As Leaves Fall Away

The days are fast becoming much shorter and the light seems to carry a different hue as it casts lower in the southern sky. The home is filled with filtered light and the smells of warming foods that cook as slow as the day. Around town trees blaze radiant festive colors of foliage before brisk winds scatter the dancing leaves through the sky. Soon these trees will stand starkly naked in the frigid winter air, giving no clue as to their energy lying in wait for warmer, longer days.

These fallish days beckon us to slow it down, reflect and shed our own leaves of old. Fall is a time of endings, a time of tying up loose ends in preparation for new chapters, and a time to gather all we've gained from yesterdays to make tools for tomorrows.

In the garden it is when we must pull up our exhausted plants that worked throughout the summer months to reach fruition. It is when we allow many of the garden spaces to rest and slowly meld with the fresh compost given for the vitality of next spring. Its also when we eat a ridiculous amount of chard and kale as they thrive in such conditions.

Even the animals slow down in accordance. Our seven feathered girls are laying a bit less, and sleeping in a bit more. Romo the Wonder Dog is happy to lounge for hours in the fallen maple leaves that carpet the lawn. So to, we find it just a little bit harder to get going early in the darkened mornings this time of year.

In reflection, it has been a wonderful growing season for us. Settling into this new space and creating all that we hoped for has been a shared blessing. The challenges of a newly made garden run rampant and is teaching us so much, tools we will use for next year. Its a labor of love and not always practical or cost effective in the beginning stages, but we both cherish having such a space to learn and grow with, and feel so fortunate to know this critical connection between our food, our earth and our being.

Happy Fall to everyone.

Summer Time

Well, it's August already and it feels like things just got going in the garden. Where does time go? Aside from pulling out some finalized broccoli, mustard green, and cauliflower plants, and sowing some new nitrogen giving legumes in their place, most everything has been on cruise control. Long warm days make for rapid-fire growth in the squash, sunflower and tomato department.



            Speaking of squash, with only four plants it looks as though we will have enough zucchini to supply the greater Reno area and possibly Las Vegas. Our first and always most cherished beauty was monitored daily in anticipation before making its way down our gullets. We have also learned that Romo the Wonderdog has a taste for the prolific veggie. Potatoes are still sitting pretty awaiting an unspectacular flowering and then a dying off, at which point we can begin digging up little starchy gems of soon to be baked, broiled and sauteed goodness.



Among many things we are learning in growing in this unique environment is that sunflowers thrive here in native soil. We see them absolutely everywhere, and most prolific on the side of I-80. Next year we will free up valuable garden space and just seed them around the perimeter of the yard. The corn and winter squash are developing nicely for a hopeful fall bounty. As well, afresh round of carrots and beets were just sown for a tasty cool weather crop later down the road. And despite the heat we are still getting some nice chard and kale to add to the stir fries. The plumb trees have set nicely and will be a great treat with many canning projects in fall.


The animals are all happy and growing. Romo has been spoiled rotten with multiple trips to the surrounding lakes. We recently found out he loves swimming. Since teaching him fetch his new favorite pastime is fetching the ball into the lake...go figure. And yes, he is still defending champ of  both "The World's Greatest Dog" and  "The Handsomest Beast of All the Lands" awards.

Our feathery girls are becoming full bodied ladies and should begin laying in the coming weeks. Frankly, I'd say they better. They are quite possibly the most well fed chickens around with daily organic produce scraps coming home with us from work on top of all the delicious and healthy kitchen scraps from our cooking. They all have very unique personalities and have been applicably named, which will probably come back to haunt us once we have to "retire" them.

By the way, be sure to check out Shanna's new website for her newly developing side business:
www.strongheartmedicinals.com. Let us know what you think. Take er easy, lovely folks.

Beautiful Bounty

Well, after along onslaught of cold and windy temper mental weather,it seems spring/summer is finally upon us. And with that comes the wonderful growth of our beloved veggies and teenage hens.The days are lusciously long, the windows and doors wide open, the sound of lawn mowers and children playing permeate the air while dogs and chickens find cool shady spots to lie peacefully.It is all as slow as molasses and wonderful.

The chicken chateau is finally complete after way to many days off spent on hands and knees and annoying trips to the hardware store upon forgetting something. But alas, our little girls have moved on up in life and most importantly, out of our immediate hair.

To celebrate we threw a pot luck with all the the good people we knew coming out to help move the coop into place and reveling in the lovely weather and amazing food.

