The gardening season has begun!

Community Garden Plot on May 18th.

Kale and some parsley

Perennials: catnip, bee balm, and mint. Garlic behind.

Butter bib lettuce plus a volunteer red cabbage.

Perennials: sorrel, chives, catnip, and green onions. Plus volunteer garlic.

Lovage (from the neighbor) and 13 oz mixed greens.

First asparagus of the season.

Local meal: garden asparagus broiled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, pickled garden beets, toasted sandwich made with locally baked bread (from local wheat), venison steak, homemade whole grain mustard, local horseradish, and melted cheddar cheese (conventional, sadly).

The gardening season has begun in Bozeman, Montana and I have lots of news to report. I will have another busy Summer because this year I have three shared gardens plus my little Community Garden plot. I will be gardening at Jim's/The Big Garden again this year for the second year in a row. Sadly, my good friend Jennie has moved away and won't be gardening there with me again. An older couple will be using a small section of it, but most of the 2000+ sqft feet is free for me to use. I have already planted a bunch of it and will be growing lower maintenance crops as well as crops that did well there last year (the soil is completely devoid of organic matter and worms; many crops grew poorly there last year). I'll be growing lots of garlic, onions, peas, cabbage, broccoli, beets, carrots, black winter radishes (first time growing that), parsnips, rutabaga (first time growing that), winter squashes and pumpkins, popping corn (first time growing that), and shell/dry beans (first time growing those, too). Perhaps the greatest benefit of gardening at The Big Garden are the well established asparagus, raspberry, and strawberry patches. Last year Mark and I picked and froze oodles of berries and we still have some left in the freezer. They're great in smoothies. The asparagus began shooting up last week and I've been picking some and eating it every other night. Fresh asparagus is such a treat! It is honestly the best tasting vegetable I've eaten in a while, mostly because its so fresh. This year at The Big Garden I will be mulching around the plants with straw to help prevent moisture loss. I will till the hay into the soil after the crops go by to help to build up the organic content. I will also mulching the pathways with wood chips (acquired in exchanged for asparagus from a local tree worker). The garden already looks much better this year with all of the straw on it. Bare/exposed soil is not good!

I will be gardening at Dede's again like last Summer. Dede's garden has incredible soil and everything grew so well there with little maintenance. Mark and I recently made Dede's garden 200 sqft bigger and another load of compost was delivered and tilled in. We will grow a full away of veggies including tomatoes, potatoes, greens, green beans, carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage, and many others. We will also try growing Brussel sprouts and cauliflower (started from seed), which I've never grown before. 

I will share a third, new garden this year which is 15 miles from where I live, so I'll only be going there once a week or so. One of the couples that arranges the Food Swaps that I've been going to just had a baby and will not have as much time as usual for gardening. They invited me to garden with them for the Summer to share the work and the produce. The garden is about 1000 sqft feet, has good soil, and will be on automatic watering. We will grow a plethora of different vegetables. They use special black felt underneath the plants and they usually grow terrific tomatoes (Montanans usually struggle with tomatoes because of the harsh climate and cold nights). The tomatoes apparently like the warmth from the black fabric, so I'm excited to see how the tomatoes will grow there. This a great, free gardening opportunity and the couple that I'm sharing it with are super nice.

Lastly, I am growing my 100 sqft Community Garden again, for the fourth year in a row. This is the only garden that I have to pay for. I love this little garden because it is close to my house, plus I have a bunch of perennials in it including chives, green onions (scallions), mint, catnip (can be used as herbal tea and also keeps pests away), sorrel (a lemony-tasting green), and bee balm (a perennial flower). Yet again, I managed to grow greens that over-Wintered, so I am already eating fresh greens in mid-May. Nobody else at the Community Garden has planted anything yet, let alone is eating fresh greens. I am picking two types of lettuce, spinach,and  kale (plus the sorrel and green onions). Also, some arugula and Swiss chard survived the Winter, but I picked and pulled those up already to plant new seeds. Two parsley plants survived the Winter (they're a biennial) and the entire garden has been self-seeded with calendula and borage flowers. The borage is literally out of control and will have to be pulled. Luckily, the young tender leaves can be eaten in salads and the older leaves are edible too, but are better dried and used as herbal tea. From now on, all of my salads will be fresh and entirely from the garden. The fresh greens taste so much better than store-bought greens. The radishes that I planted a few weeks ago will be ready to be picked in another week, which will be just in time to put the tomatoes and cucumbers in their place. Unfortunately, a bunch of spinach that survived the Winter died of thirst, because the City only recently turned on the water. Last year, I grew tremendous amounts of spinach and was able to freeze a bunch. Anyway, I only have a little spinach so far this Spring, which is kind of a bummer, but every gardening year is different. Some years are better for some crops than others. 

