The Last of the Potato Harvest

Before I moved back to the mountains last summer I had a small backyard garden in Illinois.  Though I knew that I couldn't take my garden with me, I did my best to harvest what I could in the few weeks before the move.  One of my biggest crops turned out to be my potato harvest.

I had planted three different varieties of potato : Red Norland, Yukon Gold, and Adirondak Blue.  The Yukon Gold produced the largest of the three varieties, and the Adirondak Blue produced the greatest quantity of good sized potatos.  All three have been making up a fair portion of my diet since early August when I harvested them. 

The Red Norlands were the first to start sprouting where I kept them in cloth bags in my darkened pantry.  The large Yukon Golds tended to become hollow in storage and I sadly had to discard many because they started to rot from the inside out.  The best keepers by far were the Adirondak Blues which made me happy because I had so many of them and they were so tasty.

I am quite happy that I have been able to eat home grown potatos for the past six months, but sadly that will come to an end in the next few days.  I am down to my last small, wrinkly Red Norlands and will soon have to buy my potatos from the dreaded grocery store.  At least I had a good run, and in a few more months I will be planting the next round of potatos in my new garden.

Seed Starting: Round One

There are a large variety of crops that I plan to grow in my garden.  Some of them I can plant directly into the garden when the weather is warm enough, but some plants grow more slowly and I need to give them a head start.  These slower growing crops include celery and onions.  I usually try to start them around the first of the year to give them ample time to grow big enough to be transplanted.

Celery likes to take it's time to germinate and they are surface sown so keeping the soil moist can be a challenge in my dry climate.  Germination can take up to three weeks even with good conditions.  I have found that covering my newly seeded pots with saran wrap and keeping a low level of water in the bottom pan can improve germination in the tiny seeds.  Onions are fragile little things when they first germinate and I usually plant them in a tray fashion due to the large numbers of plants that I desire.  I don't have enough grow lights to start 200+ onion seedlings in individual pots, but I can plant the seeds thickly in a tray and transplant them before they outgrow the tray.  Handled gently, onions are fairly tolerant of transplanting.  They are also a cold tolerant plant, so they can go out into the garden early under the protection of a cold frame to get a head start on the growing season.

In a few more weeks I will start the next round of seedlings.  I try to give some warm weather seedlings a little more time than others.  Peppers tend to grow slowly for me.  They can take a long time to become big enough to transplant, so I try to give them 8-10 weeks for getting started.  Broccoli, Brussel sprouts and Cabbage might also get started at this time.  They are another crop that tolerates cold very well so they too can be planted out early under the protection of a hoop house.

The final round of seedlings that I start indoors will be my tomatoes.   They tend to grow quickly, so I plant them 4-6 weeks before the last frost.  I also start them in larger pots than the rest of the seedlings.  I have found that the less you disturb a young plant while it is growing, the better it will recover when it is finally transplanted into the garden.

I have tried to schedule my plantings by following the waxing and the waning of the moon.  Some traditional farming practices think that root crops grow best when planted with the waning of the moon, while above ground crops thrive if they are planted with the waxing of the moon.  While some may think that this is an outdated practice, I believe that it couldn't hurt to pay attention to older farming traditions.  I also find comfort knowing that my garden is connected to the ever present cycles of life on this planet.

I use the information from my local extension office to determine the last and first frost dates for my area.  All of my spring seed starting dates are directly affected by when the last frost date is.  Depending on how many weeks a variety takes to become strong enough to be transplanted determines when I will start the seeds indoors.  Most of my seedlings will be transplanted to their final beds by the last frost date, which in my area is May 25th.  Of course I plan on using a few hoop houses to give my crops a little bit of a head start on the growing season.

To keep all of this information straight, I have started recording it in a notebook devoted solely to gardening.  I will also be keeping track of how long each variety takes to germinate and what date I transplant them on.  Later in the season I will track when I get my first harvests from each variety.  All of this information will help me make better plans for my garden in the future.  After all, "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." according to Audrey Hepburn.

Home Made Soap

Several years ago, one of my friends had dabbled in soap making and encouraged me to try it for myself.  It wasn't terribly expensive or difficult and I can make a very basic soap that doesn't irritate my skin like store bought soap.  I do vary the amounts and types of fats that I use when I make soap, so every batch is just a little bit different.  Some of my earlier soaps tended to be soft and dissolve quickly, so I did a little research to find out what types of fats make a firmer soap.  The latest batch used a combination of tallow, coconut oil and palm oil.  The liquid portion of the soap was a combination of chamomile tea and aloe juice boiled and crushed from fresh aloe leaves.  To figure out how much lye to use I use this lye calculator.  I just enter the amount of each type of fat and the lye calculator tells me how much water and lye to use.  I have yet to make a bad batch of soap using this calculator.  I also added some ground oatmeal to the soap to make it even more beneficial for my skin.  

