Waiting for Mother Nature.

I haven't updated my Green Experiment blog lately because there really hasn't been much to add at this point.  We've got our seeds started and some are sprouting and beginning to grow.

Kyle has started to produce more components for his vertical and hydronic gardening system and it's really too early to forage for any spring time plants like wild asparagus or mushrooms.  Too late for hickory nuts or rose hips.

So, now is the time to wait....continue starting my seedlings...and be as efficient with our resources as possible.

Looking for the Right Land.

Kyle and I really love our current home.  He designed it and we built it together over a period of 2 years.  It sits on 2.5 acres with a small area of woods.  Theres a small creek that runs through the woods, but no pond or other source of water on the property.

This bothers Kyle quite a bit...so we've kind of been looking into finding a piece of property with a water source on it.  We may have found the right one...it has potential.

So, we may be getting our home ready to put on the market soon.  It was definitely a hard decision to make. However, we don't feel we can really be self-sufficient on the property we have now.

Grandchildren due soon!

Everyday, my daughter's belly gets a little bigger.  I'm sure my daughter-in-law is doing the same.  William and Caden will be coming into our world in about 5-6 weeks and I can't wait.

So, as I watch my seedlings germinate and wait for them to be ready to plant...I also watch my grandson growing and getting ready to make his appearance along with spring.

I guess this blog is really all about waiting.  Sometimes we just have to sit and wait...and let mother nature do her thing.  :)

"He said to my heart....peace...be still."

Yesterday was a very exciting day!  I spent most of it with clients and had a wonderful time.

My husband, Kyle, spent it in the garage bringing a vision to life.

In some of my previous posts, I have mentioned that Kyle has been researching and designing a vertical, hydroponic gardening system.  Well, yesterday he took his concept to reality by creating his first prototype in our garage.

The tower will allow us to grow 28 plants in a 2 foot space.  Because he is growing vertically, this means that we can grow more produce in less space!  No tilling, no weeding and no waste.

After he finished the prototype, he brought it into the house and we sat down together, sipped on a little wine and began to brainstorm all of the possibilities for this nifty tower that he has created.

I can see these hanging from under a deck or smaller versions being hung under a porch.  The system he envisions will be modular, which means a person could have as large or small a garden as they'd like based on the space available to them.

We both envisioned people in an apartment or inner city setting being able to grow pretty much anything they'd like using this system.

Today, I will be meeting with clients again, and I'm pretty sure he will be back in the garage making more towers.

I think one of the coolest things about his system, is that we are recycling things that we have in our basement already to create the system.  And his creative side is coming out.  He showed me some other systems he has designed to go along with this one.

I can't wait to see what he comes up with next...and I can't wait to pick and eat the goodies that we grow!

I am the mother of three wonderful people.  Two young men and one young lady.

All of my children are now adults and two of them are having children of their own.  I have two grandsons that will be born in March.

This post is about my boys...sorry...men.  My oldest will be 25 next month.  He is a seargent in the Marine Corps.  He has served 3 tours in Iraq, his first one being right out of highschool at the beginning of the Iraq war.  I remember his first tour there and watching his unit being attacked on CNN.  I remember holding my crying daughter and praying.  He is due to go either to Iraq or Afghanistan next month.

He is a remarkable young man.  He loves his country, his family, his soon to be nephews and now he also loves a beautiful, intelligent young lady.  We have welcomed her with open arms and will be there to help her while he is away.

He was home last Christmas and I had to have a talk with him that I never...as a parent...dreamed I would hav to talk about with one of my children.  We had to talk about his funeral arrangements should something happen to him this time.  We also had to discuss his financial wishes as well.

I also have another son.  He, too, is in the Marine Corps.  He is also going to be a father next month.  About a year and a half ago his older brother took him by the scruff of the neck to help him get on track.  He was going through a rebellious period and his big brother took him to the recruiter's office and he signed up to follow in his footsteps.

This week my younger son called me to let me know that he, too, will be going into harm's way.  He will be leaving this summer.  I don't know if I will get to see him before he goes, but I know that for the second time in less than a year, I will be having the conversation with him that I had with his older brother at Christmas.

This has been a very emotional week for me.  I am not a crier.  I typically cry maybe twice a year.  It seems that I have cried more often this week than ever before.

My children are all amazing people.  They all have a passion for what they do and the sharpest senses of humor.  This last Christmas was soooo much fun.  I watched my adult children interact with one another and openly show their love.  They embraced the time we had together and embraced each others spouses or soon to be spouses.  We did nothing but smile and laugh.

