The Driscoll Homestead

Bugs and Toads Galore

2010-08-03T10:36:00.000-05:00

One of Adi's favorite things to do in the summer is collect, raise and eventually release a variety of bugs and the occasional amphibian.

Monarchs are no strangers to our home. We raise many caterpillars each year but it just never seems to get old. Some of them hang around for a little while before flying off and some fly instantly away, but I try to get photos of each one before we release them to their wild journey.

Adilyn found a toad at our friends place in the country and she just had to bring him home. Meet Arani. I have no idea where she got the name, just her vast imagination I suppose.

Arani has been one of the hardest for her to let go. We have this cute pond by our entryway and that is where we released him in hopes that he would stick around and we'd get to see him again. We did see him once but he's been hiding from us since.

One morning we noticed a giant bug on the front door. The light had been left on all night, which I later learned these guys are attracted to. So after a bit of research we learned that what we had on our hands was a Grape Leaf (Grape Vine) Beetle. We kept it for about a week, we had plenty of grape leaves to feed it, but it was just too messy. It pooped a LOT! So we released it on one of our wild grape vines that never produces grapes and haven't seen it since.

I have to get a couple more photos of monarchs in since we put so much time and energy into them. This one hung around for at least half an hour before flying away which was a real treat for Adilyn.

In this photo you can see both a new butterfly and a chrysalis about ready to "hatch" just hours later. We had four in just a few days time. That was a lot of fun!

Spring Hodge Podge

2010-07-30T13:43:00.000-05:00

The spring around here was a hodgepodge of events. Starting up daycare was such a huge challenge that everything else somewhat fell to the back burner. One thing we managed to do was force some tulips to bloom indoors, which was such a big help in early spring to have the brilliant color and sense of hope for spring to come.

One feat I accomplished was my first try at baklava. It's one of my favorite desserts and for some reason I tackled it one day. It was really delicious but I wish I would have shared it with more people. It is so rich and I wanted to eat it all but we just couldn't do it. I hate to say that a couple of pieces even went to waste :( Tisk tisk!

I think this is a really funny ultrasound picture of the baby. I think this one has Cam's nose. Not easy to tell from this picture, but trust me. This ultrasound was a really emotional event for us. It put what few worries we had left about the baby's health to rest and instead of confirming our steadfast belief that that baby is a boy the ultrasound tech surprised us with a prediction that it is a girl! Since our sense and many dreams told us it was a boy we've decided that we will enjoy the mystery and treat the gender of the baby as just that. A mystery.

I've wanted a swing set for years for Adi to play on and the daycare was the straw that broke the cameron's back ;) It has proven to be a must have and I'm so grateful to finally have a play structure in our yard. The kids appreciate it too.

As usual we took our annual hike a couple of blocks over to "Mulberry Trail" and foraged us up some tasty mulberries. The magic may have been lost on Adi this year, though. She's become more like me and examines each bite she take before eating rather than shoving fruit in her mouth as quickly as possible in years past. The wet season had produced more mosquitos than we care to deal with as well so that didn't really help either.

As for our gardens, our poor poor gardens, they've gone mostly unattended. We did start a few plants from seed but I didn't attend to them as I should have and they were started a bit late. We ended up buying several tomato and pepper plants from farmer's market and got those planted, though late. At least we got some stuff planted but it's not what we had hoped for. There's always next year.

Long Time No Post

2010-07-30T11:09:00.000-05:00

Wow, it sure has been a long time since I posted to this blog. So much has happened in the past 6 months that I'm not sure where to begin trying to catch up. I've been working on starting up an in-home daycare business and am currently almost 37 weeks pregnant so between those two things and preparing Adilyn to start Kindergarten in 3 weeks I've been swamped and have hardly had time or energy to post to any of my blogs. I have all my photos archived by date, though, so I should be able to post in chronological order, or at least I'll try.

So one thing that has been a big topic on this blog has been chickens. I can now come clean and confess that we raised 3 laying hens in our urban yard for one year, and this May sent them to live at the farm (they are now going to be a part of a small flock that my dear friends are raising in the country). Above is a picture of our girls as chicks: Anna, Zinnia and Sweet Pea.

We chose to raise the girls in the beginning because we truly believed that we were going to get the backing we needed to change the ordinance in Iowa City quickly and we'd be able to keep them legally. So many things seemed to go wrong and what we hoped would be a quick process turned into a long, drawn out and disappointing experience with local government. I'm still a little scarred from the whole thing. Regardless, we love having our own hens and our neighbors loved them as well. This is where they lived until we enclosed the under side of our deck with lattice to create a larger run and safe place for them.

We were surprised by how attached we got to our girls and equally surprised by the positive responses our neighbors had to them. We did talk to them before getting the chicks, but no one really knew what was in store. It was definitely an experimental year for chicken raising. One of our neighbors went as far as to say he would be willing to stand up and speak in front of city council in support of urban chickens if needed. Wow! That's so awesome :) So this is a pic of our girl Sweet Pea which we lost in April or May, I think. We don't really know what exactly happened, definitely wasn't predators or anything like that. I just found her dead one morning. I suspect she was eating rhubarb leaves which are poisonous, though we don't have any way to know for sure. She is now in heaven squawking away and laying eggs for us ;)

Next is Miss ZinZin. Zinnia was by far the most lovable of the girls. She was very gentle and liked to be held, especially in the cold winter when I would go out and snuggle with her for a few minutes in the morning and just before bed.

And finally Anna. Adilyn was able to hold Anna like a baby and she'd just lay there like that for several minutes, or until I would make Adi put her down. She was a sweet girl too. I understand that she is the more docile chicken on the farm while Zinnia has taken a more dominant and aggressive role which surprises me, but what do I know about chickens?

I find it particularly hard to buy eggs at the grocery store now. I miss my chickens. I miss their eggs. I won't lie, though. They can be a lot of work but I think with a well designed coop and care plan caring for 2 or 3 chickens is really no more challenging than a couple of indoor cats. Really.

So now the effort to get chickens legalized in Iowa City from my perspective is somewhat on hold. I enjoy watching and listening to what Cedar Rapids CLUC is doing, I feel like we can learn a whole lot from them. I understand the ordinance in CR has passed but more work is yet to be done, I don't know the details but am so happy for them!! I've met with someone in our community in hopes of passing the leadership reins on to her and she is excited to take on a lot of what I had been trying to do before my entire life took on some drastic changes. I will help as much as I'm able and still believe that one day urban chickens will be a normal and legal part of life in Iowa City.

Spring Can't Come Soon Enough

2010-01-25T20:27:00.002-06:00

This is our garden. It's all white. It's cold. It's resting, I suppose. It's a good thing that it gets a rest every year, right? Problem is, I'm tired. I want to see some sunshine. I'd like a little less white for a little while, brown would be just fine. I'm not usually one to complain about winter at all, but I have a hankerin' for spring.

So while I wait for the right season to start working outdoors, we'll work on indoor projects. We've already been working hard on getting the house ready for me to do an in-home daycare. I'm getting pretty excited about it. It will be so much fun to get the little ones involved in growing the very food that we will eat and to love and nurture our little piece of earth. Good times ahead. I'll post more photos soon.

A Fresh New Color for the Entry Way

2009-11-19T10:47:00.003-06:00

This is the color we've had our entry way since we moved into our house 5 years ago. Most people pick a color and stick with it for a while, but I, like my mom, prefer to change things up more often than most. So five years into this gold color (which is really nice but "old") we finally decided to get a fresh new look.

So here it is. A fresh wonderful shade of green that makes me smile whenever I see it!

The funny thing is that all of our art had some relation with gold and doesn't really work with the cooler shade of green. So now I'm faced with the challenge of creating new art to decorate our space. A friend of facebook suggested using photos. I love that idea, so I'm now in the process of selecting the photos we'll use and finding creative ways to display them. It's a slow moving process but I have plenty of time since being laid off in October.

