Colors

 

This evening's harvest: Purple Passion Asparagus and Cilantro, with a side of spearmint.

I love how the green of the cilantro highlights the color of the asparagus. The orange handles of my herb snipper really pops out, as well.

Color in the garden doesn't just arrive in blossoms. Vegetables can be just as colorful, plus they're more filling and nutritious.

I like to grow red and purple varieties of vegetables that are typically green, such as the red noodle bean Asian long bean, or various colors of snap beans (Although beans of any kind don't figure into my diet very well at the present time, but that will change), red lettuce varieties, red cabbage, and so on. I am tempted to try growing the purple cauliflower this fall. It's been a while since I've grown cauliflower.

Chard provides another opportunity for color in the vegetable garden with varieties like Rainbow Chard, Bright Lights Chard, and Five Color Silverbeet with their yellow, red, pink, green and white stems and ribs. Asian mustards can come in rich purples. 

I've grown pink celery (didn't live up to my expectations), and pink snap peas, which were not as good as regular sugar snaps. So sometimes the colorful varieties aren't as good or as hardy as the standard green. But I keep trying them anyway because sometimes they are the best, or at least just as good but more colorful.

I am definitely passionate about the Purple Passion Asparagus, which is sweeter and more tender than the green varieties I've eaten. And it can get pretty big around.

Plant nasturtiums in the vegetable garden -- colorful and 
flavorful on the dinner plate.

If you want easy color in the garden you can just look at all the colors of tomatoes that are offered. One of my favorites is the orange cherry sized Sun Gold. This year I've got an orange slicer called Mandarin that a friend recommended. We'll see if his enthusiasm for it matches its performance.

Peppers, of course, either sweet or hot, can offer quite a bit of color. Eggplants, too, with various shades of purple skins and sometimes white skins.

I don't recommend tearing out the flower garden to make way for colorful vegetables, although I might recommend planting certain attractive vegetables in the flower garden. Those colorful chard varieties make wonderful, edible accent plants. However, I can't put chard in the flower garden. It has to remain behind rabbit-proof fencing because the bunnies love it. Many hot pepper plants are quite attractive.

Go ahead and plant flowers in the vegetable garden, too. They have value there. Just don't think that flowers are the only colorful thing in the garden.

And Now This

 

So, this is happening.

My sweet potato garden. 

These are "slips" cut from whole sweet potatoes I put in soil, half burying them. One variety surprised me by sprouting within a week or so. Last year it seemed that this one was very pokey about sprouting. It's called "Jersey" and has white flesh and tan skin.

Sweet potatoes sprouting. These are Jerseys.

The second variety is "Murasaki," or Japanese sweet potato. It was presprouted at the same time as the Jerseys, but has only recently started sprouting. It has white flesh and red skin. We find the white sweet potatoes to be sweeter than the orange ones, although probably containing less beta carotene and some of the orange related nutrients.

All purple sweet potatoes have a good deal of "anthocyanins," potent antioxidants that help prevent a variety of health issues. Last year I presprouted the all purples at the same time as the others, and had tons of sprouts before the others started sprouting much. By the time I put them in the ground, they had started putting on tiny sweet potatoes. So I started presprouting them about the time I put the others in soil. They are starchier than the other varieties of sweet potatoes.

I'm not sprouting orange ones. One of the local nurseries will have slips to sell be mid-May, so I can get them all in the ground by the end of May.

I started presprouting the Jerseys and Murasakis around the first of February, and put them in the soil around the first of March. I used a bird feed bag for presprouting. It had a thin sheet of plastic sandwiched between two paper layers. It must have maintained humidity too well, as some of the Murasakis, which were at the bottom end of the bag, were moldy when I pulled them out. One was so moldy I tossed it. However, the others have started sprouting in spite of the mold. Next year I'll use a bag without the plastic.

In spite of starting to sprout the potatoes later than last year I will still be inundated with slips by planting time. Lucky neighbors who receive the excess.

