The Sting of Nettle

I was walking along Bishop Creek this afternoon and spotted it from a distance. There it was, like green gold, reflecting light through pockets in the trees. I was surprised that it had yet to flower. The season here starts a little later than most places. Nettles at the end of April! Score! It looks like they still have a couple of weeks left before they bolt. After that, they aren't so good for consuming. When I lived in Eureka it was growing a few yards away from the house. It was there that I experimented with it and started making pesto.

Well, I just happened to have gloves and a sack. I picked bunches of it and excitedly ran it home like a puppy that found a fresh bone (though I wouldn't be so ballsy to carry it in my mouth. I quickly grabbed some raw almonds, poured them into a jar and covered them with warm water. I began to sort the large leafs and stems from the tender young leaves then steeped the young leaves in boiling water for a few minutes. I extracted the rich greenish-yellow liquid into a large jar. As I sipped the flavorful tea I began to prepare the pesto. Garlic, soaked almonds, olive oil, parmesan cheese, cilantro, and a bit of dry basil and salt. I packed it in the food processor, watched it spin and breakdown, and ZAMMO! Nettle Pesto! (And wonder not, its good stuff)

Nettle is probably one of the most nutrient dense foods in the world. Its packed with vitamins, minerals, choryphyl and a whopping 20% protein - WOWZA! Its like kale x100. The great thing about the sting of nettle is that it gives you a good hurt for just a second. Ouch! And then its practically over. It burns a little for a few minutes and the swelling subsides in a couple of hours. I'd say its worth it. To prevent the sting, just wear long gloves and pants and you'll be just fine. My gloves were short.

To know more of the infamous
Stinging Nettle
(including health & medical uses)
clickaroo!

Suburban Homstead, Phase One

1st set of photos documenting the progress of
"The Brady Homestead"

Suburban Homestead

Its amazing what intention, optimism and a little patience can manifest. The majority of materials we have acquired were free. All it took was an add in the paper: "Wanted: used scrap materials. Will clean up and haul away your junk free of charge." We got so many calls that we could be picky about what materials we took. All in all we ended up with tons of construction wood, fencing, pipe, irrigation hoses, tractor tires, mulch, brick, pool lining, posts, and more. Its all coming together great so far...

Compost

To my surprise, much of the compost is ready now only after 4 1/2 months. It smells like soil (not rotting funk) and is broken down fairly well. I built the heap in a 7'x7', 3' deep box made of railroad ties and covered with fence wood on dual hinges. The bottom layer was created with sticks, limbs and brush. Mid-layer was leaves raked up from the tree followed by a mix of food scraps, chicken/horse/steer manure and wood chips. On top of that was more leaves and finally pine needles. I also added a "compost starter" in between the layers which is just a dry mix of bacteria inoculated in organic material. I bought it at the local nursery for $8. I continued to bury food scraps, manure and leaves into it periodically, along with a sprinkling of water about once a week. For the first few weeks I didn't turn it, and then for about a month or so I turned it about once a week. There is a period of time where the compost needs to be left undisturbed to allow the thermo-bacterial to heat up the soil. This is why some type of raw manure is essential - which contains the bacterial which heat the soil. Without it, the compost will take significantly longer to break down. I took the temperature of the soil periodically. At one point it was above 100 deg in the center (in the middle of winter). When it cooled down to 70-80 deg. I turned it one more time and added more brown materials on top. Then I bought 2 pounds of red wiggler worms online ($40) and added them. I sprinkled a little more water and covered the worms with a peice of cardboard. There is no reason to mix them in. They worked themselves into the soil after a day. They will reproduce and double about every 2-4 months depending on how much cubic feet of compost they are in. I stopped turning the compost just before I added the worms, and a few weeks later, walla! Compost! I will allow about 3/4 of it to cure for 2-4 more months before using but I decided to mix a little of it into the top soil for now just cause it seems good enough. I figure it will be beneficial to get the microbes mixed in for the early plants. There are already several different plants growing in the compost so I know its good to go. When I screened/sifted it I noticed a little bit of chicken manure that wasn't broken down. This could be harmful to some plants because bird poo is highly concentrated in nitrogen which could cause burning if not fully composted. Still, it has processed much faster than I expected. I figured it would take up to a year to get usable soil from it. I think I must have helped it along intuitively. Now we have a near perfect starter batch of compost that Daniel and Jenn will continue to add to each batch to keep the micro-life thriving.

