Growing Yuppie Chow

 Photo By ilovebutter

Photo by Phillie Casablanca

Yep, I guess I'm guilty of growing "Yuppie Chow".

Yuppie Chow is that stuff Foodies buy from upscale natural foods stores and farmer's markets, such as heirloom slicing tomatoes, garlic scapes, mesclun salad mixes, baby carrots and tiny squash, haricot verts, bok choy and such -- you know, expensive things, but not the bulk of one's calories. Yuppie Chow.

I'm currently rethinking what I can grow because if there's a food crisis, I don't grow enough to feed myself adequately without outside additions. In an extended crisis there will be NO food on the grocery shelves, and perhaps no gas to get there anyway. I'm open to growing food suggestions if you have any! 

Of course, Yuppie Chow is not all I grow. The heirloom tomatoes, various herbs, asparagus, and bulbing fennel are considered Yuppie Chow, but I also grow enough garlic, shallots, leeks, onions, and long-keeping winter squash to last through winter. The winter squash, of course, provide lots of calories. The other things simply add more flavor than calories. I hate insipid-tasting food.

I don't raise any meat animals or have chickens for eggs, so I'd be low on protein. My few small nut trees wouldn't produce 2 ounces of oils even if I could press them, so I'd be short on the essential fatty acids that come from meats and oils. Tubers don't do well for me here (other than Jerusalem artichokes), too many tunneling rodents that get to them first.

I'm looking to grow things that can flesh out my pantry in an extended crisis, both perennials, and annuals where I can save seeds for the next year. Currently, I only plant a few things where I save seed, like tomatoes and beans. I need to learn how to save seed from things like summer squash and cole crops because in an extended crisis, there may be no available seeds.

My fruit trees are small and won't bear for a few more years so I only have some perishable berries for fruits right now.

I'm thinking to try growing oyster mushrooms because they contain around 15% protein, as well as adding complex flavors to cooked foods, but I guess that might be considered more Yuppie Chow...

The War on Front Yards

Can you believe this gorgeous vegetable garden in Quebec is illegal? The owners have until July 24th to dismantle it or face legal action.

Something is very wrong in the world when crappy foods and hunger abound, and yet this kind of thing is allowed to happen.

Source

Expanding my edible food forest garden, round 2

Cornus mas, photo by wlcutler

Last year I started my first guild (and updated here) in a long-range plan for an edible food forest garden. Now with spring approaching, I'm ready to expand my food forest garden a little. I'm actually not expanding it yet since it's only March, but I just bought a bunch of new perennial plants that will get started in some new areas of my yard when it gets warmer. Oh, and I've also put a whole slew of woody fruit cuttings in little mini-greenhouse enclosures, hoping some will root.

Hardy Kiwi (female), photo by Joe+Jeanette Archie

My new plants just purchased include: 2 Cornus Mas (dogwood family) aka Cornelian Cherry which has edible fruit and shown at the top of this post; 1 Aycock green leaf plum that I have lusted after ever since I ate one right off the tree 4-5 years ago; two hardy kiwi (one male and one female) vines; 2 table grapes (a Concord and a white variety); and 2 different Haskap varieties.

Haskap, aka Juneberry; photo by Jeena Paradies

Haskaps are also known as Juneberries, and as Saskatoons, but for all practical purposes the fruits look and taste like blueberries. However, they do not require the acidic soil that blueberries do, and that's a big plus for me and my more neutral soil.

I had my three 20 gallon pots of figs, and my  several potted blueberries stored in the barn for the winter, covered in fiberglass insulation. Either mice or voles got into them, and only one blueberry survived. They didn't leave a speck of root nor branch except one blueberry and that one is iffy! The Haskaps will go in the ground soon and start to replace the blueberries. 

My big concern is that since some critters ate the roots and stems of my potted plants in the barn (like they ate all my sweet potato tubers in the ground last year), how do I protect new tree and bush roots in the ground? My instinct tells me to encircle each of them with planted garlic, chives and garlic chives. It will be a challenge, and my cat is sure not earning her keep killing the voles!

