I get a break today. A good online friend of mine, Carol Stanley, asked if she could do a guest blog and I jumped all over that opportunity with both feet.
Carol recently published a book on healthy living, and you can find a link to that book at the end of this post.
Without any more b.s. from me, here is Carol!
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRESH FOODS
By Carol Stanley
The grocery store can be a scary place in today’s landscape. The aisles are filled with packages of complete meals, vegetables with mysterious sauces, cans of a variety of vegetables, meats and sugary snacks. And most of the packaged foods contain additives and preservatives that are often claimed to be safe for human consumption. Even though you may feel self-righteous purchasing organic produce and packaged foods you cannot be totally sure of their freshness. If products have “certified organic” on the package you can be assured that it is organic. However, you will be a few steps ahead of the game if you base your diet on fresh foods.
Since I personally don’t always trust labels I am happy to claim that 95 percent of what we eat doesn’t have labels. Home gardens are sprouting everywhere today and many people are getting in the “fresh”game. This year we began our first little garden growing herbs, tomatoes, peppers and ochre. I love going outside and cutting fresh herbs and adding them to different recipes.
Speaking of herbs and spices these little leaves of flavor offer huge amounts of vitamins and minerals. Did you know that Oregano acts as an antibiotic? Along with the wonderful flavor of fresh produce, you can control the soil and create truly organic products. I will not do a tirade on all the processing that goes on with food today, but we do know that we are not getting the vitamins and minerals that were in the food 30 years ago. For example there is so much publicity on the negatives of gluten today. I am wondering if it is just the over processing of wheat that is causing people to suffer from digestive problems. Anyway you cannot go wrong growing your own produce.
There is something spiritual about going outside and watering our little garden and gathering food for dinner. You can start your own little garden with just a few pots and soil.
Here is a link to my newly published book on Amazon “Feel Better Every day” where I share many healthful ideas to support a healthy lifestyle http://a.co/8Y7LHwq
THANK YOU, CAROL!
I especially loved the comment “there is something spiritual about going outside an watering our little garden . . . “
Anyone who loves gardening understands that statement!
I’ll be back next week with some more of my own thoughts on urban farming. Until then, I hope you have a spiritual week in the garden.
I like the changing of the seasons. I really don’t have a favorite. It’s the process of change I enjoy, watching Nature move to the next stage of the yearly evolution, and me becoming a part of that whole scene.
I like preparing for the upcoming season. I like the challenge of it all, knowing much of it is within my capabilities, knowing I can meet the challenge and be fine, and knowing I have animals who depend on me to meet those challenges successfully. No, this isn’t the 1800’s, and the challenges, and outcomes, aren’t severe, but still . . .
Having an urban farm makes me more aware of life. I watch as the chickens molt. The rabbits’ fur seems to double in quantity. Geese fly overhead, their vacation spots already reserved and waiting for them. Squirrels are busy doing what squirrels do best, prepare for the future. I love the crispness of the fall mornings, and evenings. I love the firewood pile, the smell of it, the anticipation of winter nights spent in a toasty home safe from the cold and dampness, feeling at times as though I’m revisiting the womb.
I like watching as the weather patterns transition. Highs move on, lows settle in, the wind shifts from the north to the west, and the taste of the air changes. Cloud formations are different, not only in color but in shape, and they move with a rapidity in the fall, as though an urgent calling must be answered. There is an unsettled feeling to the fall, and just below the surface is a hint of threat, watch out now, be prepared, or winter will scrape and claw on our delinquencies. It is foolhardy to ignore the fall, Nature tells us, so heed the signs and whittle down that to-do list.
And every year I think of the seasons as a metaphor for life, how I am now in the fall of my life, spring and summer gone, only one season left for this body, and a brief melancholy passes over, but then every year winter comes, and goes, and I find a new spring calling to me, rewarding me, one more year to come, a life not yet at the terminal.
Don’t paint outside when there is a forest fire raging 100 miles away.
That was the lesson I learned the hard way last week.
Just when I start to think I might have a little intelligence, I do something like the following . . .
I woke up one morning last week to a fine dusting of ash on the ground and cars. There was no doubt where the ash had come from. We have four major forest fires going on in Washington State, and with the wind shifting, blowing from eastern Washington to western Washington, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the ash was a product of those fires.