Last year I did a post about starting and planting sweet potatoes. Rather than go into all the information here, you can read all about it in my Sweet, Sweet Potatoes post.

The slips I'm growing now are from sweet potatoes we grew last year. The originals came from organic sweet potatoes from the grocery store.

Growing your own slips and sweet potatoes really is a fairly easy process. Timing is important, though.

Last year I planted a little more than 200 slips. This year I will plant even more. My husband practically lives off of sweet potatoes and has had to start buying sweet potatoes after consuming all that I grew, except for a few white flesh ones he's save back. Since I'm on a low carb diet right now, sweet potatoes are mostly off the menu for me. Sot the sweet potato garden is pretty much all for him.

Sweet potato love.

Balancing Act

 

My ButzeFrau created on Imbolg.

Equinox fires bringing Light,

     What is out of balance, make it right.

We are now nearly a full week past the Spring Equinox, which occurred at nearly 11 pm (Kansas Time) on Tuesday, March 19. This morning the Moon hit its fullest light (with an eclipse, apparently) at about 2 am CDT.

Both of those can be considered times to seek Balance. The Equinox occurs when the Sun sits  at a point halfway between the Solstices. The Full Moon (and New Moon) represent a balance point between Light and Dark, Dark and Light.

At Imbolc (which I described in my Feb. 1 post, Spring Whispers) I dedicated myself to seeking a greater connection with my land, an ongoing task. In this Equinox season of balance, I pledge to seek better balance in my life.

Balance. Yin and Yang; Dark and Light: Passivity and Assertiveness; Rest and Work; and ???

Where do I need better balance? What does Balance mean?

I want to find better balance between my focus on chores/work and play and spiritual practice, and all of the other things I want to do. Where do I fit in my writing? My brain training? My family? My friends? For nearly six months I've been working on a balancing act with my diet, a proper fat-carb-protein ratio for a ketogenic diet.

None of us are in a position where we must balance just two things, but many. It's a juggling act. That's why it's so difficult.

The thing with balance is not that everything is equal all the time, but everything has its time and place. Some days are all about chores, and work (play?) in the garden. Some days all I do is weed and water. Today my focus was on doing laundry. On laundry day I can't expect to get much of anything else done. 

So, is that out of balance?

Of course not.

Tomorrow I won't do any laundry. Tomorrow it will be chilly and damp, while today was warm and beautiful. In spite of it being Laundry Day, I planted lettuce and radishes in the garden and had a sauna with friends. Tomorrow I might sleep in, and will focus on things indoors, maybe work on one of my long-term writing projects. On Wednesday, I will probably spread beneficial nematodes over the garden to reduce certain soil dwelling pests. Thursday we hope to go plant shopping.

Balance. Sometimes it's all Light. Sometimes it's all Dark. Sometimes it's all work. Sometimes it's all play. Sometimes I focus on one thing, sometimes on others. Juggling and balancing. Balancing and juggling. 

In the end, it all works out more or less ok. Sometimes not as ok. The key is to not worry that you're working hard all day today and getting in no play, but to be sure that the work gets done and that at some point you have a proper portion of play. I'm working on that one.

On Saturday I set up the Butzefrau in the photo above. She's sort of a magical scarecrow, an old tradition from Germany (where most of my blood ancestors originated). The ritual is to create the Butzefrau, alternately the Butzemann, on Imbolg (that name is Irish, I'm sure it's different in German) at the beginning of February from natural items found on your land. Then you dress her/him. On the Spring Equinox, the scarecrow is given a heart and paraded around your land/garden, showing her/him what they were created to protect. They are set up in a prominent place to keep watch.

This Butzefrau is tied to a piece of rebar behind a large stone we call our altar stone. She is protected by a group of Eastern redcedar trees. I wanted her prominent, but a little protected from the elements. So I spent some time trimming back branches to make sort of a shrine for her. I did not get to do a proper observance of the Equinox on either Tuesday or Wednesday, but Saturday was good enough. I wanted to be sure to do something to observe the Equinox. I spent a good bit of time on this project on Saturday. It was part of my seeking balance. Part of that seeking is making time to observe these natural holidays and put more focus on my spiritual practice.

