So, it is that time of year where the seed companies are sending out their catalogs full of glossy photos of beautiful vegetables, flowers, and herbs. We got our first catalog of the season on Friday and Bry and I have been thumbing through it all weekend, oggling the colorful vegetables. This spring’s planting will require a bit more thought since we will be moving in July/August due to my finishing grad school. So, we must plan for crops which we can harvest before that time. It seems like our main focus will be herbs, peas, and lettuce. We have already started on the lettuce front. One of our potted house plants wasn’t doing so well, so it was composted and the soil in the pot amended. In the pot went a few red romaine seeds and a few spinach seeds. Now, if we can keep the cats from pawing at the dirt until the seeds germinate, we will have a lovely coffee table centerpiece planter of salad greens. Yum!

Bryan’s evening shifts have given me a lot of time to read and lately that means reading through Omnivor’s Dilemma however uncomfortable it may be to read at times. Despite the fact that reading about certain parts of our current agricultural system make me queezy, it is a necessary queeziness. Pollan (author) argues that if our current food chain and all the working cogs in  that chain were more transparent, we would not continue to the have the systems we do.

But queeziness was not what I set out to write about. I find that I am loving this book more and more because it talks about food (which I love to talk about) from every perspective imaginable (economical, ecological, agricultural, philosophical, anthropological, evolutionary, sociological, marketing, etc.).  Pollan touches on so many different aspects about food. And, even though I am not quite finished, I can say with confidence that this book is changing the way think about food, the enviornment, ethics, and life. I have started looking for ways to remove myself from the industrial food chain. And, as you can see from this post, l am becoming a little bit evangelical about talking about these issues.  Anyone who knows me knows I love food and I love to talk about food, cook food, eat food, feed friends and family.  I care deeply about the quality of food that passes through my kitchen.  So, now I just have more to talk about.  Now, if I can just incorportate some of these issues into my research I would be golden!

I’ve been reading Omnivor’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and this book is changing my whole perspective on US agriculture, most especially about the organic industry.  I am a little over half-way through the book and the author so far has done a great job at convincing me that the current agricultural policy in the United States is deplorable, uneconomical and unsustainable. The unsustainable part I could have guess, but when you find out how heavily subsidised the US industrial agriculture system is and that all of that doesn’t even factor in the countless health and environmental problems caused by this system that we end up paying for in one way or another, the whole system is quite uneconomical.

I have just finished reading through the chapters where Pollan visits a small farm in Virginia that practices “management intensive grazing,” a sophisticated grazing rotation system that exploits what grass, cows, chickens, pigs, and rabbits have genetically evolved to do best. The system depends on the farmer’s intimate knowledge of soil science and ecology and ends up being more than sustainable.  The farm is on a lot of 550 acres that when bought in the 1970’s was very degraded.  Over the years of “management intensive grazing” farming practices the condition of the land has greatly improved.  I could go on and on, but there is so much to it (probably why the book is so fat).  Anyone interested in food safety, their health, the environment, etc should definitely read this book.

After I post this I am going to start poking around the internet for a local CSA (community support agriculture) farm that we can purchase our meat from.

Bryan and I (mostly Bryan) grew some organic broccoli this fall in our garden and it is so good. Normally, I don’t like eat broccoli raw. The stuff you buy in the store always has an odd taste when eaten raw. But straight from the garden it is awesome eaten raw. So crisp and fresh with a hint of sweetness. Delish!

Here are some pics:

A couple weeks ago I heard Terry Gross interview a UC Berkeley Professor of Journalism, Michael Pollan. He wrote an open letter to the then next President Elect (I guess now the letter is directed to Obama). The letter was published in the New York Times Magazine. I just finished reading it and there is a lot of really good stuff in there. I sincerely hope that Obama and his staff take a look at the letter and consider at least some of the ideas that are put forth as a part of their overall agenda to reduce foriegn oil dependency, engergize the economy and create new green jobs. A lot of the big ideas proposed in Pollan’s letter seem to fall in line with Obama’s agenda, so I have high hopes.

