yearofplenty

Big Box Garden Center Replacement Guide

Before I say anything about where to get plants for the garden, I've got two things to say.

First, if you can, plant seeds and grow your own plants. It's cheaper, more fun, and you have a lot more varieties to choose from. I should clarify that it's cheaper if you don't buy a greenhouse, and compulsively buy seeds and garden supplies, and kill half your plant starts, and dig up your whole lawn and have to buy 10 yards of manure, etc, like some people I know. It's not too late to start seeds.

Second, whatever you do, no matter how warm it is during the day, no matter what the weather report says, DO NOT plant that luscious green, miracle gro pumped up tomato plant until June 1. Our traditional last freeze date in Spokane is May 15, but for warm weather plants like tomatoes it's all about evening temps. It can be 90 degrees during the day but if it's in the 40's at night, your plants will stall out and take a long time to break out of their stupor. Once they start growing they like to keep growing. Same goes for melons and squash. The joke is that garden centers sell the big tomato plants in April because they know you'll be back to get some more when you kill off the first round. Local tribal knowledge says don't plant anything until Mica Peak is cleared of snow, but that may not be until July this year, so I'd go with the June 1 date.

So onto local garden centers. Let me say I've got nothing against the big box stores. The folks at Home Depot have been very generous to my church, as has the Costco funded College Success Foundation. So nothing against the big stores, but there are plenty of great local greenhouses and garden centers that I'd rather support.

Northwest Seed & Pet (NWSP) is at the top of my list. They get most of their plants from Creach & Upriver, two local greenhouses. They also have a great supply of seed potatoes. Get them and plant them ASAP. They also have a fine selection of grapes, raspberries, strawberries, even gooseberries and. These are all bare root stock so if you're going to plant them do it soon before it get's hot. NWSP also carries a lot of garden supplies that are local. I must be one of the few people that has shopped around for manure. Big R carries manure from Boise, ID, whereas NWSP has some from Longview, WA. And who said the local movement is like the "finer things" club from The Office.

I spoke with the owner who has worked there for over 27 years, and he said that business has been tough the last couple of years. This is where I'm supposed to bad mouth the big box stores and talk about how they're running everyone out of business with their plants from Texas, but I just said I've got nothing against them. I might have to rethink that one. Support NWSP. It's a Spokane institution. Where else can you shop with purple chickens roaming the floor and a 6 foot aligator to amuse the kids while you decide which seeds to buy? I recommend the original Sprague location.

Yes We Can

I'm officially enrolled in the Master Food Preservation Class through the WSU extension. I'll be learning about canning fruits, meat, fish, poultry, tomotoes, pickles, and other cool stuff. There will be a class on the ancient art of drying food and one on jams and jellies. It starts this Friday, 5/2. Go here for the scoop. There still might be room.

I hear, "Canning is the new cool." Maybe with my new skills Bette Midler will want me to do a block party too, or I can start my own retro hip canning enterprise; Craig's Jammin Jams? or Craig's Awesome Apple Butters? or Craig's Rad Relishes?

Some days I think I might be turning into my grandmother.

Picture: My first canning effort of the year, canned kohl robi, otherwise known as a cloche to keep the plants from freezing.

The Garden Labyrinth Takes Shape

The circle in the middle will be the center of the maze. Go here for an explanation.

Name That Cow

On opening day of the Millwood Farmers' Market last year, someone was in line to get some beef from Dave Mcculough of Susie David's, who sells grass fed beef, including sausages made from the beef. This person noticed that Dave had little morsels of the sausage available for sampling, and said, "This is just like Costco." In one of my favorite comebacks of all time, Dave said, "I can do something Costco can't do. I can tell you the name of that cow's grandmother." I don't know if reminding people that the sausage they are eating comes from someone with a name and family is the best way to sell beef, but it is a great way to sum up the difference between industrial beef and local beef that you get from someone like Dave. Dave knows the names of the cows and what they have eaten.

Dave's comment is especially meaningful given the news today that the FDA has finalized their rule regarding what is allowed in pet and animal feed. I thought they had banned any cattle parts from animal feed, but it turns out it's only the spinal chords and brains of cattle 30 months old or older, and carcases more than 30 months old. I guess cows are still being fed to cows. I don't know the science of it but I find it a little disturbing.

