Tag Archives: expand the garden

Momma Bear: Carefully Choosing Seeds This Year

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It’s that time of year again when we are all starting our seeds and getting those gardens back in shape. Last year was our first year gardening — EVER. We had mixed success, primarily because our property is about 80% shade. One thing I learned though is the importance of picking the right seeds. By this I do not mean just picking the right vegetables, but also the importance of using heirloom seeds so I could let some of my garden go to seed and harvest those seeds for the next year.

heirloom_seeds-posterThis year, while surfing the internet for seeds, I came across some interesting articles about seed banks. The National Geographic article, Food Ark, refers to the world seed vault (which I initially thought was kind of a hokey idea). But I kept reading and discovered why it is so incredibly important. I am sure most of the prepper community understand the value of using heirloom seeds, instead of hybrids, for seed harvesting. But, what I found to be both fascinating and horrifying is that 95% of vegetable and fruit varieties have gone extinct in the last 100 years. Mass production, produce values, and hardiness were chosen over variety. While we are busy saving pandas, polar bears, and whales, no one seems to be worried about saving our food. (Another good article is, The Extinction of Food: Why Heirloom Seeds May Be Our Only Hope.)

I am appalled to report that my own heirloom seeds fall into sprng-sgnthe category of hearty store-bought ones. There is nothing unique or special about my seeds. So what can we do to help with this problem? My advice would be that we all seek out these rare varieties, join seed exchanges, and support farmer’s markets and CSA Co-Ops (Community Support Agriculture) whenever possible. Find the uncommon and value its place in our future.

Next I read, EWG’s 2012 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, and looked at a list of what they call “The Dirty Dozen”; the foods we buy and eat that have the most residual pesticides. Again, this was eye-opening information that showed me exactly which of my favorite produce was on the danger list. And worse yet, I am not strict enough about washing my produce. If I wasn’t already a “prepper,” this would be enough to make me seriously consider joining the team!

heirloom-seeds-wordleMy new growing/gardening goal is to seek out a variety of quality seeds, and to grow some of those vegetables on the high pesticide laden foods list that we would normally buy. So this year–in addition to growing tomatoes, cilantro, and green onions from last year’s seeds–I will be growing my own spinach and peppers (two of the dirty dozen). We eat spinach more than most other varieties of lettuce and it grows really well in containers. Additionally we are still on the canning salsa kick so we are really looking forward to the peppers. I will also be networking with some friends in the Pacific Northwest to see if I can get some of their heirloom seeds for next year, and possibly getting involved in the Seed Savers Exchange.

Do you grow any rare varieties?  If so, what?  And would you be willing to share some seeds?!

 

Momma Bear’s August Preps

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August has been madhouse crazy for us with plenty of work and personal commitments. We have not done as much prepping as I would like. BUT, when we are too busy for physical preps I can always use the time to learn new things. This month’s field of study focused on EMP’s. I found two sites to be particularly informative. The first, The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack, includes two reports that describe the recommendations for how we should prepare for an EMP strike. It is interesting to read,  because you quickly grasp that this report was essentially poo-poo’d by our government and we remain ridiculously unprepared for such an attack. The second is a website that talks about home-made faraday cages designed to protect small electronic devices. After reading this, my son and I built a small faraday cage out of an old microwave; then placed our small shortwave radio inside.

This month we also made a few purchases. Following Trace and Sarah’s lead, we ordered the Duracell 813-0807 800 Watt DC to AC Digital Power Inverter. For the time being, we have opted not to buy a generator and this will be our interim solution. With three vehicles, we can surely spare one to power some things here at home. My second purchase was a ham radio. We are absolute beginners with ham radios and are not really looking to broadcast (just to receive information from a distance in an emergency), so we opted for a small, inexpensive hand-held model. We ordered the BaoFeng UV-5R 136-174/400-480 MHz Dual-Band DTMF CTCSS DCS FM Ham Two Way Radio, for less than $60. There is a more basic model available, but after reading some reviews we felt this one was a better choice. All that said, even this basic model is a complex item that is going to take some research to understand. Thankfully, there is always the internet and YouTube to answer our questions. And, of course, once we get this thing mastered it will also be going into the faraday cage. Our goal is that eventually all the BOB’s will have either shortwave or ham radios in them as well. I will report back next month on how the ham radio learning is going!

Last for this month, I continue to harvest tomatoes as they ripen and can them as tomatoes, salsa or ketchup. We have finally gotten over the real HEAT of the summer here so the garden isn’t quite so “needy” any more. We currently have green onions, cilantro, and baby spinach coming up in containers. These are probably our most eaten/purchased vegetables so we are really enjoying the fruits of our labor at the moment!

