Consolidation

In an effort to streamline my work, I'm blogging here for now.

My author website is still at valeriewillman.com, but it will be getting a new face soon!

Once that happens, I'll be blogging exclusively there.

Sorry for any confusion.

'Tis the season for transitions!

Things I Can Cross Off My List--but not in the normal way

So the mason bees aren't happening. I've just got too much on my plate these days. It's probably too late at this point anyway. Mason bees emerge from their cocoons about mid-March (now) and only live for a couple of months. By June they're all gone.

Right now my taxes and applying for a home loan are taking up all my mental energy and time.

I'm requesting some assistance in moving my Huge-o Leaf Pile to the back garden so it'll finally get done. My lawns desperately need mowing, and I thought about it yesterday and the day before--two of the first beautiful sunny days this year--but I didn't think it was really dry enough to mow.

"Maybe another day or two of sunny weather," I thought. And then it rained last night. Sigh.

On the bright side, this blog post has highlighted two things so far that I can "cross off" my list. No need to get the mason bees, or mow my lawns. (Though the mowing will have to be added to another list very soon.)

I've also decided I'm not going to start seeds this year. I am going to the Lane County Propagation Fair next weekend though. I'll probably get all inspired to start tomatoes and pepper seeds anyway, but my current plan is to buy starts for my container garden.

Speaking of container gardens, here's a container you may not of thought of:

(source: www.fungi.com)

Ali, my friend Tamara, and I are all going to a Shitake Mushroom workshop tomorrow in Cottage Grove at Cascadia Permaculture.

I wanted to say that the plugged log I get to take home with me at the end would be the first container in my container garden this year, but I thought of another.

I want to remind myself that while bringing flowers inside isn't gardening, it is enjoying nature and I do love bringing it inside with me.

These flowers were put in their "container" the day before yesterday.

Spring Equinox isn't until next week, but She sure has poked her faerie fingers in the Eugenian soil in my neighborhood. My magnolia tree is pushing out buds, and my raspberry canes are sporting teeny leaves. And so has my climbing rose bush, among other things.

I'm still sitting in front of my HappyLite (as I type this, in fact), but soon I'll be able to shelve it for the sunny months.

I'll be sure to post pictures and prose on the mushroom workshop next.

Thanks for stopping by.

***

p.s. And just for those of us still pining and thinking of Costa Rica, here is a short video on a great addition to anyone's permaculture garden:

Winter Derailment, and News From the Landlord

So the guy that talked to me about the "free compost" from the City? You know, the leaves? Well I don't know if I'm doing that next year. I had ONE LOAD of leaves (hereafter called Huge-o Pile) delivered at the beginning of December--which only leaves two months to compost over the garden before you're supposed to be planting sugar snap peas (February). Hmm. Who thought that up? That's not enough time. Especially when two snow and ice storms come during the Winter, you have to borrow a wheelbarrow to haul the leaves because the pulling them through the yards on a tarp didn't work, and it takes you thirty minutes at a time to haul three miserly batches to the garden. Those huge heaps-o-waterlogged-leaves in the wheelbarrow don't cover very much garden space. About a 2X2 foot square I'd say.

Complete waste of time.

I still have an enormous mound of them in my driveway (making it so Ali can't park there), and it's the end of February. I've got two writer's conferences to get to in the next two and a half weeks, and my 40th birthday party to plan. Planting peas isn't going to happen anytime soon. And what am I going to do with pile?!

Move them to the garden, of course. BUT, it'll probably take me until July. No worries though, because it's looking like I'll be needing to move after all.

Landlord decided to sell, and I'm not eligible for a VA loan like I was hoping. Plan B is in force, and now I'm just at the waiting stage.

Which is my very favorite part.

Or, since I didn't do my Spanish practice today (or yesterday, or the day before): mi parte muy favorito.

This also means that, once again, I'll either be planning a move--or moving--during the planting/gardening stage of the year. Harrumph!

Ali says not to worry, We'll container garden.

Spreading the leaves seems superfluous now, but still needs to be done before moving, I figure. I'm sure the landlord would have something to say if I didn't move them. Plus, having the "garden" composting under leaves means that I don't have to weed-eat the area. Win!

Moving, or maybe not moving (probably I won't know for months--which is highly irritating because I can't pre-plan anything), prevents me from starting on the permaculture model I wanted in my back yard. I'm not going to work on the garden or chicken fence now. Nor get chickens. And I'm certainly not going to plant any fruit trees. Or collect rain water in giant barrels I haven't acquired yet.

I could still prune the roses and the blueberries and raspberries. And it's possible to get a $40 "green house" from BiMart and start tomato and pepper plant seeds. I can plant them in pots and give away the  extras I won't need. And I can plant annuals in my flower box in the front yard. I can plant herbs in the kitchen, too.

I'll keep it smaller than I anticipated (by a long shot), until I know where we'll be living. Then the garden/permaculture planning can start anew! Other ideas: if I can't buy a house, or find a rental that has garden space, I will container garden the whole way (a bunch of pots all together look really cool),

and/or garden in Ali's space (if he hasn't moved in with us by then.)

