June Garden Update

I have several posts in the works, but I thought I would bring up to date some of my successes, and failures for this season so far in the garden.

Some problems this year: 

1.    Over amending the soil
2.    Too much water
3.    Bolting bok choi

      The following two are only problems because of the wet, wet spring

•    Over mulching
•    Cornseed Maggots

Next Post...
Fun experiments and successes

1.    Hugel kultur
2.    Greens in the hoop house 
3.    New hydroponic nutrients
4.    Babies working in the yard

Too Much Poop/Water
I don't have any particular method I follow when amending my soils. Because of this, I really have no idea how much I should add of anything, or what all I have put in.  I know that straight chicken poop can "burn" crops, but I have had success in the past growing corn in a bed with a lot of coop scrapings.

I am sure that I added to much to the wicking bed in the hoop house.  Nothing would grow in it, and there were mineral precipitates on clods of soil when they dried.  Another problem here is that we have had so much rain this year, and I have set the reservoir to be filled by runoff from the hoop house, that the soil is always totally wet.

Solution: Cover Crop

I planted buckwheat in the wicking bed to help condition the bed for a winter planting of spinach,  Over time my mistake of adding too much chicken poop would be fixed as it broke down into more available nitrogen, but this will help expedite the process.

What else does it doe for me?

• Phosphorous: Buckwheat can extract phosphorous from the grow medium that is in forms unavailable to other plants.  After I chop it in September, that phosphorous will be available to the crops that come after it.  
• Soil Conditioning: Buckwheat puts out a lot of roots into the top 10 inches of soil (which is the total depth of my bed), and leaves the soil much more loose and friable than if nothing had been done. 

Too Much Water/Mulch
After making sure my garden would be as drought tolerant as I could make it, it has been raining nearly every day.  This has caused the soils to remain totally muddy, and my mulch to start rotting quickly.  Also, it has been really cool, and the combination of wet and cool has been a problem for starting squash directly in the soil.

Once the soil is warm, squash seem to pop up the day after they go in the soil.  Otherwise they can become food for maggots, which happened to my entire first planting of squash.

It was fun to dig up the seeds and find them eaten from the inside out.  Now that it is warm, I will have plenty of squash.  To be fair to myself, I knew that I had planted early (late April), but some years that would have worked just fine.  It was as much a Hail Mary that I would be able to have some really early squash, as it was naivete.

Bolting Bok Choi/Poor performing kale
I am not sure what accounted for the immediate bolting of the bok choi I planted in April.  It could have been a combination of too much water and wood mulch, and perhaps an over amending of the soil in that raised bed.  The kale in that same bed is not growing well either, and usually I have felt that kale will grow no matter what I do to it.

I decided to split this post up so that it doesn't get too long.  Next I'll talk about what is working, and what has been fun.

Caveman Brain or Thank You Jimmy Fallon Thank You Notes

I have heard it said that if you want something done it is best to delegate it to a busy person (if you can't do is yourself, of course). As a severely ADD person, this is an especially true bit of wisdom for me.

When I have a lot on my plate, I feel like I can get anything done.  However, when there is nothing much going on, don't expect me to be able to self-activate.

For over a week now we have been visiting my wife's family in Ohio.  A majority of this time has been down time (though I re-painted a barn, and rebuilt a barn door in the first couple of days).  I could have used this time to finish several blog posts I have started, or think of something new to write.  Today I had a block of several hours to myself while they all went to church. Instead of being creative, or useful in some way, I have remained in my PJs watching 20 straight segments of Thank You Notes on Youtube.

I should have this published before they get back, so all is not lost.  Now I will go eat the egg I fried half an hour ago.

PS There is a hypothesis that ADD is the pre-agricultural norm.  Unless something really has to be done, we like to preserve calories and go to mental hibernation. Producing dopamine all the time must be exhausting, but it gets the garden weeded in August.  

Easy Eggs for Camping

There are no better scrambled eggs out there than the ones you make from your own backyard chickens. The one exception is the scrambled eggs you eat when you are camping regardless of the source.  Everything just tastes better when you are outside and hungry.