So I did my writing thing for a few hours that morning and then decided to paint the picnic table the same color as the outside sheds. It was a hot day and that was pretty much all I planned to accomplish outside that day, but I was determined to at least do that. I whipped through that chore in good time, washed off the paint brush, put everything away, and poured myself a nice, tall, cold glass of water, quite pleased with my accomplishment.
An hour later I was reminded that I’m not nearly as bright as I want to believe I am.
Yes, the ash fell on the new paint job, stuck to it, and left the picnic table looking like a cheap knock-off of some Jackson Pollock painting.
Sigh!
Welcome to my world!
I do that stuff quite often. I get so focused on getting a job done that I don’t take the time to properly plan the job out. Part of the problem is no training. I’ve had to teach myself practically everything related to home improvements, so I make a ton of mistakes. But I do learn eventually, so there’s that to embrace.
PLANNING FOR NEXT YEAR
That’s our main focus right now, getting ready for next year. There is still about 30% of our backyard which is not used for much of anything, and that bugs the hell out of me. Bev and I need to figure that out fairly soon. The problem is the chicken population we have. Planting in that remaining 30% yard is problematic with the chickens running loose. They would love to dig up anything we plant. Yes, we could cage them, but I won’t do that to my birds. Perhaps, and I’m not joking about this, I’ll cage the new planting section instead. I have enough leftover chicken wire. All I need to do is make a hay bale garden section and cover that section with a wooden frame and chicken wire.
New puppy
Something to think about, and that’s a project I can do without worrying about forest fire ash.
SOMETHING ELSE TO THINK ABOUT
Three years ago I built our first aviary. I followed that up with another one the next year. We have a third out at our son’s farm.
No, I know nothing about building, but I studied enough framed buildings to understand the basics, so I did all right. I was a half-inch off plumb with that first aviary, 10’x12’ in size, so that ain’t bad for an amateur.
Soon to be a greenhouse
Anyway, the reason I mention it all is this: those three aviaries have been great multi-use structures. One is currently holding our firewood for this coming winter; the other is holding fifteen nine-week old hens until we sell them as pullets. Those aviaries have also been homes for quail, other chickens, and have served as greenhouses.
One thing I would suggest for those of you who are not talented in building things: plan the aviaries, or any building projects, so they are the size of pre-cut lumber. Please note I said my aviaries are 10’x12’….those two sizes are standard cuts for 2’x4’s at any lumber yard, so I didn’t have to do much cutting while building the aviaries. That may seem like a small thing, but I don’t like to do any more work than is absolutely necessary on any project. Anybody who would build a structure 15 feet in length has a screw loose. LOL Pardon the pun!
THAT’S ALL FOR THIS WEEK
Rain is coming! I can’t tell you how excited I am to report that news after the summer we’ve had. Of course, check with me about November and I’ll be singing a completely different tune. J And I’m really not complaining about our weather. After watching not one, but two hurricanes on the news, I’m quite pleased with Western Washington weather.
Balancing a full-time job with developing and upkeeping an urban farm is endless. It should be one or the other, but both? Maybe for someone younger than me, sure, but I’m about to turn sixty-nine, and I’m feeling it.
I’m just whining. Stop me when you recognize the tune. LOL
FRONT YARD
No more lawn
Seriously, we created a monster in the front when we took out the lawn and inserted close to thirty berry bushes. Three years later the berries are quite healthy, quite happy, and threatening to take over the neighborhood. I say all of this with a smile on my face, but it does also mean more work to add to the to-do list.
My dad loved lawns. He was always out there with his pesticides killing dandelions, always out there with the edger, cutting perfect lines on the periphery, and of course always out there with the lawnmower making sure the lawn looked uniform and well-cared for.
What a friggin’ waste of time.
Of course, I never told him that. This boy is no dummy!
THE BACKYARD
Yep, same tune, different lyrics. The grapes went crazy this year. The watermelon vines literally grew up the side of the aviary
Backyard bounty
and over the top, mixing with the vines of the thorn-less blackberries and the grapes. It’s like a lush jungle back there, and I absolutely love it.
