Asparagus

We added 40 asparagus plants to the garden this year. Asparagus is a perennial so we won’t be moving it from bed to bed, nor will it have anything else planted in its beds. We used one 8×8 bed and one 4×8 bed. Each bed should be productive for about 15 years! Each crown/plant can produce a half pound of spears when mature.

Asparagus needs light, loamy, fertile, deep and well drained soil. We used compost, peat moss, manure, and sand. Then we top-dressed the beds with lime.

We can’t cut any asparagus this year and only a wee bit next year. Each year after than we can cut spears every three days until the third week in June. Then we let it grow until fall. In the late fall we are supposed to cut the ferns and muck the bed well.

From www.ohionline.osu.edu

Harvesting
Harvest asparagus by snapping 7 to 9 inch spears with tight tips. There is no need to cut asparagus below the soil with a knife. This may injure other buds on the crown that will send up new spears. The small stub that is left in the soil after snapping, dries up and disintegrates. A new spear does not come up at the same spot, but comes up from another bud that enlarges on another part of the crown.
As the tips of the spears start to loosen (known as “ferning out”), fiber begins to develop at the base of the spears, causing them to become tough. The diameter of the spear has no bearing on its toughness. When harvesting, the asparagus patch should be picked clean, never allowing any spears to fern out, as this gives asparagus beetles an excellent site to lay their eggs.
The year after planting, asparagus can be harvested several times throughout a three-week period, depending on air temperatures. Research shows there is no need to wait two years after planting before harvesting. In fact, harvesting the year after planting will stimulate more bud production on the crown and provide greater yields in future years, as compared with waiting two years before harvesting.

When harvest is finished, snap all the spears off at ground level. New spears will then emerge, fern out, and provide a large canopy to cover the space between the rows. Once a dense fern canopy is formed, weed growth will be shaded out.

KMH

Great Post

Follow the link over to Sara at Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. She has a fantastic post on the Proverbs 31 woman.

KMH

The Return of Spring

Spring has returned to southern IN. We have been having lovely weather again. I have been taking advantage of the warmer days and working in the garden, cutting the grass, and mourning over my roses.

The garden is looking great. We have been able to keep up with the weeding. As I have said, my goal is to keep up this year. We replaced the wood frame of one bed, built 5 4′x8′ beds, and filled 2 beds with compost from last fall. We had to purchase Mel’s mix for one asparagus bed, and 2 of the new beds. I’ll be purchasing more as the weeks go by.

Mel’s mix is from the book Square Foot Gardening. I highly recommend this book. We use his method and have had tremendous success. We are able to grow our own food on a much smaller section of the property than when we used the traditional row garden. The other advantage with raised beds is that you work the soil much sooner. Since you don’t actually walk in the garden, you don’t sink in the mud after a rain.

Mel’s Mix (for a 4′x4′ bed):
6 cubic feet of peat moss
4 cubic feet of vermiculite
3 cubic feet of sand
3 cubic feet of compost
5 gallons wood ash
2.5 pounds lime

Here at our house we skip the vermiculite, add extra lime, add 2 bags of garden soil, and plenty of compost from our pile.

KMH

Horseradish

I have a bad habit. I tend to bring things home and then try to figure out what to do with it. I once brought home pygmy goats. We didn’t have a barn, a shed, or even adequate fencing. Poor CK spent many days trying to get them arranged for me. This year I brought home horseradish! At least it wasn’t a horse.

So here is what I have learned about horseradish. It doesn’t look nearly as complicated as those goats turned out to be.

From John Seymour’s: The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It

Use–shred roots finely and use as is, or mix into a paste with either oil and a little vinegar, or grated apples and cream.

Soil—It needs a rich, moist soil, and a fairly shady location.

Sowing–grows furiously and spreads large taproots with equal abandon. Give it maximum space. Plant in early spring.

Harvesting–9 months later, use larger ones in kitchen, smaller ones for replanting.

From ehow.com

“Choose a site for location rather than growing conditions - a spot far removed from any other plants you care about. Left to its own devices, horseradish will stampede through your garden faster than you can say “Hi-ho, Silver!” But it will grow in any circumstances except deep shade or constant wetness.”

“Dig horseradish roots anytime from midsummer on, but for best flavor wait until after the first frosts.”

Tips & Warnings
The surest way to control horseradish’s rampant nature is to grow it in containers. The wooden half-barrels sold in nurseries work perfectly. Use potting soil enriched with compost, and water frequently.