In April I will be attending an Extension Service grafting class about 2 hours away; it's being held at an antique cider apple orchard. They say we'll each go home with 5 apple grafts to plant! 

The woody fruit cuttings I now have under tents here at home include 2 trays of elderberries... the first tray of over a dozen seems to be growing fine. The second tray was just set a few days ago, so there's a long way to go. Other woody cuttings include beach plum, filberts (hazelnuts), Nanking cherries, Chinese chestnuts, black currants, buffalo currants, and maybe even some red currants (my currant bushes are unmarked).

I don't expect a lot of success with my woody cuttings other than the elderberries, since it's my first attempt, but I have to start somewhere... and buying a lot of fruiting plants is not in my budget. Any of these that do not root will be attempted again in summer with softwood cuttings. And again in winter with woody cuttings if necessary.

Dreams, Demons, and Feeling Adrift

If you have been following this blog for a while, you may know I have ongoing (lifelong) problems with my younger (by 9 years) half-sister, who co-owns this house, and was recently fired from her job. She has almost zero possibilities for another one between her age, and the local economy which is even worse than the national average. My concern is the effect this will have on the rest of my life.

My half-sister has problems that span most of her adult life and several marriages, but I thought she had finally grown up. We interacted very infrequently over the last 40+ years and we certainly are not friends, so choosing 5-6 years ago to pool our scant resources and share a house may have been a big mistake.

Another thought is that I finally realize I do not like it here very much, even though I share half the responsibility for the choice. Oh, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love these mountains... but I find myself living on the outside of a tight-knit (closed) community (just my local county, the town 30 miles away is quite different) with whom I seem to have very little in common. The other thing I dislike is any adequate shopping is 100+ miles away... including shopping for organic foods (beyond what my farmer's market has available during the season, which is no different than what I grow in my own garden).

Does that mean a move elsewhere? Frankly, m'dears... I haven't a clue, and I certainly have no money to do so! The demons are the "imagined" responsibilities for my sister and this house, my long-range plans / progression for the garden including my efforts over the last 5 years, and how I feel about the unwelcoming area where I live.

I long to be in a community where there are at least a few others who can the see the possibilities of what we can do towards sustainability... and healing our lovely blue planet.

Segue:
Several years ago during a meditation, I had a "vision" of a house for me. Not at all what I would have imagined, either. I have designed many houses for myself over the years, and actually built a few of them. THIS house was extraordinary... lots of curb appeal although funky, very organic, with a small ecological footprint, passive solar and other energy efficiencies, and based on the Fibonacci Spiral found in Nature.

Over years since then, I have relegated this house design to "only a dream" without knowing exactly why I did that. However, I DID buy some balsa modeling components 2 years ago, intending to build a scale model. Those pieces were still behind the seat in my truck last week. I really don't know why I haven't followed through (until now) with this project, but it was more than just an "I can't afford it" attitude. Must have been some lessons I still needed to learn. (Do the Lessons ever stop?)

At any rate, I have now cleared a space on my coffee table to finally start building a scale model... and wondering about what area would be a great location for building it. I'm thinking probably the NC mountains. My plan is an interdisciplinary plan that involves eye-candy, sustainable development, alternative energy (passive solar, green-building, solar cooling, solar chimneys, radiant floor heating), small, affordable houses, yada, yada... and on the outside, food forest farming (polyculture perennials) with the vegetation integral to how the house functions.

When this dream house first came to me, I contacted the Colorado engineer, Steve Kornher, who started Flying Concrete in Mexico, thinking that would be a perfect medium for this house. I was certain I could put together a summer project for engineering and architectural students, and get a grant to build it. Then Steve assured me that not only was he too busy, but his "flying concrete" would never pass US building codes. Sigh.