Thanks everyone for making the haul from Truckee to spend the evening...it was a treat.

Shanna has busied herself turning our kitchen into an experimental

herbal remedy science laboratory, furthering her love for natural healing modalities.

Best of all Romo and I are the default guinea pigs often embarrassingly smelling of lavender and rose. But we dare not complain.

The garden is coming along nicely with much growth in the past month. We are now regularly eating our lettuce, greens, peas and soon our young broccoli, carrots and beets.

With the warmth here to stay, our tomatoes, peppers and eggplant finally got in the ground and corn, sunflower, squash and cucumber seeds have all punched through the soil and are on their way.

Thanks to everyone for all the love and support you've given to us and this endeavor. More to come soon. Cheers.

Spring Bounty

May... in like a lion, out like a lamb. Everything is growing- despite the cold rain and snow we got a few days ago. The brassicas (kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, vitamin greens and mustard greens), romaine, beets, carrots, onions and peas continue to grow and thrive. We had our first taste of the garden with dinner the other night- fresh and delicious vitamin greens added to a tempeh stir-fry. Yummy! Many sprouts are beginning to show themselves. A few of the many flower seeds that Shanna started are coming up. The blackberry bushes and elderberry tree we planted in February are just starting to get new growth. And we anxiously await the warmer days so that we can plant our warm season plants. On a sad note, the beautiful tomato starts that we started from seed are not doing so well. Last week, on a beautiful 70 degree day we put them outside- only to find that their fragile indoor leaves got sunburnt beyond repair. It was a sad discovery. Luckily... the Great Basin Food Co-Op is having it's annual start sale this weekend- so we can purchase some more heirloom tomato starts.Tony has been busy with building the chicken coop. It will have a 5' x 13' run and a 5' x 4' hen house. It will keep them safe from the neighborhood cats and raccoons. And keep our garden safe from their scratching and pecking. We're looking forward to getting them out of the garage and into their home- hopefully by the end of the month.We have discovered that one of our eight chicks is not like the others. The beautiful (and noisy) Buff Oppington is a bonified rooster. He will either 1) be eaten or 2) be adopted out. Most likely he'll be given to a good home that can house a rooster. Thank goodness we don't need a rooster to get those eggs- they won't be fertile, but they'll still be delicious. The other girls are all growing steadily. It is amazing how fast they become chickens. And they are just starting to let out strange chicken noises that are between a cheep-cheep and a bag-gak when they are frightened or riled up. So fun to watch.This is a beautiful time of year. The hills are green and covered with wildflowers here in Reno. The air is fresh and delicious. And we are so thankful to have this great home to be able to grow our own food to feed to our family and friends and pets. Much love.

Worshipers of the Warmth

So it seems spring in the high desert can be a bit temperamental. Our young little veggies got off to a challenging start. But an entire full week of warm sunny weather, the brilliant bloom filled trees scattered around town and the hyperactive love songs of horny birds permeating the air brings hope of a tangible spring. And not a moment to soon.

About a month has passed since we got our baby chicks and in that short time they have

transmuted from little dollops of puffy down cuteness, into gawky and awkward pre-pubescent velociraptors...not quite chicks...not quite chickens. It seems the transition from childhood to teenager is rough on all species.

Within two weeks they had quickly outgrown their infantile confines and are now spaciously residing in the garage within new and improved digs. Soon they will upgrade once more to the Chateau Le Poule (chicken coop) yet to be built, where they will then dutifully and diligently produce vast amounts of delicious eggs, so help them God.

Romo has settled in nicely too, and now

commands more attention and love than any living thing respectively deserves. With the absurd bias of any proud parent, he is, by leaps and bounds, the greatest dog in the the entire

history of great dogs, ever! And spoiled filthy rotten. It seems well cared for dogs are at the pinnacle of the karmic ladder...probably just under Divine transcendence...I can only hope to achieve such a ridiculously good life.

Oh yes, the garden. Well, we got anxious with

the last bout of warm weather

and planted all our baby cool weather veggies only to be humbled with a quick return of frigid winter. But with a heavy layer of mulch around the fragile little ones and a feeble attempt at a row cover to protect them from the freezing nights, we managed to have gotten them through the worst of it...and for the most part, everything made it. Now that warmth and sun is here, they all spring to life with new growth and resilience. Cant wait for those first greens!