To make horseradish sauce, simply mix 2 lbs. grated root with 1 c. malt vinegar or white wine. You’ll get about 1/2 pint of sauce from the roots of one plant, so plan your nursery order accordingly.
Horseradish has uses beyond the kitchen. A thin layer of ground roots, spread on a wet cloth, generates heat and improves blood flow - much like a hot water bottle. Try it on hemorrhoids or aching muscles.

Garden Beginnings

I love the beginning of gardening season. It is still cool outside, the ground is soft and warm, and we are always eager to begin. Somewhere around July I lose that enthusiasm. I have resolved this year not to let the weeds take over when the days get too warm.

We have already planted 2-8′x8′ beds of Kennebec White Potatoes, 1-8′x8′ bed of yellow onions, 1-8′x8′ bed of asparagus, 1-4′x8′ bed of asparagus, 1-4′x4′ bed of spinach and 1-4′x4′ bed of buttercrunch lettuce. We have a 4′x8′ bed that was already planted with rhubarb and horseradish.

Today we hope to plant a 2′x8′ section with radishes and carrots. My goal over the rest of the week is to keep those areas weeded and to begin another 8′x8′ bed. In the meantime, there are the flower beds to weed, herbs to start in peat pots, and we need a more substantial rabbit house. There may be rabbit babies on the way!

Geneva Maud

Geneva Maud (aka Ginny)

Born: about July 31, 2006. Adopted: March 31, 2007 from the CC Humane Association

12.5 inches tall, 15 pounds. Corgi Mix — an adorable mutt.

KMH

Knitted String Bag

Materials: circular needles, size 13; cotton, hemp or linen yarn.

Bottom of bag:
Cast on 15 stitches and, working back and forth on the circular needle, knit 32 rows, making a garter stitch square with 16 ridges on each side.
Continuing from the corner where the final row finishes, pick up and knit 15 stitches along each of the other three sides of the square (total 60 stitches). Place a marker; this will be the beginning of the round for the body of the bag.
Double the stitch count by working (YO, K1) around (120 sts).

Body of bag:
Work the body of the bag in Turkish Stitch to a length of 12″ from the pick-up round.
Turkish StitchRnd 1: (K2tog, YO) around.Rnd 2: (YO, K2tog) around.Note that this will make a double YO at the change of round (where the marker is) on one round and two adjacent knit stitches on the other. Watch as you knit to make sure the slant of the thread on each round slants the opposite direction from the round below, to form a vertical zigzag. If you find the slants are going the same direction, forming a diagonal ladder, this means you have lost a yarnover somewhere; back up until you find the spot and reach down and catch a thread from the row below to make the missing YO.

Top Edge:
Decrease round: (K2tog) 15 times; K 30; (K2tog) 15 times, K30.Work 8 rounds garter stitch. Since you’re working in the round this means: (Knit one round, Purl one round) 4 times.

Shoulder Strap:
Bindoff round: K 15; bind off 30 sts very loosely; K 15 and place these 15 sts on a stitch holder; bind off 30 sts very loosely. 15 sts will remain on the needle.
Work back and forth in garter stitch (knit every row) until strap measures 12 to 18 inches long when stretched smooth. The one in the photo was 24 inches and stretched way too long!
Slide the 15 stitches from the holder onto a spare needle of any size. Carefully align the two needles so that they are both pointing the same direction and the right sides of the fabric are together; your goal is to do a 3-needle bindoff to join the strap to the far side of the bag without twisting it, and with the seam on the inside.

Three-needle bindoff:
Slide your working needle (the loose end of the circular needle) through the first stitch on the front needle and the first stitch on the rear needle and knit through these two stitches, sliding them both off their needles.
Do the same for the next stitch on each needle. Pass the first stitch over the second stitch. One stitch bound off.
Continue until all stitches are bound off and the strap is joined. Make sure it’s right before cutting the thread and tying off the end.

Dogwood Winter

Dogwood: Cornus florida

My friend Mary warns me every year not to get used to the warmer temperatures that occur during the first week or so of April. She reminds me that as the Dogwoods bloom, we’ll have a cold snap. Mary is right.

Mary is always right. But I am an optimist. I always hope and believe that winter is truly over. I get out the spring clothes, throw my sweatshirts in the storage bin, and long for sandals. I dream and plan of all things we’ll soon be planting and eating. I can almost taste the sun-warmed strawberries. What I don’t do well is wait. Patience and I are not close friends.

