A Beginner’s Guide to Composting

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Expert gardeners know that gardening is more than simply planting seeds in dirt and providing water and sunshine. A crucial part of getting food to grow abundantly is to nourish your soil so that it is healthy and fertile. One of the best ways to get better soil is to add compost to it. Compost is a rich, dark material that you can make for free using kitchen and yard scraps and regularly maintaining it.

Of course, many of you know what composting is but have yet to try it because it sounds like a big undertaking or you think you probably don’t have the time for the upkeep. Maybe you just don’t aspire to be an expert gardener but simply a pretty good one. Composting doesn’t have to be time-consuming or lifestyle-altering, and the benefits you will reap from it in your gardening will make you wonder what’s taken you so long to get started.

Why Compost?

If you have time for a garden, you probably have time for a compost pile. Here is why every gardener needs to compost:

1. Adding compost to dirt creates nutrient-rich soil, which in turn grows more produce.

2. Compost added to soil increases water retention. This means you don’t have to water as frequently or as much, which makes gardening more efficient.

3. Adding compost increases beneficial microorganisms in your soil, resulting in healthier plants because more good bugs means fewer bad ones.

4. Compost in soil improves soil structure. Soil is softer and more workable, making it easier for plants to root deeply.

5. Composting keeps unnecessary waste out of landfills.

For further convincing, here’s my personal testimonial. When in full bloom, our garden looks like one you might find in Wonderland or Willy Wonka’s back yard. Everything is oversized, richly colored, and pulsing with life. It astonishes me every single year how quickly and effortlessly things seem to grow there. Here’s why: My husband makes it an art form to cultivate soil that is as healthy and fertile as the Garden of Eden by maintaining our compost pile and adding it to our dirt regularly.

How to Get Started

You don’t have to make it a big project to start a compost pile. Simply follow these steps and  reap the rewards.

1. Designate a place for your compost pile. Most experts say to start with a 4 by 4 by 4 space so that it is big enough to generate some heat and keep vital processes working. Your compost pile doesn’t have to be enclosed, but it can be, especially if you plan to compost through the winter.

2. Begin saving kitchen scraps, yard waste, newspapers, etc. We keep an old cookie tin outside our door so that whenever we have vegetable scraps to get rid of, we can just toss them in there. When it gets full, we add it to the compost pile. When you add your scraps to the pile, you can mix them in or layer them. Experiment a little and see what works best for you.

The basic mix of an ideal compost pile is about a 30:1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen. This is achieved by adding both what we call “brown” materials and “green” materials to the pile. Brown materials are materials that contain a lot of carbon. These include dried leaves, dead plants, straw, hay, egg shells, shredded paper, cardboard, small twigs, pine needles, peat moss, and sawdust. Green materials contain more nitrogen and include grass and other green plants, hair, manure, and fruit and vegetable scraps. Many beginning composters worry about having exact amounts of carbon and nitrogen, but it’s not necessary to get hung up on the proportions. Just be sure you are adding both green and brown materials, and you should have what you need.

One word of caution: Make sure any wood added to the pile has not been treated chemically, grass has not been sprayed, and food scraps do not have oil on them. All of these things will be detrimental to a healthy compost pile.

3. Maintain your pile. Your goal with your compost pile is to enable the aerobic decomposition processes to work without stopping, allowing the microorganisms to break down your materials and turn them into compost. You do this by keeping the pile moist, aerated, and full of a good mixture of carbon and nitrogen.

Keep your pile moist but not soggy. Loosely cover it with a tarp or other covering if you live in a very rainy area or if you live in a very hot, dry area. You may need to water it regularly to keep it moist. You want its moisture level to resemble a wrung-out sponge.

Give your pile plenty of air circulation. You can do this by laying down a few layers of bulky materials like wood chips to create air pockets, poking holes in the pile, and turning it regularly, which will all ensure that oxygen reaches the center of the pile. When a compost pile is getting enough oxygen, it is able to decompose efficiently. A few signs that decomposition is happening as it should are that your pile has an earthy, not a stinky, smell and that it is warm to the touch. If your pile feels cold or starts to have a foul smell, the aerobic processes are not happening as they should. You may just need to turn it more frequently, dry it out, or add some more green materials.  Usually the more frequently you turn your pile, the quicker it will be ready for use. Some experts will tell you to turn it as much as every few days, and some will say as rarely as once a month. Again, do your own experimenting and see what gives you the most success.

4. Add the completed compost to your garden when it is ready. Work compost into the top six inches of your garden soil to give it the nourishment it needs. How will you know when your compost is ready to be added to the garden? When it looks pretty uniformly dark and crumbly and you can’t see the original ingredients you put into it, it’s a pretty safe bet your compost is ready. You can also seal some in a plastic bag for a day or two and then check to see if it is stinky after that time. If not, it’s ready.

If you are attempting to maintain a compost pile and are having trouble with any aspect of it, you may want to check out this excellent article for troubleshooting help.

Composting may initially seem like more work than you want to devote to your gardening, but once you get started, you will see that it doesn’t take much time, and any work you do will be worth it. With your freshly-made compost added in, your garden will go from a patch of dirt to a wildly productive gardening plot.

Natural Ways to Control Pests in the Garden

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Last summer, our tomato plants grew so well that they turned into a flourishing tomato jungle. The yield was high, the tomatoes were juicy, and the leafy tomato plants looked great at the edge of our garden. There was only one problem: Our tomato jungle was also a home for hundreds of giant grasshoppers. These leggy bugs perched on every stem of our tomato bushes, ready to spring at me the second I reached for a tomato. Because of this, I would procrastinate my tomato picking, and when I finally made it out to the garden to do it, I had to talk myself through every step. It went something like this: “You can do it. Just close your eyes and put your arm in there.” When I think about facing another summer of tomato picking surrounded by leaping grasshoppers, I twitch involuntarily.

