There's a change coming

I woke up this morning in a wonderful mood.  That mood got even better when I logged onto my Facebook account.  Apparently Oprah had Michael Pollan on her show yesterday.  I didn't watch it, but have read great things on her site.  There were so many people talking about it on Facebook.  They were linking to Oprah, saying they needed to make a change and talking about Food Inc.    I had to join in and link to local Farmer's Markets that are running in the winter. 

It makes me feel hopeful for some significant changes.  It would be even better if these same people would look into planting a few edibles in their yard this year.  I swear that gardening is like crack, you get hooked and you can't stop at just the tomato plant, you have to have more!  Well, maybe that's just me.  If this groundswell from Oprah's show gets a real toehold, there could be major change this year.

There have already been huge numbers of new gardeners.  Anybody who tried to order seeds last Spring, quickly found out that things were rapidly running out and many were unable to get the varieties that they wanted.  I just got my Fedco order and along with it was a letter in Fedco style.  It talked about the politics of farming, how they are continuing to see record sales and struggling to keep up with them.  The types of veggies are changing too.  It seems that more and more of us are looking to grow veggies that are good keepers over the winter.  This is important.  If more of us have fruits and veggies in the basement, there will be less demand for those summer fruits and veggies from our Southern neighbors.  We need to get people hooked on the taste of fresh from the garden foods.  How can you even look at a grocery store tomato, when a little patience brings you a garden tomato. 

There are so many delicious things that people have forgotten about.  Take our dinner tonight for an example.  We'll be having roasted veggies.  They all come from either our own garden or the farmer's market.  With sweet potatoes, carrots, beets and onions, the taste is amazing.  Why have a tasteless imported tomato, when I can have those gorgeous root veggies.  The flavors can't even compete.

Then there is the taste of real meat.  The chicken that we've been eating lately are from the local slaughterhouse.  They aren't those quick grow chickens.  These are dual purpose birds that were running around in someone's backyard.  The legs tend to be a bit tougher, since they actually use their legs, but the taste is incredible.  It actually tastes like chicken.  This is the same with all the meats that we've gotten from there or other local places.  You don't need to eat as much of this kind of meat, there is so much flavor, you don't need to. 

I'm amazed at how far our local eating journey has taken us.  We still have a long way to go, but its been amazing.  If more people become interested, it can only get better.

The Remains of the Day

The wrapping and ribbons, boxes and bows.  This is all that remains of all the money spent, thought put into gifts, wrapping carefully done.  The kids happily ripped open their gifts, thrilled when Grandma and Grandpa arrived with more goodies.  We really try not to go overboard.  The kids get 3 presents each from us and 1 from Santa.  However, there are also gifts from the grandparents and aunts and uncles.

Overall, we seem to have a far smaller Christmas than most, but still quite impressive.  The kids can really enjoy their gifts when they aren't so overwhelmed.   When Noah was little, we used to go a little overboard.  He never really enjoyed it.  He would open a gift and then be irritated that we wouldn't let him play with it, because there were so many more to open. 

I've thought for years on the wrapping paper issue.  My family has always saved boxes, gift bags, ribbons and the like.  We also tend to be rather crafty as well, I keep thinking that we should make fabric gift bags to use for family gifts.  My thought was to use up the rather large pile of wrapping paper first.  I had a nice box set up to throw all the paper in for recycling.  Then Hubby informed me that there was a large sign in front of the paper recycling at the dump prohibiting any wrapping paper.  Huh?  For whatever reason, it must all be put into the trash.  What a waste.  I guess the wrapping paper will last virtually forever now, waiting to be used on non-family gifts.  Next year I'll be wrapping everything in fabric.  Sometimes, I just need a little push.  How was your holiday?

Time for reading

This is the time of the year that I actually have a few minutes to sit down and read up on things.  I love books, and have a bad habit of needing to own them all.   The picture above shows a sampling of the many books I own.  I love books on gardening, homesteading, preserving, frugality, and well, you get the idea.

At the library yesterday, there was a copy of John Jeavons book, The Sustainable Vegetable Garden.  Its very interesting and extremely detailed.  I need more though.  My library is pretty pathetic these days as a result of budget cuts, but I have lots of credits on paperbackswap.com. 

