The Magic of the Sheet Mulch Garden

1 Reply

Our first sheet mulch garden was an act of faith.  We had read about it but we had no idea if it would work, especially here in Alaska.  And how can stuff grow without soil?  But I was determined to try.  Matt was skeptical so he made us dig another garden out of the sod so that we would at least get something if the sheet mulch failed.

IMG_3446I collected lots and lots of cardboard.  Then I rented a trailer, hooked it up to my ’77 F100, and drove out to the valley to get a load of goat manure, because I heard that was the best.  The neighbors were a little skeptical about the smell of the, but they were really patient as I shoveled it over the cardboard over the next week.  I may have been a little ambitious, planning a huge garden in my front yard, but I was serious about my garden.  Too many years of travelling around without soil to sink my hands into had made me desperate.  The manure had a lot of straw in it, so all my layers were already mixed together.  As soon as I covered the manure with a bit of soil it stopped the odor, thank goodness.

In the backyard we dug out sod for a “regular” garden.  It was a lot of work, even with Matt helping!  And what were we going to do with all that sod?  Underneath the sod was sandy, rocky fill.  We shook what topsoil we could out of the sod, but essentially we were removing the best part of the soil.  We added what little compost we had and a bunch of bagged steer manure.

Then came the moment of truth… planting time.  We made a pocket of soil right in the goat manure, then put the plants into that.  In the back we planted carrots and beets.

First year!

First year!

And miraculously, our plants started to grow!  In fact, while everyone around us was complaining about how poor their gardens were doing, our vegetables were growing big and beautiful.  We had gorgeous zucchini, cucumbers out of control, and nasturtiums on crack.  My dad claimed we were living in the banana belt, but I knew the real secret was with the sheet mulch.  As it was breaking down, all that microbial action was creating its own heat, just like a compost pile, just not quite as hot.

In the back, our results were not quite so great.  The carrots and beets grew, just not as energetically as the plants in the sheet mulch.  It just didn’t have the same oomph.  In fact, we keep adding stuff to it, but that bed has never performed as well as our sheet mulch beds.  The moose got to the beets before we did, so they never really even got big enough to eat.

We’ve been convinced ever since that sheet mulching is the way to go, and have been encouraging others to try it as well.  It takes a little bit of resourcefulness to gather all the materials, but in the end, it is the cheapest and less labor-intensive way to go.  But you have to do it right.  No shortcuts or the magic doesn’t happen.  Believe me, I’ve tried.  First, you have to make it deep enough…. 1.5-2 feet, minimum!  Second, you have to have enough nitrogen-rich material to make it all break down.  It’s just like building a compost pile.  And third… lots of water!  Those microorganisms can’t work when it’s too dry!

If you want to learn more and actually participate in building a sheet mulch bed, I’m teaching a workshop this Saturday, May 11th from 3:30- 5:30pm or May 19th from 12-2pm.  Contact me at alaskasaskia@gmail.com to sign up!

Lights!

1 Reply

IMG_8938Even though it is snowing outside, I know spring is on its way because I have flats of tiny seedlings in my living room poking their little green leaves towards the light.  Matt helped me make a fancy new seedling set-up this year, partly, I suspect, so I wouldn’t take over the sunroom again, which became his office last year.

The lights we’ve been using were T-12 fluorescent fixtures with full-spectrum bulbs, but my seedlings were still a bit leggy.  We decided to upgrade to T-8 fixtures, which not only put out a stronger light, but are also more efficient.  Wow!  What a difference!  Plants use red and blue light. However, red light promotes flowering while blue light promotes compact, bushy growth, which is what you want for seedling growth.  The higher the Kelvin number, the more blue it is, so, when choosing the bulbs for your fixture, get ones that have a Kelvin rating of 3600K-5500K.  To our eyes, the lights look very bright white, not actually blue.  My old “full spectrum” lights look very red next to them.

