Making plans for a food forest

There are so many design ideas, growing methods, and outdoor/indoor homesteading projects I wish to implement on my little urban homestead.

Food forests, permaculture, guild planting, espalier, intercropping, succession planting, hugelkultur, raised beds, wicking beds, vertical gardening, container gardens, lasagna method,  forest gardening, and the list keeps growing…. Learning how to implement many design and gardening methods together is one that constantly has my gears spinning in my head.

These get broken down even further when you go into what materials to use for a raised bed, etc.

Add to all of that the various seed starting, transplanting, grafting, rooting methods and it gets more interesting.

There are just so many wonderful, inspired ideas out there; I want to use them all haha.

I have some older folded sod near the plum tree in my yard. I am considering using it to try my hand at hugelkultur. That one is a newer study subject for me. I think this method and the lasagna method are similar in the sense that you can do this on top of your lawn if you wanted *from what I have seen thus far at least* though the raised hugelkultur bed might be a better option depending on the materials at hand.

Recently we picked up a 100ft tape measure for $15 that is a bit more flexible and durable than others we have found.
Soon we will be getting the dimensions of yard and actually drawing it out on graphing paper.

I also picked up a Utilitech grow light at Lowes for about $15. I am sure it is not fantastic, but it was more affordable for the time being. I am going to test out this one, and if it does well, I will probably need 1-2 more before Spring.
We decided I would use the metal shelving unit I have outside in the garden for my grow station this year to save on buying a less than desirable one this year.

Today I have also been focused on organizing a list for a food forest. I have listed out things I want and have under different categories for the food forest; The categories are: Canopy, understory, vines, shrubs, herbs, groundcover, root crops, edge plants.

By putting the different plants under each category *some in more than one* it allows me to get a better mental layout by thinking in layers. From that I will then break it down further into seasons *for starting seeds indoors/outdoors/transplanting*, areas of the garden, growing methods, succession plantings, what is permanent and what needs replanting, etc.

I want to get a map out of what I would like my urban homestead to look like in the end, and then alter the plans for what I can do with it now, with what I have currently.

I know a food forest is not much of a “forest” on .18 of an acre, but I still think of it that way.

There is a lot I need to consider with my design. It is both fun and daunting. I am sure things will start moving more once the areas are measured and accounted for. This is probably a lot harder for me right now as this is my first time mapping out a food forest landscape without any experienced help aside from online blogs, videos, articles.. Once I get it down the first time it will be much easier, or so I hope.

Getting things in order for Spring

There is so much to do before Spring here on the homestead. I am hoping I get to everything on the ever growing list that needs to be done, not to mention in the right order for those that are more time sensitive.

Here is our urban homestead to do list for this years Winter going into Spring:

1. Make a seed starting station.
        What I mean by that is more than just my germination station containers I like to use. I want actual shelving with lights and heating.

2. Sort seeds.
      I need to sort seeds by season they are started, by whether they can be started indoors or out.
      I need to make a list of what I need to stagger for seed saving (As in I cannot plant more than one tomato at once unless I isolate the flowers or the seeds will not be pure)
   
3. Garden planning calendar.
  A list of seeds for each month with the space needed for each to go into the garden calendar and layout.
  Harvest dates need to go into the calendar.
     Expected harvest amount needs to go into the calendar so I can compare with the actual harvest amount.
   I need to put down dates for seed starting indoors & direct sewing. Dates for consecutive staggered sowings will also need to be dated.
    Which seeds will reseed themselves, and which need to be replanted.

4. Measure the garden area.
      The whole area needs to be measured and put onto graph paper for the garden design process.

5. Design the garden layout.
    This is more complicated, since I have to actually make 3 years of garden layouts *Modifiable of course* But this is needed so that I don’t plant something somewhere that will hinder me in the following year. My garden size will expand onto the present lawn eventually, so the plans will probably evolve as my usable garden space does.

6. Check the compost pile.
    This is my first year composting, and I am not sure the compost will be ready for use in the garden this year early on or not.

7. Check into natural bug elimination.
   I will be using all natural home made pest control options, as well as I was told diatomaceous earth is wonderful for getting rid of those pesky bugs.

8. To till or not to till?
   I need to decide what actually needs tilling and what can be no till zones.

9. Treat the soil.
    Our soil has either not enough nutrients, or it may just be the bug problem, but I plan on livening up the soil at least some this year, with progress on it every year until it is to my liking.

9. Slope steps.
   There are areas on the slope that are not easy to walk around either due to steepness or the cheat grass not giving much footing. I have slid down it a couple of times due to this. We need to build steps and possibly level out certain areas for gardening.

10. Move new strawberry plants.
      Last year when my strawberry plants put off runners I let those runners take root in pots. I need to cut the runners from the mother plant (Oh how alien sounding) and put them in their final location. I literally had strawberries developing on the new little plants into November. I just did not have enough sunlight for them to turn that vibrant red.

11. Get a hose.
      Since my last hose burst, I will need to purchase a new one and seriously consider how water will be moved to various areas of the garden that are not easily gotten to.

12. Seed germination tests.
      I have some seeds I am not sure of the viability for. I need to run some germination tests to see if they will be going into the garden or not.

13. Plan out other months of my calendar year.

14. Think about upgrading the freezer.
     I like to freeze, as well as can, and dry, so having a non working chest freezer is not good. When looking into it, it seems that a freezer that gets power to the light, but is not getting cold, is going to be a more expensive fix than just buying one. I am putting this here because it is something I have to think about during Winter/Spring, but may not get right away. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/much-run-freezer-per-month-67647.html This website explains how much power a freezer uses. I am hoping for a energy efficient freezer. I may consider turning the old one into a makeshift root cellar, but I am not sure yet.

15. Gas furnace.
     We have to see if once we renew our health insurance, and account for all other expenses, if financing a new gas furnace is possible. Having all electric heat has posed some issues this Winter, and we would need to start planning ahead for it now, if we plan to do it before next Winter. Basically we need to see if realistically we can do it this year or if we have to wait.

16. Plan for alternative cooling options.
     While we use our AC during the warm months, we would like to use it less, and utilize other means of keeping the house cool.

17. Clean the house.
    This will be during both Winter and Spring.

18. Clean up the spent plants.
   There are plants that did not make it into the compost pile that need to be removed from their spots. The strawberry patch needs to be de-weeded as best we can.

19. Harvest roots.
   Any roots I did not get to, or happen to be useful as I clean up the garden, will be cleaned and dried for later use.

20. Make garden markers
  I really have to decide what kind of garden markers I will make this year.

Reflection of this year

It is amazing how much can change during the course of a year. This past year has been full of major changes for my family.

We got completely out of debt during the first part of the year (Earlier than expected I might add)

We both bought used cars that were a much better upgrade from the ones that needed a whole lot of work. One of which I managed to get for half what it was worth, because I am awesome like that ^_^

We bought our first house

I had my first garden that was not confined to just container gardening

We learned how to remodel aspects of our kitchen and paint large rooms

We learned what happens when the drywall is too thin (Kitchen cabinet falls down.. Though it would have whether we had moved them or not due to the walls)

My husband learned more about electrical wiring

We got to experience our first winter in our new home, and also learn what it is like to have all electrical heating (We will most likely be getting a gas line run to the house eventually to help solve that little problem)

We learned what weather stripping is and why windows need to be covered during the winter

We both got tablets this year, which has helped with a lot of other aspects of our lives.

Things with both of our jobs changed a lot. My husband used to be sent home a lot due to various reasons, which was not exactly wanted. His position has slightly changed and now they do not furlough him as often.
I went part time at my job at the end of this year.


My brother who lives with us has become fully independent, and it is interesting to watch how each individual starts their adult life with all the responsibilities it comes with.

We decided to make an Urban Homestead a reality when we were searching for a home this year, which was a major decision, since we passed up a lot of places due to most not having any yard space to speak of.

I started seeing someone for my anxiety and depression.

Had my first wisdom tooth extraction.

We put up our first painting. Previously we did not decorate much. It did not feel permanent enough to hang anything. I leaned a painting against the mantle of our old place but that was it. This year is the first year we actually felt something was ours and we should decorate it. That sounds like a small thing, but really it was a bigger deal than you might imagine.

We are both constantly learning new things and creating new projects. This is just some of the more prominent things that happened this year. I think life needs balance. I do not ever expect my year to be only filled with good things. We learn from both our successes and our failures. It will be interesting to see how many things we shall learn and accomplish in the coming year.