Some books that I really love are in the picture above.  Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living is amazing.  There is so much information in that book on everything from gardening to being frugal, cooking, preserving and raising and butchering animals.  Just amazing.

I also really love Eliot Coleman's book Four Season Harvest.  It has so much practical information on season extension for your garden. 

The frugalista in me loves The Tightwad Gazette.  Its funny to read it, since although it was written about 15 years ago, the economy was doing poorly then and there were lots of people looking into the frugal lifestyle.  Her basic recipes are wonderful to make something from just about any ingredients you happen to have laying around.  Some things are outdated, but overall its a wonderful resource. 

Some other good ones are Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth.  My sister in law is currently borrowing it, so it isn't pictured.  It has everything you ever wanted to know about saving your own seed.  Then there are all the preserving books, like Root Cellaring by the Bubels, Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator cookbook and Ball's complete book of Home Preserving. 

Recently I've been reading more on the local food and sustainability fronts.  Sharon Astyk has 3 books out right now with a fourth on the way, so far my favorite has been Independence Days.  I also really enjoyed Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. 

Please share some of your favorites with me.

Holiday lighting for chickens

J and I have been talking for a while about how to set up some lighting for the chickens so that they will lay.  For those who don't know, chickens lay eggs depending on the amount of light they get daily.  In the winter they lay very few if any eggs, so many people supplement the lighting to make their bodies think its ok to lay eggs.  The other day I had a lightbulb moment (I know, bad pun) and thought to use the Christmas lights that we no longer put on our house.  So far it seems to be working, the chickens are staying up later and eating and drinking later.  There are no eggs yet, but they are making what appear to be nests in the house.  I'm hoping this is a good sign. 

I'm happy to see the lights get used.  We used to be good little decorators and put them up on the house every year.  Then we got lazy and figured that it was good anyway, since then we weren't using the electricity.  Now we're using electricity for a good cause, not throwing these in the landfill and not buying anything new.  Pretty good option in my book. 

The plan for next year is to get more chickens.  We want to build a bigger, more permanent coop for all of them.  The tractor would still be used for the new chicks, until they're big enough to go into the larger coop.  We can also use the tractor to graze them when it suits our purposes.  The long term goal is to not have to supplement them with light over the long term.  If we let them lay like crazy during summer, then we can preserve the eggs for  the winter.  I have no idea if this will work, but it would be great if it did.  Eggs keep for a long time and can also be frozen if need be.  Has anyone else done this and had it work?

Thinking about Thanksgiving

 This sounds great!  I just found this nifty little site.  My family has always had a relatively local Thanksgiving, even before we really understood the whole locavore movement.

My Mom has always gotten her turkeys from a local turkey farm called Bongi's.  We love the taste of the fresh, local turkeys.   They are so different from the plastic encased, frozen birds. 

Then there are the sides.  My family has always had a garden if at all possible.  I've now got one as well.  So, between us, we have lots of veggies at our disposal.  The butternut squash is a must have, along with the pumpkin pie from our own pumpkins.  We also have goodies that were frozen during the summer, like broccoli, green beans and peas.  Apples are abundant here in New England, so pies and cider are a yummy addition.

It seems that the biggest thing that is not local are the grains.  We buy all of our flour from King Arthur Flour.  The company is relatively local, being in Vermont, although I don't know where they get their grains from for the flour.  I'm told that there will be a grain CSA starting up in the Western part of MA, so that should be very exciting.

Interestingly, I've never thought about this before.  I'm relatively new to the locavore and green movements.  It is neat though, that we were doing it right anyway.  The only thing we need to find local now is the little boiling onions for creamed onions.  Those are a must have at our Thanksgiving meal.  What will you be having for Thanksgiving?

I'm green, how about you?

This month's APLS carnival is on proselytizing green.  You can find more posts in a few days over at Kellie's blog.

So how do I spread the green word?  Well, I live my life.  Exciting, huh?  I've always been more of the quiet type (my friends and family are laughing right now).  Once you get to know me, I'm more in your face, but when I'm out in the real world, I'm very shy and quiet. 

