Planting the Cool Season Spring Garden 2-1-14

2 weeks ago (middle of January) we started getting the garden beds ready for early spring planting (cool season veggies).  We go by the Texas A & M recommendation guide.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/earthkind/ekgarden14.html

We add compost to the soil so that the soil can supply nutrients to the plants.  Unfortunately we only made about half the compost we needed so we purchased an additional 16 bags (40 lbs each) of mushroom compost.  We probably had the equivalent of that amount in our own compost.  I wish that we could make all the compost we need, but we aren't there yet.  We purchased a chipper so that we could chip up all our shrub and tree pruning.  Unfortunately, I no longer trust a lot of mulch and manure on the market because it is highly likely that it contains "persistent herbicides" that can travel through the gut of cows and horses and still kill your plants!  I'm attaching a couple of links so that you can read more about this important issue.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/herbicide-damage-zmgz13fmzsto.aspx

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/aminopyralid-garden-threat.aspx

Below is a picture of our compost bin that my husband built several years ago.  We started composting in earnest because of our concern about persistent herbicides as well as understanding that we should do our part to reduce our waste to landfills.

Our final product.

Before picture - Compost bin side with food scraps.

 

Bags of purchased "mushroom compost" are laid out.  We believe this type of compost is the least likely to contain the persistent herbicides discussed in the article above - however, there is never any guarantee.  We purchased it at Lowe's.  Not all stores carry it.

 Ready to start spreading!

Raking the compost in.

Now for the fun part - picking out the plants!  We did this today, February 1, 2014.

 We purchased and planted 3 bunches of onions.  2 yellow, 1 red.  Tip - eat the red onions first as they go bad the quickest (at least for us).

We also planted Sugar Snap Peas - we eat them fresh and use them in stir fry recipes.

 

Onions are on the left, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage in the back and on the right in back.  Spinach is planted in the front.

The potato box is in the front.  I didn't plants the potatoes today, although I did buy some seed potatoes.  I am cutting them up into smaller pieces today and letting them dry before planting in a few days.

Watering the plants and seeds in.

Spinach and sugar snap pea seeds.

Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage.

Onions

Note the tiered herb bed contains asparagus on the top - it has not started growing yet - hopefully it made it through the winter.  The thyme, rosemary, and catnip all made it through the winter - although they do look pretty ratty.

That's all for now - happy gardening!

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Making Sourdough Bread

 l recently ordered Sourdough Starter from Amazon.com for $6.00 (shipping was extra) at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002C0E5VG/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

The vendor for the Starter was Breadtopia at:  http://www.breadtopia.com/store/sourdough-starter.html

Luckily, I found this 1/2 gallon crock at Good Will for $2.00.  It works great for growing my Starter.

 

 The instructions for reviving my Starter came with it. 

After adding flour and non-chlorinated water, I covered the mixture in the crock with plastic saran wrap.

After 2 days, my Starter began bubbling.

Every 12-24 hours I added more flour and distilled water.

After mixing.

  

For my first sourdough loaf using the Starter, I made the Plain and Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe found at the following link:
 http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?recipeID=7075&origin=detail&servings=16&metric=false

I made one substitution by replacing 1 cup of the white flour with whole wheat flour.  

This is my bread machine.

My machine tends to "overbake" so I compensate.  I always bake bread using the Quick cycle with Light Crust. 

Add 1 package of yeast per recipe.

Prior to using the 1 cup of bubbling Starter called for in the recipe, I fed it 1/2 cup non-chlorinated water and 2/3 cup of flour this morning.  I waited about 3-4 hours for it to begin bubbling again.  At that point scoop 1 cup of Starter out of the crock.  Start adding more flour and water to the original batch to "grow" more Starter.

I placed water in the bottom, salt, flour, and yeast in the pan.  I put the Starter on the top.

 Bread machine is kneading the dough.

The finished product  was delicious.  It was an easy recipe and I will use it again!

The Birds Visiting My Yard Today - 1/2/14

I had time today to watch my yard for visitors here in North Texas.  My first guest was unexpected - a hawk arrived this morning looking for a chicken dinner - luckily all my hens were safely in their pen - what a beautiful bird!  For the record - in addition to the birds that I snapped pictures of, I also had a visit from a killdeer.

Swainson's Hawk

Mockingbird

Chickadee

Dove

Female Cardinal

 Another Female Cardinal

A blurry picture - but I got a shot of a male and female cardinal together.

Male cardinal

 This is a newcomer to my yard - I have never seen one of these before!  It is a very small bird with yellow cast to its wings.  It is a ruby crowned kinglet.  I saw a red patch on it!

 

 White Crowned Sparrows

House sparrows.

House finch.