Garden planning, soil, and compost

I am fearing the garden planning and layout process. In the past I was the typical gardener that would plant wherever it felt right, and sometimes come home with more plants than I could find space for.

While I will not be planting every type of seed I have this year, I will need to actually go through and make a list of what I will plant, when, what to plant after that, and make sure not to plant the wrong combination of plants at one time that would cross pollinate to plan for proper seed saving.

My brother and husband have offered to help me measure the yard space, and then help sketch out the layout. Numbers and I have a love hate relationship… I am sure it is something I could not do so easily on my own and I am happy for the help.

This will be the first time I have designed a garden layout as well. I will most likely map out the full yard, and then start planting on just the slope area to start.

Worst case scenario, I have to stick to just the slope, and plan out as best I can as I go.

My biggest concern is making some kind of stair steps for the slope in certain areas where the ground is quite steep. I have slid down the slope many times due to poor footing or loose dirt.

Another thing I am trying to do is make a list of all the garden projects I am considering. That way if I end up with the right materials at random, I can reference my list, and know what project it should go to.

I will have to narrow down the list of projects, such as if I want a fire pit, solar oven/dehydrator, rocket stove, pizza oven, outdoor canning stove, etc.. Because having all of those is unneeded and would take up a lot of space. I could also combine some ideas into one unique one.

One project I am working out is my seed starting shelves. Part of my urban homesteading quest is to try and find ways to do things for little to no cost. I feel a garden should not cost an arm and a leg. Even if I had a lot of money, which I do not, but if I did, I would still go about it this way.

Right now I am trying to see if building the shelves would be more cost efficient or if I could find low cost or free shelving that would work for that purpose. I am also looking into where to find good lights that don’t cost an arm and a leg. So far Aquarium lights seem to be the best option with the lowest price. I am still researching though.

This is the first time I have lived in a home with all electric heat. Our heating bill last month was $81, and this month was just shy of $200… I am used to a much lower bill due to having gas heat. This unexpected rise in our electric bill does mean the budget for the garden will be tighter unless something changes.

We are looking into what it would take to get gas ran up to the house and convert to gas heating. We have a wood burning stove out in the shop that used to be in our house, but we aren’t sure what it would take to hook it back up, costs involved, and if our insurance would be ok with it. Previously our insurance company had made a remark about the stove. I don’t think we could have gone through them had it been hooked up, but I do plan to ask them. Downside of course is if we did go with a wood stove, we would have to store a large amount of wood… Using up garden space, and I do hear there are some pretty poor suppliers for wood here locally. Still, we are looking into various options, since even with level budget pay becoming an option around April, the bill will still be quite high due to Winter usage.  Next month they expect the bill to be $225. I only mention this all because this is apart of starting a urban homestead. You have to account for unexpected rising bills and change plans accordingly.

I think we will also be trying the bubble wrap trick with the windows to help with the escaping heat in the house. I hear it works quite well.

Other things I will need to tackle are the bug and soil issue. Pill bugs, earwigs, box elder bugs, and ants are a big problem I hope to naturally get rid of before it becomes as big of an issue. I was not able to harvest one ear of corn this year due to infestation.

The soil needs a lot of nutrients added. I am sure the soil and bug combination made for slow growing plants. I am not sure if my compost will be ready in time but I will at least have mulch, coffee grounds, egg shells, and I will most likely pick up some compost tea. If I can get my hands on some manure from friends who have cows, horses, or chickens, I will add that to the compost pile to age. I really do hope to turn my soil into something people tend to call black gold.

I am very new to composting and I find I am not always able to turn the pile by hand every day. If I had a tumbler (Which I am considering making at some point) It might be easier to do before work. I like the idea of layering it and leaving it, but I don’t always have enough of one thing to make each layer. I am still trying to understand how that would work. Maybe I will get lucky and having neglected my compost pile will be fine.. One can hope.

Thankfully with the big silver maple tree I have, leaf mulch will not be a problem. I didn’t rake the yard this year either.

Being that the snow hit us randomly with over 7inches, I also didn’t get a chance to cover my grape vines in time, so I am hoping they will be ok. I do plan to plant those in the ground in the coming year.

Seed packing party

So I have been finding ways to find seeds without spending copious amounts of money (as I so very easily could if I were not careful) and I happened upon a seed packing event for a local seed company.

At first I did not think I would make the event with the times listed, but then realized they had a afternoon and night time event for the three days the event was taking place.

I loved the concept of being paid in seeds to pack seeds.

The event was 4 hours long. I would have gone to the others but I had to work those days. Still, so very happy I was able to make the last night event.

SO many seeds! Oh dear I have never seen so many seeds in one place before. It is pretty awesome. We packed up so many different seed packets I lost count.

Someone brought pie, another person brought soup, and so we got to have some wonderful treats in between seed packing.

The deal was that we would be paid 5-8 seed packets per hour worked, roughly $15-$24/hr when you account for the retail price of the seed packets.

I had an absolutely lovely time, and managed to come out with 32 seed packets. Only one of which I got 2 packs of. I got to pick what seeds I wanted from I think it was something like 175 varieties? I honestly cannot recall the number she said it was.

 
The seeds I ended up taking home with me.

The wonderful thing about these seeds, is all of them are grown locally, all do well here, and I can save seed from all of these.

I hope to get good at saving seeds from any variety I plant that allows for it, so my seed bank will grow, and make up for any bad planting years to come.

I also got a chance to talk with the lady running it about a part time apprenticeship on the farm. I explained a bit about my situation, she explained a bit about the apprenticeship, and how I might apply. It is no for sure thing, but it would be nice to get some experience from someone who knows much more about farming than I, not to mention make some friends who love the same things I do.

If nothing else, they will probably have this seed packing party going on again, and I certainly don’t mind the work.

The funny thing is, only a few of these were on my wanted list. Sometimes it is hard to know what you want until you have a bunch of varieties in front of you. I got things that were on my list first, then added other packets from there. I think I came out with a really good variety if I do say so myself.

Here is what I ended up with:

Armenian Cucumber
Watermelon “blacktail mountain”
Green nutmeg melon
Popcorn “Glass Gem”
Zucchini “Black Beauty”
Soybean “Beer fried”
Aunt Mollys Ground Cherry
Parsnip
French Breakfast Radish
Waltham Butternut Squash
Scallion/Bunching onion
Tuxana Sweet Corn
San Marzano Tomato
Dr Carolyn Cherry Tomato
Red Zebra Tomato
Garden Breadseed Poppy
Mammoth Grey Stripe Sunflower
Blue Flax
Shungiku Edible Chrysanthemum
Motherwort
2pks of Broadleaf Tobacco
Purple Orach/Mountain Spinach
Winter Giant Spinach
Wrinkled Crinkled Crumpled Cress
French Sorrel
Heirloom Lettuce Mix
Smokin Hot Basil Mix
Dwarf Scottish Blue Curled Kale
Salad Party
Arugula
Cilantro


Here is a list of things I still want, minus what I have gained thus far:

 

Fruits:
Thornless raspberry
Wineberry
Salmonberry
Plum
Rainier Cherry
Golden Delicious Apple
Another apple type (Something like honeycrisp)
Muskmelon (Like cantaloupe)
*Other melons I have yet to discover** working on that
More grape varieties. I have 3 now, I want a few more types possibly.
Orange
Lemon
Dew berry
Salal
Porcelain gem vine *Edibility still questionable*
Peach
Nectarine
Asian Pear
Huckleberry
Blueberry (3 varieties)
Elderberry
Honeyberry
Wonderberry aka sunberry
Jostaberry
Mouse melons aka Mexican Gherkins
Lingonberry
PawPaw *Possibly*
Persimmon *Possibly*

Veggies:
Artichoke
Miners lettuce
Snap Peas
Brussels
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Potatoes- fingerling, red, gold, yams/sweet potatoes
Garlic (Has to come from a certified nursery here or it could cause white mold soil rot)
Cabbage
Celery
Banana peppers
Jalapeno
More winter squash varieties
Rhubarb
Horseradish
Sweet onions
Turnip
Sweet yellow onion

Herbs/Plants/Flowers:
Cleavers
Pineapple weed
Lemongrass
Bee balm aka bergamot
Red clover
Aloe Vera
Burdock
Ginseng
Comfrey
Wood Betony
Goldenrod
Vervain
Tea, Camellia sinensis
Passionflower
Damiana
Gardenia
Goldenseal
Jasmine
Day lily
Watercress
Goldenseal
Starry False Solomons Seal

Changes in trends over time

Change is inevitable, though sometimes even though we expect change, the change is still hard to comprehend.

