Welcome spring!

Happy Spring Equinox! The days are appreciably longer. The nights a bit warmer. Crocus, forsythia and daffodils are in bloom.

Last week was the beginning of daylight saving time and we "sprang forward". A freak windstorm toppled our small green house prompting the setting out of lettuce starts.

This week scallots, red onions and spinach were planted. The lettuce is so promising. Soon we will have the first baby greens in our salads.

Our urban orchard of mini trees will begin this week when the Carmine Jewel dwarf cherry tree arrives.  As we are renters our orchard of mini-dwarf trees will be planted in large pots located toward the north part of the front yard. Soon the cherry will be joined by two mini-dwarf apple trees, a Beni-Shogun Fuji and Greensleeves. We choose them because of compatible bloom time, height and flavor. We also have four blueberry plants, a stand of raspberries and will have a new strawberry bed.

Another passion of ours is Slow Food. We eat seasonally - mostly from our garden and are great fans of our canning jars and two crock pots (different sizes) which are in use at least once a week and of sourdough bread. We began making all our baked goods with spelt flour and sourdough last September. The results have been good with pancakes, waffles, bread, crackers and chocolate cake. This week we began working with a slow process sourdough. Takes patience and a bit of planning allowing the bread to rise over a period of 36 hours or more. This first try we lasted the 36 hours resulting in a dense, tasty, very sour loaf with very good crumb. The next batch I will try to wait 48 hours but it is so tempting! Spread with cheese, sweet butter or our homemade peach jam the small slices are a treat.  http://nourishedmagazine.com.au/blog/articles/slow-ferment-sourdough-bread

Today, planting chives, nasturtiums and marigold seeds around the blueberries. These flowering herbs take care of bad bugs and invite pollinators into our garden/orchard. The same plants will go into the pots with the fruit trees.

Happy spring! The world is renewed and so are we.

What does organic gardening mean to you? A Vancouver perspective.

What does organic gardening mean to you? A Vancouver perspective.

Webster's Dictionary defines organic gardening as "a system of gardening that uses fertilizers and mulches consisting only of animal or vegetable matter". Wikipedia defines organic gardening as “Organic gardening is a form of gardening that uses substantial diversity in pest control to reduce the use of pesticides and tries to provide as much fertility with local sources of nutrients rather than purchased fertilizers”.

I agree with both but would have to add: the exclusion of any genetically modified organism and commercial pesticides and tending toward the use of heirloom plants and seeds.

I asked residents of Vancouver for their definition of “organic gardening” in 20 words or less and got an interesting variety of answers. “FOOD”, “ Manna”, “Sustainable, healthy, processed-chemical-free, local, fresh & delicious!”, “ good healthy food”, “Aside from the 20 words or less thing - more needs to be done to educate people about organic gardening - I've heard negative comments about it not being any healthier but, organic is not just good for us, it's good for the environment... “, “Work?”, “fresh wholesome food on demand (his garden is less than 10 ft from the door)”.

The idea of an “Organic Manifesto” has circulated for years. The first I read was written by Sandra Steingraber, Ph.d. In 2003.

http://steingraber.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/SandraSteingraber_OrganicManifesto1.pdf

The latest is by Maria Rodale, chairman and CEO of Rodale Inc. Maria is the granddaughter of J.I. Rodale.

http://www.organicgardening.com/living/teaching-world-farm?page=0,0

Living in a fast paced world in which our food supply is vulnerable to disruption we, who are willing, should learn to grow, preserve, cook and share our food as close to home as possible. Using natural soil care, beneficial insects, companion planting, intensive gardening and seed saving is economical, good exercise and community building. Even one planter of herbs and tomatoes will enrich your life and prevent one or more gas guzzling trips to a store.

For the sake of your health and good eating now is the time to begin to “Grow” organic.

Spring weather

We had a "mini" tornado leaping through our neighborhood yesterday.You could see where it touched down- pockets of destruction and where nothing happened. Unfortunately one of the touch downs happened in my garden. Our small green house, weighted down with about 70 lbs of pots, plants and a bag of steer manure was yanked around and dumped on its face. Lost the flat of lettuce seedlings but other plants appear to be salvageable. This has given us a heads up on placement of the bigger green house. It's going to be anchored to the back fence!

