Day #25

The unpacking is going well… only 10 or so boxes left to go. That’s down from possibly 50 boxes? So rejoicing is in order!

Today I’ve tackled the kitchen, specifically the baking/spices areas of the pantry. M and I now own two of every conceivable spice, as  well as many random baking flours and such. We’ve run out of room so any more baking/spices items are going to stay packed!

Clearly the universe is telling me to start baking, thus making room for more baking stuff. Yay!

Our Fall Garden

I’ve learned a few lessons from gardening this summer… Apparently, summers in southern New Mexico are just too damned hot and sunny for most of the plants.

1. Potatoes won’t grow if its above 85 degrees…. shocking for a crop that notoriously grows in Ireland (and of course, down here it doesn’t go below 85 until mid-September) 
2. Tomatoes also don’t like the heat and won’t flower – now that the temps have dropped, they’re flowering like crazy and hopefully we’ll get some tomatoes before the first frost
3. My shade structure is NO MATCH for the monsoon winds that whip across the Guadalupes
4. All of our herbs prefer the shady area beneath the overhanging vines on the fence… Less sun means cooler, happier herbs
5. Apparently, starting seeds in the spring around here means January/February…
6. People who plant their gardens in the front yard are just showing off
7. Mint spreads and can eventually take over the earth….
8. Cilantro loves to be neglected and left alone… possibly an introvert plant?
9. If you plant a container garden, you MUST make sure there are holes for drainage. Things die and get stinky quick!

So far this fall I’ve planted scallions, which are coming up quickly, and broccoli, which will need some sort of cover to protect it from the evil white cutworm moth.

I’ve also been testing a few different gardening apps –

web-based Sprout It wins… It keeps track of my garden, when I plant things, when they pass a growing phase, when to harvest, and the daily weather. It only gives you garden options that “should” grow in your climate so if you’re growing something else, it won’t show up.

iphone-based Garden Tracker is ok – you make your own plots, plant whatever you want, and keep track of when you water, feed, etc. Its cool for help when something is sick or dying, but that’s about it. If it would send you reminders of what to do and when, like Sprout It, it would rule!

Summer Gardening is Ending… But Have No Fear, Fall Gardening is Underway!

The last time we talked it was the end of April (officially the beginning of the summer in the Southwest), and my garden was gearing up to survive the heat… (To Recap).

Sadly, the broccoli didn’t survive the cabbage worm infestation and the heat. Next time I’ll try a cover – maybe pantyhose cut and stretched out across the top of the contained will stop the evil cabbage moths from propagating all over my broccoli greens.

We harvested both bins of potatoes, and learned a harsh lesson. When page 173 of your Moosewood Gardening bible tells you that potatoes will not grow in temps higher than 85 degrees, it most definitely means they won’t grow in 110 degrees!

harvesting potatoes

Look at the mighty growth!

So we did get a few goods sized ones early in the summer

M marveling at our bountiful harvest   j/k

The bell pepper plant finally started to really grow, only to be knocked down by several windstorms. I’ll have to work on a windscreen for next year. (The shade structure also didn’t do well in the windstorms. shocking, i know, since it was an example of such fine craftsmanship.)

We are managing to get a few bell peppers after I enclosed the thing in a cage. Used a few last night and they were delicious!

Our two tomato plants are either getting too much water, not enough water, or both and don’t like the wild watering swings… But, we are getting a few tomatoes! Some of them had blossom-end rot. I found a DIY recipe that calls for salt… Salt! (*Epsom salt to be exact – see note at bottom…) So now our tomatoes are getting salted each week and the rot is happening less frequently.

We moved the herbs to a more sheltered location, underneath a heavily shaded shrub area. They are doing fantastic!

Thai basil that looks and smells fantastic

Rosemary and mint are doing great – the green bucket has cilantro…

seriously, i just threw cilantro seeds into the potato bin and moved it out of the way

We cannot stop growing sage! Every other week I harvest half and take it home, and when I come back… more sage!

In other parts of the backyard, the wild things are going crazy in this mild temperature monsoon season.

lantana comes back year after year and looks great!