Sitting here drinking my creamy pumpkin nutmeg tea, and watching The Dutchess (I like movies based on other time periods), I cannot help but be in awe at just how much we have changed since those times.

So very much has changed not just in fashion, but also in the way of life, of living, of how one is raised. I would say both for better and for worse.

To me it is a very sad thing that once upon a time (given various time periods and ranking in class) a woman was to learn many skills as she grew up; sewing, cooking, voice lessons, riding, languages, posture, etiquette, dancing, writing (in terms of how to write a proper letter, not just grammar) and more… and it seems more and more as time goes on that less of these things are taught.

Men usually were taught things like language, politics, etiquette, dueling, riding, hunting (recreational or survival), economics, public speaking (if noble or royal) sometimes they were also taught nautical means, such as navigation or astronomy, and in some cases war or military leadership.
A common man usually learned only the trade his father performed. Occasionally that was not the case, but rarely.

I can probably count off the top of my head just how many people I have met that can actually cook a proper meal with more than two food groups from scratch. I cannot possibly count how many people I know or have met that could not possibly boil water.

Sewing is even less, though I am fortunate enough to have met some talented spirits who know how to sew.

These things were necessary skills for life, for your future husband, for being accepted into society.

I am happy that people marry for love now rather than for the myriad of other reasons, usually involving wealth and ranking in class, as they used to. I won’t go into arranged marriages.

I am also happy that while women still have a hard time in the work place, being that we are still very much in transition into being equals, we actually have made so much progress and continue to do so.

I am, however, very sad to see so many women taking this for granted and not doing anything with their freedom.

I am sorry but I have a problem with someone who has no desire to learn any skill of use, who would rather eat out or use a microwave than ever learn to cook at least a handful of meals on their own, and cannot spell most words properly. Text speech is not really speech. It is fast, and helpful when one is in a very big hurry, but honestly  it just makes people sound uneducated. To me that is VERY unattractive.

I do not feel anyone is perfect, but I also think effort should be made. It is easier to forgive someone sounding dumb unintentionally, than it is when they do it on purpose, or make no effort to learn how. Spelling being a prime example here. 

I may not have been taught everything a young girl should learn based on previous time periods standards, but I am lucky enough to have been taught most of them. The ones I did not learn are on my list of things to learn. As you all may know that list is rather large and will take some time to go through with everything else I have on my plate, but I still feel they are important.

One of the things I learned growing up was good manners, proper etiquette, empathy, sympathy, to be polite, and how to be respectful (even if I was very stubborn at times)

I didn’t realize how *odd* of a thing this was for me to have these life skills until I was repeatedly asked if I had ever been raised in a military family…. As if there had to be some reason other than being raised properly for my reactions to certain situations, such as being good at empathy at my current customer service job. You would be amazed at how many people either do not care to give empathy or simply cannot grasp the concept as it was not explained to them growing up. For me it is second nature to provide it.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with the people who do not know how to provide empathy, or any of the skills I have mentioned, I just can’t understand how some of those have nearly become obsolete, when I feel some are still very much needed.

I can only imagine what it might be like 100 years from now. What direction society as a whole will take. What will become acceptable and what will not.

History and trends tend to repeat themselves.. I am sure we will just move into another version of our past as we have been doing for so many generations.
Things go out of style and back in style time and time again.

Things change yet we cling to the past, for better or worse. Now if only we could learn from our mistakes a little more.

I know my husband and I, whenever we do have children, will be raised the way we were… Which apparently can be considered old fashioned, but we both feel there are certain skills and knowledge a child must have before entering adulthood.

Yes, it might seem odd that my mother made me walk with a book on my head every day until my posture was perfect, but I got a lot of compliments on it all throughout the years… My posture is not what it used to be as of late.. I need to work on that, but when I walk into a room everyone knows it. That is not to sound pompous, or be self inflating, but to give credit to the simple lesson having made a big impact on how people perceive me. All the other lessons I learned added to this, but the way a person holds themselves speaks volumes about someone.

So yes, my future daughter will learn those same skills for how to be a proper lady, and my future son will learn how to be a proper gentleman.  Maybe it will not be completely by this time periods standards, but I feel this will give them more enriching experiences and open up more opportunities in life.
It certainly did for me….

Just wait, this will become popular at some point again.. Histories trends do repeat themselves, it is just a matter of when that cycle comes around.

Pagans and Poverty

Something I have noticed in general about the pagan culture has gotten me thinking today.

Have you ever noticed how many spells, rituals, and chants there are for money, bringing wealth (in the monetary sense), or otherwise filling your wallet; yet the pagan culture as a general whole, witches, wiccans, etc, are poor or just barely making it by?

I thought to myself why is that? Why out of all the cultures, religions, are pagans almost always short on cash, barely able to pay the bills, and scrambling to find a way to make it by?

This came up because I have been considering writing some short books for kindle. I was discussing with my husband about how much I love to write about witchy topics, yet I doubt they would sell as most pagans would go to a library rather than buy a kindle book for a few bucks. They just don’t always have it.

The realization, one which I have always known about but didn’t really think too hard on it until now kind of shook me.

So my husband and I started talking about why this might be.

I would like to note that my husband, while fully supporting and encouraging my beliefs as a witch, is not actually pagan.

**Please be forewarned that this is not meant to offend and does use a lot of generalizations to get a theory across. This does not apply to every pagan, but only  used as a generalization from what we personally have noticed and experienced.**

In general pagans tend to be more solitary in their practice. (When I say pagans I am referring more to witches, wiccans, and the like)
Even within a coven, covens do not always communicate with other covens on a regular basis, so I still count that as solitary as most covens are not overly large.

There are up sides and downsides to being solitary or in a coven. For this example they will be both one and the same.

When you are solitary, you get to connect with nature, your surroundings, and get all the benefits of doing things your own way.

I could go on and on about how wonderful this can be verses a mass religion type, partly because I can quite be anti-social myself, while other times I like a little social interaction, for the most part I am content being outside of large crowds.

Here is one major downside and part of a good reason why pagans tend to not end up better off money wise. Networking.

I will use Christians as an example, mostly because I was raised Christian originally so I have first hand experience for comparison.

Christians network like crazy. The smaller churches that do not network you will easily tell as they do not do as well as the ones that do.

Churches range in size but still tend to be larger than most covens. Covens in my experience range between 6 and 40 people I’d say, and even less than that show up for regular coven gatherings. Even if the coven breaks 150 people, nowhere near that many are usually active within the coven gatherings.

Christians on the other hand usually go to church, whether a true Christian or one that just goes for appearances does not matter, they go or are usually judged, feel guilty, etc for not going. For some it is highly looked down upon not to go to church unless you are quite ill or have a damn good reason not to.

So not only do you have a whole church full of people, who network with each other, you also should note that most churches communicate with other churches in the area, or even in other states across the nation.

They get involved, for better or worse, but the point is they DO communicate often. Not that pagans don’t communicate, but the way we socialize is a little different and tends to be at festivals, small gatherings, and not quite on the scale that Christians would. Even if we meet regularly, it is usually with the same small group.

Point being is that we miss out on a lot of opportunities we could get by being content to be alone and not network with each other.

Ever heard the saying that it isn’t about what your resume looks like, it is more about who you know when it comes to landing a good job or a great opportunity? Well, that is largely true when it comes to networking.

I was originally raised Christian, and while at times we had money, and other times we did not. We almost always had lots of great opportunities through church members, and help when we needed it from the churches themselves. I can honestly say that the times we did not have money was not for lack of opportunity, but more for poor choices of my parents, but that is a whole other topic.

Heck people were there to help, even if they were just there to teach you how they budget, how to write a resume, where to find good deals, anything was helpful and they were happy to help the community grow by sharing knowledge.

The point is there was always room for growth with the networking system we had.

While paganism is becoming more and more of a choice, and less judged, it is still judged a lot. I am sure part of our networking issues has to do with the fact that Christians have simply been doing it longer and been more open with their lifestyle than we have.


Another bad cycle I tend to see is what I would like to call “trailer park pagans” without being overly offensive, hear me out.

Poverty breeds poverty. Once you are in it, your mindset changes, and one rarely ever gets out of it simply because they become content. No matter how often they complain they wish things would change, they simply do not change, or put forth the amount of effort needed to change. In other words less effort appears to be a lot more than it really is when you feel tired often mentally.