The thing is, that I tend to do things off the beaten path.  The things I do, tend to garner some attention.   Attention makes me uncomfortable in many ways, but I also love to talk about the things that I'm passionate about.  So, shy or not, if you get me talking about our food supply, the climate, or consumerism, you're likely to get more than you bargained for.  My friend K likes to tell me that I inspire people with my passion.  I find that hard to believe, but am thrilled if it is the case. 

One thing that I have always believed is that the more people are exposed to something, the more likely that they will accept it.  People can talk all they want about a subject and it will go in one ear and out the other.  If they see someone else doing it,howeve,  then it must not be that hard and they are more apt to try something new. All of a sudden, that vegetable garden might be something they could try.  Maybe that cool metal water bottle would be just as easy as the plastic one from the grocery store.  We didn't get to this point overnight, and the unfortunate thing is that its probably going to take longer than we would like to get people over to the green way of thinking.  We just need to keep plugging away. 

Pretty piles of dirt

Today is blog action day.  The topic is climate change, something near and dear to my heart.  One of the big things I'm trying to do is to grow as much of the fruits and veggies for my family on my tiny little suburban plot. 

Here is the dirt for my newest garden expansion.  I've been busily adding raised beds to my current garden of almost 1000 sq ft to increase me to 1340  sq ft or so.  This will allow me to add more calorie crops to our regular veggie rotation and to add more perrenial fruits and veggies to the mix as well.  How does this help with climate change?  Think food miles.  There are none here.  Instead of the 100 mile diet, it would be more like the 100 foot diet.  How cool is that? 

All of us can grow some part of our own diet, even if its only a pot of basil in the kitchen.  It all makes a difference.  We just need to take that step.  If you had told me 8 years ago that I would be doing this I would have laughed at you.  As I've said many times, this has been a gradual process.  It all started with a few extra tomato plants from my mother's garden.  I never had any plans to continue to garden, but somehow it just continued to grow.  It became an addiction of sorts and I guess its a good addiction.  Food security, healthy fruits and veggies and good for the earth to boot.  What could be better? 

How low can you go?

Around here, many people try to keep from turning on their heat until November 1.  Its an arbitrary date more or less, but many people repeat it each year as a goal.  It seems like one of those guages used to show how rugged or in some cases, cheap you are.  In my case I try to see how long I can take it to try to keep our fuel usage as low as possible.  We live in Southeastern Mass and as a result have oil heat.  Most everyone around here does.  Even if they have a wood stove, they usually have an oil furnace as back up. 

Unfortunately we don't have a woodstove.  Its one of those things I wish I could have, but for many reasons that I won't bore you with, it is not possible.  So we wait and wait as long as possible to turn on the heat.  Hubby is almost always the first one to break down and turn it on.  This morning was his breaking point.  We've had colder than normal temperatures for the whole week with things predicted to get even colder in a few days.  We're actually having mid to late November weather right now. 

So Hubby had turned on the heat and after about a half hour with some warmed up toes, his cheap side kicked in and he turned it back off.  I've been trying to turn down the heat a little more each year.  When we lived in an apartment, the heat was part of the rent and we kept it at 72.  Just the thought of that makes me sweat now.  Last year we had it set at 65 during the day and 55 at night.  Now, when I was a kid we didn't have much money.  My parent's kept the heat at 62 for day and 52 at night.  I swore for years that I would never do that, and yet that is what I would like to do this year.  Hubby isn't very happy with that though.  He grew up with a house at 72 and everyone wandered around in very little clothing.  (His mother is famous for greeting people in her underwear.  Frightening!)  He feels that the house is as cold as he can take and would like me to leave it as is.  So, in the name of marital harmony, I will leave it alone.... for now.  I can't guarantee that I won't change it in a few weeks though.  The cheap/green side of me is strong.  I am Scottish hear me roar!

So, am I the only one struggling with the heat?  What do you keep your thermostat set at?

Food goals

As I've been wrapping up the major part of the growing season, I've been thinking about goals.  Goals for next year, for the coming years.  So many parts of my life have goals.

For my garden, the goal is to produce as much of the fuits and veggies that we eat as possible.  To that end, I've added fruit trees and bushes along the way.  Next year will see the start of a strawberry bed.  The veggie garden grows each year as well.  I foolishly thought that when I fenced in my garden, that I would be done expanding.  Silly me.  This year I'm adding more beds outside the fence to increase my garden space again.  One of the beds will be a strawberry bed, another a permanent garlic bed, the other 2 will be tomato beds next year.

