Mud Season...

The spring thaw seems to be coming and going and coming back and then going. Needless to say…we’ve got some mud out there. With mud season upon us it is easy to jump the gun and want to get the garden ready for planting cool weather crops. There are several that can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked.

I suggest waiting. The ground can certainly be worked. All I have to do is stand in my rubber boots and I begin to sink in. It is still too wet to do much in the garden. Tilling or turning of the soil too soon will result in poor conditions later. Wet soil will compact easily and plants will have a difficult time getting established when planted after the fear of frost has passed.

Brussels sprouts, onions, rutabagas, carrots, spinach, turnips, cabbage, peas and broccoli can all be planted two to six weeks before our region’s frost date but until some of this mud dries up you don’t want to get ahead of yourself.

Soil can only take in and hold certain amounts of water. Recent snowmelt and heavy rains have saturated my garden, yard, driveway and pretty much every surface I need to walk on. Even the deck and porches have a nice covering of mud thanks to the four legged creatures I so graciously allow to live indoors with us humans.

I don’t pay much mind to the groundhogs in captivity. They are just an excuse for men to don a top hat and get on television. I know spring is just around the corner as the musty, putrid scent of skunk is apparent every morning. Skunks don’t actually hibernate in winter but they do get very lazy. Once they emerge from their dens you know spring is near as they begin their breeding season.

So March brings us mud and skunks? Sounds like a winning month. It’s not as bad as it seems. There is much to be done to prepare the garden and armchair gardening is just a small part of it.

Indoors you can repot houseplants that will eventually make their way outside in two months. You can also start feeding houseplants at this time. If you overwintered any herbs indoors you can repot them unless, of course, you plan on putting them in the garden. Don’t despair if they look really lousy. I have a 13-year-old lavender topiary that comes in every winter, mutters insults under its softly scented breath all winter and then thrives the moment I put it back in the garden in May.

If you mulched the garden, now is a good time to start peeling that off. Pull any weeds you see now before they go to seed. Trust me, you’ll see some. Don’t walk in the garden while it is wet if you can help it. Tools have long handles for a reason. You don’t want to compact the soil.

Cut back ornamental grasses left from last year. They have proved to be great hiding places for wildlife all winter but it’s time to give them a haircut. Compost the cuttings or scatter them about the yard if you want to provide material for the numerous birds beginning their nest building season.

Finish pruning trees. Bring some inside for forcing. Pussy Willow, Crab Apple and Forsythia will bloom in short order when placed in a large vase of water. What better way to get in the spring mood.

Invest in a good boot scraper. Trust me, mud season doesn’t pass quickly.

You are What You Eat

You may have read or heard about GMO or genetically modified organisms making their way into our food supply. GMO is the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic. This process may be called Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetic Modification (GM); they are the same thing.
GM food goes beyond selective breeding and grafting. Some plants are combined with animal and even human genes to produce desired characteristics. Imagine a frost resistant strawberry. The plant was spliced with arctic fish genes, yummy. No such product exists in your grocery store…yet.
No long term studies have been done to show that GM food is safe. The tests that have been done are done by the very corporations who create the seeds. GM foods are showing up everywhere. According to the Grocery Manufacturers Association up to 75% of processed food in the US contains GM ingredients.
Most GM food is consumed when we eat processed food. Processed food containing GM ingredients include cereals, baby formula, bread, mayonnaise, hot dogs, salad dressings and corn chips. It is impossible to list them all because our government does not require labeling of food containing GM ingredients. Only certified organic foods are GM free.
Meat and dairy can be included as GM food because animals we eat or provide milk for us have been fed a diet consisting of GM crops.
Farmers who choose to grow organic or non-GMO crops are fearful of cross contamination because crops are pollinated by bees that can carry pollen for miles.
Many countries are saying no to GM foods. European nations oppose GM foods. Companies like Kellogg’s sell products in the US that contain GM ingredients but they manufacture non-GM products for their European customers who have spoken loudly and clearly about their desire to stay clear of untested, potentially hazardous food.
Opposition continues to grow about the safety of GM food. The key traits that have been added to commercial GM crops are herbicide tolerance, which allows farmers to spray GM crops with herbicide to kill weeds while not killing the crop itself, and insect resistance, particularly through the expression of Bt-toxin (a toxin produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis). Some crops possess both traits.
Growing your own food or purchasing it from a farmer you know will allow you to consume healthier, safer food. Cutting out processed food will virtually eliminate your chances of consuming GM food. These so called convenience foods are not necessarily so convenient when you consider the lack of testing on the ingredients and the potential dangers associated with eating food that is engineered to outsmart nature.
Nature provides what we need to grow food. She also gives us challenges that we overcome like too much rain, too little rain, too much heat, too little heat, insects and weeds. Herbicides and pesticides do not contribute to the health or delicate balance we need to raise plants or animals for food.
Humans have been farming for thousands of years without the use of herbicides and pesticides. One third of the world’s workers work in agriculture, but this giant workforce produces less than five percent of the gross world product. Our food system is broken.
Try growing some of your own food and if you can’t, buy some from a local farmer who can tell you how he did it. I can guarantee he wasn’t wearing a lab coat and a mask when he planted, nurtured and harvested his livelihood and your supper.

