To lawn or not to lawn...

grass, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

Driving to my hometown took us across the vast wasteland of monoculture that I'll refer to simply as Illinois. I could add Missouri and Kentucky to this as well, but in my experience, Illinois seems to take the cake in the world of vast swaths of single crops. Just take a drive on Interstates 70 or 64 and see what I mean. This made me think again of a topic I thought to write about, the lawn - America's favorite monocrop.

The concept of lawn didn't really exist for most Americans until the industrial age. Before then very few could afford the upkeep of a lawn cut by hand. The mowed lawn has it's origin in France and England. Before the invention of the lawnmower, it was mowed by hand or kept short by grazing sheep, cattle and even rabbits. In our time, 58 million Americans spend over $30 billion every year to maintain 23 million acres of lawn. 30 to 60 percent of urban water is used for lawn care. 67 million pounds of synthetic fertilizer are used to keep that turf happy. You see, our modern turf grasses come from other climates. They are basically exotics in the wrong environment, so we spend lots of energy and water trying to keep them green and happy.

As many of us have faced drought this year and most likely next year as well, it would be a good thing to reconsider the lawn (if you haven't already done so). It would be a good thing to consider it even if there wasn't a drought. In full disclosure, we have a rather large lawn. We didn't plant it. We don't water it. What we basically do is mow it. With the drought this year, we mowed rarely and it went dormant for a long period of time. Grass will do that, you don't need to water so much. I promise.

The lawn is slowly shrinking as we increase garden space and beds and fence it in for pasture. It is used as pasture - the geese and ducks are out on it almost every day one of us is home. How much lawn space do you need? Turf grass does make an excellent surface for play. However, beds for flowers and ornamental shrubs are much more interesting than grass. They conserve water, create attractive space for wildlife (especially our little feathered friends), and can easily require less care than turf grass.

Lawns don't have to be grass! Depending on your climate, a lawn can be composed of various ground covers (some are invasive, so check before you plant), moss, and a mixture of plants. Ours is a mixture of pasture grasses, clover, and various other things that pop up. I can't say enough about clover. Bees love it. We love bees. After the horrible late freeze and storms that wiped out our apples, blueberries and greenhouse this spring, beekeepers were asking people not to mow their lawns so that the honey bees could find sustenance in clover. We were more than happy to oblige.

So that's the introduction. Next up - Water Conservation.

I need to get back to the work I get paid for. And, the first of the seed catalogs has arrived - Pinetree Garden Seeds. I've got to start perusing.

Home again

26 November, 2007, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

Let's see. Being away from home for almost an entire week is just too long. Going home for the first time after the death of my mother was not easy. It was downright devastating. However, we survivied. We all managed to catch a stomach bug that had ravaged my brother's family earlier in the week. Lukily, or unluckily, as you see it, it hit me and Monkey overnight on our way home. Charlie held out until last night when we got home. We lost one guinea hen last night to a predator (she was out and we were to ravaged by illness to notice).

On the upside, we've had rain! The new dog was renamed Moon Pie at a Tennessee rest stop somewhere along Interstate 40. It's great to be home again.

Unexpected views

20 November, 2007, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

We woke up early and saw the sunrise, along with the morning star.

A new dog at Little Creek Farm

new dog, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

As if 2 new acres weren't enough to our lives, Charlie had to go and adopt a dog. He's been wanting another dog for some time (ever since Chelsea passed away almost a year ago). After months of talking to breeders and being placed on waiting lists for various breeds, he wised up and went and got a dog that needs us and has lots of love to give. That's how we arrived at becoming the new family for an "almost" Beagle. She's actually Beagle/Jack Russell Terrier (who would allow that to happen??? really.).

We adopted her this weekend from the Animal Compassion Network and she came home today. Speaking of the Animal Compassion Network, if you feel so inclined to check out the link, look for a dog named "Rounder". I was in love with him. He is a gorgeous dog (older now than the photo - big and uniquely handsome, and oh, so wonderful. However, this dog was not going to be mine, but Charlie's.

Ha! He's already lost her. She and the Monkey were instant soulmates (the pink collar covered in butterflies helped, I'm sure). In fact, they are currently sleeping together in the Monkey's bed, curled up like, well two little puppies. Biscuit the Wonder Dog is not so enamoured and is rather put out. Gigi is just clueless ( the new dog is not human, nor does she produce wool, so she is just under the Border Collie radar).

