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Chicken Victory

When I first read in March 2008 of a proposal by one of our city council members to allow residents to keep chickens, I thought it was a very exciting idea that really had no chance of flying. We live in a small town, granted, but a town nonetheless. I wondered if the council member wasn’t pandering to a small constituency (which included us!) for a bit of publicity, knowing that the old ordinance outlawing chickens could not be defeated.
Continued…

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By 20 Minute Jan – June 11, 2008

Old Gloves, New Gloves

I don’t mind getting my hands dirty, but I somehow manage to love my gardening gloves to death. As I donned my several-year-old gloves in the early spring, the cuffs gave way, rendering the gloves quite uncomfortable. Dirt would fall inside as I worked, making my hands itch. Also, pulling them off and on — a pretty constant activity for having to get my hair out of my eyes, or rub my nose, or perform some delicate task– became nearly impossible. My gloves weren’t so useful anymore.


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By 20 Minute Jan – June 9, 2008

Weeding Another Person’s Garden

When another local gardener, posted an offer of some unusual tomato seedlings on our local ecycling list, I jumped at the chance to get some. A little research only spurred my interest in growing some Principe Borghese drying tomatoes, especially when they were described with words like “heirloom” and “famous for drying“. She mentioned that she has had success with drying them in a solar oven and I thought– Bingo! That’s just what we need! The combination of free and off-the-beaten-path was very tempting.
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By 20 Minute Jan – June 6, 2008

A Fully Loaded Garden

Today Jim and I went to the local farmers’ market to get the last couple of plants for our garden. We wanted more kale seedlings, both the regular green kale and the dinosaur kale we grew last year. The mature dinosaur kale plant is really unusual, and it became a conversation piece in the garden; every visitor wanted to know what the heck it was. We also bought some more tomatoes, of the Amish paste variety. We love to use those tomatoes in our tomato sauces because they have a high pulp content and a great taste.
Continued…

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By 20 Minute Jan – June 4, 2008

Dealing with Flea Beetles

Flea beetles love our eggplant seedlings. Love, as in, love to eat their tiny leaves. Annually. Flea beetles love to eat our eggplant seedlings’ leaves annually. Obviously, this is not a practice that we can allow to continue so we do what we can to minimize the flea beetles’ impact without resorting to pesticides.

Eggplant on the Vine Continued…

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By 20 Minute Jan – June 3, 2008