This thing, which i honestly thought might be weed and began googling pictures of weed leaves (shout-out to NSA!), turns out to be NOT WEED. I can’t remember what it is, M can, but its NOT WEED.

wild and crazy yard

what the hell is this? internet! i need your help.

close-up of the i-have-no-idea plant.. perennial, full sun

Winnie scouts for pecans

She’s so freaking cute!

So fall planting is coming up in a month or so… Broccoli (with pantyhose covering), garlic, sweet onions, spinach, and green beans…. The garlic grows best over winter and we can harvest in spring. The spinach loves cool weather. The green beans I’m not sure about but I have seeds!

*Regarding the salting of plants to stop blossom-rot. Turns out I just found out that Epsom salt isn’t table salt… So maybe I’m killing my tomatoes with a little NaCl when I should be using MgSO4!

Will They Survive the Heat? A Garden Update

The last week of April gave us triple-digit temperatures in Carlsbad. A great way to begin the summer season… especially for the plants. The herbs are the most expressive, displaying their displeasure with the heat by wilting all the way to the ground. They spring up right after they get some water though! The rest of the garden is a bit quieter, so M and I have been watching for signs of heat stress and general displeasure.

When I got into town on Saturday afternoon, the broccoli was wilting quite a bit. Its had a rough spring fighting off cabbage worms. At this point, I’m not even sure if it’ll produce but at least its teaching us about growing broccoli. (the first pancake rule is definitely in effect here).

expressing its hatred of the heat….

much happier… if you don’t count the cabbage worm battle scars

We’ve also seen the arrival of our first few Roma tomatoes!

i can’t wait to eat you!

The cilantro that I oh-so frequently kill seems to be doing great in my absence. I’m trying not to take it personally.

The potatoes have grown so much since I last saw them. They’re almost 5 feet tall!

potato flowers have no smell….

Our newest addition, the bush beans, seem to be coming up nicely. I hope they produce! Fresh beans are fantastic!

Oh! and remember the shade cover I was trying to copy? (Gardening: an update)

Well here is my version. A little less pretty but completely useful. Although looking at the early pics of our broccoli is making me sad…. so long sweet broccoli.

The awesome shade cover, that is hopefully wind-resistant and only needs a few more layers of burlap, should totally help relieve the plants from the summer afternoon sun.

In other parts of the yard, Mother Nature is doing her own natural thing.

tiger lilies are starting to appear in random areas

another kind of lily… anyone know what it is?

teeny tiny purple and pink flowers

And that’s the garden as of Memorial Day… The herbs are chilling in the shade and the veggies are growing! Can’t wait to harvest some yumminess.

Gardening: an update

So we’ve been gardening for about 2 months now and things are finally starting to happen! Our garden isn’t as awesome as my dad’s but he’s been doing this for at least 30 years. Plus he uses chemical fertilizer. I’m trying to NOT do that, but we shall see.

We wanted to get a shade structure… something that we could remove when necessary. Lowe’s sells them but they are way above our budget so we searched for a DIY way.

The inspiration…

Making our own shade structure – pvc pipe, pcv pipe corners, pvc pipe glue, quick ties, and burlap.

Lennox inspected; Lennox approved

M getting the frame together

Burlap across top to allow sun to come in, but reflect some heat

It was too windy outside to get a good completed shot so you’ll have to wait until we actually use it. Its for the dog-days of summer, which in southern New Mexico come in May… so you won’t have to wait too long.

As for the garden itself….

We bought tomato plants, and I installed a special DIY watering system Old coke bottles so that we can water the roots without the evaporation. They seem to like it….

The broccoli is going crazy.

Someone among us LOVES the broccoli.

We have potatoes!!!

The herbs are doing great, and they taste fantastic

M cleaned out the boys’ room and I got a storage area!

The pomegranates are blossoming. These are great for birds. Keeps their mind off my garden.

The lavender out front is kinda the same. I’m worried that they aren’t growing. They are flowering like crazy though! Every time I rip a flower off, they put another one out.

Soon I’ll be sowing sage and green beans. And in the fall we’ll try another round of spinach and kale.

Oh! and I haven’t killed my cilantro yet! WooHoo!

Gardening… in pictures

Seeds!

Spinach and Kale getting ready to go

my gardening help…. an eager Lennox, while a reluctant Chicory hides in the shade

Planting in containers

Best gardening book ever! and I found it in a random used bookstore. Fate!

