Looking for Seedlings? Look No Further Than Your Local Greenhouse

The Morton Arboretum opened its doors to members tonight for its annual Arbor Day plant sale. But tomorrow and Sunday, everyone's welcome.

At Morton, shoppers can "Choose from more than 400 varieties of trees, shrubs, grasses, vines, and perennials. All plants are Midwestern hardy, easy to grow, and are resistant to problems commonly experienced in the area. Purchase old favorites and recently introduced hybrids that are difficult to find at local garden shops."

Closer to home, there's the Flowers and Flavors Annual Plant Sale at the Oak Park Conservatory.

This one has fewer choices, only 170 varieties, but there's more emphasis on food: including herbs, tomatoes and peppers.

I love this part of the materials promoting the sale: "Planning meals around what looks good in your garden or the farmer’s market is healthy, tasty and nutritious. It is also friendliest to the environment. The healthiest food for our meals and the planet travels the shortest distance. Step out your back door and pick the freshest herbs and vegetables available."

My garden space is pretty full, but I'm hoping to fill in a few more spots with some varieties that local experts say should grow well in my area.

Our Pets Are Being Banished, Doctor's Orders

It's looking like we'll need to find temporary and possibly permanent homes for our guinea pig Fluffy and gecko Leopardy.

For the last few weeks, my husband has been having allergic reactions that are triggering his asthma. We initially thought it was over-exposure to cats. That's what usually causes these episodes. Cats are drawn to him for some reason.

In the back of my mind, I thought that our pets could be the culprits. But we'd had them since January.

Surely we would have noticed sooner if they were causing allergies. Right?

Well, the allergist is banking on our pets and has called for a 30-day banishment. She's more optimistic that we'll get to keep the gecko, which is super cool, even though I have to feed him live food and I have to feed the food too. He's been a great living example of the food chain lesson for our kids.

But we may need to find a permanent home for our furry little friend. Losing him will be devastating to my Future Farmgirl. When I last broached this subject, tears welled in her eyes and she let me know emphatically that she can't let him go. She's his momma now.

Ugh.

So...if anyone wants to try out a pet for a month, let me know. I wish we'd had that opportunity before we all became attached to the little critters.

We'll of course provide the food and supplies. I'll even come by and clean cages.

Update: I had the hard conversation with FFG this evening. She's not very happy. But she has opted to choose daddy's health over the love of her pet. Now...to find a home for him.

It's National Garlic Day. How Did You Celebrate?

Today was just a so so day, kind of a grim, dreary and cold Monday.

But my mood changed for the better after I learned on Twitter that today is, of all things, National Garlic Day.

I immediately started to dream up ways to celebrate the pungent, multi-use herb.

My husband already had supper under control, so I kicked my snack expertise into gear and whipped up my famous triple garlic dip: made with crushed garlic, garlic salt and garlic powder.

I expect I will not be very popular tomorrow at work.

Opening Day: May 22

The Oak Park Farmers Market isn't a quite a sport. There aren't teams facing off in a battle for supremacy.

But every Saturday through October, there are at least two sets of winners at the OPFM: The farmers who get a little profit off their hard labor and the market goers who get fresh produce from the folks who were directly involved in the harvest.

That's why I'm so excited to have a prime seat for this year's opening day, helping staff the Farmers Market booth at the main entrance at the Pilgrim Church parking lot.

I'm signed up for the morning shift - before the doughnut line rounds the corner - so stop by and say hello if you get a chance.

Seed Starting and Newspaper Recycling at the Same Time

I probably have all the seed starter pots I need. Because I have garage space, I save all the little plastic pots that have come with seedlings I've purchased over the last few years.

But while we were enjoying Green Sunday at Cheney Mansion, I learned that I can use black and white newspaper to create starter pots. [Yet another use for my Sunday paper!] The best part about these is that once the seedlings are ready to be planted, you don't have to remove them from their pots.

Instead, you just plop the whole pot (like a peat pot) in the ground. Just be sure that your newspaper uses soy-based inks and you'll be all set. The newspaper will eventually decompose into the soil.

At Cheney, the woman who demonstrated the process had a nifty wooden pot maker set. But it's just as easy to create the pots using a soda can or a water glass as a form.

Simply roll the paper around the can or glass, fold in the edges of one side to create the pot, then add soil and your seed. Keep the soil moist until the seedling is about four inches tall, then plant.

Cool.

There are detailed instructions here.

Never Too Shy to Cluck Like a Chicken

Usually, Future Farmgirl is about as shy as one can be in a new setting.

Indeed, when we first walked into the Cheney Mansion this afternoon for Green Sunday activities, she hid behind my leg and averted her eyes from the man who welcomed us.

So you can imagine my surprise when after the greeter asked if either of the kids would like to compete in the upcoming chicken clucking contest, FFG nodded her head yes.

I couldn't believe it, but she was as serious as a rooster winding up for sunrise. I wasn't sure she'd go through with it, especially as the crowd assembled. But when it came time to cluck, she did her best, though fairly demure, baaak bak baaaaak.

Judging the contest was Jennifer Murtoff, who runs an urban chicken consulting business called Home to Roost. [Bookmark her blog if you're contemplating backyard chickens, but feel like you'd like a little helping hand or someone to call in a chicken emergency.]

I won't hold it against Jennifer that she didn't pick my daughter for the finals, even though I thought her clucking was far superior than one or two of the others.

And I have no quarrel with the winner, a woman named Patricia who put her full personality into the clucking, including the wing motions and strut.