Balance, sometimes you work, sometimes you play, sometimes you pray.

Frost on the Nettles

 

The other day I went out to the garden first thing in the morning to offer thanks to the nettle patch where I had harvested a small basket of the tender young nettle tops. I steamed them for dinner that evening and relished in the potent nutrition and medicine they offer. Although the thermometer on my porch had not yet fallen to freezing, the leaves were coated with frost.

All week I've been foraging other spring greens for my daily salads, reducing the amount of lettuce and other purchased greens needed. I love this time of year, when the spring pulls green from the earth and I can connect with the garden and land around it by searching out food.

My ancestors, no doubt, foraged a good deal, looking forward to fresh greens after a winter of preserved and stored foods -- salt-preserved meats, fermented vegetables, and possible root vegetables that had not gone bad. Foraging not only connects me to the garden, then, but also to my ancestors  

At present I'm foraging henbit (there is lots and lots of it out there), wild garlic, dandelion greens, a bit of wild lettuce, tiny violet leaves, and some of the herbs, such as catnip, spearmint, fennel, young horseradish leaves, and monarda. The chickweed, my favorite weed, is not yet robust enough to make up much of my salad. I look forward to that day, though. The flavors of these plants range from strong to mild. Henbit has a slightly minty flavor, more earthy than peppermint and other "true" mints to which it is related. It's pleasant enough, but I've never found it tasty enough to pick much of it. However, it is growing on me.

As the spring moves into summer, the composition of my forage will change. Violet flowers and a few other blooms will add spark to the salad. Oxalis and lambs quarters will come in abundance, perhaps I'll even search out garlic mustard. I will continue to harvest nettles to steam for dinner, as well as freeze for later.

When the garden greens start growing, I may slow down my foraging -- but maybe not. Foraged greens tend to be more nutritious than those I plant in the garden or buy in the store. They tend to be a bit more bitter (good for the digestion) and stronger-flavored than the cultivated varieties, indicating their potency as food.

I feel stronger and healthier with my salad bowl full of foraged foods. I feel stronger in my connection to the earth; stronger in my connection to ancestors.

Lots of "weeds" are edible. If you decide to try foraging for yourself, make sure you have a positive identification, and don't harvest from some place where herbicides, insecticides, or chemical fertilizers have been applied. Foraging along busy roads also is not a good idea because of the noxious fumes vehicles emit.

It is an opportunity to look at the job of weeding the garden as "harvesting" good nutritious food. It changes the atmosphere of that chore.

Happy foraging. 

Ready, Set, Go... Slowly

 This is my Winter sunrise, a brilliant light shining through the bones of trees. Once the branches fill with leaves I won't see the sun for another 15 to 20 minutes. At this time of year I readily rise well before sunrise, so I can experience the gray predawn light and watch the light brighten and the sun top the hill beyond my woods.

Winter aconite

I almost always go out, barefoot, to experience the early morning and take a few deep breaths of fresh air. I like to start the day slowly.

Signs of spring are obvious then in the number of songbirds that fly through the clearing as they wake up and begin to sing. 

This is a time of beginnings... each morning a fresh start. And Spring definitely brings all kinds of new, renewal, regenerations. The birds begin singing, preparing to bring new life into the world. Green begins to poke through the soil and flowers pop up. 

The winter aconite was the first to open its yellow eyes. The yellow crocus is always the first to bloom. The purple and white ones will come soon. 

I love the it's the yellow flowers that are the first to pop open. It's like bringing more sunshine into the world.

More sunshine is what we need at this time of year.

The yellow flowers pull in Spring and encourage all the other flowers.

I think I will strive to be a yellow flower blooming as Winter ends.

Winter Pruning -- Another Look

These apple trees want to be pruned!

Pruning of the elderberries -- which might more properly be called "slashing" of the elderberries -- has been completed for the year. Although, I will do more pruning as they grow out over the path, or crowd each other. That pruning won't be as severe.