Meanwhile, in Carlsbad –

Lavender for the front bed

Cutting off awesome blossoms makes the plant healthier – we hope.

Let’s hope these guys grow big and awesome

red potatoes bought in Albertsons and planted in the backyard

the beginnings of broccoli

the family farm… and Lennox. Potatoes in the bins on the left, broccoli behind the chiminea, cilantro in front chilling with herbs bought to provide instant gratification.

drilling drain holes in bins. guess they aren’t all the same size. Oops!

Winnie wants to help too

to be continued….

Continuing the Green Christmas, a Tradition in the Making

This year’s Christmas was in two parts…. part one was December in Carlsbad where I got to meet M’s family and spend the holiday with them. I wrapped most of my presents in plain recycled paper or in reusable gift bags. Since I was with a new family that may or may not get my “green Christmas” style, I chose to keep it pretty tame.

The second Christmas was this last week in Houston, where M got to meet my family. Again, my presents were wrapped in reusable bags, but a few were wrapped last minute in regular wrapping paper. My mom, however, went all out. The following are images of the cool stuff she created. Kudos to her ingenuity!

Wrapped in old state road maps…. I would have NEVER thought of this. Awesome! Also note the ribbon…. VHS tape makes awesome ribbon.

2 gifts were wrapped in kitchen dishtowels. I love dish towels for daily use instead of paper napkins. This is a gift wrapped within another gift. Tied with old stretched-out hair ties.

all those sales circulars that you can’t opt out of come in handy when wrapping – especially if you make the wrapping a hint… I got yoga pants out of this box. 🙂 Also, note more VHS ribbon.

Cute and applicable cartoon used as nametag

awesome VHS ribbon bow

I did do one last-minute green wrapping job…

for those awkward or large presents…. a big black trashbag and reusable bow. We used the bag to collect trash later that day.

Happy 2013!!!! For previous Green Christmas entries….
I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas, part 1

I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas, part 2

Christmas, Green-Style

8 Superbly Easy Ways to Go Green… in Case You Weren’t Already

So “green” has been around for more than a decade now. I really think there is no excuse for not developing your environmental ethics. (um, before we go further, let’s address the fact that I drive an SUV. Yes, I do drive an SUV. I also spent 7 years walking to work every day, carpooling to town/trailheads on weekends, plus I’m a park ranger. It doesn’t get any greener than that.)

Let us begin…

1. Solar Mio The sun is free… until some capitalist pig figures out how to charge you for it. It’ll happen…

So I don’t ski… but I did share my free solar juice with an Incan shaman who only spoke Quechua but had an iPod. Small world….

This is a most awesome device. A portable solar panel that is lightweight enough to strap to my backpack as I trekked across the Inca Trail. I needed some power for my iPod and this was the perfect thing! Its also the perfect thing to keep a GPS juiced up all day in the desert as you hike along. I figure if I’m living in “Sun City” I may as well take advantage of all the free power.

2. The Solar Mio is awesome and lightweight but wouldn’t charge my smartphone. So my dad presented me with the Fuse from Voltaic. This solar charger doesn’t fuck around. It can charge my iPhone, GPS, iPod, some can even charge my computer (with an adapter). Its kinda large so I wouldn’t take it backpacking, but it does travel with me frequently on car camping trips.

Let the sun shine…

Both solar chargers are permanently set out on my porch so they are always ready to go.

3. Another awesome thing about living in the desert besides free sun? Free laundry drying! As long as there isn’t a dust storm, a clothes drying rack is the way to go for laundry day.

Not only can you buy one at almost any grocery or big box store, but they are cheap! In El Paso’s arid environment, I can have dry clothes (unshrunk) in an hour. There’s no electricity cost and no heat build-up that my air conditioner needs to fight against. Perfect!

If you don’t wanna buy one, get creative. I once strung climbing rope between two trees in the backyard – using what I had on hand.

4. Freecycle…. you’ve heard of Craigslist and you’ve heard of recycling. Freecycle is the bad-ass bastard child of the two! People post their random crap (and non-crap) that they want to get rid of. Someone else reads that post and says “Hey! I could use that crap!” and off they go. I’ve given away christmas decorations and cds. I’ve gotten old VHS tapes and those big glass pickle jars.

