Straight to the landfill!

That's what I said to canvas tote bag using co-worker of mine today about the container that his Healthy Choice - Caf´ Steamers came in. This meal, which he did describe as being "pretty good" came with a plastic bowl and a plastic steamer basket along all inside of a cardboard package. Unfortunately, my shame tactics couldn't get him to save his steamer basket to reuse as a colander but I was able to get him to save the bowl! Remember kids, you can help save the environment by shaming your friends into reusing and recycling too!

Lazy Sunday in the Garden

It's been a while since I've taken a nap on the back deck, but today was one of those days. The wife and kiddo and myself ended up working in the yard from the time we got up until close to nightfall today. The time change made it a bit awkward, as I wasn't sure what time it actually was most of the day. A lot of missions were accomplished as a result. The rest of the sun flowers are planted in the ground. Once the dwarf flowers are a bit taller, I'll be able to put the mulch in. We also got some new herbs potted, some old ones re-potted and my wife took over two flower boxes and loaded them up with some of her $1 flowers from the target. Up until this weekend, I've been pretty apprehensive about planting anything in the ground due to the continuing cold fronts.

Now a few months ago, I built a small 4x2 area for my experimental square foot garden. Depending on it's success, the plan is to build a couple of raised planters later this year. Of the 8 squares, 3 are now inhabited. Two are onions, one planted as scallions (green onions - 36/sqft), and the other as dry onions (16/sqft). The last square is lettuce (4/sqft) the seeds were from a mixed pack of seeds (fancy greens, if you will). One of the 4 lettuce seemed like it was dying, the middle of the stem was looking sketchy. I risked it anyway, my wife and I both have a few lettuces started that could end up in that spot, worst case scenario. Thus far with the square foot garden, I'm liking the rigidness of the technique. I took the box from the new compost bin and made 4 planting guides and wrote what plants used that pattern right on the guide. Should make it easier to plant in the future, or at least until I know it all by heart.

On a random note, I've been thinking of planting potatoes across the side fence. A friend made mention that they do great in Florida sand. Well that's my whole backyard except the garden, so it may work out. I have a couple of $25 off a $50 order coupons from a few online nurseries, so that may be on the list for this week!

Fermenting Cabbage - Week 1

A week ago I started a batch of what will hopefully end up becoming yummy sauerkraut. From the get go I had issues with packing the cabbage and the first couple of days I ended up repacking due to various issues (I wasn't happy with the original packing job, and the second packing job overflowed).

Since then, the cabbage has been seemingly happy in it's cool dark location. The cabbage bubbled the first couple of days, but has since stopped (or at least I haven't seen any bubbles). My fear is that something went wrong and the batch will have to be discarded. I plan to check up on it and repack it this evening. Additionally, and I'm not sure if this is a good thing, but there hasn't been any scum floating on the top. From my understanding, scum can happen, but doesn't always happen. When it does happen, the amount can vary... so who knows really.

If nothing else, my last packing job has given me a good understanding of how to properly pack the cabbage for future batches.

New Composting Bin

My garbage can turned compost bin has served me well, but it was time for a larger capacity container to compost in. My garbage can was 32 gallons, and the new bin 410 liters (108 gallons!), so it was definitely one hell of an increase. The plan if to continue to use the garbage can to hold the leaves in the yard. I layer the compost and typically cover the kitchen scraps with a layer of leaves (keeps a lot of the flies away) so having a container of just leaves will be very convenient. Once the garbage can is full of leaves, I plan to start bagging the excess leaves to create leaf molds as per Recycle Now.

The box actually seemed a bit smaller than I expected:


Inside there some documents on composting and a free ounce of compost starter:


The bin arrived unassembled in the box:


But was quick and easy to put together:


And hide in:


Here's a shot of the new bin in the old bin's spot, and the old bin in it's temporary location. I told you I had a lot of leaves in my yard!


Just a shot of the new bin in all it's glory!

So that's why the house has been smelling weird today?

Seems my cabbage packing job last night was a little too good. Moments ago, I discovered that the towel that the crock was sitting on was covered in brine. Yeah, that's why the house has been smelling a bit off today. Note to self, covered the cabbage with two plates was only good in theory, as it didn't allow any gas to escape and thus caused a bubbly mess. On a brighter note, it's still bubbling, sauerkraut here we come!

Packing Cabbage for Dummies

So I repacked my stinky ol' fermenting cabbage last night and now feel like I fully understand the fine art of packing & weighting. When I originally packed it, I experimented with just having a bag on top, laying saran wrap over it and pressing it down to create a seal, and then eventually placing a small saucer in the middle and placing the bag over that. The saucer worked out well except that the crock was oval and the plate didn't cover it fully. Cabbage was floating to the top by the time the fermentation actually started, no good. So that's why I opted to repack it last night.

I made sure to pick up some cheese cloth from the store (my wife had advised earlier on that we didn't have but a foot of cloth at the house). Cheese cloth was the missing piece I needed. The cheese cloth can be laid over the cabbage and pushed down while still letting the brine through. I doubled the number of plates used as well, this covered more surface area and kept everybody right where I wanted them. From there I added the obligatory bag filled with water on top. I'm a dare devil, so I didn't double bag, nor did I fill it with brine in case it leaked! From there I draped the cheese cloth over the bag and then covered the whole thing with plastic wrap. I had read that people leave the cloth hanging outside of the container, but that just seemed like trouble since the cheese cloth can pull and retain moisture. I'd just rather the whole thing contained. After that, I covered it with a tea towel and stuck it under the built-in in the kitchen. And now we wait.

Speaking of waiting, my wife threw out another batch of sour dough starter she made. She keeps claiming that it should be "doing more" even after two weeks. I say it needs fed or it's just going to sit there. She's supposed to be purchasing a starter from King Arthur Flour soon, or as I called it "cheating"