Seedcropolis

Last year I grew weary of the daunting task of starting seeds indoors with direct sunlight..  It works well enough when they're small but as soon as the seedlings turn to small plants you're faced with constantly turning, maneuvering, and untangling them.  It's effing awful.  The only way(s) to rectify that is to 1) build a greenhouse - which obviously is not plausible for someone in my situation, 2) deal with it and stop complaining, or 3) build something so as to start seedlings with artificial lighting.  I'll take # 3.

Materials:
1 stainless steel metro shelving unit, preferably 72 in high x 48 in wide x 18 in deep.
48 in long fluorescent lights.
Power strip. 

Optional:
Heat pad.
Reflective blanket to hang behind rack.

I purchased the 18 inch deep shelf because it is wide enough to allow a full row of seeds to receive enough lighting.  Also with it being 72 inches high it allows for 4 full shelves of growing if needed. 

Lighting can be achieved in many ways.  I purchased 1 single unit that has 4 individual bulbs.  It fits nicely, but two two-bulb lights would work just as well, simply requiring more wires and more chains.

Wattage is another issue to keep in mind.  When purchasing designated "grow" lights you will get a higher wattage, more heat, and a more "natural" light.  These obviously will work the best but they will also cost a bit more.  I paid $55 for the 4 bulb set and it's only 30 watt.  It will work just fine but I have to start the light basically touching the seedlings.  I only purchased one light to start and so I'm planning on increasing the quality for the second one.



Beginning to assemble the unit.


The heat pad is a very nice addition if you have one/purchase one because it will keep the seedlings at a constant temperature even when you turn the light out over night.  The seedlings need at least 6 hours of darkness per day.  My temperature under the lights is at or around 75 degrees when the light is lit, but drops to around 60 degrees at night (my basement is cold), so a pad would be ideal.

Testing the height of the light.

Simply assemble your lighting fixture and hang from the shelf directly above.  Be sure to purchase lights that have the optional chains to hang from.  This will save you a lot of hassle and will allow you to easily adjust the height when the plants begin to grow.  Most often they're called "shop lights."

Finished product with one flat of seeds.

There you have it!  Easy as drinking a beer.  Keep the light slightly above the seedlings until they emerge, then raise it to coincide with their growth. 

Currently I have Swiss Chard, Celery, Lettuce, and Spinach started.  This weekend I will start some Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions, Leeks, and a few others.

Start the seeds in a good organic seed starting mix, barely covered.  Keep them moist but don't over water.  If you have capability to water from below I have found that works best.

Close-up of Giant Pascal and Tendercrisp Celery started.

If you aren't growing enough to use all of the shelves it becomes great storage space.  These wire metros are also great for storing harvested veggies on when the time comes.  Good luck, happy seeding. 

Good talk.

Keep it metro yo.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Effing Year! (is very near)

Holy hell it's been forever and a day since I updated the blogus.  Winter is a very down time for a blog centered around gardening and being outside.  We got a sniff of 60 degree weather last week only to be followed by a big old snow fart to the tune of 7 inches this week.  No worries.  Now is the time to spend organizing existing seeds, ordering new ones, and developing a plan for the gardens - and in just a few short weeks will be time to start some early seedlings.  BOOM!  What a great effing time!

Soon it will be time to get the old new (I actually got one for Christmas) rotor tiller out to do early season preparation with the soil.  Then shortly after that it will be time to put the early season seeds and plants in the ground.  Can't effing wait.

I have developed an excel spreadsheet to organize the different varieties and also the planting time-table for all of the veggies we're planning on growing this year.  I try so hard to be organized but once things are in the ground my organization flies away with the wind.  BUT that doesn't stop me from trying it again this year.  Someday I will be an organizational fool.  Until then I'll feel content following the seat of my pants' advice.

Here are some new veggies we're growing attempting to grow this year:

Potatoes
Leeks
Radishes (German Beer radishes to be specific.  Apparently they serve this variety along side a malted refreshment in Germany.  I'm an obvious fan of beer so to grow this seemed inevitable).
Parsnips
Salsify (if you're unfamiliar with this it is a root vegetable, good fall crop, that when eaten tastes similar to oysters!  So cool!).
Celery
Turnips
Head Cabbage (mainly for sauerkraut making).