As I understand it, and I admit my understanding is limited and I welcome any corrections, the industrial beef industry works something like this; A cattle rancher raises calfs, born at around 80 lbs, until they are close to a year old. They are then shipped off to a big feedlot where they are fattened up with a mix of grains, grass, and growth hormones. Anti-biotics are important because you've got thousands of cows coming from hundreds of locations thrown together in confined spaces of 500 to a 1,000 head of cattle per acre. After three months of intense plumping up to 1,200 lbs, the cows are then sold to a meat packer or processor who ages the carcas, cuts it up, boxes it, and sells it to grocery stores. 

Coming To A Neighborhood Near You?

Thanks TM for the link to this Wall Street Journal article. Looks like we're not the only ones tearing up the lawn to put in a vegetable garden. The book, "Food Not Lawns" is a good resource if you want to tear up your own lawn. If anyone sees any good stories out there about local consumption, please send them to me. Part of the power of a blog is the ability to harness our collective experiences and observations. Just click the "email me" link to the right.

Spokane Seed and Other Inland Northwest Specialties

Some people have asked if our region is a good one for eating locally. My response is to say, it depends on what you like to eat. But in general, the Inland Northwest is a place of food abundance. Eastern Washington produces the following percentages of our country's food items according to the 2007 USDA report; 77% of hops, 74% of spearmint oil, 42% of lentils, 22% of potatoes, 8% of wheat & barley, 60% of apples, 47% of concord grapes and 40% of niagara, 60% of sweet cherries, 43% of pears, 28% of prunes and plums, over 20% of our countries carrots, sweet corn, asparagus, green peas, onions.

When we eat a can of Campbel's split pea or lentil soup, the peas and lentils are likely from Spokane Seed in the Valley. When we down a can of Budweiser, we're likely partaking in Yakama hops. When we eat a granola bar with dried cherries, we're likely biting into a little bit of sunshine from the Wenatchee area. When we chew on Doubleday spearmint gum, we're likely freshening our breath via the fruitful soil of the Wapato area. When we make pancakes from a box of Krusteaz Pancake Mix, we're likely consuming wheat from our state's vast dry field farming resource.

The Inland Northwest is a place of plenty.

If you want to skip the can of Campbel's soup, you can go straight to the offices of Spokane Seed in the Valley and get some manageable and inexpensive bags of peas and lentils (pictured above). They have four or five varieties of lentils.   

Why Bother?

Michael Pollan asks the question in yesterday's New York Times magazine. He focuses on the issue of tackling climate change...

Is eating local or walking to work really going to reduce my carbon footprint? According to one analysis, if walking to work increases your appetite and you consume more meat or milk as a result, walking might actually emit more carbon than driving. A handful of studies have recently suggested that in certain cases under certain conditions, produce from places as far away as New Zealand might account for less carbon than comparable domestic products. True, at least one of these studies was co-written by a representative of agribusiness interests in (surprise!) New Zealand, but even so, they make you wonder. If determining the carbon footprint of food is really this complicated, and I’ve got to consider not only "food miles" but also whether the food came by ship or truck and how lushly the grass grows in New Zealand, then maybe on second thought I’ll just buy the imported chops at Costco, at least until the experts get their footprints sorted out...

So here I am faithfully feeding my children weeds from the garden, and I get this heavy duty question dropped in my lap. What if the Goodwin family experiment doesn't amount anything in the end? What if at the end of the year we're left to say; "I went a year without sugar and all I got was this T-shirt from Thailand?" I suppose our daily activities are never too many steps removed from this bothersome question.

Pollan suggests an orientation of hope that both transcends the circumstances on the ground, and more deeply anchors us in those very circumstances.

Going personally green is a bet, nothing more or less, though it’s one we probably all should make, even if the odds of it paying off aren’t great. Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even when you can’t prove that it will. That, after all, was precisely what happened in Communist Czechoslovakia and Poland, when a handful of individuals like Vaclav Havel and Adam Michnik resolved that they would simply conduct their lives "as if" they lived in a free society. That improbable bet created a tiny space of liberty that, in time, expanded to take in, and then help take down, the whole of the Eastern block.

I think he's on to something. I like the way the preacher from the book of Hebrews puts it; "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." It's a tenacious orientation of hopefulness in the midst of the everyday. It's a conviction that the primary plot line I find myself a part of is redemption, and that my daily actions are somehow part of that grand story. That's why I bother.

Picture: Blueberry buds acting "as if" they live in a place where there will be a summer, creating a tiny space of liberty on a late April day in snowy Spokane.

Dandelions for Dinner, "They Kind of Make You Perky"

On February 20th we reported on our first flats of veggies and greens going into the greenhouse. A more seasoned gardener would already be harvesting their first crop of lettuce but, for now, the little shivering plants are under plastic, cursing me for putting them out in the garden too early. Because of my deficiencies at growing these new varieties, I decided to turn to a source of fresh spring greens that I've proven I can produce year after year; dandelions. This crop is a good confidence builder for any gardener nursing his wounds from a fickle spring.

