Crawford County Master Gardeners

Crawford County, Ohio, Master Gardener training is starting soon. There are a lot of exciting educational and project opportunities this year, including a community gardens at Unger Farm. I have been a strong advocate of community gardening in the past, (as long as someone else does it) it is time for me to step up to the plate and make this happen. Please contact me, or the Crawford County Extension Office, if you are interested.

Ordering Seeds

I am looking through the seed catalogs to see if any can be FEDEXed - I suggested a seed exchange to our Master Gardener's group last fall - now it's coming up and I haven't ordered seeds yet!

Ouch! Of course I could take some last-year's seeds to the exchange, I am sure many are still viable, but it's not the same....

Can this greenhouse be saved?

Last week we had a heavy, wet snow, and my greenhouse roof wasn't capable of supporting the snow load. DH went out a few days ago and knocked all the snow off, and although it looked better, he reported that the fiberglass rods were splintered and would have to be replaced if I intend to use the greenhouse next year. I suggested collapsible fiberglass tent poles but he thought I would be better off using fiberglass rods from an industrial hardware supply house like Grainger or MSC.

We had a light snow yesterday, but now even that light snow is bending down the top of the house, this picture was taken a few moments ago. I am NOT going out to do anything about it - it is minus 12 degrees today here in North Central Ohio. Good day for sitting by the wood stove and looking at garden catalogs.

Speaking of catalogs, I have been receiving a few new ones this year. One from John Scheepers "Kitchen Garden Seeds" and another from Spray-N-Grow, in addition to all the ones I mentioned on my post last year and the update. I also got a catalog from Nourse Farms, which was highly recommended by our local Extension agent. I ordered blueberry plants from them last year for this year's planting, I plan to put them in our acid soil at the farm.

Windy day?

We came back from Michigan two days ago, arriving after dark, about seven p.m. My eye caught a couple of shapes frozen at the side of the house as we turned in. Remembering that the neighbor lady had hit a deer just before Christmas just in front of our house, I jumped to the conclusion that they were deer. DH stopped the car and slowly turned his headlights directly on the shapes.

They were not deer. It was my greenhouse, caught in the pines that border our neighbor's property!! My greenhouse, and the contents of my greenhouse, had blown all over the yard.

The next day, Tuesday, I spent going around and picking up plastic flowerpots and metal stakes. I found all but three of the stakes, and I have no idea how many flowerpots will be missing come spring. While looking for the stakes I noticed some of the turnips I had not yet harvested, and remedied that situation. I brought them in, peeled them and parboiled them.
I noticed the ground was frozen only for the top 1/4 to 1/2 inch. I moved the greenhouse to a new location and staked it down again.

For some reason I was inspired by my work outside (and maybe by the successful pierogi-making at Christmas?) to get out the attachments for my Kitchen-Aid mixer and try out the pasta extruders. I spent three hours making a pound of noodles, cutting the noodles off the extruder and individually separating each noodle to lay it on a towel to dry. By the time DH came in, expecting dinner to be ready, I was exhausted! I told him we were going out for Mexican food.

On New Year's eve, I babysat for my three-year-old grandson. Well, the Kitchen-Aid was already out, so I decided to use the meat grinder to make ground ham for ham loaf (first time to use that attachment, too!)

Menu for New Year's Eve

Baked ham loaf
Czechoslovakian-style turnips
Steamed carrots
Buttered noodles with mushroom gravy
Dinner rolls

Here is the recipe for the ham loaf:

5 cups ground ham
1 cup oatmeal
1 small-medium onion, diced
2 eggs
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons brown mustard
3/4 cup milk

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. For the last 15 minutes you can use a glaze such as currant or apple jelly, maple syrup, or tomato-apple chutney, depending on your taste.

With the ham I served buttered noodles and made a mushroom gravy. I also made Chzechoslovakian-style turnips, recipe follows:

1 to 2 cups of sliced, boiled turnips
1 cup whole-kernel corn
2 apples, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup sour cream (reserve 1/2 cup for topping)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix together, spray baking dish with vegetable oil spray and then put in oven with ham for approximately 1/2 hour. Serve with reserved sour cream on top, you may add horseradish if desired.

