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COLUMN: Organics: It's a Balance Thing
Esmaa Self is working on a book about bountiful-yet-thrifty-living. She and
her husband, William, enjoy a breathtaking view of a fertile
from their passive solar 'hippie palace' which sports a wrap-around, two-story
greenhouse. The bulk of their unfenced property is covered in rocks, shrubs
and cactus ... and they would not have it any other way.
...........................................................
Old Maxims for a
ideas to help you grow the good stuff
by Esmaa Self
Late autumn is a treasured time for this organic gardener: the summer harvest
is in, my pantry and freezer are stocked with home grown goodness, and most of
my winter crops are already growing well. It's a time to catch my breath while
I reflect on summer's lessons and project to the winter harvest.
Perhaps you've heard of King Solomon's lament: "There's nothing new under the
sun." He was right, yet he's wrong. Organic gardening precepts are older than
Solomon's temple, but the pesticide-laden version of gardening is much, much
newer.
In the past decade, organic produce has moved from the farmers' market to
mainstream grocery aisles. Organic farmers have realized a lovely return for
their toil. However, given the economic difficulty of our current times,
organics are aging in the bins while consumers opt for less precious foods.
The familiar adage is: 'In with the old, out with the new,' but I say, "Out
with the new, in with the old!" for the old way was to grow your own.
My father practiced organic gardening. He preached earth-friendly, low-cost,
be-there-now methods learned from his mother. Make that Mother Earth News, but
in any case, thanks to him, I've been growing vegetables without Monsanto or
Dow's help as long as I've been gardening, which is to say a rather long time.
These days I live with my husband on a few acres and grow herbs, fruit,
vegetables and flowers.
The garden doesn't always progress as planned, but the personal, financial and
ecological benefits of organic gardening more than make up for mishaps.
For instance, last year we were gifted by a volunteer pumpkin plant. Research
revealed the vine to be a rare Blue Lakota, which was cultivated in North
America long before
out-produced the pie variety we'd sown and inspired us to ship saved seeds to
the Lakota people. I haven't received a report on their growing season, but my
dreams have the tribe poised to enter the organic heirloom pumpkin seed
market.
The success of last year's surprise pumpkin had me visiting harvest festivals.
I snapped up unusual varieties for the seeds, with the hope that this year I'd
be able to fill our rural neighborhood with great pumpkin cheer.
That didn't happen.
Of the new varieties gathered, the white pumpkin died because I sprained my
ankle and couldn't negotiate our hillside terrace garden. A couple of extra
hot days without a doting gardener to see it needed extra water, and ...
scorch. The beautifully striped tiger pumpkin, too, almost died in that hot
spell, but I was able to save this vine; it gave me five small pumpkins for my
effort. The orange mini produced a dozen tennis-ball-size pumpkins and I'm
happy to say I've used them to brighten our home, but my hoped-for decorative
pumpkin bounty did not come to fruition. Even our pie pumpkins had a stingy
year, leaving me with half my usual supply. The good news is that our
butternut squash over-produced, a fact that has already afforded us
scrumptious butternut-pumpkin pies.
So this year rather than a pantry shelf burgeoning with homemade pumpkin
butter, I've filled it with grape, peach, wild plum and rose hip/habanero
jams. As goes the saying, variety is the spice of life.
If the first rule of contentment is to be happy with what you have, the first
rule of gardening is: Be there.
I enjoy cruising through our greenhouse each morning at first light. It's a
time to greet the day and handpick a few bugs off my green babies. I toss
those multi-legged offenders into an old coffee container. Eventually they'll
be offered to our chickens as a treat.
The second rule of gardening: Bloom where you are planted.
For decades I gardened in northern
growing days per year. Here in northern
season is about 122 days and requires an environs-appropriate approach.
The third rule of gardening: Dream big.
In approximately 3,200 square feet of inside and outside garden, we produce
four varieties of pumpkin, four varieties of squash, three varieties of onion,
garlic, four basil varieties, rosemary, oregano, fennel, chard, turnips,
beets, two varieties of green beans, three varieties of bell peppers, seven
hot pepper cultivars, ginger, myriad types of lettuce, bok choy, Chinese
cabbage, broccoli, rapini, four tomato varieties, three potato varieties, two
corn varieties, culinary sage, sunflowers, arugula, three varieties of
spinach, apples, grapes, pears, wild plums, parsley, mint, lavender,
nasturtium and many flowers.
