Growing cottage cheese

Today I planted more tomato seedlings and nursed along the ones I put out recently.  The windy weather with 30% humidity is hard on the little seedlings, and it seems to be in moments like this that I lose my wimpy seedlings.  So today I cut the bottoms off a few dozen yogurt and cottage cheese containers and put one around each vulnerable-looking transplant.  Now my garden looks like I'm growing cottage cheese!  I hope they create a more sheltered little micro-climate that helps the plants transition.  I put in a couple "mystery" tomato volunteers from friend Cathy's garden.  Thanks Cathy!  We'll see what they become - she's betting a cherry or roma.  I also planted into the Topsy Turvy that I got recently at a rummage sale with a tomato start that I actually bought.  It is an heirloom called "Mr. Stripey".  Love the name, as does 5 year old DS.  The other one I'm growing just for its name is "Mortgage Lifter."  Do you think it will work?

I thought I'd update on my seedling outcomes that I posted on February 14, 2010: "I planted TONS of seeds to start indoors.  Basil, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes (6 types - Black Krim, Brandywine, Yellow Pear, Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter and Pineapple), cucumbers (lemon and gherkin), chard, squash (pattypan, portofino, zucchini - oops, no yellow crookneck?), lettuces and marigolds."  Of those planted the basil, eggplant, tomatoes, lettuces, and marigolds had a good success rate.  Of the peppers, only 25% took.  The cucumbers and squash sprouted but didn't survive long enough in their puny containers to get transplanted.  I recall it said something about "not recommended for starting indoors" on the label.  But, hey, what do they know?  They are just the experts, right?  Anyway, perhaps they have a point.  I have so many more seeds I want to get in the ground - actually wanted to get in the ground about 6 weeks ago.  I hope to have more updates soon.

Garden Update April 2010, Part 2

Today I finally got some of the tomatoes that I'd started from seed in the ground.  I'd planted one about 2 weeks ago but the warm air dried it up into nothing.  I'm hoping that the weather will be less extreme in the next few days and these ones will make it.  I planted some Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Pineapple Tomato, Yellow Pear Tomato, and Brandywine.  I'm most excited to taste the Pineapple variety.  I also put some of my seedlings for eggplant in the ground and the one pepper out of four I started that has survived thus far.

About half of my snap peas are still blooming and growing strong and the other half is done.  Why?  Essentially the same location.  I wonder if it is disease or what.  Anyone know?

This Friday DS's school is taking a field trip to a dairy farm.  I think I'll bring a trash can to try to bring home some manure.  Should I just add it to my compost bin?  Anyone with experience composting cow manure?

Finally got a canner!

I finally found a used canner!  On Thursday I went to an  estate sale and found a stainless steel stock pot that didn't list the size on the bottom but looked larger than my largest (8 qt) stock pot.  I bought it for $3.75.  When I got it home it indeed is taller than my other stock pot.  I measured the volume at 12 quarts!  Yippee!  It seems tall enough that I'd be able to do more than the pints that I can fit in my stock pot.  Then...  while surfing on Craig's List I found someone local selling a canner and canning jars.  After emailing back and forth with a young woman, I went to look at it on Saturday.  I thought I was going for a pressure canner, so I was beside myself with excitement!  When I got there, I discovered that the woman was selling her mom's boiling water bath canner (for a cut of the price) and didn't know a BWB from a pressure canner.  I was disappointed, but since I didn't have an big canner with rack and such, I bought the BWB canner (fits 7 quart jars at a time) plus 101 jars (mostly quarts), some lids, some accessories for $75.  It wasn't the screaming deal I was hoping for but it's decent.  Around here those jars would be $1-$1.50 each in the thrift shop, so not bad.  It is good that I got more jars, because I just used the last of mine for storing various gluten-free flours in.  I'd still been using these large canisters back from my gluten-days but it just didn't make sense.  Instead of 1-3 types of flour, now I use about 9, so the smaller containers make more sense.  Anyway, now I'm set for quarts!

And I figure I'll use that 12 quart stock pot for some of the canning cooking (like big batches of applesauce), then process the jars in the BWB canner.  Now I just need a bigger kitchen to hold all the big pots!