In my current frame of mind, I don't see myself living where I am now for more than another year or two, because I am excited about the possibilities of this dream house (even though I see no way to accomplish it). Of course, nothing is etched in stone, either.  I hate feeling adrift, like a ship without a rudder...

But finally, I am really excited that despite all the obstacles, there WILL be a way to build this house... I just have to believe!

Pissing in Drinking Water

Disgusting thought, isn't it? Yet we do it every single day!

Municipalities spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide safe drinking water to our homes, and what do we do? We urinate and defecate in it, via the porcelain throne. Then, of course, that once-safe drinking water is now "contaminated" and hundreds of thousands more dollars are spent to get rid of it, either by municipal sewage systems or a gazillion home septic systems.

Consider this: the urine and solid matters we eliminate are made up of nutrients including nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus that either our bodies haven't used, or that are by-products of our digestive systems. Those liquids and solids contain lots of nutrients, just like the animal manure we put in compost piles. Our urine, in fact, is actually sterile. "Urine can contain up to 90 percent of the N (nitrogen), up to 50 percent of the P (phosphorus) and up to 70 percent of the K (potassium) present in human excreta." (Source)

While we throw away all the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium we have added to our drinking water, we also go out and buy manufactured nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, aka fertilizer, in bags to put on our gardens to grow green plants. HUH?? 

"This waste is particularly worrisome now because the cheaper sources of commercial fertilizer for farming are declining. Competing uses for natural gas, our biggest source of nitrogen fertilizer, is driving up prices. Potash deposits in Canada, our handiest source, are declining, and talk of opening up new mines in the rainforest does not sit well with the environmental community. Some specialized phosphorus fertilizers are very expensive. The day is coming when we must start thinking about scrupulously saving our wastes for fertilizer as humans have done, especially in Asia, for centuries." ~Gene Logsdon

So why do we use our very expensive drinking water as a vehicle to throw away those nutrients?

Simple answer: fear and ignorance... plus a healthy dose of "comfort zone" boundaries coupled with inertia.

When the liquid and/or dry ingredients are collected from home in a safe manner, it can be odorless, cheap and sustainable, both for us and the planet we inhabit. (Please do not confuse the toxic material from public waste treatment plants as acceptable or the same thing. Those waste systems contain many materials dumped in the system like drugs, paints, solvents, cleaning agents, oils, and who knows what else, in addition to human excrement.)

Human waste material can be collected in a fancy composting toilet like the one pictured above made by environlet™ (where the works are hidden), or even in a simple but adequate bucket with a lid. The liquid components can be collected separately or together in the bucket.

"Bucket and Lid" dry matter system (radiator optional!) photo from Sustainable Sanitation

In the bucket method, if waste is covered immediately with a carbon material like sawdust, coconut coir or peat moss, it will have no odor even if it remains in the bathroom until the container is full enough to empty. When enough is collected, it can be put in a dark-colored plastic 55 gallon barrel and allowed to compost in the sun for 9 months to a year, or it can be put in a well-managed garden compost pile... and either way, when it is fully composted is just like the stuff from our regular garden compost piles... FREE, and sustainable!

Liquid waste material, aka urine, can be collected separately and used immediately as fertilizer in the garden, BUT it needs to be diluted about 1:10 with WATER so it doesn't burn plants. It doesn't have to be diluted with the expensive drinking water we buy either (whether from the city, our own electric-powered well pumps, or in bottles from a store). It can be collected rain water, or water from a creek or even a puddle. You just don't want to burn the plants.

Applying Diluted Urine, Phillipines; photo by Sustainable Sanitation

Large-scale Urine Application in Sweden. photo by Sustainable Sanitation

I have read a little about humanure for many years, and always dismissed the concept, but thinking it would fit in a rustic, off-grid situation. I never really looked at the realities of the nutrients we throw away, only to buy the same soil nutrients from a garden store. Nor did I consider the implications of trashing those nutrients in perfectly good drinking water!

