Breaking Rules

I am a first born child to two first born children; I can't help follow rules and lists.  When I started gardening, every book suggested growing herbs.  Every list of herbs had oregano near the top.  I was familiar with dried oregano; it was a staple in my cooking.

I bought a plant—smaller than my hot chocolate mug, and planted it in my small herb bed.  I was happy, the oregano was happy.

Very happy the next year.

Very, very happy the next year.

Very, very, very happy the next year.

The oregano took over the small herb bed.  Eventually in my reading, I found out that oregano is a cousin to mint, a voracious, invasive plant.  Oregano, the Octopus.

We had a spot of grass in the front yard where the grass was unhappy, sparse, and weedy.  We replaced ugly grass with oregano.  Beautiful oregano!  The foliage is green from early spring until covered by snow.  Stalks grow a foot or two high, covered with small green leaves and topped by delicate purple flowers.  Better than grass, it doesn't need to be mowed, crowds out weeds, needs no fertilizer, attracts bees, and can be eaten.

Drying oregano is easy.  Cut off the tall stalks in handfuls, rinse, hang or spread to dry.  Commercial operations crush leaves and stems, but I slide the dry leaves and flowers off the stems, into a container.  Last year, I harvested gallons of oregano.

To use fresh oregano, strip the leaves off and chop to release aroma.  In recipes, use three times the amount of fresh oregano when the recipe calls for dry oregano.

At first I was miffed that oregano broke my orderly herb garden plan.  But I take a deep breath (mmm, fresh pizza), and remind myself that sometimes rules can be broken.

To See a Man About a Horse

"To see a man about a horse," was my mother's answer to, "Where are we going?"

For a year, I have been asking myself, "Where is the EL Herb Farm going?"  I haven't found a horse, but I have found some answers.

I enjoy growing herbs, and I want to share that enjoyment with others—in three ways.

Inspire

Create an enjoyable blog

Showcase herbs in my yard (tours available)

Supplier

Sell a wide variety of fresh and dried herbs, grown locally, in environmentally-friendly packaging for neighbors and farmer's markets

Share easily propagated small plants

Collaborator

Teach how to grow, use, and preserve herbs

Yard visits to suggest, plan, or create herb beds for others

 How can I convert you to herbs?

Earth Day Guilt

Earth Day starts off energizing, but then becomes a guilt trip. 

I feel reverent thinking about the planet God made for us. 

So, I want to minimize my carbon footprint. 

But I really, really like hot showers and my refrigerator and lights in the dark.  I love how my thermostat keeps me warm in the cold and cold in the warm.  I want to recycle, but somehow the pile of good intentions in the garage gets dumped in the big black can because our city does not have hip blue cans for recycling.  And I changed all of the light bulbs last year.

Do you feel like me?  Want to "save the world" without changing too much of your lifestyle?

I have a solution, but you have to promise to read until I say STOP..

I believe that the best solutions are the easiest solutions--easy enough for a child to understand and complete.  So I call my solution to Earth Day Guilt "Child Compost".

The goal of "Child Compost" is for every house to compost all of their vegetable and fruit waste all year long.

Steps:

Put bucket in kitchen to collect scraps

Set up 2 compost bins outside (see below for cheap bins).  Ideal places are near a back door, next to the garbage can, near a hose faucet.

Whenever the bucket is full, dump scraps into the bin.

Rinse out the bucket.  (If convenient, dump the water on the pile.)

When one compost bin is full, start filling the second bin.

When both bins are full (hopefully after a year or more), take the first bin off, pile the finished compost in garden, behind shrubs, under trees, where grass refuses to grow.  If there are large chunks, still recognizable, put them back in the bin when you set it up in the same place.

If there are a LOT of large chunks, you are probably eating very healthy with lots of fruits and vegetables!  Way to go!  Just add another bin so that the compost has more time to decompose.

Pat yourself on the back.

Questions:

Why are compost bins so expensive?

