Bees and Peas

Spring is hectic for anyone growing food, and Adventure Farm is no exception. Every evening I find myself rushing home from work to take advantage of the lengthening days to prepare beds, plant, and weed. On top of the “normal” spring chores, we are getting bees this month. So, while Guy was out working with kids on a challenge course this past weekend, I was at home trying to assemble a beehive for the first time.

Notice the pile of pieces and the sheets of paper, the only instructions,  at the end of the glider...not a whole lot of help included.

Viewing the task laid out before me reminded me a lot of a box of Lincoln logs, all these wood pieces, some small and some large. Also, I’m pretty sure the instructions were written for seasoned beekeepers, they seemed more like reminders than real instructions. Despite the feeling of defeat when I saw the amount of pieces,  somehow I managed to assemble and paint the hive.

For those of you who are already beekeepers, I know I have my boxes stacked incorrectly.  Too bad the beekeepers don't get the big boxes :)  So, for those who don't know, the big boxes are hive bodies where the bees raise their brood and store honey that will keep them alive over the winter.  Once the two large hive bodies are filled, the beekeeper can add the "supers" to the top and harvest the honey collected in these boxes. The beekeeper needs to leave the honey in the bottom two boxes so the bees have a chance to survive the winter. 

At the end of the day I was left with a pile of small pieces of wood and nails with not a clue as to how to arrange the frames where the bees will build their combs. Even with the Internet, I was a little lost. Fortunately, I know a few beekeepers and was able to get some help yesterday from one of them. 

Now I just need to assemble 40 of these. The bees arrive April 30, and I think I'm close to being ready.  I wanted to get the gluing and painting done early so it would have time to season. The only gluing and painting required were the exterior pieces, which I have finished. Overall, I think I did okay with my body assembly. There are a few blunders, but only the bees and I will know, and I’m pretty certain the bees won’t even notice. 

Cool Trellis Material

Another exciting new addition for the garden is cattle panels that I am cutting and using for trellises. This weekend I finally got my peas in the ground and installed my first section of a cattle panel that I picked up last month.  

This stuff is so awesome. It's sturdy and  made of galvanized wire rods so they hold up a long time without rusting.  With bolt cutters you can cut sections to use as sturdy and rather artistic, I think, trellises.  They come in 16-foot lengths and are a little over 4 ft. tall. I’m in love. 


I'll be posting some photos of my installed trellises soon. It's too dark now to get pictures, and I want to get this entry posted.




Happy Gardening,


Deanna

Springing Forward at Adventure Farm

Things are picking up here at Adventure Farm.  Guy has had a number of tree-climbing events in the St Louis area and is busy helping prepare for the upcoming TREEmendous event at the MO Botanical Garden, April 30-May 1.  Come out and join the celebration of trees and forests at the garden.

Banners for the TREEmendous event outside the main entrance to the MO Botanical Garden

The picture in the Forest Festival banner was taken at one of Guy's events and is a friend's daughter. 

We are excited that Laurellyn is getting her moment of fame and that Guy is involved in this great event. 

Hope to see you there. 

The urban farming and homesteading piece of Adventure Farm is also busy this spring. This past weekend Bill Wilson, co-founder of Midwest Permaculture and one of my instructors at the permaculture design course I attended this past fall, was here to do a talk at Schlafly Bottleworks on April 2. Part of the day included a Walk About at Adventure Farm.  

This is the first public event for the permaculture portion of Adventure Farm and a very exciting event it was.  There  were 16 people who chose to spend a few hours of a beautiful Saturday afternoon touring this small urban farm and giving feedback and suggestions. 

We met and started in the front yard 

I was particularly looking for suggestions for the front yard, which is just beginning its transformation into a working part of the space. Notice the hill. This has been a design challenge for me. During the walkabout,  I got many ideas on things to do to make this space productive while still being attractive in an urban setting.  Stay tuned for future entrys on its evolution. 

We then headed to the back

I imagine that the backyard was a little more helpful to folks who were looking for examples of urban permaculture since not much is going on in the front yard.  I got quite a bit of positive feedback and some good design suggestions for back here, too. I was a little nervous about opening up this space to others even though that is our intent. It's always a little scary to put myself out there in this way, especially this early in the season when things don't look quite as nice as they will later. 

