It is a massive event held at Leakin Park with oodles of vendors selling all sorts of plants, including some hard to find Herbs. Last time I went, I came back with at least 25 different herbs ...
"Comfrey", "Mugwort", "Meadowsweet", "Lady's Mantle", "Feverfew", "Boneset", "Calendula", "Tulsi", "Lemon Balm", "Echinacea", "Pennyroyal", "African-blue Basil" and "Marshmallow"...to name a few.
If you live in the area and are curious about Gardening or Herbalism, check out the "Baltimore Herb Festival." Just make sure you bring a wagon or wheelbarrow to haul everything.
Mark your calendars, it is THIS Saturday, May 24 from 9:30 am - 3 pm.
I really want to grow some veggies this Summer. But, we are moving in June. What to do?
Container Gardening.
Most of our pots are already inhabited by some Herbs. Buying lots of pots can get expensive very quickly. So, I decided to use what we already have...
Milk Crates.
My Mother found 8 crates along side the road, last year. She gave them to us, but I hadn't found a really good use for them.
Enter Landscaping Fabric.
I bought a 50 foot roll that is suppose to last 15 years (so I can reuse the crates for several years). The Landscaping Fabric keeps all that precious soil INSIDE of the crate.
I cut a large piece of the fabric for each crate and put it inside. Some people staple or sew the fabric around the crates. I was out of staples, so I didn't bother.
I had originally thought of drilling some holes in some extra tubs we have laying around. But, the crates completely eliminated the need to drill any holes for drainage. Wahoo...less work for me.
After I put the Landscaping Fabric in the crates, I filled each one with a mixture of Potting Soil and Compost. I bought the bags at the family-run Hardware Store, down the street. These are the bags I bought....
I mixed all the Potting Soil and Compost one of those blue tarps. Each time, I dumped half a bag of Potting Soil and half a bag of Compost and mixed in a 1/4 of the Lobster Compost.
I planted (from seed) Arugula, Radishes, Turnips, Cabbage and a Basic Salad Mix. The seeds were left over from our failed Microgreens Experiment.
I'll add some Tomato and Pepper plants soon.
I love the fact the crates have handles, so they will be easy to move to our new home. Crossing my fingers that this works!
I'll keep you updated.
Cost
Crates. Free.
Landscaping Fabric. $11 for 50 feet.
2 Bags of Potting Soil, 2 Bags of Compost and 1 Bag of Lobster Compost. $40.
Glorious Garden Dreams in the middle of the Winter.
Sigh.
I have been pouring over photos from the lovely book I received for Christmas. "Edible Landscaping With a Permaculture Twist: How To Have Your Yard and Eat It Too."
Michael Judd is a local boy (from Frederick County) who spent many years in Mexico and Nicaragua learning about and experimenting with Permaculture. He is a genius at turning Yards into low-maintenance Gardens and Orchards. No weeding, no watering (except for in the beginning). Seriously, why Garden any other way?
He's transformed the Gardens at Volt.
You may have heard of that place.
I listened to him speak at the Holistic Family Health Conference in Frederick, last Spring. He's a dynamic speaker. When he mentioned an upcoming book, I was thrilled.
I am all about digging up that grass and planting useful and beautiful plants.
Even though, I was familiar with a lot of what was in the book, it was great to see more examples of "Herbal Spirals," learn about growing Mushrooms and be given so much information of Uncommon Fruits that grow well in this region.
Judd's section on Rainwater Harvesting, Swales and Rain Gardens may completely change your relationship with your Yard.
I had never heard of a "Hugelkultur" (which is a shame because it's a terrific concept and would have been helpful to know about when my Sister had all these fallen down trees in her Yard).
If you are in Maryland or Northern Virginia, you are in luck. He does 1 1/2 hr-2hr consultations starting at $175 (depending on where you are located). His schedule fills up fast, but now is the perfect time to have him come out and brainstorm with you on how to transform your Yard into a beautiful, edible Landscape.
Early Mother's Day present? Or maybe forget that fancy bouquet and expensive dinner this Valentine's Day? Hmmmm....
We will be moving from one rental house to another this Summer, so planting much is out of the question. But, there are always Mushrooms...
As someone who grew up on a farm and who finds great joy in eating delicious, local food, I've been thrilled to see the recent surge of interest in Urban Farming.