IMG_8949We bought the largest wire metal rack they had, which fits 4 flats perfectly on one shelf with one 4-foot fixture above it.  If we filled all 5 shelves, we could have 20 flats, which is far more than we need right now, but I was surprised at how fast the first 3 shelves filled up!  We plugged the lights into an extension cord on a timer so that our seedlings get the requisite 16 hours per day. Plants need at least 6 hours of darkness per day so they can rest, so don’t dismiss the timer! Then we wrapped the whole thing in space blankets to reflect the light back to the plants and to save our eyes from the bright light.

We will start moving seedlings out to the greenhouse at the end of March, when temperatures in there become more stable and there getting to be more daylight.  It isn’t until the end of April that we start getting 16 hours of daylight, so some of them will stay under the lights a bit longer for the extra boost they need to get going.  Depending on how much space I have in the greenhouse, I may move the lights out there so that I am supplementing the natural light instead of replacing it.

If you like to start your own seedlings at home, I highly recommend investing in a simple light set-up.  Even one light can help you fill your garden with your own healthy plants!  The money you save from not having to buy your starts more than offsets the cost of the fixture in just one season, but will last for years.

IMG_8929

Eating After the Challenge

5 Replies

Many people have asked if we are still doing the Alaska Food Challenge or are back to eating “normally.”  The answer lies somewhere in between and depends on what you call “normal.”  If you compare how we eat to the average American, I would say we are definitely not normal!  And proudly so!  If you compare our eating habits now to how we were eating before the challenge, I would say we are eating more Alaskan food, but not 100%.

IMG_0998So what have we kept from the challenge and what did we decide we don’t want to live without?  Here are the details!

Drinks and candy: Coffee, black tea, and wine have all returned… although I no longer feel like I need them!  Our juice is now rhubarb, raspberry, or cranberry.  We got a chocolate subscription from our friends at Nova Monda Chocolate to fulfill all of my deepest chocolate desires. (Use the promo code “Saskia” to get a 10% discount.)

Wheat products: Tortillas have been around occasionally, but I’m finding we just don’t eat them like we used to.  And they are not as tasty as the ones I make myself.  Ditto with bagels.  Matt is back to eating pretzels and loving it.  We have also been buying crackers, but my friend Sara showed me a recipe for some very easy home-made ones that will hopefully become my new cracker standby.  After buying bread this summer, I am now back to making it, although I re-introduced a little white flour, as it makes the bread so much lighter.  We got some packages of dried pasta, but have become more proficient at making it ourselves, and usually prefer to do that.

Sugar: I also brought back sugar into my pantry for those treats where honey just won’t do.  I think that was one of the hardest things to do without because I have a huge sweet-tooth and I love to bake.  But I did learn to be more moderate with my sugar intake, and I was amazed by all the great things I could make with honey.

Dairy: Although I was relieved to be able to buy butter, I think I’ll go back to making that as well.  It was so nice to have cream and buttermilk around, especially in the winter!  I’ve perfected my yogurt-making and it is now a part of my routine.  However, it is nice to have parmesan, manchego, and brie cheese back in our lives!!  When our chickens were on strike recently,  I was blown away by the inferior quality of even the organic “free-range” eggs from the store.  The yolks were pale yellow, the whites runny, and taste bland.

Cooking essentials: We are using olive oil for some things, but have not brought back vegetable oil.  We have a few kinds of vinegar and love to have lemon juice (or lemons) around.  One of my potted lemons is blooming, and I would love to get all my lemon and lime fixes from my house-plants someday.  I also really love having a box of white wine for cooking.

Rhubarb BBQ Sauce

Rhubarb BBQ Sauce

Condiments: We decided we couldn’t do without dijon mustard.  All the other zillion bottles in our fridge?  Meh. But we have a very good zucchini relish recipe that is great with caribou burgers, Matt’s mom’s recipe for pickled hot peppers, and we developed fantastic rhubarb ketchup and BBQ sauce recipes.  Gooseberry chutney is still in the works.

Vegetables : We continue to eat 98% local, from our own garden.  We didn’t go back to buying tasteless winter lettuce, tomatoes, or avocados.  We did buy canned tomatos from Costco since Bells did not have their cheap deal on tomatoes this summer and our own crop was pretty poor.  But I’m really happy with my stocked freezer, pantry, and root cellar.

