Trellis Action...

So...a few weeks ago I was struggling with how to trellis my plants.

In my garden update post, I lamented that I had a short amount of time to

think about it...before it became a necessity.

I was able to come up with some completely free solutions!

Let's check them out...

PEAS

We planted two beds of peas...multiple rows in each bed.

One day, as I walked on the shores of Desert Lake, I came upon a driftwood log!

I used other sticks to support the driftwood and 

then laced craft wire to that it formed a teepee like trellis on both sides.

The craft wire was free because I had bought it many many many years ago.

It was for a rock jewelry business that I tried.

In the end it was a trellis for some old windows we got from the dump.

I carefully unhooked all of the wire...and repurposed it!

The second bed of peas had the same treatment...for I was shocked to time a second driftwood tree!

This tree was shorter...so I made up the difference with some broken old wire tomato cages.

The shot above is probably the best to see the wire...can you see it?

I got creative by the second trellis...attaching the log to a piece of firewood set in a mix of daisies and asters.

SQUASH

 

The squash trellis solution was actually Handsome Husband's idea!

I had already removed the wire from the dump-scavenged windows...

Ches said "Why don't we put them on pieces of wood?"

Works for me!

Above you can see how much the enjoy the partial shade on their roots...

and all of the climbing room on the windows!

The windows aren't actually that far off of the ground...only a few inches.

BEANS

The beans don't necessarily need a trellis...

but sometimes they fall over and you're scraping the dirt for your beans.

Not my idea of fun veggies...

So we built a cage of sorts!

The t-bars came from a family friend.

The wire was repurposed invisible fencing!!!

Can you believe we have dug up the equivalent of a whole spool on 

our property compliments of previous owners?

True story.

CUCUMBERS

Above is our trusty machine.

Its made of old t-bar and metal chain-link fence found at a former house we rented in Verona!

You pound the t-bars in on an angle and plant the seeds "under" the angle.

The plants grow up the chain link and voila!

Dirt free veggies!

It has been so successful in the past...beans, cukes...whatever trails!

PUMPKINS

I still haven't figured out what to do with the pumpkins...but they are filling in too quickly now

so I think I'll just leave them this year.

They seem to like the saddle-shaped lattice!

If you want more (way more!) trellis ideas...

you can now follow me on Pinterest!

(Psst I have a whole folder of trellis ideas!!!)

Once there, you can find all of my recipes and food photos in handy dandy folders too.

5 Days of Work Food - Challenge COMPLETE!

5 days have come and gone...that went fast!

So here is a quick recap on the meals I brought with me to work:

DAY 1:

Creamy Pasta with spinach and zucchini from the garden
Plain greek yoghurt with frozen raspberries (from picking) & blueberries (from road stand)
and local honey
chopped veggies sticks - celery, carrots, sweet yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes and cukes from the garden
a grocery store apple and ivanhoe cheese curd - white!

************

DAY 2:

Spinach salad with sliced turkey slices, cherry tomatoes, cukes, sweet yellow peppers and diced Wilton cheddar cheese

Home made balsamic salad dressing

a grocery store apple

Veggie sticks - celery and carrots

Mexican oatmeal - quick oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder, brown sugar

************

DAY 3:

Turkey-Pumpkin Chili with 2 johnny cake muffins (cornbread) in reused ziplock bag

Spinach salad with cukes, cherry tomatoes, sweet orange peppers, onions and walnuts served with homemade balsamic dressing.

Maple cinnamon oatmeal with chopped almonds and apples.

************

Day 4:

Leftover Sheppard's Pie

Veggie sticks (carrots, cukes, peppers, celery)

1 whole orange, sectioned

small (reused) ziplock bag of Tostitos chips with 1/4 cup homemade salsa

************

DAY 5:

TAKE OUT DAY!!!
(I thought I would treat myself and,
in the process, show you what I eat for fast food)

Sushi lunch combo B

Added BONUS:  It's across the street from my work - so I can walk there!

How's that for balancing the high carbon foot print sushi?!

I could have remixed any of the elements from the week's lunches to make a fifth lunch.

It wouldn't have been that hard, once I had all of the stuff on hand.

************

I tried to make a bunch of healthy snacks using stuff from the garden and pantry
for 5 whole days.
I tried to make sure I had plenty of protein (but not enough for a construction worker),
decreased my salt intake (by making home made stuff, stead of packaged),
bring stuff I could snack on throughout the day that was both sweet and savoury (to satisfy both cravings),
to eat the rainbow each day,
to reduce my waste by using and washing the same packaging...
and I think I succeeded!



So how did you do with the challenge?

Ode to Eggs...

So we are decided.

We're going to be chicken farmers.

It was something that my husband and I have talked about for some time.

