Cassie's Stuff

Whew! My website is fixed and working once again. I haven’t checked all the links, but it should be working now.

Went to Upper Sandusky to pick up Dylan from his Dad and on the way home I saw this billboard between Marion & Waldo. I about drove off the road – “That looks like Zara!” I said to Dylan. So we turned around to take a closer look. And sure enough, it is! My baby is famous! This was a photo taken from the skydive she took on her 18th birthday a year ago. She’s so cute!

Hello all! I’m in Hawaii with the Square Foot Gardening Foundation helping Mel with a 3-day Certified Teacher training. Not much time to enjoy the views, but we’re having a great time! This could be the start of a whole series of training around the Pacific Rim. We are going to show people how to solve world hunger my teaching people to grow their own with SFG. You know the old, “Teach a man to fish…” adage? Well Mel takes it a step further, if you give a man to fish, you ruin him for life. He will always be looking for handouts. Teach a man to fish (to SFG) and he will be empowered for life. Actually, Mel doesn’t even mess with the men, he goes straight to the women! Women will do anything for their children and when they see how they can improve the nutrition for their family with SFG, they are ready to get started. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that I have word from Victoria, the business manager at SFGF, that the soil company has really dropped the ball when it comes to the bagged Mel’s Mix. I don’t think I would want to be them right now. Victoria will get the problem solved. I’ve been told that – once again – there is soil on its way to Ohio. However, if you are really needing to get started, make your own. If you don’t want to do that, I will be back in Ohio on Monday (but tired, so call on Tuesday) and we can get some mixed for you.

Will blog more about the event here soon!

People are always asking me, “What can I do about the deer?” Short of a shotgun, there aren’t a whole lot of options. Mel gives a good one in his book, All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!, and called it a critter cover. It works, but it is not terribly attractive.

On Monday, I mixed homemade Mel’s Mix for Dr. Bill & Sharon Plikerd. Bill bought three of the new Ohio Amish-made red cedar pin box kits, but wanted to raise them off the ground to be able to garden standing up or sitting. He came up with this fabulous solution to both the deer problem and stand-up gardens. His handyman, Rick, cleared and built all of this in about 2 weeks. Notice the Strawberry Topsy Turvy bags in the corners. These are also filled with Mel’s Mix. Bill and Sharon have agreed to host an open house for me and you’ll be able to see Bill’s garden in person. Look for that sometime in June.

A beautiful solution to "the deer problem."

Today I updated the look of my blog. Tell me what you think. It is a little dark, but I can fix that with photos in the text.

Ok, had to do a quick post after that really long one because I am so excited that I got to harvest my first greens today! I cut 4 big bunches of butter crunch lettuce (starts from Wilson’s Garden Center), several big leaves from the Swiss Chard and red kale, both also from Wilson’s. Now here’s my magic recipe which works for ALL greens and veggies. It is a no-fault plan for a yummy home-grown meal.

Peel & chop garlic. I like lots of garlic!
Peel & chop an onion (I like red onions best)
Clean and prepare greens (kale, for example, needs removed from stems, torn into bite-sized bits and steamed a little. Lighter greens such as spinach or chard can just be cleaned and removed from stems. If using chard, you can chop the stems and use them, too.)
Rinse a can of white beans (I like Great Northern best, but garbanzo or navy beans work, too. Maybe you have a beany favorite)

To cook:
Coat the bottom of a non-stick skillet with a good quality extra-virgin olive oil. Add onions and saute over medium-low heat until soft. Add garlic and continue to cook until both are soft and beginning to brown. You don’t want it to burn! Toss in the greens and saute until the greens wilt. Sear over higher heat if you like it a little brown.
Toss in the beans and stir until beans are warm.
Add salt to taste.

Ok, as you can see, I am a “dump” cook. I seldom use recipes and when I do I always improvise. This recipe is so easy that it is very difficult to ruin! Even a novice can make a delicious meal. If you have bulkier veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, asparagus or whatever, you can lightly steam them before tossing into the oil.

This is also yummy served with herbed rice. Explore with rice, there are many, many varieties! I never buy white or polished rice, but much prefer the heartier (and healthier) brown rice, red rice, black rice, wild rice and all the other many varieties out there. I find it least expensive at Asian or Indian markets in Columbus.

Of course, there are lots of great veggie recipes in the All New Square Foot Gardening Cookbook: Taking the Harvest to the Table.

Share your “magic” recipe and post it in the comments area.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about how to mix the perfect soil for your garden. As you know, in Square Foot Gardening we call it “Mel’s Mix.” Seeing as how the truck of the commercially bagged Mel’s Mix has been delayed, people want to get started, so here are some ideas. In fact, two of my sons and I had to mix 30 cubic feet of Mel’s Mix for a client yesterday and today because the truck didn’t come in (watch for an upcoming post when I will have a video of his amazing garden!). We really don’t like doing it, I’ll be glad when the bags are here! (Although, if the price is right, you could probably hire Dylan and Ed to mix yours!)