My brood from 2010

Taking eggs camping, and especially backpacking, can be a daunting task.  Sometimes you just keep them in the carton in the cooler and everything is fine.  Sometimes you get those fancy camping egg cartons and they break all over the place.

A couple of years ago when we were responsible for breakfast for 12 on a winter hut trip, my wife came up with the idea to simply break the eggs into an old peanut butter jar.

This last weekend I decided to take it one step further and put all the ingredients in the jar too.  It did indeed make for some tasty scrambled eggs.

Her'es what I like in my eggs.

For the three of us (my wife, the two year old, and myself) I broke six egg into the jar.  I like soy sauce for saltiness and flavor, green chile, because I am from New Mexico, and yogurt for fat. I usually add butter as well.

You want some kind of fat or grease for really good scrambled eggs to help keep some of the really tasty proteins strong and so they don't squeeze out the water.

At Camp, Pre-Scramble

At Camp, Post-Scramble

Notice I taped the top, just in case it got loose.  To scramble, just shake vigorously just before you pour it in the pan.

I like a really hot, and well oiled, pan to cook it quickly.  I only cooked half of this at a time to avoid over cooking some of the eggs.  You know you have over cooked your eggs if they leach some water when they hit the plate.  I would guess that eggs are overcooked 99% of the time. Most people tend to overcook them, and then continue to overcook them some more until they evaporate all the water that got squeezed out of the eggs from cooking them too long.

With a hot pan, your eggs should be done in 10-30 seconds

 Mix quickly when the eggs hit the pan and pour the nearly done eggs onto your plate.  They will continue to cook and will set up right there in front of you.

Morning protein for a long day of, biking, hiking and climbing

How long will these be good for? With a cooler I'd feel safe 4 or 5 days out.  For backpacking you probably want to have this for your first breakfast only.  However if you have a food irradiator, you could keep it in that jar for quite a long time.

Happy Eating,

Charlie

Wicking Bed in the Hoophouse

In the past couple of years I have only grown in the middle of my hoop house because that was the easiest place to reach.  I am planning on digging it down 10 to 12 inches this year to allow for more head space and growing space for the tomatoes.  In addition I wanted to add some thermal mass to the edges to keep heat in and block out wind.


In building the retaining walls for the earth mound that was to be at the the edges I realized that I could put a raise bed in there.  So I dug it down and used this opportunity to try a wicking bed.

Caveboy in the 2014 hoop house in May. Except for this hydro bed, all the growing has been in the center.  

What is a wicking bed?
A wicking bed is a method of planting which allows for maximum water usage when growing in soil.  It is more efficient even than hydroponics, assuming one actually replaces the water in their hydro system as often as recommended.

How does it work?
One of the biggest problems with growing in soil is water loss.  Water is lost into the air when watering from the surface, and water is lost into the ground as well.  Mulch can help prevent water loss into the air, especially if you use a drip system.

Wicking beds address both of these issues by watering from below the bed from a reservoir.  The only way for the water to go is up, into the soil where the plants roots are.

A typical layout looks like this:

http://www.earthanedge.com/earthan-beds-how-they-go-together/
(I don't  have a fish pump.  I just fill it with water)

The reservoir underneath is usually filled with small gravel or sand which move water upward through capillary action.  Between the soil and the reservoir there is usually a barrier of some sort to keep soil and roots from getting down into the gravel, but it isn't always used.

As the soil above dries, the moisture is drawn up from the reservoir.  In this way the plant regulates soil moisture to whatever level it prefers.

You can't over-water these beds because there is a drain at the top of the reservoir.  Once it is full, it is full.

Instead of piling soil here, I decided to dig down several inches: maybe 3 or 4 to set the reservoir in ground a bit.  In order to use runoff from the hoophouse, and overspill from the wicking bed I dug a shallow ditch to direct excess water into one of the swales in my berry patch.

North edge of the hoop house

Digging in clay is fun. 

Reservoir Liner
After digging out and leveling the reservoir, I lined it with landscaping plastic.  I placed some old roofing tar paper I had in my shed below it to prevent puncture from rocks and roots below.

Tar Paper

Staple it up

Adding water to check level, and troubleshoot the drain.