One of the things I'm really trying in earnest now is season extension.  I've been doing multiple planting of various veggies, mostly those in the cool weather crop families.  When we get to frost time, I'll be putting cold frames over some of those crops to extend them even more.  Others will be mulched and left in the ground to be harvested as we need them.  I still have a long way to go on this one.  I'm still working on which root crops my family likes and which ones need what kind of protection.

Along the same lines, is changing over how we eat.  Eating seasonally and locally is very different than going to the grocery store and buying whatever we're in the mood for.  It means eating asparagus only for the short time its available.  It means forgoing bananas and oranges, since they don't grow here.  (I don't think I'll be able to convince Morgan and hubby to give up the OJ any time soon.)  The thing is, the more we do this, the more we like it.  Its amazing how good food tastes when it hasn't been picked early, shipped around the world and eaten at less than optimal freshness.  We really appreciate the new foods as they become available.  The changing of the seasons and foods that are available are more of a celebration.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so to speak.

What are your food goals?  Are you looking to eat healthier?  More locally?

Helpers

I've been getting my list ready for fall chores.  Along the way I've had my helpers assist.

They are helping me to water the newly planted mums that I got at the Farmer's Market on Tuesday.  I got 3 different colors, pink, orange and yellow.  The little man I get them from is just adorable.  He is so proud(rightly so) of the wonderful plants he brings each week.  The prices he offers them for is also amazing.  You can't find such wonderful, healthy plants for these prices at the big box stores.

This is Toby, my faithful companion.  He is such a sweet helper, always running beside me when I have the wheelbarrow full.  Of couse his favorite thing to do is run around the chicken tractor and get the girls all riled up.  He is certainly living up to his breed.

I wish that all these adorable helpers would be able to help me with my next big project.  There are going to be 4 big new beds added to my garden for next year.  I just have to build all the beds, fill them and spread manure by the time the first snow flies.  It seems like a long time, but it sure is going to be a lot of work.  Who needs a gym membership when you have a garden?

Does size really matter?

My kids were playing in the basement today. Noah decided that he would make a fort to play in. He used a smaller blanket than the picture above and it was perfect for him. Then Morgan came along and decided she wanted to play in the fort as well. The problem was, there wasn't nearly enough room for both of them. In this case, the fix was easy. I grabbed an old comforter and threw it over the chairs for an extra large fort, big enough for both of them and all their stuffed animals.

In our real lives, there aren't always any easy fixes for problems of size. We live in a 1200 sq ft home with a finished attic and unfinished basement. The attic is completely taken up with hubby's computer business, so that takes away a large amount of space for us. The reality is that in our society 1200 sq ft isn't very big. In my world it gets rather tight trying to store all the things I've accumulated in my quest to simplify and green our world.

Just the prospect of storing food can be daunting in a small space. First is the equipment for seed starting. Lights, heat mats, pots, soil and seeds all take up a good amount of space. Then I need to preserve all the wonderful herbs and veggies that I grew. This involves a dehydrator, canning equipment and hundreds of jars, rings and lids. All of this stuff needs a home. In my case that home is my basement. I have shelving on every available wall to have space to store all of my goodies. There also needs to be space for all the great things I buy in bulk.

Then there is all that needs to be recycled. We end up with a lot of paper recycling as a result of hubby's business. Since we throw away relatively little, the recycling needs to have a home until we can get to the transfer station to get rid of it.

All of this takes up space. I feel that it all has a purpose in my home. I like my hundred foot diet very much. It helps us to reduce our impact on the earth and keeps us healthy as well.

Now, I certainly have size envy from time to time. I would like to have a bigger home, although not much bigger. I would definitely like to have a bigger piece of land to garden on. We adapt to what we have. We all do the best that we can with what is given to us. But, yes, size certainly matters. It affects what we do and how we do it. The size of our home, our family, our land and our commute are all major factors in life.

This post is my submission to the APLS September Carnival on "When does size matter?" It is being hosted by Tina this month. Head on over and take a look at all the submissions sometime after the 15th.