Milli on KCET Short Video: Deep Watering for Edible Gardens

Video: Recycling Old Dresser Drawers into li'l raised beds by your's truly

B4 I re-use...

my plastic pots, I wash them out with Dr. Bronner's soap. I want to be sure there are no yuckies lingering around to cause future problems to my baby seedlings :) Its already tough enough to keep the white moths from laying their eggs!!


-- Post From the Field

Hey Ma, you've raised us well! We know where our food comes from! Our backyard!!

We are lucky enough to be able to harvest these beauties weekly!! I'll be making fruit roll-up, jam, kale chips, dried fruit chunks, chutney, and much more!! Yay!!

Got abundance of fruit?

Make fruit leathers a/k/a fruit roll ups!!! YUM!
Recipe to follow...

Peaches, Agave, li'l lemon to retain color!


-- Post From the Field

Red Baron peaches!!!

Our vegetable garden gets 4-5hrs of sun in the summer, boooo right? Successful organic summer gardens should get at least 6-8hrs of sun :( Our tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers are taking soooooo long to grow :( Ahhh, the challenges! Our garden is at its low at the moment :( A few years ago we were yearning for our very own organic fruit trees! So we decided to plant an orchard where we get the most sun (mind u we tore up a gorgeous zen landscape for it, I mean it had a waterfall, tiny Irish moss growing, and bamboo!) u get the idea...

Well I'm super happy we decided to do it, because here is a list of awesome sweet juicy fruit we are eating these days! YaY!
Peaches
Nectarines
Plums
Apples

I still cant believe the orchard is only three years old :) Last yr was our first batch of fruit, this yr we estimate 50-70 pieces of fruit from each tree :)

I guess we don't mind trading gorgeous healthy tomato plants for some juicy sweet organic fruit!!!



-- Post From the Field

Zucchini this Zucchini that

-- Post From the Field

Work Hard Play Hard

Just got back from speaking at the State Master Gardener conference in Santa Rosa, worked diligently for several hours to put my presentation together and didn't have the best travel experience on the way back :(

Today the birds are singing a different tune, I accomplished to play hard in our oasis, barefoot enjoying the warmth under my feet and on my back :) And had the satisfaction of picking mulberries one at a time, as the sun was peaking thru the leaves warming my face :) Ahhhh, life in the edible zen garden is blissful!

Now to play in the kitchen and start my first batch of Mulberry Jam! Yay!!!






-- Post From the Field

Homegrown Loquat Jam

Our first batch, YaY!

Patch.com Video: Planning your summer garden

English:



Spanish:

Summer Plan 2011

Planning on graph paper always helps this gal out! Especially when I have multiple garden plots to plan out! Reference books also help!

Happy Growing!



-- Post From the Field

Photos speak louder than written words!

Sexy :)

I find it very Sexy :) when Hubby picks our dessert :)

Happy Spring Days!

Life is good when there is no need to purchase...

Swiss Chard
Spinach
Collard Greens
Lettuce
Beets
Cilantro
Parsley
Cabbage
Kale
Peas
Broccoli
Oregano
Peppers
Mint

What a fantastic fall/winter season we've had! We've had a continous harvest all season long, may I add it's been several pounds of fresh organic veggies!!!

What has been the key?
Real Dirt - We were having lots of problems with the bags of soil purchased at ur local home improvement stores :(. Boooooo!
Worm Tea - Black Liquid Gold!

-- Post From the Field

Seedlings love classical & meditative music!

-- Post From the Sunny Side Bdrm

What's growin on at Modern-Sustainability Urban Homestead??

Indeed, we've been busy bees in our daily modern-sustainability ventures and have not posted in months about what's growin on in our li'l Urban Homestead! Let us begin 2011 with what I've sowed in the past few weeks for Spring/Summer:

Too cold or wet to play outside? Improvise is our key :) Lay out an old sheet and begin to play in doors, preferably near a sunny window!

Friday, Feb. 18th Sowed the following seeds:

• Heirloom Pole Rattlesnake/Purple Bean
• Edamame Bean
• Montezzuma's Red Bush Bean
• Black Azteca Corn
• Oaxacan Corn
• Container Bush Slicer Cucumber
• Spacemaster Cucumber
• Container Li'l Prince Eggplant
• Green Fleshed Honeydew Melon
• Yellow Old German Tomato
• Brandywine Tomato
• Container Super Bush Tomato
• Italian Zucchini Romanesco
• Mini Jack Pumpkin
• Dark Green Raven

Wednesday, Mar. 2 Seedlings are looking healthy and strong! Except a few seeds did not germinate :( So I decided to resow them :)


What are these li'l guys being fed? A light worm tea concoction w/ kelp and pond H2O. Also, they are receiving light through a unused lamp I found in the office. Remember Improvise! I move the lamp around the seedlings so that everyone gets a bit of light. Plus, when the sun is out, I place the trays directly in the sunshine!

More to come! Stay tuned...

peas,
milli macen-moore