So here’s what we did and where we found it (all of this is in Newark, Ohio 43055)….
We bought chicken manure and Posey Power (TM) at Cedar’s Lawn & Garden Center (1655 Mt. Vernon Rd., 740-366-5004). I know, I know, Posey Power isn’t exactly SFG “spec” but it is pretty close and is a source for sterilized horse manure. They also had coarse vermiculite, 4 cu.ft. bag for $18.99! That is a great price. [On a side note, I also bought packets of Watermelon Radish, a sweet radish that gets 2 to 4 inches across, yet still takes about a month until harvest. We look forward to this yummy treat. And they had all blue and all red potatoes - the color goes throughout the potato, not just on the skin. I can make patriotic red, white and blue potato salad for Independence Day!]

We found two different types of mushroom compost from Hope Timber Garden Center (2135 West Main St., Newark, 740-522-6558), but I really didn’t like the kind in the red bag. It would be good for a top dressing in landscaping or something, but too much whole fibers for Mel’s Mix.

I bought peat moss and cow manure at Lowe’s and every garden center stocks these. Now that I know I can find good sources at local garden centers, I probably won’t be shopping the big box stores for supplies anymore. I like the idea of supporting our local economy by shopping at the small, locally-owned shops. Of course, Wal-Mart has a lot of this stuff, too, but same goes.

If you have a pickup truck, some sources for bulk compost are Elm’s Recycling (1242 Mt. Vernon Rd., Newark 740-366-3340), Price Farms Organics, Ltd. in Delaware, and The Compost Farm, Johnstown [7795 Jersey Mill Road, Alexandria, Ohio 43001, 740-924-4202 or 740-817-0161 (cell)].

I didn’t make it to Wilson’s Garden Center (10923 Lambs Lane) this time. Not sure why, just found what I needed before I got there. Silly, really, considering that the client is just down the road in Marne! I did stop by there today to see how our demo SFG is doing and talked with Jan, the vegetable specialist and person in charge of caring for it. The kale looks to be VERY happy, the radishes are up about 2 inches and every thing is doing great. Jan had stuck a tomato in one of the middle squares and I suggested she move it to a side square so we can trellis it. That is the next step I need to do for them – get the trellises in place.

Ok, got off on a bunny trail again (and bunnies really like SFGs!)…. back to mixing soil. I have found that Mel’s instructions in the book for turning on a tarp is just too cumbersome for me. We’ve found that a commercial compost tumbler works great. I have one that turns end-to-end instead of sideways and it can be a little difficult to dump, but the mixing part works. To make sure we have a good compost blend, we first mixed the bags of compost together in the tumbler and then store it in a plastic trash can. Mel says you don’t have to and with the tarp method this makes sense, but I find since we are mixing small batches in the tumbler, it works better to blend the compost first. Notice above, that we only found 4 sources – cow manure, chicken manure, horse manure and mushroom – Mel recommends 5. I’d like to get worm castings because they are so yummy to the plants, but I haven’t found the source yet….

THIS JUST IN!!! As I was looking for an address above, I found a source in Columbus for worm castings! One20Farm has worm castings for $7.00 per pound. Read more about it here. Now, I can’t say anything about this business and it is too late in the night to call for more info, but it seems to be worth checking out. They also are vendors at the Westerville Farmer’s Market which starts in June.

Ok… back to the soil…. so I already mentioned that we like to blend the compost first. Then we simply layer compost, coarse vermiculite and peat moss into the tumbler using a 5-gallon bucket for measurement. Spin and you have homemade Mel’s Mix!

Where do you find your compost? Post a comment and let everyone know.

I’m emailing you from Fayetteville, Arkansas where I just finished helping Mel with a day full of Square Foot Gardening workshops. It was an exciting day! I think things are going to EXPLODE for SFG in the next few months. The producer of the new composite SFG boxes, Greenland Composites, has recognized the value of SFG and he envisions whole sections of the big box stores dedicated to to the method! He already has product being shipped to Sam’s Club, Home Depot and others. He says he will be nationwide by next year. And with what I’ve learned about owner Burt Hanna today, I have no doubt. Tomorrow, I’m loading up my car with as many of his boxes as I can carry. Although this isn’t the “official” licensed SFG composite box, this is what Greenland sells through Sam’s Club and the official box is similar with fantastic packaging.

