In the Zone

In 1996, I was a young mother of two toddlers and a freelance graphic designer working from my house.  There were times when I would have my 10 yr old niece, Lauren come take care of them while I worked in the den. This usually only worked when the kids thought Mommy left the house - which I would pretend to do and then sneak in the side door and hope one of the dogs didn't give me away.  Otherwise, they would come banging on the door - MOMMY!!!  Most of the time, once they had been read to and tucked into bed, I would then "go to work" down in the den from 7pm to 2am. These were some of my most sleep deprived years of my life. 


I was fortunate enough to work on a couple of projects with my sister-in-law who had a small publishing company called High Tide Press. One in particular was the work I did on the book series The Zone Garden: A Surefire Guide to Gardening in Your Zone by Charlotte M. Frieze.  I'm credited with "keeping the hard drives spinning" since I was in charge of laying out all the books on my computer.

At the time, I didn't realize how much I would learn simply by laying out and editing information about gardening. Through all my work, I was learning all about "Knowing your Site", "Raised Beds", "Pests and Intruders" and so much more.  My sister-in-law was insistent on making a book that would be a comprehensive resource for gardeners. Remember, this was before the internet and Google. Separating out the zones into three books, the publishers were giving gardeners a resource book that was directly related to gardening in their specific zone that wasn't a huge over-weighted volume with more information that actually needed.  I find that many times, I will be reading a gardening article and find it's written for a different zone than my zone. We now are getting familiar with gardening in zone 5b, a change from my CT zone 6b. 

Who knew at the time that my graphic design career working on a gardening book would one day come full circle to my career today in helping people learn about growing their own healthy nutritious food and living a more sustainable lifestyle.  All my jobs throughout my life, although very different from one another, had something to do with the other, but not in the traditional sense. My first job in radio gave me valuable design experience since our stations' never had a budget, I was the in-house one person ad agency promotions director. I designed ads, promotions, logos, bumper stickers, bus stop signs -I even had a billboard on I95 in Norwalk, CT, a high traffic area outside NYC. I developed my portfolio and networked like crazy, eventually allowing me enough clients to leave the radio business and freelance and be a stay at home mom. My time as a freelance graphic designer eventually turned into a full-time job when the kids were in full time school. At first,I was simply designing the corporate material for my brother's start-up company, but then I ended up working there and for him, as a research analyst for the next 15 years.  Initially I covered media stocks and the food and beverage sector which grew into researching water and agribusiness sectors.  After years of reading about the state of our country's water and agriculture coupled with a mid-life epiphany, thanks to Dennis Hopper (a story for another time), I decided to help others learn how to grow their own food and live more sustainable lifestyles. That's when Mark and I started Homegrown Harvest. We wanted to show people that starting your own garden and growing some of your own food could be simple and rewarding nutritionally, as well as in so many other ways including financially, physically and psychologically. 

As I look back through the pages of the books that I helped come to fruition, I see where I subconsciously learned about organic gardening back in 1996. I used the book as a reference guide in my own garden as my children grew and I juggled a full time career and single parenting. Eventually I became an accredited organic land care manager through CT NOFA in 2011 when I had made the decision to help others learn how to grow their own.

I have always told my kids that they will most likely have more than one career in their lifetime. I've worked in sales and promotion in the radio business. I was a freelance graphic designer. I was a research analyst for a hedge fund. I am an organic land care professional. I am a woodworker who manufactures cedar raised garden bed kits. I am an entrepreneur. I am an artist and a writer. I am a creator.

Just looking at this map makes me think cold! Brrr!

We're in zone 5b but at the top and surrounded by zone 5a!
 
Wish us luck!


