Organic Gardening Resources

Vicki sent this photo of our boys in their bean planting parade... and two links to organic seed sources:
HighMowingSeeds is the business started by Tom Stern of Sherman, CT who once helped Debra out on Local Farm during a break from college. The business is in Wolcott, VT.
TurtleTreeSeeds is out of a Camphill Community in Copake, NY.
Vicki plants her seedlings in cowpots from the Freund Family Farm in East Canaan, CT. Other useful links she thought we might be interested in are:
Hay Bale Gardening and no-dig-gardening. An example of another type of no dig garden....a living wall..... not your veggies but pretty to look at: is at woollypocket(She wonders if you could plant some veggies...herbs, greens in those pockets and stack. Perfect for balcony in the city or apt building.) And the NY Times just had an article on living walls at:2010/05/06/garden.
Two links about companion gardening: OrganicGardening and ghorganics
At the workshop, we separated and transplanted three plants from the mint family. Photos and links to information about their uses as herbs follow.

Lemon Balm:
http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_lemon_balm.htm

Here in my home garden, you can see how the plant remains fairly compact and not overly invasive.





Red Bee Balm:

oswego_tea
Here you can see how red bee balm or monarda loves to spread and fill and area.




Woolly mint::
or Apple_mint
This plant is SO prolific that I keep it confined to pots on my porch... Even so it tries to escape as you can see by this sprout coming from the drainage hole in the pot bottom!



Plants we transplanted from seedlings started in a cold frame were:

Borage is an excellent bee plant. Its leaves can be steeped in water for a cooling beverage like we did with the mint leaves. Both the flowers and new baby leaves can be used in salads.







German Chamomile: will blossom with tiny daisy-like flowers with yellow centers. These can be picked and dried for a soothing tea to help induce sleep or relieve a stomachache.




Calendula, a resinous plant that is good for the skin. Blossoms can be dried and prepared like tea for a soothing wash or merely wilted and then steeped in oil as a primary salve ingredient.


Plants we picked, washed and added to our salad were:



mitzuna, a cultivated slightly biting Asian green that is delicious raw or cooked,







and volunteer lamb's quarters that can be used like spinach.





Haven sent this link about our mystery "weed," SweetFlag or Calamus. She warns that it is considered carcinogenic.For a list of plants and prices that Vicki has for sale, check out her website PerryHillFarm.
To see Debra's favorite recipe for smoked cheese, scroll down through Care for Cows to about page 13.
Our next Old Style Life-Skills workshop will be Eggs-perience Chickens on June 12.

A Stitchin' Time

Introducing the Amish-Style Covered Dish Carrier....Great for pot lucks, picnics and more!
Debra Tyler told us to come in and set up our sewing machines, if we hadn't brought one with us to use one of the Motherhouse collection.

After that we chose our fabric for the project.
We used a pattern that Debra had made for us and cut and tore our fabric into the right size pieces.
After we had our fabric ready we got down to the deadly serious business of getting bobbins wound and machines up and running. And started stitching.
For the bottom of the carrier we used a piece of plywood that slid into a pocket made by the over-lapping strips of fabric. For the handles we used dowels that also could be removed so the whole thing could be thrown in the wash.

And VOILA!!


For more Motherhouse events go to www.motherhouse.us

A Stitchin' Time

Four happy stitchers with their almost!-finished covered-dish carriers.

Spring EGG-quinox Retreat

EGGS-tra Credit Math EGGS-am:
EGGS-plain how 2 moms + 2 daughters = 3 EGGS-traordinary women!

Because our EGGS-cellent organizer stayed home EGGS-pectorating, it was not EGGS-actly the retreat we EGGS-pected..
but we did EGGS-perience an EGGS-tra special EGG decorating EGGS-travaganza!!!!

Bee-gining With Bees

Debra Tyler and Heidi Lindberg

Both backyard bee keepers.
They each had hive that had died over the winter and opened them up for us to see inside.
Debra's hive is hexagonal while Heidi's is the traditional rectangular shape.

They showed us how to put on a bee suit and use a hive tool. Heidi uses a full bee suit as she is allergic to bee stings. Debra uses a bee hat and gloves but not the full suit. While the adults were going through the hive the kids had the option to either participate or color at a nearby table using bees wax crayons. Because honey naturally kills bacteria nobody minded dipping their fingers in for a taste.