Sometimes people who live in poverty situations tend to become pagan because of the solitary practice, the act of rebellion, the connection we have with living with less as pagans used to. The big difference of course being that pagans used to live with less because they did not need more…

Pagans were ‘Poor’ by monetary definitions because they got all they needed from the land and had no need to work outside of their own stewardships.  They were not poor in every other way. Poor only referred to money, and when money is not needed, and your needs are met, it is hard to see them as being in poverty.

Nowadays there are simply things we must pay for and it is almost impossible to live without some expense. Because of this our mindset has to change a little to evolve with the current times in the ways we must.

Now that is not to say that I don’t agree with simplistic living and getting back to our roots. I am creating an urban homestead for petes sake, though that does not mean that I am ok with barely getting by either. I would very much like to have a constant amount of savings in the bank that I could use when needed, and I know things need to be done to keep that there, or create that savings for that matter.  I am working hard to make that happen, and it will happen.

Now I am not saying that people are horrible trash if they live in a trailer. What I am saying is that once you move to an area that is filled with sorrow, guilt, regret, poverty, illness, sluggishness,  etc, that it is very hard to not have that energy pull your own down and drown you in it. A sinking ship if you will and misery does love company.

Sometimes people get out and end up right back in that situation. Most of the time though those people are just not wise with the way they spend their money. Fast food and spending sprees anytime they see a little extra, as if to reward themselves for that little extra they got.

I understand the need for having nice things or going out. I am not saying not to do those things. But seeing my parents, when times were tougher, going out and spending anything extra they got immediately on useless things… Rather than saving the money and making better use of it. That is how you get stuck.

You get so excited that you have $20 extra, $200 extra that is normally not there… and you decide to do something special because you can for once, and you feel you deserve to go out or get something you normally couldn’t have.

People who usually have a little extra at the end of the month do not think this way and tend to save more in the end. Because they save a little more each time they have a little more they end up being able to do more. I am not meaning they can do more spending, I mean they can make actual full lifestyle changes if they do things the right way. It is literally just another thought process and way of doing things.

Changing your lifestyle is a lot better than staying in a bad lifestyle and only having a nice thing every once in awhile. You want to actually like the life you live in.
I think it is very possible to change that. It is hard work, but if you do it right anything is possible.

I have changed a lot in my life and the way I think and do things. I still have a lot more to go, but it has greatly impacted the way I view my life. I have gotten so far ahead of where I thought I would be now. It is just proof that you can change your situation entirely and not just for the short term.

Another difference is mindset in general.
Now I am speaking in general terms for things we have both observed on a mass scale, so don’t take any of this as “fact” but more as our personal opinions and observations.

Christians tend to pray for help but also act… They are told to pray but that God will not do all the work for them, and if you do not do all you know to do, you are tying his hands. While God may want to help, he cannot if you do not also act on what you know.

So in addition to praying, they are also doing everything they can to fix situations.

Pagans, for reasons unknown, tend to think doing a spell or a ritual is both the prayer and the action. It is not.

The spell, ritual, chant, etc, is there to put your intentions out there. Yes, you can call things to you, but it is an aid, not a “all I have to do is this and it will fix my problem”
Do you really think that the Gods are going to help a lazy witch who only ever complains about their life? No. You will get help, but only through action, and not just the action of doing a spell, prayer, ritual… No, I mean if you want a damn job you do a spell to find the job that best suits you and your needs, and then you do a job search for as long as it takes to find that job.
A job is not just going to land itself on your lap because you spelled it to. That is not how spells work.

Spells work through intentions, will, action, willpower, motivation, ambition. Do you get my point here?

They are aids to help sway things in our favor. To help open doors that we may have missed, to turn one opportunity that might be good into an even better one. or just to help guide people to us. None of this will happen if we don’t actually do anything other than the ritual and then complain when nothing happens, or complain when we do not continue to act upon things.

Yes, it takes awhile to find a job, but spells and rituals do not always have a “expiration date” and we do not always know when things will happen. Just because we think they should happen now and they do not, does not mean we should give up. It means we need to keep trying and trust things should happen when it is the right time, even if you yourself think the right time should have been yesterday with all the crap that is going on in your life. Things happen for a reason, be it good or bad.

I just think pagans should be taking more initiative and come out of the broom closet and start networking with each other more than just a few online forums or small gatherings.

What does it say for our path if most of our people are barely living paycheck to paycheck yet we have all these money spells that appear to not work? Why on earth would anyone want to be pagan if what it seems to offer is poverty and spells that obviously are not working?

Money isn’t everything, but it DOES mean something when it comes to living in a time where you have to have money to survive.

By the way there are many very effective money spells. They only don’t work if you don’t actually use them correctly and then take action after. No you will not get rich from them, but they are quite helpful when needed.  The fact that most people complain they do not work is a testament to just how many people do not understand the process of a spell and the actions after it is cast.

I have always been one to think that you have to do what you need to do to get where you want to be, whatever that means for the situation presented. I think things could greatly improve in the pagan community if we changed the way we do a few things to better suit the communities needs.  Am I wrong?

Could it really hurt to take more physical action? Could it hurt to network and be a little more social while still being non-social as a lot of us are? You don’t have to be a social butterfly, but just actually get involved with more than just a few people.

No one is going to help the pagan community. We have to help ourselves. There is absolutely no reason why we cannot be a thriving community who helps to build each other up like more mass religions do.

That is not saying we are conforming to be like a mass religion, that is saying that we can evolve to better help the needs of our people and better the way of a pagan life.

Outside of GoddessFest, and private or open coven meetings, how many events are there that are pointed towards the pagan religion vs events and holiday gatherings for Christian religions? Mind you, we have more holidays and sacred days to celebrate.

I think it is time for us to come out of the shadows, the broom closet, and actually be more of a community. Yes, we may get hate thrown towards us, but really it does not matter. You can be hated for the choice in the shirt you wear, but you will still wear that shirt if you like it will you not? Religion is a personal choice. One choice in which others opinions should never matter. Stop being afraid of ridicule and connect.

Not all pagans are broke all the time. Every person can learn something as well as has something to teach, even if they do not realize it.


Here is a simple way to see it. Take the show Lost for an example. If someone decided to be greedy and wanted to go out and survive on his own, maybe he could do it, but he could not do everything he needed to do in a day to survive without breaking his back.
By working together, each person has their own job, their own skill set they can teach others, and by becoming a community they get a amazing amount of work done in a fraction of the time because they decided it was better for survival to work together than alone. This is no different than coming together as a community.

We do have community, just not quite to where it needs to be. We have a lot of catching up to do.

Tending to the garden

We all know gardening is both a joy and hard work. One thing that I have struggled with lately is getting my garden watered properly while I have been sick with a cold.
My husband will help me water it from time to time, but not always.

Since the hose burst, it has to be done by hand, which means many trips to the spigot. It is a bit harder on my body while I am not feeling well than using a hose would be. Being so close to the end of the season, I had decided not to buy a new hose until next year.

I am still watering my garden, just not as often as I would like. I had hoped the rainy days would continue but of course during this time the temperature decided to heat back up again.

I would have put wine bottles into the ground but the water would have dried up within a day I am sure, and I would not have been able to refill them so easily without the bottom being cut off. Usually it is a battle of spraying the dirt out of the neck before refilling. Seems like more of a hassle to refill bottles that are not cut, than watering the garden by hand.

Sadly I do not have a self watering system in place for my current garden, but I do hope to implement one next year if possible. Doing so with a larger garden would make things a lot easier. Even if only part of it  is self watering through watering wells, pots, etc, it would help take off the load.

I have a sprinkler system in my back yard, though it does not reach the slope. I do not see a drip system being possible for next years plans so I am coming up with other ideas like wicking beds and such.

Some of the tomato plants look a little wilted but are otherwise fine. I see a little acorn squash growing, though no others for pumpkin or butternut yet. The zucchinis are doing great. Most of the beets are growing wonderfully. Peas/beans are flowering.
All in all my garden is doing just fine despite lack of the proper watering.

I have still been able to water my indoor plants. My ginger is really taking off. Lettuce seems a bit hard to grow indoors. I wonder if the temperatures fluctuate too much for the little lettuce heads. Either the heads die off or start to bolt. I think it just gets too warm and our AC unit has problems keeping the place cool even with the fans going.

Watercress has died off but I do believe I was able to get a few seeds that will hopefully germinate later.

I started a mushroom growing experiment. I took the stems of two types of mushrooms, button and the brown topped ones I can never remember the names of, and put them in some moist soil. I have them in my crafting room on the windowsill in 2 liter plastic bottles with a big hole in them.