Two crockpots on the counter this morning. One with homegrown, home canned spaghetti sauce and one with homemade baked beans. It's going to smell really good in here by evening. Have to mix up some sour dough bread, write and article and get busy. Reflexology clients this morning and music (me) and photography students (Eric) this afternoon.

Our urban homestead.

Spent part of the week building a slide show of our 2010 garden, Fun, frustrating, productive. The garden and the video both.


I am writing for The Examiner.com. You can read post, how to's, events, link to our videos at http://www.examiner.com/organic-gardening-in-vancouver/deanna-tworivers

Thank you!!!!

1948 Hamilton Beach Mixer

A new member of our family came in very handy this morning. 
This fall we were lucky to find a purchase a 1948 Hamilton Beach Mixer with the juicer attachment for less than the cost of a weeks worth of Starbucks coffee. We found the booklet for it at Vintage Books in Vancouver, WA for $4.00.
Today, with an abundance of mandarin oranges, we were able to make fresh orange juice.
Very easy to use, quick and painless clean up and great, fresh juice.

You can have the "good life" without spending too much if you take the time to look for it.

It's been a long time...

since I've had time to be here.
Fall got very busy musically. We played at Festivals and Markets throughout Oregon and Washington.

The garden thrived. We canned and froze the bounty we were blessed with and have learned to use  and enjoy it.

PromoPhoto was blessed with a new, wonderful client Road's End Pottery. You can see some of their work and Eric's great photos at http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=2055731&id=1511128434.
As the famous William Norris quote says “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”. End of the Road Pottery will fulfill that need.

My partner, Eric and I got married at Winter solstice and the year closed in a whirlwind of music, food and photography with good friends and family. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1701860220862&oid=392617058383&comments

Spring is nibbling at the edges. Wild geese in massive skeins criss cross the sky several times a day. Blueberry bushes are starting to bud.

Found a source for rabbit manure in sawdust and are mulching around with that. Some warm day I'll dig it in.
Planning more and better boxes for the raised beds. wishing for more blueberry bushes and perhaps a quince.

Right now we have blue sky, bright sun and 41 degrees!

Need to organize the laundry room, sort seeds and make a plan.

Happy New Year!

Fall Is Here-It's DIY Time to Get Ready For Winter

Have you heard about Habitat ReStore? http://pdxrestore.org/
" Habitat for Humanity ReStores are open to the public and sell a variety of good quality building materials, appliances, furniture and other home improvement products at a fraction of retail prices.
All our merchandise is donated by businesses and individuals and we get new things daily. Follow us on twitter for the latest great deals.

The ReStore Mission

Our ReStores raise funds to help Habitat for Humanity build affordable homes in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan areas. And, we keep usable materials out of the waste stream and into home building, remodeling, and creative arts projects.

In just the past two years we have raised over $275,000 for our affiliates and kept over 1,800 tons of materials out of the landfill.

Get Involved

Donate: Individuals and businesses can donate new and gently used materials to our stores. We accept donations both large and small.
Shop: We have two locations, one in Portland, OR and one in Vancouver, WA. Come visit us. New goods daily. Treasures are waiting.
Volunteer: The Portland and Vancouver ReStores need the help of volunteers like you. We have plenty of opportunities for both individuals and groups. Find out more on our Volunteer page."

Our local Habitat Restore is doing a series of free workshops on weatherization and home improvement. Since the cooler weather is here we may as well be doing something interesting inside.

Clark County Habitat ReStore

5000 E 4th Plain Blvd

Vancouver, WA

 

Saturdays at 1 pm.

October 2, 2010: Session 1 will focus on exterior weatherization. Topics will include window and door installation, exterior trim install, correct caulking, sealing and house-wrap installation.
1pm - 3pm

October 16, 2010: Session 2 will focus on sheetrock installation and correct taping and mudding procedures. 1pm - 3pm

October 30, 2010: Session 3 topics will include interior painting processes and baseboard and trim installation. 1pm - 3pm

All sessions will be taught by awesome trade professionals! Our lead instructor will be John Schwager, a local contractor and Restore customer. John is a great guy and we’re sure you will learn lots from him.