Worms, Radishes and Sweet Potatoes

Yesterday, we checked on our wrigglers. We have had them for 48 hours now so we needed to see how they were settling in. 

They were looking pretty happy. 

Plump and well fed. 

They were still working on the first meal I had given them. After some manhandling (and boyhandling) we closed up our wrigglers. 
After, we finished shelling the radish seeds I took all the shell casings and started sprouting them. There were still a lot of seeds left that would have taken way to long to separate out. Yesterday, I made some take out boxes into planters and put the sprouting casing in with some dirt. Once the last frost date has passed, I will plant them outside. Maybe I will talk my girlfriend into putting them in front of her apartment. They do have pretty little flowers. If I remember them right. 
Oh! I almost forgot there are little roots showing on the sweet potatoes. They root first, then shoot. Soon we will be in business. Hopefully, they will be ready to go when the garden space is and I will be able to start them at the right time. Last year, I didn't start them till it was much to late and I wasn't able to get them out in the ground till mid June. If I can have them out the day after the last frost I might have sweet potatoes before the last frost. 

My Subversive Plot!

After I built the cold frame yesterday, we didn't do much in the way of gardening. The oldest sister finally got to make some planters of her own, I talked her into planting purple carrots! She was with her father when we did the first round of them. The kids and I went for a walk in the woods and stopped at the community garden plots. These are the boys (Spider-man front) in front of our plots. We have a 20x40 foot space. We can't start planting for another month, but I feel a lot better having seen it. 
When we were down there we saw these two new weird structures. They were 20 feet tall towers, each had a concrete base then 4 metal posts that ran up about 3 feet. Then the whole thing was covered in wood to the top. They were only a foot on each side. The only thing I could think they were, was chimneys. 
So, I just got off the phone with the Park Maintenance people, apparently they are chimneys, sort of. They are a boy scout project for birds that nest in chimneys. I will be interested to see what is in them through the summer.
If these kids are half as excited as me my girlfriend and I are about this garden project its gonna be a great summer!

Worms! and Cold Frames.

It's been a good couple of days. Yesterday, the worms arrived! There was a lot of excitement in the house when the mail lady knocked on the door. We were all watching Superman Returns and shelling radish seeds. There were shells all over the floor. I made everyone clean up and shake the carpet outside before we opened the box. I have never seen three kids clean so fast. Finally, it was time to open up the little wrigglers. I knew that these little guys had just been shipped across country, so they were gonna be stressed. In addition they were about to be manhandled by excited little kids. It was like christmas morning in there. I should know, I was with those kids on christmas. 

WORM!

Ew!

House warming

New pets.

This morning I built my first bed of the year. I used one of the old storm door frames from the house to make a cold frame. It was the first time I ever made a cold frame so I am excited to see how it works out. Normally when I build a bed I do raised beds. 

This time I did the oppsite and dug down. This gave me some more room since the wood I used isn't very tall. I used the excess dirt that I dug out, to fill in any gaps so no cold air can get through. 

Then I used some compost to fill in the bed and placed my sprouters right in there. I will transplant them into the live ground in a day or two once they are used to the outside world. 

My father gave me the tip to put some stakes next to the bed so I can just prop the glass up there when I am working in the bed. Looks professional don't it!

And I finished out the morning with my old dog. 

More Spring Break!

Yesterday was a complete success. I posted which is still a big deal for me. My girlfriends kids and I shelled a ton of my "radish" seeds, as we watched Superman IV. There are still a lot to shell, but there have been lots of them since last summer. I think that if we watch Superman Returns today, we should finish them. After a walk in the woods near the house, we built the worm bin. I wanted to take pictures of the construction project. However, I thought it more wise to stand close when I had a four-year-old using an electric drill. According to the internet shipment tracker, the worms are in Columbus now. Hopefully they will arrive today. We should put some food in there now so its all ready when the wrigglers get here. 

Today, as stated before I want to get more seeds shelled. Yesterday, my girlfriend found a bunch of pine cones in one of the boys pockets as she was doing laundry. Today, I am gonna help them make those pine cones into bird feeders for the back porch. The apartments here back up on an industrial park. I hope if we get some birds and when the weather turns warmer some plants, it will make it more homey. We need bird seed and peanut butter. I don't want to use almond butter if i can help it cause it costs more. 

I noticed some more of my salad greens, in the egg cartons, coming up this morning before I left. I hope my cat doesn't eat them before they have a chance to take off. I think tomorrow, I will build my cold frame. the weather should still be really nice. We may even get some sun. That way I can stick my new greens in there and have a salad bed in a few short weeks. 