Today we are having pork and sauerkraut, a German tradition for New Year's Day. I couldn't find any sauerkraut in bags at the supermarket yesterday, and all the Vlasic brand sauerkraut was also sold out. Luckily I did find some in the international foods section, there was some Bavarian-style sauerkraut and also some Polish style.

We'll have mashed potatoes and baked apples for dessert.

P.S. The turnips were not a success with DH.

Saving seeds

I forgot to mention a few weeks ago I bought the most FANTASTIC huge red peppers at the farmer's market from a local farmer. No idea what variety they were, but I saved the seeds from one of them. I've had them outside wrapped in a paper towel to dry, need to put them in a small jar to save them overwinter.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes up from these seeds.

Composting

Last night DH borrowed the neighbor's backhoe tractor and took 5 loads of compost from the compost pile to my garden. He "mushed" up the rest of the compost pile, and made room to dump this year's leaves in a bare spot. Hopefully we'll be able to alternate year-to-year from now on. There are a lot of big branches in the pile, probably we'll have to eventually pull some of these out.

I moved the greenhouse from its place by the house into the garden to cover up a few of my pepper plants that MIGHT be saved from frost. Still hoping for a few more harvests. The plus side is that there are a few Swiss Chard plants left that are now inside the greenhouse- the deer won't be able to get to them.

I still have flowerpots, shelving and tools outside, need to find a home for them VERY SOON. It's frustrating to come home from work just in time to fix dinner and have it be dark before dinner is even ready. In a few more weeks it will probably be dark before we even get home from work!

Cleanup

DH and I spent some time this weekend in the garden, cleaning up. I took out all my bamboo trellises, and he and I together pulled up all the mulching fabric. That was kind of an adventure, because the one section that had wood chips on top of it, plus weeds growing through the mulch into the fabric, weighed about a ton. We tied a rope around it and tried pulling it off with the 4-wheeler, and broke the rope. Eventually DH ended up getting a tow strap out of the garage and using that to pull the fabric up. Next year I may submit to using glycosphate after all.

I've decided that if I use the fabric again next year, I will use "NEW" fabric, not fabric saved from the previous year. I had a lot of fungus diseases this year, how much due to the wet spring and how much was due to the "REUSED" fabric wasn't really clear, but hopefully new fabric will avoid the problem.

Today I planted the daylilies from Unger farm's Heritage Day sale. I planted them on the west side of the garage amongst the roses of Sharon. This was not my original plan, but the place that DH allowed me to plant them. North to South, I planted:

- Caesar's Brother (or maybe Johnny Rocket Orange - the label is printed on one side and hand-written on the other...)
- Unknown melon-colored daylily (not fragrant)
-Wicked Witch ( a purple, fragrant variety)
- Little Audrey (cream with Red Eye)

I've recently noticed a problem with my elbow which the doctor confirms is tennis elbow, and tells me it will take up to a year to heal. I used the Mantis tiller to soften up the beds where they are planted, but I wasn't able to start it myself, had to get DH to pull the rope. I also noticed significant soreness while pulling on the landscape fabric to remove it. I feel like a pansy, can't do anything by myself.

I've asked DH to till up the garden (to disturb any insect larvae that are hoping to overwinter) and find me a load of manure, as well as move the oldest compost pile into the garden. Leaves are starting to fall, if I emphasize putting the leaves into the COMPOST pile and not directly on the garden, maybe he will listen to me. The heat of the compost pile helps to eliminate fungus diseases, as well as keeping the decomposing leaves from stealing nitrogen from the soil.

Fall cleanup

I'm afraid I gave up on my garden early this year. I was just too discouraged by the damage that the deer, raccoons and groundhogs did. The only crop they didn't destroy was the peppers.

