December Garden

 Bakersfield December Garden

Strawberries doing great!

All the gardening websites and books say that Bakersfield is in a zone 8b and 9, a prime area for winter gardens. No wonder it's known for carrots and other winter vegetation. Living in the midwest for 15+ years, there was no such thing as winter gardening. It was a blanket of snow. However, Bakersfield is quite the opposite. Thank God!

What's up with my garden though? I've been waiting anxiously for the past few months to pull the tomato plants and peppers out of the ground. Yet, they keep blooming and producing! The tomatillos have more blooms now than they did in July and the tomato plants? Holy Moses! There's at least 5 good sized green tomatoes on it! Granted, the birds and a yucky tomato worm ate most of our precious tomatoes this year. Plus an ant invasion in the garden this summer. I'm still looking for a homemade ant repellent. Maybe I will have to plant some companion plants to deter those pesky pests.

Purple Broccoli under plastic sheeting

We are well into December. Everything should be withered, brown, and dead. The only thing I have covered are my spices and purple broccoli. The strawberries under my DIY greenhouse are doing really well too. I just can't believe it's December and the garden is still growing. It makes me wonder why the people of Bako don't have a winter garden? It's so easy! All you have to do is throw a plastic sheet over your garden (when there's a chance of frost). No hoop house required. Just make sure the plastic doesn't flatten your plant so prop the plastic sheeting propped up.

In the future I want to build a greenhouse and that brings me to another point: why aren't there any tax credits/incentives to build a vegetable greenhouse? It reduces the carbon footprint and here in the valley and we need anything and everything to reduce the filthy smog.

Here's to stocking our fridge and pantry throughout the year- no matter how cold it gets.
Thanks for reading!

Peppers in the Garden. Dead or Alive?

Cover on Pepperocinis and Tomatillos. Not even weighed down

Peppers in the Garden. Dead or Alive?

As we have now received frost and rain sprinkles, I'm officially declaring Bakersfield to be in the winter season. Most people have four seasons. Bakersfield only has two: spring and summer. I'll call it winter since I know this will drive most people crazy.



Either way, the frost has landed. It has turned many plants, including most lawns, an ugly brown. Ick. So, Ms. Busybody here at the Bako Depot (me aka Mommy), has put "pull plants from garden" on the to-do list since I've got the (small) greenhouse built.



I had a little extra plastic sheeting that I didn't want to just throw away or fold for next year. What did I do with it? I threw it over my pepperocini plants and tomatillos since they are still blooming. Seriously? Yes. Their little yellow blooms are still budding in the middle of November.

Pepperocinis. Full of peppers and still producing...

I don't have any idea as of why they are still producing when it's between 50-60 degrees during the day. Maybe they are waiting for the 80-90 degree weather to reappear soon? Or maybe it's because I asked them (yes, the plants) why they are still producing this late in the season.

The Anaheim plants produced small and sparse peppers this summer and then abruptly lost all its leaves. This left us green sticks out of the ground. I figured they would come back this summer, but no. Those Anaheims decided to be little stinkers and wait until November to even think about producing more peppers again.

Anaheim. Tiny peppers during summer. No blooms until recently.

 

Heck, my zucchini plants are still producing as well. They have blooms, but no veggie. That's fine. I guess I'll wait until all the tomato plants, zucchini, and peppers turn that ugly brown. I'll just have to continue and monitor them until I can bid them adieu.

Zucchini. Wilted blooms and wrapped around itself.

DIY Greenhouse

Flower bed with spinach

Building a greenhouse for the winter season.

Winter is here. Well, maybe it's officially fall, but today felt like a regular Bakersfield winter day. Today's goal was to get the old plants out of the garden. Why you might ask? Tuesday morning we had frost. That's right. That detrimental layer of thin ice all over the world. Or just our area.

Luckily, last weekend, I recruited hubby to help me build a small greenhouse for my spinach. The broccoli is planted somewhere else, so I decided to just leave them where they were and cover them. More on that later.

Scrap lumber

For my super awesome greenhouse, it took a few scraps of lumber that we had laying around, a plastic sheet/cover, and staples. I guess I should add a table saw and nail gun attached to the air compressor.

Table Saw

Using the table saw was actually pretty easy. Just lay the board down and slide. All I really had to do was watch to make sure my fingers stayed attached. Extremely easy to use. Any man or woman can use one. No excuses for me to build furniture now!

