Welcome Spring!

Spring has sprung! There is evidence and excitement all over our yard . . .

Rhubarb (now in it's 3rd spring) is showing itself . . . 

Swiss Chard, overwintered in cold frames are looking fabulous . . . 

Strawberries are coming to life and have been thinned and strawed . . . 

Hens (now almost one) are in the full swing of laying motion. Here is Pearl, our best layer.

The hens have been in trouble recently though for raking the nice straw in their nesting boxes, out with they big ole feet!! Silly hens.

This is probably Elizabeth, our medium sized Barred Rock. 

The Rocks were very keen on investigating this camera business . . . 

Garlic (4 varieties) planted in the fall is looking healthy! Can't wait!

Asparagus (3rd spring) is ready to start picking daily. A wonderful thing.

My honey bees are a-flyin' -- pictured here on a peach tree.

Both hives have made it through the winter.

One has symptoms of Nosema, so I've treated both hives with medicine. Both queens are laying, and there is fresh brood in both hives. We actually saw baby bees being born when we went in for the first time last week! 

One of my dwarf peach trees in bloom.

A plum-cot tree in bloom. (plum & apricot combined)

Hens, Bees, Peaches and Apples

How are my little hens doing?

They are almost full grown. In two weeks or so, they should start laying tiny little eggs. How exciting! We have one Barred Rock who likes to exercise her wings. At first we were concerned that she was a he, but other than being slightly larger and able to fly a little bit, she doesn't display any other "he" characteristics. But we're still watching, just in case. She occasionally hops out of their chicken run and waddles around outside, but she wants to be with her friends, so shortly after doing a little exploring she pops back in.

Don't you just love the barred rock feathers?

So pretty.

Here is one of our New Hampshire Reds, Pearl.

Uncharacteristically, her legs are pearl color. Usually, when a chicken is older their legs slowly bleach out. Pearl's legs are literally pearl colored. Recently highlights of brown have shown up.

Here are six of them (out of eight) giving me the one-eye.

My bees. Oh, my bees. As you know if you've kept up with my bee saga since April, my left hive swarmed in spite of all of my efforts to make sure they had "room". I'm starting to think that eight frame hives tend to make bees swarm -- I have got to research it. Has anyone read anything about this? My left hive made their own natural queen who was able to return safely from her mating flight, and starting laying. The hive is calm, thriving, and I happened to see the darling lady two weeks ago, and she's HUGE. Wonderful!

My right hive has been thriving. There have been a TON of bees in there. I have carefully added on supers to give them room, but ultimately I think I had a case of "my queen only wants to travel UP" syndrome. I hadn't gotten down to the bottom box to check in 2 weeks because I was inspecting on my own, which would have been fine, except that I was getting a bit overwhelmed by HOW MANY BEES there were. It was set up just as you see it here and every frame was PACKED with bees. This is when the foragers are out, so at night and early morning there were even more in there. An extremely healthy hive. Anyway, I dutifully went to do a hive check and go down to the bottom box when I'd noticed eggs in the first honey super the week before. I should have done it THAT week, but the bees were crabby with me.

I let a week and a half pass and they had made swarm cells. There were about ten of them. I'd just talked to a life long beekeeper and he'd suggested that at this time of year it is possible to stop a swarm. As a new bee keeper, I was very proud of myself for removing all of these cells. For me, when crazy things happen in the hive, my brain short-circuits and goes to mush. All I can focus on is the crazy thing (whatever that might be). This is where my error was. I didn't look to see if there were fresh eggs in the hive, to know that the queen was still in there. There were still so many bees in there, frankly I couldn't tell that any of them had left. I know, it sounds crazy. What can I tell you, I'm new at this. So, without a queen in the hive, I removed all of the queen cells. What does that give you? A hive without a queen! Not a good thing.

The woman I was working the hive with that day thought that she'd seen some queen cells that were torn open, which would mean that at least one queen hatched. So there was the slight possibility that a virgin queen was in the hive. I checked two days ago for eggs and still saw nothing, so I made the call to get a new queen. Just in case. It's getting a little too close to fall and cold weather to play the waiting game for two long.