Gardening season is here again, and with it all the slimy, hairy, hopping pests that love your fresh plants as much as you do. While it may be tempting to blast those pests with the strongest pesticides you can find and obliterate them forever (I know I’ve thought about this several times in regards to grasshoppers), you may want to think again before you resort to such extreme measures. Here’s why. Harmful chemicals in pesticides and insecticides can be dangerous for pets and children playing outside. They can also pose health risks for people who eat the produce that has been sprayed with pesticides unless produce is washed very well (and scrubbed, in some cases). Also, sometimes spraying harsh chemicals all over your garden necessitates more spraying later because you have killed all the good bugs that could have gotten rid of the bad bugs. Even worse, pests can develop resistance to pesticides and come back even stronger the next year.

If I haven’t convinced you yet that pesticides are to be avoided if you can help it, how about this…There are other ways to get rid of garden pests by using mild household ingredients you’ve probably got lying around. Before resorting to harsher chemical measures, why not try some tried and tested natural pest control? I’ve spent the last few weeks combing the gardening world of the web for popular natural methods of garden pest control. Following is what I’ve found. I plan to do a lot of experimenting this summer. How about you?

Good Gardening Practices to Help You Keep Harmful Bugs Away

There are general gardening habits that can help you minimize the amount of bugs in your garden altogether. Following these can keep your garden naturally low on pests.

1. Practice good gardening habits to keep pests at bay. For example, only water your garden in the morning so that the soil is sufficiently dry at night. This will make it so snails and other nighttime wanderers will be less likely to roam about in your soil. Also, maintain a clean garden: Keep the decaying leaves and scraps to the compost pile to get rid of tempting places for bugs to feed and hide.

2. Bring the good bugs in. Plenty of good bugs feed on the pests that destroy plants. Beneficial garden bugs include lacewings, hoverflies, ladybugs, honeybees, and more. By bringing more of these good bugs into your garden, you can lessen the amount of pests naturally. One way to attract good bugs is to plant plants that draw these good bugs in. Geraniums, tulips, and lilies attract ladybugs, which eat aphids and other pests around the garden. Alyssum, dill, and marigolds also attract ladybugs as well as lacewings, which feed on aphids and other small insects and insect eggs. For a more detailed description of bugs and the plants they are attracted to, check out this resource.

3. Try natural barriers. When just starting your garden, put a toilet paper roll around your newly-sprouted plants to keep bugs from eating them before they’ve flourished. Also try sprinkling a circle of cayenne pepper around vulnerable plants. This will keep ground insects away. Peppermint, spearmint, and pennyroyal also are said to deter aphids as well as ants.

4. Get out the soap. Many seasoned gardeners recommend a simple soap and water combo to keep plants bug-free. Mix 1 tablespoon of unscented dish soap to 1 gallon of water, then put it in a spray bottle and spray lightly on plants that are affected with bugs. Most bugs will not like the taste of soap and will leave your plants alone. This method may not be great for plants that will absorb the taste of the soap though, so avoid spraying on plants like lettuce and herbs.

Pest-specific Remedies

If you’ve got one specific bug you’d really like to banish from your garden, like me with the grasshoppers, check out the following awesome tips.

For slugs…Rumor is that slugs enjoy a few beers at the end of a long day. Pour some beer in a tuna can, bury it near your plants that are being eaten by slugs so that just the rim is showing, and leave it overnight. By next morning you should have a tuna can full of slugs. Repeat as many times as you need.

For aphids…Try grating the rind of one lemon into water, steeping it overnight, and straining it in the morning. Then spray the water onto aphid-infested plants.

For grasshoppers…Neem oil is said to be a good grasshopper repellant if you can find it. Another option if you’re looking for a big fix is to invest in some chickens, which love to feed on grasshoppers.

For snails… Throw out all the ones you can find by hand, then squirt lime juice around the perimeters of your garden. Snails are said to avoid lime.

If you haven’t found what you’re looking for here, check out the following resources for more bug-ridding information:

http://blog.planetnatural.com/get-rid-of-bugs/. Great article on natural pest control. Offers some good information on biological pesticides.

http://www.farmerfred.com/plants_that_attract_benefi.html. Excellent resource for researching what kinds of plants can attract what kinds of bugs.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/protect-your-garden-with-beneficial-bugs.aspx#axzz2VMpqLJfk. Very comprehensive article on beneficial bugs.

Stuff You Need When Disaster Strikes: A Complete Emergency Survival Kit Checklist

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A good emergency supply kit involves much more than matches and first aid supplies. For this reason, when you’re putting together your kit, it can be helpful to consult with emergency preparedness experts or those who have lived through emergency situations to find out the little things that make tough situations much easier to get through. In today’s post, we try to include an exhaustive list of items most people find helpful in disasters. Get out your pencil and start taking notes (or just fire up your printer) because this will be a list you’ll want to hang onto.

A pretty good place to start when gathering emergency supplies is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s emergency supply list. We have included it here, along with our own suggestions in parentheses. At the end of FEMA’s list, we’ve also added some things we would add to make our emergency supply kit the ultimate in survival readiness. If you have anything else you’d like to add, leave a comment and help make our list even more comprehensive.

