Posted by Dawn-Ann on April 4, 2009
Shishkebabs grilling at a family BBQ last summer. MMMmmm... Can't wait!
Okay, let me say at the outset that I will probably never become a vegetarian. I love seafood too much, juicy chicken breasts occasionally, and I absolutely HAVE to have red meat (often in the form of an A&W Teenburger) now and then.
But we have cut down on our meat consumption here at the Turner/Kirkpatrick household. We do a “meatless” meal fairly regularly, but with no real intent for a pattern. After reading the following article by Kathy Freston, I think maybe it’s time we consciously strive for one or two meatless meals a week.
Did you know that if everyone in the U.S. went vegetarian for just one day it would free up 70 million gallons of gasoline – enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined? Skipping one chicken meal per week would reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as much as taking half a million cars off U.S. roads! Incredible, isn’t it?
Read the rest of Kathy’s article here.
Posted by Dawn-Ann on March 13, 2009
This excellent article definitely fits into the Urban Homesteading category. It debates the pros and cons of so-called organic foods and the “local diet” concept, which may actually be leaving a bigger carbon footprint than we believe. Now, this is hard for me to admit, being a bit of a free-spirited, Birkenstock-wearing organics buyer myself, but I also enjoy an interesting debate.
According to Paul Roberts, “a pound of conventional grain-fed beef requires nearly a gallon of fuel and 5,169 gallons of water.” Maybe we’d do more good for the world we live in by cutting back on meat, even if it’s just a meatless meal once a week. All the more reason to grow your own foods, too. Read Spoiled: Organic and Local is SO 2008 here.
And while you’re reading, check out this neat website: Your Backyard Farmer.
Posted by Dawn-Ann on February 1, 2009
Although winters in Canada are characteristically long, here in Calgary we have milder ones than most other areas besides the left coast. Still, it’s nice to see the first hints of spring appearing, even though we likely have several more weeks of cold.
This morning my heart was warmed by the sight of a flock of little sparrows playing and scavenging for food in the back yard. While it’s true sparrows don’t go anywhere in the winter, you rarely see them all flocked together like this in the dead of winter, so I was tickled.
Little sparrows on the back walk
Posted by Dawn-Ann on November 14, 2008
A friend of mine wrote an interesting blog post about an exciting new technological trend of the future – electricity. Free (or nearly free) electricity, that is. I’ve read and thought about the endless possibilities before, but today I realized that not everyone has awakened to this concept. So let me elaborate.
I believe free energy is going to be what levels the playing field for us all.
Imagine if we had no more electricity or gas bills. Ever. I don’t know what you’re paying, but that’d be an extra $400 per month for me. Four hundred dollars that I could do other, more worthwhile things with. Why, that’s $4800 per year! I could get that laser eye surgery I’ve been thinking about. I could pay off my credit card. I could give more to my favourite charities – you name it.
And for folks in developing countries – imagine. If they could cook a meal without having to breathe toxic fumes from burning cow dung; or could stay up past dark to read or study; or power a water pump or power tools or whatever… Don’t you think THAT would change the future for millions of people in Africa and India and South America? The possibilities are endless.
Most folks haven’t caught on to this yet, but here is one innovative company that is on the cutting edge. I have been watching these guys for a couple of years now (mostly wishing they would HURRY UP and bring their product to market). They have invented a remarkable generator that runs perpetually, using the natural attraction/repulsion of magnets. They’re called Lutec and as soon as they start selling, I plan to be one of their first buyers. I’ll pop one of these babies into our garage, hook it up, and the rest will be history.
Hubby will be relieved when I quit nagging about leaving the lights on…
Posted by Dawn-Ann on November 1, 2008
Today's gorgeous blue sky
It’s fall here in Calgary, but oh what a glorious one! It’s a balmy, sunny 16 degrees celsius (60F) today and I was amazed to find I still have pansies and honeysuckle blooming in my flowerbeds! Here are a few pictures I took today.
Optimistic pansies
Waiting for winter
Posted by Dawn-Ann on October 14, 2008
So, besides compost, what can you do to add nutrients to your soil without using toxic commercial fertilizers? I started thinking about this when my very first crop of zucchinis started rotting on the tips. I looked it up on the Internet and learned that “blossom end rot” was caused by insufficient calcium in the soil. So you know what I did? I crushed up a bunch of egg shells and sprinkled them around under my zucchini plants. Voila! It worked – and it worked FAST. Almost immediately my zucchinis started perking up and I’ve never had blossom end rot since.