The kids with our new mini greenhouse

It was nothing fancy, just time consuming. This is the frame of the greenhouse. Basically, just a box with an angled roof. If I went to Lowe's, I could have made a door on the roof, but I didn't want to make a special trip.

How did I get everything to hold together? That's when the nail gun came in handy. This is another tool that I was afraid to use, but it was also easy. Quite fun too. When the kids aren't afraid of the air compressor noise, then they will get to use it. This is how I got the boards to hold together. Hubby stapled every possible angle and the ends of each board.

He also said this lumber isn't pretreated so this greenhouse will probably only last this winter. Next year I will buy either some steel or pretreated lumber.

Make sure you get enough staples to hold it and not near the edge. The wood will splinter near the edge. Also, don't staple wood knots. Below are a couple pictures of what happens... Oops.



 













 And our final greenhouse for the greenhouse. It will house two spinach plants and my potted strawberries. It's not much, but I'm starting small so I can learn.

I used a hand staple gun to adhere the plastic sheet. It might take two people to make sure it's tight. If you can wrap an odd Christmas present, then you'll have no problem wrapping a greenhouse.

Broccoli and Spices before cover

As for the broccoli... They are set in the ground in rows. They aren't real big and after seeing something chewing on their leaves, I had to put some sort of fencing around them. I don't need the tomato cages, but it does remind me to not mow my plants!

I had to buy more plastic sheeting, but for just a quick "greenhouse" cover, I threw plastic sheeting over the tomato cages and held it down with leftover lumber. Luckily, we still had some. The plants are doing much better and with keeping the tomato cages on the broccoli, it gives the plants much more breathing room inside.

Broccoli and Spices with cover

Homesteading Anyone?

This is my number 2 reference book

Has anyone ever wanted to just stop shopping at the grocery store? Or am I just crazy? Call me a hippie, but I actually want to grow my own produce for my family. I hate having to push those bacteria-infested shopping carts for hours every week just to waste my hubby's hard earned money. That's money we could use on a vacation somewhere (I've always wanted to visit Alaska for one month)!

Apparently, after doing some research on homesteading, it can and has been done. There are various websites that have made a homestead on as little as 1/10 of an acre in Los Angeles. Wow. (http://urbanhomestead.org/) Now their family is included in the whole homesteading business and they sell their extra produce. What about us who don't live in the Los Angeles area? What if I live in Northern California? Or Central California? (Seriously, is Bakersfield north, south, or central California? No one really knows this.) According to Sunset.com zip code plant zone locator, the Urban Homestead's plant zone is 22 and 23. The Bako Depot's plant zone? 8. Major difference. Citrus does okay here in zone 8, but the cold night could kill the citrus trees unless you keep some heating source on them.


The first step is research. There are other great websites that explain homesteading, but what about books? What if I have a small yard? Or don't even live in California? Don't fret. Check out your local library before anywhere for books. My library has a great selection of books, so if you don't have these books, I would look on Amazon.com or even craigslist.org.

This book is a must-buy for  beginners

The second step is to plan. Figure out how much land, pots, or area you want to use to garden with. My property is 1/3 of an acre with 3 chickens. I could grow an abundance of crops if we weren't hoping to move. There are multiple ways to have a garden and if you have a small area, then I would suggest you google "square foot gardening" to get the most out of your small area. Hey, 1 tomato plant will save you at least $10 worth of tomatoes. What have you got to lose?


The third major step to homesteading is figuring out what plants you (and your family) want and figure out their requirements. Full sun, good drainage, etc. You don't want to plant green beans next to tomatoes because of the green beans high nitrogen levels. You'll also learn about crop rotating to maximize food production each year.

Everything you wanted to know about composting

You'll also need to learn about composting. This book is a great easy-reading reference book that tells you the hows and whys of composting. I thought I would read a section, but I ended up reading it cover to cover.

So these are the first steps in creating your new homestead. These are vital. Like my stepdad always says, you can't get anywhere without a plan. So plan away and get the family involved. It does take more than one person to help with huge projects like these. My kids love when I ask them questions "what do you want to plant this year?" They feel like they are part of the team and will help whenever you ask. Remember, kids are proud to eat what they grow.