The elderberries aren't the only things to be pruned at this time of year, though. Our apple trees also need to be pruned. Some haven't been taken care of in a few years. As you can see in the photo below, the little Liberty apple tree has become quite crowded with branches. Winter pruning shapes the trees, opens them up so sunlight can reach all the leaves and help produce more apples, and spurs growth. It must be done before mid-March or so, before the tree starts to really wake up. 

The branches of this little apple tree are too crowded.

Pruning apple trees requires more thought than slashing the elderberries, plus a bit of intuition. We've got a book called "How to Prune Everything," and you can find lots of online resources about pruning, plus the local Extension office probably has a resource on pruning fruit trees. Pears and stone fruits (cherries, apricots, peaches, etc.) should be pruned during summer when they are less susceptible to certain diseases. 

I'm also thinking of another kind of winter pruning, often called "decluttering." My sewing room, which also contains a deep freeze and our second refrigerator, needs a good decluttering. I've been going to really go through it for a couple of years. Last winter I even started... cleared off, rearranged and dusted the shelves on one wall.

Thought I'd get back to it. Didn't.

Our garage needs decluttering, clearing out... so does the attic. And the filing cabinets in the office contain files no longer needed. Some files could be thinned. How many years of bank statements do I really need. I could get rid of one of the cabinets if I'd just...

But like with our apple trees, the "pruning" waits.

Another type of pruning has little to do with physical space, and more about mental and emotional space. Do you feel overwhelmed with all the things you must do? Maybe postpone a task or two on the "to do" list. Do you feel too busy with regular activities or commitments? Which one of those things do not "spark joy?" Does something feel like just an obligation, a burden, and no longer something you want to do? Cut it out. Use that energy for the other things that have value to you.

For 30 years I wrote a gardening column. I started it when I worked for a small town newspaper. It began as just a corner of a page with information from Extension. Gradually, it took root and blossomed into a personal column about my gardening experiences. When I quit that job and moved to a neighboring county 16 years ago, I offered it to what is now my local paper. I enjoyed sharing my loves and experiences of gardening.

A few years ago, however, I began to enjoy it less, then it became burdensome. I kept at it because I made a little money from it, and I thought readers would be disappointed if I quit. So I kept slogging away. Last fall, though, I realized that it was dragging me down. I would agonize over the topic, sometimes for days. When I got around to writing, it took a few hours or more. I kept procrastinating for longer and longer periods. It sapped all my creative energy.

One day last fall, I listened to a podcast in which they discussed the topic "Where do you want to put your energy?" One of the people told how she sometimes lays awake at nice worrying and fretting. When she catches herself she asks, "Is this where I want to put my energy?"

Immediately my mind went to the column. My response was lightning fast. In that moment I decided to abandon the column and move on. I sent in a few more and bowed out.

Since then, I've had the energy for creating more posts here, plus start looking at other writing projects that I'd put on hold. I feel free.

We prune apple trees and some other trees in winter when most of their creative energy is in their roots. With fewer branches, they have more energy to put into growing the remaining branches, filling them with leaves and fruit. Proper pruning gets rid of dead, dying and diseased limbs, opens up the canopy so sunlight can penetrate more deeply, and (it is hoped) create a more pleasant looking form.

A little personal pruning can do the same.

Barefoot Again

 

I was barefoot gardening today! 

I began tidying things, starting at the very back of the garden where lots of perennial things grow. The little strip I worked on today contains some native plants that delineate where the back edge is. It creates sort of a transition. Tomorrow I will move to another spot at the very back. I want to start there because when it's time next month to put plants and seeds in the garden the back edge will get neglected, so I want to do some work on it now. The top inch or so of the soil was soft enough to pull little henbit plants, but deeper it's still frozen. That means I have to wait to dig out some things that have gotten too large for the space.

It's also time to start my cabbage and broccoli transplants so they'll be ready for the garden by mid-March. Time to get busy!