We are off to my father's house for Thanksgiving with New Dog in tow. She was given the name "Sadie Blue Girl" by her foster home. We are thinking of "Daisy McBoing Boing". Well, that's Monkey's suggestion. We'll most likely just go with "Daisy". It was either "Daisy McBoing Boing" or "Angel Cakes". Look for young Daisy's journey across the country for the next couple days.

riding tigers

riding tigers, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

In case you need help reading kindergarten English, it reads:
I like to walk in the woods. I like to ride tigers. I took a walk with my mommy.

We are planning another girl hike tomorrow. Let's hope we don't see any tigers.

Change in the weather

November 15, 2007, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

I spent the morning in a meeting and decided to come on home at lunch time. All the work I need to do today I can do from home. It's getting awfully windy and cold outside. It's the kind of weather that makes me want to hunker down and cook. I'm planning something warming for dinner.

We had some rain overnight. I don't think it really made a great difference, but I'll take any preciptation I can get. Our "exceptional" drought has me worried about a lot of things. How long will it go on? While our well is fine now, will our self-imposed water conservation help (we do after all share the aquifer...)? How will the drought affect our gardening next year? It seems many people are thinking about water these days. Let's hope they realize that it's going to take a lot more than prayer to get out of this situation...

There's discussion in other parts of this state to raise the water fees. If I paid for municipal water I'd be a little cranky to pay more because someone else wanted a green lawn in a time of drought. And on that point - why have a lawn? I have seen idiotic waste of space to have a tiny strip of lawn when other plantings would be more appropriate. Perhaps the answer could be a higher fee for those who use a lot of water... Or a tax on lawns! That said, I do have quite a lot of "lawn". We could call it pasture. It is made up of more than grass and it's never watered. It spent a lot of the summer in a very dormant state.

I think I need to eat some lunch, and maybe work on some suggestions for lawn replacements.

11 November, 2007

11 November, 2007, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

I once did daily photos of the "view". I think I'll try again, but store them on the flickr site.

It's a big happy birthday to Charlie today. He spent the day playing with his new techno toy. Thank God it didn't come from that particular website... wheh! Well, there will only be socks and underwear for Christmas.

Gigi and I went for a long walk in the woods. We almost literally ran into a barred owl (or rather, it almost flew into us). Things that large should not fly silently. Gigi is now completely exhausted and passed out on the kitchen floor. She is one of those dogs who picks up sticks the entire time you are walking through the woods. Sometimes they are more like logs. No matter what they tell you, border collies are not always that smart, particularly when the branch is wider than the opening between two trees. I chuckle heartily at my pet's ineptitudes...

Biscuit didn't go with us, as she as been rather mopey and under the weather. She would not eat yesterday, and only ate a miniscule amount of food today. I had to coax her with a duck egg cracked on top of her kibble. I'm calling the vet first thing in the morning to get her in and see what is wrong. It's not like her to be this way and I'm a little worried.

10 November, 2007

10 November, 2007, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

This morning is the first time in a week when I've felt I've been able to sit down and catch my breath. I spent an hour or so gazing out the window with a cup of coffee in my hand watching the sun rise.

This week I managed to finally get the garlic in the ground. It's now sleeping peacefully under a bed of goat bedding (that's my root crop secret...). The garden is all neat and tidy, if you ignore the dead plants finally wiped out by a couple of hard frosts. I'm contemplating getting out and laying down more mulch on the aisles because it's my least favorite spring chore.

I spent a morning raking leaves, grinding them up and setting them aside for leaf mulch. It's been so windy that we don't have many leaves in the yard. Most just seem to fall and blow into the woods before we get a chance to rake them.

Oh, and speaking of woods... We are signing a contract for several acres of woods to our north. I'm so excited. I haven't wanted to talk about it because I didn't want to jinx it. I've been coveting the woods to our north since we moved in. We'll be preserving it as woodland. It gives us a great plot to test our forest restoration and test products. We have talked about putting a small rather primitive cabin on the property for vacation rentals and personal retreats (mine). I'm planning some mushroom growing. The land does include the Morel Patch and an incredible spring. Future pasture purchases are in the scheming stages. And they'll have to be in the future. I'm feeling slightly stressed with rapid growth of both business and home.

