Horrifyingly Entertaining

Garden in August

Gardening With Altitude

Green Tomatoes

We've had quite a learning curve this year, gardening at a higher altitude. Moving up 1200 feet has a dramatic effect on the garden. We expected a shorter growing season. What we didn't expect is that we need more space...our beans and squash are not as productive at this altitude (3500') so that we need to plant twice or three times as many plants to harvest the amount of garden produce that we are used to. We are also moving to a four-season gardening plan. This is still extremely experimental, and I have already discovered that my cabbage is too loose, it won't store over the winter .My "heads" are open instead of forming a ball. I followed standard gardening protocol for cabbage...next year I will plant cabbage in August instead of late July.

This has been an unusual year for tomatoes all across the United States. The Eastern states have tomato blight, the western states have had cooler evening temperature and slow ripening tomatoes.
I've been grateful for the cool night temperatures as I've had better sleep this summer than in many years. As "off-grids" we eschew air conditioning; the temperature is what it is. However, my tomatoes are still mostly green.

I've read that green tomatoes can be harvested and layered in boxes with sheets of newspaper between them. Then, pull tomatoes out as the ripen, discarding any rotten tomatoes. I'm thinking that this will work better with some varieties than with others. I'm going to give it a try if my tomatoes haven't ripened by fall. In the meantime I'm mentally debating about purchasing canning tomatoes. I prefer my tomato sauce over anything store-bought.

I'm hoping that as I seed-save I will develop varieties of vegetables which are adapted to our altitude. Not that seed saving is easy; it means choosing one type of plant to plant, and keeping that variety far away from anything that it might cross breed with. I'm thinking that I might get that aspect down pat in another decade or so.

This is the "push" time for the fall planting season. The problem is space, as my tomatoes aren't finished yet. My beans are slowing down, though, so I do plan to yank them next week. I pulled out the summer broccoli yesterday and I'll probably use that space for garlic. Gardening at this altitude is definitely a new challenge.

Canned Chicken

I have now successfully (well, we'll know for sure if I'm not dead from botulism this time next year) canned chicken. Now, the first comment running through your mind might well be..."Why would anyone want to do that?" The simple answer is, ninety-nine cents. That's the price per pound that chicken can be found for in the summer.

The complicated answer is that I've been watching the economic news carefully...it's a bizarre hobby of mine. I have to torture myself by understanding the latest economic news and the national and international currents that drive them. And, for those of you who are not masochistic enough to torture yourself over mass manipulations of our money supply, the simple news is that we are in deep sh*t.

This is not a recession, we are in year one of a depression. And thanks to the non-stop printing of money we will have the added bonus of a year of hyperinflation. Just to make it interesting. Naw, not really; just to monetize the debt and forever P.O . China. Our grandchildren may one day fight a war over this, China does not forget or forgive.

So why would a person want to go through the insanely laborious task of canning meat when it's readily available in the supermarket fresh? Or frozen? Or, duh, already canned? Because what is available today won't necessarily be available tomorrow, at least at this price. Because my freezer is full of frozen green beans. Because I don't like the texture or flavor of commercially canned chicken. They don't mix salsa in with it before they can. Or onion and bay leaves. Or garlic and green peppers.

I'm expecting grain prices to go through the roof. Drought conditions in much of the world have reduced the global grain supply. Many countries such as Great Britain
and Egypt, among others, are bracing themselves for shortages. Meat animals of every kind eat a lot of grain. So, prices are going to go up for both grains and meat. Not a problem here in the rich United States? Our wealth is a facade, the reality underneath is hollowed out and stagnant.

The U.S. Has No Remaining Grain Reserves
The nation has enough grain left to give each American half a loaf of bread in an emergency. As the old adage goes, half a loaf is better than one. But I prefer my bread with butter and Jam. So I'm more than a little nervous about the situation.

I grow a large garden, and I know many people with small gardens who are confident that they can grow enough to feed their families. I've done some research on that, and these people are dreaming. They are completely unrealistic about how much they eat. My active husband has very little body fat; DH Matt eats 3500 calories a day, compared to my 2400. Not that he counts his calories, but as a less active woman with a slow metabolism I am a habitual calorie counter. I'm also the person who watches others eat desserts and ice cream but doesn't participate. So, lets do the math on his 3500 calories. That would be 1,277,500 for the year. Combined with my 876,000...add in a skinny teenager with hollow legs and a bottomless appetite at another 3500 calories a day, that will be 3,431,000 calories a year. Three and a half million calories, just for our slender family of three people for one year. I'm canning more chicken.

