February Wreath

The last half of this week has been glorious, for instance today it has been 75 degrees and there is a warm wind. I'm not supposed to enjoy it - we've had hardly any rain, and this means the meager snowpack in the Sierra is melting early - but it's hard to feel glum about that when spring is bursting out all around you.

I made February's wreath with Acacia dealbata, or Silver Wattle, native to Australia, naturalized here. It's really beautiful but it's terribly weedy, and takes over the Oakland/Berkeley hills around this time of year. I don't find it growing out my way very much, but there is one enormous specimen on a trail near here, so that's where I went to take cuttings. The tree can easily support that; I in no way injured it or even slowed it down. Some people think this tree is a scourge and it's hard to disagree because it causes awful allergies, being loaded with pollen. And did I mention the weediness? 

Anyway, I have to say it makes a lovely, cheerful wreath.

rhubarb seedlings in the 'greenhouse'

This weekend, I intend to take out one bed of wheat, clover, and peas and put in my potato crop, as well as start sunflower seeds in the greenhouse. It's hard not to do more. I'll probably start my pepper seeds later on in February, since they require some extra germination time. But no tomatoes until March. 

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying all the spring bulbs coming up, as the narcissus are starting to enter senescence. 

Borage is nearly a year-round plant for us here, but it takes a break in December and January, reseeds itself, and comes out gangbusters again starting this month. The bees are clearly in the spring swing of things and soon we'll need to do a hive check.

I'm growing watercress in a 10-gallon container, and it's really starting to look delicious. I'm anticipating some lovely greens in sandwiches soon.

I bought four hellebores in December and I have them in pots on my front porch. Hellebores are not cheap, so this was a real investment, and they are starting to bloom which is fabulous. I have several different colors and I'm sure I'll be sharing more pictures as they open. I can't wait.

The Wheat is Lodging

When you grow wheat, you begin to see what an important crop it is in our country. Google-research a problem with, say, kale, and you'll get a bunch of websites written by folks just like you and me. Google-research a problem with wheat, and BAM: You've got the big guns weighing in, from the USDA to the Land Grant Universities. According to the USDA, wheat ranks third among US field crops in planted acreage, production, and gross receipts. (You can guess the top two crops, I imagine.) However, wheat planting and production are actually down this year, due to lower returns and changes in government programs, as well as increased competition from global wheat markets. 

Again according to the USDA, wheat, along with corn, soybeans, cotton, and potatoes, accounts for about 80% of all pesticide use in our country. 

This makes you wanna find your local, organic wheat farm, doesn't it? It sure does for me. It also sure as hell solidifies my resolve to continue baking our own bread with said wheat.

Meanwhile I'm enjoying our own wheat-growing experiment. There are some definite downsides. The main one is space, which is certainly a limiting factor. The ratio of biomass-to-product is quite high; the huge stalks take up quite a bit of room for such little return. You have to plant a LOT of wheat to get any kind of poundage at the end of the process. It's also a long-growing crop; I planted these seeds in October, and the plant probably won't be ready for harvesting until late May, at the earliest. This is an issue when I want to get summer crops in the ground at the beginning of May at the latest. Some crops, such as potatoes, should go in in February. In order to do that, I'm going to have to cut some of the wheat early.

There are lots of positives to growing wheat, though, not the least of which is how beautiful it is. It couldn't be any more GREEN.

Other benefits: The aforementioned biomass is actually a boon, as it can be used in several ways; as fodder for the chickens, or as a mulch for my summer plants. Finding organic straw is difficult, and I've basically made my own. It has acted as a wonderful cover crop over the winter, mixed with crimson clover as an understory plant. Live roots in the ground year-round really promote soil life and health. I mean, just LOOK at all the sunlight that's been captured in these beautiful leaves.

Here's another downside, though, at least in my garden. My wheat is starting to lodge.

Lodging is when the wheat falls over. It's happening in every one of my beds. The outside rim of each bed is fine, beautifully upright, and then the inner portions have keeled over. There are many reasons this could have happened, but I don't see that any are applicable here. The plants could be suffering from excess nitrogen (never a problem in my beds, trust me when I tell you that all my soil nutrient tests come back deficient in nitrogen, which is why I planted clover too - but the nitrogen nodules in the roots of the clover won't be available to nearby plants until after I cut down the clover and let the roots rot in the soil). They could be suffering from a deficiency of potassium (though my soil tests say this nutrient level is ok). They could have fallen from high winds, which I suppose is possible, but honestly, are our winds higher than those in the Great Plains? I don't think so. It hasn't been particularly wet this winter. Interseeding clover is supposed to help with this issue, and I did that. 