This season I'm trying my hand at growing salsify, which has an edible root,
and quinoa, the nutritional powerhouse grain from
be cooked much like potatoes and is considered a fine substitute. So far, the
salsify hasn't germinated well, but that's okay, I'll try again in another
greenhouse location. If that doesn't work, I'll hold the project for the
spring terrace garden planting. The quinoa patch is a going concern and I'm
already researching recipes. (quinoa stuffed bell peppers, quinoa shrimp
croquettes, quinoa pancakes ... yum!)
The fourth rule of gardening: All of life is an experiment!
In a burst of energy leading to a big idea, I talked my husband into helping
me lug 50 gallon planters of mature
jalapeno pepper plants plus one large potted Roma tomato up to the greenhouse
mezzanine. The mezzanine is perhaps just an overgrown cat walk, but since it
runs the length of the structure at the ten foot level, it can be thought of
as the second story, no matter that it is a mere four feet wide. The air up
there has not dipped below 42 degrees in the time we've lived on this
property, so I am hoping to keep the aforementioned summer crops happy enough
to produce through the winter.
The fifth rule of organic gardening: Keep your eyes on the goal.
You can treat the Earth well and eat well too. If you grow from seed and cook
from scratch you can reduce your carbon footprint.
A fabulous benefit of homegrown organic vegetables has to do with the
household budget. Organics are costly at the grocery store not because organic
gardening requires pricey equipment or great skill, but because it requires
time (see the first rule). Yet you can have radishes ready to eat in three
weeks; baby lettuce in eight weeks and chives in three months. Each of these
vegetables will germinate in a warm spot (say, over your water heater or
refrigerator) and will grow inside near a sunny window, so you don't have to
wait for the thaw.
You can take steps to live greener and healthier --wherever you are-- today.
You'll need to take baby steps, for perhaps you haven't yet built a lean-to
greenhouse on the south side of your home and maybe you live where the ground
will be frozen until April. However, not only can you grow select edibles
inside, you can engage the spring garden planning process immediately. With
that in mind, here are a few ideas to inspire your actions to a healthier
world and more independent you.
To begin your indoor garden:
+ Locate a seed swap, or buy radish, lettuce and chive seeds online.
+ Buy good, clean soil.
+ Cut cardboard milk containers in half, creating a planter. Be sure to punch
a few drain holes in the bottom then set the planter on a drip catcher. If you
like, cover the sides with fabric or your children's artwork.
+ Fill the container with soil; sow seed; keep moist until seeds germinate.
(Radishes often germinate within 48 hours!)
+ Keep the container warm and provide plenty of light.
+ Enjoy!
Ideas for your spring garden:
+ Plant a portion of your yard with edibles (fruit trees, a grape arbor,
herbs, veggies).
+ Take a plot in your community garden.
+ Coordinate your planting with a friend or neighbor so you grow different
crops; plan to share.
+ Organize or join a seed swap.
+ Join a Community Supported Ag farm.
+ No yard? Plant vegetables in pots on your veranda or patio. (tomatoes,
onions, garlic, basil, fennel and lettuce are all container garden
possibilities)
+ Reduce, reuse, recycle. Cleaned, plastic cartons can be fashioned into
scoops and used to move soil. Coffee cans with small holes punched in them
make good watering implements for tender plant starts, as do used one-gallon
orange juice cartons. Sheets of packing foam can be used to shield plants from
unsettled early season weather, and later, high summer temperatures.
+ Visit your local library's gardening shelf for oodles of stimulating ideas.
Oh, and one more maxim: If at first, you don't succeed, try, try, try again!
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Where to start:
I'm unfamiliar with seed companies outside of America, but here are my
preferred 'local' sources for organic and heirloom seeds:
Territorial Seed Company
PO Box 158, Cottage Grove, OR. 97424
Tel: (800) 626-0866
http://www.territorialseed.com
Email: info@territorialseed.com
High Altitude Gardens and Seed Trust
PO Box 596, Cornville, AZ. 86325
http://www.seedstrust.com/has/highaltitudeseeds.html
Email: support3@seedstrust.com
Tel: (928) 649-3315
Seeds of Change
PO Box 15700, Santa Fe, N.M. 87592
http://www.seedsofchange.com
Email: gardener@seedsofchange.com
Tel: (888) 762-7333
Botanical Interests, Inc.
660 Compton St, Broomfield, CO. 80020
Tel: (303) 464-6464
http://www.botanicalinterests.com
I've also been known to visit local nurseries at summer's end to help rid them
of unsold packets of organic seeds. Naturally, they are on sale then.
all article copyrights belong to Esmaa Self