Yeah.

It's sounding like container gardening is where I'm going this Spring/Summer. I have a reference book on it I bought years ago. I guess it's time to check into it. Start thinking about, anyway.

Look back next week for a post on Mason Bees and Container Gardening Plano Numero Uno.

Fingers-Crossed-Snow-Days

So I got my leaves delivered from the City of Eugene, and it promptly snowed six inches on top of the pile. It's eight degrees here today.

Needless to say my garden is under snow, too, and I won't be mulching it with leaves today. Next weekend is full of parties, and Ali will be back from India by then, so I'll be slobbering all over him.
The following weekend is Solstice, with all the celebratory plans that come with it.

Maybe I can get to spreading leaves on the last weekend of the month.

And one other update: I have an interested party biting at the Osa Mountain Village lot for sale. It's been three years since it's been on the market. It sure would be nice to get it off our hands. The couple thinking about it has not yet made an offer, so it's still really iffy, but we'll wait and see.

Thank God for Small Favors and Wet Leaves

On Saturday, a couple of young acquaintances came over for lunch and a walk-through of my backyard. Our mission? To come up with a five year permaculture plan for the space.

I'll even get Base Maps for each stage! One translucent page after another, all falling in on each other and creating a layered plan encompassing all five years.

At the end of the five years, I want to have plenty of organic gardening common sense, and a thriving eco food forest and homestead.

Let the planning begin!

In our short two hour meeting, my visiting Young Friends (hereafter referred to as YF or YFs), and I toured my property (which I should remind you is rented), and poured over catalogs of flowering and fruiting trees and shrubs. I am in awe of all the cool thing that can grow in Zone 8 (Willamette Valley in Oregon.) We're talking: aronia, pineapple guava, seaberries, thornless blackberries (!), figs, grapes, kiwis, peaches, and asian pears. Our list was longer, but apparently Google hates me and I can't get into the Google Doc that Young Friends created for me AND be on Blogger at the same time. So we're pulling from memory here, Folks.

Late Fall, before it gets all frosty, is the time of the year for planting said trees and shrubs, but with limited income right now, I may have to suffice with drooling over catalogs and entering it into my five-year plan, for later.

It's also the time for the City of Eugene's Leaf Retrieval and Delivery Program. Hooray! Free compost! Here's what happens: two weeks out of the year (one week in November, and one in December), the City comes by with ginormous suction hoses and picks up all the leaves that people rake into the gutter. Actually, they prefer if you don't leave them in the gutter. More like side of the road leaf retrieval. They want you to leave a space for storm water draining and not to block the bike lanes.

During that same week, you can sign up on the City's website for a load of leaves to be dropped off. So not only do I have the leaves from my yard, but I'm getting a whole truckload of them delivered in a couple of weeks. 'Tis the season to mulch your garden with wet leaves from your neighbors! By Springtime, I shall be merrily follicking in leaf mulch compost.

And it's free.

Thank God for small favors and wet leaves.

Even though we didn't have time to come up with a delineated plan of action (checklists are best for me), I think I have enough to go on. I'll need help for part of it, but more in the form of moral support. I do know how to make a chicken run gate; I just don't want to do it by myself.

Since I didn't get a checklist from my Young Friends, I'm going to make one myself, because frankly, I don't feel comfortable without my lists to tell me what to do.

1. Get leaves delivered from City.

2. Smother garden area and flower beds with leaves (including leaves raked from my own trees.)

3. Get a few straw bales for gardening (just found some YouTube videos on Straw Bale Gardening and it sounds easy and cool.)

4. Make a list of trees and shrubs to put in next Fall.

5. Start looking for a rain barrel for water catchment system.

6. Design gates for the garden and chicken run and install. (Must be dog proof.)

7. Re-do garden fencing. (Must also be dog proof.)

If you come over and help me, I'll make you a hearty, home-cooked meal.

Projects

Indoor and Outdoor Projects 

I'm feeling like culling out some things in my house, or re-decorating on the cheap. Nothing new, of course. More like re-arranging. I have some art I want to put up, and some gadget-y things I don't want anymore.

And I'd like to get some more indoor plants for this winter. The ones I have are all dead, or looking pretty sad, and without the windows open to the summer sun and getting my blast of nature that way, I want to have some more living things inside this winter.

I'd like to have a winter garden, but friends have said that it's a little too late to plant for that now. Which I was totally surprised at. Now that I think of it, it's not though. The plants need to be in the warm ground long enough to establish a root system, so the the cold doesn't kill them off. This is our first week of Fall in Eugene, Oregon. It's cooled off enough for the heater in my bedroom to kick on a couple of times, and for my mind to start shifting to the chopping of firewood and kindling. But perhaps   our local Backyard Farmer shop still has some starts that I could put in the ground.

Other outside projects weighing on my mind these days are trimming the trees, shrubs, and rose bushes. Everything is overgrown and looking pretty gross. I can't even take out the compost without bending over in half to shuffle under the plum tree branches to get to the outdoor compost bin.