What do we want? Dirt!

Good morning!
Today, is day two of my girlfriends kids spring-break. Sadly, she has to work too much to allow for any sort of trip, but I am hanging out with them some to try and make it a fun break anyway. This also lets me be here when our little wigglers arrive. That way, they don't freeze on the door step. Today, I have two objectives for the garden project that I will achieve with the boys.
First, we will de-shell a bunch of radish seed pods I have from last year. I got the seeds that I used to grow them at the local co-op. I just sprinkled them in a bed and they shot up these crazy huge plants. Over time, they took over the whole bed they were in. Even crowded out the squash that was there! The thing is that they were labeled as radish seeds, but I never found any radish bulbs. They were in the sprouting section, so its possible that sprouting radishes and other radishes are not the same. The tops of the plants were all radish though, at least from what I can tell from researching the internet. 
Second, I finally have my drill over here and I want us to build the worm bins. Some of the web sites that talk about the bins, suggest building the bin a full week before putting the worms in. I am not gonna give them that much time at most two or three days depending on when they arrive. We started a compost bin the day we decided to build a worm bin, that was over three weeks ago. So we have lot of stuff to compost. We got 1000 worms which comes out to 2 lbs. They say that these red wrigglers process half their body weight a day. At most, we can get pound a day. Therefore these little guys are gonna have to work over time for a few days. I am picturing a little worm foreman "Look fellas, we got a big shipment, I am gonna need everyone at the plant to pull a double shift." Then they unionize and we'll have a strike on our hands. We'll have to get scab worms! We are gonna have to get a stellar retirement package for them. Sorry, I'm done. 

Rocketfuel Review and Weekend Report

First and for most, I survived last weekend. The "Bulletproof Rocketfuel" was a success. I had buckets of energy the whole time and though I got cld at times, like after being splashed by a big rock and then standing around in wet pants with no shirt for 20 minutes, I felt ready for anything. 
I left saturday and rode down to southeastern Ohio with some friends. The first day of training, we learned some evasion tactics and did some physical training in the bitter cold of night. Then after a good nights rest, that I was not expecting to get, we did some cold water training. The air temp was right around 32 degrees and the water temp and the water temp was a wapping 34, this is in Fahrenheit not Celsius. We were only in for about 2 minutes, just long enough to get our heads wet. Then a heroic dash for towels and warm cars. 
As soon as we got back to my friend's house who was hosting us it started snowing. There were at least two inches an hour later, when we left. I was hoping that today, I would be able to build a cold frame for an early salad garden. Sadly, the snow storm followed us back to central ohio and we have about 3 inches here now. I hope I can get that cold frame up by the end of the week though. 
I am pressed for time today, so Its another short post.  

Productive Saturday

Like I said earlier this week today I went to "The Worthington Farmers Market." It was by far the best farmers market I have been to. Not to say I have been to many. I used to go to one weekly when I lived in Wisconsin and there is one that meets down the street from me in the summer. There were all sorts of vendors at the Worthington one, today. Lots of the standard things you see at most farmers markets. I was sad that I saw lots of dairies selling cheese, but from what I saw no butter. I will have to ask around more next time I go there. There were a few beef and pork farms.
The most exciting meat producer I saw was an Ohio Bison Farm, they don't seem to have a web site. I will be interested to talk with these people further. The pamphlet that I got from them is spare on information about feeding practices and really anything beyond prices and raving that bison is low in fat.  
The only other vendor I had time to talk to was an herbalist, Mockingbird Meadows. They had an herbal CSA, they hold "homestead farm dinners" once a month and they even have an apprenticeship program. I am excited to learn more about these people as the summer continues. 
The other thing I have done so far today of merit is I went to the Whetstone Public Library and got Lights Out and The 4 Hour Chef. Reviews of those books will be out soon. 
Also, wish me luck, in a few hours I am leaving for "Mini Hell" and I will review the success of my new recipe "Bulletproof Rocketfuel." 

The things you own...

