Garden Binder: Resources

In early June last year, I was well into the planting season. Unfortunately, this year I have given up my little community plot in favour of bigger and better future gardens in Manitoba. I probably won't have much by way of garden this season but I do hope to plant a few kale plants.

I have been keeping a fairly detailed garden binder over the last few years and have found the information collected to be invaluable for future planning as well as memory keeping about gardens past.

General Notes
The first section of my garden binder is lined paper where I write general dated notes that include everything such as work done, seeds planted, watering dates, emerging problems and when plants first emerge. This section sees the most action during the height of the summer.

Garden Planning
The season's pre-planning occurs in this section through the use of detailed seasonal to-do lists, an outline of the garden layout on graph paper, as well as a paper copy of West Coast Seeds Vegetable Planting chart. Last year I included a detailed planting chart to help me sort out specific details for various indoor sowing and direct sowing dates for various types of plants.

Harvest
This section includes a Harvest Tracker, a chart of first and last kale harvests throughout my gardening history, and an Individual Seed/Plant informational sheet.

Projects
This section consists of printed information for various garden projects, recipes to try this season, and building projects.

Seed Lists
I maintain three separate seed lists. One is a wish list for future gardening years where I note new and interesting plants as well as unique varietals I want to try. I also maintain a list of seeds purchased this year to note company and price. The third list is a seed inventory list that includes leftover purchased seeds, trades, as well as saved seeds.

Filet Crochet Bookmarks

I love purchasing craft supplies at thrift stores but this means that I usually have spools of crochet cotton with an unknown amount of yardage left. I recently discovered the meditative nature of filet crochet and have been making simple geometric patterns for use as bookmarks or ribbons.

Repeat pattern until finished piece measures 7-9 inches for bookmarks and anywhere from 12-52 inches for ribbon - depending on use.

Chain 21.

‘x’ - ‘closed’ filet crochet stitch

‘   ‘ - ‘open’ filet crochet stitch

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The Prairie Farmer

In the months after the purchase of our agricultural land we began to pay attention to agricultural issues as presented in social media and main stream media as they pertain to our future in Manitoba. There really seemed to be a vacancy in clear, concise, coverage of agricultural issues that presented the issues and concerns while remaining professional in nature. Rather than simply complain about this lack of journalistic coverage I decided to do something about it and The Prairie Farmer was born.

The Prairie Farmer is an annual print journal that discusses innovative agricultural ideas and techniques for backyard producers, market gardeners and mid-scale farmers through a balanced journalistic approach that focuses on prairie agricultural issues and is written by women of the Canadian prairies.

The Prairie Farmer accepts submissions from women (cisgender and transgender), transgender men, Two-Spirit and non-binary people of all backgrounds and identities. We prioritise submissions about experiences relating to the Canadian Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba). Submissions of an academic, experimental, instructive, personal and/or artistic nature are welcome.

Please check out theprairiefarmer.blogspot.ca for more information!

Indoor Worm Composting: Lessons From the First Year

I have been exploring the wonderful world of vermicompost for the last year (see Indoor Worm Composting and Indoor Worm Composting: Update!)

Record Keeping
About half way through the year I started keeping detailed notes on my worm bins. I note the amount and type of food fed, vermicompost and worm harvest, and problems as they arise and resolve. This helped me see why my second bin developed a fruit fly infestation - I was basically overfeeding them which was apparent when reviewing the records. Accurate and detailed record keeping is a vital skill and habit to develop.   

Learning Curve
Any new skill set comes with challenges and the learning curve for composting worms was a bit steep for me - but I think I have a handle on it currently. Understanding that every practical, homestead, and livestock related skill will have a steep learning curve will allow me to set up future projects for success from the start by implementing changes slowly and scaling production at a reasonable rate. Recognising  that livestock projects have steep learning curves will also help me avoid disappointment when it's not all easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy and hopefully help keep livestock safe during that initial learning phase.