They appear to be decomposing, which I am not sure if that is part of the re-growing process or if this is a failed experiment. I read somewhere that you could grow them that way but I am not so sure as of yet.
I wanted to try growing shiitake mushrooms but those are hard wood mushrooms I believe, which means they grow on decomposing logs, not in soil.

In any rate if it does not work I will most likely get a mushroom growing kit in the future.

As for the outdoor garden area, I will give it lots of love via coffee, tea, and other yummy things as a thanks for their patience with me while I am ill. I have already put a little coffee out there for the squash.

Whenever I make coffee I make just a little extra that goes into a cup that I put into my garden later. I also save the grounds as well as you already know.

Thankfully even with as bad as I have felt with this cold, I can tell it will not last as long as others have. A testament to what good herbal remedies can do for ones body.

Bringing the essence of the woods to me

I know a lot of people who suffer from depression, anxiety, social anxiety, fear, stress, migraines that are triggered by the above at times. I am one of those people.
While it can be hard to talk about at times because I know I am not weak, but while it is happening the feeling is that of helplessness. Also for me acknowledging it verbally is, well it is not something I generally like to do. It is as if I accept defeat by acknowledging it happens. I am a fighter and not one to lay down and roll over accepting defeat.

I have tried lots of herbal remedies for the above in single and multi herb blends. I have also tried vitamin, naturopathy, just not prescriptions. I refuse to take those particular prescriptions as I usually end up experiencing any and all bad side effects with prescriptions. I have taken prescriptions for migraines but they never showed any positive result, so I stopped taking them.

I was doing more research on the subject tonight and I was feeling frustrated that all I was seeing were all the herbs I already know and have tried.
Now this is not to say that some of those might not work for some people, but if you are like me at all, taking a sedative herb like passionflower, whether it calms your body down or not, your mind is what keeps you awake. Basically I end up laying in bed tired as all hell with no chance of falling asleep.

Some herbs help mildly if I happen to have them at the very beginning of that off feeling I get before something comes at me full force.

Most don’t even take the edge off. I would not accept that I have to live this way.
Everything could be fine and I could feel down or have a panic attack for almost no reason. It is scary to have something like that happen and not have a definitive reason for why you can’t stop the hurt feeling in your chest. I usually chalk it up to being stressed for too long and it finally catching up with me.

I am explaining this because I had an interesting thought… One I cannot wait to test out my theory on.

I was reading this article. Don’t ask me which because I read far too many tonight to even begin to remember… And in it this guy was talking about how a lot of peoples stress, depression, anxiety is caused by modern urbanization. This made a lot of sense to me.

One of the few places I am almost never stressed and feel my best is in nature, in a forest, by a stream, on an ocean shore, in my garden. I am not the only one. It is quite known that taking a walk through nature is a stress reliever. 
The writer goes on to talk about how people in more simplistic communities, such as the Amish, who don’t do things quite the same way, tend not to have as much of a problem with stress, anxiety, or depression.

I realized that yes, my fears also can drive depression, attacks, etc, but one common thing with almost all of these things is a feeling of being disconnected. Either disconnected to myself, others, my surroundings, a situation… Just over all feeling disconnected and not knowing how to feel connected and grounded despite meditation and will of mind.

After reading that article, which was very brief but really sparked some thoughts, I decided to go about this whole thing a lot differently. Or at least give it a try.

I am always talking about how I need to go out into nature more, or how I need to go forage, how nature is my sanctuary… A big problem is that aside from the occasional hike, or watering my garden, it is not enough for me. I just desire to be out tromping in the woods more than some might.
Knowing that it helps but also knowing I cannot get out in nature as much as my mind and body would like is frustrating to say the least.
Everyone *well, most everyone* has to work, has responsibilities, and other things that will take up most of their time. You can’t just do whatever you want to do every day of the year. You have to plan things out and sometimes plans fall through.

This is what got me thinking. Understanding what causes my triggers, and what helps keep them at bay, I came to an interesting thought. What if I had been looking at this herbal formulation the wrong way? None of those herbs quite do the job that are commonly used for stress, depression, anxiety… If the forest works for me, which is also probably why I am growing things inside and out… How can I bring that feeling I get when I walk through a wild landscape with me when I am in a urban concrete environment?

So this time when I am experimenting with a new herbal aid for these things, I will be trying to use ingredients and scents most commonly found in the woods. Try to bring the essence of the forest to my senses and see if it actually helps more than previous failed attempts. Honestly of everything so far, in theory this makes the most sense to me.

So now I have to come up with a list of (obviously safe to ingest) things to gather from the woods for my next herbal formulation. It needs to be well rounded and may take some time to mull over. Replicating some scents will not be easy as I will not be putting dirt in my herbal remedy laughs but I will do what I can to bring the essence of the forest into a little herbal concoction, smell or no smell, that will hopefully have the intended affect.
I also need to decide upon the type of preparation for the blend i.e tincture, syrup, lozenge, tea.

I will most certainly be needing to go on another wildcrafting adventure to gather fresh supplies for this once I get a list down.

Yearly groceries and planning

I have been reading a lot of homesteading blogs today. I enjoy passing the time reading others adventures.

One particular subject I have been meaning to get on a little more is grocery shopping, the larder, food pantry, freezer, etc plans.

This subject is a bit of a chore for me because it means I have to do a lot of tracking, and find a way to do it where the other two in my family don’t throw me off my numbers. I am still thinking of a good method for this… The best I have so far is keeping a list, and then adding a tally (with an amount) for each time I buy a product during the year. At the end I look through the house to see what I have left and subtract that amount if it is anything substantial (as I like to over estimate rather than underestimate what I will need)

Out of that very long list of items I will also list what I can grow of those, how much of it I will need to grow, and how many cans/bags I would need to produce from said crop per person.

Each year I will put down what I have growing and if it is under, over, or right at what it needs to be for preserving.

Of course this list will change each year as our tastes do. I am sure what we eat in fruits and veggies now will greatly grow once we can have it fresh on the table during the harvest seasons.

We may eat more of something in the future because I can grow it, than we would if we were to buy it in a fruit stand or store. Artichoke is a good example of one veggie we all love but never really buy due to increasing prices.
I absolutely love steamed artichoke with Italian dressing to dip the leaves and heart in. I also hate the canned stuff because it is not usually cooked quite to my liking and doesn’t come out right.
Growing my own will solve that.

Everyone is going to use different things and different amounts. When someone thinks of a larder, or prepping for a year of food, one usually thinks of beans, rice, etc… And while we eat those things, we normally do not base our whole diet off of those. You need to base your pantry goods off of what you actually use, not just that but also how much you actually use. No need to buy 50lbs of beans if your family only uses 10lbs or less a year… That is just a random number for an example. I see people that buy a LOT of rice, when they only need maybe a small few bags a year.

The idea for me is that I will need to go through a multi-step process that may take a few years to get down. One at the very least.
First step is to go through my pantry and write down everything I have just to start the “what do we use” list
   Each time we go shopping I mark down new items with amounts, or add amounts to items already on the list.
   I would also like to add how much those items were so I can get a yearly grocery expense ballpark.
   I will then have my “currently growing” and “To grow” list. Based on the grocery list I can at least have a guess on how much of something I will need to grow and adjust accordingly.

Also I would like to make a “Thinks we would like to use, but don’t use much of, or do not presently use” list to see how I can incorporate new food items in the mix.

I may not go this particular route as I do not go shopping once a week, but something like what this blogger has posted about is a brilliant idea.  Click the link below to see how another blogger created their food pantry.
Food storage for people who don't hate food

There are some great charts on that site that give you a good idea on how to create your own list.

I keep seeing these “Eat from the larder challenge” Where basically for a month you are not allowed to eat anything except from what is already in your pantry/fridge/freezer.
People tend to eat out or shop so often that they end up with things in their pantry that they do not even remember when they bought it at times. I think the reason is that they end up with random cans of pumpkin, or boxes of noodles they don’t know what to do with. Random ingredients that are missing others to make something.
I think by building up your food storage, you have a well rounded pantry, freezer, fridge, and will be better able to cook more meals, and get creative with ingredients without it being an awkward mix.

What I mean is it is fun to experiment with random recipes whenever your heart fancies. It is not always fun when you have to try and throw random things together that are only passible by the taste buds as being ok for a one time meal.

I also think that if one was to do something like this they might bake more, eat healthier *depending on items they stocked up on of course* and can have more food groups to their diet.