Basically if you have a pile of buttons, wine corks, or carpet pieces – someone wants those. Its better than it ending up in the trash. You can find some seriously good stuff. Lots of freecycling baby clothes, unopened cans of food, furniture, etc. It rocks and you will rock if you sign up.

5. Yard sales, tag sales, garage sales…. call it what you want, I call it cheap and recycling! I’ve sold lots of stuff at these sales and I think all of my clothes as a baby and child came from someone’s yard sale in Galveston.. Go mom!

6. Thrift stores – corporate garage sales. They rock and you can find the most amazing stuff at them. Instead of sporting that shirt that everyone can buy at their local Target or Neiman Marcus, go for a truly one-of-a-kind item. After all, you are one-of-a-kind!

7. Eat less meat and animal products. Seriously. The factory farming of animals not only uses up food crops that we could be eating but it also uses petroleum products in the shipping and maintaining of all of these animals… millions of tons of animals are shipped each week. (Suddenly my SUV isn’t so bad, now is it?) I won’t even mention cow farts and methane gas….

8. Grow your own food. Gardening is great for your health, your stress levels, your wallet, and the environment. Start with something small, like a windowsill Chia Herb Garden. My mom had one of these and they grew easily and abundantly.

Now, dear internet, its your turn. I want to hear about your easy, cheap, or DIY green ideas and actions. We can all learn from each other.

Green Ethics; Black Thumbs – Part 2

A few months back I wrote a post about my adventures in patio gardening… This is an update on all of the seedlings that I so hopefully sowed.

 

The clothespin tells me what is planted in each pot. Helps me know what died before it sprouted.

I started seeing my seedlings from the second round of seeds almost a month after planting. They spent some time in my living room each day in June. (June in El Paso is the HOTTEST, DRIEST month ever!) You can see a few sticking up (the light spots on the dirt) and a leftover seedling from the previous round ( yellow pot with sad looking plant). I figured I had planted too deeply so I carefully exposed a lot of the tiny leaves from beneath the soil.

From the previous round of seeds, the one to survive, and even thrive, was my lovely Genovese Basil. Packed with spicy flavor and prolific! This plant has supplied me with basily-goodness for several months. Upon my discovery of Vegenaise (YUMMMY!), I began eating tomato-avocado-basil sandwiches weekly. This basil served me well during the hot hot months of summer.

Green!

Ahhh, morning coffee with the plants

I spent a few lovely, non-hot mornings sitting on the porch, soaking in my green patio. The basil is doing great, the lemon tree is photo-bombing from the left, and the basil seedlings are sprouting. I placed them close to the larger successful basil to give them something to aspire to. 🙂

The aspiration technique seemed to be working. For several months in the heat of summer, these guys grew and grew.

This yellow pot basil was one of the ones that I had to uncover. It seemed so very grateful and as soon as it got some sun, it grew like crazy!

Here it is only a week later, nestled in with some cilantro. We know my history with cilantro but I never seem to learn. Never Give Up! I stacked the pots because my patio is small but it also served to help retain moisture and made it easier to move everything around to follow the sun.

The little sage plants never did come up. Sage definitely doesn’t like the heat. They seemed to wilt beneath the surface. I think I’m still watering them in hopes of a random fall growth spurt.

So to recount – cilantro dies, sage doesn’t like heat, Genovese Basil is the shit and grows well, and the lemon tree is hanging in there.

The sad news is that last week we had a wind storm that knocked over my table, breaking my pretty yellow pots in the process. I was able to transplant the basils and they are possibly rallying. I guess their condition should be listed as “stable”. The big awesome basil has reached its peak and is now winding down. The base of the stems are browning but new little leaves are still appearing. I’m not sure how much longer that guy will be around.

I’m thinking of fall crops now… spinach, more basil, more sage, possibly cilantro (see, I’ll never learn) Any other ideas?

Also, its that time of the year when the hummingbirds are starting to fly by again. I need to get my feeder out and attract these great little guys. I so miss the hummingbirds that were a part of every morning in the Sonoran Desert. Maybe what I need is an ocotillo? They love those.

