Saturday, March 27, 2010

Good Night from the Garden

Were you ever so tired you could barely move? Spring causes that here in the garden. It's a riot of colors, growth, and mud, it's messy and beautiful I just love it. Our magnolia tree is full of white flowers and the daffodils are starting to grow, my peonies are pushing their way up. It's time to get the screen porch ready for lazy warm afternoons, good books, and cool drinks. I have the next 2 weeks off and have great plans for tremendous progress with all our projects but of course as the saying goes the best laid plans of mice & men. I'm also thinking of throwing a garden party, more on that later though, too many other things to think about right now.

Tomatoes went in today, tomorrow I'll start more lettuce & the herbs. Tony has kindly offered me a flat of his lettuce which I can't wait to pick up. No progress in the garden itself, the peas and swiss chard have not sprouted yet and my dog Rubie decided to do a dance in the one row. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they grow at all, only time will tell.

My Araucanas have started to lay, little blue-green eggs. The Rhode Island Reds & Welsummers are doing a pretty good job too. The big girls are still here and laying the occasional egg as well. Hopefully this will be their last week end in the garden. The sun room is over-flowing with seedling. I really do need my greenhouse.

Great progress on the goat house! Joe & the boys got the whole thing up except for 1 roof panel which will be completed tomorrow. We've got to get the foundation down and then move the shed up to the mini pasture we've outlined for the new additions. I can't wait for the girls to arrive. I really need the milk.

After last week I've just avoided the bees altogether. I don't forget easily and my neck still hurts to remind me. We've got some really nice warm weather moving in around Thursday, maybe I"ll go out and open them up then. I might even make an attempt at feeding them again WITH full beekeeping gear on. The only thing with the gear is the veil is too big and always falls in my eyes and honestly I feel ridiculous all dressed up like that. It's easier to move in regular clothes and the neighbors don't freak out as much when you don't look like your from the CDC.

The soap molds have been revamped and work beautifully! I'm adding some pic's of the molds and the freshly cut soaps. Today at my favorite butcher, Green Village Meat Packing, they asked if I'd be interested in leaving a display of soap there. Crazy right? Seems he tried my werewolf soap and loved it. I have a fundraiser on April 23rd at Grace Episcopal Church, I'm always on board for a good cause. I'm trying to get into the Green Fair here in Madison on April 29th. I just hope I have enough soap. I did make contact with another crafter who represents a group of ladies who help support their families and communities by making these awesome hand knit cotton wash cloths, I'm very excited to start carrying her line. I'm also working very hard at talking a good friend of mine and potter extraordinaire into designing and making soap dishes for me. Since my soaps are made without fillers or preservatives they do "melt" more easily then the factory made types, a good soap dish is indispensable. If you really think about it though, isn't it a good thing the soap melts in water, that way it rinses off your skin easily too. No icky film, just clean skin. Perfect.

Good night from the garden,
Tracee

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Surviving the Garden

I am sitting here after a run in with a very unhappy honey bee. She taught me a lesson and the proof is on my neck. I'm now sitting, waiting for the anaphylactic shock to take me to a better place. If I start talking about a bright light you know it's the end of the road for me. If these are my last moments I figure it might as well be writing about how the end came about.

I did get some seeds started, the peppers are just starting to peek out of their pots and the geraniums are going wild. I would like to start my tomatoes at some point today and it seems it's time to plant peas & swiss chard outside. This is my first experience with either plant and I'm very hopeful. I do have a gardening guru/ nemesis, Tony, the crossing guard at my daughter's school. He is a true old school Italian gardener and knows EVERYTHING. Every afternoon at 3:15 I get his seedling report, and somehow he is always a day ahead and an inch taller. He also always shares his bounty with me, so I never complain, but silently I do vow to beat him just one time. He is really in my head now.

The babies are laying quite well now, at least 3 eggs a day. I still have been unable to get in touch with our adoptive chicken family yet, so the big girls are also still maxing and relaxing in the coop. Poor Delila is getting shaggier by the second, she is like a car wreck, you just have to look. I've added pic's for your amazement.

The goat house has had slow progress, it's still in the box, although we did manage to remove the direction book that came with it. I just hope my marriage is strong enough to survive the construction. We are heading down to Tractor Supply this evening to pick up the goat fencing, posts, goat & chicken chow, and maybe a pair of new overalls for me. It just doesn't get any better then that!

Now to those @#*% bees. Joe and I attending the first beekeeping meeting of the year. "Is there a doctor in the hive?", pretty clever huh? It was jammed packed with really surprising uses for all bee products, including honey, stings/venom, and propolis. Now to my sting, a very seasoned beekeeper explained the time has come to feed the little darlings. I bet you didn't know you feed bees, wait till you read what they eat. She recommended granulated sugar on a piece of slit paper. I have fed my bees a sugar syrup that is pour into a top feeder, never straight sugar. I'm game, I'll try anything once. Well guess what, paper blows in even a slight breeze. Bees really don't like you to repeatedly crush a piece of paper on top of them and then pour 2 lbs of sugar on top of the paper. Final score Bees 1 Tracee 0. I'm still typing, so I think I'm going to survive but man does that sting hurt.

I'm selling the soap as fast as I make it. People love it, they are buying it as gifts as well as for themselves. I'm sending out my first show application this week. I should be showing my line at Maplewoodstock. It's a cool art and music festival held in my old stomping grounds at Memorial Park in Maplewood on NJ July 10th & 11th. I will get some shots of my displays for you to check out. Joe has crafted a new mold for me with a lovely curve to hold your thumb as you use the bar. The first time out the results were less then perfect. The soap somehow adhered to the swoop and would not release, a double batch of milk & honey soap is now cut into chubby rectangles sans swoop. Live and learn. We're making our second attempt tonight after Tractor Supply. I think I will make 2 batches, an unscented bar that I've had a special request for and maybe Gardner's Bar in honor of the start of the season to sow.