Bill doing his design thing 

We worked our way from the front of the house to the back with me introducing everyone to the space and explaining what I was attempting to accomplish. 

We then worked our way back around to the front giving people time to give design suggestions

Overall, the Walk About felt like a success to me. The bonus to this event was the opportunity to meet like-minded people in the area. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with many of these people. For those of you who might be interested in learning more about permaculture design, please take a moment to check out Midwest Permaculture at http://www.midwestpermaculture.com/


There is also a weekend permaculture training coming to St. Louis in July.  I'll be posting details as soon as they become available. 

The Good Gardening, Good Food series that Bill’s talk was a part of is being hosted by Slow Food St Louis, Schlafly Bottleworks and Brick City Gardens. Check out their 2011 Schedule of events at 

http://brickcitygardens.com/


Happy Spring, 


Deanna

YMCA Demo Tree Climb

In early December, Adventure Tree Climbing had the good fortune to host a demo climb for Missouri's YMCA of the Ozarks, which has a large and really beautiful facility just south of St. Louis with challenge courses and climbing walls in addition to a really nice lake and hundreds of acres of woods. They host thousands of visitors per year and it would be a great opportunity for us to provide folks with all the fun and educational benefits of recreational tree climbing.

White Oak Climbing Tree

Ropes and Gear Ready

There are lots of trees, but only a few are really good climbing trees. I looked over the YMCA grounds and found a stately White Oak with wide branches and a full crown that was located on open ground right in front of some cabins – a fabulous climbing tree. Also, although we didn't get a chance to use it, adjacent is a large Pine that could be used for high climbs or traverses.

First, I cleaned the tree of any looming dead-wood. Although hard work, this is one of the funner parts of the job because I get to climb high up and all over the tree. There were quite a few curious passers-by, and one vehicle pulled over and watched for awhile – I imagined they were wishing they could be up there swinging and climbing around with me.

When everyone arrived to climb, I had all the ropes set except one – I figured I'd demonstrate the process of installing the ropes, and also generate a little "wow factor", by launching a throw-weight over a high branch with my Big Shot (which is basically a huge sling-shot). These were all experienced facilitators and I was demo-ing more than simply what a tree climb is like, but also how to facilitate a climb, so I showed everyone the process of putting up the rope and the cambium saver and then how to tie the Magic Knot (i.e. Blake's Hitch) and set up the climbing system.

Gearing Up

We went through the standard intro, occasionally discussing facilitation issues like how to work with different age groups, etc., and then we got to climbing. There is probably no easier group to work with than a bunch of young adults who are accustomed to overseeing the safe enjoyment of adventure activities for others. Everyone learned the tree climbing process quickly and was climbing and bat-hanging and swinging around the canopy in no time.

Bat-Hang and Big Smile

Climbing to Various Heights

Most everyone climbed at least 2 or 3 times. The ropes that went high into the canopy, about 40 feet up, were the most popular. It was a chilly day but everyone was prepared for it – plus it's easy to stay warm with the excitement and exertion of tree climbing.

A pair challenge – climb adjacent ropes with harnesses carabinered together.

Bat-hanging together ...

And sitting on a branch - all while attached together - Impressive!

It was great fun for a couple of hours and I'm really glad I had the opportunity to show the folks at the Y what recreational tree climbing is like and discuss some ways that we might work together. I do recreational tree climbing for the fun, educational and therapeutic benefits it provides to people, and I'd like to work with the Y so that I may reach many more people with these benefits, and also so that I may gain the income that will allow me to continue providing tree climbing. I had a good talk afterwards with Daniel and Angie about possibilities, and I'm excited to see what comes about.

This is my first post about the adventure activities that are part of Adventure Farm. I'm kind'of starting in the middle of the story and I hope to back up and post info about how we got to where we're at now, as well as keeping up with current activities.

May the coming year bring good things to your life -

Guy.

Cleaning Up Our Act

Returning to laundry basics

We’ve been hanging our laundry to dry for about a year now.  I love the way it smells and even the act of hanging the laundry and gathering and folding it is a relaxing task I look forward to. Hanging laundry forces me to slow down and enjoy a simple pleasure while being more thoughtful about our use of energy. Honestly, it makes me feel good every time I do our wash. 