If you have some time, I would recommending reading through the letter, “Farmer in Chief”, though it is rather long. If you don’t have time for that, you can listen to the Terry Gross Fresh Air interview with Michael Pollan which covers almost every topic covered in the letter.

Our garden for summer/fall 2008 was very successful. We installed a drip irrigation system on a timer this year. There was much more growth this year, and the harvests were much more bountiful. We are attributing most of this success to the drip irrigation system. Some of the problems we had this year:

1. We had too much of everything!
   The watering system was great, but we had way too much crop. We did not know what to do with half the veggies. We got a dehydrator as a wedding present and have been using it like crazy; sundried tomatoes, dried habaneros to make into hot pepper flakes and hot sauce, dried basil, dried peppers, etc. But despite our best efforts, we still had too much and a lot of good veggies went to the compost pile. I think our solution is going to be having more variety of plants with less numbers of each type of plant.
2. Did not harvest frequently enough.
   This is sort of related to the first problem in that we had too much and kind of got sick of things after a while. However, in the case of the zucchinis, if we had harvested more frequently, we would have harvested the zucchinis when they were smaller, and would not have had to deal with figuring out what to do with mega zucchinis.
3. Zucchini Vine Borers & Aphids!
   This pesky little pests have killed off our zucchini plants prematurely two years in a row now. We have been searching for an organic pest control method for this problem, but obviously have not found one that works. Next year, I would like to try Garlic Fire Spray.

We have been thinking about what we want to plant for next year. Here is what we have:

• 3 roma tomato plants
• 1 heirloom tomato plant
• 1 tomato plant that produces tomatoes good for making marinara sauces
• 1 or 2 habanero plants
• 4 basil plants
• 3 or 4 pepper plants each of a different variety
• 1 zucchini plant
• 1 yellow squash plant
• 1 Japanese eggplant plant
• 4 okra plants (planted around the yard, not in the boxes)
• 1 cucumber plant (one that sprawls less)
• 1 cantaloupe vine
• 1 types of beans (pole of bush, haven’t decided)
• 1 butternut squash vine
• leeks & onions scattered throughout garden

We already have some strawberry plants that will winter over and produce a crop of strawberries in the spring.

The other thing we would like to try next year is to get a rainwater collection system going.

For about a year now, I have been making my own cleaning products from vinegar, water, borax, baking soda, and Dr. Bronner’s castille soap (I used the lavendar scented one). Originally I switched to making my own cleaners because it was so very much cheaper. However, I have since found that these cleaners are actually more effective than the ones you buy in stores, and they don’t have an overpowering smell. Indeed, I can no longer walk down the cleaning isles without getting a headache from the noxiousness of the smell of the cleaners.

Anyhow, that is not why I am writing this. The other day, Bryan was listening to Dave Ramsey and he told me about a woman called in to celebrate becoming debt free. Dave asked her what she had done to pay off all of her debts so quickly. She said that it was a lot of little things and one example was that she started making her own household cleaners, including making her own laundry detergent. Dave started saying how that was a bit extreme, but she went on to say that she actually really liked it and would continue doing so even though her financial situation had considerably improved. Hearing this just made me smile. I am glad that there are other people who were motivated to switch to green cleaners because of the cheapness of it, and I am glad that there are other people who have stuck with it because it is more effective and safer for the environment, etc. The one thing that kind of annoyed me is that Dave said that she was being a bit extreme. But Dave is always saying that in order to get out of debt quickly, you should go extreme with “gazelle-like intensity”.

So, while I am on my little blog soap box let me give some of my cleaning solutions and some others swiped from Ideal Bite and Vinegar Tips.