The other thing I really need to do is pick all the plums I have left on the trees and try to process them best I can. Dry them into prunes with the oven, and maybe even try my hand at plum jam, or even just freeze them after pitting them. That would take a long time to do though because I don't have a chest freezer.

This morning I felt inclined (on this rainy day) to make a pot of bean soup, and some fresh bread. Maybe I'll still have the gumption to do it. It's 2:30 p.m. I'd still have time to start a project that size, and then I can get in some furniture rearranging, and dog hair vacuuming.

Kombucha and Other Brews

My kombucha brewing is going well. I like the taste of it. I'm trying different brewing times and different teas, different bottling times. I'm not keeping any records except for one or two details, like I write down when I start brewing a new batch so I know when to bottle it up, and I label the bottles with when it was brewed and when it was bottled and what kind of tea it is, or if I've added juice to it. The rest I file away in my head -- which is dangerously apt to be forgotten.

Here's what I know:

1. I let it brew one week at least. The last batch I did for two weeks, so we'll see what that tastes like. It certainly fizzed more when I bottled it than any other batch.

2. I bottle for about a week before I refrigerate and drink it.

3. The first and last batch I made tasted the best. Remembered factors: I used decaf black english breakfast for the the last batch, and oolong tea for the first one. The yerba mate tasted good, too, just a little lighter. Less zing.

4. I don't like adding juice when I bottle it. I've tried cherry juice -- which was terribly sour. I gave it all away, couldn't drink any of it. Apple and pear juices made the kombucha too sweet for me. Perhaps I could use less juice and try again (current recipe I use is one quart of juice to one gallon of kombucha). But aside from the sweetness, it really seemed to mask the bite of the kombucha, which I like.

Maybe I could make both kinds though. Make some of the plain hard cider-y tasting kind for me and Ali, and make some for the kids with added juice. Probably they wouldn't like it anyway though.

Jun is another thing to try brewing. As I understand it, it's made the same way (with the scoby) but only using green tea (instead of black) and fermenting with honey (instead of sugar.)

I also found a recipe for making ginger beer (alcoholic and non) that I wanted to try. Maybe I'll turn my office pantry into shelves of brewing concoctions.

Homesteading Classes

Ali and I are going to take a soap (and maybe candle) making class at Glory Bees. And if I ever see a cheese-making class again, I'll get us in.

Spanish

In January, I'd like to get us in Spanish classes, too.

I personally am content to pick it up half-heartedly over the next six years and get a tutor once we are in Costa Rica. But this seems to be Ali's main concern. Not deciding what job to focus on there, not solidifying our land purchase, and not on becoming farmers now so we'll know how later, but speaking Spanish.

Yes, he's concerned about all those other things (and lots more), and we talk about them all periodically. But the conversation always seems to end with,

"But we don't even know Spanish yet."

As if none of the rest of it is relevant until this one Herculean task is accomplished. Like none of the rest of it is really real, unless we can speak the language first.

It's sweet actually. In a little boy sort-of way. And I'm happy to do things in this order if it brings him peace and order.

"I pride myself in my ability to communicate my ideas," he says.

 I don't mind learning Spanish now and it makes such a big difference to him. <3

Gardening Calendars and Brown Grass

My grass is brown and crunchy. I'm mildly embarrassed about it, but not enough to waste the environmental resource to water it. I wonder if I should start a rain barrel. You can attach them to your gutters now. I could use the rain water to irrigate the garden in the summer. The chickens could probably drink it, too.

The chickens. Yeah. That'll have to been next Spring. Unless I can get a gate made for the chicken run. It's hard enough to water the garden and pick produce before it goes bad. The gate is on temporary back burner status.

I've been traveling this past week, had a festival to attend the weekend before that, and the weekend before that I went camping at the Country Fair. Needless to say, my garden is looking a little ragged. Weeds, you know.

I'm recovering from travel this week, and catching up on some work, and there is a slight chance that I might spend this weekend on a house boat. So, garden work still seems grim. I have managed to have the dog sitter to water the garden while I've been gone, and Ali did it while I was gone this past week. The garden is therefore alive, but that's all. It's not thriving, if you know what I mean.

I think what happened was this: I direct-planted seeds, some too late in the season, and then didn't thin the plants when they came up. The result: small, stunted plants that have bolted already. I need to just plant some more plants. I can still get starts from the Farmer's Market probably. I'll pull out the spinach, broccoli, and lettuce. Thin the carrots, move the cucumbers, and hope for the best.

The plums are all in, ripening swiftly. I'd love to borrow a food dehydrator and dry them.

My indoor plants are suffering. I forget I need to water them more in the summer. I repotted them in the Spring, but one in particular is not doing well at all, and I killed the fern. I love ferns -- so lacy and green. And they seem so hardy, but I've killed every single fern I've ever purchased.

Once again I am RESOLVED to follow the Month by Month Gardening Book for Oregon. Also, this website has a great gardening calendar for Oregon.