Jewelweed for Poison Ivy

Jewelweed, Impatiens capensis, is an annual plant used to treat skin rashes. Like Poison Oak or Ivy. I thought to myself, "Why not plant some in the garden?" These are orange flowers with dark red dots, also called "Spotted touch-Me-Nots". The seeds will 'pop' when touched , that is where the name Touch-Me-Nots came from. I love folklore plant names, don't you? The flowers bloom from May through October. Hmm, skin rash treatment, pretty plant, long bloom time...BONUS! I love dual natured garden plants, beautiful and edible or medicinal.

Here's a post from "Gardenweb" which describes how they use it;
"for the infused oil use a 1/3 c of dried plant material , put it in a mason jar or something like that. anyway, add enough good quality olive oil to fully cover the plant material. Then check the jar after several hours to see if the herb has absorbed all the oil. if all the oil has been absorbed add another inch or so. then cover the jar with an unbleached coffee filter and secure it with a rubberband. let the oil infuse in a window sill for 10 days. then strain the plant material and compost it."

Other sites say that some people have adverse reactions to jewelweed in oil. They recommend brewing the leaves and stems as a tea and putting it in bath water...do not drink the tea, this is an externally used herb.

I found my seeds at the same French site that I ordered from in the previous post, for the sake of convenience. I'm certain that these seeds could be found locally, although I did check three garden supply shops without finding it. I was impatient for impatiens so I shopped online. I do try to purchase locally when possible.

Perennial Broccoli

I am truly excited, I have located a perennial broccoli from England. "Brassica oleracea Broccoli Nine Star Perennial" is a hardy over-wintering frost tolerant (to zone 0) creamy white broccoli which will produce for 2- years if you don't let it go to seed. Perfect for this Want-To-Be-Lazy-Gardener. Looks more like cauliflower, doesn't it? The heads bloom May through June. I found seeds at b-and-t-world-seeds, a French company.
I didn't find these seeds in the USA after a thorough search and although U.K. sites sold the seeds they were out of stock. My seeds are back-ordered for eight weeks. I also found sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) at their site and ordered them. This is ironic, because these are native to the North American continent but I hadn't been able to find them sold in the USA. I'm sure they're out there. Sunchokes taste delicious, but as they are a natural source of inulin (sugar similar to fructose) it takes a certain amount of intestinal fortitude to eat them. You could possibly power a car from the gas produced; my personal limit is one sunchoke.

Straw is the new gold

DH Matt was working on the septic system today...which from my point of view always looks just like a bunch of trenches. I eyed the pile of rock sitting there. He wheeled his loader up...clouds of dust roiled the air, and I hastily made the universal sign for "Stop!". He said that he was extremely pleased with how fast things were going. At this rate he's be ready for straw on Monday. My ears pricked up. "Straw?" I asked, trying to sound casual. "Yes", DH Matt replied, it goes in the trenches over the rock." I thought about what he'd said...straw...not sand, not hay, but straw. "How much straw?", I asked, gazing casually up at the sky. He grinned, "Enough for some for you". "Goody!", I said, "How did you know?" He tapped the side of his head. "It must be the gray matter. You always want straw." I looked down at my desert military boots (a girl's gotta kick it when she gardens) and then at my straw covered slacks. I'd been mulching the garden. "Yes, I guess I do. It's because I spin straw into gold."

I'm a firm believer that time in the garden should be spent harvesting. Or, failing that, planting...or staring off into space listening to the birds and the wind. My mother despised gardening. She reluctantly grew a few tomato and cucumber plants because my father loved them. Marigolds because she liked to put them in vases on the dinner table. And she used child labor to weed. My early memories of gardening are less than pleasant, as my mother was really quite good at making it a despised chore.

I don't weed. Okay, I'll pull a sticker plant now and again, because they make great compost. But, for the most part instead of weeding I "compost in place". To the untrained eye, my garden looks like a field of clover growing some vegetables, or tomatoes poking through mounds of straw. The clover gets covered with straw, manure, and again straw in the fall. The tomatoes when finished are folded down into their bed of straw, manured, and then again straw. The end result is no weeds and beautiful rich soil...gardener's gold.