Ethical Perspectives on the News

2009-11-08T19:12:00.003-06:00

I recently taped a 30 minute program called Ethical Perspectives on the News. It was a panel discussion on urban chickens moderated by Charlotte Fallon. I was scared out of my gourd that I was going to say something stupid but the other panelists Misha Goodman, IC Animal Control Supervisor and Dr. Richard Pope, Linn County Health Advisor were so down to earth, easy to talk with and very knowledgeable. I felt so blessed and honored to be on the show with them.

So the show aired on KCRG TV9 this morning at 5:00 am. It was supposed to be at 11:30 am but got bumped. I did get up and watched it and recorded it as well. How could I resist? It's the first time I've had a chance to be on TV for any significant amount of time. How fun!

I believe the show will continue to run all this week on the digital channel 9-2 at 7:00 am but I don't know if it will be urban chickens all week or if other topics will rotate in. Either way, the show will be re-run sometime in December at it's regular time slot. I'll post when I find out when that will be for sure.

This was a remarkable experience for me. I really didn't believe I could do it. I was so freakin nervous. With a lot of prayer and confidence that God truly is with me, I went into this thing and came out so glad I did! Not only do I believe others will be educated by this program, but I also learned from Misha and Richard during the taping. Blessed indeed!

City Council Talks Chickens

2009-09-15T21:14:00.004-05:00

After last nights public work session several local newspapers wrote articles about what was said. Rather than rewriting all of that and posting each one individually I'll just make a list of links to go to if interested:

Press-Citizen

Daily Iowan

Gazette

I feel encouraged that four of the seven council members are willing to move forward, and grateful that Amy Correia suggested moving forward with the process which would likely take a year to get through all the necessary departments so that everything will be in order within the one year time line that Misha Goodman suggested to give Animal Control time to work on flood recovery efforts.

Chickens may come to roost in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City

2009-08-27T20:12:00.007-05:00

Posted on Aug 20, 2009 by Cindy Hadish.

Several Rhode Island Red chickens forage Aug. 14 in the yard of Kate and state Sen. Rob Hogg at their home in Cedar Rapids. The chickens are allowed because the property was zoned agricultural. Cedar Rapids and Iowa City groups are proposing ordinances to allow any homeowner to keep chickens within city limits. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

A movement in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids to legalize backyard chickens is taking wing.
Buoyed by the growing popularity of home gardening and local foods, advocates see raising chickens for fresh eggs as a natural progression in the move toward sustainability.

“That’s a huge part of our lives,” Rachel Morey, 34, said of the garden her family tends at their southeast Cedar Rapids home. “Adding chickens to the mix seems like the natural thing to do.”
Morey belongs to a fledgling Cedar Rapids movement called Citizens for Legalization of Urban Chickens, or CLUC, a relatively new group with about 35 members.

They have been in contact with the city zoning department and spoke informally to City Council members. Nothing official has been proposed. Their goal is to have an ordinance change by spring.

Iowa City’s IC Friends of Urban Chickens already has made progress, said Stacey Driscoll, one of the group’s organizers.

Driscoll noted that a petition with 676 signatures was presented to the City Council this summer. The topic will be discussed by the council at a Sept. 14 work session.

Discussion
Legalization of urban chickens will be discussed by the Iowa City Council during a work session at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 14 at City Hall, 410 E. Washington St.On the Net — IC Friends of Urban Chickens: http://iowacityurbanchickens.ning.com/For information about CLUC in Cedar Rapids, e-mail Rachel Morey at: rachel.morey@yahoo.com

As it stands, chickens are considered livestock and cannot be kept within city limits unless a property is zoned agricultural.

Misha Goodman, Iowa City Animal Services director, said proposed revisions would likely limit the number of chickens to five, with no roosters.
Coop requirements, including distance from neighbors’ homes, and licensing also will be considered.

Goodman, who admits to liking chickens but isn’t taking a position on the issue, said she has heard from both sides.

Opponents worry about noise, smell, rodents and chickens on the loose.
“I personally don’t think they’d be any louder than the average dog,” Goodman said.
Sanitation is a concern with any pet, she noted, and an ordinance exists that regulates animals running at large.

Iowa’s largest city already allows backyard chickens. Des Moines residents can have two poultry or fowl, which must be kept in a pen or coop at least 25 feet from a neighboring dwelling. The city also allows up to three potbellied pigs and three pygmy goats.Brendan Owens, 35, a member of the Cedar Rapids group, would like to keep a few chickens at his home.

“I just always had an interest in chickens,” he said. “For me, it’s more of a recreational thing.”
Owens is hoping the endeavor will become an activity to engage his young children. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three girls, ages 5, 2 and a newborn.

Owens sees a common thread among group members, who have substantial vegetable gardens and are interested in raising their own food.

Members have looked at other cities, such as Madison, Wis., New York and Seattle, which allow backyard chickens. In general, complaints are about roosters, which have a habit of crowing early in the morning.

Different breeds of chickens produce different colored eggs in the henhouse of Kate and state Sen. Rob Hogg in Cedar Rapids. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

“We don’t have any interest at all in getting roosters,” Owens said.

Their proposal, he said, will likely set a maximum of six chickens, no roosters, and would provide for licensing.

Kate Hogg raises about 60 chickens on the Cedar Rapids acreage she shares with her husband, state Sen. Rob Hogg. Chickens are allowed because the property was zoned agricultural.
She noted that chickens eat weeds and bugs, and free-range chicken eggs are said to have a higher nutrient content than store-bought eggs.

Urban chickens are not kept in the type of coop that she has, Hogg said. Small versions on wheels are available that can be moved where needed.

CLUC’s Morey cited an additional benefit for gardeners: Chicken manure is high in nitrogen and a great compost addition.

Chickens can eat vegetable scraps and generally lay one egg per day.

“It seems like a slick recycling method,” Morey said.

Caterpillar to Monarch

2009-08-17T10:13:00.005-05:00

Last year Adi had the pleasure of keeping a monarch caterpillar for about 2 days. I was afraid that we would somehow mismanage it so I made her let it go and we never saw it again. Then my friend Sacha told me about how her girls had raised a caterpillar to a chrysalis and then to a butterfly. How cool! If Sacha and her kiddos could do it, we could too :)

So when we found our first monarch caterpillar on the wild milkweed growing in our garden we were quick to take it in. His name was Caterpillery.
The photo below shows three others (George, the big one, Pinky and Linky). Can you see all three? They're in a diagonal line.
After we had Caterpillary for about a week or so and he got nice and fat he attached his butt to the bug hut that had become his home and made himself a chrysalis. I had never seen one up close before, it's stunning. There are little gold specks along the rim at the top and two sets of three along the bottom. It looks like real gold, and is so spectacular! I read online that the metamorphosis usually takes about 14 days. Caterpillary, however, is a rock star caterpillar that had lots of love and made the change in just 9 days ;)It took some time for his (or her?) wings to dry and get strong enough to fly. We had a test run outside but it didn't take long to see that he just wasn't ready yet so we kept him indoors for about 8 more hours so he could gain strength safely.
Here he is checking out a flower from our garden. We released him in the garden when he was finally ready but he immediately flew high up into the walnut tree above. We didn't see where he went from there. I was pleasantly surprised that Adi was perfectly content to let Caterpillary fly free.This has been one of the most rewarding, mysterious, exciting, awe inspiring "science experiments" we've ever done. I feel so blessed to even have the chance to see these changes, and we have several more hungry caterpillars munching on fresh milkweed every day. Currently, George is in his chrysalis and Pinky just made hers this morning. Linky isn't far behind and we have another nearly ready as well. And two nameless babies we just brought in over the weekend. I'm going to have to find a place to harvest milkweed to feed all of our little monarch critters. And I'll do it with pleasure!

Summer Time

2009-07-28T22:03:00.002-05:00

My first baked blueberry pie was a sucess. Adi told me, "Mommy, this is the best pie I've ever tasted!" What a sweetie. It was pretty good, I must admit. The blueberries came from the local pick-your-own farm Orchards on Sand Road.
This year we managed to grow a few decent heads of broccoli. Adi loves to pretend she's a rabbit and nibble on the leaves while I "look the other way" and then I have to wonder who has been eating my broccoli plant. So cute.