I don't know how to end this post.  To me this feels like a journal entry so I will probably only post it in a couple of groups.

Please pray for my boys....although they are men now....when I think of them I picture them as boys.  I can see my oldest at the age of 3, sitting on his father's dirt bike with his daddy's helmet...way too big on his head.

And I see my younger son...2 years old...standing at the foot of his bed smiling up at me and singing twinkle twinkle little star.

I am so proud of them and I love them very much.

Last week I launched this blog series called the Green Experiment.  In my first post I said that I would share with you something that I have been researching that will allow me to create a liquid fertilizer and solid compost for our garden project.

Well, Kyle and I have finished up our research and will be starting this project in our basement in the next few weeks....so what is it that we've found?

Earth Worm Farming!

We will be starting an earthworm farm!  Sound crazy?  Not at all.  Mother Nature has it all figured out!  Earth worms can convert half their weight in food scraps to compost in 24 hours.

Kyle and I have always wanted to compost our food waste, but found that it can take several months for the bacteria in the air to eat and convert organic waste to compost.  This isn't very practical as one would have to build a bin, (preferably away from the house to avoid the odor) then make sure that we are stirring the waste regularly for aeration to help facilitate the process and so on.

We discovered that we could save the labor (and odor) by letting our little wiggly friends do the work.

We thought we would avoid the cost of purchasing the earthworm farm by making it ourselves, however it turns out that it would be more efficient and cost effective to purchase one that is specifically built to house our earthworms.  The manufactured farms also make it easier to collect the "castings" and liquid for use in our garden.

The system is a series of perforated trays the allow the castings and liquid to drop to the bottom of the farm while the earthworms migrate upward to their food source (kitchen scraps).  The farm is actually a little worm condominium and fairly quickly becomes a mini ecosystem if properly maintained.

The benefit is a much speedier composting process with much less odor.  As a matter of fact, our research indicates that this process is virtually odor free.

One of the other benefits is that our earthworms will also supply us with fishing bait.  We love to fish, so it will be great to just be able to go down to the basement and pull a few worms from the community any time we decide to go fishing!

The castings and liquid they produce are said to be excellent for plants and is a natural fertilizer.  This means we won't be spending money to purchase fertilizers which contain harsh chemicals.  Once the expense of setting up the farm is taken care of, it is basically free for us to operate and we will be putting some or our garbage to good use!

Once we get this up and running, I will be sure to keep you updated with photos and any snags we run into.

Why Make a Sourdough Starter?

Back in the day...people didn't just run to the store to purchase yeast for their baking needs.  Yeast is actually abundant in the air all around us.  One method of capturing this yeast is by creating an environment that it enjoys and wait for it thrive in that environment.

So, to create a sourdough starter, one could theoretically mix together flour, water and sugar (yeast's favorite food) and leave it out for the happy little yeast to come along and feast.  The by-product of this would then be sourdough starter.

The problem with this method is that you have no control over what type of yeasts you may attract.  And some of them aren't very tasty.

In our current culture, it is very easy to obtain a wonderful tasting yeast by running out to the grocery store and purchasing bread yeast.  Although yeast is not outrageously expensive, it can be stretched much further by using it to create your own sourdough starter.  The other benefit, of course, is a more flavorful bread with a wonderful texture.

You can also determine the "sourness" of your starter.  If don't like it too strong, you are able to make a milder version.

The last time I bought a simple loaf of white sandwich bread, I payed neary $2.00 for the loaf...and any type of artisan bread runs much more.  So, I have begun to make my own bread using my bread machine.  I still had to run out and purchase yeast rather often because my family eats quit a lot of bread....especially when it's home made.

So, I began to read up on sour dough starter...mainly because we like the flavor, not realizing there would be monetary benefits as well.

The benefit that I found is that when I make a batch of sour dough, I end up with a gallon jar full of active yeast.  This means that I can make many, many loaves without having to purchase more yeast.  As a matter of fact, as long as I keep the culture alive, I will always have yeast!

So, every weekend I make 2 loaves of bread to last my family the entire week.  I do use my bread machine on the dough setting and let it do all the mixing and kneading and rising.  I then turn the dough out onto a pizza stone to shape, rise and bake.  It really takes suprisingly little effort and the rewards are great.  One of the nicest things is that I know exactly what is in our bread!

By the way....I also use the sourdough in a recipe for a pizza crust that would blow you away.  Pizza night is a lot more fun!