There is no spoon?

The weather is growing colder here. And a lot wetter too. So, since I wanted to start doing some crafty stuff of my own I ordered myself a good knife and a special knife for hollowing out wood and started carving a few bits of wood I had lying around. I'm actually quite pleased about the results!

The knives I use are the Mora Companion Heavy Duty and the Mora Wood Carving Erik Frosts 164. I 've had good experiences with Mora knives during my merchant navy days and only read good reviews on them. Those reviews proved to be true for me. The knives are sharp, retain their edge well and are not that expensive at all. Carving is a lot of fun when you have sharp tools to do so.

The wood I used came from my mother-in-law's garden. There used to be a fig tree there. She wanted to get rid of that, so I chopped it down and reduced it to chunks for my fire place. That was over half a year ago.

So last week I grabbed a few blocks of the now dryish fig wood just to see if I would have any fun carving stuff out of wood. No sense in going out to a shop and buying premium wood if you don't even know if you'll like working wood in my opinion.

I started out simple with a few spoons. A few days and bandaids later I got these spoons done. Carving spoons can be done quite quickly if you have a bit of experience. I think I can do one in about an hour or two once I get into the routine of it. Maybe more. Those will be quite crude ofcourse, but usable. I sanded down the results and oiled the spoons with olive oil right after carving. They probably won't last very long, but that is mostly due to the wood not being propery dryed out before I carved it. There were a couple of deep cracks in the blocks that I had to get rid of before making the actual spoons. Apparently it is quite handy if the bowl of a spoon is actually water tight :p Anyway, here is a picture of the resulting spoons. The wood grain came out really nicely with the oiling!

Tada!

 

Tools used: Two knives and a bit of coarse and fine sandpaper.

 

The first spoon I made is the big one on the left. It is quite chunky and bulky, but functional. The little one on the right is a bit more refined already. The last one I made is the one in the centre. This one is a lot thinner then the other two and again a bit more refined. I think I'm getting the hang of this carving thing. Time to head out to the wood shop and get some proper wood to work on!

Happy Halloween!

Just a shorty here. There isn't much going on at the moment. Today I carved up the two remaining pumpkins, so guess what we're having for dinner tomorrow :-)

And this evening we've got two nice lanterns shining brightly into the night. Enjoy!

Of soup and leftover art

Do you remember the pumpkins we bought little over a week ago? We used one up. Well, not quite actually.

We made ourselves some lovely pumpkin soup. But as this pumpkin was quite big it didn't turn out to be "some" soup. We had enough for a dinner for three and still had about 3 litres left over. So that's sitting quite comfortably in the freezer destined for later consumption. And a lovely soup it was!

 We saved some of the seeds and hope to plant those next year so we can grow our very own.

The thing with making pumpkin soup however, is that you get stuck with this big hollowed out husk of a pumpkin. So I decided I'd try my hand at carving one into a lantern. First time I've ever carved one and I'm quite pleased with the end result. Too bad they don't last very long once you've carved them and set a light in them. Anyways, here's my very first lantern creation!

The carvig was done with a Buck folding knife. Basically because I had nothing better at hand.

 

The finished lantern on its' pedestal next to our front door

 

And a close up of the carving.

 

Enjoy!

The desolation that is my backyard...

This weekend we went ahead and harvested what was in our backyards. The last of the beetroots will be pickled and stored for later consumption. All the other beetroots were boiled and canned. It is really a shame that the ring pattern ets lost in the boiling. Well, not entirely. The red turns a sickly shade of yellow. It looks like we canned onions or something. I bet they'll still taste fine though.

We had a really great tomato year. Until the last weeks. The plants were absolutely bursting with tomatoes, but htey were still green. So we left them on the plants to let them ripen. Then we had a few really big rain showers. That messed it all up. We took off all the tomatoes and put them in the sun inside our house so they could ripen further. However they just turned black and/ or mushy. So basically we only had one meal from our own tomatoes. Another lesson learned I think. Maybe put them outside a bit earlier next year.

The strawberries are still going strong. We've got flowers and fruits popping up constantly. I'm curious to see how long they'll keep going.

Now on to the big project: The potato towers!

The results were... Discouraging. We started digging out the beds and found no potatoes at all. Until we got to the bottom pallet collars. Those were packed. We pulled out about 10 kg of blaue sweden and roughly 8 kg of blaue congo. Quite a lot of work actually. I like geting my hands dirty though.