So, just yesterday, I put my new queen, in her cage, into the hive. The bees noticed her right away and cruised over. The big question now is, if the hive DOES have a virgin queen in the hive (that should start laying within days), they will kill the new queen. But, I was willing to take the $25 gamble to make sure I got a queen in that large hive pronto.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I wasn't able to use my organic sprays this year because of the lack of time spent at my house, so my fruit trees have had some issues -- but all in all, they are okay. The peaches were finally ready on our two dwarf peach trees.

These apples weren't quite done yet, so they are still doing time.

One apple tree, and Empire, had apples that were ready. It was a very small harvest and each apple had issues. But hey, it's only my second year. Right?

We gardeners live for the hope of the next growing season.

Life is . . .

a bowl of cherries.

This is half of the petite harvest of cherries from our cherry tree. It beats last year, the first year for our tree . . . we had one cherry. They are juicy, sweet and homegrown organic. Wonderful.

Also, after weeks of nearly continuous rain, it has been sunny.

Glory be.

Our Progress towards Sustainability

There are two books that started me on this journey of sustainability. Taking responsibility for my own choices and how they impact our earth, recognizing that collectively we can make a difference. 

The first is Serve God Save the Planet, by Dr. Matthew Sleeth. Where he challenges the old view of Christians that there was little need to care for the earth and points out that in the beginning God did entrust the earth to our care. And, when we sabotage land and resources that others depend on for life, that's not really loving our neighbor . . . is it? Ignorance is not a "get out of jail free card" we should be responsible and learn about how the choices we are making are effecting the lives of others. For example, have you ever researched the impact of unsustainable coffee farming on their local communities? Suddenly that Folger's doesn't taste very good . . . even if it's cheap! 

Dr. Sleeth writes: "Serve God, Save the Planet is meant to elicit personal accountability rather than political change. Its lessons are meant to teach individuals, families, and communities not much larger than a congregation; and yet it looks at larger issues because they profoundly affect each of us."

"I am convinced that when the church becomes fully engaged in the problems of creation care, we will overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. As all those who consider themselves people of faith grow in their understanding that God holds us accountable for care of his creation, we will begin to see positive changes on an unprecedented scale."

It was in this book that I learned about hanging out my laundry to dry and the environmental importance of growing our own food. Then . . . 

I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by a favorite fictional author of mine, Barbara Kingsolver. It documents her family's journey to eat local food that they either grew themselves or purchased from local farmers. Why? What is the point? The bottom line is that factory farming is destructive to our environment and lowers the quality and taste of our food. In addition, schlepping all of our foods from all over the world is a huge waste of fuel and a big contributor to pollution. This was a profound book for me. Eye opening. I loved it. After reading these two books I started changing . . . and planning! 

So, how are we doing? Here is our progress:

We started composting

We started recycling - everything!

We put in a large back yard garden, eliminating a large plot of grass that was largely unused and had to be mowed, eliminating mow time and gas usage.

We have made an effort to grow a variety of things that are "ready" at different times of the growing season and that "keep" -- this year is my first effort at growing winter squash, and last year my leeks were a huge success! The garlic I planted last fall is looking good so far . . . 

We planted perennial plants like asparagus, strawberries and rhubarb.

We put in a small orchard including 3 apple trees, 2 pear trees, 2 peach trees, 6 blueberry bushes, 1 apricot tree, 1 cherry tree. 

We tamed and pruned a wild blackberry patch.

We will be planting a new raspberry patch.

We will be keeping our own honey bees, which will help with pollination (a bit of a problem last year) and eventually will provide us with local natural honey! Our bees come on April 27th!

We started buying milk from a local dairy, with an old fashioned milk man and glass bottles.

We purchase our pork and beef almost exclusively from a local Rehoboth farmer.

We purchase our eggs from another local Rehoboth farmer, large beautiful Rhode Island Red eggs.

We started making our own household cleaners without all of the nasty chemicals that come along with the store bought varieties -- plus the savings has been huge. 

We hang our clothes out to dry -- unless I have a major back log, which I've been struggling with recently (and our electric bill shows it!). 

