Vision

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
          - Masanobu Fukuoka, The One-Straw Revolution



We cannot solve the significant problems we face at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
         -Albert Einstein



How we garden reflects our worldview.... The ultimate goal of forest gardening is not only the growing of crops, but also the cultivation and perfection of new ways of seeing, of thinking, and of acting in the world.
         -Dave Jacke, Edible Forest Gardens

Mushroom Growing Ahead!

Great News!
In collaboration with Kai Wingo & Jean Loria, Possibilitarian Garden will be hosting its first Mushroom Growing Workshop on Saturday, December 8th.

Workshop cost will be $50 for materials and preparation.  Participants will leave with a growing kit ready for mushroom cultivation.  We will most likely be asking for those interested to pre-register so we can get a good sense of how many growing mediums to prepare for the workshop.

More details to come.  Mark your calendars and email me if you are interested at diana_sette@yahoo.com.

Looking forward to the culture growing!

The Frost Came

For the Records,
It was evening of Wednesday, November 7th when the frost finally came to Possibilitarian Garden.  Not too hard of a frost, as the hardy ones like calendula and oregano are still hanging.  But it finally knocked out the Mexican Sunflower and some of the nasturtiums and a couple pepper plants that were still left out growing.  Finally can do some clean-up to put the garden to bed.
And now's the time to eat some more collards, as my neighbors swear they don't pick them till after the frost, because that's when they get sweet and tasty!

Garlic Sprouting

oh oh OH!

This mild Fall weather has my garlic sprouting already!
I planted it about a week before Halloween, and it is over an inch out of the ground with its sweet little green shoots.
I heard from another friend who planted her garlic even earlier in the beginning of October, that her garlic is sprouting too.

I am hoping that if I cover it up with another layer or hay it'll go back to bed for the winter and still be happy to grow in the Spring....

Ah, how the changing seasons will keep us garden farmers on our toes!

Fall Sunchoke Glory

The Jersusalem Artichokes in all their glory growing along our driveway.  They function here as nice privacy wall as well as sharing beauty with us and our neighbors (since they are taller than the bamboo privacy fence), and of course, we can eat the tubers!  yum! 

Now they are past their peak, but it was surely a nice treat to come down the driveway and be showered by their bright yellow paired with the reds, oranges, pinks, and purples of the nasturtium, zinnias, and hostas!  It was really a rainbow.

The Chickens Come Home to Roost

With the lead remmediation situation much more under control around our house, we can now, finally open the door to the chicken coop and let those ladies roam the backyard.  And woowee are they happy  about it!

OPEN THE DOORS AND LET 'EM LOOSE, BOYS!

this is the chicken coop, which I like to refer to as "the coop of the future" because of it's dome shape.  All summer it multi-purposed as a trellis for cucumber plants which were lovely shade for the chickens.  And in front where large towering sunflowers which also made some nice shade for the happy chickens.

Nuva the big black dog looking on as the chickens check out the scene.

peck, peck, peck- stratch scratch!  where are those wormies!

here pictured is the lovely and friendly, Grandma, herself!

Composting with Worms!

Introduction to Vermiculture (or composting with worms!)

Time to build a worm bin!  No more excuses of not being able to compost because you don't have a backyard.  Even ten month old babies can have a hand at vermicomposting.  It's time to partner up with the redworms!

Here's the basics on vermicomposting.

Best worm:  Eisenia fetida (redworm)

-you can order them online, or get them from a vermicomposting friend

-Redworms do well with heat, reproduce well, can live as long as 4 years, and naturally live in the organic matter layer of soil- aka- leaf layers, manure, etc.

-different than earthworms or nightcrawlers (they live deeper in the soil and work to dig up and mix the soil rather than break down the top layer)

Basic Worm Bin Ingredients

-container

-bedding

-moisture

-worms

Finding the Right Container

You can use any container: buckets, plastic tuperware, etc.  It is useful to have two layers of containers so that the bottom can collect any drainage from the compost.  You just need to make sure you have enough space for the worms and enough air circulation inside the container.

As for space- you can use this equation to figure out how much space you need for how many worms you have:

  +First find the AREA (LxWxH) of the bottom of the container 

  [note, for a round bucket, A: (pie)r squared and r=c/2pie]

  +When you have the square footage figured out, you can figure this ratio:

     1 lb of worms require 1 sq ft of surface

As for circulation, it is important to add holes in the container to create lots of air flow.  

Using a drill, I drilled in lots of holes into the lid, sides and bottom of the top bucket layer.

When drilling, I left 6-10" of the top layer bucket bottom sides without any holes, as to keep the area where the compost will without any holes.

Making the worms a Bed

Shredded newspaper, leaves, shredded cardboard, a little soil- whatever you chose, they will all suffice for bedding purpose.  

The worm bin needs to be about 2/3 Full of Bedding.

And the Moisture of the bedding should equal that of worms, which is 75-90% wet.

Rosemary working with the newspaper bedding.

WORM FOOD!

Here is a basic working list:

GOOD for worms

Tea & tea bags

Coffee Grounds & non-bleached filters

Vegetables (except onion skins & garlic)

Fruit (go easy on the citrus)

egg shells (the worms like to lay their eggs in them!)

BAD for worm

meat

oil

pet waste

non-biodegradables: plastic, foil, glass, etc (duh!)

And HOW MUCH TO FEED THEM?

The amount of worms you have will depend how much to feed them, and of course, worms reproduce quite well- so this estimate will change as the months pass, so it's important to monitor as things go along.

Here's a general ratio:

1 # of worms process 1/2# of food/day (3.5# per week)

Worms:Garbage  =  2:1

So, if you are using a double pickle-bucket system like seen here, it has about an area of 1 sq ft, which can hold about 1 lb of worms- so it eats about 1/2 lb of food scraps per day - or 3 1/2 lbs of food scraps per week.

Troubleshooting & Harvesting
Finally, caring for a worm bin will require some level of checking in on them to make sure the wormies are happy, well-fed, and doing what they're needed to do.  Issues may arise, like odor, or fruit flies, or worm death - BUT HAVE NO FEAR!  There are solutions!
This webpage of the NYC Compost (for lots of people with no land indoor composting!) is a useful troubleshooting resource: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/compost/edu_indoor_problems.shtml
On that link there are also resources for harvesting the incredibly beneficial worm castings so you can put them on your plants and in your garden!


ONE LAST NOTE:
I hope that vermicomposting is as fun for you as it is fun for us!  We like to open the bucket daily and check out the worms- Rosemary is very interested.  We also keep a separate compost bucket to go outside & a chicken scrap bucket- so food scraps are getting specifically allocated over here!
I was lucky enough to be given worms & an info session from the OSU (Ohio State University Extension) "Cuyahoga Composts" program that had 6 sessions.  It was their pilot class for this topic, and they plan to have them in the future.  If you are interested in the future "Cuyahoga Composts" classes, you can check out their website http://cuyahoga.osu.edu/ or email Nicole Wright at wright.1128@osu.edu for more info.

I didn't mention where you can purchase worms from, but if you do a quick search online, you will be sure to find something.  Also, if you are in the Cleveland area, there is someone who is currently working to set up a Complete Worm Composting System called "Tidy Worms" for sale.  If you are interested- contact Ryan at ryandebiase@gmail.com

Happy Worm Casting Hunting!