How did your month go, and how’s your garden growing?

(Monday: September is National Preparedness Month)

The Greenhouse Is Built!

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How We Built Our Greenhouse – a DIY
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We started building the greenhouse the second week of March and I finished it yesterday – six weeks. Sure there are all the excuses and explanations: life is busy, I could only work on it a few days a week (and had to coordinate Ryan’s schedule with mine, when possible), weather was a factor, and we were learning as we were building – but it still took a long time. Now it’s done.

I found the plans we used on BuildEazy.com. I splurged and paid five dollars for the “handy pdf file, ad free”. I printed up the twelve pages of plans, bought the materials needed to get started (the first of many trips to the hardware store), and we began.

The first few steps could be built in the garage. First was the bottom frame; we built it out of pressure-treated 2x8s, 8 feet long. The plans had it built 10 foot by 8 foot – but I hadn’t noticed that before I bought the lumber. Since I only bought four 2x8x8s I went with that, ours would be 8 foot by 8 foot, we modified the plans as needed for the slightly smaller size. Other than the bottom frame we used untreated 2x4s for everything else.

We then framed both sides and built the trusses. I had never built anything that had to be framed before and it was a learning experience. The sides were easy, they were just square. The trusses were tougher, because of the way the window was built into the peak of the roof there were several angle cuts that had to be identical and match up. The 60 degree cuts were especially a hassle because the mitre saw only goes to 45 degrees; they had to be drawn then cut with a circular saw. That was all we were able to pre-build in the garage.

The project then sat for a couple of weeks waiting for a dry weekend when Ryan and I were both available. When that weekend arrived we laid out the bottom frame, put up the two side walls, then attached the trusses. The bottom and sides were pretty easy; we kept the square and level handy, and used them for each piece. The trusses were again harder, it was tough to keep them square – at that point they were only attached on each side and weren’t very stable. But, finally, the structure was outside and coming together (i.e. it sort of looked like a greenhouse).

The directions for the front and back-end walls were far less “exact”, the plans stated “This is pretty much measure, cut, and fix as you go.” We varied from the plans and only put a door on one end (the plans called for a door on both ends). Building the door frame and the door (another thing I had never done before) went slowly and was a challenge because we knew it had to be completely square, or the door wouldn’t work; there also had to be enough space, around the door, to allow for swelling of the wood in wet weather. The hinge placement was another challenge, but we did it and the door fit and closed smoothly.

(All this happened over a period of weeks because of weather and time availability.)

The roof trusses were then secured with ‘strap braces’, galvanized steel braces 2 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. They connected the opposite corners of the long section of the roof, tying in with nails each of the separate trusses. The trusses were now a lot more stable, but it had been difficult to keep the outside ones from pulling toward the center.

Next was the roof window – the most complex step of the project. This window was one of the reasons I chose this plan, I really liked the ability to be able to open a portion of the roof to release heat on sunny days. The measurements had to be very precise and much of the work was done on ladders; it was also a hassle holding up the window assembly and getting the hinges attached to the frame. But finally it was in place and would open and close smoothly (mostly).

The entire wooden framed structure was now built. We then started on the shelving. There were no directions for this in the plans, so I decided to build the shelf frames at 44 inches from the ground. Sarah, who is 62 inches, came out and saw the height and nicely mentioned that they were a little high; after some discussion I re-installed them to 32 inches – a height much easier for her (our primary plant starter) to work at.

Now the wood part was done and it needed to be covered. For this directions said, “Cover the greenhouse with a UV-resistant polythene (there are other options also).” We did some reading and also talked with the expert at the local hardware store (McLendons – we love them, very helpful and knowledgeable) about the “other options”. We found out the polythene/Visqueen-type plastic, though inexpensive, breaks down because of the sun’s UV rays and the weather and would need to be replaced each year. So, with the goal of making the greenhouse longer lasting and sustainable, we instead purchased polycarbonate plastic that lasts 20+ years. It did cost significantly more, but we felt that it was a one-time cost and a worthwhile investment which would require far less maintenance. It came in 2 foot wide sheets (with some extra for overlapping) and we bought 10 foot lengths.

When we got it home, using a friend’s truck, we first covered the long roof section. This is where we really saw that the framing wasn’t quite square, but fortunately the polycarbonate has a little flex to it and we were able to compensate. The roof was the hardest part, again, all the work had to be done on ladders and we had never used the polycarbonate before. It is relatively easy to cut with a circular saw (kind of), and smaller cuts could be done with my old trusty bandage shears.