IMG_8547Fruit: Graysen is a huge fan of fresh fruit, so we have been buying apples, cantaloupe (his favorite), and bananas, which I haven’t bought in years.  It’s pretty much the only special thing we are buying for him.  Otherwise, he eats what we eat.

I am surprised by some of the things I missed, that have not really returned to my diet.  A block of blue cheese I picked up at Costco in July is still lingering in my fridge.  A bag of walnuts is chilling in the freezer. We haven’t even opened a brand new bag of quinoa.  The rolled oats that used to be essential have pretty much gone unused as well.  Matt finds he misses rice, but I’m pretty happy with potatoes and barley.

I suppose the point of the challenge was to get us to change those non-local habits.  It’s not to deprive us of them for ever, but show us local alternatives.  It is still nice for a holiday treat to break out the chocolate bourbon pecan pie recipe, and it’s also nice to have an all- local pumpkin pie as well.

Overall, I feel our diet is healthier and more delicious than before.  But we are still learning and getting better at growing, preserving, and cooking local food.  A cookbook based on local, seasonal foods is in the works.  Our journey is far from over, and we are still enjoying the ride!

Meaningful Work

Leave a reply

Sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving, winter set in.  The weather has been clear and cold, with a beautiful cascade of light and shadows as the sun makes it’s brief daily appearance.  We cozy up around the wood stove in the evening and go to bed early.

Graysen and I are trying to find a rhythm of eating, sleeping, playing and working.  With workshops done and the garden put away, I am doing more on the computer; planning, writing, and networking.  It is valuable time and I feel motivated to keep up the momentum of the business.  Being a mom is wonderful, important work, but I also want to contribute to my community and the family income.

In the book, You are Your Child’s First Teacher by Rahima Balwin Dancy, I read that children need to see their parents do meaningful, rhythmic work such as kneading bread, sweeping the floor, and washing dishes.  Young children imitate these sorts of activities as a way of processing life.  When we use a bread machine, vacuum cleaner, and dishwasher, the children do not perceive this as work.  And when we are sitting motionless at a computer, they think we are dead.  To be alive is to move, and that is why children are unable to sit still.

I reconsider my schedule and how I can incorporate more movement into my day with Graysen.  I try to save my computer time for when he is napping and sweep the floor when he is awake. (Although I have to put him in the backpack to keep him from chasing the dust bunnies.)  We don’t have a dishwasher, so he definitely witnesses me washing many dishes.  I pass up the popular no-knead bread recipes in favor of the traditional kind.  I let him help me take the laundry from the washer and put it in the dryer.  I cook and bake a lot.

It is interesting to me that these habits are mostly things I’m doing anyway as a part of our urban homestead lifestyle.  They are the activities that have occupied mothers for thousands of years.  Only in the past 50 years have women been “liberated” enough by time-saving devices that they can now go to an office and sit all day in front of a computer.  Somehow I feel more connected to my ancient grandmothers through these simple tasks.

My mother always did wash on Mondays, like her mother, and so I do that as well.  And since I use cloth diapers, I also do wash on Wednesdays and Fridays as well.  Luckily, I do use a washing machine so it is not an all-day affair.  I used to hand-wash our clothes when we lived in Guatemala, but they got dirtier so we hired a local woman to do them for us.  She did it five times faster and got them five times cleaner.

I’m not advocating a total regression into back-breaking tasks.  But I understand that it is important for Graysen to see meaningful work being done around him.  And it is important for me to find meaning in the simple tasks of life as well as my mission to save the world through gardening.

Garden Tallies

Leave a reply

The results are in!  We grew 1049 pounds of food on our 9000 square foot city lot in Anchorage this year!  Looks like we will be eating well this winter, with our cold storage, freezers, and pantry packed to the rafters.  Even though our Alaska food challenge is over, local food is too good to go back to our old habits.

This year’s total of 1049 pounds was a fair bit less than the 1622 pounds we grew here last year, but comprable to our share of last year’s harvest, which was 1132 pounds.  The remainder of last year’s harvest was shared with our tenants.