I love growing these purple pole beans. Finding the beans to pick is so much easier since they are a different color. They turn green when cooked but are scrumptious. Love em.

For some reason we planted more than one zucchini plant. Gardeners should just know not to do that. It doesn't really freeze very well and unless you eat a ton of zucchini or have a lot of mouths to feed, one plant is enough. Such a prolific producer. Guess I'll have to get creative with new recipes.

It was so much fun to pick ripe apricots from our tree in the front yard. We just planted it last fall so we were really surprised that we got fruit this summer. A pleasant surprise indeed.

2009-06-30T21:54:00.003-05:00

I've definitely been living in chicken land lately, so before I get to that, here's a photo of half of our raised bed gardens. Cam thinks they look great, I think they look like a mess. I don't think I really care for the exact square foot gardening method. One of these years I will find my perfectly artistic gardening style and I'll love it and it will be perfect. I love this too, the learning part and the part where I get to go out in my back yard when I'm hungry and pick something fresh to eat. That's good stuff.

So on Saturday, June 28th we had our screening of Mad City Chickens. We had 35 people come to see the film including city council member Amy Correia. It was so exciting to have even one council member take time out of their day to learn more, I was honored. This photo is of Seth and the film makers Tashai and Robert trying to get the projector set up.

After the film we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to host Tashai and Robert for the night. We enjoyed and incredible dinner of mostly local eats from our CSA: Gooseberry Hill and our own garden. We had so much fun hanging out with Tashai, Robert and our good friend Seth. We were really sad that our dear friend Alicia had to miss the whole thing because she was sick. We missed her a ton but had a really blessed day.

Luckily Alicia was well enough today to come to the city council meeting in which we presented our petition with 676 signatures urging council to consider an ordinance allowing urban chickens. It was a scary experience for me to stand in front of the council and speak, but by the grace of God I did it and they accepted our petition! Next step is showing up at public work sessions to answer questions and concerns about raising hens in city limits, that should happen at the end of July. I'm relieved that the petition is out of our hands now but I know there is still work ahead of us. How do people do this political stuff all the time? It's totally exhausting, but well worth the effort!

Iris Galore

2009-06-04T22:14:00.003-05:00

I love irises. They are one of the flowers that I will never forget from my childhood. For as long as I can remember gardens growing up I can remember irises, I remember stroking the hairy "beard" on the petals, inhaling the grape-like aroma and wishing I could eat them. Yep, I'm the weird one who finds flowers so delectable I long to devour them. Ha!

We've been blessed to have been given several varieties of iris by friends and family. We're not even really sure where they all came from exactly but we really are grateful for them. They look so exotic and the colors are wonderful. Three cheers for irises!!!

Mad City Chickens

2009-06-02T07:37:00.004-05:00

IC Friends of Urban Chickens and Cedar Rapids Chicken Chat groups are bringing the independent film Mad City Chickens to our cities this June. We're really excited that the film makers will be present at each public screening for an educational Q&A session immediately following the film. I love the idea of community coming together and having a forum available for those who have questions and concerns regarding raising chickens in town. I'd like to say that I could answer all of those questions but the truth is that I'm just a novice myself and everything I've learned has been from research, not actual experience.

Witness if you will Gallus Domesticus…the backyard chicken. A mere few pounds of feather, bone, and muscle; a creature regarded by many as a rather humorous, though not so intelligent agent of food production.

And yet make note of a most singular phenomenon now taking shape across suburb and city. From backyard eggs to the family’s new favorite pet, the urban chicken is forging a fresh place in the pecking order of human importance.

Mad City Chickens deftly weaves multiple stories and contextual issues on city chickens and their keepers in a non-linear fashion that one rarely sees in a documentary. From leading experts to urban newbies, experience the humor and heart of what’s fast becoming an international backyard chicken movement.

Iowa City Screening

IC Friends of Urban Chickens and Iowa City Environmental Film Festival presents

Mad City Chickens

Saturday, June 27, 2009

2 p.m screening with film maker Q&A to follow

Robert A Lee Recreation Center

220 S Gilbert St Iowa City (downtown)

http://www.iowacityurbanchickens.ning.com/

Cedar Rapids Screening

Indian Creek Nature Center presents

Mad City ChickensSunday, June 28, 2009

2 p.m. screening with film maker Q&A to follow

Indian Creek Nature Center

6665 Otis Road S.E. 52403

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

For more information about efforts in Cedar Rapids email greenat50@yahoo.com or join Yahoo Group Cedar Rapids Chicken Chat

2009-05-11T21:23:00.002-05:00

I'm into collages right now because I have no time to blog. So here is a collage of some springtime flowers around the Driscoll homestead.
I'm happy to report that Mother's Day this year was the best ever. For many reasons, but one particularly exciting point of interest being that my vegetable garden is now completely planted aside from one 2x8 bed on the south side of the house. I think that will be Adi's special garden this year.

Chicken legalizing efforts are moving along beautifully. I recently met with a group of great folks from the community who are excited to get things moving. We have several events planned, which is why I have very little time to blog about all the other awesome stuff going on around our homestead, such as neighbors directly behind us planting their first garden at that address this year and next door neighbors installing rain barrels! Hurray :)

Hopefully I'll have more time to write about the goings on in chicken world soon - if you are interested in keeping up to date you can sign up for the mailing list on the right side of the page.

Spring Things

2009-04-27T10:22:00.004-05:00

It's always fun to see spring flowers coming into bloom. Though we don't have many spring flowers, I did take a few photos to share. I'm not sure what these first flowers are called. The neighbors have some and we never planted them but more and more show up each spring in our yard. Birds must be dropping seeds or maybe seeds blow over, I don't know. We enjoy them either way.These are crocus flowers, some of the first early spring flowers to bloom. I love them, they're so cute.
And of course forsythia. We enjoy the bright yellow flowers on our forsythia bush every spring. They really are a touch of sunshine on a cloudy day :)
I have more photos coming. The magnolia tree has bloomed and is nearly done. Our apricot tree also had wonderful blossoms that attracted many bees. We've been told that it should be self-fertile so we'll see... And we did finally get a second cherry tree, this one is a black cherry called Stella. It will be a cross-pollinator for our Bing tree in the backyard.

More Chicken Talk

2009-04-17T10:17:00.003-05:00

Photo by Matthew Holst of the Iowa City Press-Citizen printed in the Des Moines Register So cute, Adi kept popping up with chicks that she wanted to show the photographer, too. I'm so glad they chose one of the pics that had her in it too :)

So the word is spreading more and more. I owe a much of that to the local media. I didn't even have to contact them, they've all contacted me and that's a blessing because I'm certainly not an extroverted personality so this aspect has been very helpful.

Yesterday, the Iowa City Press-Citizen printed an opinion article that favored urban chickens and an Iowa City resident, Eric Johnson wrote an opinion letter also in support of chickens in our city. This is so wonderful, I love to see our community coming together like this.

Again, I want to urge people who are interested in raising urban chickens (or just want the right to do so if they choose) to contact city council. You can call our council members, write a letter or send an email. The more correspondence they receive from Iowa City residents (in addition to the petition), the greater our chances of getting chickens allowed in town.

It seems at this point the next steps are strategic ones. I've received several emails from interested residents who are anxious to have an organized effort. Organization is my friend, but I've never organized this type of effort so I'm turning to some pros for pointers and doing lots of research. I'm also adding new links to my sidebar for reference.

DI Opinion Article

2009-04-15T11:18:00.002-05:00

Today I found an opinion article in the Daily Iowan and thought I would post it here.

The article makes mention of Iowa City being a transient community. I agree that the student population is transient, however, I was born and raised in Iowa City and though I haven't lived here my entire life, I do intend to live here for many years to come. An argument based on the transient nature of the university student population creating an atmosphere of abandoned chickens once the academic cycle is complete sounds like a student-centered perspective.

The article also sites:

Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey — who said her grandmother owned chickens — said she was not interested in supporting such a move because supporting local business leads to a more dynamic economy, but she is interested in hearing what others have to say regarding the matter.