How is your journey? 

I cannot wait . . .

Last summer, once my garden was well underway, we ate almost exclusively from it. True to the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle concept, it was a rare event for me to go to the grocery store. I might have zipped into Whole Foods to get grains or meats -- but that was it.(Now, incidentally we get our beef and pork from a local Rehoboth farm.) But at one point I remember having to go into my local Stop and Shop supermarket. I walked into the produce department and stopped dead in my tracks. I looked around -- everything looked like plastic. Perfect plastic food without life to it. You couldn't tell that any of this stuff had been in the ground! I remember being so surprised at the change in my perspective. 

When I took an Organic Apple Growing class last spring a big topic of conversation amongst the larger orchard growers there and the teachers was how Americans had become conditioned to purchase only perfect looking food. Nothing misshapen, no fly-spec, no scab . . . we want perfection. Otherwise we won't buy it. The irony is, it's tough to grow a perfect apple without spraying the dickens out of it. At the class was a middle aged couple who wanted to start growing some of the apples in their orchard organically. The previous year they had tried to go completely spray-free (not even organic types of prevention) and came up with such "damaged" apples that they had to make them all into cider. No one would purchase the poor things. 

Now that ALL of the vegetables and fruits from my garden are long gone, I have to resort to the supermarket for my vegetables. I cannot wait to harvest my REAL food! 

One thing off the to do list

Dormant Apple Tree Branches

Open Center Grafted Apple Tree (three different types of apples)

My Little Orchard

3 apples, 2 peach, 2 pear, 1 apricot, 1 cherry, 6 blueberry

I know, you can't see much with the brown against the brown -- but spring will be here soon!

Yesterday, in the 50+ degree weather (yea!) I pruned my fruit trees for the first time. Last year, when they were planted, they had already flowered so I didn't prune them. After reading up on pruning I discovered that you can prune in the summertime -- although what you do is different. In any case, I pruned. It was nerve-wracking! First of all, I was afraid of cutting the wrong way, the wrong branches, pruning too much -- eeek! There are a lot of decisions to make when pruning. You have to decide whether your tree is pruned (if it's 2-3 years old) with a center leader or an open center. Then you prune accordingly. For the center leader (which I found more difficult) you have to decide which branches will be your scaffold branches -- which are the branches that are evenly distributed around the center leader and spaced 6-10 inches north and south of each other along the center leader. You don't want to take off too much of your "twig" growth, as this will effect how much fruit you get, but you want to make sure you take off enough so that all of the "effort" of growing fruit will be concentrated. For the open center method you are mainly making sure branches aren't crossing over top of one another (or into one another's "space"), and that any branches that start aren't at too narrow of an angle to the main branches. Anyway, all of this probably sounds confusing. It was. And scary! But I did it. 

If you are considering buying fruit trees, after my pruning experiences I have some (albeit, novice) tips for you. First, you may want to consider purchasing your trees through a high quality catalog like Seeds of Change (www.seedsofchange.com) where they take good care of their trees. Seeds of Change sells their trees bare root, so your land has to be ready to go when they are delivered -- or you can dig a temporary trench for them. Seeds of Change has very thorough instructions and all kinds of fun varieties to choose from. If you are purchasing a tree from a nursery, if it's a nice one, you may be able to find some more unique varieties than at your local Home Depot. Plus, it's possible that the trees have been better cared for in their infancy. When you select your tree -- pay close attention to the structure of the tree. (Read up on pruning.) If the tree is pruned in the center leader style, make sure that the tree you choose has a strong, well defined, straight center leader with well aligned scaffold branches distributed around it -- or at least see how they could be selected -- and others pruned. If the tree is pruned in an open center style, look to see that the branches that fan out from the trunk of the tree are well distributed and strong. And, with both styles check that any past pruning hasn't resulted in major damage to the tree itself. 

Two of the trees in my little orchard I selected myself from a very nice nursery that specializes in selling (not growing) all different kinds of fruit trees. I am embarrassed to admit that the way I selected my Chinese Apricot tree was that it was fluffy with a lot of blossoms on it. "More Fruit!" I thought. Blush. 