Next year I will definitely have some strategies for deterring them before they become a problem. Electric fence? 8-foot tall deer fence? Wire mesh around individual plants?

DH is mowing over my filbert trees next time he mows the lawn. They've been there 6 years, and the deer have done so much browsing on them they are now shorter than they were when they were planted. I consented to this, a sign of how depressed I am about these stupid deer.

Our Macintosh apple tree had great promise this year of having a good crop - but the deer got them all.

Today I noticed that the one tree that succeeded in the yard that I planted (a red maple) has marks on the trunk where I deer has been scratching his antlers.

I'd really like to have a dog again!

Anyway, back to the topic of the post. Tonight we took up all the soaker hoses and I took down some of the pea pence before it got dark. Tomorrow I'd like to take down my bamboo trellises, and maybe start pulling up the mulching fabric, which may require pulling weeds.

I've developed tendinitis in my right elbow, so I am trying to treat it tenderly (another reason for giving up on the garden early). I may just cut the weeds off at the root rather than pulling them, although I've noticed using scissors also causes some pain.

After removing the mulch I will ask DH to bring over the neighbor's tractor and till the garden, and then put a few yards of compost on the garden for the winter.

Deer, rabbits, raccoons, what else?

Instead of a garden I think I have a wildlife preserve.

Today I came home from work and chased a raccoon out of the garden. He had the biggest green tomato in my garden in his little paws and he dropped it and raced away. I didn't get his picture but I got a crime scene photo, with the evidence he left behind.

Finally, it is raining

We've had a mini-drought for the last 2-3 weeks, just a sprinkle one day last week, and no other rain at all. While sunny days are quite pleasant, they're not really very good for the garden. I've watered some, I installed a new soaker hose along some of the rows, but my cucumbers have really had it, and probably aren't going to survive.

The tomatoes are going great guns, but the rabbits are nibbling them. The eggplants look good but I've yet to see even one blossom on them.

Family reunion at the farm

It's been a week since the family reunion and I finally feel recovered enough now to write about it! Yesterday we got a beautiful card from a cousin - she said that when they woke up the next morning it seemed like a beautiful dream. Such a nice way of putting it, I felt exactly the same way.

We had nearly perfect weather, 80 degrees, low humidity and not a cloud in the sky, and lots of fun. Approximately 70 people showed up and we had boat rides on Lake Katherine, Gator rides through the orchard, 4-wheeler rides, tractor rides, hayrides, and rides in Maybelline for the youngest ones. We had water balloon fights (that got a little out of hand) and fireworks in the evening. We only had one accident that I know of, and it was fairly minor.

There are some items that were left in a box I've dubbed "Lost-and-found" - a kid's purse, sandals, a pair of sunglasses, and a plate....

The sweet corn in the field wasn't quite ready, DH had to go find some at a farm stand near Grand Rapids (he had to pay $4.50 a dozen! But it was great, very sweet) the morning of the reunion. Our own home-grown corn is finally ready now, a week too late, the neighbor called last night and said it was just about perfect. They're picking it and putting it in a box on the corner in front of their house on the corner for sale to passers-by. DH also called a friend in Muskegon and told him he could pick some and take to the Muskegon Farmer's market, so it won't go to waste.

It was wonderful to see the cousins we haven't seen for a while. Little Samantha, only six months old, was there, all the way up to cousins that were near 90. I only wish I had had more time to socialize.

The family tree paperwork got splattered by the water balloons, and some of the cousins brought their family photo albums which were just beautiful.

The food was a big feature, one cousin brought cabbage rolls which were a big hit, plus she helped with making pierogis. It seems like rolling out the pierogi dough and filling the pierogis is one tradition that brings the family closer together, to each other, and to our roots. She also brought along Ukranian-style batiked eggs which were absolutely gorgeous.

It was a lot of work to set up and prepare the food, and the site, but it was worth every bit of it. We had lots of help from the young cousins and others who came early. The bush green beans I had planted were ready this week, and we picked and processed nearly five bushels, in between baking pies and buying the meat, setting up the grills and the awnings, and so on. I fixed a couple of green bean casseroles, had plenty of raw material!