Garden Update April 2010

I started seeds MONTHS ago so that I'd be ready to go early to plant them.  And here it is the end of April.  Just this weekend, I finally put 7 basil plants in the ground, 3 patty pan squash, and 5 shallots.  The best laid plans...  Anyway, it was good to finally get them in.  And I planted them with some gorgeous compost that we'd sifted a couple weekends ago.  We used the coarser woody chunks as mulch on the yard to suppress weeds.  The fine compost I put in a trash can to store until I needed it in the garden.  In addition to a healthy crop of pill bugs and ear wigs, I couple squash-like plants sprouted in the trash can.  So I planted those in the garden today too and labeled them "mystery".  DS, who loves flowers, was pleased that we were able to plant about 7 marigolds that were already blooming after starting them from seed.

I gotta hand it to our citrus trees.  Today I picked the last orange tree clean.  They've been feeding us steadily since early December.  I've harvested over 216 pounds of mandarins, tangelos and navel oranges!  That's a lot of produce.

I've been keeping my "garden finance log" with the expenses and yields of the garden, starting in Nov 2009 with a large seed order.  To date, my garden expenses (which excludes water - hard to quantify - and labor) are $132.21 and my yield is $449.41.

We picked more of our carrots today, which is such a great crop for kids.  It is so fun to see what comes up out of the ground!

Rummage Sale Score

Do you have the garage sale bug?  I must confess that I do.  I was particularly excited to see a multi-family sale and a girl scout rummage sale very nearby.  So today I went out looking for a pressure canner, canning jars and a tag-a-long bike. 

I found none of these.  But, as is the way with rummage sales, I found other things to spend my money on.  Since DH doesn't share the garage sale bug, and thus his reaction leaves something to be desired, I gotta tell you about my finds.
- got a basketball hoop for DS for his b-day for $3
- a cute, two piece outfit in great condition for DD for $1
- a silicone mini-muffin baking pan in heart shapes for 50 cents
- a new Topsy Turvy Tomato thingy for $2.  (I kept eying those in the stores and catalogs but couldn't bring myself to buy one retail.)
- a bunch of kids books, including hardbacks that look brand-spanking new for 50 cents each
- and here is the real score - hundreds (literally) of packages of various crafting supplies for about 7.5 cents a piece.  I spent $20 total on that.  I'm going to be selling at a swap meet tomorrow (for other reasons) and have repackaged and crafted with some of the items already to resell.  Some necklaces, pins for jewelry, fridge magnets.  I needed a way to display them.  After killing the black widow spider that had taken up residence on an old cork board in the garage, and dispatching the egg sac as well, I brought the board inside.  Using a stapler and a large piece of black cloth that I'd recently received via Freecycle, I covered the cork board to look more professional.  I made up little signs for the display items and attached them to the board in little baggies with push pins.  To attach the un-bagged magnets, my husband dug some wire mesh out of the garage.  I cut a piece with tin snips, covered the sharp edges with black electric tape, and attached that to the board with push pins.  The magnets hold onto it so well!  In all, I think I made about 100 items to sell on that board.  If I sell even 20 of them, I'll make my money back plus have 90% of the crafting supplies left.  Cool!
Wish me luck tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll make some money at the swap meet AND find a pressure canner, canning jars, and tag-a-long bike.

Breastfeeding saves lives and money - BIG money

Breastmilk is amazing.  "The United States incurs $13 billion in excess costs annually and suffers 911 preventable deaths per year because our breastfeeding rates fall far below medical recommendations"  "...95 percent of these deaths, are attributed to three causes: sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); necrotizing enterocolitis, seen primarily in preterm babies and in which the lining of the intestinal wall dies; and lower respiratory infections such as pneumonia."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/05/breastfeeding.costs/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

I know from experience that it isn't always easy to breastfeed, though.  Families need support (LOTS of it) and education.

I was impressed this winter when my family got a bad stomach bug.  It killed my 92 year old grandfather.  DS (4 years old) was still throwing up a week into it.  I was sick for days and days.  DD (over 1 year old) was sick for about 4 hours!  She still nurses.  Amazing.

Love my new widget!

Most weeks I try to check the watering index in Southern California so that we can adjust our irrigation system accordingly.  Some "intelligent" timers adjust on their own, but I think they require a paid subscription.  Instead, we check the index.  This helps us to water how much our plants need but not use too much water, which besides being wasteful, is becoming increasingly expensive. 

Well, now I have a widget on my blog that tells us the watering index!  I'm so excited!  Check it out.  It should be over there on the right.