In case you've been wondering, the discussion of local food last Sunday went extremely well and I don't think is was just due to my incredible PowerPoint creation skills. There was a great audience. I've been asked to come talk to other groups because of it. One woman told a story of a friend of hers who always asked the Hostess or Maitre d' of a restaurant if they know who the owner is. If they can't answer, she won't eat there. Interesting. I think I like that approach.

And one last story from the week - Charlie took his car in for a tune up and tire change. The mechanic came out to him and asked if a chicken had been nesting in the car. Odd. There were five eggs in a small cubby spot in the back. Charlie was a little dumbfounded and then he remembered that after he had unloaded feed this week, Miss Monkey had been climbing around in the back of the car. He had the eggs from the chicken coop in the back and she must have stashed some in the side panel. I like the idea that the mechanic thought we would have let chickens nest in the car.

What to do when you should be doing something else

I'm supposed to be preparing for a talk on Sunday about the importance of sustainability and making wise food choices (and somehow how it relates to my being an Episcopalian... I think).* Anyway, I've been doing anything but that. Monkey is home today due to parent-teacher conferences and we took a walk this morning... for an hour and a half.



We then came home and went outside to plant garlic and enjoy the incredible weather. I can now check the garlic off my list and move on to finishing the cold frame around the cabbage. I'm also in the middle of processing these.

I never would have guessed I would still be picking tomatoes in November. There's around five pounds and more to pick from the plants on the south side of my studio. These are destined to be dried and ground into tomato powder. I'm finished with canning, really.

*Actually, I just talked to the Dean and the discussion I'm leading is really focusing on sustainability as outlined in the Millennium Development Goals as viewed by the Episcopal Church, at least that's where the discussion started last week... ...but we're going to talk about it from an individual's experience (that is how I view "sustainability"). Because really, have you seen those goals? Overwhelming, to the individual I mean. Tell me, how do I get roped in to these things.

Happy Halloween

jack o' lantern, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

Hope your's has been full of treats and short on tricks.

frost

frost, originally uploaded by maggiesfarm.

Fall has arrived. There has even been ice on the water troughs for the last three mornings. I guess I can finally safely plant the garlic.

Rain

We've had rain the last couple of days - most of it has been light and sporadic, but it's rain. There's a little over an inch in the rain gauge and perhaps more to come. The good news is that it seemed to rain heavier a little to the south of us - which could be good news for the Georgia lakes, which are so low.

If you haven't heard, Atlanta (a rather large city) has only 90 days of water left. There has finally been lots of discussion about water management processes. My only hope is that water management and city planners and citizens will take a good long look at long standing practices and change. My fear is that those planners and citizens will get over this crisis and go back to living like they always have. On a recent trip down to Georgia, I heard one person complain that they hadn't been able to go boating this summer. That was their biggest concern. How about drinking? Hmm.

But on to the topic I planned to start with - rain barrels. I love our rain barrel and we are adding more (the plan is one to every corner, for all the beds surrounding the house). We don't have a huge problem with water runoff waste out here in the middle of nowhere. Generally it all comes from the roof, but there is a lot off the roof that we could use on our plants. The best way to gather that water is with rain barrels. If I had the budget to retrofit our house right now, I'd add a large cistern under the porch to gather all the rain water off of our roof. For now the barrel is doing well. We bought ours through a local non-profit and paid a little less than retail. Looking at the barrel, it would be easy to make your own - I've seen many versions. Here's one with directions for a rain garden as well! Rain gardens are a whole other topic. I'll just say I love them and they are a great spot to grow incredible plants.

Our rain barrel will fill with about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of rain - that's 65 gallons of water off of one small side of our roof. We've used ours to water the vegetable garden in the past, but this year I concentrated on using it to keep a bunch of young hydrangeas alive. And it worked. I placed a soaker hose on the spigot and let gravity force the water to slowly and conservatively water them. All are doing well. I don't think they would have survived without it. I put a pretty tight restriction on watering ornamentals over the summer, prefering to limit watering to the things we eat.

If you don't have a rain barrel or two, I encourage you to build or buy your own. Make it a project for the winter. You'll be able to use it in the spring to water all those seedlings.

No water

The well pump died yesterday. No water, not a trickle to be had. We've been waiting all day for the well men to squeeze us in and hooray! the cavalry has arrived! There's a lot of pipe running down our driveway and some rewiring going on. Hopefully soon we will have water again. The good news is that there is water in the well*. I was a little worried as Little Creek is just a faint trickle and the three springs on the property are mere mud pits at the moment. But the water is there and the machinery that brings it to us will be repaired (keeping fingers firmly crossed) and we'll be bathing, watering the animals and making ice soon.