Most of these new veggies are good early or late season veggies.  I really plan on expanding upon our gardening season in comparision to previous years.  We tried it last year but then The Day My Fall Garden Died.

We're also trying a few new varieties of Peppers and Tomatoes - them still being the most popular veggies from the Keel Lane gardens. 

Hopefully my hops will produce some yummy bitterness this year.  Last year only brought us bines with no flowers. 

I'm effing back and will keep everyone updated on how things are transpiring.  I'm also planning on expanding the home brewing aspect of the blog since my recipe book is beginning to look a lot like my food recipe book.  Electronically is so much nicer. 

Good talk.

Keep it BOOM!
      

Horseradish...and Sometimes Beets

Horseradish root is one of those things that you either love or hate. The entire plant is called a "horseradish plant" but we only eat the roots.  The root is fragrance and odor free until the cells are broken (usually by chopping or grating) which causes enzymes to be released that will badly irritate the sinuses and eyes.  As long as you're prepared the resulting backlash from the root can be minimized.  Just be sure to work it in a well ventilated room with a few open windows.  

It is usually ready to be dug from the ground close to or even shortly after the first frost date.  I dug some two weeks prior and two weeks after our first frost and it all tastes great.

First year roots are the best for consuming.  They are the most pungent and have the freshest taste.  When you dig your roots pull off any small off-shoots and replant them.  You'll be rewarded next season.

Once horseradish is grated or chopped it quickly becomes discolored and loses it's trademark flavor so use or add to vinegar immediately.  

You are able to process horseradish and vinegar by canning but the horseradish loses its taste the longer it is cooked.  To prevent loss in taste I place the horseradish into jars and then freeze.

The process is simple.  First peel the roots and then grate the horseradish.  The finer the grate the more pungent the flavor.  Grate to your liking. I like mine very pungent so I grate mine very well.  I use a food processor with the normal blade attached AND the shred blade on top.  It works well.  

Once you have your desired consistency pack the mixture tightly into jars.  As tight as you can pack it.  Then top off with vinegar and store in a cool place or freeze.  

If you would like to sweeten the horseradish mixture I suggest one of two things.  Either dissolve a few pinches of sugar in the vinegar (you'll have to heat it then cool it) before topping off the horseradish, or grate a few beets in with the roots.  It lightens the flavor and has a great look.

Keep it real pungent. 

Canning Whole Tomatoes

This time of year prohibits those of us who are gardener-food preserving-football loving-Sunday school teaching-hunting-father of two-husbands from doing much of anything besides those things that are mentioned, but I do want to be sure to continue to list recipes.

This blog WAS initially intended to merely be a place where I could list all of the recipes I have accumulated over the years instead of them being in a small notebook that I have to leaf through every time I need to find something - and it still is.  Hopefully those that care know to check back here if ever there is something they would like to re-visit.

In the coming days I will be posting a few of the more popular recipes in my notebook, Habenero Hot Sauce and my Homemade Pancake recipe (yes Cole, you will be able to return anytime you want to make them).

In the mean time I wanted to update on a few things that have been happening since the last post.  I canned whole tomatoes the other day, and plan on doing more tomorrow.  This is a great way to preserve the tomato harvest that requires little time and effort, and the opportunities are endless as to how you use them throughout the winter.  Soups, chili, sauces, tomato juice, etc.  The list goes on and on.

Start by removing the upper cores and any bad spots on the tomatoes.  I do this to all of the tomatoes before moving on to the next step.  Do whatever works best for you.

While you're cleaning the tomatoes up, have a pot of water coming to a boil on the stove.  You are going to blanch the tomatoes for 20-40 seconds in the boiling water and then immediately remove them from the boiling water and place them in a cold water bath.  This will allow the skins to slip off with just a pinch.

There are two ways to proceed from here.  You can can the whole tomatoes in water, or you can can the tomatoes in their own juice.  I always can them in their own juice.  The jars do not look nearly as nice, and it's a tad messier, but the flavor cannot be beat.