Emergency Supplies That Will Prepare You for Almost Anything

1. A good first aid kit. (Check out some good ones here.)

2. A basic first aid manual. (Even better would be to take basic first aid classes before an emergency situation comes.)

3. A heavy blanket and a sleeping bag for each member of the family.

4. A mess kit with enough dishes to equip each member of the family.

5. At least one change of clothes for each person. (If you live in a varying climate, store a set of winter clothes and a set of summer clothes for each person.)

6. Utensils and napkins or paper towels.

7. A can opener.

8. Baby wipes. (Even if you don’t have a baby, baby wipes are useful for all kinds of clean up when you don’t have running water.)

9. Pure chlorine bleach along with a medicine dropper for purifying drinking water. (Or a water purifier, water purification tablets, etc.)

10. A flashlight. (The more you have stored, the better―especially if you have kids. I read once about a family who lived through an extended power outage, and the father of the family remarked that if he hadn’t had a flashlight for every child, he would have had a bunch of nervous wrecks on his hands when the sun went down. Giving every child a flashlight can help kids feel safe in unfamiliar circumstances.)

11. Batteries, batteries, batteries. (It would be difficult to store too many batteries. Rechargeable batteries and solar-powered chargers are other fantastic options.)

12. Important family documents in a portable waterproof container. (These documents could include birth certificates, social security cards, marriage certificates, insurance records, and other vital financial documents.)

13. Cash or traveler’s checks. (In disaster situations, electronic payment may not be possible. If all you have is a debit card, you will basically have nothing. Cash is vital.)

14. Pet food. (Don’t forget to have enough water stored for your pets as well.)

15. A fire extinguisher.

15. Pliers or a wrench to turn off the utilities.

16. Duct tape.

17. Plastic sheeting in case there is a need to shelter in place.

18. Matches stored in a waterproof container. (Matches are like batteries; the more you have, the better off you will be.)

19. Toilet paper.

20. Garbage bags.

21. Plastic ties.

22. A hand-crank or battery-powered radio.

23. An NOAA weather radio.

24. Dust masks.

25. Prescription medications, glasses, contact solution, etc.

26. Diapers and infant formula, if applicable.

27. Feminine supplies.

28. Paper and pencil.

29. Things to keep kids (and adults) entertained. (Don’t underestimate the importance of entertainment. Emergency situations can involve a lot of hurry-up-and-wait time.)

Our Additions:

30. Recipes for food storage meals. Also, spices to help vary your meals. If you’ve got plenty of flour and oil and honey but no idea of how to make it into a meal, you’ll be in a bit of a tight spot.

31. Comfort foods like coffee or chocolate or your kids’ favorite cereal. Comfort foods boost morale and normalize tense situations.

32. Kitty litter if you have cats. If you have guinea pigs, rabbits, snakes, or anything else, store the appropriate food, hygiene, and comfort items for your particular pet.

33. Vitamins to complement food storage. Any diet based on the same small group of foods for prolonged periods of time is bound to leave a person lacking in one nutritional area or another. Vitamin supplements can fill in the gaps.

34. A head lamp.

35. Some rope.

36. Candles or kerosene lamps for backup lighting.

37. Flint and steel in case your supply of matches runs out.

38. Hand warmers to keep toasty in the winter. Alternately, ways to keep cool in the summer: hand-held fans, spray bottles, etc.

39. Extra blankets to section off an area of your home and create a smaller area to heat if necessary.

40. A full tank of gas. Also, extra fuel. Also, containers to carry gas in.

41. A backup generator and a carbon monoxide detector to ensure your safety while using your generator.

42. A basic set of tools, including a hand saw to cut down trees if necessary.

43. Large containers for collecting rainwater.

44. A backup cooking method. Think camp stoves, solar ovens, dutch ovens, etc.

45. A mirror, which can be useful for signalling for help. Also, mirrors can be placed behind candles to increase their light projection.

46. Glowsticks. If you are told to evacuate and are one of those who is hesitant to do so because you are worried about looting, you can hang glowsticks near windows to make it look like someone is home while you are away. Glowsticks can also be handy for keeping kids entertained when the lights go down.

Why You Should Store (and Eat) More Beans

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Perhaps you’ve come across the idea that it doesn’t matter what emergency food you store, as long as you have something put away. The idea is something along the lines of You’ll eat anything if you’re hungry enough. The primary qualifications many require of their food storage are that it is cheap and that it has a long shelf life. While finding emergency food that fits within your budget and has a long shelf life are vital, don’t neglect to examine an equally vital quality of food storage food: nutrition.

Survival situations are tough times—tough on bodies and tough on minds. During these tough times, the source of all your nourishment and sustenance will be your food supply. Therefore, when you are preparing a survival food supply, it makes sense to gather foods that are nutrient-dense and able to nourish and sustain while also being long-lasting. One of these nutrient-rich foods that can be prepared to store for long periods of time is beans. Today we’ll look at why beans are a superfood, something you should consume on a regular basis, and, more specifically, why they are a super food storage food.

Beans: Food Storage Superfood

1. Beans are famously high in fiber. Just one half-cup serving of beans typically has about 10 grams, an excellent amount for a single food. This high fiber amount combined with the high water content found in beans helps fill you up faster and keeps you full longer, making beans an ideal survival food. What more could you want in an emergency situation than an ingredient that is going to stretch your meal longer through the day?

2. Beans are a good source of complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are digested more slowly by our bodies and are one of the best sources our bodies have of sustained energy. The complex carbohydrates found in beans can supply you with the vital energy you need to handle the assortment of challenges you might face in a survival situation.

