Plastic Bag Dryer

We use zip-lock bags of all sizes to store leftover biscuits and cornbread and to keep veggies fresh in the refrigerator.  A lot of times a bag is still almost new after whatever was in it is used up.  In cases like this, I have a hard time throwing it in the trash.   So, I save these until I have enough to "wash".  Then I hang them to dry on  this little wooden contraption that looks kind of like an umbrella. 

I can't remember where I found this thing, but I have had it for years and it has helped me recycle hundreds of zip-lock bags.

Feeding the Birds

Tom has gone bonkers on feeding the birds this winter.  Here is a picture of SOME of the bird-feeders he has set up.

There are several kinds of feeders here.  Below are two types of feeders that we have found are very popular with the birds.  On the left is a thistle feeder.  Thistle seed is very popular with finches.  We mostly have gold finches and house finches here in this part of the state.  Looks like Tom had a mixture of thistle and millet in the feeder when this picture was taken.  On the right is a sunflower feeder.  If you want to buy one kind of seed that the majority of birds will eat it, then you should get "black oil sunflower" seed.  This is what we keep in this feeder.

Another kind of feeder that we use is a suet feeder.  You can see one of these in the middle of the picture below.  It is the square feeder that is made of wire.

You think of suet feeders mostly in relation to woodpeckers, but we've learned that lots of different birds will come to them.  During cold weather, birds need lots of calories to keep them going.  Suet fits the bill.  The suet cakes that you buy to fit in these feeders are mostly fat with lots of seed mixed in.  You can buy "fancy" suet cakes with all kinds of berries mixed in.  But, the cheapest ones that only have suet and seed are just fine.  The birds do not care!

You don't have to buy fancy bird feeders to get started....just some of the pans that you use under flower pots will do.  Here's a picture of some we have out on our upstairs deck.  They are really popular with the birds.

Of course, if you are going to put food out to attract the birds, then you are going to need a good field guide to help you identify the birds that come to your feeders.  Here are some of the ones we have.

Finally, during the winter, you should make sure the birds have a supply of water that is not frozen.  You can buy a cheap little contraption that fits in your birdbath that will heat the water enough to keep it from freezing.  It looks like a round piece of metal that has an electric cord attached to it.  The electric cord plugs into an electric outlet or extension cord.  Here's a picture of our birdbath.  Notice that we have a large rock in the birdbath.  It serves to hold the de-icer contraption down and also to give the birds a place to sit.

Feeding the birds is an activity that is really a lot of fun and is educational as well.  I highly recommend it!

Hunkered Down for the Cold

We've had a mild fall and winter so far.  But, that is going to change in the next 24 hours.  As I write this, we have an Arctic cold front barrelling down on us.  They have been talking about this on TV for a week and I've been concerned about the beautiful lettuce that we have growing in our hoophouse.  

The hoophouse is unheated, but lettuce and other greens survive quite nicely in there during the winter.  However, if the weather gets really cold, they will sustain some freeze damage on the tips of their leaves.  This makes them somewhat unattractive and less marketable.  So, in an attempt to keep this from happening, we have covered the lettuce with a double thickness of row cover.

We have also piled some of the leaves from our "Leaf Mountain" (see Dec 17 post) all along the west side.  We're hoping this may help as well.  Guess we'll see.

Seed Catalogs

It is only January 6th and we've already received all these seed catalogs!

Tom and I can both spend hours browsing through them, dreaming and planning what we are going to order and plant this spring.  They offer a welcome respite from the cold winter weather. 

We both make lists of what we want to order.  Then we have to consolidate our lists and try to narrow it down to just 2 or 3 seed companies.  Otherwise, we spend too much on shipping charges.

We will have to make our decisions in the next 3-4 weeks because we'll need to have our tomato and pepper seeds in hand by March 1 in order to start our tomato and pepper plants and have them ready to sell and/or set out by April 15.

This can be a difficult process, especially for me.  My eyes are always bigger than my green thumb, so to speak, and I usually have a hard time scaling back my grandious gardening plans to a level that I can successfully manage.  

Wish us luck!

Recycled Planter Boxes

I've mentioned before how we try to recycle as much as possible.....paper, plastic, glass, all the usual stuff.  But, I am always on the lookout for other things we can recycle or, in some cases, "repurpose". 

When we were having our bathroom remodeled last fall, I watched in horror as the remodelers carried load after load of construction materials outside to be hauled to the dump.  I thought surely some of this stuff could be reused.  The pink bathtub (see August 17th blog entry) was broken up into pieces to get it outside, so it was not salvageable.  And, even though the toilet worked, it was cracked.  So, off it went as well. 

However, I noticed the drawers from the old vanity sitting on the porch.  They were in good shape and it occurred to me that they might make good planter boxes.  I mentioned this to Tom and they disappeared for a few weeks only to reappear last week in our greenhouse. 



He drilled holes in the bottom of them and they now have lettuce plants in them.  I'm happy they are serving a useful purpose now and not taking up space in the landfill.

Winter Garlic

One of our best selling items at the farmers market last summer was garlic.  Not the mild little generic garlic that you see in the supermarket.  But, garlic with names like Romainian Red, Persian Star and German Extra Hardy.  I'm not a garlic expert, but I can tell you that these are much more flavorful than the generic supermarket garlic.  The Romainian Red is a hot, pungent garlic that brought some of our customers back week after week for more.

Most people assume that you plant garlic in the spring, like onions and other vegetables.  But that is not the case.  In Oklahoma, garlic should be planted in October.  In fact, most seed companies will not even ship it to you until after September 1.  

We order most of our garlic from Filaree Farms.  They are located in Okanogan, WA, are organic certified and have a wide selection of different types and varieties of garlic.  They shipped our order to us the last week of September.  Planting garlic is pretty hard work, so Tom spread the work out over about a three week period devoting a couple of hours several times a week to planting garlic.  The garlic is shipped to you as "heads".  Heads consist of several "cloves".  You break the heads apart into the individual cloves and the cloves are what you plant.

After planting, it takes 2 to 3 weeks before the garlic sends leaves up through the soil seeking the light.  At that time, Tom mulches it with leaves or pine needles.  This year he planted oats between the rows as a winter cover crop.   Now that we've had several killing frosts, the garlic looks pretty sad.  See below.

The leaves have been nipped back pretty badly by the cold weather.  One would think that it is ruined.  However, once the weather warms up in the spring, this garlic will come to life and begin growing again. 

By June it will be ready for harvest.  You know it is ready to harvest when the tops begin to die.  It is a lot of fun and quite exciting to dig the garlic.  It seems like magic to see how one small clove has grown into a head of garlic that may be a couple of inches or more in diameter!

Leaf Mountain

We use a lot of leaves for mulching and for incorporating into our clay-based soil to add organic matter.   However, even though we have some large trees west of the house, most of the leaves that fall off them blow away.  Remember our name....Windy Acres!  Therefore, we have to get the leaves elsewhere. 

During the fall, Tom keeps an eye out for leaves that people set out for the trashmen and will pick them up and bring them home when he finds some.  Here is a picture of what we have accumulated so far in our "leaf bank".

I suspect that by spring this pile will be 2 - 3 times as big!