We concentrated more on the staples this year instead of our experimental crops, and yields were up for potatoes, cabbage, winter squash, and broccoli.  It was down on things we had major excess of last year like kale, raspberries, and

rhubarb  We had some big disappointments such as tomatoes, basil, onions, green beans, and parsnips. And a few things that never got planted, like turnips and boc choi.

We’ll see how our stores hold up over the winter, but I already have ideas of what I want to grow more (and less) of next year, and how I’m going to do that.  I will dedicate more space to broccoli and less to cabbage.  I will buy onion plants again like last year, which yielded much better than the ones I grew from seed.

We also learned from what we ate last winter, and were able to be more efficient in putting our food by.  We made a huge batch of sauerkraut and didn’t bother with the sauerruben (turnips.)  I freed up a few days work by not freezing nearly as much kale.  I also added a few new products I’m really happy about, like my strawberry preserves, which are great with yogurt or on ice cream with Nova Monda Cacao.

Although I don’t keep track of the time I spend in the garden, I’m pretty sure my new role as mother has helped me streamline my process, as I simply have less time available.  I’m really not sure how I managed to get the garden planted in the first place.  My days of spending 12 hours getting lost in my garden are over for now.  Perhaps that will be encouraging to those of you whose time time is limited as well.  It is also encouraging to know that all the work we’ve put in establishing the beds with loads and loads of organic material has really paid off, and that now we can let nature do the work for us in some ways.  In other ways, it feels like we have loads more work to do to get the garden where we want it.  Get ready Graysen, we need your help!!

A Food-centric Life

1 Reply

Food.  Everybody needs it.  In this season of harvest and abundance I feel blessed to have so much amazing, healthy, life-giving, soul-nourishing food.  It is hard for me to accept that there are people out there who are hungry, or who fill their bellies with junk-food.

I’ve been noticing lately how much of my life revolves around food. I grow it, preserve it, cook it, eat it, play with it, read about it, and talk about it.  My social life always involves food, and my business is to teach others how to grow and preserve it.

I just finished hauling in the carrots and blanching and freezing the kale, and I’m already thinking about what next years garden is going to look like.  I revel in making food for Graysen that is tasty, nutritious, beautiful, and balanced.  I pour over recipes and develop my own to fit what we have on hand, fresh and abundant.  I made a chocolate beet cake twice in one week just to get the recipe perfect. (And because it was so delicious.)

Although Matt loves to cook and does most of the hunting and fishing, I consider it my role to feed our family.  We used to talk about how we didn’t buy into traditional male-female roles in relationships, and now he is the hunter and I am the gatherer.  He brings home the bacon and I take care of baby.  Somehow it just works out that way, and I relish and thrive in my role.  How lucky am I to be able to stay home with Graysen, grow a huge garden and feed my family better food than money can buy?  The women’s liberation movement of the 1960′s fought hard  to free women from the home, and I’ve designed my life to return to it, taking meaningful work with me.

A few weeks ago I went to a food security workshop at UAA.  All the food big-wigs were there to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the food system in Alaska.  Farmers, mariculturists, representatives from the state and federal government, non-profits, universities, and business people. I was invited because of my work at the Williams Street Farmhouse and the Alaska Food Challenge.

We formed working groups and brainstormed projects that tackled different aspects of food security, from production to accessibility.  The Rasmuson Foundation is offering funds to a project that would increase food security for Alaskans.  Ideas ranged from funding farmer training programs to creating local currency thereby encouraging people to spend more of their food dollars locally.  It was wonderful to be a part of the community putting our heads together to come up with positive solutions that could actually happen.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I invite you to think more about your food. How secure is your food supply? Where does your food come from and who grew it?  Were people or the environment exploited to get it to your table?   Is it nourishing for your body or just empty calories?  Was it prepared with love and shared with good company?  Did you fully appreciate the flavor and texture of each bite?