One of the most interesting Urban Farms, I 've heard about is 3 acre farm in Milwaukee called Growing Power. I first heard about the farm when I stumbled across an article claiming the farm has produced 1 Million Pounds of Organic Food on 3 Acres. I was intrigued.
Will Allen grew up in Maryland and spent much of his time outside of school helping his father farm. While playing professional basketball in Belgium, he started a garden, so he and his teammates could have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. He spent a lot time talking to Belgian farmers and learned several different farming methods from them.
He eventually ended up in Milwaukee and discovered a site in the middle of the city which was zoned for agriculture. Three giant greenhouses sat on the site, once home to a flourishing floral industry.
He bought the land and began experimenting with aquaponics, a method of farming where fish are grown in water that is then filtered and cleaned by plants and continuously repumped through the system. Tilapia and Yellow Perch are raised in the Growing Power's aquaponics system designed by Allen for less than $5,000. Many similarly-sized commercial aquaponics systems cost close to $50,000.
Amazingly, Will Allen can feed 10,000 people on his 3 little acres without using pesticides for herbicides. All of the plants grown in the aquaponics system don't require fertilizer because of the nutrient rich "waste water" from the fish. There are numerous worm bins throughout the property which create incredibly fertile compost. The rest of the vegetables are grown in a soil mix made primarily with this compost. Over 150 varieties of crops are grown at Growing Power.
One idea that I think is particularly brilliant is using compost to heat the Hoop Houses during the Winter. Most of Growing Power's Greenhouses and Hoop Houses have aquaponic systems in them that need to be heated. But, a few have only Winter crops growing in them. These Hoop Houses are surrounded by compost piles on the outside as well as large piles inside on both ends. The steam from the active piles heat the inside of the Hoop Houses, even when there is several feet of snow on the ground.
The farm has provided needed jobs for the area and most importantly has helped feed residents in the food desert of Milwaukee's Inner City. Visitors to Growing Power's Main Headquarters and Training Center will find also find bees, chickens, ducks and goats on the farm. There are now 5 different Growing Power locations in Chicago and two more in Milwaukee.
Allen's successful model of farming in being replicated across the country, including ECO City Farm (in PG County right outside of D.C.). At Growing Power's Training Center, they offer a Commercial Urban Agriculture Program which is a series of 5, 3-day weekend seminars taught from January through May.
Growing Power always offers an on-going intensive program for those interested in learning how to farm using sustainable methods. Over 6 weeks, participants work 6 days a week at Growing Power's Headquarters. All very exciting stuff!
This video gives you a chance to peek inside Growing Power's inspirational walls. Enjoy!
It is always heartening to hear about companies coming up with clever, sustainable ideas. One such company, Back to the Roots, has created an easy mushroom kit that starts fruiting after only 10 days.
In 2009, two recent MBA graduates, Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez, stumbled upon the idea of "growing mushrooms on used coffee grounds". Typically, mushrooms are grown on tree logs, but oyster mushrooms also do well growing growing on a "waste" material that usually ends up in the land-fill.
Arora and Velez knew nothing about mushroom farming, but when they found a free source of coffee grounds, they began experimenting. They started selling their oyster mushrooms to Alice Water's Chez Panisse and Whole Foods. Peet's Coffeehouse ended up paying them to haul away their coffee grounds, which means that Back to the Roots (BTTR) not only got their mushroom substrate for free, they were making a little bit of revenue from the exchange. Last year, BBTR, diverted 3.6 million pounds of waste from the land-fill!
After much tweaking, BBTR, designed a simple Mushroom Garden that only requires you to mist it with water twice a day. You cut open the window, mist using the spray mister included, sit the kit on a window-sill and then harvest your pearl oyster mushrooms! You can grow up to 1 1/2 lbs of mushrooms per box and will get at least 2 crops, maybe more. You can use the mix of left-over mushroom roots and coffee grounds as a soil amendment for any outdoor plants, when you are finished harvesting your crops. Pretty cool, right?
Each kit costs $20 and can be found in many Whole Food, Home Depot, Safeway, Nordstrom, Bed, Bath and Beyond stores. Or you can buy it directly from Back to the Roots. They even have a kit that you can decorate yourself. Talk about a cool hands-on Science Project for children. I can't wait to get ours!
My parents gave me a Microgreens Kit for Christmas. I'm attempting to eat 6-8 servings of vegetables and fruit each day and instead of spending loads of money on organic greens in the Winter, I figured it would be more fun and cheaper to grow our own. I thought it would be a cool Science Project. I was right.