Fridge to Freezer...a well worn path

We spent a lot at the farmer's market last week. Then we went to Costco and a grocery store (well, hubby did). Major drain on the grocery budget. However, the pantry, fridge, and freezer are stocked, ready to go. Glad I didn't go with hubby to Sacramento or Bishop this past month! Don't get me wrong, I love Bishop and sometimes Sac, but I am really trying to save money overall. That didn't happen whatsoever when hubby and the kids grocery shop with me.

Luckily with it being fall, apples are in season. My kids love anything with natural sugars aka fruit, so when I saw apples with no food wax at the farmer's market, we bought some! They only had two varieties to choose from: pink lady and gala. I'll take pink lady apples any day.

So how did I get my fridge, pantry, and freezer full? Ok, I lied. The freezer isn't quite full, but the fridge is. I hate having food packed in the fridge. I love being able to see the light and how dirty my shelves are. We don't really need to buy all the extra food especially with hubby gone. So I froze the squash, zucchini, bell peppers, and potatoes for when he returns. Potatoes O'Brien sounds really good...

Today's project was to get the store-bought tomatoes into the fridge. Hubby bought some vine ripened tomatoes that weren't quite ready, so they sat in a paper bag. I'm glad I checked that paper bag today since I completely forgot about them! There was absolutely no room in the fridge and the only thing to do was to remove the extra veggies and freeze them.

They say you should eat colors of the rainbow!

It wasn't hard It took me maybe an hour to get all the chopping and bagging. Bell peppers are the easiest thing to freeze. You wash, chop, bag, and freeze. This time I tried something different. I put the seeds inside snack sized baggies and froze them for next year's garden. I probably saved between $3-$6 right there.


The squash (and zucchini), I froze without blanching. Looking at the reader's comments at http://pickyourown.org/, squash can be frozen without cooking it at all. Easy peasy! Another slice, bag, and freeze method. Another quick and easy way to save my precious food. The only catch is you have to eat it before 4-6 months in the freezer.

Glad I don't have to toss these

 The potatoes, I figured since hubby isn't home, I might as well freeze them. You can't freeze raw potatoes, so I half cooked them/simmered them and let them cool. Then I drained them, bagged them, and froze them. It's a little different than the website: http://www.best-potato-recipes.com/freezing-potatoes.html, but we'll see how they turn out since they are cooked before frozen.

Food for the chickens

There you have it. Another opportunity to not waste food, but to save it for later. Maybe I should buy some stock in Ziploc...

Thanks for reading!

October 2012

I can't believe October has pretty much flown by. Luckily, we already have costumes from last year that the kids want to wear. My daughter wants to be no one else but Cinderella. My son, really into trains, is going to be Thomas the Tank Engine again. Yay! The neighbors have decorated their yards yet again and it's quite funny to see two houses trying to out-do each other for Halloween. Halloween has more decorations in our neighborhood than Christmas. Not that its that cold for Christmas here. One more reason to love Bakersfield in the winter.

October has been a good month. Monopoly is at McDonald's, so lunch lines are shorter elsewhere. The Christmas junk is proudly displayed in stores, and we are able to get outside to walk while the sun is still up. The temperatures have been jumping from 70s-90s. Today is suppose to be 99 degrees. My winter plants really don't like this heat! Our winter garden is primarily planted: purple broccoli, spinach, and iceberg lettuce. I need to get to Home Depot to get the rest of my lettuces.

I'm hoping I can keep the tomato plants growing and producing for a bit longer. Bako's frost is November, so as fast as that is coming, the plants don't have much longer.

I'm also researching hydrogen fuel cells that we can make at home. One step to getting a "greener" car. Our macho SUV and the $4.69 gas prices apparently do not mix well for our budget. I've been filling up when the gas hits half a tank just because that's a big enough shock! I'm so sick of paying bills when we could actually NOT be paying bills. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

This weekend (or next), we are going to try to build a small scale fuel cell to see how it works. I found a great website that uses most items from around the house: http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/fuel_cell/fuel_cell.html  There's only one item that I have to order, but since hubby is in Sac, he's going to look at Fry's before I order. I'll definitely post those results!

October 2012 is also the Presidential debates. Did anyone else watch? It was definitely a debate unlike the first one. I'm not going to get too much into politics since everyone is entitled to their opinions. Since you're reading this and it is my opinion, our country is doomed either way. They both are running to protect and fund their own wallets.