This is also a good time to consider those who cannot afford time or money to put nourishing food on the table.  How can you become part of the solution?  Share your excess food, time, or donate money locally or globally.  Your dinner might just taste even better knowing someone else is nourished as well.

Chocolate Beet Cake

  • 1 stick of butter, softened
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1.5 cups cooked pureed beets
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1.5 cups flour
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a large springform pan.  Cream butter and sugar together in large bowl.  Add yogurt, then eggs, then beets and vanilla, beating well after each addition.  In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir just to combine.  Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Frosting:

  • 1/4 cup cream cheese
  • 1/4 beet puree
  • 2 Tablespoons softened butter
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar

Combine cream cheese, beets, and butter.  Add enough powdered sugar until it reaches desired consistency.  Let cake cool completely before frosting.

Hello Fall!

4 Replies

Fall arrived last week fast and furious, with a crazy storm that wreaked havoc on Anchorage’s trees (and our power) followed by 3 nights of hard frost a few days later.  Like most Anchorage residents, Matt and I were caught off guard by the lack of power.  Half-way through butchering a caribou, we needed power to grind the meat, saw the bones, turn the oven on, freeze the meat, and grind our coffee.

While Matt went out to find a generator, I wandered aimlessly around the house, finding out all the things I normally do do that involve power.  The paper did not arrive, wireless internet was down, I couldn’t listen to the radio to get updates on the situation.  I could not vacuum, nor do laundry, nor shower.  I couldn’t mill up Graysen’s food or make toast.  And all that food we had packed away in our freezers would only last two days at best.  I dared not even open the fridge, not knowing when the power would come back. How did my life get so dependent on limitless power coming the wall?  Me, who has travelled for months with only a backpack (and sometimes just a toothbrush) and lived on a sailboat?

Likewise, the frost hit me just as hard.  I have been lulled into a false sense of security by the global warming trend and our localized trend of later and later frosts. Last year our first frost was on September 24th, almost 3 weeks later.  Frost wasn’t even on my radar, much less the hard, killing frost we got.  I could have put some row cover over my most fragile crops and saved them, giving us at least another week or two of precious green beans.  Luckily, it seems most of the squash were ok, even though the plants were killed.

After I finished kicking myself for not watching the weather closely enough, I let myself enjoy the bright sunny fall day.  I breathed deeply the cool, fresh air, the kind of air that energizes you and gives you new life.  Matt and I set about the joyful task of harvesting what needed to come in.  Piles of winter squash in the wheelbarrow, a small bowl of green beans, armloads of zucchini, some green tomatoes, and while the weather was still good, the potatoes.

These are the days that make a whole summer of gardening worth it.  Not that I don’t enjoy the other times, but nothing compares to the satisfaction of putting your own food up for the winter.  Especially when it is as easy as heaping squash into a wheelbarrow, and as satisfying as digging for buried potato treasures.  When the day was done, we had 212 pounds of potatoes drying on tables in the garage, and 181 pounds of winter squash curing in our sunroom.  Then I put a huge wad of thyme in the dehydrator, thanking the universe for the electricity that runs it, and went off to aroma heaven.  It almost makes up for the early frost.

Zucchini Crust Pizza with Rhubarb BBQ Sauce, Bacon, and Broccoli

  • 3 cup shredded zucchini
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup lightly packed shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 tsp chopped thyme
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 2 Tbs Olive oil, divided
  • 1/4 rhubarb BBQ sauce
  • 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
  • 3 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
  • 1 cup brocoli florets, stems, and small leaves, chopped
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar

Combine zucchini and salt in a colander and set aside for 20 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400 and lightly oil a 10 inch pizza pan. Lightly beat eggs in medium bowl, add mozzarella and thyme, one tablespoon olive oil, and flour.  Squeeze excess moisture out of zucchini with your hands.  Combine with egg mixture.  Spread in pan, smoothing down and ensuring there are no holes.  Bake for 20 minutes, brushing top with olive oil halfway through.  Remove from oven, top with BBQ sauce, onion, bacon, broccoli and cheeses.  Return to oven and bake 10-15 minutes until top is golden and bubbly.