$100 compost bins can make compost faster and look stylish, but it does seem like a lot of money for garbage.  I have used poultry or rabbit fencing and stakes with good success and much less cost.  Prices and directions are below.

Why two compost bins?

Decomposition takes time.  After you fill a bin, it takes a year or so for everything to decompose.  During that time, you need another bin to fill up.  If the first bin isn't decomposed when the second bin is full, you might think about adding a third bin.

Do I have to chop, turn, water, add anything or take the temperature of compost?

Kitchen scraps will decompose naturally if given enough time.  Your goal is to keep potentially good things out of the landfill; the small amount of compost you generate is the earth's thank you.  Other compost-making techniques and tools are for gardeners who go through compost like teenage boys go through food, and they're just as impatient.

Will it smell?

A little.  Rotting food can have a vinegar-type smell for periods, but since the bin will be outside, rain, wind, the neighbor's barbeque, and the smell of fresh cut grass make it minimal.

Will it attract animals?

From experience, dogs, cats, and skunks have not disturbed my compost; they are only attracted to animal products (bones, meat).  However, I have not tried composting in a fenced yard with a bored dog.

Will it attract flies or bugs?

Yes, but that's a good thing!  Flies, bugs, and earthworms are in your yard already; it will only look like more because they are concentrated around the compost bin, helping everything decompose.  The only time they can be a nuisance is the annual turning out of the bin.

Will it look like a pile of garbage?

Yes.  Using a bin rather than a pile keeps it looking neat.  Rabbit fencing with small holes keeps pieces from falling out.  A plastic tarp or sheet on the top keeps the wind from blowing things around; weight with a brick.  Planting a nasturtium or sweet pea at the base makes it decorative.  But don't hide your good deeds too much!

What can I add to the compost bin?

Peelings, ends, tops, bad spots, and spoiled vegetables or fruits.  Coffee grounds and tea bags.  Egg shells.  Plain frozen or cooked fruits or vegetables.

What should I NOT add to the compost bin?

Any vegetable or fruit that has butter, syrups, dressings, dips, oils, breading or other ingredients; these will attract animals.

Grass clippings, weeds, garden waste, leaves and other organic material can be added to the bins, but you will need bigger bins and more time for everything to decompose.  It can start to take over…or you can bring those items over to my compost bins.

Why doesn't the compost bin ever get full?

Rain, snow, and decomposition naturally condense the pile by decreasing the air spaces between the kitchen scraps.  When the first bin is full, start filling the second bin and let the first bin decompose. 

How will I know when the compost is "done"?

When the compost volume shrinks to ½ or less of the bin, and you can no longer recognize pieces of food (below the top few inches), you can use it.  Decomposition starts from the bottom, so put the top few inches and any extra large pieces into the second compost bin.  If its not as small and crumbly as you want, put it all back in and wait another season.

What can I do with the compost when its done?

Spread it anywhere there is something growing—around any plant, raked on top of grass, in a hole before you plant something new.  The small bin will create about one cubic foot of compost or the size of one 25 pound bag of flour.

Can I compost in the winter?

Yes!  If you have a tarp or cloth on top of the pile, take it off for the winter so you can easily dump kitchen scraps.

STOP READING—unless I've convinced you to try composting.  If you're ready to buy or make a compost bin, information is below.

Rabbit Fencing Compost Bin Prices

$10 for 1 small compost bin, 3 feet high, 1.5 feet diameter, and posts

$15 for 1 large compost bin, 3 feet high, 3 feet diameter, and posts

Rabbit Fencing Compost Bin Directions

Cut 10 foot length of conduit into 3 equal pieces (about 33 inches)

Cut 36 inch rabbit or poultry fencing into 5 foot or 10 foot lengths

Form fencing into a circle and join "seam" with wire

Stand fencing in position and push or pound conduit lengths inside the circle

Start filling compost bin with kitchen scraps.

To keep this simple, DO NOT:

Read anything else about compost.

