Talking about seeds

The other morning I heard an interview of Jere Gettle on NPR. Gettle is the founder of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, which is where we bought our seeds. Heirloom seeds are "pure" seeds that have not been genetically modified. Baker Creek specializes in seeds from 19th century plants. Through the years, seed companies have decided what seeds to sell and some of the vegetable varieties from the 19th century have been thought extinct. Gettle is working on bringing these varieties back by find farmers who might still be growing them.

You too can save your seeds. Doug and I have already saved seeds from okra and beans. We're going to try to save seeds from other plants. Here are Gettle's tips for saving seeds.

Under cover plants

August and September in Texas means it's time to plant for the fall harvest. Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and the like get a second chance when the weather turns cooler. With 72 days of temperatures reaching 100+ degrees, it's difficult to get transplants going. The sun will bake the seeds and transplants before the root system can develop.

One trick -- use shade cloth. Adding shade can help keep the sun off the plants and the soil a little cooler and moister. Here, we are using 60% shade shade cloth. With 13 hours of sunlight a day, and overnight temperatures of 80 degrees, our new plants are getting plenty of sun and seem to be doing well. (You'll notice there is no cloth in the middle -- those are peppers and eggplants planted in the spring and still going. They are well established and don't need the shade).

To put up the shade cloth, we simple hammered metal posts in the ground, placed the shade cloth over the posts and clamped the cloth into place. Using claps is nice because we can easily unclamp and pull the cloth back. You'll wanted to do this when weeding, otherwise you are bent over under the cloth while working on that section.

You probably can't tell, but we've placed plastic bottles over the posts to keep the posts from tearing into the cloth. My husband may be drinking way too much Diet Coke and juice at work, but at least this is a great way to put the bottles to use instead of just recycling. He cut off the tops (which he did recycle) and placed the bottles upside down on the posts.

The other thing we are doing to encourage the garden is we put down a layer of mulch. Many folks are using straw mulch this time of year, but we can get free mulch from the Pflugerville recycling center (on the other side of the wooden fence), so we just use that.

It seems to be working. The beans we planted last week are starting to sprout and the peppers we planted two weeks ago are growing. The eggplants (3-4 weeks ago) look strong. The tomatoes, which we planted with the eggplants, are hanging in there and we're hoping they will really take off soon.

The bee's knees

Really love seeing bees buzzing around my flowers. I know it's a sign of a healthy eco-system. Would like to actually have a small bee house (different from a hive) to attract more bees.

How it all started

It all started because we were foodies. We liked good food and liked to cook. Then my husband started brewing beer. He had always wanted to, but was intimidated. Then he met a guy who brewed, the guy invited him over and they started having weekly brewing get togethers. Occasionally, wine would get made too. We experimented with peach wine, strawberry wine, all from central-Texas producers.

Then came the herbs. Every time I would go to the grocery store I would be amazed how much fresh rosemary cost, especially when I needed just a few tablespoons. I’d use what I needed and the rest would go bad. I started by planting herbs, with various degrees of success. I haven’t bought rosemary in more than three years.

Still, as I was cooking, I’d be amazed by all the vegetable peels that went down the garbage disposal. One day I was looking at a magazine at my hairdressers and saw a counter-top composter. I could put peels in here then take it out to the big composter. So the search for a composter began. We bought one and got started.

Somewhere along the way we started doing more shopping at farmer’s markets. This was about the same time my husband read Michael Pollan’s books about the food supply chain. Then we learned about CSAs (community supported agriculture). This is where you buy a “share” and each week get a section of produce delivered to you. It was fun for awhile, forcing us to cook at home and try new vegetables, however, after awhile we realized two busy people couldn’t eat that much in a week. Plus, August in Texas meant our box was filled with peppers and other stuff. $30 worth of peppers is A LOT of peppers. We decided not to renew our subscription and go back to the farmer’s market. We figured for $30 a week, we’d buy what we wanted.

But even that wasn’t the final answer. Pflugerville had a communitygarden. Residents could get a 20x20 for $50; this included all the water. I was skeptical, knowing how we sometimes get “out of sight, out of mind,” but hubby rented a plot. Then a second. Now we’re spending a few hours each Saturday and Sunday working the garden, plus hubby stops by after work to water.

Starting with the CSA, we began canning. At some point when you have more okra than you can eat, you have to learn to do that. Our town offered free low-flow toilets and shower heads. Since we were remodeling our bathrooms, that was a no brainer. Somewhere along the way my husband learned to make cheese. One of my biggest prides is when I can serve a caprese salad, with basil and tomatoes I grew and mozzarella we made. (Too bad we don’t make our own olive oil.)

We’re not perfect, but have made huge strides, which is the purpose of this blog. I was sitting in a Leadership Austin class on the natural environment. One of the speakers talked about sustainability and said she never buys new clothes; she swaps out her clothes with others. You couldn’t help looking at her and think, “and you can tell.” A room of 55 professionals – no one was going to do that. And we weren’t going to give up our cars either, like she did. There were other speakers that day, but they discussed big picture, policy issues. It was hard for anyone in the class to walk away with things they could do for themselves to live more sustainably. The idea of this blog was born that day.

The purpose is to tell our story and show little ways folks can become more sustainable. It may be a hodge-podge of things, including gardening, cooking, cool items and random thoughts. I hope you enjoy.