Blog Title Change

So, I was walking into the lab this morning and this new title just popped into my head! Since I spend most of my farming life confused, puzzled and utterly mind boggled by what people tell me, I thought this was more appropriate.

No worries, though, I'm still a Macy's Girl through and through.

:) Farmer Ran

FYI: Edited because clearly I wrote this before I had my coffee... it basically lacked any kind of sense... well, the basic premise is the same!

Some Pictures of My "Baby" Veggies!

One day, my garden parents will slice me open, fill me with cream cheese and fry me because they love some Jalepeno Poppers!

Wooohoooo... I'm an heirloom!

Watch out... I'm prickly! Who knew cucumbers were prickly???

Teehee... it's like Where's Waldo? Can you find me??? I'm a baby green bell pepper!

Yet another picture of an heirloom!

Update on the "meter" savings from Town of Blacksburg

Do you remember when I posted about the water "savings" that the Town of Blacksburg offers by buying a special meter and monitoring the water not going to the sewer? Well, savings my right arm! The meter costs $150 or so dollars... we're spending MAYBE $5/month more in water due the garden. I'm not a PhD student in Environmental Engineering or anything, but I'm pretty sure that the payback period on that meter is 3 years. Oh wait, if we factor in that we only garden for 5 or so months of out of the year, I guess the meter will pay for itself in 6 years or so... Yeah, ok.

Needless to say (but I will anyway) we did not buy the meter!

Happy Farming!

When lettuce goes bad part duex...

After a quick trip to the Crow's Nest, I discovered that it was not DPR or Farmer Ran at fault in the lettuce fiasco, but rather, Mother Nature. Due to the extraordinarily hot few weeks we had, the lettuce all went to seed and bittered (to be expected, apparently). But there is an upside: the tomatoes are growing like weeds!!! WOOHOOOO!

A note to all you potential suburban farmer girls (or guys): you can replant lettuce at the end of the summer and get a nice healthy fall crop, but the dead of summer means death of lettuce!!!

:) Until next time...

EEEK -- When Lettuce Goes Bad

A word to the wise: Do not eat lettuce that has a flower growing from the center of it! IT WAS SO GROSS... after Googling, I discovered that when lettuce flowers it typically has gone bitter. Lesson learned, so after ripping out half of the lettuce, Dread Pirate Roberts is looking a little lopsided! One half is full of flowering plants (i.e., I'm going to have tomatoes, peppers and melon soon) and the other half is looking weak! I planted some green beans, so hopefully those will take off soon.

What is the key to getting everything harvestable at the same time and keep it that way for 2-3 months???? I'll think on that some more...

HOLY HUMID

I think summer is officially here. The weekend started with thunderstorms, flash flood warnings and crazy lightening and is ending at about 89 degrees (but it feels like 100 with the humidity)! This could mean great hot summer nights for tomato growth, but dry caky soil! :(

What to do? Well, the rain barrel got its first run through and since it's a gravity fed system (as in, it flows from high to low) there is NO PRESSURE! So, after hitting the books (or surfing the web, whatever), I found that other home gardeners use a soaker hose snaked through the garden and let it slowly water all day. I installed that today and watched it slowly trickle out of the holes (sort of like watching paint dry, don't you think?) . If any of you are curious I can post a video of this process, but I assure you that if you sit outside and stare at your grass looking for growth it may be more action packed. No Oscars will be made on that video short!

Some lessons learned of the day: plan your layout ahead. I just sort of planted as I went and my garden is very confusing! Next year I need to work on labeling and strategery... ;)

Cheers and happy gardening!

Farmer Ran

p.s. I've spotted yellow flowers on my tomatoes -- the first sign that the fruit is blooming!

Garden Recipe 1

Well, I decided that as part of my garden project, I would post a recipe for each thing I'm growing! Reader be warned: I do not measure things so well, so use your best judgement!

Tonight's ingredient(s): Fresh Basil, Onions, Thyme and Oregano

The Mission: Delicious Meatloaf

What you'll need:

1-2 big chunks of basil leaves, thyme and oregano finely chopped

1/2 Onion (any kind you've grown) finely chopped

1 lb ground beef (chicken and turkey works well too)

Ketchup (1/4 cup or a "big squeeze")

Honey Dijon Mustard (a smaller squeeze than the ketchup)

Dried Spices (onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes) to taste -- if you like it hot, add more red pepper... really into garlic? Go crazy!

~ 1 to 1-1/2 cups Bread crumbs enough to get the loaf to a "workable" consistency

~ 1/4 cup Crunchy Fried Onions (like the ones for green bean casserole)

1 egg beaten

2 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 cup hot water

salt and pepper to taste

Optional: add 1 cup of cheddar cheese (I omitted this to cut some fat and didn't miss it!)

Mix it all up and bake in a loaf pan at 350 oF for 1 to 1-1/4 hours until done!

It's been so long since I've blogged... that I'm eating my garden!

Well, it's planted. Dread Pirate Roberts is full of delicious fruit and veggies and now I must sit back and see if my thumb is green, black, or some sort of khaki color.