Now we are in a property that would allow us to actually have poultry

and not disturb our neighbours or break any by-laws.

The property we bought in May has a fenced in area.

Some of you may remember it from my post breaking the news about the new place.

Its been a few months and we really neglected this particular corner.

We had other things going on.

I finally took a crack at it with the lawnmower.

That is saying a lot when you consider wild black raspberry canes and goldenrod had taken over the entire place, standing about waist high!

The entirely fenced space is just perfect now!

I even found an old sink (that matches our clawfoot tub used for gardening) buried!

One of the previous owners apparently had rabbits.

The old structures are still present.

Old and dilapitated.

Rotting and foul.

The fencing needs some attention.

In some areas, the nearby trees have grown right around the fence!

Our plan is to research all winter about what kinds of chickens, what housing is needed, how to design it and built it.  We will be saving all winter to be able to feed these animals and what will be required for care.

There is a nice introductory chapter in The Backyard Homestead about chickens along with a simple design for a coop.  Fingers crossed and come next year we'll finally be protein producers!

So this recipe post is in honour of people who raise their own chickens!!!

Here's to years of omlettes and quiches!

Here's to roasten chickens all winter long!

After all that mowing, I was tired, sweaty and hungry.

I made a quick salad and ate it on the back porch, observing all that I had done.

Feeling quite proud of the progress I had made.

Next step will be to have the husband clear out the dead trees and chop them up for winter wood burning in our fireplace.

For the salad, I mixed up some baby spinach, boston lettuce (that a friend gave us), baby pear tomatoes (from nana), some white onion and cucumbers.  I hard boiled an egg and sliced it up fine.  I also made a quick mustard vinegrette.

Dijon Mustard Vinegrette:

glob of oil

splat of white vinegar

a few drops of lemon juice

squirt of grainy dijon mustard

1 small pressed clove of garlic

fresh ground salt & black pepper

Substitutions:

- If you use dandelion greens or garlic mustard greens, omit the black pepper and lessen the dijon mustard

-If you use purslane, add more lemon juice

-you can also add chopped up bacon or ham

And don't forget to check out my all my recipes on facebook...I've been posting them there all summer long...

My facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Small-Purse-Big-Garden/248329288518059

My facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/161202447273633/

Helping out helps everyone...

I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned this before...but we don't really have a full garden this year.

In the meantime, we are committed to helping out my mother in law with her garden!

She just lives around the corner, so its not an inconvenient endeavour.

I have to say, it's great to get my hands back in the dirt and taking care of blooming plants.

She planted cabbages, herbs, carrots, beets, beans, peas, pumpkins and cukes.

There are also tomatoes of various varieties.

Our mother in law is a busy lady and always has loads of stuff on the go.

She returns the favour by offering up some of the surplus veggies as well as bringing us the odd bucket of compost!

Owen checked to make sure the apple trees are still strong...

Helping out has so many benefits:

-healthy outdoor exercise!  (my legs are killing me)

-aiding another's desire to grow their own food is never a bad thing.

-pooling your resources is a wise endeavour.

-if you don't want to dig up your own property but still want home grown organic foods, helping someone else could supply you with that extra food!

-make a deal with your gardening neighbours, food for work!

-building relationships with your gardening buddies.

-takes the load off of someone who is busy.

-builds good karma!

and last but not least...you can still get the opportunity to get in the garden...even if it isn't yours!!!

A Hearty Home Cooked Meal....

I have been away for a week and all I could think about was my garden.  Ok, I did miss the family and the hubbie too.  I was surprised to see the garden as well as Owen had grown visably!  I walked around the garden in the evenings this weekend and gandered at the of the things that had started to peter out...and some other things that are just coming into their perfectly ripened selfs.  

We celebrated being together and the wonderful summer weather with a feast!

Everything we ate came from our garden....except for the chicken.  My husband took the opportunity to remind me, we could have those too in our backyard.  

    



BBQ Roasted Chicken

I grabbed a local chicken and my hubbie spiced it himself.  Paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, S & P, and a dash of coriander before cooking on the BBQ. 



BBQ'd Red Potatoes and a Blooming Onion


Ches chopped some freshly dug potatoes and laced them in olive oil and salt.  Then we grabbed a big white onion and chopped it "most" of the way through.  He added that to the plate which sat on the upper rack of the BBQ.



The complete package



The salad consists of beet greens, washed and rinsed dry, cukes, chopped, red and yellow tomatoes, chopped, and purple peppers, chopped.  A drizzle of home-made balsamic vinegrette on the salad AND the chicken were perfect toppings.  A dollop of butter on the taters and a grind of salt over it all.

YUM!

A low carbon foot print meal that satisfied the whole family.  And boy it's great to be home.