45" with a back slanted roof 64" at the front peak and an external set of nesting boxes so we can easily collect eggs and maximize interior space. The open forage area will be 4' X 12' and we plan to devote most of the back yard to this contraption. Once the grass goes dormant for the winter, we will park the tractor in the garden; seeding a section in winter rye just for it. The big unknown will be whether to attempt getting pullets for the fall or wait until spring before establishing the chickens.

Summer Solstice 2013

It seems like just yesterday we were scrambling to cover everything against a late spring frost and here is it is the day after the summer solstice already. Time is definitely flying.

We've been able to stay in fresh lettuce and mixed greens for over a month now and we are getting really spoiled having our own salad mix every night especially after a long winter of the bagged stuff from CA. It has taken a lot of work keeping seed packs sprouted for succession planting. Things are getting a bit tricky now though with the summer heat. Things like the spinach and chard are beginning to bolt and set seed. We'll do the best we can to cope most likely going the micromix route until fall. Attention will now go more toward the squashes, melons, and getting a row of carrots in for the fall and early winter.

The black raspberries are just beginning to come in and today was the first initial pick. I also said good bye to the strawberries until next spring doing the very last pick of the stragglers. This was the first year that we've had about a week overlap of both berries. Definitely a hoot having a bowel of both for desert tonight.

The new tomato and pepper bed is going well. Everything was caged up last weekend and the varmint fence was taken down. Tomorrow the chard is coming out of the main garden to make room for a carrot row and the cucumber fence is going up. This year I am going to try the Johnny's pruning regime to see if I can keep the jungle under control and hopefully limit the blight that always seems to hit later in the season.

I spend most of my time concentrating on edible landscapes but the one bed that has the bird bath is mostly Echinacea and ornamental grass. The echinacea is just about ready to bloom.

Oh Shit!!!!

One of the joys of growing your own is being able to harvest at the peak of perfection and not be concerned with all of the designer chemicals that may come along for the ride. But you also have to be willing to drop what you are doing to harvest and eat, freeze, can, dry, etc. when the opportunity presents itself.

Yesterday was the first full plot pick of the strawberries. It looks like the partial bed restoration last summer was well worth the effort. Yields and size this spring are incredible; getting just under a half bushel. Looks like a long evening/night of freezing.

Oh Yeah!!!

June berries are here so let the gorging and freezing begin !

Spring Update

It is almost June by the calendar but looking at the thermometer the last few mornings its more like October. Needless to say its been one of the best seasons for spring time greens. The strawberries are just starting to come in, the raspberries and peas are blooming, the batch of mead is bubbling in the basement, and  the new tomato and pepper bed is complete. What's not to like?

I planted the melons, zucchani and yellow squash today and with warmer weather predicted for later in the week it can only get better.

SPRING FROST WATCH; May 14

Got to love this global warming (or is it climate change?). In any event the last frost date for western Maryland (90% confidence interval) is usually around April 3 but to be fair it can go out as far as the first week in May. Tonight we have a major frost warning and it is May 13th!! Luckily I didn't get around to setting out the majority of my tomatoes and peppers this past weekend so they will be safe and I can cover the three early tomatoes as I've been doing for over a month now anyway. My real worry are the strawberries (already setting fruit) and the raspberries (just now starting to bloom). I suspect the strawberries will do fine since they can take light frost, the ground is warm, and most of the open blooms are below the leaf canopy. The raspberry blossoms are an unknown since this will be year three for the bed and they haven't had to go through this before. The canes are way up in the air and will get the blunt of the cold air. It should be interesting.........

Edible Landscapes

Things have been a bit slow this spring due to the intermittent cold snaps. I did manage to get the early brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kale, mixed Asian greens) under an Agrobon-15 tunnel. This was not so much for frost protection (brassicas can take lite frost) but to help stem the springtime flea beetle. AG-15 is designed primarily for insect exclusion with over 90% light transmission. Once seedlings mature, flee beetles becomes less of a problem and Bt sprays can be used to control cabbage worms.I also think the partial strawberry bed restoration will be beneficial. They are growing out nicely and I saw my first bloom today. Can't wait for that first berry!

The raspberry patch is beginning to come alive and I was able to edge and mulch this past weekend. The black canes are a bit slower to bud out than the reds. I was almost ready to cut out all of the old canes but they seem to be slowly putting out buds so I will wait another week or two before cleaning out the dead wood from last season. There was a definite decrease in black canes this season for unknown reasons.

Has Spring Actually Sprung?

With rain forecast for tomorrow I thought it best to take advantage of the spring weather today and get some mushroom soil worked into the main plot. It could have used an application  last last year but time did not allow. Shrum soil is such a wonderful additive especially for heavy clay soils. I try to add it every other year if time allows. An added benefit this year is that our local garden center has put their shrum soil under cover. So it was perfect; damp but not too wet, just right for working up with the tiller. The main plot got 1.5 yards.

I also finished up the new tomato/pepper bed. This is outside the protection of the rabbit fence but since varmints don't usually go for tomatoes and peppers and since they take up so much garden space for the entire season, I am hoping that giving them their own bed will free up more space in the main plot for other things. It took a lot of tilling effort to get this accomplished since this section of yard had never been worked up before. About half a yard of shrum soil finally got it into shape to the point where I could drop the tiller depth down as far as it would go.

The strawberry bed got uncovered too. This will be the first season after the partial renovation last summer. We will have to wait and see if the effort yields a better berry.

First Till of 2013

Took advantage of the mild temps today to do the first till of the season. About half of the winter wheat from last fall managed to sprout and had only formed small clumps but I thought it best to go ahead and get it worked up before the next rain. Should be able to get the peas and the first starts of lettuce in there by the middle of April.

Last of the Winter Bounty

We've had a little more winter this year than last but we just haven't had those long periods of freezing temperatures that hardens the ground; at least not yet (we've got some low temps forecast for next week). So today I pulled the last of the beets. These together with the kale has made this the latest I have ever harvested crops from the garden. We finished the last of the carrots a few weeks ago. I now have a little more confidence in my season-extending abilities and I intend to get this optimized for early spring crops and to start planning for next season.