Gardening Shoes

How does one replace a faithful pair of gardening shoes? These shoes have served me well for years and years. This week, however, pieces of rubber have started to fall off in the garden while I work. So, what do I do? Purchase a new pair of shoes to immediately immerse in dirt? I am very finicky about my shoes. Crocs or some other such "gardening shoe" simply will not do! I need athletic shoes to support me while I go about the work of gardening. I can't use an old pair of athletic shoes because the support is completely worn out by the time I am done with them, and thus, they do not provide the support needed to garden without pain. Hmmmm...stayed tuned.

Day to Day Sustainable Living

I think I owe it to my readers to show the not-so-exciting days of Learning to Live Local on Less. So many blogs and magazines out there are full of the excitement...the planting, the harvesting, the new goat endeavor, and the latest advancement in biking for transportation...that we don't ever have images of the author picking weeds in 90 degree weather and cleaning the toilet (naturally, of course). So I am here to tell you that this blogger is unglamourously getting up early to clean the berry patch before the heat kicks in, nearly passing out hanging loads of laundry in the squeltering sun, and vacuuming the house. Nonetheless, it is all very life-giving to me. I once read a quote in the book "Living More with Less" that said something to the point of: if living simply weren't so fun, I wouldn't do it. The concept has stuck with me. Thus, while I await my sourdough to rise, I blog while looking out the back window at my kids playing in the sandbox and my laundry blowing in the breeze. Sometimes I think the boring days are what life is all about.

Sustainable Urban Living Inspiration

Steve's pup has found a nice shady place under the tomatoes.

 We all need someone who shows us that what we read in books and magazine is possible.  Steve Fry is that person for me.  He makes it all happen right here in Muncie, Indiana and has been a great source of inspiration, encouragement, and practical help.  The problem is that Steve is so busy gardening that he doesn’t spend time on silly blogging endeavors, so I will have to brag on his behalf.

Steve's Outdoor, Solar-Heated, Water Heater

When I first met Steve, he was living a block from me completely off-grid and raising enough produce for a small army.  Last spring he moved to a little bit larger house, but he is still in the heart of the city on an average sized lot.  I remember him going to work immediately on making the yard into gardens upon relocating before worrying about the shape of the inside of his fixer-upper.  I was away this spring, and when Steve came by to welcome us home, he was excited about our backyard transformation and full of encouragement.  He said we must stop by and see his progress.  This is what met me upon entering his gate (remember, he just moved in last spring): 

An unbelievable, edible backyard oasis!  He followed us the several blocks back to our house and helped make some repairs to our rain barrel system, leaving us with a bag of produce since we got a late start planting this year.  I suppose this means I should get back to work!

Sourdough Part 2

Hopefully yesterday’s post has given you the confidence to give homegrown sourdough culture a try.  I tried raising sourdough on my own before but wasn’t confident enough to stick with it until a dear friend gave me some of her sourdough culture that had been in her family for decades along with a batch of recipes.  She was so generous that I want to extend the favor. 

Feeding the sourdough (the good kind – if you want just water and flour starter, google it!):  add 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, and 1/3 cup sugar. 

How often, you ask?  If keeping it on the counter – daily.  If keeping it in the refrigerator – weekly.  Now, you may recall that yesterday I said you can keep it in the fridge for up to 6 months without feeding it.  This is true, but you do not want to consume it immediately after an extended period of stagnation, without first feeding it for a few days straight to freshen it up.  It will not taste good, and your belly will hurt.

My favorite website for sourdough bread recipes is sourdoughhome.com.  You cannot not rush the rising times.  They seem very long, but that is the nature of good sourdough.  Be patient.  It will be overly dense and won’t rise well if you rush it.  The sourdough culture must have time to work its way through the entire dough. 

The above website doesn’t have recipes for cinnamon rolls, pancakes, and muffins.  Basically, for those, you can throw a cup or so of sourdough starter into your favorite recipe while adjusting the other ingredients to maintain the right consistency for the added probiotic benefit and flavor of sourdough.

Sourdough

While we’re in the kitchen, let’s talk about sourdough.  Now I’m not talking about store-bought sourdough that is made with packaged yeast and has a touch of sour flavoring added.  I’m talking about homegrown sourdough culture that uses healthy bacteria to rise.  Our bodies need good bacteria (I’m sure you’ve heard the probiotics buzz).  Sourdough is good for your intestinal health and is not as difficult as you might think to maintain and use.  It only requires one thing:  patience – that dirty word!