Reservoir Medium
The next step was to add the gravel.  I used the pea gravel from last year's hydro set up.  I'll be using river rock this year for hydro because it is easier to clean.  The PVC tube sticking out is  for watering. It connects loosely to another 2" pipe and then a 1" pipe to disperse the water slowly into the gravel.

I will only grow on one edge, so I have indented there for more soil contact during initial watering. 

Happy berries

Dividing Soil From Reservoir
Then I laid the weed guard across the top and stapled it to the board that defines the inner edge of the bed.

Weed guard covering the bed and the watering hole

Peat Moss
For good transmission of moisture upwards, soil high in organics is best.  I have clay so I have amended the soil a little.  First to make sure moisture is transferred easily I added a layer of peat moss to the top of the division.

A thin layer of peat moss

Soil Mixture
As I mentioned, my soil isn't the greatest.  I won't be fertilizing this bed for a couple of years so I added some mulch and chicken coup mix (complete with feathers and mummified mice) and hoed them together with soil I dug up from the middle of the hoop house.

Poop. Dirt. Mice.

With each layer I added a little more peat moss to ensure good moisture transmission.

All full! 

Get it Wet!
The last two steps are to make sure the entire bed is wet to start the capillary action and to cover with mulch.  I plan on growing peppers in here. If I'd had this bed before, they'd already be growing.

 The next step is to actually plant some peppers.  I'll let you all know how that goes.


I'll write about the berry patch project soon, but I can tell that one of the swales is working nicely.  I've taken the other out to try to figure out why it wasn't holding water.

Water stored below the mulch in the swale between berries and rhubarb.  Like a wicking bed, this water will move into the planting mound as it dries.  

Death in the Meadows

This Wednesday we went for a hike with the Nature Tribe group at a natural area in the city.  Before we started out I found this dead vole with her still living babies suckling from her lifeless body.  

Caveboy wasn't interested in learning about it.  His favorite book these days is Who Pooped in the Park so I thought he would be excited to actually see an animal up close, but the tall grass was making it hard for him to walk and he just wanted to get back to the trail so he could run.

I didn't try to press the issue too much because I could see that he wasn't going to be able to pay attention.  We found plenty of tracks and scat later on the hike to talk about.  We saw some horses too.

He wasn't ready to focus on this little animal in the grass, but the older children were (ages 3-9 or so). They looked at the scene and discussed the meaning of it with each other.  One mentioned that he wished an owl would just take it.

That is part of the fun and the purpose of these hike: to build my children's village with people who take an interest in nature are willing to think about these things.

Kids: there are more interesting things in the ditch than on the trail

Later in the hike Caveboy did his best to keep up with the big kids.  Part of raising a conscious child is having the right big kids to try to keep up with.  Thank you to the NoCo Nature Tribe for letting us be part of the tribe.

Garden Season

Spring is here and I haven't posted anything in the past couple of week because I have been busy getting the garden ready.

Gardening in Colorado can be tricky business.  The first frost is usually in September, and the last in May.  The summer can be brutally hot and dry, or very cool. Nearly every year there is hail to contend with.

Glacial advance during hail storm of August, 2008

Additionally two of our neighbors have cottonwood trees near my fence line. Cottonwood roots make it nearly impossible to grow in the soil within the reach or their roots.

Over the past few years I have come up with a few ways to deal with many of these problems, which I will go over at some point.  For now here's what I've been up to.


Mulch

Free mulch from the City of Fort Collins

In the past I haven't been too good about mulching, except where I have used black plastic mulch.  With free mulch from the city, one would be foolish not to use it.  Here in the desert we must do everything we can to keep the moisture in the soil.

Irrigation 

I can not grow in the portion of my yard that used to be designated as the garden due to the neighbors cottonwoods, so a few years ago I built these raised beds and moved garden soil to them.  They have been great for a lot of reasons, but I have been watering them by hand.  After a few weeks I find I just don't have the patience to do it properly.  So this year I added irrigation to each planter.  

I realized after putting it in that this wouldn't work.  I needed a 90 degree bend. 

This should work better

Beauty.  That's much better. 