We still have a dryer and, yes, it is used on occasion, but very rarely any more. We just don’t have the need. One thing that has made this change possible for us is our wonderful screened in porch. Hanging laundry each week would not be nearly as easy if we had to depend on the weather. After all, everyone who lives in this house works full time and has a very busy schedule. Weekends are the time for us to tidy the house, do laundry, gather groceries, work around the yard and hopefully find a moment to relax before heading into another work week.  I’m sure this is a familiar scenario for most of us.

 If it’s raining on the weekends we don’t have the luxury of waiting for a nicer day to do laundry. So, no matter what the weather, unless we are out of town, the laundry is done Saturday morning.  The back porch has a clothesline running the entire length of the porch and there is a folding drying rack out there. If it’s sunny and we’re inspired to move the rack, it gets pulled out in the sun, but honestly it mostly stays on the porch. Rain or shine out goes the laundry on Saturday morning. If it’s nice and our schedule allows, the laundry gets put away Saturday afternoon.  If it’s rainy or we don’t have time it stays on the line until it’s dry or we get around to it. It’s a perfect system for us.  

So a year of hanging laundry has gone by, and we are ready to take the next step. We decided to make our own laundry detergent. I found a recipe online that made a nice big batch and gave it a try.  

Here’s the recipe

Laundry soap 

2 gallon bucket

1/3 bar Fels Naptha bar soap

1/2 c. washing soda

1/2 c. borax powder

Grate soap and put it in a sauce pan

Add 6 cups water and heat until soap melts

Add washing powder and Borax and stir until they dissolve

Remove from heat

Pour 4 c. hot water into the bucket. 

Add soap mixture and stir

Now add 1 gal. plus 6 cups of water and stir

Let soap sit for 24 hours. It will gel.

use 1/2 c. per load

You can add an essential oil if you want. I didn't this time to see how it is unscented. 

We've been using this detergent for several weeks and it seems to do an excellent job of cleaning at pennies per load. I'm excited about our new soap, which I think is much more environmentally sound and it definitely will save us money.  My only question about my ingredients is the Fels Naptha soap. According to what I read originally the soap has been around for 100 years and so I assumed (never assume) that it was a safe or at least more environmentally friendly product. But, after some poking around on the internet I'm finding mixed reviews.  Some say that the soap contains at least one petrochemical ingredient and others say that there is no longer any petrochemical products used in the soap.    I don’t know. I might try Ivory instead in my next batch. If anyone has any feedback on this it would be greatly appreciated. In the end, I think I probably have a better product now than what I was buying previously at the grocery…cheaper anyhow. 

Peace,

Deanna

Snapshots of Adventure Farm

I picked up a load of mulch that, when I parked it in the driveway, showed a little microcosm of our farm in the city:

Here is our farm truck in the middle of residential St. Louis, loaded with mulch and tools, with the haul from our great pumpkin heist below and tree cuttings on the right from my nascent tree business.

And this is a view from above (well, from the roof) of our back yard showing Deanna's creativity and hard work. You can see the mulch paths and organic garden on the right that we're currently working on. Throughout are other growing beds and her lawn-art touches like the pond and stream in the upper left that is run by a water pump, the wooden arch on the left made out of ladders, old bathtub fountain in the lower right, etc.

Just a couple of snapshots of the humble beginning of our Adventure Farm.

The Great Pumpkin Heist

Helping Jack-o-Lanterns find a better final resting place

This year Halloween really got under my skin, and it wasn’t the spooks in the streets that got me.  In fact, it was more post-Halloween angst that was making me anxious and on edge.  I kept looking at all those jack-o-lanterns on everyone’s porch and envisioning their final journey.  All that organic material headed to the landfill! I was having a hard time accepting this, and so I decided that this year I was going to do a little something about it. My only defense for my behavior is to say that living in an urban area makes me extremely aware of the wasted materials we send to the dump that should (in my opinion) be going back to improving our mostly poor urban soil.

So, last night Guy and I went on an undercover mission in search of trashed pumpkins. Guy drove the get away truck while I jumped out and snatched pumpkins peaking out from under trashcan lids.  In a matter of about 30 minutes we had gathered seven pumpkins to join the 7-8 pumpkins I already had from a friend who noticed a nursery that had cleaned pumpkins to sell as “ready to carve.” She stopped and asked if she could have what was left. They were glad to get rid of them. Thank goodness for crazy friends.