In other news, it is May and I still have some stored, frozen, and canned foods leftover from last Summer. We are still eating at least one or two home-grown foods with every meal. Some meals are still even entirely home-grown/gathered/hunted. With four gardens (three of them free), I hope to put away a bunch of food again this year. I will be selling some of my produce this year to offset my gardening and transportation costs. I will be providing three friends with weekly bags of produce. This will make my food growing/acquiring endeavors totally free (other than my labor, of course)!

Keeping Laying Hens Without Owning Land: Our Baby Chicks!

I have a new addition to my Invisible Homestead: laying hens! My friend Kareen and I are are sharing ten chickens together. The hens will live at her new place and we will share the cost, responsibility, and eventually the eggs. We purchased the chicks earlier this week from from the local ranching supply store. We got two Blue Cochins, two Silver Laced Wyandottes, three Red Stars, and three Buff Orpintons. These are varieties that survive well in Montana's frigid Winters and should be good egg producers.

Until they're old enough to live outdoors, we have them in Kareen's basement in a box with a heat lamp. Its great that my friend has the facilities to keep the chicks at her place, although I'd love to have them in my apartment because they're so cute and fun to watch. We're both really excited about this opportunity and I think sharing chickens will be a great way to expand my Urban Farming endeavors. Since I do not own my own property for raising animals or growing food, I've found that forming partnerships with land-owning folks is a great way farm. One of my gardens, for example, is owned by a university professor who lives couple of miles from my apartment. She's an older lady is is very busy with work and travel, so it works out well for her to share her garden with me. Her garden is great for me, too, because otherwise I wouldn't have that gardening opportunity. If you're an aspiring urban farmer who doesn't own land, but still wants to raise chickens, I would look into chicken sharing opportunities. For other ideas, check out my post, How to Be an Urban Farmer... Without Actually Owning Land.

Winter Food Swap Bounty

Its the dead of Winter, but the love of local foods is still alive. Last night I attended another Food Swap and left with an exciting array of homemade foods. I was originally concerned that I wouldn't have enough of my own food items to trade, especially since I didn't feel like baking mini raspberry-strawberry-rhubarb pies like I did last time, but I scrounged up some good items. I brought a bunch of garden rainbow carrots, garden beets, a jar of roasted tomatillo salsa, a jar of cherry-rhubarb jam, a bag of alfalfa sprouts, and a bag of radish sprouts. The sprouts I had started from seed a week ago in hemp bags (see my sprout growing  tutorial). I was impressed by the rather creative variety of foods that the other swappers brought, especially because it is Winter and folks don't have excess garden produce or eggs. I came home with a jar of dill pickles (ate some last night- very good), a loaf of freshly-baked sourdough bread, some biscuits paired with a container of spaghetti squash jam, two peach cobbler scones (ate those last night, too- very good), a jar of sugar beet syrup that Nicole, the swap organizer, expelled from her garden sugar beets, a smoked local trout, and a container of rhubarb salsa, which is like a savory chutney (ate of some on baked potato last night- yum!). I'm looking forward to eating the items that I didn't try last night. I was the only person who brought fresh produce; other interesting foods there included sourdough english muffins, a variety of jellies, venison breakfast sausage, salts and herbal blends, and homemade candy/bark.

My carrots and beets, by the way, I've been storing in my friend's garage. I was concerned this Fall about how to store these root crops, so I am glad for others' suggestions for storing them in sand and for my friend's generosity in sharing her garage. Jennie lent me a plastic cooler and a large plastic tupperware tub. I bought three bags of tube sand (the sand was dug from a local source and can be reused year after year) and carefully layered the carrots/beets with sand. The garage stays at about 40 degrees F. I went over there last week to stock up of carrots and beets to store in my fridge. I was really impressed at the condition that the veggies were in. They were all sprouting small leaves, but were in perfect condition- still firm, juicy, and tasty.

