Urban Farm Hub

Bean Necklaces

October 20, 2018 by admin

Every urban farmer should have at least one bean necklace for that perfect agricultural fashion accent. Right now is a great time to harvest those end of the season beans and get crafting.

Here’s how:

Pick your beans while they are still soft. These are scarlet runners.

Many colorful varieties can be used and you can do patterns with solid color beans.

Thread a darning needle with stiff thread or a flexible wire.

I like using pliers to pull the needle through the bean as it can get a little stuck at times.

Here are necklaces made with calico beans.

Wait to either tie the ends or attach fasteners as the beans will shrink as they dry. It’s also a good idea to string on a few extras; it’s easy to take them off if you have too many.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged dried bean necklaces, homemade necklaces | Leave a Comment »

Cool Tool to Peel Apples

October 19, 2018 by admin

I love this tool!!

Each year I just can’t resist getting a big box of apples this time of year.

It used to take me forever to carefully peel the apples, cut them up and remove the icky bits. Last spring I went to a rummage sale and a friend handed me a weird looking contraption. “This is exactly what you need” she said with conviction. I dutifully bought it, put it in the basement and forgot about it until this weekend.

The Peel Away is amazing! What was even better was that my daughter and husband both found it so intriguing that they helped me; within about an hour all the apples were processed.

Here is the loooong peel that comes off. I wonder if this is tossed over the shoulder it will still make the initial of the person one is going to marry?

Hope I toss an “A”.

Here is the apple peeled, cored and sliced.

So pretty!

Once the apple is processed making sauce or putting it in a pie is a snap! Tonight I am going to try it on asian pears….

Ready for a pie.

Posted in Cooking | Tagged apple corer, apple peeler, fruit processing | 2 Comments »

Time to Plant Garlic

October 17, 2018 by admin

Growing garlic is very easy and is a great thing to plant if you have big summer plans that are going to keep you out of the garden.

Pick bulbs with big cloves.

There are softneck and hardneck varieties of garlic; the softneck grow best in a colder climate and are easy to braid. I usually do some of both. You can plant large cloves from last summer’s crop or you can get untreated organic garlic at the supermarket or farmer’s market.

Pull cloves apart.

Once you have your garlic clear out a bed, rake the soil and amend with a light dressing of compost. Divide the bulb into individual cloves and lay them out on the soil about 6 to 8 inches apart.

Lay out 6 to 8 inches apart.

Dig a hole, (I usually use a large spoon), about 2 inches deep and plant with the pointy end up. Cover with soil then mulch with straw or shredded leaves. Be sure to pull the mulch away from around the growing garlic in the spring or the darned slugs will actually chew on the stems.

Label clearly where you have planted as it’s easy to overplant.

Posted in Growing | Tagged garlic, planting garlic, winter crop | Leave a Comment »

Dyeing with Black Walnuts

October 15, 2018 by admin

If you’ve ever handled black walnuts you know how well they can dye your hands, countertop and many other things you may not want a deep brown color. Dark brown yarn is lovely.

Black walnuts ready to be harvested!

The first step is to carefully harvest your walnuts. I always use gloves to do this as the fruit is a bit caustic and even a little juice will stain your hands. Once you have the fruit put it in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Mash it a bit with a fork and let it sit for about an hour. No mordant is needed.

Ready for the yarn.

Put the yarn in your dye bath and leave until a shade darker than desired is reached. Pull the yarn out and wash in clear water. Be careful to rinse out the dye that hasn’t fixed to the wool or it may stain your body or bleed on to other clothes.

This dye can be used for basket materials, cotton or wool.

Some of the brown yarns are black walnut dyed.

Have fun!

Posted in Crafts, Foraging | Tagged black walnut dye, dyeing with black walnut, natural plant dyeing | Leave a Comment »

Grapevine Wreaths

October 10, 2018 by admin

It’s a wee bit early to be pruning grapes but I wanted to neaten up the front yard so trimmed off the long, ropy vines.

Using these vines to make wreaths is easy and they turn out great.

First choose the vines you want to use and trim off the side twigs. For a more rustic look, leave the tendrils on.

These are my favorite pruners.

Wrap the vines around and twist in the ends. Trim off anything that sticks out.

Here are three finished wreath. You can use these as is or as a base for baskets.

Great activity for a frosty, sunny day!

Posted in Crafts | Tagged grapevine wreaths, wreaths | Leave a Comment »

Hats!

October 10, 2018 by admin

What do all urban farmers in this brisk chilly climate need? Warm knit hats! It’s easy to make these using circular needles. I like to use number 8 needles and usually cast on about 95 stitches to start for an adult hat. Once the stitches are on I do a rib stitch with two knit to one purl stitch for about 8 to 10 rows; this will give the band some stretch.

A hat in process.

Now it’s time to use your creativity and go crazy with patterns and color using a knit stitch. Once you have 34 rows start decreasing to form the top of the hat. To decrease knit together two stitches every 10 stitches for one row then knit normally for the next.

All finished

As you get to the top of the hat knit stitches together every row then when there are a few stitches left use a darning needle to go through the remaining stitches and draw this tight. Now tuck in your yarn ends and you are all set!

Here are some different examples.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged hats, knitting | Leave a Comment »

Making Applesauce

October 3, 2018 by admin

Fall is here and thats means apples. Many of the apples grown west of the Cascades have scab or are infected with coddling moth. The result is that apples that aren’t very appetizing to eat out of hand, but still can be used to make great applesauce. You can also buy apples by the box at your local farmers’ market and these can be used straight or mixed with your homegrown apples. I like to talk with the grower and see what breeds they like to make into sauce. One of my favorite growers is Tonnemaker Family Orchard. They have great produce, good prices and often have seconds boxes that are lower priced and great for canning. Last week they suggested Gravenstein apples so I bought a box to mix with my own apples.

