New Adventures in Gardening for Me

I don't know anyone who enjoys pulling weeds. Do you?

In the orchard area, we simply lay down cardboard, rough compost, and straw/hay every fall. We are still conditioning the soil in that area from hard, compacted, clay soil. We sow orchard grass seeds in the spring, and deer forage in the fall. We've tilled it all under once. Each year the weeds we don't want grow less and less as the plants we do want produces more and chokes out the weeds. Our orchard area is 1/4 acre of terraced hillside dropping a total of 300 ft. There's no way I'm hand pilling unwanted weeds there.

My 2020 garden experiment

In our summer garden in front of our house, we are trying something new I saw on YouTube, landscape fabric. I know we've tried it before with little to no success, but we'll be trying a different tactic, as Living Traditions homestead does. To try it out, I bought a heavy duty landscape fabric like they did. It's 4'x50' and much heavier than we've used before. After Dave's grandson tilled the garden, we let the rains settle the soil a bit. We laid two 25' rows of the weed cloth down. We pinned it down about every  8"-12" and overlapped the edges about 6," I burned holes in the fabric every 2' for the transplants to go in. So it looks like this. The black area is the landscape fabric. I'll put 6 cattle panels anchored by T-posts between the two rows of tomatoes to support them. I'll also be putting a drip hose line between the rows and on the outside edges, so 3 lines total.

For the other two rows of Roma tomatoes, I'll do it the same way I always have. If this works, I'll buy more landscape fabric for the other areas of the garden. This should make it easier to work smarter, not harder in the future. None of us are getting any younger. FYI (for your information), I rotate where I plant my vegetables every two years. I planted my tomatoes where my 3 sisters row is in 2018. I planted them a foot apart and that was way too close together so this year I'm giving them 2'. Even after all these years of organic gardening, I'm still trying new things to make it better, There's no absolutely right way to garden. You can read dozens of books but until you get your hands dirty, get out there, and do it, you'll never find what works for you. You take the basic principle, tweak it, and make it your own.

The only bit of bad news is that our last remaining angora died. I believe the same parasite that killed Buddy Baby was the reason. So we are out of the rabbit fiber business. There goes my instantly usuable rabbit poo tea and time release fertilizer. Well, we've got plenty of chicken manure. It'll just have to be composted first.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Cooking with Chef Jo: Storing Herbs and Spices

It's no huge secret when buying herbs and spices that it's cheaper in bulk. Sunday, I wrote about the herbs I harvested. Average lifespan of store bought herbs and spices is six months to a year. For every six months after that it loses flavor or the essential oils within the herb or spice dissipates. Store bought herbs and spices can add up fast in hard earned money. Is it any wonder I grow as many as I can. But even with home grown herbs and spice, I face the same problem, or do I?

That's a big, fat no. How many of you keep your herbs and spices in clear plastic or glass containers? How about next to the stove where you use them most? These are two big no-nos. Heat and light are the biggest reasons for herbs and spices to have short usable life spans. If you read the instructions on the label it says, "store in a cool, dark space." Most people overlook this.

So Jo, how do you store your herbs and spices? With homegrown herbs and spices, it's the same way I'm outlining here.

• I leave them whole until I'm ready to use them.
• I'll grind or chop the herbs in advance by a week, depending on the menu. I'll put them in these cute, little spice jars in a rack.
  
• I'll only pull as much from long term storage to last for a month at a time. During a heavy canning season when I canning meals like chili, spaghetti sauce, or when I make a lot of dry seasonings, etc I pull a pound or more of each.

But how do you preserve them?

• After dehydrating them, I'll package them whole in small to medium (lunch bag size), kraft paper bags. Bought in bulk 1000 for $26. No more than 4 ozs per bag.
  
• On each bag I'll write what it is, weight, and the date (month & year harvested)
• I fold and seal the opening with freezer tape.
  
• Place each bag into a vacuum sealer bag. (I buy big, multiple rolls off ebay)
  
• I'll seal them with my vacuum sealer.
• The vacuum sealed bags are then placed in a used tin container (like what popcorn or snack come in at Christmas).
• Each time I add bags, I'll place it in the bottom of the tin so it's a FIFO (First In First Out) use.
• On the outside of the tin I'll write on a piece of duct tape what's in there and dates (from to) so I always grab the appropriate tin.
• Once the tin is full, I'll duct tape around the lid to further make it air tight and pest proof, and start a new tin.