The remaining trees I had planted by a local guy who has a nursery and does landscaping etc. He had purchased the trees from someone else (come to find out) and selected them himself and brought them over to plant. The guy is great, and I think his work is terrific -- so this is not a reflection on him, he just doesn't specialize in fruit trees. In any case, the more I looked at my trees as I went to prune them, the more I realized they were a mess! One of my apple trees (a Cortland) had very droopy branches that literally touched the ground with fruit on them last fall. All of these branches had to be pruned at the point before they start turning towards the ground. Needless to say, this poor tree got a major hair cut. Another tree, pruned in the center leader style had a very poor - wobbly leader. Another tree had two leaders! EEeekk! Well, lesson learned, and hopefully the pruning does them good, rather than sending them to their death beds. 

Well, I've done it!

Come on, even if you're not a "bug" fan, you have to admit she's cute!

And, what are those big blobs hanging from her legs? Read on and find out!

Yes, I did it. I ordered my honeybees. Believe it or not, people order honeybees through the U.S. Postal Service. Who knew?! Our Bee Club is sending a truck down to purchase bees down in Georgia, then onto Tennessee for the Queens. As good a job as the USPS does shipping bees, our Master Bee Keepers will be caring for our bees along the way home. Plus, we are getting a discount for purchasing so many at one time. The Queen determines the breed of bee that you get, so we are purchasing Carnolians. They are a very docile bee (not aggressive, even though honey bees in general are a docile bee) and they don't mind the cold so these bees will be happy to get out and pollinate my New England fruit trees in the chilly weather. 

My bees will be coming at the end of April. Now, I have to get ready! I am admittedly a bit nervous. There are so many details, and I've never handled bees before. I never was an insect biologist and never wanted to be. But, I love honey, I love my garden and orchard, and the more you learn about honeybees, the cuter they are! Just look at that little gal pictured above. See those big yellow blobs on her legs? These are (I'm not kidding you) pollen baskets (yes, that's what they call them) packed with pollen. The pollen baskets are made up of long hairs on the legs of the bees that the bee will push the pollen into from the parts of her body that collect the pollen. One of the distinguishing features of the honeybee is their hairy bodies. They look fury. These hairs make the honeybee fabulous pollinators! The worker bees (all girls) whose turn it is to be foragers fly out and gather pollen from flowers. They come back to the hive and drop off the pollen that they have collected, which is used to feed the bees as a source of protein. 

What do I need to do now?

Order my hives, set them up.

Order my tool(s), smoker, feeder, veil, gloves and bee suit! 

I've fallen a bit behind with other to do's . . . and need to get busy.

Such as: Plant more seeds. Prune the fruit trees. Order materials to build my fence (for rabbits, etc.). Do more reading and studying on honeybees! 

Today is going to be in the 50's. We had a little regression back into the dead of winter last week, but we are back on track! The sun is out and the spring birds are chirping up a storm. It's so encouraging to hear them singing. They say "Spring is coming! Spring is coming!" Sunday is daylight savings and I couldn't be more thrilled. I feel a bit surprised that I "survived" and made it to the other side. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes we northern folks start to feel cooped up, down and out, and flat-out fed-up with the whole winter / snow thing. But really, this year has been just fine. Thank you Vitamin D! 

Bee well! 

Canning and Preserving

Thanks to Rhonda Jean from Down to Earth for The Biggest Kitchen Table: Discussions on Simple Sustainability. This Kitchen Table Topic is about Preserving and Canning. What a fabulous idea!

Last summer was the first time I've canned / preserved. I've had a large garden before in my previous home, but just last year had the opportunity to expand from two raised beds. Last spring we put in a large garden (in addition to the raised beds) and a small orchard along my side yard. Both of these areas replaced grass that we no longer have to mow. We have one large patch of grass left in the front yard for the boys to play sports.

In the garden I planted perennials such as rhubarb, asparagus and strawberries - all of which I should be able to harvest from this year. (Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam anyone?) In the orchard, I planted 3 apple trees, 2 pear trees, 2 peach trees, 1 apricot tree, 1 Bing cherry tree and 6 blueberry bushes. I am looking forward to harvesting and preserving these fruits in the future. 