Turn the compost.

Buy anything to add to the compost.

Check the temperature of the compost.

Add yard waste to the compost.

Get impatient to use the compost.

Not Worth the Money

Appearance is a low priority for me when cooking, so a parsley garnish is not worth my money.

I tried dried parsley for recipes which called for parsley in the dish.  Honestly, I could hardly taste it.  Definitely not worth the money.

After a rainy Saturday with PBS cooking programs, I decided to try parsley one more time—fresh. 

I'm funny though.  One dollar for a bunch of parsley from the grocery store was still too steep.  So, I spent a couple dollars on a small plant from the garden store and a few weeks from my time account.

 The recipe called for a handful of fresh parsley, minced.

Wow.  First, the aroma of parsley while mincing!  

Second, the color parsley adds just before serving!

Third, the vibrant parsley flavor!

Grocery store parsley is still not worth my money because it is so easy to grow!  Once planted, it needs a regular amount of water to stay green, ready to harvest all season long.   

If it goes to seed—meaning spiky flower stalks with umbrella type seed heads, that eventually fall on the ground—you've just planted next year's supply of parsley.   

Talk about a great return on investment.

Elephant Stew

How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  But who wants to eat an elephant?  Does it taste good?  How is elephant meat preserved, because I can't eat that much?

Starting an herb garden feels like eating an elephant.  So, let's change the analogy.

How do you make stew?

1.         Choose Recipe.  Choose one herb.  Suggestions for beginners are chives, oregano, parsley, or thyme.

2.         Find Pot.  Find a place for your one herb, about 1 foot square (in the ground or pot), easy to water.  Dig the dirt or use potting soil.

3.         Fill Pot.  Find your herb from a neighbor or store and plant it.

4.         Simmer.  Depending on the size of plant you started with, you can start harvesting in a few weeks.

5.         Taste.  Every time you pass your herb, taste.  Imagine how you can use it this week.

6.         Eat!  Cut off a few stems or a handful, wash, and eat.

7.         Wash Dishes.  If one pot can make a meal, then one growing herb makes an herb garden!

8.         Enjoy leftovers.  The easiest herbs are perennials.  The harvest increases each year, but the labor remains small—tearing off dead growth in spring, regular water, and cutting back when it flowers.

Starving

Some things taste better when you're hungry.  I don't mean poor, starving, emaciated, near to death hungry.  But craving something specific.  Like fresh greens, when the garden is buried under a foot of snow and the lettuce in the grocery store looks like it was grown under a foot of snow.

That's when sorrel tastes the best.  The leaves look somewhat like spinach—green, triangular, smooth.  It has a bit more bite than lettuce.  Bite isn't bad, unless that's the only green in your salad.  If sorrel is more than one third of the salad, my family gets finicky.  Cutting it into small pieces—say, quarter inch strips—helps, so no one gets a big bite of tanginess at once.  Thick salad dressings also help.

Moderation is easier said than done, since sorrel is one of the first plants to green up in the garden, and that's the secret of sorrel.

It’s a hardy, vigorous perennial.  If you start with a hand-sized clump, within a year you'll have a foot clump, and within 3 years, a two foot size clump.  That isn't bad, if you've planned ahead.  The leaves grow almost two feet tall, with flower stalks growing another foot.  The flowers.  May I suggest that you cut or break off the flower stalks unless you want a sorrel meadow?  But in March, that may not be such a bad idea.

What is the E L for?

Remember 20?  The dawn of opportunity.  Infinite options in a college catalog.  Promise of romance.  Reservoirs of energy.

My grandfather turned 20 in 1929.  No, he did not lose

One Inch Green Spear Defeats Winter

Green, spicy, chewy.  With one bite, an inch-long green spear defeats the winter doldrums.  But perhaps I should start at the beginning.  This year, the groundhog saw his shadow—what?  Start farther back?  All right.

A decade ago, Grandma gave me