We’ve been feeding the rabbits fresh lettuce for a couple months now. We have enough potatoes to feed all of Ireland. About the only thing that didn’t grow in abundance was corn, but that never does in our backyard and I’m okay with that failure.
Oddly, my mom and dad weren’t much for vegetable gardens. I say oddly because they came from Iowa. At one time, my mom’s parents owned a large corn farm. Maybe that’s why my mom didn’t care too much about raising a garden. She spent far too much time as a child among those tall, green, rustling stalks.
Me, I remember vacations on that farm, and the wonder of it all, soil so dark as to seem artificial, white cumulous clouds floating overhead, fireflies at night, bullfrogs singing in the dark, it really was a magical kingdom for a pre-teen.
CHORES
I’m in the process of painting right now. Then I’ll be in the process of hauling away brush, and then in the process of pruning, and then in the process of . . . well, you get the point.
I’ve always been like that when it’s property I own. I like doing chores. I like building things. I like the challenge, and it is a challenge since I really don’t know what the hell I’m doing half the time, but I do love the challenge and I love the results. It beats the hell out of watching The Bachelor on television.
For those of you who are reluctant to try odd jobs you aren’t trained for, I will say this: if this boy, with zero training in any of the base skills, can build and repair, then anyone can. There are tutorials on YouTube which can teach you practically anything if you are willing to make the occasional mistake while learning.
QUAIL
They are just about done laying for the year, which means they are just about done residing on our property. I’ll sell off the flock in September and start fresh with new birds in February. Yes, we could use artificial light and they would lay eggs during the winter but honestly, I don’t feel like doing that. I want to take the winter off and concentrate on writing novels.
No, we will not slaughter any. We tried that and we didn’t enjoy it. There’s something about raising a bird from egg to adulthood, taking care of it, being with it daily . . . I find it real hard to cut their heads off after forming that bond. I know, silly old urban farmer, right, but that’s just who I am and I’m fine with that.
CHICKENS
Our brooders have been very good moms this summer. Two of our original hens have taken chicks under their wing (literally) and raised some fine chickens. We are currently selling off fifteen Blue Andalusian hens for $10 each, and once they are sold we’ll bring in more chicks and raise them and sell them. I’m pretty sure we’ll raise chicks all winter long since it’s a fairly easy process using the aviaries we have in the backyard. The heat lamps are already set up to provide heat during the cold days and nights, so I’m pretty sure that’s what we’ll do.
I don’t know if I mentioned this, but Bev manages a farm and garden store here in Olympia, and they sell chicks at that store, and this summer they sold over 3,000 chicks from that store. I think that is fabulous news because many of those chicks went to first-time urban farmers who wanted chickens in their backyards, which means there are a whole lot of people in our city giving this urban farming thing a try.
HOORAY!
OUR NEW PUP
By the end of September Maggie May will join our little farm. She is a Northwest Farm Terrier, a relatively new breed of farm dog, and we are excited to have her here. They are great herding dogs, especially with chickens, so we’ll put Maggie May to work next spring…and pamper her this winter.
PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR
Our plans will center around the farmers markets. We have decided to keep raising quail, mainly because we just love those little birds, and the eggs ain’t bad either. We will be making some herbal dips to sell at the markets, packages of spices and herbs which people can mix with sour cream….and I have another coloring book I want to publish before the markets begin in April.
Our sons are putting a new roof on our house in late September, and after that is completed I’ll attach a new arbor to the house for our grapevines. And I have a new deck to build for the grandma’s cottage out back.
And I plan on sleeping in past six several days each week.
I could tell you more but I have work to do.
Catch ya later! Thanks for stopping by and Happy Farming to you!
By Carol Stanley
Oregano acts as an antibiotic? Along with the wonderful flavor of fresh produce, you can control the soil and create truly organic products. I will not do a tirade on all the processing that goes on with food today, but we do know that we are not getting the vitamins and minerals that were in the food 30 years ago. For example there is so much publicity on the negatives of gluten today. I am wondering if it is just the over processing of wheat that is causing people to suffer from digestive problems. Anyway you cannot go wrong growing your own produce.
The Urban Farm Yard Sanctuary 