Cassie's Stuff

Started a new blog. It is not very far along yet, but I have recently started working with Dr. Kanodia at the OSU Center for Integrative Medicine. I’ve lost 9 pounds in the last 4 weeks, and 20 pounds since my top weight. Check out my progress at www.CassiesWeightLossStuff.com.

It is also almost gardening season! Yay! I have several speaking engagements already set up. Would you like me to come speak to your group about Square Foot Gardening? Give me a call!

Cassie

We finally got the sunroom cleaned out (it was still storing my 16-year-old son’s junk) so I could start my winter garden. I’m experimenting with microgreens. I’ve been fascinated with them since I first learned about it about a year ago. Microgreens are somewhere between sprouts and baby greens. You harvest at about 6 to 8 inches, depending on the seed. It has all the nutrients of a sprout, from the energy in the seed, plus nutrients pulled out of the soil, so they are actually at the most nutritious stage of the plant. Microgreens can be tossed into a salad, eaten alone or lightly sauteed. I bought the book, Microgreens: A Guide To Growing Nutrient Packed Greens and was fascinated with it. Seems pretty easy. I’m looking forward to trying them soon!

I also planted cucumbers because cucumbers are self pollinating. I have a memory of my mother growing cucumbers in the winter, but when I asked her about it, she said that one year she tried to start bedding plants, but started them too soon and they got out of hand. The plants, however, did set fruit inside. So I’m thinking this could be good. After all, commercial growers grow cucumbers in greenhouses, so why not in my sunroom? I’ll be posting photos soon.

The other things I plan on trying are beets, radishes, Chinese greens, herbs, lettuces, and whatever else tickles my fancy when I start going through my seed stock.

Instead of using my regular Square Foot Gardening (what’s this?) boxes, which are all too big for the space that I have, I bought aluminum baking pans from Gordon Food Service (GFS) for $1.50 ea. I also bought the lids to serve as liners under the pans to catch any dripping water.

Ooh! I also transplanted a couple of basil plants that my mother gave me at the beginning of the summer and I never got repotted. So I put both plants in one big pot and cut off the tops and stuck them in the ground, too. I don’t know if they’ll root, but it is worth the experiment. Mom kept these in over last winter and the plants got huge! It was about 4 or 5 feet high. But this variety has teeny-tiny leaves and very aromatic. Nice taste, too.

I used the Square Foot Gardening soil mix ’cause Mel says this makes a fine container mix, too. Plus I already had some left over from the summer!

I’ll keep you posted!

Wow! It is amazing how quickly my Spring calendar is filling up with Square Foot Gardening classes. Already I’m scheduled to speak in Delaware and Wooster, as well as Newark. I’m also talking with Upper Arlington’s Life Long Learning program and will be there again, probably in February. See my calendar page for a complete listing of events and where I’ll be speaking.

I’m also looking for a venue here in Newark to offer a weekly series of classes. They are not yet developed, but some of my thoughts are to start out with the 10 Basics, of course, but to go into more detail on composting one week, finding ingredients and mixing soil, vertical gardening, fruits in the SFG, protecting the SFG from critters & weather, garden layout & design and lots more. Maybe we’ll even have a cooking class or three to catch the harvest at different points in the season (using the new SFG Cookbook, of course!).

I’m also trying to convince Mel on a weekend SFG conference here in Newark. This would be for any fan of SFG, not just to certify teachers. It would have many of the above subjects and related – such as capturing and storing water and other “green” subjects.

If you’d like to keep informed on what is happening, be sure to sign up for my newsletter at the right of this post.

I’m starting to schedule my Square Foot Gardening classes for the spring. We can start as early as February ’cause we can plant peas and potatoes in March in Ohio, earlier in other states. I’m willing to travel! Especially if it is to someplace warm.

I have the 10 Basics of Square Foot Gardening, a 1 to 2 hour class; Composting 101, about 1 hour; and the Square Foot Gardening hands-on workshop. Not fully developed yet, but I have 6 hours in my mind with a potluck lunch. I can also adapt the classes for specific groups, such as accessibility gardening for seniors or special needs, gardening with children, gardening therapy, etc.

Square Foot Gardening is a method of gardening that uses 20% of the space of a traditional row garden with 100% of the harvest and only 2% of the work! It is an easy method suitable for beginners, seasoned gardeners and all ages and abilities.

To schedule a class (or personal consultation), email me at cassie@cassiesstuff.com