If you plan on canning the tomatoes in water bring a clean pot of water to a boil and tightly pack the skinned tomatoes into jars.  Pack them tightly but not so tight that you're changing the shape of the tomatoes, that will ruin your eye pleasing look.  Once the tomatoes are packed nicely, pour the boiling water over them leaving 1/2 inch head space.

If you plan on canning the tomatoes in their own juice simply fill your jars with the tomatoes and smash them together until you have enough juice to have only 1/2 inch head space.  Be sure to use a small spatula to remove any air bubbles when doing either technique.

Place both quarts and pints into a boiling water canner and process for 1 hour and 25 minutes.  Remove, cool, check seals, enjoy.

Keep it whole dudes.

A Peck (more like a 1/2 bushel) of Pickled Peppers

Why do we refer to it as "canning" anyway?  It's more like "jarring."  Aside from that - Curt, Winger, and myself set out to do some pickles.  No, not those pickles, pickled banana peppers. 

Canning banana peppers is something we normally did with Pops on the back porch so to keep the tradition alive we again performed the task on a back porch, only this time it was my back porch.  

We did two batches.  One with a 3 to 1 vinegar to water ratio with 1 cup of salt, and one with a 2 to 1 vinegar to water ration with 1/2 cup of salt. 

Although straying from the norm, we avoid flying by the seat of our pants concerning anything involving Botulism so both recipes were tried and tested.  Our experimentation pertains mostly to taste and quality, especially when the end result of "winging it" could be Botulism.  No thanks.

We had a mixture of regular Banana peppers and a new variety we have never grown called "Inferno" Banana Peppers.  Greeny and I stuffed a few of the inferno peppers the other night and grilled them.  They are noticeably hotter, but not overwhelming.  Once picked we could not tell the difference so these jars will have a nice mix of hot and sweet peppers.

25 pints later and we're happy.  Another awesome vegetable excellently preserved for future use.

We have enough peppers to do this at least 2 more times so we're thinking about some experimenting with some new recipes.  Suggestions?

This week's thought from the mind of a child:  Winger picked up a few cucumbers that we also picked while in the garden, and proceeded to sit them next to the young cucumber plants we have growing in pots on the back patio.  He told me that it would make them grow "bigga bigga."  I initially told him to be careful and not to play with the cucumbers for fear of him bruising or damaging them.  I then realized that although he was technically "playing" with the cucumbers, the reason for him doing what he did actually makes sense.  To him, anyone bigger or older provides him with food, safety, and nurturing - all things needed to grow bigger.  It makes so much sense in its most simple of forms why we as parents are here - and he gets it at only 2 1/2 years old.  Too bad there are millions of parents who unfortunately do NOT get it.   

Keep it real simple.  

What Tastes Like Purple?

Note to Zirn, Curt, and self - if you think 15 pounds of home-grown, hand-harvested, super awesome tasting Concord grapes smashed and pressed into a 5 gallon glass carboy with sugar and yeast then left to ferment resulting in a sweet, refreshingly delicious beverage sounds too good to be true - you may be right.  

Let me introduce you to Mount Wine-suvious:

and...

You probably can't tell but that cloth wrapped around the neck was originally white.

Seriously, I do have "wine" flowing into the drain in my work room and it smells like an excellent weekend spent in the Napa Valley, but in no way is this a bad thing.  12 months from now this will be a very GOOD thing.  

The second 5 gallon batch (white bucket in the background of the above photos) looks just fine and is showing no signs of overflow.  

Also, the Blueberry Surprise made from leftover simple syrup and year-old frozen blueberries is bubbling away:

Who needs manufactured fermentation locks anyway?  A rubber glove with a pin hole secured with rubber bands works just as well.  When I walked in to check on this today I high-fived the wine like 6 times.  

Good work boys.  Update to the "currently fermenting" list:

2 - 5 gallon batches of concord grape wine made with home-grown grapes

1 - 1 gallon batch of Dandelion Wine

1 - 2 gallon batch of Raspberry Wine

1 - 3 gallon batch of Strawberry Wine, and the hot July moon didn't see shit

1 - 3 gallon batch of Orange Wine

1 - 1 gallon batch of Orange Zest Wine

1 - 1 gallon batch of Blueberry "Wine"

1 - 5 gallon batch of Appleweis

Keep it fermenting. 