I appreciate the fact that our Mayor Regenia Bailey is open to hearing the opinions of the residents. Contrary to the assumption that allowing property owners to raise urban hens would negatively affect local businesses, one must consider the businesses that will be supported as a result: Orscheln Farm & Home sells the chicks, feeders & waterers, chicken feed, heat lamps, etc., other local businesses supply wood, chicken wire, and other supplies for building coops. These local businesses will certainly be well supported.

If a more dynamic economy is what we're looking for, how about local grocers choose to buy and sell eggs from local producers and skip the suppliers that factory farm their chickens in huge chicken houses where the chickens live under constant lighting to produce more eggs, sit in their own poop and never see the light of day only to ship their eggs hundreds of miles to the consumers all for the sake of saving a buck?

That's not really what this is about. People are just afraid of the unknown. It's been a long time since chickens were legally raised in Iowa City's city limits and somehow there are people who feel like their urban lifestyle will be threatened by a few hens next door. If the chickens are well kept, neighbors will have to look for them before noticing they're there. They're less of a nuisance by far than my barking dog in the backyard. But she's legal, and she doesn't even lay eggs for food ;) I should be done now. Ha!

What the cluck?

2009-04-09T08:19:00.001-05:00

Here's the new article in the Daily Iowan - click here

Chicken Excitement

2009-04-08T21:43:00.002-05:00

So there seems to be quite a stir about the petition I started online yesterday. The moment I walked in the door arriving home from work yesterday the phone rang. It was a reporter from one of the local newspapers, The Gazette. He wanted to ask me a few questions about the petition which he had run across on Twitter of all places.

I was anxious to see how soon the article would be printed and much to my surprise it was already online, including a link to the online petition. Click here to see the article. Very exciting. I had no idea that the article was also published in the newspaper (not just online) and learned from my father-in-law who paid $150 to get his mother's obituary on page four, that the article about urban chickens was printed on the front page... for free! Thanks for the guilt trip Mike ;)

This is all moving along at a pace I never could have anticipated. I have to credit answered prayer for that. Cam and I prayed the night before I started the petition that God would give favor to our efforts on the chicken front. And now we not only have a great start on a petition which has only been live for 2 days and already has 226 signatures (minus a chunk of 30 or so false signatures from jokers such as "Cornal Sanders" and "Rainbow Sunshine" who touted comments like, "Finally, I always wanted a big cock!" and "don't stop at chickens, lets legalize hemp for medicinal reasons..." I had to giggle at that once since hemp is not the same thing as it's cousin, mind altering marijuana, but whatever. Some people have nothing better to do.

The next several days are quite busy for us as we attend Grandma Maxine's funeral tomorrow, clean house and prepare for Adi's birthday party on Friday, host the birthday party on Saturday and celebrate Easter on Sunday. And we have another newspaper article to look forward to for tomorrow as well. This one will be in the Daily Iowan, I'll post a link as soon as I see it.

Chickens Not Yet Allowed

2009-04-07T11:18:00.002-05:00

After a bit of research I recently learned that the ordinance for raising chickens within city limits has not yet been passed. With my heart set on raising chicks, I started an online petition which I hope will circulate rather quickly through Iowa City to be able to take it to the City Council and get things moving along. I know talks are in the works, but the citizens in Iowa City can help speed things up by contacting the City Council directly and letting them know that you would like to see the law changed. You can email the entire city council using this a: council@iowa-city.org - Please Note: All correspondence addressed to the entire City Council becomes a permanent public record.

Please consider contacting the City Council and signing the online petition on the right side of this page :) Thanks!

Seedlings and Garden Planning

2009-03-31T07:32:00.003-05:00

I've been anxious to post photos of our seedlings - this first photo is in our kitchen window (photo taken at night). There's a closer photo of the tomatoes on the top left below. Top right has tomato seedlings started 3 weeks ago as well as some herbs and the tall cool looking plant is nasturtium which is an edible flower. Bottom left has onions started from seed (which I honestly don't recommend, I think I'll stick with onion starts in the future) and Brussels sprouts. There's another photo of the tray on the bottom right below as well.
This tray has mostly herbs and flowers - I can't recall exactly what everything is (we've started soooo many plants!) I do know that there are red poppies, broccoli, calendula, bachelor buttons, and basil... surely I'm missing something. These tomatoes were started about 3 weeks ago. I've transplanted a lot of 2" soil blocks into 3.5" recycled plastic pots because Cam was away in Georgia when the time came to transplant them and I had no idea how to build a 4" blocker. My solution was to buy these pots and trays and they're working out really well.

Here are a variety of tomato plants started from seed about 5 weeks ago. These plants are on the top left in the photo above.So these plants are just the beginning. We have two more shelving units in the dining room with four shelves on each occupied by seedlings. It's quite an endeavor.

Now I do have to mention that the garden planning process has been a challenging one as well. I've mostly used an excel file to create a grid (and this works well since we're doing square foot gardening) but being the visual creature that I am I've really enjoyed a website that my friend Kari introduced me to. It's www.growveg.com The site costs I think $25 per year but you can try it out for 30 days for free without giving any billing information (I'm currently taking advantage of the free trial).

Things I like:

The web based application that focuses on organic gardening techniques allows you to easily design your garden and has fun icons to represent the plants you choose to grow including a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. It's a drag and drop system which makes it easy for anyone to use.
Each icon has an option to look at more detailed information about the plant including plant family, soil type, sowing and planting time, frost tolerance, feeding, notes, harvesting, and companion plants.
The design tool includes a plant list of those you have selected to be in your garden with a chart including when to sow indoors, sow outdoors and harvest as well as helpful spacing information.
The site includes grow guides such as: crop rotation, starting a new vegetable plot, companion planting, gardening with children, natural pest control, growing from seed, growing in small spaces, permaculture and so much more!
The founder of the site also keeps an interesting blog with helpful articles.

What I don't like:

not much, it's a pretty cool site but there is just one thing: I wish that I could modify the information for each vegetable to include the specific variety I'm using. I can't currently do that, though could possibly be an upgrade that the site may consider if I ask nicely. After all, I am growing more than a dozen varieties of tomatoes and if I'm planning my garden with this tool I want to be able to plan it quite specifically.

So if you are planning a garden this year, I highly recommend checking out the site. It make garden planning a lot of fun.

A New Love

2009-03-24T13:41:00.008-05:00

Chickens. Not to eat. I don't like to eat chickens at all, though I will eat unfertilized eggs. And to raise chickens... the concept has become somewhat of a small obsession ever since we visited the Farm and Home store (Orscheln) on Sunday afternoon. They had adorable little baby chicks for sale. They were Cornish hens which cost something like $1.58 each, I don't remember the actual cost but I was certainly tempted. Adi was so gentle with them and I have no doubt that she would also adore some family raised chickens.

With a new Iowa City ordinance allowing up to 5 chickens per household (update: I later learned that the ordinance had not yet passed but we're working on it), the idea is gaining more and more attention in my brain. So I've been doing a little research online, and it seems there are plenty of urban folks raising chickens and they are more than happy to share their experience with others.

This one is cool but probably too tall for our sloped back yard. I'd be concerned that it might tip over. I've been searching all over the web for the best designs and I've grown really fond of the portable ark designs.

The Eglu is super cool but also pretty expensive coming in at $495 plus $170 for shipping. That's a hefty price and would take years to recoup the cost. Besides, with a handy hubby like Cam, why not make one of our own and spend the extra cash on some fruit trees/bushes, a rain garden or more raised beds.
I like the idea of a portable chicken coop because of their many benefits. The run (open area) keeps chickens safe from predators (our rascaly dog Ihry and wild raptors), moving the ark every couple of days will minimize or even eliminate odor issues and we won't have to worry about adventurous escapees while we're not in the yard with them. I imagine that we would let them out while we are present to roam the yard freely but they still need fresh air and sunshine to be healthy. I found this image on flickr and it has all the features I'm looking for: raised hen house with open area below for shade, open run for sunshine and fresh air and light weight compact design for easy moving. The only thing I might add is a set of wheels on one end so one person could move it on their own.