While my trees, bushes and perennials were in their infancy last summer, I grew about 20 tomato plants among many other vegetables. I checked out a canning / preserving book from the library, purchased some canning jars and got busy. For all of my tomatoes I used the water bath method of canning. I had purchased a pressure-canner, but to be completely honest, it looked (and the directions seemed) so intimidating that I didn't use it all summer! Isn't that horrible?! Well, anyway, I canned both whole tomatoes and tomato puree. The thing about the whole tomatoes was, even though I packed them down with all my might before sealing them and putting them into the water bath, when the jars of whole tomatoes came out of the bath, they had settled down lower than the amount of space you're supposed to leave at the top. Hmmmm. (Input anyone?) I was very nervous about using my first canned tomatoes. I studied books and articles online to recognize canned food gone bad, like I was studying for a bar-exam. I'd never done it before and pretty much taught myself (and asked a good friend a few pertinent questions at the last minute), so I didn't have a lot of confidence that everything would work out well. But guess what?! They were fabulous. When I opened my jars through the winter (I just used my last one, last week -- alas.) the seal was super tight and the tomatoes smelled fresh from the garden. Wonderful! 

The other thing I did with my large harvests of tomatoes was dry them in my new dehydrator. I tried making sun dried tomatoes the old fashioned way in the sun over 3-4 days, but before they dried completely, mold struck. I think it's just too plumb humid over here in the northeast. It's tough because you need several days in a row of perfect sunny days with low humidity. Colorado would be perfect. Massachusetts . . . no so much. After my failure, I invested in a dehydrator. It was quick and easy to slice loads of tomatoes and line them up on the dehydrator shelves. They have kept well all winter long (just used up the last jar) and we've enjoyed our own tomatoes in our favorite pasta dish. Next year I will be doing even more with my dehydrator. Tomatoes, Fruits (for granola), Herbs, Herbal Tea. I can't wait.

The other thing I canned / preserved last year was jam. I have a big PB&J guy here, so I figured I'd save by picking my own strawberries and blueberries, and making my own jam. Plus, I was hoping that, like with most things, when they are homemade they taste even better! The wonderful thing about preserving jams is that as long as the fruits are high acid fruit, you don't have to run them through a water bath or pressure-canner. You simply sterilize the jars, make your jam, load them up to the correct height, run a spatula around the sides to make sure the air bubbles are out, put the tops on and let them cool. Voila! Jam! My strawberry jam came out the best. I could eat it right out of the jar and the strawberries taste so fresh. 

Here is the recipe:

Strawberry Jam

7 lbs. strawberries, hulled

8 cups sugar

1 lemon, zest and juice

1 1/2 T balsamic vinegar

Put all ingredients in a large pan. Bring to a boil for about 5-8 minutes until you have reached the setting point. Put into sterilized jars. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Link Rhonda Jean's blog here to read other posts on canning and preserving HERE.

My First Bee Class

What is a "Bee Class" you ask? It is a class that I'm taking where you learn how to keep bees. Last night was the first class out of six at a local agricultural high school only 20 minutes from here. I feel fortunate that there is a class and an association so close by. I don't think I would have the nerve to start without the guidance of folks who know what they're doing. 

The collection of beekeepers that run the bee school are a laid back group of people. No need to pre-register for the annual Bee Class, just show up. I wondered to myself if they've ever had only one person show after all of their efforts to prepare. I don't think that has ever been the case -- at least in the recent past. The local association here has been in existence for about 50 years. At 6:30, a half hour early - as instructed, about 25 New Englanders - young and old - poured into the classroom after writing our checks for $45 and sat down in a semi-circle of high school desks. Like good New Englanders that we are, no one said one word to each other before the class started. I read my new book "Beekeeping Basics" that accompanies the class. Finally one of the six beekeeping teachers saved us and started gabbing about bees. 