Photo courtesy of picedit.blogspot.com

Inappropriate?

Francesca wore her Jolly Roger gloves to school yesterday. She was told to turn them inside out because her teacher deemed them inappropriate. I fail to see how the gloves are inappropriate. Is it me? Am I missing something?

Olde House Parts

The Tuscarawas County Heritage Home Association is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the documentation and preservation of the architecturally and historically significant homes, buildings, and neighborhoods of Tuscarawas County.

Their mission is to cultivate awareness and appreciation of this part of the local heritage, encourage interest in preserving historic structures within the community, and to educate those who are interested in preservation or are actively involved in the restoration of historically significant structures.

Olde House Parts is the association’s newest project to create an additional source of revenue to further their mission. It is an architectural salvage shop specializing in old and very old interior and exterior hardware, fixtures and accessories. Customers might find light fixtures, doorknobs, hinges, mouldings, pillars, staircases, windows, latches or sinks. Some days shoppers might find signs, corbels, mantels, gas lights or spindles. On other days, heating grates, drawer pulls, brackets, doors, shutters or slate roofing might be available. An ever changing inventory comes strictly from donations.

Members of the association staff the shop. Everyone who works in the store does so as a volunteer. A love of old homes and buildings brought this group together and they will be on hand to help each person peruse the inventory.

Olde House Parts held their grand opening on Saturday, Nov. 6. Volunteers who arrived early to ready the shop for the day found customers already waiting. Dealers, old house enthusiasts, artists, craftspeople and those just looking at the interesting inventory stopped by.

Nearly everyone made a purchase and walked away with a historical piece or part. By day’s end the inventory was drastically reduced.

Members of the association are constantly looking for new inventory to add to the shop. Donations from the public are encouraged and are tax deductible. Only items that date before 1950 are accepted at this time, during business hours or by appointment.

The shop is located at 123 W. Third St., in Suite 101 of The Galleria, in downtown Dover, and is open for business each Wednesday from 4-9 p.m. and each Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. or by appointment. Contact them at 330-364-5757 or via e-mail at OldeHouseParts@tuschha.org.

For more information about the Tuscarawas County Heritage Home Association, visit their web page at http://www.tuschha.org.

It's Only the First Day of Winter

My brother lives in Lemoore, California. The weather there is a little different than it is here. I just checked the weather report for his region. He’s suffering in 56 degree weather right now with light rain. He made a point to let me know he just received an heirloom seed catalog and is very excited about it. He, like me enjoys gardening. He’s always been resourceful so growing food for himself and his family is a given.
I love my brother but right now I am saying things under my breath. While he is tending his winter garden probably filled with cool weather crops like spinach, lettuces, herbs, carrots and radishes I am lucky to be getting baby carrots from a diligent farmer in Big Prairie whose season extension methods far surpass my own.
My mailbox is yet to be filled with seed catalogs. They usually arrive in February just as madness begins to set in. They will pull me out of my doldrums rather quickly and I will dream of warmer days and green things.
I walked to the compost bin this afternoon to drop off several days’ worth of kitchen scraps. There’s not much activity at the top of the pile but I managed to open the bottom door with a few gentle steel-toed kicks. Delight filled the nineteen degree air as I saw a bit of steam rise from the lower part of the pile…I did have to poke it with a stick. The smell of earth and the sight of worms was enough to make any gardener smile.
Winter is difficult for gardeners. We sit around thinking about all the things we could be doing. It’s too cold to fix the fence. It’s too cold to do much of anything outside. As I watch the birds, squirrels and barn cats I realize what a wimp I am. Granted, I do adapt and don’t complain too much about the cold. In fact, I really love the snow and how it blankets the Earth with its whiteness. Still, winter is long and I long for dirty hands, muddy boots and perhaps a new shovel this spring.
Christmas is coming and it helps to put a lot of woes out of my mind while I fill the house with cheer and watch magic appear in a wide-eyed little girl who is probably as anxious as I am to get outside. Her hula hoops and pogo stick are put away for the season. I reluctantly brought her bicycle inside but it doesn’t cruise well amongst the furniture and throw rugs.
Sled riding is certainly in order and the fresh air will do us both some good. Fashion and winter do not exist in our home so we will don our ear flap hats and the extra long scarves my mom made for us. It’s so much fun going down and so much working coming up but its winter. What are you going to do?
Before long February will arrive and my letter carrier will be faced with the mountains of seed catalogs she must stuff in my mailbox. So what if my brother has tomatoes months before me. So what if he can garden all year while I must wait patiently for my spring to arrive. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven.

Being in Hot Water is Not So Bad...

Here's a piece I wrote for a weekly newspaper. After the fact I spoke with a plumber friend who said even this routine maintenance will not do much good and a typical water heater will last about seven years. I bought the nine year warranty with this new one so at least I did THAT right.
...
My water heater died. It died a long-drawn-out death because I paid no mind to it. I mean, who actually looks at their water heater? I had no idea, and by the time I discovered it had serious issues, I had no hot water…for days. Come to find out, a smart homeowner does look at their hot water heater…about every six months.