However, I suddenly found myself with all these pumpkins, and I’m not set up very well for composting. I really don’t have room for a large composting bin. Instead I have a tumbling composting barrel for my kitchen waste and a small freestanding pile for stuff I gather out of the yard during the summer.  In the fall I just compost in place.  The vegetable plants I cut down this fall I cut up into smaller pieces and dropped them right there. I’m working now to get the beds covered with leaf mulch and horse manure before winter sets in.

Nursery pumpkins in the new bed 

I brought home the nursery pumpkins this past weekend and smashed and added them to the new bed. I’m making, a sort of hugelkultur/sheet mulch bed.  The ones I got on our nighttime raid will be broken up this coming weekend and added to the existing gardens as a layer to be covered by leaf mulch and horse manure. 

I decided I needed to break them up a bit

First layer of free compost covering
the broken pumpkins.

I’m discovering that looking for organic materials can make me do some strange things. 

Happy Jack-o-Lantern

Don’t forget to compost your pumpkin. Or, if you live in St Louis I have room for a few more.

An Exercise in Focus

New mulched path along the future woodland garden (left)

I’m making an effort to stay focused on one area of my yard this year. My usual habit in the garden is to flit from one thing to another surrendering to whatever interests me at the moment, and therefore rarely actually completing anything. This has been fine in the past when gardening served primarily as an escape from the stresses of life and for my own personal satisfaction. However, now I want to be more focused. There are new reasons for my garden, and I want to share what I’m doing with others.

After the recent permaculture course, I had a million ideas floating around in my head with the tendency to want to do a little of this and a little of that just to try out these new ideas. However, I’m attempting to change this habit so that I have some solid working examples of permaculture practices to show people as I move forward with my urban permaculture project. So, much as I would like to work on my front yard, I am determined to focus on getting my backyard to a place that is more complete. At this point I think I have a pretty solid plan for my beds and what I want planted in different areas of my yard, it’s just getting areas completed that’s the big hurdle.

This weekend Guy and I worked on hauling wood chips to complete (or nearly complete) the path system in the backyard. I say nearly complete, because there is one area at the top of the driveway that I’m not quite certain what to do with yet. I’m thinking possibly chickens, but I need to mull this around a bit longer and look into some chicken tractors. That’s another story. Now I’m doing my best to stay focused on mulch :)

Potential chicken tractor site with the
abruptly ending mulch path

As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, if you live in an urban area there is an unlimited supply of organic matter free for the taking. I’m fortunate that I have several municipalities in the area that leave mountains (well, small hills) of organic matter for community members to haul away. There’s plenty of woodchips of varying textures available now, and soon there will be plenty of leaf mulch too. I’ve been dreaming of a lawn free yard for years and this weekend I have the job half finished. My backyard is now mostly lawn free except for the spot I can’t decide on yet, and the front yard is well on its way.

The paths have also allowed me to more easily define my garden beds. Because a large part of my yard was once a well-packed gravel driveway, most of my beds need to be raised. Therefore, you will see cement blocks in the pictures. I’m not a fan of rectangle beds, I like softer shapes, and I’ve found that the cement blocks are an easy way to design beds in any shape I need and holds the new soil well. After a year I can remove the cement blocks and continue to add organic matter to the bed without worrying about the soil eroding away. The beds become more hilled, tapering down to the pathway, but much nicer looking without the blocks. You can see examples of both types of beds in the picture below. By the end of next year, the cement blocks should be gone and the beds beginning to look more established.

A view from the brick patio. You can see the newer garden
 addition with the concrete blocks on the right and the
older beds on the left and back center.

I’m pleased with the results of the weekend. Now on to amending the existing beds and building some Hugelkultur beds (using woody materials as a base for a bed). Besides looking for those wonderful jack-o-lanterns that everyone wants to pitch, we will be hauling soil, leaf mulch and horse manure regularly until we fill in the beds. Hopefully, in a year of two we will be able to sustain the beds with the organic matter generated on the property, but for now we need outside help.

Hope to see you at the leaf mulch pile.

Deanna