This seems like quite a decent haul, considering we only used 0,5 kg of seed potatoes for each batch. I am going to have look into what a 'normal' harvest nets you to see if this was average or a lot. Here's an overview of our harvest. I cut two potatoes in half to show the inside colour. The blaue sweden (white flesh) are really crumbly when cooked. Good for mashing I think. The blaue congo turn a bit blue when boiled. Their taste is better in my opinion though. We will make hutspot with those at least once. Just because we can! How colourfull that will be!

While digging out the potatoes we noticed that the plant roots just went straight down with no offshoots whatsoever until they arrived at the bottom layer. So either I did something wrong or these breeds of potatoes are unsuited for towering. Or it simply doesn't work.

We also went to a local farmer who sells his harvest alongside the road. My girlfriend is going to make a nice big pot of pumpkin soup today, of wich portions will be frozen for later use. We got 3 pumpkins. One of them is absolutely HUGE! I'll get some pictures of that one once I'm done eating it and have carved up the husk for a lantern. But the stands were so nice my girlfriend shot some beautiful pictures of them. Which I can't keep from you! They convey that great, warm autumn feeling. Enjoy!

Now on to our plans for next year:
We will see if can rent a small plot to start growing more! The plans so far are to put our potatoes on that plot and not tower them up again. Other planned vegetables include onions, leeks, beans, pumpkins and cabbage. A friend of us is planning something along the same lines, but wants to grow a lot of peppers of different breeds as well. I see sharing and trading possibilities here! :-)

The backyard farm will be converted to fruits. The plans are to fill up one of the potato beds with strawberries, have one and a half bed of tomatoes and half a bed of cucumber. That leaves us with one bed to be filled with lavender. And we will probably get another berry bush.

The first beetroots have been harvested!

It's been a while since I last updated this blog. Well, here it is! We harvested the first beetroots. Only a few were big enough, so we left the rest to grow on. A week or two later we harvested zome more and right now we still have about half a collar filled with beets in the yard. The harvested beets we canned, just to see if we could. I personally expected the beets to turn red. Alas! They turned a rather uninteresting yellowish white. The rings also mostly dissapeared. We'll be planting regular red beets next year. Raw they looked fantastic though.

The collar overflowing with beets! As you can see the potatoes kind of fell over and are now hanging over the other collars. The other plants don't seem too bothered though.

Here they are fresh out of the soil:

 And after peeling and cutting:

The potatoes are doing nicely and have started to dry out and turn yellow. I'll leave them at it for a little while longer before starting to dig them up.

The past two weeks have been tropically hot, especially for the Netherlands. Our blueberries and strawberries are doing great on it! Also the tomato plants are developing a lot of well... Tomatoes! Look how pretty these look!

 

Not much else to say at the moment really. We've spent the last few weeks eating outdoors a lot and barbequeing whenever we had the opportunity.

This week we hope to go berry picking at our regular locations. We've checked the places a few times this season and it seems we will be having a lot of blackberries. Then it's on to blackberry jam making! Huzzah!


Oh, and here's a picture of one of our cats. She has made a habit of sleeping under the potato foliage. I usually notice when I put the hose on the plants and she comes flying out ;-)

Of tomatoes, chairs and a table...

So far we've had the tomato plants inside as, believe it or not, we had temperatures below zero during the nights two weeks ago. But last week we finally put them out in the yard. They've taken the bed meant for the parsnips. We have two types. Six cherry tomato plants and two regular sized ones. The regular ones didn't do too well inside this year. No idea why. So far the plants have taken well though and are happily growing along.

One of them has already developed flowers too!

Aside from the repotting program we´ve also (finally!) bought ourselves a garden table and chair set. So we can enjoy the not so summery summer here in the Lowlands. It be pretty! Yay!

 I couldn't resist putting up another picture with some of my girlfriends' handywork. She is quite the crochet fetishist ;-) Her own blog is found HERE

She also dyes yarns with natural pigments. If you're interested in those yarns and crochets I highly recommend taking a looksy at her etsy store which is located HERE

 

As you can see the green is exploding at the moment! It smells great! The beetroot is als doing very well and the potatoes are starting to flower. The beetroot even survived the dog's enthusiastic tail wagging :-P You wouldn't guess it by the way she's quietly chewing up an old flower pot thingy, but dutch shepherds are typical shepherds. All stubborn enthusiasm and energy! Even the "more gentle" long haired breed.

 

I must say the blaue swedens have quite beautiful flowers. I'm curious what colour the blaue congo flowers will be.

 

The last collars are on

I've added yet another collar to the swedens during last weekend (8/9 june) making the total collar tower 4 high. That's 80 cm. I also raised the congos up another collar bringing that total to 3. That tower is 60 cm high.

We've decided to leave it at these heights so the plants have time to develop all those roots that should now be down in the towers. No use creating huge root systems that don't have any potatoes on them after all.