One final design that I fell in love with and would imagine having something similar to house hens in the winter months is The Garden Coop designed by a couple in Portland, OR (one of my favorite places to be). I love this simple and beautiful design. I love the clear roof for protection from the elements and allowing sunshine. For a more permanent design I think this one is a winner.Now we're still in the dreaming and researching phase of raising some hens of our own. Next step, talk to the neighbors and make sure they'd be OK with a few hens clucking around next door. Maybe we can bribe them with some eggs :)

First Soil Block Party

2009-02-23T12:19:00.005-06:00

We had been looking forward to our soil block party for so long and it really was a success. We had a total of 18 people including children, so it felt like a full house but everything went so well and I think everyone had a great time. Here is photo of our friend Jordan making some soil blocks.
This is what the blocks look like, Jordan's wife Fran later told me that she thought they looked like brownies ;) They do have a delicious sort of look to them. The soil was made from a mixture of peat moss, mushroom compost, green sand and colloidal phosphate. Cam and Adi mixed the soil in a large plastic tub and then added filtered water to get the moisture level perfect for forming soil blocks.
Our friends Seth and Alicia are total sustainability rock stars (aren't they cute?) They'd probably say they're more like wanna- be's but these two have the heart for it, that's for sure! They were so gracious to share many amazing varieties of seeds with everyone. I don't remember now, but I think I started at least 10 varieties of tomatoes between our own seeds and the seeds other brought. I can't wait to watch our little seedlings grow. It's so incredibly gratifying.
Sacha is enthusiastically seeding her soil blocks while Seth and Alicia work on their own seeding project. It was so much fun to see everyone just digging in and having fun with this whole process. We ended up using the lid of a shoe box size plastic container as a tray for the soil blocks (you can sort of see what the boxes look like in the above picture on the side table to the right, behind Alicia .) Cam had the brilliant idea of using the lid for the blocks and then placing the container over the top to create a mini greenhouse. Then the whole thing should be placed on a low-temp heat mat of some sort to help the seeds germinate properly.Adi was so excited to have this many friends over. I think there were a total of 8 kids. And being that this was the first time Adi had to share her toys with so many others, I can say that I'm totally impressed with her graciousness.Wow, we were so excited that everything went so well. We're anxious for the next party in a couple of weeks to start transplanting. We'll keep the blog updated as our seeds begin to sprout.

Soil Block Party

2009-02-17T08:47:00.002-06:00

We are so excited to get ready for spring planting season. In the past we have used the soil block method which is recommended by Elliot Coleman of the Four Seasons Farm. We love using soil blocks and have always planted way more seeds than what we needed and gave at least half of them away. While it can be fun to give plants away we always had more than we could get rid of which felt like a shame. And in this economy, we're feeling like this year is a great time to empower others by teaching them what (little) we know and do this organic growing stuff in community. We'll make the blocks together, share seeds and get together every couple of weeks to transplant the smaller blocks into the next size up. What a great excuse to get together.

And because I long for organization, I created a social network where we can start discussions, share photos and tips and just continue the community atmosphere in between meetings. If you're interested, check it out: Iowa City Environmental Ministry. In the near future, a house group will be born focusing on our faith response to being stewards of creation. We will pray, discuss and act through this group, engaging in a variety of activities to help others live more environmentally friendly lives. We're really excited about the possibilities.

So Saturday is our first block making party, I will take lots of photos and report back.

Quiche

2009-01-18T16:21:00.004-06:00

I finally made my first home made quiche. I've been wanting to try this for a really long time and just happened to have everything I needed including time and craving. I got the spinach quiche recipe from www.allrecipes.com

So the recipe I used was for a crustless quiche which just didn't seem right to me so I used this recipe for my crust: click here.

As a generalization I long to include more raw foods in my diet but during these cold cold days of winter I keep coming back to hot comfort foods. Hopefully spring will be here soon and I can get back on the raw bandwagon. Until then, I really am enjoying some tasty home cookin.

Winter Grilling

2009-01-13T14:45:00.003-06:00

Cam had a craving for steak so Sunday night we decided to grill. Adi and I shared a small piece of wild caught Alaskan Coho and Cam found an acceptable steak at the co-op. I have to just say that I can't believe how expensive it is to buy responsibly raised animal products. I knew eggs were often double the price, but because we rarely buy meat/fish I was pretty clueless as to the expense. Another good reason to eat a mostly plant based diet.

Due to early sunsets in the winter and a grill that is frozen to it's current location in the back yard, Cam had to improvise and pulled out the good 'ol head light. Our friend Sol would be proud :)

Per Adi's request we enjoyed a candle-lit dinner, though we didn't have enough candles or light to eat that way for long. I kind of like to see what's going in my mouth ;) Sorry the photo is so dark but if you look really closely you can see Adi and I in there.

I'm Posting This on All Three of My Blogs

2009-01-08T08:27:00.002-06:00

John McCabe from Sunfood Living
sent out an email last week about his new book.

Here is what he wrote:

Hello everybody,

After years of work, I have decided to pass over the traditional book
publishing fiasco and to publish my newest book on an
advertiser-supported Web site:
http://www.hempnowbook.com.

People told me, “Oh, you can't do that!”

Yes, I can!

Yes, I did!

Various publishing companies that looked at the manuscript
wanted the book to be shorter, to be focused only on hemp,
and to not contain the “controversial chapters” about the drug war,
political corruption, the prison industry, and corporate greed.

To their proposals to cut my book in half, I say: No, thanks!
That would truly be a book to nowhere.

By publishing the book for free on the Web,
people all over the planet can educate themselves on the topic.
People all over the planet have already been looking at
my other Web sites (http://www.sunfoodliving.com,
and http://www.sunfoodtraveler.com - which is going to be overhauled).
This new site will give them more of my writing to read.

I didn't write the book for money. I wrote it for the environment,
for wildlife, for family farmers, for the health of humanity,
and for a more sustainable world.

According to the authorities and industry leaders who
read through the manuscript as I was writing it,
it is the most up-to-date and complete book on the history,
laws, and uses of hemp, the world's most useful plant.

Even though the U.S. is the world's number one
importer of hemp products, U.S. farmers are not
allowed to grow it, but Canadian farmers are growing
many thousands of acres of it, and they are doing so
largely to supply hemp products for the U.S. market.
Read my book and understand why the U.S. government
refuses to allow family farmers to grow hemp.

My new book has been endorsed by
The Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance;
The Hemp Lobby;
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML);
Oregon NORML;
and The Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform.

Also, the people at http://www.VoteHemp.com read
through the manuscript, provided me with information for the book,
and connected me with people to interview.

After years of writing, rewriting, researching, toiling,
interviewing, editing, and more researching and writing and rewriting…

As of today, December 30, 2008…

The complete manuscript of
HEMP: WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW
can be read for free by accessing:
http://www.hempnowbook.com

"Hemp: What The World Needs Now" is the first book to be formulated for this strain of Web delivery by a new company. If you know of any other authors who want to publish their books in the same advertiser-supported format, feel free to contact Sam Estrin: Sam@Odinmetatech.com.

Meanwhile, spread the word about http://www.hempnowbook.com.
Link it to your Web sites.

Educate yourself about hemp and what it can do
to create a more sustainable culture.

Add raw hemp seed powder and raw hemp oil to your
daily diet, and feel your health improve.

And, have a great New Year!

Rock on!

John McCabe

I Smell Spring

2009-01-06T13:39:00.006-06:00

Well, not literally, but I do think I'm beginning to sense an itch to begin planning for it. Cam and I are looking at new ways to maximize our organic gardening potential. We have friends who have stepped into the concept of square foot gardening and we felt inspired to do the same. So, with the cash Grandma gave me for Christmas I bought a couple of gardening books. First, of course, was All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.

The concept is pretty simple: build raised beds (4x4 is recommended), fill with Mel's favorite soil mix, create a grid and grow different crops in each square in the garden... I love this for so many reasons.