*The well men say there are a lot of wells going dry. I couldn't imagine. What would we do with all the animals? I mean I can drink bottled water and shower at the YMCA, but I think they would frown on a gaggle of geese and a couple of feisty goats. Keep rainy thoughts in your hearts for us, please.

Jesus ate local...

I mean that in a very tongue in cheek way, so don't get offended (but, it's true). As part of another program at the Cathedral, we organized a 'meal of conscience' for our monthly family dinner. Out with the spaghetti, in with the brats and a little local beer. It's time for Octoberfest! Almost all the food served last Wednesday came from local sources. The bratwurst came from Spring House Meats at Hickory Nut Gap Farm . A big thank you to Jamie Ager of said farm for helping us with the vast quantity of sausage. Everyone thought they were the best bratwurst ever eaten. And there are quite a few Northerners in the mix, so that is a complement. Charlie and I made roasted potatoes and peppers, coleslaw (both with produc grown in the area) and baked beans (not quite local, but baked to perfection). Beer came from several local breweries, depending on personal taste. We have lots of local breweries in Asheville, so if you can't find a beer you like, well you must not like beer...

The crowd for this particular dinner was double the normal spaghetti supper crowd - around 150 people. We fed them all and had a few leftovers. The amazing thing was that it cost less per person to feed locally grown, organic, and humanely-raised food than it normally does to feed everyone spaghetti made with processed products bought at Sam's. It was a simple lesson to all present.

The most gratifying thing is that from this simple meal a whole discussion began. We Episcopalians are good at discussing. It's a particular talent of ours. It was decided that there should be a whole series of lessons on what it means to live in a conscience way - how as Christians, can we respect and protect the world around us. So, now there will be Sunday formation classes devoted to a whole range of topics (even food and farming!).

And wonder of wonder, a promise came to me, through Charlie, that the flowers will be fair trade, organic, and maybe even local. It's been my pet peeve for a while. I'm sure there will be some resistance, there always is, but hopefully things will change up there at the altar. Don't get me started on the floral industry and the amount of pollutants, chemicals, fuels and unfair labor used to create the perfect cut flower.. Or perhaps you should get me started. Look at what one local meal of sausage can do.

The new girls

We've inherited three new hens from our friend, Starr. He asked if I wanted three of his older hens who were being bullied by his younger hens and rooster. We have a lot more room than he does, and who could say no to these three lovelies?

I fell in love with the Light Brahma (the big girl in front) this afternoon. The Buff Orpington and the molting Rhode Island Red are a little shy, but the Brahma is quite friendly and her size may just intimidate any would-be-bullies in my flock. I don't think I have any bullies, unless you count the young guineas (and most of them will be holiday dinners...). The girls should be alright here.

They are three years old just like my oldest hens. They may be slowing down a little in the laying department, but should be o.k. for another year or two. I haven't had to yet cull the hens, but that is something we will have to face in the future. Right now though everyone is laying fine (even these girls, according to Starr) so we won't think about that at this moment.

A little rain

It has rained about a half an inch of rain since yesterday. That's good news for us. We seeded the pasture before the last rain and then there has been nothing for a couple of weeks. Hopefully, this should help.. It's been enough to fill the rain barrels and there is a little more water in the creek. And the ducks are happy, if no one else in the barnyard is. I've posted more photos on my flickr page.

Some of the natives

With all these walks in the woods, I'm back to identifying plants. Some are easy...


Smooth Sumac

Some are hard. This one in particular is giving me a headache. I'm thinking a Helianthus, but it could be an aster. It's in an open field on top of a mountain at around 3800 feet. The top is an abandoned Christmas tree farm. Perhaps if the flowers were in full bloom it would be easier...


Any guesses?

Where exactly does the time go?

I haven't been a very good blogger over the last month. I've actually had several incredible entries about local food and dining, but they've all stayed in my head. So while I took part whole heartedly in the Eat Local Challenge, I didn't write very much about it. I can use the general excuse of work. I have been rather busy as my role gets more defined in our new business (which is growing faster than we ever expected). And that has been the exciting part of my day to day existence. Meeting more and more like-minded people and educating the not-so-like-minded has made me feel somewhat better about some of the development that is happening here in Western North Carolina.