After all the excitement was over, I mentioned to DH that if we do this again, we'll really need to hire some help so that we have time to socialize instead of running around like crazy getting things ready. I also suggested that we did a good enough job to go into the agritourism business - we could do it once a week - and he just looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

We got back Sunday night late, and headed back to work Monday. Monday night we were too exhausted to finish the unpacking and both of us took a nap. Tuesday after work we started the unpacking and putting things away. Poor DH had to take a business trip mid-week, and so instead of returning to the farm this weekend we decided to stay home.

I didn't have time to even go find my camera to take a picture during the party, but luckily lots of others did. I'd love to have pictures sent by those that were there, I'll post some of them here.
My garden here is a disaster, with two weeks of neglect, and little rain during that time. The weeds have taken over, and the cucumbers did not grow up the trellis as planned but are instead sprawled all over the ground. There are lots of green tomatoes, and I picked the first few red ones already. There is a weird bug on some of my zucchini, I am not familiar with it. The racoons and deer and groundhogs have been in the corn, I am sure there is no salvageable corn. But the Swiss Chard looks great! and the green peppers will be ready soon.

Transparency

It seems that the tomato scare has changed buying and eating patterns. According to an AP poll, a majority of people surveyed want more information about where their food is coming from.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll finds that nearly half of consumers have changed their eating and buying habits in the past six months because they're afraid they could get sick by eating contaminated food. They also overwhelmingly support setting up a better system to trace produce in an outbreak back to the source, the poll found.

(See full article here)

So, does that mean that in addition to promoting NAIS or National Animal Identification System, we're now going to be facing regulation for the NFVIS system? The National Fruits and Vegetable Identification System?

A question comes immediately to mind: Does the increased consumer demand for labelling extend to farmer's markets? AND, will the consumer be willing to pay more to have their produce labelled?

One of the reasons for shopping at a farmer's market is that you get to know "your" farmer, and you can ask them just exactly how their food was produced. In fact, the article mentions that some of the consumers interviewed indicated they would prefer to shop at the local farmer's market because they TRUST their local farmer.

But one thing I have observed at some farmer's markets is that not all the vendors are selling produce they have raised themselves - some of them don't even bother to hide the crates and baskets that are labelled "California" or other locations. When I ask these guys if they raised the food themselves, they usually give me a roundabout answer - like, the "English" guy pointed to the Amish guy and said, "no, he did" and the Amish guy didn't really answer. Talking to DH, he said yes, he probably raised it, raised it right out of the bin at the wholesale produce market and raised it into his truck.

There are no labelling requirements for produce at the farmer's market! Although there are certain requirements for labelling baked goods and other home-produced products. Some farmer's markets may have rules about the type of items that vendors may sell - some are farm products only, no crafts or "flea market" items, for example. Some will not allow you to resell packaged products, but will allow reselling of produce! It is usually up to the market manager to make the determination.

So, if consumers change their buying habits for produce by going to a Farmer's Market, they had better be savvy enough to inquire about whether the farmer is selling his/her own product or whether it is just a reselling of product from a wholesaler. Selling non-local produce at a local Farmer's Market (or farm market) defeats the consumer's intention to buy locally to avoid or limit exposure to food contamination. Putting a bar code on a tomato that allows the product to be traced back to the producer - providing that transparency that is going to be demanded by next year's consumers.

I was just inquiring today about the possibility of renting a commercial kitchen for canning salsa and was pointed to the CIFT (Center for Innovative Food Technologies) kitchen in Bowling Green, Ohio. Poking around the CIFT web site, I found a video that presented the Ohio Cottage Food Regulatory Changes. The audience for the presentation seemed to be small commercial producers, not "cottage industry" farmers. It does discuss some of the labelling requirements, but not in detail, and indicates that the Ohio Department of Agriculture is really concentrating on educating the market managers, not necessarily the farmers bringing products to market.