I remember as a kid we literally had all the food groups at every meal like a good old fashioned home cooked meal would be imagined. You had your potatoes, your roll, your peaches, meat, veggie… It was much too large of a serving size back then, but people didn’t really know as much about portioning as they do now.

Nowadays I notice people are lucky if they have more than two food groups a day even, let alone a meal. That is not to say I think all food groups need to be there in every meal, but you should be getting enough servings of each food group for your bodies needs.

My problem with people today is laziness. People would rather pop a hot pocket in the microwave than cook something.
My brother and I have this argument all the time actually. He argues that he loves to cook, but all I ever see him do is use the microwave, yet he cooks at his friends houses all the time. I have been trying to get him to eat healthier meals and cook more here for ages. Heck, I have made healthier food accessible that is not even time intensive, or pre-prepared for him. Usually he only eats it if I make dinner for everyone.
  He finally told me it was because some of his friends families had a LOT of really random fresh ingredients which provided a better variety. He doesn’t really like to cook normal foods… He likes to play master chef and create new yummy food concoctions, some of which I love, others you couldn’t pay me to try haha.

While I admire his ambition and love for experiments, I doubt that he will do much more than basic cooking here. This is another reason why my freezer meal idea will be awesome once I can implement it further *As in fix the chest freezer* When I froze big batches of my home made chicken veggie soup he absolutely loved that. I will have to do that again soon as the weather cools.

What he said made sense to me, though I still frowned at him due to having things to cook, just not quite the variety that a Mex-Asian family who is traditional on both sides would have. Food is a very big part of both of those cultures.  I have been amazed at some of the meals he has told me he has had over there. I don’t usually shop for some of the more exotic ingredients they use.

I do think getting a rice cooker and a bread maker will entice my brother a bit though. He has mentioned those being handy on more than a few occasions.

At least I don’t have to force him to eat veggies.

My husband on the other hand is really picky about what veggies need to be cooked to what texture… He will not eat anything but raw when it comes to carrots. If they are cooked he won’t eat them. A few other veggies are like that for him. These things I have to take into consideration when cooking.

Considering what you eat raw, cooked, dried, fresh, frozen, the meals you like, how you like them prepared *baked, fried, etc* and doing a little meal planning in addition to just knowing how much of something you use might be useful when building up your larder. 

For me having options is both good and bad. Like loving ice cream but then going into baskin-robins and not knowing which of the 31 flavors you want so you sit on the floor for hours not sure what to pick. Well, for me it is the floor of the kitchen with my fridge door open every couple of minutes in hopes of deciding. I can be very indecisive.

Another great thing about doing this is you aren’t just doing it for quick meals, but also for cooking. For instance, I could put down that we can eat up to 4 granola bars during working days *20 days a month* for the year, equaling out to 80 bars a month or 960 a year (Yes that sounds like a hell of a lot of bars, but we really love them, and they make great work snacks) OR I could put down how much oats I need, honey, and all the other random ingredients I would need to make my own batches of granola bars.
  Not only would they be fun to make, it would save money, and be another way I could utilize the list.
    I don’t think we really eat quite that many, but for me I usually eat 1-2 a day. I only assume the same goes for the hubby for my estimation.
   Now if I make my own bars I have to take into account what kinds I will be making. I also think there is a great benefit in knowing what goes into making your food, as well as there are so many bars I go “You know I wish they would have added X to this bar… or why can’t I find a bar that tastes like X when I am craving it” So cooking has many benefits to it really.

I won’t go into the whole long rant about how most of our newer generation doesn’t know or care to know how to cook. That is an overgeneralization based on my own experiences and the ones I hear from others. I feel cooking is an essential skill everyone should know and I will leave it at that.

For now I am making a list (Not close enough to Christmas to make that joke)
It may take awhile to get the hang of it but I think it will be worth the effort later, especially since making a list on the fly or during breaks at work is not exactly easy.

I think the next challenge will be to add shelving for more canned and dried food storage.

My Morning

The season is closing. The strawberries are about done putting out new buds. The rest of my plants are maturing or putting off seeds.  This means most of my early morning strawberry picking is done for the season.

Today I woke up and decided to harvest the top couple inches of the purslane plant that decided to grow in one of my grape vine containers. I harvested the leaves for drying.  I will then use the leaves in green smoothies, soups for thickening, eggs, etc.

It is a newer edible for me and I find I rather love the taste of it. Now I understand what all the hype is about.

I also harvested little cup shaped seed pods with ity bity black seeds in them. I have been reading that one plant can produce up to 5,000 seeds. I of course got no where near that, but having some is a nice addition to my seed bank.

Now for anyone looking to try purslane, do not confuse it with spurge. The easiest way to tell the difference is spurge has white milky sap when you break open the stem, whereas purslane does not. Spurge, or spotted spurge is poisonous and should not be consumed.

This is purslane.

Spurge
Take note that spurge does not always have the spots on the leaves.

I will continue to harvest leaves and seeds from the purslane plant while the season lasts.

Homestead update

There was a storm here about a week ago. I am sad to say that I have not seen the hummingbird or her two babies since the storm. I have also not found any bodies, which is a good sign at least. I am sure they just moved, but it still was concerning to me.

So far in the garden I have harvested that massive yellow squash. I did save seeds from it though they may end up being hybrid. I still don’t mind planting them and seeing what comes of them.

Little green tomatoes are forming for my second round of tomatoes. My corn is throwing up flower stalks. Beets are growing nicely. Beans are starting to branch out. My zucchini plant has 3 to 4 zucchinis that will be ready for harvest soon. My winter squash are growing and flowering.
All in all the garden is doing pretty great.

I think the potato is starting to send up little leaves that I had thrown into the cheat grass pile. New cheat grass shoots are popping up due to the watering. It is ok though.

I have been adding food scraps to the grass pile and making sure to keep it moist.

I was given a lemon cucumber from one of my sisters co-workers to save seeds from. I think it is pretty awesome when people I don’t even know are offering veggies from their garden for seed saving. I saved the seeds and still was able to sample the cucumber. It tastes much like a normal cucumber to me.

I also saved the seeds from the apricot pits I got. We have no idea if it is a heirloom or hybrid apricot as the tree was saved without a tag on it. I may try planting it in a container.

Another experimental seed I have saved is the seeds from an Orange Dewlicious Honeydew melon. It tastes like honeydew but more like cantaloupe. It was my first time trying this breed and I decided seeds must be experimented with.

I have also saved a few romaine lettuce hearts that are now growing in my kitchen. My husband loves that I have to grow things everywhere. The bok choy is also doing wonderful, though I found a caterpillar munching on one and quickly eradicated the situation.

I found a few more nodes on my ginger root that I had sitting in a bag. I find they produce nodes faster when you leave them in the produce bag and sit them on the counter. I planted the two nodes I found in my little ginger pot.
I was delighted to find out that you can eat the whole ginger plant. For common ginger you can at least. I tried a leaf, expecting it to be spicy, and found it tastes much like the skin of a cucumber. That was not something I had expected.
I was trimming some of the dying leaves from the ginger plant and noticed the wonderful cucumber-like smell coming from them. That is how I came to find out you can actually eat the leaves or dry them for tea. Basically I caught a whiff of the sweet smell and went into research mode.
I will be saving the leaves for tea later once I harvest the roots.

There has not been a whole lot else going on in the garden.

I have been spending my time sketching ideas for a new painting I am working on, making herbal remedies, and making lists for Winter projects.

One of the things I hope to accomplish by this Winter is to at least sketch out my garden design on graph paper. If I am not overly distracted when I do this, I hope to design four different designs for my four year garden rotation.
Most things I find say not to plant the same thing in the same location more often than once every four years. Now, this of course excludes permanent shrubs, trees, etc.
That of course will be a big project using many measurements. Keep in mind I have not taken any official permaculture class. I have only studied it and watched college lectures online. I still feel it will not be an easy project as it is still new to me.

I still have to clear the rest of the cheat grass in the back before the frosts come. 

I will try and make a somewhat completed list (As my lists are ever-growing) for my Winter projects list to give you an idea of what I plan to do during the off gardening season. How many of those things I actually get accomplished is yet to be seen, though I will stay active during those months on what I am up to.
I am not just going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs all Winter. I have a lot of other non-garden related projects I wish to work on.

Gardening and baby humming birds

This is what I have in my kitchen near my espresso machine. I have an open container to store coffee grounds in as I use them, and a old ziplock lunchbag that I put dried used tea leaves in. It is not a lot right now, but over time it will be very useful.



I have also started saving eggshells again that I will later grind up.