At one side of the room Debra and Heidi each had a table set up with their favorite bee books and tools.
Debra's table.
Heidi's table.
After we had finished going though the hive we put together a starter hive kit that Heidi had brought with her.

Debra had some frames to put together as well.


When we were done with the building projects for the day we went outside for a quick lesson on smokers.

Heidi burns dried pine needles in her smoker.

Debra burns a verity of stuff. Sage, Sumac and cardboard.
Then we went back inside and and talked about getting a package of bees and queen cages.

A potluck lunch was enjoyed by every one.


After lunch we made hand dipped beeswax candles.


For more Motherhouse events go to www.motherhouse.us

Bee Sources and Resources

Better STICK with me, HONEY!!!

Sources of live bees seem few and far between this year:
Usually one can find a few ads of bees for sale in the CT Weekly Agricultural Report. This year, there's only one: Maggie and Jim Grey of Riverside Apiary in Marlborough, CT (860-295-8972). They are expecting a truckload of bee packages around April 26. They charge $86/package. The March 27 truckload has been sold out already. They may also sell nucs at $106 each, starting April 10. Debra would love to coordinate car-pooling to pick up of packages. If there are others interested in making an order, please call her SOON. 860-672-0229. Another possible source of packaged bees is Rollin Hannan of Hannan Honey, LLC at 480 Hulls Hill Road - Southbury, CT 06488. Phone: (203) 264-7005.

Packages and nucs can be ordered in January from BetterBee.com (800-632-3379) and then picked up in Greewich, NY from the end of April through the end of May. George@NorthernBredBees.com (508-882-3336) sells nucs only from his place in Oakham, MA (about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Cornwall.) Order early in the year for pick-up in May. Chris Harp of New Paltz, NY may also sell nucs but is difficult to get in touch with. Rossman Apiaries in Georgia will send packages of bees via the mail but again, one must order very early in the year. Vera ordered hers through www.DraperBee.com. They are located in Millerton,PA (800-233-4273) and ship UPS. Their very busy website includes daily blog entries about their bee business and a constantly changing photo display taken from inside a living, working bee hive.

Heidi's favorite supply source Bushy Mountain Bee Farm out of NC, where one can order an 8 frame English Country Hive. She also highly recommends The CT Beekeepers Association at: www.ctbees.com. They are a fine resource for hands-on classes and information. Other resources she recommends include: www.beeculture.com, www.beesource.com, www.honeybeeworld.com, www.scientificbeekeeping.com, and what she describes as a "funky little site with interesting info on skeps:" martinatnewton.com.

Debra buys bee-keeping supplies from www.BetterBee.com in NY. For more "esoteric" beekeeping, she recommends classes through Chris Harp's site: www.HoneybeeLives.org.
Plans for a top-bar hive body similar to the one Todd has built can be found through the Barefoot Beekeeper at www.biobees.com.

Juliette de Bairacli Levi's recipe for BEE TEA is from the 9th chapter of her Complete Herbal Handbook For Farm and Stable (link to Amazon's book description). It is to be used more as a tonic than their sole source of food.

BEE TEA:
Heat but do not boil:
***1/2 cup finely chopped sage
***1 pint water
for 20 minutes. Let cool until tepid. Strain out sage. Stir in:
***4Tbsp. honey
***1/4 tsp. salt
***1 cup apple cider (or wine) vinegar

Nancy asked for our honey bun recipe so here it is: (adapted from the Joy of Cooking's overnight roll recipe)
HONEY BUNS
Combine and let stand 3 to 5 minutes:
***1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
***2 tsp. sugar
***2Tbsp. warm water (105-115degreesF)
Scald:
***1 cup milk
Stir in:
***7Tbsp. lard or butter
Cool. Combine and beat well:
***7Tbsp. sugar
***3 beaten eggs
***1 tsp. salt
Stir in the milk and yeast mixtures. Add:
***4 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
Beat dough 5 minutes. Place in foil-covered bowl in refrigerator overnight. Take out just before baking. Roll out dough in oval shape. Brush with honey glaze. Roll up dough like a jelly roll. Slice 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Crowd slices in greased 9 1/2 X 13 inch baking pan. Let rise until double in bulk. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pour on remaining honey glaze and bake 45 minutes or until done.
HONEY GLAZE
Cream:
***1/3 cup sugar
***1/3 cup butter
Blend in:
***2 unbeaten egg whites
Add:
***2/3 cups honey
***1tsp. cinnamon
Spread on dough before rolling. Then drizzle the rest over your rolls just before baking.