Hive Mind
I have two favourite Facebook groups (Vermicomposting and Red Worm Composting) and I love pursuing the posts there for personal education (for example, someone was experimenting with an all cardboard worm bin) as well as adding my 0.02 cents when it comes to helping out newbies. There is always more to learn and my favourite Facebook groups encourage that type of open communication, learning and polite discourse. 

Hopefully these skills will allow me to scale up production in the near future. My system has to get larger to fully incorporate the food scrapes that we produce. Additionally I have some ideas to allow for a small stream of income to emerge. To that end I recently made a Beginner's Guide to Worm Composting zine.

Indoor Worm Composting: Update!

I've had my Indoor Worm Composting system since February (see first post here) and over the summer I switched from the 5 gallon bucket system to the more common rubbermaid tote system. I found that the materials became dense in the bucket system and I found it difficult to regulate feeding. The tote system seems to have a better surface area ratio which makes the upkeep simpler. 

Once I made the switch to totes, my worm population really took off so I started a second bin (which is currently stacked in my kitchen!) I find it difficult to remove finished vermicompost from an active bin as the uneaten food, bedding, and finished compost is mixed together so I plan on only feeding the new bin. This should allow the worms in the first bin to eat through all available food making harvesting vermicompost easier.   

I have also started a more detailed record keeping system. Each bin has a sheet that details the Bin #, date started, and the initial worm count/type. This sheet also has a place to record the date and amount of vermicompost removed as well as the date and amount of worms removed. A second sheet tracks the inputs for each bin by recording the date, bin #, type and amount of food, as well as type and amount of bedding. I hope this record keeping system will improve my worm wrangling abilities! 

Seed Swapping Basics

After last week's seed saving post, you might come to the realisation that saving seeds often results in a plethora of seeds of the same varietal. This is where the joys of seed swapping enter the equation!

I attended a local seed swap and while packaging seeds for the exchange, discovered that I was having trouble actually selecting seeds to swap. First off, I need back-ups! And then I need back-ups for my back-ups! But more than that I enjoy knowing where my little plant babies are going! I did manage to send a few seeds out into the world (and got a few back!)

#packed #seeds for #seedswap tomorrow #yellowknife #communitygardenAGM Anyone else have a hard time getting rid of seeds? I need a back-up and back-ups for my back-ups. I worked hard to save them! I want to know whose gunna grow my babies!

A post shared by Sarah (@sarahehoffman) on Apr 4, 2017 at 5:04pm PDT

One of the biggest things to know when attending a local seed swap is... Don't be afraid to take seeds! The folks that offered them up for swap want them to go to good gardens - where they will be used!

While I have been attending local seed swaps for many years, this is the first year that I have experimented with online seed swapping. It is fun to negotiate for the specific types of seeds you want but the postage is an added expense. Free Seed Swap is the facebook group I most frequently use.

Seed Saving Basics

Seed saving is the process of reserving and/or collecting plant seeds from the current year's crop to plant as next season's crops. Before the advent of corporate control and the widespread practice of purchasing seeds, seed saving was a vital and necessary part of the agricultural process.

#january is the month of #seed #saving #cleaning #flower #nasturtium

A post shared by Sarah (@sarahehoffman) on Jan 10, 2017 at 12:30pm PST

There are many reasons why seed saving remains an important practice. Seed saving reduces dependency on large corporations and creates agricultural systems which are low input. This is important for cultural independence and to create sustainable agricultural practices. The concept of saving seeds is firmly entrenched in the ideas surrounding food sovereignty, which is the right of people to define their own food systems. Seed saving promotes agricultural biodiversity because seed saving eventually creates strains of plants that are well-suited to your land's individual climate. Seed saving practices can help farmers find varieties of crops that grow better in different regions which becomes especially important when combating the effects of climate change. Seed saving is also an easy, fun, educational and experimental way of being personally connected to the larger seasonal growing cycles.

I managed to save seeds from Nasturtium flowers as well as plenty of bean seeds. These plants are easy as all you have to do is wait! When plants are dried and dead pick off the viable seeds and save in a cool dry place for the next season.

#beans #garden2016 #dried #seed #seedsaving

A post shared by Sarah (@sarahehoffman) on Sep 22, 2016 at 12:58pm PDT