Local Meal: venison, barley risotto, green beans, and cabbage salad

My apologies for not updating this blog in several months. Although my Invisible Homestead has been on hold (winter mode), Mark and I have been reaping the benefits of our hard gardening work. We eat homegrown, organic foods with every meal. Mark was fortunate enough to kill two deer during hunting season and Jennie gave us an antelope that she bartered for pottery, so have a good variety of meat, veggies, and berries stored in the deep freezer and in jars. I still have tons of carrots and beets stored in sand in my friend's garage. I am continually impressed with the variety of local organic foods that Southwest Montana has to offer. Unfortunately, many local foods are not within my budget, but I regularly buy local potatoes, wheat flour, milk, barley, flax seed, and lentils. I still have connections for buying fresh farm eggs from happy, free-range hens. More than half of our diet is local and homegrown, but I still head to the grocery store for beans, rice, pasta, butter, coffee, sugar, nuts, and other foods.

Nothing tickles me more than a dinner made entirely of local and homegrown foods. The other night  I made a local dinner of venison steak, local barley risotto (with garden parsley and kale thrown in), garden green beans, and a fresh salad made with garden green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrot. Even the dressing on the salad contained a few local ingredients: camelina oil, garden dill, dried dandelion, and homemade mustard and cherry-rhubarb jam. To make the meal even more special, I served it on my friend Jennie's handmade plates (she makes beautiful pottery) and dinner was served with a glass of homemade chokecherry cordial that I got at a recent Food Swap. For dessert, I made a strawberry, raspberry, rhubarb pudding cake. All the berries came from the garden. The entire meal was delicious! Not only is "real" food healthier than conventional and processed foods, it is more fun to prepare and tastier to eat.

Food politics, corporate agriculture v. sustainable local agriculture, GMO v. organic foods, climate change, obesity, diabetes, and health in America.... there are all topics that are important me. I am proud that I am able to stand up for what I believe in and vote with my dollar by growing my own garden and buying local foods. 

Although its the dead of Winter, are you still eating any local foods? Have you recently eaten a special meal made mostly or all from local foods?

My 2012 Pantry and Root Cellar Foods

The gardening season has ended and all of my veggies have been picked or dug up. The root veggies and Winter squash are ready to be stored in a root cellar, except.... I don't have a root cellar. I have the cabbages, parsnips, and some of the carrots and beets in my fridge, but I am brainstorming other ways to keep the carrots and beets through the Winter. They just won't last long in my 70 degree apartment or out on my freezing cold porch. I have many pounds of carrots and beets. For a point of reference in the above photo, the plastic bag in the upper right-hand corner is filled with 2 gallons (about 10 pounds) of carrots.

I made out really well at all three of my gardens this year. None of these gardens I own nor are they located near my rental apartment. I had two land-share gardens (and the half of the veggies from each one were shared) and one Community Garden plot. Since all of my food was grown from little money and I have no land of my own, I feel like I ran an invisible homestead.

I think I am finally finished growing, foraging, trading, canning, freezing, fermenting, and preserving for the year. Here are the finalized lists of the foods that I plan to eat over the next many months!

Root Cellar Veggies 2012

I have 1 1/2 gallons of kimchi fermenting right now

5 spaghetti squash
3 pumpkins
1 butternut squash
4 sweet dumpling squash
3 sweet reba acorn squash  
3 green cabbages (more cabbages were grown, but were used for sauerkraut and kimchi)
2 red cabbages
2 gallons parsnips
20+ pounds onions
4+ pounds garlic (more in Jennie's basement)
lots and lots of beets
lots and lots of carrots