My little kitchen garden is doing fantastic. Avocado tree, ginger, bok choy, watercress, onion, and romaine. All but the watercress were propagated from fruit stand or grocery store scraps.


This yellow crookneck is getting so big! Now everything I read says to harvest when the skin is still soft… But mine has never really been soft, so to be honest I am not sure when it needs to be harvested. I will most likely be picking it tomorrow after getting some feedback.


The beginnings of my compost pile! The boys mowed the grass and piled it up for me on top of a box that is laid flat. It towers closer to 4 ft tall… I will most likely be scattering it a bit more as I add more things to the pike so the pile is not too high.


Look at these two incredibly cute baby hummingbirds! They are quite the delight to have on the little urban homestead.

Look at those beans grow! I love vined plants. Now if only the bugs would stop chewing on the leaves I would be happy.
Beets are all sprouting up as well though it is too bright to get a photo of that until they are larger.
Carrots are not looking promising. I think the bugs may have gotten to the seeds. We shall see.

Being that I am pagan I wanted to go into a little more depth as to why I have been posting about fertilizer so much. For me, it is respectful to give offerings to the Gods, and the spirits of the land. In my past garden this was usually done by putting out seed for the wild animals to eat. I do not want the seed I have to sprout here as I did in the last house, so I have not put seed out until I can get the non-sprouting kind.
My bird can be a semi picky eater and I would put out what was not eaten. Waste not basically.

To me fertilizing and nourishing the plants is also an offering. A  show that I am here to care for the plants, for the land, and to be a steward. I am giving back to the earth and helping it grow healthy just as it helps me.

Now while I do give offerings other than this, I do feel that the act of taking care of your garden, the act of making your own fertilizer, and showing dedication to your plants is something that speaks volumes to the genius loci. The spirits of the land.
I help them and they help me. It is a working relationship. As I get to know my new land better, they will get to know me and may even teach me a thing or two about the secrets of the land.

I work with them rather than against them. I very much enjoy getting to know the plant spirits, animal spirits, and in general the local spirits as I enter a new territory. There is so much one can learn if only they are willing to listen and be patient.

The grand old silver maple in my yard has to have the most personality of all my trees. I picture her as a happy old woman, who much likes to tickle my cheeks with her leaves and give me encouraging pats on the head as I water the garden. She seems quite delighted with me. While it may seem strange to notice the personality of a tree, I assure you it is actually quite a normal practice for myself and many others.
It has already been proven that plants do in fact speak with each other. Just because we do not always regularly speak with them, does not mean they do not talk in their own way, and are not listening.

It has also been proven that talking to your plants does in fact help them grow. I know this to be true personally myself. Music is another thing that helps plants grow.

The biggest thing with communication would be patience and the knowledge that communication will not happen as I am talking to you now. It will happen in other ways. An impression, a dream, a sway in the breeze. If you are keen at picking up these signs you will know what they mean.

I had two deaf friends growing up. I did not speak sign language myself but I still understood what they were saying. I eventually learned some signs and we could communicate a little better through their teaching me. I think this is no different than that. You are learning the communication style of something that does not speak like you, but that does not mean you cannot communicate with it. I would not change some of the wonderful experiences and conversations I have had with some of the plants I have grown for anything.

I feel very blessed to have my new plants so happy to have me living here. I feel very welcomed in my new home. Some may take a little more time to warm up to me, but the welcome I have had is already quite heartwarming.

Fertilizing and growing the natural way

This is my first year at my urban homestead. With Autumn on it’s way I am prepping my land for next years gardening adventures. I have been thinking a lot about what goes into good garden soil.
I like making my own natural fertilizers and I am still experimenting with different blends.

Right now what I have to work with is a bit of old coffee grinds, egg shells, used and dried tea leaves (leave it in the bag or on a plate if loose leaf, and let it sit until it dries. It can then be dumped into a storage container) As well as veggie water/broth from blanching veggies.

I hope to this year start my compost pile, though that will not be ready for planting come Spring I do not think with how long it takes to transform into something usable. Still, it will be great to have in the coming seasons.
I will be piling up the grass clippings for the start of my compost pile.

If had a larger garden this year, and could have bartered my fresh herbs and veggies, for some aged chicken, rabbit, cow, etc manure to add to the compost pile, I would have. That is something I may look into once my garden produces a little more than my current small garden does.

I would also love to use things like seaweed and kelp in my yard but would rather wild harvest if I could. I will most likely see if I can find someone in the PNW coast that would be willing to dry some out and send it to me for my garden. I’d prefer to know where it came from rather than not.

I also would like to gather some willow leaves and stems to make a “tea” for my garden. That will most likely be on my wildcrafting to do list in Spring as I do not think I know anyone who has a willow tree growing in their yard.

Another thing I need to look into for Spring is picking up some rooting liquid (as my attempts at using honey have been a fail for that) and the other things you need to root cuttings. I find plants I wish I could take home with me all the time. I think I need to get into the art of rooting. It seems simple enough but I have not had success with anything from cuttings so far. I also have not tried it the proper way yet either. I am always looking for an alternative way to do something.

Pest control is another issue I need to tackle next year. I have a big problem with earwigs, ants, pill bugs, elder box bugs *which are a hybrid bug*, stink bugs, and I believe that is it for the ones I have a big problem with here. A friend of mine makes his own natural, plant safe, earth friendly, bug spray that I think I might have to give a try. He says it will work on the box elder bugs. Considering they are really going after my big silver maple, I have to get rid of them. I won’t use commercial pesticides, though they would not work on the box elder bugs anyways.

Why I want to be an Urban Homesteader

I had an interesting conversation with an older gentleman co-worker of mine the other night that got me thinking.

I admire this man a lot more after the conversation we had. He shall go unnamed but to sum things up he travels many hours each day for work so he can live on his own little patch of land, growing food and livestock. His family does things the old fashioned way and I truly respect the way he has raised his daughter.

He asked me, quite astonished after learning all my goals and accomplishments, how I had gotten into all of this, or how I came to love this lifestyle, especially in being in my mid twenties.

The funny thing about it… I have never been asked this question before, which now seems a little odd.

I think he was the first person to mention permaculture to me first and be astonished that I knew about the word, let alone the practice, rather than it being myself with that dumbfounded look.

It was nice for once to speak with someone that about the only thing I had to explain was what wildcrafting was, and I think that is simply because others like to call it foraging.

Back to the question at hand. I honestly did not know what to say…
I started with the most logical place. I explained that both of my parents at one point during my childhood were naturopathic doctors. Now while that was their choice, and I found it interesting, I liked plants better…

I decided to study herbology. I have been independently studying it for over seven years now. I tend to study more on subjects I like a bit more than some college students would… What can I say, I have a thirst for knowledge that is never ending.

I tried to sum my answer up as short and sweet as I could, though with this subject it is never easy.

I went on to say that the next natural thing in my studies would be to grow my own herbs for my herbal remedy preparations. In growing a small container garden I found how much stress working in the garden relieved. I am not one who is very good at regular meditation, so for this to have that big of an impact got me to thinking.

I have always loved home grown food. My parents at one point had a decent sized yard and I would help as a young child in the garden. I always remembered taking trips deeper into the country side for smoked meats, eggs, and fresh produce. Everything always tasted better to me than the food you found in the grocery stores.

It had been so long since I had done anything in a garden that I was afraid my efforts would lead in a bunch of dead plants and disappointment. I would never know unless I tried though. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

I couldn’t really plant anything but herbs, a few carrots, some strawberries, and beets in containers at my last house.
I had already grown very fond of wildcrafting. My mind spun with all the possibilities of growing some of those wild natives in my garden. I successfully transplanted a few plants into my container garden much to my delight.
I knew I would not be able to really test out my gardening skills until we moved. I decided to study up on gardening in the meantime (and by meantime it was at least a few years) Learning a bunch of different techniques made my wheels turn all the more.

I went back to the root idea of why one would garden. Sustainability. Now I already knew a bit about sustainability obviously, but I decided to research it and see what movements or ideas that might be new. I stumbled upon the tiny house movement in the process and absolutely loved the idea. I could not live in a really tiny house with all the things I need to store for my shop, arts, ect… but the idea of a little homestead with a house you built, like our forefathers used to do, was quite amazing.

I loved all the DIY, repurposing, up-cycling projects already and found incorporating many different ideas to make one ball of awesome was the way to go.

I found out how urban homesteading was now becoming a “thing” and started studying up on growing things in small spaces, since at the time I had a very small space. I figured I did not know how much space I would have in our new place, and I wanted to utilize awesome ideas that saved space even if we were on a big piece of land.  Why waist space?