I can't, however, blame my interest in work for my total lack of writing this past month. I had grand ideas for the Eat Local Challenge, but I realized I was rather tired of writing about food; having done so all summer. And frankly, when for the second time in two months Gourmet has arrived in my mailbox full of articles about locally and ethically produced food, I think there's not a lot of need for my continued prattle on how good it is to eat with a conscience. Hmm...

So this week involved a lot of this:

and seeing one of these for the first time, quite a bit of planting and weeding, a couple of hours of dog training, cleaning out the fish pond, and sleeping. Oh and I promise to write more, it just probably won't be about food.

Work is hard

I realized over the weekend, when I had no access to a signal, much less my laptop, that I had not posted in over two weeks. I've been so busy with work, that I had little time to form complete thoughts for a blog. There still aren't many complete thoughts, but I'm trying...

I've been off inspecting trails and consulting. "Consulting", I believe, means "to make up a bunch of stuff for other people to do". Yep, that's it. Anyway, here's the basic view of the world I've been having for the last two weeks.

Then I go home and pick vegetables, clean the chicken house, feed the animals and dry, can, or freeze vegetables. When I'm not doing that I'm busy learning all the new software I need to use for work. As you can see, not much time or inclination for writing. Sorry.

I can, however, answer a few questions that have come up! Bezzie, as far as drying okra - I believe it does cut down on the slime. I also know that the more you chop up okra, the slimier it gets. Mmmm.

Tasterspoon, I didn't do much research before I bought my dehydrator. Doing lots of research tends to overwhelm and then depress me when I can't afford the 'best' thing... Ha! Like a crazy food saver I dove in and bought the first dehydrator I saw at our local kitchen store. It's the Nesco American Harvest Food Dehydrator and Jerky Maker. I haven't made any jerky yet.

Kitchen Witch - the thought of dried mushrooms was a key factor in buying the dehydrator! Mmmm. (I really mean the 'mmmm' this time.) If you haven't had morels, you haven't lived.

More later, I'm off to finish a couple hand renderings of designs for a client then tackle every imaginable program Adobe has to offer. I mean really, I'm the girl who knows how to make rabbit skin glue and grind my own oil paints... Technology be damned! I guess that is really not the right attitude to have, I'll improve, I promise.

The dehydrator

I've had an aversion to the food dehydrator. I'm not sure why. I had a friend growing up. Her mother used to dry and can everything. I think I associated it with the stay at home mom thing (or perhaps the fact that their house seemed to always smell of stewed tomatoes...). My mother was a professional working woman, and the thought of canning probably never entered her head except to remind her of her own hard childhood. All that preserving of food just seemed a little too much work and a little old-fashioned to us, especially the basement room off the rather stylish 70's rec room filled floor to ceiling with shelves of canned peaches, apples, tomatoes, beans, and pickles. Truth be told, that room kind of fascinated me. Our pantry was filled with modern things in bright boxes and wrappers, not ball jars.

So let's skip over all those years of being art student, grad student, starving artist, traveler,development worker, teacher, stay at home mom, administrator, environmentalist, and gentlewoman farmer. I'm raising a lot of my own food and preserving it. My friend's mom doesn't seem so backward, in fact, she seems down right progressive.

This year as I stared at the sprawling, loaded tomato plants, I realized I couldn't possibly can all of them. The cost of buying new jars, not to mention the time involved was intimidating. I really wanted some sun-dried tomatoes, but our mountain climate is not the best for sun-drying. I bought a food dehydrator. I figure I've already made back the cost in the drying of tomatoes alone. And how easy is it to slice up tomatoes in the evening, put them in the dehydrator and have dried tomatoes in the morning? Simple. There were several bags of strawberries in the freezer that needed to be used. So, in a dehydrator frenzy, I threw them in the blender, added a touch of local honey, poured them on to special little sheets and viola!, I had fruit leather for the Monkey. The Monkey eats a lot of fruit roll-ups. At almost a dollar a pop for organic fruit leather bars, I figure the economic benefits could be quite great. Right now there are fresh and local apple slices drying. Next, I'll be drying okra. I'll have plenty of 'gombo sec' for my favorite african recipes, gumbo and soups over the winter. I think I may even try a few peppers, although I generally freeze them. There are bumper crops of all varieties and dried peppers might offer a nice change of pace in cooking.

I think what I like best about drying food is that I can start it and leave it. I'm quite busy right now with work and life in general. I'm seeing more drying in the future.