Overall, October has had confusing weather, a new garden, and extremely high gas prices. Our neighbors are going all out for Halloween, the kids have inexpensive costumes, and we're taking that first step to become "green". It's a very exciting month at the Bako Depot!

Thanks for reading!

Another Day at the Bako Depot

Another day has come and gone. Still in the lovely fall weather, they are actually talking about an actual thunderstorm tomorrow! We haven't had a good t-storm in a LONG time, so I'm very excited. This cooler weather is making me want to drink hot chocolate already. Living in the midwest for 15+ years, I got use to the snow and do I miss it? I miss looking at it. That's about it. If I want to bundle up, the mountains are about thirty minutes away. Good enough for me!

Today, hubby and I went for a walk in the wee hours of the morning. It wasn't until halfway through that the rooster crowed. He's been later than usual. The kids woke after hubby left for work so I made them some eggs with diced jalapenos (whoops) and then dumped that out so I could cook canned chilies (Anaheims), which instead of opening the can to dump in diced chilies, they turned out to be whole chilies. So I diced them and put them in the skillet with the mushrooms. I can't tell you how much my three year old hates mushrooms. I've showed him a little snippet on YouTube about Mario eating mushrooms and growing biger. It unfortunately didn't work!

After that, I read a book (Little Blue Truck) to the kids and they are actually picking up more and more words. I had them paint on a large piece of paper before they decided it would be more fun to paint each other. Another shower for them...

We baked red velvet cupcakes, brownies, and made grilled a whole chicken for dinner (with other stuff). Plus, we made bread in the machine. Nothing beats homemade bread.

Like I said, the weather has been great, so the kids can go outside and I don't have to worry about sunburns anymore. Now it's climbing trees and fighting with sticks. I'm hoping I get a chance to deflate the pool now that summer is over.

I got more weeds pulled in the garden, filled up the yard waste bin, and found the peppercinis and tomatillos are still producing like crazy! We will definitely be planting more of those next year. I also found I need to put a net over the grapes and tomato plants next year. The birds attacked with a vengeance for my fruit.

Overall, it was a productive day. I still have lots more to finish: laundry, cleaning the kitchen (never-ending), filing (sitting on my table for a month now), and general fall cleaning. Did I mention I want to get a few projects done in case we need to move? I swear the list never ends.

And as for the kids, I've decided I'm going to homeschool Lizzy during her kindergarten year. I'm going to try it and see what she thinks of mommy teaching her. I'm trying my best to stay calm and patient, but I'll write more about that later.

Thanks for reading!

The Garden

Another summer is over. Am I going to miss it? Not really. Sweating through triple digit days plus intense smog are never my idea of a good time. You couldn't even stand in the shade without breaking a sweat.

It seems our garden didn't really have a chance. Between the hot weather and my lack of attention/selfish desire to stay in cooler weather, the garden suffered a horrible death. All because of me. I intended well and next year, I will be better armed to fight for them.

My wanting to stay at home largely depends on how much food we can grow and preserve. This didn't happen this year, but the upside to it, I did some research and found what should work better and best for next year's garden.

Although now that the triple digit days are officially over, the cooler weather has brought me outside once again. I absolutely love it! There are a couple plants still doing producing, but once I get the weeds and other objects (weeds) under control, I can finally plant my winter garden. It's primarily lettuce and green leaves, but with us eating salad most nights with and sometimes for dinner, it's a huge money saver. Yes, I can buy salad for $3 for 6 organic romaine hearts at Sam's, but really, what's the harm in growing my own?

Our fruit trees have been much, much better since the weather has cooled down as well. They aren't producing yet, but I'm sure they will be bountiful in time -especially my dwarf lime tree. The pear tree came up all by itself with the trunk half rotted, so I think we're going to pull it out and plant a new one (if we don't move). We'll also pull up the olive tree that branched up as well since we're not sure its fruitless or not. Apparently there are a ton more fruitless olive trees than fruited trees.

I can get back to weeding the flower bed as well, too. I'll begin spraying the flower beds (since they are primarily rock and fruit trees) with vinegar. Vinegar kills 99% of plants- weeds or not. It will kill the seeds they spread while I pluck them out as well. So protect your wanted plants if you spray vinegar on them.