New Pantry Items 2012- Finalized List

5 gallons frozen strawberries
6 gallons frozen raspberries
2 gallons frozen snow and snap peas
3 gallons frozen green beans
1 1/2 gallons frozen service berries
1/2 pint dried raspberries (from Jennie)
17 pints and 1 quart dilly beans
2 gallons frozen rhubarb
10 quarts and 10 pints of various jams made cherries, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb
2 quarts and 1 pint apple sauce
5 pints tomatillo salsa
2 quarts and 1 pint pickled hot peppers
3 pints choke cherry syrup
15 quarts crushed tomatoes
9 quarts pickled beets
5 quarts frozen shredded zucchini/summer squash
1 gallon frozen broccoli florettes
2 gallons frozen broccoli stalk puree (for broccoli soup)
2 quarts frozen chopped hot peppers
2 gallons frozen whole tomatoes
1/2 gallon frozen parsley cubes
1/2 gallon frozen pureed kale
1 gallon frozen spinach balls
1 gallon frozen lovage cubes
1 quart frozen cilantro cubes
1 quart frozen pureed beet green cubes
1 quart fermented tomatillo salsa
2 gallons fermented sauerkraut
1 gallon fermented kimchi
20 pounds potatoes :(
small containers of dried herbs: catmint, borage, sage, and parsley

Anatomically correct carrots never get old

Second Food Swap

What I came with

What I left with

After last month's Food Swap success, I eagerly attended a swap again last night. To trade, I brought serrano peppers, heirloom cherry tomatoes (the orange kind), a quart of fermented tomatillo salsa, a quart of pickled beets, a 1/2 pint of cherry-rhubarb jam, a 1/2 pint of chokecherry syrup, and an entire apple pie made by Mark. Mark in fact was just as excited about the swap as I was and helped me package and decorate my items. A couple of weeks ago, I picked a bunch of apples from our landlord's apple tree and yesterday they really needed to be be used up, so Mark baked two apples pies- one for us and one for the swap. I tried to get him to come along to the swap so he could trade his pie himself, but he preferred to stay home. On the way to the swap, I picked up Jennie who brought a couple of her hand-crafted pottery items to trade: a beautiful mortar and pestal and a little coffee scoop. She also brought a pretty glass jar filled with dried coriander seeds, which she had painstakingly picked from our cilantro plants.

The swap was even better attended than last time, with about 15 people and equal numbers of men and women. There were a variety of different canned goods, fresh breads, some purple vegetables, eggs, homemade red wine vinegar, carrot cake, etc. People seemed very interested in Mark's pie and my fermented salsa; I got four different offers for the salsa and ended up trading it for a pint of heirloom tomato sauce. I also traded for jars of crab apple jelly, zucchini/pineapple jam, pickled banana peppers, and pickled green tomatoes. I also got a dozen farm-fresh eggs. I didn't trade the cherry jam, one package of cherry tomatoes, the pie, and one package of serranos (so I gave the peppers to Jennie). Jennie, by the way, made out well. She scored the red wine vinegar, a beautiful head of purple cauliflower, and a jar of crab apple jelly.

The pie was an interesting story because everyone seemed to be eying it and talking about it, but maybe were too intimidated to trade for it. I'm not sure... I did put put on my trade slip that I would maybe want to trade it for two items, because, well, an entire homemade apple pie still hot from the oven is a pretty special treat. Maybe people just didn't have any remaining items to trade for it- the trading process went by really quickly. Anyway, the trading was over and everyone was like, "What about the pie?" So, I borrowed someone's Swiss army knife and sliced it up and shared it with everyone.

When the swap was over, Jennie came over to our apartment to have a slice of our second pie and we convinced Mark that he should have been there to share his pie. He has agreed and also agreed to attend the October swap, but with a different pie strategy: he will bake a smaller pie or perhaps turnovers. Smaller pies would probably make for more equal trading. I'm already thinking ahead, too on what I'll bring to trade. Gardening season will be over by then, so I won't have fresh veggies. I'll probably bring pickled beets again and I'd like to make fermented kimchi at some point soon.

2012 Pantry Continued

Busy has been the adjective of the Summer. Busy gardening, busy harvesting, busy canning and preserving. I have a great collection of preserved local, organic foods, which I mostly all grew myself or found through urban foraging. Nichole over at Born in the Wrong Century is inviting folks to share photos of their pantries on her blog. I took a few pictures today and updated my Pantry List so I can also participate in the Pantry fun. Here is the 2011 Pantry Round Up from Nichole's FB page. This picture of my canned goods isn't too exciting. I wish I had a root cellar and a shelf so that I could properly display them all, but I just have them stacked in boxes in the laundry room.