Weekend Before Europa Trip

Super Greeny, Moms, and myself are heading to Vienna, Austria next week.  Before leaving there were some very important matters that needed attended to - mainly - picking raspberries, making raspberry wine, and racking our other wines.  Curt, Winger, and myself ran to Snyder's Berry Farm to pick some raspberries (no pics), and then Curt and I completed a wine trifecta for the day.

Here's a picture of Curt cleaning the carboy preparing for our strawberry wine to be racked in to:

The strawberry wine had been in the primary fermentor for 2 weeks.  It's now resting with less sediment in the secondary glass fermentor.

The far right carboy houses our Strawberry Wine.  The pink hue gives me the feeling that we'll be sipping with our pinkies raised while watching double rainbows - but it smelled awesome.  

The middle carboy is full of our orange wine, which we racked into the empty carboy.

The "Ale Pail" was cleaned and sanitized for our raspberry wine. 

Here's an up close look at the Strawberry Wine:

We now have Strawberry, Raspberry, Orange, Small Orange, Dandelion, and Apple Weis made and aging.  Next year at this time is going to be unreal.

Quick garden update.  Our little peppers on the back patio got munched:

Here's what they used to look like:

If I catch the culprit, they're gonzo.

Here are a few of the potted plants.  The tomato plant is in the back.  A pepper triforce is in the back to the right.  Zucchini and Long Neck Squash are in the pots in the front:

After a long, hard day of picking, gardening, and wining - here is Curt, Winger, and myself enjoying a few beers (Curt and I) while watching some fireworks.  

Keep it real cherry pickers. 

Ketchup Blog

Understand and accept my complaining - I like to write stuff here in this internet space but I lack the time to do it.  I'm not good at it, but I enjoy it and would love to be able to do so more often.  IF I could blog more often, then I would not have to publish a post recapping the last 3 1/2 months. 

Heck, pictures are fun so I'll do it anyway.  The late April/May/June of garden/outdoor season in pictures for the Awesome household (mainly Winger and myself unfortunately [because Greeny is always holding the camera {but that just means that I'm doing all of the work] ]), 2010.

To kick things off here's an Easter shot of the fam.

Here's Little Winger, New Edition, and Myself preparing the small garden we keep at our house.  Currently we have some thriving beans, onions, lettuce, cilantro, mint, and pumpkins in this small garden.  The two large gardens at the farm are what keep us busy.  

Cute?!  You should see me after a hard day of work in the garden!

Greeny and New Edition after a bath.  He's staring in the direction of the TV - I think there was a Pens game on.

Here as promised is a sweet picture of Little Winger, Kody (the awesome bear I named from the zoo), and myself. 

The first patio fire of the spring/summer. 

Winger's first ever S'more...

...and his second.

Peppers in the back patio planter box.  These random dudes were left behind when their older brothers and sisters were moved to the large gardens.  They stayed indoors for a few weeks seemingly too long.  Could be an awesome late, late harvest - could be goners depending on first frost.  Either way I enjoy the challenge.

 

If there is one phrase we have heard more than "go uppa barn" over the past few months, it would have to be "go pit berriz."

...So we did...

Every day - and sometimes night.  We have a great harvest and there are still more to be picked in the sunnier locations around the pasture.  The harvest could have been much larger had Winger not eaten 1 out of every 4.  

We're planning on making some jelly and/or preserves - and some wine. 

Three weeks ago we got our first tomatoes from the patio plant.  She's doing unbelievably well.  We're going to have 3000 beautiful fruits from this plant.  

Pizza on the grill the other night...

...and a fire...

...and then this happened at some point of the night...

And then Greeny and I woke up with hangovers.

Free, transplanted Rose of Sharon bloomed the other morning, and despite our worst heat wave in 5 years...

...Winger and I hung outside all day - building planter boxes so as to not waste a bunch of wood scraps, mowing, gardening, and...

...hanging in the shade with Sidecar.

Lastly, the boys spending time with Mommy since she's home for the summer:

I'll get some garden pics uploaded here in the next week or so, which means I'll probably post something about them in October.  

I would also like to detail our fall planting/harvest for the garden this year.  We'll see.  

Keep it real yinzers.