Although The Zone Garden Series was an important part of my salad days of garden training --sorry, I couldn't resist -- the first book which I truly learned most about gardening initially was from the book, The Contained Garden: A complete illustrated guide to growing plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables outdoors in pots. This book spoke to me since back in mid-eighties when I first bought the book, I was a young twenty-something living in a small New York City apartment trying to bring as much greenery in my concrete jungle life. Growing up in the city, my mother would fill the few sunny windows we had in our apartment with tons of plants. It didn't matter that we were only on the third floor at least we faced southwest corner-facing apartment would fill with enough light to grow plenty of greenery.  So I, too followed in her footsteps, eventually filling my own windows and patios with plants, flowers and herbs when I could.  

My mother has always also been into researching. It didn't matter what she was researching -- although her bible was The Merck Manual - the hardback 10 pound leather bound version of WedMd.com before the internet. A book only registered nurses and doctors could have at one point. My mother only had hers because of her mother, a registered nurse. Hmm...I became a research analyst - weird how things work out sometimes.

Anyway, in that vein, and since I have always loved to own books, I have amassed quite the library over the years. I've listed the copyright dates where I could find them, I thought it interesting that they span the years from 1979, when I was a freshman in high school to 2014, just around the time I started to switch to reading my Kindle more often and started to buy less and less physical books. Here a list of books about gardening that are physically in my library. In a future blog post I will give a list of gardening/homesteading related books that are on my Kindle or a list of books I have on canning, but that's for another day. Until then, enjoy spring and get out there and garden!

Christine's Gardening Library

in no particular order

links to Amazon where available

no I don't get anything from Amazon

I wish. 

1. Better Homes & Garden's Complete Guide to Gardening©1979
2. The Edible Front Yard: The mow-less, grow more plan for a beautiful, bountiful garden by Ivette Soler, photos by Ann Summa©2011
3. Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Food by Jean Ann Van Krevelen, Amanda Thomson, & Robin Wedewer ©2009
4. Gardening with Herbs by Emelle Tolley & Chris Mead ©1995
5. Week By Week Vegetable Gardener's Handbook by Ron Kujawski and Jennifer Kujawski ©2010
6. The New England Gardener's Year by Reeser Manley and Marjorie Peronto ©2013
7. The Heirloom Life Gardener: The Baker Creek Way of Growing Your Own Food Easily and Naturally by Jere and Emilee Gettle ©2012
8. The Mix & Match Guide of Companion Planting by Josie Jeffery ©2014
9. The Naturescaping Workbook: A Step by Step guide for bringing nature to your backyard by Beth O'Donnell Young ©2011
10. What's Wrong With My Vegetable Garden? 100% Organic Solutions for all your Vegetables by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth ©2011
11. The Contained Garden: A complete Illustrated Guide to Growing Plants, Flowers and Vegetables Outdoors in Pots by Kenneth Becket, David Stevens, David Carr ©1983
12. The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Spices by Andi; Richmond, Katherine; Morris, Sallie; Mackley, Lesley Clevely ©1997
13. Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy ©2010
14. The American Horticulture Society's Encyclopedia of Gardening Editors Christopher Brickell & Elvin McDonald ©2003
15. Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening ©2002
16. American Horticultural Society's Northeast: Smart Garden Regional Guide ©2003
17. New England Gardener's Handbook by Jacqueline Heriteau and Holly Hunter Stonehill ©2012
18. Northeast including Southeast Canada: 54 Landscape designs by Roger Holmes and Rita Buchanan ©2012
19. The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan ©2009
20. The Postage Stamp Kitchen Garden Book by Duane & Karen Newcomb ©1998
21. The Zone Garden: A Surefire Guide to Gardening in Your Zone 5,6,7 by Charlotte M. Frieze ©1997
22. The American Horticultural Society's Great Plant Guide ©2000
23. Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America by Eric R. Eaton and Kenn Kaufman
24. Good Weed, Bad Weed by Nancy Gift ©2011
25. Good Bug, Bad Bug by Jessica Walliser ©2011
26. The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control: A complete Guide to maintaining a healthy garden and yard the earth-friendly way by Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara W. Ellis and Deborah L. Martin ©2009  

Out Like a Lion

Yay!
Spring is here!
We made it though winter once again!
Wait, what? There's a nor'easter threatening to dump snow on the East coast tomorrow?  What's this? There is as much snow outside my door here in central New Hampshire as any other time this winter! Wait a minute - the calendar says today is the vernal equinox, spring is scheduled to start at 12:15pm Eastern time. Yet outside the temperature is 15 degrees and the winds have it feeling well below zero! Happy Spring.