I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas; part 2

In my last post I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas; part 1, we learned about ways to decorate your home for the holidays without spending tons of money on decorations and contributing to over-consumption.  Instead you can make your own decorations with things you already have around the house or can find on the cheap.  I find that DIY decorations make the item mean that much more to me.  Anyone can go out and purchase cookie-cutter crap that looks like everyone else’s cookie-cutter crap.  (How many houses on a block can have that damn blow-up snowman!  My father used to make ALL our yard decorations from his own blood, sweat and imagination.  That’s probably where I get my DIY-ness.)

Homemade and more fun!

Thanks for the DIY genes Dad! ps, I don’t want to talk about that dress!  It was my mother’s doing.

Anyway, I digress… on to today’s post – green gifts and gift wrapping.  The best ways to have an environmentally-friendly holiday season is to make your own gifts or buy them locally, and I don’t mean at your local Walmart!  First off, if you need inspiration for why you should buy local, check my chica’s blog poco sobre mi vida.

Now I’m not perfect, some of my gifts did in fact come from chain stores but in my town, chain stores are almost all that exist.  So even though I had to shop at those big stores, I tried to choose gifts that would promote greener lifestyles or at least not hurt the environment (read: no gift certificates to drive thru coffee shops that dispense disposable paper and plastic constantly).  I just realized how hard this post will be to write without spoiling the giftees!  I will persevere!  For the kiddos, I got items that don’t require electricity and aren’t going to generate trash.  In fact, I’m the aunt that gives thrift-store clothing and educational toys.  (They’re gonna hate me when they’re adolescents and only want commercial goods.)  For the adults in my life, some are getting items that would replace disposable items that they use on a regular basis and some are getting vegan baked goods from my very own kitchen!

If I had at all planned ahead this holiday season, I would be gifting personally crocheted blankets and hats…  Maybe next year?  Maybe even some DIY decorations as gifts?  That would be doubly awesome!  Green gift-giving doesn’t mean that the gifts need to be necessity items that they’d buy themselves.  You can be creative and get them something green that they never knew they wanted…  like the year I got my dad bat guano for his garden from a local cave who gave all proceeds of guano sales back to Bat Conservation International.  Yes internet, I gave my dad shit for Christmas!  And he loved it!  Got my mother earrings made from Scrabble tiles with her initials on them.  She loves Scrabble and earrings, and I guess her initials so that was a cute gift too.  See what I’m saying, think outside the box!

I myself have gotten lots of homemade gifts.  See how stoked I am with my new homemade knit hat in this video!?

So now on to green wrapping.  This is where the creativity and fun really come together!  The first thing to do when getting ready to wrap presents, no matter how you choose to wrap them, is to turn on Pandora and chill out to jazzy Christmas music.  See that?  You just did something green – NOT buying those holiday cds and wasting all that paper and plastic.  Plus, um did I mention Pandora is FREE?  Freakin’ sweet!

Now I frequently wrap presents in newspaper.  I don’t subscribe to a paper (too much paper!) but I do get those damn sales circulars so I save those around gift time and start wrapping.  I chose not to buy wrapping paper because its so unbelievably frivolous.  To buy paper that will just be pulled off in a few short days?  Ridiculous, even if you recycle that paper, ridiculous! There is enough paper in your home, use that and leave your pocket and the environment better for it.

In complete honesty, this is not my photo.  I got it from the blog C.R.A.F.T.

I also frequently use recycled cardboard boxes, cereal boxes are a favorite of mine.  I use recycled boxes for everything from wrapping gifts, mailing items, and for organizational stuff around the house….

Canned goods container made from soda can box. Now I have more room in my pantry!

This Christmas I plan to use recycled boxes and home made gift decorations, or better yet, wrap gifts inside little reusable bags, like Chico bags or Baggu or something similar.  That way the wrapping is green and its the gift that keeps giving.  (One of my biggest pet peeves is plastic grocery bags.)

For more wrapping ideas, check these blogs and sites…

C.R.A.F.T for lots of ideas
DIY Gift Wrap for alternatives to paper
Apartment Therapy always has great ideas!
So do their partners, Re-Nest!

To make this recycled bag wrapping, click here for instructions.  This is the best way I’ve seen to fix your environmental karma after shopping at a big box store.

Happy wrapping, ya’ll, and Happy Holidays!  See ya next year!