This year's Bok Choy, planted in March

It should be a lot happier under mulch and with its own irrigation

Berries

Avis' Permaculture Homestead

A friend posted this video on Facebook awhile back, and it inspired me to plant a berry patch.  Apparently Calgary has a similar climate to Fort Collins.

My first berries. I will add many more soon. 

The "Before" of the berry patch

My rhubarb will be happy that it will finally be getting some attention because of its proximity to the berry patch.  I will talk about the trenches, the "swale trails" in future posts about the berry patch.  Of course it involves a lot of mulch.

The Boys

Get 'em working young. 

 Of course what I am really trying to grow in my yard are my two young sons.

Danger baby

Hydroponics/Aquaponics

Last year's setup during the Mother's Day snow

I built the hoop house in the portion of my yard where the cottonwood trees are.  In order to continue to use it, I would have had to move it or figure out how to grow out of the ground.  I decided to try my hand at hydroponics, and with some trial and error, I had some awesome success.  It turned out to be a great year to do it as it was really cool, and many peoples tomatoes did not ripen until late September.  I had ripe fruit by early August, most of which was eaten by my older son.  

August tomatoes. Easy picking for a 2 year old. 

The day before Mother's Day, 2014

Mother's Day, 2014

Possible Aquaponics Experiment

 I grew peppers and basil in this tray last year on the same system as the tomatoes.  I will try an aquaponics, deep water culture, system with this small reservoir for greens.


Other things to talk about
This post is getting long, so I'll cut it off here.  I do want to talk about some things that Colorado gardeners might find interesting like:

How to over-winter spinach

Planted in September, 2014

Chicken Poop

Cleaning out the coup for fertilizer

Beer

Probably not, but here's the first hops of spring

That's all for now.  Enjoy and please let me know what you'd like to hear more about.

I Cooked a Frozen Pork Loin

If you buy meat like my family, you buy it when it's on extreme sale at the grocery store.  Then you have to freeze most of it.

People tend to waste a lot of time and sacrifice texture and flavor by defrosting meat before they cook it.  I learned about this from a Cook's Illustrated experiment a few years ago with regards to steak.

The Science of Cooking Frozen Steak

You can read why it works there.  I wanted to briefly share how I cooked frozen pork loin. 

Concerns:

1. Will the pork be done enough?

2. Will it get too dry?

3. What about spatter from all the ice that builds up when you freeze meat in a bag?

Answers:

1. If you cook it long enough, and it really doesn't take that much longer. 

2.  It shouldn't.  Especially if you coat it with oil first.  

3.  Don't freeze it in a bag!

A pork chop frozen in the bag, and a pork loin frozen on a tray, and then transferred. 

Frozen in bag on left. frozen on a tray on the right.  It looks fresh!

The first mistake people make when freezing meat is putting it in a bag.  If you  have done this, then you must defrost.  

Here are two different chops.  Both are stored in a bag, but one was initially frozen on a tray, and then placed in a bag.  

Step 1:

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.  This is a lower temperature than you would cook a fresh loin (350) because you will need to cook it a little longer.  

Pro-tip: Do a better job of wiping down your stove before taking a picture of it. 

Remove the pork from the freezer when you are ready to put it in the over.  Drizzle with olive oil (this helps to keep moisture in) and season with salt and your favorite spices.  

Step 2:

Place the loin in a high rimmed baking pan.  Roast for 40 to 60 minutes.

Step 3:

After 40 minutes check the temperature.  A thinner piece of meat could already be to 145.  This one was at 130 after 40 minutes.  

A 1" thick chop was 130 degrees after 40 minutes

Step 4:

When the center temperature reaches 145 degrees, remove it from the oven and let it rest 15 minutes before serving.  

I put this one in for another 20 minutes (1 hr total) and as you can see it got slightly over done at about 154 degrees.  

I over cooked it a touch (154 instead of 145), but it still turned out pretty nice.

Not looking crispy, despite going a bit past ideal temperature.

Evenly cooked all the way through, and no dry rind.

I have done this previously with steak and it works great as well.  Try it and let me know how it works for you. 

Eat up!

I could have just referred you to this article, but here you get pictures.

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