I've done herbs and spices this way for ten years. Not that I've stored herbs that long. The oldest herbs and spices I've used that I've stored this way has been 5 years without severe flavor or texture impact.

Even when I buy bulk sized packages of herbs and spices (I can't grow everything), I do this too. I can afford to pay the store prices for a few that I buy, because of the majority of herbs that I do grow. Let's face it. I paid for these herbs and spices. I want them to flavor your foods for as long as possible. Processing my herbs and spices this way, is more labor intensive, but it'll save me money in the long run in not having to replace them as often.

Now that makes sense and cents.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

6 Reasons Why We Use Elevated Raised Beds For Herbs

We plant our harvesting herbs in raised beds. That is with the exception of our spearmint,  peppermint, rosemary and a few others.You may wonder why.

• We are two sexagenarian (60-ish) women- Herbs like oregano, thyme and most herbs grow low to the ground barely a foot to two foot tall. That's a lot of bending in caring for and harvesting herbs. For me, it poses a fall hazard with half my body paralyzed.

• Pallets are an easy to come by, a reusable commodity, and they are free. We recycle old feed sacks to line the inside to hold the soil. 

• Weed infestation- Granted birds or wind will carry weed seed into the raised beds but not near as much as if they were planted in the ground.

•  Contains growth- Many herbs are spreading plants. They'll self propagate either through root spread or by stem. Oregano is a bad herb for this. Using elevated raised beds contains this growth. If the herb goes to seed, then the reseeding is mostly within the bed.

• We use the area underneath each elevated raised area to compost. It's an unseen composter.  Since we are strictly organic in our growing practices, we use a lot of compost. No unsightly piles or bins. It's all hidden under the elevated raised beds.

• By unseen composting under the elevated raised bed, we are able to plant these beds sooner because of the warmth of the composting process under the beds. Perennial herbs come back sooner after the winter thaw.

For us, elevated raised beds takes a lot of the work out of growing herbs. You may wonder why we just don't go ahead and plant all of our herbs this way. Well, there's a method to our cockeyed thinking.

Rosemary, when left to it's own nature, is a woody herb. It will form a hedge over five foot tall over years. It also self propagates by stems touching the soil. In this way it could be invasive, but controllable. At my old homestead, it was my front hedge.


Mint on the other hand is wildly invasive. But mints also deter rats and mice. That's why we plant it around our house and storeroom building.  It will grow two feet high so harvesting isn't that much of an issue for my five foot frame.

We grow feverfew the same way. In case you didn't know, Feverfew helps with headaches and migraines. According to WebMD...
"Feverfew is a plant that is native to Asia Minor and the Balkans, but is now common throughout the world. Feverfew leaves are normally dried for use in medicine. Fresh leaves and extracts are also used.

People take feverfew by mouth for the prevention and treatment of migraine headaches.

People also take feverfew by mouth for fever, irregular menstrual periods, arthritis, a skin disorder called psoriasis, allergies, asthma, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), dizziness, and nausea and vomiting.

Some people take feverfew by mouth for difficulty getting pregnant or fathering a child (infertility). It is also taken by mouth for "tired blood" (anemia), cancer, common cold, earache, liver disease, prevention of miscarriage, muscular tension, bone disorders, swollen feet, diarrhea, upset stomach, and intestinal gas.

Feverfew is sometimes applied directly to the gums for toothaches or to the skin to kill germs. It is also applied to the skin for itching and to prevent insect bites.

Some people also use feverfew as a general stimulant and for intestinal parasites."

All I know is it's a handy herb to have on hand. We plant this herb around our Camillas. It does double duty as a pretty border plant and a medicinal one. It also makes a tasty tea.

The other herb that is strongly invasive and we do not contain is comfrey. But plant it exclusively in our orchard. While semi contained by the tiers, we don't actively contain it. Look up the health benefits and warnings.


The last herb we let naturalize is lemon grass. It's clumping nature and mosquito repelling property are a welcome addition to wherever it grows. It's delicious when added to chicken or fish dishes. Look up theh medicinal uses and warnings.

Y'all have a blessed day!