Mel actually let me teach side-by-side with him and people described it as “George & Gracie” or “Laurel and Hardy.” lol. I don’t know that it was QUITE to that level, but Mel and I do see to have a good stage presence together and it was a lot of fun tonight. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Stay tuned. When I get through this weekend, I’ll have more news, hopefully on Monday with details as to when Mel’s Mix will be available in Ohio and when & where I’ll be holding a meeting to share with you all the new things happening.

Fayetteville, Arkansas is an amazing, beautiful town. In the midst of Southern conservatism, this town is a light to progressive thought and I’m not talking politics, although that may be true as well. The whole town is dedicated to reducing its environmental “footprint” on the earth. The new public library, where Mel and I spoke tonight, is a phenomenal example of conscientious attention to energy-saving detail. I ate early dinner at the lovely Trailside Cafe & Tearoom. It was early dinner, but we walked in at closing time, yet they were gracious and served us a delicious meal. I had the grilled chicken salad which had scrumptiously salty calamala olives. Yum. It was within walking distance to the library. We seemed to have established a trend because after the program with Mel, Louise Mann (the organizer of the event) and I went to The Greenhouse Grill for a late dinner. We again walked in at closing time and Louise (she’s so funny, told them that I drove 13 hours to do this program and to eat in their restaurant) talked them into serving us anyway. I really don’t like walking in at closing time, but they, too, were gracious (I love Southern hospitality!). The server (and shoot, I was too tired to remember her name) was extremely knowledgeable about food sensitivities and didn’t seem at all bothered by my request for no wheat. I had a lovely Rosemary Chicken with pan-fried sweet potato rounds and grilled summer squash. For dessert, I had to try the chocolate-hazelnut creme’ brulee and it was DIVINE! It was absolutely heavenly with the cabernet I was drinking. The Greenhouse Grill’s mission is to create “conscious cuisine” utilizing as much locally grown products as possible – including from their own kitchen garden – composting organic kitchen wastes, rain collection system, using environmentally safe soaps & cleaning agents as well as recycled paper products. Going in so late, I really didn’t have an opportunity to explore as much as I would have liked, but it was impressive, none-the-less.

If you’re thinking about an out-of-state vacation this summer, I highly recommend Fayetteville and look into staying at the Mt. Sequoya Conference & Retreat Center. Louise set me up with a room on the beautiful campus that was almost like a small, peaceful neighborhood of tree-lined roadways and lovely lodges. Where I stayed contained several rooms along a long hallway with a common living room area and kitchenette. On the covered porches are rocking chairs where I sat and ate my breakfast on the first morning I was here. Right now I have my window open so I can hear the wind through the trees right outside. The bed is comfortable and the rooms are clean. The towels are a little small and not so fluffy, but I can understand the need to economize. It would be perfect for a church retreat or a personal getaway. I would definitely stay here again.

Wow, I have rambled on and it is now after midnight. Tomorrow is another long day with meetings in the morning and the first leg of my drive home. I drive all the way here in one day, but I will be taking two to go home.

Cassie

Right now I am in the beautiful town of Fayetteville, Arkansas to help Mel teach some workshops and to learn about the new composite lumber garden boxes. I wish I had more time to explore the town and learn about the city’s and residents’ commitment to living green. Maybe I’ll make a trip here specifically for that purpose.

I am so excited about the new and affordable products that the Square Foot Gardening Foundation is beginning to offer. The new composite boxes will soon be available across the country, but I’m hoping to load up my Honda Pilot and bring them back with me! I will also have the new, beautiful Ohio Amish-made SFG boxes available. And, if Mel doesn’t sell them, I want to bring back samples of the SFG Vinyl boxes. The other exciting news is that there is a truckload of the official, bagged Mel’s Mix on its way to Ohio and Paul Nagy, the distributor, expects it early next week. On Monday, I’ll set up a Paypal account so you will be able to order and pay online with a credit card. Or you can still pay cash or check in person.

I’m thinking about setting up a quick, temporary retail store so you can see all the new products and I will also offer a 10-Basics class so you can bring your friends to introduce them to this easy method of gardening.

What have you planted in your garden? I have asparagus, potatoes, rhubarb, onions, kale, pansies, peas and Swiss Chard all planted in tabletop gardens. In my recycled cat litter tubs, I have tomatoes, lettuce, Swiss Chard, peas, pansies and carrots. When I left on Tuesday the plants were huge! I hope to start harvesting when I get back. They are LOVING the homemade Mel’s Mix!

Wrapping up a very exhausting day at the Clark County Master Gardeners Garden Fling. I spoke two times about Square Foot Gardening and had a booth. Not a great sales day – not many attendees because it was a beautiful day – but made some really good contacts. Tomorrow at 2:00 I’m off to Wilson’s Garden Center in Newark for a hands-on workshop – we will be installing two 4 x 8 gardens and planting them! Join me! This is their grand opening of the new building so there are lots of fun activities and probably some really good specials!