Here are directions on making your own applesauce:

Pick out apples that are free of mold and rot. They don’t need to be pretty but they should be wholesome.

Core your apples then cut them up into about one-inch chunks and cook them over a low heat until soft. Then put the mixture through a food mill to separate the skins from the fruit and turn it into a sauce.

Here is a food mill I got at Fred Meyer. They can also be found sometimes at Goodwill.

If the sauce is too tart then add in a bit of brown or white sugar. I like to put in some cinnamon as well. Heat the sauce, while stirring constantly, to boiling and boil for one minute and pour into sterile jars. Be careful because blobs of the hot sauce can leap out of the pot and give you a burn.

Here it is heating up with cinnamon added at the end of cooking. Once it begins to bubble it will be ready for the jars.

Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes and you’re good to go. Applesauce can be eaten as is or can be used in many recipes.

I like lots of cinnamon so often add even more before I eat my sauce. My family varies on their degree of cinnamon adoration so I go light when canning it.

Posted in Cooking | Tagged applesauce, making applesauce, using apples | 2 Comments »

A Visit to Camlann Medieval Village

September 30, 2018 by admin

I can’t resist a living history museum so off to Camlann for a Michaelmas celebration!

A story teller with lots of sleight of hand.

Melting wax for candles.

Pulling the fibers into line.

Natural dyes.

A friendly source of wool.

Making flower crowns.

Ready for potage.

Caligraphy room

Ink and quills

Posted in Crafts | Tagged Camlann Medieval Village, living history museum | Leave a Comment »

Putting Your Garden to Bed

September 29, 2018 by admin

Farewell to summer!

With shorter days, cool winds and rainy weather it’s time to put part of my garden to bed for the winter. I am sad to let summer with its glorious brilliance go but the soil needs to rest and rebuild. I have a few plots planted with winter herbs and vegetables and will soon plant garlic and flower bulbs so not all gardening is done but the wild exuberance of summer is over.

Here’s my list of tasks:

Write down in your garden journal what worked this year and what didn’t. Did you have a special type of snap pea that grew really well and tasted great? Was there a tomato that just didn’t live up to its vibrant name? Is there a neighbor who planted a kind of squash you’d just love to try? Write this all down or come next January when the seed catalogs start to awaken your garden lust they will be faded memories.
Clean up the beds and remove the vegetation. If you have a super hot compost pile then you can compost your garden waste. If you don’t then it’s probably a good idea to put potato and tomato plants, weeds with seeds and so on in the clean green container to be hauled off. If you’ve had any kind of disease problem with your vegetables or fruit be sure to pick up and dispose of all fallen fruit and leaves. It’s also good to rotate your crops and not plant the same thing in the same spot each year.
Bring in your garden tools, tomato cages and empty containers. Clean the soil off, sharpen tools and store inside so they will last longer. If you don’t have room inside then put them in an area where they will stay dry and out of the reach of animals. I oiled all my tools and handles one year with some old coconut oil and was really surprised in the spring to see that some animal had carefully gnawed off all the oil on the handles leaving pocked rough wood behind.
Plant garlic and flower bulbs.
Repot and bring inside any geraniums or other houseplants that have been out on summer break. You can pot up some herbs to bring in too; oregano, chives bay and sage usually do well inside.
Test and amend your soil. If you do this now you will be all set for spring. I usually work some manure and compost into the top layers so they can break down over the winter.
Plant a cover crop. A cover crop both protects your soil from punishing winter rains and builds up nutrients.
Sit back, have a warm cup of tea and enjoy your neat and tidy garden.

Posted in Growing | Tagged cover cropping, overwintering your garden, putting garden to bed | Leave a Comment »

Plum Wine!

September 18, 2018 by admin

Last year I did the following post on plum wine. A couple of days ago I did the final bottling and it turned out very well; it tastes more like brandy than wine but it’s very drinkable. To do the bottling you sterilize your siphon and bottles then carefully decant the finished wine from the carboy into the bottle. The wine mellows as it ages so it’s advised to let the bottles lay on their sides in a cool place for another six months before drinking.

This year we have few plums but you could dry this recipe with other fruit like peaches or nectarines.

Finished plum wine.

Recently my neighbor invited me to pick his plums. “Sure!” I said with avaricious glee. Later that night as the fruit flies multiplied in the plum filled sink and the smell of fruit on the edge filled the air I wondered what in the world I had done; my freezer was packed, my shelved were filled with dried and preserved fruit and by tomorrow this treasure would be compost.

“Wine!” I thought “I will make wine!” I had never done this before but desperate times call for desperate measures and as the unwashed dishes began to pile up and the flies reached a fever pitch of activity it was clearly time to do something.

Plums ready to become wine.

A survey of the internet showed a huge amount of differences in formulation. But after a while a few patterns did begin to emerge; most recipes needed campden tablets, pectic enzyme, yeast, acid and sugar. I ordered the more exotic items on-line, as well as a hydrometer and began to pit the plums.

Extras to make great wine.

Once the plums were pitted I weighed them out, covered them with boiling water, crushed and added a couple of campden tablets and let them sit overnight. The boiling water and tablets discourage the growth of unwanted organisms.

The next morning I added in the pectic enzyme and acid. The enzyme helps break down the fruit and the acid improves flavor and storage.

That night I made a sugar syrup and added this in.

Sugar syrup being made.

The following morning I put in a packet of yeast and covered it up to ferment.

All important yeast!

When I got home the house had a faintly alcoholic smell and the pot was foamy and bubbling. I took a hydrometer reading to see where the starting point was and recorded it on a page in my homesteading journal.