First, I need things to be visually appealing. We already have several raised beds and need only to add vermiculite to them for better drainage. I was really disappointed in the last growing season because my gardens didn't look pretty to me. I hope this method will remedy that problem for me. Next, I love the idea of growing a variety of crops in each bed. This is perfect for insect control, nutrient sharing, and weed control as well since the plants will be so close together. Hopefully maintenance time will be cut way down and we can reap the rewards of a bountiful harvest with plenty to store and share.

The next book is The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. This couple has been urban homesteading in Silver Lake/Echo Park (part of Los Angeles) for a number of years and they are actually one of our original inspirations for working toward an urban homestead of our own. I haven't had a chance to look at this one much but these guys are so inspirational.

One of our favorite project ideas is to build our own outdoor cob oven as seen on the Path to Freedom website - if you're anything like me you're probably wondering what the heck that is. Click on the link to find out. We dream of communal baking days in which friends and family can come use the oven to bake breads and make pizzas. My mouth is already watering.

So the next several weeks are going to be "zone" planning and soon we'll be making soil blocks for starting seeds early. I'm so anxious to get started.

Special note: I've heard through the grapevine that Iowa City has recently passed an ordinance allowing up to 4 chickens to be raised within city limits. I don't know the specifics yet or if we'll do it but I love the freedom of knowing that I can legally raise hens for our personal egg consumption... I just don't know what we would do with the chickens when they stop laying eggs. I can't stand the thought of killing it to eat, ugh. We might have to wait a year or two before we take that one on. But the second someone tells me I can have a pygmy goat I'm totally getting one!

Field Roast Grain Meat

2008-12-15T09:14:00.003-06:00

I've been a vegetarian for about 12 years now. Wow, that's a long time. Anyway, a friend and fellow veggie recently told us about Field Roast Grain Meat. Now that it is available at our local Co-op we decided to give it a try. Here is what the Smoked Apple Sage sausage looked like when we diagonally sliced and pan fried it in our beloved cast iron skillet:
I then added it to some penne pasta (Adi wanted semolina instead of whole wheat this time. I try to use ww but sometimes I have to please my princess). Some gardeners blend veggies, Earth Balance Buttery Spread and Herbamare finished off this super simple and VERY satisfying vegan meal.
Then Cam made this awesome black eyed pea and "sausage" stew. Wow, it was soooo good! It's nice to have a tofu alternative .Field Roast Grain Meat gets two thumbs up x 3 from the Driscoll household. Yum!

Brewing Beer?

2008-12-11T11:15:00.002-06:00

So this activity didn't actually happen in the Driscoll home, it was a fun thing for Cam to participate in during our Thanksgiving trip out to Oregon where my brother Shane and his family live. Here's a photo of the beautiful nugget hops used for brewing. I don't know much about the hops but they smelled sweet and delicious and I learned that they grow well in Zone 5 which might be a fun experiment next year.

This is what Shane's garage brewing station looks like.
Hops are a cookin'
There are a lot of benefits to brewing your own beer: reducing waste by recycling bottles is just one of them. Here, Cam gladly shows off the beer tree where the pressure washed bottles are waiting to be refilled with a batch that Shane started previous to our arrival.
Finally, Cam had a lot of fun bottling the batch that was ready. I think he really enjoyed the whole process and realized how easy it really is. This could become a new homestead hobby, especially if we can grow the ingredients that go into it. Hmmmmm...

And We Have Fire

2008-11-10T14:07:00.002-06:00

The temps dropped from their ridiculously wonderful highs to seasonally appropriate November chill. We had snow this weekend and with the snow..... fire! After some pretty laborious work, Cam got the chimney liner installed and the wood burning insert all hooked up and ready to go. It was a great weekend for burning wood.

The insert is now "seasoned" which means that the paint has been heated to the appropriate temp several times in order to properly harden it for it's role of heat resistance. This thing puts out some serious heat! It's almost intolerable to be in the room unless you strip down to shorts and a tank top. We have a cold air return in the room but there is a chair in front of it. We thought that shouldn't matter much but it seems to be creating a problem for circulating the heat.

The fireplace is on the lower level of our house and we need to get the heat upstairs so we're trying to think of different ways to accomplish that and maintain the family room as a functional room and not the roasting room! we're considering one of those cute little mini ceiling fans at the top of the stairway to suck some of the hot air up but aren't sure we want to spend the cash on it. Something will need to be done if we're going to use this thing for supplemental heat this winter.

Random Fall Photos

2008-11-05T14:30:00.003-06:00

Here's our guard dog Ihry. She's cute and has a snaggle tooth under bite. I believe she's half Pekinese and half miniature American Eskimo so we call her a Pekimo.
Cam still hasn't decided on a chainsaw and hasn't really had time to go out to cut wood anyway so we found a dude on www.craigslist.com to deliver some wood to us. I couldn't resist taking a photo of Cam's handy work building a wood rack out of stuff we had laying around.
The neighbors have this beautiful tree so I took a few photos of it with different settings on the camera, always fun to play with.

Pumpkin Season

2008-10-29T08:56:00.003-05:00

Our family has a tradition of carving pumpkins with Nana and Papa the week before Halloween. My favorite part of this tradition is roasting the pumpkin seeds that I meticulously sort from the pumpkin guts as the rest of the family scrapes and clears the squashy innards. I like to add a bit of olive oil, a bit of real butter and a bit of seasoned salt. Delicious!

Here are the scary jack-o-lanterns we created. This first one is my random creation. I just wanted to do something different.
This one is by Papa. Adi thought it looked like a cat.
And Nana goes for the traditional style. Gotta have a simple traditional jack-o-lantern!

Fireplace Insert

2008-10-29T08:34:00.003-05:00

In preparation for a cold winter we invested in a fireplace insert. Our existing fireplace was the kind that burned wood and didn't have a blower therefore rather than providing heat it sucked all the heat from our home and shot it out the chimney. Not very energy efficient. Last year we put an electric insert in the fireplace for my viewing pleasure, but after a 3 day power outage last winter we decided it was time to invest in something that will keep us warm whether we have electricity or not.
So here it is, in all it's glory. Except that it's not actually installed yet in this photo. We have a bit of work to do to make room for the chimney liner to get through the preexisting damper but hopefully we'll have this beauty up and running soon. I'm so excited for cozy evenings by the fire sipping on cocoa, or wine, or beer, or whatever strikes our fancy that night!

Big Berkey

2008-10-29T07:39:00.003-05:00

After seeing a super cool water filter that our friends bought over the summer from www.jamesfilter.com we took the plunge and invested in a Berkey of our own.

The filtration technology used in this puppy is out of this world. It is used in 3rd world countries to filter nasty pathogen laden waters into pure drinking water! We could go down to the creek and gather water to filter through this thing if we wanted (or more likely needed) to. There is a travel size Berkey that is recommended for frequent travelers or camping. Seriously, you can use lake water or whatever in this thing and it will make it not only drinkable but probably safer than tap water!

We were using a Brita filter pitcher previously and this thing, no surprise, kicks Brita's butt. The model we purchased, the Big Berkey, has a 2.5 gallon storage tank on the bottom so as long as we remember to keep adding to the upper tank it's tough to run out of filtered water.

There is another model available which is made from plastic and the only downfall of buying the stainless steel model is that we can't see when we need to add more water without checking. I do prefer steel over plastic, however, so the benefit of superior quality far outweighs convenience and cost differential for us.

So if you are in the market for a new water filter, I highly recommend the Berkey. It is absolutely worth spending a little extra money up front considering the filters last two years as opposed to replacing Brita filters every two or three months... not to mention far better filtering technology and wide range of uses.