This year our Dogwood Winter has lasted for more than a week. We have had hard freezes just as everything was blooming. Wednesday we got nearly 2 inches of rain. I know our apples, peaches, quince, and grapes are gone. Most of the flowering landscape is also in terrible shape. I hope (and I pray) that the roses and mint will come back as the temperatures moderate.

Woefully waiting for a return to warmth,
KMH

A Closet Environmentalist

I am a closet environmentalist.

Whew . . . I feel better already. Let me explain. Most conservatives tend to view environmentalist as liberal nature worshippers. However, I believe all Christians should be environmentalists.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism is quoted below:

Q. 53. Which is the third commandment?
A. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy
God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in
vain.Ex. 20:7.
Q. 54. What is required in the third commandment?
A. The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God’s
names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works.Matt. 6:9; Deut. 28:58;
Ps. 68:4; Rev. 15:3-4; Mal. 1:11, 14; Ps. 138:1-2; Job 36:24.
Q. 55. What is forbidden in the third commandment?
A. The third commandment forbiddeth all profaning or abusing of anything
whereby God maketh himself known.Mal. 1:6-7, 12; Mal. 2:2; Mal 3:1

So we are not to treat God’s works profanely or abusively. If creation is a work of God (which the catechism teaches in Q8 and Q9), then we are to be reverent in our use of it. I believe this means that we must be good stewards as we exercise dominion over the creation and the creatures.

There is a delicate balance between being a good steward and elevating the created to idol status. We strive daily to find and maintain that balance. It takes a lot of prayer and thought on our part as we seek to apply this truth to our home life.

One of the first things we put into place is the old standard: waste not, want not. We accompanied that with Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Here is a list of some things we have done as closet environmentalist:

1. Visited http://www.myfootprint.org/ to determine our starting footprint. I am not sure this takes into account enough factors, but it was a good starting place. Our starting point 2.5 earths needed! Yikes. We are currently at 1.5.
2. Installed compact florescent bulbs in all our lighting fixtures.
3. Stopped bringing home plastic bags from stores. Now we tote our own canvas or string bags. http://www.reusablebags.com/ is an excellent source for many non-plastic items. (Pattern for knitted string bag to follow)
4. Replaced plastic water bottles with Kleen Kanteen bottles (see above link). Replaced plastic storage containers with glass or stainless steel.
5. Designed a recycling center for the utility room. 100% compliance within the house.
6. Reuse more of our junk mail as scrap paper.
7. Installed and used UL wood burning stove. We use already down or standing dead trees for fuel, we also plant 2 trees for every tree we use. This had the additional benefit of reducing our electric bill in the winter to just above our spring/fall averages. We did leave the furnace set to 50 just in case! It probably kicked on 6 times all winter.
8. Garden, garden, garden and farmer’s markets. We are able to feed ourselves 9 months out of the year with our garden produce, farmer’s market buys, local contacts for honey, fruit in quantity. We dehydrate, can, and freeze as much as possible. We also only eat animal products that come from our homestead. That means eggs in spring, summer, and early fall; dairy only if a goat is milking (although we do cheat for pizza night); and meat very rarely.
9. We also try to not buy new if we can find it second hand. We have furnished most of our home that way.
10. We have switched to all natural cleaners and personal hygiene products. We use our washer, but not the dryer.

Areas we are working on right now:

1. I do need to buy everyone new futon/mattresses. I definitely will be buying those new. I’m still researching options.
2. Water heaters. I can’t decide if we should just get a new, efficient regular water heater or a tankless water heater.
3. Researching metal roofing, rain catchment, and water filtration units.

KMH

Who are we?

Hi, I am KMH. I have been married to CK for 20.5 years, mom to MA for 18.5 years, and mom to HM for 16.75 years. We live on a very small homestead in southern Indiana. We raise chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and goats. The chickens and turkeys keep our backyard mowed, the goats keep the woods clear, and the rabbits are just fun to watch.

We have 2 dogs. Opal Katherine is a Jack Russell/Blue Heeler mix. She has more energy than any dog I have ever seen. Geneva Maud (Ginny) is a corgi mix who just recently joined our family. Neither one really guards anything, and they are definitely not shepherding dogs. They mostly just bark at intruders and try to chase chickens. Fortunately the chickens live in portable pens and so are not vulnerable to these attempts.

We are an odd mix of beliefs and practices. Reformed Presbyterian Christians, leaning green/eco-friendly, mostly vegan eating, and we don’t like Wal-Mart.

This blog is really just a place for me to put my thoughts as I work through decisions we are making, have made, and are dealing with their consequences.

KMH