My 2012 Pantry is certainly larger and more diverse than last year's. I tried canning a number of new items this year: dilly beans, apple sauce, chokecherry syrup, pickled hot peppers, and tomatillo salsa. In addition to my usual annual batch of sauerkraut, I also fermented tomatillo salsa and dill pickles. I plan on making some other fermented foods soon: kimchi, fermented beets, and fermented hot peppers. Mark and I also made an amazing batch of refrigerator sour pickles that tasted like Maine's famous Morse's Sour Pickles. All of the pickles have already been eaten.

My urban foraging adventures went pretty well this year: I gathered service berries, chokecherries, and apples. I still may or may not get out and pick some crab apples. I have been gathering herbs from my gardens and from the greenhouse at my gardening/landscaping job. I have frozen parsley, cilantro, and lovage and have dried sage, parsley, catmint (to use as catnip or for making tea), and borage (also for tea).

Dried herbs

The root cellar items aren't all in yet. I have onions, potatoes, and some garlic here in my apartment. Once we harvest the beets, carrots, parsnip, and winter squash, we will store them in Jennie's basement. We're expecting a lot of carrots and beets! 

Fermented tomatillo salsa and sauerkraut

New Pantry Items 2012:
 
5 gallons frozen strawberries
6 gallons frozen raspberries
2 gallons frozen snow and snap peas
3 gallons frozen green beans
1 1/2 gallons frozen service berries
1/2 pint dried raspberries (from Jennie)
17 pints and 1 quart dilly beans
2 gallons frozen rhubarb
10 quarts and 10 pints of various jams made cherries, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb
2 quarts and 1 pint apple sauce
5 pints tomatillo salsa
2 quarts and 1 pint pickled hot peppers
3 pints choke cherry syrup
9 quarts crushed tomatoes
9 quarts pickled beets
5 quarts frozen shredded zucchini/summer squash
1 gallon frozen broccoli florettes
2 gallons frozen broccoli stalk puree (for broccoli soup)
2 quarts frozen chopped hot peppers
1/2 gallon frozen parsley cubes
1/2 gallon frozen pureed kale
1 gallon frozen spinach balls
1 gallon frozen lovage cubes
1 quart frozen cilantro cubes
1 quart frozen pureed beet green cubes
1 quart fermented tomatillo salsa
2 gallons fermented sauerkraut
20 pounds potatoes :(
small containers of dried herbs: catmint, borage, sage, and parsley

Neighbor kitty found the mother-lode of fresh catnip that I had yet to hang up and dry. She comes over daily for her fix.

Leftover from last year:

2 quarts pickled beets
2 pints cherry/rhubarb jam
1 pint apple butter
2 pints rose hip sauce
1 pint dried rose hips

The warm weather here in Bozeman has prolonged our usually short growing season. Fresh veggies are still trickling in. I expect to continue to do some canning of tomatoes, but I'm pretty tired of canning in general. Its quite time-consumptive. I'll post a finalized pantry list once all of the gardens die and the preserving is done.

Did you preserve any fun or interesting foods this year?

Basil-less Pesto on a Dime

Believe it or not, Nasturtium leaves are edible... and they make a great pesto!

Sure, nothing beats the rich, fresh taste of traditional basil and pine nut pesto, but who can afford it?! In my area, a pound of pine nuts can cost over $20, 8 ounces of quality, extra virgin olive oil costs $12, and 4 ounces of fresh, local basil costs $5. I'm growing nearly a dozen basil plants this Summer and even though the leaves grow back after my frequent pickings, I don't have enough basil to make pesto often or freeze it. High-quality, traditional pesto just isn't in my budget, but that doesn't mean that I don't get to eat great pesto. I've learned how to make basil-less pesto on a dime.

Instead of using fresh basil, a variety of different herbs or leafy greens can make a tasty, albeit different tasting pesto. Just think outside of the box a little. Try making...