The only thing I can figure is, it's the variety of wheat. I planted all heirloom varieties, wheat that could be considered ancient and isn't used any longer on big commercial farms; Emmer, Sonora, and Red Fife. And from my reading, it does sound as though the lodging problem has been bred out of the newer strains, along with a lot of the nutrition. Honestly, I don't WANT to grow modern wheat. I want to grow the good, heirloom stuff.

I am cheered by reading that the lodging may not hurt the seed crop, if it happens before the seed develops. But I do think stems of wheat lying down and collecting water is going to invite rot; and in fact, some of the stems have some discoloration. So, this crop may end up being fodder and straw sooner than I expected, and I'll just have to keep buying my wheat berries from the local farmer. 

Have any of you ever grown wheat? How have you dealt with lodging?

New Strawberry Wall

Come June, all we want to eat are strawberries. We buy them at the Farmers Market by the flat; to eat fresh, to add to baked goods, and to make jam. We buy them because I can never grow enough here to satisfy our cravings. Tom and I joke that our entire yard could be planted to strawberries and it still wouldn't be enough. Well, we won't do that, because then where would the tomatoes go (our second most favorite thing)??? It doesn't stop us from growing a few strawberries though. 

Through the years, we've experimented with different ways of cropping berries. Growing them in the ground is, of course, the classic way to do it, but there is a cost to doing it this way - SLUGS. The berries that we have in the ground always get eaten up right away by slugs. I could plant them in a raised bed, which would offer some protection, but strawberries are a perennial, which means that bed would be dedicated to them for years. So we've tried various pots and planters. We have had the most success with a planter made out of a recycled pallet and hung on a wall. The berries are up off the ground, and they hang down over the slats, which keeps them clean. 

However there were problems with the pallet. Over time, I've come to understand where strawberries grow in the wild - and that is the forest. They are an understory plant that likes dappled shade. That means cooler temperatures and wetter soil. Our pallet is hung up in full, hot, dry, all day sun. We just couldn't keep up with the water, and the berries were always drying out. 

I've also learned, over the course of my studies, that most growers use their strawberry plants for three years, and then replace them. You can do this by buying new crowns, or taking off the runners and planting those. Or you can try removing the runners to keep the energy going to the main plant, which is what I did. So we got a few good years of berries out of our pallet planter. But the plants were starting to look very dried out and tired, so I felt it was time for a fresh start. At $7 for 25 crowns, berry plants are not expensive. 

So I ordered four different kinds of plants from Peaceful Valley, and they arrived this week. I got half June-bearing and half Ever-bearing. As the names imply, June-bearers fruit all at once at one time in the summer, while Ever-bearers fruit every season except winter. I knew I wanted to plant the berries up off the ground again, at least the bulk of them, so we had to figure out how we wanted to do that.

It's amazing the things you can find on Nextdoor, for free. Someone was giving away this old wooden trellis; it's extremely heavy and sturdy and I knew I could use it for something. I brought it home and painted it, and it's been a trellis for peas for a season now. But I wondered if we could attach gutters on to it, to make a new sort of wall. And that's exactly what we did.

We purchased galvanized steel gutters from Home Depot - they come in 10 ft sections for $6. Add in some brackets to fasten the gutters to the trellis and some end caps, and voila - not an expensive project at all. We chose steel over plastic because 1) we don't like plastic, and 2) the steel won't rust when it's galvanized (dipped in zinc). I would have loved to use wood but the weight of the thing concerned me. 

The gutters were cut to size using tin snips, and then we used a drill to put in drainage holes. 

I bought the best potting soil I could find, loaded with humus and organic matter, and mixed that with a little granulated organic fertilizer for a slow release of nutrients. The one thing about planting in pots is that you must continue to feed them, because the plants aren't getting nutrition from the surrounding soil. Something like fish emulsion is perfect for this, because it has both water-soluble nutrients for use right away, and other nutrients that the soil bacteria will break down over time. 

The strawberry crowns come like this:

25 crowns banded together. You separate them and plant them proud, that is, with the crowns above the soil line. Strawberry crowns have a tendency to rot if planted too deeply. 