3. Beans offer healthy protein. At around 7 to 10 grams of protein per half-cup serving, beans are an excellent source of this vital macro-nutrient. Protein is involved in many of the most essential functions of the body, from cell repair to bone health. When you combine beans with whole grains like brown rice, you get a complete protein just like you would get from any meat source. Best of all, this protein source does not also slip in sneaky unhealthy fats, like saturated fat found in most meat products.

4. Beans make for a healthy heart. In a study conducted at the University of Arizona, participants who ate ½ cup of beans daily lowered their cholesterol by 8%. In addition, because beans are a good source of potassium, they can lower sodium levels in the body, in turn lowering blood pressure.

5. Beans help fight cancer. Because beans are a good source of antioxidants, the magical phytochemicals that fight free radicals, if you make beans a part of your diet, you increase the antioxidants flowing through your system and curb the spread of cancer-linked free-radicals.

6. Beans are nutrient-dense. They are a good source of calcium, Vitamin D, iron, magnesium, folate, and Vitamin B6. With a fact sheet like that, it’s hard to leave them off a list of superfoods.

Knowing how fantastic beans are for so many aspects of health, here’s some good news. Five of Legacy Premium’s food storage entrees feature beans. These delicious entrees include enchilada beans and rice, chili mac, southwestern soup, classic chili, and white bean chili. We also offer a side dish of refried beans, which is simply pinto beans and salt—no lard or other unhealthy ingredients. Including beans in your emergency food menu is a great way to add calories and nutrients to your survival diet.

Today’s lesson: The ingredients that make up your emergency food are important. They will play an important role in your physical and mental state during survival situations. Store food that is full of nutrition and will give your body what it needs to last. In other words, don’t forget the beans.

Three Mental Traits That Will Help You Survive

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Survival in extreme situations usually depends directly on a person’s degree of preparation. Typically we tend to think of preparation for disasters as involving mostly food and water storage. However, perhaps even more than physical preparation, survival in extreme situations can often be determined by how mentally prepared we are to handle stressful experiences. As you gather stores of emergency food, water, and survival supplies, don’t neglect to prepare yourself mentally as well. Today we’re going to examine four traits you can foster that are extremely useful—some might even say crucial—for getting through tough things.

1. Optimism

We’ve been taught the significance of a positive attitude since we were in Kindergarten, so it’s easy to quit listening when someone tells us we need to think positively. However, according to plenty of recent research, optimists are better off than pessimists when it comes to many aspects of life: Optimists have been shown to have better survival rates when diagnosed with life-threatening diseases or conditions, optimists have been shown to survive poverty better, and studies suggest that optimists tend to have better overall health. All of this evidence would suggest that optimism can be a very useful trait when it comes to surviving difficult situations.

TIME Magazine ran a story last year about a program under implementation by the U.S. military that is designed to turn its personnel into undeterred optimists. According to expert research behind the training, one of the most important factors in resilience is a person’s degree of optimism. Thus, training soldiers to practice positive thinking can help them to endure and thrive in challenging situations.

If you’re not naturally an optimist, training yourself to think like one can put you in a good place if you ever find yourself in a survival situation. Become aware of your thoughts about yourself, others, and life in general. If your thoughts are mostly negative, try to change them and notice more of the positive in every situation. Monitor the tone of your conversations with others. Make an effort to express more positive thoughts than negative ones.

2. Mental Toughness

Mental toughness, i.e. resilience, is the pull that gets early risers up at 5:00 in the morning to run laps around the track, the thing that helps military men and women endure tense experiences, and the trait that helps children who experience traumatic events grow up to be healthy, happy adults. Some people are naturally tough mentally, but there are also some practices that can help you develop mental toughness if you aren’t naturally that way.

One of these is to regularly get out of your comfort zone. This doesn’t necessarily mean forcing yourself to talk to strangers on the elevator (although this is probably a healthy thing to do as well). In a great article on mental toughness, Erich at tacticalintelligence.net recommends randomly doing things like fasting for 24 hours, taking ice-cold showers, going sky-diving, or making yourself wake up at 3:00 in the morning every now and then. When we regularly do things that are not just uncomfortable but hard for us—things we really, really, really don’t want to do—we toughen ourselves up. The idea is that if you practice hard things on a daily basis, you end up a much stronger and more resilient human being.

Another good way to develop mental toughness is to challenge yourself physically. Demanding workouts strengthen your mental ability to endure discomfort and pain, and they also give you more confidence in your physical and mental strength. Get in the best shape of your life. Push beyond your former limits. Set a fitness goal for yourself that you previously considered out of your league. It is nearly impossible to become physically strong without also strengthening your mental toughness.

3. Self-confidence

The more you believe in your ability to handle tough things, the more you will be able to handle them. So how can you develop confidence in your own survival abilities? The simple answer is to first get all your affairs in order.

First and foremost, make sure you have adequate food storage, drinking water, and emergency supplies stored away. If you have all the supplies you need to keep your family alive during an emergency situation, you will not have the added mental burden of worrying about where your next meal is going to come from, and you will also not carry the weight of guilt that can come from relying on others who have prepared and generously shared with you. Being prepared gives you the confidence you need to trust yourself and your own abilities in an emergency.

Another source of self-confidence in emergencies is having some survival skill know-how, which will help you trust your ability to take care of yourself and your own. Survival skills are not just for boy scouts and mountain men. Anyone can learn basic survival skills like first aid, fire-starting, edible plant identification, and anything else that would be vital knowledge in a survival situation. Anything you learn now will give you more self-confidence later.