• Nasturtium leaf pesto
• Cilantro pesto
• Parsley pesto
• Spinach pesto
• Arugula pesto
• Dandelion leaf pesto
• Mint pesto
• Kale pesto
• Sorrel pesto 
• Oregano pesto
• Or pesto made with a mixture of different greens and herbs

Rather than coughing out the dough for the pricy pine nuts, use roasted walnuts instead. Raw pumpkin seeds can also be used, however, they cost more than walnuts in my store. To save money on oil, I use "extra light" olive oil or even canola oil. These cheaper oils don't taste quite as good as EVOO, but when mixed with tangy greens or herbs, it still makes a delicious pesto.

No matter which greens, nuts, or oil you use, the basic pesto recipe remains the same. Blend/puree all the ingredients, except for the cheese, together with a food processor or blender. Grated Asiago cheese can be added to the prepared pesto, however cheese raises the overall cost and leaving it out will still result in a good pesto. Enjoy!

•  2 cups greens/herbs, packed
• 1/2 cup olive oil or canola oil
• 1/3 cup roasted walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese (optional) 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional, use a little less oil if you add lemon)

Do you use any alternative ingredients in your homemade pesto? Please share.

Food Swap!

Friday evening I went to my first ever Food Swap and came home with a bunch of great goodies. I found about about this swap through Nichole at Born in the Wrong Century. She's a fellow Bozeman blogger and enjoys gardening, foraging, preserving food, and cooking great meals. This is an event where people show up with up with foods that they made or grew and trade them for other homemade foods. I arrived with garden beets, carrots, kale, a pound and a half of green beans, and a bag of fresh mixed herbs as well as three jars of various homemade jams made with cherries, strawberries, raspberries, and rhubarb. These are all foods that are currently plentiful for me. I left the Swap with a dozen and a half farm fresh eggs, a jar of raspberry syrup, a fancy bottle of espresso syrup, a small jar of basil salt, and three packages processed game meat: salami, maple syrup breakfast sausages, and antelope tenderloin. I was really stoked with all of my goodies because I don't have any of these items in my pantry. I was especially excited about the eggs and frozen elk/venison/antelope. Other fun items at the food swap: freshly baked sourdough bread, scones, raspberry jam, elderberry syrup, fresh herbs, tomatoes, and herb-infused salt.

There were about a dozen people at the event, which was held at a fitness center. I had never been to a Food Swap, but Nichole explained how it went: You laid out your items on a table and filled out a card with your name and what you brought. People perused the tables and wrote down on others' cards what they offered to trade for that particular item. This gave you an idea of what you could possibly trade. Then at Nichole's direction, the actual swapping started. If you wanted a particular item, you found the person and asked if they wanted to trade for one of your items. The swapping process went by really fast! 

I traded all of my items except for the beets, which I later gave to an appreciative friend. I had fun and hope to attend next month's trade! A local Food Swap is a great way for aspiring urban farmers to acquire foods that they are lacking and I was glad to see that there are others in my area that are growing, making, and preserving their own foods. It would be awesome if this event had a bigger following; I wish I knew more people to invite.

Yesterday morning I ate some of my traded goodies. I made waffles (made with traded eggs) and topped them with raspberry syrup. On the side we had the breakfast sausages. We used the remaining sausages last night on our pizza, which was made with mostly all garden veggies. Yum!

If you're interested in what the Food Swap looked like, check out the FB Page. Nichole also created a new page that is an ongoing swap, where people post items that they'd like to trade.

Have you ever been to an organized food swap?

Today's Harvest- August 23rd

An amazing harvest from Dede's garden today. Our shared garden is loaded with tomatoes, yellow bush beans, carrots, beets, and Summer squash. I also picked a few lingering peas, some dill, and some broccoli from our lone broccoli plant. I can't believe that all of this came from one small garden and this was just my half!

I rode my bike over to Dede's today, but maybe I should have driven... I harvested so many veggies that I had a hard time fitting them all into my backpack. I had carrot tops and beet greens pouring out the top of my bag, I squeezed Summer squash and broccoli into the side pockets that are supposed to be for water bottles, and I carried a  plastic bag of tomatoes in one hand which made my bike rather difficult to balance. I got a few strange looks from people on my 10 minute bike ride home and luckily most of the ride was on an off-road public bike trail.

Yes, I'm a geek, I know.