After the rain

An unseasonable late June rain has just broken here in the East Bay of California... The plants were rejoicing...

We see much growth happening in the coming days.

Click on photos for high res :)

Pallet Table (a.k.a. palatable)

I apologize for the poor pun / word play of the table. I assure you that this is a serious post about making a table from a pallet and will involve no shenanigans or squirrels drinking beer.

In the beginning there was a pallet & no where to sit. 

Nowhere to enjoy a meal.

Nowhere to pry the fruit of its pit.

Only bad poems written with zeal. 

This table was built in the background over a couple of months, you may have (literately) noticed in the background in photos since we began. 

We started with a pallet, a pry bar and an idea. This is our idea of re-purposing.  

It turned out one 4x4 wouldn't hold up the table.

We added 3 more

The last two pictures have our benches in the background :) ...

We built them so the squirrel had somewhere to drink his beer

A wee bit of paint...

Some found foam and purchased vinyl 

Come on over... let's have a BBQ

Test your soil.

Is your soil alkaline or acidic? If you aren't sure here is a cool ( 9th grade earth science kind of cool ), cost effective and easy way to find out.  

Science Rules

You will need two containers approximately one cup in size

1/2 cup of vinegar

1/2 cup of baking soda

A couple handfuls of your soil. 

Go out in the garden and get yourself a nice fistful of dirt and split in into your two containers. 

In the first container mix in 1/2 cup of white vinegar. In the second container mix 1/2 cup of water ( mix ) and then 1/2 cup of baking soda. 

Product Placement ( I'm waiting for my check )

If container #1 begins to bubble and fizz it is alkaline. 

If you have no reaction turn your observation to container #2. Is it bubbling ? Well, you have acidic soil. 

I observed equally mild reactions placing our soil somewhere in the middle. A nice place to be since we can tilt the soil to the needs of a certain plant. Roses want some acidity... that's easy... just add some coffee grounds and the soil is suited in a couple days. 

Enough about my dirt let's get back to you. If your soil turned out to be acidic you can amend it with  wood ash or lime. If it was alkaline add sulfur or pine needles. 

Yup, you just used science. Congratulations.

Learning about the Tomatillo

Let's learn about the beautiful & tasty tomatillo 

It won't be this sciencey but might include Latin 

(you've been warned)

Let's start with the some fun alternate names for the tomatillo: "Husk Tomato", "Jamberry", "Husk Cherry", "Mexican Tomato".

The tomatillo is native to Central America and was domesticated around 800 B.C. 

     ( see how it went from fun to facts there... it's going to be a wild ride )

There are two main types of tomatillo ( here comes the Latin )

   Physalis ixocarpa : This is the tomatillo you most often see at the market. It's fruit is green and around 2 inches across, it's flavor is tart and it ripens to a pale shade of yellow ( much like our dining room if you have ever been over for dinner )

   Physalis philidelphica : The lesser known of the tomatillo family ( maintaining it's amateur status ) is a slightly sweeter version of the tomatillo we all know and love except it is also purple and grows to a marble size.

The tomatillo is part of the nightshade family ( Solanaceae ) meaning it is related to the tomato, the potato and the eggplant. Not only are the family reunions weird but they are delicious.

When given plenty of sun and well drained and very rich soil they will produce a very high yield. 

Speaking of harvest... transplants will be ready to harvest around 70 - 100 days. You will know to pick when their husks ( or vascular tissue ) begin to split off of the fruit.

not entirely accurate view of splitting tomatillo

more of a stripping tomatillo

The reason I love that I am growing tomatillos you ask ? Well, It is because they are easy to grow. If grown in a pot and given enough drainage, they are very hard to kill. 

Grow a tomatillo this year and share your favorite recipe with us 

Are we saving money ?

So, the question popped into my head when I looked into our shopping cart at the plant store last week... "Are we saving money by growing our own vegetables?".
The short answer is no. The long answer is yes.

2012-2013 being the first growing season at +The Littlest Farm we are saving no money at all. We didn't keep detailed records ( which I regret ) but we have spent quite a bit on dirt, compost, seeds, new equipment, etc. Even with all of our re-purposing and reusing ( raised beds of pallets etc. ) there were things that we just had to buy.

We are growing things that when we compare the price of a seed to the price at the supermarket are remarkably cheaper. Tomato is much cheaper to grow at home, as are lettuces and squash and next year when all we are buying is a couple cubic feet of soil booster it will be solid savings.

It's important that all gardeners learn that the investment phase of the garden is crucial. I don't speak only of the investment of money, but the investment of time. A properly planned and maintained garden will bring great amounts of food and enjoyment year after year.

Looking at the above graphic you can see the return on investment ( bottom right corner ) is quite impressive. Add to that the gratification of growing your own food and frankly... who cares if you are saving money.... you are gardening. 

What happened in May.

Well, it's June and that means another month of growth is on the books and it's time to look back and see what we have learned before heading into another month.

We are already working on next years Chard Wars for May the 4th ( be with you ). The responses we  received were great. It's nice to know that our readers like to laugh with us.

A few hard lessons came to us in May with the loss of our celery and rainbow chard. We moved on and planted a few new plants... plants much better suited for our space.

We also picked a potato ( slightly prematurely ) and cooked our one tiny red potato to eat and share a recipe with our dear readers.

Our hope is that June brings even more success here on +The Littlest Farm as we head in to BBQ season we hope to be sharing more recipes from the garden with you.