Finally, remember that you are probably much stronger and more resilient than you think you are. If you are prepared both physically and mentally when a disaster situation occurs, chances are that you will be able to do what you need to do.

Eight Unusual Foods Worth Planting in Your Garden This Year

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Are you a predictable gardener and usually play it safe when it comes to deciding what to plant in your garden for the season? If you’re like me, your garden looks mostly the same every year with the old familiar tomatoes over here, zucchinis there, strawberries there, and maybe some onions or cucumbers just to vary things. This year, as garden season is upon us, why not walk on the wild side and plant something outside the norm? Your reward will be a refreshed summer menu, the curiosity and interest of your neighbors, and quite possibly a new garden favorite. For your gardening experimentation, here we’ve gathered a list of some unusual fruits and vegetables that can be grown in most climates. Take a look. My guess is that they’ll have you wanting to mix up your garden offerings this planting season.

1. Cucamelons (also called mouse melons). Cucamelons are fruits about the size of grapes that grow on a vine. They get their name because they look exactly like someone has taken a watermelon and shrunk it down to miniature proportions. According to gardeners who enjoy the cucamelon, these fruits taste like sour cucumbers and, some say, fava beans. (I’m not sure how something can taste like both cucumbers and fava beans, but maybe once I try it I will understand.) Like most cucumbers, cucamelons grow easily and abundantly and can be trained to grow up a trellis or simply allowed to spread out on the ground. When you are ready to eat your cucamelons, they can be prepared in much the same way cucumbers/squash can: pickled, stir-fried, or eaten raw. To read more about cucamelons, look here.

2. Strawberry spinach plants (also known as strawberry blite or beetberry). Strawberry spinach plants are an ideal food to grow if it’s important to you to avoid waste. This is because you can eat every part of this little-known plant. Its edible leaves can be eaten raw or steamed and are high in Vitamins A and C. Its juicy red berries taste similar to mulberries and can be eaten straight off the plant. Strawberry spinach plants are reportedly very easy to grow and can withstand both the cold and the heat. For more information about strawberry spinach, check out this article.

3. Issai hardy kiwi. These delicious fruits grow on a vine and are like the kiwis you buy at the supermarket without all the fuzz. You can eat hardy kiwis whole and raw, and they are reportedly very sweet, like grapes, and a great source of Vitamin C. Because they are fairly heavy and abundant when grown, they usually require some kind of support to grow on, like a trellis or T-shaped structure. If you are interested in growing Issai hardy kiwi, you might find this article helpful.

4. Lemon Cucumber. The name of this delicious food describes it well: a cucumber that is colored and shaped like a lemon. These miniature cucumbers have a slightly sweeter flavor than regular old cukes, and their skin is a bit thinner too. When you plant lemon cucumbers, they stretch and spread around the ground quickly, so don’t plant too many unless you have plenty of space you want to fill. Like most cucumber varieties, lemon cucumbers are easy to grow and thrive in various climates.

5. Black sea man tomato. Nearly all gardeners I know grow some kind of tomato every year. The black sea man tomato is appealing to many adventurous gardeners largely because of its unusual appearance: dark purple, almost black, skins and usually a pinkish center. Slicing them results in a rainbow of interesting colors and is sure to add impressive visual impact to your meals. Not only do these tomatoes look cool, most gardeners who have grown them say their taste is among the best of tomato varieties, very rich and tangy.

6. Porcelain doll pink pumpkins. Pumpkins are among my favorite things to grow. Not only are they fun for Halloween decorations and delicious fall desserts, their vines stretching magically across a garden add a very Cinderella-esque charm. Porcelain doll pink pumpkins are light orangeish/pinkish in color. What could be more magical and Cinderella-esque than a pink pumpkin? To top it all off, when you buy pink pumpkins, a portion of your purchase goes toward breast cancer research.

7. Asparagus pea (also called the winged pea). Asparagus peas historically like to grow in equatorial climates, but some varieties can be grown in more extreme areas. The asparagus pea is another vegetable whose parts can all be eaten. You can eat the peas, which reportedly taste something like asparagus (hence the name), enjoy the pods when they are still very small and tender, boil the roots for a protein-rich potato-like food, and prepare the leaves like you would spinach. Asparagus pea plants are also very beautiful and exotic-looking when growing and can make a great addition to your decorative garden.

8. Pineberries (pineapple strawberries). Pineberries are white strawberries with red seeds. They are a bit smaller than common strawberries and supposedly have a light pineapple flavor. They do not have a very high yield and thus add to their desirability by being limited, if that’s your thing.

If you are interested in trying out any of these varieties this year, a quick search online will lead you to plenty of online seed retailers who offer exotic and unusual seeds. You can also check your local garden center, which might surprise you with the variety of seeds it carries. If you do decide to try something new, let us know how it goes. Also, if there is any other unusual plant you have grown in the past and enjoyed, leave a note in the comments below. And as you’re kneeling in the dirt with the sunshine on your back, remember the words of ancient Roman philosopher Cicero: “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

Preparing Pets for Emergencies

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If you have a pet who holds a special place in your heart, you probably take pretty good care of that pet—feed him, groom him, take him for walks, maybe even buy him fancy clothes or gourmet treats from a pet bakery. Today I’m here to remind you of one aspect of pet care that otherwise good pet owners too often forget: preparing your pet for emergency situations.

In the world of emergency preparedness, we are constantly making lists of supplies we need to gather in order to be prepared for every eventuality of a disaster. If you are a pet owner, as you make your list of supplies to store away, don’t forget to equip your pet along the way as well. Usually, in an emergency situation, pets will need most of the same things humans do: food, water, shelter, and plenty of reassurance. And just like people, animals will benefit from having a few comfort items stored away too. Here, for your convenience, is a list we’ve put together of pet survival supplies that will make your life and your pet’s life a lot easier in the event of a disaster.