The following week we covered both sides, the short side of the roof, and the window (that was a pain). Finally, this last weekend, I was able to get the back, front, and door done and that meant the greenhouse was completely enclosed. All that was left was to finishing the shelving. Sarah determined that a 1/4 inch wire mesh would be the best material, as it would allow water to drain and sunlight to pass through. The sunlight passing through was important because it allows containers on the ground to also get sunlight.

So it’s done. We’re pretty proud of it. I can’t help but smile every time I see it though the window or go outside. I’m really glad we have it. I’m sure the greenhouse will be a regular topic in our posts as we continue to learn, discuss our failures, and celebrate our successes.

north side
south side
east side
west side

Thanks very much to Ryan for all his hard work and time. I also appreciate Chanse helping when he could. And I want to acknowledge and thank Sarah for her technical advice, monetary budgeting, and most of all, patience. (And thanks to my father-in-law, Jay, for his DeWalt compound mitre saw.)

(Wednesday: The City Cousin)

 

Sarah’s View: Time To Order Seeds

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Even though we’re still in the dark of winter, now is the time of year when we peruse the seed catalogs and start planning our garden.

Last year was our first “real” garden, and it did okay. It wasn’t spectacular, but it wasn’t horrible either. Part of that can be blamed on the weather – it was a very cool summer and plants that normally do well around here, like tomatoes, struggled. But much of the garden success, or in this case failure, was directly related to our inexperience. It was the first year we started our plants from seed (instead of seedlings) and we tried items that we had no previous experience growing. We also do not have the best soil… okay, the soil here sucks. Our subdivision’s “soil” is mostly rocks and clay.

Trace has been actively working to improve our soil. He built up our back yard compost pile, brought in additional compost from the local landfill, and expanded the space for the garden. We hope to continue the soil enhancements this year. We will bring in more compost and are selecting specific crops with soil improvement in mind. Trace is also pursuing a lead on donkey manure.

There were a few plants that did well. Of the perennials we planted, the strawberries, raspberries and asparagus all survived. The rhubarb, on the other hand, didn’t go so well. And we were able to harvest some tomatoes (albeit mostly green) at the end of the season. This year we’ll again try tomatoes, green beans, and zucchini. I’ll have to check on the herb garden and see what survived the snow, but we will have – either from seed or carried over from last year – basil, rosemary, thyme, sage and chives.

Besides the “regulars”, we are hoping to branch out (pun intended) a bit this year. Trace has requested cabbage; luckily I’ve heard it grows well around here and shouldn’t be a problem. I would also like to grow potatoes. We found a potato box diagram online that will allow us to grow them without using a huge amount of space.  We are also going to add butternut and spaghetti squash, radishes, onions, garlic, black beans, and peas to our garden. None of those are all that uncommon, but will be “new to us”.

One, more unusual, plant we’re going to try is garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas). We regularly fry them on the stove to make a snack and would love to have enough to do this and make our own hummus. In addition, the other uncommon plant we are going to try is comfrey. We are specifically planting this with soil improvement in mind as it is known as a valuable fertilizer and will pull nutrients up with its long tap root.

This year, after having more time to look over the many many options, we are going to go ahead and order from Bountiful Gardens again. Their catalog has a plethora of information on each plant and I truly value their philosophy: “For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners and consumers who want an alternative, we pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants.” As preppers, I feel it is important that the plants we grow have seeds that can be saved and successfully planted in future years.

What are you planting this year?

(Friday: What I Did This Week To Prep)

note: This is my wife Sarah’s second post (first post: “What Do You Think of All This?” – A Prepper’s Wife’s Point of View). She will continue to post under ‘Sarah’s View’ the second Wednesday of each month. I’m excited to have her regularly writing for us!

What I Did This Week To Prep 1/6/12

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We’re expanding our garden this week, not a whole bunch–our yard isn’t that big here in suburbia–but some. We’re making more room for the strawberries and to maximize the areas that get good sunlight. The cool thing about it is that this time we’re using compost that we made.