The video made one thing perfectly clear - the current state of regulation in Ohio is not very clear. The lines between "home" or cottage food may be a little fuzzy. Caveat emptor!

Calling all farmgirls- Can she make a cherry pie?

I'm planning a North Central Ohio Farmgirls chapter meeting in August, either the 2nd or 3rd weekend. We'll be putting on our aprons and making cherry pies. It will be a great time, and we'll talk about the possibility of a "henhouse" on Mary Jane's web site. Please register by sending me an email or calling.

Deer prevention

Went to TSC today and priced the electric fencers to keep the deer out of my garden. I ended up buying a product that you spray on your garden plants (or around the perimeter, I hope) that is made of putrified eggs, garlic, and cayenne pepper.

D#%!@ Deer!

I see the deer have been making themselves at home in my garden. At least I am pretty sure it is the deer and not the baby rabbit I noticed at the edge of the yard tonight. They've been munching on the lettuce, the cucumbers, and really feasting on the corn. I'm going to be lucky if I harvest two ears of corn here in Ohio.

Last year my dog Chip was probably effective at keeping the deer at the edges of our yard. Since he passed away in January (possibly from tainted dog food, it was a month before all the publicity about the pet food poisons came out) and I didn't replace him, the deer have evidently lost their shyness.

One of my neighbors has an electric fence around his garden. I've also seen 8-foot high netting advertised. Probably either is effective, but neither is attractive.

I picked another 8 zucchini tonight. We haven't had any rain this week, I am surprised they are growing so quickly! I gave 5 to my daughter two days ago, so that makes a total of 13 in addition to the babies I harvested early.

Tomato trellises and Cages

Yesterday and today I put the bamboo trellises and wire cages around my tomato plants here in Ohio. It might be a few days late for some of them, some varieties are growing like mad. I can really tell the difference between the determinate and indeterminate varieties.

I picked the first baby zucchinis today, and fixed them for lunch, tossing them with pasta and mixed vegetables and some parmesan cheese. One zucchini plant is looking wonderful, one was eaten by deer right down to the stems (but it's coming back) and the third looks like it has some kind of fungus or virus, the leaves are wrinkling.

We had a setback today, found water in the basement from the water filter for the icemaker - it leaked into a ceiling tile that collapsed on top of my desk. While cleaning up that mess, we noticed another source of water on the floor - there is a leak under the heat pump. DH checked it out and found that the condensate pan is totally rusted. We are weighing the options for repair - the heat pump is old, way past its expected end of life, but still works. Just replace the pan, or the whole heat pump at 10 times the cost? Then, we found out that the dehumidifer that is only a little over a year old has stopped working too. Arrggh.

Lettuce bolting

I missed the Farmer's Market in Bellville this week. I have several heads of lettuce I could have taken, but didn't go. I did stop by to drop off empty egg cartons and look for fresh eggs, Joan's mother said she sold out early, if I had taken my lettuce I probably would have sold out too, as mostly the people there had baked goods.

I've given away 5 heads, used two for DH and myself, plan to take 3 with us when we go to the farm next, and will take 2 to my daughter tomorrow.

The lettuce is close to bolting. I arranged a number of my shelving unit shelves over the heads, and then draped the shade cloth from my green house over the shelves, and weighted them down with rocks. Hopefully that will provide enough shade to cool it down 5 to 10 degrees.

The bees are still going out for a last bit of nectar an hour before sunset.

Apple tree

I trimmed this tree this spring before it leafed out. I don't know what variety it is - but the blossoms came a week or two later than the rest of the orchard. There was a late freeze and a lot of the trees have no apples - but this one does. I still don't know what variety!

Knee-high?

I don't know if the Cloud Nine sweet corn in this field will be "knee-high" by the fourth of July - I doubt it. We planted it the week of Memorial Day - but the soil in this field is poor. DH had some problems with the corn planter, it gave up the last gasp this year, we'll be looking for a new one the next time we plant sweet corn.