So from now on it's watering every evening and letting the plants flower. After that, keep watering regularly untill the plants have dried up yellow and then it's time to harvest! Can't wait to see whether or not the stacking will have worked. And how many kilos of taters we'll get from our towers.

The strawberries are still going strong and so are the beetroots. The first very tiny strawberries have already been harvested. And eaten. Forgot to take a picture, sorry :-P But we are getting a lot more by the looks of it. Bigger ones too.

We've been raising up a few tomato plants indoors which have now been moved outdoors as well, the weather being great and all. So we might have some tomatoes after all.
The blueberries are already starting to develop berries. The redcurrant not so much. I doubt we'll see any redcurrants this year.

We've also finished up the rest of the backyard. Now we can actually properly sit there around a cozy fireplace. Which also doubles as a barbeque. And my girlfriend uses it to dye her wool as well. Talk about multifunctional! The garden table and chairs will be put in somewhere within the next few weeks.

I give you our new and improved backyard!

And our mutt of a dutch longhaired shepherd named Sofie. Who couldn't resist getting on the picture ofcourse.

The next project will be clearing out the left hand part of the shed, taking out the front and turning it into our rabbit pen. These won't be eaters. Just our old pet bunnies.

Replanting and another collar

Last weekend we added another collar to the stack of blaue swedens. The congos aren't big enough  yet to receive another collar. We also relocated the strawberries to the parsnip bed.

Two reasons:
1. The parsnips didn't survive. The parsnips are dead! Long live the strawberries!
2. The cats. They have taken to snuggling in the strawberry pots. Absolutely not caring that there is a plant in there as well.

We hope that putting the strawberries in the bed will prevent that from happening anymore. The strawberries themselves are doing great though. We can already see a lot of tiny green strawberries appear. Nomnom!

Oh by the way: The trick worked! We're farming cats now too! XD

Potatoes, level 2!

Four days ago I added a pallet collar to each potato bed. Man, those plants are exploding from the ground!

The theory behind the raising of the beds is simple:

A potato plant will grow to a certain height. What grows from the "armpits" (where a leave sprouts from the main stem) depends on the armpit being above the soil or below it i. e. in the light or in lightless conditions. If no light is present a root will form. This is where the potatoes develop. If exposed to sunlight a leaf will form. By adding another collar I effectively shorten the plant. The plant will now grow back to the height it "wants". Below the soil the snipped off armpits will now develop into roots that should produce more potatoes.

This is how everything looked when I started.

Here's what I did:

I snipped off all the leaves from the main stem on the area of the plant that would be covered in dirt. Like so:

Then I filled in the beds with dirt. I added a top layer of pot soil for a bit of extra nutrition as well. Here is the end result:

One of the beds is already growing hard and fast, so I'll probably be adding another collar within a week or so. The other bed is also growing, just not so fast. The plants were a bit smaller when I added the collar, so those will have a few weeks left to grow before adding the next collar.

Some pictures of growing plants. And a fireplace.

So today we spent weeding the beetroot, potatoes and the front yard. The parsnips aren't really visible and I'm starting to think they might have frozen during the one week of frost right after I planted them. Only time will tell I guess.

My girlfriend repotted the tomato plants! They are growing along nicely. These are the cherry tomato plants. The normal tomatoes didn't survive so far, so we planted a few more of those hoping the second try will give us viable plants.

Here are some pictures of the beetroot and potatoes. They seem to be coming along nicely.

And the beetroots too ofcourse. Can't leave them out. Cute little buggers.

 The rest of the yard will be filled in with gravel. I also wanted a fireplace so we can sit outside by the fire as long as the weather permits. Fires are great! An added bonus is that my girlfriend likes to dye wool. With a proper fireplace she'll be able to do so more efficiently, using less wood and get it doen in less time. So I got on the internets, found myself a stack of cheap fireproof bricks and got some of that fireproof (well, 1250 degrees Celsius proof) glue/kit/stuff. And here's the result!

It has to sit for 24 hours, then I'll get a small fire going to harden the glue completely. Next job: Get shoveling to level out the rest of the yard, buy gravel and fill it all in. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. It all depends on the weather and how I feel after the coming 4 night shifts.

The first harvest and more planting.

Well, we've gotten our first harvest. Apparently mushrooms grow very fast. Veeeeeery fast. So fast in fact that I kinda harvested them slightly too late. The mushrooms had already opened up. It didn't matter for taste thought. I made a nice omelette with them!

We'll keep the mushroom box around and see what happens. There might be more mushrooms on the way.