Soil

For this season the soil will be comprised of 4 layers: the lower native soil, a mid-level mixture, organic top soil and finally wood mulch. The native soil is a kind of clay-loam with a little bit of silt, sand and organic material. It's low in nitrogen and very low in phosphorus but adequate in potash (due to ancient volcanoes). I suspect the general mineral content is adequate as well. The valley floor here is basically a layer of soil and rock that covers a huge under-ground lake. Thousands of years ago it used to be a salty sea bed with active volcanoes. So the ground water probably brings up these ancient minerals from the subsurface. The soil pH is about 7.0-7.5 (slightly alkaline). My guess is that this is due to a combination of low rain-fall, ancient minerals/salts, and the consistent flow of snow melt that saturates and dilutes any acidity of the soil. Thankfully, there are plenty of trees that send deep taproots down to bring up some of that lost goodness back to the surface. The leaves in autumn also restore carbon in the soil. Wild growth (weeds) are present though not overwhelming. The most problematic growth is the non-native invasive crab grass. We have been digging it up and sifting the larger roots out of the soil. I suspect that weeding it out completely will take anywhere from 2-5 years. The key here will be building layers of grass-less soil/mulch over the top so that the roots cannot re-establish.

Most plants prefer a slightly acidic soil full of water-retaining organic materials. This can be accomplished by adding plenty of compost, mulch and manure - which also adds the nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and microbial life it lacks. So for the mid-level mixture I combined compost, manure (nitrogen), bone meal (phosphorus), sulfate (prevents the binding of clay) and volcanic sand (potash/minerals) which was found for free locally. I mixed it in with the native soil about 16-18 inches deep. I then covered it with the mulch and will start to water it tomorrow. I am betting the acidic mixture will become more alkaline as it is watered and seeps into the slightly alkaline native soil. Before I plant I will do a soil test at 2 feet and at the surface then adjust as necessary. The volcanic sand is highly alkaline so I will use that to adjust (instead of buying lime). Another option is to add wood ash in small amounts periodically throughout the year (I've got to do something with all that ash from the winter stove). I don't expect this to be needed, though and I will actually need to continue to acidify the soil instead.

When the plant starts are ready and its warm enough to direct sow (in a 2-4 weeks - the season is a little shorter here) I'll uncover sections of the mulch and add a few handfuls of top soil then plant the seeds/starts in each section. This way, the soil stays moist and blocks unwanted weeds from growing around the veg. plants. The mulch also supports a micro-climate where micro-organisms will thrive. These little critters will help fix nitrogen, aerate the soil, and increase the bio-availability of elements/minerals so the roots can soak them up.

We got the mulch from some people who trim trees locally. Normally they just dump the stuff at the local dump. Instead, they simply backed up there dump truck into the backyard and unloaded a heap of it for us for free. I gave them a 24-pack of Budweiser as a tip. They said they would come back any time because it normally costs them to dump it anyway. Mulch is always great- you can just spread it all over the place. After they dumped it I let the mulch sit in a pile and watered it a little then covered it with some used carpet for about 3 weeks. Its been breaking down (growing fungus like crazy). Maybe after a few years of mulching, they will see little mushrooms popping up out of the soil- that would be awesome.

Creating fertile soil has been somewhat of an obsession for me lately. I know that with a few years of composting and mulching, the garden will have deep, rich soil. I am confident that Jenn, Daniel and Gloria will have the drive and know-how to keep it up.

Creating a Sustainable System

We did a lot of irrigation installation today and we're almost finished. When its completed there will be sprinklers from the well water on a timer, hose spickets and a drip line from the the solar powered bilge pump in the creek. Right now my job is to help get the harder part of the job done to get them on a roll with something sustainable. Starting seeds isnt my favorite thing to do. Everyday I have to move seed trays into sun and back indoors at night.There must be a careful balance of heat, light and moisture. Babies are delicate, ya know. So, I'll add a greenhouse to the list of projects I'll want to complete before I move on. I tried creating a temporary greenhouse from the old mazda, but it got too hot and I baked two trays of seedlings to death! It would be sweet to build it with a set of irrigation pipes with mister nozzles on a timer, so that they dont have to worry about forgetting to water seedlings 2-3 times a day.

I am planting things in succession to prevent one huge harvest in the fall where we have to race to can, preserve and store the foods. I want to see how long I can extend the growing season into the fall. Some of the low-temp plants like greens and legumes should do well in fall. Before winter approaches I will plant lots of garlic and onions which should be ready to harvest the following summer. I'll also plant a cover-crop (like clover/alfalfa) so it can be turned back into the soil in the spring.

There has been alot of preparation (and much more to come). With the addition of timed water and drip line plant life will surely thrive. Hopefully, all this work will pay off and decrease maintenance needs for the long-term. I am enjoying the process and its exciting to know that I can create a lower-maintenance system that will produce fresh organic food and medicinal plants all while reducing home waste. Perhaps I might make a small business out of greening suburban homes in the future. Do I need a master-gardener degree? Probably not, though it would help. What matters is now. The rest always works out for the best. And so life continues to continue in its imperfect perfection...