When class officially started we did the obligatory introductions going around the room, stating your name and why you have an interest in keeping bees. I was surprised by how many people in the room are simply fascinated with bees and want to keep them because they are amazing insects (which, the more you study them, the more amazing you realize they are). One man, probably in his 60's, doesn't like pets, or insects, or honey for that matter -- but he is fascinated by bees and would like to keep them. Not interested in harvesting the honey. Hmmm. To each his own. There were several people like myself who want to keep bees for better pollination of their gardens and / or orchards, in addition to getting some honey out of the deal. 

All of the teachers were very passionate - to the point of adoring - about their bees. A big part of their passion comes from their concern for the honey bee population. They are hopeful that we will all decide to keep bees for the sake of the future of the honey bee. You have probably heard about the mite brought over from Asia that's been plaguing the honey bee since the 80's. And more recently, their hives have been suffering from colony collapse disorder. Now there are concerns by the government that this has been caused by the pesticide they approved to kill the mites with. In addition, (I believe just this year) the government is requiring bee keepers to replace at least 20% of their combs annually, because apparently pesticides applied to farms end up leeching into the combs (wax) and they are concerned that eventually this hurts the bees who live in, lay eggs in and raise their young in the combs. Gee, surprise, surprise. Before the 1980's bee keeping required very little effort. Now, because their strength has been depleted, they require more effort and education.

A few quick points that were mentioned last night:

• The teachers were very enthusiastic about the positive effects keeping bees has on your garden / orchard. They said that the bees make an enormous difference. As I mentioned last fall, on a large sprawling pumpkin plant with numerous blossoms, I only got three pumpkins. I actually tried my hand at hand-pollinating my summer squash plants because the blossoms kept falling off -- fruitless. This worked, but it was labor intensive!
• Many fruits and vegetables need to be pollinated up to 5 times to produce good "fruit".
• The honey bee is a very docile bee. 
• The teachers were quick to point out that yellow jackets give the honey bee a bad name. 

A day in the life of me . . .

Here are my tomato plants. They are now hanging upside down in my garage. If the weather is getting too cold you can save your tomatoes by doing this and believe it or not they ripen slowly on the upside down vine. Cool eh?

Look at this beautiful rose! I had to include it. Isn't it gorgeous?

My peppers are working hard to ripen before hard core cold weather moves in.

Here is my cold frame work. Paint is drying. Right now I'm trying to get the nerve up to use the circular saw. Power tools give me the willies. I always feel like I'm going to lop off a limb. Scary. Notice my cute little fruit trees in the background and the pile of wood chips I have yet to finish putting around them (sigh).

Here is our front door dressed for fall. Of course the hay I'll be using in my garden as mulch -- Hello Garlic!

Ways that we have saved

*Constantly being updated*

Over the past year we have tried to pair down our expenses in an effort to live wisely and simply. As it turns out, our timing couldn't have been better. Here are the things we've done:

1. Got rid of the "lawn guy" left over from when I was a single working mother.
2. Got rid of the cleaning lady left over from when I was a single working mother.
3. Got rid of cable.
4. Got rid of long distance phone service. (we use our cell phones for long distance)
5. We brew our morning coffee. It is a rare treat to buy coffee at a store of any kind. Think of all of those wasted cups we save! This is a huge savings. Just think: 2 cups a day at $2 each x 365 = $730 and let's face it, a lot of people buy more than one cup a day -- and $2 won't cover fancy coffee from places like Starbucks.
6. Victor pretty much always brings a lunch to work. Usually it is leftovers from the night before that I pack into a glass container when we do the dishes after dinner. $6 x 5 days a week = $30 x 52 weeks a year = $1560. See how it adds up?
7. Started air drying our clothes -- winter, summer, spring and fall (indoors and outdoors)
8. Turned our thermostats down to 66 degrees (during the months it's cold here) during the day and 55 degrees at night.
9. Put in a large garden in our back yard -- I'm in the midst of making cold frames to grow things in the cold months as well.
10. We are in the midst of chopping wood (we have tons of it in our large yard -- one large one got struck by lightening and we had to cut two down to give my garden more light) to help heat our house this winter -- we have oil heat and I'm petrified!
11. Put in a small orchard
12. Started composting -- free "fertilizer"!
13. Started driving our own trash / recyclables to the dump. With recycling and composting we generate one medium bag of trash every 2 weeks. One bag is $1.50 to bring to the dump. $1.50 x 26 weeks a year = $39 a year. When we had trash service it cost $35 a month x 12 months = $420 a year. Total savings: $381 a year.
14. Committed to using things that aren't disposable that you have to keep buying -- like paper towels (use dish clothes and towels) paper napkins (cloth napkins) swiffers & kitchen wipes (rags and elbow grease) ... you get the idea.
15. Cook from scratch. This is a HUGE savings, AND you will be eating better tasting food that is better for you.
16. Make things instead of buying things. The sky is the limit here. Make your own laundry and dishwasher soap. Knit mittens from left over yarn. Everything you do will have a big impact. The more you do, the better.
17. Use the library. Most have a network so that you can "order" books from cooperating libraries. There are few things you cannot find.
18. Buy used things from thrift stores. Less expensive and better for the environment. Great combo!
19. Eat less meat. Did you know that cows and pigs - their waste - causes more damage to the environment than our cars? It's the methane gas released into the air from the er .... poo. Supposedly if each family ate just one less MEAT MEAL we could dramatically effect our environment for the better. Anyway, that's the added bonus of eating less meat. Not only do you get to help the environment, you also get to save big time at the grocery store. Plus, let's face it, it's healthier to eat less meat. For the past month or two we've been eating a MEAT MEAL about once a week. Plus, if you have your own garden like I do, just eating all of the ripe veggies is enough to keep you busy and well fed!
20. Started to make our own laundry soap, dishwasher soap, glass cleaner and furniture polish. Link info here.
21. Make our own bread.
22. Bought a woodstove -- goodbye $600 oil bill!

How about you? Are you working on ways to save?

Fall Harvest

The apples from my three new semi-dwarf apples trees were ripe enough for picking and I decided to go ahead and harvest them. The main reason being -- the cute little things had gotten this far without being totally destroyed by bugs, mildew, rust, scab, squirrels or deer -- let's hurry up and pick them before their luck runs out. This came to my mind yesterday because I awoke to find one of my three sugar pumpkins that pollinated with chipmunk teeth marks! Grrrrr. No big harm done though thankfully. I just need to make pumpkin something-or-other soon. Needless to say, I picked my three little pumpkins before further damage occurred. Speaking of pollination ... have I mentioned that I'm seriously considering keeping bees? (Another idea my sister-in-law Tanya has been tantalizing me with over the past year ... as in "Have you ever considering keeping beeeeessssss???") I have two friends in town who keep bees that I've started peppering with questions. With fruit trees and a big garden, honey bees with help with pollination and produce more fruits and vegetables. In addition, you can reap a harvest of honey. I'll keep you posted!

Make a note of it ...

Make a note of it ... birds eat PEARS when they are not even one inch long -- right off the tree. Note to self: cover trees after petal fall with netting. All of the pears off my two baby trees -- which granted were a grand total of about 25 pears -- were consumed over one weeks time. I always thought that wildlife ate fruit off the trees once they were ready to eat. Not so. Nope. They don't care. Yesterday I covered my blueberries because I saw a bird getting a little too chummy with them for my taste. It's a good thing. My guess is I'll have to cover my apples too? Good grief. Lament.

Baltimore Orioles

I don't know if the Baltimore Orioles are reading my blog, but they have come to mate in my yard. They are gorgeous. Their "call" is beautiful, powerful and loud. I've been gawking at them as they chirp back and forth marveling at how pretty they are. However, I just read that they eat fruit (also bugs, nuts, seeds and nectar). Thank God for fruit tree nets. No fruit for you guys from my little orchard. Speaking of my little orchard. I have one sweet cherry tree, one Chinese apricot tree, one Bartlett pear tree, one Anjou pear tree, two peach trees, one Fuji Apple tree, one three-in-one grafted apple tree, one Cortland apple tree (for pies especially) and six tall blue berry bushes. Fun! Of course it will be a few years for anything substantial, but hopefully by then I will have really ironed out the organic spraying thing. Keep well! Happy gardening.