I wandered the yard and found a hidden bounty of the green serrated leaves. Dandelions are actually considered an herb in some quarters, with the roots having some medicinal value when dried and ground up. I was surprised to find that you can actually buy the seeds at online seed stores. Something to keep in mind should the need arise to exact revenge on your neighbor.

I was on dinner duty tonight, so I took the greens and made a Spokavore Early Spring Salad with; mung beans from Moyie Springs, ID, matchstick carrots from John Duncan Produce in Greenacres, WA (available at Yokes) and dandelion leaves from cracks in the Goodwin's driveway. The true test was to see how the girls responded to having weeds on their plate. As the picture shows, it was thumbs up. Noel said, "It kind of has a zing to it." Lily commented, "It kind of makes you perky but its really good."

So there you have it. Put away the Round Up and get out the salad tongs.

The Great Sunflower Project

You have probably heard about "colony collapse disorder" in bee populations around the world. A group is doing a study on bee populations around the country by enlisting people like you and me to plant sunflowers and take down some simple data on how long it takes five bees to visit the flower. I got my seed pack last week. Here's the link.

Even if you don't participate in the project, it's good for all of us to think about creating a little haven for healthy bees in our yards. Sunflowers are great. Here are some others: Anemone, Anchusa Azurea, Bee Balm, Blazing Star (Liatris), Blackberries, Blueberries, Fleabane (Erigeron), Dahlias, Foxglove (Digitalis Purpurea), Blanket Flower (Gaillardia), Geranium (Geranium sanguineum), Lavender (Lavandula), Mallow, Lavatera, Pincushion (Scabiosa), Purple Cornflower (Echinacea), Rhododenron (bumblebees only), Rose (Rosa).

I recommend planting sunflowers directly in the garden at the end of may or beginning of June in Spokane. The pheasant love to nip at them though so give them a little protection until they get 4 or 5 inches tall. And, if you're feeling ambitious, you can try to grow one with the largest head, the tallest, or with the most flowers, and enter it in the Spokane County Fair. It's a great way to get the kids involved in the garden. It's also time to start thinking about growing that Giant Pumpkin. More on that later.

Millwood Farmers' Market Preview

It's a time of anticipation, hopes and fears for local growers and producers. I've heard reports that farmers in the Yakama area are out in their fields in the middle of the night with heaters trying to keep their crops from freezing. Vegetable farmers in the Spokane area are hoping that it will eventually stop snowing so they can plant their crops. And Farmers' Market planning teams in Spokane are bustling around getting ready for the fast approaching season.

I am on the planning team for the Millwood Farmers' Market. The Millwood Market got its start last year as a collabaration between some vendors, Millwood businesses, and Millwood Presbyterian Church. This year we're hoping to grow in the number of vendors and customers. Here is the line-up of vendors for the 2008 Millwood Farmers' Market, Wednesdays from 3 - 7 pm starting May 21. Janet Dodd is coordinating our music again this year, which includes some of the best bluegrass and roots music in the Spokane area.

2008 Vendor Roster (so far):
The Corner Door, West Valley City School Greenhouse, Yakydoodles Goodies, YWCA/Bubbles Soaps, Fleur de Provence Lavender Farm, Wooden Eagle wood crafts, TLC Creations, Elithorp Farms, Fussy Hen Flower & Herb Farm, Harvest Ranch, Ly Lo Vu Otis Orchards Farm, St. Margaret's Shelter, Patti’s Plants, Rocky Ridge Ranch, Tate’s Honey Farm, That Stuff, The Rustic Windmill, Petit Chat Bread, Susie David's Beef, Arabesque Bread, Rocket Bakery, Wild Boar Farm Stained Glass, The Herb Garden & Greenhouse, Hutton Settlement, Xiong's Garden & Huckleberries, Color Garden Studio Watercolors, Pacific Produce Yakama Fruit and Vegetables, BJ's BBQ

Offerings this year will include: seasonal vegetables & fruit, honey, beef, chicken, eggs, pork, flowers, herbs, plant starts, landscape plants, breads, pizzas, pastries, candies, lavendar, soaps, candles, hamburgers & sausages, and crafts of every kind.

We are looking for a jewelry vendor and a ceramics vendor if anyone has any ideas on that. I'd be glad to post the line-up of vendors at other area markets if anyone wants to send me the info. Go to www.localharvest.org to find a market in your area.