However, now that I AM aware, it will boil down to a matter of how far I'm willing exceed my comfort zone to be a better steward and increase my efforts at sustainability.

Realistically, I can't add a composting toilet to my bathroom (space-wise) unless I removed the existing toilet, but that could be a project for next summer when the temps are warmer and I can put up a temporary outdoor "bucket" facility. Another restraining factor is that I co-own this house with my half-sister and she'll balk at the thought, even though she has her own private bathroom.

I just might install a composting toilet to my private bathroom in spring or summer anyway if I can afford it (in spite of any objections my sis may have) because a new porcelain throne could be re-installed later for any potential resale of the property, and the nutrient benefits I would gain are worth it!


I could, however, begin now to collect my urine, and add it diluted for nutrients my garden soil every day... even now during winter since our ground seldom freezes solid for more than a few days. As a matter of fact, I did collect urine for most of 1 day, and added it diluted to a cold compost pile the day after Christmas. Not sure I want to do that every day until I can get a good system.

(I should mention I have not read the books listed below, so I'm not sure of safety measures or procedures of collecting urine inside and keeping it for more than a day.)

Given the increasing shortage and cost of fertilizers, and the expense of clean, potable water almost everywhere, does it make sense to keep pissing in our drinking water?

Notes:
There are some problems in making these nutrients safe when they are just mixed together and dumped in a pit, as was typical in the smelly and probably toxic outhouses of generations past. The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins recommends collecting dry and liquid matter together in a carbon matrix, and adding them to a garden compost bin weekly using some safe guidelines. He also has a website for more information and photos.

Gene Logsdon, a contrary farmer whom I admire, has just written Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind, and it's on my WishList.

Mr. Logsdon has this to say just about the impact of just pet waste products:

What are we throwing away in money? In Holy Shit I use my own way to come up with a figure. Experts say that ten tons of animal manure and bedding per year can adequately fertilize an acre of farmland. Therefore we have enough pet manure in this country to fertilize something like 20 million acres every year. If a farmer is paying out $100 an acre for commercial fertilizer (right now it’s lower than that, last year higher) we’re talking about a value for pet manure of something like two billion bucks.

And the cost of throwing it away in the landfill or sewage treatment system is a whole lot more.

ps...
The conceptual image of "pissing in drinking water" is not an original thought of mine; it came from Nick Ritar in a TEDx talk.

Celebrating New Year and The Nearings

I can't think of a better way to celebrate the coming New Year than with gratitude to those who helped set my Path.

If I had to pick any one thing that pointed me in the direction I try to walk, it would have to be my exposure to the work of Helen and Scott Nearing, back in the early 1970's via their books published by Rodale Press. There was no internet back then and information was difficult to find, but once I heard of them, I read everything I could by (and about) these 2 remarkable people who promoted self-sufficiency and sustainability. 

Who were Helen and Scott Nearing?

The Nearing were two of America's most inspirational practitioners of simple, frugal and purposeful living. In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Helen and Scott Nearing moved from their small apartment in New York City to a dilapidated farmhouse on 65 acres in Vermont. For over 20 years, they created fertile, organic gardens, hand-crafted stone buildings, and a practice of living simply and sustainably on the land. In 1952, they moved to the Maine coast, where they later built their last stone home.

Through their 60 years of living on the land in rural New England, their commitment to social and economic justice, their numerous books and articles, and the time they shared with thousands of visitors to their homestead, the Nearings embodied a philosophy that has come to be recognized as a centerpiece of America's "Back to the Land" and "Simple Living" movements. (Source)

Their best known books (those they wrote together) are Living the Good Life (1954) and Continuing the Good Life (1979). The first of these is often credited with being a major spur to the U.S. back-to-the-land movement that began in the late 1960s.

Before they moved back to the land in Vermont in 1932, Scott Nearing had been a Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, and Helen Nearing had been trained as a classical violinist.