Nye-Nye LOVES to use a spray-bottle. For the first 5 days, you need to spray the seeds every 12 hours and keep them covered. My daughter may spray them a little bit more than necessary. But, her enthusiasm hasn't seem to hurt their growth. She gets so excited when we remove the cover to see how much her seeds have grown. It's pretty amazing.
After 5 days of darkness, you then uncover the tray and put it in sunlight for another 5 days. Typically, no more watering is necessary, although it is a good idea to check the growing pad every day just to be on the safe side. We are letting our first crop get a little bit bigger and forgot to water it after day 5. All the plants fell over on their side. They all mostly perked up after we watered the growing pad again.
Due to my child's love of spraying, we plan on starting another crop. We first grew Arugula and a Basic Salad Mix. Next up is a Spicy Salad Mix.
I set up the kit without my child around. She's not quite at the point of being able to help with carefully soaking the growing pads and evenly sprinkling a tablespoon or so of the seeds over the soaked growing pad. One of the most important things you need to do is check the ph level of your water and adjust the water accordingly. Set-up takes about 10 minutes. It takes less than 10 minutes a day to spray them twice. Talk about low maintenance.
It may seem expensive spending up to $20 on a pound of seeds but you are only using a tablespoon of seeds at a time. My kit is from The Sproutpeople and I have been very, very happy with it so far! It's such a cheerful act growing little plants in the Winter!
Hurricane Sandy made me realize that beside a few flashlights, my family doesn't have a lot of lighting sources when the power goes out. I am hoping to remedy this situation, over the next few weeks, by making some "Beeswax Candles."
I am always on the look-out for fun and useful crafts to give as Christmas presents. My Mama already has a candle mold, so all I have to do is buy a few pounds of beeswax from a local bee-keeper and hunt down a good source for wicks.
Obviously, this is not a toddler-friendly craft. But, you can't have everything, right?
The video is kinda long at 13 minutes, but it answered all my questions on how to make beeswax tapers. This would be a terrific craft to do with older Elementary and Middle-school students on a rainy or snowy day. Enjoy!
" The Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, Inc. is hosting a Traditional Spring in the Village at the ca. 1810 Collier's Log House, located at 12607B Catoctin Furnace Road.
On Saturday, May 5, 2012, from 9am to 5pm, the public is invited to visit the log house, which will be decorated with spring flowers, plants and herbs, and filled with traditional crafts and foods.
Craft demonstrations will include pottery making, basketry, plein air painting, leather work, and weaving. Traditional music and foods will complete the ambiance of a village spring celebration, more than 200 years ago when Catoctin Furnace was in blast.
Spring fruit punch and baked goods made from village recipes handed down over multiple generations will be available for sale, as well as handmade crafts, such as soaps, baskets, pottery, crocheted and sewn items, spring wreaths, plants, herbs, and flowers in handmade small garden pots. Period furniture and reproductions will also be for sale.
Admission is free. Proceeds from the event will be utilized for the replacement of the hand split cedar shake roof on the historical structure, a critical need."
This is the kind of event that puts a smile on my face. Unfortunately, I won't be in my hometown this weekend to check it out. I love the fact that the Historical Society is using old family recipes and that they will be all sorts of craft demonstrations. If you are in the area and enjoy history, why don't you head out to the Catoctin Furnace. Oh, and please send photos!
Snow before Halloween? Yikes. I hope this doesn't mean we are in for a serious winter like the one two years ago. I adore our new place but we were warned that power outages are frequent in Old Town. Power outages and babies don't seem like a good mix to me. Add the fact that during our first week here, we experienced both an earthquake and a hurricane. So, emergency preparations are definitely on my mind. Once in awhile, on this blog, I will mention the simple, small steps we are taking to be more prepared the next time a natural disaster appears on our doorstep.
Today's post is about water. Experts remind us to have a gallon per family member for at least 7 days in preparation for an emergency. That means 21 gallons for my family. That is a lot of water. We haven't reached that goal yet but are taking baby steps each week. Total time spent per week = less than 5 minutes.
I'm addicted to "Simply Orange Juice" (stay with me here). When I'm finished with the plastic container, I rinse it out but instead of putting it in recycling, I fill it up with tap water and it goes in our storage closest. Wham bam, we are on our way to being more prepared. Easy enough for everyone, right? I'll let you know when we have reached our goal!