Keeping Up

2008-10-01T13:22:00.004-05:00

It seems like once fall hits it's so hard to keep up with harvest time. I've frozen a gazillion beans and peppers, dehydrated some tomatoes, and my latest project has been peaches. We didn't grow them but they are local. We got many many pounds of peaches from Cam's Grandparents in Williamsburg, IA. The challenge has been figuring out what to do with them before the fruit flies (or gnats or whatever you call them) drive us crazy!!
So as you can see I've been doing some jam up - I found this great product called Ponoma's Universal Pectin that allows me to use only fruit because it doesn't rely on high sugar content for gelling. Instead, I used fruit juice concentrate (frozen) as the sweetener. That allowed me to play around a little bit with a few flavors. All have a peach base but the juices I used (from left to right) are: Raspberry Cocktail, Apple, and Grape. They're all tasty and I won't have to buy jam for a VERY long time.
Another thing I tried was peach granola. I have a wonderful raw granola recipe that uses mostly apples which I replaced with peaches this time and instead of pineapple I used a couple of apples and the result is a tasty, crunchy treat. I really love the way it turned out!!

I've also made some peach roll ups and plan to make even more. In addition, I'll juice some peaches and freeze the juice in Ball freezer jars. I'll probably dehydrate the pulp or use it in more granola. I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Strawberry Popcorn

2008-09-12T21:08:00.000-05:00

I harvested most of our Strawberry Popcorn and dried it in the dehydrator. Isn't it beautiful? We didn't grow much but it sure was fun harvesting what we did.

I've been eating a high raw (90-99%) diet for the last 43ish days now and aside from taking communion at church this has been my only exception. I only ate about 1/4 cup popped corn but it was delightful. I had no idea I would appreciate it so much. I'm glad I didn't eat any more than I did. I didn't really need to. It makes me think about those gigantor buckets of popcorn at the movie theaters packed overflowing with hot buttered popcorn. I used to eat and eat and eat at that crap. Gross. It's not good to eat just because something tastes good and it happens to be right in front of your face! Sheesh.

Anyway, the garden is a mess. I haven't done any weeding (though the weeds aren't really that bad). I like garden structures and things that keep plants from flailing across the ground or growing every which way (natural as it is). Next year we will have to be more mindful of supporting our plants and pairing crops more appropriately (the popcorn and tomatillos together was just a bad call). It's a learning experience. So blessed to have it in my back yard!

Wish We Had More Tomatoes

2008-09-03T22:07:00.000-05:00

Here is a colorful plateful of most of the varieties we planted this year. I don't know the names for all of them - all of the cherry tomatoes came up as volunteers as they have for the past several years, which I'm grateful for because we didn't plant our cherry tomatoes in time this year and they are Adi's favorite!

So we have these wonderful low acid big yellow tomatoes that seem to ripen one at a time. Then there's the Black from Tula (the burgundy colored one) which usually ripens two at a time. I believe the smaller red tomato is from a Silvery Fir plant. Our Arkansas Traveler plants look healthy but the tomatoes aren't ripe yet. This season has been pretty lame for our tomato crop considering the number of plants we have. Our biggest yield has been from the Green Sausage tomatoes so I've dried most of those to use in recipes throughout the winter and spring.

I don't know if a tomatillo is officially a tomato or not but they are actually doing quite well - I'd say better than our other tomatoes. They make really nice green salsa and we're really happy with the experience of growing them. The plants grew much larger than we anticipated and they shared a small raised bed with our Strawberry Popcorn (which I can't wait to try after we figure out how to dry it and whatever else we need to do) so next year tomatillos will get much more support and won't be paired with popcorn!

Curbside Garden

2008-08-26T22:03:00.002-05:00

All of these plants were given to us and with a lack of space or brain power to choose locations I made use of some space next to our 3rd car parking pad. No, we don't have a third car. It usually parks soil and mulch to be honest (much to the dismay of our very tidy neighbors!)

So this this lambs ear. I probably won't know the names of anything else, only who it came from. This is from Grandma Marsha. This plant is from our tidy neighbors. I love them. They are fabulous, and the fact that they put up with us and our "hill billy" ways is phenomenal!
This cutie is from Grandma Marsha as well. Maybe she can comment and tell us what it is. If not, that's OK too. No pressure ;)
Another from Grandma Marsha.
And yet another Grandma Marsha plant. IT looks like this one might bloom soon. I got all of them in the ground so late that I'm surprised they all survived. Seriously.
Now I just have to find a home for my apricot tree (which I mistakenly thought was self-pollination and therefore must now purchase another next year just like I have to get another cherry tree. 2 apricot trees and 2 cherry trees. Sheesh, my yard isn't that big. Something else might have to go...

Flower Garden

2008-08-04T16:02:00.000-05:00

There's no shortage of bees around our place. I love them.

Flower Garden

Black-eyed Susans

Yellow Day Lily

Flowers are Bloomin'

2008-08-04T15:55:00.000-05:00

These are Blue Balloon Flowers. Adi believes that fairies live inside. Actually she believes fairies live inside all flowers ;)

Stargazer Lilies are so wonderfully fragrant. Love them!!

This is an Asian Lily - not sure the exact variety.

This day lily is hosting a bumble bee instead of a fairy.

Lots of Garden Photos

2008-08-01T12:39:00.000-05:00

Adi is making some stew:

Onions are poking their cute little heads out of the ground. I think they want me to pull them up :)

Aren't tomatillos cool? I don't know when to pick them, though. I should look that up...

Just some of the bounty.

Photos

2008-08-01T12:34:00.000-05:00

These are a few tomatoes ripening on a silvery fir tomato plant

The beans are doing great but the structure we have makes it really difficult to pick them and I end up with rash on my arms every time!

Had to get some carrots out of the ground. They are so sweet and wonderful. Adi enjoyed eating one withing minutes of being harvested (I had to wash it first ;)

The peppers are getting bigger. Cam thinks these are Sunny Orange variety (or something like that.)

More Photos

2008-08-01T12:28:00.001-05:00

We've learned that the green sausage tomatoes turn sort of orangey with green stripes when they are ready to be picked. We have so many of these that we have already stared to dehydrate some for later use. The flavor is very mild.

Some silk on a teeny ear of strawberry popcorn.

We were really disappointed in the broccoli at first but now that the plants are getting bigger we have some hope. I think we planted the seeds too late.

Same thing with the cabbage which shares a bed with the broccoli.

Lilies and More

2008-07-20T13:34:00.001-05:00

As the Garden Grows

2008-07-06T09:19:00.002-05:00

It's so much fun to see the garden growing as the season progresses. At the bottom of the hill is a huge row of "ditch lilies" that are in bloom. It's a beautiful site, but I think we'll be digging them up and giving them away on freecycle to make way for a water garden. The area is usually really sloshy and Cam was inspired by a talk he attended on permaculture last weekend.

The Green Sausage variety tomatoes are cute little bush plants. We don't really know how to tell when they're ripe since the color will remain green so we'll just have to go by feel.

Next, the tomatillos are growing like crazy. And our first ever successful attempt at growing corn - we're really excited about the popcorn. Cam started the plants from seed in soil blocks and that seems to have made all the difference for us.

And finally, the pole beans are climbing the structures Cam built so quickly. They're so cool! I can't believe how quickly they grow. Hopefully the structures will make it easy to find and harvest the beans when it's time. Adi loves to eat them right off the vine. Mmmm.

Finally!

2008-07-01T10:13:00.004-05:00

We finally got our blueberry bushes planted! We decided to place them in the front yard near the property line so they could get plenty of sun. There is so little traffic on our street that we aren't really concerned about the pollution factor so much and we're hoping our neighbors continue their no-spray ways. And the cherry tree found its home in the back yard at the corner of Adi's play area. Hopefully that will be a fun place for it to grow.

And we finally clipped the scapes off of our garlic! Now we're just trying to figure out how to use them.
And I couldn't resist getting a photo of this day lily that lives on the south side of our home. It gets very little attention and almost no traffic. I almost didn't even notice it was there. We'll have to find a better home for it some time in the near future.

Coming Along

2008-06-24T07:09:00.006-05:00

All of our gardens are really starting to take off. It's fun to see the brown soil mature into lush green vegetation throughout the season. Here are some pole beans starting to climb a bamboo and chicken wire structure Cam built:

On the left are tomatillos and the right is strawberry popcorn.

One of the 3 beds of tomatoes. I can tell that the plant on the front right is Silvery Fir but I don't know about the others. We need to work on a better labeling system in the seeding phase.