This 'wall' has three gutters, and I bought four kinds of berries, so one row went in the ground at the bottom of the trellis. It will be interesting to see how those fare compared to the ones off the ground. Because this strip of earth is between the patio and the garage, it doesn't have as much pest pressure as other parts of the garden.

A light covering of coffee chaff (high in nitrogen) and the project was done. I'll have to keep these moist, but the nice part of this particular location is that it gets only morning sun, so the plants will be much cooler than they were over in the pallet planter. (Which, by the way, I replanted with succulents.)  Hopefully, come June, we'll be able to skip a few trips to the Farmers Market and eat a lot of our own berries, instead.

Mood Follows Action

Do you struggle with the motivation to accomplish your stated goals? Do you feel like you need to pump yourself up in order to take the steps to reach those goals? 

Recently, I read a great article in Outside magazine called "Motivation is Overrated," by Brad Stulberg. It's basically a response to the fact that many people fail to keep their New Year's resolutions, but I think the information is applicable anytime. I don't know about you, but I tend to make goals for myself throughout the year, whether it's health-related, work/school-related, or relationship-related. I don't put much stock in goals that are made once a year and then forgotten. I think self-introspection should be done regularly, and if something isn't working in life, then it needs to be corrected. This can happen in July as well as it can in January.

The premise of the article is this: Usually when we make a new goal, we are excited to get started. Our mood is elevated, we are raring to go. Inevitably, our mood changes. And we let that dictate our actions.

For instance, suppose you decide you really want to focus on healthy family dinners. You promise yourself you're going to cook six nights out of seven. You are chomping at the bit to get started; you have visions in your head of your family sitting around the dining room table, eating a delicious, balanced meal that you prepared. Everyone is laughing and talking. Everyone is feeling good because they are together and they are being nourished by what you provided. This feels great. Your heart swells and you decide to make it happen. The first week, you're pumped; you plan the week's meals, you shop for everything you need, you clear an hour out of your schedule to prepare the meal each night. That week goes great, the novelty is wonderful, your family is happy, oh, maybe your one picky kid isn't so thrilled, but it all goes swimmingly nonetheless. The next week you plan the same, but something comes up at work and you're not able to do one of the nights. Then one of your kids suddenly has a soccer practice scheduled and you can't do another night. You still forge ahead with the plan, but then you just don't feel like cooking one night, and one night turns into two, and before you know it, it all falls apart because your motivation failed. Your brain started telling you it wasn't worth all this trouble, and your FEELINGS started telling you it was too much work and trying to schedule it around real life just wasn't feasible. You let your MOOD DICTATE YOUR ACTIONS.

Well, I'm like this with daily exercise. I love to hike in the hills. I love to take walks. I especially love the way I feel afterwards - cleansed, whole, fresh. Alive. Energetic. Despite all these things, I have trouble getting motivated to just get out there. And so I was encouraged to read, in this Outside article, that I had it all backwards. I shouldn't wait until I FEEL like walking. Instead, MOOD FOLLOWS ACTION. I need to DO the thing first, and then the good feelings will follow. 

This has become my new motto. When I don't feel like doing my homework? MOOD FOLLOWS ACTION. I get it done and I feel good. Smart. On top of things. When I don't want to clean the house? MOOD FOLLOWS ACTION. I get it done and then I feel organized and happy with my surroundings. When I don't want to go walking in the rain? MOOD FOLLOWS ACTION. I get it done and then I feel better, more focused. 

It works in reverse too. When I want to reach for some ice cream after dinner? I say, 'that's just a feeling. I don't let my feelings dictate my actions.' And that helps. 

So, give it a try - make it your motto, too. And see if it helps you get closer to your goals. I'm finding it surprisingly affective.

By the way, I subscribed to Outside magazine for years, but I was always rather put off by their male-centric focus, especially male-athlete-centric focus. The gear they reviewed was always for guys, the articles were always about male athletes, and the sections on health and physical fitness were always skewed male. So I let my subscription lapse. But in the last year, I've been following them on twitter, and things are changing at the magazine. They made a commitment that half their stories would be by women writers, and they are focusing on people of color and people of different body types. One of the greatest adventure stories I read this year was the story of a queer black woman hiking the Appalachian Trail alone. Recently I also read a story about a female athlete with a larger, curvier size. Her size wasn't just glossed over, it was the focus of the article - that she was appreciating her body and what it could do.