We’ve been composting for about a year now with very slow, unpredictable results – learning as we go. Our compost pile has had lots of ‘greens’ (high in nitrogen) coming from kitchen vegetable and fruit peelings, coffee grounds, and plant cuttings. It hasn’t had enough ‘browns’ (high in carbon) that can come from fallen leaves, hay and straw, or paper and cardboard. You need significantly more browns than greens to achieve the right ratio in your compost pile, and we’ve been short on browns. You wouldn’t think that here in Washington we’d have a shortage of fallen leaves, but the problem is (here in suburbia) all the trees were cleared when they developed our subdivision. We also can’t just pick up someone else’s bagged leaves because they’re all put in large yard waste bins for collection. So I sent Ryan out to an area with lots of leaves on the ground and he collected three big bags. We added one bag of leaves (unfortunately I didn’t shred them first – next time) to some coffee grounds from Starbucks and continued adding our normal kitchen wastes. A a week later our pile was actually ‘hot’, it had never been hot before! There are still good leaves to be had so we’re going to collect some more to have on hand (“One man’s trash…”). We’re also going to buy a cross cut paper shredder to produce more usable browns. (I found good composting tips at compost-info-guide.com)

We also took advantage of Sarah having a few extra days off over the holidays to make a day trip over to the Sequim area and look at potential homestead properties. We had plenty of time so we ambitiously visited all eleven listings we have been loosely following online. It was a long, but fun day. We brought Kate, our four month old Border Collie, and she had the time of her life tramping through the wooded areas as we walked around the different properties. We found one we liked, sure it has it’s issues – there’s a reason why it’s listed so cheap and is still on the market. But it was kind of cool. It feels remote, on a hill in a very forested area, while still being close to services in the nearby small town. When we got home Sarah looked up the plat information and found everything she could about it online, including that it is adjacent to state forest land. We asked our realtor to follow up on it for us and tentatively scheduled a date with him to go back and look at it closer. Is it “The One”? Probably not, but it has potential. We figure the more we look at, and the more we understand the process, the better prepared we’ll be to make that final decision.

As I mentioned in my What I Did This YEAR To Prep post, my wife Sarah is my “biggest prepper asset”. You’ve seen her hand in every post I write because she sits down with me, after I’ve finished writing, and helps me edit it before it’s published. She’s a good writer with very strong technical skills (she gets it from her dad, CJ Booth, he recently published his first book, Olive Park). She and I talked, on our Sequim property search road trip, about the blog and we discussed her writing a post as sort of “guest blogger” (possibly even on a monthly basis). The more we discussed it, the more we liked the idea. Next Wednesday, the 50th TraceMyPreps post, Sarah will answer the question every prepper’s wife gets, “So what do you think about all this?”

What did you do?

(Monday: Product Review: Gerber EAB Lite Utility Knife)

What I Did This Week To Prep 11/18/11

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Now that summer gardening is over, I wanted to get a jump on improving and expanding the growing space for next year. I hate watering grass, but the home owner’s association thinks it’s important, so I came to a ‘compromise’. I expanded the gardening area in the front yard so it now covers about a third of the yard. Next summer I’ll feel better  about watering because now I’ll also be watering a garden. Removing the sod was a hassle, it’s a lot of work and it’s heavy.

Ryan, Chanse, & Brynn

Once the sod was out, Chanse and I (using his dad’s truck) picked up about two yards (two truck beds full) of fine compost from the landfill compost factory (the compost is made from local yard wastes). The boys and Brynn helped me add a layer of compost to the expanded front garden, and we also covered about half the back garden. We still need a couple more loads for the backyard, but it was a good start. I hadn’t purchased compost in bulk like that before; it was interesting to see the steam coming off the compost and feel the heat in the pile, even after we got it home. It felt like fluffy dirt, and was easy to move and spread.

Sarah and I finally selected and ordered some winter seeds, hopefully we’re not too late (we’ve been talking about it for weeks). We ordered from Bountiful Gardens, we like their company and love their catalog (we’d definitely recommend requesting a catalog). We’re not doing a lot, we ordered a compost crop seed mix, containing: vetch, wheat, rye, and fava beans that we’ll plant in all the beds. We also ordered Dutch White Clover seeds to spread in the backyard grass, both to improve the soil and in preparation for getting rabbits. We’re tentatively planning on getting rabbits (for meat) sometime around February.

As winter approaches the Northwest (it has definitely arrived in some parts of the country already), I decided it would be a good time to inspect the cars for winter. Ryan, Chanse and I checked to ensure all our vehicles had: ice scrapers (had to add one to Chanse’s car), air in the spare tire (couple were low), jacks, good windshield wipers, wiper fluid (needed some), and we added additional warm clothes and sleeping bags. I do still need to take Ryan out in the Jeep and review with him how to use the 4WD (both high and low), but other than that we’re in pretty good shape.

What did you do?

(Monday: But I’m Working Now)

(11/12/11)