FFG was a winner in our family's book, so we rewarded her with a trip to the ice cream parlor and the Oberweis sundae of her choice.

Kentucky Farmers Returning to Pre-Prohibition Roots

Ever wonder what all those tobacco farmers have been doing with their land and talents as profits for cigarettes are being snuffed out by market trends?

Turns out, they're going back to their roots as grape growers.

The iFarmer has a good friend who was a Kentucky extension agent for years, helping tobacco farmers make the transition to alternative crops. No doubt it's been a rough row to hoe.

Kentucky farmers have been growing tobacco, a lucrative cash crop, since Prohibition dried up the grape markets in the 1920s.

But this U.K. College of Agriculture magazine informed me that before then, Kentucky was a grape-growing powerhouse...the number three producer in the country.

We got a sampling of the state's newest cash crop on our trip to Louisville on Friday. One of our first stops, after dropping off our bags, was at River Bend Winery.

I wasn't a big fan of all the wines we tasted. But we walked out with three bottles, which is more than I usually buy after a tasting. Even though Chambourcin and Traminette grow nicely in Kentucky's climate, those weren't my favorites.

I ended up buying a bottle of the Rose, a bottle of Rhubarb, which has a nice smooth flavor (and surprisingly is one of the iFarmer's favorites), and a bottle of Chocolate Decadence, which has a bit of a Tootsie Roll aftertaste.

In the pic above, note the bottles -- bright orange. The label is courtesy of Sharpie. We asked about those and it turns out they got a deal on them.

Ha. Love it.

Easter Spuds

While we were celebrating the risen Lord and wrapping up our whirlwind Kentucky/So. Indiana trip, the Real Farmgirls were busy getting down and dirty at The Farm planting potatoes.

I'm excited about another good tater crop.

I already put in my order for red potatoes, though the white potatoes from last year's crop were also delicious.

The kids and I enjoyed helping pull a couple box loads from the ground last year. Too bad we had to miss the planting part. At least this year I'm hoping we'll make it down in time for them to be able to recognize the plants.

A Full Vacation in One Day

What a day!

I can't believe we packed in as much as we did. We started off with a visit to Greensburg to visit the matriarch of the iFarmer's family.

She looked good and we enjoyed seeing her and a cousin who stopped by while we were there.

I don't remember ever being in Greensburg, which is the heart of Decatur County, and is home to a unique courthouse. If I'd been here before, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered the tree growing out of the courthouse roof.

This large tooth aspen apparently took root in 1870 in the roof of the historic building's clock tower and has been growing ever since. Way cool.

I walked around the courthouse and took pix while I waited for our order down the street at Pork-N-More.

Besides being a pop culture shrine - there were posters of the Beatles, Shirley Temple, the Bee Gees, the Waltons, the Fonz and Princess Di - and featuring a tribute to Tony Stewart, the restaurant served up some of the best slow cooked pork I've ever had.

We had our eye on the place ever since we drove by and got a whiff of the smokers.

Perfectly cooked, succulent pulled pork, ribs and chicken.

Normally, that would be the highlight of the day. But after lunch, we dropped the kids off at my sister-in-law's house and headed to Louisville for a date night.

We started at River Bend Winery [supplied by farmers who've switched from tobacco to grape growing] for a tasting, walked around, stopped off at the Louisville Slugger factory, checked out Caufield's, a 90-year-old novelty shop, then headed to the Highlands for dinner at Lilly's, which we learned from our taxi driver is one of the top 10 restaurants in Louisville.

We chose it because it has a strong relationship with farmers. Wow. If this is only in the top 10, I'm eager to come back to check out the top five.

It was a beautiful evening and instead of cabbing it back, we decided -- after a drink at Molly Malone's -- to walk the three miles. So that was probably a bit ambitious. But I enjoyed myself until I could feel the blisters -- yes, I wore heels -- forming on my feet when we were about six blocks from 21c.

To rest up, we stopped at Theater Square Marketplace, picked up one of the things on my list -- handmade Kentucky bourbon balls aka "Happy Balls!" -- and a few snacks.

Tomorrow...if we have any energy, we'll explore a little more, then head back to Columbus for egg hunts and Easter fun.

Cupcakes for Breakfast

After I first learned about rainbow cupcakes from my sister-in-law's blog, I knew I wanted to make these with the kids during their spring break.

Of course, time ran out. We had so many other places to go and things to do, that we didn't get around to making these until this morning...at breakfast time, just before heading out for an Easter weekend trip.

This was so much fun. My son wasn't interested in any part of this until the eating. But Future Farmgirl was with me from mixing the batter, to dropping in the color and licking the buttercream icing off the spatula.

Because I'm an imperfect, often impatient cook, these didn't turn out as pictured in Family Fun magazine. I overfilled the muffin cups. And I ended up with extra batter.

That extra batter turned out to be the best part, because my mini me gladly took the challenge of creating her own mini cupcake color combinations.







Family fun indeed!

Silhouette Egg Dying: Mixed Results

As expected, the eggs I spent the most time carefully wrapping in nylon ended up with the best plant silhouettes.

I'd expected that the dye bathes weren't strong enough, but I never expected the beets bath to be so weak.

But, alas, no pink or even pinkish eggs emerged from the brilliant pink bath. Nope. I got brown eggs, just like the ones from Victory Acres.

Several are pretty enough to keep.

And, even though this was a lot of work, I'd like to try it again to see what I need to do to get the natural dyes strong enough to color the eggs.