First planting day of 2011!

and what a day it was! Although clouds threatened overhead all day and there was some rain, I managed to get outside on Thursday and get my potatoes planted, finally! I've been so nervous to plant things because the weather here in lovely MI has been cold, rainy, and cold. and rainy. I don't want to shock all the little guys I spent so long tending to indoors by putting them outside too early!

Things that are growing well:
Tomato cultivars are growing well- they are about 5-6 in tall now and I'm going to pot them up today so they have more space to grow!

Lettuces are finally growing bigger- they seemed off to a slow start but are now seeming healthy

Things that are not doing so well:
Onion starts from seed seem to be hard for me to do. Most of my onions are alive but they seem to be really short. It's possible that I'm killing them with light- they're taller than most other of my plant so sometimes the lights might be too close to them?

I'm off to the Washtenaw Community College Earth Fair today- will be representing for work and looking forward to interacting with other earth-passionate folks!

Happy Home Garden Plan 2011!

Trying to be consistent and timely in when I start my seedlings indoors, but its tough! Since it's my first year starting seeds indoors, I am going by several planting guides, but it still feels like guess work. I guess some of it is.. who knows what Mother Nature & the weather will do? So far I've started indoors: several Vidalia onions, 15 Copra onions, 10 heads of Great Lakes lettuce, 5 Batvia leaf lettuce plants. My goal is to stagger the starts by several weeks, so I have several different harvests of lettuce, onions, etc. I have carrots seeds all ready to be planted outdoors, and planted a few experimental ones early outside this weekend to see how they do.

I also placed a seed potato order, from High Mowing Seeds, but they're all back-ordered until April 15th. I probably should have just bought some organic potatoes and let them go, but I'm impatient and the idea of ordering was somehow more appealing. I hope the potatoes are shipping on the 15th, and not like... completely unavailable until the 15th and then who knows when they'll ship? I could always get a refund. I ordered 2.5 lbs of Yukon Golds, 2.5 lbs of Red Norlands, and 2.5 lbs of Russian Banana Fingerlings.

Also, two new "crops" for this year- Light Red Kidney bush beans and Sweet REBA Acorn squash! I've begun to look for and buy local beans in bulk, because they're way cheaper, and I like that I have them when I need them. It would be so great to grow beans, let them dry, and be able to save some for the winter! I'm not a super-fan of squash, but I figured I need to grow some kind of squash. They're late season veggies, so they'll extend my "seasonality", and they store well.

Time to make a change

... to a new job!! I have accepted a job with Growing Hope in Ypsilanti. I really enjoy the volunteers and my co-workers at my current job, and I will truly miss them. I plan to continue to be involved as a volunteer so I won't be saying "goodbye", just "see you soon!".

Truthfully though, I am beyond excited to be starting this new position at Growing Hope. Growing Hope is a local nonprofit, whose mission is to help people improve their lives and communities through gardening and healthy food access. Could that be more up my alley?!

Check out their website here:

http://www.growinghope.net/

I'll be working as the Outreach and Volunteerism Manager. Here are the reasons why I'm so so excited for this position:

• Major dream accomplishment- I can WALK/BIKE to work! Their offices are within walking distance of my house and I estimate cutting off about 6,000-8,000 miles of driving per year!
• The mission and work of the organization- to be working in the community that I live in, helping to teach people and connect them to local, healthy food? If I could have dreamed up a complete fantasy job, this would be pretty much it :)
• The staff- there are only 3 full-time staff, including me, and 2 part timers, along with some Americorp Vistas- definitely a smaller staff than what I'm used to. There's also a great, supportive Board of Directors. I got to meet most everyone this weekend and everyone was so welcoming that I felt right at home!
• I'm looking forward to building more connections in my community, rather than working just outside the city. The work I do will directly make a positive impact on the city of Ypsilanti, and I love Ypsi so much that this is a thrilling idea!
• This will be a chance for me to grow my professional skills, and to strengthen my personal dedication to my community. I also will be able to help others to work on the very things I am working on personally- buying more local food, growing more of my own food, supporting local farmers and vendors.

This is a huge HUGE step in a positive direction. I can't wait to get started- I have so much to share, to learn, and to develop!

Reflections of a first-year Homesteader

After truly diving in to this so-called homstead adventure this year, I thought it would be nice to sum up some of my thoughts, lessons learned, and plans for next year. The end(ish) of the harvest is a good time to reflect on what went well, what could have gone better, and what really does not need to even be bothered with next year. So let's do that.

Planting/Production-
Worked well:
Potatoes did really well. Need more
Onions were awesome, easy to care for. More, I say!
Lettuce was delicious, although slower than I expected, since I am impatient
Carrots are easy to fit along borders, smaller spaces. Yes!
Tomatoes... mmm! Canned over 18 quarts of tomato sauce. More next year!
Basil was great- need to utilize more
Jalepenos were just hot enough, great in chili and other dishes

Not so well:
Strawberries did not produce like I wanted, didn't have enough. No strawberries next year
Raspberry plant grw like crazy, produced 5 berries. Is young plant, however
Blueberry bushes similar- 5 berries. Oh well!
Celery was kind of a cool novelty, but took up vital space for other stuff
Glacier tomatoes kind of tasted gross. I'll just wait for the real thing

Seed starting-
Worked well:
Lettuce indoors was awesome
Basil was brought in at beginning of Oct and is doing well

Not so well:
Need to start things on time :)

Preserving-
Worked well:
Peaches were delicious
Apples were easier to do with apple core and peeler machine

Not so well:
Tomatoes went quickly- need more for sauce next year
Pickles- more next year


Storing-
Worked well:
Onions are storing well so far- will run out quickly since we use a lot
Potatoes- same story!
Carrots- could store next year as well

Not so well:
More!

Purchasing-
Worked well:
Getting into pattern of going to Co-op for most things, Kroger for snacks and processed only
Getting local meat, eggs, milk, butter and bread delivered to our door! :) :) :) :)
Not so well:
Went to farmer's market a lot towards end of summer- need to work on it!
Living-
Worked well:
Getting pretty good at buying recycled paper products consistently
Moon cup
Most cleaning products are eco-friendly
Can now recycle 1s-5s! :)

Goals for 2011-2012

Plant-
20 potato plants
75 onions
50 heads of lettuce
20 tomato plants
4 basil plants
200 carrots
4 jalepeno plants
10 bulbs of garlic
2 watermelons
2 bell pepper plants
4 pumpkin plants
4 zucchini plants
dill
rosemary

*Expand into "raspberry bed"
**Make potato bed deeper

Seed Starting-
Start everything possible indoors
*Have saved many seeds already!

Preserving-
Canned:

6 pints Pickles
20 quarts Tomato Sauce
20 pints Peaches
10 pints Pears
3 pints Cranberry Sauce
5 pints, 30 4 oz Applesauce
12 pints Baked Apple preserves
5 pints Blueberry jam

Frozen:
12 half-pints Corn
4 quarts Beef Chili
16 frozen Raspberry Muffins

Dehydrate:
4 bags apples rings
6 bags banana chips
fruit leathers?
2 bags dried cranberries

Storing-

200 potatoes
50 onions

Purchasing- TBD

Living- TBD