Another thing they are doing well is commentary on the state of outdoor conservation in the current political climate. They also took a stance on the #metoo movement and started surveying women to find out about harassment in the outdoors. 

Plus, as their executive editor Alexandra Navas said, "We're trying to have our stories be more respresentative of our readers... As I see it, we're a magazine for people who love the outdoors, and that's not just core athletes, that can be anyone."  

If you, like me, have been turned off by this magazine in the past, I'd say give it another try. Here is their website - check it out.

Home-cooked Dinners

As you know, I am a big fan of home-cooked dinners. Our garden harvests often dictate what we eat, but I'm also always looking for inspiration. I don't really enjoy having the same thing all the time (for some reason, I'm ok with it at breakfast time, but not at dinner). That means I am constantly looking at websites, magazines, and books to get new recipes. I thought I'd share a few winners here with you, in case you need some new ideas, too.

One website that I follow pretty avidly is Smitten Kitchen. Deb takes recipes from all kinds of different sources and reworks them to make them more streamlined, simpler, and easier for busy households. In the process, none of the interest, flavor, or health is lost. We've enjoyed many of her recipes and some are in heavy rotation. She recently posted a new one that was an enormous hit around here. "Sheet pan meatballs with crispy turmeric chickpeas" is definitely a recipe we will be making again. Spicy, but in the warm way, not the painful way, with lots of flavor (especially with a generous lashing of the yogurt sauce), we ate these as sandwiches, sort of like falafel. Delicious. And even better the next day for lunch. 

I use so many of Deb's recipes that I decided it was only fair I should buy her newest book, so I did - and tomorrow night we are going to enjoy her Artichoke and Parmesan Galette. Yum!

I also recently purchased a Dorie Greenspan cookbook. I've respected her work for years, and decided it was time to actually own something that she'd written. So I bought "Around My French Table" and we've been enjoying recipes from there for a few months now. One of the best we've had is this one:

“Almond Flounder Meuniere (serves 4)

(although we used local Petrale sole instead of flounder)

2/3 C ground almonds
2 T flour
grated zest of one lemon
24 ounces sole
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
cold salted butter, about 4-6 T

Whisk the ground almonds, flour, and zest together, then season with salt and pepper. Pat the fish filets dry. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat one side of each filet with beaten yolk. Then either press that side into the ground almond mixture, or spoon it on top and press into filet.

Heat a large nonstick skillet to medium. Add 2 T of butter and cook it till it turns light brown, about 3 minutes. Slip the filets into the butter (you’ll have to work in batches) nut-side down. Do not crowd. Cook for 3 minutes or so, until golden on bottom, then turn over. Add another T of butter to pan. Cook until the fish is opaque throughout, about another two minutes.

Keep previously cooked filets warm while you cook the rest.

Serve with lemon wedges, toasted sliced almonds, and chopped parsley, if desired.”

— Dorie Greenspan

This was an incredibly simple way to cook this delicate fish, and really, really delicious. By the way, I keep my almond flour (basically just ground almonds) in the freezer until I need it. I do this with all my flours and cornmeals, so they stay fresh.

I'm also loving my new Lodge cast iron skillet (a birthday present from my parents). I've had a cast iron dutch oven for years, which I mainly use for baking bread, but I've always wanted a skillet too. We've made all kinds of things in it, from dinners to breakfasts. I made a wonderful savory Dutch Baby as a side dish for one dinner. So easy - just make a Dutch Baby like you normally would for breakfast, but omit the sugar and instead add herbs and parmesan. I made Toll House cookies for a bunch of teenaged boys who came over, and cooked them like a pie in the skillet - they were even more yummy that way. (I've made many, many chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years, trying to find the perfect one; I haven't been able to out-do the basic Toll House recipe.)

For a great winter soup, you really can't beat Pioneer Woman's Chicken and Dumplings. This is a soup that we never get tired of no matter how often we have it; it's certainly even more delicious the next day for lunch, if there is any left over. I usually simplify it a bit; because I often have broth already made, I just bake some chicken breasts in the oven and then shred those, instead of cooking a whole chicken, while using some of the stock I have on hand.

Ok, your turn: What have been your favorite meals this winter? Please share in the comments, so I can make them too!