Yes, it is a happy spring. Today, we experience an equal amount of daylight as we do darkness and the days will just get filled with even more and more sunlight, warming the earth in the northern hemisphere.

Wikipedia

March has always been a month of tremendous weather and copious amounts of snow. The beginning of this month came in like a lamb up here. Another thaw took all the snows back to bare ground, even up here on the mountainside.  I was even thinking about toying around in the garden threatening to lay down two new raised beds we still have to place and get started.  However, there is a good 2-1/2 feet of compacted snow covering everything up once again. So much for that thought.

I love winter and all it has to offer. I find that it is as beautiful in its own unique way and has it's fair share of crystal clear blue sky days and spectacular sunsets not often written about. We tend to hear more about the grey days of winter - but I find there as many gray days in any other season. Winter's beauty is unique and if you don't like the cold at all - you will never see it.  I made friends with the cold a long time ago - finding it better to get outside in the cold from time to time either skiing, sledding, ice skating, snowmobiling, snow-shoeing - and you find soon enough you aren't cold for long once you begin to have some fun in it.

Newfound Lake, New Hampshire

Once you are out there enjoying winter and take the moment to gaze around on whatever trail you may be on, it's hard not to be overwhelmed by the unique beauty winter has to offer.  Its colors not as rich perhaps as other seasons. The trees black outlines mixed with muted browns, grays amid the dark evergreens. Shades of white with hues of blue at times depending on the cold, paint the landscape. Mother Nature takes care of painting the morning and evening sky with her full spectrum of colors never skimping on the reds, oranges and pinks.  She reminds up that the earth is alive even when it seems not to be.

Every fall I plant garlic to overwinter. It's a reminder to me that despite the blankets of snow, insulating snow - that dormant doesn't mean dead and that life will spring forth. The last few lines in Bette Midler song, The Rose written by Gordon Mills that illustrates this beautifully.

"Just remember in the winter, beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose."

Now despite the official start to spring later today doesn't mean we won't see more snow this month or even in April. It snowed 3 inches up here last Mother's Day. Even at my Connecticut house, we would get snow in April, you just knew it wouldn't last the day usually. New Hampshire where we are now in the Lakes Region is a bit different, we live at 1500ft versus the CT house which is at 300ft above sea-level.  We've had a couple of thaws this winter, one in January another in February. An early mud season was starting since the February thaw had temperatures up into the 50s and 60s even up here. All the snow on the mountainside was basically back down to bare ground.  Then we had the third nor-easter, I think the weather station named it Quinn. Mark said that we've had a total of 116 inches about 9-1/2 ft of snow so far this winter season - thank god for those thaws!

Ragged Mountain, New Hampshire

To celebrate the end of the winter season, we will be out enjoying what is supposed to be another beautiful blue sky day on the ski slopes.  The trails are in fantastic condition and what better way to finish out the last hours of winter and bring in spring?! This afternoon apres-ski, I'll start some seeds in the kitchen window to celebrate and commemorate the start of such a promising new season.

Healthy Soil and It's Importance in the Garden

What Makes Food Nutritious?

Did you ever stop and wonder what exactly makes our food nutritious?  Not delicious, but nutrient-rich.  Some people may believe that what makes food nutritious comes from the seed when in fact it comes from the soil.

There are 17 elements that all plants need in order to go through to have a successful life cycle. Hydrogen (H), carbon (C) and oxygen (O), plants get through the air and water; leaving 14 elements that are critical for plants to obtain through soil¹. However, soil alone may not be enough and there is usually a need for added fertilizers, manures and other amendments to make sure plants receive the right nutritional elements.