What to Include in Your Pet’s Emergency Preparedness Kit

1. Water. As you store water for your family for survival situations, don’t forget to calculate the amount of water your pet will need and add it into the mix. Be sure to store enough to allow your pet to stay well hydrated, and if you care about cleanliness in emergencies, store enough for pet hygiene too!

2. Food. Stock up on as much pet food as you can afford to store. Start with enough to feed your pet for a month, then three months, then six, and so on. Through Legacy Premium, PrepareWise now offers the first pet food that’s made for long-term storage. It boasts a 10-year shelf life and comes in the dog variety and the cat variety. If you are looking for serious pet food storage, this is an excellent option for you.

3. Portable food containers. Many emergency situations involve evacuation of your home. If this happens to be your case, you will want to have a way to carry your pet’s food and water on the go.

4. Manual can opener if your pet eats canned food.

4. Medications if necessary.

5. First aid supplies. Pet first aid supplies and people first aid supplies are mostly the same, but you might also consider having some extra large bandages, gauze, and medical tape along with everything else.

6. Hygiene Supplies. Remember things like a pet brush, shampoo, blanket or towel, kitty litter if applicable, and whatever else your pet needs to be well-cared for and clean.

7. Pet carrier or leash. It’s vital to have a way to keep pets contained during emergency situations as even the most docile and sweet animals can become anxious and combative in tense situations. Having a leash or carrier handy will help you keep your pet close and calm until situations settle.

8. Proper identification and records. If you and your pet get separated during an emergency or if your pet needs to have medical attention, it will be vital that his records and IDs are handy. Make sure you have a copy of your pet’s medical records and a collar with an ID tag, a license tag, and a vaccination tag.

9. Picture of you and your pet together. If you and your pet get separated during an emergency, a picture of your pet will allow others to help you locate him. If that picture also includes you in it, it will be a good proof of your ownership of your pet.

10. Emergency contact list. Make a list now of all the numbers you might need for your pet in an emergency situation. Possible numbers include the local animal shelter, an emergency medical center for pets, the local kennel, and your pet’s veterinarian.

11. Items purely for comfort. It’s important to have some treats stored for your pet along with his typical pet food. Treats make tense, abnormal situations seem more normal and controlled and help pets to relax. In addition to treats, make sure to have any of your pet’s favorite toys or sleeping pillows on hand. Comfort items will go a long way in easing the stress of an emergency situation for your pet.

In addition to putting together a survival kit for your pet, there are a few other considerations you may want to make before a disaster happens. One of these is to make a plan for what you will do with your pet if you have to evacuate your home. If your plan is to go to an out-of-town family member’s house, make sure that person is willing to house your pet too. If not, you will need to make arrangements beforehand either with a local animal shelter or kennel. Some shelters and kennels do not house animals in emergencies, so call now to find out which ones will and make a plan to take your pet there.

If you absolutely have no other options and have to leave your pet behind (not recommended), leave him in the house with plenty of food and water available to him. Also leave a note on the outside of the house that tells rescuers there is a pet inside, what kind, his name, and a contact number you can be reached at. Leaving pets at home gives them much lower chances for survival, so avoid this option if at all possible.

In emergency situations, pets will probably be feeling many of the same emotions you are. They will be tired and fretful and anxious and will need all the love and patience you can give them. Expect them to be more needy and less obedient than they usually are. If you keep them close to you and attend to their needs, they will make it through the emergency situation as well as you. Being prepared with a good pet survival kit and making emergency plans in advance can go a long way in making the situation bearable for everyone.

Your Single Most Important Emergency Item

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If you are like me, at any given time, we can flip on a knob and have clean, fresh water flowing into our homes seemingly without limit. As a result, we typically don’t stop to consider how reliant we are on water for every aspect of our day-to-day lives. Did you know that the average human being can survive without food for a month or more depending on the circumstances, but we cannot survive without water for more than three to seven days? Water is essential for nearly every function our bodies perform, including digestion, nutrient absorption, detoxification, and temperature moderation, among others. Without water, we simply cannot survive. Water is not only essential for hydration; it is also vital for cooking, showering, brushing teeth, doing laundry, washing dishes, cleaning house, watering crops, feeding pets, and more.

In a variety of natural disaster situations, public water lines often crack, allowing dangerous pollutants into the water that feeds directly into our homes. Alternately, water can be shut off altogether for an indefinite amount of time. If a natural disaster occurs in your area, chances are good that you will have to rely on your own water reserves to keep your family from dehydration and to perform daily household activities. If you don’t have a sufficient amount of safe, clean water stored away, you will put your family in an unnecessarily unpleasant and dangerous situation.

How much water should you store?

Most preparedness organizations recommend storing one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days. This is a conservative amount and should be increased in the hottest parts of the year. Consider your personal needs and store accordingly. If you drink a lot of water regularly, store more. If you have pets, store more. If you take medications, store more. Keep in mind that it’s unlikely you will ever have too much water, so the more you have, the better off you will be.

How can you safely store water?

The most obvious option for storing water is to buy bottled water that is all ready for storage. This is a good, though expensive, choice. When you buy water that is already bottled, it should last for about a year and then be rotated out. Another option is to bottle your own water. This is an excellent option as long as you take the right precautions to ensure your water does not become contaminated. Following are some guidelines to adhere to when bottling your own:

1. Always use food-grade containers. Whether you are bottling your water in glass, plastic, or stainless steel (you should not use metal as it can corrode and leak harmful substances), make sure your containers are food-grade. If you do not have food-grade containers, chances are good you will have dangerous substances leaking into your water.