The things you own
I am trying to take an inventory of the things I have that will help me with my gardening this year. I have two sections of chicken wire fence, I think they are about 50 feet each. The perimeter of the garden space that I have now is 160 feet so I may come up a little short. Fence is really needed down there cause without it deer and rabbits will eat all my crops. I also have about 50 or 100 feet of hose. I hope that that length will reach from the spicket to our gardens and that we are able to leave the hose set up at all times. One of the problems I had last year was that I had to set up and drag around my hose every time I wanted to water. This meant that watering was so much work that in the heat of the summer I stopped bothering. I have a grocery bag of seeds of all sorts. I have started many of the seeds and will start a salad garden next week. I have lots of wood behind my fathers garage. I can use this wood for board walks in my garden, maybe make more boxes for raised beds or to go around cold frames. My father is also letting me use some windows that we pulled out of our house when we replaced them for the Obama tax cuts. I have three tires on my girlfriends back porch one on my parents and I know where two more are in the woods near where I live. These I will use to plant "sweet potato skyscrapers." Also I have friends, I have my girlfriend and her kids, aka free labor. I have other friends who are also into urban and suburban farming. These people can be used as resources for knowledge  information and other stuff. 
The things I will need
There are lots of things I need. I need more fence and fence posts.  I will need more seeds before the season is out. If I try to grow more of my exotic plants I will also need to find ways to propagate those plants. I need to find more tires, be it in the woods like the others I have found or from a tire place. 
Conclusions
Come to think of it this may be all that I need this summer. I have been gardening for a few years now and lots of the stuff can be used time and time again. I am hopeful about this year, I have a lot of what I need and the things I lack I am confident I can find. Let's do this!

The Things I Eat

On a daily basis I eat a variety of foods. I generally start my day with a cup of Bulletproof Coffee. I make mine with MCT oil, which contains Palm oil and Coconut oil, Virgin Coconut oil and grass fed butter or gee. I also like to have some kind of breakfast meat and eggs with breakfast. In those eggs I usually put about 1 1/2 Tbs. of turmeric. For lunch I eat often eat an omelet, more turmeric, an avocado, some kinda meat, and spinach or sprouts. Dinner is where I introduce my variety, the meals I have then are of all sorts, I eat more meat and veggies at dinner. The thing all these meals have is common is my love of spices. Garlic, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, sage rosemary, thyme, cayenne, coco to name but a few.
You can see a bit of a problem growing for our surburban farmer. I live in centerial ohio, zone 5 or 6 depending on what map you are looking at. Many of the things I consume regularly are from warmer climates. I can grow some things indoors but I really don't have the space to produce a lot of it. Outside I can grow a lot of the things common to my region, salad greens other colder climate vegetables. Of the spices I listed I can grow, garlic, sage, rosemary, and tyme. The others I will have to find more creative ways to grow.
I will not let these limitations stop me though. I want to at least try growing the more exocitic plants on my list. I have several avacado seeds going in my room many with full stalks and leaves. I don't know when or how they will start fruiting, but I am patient.  Coconut, palm, turmric, cumin, cinnaimon, cyanne and coco are all on my list. I don't know the first thing about growing them but I have the internet and the time to read.

Its a short post on a long day.

I just finished a new recipe  I am calling it "Bulletproof RocketFuel." I will be using it this weekend. I am going to an event my friend is throwing called "Mini-Hell." He is a retired Navy Seal and he says this weekend will be like the first 24 hours of hell week at buds. We are gonna stay up all night doing crazy training and at the end go swimming in a cold lake. I mottled the recipe on Bullet Proof Coffee. Except instead of coffee I doubled the butter and added more coconut oil and junk.
 In the end it was...
3/4 of a stick of Kerry Gold Salted
1 stick of Regular Organic  Kroger Unsalted Butter
4 tbs virgin coconut oil
4 tbs of Now MCT oil. If this can't get me through this training nothing can!
Also today, My girlfriend ordered 1000 red wrigglers from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. They should arrive middle of next week and the boys and I can build the worm bin on spring break. 
Its a short post on a long day. 

Why do this?