Another thing to note is that I am very much a pagan witch. Getting back to our roots and working with nature only seems natural for me to do. I feel more connected when I am working with the dirt beneath me, the sun above me, the rains and winds.
I get to use my alchemy skills to mix together new organic all-natural fertilizer concepts.

Another thing I love is that I have the mentality of “survival of the fittest” and “you have to evolve, because everything is always evolving, or you will not survive” I am a survivor. I feel by growing my own food, but doing it in a more efficient way, I am both surviving and evolving to new concepts.

So then we move onto my longer term goals. I have many of them… Both short and long term.
I think the simplest would be to build my knowledge on my urban homestead.
To kind of master growing on my little plot of land.
To pay off my house sooner than the loan would finish naturally.
I would like to see about getting into a college for some kind of botany or botany related field.
My husband wants to go back to college for a more tech related degree. 
Basically the plan is to get into good jobs that hopefully allow for some time off/telecommuting, so that we can pay off everything we need to and be allowed to have more time for the garden, travel, etc. This of course is many years out, but it is a goal we are working hard for.

I would like to be in a career I love, but also make enough that I do not have to work 40 hours a week to pay the bills. I want to spend more time doing what I love and be more self sustaining. I am sure many people wish this as well, and it is a hard goal to accomplish, but certainly a doable one in time.

I am a little antisocial one might say. Others would never know. The idea of living in the middle of nowhere (a very pretty nowhere) growing your own food, and living off the land is a very romantic idea to me. I have no delusions that it is hard work, but it is a different kind of hard work. The sad reality is that you still need money to pay for most everything, and there is no running away from that really. You have to pay for your house, or even just the land. You have to pay for gas, pay for clothes or for the fabric to make them, internet, phones, for basic needs really.. I know there are bartering methods, and ways around some things, but if you want to keep some modern amenities, you have to pay for them. I am ok with that and am planning to keep those things, but to lessen the monthly bills as much as possible in due time.

To think there are people out there so wrapped up in the moment that they do not think of what they want their future to be like, to plan ahead, to have a plan at all… Is really saddening. Some can’t see past college, others past their current job for the moment. What is life without goals and dreams? How can one simply exist and not have a thought about the future? The latest generations are raised so differently. Most don’t even know how to cook their own food let alone grow it. This was considered to be normal back in the day. Nowadays you do not have to cook or grow your own food… hunt or fish… know how to sew.. it is all a hobby now it seems, when before that was your way of living. I am not saying it is for everyone. I just don’t see how people can rely on things being there, handed to them, that without that they would not know what to do.
I for certain know that I will be teaching my kids life skills beyond how to manage a  bank account. My kids won’t have cell phones, tablets, or gaming consoles until they are much older. Will they be laughed at it, maybe… But you don’t need cell phones unless you can drive or walk places.. And you do not need to be a drone stuck inside, wanting nothing more than to game. Will they hate me for not allowing them these things? Maybe, but they will love me for the lessons later. Every person who has a mom like that does that I know of. 
People who did not have parents like this do not know what they were missing. I very much believe the old ways need to be more present in the modern day teachings. There is so much we could learn from how our ancestors did things mixed with our modern knowledge and resources.

Garden plants to get list

While my seed bank is growing, there are many seeds I want to plant and want to experiment with.

I figured it might not be a bad idea to make a list of those seeds or plants so I can share some of my plans with you all.

This blog will basically just be a list of those seeds/plants that are on my list of “to gets” for my garden.


*Warning the list is long and ever growing* I do plan to rotate crops that will not fit all at once of course.

Fruits:
Thornless raspberry
Wineberry
Salmonberry
Plum
Rainier Cherry
Golden Delicious Apple
Another apple type (Something like fuji or gala that would do well in zone 6)
Muskmelon (Like cantaloupe)
Honeydew
*Other melons I have yet to discover
More grape varieties. I have 3 now, I want a few more types possibly.
Orange
Service berries
Dew berry
Salal
Porcelain gem vine *Edibility still questionable*
Peach
Nectarine
Asian Pear
Huckleberry
Blueberry (3 varieties)
Elderberry
Honeyberry
Wonderberry aka sunberry
Jostaberry
Mouse melons aka Mexican Gherkins



Veggies:
Artichoke
Miners lettuce
Snap Peas
Brussels
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Spinach
Potatoes- Brown, red, gold, yams/sweet potatoes
Garlic (Has to come from a certified nursery here or it could cause white mold soil rot)
Cabbage
Kale
Sorrel
Celery
Banana peppers
Jalapeno
More winter squash varieties
Rhubarb
Horseradish
Sweet onions
Glass gem corn


Herbs/Plants/Flowers:
Cleavers
Pineapple weed
Lemongrass
Bee balm aka bergamot
Red clover
Aloe Vera
Burdock
Ginseng
Comfrey
Wood Betony
Goldenrod
Vervain
Tea, Camellia sinensis
Passionflower
Damiana
Gardenia
Goldenseal
Jasmine
Day lily
Watercress



That is the list so far.  I am always looking for new things to add to the list of things to try in my garden.
Now keep in mind some of these are experiments to see if they will grow in my zone and elevation. Just because they normally don’t grow here, does not mean they won’t… At least that is how I see it. Lots of people grow tropical plants in green houses. If I can get certain plants to do well enough, I can save seeds and replant. When I replant them they should be a little stronger with each season. Basically acclimating the plant to the land as much as you can. Kind of like domesticating a wolf… If you want to think of it that way.

Late season seed haul

So I did not get all the seeds I need for next year but I managed to get in a end of season seed haul. Let me tell you how I got 24 seed packets for $9.34

I started my quest for seeds a little late. I would be kicking myself if I did not find what I had.

So originally I was out to find seeds that you see in the dollar store, winco, walmart, etc… by American Seed, which is actually Plantation Seed, but moving on.. Everyone knows these little plain packets that are around .20-.30ea. Since I do not have a whole lot of money for seeds at the moment I thought this would be great for adding a few varieties, heirloom or not, to the garden.

Now one thing that is a downside about the seeds is they have a limited variety, but it works for creating a small edible garden.

After calling about 8 different stores I found Walgreens still had some seed packets left. When I got there I expected to find the normal american seed company packets but instead I found Burpee seeds on sale for .29-.34 cents! Yes, I pay a few cents more, but I know they are a reputable company.

I could have spent $37 for all of the seeds I got… It is amazing the deals you can find when you are in the right place at the right time. I am happy I can buy seeds out of season for next years planting.

So I snagged up 22 packets of seeds, and then 2 packets of lettuce tape that was normally $6.59ea for $0.98 each.



I have not used seed tape before but it seems really nifty. There is 22ft per pack.


This is my little seed storage chest. I moved my seeds to this when they were getting too big for their old container. Now having something that is air tight would be best, but this will work for me for now. Not all my seeds are in this chest; mainly the ones I printed out myself and saved.

I did not buy all the seeds they had left though I was very tempted to… And may even go back another time to see if there are any left.

They also had bell peppers, sunflowers, 2 other kinds of flowers, and anything else they were out of by that time.

Here is what I ended up with:

3pks of Peas “Cascadia”
2pks of Carrots “Scarlet Nantes”
2pks of Carrots “Little finger”
1pk of Radish “Crimson Giant”
1pk of Beets “Detroit Dark Red”
1pk of Garden Beans “Green Crop”
3pk of Cucumber “Space Master”
2pk of Watermelon “Sugar Baby”
2pk of Summer Squash “Early golden crookneck”
1pk of Summer Squash “Black Beauty”
1pk of Tomato “Super Beefsteak”
1pk of Tomato ‘'Super Sweet 100 Hybrid”
1pk of Marigold “Sunset Giant Mix”
1pk of Basil “Mammoth”
2pk of Lettuce (Tape) “Black Seeded Simpson”

The great thing about the seeds I got is that I believe all but one or two are open pollinated varieties and I can save seed from them. I am not certain, but at lest I believe they are mostly all able to be used to save seed if I wanted to.

I have not saved seeds from carrots or other root veggies before. I may still have to buy those until I get the hang of it, but the rest I should not have to buy again.

My husband is not sure I can fit everything I want into my garden. I will be using polyculture and intercropping techniques along with permaculture to use every inch of space I can in a way they does not hurt the plants. People waist so much useable gardening space by only growing one crop type in one area. You can improve the plant growth and harvest when you plant the right plants next to each other.

I am so excited to see my little seed bank growing!