2. Don’t use milk jugs or juice containers. If you choose to use plastic bottles, avoid bottles that have previously held sweet or sugary substances like fruit juice or milk. The sugar in these substances will stay in the plastic no matter what you do to clean it, and during storage, the sugar will instigate bacteria growth.

3. Sanitize containers well. Wash them with hot water and dish soap, then rinse them out with 1 quart of water with 1 tsp. bleach mixed in. Rinse everything thoroughly and let them dry completely. Wash your hands before you fill them with water and avoid touching the lip of the bottle with your fingers.

4. Store water out of light and away from heat.

5. Rotate your self-bottled water every six months.

What is the best way to purify water?

Even if you have plenty of water stored up for an extended emergency situation, it’s possible that you could eventually run out. In the event of a survival situation, you will want to be prepared with water purification gear and/or some basic knowledge of how to purify water.

It’s a great idea to add a water purification device or water purification tablets to your emergency supplies. There are a variety of small, long-lasting water filtration systems available: everything from straws that filter water as you drink through them, pitchers with built-in filters, and personal-size water filtration bottles. Having one of these stored can save you a lot of hassle in emergency and survival situations.

It’s also a good idea to learn some basic water purification techniques. If you don’t have a water filter or purification tablets handy, remember that for most types of water, you can boil vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to kill harmful pathogens and make it safe for drinking. You can also follow FEMA’s recommendations and add 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach to one gallon of water. Both of these methods should make most water safe.

It’s easy to see why having safe water stored is a vital part of emergency preparedness, but it’s a part we sometimes overlook as we gather food storage and survival gear. In your quest for emergency preparation, don’t neglect your most important survival item. Stock up on fresh, clean water and save yourself and your family from unnecessary circumstances in the event of an emergency.

Fruit Tree Pruning Basics

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If you take a walk in my neck of the woods today, you’ll see that spring has finally arrived. No more false spring tease that brings in a blizzard the next morning. Every spring, as soon as these long-awaited warm days arrive, I start to feel the itch to get out in the garden and working in the sunshine. Right now is a perfect time to plant spring seeds like lettuces and peas and onions. Perhaps you’ve already done this. But did you know that right now is also the perfect time to trim back those fruit trees that you hope will offer you their sweets when summer comes around? If you’ve never pruned your fruit trees before, here we offer a brief discussion of the basics: why it’s good, when to do it, and a few tricks of the trade.

 

First things first: Let’s talk terminology. Any time you start to read about tree pruning, you’re bound to encounter some terms you might not be familiar with. Here are a few important ones to know.

Basic Tree Terms

SCAFFOLD: All the limbs directly connected to the tree’s trunk form the scaffold.

LEADER: The main branch that runs up the middle of the tree is called a leader. Most trees should only have one leader, and part of your goal in pruning is to eliminate strong second leaders.

WATERSPROUTS: Watersprouts are completely vertical shoots that grow quickly on a scaffolding limb or on a lateral branch. Watersprouts are weak and should be eliminated when pruning.

SUCKERS: Suckers are the shoots that grow up out of the ground along the base of the tree. These are also to be eliminated by pruning.

BRANCH COLLAR: The branch collar is the thick ring around a limb where the limb meets the branch/trunk it is attached to. Some trees have very visible branch collars, and some you cannot see at all.

Why Prune Your Trees

Some people avoid pruning like they avoid extended family reunions. There might be a lot of reasons for this, but one of the big ones is that pruning can seem like an overwhelming task, and it can be difficult to know where to start. However, fruit tree pruning is important for many reasons. Pruning helps to give a fruit tree just the right structure to be able to hold its own weight when fruit-bearing season comes. As a result, pruning can also help a tree to become more fruitful. Trees that are not pruned are more likely to produce small fruit that is often ruined by disease. A tree only has so much energy to go around. If it’s not pruned, it will likely put most of its energy into growing new limbs and shoots rather than producing fruit. In addition, trees will typically live longer and have a longer fruit-bearing period if pruned well. This is because they are healthier and stronger and less susceptible to disease and breakage. Finally, well-pruned trees simply look better.

The good news is, pruning is not as hard as it might initially seem.

When to Prune: A Few Words About Timing

For most fruit trees, dormant periods (when the tree is without leaves) are the best time to do formative pruning, especially late winter and very early spring. This is especially true for establishing the basic structure of a young tree. For northern hemispheres, this means no later than late March, early April (i.e. right now). Much of the important pruning in a tree’s life should come within the first ten years after planting. These will be the formative structuring years. After that, mature tree pruning will be a lot lighter and focus on eliminating problem limbs.

How to Prune a Fruit Tree: The Basics

What to Remove

The first time I even considered pruning a tree, I walked outside, looked up into the tree’s branches, and gave up. I simply had no idea what was supposed to stay and what was supposed to go. Here are a few tips for what should be removed from a tree when it’s young and when it’s mature:

1. In the pruning of young trees (especially during the first ten years), work on spacing the scaffolding branches well. You want them to have some room to breathe and grow and get plenty of sunlight. Your goal is to leave the tree open and airy. Aim for somewhere around 6 to 12 inches apart on scaffolding limbs. You can simply eyeball this; just aim for having your scaffold branches nicely spaced.

2. When pruning more mature trees and trying to make the tree more open, do most of your thinning work in the upper branches of the tree. This will allow more light down into the bottom.