Mandatory Vaccinations

Hmm. News today is full of helpful vaccination information regarding H1N1. Pity it's not as informative or helpful as it might be. A little digging online reveals that this vaccine is untested. And that liability has been waived for this vaccine by our government. And that Obama wishes this inoculation to be mandatory. Without religious or other exemptions. And that the vaccine contains dangerous agents such as mercury, squalene, and formaldehyde. And potentially live virus particles. And, finally, that this vaccine will probably be ineffective, as the virus will mutate. More info

We're Guinea Pigs? We will be given no choice and no constitutional rights in this matter? Gosh, I was still under the impression that I was a free American. I now know better. So which is the BS, the indoctrination I received in grade school or the stuff they're pumping out now? This somehow reminds me of the corporations breaking of the social contract in the 1980's. You know, the one where they told employees that the company was "family" and that the workers should show loyalty and devotion to the corporation in the form of excessive unpaid hours and time not spent with their flesh and blood. Only to hose and flush these same employees in the new era of "downsizing". These same companies now complain about employee lack of loyalty. I think the USA will also find that once the social contract is broken there is no going back. They will have clear eyed cynics constantly questioning Fascist policies and the days of "America Right or Wrong" will be considered laughable.

A program has begun in New Jersey State with mandatory inoculation of the babies through pre-school age children. This seems to me to be a test case. These are young parents who are already used to the concept that vaccination of their children equals good parenting. They need the day care/pre-school enrollment so that they can work to pay mortgages and bills. I'm pretty sure I read a couple of years ago that this area has the highest compliance rate nationwide on vaccination of pre-school children. I've also seen online that this vaccine doesn't have the same "adjuvants" as the mass vaccine will contain. I'm personally not certain, but isn't an "adjuvant" the squalene (used to sterilize farm animals), mercury, and formaldehyde? Cynically I wonder if this is supposed to prove that the vaccine is "safe". And to perhaps test the protest/resistance rate.

On to other breaking news; Greece has declared mandatory vaccinations for their population of 12 million with NO EXCEPTIONS. Here's the link:

this link is worth looking at because it gives us some insight as to how a country is implementing the vaccination program.

Okay, this is a country which has serious budget issues, as does any country which has to import both fuel and food. How are they paying for this? And why? They're on their 4th serious case, I don't think anyone has died.
How are they going to manage the tourists? The latest visa site, updated daily, has only recommendations for an influenza shot when traveling April-November. Huh? What am I missing? This is like Egypt killing pigs. Is it panic, or are they secretly guaranteed World Bank funding if they go with this program? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I much prefer the simplicity of greed and stupidity as root causes vs an actual nefarious plan such as we see in the movies. Is Greece in a blind pig panic?

I am frankly organizing my Mother's group to be proactive on this issue. We're working as a group to get medical waivers for our families. We're also preparing for quarantine if that is the only
way to sidestep this nightmare freight train. I'm open to other constructive suggestions regarding resisting vaccinations. Apparently, resisting may make us "felons".

Sunday Morning

I pulled DS out of bed at 7am this Sunday morning, so that we could go harvest and fertilize at the garden, 30 minutes drive away. As we went into the fresh new day I was attempting to recall the last time he rose at 7am. I believe it was for a December vacation last year, when we had to catch a flight. This home schooled kid rises every day at the crack of 9am to begin his arduous day's labor. He is spending hours each day finishing up a college math course on his summer break, so I suppose it all evens out in the end.

We enjoyed the fresh new morning; it was cool enough that we saw people wearing light jackets. We made it in past the Lake before most of the Boat People crowded the narrow road. It can be harrowing getting past a boat trailer coming the other way, as the yellow line down the middle is taken as rather a mild suggestion by the boat drivers. I saw someone water skiing on the lake, and commented to DS , that this must be a chilly activity at this hour.

We spent a dirty few hours harvesting, weeding, and watering. I'm frowning at the garden. I have multitudes of green tomatoes but only a few ripening. The ripening tomatoes are all down at the bottom, close to the ground, which tells the story. I'm also still harvesting Broccoli in August, enough to make it the centerpiece of the evening's dinner. Lettuce also. These are cool weather crops which aren't usually producing now. The winter squash is being lackadaisical, loafing along eating up fertilizer (organic only) and not producing fruit. It's clear that the issue is night temperatures in the high 50's. The ground holds the days heat, which is considerable at 95 degrees. This is why the tomatoes at ground level can ripen.

I 'm not certain what to do about this situation. Our last garden was a thousand feet lower in elevation, and we were pulling so many tomatoes out by now that harvesting took hours. If we were already living on site (the house is on schedule and under budget, thanks for asking) then I would cover the vines with clear plastic at night and rush out in the morning to pull it off before I cooked the tomatoes. As it is, I know that when we hit the August doldrums then the tomatoes will ripen. This is a horrible annual event where no one sleeps for a week as the temperatures exceed 100 during the day and it doesn't cool at night. At least when it occurs this year I'll know that it serves my purpose.

DS cheerfully working in the garden. He had a great morning. We all went to see the latest Harry Potter movie when the weather warmed up at noon. DH Matt finished the plumbing and the water lines. He's ready for an inspection tomorow. All in all, a terrific Sunday.