I've learned how to compost as well. Not quite as appetizing, but its a gardener's best friend. It's what creates that expensive top soil. Dog poop really should be picked up out of the yard since it has too much nitrogen in it even for grass. Livestock (chickens, cows, etc) manure is the way to go, however, it needs to be decomposed before being put in the garden. If it's not decomposed properly, it will burn the plants. Believe me, I tried putting chicken manure in my garden and the plant died within a day.

Back to the fall season. Cooler temperatures. I should say reasonable temperatures, have lulled me back outside to enjoy my garden and yard again. The house needs a lot of work and if we are going to get it ready to sell (fingers crossed), then we (not only myself) need to get a few projects done.

After doing my research, I found that zone 9 can actually grow a winter garden. How awesome is that? It makes me wonder how and when we move back to the Midwest how we will get to have a winter garden? I really want to avoid the greenhouse route, so any input would be great.

With gas prices rising above our expectations, food prices will of course be rising as well. Will you be able to handle the rising cost of living or will you be stuck like me, having no choice but to raise my own food?

Homesteading. Is it worth it?

Homesteading. Some think it’s a day's long list of chores on a plot of land. Others see it as a way to avoid any communication with the retail grocery stores. Me? I’m just trying to provide for my family. I want to be able to provide the best for them. What do you get at the grocery store? A ton of processed, preservative filled food. Crackers, juice, canned vegetables- you get the idea. Now I don’t plan on raising my own cattle or pigs, but I do plan on raising chickens. If you don’t have one, you should. Not only do they eat leftover food, they also provide eggs without the rooster (and I enjoy watching them). Currently, we don’t have a homestead thing going on, but hopefully soon.

Currently, we purchase our groceries at the Farmer's Market. This way I know hubby's hard earned money goes back into the community -local farmers. They work so hard to produce a quality item that benefits you and them. I do admit there are some items we can't get at the farmer's market that we will buy from Sam's or Costco since their organic doesn't cost an arm or leg like the typical grocery store. For household items, we will buy after realizing we can't DIY it. I know it sounds cheap and crazy to try making your own pillowcase or tiling the floor, but we are on a fixed income (halfway to becoming senior citizens).

One time at Sam's, hubby (not quite 100% on board with my new plant-based diet or saving as much as we really can) bought an 8pk of canned peas, 8pk of canned corn, and 12pk of green beans. All because he can just open it and heat it quickly. That added up to over $20. $20.00! Each canned item is full of salt, laden with pesticides, and will last through another ten years. If I have to purchase canned vegetables, I'll buy the salt free canned vegetables or frozen, but only sparingly if I can't get it at my farmer's market. I could have grown these vegetables and saved plus grow triple that amount! All for convenience. I looked at the canned peas ingredients. They actually put sugar in their canned sweet peas. They have absolutely no taste, not even a slightly sweet one.

So the true question is this new urban homesteading phase worth it? There will be a higher water consumption for our household, but I know I won't be using any pesticides or insecticides on my mini farm. I will have more flying insects around to pollinate the plants, but the chickens will eat the crawling ones. I will have to learn how to organize our produce and properly can, freeze, and preserve, but we will save money in the end. I, as well as hundreds of others, think homesteading is worth it.

The initial start-up cost will be a few seeds, egg cartons (seed starting trays), plastic wrap (keep moisture in), and tomato cages. Plus the water. I will have to install a sprinkler system, but a hose or my yard's sprinkler system is just fine for now. I don't plan on building a greenhouse. It's not in our budget. It might be later, but we have to start small and save what we can. I don't work, so this will be my "job" to provide fresh produce for our family.

Homesteading takes planning and commitment. We are able to start a winter garden here soon, but I haven't quite planned that yet since we are waiting to find out some news about hubby's career. We are praying he transfers to Sac although I really do love the Bako Depot. I think homesteading will be worth it, not only for me, but also for my family. This way, I'll be able to find what I need when I need to- unlike the grocery and department stores. My produce will be original, unlike the orange crunchy "tomatoes" imported from Mexico year round. My kids will learn what it is like to grow and do instead of shop and depend on others for food (sounds like a homeless or welfare person). Plus, if I fill my yard with growing produce, I can sell the extra (if I want to) and have less lawn to mow (sounds like a win-win).
Do you homestead? What do you think?