This bed has 8 Green Sausage tomato plants! We've never grown Green Sausage variety before. I sure hope we like them...

And the third bed most likely has Arkansas Traveler and Black from Tula.

Bell peppers:

Our garlic has scapes that we need to snip. I understand that we can use the scapes in our cooking (or un-cooking) for a nice mild garlic flavor. I've had them cooked before but never raw so that might be a fun experiment. I imagine a nice raw scape cracker...

This is our root veggie bed. From left to right: carrots, potatoes, onions and radishes.

Lettuce Galore

2008-06-17T08:41:00.002-05:00

Every year we grow lettuce galore. We love lettuce. It's wonderful. This year we made it even more convenient by growing it in a raised bed right outside our kitchen door. It doesn't get any more convenient than that - aside from growing it in the kitchen!!

So why is it that we always end up with way more lettuce than we use? Is it because we don't eat as much as we should? Is it because we're too lazy to take 3 steps outside, pick some, wash it and prepare it? Is it because we have so many beautiful, delicious varieties we just can't choose?

I'm banking on the first two. We just don't eat as much lettuce as we should. When we should be creating fabulous home-grown salads we reach for whatever is in arms reach. So now I'm struggling to find ways that we can use this amazing lettuce before it ends up destined for the compost!! I'm thinking green smoothies and of course, more salads!!

Raw Strawberry Pie!

2008-06-16T10:13:00.002-05:00

We've had plenty of fresh strawberries from our little patch and Adi suggested the other day that we make some strawberry pies! I thought that was a fabulous idea, and even better, why not make it raw!! So I already had some date/nut balls on hand - all ingredients are raw:

Date/Nut Balls

1 cup soaked hazelnuts (or whatever kind you like - soaked overnight and rinsed)
7 dates
1 tsp agave nectar
pinch salt
dried coconut flakes

Process dates and nuts in food processor, add agave and pinch of salt. Shape 'dough' into balls and roll in coconut flakes.

Adi likes Strawberry Shortcake so I used her cupcake liners placed in a cupcake tin and pressed one nut/date ball in the bottom of each one to create a crust.

Divide sliced strawberries among the cupcake liners and add agar agar syrup ---

Agar Agar Syrup

1/4 cup hot water (not boiling)
1 tsp agar agar powder (agar agar is like gelatin but made from seaweed and is not 100% raw but a great vegan substitute for recipes needing a bit of form)
2 Tbsp agave nectar

Chill in the refrigerator until set and enjoy! We did :)

Compost It!

2008-06-16T09:56:00.003-05:00

When we moved into this house almost 4 years ago we had a move in bonus of a ready built compost bin in the corner of our yard. We were pretty excited about it until the previous owners let it be known to us that they had for some number of years thrown their guinea pig's soiled wood chips in there. I wasn't so sure what that would mean for growing veggies - I've heard of horse poo being mixed with saw dust to create an "organic" fertilizer but didn't really know how I felt about guinea pig poo being in my garden. We decided that existing compost bin would be used to compost leaves and weeds and we purchased this compost tumbler for faster composting results for our garden made from our kitchen scraps:I have to admit that using our composter gives me a profound sense of freedom in many different ways:

NOTHING from our vegetarian kitchen is EVER wasted!
The food that isn't used to nourish our bodies from our home ends up nourishing our soil :)
Our garbage output is significantly reduced by recycling our food "waste".
We don't have to buy any kind of fertilizer because we make it ourselves.
Composting makes us feel green and feeling green makes us happy :D

Rain Barrels

2008-06-16T09:46:00.006-05:00

We currently have two rain barrels which we use almost exclusively to water our planters, baskets, and gardens throughout the growing season. This year has been exceptional as rainfall has been so overabundant to the point of catastrophic flooding in our community and many others in Iowa. So at this point, Cam has moved the downspout away from the barrels since haven't yet figured out an overflow system.

Each barrel has a valve near the bottom to hook up a hose (we are using a dual output extension so we can have a hose hooked up all the time and also get water directly from the other spout for watering cans, etc.) Rather than allowing the water to simply spill over the top and go where ever it will, we want to come up with an overflow system which we can control the direction of the water using a hose or tubing...

So What Are We Growing?

2008-06-10T09:45:00.004-05:00

Many friends and family have asked us, "so what are you growing this year?" Well, a lot! Here's a list from memory(so I may have missed a few things):

Trees/Bushes

Walnut
Mulberry
Cherry (still needs to be planted)
Blueberry (still needs to be planted)

Perennials

Strawberries
Grapes
Raspberries
Asparagus (still needs to be planted)

Annuals/Veggies

Tomatoes (3 4x8 beds full - green sausage, black from Tula, Arkansas traveler, silvery fern, cherry and maybe others that I can't remember )
Strawberry Popcorn (the kernels are red)
Tomatillos (those green Mexican tomatoes)
Peppers (bell & jalapeno)
Carrots
Potatoes
Radishes
Onions
Green/String/Pole/Bush Beans
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Cabbage
Broccoli
Garlic
Quinoa
Spinach
Lettuce
Watermelon
Cantaloupe

Herbs

Sage
Dill
Basil
Lavender
Thyme

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure Cam has started some other seeds that I haven't seen yet. This season is a bit weird with the weather staying cool so late into the spring and all of the crazy rain/flooding we've been seeing (especially this week). We're expecting flood waters to rise above the levels of the 1993 flood so a lot of farms, not to mention homes and businesses are either flooded or in danger of flooding this week. Ugh, makes me so glad we live where we do and that we are gardening in raised beds so our plants have the advantage of somewhat better drainage!

Here's a flood photo - you can see City Park under water behind the Iowa City sign.

Go to http://www.press-citizen.com/ to see more...

Raised Bed Gardens

2008-06-02T13:04:00.003-05:00

In the beginning, we faced a challenge in our yard - OK, several challenges but on of the biggest being that our back yard is not flat but sloped. This is nice for a variety of reasons, but when it comes to gardening, we felt a real need to do so on a level surface. Our solution was to terrace the slope using raised garden beds.

Another challenge is the big walnut tree in the middle of the yard creating shade and causing trouble with tomatoes (a natural chemical that the roots of walnut trees give off causes blithe in tomato plants which is no good at all!) Planting the tomatoes in fresh soil in raised beds should help us avoid the blithe issue, but shade remains... we just deal with it - the tree does, after all, provide lots of wild fun by supporting our daughter's tire swing.

We added a total of six new raised beds this year. I would have liked more but we're trying to take things slow and not spend all of our cash in one project. Holding off on the additional beds allowed us to purchase a cherry tree and 3 blueberry bushes which we have yet to plant.

We (mostly I) love the feeling of organization that the raised beds provide. Having a visually appealing property is really important to me, but I want it to be functional as well. For us, raised beds are the best of both worlds and we're absolutely loving them so far!!

April Showers Bring May...

2008-06-02T13:02:00.001-05:00

First Signs of Spring

2008-06-02T12:36:00.006-05:00

I managed to snap a quick shot of some forsythia before all of the bright yellow flowers were gone. Daffodils are one of the earliest signs of spring...

And magnolias!

Lots and lots of magnolias.

Catching Up

2008-06-02T12:32:00.002-05:00

I've posted several slide shows on my other blog which feel like they need to be here as well... so please forgive the duplicates for those who read both blogs...

Spring Seeding

2008-06-02T12:31:00.001-05:00

Enough For Its Own Blog

2008-05-30T10:52:00.003-05:00

Well, gardening has become a big enough part of our lives to dedicate a separate blogging effort to our urban homestead wanna-be mentality. Cam and I have dreamed of having huge fruitful gardens since we met 10 years ago and wherever we've lived we have always grown something.

Here we are in 2008, adding on to what we did last year and in the process transforming the space we once called our yard. We're a work in progress with big dreams and big ideas. One step at a time we are moving closer and closer to what a local group has not only described but also claimed their namesake as: food not lawns.

A lot of people inspire us. As we learn more, we continually find more and more people with similar goals. People who we pay close attention to in hopes of absorbing some of their knowledge, experience and expertise. We're looking forward to recording all of this right here.