If that's not enough I have started a really interesting read called "Radical Homemakers, Reclaiming domesticity from a consumer culture" by Shannon Hayes, try saying that 10 times fast.
It is really excellent and hits home for me. A short quote from the book that I loved so much I had to read it out loud to my family follows;
"A true home is inhabited by souls who live, breathe, eat, think, create, play, get sick, heal, and get dirty. It will wither in an antiseptic condition. A true home pulses with nonhuman life - vegetable patches, yeast, backyard hens, blueberry bushes, culturing yogurt, fermenting wine, and sauerkraut, brewing beer, milk goats, cats, dogs, houseplants, kid's science projects, pet snakes and strawberry patches."

As I read this I took mental note of all the things in that list which already or soon will be in my home. I may just be on the path to radical homemaking and I just wouldn't have it any other way. If nothing else I do feel better about my housekeeping.


Surviving the garden!
Tracee




Thursday, March 11, 2010

Little Eggs

A very busy week here at the garden, the most exciting news of all is our babies have stared to lay their first eggs. Check out the pic's I think the little dark brown ones are my favorite, they remind me of chocolate Easter candies. The big girls will be moving to a new home in Jockey Hollow. I will miss them but it's time for them to retire, not to mention I need my greenhouse.

It's time to start the seeds. This year I'm growing all heirloom varieties of vegetables. I found a wonderful company called Heirloom Seeds that sells the Victory Garden, a collection of 76 different vegetable seed. I've already got some of my flowers for the window boxes sprouting in the sun room. I make my own little paper pots out of old newspaper, they work great and can get planted directly into the ground so as not to disturb the roots. Today I'll start onions, chives, peppers, snap dragons, and lisianthus. There is nothing like the smell of potting soil in the winter, it means spring must be close.

On to the latest construction, the goat house is going to be coming late, so as a temporary measure we are building an 8 x 10 aluminum shed. The shed will become our honey house late this summer when the goats permanent home finally arrives. This is our first year to extract our very own wildflower honey.

Lastly the Soap Biz, I made, in my opinion, a really cool sample box that I brought to work for a quick critique. I ended up selling bars of French Lavender, Gardenia, & Grandpa's Lilac. I made a new batch of French Lavender tonight, the house still smells lovely.
I wish I could send scent through the internet, I know that sounds ridiculous, but the soaps are almost intoxicating and it's hard to put into words, you have to experience it. The fragrance just makes you stop and enjoy. I"m always catching family & friends down in the soap kitchen inhaling all the different bars. I think I even wash my hands more now trying all the different kinds. I added some shots of the sample box and wrapped soaps, let me know what you think. Everyone's buying them as Easter gifts, what a great idea, why didn't I think of that?At least now I know what to get my mother-in-law.

It's funny I feel like I searched my whole life for my nitch, what I really wanted, I would have never guessed that my true joy would come from this new road we are now traveling on as a family.

Waiting for spring here in the garden,
Tracee

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Welcome to the Garden

Let me start by stating I live in a very suburban area, lots of big houses and little yards. I have the opposite, a little house and a nice size yard. I used to dream of a big house with lots of room and stuff. Then destiny stepped in, the owner of a lovely bookstore- Sages Pages-recommended a book," The Reasonable Life" by Ferenc Mate. Everything changed and I, being who I am, dragged my whole family along in the quest for a reasonable life. There are six of us, my husband Joe who can build and fix everything and anything, he is the foundation that all these crazy dreams get built on. Joseph my oldest is 15 and completely brilliant, anything technical is handled by him. Andrew is 14 and probably one of the funniest, most kind hearted people I have ever met and a great builder as well, he keeps me smiling. Christian is 12 and a lot like his Dad very creative and able to build from just an idea, he's my go to guy. Then comes Gracee, just 8, very creative and artistic, she is my designer. I guess that leaves me, I'm the dreamer, looking for a better way for my family, a simple way that makes sense for us and doesn't impact anyone else. Our new goal is to live simply so that others may simply live.

Don't let me mislead you about us, my kids are teenagers . Every step is an up hill battle, one that I do not plan on losing. My husband & I have absolutely no farming background at all. Everything we do is with knowledge gained from books, the internet and friends. Basically we're flying by the seat of our pants. I cannot change the world, but I can change the way my family views it and what is truly important in it to us. Hopefully they will pass that knowledge on to their families.

Everything has been happening in steps, slow expensive steps, who knew simplicity could be so hard. It started with chickens. Twelve wonderful girls who have served us many fresh eggs in the past two years. Next came the green house, why pay for seedlings when it's so easy to grow your own. Maybe even extending the harvest to the colder months. Yeah right! Then comes the new chickens, nineteen of them to replace our old house hens who pretty much enjoy sunshine and food and haven't laid an egg in about a month. Can you say chicken stew? The nineteen babies live in the greenhouse temporarily so there goes the 3 season harvest, but that's another story. Not to be forgotten, we also keep bees, this we did end up taking a course on at Rutgers University. The bees not only produce lovely wildflower honey, they also help pollinate my ever expanding garden. Now the BIG move, we're getting goats. Three to be exact Dakota, soon to be known as Daisy, the mother of two beautiful does, Marigold and Rosie. Get the garden theme? From these beautiful ladies will come delicious raw goats milk to be made into so many wonderful, healthy things including soap. The business is born Secret Garden Soap of Madison. I make, with the help of my family, animals and the good earth, lovely all natural hand made soaps. This is our adventure and I'm posting it with hope of inspiration, shared goals and advice from more seasoned simplicity seekers like me.
Welcome to the Garden,
Tracee