3. When pruning young trees, one of your goals is to eliminate any contending leaders. Most trees should only have one dominant leader. Otherwise, they can eventually crack and break in two. If your tree seems to have a second leader that is threatening the dominance of the main leader, the threatening one should be removed.

4. Remove any limbs that are rubbing against or crossing other branches.

5. Remove any branches that are growing downward.

6. Remove any decayed or damaged limbs.

7. Remove watershoots and suckers.

How to Remove Offenders

When you cut limbs off, it’s important that you don’t just get the pruning scissors and lop them off. Knowing the right cut to make will help you avoid inviting disease to your tree.

1. Remove branches at their points of origin. It’s important not to cut too much or too little off: You don’t want to leave a stump when you cut and conversely you don’t want to cut into the trunk. Either of these can result in decay of the tree. One way to know where to cut is to find the branch collar and cut just outside of it so that the branch collar remains intact. If you aren’t sure whether you are cutting correctly or not, you can check your cuts the following year. If a donut shape has grown up around the wound, your cut was neither too deep nor too shallow.

2. Never top trees off. This can be very damaging to the tree and results in disease and decay. Topping trees off is never a good way to reduce the height of a tree. Follow the pruning basics.

3. Make a clean cut; don’t let a limb tear or come off roughly.

Try to think of your pruning as being as much an art as a science. Know the general principles and then do what you think will be best for your tree. Every tree is unique and will require different cuts. Pruning doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task; if you go into it with some basic knowledge, you’ll have a much happier and fruitful tree when late summer rolls around.

For Further Reading:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/pnw/pnw400.pdf

http://www.avtreefarm.com/pdf/Fruit%20Tree%20Pruning%20Basics.pdf (This site has helpful images and diagrams.)

http://sdda.sd.gov/legacydocs/Forestry/publications/PDF/The-Basics-of-Tree-Pruning.pdf

http://www.wildernesscollege.com/fruit-tree-pruning-instructions.html

Boil the Perfect Egg with a Sunshade: A Solar Cooking Experiment

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A few months ago, I posted about solar ovens as a useful survival cooking method. You can read that post here. At the time, I wanted to try to make my own solar oven and cook with it, but I didn’t because it was the middle of January in a cold Utah winter,not really the ideal time or place to harness the power of the sun. Now that it is nearly spring and we’ve had a few nice sunny days, I decided it was time to give it a try. Here is a chronicle of my first ever solar cooking attempt.

My biggest resource in this endeavor was solarcooking.org. This site has a variety of different plans for making your own solar oven for less than $5. It also has recipes and expert tips. Reading through all the suggestions before starting was very helpful in choosing the right time of day and the best place to get cooking.

After browsing different solar oven plans, I decided that I would go with what looked like the easiest: a solar cooker made out of a car sunshade. Pretty awesome, right? Here is how to do it if you’d like to try (and I think you should).

Gather Supplies

Pictured here is everything you need to try out this simple and awesome solar oven: a reflective accordion-folding car sunshade, a black pot, a bucket or box, an oven cooking bag, a cooking rack, and some Velcro (or duct tape, as I ended up using). I was able to find most of these items at the dollar store.

Find a Sunny Spot and Choose Your Menu

After gathering my supplies, I had to decide what to cook and figure out the sunniest place near my house. I found that the parking lot in back of my building was especially lit up from about 10 to 2. Solarcooking.org recommends trying something simple for your first time, like solar tea or rice or beans. I decided to start with boiled eggs. According to the site, boiled eggs should take about 3 to 4 hours in a solar cooker.

Construct Your Oven

The tutorial I followed used strips of Velcro along the two bottom edges of the sunshade and then wrapped it up and attached the sides together to form a funnel shape. I realized that I had gotten sew-on Velcro, so I ended up just duct taping the sides together. Here you can see the sunshade held together with duct tape. Notice the back view and how it looks like a cone.

 

Next, I filled my black pot with water and the eggs and put an oven bag around it. I placed my sunshade on top of a tupperware container (you could use a box or bucket too), put the rack inside, and put my pan in the oven. When I first put mine together, I was a little worried because of how flimsy it looked. Here’s a photo:

Regardless, I took it to a sunny spot and left it there to do its magic.It was a sunny day but only about 10 in the morning and March, so it was still a chilly 45 degrees outside.

 

By 11:00, after one hour, condensation began building up on the inside of the bag.



By 12:00, it had warmed up to 50 degrees outside. The pot felt so hot that I had a difficult time moving it. I moved the oven to face the sun a little bit more. There was no boiling yet, and this made me worry a little.

At 1:30, after 3 ½ hours, I went out to check on the eggs. The water had still not appeared to boil that I could see, but I decided to open up the bag and get an egg out. It was very hot in the bag, so hot, actually, that I burned my fingers a little. I took an egg out and cracked it open and was pleasantly surprised to find it not only done, but perfectly cooked.

These eggs were delicious. They were completely done inside, as you can see, but every part of the egg was tender in just the right way. The slow cooking must have something to do with this.

These eggs may have tasted so great because I knew I had cooked them without any heat source except what’s free and outside all the time. Seriously, that is really awesome, isn’t it? Also, the whole process was very easy and made me excited about experimenting with more difficult foods.

What I take away from this experience is that if you have a five-dollar sunshade lying around and plenty of sunny weather outside, you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to cook your food in a survival situation. Add in some delicious food storage, and you’re set. If you haven’t experimented with solar cooking yet, I strongly suggest you give it a try. Let me know how it goes!