Have I told you about the Crow's Nest, yet? Well, if I have not, it's AMAZING. The Crow's Nest is a local nursery full of flowers, shurbs, veggies, fruit, you name it! Not only did I buy 9 tomato plants, 4 cucumber plants, 4 cantaloupe plants and 4 watermelon plants for only $7 (yes, you read that right), but the red leaf lettuce I bought a few weeks ago that was barely a leaf has turned into a downright monster of delicousness!!! If you live in the Blacksburg or greater SW Virginia area... check them out: www.localharvest.org/farms/M7587

Apparently, I grew scallions? Who knew! I just plucked my "white onions" out of the ground because they had begun to flower (and for other novice farmers like myself: flowering = pull em out) and realized they were not large white onions, but actually large scallions! YUMMY!

Tip of the day: label what you plant! OOOPS...

Anywho, since my last planting (see above) I have added tomato cages and DPR is out of room! I think I plucked some "weeds" which were actually onions, but oh well! SUCH IS LIFE! We have soooooo many vegetables growing -- I just hope they bloom (wrong verb?) soon. I'm craving some home grown cherry tomatoes! Well, it's lettuce for now...

Cheers and Good Eating!

Happy Earth Day!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

So, I anticipated posting "later today" this weekend, but then with Greg's injury and other things, well... it didn't happen. Update on Greg's finger: no surgery needed! Yay! What an ordeal. I think it's appropriate that today is Earth Day and we can remember how Greg nearly sliced his finger off in the name of sustainability! :) (And yes... it is that finger...)

Other news on the "rain barrel" front. I recently learned that the Town of Blacksburg is trying to limit "sewer waste" from your house and will actually DEDUCT water used to water plants/gardens/cars since it does not go into the sewer system! HECK YEAH!

The garden is growing splendidly! Lettuce is blooming, onions are doing whatever they do and the carrots are starting to peek through the ground. Since Bonnie plants were buy one get one free in the completely biodegradable peat pots, I went on a pepper shopping spree! Those are doing great! BUT, I found a HUGE ant pile in the garden. What to do? I didn't want to use pesticides (kills the "organic" nature of my garden)... so I googled.

Got ants? This did the trick:

1) Boil water

2) Drown the suckers in hot boiling water

3) Immediate follow with a bath of apple cider vinegar

4) Rinse and Repeat

Tragedy and Rain Barrels

Well, we had our first casualty of war: Greg cut his finger badly working on the rain barrel. At first, I thought he was being over dramatic, but 2 hours in the ER later, we discovered that he lacerated his tendon and may need surgery! OY

Bright side? He gets to see Dr. Grey on Monday... yep, you heard me right, Dr. Grey. Let's hope it's Meredith because Little Grey has been a little annoying lately ;)

A lot has happened since the last post... lettuce, onions, garlic, and carrots have been planted and the cucumbers are going into ground later today! The compost pile has been started and the rain barrel (albeit a little bloodied in battle) has been cleaned and is almost put together!

Stay tuned for an update later today! I will have pictures and share the lessons learned on composting and barrel battle!

And so it begins...

I thought I would share some "before pictures" so you can follow along as I try to grow this garden!

Here he is... I have decided to name him "Dred Pirate Roberts" because I'll likely "kill it in the morning!" Teehee... Last August we tilled a section of our lawn (and by we -- I mean Greg -- the machine we rented was fierce and way beyond my control) and thus Dred Pirate Roberts was born. After the grass was removed, I filled the area with a mix of Miracle Gro Organic Soil and a cow manure/hummus mixture (see below). Luckily, this premade mixture does not smell like cow poop!

This weekend, I'm heading out to a local nursery called The Crow's Nest to get some seedlings! I've also planted my herbs in pots (they will take over a garden like weeds if you're not careful). The chives which spent the winter frozen started thriving without any care!!! The mint seems to be sprouting from last year's stock as well!

I've used Bonnie Plants (http://www.bonnieplants.com/) for my herbs and they grow amazingly! I swear by those seedlings and love their herb/vegetable food. Also, their website is full of great tidbits, recipes, and guides for growing delcious, hearty plants!

That's it for now!

OOOOPs... Garden Step 1 = FAIL

Whoops... apparently I was supposed to start my veggies in pots about 2 months ago. Ok, that just means I have to go with Plan B: get seedlings from a local nursery! Luckily, my boyfriend's dad will be here this weekend and he has the greenest thumb in the history of green thumbs (ok, this may be a slight overstatment, but whatever!) and he will help me get started.

In other news, it's 80 degrees and sunny here in Bleaksburg which is an amazing shift from the dreary, cold weather we've been having! I think it snowed nearly every day this winter!

Great tip of the day: plant early indoors... Lesson learned.

I got inspired by my favorite southern belle!

OK, so my favorite Charlotte BFF inspired me to write down my thoughts and keep the cyber world tuned in to the goings-on of a twenty something South Floridian living in the mountains of SW Virignia. I know what you are thinking -- what am I doing here? Well, I decided to go back to school and found myself at Virginia Tech right smack in the heart of the Appalachian mountains.

What is a suburban princess to do?!? Well, I decided that since I'm in graduate school for envirnomental engineering that I should try and live more sustainably (I know, I know, I'm rolling my eyes at the use of the "it" word of 2010 too). Anyway, for starters, I've decided to grow my own vegetable garden and install a rain barrel to boot! Stay tuned for the trials and tribulations of a suburban princess raised on restaurant food, suntan lotion, and cheerleading as I attempt to go green and become Farmer Ran! This should be interesting.

:) Randi