Routine maintenance of systems and appliances keeps your home running smoothly. You can spot problems before they get too big to fix and in some cases prevent the problem from starting at all.

No one ever told me a water heater had to be maintained. I suppose I believed it to be a self-sustaining system that would, of course, eventually need to be replaced due to age but not my own inadequacies as a homeowner. Looking back at high school math, I see I really don’t need to know too many equations or theorems but I sure wish somebody would have filled me in on basic, biannual water heater maintenance.

My new rule is this: if it plugs in, is connected to a gas line and subsequently costs me money to maintain through one utility or another, it requires a biannual checkup of sorts. I will follow this rule come heck or high water…or in my case, cold, very, very cold water.

My plumber had several tips to help keep your water heater in optimal condition:

To maintain your water heater, begin by determining if it is gas or electric. Gas heaters will have a knob on the gas valve and electric heaters will have a thermostat behind a panel.

Turn down the heat. Most of us keep our water heaters set too high. A temperature of 115-120 degrees is suitable and will save you money on your utility bill. Keeping the water any hotter is a waste of energy.

Next, check your temperature and pressure release valve. This valve is very important in allowing your water heater to function safely and efficiently. If the temperature or pressure in your water heater tank gets too high, this valve releases a small amount of water. If your temperature and pressure release valve is defective really bad things, including explosions, can take place.

To check it simply lift up the valve lever a bit and allow it to snap back into place. You will hear a gurgling sound as the valve releases a small amount of water into the drain tube. If it does not, consult a plumber who can replace the valve.

Sediment develops at the bottom of your water heater over time. It is important to remove it so it doesn’t cause rust and corrosion to slowly eat away at your water heater tank. Water heaters have a drain valve near the bottom of the tank.

Depending on the make and model of your water heater, the process in opening this valve may vary. Consult your owner’s manual (there is a reason to keep those pesky manuals) to see how to open this drain valve. Drain a few gallons into a bucket. At first the water may appear dirty. That is OK.

The whole point of doing this routine maintenance is to get that dirty, sediment-filled water out of the tank. Close the valve. Empty the bucket and give yourself a pat on the back. You have just fulfilled your duties as a homeowner.

They're HERE!

They have finally arrived.

Here's a column from a few weeks ago...

There’s an old Guy Clark song from the ’70s that epitomizes how I feel about homegrown tomatoes. If you haven’t heard it, you ought to. If you have, then you know what I’m talking about. When I was a kid, my dad played that song over and over again on a jukebox in a local restaurant, much to the embarrassment of me and my brothers. I can’t imagine the other patrons liked it too much either. When you’re passionate about something, however, you don’t mind how it might annoy others.

“Ain’t nothin’ in the world that I like better

Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes

Up in the mornin’ out in the garden

Get you a ripe one don’t get a hard one

Plant `em in the spring eat `em in the summer

All winter without `em’s a culinary bummer

I forget all about the sweatin’ & diggin’

Every time I go out & pick me a big one

Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes

What’d life be without homegrown tomatoes

Only two things that money can’t buy

That’s true love & homegrown tomatoes

You can go out to eat & that’s for sure

But it’s nothin’ a homegrown tomato won’t cure

Put `em in a salad, put `em in a stew

You can make your very own tomato juice

Eat `em with eggs, eat `em with gravy

Eat `em with beans, pinto or navy

Put `em on the side put `em in the middle

Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle

If I’s to change this life I lead

I’d be Johnny Tomato Seed

Cause I know what this country needs

Homegrown tomatoes in every yard you see

When I die don’t bury me

In a box in a cemetery

Out in the garden would be much better

I could be pushin’ up homegrown tomatoes”



Well, they have arrived. They are out there in the garden. Sure, they’re green but they won’t be for much longer. They get a little bigger every day. There’s not a bug or a blight on them. The waiting is killing me.

I’ve enjoyed some local tomatoes already from the farmers market. They were delicious. They were, in fact nearly perfect. Big and red, a few heirlooms too, of various shapes and shades. Only trouble is they weren’t from my own garden.

In my own garden I can tend a little, pull a few weeds and gently tie the tomato vines to their stakes with pieces of old, torn T-shirts. In my own garden I can watch little seeds turn into little plants. I can watch the sun and the rain turn those little plants into big healthy plants that develop pretty yellow flowers. I can get that weird itch you get when you touch the leaves of the plants. I can water the plants with water from the rain barrel when it doesn’t rain enough.

When I was a kid, my dad always walked the garden with a salt shaker in his pocket, waiting for the first homegrown tomatoes to never make it to the kitchen.

Soon I’ll be complaining there are too many and we’d better get to freezing and canning them before it’s too late. Soon I’ll be leaving them on my neighbor’s porch when he’s not home.

In the meantime I’ll wait, salt shaker in hand, humming that silly old song about homegrown tomatoes.