The method I use to make soap is called cold processing.  The first step is to measure out the water and lye and mix them.  When lye is added to the water solution it undergoes an exothermic reaction - meaning it gets very hot very fast.  Handling the lye is the most dangerous part of the whole operation.  I always make sure that I wear long sleeved shirts, rubber gloves, and goggles when I am handling the lye to avoid any unnecessary chemical burns.  I also keep an open bottle of vinegar nearby to neutralize any lye I might accidentally spill.  When water and lye are first mixed together they can reach temps above 180 degrees.  I generally try to mix them outside because they also let off noxious fumes.  I generally make my soaps in the winter so that the lye mixture cools more quickly when I leave it outside.  I check the temp about every ten minutes until it comes down near 120 degrees.

The second step is measuring and heating the oils.  Many of the oils used in soap making are solids at room temperature, making it necessary to heat them to change them into their liquid form.  Oils tend to heat fairly quickly, but take a long time to cool if you overheat them.  I monitor the temperature of the oil very closely and turn off the heat just as the mixture reaches 120 degrees.

The third step is to mix the lye solution with the oils and stir them together until they begin to trace.  Trace is the point when the mixture is beginning to thicken because the oil and lye have been well blended together and saponification is taking place.  This is the point where I usually add any dry additives such as ground oatmeal.  I blend the mixture just a little bit longer, and then pour it into molds.  I use some plain silicone soap molds that form the soap into simple two ounce bars.  Each mold holds twelve bars and the flexibility of the silicone make removing the bars of soap simple.

After I pour the soap into the mold I cover it with a sheet of wax paper and place it on a firm surface and wrap it in a towel to insulate it.  The saponification process does take some time to complete, but after 24-48 hours the soap has firmed up and is removed from the mold to complete the curing process.

I allow the soap to dry for at least two weeks, turning it every couple days to make sure it dries evenly.  Once the soap is finished I store it away for future use.  I haven't had to buy any bath soap for myself for years and I often have enough extra to give away as gifts. 

Ordering Garden Seeds

I have been going over my garden plans and making adjustments here and there.  I think I finally figured out where I want to plant everything.  Of course the final arrangement is never fully set in stone until the plants are in the ground, but I have a pretty good idea of how much space I have for all the varieties of veggies I am going to grow this summer.  The last thing I needed to do was figure out which seeds I already had so that I could plan my seed order for this spring.  I still had plenty of seed for tomatos, peppers, winter squash, carrots and beans.

My general guidelines for choosing veggies to plant are fairly straightforward.  I plant heirloom varieties whenever I can.  I also prefer to use open pollinated varieties as well to help add genetic diversity to my crops.  I look for crops with the shortest growing season possible so I can make better use of my garden beds by planting multiple rotations to extend my harvests.  I also look for plants that do better in hot, dry climates and can tolerate heavy clay soils.  I want to choose plants that I know will thrive in this area.

This year the majority of my new seeds are coming from Baker's Creek Heirloom Seeds.  I have ordered from them in the past and have always been happy with their plant varieties.  I get their seed catalog every year, but I have found that their online selection is even larger.  This year I am trying new varieties of onions, broccoli, cucumbers, watermelons, and lettuce.

Other types of seed such as seed potatoes will be coming from the local co op or hardware store.  I have found that getting potatoes from local sources generally means that they will grow better in this climate.  I will also buy onion sets from local sources if I have trouble germinating my onion seed.  It's nice to be able to have a back up plan to fill in holes in the garden if you need to.

Something else I wanted to try in the garden this year was small scale grain raising.  I want to be able to supplement some of my chicken feed with things that I can grow in the backyard to try to save a little money in the long run.  I wanted to try a few varieties of amaranth and quinoa and mix in some sunflowers and pole beans or peas to see if I can grow a mixed pasture for the chickens.

Things To Do To Conserve Water

Since I live in a semi arid climate I am trying to be more concious of my water habits.  There are many small things one can do to use less water on a daily basis.

1. Take fast showers and don't shower every day.  Every minute the water is flowing is gallons down the drain.  I try to keep my showers under 10 minutes. (My hair is pretty long, so rinsing does take some time)

2.  Don't leave the water running when brushing teeth.

3.  Wash dishes by hand in a tub.  I find that I can wash a counter full of dishes in a gallon or so of water.  Most dishwashers would take several gallons of water and still not get the dishes as clean as when washed by hand.

4. Reuse water when possible.  I give my pets fresh water everyday so there is always a good portion that would go down the drain if I didn't reuse it.  I pour the old water out into a bucket and use that water to water my houseplants.  I also use a bucket to catch water as the shower warms up.  In the summer this will supplement my garden watering.

5.  Don't flush every time you go to the bathroom.  Each flush uses gallons of water.  I follow the saying, "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down."

6.  Use water conserving garden techniques such as drip irrigation and heavy mulching.  In my area these are important for a healthy garden because the ground is prone to drying out very quickly.

7.  Don't water the garden in the heat of the day.  I think the best time to water the garden is just as the sun is setting.  That gives the plants the entire cooler night to absorb water before it has a chance to evaporate away.

8. Wash only full loads of laundry.  I can get away with washing one to two loads a week.

When it comes down to it, every little drop really does count and water can be used several times before it goes down the drain or is evaporated away.  Anything you can do to reduce your water comsuption will help.