Since soil is a key element when growing plants and particularly vegetables, building a raised garden bed can help gardeners start off right by beginning with a pristine soil mixture. Starting a raised garden bed allows gardeners the ability to establish a foundation with a well-balanced, nutrient-rich, weed-seed free growing medium without having to go through the backbreaking work involved with starting and maintained an in-ground garden.  In-ground gardening requires plenty of soil testing, tilling and hoeing – all very laborious and time-consuming work.  Versus starting a raised bed garden where you are able to control the growing environment from the very beginning by creating a blend of composts, fertilizers, manures and amendments.

For many years, when Mark and I first began Homegrown Harvest, we started many raised

garden beds for our clients with a mixture of composts, peat moss and vermiculite. The composts are the key ingredient, delivering the nutrients to your plants. Some composts can be nitrogen rich having come solely from dried grass clippings and leaves from the yard. Compost ideally should be a well-balanced.  Some local towns and municipalities offer their residents free compost, or there are services in certain areas where they will come pick up your compostables and in exchange will give you bags of compost for your garden or to donate to others.  Compost pick up services make it so easy for people to compost by taking all the messy and time-consuming work out of the equation. All the client needs to do is sort their garbage properly.  A quick Google search should help you locate one in your area. Consider yourself lucky if you do live in an area that has pick up compost service; thankfully there is more and more demand out with more people understanding we need to live more sustainable lifestyles.  What I love about compost pick up services is that it makes it possible for many people who may not have the space to compost to be able to cut down their carbon footprint and live more sustainable lifestyles.

If you don’t have a source for local compost there are plenty of options at either the big retail stores like Home Depot or Lowe, as well as your local garden center. One of our favorites products to use along with bagged composts or our homemade compost is Master’s Choice Bumper Crop:

“Bumper Crop Organic Soil Amendment is a soil building blend of manure and high organic nutrient content of shellfish compost, dark, rich earthworm castings (adds minerals and biology), kelp, peat, aged bark, and lobster - inoculated with endo and ecto michorrizal fungi to improve root function. The lobster body provides a lot of Nitrogen, and the shells breakdown to release a lot of Calcium, the #1 ingredients that plants need. Bumper Crop Organic Soil Amendment is an all-purpose, pre-fertilized planting and garden soil amendment. This product excels as a nutrient rich top dressing and mulch.”

Each time a plant grows, blossoms and fruits, the nutrients from the compost is delivered to the plant and the subsequent fruit.  Plenty of times we will do succession planting where we will plant something else into a space that had been used previously. For instance, once early crops of lettuces, broccoli and the like have been harvested an empty space will be left.  Usually we will plant in that same space something else to follow it up but before we do so we always add back in some fresh compost. Remember the used area has been depleted of its nutrients from the harvest plants, so it must be replaced in order to deliver the needed elements for the next plants to complete their life cycle.

Understanding soil is important not only for being able to grow your own fresh, nutrient rich fruits and vegetables but also vital to understanding more about the fruits and vegetables we buy in our grocery stores from mass-produced farms. I have written about soil before many years ago on this blog in a post called The Importance of soil - our lives depend on it! where I go into more in depth detail about soil. Our country has been in a crisis of ongoing soil degradation for decades.  Perhaps the words “dust bowl” conjures up images from a John Steinbeck novel; however, in present day America, our farmlands have taken a beating from mono-cropping and the addition of synthetic fertilizers in efforts to replace the depleted nutrients.  Unfortunately, these synthetic additives have made more of a problem for farmers. Fortunately, there are things that farmers can and have started to do to help rebuild our soil. Check out the PSA from Astronomer Laura Danly

Source:

1Singh B. + Schulze D.G. (2015) Soil Minerals + Plant Nutrition: NatureEducation Knowledge 6(1):1