I was (and remain) fascinated, first by their technique for building walls with movable forms, concrete, and rocks from their property, and later by their walled garden with the sunken passive solar greenhouse that provided food all year even in the coldest winters of the NE USA. Precursors to Eliot Coleman, in my mind.

I now realize I must have absorbed some of their views on corporatism, as I continue to rail against Monsanto et al.

Here's a short clip on the Nearings. The last scene was apparently filmed after they were much older and no longer living on their farm. (Just mentioning that so you do not mistake their suburban-looking home as being the one at the farm.)

"Too soon old, Too late smart"

Recently that phrase really hit home, via a gardening book of all things! Ack! Can you believe that?

The revelation hit me smack-dab head-on as I reached about page 100 of Toby Hemenway's book, Gaia's Garden. If I had been taught these very basic and logical fundamentals years ago, I would have a very different garden (and a very different mindset about a lot of other things long before now)... I'd have a garden that would be nearly 100% self-sustaining AND with such rich, balanced, living soil that it would supply almost all of my produce food needs, as well as sensual enjoyment of aromas and color in flowers! But I still couldn't grow olives and lemons here without a greenhouse...  :(

I was a little bit angry about the hindsight; maybe I still am a bit. Why isn't this stuff taught to everyone, and especially all school kids? Then I wondered if I was perhaps / maybe I was taught some of it in dribs and drabs (like in 8th grade biology, or freshman geology) but never connected the dots? Or is it just how Hemenway lays it all out together, so that it makes perfect sense?

Or is it like the old Zen saying goes, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." ?

At any rate, this book is now helping me towards a new (and/or better) understanding and pathway to garden self-reliance and the connectedness of all things. To put it another way, it feels like (re)integrating myself back into the "real, natural world".

If I can only afford to buy ONE book in the next year or even five years, it will be this one! The paperback copy I am reading is on inter-library loan, and apparently well-read as it's pencil-marked, creased and tattered. I'm glad to see it has been used a LOT because it means others are on the same path!

(There will be some posts soon about implementing some of the book's ideas this fall. I suspect it will take 5 years for my garden to begin to function fully in this manner.)

My First Nut "Crop"!

Four summers ago I planted a variety of fruiting bushes... and one nut bush, which was ordered as an Allegheny Chinquapin. It was a foot-long bare-root stick when it arrived, and this year it seems to be producing about a dozen nuts... which greatly pleases me, but they are NOT chinquapins!

In working towards sustainability, I wanted some small nut bushes to provide a source of minerals (including calcium), protein, carbohydrates, vitamins B1, B2, B3, amino acids, and some excellent unmodified fuel (fats). Almonds perhaps might have been my first choice, but they will not grow here.

Most people think of chinquapins either as the towering oak Quercus muhlenbergii whose leaves resemble those of the chinquapin, or the small Georgiana chinquapin (Castanea alnifolia), which is more of a creeping 4-foot tall shrub that grows in zones 8 to 10, but we seldom think of a medium-size nut bush like my "woulda-been" Allegheny chinquapin (Castanea pumila), which is basically a shrub or dwarf tree growing 12 to 15 feet tall in zones 3 to 9, and is a diminutive cousin of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata).

About MY nut bush

After carefully examining the shape of the nuts at this stage, my bush is a definitely a filbert. Of course, I have no idea which filbert it might be, since it's merely what Forest Farm sent me as the chinquapin I ordered 4 years ago. The shipping list and the invoice both indicate a chinquapin... but clearly it is not, although the leaves are somewhat similar.

I'm not totally disappointed as I also like filberts. However, it's the not knowing what I really have, how tall it will get, yada, yada...

Hard to see the nuts, but they ARE there

My next big project will be to build a Nut Guild around this bush and hope I can guess close to the mature size. Meanwhile I need to research what needs to be planted in a nut guild. I may even try to plant some of the mature nuts (assuming they mature!) this year to see if I can grow another nut tree.