Apart from our first harvest we planted a few additional fruits. We've gotten a 'few' strawberry plants and a redcurrant. And today we got a few cucumber seeds and napa cabbage seeds from friends. I guess we'll have to figure out where to put those as well. Anyway, here are some pictures of the strawberries on their table.

They even have flowers already!

 

 

We are starting to see some potato plants coming up. And maybe some of the parsnips. I won't be weeding yet though as I'm not sure what to remove yet.

 

 

The potatoes are planted!

Today I planted the potatoes and beetroot. I put the potatoes some 5 to 10 cm under the soil and spread them around the beds at distances of about 40 cm. To give the soil a bit of a boost I mixed in a few bags of garden soil. Compost will be used later to fertilise the beds more. Now the waiting game starts.

When the potato plants have come up about 30 cm I'll add the next pallet collar. I'll then trim back the shoots and leaves on the lower 20 cm to the stem of the plant. That is the height of the collar, which I'll fill in with soil. Then it will be rinse and repeat for the coming few months. I'm really curious wether this potato tower will work.

As to the weather: It's getting a bit warmer and we've had our first rain in quite a bit. It seems like spring has finally decided to show her face.

Pictures will follow later. There isn't much to be seen aside from 4 beds filled with dirt. The rest of the yard still needs doing. I hope to get to that after this months' paycheck.

Here's a small update!

The weather is still cold, but slowly turning towards a proper spring. I expect to plant the potatoes and beetroots in a week or so.
The tomatoes are growing along nicely. My girlfriend took some pictures as she is much better at it then me. So here you go! Baby tomato plants!

I also got one of those grow it yourself mushroom thingies. Which is also coming along nicely. Some nice fungus pictures!

Yum!

Well, no... But they will be yum when they're starting to produce proper mushrooms.

Bloody weather!

One week after I plant the parsnips and all of a sudden we get a horrible cold spell. Well, let's hope everything survives. Once the weather lights up a bit I'll dig up the rest of the yard and make everything a bit more presentable. The tomatoes have been potted as well and they're standing comfortably upstairs with plenty of sunlight. In a heated room.

Something I forgot to put in by the way:

Our yard is located in the eastern part of the Netherlands. That should give you some indication of weather and climate. No clay soil here though. Just regular plain old sand.
I am going to fill in the raised beds with this sand, then put in the potatoes and beetroots. Then I'll top them off with garden soil. I'll probably have to fertilise the beds every few weeks as well. I'll look into what to use for that over the coming weeks. Compost, maneur, etc. Time to figure out some crappy facts!

Right! The parsnips are in! That would be the bed on the right. The other two I already placed as I had the space anyway after digging away the soil to create a sort of level surface. The top left one will be potatoes and the bottom one will be the beetroot.
I'll dig away the sorry excuse for a lawn and use the soil to fill the beds. I'll add one more bed later on. Since the taters and beetroots won't be planted until the beginning of april I'll do that then. No need to create a big mudhole when it isn't needed yet.
Once the beds are all in place and the lawn is gone I'll fill in the rest with gravel. That way we can sit in the yard and enjoy the sight of our veggies growing.

That was hard work!

This will be my first attempt at growing vegetables in my own backyard. How did I come by this idea you might ask? The inspiration came mainly from friends who have moved to Sweden a few years back. They grow almost all their own food and raise some pigs for slaughtering as well. I know I can't get enough out of my meagre few square metres of backyard, but I can at least get some.

The vegetables of choice are two kinds of potatoes, 'Blaue Sweden' and 'Blaue Congo', beetroot 'Chioggia Guardsmark' and parsnips. I figured I can buy regulare potatoes and beets in the supermarket, so I might as well grow something special at home. The potatoes are black skinned, with the Congo having purple coloured tubers. The Sweden has white tubers.
The beetroot has a white/red alternating ring pattern.

These veggies will be planted in raised beds. The beds I 'made' out of pallet collars. I hammered some sheet plastic on the inside as well as it seemed like a good idea. The advantage of using pallet collars is that I can easily store them during winter. Another reason is that I am going to try to grow my potatoes in towers. Yes, the dreaded potato towers. I'll be curious to see wether this gets me a decent harvest.

Aside from the bedded veggies my girlfriend will be growing strawberries and tomatoes in pots. She will sow the tomato seeds in small pots and keep them inside until they are big enough to go into the yard. The strawberry plants will be bought a bit later in the season and will go outside as well. We also have a blueberry bush and a redcurrant in the yard.

In this blog I will post pictures of our yard in progress with descriptions of what we have done to get it there. The ups, the downs, good and bad times and hopefully a bountiful harvest.