Why Paleo
There are copious articles, blogs, books and video out there about why Paleo is a wise dietary choice. Why I specifically am doing this is two fold. First, I have liked the idea since I first heard of it. Finally, there is a way to eat that I don't have to waste my time with things like bread or oatmeal. Once I tried Paleo for the first time, again the interweb is awash with the same story, I don't need to tell you again. My own walk with Paleo has been a rocky one. I live at home with my my parents. They eat a standard American diet, in fact i think the majority of my fathers calories come from cheese-its. Sometimes, a bowl of oatmeal is easier than a salad. However, I have to say that I have been on the wagon for at least a month now, eating a Paleo/bulletproof diet. My second reason is my girlfriend, she has several auto-immune issues or maybe just one that manifests in several ways. When she is a clean Paleo she is much, much better. I know when I eat well its easier for her to do the same. 
Why Farmer
For as far back as I can remember I have been a bit of a hippie. I used to go to an environmentalist school, in northern Wisconsin. There were a lot of young idealists up there who were all about "treading lightly on the earth" and "leaving no trace." I believe anyone who says that sort of thing is a hypocrite. I drive over 100 miles a week, I eat twice my weight in meat every year. I do believe, on the other hand, in leaving any place you come to better than you found it. If I had my own land I would like to permanently change the landscape to better fit my needs. Unfortunately, due to some constraints laid down by the Parks&Rec department here, that is impossible. Every year everything must be cleared out of the space we are given and it is "tilled." 
Why Suburban
I am a suburbanite. I currently live in my parents house. Its kind of embarrassing at this point in my life, but I am unemployed and its free. Even when I get a job, I will still need to live near my current school. But far enough from the city that I don't go insane. I like this little town, I have lived here my whole life. I think even when I can afford to buy a few acres out in the country, I will miss this place. I also want to know how sustainably one can live in such conditions. How much of my own food can I grow in a 20ftx20ft space? How much will it cost to get 350 lbs of meat at a farmers market? Will trying to do all this amount to so much time and effort that it becomes unprofitable? These are all big questions on my mind and I hope to be able to answer them over the next few months. 
Why blog
I have several reasons for blogging about this experience. One I want to be accountable to people about what I am doing. This summer when I don't water for a day or two, I will have to report that here, even if no one is reading. Also I want a written record of what is going on here. I will be able to look back and see what worked and what didn't. I have kept a garden journal in the past, but they are klunkly and unwieldy. Finally, maybe just maybe, there are other people out there in the Paleo/sustainability sphere that would be interested to hear how this might be done. I don't expect this to be an easy journey, in fact I expect it to be a bit of a blunder. but I do expect there is something to be learned. 

Thoughts for a rainy day.

3-18-2013
In yesterdays post, I broke down the things I consume into three or four categories  One things I can grown myself. That group will include sweet potatoes, salad greens other cruciferous vegetables and a selection of herbs. 
The second group is stuff I can get at my local farmers markets. I eat a lot of meat, butter, eggs and other animal products. I know the Westerville farmers market pretty well. There is one meat producer and a few people with things like eggs. A quick Google search just yielded this, Columbus Underground Farmers Markets. This link has them listed by the day of the week they are held,Restaurant Widow Farmers Market. Apparently, there is one near here in Worthington, that runs year round about 10 minutes down the road. I have a trip planned Saturday! 
The third group, out are foods like my supplements. I am an athlete and a bit of a bio-hacker. I eat things like "bullet-proof coffee," pea protein and other supplements. I dough I will find a local sources for coconut oil and MCT oil, or coffee for that matter. For that I have the Clintonville Community Co-op. I need to renew my membership in a few short weeks. 

Day One

3-17-2013
Today is my half birthday and a fine day to start planting. Living in Central Ohio I am still a solid month before the last frost date so most of my plants are inside. My goal for this year is to try to consume as many of my calories from what I can directly grow in my own home and the community garden plot I have rented. The food sources I can't grow myself, I want to get from local farmers markets. What I can't find there I will seek from the local region.  I am hopeful that I can get about 99% of my food stuffs with in those sources.  I face many challenges with this goal such as my current unemployment and being generally novel to the gardening world. 
As a little kid, I helped my father in the garden, but I don't remember many principles of growing food from that. For the last two years I have had a community garden plot down in the same area that I have one now. The first year I grew a beautiful crop of tall grass. Which would have been awesome if I was raising goats. Last year, I managed to grow about 100 thumb sized sweet potatoes on one side of my garden and on the other side I got yet another crop of grass. Through the high summer months, July and August, we had a major drought and I did not get down there to water enough. At the end of the season, I managed to save a lot of the sweet potato greens and put them in a sort of make shift Window Farm. However, throughout the course of the winter they all slowly died. 
This year, I am going to reattempt the sweet potatoes from scratch. Yesterday, I got some local organic sweet potatoes at a near by co-op. I washed them and placed them in little cups of water. In about a month they will start showing little shoots and about two weeks after that the shoots will be ready to break off and start rooting. I have also been starting lots of seeds in the last week. In a bathroom upstairs I have three egg cartons full of different seeds that are already sprouting. The other project I am trying to get underway this week is a worm bin. I have everything I need except worms. As my projects develop I will keep you updated and include things like costs and benefits, data about regionality of my food and anything else I can think of.
Wish me Luck