Thoughts to calm your fears (based on things misconceptions that found me giving up on sourdough my first few tries):

     1.  My sourdough starter can last up to 6 months in the refrigerator without  being fed.

     2.  I use it for more than just bread – pancakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls…mouth watering yet?

     3.  I do not find myself dumping extra starter down the drain, nor do I bake   with sourdough daily.

Now, I must confess, my sourdough starter is not the traditional flour and water starter.  It is a flour, milk, and sugar starter.  Sure, I’m not a purist, but it makes for delicious outcomes, and I still get good bacteria in my system.  I’ll share more details, proportions, and how-to’s tomorrow.  If you’re in the Muncie area and want some of my starter, let me know. 

Homemade Granola

For those of you who follow this blog regularly, I promised you a granola recipe would be in a future post, so here it is.  Making granola is a great way to cut breakfasts costs without giving up the convenience of pouring cereal and milk in a bowl and being done with it.  Below is the recipe I use, based on a recipe from a favorite restaurant, Mezza Luna, which has since closed.

Combine: 6 cups rolled oats, 1 cup coarsely chopped almonds, 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, mix:  1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cup honey, 1 cup water, 2/3 cup oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Add wet mixture to dry mixture.  Spread onto two baking sheets at 300 degrees for about an hour.  Stir every 10-15 minutes.

I change the types of nuts to vary the recipe.  You can also change the amount of sugar to match your taste/health preferences.  I also often add 2 cups total of some combination of dried fruits.  The fruits you choose is completely adaptable to your preferences and budget.  Or if it's fresh berry season, leave out the dried fruit and top with fresh berries...even better! 

Make it whenever you have time, and once it cools, throw it in a container until breakfast.  Enjoy!  (I'd add a picture, but this recipe doesn't even last long enough to snap a picture of it in my house.)

Building a Game Bird (not poultry) Pen

Game bird pen

I suppose the first thing you should do before deciding to raise quail is prepare a structure in which to keep them, since quail are good fliers.  Not me…I bought the quail first!  Then, I was forced to come up with some sort of pen quickly.  There was a slight crisis when we arrived home at 10 p.m. from the farm with eight quail in a small box and nowhere to keep them (Rural King was closed).  However, we shut the doors to a small room in our house and transferred them to a larger box, put some water in and hoped for the best.  There was a bit of flying around the room (I wish I had video footage to share), but all ended calmly and there were still eight healthy quail in the morning. 

Needless to say, I spent the next morning figuring out how to house these little guys in a way that would make both their life and mine enjoyable.  I was inspired by some raised beds made out of cinder blocks at Eli Creek Farms and the cluttery pile of cinder blocks in my own yard.  I decided to give it a go and make a small pen out of cinder blocks.  Of course, I would need some other things like chicken wire and feeding pans as well.  Following is the step-by-step for building the pen:

1.      Stack cinder blocks two high in the shape of a rectangle.

2.    Lay one wall’s worth of cinder blocks sideways, so that the birds can nest and lay eggs in the holes of the cinder blocks. 

3.    Spread chick wire (holes are smaller than traditional chicken wire) over the cinder blocks. 

4.    Secure one side of the chicken wire between the two layers of cinder blocks (opposite the laying side).  Tie the wire down using metal wires through the holes of the cinder blocks on two sides of the rectangle. 

5.    Build the outline of a rectangle the size of the top of your cinder block rectangle using scrap wood and place it on top of the wire to keep raccoons and other predators out.

6.    Hinge a solid rectangle to the frame to cover the side where the holes face out, so you can lift it to retrieve eggs.

7.    Staple the extra chick wire to the top of the rectangular wood fram.  Place an extra cinder block on top of the rectangle and in front of the door just to be sure.

Using this structure, we can change their water by lifting the corner that is not wired shut.  We can also slide the feeding tray in through the nesting holes.  We threw some wood chip animal bedding in to keep things cozy.  Our guys are in a big enough space that they can run around together, and they like to cuddle together in their nesting holes.  Now all we have to do is wait for the eggs!