Homemade Garden Amendments

Hello, friends.  I hope you've had a lovely week.  As our freezer was filling up with veggie scraps, I simmered them in pots on the woodstove overnight, and canned the broth the following day.  For Christmas dinner, J requested Pasta with Olives and Bread Crumbs.  I only make it about once a year, and it was so good.  As kalamatas are in a vinegar brine, which I can't have, I tried a new olive, Purple Beldi, which were perfect in this dish.  I woke before J Christmas morning, and decided to make him biscuits, which is also a rare occurrence these days.  It's a shame I haven't found a GF version worth eating yet, but maybe some day.  

 

composted material

I requested a big ticket item for Christmas this year, one that I hope will up our gardening game. It's an in home veggie composter; this one.   They were having sales before Christmas.  I've used it once or twice every day since, and love it so far.  It has a 2.5L bucket, which fills quickly around here.  You push one button to start, and it's extremely quiet.  Maybe because I'm composting several orange and lemon skins, it smells really good as it's working, much like something is baking.  Of course, the real test will be how well the compost works.  For sure, it will be able to be used much quicker, will cut down on our overflowing outside compost container, and go a long way in cutting down on fruit flies in the house in summer. 

finished biochar

Another garden-related chore on my to-do list for a while has been to try small-scale biochar making.  I needed to buy a crimper for the cans, and finally did that last week.  I gathered a 5 gallon bucket of plant material, such as pine cones, sweet gum balls, and acorns.  I started the first batch Saturday evening, and just left the cans in our woodstove overnight.  On Sunday, we had our first batch of biochar.  Small amounts, but it's so easy.  You may remember we tried making large scale biochar, with a 55 gal. barrel.  It required a huge amount of time to collect enough plant matter to fill it, then required hours of babysitting for the process.  This new method is more my scale.  If you'd like to learn more, I first heard it shared by David the Good, who I've mentioned before.  A short video with instructions is on Youtube here.  Biochar is great for gardens.  I did check inside the acorns, and it's all crispy, as it should be.  Our recent gardens have been underwhelming, and I'm hoping these homemade amendments will get us back on track.  Both the compost and biochar need mixing with moisture and other things before using, but it's pretty straight forward.

One day, I noticed lots of large seed heads and grasses around the pond.  As we decided not to buy any hay this year, I decided to gather some of these, to use in the chicken coop.  This was one armful, and I'll add to it in time.  I've been using paper and cardboard shreds for nest boxes, but haven't had enough to add a lot to the floors.  Having the floors covered will add to the warmth, so I thought I'd try this for the winter months.  Guinness's coat has been limping along, with a broken snap.  Last week, the second one broke, so it needed fixing.  I found a brand new package of snaps I'd thrifted, for .50 in my stash.  J had done snaps before, so he replaced them while I watched and learned.  Like many others I've seen, I took Christmas decorations down late last week.   I removed holiday-related ornaments from the tree, and kept it up, with nature and homestead-related ornaments.  It's early for me, but I'm feeling a desire to move on, to see what 2025 has in store for us all.  It's been a tough year, but I can do small steps to make a difference.  May the new year transmute the darkness, and bring in more hope and light.