So I’ve started adding the occasional thing to my garden bed instead of (or in addition to) the compost, working it directly into the soil. Besides the egg shells, we’ve tried peanut shells (they do NOT break down – years later we still have whole and intact peanut shells showing up all over the place), leftover veggies, last season’s carrot tops, and various other things.
From Carla Emery’s Encyclopedia of Country Living, here is an interesting safe fertilization method, which the contributor says works best if you add in the spring, working it into your soil:
“Each 100 square feet needs a cup of ground-up alfalfa (smashed rabbit pellets will do), 2 lb. bonemeal, 10 lb. rock phosphate, 25 lb. greensand, 2 lb. granit dust, and 10 lb. wood ashes. If none of these are available, just add a commercial fertilizer and/or compost. The garden needs 3 inches or more of compost each year. That’s why serious gardeners also have rabbits or goats. Compost has been called ‘black gold’: well worth digging for!”
Carla’s book also speaks of using coffee grounds in your garden to prevent cutworms, and earthworms love them! I’d want to be careful to use organic coffee grounds, though, as regular ones may be adding harmful pesticides to your soil. I dunno – better safe than sorry, though I know there’s a point where you can take your caution a little too far. Does the good of having fertile soil outweigh the risk of some stray chemicals? But I digress…
I have also heard of compost tea, which I’ve been meaning to try for some time. Wikipedia says it is made by “steeping compost in water for a variable period up to 5-days, then applying the liquid un-diluted as a spray to non-edible plant parts, or as a soil-drench (root dip), such as to seedlings, or as a surface spray to reduce incidence of harmful phytopathogenic fungi in the phyllosphere.” More on that here.
I have a feeling I’m going to be spending much of my cold winter nights reading Carla Emery’s book and scheming for next year’s gardens.
Fall colours
Posted by Dawn-Ann on October 13, 2008
Got my carrots in today. I got far more than usual for my little garden, so I have a feeling I’m going to have to give a lot of them away. I don’t think they’ll keep terribly long in my fridge and I don’t want to freeze them again. (I tried that a few years ago and they turned out all soggy and limp.)
They're the sweetest, juiciest little carrots. I'm going to give some to Kim and Robb, as they have a juicer.
Posted by Dawn-Ann on September 21, 2008
Apparently, the whole three weeks we were in Scotland, not a drop of rain fell on our garden. As a result, it was in pretty sad shape when we returned – especially the poor tomatoes. Still, when I went out yesterday to start bringing it in, I was tickled with the results. I still have some carrots and zucchini out there, but the rest has been brought in. I wasn’t expecting a pail and a half of potatoes in such a little garden!
Potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and zucchini - part of my fall harvest
Posted by Dawn-Ann on September 14, 2008
Now here’s a nifty idea! If you don’t have ground area to spread your garden out on, why not build it UP? The Vertical Farm proposes just that. And for those of us who are “urban” farmers, I’m sure we could modify the idea to suit our back yards. I’m already scheming…
Posted by Dawn-Ann on July 29, 2008
There’s something kind of satisfying about putting scraps and cuttings and things into a bin, adding water and time, and pulling fresh, sweet-smelling dirt out of it. Contrary to popular belief, if done properly a compost bin is not germ-infested (except for maybe some good bacteria), nor is it smelly.
Here are some general rules of composting:
- Use vegetable scraps and weeds, garden cuttings, etc., only. No meat and oily things, as they will attract vermin. No animal waste. It’s true that horse and rabbit manure can be “aged” into a really nice compost, but they don’t belong in a city compost bin.
- Cut big things, like large plants, into small pieces to hasten the process and make it easier to mix in.
- Waste paper can be added in moderation. You don’t want to add too much of it and you will want to shred it before you add it, then mix it in well.
- Water regularly. Your compost won’t “work” properly if it dries out. The material just won’t decompose as well.
- Turn it occasionally, mixing the newer stuff into the older stuff.
- When pulling out your fresh dirt, pull it from the bottom where it is aged more. If it’s done right, the dirt will be black and sweet.
It’s really just as easy as that. If I can do it, anyone can! But if you would like more detailed information, the Composting Council of Canada has some good articles on their site.
Here is what happens if you don’t cut up your bigger junk when you throw it into the composter. I had a little volunteer potato sprout right out of the side! I’m going to water it and let it grow and see what happens, just out of curiosity.