Next on the agenda is to plant our potato cuttings that we've been saving and allowing to sprout multitudes of eyes for quite some time. As we approach our areas average last frost date, we can also begin to plan for our summer garden varieties...tomatoes, summer squash, peppers, corn, sunflowers, beans, etc...some of which we have already started in our sunny living room window.

I love this time of year...so opening...expansive...vibrant.

Love to all.

Spring is Springin'

After a long and gloomy February, we have been momentarily blessed with a warm and luscious March. With that, we all stir to life and crawl from the confines of our centrally heated living boxes and bare thy pasty skin to the Great Sun. So to, the plant world awakens from dormancy with new life in many colorful and bulbous forms, beckoning us to get down low to the earth and have a good look at the new splendor.

We have made some big headway in our development of the backyard garden. Last Friday we were delivered 10 cu yards of compost and topsoil for our many beds. Now, I don't know how familiar any of you are with measurement, but suffice it to say, we had one of the larger land masses in Washoe County right in our driveway.

With due diligence and a hardy breakfast stickin' to the ribs, we set out to shovel millions if not trillions of wheelbarrow loads into our backyard...we were finished by lunch time.

With all the extra dirt we thought it a good idea to make a few more growing spaces, so we made another little bed for our strawberries, a couple of large planters made from some leftover redwood planks for carrots, radishes, etc, and a wonderful rock lined bed on the west wall of our

yard for all of our herbs. We also cleared a small space in our south facing front yard and planted our asparagus crowns. Its a great location for such a springtime perennial with full warm sun and water runoff from the roof. Its very exciting to see all the spaces unfold.

Its even more exciting to see our little baby starts coming of age, readying themselves for the big move to the outside world. We have been putting them outside during the warmth of day when we are home and will soon begin hardening them off to the colder nights. Thus far, the

kale, broccoli, chard, brussel sprouts, peas and lettuce are off to a great start with tomatoes, peppers and eggplant just seeded. We await some material to make the long 20ft beds into hoop tunnels, providing an element of protection and insulation from the freezing temperatures that can occur for another month or two.

But by far, the most exciting thing has been the addition of eight new baby chicks to the family picked up just today. We researched the various breeds that were cold hardy, docile and, most importantly, high performance egg laying machines and got the following: 2 black Austrolorpes, 2 blonde Buff Opingtons, 2 white Delewares, and 2 calico Americanas.

In preparation we made a brooder for them by getting a good size clear plastic tote and cutting an opening in the top lid for a heat lamp and ventilation. Then we filled it with newspaper topped with paper towels to provide traction. Chicks don't do well on newspaper alone as it is too slippery for them and can lead to leg problems. We then put in a feeder with coarsely ground feed as well as some grit to help them clear away the leftover yoke still in their bellies.

Then we put in a waterer with a little added molasses to help them recover from their harrowing journey from the hatchery. We fired up the heat lamp until the temperature below it was 90 degrees and went to the feed store to fetch our new babies. As soon as they got home we showed them their water source by dipping their beaks in it. As small brained as chickens are they operate on instinct and learned immediately from this tutorial. Once warmed and rested they soon began exploring the new territory and finding their food. After an hour or so they seem to be absolutely content with the basics of warmth, water and food. Their quiet little peeps assuring us that all is well.

Next on the list is to build our hoop tunnels, get things planted and construct a chicken coop.

Thanks for following this fun little journey of learning and growing. We will post more soon.

Love to all.

We received our six blackberry cuttings in the mail this week along with an elderberry tree. They are all obviously dormant and cut back very small with their roots intact. We hurriedly prepared their holes with some added compost and gravel for drainage. In they went in the warm welcoming sun. I suppose we were a bit anxious and premature in the season as the sunny spring like days shifted to a massive snow storm dumping nearly two feet overnight. A fine welcome to our new plant friends. Oh well, toughen em' up for a long productive life in angry high desert weather.

Our spoiled starts on the other hand live in the lap of climate controlled luxury, and are off to a great start looking at the snow covered landscape from the inside of a south facing window. Shanna built an awesome grow space for them in the living room equipped with a grow light for extended hours...who needs furniture any damn way? So far we have started kale, chard, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts and onion.

Next on the agenda is to obtain more wood to finish up our beds and for the chicken coop to be designed and built sometime in March. A local feed store here sells a nice variety of baby chicks starting early next month which we will brood indoors for five weeks or so. Also, we will need to purchase a large amount of compost and humus to add to our raised beds. Luckily there is a local company that sells and delivers it by the yard...yee haw.