1. All purpose cleaner: 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar + 2 cups water + 1/4 tsp Dr. Bronner’s liquid castille soap. I put this in a spray bottle and clean just about everything with this: windows, mirrors, countertops, stove, sinks, etc. You can make a separate cleaner that is only for windows and mirrors that leaves out the Dr. Bronner’s, but I like have one simple cleaner that does everything. Besides the amount of Dr. Bronner’s is so smaller, it doesn’t cause any streaking on the windows. Actually, this leaves absolutely no streaks, which is something Windex (despite it’s claims) didn’t even do.
2. Toilet bowl cleaner: 1/4 cup baking soda + 1-2 cups vinegar. Dump the baking soda in first, then pour the vinegar in about 1/4 cup at a time. Everything will fizz up, which is kind of fun to watch, then you let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then come back with your favorite toilet scrubbing wand, give the bowl a light scrubbing, flush, and your done.
3. Floor cleaner: 1 cup vinegar + 1 tablespoon Dr. Bronner’s castille soap + hot water to 3/4 fill bucket (about 1 gallon) + tablespoon lemon juice (if want a lemony smell) . I am a huge fan of the old mop & bucket method of cleaning floors. Sorry Swiffer, but you disappoint in so many ways. I have a mop that has the microfiber cloth strips and I think it does a great job cleaning my kitchen & bathroom floors, and when the mop head is a little too dirty I just throw it into the wash with a load of rugs or towels. A note about the lemon juice. I currently do not add the lemon juice to my mixture because I have a lavendar scented castille soap, so the smells would clash.

Other tips (these all come from VinegarTips.com):

1. To shine chrome sink fixtures that have a lime buildup, use a paste made of 2 tablespoons salt and 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar.
2. Make your own scouring cleanser by combining 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 tablespoon liquid detergent. Add just enough white distilled vinegar to give it a thick but creamy texture.
3. Clean and deodorize a drain by pouring in 1 cup baking soda, then one cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let this sit for 5 minutes or so then run hot water down the drain.
4. Remove mineral deposits from coffee makers with white distilled vinegar. Fill the water reservoir with 1 cup or more of white distilled vinegar and run it through a whole cycle. Run it once or twice more with plain water to rinse clean. (Check the owners’ manual first.)
5. Discourage ants by spraying undiluted white distilled vinegar outside doorways and windowsills, around appliances and wherever you find the pests coming in.
6. Clean grout by letting full-strength white distilled vinegar sit on it for a few minutes and scrubbing it with an old toothbrush.
7. Kill germs all around the bathroom with a spray of full-strength white distilled vinegar. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.
8. To remove grime, mildew, and scum from the tub, tile, shower curtain or door, wipe with undiluted white distilled vinegar. Rinse with water.

Very well actually … except for one pesky bug which I will get to shortly. But first a few pics of the garden for your viewing delight.

First up is the sweet bell pepper plant. You can see the blooms are just starting to form.

Next, we have one of the cute little strawberry plants, recently acquired …

Next, we take a peek into one of the zucchini plants. This picture was actually taken a few days ago. The beginnings of blooms that you see have actually blossomed now.

Last, but not least, we come to the tomato plants. They have become infected with aphids. I did not know what they actually were until after this picture was taken. I wish I had a zoom lens so that I could have gotten a closer picture of them.

The aphids are the three little red bugs you see. Specifically they are called potato aphids. They aren’t too nice and are beginning to cause damage to our tomato plants. Not good! Since are trying to keep our garden organic, we have been looking for some organic pest solutions. I found a pretty good solution at a nifty little site called You Grow Girl. I think we are going to try the citrus spray solution first, and then, if that doesn’t work, try an organic insecticidal soap.

I’ll keep you posted.

I went out to dump a load of kitchen scraps in my compost pile yesterday and was shocked to find it smelling of roses. After looking around I found that behind some of the bramble and brush that grows by our compost heap was a rose bush with beautiful creamy pink flowers.

So I cut off a couple and brought them in the house. Ain’t they sweet! Turns out they look really good with the plates that we are registered for.